Indiana Gov, Mike Pence formally announces his reelection campaign in Indianapolis, Thursday, June 18, 2015. Pence, whose status as a national star among conservatives was battered by an outcry over the state's new religious objections law, was launching his re-election campaign Thursday by trying to focus on the state's economy and improving schools. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
SHARE The vice presidential debate was a painful exercise in the triumph of style over substance that should trouble every American voter. Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence was declared the winner by numerous pundits and journalists, primarily on "style" points. It was enough for them, apparently, that Pence looked presidential whatever that means and was not rattled by a steady stream of attacks from Democratic rival Tim Kaine. But that is precisely what was so unnerving about Pence's performance. When Kaine repeated well-known statements by Donald Trump about women as pigs, dogs and worse and about Mexicans and Muslims, Pence waved them off as "nonsense" or just plain wrong, shaking his head repeatedly for effect. This even though Kaine's assertions are easily proven, because Trump has said them in public settings. The fact-checking site PolitiFact looked at 32 statements by Kaine and Pence throughout the 90-minute debate. It determined that Kaine was truthful 79 percent of the time. Pence's rating was an abysmal 31 percent. Kaine was without doubt clumsy and slow-footed in his initial debate outing. He came armed with facts, but appeared overrehearsed, sometimes overstated his claims and lacked the artful polish of Pence, who has years as a radio and TV talk show host under his belt. Trump, too, has benefited from a finely honed theatrical sense gained from more than a decade as a network television star. But the content of one's words must matter at least as much as how they are said. No democracy can thrive where its citizens are so easily duped by theatrics, unwilling to probe beyond a facile surface. Pence provided a measure of comfort for uneasy Trump supporters and perhaps for undecideds. He was calm and measured, and he is steeped in Republican ideology on fiscal and social issues. He comes across as what he is a small-government conservative, through and through. But Pence clearly communicated something else he was there less as Trump's defender than as someone who badly wants to be able to pick up the pieces once this is over and emerge as a contender in 2020. In a deft skewering of his would-be boss, Pence responded to one attack on Trump by saying, with a completely straight face: "He's not a politician like you and Hillary Clinton and so things don't always come out the way he means." Thus does a skilled politician put the knife in his opponent and his running mate in one stroke. Notably, at several points in the debate Pence didn't even attempt to defend Trump's often-offensive statements. That is understandable. He was in the unenviable position of having to stand up for a man who can barely draw a breath without insulting someone. It is easy to see why he often chose to remain silent rather than respond. The effects of Tuesday's debate won't linger. Well, except perhaps for Pence's deathless comment about "whipping out that Mexican thing" again, which social media has turned into a rallying cry for Hispanics. What is important as the nation enters the homestretch of one of the most tumultuous elections in modern history is that voters pay close attention to what the candidates say, not just how they say it. Star Tribune Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally, Wednesday, June 1, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) SHARE By The Washington Post Has there been a more disturbing low in presidential politics? "If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation," Republican nominee Donald Trump threatened in the course of the second presidential debate Sunday night. "It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country," Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton responded. "Because you'd be in jail," Trump shot back. Mark the moment. A major-party presidential nominee is officially promising to lock up his political opponent, despite the fact that an impartial federal investigation concluded that no fair prosecutor would have charged Clinton in the matter of her emails. If anyone needed any more proof that Trump does not understand the meaning of rule of law as opposed to arbitrary rule of autocrat that he would use the levers of the federal government in a vindictive, self-serving and corrupt manner Trump provided it. When the discussion turned to policy, Trump was little better. He called Syrian refugees "the great Trojan horse of all time," as usual without evidence or foundation. He doubled down on the falsehood that he opposed the Iraq War. Trump again defended Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, suggesting that, contrary to a finding by the U.S. intelligence community, Moscow is not attempting to intervene in the election through computer hacking. While Clinton harshly blamed Russia for aggression in Syria, Trump said he disagreed with his own running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, that the United States should act to stop bombing by Russian and Syrian forces because, Trump said, those forces are going after the Islamic State. In fact, as Clinton and Pence understand, the primary victims of Russian and Syrian attacks are civilians, especially doctors and other health care workers. Clinton had to account for a weekend revelation of her own the disclosure of emails allegedly showing that she had "public" and "private" views on issues. She pointed out that she was discussing Abraham Lincoln's efforts to pass the 13th Amendment when she made those remarks ducking the question of whether she holds one view on, for example, trade agreements in private and another in public. But the overwhelming impression was that Trump, with his campaign sinking and Republican office holders urging him to withdraw, decided that his best response was to snarl and double down on old falsehoods. Coming out of a disastrous first presidential debate, an even more disastrous aftermath and the release of a video in which he made disgusting comments about women, Trump dismissed his boasting of sexually predatory behavior as "locker room talk." When that did not work, he dredged up accusations in Bill Clinton's sordid past. It was a desperate and ineffective counterpunch. Clinton pointed out, rightly, that Trump's recently disclosed comments were entirely in character just the latest in a series of insults he has issued to all sorts of vulnerable people and groups. Trump helped make her case later in the debate when, asked by a Muslim American woman about Islamophobia, the Republican nominee stoked anti-Muslim sentiment by insinuating that U.S. Muslims are hiding vital information about terrorists in the country. By contrast, Clinton said, "My vision of America is one where everyone has a place." That is not Trump's vision. Donald Trump makes a point during the third GOP debate. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) SHARE Jim Edwards, Iowa Park As I write this the second debate is still several hours away but I feel that no matter how lewd or gross what Trump said 11 years ago in a private conversation should not have been released. In fact I don't think anyone's private conversation should be aired. ( Unless it is off a criminal nature that could result in violence .) If anyone, be it a public or private citizen, had their conversation recorded over a period of time there would most probably be something, even benign, they wouldn't want to be broadcast to the world. It's on a par with what people do "behind closed doors" should not be made available for public consumption. I think it would not be overly suspicious to assume that the "boys will be boys" tape shot by Access Hollywood all those years ago was planned by the liberal media to be used as a fatal blow to be used if a conservative candidate (unknown at the time ) began to be a threat to Hillary Clinton's obsessive drive to be president. Whether by accident or design it was a master stroke of diabolical genius to release this tape two days before the second debate. And the overreaction of conservatives may have helped to drive the fatal nails in Trump's coffin. I am reminded of what Jesus said to the men who were about to stone to death the woman accused of adultery." He who is without guilt can cast the first stone!" Can Hillary cast the first stone? This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Clifton Park Marcella's Appliance Center, based in Schenectady for almost 70 years, has now opened a second store in Clifton Park. At 3,000 square feet, the new space is significantly smaller than the massive main showroom, which is 16,000 square feet. But it gives the appliance dealer access to the growing Saratoga County market. "We wanted to come a little further up north and maybe find some clientele we were missing in Schenectady," said John Marcella, owner of the business. "With all the building and construction in Saratoga County, we thought we could tap into that." Marcella is the fourth generation of his family to run the company, which traces its roots to his great-grandfather, who opened a business in his Duane Avenue garage in Schenectady in 1947. The new store is located in the Shopper's World plaza near Market 32 and across the road from Clifton Park Center. The company was approached by Robert Miller, CEO of the Windsor Companies, which owns the plaza. "He wanted businesses to come into the plaza that had a little more staying power," Marcella said. This isn't the first time Marcella's has opened a second showroom. For several years, it had a store on Karner Road in Colonie, but that closed more than five years ago, Marcella said. The new Clifton Park store had a soft opening in August, but a grand opening is set for 10 a.m. Friday. In addition to selling appliances, the store serves as a showroom for Zarrillo's Custom Design Kitchens. The Duanesburg-based business sells cabinets and designs kitchens that is a complementary business to Marcella's appliance sales. The new store comes into Clifton Park just as JC Penney, located across the street in Clifton Park Center, has announced a return to selling major appliances. Marcella said he is not worried about the competition. "Everybody comes in and out of the appliance game," he said. Ultimate Electronics, Circuit City and Kmart all have tried to get into selling refrigerators, ovens and washers and dryers, he said. "We just try to make sure our customers are happy," he said. "We're full service from the sale to the service. Our sales people are not fly-by-night. They've been selling appliances for years." tobrien@timesunion.com 518-454-5092 @timobrientu A Salesforce sign is seen during the company's annual Dreamforce event, in San Francisco, California November 18, 2013. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith By Greg Roumeliotis and Liana B. Baker (Reuters) - Salesforce.com Inc (CRM.N) is still deliberating whether it should make an offer for Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) in the face of resistance from Salesforce shareholders over the strategic merits and valuation of such a deal, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Twitter shares have lost as much as a third of their value since Oct. 5 on concerns the company has attracted less interest from potential acquirers than previously envisaged. It now has a market capitalization of $12 billion. Salesforce is deliberating whether it is worth making a lowball offer for Twitter in the coming days based on Twitter's stock performance and any news of other bidders, the people said. Other potential acquirers such as Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) and Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) have backed away from making offers for the Internet company, the people said. There may however be other companies contemplating offers for Twitter whose identity has not yet been reported, some of the sources suggested. The sources asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. Salesforce declined to comment while Twitter, Google and Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters previously reported that Twitter aimed to conclude deliberations about selling itself by Oct. 27, when it reports its third-quarter earnings. Salesforce.com, run by CEO Marc Benioff, is focused on cloud-based sales and marketing software. Unlike Twitter, its main product is aimed at business users, not consumers. Under Salesforce.com, Twitter could become a corporate tool used to power sentiment analysis and nurture customer relationships. A potential acquisition of Twitter has weighed down Salesforce's stock since news broke on Sept. 23 that it was vying for Twitter. Its shares rose as much as 7 percent on Monday after a weekend report by Bloomberg News suggested Salesforce was unlikely to make an offer. Story continues Some analysts and investors have questioned why Salesforce would need to own Twitter, when it already licenses the Twitter "firehose" for its new artificial intelligence platform, Einstein. At Salesforce's annual client conference last week, Benioff said Salesforce considers buying many companies but maintains discipline, and wished Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey "well." These comments tamped out expectations that Salesforce would be an aggressive bidder for Twitter. Since its founding a decade ago, Twitter has struggled to generate revenue growth and profit, despite having some 313 million average monthly active users and a growing presence as a source of news. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York and Liana B. Baker in San Francisco; Editing by David Gregorio) North Greenbush Pitney Bowes, which established a foothold in the Capital Region back in 2007 when it acquired MapInfo Corp., is moving out of the MapInfo building at the Rensselaer Technology Park. But Pitney Bowes, a customer information management company, won't be going very far, choosing to take space down the road inside the tech park at 350 Jordan Road. It'll be at least the third address in the tech park for MapInfo/Pitney Bowes; MapInfo at one time also occupied the building now used by WMHT Educational Telecommunications. At one time, MapInfo was in the Hendrick Hudson building in downtown Troy. "In the coming months we will make extensive renovations at the facility to prepare the space for our operations," Pitney Bowes spokesman John Spadafora said Tuesday. "The new office design will be based on our open, collaborative, workspace environment including technology tools similar to our other recently constructed offices at the headquarters in Stamford, Conn., as well as those in Hatfield in the United Kingdom, New Delhi and Tokyo." Regeneron Pharmaceuticals acquired the 217,000-square-foot MapInfo/Pitney Bowes building at 1 Global View at the tech park earlier this year, paying $17.75 million. lrulison@timesunion.com Albany A long and challenging holiday weekend for New York state Republicans continued on Monday morning with a blistering statement from state Senate Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who said it was "shameful" that the chamber's Republicans continue to support "a proven misogynist like Donald Trump." After Friday's release of 2005 video showing Trump making lewd comments about groping women, Democrats from every corner of the state have been decrying not only the Republican presidential candidate but any member of his party who continues to supports him. "You can't have it both ways it's a black-and-white issue," said Gov. Andrew Cuomo, speaking to reporters Monday after appearing at a Columbus Day parade in New York City. On Sunday, the governor said of Trump, "If you support him, you stand against women." The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tried to localize the controversy with challenges to North Country Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik and 19th Congressional District candidate John Faso. Democratic 19th District candidate Zephyr Teachout released a short video that included clips showing Faso at one point calling for Trump's election, at another time expressing uncertainty on the question of whether he'll vote for the presidential candidate. "My position has been that I support the Republican ticket; I have not endorsed him and I haven't decided who I'm voting for," Faso said in a Monday morning interview with the Times Union. "I'm not voting for Mrs. Clinton." The former state lawmaker said as a husband and father he was "especially appalled" by Trump's 2005 remarks. Asked to explain the difference between supporting the ticket and supporting Trump, Faso said, "He's the nominee of our party, and he was nominated through the nominating process. Right from the get-go, I said I would support the Republican ticket. And I've also made clear my disagreements with him on any number of issues. But I've also said the people in the district get to choose different candidates for different offices, and I'm running for the 19th District." Faso also pointed out that Teachout in a 2015 op-ed criticized Hillary Clinton for "four big corruption problems" all related to big-money donations or fees paid to her or the Clinton Foundation but now supports her. Stefanik wrote on Facebook that Trump's comments were "inappropriate, offensive" and "just wrong." Her campaign did not respond when asked if her support for Trump continued. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, conducted over the weekend and released Monday, showed Democrats overall now have a 7-percentage-point advantage (49-42 percent) on the question of which party voters want to see in control of Congress. That's up from a 3-point advantage for Democrats (48-45 percent) last month. It's the largest advantage for Democrats since the October 2013 government shutdown. Democratic state Senate candidate Jermaine Bagnall-Graham, who is running against Sen. Jim Seward, framed his statement as questioning whether Seward supports Senate Republican Majority Leader John Flanagan, who continues to back Trump even after calling his 2005 comments "deplorable and inexcusable." Democratic Senate candidate Chad Putman, who is seeking to replace outgoing GOP Sen. Hugh Farley, held a press conference Monday calling on Republican Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, his opponent, to disavow Trump. In a statement, Tedisco called Trump's comments "totally unacceptable, wrong, and inappropriate," but said Putman should be held equally accountable for not condemning what the Republican described as Clinton's efforts to attack or delegitimize women who have accused her husband, President Bill Clinton, of sexual assault. Trump, while trailing badly statewide in every reputable poll, leads in some Republican-dominated areas. Thus, GOP candidates must be careful not to alienate their base while simultaneously playing to undecided and more nonpartisan voters. In the 19th District, for example, where Faso led Teachout by a single point at the end of last month, a Time Warner Cable News/Siena College poll showed Trump was leading by 5 points. mhamilton@timesunion.com 518-454-5449 @matt_hamilton10 GREEN ISLAND The village crossroads were closed by a fire that is consuming an auto repair shop during Monday's afternoon rush hour. Firefighters from six departments battled the flames that sent smoke over the village and downtown Troy across the Hudson River. Aerial ladder trucks were pouring water into the two-story garage in an attempt to douse the fire. The blaze drew a large crowd of residents who gathered on both sides of Albany Avenue and lower Hudson Avenue. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Troy Court records contradict a Rensselaer County prosecutor's claim that he was unaware his office had a criminal case involving the son of a key witness against convicted murderer Jacob Heimroth. Assistant District Attorney Andrew Botts signed a March 8 notice informing the attorney for Justin Rist that the office of District Attorney Joel Abelove intended to present evidence to a grand jury in a first-degree robbery case against him, according to court papers reviewed by the Times Union. That goes against what Botts told Rensselaer County Judge Andrew Ceresia on Thursday, when Botts said he did not know of any case against Justin Rist, the son of Laurie Rist, a prosecution witness in the Heimroth case. That day, Heimroth was expected to be sentenced to up to 50 years to life for the bludgeoning killings of Lansingburgh couple Allen and Maria Lockrow. But the sentencing was postponed after Joseph Ahearn, the attorney for Heimroth, asked the judge to dismiss the case against his client, saying prosecutors failed to properly disclose the information about Rist. The judge agreed to hear written arguments, the first of which was filed Tuesday by Ahearn in a stinging attack on the prosecution's case. "The (prosecution's) deliberate suppression of the existence of the Justin Rist prosecution prevented defense counsel from effectively cross-examining the witness regarding any benefit she expected from her testimony," Ahearn stated. "As such, the jury was prevented from thoroughly assessing her credibility due to the (prosecution's) refusal to disclose this exculpatory and/or impeaching information." Ahearn accused Botts of violating the landmark 1963 Supreme Court decision of Brady versus Maryland, which requires prosecutors to disclose to the defense any evidence that could exonerate a defendant. And he further alleged the prosecutor intentionally allowed perjured testimony into the trial from Laurie Rist. Ahearn noted that the witness, the Lockrows' neighbor, testified on Aug. 3 that she witnessed two people outside the Lockrows' trailer on Aug. 20, 2014, the morning of the killings. In prior testimony to a grand jury, Laurie Rist had said she saw only man. She later admitted during the trial that she lied. To salvage their case, prosecutors played a 9-1-1 tape in which she said there were two people running around Allen Lockrow's SUV. "Due to the obvious and dramatic recent fabrication of her trial testimony, defendant submits that the testimony of Laurie Rist was influenced either directly or indirectly by the hope or expectation that her son would receive a benefit from the district attorney, in fact the same assistant district attorney who was assigned to prosecute her son," Ahearn wrote. He asked the judge to consider the possibility that Troy police or prosecutors discussed with Rist the pending prosecution against her son. "At a minimum, Laurie Rist doctored her testimony in an effort to please the People in the hopes of a residual benefit for her son," Ahearn wrote. Jonathan Desso, a spokesman for Abelove, told the Times Union the district attorney "is not going to be commenting on the Heimroth case at this time. Our office policy is to not comment on open cases being prosecuted by our office. I can confirm that the motion was filed this afternoon by the defense, but our office will not be commenting on it." On Thursday, after Ahearn accused prosecutors of violating the Brady decision, Botts told the judge he was unaware of the case against Justin Rist. The judge asked Botts: "So it's your position that if something constitutes Brady material but you didn't personally know about it, you have no obligation to turn it over to the defense?" Botts replied: "Respectfully and in good faith, yes sir, that's my position. I can't turn over what I don't know and I didn't know about this. That's my position." Botts also said, according to Ahearn's motion, "I've never seen this file, touched this file, made any promises to anyone regarding that file." Abelove later told reporters the arrest of Rist's son was "just brought up" in court Thursday. "We take in 1,200 felonies a year. Nobody knew, who was working on this case, if there was another case pending in the office that involved a relative of a witness who testified," Abelove said. "I understand what our obligations are. Obviously we let the court know in good faith that we didn't have (any) idea that there was a relationship being prosecuted in our office and a witness in another case. We'll have to see what the law says and we'll make our arguments based upon that." Abelove also said: "Do we ask witnesses if they have a relative who is being prosecuted? I'll tell you, in my 20 years that's something I don't do as a matter of course to say." If Ceresia determines that Abelove's office engaged in prosecutorial misconduct he could set aside the verdict and order a retrial. Beirut Doctors Without Borders pleaded on Monday for access to treat the wounded in the rebel-held part of Syria's Aleppo as government forces pressed ahead with an offensive that has killed hundreds of people in recent weeks. The international charity, also known by its French acronym MSF, said in a statement that medical workers in Aleppo are exhausted and that the overstretched facilities face an impending fuel shortage. MSF, which supports eight hospitals in Aleppo's besieged eastern quarters, says just 35 doctors remain in the area, serving a population of 275,000. Eastern Aleppo's Health Directorate said the wounded were sleeping outside overcrowded hospitals, waiting for care. The U.N. has warned that the Aleppo bombardment by Syrian and Russian warplanes could leave thousands more dead by the year's end. "Russia and Syria must stop the indiscriminate bombing now and abide by the rules of war to avoid the extreme suffering of the unprotected civilian population," said Pablo Marco, MSF's operations manager for the Middle East. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict through local contacts, reported heavy fighting along the east-west Aleppo front lines. Another activist-run group, the Local Coordination Committees, said rebels were fighting to repel government forces from the city's largest water facility, which serves over a million people. In another besieged area near the capital, Damascus, doctors reported up to two dozen cases of kidney failure that they said resulted from malnutrition. Muhammad Darwish, a local physician, said doctors confirmed renal failure in 12 people in the town of Madaya and were investigating another 12 cases. Government forces have laid siege to Madaya, home to some 40,000 people, since late last year. Last winter, MSF reported at least 16 deaths there resulting from malnutrition and lack of medical care. "We are only eating carbohydrates. We aren't receiving any vitamins or protein," said Darwish. The government has prohibited the U.N. from delivering seeds or dialysis kits to the town, in what the opposition says is a strategy aimed at forcing the town to surrender. The U.N. Security Council is deadlocked over how to respond to the Aleppo crisis, with Russia on Saturday vetoing a French-drafted resolution demanding an immediate halt to Russian and Syrian airstrikes and the rest of the council voting down a Russian resolution calling for the evacuation of opposition fighters. Moscow has been a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the conflict. Russia and Syria's government have both endorsed a proposal by U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura to evacuate al-Qaida-linked militants from east Aleppo while skirting around the reciprocal part of the proposal, to abide by a cease-fire for the besieged area. An official at Syria's Foreign Ministry said the government would ensure the safety of any civilians or militants who desire to leave, saying gunmen could take their personal weapons and relocate to other rebel areas. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with ministry regulations. Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a visit to Turkey on Monday that Moscow and Ankara want to facilitate the delivery of aid to Aleppo, but that Syrian rebels would have to withdraw from a main supply route to ensure the safety of deliveries. He blamed the U.S. for failing to get them to do so, saying "the American side does not want to do that, or is not capable of doing that." Washington Newly leaked emails show consternation among those closest to Hillary Clinton about how Bill Clinton's business dealings might damage his reputation and potentially affect her presidential hopes. The emails, posted Monday by WikiLeaks, also give insight into tension and turmoil within the Clinton Foundation while Clinton was serving as secretary of state. The chief operating officer of the family charity was reported to be threatening suicide over the stress. WikiLeaks began releasing on Friday what it says are years of messages from the accounts of Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta. Podesta has acknowledged his emails were hacked, but warned the messages may have been altered or edited to do political damage to Clinton. It wasn't immediately clear who hacked Podesta's emails, though U.S. intelligence officials last week blamed the Russian government for a series of breaches and leaks. The emails that circulated among Podesta, Chelsea Clinton and former Bill Clinton aide Doug Band detail tensions that simmered inside the Clinton Foundation and appear to have played a role in Band's departure from the charity. Internal concerns among Clinton family intimates about Band and the private corporate advisory firm he co-founded, Teneo Holdings, have been previously detailed in several media. But the new emails provide glimpses of an apparent power struggle between the Clintons' daughter and Band, who worked closely for Bill Clinton for more than a decade after the end of the Clinton administration. In an email exchange from December 2011, Chelsea Clinton tells Podesta and others including Clinton adviser and current Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe that she's increasingly concerned about Teneo. The email includes a forwarded news article that alleges that Bill Clinton had collected $50,000 a month through Teneo from MF Global, the commodities brokerage formerly run by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, while MF Global was preparing to file for bankruptcy. Chelsea Clinton told Podesta and others that two people separately came up to her at a London event for the Clinton Foundation to raise concerns that someone representing Teneo clients had been calling members of the British Parliament "on behalf of President Clinton" without her father's knowledge. Chelsea Clinton said the calls had people in London "making comparisons" between the "profit motivations" of the former president and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Band wrote in an email that Chelsea Clinton seemed more concerned about critical news coverage about MF Global, a derivatives broker, and Band's advisory firm, Teneo, than published reports about Bill Clinton's infidelity. "I realize it is difficult to confront and reason with her but this could go (too) far and then we all will have a real serious set of other problems," Band vented in an exchange sent to Podesta. "I don't deserve this from her and deserve a tad more respect. ... She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues to justify what she's doing because she, as she has said, hasn't found her way and has a lack of focus in her life." The emails reflect the ascendance of Chelsea Clinton as early as 2011 inside the family charity. The younger Clinton was recently was anointed as the Clinton Foundation's future leader if her mother wins the presidency next month. Bill Clinton announced in August that he planned to step down from the charity's board if his wife becomes president. Chelsea Clinton will remain on the organization's board. Bill Clinton explained in a letter to supporters in August that he would resign and stop raising funds for the charity to eliminate "legitimate concerns about potential conflicts of interest." Calls seeking comment from the Clinton Foundation and from Teneo, where Band works, received no response Monday. Also in December 2011, Clinton Foundation chief operating officer Laura Graham contacted Band to complain that stress she blamed on the former president and Chelsea Clinton was causing her to consider suicide. Band wrote that when Graham called him, she was in her car parked near the water with her foot on the gas pedal. He said he dissuaded her from hurting herself. "She called me to tell me the stress of all of this office crap with wjc and cvc as well as that of her family had driven her to the edge and she couldn't take it anymore," Band wrote in an email to Podesta and Cheryl Mills, then Hillary Clinton's chief of staff. Graham later departed the Clinton Foundation, taking a new job with the Empire State Development Corporation. Phone messages left for Graham on Monday received no response. Berlin A Syrian man wanted for allegedly preparing a bombing attack was apprehended by three of his countrymen, who overpowered him, tied him up in their apartment, and then alerted police, authorities said Monday. The overnight arrest of Jaber Albakr ended a nearly two-day nationwide search for the 22-year-old that German authorities launched after finding several pounds of explosives and components hidden inside an apartment in the eastern city of Chemnitz on Saturday. Albakr arrived in Germany amid a flood of 890,000 asylum seekers last year. Saxony criminal police chief Joerg Michaelis said that the three Syrians who captured him recognized the suspect from wanted posters police posted online as part of the manhunt. After taking him to their apartment late Sunday night, two of the Syrians bound and held Albakr while the third brought a mobile phone photo of Albakr to a local police station, leading to the arrest Monday, Michaelis said. Prosecutors and police said Monday that they considered Albakr an extremist with likely links to the Islamic State group. Germany's domestic intelligence agency had been watching him since September and alerted Saxony authorities about his alleged possible plot on Friday, authorities said. When police raided the apartment in the city of Chemnitz where he was thought to be staying on Saturday, Albakr was able to flee. Inside the apartment they found 3.3 pounds of "extremely dangerous explosives" and components, according to federal prosecutors. Criminal police chief Michaelis said that, at this stage of the investigation, "the behavior and actions of the suspect currently speak for an IS context." He didn't elaborate. A security official said there was no indication yet that Albakr was being directed by the Islamic State group, but that investigators still were combing through seized evidence. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and so spoke on condition of anonymity. Police said it was not clear when and how the suspect met up with his three countrymen in Leipzig, about 50 miles from Chemnitz, or if they already knew him. They would not release any further information about the three Syrians who apprehended Albakr. If the signs of his having an extremist background were substantiated, "the people who gave the tip are of course in danger," the police chief said. Federal prosecutors, who handle terrorism investigations in Germany, said in a statement Monday they had no indications that a target already had been chosen for an attack. Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the domestic intelligence agency, later told ARD public broadcaster that their investigation suggests the suspect had "an eye on the Berlin airports" as potential targets. A 33-year-old Syrian at whose Chemnitz apartment police found the hidden explosives was arrested over the weekend and is considered a co-conspirator in the alleged bomb plot, prosecutors said. He was identified only as Khalil A. in keeping with German privacy laws. Albakr's full identity and photograph had been released while he was on the run and being sought. The explosives were similar to the ones used in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris and the March 22 attacks in Brussels. A former Green Beret with three Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts spoke recently at Tinker Air Force Base about surviving catastrophic combat injuries and losing fellow soldiers in battle. Retired Army Capt. Santiago Angel Rodriguez, currently a customer account specialist for the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation in Richmond, Va., spoke to groups across the base as part of Tinkers Integrated Delivery Services storytelling outreach to help build Airman resiliency. The retired Special Forces member spoke about his 11 deployments to Afghanistan, Africa and Iraq. In Iraq, 30 days before the team he commanded was scheduled to leave there, a truck bomb exploded in front of me, Mr. Rodriguez said last month. We got attacked. A car drove in front of our team and broke our security lines. That explosion pushed me a hundred meters back. Out of that I suffered TBI (traumatic brain injury) and a spinal cord injury. Despite his injuries, Mr. Rodriguez was energized by a rush of adrenaline. He fired at the enemy and killed two enemy combatants. After he began turning his attention to the scene of the explosion, he himself was shot. Because I was running out of energy, that pretty much knocked me out completely, Mr. Rodriguez said. That wasnt Mr. Rodriguezs last encounter with major combat injuries. After hospitalization at the Armys Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, he returned to Iraq as the commander of the 242nd Mountain Team. The next attack also happened in convoy. An EFP an explosively formed projectile designed to penetrate armor ripped into the vehicle ahead of him, killing three team members. That attack until this day haunts me, he said, because at first I was blaming myself. I was in the first vehicle and I told myself I didnt even see it. They train us to see something (in combat), be a detective. As years pass by, I started accepting it was not my fault. They were just really good at what they were doing. Mr. Rodriguez was shot again during that attack. He received burns from the blast and more spinal cord injuries. He spent two years in hospitals recovering. He was temporarily physically unable to walk or to speak with his wife and two small children. During that time, he caved down with PTSD (post- traumatic stress disorder), anger and depression, he said. During his presentation, Mr. Rodriguez was engaging and often humorous. His outward appearance doesnt tell the whole story of his continuing struggles. What you guys see is not what I reflect, Mr. Rodriguez said. What is inside me is not reflecting to the outside. Im in pain every day. Im pretty much blind out of my left eye. I dont see nothing out of my left eye anymore. Thats because of the brain swelling back then. On my right side I get unbalanced, but not that much anymore because I go through therapy every other week at the VA hospital. Mr. Rodriguez said his hospital therapy teams pushed him physically and mentally to recover. His wife (they were high school sweethearts) and children ultimately inspired him to heal for them, he said. Out of the hospital, though, Mr. Rodriguez began drinking heavily. I did not want to remember. Thats why I was doing it. I was not confronting myself and the memories that I was having. Mr. Rodriguezs military friends confronted him about his drinking and lack of communication. They urged him to start talking more about his feelings and experiences. He took their advice, recovered and now regularly speaks at colleges, hospitals and military installations about his mental and physical challenges as a former combat soldier. Mr. Rodriguez said his senior noncommissioned officer, who died in battle, inspired him, too. His NCO schooled Mr. Rodriguez every day to learn how to be a better officer. Having survived and having to overcome huge personal obstacles, Mr. Rodriguez said in the back of my mind I was thinking about my senior NCO. What would he tell me? Saturday 8th October is a date that will remain as a highlight for many scouts in North Tipperary Region. Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Venture and Rover Scouts all participated in the receipt of the Tricolour from Private Helen ODwyer, Limerick Barracks, on Saturday last. The occasion was marked by a procession from the Plaza, Main Street, Cashel to the Rock of Cashel via Dominic Street. The procession was led by a lone piper, Billy Bob ODwyer, who piped so beautifully all the way to the Rock followed by the Flag Colour Party from Cashel James Laffey, Bobby Coleman and Tobias Lenehan - who carried the flags with dignity and solemnity. The ceremony was held in the North Transept of the Rock with scouts from Cashel, Clonoulty, Tipperary and Thurles in attendance. Following the Proclamation read by Joseph Kearney, his sister Edel Kearney invited members from each group to receive the flag from Private Helen ODwyer. A Beaver, Cub, and Scout stepped forward to receive the tricolour for each group. Amhran na bhFiann was sung beautifully by Clara May Hinchey. Kay Kearney from Clonoulty thanked everyone for their participation, making special reference to Pauline Ryan from the OPW for her kind assistance in enabling us to hold the ceremony on the Rock and also the staff of the Rock of Cashel for their help and consideration. This was followed by a lovely interpretation of Grace sung once more by Clara. A special thanks to Private Helen ODwyer a native of Cashel who took time from her busy schedule to mark this occasion with dignity. There is much credit due to all who participated. However, special mention must be made of the children. Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Venture and Rover Scouts should be very proud of their participation. As leaders, we are assured of the fact that Scouting in North Tipperary has a bright future in the hands of these young people. The provision of broadband throughout County Tipperary remains a high priority for Tipperary County Council, CEO, Mr Joe MacGrath told elected representatives this week. Council officials attended a meeting with the National Broadband Strategy steeing group recently and pointed out the difficulty with securing broadband in many locations throughout The Premier County, including Thurles town, which had been left out of the MANS rollout a few years ago. Councillor Jim Ryan had questioned the council on their proposals to bring broadband to Thurles, but had been informed by official Mr Ger Lynch that the MANS scheme had run it's course and the focus was now on the National Broadband Plan. Mr MacGrath then informed members that he had attended a meeting in relation to the rollout of the new strategy which will be completed in two lots - Tipperary is included in the southern lost. We had a chance to outline the many concerns which have been aired here in the chamber and in Tipperary in general, and we did that. We would hope to have a presentation for the council on the broadband initiative very soon. It is not lost on the council, the importance of broadband in terms of development of the county and securing employment, Mr MacGrath said. Meanwhile open eir has provided an update on the status of its 400 million investment programme to bring high-speed fibre broadband to communities across county Tipperary. Currently, 43,400 homes and businesses in 37 communities across the county can access high-speed fibre broadband as a result of a major multi-year investment programme by open eir. Significant progress The rollout continues to make significant progress with new areas being connected each month to Irelands largest high-speed open access fibre broadband network. Dromin, Grange, Hollyford and Killenaule are among the latest communities to go live on the open eir network with 33 other locations already connected with speeds of up to 100Mbps including Gortnahoe, Borrisoleigh, Cashel, Holycross and Littleton to name just a few. Building on this, open eir plans to extend its high-speed fibre broadband network with speeds of up to 100Mbps in Ballylooby, Cappawhite, Kilcommon, New Inn, Newcastle and Rearcross by early next year. To date the rollout of high-speed broadband has concentrated mainly in towns and villages in County Tipperary, in recent weeks open eir has commenced a major rollout of high-speed fibre broadband to rural parts of Tipperary. In the next three years this Fibre to the Home broadband rollout programme will deliver world-class broadband speeds of up to 1,000Mbps to over 15,800 homes and businesses across rural areas of Tipperary. Rural townlands that surround areas already connected to high-speed broadband will see open eirs 1,000Mbps high-speed fibre broadband rolled out to them by 2020. Rural townlands of Nenagh, Clonmel, Roscrea, Tipperary and Kilsheelin will have access to the 1,000Mbps service by early next year. Open eir is rolling out almost 1,300 kilometres of fibre broadband in Tipperary direct to peoples homes, using its extensive pole network. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close [October 11, 2016] CallFire's Political Communications Platform Now Optimized by BlazeMeter BlazeMeter, the leader in open source-based continuous performance testing, today announced that CallFire, a voice and text connectivity provider to more than 100,000 worldwide businesses and political organizations, has adopted its solution to maintain optimum platform performance during the final 30 days of the U.S. elections. CallFire's platform contains a wide variety of communications solutions, including voice and text messaging, automated calling, call tracking and interactive voice response (IVR). At any given time, the company must manage thousands of simultaneous calls and messages in order to carry out their customers' marketing, promotional and customer service activities. Volume is especially important to CallFire during an election year, as it is used by several high-profile political candidates and activist groups. To ensure their platform can effectively manage a particularly high volume of traffic, CallFire now utilizes BlazeMeter's continuous performance testing solutions. CallFire works with BlazeMeter to continuously test a variety of traffic scenarios using both the Selenium Webdriver to exercise their website and JMeter to manage their API. With this approach, they can quickly observe the impact of load on a variety of systems, analyzing traffic patterns and system stress through New Relic and Zabbix. BlazeMeter's ability to combine a variety of open-source testing tools and APM (News - Alert) technologies provides a clear picture of the potential traffic impact on performance, helping CallFire alert its DevOps teams when it's time to add capacity. The end result is a development team that puts performance testing at the heart of DevOps and continuous delivery, with clear and consistent insights to keep the platform running smoothly. As a result of BlazeMeter tests, the development team has made several system changes to better handle inbound and outbound volume. In a time when platform performance is especially critical, BlazeMeter is depended upon to ensure system reliability. Due to customer demand and performance testing, the Cloud Call Center application went from handling 300 simultaneous agents, to more than 2,000. "The stakes are raised for us this year, as more business creates a critical need for performance," said Sean Gera, strategic analyst at CallFire. "We have particularly high-profile clientele this year, and we want to keep those cliets for the next election season. Providing high performance is the way to do that." "You never know what's going to happen during a campaign," said Adrian Rodriguez, principal engineer, CallFire. "BlazeMeter revealed things that you wouldn't expect to consume critical system resources. With BlazeMeter, JMeter isn't difficult to adopt, and it keeps our system running smoothly." "The CallFire story is an example of how testing consistently allows DevOps teams to change course and solve hidden problems before they have a critical impact," said Alon Girmonsky, CEO and Founder of BlazeMeter. "Their engineering team is a valuable example of how CD can proactively improve tech performance, making it a key differentiator during a busy and business critical time for their team. With BlazeMeter and JMeter, testing can make a huge business impact." Find out more about how CallFire prepared for the 2016 elections in this case study. For more information on how to improve site performance through continuous performance testing, visit https://blazemeter.com/. About BlazeMeter BlazeMeter ensures delivery of high-performance software by enabling DevOps teams to quickly and easily run open-source based performance tests against any mobile app, website or API at massive scale to validate performance at every stage of software delivery. The rapidly growing BlazeMeter community has more than 100,000 developers and includes prominent global brands such as Adobe (News - Alert), Atlassian, Gap, NBC Universal, Pfizer and Walmart as customers. Founded in 2011, the company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California with Research & Development in Tel Aviv, Israel. For more information, sign up for a free 14-day trial at www.blazemeter.com, visit our blog or find us on Twitter (News - Alert) @BlazeMeter and on LinkedIn. About CallFire CallFire provides user-friendly, intuitive voice and text connectivity products to over 100,000 businesses. The company is dedicated to providing high-availability systems, intuitive user interfaces, furious developer support, and unparalleled customer care. Our customers include small business owners, nonprofits, political groups, insurance agents, and marketers. CallFire is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., with affiliated offices in Jersey City, NJ, and Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005423/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Fitch Rates University of Chicago Medical Center (IL) Series 2016 Rev Bonds 'AA-'; Outlook Stable Fitch Ratings has assigned a 'AA-' rating to the approximately $175 million Illinois Finance Authority revenue bonds series 2016A&B issued on behalf of University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC). In addition, Fitch has affirmed the 'AA-' long-term rating on UCMC's outstanding debt, as listed at the end of the press release. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The series 2016A&B bonds will be fixed rate and bond proceeds will be used to refund the series 2009A&B (partial refunding), 2009C and 2011C bonds. The series 2016A&B bonds are expected to price on Oct. 19. SECURITY Debt payments are secured by a pledge of unrestricted receivables. KEY RATING DRIVERS INTEGRAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY: UCMC plays a fundamental role in the highly integrated clinical and research platform between UCMC and the University of Chicago's (the university; revenue bonds rated 'AA+') Biological Sciences Division, which includes the Pritzker School of Medicine. UCMC has consistently provided transfers to the university to support the academic programs in biology and medicine, which suppresses liquidity growth. SOLID MARKET POSITION IN COMPETITIVE SERVICE AREA: UCMC is among the leading academic medical centers in the U.S. and maintains a strong reputation for clinical excellence in the provision of advanced high-acuity services. Its relationship with the university and focus on research differentiates it in a highly competitive and consolidating market. STRATEGIC GROWTH: UCMC is in the process of growing its network and provider base and various initiatives are underway including partnering and affiliating with community hospitals, expanding its ambulatory presence, and aligning with community physicians. CONSISTENT STRONG PROFITABILITY: Operating cash flow has remained strong driven by good volume growth and continued focus on expenses. Operating EBITDA margin was 14% in fiscal 2016 (June 30 year-end) and 13.1% in fiscal 2015. CONTINUED HEALTHY CAPITAL SPENDING: Strong volume growth and its strategic growth plan results in ongoing capital spending at almost 2x depreciation expense a year. The total 10-year capital plan is $1.56 billion and includes a new and expanded emergency room, the addition of 188 beds when an existing facility (Mitchell Hospital) is renovated and modernized, and growth in outpatient facilities. Only $200 million of the plan will be funded by additional debt and the rest will be from cash flow. DECLINE IN LIQUIDITY: Liquidity has declined at June 30, 2016 due to slow payments from Illinois Medicaid, high capital spending, and increased swap collateral posting. Days cash on hand and cash to debt dropped to 228.9 days and 103.3%, respectively from 305.3 and 131% the prior year. HIGH DEBT BURDEN: UCMC's debt burden is high and most debt metrics compare unfavorably to the 'AA' category medians. RATING SENSITIVITIES CONSISTENT FINANCIAL PROFILE: Fitch expects The University of Chicago Medical Center to maintain its consistent strong operating performance as it executes its strategic growth plans, which will require additional debt and ongoing capital spending. With the softening of liquidity metrics, there is less cushion at the current rating level for a deterioration in operating performance and profitability. CREDIT PROFILE UCMC currently operates 641 beds in three hospitals including the Center for Care and Discovery (CCD) , Bernard A. Mitchell Hospital (adult facility), and Comer Children's Hospital, which are all located in Chicago on the main campus of the university. Total revenue for fiscal 2016 was $1.6 billion. Relationship with the University The 'AA-' rating reflects UCMC's excellence and reputation in advanced high-acuity clinical services, the integral role of UCMC within the university, and its solid financial profile. Located on the main campus of the university, UCMC is the principal teaching affiliate of the university's Pritzker School of Medicine. UCMC provides a comprehensive array of services and its focus and clinical excellence is in quaternary care. The university is the sole corporate member of UCMC. Strategic Growth UCMC's strategic growth plans include growing its geographic presence and establishing an ambulatory and community physician affiliation strategy. UCMC finalized the merger with Ingalls Health System (Ingalls) and UCMC is now the sole corporate member of Ingalls effective Sept. 30, 2016. Ingalls is a community hospital in south suburban Chicago who was looking for a partner. Ingalls has a strong balance sheet but weak operating performance and its debt will remain separately obligated. UCMC has created a new organizational structure as it expands regionally and a new division, Community Health and Hospital Division (CHHD), was created. CHHD has a separate nine-member board (five from UCMC and four from Ingalls). UCMC has joint ventures with other community hospitals in specific service lines, such as cancer with Silver Cross. These relationships continue to expand and a letter of intent was signed with Little Company of Mary related to a similar structure. The Silver Cross joint venture has been very successful with volume growth exceeding projections and the ability to provide care locally and in a lower cost setting. Historically, UCMC's medical staff was all faculty physicians. Recently, UCMC formed a clinically integrated network (University of Chicago Medicine Care Network) to align with community physicians. The University of Chicago Medicine Care Network will include employed and affiliated non-faculty physicians. This physician base will be key to its ambulatory growth strategy, and Fitch will monitor the growth and impact on financial performance. UCMC has plans to grow its ambulatory presence and add multispecialty outpatient clinics in Orland Park and South Loop, which are expected to be staffed by the faculty and University of Chicago Medicine Care Network physicians. These clinics are expected to open in late 2016. Strong Profitability and Volume Growth Profitability has been consistently strong and aided by good volume growth and continued focus on lean initiatives. Multiple initiatives are underway regarding supply chain, pharmacy operations, lab operations and labor productivity. UCMC's operating margin was 6.6% in fiscal 2016 compared to 5.5% in fiscal 2015, 4.8% in fiscal 2014, and 5.9% in fiscal 2013. UCMC has a financial target of maintaining operating margins above 4.5%. Admissions have increased at a CAGR of 6.2% from FY 2011-2015 compared to a decline in the market of 2.1% over the same time period. Volume growth has also been strong in key specialty service lines. The growth has been due to physician relationships, better throughput in the emergency department, and added capacity (additional 49 beds since fiscal 2013). Ongoing Capital Spending UCMC completed a new hospital pavilion project (CCD) that opened in February 2013 and cost $700 million. The CCD was initially expected to move patient care out of the older hospital (Mitchell); however, due to capacity constraints, UCMC received approval to add back a net of 188 beds at Mitchell. Mitchell will need to be renovated and modernized and this will be done over a four- to five-year period at a cost of $187 million. Management also expects to consolidate cancer services at Mitchell. Another major project is a new and expanded emergency department, which is expected to open by early 2018. The cost of the ER is $36 million, and UCMC is aso applying for Level I trauma designation. The total 10-year capital plan is $1.52 billion. Since the majority of the plan will be funded from cash flow, sustaining strong operating cash flow will be key to maintaining the rating. UCMC expects to issue $200 million of additional debt to fund a portion of the capital plan; however, this is expected to be issued over the next four to five years, which Fitch views favorably given UCMC's current high debt burden. Of the $200 million, $36 million is expected to be issued within the next year. Pressured Liquidity Unrestricted cash and investments totaled $892 million at June 30, 2016 compared to $1.15 billion at June 30, 2015. The decline reflects higher capital spending, continued slow payments from the State of Illinois on Medicaid receivables, and swap collateral posting. At June 30, 2016, UCMC was posting $36.7 million in collateral and days in AR have increased 16 days (net accounts receivable totaled $288.4 million from $209.7 million the prior year). Capital spending was funded from cash flow and totaled $230.7 million (2.6x depreciation expense) in fiscal 2016 compared to $109.5 million (1.3x depreciation expense) in fiscal 2015. Liquidity growth is also pressured due to ongoing transfers to the university in support of the School of Medicine, and transfers have been around $70 million a year the last few years. High Debt Burden A credit concern is UCMC's above-average debt burden. Current MADS is $52.7 million and estimated to drop to $51 million with the refinancing. Pro forma MADS accounted for 3.2% of total revenue in fiscal 2016, which has declined from 4% in fiscal 2012 but compares unfavorably to the 'AA' category median of 2.2%. Debt service coverage calculations do not include the transfers to the university, and debt service coverage has been adequate at 4.8x in fiscal 2016, 5.2x in fiscal 2015 and 4.5x in fiscal 2014 (on pro forma MADS). Somewhat Aggressive Debt Portfolio Total outstanding debt at June 30, 2016 was $853 million with 44% underlying fixed-rate and 56% underlying variable-rate ($325 million variable-rate demand bonds, $74 million indexed floating direct bank loan, $76 million commercial paper). UCMC's letter of credit exposure is diversified among five banks, and the expiration dates range from 2017 to 2021. UCMC's cash-to-putable debt is solid at 2.2x. The covenants under the bank and direct bank loan agreements are more restrictive than the master trust indenture covenants. UCMC has a $325 million floating-to-fixed rate swap with JPMorgan and Wells Fargo (News - Alert). Including the swaps, UCMC's debt mix is 83% fixed rate. Collateral posting requirements are at a $50 million threshold for the JPMorgan swap at UCMC's current rating level, and the Wells Fargo swap does not have collateral posting requirements unless UCMC's rating is downgraded to 'A+' or lower. As of June 30, 2016, UCMC was posting $36.7 million of collateral related to the JPMorgan swap. Disclosure UCMC covenants to provide annual audited financials within 150 days of fiscal year end and unaudited quarterly financials for the first three fiscal quarters within 60 days of quarter end. Outstanding Debt: --$64,615,000 Illinois Finance Authority (IL) (University of Chicago Medical Center) revenue bonds series 2012A --$90,000,000 Illinois Finance Authority (IL) (University of Chicago Medical Center) revenue bonds series 2011C --$46,250,000 Illinois Finance Authority (IL) (University of Chicago Medical Center) variable-rate demand revenue bonds series 2011B (LOC: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation) University of Chicago Medical Center bank bonds series 2011B --$46,250,000 Illinois Finance Authority (IL) (University of Chicago Medical Center) variable-rate demand revenue bonds series 2011A (LOC: Bank of America, N.A.) --$46,250,000 Illinois Finance Authority (IL) (University of Chicago Medical Center) variable-rate demand revenue bonds series 2010B (LOC: Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.) --$46,250,000 Illinois Finance Authority (IL) (University of Chicago Medical Center) variable-rate demand revenue bonds series 2010A (LOC: Bank of America, N.A.) --$70,000,000 Illinois Finance Authority (IL) (University of Chicago Medical Center) variable-rate demand revenue bonds series 2009 D-1, D-2 (LOC: PNC (News - Alert) Bank) University of Chicago Medical Center bank bonds series 2009D-1, D-2 --$70,000,000 Illinois Finance Authority (IL) (University of Chicago Medical Center) variable-rate demand revenue bonds series 2009 E-1 and E-2 (LOC: Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.) --$60,900,000 Illinois Finance Authority (IL) (University of Chicago Medical Center) revenue bonds series 2009C --$128,890,000 Illinois Finance Authority (IL) (University of Chicago Medical Center) revenue refunding bonds series 2009A&B Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Applicable Criteria Revenue-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 16 Jun 2014) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/750012 U.S. Nonprofit Hospitals and Health Systems Rating Criteria (pub. 09 Jun 2015) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/866807 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1012964 Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1012964 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/regulatory ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. 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Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006667/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Infoblox to Host Security and Cloud Road Tour 2016 across Middle East, Turkey and Africa in November and December DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, 12th October, 2016 Infoblox Inc., the automated network control company, today announced that it will host a 10-city tour throughout Middle East, Turkey and Africa. The road show, focused on on cloud computing and security, with the theme Automate. Protect. Optimize, will be kicking off on November 1st in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event in Dubai will be held on November 7th at the Burj Al Arab hotel, and the tour will conclude in Ankara, Turkey on December 8th. Cherif Sleiman, Managing Director, Middle East and Africa at Infoblox says, The network is the connective tissue of todays IT infrastructure and is critical to the success of any organization more essential and also more vulnerable than ever. Yet managing and securing them is getting harder as networks become more expansive and more complex. Not only is the threat landscape constantly changing, but the the political turmoil in certain countries in our region, has introduced the dimension of cyber warfare into the calculus of building and managing every network. We are dedicated to helping organizations simplify their network operations, easily manage complexity and protect against the rising flood of malware and cyber attacks. Infobloxs solutions are focused on helping our customers manage diverse cloud environements by creating a single point of control across traditional data centres, public and private cloud deployments by establishing a single point of enforcement for security and compliance policies. Infoblox delivers actionable insights for making networks more reliable, efficient, and secure. The keynote session at these events will discuss the IT landscape in todays market and strategies for success. Senior executives and experts from Infoblox and our key partners will provide local insight into key Information Technology (IT) proirities including next generation data centre solutions, DNS security,the importance of visibility solutions coupled with actionable network intelligence, and discuss strategies for network policy compliance. Attendees will have the opportunity to view lieve demos and participate in interactive whiteboard sessions. To find out more about the complimentary seminar series and to register to attend, please visit: http://www.infobloxmea.com/roadtour/ As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. If you feel this entry is of inferior quality or wish to report it for some reason, please forward the URL to "webedit [AT] tmcnet [DOT] com" with your comments. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Newegg Canada Celebrates 7th Anniversary Newegg, the top tech-focused e-retailer in North America, celebrates the 7th anniversary of Newegg Canada this October. Over the past seven years, the company has greatly increased its presence in Canada. And for the last four years, Newegg Canada has enjoyed double-digit growth. Newegg now operates distribution facilities in the Vancouver and Toronto areas, with the Toronto facility featuring Newegg Canada's first Hybrid Centre. "Our Canadian operation is not only a sizeable component of our North American business, but also serves as the blueprint for our international growth plans," said Merle McIntosh, Newegg SVP of Sales& Marketing. "We're committed to being the best place for Canadian customers to get tech." To commemorate its 7th anniversary, Newegg Canada kicks off a site-wide promotion on Tuesday, October 11. The promotion - which runs through Monday, October 17 - will feature deep discounts across all product categories. Also starting October 11, Canadian customers will be eligible for the Checkout with Masterpass promotion, which unlocks a $25 discount on qualifying orders exceeding $200 when checking out with Masterpass. The Checkout with Masterpass promotion runs through October 31, or until promotional funds are depleted. Canadian customers will also be eligible to enter the Newegg Canada 7th Anniversary Sweepstakes with a total prize package valued at more than $4,000. Join our Facebook community to be notified of sweepstakes details and a chance to win. For more information visit http://www.newegg.ca. About Newegg Inc. Newegg Inc. is the leading electronics-focused e-retailer in the United States. It owns and operates Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com) which was founded in 2001 and regularly earns industry-leading customer service ratings. The award-winning website has more than 28 million registered users and offers customers a comprehensive selection of the latest consumer electronics products, detailed product descriptions and images, as well as how-to information and customer reviews. Using the site's online tech community, customers have the opportunity to interact with other computer, gaming and consumer electronics enthusiasts. Newegg Inc. is headquartered in City of Industry, California. The Newegg Hybrid Centers are located in City of Industry, CA (News - Alert) and Richmond Hill, Ontario. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005763/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Position Imaging, Inc. to Introduce Smart Package Room Solution Position Imaging, Inc. announced today that it will be introducing its new Smart Package Room solution at the National Multifamily Housing Council OPTECH Conference and Exhibition in Dallas November 14, 2016. Although the company has already initiated installations with some of the biggest REITs in the US, this will be the first time the company publicly demonstrates this new solution and offers the system for sale to the marketplace. "We saw the OPTECH Conference as the right place to formally introduce our new Smart Package Room solution. We are excited to show the market what is now possible from this new innovation. Package management will never be the same." says Ned Hill, CEO of Position Imaging. Position Imaging's Smart Package Room solution enables a more hand's off approach for building staff and provides more pickup flexibility for residents. Much like the self-checkout options at retail stores, this new solution puts the power of pickup in the residents' hands and provides a simple intallation option for existing or new rooms that is both cost effective and scalable. To use the new package room, couriers simply scan packages and place in the room. As packages are scanned, residents get a pin letting them know their package was delivered. When residents arrive at the package room, they input their pin to get access to the secure room where a monitor and light guidance shows the exact location of their package. No more wasting time hunting for packages or risking loss and damage. It will drastically improve how packages are delivered and picked up in the future. About Position Imaging Position Imaging is a technology company focused on innovations to improve the logistics industry. The company opened its research lab in Portsmouth, NH in 2006 and has been creating the most accurate and novel tracking technologies in the world. The Smart Package Room solution was developed by Position Imaging to improve the logistics and package delivery industry. It specializes in simple, intuitive interactive technology that allows secure package tracking, location, and notification of delivery to residents. It currently has installed rooms in the Northeast and has offices in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Denver, Colorado. For more information, please visit www.smartpackageroom.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005285/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Terra Bella and Spaceflight Industries Sign Agreement for Falcon 9 Launch for Small Imaging Satellites Spaceflight Industries, a next-generation space company enabling access to space and redefining global intelligence, announced today that Terra Bella has signed an agreement with its launch services entity, Spaceflight, for a SpaceX (News - Alert) Falcon 9 launch of Terra Bella SkySats. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005417/en/ Terra Bella has signed an agreement with Spaceflight for a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of Terra Bella SkySats. (Photo: Business Wire) Trra Bella will be the co-lead on Spaceflight's SSO-A dedicated rideshare mission scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in late 2017. The SSO-A mission will transport both government and commercial microsats and cubesats, and is currently at 90 percent capacity with more than 20 payloads from 10 countries manifested aboard the rocket. Confirmed spacecraft include: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's (KAIST) NEXTSat-1 satellite, conducting scientific missions such as star formation and space storm measurements and also technology demonstration in space Iceye's innovative SAR (synthetic aperture radar) micro-satellite for all condition imaging HawkEye 360's first three formation-flying satellites to detect, characterize, and geolocate various RF signals worldwide "We're seeing a tide shift in the industry's expectation for routine, reliable and affordable access to space," said Curt Blake (News - Alert), president of Spaceflight. "The willingness of prominent commercial organizations to join forces for the advancement of global initiatives is very encouraging to the smallsat community, and to society as a whole." Aligning customers' needs with available capacity and schedule, Spaceflight provides integrated launch services, including mission management, support hardware, payload integration and orbital deployment. Spaceflight has negotiated the launch of nearly 120 satellites with contracts to deploy more than 150 through 2018. The company is planning its largest launch - 89 spacecraft - to be deployed by its Sherpa tug from a Falcon 9 in 2017. About Spaceflight Spaceflight is revolutionizing the business of spaceflight by delivering a new model for accessing space. A comprehensive launch services and mission management provider, the company provides a straightforward and cost-effective suite of products and services including state-of-the-art satellite infrastructure, rideshare launch offerings, and global communications networks that enable commercial and government entities to achieve their mission goals, on time and on budget. A service offering of Spaceflight Industries in Seattle, Washington, Spaceflight provides its services through a global network of partners, ground stations and launch vehicle providers. For more information, visit www.spaceflight.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005417/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] UMC's Fab 8A Earns MFCA Verification in Accordance with ISO 14051 for Green Management United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC; TWSE: 2303) ("UMC"), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that its Hsinchu-based Fab 8A has gained Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) verification in accordance with ISO 14051 by DNV GL, becoming the first MFCA verified semiconductor fab in Taiwan. This achievement demonstrates UMC's success in green management, as the MFCA assessment method exposes the profits hidden in waste and stock and reveals opportunities for waste reduction compared to traditional cost accounting. UMC Vice President M.L. Liao said, "As a multinational corporate leader, UMC has been following the heated topics regarding worldwide environmental changes. To contribute our part as a responsible global organization, UMC completed product carbon and water footprint assessments and implemented carbon-reduction efforts. We followed these measures by enhancing our upstream control of resources through the implementation of MFCA to minimize loss during manufacturing and completed verification ahead of all others in Taiwan. The new insights gained help us save on raw material and waste treatment costs. For example, using water as a replacement at the soft lithography source can potentially save UMC over NT$20 million per year. This represents a win-win outcome in economic and environmental terms and demonstrates our resolve to care for the environment through concrete action, as pledged in our CSR (News - Alert) mission." Originating from Germany in the mid-1990s, MFCAfocuses on the assessment of the input and output of environment resources, and emphasizes the importance of material losses in the accounting system with the objective of increasing resource production, as well as providing a solution to business profits and current ecological and environmental issues. The assessment system was adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as ISO 14051. About UMC UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that provides advanced IC production for applications spanning every major sector of the electronics industry. UMC's robust foundry solutions enable chip designers to leverage the company's sophisticated technology and manufacturing, which include volume production 28nm gate-last High-K/Metal Gate technology, ultra-low power platform processes specifically engineered for Internet of Things (IoT) applications and the automotive industry's highest-rated AEC-Q100 Grade-0 manufacturing capabilities for production of ICs found in cars. UMC's 10 wafer fabs are strategically located throughout Asia and are able to produce over 500,000 wafers per month. The company employs more than 17,000 people worldwide, with offices in Taiwan, mainland China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com. Note from UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward-looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws, including statements about introduction of new services and technologies, future outsourcing, competition, wafer capacity, business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially from these statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and demand for products from UMC; and technological and development risks. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in UMC's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. UMC does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161010006224/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Wapack Labs Teams with the VAMC, Southern NH University and Digimind to Re-Train Returning Veterans into Next Generation Cyber Pros NEW BOSTON, N.H., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Wapack Labs, Digimind , Southern New Hampshire University, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) in Manchester, NH team up to turn returning veterans into qualified cyber professionals. There are roughly 290,000 currently advertised information security jobs today and while the number of training programs is growing, Wapack Labs believes that not everyone needs a four-year degree to fill the void. So we offer paid internships through Manchester's VAMC Occupational Therapy office for honorably discharged or medically retired returning veterans, and experiential learning internships for Southern NH University veteran students. We begin their program by teaching them to use Digimind social media tools to spot physical threats in cyberspace. The vets are taught to be cyber analysts through a series of increasingly more complex cyber skills reinforced through work. The entire program takes approximately a year. When the veteran interns meet Cyber Analyst requirements, Wapack Labs has several Fortune 500 companies and government organizations who have agreed to interview them for available positions. Veteran interns used Digimind tools to support the Cleveland Police Department's efforts before, and during the Republican National Convention, major sponsors onsite at the Rio Olympics and the team "Team Jeagar" has authored roughly 150 intelligence reports since inception in May. Wapack Labs is using Digimind 's services to train cyber analysts with real time sourced data. Jeff Stutzman, CEO and a U.S. Navy veteran stated, "At Wapack Labs, we are proud to helpthese guys learn cyber skills that will place them in an ever growing industry. The majority of our employees are US Military veterans and National Guard members. We feel it is of the utmost importance to help our veterans." "Digimind is proud to be a part of this effort by Wapack Labs to train and employ veterans. Beyond the clear benefit to the veterans as individuals, the fact that this software is being to used to keep citizens of multiple countries more secure is an additional boon. Digimind hopes to continue to partner with Wapack Labs, contribute to this program, and be a part of similar programs in the future," said Paul Vivant, CEO of Digimind. The common sense approach and wide array of metrics regarding social media collection offered by Digimind has proven very valuable to Wapack Lab's collection mission. Digimind was instrumental in Wapack Lab's support of law enforcement collection efforts during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland OH. Following the RNC, Digimind services were used in a collection program in support of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Training new analysts using Digimind's "Influencer" metrics has helped Wapack Lab's interns identify social media individuals in active support of event security planning and with targeting potential bad actors and their attacks against Wapack Labs clients. About Wapack Labs Wapack Labs, located in New Boston, NH is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence organization supporting the Red Sky Alliance, the FS-ISAC, and individual organizations by offering expert level targeted intelligence analysis answering some of the hardest questions in Cyber. Wapack Labs' engineers, researchers, and analysts design and deliver transformational cyber-security analysis tools that fuse open source and proprietary information, using deep analysis techniques and visualization. Information derived from these tools and techniques serve as the foundation of Wapack Labs' information reporting to the cyber-security teams of its customers and industry partners located around the world. About Digimind Digimind is the global social media monitoring and competitive intelligence company that provides businesses with unrivaled insights into their true standing in the market. Digimind's proven intelligence technology has provided Fortune 500 brands around the world with critical information for their business for more than 17 years. Profitable since its founding, Digimind has a 92 percent customer retention rate and serves its clients out of its offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. For more information, please visit Digimind at www.digimind.com. For More Information Contact: Jim McKee, CFO 314-422-8185 [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wapack-labs-teams-with-the-vamc-southern-nh-university-and-digimind-to-re-train-returning-veterans-into-next-generation-cyber-pros-300341492.html SOURCE Wapack Labs [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 10, 2016] Grubhub To Announce Third Quarter 2016 Financial Results On Oct. 26, 2016 CHICAGO, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Grubhub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB), the nation's leading online and mobile food-ordering and delivery platform, today announced that it will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter financial results on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016, at 9 a.m. Central Daylight Time, following the release of the Company's financial results. CEO Matt Maloney and CFO Adam DeWitt will host the webcast. The live webcast of the conference call will be available on the investor relations section of the Grubhub website at http://investors.grubhub.com/. Following completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available on the website. About Grubhub Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) is the nation's leading online and mobile food-ordering company. Dedicated to moving eating forward and connecting diners with the food they love from their favorite local restaurants, the Company's platforms and services strive to elevate food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms and an improved delivery experience. Grubhub is proud to work with more than 45,000 restaurant partners in over 1,100 U.S. cities and London . The Grubhub portfolio of brands includes Grubhub, Seamless, AllMenus, MenuPages, LAbite, Restaurants on the Run, DiningIn and Delivered Dish. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151014/276973LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/grubhub-to-announce-third-quarter-2016-financial-results-on-oct-26-2016-300341961.html SOURCE Grubhub Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 10, 2016] Latin America - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband Forecasts LONDON, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Internet the main real growth area in Latin America for 2016 Latin America provides significant geographic and practical opportunities as well as difficulties for telcos, governments and telecom regulators. The diversity of the markets poses its own challenges in terms of maturity, the physical development of networks, economic prosperity and the disposable income available to consumers. In addition there are considerations related to the business environment in the region, particularly in relation to the ease of going business, investment opportunities and the level of sympathy provided by local regulatory regimes. Investment opportunities abound in the Latin American region, though conditions vary significantly between countries. Some governments retain a protective stance towards the incumbent players, which limits the opportunities for competitors in practice. Mexico a showcase for regulatory progress Mexico has been at the forefront in this regard in recent years, having passed legislation in late 2013 aimed at reforming its over-concentrated market and encouraging the ability of smaller players to compete against the incumbents Telmex and Telcel. This process is showing dividends into 2016, particularly with the greater involvement of the other key market players Telefonica and AT&T. Pay TV gaining strength Across the region, though, the key developments into 2016 will focus on pay TV, where developments have been rapid in recent year, as also in mobile broadband. These two segments are feeding on the success of satellite and cable TV as well as the proliferation of videostreaming services. These have been able to expand as a result of upgraded fixed-line infrastructure. Mobile broadband has similarly benefitted from operator investments in mobile networks and technologies, particularly with LTE which in early 2016 is commonly providing population coverage of up to 70%. Within the next few years LTE coverage will be far more extensive, and some operators will begin to close down their 2G infrastructure to concentrate on LTE and on upcoming 5G technologies. FttP networks on the rise Fibre broadband is also a strong area for growth in coming years. Much of the stimulus for investment is provided by competitive pressure, as well as encouragement from governments which, like their European and North American counterparts, have instituted plans to built national broadband networks. These are aimed at closing the digital divide between urban and rural areas, and at enabling all citizens to make greater use of the socio-economic benefits provided by access to fast broadband infrastructure. Investments supporting bundled services Examples of government and telco investment schemes in the region abound. America Movil, to cite one case, has in train a $50 billion five-year investment program to deploy a 500,000km FttP network across its Latin American markets. The move was in part prompted by the arrival of AT&T into its home Mexican market. For its part, AT&T, which recently acquired two Mexican mobile network operators as well as the regional pay TV operator DirecTV, has ambitions to build up a North American Mobile Service area covering more than 400 million people in Mexico and the US. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/1119438/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/latin-america---telecoms-mobile-and-broadband-forecasts-300342103.html SOURCE ReportBuyer [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 10, 2016] Making a positive impact on the state's economy and communities - Church Mutual named a Wisconsin 75 top private company Church Mutual Insurance Company has been named to the prestigious Wisconsin 75 list of top private companies for 2016 by Deloitte (News - Alert) US. The annual Wisconsin 75 ranking and recognition program showcases the economic contributions of the state's largest privately and closely held companies, which provide "a stable foundation during challenging times" and "an engine for growth and innovation," according to Deloitte. Nominees for each year's Wisconsin 75 awards must be headquartered in Wisconsin, be privately or closely held and produce at least $50 million in annual sales. Winners were recognized by Deloitte in a celebration event held at Discovery World in Milwaukee and attended by some of the state's most prominent business leaders. "Being named a Wisconsin 75 company highlights everything we are doing right," said Church Mutual's President and CEO Rich Poirier. "We are pleased and proud to be recognized as a company that is growing our business through product innovation and excellent customer service - and for having a positive effect on communities in Central Wisconsin and elsewhere. This is what it means to be committed to the greater good in every aspect of our business." "The ocus on revenue highlights the financial impact that private business has on the state," said Kevin Root, Church Mutual's senior vice president of operations, "but annual sales is only part of the story. Creating jobs, putting people to work and purchasing goods and services from other local businesses all increase a company's net impact. Our deep involvement in Merrill strengthens the entire area as well as the state, in multiple direct and indirect ways." Church Mutual has been based in Merrill, Wis., since it was founded in 1897. The company employs more than 800 in Wisconsin. Another 250 employees, primarily sales representatives and risk control professionals, are located elsewhere throughout the country. Angela Bailey, vice president of human resources for Church Mutual, said, "All of our employees can be proud of this acknowledgement. We would not have achieved this honor without their hard work and commitment to our customers. Our company's ability to attract and hire the best talent is due in large part to the exceptional working environment we have created here and the many amenities provided by the surrounding community. We are an integral part of Merrill, as well as the entire state of Wisconsin. We also play an important role in the many communities across the United States where our employees live and work." About Church Mutual Insurance Company Church Mutual Insurance Company, founded in 1897, offers specialized insurance for religious organizations of all denominations, as well as schools, camps, denominational offices and senior living facilities. Church Mutual markets most lines of commercial property and liability insurance, including multi-peril, workers' compensation and commercial auto insurance. Church Mutual holds the following honors: A.M. Best Company "A (Excellent)" rating 2016 Ward's 50 Top Performing Property and Casualty Insurers BenchmarkPortal (News - Alert) Top 10 National Customer Service Center View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161010006183/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 10, 2016] Samsung Announces Important Update on the Galaxy Note7 Devices MISSISSAUGA, ON, Oct. 10, 2016 /CNW/ - Samsung is working globally with relevant regulatory bodies to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note7. Because consumers' safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 while the investigation is taking place. At Samsung Canada we remain committed to working diligently with regulatory authorities, carriers and our retail partners to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation. Canadian consumers with either an original Galaxy Note7 or replacementGalaxy Note7 device should power down and stop using the device. Details of the remedies available for Note7 customers, which will include a full refund at their place of purchase, will be announced shortly. For more information, Canadian consumers should contact 1-800-SAMSUNG. About Samsung Electronics Canada, Inc. Samsung Electronics Canada inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances and printers. In 2015, Samsung was ranked one of the top 10 most influential brands in Canada, based on a study by Ipsos Reid. Committed to helping Canadians live connected and make a difference, its Samsung Hope for Children corporate giving program supports children's education, sustainability and health-related issues in communities across the country. To discover more, please visit http://www.samsung.com/ca. SOURCE Samsung Electronics Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 10, 2016] DigitalStudio Co., Ltd. Launches Discovery Japan Mall - A Cross-border E-commerce Mall TOKYO, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 6, 2016, DigitalStudio Co., Ltd. opened Discovery Japan Mall, a cross-border e-commerce website selling Japanese products. https://shop.discovery-japan.me Discovery Japan Mall is a general mall that specializes in Japanese brand products. At the initial opening, the catalog includes mainly toys, fishing gear, cosmetics, food, watches, and fashion. Approximately 100 Japanese companies have opened stores with Discovery Japan Mall, and about 15,000 Japanese brand goods can be purchased. Shipping is available to more than 120 countries and regions and as part of the opening campaign, free international shipping is offered for orders over JPY 20,000 (RMB1,300/HKD1,500/NT$6,000) until the end of October. In addition to credit cards, the mall supports payment by PayPal, UnionPay, AliPay, and WeChat, and the website is available in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Korean and Thai. Purchases can be made esily using a smartphone, and because all orders include tracking and shipping insurance, delivery from Japan is safe and reliable, so buyers can make purchases with confidence from the website. The mall is also planning to sell handmade iPad and MacBook cases using Nishijin-ori fabric, which is used to make Japanese kimonos, and there are future plans to lease stores to unique makers of handmade goods, in particular those who use advanced Japanese embroidery technology to make goods from kimonos, whose specialty is "Wafu" design that conjures up images of Japan. Message from company representative Norio Itabashi Japan is said to be the world's largest local market. With their advanced technology and superior craftsmanship, there a lot of hidden unique Japanese products that do not reach the overseas market. Discovery Japan Mall is coming together with craftsmen and the manufacturers of these products to sell Japan's unique products through its website. We will increase the number of stores, with a target of 30,000 products by the end of 2016, and 100,000 in the 2017 fiscal year. About DigitalStudio Co., Ltd. - Bringing Japan to the world - DigitalStudio was established in 2003 and is based in Roppongi, Minato Ward, Tokyo. Our company has a dream. Craftsmen put their heart into the products they make, and while these are the regular things we take for granted as we use and enjoy them - things like fashion, anime, buildings, clothing, food, and toys - Japanese products are particularly renowned worldwide. Whether it's toys or food, you can't help feeling "This is amazing!" as your heart skips a beat and you break into a smile. In this way, Japanese products bring a "new purpose in life" and "richness" to people's lives. Wouldn't it be great to bring this to the world? At our company, by "continuing to bring Japan to the world," we want to enrich as many people's hearts as possible, and that idea embodies our dream. DigitalStudio Co., Ltd http://www.ds-style.com 3-16-35 East Roppongi BLD 7F Roppongi Minato Ward Tokyo Japan 106-0032 Email: [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161006/0861610318 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 10, 2016] OnApp v5.1 Introduces Simple, Intuitive Container Hosting for Cloud Service Providers and Enterprises LONDON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OnApp has released v5.1 of OnApp Cloud, the leading cloud management solution for telcos, hosting companies and other service providers. As well as a range of improvements to OnApp's core cloud management capabilities, OnApp v5.1 introduces a new beta feature - Container Servers - which pave the way for a modern approach to containerized hosting, using technologies such as Docker, in public and private clouds. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150723/240725LOGO ) Container Servers share the same intuitive provisioning, management, failover and metering of standard OnApp virtual servers, but are based on a CoreOS template that provides the framework for cloud providers to deploy Docker and Kubernetes using OnApp's market-leading contrl panel. The beta of Container Servers includes full container customization via CoreOS's Cloud-Config tool. Ditlev Bredahl, CEO of OnApp, said: "We're introducing containers, OnApp style, to meet the demand of DevOps users for Docker - but deployed, metered and managed like everything else in the OnApp platform, in an easy and intuitive way. Most cloud providers are still looking for a good container use case: we're aiming to make Docker deployment as simple and powerful as other cloud products you can provision with OnApp, and with this first step we're looking forward to seeing how the global OnApp community puts it to use." Container Servers are a beta feature in OnApp v5.1. Other features include: Usage trend reporting: invaluable for identifying customers putting heavy demands on storage, RAM or other critical resources. vCloud Director enhancements: OnApp v5.1 adds new virtual server/vApp configuration options; the ability to hot configure CPU and RAM within the OnApp UI; the ability to edit network pools within resource pools; and new edge gateway configuration options within vCD orchestration models. "Email-as-a-Service" for Application Servers: the OnApp cloud platform can automatically provision hundreds of applications along with a virtual server, which simplifies SaaS, PaaS and DBaaS. With OnApp v5.1, users can also create, manage and delete accounts for email applications through the OnApp control panel. OnApp v5.1 is available now as a free upgrade to existing OnApp clients, and via a range of starter, professional and enterprise packages for new customers. More information is available at http://onapp.com/v5-1 For the full text of this release, visit: http://onapp.com/2016/10/11/onapp-v5-1-intuitive-container-hosting-for-cloud-service-providers-and-enterprises [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 10, 2016] Palo Alto Networks Teams Up with Cyber Security Agency of Singapore to Strengthen the Nation's Cyber Defense - Provides CSA the intelligence on sophisticated cyberthreats - Introduces its first education drive at GovWare, developed in conjunction with the CSA - Appoints first APAC representative to the Palo Alto Networks Public Sector Advisory Council SINGAPORE, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW), the next-generation security company, today signed a Memorandum of Collaboration with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) at the inaugural Singapore International Cyber Week 2016 (SICW). The SICW is built around the annual GovernmentWare (GovWare) cyber conference and exhibition, currently taking place at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160712/388902LOGO The collaboration will enable the exchange of ideas, insights and expertise on cybersecurity between Palo Alto Networks and the Singapore Government. This will entail sharing of threat intelligence, industry education and national capability building, to help strengthen Singapore's cybersecurity posture. Through the collaboration agreement, Palo Alto Networks and the CSA will share threat information that will be used as a basis to help develop an educational resource for outreach, training and awareness on cybersecurity and to ultimately help boost Singapore's national cyber defence. To underscore its commitment to building a stronger security foundation in Singapore and the region, Palo Alto Networks today also announced the appointment of Mr. Khoo Boon Hui as the first Asia Pacific council member of the Palo Alto Networks Public Sector Advisory Council (PSAC). The council, comprised of elite, retired military and civilian officers, advises Palo Alto Networks on the cybersecurity challenges and technology needs of the orld's governments, aimed at improving cybersecurity practices adopted by government institutions. Mr. Khoo joins the PSAC with a wealth of senior leadership and Singapore government experience, concurrently serving as the Deputy Chairman of the Singapore Quality Award Governing Council, as well as the boards of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd, Certis CISCO, SingHealth, Ministry of Health Holdings and Temasek Foundation International. An Advisor to INTERPOL, Standard Chartered Bank (UK)'s Board Financial Crime Risk Committee and Singapore's National Cybersecurity Research and Development Programme, Mr. Khoo has also chaired the first two ASEAN Senior Officials' Roundtable on Cybercrime, held in conjunction with the RSA Asia Pacific and Japan Conference. He was President of INTERPOL from 2008 to 2012 and Singapore's Commissioner of Police from 1997 to 2010. QUOTES "This year's theme for GovWare Building a secure and resilient digital future through partnerships truly reflects our guiding principles on threat intelligence sharing. We are honoured to be able to work closely with the CSA to amplify the importance of breach prevention and promote greater awareness through education, to achieve our collective goal of building a cyber-resilient Singapore." - Wahab Yusoff, ASEAN Vice President and General Manager, Palo Alto Networks "Our efforts to solidify partnerships with major industry players such as Palo Alto Networks are in line with our national strategy to develop a vibrant cybersecurity ecosystem for Singapore. These partnerships allow us to grow capabilities through development of innovative solutions as well as nurture cybersecurity professionals through education and training. These efforts will, in turn, contribute to the building of a competent workforce to ensure a resilient and secure cyberspace." - David Koh, Chief Executive of the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) At GovWare, John Davis, Vice President and Federal Chief Security Officer at Palo Alto Networks, delivered an industry leader keynote speech on the Imperatives for Cybersecurity Success in the Digital Age, at the opening of the conference on Monday 10th October at 14:30 PM. Sean Duca will also deliver a speech on Cyber Threat Information Sharing on Wednesday 12th October at 14:15 PM. This year, in addition to hosting a demonstration booth, Palo Alto Networks will be introducing a prototype of its first education drive, comprised of individual kiosks located within the GovWare exhibition hall. Developed in conjunction with the CSA, each kiosk will focus on a different cyberthreat, including Ransomware, Mobile Security and Cloud Security, and will feature a demonstration and examples of how organisations can take steps to prevent cyberbreaches through the effective use of technology, processes and people. Showcasing the unique capabilities of the Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform, including its next-generation firewall, threat intelligence cloud, and advanced endpoint protection, the kiosks will individually demonstrate how the platform safely enables applications and prevents breaches across all stages of the attack lifecycle. Palo Alto Networks is located at booth H04. About Palo Alto Networks Palo Alto Networks is the next-generation security company, leading a new era in cybersecurity by safely enabling applications and preventing cyber breaches for tens of thousands of organizations worldwide. Built with an innovative approach and highly differentiated cyberthreat prevention capabilities, our game-changing security platform delivers security far superior to legacy or point products, safely enables daily business operations, and protects an organization's most valuable assets. Find out more at www.paloaltonetworks.com. Palo Alto Networks and the Palo Alto Networks logo are trademarks of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other trademarks, trade names or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] nWorX-DBH to Showcase Industrial IoT Platform Solutions at GITEX in Dubai - Expected to Attract 150,000 Visitors Over 16-20 October 2016 LONDON and DUBAI, UAE, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- nWorX-DBH, a privately held ICT Company today outlined company's activities at the 36th GITEX Technology Week to be held on October 16-20, 2016 in Dubai, UAE. GITEX Technology Week is expected to attract over 150,000 technology professionals, enterprise leaders, public sector officials and entrepreneurs from over 140 countries, including 22,000 C-suite executives. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160210/331945LOGO ) nWorX-DBH will demonstrate how customers can benefit from Industrial Internet of Things setting the tone for Industry 4.0 IoT transformation initiatives. Based on a global industry survey by PwC, Strategy & Industry 4.0 solutions have provided an average e?ciency increase of 18% within 5 years. "nWorX-DBH field experience backs these findings, we have been able to drive 20% - 30% ontribution to our customer's bottom or top line performance leveraging our Industrial IoT solutions and associated business transformation initiatives" said Muneeb Bhatti, Managing Director, MEA and Asia PAC for nWorX. During GITEX Technology Week, nWorX-DBH will showcase Industrial IoT solutions targeting Oil & Gas and Utility sectors for managing industrial pipeline network assets based on technology developed by Cason Ltd, a DBH investment portfolio company. Their solutions have been utilized by leading energy and utility companies worldwide. Leakage or rupture within industrial pipelines can result in heavy economic losses and environmental catastrophs. nWorX-DBH pipeline monitoring and management system uses industry leading IoT technologies to proactively detect and notify any incidents, accurately locate the incidents across pipeline network and provide real-time data access to operational staff to fix such incidents. Industrial IoT is a major current trend and large technology companies are focusing on the business outcome benefits it can provide. According to a market research report by MarketsandMarkets, Industrial IoT market is expected to reach USD 151.01 Billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 8.03% between 2015 and 2020. nWorX-DBH invites GITEX participants and visitors to meet its subject matter experts and see solution demonstrations in Zabeel Hall or request for a pre-booked one to one meeting via email to [email protected] About nWorX-DBH nWorX-DBH is a joint venture between nWorX, a Canadian Technology Professional Services Company and DBH, a Dutch holding company with an IT technology portfolio of European technology companies. nWorX-DBH provides end-to-end cutting edge technology solutions serving customer lifecycle needs across initial feasibility, planning, design, implementation and operational management across virtually any market or industry around the world. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Neo Chemicals & Oxides Europe Wins German Court Invalidation of Solvay Patent Claims Neo Chemicals & Oxides Europe LTD. ("Neo", "the Company"), which produces and distributes a broad range of light and heavy rare earth engineered products, reported today its successful outcome in the German Federal Patent Court in Munich on September 26 to invalidate several of Solvay's patent claims on product composition in patent number EP0605274. The verdict is subject to Solvay's right of appeal. Solvay had previously sued Neo in the German Court of Dusseldorf for infringement of the patent claims in EP0605274, now held to be invalid in first instance in Germany, and obtained a judgment of infringement, which Neo has appealed. Based upon the German Federal Patent Court's ruling invalidating certain patent claims belonging to Brussels-based Solvay and its affiliates, Rhodia Operations and Rhodia Chimie, Neo has applied to the Dusseldorf Court for a stay of the proceedings to enforce the judgment of infringement related to EP0605274. Neo i a unit of Neo Performance Materials, a leader in rare earths and other advanced materials globally. About Neo Performance Materials Neo Performance Materials is a leading supplier of advanced materials used in a wide range of technology applications across many sectors, including consumer electronics, fiber optics, hybrid and electric vehicles, and clean energy technologies. With state-of-the-art processing and separating facilities in Europe and Asia, the Company helps customers to diversify the risk of sourcing materials from a single country. The Business, which is organized along three business segments: Neo Chemicals and Oxides, Neo Magnequench, and Neo Rare Metals, is engaged in the production, processing and development of rare earth and zirconium based engineered materials; magnetic powders; and rare metals. Neo Performance Materials is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; with corporate offices in Greenwood Village, Colorado, US; and Beijing, China. The Company operates globally with sales and production across 10 countries, being Japan, China, Thailand, Estonia, Singapore, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, United States, and South Korea. For more information, please visit www.neomaterials.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005660/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Eutelsat selects Airbus Defence and Space and Orbital ATK to build replacement video satellite for 5 West neighbourhood Regulatory News: Eutelsat (News - Alert) Communications (Paris:ETL) has selected Airbus Defence and Space and Orbital ATK to build a new satellite for the key 5 West orbital position serving mainly video markets in Europe and North Africa. Under the terms of the agreement Airbus Defence and Space will build the satellite's payload while the platform will be manufactured by Orbital ATK (News - Alert). New digital infrastructure for France, Italy and Algeria To be launched in 2018, EUTELSAT 5 West B will replace the EUTELSAT 5 West A satellite, a key digital infrastructure addressing predominantly French, Italian and Algerian broadcast markets. EUTELSAT 5 West B will provide business continuity and improved quality for these services via a Ku-band payload of 35 equivalent 36 MHz transponders connected to three service areas. Switchable transponders will also increase commercial flexibility. Significant capex savings EUTELSAT 5 West B is the first satellite to be procured within the framework of Eutelsat's capex reduction strategy announced in June 2016, applying notably the principle of 'design-to-cost'. Through an improved match of the satellite's coverage with specific customer requirements at 5 West savings will be acheved in power requirements and hardware, while maintaining the highest standards in terms of performance. The reduction in the satellite's size enables a shared launch by an International Launch Services (News - Alert) (ILS) Proton vehicle in a stacked configuration with MEV-1, the first Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) developed by Orbital, thereby reducing launch costs, including insurance. In consequence, significant savings will be achieved relative to the theoretical cost of replicating EUTELSAT 5 West A, without compromising on the quality of service delivered to customers. EUTELSAT 5 West A's C-band mission, serving mainly data customers in Sub-Saharan Africa, will be discontinued. Service continuity will be provided by similar C-band capacity available on other Eutelsat resources, thereby optimising capacity utilisation rate across the group's fleet. About Eutelsat Communications Established in 1977, Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is one of the world's leading and most experienced operators of communications satellites. The company provides capacity on 38 satellites to clients that include broadcasters and broadcasting associations, pay-TV operators, video, data and Internet service providers, enterprises and government agencies. Eutelsat's satellites provide ubiquitous coverage of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, enabling video, data, broadband and government communications to be established irrespective of a user's location. Headquartered in Paris, with offices and teleports around the globe, Eutelsat represents a workforce of 1,000 men and women from 37 countries who are experts in their fields and work with clients to deliver the highest quality of service. For more about Eutelsat please visit www.eutelsat.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005724/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Health Minister Caught Misleading Canadians about Safety of their Wireless Devices OTTAWA, Oct. 11, 2016 /CNW/ - Canada's Health Minister Jane Philpott has contradicted the findings of a Parliamentary Health Committee report which recommends the government start warning Canadians that their wireless devices can cause cancer. In response to letters from parents whose children have developed symptoms from exposure to wireless devices Philpott wrote: "There is no scientific evidence of health effects," from cell phones or Wifi. This contradicts Parliament's Health Committee which sent recommendations to Philpott last June stating there are dozens of scientific studies showing that microwaves from common wireless devices are harmful. The Committee even recommended a national education program for safer use of cell phones and Wifi, especially for Canadian children. Philpott is expected to officially respond to the recommendation this week. A Canadian cancer specialist who testified before the Parliamentary Committee says Philpott's failure to acknowledge the Committee's findings is dangerous. "We are already seeing increases in Glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer," said Dr. Anthony Miller, a cancer epidemiologist with the University of Toronto, who has been an advisor to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. "This type brain cancer has been directly connected to cell phone use," he said, referring to the findings of a $25 million US government study released in June. Philpott's claim contradicts one of the strongest Health Committee reports in recent history. "The Health Committee not only found there is a growing scientific basis for warning Canadians about wireless radiation, but it was unanimously supported by all parties," said Frank Clegg, CEO of Canadians For Safe Technology. "Even the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a warning to limit children's time on cell phones and Wifi because of the harmful effects of microwave radiation," said Clegg who is a former President of Microsoft Canada and now devotes his time to educating Canadians about the safe use of wireless devices. "Wireless radiation is recognized as a possible human carcinogen," said Dr. Miller. "It's high time we started admitting it and act to reduce human exposure to radiofrequency fields." Background: www.C4ST.org SOURCE C4ST: Canadians For Safe Technology [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Iron Mountain Appoints Theresa Pattara as Vice President of North America Government Affairs Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM), the global leader in storage and information management services, announced today that Theresa Pattara has joined the company as vice president of North America Government Affairs. In this role, Pattara will drive Iron Mountain's (News - Alert) company-wide government engagement strategy and serve as an advocate for the company's interests with local, state and federal agencies and policy makers. She will also monitor legislation involving tax reform, information privacy and data security - issues of importance to Iron Mountain. "Theresa is a uniquely qualified and experienced government relations professional with an established track record on Capitol Hill and in Washington, D.C.," said Ernest W. Cloutier, executive vice president, U.S. Federal, Security and Legal, Iron Mountain. "Her experience gives us a strong presence at the epicenter of the policy and decision-making affecting both our business and our customers. This hiring represents a significant investment that Iron Mountain is making on behalf of our customers, who rely on us to be the guardian of their information and assets, while ensuring they remain up to date with policy and regulatory changes." Pattara has spent the past 20 years of her career focused on public policy and compliance. She most recently served as the senior director of Public Policy and Advocacy for H&R Block, advising the company's senior leadership on current and pending federal legislation and regulations. Along with her private sector experience, Pattara has held positions with the federal government as well, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. "I am very excited to lend my voice to help support Iron Mountain as the industry leader in publc and private sector information management," Pattara said. "Information management has never been more challenging for organizations of all kinds, and mining the value of information and maintaining its security and integrity have never been as crucial. For our customers and partners, Iron Mountain has set the standard for services and solutions to meet those stakes, and I look forward to continuing to maintain Iron Mountain's place as their trusted partner for all their information management needs." Pattara holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, a bachelor of science in Accounting from the University of Scranton, and is a Certified Public Accountant. About Iron Mountain Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) is the global leader in storage and information management services. Trusted by more than 220,000 organizations around the world, Iron Mountain's real estate network comprises more than 85 million square feet across more than 1,400 facilities in 45 countries dedicated to protecting and preserving what matters most for its customers. Iron Mountain's solutions portfolio includes records management, data management, document management, data centers, art storage and logistics, and secure shredding, helping organizations to lower storage costs, comply with regulations, recover from disaster, and better use their information. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain stores and protects billions of information assets, including critical business documents, electronic information, medical data and cultural and historical artifacts. Visit www.ironmountain.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005055/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] CopaSAT Wins Multiyear Order to Supply Managed Satellite Service for U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Healy & Polar Star ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CopaSAT, a world leader in highly reliable and secure mobile communication technology, today announced that is has received a contract to provide the U.S. Coast Guard with managed satellite services to Coast Guard Cutter Healy and Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star. The contract started 1-October for a term of five years. HEALY is designed to conduct a wide range of research activities, providing more than 4,200 square feet of scientific laboratory space, numerous electronic sensor systems, oceanographic winches, and accommodations for up to 50 scientists. HEALY is designed to break 4 feet of ice continuously at three knots and can operate in temperatures as low as -50 degrees F. The science community provided invaluable input on lab layouts and science capabilities during design and construction of the ship. POLAR STAR is a United States Coast Guard Heavy Icebreaker. POLAR STAR is one of the largest ships in the US Coast Guard and one of the world's most pwerful non-nuclear ships. The POLAR STAR is home ported in Seattle, Washington. "We are excited to provide the communication connectivity to support the Healy and Polar Star in their scientific and ice breaking missions," said Scott Bohnsack, Vice President of Business Development of CopaSAT. About CopaSAT Inc. CopaSAT is a certified small business provider of turn-key and end-to-end complex satellite solutions to simplify the deployment of specialized satellite communications. CopaSAT provides a wide range of SATCOM products, services, and infrastructure incorporating Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), airborne ISR/COTM, maritime supporting mission-critical applications. CopaSAT is located in St. Petersburg, Florida. CopaSAT solutions are tailored to the unique requirements of our customer segments in aerospace, maritime, broadcast, government, and infrastructure. Scott Bohnsack CopaSAT Vice President of Business Development T : +1 (813) 434-0776 [email protected] This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/copasat-wins-multiyear-order-to-supply-managed-satellite-service-for-us-coast-guard-cutters-healy--polar-star-300341950.html SOURCE CopaSAT [October 11, 2016] ClinCapture Announces East Coast Expansion With New York Office NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClinCapture has opened a new local office on West Broadway in New York, NY. The expansion of the California based EDC vendor to New York City allows for ClinCapture to better serve its East Coast customers as the company continues to grow. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, ClinCapture empowers its customers to build their own studies, lower their clinical trials costs, and streamline their data capture processes. ClinCapture, a leading provider of eClinical and EDC Software to Pharmaceutical and Medical Device companies, is opening A New Offie In New Yorks Soho Neighborhood to Increase Support to its Customers on the East Coast. Photo Courtesy of WeWork. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d25b9ab7-33e4-47fd-89b6-e97f6f84a2e8 ClinCapture is utilized by more than 5,000 users around the world and is one the fastest growing eClinical applications on the market, explains ClinCaptures Chief Executive Officer, Scott Weidley. Our East Coast office will give us better geographic reach and convenience to meet the needs of a growing number of customers both nationally and internationally. The choice of New York is strategic for ClinCapture to reach new sponsors and access talent to support its growth. The New York/New Jersey and the Boston/Cambridge clusters are two of the largest biotech hubs in the United States in terms of jobs, venture capital, NIH funding, and lab space. According to LinkedIn data, New York City itself accounts for more than 140,000 jobs in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical device companies. More recently, ClinCapture has revamped its branding and launched a new website to let clinical trial professionals preview the systems features and sign up to ClinCapture for free to start building their own studies. About ClinCapture As a leading cloud-based eClinical application, ClinCapture empowers its customers to build their own studies, lower their clinical trials costs, and streamline their data capture processes. Headquartered in San Francisco, ClinCapture offers solutions for single-site studies, multiple-site studies, and enterprise organizations. Contact Information Website: clincapture.com Call: +1 800 987 6007 Fax: +1 888 317 7517 Email: [email protected] ClinCapture San Francisco Headquarters 2800 3rd Street / Floor 1 Suite A San Francisco, CA 94107 ClinCapture New York Office 379 W Broadway / Suite 252 New York, NY 10012 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] TmaxSoft partners with Insigma to help financial services and healthcare organizations modernize their mainframes CHICAGO, Oct. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TmaxSoft Inc., multinational technology innovator focused on infrastructure software, today announced a strategic partnership with Insigma Technology, a global strategic service provider. The agreement will allow Insigma to provide a migration solution based on OpenFrame, TmaxSofts mainframe applications rehosting platform. Insigma Technology brings innovation and competitive differentiation to a large variety of organizations, from Fortune 500 enterprises to small companies. It offers IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) services to help organizations operate more profitably and effectively, and specializes in application development and systems integration. Joshua Yulish, CEO and President at TmaxSoft Inc., commented on the new partnership: Insigmas extensive experience with legacy modernization and custom software development makes them ideal partners to bring the benefits of OpenFrame to a wider group of organizations. Their commitment to best-fit solutions which adjusts to individual customer requirements is very attractive to us, as it will enable Insigma to deploy OpenFrame in a seamless way, allowing customers to enjoy all the benefits of a modernized mainframe. Moreover, like TmaxSoft, Insigma is committed to doing business transparently and puts avoiding hidden costs and cost creep at the core of what they do. Our partnership is therefore grounded in complementary approaches to customer service. Hongfei Huang, CEO of Insigma US, Inc., notes that the partnership will allow the organization to bring transformative new services to its customers. We have developed extensive industry expertise and specialized practice areas in a number of sectors, incuding financial services and healthcare. When looking at IT in these particular industries, we see a great reliance on legacy mainframes at the core of their businesses. These are industries where digital transformation has become key to continued success and growth, and where this legacy infrastructure is no longer adequate to support it. However, these are also both industries where speed is vital and where organizations cant afford to expose their data. A complete rewrite of a legacy mainframe simply brings too many risksand is too costly-- for many of them. A rewrite may take years to implement and most cannot afford that level of business disruption. Rehosting is often the best option, bringing the flexibility and transparency of re-architecting at lower cost and risk. We believe that TmaxSofts OpenFrame is one of the best rehosting solutions on the market, and we look forward to collaborating with the TmaxSoft team to help our customers innovate better and faster. NOTES TO EDITORS About Insigma Technology Insigma Technology is a global strategic business and IT solutions company working with Fortune 500, midsize, and small companies to bring valued innovation and competitive differentiation to their business. Our services include application development and maintenance, data center services, systems integration, legacy system reengineering, software testing, IT consulting, and outsourcing/co-sourcing. We also provide full support services in a managed services model. We help clients move beyond operational constraints, continuously anticipate and adapt to changing market dynamics, and ensure IT investments bring flexibility and measurable shareholder value. Insigmas US headquarters are in New York City, and our global footprint includes development centers in 31 cities in China, the US, Japan and Europe. We have a very large, highly skilled talent pool with more than 8,000 employees. Please visit www.insigmaus.com for more information. About TmaxSoft, Inc. TmaxSoft is a global software innovator focused on infrastructure and data modernization, with solutions that offer enterprise CIOs viable alternatives to support their global IT powerhouses and drive competitive advantage. Tibero is the best enterprise RDBMS for the Virtual Data Center. Our licensing model allows enterprises to fully maximize their virtualization investment by only licensing the cores associated to a given VM, resulting in drastically lower TCO. OpenFrame is a legacy rehosting solution that enables mainframe applications, resources and data to be migrated to a less expensive, high performance open system while reducing TCO and minimizing risk of migration. JEUS is the first Web Application Server in the world to be J2EE 1.4, JAVA EE 5, and JAVA EE 6 Certified, and delivers improved security over traditional WAS. TmaxSoft was founded in 1997 and is the largest independent software company in South Korea. We have over 800 employees in 12 strategic centers around the world. TmaxSoft U.S. headquarters for sales, service, and customer support is located in Chicago. Please visit www.tmaxsoft.com for more information. Press contacts: Henri Attan / Edward Dodge Spreckley T: +44 (0)20 7388 9988 E: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] MeiraGTx Expands ALS Gene Therapy Program in Collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine and LSU MeiraGTx, a New York and UK based gene therapy company, announces an expansion of its gene therapy program to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease, ALS). MeiraGTx, together with Prof. Gregory Petsko, D.Phil. (The Arthur J. Mahon Professor of Neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine), and Prof. Ronald Klein, Ph.D. (Associate Professor Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Neuroscience, LSU Health Shreveport), are developing a gene therapy to target TDP-43 toxicity in ALS patients. The cellular protein TDP-43 is misregulated in the vast majority of all ALS patients and is emerging as a possible Achilles' heel in the treatment of this deadly neurodegenerative disease. Research conducted in the Petsko laboratory (in collaboration with coworkers at Brandeis University (News - Alert), Wright State University and the University of Michigan) revealed that one of the cell's own quality control mechanisms, called the nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) pathway, can alleviate TDP-43 mediated toxicity in cell-based disease models of ALS. Increased expression of UPF1, the master regulator of NMD, significantly protects mammalian motor neurons from TDP-43 mediated toxicity. "UPF1 has shown promising results in animal models of ALS involving TDP-43 dysfunction and provides a rationale for developing gene-based therapies for ALS, and we are excited about moving this forward with a company that has the scientific insights of MeiraGTx" said Dr. Petsko. MeiraGTx recently entered into a research collaboration with Professor Klein of Louisiana State University (LSU) to conduct pre-clinical animal studies aimed at demonstrating the efficacy of a UPF1-based therapy in animal models of TDP-43 induced ALS pioneered in his laboratory. MeiraGTx and its academic collaborators are defining the role of RNA metabolism in the pathology of ALS, with the goal of developing effective gene therapies. "We are very excited about our work with Drs. Petsko and Klein, leaders in the field of neurodegeneration, to develop a gene therapy targeting TDP-43 dysfunction in ALS," said Alexandria Forbes, Ph.D., President and CEO of MeiraGTx. "We believe that this may lead to not only an important new therapeutic approach, but further investgation of the genetic causes of ALS will provide insight for the development of additional gene therapies to treat this and other devastating neurodegenerative diseases." About MeiraGTx MeiraGTx is committed to the development of novel gene therapies to transform the lives of patients suffering from acquired and inherited disorders. The company is developing treatments for ocular diseases, including rare inherited blindness and age-related macular degeneration (AMD (News - Alert)). MeiraGTx is also establishing treatments for xerostomia, a frequent and debilitating side effect of radiation treatment used in head and neck cancers, as well as certain neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, MeiraGTx is developing novel gene regulation platforms that promise to transform the way gene therapy can be applied and create new paradigms for biologic therapeutics. About Weill Cornell Medicine Weill Cornell Medicine is committed to excellence in patient care, scientific discovery and the education of future physicians in New York City and around the world. The doctors and scientists of Weill Cornell Medicine - faculty from Weill Cornell Medical College, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Weill Cornell Physician Organization - are engaged in world-class clinical care and cutting-edge research that connect patients to the latest treatment innovations and prevention strategies. Located in the heart of the Upper East Side's scientific corridor, Weill Cornell Medicine's powerful network of collaborators extends to its parent university Cornell University; to Qatar, where an international campus offers a U.S. medical degree; and to programs in Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Weill Cornell Medicine faculty provide comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens. Weill Cornell Medicine is also affiliated with Houston Methodist. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu. Weill Cornell Medicine's Office of Biopharma Alliances and Research Collaborations' mission is to proactively generate, structure and negotiate translational research alliances with industry in order to advance promising research projects that have commercial potential. About LSU LSU Health Shreveport core mission is to heal, to teach and to discover. The Health Sciences Center located in Northwest Louisiana includes a School of Medicine, School of Allied Health and School of Graduate Studies. It provides care to patients throughout the state of Louisiana through its 530 faculty physicians and other healthcare providers, and educates over 1,400 students, residents and fellows. Designated Centers of Excellence include the Feist Weiller Cancer Center (FWCC), the Center for Cardiovascular Diseases and Science, and the Center for Arthritis and Rheumatology. Research is a core part of our institution's mission and the LSUHSC-S research space includes approximately 200,000 sq. ft. of laboratories and offices, as well as facilities including shared equipment in the departments and a designated Research Core Facility. Faculty, staff and students at LSU Health Shreveport are actively engaged in research in a variety of biomedical areas, with concentrations in cancer, cardiovascular sciences, virology and neuroscience. This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations and are subject to certain factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, outcome of events, timing and performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. The information contained in this press release is believed to be current as of the date of original issue. MeiraGTx expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006039/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Dell Expands Investment in Girls Computer Science Education in Underserved Communities In celebration of International Day of the Girl, Dell (News - Alert) today announced a partnership with Girls Who Code, a national non-profit organization dedicated to closing the gender gap in technology. The partnership will help strengthen and expand after-school programs in computer science education for an estimated 15,000 girls in grades 6-12 across the U.S. through a combination of financial, technical and mentorship support. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006097/en/ Pivotal CEO Rob Mee poses with teens taking part in Girls Who Code summer immersion and mentorship program held at Pivotal. (Photo: Business Wire) In addition to a $400,000 cash donation, Dell will appoint five women technology leaders as program ambassadors to organize and deliver mentorship services. In addition to materials and supplies for the STEM curriculum, this initiative will help fund field trips to expose girls to leading technical organizations and professionals. Programs will be concentrated in communities across the Great Plains and Rockies, the Southeast, the Northeast and San Francisco. Ongoing Girl-Focused Youth Learning Commitment The new Dell national partnership with Girls Who Code is an extension of previous local-level support and is part of a long-term investment in youth learning specifically to enhance STEM programs for underrepresented populations in the U.S. Dell previously announced a national partnership with Girl Scouts of the USA in 2015 in part to support Digital Cookie 2.0, an online web platform to foster young girls' entrepreneurship and STEM skills. Dell also supports GirlStart, providing the hands-on tech access necessary for girls to learn about tech, engineering and mathematics programming. Additionally, Dell will host executive directors from youth learning partners as part of the Women in IT track at the upcoming Dell EMC (News - Alert) World taking place in Austin, October 18 - 20. Pivotal, the company accelerating digital transformation for enterprises, has been partnering with Girls Who Code since 2012-providing support for summer immersion programs and mentorship. Quotes: Karen Quintos, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer of Dell "Never before in history has technology been so core to our economy and our society at large. We have an incredible opportunity to truly drive human progress through technology, and we can't realize the full potential of that without our girls. I'm so excited to partner with Girls Who Code to prepare the next generation of female leaders to grow and thrive in a connected world. When we engage and empower our girls, there is no limit to what we can achieve as a global community." Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code "We're thrilled that Dell has extended its partnership with us to support our mission of exposing girls at a young age to computer science. It's the incredible support by partners like Dell that have enabled Girls to Code to become the largest computer science program for girls in the United States." Additional Resources Tweet This [email protected] honors #internationaldayofthegirl by expanding investment in girls #CS education in underserved communities w/@GirlsWhoCode About Girls Who Code Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology. Through its Summer Immersion Program and Girls Who Code Clubs, the organization is leading the movement to inspire, educate, and equip young women with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. Additional information is available at www.girlswhocode.com. About Dell Technologies Dell Technologies is a unique family of businesses that provides the essential infrastructure for organizations to build their digital future, transform IT and protect their most important asset, information. The company services customers of all sizes across 180 countries - ranging from 98 percent of the Fortune 500 to individual consumers - with the industry's most comprehensive and innovative portfolio from the edge to the core to the cloud. About Dell EMC World Join us Oct. 18-20 at Dell EMC World 2016, Dell Technologies' flagship event bringing together technology and business professionals to network, share ideas and help co-create a better future. Learn more at www.dellemcworld.com and follow #DellEMCWorld on Twitter (News - Alert). View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006097/en/ [October 11, 2016] Agilis Biotherapeutics Announces Authorization of Phase IIb Clinical Study of Gene Therapy for AADC Deficiency Agilis Biotherapeutics, LLC (Agilis), a biotechnology company advancing innovative gene therapies for rare genetic diseases that affect the central nervous system (CNS), announced today that a Phase IIb clinical study for its gene therapy treatment of Aromatic L-Amino Acid Decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency, AGIL-AADC, has been authorized by the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) and the ethics committee at National Taiwan University (NTU). The study will be performed under the direction of Paul Hwu, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics at NTU Hospital. AGIL-AADC is an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector containing the human gene for the AADC enzyme. Dr. Hwu and colleagues have treated 18 subjects to date in two prospective clinical studies using a single administration of the gene therapy. The present Phase IIb study will enroll a third cohort of patients into two parts, one evaluating the AGIL-AADC gene therapy dose used in prior studies and a second exploring single administration of an increased dose. Dr. Hwu said, "We are pleased to embark on this important clinical study of AGIL-AADC in an effort to expand the promising safety and efficacy observed in studies to date in which AADC deficiency patients have exhibited persistent improvements in functional, biomarker and imaging measures. Our combined studies have collected more than five years of data in some cases, providing support for this gene therapy as a potential durable treatment for AADC deficiency." AADC deficiency is a rare CNS disorder arising from a reduction in the enzyme aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase that results from mutations in the dopa decarboxylase (DDC) gene. This reduction leads to deficits in the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, serotonin and melatonin. In its profound forms, AADC deficiency causes severe developmental delays, the inability to develop motor strength and control (global muscular hypotonia/dystonia) resulting in breathing, feeding, and swallowing problems, frequent hospitalizations, and the need for life-long care that ultimately culminates in premature death within the first decade of life. Subjects treated with AGIL-AADC in prior studies have exhibited de novo dopamine production visualized by F-DOPA PET imaging, the emergence of dopamine metabolites, and substantial gains in motor function and cognitive scales over multiple years following the single gene therapy administration. In contrast, untreated subjects typically do not acieve critical developmental milestones, as observed in natural history cases. The University of Florida Powell Gene Therapy Center was instrumental in the manufacturing and toxicology work of the initial product. "The AADC gene therapy program started by Dr. Hwu over six years ago continues to make great strides in clinical development," said Barry Byrne, M.D., Ph.D., Director, UF Powell Gene Therapy Center, Professor, Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and Associate Chair, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Florida. "Dr. Hwu's pioneering gene therapy is a clinically relevant approach to treating this devastating disease and one of the most advanced CNS gene therapies in development today. My team and I at the University of Florida and the Powell Gene Therapy Center are proud to have supported Dr. Hwu's efforts at multiple stages. We look forward to continuing to work with him and Agilis to bring this important, novel treatment to the United States for AADC patients here." Christopher Silber, M.D., Agilis Chief Medical Officer, noted, "Clinical development of AGIL-AADC continues to be very encouraging, with long-term follow-up and data collection for treated patients providing an opportunity for ongoing assessment of the durability of functional improvements and safety profile. Advancing our understanding of dose range will be informative as we continue to strive to position AGIL-AADC for registration. Given the devastating clinical course of AADC deficiency and refractoriness to standard therapies, our mission for these patients is to provide a novel intervention to improve their condition and enhance their lives." About AADC Deficiency Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency is a rare genetic condition resulting from deficits in the AADC responsible for the final step in the synthesis of the neurotransmitters dopamine (a precursor of norepinephrine and epinephrine) and serotonin (a precursor of melatonin). AADC deficiency arises from mutations in the dopa decarboxylase (DDC) gene. In its profound forms, AADC deficiency results in severe developmental failures, global muscular hypotonia and dystonia, severe, seizure-like episodes known as oculo-gyric crises, frequent hospitalizations (including prolonged stays in intensive care), and the need for life-long care. Symptoms and severity vary depending on the type of underlying genetic mutation which abrogates AADC enzyme function. Severe forms of the disease can arise from specific DNA mutations. Patients with severe forms usually die before the age of 7 years due to profound motor dysfunction, autonomic abnormalities, and secondary complications such as choking, hypoxia, and pneumonia. No treatment options other than palliative care currently exist for patients with severe AADC deficiency. About Agilis Biotherapeutics Agilis is advancing innovative gene therapies designed to provide long-term efficacy for patients with debilitating, often fatal, rare genetic diseases that affect the central nervous system. Agilis' gene therapies are engineered to impart sustainable clinical benefits by inducing persistent expression of a therapeutic gene through precise targeting and restoration of lost gene function to achieve long-term efficacy. Agilis' rare disease programs are focused on gene therapy for AADC deficiency, Friedreich's ataxia, Angelman syndrome, and Fragile X syndrome, rare genetic diseases that include severe neurological deficits and result in physically debilitating conditions. We invite you to visit our website at www.agilisbio.com Safe Harbor Statement Some of the statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations and projections about future events and generally relate to our plans, objectives and expectations for the development of our business. Although management believes that the plans and objectives reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual future results may be materially different from the plans, objectives and expectations expressed in this press release. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006105/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] TEFAF Names Invaluable Marquee Sponsor of TEFAF New York & TEFAF Maastricht TEFAF, the world's preeminent fair of art and antiques, today announced that Invaluable, the leading online marketplace for fine art, antiques and collectibles, will be the marquee sponsor for both TEFAF New York and TEFAF Maastricht. The new association will officially launch at the inaugural edition of TEFAF New York Fall, a joint venture between TEFAF and Artvest Partners, and will continue for TEFAF Maastrict in The Netherlands from March 10-19, 2017 and TEFAF New York Spring from May 4-9, 2017. Invaluable's experience is in helping galleries and dealers develop robust digital strategies and connect with the company's engaged, passionate collector base from 180 countries around the world, and aims to strengthen relationships within the dealer community, making it a natural fit for TEFAF. As such, in the coming months Invaluable and TEFAF will be launching the TEFAF Digital Excellence Program powered by Invaluable, a new initiative that will provide dealers with the digital tools necessary to grow their business between fairs by expanding their reach and connection with new buyers online. Together, TEFAF and Invaluable are committed to exploring avenues to further grow the online art market, with an emphasis on high quality works and strong buyer confidence. "Our first commitment at TEFAF is supporting the dealer community by consistently exploring ways that will expand their global platforms," comments Patrick van Maris, TEFAF CEO. "We share the view that growth centers around the establishment of new dealer resources and connections, while at the same time we believe that, with the experience and expertise within our network and the very high standards we uphold for quality, condition and authenticity of art works put forward at our fairs, we can make a valuable contribution to the future of the online art market space. We are delighted to be working with Invaluable to that end." Rob Weisberg, Invaluable CEO, said: "We are honored to embark on this new relationship with the world's most prestigious fair for art and antiques. As the strong demand for fin art and antiques continues to grow online, we couldn't think of a better partner than TEFAF to help ensure we bring the highest quality fine art and collectibles online and continue to raise the bar in this area." According to the 2016 TEFAF Art Market Report, "in the traditional auction and dealer sectors, online sales have grown to account for an increasing share of the sales." The report states that in 2015, sales of art online were estimated conservatively to have reached $4.7 billion, up 7% year-on-year and accounting for 7% of all global art and antiques sales by value. When dealers specifically were asked to report the biggest challenges they faced over the next five years, the most frequently cited challenge was finding new buyers (73% of respondents). The report also found that of the dealers currently making sales online, the majority of their sales (52%) were to completely new buyers, illustrating how a strong digital strategy can help in this respect. Most dealers were also optimistic about online sales, as 58% thought they would increase over the next five years. "The way that people buy art has unquestionably changed and we are seeing more galleries and dealers seeking new collectors by extending their reach online," continued Weisberg. "We believe Invaluable can help dealers connect with millions of potential new buyers without having to make a large investment in technology and marketing services. We've taken care of that." To learn more about TEFAF New York Fall, visit www.tefaf.com. About TEFAF New York A joint venture between TEFAF and Artvest Partners, TEFAF New York was founded in early 2016 to host two annual art fairs in New York at the Park Avenue Armory, TEFAF New York Fall and TEFAF New York Spring. Each fair will comprise over 90 leading exhibitors from the around the globe. About TEFAF Maastricht TEFAF Maastricht, the world's leading art and antiques fair, is unequalled in the quality of its offering, championing the finest art dealers and experts from around the world. TEFAF is a not-for-profit foundation acting as an expert guide for both private and institutional collectors in a global art marketplace, which inspires lovers and buyers of art everywhere. The 30th edition of TEFAF Maastricht will be held in the MECC Maastricht from 10-19 March 2017. The TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund contributes to the conservation of objects that are in museum collections and supports the sharing of knowledge about conservation with other museums and the general public. Since 2005, TEFAF has been supporting research and international collaboration by means of a special Chair of Oncology at the research institute GROW, the School for Oncology and Developmental Biology at the Maastricht University Medical Centre. About Artvest Artvest Partners LLC is an independent art advisory firm that counsels private clients, museums, foundations, and Fortune 500 companies on valuations, market projections, acquisitions, dispositions, and business strategies related to art. Additionally, Artvest arranges art financing for private collectors and dealers. About Invaluable Invaluable is the world's leading online marketplace for buying fine art, antiques and collectibles. Working with more than 4,000 of the world's premier auction houses, dealers and galleries, Invaluable helps buyers from nearly 200 countries connect with the things they love. For more information, visit www.invaluable.com or follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) at @InvaluableLive. NOTE FOR EDITORS: Go to www.tefaf.com/press for press releases and high-resolution images View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006113/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] A.M. Best Special Report: U.S. Workers' Compensation Delivers Underwriting Profit Despite Rate Deterioration The U.S. workers' compensation industry experienced solid underwriting performance in 2015 as a result of continued premium growth, technological advancements, declining frequency trends and favorable levels of reserve development, according to a new A.M. Best special report. The Best's Special Report, titled, "U.S. Workers' Compensation Delivers Underwriting Profit Despite Rate Deterioration," states that during 2015, the combined ratio improved 5.5 points to 96.0, marking the fifth consecutive year of solid underwriting performance. Net premiums written (NPW) for the workers' compensation line in 2015 totaled $48.2 billion, a year-over-year increase of 2.9%, which compared with growth of 1.1% in NPW for the overall commercial lines segment. Although the rate of premium growth has consistently declined from 2012, payroll growth in an improved economic climate, combined with ongoing rate increases in some jurisdictions, drove additional growth in NPW during 2015. Since 2010, sustained premium growth has benefited the line's performance, with NPW volume in 2015 reaching its second highest level since $49.7 billion in 2006. State funds comprise a large portion of the workers' compensation composite and significantly influence the segment's underwriting results. Three of the four largest companies in the workers' compnsation composite-State Insurance Fund WC Fund, State Compensation Insurance Fund of CA (News - Alert) and Texas Mutual Insurance Company -are state funds and have accounted for over 20% of the composite's overall premium volume in recent years. However, despite the improvement in operating performance, rates have declined every quarter since the start of 2015, with a 4.3% drop in the second quarter of 2016. These quarterly rate declines create some uncertainty on how long the improved underwriting results can be sustained. A.M. Best also remains concerned about the adequacy of the industry's overall loss reserve position. A.M. Best estimates that the loss and loss-adjustment expense reserve position for the workers' compensation line was deficient by $23.8 billion (including statutory discount) at year-end 2015, down from an estimated $26.2 billion in 2014. While the estimated reserve deficiency declined during 2015 relative to the prior year, A.M. Best's estimate of the deficiency within the industry's carried reserve position has increased during six of the most recent eight years. Although over 60% of the deficiency is due to statutory discounting, the ultimate adequacy of the industry's reserve position remains uncertain for earlier accident years when rates were at their low point. To access a copy of this special report, please visit http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=254513. A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2016 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006153/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Red River Named CRN Triple Crown Award Winner New Hampshire-based Red River, a leading federal information technology (IT) services provider, today announced that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company, has honored Red River with its esteemed 2016 Triple Crown Award. Fewer than 60 North American solution providers had the necessary revenue, growth and technical expertise to be recognized on three of CRN's pre-eminent solution provider lists, earning them the Triple Crown Award this year. This is the second consecutive year that Red River has earned CRN's Triple Crown. CRN assembles lists and rankings each year to recognize solution providers who are setting the bar in the IT industry, including the Solution Provider 500, which lists the largest solution providers in North America by revenue; the Fast Growth 150, which ranks the fastest-growing solution providers; and the Tech Elite 250, which recognizes solution providers that have received the highest-level certifications from leading vendors. It is a considerable achievement for a solution provider to make any one of these lists; to make it onto all three, however-as this year's Tiple Crown Award winners have done-is a big achievement. A company must simultaneously have enough revenue to be ranked on the Solution Provider 500 list, record double- or triple-digit growth for recognition on the Fast Growth 150, and invest heavily in top certifications to attain Tech Elite 250 status. A recognized industry front-runner for revenue growth and superior expertise in Cloud, Converged Infrastructure, Mobility, and the Software-Defined Data Center, Red River has quickly become the go-to solution provider for government agencies and commercial organizations seeking next-generation IT focus, solutions and services delivery. "Our continued growth is the fortunate byproduct of our steadfast commitment to delivering the highest levels of service and expertise to our customers and partners," said Red River President Jeff Sessions. "Red River is truly honored to receive this recognition for the second straight year." "The solution provider organizations receiving CRN's 2016 Triple Crown Award have risen to the top of their class in not one or two, but three major categories: They are channel leaders in certification, revenue and growth," said Robert Faletra, CEO of The Channel Company. "We commend the extraordinary series of achievements that earned each of them a spot on CRN's premier solution provider lists and look forward to their continued innovation and leadership." The 2016 Triple Crown Award winners will be featured in the October issue of CRN and can be viewed online at www.crn.com/triplecrown. About Red River Founded on the core values of hard work, honesty and integrity, Red River is a leading provider of IT hardware integration, maintenance and support services. The company's technology expertise and mission-critical experience helps its customers optimize their business processes and maximize the value of their IT investments. Red River has developed a remarkable reputation for providing IT products and hardware-related services to military, intelligence and civilian agencies and the companies that serve them. By combining an uncommon work ethic with exceptional service, Red River delivers performance beyond expectations to its customers, partners and suppliers. Learn more at www.redriver.com. Follow Red River on Twitter (News - Alert) at @RRTFRocks, @ThinkRed and @RedEnterprise. For more information please call 800.769.3060 or visit www.redriver.com. About the Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006084/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] ASCENT Launches Hosted Solutions Offerings to Automate and Accelerate Business Continuity Management DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascent Technology Consulting, a leading Enterprise Software Product company has announced the latest version release of AUTOBCM Plus Business Continuity Software which will be offered to global clients as Software as a Service (SaaS). Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427325LOGO Ascent?s BCM Business Vertical offers Resilience Solutions for all BCM requirements- Consulting, Training and BCM Software. Many leading corporations in Middle East, Africa and Asia have testified Ascent as a trusted BCM partner for support extending by our team during such engagements. AutoBCM 2.0 Plus is web based multilingual Software offered as SaaS (Software as a Service), to manage all the Business continuity Management Life Cycle activities. The Research shows that Automating the Business continuity process Increases confidence regarding organisational resilience capability and an ability to produce enterprise-wide views immediately and accurately in a major disruption compared to the spreadsheet and word processing approach (typically a labour-intensive effort with limited data capability). "Organization have experienced a remarkable cost savings from 50% to 400%, using a functionally-rich AutoBCM software tool compared to a Word or Excel based approach," said Dr Binduu Rathore, MD Ascent. AUTOBCM Plus is built on latest Java Platform, simple to deploy, easy to use, very affordable and higly robust. It is an intelligent solution meant for new age BCM practitioner for companies of all sizes. AutoBCM SaaS offering considerably reduces Implementation time and provides seamless access to AutoBCM via a secure private cloud network with ease of technical set up and it is highly affordable. This hosted solution is a preferred choice for organizations that hesitate to put a CAPEX investment into such BCM related initiatives. The new version of Ascent business continuity planning and management software supports full life cycle of the ISO 22301 business continuity standard as well as various other regional standards. AUTOBCM plus provides built-in module for automated mass notification and can also interface directly to your existing mass notification system to facilitate your incident response. Keeping pace with the 'always-on' business model, Ascent Technology provides a guaranteed 99.9 percent uptime SLA. Ascent AutoBCM Software will be available globally including India, Middle East, Africa- Kenya, Zambia, Malaysia, Singapore, UAE and USA. About Ascent Ascent Technology Consulting is a niche software solution and service company, specialized in BCM Automation & Real-Time reconciliation solutions, catering to the business needs of global Banking and Financial Industry. Ascent BCM Software is an end-to-end Automation, which takes care of the complete BCM Lifecycle and it has a Multi-Lingual Capability to address client needs in Arabic and other languages. The project team has extensive experience in BCM projects and has executed several Consulting & Software Automation engagements worldwide of similar nature. Media Contacts: Ascent Technology Consulting PO BOX 450 576. Dubai, UAE, Dr. Binduu Rathore Phone: +971 4 369 5306 Ascent Resilience Solutions Pvt ltd PO BOX 500082, Hyderabad, India , Mr. Kundan Shekhawat Phone: +91 40 23331739 Email -[email protected] www.ascentitgroup.com www.AutoBCM.com Related Images image1.png image2.png This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ascent-launches-hosted-solutions-offerings-to-automate-and-accelerate-business-continuity-management-300342751.html SOURCE Ascent Technology Consultants [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] eSignLive by VASCO Earns Top Customer Satisfaction Score for E-Signature Products in Fall G2 Crowd Report MONTREAL, Oct. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the sixth consecutive time, eSignLive by VASCO has been awarded the #1 customer satisfaction rating from G2 Crowd in its Fall 2016 E-Signature Software Grid?, outscoring other e-signature Leaders DocuSign and Adobe Sign. eSignLive also maintains the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) among the Leaders, an indicator that eSignLive is invested in delivering the best experience ever to its customers. As a peer-to-peer business software review platform, G2 Crowd and its Grid reports represent the independent voice of real software users. The Fall 2016 report is based on reviews written by nearly 2,500 business professionals currently using e-signature solutions as part of their digital workflow. eSignLive received the highest ranking from reviewers in key categories, including: Ease of doing business Quality of support Likely to recommend eSignLive also earned top scores for feature attributes, most notably workflow, custom branding, regulatory compliance, audit and enterprise scalability. With the combination of its top customer satisfaction and Leader status, along with the top ranking in various product categories, eSignLive is well positioned as the go-to e-signature solution for organizations looking to support their digital transformation efforts with a vendor invested in its customers success. eSignLive is in business because of our customers and humbled they have given us this top ranking again, earning eSignLive an NPS rating that is more than 25 percent higher than our closest competitor. We couldnt be striving to lead in customer satisfaction and digital transformation on a global scale without flexible deployment, being out-of-the-box compliant with local data and privacy laws, and focusing on the needs of the digital change agents our customers, said eSignLive President, Tommy Petrogiannis. eSignLive is uniquely positioned in Europe due to its ability to meet the requirements for the new eIDAS regulation, including out-of-the-box support for Trust Service Providers (TSP) in Europe that issue qualified certificates. It is also the only global e-signature provider that meets the Australian Privacy Act and is the only e-signature solution available on a FedRAMP-compliant cloud in the US. Those interested in comparing electronic signature vendors can download a copy of the G2 Crowd Fall 2016 E-Signature Software Grid. About eSignLive by VASCO eSignLive is the electronic signature solution behind some of the worlds most trusted brands. Regulated industries and top analyst firms recognize eSignLive for its ability to balance the highest levels of security, compliance and auditability with ease-of-use to automate any process from the simplest, internal signing workflow to the most complex, customer-facing transaction. Available in the cloud and on-premises, and with full white-labelling capabilities, eSignLive supports an organizations digital transformation strategy across the enterprise. eSignLive is the trade name of Silanis Technology Inc., a VASCO group company. Learn more at www.esignlive.com. Copyright 2016 VASCO Data Security, Inc., VASCO Data Security International GmbH. All rights reserved. VASCO and eSignLive are registered or unregistered trademarks of VASCO Data Security, Inc. and/or VASCO Data Security International GmbH, or Silanis Technology Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks or trade names are the property of their respective owners. Media contact: Sarah Hanel eSignLive by VASCO 250-216-1762 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Long-Serving DSCS Satellite Takes Over Role of Linking Antarctic Researchers to the World CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 21 years after its launch, a Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)-built satellite within the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) recently turned its attention to a new missionsupporting the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole, where communicating with the rest of the world has always been a challenge. Amundsen-Scott Station's location at 90 degrees south, right at the South Pole, makes communications with the remote science station difficult. Even for orbiting satellites, the extreme geographic latitude makes maintaining continuous communication links impossible for a station that up to 100 researchers call home. With few other options, periodic connections are still better than none, but the time to upload and download valuable research data and other communications is invaluable. In June, the U.S. Air Force's DSCS III B7 satellite took over the role of providing communication and data links between Amundsen-Scott and the U.S. Antarctic Program facility in Christchurch, New Zealand, which serves as the station's link to the rest of the world. Replacing the NSF's decommissioning GOES-3 satellite, DSCS III B7 provides the station with Internet access for 3.5 hours a day at spees of up to 30 megabits per second (MBPS), an upgrade from about 1.5 MBPS they had under GOES. DSCS III B7 has already begun relaying health and welfare data links to and from the remote facility. In June, the satellite played a key role in relaying telemedicine data leading up to the medical evacuation of two NSF employees in need of additional medical care. "The DSCS constellation has been a legacy workhorse for the U.S. military's super-high frequency communications," said Chris Ayres, director of Operations, Sustainment and Logistics at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "Now operating past twice its design life, it is gratifying to see DSCS III B7 still delivering value, providing significant return on investment by furthering scientific research and providing potentially life-saving communications with a location that is otherwise unreachable." Originally built by Lockheed Martin and launched on July 31, 1995 with a ten year-design life, DSCS III B7 builds on the constellation's reputation for providing extended service life. Six on-orbit DSCS III satellites remain operational with more than 259 years of combined service life, already providing nearly 120 extra years of mission life. Lockheed Martin sustains the DSCS constellation, as well as the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system and Milstar blocks I and II, under the Air Force's Combined Orbital Operations Logistics Sustainment (COOLS) program. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 98,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. Media Contact: Lauren Fair, +1 301-204-7334; [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151019/278077LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/long-serving-dscs-satellite-takes-over-role-of-linking-antarctic-researchers-to-the-world-300342452.html SOURCE Lockheed Martin [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] USANA Schedules Third Quarter Earnings Release and Conference Call USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (NYSE:USNA) today announced that third quarter results will be released after the close of market Tuesday, October 25, 2016. Shortly following the issuance of the Company's earnings release, the Company will post a "Management Commentary, Results and Outlook" document on the Company's website (www.usanahealthsciences.com) under the "Investor Relations" section of the site. The following morning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, USANA will hold a conference call to discuss this announcement with analysts and institutional investors. The call will consist of brief remarks by the Company's management team, before moving directly into questions and answers. The call will be broadcast over the Internet and can be accessed at http://www.usanahealthsciences.com. The webcast is also being distributed over Thomson's (News - Alert) Investor Distribution Network to both institutional and individual investors. Individual investors can listen to the call through Thomson's individual investor center or by visiting any of the investor sites in Thomson's Individual Investor Network. Institutional investors can access the call via Thomson's password-protected event management site, StreetEvents (www.streetevents.com). About USANA USANA develops and manufactures high-quality nutritional supplements, healthy-food and personal care products that are sold directly to Associates and Preferred Customers throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Thailand, France, Belgium, Colombia and Indonesia. Additionally, USANA's wholly-owned subsidiary, BabyCare, Ltd., operates a direct selling business in China. More information on USANA can be found at http://www.usanahealthsciences.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006455/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Target Donates $400,000 to Communities Affected by Hurricane Matthew Target (News - Alert) Corporation (NYSE: TGT) today announced a donation of $400,000 to assist communities in the U.S. and Caribbean affected by Hurricane Matthew. The donation includes $100,000 in Target GiftCards to be distributed by Salvation Army through the Multi-Agency Resource Centers across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, $100,000 in funds for the American Red Cross to provide food and shelter for impacted families and enable a rapid clean-up response, $25,000 for Team Rubicon to aid in clean-up and $25,000 in Target GiftCards for local organizations to provide essential supplies. To support response and recovery in impacted areas of the Caribbean, including Haiti, Target will donate $75,000 to both Save the Children and UNICEF. Target has more than 103 stores and 20,000 team members in the affected areas. In addition to the monetary donation, Target stores are also helping where they can, providing parking lot space to FEMA and mobile response units and beginning to coordinate volunteer efforts for the coming weeks. "We were devastated to hear about he destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew across the U.S. and the Caribbean. Our thoughts are with all of those tragically affected by the storm - many of whom are Target guests and team members," says Laysha Ward, chief corporate social responsibility officer, Target. "The need in these areas is great and we're honored to work with wonderful partners like the Salvation Army, American Red Cross and UNICEF to help provide relief and comfort during the storm recovery." About Target Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) serves guests at 1,799 stores and at Target.com. Since 1946, Target has given 5 percent of its profit to communities, which today equals more than $4 million a week. For more information, visit Target.com/Pressroom. For a behind-the-scenes look at Target, visit Target.com/abullseyeview or follow @TargetNews on Twitter (News - Alert). View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006595/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Welltower Announces Date of Third Quarter 2016 Earnings Release, Conference Call and Webcast Welltower Inc. (NYSE:HCN) today announced that it will release its third quarter 2016 financial results before the market opens on November 2, 2016. The company will also host a conference call on November 2, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss these results. The company's earnings release will be available in the Investors section of the company's website. Investors and other interested parties may access the conference call in the following ways: At the company's website: www.welltower.com. To participate in the webcast, please log on 15 minutes in advance of the scheduled call to download the necessary software. A webcast replay will be available approximately two hours after the conference call conclues and will be available for 90 days. By telephone: The telephone dial-in number in the U.S. is 888-346-2469. For participants outside the U.S., the dial-in number is 706-758-4923. The conference ID number is 94724138. A replay of the conference call will be available beginning at approximately 1:00 p.m. on November 2, 2016, and ending on November 16, 2016. The replay dial-in number for U.S. participants is 855-859-2056. For participants outside the U.S., the replay dial-in number is 404-537-3406. The replay conference ID number is 94724138. About Welltower Welltower Inc. (NYSE:HCN), an S&P 500 company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, is driving the transformation of health care infrastructure. The company invests with leading seniors housing operators, post-acute providers and health systems to fund the real estate infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience. Welltower, a real estate investment trust (REIT), owns more than 1,400 properties in major, high-growth markets in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, consisting of seniors housing and post-acute communities and outpatient medical properties. More information is available at www.welltower.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006544/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Delphi man arrested in killings of Libby German, Abby Williams Richard Allen of Delphi, Indiana, was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of two teen girls who had been hiking. You have reached a premium content area of Transitions. To read this entire article please login if you are already a Transitions subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). Aramco OPEC's November 2014 decision to not cut production has been interpreted as the moment Saudi Arabia decided to go after market share rather than boost prices. Two years later and after the cartel's recent surprise agreement to limit production at its upcoming November meeting it's worth checking in to see how this strategy has worked for them. The verdict? Not so great, according to Michael Tran, commodity strategist at RBC Capital Markets. And that's at least in part thanks to production growth from some of the kingdom's competitors, including Russia, Iran, and Iraq. "We have difficulty finding a metric suggesting that the Saudis emerged victorious on the goal they set out to achieve two years ago," Tran wrote in a note to clients. "In other words, things did not go according to plan given that the self-inflicted war wounds left the Kingdom limping along on most fiscal measures as oil prices toiled to multi-year lows while burning through nearly a quarter trillion dollars worth of foreign reserves in the process." More specifically, Tran outlines three key demand zones where the Saudis tripped up: The US: The Saudis had long been one of the US' major suppliers, but America's push into energy independence and the surge in domestic production has resulted in the kingdom sending over less oil. Admittedly, basically all major oil producers have been hit by the US' oil agenda. However Tran argues that "what is troubling for the Saudis is that their market share as a percentage of total imports fell alongside their notional volumes." China: For at time, Saudi Arabia was the big player in China; however, Russia has managed to gobble up most of the growth over the last year. Plus, smaller producers like Venezuela and Brazil made some gains, and now Iran has climbed into the ring. "One could argue that the Saudis made a conscious decision to forgo market share in the US... instead focusing efforts on key demand growth regions. The only problem is that the Kingdom did not fare much better in China," argued Tran. India: India is the other big demand target and Saudi Arabia has held onto 20% of the market for a good while. However, the bad news is that while India's demand has grown, the Saudis haven't really expanded their reach, according to Tran. Plus, he adds, the kingdom is looking at "potential threats on the horizon from surging Iran and Iraq." Story continues Screen Shot 2016 10 11 at 2.35.34 PM Things have also been tougher for the Saudis on the home-front. Most recently, the kingdom announced several fiscal consolidation measures (read: slashed public sector employees' pay) in an effort to help reduce its record budget deficit. Bloomberg previously reported that the country is aiming to cancel over $20 billion worth of projects and to slash ministry budgets by a quarter, there have been several ugly economic data points, and the public hasn't been happy with some austerity measures, such as the sharp rise in electricity bills. As such, Tran argues that the recent agreement to limit production could be interpreted as a sign that the Saudis have just abandoned their market share strategy given its relative ineffectiveness and rising domestic concerns. "Two years into the battle, Saudi Arabia has little to show for its efforts outside of fledgling foreign exchange reserves and rising tensions from a young, educated, and under-employed domestic population," he added. NOW WATCH: FEMA is tracking Hurricane Matthew using the 'Waffle House Index' More From Business Insider If youre anything like us, you were crushed when the management of the Shadow Electric bandroom at the Abbotsford Convent announced they would be ceasing operations back in July. The 300-cap room was noted for hosting Courtney Barnetts first ever sold-out show, as well as performances from the likes of Kurt Vile, Mac DeMarco, and countless other local and international acts. But after months of despair, we now have reason to celebrate. Shadow Electric have announced a brand new summer project entitled Shimmerlands, at the University of Melbournes Parkville campus. Shimmerlands, billed as Shadow Electrics most audacious endeavour, will live at Melb Unis Parkville campus for two months, presenting a stellar bill of live music and cinema. Brooklyn favourites Parquet Courts will christen the new venue on Thursday, 5th January with a lineup also featuring Tyrannamen, Ausmuteants, and Nicky Crane, plus DJs Etta & Tilly. With more information still to come, we know that in addition to live music, Shimmerlands will feature an al fresco dining area with offerings from some of Melbournes finest restaurants. On a photo shoot along the Merri Creek to promote her bands new singles, Cosima Jaala couldnt have picked a better day, weather wise. So nice was the day, in fact, she even got the fishing rod out. Weve just been fishing down along the Merri Creek and it is raging right now! I caught lots of buoys and cyclists! They werent too happy, the enigmatic frontwoman jokes. Melbourne four-piece Jaala have been on the rise since releasing their debut record Hard Hold in 2015. Touring it in major cities, as well as playing at BIGSOUND (amongst various other summer festivals), the band supported Hiatus Kaiyote last year, giving their music a whole new level of reach. Cosima reflects on the journey thats followed. Well yeah, they were our first gigs pretty much as a band, and that was really scary. But weve supported the Internet and Methyl Ethel this year, which has been really good. Were sort of in this strange position with our music where it can kind of just slot in to a whole bunch of different vibes, which is handy. One of these vibes includes headlining Sad Grrrls festival at the Reverence Hotel in Footscray at the start of this month, alongside a whole host of talented female fronted bands and artists. Cosima describes the experience. That went great! There should be more things like Sad Grrrls, cause were all sad. Were all weeping for the injustices of the world. Things are changing though, which is good. With a sound affectionately dubbed shed, a combination of alt/indie-rock and art-pop, Jaalas music is stop-start, complex and never settled, ostensibly reflecting the messy but beautiful nature of life. Cosima illuminates by keeping it simple. I wouldnt consider myself a session muso. Im not an academic and Im not a philosopher. I just make tunes. Im not thinking about music when Im writing music. Im thinking about life, pretty much. Delving a little deeper, she explains the inner workings of her chosen craft. I think the point of any art she pauses, if you feel comfortable you havent really gotten there yet. If anything, Im gonna be the one whos questioning it the most cos Im making it. Im not comfortable with the music that Im making, at all. Jaalas latest single, Junior Spirit, signals more of the same erratic but versatile style that has driven the bands trademark indie-rock-cum-art-pop sound. Seemingly detailing a painful break-up, Cosima explains the actual origin of the song. In a way its not even a break-up song, I wrote it when I was still together with somebody. It was more talking about that feeling of everything falling apart mostly due to your own issues. Being in a relationship is hard. Its a total headfuck. But its what you want as well, you know? With two single launch dates happening at the Gasometer in Melbourne and the Newtown Social Club in Sydney this month, the band is heading backing back into the studio to record album number two. At least theyll have more time than the five days it took to record Hard Hold slightly. This record will have the luxury of taking a longer time, cause the first one we did in five days. This time weve got a week and a bit, so itll definitely be more fleshy and voluptuous and sexy. Oh, and Dan Luscombe from The Drones is producing it, and hes a beautiful man. Hes the best. Excitedly talking about the new record, the delightfully quirky Cosima always remembers to take a moment to step back and reflect. I think the record will be done in December and then well just start trickling some juice early next year and then were just gonna release it all and then itll be done. And then we get to go down the Merri Creek and fish some more! To catch one of the countrys most unique and exciting acts in person, you can find Jaala launching their latest single Junior Spirit at the Newtown Social Club, Sydney on the 26th of October, and the Gasometer Hotel, Melbourne on the 28th of October. Tickets available through Oztix and ticketscout. Photos by Maddie Stephenson, styling by Lonely Enid with check dress from Somebuddy Loves You. Violent Soho are taking Australia by force. With five ARIA nominations and their national WACO tour selling out, these Brisbane rockers can now add another accolade to their name. The alt-rockers are set to have a plaque established in their honour on the Brunswick St Mall Walk of Fame as apart of the Queensland Music Awards Showcase. After Like Soda took out Song of the Year at the QMAs, Violent Soho will join other Brisbands on the Valley Walk Of Fame such as Ball Park Music and Hungry Kids Of Hungary. In 2013, Covered in Chrome took out the 13th spot in the triple j Hottest 100 can we expect a top 10 from the Sohos this year? Queenslanders are obviously hoping for it after awarding the group with the highest prize that the state has to offer. Violent Soho Tour Dates Fri 28 Oct Riverstage | Brisbane, QLD (Lic. All Ages) Sat 29 Oct Hordern Pavilion | Sydney, NSW (Lic. All Ages) Mon 31 Oct Festival Hall | Melbourne, VIC (Lic. All Ages) (Melbourne Cup Eve) Fri 4 Nov AEC Theatre | Adelaide, SA (Lic. All Ages) Sat 5 Nov Red Hill Auditorium | Perth, WA (Lic. All Ages) Many of us spend our days dreaming of getting away from it all. The hustle of the city, the stress of the commute, the noise and pollution what could be better than escaping all that for one of the remotest spots on Earth? Well, you may be surprised by what qualifies for remote. Each of the cities and capitals below is in some way cut-off from the rest of the world. They may be hard to get to, they may be geographically distant, or they may simply be isolated in some profound sense. Yet not all of them would naturally spring to mind when you hear the word remote. From the super-famous to the super-obscure, here are 10 places on Earth so out-of-the-way they make living in the sticks look like renting in downtown Manhattan. 10. Iquitos, Peru One way you can judge a citys remoteness is by imaging what would happen there if all modern tech suddenly stopped functioning. For people living in London and New York, it would be a major hassle. For people living in Iquitos, Peru, it would quickly turn into Lord of the Flies. Iquitos is buried deep in the heart of the Amazon, surrounded by hundreds of miles of impenetrable rainforest. How deep is it buried? So deep that jumping on a boat will take you four days to reach civilization. And forget about roads. Iquitos has only a single outward road, and that dead-ends in a related settlement 65 miles away. With a population of nearly 400,000, Iquitos is the largest city on Earth not connected to the outside world by road. In this wasteland of vegetation and violent, screaming nature, everything has to be imported. The price of everything from food, to clean water, to luxuries and clothes is sky-high (for Peru). Yet Iquitos isnt exactly hard to visit. A local airport connects the town to the capital Lima. You just better pray nothing happens to ground all flights in Peru during your visit. 9. Urumqi, China Urumqi in China holds the distinction of being the furthest city from coastline anywhere in Eurasia (possibly on Earth). If you fancy a dip in the sea, youre gonna have to trek over 2,240km to get there. Located in Chinas remote northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Urumqi is surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. Deserts, mountains, plains basically, once you leave Urumqi, theres almost nothing to break up the monotony. Another way Urumqi is remote from the rest of China is culturally. The province it is part of is mostly Muslim, and signs appear in Arabic. People here are generally so suspicious of Beijing and ethnic Han Chinese that major riots sporadically break out, killing dozens. On the other hand, Urumqi doesnt exactly feel remote. A major outpost on the old Silk Road, its still a major transport hub for people travelling through Central Asia. That means visiting there feels less like traveling to one of the remotest cities on Earth, and more like stepping into the worlds largest bus station. 8. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia Youd have to be stupid, mad or both to build a town like Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. A city of 180,000 situated on a cold, storm-lashed Russian peninsula, its almost hilariously inhospitable to life. The whole town is surrounded by rumbling volcanoes and impassable mountains that have stopped anyone driving roads through to it. As a result, everything and everyone has to come in on tiny, rickety planes. Theres no settlements close to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky because its friggin impossible to build any on this hostile stretch of land. Moscow is over 4,000 miles away. The closest significant capital is probably Alaskas state capital of Juneau. Itd be easier for residents to take a trip down to North Korea than it would be for them to visit their own government. The town was founded as a base for the Russian navy, and wound up surviving thanks to good fishing. Today, it also gets a smattering of tourists who want to visit the nearby national park, and dont mind stumping up insane amounts of money to get there. 7. King Edward Point, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands The capital of icy, windswept South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, King Edward Point isnt a city by any stretch of the imagination. The summer population is below 25, and the winter population drops to about 12. A scientific and cultural outpost administered by the government of Great Britain, its a tiny blip of civilization surrounded by an ocean of howling emptiness. Seriously, heres the island on Google Maps. That tiny dot to the left? Thats the Falkland Islands, itself a pretty-darn remote settlement. The capital of the Falklands is nearly 500km from the fringes of the nearest country (Argentina). King Edward Point is a further 1,500km away. Although its employees are part of the British Antarctic Survey Team, British Antarctic Territory itself is 2,300km away. Stand in King Edward Point and look in any direction and youre probably facing over 1,000km of terrifying emptiness. The South Georgian capital is so remote that it doesnt have a permanent population. The British Government, perhaps hoping to stop people from going mad, rotates its staff so no-one ever spends more than a couple of years living there. 6. Siwa Oasis, Egypt In terms of time taken to get there, Siwa Oasis in Egypt isnt remote. You can catch a bus from Cairo and be there in less than half a day. But its what surrounds Siwa Oasis that earns it a place on this list. The town of 23,000 sits slap bang in the middle of the Sahara Desert. This is an area of the world where the burning heat and mountains of sand mean its logistically-impossible for governments to police their own borders. Step outside in the middle of the day and youre gonna find yourself flash-fried before you can say burning flesh. Even if Cairo is within easy driving distance, it feels like its in another universe. Siwa Oasiss remoteness can be seen in its history. Essentially cut-off from civilization prior to the invention of the automobile, it wound up with a unique Berber culture thats different from anything else seen in the region. For one thing, it had a strong tradition of homosexuality and forms of gay marriage until King Fuad outlawed it in 1928. Less-surprisingly, it also clung to nomad customs not seen elsewhere for decades or even centuries. It might be an easy visit now, but historically Siwa Oasis has been one of the most-isolated places on Earth. 5. Medog, Tibet Medog in Tibet is a long, difficult, hair-raising drive from civilization that involves crossing frequently-impassable mountains and battling horrendous weather. Believe it or not, this is an improvement. Prior to 2013, there was no road connecting Medog at all. If you wanted to get there, you had to saddle up a horse and climb some 4,000 feet over two freakin mountains. Why was Medog previously so difficult to get to? A lot of that has to do with where its founders chose to settle. Nestled in a narrow valley between towering mountain peaks, the city of 10,000 is both stupidly beautiful and basically just stupid. For decades, the trade-off for Medogs sublime views was knowing that law enforcement couldnt get out there in an emergency, and that there was no chance of you getting to a hospital if you got ill or hurt. Locals were at the mercy of nature, which sounds kinda cool until you realize it was totally possible to die in Medog from something as simple as an infected cut. Even today, Medog is difficult to get to. The road Beijing built is only open 8 months of the year, and even then it is frequently closed by mudslides and snowfall. 4. Perth, Australia Youre probably wondering what the heck Perth is doing on this list. The 4th biggest city in Australia, Perth has a population of nearly 2 million, a jumping nightlife district, frequent flights to the rest of Australia and road connections to other cities. Yet this misses out two crucial facts. One: Perth is on Australias barren West Coast, where almost nobody lives. And Two: Australia is freakin massive. To get to Sydney, youd need to drive 2,045 miles across a sun-scorched bed of limestone so desolate it looks like something from a sci-fi film. The nearest city of at least 100,000 people (Adelaide) is 1,300 miles distant, only slightly-less than the distance from New York to Houston. And thats traveling through the Outback, a place so hostile to life that they might as well rename it the Punisher. For Australians living in Perth, its cheaper and easier to get to Indonesia than it is to almost anywhere else in their own country. If all modes of transport were to vanish tomorrow, residents of Perth would be utterly isolated from the rest of humanity (but, hey, at least their nightlife would still be good). 3. Funafuti, Tuvalu If it werent for the advent of affordable air travel, no-one in their right mind would ever go to Funafuti. The capital of the absurdly-tiny island nation of Tuvalu (itself only 26 km), Funafuti is home to a mere 6,000 people. Little more than a collection of squat houses fringed by palm trees, it sprawls out alongside the narrow road that essentially marks Tuvalus entire landmass. The nearest lump of land with a population approaching 1m is Fiji, 1,134 kilometers away. To get to a major city, youd have to fly to either New Zealand or Hawaii. Although plenty of Pacific Island states are remote, Tuvalu takes the biscuit. A strip of coral surrounded by endless, roiling sea, it feels like the last place on Earth. To get there, you first have to get to Fiji, itself a pretty remote place. Then its hop on a rickety plane, cross your fingers and hope you dont ditch into the sea hundreds of kilometers from civilization. According to one estimate, Funafuti is so distant it only receives 350 tourists a year less than one a day. Equally-isolated Kiribati, by contrast, receives as many as 5,000. 2. Nuuk, Greenland Nuuk is the capital of and largest city in Greenland, a sentence which deftly disguises just how breath-takingly remote and tiny it really is. The entire population of Nuuk clocks in at 16,583, a number so small that if the city were in any other country, itd be known instead as a village. The same sort of thinking applies to its remoteness. By Greenland standards, Nuuk isnt remote (Ittoqqortoormiit in the east probably takes the prize). But thats like saying Batman isnt strong compared to the Incredible Hulk. Compared to you and me, hes still the freakin Batman. No other capital city on Earth is more northerly than Nuuk. And getting there is a gigantic pain in the derriere. Visitors have to transit via Iceland or Copenhagen, and flights are expensive. Once in Nuuk, getting anywhere else can be a challenge: Greenland is essentially one gigantic ice sheet with terrible weather and non-existent roads. Wander out of Nuuk in almost any direction and youre soon lost in a wilderness of ice and nothingness. On the plus side, the wages in Nuuk are so stratospherically high that young Danes move here purely to make a killing. 1. Yakutsk, Russia Yakutsk is so comically-remote it feels like a joke. Its the capital of the Yakutia region in Siberia, a region that covers over 1 million square miles, yet houses fewer than a million people. There are enough lakes and rivers in Yakutia for each resident to own one of each. It is divided into multiple administration centers the size of Utah, many only containing one tiny village. Getting to Yakutsk itself is near-impossible. Theres only one road, which can only be used in winter (when the rivers freeze solid), and breaking down on it would mean certain death. Theres no railway. The river trip is 1,000 miles and can only be undertaken in summer, when the river isnt frozen. You can fly in from Moscow, over 3,000 miles away, on a 6-hour plane, but most Russians cant afford to do that. Once you get there, Yakutsk is mind-blowingly inhospitable. It used to be used as a prison for political dissidents and its easy to see why. In a warm winter, the temperature only drops to -30C. Most years it hits -50C. In other words, not only is Yakutsk hard to get to, it also makes you wonder why anyone would bother. Other Articles you Might Like Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said hes pleased with the result of Mondays Eurogroup as he spoke to the press after the meeting in Luxembourg. "There was a very good Eurogroup for Greece. It was unanimously decided that Greece had completed the 15 milestones so that we can proceed to the 1.1 billion [euro] disbursement," Tsakalotos said leaving the meeting. He explained that the 2.8 billion euros will be disbursed in two tranches, as Greece has not yet submitted data for the payment of arrears in September, since the figures were not yet available. The disbursement of the 1.7 billion euros which correspond to the repayment of arrears in September will take place on October 24, the minister said, adding that since the country doesnt have any important payments due in the immediate future, "so whether the 1.1 billion is paid before and the 1.8 billion is paid on the 24th of October is a secondary issues." Finance ministry sources said the Eurogroup had approved the immediate disbursement of the 1.1 billion euros, finding that Greece had completed all the prior actions for the first review of the Greek programme. The sources said that the remaining 1.7 billion euros were linked to the payment of arrears, with figures for July and August showing that Greece had more than met its target. The official figures for September could not be issued before the end of October, they added. "The 1.7 billion euros will be disbursed on October 24, in other words after the meeting of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), where the official figures for September will confirm that we are moving well above our target," the sources said. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report The Bank of Greece governor has been summored to testify before the Parliamentary committee The Governor of the Bank of Greece and former Minister of Finance Yannis Stournaras is testifying before the parliamentary committee tasked with investigating a series of loans that were granted to media groups and political parties. The financial sector was not the main cause of the crisis argued the Bank of Greece governor before the committee, before slamming his predecessor Giorgos Provopoulos. Mr. Provopoulos may have various psychological problems. He may judge the period when he was governor Mr. Stournaras stated, while defending his actions in relation to Attica Bank. Regarding the loans that were given to political parties from 2000 and onwards, the Governor stated that everything was above board and in compliance with the legal process. Mr. Stournaras added that all decisions must be judged based on the circumstances of the time. Asked about the loans given to media groups, Mr. Stournaras clarified the outstanding debts amounted to 944 million euros and that most of the loans were granted before 2010. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Obama administration on Friday ended months of speculation and blamed Russia for deploying its hackers to meddle with the U.S. election Signaling a low-point in Washington-Moscow relations perhaps not seen since the Cold War, the Obama administration on Friday ended months of speculation and blamed Russia for deploying its hackers to meddle with the U.S. election. The accusation came at the end of a week that saw the United States halt negotiations with Russia over joint operations in Syria targeting extremist groups. On Friday, the administration broke that silence. These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process, said Jeh Johnson, the secretary of homeland security, and James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, in a statement. Such activity is not new to Moscow the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russias senior-most officials could have authorized these activities, he added. The administration urged state and local election officials to be vigilant and seek cybersecurity assistance from the Department of Homeland Security. Yury Melnik, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Washington, blasted the Obama administration for making the accusation. This is another piece of nonsense! Putins website is attacked by tens of thousands of hackers daily. Many attacks are traced to the US territory, he said in a statement. But we dont go blaming them on the White House or Langley every time. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Ras Al Khaimah Finance & Investment Forum (Rakfif), the new platform for uncovering business investment opportunities and set-up in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), is gearing up for its debut show. To be held from December 13 to 14, at the Rixos Bab Al Bahr in Ras Al Khaimah, (UAE), the forum expects to bring together over 300 high-level delegates and other government and industry leaders with RAK entities, showcasing the emirate in its entirety, while offering professional investment assistance and information. Aiming to help business leaders, financiers, and investors navigate this developing landscape, the inaugural event Ras Al Khaimah Finance & Investment Forum provides a platform for information, networking and commercial opportunities. The forum has strong government support and key RAK entities and will be hosted under the Patronage of HH Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah. "Rakfif is the first and only event of its kind to showcase Ras al Khaimah as whole, focusing on key sectors of economic growth within the emirate hospitality, tourism, real estate, manufacturing and infrastructure development," remarked Irina Awote, the project director. By bringing together key RAK entities on one platform and providing a unique networking opportunity for investors and businesses alike, the objective of the RAKFIF conference is to unify these strategic partners in presenting an all encompassing network of advice, services and business opportunities that have emerged in the Emirate for investment, stated Awote. Ras Al Khaimah, he stated, has witnessed unprecedented economic growth in recent years, having one of the fastest growing economies in the Mena region with a yearly average growth rate of 8.8 per cent, and making the ranks as one of the Financial Times top ten small-medium global cities of the future. Commenting on its participation, Dennis Karapiperis, the chief executive of Archirodon Construction (Overseas), said: "Our strong and strategic presence in RAK is based on our firm belief in its ever growing role in the region." "It provided us with a great stable platform as we continue investing in our regional shipyard and lately in our state-of-the-art Fabrication Facilities. We look forward to meeting at the Forum other stakeholders who share our vision and excitement for RAK future in order to establish successful collaborations," he noted. As a high-level international business investment and finance forum, Rakfif will bring together experts from government and leading industries with international and regional investors and financiers, to explore business opportunities in the emerging Emirate. It will highlight the numerous investment projects that have been initiated, focusing on a number of key economic sectors including manufacturing & production, real estate, hospitality & tourism, infrastructure ports, airport and utilities. The events agenda includes panel discussions, sector specific break out sessions and plenary sessions with speakers from leading corporations such as Goldman Sachs International, PwC, Colliers International, HSBC, Samena Capital Investments Limited, Utico, Nabarro Middle East and Halcrow. Wassim Moukahal, the senior vice president of Samena Capital Investments, Dubai, said it has been a major investor in the emirate since 2014, through its stake in RAK Ceramics. "RAK Ceramics is an example of the emirates ability to grow and develop home-grown brands that become dominant global players, and today stands as a strong example of true success of private entrepreneurship from the Arab world," he noted. Alongside the presentations, a number of engaging features and events will take place across the two days of the Forum providing attendees with additional industry related content. Rakfif has arranged a number of site visits to the locations of new and ongoing developments for delegates to participate in, in order to gain an even greater perspective of all that Ras Al Khaimah has to offer. A dedicated onsite exhibition staffed by RAK entities will offer investment advice while showcasing the emirate fully.-TradeArabia News Service Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, will be a key speaker at the second Investing in the Future (IIFMENA) conference in Sharjah. The conference is being organised by The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF), a Sharjah-based international humanitarian body dedicated to aiding vulnerable people worldwide. The event, titled: Building the Resilience of Women and Girls in the Arab Region is being conducted in collaboration with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), from October 19 and 20. The forum will bring together government officials, representatives of international and non-governmental organisations, advocates of gender equality, academics and a number of experts and media personalities from across the world. It will provide a platform for engaging discussions highlighting the need to incorporate women and young girls into decision-making through economic empowerment, paying attention to their specific needs in education, skills-training and employment, said the event organisers. Mariam Al Hammadi, the director of Salam Ya Seghar a TBHF initiative said: "We are eager advocates of our girls' right to education. The UAE, since its inception, has always stood strongly for this." "Our efforts are in line with our leadership's firm belief in knowledge contributing to building and strengthening women's capacities, allowing them to effectively participate in community development. Educated women are better able to serve their families and nations and can work to a higher capacity to ensure stability and progress in their respective countries," she stated. On the symbolism behind bringing Yousafzai as a key speaker at the event, Al Hammadi said: "She is a role model for girls and women across the world. Her fight against the oppressive forces creating roadblocks for female education and empowerment is one of the bravest the world has ever seen." Yousafzai defied the Taliban and demanded that girls be allowed to receive an education in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Northwest Pakistan. She refused the ban issued by the Taliban Movement in 2009 and continued to go to school along with a few girls who decided to hold on to their right to education. Her streak of defiance came out strongly in an Urdu blog she wrote for the BBC, reaffirming that her thirst for education was stronger than her fear of the Taliban. The blog marked a turning point in Yousafzai's advocacy, which grew into an international movement. "Her determination and insistence in the process to the extent of being shot for her cause not only leaves an imprint on her nation and society, but on ours and on societies across the world," stated Al Hammadi. Yousafzai expressed her delight for being given the opportunity to talk about the challenges for girls in getting access to education in her country. She highlighted the importance of empowering girls to fulfill their wishes and effectively contribute to developing their communities and getting involved in the development process. She stressed that the impressive presence of international attendees at the conference will allow her to make the voices of her same-aged counterparts heard in order to ensure a better future for them. Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi of India were named joint winners of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for their outstanding contributions and achievements in humanitarian work. Another key participant at the conference will be Malala's father Ziauddin Yousafzai, a Pakistani diplomat and the current UN Special Advisor on Global Education and the educational attache of Pakistan in its consulate in Birmingham, UK. Yousafzai will be one of the key speakers during a panel discussion titled Combating Violent Extremism, which is set as the first roundtable panel discussion during the first day of the conference. The second edition of the IIFMENA conference will strive to further cement the grounds that are being laid for women to be recognised as equals and as agents of change for peace and economic prosperity, said the organisers. The conference aims to support all women, including refugees and displaced persons, by working to meet their needs and to ensure full rights and justice for them, they added.-TradeArabia News Service Demand for steel in the Mena region will nudge 0.6 per cent higher to 72.4 million metric tonnes (mt) this year, said S&P Global Platts, citing a Worldsteel report. Global steel demand will increase 0.2 per cent to a little more than 1.501 billion (mt) in 2016, according to the World Steel Association's short range outlook. Looking to 2017, Worldsteel expects a further 0.5 per cent increase in world demand to just over 1.509 billion mt. Worldsteel director general Edwin Basson said the projections were "as good as we can expect" under current economic and political conditions. "We're optimistic in the sense that the market is not falling any further," Basson said Tuesday morning during a news conference at the association's annual meeting in Dubai. The industry's positive forecast comes on the heels of a 3 per cent decline in 2015, when global demand totalled more than 1.498 billion mt, according to Worldsteel. Last year Chinese demand contracted 5.4 per cent, and experienced a much more modest decline of 1 per cent this year -- down from Worldsteel's estimate of a 4 per cent fall. China's share of consumption has fallen from 48 per cent at its peak to 43 per cent, "so its impact is less than five years back," T V Narendran, head of Worldsteel's economics committee, said. "The world excluding China consumes more steel than China, and the rest of the world is growing, he added. The decline in Russia, at 3.6 per cent, was also less than previously anticipated. Worldsteel forecast a 10.4 per cent decline for Central and South American consumption, with Brazil contracting by more than 14 per cent, substantially more than anticipated. European Union demand will rise 0.8 per cent this year, while NAFTA will see a dip of 0.1 per cent -- Narendran said downside risk remained high amid uncertainty caused by a slowing Chinese property market and Brexit. A total of 33 Bahraini exhibitors will participate within the Bahraini national pavilion for Gitex 2016 exhibition which will be held from October 16 to 20 in Dubai, UAE. The announcement was made by Work Smart, a top event-management company working in cooperation with the Bahrain Technology Companies Society (BTECH). Twenty-nine leading ICT companies will participate within the Bahraini pavilion along with four government entities: Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Economic Development Board (EDB), E Government and Tamkeen. The main goal since the start of the Bahraini participation in Gitex was to record Bahraini presence in this international forum for information technology manufacturers around the world. "Today, after 10 years of active participation, our goals became clearer and bigger. We aim to strengthen the ICT industry in Bahrain, raising the share of Bahraini companies from 6 per cent to 10 per cent in the IT investments markets in the Arabian Gulf which reached around 30 billion dollars," Ahmed Al-Hujairi, CEO of Work Smart, explained. He pointed out that the company was keen, as it always does, to choose a perfect location for the pavilion in the exhibition. "The design of the pavilion will be open and will include a permanent display hall which will provide continuous shows about Bahrain's economic and investment features. Times will be allocated to display products and services of the participating Bahraini companies," he said. "Co-ordination is being done to organize a visit to major Bahraini business figures in IT and communication field who are taking part in "Gitex" in support to Bahraini youth and to encourage innovation, he added. This is in addition to visits by Bahraini pavilions to other pavilions at the exhibition to encourage mutual cooperation. Meanwhile, Work Smart has already begun a promotional campaign to encourage for Bahraini participation in the exhibition. We do our best of effort to help Bahraini companies which are willing to take part in the event, to invest in this global meeting or to enter in a new successful partnership," Al-Hujairi concluded. TradeArabia News Service According to recent figures released by VisitBritain and the airline data analysis firm ForwardKeys, bargain-hunting international travelers grabbed the opportunity to book trips to the freshly discounted U.K. Resulting to the "Brexit" vote, also known as the June 24 Referendum, July was the utmost month ever for inbound tourism to the UK. There have been an estimated 3.8 million visitors descending on the country. It is about 2 percent increase in visitors compared with July 2015. Visits from North America were up five percent in July, to 580,000, compared with the previous year, based on the further reports by the ForwardKeys. ForwardKeys is a traveler data intelligence company which one of their services is to provide tool to monitor permanently inbound and outbound travelling, compare their performance 'in real time' with competing destinations, and monitor the impact of their marketing efforts. Flight bookings to the U.K. jumped considerably after Brexit and subsequently resulted to the pound crash in response to the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union in June. The company attributed the booking influx to the sharp drop in the British pound after the vote. According to VisitBritain CEO Sally Balcombe, "We want Britain to be top of people's list as a 'must go now' destination, and we have an immediate and real opportunity to promote Britain as a great value destination, particularly in our long-haul, high-spending markets such as China and the U.S." There have been reports that there were substantial media hype surrounding the value that the U.K. suddenly represents to foreign travelers. Based on booking patterns, it appears that the buzz has resounded. Based on reports by Travel Weekly, the CEO of Mountain View (Calif.-based agency Zicasso), Brian Tan, said demand for the U.K. definitely jumped following Brexit. "Zicasso has been experiencing an uptick in the U.K. market every year since 2008," Tan said. "However, 2016 has seen a bigger uptick in demand than normal, especially for the U.K. post-Brexit announcement. This has primarily been due to the most favorable exchange rate in over a decade plus favorable airfares," he added. Opportunely, the increase in tourist has brought more revenue to the U.K.'s tourism economy, as well. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 When one goes to the United States, they'll usually go for the best restaurants and the biggest malls - but did you know that this country is home to some of the best amusement parks in the world? If you're up for some exhilarating fun, make it a point to give one of these a visit. Here's our top five list for the best amusement parks in the United States: 1. Universal Studios, Hollywood: Probably the most popular feature they have now is that Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Potterheads truly feel transported to Hogwarts when they're here, because they get to enjoy a glass of Butterbeer while being at The Three Broomsticks. 2. Six Flags Magic Mountain: While there are many Six Flags parks across the US, this is deemed to be the best one by USA Today. Rollercoaster fans love going here, as it is home to the craziest and best ones in the country. If you want to experience thrill, you'll get it here. 3. Knott's Berry Farm: This park is often overlooked since it's so near to Disneyland in California, but it definitely has its charms too. It's the first amusement park in the country, so you should definitely pay a visit. 4. Disneyland: The original is definitely still one of the best. Theme Park Insider has created a ranked list of the best Disney theme parks, but this easily trumps the rest in the US for being the classic. It also helps that it always updates its attractions. 5. Carowinds: This park in the south is home to the 'Best Roller Coaster in the World', as awarded by the Golden Ticket Awards. While this park is relatively new, it already holds a lot of promise in the adventure area. Also, it's pretty neat that it lies on the state line between North and South Carolina. If you're traveling to the United States or if you're living there, give these five amusement parks a much-deserved visit. Fun and adventure are part of what makes the US the best, and to experience it is truly a treat. Here's the teaser for Fright Fest 2016 at Six Flags Magic Mountain: See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 The following factors are likely to influence Malaysian palm oil futures and other vegetable oil markets. FUNDAMENTALS * Malaysian palm oil futures declined for a second straight session on Monday evening, weighed down by higher September end-stocks and on a technical correction. * U.S. wheat futures rose more than 2 percent on Monday on short-covering and spillover strength from the crude oil market, analysts said. * Oil prices jumped as much as 3 percent on Monday, with Brent hitting a one-year high, after Russia said it was ready to join OPEC in curbing crude output and Algeria called for similar commitments from other non-OPEC producers. MARKET NEWS * U.S. stocks strode higher on Monday, lifted by Hillary Clinton's widening lead in the U.S. presidential campaign and by a surge in oil prices, while sterling was under pressure on concerns Britain will make a hard exit from the European Union. RELATED > Malaysia's Oct 1-10 palm oil exports rose 1.9 pct -SGS > Malaysia's end-Sept stockpiles rose while exports dropped - MPOB > Malaysia's Oct 1 - 10 palm oil exports rise 10.8 pct -ITS > France lifts slightly estimate of 2016 maize crop, cuts wheat > Global oil producers say possible to reach output cut when OPEC meets DATA/EVENTS > Cargo surveyor ITS releases Malaysia's Oct 1-10 palm oil export data on Oct 15 > Cargo surveyor SGS releases Malaysia's Oct 1-10 palm oil export data on Oct 15. * For a table on Malaysian physical palm oil prices, including refined oil, Reuters Terminal users can double click on or type. * To view freight rates from Peninsula Malaysia/Sumatra to China, India, Pakistan and Rotterdam, please key in and press enter, or double click between the brackets. * Reuters Terminal users can see cash and futures edible oil prices by double clicking on the codes in the brackets: To go to the next page in the same chain, hit F12. To go back, hit F11. Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0030 GMT Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume MY PALM OIL OCT6 0 +0.00 0 0 0 Story continues MY PALM OIL NOV6 0 +0.00 0 0 0 MY PALM OIL DEC6 0 +0.00 0 0 0 CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN7 5512 +52.00 5444 5520 350726 CHINA SOYOIL JAN7 6394 +82.00 6316 6416 295326 CBOT SOY OIL DEC6 33.89 +4.70 33.86 33.97 1368 INDIA PALM OIL OCT6 516.50 +4.70 509.60 521.8 2326 INDIA SOYOIL OCT6 650.7 -2.30 646.5 653 17390 NYMEX CRUDE NOV6 51.30 -0.05 51.10 51.32 3934 Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel Vegetable oils -- Malaysian palm oil exports -- CBOT soyoil futures -- CBOT soybean futures -- Indian solvent -- Weekly Indian vegetable oils -- Dalian Commodity Exchange -- Dalian soyoil futures -- Dalian refined palm oil futures -- Zhengzhou rapeseed oil -- European edible oil prices/trades -- (Reporting by KL newsroom) For the second time, Green Destinations has nominated the Azores as one of the top 100 most sustainable destinations in the world. (TRAVPR.COM) USA - October 11th, 2016 - For the second time, Green Destinations has nominated the Azores as one of the top 100 most sustainable destinations in the world. The award Sustainable Destinations Global Top 100 was created to recognized the efforts of the top 100 most sustainable travel destinations in the world, while encourage good practices in terms of economic and environmental sustainability and responsible tourism. The Azores Islands, nine Portuguese volcanic islands in the Atlantic, were created by volcanic activity millions of years ago, and have a stunning and dramatic environment. From the black lava cliffs on the island of Terceira, to the mythical Mountain Lake of Fire on Sao Miguel, the Azores have an intensely green and sculptured landscape. Back in 2014, when this list was first announced, the Azores Islands were given a sustainability award for the quality of the destination and were considered an example thanks to their environmental practices and to the way how they have harmonized the link between man and nature. The recognition of the Azores Archipelago, whose application was prepared by Azores Geopark along with the Azores Tourism Board, supports and rewards the work done in the nine islands concerning nature tourism, including ecotourism, which is both a premium tourism product of this Autonomous Region and one of the main pillars of UNESCO World Geoparks, as is the case of the Azores. Based on 15 core criteria of the Green Destinations Standard (table), nominators had to provide extensive information on the destination and on its efforts towards sustainability for the benefit of visitors, residents and the world. The Azores offer a unique, European experience, and are just a four-hour flight from New England. As the closest point in Europe to North America, the nine volcanic islands offer visitors a number of places to stay, including hotels, Pousadas, villas, and manor houses. Only five percent of the Azores Islands is developed. More info at visitazores.com http://greendestinations.info/top100-2016/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-Sustainable-Destinations-Top-100-v6.pdf ### Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 10 Despite a ban on the burning of paddy straw, farmers in the region have started burning stubble soon after the harvesting. The stubble can be seen burning in the paddy fields with farmers, who are in a hurry to sow the next crop, defying the ban orders. After the adoption of combine harvesters, the problem of stubble burning has aggravated. The farmers have options to remove paddy straw from the fields, but they go for the easier ones. Now, the farmers are in a hurry to sow potatoes and plough fields for mustard and wheat crop. A large number of them are unaware of the ban orders on the burning of stubble. But some are aware that smoke from paddy straw causes respiratory diseases, but do not find any economically viable alternative for burning the stubble. However, paddy crop in most fields is yet to be harvested and there is risk of a fire outbreak in the other fields. But the farmers are not bothered about the orders of the administration. It may be mentioned that Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam gave directions not to burn the stubble after harvesting paddy in the district on October 6. The ban orders will remain in effect till December 4. Meanwhile, officials of the agriculture department suggested several alternatives to the farmers. The paddy straw chopper-cum-shredder-cum-spreader was a good alternative to chop and spread straw in the field. Apart from this, the straw can be used for making bio-gas. It can be used in sugar mills and for other industrial purposes. But farmers are not adopting these techniques as they do not find it economically viable. New Delhi: The government on Tuesday issued draft rules for liquidation of insolvent corporate persons under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. As part of implementing the code, the government has already constituted the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India while the draft norms will be finalised after taking into consideration views of the stakeholders. The code seeks to consolidate and amend laws relating to reorganisation as well as insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time-bound manner. TNS Leyland to set up unit in Telangana Hyderabad: Automobile major Ashok Leyland has signed a pact with the Telangana Government to set up a Rs 500-crore vehicle body-building facility in the state. "The firm will invest Rs 500 crore in phases to build the plant that will employ over 1,000 people," Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has said. While the location is yet to be finalised, the proposed plant will assemble buses and trucks. A MoU was inked and exchanged between Santhi Kumari, Additional Principal Secretary, and Vinod K Dasari, MD of Ashok Leyland Limited. TNS 1+1 free data plan for BSNL prepaid users New Delhi: On the occasion of Dussehra and Muharram, state-owned BSNL has launched a promotional offer under which prepaid customers get double benefit on four new data Special Tariff Vouchers (STVs). "Four new data STVs have been launched on festive season on the pan-India basis with validity of 365 days with double data offer from October 10 to October 31," BSNL said. Under this offer, Rs 1,498 will give 18 GB instead of 9 GB data, Rs 2,798 will give 36 GB instead of 18 GB, Rs 3,998 will give 60 GB data instead of 30 GB and Rs 4,498 will give 80 GB data instead of 40 GB data. PTI FB makes Workplace app available for all San Francisco: Buoyed by the positive response from over 1,000 companies that are currently using Workplace (formerly known as Facebook at Work) including in India, the company has announced it will make the app available to all. This means you can chat with a colleague across the world in real time, host a virtual brainstorm in a group or follow along with your CEO's presentation on Facebook Live. "People have created nearly 100,000 groups and the top five countries using Workplace are India, the US, Norway, UK and France, Facebook said. IANS Vistara adds Airbus A320 to its fleet New Delhi: The Tata-SIA joint venture airline, Vistara, completed the induction of its Airbus A320 ceo planes in its fleet. The airline received the 13th and the last of such aircraft from Toulouse in France this week. The airline plans to use the last of the inducted planes for launching its operations from Kolkata to Bangalore, Guwahati and Port Blair. The airline had in 2014 announced leasing of 20 Airbus A320 planes - 13 A320 ceo (current engine option) and seven A320 neo (new engine option) - from Singaporean leasing firm, BOC Aviation. TNS Ishrat S Banwait Tribune News Service Panchkula, October 10 Mansa Devi saw a dip of more than three lakh devotees visiting the temple during the Navratra fest that ended here today. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the shrine board, VG Goyal, said one reason could be the possibility of a terror attack at the temple after Indias surgical strikes in PoK. Only 8.70 lakh devotees visited the temple during the 10-day fest as compared to 11.87 lakh, who visited during the last one in April. The temple has seen a dip in donations as well with a total amount this year being Rs 1.27 crore as compared to Rs 1.34 crore donated in April. Goyal said, We will have to investigate the reason behind the dip in numbers, but one reason that I know was the fear of a terrorist attack on the temple. While, devotees also donated a total of 25 gold ornaments and 220 silver ornaments. Donations in foreign currency included 140 Canadian dollars, 80 American dollars, 55 Euros, 10 Pounds, 10 Australian and five New Zealand dollars. Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar will visit the temple on Tuesday at 4 pm to inaugurate the newly constructed Kamal Sarovar and the renovated Hanuman temple and Shiv temple. He will also provide all the shastars to Devi Maa, which is being done for the first time in the temples history, according to the CEO. Amritsar, October 11 The Tourism Authority of Thailand will launch their budget Thai Smile from several destinations in India to Bangkok during this year. The marketing officer and Secretary, India, Bangladesh and Nepal, Shangreiso Shimray today declared that the Thai Smile will introduce regular weekly fights from Varanasi and Jaipur during the next month, whereas from Amritsar the filghts would take off from March. Shimray said Thailand was a great tourist centre with a rich heritage and cultural traditions. It was a favourite destination for Indian tourists. The Thai Tourism Authority had made a thorough study and saw the great tourist potential from Thailand to India, to and fro. Bangkok caters to all kinds of tourists, including high-end travellers, besides the budget and family groups. Thailand is an excellent destination as a wedding venue on the mainland and on their several beach resorts and provides top of the shelf facilities to meet their needs, he said. Thai Tourism is hosting an international cultural festival from November 14 to 25 next year and expects a huge influx of tourists from across the world. TNS Shelly Walia THE ongoing election campaign in the US has shaken even the most ardent believer. It defies logic and intelligence and has upended the most respected polls in the world's most powerful nation. The outcome of this election will have far-reaching ramifications in the entire world; and the way things stand today, the final outcome could send international shock waves, causing grave consternation amongst the global community. We may end up questioning the very doctrine of democracy on the grounds that all that democracy does cannot be justified simply because the people decided to do so. The two most representative countries with a democratic form of political governance are India and the United States, the former the most populous and the latter the most prosperous. India is riddled with an overabundance of systemic issues that make the functioning of a free and fair democracy a dream bordering on delusion. The US, on the contrary, guarantees to all its citizens the right to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness under equal protection and assurance of equal rights although issues of race, religion, gender and sexual orientation taint the true representative nature of a well-oiled democracy. Democracy has to be judged by its results and the results are not good at all. This has become glaringly obvious in the election campaign run by the Republican nominee Donald Trump. At no time in the history of this democracy has an election been so hijacked by a racist and a misogynist through a manifesto of nativism and economic populism. His platform is limited to the tens of millions who feel their rights and freedom are being assaulted by the burgeoning sea of immigrants arriving on the shores of this democracy seeking a better life. These are the disgruntled unemployed or underemployed, under-educated mostly white males who see their way of life permanently change with the influx of something they resent with remarkable passion. Donald Trump gives expression to this suppressed vitriol by shouting from the rooftops. A quasi-Republican, he has become the main contender by repackaging the hallucinatory vision of restoring American greatness and selling it to the blue-collar working class whites who have fiscally identified with the democratic party for generations but are now willing to enter into fisticuffs with anyone who opposes Trump. Apparently, there is no room in this democracy for the inclusion regardless of race, colour or gender, or freedom of expression and equal protection under one set of rules. This is a democracy of the angry, bigoted and narrowly focused, who dream of returning America from the masses to its Christian roots, to communities of one colour, where marriages take place between men and women, everyone is heterosexual, guns are sacred and everyone lives happily ever after. How did American politics get here? Why did a blustery real estate agent whom every sensible person thought would perish and burn within days of his decision to run for President, go on to become the nominee for the Republican Party, virtually tying with Hillary Clinton who is the voice of reason, inclusion and experience? The only explanation is that democracy often falls into the hands of the ignorant and the irrational, the biased and the mean, and thus is an inadequate system of electing a competent government. To lack strong opinions on political issues or have no opinions at all or only pre-existing options from which you refuse to budge makes most of the voters the typical majority that has the last word. We may ridicule or malign Trump but the bitter truth underlying this phenomena is that the so-called electorate that put him almost at the finishline despite being a virulent wind bag, does not grasp the true depth of what it entails to be a responsible member of a democracy. It seems unaware of the real danger of electing a misguided, poorly equipped person to be the leader of the free world. This racist, foul- mouthed demagogue, lacking any political or administrative experience or foreign policy acumen, today stands equal chances of winning. Until the time the US has an electorate that is socially aware, and adequately versed in civic affairs, it will have a myopic democracy. The American populace must understand the huge burden placed on it to elect not someone who speaks to their limited vision of life but who envisions the larger good, one that benefits most. It must keep in mind that in the interest of electing an able leadership it is willing to forsake its prejudice and bias. It is time the nation acknowledges the deplorables who thwart any chance of living in a truly enlightened democracy. For a democratic system to be fully representative of the will of the people, both the elected members and those that put them there need to be knowledgeable enough in political, social and economic matters that underpin the country. When this elected government is laden with layers of bureaucracy, it engenders the rot of graft and lack of transparency, disempowering the common man and scuttling the wheels of the democratic machine. In addition, sufficient checks and balances need to keep those in power accountable and responsible for executing on their promise to the electorate. An independent judiciary is indeed critical to the smooth and stable functioning of a democracy as is a firm, unbiased and fair rule of law. Just as we cannot put an intemperate boor like Trump in the White House, we cannot pick an outrageously unrestrained loudmouth like Duterte at the head of the Philippines, nor can we afford a head of state who even faintly smacks of extremist views in a secular behemoth like India. With freedom comes the tremendous responsibility of electing a leader who will govern firmly and fairly, and help in the evolution of the democracy. Just as the accused have the right to a fair trial, citizens have the right to a competent government. The road to a more sustainable democracy is long and paved with innumerable obstacles but it's still the only way forward. Two cheers to democracy. The writer is a Professor in the Department of English & Cultural Studies, Panjab University. Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 10 The BJP has sought an enquiry against the AAP government into a proposal for setting up a spy agency in Delhi. In a letter written to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay said a report appeared in a periodical that Arvind Kejriwal party after coming to power in 2015 tried to set up a spy agency in Delhi. He demanded that the BJP should order an enquiry in the matter and put before the people of Delhi the proposal which Kejriwal government had prepared. In the letter, Upadhyay said Delhi already had an efficient police force and other intelligence agencies. Therefore, it made clear that Kejriwal wanted the spy agency for keeping a tab on political opponents. On the other hand, the Delhi BJP activists today held a demonstration to protest the atrocities and killing of BJP workers in Kerala. The workers of the Scheduled Caste Morcha and the South Indian Cell led by Delhi affairs in-charge, Shyam Jaju, and Satish Upadhyay, took out a protest march from Delhi BJP office to the CPM office near Gole Market. The police later arrested the demonstrators and took them to the Parliament Street Police Station. Addressing the demonstrators, Shyam Jaju said, It is sad that Communists, though irrelevant in politics, have leashed a reign of terror over political opponents in Kerala since they came to power a few months back. We warn them that people of the country will not tolerate such atrocities anymore. Later this week, India will host a summit of BRICS countries amidst a prickly domestic mood. China is one of the invitees and the recent bout of name calling does not augur well for the forthcoming interaction between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. China has been charged with blocking the flow of river waters to India even though the tributary accounts for 0.14 per cent of the total flow. A temporary obstruction anyway has no effect on Indias water needs. Social media is clogged with calls for boycotting Chinese goods as punishment for backing Pakistan. The reality is only 3 per cent of Chinas exports go to India. Any boycott, if it was feasible, would hurt India more than China. There are efforts to further sour the national mood by painting China as an outlier in the international community for blocking Indian attempts to indict Masood Azhar as a UN-designated terrorist. Chinas statement indicates it is high time we discarded our ultra-nationalist lenses and realised that the world does not view the Jammu & Kashmir dispute purely as a law and order problem. Modi will also get to interact with Russian President Vladimir Putin against the backdrop of a high-pitched campaign against Moscow for staging military exercises with Pakistan when Indo-Pak relations were taking a beating. As host Modi will need to resist the temptation of painting the BRICS summit only in colours of counter-terrorism. Modi can retrieve the middle ground with both China and Russia. India needs to have both on board to corner funds from BRICS Bank. But on NSG membership, it may have to allow Pakistan to enter the club as well. Russia remains an important source for defence technology and is crucial to reducing dependence on Arab oil. Modi has lost ground with Russia because of his pronounced accent on improving ties with the US. On his watch, ties with China have also not been adroitly managed. Both countries are also crucial as India steps up its influence in Central Asia. The BRICS summit is an opportunity for Modi to hit the reset button. Our Correspondent Dalhousie, October 11 Luxury bus service between Dalhousie and Delhi will be started before December 31. The bus will depart from Dalhousie at 5.15 pm and reach Delhi at 6.00 am. The service would be a boon for the tourists. This was stated by Transport Minister GS Bali while addressing a press conference here today. Bali said the tender process for purchasing 25 electric buses was in the pipeline. The HRTC would ply the buses on the identified routes connecting hill stations. The minister said under the connectivity plan of the HRTC, new bus services from Dharamsala and Dalhousie to Chandigarh would also be started. He said the HRTC had increased its fleet of buses from 1,700 to 3,300 during the past three years. It had recently decided to add 400 more buses to the fleet. Bali who also holds the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department said the government had taken several decisions for the benefit of public. Every household would get three pulses under the public distribution system (PDS), he said. The consumers would now get mustard oil along with their pending quota. Chamba Deputy Commissioner Sudesh Mokhta, HRTC Divisional Manager Vijay Sipahiya and Regional Transport Officer Krishna Negi were present. Srinagar, October 11 Curfew remained in force in interior areas of Srinagar on Tuesday as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in view of the fourth day of mourning of a minor boy, who was hit by pellets during a protest. Curfew continues in five police station areas of downtown (interior areas) city as a precautionary measure, a police official said here. He said the curbs on the movement of people in the police station areas of Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, Safakadal and Maharaj Gunj have been imposed in view of the fourth day mourning of 12-year-old Junaid Akhoon, who was hit by pellets at Saidapora and later succumbed to injuries at SKIMS Hospital. He was buried on Saturday. The official said the curbs in other areas of the city, where they were imposed on Monday in view of Muhurram, had been lifted. With the lifting of the curbs from most areas of the city, there was increased movement of traffic around Lal Chowk on Tuesday morning, while some vendors were also seen selling fruits, vegetables and other items, the official said. However, normal life remained affected for the 95th consecutive day in the rest of the Valley following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8. The unrest, which has claimed 84 lives, including that of two cops, and left thousands of others injured in clashes between protesters and security forces, is in its fourth month as shops, business establishments, petrol pumps and educational institutes remained closed, while public transport continued to be off the roads. PTI Azhar Qadri Tribune News Service Sempora, October 10 Kashmirs nursery of entrepreneurs became the site of a major battle today as some fidayeen terrorists barricaded themselves inside the seven-storey building of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), sparking a lengthy firefight on the peripheries of Srinagar city. Security forces fired a barrage of rockets and carried out multiple blasts to neutralise the terrorists, who are suspected to have sneaked in pre-dawn and turned it into an impregnable bunker. The attack took place at Sempora, 1 km outside Srinagar district. DGP K Rajendra Kumar said two to three terrorists were suspected to be inside the building. Going by our assessment and the intercepts, it could be Lashkar-e-Toiba, he said. The security forces had suffered no casualty and the damage to terrorists could only be confirmed after the operation ends, he added. The terrorists are suspected to have taken position on the sixth and seventh floors of the building, which previously housed the institutes hostel and was now serving as its office headquarters. The building was engulfed in a cloud of smoke as security forces attempted to blast it in the afternoon. The building, however, remained intact and only a part of it caught fire. The institute, established by the state government in 1997, has trained and financed hundreds of entrepreneurs over the past decade. It is for the second time this year that the EDI complex has become the site of a gunbattle. In February, terrorists ambushed a convoy of the CRPF on the highway outside the EDI complex and positioned themselves inside one of its buildings for three days. Two CRPF personnel, three Army commandos, including two Captains, a civilian and three terrorists, were killed in the three-day gunfight then. Mondays was a rare fidayeen attack in which the terrorists first sneaked into the building from its rear on the Jhelum bank, laid rudimentary fortifications using chairs and tables, and then drew attention by setting the attic ablaze, said the police. As fire tenders were rushed in, these were fired at, forcing them to withdraw and setting the scene for a lengthy battle, which continued through the day. A police official said Army commandos were involved in the operation to neutralise the terrorists, who were firing after long pauses to avoid giving away their location. Srinagar, October 11 One militant was killed as the operation to flush out militants holed up inside a government building in the Pampore area on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway entered the second day on Tuesday. An army official said the area around the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) premises had been cordoned off and exchange of fire was going on. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Security forces have launched a fresh offensive on Tuesday morning to flush out the militants, the official said. Two to three militants stormed into the EDI complexes in the wee hours of Monday and took positions inside one of the buildings. The ultras could have entered the complex from the riverside but that can only be ascertained once the operation is over. Read: 8 injured in grenade attack in south Kashmirs Shopian After getting inside the complex, the militants set on fire a few mattresses inside a hostel room to attract the attention of the police and other security forces, which arrived within minutes of the smoke emanating from the building. In the initial exchange of fire, an army soldier was injured, the official said. The security forces on Monday used mortar shells, light machine guns and other small arms to flush out the militants but so far had not been successful, the official said. Militants had targeted the EDI building in February this year as well. Five security personnel, including two young army officers and a civilian employee of the Institute, and three militants were killed in that operation that lasted 48 hours. PTI Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 11 Buoyed by a positive signal from global powers and the international cold-shoulder to Pakistan, following the September 29 strikes by the Indian Army across the Line of Control (LoC) to target terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the Indian security establishment has devised a three-S formula to respond to terror threat originating from across the border. Speed, Skills and Surprise will form the fulcrum of the three-S formula. The skills shall include stealth and training to carry out responses in future as the security establishment knows that cross-LoC raid or strike at multiple locations cannot be repeated after every terror attack in India. Pakistans low-cost option of waging a proxy war by sending terrorists to India can no more remain viable in the long run; the unpredictability that will be factored in the three-S formula, would be a deterrent, a source told The Tribune. Within hours of the cross-LoC strikes, Russia, China and the US made it clear that they stood by New Delhis response. While China asked both sides to scale down tension and resort to dialogue, the US and Russia, in separate statements, called on Pakistan to end terrorism originating from its soil. On September 30, Moscow said, We expect that the Pakistan government should take effective steps in order to stop activities of terrorist groups in the territory of the country. US National Security Adviser Susan Rice called on Pakistan to take effective action to combat and de-legitimise United Nations-designated terrorist individuals and entities, including Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and their affiliates. Within India, an assessment within the security establishment is that Pakistan will attempt to retaliate through terror strikes even as citizens in its own country have questioned the wisdom of engaging with India. New Delhi believes Pakistan will resort to a major strike in Jammu and Kashmir using terrorists, but there wont be an attack by Pakistan Army regulars. Indias response to such a strike will depend on the nature of the attack, but so far its almost certain that no war looms on the horizon unless Pakistan is hell-bent on taking on the economic and military might of India. Islamabad, October 11 A prominent Pakistani journalist has been barred from leaving the country after he reported a rift between the civilian and military leaderships over the powerful ISI shielding terror groups like the Haqqani network and LeT that led to Pakistans international isolation. Cyril Almeida, a columnist and reporter for the Dawn newspaper, tweeted he has been told that he has been put on Exit Control Lista system which allows Pakistan government to bar people from leaving the country. Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan. I feel sad tonight. This is my life, my country. What went wrong, Almeida tweeted. PM Nawaz Sharif yesterday asked authorities to take stern action against people responsible for publishing the fabricated story. The daily today stood by the story issued on October 6, saying it was verified, cross-checked and fact-checked. PTI Our Correspondent Jaipur, October 11 Speculations mounted on over possible cabinet expansion, and formation of a new executive in Rajasthan before Diwali, after Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and state party chief Ashok Parnami held a meeting with the BJP president, Amit Shah, in Delhi on Monday evening. In the House, the BJP having a strength of 160 MLAs out of 200 members, Raje currently has 13 Cabinet, seven MoS (Independent charge), and five MOS, besides five cabinet secretaries. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Leading 26 ministers' Cabinet, including herself as the chief minister, there is possibility of four more inductions. In July, when the chief minister was on her visit to Russia and Germany, there was a wide-spread supposition that on her return she would induct or reshuffle her Cabinet, but on her arrival, a number of other issues cropped up creating hurdles in the expansion. This could be Rajes last Cabinet expansion as she and Parnami, in the state party executive meeting in Udaipur last week, had clearly indicated that district party president would not be allowed to contest Assembly polls. The Assemble elections are due for 2018 in Rajasthan. However, the formation of a new state executive is due, and is likely to be finanlised before Diwali, said a party leader. After return from Delhi, Parnami will constitute a new team of 128 members, including six vice-presidents, four general secretaries, six secretaries, five Pradesh Karyalya Prabhari, and four spokesmen, he said. Parnami and Raje did not take phone calls dispite several attempts. No comments. It is the prerogative of the chief minister and party high command to decide who to induct, replace or elevate, said a party insider, while most of the ministers remained silent. Party insiders said: There is a strong resentment among workers as many of them are awaiting political appointments. The BJP Government completes three years in power in December 2016. Simran Sodhi Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 11 China today again lived up to its reputation of being Pakistans strong ally and friend when it questioned Indias claims of Pakistan being behind the Uri terror attack and further labelled Indias decision to fence the India-Pak border as irrational. The comments were made by some leading Chinese experts and carried in Global Times, a newspaper which is known to be close to the Chinese Government and is viewed primarily as a channel to promote and reflect the perspective of the Chinese Government. Post the Uri attack, India has tried to show to the world Pakistans complicity in the attacks and the Chinese statement today is a setback. India is making a very irrational decision, since no exhaustive investigation has been conducted after the Uri incident, and no evidence proves Pakistan is behind the attack, Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow from the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, is quoted by the Global Times on Monday. Chinas reaction to Indias decision to seal the 3,323-km border with Pakistan by December 2018 is also a bit of a shocker. Hu is quoted as saying that this action was reflective of the Cold War mentality and that this would only cause deeper hatred among residents living in India and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. On Monday, China had accused India of trying to make political gains by insisting on the United Nations ban on Jaish Chief Masood Azar as an international terrorist. Even on the entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), while China seems open to talks, it is quite clear that it would never let India into the club without dragging the case of Pakistans membership alongside. On Saturday, PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Goa. Sources have indicated that Modi will again raise the issue of Indias entry into the NSG with Xi. However, in light of the series of comments coming out of China in the past two days, the meeting between the two leaders is likely to yield no results. Nagpur, October 11 Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday came in for the rescue of cow protectors saying that they operate under law. "There are some people who are dedicated to cow protection, it is part of directive principles of state policy," Bhagwat said while delivering his annual speech during the 91st foudation day of the RSS. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "Gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes) operate under the law, administration must keep in mind. Those who break the law, shouldn't be compared to gau rakshaks," he added. The RSS was launched in September 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and its foundation day is celebrated annually on Dussehra day. Pak encouraging separatist forces in Kashmir Mohan Bhagwat also accused Pakistan of encouraging separatist forces in Jammu and Kashmir and demanded strict action against those indulging in violence. "Pakistan is encouraging separatist forces in Kashmir," said Bhagwat. "A large part of Kashmir is free of tension; we must act against those indulging in violence, strict action should be taken," the RSS chief said. Bhagwat also reiterated that "entire Kashmir is ours, including Mirpur, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan". IANS Chennai, October 11 With J Jayalalithaa continuing to remain in hospital since September 22, Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao today allocated the portfolios held by her to Finance Minister O Paneerselvam, but said the AIADMK chief would continue to be the Chief Minister. Under Clause (3) of Article 166 of the Constitution of India, the Governor of Tamil Nadu today allocated the subjects hitherto dealt by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to O Paneerselvam, a Raj Bhavan press release said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Paneerselvam, who holds the administrative reforms portfolio in addition to Finance, will also preside over Cabinet meetings, it said. This arrangement has been made as per the advice of the Chief Minister and will continue until J Jayalalithaa resumes her duties, it said. Jayalalithaa will continue to be the Chief Minister, the release added. Jayalalithaa (68) was admitted to Apollo hospital on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration. Yesterday, the hospital said she continued to be under treatment and was being constantly monitored by intensivists and other consultants in the expert panel, while respiratory support, antibiotics, nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy were being given to her. Among others, Jayalalithaa holds the police and home and general administration portfolios. Top BJP leaders Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley will tomorrow visit the hospital, the partys Tamil Nadu unit said. A stream of high-profile visitors, including Kerala Governor P Sathasivam, Union minister Venkaiah Naidu, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and CMs of Kerala and Puducherry have visited the hospital. PTI New Delhi, October 11 India has conveyed its objection to joint Russia-Pakistan military exercises to Moscow, an Indian envoy to Russia has said, days before Russian President Vladmir Putin visits India. "We have conveyed our views to the Russian side that military cooperation with Pakistan which is a State that sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of State policy is a wrong approach and it will only create further problems," Indian Ambassador to Moscow Pankaj Saran said in an interview to Russian news agency Ria Novosti on Tuesday. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Saran said: "There are some burning issues before the world today, which the BRICS countries will certainly address. This includes the question of terrorism and the threat of terrorism faced by all the countries in the BRICS group. So this will be a major item of discussion during the summit, apart from the regional conflicts and the global situation." Putin will attend the BRICS summit in Goa on October 16. He will also hold a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the summit on October 15, also in Goa. The meeting will primarily focus on security, defence and trade deals, the Ministry of External Affairs said. India and Russia are currently negotiating the purchase of 5 S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems, Kamov-28 helicopters and the upgrading of Sukhoi 30-MKIs. India also wants to lease an Akula-class nuclear submarine from Russia. Sarans remarks come as tensions rise in the Indian subcontinent. India has voiced its displeasure at joint military exercises between Moscow and Islamabad held last month, but the Kremlin dismisses New Delhi's concerns. Relations between the two neighbours have cooled in the past few months, first after unrest in Kashmir, then over militant attacks in an army camp in north Kashmirs Uri. Pakistan denies Indias claims of surgical strikes military raids on terrorist launch pads on the Pakistani soil 3 km from the shared border. India however says it has killed several terrorists in the strikes. PTI Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 11 Buoyed by a positive signal from global powers and the international cold-shoulder to Pakistan, following the September 29 strikes by the Indian Army across the Line of Control (LoC) to target terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the Indian security establishment has devised a three-S formula to respond to terror threat originating from across the border. Speed, Skills and Surprise--will form the fulcrum of the three-S formula. The skills shall include stealth and training to carry out responses in future as the security establishment knows that cross-LoC raid or strike at multiple locations cannot be repeated after each terror attack in India. Pakistans low-cost option of waging a proxy war by sending terrorists to India can no more remain viable in the long run; the unpredictability that will be factored in the three-S formula, would be a deterrent, a source told the Tribune. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Within hours of the cross-LoC strikes, Russia, China and the US have made it clear that they stood by New Delhis response. While China asked both sides to scale down tensions and resort to dialogue, the US and Russia, in separate statements, called on Pakistan to end terrorism originating from its soil. On September 30, Moscow said, We expect that the Pakistan government should take effective steps in order to stop the activities of terrorist groups in the territory of the country. US National Security Adviser Susan Rice called on Pakistan to take effective action to combat and delegitimise United Nations-designated terrorist individuals and entities, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, and their affiliates. Within India, an assessment within the security establishment is that Pakistan will attempt to retaliate through terror strikes even as citizens in its own country have questioned the wisdom of engaging with India. New Delhi believes Pakistan would resort to a major strike in Jammu and Kashmir using terrorists and there wont be an attack by Pakistan Army regulars. Indias response to such a strike will depend on the nature of the attack, but so far almost its certain that no war looms on the horizon unless Pakistan is hell bent on taking on the economic and military might of India. Beijing, October 11 Indias move to completely seal its border with Pakistan was a very irrational decision and would further complicate the India-China relations considering Beijings all-weather strategic ties with Islamabad, a state media report on Tuesday quoted leading experts as saying. India is making a very irrational decision, since no exhaustive investigation has been conducted after the Uri incident, and no evidence proves that Pakistan is behind the attack, the Global Times quoted Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow from the official think-tank Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy, as saying. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Hu was commenting on Home Minister Rajnath Singhs announcement on Friday that the 3,323-km-long border between India and Pakistan would be completely sealed by December 2018. A completely sealed border would further hinder the already scarce border trade and talks between the two countries, Hu said. Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, said a sealed border would only disrupt peace efforts made by the two sides. The countrys decision reflects its Cold War mentality, and would only cause deeper hatred among residents living in Indian- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, Hu added. Since Pakistan is Chinas all-weather strategic partner, Indias decision would make the China-Pakistan-India relations more complicated, Hu said. But, he said a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute is in the interest of Chinas homeland security, especially its western regions. Their hardline comments come ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinpings visit to India this week to take part in the BRICS Summit in Goa during which he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will be their second meeting in two months. The two met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou last month. On Monday, China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong defended China's technical hold in the UN on a ban on Masood Azhar, the head of Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad. China is opposed to all forms of terrorism. There should be no double standards on counter-terrorism. Nor should one pursue own political gains in the name of counter-terrorism, he had said indirectly accusing India. PTI New Delhi, October 11 Ahead of their annual bilateral Summit, India has conveyed its opposition to Russia over its joint exercise with Pakistan, a nation which sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of State policy, saying it will create further problems. Indian Ambassador to Moscow Pankaj Saran said this in an interview to Russian news agency Ria Novosti. His remarks come ahead of the bilateral meeting in Goa on Saturday between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be arriving in India on October 14. Apart from bilateral Summit, Putin will attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) meet on October 16. India has been communicating its unhappiness to Russia over its joint military exercises with Pakistan. However, these concerns have been played down by the Russians who maintain that they hold similar military drills with other countries of the region as well. Saran also said: There are some burning issues before the world today which the BRICS countries will certainly address and this includes the question of terrorism and the threat of terrorism faced by all countries in the BRICS group. So this will be a major item of discussion during the Summit apart from the regional conflicts and the global situation. On India-Russia ties, the envoy said the two countries shared a special and privileged strategic partnership. PTI Vibha Sharma Tribune News service New Delhi, October 11 Prime Minister Narendra Modi today received support from the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh on his governments handling of the situation in Kashmir and cross-border terrorism threats from Pakistan and to an extent also on gau raksha, a controversial topic that is central to saffron politics. But the key advice he received from his partys ideological fountainhead was that there should be no compromise whatsoever on the principle that the whole of Kashmir, including Mirpur, Muzzafarabad, Gilgit and Baltistan, is an inseparable and integral part of Bharat and maintain vigil in areas less disturbed. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat today lauded the Army for enhancing Indias prestige in the world. He also welcomed the diplomatic moves made so far at the international level and the strong resolve of the government and Parliament in the matter. At the same time, he spoke about this urgent need to promote, consolidate and establish nationalistic activities and forces in the areas less disturbed. Major areas of the Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh are less disturbed and the situation in these areas is well under control. There is an urgent need to promote, consolidate and establish nationalistic activities and forces in these areas, he said. Addressing the RSSs traditional Vijayadashmi celebrations in Nagpur on its foundation day today, Bhagwat said, There is an urgent need to rehabilitate our displaced Hindu brethren and the Pandits who were forced out of Kashmir valley. Significantly, the RSS chief also appeared to back the Prime Ministers viewpoint about miscreants creating trouble in garb of cow protection. Protection, enrichment and growth of indigenous varieties of cows that form a significant part of our cattle wealth is one of the mottos spelt out in the directive principles of our Constitution, he said. While Bhagwat maintained that cow vigilantes performed an important role, he said it was also important to distinguish between those who protected the cow and the self-appointed troublemakers. In many of our states, cow-slaughter and cruelty to animals are prohibited by law. But sometimes in some places in these states, the gau sevaks have to do active campaigns to ensure proper implementation of such laws. But they cannot be compared with those undesirable elements who rake up the issue of cow slaughter only for vested interests, he said. Repeated attacks against those accused of cow slaughter had prompted PM Modi to say: I feel so angry at times. Some people who are engaged in anti-social activities wear the mask of cow vigilantes. This evoked angry response from RSS affiliate Vishwa Hindu Parishad with its chief Praveen Togadia accusing Modi of profiling cow-loving Hindus. You have shamed us, an emotional Togadia had told Modi. Lucknow, October 11 Dubbing terrorism as an enemy of humanity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for combating the menace unitedly. Addressing a gathering at Aishbagh Ramleela Ground in Lucknow, Prime Minister Modi asserted, We cannot save humanity unless we fight out terrorism collectively. There is an urgent need to uproot and punish the elements that promote and indulge in terrorist activities. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) This festival is about the victory of good over evil and terrorism is an enemy of humanity. Everyone needs to speak in one voice against terrorism. So, when we burn Ravana, we should remember that humanity can't be saved unless we fight out terrorism together, said Prime Minister Modi. Elements involved in terrorist activities should be uprooted and destroyed. And, at the same time, the powers backing terrorist activities should be punished, he added. The Prime Minister further said from the times of Lord Ram our nation has been fighting terrorism as it was Jatayu (a demi-god who had the form of a vulture), who fought the first fight against terrorism by trying to save Sita when she was being abducted by Ravana. Ramayana stands a witness that the first fighter against terrorism was Jataayu, who fought for a womans honour. Even if all of us can't be Lord Ram, we can all try to be Jataayu, and keep terrorism at the bay, said the Prime Minister. Hinting that New Delhi will consider all measures to fight out terrorism, the Prime Minister added that India is also the land of Krishna, who with his Sudranshan Chakra' ended evils. PM @narendramodi being welcomed on stage at Aishbagh Ram Leela in Lucknow pic.twitter.com/K0bmCQZiQG PIB India (@PIB_India) October 11, 2016 This is the nation of Chakradhrai Mohan and the land of Buddha. We believe in peace, but if needed we can fight against the evil as well, Modi said. If you think that we are free from terrorism, then you are wrong. It is a virus affecting our society, he added. Today is the International Day of the Girl Child. There is a need to end discrimination based on gender, Modi said. Women need to be respected and treated right, no matter what religion or background one comes from. Agencies Islamabad, October 11 A Pakistani lawyer has filed a petition to ask the government to bring back a 5,000-year-old bronze statue called Dancing Girl from India. Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey on Monday filed the petition in the Lahore High Court for a suo motu action by the court. The 10.5-cm-high statue, dating around 2,500 BC, was discovered in 1926 from the ancient city of Mohenjodaro of the Indus Valley Civilisation in Sindh, Dawn reported. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The petitioner claimed that the statue is the property of the Lahore Museum. It was taken to India around 60 years ago at the request of the National Arts Council, Delhi, and was never brought back, the report said. Jamal Shah, director general of the Pakistan National Museum of Arts, in a statement, said a letter would be written to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to bring the statue back. This is important if we want to protect our heritage, Shah said. Jaffrey says the statue has the same historic importance as Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa in Europe. He calls it a marker of Pakistans cultural heritage which needs to be protected. Some of the most famous archaeologists in the world have described it as one of the most captivating pieces of art from the Indus site. The tiny bronze statue of a young woman is suggestive of two breakthroughs--Indus artists knew metal blending and casting and that the well-developed Indus society had innovated dance and other performing arts, Indias National Museum said in its description of the Dancing Girl. PTI Mukesh Ranjan Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 11 Going all out to hit out at the perception war with Pakistan and also the domestic critics after the surgical strikes on the terror launch pads in the PoK, Home Minister Rajnath Singh is all set to address around 150 editors of regional media to explain them the state of country's internal security and also the prevailing situation along the Indo-Pak border. Inaugurating the Regional Editors Conference on October 17, which will be held in Chandigarh for two days and will be attended by journalists of regional papers of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and other northeastern states, Singh, a key member of the Cabinet Committee on Security, will tell the audience about various steps taken for strengthening the internal security apparatus as well as border security. Intending to give deeper perspective and context with regards to various initiatives, policies and programmes of the government, the official at the MHA said the Home Minister is expected to tell the editors about the NDA governments broader agenda on internal security and steps taken to strengthen security on the international border and Line of Control with Pakistan. The conference comes nearly a fortnight after the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads in PoK after 19 soldiers were killed by terrorists in Uri. A sizeable section of the armed forces personnel come from these states from where the editors of the regional media hail and sentiments of the people there about the ongoing tension with Pakistan is considered to be very high. The Home Minister had already said the border with Pakistan would be sealed by December 2018. He had also said India never attacks anyone and it does not intend to occupy others' land. Our heritage is Vasudev Kutumbakam, meaning the whole word is one family. We never open fire first, but if attacked, in retaliation we never count the bullets after pulling the trigger, he had said. Singh is expected to announce the NDA governments intention to set up regional media centres in different parts of the country on the line of National Media Centre established in New Delhi. During his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir, journalists of the state had requested him to help in setting up media centres in Srinagar and Jammu. Islamabad, October 11 A prominent journalist has been barred from leaving Pakistan after he reported on a suspected rift between civilian and military leaderships during a crucial meeting in which the ISI was told its support for terrorist groups was leaving the country globally isolated. Cyril Almeida, a columnist and reporter for the Dawn, tweeted that he had been told that he had been put on Exit Control List--a system of border control maintained by the Pakistan government under an ordinance which allows it to bar people whose names appear on the list from leaving the country. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan, Almeida tweeted. The development came less than a week after he wrote a front-page story in the daily about a rift between Pakistans civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in war against India and Afghanistan. On October 6, Almeida, citing sources, reported in the widely-read daily that the civilian government had told the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan due to alleged support for militancy. The Pakistan government has thrice denied the story since. The Foreign Office vehemently rejected the report and termed it speculative. On Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered authorities to take stern action against those responsible for publishing the fabricated report. The Prime Minister took a serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action, according to an official statement. Almeidas scoop came amidst a backdrop of heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the attack on an Indian army base in Uri. On September 29, India carried out surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the LoC, and the Army said it had inflicted significant casualties on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan has denied the surgical strikes by India but claimed that two of its soldiers were killed in alleged ceasefire violations along the LoC by Indian troops. PTI Washington, October 11 The latest batch of emails released by WikiLeaks from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta gives an insight into the planning done by the Obama administration to ensure a successful visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Silicon Valley in 2015. More than a month and half before Modi was to visit Silicon Valley in the last week of September, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal wrote an email to John Podesta, who had by then joined the Clinton Campaign, seeking his advice and input on making the trip successful and also checking if the former US president Bill Clinton could co-host a clean energy event with Modi at Stanford. In an email to Podesta dated August 12, Biswal said there was a lot of interest in the Indian government to focus on two themes for the Silicon Valley visit. First is the digital economy, she wrote, and added that here the focus would be a visit to Google and some announcements on Googles massive investments in India, she said. The other focus is on clean energy. Here the Indians want to visit Tesla and hopefully announce a Tesla partnership/venture with India focusing on their battery storage system for solar, Biswal said. The other major effort is around a clean energy roundtable with Stanford that Commerce had been working on. It now seems (Commerce Secretary Penny) Pritzker cannot make it to California and the Indians are looking for some other USG (US government) principal to participate with industry, academia and government, she wrote. Before I engage the WH (State Department) and State or DoE (Department of Energy), I wanted to see if you had thoughts on how we should approach this. The Indians have said that it would need to be a Cabinet rank principal to convene this with the PM), Biswal said. We will of course see if Secretary (of State John) Kerry or Secretary (of Energy Earnest) Moniz can go to California that weekend but things are complicated by the (Chinese President) Xi (Jinpings) visit and the UNGA (UN General Assembly) schedule. Are there other options you would suggest we pursue? she asked. Another option would be to see if (California) Governor (Jerry) Brown or perhaps President Clinton would be interested in co-hosting/convening. Also, would you want to participate in the roundtable? Let me know if you have thoughts on this or want to discuss, Biswal wrote as per the email released by WikiLeaks on Monday. The State Department has not authenticated the email. PTI Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit India, Cambodia and Bangladesh this week during which he will take part in the BRICS Summit in Goa. During his October 13-17 visit, Xi will first go to Cambodia, followed by Bangladesh and later travel to Goa to attend the BRICS Summit, Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday. PTI Varinder Singh & Bharat Khanna Tribune News Service Gharanghna (Mansa), Oct 11 Sukhchain Singh, a 21-year-old Dalit of Gharanghna village, was waylaid, pulled out of his SUV and killed last evening, after which his limbs were chopped off. The gruesome murder by persons owing allegiance to the ruling SAD and with links to Niranjan Singh, driver of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, has created tension between the village Dalits and the land-owning community. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The family of the deceased, with police assistance, is trying to find a missing leg. It has refused to cremate the body, kept in the mortuary of the Civil Hospital, until then. How can we cremate it without a leg? asks Sukhchains wailing mother Karamjit Kaur. She wants the immediate arrest of Balbir Singh alias Kala, Hardip Singh alias Kala, Bitta Singh, Sadhu Singh all from Gharanghna village, Bittu Singh of Chhote Nangal, Sita Singh of Makha village (they have been booked) and their 20 accomplices. Hardip and his brother Bitta are nephews of Gharanghna sarpanch Sardool Singh, who is the son of the CMs driver, say sources. Sukhchain and his friends, one of them Gursewak Singh, were reportedly waylaid while on their way home in a Bolero. Sukhchain was kidnapped by Balbir and 24 armed accomplices. As his friends fled, he was pulled out, taken to a secluded place and attacked with sharp-edged weapons. An iron rod was pierced into his chest. When we learnt about the incident at about 8.30 pm, we called up the police on 100 and other numbers. The police, showing no urgency, arrived more than an hour later, alleged Sukhbir Singh, the deceaseds brother. He said the grass at the crime site was smeared with blood but there was nobody there. The Bolero was smashed. As we arrived at the rear end of a street, we found a knee-cap and some pieces of human flesh. Later, the police found the blood-soaked body at Balbirs residence where my brother was apparently subjected to inhuman torture. The arms were twisted. The left leg was missing and the bones broken, said Sukhbir, fighting back tears. He claimed Balbir bore a grudge against his brother. Sukhchain quit the illicit liquor business about three months ago after he was booked and thrashed by the police. Balbir and others were his competitors, he claimed. His mother said Balbir had warned her son to stay away from Gursewak. When contacted, the Gharanghna village sarpanch said Hardip, one of the accused, was a relative with whom he had no ties since 1991. Hardip and Gursewak were once friends. They later turned leaders of rival gangs, he said. The Mansa SP (D), Narinderpal Singh, said the six persons booked for the murder would be arrested soon. Dr Nancy Bansal of the Mansa Civil Hospital said Sukhchains body bore several injury marks. Manila, October 11 Zika infections were "highly likely" to keep spreading across Asia, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Tuesday. WHO director Margaret Chan said experts were still looking for ways to deal with the virus, the BBC reported. "Unfortunately, scientists do not yet have answers to many critical questions," she told an annual regional WHO meeting in the Philippines capital, Manila. Hundreds of cases of the virus were reported in Singapore while two cases of Zika-linked microcephaly have already been confirmed in Thailand. Zika generally has mild effects but is more dangerous for pregnant women as it has been linked to severe birth defects, including the brain deformation microcephaly. According to the WHO, the mosquito-borne virus has been detected in 70 countries worldwide so far. IANS San Francisco, October 11 Two persons have been arrested in connection with an alleged hate crime attack on a 41-year-old Sikh-American IT expert in the US, police said today. Maan Singh Khalsa was attacked on September 25 in Richmond Bay area, California when a group of white men in a pickup truck began to attack him, completely unprovoked. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) One of the men threw a beer can at his car while cursing and yelling at him. Khalsa's head was pulled out of the window of his car, his turban was forcibly removed and his long hair was cut off, authorities said. Dustin Albarado, 25, and Chase Little, 31, were arrested after the attack. A third assailant and two remaining accomplices have not been apprehended, Richmond Police Lt. Felix Tan was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times. The Sikh Coalition, a national civil rights organisation, is urging California law enforcement officials to file hate crime charges in connection with the attack that left Khalsa with several injuries. The group argues that Khalsa, an information technology specialist and part-time caregiver, was targeted because of his ethnicity and religion. "The attackers caused physical injuries and deep harm when they targeted my Sikh faith," Khalsa said in a statement. "I urge a thorough investigation so we can address the tide of violence and bigotry in this country." The Sikh Coalition had also written a letter to Richmond Police Chief Allwyn Brown and Contra Costa County District Attorney Mark A. Peterson, urging them to investigate the incident as a hate crime. PTI Minna Zutshi Tribune News Service Ludhiana, October 11 A typical profile of a drug addict in Punjab is that of a young unemployed male (22-35 years) from a rural background whose addiction to drugs has ruined his marriage. Sadhavi Khosla, a young documentary filmmaker, said this was the finding of her research on drug addiction in the state. Her research focused on Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Kapurthala districts. About 30 to 40 per cent addicts are HIV positive. My study has found that close to 50 per cent jail inmates are addicts. Worse still, in many cases across the districts, children are used as drug peddlers, she said. Khoslas documentary Fading Glory highlights the problem of drugs in the state. My team from Mumbai and I were shocked to learn that drugs are available near a rehabilitation centre in Tarn Taran. Many addicts told us that they cannot afford the cost of de-addiction treatment. I asked them if they could afford to spend Rs 2,000 on drugs daily, why they couldnt afford to spend half the amount on treatment. Their answer was peddling provides the funds to buy drugs. She said it was imperative to accept the problem of drugs in the state. Nothing can be gained from brushing it under the carpet. The government should first accept that there is a problem. The second step should be to work collectively to find a solution. Blame game will not help. She said she was often asked why her documentary was being screened on the Congress stage. My documentary is available on social media. Any political party could have responded to it. I must have sent 5,000 tweets to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to intervene in drugs issue in Punjab. He has maintained a stoic silence on the issue, except for his Mann Ki Baat in 2014. Commenting on chitta Ravana controversy that turned ugly, she said: Dasehra symbolises the victory of good over evil. Nowhere has it been stated that the effigy of Ravana should be black in colour. I think that the Badal government should have taken the initiative to burn the effigy of chitta Ravana. The way it has all been handled sends out a message that they (the government) are scared. Archit Watts Tribune News Service Muktsar, October 11 Irked over poor arrangements for procurement, a large number of paddy growers today protested at different places by blocking the roads in Muktsar district, alleging a nexus among rice millers, commission agents and officials of procurement agencies. The farmers claimed that the rice millers and commission agents were not paying them the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,510 per quintal for their paddy crop. The rice millers are paying between Rs 1,400 and 1,430 per quintal, saying the crops moisture content was high and terming it of low quality. We have approached the authorities concerned a number of times in the past few days, but to no avail, said farmers of Attari, Noorpur Kirpal Ke, Mangat Ker, Gulabewala and Khappianwali villages. They blocked the Muktsar-Guruharsahai road over the issue. Similarly, farmers of Sohnewala village blocked the Muktsar-Jalalabad road. At Jhabelwali village, some farmers burnt their crop at the Focal Point to lodge a symbolic protest against the state government. Farmers at Killianwali in the Lambi Assembly segment stopped the traffic on the Malout-Dabwali National Highway. Congress MLA from Muktsar Karan Kaur Brar said, The farmers are sitting in mandis for the past 10 days, but the officials concerned are least bothered about their problems. The rice millers are not paying the MSP to buy the crop. If the situation continues to remain same, the number of protests will only increase. Similarly, Jagjit Singh Honey Fattanwala, a Congress leader, said, Some rice millers are telling farmers that the quality of the crop was inferior and they will be paid Rs 1,430 per quintal. The CM should personally look into the matter. Amaninder Pal Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 10 The Punjab Government has no money to launch its much-hyped farmers pension scheme, under which the SAD-BJP government had promised to give pension to all small and marginal farmers aged above 60. Sources said the Finance Department has turned down the proposal to allocate Rs 80 crore for the scheme. Indicating that the state coffers are empty to run the scheme even in the coming years, the Finance Department has suggested that funds could be sought from the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board (Mandi Board), an independent body responsible for establishing and managing grain and vegetables markets in the state. The scheme had to be anchored by the Department of Agriculture. A senior official said they have now decided to approach the Mandi Board. In case it responds positively, we will work out modalities for the scheme. There are around 3.59 lakh farming families in the state who have marginal (below 1 hectare) and small (1-2 hectares) land holdings. They constitute 34 per cent of the farming families in the state. Keeping its vote bank in mind, the government had in the Budget session announced pension for farmers on the pattern of the scheme for employees. Both beneficiary and the government had to contribute an equal share for a minimum of 15 years. Experts had suggested Rs 2,500, Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,500 per annum as beneficiary payments. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 11 Even after the passage of six days after a bloody clash took place over the possession of the village common land, a large number of Dalit houses in Jaloor village in Sangrur district remain locked. The Dalits who are staying in the village dont dare to venture out, claimed an independent fact-finding team. A team comprising members of the Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR), Democratic Lawyers Association, Lokayat and Students for Society, which had visited the village yesterday, said that the clash that occurred on October 5 was the result of assertion by a large section of the Dalit population to take possession of the chunk of village common land that is reserved for Dalits. The team was led by Prof Jagmohan Singh, martyr Bhagat Singhs nephew. The Dalits were targeted by miscreants linked to political bigwigs as Dalits were demanding impartial auction by officers of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. The Dalits wanted that rich farmers should not use a small section of poor Dalits as proxy to bid for their share of land, reads the statement released by the team. The team alleged that the attack on the Dalits was well-planned as some announcements targeting Dalits were made from public announcement systems hours before the attack. Moreover, the police have also concocted a story that the clash occurred between two sections of the Dalits. Rather, it was the work of miscreants, who dont want Dalits to assert, who engineered the attack. The police booked the Dalits who are agitating for their rights, the team claimed. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, October 11 Thirty-five persons were injured in a clash between Youth Akali Dal (YAD) and Congress activists here late last evening. Vehicles, including the car of Deputy CLP Leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu, were vandalised. The YAD activists dismantled an effigy of chitta Ravana, which was being given the finish touches, and later set it afire.This Dasehra, the Congress had planned chitta Ravanas as a protest against the sale of heroin/smack in Punjab, but had to abandon their plan as also the public screening of Sadhvi Khoslas documentary Fading Glory on the issue of drugs. Led by Ludhiana Member of Parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu, the Ludhiana Congress today burnt the effigies of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia and other Akali leaders. Bittu alleged that YAD activists, in connivance with the police, had stormed the Dasehra venue last night and attacked Congress workers, including Ludhiana DCC (Urban) chief Gurpreet Gogi. Ashu accused the police of acting as private militia of the state government. The YAD activists attacked our workers without any provocation. Two of them were admitted to the DMCH, Bittu claimed. Thereafter, the Congress leaders met the Police Commissioner past midnight and held a dharna outside his residence. Refuting the charges, YAD Ludhiana (Urban-1) chief Gurpreet Singh Babbal said they were told the Congress was planning to burn the effigies of the CM and the Deputy CM on Dasehra. Our boys called up another YAD leader Tarsem Bhinder (Malwa Zone-3) and we spoke to the SP. We decided to visit the Dasehra venue where Bhinder was manhandled. He was kidnapped by Congress activists and taken to the Police Commissioners residence. Five of our injured activists were admitted to the CMCH, he claimed. FIRs had been registered against both Congress and YAD leaders, said ACP (East) Saurabh Jindal. Commissioner of Police Jatinder Singh Aulakh said: We will verify the allegations levelled by both parties. Thereon, the law will take its own course. Bittu argued that the Congress had decided on chitta Ravanas as chitta (drugs) was ruining Punjab. We wanted to highlight the issue this Dasehra, he added. Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service Haridwar, October 11 The annual Ganga Canal closure will take place from midnight today, with the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department, observing the closure till Diwali eve. Despite the Ganga canal starting from Haridwar in Uttarakhand, still the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department controls and manages the affairs of the Ganga Canal, owing to delay in handing of the Ganga Canal operations falling in the Uttarakhand periphery by Uttar Pradesh, since the creation of the separate Uttarakhand state from erstwhile Uttar Pradesh in November 9,2000. To ensure pilgrims and teerth purohits at sanctum sanctorum of the Braham Kund, Har-ki-Pauri and adjacent Ganga ghats dont face problem in taking the holy dip and performance of rituals, the UP Irrigation Department has assured that it would release minimum 1,000 cusec of water at Har-ki-Pauri. As per the Sub-divisional Officer of the Irrigation Department, Uttar Pradesh, Sushil Yadav, the department has sent a proposal of Rs 7 crore budget to the UP Government for the maintenance, renovation and cleaning of the Ganga Canal. The Ganga Canal closure is essential for the annual maintenance of the canal and the Ganga ghats. It is an annual procedure and effects of its are seen after the the canal's closure as we get a dry canal and time to carry out the maintenance and renovation works, said Yadav. Meanwhile, teerth purohits ,local traders, social-political-religious organisations have expressed their displeasure over the UP Irrigation Departments move to go ahead with the closure, despite the festive season being at its peak in Haridwar. Teerth Maryada Raksha Samiti president Sanjay Chopra, who staged a protest at the Alaknanda Ghat today regarding the closure of the canal, said during the festive season of Dasehra and Diwali, the canal was being closed, which would have deep impact on the religious sentiments of the devotees and local people. Teerth purohits of Har-ki-Pauri have also expressed their reservation over the Ganga canal closure timing. Notably, last year, in view of the Ardh Kumbh (January-April 2016), the Ganga canal closure was extended for 30 days, as the Ardh Kumbh Mela administration had sought additional time from the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department to conduct the Ardh Kumbh-related works like construction of bridges, maintenance of the Ganga ghat, putting up tiles and cleaning. Assuring of adequate water at the Har-ki-Pauri Ganga ghats, Yadav said this time through a makeshift channel block structure, the water flow at Har-ki-Pauri would be diverted from The Ganga Ghat-cum-bridge, which otherwise used to divert water flow towards the VIP Ghat and then towards the Har-ki-Pauri. There is sufficient storage of water in the Tehri Dam at Tehri Garhwal , so we can easily discharge minimum 1,000 cusec water at Har-ki-Pauri ghats, so that pilgrims dont have any inconvenience to take the holy dip while performing rituals said Yadav. While Ganga Sabha general secretary Ram Kumar Mishra opined that minimum 1,000 cusec water flow at Har-ki-Pauri Ganga ghats was mandatory as per the accord signed between the Ganga Sabha ,which managed the affairs of Har-ki-Pauri, and the then British Raj. Tribune News Service Dehradun, October 11 A day after a camera trap clicked the photograph of the maneater tigress in the Motipur area of Ramnagar, frantic searches, including a helicopter-aided search, were on to locate the tigress in the Ramnagar forest division of Kumaon in Uttarakhand. The tirress has so far mauled two persons and injured two others in separate incidents in the region. The Uttarakhand wildlife authorities for the last fortnight have been searching for the animal in Ramnagar, a territorial forest division of the Corbett Tiger Reserve. The authorities on Sept 27 had declared the tigress as maneater and orders were given for its killing or caging alive. On September 6, the tigress had mauled Govindi Devi of Gaujani village, whereas on September 12, the tigress killed Paramjeet, when the victim was working in the sugarcane fields. Further, on September 26, Suman Devi and on September 30, another woman Bhawani Devi were injured by the same tigress. Since then a campaign is on in Ramangar and the adjoining forest division to locate the tigress, but the beast has not been traced so far. A large contingent of forest officials are manning the area but have not been able to locate the maneater. A helicopter and two drones have also been pressed into service to locate the tigress, but to no avail. Significantly, four patrol elephants are also on the ground helping in the searches. According to Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden DVS Khati, all efforts are on to locate the tigress and we are very hopeful that we will find her soon. He said teams of forest officials were conducting extensive searches in and around Ramnagar. Ramnagar , October 11 Magasaysay winner TM Krishna today said there was a pervading climate of fear in the country alluding to the recent demands of ban on Pakistani artistes, which he termed as ridiculous. The carnatic vocalist made the remarks in his keynote address at the second edition of the Kumaon Literary Festival (KLF) which kickstarted in Rampur, nestled in the lap of the Himalayas. Krishna says there are times when everyone is "scared". He stressed the need to change the semantics of the discourse of freedom of expression. I think we are living in times where everybody is scared. People in the cinema are told who can act in their cinema. People are told who should not act and why not. There cannot be anything more ridiculous than that. Ideology is a market. When one says you have a majoritarian ideology, it is creating a majoritarian market space. It is about nurturing and expanding that space. It is about more market share, he said. He referred to freedom of expression as an act of "sharing" and said that the constitutional right was a "natural" way of life for any individual. We are told not to share. We are being told what we should share. We are being told how we should share. We are being told why we should not share," he said. Referring to events such as the ban on a book of Tamil author Perumal Murugan which was subsequently lifted, he said any move to curb free speech was "dangerous". We must change the semantics of how we are talking about freedom of expression as I think it is the freedom to be who we are as natural human beings. Unless we can change the way this discourse is happening, we are destroying the process of intellection in this country, he said. A not-for-profit initiative, KLF is an annual literary retreat festival which brings together celebrated authors, leaders and opinion makers from across the country in Dhanachuli, a village in Uttarakhand. Supreme Court judge Justice AK Sikri, in his address, sought to draw a connection between literature and the judiciary, saying that judges are also writers, as they have to pen down lengthy judgements. "We also help you (writers) by providing plot points for your fiction," the Supreme Court judge remarked tongue- in-cheek. The three-day festival, which is part of a larger vision to develop Dhanachuli into a model cultural village, this year will first travel to the Jim's Jungle Retreat in Jim Corbett National Park and culminate at the foothills of the Himalayas at Te Aroha in the village. Thought-provoking sessions on the role of nationalist ideologies in shaping global politics, the inadequate representation of Dalit literature and how the definition of a star in Hindi cinema has evolved over the last decades dominated the first day. The day also saw a discussion around "our collective inability to produce another good detective fiction series since the epic Karamchand"; a tribute to Pakistani writer Intizar Husain; literature in the flash/fast age among others. Interactive performances like storytelling and dastangoi were also held, besides tales from the wild, first-hand accounts from Dhela village in Corbett and dramatised readings. The following days of the festival will see a host of other faces from the world of literature, publishing, cinema and politics including Amish Tripathi, Ravi Subramanian, Preeti Shenoy, Jerry Pinto, Shinie Antony and Rakhshanda Jalil. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Pavan Varma, Shatrughan Sinha from the world of politics and law and leading publishers will also be present, along with many speakers like Afia Aslam, Ali Akbar Natiq, Ameena Saiyid, Asif Farrukhi, Asif Noorani, Sabyn Javeri, Mohsin Sayeed from Pakistan. The festival will continue till October 13. PTI Beijing, October 11 Beijing rapped Washington on Tuesday for its interventions in Asia, as tensions grow between the two powers over territorial disputes in the South China Sea and how to handle increasingly erratic North Korea. Speaking at the 7th annual Xiangshan regional defence forum in Beijing, Chang Wanguan, Chinas defence minister, levied thinly veiled criticism at the recent US involvement in Asias trouble spots. Washington has conducted freedom-of-navigation operations close to artificial islands Beijing has built in the South China Sea, and has agreed to deploy a missile defence system in South Korea following repeated nuclear and missile tests by Beijings ally Pyongyang. Some countries seek absolute military superiority, ceaselessly strengthen their military alliances, and seek their own absolute security at the cost of other countries security, Chang told defence officials and academics at the meeting. The US under President Barack Obama has sought to pivot to Asia by increasing military and economic engagement in the region, raising concerns in Beijing that Washington is working to contain the Asian giants growing power. Tuesdays meeting--themed on building a new type of international relations--followed a year of growing tension in the region, primarily centred on Beijings actions in the strategically vital South China Sea, where it has built islands capable of supporting military facilities. China says it has rights to almost the entire region, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan have rival claims. In July, an international tribunal said almost all of Beijings claims had no legal basis, a decision China attacked as biased and vowed to ignore. Washington argues that Beijings moves pose a challenge to freedom of navigation and has sought to challenge Beijings claims by dispatching military ships and aircraft to the area. Addressing the forum, former Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke warned that the disputes, if not properly managed, could become a flashpoint for US-China conflict. These disputes have the potential to disrupt the entire regional order, he said. China has also raised concerns over Washingtons and Seouls decision this summer to install a Thaad missile defence system in South Korea in response to growing worries about its northern neighbours nuclear programme. Beijing, Pyongyangs sole ally and largest trade partner, claims the move will destabilise regional security, a position that is supported by Moscow. AFP Paris, October 11 Russian President Vladimir Putin has cancelled a visit to Paris next week after President Francois Hollande said he would see him only for talks on Syria, the latest episode in deteriorating relations between Moscow and the West. French officials have been grappling for ways to put new pressure on Russia after Moscow vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria. French officials growing anger over a Russian-backed Syrian government onslaught against rebel-held areas of the city of Aleppo had led them to reconsider whether to host Putin on October 19. I made it known to Mr Putin that if he came to Paris, I would not accompany him to any ceremonies, but that I was ready to continue the dialogue on Syria. He decided to postpone the visit, Hollande said at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The Russian president had been scheduled to inaugurate a new Russian Orthodox cathedral and visit a Russian art exhibition in the French capital on October 19. The Kremlin confirmed Putins decision, but made no mention of Syria and said he was ready to come to Paris at Hollandes convenience. While Paris has said it is vital to keep dialogue going with Moscow and not sever relations, events in Syria have damaged their ties as the two countries support opposite sides in the conflict. Describing Russian air strikes in Syria as war crimes, Hollande said it was still necessary to talk with Moscow, but only if discussions were firm, frank, otherwise it would be a charade. With Russia, France has a major disagreement on Syria and the Russian veto of the French resolution at the UN Security Council has prevented the cessation of bombings and enablement of a truce, Hollande said. Frances foreign minister said on Monday his diplomats were working to find a way for the International Criminal Courts prosecutor to launch an investigation into war crimes it says have been committed by Syrian and Russian forces in eastern Aleppo. Diplomats have also said Paris is leading discussions on whether to impose new EU sanctions on Russia specifically over Syria, where Moscow backs President Bashar al-Assad in a more than five-year-old civil war. Reuters Washington, October 11 The Republican leadership appeared bitterly divided over the kind of relationship it should have with the partys presidential candidate Donald Trump after a series of audio and video tapes surfaced in which he made lewd and derogatory comments about women. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, however, strongly dispelled rumours that the party would disconnect itself with Trump in view of the Trump tapes. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Priebus remarks came soon after powerful Speaker of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan virtually abandoned Trump. Ryan on Monday told lawmakers that he would no longer defend or campaign with Trump and instead focus on maintaining his partys majority in Congress. In a private conference call with Republican leaders, Priebus said, I want to make it very clear that the RNC is in full coordination with the Trump campaign, and we have a great relationship with them. If theres any takeaway from this call, thats the takeaway." Nothing has changed in regard with our relationship and we remain very much involved and together in all levels of making these decisions with how to run this operation across this country, Priebus said. During another conference call, he told party leaders that he would spend rest of his time in protecting the majority of his party in the House of Representatives. Texas Senator Ted Cruz said he was still backing Trump as he did not want his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to occupy the White House. I am supporting the Republican nominee because I think Hillary Clinton is an absolute disaster, he said. One of Trumps close supporters Newt Gingrich warned the party leadership of opposing the partys presidential nominee. My only advice to Republican leaders is simple: In the end, you either help defeat Hillary Clinton or you help elect Hillary Clinton, he said in a Gingrich Facebook Live. If she gets elected, she will be a nightmare; this will be the most corrupt and dishonest administration in American history, and you will find her even harder to work with than [President Barack] Obama, because she will simply smother you, Gingrich said. Former Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain who withdrew his endorsement of Trump over the weekend said he might write in Lindsey Graham for US President. Its not pleasant for me to renounce nominee of my party, he said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the attendees at an election rally that they should not ask him about the presidential race. If you are interested in the presidential election, you might as well go ahead and leave because I dont have any observations to make about it, McConnell said. Trumps candidacy suffered a blow after a 2005 tape was released in which he made lewd and derogatory comments about women. PTI Washington, October 11 The Republican leadership appeared bitterly divided over the kind of relationship it should have with the partys presidential candidate Donald Trump after a series of audio and video tapes surfaced in which he made lewd and derogatory comments about women. Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Priebus, however, strongly dispelled rumours that the party would disconnect itself with Trump in view of the Trump tapes. Priebus remarks came soon after powerful Speaker of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan virtually abandoned Trump. Ryan took the extraordinary step of distancing himself from Trump, stirring a backlash from some lawmakers and deepening a crisis over his partys struggling presidential nominee. In a conference call with congressional Republicans, Ryan all but conceded that Democrat Hillary Clinton was likely to win the White House on November 8 and said he would put his full energy into preserving Republican majorities in Congress so as not to give her a blank check. Ryans announcement added to the partys worst turmoil in decades and reinforced the growing sense of isolation around Trump, who has never previously run for public office. Ryan yesterday told lawmakers he will no longer defend or campaign with Trump and instead focus on maintaining his partys majority in Congress. In a private conference call with Republican leaders, Priebus said: I want to make it very clear that the RNC is in full coordination with the Trump campaign, and we have a great relationship with them. If theres any takeaway from this call, thats the takeaway. Nothing has changed in regard with our relationship and we remain very much involved and together in all levels of making these decisions with how to run this operation across this country, Priebus said. During another conference call, he told party leaders he will spend rest of his time in protecting the majority of his party in the House of Representatives. Texas Senator Ted Cruz said he is still backing Trump as he does not want his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to occupy the White House. I am supporting the Republican nominee because I think Hillary Clinton is an absolute disaster, he said. One of the Trumps close supporter Newt Gingrich warned the party leadership of opposing the partys presidential nominee. My only advice to Republican leaders is simple: In the end, you either help defeat Hillary Clinton or you help elect Hillary Clinton, he said in a Gingrich Facebook Live. If she gets elected, she will be a nightmare, this will be the most corrupt and dishonest administration in American history, and you will find her even harder to work with than [President Barack] Obama, because she will simply smother you, Gingrich said. Former Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain who withdrew his endorsement of Trump over the weekend said he might write in Lindsey Graham for US President. Its not pleasant for me to renounce nominee of my party. I have daughters, he said. PTI Paid federal income tax annually since 1944, says Buffett Warren Buffett, the third richest man in the world, today slammed Donald Trump for his remarks on him taking a massive deduction to avoid federal income tax, releasing his own tax information and challenging the controversial real estate tycoon to do likewise. Buffett, 86, an investor and a philanthropist, in a statement, said that he has paid income tax since 1944 when he was just 13. At that time, he owed only $7 in tax that year. He said he has no problem in releasing his tax information while under audit.. Buffett also released details of his own taxes and reiterated his call for Trump to release his tax returns. Trump has not released his income tax returns so far, even as is the tradition for presidential candidates to do so. An unusual move in US political history In a development that left political historians struggling to find a precedent, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he would focus on helping members of the Congress get reelected rather than putting his efforts into helping the presidential candidate. He did, however, stop short of formally withdrawing his support for Trump. Trump was quick to hit back on Twitter. Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee, he said. Washington, October 11 Hillary Clintons campaign is confronting an emerging risk to her presidential ambitions - if Donald Trump continues to trail her in opinion polls many Democrats may simply stay at home on Election Day. Without enough popular support, Clinton would enter the White House lacking the political capital she would need to drive through her agenda. In the worst-case scenario it could cost her the presidency if Republicans turn out in big numbers on November 8. Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has spent much of her campaign sounding the alarm over the prospect of a President Trump. She has struggled to lay out a compelling vision for her presidency and has failed to excite key constituencies, including millennials, minority voters and liberal Democrats. Opinion polls show that many voters are backing Clinton primarily to stop Trump, the Republican nominee, from getting into the White House. If they believe he has no hope of winning, then what would their motivation be to turn up at the polls? In a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll about half of all Clinton supporters said they were backing her to keep Trump from winning. By contrast, just 36.5 per cent said it was because of Clintons policies and just 12.6 per cent said it was because they like her personally. Turnout is correlated with levels of competition, said Michael McDonald, an elections expert at the University of Florida. The higher the competition, the higher the turnout. The young Americans, blacks, Latinos, and low-income voters who make up much of the Democratic base often need to feel motivated by a particular candidate or issue to turn out, McDonald said, as was the case with President Barack Obamas candidacy in 2008. Clintons campaign has long worried about voter complacency and has at every turn pushed the notion that the race is close and that Trump is unfit to be president. With her lead growing, that task grows more difficult. Reuters WASHINGTON Vladimir Putin's serial humiliations of America's bewildered secretary of state regarding Syria indicate Putin's determination to destabilize the world. Here is an even more ominous indication of events moving his way: On just one day last week, Italian ships plucked 6,055 migrants from the Mediterranean. What has this to do with Putin? It portends fulfillment of his aspiration for Europe's political, social and moral disorientation. The Financial Times reports that of the 138,000 migrants who have come by sea to Italy this year, few are from Syria. The "vast majority" are from Africa, with the largest number from Nigeria. The U.N.'s World Population Prospects says that only 10 percent of global population is in Europe, which is projected to have fewer people in 2050 than today. Just 16 percent of the world's population is in Africa but "more than half of global population growth between now and 2050 is expected to occur" there. It will have the world's highest growth rate, and 41 percent of its people currently are under 15. Of the nine countries expected to experience half the world's population growth by 2050, five are in Africa (Nigeria, Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda). Nigeria's population, currently the world's seventh largest, is the most rapidly growing. Even without what is likely population pressures producing some failed African states a portion of Africa's multitudes, perhaps scores of millions of migrants, might cross the Mediterranean to Europe. There, 24 percent of the people are 60 and over, and no country has a birth rate sufficient to maintain current population sizes. Who but immigrants can work and fund Europe's welfare states for its graying publics? Europe has recently been politically destabilized and socially convulsed by the arrival of a million Syrian migrants seeking asylum. Future migrations from Africa, with a large Muslim component, could pose the greatest threat to the social cohesion of Europe since 1945, or even since invading Arab forces were halted at Poitiers in 732. Undermining the West's confident sense of itself is important to Putin's implementation of his ideology of Eurasianism. It holds that Russia's security and greatness depend on what Ben Judah calls a "geographically ordained empire" that "looks east to Tashkent, not west to Paris." Writing in the British journal Standpoint, Judah reports that Russian television relentlessly presents "a dangerous, angry wonderland": "Russia is special, Russia is under attack, Russia swarms with traitors, Russia was betrayed in 1991, Russia was glorious under Stalin's steady hand." This justifies gigantic military, intelligence and police establishments steeped in Eurasianist tracts published by the Russian General Staff. Putin's Russia, writes Owen Matthews in The Spectator, is developing a "state-sponsored culture of prudery" to make it a "moral fortress" against Western decadence. The Russian Orthodox Church benefits from a 2013 law that criminalizes "offending the feelings of religious believers." Twenty-one percent of Russians want homosexuals "liquidated" and another 37 percent favor "separating them from society." In a new collection of essays, "Authoritarianism Goes Global" (Johns Hopkins), the Brookings Institution's Lilia Shevtsova says Putin is simultaneously imposing a domestic revolution of cultural conservatism, converting Russia into a revanchist power and "forging an anti-Western International." She warns: "Ever since Stalinism's relentless assault on all 'horizontal' ties (even those of family), Russians have been tragically at the mercy of the state and its claims: Individuals are invited to compensate for their helplessness by looking for meaning in collective national 'successes' that promise to bring them together and restore their pride." Such as the annexation of Crimea. In the same volume, Peter Pomerantsev, a student of 21st-century propaganda, says "the underlying goal" of Putin's domestic disinformation is less to persuade than "to engender cynicism": "When people stop trusting any institutions or having any firmly held values, they can easily accept a conspiratorial vision of the world." Putin's Kremlin is weaving a web of incongruous but useful strands. Its conservative nationalism is congruent with that of rising European factions on the right. Its anti-Western, especially anti-American, message resonates with the European left. It funds European green groups whose opposition to fracking serves Putin's agenda of keeping Europe dependent on Russian gas. In many worrisome ways, the 1930s are being reprised. In Europe, Russia is playing the role of Germany in fomenting anti-democratic factions. In inward-turning, distracted America, the role of Charles Lindbergh is played by a presidential candidate smitten by Putin and too ignorant to know the pedigree of his slogan "America First." George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com. (c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group Food prices are falling, but how is that translating to your grocery bill? The cost of groceries is down an average of about 2 percent over the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, including a nearly 9 percent drop for raw ground beef and 4.3 percent drop for roasted coffee. But how store prices play out varies greatly, depending on where you live and shop. The biggest price drops are for protein sources, according to government data; the index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs was down nearly 7 percent in August from a year ago. Thats largely a reflection of how high prices had previously climbed because of tighter supplies. Egg prices, for instance, reached all-time highs last year following an avian flu outbreak that led to a sharp reduction in hens. The average wholesale price for a dozen eggs shot up to $2.29 last September, from $1.29 the previous year, said Russ Whitman, a senior editor at commodities research firm Urner Barry. That dampened demand, which has persisted even as production recovered, Whitman said. As a result, the average wholesale price for a dozen eggs was 79 cents in September. Similar factors have affected beef and pork, where supplies are being rebuilt after being hurt by a drought and pig virus, respectively, Whitman said. Reasors, the Oklahoma-based grocery store chain, is seeing the affect of the deflationary meat prices. COO Brent Edstrom said the dip in fresh meat prices helps consumers but is difficult for retailers. He said the stores are selling a bit more meat but at a lower price, adding that it has changed some consumption habits, too. Consumers will buy a more expensive cut of meat, he said. Record availability of items including pork, eggs and chicken into next year, Whitman said, means prices will likely stay low for the near future. Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said the company expects food deflation to persist for five or six more months. Other items may cost more, though. The price of fresh fruits overall rose 1.7 percent in August from a year ago, and butter and margarine increased 2.1 percent. Its not just that food costs are falling. Supermarkets could easily keep prices steady and pocket the savings. But because of how competitive the industry has become, grocers are using those lower costs as a chance to run sales and promotions trying to steal customers away from rivals. There is a greater availability of food in different locations, I think, than there has ever been before, Supervalu CEO Mark Gross said at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing conference in September. Even Whole Foods has been working on affordability to appeal to a broader customer base as natural and organic products become more widely available. Sprouts Farmers Markets CEO Amin Maredia told of a rival grocery store deepening its discounts on meat as costs have remained low, from buy one get one free, buy one get two free, buy one get three free. Its a situation where the winner is the consumer, he said at the same conference. That said, theres great variance in what shoppers see. Grocery store operators often adjust pricing based on what local competitors are doing. Some regions are far more competitive than others Maredia cited Houston as one of the most competitive areas. Samuel Hardiman of the Tulsa World contributed to this story. The Minister of Local Government.. says when the local government legislation comes into effect.. regional corporations can better service their communities. He made the remark.. during the San Juan Laventille Corporation's interfaith service and military parade.. as the corporation turns 30 years. Good news for Free to Air execs who are gathering in Canberra tonight with Labor signalling it will support legislation to reduce licensing fees by $163.6 million. The Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Television and Radio Licence Fees) Bill will grant a 25% reduction in the licence fees payable by the commercial television and radio broadcasters. It follows ongoing lobbying by network execs, who recently met PM Malcolm Turnbull, and Free TV Australia. Screen Producers Australia has previously called upon licence reductions be tied to further investment in local content. Seven CEO Tim Worner has previously said, We have things that are parked waiting at an amber light. We just do not have the money to fund them. Pay TV lobby ASTRA has been against any reforms that do not include changes to the anti-siphoning list. Tonight television execs gather at Parliament House for a formal celebration marking 60 Years of Australian TV. Source: News Corp In news that has surprised nobody (with the possible exception of NSW Supreme Court Justice David Hammerschlag) Mel B is returning to The X Factor. She was confirmed as the Underdog Judge last night, choosing 3 finalists from acts eliminated by fellow judges Guy Sebastian, Iggy Azalea and Adam Lambert. Melanie Brown was on The X Factor Australia in 2011 and 2012 until Seven released her from her contract due to family issues and visas for Australia. But when Nine snapped her up for Australias Got Talent in 2013, Seven took her to court for breach of contract. Sevens Director of Production, Brad Lyons, told the court of negotiations with Browns husband Stephen Belafonte in which he agreed to release Brown from the series (but hoped to involve her in home visits). The agreement was that Brown could not work for any other network during the dates of their contract. In the end the court agreed with Lyons position over Belafontes, noting The problem is with Mel. It was an expensive battle with Nine having to pay costs. Three years later, both sides are back at work together. This week Brown said, My family and I love Australia and cannot wait to get back there. Theres only room for one press conference at a time SKY News was taking a Live press conference from Turnbull in Canberra this afternoon when it interrupted the Prime Ministers feed to cross to NSW Premier Mike Bairds press conference in Sydney. The PM (along with Christopher Pyne and Mathias Corman) had to be shrunk to a screen-in-screen window to give priority to the NSW Premier backflipping on his ban on greyhound racing. Of course, SKY did manage to shuffle the Canberra conference to its SKY News Business channel, but it was clear which one editors deemed more important. Its all about timing, folks! News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-10-31. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. The United States has made an invaluable contribution to the security situation in Ukraine, which faced the hybrid war waged by Russia. Ukrainian Defence Minister, Army General Stepan Poltorak said this at the meeting with U.S. Senator Joseph Donnelly, the press service of the Defence Ministry of Ukraine reports. "When our country faced the threat from the neighboring country, the United States was among the first countries which responded and supported us. The United States of America continues providing assistance, both political and financial. It is an invaluable contribution to the security situation in Ukraine," Poltorak said. In turn, Senator Donnelly assured that the US would continue providing comprehensive support to Ukraine, which would be not affected with the results of future presidential elections as "there are a lot of people in the US who are willing to support Ukraine in every possible way, including U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter." ol The further inflow rate of German investments in Ukraine's economy will directly depend on the pace of economic reforms in Ukraine. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ukraine Ernst Reichel has stated this during the opening ceremony of the Ukrainian-German Business Forum, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. We cannot force our companies to enter Ukraine and start working here. The rate of investment inflow from Germany to Ukraine will directly depend on the pace of reforms and how the Ukrainian government and general public work on that, Reichel said. According to him, Germany is Ukraine's third partner in terms of investments totaling $5.4 billion annually. In addition, Reichel praised the Ukrainian government for deregulation, decentralization and energy efficiency reforms. However, you should combat corruption more actively to provide a level playing field for all business participants, Reichel noted. mk Road construction in Ukraine has become a priority for the President, the Government, and the local administrations. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this at the meeting of the Regional Development Council, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "I am very glad that our approach demonstrates that road construction has become a priority for the Government, the local authorities, the President," Poroshenko said. The President pointed out that everything was done amid the war. "We're not going to stop because the road fund for the past year and the road fund for this year differ much," the Head of State said. ol The most active phase of Ukraine's rapprochement with the European Union has begun and is taking place against the background of Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine. Maybe, in a historical perspective we will learn about the cause-and-effect relationship of these two very important aspects of our modern history. We see how two approaches, an attempt to preserve the past and stimulate development, are competing, but which one will win and will determine Ukraine's future depends on our efforts today. On this, as well as the progress of our country on its way to the EU, an Ukrinform correspondent was speaking with Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. Below is a brief version of the interview. The full version can be found on Ukrinform website in Ukrainian and Russian languages. - There were media reports that the EU-Ukraine summit, where the decision on a visa-free regime will be announced, could take place on November 24. What determines the date of the summit? - Yes, there is such a proposal regarding the date. The Council also determined the date of the Association Council between Ukraine and the EU for December 19. Obviously, the Ukraine-EU summit will be held after the groundwork is completed. As I know the President will also have a narrow circle meeting with the leadership of all EU institutions before the EU summit on October 20-21. This will be another opportunity to discuss the agenda between the EU and Ukraine. I think that then a final decision on the EU-Ukraine summit date will be approved, taking into account agendum and schedules. - The EU has a lot of problems to solve and its leaders acknowledge this. How much should we now aspire to the EU? Maybe, we should choose one direction of cooperation and focus on it? - We have an Association Agreement foreseen for ten years. It primarily envisages that we in our country should establish European rules, bring them to the laws effective in the EU. We have taken obligations under 350 directives and regulations. We should bring our legislation in line with 50 directives, and we understand how difficult it is for us because of various reasons. That's why, in my opinion, there is unambiguous understanding - we are implementing the Association Agreement, which Ukraine needs the most, which will enable us to bring our Ukrainian procedures and rules to a civilized dialogue not only with our partners in the EU. For example, I just yesterday [the interview was recorded on October 5] spoke with representatives of South Korea and Japan. They also monitor current changes taking place as a result of the Association Agreement, and they consider this another positive aspect for their business, kind of 'the green light' to start actively pay attention to us. So what we currently change within the country gives an opportunity for internal improvement, as well as additional access to a dialogue and foreign markets with third countries, and to invite potential investors not only from the European Union. That's why we have to fulfill the Agreement on Association and Free Trade Area and conduct active economic and political dialogue. The agreement enable us to review some addenda, and it should be on a constant basis, like a live dialog, because our and EU economic conditions change. - At the EU summit in October, the leaders of member countries will hold a detailed discussion of the effectiveness of policy of sanctions against Russia. But we can hear more often propositions in Europe to cancel sanctions as they do not work. What should we expect from this discussion? - No decisions to prolong or scrap sanctions will be taken at this summit. The leaders of European countries actually intend to discuss their strategic approach towards the Russian Federation. That is, this was not in essence a discussion on sanctions although, of course, they will be one of the components of this discussion. Unfortunately, Russia - unfortunately, probably above all for it - recently demonstrated a complete inability to conduct effective and trustful dialogue with the West, for example, to resolve the situation in Syria. I think this does not add anything positive about how Russia is disposed in general to dialogue and the implementation of commitments in different areas, including with respect of Ukraine. I believe that this is an additional argument that the sanctions imposed on Russia for violating international law and direct aggression against a sovereign country should be retained. European countries must continue to insist on the Russian Federation observing international law, in particular through the preservation of sanctions, and even better, due to their intensification. And the arguments that they do not work, do not simply appear in European states, but are actively stimulated by Russia. If sanctions did not work, then Russia would not remain at the negotiating table in the "Normandy Format," it could more actively use troops on the occupied territory of Donbas, and would act much more acutely in general. After all, if sanctions did not work Russia would not be trying to cancel them! Because of this, it is throwing huge resources at fanning the opinion that sanctions do not work. - And how can Ukraine oppose this? - We have truth in our arsenal. - Is it heard in Europe? - Of course it is heard, but not by all. - Do they want to hear it? - (Sighs) Someone wants to, someone does not want to ... You know, the truth is sometimes hard to hear, it is not always easy to understand. But, again, the truth is that those rumors are spread by Russia, about the endless losses incurred by the economies of the EU due to sanctions in the Russian propaganda variation are very much exaggerated. Moreover, from our dialogue with European partners who know exactly what Soviet, and what Russian presence are, respectively, we know for sure that they are willing to endure even more serious economic costs of sanctions being place against Russia, but at the same time they are hold the line as to their continuation, as they understand what their scrapping may mean for their security. And they are those voices, besides our own, that are also heard in the EU, which help us promote this objective reality, and we just need to continue to do so at all levels. - But we have recently seen unfriendly steps on the part of those countries, which remember our common socialist past. What do you think about this? - I have repeatedly asked my Hungarian colleagues: "Did you forget the time of 1956? This generation still lives, it lived through it. Unfortunately, it turns out that not everyone remembers that time. Once again, this is the issue of impact of financial capabilities of the Russian Federation, the interests of certain political groups and analytical centers, the presence of Russia Today absolutely in all EU countries and overseas - in the USA, Canada. And you know for sure that, for example, Ukrinform also cannot be available everywhere. - So because of the lack of comparability of financial resources, we are doomed to failure in this struggle for influence on European public opinion? - No, why are we doomed? I do not like that word at all! We just have to understand who we are fighting with. Russia has a greater impact because it has more financial opportunities. But what is the price for its citizens? Since my childhood I remember that in the Soviet school we were taught that for the sake of a mythical grandeur of the state and ability to influence the world we have to endure the lack of many common household items. The question is whether we as citizens have won? The Russian people still continue living and bringing up their children according to these Soviet dogmas. But I am convinced that we live in a different country! Nadiya Yurchenko, Kyiv | By Mary T. Phelan Coffee and conversation kicked off a fall Friday morning Oct. 7, as more than 100 students, faculty, and staff joined members of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Police Force in the atrium of Pharmacy Hall at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy for Coffee with a Cop. (View a photo gallery.) Its a way for us to build relationships with students, faculty, and staff, said Cpl. J.R. Jones, who organized the event. Its a nice way for us all to get to know each other in a casual setting rather than hey, theres the police. Were just someone you can sit down and talk to. Created in Hawthorne, Calif., in 2011, Coffee with a Cop aims to connect police departments to the communities they serve outside of crisis situations. More than 2,000 law enforcement agencies around the country participate in the monthly events. Lt. Thomas Leone and School of Pharmacy student Saniya Chaudhry chat at "Coffee with a Cop." In honor of National Coffee with a Cop Day, Jones, Lt. Thomas Leone, and Police Officer III Jim Brown poured coffee and served refreshments while sharing public safety tips and information about UMB safety programs. I say to the male students all the time, Dont let your ego get in the way of calling for our escort service,' Brown said, referring to the van and walking escort services available to all UMB faculty, staff, students, and University of Maryland Medical Center employees. For Melanie Slaby, a second-year pharmacy student, the morning provided her with an opportunity to express her gratitude to a police force that provided her with an enormous sense of relief a few years ago. After losing her cell phone in Pharmacy Hall, an officer found it and returned it to her at her home in Pigtown. I was surprised to see an officer knocking on my door, she said. It was such a nice thing for them to do. I would come even if they didnt have the free coffee, added Saniya Chaudhry, a first-year pharmacy student. She chatted with Leone about the importance of being aware of her surroundings. As a Muslim, I always want to know how to stay safe. But not just for me, this is important for everyone to know. This event was a great idea. Its like were people and theyre people, too. At UMB, Coffee with a Cop will be held every first Friday of the month in buildings throughout the campus. The next gathering will take place from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., Nov. 4, in the lobby of the School of Nursing. A lot of students were very thankful that were here, not just here this morning with coffee, but that we are here on campus, providing public safety and keeping students safe, Jones said. This is what building relationships is all about. UNICEF/UN028224/Esiebo DAKAR, Senegal 11 October 2016 A major health campaign is underway in the Lake Chad Basin area to vaccinate over 41 million children against polio to contain the recent outbreak of the disease in north-east Nigeria. Populations fleeing conflict are on the move within the sub-region, raising concerns that the virus could spread across borders. Nearly 39,000 health workers are deployed across Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Niger, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to deliver the oral polio vaccine in areas at high-risk for the virus during five rounds of coordinated vaccination campaigns across five countries. UNICEF is procuring the vaccines and engaging the public through mass media and grassroots mobilization. The re-emergence of polio after two years with no recorded cases is a huge concern in an area thats already in crisis, said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. The scale of our response reflects the urgency: we must not allow polio to spread. The ongoing conflict has now displaced 2.6 million people, devastated provision of healthcare and left more than 4 million people in north-east Nigeria facing emergency food security levels. In the three worst-hit Nigerian states, 400,000 children are at risk of death from severe acute malnutrition. Polio vaccination teams in parts of Borno state are conducting simultaneous malnutrition screening to identify cases of severe acute malnutrition in children under five and refer malnourished children to treatment programmes. Findings from the first rounds of outreach screening have confirmed high rates of severe acute malnutrition. Children are dying and more young lives will be lost unless we scale up our response, said Fontaine. Through the polio vaccination drive, we can protect more children from the virus while also reaching children in need with treatment for malnutrition. The third round of the current polio campaign runs from 15-18 October with additional rounds scheduled in November and December. The immunization campaign is being delivered by national Governments, with support from UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The coordinated efforts between the polio vaccination campaigns and childhood nutrition screenings are part of UNICEFs scaled-up response to the crisis. However, UNICEFs response remains hampered by continued insecurity, especially in areas of Borno state in Nigeria, and by a lack of funding. Of the US$158m needed for the emergency response in the region, only US$50.4m has so far been received. ### LG V20 has already been unveiled at the IFA 2016 and is slated to make a debut on T-Mobile on Oct. 28. The device will be the first smartphone with full compatibility with Band 66. Moreover, early purchasers of the LG V20 are expected to get a special promotion offering via a set of B&O BeoPlay H3 headphones that costs $150, free with the device. LG V20 Via T-Mobile The LG V20 is said to be a great option for T-Mobile customers, following the concerns revolving the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 commenced, 9to5Google reported. The 5.7-inch device runs on a Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage. The device is also packed with a dual 16MP, 8MP rear cameras as well as a removable 3,200mAh battery. The LG V20 is said to raise the bar for Android phones and best paired with the unlimited, blazing-fast network, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said. The V20 is expected to be fully unleashed with T-Mobile One. All features of the phone are expected to do well on America's fastest 4G LTE network, Legere added. It should be noted that neither LG nor T-Mobile has announced the price of the LG V20 upon release; however, rumor has it that the device will cost between $650 and $750, similar to the Google Pixel devices LG V20 Vs. Google Pixel XL Meanwhile, the Google Pixel XL has already launched. The device has a 5.5-inch touchscreen display with 2560x1440 pixels at 534ppi while LG V20 will sport two displays in front - a 5.7 inch main Quad-HD IPS Quantum Display with 2560x1440 pixels at 513ppi and an always-on mini display above it. The LG V20 will run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, while the Pixel XL will run on 1.6GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with 4GB of RAM. The Pixel XL handset will include 32GB or up to 128GB internal storage that cannot be expanded. In contrast, the LG V20 comes with a 64GB internal memory that can be expanded up to 256GB via microSD card, Phone Arena reported. Watch video on Google Pixel XL vs LG V20 full comparison here: Senator Mike Enzi has announced that he will be receiving applications from college students and graduates from all backgrounds for a spring internship in his Washington, D.C. office. Deadline for applications will be next month, on Nov. 4. "An internship in my office is rich with opportunity and provides students with firsthand knowledge and experience," the U.S. senator said. "Interns are an important part of the office. They also have the chance to meet some remarkable people, work on projects and experience the dynamic of living in Washington, D.C." The internship program will include hands-on, individualized activities that offer experience in the government. Interns will be able to network, develop vital job skills as well as gain meaningful experiences that will help their academic and career goals. Interns for Senator Enzi will also have the opportunity to lead U.S. Capitol Building tours, write summaries for policies and hearings, prepare legislative memos, conduct research for legislative aides, witness floor proceedings as well as attend committee hearings and lectures. They will receive a monthly allowance to keep up with the living costs in Washington, D.C. Interns are also able to coordinate with receiving college credit for the internship. Students from Wyoming are given top priority. "Internships are a long-standing tradition on Capitol Hill and interns provide a valuable service to Senators, their staff and the citizens of their state," U.S. Senator Mike Enzi wrote on his official website. "An internship in Washington, D.C. provides students with many practical and educational opportunities to participate in the daily operation of a Senate office and to observe first-hand how the legislative process works." Senator Enzi's spring 2017 internship will run from Jan. 4 to May 26. Applicants are required to have achieved at least a sophomore status at an accredited university or college. Students can apply online. They can also contact the Internship Coordinator Kendyll Ferrall at (202) 224-3424 or Intern_Coordinator@enzi.senate.gov. Three Atlanta companies nabbed the top spots as having the best internship programs in the U.S. Georgia college students do not need to look far for a good internship program. Biz Journals reported that Atlanta companies Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, The Coca-Cola Co. and The Home Depot Inc. got the top ranks for their internship programs. This is according to a report by Vault.com. Mercedes-Benz and Coca-Cola were ranked 22nd and 25th, respectively, on the Most Prestigious Internship Programs list. Google, Apple, Goldman Sachs & Co., Facebook and J.P. Morgan got the top five spots. Other companies on the Most Prestigious Internship Programs list are Microsoft, Elon Musk's Tesla Motors, Morgan Stanley, The Walt Disney Company and Twitter. The Home Depot Inc.,on the other hand, ranked 45 on the Top 50 Overall Internships. "As everyone knows, an internship is essential to college students looking to advance their careers in a chosen industry," Tara McCaffrey, Vault.com's vice president of marketing, said. "Companies are looking to recruit top talent before they graduate college and are using internships as the best way to assess potential employees." "At the same time, college students view internships as the best way to test drive their chosen career path," she added. "These rankings offer students an opportunity to determine which companies are the best fit for their career goals." In Mercedes-Benz's official website, the company offers internships with competitive pay where interns gain relevant work experience. However, the program has no educational credit. Coca-Cola's internship program allows interns to be exposed to real projects and challenges. There are different types of interns in the company: strategic, seasonal, academic, co-op, management trainees as well as summer job positions. Home Depot offers paid internships in various business areas such as Merchandising, Marketing, Dot Com, IT, Finance, Supply Chain, Store Operations, Legal and HR. There are several vacancies for its Atlanta, GA office. Jailbreaking fans are now waiting for Pangu to announce its ever-reliable jailbreak to free the restriction in the newest Apple OS. iOS 10 jailbreak Pangu release date delayed? Apple already released the full version of iOS 10 in September, and in just a matter of weeks, the iOS 10.0.2 will be rolling out to iDevices. Now, the attention goes to Pangu, who is well-known for its legitimacy on bringing the most updated and reliable jailbreaking tools, as many have anticipated a jailbreak from the team. The Chinese hacker is expected to break-free the iOS 10 restriction, but so far, there has been no crack that was released. However, tech analysts claimed that Pangu could already have iOS 10 jailbreak in hand but they are just perfecting it to be compatible with the latest iOS 10 version. According to jailbreak fans, it may not take too long till Pangu cracks iOS 10, as it was already a month away since Apple released the said OS. Judging from previous timeframes, the hacker is always quick in rolling out jailbreak for major iOS updates, weeks after being issued. iOS 10 jailbreak Pangu delayed? Here's the possible reason Speculations hint to Pangu's perfect time in rolling out the iOS 10 jailbreak. The current iOS 10.0.2 version is tackling minor issues and does not contain major fixes. Famous analyst Jay Freeman has learned that hackers commonly release a jailbreaking tool after an OS update arrives. This could mean that Pangu is currently waiting for iOS 10.1 from Apple before releasing the iOS 10 jailbreak for the public, iDigitalTimes reported. YouTube tech blogger iCrackUriDevice also speculated the same thing. iOS 10 jailbreak Pangu: Why you should wait iOS 10 has been jailbroken by Italian hacker Luca Todesco; however, he only made a demo about it without releasing the tool for fans. There were also other jailbreak tools circulating online, but tech crowds seem to doubt their reliability because some of these jailbreaks would contain malware and make the device's security vulnerable, BGR reported. Until Pangu's iOS 10 jailbreak is not yet officially released, jailbreaking fans should not download any other untrusted software. October 11 2016 Aberdeen City Council has given the green light to the transformation of Broad Street into a pedestrian priority route extending Union Street to the Gallowgate/Upper Kirkgate junction.This will see a number of streetscape improvements carried out including a water feature, raised planters, tree planting and seating with traffic restricted to buses only.Informal pedestrian crossing points will be denoted by tactile paving in contrasting materials to allow use by the visually impairedAs part of this work improvements will be made to lighting at Marischal College and capacity will be factored in to convert the route into a venue for programmed events throughout the year.In a statement the Council said: The plans include the shared pedestrian/cycle pavement extending towards Union Street with the existing Caithness paving, the traffic lights at Upperkirkgate and Gallowgate to be removed and replaced with a shared surface for vehicles and a roundel (a mini-roundabout with a road surface feature that indicates roundabout driving rules apply and pedestrians are given priority), and a Toucan crossing (pedestrian/cycle crossing) created at the Union Street/Broad Street junction.The Broad Street project forms part of the City Centre Masterplan and is being funded through a developer obligation of Muse, who are currently delivering the mixed use Marischal Square project Work is expected to get underway in February for an August completion. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes between thulium laser enucleation of the prostate (ThuLEP) and plasmakinetic bipolar resection of the prostate (PKRP) for treating benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in a prospective randomized trial with 5 years of follow-up. One hundred fifty-eight consecutive patients with BPH were randomized to receive operation of either ThuLEP (n = 79) or PKRP (n = 79). All cases were evaluated preoperatively, and a part of them were evaluated at 3-5 years postoperatively by the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), quality of life score (QoLS), maximum flow rate (Q max), and postvoid residual (PVR) urine volume. Eighty patients completed the 5-year follow-up. Each study arm showed no significant difference in preoperative parameters. Compared with PKRP, ThuLEP required longer operation time (65.4 vs 47.4 min, p = 0.022) but resulted in less hemoglobin decrease (1.5 vs 3.0 g/L, p = 0.045), catheterization time (2.1 vs 3.5 days, p = 0.031), irrigated volume (12.4 vs 27.2 L, p = 0.022), and hospital stay (2.5 vs 4.6 days, p = 0.026). During the 60-month follow-up, both procedures demonstrated no significant difference in terms of Q max, IPSS, PVR urine volume, and QoLS. ThuLEP was statistically superior to PKRP in blood loss, catheterization time, irrigated volume, and hospital stay but inferior to PKRP in operation time. However, both procedures showed no significant difference in terms of Q max, IPSS, PVR urine volume, and QoLS through the 60-month follow-up. Lasers in medical science. 2016 Sep 27 [Epub ahead of print] Zhonghua Yang, Tongzu Liu, Xinghuan Wang Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, 169 Donghu Road, Wuhan, 430071, China., Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, 169 Donghu Road, Wuhan, 430071, China. . PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27677474 The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of an integrated electronic health record (EHR) innovation adoption on the quality of nursing care delivered, including hospital-acquired falls, hospital-acquired pressure ulcers, ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), and costs measured in nursing hours. The impact on quality, cost, and nurse satisfaction measured in turnover rates before, during, and after implementation of EHR tools was also investigated. Little is known about the adoption patterns of computerized documentation by nursing and the effects on the practice environment. A quantitative, retrospective analysis using interrupted time series model of a large data set was conducted in a 431-bed urban hospital, with 10 medical surgical units and 2 critical care units. The research was constructed using the Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory. Incorporating electronic, evidenced-based practice (EBP) tools into bedside nurse's workflow promotes decision making at the point of care that may improve quality with no negative impact on direct cost. The data revealed that total falls, CAUTI, and CLABSI rates were positively impacted after the implementation of an integrated EHR. Hospital-acquired pressure ulcer and VAP rates were negatively impacted at the implementation period followed by a significant positive rate reduction that surpassed the preimplementation period. Cost indicators, measured in hours per patient day and overtime, were negatively impacted during the implementation period followed by a return to baseline. Nurse turnover had a significant increase from the preimplementation to postimplementation period and failed to return to baseline. This study confirms that nurses have the ability to positively impact the quality of patient care through successful innovation adoption related to the use of EBP computerized documentation tools at the bedside. This study further clarified the practice environment of nurses during DOI. The Journal of nursing administration. 0000 [Epub] AnneMarie Walker-Czyz Author Affiliation: St Joseph's Hospital Health Center, Syracuse, New York. PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27379908 Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin, Boeing Function: Air Dominance, Multi-Role Fighter Service Date: 2002 Speed: Mach 2.25 Supercruise: Mach 1.82 Crew: One Production: 187 Inventory: 183 Commentary: The F-22A reached IOC in December 2005, and on Jan. 21, 2006, it flew its first operational sortie from Langley AFB, Va., as part of Noble Eagle. The Pentagon has capped production at 187 aircraft, with final delivery expected in 2012. Tyler LaPierre stood in the cargo hold of a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft parked on the ramp of the 120th Airlift Wing, raised his right hand and repeated the oath of enlistment in front of his family and future coworkers the afternoon of August 31, 2016. August 31, 2016 - Tyler LaPierre recites the oath of enlistment during his Montana Air National Guard enlistment ceremony in the cargo hold of a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft parked at the 120th Airlift Wing in Great Falls, Montana. His aunt, Capt. Jennifer LaPierre Gunter, administered the oath. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Eric Peterson) Tyler may be the newest member of the Montana Air National Guard, but he wasn't standing on unfamiliar territory. That's because he represents the third generation of LaPierres who are serving or have served as members of the MTANG. His father, Master Sgt. Doug LaPierre, is a crew chief on the same Hercules aircraft he recited his oath on. His aunt, Capt. Jennifer LaPierre Gunter, a medical administrator in the 120th Medical Group, administered the oath to Tyler during the enlistment ceremony. His grandfather, retired Master Sgt. Larry LaPierre, served as an avionics technician in the MTANG aircraft maintenance field for over 30 years. Altogether, Doug estimates seven LaPierre family members have a combined total of over 125 years of serving in uniform for their state and nation. Tyler said when he was younger his father would take him on trips to the base on Gore Hill to see the aircraft and visit his shop. The base tours and the LaPierre family tradition made joining the MTANG an easy choice to make. It was pretty inspiring, Tyler said. It made me feel like it was a really respectable position and I felt like I could do it. Doug followed in his father Larry's footsteps when he made his career in the aircraft maintenance field and he is now proud to see his son do the same for him. It brings back a lot of good memories from when my dad wanted me to get into the guard, Doug said. The last 18 years with him (Tyler) have flown right on by and watching him enlist today is just amazing. LaPierre family members have built a proud legacy of service which will now continue with Tyler's enlistment into the MTANG. The LaPierre last name up here has a pretty good reputation up here, especially in the aircraft maintenance side, so we just want to continue that for sure, Doug said. I really appreciate the opportunity for my son to continue that legacy. Tyler is beginning his senior year at Charles M. Russell High School in Great Falls and will attend United States Air Force Basic Training and technical training school following his graduation. He will train to become a C-130 Hercules crew chief on the flight line, just like his father. My dad inspired me to become a crew chief, he's been a crew chief up here for numerous years, Tyler said. It feels pretty great carrying on the tradition. By U.S. Air National Guard Senior Master Sgt. Eric Peterson Provided through DVIDS Copyright 2016 Comment on this article Chicago Officer to Examine Police Actions and Accountability Oct. 12 at UW Veteran police officer Marc Buslik is the William D. Griffith Series speaker Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the University of Wyoming. (Chicago Police Department Photo) Police actions and accountability will be discussed by a veteran Chicago police officer as part of the William D. Griffith Speaker Series Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the University of Wyoming. Commander Marc Buslik, a 36-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), will discuss "Police Legitimacy: Metaphor, Model, Method from 10-11 a.m. in the Wyoming Union Family Room. The Griffith Speaker Series is supported by the William D. Griffith Endowment, founded in 1992 by Wyoming native and longtime FBI agent William D. Griffith. The UW Department of Criminal Justice sponsors the event. Visit www.uwyo.edu/cj for more information. Buslik is assigned to the Office of the Superintendent as the departments liaison to the United States Department of Justices civil rights investigation into the CPD. Before that, he was the district commander of the 14th (Shakespeare) District on the citys northwest side. His CPD assignments have included patrol, investigative services, narcotics, intelligence, internal affairs, research and development, and information technology units. Buslik is a member of the FBIs Terrorism Liaison Officers Committee and was on the Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Force. He is a longtime consultant with the U.S. Department of Justice and has traveled to former Soviet-bloc countries to assist with establishing broad government and police accountability mechanisms. Buslik has written several articles and book chapters on policing, and crime and disorder control; and is a nationally recognized expert on the use of police body-worn cameras. He is an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Oakton College. He is completing his doctoral degree in criminology from UIC, with dissertation work on police accountability and disciplinary systems. Buslik holds a Master of Public Administration degree from UIC and a BA degree in criminal justice, with a minor in computer science, from Northeastern Illinois University. For more information, call the UW Department of Criminal Justice at (307) 766-2988. Make every day the best day possible. Hit me like a like a ton of bricks, Vietnam Marine Corps Veteran Robert Hall, 67, told his primary care (PC) physician Dr. Sabrina Felson. He was explaining how he felt recently hearing from his oncologist there was a bad prognosis for his gastrointestinal cancer.Dr. Felson said no one can know exactly how long a patient has to live. She reminded Hall he would be meeting with members of the Palliative Care team in upcoming weeks and that the goal now was to make every day the best day possible and to maintain his control in shaping what time he did have left here.He is clear about his main priority, which is quality time with his family, particularly Jayden, his 11-month old curious and spirited grandson. His daughter, Monique, says that when Jayden sees his grandfather, he is all gums, hes so excited. Jayden is also soothed by Halls calm voice and Monique says appreciatively, Jayden is a handful, but when my dad lies down next to him Jayden just falls asleep.Daughter and grandson have recently moved in to stay with and tend to Hall during his illness. Somehow, he caught on to calling me Bobbie, said Hall, sharing photos of his dimpled grandson with Dr. Felson, who has been his PC physician for 10 years.Navy Veteran Penelope Bennett-Kone, Primary Care Program Support Assistant, is very protective of Hall and enjoys talking with him on his frequent visits.Grandson JaydenHall says, I remember a lot of things about Vietnam. He held up his hand and flicked his fingers, to describe the star shells, flares that were set off at the airstrip where the new troops plane landed. To welcome you to war, said Dr. Felson. Stories about Wet Socks and RainHe kept a lot of war details private according to his daughter, who does remember hearing stories about wet socks, and rain, and bullets flying over your head. Hall was injured by mortar friendly fire and medivacked to naval hospitals, first in Vietnam and then to Japan before returning to the States. He has 100 percent service connected disability status.When asked what she admires about her father, Monique says Everything! I admire anyone who can protect people and put other lives first. Thats an unselfish person.Hall, like many of his fellow Vietnam Veterans, struggled with drugs and alcohol when he returned home. It was the unexpected and tragic death of his son at age 13 that pulled him back into the fold of his family. And into the welcoming arms of the church hed grown up in, where he now serves as Deacon and sings in the choir.Monique says, You cant walk the streets of Harlem with him cause he stops to talk to everyone. Everybody knows him. You run outside for five minutes and it takes three hours. On a recent morning Hall said he was Feeling OK, a little up, a little down. He had been busy all morning answering phone calls, from VA, some people in the church and his daughter. By noon, he had to prop his swollen legs up and take a little nap.Dr. Felson says that for Hall, like many of the Vietnam Veterans she sees, Their grandchildren are so important. That is their legacy.The hope is that Jayden will walk the streets of Harlem with the same love and respect that his grandfather garners with his patience, bravery and kindness. Best known for her role as Shirley Feeney in the iconic television comedy Laverne & Shirley, Williams is currently guest starring in Menopause The Musical at Harrahs Las Vegas. Audiences are charmed with the best 90 minutes of Americas Rock N Roll songbook when The Bronx Wanderers take the stage at Ballys Las Vegas nightly at 5:30 p.m. Up close and personal, yet larger than life, the father-and-son trio, flanked by their top-notch band, effortlessly perform hits made famous by the likes of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Dion, the Beach Boys, Queen, Bruno Mars and many others spanning from the beginning of Rock N Roll right through todays tunes. Following the show, Williams met The Bronx Wanderers back stage and posed for photos. At Capital One/Junior Achievement (JA) Fiinance Park, middle school students receive eye-opening lessons in what it takes to budget for adult financial obligations. These responsibilities include monthly mortgage payments, car insurance costs, grocery bills, childcare fees and much more. From Oct. 12 through Dec. 16, students in the Finance Park budget simulation program will encounter these and other real-life budgeting scenarios designed to increase awareness of not only the importance of financial literacy, but also academic achievement and responsibility. Simulations begin at 9 a.m. Sponsored by Capital One Financial Corporation, 21 Clark County schoolsup from 16 inn 2015will participate during the 40-day simulation run, which will host up to 100 students daily and see more than 800 volunteers guiding students through the personal budgeting simulation. Volunteer positions are still available; volunteer inquiries may be made by calling (702) 214-0500. JA Finance Park includes hands-on activities taught in a 12-lesson classroom program, followed by a visit to Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park. Students are given real-life scenarios for which they need to make relevant money-management decisions: Should they buy a pricey sports car or a practical minivan? How much money should they put in a savings account? What kind of housing can they realistically afford? Ultimately, they will make 24 different financial decisions throughout the day, all designed to teach the value of saving, investing, risk management and budgeting, among other skills that increase their financial literacy and business skills. In this program, students have the rare opportunity to consider what its really like to be an adult. They will understand how different financial scenariosfor example, being married with a high income and college ddebt, or being a single parent with a low income and three kidswould affect their ability to spend money and impact their lives. The budget-management strategies learned in the classroom will be applied during their day at Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park, says Michelle Jackson, president, Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada. Since the program debuted in 2013 in Southern Nevada, the duration of the program and number of participating students has more than doubled from the initial 16-day program with 1,899 students. Across the country since 2006, more than 460,000 students have participated in JA Finance Park, assisted by more than 16,000 Capital One associate volunteers. This years participating schools include (in alphabetical order): James Cashman Middle School CornerStone Christian Academy Alexander Dawson School Discovery Charter School Equipo Academy St. Francis de Sales School Robert O. Gibson Middle School Henderson International School Las Vegas Day School Jerome Mack Middle School Mario C. and Joanne Monaco Middle School Mater Academy Pinecrest Academy Cadence Pinecrest Academy Horizon Pinecrest Academy Inspirada Pinecrest Academy St. Rose Dell H. Robison Middle School Grant Sawyer Middle School Charles Silvestri Junior High SchJ.D. Smith Middle Schoo West Preparatory Academy For members of the public interested in seeing JA Finance Park firsthand, open houses will be available in November and December with dates to be announced shortly. The program will take place at the Las Vegas Library, 833 N. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89109. HEXX Kitchen + Bar and HEXX Chocolate + Confexxions inside Paris Las Vegas will get in the spooky spirit with complimentary chocolate bars and a festive Witchs Brew cocktail throughout Halloween weekend, offered from Friday, Oct. 28 through Monday, Oct. 31 (Photo credit: Peter Harasty). HEXX Kitchen + Bar will offer the perfect-for-sharing Witchs Brew pitcher, made with Absolut Berri Acai, Kinky Blue, Stoli Razberi, Blueberry Schnapps and berry puree, priced at $38. Guests can then move their monster mash over to the adjacent retail shop, HEXX Chocolate + Confexxions, where any visitor wearing a costume will be given a complimentary bar of original HEXX chocolate. Elio Motors is an American start-up company, developing a three-wheel vehicle that will get up to 84 mpg, with a targeted base price of $7,300. Elios P4 prototype model will be on display at the Barrett-Jackson collector-car auction in Las Vegas, Nevada. With a unique design and futuristic body that seats two tandem style, the Elio is already a hit with consumers, and some say its a future collector car. More than 59,000 people have already reserved a place in line to buy one. At the Barrett-Jackson collector-car auction, Elio Motors fans will be able to sit in the vehicle, take photos and meet the Elio Motors tour team. Andres Restaurant & Lounge at Monte Carlo has reopened with a new look, new offerings and a new chef de cuisine. Considered the first Las Vegas celebrity chef, Andre Rochat has enhanced his AAA Four Diamond restaurant by combining its original old-world charm with a modern twist to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere. Andres exemplary reputation has earned him a very loyal following and a deep respect from others in the culinary industry, said Anton Nikodemus, president and COO of Monte Carlo. We are proud to have Andre and his team as part of the Monte Carlo family, and I know his customers will enjoy the new restaurant experience. The new layout of Andres, designed by Urbane Design Associates, is evident upon arrival. Floor-to-ceiling clear glass entrance doors allow a glimpse into the visually open and expanded wine bar. Accented with gold and blue mosaic tiles, silk-wrapped lighting, metal barstools with blue cowhide and four large glass bottle sculptures by local artist Tony Milici, the bar provides a beautiful backdrop to enjoy a menu of small plates, artisanal cheeses and charcuterie before proceeding to the dining room. To complement the bar menu, wine flights and unique cognac flights are available to sample old favorites or possibly discover new ones from Andres award-winning, 12,000-bottle cellar. Honored by the prestigious Best of Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator, Andres Restaurant & Lounge boasts a wine list with more than 1,500 selections. The list features legendary vintages from the most exalted chteaux of Bordeaux, Burgundy, as well as top New World, Italian and Spanish labels. Turquoise blue, the design firms version of the traditional French blue, is set against pearly white and grey walls throughout the restaurant and complemented by colorful contemporary artwork. Touches of glamour and sparkle are created with antiqued mirrors and whimsical, silver chandelier-inspired sconces. In the dining room, romantic candlelit tables, dressed in white linen, fine sterling silver, Raynaud Limoges china by Alberto Pinto and delicate stemware complete the setting. Upstairs, guests will discover three private dining rooms as well as the intimate Cigar Lounge, recognized in 2008 by Sant as Outstanding Restaurant Bar. The Lounge offers one of the widest selections of Cognacs, Armagnacs and after-dinner drinks in North America. For an added experience, Cognacs and cigars can be professionally paired. Locals, devoted clientele and food lovers alike will be pleased to know the daily culinary operations are being managed by Chef de Cuisine Greg Engelhardt, a veteran of the recently closed Andres in downtown Las Vegas. Engelhardts driving passion to create contemporary interpretations of Andres Classics earned the downtown restaurant a one star rating from the prestigious Michelin Travel Guide. The menu features traditional French cuisine overseen nightly by Chef Rochat, who gives his personal stamp of approval to each plate before it leaves the kitchen. Guests can indulge in Andres signature menu items, including Rack of Colorado Lamb with eggplant parmesan and gratin dauphinois; Filet of Beef au Poivre Vert with green peppercorn cream sauce and jumbo asparagus hollandaise and Live Maine Lobster Thermidor. Chef Rochat said, I am very excited about the transformation Andres Restaurant & Lounge has made at Monte Carlo. There have been many culinary changes in Las Vegas, and while the clientele is always looking for a new and exciting experience, our guests also are looking for great food, superior service and a good value. We deliver it all! Andres Restaurant & Lounge at Monte Carlo is open daily from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Reservations are recommended but not required. After Donald Trump's claims that Warren Buffett avoided paying income taxes by deducting sizable business losses, the investor rebutted, "He [Trump] has not seen my income tax returns. But I am happy to give him the facts". (AFP/Yuri Gripas) The claim followed Trump's assertion in a televised debate on Sunday that, like himself, Buffett had avoided paying income taxes by deducting sizable business losses. Buffett, founder and head of the Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, said on Monday this was untrue. "He has not seen my income tax returns. But I am happy to give him the facts," Buffett said in a statement. Buffett, who has endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, said that for 2015 he had declared gross income of US$11.6 million and, after US$5.5 million in deductions for charitable contributions and state taxes, paid US$1.8 million in federal taxes. Buffett noted that he gave charities nearly US$2.9 billion last year but only could deduct US$3.5 million of that. Trump however has not released his tax data. Tax records published by The New York Times this month showed Trump had declared a US$916 million loss in 1995, allowing him to pay no federal income tax for up to 18 years. During Sunday's debate, Trump said he had indeed used the losses to avoid taxation. "Of course I do. Of course I do," he said, adding that Buffett had done likewise. Buffett said that was incorrect. "I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. (Though, being a slow starter, I owed only US$7 in tax that year)," he said. "I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward." Forbes this month estimated Trump's net worth at US$3.7 billion but put Buffett's at US$65.5 billion. From September 2016, students at the school will benefit from an enhanced embedded arts curriculum developed by specialists from Juilliard, along with continued support from, and engagement with, Juilliard alumni and affiliated artists. The collaboration between Juilliard, the world renowned performing arts conservatory, and Nord Anglia Education, the worlds leading premium schools organisation, is designed to enhance British International School Hanoi performing arts offering with its innovative structure, design and approach. The new embedded arts curriculum, which focuses first on music, was developed by curriculum and music experts at both Juilliard and Nord Anglia Education. The music curriculum is designed for all students, not just those who are serious about learning an instrument or musical performance. It is based around a repertoire of 12 core works covering a wide range of cultures, genres and historical periods, each of which has been carefully chosen by Juilliard to open the door to categories of music and fundamentals essential for all young people to know and experience. Ultimately, the curriculum aims to nurture cultural literacy and develop key skills in students, such as discipline, creativity and confidence that will enable them to succeed anywhere in the world once theyve left school. Anthony Rowlands, principal of British International School Hanoi, said, We are excited and honoured to be integrating the Juilliard programme at BIS Hanoi. It will open many doors for our students in relation to their musical development. To be associated with Juilliard, the premier music.school in the world, is a very special feeling for us all at BIS Hanoi. A S1 train owned by Viet Nam Railway Corporation. The corporation is among big SOEs that have not published their financial reports in 2015. -VNS Photo Doan Tung The request was made to speed up the implementation of Decree No 81/2015/ND-CP on publishing information, as several SOEs have not been strictly following the regulation. The decree stipulates that State companies have to disclose information including their development strategies, production and business plans within five years, annual production and business plans, reports on their production and business every year and the previous three years, report on implementation of corporate social responsibility (if appropriate), report on annual renewal and restructuring, report on administration and organisation, as well as financial reports and reports on salary and bonuses. Accordingly, Hue asked ministries, localities, State groups and corporations to fully publish information on their activities. MPI was required to report to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc the list of firms in violation of the request and propose punishments. He also asked the ministry to continue pushing ministries, agencies, localities and SOEs to promote information disclosure. The decree has been considered a solution to review and assess the business effectiveness of SOEs. However, several State firms have not strictly implemented the regulation. Statistics from the ministry showed that the rate of State firms publishing their information was very low. By September 20, Viet Nam Air Traffic Management Corporation was the only one company strictly implementing the regulation. In addition, 140 out of 432 State firms which were required to disclose their information implemented the regulation. By the end of July, the ministry received documents from seven out of 22 ministries, 24 out of 63 localities and 16 out of 31 groups and corporations on the implementation of the decree. Some big corporations such as Viet Nam Railway Corporation, Vinafood 1, Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, Da River Corporation, Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUD) and MobiFone have not published their financial reports in 2015. CEO Ngo Duc Chi delivered a speech at GCS Hanoi offices Grand Opening Ceremony on October 10 A global level company The year 2014 was marked with a significant step forward when GCS joined forces with Hitachi Consulting, a full range service supplier with more than 25 years of experience in business consultancy. This helps GCS to increase its strength and diversify its services with one swift stroke. So far, GCS and Hitachi Consulting are present in more than 50 countries and regions, maintaining good partnership with more than 130 Fortune 500 companies and 25 of the Global 100. In addition, they themselves have been named amongst the 500 companies leading the world. Apart from having vast experience in IT operations, GCS has fully inherited Hitachis mission of researching, implementing, and applying IT solutions to improve living standards and serving the societyHitachis renowned Social Innovation. The companies commitment to expertise and social responsibility, the willingness to not only focusing on customers needs, but also answer a higher calling, has led it to the success it enjoys today. With the strategy to expand and increase commitment to serve customers, GCS opened its new branch in Hanoi, the countrys economic, political, cultural, and social centre, on October 10, 2016. This is the third GCS branch besides the two others in Ho Chi Minh City and Danang. According to Ngo Duc Chi, CEO of GCS Vietnam, following the opening of the Danang branch in 2012, taking on Hanoi marks a significant commitment once again affirming GCS long-term plans to supply the best IT solutions from leading experts to its customers in Hanoi and the northern provinces, including international customers pouring in due to strong global integration. The leadership team answered questions from journalists at the press conference Utilising cooperate activities and increasing competitiveness in the global context Despite the fact that IT solutions in processing, manufacturing, and corporate management has been widely utilised in Vietnam for long time, the majority of companies, particularly financial, insurance, and banking entities/institutions, have not fully seized all opportunities IT solutions present. In an era where high-technology drives all development trends, GCS is a potential strategic partner for virtually any enterprise in need of advanced solutions to shift and build sustainable and critically secure IT infrastructure systems. With a team of highly-qualified and experienced engineers and experts, GCS is providing comprehensive solutions for financial enterprises to maximise their business efficiency and increase competitiveness. GCSs guarantees international-standard IT solutions, both ensuring integration ability for complicated systems and localisation in order to have the highest adaptation and appropriation in the local business environment. Enterprises in Hanoi and other northern provinces now have the opportunity to implement powerful IT solutions and unlock their highest efficiency and provide long-term value to customersat the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). GCSs advanced technologies will help financial enterprises to comprehensively improve their business efficiency and catch up with global modernisation and technology trends. Investors employment of the barbell strategy could pay dividends On July 15, the State Treasury offered VND1.5 trillion ($78.9 million) worth of five-year papers. Tenders placed total bid of VND2.3 trillion ($121 million) at coupons from 10.1 to 11.0 per cent, per year. However, only VND550 billion ($28.9 million) was taken at rate of 10.3 per cent, per year. Last weeks auction for five-year bonds was just an additional offering following on from the previous session on July 2 where the issuer sold VND950 billion ($50 million) worth of five-year paper out of VND1 trillion on offer at coupon rate of 10.4 per cent, per year. The State Treasury also sold all VND1 trillion ($52.5 million) worth of five-year paper at 10.95 per cent, per year on June 21. After a series of failed auctions and underwritings for 10-year treasuries in the primary market, in the calendar there are no more offers of 10-year government bonds in upcoming sessions. Nguyen Tan Thang, Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporations head of fixed income research, said the Ministry of Finance may be anticipating a further reduction in long-term yields as observers still see demand at these tenors. He added that much of recent demand in the government bond secondary market happened as investors applied a barbell strategy. This hopes to capture yields at the long end, whilst buying liquidity insurance at the short-end. Investing in the long-end of the barbell allows them to lock in attractive long-term yields while buying at the very liquid short end allows for a quick exit should the bond market cycle turn, said Thang. In the first half of 2010, Vietnams balance of payment recorded $3.44 billion surplus and according to the State Bank, a sum of $1.8 billion was injected in to local stock market. By Thai Hien illustration photo source: tienphong.vn Cecilia Piccioni, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam, told VIR that in line with their international vocation, Italian top-tier companies have been closely monitoring Vietnams infrastructure projects in pipeline, focusing their interest on the urban metro rail system. Italian infrastructure firm Ghella, together with South Korean partner Hyundai, was awarded contract package 3 for Hanoi Metro Line 3 (Nhon-Hanoi station section) to build a tunnel and underground stations. Another Italian infrastructure builder, Rizzani de Eccher, is already involved in the work on Line 1 of the urban metro in Ho Chi Minh City. Ghella and Rizzani de Eccher are among many Italian firms making moves towards a heightened role in Vietnamese infrastructure development. Together with Astaldi, CMC Ravenna, and CNH-Iveco, they joined a recent luncheon on bilateral co-operation, on the occasion of the visit to Vietnam by Minister of Infrastructure and Transport of the Italian Republic, Graziano Delrio. They want to get updated overview of infrastructure developments and opportunities in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding southern provinces. Their participation is further confirmation of their increased interest towards Vietnam, the ambassador said. Italy has substantial experience in the implementation of public-private partnership projects, especially in the fields of expressways and ports, which were among the topics discussed in Minister Delrios bilateral meetings in Vietnam. According to Piccioni, in the framework of this new chapter of bilateral relations between the two countries strongly supported also by the opening of the Consulate General of Italy in Ho Chi Minh City in 2014, the infrastructure and transport sector features a tremendous amount of untapped potential, to be further nurtured by the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement. The future implementation of a memorandum of understanding signed in 2015 by the two state-owned Ferrovie dello Stato and Vietnam Railway Corporation will importantly fuel the development of the high-speed rail system in Vietnam, Piccioni added. In addition, the forthcoming visit to Italy of Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang will be another important step in strengthening the two countries ties in the infrastructure sector, she noted. illustration photo source: cafef.vn Japans Meade Group, the contractor of the Ho Chi Minh City Metro Lines Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien stretch, last week revealed its plan to invest in a $30 million high-end project called Wateria Suites in Ho Chi Minh Citys District 2. Earlier, Daiwa House Industry, Nomura Real Estate Development, and Sumitomo Forestry were licensed to develop a $220 million condominium project named Midtown in Ho Chi Minh Citys District 7. Midtown is the largest foreign direct investment property project in the first eight months of this year in Vietnam. With construction starting in early 2017 and a finish date in 2019, this project will add around 1,100 units in five buildings to the market. As Vietnam continues to enjoy economic growth, the need for condominium housing is growing. Especially with the enactment of the Revised Housing Law in July 2015, the restrictions on real estate purchases by foreigners have been eased, which is expected to lead to further growth in the housing market, said a representative from Daiwa. Kajima Corporation, one of Japans biggest builders, has entered a new joint venture with Indochina Land to develop a range of property projects in Vietnam. The new venture will pour around $1 billion in the next 10 years into the Vietnam property market, and will initially focus on urban residential projects in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang the markets with the biggest property potential in Vietnam. Four projects under this venture will be launched within the next 12 to 15 months, with a combined investment capital of $100 million. Keisuke Koshijima, head of Kajimas overseas division, said Vietnam is considered a market with great potential in the region and a core market for the company in particular. We have studied the market and see an increasing demand for mid- and higher-income properties. Then we decided to join with Indochina Land to take this opportunity, Koshijima told VIR. Mitsubishi Estate, another famous Japanese property developer, has recently diversified its portfolio in Vietnam by buying into a property development project in Hanoi, which has a total investment of up to $1.9 billion. Both Kajima and Mitsubishi are targeting high-income earners in Vietnam. Mitsubishi became partners with Vietnamese real estate firm Bitexco Group after acquiring a 45 per cent stake in the first phase of The Manor Central Park project in Hanois Hoang Mai district. In the first phase, the two sides will spend $285 million building 240 low-rise buildings and two condominiums offering 1,036 apartments. The projects total construction will include 17 condominiums containing 7,700 apartments and 1,000 low-rise houses. Final construction costs are estimated at $1.9 billion. Mitsubishi cited a rising demand for housing in recent years as its motivation for investing in the project. The number of residences sold in the capital doubled to 20,000 last year. Other investors from Japan include Creed Group, Hankyu Realty, Nishi-Nippon Railroad, EXS Capital, and Sanyo Home. Habeco factory in Me Linh District, Ha Noi. The brewery, together with Sabeco, will be listed on the exchange in late 2016 or early 2017 under the guidance of MoIT - Photo enternews.vn Sai Gon Alcohol, Beer and Beverages Corp. (Sabeco) and Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage JSC (Habeco) will complete their divestiture from state funding in the near future. The steering committee will be headed by MoIT Deputy Minister Cao Quoc Hung and consist of 10 other members from MoIT's authoritative departments and directors of Sabeco and Habeco. The committee will aid the MoIT minister in governing the sale of shares in Sabeco and Habeco as per entrustment from the prime minister, as well as assist in the construction and implementation of the two companies' divestment from state funding in accordance with legal procedures. In August, MoIT gave its approval for Sabeco and Habeco to be listed on the appropriate domestic stock exchanges before actually selling shares to interested investors. Sabeco will be listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE), while Habeco will be listed on the market for stocks of unlisted public companies (UPCoM) of the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX). During the government's month meeting on October 4, the chairman of the Government's Office, Minister Mai Tien Dung said: "The Prime Minister had tasked the two businesses with listing on the exchange in 2016. If a delay occurs, the governing body, which is the Ministry of Industry and Trade, will have to take full responsibility." Nonetheless, according to MoIT Deputy Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong, despite the ministry's effort to accelerate the process, legal procedures could postpone Sabeco's and Habeco's listing until early 2017. Sabeco expects to divest 53.59 per cent of its charter capital in 2016, equal to US$1.07 billion, and another $716 million in 2017 upon their listing on the stock market. Habeco expects to completely divest its 81.79 per cent of state owned capital valued at $402 million in 2016. The Vietnam Association of Financial Investors estimated that the government could retrieve up to $2.2 billion from divesting 89.6 per cent of Sabeco's shares and 82 per cent of Habeco's alone. illustration photo source: molisa.gov.vn Pham Minh Huan, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, told VIR that An overtime increase will be part of the revision of the current Labour Code next year. Accordingly, all related factors, including labourers health, will be considered before making a decision on how many extra working hours will be allowed, he said. According to Le Dinh Quang, vice head of the Labour Relations Department under the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, the overtime limit might be expanded to 400 hours a year for certain businesses in specific areas. But this will take careful thought. According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) Department of Work Safety, if employees work one extra hour a day for ten years, their lifespan will be decreased by 6.5 years. Under the Labour Code, which took effect in 2012, a labourer can work a maximum of 200 hours of overtime per year, and 300 hours per year in special cases stipulated by the government. The overtime cap has remained a controversial topic for years. A number of domestic and foreign firms, including those from Japan and South Korea, have proposed increasing the overtime limit to 400 hours a year. They argued that, together with low labour productivity, the existing overtime cap was undermining their competitiveness. According to the Korean Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, the existing overtime cap may seriously affect business operations and force enterprises to increase the number of shifts during peak-season, which will result in a substantial increase in labour costs. This limitation may impact greatly on foreign investors decision to invest in Vietnam. This view was also put forth by the Japanese Business Association in Vietnam. However, over the past years, such a proposal was rejected by the MoLISA many times, which said that the prevailing regulations on overtime protect labourers health and curb the abuse of labour. Vietnams overtime cap is now equal to half of the 600 hours a year recommended by the International Labour Organization. The countrys overtime restriction of 30 hours per month is also the lowest in the region, compared to 104 hours per month in Malaysia, 36 hours in China, 56 hours in Indonesia, 48 hours in South Korea, 144 hours in Thailand, and unlimited overtime in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Japan. Vu Tien Loc, chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that, The government should extend the overtime cap, while keeping the overtime limit below 600 hours a year. Employers and employees should negotiate overtime, with the involvement of trade unions as an important role. As planned, draft amendments to some clauses of the Labour Code will be submitted to the National Assembly for discussion in May 2017. If everything goes smoothly, they can be adopted in October next year. Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) listens to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul. (AFP/Ozan Kose) Making his first visit to Turkey since the shooting down of a Russian war plane by Turkey led to the worst dispute between Ankara and Moscow since the Cold War, Putin said the two countries could now return to cooperation in all areas. Only a few months ago, the two post-imperial strongmen were exchanging bitterly personal accusations. But this was already the pair's third meeting after a June agreement to normalise ties. "I have full confidence that the normalisation process between Turkey and Russia will swiftly continue," said Erdogan. Showing that any personal animosity was over, Putin thanked Erdogan for the "attention Mr President has devoted to the development of Turkish-Russian relations". The centrepiece of the one-day visit was the signing of an agreement on realising the construction of the planned TurkStream gas pipeline to pump Russian gas through two lines under Turkish waters in the Black Sea towards Europe. Russia-Turkey gas pipeline plans. (AFP/Kun Tian) The chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, said in a statement that the inter-governmental agreement had created the "legal basis" for the project after a previous memorandum of understanding from 2014. He added that the annual capacity of each line is to be 15.75 billion cubic metres of gas (bcma), making a total capacity of over 30 bcma. He added the first line of the gas pipeline will be used to transport gas to Turkish consumers and the second to Europe. They should both be built by 2019, he said. 'MAKE UP LOST TIME' The plan to build TurkStream was dramatically announced by Putin in December 2014 in Ankara, as a replacement for the South Stream pipeline that was to have been built in cooperation with EU countries. South Stream was scrapped after years of planning, with Putin angrily blaming Brussels for its failure. But then TurkStream was plunged into uncertainty by the November 2015 warplane crisis. The agreement signed in Istanbul represents a concrete symbol of the desire of both parties to bring the much-discussed TurkStream project to fruition. Erdogan also said the two sides agreed to speed up a plan for Russia to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu on the Mediterranean. "I believe that the time that has been lost will be compensated in the coming period," he said. The two countries still face a major task to raise relations to the level enjoyed before the jet crisis. Economic sanctions imposed by Russia - now gradually being lifted - have severely dented trade. And a ban on charter flights to Turkey, which is also now over, reduced the usually substantial flow of Russian tourists to a trickle. Putin said that the Russian government had on Monday decided to open the Russian market to key Turkish agricultural products, including citrus fruits. He also said Moscow had agreed to reduce the price of natural gas imported by energy-poor Turkey. 'HELP ALEPPO' Russia and Turkey remain at odds over the Syria conflict, with Moscow a key backer of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad while his exit from power is Turkey's key strategic aim. But Turkey, which just months ago was loudly accusing Russia of war crimes in Syria, has been remarkably tight-lipped over the Syrian regime onslaught on rebel-held areas of Aleppo in recent weeks, as ties with Moscow have tentatively improved. Analysts have long noted an ability on the part of Moscow and Ankara to show pragmatism in times of good relations and push disputes to one side, concentrating on strategic cooperation that includes a goal to reach annual two-way trade of US$100 billion (111 billion). In his speech to the World Energy Congress before their bilateral talks, Erdogan complained how a child in Aleppo "only sees bombs dropped by helicopters and planes that target them" but made no mention of Russia or the Assad regime. Both leaders agreed to work together to ensure aid can reach the conflict-torn Syrian city of Aleppo. They made no mention of their differences on the Syria conflict or of any breakthrough. But Erdogan said Turkey and Russia had to find a "strategy" to help the people of Aleppo, adding that he and Putin had agreed to instruct their foreign ministries, military and intelligence services to work on this. Putin added: "We have a common position that we need to do everything to deliver humanitarian aid to Aleppo. The question is just of ensuring the security of those deliveries." illustration photo source: thanhnien.vn The list of halted production factories includes Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen, that is responsible for the global shipping of the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung has encouraged Note 7 owners to have their devices replaced with new ones. However, there have been eight cases of replaced Note 7 unites that were reported to have also caught on fire, five in the U.S, one in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. A probe into the incident in Korea, conducted by Korea Testing Laboratory and SGS Korea, concluded that the fire was caused by a "strong external shock or the device being squashed." No results of the investigations into the seven cases outside of South Korea have been announced for now. Samsung has not released an immediate comment on the temporary suspension of the production of Note 7, but it is likely to delay the resumption of sales in Europe and India, which is set for October 28. On October 11, Samsung called a worldwide halt to the sale and exchange of its Note 7 smartphones, citing continued safety concerns, and advised all customers to stop using the device immediately. Earlier on September 2, the company suspended sales of the oversized products and recalled 2.5 million Note 7 devices that had been shipped worldwide after faulty batteries started sporadically exploding while charging. According to Samsungs replacement policy, total end-users will receive new devices kitted out with new IMEIs (International Mobile Equipment Identities) and serial numbers. The nations hi-tech parks have argued that a proposed tax reduction for IT workers alone will not draw FDI The proposal came from Danang Hi-Tech Park (DHTP) in the south-central city of Danang, Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) in Ho Chi Minh City, and Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park (HHTP) in Hanoi. The proposal is viewed as an addition to the Ministry of Finances (MoF) recent proposal on a 50 per cent cut in personal income tax (PIT) for information technology (IT) workers from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2020. Doan Ngoc Hung Anh, deputy chairman of the DHTP Management Board, told VIR that IT is part of the hi-tech sector, which also covers electronics, nano technology, telecommunications, and more. They should all be subject to the PIT reduction, not just IT workers. Echoing Hung Anhs view, Le Bich Loan, deputy chairwoman of the SHTP Management Board, said that Its unreasonable that while workers in economic zones enjoy such a PIT reduction, those in hi-tech, which requires great intelligence and creativity, do not. As planned, the MoFs proposal, which is part of the governments resolution on tax incentives to support business development until 2020, will be discussed at the National Assembly this month. Currently, labourers in the hi-tech sector are subject to various PIT levels of 5-35 per cent, depending on their tax bracket. PIT cuts are one of the special incentives that HHTP and DHTP are working on to become more attractive to investors. Their foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction has been lower than expected over the past years. We are proposing a 50 per cent cut in PIT in a draft decree on special incentives for HHTP, which is expected to be issued by the end of this year, said an HHTP official. As part of the same proposal, the DHTP Management Board is also suggesting higher incentives for certain investment activities, such as technical infrastructure development and other investment incentives, including preferential land rentals and PIT. At present, hi-tech workers do not enjoy any incentives on PIT, which is a big concern among investors. They have faced challenges in recruiting qualified workers, hindering their business expansions. Hoang Nam Tien, chairman of FPT Software (FSoft) in HHTP, said that FSoft is the first and largest software firm in HHTP. Currently, it is employing more than 2,000 programmers here. As we are developing the second and third phase of our project here, we really need special incentives on PIT and housing fees to retain and attract more talented people to serve the expansion, Tien said. According to Hung Anh, since his park finished development of infrastructure in late 2014, it has attracted four projects, including two foreign-invested ones registered at $140 million. The figure remains low compared to that of others. Meanwhile, HHTP has to date attracted 73 projects, with the total registered investment capital of over VND55.4 trillion ($2.54 billion). Viettel, FPT Software, and Nissan are among the big brand names there. Although Thai Nguyen is riding an impressive upward trajectory, it has devised plans to become a greater driver of Vietnams future success -Photo: Viet Hung In 2015, Thai Nguyen ranked seventh out of 63 cities and provinces of Vietnam in the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), which grades provinces in terms of how favourable their business environment is for the development of the private sector. This is the second time the province was selected among 10 cities and provinces with the highest PCI. In order to achieve these results, the province has been carrying out a comprehensive reform of administrative procedures to effectively facilitate the operation of companies in the area. According to Vu Hong Bac, Chairman of the Thai Nguyen Peoples Committee, the government agencies in the province commit to a three-friendly policy friendliness to the environment, friendliness to investors, and friendliness to people. On the other hand, the province invests in, as well as encourages the private sector to invest in, infrastructure and education in order to provide to the market high-quality human resources, he said. Thanks to these efforts, the province has become a hot destination for investors from Vietnam as well as other countries. According to data of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, from the beginning of the year through June 30, the province issued investment certificates to 16 new foreign-invested projects, with the combined registered capital of $48.52 million. As of that time, the province had 111 effective projects, with the total registered investment capital of $7.096 billion. A notable example of a foreign-investor currently in Thai Nguyen that contributes to the growth of the province is Samsung. The South Korean electronic manufacturers complex includes electronic components and mobile device production with the total investment capital of $6.5 billion. Companies come to Thai Nguyen to cash in on the provinces potential in many industries. Its fertile soil and pleasant climate is well-suited to tea plantations. The beautiful natural scenery, culture, and historical sites are advantages for tourism. As the countrys third-biggest education hub, the province can supply high-quality human resources to companies in Thai Nguyen and the surrounding provinces. In addition to continuing the effort to create a favourable business environment to attract investors in the future, in the coming years the province will push key projects designed to attract more investment capital. These projects include: the Nui Coc lake cultural and religious tourism area, addressing the urgent need for an anti-flood system for the Cau River and urban infrastructure on the two banks of the river, the high tech agriculture project for Thai Nguyen and surrounding area, the Ring Road 5-Hanoi area, the An Lac Vien Thai Nguyen cemetery project, and the Vincom trade centre. In the coming years, the province plans to make manufacturing, high-tech agriculture, and tourism the drivers of growth. With great potential and the local authorities efforts to make doing business here easier, Thai Nguyen hopes that more investors will decide to make the province their base, and help it grow at a faster and more sustainable pace, Bac said. President Tran ai Quang (Second from right) receives Vice President of the International Friendship Exchange Council (FEC) Yoshihiko Nakagaki in Ha Noi yesterday.- Photo Nhan Sang At a reception yesterday for Nakagaki, also Chairman of the FECs Committee for Japan-Viet Nam Cultural and Economic Exchange, the State leader urged Japan to speed up technology transfer to Viet Nam and help the country in human resources training. He expressed his hope that Japanese firms invest more in Viet Nams agriculture sector and proposed the FEC encourage more Japanese localities and businesses to seek partnerships in Viet Nam. The President said that he believes the FEC, with a large number of members and strong influence, will continue making effective contributions to co-operation between the two countries. Viet Nam highly values the role of the private sector of Japan in boosting economic ties between the two countries, he stressed, affirming that together with large firms, Viet Nam welcomes small- and medium-sized enterprises from Japan to invest. Viet Nam will strengthen efforts to complete legal and policy frameworks to create a stable and favourable investment and business environment for foreign investors, including those from Japan, he pledged. The President also noted that Viet Nam is working with Japan to implement the sixth phase of the Viet Nam-Japan joint initiative on improving the investment environment in the country. Nakagaki briefed the host on co-operation between the FEC and Viet Nam in recent years. He expressed pleasure that Japanese official development assistance and investment are contributing to the development of Viet Nam. He said that the FEC will connect potential Japanese investors with Viet Nam. In the future, Viet Nam will be a close partner of Japan in Asia, he said, adding that Japan will support the country in maintaining growth speed. Analysis: Why Trumps scorched-Earth campaign could burn down the GOP remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni during a two-day visit to the country later this month, according to a statement from the foreign ministry. The visit is due to begin on Thursday and will also see Xi meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen, with whom he is expected to sign more than two dozen agreements. China has become Cambodias largest aid donor and lender, giving about $15 billion to its Southeast Asian ally over the past 20 years. Last year, China pledged at least $600 million in additional assistance. China has expanded its global footprint through massive investment in large infrastructure projects, including in Cambodia, where its state-operated enterprises have vast interests in mining, tourism and hydropower development. Meas Ny, an analyst, said Cambodia could be in jeopardy if it relied too much on one foreign power for assistance. Cambodia has also been criticized for appearing to back China in a dispute over the South China Sea with its Asean neighbors, however, Cambodia has denied the claim. When everything relies on one country, we are under the influence of that country, said Ny. This will lead us to lose our full independence. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday sentenced opposition lawmaker Um Sam An to two years and six months in prison for instigating criminal acts and discrimination. He was also fined 4 million riel (about $1,000) for comments he made last year about alleged Vietnamese encroachment on Cambodian territory. Hem Socheat, Sam Ans lawyer, said the sentence was very unjust as his client had only been acting in the best interests of his constituents. The sentence was too serious for my client if we compare it to ... people who beat and attempted to kill lawmakers, but the court just sentenced them for merely one year, he said, referring to the beating of two fellow Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmakers in October 2015. Sam An and his legal team boycotted the proceedings from the beginning of the trial, arguing that the case should never have been brought as it violated the constitutional right of MPs to immunity. Ly Sophanna, a court spokesman, could not be reached. Sam An, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on April 11 in Siem Reap after he returned from a visit to the United States. Meas Ny, an analyst, said it was possible that Sam An could receive a pardon if a solution to the current political tensions was found. If the situation remains tense, its difficult to see a positive outcome, he said. The lawmaker had been in the United States to research maps held at the Library of Congress which detailed the demarcation of the Cambodia-Vietnam border. In a related case, CNRP Senator Hong Sok Hour was charged with forging documents after he posted a purported copy of the 1979 border treaty between the two countries online. Lawyers for Sam An said they plan to appeal the decision. The opposition continues to boycott parliamentary sessions in protest over what it says is a concerted campaign to use the courts to destroy the party ahead of the next general election in 2018. In a coded reference to the boycott, Hun Sen took to Facebook on Friday. Although the cock doesnt crow, the sun still rises because its not a hostage of any group, he wrote. Rhona Smith, the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia, began her third official visit to the kingdom on Tuesday, meeting with justice and human rights officials. Her arrival came a day after security forces beat rights workers and land activists during a demonstration in the capital against forced evictions. Following a meeting with Keo Remy, a secretary of state, and human rights officials she did not mention the attacks and said the discussions had focused on the progress towards complying with monitoring obligations. Am Sam Ath, monitoring manager at local human rights group Licadho, who was one of those beaten by the security forces on Monday, said he had filed a lawsuit against the police in Daun Penh districts Chey Chumneah commune, where the alleged assault had taken place. I regret it [the alleged attack] because these people gave a gift to Cambodia of spoiling the image of the government the day that Rhona Smith [was due to arrive], he said. Remy told reporters that a staffer from the Interior Ministry had also been injured on Monday, adding that Smith had not raised the issue. In March, Smith attempted to meet minority groups in Preah Vihear province, but was blocked by security forces. She came under fire in July for not making a statement after the daylight killing of prominent political commentator Kem Ley. Rights activists and lawyers are up in arms over Britain's plan to suspend an international human rights convention during times of war, a step the government said would protect British troops from "spurious" legal claims of torture and murder against them. The move by British Prime Minister Theresa May followed years of mounting anger in the Conservative Party and the country's tabloid press over thousands of cases filed against soldiers who served in Iraq. The British government has spent about $135 million since 2004 defending the cases, many of which were launched under the European Convention on Human Rights, and the government has paid out $24 million in the settlement of 326 cases without admitting liability. Britain's tabloid press has railed against what they see as meddling, unelected European judges, arguing they are wrecking British law. Under the plan, Britain would temporarily suspend parts of the Human Rights Convention before planned military actions. The suspensions would mainly focus on Article 2, which imposes upon the 47 signatory states the duty to refrain from unlawful deprivation of life, to investigate suspicious deaths and to prevent avoidable deaths. Churchill's role Established in 1953 and effective across Europe, the convention grew out of a continent-wide determination never to see again the appalling rights violations of the Second World War and was inspired partly by Britain's wartime leader, Winston Churchill. It was drafted in large part by the British Conservative politician and Nuremberg trials prosecutor David Maxwell Fyfe. Despite the antecedents, Britain's Conservatives have been targeting the European Convention on Human Rights for years and the European Court of Human Rights, which hears convention cases. They claim the convention is a charter for "ambulance-chasing lawyers" and "bleeding-heart judges." In January, May's predecessor, David Cameron, promised to crack down on an "industry trying to profit from spurious claims" against British servicemen and hinted that Britain might eventually withdraw altogether from the pact. That prompted criticism from commentator Nick Cohen, in The Guardian newspaper, who said, "We are now in a grimly comic country, where in one breath Cameron rightly denounces Vladimir Putin's contempt for the rule of law. In the next, he proposes to exempt British troops from legal accountability." Troops' hard choices May said suspending parts of the convention during conflict would allow British troops to take "difficult decisions" on the battlefield without fear of having dubious legal claims filed against them when they returned home. She and her ministers said that the government and its military would still adhere to the Geneva Convention on Human Rights, and that claims of egregious violations by British soldiers could still be brought before domestic courts because they'd breach British and military law as well as the Geneva Convention. Writing in The Times newspaper, Simon Brown, a former British Supreme Court judge, argued armed conflict should be governed by international humanitarian law and not European human rights law, saying it was "bizarre" that British troops in Iraq or Afghanistan should be subject to the ECHR when those of allies such as the United States are not. But rights lawyers warn the old legal codes such as the Geneva Convention have on the whole been unenforceable. And they argue May's plan to secure impunity from the the convention for rights violations by British forces is unworkable because it would be opposed by judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. "We would then need to withdraw from the convention in order to make Britain's impunity work properly," cautioned Conor Gearty, a professor of human rights law at the London School of Economics and a founder of Matrix, a group of rights lawyers in the British capital. That, he argued, would undermine the convention and lead to a weakening of "human rights protection for millions of people in the U.K. and across Europe, including in countries like Russia and Turkey where the court can offer the only chance of justice for those whose rights are abused." Past rulings Britain has long bridled at coming under the jurisdiction of the Court of Human Rights. In the 1950s, Britain sustained unfavorable rulings concerning action in Cyprus. And in 1977, London was furious at a court ruling that found Britain guilty of "inhumane and degrading treatment" of Irish Republican internees in Northern Ireland. Among the 326 ECHR cases brought against British forces that have been settled by the Ministry of Defense are actions filed by the relatives of those who have died while being detained in Iraq. The British government paid $130,000 to the family of Saeed Shabram, who drowned after being detained by British troops. Fearful of facing an investigation by the International Criminal Court at The Hague, in 2010 Britain began an inquiry into allegations of abuse involving the alleged mistreatment of 1,514 Iraqis, including 280 who died either while in custody or at the hands of British troops. Dozens of activists have raised a multicolored, makeshift tent city in Bogotas main square to demand the government and rebels save a deal meant to end a half-century of conflict part of an outburst of activism across the country by Colombians stunned at last weeks unexpected defeat of the peace accord in a referendum. The mostly youthful demonstrators at whats called the Peace Camp reject any political affiliation. Organizers say their only goal is to make sure the peace deal signed last month by the government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia isnt scuttled. The first two tents were raised the night of October 5 after as many as 25,000 people poured into the streets of downtown Bogota to back the rejected accord. Within less than a week, the impromptu encampment has grown to 70 tents surrounded by bunting in the color of the Colombian flag and adorned with white balloons and flowers symbolizing peace. Hundreds of other Colombians joined the group in Bogotas Plaza Bolivar on Wednesday to sew a giant quilt with the names of 1,900 victims of the conflict. Each of the names was written in giant block letters stenciled in ash on individual pieces of white cloth the length of a coffin. This is the act of mourning that hurts the most, said conceptual artist Doris Salcedo, who has been overseeing an army of volunteers working on her Adding Absences project. Its not the mourning of a union leader, a presidential candidate or a journalist. Its the grief of an entire country that has been buried in war. Supporters complacent The peace agreement was negotiated over more than four years in Cuba, a process so globally admired that President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded this years Nobel Peace Prize. Backers were confident, and polls agreed, that Colombians would easily approve it in an October 2 referendum six days after the deal was signed in front of world leaders. They proved to have been complacent. A narrow majority of voters rejected it, angry that it made too many concessions to a rebel group widely loathed for years of violence, kidnapping and drug trafficking. Turnout was a mere 37 percent, lower than any congressional election in the past 22 years. Heavy rains from Hurricane Matthew held down voting in some areas along the Caribbean coast where support for the government is strongest. Backers of the deal are still convinced most Colombians favor it. Each tent at the Peace Camp is hung with a cardboard sign naming rural towns notorious for political violence and places where the yes vote overwhelmingly won. The referendum setback has forced Santos to scramble for some way to save the accord, even if its not clear what might happen next. The rebels say they dont plan to return to the battlefield but have also rejected any notion they will return to the drawing board. Nationwide, thousands of pro-peace demonstrators have also taken to the streets in Cali, Medellin and other cities, a rare sight in a country where political apathy is the norm. Talks continue Santos is holding talks both with the FARC and with conservative opponents led by former President Alvaro Uribe to find agreement on adjustments to the 297-page accord. Its an uphill battle. FARC leaders have said the referendum results have no legal effect. Uribe insists the voters will must be respected. Uribe, a conservative hardliner whose father was killed by the FARC, is demanding changes the rebels are unlikely to accept. Those include having rebels guilty of war crimes serve up to eight years in rural penal colonies. The current accord spares them jail time if they confess their war crimes. He also wants to eliminate a provision pardoning rebels involved in drug trafficking. Were fighting against the ego of a single person who wants to go down in history, complained Jaqueline Sanchez, a 53-year-old social worker, referring to Uribe. While she blames Uribe for misleading voters and dividing Colombians, she also faults her friends for being so passive and believing in the polls. The truth is we were negligent, Sanchez said. We never thought we were going to lose so we let others decide for us. After the Bangladeshi government made public its offer of cash to militants willing to reform, authorities say two members of a notorious terrorism group gave themselves up. We had chosen a dark path, Abdul Hakim, one of those who surrendered, told a national television audience at a public ceremony last week where he received a check from a government official. We have realized our mistake, said the 22-year-old Hakim. We do not believe in terrorism. Everyone who has gone on this path should return. Hakim and Mahmudul Hasan Bijoy were among the first people to receive money under a new initiative that encourages extremists to lay down guns and renounce their radical paths. In return, those who turn themselves in will receive financial and legal assistance to help smooth their reintegration into the society. The government handed over 500,000 Taka (about $6,350) to each of the two men who walked into a police station in northern Bogra city. Police said the young men belonged to the Neo-JMB, an affiliate of the Islamic State and a splinter group of Jamaatul Mujahideen, considered one of the top terror organizations in Bangladesh. I have left that path. Please forgive me for what I have done and pray that I may be able to work for the country, said Bijoy, 23, who offered apologies to the nation. Bangladeshs Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said on Monday that the two men were still in police custody awaiting a trial. Their fate would be decided by the court which would be looking into if the two have committed any crimes. And while government officials were not specific, they said the men will be offered a rehabilitation program to keep them on the straight path. Bangladesh is facing growing domestic threats from a variety of militant and extremist groups, including affiliates of Islamic State and al-Qaida. Terror attacks in recent months killed at least 70 Bangladeshis and some foreigners. Militants in Bangladesh are often poor, uneducated and unemployed, or work in menial paying jobs. The government is hoping its high incentive payment - more than four times Bangladeshs per capita income of about $1,300 will entice many militants to come forward. If the militants want to come to the normal life, we will help them, Benazir Ahmad, chief of the Rapid Action Battalion, told reporters in Dhaka last week. But analysts say the payment strategy is risky and may not accomplish its intended goal to curb terrorism and uproot militants. This strategy has been undertaken in other places such as Saudi Arabia and Indonesia as well, said Ali Riaz, who teaches South Asian politics and political Islam at Illinois State University. It can be done. But this alone is not going to help you in countering extremism. It should be backed up by many other steps and be part of a larger and more comprehensive deradicalization strategy. Saudi Arabias rehabilitation program, for example, isolates participants and provides months of therapy by moderate Islamic clerics and psychologists. The program has been criticized, though, for providing gourmet meals and cushy surroundings. Analysts say the Bangladeshi government needs to reform the education system to provide better opportunities for young people susceptible to extremists recruiting. The government should encourage Muslim religious leaders to be part of the rehabilitation process to counter the extremists narrative, they say. I am deeply concerned that it might not work, Riaz said. Social and educational institutions that have the potential to radicalize need to be reformed. Is the society ready to accept the assimilation of militants? How can they be rehabilitated in the society? Without involving the society into the deradicalization process, it can be a challenge. Federal officials are urging local election agencies to contact the Department of Homeland Security to receive help with cybersecurity before the November 8 election. The Department of Homeland Security says 33 states and 11 counties have approached the department to improve their security systems ahead of the election. Time is a factor. There are only 29 days until Election Day, Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement Monday. The department says it can take up to three weeks to find and correct cyber vulnerabilities in local election agencies. The Department of Homeland Security says its services include assessing risk and vulnerability, and scanning remotely for steps to improve security. It says it will provide state and local election officials with a report identifying vulnerabilities with online voter registration systems, election night reporting systems, and other internet-connected election systems. Watch - Official: US Voting System Resilient to Cyberattacks On Friday, the United States publicly accused Russia of launching a series of cyberattacks aimed at undermining the upcoming U.S. elections. A statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security said it is confident Russia directed the hacks of the Democratic National Committee in July, leaking thousands of emails that embarrassed the party in the days leading up to its national convention. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russias senior-most officials could have authorized these activities, the statement said. Intelligence officials had suspected Russia of orchestrating the attack for several weeks, noting that Russia has used similar tactics and techniques to influence public opinion across Europe and Eurasia. But the U.S. intelligence community decided to go public after newly uncovered information allowed them to reach a higher degree of confidence, a U.S. official told VOA. Theres an urgency here to release as much information as possible so the state and local authorities can fortify their [election] infrastructure, a senior administration official told VOA on condition of anonymity. Were committed to making sure our election process is secure. A Kremlin spokesperson denied the allegations, telling Russian state media they are rubbish and nonsense. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Burundi suspended its cooperation with a U.N. human rights office Tuesday, a government spokesman said, amid a deepening row between the government and the U.N. on political violence in Burundi. "Due to the complicity played by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in the production of a wrong and controversial report, issued by the so-called independent U.N. investigators, the government of Burundi decided to suspend any cooperation and collaboration with the office," the statement from spokesman Philippe Nzobonariba said. The Burundi government was infuriated when the U.N. released a report last month identifying government officials suspected of ordering political opposition to be tortured or killed. The Hague-based International Criminal Court said in April that at least 450 people were killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee fled after clashes broke out following President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term in office last year. Opponents said the move violated the constitution and a peace agreement that ended a civil war in 2005. The president cited a court ruling saying he could run again, and he won an election boycotted by most opposition parties. Low-level violence continues, and three people were killed in an attack on a bar Monday night in the southern province of Rumonge, Nzobonariba told state radio Tuesday. The victims included a school principal who was a local official and a member of the ruling party. On Monday, Burundi banned three U.N. human rights investigators linked to the report from its territory. Burundi has also rejected a U.N. decision to set up a commission of inquiry to probe the violence and announced plans to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. The Colombian government and the countrys second largest rebel group have announced the start of peace talks October 27 in the capital of Ecuador. Mondays announcement of talks with the 2,000-strong National Liberation Army comes just days after Colombian voters stunned diplomats and world leaders by rejecting a peace deal ending a half century of fighting between the Bogota government and the much larger FARC insurgency. In an address after Mondays announcement, President Juan Manuel Santos vowed that peace wont slip through our fingers. Instead, he said, it will be stronger... and it will be complete. Santos peace accord with FARC was widely praised internationally, but narrowly defeated at home as too lenient on rebels who began fighting the government in 1964. Despite the defeat, Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week for his efforts to end the hemispheres longest war. Former President Alvaro Uribe is now attempting to renegotiate the parts of the FARC accord that would have guaranteed the rebel group congressional seats and immunity from prosecution and prison sentences. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against Russia for detaining former chess champion and political activist Garry Kasparov before a 2007 opposition political rally. The deprivation of his liberty was found not to be justified for any lawful purpose," the court said Tuesday. The court found there was no evidence that any forgery had taken place, let alone that the authorities had had a reasonable suspicion that he had committed that offense." "Given that his detention had not been lawful or justified, the Court held he had been unlawfully prevented from attending the rally." On May 18, 2007, Kasparov was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, before a flight to Samara in western Russia, where he was to attend a rally at an EU-Russian summit. Russian authorities confiscated his ticket and passport and took him to a police station for five hours of questioning on whether his ticket had been forged. Kasparov was not allowed to leave the police office where an armed guard stood at the door. He missed the flight and the rally as a result. The Russian government had argued police were carrying out an operation against counterfeit airplane tickets that day and confiscated the tickets of 22 people, including Kasparovs. Before filing the law suit at the Strasbourg-based ECHR in November that year, Kasparov had unsuccessfully sought legal redress in Russias court system in 2007. Tuesdays decision is subject to the right of appeal to the ECHR's top panel, the Grand Chamber, within the next three months. Khizr Khan, the father of a decorated American soldier killed in Iraq, lashed out at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday for saying his son would still be alive if Trump had been president at the time. "For this candidate to put his political expediency ahead of any realization of pain and suffering of the families is shameful," Khan said in an interview with CNN. The New York businessman raised the name of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan in a Sunday night presidential debate while criticizing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for voting in favor of the 2003 invasion of Iraq when she was a U.S. senator. "If I was president at that time he would be alive today," Trump said. Despite his assertion that he always opposed the war, Trump had expressed support for it in a 2002 interview. Khizr Khan had delivered a speech to the Democratic National Convention in July showcasing his son's military service and criticizing Trump's campaign call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country. Trump responded at the time by questioning whether Khan's wife, Ghazala Khan, was not "allowed" to speak when she appeared next to her husband on the stage, an insinuation of some conservative form of Islam that embroiled the candidate in an unpopular dispute with the Muslim parents of a fallen war hero. The Khans were stunned to hear Trump bring up the name of their son, who was killed in 2004, in Sunday's nationally televised debate, the father said. "We were not only shocked, we were saddened for such disingenuous expression of his thinking and of his feeling," Khan said. Trump has said he has modified his call for a ban on Muslims entering the country to a plan for "extreme vetting." After Sunday's showdown between U.S. candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, France's first presidential debate this week may seem a bit staid. Yet it counts as a game changer, as the country's two main parties embrace American-style primary elections for the first time. "Our democracy is very porous, we live in the same pop and political culture," said political scientist Nicole Bacharan, explaining the spreading U.S. influence on European politics. "And this has slowly instilled into the French culture that this is a normal, democratic way to do things." On Thursday, seven center-right candidates will appear on prime-time TV in the first of three debates before November's conservative primary. The ruling Socialist Party follows with its own primary in January, three months before presidential elections. Terrorism, immigration and the downsides of free trade are shaping the campaign rhetoric and voter fears. Simmering anger against the political establishment is also trending on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet there are key differences. While businessman Donald Trump won most U.S. Republican primaries, France has little tradition of voting for political neophytes. Many here are also shocked by the free-flowing invective of the U.S. debates. "Just when the French started to hold primaries, they're looking at what's happening in the United States," Bacharan said. "But once you start this process, there's no going back." Low blows, or boredom? How low the campaign rhetoric might sink in France remains to be seen. The top two conservative candidates, former president Nicolas Sarkozy and ex-prime minister Alain Juppe, are already trading barbs over their respective judicial scandals. "The invective could mount rapidly and really degrade the quality of the debate," said analyst Madani Cheurfa of Sciences Po University in Paris, who nonetheless doubts it will hit the levels seen in recent sparring between Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Rather, he worries the opposite will happen. "The candidates may all say the same thing Thursday," he said. "There's a big risk of boredom." While the center-right Les Republicans and the leftist Socialists have held primaries before, this is the first time both are doing so for the presidency. The field is wide open. To participate, French voters must simply pay a little over $2 and ascribe to general party values. "French always laughed at us for entering long, drawn-out elections," said Connie Borde, vice-chairman of Democrats Abroad France. "Now, they're falling into the same trap, if you want to call it. But it's more democratic. It's not the parties choosing the candidates anymore." Yet the status quo still largely shapes France's political system. Mainstream politicians mostly graduate from the same elite universities and face similar trajectories. "In France, we have an idea of politics as a long history," Cheurfa said. "You start young and the endpoint, after 40 or 50 years, is the presidency of the republic." Twists and turns Still, there have been jolts along the way. In 2002, far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen placed second in the first round of presidential voting that featured a disenchanted public and no fewer than 16 candidates on the ballot. The results shocked the nation. Incumbent president Jacques Chirac, whose record and popularity were underwhelming, won the runoff by a landslide. Nearly a decade later, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's expected run for office was sidelined by sexual assault charges. Long-shot candidate Francois Hollande stepped in and won the 2012 vote. This election season is offering its own set of surprises. Marine Le Pen, who took over the far-right National Front party from her father, is widely polled as the country's most popular candidate. Many analysts see her winning the first round, although not the second. Whether France's deeply unpopular president will run for a second term is another unknown. Hollande has staked his reelection on growing jobs, which has not yet happened. His Socialist party is fractured by divisions. Which makes the winner of the conservative primaries, most are betting on either Juppe or Sarkozy, the country's probable next president, analysts say. Yet old certainties are fading. The same voter anger that drove Trump's meteoric rise in the U.S.is also powering populist movements and anti-establishment candidates in Europe. "Political leaders in France and other countries are looking very closely at the American election, not only because it's going to be meaningful to the future of the world, but also because they see it as meaningful to their own future," analyst Bacharan said. "If Hillary Clinton prevails, it means there is a future for the political elites in Europe," she added. "But if she loses, which appears unlikely at this point, they know they're fried." Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled a planned visit to France after French President Francois Hollande insisted their meeting focus solely on Syria. Putin was due to travel to Paris October 19 for a visit that would include inaugurating a new Orthodox church. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Putin is ready to meet with Hollande at a convenient time for the French leader, while Hollande said in a speech Tuesday that he remains ready for talks if they "further peace." On Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Russia could face war crimes over its bombing campaign in Syria's northern city of Aleppo. Ayrault told France Inter radio the bombings are war crimes, and extend to "all those who are complicit for what's happening in Aleppo, including Russian leaders." He said France would consult with prosecutors from the International Criminal Court to see how to launch investigations. "We do not agree with what Russia is doing, bombarding Aleppo. France is committed as never before to saving the population of Aleppo," Ayrault said. Russia has repeatedly denied attacking civilians in Syria, saying it targets terrorist groups in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government. On Saturday, Russia blocked a United Nations Security Council resolution proposed by France and Spain on ending the bombing in Syria. It is not clear how the ICC could investigate the bombings in Aleppo because neither Russia nor Syria is a member of the International Criminal Court. The matter could be referred to the court by the U.N. Security Council, but Russia, along with China, has used its veto power on the council to block several previous draft resolutions aimed at the Syrian government during the country's conflict. The Group of Seven industrial powers on Tuesday said they had agreed on guidelines for protecting the global financial sector from cyberattacks following a series of cross-border bank thefts by hackers. Policymakers have grown more worried about financial cybersecurity in the wake of numerous hacks of SWIFT, the global financial messaging system, including an $81 million theft in February from the Bangladeshi central bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve. "Cyber risks are growing more dangerous and diverse, threatening to disrupt our interconnected global financial systems," according to the guidelines agreed upon by G-7 finance ministers and central bankers. The guidelines, which officials described as nonbinding principles, were in a three-page document posted on the web pages of G-7 government agencies. The G-7 consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin told reporters in a telephone briefing that G-7 officials had surveyed their existing cybersecurity practices and identified potential shortfalls. A Treasury official later said the guidance was an effort to encourage regulators and firms to approach cybersecurity from a risk-management perspective. Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said in a statement that the guidelines would address the weakest links in global cybersecurity. Cyberthieves have targeted large financial institutions around the world, including America's largest bank JPMorgan, as well as smaller players like Ecuador's Banco del Austro and Vietnam's Tien Phong Bank. The U.S. Federal Reserve's internal security staff detected more than 50 breaches between 2011 and 2015, with several incidents described as "espionage." The guidelines released Tuesday instruct governments to ensure that they police their own cybersecurity readiness as well as that of companies they regulate, and that public and private institutions continually update their defenses. The goal of the guidelines was also to get firms and regulators around the world to approach risks the same way, according to the Treasury official. "If we get this right, we will drive a common lexicon," said the official, who asked not to be named. Governments are also supposed to notify one another about joint threats and cooperate to contain computer system breaches, while firms are encouraged to share information and ask for help when they need it. "Maintaining trust and confidence in the financial sector significantly improves when entities and public authorities have the ability to mutually assist each other," according to the guidelines. A small pro-Russian party has won seats in the Georgian parliament despite Russian troops controlling one fifth of the ex-Soviet republic and lingering memories of a short war between the two countries less than 10 years ago. With 100 percent of the vote counted, data from the Central Election Commission showed on Tuesday that the pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots had won 5.01 percent of the vote, just passing the 5 percent threshold needed to get into parliament. Its presence in the 150-seat parliament will be small, but some Georgians are upset that a pro-Russian party has got in despite recent history and are disappointed that smaller pro-Western parties failed to win any seats. "I'm so disappointed that we won't have politicians from these other (pro-Western) parties in parliament," said Tamta Kirvalidze, a 26-year-old resident of Tbilisi, the capital. The Alliance of Patriots favors greater integration with Russia and opposes Georgia joining NATO. Its leaders also talk up the Russian Orthodox Church's links to Georgia and warn that closer integration with Europe could damage Georgian traditions. By contrast, the ruling Georgian Dream party, which comfortably won overall with 48.67 percent of the vote, favors integration with the West as well as closer ties with Russia, while the opposition United National Movement, which came second with 27.11 percent, is strongly pro-Western. A U.S. ally traditionally buffeted between Russia and the West, Georgia hopes to join the European Union (EU) and NATO one day even though that is something that Russia, its former colonial master, strongly opposes. Criss-crossed by strategically important oil and gas pipelines, a fifth of Georgian territory remains under the control of pro-Russian separatists following a short war with Russia in 2008. Analysts don't expect any immediate changes in Georgia's foreign policy as a result of the election. "I don't think that Georgia's pro-Western course will be changed, though a lot will depend on the pace of our integration with the West as well as on our desire to be more careful with Russia," said Koba Turmanidze, director of the Tbilisi-based Caucasus Research Resource Center. Russias deployment of nuclear-capable missiles its enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea is a "wake-up call" for the West of the current dangers, according to analysts. Germany warns the tensions between Moscow and the West are more dangerous than during the Cold War. Russias Iskander missiles have a range of around 500 kilometers, and their deployment in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, has rattled the West. The dramatic reaction of the West about Iskander [missiles] now is that it is just a wake-up call, it is just a very clear message. It is that ice-cold bucket of water that says, Wake up, you are not living in a safe world, said Igor Sutyagin, a Russian military analyst at Londons Royal United Services Institute. Moscow says the deployment is part of a regular military exercise. Psychological warfare During the Cold War larger missiles were deployed in what was then East Germany and Czechoslovakia. This time round, the strategy is psychological, says Sutyagin. The idea is to intimidate the West. Because Russia does not have any other tools to fight for its competitiveness in the international arena but psychology. Even the Russian military are comparatively weaker than NATOs forces, he said. Russia caused further alarm with its deployment of an S-300 missile defense system to its naval base in Syria. Moscows Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov denied Russia is saber rattling. He told reporters last week the missile battery is intended to ensure the safety of Russias Tartus naval base and its naval task force. He said it was unclear why the deployment of the S-300 caused such alarm among Moscows Western partners. Worse than Cold War But writing in the German Bild newspaper this week, Germanys Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the tension between the West and Russia more dangerous than during the Cold War. Analyst Igor Sutyagin agrees. It is calculated unpredictability on the Russian side because that is part of psychology," he said. "You need to be mad, or present yourself as mad, as crazy, so everybody thinks that this guy is really crazy so it is better to step away from his path. That unpredictability is played out in the skies of Europe. In April, Russian jets buzzed a U.S. warship in the Baltic Sea, one of scores of such incidents in recent months. Last week, Finland scrambled its fighters to intercept Russian SU-27 jets that is says breached its airspace, a charge Moscow denied. Non-aligned Finland shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, and has fostered closer ties with NATO to counter Russian aggression. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work visited Helsinki last week to sign a deal on closer military training and information sharing. Flooding from Hurricane Matthew remained a threat Tuesday in parts of the eastern United States, while the death toll continues to grow in the Caribbean. Haiti, the country hardest hit, observed the last of its three official days of mourning Tuesday. Official death tolls there have varied widely, from around 400 to over 1,000. Many areas of the country remained difficult to reach. By Tuesday morning, the U.S. death toll stood at 27. Hundreds of thousands remain without power, and the situation could worsen as rivers crest. In North Carolina, helicopters and rescue boats carried people to safety after a levee was breached near the town of Lumberton, according to Governor Pat McCrory. Fifteen of the 27 deaths occurred in North Carolina - all but one of them in that state involving motor vehicles. "Do not go through water," McCrory urged North Carolina drivers at a news conference Tuesday morning. "We've had over 10 people killed as a result of that. We're not messing around and we do not want to put people at risk to save you once you make that decision." Dozens of river and stream gauges were still showing flood stage across the Carolinas and Virginia, and five locations in North Carolina were at all-time highs, according to the National Weather Service. State of emergency After speaking with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in North Carolina on Monday. The declaration will make federal funding available to affected individuals in 10 counties hit by the storm. Matthew, which dissipated after leaving the Atlantic coast, was the most powerful storm to hit the eastern United States in nearly a decade, and one of the longest-lasting major hurricanes on record. Damage estimates in the U.S. are in the billions of dollars. But the destruction was on another level in Haiti, where thousands of homes were flattened, crops destroyed and critical infrastructure left in tatters. A United Nations official in Haiti, surveying the vast destruction, ruined crops and casualties, described the scene as if a nuclear bomb had gone off. Paul Hasse, national director for the humanitarian agency World Vision in Port-au-Prince, told VOA virtually nothing in Haitis southwest was spared. "The island in the middle on the western side took a really hard blow. Fifty percent of the houses are destroyed there. And the northwest as well. It's not getting a lot of attention, but we're hearing from our partners who worked there that it's extremely hard hit," he said. Long term problems The immediate concern is keeping people alive and treating cholera cases, Hasse said. But that will eventually give way to longer-term problems, such as how to restore crops and rebuild homes. The United Nations on Monday appealed for $119 million to bring life-saving assistance to Haiti. "Hurricane Matthew has resulted in the largest humanitarian crisis in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake at a time when the country is already facing an increase in the number of cholera cases, and severe food insecurity and malnutrition," the U.N. appeal said. Haiti says 1.5 million people have been affected by the hurricane and 350,000 are in need of immediate assistance as most are homeless. The U.S. military has been delivering food and medicine to Haiti by air and sea, as well as heavy-lift helicopters, bulldozers, water-delivery vehicles and mobile operating rooms. UNICEF says the conditions in Haiti are "perfect breeding grounds for waterborne diseases." Marc Vincent, UNICEF's representative in Haiti says, "Every day that goes by increases the threat of cholera." The catastrophic damage was made worse because the impoverished country is still recovering from a devastating earthquake in 2010. Thousands of people who have been living in flimsy shelters since the earthquake saw those washed away by the hurricane, which also destroyed a bridge that is the only link between a large portion of southern Haiti and the rest of the country. Officials have warned the list of casualties will likely climb, perhaps significantly, as rescuers manage to reach remote villages. Video images from Haiti showed entire landscapes of metal shanties that lost their roofs in the winds and driving rains, along with downed trees and fields of mud from overflowing rivers. The International Red Cross has also issued an emergency appeal for $6.9 billion in relief aid for Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. If Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump were elected and carried out his promise to investigate and jail his political opponent, Hillary Clinton, he would be among a number of heads of state or government who used judicial power to go after political opponents. Here are some of the leaders who have jailed political opponents while in power: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi: Led the 2013 overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi and jailed many leaders from his outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, including Morsi himself. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro: Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is serving a 14-year sentence for inciting an anti-government protest in 2014 that left 43 people dead. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe: In 2007, authorities arrested opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai at a rally and later beat him. Several years earlier he was twice charged with treason, once for an alleged plot to kill Mugabe and a second time in connection to opposition protests. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni: Opponent Kizza Besigye was arrested several times in the run-up to the country's February 18 election, and after the vote was placed under house arrest. Zambia's President Edgar Lungu: Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema and others were arrested last week on charges of sedition after they disputed the results of Lungu's August re-election. Myanmar's former longtime ruling junta: Current de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi spent more than 20 years under house arrest for charges widely seen as politically motivated. Russian President Vladimir Putin: Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky spent a decade in prison for tax evasion in a case widely believed to be political and came after he funded opposition parties. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych: Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko was jailed in 2011 because of allegations she failed to consult with her government when she served as prime minister and signed a deal that ended a Russian cutoff of natural gas to Ukraine. Chilean President Gen. Augusto Pinochet: Seized power in a bloody military coup in 1973. During his rule thousands of political opponents were executed or disappeared, detained, tortured or exiled. A rights group urged the Iranian judiciary Tuesday to quash a death sentence against a 22-year-old woman accused of killing her husband, who she said had repeatedly abused her. Zeinab Sekaanvand was arrested in February 2012 and convicted of her husband's murder after what London-based Amnesty International called a "grossly unfair trial." She faces execution by hanging as soon as October 13. Sekaanvand was just 17 when her husband was killed, making her a minor by international legal standards. "This is an extremely disturbing case," said Philip Luther, research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. "Not only was Zeinab Sekaanvand under 18 years of age at the time of the crime, she was also denied access to a lawyer and says she was tortured after her arrest by male police officers through beatings all over her body." Last year, a similar case drew condemnation from rights groups when Iran executed Fatemeh Salbehi, who had suffocated her husband after drugging him when she was only 17. Like Sekaanvand, Salbehi said her husband had abused her. In the past decade, Iran has executed at least 73 juvenile offenders, according an Amnesty report in January. Under Iranian law, adulthood is legally determined by puberty, which is defined as age 15 for boys and 9 for girls. In recent years, the judiciary has generally held off on executing minors until after they turn 18. The prime minister of the southern African kingdom of Lesotho, who fled what he called an attempted coup, is in South Africa to discuss recent unrest in his country. Thomas Thabane accused Lesotho's Deputy Prime Minster Mothetjoa Metsing, who is now in charge of the country, of orchestrating the unrest. Regional ministers of the Southern African Development Community were to meet Sunday with Thabane and Metsing to resolve the political stalemate that led to the alleged coup over the weekend, SADC executive secretary Stergomena Lawrence Tax said. Tax said calm appears to have returned to Lesotho after gunshots were heard when military police surrounded government buildings and Thabane's official resident during an alleged coup attempt Saturday in the capital, Maseru. We have intervened by encouraging the leaders to resolve their differences in a democratic manner. We are encouraging them to ensure that everything goes back to normal and that is happening. The situation has normalized now, Tax said. Alleged coup attempt Thabane, who fled with his family to neighboring South Africa after receiving intelligence that he was the target of a military assassination attempt, described the unrest as a coup attempt. However, military spokesman Major Ntlele Ntoi said the military was trying to secure the country before a mass anti-government demonstration scheduled for Monday. "What happened this morning was that the command of the Lesotho Defense Force was acting after receiving several intelligence reports that amongst the police service, there are some elements who are actually planning to arm some of the political, party political youth fanatics who were on the verge of wrecking havoc," Ntoi said. U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon has called for respect for the constitutional order and democratic rule. In a statement Sunday, Ban welcomed efforts by the SADC, the Commonwealth and other partners in Lesotho to support the restoration of trust among members of the government. The United States called for a "peaceful dialogue" and respect for the democratic process in the kingdom. 'Want my neck' In a phone interview with VOA, Thabane said the situation involved "total indiscipline" in the army. He said soldiers were "running around the streets, threatening people" and "quite openly stating that they want my neck." Thabane accused a former top military commander of leading the unrest. He said he would return to his country as soon as he knew he "was not going to get killed." Military officials in Lesotho, a country of about 2 million people, have denied plotting a coup. Thabane told VOA the attempt to overthrow his administration stemmed from his fight to root out corruption in Lesotho. He urged the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to help restore order. A South African government spokesman, Clayson Monyela, said no one is claiming leadership in Lesotho. However, he said the military's actions have the markings of a putsch. "Although no one has claimed to have taken over government through the use of force, by all accounts the activities of the Lesotho defense force thus far bear the hallmarks of a coup d'etat," he said. A rocky recent history The mountainous kingdom, surrounded by South Africa, has repeatedly been beset by political instability since gaining independence in 1966. Until then it had been a British protectorate known as Basutoland. A peaceful election in 2012 produced a three-party coalition government that many observers hoped would bring lasting stability but the fragile government reportedly collapsed several months ago. In June, South Africa had issued a stern warning to Lesotho after the prime minister suspended parliament in what appeared to be an attempt to dodge a no-confidence vote. Instability is inherent in Lesothos political system, said Tom Wheeler, a former South African diplomat who is now an independent analyst. "Well, I suppose the problem is its a democracy," Wheeler said, noting that coalition partners and the opposition disagreed "with what the prime minister is doing, and therefore have pulled the plug on the coalition. And I think thats the cause of the instability. "This man whos the prime minister is a democratically elected person from a not-majority party, and that sort of instability is built into the system." Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy with a king whose powers are largely ceremonial. South Africas role Wheeler said South Africans should not be overly concerned about upheaval in the enclave, despite their history of armed intervention in Lesotho's previous political crises. "Its not going be a big issue," he said, recalling that in 1998, Mangosuthu Buthelezi a tribal leader whod held senior positions in the African National Congress was South Africas acting president while Nelson Mandela was abroad. He sent an SADC force to Lesotho to try to prevent a coup. The troops were repulsed by the Lesotho army. It was a great embarrassment to South Africa, Wheeler said. "So I think we would stand back and say, Get on with it, boys, its not our problem, and not be worried about it." U.S. first lady Michelle Obama has issued a global appeal to help girls throughout the world overcome obstacles and get the education they need to have meaningful and productive lives. Obama's appeal came on the International Day of the Girl, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2011 to recognize "girls' rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world." In an op-ed Tuesday on CNN.com, Obama called for support of Let Girls Learn, a global effort promoting education for girls who are not in school. The First Lady recalled her inspiration for the initiative came after meeting a few years ago with Malala Yousafzai, who was shot and critically wounded by the Taliban in Pakistan for trying to attend school. "I saw that the terrorists who nearly killed her were trying to silence her voice, snuff out her ambitions, and take away her power," Michelle Obama said. "There are tens of millions of girls like Malala in every corner of the globe who are not in school - girls who are so bright, hardworking and hungry to learn." Big plans for their lives Last summer, Michelle Obama visited the African countries of Liberia and Morocco where she said many girls struggle to get an education. She spoke with girls in those countries, along with actors-activists Meryl Streep and Frieda Pinto and CNN anchor Isha Sesay. They encountered girls who struggled with poverty, dangerous daily commutes to and from school and cultural pressures drop out of school, get married and have children. "But these girls have big plans for their lives," Obama said. "They want to attend college and become doctors, teachers, engineers, entrepreneurs; and day after day, they do whatever it takes to get the education they need fulfill their dreams." Obama said she is living proof that the dreams of young girls can be realized. She wrote that neither her parents nor most people in the neighborhood where she grew up in Chicago attended college. Still, she said she was able to graduate from two of the world's most prestigious schools, Princeton University and Harvard Law School, thanks to "a lot of hard work and plenty of financial aid." Despite not having the authority as first lady to make laws or establish budgets, Michelle Obama said Let Girls Learn has thrived since it launched last year. Countries and some of the world's largest companies and organizations have donated money and resources to the program. Canada, Mexico and the Nordic countries are collaborating, and countries like Japan, South Korea and Britain have pledged nearly $600 million. The U.S. is investing more than $1 billion and is operating Let Girls Learn programs in more than 50 countries. The World Bank will invest $2.5 billion in the program in the next five years. To learn more about Let Girls Learn, visit letgirlslearn.gov. Mozambiques opposition party Renamo will not abandon talks with the government, its spokesperson said, after one of its senior officials was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on a Maputo beach Saturday. The killing of Jeremias Pondeca, a member of the Joint Commission set up to find ways to overcome a standoff between the government and Renamo over a range of issues, came days before the commission was to resume talks. Renamo national spokesperson Antonio Muchanga said negotiations will go forward, according to state news agency AIM. Renamo will continue the negotiations. Even today, if the Joint Commission was in session, Renamo would be willing to take part in the negotiations, Muchanga was quoted as saying. This barbaric act, committed by the enemies of democracy and of the well-being of the Mozambican people, is intended to force Renamo to abandon the dialogue, he added. The talks were to resume Monday after being interrupted September 30. But the coordinator of the international mediating team, Mario Rafaelli, has announced a further delay to October 18, AIM said. Muchanga said Pondeca would not be replaced because there are a reasonable number of Renamo members on the commission to continue its work. The commission has so far reached no definitive agreement on any of the matters on its agenda, including Renamos demands for six provincial governors and the inclusion of its militia in the army and police. Renamo and the government were on opposing sides in a civil war from the late 1970s until the early 1990s before a peace accord ended the fighting. But it still has its own militia. In the run-up to elections in October 2014, Renamo partisans clashed sporadically with troops and police. Renamo said it would not take up its parliamentary seats in protest at the results of the election. The Pentagon said it is evaluating a military response to failed missile attacks on U.S. naval ships in the Red Sea, warning Tuesday that nearby Yemen-based Houthi rebels thought responsible launched the missiles "at their own peril." Officials say the two missiles, launched over a one-hour period, missed their targets - the USS Mason and the USS Ponce-- and landed harmlessly in the water Sunday. Authorities said the guided missile destroyer Mason used electronic countermeasures to foil the first attack, while the second missile targeting the amphibious assault ship Ponce failed on its own. Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis confirmed to reporters Tuesday that the missiles came from Yemen territory controlled by Houthi fighters, who are seeking to topple the internationally recognized government of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. Davis stopped short of directly linking the attacks to Iran-backed Houthis, but noted that the Silkworm anti-ship missiles believed used in the attacks are an active part of Iran's missile arsenal. He said that the U.S. will find out who fired the missiles and will "take action accordingly." "It's no secret that Iran has been actively supplying [rebels] and giving them tools of war," Davis said. The U.S. military has been providing intelligence and logistics to Saudi-led coalition warplanes who began targeting Houthi positions inside Yemen earlier this year. The Peruvian attorney general's office said Tuesday it was investigating former president Ollanta Humala and his wife for possible money laundering linked to past campaign contributions. Prosecutors have asked a judge to lift Humala's banking secrecy in Peru and abroad from the year 2009 until now, the attorney general's office said. A Peruvian prosecutor said earlier this year that the late Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, and two Brazilian construction companies may have bankrolled Humala's presidential campaigns before he took office in 2011. Representatives for Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Both have previously denied any wrongdoing linked to party fundraising. Humala finished his five-year term on July 28, ending his right to presidential immunity from investigations. Humala still enjoys immunity from inquiries into activities during his presidency. Earlier this year, prosecutors barred Heredia from leaving Peru as they probed her finances for evidence of undeclared contributions. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is turning to another battle aside from illegal drugs: smoking. Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said Tuesday she hopes the president can sign the draft executive order banning smoking in public nationwide before the end of the month. The department is pushing for the ban to start before the law providing for graphic health warnings on tobacco products is fully implemented on Nov. 4, Ubial told a Senate budget hearing. Duterte ordered a 100 percent smoke-free environment in public places similar to Davao, the southern city where he was formerly mayor, she added. Designated smoking areas are to be outdoors and away from the public, and provinces and towns will be asked to issue ordinances to enforce the smoking ban and set penalties. She also said e-cigarettes will be included in the ban. "There will be no smoking in public places anymore, whether indoor or outdoor," Ubial earlier told reporters. "Parks, bus stations, and even in vehicles. All these are considered public places." Assistant Health Secretary Eric Tayag said the order aims to protect the public from secondhand or thirdhand smoke _ that inhaled when a smoker is nearby or when smoke lingers. Duterte took office on June 30 vowing to expand his anti-drug campaign from Davao. The crackdown has left about 3,600 suspected drug pushers and users dead, including more than 1,500 suspects killed in gunbattles with police. The killings have been widely condemned from human rights advocates, and the United States, European Union and United Nations. Many have wondered if Duterte would also expand a Davao ban on powerful firecrackers during New Year's Eve revelry. If the ban is imposed nationally, he would bring a major change in a violent celebratory tradition that has caused deaths and hundreds of injuries each year. Monitors say Russian jet fighters on Tuesday resumed heavy bombing in rebel-held eastern districts of the war-shattered Syrian city of Aleppo, targeting two opposition-held neighborhoods and killing more than 20 people. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called Tuesday's onslaught "the heaviest Russian bombardment" since the government of President Bashar al-Assad announced last week it would cut back on airstrikes, ostensibly to allow civilians to disarm and leave opposition-held neighborhoods. However, civilians, distrustful of the Assad government, have largely ignored the offer, which insurgents fighting to topple the government have called a deception. Separately, the government's SANA news agency reported rebel shelling on government-controlled districts in the western part of the city, with at least four killed and 14 others wounded. Earlier Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, under intense Western criticism for Moscow's military role in Syria, canceled a planned visit to France after French President Francois Hollande insisted their upcoming meeting focus solely on Syria. War crime threat Putin's move came a day after French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault warned that Russia could face war crime charges in the International Criminal Court, the ICC, for its ongoing bombing campaign in Aleppo. Ayrault told French radio that potential war crimes charges would extend to "all those complicit in what's happening in Aleppo, including Russian leaders." Moscow has repeatedly denied attacking civilians in Syria, insisting its sole aim is targeting terror groups in support of the Assad government. To that end, Russia on Saturday blocked a United Nations Security Council resolution proposed by France and Spain to end the Aleppo bombing. Monitors and aid workers say airstrikes have killed more than 300 people in the northern city most all of them civilians since September. It is not clear how the International Criminal Court could investigate the Aleppo bombings, because neither Russia nor Syria is a member of the ICC. The matter could be referred to the court by the U.N. Security Council. However, Russia, along with China, has previously used its veto power on the council as recently as Saturday to block several draft resolutions aimed at the Syrian government during the country's five-and-a-half-year civil war. South Korean electronics giant Samsung says it will no longer manufacture its troubled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after numerous reports around the globe of overheating. The company announced Tuesday it was shutting down production for good in the interest of consumer safety. Samsung announced earlier in the day that it was stopping all global sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7, and advised all customers to stop using the device immediately. The South Korean conglomerate sustained a massive eight percent loss in its share price at the end of Tuesday's stock market trading session. The Note 7 had barely been on the market for a month when Samsung announced a global recall of 2.5 million units due to faulty batteries in early September. Samsung offered replacement units to all of its customers, before reports resurfaced of overheating with the new devices, raising fresh doubts about the firm's quality control abilities A number of major cellphone companies, including U.S-based AT&T and German rival T-Mobile, unilaterally announced a halt to sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 on Sunday. The top-of-the-line Note 7 was crucial to Samsung's growth plans this year, with the company struggling to boost sales, squeezed by Apple in the high-end sector and Chinese rivals in the low-end. Edwin Rives calls the C/Hope program, "metaphorically speaking, like a car for me to drive from hating school to having a big interest in education and knowledge." C/Hope is one of the programs developed by Paul Cummins, a veteran educator who has dedicated his career to creating models of successful schools and programs. Cummins said all kids deserve equal opportunity in education. In his book "Confessions of a Headmaster," he shares his journey and his vision on creating what he calls progressive learning and achieving social justice through education. We have excellent educational programs and independent schools in upscale neighborhoods, but in many of our inner-city schools in low-income neighborhoods, the quality of education is just not as good. ... It just doesnt seem fair, he said. Progressive education To help bring high-quality education to kids of all backgrounds, the educational visionary founded and helped set up several independent schools with a progressive curriculum. What I find is that the quality education is the holistic education, youre educating the mind, body and spirit, he said. In our schools, we tend to measure only the five so-called solids: English, history, math, science and foreign language. But there are five other solids that are equally important. They are human development, outdoor/environmental education, community service, physical education and arts. Music, art, dance, filmmaking, theater classes - for many kids this is where their talent lies, but they never discover it because the school doesnt have the programs. And they're the kind of things that kids are waking up in the morning looking forward to going to school for," Cummins said. Through his nonprofit, the Coalition for Engaging Education, these five elements are translated into programs. Working with others in the private sector, these programs are offered to public schools students in after-school courses and workshops. Education as a second chance Cummins has also extended these programs to at-risk students including those in foster care and juvenile justice facilities, like Camp David Gonzales in California, where Edwin Rives is a C/Hope counselor. We try to bring the arts and fun classes where students are able to write a play and act it out in front of the camp, he explained. Teaching life skills is another important component of the program. Rives notes that most kids in detention facilities don't care about getting an education. He knows because he was once one of those kids. By the age of 13, I was pretty much in the street all day long getting into trouble with the police, doing drugs and losing myself." When Rives was introduced to the C/Hope program at Camp Gonzales, he started to become more serious about learning. Through free writing classes, he discovered his passion for telling stories. This class actually gave me a venue to express these ideas, frustrations that I was living, he recalls. I started up with this newspaper class. The newspaper was distributed on the camp and people read my articles. People liked my ideas and came to talk to me about it. It felt like this was an actual newspaper that I was writing for. So I felt like Im an actual reporter. Thats how he started to discover that education is important and enjoyable. Role model, inspiration After graduating from college, Rives decided to work with the C/Hope program. To most of young men in the camp, he is a role model and an inspiration. He gives them hope that they too can turn around their lives if they pursue education. Educator Cummins said Rives success proves the program is working, and that achieving social justice through education pays off. Look at your curriculum, if you don't have the classes that engage your students, that's one of the reasons they drop out. So if a young person who loves art or music or filmmaking or whatever has no opportunity for that and has to sit in an overcrowded class all day and at 2 oclock or 3, when the school day is over, and there is nothing to do after school except go back to the gang infested neighborhood ... you wonder why hes dropping out, he said. But if that kid were staying at school from 2 to 6 to put on a production of West Side Story or staying for the school orchestra or staying for an after-school environmental-ed program or robotics class - the kind of thing the kids love to do, then youre going to save money in the long run for the society." South Africas President Jacob Zuma has formed a ministerial team to help bring an end to weeks of clashes at university campuses between police and students demanding free education, the presidency said Tuesday. The government, grappling with a budget deficit equivalent to nearly 4 percent of economic output, says education subsidies should not be paid at the expense of other sectors of the economy such as health and housing. It has also said 2017 university fees may rise by up to 8 percent. Police clashed sporadically with student protesters Tuesday at the University of the Witwatersand, Talk Radio 702 said. The university was also the scene of violence Monday as it reopened following angry protests that closed it last week. The team set up by Zuma consists of eight ministers, including Higher Education minister Blade Nzimande and Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko, and is tasked with resolving the crisis. The main opposition Democratic Alliance party criticized Zuma, however, for excluding Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. At the heart of the crisis is the chronic underfunding of higher education over the last decade, it said in a statement. Zumas government has said it will continue subsidizing university costs for the poorest students but could not afford free education for all. We are not saying ... everybody must receive free education, even if the parents can afford, because we have got to balance the resources, Zuma told a news conference in Nairobi during a state visit Tuesday to Kenya. The Wits Student Representative Council said in a statement that they would continue the struggle for free education. Some students are demanding all universities be shut down until the government provides free education. Growing uncertainties over the health of Thailands revered monarch, Bhumipol Adulyadej, has hit financial markets and investor confidence, with analysts saying the concerns add to a list of issues affecting the Thai economic outlook. A key investment indicator, the Thai share index, remained volatile, rising in early trade, but closing lower Tuesday after plunging a day earlier. The Thai baht also weakened on foreign exchange markets, after the Royal Household Bureau said Sunday a ventilator had been deployed when the monarchs blood pressure dipped following procedures preparing him for dialysis and changing a tube to drain fluid from his spine. The on-going concerns over the 88-year-old monarchs health has increased uncertainties over the economy as the country confronts a royal transition. King Bhumipols son, Crown Prince Maha Vajralongkorn, is the heir apparent. But analysts have said the crown prince lacks the same moral authority his father has cultivated over more than 70 years as monarch. Singapore-based analysts Capital Economics said in a briefing that concerns over Bhumipols health poses a risk to the countrys economy. Lack of stability The failing health of the king adds another layer of uncertainty to an already unpredictable situation, they said. Thailand has been under military rule since May 2014 when a coup ousted the elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and brought an end to months of political conflict. But analysts also say the impact has been to see foreign investors remaining on the sidelines awaiting a clearer view on the economic outlook. Capital Economics said Thailands political problems during the past decade have damaged the quality of the countrys institutions, undermining competitiveness and weighing on investment. The report added that frequent changes in government had also undermined progress in public infrastructure projects, with private investors reluctant to commit funds in an unpredictable environment. Investment growth has averaged just three percent during the past decade, well below that of any other major economy in South East Asia, with the lack of investment undermining Thailands future production capacity, Capital Economics said. Mixed outlook But other analysts told VOA some investors are still upbeat over the economy, saying any impact of a royal transition would be short term. Vikas Kawatra, a senior analyst at SCB Securities, remains positive on the medium term outlook, despite some initial uncertainties. We are not going to go back to recession because of a change of guards. I dont think so. And the current [military] government has been aware of the current contingency plan that is there in the sense they have been gradually clearing many contracts, issuing new contracts to put action [funds] into place, Kawatra said. Supavud Saicheua, managing director at Phatra Securities, said the economic outlook is mixed. Some factors that could push the economy up slightly, theres a hope for export improvement. Apart from that there are lots of risks going forward. You still see private investment not really picking up, despite the government trying to get people to become more confident, Supavud told VOA. Economic growth, he said, could still glide towards three percent in gross domestic product. Supavud said the key lies in foreign investors and their assessment of the political changes that lie ahead. Its already reflected in the fact that private investment has basically been flat-lined and I think that reflects the sense that we will have to wait and see, he said. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump lashed out Tuesday at the party's top elected official and other Republicans for abandoning his campaign, while acknowledging that it is "hard to do well" when they are giving him "zero support." Trump, in a series of postings on his Twitter account, attacked House Speaker Paul Ryan as a "very weak and ineffective leader" after Ryan told other Republicans on Monday that he would no longer campaign for Trump or defend his offensive comments, which have turned voters against the brash real estate mogul. The emergence of a 2005 tape in which Trump is heard making crude comments about women has led Ryan and some other Republicans to spurn his candidacy. In response, Trump tweeted Tuesday, "It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me, and I can now fight for America the way I want to." He said Democrats "have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!" Ryan, while still endorsing Trump, all but conceded that Democrat Hillary Clinton would defeat Trump in the November 8 election. Ryan said he would campaign for Republican colleagues to try to maintain the Republican House majority, rather than see a Democratic takeover that would give Clinton a "blank check" for legislative action. Some conservative House members supporting Trump protested Ryan's abandonment of the Republican standard-bearer, saying there was no reason to quit on him four weeks from Election Day. Numerous Republican elected officials, including the party's 2008 presidential candidate, Arizona Senator John McCain, have retracted their support for Trump in recent days or implored him to drop out of the race after the 2005 tape surfaced last week in which Trump bragged that he could grope women with impunity because he was a celebrity. Trump said there was "zero chance" he would quit. Trump, making his first run for elected office, has apologized for the lewd remarks made to a television personality, caught by a live microphone, while riding on a bus on a Hollywood back lot as he prepared to make a cameo appearance on a television soap opera. At Sunday's debate, he described them as "locker room talk." WATCH: Trump Apologizes for Lewd Comments About Women Trump was losing ground to Clinton, who is looking to become the country's first female president, before the existence of the tape was disclosed by The Washington Post. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted after the tape was unearthed showed her surging to a 46 percent-to-35 percent advantage. Other polling that encompassed the days before and after the tape was aired widely on U.S. news shows also showed Clinton gaining ground nationally and in battleground election states where the race will be determined. Trump acknowledged his uphill fight in a campaign appearance late Monday in the eastern state of Pennsylvania, one of the key states where he is trailing. "I may be limping across that finish line, but we're going to get across," Trump told supporters. He vowed to make six campaign stops a day in the last week of the campaign to try to overtake Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton. Trump said that if more damaging tapes emerged from the many years during which he regularly discussed his sexual exploits on radio shows, then he would continue "to talk about Bill and Hillary doing inappropriate things." At Sunday's debate, he said Hillary Clinton "viciously" disparaged women who alleged that her husband had made unwanted sexual advances on them in a series of encounters two decades ago. Trump positioned three of the women in front-row seats to watch the debate. Watch video report from VOA's Jim Malone Clinton, campaigning in the large midwestern state of Ohio, mocked Trump's onetime career as the host of a television reality show while she served as the country's top diplomat from 2009 to 2013 and his claim that she has nothing to show for 30 years in American public life. "On the day that I was in the Situation Room watching the raid that brought Osama bin Laden to justice, he was hosting 'Celebrity Apprentice,' " she said. "So if you want to talk about what we've been doing the last 30 years: Bring. It. On." The U.N.s top diplomat in the Democratic Republic of Congo warned Tuesday the country has entered a period of extreme risk to its stability, as the electoral crisis deepens. The electoral crisis has become a constitutional crisis, with deepening political polarization and no immediate resolution in sight, Maman Sambo Sidikou, the head of the U.N. mission in DRC told the Security Council. Actors on all sides appear more and more willing to resort to violence to achieve their ends, while the space for constructive political activity has shrunk further still, he said. If this trajectory continues, I believe large-scale violence is all but inevitable, he warned. Congos constitution limits the president to two terms, which President Joseph Kabila will complete on December 19. With barely two months until then, the Independent National Electoral Commission has yet to set the election date, citing technical difficulties. Meanwhile, in May, the countrys constitutional court ruled Kabila can legally remain in office until his successor is in place. The opposition disagrees with this ruling. A draft electoral timetable was proposed by the independent national electoral commission, DRCs U.N. Ambassador Ignace Gata Mavita wa Lufuta told the council. He said the national dialogue participants would agree a date for presidential elections, combined with legislative and provincial ones. In September, the president began a national dialogue that the majority of opposition parties have boycotted. As the damage continues to mount from Syria's Russia-backed offensive on Aleppo, so does the political fallout from the failed cease-fire agreement. Russia's parliament is suspending an agreement with the United States for converting weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear power plants. If implemented, the deal would have seen enough plutonium for 17,000 nuclear weapons converted into fuel for peaceful energy use. Russia also ended a uranium research pact with the U.S. Department of Energy on studying the conversion of six Russian nuclear reactors from highly enriched uranium, to less dangerous low enriched uranium. The Kremlin said it is willing to reinstate the deals in return for the West lifting and compensating Russia for Ukraine-related sanctions, the NATO military alliance reducing its presence in Europe to the level they were at in 2000 when the treaty was made, and the U.S. Congress repealing the Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky Act, passed in 2012, allows the U.S. to withhold visas from Russian officials and freeze their assets if they are believed to have been involved in human rights violations. Unrealistic demands The United States is not likely to meet any of the Kremlins listed demands, which are unrealistic, Chatham Houses Keir Giles told VOA via Skype. If you take the example of the plutonium agreement, Russia walking away but placing demands, saying that it will return to this agreement if the United States fulfills certain conditions, some of which are unrealistic, some of which are completely unachievable, that is just a symptom of how Russia now once again feels that it can put forward demands, which are beyond the realm of the possible and beyond the realm of what is sensible for the United States, he said. Scrapping the nuclear conversion deals is seen as Russias reaction to worsening relations over its actions in Syria. But, they could have much further-reaching consequences if tensions continue to snowball. I fear it may push the Russian leadership to dismantle some other important agreements that exist between the United States and Russia in the field of arms control, such as the INF [Intermediate Nuclear Forces] treaty, said director of the Carnegie Moscow Center Dmitri Trenin. Russian forces in Syria warned the U.S.-led coalition to keep its distance when targeting militants, promising to shoot down any planes that appear to be a threat. The withdrawal of cooperation from both sides in so many different areas to do with defense and security just makes the whole situation more alarming at the moment, says Chatham House analyst Giles. Tensions rise Many worry any incident could quickly escalate. Were at the point in U.S.-Russia relations when the next qualitative stage is an open conflict, said the Carnegie Moscow Centers Trenin. I think we need to be aware of the risks that we're running at this point. The United States and France said Russia's actions in Syria could amount to war crimes and there is talk of going to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Its significant in that it indicates the disconnect between the Russian notions of the way of warfare and what is acceptable in the West, said Giles. And, in some ways it serves as a unifying factor among the West. If there is universal revulsion for what Russia is doing, then that might actually be a factor towards cohesion among the West in resisting Russia in other areas as well. But taking Russia to the ICC on war crimes charges would only serve to deepen the divide between Russia and the West, said Trenin. The Syria cease-fire deal fell apart after coalition forces mistakenly bombed Syrian troops in September, and just days later a U.N. aid convoy was hit by airstrikes blamed on Russia. Battle against militants continues Russia-backed Syrian forces immediately launched an offensive on Aleppo, prompting debate about whether Moscow ever intended to uphold the cease-fire. Viewing this from the outside, it was startling that the United States persisted for so long in trying to believe that Russia was sincere in negotiating, in trying to set up a cease-fire agreement, said Giles. But when it is based on a basic failure to even agree on who the enemy is, and who you should be bombing, then any kind of negotiations are doomed to failure. It simply will not work. Trenin argues Moscow changed tactics after it saw the cease-fire failing. A coalition with the United States, a coalition of equals, would have been a huge plus. Russia is looking for prestige, he said. Russia is looking for its status to be recognized by the United States in Syria.... So, Russia was actually interested in a deal. Many analysts believe Russia will push for another cease-fire deal only after it helps Syrian forces re-take Aleppo and they can negotiate from a position of strength. Meanwhile, Russia announced plans for its military bases in Syria to become permanent. Venezuelan prison guards forced a jailed Utah man to strip naked in a hallway and perform exercises, his lawyer said Tuesday. Attorney Jeanette Prieto said that forcing Joshua Holt to strip and perform exercises in a hallway violated international agreements on the treatment of prisoners. She added that the prison guards had violated Holts Mormon faith by forcing him to remove his undergarments, which are similar to holy vestments worn in other religious faiths, such as a Catholic nuns habit or a Muslim skull cap. Holt was arrested June 30 on weapons charges. Hed traveled to Venezuela to marry a woman he met online while looking for Spanish-speaking Mormons to help him improve his Spanish. Prosecutors say Holt was using his wifes apartment to stockpile weapons. Venezuela officials say his case is linked to attempts by the U.S. to overthrow the socialist government. Holts attorneys did not provide evidence of the mistreatment. Prison officials did not respond to requests for comment. Holt was to have a hearing Tuesday, but the audience was canceled, as often happens in Venezuelas sclerotic judicial system. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry raised concerns about Holts case last month during a meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said in a statement Tuesday that he was disappointed by reports of Holts mistreatment. He said he will continue to work with Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden to demand answers. He commended Holt for his tremendous courage throughout this terrible situation. Holts mother was distraught when reached by phone Tuesday in Utah about the canceled hearing and the news her son had been treated poorly. It infuriates me. Theyre not treating him like he should be treated, said Laurie Holt. Obviously, theyre not giving him due process. At this point, Im not sure where to go or what to do but pick back up and start fighting again. Close to 200 Zimbabwean women underwent life-changing operations in the last one year, to correct a condition known as obstetric fistula, caused by prolonged labor which forces the unborn baby's head against a woman's pelvis. The condition can kill the baby and destroy the trapped tissue in the birth canal, the rectum and the urinary tract. The resulting hole causes urinal or faecal incontinence. The condition can be deadly to the expectant mother as well, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which estimates that at least eight women and girls die every day in Zimbabwe from these complications, while another 20 to 50 suffer severe complications like fistula. One hospital that has been in the forefront of providing this corrective, life-changing operation at no cost to the patient is Chinhoyi Hospital, in Zimbabwes Mashonaland West Province, in partnership with donor organizations. The hospital, which has an ongoing campaign to end the condition, is the first center in the country to offer the service for free. Zimbabwe coordinator Priscilla Mabhande for Women and Health Alliance, explained that obstetric fistula afflicts mostly women having multiple births or young girls who marry early and bear children before their bodies have fully developed to naturally deliver babies. Nearly a third of girls in Zimbabwe marry before they are 18 and 4% before they turn 15. "The women that we have been helping have been a mix of the child bride the 14-year-old who falls pregnant and gives birth either at home or at a medical institution, said Mabhande. Multiple births from the older women has also been our clientele range. About 400 women are in line to get the corrective surgery. Among them is Tendai Chimusasa whose baby died after getting stuck in the birth canal when she went into prolonged labor three years ago with her first pregnancy. Chimusasa, who said she was in labor for three days before being rushed to the hospital, explained how shes been coping with her condition. "I buy towels and I insert them in my private parts so that I can avoid messing my clothes especially when I am going to church. From time to time I excuse myself to go to the toilet so I can change the towels. Chimusasa said her condition has forced her to extremely hygienic. This condition requires a lots of sprays, perfumes, powders and I have to bathe regularly because at any given time I can just pass urine uncontrollably," said Chimusasa. About 70% of women living with fistula reportedly never seek treatment because they don't know what is wrong with them. Priscilla Mabhande of Women and Health Alliance said lack of adequate food has gravely affected women whove undergone fistula operations. Zimbabwe is among the countries in Southern Africa hard hit by drought, brought about by El Nino, a warming of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. More than four-million Zimbabweans, mostly in rural areas, need food aid. At present we have also faced challenges with malnourishment basing pretty much on the prevailing conditions in the rural areas," Mabhande said. The World Food Program is now supporting the campaign to end fistula by feeding the patients to improve their nutrition and speed up recovery Fistula has remained a problem in developing countries due to poverty, lack of education and child marriages. However, the condition was virtually eradicated in developed countries in the 19th century, following the discovery of Cesarean section. (Reuters) We accept many different kinds of announcements. Just click on the button below and submit a form. Go to forms The fifteenth anniversary of 11 September was featured in the front pages for days. This contrasts with the media blackout for the fifteenth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, launched on 7 October 2001 through operation Enduring Freedom. The official justification: hunting down Osama bin Laden, the lead organizer of the September 11 attacks, hidden in an Afghan cavern under the protection of the Taliban. In actual fact, we will later find out that a plan for the operation had already been laid out on President Bushs table prior to September 11. What the strategic objectives might be emerged clearly from the report, Quadrennial Defense Review, published by the Pentagon on 30 September 2001, a week before the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. In the Manifesto of 10 October 2001 we published its essential sections that can be reread today in light of subsequent events. The United States is a global power with important geopolitical interests all over the world, and therefore must preclude others from controlling crucial areas, particularly Europe, Northeast Asia, the coast of East Asia, the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Asia in particular is emerging as a region capable of large-scale military competition. It is possible that a military rival with a formidable resource base will emerge in the region. Our armed forces must maintain their capabilities to impose the will of the United States on any adversary (be it a state or non-state entity), so as to change the regime of an adversary state or to occupy a foreign territory where till now US objectives have not been realized. So here we have in black and white what the real reasons for the war in Afghanistan are. In the period prior to September 11 2001, there are strong signals in Asia of a rapprochement between China and Russia signals that are given concrete form when, the Good Neighbours and Friendly Cooperation Treaty is signed on 17 July 2001. This treaty was defined as the cornerstone of the bilateral relationship between the two countries. Washington considers the rapprochement between China and Russia to be a challenge to US interests in Asia, at a critical time when the US is trying to occupy the vacuum, created by the dissolution of the USSR in Central Asia, an area of primary importance both for its geographic position with respect to Russia and China and the adjacent reserves of oil and natural gas in the Caspian. Afghanistan is a key position to controlling this area. This explains the enormous deployment of US/NATO forces in Afghanistan, for a war that according to an estimate provided by default from the Watson Institute (Brown University, USA) has to date resulted in the following: more than 170,000 dead and 180,000 seriously injured; an official cost, on the part of the US alone, of around 830 billion dollars (more than 40 times the GDP of Afghanistan); plus other enormous costs that are not recorded. When the military operations in Iraq, Libya, Syria and other countries are taken into account, the US official costs, based exclusively on the military operations, amounts to around 3,700 billion dollars in 2001-2016 and includes future costs (notably support for veterans) that brings it to around 4,800 billion. In the US-led Nato operation in Afghanistan, renamed Steadfast Support, Italy continues to participate with a contingent lined up in the areas of Kabul and Herat. Italian officials are deployed at Tampa (Florida) at the US Command for the entire operation and in Bahrain as staff linking up with US forces. In the context of this strategy, Italy is committed to 27 missions in 19 countries. In April 2012 in other words after the French withdrawal from thewar (which it rejoined in July), and before the Russo-US sharing agreement (30 June in Geneva) the Friends of Syria had decided to judge President Bachar el-Assad before an international court of law. The point of this was to stage, a posteriori, the Pax Americana, after the murder of Slobodan Milosevic in his prison at La Haye, the hanging of Saddam Hussein and the lynching of Mouamar Kadhafi. In order to do this, the United States had created an association at La Haye, the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC). For two years, lawyers and jurists gathered witness accounts of the tortures practised by the regime. The Office of Global Criminal Justice for the Secretary of State, at that time directed by Ambassador Stephen Rapp, had solicited Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Turkey to finance a UN Special Tribunal for Syria on the model of the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Let us remember that the Lebanon Tribunal, contrary to its denomination, is not a tribunal in the real sense of the term, since it was created by only two executives, the General Secretary of the United Nations and the Prime Minister of Lebanon, without ever being endorsed either by the Security Council or the Lebanese Parliament. This pseudo-tribunal would have been able to ignore the rules of law and condemn the Syrian President without proof. The principle of the tribunals for Lebanon and for Syria was imagined by Jeffrey Feltman, ex-US Ambassador in Beirut, then Under-Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and currently Director of Political Affairs for the UNO. Mr. Feltman created the Tribunal for Lebanon, after having personally organised the assassination of Rafic Hariri, to judge and condemn Presidents Emile Lahoud and Bachar el-Assad, whom he intended to accuse. We were able to consult an internal document from his office, and learned that after the overthrow of the Syrian Arab Republic, NATO had planned to judge and condemn 120 leaders of the country, 80 of whom were already listed as persons under sanctions established by the United States and/or the European Union. On 20 January 2014, two days beore the opening of the Geneva 2 negotiations, the London-based law firm Carter-Ruck accused Syria of having tortured and killed more than 11,000 of its own citizens during the war. It then published a report by three international lawyers authenticating 55,000 images allegedly taken by a defected military photographer. Although two of the lawyers were seriously called into question for their partiality in previous affairs, and the third had been tasked by the CIA to create the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC), and despite denials by Syria, John Kerry did not miss the opportunity of quoting this document at the opening of the Geneva 2 Conference. On 31 July 2014, the Commission for Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives interviewed the Syrian photographer. He showed 10 images among the 55,000 in his collection, but only after having blurred them out, rendering them unidentifiable. And oh my! On 22 September 2014, Russia and China opposed their veto to a French project for a Resolution which referred to the International Criminal Court concerning the crimes committed in Syria. The State Department ruled that the material gathered, although extremely voluminous, had no more value than the false witness statements from the Tribunal for Lebanon. As a result, it ceased to sponsor the preparations for the Syrian Nuremberg. However, the Secretary of State recently sponsored the Center for Victims of Torture in Minnesota, not only for its actions, but also in order to come to the assistance of victims of the regime - if they can find any - but not to help the 80,000 people kidnapped by the United States and tortured by the Navy in Guantanamo and in prison boats in international waters during the two mandates of George W. Bush. Besides this, the State Department sponsored an exhibition by Qatar at the United Nations in New York, then at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, and finally, last week in Rome based on the photos from the Carter-Ruck law firm. Of course, there was no question of showing all 55,000 photos, but the same 10 blurred-out photos accompanied by a few others relative to the war. At the same time, the pro-Israeli representative, Eliot Engel, (already the author of the Syrian Accountability Act) presented the proposition for law H.R.5732, which was aimed at strengthening the sanctions against Syria. On 6 October 2016, Holland (whose military is illegally deployed in Syria) organised a meeting at their embassy in Washington in order to relaunch the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) and finance the project of a Tribunal for Syria. Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, and of course the United States, announced that they would participate with a contribution. The project should cost only a few million dollars per year. For Washington, it is now clear that the Syrian Arab Republic will not fall, and that it will be impossible to judge and condemn President Bachar el-Assad without proof. This set-up is part of the conditioning of the Western public as the defenders of Good against the cruel Syrians. France, which has been successively spokesperson for the interests of Turkey, then Qatar, then Saudi Arabia, and today, Israel, does not see things this way. It therefore hopes to judge the 120 Syrian leaders (who are already condemned on paper) before the International Criminal Court in absentia. On 10 October, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean-Marc Ayrault, announced that he had asked a group of lawyers to find a way of referring to the International Criminal Court, despite the predictable opposition of the Security Council. It seems that Washington is preparing to accept the end of the unipolar world. In this case, the most ridiculous and terrifying accusations against Syria will serve to darken the image of the Russian camp. They make a desert and call it peace, wrote the Roman historian Tacitus, quoting an enemy of Rome about its brutal conquests. The same could be said today of Bashar Assad and his ally Russian President Vladimir Putin in Syria. At this moment, Syrian and Russian forces, together with Iranian and Hezbollah militia fighters, are preparing to finish their siege of Aleppo. The 275,000 people who reportedly remain in the city are being told to flee. Thousands will do so, choosing to become refugees. The poor souls who remain in Aleppo will suffer a surge in relentless, indiscriminate bombing. And when Mr. Assad, Mr. Putin and their allies have slaughtered all that stand in their way, they will proclaim peace in the bloody sands of the Syrian desert. The collapse of the most recent cessation of hostilities is not surprising. It failed, as did the Obama administrations previous efforts to work with Russia in Syria, because as former Secretary of State George Shultz once said, diplomacy not backed by strength will always be ineffectual at best, dangerous at worst. Americas intrepid secretary of state has now taken the meaningless step of suspending talks with Russia over Syria. Meanwhile, Mr. Assad and Mr. Putin are creating military facts on the ground in Syria that will enable them to dictate the terms of a peace secured by carnage. They have decimated coalition-backed Syrian groups, slaughtered countless civilians, consolidated the Syrian regimes hold on power, and even struck a United Nations humanitarian-aid convoy. And they have done all of this with no consequences. Thus the war grinds on. While the U.S.-led coalition is making progress in the fight against Islamic State, we cannot forget this terrorist organization is a symptom of the Syrian civil war. The future of that conflict will have significant strategic impact on U.S. national security. The war in Syria has claimed more than 400,000 lives, displaced half the countrys population, and inflamed sectarian tensions across the Middle East. But as bad as this conflict is now, it can get much worseand likely will. It will produce millions more refugees, undermining regional stability and straining the social fabric of Western nations. It will strengthen an anti-American alliance of Russia and Iran. U.S. credibility with our closest security partners in the Middle East will further erode. And it will provide ISIS, or its successor groups, fertile ground to radicalize Muslims, recruit and inspire them to fight, and provide them with dangerous battlefield experience. This is where the conflict in Syria is headed, and the administration still has no strategy to do anything about it. Its diplomacy is toothless. And there appears to be no Plan B. An alternative plan would not come without costs and uncertainties. The administration likes to pretend that Congress is not prepared to support a more forceful approach because of its lack of support for military action to enforce President Obamas red line in 2013. This is a myth. What many in Congress opposed was granting a reluctant president authority to conduct what Secretary of State John Kerry promised would be unbelievably small airstrikes in the absence of a broader strategy to achieve U.S. national interests in Syria. The U.S. needs that broader strategy now. Any alternative approach must begin with grounding Mr. Assads air power. It is a strategic advantage that enables the Assad regime to perpetuate the conflict through the wanton slaughter of innocent Syrians. The U.S. and its coalition partners must issue an ultimatum to Mr. Assadstop flying or lose your aircraftand be prepared to follow through. If Russia continues its indiscriminate bombing, we should make clear that we will take steps to hold its aircraft at greater risk. And we must create safe zones for Syrian civilians and do what is necessary to protect them against violations by Mr. Assad, Mr. Putin and extremist forces. At the same time, we must provide more robust military assistance to the vetted Syrian opposition groups that are fighting the regime. The only way to isolate and target extremists on the battlefield is to make moderate groups more capable of fighting successfully on their own. The Obama administrations approach to Syria has failed miserably. Now is the time for a new strategy including the necessary military component that can achieve this more realistic objective. This will undoubtedly entail greater costs. But the alternative is far from cost-free : It is the continuation, for years and years, of terror, tragedy, slaughter, refugees, and a war in the heart of the Middle East that will continue to threaten the U.S. and destabilize the world. The EU is facing an existential crisis, by Dr Bruno Bandulet / Future Workshop EU Europe? After the Bratislava Summit and what they think in the US, by Karl Muller / Chief editor of the Zeit exercises self-criticism / Mass migration and state failure legal, political and cultural aspects of the refugee crisis, by Hans Kochler / Resistance against the dismantling of direct democracy is announced to the National Councils decision dated 21 September 2016, by Marianne Wuthrich / Elections in Russia almost 75% of the votes for United Russia. Putins policy confirmed by a constitutional majority, by Robert Stelzl / It takes an outcry of humanity. Wide condemnation of euthanasia for 17-year-old / TTIP economic content (part 2), by Dario Rivolta / CETA/TTIP the 3rd phase of colonialism, by Eberhard Hamer / Swiss franc and direct democracy (part 1). What is going on with our money?, by W. Wuthrich / Education for all in Kakuma / Swiss cultivated mushrooms fresh harvest all year round, by Heini Hofmann. If youve finally made it through the mile of tuna on your gigantic sandwich, you might have been able to get out of the house and see the Broadway premiere of Nick Kroll and John Mulaneys Oh, Hello. If so, you undoubtedly noticed the two phenomenal, extremely fictional understudies listed in the playbill: Jon Hamm and John Slattery, who will never actually understudy for those two jokers in their life. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hamm and Slattery wrote their own bios, which might explain why Hamms credits stop abruptly after college. You need a less talented version of yourself up there, Mulaney said of their faux fill-ins. Its not a knock on them, its just that theyre TV guys and were serious theater actors, Kroll elaborated. So again, even if Nick Kroll and John Mulaney met some kind of gruesome simultaneous demise an hour before the curtain rises, you would still not get to see Jon Hamm and John Slattery as George St. Geegland and Gil Faizon, so dont do anything stupid you might regret later. Photo: Courtesy of Festival of Disruption When 1,600 lucky attendees descended upon the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles this past weekend to attend David Lynchs inaugural Festival of Disruption, the chief question on everyones mind was obvious: Would a first look, any look, of Showtimes hotly anticipated (and astoundingly secretive) Twin Peaks revival be shown? The answer, sadly, was no although festivalgoers were treated to a pretty sweet Peaks pop-up merchandise shop, which included Great Northern Hotel matchboxes and Log Ladythemed totes. But Kyle MacLachlan, a.k.a. Special Agent Dale Cooper, did share a few thoughts on the upcoming series during a moderated conversation with his Blue Velvet co-star Laura Dern on Sunday evening. (Its confirmed that Dern, too, will appear as one of the 217 cast members.) Its so exciting, MacLachlan said. That character is my favorite ever, I mean ever. Its pretty special. Just the excitement I have having the opportunity to go back to work with David because its been a long time and Ive missed it. Ive really missed it. The first day back on set I was so happy. It was like no time had passed. We were both a little older, a little wiser, a little grayer. We had a lot of fun. Its gonna be amazing. Later in the evening when Lynch made his first (and only) public appearance at the festival, his tease was far more cruel. I was excited to be here tonight to tell you some secret information on the new Twin Peaks, he began, before looking offstage and continuing, Oh no, were out of time. Bye! Shailene Woodley was arrested yesterday for criminal trespassing in North Dakota for protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, which is planned to be built on whats considered sacred land for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Now, a day after the events transpired, real-life whistleblower Edward Snowden has come to the defense of the actress, who recently played his girlfriend in the Joseph Gordon Levittstarring movie about his life, Snowden. So @ShaileneWoodley joined the #DAPL protest to defend clean water, he tweeted this morning, linking to an Al Jazeera news post about her arrest. It was peaceful, yet police showed up looking like this. Many arrests Did the police single her out for livestreaming the protest? And why did they use armored vehicles and military gear to arrest an actress? Woodley, who was one of 27 people arrested in a protest that included roughly 200 people, alleges she was singled out for her fame and because she livestreamed the event on Facebook. No word on whether the incredibly on-the-nose Divergent joke she delivered mid-arrest was enough to send her to jail. Hi to you too. Photo: Peter Yang When Broadway isnt busy being a temple of high art, its more of a transient hotel, with the oddest characters showing up for short stays. The Lyceum seems to attract a lot of these marginal types, and few of its tenants have been as marginal as Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland, two Upper West Side geezers who opened there tonight in a play-cum-comedy-act called Oh, Hello on Broadway. Faizon is the short one, in dark-green corduroy trousers with the tail of his Hawaiian shirt poking through the fly; hes also wearing a distressed-to-the-point-of-inconsolable leather jacket, an I voted sticker, a chai chain, and open-toe sandals with white socks. He describes himself as a Tony-award-viewing actor and is every bit as annoying as that sounds. Whether I live in your building or not, he says, Im somehow on your co-op board. St. Geegland is the tall one, in olive cords, a turtleneck and cardigan and plaid blazer, with accoutrements that include a hospital bracelet and glasses on Croakies. I am neither Jewish nor a woman, this supposed playwright explains, but like many older men over 70, I have reached the age where I am somehow both. Fossils of an imaginary heyday when losers were winners in a crumbling New York that could not tell the difference, Faizon and St. Geegland are actually the invention of Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, 30-something comics who met in college and retain a collegiate satirical stance. What they are actually satirizing through the medium of their hideously bewigged and age-spotted alter egos is sometimes a bit fuzzy; the characters are both in on the jokes and the butt of them. But either way the jokes are excellent, as they should be by now; the Broadway incarnation of Oh, Hello sleekly directed by Alex Timbers follows a sold-out 2015 Off Broadway run, a national tour, and almost a decade of development. (Kroll and Mulaney based the characters on two men they saw shopping at the Strand.) Along the way, the material has acquired a minimal plot, in which the rent on the measly five-bedroom with crown molding apartment at 73rd and Columbus that Faizon and St. Geegland have shared for 40 years is set to rise from $75 a month to $2,500. In order to keep enjoying their god-given right to this housing, the pair may have to compromise their artistic integrity by agreeing to take Too Much Tuna, a radio show they used to host, big-time on local-access cable. Its the kind of nonsensical setup that leaves the writers maximum latitude as to what they can build, but it also limits how strongly they can build it. The result is both delightful and shaggy, pointed and unmemorable. Most of the delight and pointedness come from the exemplary verbal polish of the scripted material, sometimes reflecting a debt to the stuck landings of Mike Nichols and Elaine May (Theater is the hot thing right now. Theres Hamilton and no other examples) and sometimes to the grab-ass opportunism of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. (In this deeply haunted theater, so many great playwrights put up their work. Tennessee Williams and his sister Serena.) The improvised material is iffier; where the script is armed with instructions like TBD Richard Dreyfuss jokes and ad lib Desmond Tutu the payload sometimes fizzles. At the press preview I attended, an impromptu bit in which Faizon tried to get St. Geegland to name any August Wilson play tried too hard to achieve Gary Johnson resonance. But the inherently comic conception of these superannuated zhlubs with their matching pretensions generally smooths over the gaps. Its hard not to laugh at the running motif of their affected mispronunciation of ordinary words, like dialorg and Broadway, with a strong emphasis on the second syllable. In such silly moments the comic duo they most closely recall is Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, if both of those men had Jerry Lewiss personality. I doubt that Kroll and Mulaney are aiming for anything much bigger than that; if they were, they certainly wouldnt have limited themselves to such inside-theater material, much of it redolent of naphthalene. (A set joke depends on your recollection of Boris Aronsons 1964 proscenium design for Fiddler on the Roof.) As it is, the 90-minute evening is already a mite too long, and if it werent for a few self-contained, stand-alone bits, including an episode of Too Much Tuna and a celebrity cameo a game Seth Meyers, the night I saw it Oh, Hello on Broadway might be, like the tunie sandwich that arrives at a climactic moment, too soggy to enjoy. Luckily, we comedy nerds and theater dorks in the audience are too hungry for TBD Richard Dreyfuss jokes to be picky about the portions. And there ought to be enough of us to fill the Lyceum, at least until the next vagrants book it. Oh, Hello on Broadway is at the Lyceum Theatre through January 8. On this weeks Vulture TV Podcast, were joined by the stars of two fall shows premiering this week: Divorces Thomas Haden Church and Fresh Off the Boats Randall Park. In their premieres, both shows deal with an identity crisis: For Churchs character, Robert, its brought on by his wife, Frances (Sarah Jessica Parker), telling him she wants a divorce. For Parks Louis Huang, its the feeling of returning to your homeland years later, only to discover neither it nor you are the same. Listen to our conversations with both actors, and read highlights from both conversations below. Park on playing a Taiwanese-American as a Korean-American It was a problem for me, for sure. And early on I talked to the producers about it. I remember having that conversation, I think with Melvin and definitely with Eddie [Huang], because Eddie was more a part of the show at the time. I remember going into his office and saying, I dont know if this is right. I dont feel right playing this character. But he was so supportive, and the fact that it was his father that I was playing, and I remember him saying, No one else can play this part but you. I really took that to heart. I took that and held that close to me, especially early on when I was having trouble with that. But you know, I still have a little trouble with that at times. I guess the goal is that, eventually we can be at a place where we wont see white people playing Asian people anymore. Were not there yet [laughs]. But in an ideal world you wont see a Korean-American playing a Taiwanese character, especially an immigrant character. and feeling out of place growing up: When I would experience something you know, challenges or forms of racism that really got me down or made me feel like, Gosh, theres no hope for me in this situation, I remember distinctly thinking, Why did my parents come here? They always say it was for me. They always say it was for their kids, and they put us in these situations where we have no control over how were being treated. Theres a line in the show where Louis says its one of my favorite lines in the show, where hes regretting having made the move to America to his brother: We are the white people here. [Laughs.] Church on who Robert is when we first meet him Hes a lost guy. She kind of blindsides him. But its a blindsiding that, to some extent, hes accountable for out of just emotional desertion. Somewhere along the way, they just started drifting. And at various times it was like, Hey, were drifting apart! or she was like, Hey, come back here! I feel like Im losing you. But I think that, maybe with a lot of couples that end up in divorce, theres a desensitizing, and they probably arent aware of it because everybodys like, I dont want to hurt your feelings. But along the way somewhere, youre too far apart and you just cant get the lifeline back over there. One of my favorite lines is in a Crosby Stills and Nash song, Southern Cross: We never failed to fail because it was the easiest thing to do. I think a lot of times in divorce thats what happens. and how marriage can complicate a relationship: Ive never been married. Ive been engaged a few times. And, you know, in those relationships, it seemed like as soon as Will you marry me? was introduced into the dynamic, unfortunately in those relationships, it wasnt so much you start going downhill but it immediately brought a whole bunch of other sort of expectations and challenges, I think on both sides of, Do you really mean it? Is this really what you want? And do you really mean it? and is this what you really want? are very hard questions if youre having some instability in other areas, like family or career. And both of those engagements ended for that very reason. Looking down five years, ten years, Are our goals going to stay the same? I think that with marriage, people go ahead and pull the trigger and get married after a yearlong relationship or a two-year relationship. And sometimes those questions get answered in a very positive, loving way. And sometimes those questions become bigger and bigger unknowns and uncertainties. Tune in to the Vulture TV Podcast, produced by the Slate Groups Panoply, every Tuesday, on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please send us your burning TV questions! Tweet us @Vulture, email tvquestions@vulture.com, or leave us a voice-mail at 646-504-7673. We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. In conjunction with the 2016 One Book, One Waco community reading program, the Waco-McLennan County Library will host a Crazy Caprese program at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Central Library, 1717 Austin Ave. Wendy Moulds, McLennan Community College instructor, will talk about a classic Caprese salad. Participants will take home their own custom salad dressing. The 2016 book selection is Will Allens The Good Food Revolution, which focuses on urban farming as a means to building healthier communities, as well as the cultural influences and effects of poverty and food deserts on the community. For more information, email jessicae@wacotx.gov. Flores, Felton at fair U.S. Rep.Bill Flores, R-Bryan, and McLennan County Judge Scott Felton will make an appearance from 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Republican Club of McLennan Countys booth at the Heart O Texas Fair & Rodeo, 4601 Bosque Blvd. State Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, will be at the booth Thursday evening, and state Rep. Charles Doc Anderson, R-Waco, will be available during evening hours on various days. The booth will be open through Saturday. For more information, call Sarilee Ferguson at 717-0927. Scandinavian Friends David Zori, assistant professor of history and archaeology at Baylor University, will speak on Viking Mythology to the Scandinavian Friends Club at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Uncle Dans Rib House, 1001 Lake Air Drive. An optional buffet meal will be available at 6 p.m. For more information, call Lyn Lawson at 751-7111. Library story times The Waco-McLennan County Library will have a Going to the Fair story-time program, for ages 3 to 6, at these locations: 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the East Waco Library, 901 Elm Ave. 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd. 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Central Library, 1717 Austin Ave. 10:30 a.m. Friday at the South Waco Library, 2737 S. 18th St. For more information, call 750-5942 or visit www.wacolibrary.org. Womens social club Newcomers and Neighbors, a womens social club, will have a luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 19 at Ridgewood Country Club, 7301 Fish Pond Road. Mike Wright, vice president and general manager of KWTX-TV, will be the guest speaker. The club is open to all McLennan County women. Cost is $20, which includes lunch. Reservations are required. For reservations or more information, call 741-1046. Kiwanis Seniors The Waco Kiwanis Seniors will meet at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Golden Corral, 618 N. Valley Mills Drive. Jennifer Marshal-Higgins, assistant director at Education Service Center Region 12, will be the guest speaker. For more information, call Dick Rood at 399-0072. Submit items for Briefly in printed or typed form to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com at least one week before an event. James H. Hinton, 57, who has become a respected name in the health care industry for his work in New Mexico, has been named president and CEO of Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health, a system that includes Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Hillcrest in Waco. He will succeed retiring President and CEO Joel T. Allison, who steered the organization for 23 years. The transition becomes effective Jan. 16, 2017, according to the Baylor Scott & White Holdings board of trustees, which announced Hintons hiring Monday. Hinton has served as president and CEO of Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico since 1995 and has been with the nonprofit organization since 1983. A news release from Baylor Scott & White Health said Hinton is known for helping build Presbyterian into a model statewide integrated delivery network. It said Hinton worked to grow the Presbyterian Health Plan, which serves more than 470,000 people, and was involved in building the Presbyterian Medical Group, a practice of more than 800 providers. He twice was named among the 100 most influential people in health care by Modern Healthcare Magazine, and on two occasions was named among Hospital and Health System Leaders to Know by Beckers Hospital Review, according to The Dallas Morning News. During this time of incredible change in health care, Jim brings exceptional experience that will help move us into the future, said Jim Turner, chairman of Baylor Scott & White Holdings board of trustees. He is one of the few health system leaders in the country who has successfully navigated an organization from a focus on volume to a focus on value, and beyond his impressive accomplishments, those he leads are quick to say he is best known for promoting a caring culture. Said Hinton in a statement, I have always been impressed with Baylor Scott & Whites reputation for high-quality care, its dedication to its mission, its service to its communities and its innovative strategies. I am honored to now be in a position to help continue to advance the organization in its move toward population health. Scott & White said Allison will work with Hinton to ensure a smooth transition. Allison joined Baylor Health Care System in 1993, was promoted to president and CEO in 2000, and became CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health following the 2013 merger with Scott & White Healthcare. He worked to grow the system to 47 hospitals and nearly 1,000 so-called patient access points across North and Central Texas. Baylor Scott & White Health is the largest nonprofit health care system in Texas, with total assets of $9 billion and serving a population larger than the state of Georgia. It has 6,000 active physicians, 44,000 employees, Scott & White Health Plan, Baylor Scott & White Research Institute and Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance, according to a release. A local childrens librarian plans to participate in a different type of storytelling this weekend as she joins a group of volunteers to share stories about the lives of renowned locals from above their buried bodies. Stacy Phillips said for the first time she is preparing her act for Oakwood Cemeterys Walking Tales Bringing Historic Stories To Life from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at 2124 S. Fifth St. in Waco. The Waco-McLennan County Library childrens librarian will join about 15 interpreters at stations throughout the 157-acre cemetery, which opened in 1878 on the site of an abandoned horse-racing track, for the free event hosted by the Heart of Texas Storytelling Guild. Phillips said she is researching the life of philanthropist and novelist Madison Cooper, who wrote the Texas novel Sironia, Texas. He also established the Cooper Foundation in 1943. Phillips said she is still debating the best way to portray his lifes story, whether it be dressed in that time periods attire, in first person, acted out or with a joke. Whatever I have to do to make it fun for them, she said about the more than 150 people expected to walk the graveyard listening to stories from the past. I like to ham it up when I tell the stories and make it interesting. The event is part of the Heart of Texas Storytelling Guilds effort to keep Texas history out front, guild President Vivian Rutherford said. The guild is committed to preserving the art of oral storytelling. When the idea was proposed, some thought holding a storytelling event in a cemetery was too morbid, Rutherford said. Supporters of the event emphasized it was about recognizing what is historical about the community, she said. Guests can walk the grounds at their own leisure, listening to the interpreters stories and seeing costumes many wear. Rutherford said the event is virtually a new program each year as they have more volunteers than openings. She said organizers try to rotate the volunteers out each year. We have our die-hards that come back every year, she said. Weve never had bad weather since weve done it, so Im crossing my fingers. Rutherford said she sends a list of names to her volunteers to choose who they would like to portray at the site. But several people have approached her asking to tell the story of someone they know who is buried at the site, she said. Phillips said she initially approached Rutherford about telling the story of someone close to her buried at the cemetery. At first I was going to tell about him but, with time, I felt like I would be able to tell about him, but its still too hard, she said. But I still wanted to participate. Instead, she read through the provided list of historic names and found one she related to. Phillips said she picked someone who was an author and whose book is in her library. She checked out the book and has been reading all about his life, she said. Rutherford said several mainstay figures who were buried at Oakwood during the 19th and 20th centuries will always be represented at the event, including Neil McLennan, a Scottish immigrant who lent his name to McLennan County; and Lawrence Sullivan Sul Ross, a Confederate military leader and the 19th governor of Texas. Rutherford again will speak on behalf of Rose, a 2-year-old who was the first person buried in the cemetery when it opened in 1878 when the citys original burial ground, the First Street Cemetery, filled up. Rutherford, a lifelong Waco resident, said the event gives residents the opportunity to slow down and appreciate the heritage in the area. The event, which began in 2009, has since drawn hundreds of visitors to Oakwood Cemetery. Rutherford said she also likes to incorporate in her stories tales of traditions and burials, including why it is a tradition to send flowers after someone has died. Back in the day, before there was embalmment, to mask the smell you had flowers. That was just the way to keep it fresh, she said. Its just a tradition now, but it was a necessity back then. West Middle School student Trey Janek has always had an interest in studying flight, so much so that he spent the last year building his own quadcopter, a drone with four propellers, from scratch. Janek wants to do something in aerospace or astrophysics when he graduates high school, but right now he is focused on how he can improve drones often used by military, police and firefighters to rescue people, he said. Without an extra push and encouragement from science, technology, engineering, architecture and mathematics teachers, the work might only have been a hobby, the 13-year-old said. The cool thing about this is everything is modular, so I can put motors on here, or GPS modules or batteries. Everythings interchangeable, so I can make it really customized to my life, Janek said about his drone. You can customize it to your liking, and I could have bought it, but I thought I could build something better. Janek spent Tuesday showing off his unmanned aircraft, which can fly up to 4 kilometers off the ground, and smaller drone frames made from a 3-D printer. He was displaying his work to more than 2,200 students at Wacos annual STEAM Day expo. The number of students, who came from anywhere in a 50-mile radius, and the more than 80 displays set up at the Waco Convention Centers Chisholm Hall make the event a record-setting year, said Rachel Klawinsky, the citys public works department project manager. It is so important, especially in this area, because you have a lot of schools that are in about a 50-mile radius within Waco that dont get to experience these things like this because theyre in these smaller towns, said Klawinksy, who grew up in Anderson. They come from two or three hours away and they get exposure to all these different types of industries and learn what all is out there, especially if theyve grown up in a small town like I did. Unless youre exposed to things like this, you dont know of all the opportunities available. The public works department, which hosted the event, also won two awards this year for its STEAM Day: the Texas Public Works Associations Drahn Jones Award for Excellence in Education and the Texas Municipal League Public Works Award. This is the second year for the city to hold STEAM Day, which serves as a day to inspire middle school and high school students to pursue careers in STEAM fields, Klawinsky said. The event started in 2009 as Engineering Day, she said. It was re-branded after more industries and colleges began showing interest, she said. Last year, STEAM Day had a little more than 50 vendors and was housed in McLennan Hall, she said. Dylan Stubbs, a civil designer for local architecture and civil engineering firm The Wallace Group, spent the day showing off a virtual display of the Cotton Belt bridge, which is soon to become an avenue for pedestrians headed toward a new east-side riverwalk. The Wallace Group has been part of STEAM Day for four or five years, and to see the interest in STEAM fields is rewarding, Stubbs said. Most people go toward things like lawyers and doctors. They dont understand how important these jobs are, and they still make just as much money, Stubbs said. To have people interested in this field of study is pretty cool. As our population is growing, things need to be built schools, churches, roadways. We dont have enough people. We need to hire more people to design it, and then you have TxDOT, which needs more and more people to build it. Theres not enough people to meet the demand were needing. Tanya Snook, Janeks teacher, spoke about the importance that STEAM Day can play in schools. Until she; Principal Don Snook, who is her husband; and Superintendent David Truitt arrived two years ago, the push for STEAM education in West ISD wasnt nearly as great, she said. The district serves a city with a population just less than 3,000 and offers a kindergarten through 12th-grade STEM program as part of Project Lead the Way, a national program that pushes STEM material in classrooms. The districts high school and middle school are also T-STEM-certified, she said. T-STEM certification means the schools will now be part of about 120 schools in Texas that offer a rigorous STEM- focused program for secondary schools with students who study and enter STEM career fields, according to the Texas Education Agency website. The Snooks and Truitt previously served in Waxahachie ISD, where they played a role in establishing one of the only STEM academies with Early College High School status in Texas, before moving to West. It also gives our kids a chance to showcase what theyve done. Its not just the smart kids. Ive got athletes. Ive got cheerleaders. Ive got a good variety of students, so it also shows you dont have to be a nerd to do it, Tanya Snook said about STEAM Day. (Aerospace) has always been Treys passion, but I think our Project Lead the Way program has really ingrained that in him and hes seeing some value in it in his core classes now. Hes seeing, Oh, my gosh, math is a big deal in engineering. Where he blew math off last year, now all of a sudden, its Ive got to be a math student. Ive got to do better in my class. He reaches out for help when he needs it because he sees the integration. He didnt see that before, she said. Klawinsky expects next year will bring in even more students because every year the event grows, she said. The public works department already has set Oct. 11 as the date for next years event, and STEAM Day will be bringing in students from a 100-mile radius before she knows it, she said. While Janek is a self-taught engineer who didnt learn how to make his drones in a classroom, the nudge from his teachers and events like STEAM Day continue to push him toward his career goal, he said. All it takes is that little push from the school to make you realize how big this field is and how it could be used in so many aspects of engineering, Janek said. Its amazing in a way that I could learn that little bit of information, take it from there and then go anywhere with it. Its the kind of question politicians usually ask when a disastrous election is over: Whos to blame? In Donald Trumps case, the time to start answering is now. Trumps graphic boasts about groping women, caught on a 2005 videotape that surfaced Friday, set off Republican desertions in bulk. A debate performance Sunday night featuring a threat to prosecute Hillary Clinton and a scornful repudiation of his own running mate cant have given party leaders much comfort. Trumps nomination amounted to a repudiation of those leaders by angry Republican primary voters. But there were enablers who made his nomination more certain and lent credibility to a candidate with few qualifications, principles or commitment to the party. Based on conversations with a half-dozen important Republican figures who think Trump will drag down their party in November, these are some prime culprits: Reince Priebus: The Republican Party chairman, who for five years successfully led fundraising and organizational efforts, calculated last spring that his legacy depended on joining the Trump team and helping shape his candidacy. He thwarted attempts to open the Cleveland convention in July to anti-Trump forces and warned holdouts such as Ohio Gov. John Kasich that he was endangering any future in the party. Theres no evidence that he had much influence on the candidate and his legacy is now Trump. Freedom Caucus: This is the group of radically conservative members of the House of Representatives who shun compromise and brought down Speaker John Boehner. Its mission statement declares support for open, accountable and limited government but its members have embraced Trump despite his stated opposition to reining in entitlement programs and his support for a massive deportation force. The caucus chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, says hes an enthusiastic Trump supporter and Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina is trying to rally people around Trump and a set of ideas. Its not clear which ones. Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, not a caucus member but a soul mate, drew praise over the weekend for withdrawing his Trump endorsement after the lewd video surfaced, saying he wouldnt be able to justify supporting the candidate to his 15-month-old daughter when she grows up. Apparently he did not foresee problems explaining to her why the nominee denounced the mother of a Muslim U.S. soldier killed in combat in Iraq, or mocked a reporter with physical disabilities, or questioned the integrity of an Indiana-born judge because his parents were from Mexico, or, as the Washington Post reported months ago, the way he replied to the radio shock-jock Howard Stern when asked if he could have sexually nailed Princess Diana. I think I could have, Trump said. The Religious Right: For 40 years, this political movement has stressed the centrality of morality and character in public life. Now Ralph Reed, the movements longtime political strategist, goes through contortions to defend his support of Trump. Richard Land, once considered the intellectual leader of the Religious Right, explains his loyalty to the candidate by calling Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, morally and financially corrupt even by comparison to the thrice-married, sexually boastful Trump. Some prominent Christian evangelicals, notably Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention, have said absolutely no to Trump, but they seem drowned out by the others. Chris Christie: Its never a surprise when an ex-politician, out of office for many years, is dying to regain influence; think of former speaker Newt Gingrich and ex-mayor Rudy Giuliani. But Christie is the current governor of New Jersey and was just a few months ago a respected figure in the Republican Party. Then, after dropping out of the presidential nomination race in February following a sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, Christie jumped on the Trump bandwagon. His subsequent cheerleading was deftly mocked last week by a cartoon in the Star-Ledger of Newark depicting him as a parrot on Trumps shoulder saying: Squawk. Mr. Trump is Generous. Squawk. Mr. Trump is smart and handsome. Squawk. I cant believe this is my life now. Supply-siders: Economists Arthur Laffer, Steve Moore and Larry Kudlow ignored everything except the candidates pledge to slash taxes, mainly for the well-off, sacrificing their longstanding support for free trade and immigration. The partys top leaders in Washington, Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, often criticized Trump while supporting him. That doesnt make them stand-up guys, but their positions make their slipperiness understandable, if not admirable. Without the Trump enablers, the result might have been the same. But battle lines would have been drawn, earlier and more sharply. There were stand-up Republicans, notably most of the Bush family, Mitt Romney, and elected officials who chose dignity over careerism like Sens. Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse and Lindsey Graham and Ohio Gov. Kasich. They wont have to wonder what to tell their descendants about 2016. Hunt is a Bloomberg View columnist. Donald Trump once bragged to radio shock-jock Howard Stern about walking through the dressing rooms of his beauty pageants while contestants were getting dressed. He could do it, he suggested, because he owned the place. This year, religious conservatism stands naked before the world, while Trump smugly surveys what he has come to own. Journalist Mark Halperin noted last weekend that virtually all of the reaffirmation of support for Trump, following the disclosure of his sexually predatory recorded comments, were from religious conservative leaders. This is a scandal and a disgrace, but it should not be a surprise. We know nothing new about Donald Trump. He has told us about his view of women, his view of sexuality, his views of marriage and family for more than 30 years. He has gloried in reality television decadence before reality television was even invented, in his boasts to tabloid reporters. He reaffirmed who he is over and over again, even during this campaign from misogynistic statements to racist invective to crazed conspiracy-theorizing. And yet here stands the old-guard Religious Right establishment. Some are defending or waving all this away with the same old tropes theyve used throughout this campaign. Trumps not a Sunday school teacher, they tell us. Trumps a new King David or pagan deliverer Cyrus. Trump is either a baby Christian or the kind of tough strongman conservative Christians need since the Sermon on the Mount isnt realistic enough for the 21st century. And, of course, they tell us, he will appoint judges and justices who stand up for unborn human life and religious liberty. After all, he promised us he would. Why Trump would be more faithful to vows to religious political activists than he has been to people named Mrs. Trump, they do not tell us. Whats at stake here is far more than an election. In the 1980s, many evangelicals quietly cringed when they saw the endless stream of hucksters called television evangelists on the airwaves around them. These figures cried on cue, sold their protein shakes and end-times emergency food packets, and peddled anointed prayer cloths in exchange for donations, all while explaining to us what political point God was making with natural disasters. When one after another fell into open scandal, it wasnt just their prosperity gospel voodoo that was disgraced before the world but the reputation of the entire church. And yet the damage done to gospel witness this year will take longer to recover from than those 1980s televangelist scandals. These evangelical leaders have said that, for the sake of the lesser of two evils, one should stand with someone who not only characterizes sexual decadence and misogyny, brokers in cruelty and nativism, and displays a crazed public and private temperament but who glories in these things. Some of the very people who warned us about moral relativism and situational ethics now ask us to become moral relativists for the sake of an election. And when some dissent, they are labeled as liberals or accused of moral preening or sitting comfortably on the sidelines. The cynicism and nihilism are horrifying to behold. It is not new, but it is clearer to see than ever. There is good news, though, behind all of this, regardless of how this election turns out. The old-school political Religious Right establishment wonders why the evangelical next generation rejects their way. The past year is illustration enough. The evangelical movement is filled with younger, multiethnic, gospel-centered Christians. They are defined by a clear theology and a clear mission not by the doctrinally vacuous resentment over a lost regime of nominal, cultural Christian America. The people who have used the gospel to sell us politically cynical voting guides have done damage. But they are not replicating themselves in the next generation. The old guard is easier to engage in politics, because they find identity in a silent majority of Americans. The next generation knows that our witness is counter to the culture, not just on the sanctity of life and the stability of the family but, most importantly, on the core of the gospel itself: Christ and him crucified. The 30-year-old evangelical pastor down the street from you would rather die than hand over his church directory to a politician or turn his church service into a political rally. Finding new ways to engage our fellow citizens and form collaborative majorities for public action are now the urgent priority of evangelicals who wish not to concede the public space, in our name, to heretics and hucksters and influence-peddlers. The gospel matters more. Russell Moore, author of Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel, is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. The views in this opinion piece are those of the author in his personal capacity. Good enough? Yes, Trump apologized for his most recently released past lewd remarks regarding his perspective on women and his use of star power to do just what he wants. Yes, it was the right thing to do. No, I dont believe hes truly sorry, other than for how it affects this election. No, I dont believe that he is a different man than he was in 2005. No, I dont begin to defend the mistakes Hillary has made. Yes, I believe in the U.S. court system. Yes, I also believe if she could have been prosecuted, she would have been. Yes, apparently an apology is good enough for Trump supporters. Yes, there are several top Republicans that I respect that have spoken out against him. Yes, I wish like hell Paul Ryan was the GOP nominee. Yes, I am worried. Yes, Trump supporters are worried too. Yes, I think I should be more worried than them. Yes, I am ashamed of the spectacle. No, I cant believe this is happening. Linda Gilleland Stewart, Crawford Parental dividends Maybe the Donald Trump fiasco shines a light on the neglect many kids experience, rich and poor. Trump was a problem at age 7 and sent to military school at 13. He was left to the influence of peers instead of family. Thrown to the wolves, so to speak. Sad, but he is the mouthpiece of the Grand Old Party today. Meg Hillert, Dallas We the deplorables When Donald Trump makes a controversial statement, the news media runs with it for days. Hillary Clinton made a statement that is much worse than Trump ever said. She recently stated half of the people who support Trump are deplorable: homophobes, Islamaphobes, racist and sexist. In saying this, she includes (without actually saying so) servicemen and women, police officers, firemen and women, teachers and child-care workers, doctors and nurses, pastors and priests, truckers, railroad workers, factory workers, people of different races and many more people from all walks of life. The 47 percent statement by 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney really hurt his campaign. If Trump had said what Hillary said about her supporters, we all know he would never be elected. I know she came back and apologized but that wouldnt matter if Trump apologized. Once said, its too late. The president has to lead all the people. So if she does get elected, the half of us who are in her view beyond redemption will have to live with a president who thinks so lowly of some of us. Jerry Willett, Lorena EDITORS NOTE: Mr. Willetts epistle arrived before release of the Trump videotape regarding his sexual conquests. Collingwood says it's not concerned with Daniel Wells' injury history, with the 31-year-old set to join the club as a free agent. The classy midfielder officially told North Melbourne on Monday he would be leaving the club after 14 seasons with the Kangaroos. North Melbourne midfielder Daniel Wells is bound for Collingwood. Credit:Getty Images Fairfax Media understands Wells knocked back a two-year $1.1 million contract at the Kangaroos to sign a three-year $1.8 million deal at Collingwood. The deal at North Melbourne would have involved triggers for him to earn that much, based on how many games he played and where he finished in the best and fairest. Consumer groups and insurance lawyers have criticised a new life insurance code of conduct, saying it fails to protect people from unethical behaviour and only covers a fraction of the industry. The code, released by industry group the Financial Services Council, does not cover people with life insurance policies held through their super fund, about 70 per cent of policyholders. The FSC has set minimum standard medical definitions for heart attack, stroke and cancer. They will will be released for public consultation. It has also set a time limit of 12 months for insurance claims, which consumer groups say is too long, and pledges to put limits on private investigator surveillance but only in a "medical or health facility", court or "in any bathroom, change room, lactation room or inside your house". For the better part of a year, Republicans have treated the Trump campaign as crass performance art wrapped around a winning idea: that political correctness has become such a powerful, insidious force that it is destroying America. It has opened the borders, handcuffed the military and the police, and neutered American men. And every time Trump said something obscene or offensive, he moved the nation one step closer to throwing off the PC yoke altogether. Only it turns out, Trump wasn't being crude for a cause. He was just being himself. Illustration: Andrew Dyson. At the debate last night, the real Donald Trump was on display. He was unapologetic about his comments on sexual assault, ready to go on the attack. He trotted out women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault. He blamed Hillary Clinton for the death of Humayun Khan, the soldier whose parents Trump attacked after the Democratic convention. For months his supporters have been chanting "lock her up"; in a stunning breach of the political order, Trump vowed to do just that. That this is the real Donald Trump should seem obvious. But as Trump's support grew over the past 15 months, Republicans began to build a case that he didn't really believe what he said. He was instead a master showman at work, a media personality manipulating the press through outlandish statements. His words might sound racist and sexist, the argument went, but they were carefully calculated to provoke outrage from his opponents and praise from his supporters, who valued not the prejudice but the provocation. Gina Rinehart has just proffered a valuable lesson for Australia: when it comes to our economic future, we should be looking to agriculture. I never thought I'd be one to praise Australia's biggest mining magnate but as the iron ore curtain begins to fall, her next investment venture is certainly one to watch. Rinehart's $365 million bid for the now infamous Kidman cattle station, in partnership with Chinese company Shanghai CRED Real Estate Stock, is symbolic of the shift required in Australia's economy away from energy resources in this post-mining boom order. The key to our biggest economic challenge could lay hidden in the humble Aussie farm. Yet in order to unlock the full economic potential of our agriculture industry, it seems even Rinehart needs some help from China. Gina Rinehart has made an offer for the Kidman cattle station empire, along with Chinese investors. Credit:Bloomberg The Business Council of Australia has highlighted agriculture as having "the greatest comparative advantage of any sector of the Australian economy" and estimates the need for $1 trillion worth of investment in the industry between 2015 and 2050. ANZ estimates that the shortfall between Australia's available domestic capital and the capital required in agriculture is about $850 billion. Chinese investors have the potential to offer a large chunk of that capital, yet in 2015 agribusiness accounted for only 3 per cent of Chinese investment, with the mining sector still ahead at 9 per cent. While Rinehart and others have clearly recognised the potential for Australia's agriculture industry, the Australian government needs to clarify its position. At one end of the spectrum Australians are given the message that we are at risk of "selling the farm" to China. At the other end we hear the Treasurer pointing out that China owns less than 0.5 per cent of Australian agricultural farmland. In comparison Britain, our biggest foreign investor in farmland, owns about 7 per cent. Our daily tug of leash war goes like this. I tell Chico we're taking a left. He yanks right, wet black nostrils burrowing in loamy leaf piles. Me versus a six kilogram Havanese, incensed by scent. Today, I let him win. The nose of Finnegan, a mixed-breed dog owned by author Alexandra Horowitz. Credit:Katie Orlinsky/New York Times That's because I have fresh appreciation for his sniffing behaviour, after reading a new book, Being a Dog: Following the Dog into a World of Smell, by Alexandra Horowitz, a professor of cognitive science who runs the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College. In it, she explains the elegant engineering of the dog's olfactory system and how familiar canine behaviours licking, sneezing, tail-wagging have associations with smell. Horowitz also describes how she trained herself to enhance her inferior human sniffing ability. On a recent afternoon at Riverside Park in Manhattan, I met Horowitz and Finn (short for Finnegan), her affable, glossy black nine-year-old mixed breed. There she and he shared some sniffing insights that have since made my walks with Chico more intriguing and fun. What do you get when you mix top tier surfers, chefs and a three-time Olympic swimming medallist? A dream team of food and sporting talent including pro-surfer Taj Burrow and Olympian turned restaurateur Eamon Sullivan will unite to cook up sets of premium dishes to raise money for SurfAid - an aid organisation that helps remote and vulnerable villages in Indonesia. Chefs and surfers are uniting to raise much needed funds for SurfAid. Credit:Jane Wishaw The event at Mr Sullivan's Bib & Tucker in Fremantle promises to 'more than a cocktail party but not quite a sit down dinner', with the pro surfers thrown in the deep end to see if they can master the kitchen. "We like to give the surfers a bit of a wind up before they come in, tell them they're cooking for hundreds of people and it's all pressure on them!" said noted Perth chef Russell Blaikie from Must Wine Bar, who created the annual event. It's a blog for foodies around the world. Here you can read about recipes , new ideas and old techniques. You don't have to be a gourmet, just someone who really LOVES food and drink!!!! The former Sari Club site is a sorry spectacle. The writing on the wall says: "This area strictly not a public toilet. But women are welcome." Credit:Amilia Rosa "We want the government of Bali to know that after 14 years trauma still exists within our body, in our lives." Like many Balinese and Australians, Ms Thiolina has not given up on the fight for an international memorial park to be built at the site of the Sari Club in Kuta, where the second bomb exploded. Bali bombing survivor Thiolina Marpaung at the Bali Bombing memorial. Credit:Alan Putra The Bali Peace Park was designed by the late Australian landscape artist Made Wijaya, who lived in Bali for decades. However negotiations have foundered because the landowner refuses to sell for less than $US4.8 million ($6.3 million) - about double the value of the land. "To the landowner, I beg that you would give up you land for us," Ms Thiolina says. "Some of the widows learnt of their husbands' fates in a very tragic way, such as being contacted by police for a DNA test. So the peace park could be regarded as a tomb stone." Australian Jan Laczynski, who lost five friends in the bombing after returning to Melbourne a day before the blast, visited the nearby Bali Bombing memorial several weeks ago. He was so distressed by the run-down memorial, which had bottles floating in the stagnant fountain pool, and the Sari Club site, now a makeshift carpark, that he couldn't bring himself to take a photo. "It's horrifying," he says of the Sari Club site. "Non-stop cars going in and out and a sign that says don't use it as a toilet." He also can't understand how the memorial, which has since been cleaned up ahead of the October 12 anniversary, could be so neglected. "I didn't want to take a photo - I didn't want to hurt people or cause distress to people back home, it was that bad," he says. Australian Kerry Ould, who lives part of every year in Bali, wrote to 50 Australian MPs last month expressing her dismay about the state of the memorial. "The whole memorial is filthy, tiles falling off, dirty water in the fountain, no flags flying any more, etc. If this was a war memorial we would be rightly outraged," she wrote. Her advocacy has seen the memorial cleaned up but Ms Ould worries it will just be a bandaid fix and the memorial will fall back into disrepair. DFAT told Fairfax the Australian Consulate-General in Bali has been in close contact with relevant authorities over recent weeks to request that repairs and cleaning of the memorial be undertaken and to discuss long-term maintenance. In 2011, all Australian governments agreed to chip in and pledge $900,000 to buy the Sari Club site. However although the landowner has dropped the asking price from his initial offer of $US20 million to $US4.8 million - still more than double the independent valuation of $US2 million - negotiations are at something of a stalemate. "We certainly haven't given up," says Nick Way, a former Channel 10 journalist in WA who covered both Bali bombings and is now the chairman of the Bali Peace Park Association. The association's patrons include the governor of Bali Made Mangku Pastika, who was the Bali police chief who investigated and prosecuted the Bali bombers, and former Australian of the Year Dr Fiona Wood, who treated burn victims from the 2002 bombings. Mr Way says the ongoing threat posed by Islamic State makes the need for a peace park as relevant as ever. He also believes the death of the park's designer, Made Wijaya, has given it an added impetus. "He always said this was one of his most important works, even though he was doing it pro bono. It's certainly been a battle but what keeps us going is importance the people place on the peace park from all over the world." PLATTSMOUTH A Chicago resident was ordered to pay a fine Tuesday afternoon after he pled guilty to carrying marijuana-based items in Cass County. Julio A. Cortes, 25, appeared in Cass County District Court for a plea hearing on one Class I misdemeanor charge. Cortes pled guilty to one count of attempted possession of controlled substance-tetrahydrocannibols (THC). The state agreed to reduce its original Class IV felony charge in exchange for the guilty plea. Deputy County Attorney Steven Sunde told the court the state was also willing to recommend a sentence that contained only the maximum possible monetary fine. Sunde said probation was not practical because Cortes lived in Chicago and had no prior criminal record. Sunde told the court a Nebraska State Patrol trooper stopped a car for speeding on a Cass County section of Interstate 80 on July 19. The trooper smelled the odor of marijuana when he approached the car and asked two people inside if he could conduct a search. Cortes was a passenger in the vehicle when it was pulled over. The deputy found multiple items that contained THC inside a backpack Cortes was carrying. The objects included THC-based oral spray, fruit gummies, brownies and hard candies. All of the items later tested positive for the presence of THC. Cortes told the deputy he and the driver had recently been in Colorado and were driving back to Chicago through Nebraska. Both Sunde and defense attorney Renee Mathias told the court Cortes was a veteran of the U.S. Marines who had completed two tours of duty. Mathias told the court her client regretted his decision to purchase the THC-based items in Colorado. Interim District Court Judge Paul Korslund agreed to follow recommendations of the plea bargain. He ordered Cortes to pay a $1,000 fine and all additional court costs. When Fremont High School senior Aysia Webb arrived at the Back To School BASH on Aug. 10th, she planned on picking up her class schedule, finding her new locker and talking to some friends. After Webb completed that trilogy of tasks, she went in search of Mark Harman, the choir director at FHS. Just a few minutes into their conversation, Harman explained to Webb that the FHS varsity choir would be a little busier than normal this fall. In addition to preparing for All State Choir auditions (on Oct. 7), and rehearsing numbers for the annual FHS Soda Shoppe (Oct. 14th), Harman told Webb that the 80 varsity choir members would be performing the 80-page, 55-minute-long Mozarts Requiem with the Omaha Symphony in November. When he (Harman) was listing all of the things off that we have to do in such a short amount of time, Webb said, it really hit me how much we have to get done. The reality of how insanely busy we all are, and how much we have to get done in so little time, kind of caught me by surprise. Despite her initial surprise, Webb said that shes excited to be performing Mozarts final piece with the Choral Collaborative at the Holland Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 13, at 2 p.m. The FHS choir will be performing alongside more than 500 high school choral students with the Omaha Symphony. I was kind of nervous about learning the Requiem, just because it is so long, Webb said. I also know we have a lot to get ready for other things, so I was really worried. But I am confident that we will completely learn the Requiem and we will learn it well. Things are sounding so good already. Webb said the work the choir members have put into learning the music, during-and-after school, has really helped. Mr. Harman sent the whole choir some tracks that we can listen to for our music, Webb said. He does expect us to spend time on it by ourselves in order to finish it. I do have to spend some time listening to the movements and learning my part by myself. Breaking down the Requiem music piece-by-piece each day has provided the choir with a road map to prepare the music Harman said. Its an 80-page work, so we certainly dont want them to look at it as 80 pages, Harman said. Well break it down to smaller parts and try to set the stage for them a little bit and try to tell the story of the piece. Well give them some translations, some pronunciations, some things that they can work on and sing through and dig into; so it doesnt feel like alright, lets sing page one to page 80 and here we go. Harman, who said that this will be the seventh time in his 15-year career at FHS that the varsity choir will be performing with the Omaha Symphony, is pleased with the progress his choir is making. We always have a lot of confidence in what they can do, Harman said. We always know theyre pretty capable. Weve been through an awful lot this fall, but knowing we have a really capable bunch of seniors, who are both skilled and also motivated to get the job done well, helps me feel better about things. Even though this fall has been a little busier than usual, Harman said it will all be worth the effort when the FHS varsity choir gets to perform a very popular piece of music with other top musicians on a grand stage. In recent years, the role of the whistleblower has been in the spotlight more than ever before. In the political world, WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden have brought sensitive information to the publics attention, and in financial services some huge rewards have been paid out to whistleblowers whose tips have led to big fines being levied.But what about Canada; is the country doing enough to combat corporate crime? Well, there has been a response. In July of this year, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) opened its new whistleblower department, which offers whistleblowers confidentiality, protection and compensation of up to $5 million for tips that lead to successful enforcement action.Whistleblowers have always played an important role, and advisors who are registrants of IIROC or the MFDA have reporting requirements, says Caitlin Sainsbury, Partner at Borden Ladner Gervais. But the announcement that the OSC will pay for tips means were in a new era in Canada. The OSC is putting the money on the table.Although the impact of the new department is difficult to measure, its expected that its scope will encourage more Canadian investment professionals to come forward if they have suspicions. South of the border, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has handed out over $100 million since the inception of its whistleblower program in 2011, including single payments of US$22 million and US$30 million.The SEC does a good job in publicizing those payments, it increases the potential of future tips coming in, Sainsbury says. Their program has been around for a few years and Canadas is very new, so it may be a while before we start to see the flashy numbers of people getting paid out. Theres going to be a bit of a lag before we get the kind of stories were seeing in the U.S.Although Canada may be a few years behind the US in terms of supporting whistleblowers, Sainsbury is receiving more calls from financial services clients about the kinds of policies and procedures they need to have in place to meet new whistleblower requirements. Firms need to respond to the amendments to the Securitas Act, which states that no employment contract can prevent someone from coming forward, Sainsbury says. Previously, contracts may have had confidentiality clauses but those are now rendered obsolete by the amendments.A fear of not being able to remain anonymous and the possibility of reprisals remain a factor preventing people from coming forward. In response to this reluctance, the new policy prohibits companies from engaging in retaliatory action against anyone who is a whistleblower, which makes it more difficult for companies to terminate or otherwise disciple an individual who comes forward.For a wealth professional who is considering speaking out, Sainsbury advises taking a look at the internal protocols of their organization and finding out whether or not there is an anonymous hotline. They should look at the various mechanisms by which they can report, she says. Reaching out to counsel is always a good thing to do, itll help you weigh the potential risks and maneuver the system in the most appropriate way. Carley Nelson of North Bend helped save lives by hosting an American Red Cross blood drive this summer and earned a $1,000 scholarship as a result of her lifesaving efforts. As part of the Red Cross Leaders Save Lives program, the University of Nebraska-Kearney student hosted a blood drive at the North Bend City Auditorium on July 14, which collected 92 blood donations. As a result, Nelson was entered in a drawing to win a college scholarship and was chosen as a winner. Nelson was also awarded a gift card. Nelson encourages everyone to donate blood. Its easy and you feel like youve made a difference, she said. She also has a personal connection to blood donation which keeps her focused. My grandpa has received blood, so I try to think of him while I donate, Nelson said. Blood donors from high school and college blood drives account for about 20 percent of donations given through the Red Cross during the school year. Many of these blood donors do not give during the summer months and the winter holidays when school is not in session, and when blood shortages can occur. The Leaders Save Lives program encourages community-minded 16- to 24-year-old students to host blood drives to help maintain the blood supply during these crucial times of the year. Students who participate as a blood drive coordinator are eligible to win a scholarship for higher education and to earn a gift card. Students can sign up now to participate in the Leaders Save Lives program this winter break, Dec. 15 through Jan. 15. More information is available at redcrossblood.org/leaderssavelives. For decades the Muskellunge has been referred to as the Fish of 10,000 Casts. The fish, commonly referred to as a Muskie, is a large, predatory gamefish known for its aggression, elusiveness and long, needle-like teeth. But on Friday afternoon at the Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area, one local angler managed to hook into a behemoth while getting in a quick fishing session over his lunch break. Dylan Patterson, a 2007 Fremont High School Graduate, pulled a 48-inch Master Angler Muskie out of Lake No. 20 while fishing with his cousin, Jamie Monson, around 1 p.m. Patterson said that hes been an avid angler for nearly the past two years, but that he really started taking fishing seriously after getting into trouble with the law around five years ago. I needed to clean myself up, and fishing became an outlet for me, Patterson said. I needed new hobbies, you know what I mean? That hobby turned into a passion. So when Patterson and Monson left their work at Monson Auto around 12:30 p.m. Friday, Patterson was excited to get a line in the water. During mid-fall, the likelihood of hooking into something large increases, he said. Fall fishing is like the best fishing of the year besides maybe spring, because all those fish that are down deep staying cool over the summer come up shallow because winter is coming and they feed up heavily in the fall, and then go back down deep for the winter, he said. So some of those big ones come into the shallows when they might not normally be there. Baiting his 14-pound-test monofilament line with a white spinnerbait, Patterson started casting into the lake, hoping to land a sizable bass; the fish he usually chases after. So he casted once, and again, and again, moving along Lake No. 20s bank until he reached a small canal that hes fished several times before. I started walking around just covering area, he said. Theres a little boat dock there, and I kept going around the trail, kinda covering some water. Then I got to a canal that separates the big part of Lake 20 from a smaller little section it gets real shallow up through there and has slope-offs on each side. After arriving at the canal, things got exciting in a hurry. Patterson cast far into the canal and started reeling his line in. About halfway through retrieving his lure, the fish struck. I casted out there and he just hit it hard, Patterson said. I set the hook and he took me for a ride. An experienced bass angler, Patterson said he knew immediately he hadnt hooked into a Largemouth. The Muskie, the largest member of the Pike family, is known for its line-screaming runs and acrobatic leaps from the water. The battle lasted for minutes. And while the adrenaline running through Patterson kept him focused, it was impossible for stress not to creep into his mind. Using 14-pound-test and no leader a thin piece of metal preventing toothy gamefish from snapping line he couldnt help thinking that his line would break at any second. Patterson has some experience with catching Pike and Muskie hes done so while fishing at Lake Zorinsky and Lake Wanahoo, however, he never expected to hook into one of the large fish at the State Lakes. He could have broken off at any second with those teeth, Patterson said. After pulling the fish out of the water, Patterson snapped a few photos and then released the fish back into the lake. He doesnt keep the fish he catches, he just enjoys the thrill of the sport. I just want to take their picture and make them late for something, Patterson joked. Word of his catch spread quickly through social media and through FishBrain, the worlds largest community-based fishing app. On Saturday, he returned to the same spot he landed the lunker. This time, though, a family was trying their luck in the spot. I went there the next day and there was a family there, he said. I heard a kid say, He was right here dad!, and then the dad turned around and was like, Thats him right there! Bobbi Holm, State Lakes naturalist, received text messages and pictures about the fish caught in the park. Its always great knowing anglers have something big to chase after in the lakes, she said. I think its great that this happened, Holm said during a Monday phone interview. I think that all the fisherman who hear about this will be really impressed and hopeful. Anybody landing a fish like that is quite a feat. GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines, and health-related consumer products in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare. The company offers pharmaceutical products comprising medicines in the therapeutic areas, such as respiratory, HIV, immuno-inflammation, oncology, anti-viral, central nervous system, cardiovascular and urogenital, metabolic, anti-bacterial, and dermatology. It also provides consumer healthcare products in wellness, oral health, nutrition, and skin health categories. The company offers its consumer healthcare products in the form of nasal sprays, tablets, syrups, lozenges, gum and trans-dermal patches, caplets, infant syrup drops, liquid filled suspension, wipes, gels, effervescents, toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, denture adhesives and cleansers, topical creams and non-medicated patches, lip balm, gummies, and soft chews. It has collaboration agreements with 23andMe; Lyell Immunopharma, Inc.; Novartis; Sanofi SA; Surface Oncology; Progentec Diagnostics, Inc.; Alector, Inc.; and CureVac AG., as well as strategic partnership with IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. The company was formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline plc and changed its name to GSK plc in May 2022. GSK plc was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Brentford, the United Kingdom. The following companies are subsidiares of PepsiCo: Alimentos Quaker Oats y Compania Limitada, Alimentos del Istmo S.A., Amavale Agricola Ltda., Anderson Hill Insurance Limited, Asia Bottlers Limited, BAESA Capital Corporation Ltd., BFY Brands, BFY Brands LLC, BFY Brands Limited, BUG de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Balmoral Industries LLC, Bare Foods Co., Barrhead LLC, Be & Cheery, Beaman Bottling Company, Bebidas Sudamerica S.A., Beech Limited, Bell Taco Funding Syndicate, Bendler Investments II Ltd, Bendler Investments S.a r.l, Beverage Services Limited, Beverages Foods & Service Industries Inc., Bishkeksut OJSC, Blaue NC S. de R.L. de C.V., Blue Cloud Distribution Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Arizona Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Arkansas Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Colorado Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Florida Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Georgia Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Illinois Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Indiana Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Iowa Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Kentucky Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Louisiana Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Minnesota Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Mississippi Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Missouri Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Nebraska Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Nevada Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of North Carolina Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Ohio Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Oklahoma Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Pennsylvania Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of South Carolina Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Tennessee Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Texas Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Virginia Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Wisconsin Inc., Blue Ridge Sales LLC, Bluebird Foods Limited, Bluecan Holdings Unlimited Company, Bokomo Zambia Limited, Bolsherechensky Molkombinat JSC, Boquitas Fiestas LLC, Boquitas Fiestas S.R.L., Bottling Group Financing LLC, Bottling Group Holdings LLC, Bottling Group LLC, Bronte Industries Ltd, C & I Leasing Inc., CB Manufacturing Company Inc., CEME Holdings LLC, CMC Investment Company, Caroni Investments LLC, Centro-Mediterranea de Bebidas Carbonicas PepsiCo S.L., Ceres Fruit Juices Pty Ltd, ChampBev Inc., China Concentrate Holdings Hong Kong Limited, Chipsy International for Food Industries S.A.E., Chipsy for Food Industries S.A.E., Chitos Internacional y Cia Ltda, Cipa Industrial de Produtos Alimentares Ltda., Cipa Nordeste Industrial de Produtos Alimentares Ltda., Cocina Autentica Inc., Comercializadora CMC Investment y Compania Limitada, Comercializadora Nacional SAS Ltda., Comercializadora PepsiCo Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., Compania de Bebidas PepsiCo S.L., Concentrate Holding Uruguay Pte. Ltd., Concentrate Manufacturing Singapore Pte. Ltd., Confiteria Alegro S. de R.L. de C.V., Copella Fruit Juices Limited, Copper Beech International LLC, Corina Snacks Limited, Corporativo Internacional Mexicano S. de R.L. de C.V., CytoSport Holdings Inc., CytoSport Inc., Davlyn Realty Corporation, Defosto Holdings Limited, Desarrollo Inmobiliario Gamesa S. de R.L. de C.V., Dilexis S.A., Donon Holdings Limited, Drinkfinity USA Inc., Drinkstation Inc., Drinkstation Innovation Co. Ltd., Drinkstation Limited, Dutch Snacks Holding S.A. de C.V., Duyvis Production B.V., EPIC Enterprises Inc., Echo Bay Holdings Inc., Elaboradora Argentina de Cereales S.R.L., Enter Logistica LLC, Environ at Inverrary Partnership, Environ of Inverrary Inc., Eridanus Investments S.a r.l, Evercrisp Snack Productos de Chile S.A., FL Transportation Inc., FLI Andean LLC, FLI Colombia LLC, FLI Snacks Andean GP LLC, Fabrica PepsiCo Mexicali S. de R.L. de C.V., Fabrica de Productos Alimenticios Rene y Cia S.C.A., Fairlight International SRL, Far East Bottlers Hong Kong Limited, Food Concepts Pioneer Ltd., Forest Akers Nederland B.V., Forty-Six Peaks Holding Inc., Fovarosi Asvanyviz es Uditoipari Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, Freshwater International B.V., Frito Lay Gida Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Frito Lay Poland Sp. z o.o., Frito Lay Sp. z o.o., Frito Lay de Guatemala y Compania Limitada, Frito-Lay Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Frito-Lay Dip Company Inc., Frito-Lay Dominicana S.A., Frito-Lay Global Investments B.V., Frito-Lay Inc., Frito-Lay Investments B.V., Frito-Lay Manufacturing LLC, Frito-Lay Netherlands Holding B.V., Frito-Lay North America Inc., Frito-Lay Sales Inc., Frito-Lay Trading Company Europe GmbH, Frito-Lay Trading Company GmbH, Frito-Lay Trading Company Poland GmbH, Frito-Lay Trinidad Unlimited, Fruko Mesrubat Sanayi Limited Sirketi, GB Czech LLC, GB International Inc., GB Russia LLC, GB Slovak LLC, GMP Manufacturing Inc., Gambrinus Investments Limited, Gamesa LLC, Gamesa S. de R.L. de C.V., Gas Natural de Merida S. A. de C. V., Gatorade Puerto Rico Company, General Bottlers of Hungary Inc., Golden Grain Company, Goveh S.R.L., Grayhawk Leasing LLC, Green Hemlock International LLC, Grupo Frito Lay y Compania Limitada, Grupo Gamesa S. de R.L. de C.V., Grupo Mabel, Grupo Sabritas S. de R.L. de C.V., Gulkevichskiy Maslozavod JSC, Hangzhou Baicaowei Corporate Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Hangzhou Haomusi Food Co, Hangzhou Haomusi Food Co. Ltd., Hangzhou Tao Dao Technology Co. Ltd., Health Warrior, Health Warrior Inc., Heathland LP, Helioscope Limited, Hillbrook Inc., Hillgrove Inc., Hillwood Bottling LLC, Hogganfield Limited Partnership, Holding Company "Opolie" JSC, Homefinding Company of Texas, Hudson Valley Insurance Company, IC Equities Inc., IZZE Beverage Co., Inmobiliaria Interamericana S.A. De C.V., Integrated Beverage Services Bangladesh Limited, Integrated Foods & Beverages Pvt. Ltd., International Bottlers Management Co. LLC, International KAS Aktiengesellschaft, Inversiones Borneo S.R.L., Inversiones PFI Chile Limitada, Inviting Foods Holdings Inc., Inviting Foods LLC, KAS Anorthosis S.a r.l, KAS S.L., KFC, Kevita Inc., Kinvara LLC, Kungursky Molkombinat JSC, Larragana S.L., Latin American Holdings Ltd., Latin American Snack Foods ApS, Latin Foods International LLC, Lebedyansky, Lebedyansky Holdings LLC, Lebedyansky LLC, Limited Liability Company "Sandora", Linkbay Limited, Lithuanian Snacks UAB, Mabel, Marbo Product d.o.o. Beograd, Marbo d.o.o. Laktasi, Matudis - Comercio de Produtos Alimentares Limitada, Matutano - Sociedade de Produtos Alimentares Lda., Mid-America Improvement Corporation, Mountainview Insurance Company Inc., Muscle Milk, NCJV LLC, New Bern Transport Corporation, New Century Beverage Company LLC, Noble Leasing LLC, Northeast Hot-Fill Co-op Inc., Office at Solyanka LLC, Onbiso Inversiones S.L., One World Enterprises LLC, One World Investors Inc., P-A Barbados Bottling Company LLC, P-A Bottlers Barbados SRL, P-Americas LLC, PAS Luxembourg S.a r.l, PAS Netherlands B.V., PBG Canada Holdings II LLC, PBG Canada Holdings Inc., PBG Cyprus Holdings Limited, PBG Investment Partnership, PBG Midwest Holdings S.a r.l, PBG Soda Can Holdings S.a r.l, PCBL LLC, PCNA Manufacturing Inc., PR Beverages Cyprus Holding Limited, PR Beverages Cyprus Russia Holding Limited, PRB Luxembourg S.a r.l, PRS Inc., PSAS Inversiones LLC, PSE Logistica S.R.L., PT Quaker Indonesia, Papas Chips S.A., Pei N.V., Pep Trade LLC, Pepsi B.V., Pepsi Beverages Holdings Inc., Pepsi Bottling Group Global Finance LLC, Pepsi Bottling Group GmbH, Pepsi Bottling Group Hoosiers B.V., Pepsi Bottling Holdings Inc., Pepsi Bugshan Investments S.A.E., Pepsi Cola Colombia Ltda, Pepsi Cola Egypt S.A.E., Pepsi Cola Panamericana S.R.L., Pepsi Cola Servis Ve Dagitim Limited Sirketi, Pepsi Cola Trading Ireland, Pepsi Logistics Company Inc., Pepsi Northwest Beverages LLC, Pepsi Overseas Investments Partnership, Pepsi Promotions Inc., Pepsi-Cola Advertising and Marketing Inc., Pepsi-Cola Bermuda Limited, Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Holding C.V., Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company Of St. Louis Inc., Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Ft. Lauderdale-Palm Beach LLC, Pepsi-Cola Company, Pepsi-Cola Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Pepsi-Cola Far East Trade Development Co. Inc., Pepsi-Cola Finance LLC, Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers Poland Sp. z o.o., Pepsi-Cola Industrial da Amazonia Ltda., Pepsi-Cola International Cork, Pepsi-Cola International LLC, Pepsi-Cola International Limited, Pepsi-Cola International Limited U.S.A., Pepsi-Cola International Private Limited, Pepsi-Cola Korea Co. Ltd., Pepsi-Cola Management and Administrative Services Inc., Pepsi-Cola Manufacturing Company Of Uruguay S.R.L., Pepsi-Cola Manufacturing International Limited, Pepsi-Cola Manufacturing Mediterranean Limited, Pepsi-Cola Marketing Corp. Of P.R. Inc., Pepsi-Cola Mediterranean Ltd., Pepsi-Cola Metropolitan Bottling Company Inc., Pepsi-Cola Mexicana Holdings LLC, Pepsi-Cola Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Pepsi-Cola National Marketing LLC, Pepsi-Cola Operating Company Of Chesapeake And Indianapolis, Pepsi-Cola Sales and Distribution Inc., Pepsi-Cola Technical Operations Inc., Pepsi-Cola Thai Trading Co. Ltd., Pepsi-Cola de Honduras S.R.L., Pepsi-Cola of Corvallis Inc., PepsiAmericas Nemzetkozi Szolgaltato Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, PepsiCo ANZ Holdings Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Alimentos Antioquia Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos Colombia Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos Ecuador Cia. Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos Z.F. Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos de Bolivia S.R.L., PepsiCo Amacoco Bebidas Do Brasil Ltda., PepsiCo Asia Research & Development Center Company Limited, PepsiCo Australia Financing Cyprus Limited, PepsiCo Australia Financing Limited Partnership, PepsiCo Australia Financing Partner 1 LLC, PepsiCo Australia Financing Partner 2 LLC, PepsiCo Australia Financing Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Australia Holdings Pty Limited, PepsiCo Australia International, PepsiCo Austria Services GmbH, PepsiCo Azerbaijan Limited Liability Company, PepsiCo BeLux BV, PepsiCo Beverage Sales LLC, PepsiCo Beverage Singapore Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Beverages Bermuda Limited, PepsiCo Beverages Hong Kong Limited, PepsiCo Beverages International Limited, PepsiCo Beverages Italia Societa' A Responsabilita' Limitata, PepsiCo Canada Finance LLC, PepsiCo Canada Holdings ULC, PepsiCo Canada Investment ULC, PepsiCo Canada ULC, PepsiCo Captive Holdings Inc., PepsiCo Caribbean Inc., PepsiCo China Limited, PepsiCo Consulting Polska Sp. z o.o., PepsiCo De Bolivia S.R.L., PepsiCo Del Paraguay S.R.L., PepsiCo Deutschland GmbH, PepsiCo Eesti AS, PepsiCo Euro Bermuda Limited, PepsiCo Euro Finance Antilles B.V., PepsiCo Europe Support Center S.L., PepsiCo Finance Americas Company, PepsiCo Finance Antilles A N.V., PepsiCo Finance Antilles B N.V., PepsiCo Finance South Africa Proprietary Limited, PepsiCo Financial Shared Services Inc., PepsiCo Food & Beverage Holdings Hong Kong Limited, PepsiCo Foods A.I.E., PepsiCo Foods China Company Limited, PepsiCo Foods Group Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Foods Guangdong Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Foods Nigeria Limited, PepsiCo Foods Private Limited, PepsiCo Foods Sichuan Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Foods Taiwan Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Foods Vietnam Company, PepsiCo France SAS, PepsiCo Global Business Services India LLP, PepsiCo Global Business Services Poland Sp. z o.o., PepsiCo Global Holdings Limited, PepsiCo Global Investments B.V., PepsiCo Global Investments S.a r.l, PepsiCo Global Mobility LLC, PepsiCo Global Real Estate Inc., PepsiCo Global Trading Solutions Unlimited Company, PepsiCo Golden Holdings Inc., PepsiCo Group Finance International B.V., PepsiCo Group Holdings International B.V., PepsiCo Group Spotswood Holdings S.a r.l, PepsiCo Gulf International FZE, PepsiCo Hellas Single Member Industrial and Commercial Societe Anonyme, PepsiCo Holding de Espana S.L., PepsiCo Holdings, PepsiCo Holdings LLC, PepsiCo Holdings Toshkent LLC, PepsiCo Hong Kong LLC, PepsiCo Iberia Servicios Centrales S.L., PepsiCo India Holdings Private Limited, PepsiCo India Sales Private Limited, PepsiCo Internacional Mexico S. de R. L. de C. V., PepsiCo International Hong Kong Limited, PepsiCo International Limited, PepsiCo International Pte Ltd., PepsiCo Investments Europe I B.V., PepsiCo Investments Ltd., PepsiCo Ireland Food & Beverages Unlimited Company, PepsiCo Japan Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Light B.V., PepsiCo Logistyka Sp. z o.o., PepsiCo Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., PepsiCo Management Services SAS, PepsiCo Manufacturing A.I.E., PepsiCo Max B.V., PepsiCo Mexico Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., PepsiCo Nederland B.V., PepsiCo Nordic Denmark ApS, PepsiCo Nordic Finland Oy, PepsiCo Nordic Norway AS, PepsiCo Nutrition Trading DMCC, PepsiCo One B.V., PepsiCo Overseas Corporation, PepsiCo Overseas Financing Partnership, PepsiCo Panimex Inc, PepsiCo Products B.V., PepsiCo Products FLLC, PepsiCo Puerto Rico Inc., PepsiCo Sales Inc., PepsiCo Sales LLC, PepsiCo Services Asia Ltd., PepsiCo Services CZ s.r.o., PepsiCo Services LLC, PepsiCo Twist B.V., PepsiCo UK Pension Plan Trustee Limited, PepsiCo Ventures B.V., PepsiCo Wave Holdings LLC, PepsiCo World Trading Company Inc., PepsiCo Y LLC, PepsiCo de Argentina S.R.L., PepsiCo de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., PepsiCo do Brasil Industria e Comercio de Alimentos Ltda., PepsiCo do Brasil Ltda., PepsiCola Interamericana de Guatemala S.A., Pet Iberia S.L., Pete & Johnny Limited, Pine International LLC, Pine International Limited, Pinstripe Leasing LLC, Pioneer Food Group Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods Groceries Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods Group Ltd., Pioneer Foods Holdings Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods UK Ltd, Pioneer Foods Wellingtons Pty Ltd, Pipers Crisps Limited, PlayCo Inc., Pop corners, PopCorners Holdings Inc., Portfolio Concentrate Solutions Unlimited Company, Premier Nutrition Trading L.L.C., Prestwick LLC, Prev PepsiCo Sociedade Previdenciaria, Productos Alimenticios Rene LLC, Productos S.A.S. C.V., Productos SAS Management B.V., Punch N.V., Punica Getranke GmbH, Q O Puerto Rico Inc., QFL OHQ Sdn. Bhd., QTG Development Inc., QTG Services Inc., Quadrant - Amroq Beverages S.R.L., Quaker Development B.V., Quaker European Beverages LLC, Quaker European Investments B.V., Quaker Foods, Quaker Global Investments B.V., Quaker Holdings UK Limited, Quaker Manufacturing LLC, Quaker Oats Asia Inc., Quaker Oats Australia Pty Ltd, Quaker Oats B.V., Quaker Oats Capital Corporation, Quaker Oats Europe Inc., Quaker Oats Europe LLC, Quaker Oats Limited, Quaker Sales & Distribution Inc, Raptas Finance S.a r.l., Rare Fare Foods LLC, Rare Fare Holdings Inc., Reading Industries Ltd, Real Estate Holdings LLC, Rockstar Energy Drink, Rolling Frito-Lay Sales LP, S & T of Mississippi Inc., SIH International LLC, SVC Logistics Inc., SVC Manufacturing Inc., SVE Russia Holdings GmbH, Sabritas LLC, Sabritas S. de R.L. de C.V., Sabritas Snacks America Latina de Nicaragua y Cia Ltda, Sabritas de Costa Rica S. de R.L., Sabritas y Cia. S en C de C.V., Sakata Rice Snacks Australia Pty Ltd, Sandora Holdings B.V., Saudi Snack Foods Company Limited, Sea Eagle International SRL, Seepoint Holdings Ltd., Senselet Food Processing PLC, Senselet Holding B.V., Servicios GBF Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Servicios GFLG y Compania Limitada, Servicios Gamesa Puerto Rico L.L.C., Servicios SYC S. de R.L. de C.V., Seven-Up Asia Inc., Seven-Up Light B.V., Seven-Up Nederland B.V., Shanghai PepsiCo Snack Company Limited, Shanghai YuHo Agricultural Development Co. Ltd, Shoebill LLC, Simba (Proprietary) Limited, Simba Proprietary Limited, Sitka Spruce, Smartfoods Inc., Smiles and Bites Holdings S.de R.L. de C.V., Smiths Crisps Limited, Snack Food Investments GmbH, Snack Food Investments II GmbH, Snack Food Investments Limited, Snack Food-Beverage Asia Products Limited, Snacks America Latina S.R.L., Snacks Guatemala Ltd., So Spark Ltd., Soda-Club CO2 Atlantic GmbH, Soda-Club CO2 GmbH, Soda-Club CO2 Ltd., Soda-Club Switzerland GmbH, Soda-Club Worldwide B.V., SodaStream, SodaStream Australia Pty Ltd, SodaStream CO2 SA, SodaStream Canada Ltd., SodaStream Enterprises N.V., SodaStream France SAS, SodaStream GmbH, SodaStream Iberia S.L., SodaStream Industries Ltd., SodaStream International B.V., SodaStream International Ltd., SodaStream Israel Ltd., SodaStream K.K., SodaStream New Zealand Ltd., SodaStream Nordics AB, SodaStream Poland Sp. z o.o., SodaStream SA Pty Ltd., SodaStream Switzerland GmbH, SodaStream USA Inc., SodaStream Osterreich GmbH, South Beach Beverage Company Inc., South Properties Inc., Spitz International Inc., Sportmex Internacional S.A. de C.V., Springboig Industries Ltd, Spruce Limited, Stacy's Pita Chip Company Incorporated, Star Foods E.M. S.R.L., Stokely-Van Camp Inc., Stratosphere Communications Pty Ltd, Stratosphere Holdings 2018 Limited, Streamfoods Ltd, TFL Holdings LLC, Tasman Finance S.a r.l, The Gatorade Company, The Good Carb Food Company Ltd., The Pepsi Bottling Group Canada ULC, The Quaker Oats Company, The Smith's Snackfood Company Pty Limited, Thomond Group Holdings Limited, Tobago Snack Holdings LLC, Tropicana Alvalle S.L., Tropicana Beverages Limited, Tropicana Europe N.V., Tropicana United Kingdom Limited, Troya-Ultra LLC, United Foods Companies Restaurantes S.A., V-Water, VentureCo Israel Ltd, Veurne Snack Foods BV, Vitamin Brands Ltd., Walkers Crisps Limited, Walkers Group Limited, Walkers Snack Foods Limited, Walkers Snacks Distribution Limited, Walkers Snacks Limited, Whitman Corporation, Whitman Insurance Co. Ltd., Wimm-Bill-Dann Beverages JSC, Wimm-Bill-Dann Brands Co. Ltd., Wimm-Bill-Dann Central Asia-Almaty LLP, Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods LLC, Wimm-Bill-Dann Georgia Ltd., Wimm-Bill-Dann JSC, and Wimm-Bill-Dann Ukraine PJSC. Read More Juniper Networks, Inc. designs, develops, and sells network products and services worldwide. The company offers routing products, such as ACX series universal access routers to deploy high-bandwidth services; MX series Ethernet routers that function as a universal edge platform; PTX series packet transport routers; wide-area network SDN controllers; and session smart routers. It also provides switching products, including EX series Ethernet switches to address the access, aggregation, and core layer switching requirements of micro branch, branch office, and campus environments; QFX series of core, spine, and top-of-rack data center switches; and juniper access points, which provide Wi-Fi access and performance. In addition, the company offers security products comprising SRX series services gateways for the data center; Branch SRX family provides an integrated and next-generation firewall; virtual firewall that delivers various features of physical firewalls; and advanced malware protection, a cloud-based service and Juniper ATP. Further, it offers Junos OS, a network operating system; Contrail networking, which provides an open-source and standards-based platform for SDN; Mist AI-driven Wired, Wireless, and WAN assurance solutions to set and measure key metrics; Mist AI-driven Marvis Virtual Network Assistant, which identifies the root cause of issues; Juniper Paragon Automation, a modular portfolio of cloud-native software applications; and Juniper Apstra to automate the network lifecycle in a single system. Additionally, the company provides software-as-a-service, technical support, maintenance, and professional services, as well as education and training programs. It sells its products through direct sales, distributors, value-added resellers, and original equipment manufacturers to end-users in the cloud, service provider, and enterprise markets. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The following companies are subsidiares of Tyson Foods: APF Legacy Subs LLC, Advance Food Company LLC, AdvancePierre Foods, AdvancePierre Foods Holdings Inc., AdvancePierre Foods Inc., Aidells Sausage Company Inc., Allied Specialty Foods Inc., American Proteins Inc, Artisan Bread Co. LLC, Australian Food Corporation Pty Limited, Australian Food Corporation Trust, BRF, Barber Foods LLC, Bosco's Pizza Co., Bryan Foods Inc., C.S. Grain LLC, C.V. Holdings Inc., CBFA Management Corp., Central Industries Inc., Chefs Pantry LLC, Clovervale Farms LLC, Cobb (Hubei) Breeding Co. Ltd., Cobb (Shanghai) Enterprise Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Cobb Ana Damizlik Tavukculuk Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cobb Columbia S.A.S., Cobb Europe B.V., Cobb Europe Limited, Cobb Peru (Andina) S.A.C., Cobb-Heritage LLC, Cobb-Vantress Brasil Ltda, Cobb-Vantress Inc., Cobb-Vantress New Zealand Limited, Cobb-Vantress Philippines Inc., Coominya AFC Pty Limited, Coominya AFC Trust, DFG Foods Inc., DFG Foods L.L.C., Don Julio, Egbert LLC, Equity Group - Georgia Division LLC, Equity Group - Kentucky Division LLC, Equity Group Eufaula Division LLC, Equity Meat Corp., Flavor Corp., Flavor Holdings Inc., Foodbrands America Inc., Foodbrands Supply Chain Services Inc., Gallo Salame Inc., Global Employment Services Inc., Grow-Out Credit LLC, Grow-Out Holdings LLC, Haimen Tyson Poultry Development Co. Ltd, Hudson Foods Company, Hudson Midwest Foods Inc., Hybro Genetics Brasil Ltda, IBP Caribbean Inc., IBP Foodservice L.L.C., IBP Inc., International Affiliates & Investment LLC, Jiangsu Tyson Foods Co. Ltd, Keydutch Finance B.V., Keydutch Holdings I LLC, Keydutch Holdings II LLC, Keydutch Investments B.V., Keystone CLJV Holdings Limited, Keystone County House Road LLC, Keystone Foods, Keystone Foods (AP) Limited, Keystone Foods Holdco LLC, Keystone Foods Intermediate LLC, Keystone Foods LLC, Keystone Foods Pty Limited, Keystone Management Inc., Keystone Trading (Shanghai) Company Limited, LD Foods LLC, M & M Express LLC, M&M Restaurant Supply (MI/OH) LLC, MFG (USA) Holdings Inc., Mac Food Services (Malaysia) SDN. BHD., Madison Foods Inc., McKey Food Services (Hong Kong) Limited, McKey Food Services (Shandong) Limited, McKey Food Services (Thailand) Limited, McKey Food Services Limited, McKey Luxembourg Holdings APMEA S.a.r.l., McKey Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., McKey Luxembourg S.a.r.l., McKey VI Holdings Limited, Myung Seung Food Company Ltd., National Comp Care Inc., New Canada Holdings Inc., Oaklawn Capital Corporation, Oaklawn IT Solution Private Limited, Original Philly Holdings Inc., PBX inc., Pierre Holdco Inc., River Valley Ingredients LLC, Rizhao Tyson Foods Co. Ltd, Rizhao Tyson Poultry Co. Ltd, Rural Energy Systems Inc., Sara Lee - Kiwi Holdings LLC, Sara Lee Diversified LLC, Sara Lee Foods LLC, Sara Lee Household & Body Care Malawi Ltd., Sara Lee International LLC, Sara Lee International TM Holdings LLC, Sara Lee Mexicana Holdings Investment L.L.C., Sara Lee TM Holdings LLC, Sara Lee Trademark Holdings Australasia LLC, Saramar L.L.C., Shandong Tyson-Da Long Food Company Limited, Smart Chicken, Southern Family Foods L.L.C., Southwest Products LLC, TF 20 B.V., TF 5201 B.V., TFA Leasing LLC, TFA Opportunity Zone Fund LLC, TFI of California Inc., Tecumseh Poultry LLC, Texas Transfer Inc., The Bruss Company, The Hillshire Brands Company, The IBP Foods Co., The Pork Group Inc., TyNet Corporation, Tyson (Shanghai) Enterprise Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Tyson Americas Holding Sarl, Tyson Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Tyson Breeders Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc., Tyson China Holding 2 Limited, Tyson China Holding 3 Limited, Tyson China Holding Limited, Tyson Deli Inc., Tyson Europe Holding Company, Tyson Farms Inc., Tyson Farms QOZB LLC, Tyson Foods Brasil Investimentos Ltda., Tyson Foods Canada Inc., Tyson Foods Europe (Netherlands) B.V., Tyson Foods Europe GmbH, Tyson Foods France S.A.R.L., Tyson Foods Germany GmbH, Tyson Foods Group Limited, Tyson Foods Holland B.V., Tyson Foods Huadong Development Co. Ltd, Tyson Foods Iberia Alimentos S.L.U., Tyson Foods Italia S.p.A., Tyson Foods Korea, Tyson Foods Netherlands B.V., Tyson Foods Products Limited, Tyson Foods Scotland Europe Limited, Tyson Foods Scotland Sales (Europe) Limited, Tyson Foods UK Limited, Tyson Foods Wrexham Limited, Tyson Foods oosterwolde B.V., Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., Tyson Fresh Meats Sales and Distribution LLC, Tyson Global Holding Sarl, Tyson Hog Markets Inc., Tyson India Holdings Ltd., Tyson International APAC Ltd., Tyson International Company Ltd., Tyson International Holding Company, Tyson International Holding Sarl, Tyson International Service Center Inc., Tyson International Service Center Inc. Asia, Tyson International Service Center Inc. Europe, Tyson Mexican Original Inc., Tyson Mexico Trading Company S. de R.L. de CV., Tyson New Ventures LLC, Tyson Opportunity Zone Fund LLC, Tyson Pet Products Inc., Tyson Poultry Inc., Tyson Prepared Foods Inc., Tyson Processing Services Inc., Tyson Refrigerated Processed Meats Inc., Tyson Sales and Distribution Inc., Tyson Service Center Corp., Tyson Shared Services Inc., Tyson Storm Lake Holdings LLC, Tyson Warehousing Services LLC, Tyson of Wisconsin LLC, Uninex SA, Universal Meats (UK) Limited, WBA Analytical Laboratories Inc., Wilton Foods Inc., Xamol Consultores e Servicos, and Zemco Industries Inc.. Read More WSU Professor Helps Ghana Implement Respiratory Therapy Degree Program, Receives Prestigious Medal October 11, 2016 OGDEN, Utah More than a decade ago, a student presented Weber State University associate respiratory therapy professor Lisa Trujillo with this heartfelt request: Please come to my village in Ghana and teach. She went. Today, 20 trips later, Trujillo has been successful in helping the University of Ghana implement a Bachelor of Science in Respiratory Therapy degree program. It is the first of its kind in Ghana and, to Trujillos knowledge, the first of its kind in Africa. For her efforts in helping Ghana implement the degree program, Trujillo received the International Council for Respiratory Cares Toshihiko Koga, MD International Medal. The honor recognizes an individual for excellence in promoting the globalization of quality respiratory care. Receiving the medal was very humbling, Trujillo said. Its an award that absolutely needs to be shared. The bachelors degree program in Ghana was the result of the work of many, many people. Im not one who likes to be on the stage or behind a microphone. In fact, I try hard not to be that person. Im just Lisa. Im not any more special than others in my field. I just happened to walk through doors that led me to opportunities, and those opportunities grew and grew and grew. The respiratory therapy field is new to Ghana, and in a country where asthma, emphysema and pulmonary disease are widespread, respiratory therapy training is badly needed. According to the International Council for Respiratory Care, the addition of respiratory therapists to health care teams in Ghana would lighten the heavy workload of physicians and nurses. In the fall of 2016, an inaugural group of eight Ghanaian students began courses at the University of Ghanas School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences to become registered respiratory therapists. These students are pioneers, Trujillo said. Theyre trying to become something theyve never seen. The new degree program is expected to be a pilot program for other institutions in Ghana and a model for the introduction of respiratory therapy in other developing countries. Years of Planning In 2011, Trujillo visited Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana, where she introduced the prospect of a degree program to the CEO and the anesthesiology and pulmonology departments. We discussed how the respiratory therapy specialty would be a great value to the country, she said. We talked about the impact it could make on their health care teams and what they would be able to provide to their patients. From there, she and her colleagues worked with the hospital, the University of Ghana and a number of government entities to start formally creating the program. In 2013, a team of individuals, including Trujillo and Paul Eberle, WSUs respiratory therapy department chair, developed the curriculum. It is patterned after Weber States. Officials from Ghana visited WSUs Dr. Ezekiel R. Dumke College of Health Professions to study how its respiratory therapy program is structured. They decided that, rather than teaching to what resources they have in Ghana, they would teach to the expectation of the profession in the United States, Trujillo explained. They still want their therapists to have the same foundational knowledge that our Weber State students get, despite lacking some of the resources we have. Students at the University of Ghana will earn a traditional bachelors degree in four years, with respiratory therapy courses beginning in the second year. Current students took their general education courses last year and have just begun their respiratory therapy curriculum. Trujillo hopes that students will be able to visit Weber State between their third and fourth year in the program. Because they have limited access to resources, we would like the students to come to Weber State to spend time in the lab and have a clinical experience, Trujillo said. We want them to see the things theyve learned about but maybe havent had a chance to put their hands on yet. We want them to see how respiratory therapists are an integral part of the health care team. Currently, the Ghanaian students stay connected with Trujillo through a private Facebook group she created. They were all so excited to be a part of this initial cohort, Trujillo said. Their comments on Facebook support that statement. One student posted that the cohort was made of RT (respiratory therapy) legends. Another posted, Weve come a long way. This is awesome! An Eye-Opening Experience for WSU Students While many of Trujillos trips to Ghana have centered on the degree program, she also has traveled to the country with Weber State students to give them valuable study abroad experiences. And theyre not just respiratory therapy students. Many come from health sciences, of course, such as respiratory therapy, nursing, medical laboratory sciences and dental hygiene, but Ive also taken students from education, marketing, business and general education, she explained. While on study abroad trips, Trujillo, her colleagues and students provide Ghanaians, particularly those in underserved communities, with free health clinics. They conduct basic patient assessments and also teach preventative care and first aid. Its a life-altering experience, Trujillo said. Our students feel the humidity. They get to know the people. They see poverty. We treated one patient who had been burned at his workplace but had never been properly treated. In eight months, the wound hadnt healed. Its very eye opening. I had one student who, after returning from Ghana, had to go to an orientation at a hospital. She sat in this world-class American facility and cried, thinking how vastly different it was for patients in Ghana. Saying Thank You Today, Trujillo is still in contact with the student who first asked her to come to his village. His name is Albert Ncancer. After attending Weber State for his prerequisites, he was accepted into a cardiopulmonary program in the United Kingdom, which was closer to his family in Ghana. His brother, Opoku Yaw Agyemang, graduated with honors from Weber States Bachelor of Science in Respiratory Therapy program in 2014 and is a current student in WSUs brand new Master of Science in Respiratory Therapy program. I remember meeting their mother in the beginning, Trujillo said. Several years later, I took her a special gift and told her that all of our work throughout the country, all of our successes, started with her. Had she not raised her boys to work hard and get an education which is rare in a country where many children dont go past primary school this new bachelors degree program might not have ever existed. I am truly grateful to her. Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University. By WestKyStar & Paducah City Staff Oct. 10, 2016 | 08:35 PM | PADUCAH, KY Mayor Kaler says, Each year I am amazed at the creativity of our local students and the beauty of each ornament. It is obvious that a lot of time and care go into handcrafting these works of art. This year, I am expanding the contest to include any student who lives in this county. Each ornament submitted meeting the criteria will be placed on the Christmas tree at City Hall. The deadline to submit an ornament with a completed Ornament Submission Form to City Hall is Tuesday, November 29 at 4:30 pm. No entry fee is required. The top three ornaments in each of the three categories will be recognized at the December 6 City Commission meeting. The judging categories are K-3rd grade, 4th-8th grade, and 9th-12th grade. The criteria for the ornaments are listed below. Ornaments should be 3-7 inches in height (not including hanger) and ready to hang. Ornaments should be approximately a half pound or less in weight. No glass or other breakable materials. Only one entry per student. The use of recycled and natural materials is encouraged. Special consideration will be given to ornaments featuring Paducahs history, landmarks, name, etc. Enclose a completed Ornament Submission Form with your entry providing a detailed description of the ornament. Ornaments that cannot be matched with the Ornament Submission Form may be displayed but will not be eligible for judging. Artwork must be the students own. Ornaments will be viewed close up so details are important. For more information about the 2016 Student Christmas Ornament Contest including the Ornament Submission Form, visit www.paducahky.gov. Entry with Ornament Submission Form must be delivered to the Mayors Office at Paducah City Hall, 300 South 5 th Street by Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 4:30 pm. Schools can collect entries with forms and contact Public Information Officer Pam Spencer 270-444-8669 or pspencer@paducahky.gov to make arrangements for her to pick up the entries. CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENT APPLICATION Participants must be K-12 students and reside in either Paducah or outside the city limits in McCracken County. Student Name______________________________________________ Student Address____________________________________________ Parent/Guardian Name_______________________________________ Student (or parents) Phone Number____________________________ Student (or parents) Email Address____________________________ Grade___________School___________________________________ Art Teachers Name (if applicable) ____________________________ Detailed Description of Ornament _____________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ Mayor Gayle Kaler is inviting students to participate in the 4th annual Student Christmas Ornament Contest by handcrafting Christmas ornaments to decorate a tree in the foyer of City Hall. The contest is for all students, kindergarten through 12th grade, who reside in either Paducah or outside the city limits in McCracken County. Advertisement By Adam Morton Oct. 10, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY By Adam Morton Oct. 10, 2016 | 06:52 PM | PADUCAH, KY At Monday's McCracken County Fiscal Court meeting, commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance to allow alcohol sales on election day. Even though the Kentucky state legislature has already lifted a statewide ban, the previous Fiscal Court left the ban in place in McCracken County. Judge Executive Bob Leeper said he was approached about the issue not too long after the election. The new ordinance allows alcohol sales in the county from 6 am until 6 pm on Election Day for general, primary and local elections. Commissioner Bill Bartleman said, "Alcohol Sales are are allowed in the city of Paducah, and that's where most of the bars and alcohol is sold. It becomes a matter of fairness." Kentucky was the second-to-last state to lift the ban on alcohol sales on Election Day. The long-time ban was in place from a time when saloons doubled as polling places, and votes were once bought with booze. As polling place locations changed, the state lifted the ban. Advertisement By Tim Brockwell Oct. 11, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY By Tim Brockwell Oct. 11, 2016 | 04:35 PM | PADUCAH, KY Jailers called for police assistance during an incident Monday afternoon at the McCracken County Jail involving an unruly inmate. Chief Deputy Jailer Greg Garrison says an inmate was being escorted back to his cell from the jail's recreation area at around 3:30 pm. He said the inmate became upset and began making threatening statements and gestures. Jailers were able to subdue the inmate, and pepper spray was used. Paducah Police Officers and McCracken County Sheriff's Deputies responded to the scene after jailers requested assistance. A deputy jailer received minor injuries during the altercation, according to Garrison. Garrison says the jail called for backup as a precaution due to the fact that there were several other inmates in the area out of their cells at the time, but he emphasized that the jailer was able to control the situation quickly. "The deputy jailer's response was quick and appropriate and everything was contained." Garrison said. No charges have been filed at this time according to Garrison, but he said the case in under investigation. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. River may fall enough to resume walking to Tower Rock World's Largest English Language News Service with Over 500 Articles Updated Daily "The News You Need TodayFor The World Youll Live In Tomorrow." What You Arent Being Told About The World You Live In How The Conspiracy Theory Label Was Conceived To Derail The Truth Movement How Covert American Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations October 11, 2016 British Government Debates War With Russia In Suddenly Called Emergency Meeting By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers Another grim report circulating in the Kremlin this morning issued by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) is warning that the British government is preparing to go into emergency session today in order to debate their nations military forces joining with those of the Obama regime to begin an all out assault against the Federation in the Syrian region of the Levant War Zoneand that should it do so would unleash World War III. [Note: Some words and/or phrases appearing in quotes in this report are English language approximations of Russian words/phrases having no exact counterpart.] According to this report, the British Commons is soon to begin an emergency 3-hour debate with them stating beforehand that Western air forces must be willing to confront Russian military jets over the skies of Syria to enforce a no-fly zone and protect the citizens of eastern Aleppoand that is being led by British lawmaker Andrew Mitchell who just hours ago outlandishly likened Russia's behavior in Syria to that of Nazis. With the threat of war between the Federation and the West now said to be more dangerous than the Cold War, this report continues, these British lawmakers, like their Obama regime counterparts, have begun propagandizing their own citizens as to the true nature of this conflictand is most simply stated as Russian military forces aiding the Syrian Arab Army in its freeing the peoples of Aleppo (Syria) from the barbaric Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/Daesh) terror theyve been forced to live under the past 3 years. MoD spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov in this report countered these British lies forcefully by stating: Before launching into incoherent conjecture about Russias supposed responsibility for the situation in Aleppo in particular, and Syria in general, it is necessary to think what has the UK contributed to this poor country? Where was the UK when ISIS nearly reached the Mediterranean coast, almost turning Syria into a terrorist caliphate, like Libya. After all, it was you who controlled the skies at the time. Major General Konashenkov further noted, this report says, that Russia has delivered over 1,000 liberated settlements, thousands of tons of humanitarian aid, and freed thousands of square kilometers from the hold of these Islamic terrorists to which peaceful life has returned, and who then asked the British How many settlements have been liberated, how much humanitarian aid delivered, and how many square feet have been cleared of ISIS by the UK? Major General Konashenkov then asked if it is, perhaps, Britain that should be held responsible for the birth and nurture of ISIS, and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, which is now being effectively subdued by the Russian air forces, but to which the British have yet to reply. And just hours ago, this report notes, these Obama regime and British backed Islamic terrorists launched yet another deadly terror attack on the innocent civilians of Aleppo who had been freed from their barbaric rule by Syrian Arab Army forces and their allies, under cover of Russian warplanes, and who continue to destroy these barbarianswhile at the same time China, Azerbaijan, Serbia, India and Kazakhstan have now joined Russias efforts to rush much needed humanitarian aid to the civilians affected by this needless American and British backed war. This report further notes that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has previously warned the Obama regime against attacking Russian forces in Syria, and who bluntly told them: This is a very dangerous game given that Russia, being in Syria at the invitation of the legitimate government of this country and having two bases there, has got air defense systems there to protect its assets. Most astounding to read in this report, though, is its revealing that President Putins long assertion that Obama regime allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar were secretly funding these Islamic State terrorists was confirmed as being true yesterday after a secret Hillary Clinton email released by Wikileaks shows she had knowledge of this fact, but kept it secret from the American people, and the entire world. Hillary Clinton secret email confirming Saudi Arabia and Qatar funding of Islamic State terroristsclick HERE to see original. As to why Hillary Clinton kept the American people from knowing that Obama regime allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar were funding the very Islamic State terrorists who were destroying the Middle East, and that the US was supposed to be fighting, this report shockingly details, was due to both of these nations having paid her $55.8 million to keep silent. With President Putin just hours ago suddenly cancelling his planned to trip to France after that nation joined the Western propaganda blitz against Russia accusing the Federation of war crimes for daring to kill the Obama regimes Islamic terrorists, this report states, the only leader left to stop World War III is Donald Trumpwho yesterday in a debate with Hillary Clinton again stated that he would seek Russias help to defeat ISISand who have just begun attacks in Algeria for the first time. And as these Islamic terrorists have added to their list of atrocities this past week by stoning a woman to death for her refusing to marry one of their fighters, and their destroying the ancient Assyrian Church in Iraqs Nineveh, this report continues, the American elites fear that Donald Trump is close to winning the US presidential election (and with his doing so would forever doom these barbarians) and have caused them to launch an unprecedented attack against him. Leading the attacks against Donald Trump, this report explains, are US intelligence agencies who are backing Hillary Clinton and are supported by at least 3 powerful media organizations who have ordered all of their employees to destroy Trump, along with every major propaganda mainstream newspaper in the United States who are backing Clinton too. And as to why Donald Trump has to be destroyed, MoD analysts in this report explain, is due to Hillary Clintons fear that he is awakening the American people to what has been done to them by their monstrous elite rulersbut that stands opposed to her agenda outlined by one her top advisors, Bill Ivey, in another secretly released email wherein he shockingly admitted the need to maintain political power by producing an unaware and compliant citizenry. Top Hillary Clinton advisor Bill Ivey reveals her utter contempt for the American people This report concludes by noting that a recent answer given by Universite de Montreal Professor of History Michael Carley to young Russian students who asked him why the West hated Russia so much is now equally applicable to the American people too, and who warned that the answer is not complicated you cannot cross da man in the United States, that is, the powerful, wealthy US "deep state" which sets the rules for everyone else and enforces its worldwide hegemony against disobedient states and leadersand that most certainly describes Donald Trump and all who support him. Other reports in this series include: World War III Countdown Has Begun, Russian Military Warns Commanders Putin Authorizes Sinking Of NATO Ships As Russian Troops Prepare For Syria Deployment Russian Citizens By The Tens-Of-Millions Ordered To Bunkers As Nuclear Subs Reach Strike Points Russia Issues Full-Scale War Alert As West Faces Financial Armageddon Level B Russian Ministries Ordered To Bunkers After US Threat To Cut Off Diplomacy Putin Convenes Holy Council Of War As Obama Regime Threats Intensify Russia Collapses Entire US Intelligence System Using Microsoft, Facebook And Google Russia Moves ICBMs To EU Border After Recording Confirms Pentagon Coordinated ISIS Attack World On Brink After Obama Activates Missile Shield, Prepares Weapons For Space Top Russian Ministries Flee To Bunkers As Hillary Clinton War Warned May Be Unstoppable October 11, 2016 EU and US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content licensed under CC-BY and GFDL. [Note: Many governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagree with in believing that it is every human beings right to know the truth. Due to our missions conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their agents has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit us, and others like us, that is exampled in numerous places, including HERE.] [Note: The WhatDoesItMean.com website was created for and donated to the Sisters of Sorcha Faal in 2003 by a small group of American computer experts led by the late global technology guru Wayne Green (1922-2013) to counter the propaganda being used by the West to promote their illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq.] [Note: The word Kremlin (fortress inside a city) as used in this report refers to Russian citadels, including in Moscow , having cathedrals wherein female Schema monks (Orthodox nuns) reside, many of whom are devoted to the mission of the Sisters of Sorcha Faal.] World War III Has Begun As Red October Event Nears They Are Going To Come For YouWhy Are You Helping Them? Return To Main Page Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/10/2016 (2211 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The new CBC drama Shoot the Messenger is about crime, politics and media culture. And Ari Cohen thinks its a crime that TV-industry politics are destined to make far fewer shows like this part of Canadas pop-culture landscape. The Winnipeg-born actor, one of two local products in Shoot the Messengers ensemble cast, says a recent decision by the federal broadcast regulator to diminish the amount of Canadian talent required to classify a series as Canadian content will damage the domestic television industry at a time when TV production elsewhere is at an unprecedented creative peak. I think the decision by the (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) is nothing short of catastrophic and absolutely mind-boggling, Cohen says of the decision to change the Canadian-talent criteria required for producers to be able to access funding from independent production funds. SUBMITTED PHOTO Former Winnipeggers Ari Cohen and Hannah Anderson in the new CBC drama Shoot the Messenger. As a body, (the CRTCs) sole purpose is supposed to be the promotion of Canadian creators, so to come out with a ruling that severely diminishes that is absolutely mystifying. We all live in hope that it will be reversed; its going to do terrific damage to (TV-show) creators, actors, and across the board. And were at a time now that a lot of people are calling a golden age of television, which I think in many ways is true. And its an exciting time in Canadian TV the CBC has some very exciting drama going on with us and The Romeo Section and X Company, and with the launch of Kims Convenience in comedy. Also, theres the way that shows like Orphan Black are arriving on the international stage, with Tatiana Maslany winning the Emmy (for best actress in a drama). Before this CRTC decision, it was a very encouraging time so its sort of mystifying that (the commission) felt what was needed was to bring in big American stars to create an international profile for our shows. Shoot the Messenger has already been sold into many international markets; Murdoch Mysteries is shown all over the world We were really headed in the right direction. The more immediate concern for Shoot the Messenger, however, is building an at-home audience. The series, which premiered this week and airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC, is a set-in-Toronto drama the examines the blurred lines between police, criminal culture and the newspaper reporters who cover them. Elyse Levesque stars as Daisy Channing, a newly arrived police-beat writer for the fictional Toronto Gazette who is personally and professionally entangled with police detective Frank Lutz (Lyriq Bent). When a secret meeting with a source connected to one of the citys biggest gangs goes wrong the man is gunned down before Daisys eyes the cosy relationship between reporter and cop suddenly becomes conflicted. The gang-violence crisis also reaches to the highest levels of police administration and civic and provincial politics; thats where Cohens character, provincial attorney general Sam Charles, comes in. Hes an ambitious political operator with plans for a much higher office and he isnt above bending the rules to get what he needs. In recent media interviews, series creators Sudz Sutherland and Jennifer Holness have stated Shoot the Messengers political subplot is at least partly inspired by the antics of late Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Its very much a show set in Toronto and about Toronto, Cohen says during a telephone interview from his home in that city. I was living here through that whole Rob Ford saga and the news was stranger than fiction. But really, what the show has borrowed from all that is simply the idea that theres an incriminating cellphone video out there. Thats kind of the beginning and end of any similarity to the Rob Ford story. Its just a moment of inspiration and a jumping-off point; in no way do we attempt to tell that story at all. The series also stars another former Winnipegger, Hannah Anderson, who plays Daisys sister Chloe, a highly placed political operative in Charles office. The cast also includes British ER alumna Alex Kingston and veteran Canadian actor Nicholas Campbell. Cohen, who can also be seen in the made-for-cable series Gangland Undercover, says he maintains close connections to his hometown and is quick to credit his local mentors for the success he has enjoyed during his quarter-century career on stage and screen. My roots are very much in Winnipeg, says Cohen, who made his screen debut in Guy Maddins 1990 cult classic Archangel. My entire immediate family still lives there and my early mentors were George Toles at the University of Manitoba, where I came through the Black Hole Theatre program, and Steven Schipper at (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre), who really championed me in the early days. I try to get back as often as I can. I was there for 10 days in the summer with the family in Gimli. Im still very much connected to Winnipeg; its an amazing, supportive community and anytime I have an opportunity to go back there and work, Ill seize it, for sure. brad.oswald@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @BradOswald If you value coverage of Manitobas arts scene, help us do more. Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/10/2016 (2211 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Dutch elm disease is causing nearly double the trouble for Winnipeg trees this year and its going to cost the city more than $500,000 to control it. More than 6,000 trees were removed in 2015-16, almost double the 3,500 historic average calculated into the budget for the citys Dutch elm disease management team. (It is) the highest volume of elm trees to remove since 1999, a report that will be tabled at todays finance committee meeting states. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS An elm tree is marked for removal due to disease in south Winnipeg Tuesday. Bureaucrats are looking for an over-expenditure of $576,000 in the public works budget to remove additional trees. These elm tree removals must be completed in a timely manner to prevent further increases in Dutch elm disease incidence and losses of our urban canopy, the report states. The budget has traditionally allowed for the removal of approximately 3,500 trees. As of July 15, there were approximately 500 elms yet to be removed from the 2015 period, on top of the 6,520 already removed. Another 1,080 elms have been marked for removal. The report warns if funding is not received, more than 5,500 trees will be lost every year. In turn, this will result in a negative disease pressure, causing Winnipeg to lose its elm canopy, it states. Dutch elm disease a fungus spread by elm bark beetles was discovered in Winnipeg in 1975. The report notes Winnipeg, with approximately 236,000 American elms on public and private land, has the largest number of any city in North America. Since 1975, the city and province have partnered in a cost-sharing agreement to manage the disease. The province provides $1 million in funding. This would be the sixth consecutive time the budget has been overspent to deal with Dutch elm disease. The 2014 and 2015 operating budgets were both overspent by more than $400,000. kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/10/2016 (2211 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The northern Manitoba First Nation that lost its band office and only store to a fire last month finally has a working fire truck, but with no emergency call system, the only way to summon the fire chief is to have someone run over and knock on his door. Shamattawa First Nation, 720 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, made national headlines after a fire tore through the band office, Northern Store and radio station Sept. 22. The RCMP believe the fire was deliberately set by six children, only one of them old enough to be charged. The 12-year-old boy was released on a promise to appear. Chief Jeff Napoakesik said Tuesday things have settled down a little since the fire, insurance adjusters have been very helpful and there have been a lot of meetings with the federal government, the insurance company and others about rebuilding what was lost. SUBMITTED The fire destroyed the Shamattawa band office. The communitys fire truck, which was awaiting repairs at the time of the fire, is functioning again, Napoakesik said. The vehicle was purchased new in 2015 for $227,854 and was shipped to the reserve on the back of a flatbed truck on the winter road in March 2015. It worked only for a few months. The manufacturer sent technicians to the reserve to fix it but they were unsuccessful and it had to be shipped back to Winnipeg last February, again on the winter road. Napoakesik said to everyones surprise the truck started when the dealership in Winnipeg tried it. It was sent north, but again it wouldnt work and had sat unused since. Community members tried to battle the Sept. 22 blaze using the towns water truck and water from three nearby hydrants. In the aftermath of the fire, Napoakesik said, two mechanics from the manufacturer flew to Shamattawa and fixed the vehicle, which is now working again. We have a heated fire hall and it stays there, with the key in the ignition and the water tanks full, he said. There was a house fire in Shamattawa Monday evening and the fire truck helped save the house from total destruction. There are still firefighting deficiencies on the reserve, not the least of which is not having a 911 communications system. The existing system was located in the radio station and was destroyed. Now its just run over to the fire chiefs door and knock on it, Napoakesik said. There are no accredited firefighters in the community and no fire department, apart from the truck and the heated garage that serves as a fire hall. When a fire breaks out, volunteers are summoned. And Shamattawa is far from unique. A 2012 survey of fire resources on Manitoba reserves painted a bleak picture. Fewer than a quarter of the communities have fire trucks and 90 per cent dont have enough fire hoses to meet their needs. Fewer than one in five communities had enough other equipment, such as axes and ladders. A spokeswoman for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada responded to a Free Press inquiry about the situation and said 13 new fire trucks have been purchased since the surveys release, as well as 227 sets of firefighter gear including breathing equipment. In addition, more than $400,000 was spent in 2015 to install 12,546 smoke alarms in 4,330 homes on 18 reserves. The spokeswoman said INAC is about to do another survey to update the information about firefighting resources on Manitoba reserves. mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca What tapes? The high spirits among the ranks of Donald Trump supporters are not because he dominated Hillary Clinton in their second debate Sunday night; he made points he wanted to make, and so did she. But he achieved something far more valuable than a textbook win, something many thought impossible. He made the tapes go away and saved his entire campaign in the process. That damaging recording from more than a decade ago, a typical example of coarse man-talk, simply faded against a vast backdrop of actual issues. There will surely be those who seek to revisit those vulgar moments, but whether from Clinton operatives or NeverTrumpers, the floggings will not result in the serious mutiny they hope for. The town hall format served Trump well from the outset. Instead of a prosecutorial salvo from moderators, the opening moments featured a question from a real voter in the audience. She asked whether the candidates viewed themselves as positive role models for todays youth, but in the unluckiest coin toss win in debate history, Hillary Clinton answered first, denying her an opportunity to reply to what would have surely been a Trump response to the insidious tapes. Moments later, Anderson Cooper raised the issue, giving Trump a chance to destigmatize his words as locker room talk rather than evidence of genuine misogyny. Clinton then replied that she was buying none of that, and that the tapes are in fact a window to his dark soul. And that was it. Then a fairly conventional debate broke out, which seemed nearly inconceivable an hour earlier. His campaign was hanging by a thread as he took the stage in St. Louis, and 90 minutes later, the political obituaries were shelved. Has no one learned the lesson of 2016 that it is the height of ill wisdom to presume that a firestorm during one week will necessarily remain ablaze the following week? Trumps most visible supporters spent the weekend compartmentalizing, properly recoiling at the language on the tape while reminding the nation that those words do not suddenly make a Hillary Clinton presidency a good idea. It was Trumps job to move that ball farther downfield, and the debate questions provided ample opportunity. He was able to draw stark contrasts between his polices and hers on areas of national security, taxes, energy, Obamacare and more. The Clinton camp would fairly observe that they, too, were given the opportunity to draw stark lines on policy. But thats exactly my point: on the night when all the smart kids said Trump was finished, that he would be eaten alive by the voracious monster of The Tapes, that even his most ardent supporters would be forced to abandon him with tears of shame and apology, there he was answering questions, scoring points, even going after Hillary Clinton on her character in light of Benghazi, the e-mail scandals and her aggressiveness toward her husbands accusers. And when it was all over, there was running mate Mike Pence, who had apparently recovered from the Friday vapors, congratulating Trump on Twitter: Proud to stand with you. And there was Chuck Todd, on Trump-hating MSNBC: This is the best Trump youll ever see at a debate He fired up the Trump base. That would be the base that was surely headed for the exits all weekend, if you listened to the pundit class. Real events again intervened. Trump still has an uphill climb. But with four weeks to go and a third debate next week, he will be focusing on actual policies. If Hillary Clinton and her fan base continue to dwell on old bus banter with Billy Bush, they will be seen as unwilling to engage on things that genuinely matter to the presidency. After the first debate, even his supporters said Trump needed to do far better. After this past weekend, it became clear he needed to extinguish a potentially fatal crisis. He achieved both. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/10/2016 (2211 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A smaller grocery store is up and running and plans are in the works to rebuild almost three weeks after a fire destroyed Shamattawas only food store, the band office and radio station. Derek Reimer, the North West Companys director of business development, said Tuesday that the company initially moved its operation into the gymnasium of an old school four days after the Sept. 22 blaze, but The Northern Store is now housed in a building where a convenience store was once located. We plan to have winter clothing for sale in the community as early as next week, Reimer said, adding the company will sell it, as well as hunting supplies, in the gymnasium on a limited-hours basis. A fire ripped through the band office and store in Shamattawa First Nation Thursday. The (convenience store) space is 2,500 square feet and our old location was 7,500 square feet. Were using the convenience store for grocery and everyday items and the gymnasium for general merchandise and clothing. A 12-year-old boy has been charged with arson, but five younger children also believed to be involved arent old enough to face charges. The only way to get supplies to the Cree community, 720 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, is by air or truck, on a seasonal ice road. Reimer said in the immediate wake of the fire the company was able to fly in an estimated $33,000 in donated food bags each containing a case of water, bread, milk, luncheon meats, cereal, rice and potatoes for the communitys 1,500 residents. He said by the time the company had set up in the gymnasium shortly after the fire, there were more than 90 different items for sale, and there are more products now. We also offer financial services at the community, Reimer said. Many members rely on us to cash cheques, wire funds, and use pre-pay Visa cards. And with the pre-pay Visa cards, we offer grocery delivery service from our Valu-Lots location in Winnipeg. Reimer said it will likely take between a year and 18 months to rebuild. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/10/2016 (2212 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. There is a certain comfort that comes from knowing youve finally hit bottom. That you cant go any lower. That there is nowhere to go but up. That its bad today, but tomorrow will be better. That you have finally reached the first day of the rest of your life. Figuring out exactly when youve hit bottom, however, can be tricky. Or so the Manitoba New Democratic Party is finding out. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS files NDP MLA James Allum Leaderless and sporting a badly damaged brand, there are many New Democrats who believe they probably hit rock bottom in Aprils provincial election. Last week, however, the diminished NDP caucus uncovered a new level of bottom with an inexplicable bit of misbehaviour in the Manitoba legislature. The scene was a vote on a private members bill introduced by NDP MLA Wab Kinew to address sexual assault at universities and colleges. The bill had little hope of success; opposition private members bills almost always die an early death at the hands of a majority government. Despite being fully aware of that tradition, some of the rowdier members of the NDP caucus reacted with a self-righteous indignation clearly inappropriate for the circumstances. Cries of shame erupted from the opposition benches each time a female Tory MLA voted against the bill. The shaming authored by NDP MLAs James Allum and Andrew Swan but with help of others who have not yet stepped forward continued only when women were voting. It is difficult to understand how these MLAs, the self-appointed champions of progressiveness and enlightenment, did not see bullying women during a vote on a bill purportedly about the safety of women was so wrongheaded. It must have slipped their minds. Did Allum and Swan act on their own, without prior notification of the other NDP MLAs? Was the strategy discussed with interim leader Flor Marcelino or former premier Greg Selinger, and did they approve? The two offending MLAs have issued statements apologizing for their behaviour but with little in the way of elucidation on how and why anyone thought this was a good idea. The shaming debacle is the inevitable result of a party that is leaderless and suffering from a lack of high-level political advice and support. Some of this is due to losing the election; it is hard to draw good political staff to a party that has been thrashed at the polls. However, a good deal of the dysfunction the NDP suffers from now is the inability of its remaining MLAs to find a common purpose. The party has never really healed from the divisive civil war that saw a group of five high-profile cabinet ministers go public with demands Selinger resign. That uprising resulted in a leadership convention, in which Selinger was narrowly re-elected. The deep divisions caused by that coup attempt helped to destabilize the party through the spring election and beyond. It would be wrong to say infighting in NDP ranks is at epidemic levels, because there are so many fewer people involved in the party now. Fundraising has all but dried up, according to party sources, and it is getting harder and harder to draw a crowd of party members for any reason. Even so, in a few ridings, the malaise has escalated into hand-to-hand combat. Take the NDP riding association in Wolseley. NDP MLA Rob Altemeyer managed to fend off challenges from the Liberals and Green party to retain his seat. His success, however, has not stopped party members in his riding from taking steps to possibly prevent him from running for the NDP again in the next election. NDP sources confirmed the entire executive of the Wolseley Electoral District Association (EDA) was replaced by a slate of party members that were concerned by Altemeyers behaviour during and following the civil war that ravaged the NDP. Altemeyer was vehement in his condemnation of the five cabinet ministers who went public with demands Selinger resign. Although he did not formally support Selinger in the March 2015 leadership convention, he did try to organize an anyone but Theresa Oswald campaign. Oswald was one of the five cabinet ministers who led the uprising, and lost a close second ballot to Selinger. RUTH BONNEVILLE Wolseley NDP candidate Rob Altemeyer at the NDP headquarters at the Convention Centre Tuesday evening. Following the leadership convention, Altemeyer was active trying to ostracize and punish any NDP MLA or cabinet minister who supported Oswald, proposing they be forced to sign a pledge of solidarity before they be allowed to participate in caucus votes or debates. Following the provincial election, as caucus chairman, he has drawn criticism for his heavy-handed approach to dealing with political staff, many of whom have either left or were terminated. In an email statement, Altemeyer denied the changes in the EDA executive had any connection to any of his actions or statements in the legislature, or his work with caucus. Can Altemeyer win over the new executive and convince them he is the right candidate for the next election? He certainly has brand awareness and a record of electoral success. However, he also has a lot of baggage that comes from picking fights with people within his own party. And political karma is, well, you know. The shaming debacle, and the battle for control of the Wolseley EDA, are clear signs this is a party that needs a leader, a refreshed brand and a new, common purpose. Thanks to infighting and procrastination, the NDP isnt likely to achieve any of these things any time soon. For all those reasons, it appears the NDP has a ways to go before it hits rock bottom. dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/10/2016 (2211 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. So long, Buhlerville. Hello, snappy new city slogan. The City of Morden is moving on from its highway welcome sign fiasco, replacing the prominent names of philanthropists Bonnie and John Buhler. Five slogans have been chosen for city residents to vote on, culled from 379 public submissions, to place on the sign. Most of the slogans tie in with Mordens collection of marine reptile fossils at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre: FACEBOOK City of Discovery Diggin it since 1882 Hub of the Pembina Valley Unearth Inspiration Dream. Discover. Develop. Residents can vote online or by ballot available at the Morden Civic Centre until 4:30 p.m. Oct. 21. That was a comedy of errors, said Peter Cantelon, executive director of the fossil discovery centre, referring to the sign erected in August that featured the citys name, a statue of a mosasaur and the names of sign sponsors Bonnie and John Buhler. At night, backlit with powerful LED lights, the sign suggested motorists were driving into Bonnie & John Buhler city. The Buhlers were embarrassed when they saw photos, and asked that their extra large-size names be removed. It was a disconnect in the community between a few of us, said Cantelon, who sits on the Morden Tourism and Marketing Committee, responsible for the sign. tr, the committee is delighted with how the community has responded, he said. The involvement by people is shockingly high, he said, referring to the nearly 400 submissions in a city of 8,000 people. The committee chose the five finalists. The slogan will appear where the Buhlers names had been, but the lettering will be smaller and the lighting will be toned down, he said. bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/10/2016 (2211 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Speaker Myrna Driedger laid down the law to MLAs Tuesday as charges and apologies in the shaming controversy mounted, Driedger ordered all members to stop discussing her ongoing investigations. That includes both inside and outside the house, Driedger said during question period. The Pallister Conservatives had earlier accused New Democrat Nahanni Fontaine Tuesday morning of violating the privileges of every member of the legislature by allegedly questioning Driedgers impartiality. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Nahanni Fontaine,NDP MLA for St.Johns. Tory house leader Andrew Micklefield levelled the charge Tuesday morning over a Canadian Press interview with Fontaine last Thursday afternoon. By late Tuesday afternoon, NDP house leader Jim Maloway was threatening in a media scrum that New Democrats will lay their own charge Wednesday that Premier Brian Pallister violated their privileges earlier in the afternoon by attacking Fontaine in the house, even after Driedger had instructed MLAs to stop discussing the controversy. Meanwhile, interim NDP leader Flor Marcelino, Fontaine, and MLAs James Allum and Andrew Swan have all apologized in various ways for what is becoming known as the shaming scandal. Conservative Sarah Guillemard charged last Thursday afternoon that her privileges as an MLA had been violated, and she was left feeling vulnerable and intimidated, after several men in the NDP caucus shouted shame! at female Tory MLAs a few hours earlier. The NDP men were silent as male Tories voted. The Conservatives were voting to defeat an NDP private members bill Thursday dealing with sex crimes, harassment and safety on post-secondary campuses. The Tories intend to table their own stronger bill. Tuesday morning, PC house leader Andrew Micklefield told the house, The member for St. Johns (Fontaine) violated the privileges of every member. Micklefield said that in an interview with Canadian Press last Thursday, Fontaine questioned Driedgers impartiality, which, he said, is central to democracy. Ironically, the interview came amid the heat of the controversy, but was about proposed changes to give the Speaker authority over the publics access to the legislature and grounds. Driedger took the accusation under advisement, and is still considering the first charge the Tories made last week. While noting that neither had a legitimate point of order, Driedger allowed New Democrats Allum and Swan to apologize in the house Tuesday morning for their actions last week. Guillemard had said that New Democrat Rob Altemeyer also took part, which he has since denied through the NDPs press director. The NDP did not make Altemeyer available to the media Tuesday. Allum said Tuesday morning that he had crossed a line, and had apologized to Guillemard personally before coming into the legislature Tuesday morning. She was quite gracious in her reaction, he said. Both Allum and Swan also apologized to the legislature staff and especially to the young page whose job it was to read out the names of MLAs before they voted. And they also spent considerable time apologizing to Fontaine, who they said got caught up in circumstances not of her making. Fontaine had told reporters immediately after Thursdays privilege controversy erupted that her male colleagues had shouted at both women and men, which Allum later confirmed had not been the case. Pallister Tuesday accused the NDP of orchestrating a cover-up through Fontaines initial statement to the media, but did not file a formal complaint to Driedger. The only thing worse than wrongdoing is the denial, said Pallister, who insisted to Driedger that he was not speaking to the matters she has under investigation. MLAs bullying other members should not be aided and abetted by their colleagues, said Pallister. Pallister later told reporters that Fontaine, as someone who advocates for oppressed women, had nevertheless participated in a cover-up. Fontaine left the legislature right after question period, but issued a statement that she did not see or hear the targeted heckling incident last Thursday, and had not intended to mislead anyone. It is not clear that Fontaine ever clarified or retracted her account of the situation with the media New Democrat Wab Kinew and Allum appear to have been the ones to say publicly that NDP men had only targeted PC women. Maloway scrummed with the media late Tuesday afternoon, arguing he was not violating Driedgers directive by doing so. Maloway also hinted that Altemeyer could take some action for having been falsely accused. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/10/2016 (2211 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. As the Syrian refugee crisis continues, so do Canadas and Manitobas obligations toward refugee resettlement. With a reported 900 Syrians to arrive in Manitoba before the end of this year, what have we learned since last autumn? We believe the overall response from Canadians and Manitobans during the Syrian refugee crisis of late 2015 and early 2016 was overwhelmingly positive, despite vocal detractors. There was a flood of donations of money, furniture, material and time Canadians contributed toward Syrian refugee resettlement. There was a surge in initiatives to sponsor Syrian refugees under the private sponsorship program. Such individual initiatives were matched by the unprecedented mobilization of resources from the federal Liberal and provincial NDP governments. Commitments were made by both levels of government when large groups of Syrian refugees began to arrive last December. The feds supported, among other things, an increase in temporary staff at Welcome Place, the housing arm of the resettlement organization the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, to facilitate the housing and settlement of incoming Syrians. The province, adamant that not a single Syrian would stay in hotels, supported an increase in transitional housing. Moreover, it expanded the rent supplement program, through which the province covered the difference between market rental rates and rent (geared to income) paid by tenants. Welcome Place personnel say large numbers of incoming Syrian government-assisted refugees were able to access rent supplemented units. The result: a greater number of affordable units in a greater number of neighbourhoods, with the better likelihood of meeting the needs of Syrian families. The 928 Syrian refugees destined for Manitoba arrived between December 2015 and March 2016. Manitoba received an average of 1,167 refugees per year from 2008-13, Manitoba Immigration Facts reports. In other words, Manitobas refugee-resettlement community was responsible for the rapid resettling and housing of a number of incoming Syrians that vastly exceeded their regular responsibilities. That they were able to do so while avoiding placing Syrians in hotels reveals both their tremendous work and that governments made available the resources to do so. Of this group, 766 were government-assisted refugees and eligible to receive one year of federal government income support equivalent to provincial social services. Contrary to privately sponsored refugees who receive housing, social and emotional support from their sponsors, government-assisted refugees frequently arrive with no social or familial contacts. For refugees of any designation, resettlement is a long and arduous journey, necessitating learning a new language and culture, finding employment prospects, navigating school systems and a myriad of other challenges a settled population simply cannot imagine. And it is in the initial period of resettlement we must provide the strongest supports we can muster to ensure positive settlement experiences. Such positive experiences benefit all of us. Refugees from all countries require both temporary accommodations as well as some form of subsidized long-term housing in order to have the most successful resettlement possible and end the cycle of displacement and disruption. And while rent supplementation enabled a rapid response to the first cohort of Syrians, it should be noted such policy mechanisms were made available amid the long-term decline of social housing in Canada. It is crucial that it continue, however, it is but one of the policy options available to the provincial government. The other is to simply build and support more social housing. This is important to consider as Syria is but one of many examples of violent displacement. If we can reasonably expect to provide refuge in Canada and Manitoba, we must think seriously about the mechanisms and resources at our disposal. That means changing our thinking from a singular, geographically specific crisis to providing reliable and durable supports for refugee-serving agencies and resettled refugees, so settlement is not subject to election cycles or when our interest happens to be piqued. The tremendous upsurge in goodwill, effort and resources by Canadian society for welcoming and settling Syrian refugees is to be lauded. However, this alone cannot ensure the successful housing and settlement of refugees, whether they originate in Syria or elsewhere. And it is in mobilizing our collective resources for housing and settling such refugees that we give real teeth to our international humanitarian obligations. Hani Al-Ubeady is housing counsellor at Welcome Place, and Ray Silvius is an assistant professor at the University of Winnipeg. They, along with Emily Halldorson, an independent researcher, are involved in a three-year project, sponsored by the Manitoba Research Alliance, studying the housing situations of former refugees in Winnipeg. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/10/2016 (2211 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Do we need another planet for our species or should we just focus on this one? Tech entrepreneur and founder of a private space-exploration firm Elon Musk announced in September he intended to send people to Mars. He also outlined a philosophy that would see humans become a multi-planet species. JAE C. HONG / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Elon Musk with the SpaceX Dragon V2 craft. Not content to just have people visit the red planet, Musk envisions sending a million people to live there by the end of the century. His technical ambitions are impressive: he plans to start sending transports carrying 100 people per trip to Mars within the next decade, using and reusing a transportation system including a rocket 3 times as powerful as NASAs biggest, the Saturn V. Far from scoffing at the prospect, observers are taking Musk seriously. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has already announced his company will get a human to Mars before Musks does. Underlying the scope of such an undertaking is a bigger question, though: why go? Humans have a long history of colonizing, in many waves, whether its through Africa, Eurasia, Australia, the Pacific or the Americas in fact, settling everywhere on this planet except possibly Antarctica. But the prospect of not just going to Mars, but staying there, raises the question: do we need another planet? Based on the way weve been treating this one, its a question worth considering. Greenhouse gas emissions have led to a troubling milestone for our atmosphere: this year, for the first time on record, carbon did not drop below 400 parts per million. All evidence points to the fact not only is our climate changing, but the seven billion humans on this planet have something to do with it. Mars, from what we know, is inhospitable to human life. A colony could thrive there as long as people are protected from the environment and would require the best in technology to achieve it. Why then shouldnt the Earth, currently the only planet we have, get the same kind of respect? Should the climate change drastically and it could, to a sort not seen since before humans walked the Earth we may find things pretty inhospitable here, too. Science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson predicted this 20 years ago in his landmark novel Red Mars. As settlement on the red planet turned to efforts to manipulate its climate to become more Earth-like so people could live on the surface without spacesuits, runaway climate change on Earth caused problems there. In describing the irony, one of the characters remarked the best and brightest had to turn their efforts to making Earth inhabitable as well. Were not at that point yet. And the effort to settle on Mars will be a feat of human ingenuity, engineering and creativity. Lets hope we apply the same rigour to what we do on this planet. After all, its home. Moving closer to the final tax levy in the end of December, the Winona County Board of Commissioners is still exploring options, but hasnt found a hidden pot of gold. In a budget update and discussion by the board following its Tuesday meeting, county administrator Ken Fritz said that while theyve continued to look at several different avenues, the proposed 6 percent increase in the levy and close to $1 million from reserves hasnt changed much. Weve continued to work with the departments to find things to change, reduce, Fritz said. For instance, the there has been a reduction of five full-time employees from 2016 to 2017, and nearly 14 since 2012. But that hasnt offset continued problems with reduced funding from the state for mandated services and increased expenses in certain areas. Fritz said that the number of non-mandated services and expenditures hadnt changed much since 2015, and wouldnt likely become a major area of savings. Theres very, very few items ... not mandated, Fritz said. Other expenses, including technology costs, road maintenance, personnel and capital improvements would not be mandated, but also would be hard to reduce. There arent a lot of places to go and pull out the kind of things that would have a big impact, Fritz said. Fritz also noted that while the county does have some non-mandated functions, some of them are connected to other services and personnel and others bring in more revenue than they do expenses. The budgeting process can be seen in other areas of the groups meeting as well, and money was at the center of decisions regarding several services. The board postponed approval of an agreement with the tech company Databank to implement an electronic parcel splitting process. The current step, which would have cost about $58,000, was for designing and creating the processes. It will be decided at the last meeting in November. The system has been under review by a subgroup of the Land Records Committee for months, but Winona County Recorder Bob Bambenek advocated for not going forward with it at the board meeting, claiming that he hadnt known the price and they should explore more to save the money. A program thats in place and working in another location offers us a proven program, Bambenek said. I think theres more to look at. Fritz disagreed, and said that in addition to potentially effecting the schedule and having been the plan until that meeting, the money to be used was a prepaid item in the budget and wouldnt affect the levy amount. We have that money available, its for projects like this, Fritz said. Despite that the board voted unanimously to postpone for more exploration. They also voted unanimously to approve an agreement between Winona County and the Third Judicial District to continue the drug court in Winona County. Now that the federal grant funding the drug court ended, the funding will be transitioning to the state. Winona County will be giving the money they receive from the state for the next 12 months to the Drug Court Case Management services. County attorney Karin Sonneman said the state would be providing $43,000 for the next year to fund paid positions, and hopefully longer if they continue their efforts to make a more uniform system for drug courts in Minnesota. Theres no effect on the budget, Sonneman said. And theres no expectation either, because were looking to the state for funding. The support for the program was also linked to the long-term budget discussion, which touched on the need to decide what the county will do with the government center building into the future. Commissioner Steve Jacob said the drug court program helped to reduce the population in the jail, which in addition to helping the convicts, additional allowed them to not pay for housing them or a new jail immediately. Were either going to have to support these kind of programs or look at brick-and-mortar jail, Jacob said. Its cost-effective and its the right thing to do. There arent a lot of places to go and pull out the kind of things that would have a big impact. Ken Fritz, county commissioner Minneapolis recently endured more shootings. Mayor Betsy Hodges: This isnt who we are. Interesting question. Chicago, 2,800-plus people shot with 400-plus dead, while Twin Cities deaths by firearms are at 49-plus and rising. Well, who/what are we? Politicians like Mayor Hodges and criminal justice people waltz around firearms violence to old tunes, and public apathy encourages rising illegal firearm crime rates. Too many of us blame objects for firearm street crimes. What does blaming do, besides alerting greedy scavengers? Firearms are mute until someone pulls a trigger! What about breaking the criminal fingers pulling illegal firearm triggers? One dodger suggested locally incarcerated alleged firearms thieves are special court graduates. Cant say. However, anyone can see special courts euphemistically called restorative justice are expensive, futile 1970s-throwback excuses. After-the-fact band-aids cannot mitigate violent crime. In Chicagos worst (killing) year, 1974, 950-plus died! A police taskforce circulated about Chicagos numerous ganglands; homicide rates dropped. Competent law enforcement served and protected! Today, policing violence is different. Gun politics aside, turf wars continue beside social media-fueled block-by-block violence. Rude online bullying provokes rash, physical assaults that flare anywhere, anytime encounters occur. It is kid-kewl to strut hot guns and up random ego-driven street violence. Today, preventing social media-motivated assaults requires more than special! What restorative anything could possibly mitigate naive young people ruled by social media? Competent policing always reins in violence. But, sadly, misguided cultural or enclave resistance against cops only adds to the violence perpetrated by pleadings and special courts. The result is greater urban anarchy potential. Perpetrators need to fear authority. Whenever society abides thuggish gunsels, whats the point of special anything? The very idea of special court confirms societys failure to secure itself. We are hypocrite peers doing an atrocious job of raising and educating our children. We foist parenting upon teachers, but tie the schools hands. We allow bamboozling politicians and bureaucrats to assume (our) responsibilities and then complain. We want security but handcuff law enforcement. If violence is not who we are, who are we? Why not change the music and the dance? What is it about rapid, practical results that is so bad? If something necessary fails, we repair it. Throwing tax money at a system that promotes unsafe streets is like erecting swing sets in a bullys playground yard! If nothing changes, what will happen? Does our politics of justice sustain and compound a vicious circle of criminal behavior? Who is responsible besides us? If officials and politicians are loathe to admit their own lack of candor in dealing with bad behaviors, is it because politicians and bureaucrats fear singling out root causes threatens them? If so, and we elect them, arent we responsible for making our streets more dangerous? Any threatened society that refuses to impose effective policing harms itself! In addition, past failure to address abominable family systems means society (us) must either accept growing rudeness, insecurity and violence or begin to change the antecedents that nurture bad manners, even employ a remedy that avoids self-blame yet mitigates targeted criminal (firearm) violence! Illegal firearms are not illegal drugs. Again, how fast would word spread among the even the dimmest gang members that illegal use and possession lead to draconian life changing-consequences? No sickness excuses! Too, secure societies must buy security. Absence of societal will only encourage the loafers. Population is growing and average street danger will remain proportional. Violence prevention alone is a formidable task! Buy security means more than spending. It means removing all imminent threats, not just criminal threats; buy includes removing lazy officials, such as posturing judges, politicians and correction minions parroting bureaucratic humbug! Buy also means accepting our part in current criminal problems and admit the authorities that we all depend upon to serve and protect us know best how to police! Besides, what can possibly be wrong in stifling the direct antecedents of firearm-crime source family, gunsel thug or governance? Target bad people directly: Apprehend them! If convicted, toss the key! Again, even the dimmest dodger fears long incarceration for illegal firearm possession, much less use. No deals! No special handling! Do special deals make streets safer or limit prison populations and keep bureaucrats employed? No security; no society! How about a rockin new street dance, a different dance band? Dodge County will be the first Blue Zones Project demonstration community in Wisconsin. Kim Miller, president and CEO of Beaver Dam Community Hospitals, made the announcement Monday during a press conference with more than 60 people in attendance, including representatives from area businesses, churches and schools, along with community leaders and government officials. Miller first shared the news with members of the Healthy Communities, Healthy Lives Coalition. Formed in 2014, Miller said the coalition began with 20 members and now includes more than 70 people who are committed to making Dodge County a healthier place. This happened because of you, Miller said, referring to coalition members. Because of the work youve been doing. Community members and organizations in Dodge County are encouraged to get involved with Blue Zones Project programs and offerings. BDCH announced the launch with Healthways Inc. The Blue Zones Project is a growing nationwide well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easiercommunity by communitythrough permanent changes to environment, policy and social networks. We commend Beaver Dam Community Hospitals for their leadership in embracing innovative strategies such as Blue Zones Project that improve health and well-being, said Katrina Worlund, Healthways senior vice president, Blue Zones Project. Communities with greater well-being have lower health care costs, higher productivity, and are recognized among the best places to live, work and play. With its dedication to well-being improvement, Beaver Dam Community Hospitals distinguishes itself as a pioneer in health and disease prevention. The Blue Zones Project was first introduced to the area during a presentation hosted by BDCH in June 2015 featuring Tony Buettner, senior vice president of business development for Blue Zones. Buettner said he usually spends about 45 minutes at similar presentations, but left the stage nearly three hours later after answering questions about the Blue Zones Project. This is a community that is wise, Buettner said. Buettner said since he first visited Dodge County, the Blue Zones Project has expanded to nine states and 39 communities. Im looking forward to seeing an incredible transformation to come in Dodge County, Buettner said. In Blue Zones, people live in cultures that make the healthy choice nearly inevitable. Its difficult to change individual behaviors when community behaviors stay the same. While we support individual responsibility, Blue Zones Project focuses on changes to the environment, so that impacts the well-being of residents. An assessment phase began in September 2015 with Blue Zones Project representatives spending time in Beaver Dam, Horicon, Juneau and Mayville. The results of the assessment were presented in January, when Miller said the next step would be securing funds for the project. When asked what the fundraising goal was for the Blue Zones Project, Miller said she did not want to disclose a set dollar amount. She said an account has been set up through the Beaver Dam Community Hospital Foundation, and she has spoken to donors, seeking support for a three-year time frame to fund the Dodge County Blue Zones Project. Miller said a grant writer was hired to help apply for foundation grants to support the Blue Zones Project. The thing that is important, Miller said. Is this will be available to everyone at no cost. She said she did not want finances to be a barrier for anyone who wants to participate. Blue Zones Project operations manager Jon Werger said the timeline for rolling out the project will include writing a blueprint for what will be done in Dodge County. He anticipated a kickoff in March or April. Werger said the Blue Zones Project will need north of 100 people to serve on committees. He called on members of the Healthy Communities, Healthy Lives Coalition to help. We are going to need all of you to get involved, Werger said. People dont join projects. People join people. Initial Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey results provide key insight into Dodge Countys successes and opportunities when it comes to community health. The area boasts a lower-than-average smoking rate, but obesity is well above the national average at 34 percent. Social well-being, one of five elements of well-being, in the area is also low, though overall well-being is above average for Wisconsin and the nation. Help us help the county, Miller said. I would like us to become the healthiest county in Wisconsin. JUNEAU The 17-year-old high school student who allegedly shot an assistant manager at Mills Fleet Farm, 1815 N. Spring St., pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Jared L. Spencer, now 18, is charged with attempted first degree intentional homicide, one count of first degree reckless injury, aggravated battery, two counts of first degree recklessly endangering safety, two misdemeanor counts of pointing a firearm at another, one count of discharging a firearm at a person or vehicle and retail theft. Spencer previously entered a not guilty plea to all charges in October 2015. Spencer was found not competent to stand trial by Judge Joseph Sciascia in February based on a report from the court psychiatrist, Dr. Craig Schoenecker. Sciascia determined that based on Shoeneckers report that Spencer was not competent, but believed that competency could be restored. Spencer was committed for psychiatric treatment on Feb. 2. In July Sciascia determined that Spencer was once again competent to stand trial. Spencer is ordered to continue taking the medication he was prescribed while he is in custody. Spencer had a second arraignment on Monday and entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Spencer has been held in Dodge County Jail on a $250,000 cash bail since he was arrested in July of 2015. According to the criminal complaint, police were called to Fleet Farm at 5:27 p.m. July 15 after an assistant manager at Fleet Farm had been shot in the parking lot and the suspect fled in a vehicle. The assistant manager, a member of loss prevention, and an off-duty DeForest police officer were near each other at the time of the shooting. Andrew J. Kruse, 31, was shot in the shoulder area and the right wrist. Kruse was taken to Beaver Dam Community Hospital before being transported to UW Hospital in Madison. He was later released. Kruse told officers he and other staff spoke to Spencer about the ammunition that was in his pocket. They asked Spencer to go back in the store, but it was clear Spencer was not going to stop so Kruse started to call 911. The bullet did not exit Kruses shoulder. Columbus Police stopped the vehicle Spencer was driving at about 5:40 p.m. Officers also found the ammunition in his pocket and the handgun in the vehicle. Spencer acknowledged that he was at Fleet Farm and shoplifted some ammunition while there. Spencer requested an attorney when asked about the shooting. A telephone scheduling conference has been set for Dec. 9 at 8:15 a.m. Visitation will be held Monday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. to a time of remembrance to begin at 11 a.m. at Koepsell-Murray Funeral Home in Beaver Dam. Interment will take place at Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Union Grove, where military honors will be conducted. Whether a believer or skeptic, ghost stories and urban legends can still be fascinating, and the local area has plenty of legends regarding creatures going bump in the night. From the infamous Mauston Birdman to Portages mysterious Wisconsin Street Woman, these stories have been passed down through generations. Every Halloween, tall tales get told around the campfire, igniting the imagination and spooking countless children. While some ghost stories are well known, others are often isolated accounts, told to only friends and family. Either way, these haunted tales give the region a dark mystique that beckons to be explored. Mauston Birdman arrives from the bluffs Chad Lewis has spent more than 20 years chasing ghost stories and researching haunted locations. He has published several books on the paranormal, including The Wisconsin Road Guide to Haunted Locations, which he co-authored with Terry Fisk. Lewis will often stop at libraries across the state to promote his books and discuss local ghost stories. Most people that have an experience (with a ghost) never report it, they just talk to their friends and family, Lewis said. He always keeps his ears open for new haunted tales or legends of creatures that have been spotted across the Wisconsin countryside. In rural Mauston, the story of the Birdman materialized in the late 1970s. I first got a report from someone that around 77 or 78, his grandmother used to talk about a birdman being at her window and it was around the bluffs, Lewis said. It was something that was six-feet tall, looked like a man, had a very long beak and had yellowish feathers. It was a biped, it had two feet, but for lack of a better term, they called it a birdman. The man who contacted Lewis claimed he also spotted the Birdman while playing with his sister around 1980. His story is also recounted in the book Weird Wisconsin: Your Travel Guide to Wisconsins Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets, by Linda S. Godfrey and Richard D. Hendricks. In the story, the man said the bird-like creature scared the living daylights out of his grandmother. His grandparents lived in a trailer on his parents property about five miles west of Mauston off Highway 82. In recalling the story, he told Lewis: One day my grandma started screaming. When we went to see what was going on she was hysterical and screaming about a birdman looking at her through the window. She said she was sitting in her chair, watching her shows and saw something by the window. When she got up to see what it was, there was this tall birdman looking in at her. A few years ago, Lewis investigated the Birdman story, interviewing locals who live among the bluffs west of Mauston. While first-hand accounts of the Birdman have been sparse for decades, Lewis said several residents know the story well. Stories were circulating, but I just couldnt track down any other person that had a sighting of it, Lewis said. Ladies of the night terrorize Old Baraboo Inn The Old Baraboo Inn has a checkered past, and some believe former occupants from a century ago are there to stay. Located along Walnut Street, the 152-year-old building has been remodeled into a bar and grill. In its earliest days, the inn served as a tavern and brothel, across the street from a railway station. After fire gutted much of the building in 1988, new owners renovated the old inn and re-opened it in 2002. Since that time, employees have reported doors opening and closing by themselves, lights being turned on during the night, and dishes, cups and utensils flying off racks untouched by human hands. According to the website HauntedHouses.com, three prostitutes died at the inn, including two former owners. Witnesses claim to have seen a woman dressed as a saloon dancer, hanging out behind the bar and dancing to songs from the jukebox. Another woman supposedly haunts the second floor and teases visitors. Despite the frightening stories, the inn has embraced its haunted history. Lewis said it conducts regular tours of the building. It even has a ghost drink that you can get. So theyre really going for it with the ghost stuff, Lewis said. But they have a long history. I remember 20 years ago, when I started doing this, hearing stories of the place being haunted. Ive been there several times and the owners have had many people come in and out, from patrons to employees. From what theyve told me, theyve had a lot of experiences there. Lewis recommends visiting this 150-year-old building to get a taste of the supernatural experience. Vanishing Hitchhiker patrols Highway 12 If you see a mysterious figure late at night along Highway 12 in Baraboo, you might think twice about stopping to give him a lift. For years, reports have circulated about the Vanishing Hitchhiker walking along the highway, a few miles out of town. Lewis said the vanishing hitchhiker story is nothing new. Nearly every state has a legend of a ghostly hitchhiker, but its usually a woman. What sets this one apart is that its not only a man, but he seems to always be wearing a green Army jacket. People will be driving late at night, theyll see a man on the side of the road hitchhiking, Lewis said. Of course theyll slow down as to not hit him, but nobody picks up a hitchhiker anymore. Theyll keep going about their way and about 10 miles down the road, they see the same exact guy along the side of the road. A Madison resident, who formerly lived in Sauk City, emailed Lewis and shared his story of the Vanishing Hitchiker. He was driving with his son and his sons girlfriend to the Baraboo Walmart when they spotted the man in the green Army jacket around 2 a.m. The man wrote to Lewis, We remember him because we were saying how creepy it would be to be out late, get a flat or something, and run into someone wandering about. We didnt think any more of it, but shortly after, we saw him again and we said, Didnt we just pass him? How could he get way up here so fast? We may be one of the few who have ever seen him. I drove a lot, and late at night after that, and never have seen him again. Another haunted site near Baraboo is the Ringling Road Well. It is believed that a demented mother threw her children down the well, jumped in after them and perished, along with her kin. It is reported people will see not only her hanging from a rope by the well, but also hear kids crying from inside the well, Lewis said. Its a great, spooky Halloween story, but its located on private property. Spirit of Church Road Cemetery Old cemeteries are notoriously creepy, but Church Road Cemetery in rural Portage is frightening enough to make one physically ill. The cemetery is located on Church Road, off County Highway O, about six miles west of Portage. Its a small plot of tombstones hidden among a thicket of trees. Church Road is a dead-end roadway. The legend is that a young girl committed suicide out there and supposedly when you go out there you see a noose and a vision of a girl hanging in a tree. Others will see balls of light dancing around the trees, Lewis said. While investigating the property, Fisk, Lewis research partner, became sick after walking to a spot in the cemetery. He said, Im going to throw up, Im sick. Come over here and see what happens, Lewis said. I walked over there and was fine. He left the area and was fine, walked back in and something just made him feel like he would vomit. The cemetery no longer accepts burials, but its roots date back to 1859. Ghostly woman in Portage In downtown Portage, the legend of the Wisconsin Street Woman has perplexed and fascinated locals for years. Wisconsin Street, with a mix of homes and businesses, runs through the heart of the city. Residents have reportedly seen a woman, dressed in early 1900s garb, pushing a baby stroller down the street. When people slow down they see what looks like a very old Victorian baby carriage. When they slow down to get a closer look, shes nearly transparent and some say shell disappear right before their eyes, Lewis said. Molly haunts Showboat Saloon Similar to the Old Baraboo Inn, Ghost Mollys Showboat Saloon was once known as a house of ill repute. The former bordello eventually became a popular watering hole in downtown Wisconsin Dells, but the ladies of the night that were once employed there allegedly still frequent the bar. In particular, a ghost named Molly has been known to mill around the stage. Witnesses have also seen apparitions in mirrors, walked into cold spots, and have seen kegs move by themselves in the cellar. Bartenders Ive spoken to there have heard their name being called as theyre closing up and theyll be tapped on the shoulder, spin around, and nothing will be found, Lewis said. People have seen figures walk into the walls and disappear. While the stories are chilling, the saloon has embraced its rich, haunted history, rebranding itself as Ghost Mollys Showboat Saloon. Old Dell House carries haunted mystery While there isn't much left of the Dell House in Wisconsin Dells, tales of ghosts roaming the property have been passed on for decades. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the house was built in 1828 by Robert Allen and eventually became an inn, operated by the J.B. McCuen family. The Dell House, built in a forest glen called the Narrows, was known as a rough-and-tumble place where hardened river men gambled, fraternized with women, drank bad whiskey and slept. Fights were a frequent occurrence at the inn. Traffic along the Wisconsin River eventually dried up and the inn was left abandoned by 1900. A fire in 1910 destroyed the interior of the house, leaving just the foundations, fireplace and a towering brick chimney. Today the Dell House is gone, but the forest glen remains. Apparently, some of the inn's former patrons are still there too. For years, visitors have claimed to have heard cursing, laughing, footsteps, breaking glass and other mysterious sounds. Those who dare to venture to the glen at night have reportedly seen shadows bounce through the trees and disappear. Monster roams through Devils Lake Even Devils Lake has its share of ghoulish creatures. According to legend, the Devils Lake Monster has inhabited the popular summer oasis for years. Devils Lake State Park, located between Baraboo and Prairie du Sac, also carries a story of a Native American spirit spotted paddling a canoe across the lake. People have seen him traveling in a canoe and throughout the park, wearing Native American garb, thinking hes part of a celebration or re-creation, Lewis said. But he appears transparent and will often vanish into thin air. Hell be seen meandering through the campground. I always encourage people when theyre camping there to always have the most powerful fire to keep away the spirits. Make sure your neighbors fire isnt quite as nice as yours. Mad women haunt Sauk City house In Sauk City, the house at 315 Water St. is still standing after more than 170 years, and its got its share of ghost stories. The story of the house, set far off from the sidewalk and obscured by several lilac bushes, was chronicled in Sauk City author August Derleths book Atmosphere of Houses. Derleth wrote that the house could only be seen on days when the lilacs didnt bloom, as if to add to the houses mystique. In his non-fiction book, Derleth claims ghosts stalked the house at night, crying and whimpering. In the 1880s, the house was owned by the Trautman sisters, Barb and Rosa, both unmarried. They were known across town to be eccentrics and members of the Free Thinkers Congregation. The Trautmans were declared insane and forcefully committed to the state mental institute near Madison. They were allegedly abused by physicians during their two-year stay at the facility until finally being released after petitioning the governor. No ghost sightings have been profiled at 315 Water Street in recent years. Maybe the Trautmans are finally resting in peace. A city without When asked to recall a Reedsburg ghost story, Lewis paused for a moment. I cant recall one for Reedsburg, but that doesnt mean there arent any there, Lewis said. Lewis and Fisk have archived many of their Wisconsin ghost stories at www.unexplainedresearch.com. The author said they are always looking for new stories of the supernatural to investigate. Lewis will hold a presentation, Wisconsins Most Haunted Locations at the Ruth Culver Community Library in Prairie du Sac on October 17, from 6:30 p.m. 8 p.m. Call 608-643-8318 for more information. Editors note: This is the second of two profiles of the candidates in the Nov. 8 election for Columbia County district attorney. Today, incumbent Jane Kohlwey, a Republican, is featured. Challenger Doug Kammer, who is running as an Independent, was featured in Mondays Daily Register. For the first time in 16 years, Jane Kohlwey is facing organized opposition to her re-election as district attorney of Columbia County. Since 1999, Kohlwey, of Rio, has overseen the department and its roughly half-million dollar budget, leading prosecution of criminal cases in Columbia County Circuit Court. Kohlwey took the position in 1998, defeating incumbent Tim Henney, then again winning in 2000 by a margin of six points, 53 percent to 47 percent. Over the following 16 years Kohlwey has been unchallenged, although write-in candidates took about 9 percent of the vote in 2004 and 2008, and just under 3 percent in 2012. I looked at it this time and Ive got a lot left to do yet, said Kohlwey during a recent lunch in her office on the first floor of the courthouse. Were going to the e-filing, which is a big move, weve got the remodeling project coming up. And thats not a time, when you have all that going on, to be shifting gears, having inexperienced people running the ship. Although speaking in generalities, in this election, inexperienced people would be Portage attorney Doug Kammer, 71, who after more than 40 years in private practice, is challenging Kohlwey, offering himself to voters, as his campaign slogan seen on many yard signs puts it, your independent choice. Law and order candidate Kohlwey, 59, graduated from the University of Wisconsin College of Law in 1985, entering private practice working with Stoltz and Strohschein in Columbus, and then Miller, Rogers and Owen in Portage. When Kohlwey was working in private practice in Portage and first ran for district attorney in 1998, an ad in the Daily Register read: Endorsements for Jane Kohlwey are impressive. Join these Columbia County Law Enforcement Offices in their support of Jane Kohlwey: What followed was a list of names and ranks of officers including 36 members of the Columbia County Sheriffs Office, six members of the Wisconsin Dells Police Department, nine from the Columbus Police Department four from the Fall River Police Department, one Lodi officer, the chiefs of police in Pardeeville, Rio and Wyocena, and one Poynette officer. Another advertisement read: Striving to protect the rights of victims, listing the endorsements of 22 Columbia County board supervisors, three past board chairmen, 10 members of the Columbia County law enforcement community, five county staff (coroner, clerk, treasurer, register, and clerk of courts), and Republican state Assembly members Rep. Eugene Hahn of Cambria and Rep. Joan Spillner of Montello. Since then, Kohlwey has continued to run as a Republican, in the first race, against single-term Democrat District Attorney Tim Henney. In the course of the race, Kohlwey accused Henney of managing a disorganized office, to which Henney would respond in forums that morale was fine before the County Board fired the office manager, adding to the stress of being, as he estimated, two full attorneys short of the needed staffing for their workload. During the third in a series of three public forums, Kohlwey argued that she would bring more aggressive prosecution, saying that Henney too often avoided jury trials by closing cases with plea agreements. I know as a defense attorney that the only reason for plea bargaining is because the defendant is getting what he wants out of it, Kohlwey said at a debate. I have had some clients who I feel were way too happy with the deals they got. That November Kohlwey defeated Henney with 7,837 votes to 6,389, winning by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent. Kohlwey served a two-year term, the last before the position became a four-year term, before facing Henney in a re-match in 2000. In that years debates, again, Kohlwey attacked Henneys management of the office. He proved that he couldnt handle the job, said Kohlwey. I could not just sit back anymore. I have the skills and I have proved it. Again Kohlwey prevailed in the election, taking 53 percent of the ballots cast, 12,725 votes against Henneys 11,261 votes. The two elections were out of the ordinary, simply as a matter of the natural lack of competition among races for district attorney on a national level. According to a 2009 study published in the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, at the time researchers found that 85 percent of incumbent prosecutors ran unopposed. In the following three elections, Kohlwey ran unopposed, notwithstanding a marginal write-in campaign in 2008, which left Kohlwey winning by only 90 percent. In 2012, Kohlwey regained ground, re-elected with 97 percent of the votes. Invested in the work Jane is extremely hard working, said Brenda Yaskal, formerly an assistant district attorney who, this past summer left to join the Sauk County Corporation Counsel. She isnt one of those DAs that is just an administrator, she is down there in the trenches with the rest of us and she covers courts almost every day and has her own case load. She does so much work and that people just dont know about. After 10 years of working under Kohlwey, Yaskal decided it was time to move on, but is emphatic that working with Kohlweys team was a strong motivation to stay. Complications in the work came in part from the confluence of differing jurisdictions and their working under two separate authorities. I was paid by the state and enforced state laws, but I also enforced county ordinances, and I personally appeared on things I had a criminal caseload that involved crimes against children, said Yaskal. Along with the criminal side of that there is the flip side, there are CHIPS cases, which are Children in Need of Protective Services. In the CHIPS cases, Yaskal would represent the county in dealing with placement of children, foster care, and other cases that remain confidential. It is a difficult role to be in and I think it takes time to learn that role and be good at it, and learn to work well on the county level with law enforcement and other county agencies, said Yaskal. And also negotiate the state system that makes requests to the state department of administration which the DA falls under. Besides recognizing the technical and bureaucratic reasons, Yaskal said that she had a particular appreciation for Kohlweys support. Assistant district attorneys have their own areas of expertise and Yaskal was the go-to attorney for domestic violence cases and crimes against children. She was there for me because she knew and she knows what it is to find a balance between family and work. So it was nice to know that my boss had my back when things got rough. Cases closed but not forgotten In 2008, Kohlwey admitted to a serious judgment error, in the handling of a 2005 case in which she was accused of destroying documents relating to the case of a former Sauk County sheriffs deputy who had been charged with hit-and-run involving great bodily harm after backing over his girlfriend with a truck. Kohlwey was assigned the case as a special prosecutor, which ended in plea deal in which 43-year-old David Riedel did not plea in open court and Kohlwey was reprimanded by the Crime Victims Rights Board for failing to give the victim information about the deal that resolved the case. Kammer points to this as evidence of Kohlweys having developed too cozy of a relationship with law enforcement, also leading to questionable judgment, which Kammer claims, is reflected in the overall success rate of the district attorneys office. Of the cases that have gone to trial in the last three years, the prosecution failed to convict in 19 of 46 cases. One of the cases was the 2012 trial of Stephanie McMillen, who was charged with attempted homicide and stalking, with the proceedings ending in a mistrial after a week-long trial in May 2015. In August the case was re-tried, ending in McMillen being found not guilty of attempted homicide, but convicted of stalking and obstructing and officer. In October 2015, Leah Waldhart went before a jury charged with first-degree homicide as a party to a crime. The case, which was complicated by the charging of a single person as a party to a crime without clarifying to the jury the role of any other party, as well as the overall age of the case, brought to court in 2014, but based on an incident in April 2001. The case, prosecuted by Kohlwey and Yaskal, ended in the jury finding Waldhart not guilty. Win-loss records are not how you should judge any trial attorney or any district attorneys office, said Kohlwey, explaining that her office will dismiss any case if it turns out, after charges are originally filed, that for any reason the case should not be heard in court. But justice isnt the prosecutor winning all the time and success for me is that we have done the best we can to help the victim through the system, with as little additional trauma as possible. And getting services and restitution that are available. And advocating scrupulously, but also very much with integrity, for what we think is right in the case. Amid a crisis One of the most time-consuming areas of law for the district attorneys office has also arguably seen the most rapid change in recent years as attitudes toward prosecuting drug offenses has changed and in more recent years, opioid addiction has become a public health emergency across the country. In our prosecution we really try to separate those who are strictly users especially if they are just getting into the drug scene from those who are dealing, even if they are, as they say, just dealing to support my habit. they are just as dangerous as someone who is dealing and isnt a user, said Kohlwey. The district attorneys office tries to direct defendants toward treatment, said Kohlwey, though success tends to be hit-and-miss, even when someone with an opioid addiction has a sincere desire to get away from using drugs. So in the criminal side in the punishment side we really try to, as we can, get supervision, usually in the form of probation, said Kohlwey. Otherwise in the form of extended supervision, for a fairly long period of time so that when the user falls off the wagon, yet again, there is a swift way to get them under control yet again. The Columbia County Circuit Court is in the initial stages of developing a drug court. Kohlwey sees this as one part of a multi-pronged approached to addressing drug problems that also includes community involvement and education, such as through groups like Prevention and Response Columbia County, which meets monthly, bringing together law enforcement, treatment providers and county health officials, among others to address the issue from more than one side, with the district attorneys office providing their respective expertise where applicable. Thats why Im so glad that Judge Hepler has taken the reins and is going forward with trying to get a drug treatment court started. My office has been involved from the very beginning with the OWI court and that has been such a huge success, said Kohlwey. I continue to work with the Teen Court that we have in Columbia County and that may not directly be opioid prevention and education, but any research and any common sense that we have tell us that young people who have positive involvements with their communities are much less likely to get involved with drugs and especially with the opioid drugs. Drug addiction has been among the most visible legal issues and perhaps now more than at any time before, though when it comes to the lesser seen, perhaps undervalued aspects of the work, Kohlwey has a clear idea on the subject. I would say it is the work that we do in the juvenile areas, both in child abuse and child neglect areas. And that is rightfully not in the public eye at all. But I feel for our community and families, it is by far the most important work that we can do, she said. There is a reason that I have that plaque up there (on her office wall): It is better to build children than it is to repair men. Because I really believe that and its not meant to be sexist. Ive been asked about it and thats just the English language. I believe everything we can do to build stronger families and stronger, more resilient children, is what we do to take care of our county and our future. TOWN OF PACIFIC Just two years after the completion of a $589 million air quality improvement project, the cranes are on the rise again at the Columbia Energy Center. Whats going up this time: a selective catalytic reduction system designed to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 50 percent, from one of the two units at the coal-burning electricity generating plant. Federal, state and local officials were among the approximately 100 people who attended Mondays groundbreaking ceremony for the $110 million project, which is already started. It will take about two years to complete the system at Unit Two of the power plant and during the busiest part of that construction, there will be up to 100 workers at the site, who will stay in Portage area lodging facilities and shopping and eating at Portage establishments. Dave Herkert, project manager for the Columbia Energy Centers air quality improvement efforts, said the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system is intended to help the power plant meet both current and anticipated air quality standards for its emissions, and to prolong the life of a plant that has been operating for more than 40 years. When the SCR system is up and running its completion is scheduled for the end of 2018 it will work by injecting aqueous ammonia into the stream of gases leaving the boiler, to change the emissions into nitrogen and water substances that are found naturally in the atmosphere. Unlike the scrubber and baghouse systems that went into service at both Columbia Energy Center units in 2014 a project that cost $589 million the SCR system doesnt leave a solid precipitate that requires disposal in a landfill, Herkert said. He noted, too, that power plant officials are looking at potential agricultural uses for the residue from the scrubber and baghouse, which reduce emissions of mercury and sulfur dioxide by about 90 percent. Right now, Herkert said, installing an SCR system on only one of the two units is sufficient to meet air cleanliness standards. When the SCR system is operating, the emissions from Unit 2 will pass through it before theyre routed into the baghouse, he said. Terry Kouba, vice president of generation operations at Alliant Energy which operates the Columbia Energy Center said the project is part of the companys commitment to clean and economical energy. This project truly is a win-win for Wisconsins environment and the economy, he said. Kouba said Alliant is undertaking air quality improvements at its largest Wisconsin energy generating stations, including the Columbia Energy Center, as part of a larger effort that also includes retiring older and less efficient plants, building a natural-gas-fueled expansion near Beloit and expanding renewable energy sources like wind. Phil Montgomery, a commissioner for the Public Safety Commission of Wisconsin which oversees the operation of utilities, including electricity said Wisconsin needs a balanced mix of energy sources. This plant continues to be a reliable, consistent generating facility, and because of innovation, it is sustainable and affordable, Montgomery said. State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald stood behind embattled Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday, while describing Trumps remarks about women on a recently uncovered video as ridiculous and disgusting. Fitzgerald and Senate Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling discussed the campaign at a WisPolitics.com debate luncheon in Downtown Madison. For Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, it was his first public comment on Trump since dozens of Republicans nationwide began renouncing support for their partys nominee over the weekend. The defections followed a report of a 2005 video in which Trump brags about making unsolicited advances on women because when youre a star, they let you do it. Fitzgerald signaled he has no plan to join the ranks of Republicans who are deserting Trump, and that the controversy hasnt really, really trickled down to state Senate races. Fitzgerald said opposition to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will continue to bolster the GOP ticket. The fact of the matter is, theres still a lot of support out there for Donald Trump, Fitzgerald said. Shilling, D-La Crosse, predicted Trump could help Democrats win races down the ticket, including in the Senate. There is no telling the amount of damage that Hurricane Donald is going to be doing to Wisconsin and to this country on Nov. 8, Shilling said. Fitzgerald has been a solid supporter of Trump since he became the presumptive GOP nominee and was widely quoted in May for saying he and fellow Republicans are on the Trump train now. Fitzgerald also shrugged off Trumps full-on assault on U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville on Tuesday. After Ryan signaled to House Republicans on Monday that he no longer would defend Trump, the GOP nominee spent Tuesday morning making Twitter posts slamming Ryan as weak and ineffective and other Republicans as disloyal. Fitzgerald said Trumps tweets are not something thats good for the discussion right now but called them unsurprising. Its typical, I think, when anybody goes after Trump, he lashes out at them, Fitzgerald said. Republican Gov. Scott Walker tweeted disapproval of Trumps comments on the video but has not said whether he still backs Trump. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has remained silent about Trump since the events of last weekend. Sixteen of 33 seats in the state Senate are on the ballot; Republicans are seeking to protect their 19-14 majority. Shilling predicted Tuesday that Democrats will pick up one or two Senate seats in the election. A two-seat gain would leave Democrats one shy of the majority, with a 17-16 GOP split. Fitzgerald dismissed Shillings suggestion of Democratic pickup targets in Senate districts 10, 12 and 14, where they hope to knock off incumbent GOP Sens. Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls, Tom Tiffany of Hazelhurst and Luther Olsen of Ripon. Fitzgerald said internal polling and other factors suggest none of the three incumbents are vulnerable. The latest Building Trades home project on School Road has already received interest from potential buyers, only weeks from when it began. Portage High Schools student-built home, upon completion, will be the second of five planned for the area, a project overseen by Principal Robin Kvalo and led by instructors and alumni Adam and Eric Routson. Ten students all seniors have been participating since September. Interest this early to me shows there is a need in the community and that theyre also supporting our students here, said Margaret Rudolph, business manager for the Portage Community School District. It gives a great impact for our students to have the continued opportunities, the hands-on experience. Students so far have completed only foundation work, Rudolph said, but that doesnt mean the Building Trades Committee wouldnt consider selling the property to a buyer ahead of its completion. Buying this early would allow the purchaser to dictate some of the homes features, such as flooring and paint coloring. The first home sold for $260,000 in August. We didnt realize thered be this much interest at this level, at this time, Rudolph said, noting the committee is still determining how such a sale would be handled. Travis Hamele, realtor with United Country Hamele Auction and Realty, donated his time and efforts to the sale of the first home built on School Road, an action commended by the School Board on Monday. Hes helping the district with the second home as well. District Administrator Charles Poches said Hameles free services for the first home amounted to a $7,650 donation. Its indicative of our community and their willingness to help out students, Poches said, and its consistent with others in the community who have given their time and resources. Its a great community to live in. Hamele, a PHS alumnus who participated in Building Trades in 1993 and 1994, said interest in the home this early is a great sign for the project long-term. The Building Trades class is building in a good area, Hamele said. There will be a lot of interest in that area: after this year theres three more lots, so as long as we can keep them in the budget, and with where the market is, well continue to sell them and put families in them who come to Portage. Hamele said the second home is very similar to the first, which was a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home with a full, unfinished basement and a three-car garage. Both the main and lower levels of that home were 1,728 square feet. Hamele never questioned helping out with Building Trades for a second straight year. I think its very valuable to our community to keep this going not only for the community but to teach kids lessons in construction. In the skilled trades, throughout the U.S. and in Wisconsin, we are short on skilled trades people whether they go into concrete, HVAC it gives them an idea of whats out there for them. And I know a lot of people who went through it and are still in it today, making a good living and enjoying everything. I just have a very strong belief that we need to keep this thing going for future generations. People interested in learning more about the second home can contact Hamele at 608-697-3349. KBR, Inc. provides scientific, technology, and engineering solutions to governments and commercial customers worldwide. The company operates through Government Solutions and Sustainable Technology Solutions segments. The Government Solutions segment offers life-cycle support solutions to defense, intelligence, space, aviation, and other programs and missions for military and other government agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Its services cover research and development, advanced prototyping, acquisition support, systems engineering, cyber analytics, space domain awareness, test and evaluation, systems integration and program management, global supply chain management, and operations readiness and support, as well as command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services. This segment also provides various professional advisory services to deliver high-end systems engineering, systems assurance, and technology to customers across the defense, energy, and critical infrastructure sectors. The Sustainable Technology Solutions segment holds a portfolio of approximately 70 proprietary process technologies for ammonia/syngas/fertilizers, chemical/petrochemicals, clean refining, and circular process/circular economy solutions. This segment also includes advisory and consulting practices that focuses on energy transition and net-zero carbon emission consulting; and provides engineering, design, and professional services, as well as industrial solutions through KBR INSITE, a proprietary, digital, and cloud-based operations and maintenance platform that identifies opportunities for clients to achieve sustainable improvements in production, reliability, environment impact, energy efficiency, and profitability. KBR, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Morgan Stanley is the 6th largest financial institution in the US. The company is ranked 61st on the Forbes Fortune 500 list and is the 39th largest bank in the world. A financial holding company, Morgan Stanley provides a full range of financial services to clients around the world. Morgan Stanley was formed in 1935 as a result of the Glass-Steagall Act. Glass-Steagall separated commercial and investment banking in a way that forced the then-largest bank J.P. Morgan & Co to split into two groups. J.P. Morgan & Co. chose to retain the commercial side of the business while partners Henry S. Morga, grandson of J.P., and Harold Stanley took the investment end. In its first year, Morgan Stanley did 24% of the IPO business and maintains a lions share of the market to this day. The original company existed and grew through acquisitions until 1987 when it merged with Dean Witter Discover & Co. The new Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover & Co existed for 14 years until 2001 when the name was shortened back to Morgan Stanley. The bank is credited in part with both beginning and ending the financial crisis of 2007/2008. The Process Driven Trading unit lost $300 million in one day due to a short-squeeze that popped the bubble in the housing market. After teetering on the brink of failure Morgan Stanley agreed to become a bank holding company regulated by the Federal Reserve, a key factor in the original decision to split from parent J.P. Morgan & Co. Ironically when given the chance, present-day J.P. Morgan refused to buy Morgan Stanley but that was for the better. Today, Morgan Stanley operates through three segments via offices in 41 countries and employs more than 75,000 people. Revenue in 2021 topped $49 billion and total assets topped $1.15 trillion. The operating segments are Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments. The Institutional Securities segment is by far the largest and most profitable. It offers a range of services and products for businesses, institutions, and entities that include capital raising, strategic advisory, underwriting, advice on M&A, restructuring, and real estate. The Wealth Management segment provides brokerage and investment advisory services for individuals and employers. The services include brokerage, financial planning, company stock-plan administration, insurance, mortgage loans, lines of credit, and retirement planning. The Investment Management segment provides investment products to a range of institutions, organizations, corporations, and governments. The following companies are subsidiares of Accenture: 2nd Road, ?What If!, ?What If! China Holdings Limited, ?What If! Holdings Limited, ?What If! Limited, ACN Consulting Co Ltd, AD.Dialeto (Digital Agency acquired by Accenture), AFD.TECH, AGS Business and Technology Services Limited, AIG Shared Services Business Processing Inc, ASM Research Inc., ASM Research LLC, ATAN, Accenture (Botswana) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (China) Co. Ltd., Accenture (Shenzhen) Technology Co. 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Limited, DI Futures Corporation, Data Essential SARL, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings LLC, Decora Marketplace LLC, Decorado Marketplace Ltda-EPP, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digital Results Group LLC, Double Digit Limitada, Double Digit Pty SA, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Limited, Duck Creek Technologies, ESR Labs, ESR Labs AG, EdenOne Solutions Limited, Edenhouse ERP Holdings Limited, Edenhouse Solutions Limited, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting LP, End to End Analytics LLC, End-to-End Analytics, Endorphin Medici (M) Sdn Bhd, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Limited, EnergyQuote JHA, Enimbos, Enimbos Global Services S.L., Enkitec, Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions LLC, Enterprise System Partners, Enterprise System Partners B.V., Enterprise System Partners Bilisim Danismanlik Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Enterprise System Partners Global Corporation, Enterprise System Partners Limited, Enthusian Pty Ltd, Entropia, Entropia (M) Sdn Bhd, Entropia Holdings Pte Ltd, Entropia Intercraft Sdn Bhd, Epylon, Ergo, Espedia S.r.l., Ethica Consulting Group, Ethica Consulting S.p.A., Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Experity, Exton Consulting, Exton Consulting Spain Strategy&Management S.L., Exton Germany GmbH, Exton International SAS, Exton Italia S.r.l., Exton SAS, FGM LLC, Fairway Technologies Inc, Farah BidCo Limited, Farah MidCo Limited, Farah Topco Limited, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Formicary, Founders Intelligence, Fruendo S.r.l., FusionX, Future State Consulting LLC, FutureMove (Beijing) Automotive Technology Co. Ltd., FutureMove Automotive, FutureMove Automotive Co. Ltd., GRA Supply Chain Pty Ltd, Gagel Group S de R.L. de C.V., Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gevity, Gren utvikling AS, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., HRC Retail Advisory, Hagberg Consulting Group, Hahntel Ltda, Halo Partners LLC, Hamilton Holding Company S.A, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Happen GP Limited, Happen Limited, Headspring, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl A/S, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn Bhd, IBB Consulting, ICM.S S.r.l., IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INSITUM, IQSP Consulting LLC, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Icon Integration (NZ) Limited, Icon Integration Pty Ltd, Imagine Broadband (USA) Limited, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Imaginea Technologies LLC, Industrie IT (Hong Kong) Ltd, Industrie IT (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Industrie IT Group Pty Ltd, Industrie IT Pty Ltd, Industrie&Co, Infinity Works Consulting Limited, Infinity Works Holdings Limited, Infinity Works Management Limited, Infinity Works Midco Limited, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Innotec International EAD, Innotec International S.p. z.o.o., Innotec Marketing GmbH, Innotec Marketing International Ireland Limited, Innotec- Marketing Spain S.L, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., International Biometric Group LLC, International Biometric Group UK Limited, Intrepid, Intrepid Futureworks Sdn Bhd, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Technology Ltd, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, ItSafer Continuity Services S.L., JKD Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, K Comms Group Limited, KSC Studio LLC, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, King James Group, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Limited, Kogentix Singapore Pte Ltd, Kogentix Technologies Private Limited, Kolle Rebbe, Kolle Rebbe GmbH, Kream Comms Limited, Kunstmaan, Kurt Salmon, Kurt Salmon Canada LTD, Kurt Salmon US LLC, LEXTA, LINKBYNET, LINKBYNET Indian Ocean (L.I.O) Ltd, LabAnswer, Lexta GmbH, Lexta UK Limited, Lien par le reseau Inc, Lien par le reseau infrastructures Inc, Lin Bo (Shanghai) Network Technology Co. Ltd., Link By Net SAS, Link By Net SRL, Link By Net Vietnam Company Limited, Linkbynet East Asia Ltd, Linkbynet Singapore Pte Ltd., Loud & Clear Creative Pty Ltd, Lumenup S.A., MAXIM Systems Inc., MCG US Holdings LLC, Mackevision CG Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mackevision Japan Co. Ltd., Mackevision Korea Ltd, Mackevision LLC, Mackevision Medien Design, Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Mackevision Singapore Pte Ltd, Mackevision UK Limited, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd, Maihiro, Matter, Maud Corp Pty Ltd, Maxamine International, Measuretek LLC, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing LLC, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mistral Wind Operations Servicos Empresariais Unipessoal Lda., MobGen, Mortgage Cadence LLC, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, Mudano Limited, Myrtle Consulting Group LLC, N3, N3 (Dalian) Business Consulting Co. Ltd., N3 Brazil Consultoria em Marketing Ltda, N3 Germany GmbH, N3 LLC, N3 North America LLC, N3 Results Australia Pty Ltd, N3 Results Ireland Limited, N3 Results Japan G.K., N3 Results Limited, N3 Results Malaysia Sdn Bhd, N3 Results Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., N3 Results S.A.S., N3 Results Singapore Pte Ltd, N3 Results Unipessoal Lda, NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., Nell'Armonia Israel Ltd, Nell'Armonia SAS, Nell'Participation SAS, NellArmonia, Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda, New Energy Group, News Imaging LLC, NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage Pte Ltd, Northstream, Novetta Holdings LLC, Novetta LLC, Novetta Solutions LLC, Novetta Topco LLC, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Olikka Pty Ltd, Olympus Systems Corporation, Openmind, Openmind S.r..l., Openminded, Openminded SAS, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium AG, Orbium Consulting Limited, Orbium Inc., Orbium Ltd, Orbium Pte Ltd, Orbium Pty Ltd, Origin Digital, PCO Innovation, PLM Systems S.r.l, PRION GmbH, PT Accenture, PT Asta Catur Indra, PT Kogentix Teknologi Indonesia, PacificLink Group, Paja Finanssipalvelut Oy, Parker Fitzgerald Inc, Parker Fitzgerald International Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Limited, Parker Fitzgerald PTY Ltd, Parker Fitzgerald Services Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Solutions Limited, Pecaso Ltd., Pegasus Production A/S, Pegasus Production K/S, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pollux Automation Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pollux Canada Inc, Pollux S.A.S., Pollux USA LLC, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Limited, Pramati Technologies Europe Limited, Pramati Technologies Private Limited, Presence of IT Workforce Management North America LLC, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Limited, Procurian Inc., Prof. Homburg GmbH, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co. Ltd., RBCP Fund 1-A Vapor Blocker LLC, RBCP Platform Vapor Blocker I LLC, REPL Consulting LLC, REPL Consulting Limited, REPL Digital Limited, REPL Group K.K., REPL Group Pty Ltd, REPL Group Worldwide Limited, REPL Pte Ltd, REPL Software Limited, REPL Technology Limited, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Root LLC, Rothco, Rothco Limited, S3 TV Technology Ltd., SALT Solutions GmbH, SEC Servizi, SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Salt Solutions, Sandbox Studio LLC, Sapling Bidco Limited, Sapling Midco Limited, Sapling Topco Limited, Schlumberger Business Consulting, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace (UK) Limited, Seabury Consulting, Seabury Corporate Advisors LLC, Seabury Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Search Technologies BPO Inc, Search Technologies International LLC, Search Technologies LLC, Search Technologies Limited, Securiview SAS, Sentelis, Sentor Managed Secuirty Services AB, Servicios Tecnicos de Programacion Accenture S.C., Seven Seas Business Ventures LLC, Shackleton, Shackleton Chile S.A., Shackleton S.L.U., Shanghai Baiyue Advertising Co. Ltd., Shun Zhe Technology Development Co. Ltd., SigInt Technologies LLC, Silveo, Silveo Consulting India Private Limited, Simian Pty Ltd, SinnerSchrader, SinnerSchrader AG, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., Sirvart S.A., Sistemes Consulting S.L., Skylink SAS, Soltians Limited, Solutions IQ LLC, SolutionsIQ, SolutionsIQ India Consulting Services Private Limited, Somers Ventures Ireland Limited, Somers Ventures LLC, Spacelink SAS, Storm Digital, Structure Consulting Group LLC, Sutter Mills, Synership LLC, Systor AG, T.A. Cook, TXF LLC, Tambourine, TargetST8, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Ltd, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Tquila, Trivadis, Trivadis AG, Trivadis Austria GmbH, Trivadis Denmark AS, Trivadis Germany GmbH, Trivadis Holding AG, Trivadis Partner AG, Trivadis Services AG, Trivadis Services SRL, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Vector Acquisition Company LLC, Vector Topco LLC, Verax Solutions, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd, Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Wabion GmbH, WaveStrike LLC, White Cliffs Consulting LLC, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wise Partners SAS, Wolox, Wolox Colombia S.A.S, Wolox LLC, Wolox Mexico S.R.L de C.V., Wolox S.A., Wolox SpA, Workforce Insight, Workforce Insight LLC, Yesler, Yesler LLC, Yesler Limited, Yesler Singapore Pte Ltd, Zag, Zag Australia Pty Ltd, Zag Limited, Zag USA LLC, Zebra Worldwide Australia Pty Ltd, Zebra Worldwide Group Limited, Zebra Worldwide Media Pty Ltd, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines Inc, Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc, Zestgroup, Zielpuls, Zielpuls (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zielpuls GmbH, avVenta, designaffairs, designaffairs Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., designaffairs GmbH, designaffairs group China Co. Ltd., dgroup, i4C Analytics, iDefense, solid-serVision.com GmbH, and umlaut. Read More American Homes 4 Rent is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on the US rental industry. The company is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is fast becoming a nationally recognized brand. The company is known for high-quality rental homes, providing good value and tenant satisfaction while generating profits for investors. The primary investment objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns through dividends and capital appreciation. The company plans to achieve its objective through the disciplined acquisition of new properties, by expanding its own construction and neighborhood building efforts, growing its geographically diverse portfolio, efficient property management, building a strong brand, and maintaining a sound capital structure. The company was founded in 2011 by David Singelyn and his partner. Mr. Singelyn has served as a Trustee and CEO since 2012. The company began by acquiring homes in underserved areas and remodeling them to modern standards. The firm has since expanded its operations to construction and now builds planned communities tailored to different lifestyles as well. The company went public in 2013 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. American Homes 4 Rent is an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. The company operates through a network of offices and the website AH4R.com. The company owns more than 55,000 properties across 22 states featuring move-in-ready and pet-friendly homes for individuals and families of all sizes. All previously used properties have been renovated to a high Certified Property standard that brings them to a like-new condition. Interested parties can view listings by area on the website and even use the site to fill out applications and sign leases. Properties are located in communities that fit a variety of lifestyle needs including fences, marble countertops, and even attached 2 and 3-car garages. The communities are located in hand-picked neighborhoods with features including access to commerce, schools, and amenities like lawn care, pools, trails, and fitness centers. Tenants are afforded many benefits by renting through American Homes 4 Rent. The first and most obvious is the freedom and flexibility of a mortgage-free lifestyle. On top of that, tenants can pay rent or schedule maintenance on their homes through the website, and dedicated service representatives are available 24/7. The following companies are subsidiares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft: ABFS I Incorporated, ABS MB Ltd., Alex. Brown Financial Services Incorporated, Alex. Brown Investments Incorporated, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft mbH, Ambidexter GmbH i.L., Argent Incorporated, BHW - Gesellschaft fur Wohnungswirtschaft mbH, BHW Bausparkasse Aktiengesellschaft, BHW Holding GmbH, BT Globenet Nominees Limited, Bainpro Nominees Pty Ltd, Baldur Mortgages Limited, Bankers Trust Investments Limited, Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc., Berkshire Mortgage Finance, Betriebs-Center fur Banken AG, Better Financial Services GmbH, Better Payment Germany GmbH, Borfield Sociedad Anonima, Breaking Wave DB Limited, Cardales UK Limited, Cardea Real Estate S.r.l., Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Asset Management Company Limited, Cathay Capital Company (No 2) Limited, Cedar (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., Chapel Funding, China Recovery Fund LLC, Consumo Srl in Liquidazione, D B Investments (GB) Limited, D&M Turnaround Partners Godo Kaisha, DB (Barbados) SRL, DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Asing) Sdn. Bhd., DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad, DB Alex. Brown Holdings Incorporated, DB Aotearoa Investments Limited, DB Beteiligungs-Holding GmbH, DB Boracay LLC, DB Capital Markets (Deutschland) GmbH, DB Cartera de lnmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Chestnut Holdings Limited, DB Corporate Advisory (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., DB Delaware Holdings (Europe) Limited, DB Direkt GmbH, DB Elara LLC, DB Energy Trading LLC, DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equity Limited, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology SRL, DB Group Services (UK) Limited, DB HR Solutions GmbH, DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB IROC Leasing Corp., DB Impact Investment Fund I. LP., DB Industrial Holdings Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, DB Industrial Holdings GmbH, DB Intermezzo LLC, DB International (Asia) Limited, DB International Investments Limited, DB International Trust (Singapore) Limited, DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Partners Limited, DB Investment Resources (US) Corporation, DB Investment Resources Holdings Corp., DB Investment Services GmbH, DB London (Investor Services) Nominees Limited, DB Management Support GmbH, DB Nominees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB Nominees (Jersey) Limited, DB Nominees (Singapore) Pte Ltd, DB Omega BTV S.C.S., DB Omega Holdings LLC, DB Omega Ltd., DB Omega S.C.S., DB Operaciones y Servicios lnteractivos Agrupacicm de lnteres Econemico, DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Holdings Limited, DB Print GmbH, DB Private Clients Corp., DB Private Wealth Mortgage Ltd., DB Re S.A., DB Service Centre Limited, DB Service Uruguay S.A., DB Services (Jersey) Limited, DB Services Americas. Inc., DB Servizi Amministrativi S.r.l., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Products Inc., DB Trustee Services Limited, DB Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB UK Bank Limited, DB UK Holdings Limited, DB UK PCAM Holdings Limited, DB US Financial Markets Holding Corporation, DB USA Core Corporation, DB USA Corporation, DB Valoren S.a. r.l., DB Value S.a.r.l., DB VersicherungsManager GmbH, DB Vita SA., DB lmmobilienfonds 5 Wieland KG i.L., DB lo LP, DBAH Capital. LLC, DBCIBZ1, DBFIC Inc., DBNZ Overseas Investments (No.1) Limited, DBOI Global Services (UK) Limited, DBR Investments Co. Limited, DBRE Global Real Estate Management 18 Ltd., DBRMS4, DBRMSGP1, DBUK PCAM Limited, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ2 S.a. r.l., DBX Advisers LLC, DEBEKO lmmobilien GmbH & Co Grundbesitz OHG, DEE Deutsche Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, DEUKONA Versicherungs-Vermittlungs-GmbH, DEUTSCHE BANK AS., DI Deutsche lmmobilien Treuhandgesellschaft mbH, DISCA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DWS Alternatives France, DWS Alternatives Global Limited, DWS Alternatives GmbH, DWS Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, DWS Beteiligungs GmbH, DWS CH AG, DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Far Eastern Investments Limited, DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, DWS Group Services UK Limited, DWS Grundbesitz GmbH, DWS International GmbH, DWS Investment GmbH, DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment S.A., DWS Investments Australia Limited, DWS Investments Hong Kong Limited, DWS Investments Japan Limited, DWS Investments Shanghai Limited, DWS Investments Singapore Limited, DWS Investments UK Limited, DWS Management GmbH, DWS Real Estate GmbH, DWS Service Company, DWS Shanghai Private Equity Fund Management Limited, DWS Trust Company, DWS USA Corporation, Deposit Solutions, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Capital Holdings New Zealand, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Foreign Investments New Zealand, Deutsche (New Munster) Holdings New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Access Investments Limited, Deutsche Aeolia Power Production Societe Anonyme, Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (UK) Limited, Deutsche Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd, Deutsche Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Australia Limited, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Deutsche Bank (Uruguay) Sociedad Anenima lnstitucien Financiera Externa, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp., Deutsche Bank Europe GmbH, Deutsche Bank Financial Company, Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Deutsche Bank Mutui S.p.A., Deutsche Bank Mexico. S.A., Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Deutsche Bank Polska Spelka Akcyjna, Deutsche Bank Representative Office Nigeria Limited, Deutsche Bank S.A, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Limited, Deutsche Bank Societe per Azioni, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Delaware, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, Deutsche Bank. Sociedad Anenima Espanola, Deutsche CIB Centre Private Limited, Deutsche Capital Finance (2000) Limited, Deutsche Capital Hong Kong Limited, Deutsche Capital Markets Australia Limited, Deutsche Capital Partners China Limited, Deutsche Cayman Ltd., Deutsche Custody N.V., Deutsche Domus New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Equities India Private Limited, Deutsche Finance No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Foras New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur lmmobilien-Leasing mit beschrenkter Haftung, Deutsche Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Group Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Deutsche Group Services Pty Limited, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Deutsche Grundbesitz-Anlagegesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Holdings (BTI) Limited, Deutsche Holdings (Grand Duchy), Deutsche Holdings (Luxembourg) S.El r.l., Deutsche Holdings Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 3 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 4 Limited, Deutsche India Holdings Private Limited, Deutsche India Private Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited, Deutsche International Custodial Services Limited, Deutsche Investments (Netherlands) N.V., Deutsche Investments India Private Limited, Deutsche Investor Services Private Limited, Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd., Deutsche Leasing New York Corp., Deutsche Mexico Holdings S.a. r.|., Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Limited, Deutsche Mortgage & Asset Receiving Corporation, Deutsche Nederland N.V., Deutsche New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Nominees Limited, Deutsche Oppenheim Family Office AG, Deutsche Overseas Issuance New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Postbank, Deutsche Postbank Finance Center Objekt GmbH, Deutsche Private Asset Management Limited, Deutsche Securities (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Securities (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities Asia Limited, Deutsche Securities Australia Limited, Deutsche Securities Inc., Deutsche Securities Israel Ltd., Deutsche Securities Korea Co., Deutsche Securities Mauritius Limited, Deutsche Securities SA. de C.V.. Casla de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Services (Cl) Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. SA., Deutsche lmmobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsches lnstitut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.l., Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, European Value Added I (Alternate GP.) LLP, Fiduciaria Sant Andrea S.r.l., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., German American Capital Corporation, Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer LandstraBe GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Miesbaden LuisenstraBe/Kirchgasse GbR, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF l Manager S.a.r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I GbR, J R Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Joint Stock Company Deutsche Bank DBU, Jyogashima Godo Kaisha, KEBA Gesellschaft fur interne Services mbH, Kidson Pte Ltd, Konsul lnkasso GmbH, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo lll Initial GP Limited, MEF I Manager. S. a r.|., MIT Holdings Inc., Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgagelT Inc., MortgagelT Securities Corp., OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentIe", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, PADUS Grundstcks-VermietungsgeseIlschaft mbH, PB Factoring GmbH, PB Spezial-lnvestmentaktiengesellschatt mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Plantation Bay. Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank lmmobilien GmbH, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, RREEF, RREEF America LLC., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisers Private Limited, RREEF Management LLC., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables. LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermielungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sharps SP l LLC, Stelvio lmmobiliare S.r.l., Suddeutsche Vermeigensvewvaitung Gesellschaft mit beschrenkter Haftung, TELO Beleiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Umited, VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., lmmobilienfonds BuroCenter Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, lmmobilienfonds Wohn- und Gescheftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, and norisbank GmbH. Read More Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE), an S&P 500 urban office real estate investment trust ("REIT"), is the first, longest-tenured, and pioneering owner, operator, and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, technology, and agtech campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, with a total market capitalization of $31.9 billion as of December 31, 2020, and an asset base in North America of 49.7 million square feet ("SF"). The asset base in North America includes 31.9 million RSF of operating properties and 3.3 million RSF of Class A properties undergoing construction, 7.1 million RSF of near-term and intermediate-term development and redevelopment projects, and 7.4 million SF of future development projects. Founded in 1994, Alexandria pioneered this niche and has since established a significant market presence in key locations, including Greater Boston, San Francisco, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle. Alexandria has a longstanding and proven track record of developing Class A properties clustered in urban life science, technology, and agtech campuses that provide our innovative tenants with highly dynamic and collaborative environments that enhance their ability to successfully recruit and retain world-class talent and inspire productivity, efficiency, creativity, and success. Alexandria also provides strategic capital to transformative life science, technology, and agtech companies through our venture capital platform. We believe our unique business model and diligent underwriting ensure a high-quality and diverse tenant base that results in higher occupancy levels, longer lease terms, higher rental income, higher returns, and greater long-term asset value. Duke Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities and Infrastructure, and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity in the Carolinas, Florida, and the Midwest; and uses coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, renewable generation, and nuclear fuel to generate electricity. It also engages in the wholesale of electricity to municipalities, electric cooperative utilities, and load-serving entities. This segment serves approximately 8.2 million customers in 6 states in the Southeast and Midwest regions of the United States covering a service territory of approximately 91,000 square miles; and owns approximately 50,259 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure segment distributes natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation natural gas customers; and owns, operates, and invests in pipeline transmission and natural gas storage facilities. It has approximately 1.6 million customers, including 1.1 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as 550,000 customers in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky. The Commercial Renewables segment acquires, owns, develops, builds, and operates wind and solar renewable generation projects, including nonregulated renewable energy and energy storage services to utilities, electric cooperatives, municipalities, and corporate customers. It has 23 wind, 178 solar, and 2 battery storage facilities, as well as 71 fuel cell locations with a capacity of 3,554 MW across 22 states. The company was formerly known as Duke Energy Holding Corp. and changed its name to Duke Energy Corporation in April 2005. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The following companies are subsidiares of American International Group: AGC Life Insurance Company, AIG APAC HOLDINGS PTE. LTD., AIG Aerospace Insurance Services Inc., AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd., AIG Asset Management (Europe) Limited, AIG Asset Management (U.S.) LLC, AIG Assurance Company, AIG Australia Limited, AIG Brazil Holding I LLC, AIG CIS Investments LLC, AIG Canada Holdings Inc., AIG Capital Corporation, AIG Capital Services Inc., AIG Claims Inc., AIG Credit Management LLC, AIG Egypt Insurance Company S.A.E., AIG Employee Services Inc., AIG Europe Holdings S.a.r.l, AIG Europe S.A., AIG Federal Savings Bank, AIG Financial Products Corp., AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd., AIG Global Asset Management Holdings Corp., AIG Global Operations Inc., AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., AIG Global Reinsurance Operations, AIG Holdings Europe Limited, AIG Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, AIG Insurance Company China Limited, AIG Insurance Company JSC, AIG Insurance Company of Canada, AIG Insurance Company-Puerto Rico, AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited, AIG Insurance Management Services Inc., AIG Insurance New Zealand Limited, AIG International Holdings GmbH, AIG Investments UK Limited, AIG Israel Insurance Company Ltd, AIG Japan Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha, AIG Kenya Insurance Company Limited, AIG Korea Inc., AIG Latin America I.I., AIG Latin America Investments S.L., AIG Lebanon SAL, AIG Life Holdings Inc., AIG Life Limited, AIG Life South Africa Limited, AIG Life of Bermuda Ltd., AIG MEA Holdings Limited, AIG MEA Limited, AIG Malaysia Insurance Berhad, AIG Markets Inc., AIG Matched Funding Corp., AIG PC Global Services Inc., AIG Philippines Insurance Inc., AIG Property Casualty Company, AIG Property Casualty Inc., AIG Property Casualty International LLC, AIG Property Casualty U.S. Inc., AIG Re-Takaful (L) Berhad, AIG Resseguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., AIG South Africa Limited, AIG Specialty Insurance Company, AIG Technologies Inc., AIG Travel Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., AIG Travel Assist Inc., AIG Travel Assist Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., AIG Travel EMEA Limited, AIG Travel Inc., AIG Uganda Limited, AIG Vietnam Insurance Company Limited, AIG WarrantyGuard Inc., AIG-FP Pinestead Holdings Corp., AIG-Metropolitana Cia. de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A., AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund I GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund II GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund II GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund III GP LP, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund IV GP LLC, AIU Insurance Company, AM Holdings LLC, Ageas Protect, AlphaCat Managers Ltd., American General Corporation, American General Life Insurance Company, American Home Assurance Co. Ltd., American Home Assurance Company, American International Group UK Limited, American International Realty LLC, American International Reinsurance Company Ltd., American International Underwriters del Ecuador-Holding S.A. en Liquidacion S.A., Arthur J. Glatfelter Agency Inc., Blackboard Insurance Company, Blackboard Specialty Insurance Company, Blackboard U.S. Holdings Inc., C.A. de Seguros American International, Commerce and Industry Insurance Company, Crop Risk Services Inc., Eaglestone Reinsurance Company, Ellipse, Franklin Life Insurance Company, Fuji Fire and Marine, Glatfelter Insurance Group, Glatfelter Underwriting Services Inc., Globe and Rutgers Insurance Group, Grand Isle SAC Limited, Granite State Insurance Company, Illinois National Insurance Co., Inversiones Segucasai C.A., Johannesburg Insurance Holdings (Proprietary) Limited, Laya Healthcare Limited, Lexington Insurance Company, Lexington Specialty Insurance Agency Inc., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh Pa., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Vermont, New Hampshire Insurance Company, PCG 2019 Corporate Member Limited, PT AIG Insurance Indonesia, Pine Street Real Estate Holdings Corp., Risk Specialists Companies Insurance Agency Inc., SAFG Capital LLC, SAFG Retirement Services Inc., Service Net Warranty LLC, Stratford Insurance Company, SunAmerica Asset Management LLC, Talbot Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Ltd., The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York, The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company, Travel Guard, Travel Guard Group Canada Inc./Groupe Garde Voyage du Canada Inc., Travel Guard Group Inc., Tudor Insurance Company, VALIC Financial Advisors Inc., Valic Retirement Services Company, Validus Holdings, Validus Holdings (UK) Ltd., Validus Holdings Ltd., Validus Reinsurance (Switzerland) Ltd, Validus Reinsurance Ltd., Validus Ventures Ltd., Volunteer Firemen's Insurance Services Inc., and Western World Insurance Company. Read More This is a current list of the top 250 companies by market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Learn more . The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is one of the largest, and most recognizable, stock exchanges in the world. The NYSE is in New York City, New York at 11 Wall Street. The NYSE has been in existence since the earliest days of the United States becoming a nation, in 1792 and is primarily made up of blue-chip companies with large market capitalizations. In fact, many of the stocks that make up the Dow Jones Composite Index (i.e. The Dow) are listed on the NYSE. This article gives a brief history of the New York Stock Exchange. In addition, it covers topics such as what kind of stocks trade on the exchange, what are the listing requirements, how trading is performed, and what the daily price movement of the NYSE tells investors about investor sentiment. What Were the Origins of the NYSE? Today, the New York Stock Exchange is known as the center of the financial universe. However, the exchanges origin is far more humble. On May 17, 1792, 24 stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement creating a centralized exchange to help provide order to the securities market in what was still a young nation. The "Buttonwood Agreement comes from the tree of the same name under which the founders signed the agreement. An initial benefit of the exchange was how it removed the need for auctioneers when trading commodities like wheat and tobacco and to set a commission rate. The exchange initially focused on government bonds. However, the exchange had no formal home. Business was usually conducted informally in the local coffeehouses. In 1817, the exchange changed its name to the New York Stock & Exchange Board which later became the New York Stock Exchange. At this time, the exchange adopted a constitution that set the rules for trading. A group of stockbrokers met twice a day at 40 Wall Street to trade 30 stocks and bonds. Over time, the exchange moved became the financial hub of the country and moved to its current location in 1865. What Kind of Stocks Trade on the NYSE? As of June 2022, the NYSE includes approximately 2,400 companies with a market capitalization of over $28.2 trillion. Although the NYSE trades stocks of all market capitalizations, its best known for trading the stocks of large cap companies. These have the benefit of being mature companies in mature industries. And many of these companies reward shareholders with dividends. However, that also means that many of these companies are better suited for value investors as opposed to growth investors. In bear markets this stability can be a benefit for investors as these stocks tend to perform less bad than more volatile stocks. But in a bull market, these stocks are not likely to provide investors with the growth that they look for. An interesting fact about how the NYSE and NASDAQ operate is that the companies with the five largest market caps on the NYSE are also listed on the NASDAQ exchange. What Are the Listing Requirements For the NYSE? The NYSE has strict guidelines that govern the types of companies that can list on the exchange. Here are the major requirements that all companies must meet: The company must have at least 2,200 shareholders The company must trade over 100,000 shares per month The company must have a market valuation of over $100 million The company must generate more than $75 million in annual revenue However, there is at least one advantage of having such stringent requirements. That is the companies that meet the requirements generally find it easier to get more investors funds when they hold their initial public offering (IPO). Once a company begins trading on the NYSE, it must continue to meet these requirements. If it doesnt it can be delisted. In addition to these requirements, the stock must continue to trade above $1. If the price of a stock drops below $1 for more than 29 consecutive trading days, the stock receives an Initial Price Violation Notice. At that point, the company has 10 days to provide the exchange with a plan for bringing their shares above $1. How are Trades Executed on the NYSE? For over a century, the floor of the NYSE was the place for investors to be. This meant trades were conducted by traders who ran buy and sell orders across the trading floor looking to broker a deal for their clients. But with the birth of the NASDAQ exchange in 1971, the New York Stock Exchange began conducting electronic trading. However, the NYSE continues to conduct trades in an auction style. Brokers purchase stocks on behalf of their clients or firms. Every order features a broker who will enter the order electronically and a specialist who serves as the market maker for that stock. The specialist posts bid and ask prices and manages the actual execution of the trades. And there are still a handful of stockbrokers who still traffic buy and sell orders physically on the floor of the exchange. How Does the NYSE Signal Investor Sentiment? Like its counterpart, the NASDAQ, the NYSE measures the risk appetite of investors. When the NYSE is moving higher over a length of time, it signals that a risk on environment. Conversely when the NYSE moves lower over a significant period, it signals that investors are moving to a risk off position. Some Final Thoughts on the NYSE Financial news networks plan their programming schedule around the opening and closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Its still considered a distinguished honor when individuals or groups are invited to ring the opening bell. In fact, Warren Buffett is attributed with saying that in the short term, the stock market acts like a voting machine. A fact that many U.S. presidents will attest to. The NYSE is the oldest and most recognizable of all the stock exchanges. It also has the most stringent requirements for inclusion. And those requirements must be maintained even after a stock begins publicly trading on the exchange. Although the NYSE still has a small in-person Trading Floor, much of the trading is done electronically to provide traders with the speed to execute trades. APS awards Charles Perdrisat the Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics Bonner Prize winner: Charles Perdrisat is professor emeritus in William & Marys Department of Physics. The American Physical Society recently awarded Perdrisat its Tom Bonner Prize, one of the top honors in physics. Photo by Stephen Salpukas Photo - of - Hide Caption Professor Charles F. Perdrisat, a William & Mary physicist, has been awarded the 2017 Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics. The Bonner Prize, awarded by the American Physical Society, is widely regarded as one of the greatest honors a nuclear physicist can receive. The APS site notes that the purpose of the award is to recognize and encourage outstanding experimental research in nuclear physics, including the development of a method, technique or device that significantly contributes in a general way to nuclear physics research. It is grand to see Professor Perdrisat receive this singular distinction for his extraordinary contributions to nuclear physics, said W&M President Taylor Reveley. His work has given us a better understanding of the structure of the proton, one of the building blocks of matter, with implications for understanding the early formation of matter in the known universe. William & Mary is very proud of Charles. Perdrisat was recognized for his experimental work done over 25 years at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in Newport News. He is currently professor emeritus of physics at William & Mary, where he has been a member of the Department of Physics faculty since 1966. He was nominated for the Bonner Prize by his long-time colleague in the physics department, Carl E. Carlson. The award citation reads that Perdrisat is recognized for groundbreaking measurements of nucleon structure, and discovering the unexpected behavior of the magnetic and electric form factors of the proton with changing momentum transfer in electron-proton scattering. Perdrisat explained that form factors describe the spatial distribution of electric charge and current in an elementary particle like the proton (which is the nucleus of the hydrogen atom). In the case of his research, the target objects are protons. Until recently, form factors have been obtained almost exclusively from measured probability of scattering of electrons on nucleons. In the JLab experiments, a different technique has been used, resulting in unexpected results. In the technique we used at JLab, we sent polarized electrons on an un-polarized hydrogen target, and measured the polarization of the recoiling proton, he said. The amount of polarization transferred from the electron to the proton tells us the value of the ratio of the two form factors. The three experiments done so far at JLab, increasing the momentum transfer each time, were the results of a collaboration with V. Punjabi of Norfolk State University, M.K. Jones of JLab, E.J. Brash of Christopher Newport University and L. Pentchev of JLab. The Bonner Prize comes with a $10,000 honorarium and an invitation to give a talk on his work at the American Physical Society meeting to be held Jan. 28-31 in Washington, D.C. The honoree holds the Doctor of Natural Science degree from the Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (1962). In addition to his long career at William & Mary, Perdrisat served as a visiting professor at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland (1973-1974), as well as in the Institut de Physique Nucleaire, in Orsay, France (1982-1983). He has been a visiting scientist at JLab on a number of occasions. He was named a fellow of the American Physical Society in 1992. Perdrisat has a long list of well-cited publications to his credit, along with millions of dollars in external support from the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy. He became emeritus faculty in 2016, and taught a number of classes and labs in the physics department, notably Classical Dynamics, Modern Physics Laboratory and Cosmology. Perdrisat is not the first William & Mary physicist to be awarded the Bonner Prize. Robert McKeown won the honor in 2009, as did John Dirk Walecka in 1996. Like Perdrisat, both McKeown and Walecka did extensive work at JLab and indeed both held the title of Governor's Distinguished CEBAF Professor of Physics at the university. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page Klaus Sennik, General Manager of Ramada Plaza Bangkok Menam Riverside answered questions of ftnNEWS. ftnNEWS: Could you pls. introduce us your background in Tourism and Hotel industry? Klaus Sennik: My background is in Food & Beverages and my first position was a Junior Chef at the Holiday Inn Augsburg in Germany. In my teens I dreamed about becoming an airline pilot and, in many ways, the role of a hotel General Manager is rather like controlling the joystick of a large airliner full of passengers. The major difference is that a hotel General Manager is never able to switch on the auto pilot! Since that first role in Germany I have been fortunate to work in many countries, gaining valuable experience about different cultures. This has paid dividends in more recent years as Hotel GM. ftnNEWS: What are your thoughts about the future of hotel industry in Thailand, Asia and in the world? Also new trends in hospitality sector in Asia? Klaus Sennik: The future is, undoubtedly, extremely bright for the hotel and hospitality sector in Thailand. Year after year this amazing country attracts record numbers of international visitors. The Asia Pacific region is the engine room of global tourism attracting ever increasing numbers of visitors from source markets around the world. The unprecedented expansion of the China outbound market continues to play an influential role and it is important for hoteliers to know how best to accommodate Chinese tour groups and individual travellers (some of them very high spenders) that travel independently from cities across China. I would expect more and more resort properties to consider the all-inclusive financial package model for tourists model in the years to come. All-inclusive holidays embracing accommodation, F&B and even airport transfers are very attractive for visitors from Europe. ftnNEWS: Could you pls. tell us Ramada Plaza Bangkok Menam Riverside (as generally, 30th anniversary celebrations, renovations as Executive floor.etc.)? Klaus Sennik: Our philosophy is to produce constant improvements in standards of service and amenities and our 30th anniversary has coincided with refurbishment of 20 rooms on our Executive floors. We have introduced new menus to our fine dining Eurasian Grill where guests enjoy outstanding cuisine accompanied by excellent new and old world wines. ftnNEWS: Why do guests prefer to stay at the Ramada Plaza Bangkok Menam Riverside. What are your important markets? How is the Turkish market? Klaus Sennik: Based upon our average levels of room occupancy this year we are most certainly maintaining our competitive advantage. Travellers enjoy the unprecedented choice of hotels in Bangkok and we are fortunate that many choose to stay by the Chao Phraya river. The high numbers of repeat guests staying at the Ramada Plaza Bangkok Menam Riverside suggests that we have the right formula to create guest satisfaction. Our location within easy walking distance of the Asiatique night market is an added advantage. There is something about a busy river in a major city that captures the imagination of visitors and our guests enjoy the opportunity to watch life go by on the Chao Phraya river. Every source market is important to us but we are certainly maintaining our popularity with visitors from countries in western, central and eastern Europe. Our popularity with Scandinavian visitors seems to increase every year and we have this year attracted very large numbers of visitors from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The excellent service provided by Turkish Airlines between Turkey and Thailand, coupled with the many options for connections via hubs in the Middle East, has helped to boost the numbers of Turkish visitors to Bangkok and I am confident that this encouraging trend will continue through the coming high season. ftnNEWS: What is the percentage of online bookings via internet for your hotel comparing to the traditional distribution channels? Klaus Sennik: This number is increasing year on year as more and more travellers realise that the best deals are often obtained by making a reservation via the hotels own website. Of course, we also allocate a varying percentage of rooms to the best performing OTAs such as Booking.com. ftnNEWS: As I know, you live in hotel. So how is the one working day of GM Ramada Plaza Bangkok Menam Riverside? Klaus Sennik: No two days are the same and thats what makes the role so interesting, so challenging and so rewarding. The most important asset of any hotel is the people working there. Without loyal, dedicated staff we would have no guests and so it is vitally important that a hotel GM pays special attention to people development. Of course, guest satisfaction is also vitally important but a happy in-house team makes for happy guests. Maintaining guest satisfaction is absolutely crucial, not just for me as General Manager but for every member of our team. Our daily mission is to ensure that every guest, local and international, enjoys the very best service and hospitality in keeping with the well-deserved reputation of our hotel. Managing a hotel requires a broad range of personal and professional skills. It is important to have the ability to guide, to encourage, to listen, to praise and, occasionally, to discipline team members. Most of all, I like to encourage teamwork across all departments. ftnNEWS: When you take a break from work for your holiday, what do you like to do? Klaus Sennik: I look forward to returning to my home in Germany to visit my family and friends. Iter transformer in place as materials tests continue 11 October 2016 Share As the first of three Chinese-supplied electrical transformers is installed at the Iter fusion project in France, researchers in the Netherlands are testing the resistance to neutron radiation of materials that will shield the fusion reactor's core. The first of Iter's three Chinese-supplied transformers (Image: Iter) Dutch radioisotope producer NRG announced today that material to be used in Iter's "first wall" will be irradiated in its High Flux Reactor (HFR) at Petten over the coming months. The plasma in which Iter's nuclear fusion reaction will take place at a temperature of 150 million degrees Kelvin is itself contained by a magnetic field. The first wall provides the first shielding of the reactor's core and will be exposed to the high-energy neutrons produced in the fusion process, which are not contained by the magnetic field. The first wall will be made of beryllium tiles welded onto a subsurface of copper-chrome-zircon alloy, contained in a stainless steel construction. Scale models, using the same tiles, will be placed in the core of the HFR, which is used to produce radioisotopes, to simulate the environment and temperatures that will be found in Iter. NRG spokesperson Sander de Groot said: "We can mimic the same conditions as in Iter, and the neutron density in the HFR is high. Within a short period we can use this to simulate radiation damage during the life span in the fusion reactor and determine how long components used in Iter can withstand the neutron radiation." The irradiated mock-ups will then be transported to the Julich research centre in Germany, where they will be exposed to extremely high heat flux and intense variable thermal radiation to test the resistance of the irradiated material to the extreme heat load it will be subjected to in Iter. Transformer placement The 14 metre long, 280 tonne transformer forms part of the electrical network that will provide power to Iter's "pulsed" systems, such as magnet power supplies and plasma heating systems. It was was delivered to the Cadarache site in June. The operation to move the giant component into position from its storage site took nearly two days to complete. First, it was delivered by hydraulic trailer to the installation site, where it was lowered onto railway-type wheels. It was then hauled into its final position along pre-built tracks. Before it becomes operational, the transformer will be filled with insulating oil and fitted with other equipment including the bushings needed to connect it to the switchyard, bringing its total weight to 460 tonnes. Two other transformers are due to arrive from China in early 2017 to be connected to the switchyard by the middle of the year. Thirty-five nations are collaborating to build Iter, the world's largest tokamak, at Cadarache in the south of France. The magnetic fusion device is designed to prove the feasibility of the fusion of hydrogen nuclei as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy. The EU is funding half of the cost while the remainder comes in equal parts from six other partners: China, Japan, India, Russia, South Korea and the USA. Construction began in 2010 and the facility is scheduled to generate its first plasma in 2025. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Ecuador's threatened mammals include the Critically Endangered Black-Headed Spider Monkey and Bare-Tailed Armored Tree Rat, data on which is hard to come by since their populations are rare and small in number. The Giant Otter has a good population, but their nature and behavior put them in a vulnerable position from excessive hunting and habitat loss a condition that the Ecuadorian sac-winged bat faces too. In total, Ecuador has twenty mammalian species threatened by human encroachment to the animals habitat ranges. Some of these species, such as the fox (Psudapax culpaeus) and Puma, are thought to be regionally extinct as they have not been seen in the country for almost ten years. Below are some of the critically endangered mammals in Ecuador. Endangered Mammals Of Ecuador Giant Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) The Giant Otter is an endemic species of the eastern Andes Mountains in Ecuador. The otter prefers the freshwater rivers, creeks, and lakes, and occasionally can be found near agricultural canals and reservoirs. They also live in the gently sloped river banks and isolated areas with overhanging vegetation. Breeding begins in late spring and early summer. The female otter is fertile for 3 to 10 days of its 21-day estrous cycle. Mating occurs in water and a gestation period of 65 to 70 days follows. In late August to early October birth of altricial young ones takes place. The juveniles open their eyes in a months time after which they leave the dens with their parents. The young otters wean at 3 to 4 months and become indistinguishable and independent hunters in 9 to 10 months. Within two years they reach sexual maturity, and the life cycle starts. The species lives in social cohesive groups of 5 to 8 individuals made up of monogamous pairs and their generations of offspring. The family home has communal latrines placed on the perimeters. Although territorial, otters exhibit social behaviors including hunting, grooming, resting, and communication together. The species feeds on fish. Because of its social nature and conspicuous conduct, the otter is easy to extirpate making it vulnerable. As a result, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the mammal as endangered. Conservation efforts are rarely followed in Ecuador, but the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species confers protection to the species. Some of the approaches used to conserve the species include creating new and protected areas for the Giant Otter and promotion of riparian habitats and including them in protected areas. Black-Headed Spider Monkey (Ateles fusciceps) The black-headed spider monkey is a New World Monkey endemic to the north and west of the Andes in Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador. It prefers the tropical and subtropical humid forests with an altitude range of 100 to 1,700 meters above sea level. Ateles fusciceps body is black or brown with a brown head. The monkey is arboreal and diurnal. It moves from tree to tree by climbing and brachiating. Mating can last up to 3 days and sometimes female mates with several males. The gestation period lasts from 226 and 232 days after which the young ones ride on the mothers back for 16 weeks and weaned after 20 months. Males reach sexual maturity in 56 months and females at 51 months. The black-headed monkey is endangered as noted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Over the last 45 years, more than 80% of the population has been lost due to severe hunting pressure and human encroachment to its habitat range. The two remaining populations of the species are in the Chongon Colonche Mountain Range and the Cotacachi-Cayapas Reserve and its northern surrounding forests. Ecuadorian Sac-Winged Bat (Balantiopteryx infusca) The Ecuadorian sac-winged bat is a species native to Ecuador and Colombia. Balantiopteryx infusca is dark in color lacking the white trim found in the Balantiopteryx plicata. It is smaller than Balantiopteryx plicata but larger than Balantiopteryx io. The bat prefers to live in places where there is plenty of light in the mouth of caves, cracks in rocks, and abandoned mines. The bat is insectivorous and lives in colonies with extremely rare cases of isolation. The primary threat facing the population of the species is deforestation which causes habitat loss. As such, the IUCN has declared the Balantiopteryx infusca as a threatened species. Bare-Tailed Armored Tree Rat (Makalata occasius) The Bare-Tailed Armored Tree Rat is an arboreal rodent native to the lowland tropical rainforests of the East Andes in Ecuador. It also exhibits a type locality at Gualea in Mount Pichincha at an altitudinal range of at 1,300 meters above sea level. It is a rare species known from less than ten individuals. Little is known about the behavior of this species. It resembles the other members of Echimyidae. The Makalata occasius resembles rats although it is more related to chinchillas and guinea pigs. Most members of the Echimyidae family have thick pointed hairs or spines that serve to protect them from predators. They are exclusively herbivorous threatened by conditions of high heat and aridity but prosper in areas with adequate water. Threats from Habitat Loss and Hunting Clearing of forests in the country is the primary threat facing these already endangered species. Most forest-dwelling mammals require dense vegetation growth and clean water in order to survive. When trees are cut, more specifically in the event of clear cutting, these animals lose their homes or become exposed to hunters hunting them for meat. The country should come up with conservative measures that seek to conserve the forest cover of the country and the water catchments areas. Breeding of threatened species in captivity can also help reduce chances of extinction. The Republic of Argentina is the third most populous country in South America and the 33rd most populous globally with a population of over 41 million people. The population density is 16 persons per square kilometer of land while the population growth rate is estimated at 1.03% annually and a life expectancy of 76.01 years. Argentina is a diverse country with 35 indigenous groups as recorded by the Complementary Survey of the Indigenous People. Over 600,000 Argentines, or 1.49% of the population, self-identify as indigenous. The most populous of these indigenous groups are looked at below. Indigenous Groups of Argentina Mapuche The Mapuche historically inhabit the southwestern regions of Argentina, and also have a significant presence in the south-central regions of neigboring Chile. The term Mapuche is used to refer to groups of people including Picunche, Huilliche, and Moluche. In Argentina, Mapuche people number around 113,680, which is around 0.3% of the total population. They are traditionally farmers while their social organization is made up of extended families under the leadership of the Ionko or chief. Mapuche believe in a creator known as the ngenechen who embodies older man and woman, and young man and woman. They also believe in a world known as Wenu Mapu and Winche Mapu. Central to their religious belief is the prayers and animal sacrifice to maintain a cosmic balance Kolla The Kolla are an indigenous people of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. 70,505 Kolla people are living in Argentina today, the second highest number of Indigenous Argentines. Kolla is made up of several groups including Zenta and Gispira. They came into contacted with the Spanish in 1540 and resisted them for 110 years before losing their estate to them. The Kolla continued working for minimal wages even after the Argentinas independence. The Kolla people were officially recognized the indigenous people of Argentina in 1985 by Law 23303. They regained possession of the Santiago Estate which they lost to the Spaniards in 1997. However, they do not have titles to their land because of the communal ownership of land. Kolla people hold elected positions and also participate in government activities. Qom The Qom, also known as the Toba, are found in Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. They are part of the Guaycurues, the indigenous inhabitants of the Gran Chaco region. There are 69,452 Toba living in the provinces of Chaco, Santa Fe, and Formosa in Argentina. The name Qom means simple people while Toba means big forehead. The Toba people were nomadic hunters and lived in the forested regions of Chaco before the region was taken up by the Argentinean government in the 1880s. The Toba were subsequently employed to work in cotton plantations. In 1924, 200 Tobas were massacred by the police and the ranchers. The floods of 1982 also destroyed the Chaco ruining crops in the process. Currently, the major threat to Toba is the loss of land and livelihood. The Qom speaks Toba language which is a member of the Guaicuruan linguistic group. Challenges Faced by Argentina's Indigenous Groups The numbers of indigenous people in Argentina are estimated to be higher than those registered because many of these indigenous people hide their identities due to fears of discrimination and stereotyping. Also, most of them have been assimilated into western civilization therefore no longer consider themselves as indigenous people. Many of the natives are still facing challenges of acquiring land and are also denied certain human rights Email Sign Up For Our Free Weekly Newsletter Office Vacancies Hold Steady in Third Quarter Sign Up Free | The WPJ Weekly Newsletter Relevant real estate news. Actionable market intelligence. Right to your inbox every week. Go Thank you for your interest! You will now be receiving our Weekly Real Estate Newsletter. Real Estate Listings Showcase According to CBRE Group, Inc., vacant space in the U.S. office market held steady during the third quarter of 2016 at 13.1 percent. The national office vacancy rate remained at the lowest level since 2008, with a 30 basis points (bps) decline over the past year.The office market is being helped by steady demand for space and limited new construction. "Firms are adding space, but at a more modest pace than in recent years, reflecting slower overall job creation," said Jeffrey Havsy, Americas' chief economist for CBRE. "With supply and demand relatively in balance, vacancy has plateaued for the moment, but the office market should remain healthy as new construction deliveries slow over the next 6-8 quarters."Continuing a recent pattern, the suburbs outperformed downtowns, with vacancy falling 10 bps, to 14.3 percent in the suburbs, but increasing 20 bps, to 10.7 percent in downtowns. After lagging downtowns for much of the recovery, the suburbs have now performed better than downtowns for four straight quarters."Despite their rumored demise, the suburbs continue to perform soundly. This is especially true of those locations that offer, a live, work, play mixed-use dynamic and have good transportation access," noted Mr. Havsy. "The suburbs have been painted with a negative brushstroke, but that labeling masks the diversity among the various submarkets. Those locations that offer appropriate amenities, have good access and offer modern facilities continue to lease well."A majority of U.S. markets saw improved conditions during Q3 2016, with vacancy declining in 37 of 63 office markets, rising in 22, and remaining unchanged in four. The largest quarterly declines in vacancy were recorded in Tucson (170 bps), Cincinnati (130 bps) and Raleigh (120 bps). West Palm Beach, Newark, Las Vegas, Albany, Riverside and Sacramento each declined by 90 bps or more.Mid-sized markets have been the best performers over the past year. Compared with Q3 2015, Tucson, St. Louis, Raleigh, Riverside, Oakland, Sacramento, Cincinnati and Tampa have experienced the sharpest declines in vacancy.The nation's lowest vacancy rates in Q3 2016 were in Nashville (5.5 percent), San Francisco (6.7 percent), Raleigh (8 percent), Austin (8.1percent), Seattle (8.6 percent), Oakland (8.7 percent), San Jose (8.9 percent) and Pittsburgh (9.2 percent). Chainsaw (illustration) By: Wayne Morin A boy was arrested on a charge of murder after allegedly killing a woman with a chainsaw while she was shopping, according to police in Belarus. Minsk police said that the 17-year-old boy, who was not identified, concealed a hammer and the chainsaw in a guitar case. He walked into the Europe shopping center, where he pulled out the chainsaw and cut a woman. He then killed her by beating her with a hammer. The suspect then cut another woman with the chainsaw, and she is currently in critical condition. Several other women were attacked as well, but they suffered light injuries. Witnesses at the scene, said that at first, they thought the boy was playing a joke, but when the woman began bleeding, shoppers began running for their lives. The incident unfolded on Saturday around 5:30 p.m. Michelle Martens (left) Victoria (right) Fabian Gonzales and Jessica Kelley (insert) By: Chan Yuan (Scroll down for video) A father wants his daughter to be jailed after she allegedly admitted to watching her boyfriend rape his granddaughter. According to police, the mother of New Mexico, admitted that she watched her sex offender boyfriend and his cousin rape and dismember her daughter as the girl begged for them to stop, police said. Michelle Martens, 35, watched her 10-year-old daughter Victoria, being brutally raped by Fabian Gonzales, 31, and his cousin, Jessica Kelley. She allegedly said that she enjoyed watching her daughter being raped, and she allowed two other men to have sex with her daughter in the six months before her death. Martens had sex with Gonzales about 20 minutes after he raped her daughter. Martens and Gonzales initially told police that they had no idea what happened to the girl. They both said that the cousin Kelley, was with the girl before her death. However, when police told Martens the her boyfriend confessed to the crimes, she told them what took place. Gonzales however, denied all the allegations against him. Martens, Gonzales, and Kelley, were all arrested and charged in connection with the murder of the girl. Naked man doing yoga on top of police car By: Mahesh Sarin A naked man was detained after being seen dancing and doing yoga on top of a police car, according to police in the United Kingdom. Bristol police said that two of its officers were shocked to see the man, who was not identified, completely naked and dancing on top of their police cruiser. Officers tried to coax the naked man down from the roof of their police cruiser, but he refused their orders. After completing his dance moves, the naked man sat down on the roof of the police car and began doing yoga. After a large crowd gathered to watch the naked man doing his yoga routine, he decided to give himself up. He got down from the roof of the police car, and he was taken into custody. A video of the incident was uploaded to YouTube, where it went viral. A witness at the scene said that he saw the suspect begging for money multiple times in the area. Jimmy Amutavi By: Tanya Malhotra A personal trainer was arrested on a charge of criminal transmission of HIV after allegedly infecting three women with the virus by repeatedly having sex with them, according to police in Illinois. Wilmette police said that they have arrested 46-year-old Jimmy Amutavi, after being accused of infecting at least three women with HIV by having sex with them. In court, Amutavi pleaded not guilty to three counts of criminal transmission of HIV. He was booked into jail, and his bail was set at $150,000. He was also ordered to have no contacts with the three women. If convicted, Amutavi faces up to seven years in prison. According to the criminal complaint, Amutavi had unprotected sex with the three women while working as their personal trainer. When all three women confronted him, he denied having the virus despite being diagnosed 15 years ago. In court, Amutavi, who is a father of a 5-year-old child, said that he did not infect those women since he had been taking anti-retroviral drugs that makes it almost impossible for him to transmit the virus that causes AIDS. Renewed Appeal to Trace Wanted Man This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Oct 11th, 2016 Police are continuing to appeal for information to help trace a man who is wanted. Richard Pentreath, who is also known as Hilary Clifford Thomas, is wanted for arson with intent to endanger life following an incident at an address in Prestatyn during the early hours of Thursday, October 6th 2016. 63-year-old Pentreath is also wanted after he failed to attend Woolwich Crown Court in London on Monday, 3 October for historical rape offences. He was found guilty in his absence, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. He is understood to have left Prestatyn by train shortly after the arson offence and was last seen at Crewe Railway Station at approximately 6am on the same day (October 6). He is believed to be using public transport so could be anywhere in the country, however he has links to the London, Gloucester and Manchester areas. He is described as being white, 6ft plus in height and of slim build. He has short dark swept back hair, a full grey beard. He also wears glasses. He was last seen wearing a dark coloured bobble hat, a waist length brown jacket and dark coloured jeans or trousers. Detective Inspector Iwan Roberts of North Wales Police said: Our enquiries to trace Pentreath are ongoing and this includes liaison with colleagues at other police forces. Id like to thank members of the public as well as the press and media who have helped us so far by sharing our appeal, however Pentreath remains outstanding. We are eager to find him as he is insulin dependent, and we are concerned for his safety as we do not know how much insulin he is carrying. I would urge anyone who has seen Richard Pentreath, or knows of his recent or current whereabouts, to contact us on 101. If people dont want to speak to the police they can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Similarly if Pentreath himself sees this appeal I would urge him to hand himself in at the nearest police station. Anybody with information should contact North Wales Police on 101, or via the live web chat, quoting reference number U154951. Standing next to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis announced a tentative four-year concessions agreement minutes before an October 11 midnight deadline, averting a strike. Lewis stated, There are things we all give up, its not a perfect agreement... but it was good. The key concession in what the CTU called a fair contract is a two-tier system for teacher pensions. Emanuels main demand that teachers pay an additional seven percent of their salaries toward pensions will be phased in for new hires. Lewis noted some salary changes might be made to offset these cuts, but no further details were given. No timeline was announced for when the contract will go before the citys 25,000 teachers and paraprofessionals. Lewis trumpeted empty promises from the school district on class sizes and layoff procedures, but no details have been released. All of this is a cheap ploy to make Emanuels main demandgivebacks on pensions that have been firmly opposed by teachersmore palatable in an effort to force through a rotten agreement. Based on a 2011 Illinois law, SB 7a bipartisan bill backed by both national teachers unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which includes the CTUteachers cannot officially bargain over working conditions, including class sizes, outsourcing, staffing, layoffs and the length of the school year. But CTU officials, desperate to settle and avoid a strike, have stressed that these issues could at least be discussed during negotiations. The long drawn-out negotiations between school district officials and the CTU have meant that teachers have been working without a contract for 15 months. This impasse is just one element of the political crisis of the Democratic administration of Rahm Emanuel, which faced major protests in 2015 and 2016 against police violence. Emanuel is also scheduled to give a speech on the 2017 city budget on Tuesday. After decades of wage cuts, austerity and increasing police violence, and in the midst of an election contest between two deeply despised candidates, there is growing anger and opposition among workers throughout the country. Teachers in particular have faced thousands of layoffs, overcrowded and understaffed school conditions, relentless budget cuts and the ever-present threats of additional cuts. Throughout the protracted contract negotiations, the CTU has sought desperately to prevent any conflict between teachers and the Democratic Party, in which Emanuel is a leading figure. The CTUs parent union, the AFT, has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and is energetically campaigning for her. Despite the last minute announcement, the agreement comes as no surprise. Both Emanuel and Lewis remarked in recent days on their improved relationship, with Emanuel telling the Sun Times this weekend, We have a good working relationship. When she makes a core request, I try to hear it, listen. Theres no [longer] overwhelming personalities at the table. The general attitude collectively is to try to find an agreement within the financial envelope of Chicago Public Schools. Emanuel is hoping that the agreement with the CTU will pave the way for a renewed attack on public education, as happened after the 2012 strike, while the union is tasked with selling the deal to a hostile membership. Amid the intense efforts to reach an agreement in recent days, the district announced about 250 layoffs of teachers and staff based on a reported decline in school enrollment. Some 2,000 teachers and staff have been laid off this year. Preparations are also underway to close additional schools, this time with greater so-called community involvement. A recent report on the guidelines for next years school closings and consolidations indicates that CPS will seek input from parents, principals, local school council members and others on how closures and consolidations are carried out. The financial crisis of the city of Chicago, and in particular its schools, has been remarkably profitable in recent months for major financial institutions. The Wall Street Journal reported that JPMorgan Chase and Nuveen Investments, a subsidiary of TIAA-CREF, made $110 million on a $763 million purchase of municipal bonds purchased from Chicago Public Schools. The agreement announced between the CTU and Emanuel is further proof that the CTU functions as an agency of the state in imposing the demands of the ruling class on teachers. The WSWS calls on teachers to reject the sell-out contract and form independent committees to mobilize the entire working class in defense of jobs, working conditions and public education. The Labour Party right wing and its media backers have stepped up their campaign against Jeremy Corbyn, following his September 24 re-election as Labour leader with an even bigger majority. Corbyns accommodation to the right has never ceased. He set out to form his shadow cabinet with the declared aim of bringing back into leadership some of those who resigned en masse as part of the coup to remove him, and which precipitated this summers leadership contest. Corbyn has now welcomed back at least 15 of those who resigned to his new cabinet, with further announcements yet to be made, in a reshuffle that began at the weekend. But even as his first appointments were announced a new round of attacks began. Corbyn decided to install a right-wing Labourite, Nick Brown, as chief whip, in place of Rosie Winterton. Winterton opposed Corbyn in votingalong with 139 other Labour MPsin support of the governments policy to renew the Trident nuclear missile system. As well as removing Winterton, Corbyn moved another MP who had opposed him on Trident, Clive Lewis, from shadow defence minister to shadow business minister. Corbyn also installed a number of his closest supporters in the main shadow cabinet jobs, including Dianne Abbott as shadow home secretary. Brown had served as chief whip from 2008 to 2010 in the government of Gordon Brown, but Corbyns downgrading of Winterton prompted the resignation of two whips, Conor McGinn and Holly Lynch, who had served for a year under him since first being elected MPs. Asked by the BBC if he believed Corbyn should not be leader, Alan Johnson, the former Labour home secretary under Brown, said, Me and many of my colleagues. Former Blair adviser John McTernan wrote that the reshuffle shows that he [Corbyn] intends to bring not peace but a sword to the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). Of the MPs returning to the shadow cabinet, the most high profile jobshadow Brexit secretarywas given to Keir Starmer. Speaking to the BBC Sunday, Starmer demanded a vote in parliament on whatever terms are proposed by the government for its Brexit negotiations, but then utilised the interview to attack Corbyn, who has opposed setting caps on immigration as demanded by those calling for an end to the free movement of labour within Europe. Starmer said, There has been a huge amount of immigration over the last 10 years and people are understandably concerned about it. I think it should be reduced and it should be reduced by making sure we have the skills in this country that are needed for the jobs that need to be done. Asked by BBC interviewer Andrew Marr if he accepted that limiting immigration would result in a forced departure from the European Union (EU) Single Market, Starmer stated, We have to be open to adjustments of the freedom of movement rules and how they apply to this country. Along with former Corbyn leadership challenger Andy Burnham, Starmer began a listening tour of the UK last year, centred on immigration, and is preparing a report on Labours immigration policies. Corbyns spokesman responded to Starmer by stating, He [Corbyn] is not concerned about numbers. The coup attempt that began after the June 23 vote by the UK to leave the EU, organised by the Blairites and Brownites in concert with the UK and US intelligence services, used as its justification the assertion that Corbyn was responsible for the defeat of the Remain campaign because he was not sufficiently enthusiastic in declaring support for the EU. But since then, the charge has become one that he does not pander to the noxious anti-immigrant sentiment fuelled during the referendum campaign by both sides. Last month, a number of coup plotters, including Stephen Kinnock, Angela Eagle and Chuka Umunna, backed a pamphlet produced by Labours Fabian Society on the basis that the sacred cow of free movement of people may have to be sacrificed. With unanimity over immigration controls the order of the day, the issue of the continued access of the UK banks and big business to the European Single Market of 500 million people has become the central demand of the Remain camp. They have the support of large sections of big business. The main propagandist in this pro-EU campaign is the Guardian and its Sunday sister paper, the Observer . On Friday, Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland penned a piece headlined, Were marching towards extreme Brexit. Someone must speak for the 48% [who voted Remain]. He opined, The key arena for this battle will be parliament. Labour has a national duty to challenge the governments every step. He raised that Starmer and coup plotter Hilary Benn could deliver sharp scrutiny. But they are impaired by the Labour leaderships perverse readiness to jettison single market membership The Observer reported this weekend that an extraordinary cross-party alliance of Labour, Tory, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party MPs has formed since ministers made a succession of speeches at the Tory party conference in Birmingham last week, which left the clear impression they would press ahead with a hard Brexit. It reported that former Labour leader Ed Miliband held discussions with pro-EU Tory MPs Saturday, and was said to be considering tabling an urgent question in the Commons demanding that May appear before parliament to explain its future role in Brexit decisions, when MPs return on Monday. Editorialising, the Observer commented, Despite much of what was said last week, Brexit was not a vote to scrap free access to the single market, thereby alienating Japanese and other overseas investors. Rarely has the country required a purposeful, effective opposition as badly as it does now, it continued, Stand up, Jeremy Corbyn, newly re-elected Labour leader. Except, on Europe, the defining issue of our time, Corbyn has consistently failed to stand up, show a lead or demonstrate an appreciation of the wider issues. In his weekly column last Thursday, Guardian columnist and coup plotter Owen Jones demanded that Corbyn move to adopt anti-immigration policies in order to compete with the populist right assembled at the Tory conference. Jones wrote that Corbyn toyed with progressive patriotism in his leaders speech; he should persist with that and he must be positive. For as Labour thinker [!] Jon Cruddas has pointed out, the party wins when it presents an optimistic vision of national reconstruction. Over the weekend, Jones, who has manoeuvred for Lewis to become Labour leader before the scheduled 2020 general election, denounced Corbyns decision to speak at a Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) event commemorating the anniversary of the 1936 Battle of Cable Street, where 20,000 people drawn from an alliance of various left-wing groups, including the Labour Party and the Communist Party, united with Jewish groups to forcibly prevent a march through Londons East End by Oswald Mosleys British Union of Fascists. The Guardian falsely described the meeting as a Socialist Workers Party (SWP) event. Jones, who was listed as one of SUTRs initial signatories and supporters, withdrew and tweeted Saturday of Corbyn, A left politician, however venerated, who speaks at SWP events will swiftly fray the patience of some of their most committed supporters. The SWP supports the SUTR, which is led in the main by senior Labourites and trade union officials, on the basis of developing closer relations to and sowing illusions in the Labour and trade union bureaucracy. In 2003, at a time of acute crisis for Labour, which was haemorrhaging support as Blair took the country to war in Iraq, the SWP performed an invaluable service for these forces in founding Unite Against Fascism on the basis of combating a growth in support for the now largely defunct British National Party. It was considered so respectable and safe that it was endorsed by former Tory Prime Mister David Cameron. Now, however, the Labour Party and its liberal mouthpieces such as Jones, have moved so far to the right that they use the anniversary of Cable Street as an opportunity to mount an anti-communist witch-hunt. New Zealands resident doctors, including junior house officers and senior trainee specialists, have voted to strike for 48 hours on October 18. Doctors last took industrial action in 2008, when two 48-hour strikes were held. The doctors claim to reduce working hours is part of negotiations for a collective employment agreement with the countrys 20 District Health Boards (DHBs). Strike notices were given to the DHBs by the NZ Resident Doctors Association (NZRDA) on Monday. The nationwide strike by 3,200 doctors is in pursuit of demands for what the NZRDA says are safer rosters and safer hours. The doctors are joining a groundswell of opposition by health sector workers internationally to the assault on working conditions and the destruction of public health. Tens of thousands of doctors and nurses from the USA and Britain to Papua New Guinea, have recently moved to strike over excessive workloads and attacks on pay, along with deteriorating conditions in hospitals. In every case, these struggles have taken place in defiance of governments driving through austerity measures in collaboration with trade unions which have manoeuvred to call off strikes and impose sell-out settlements. Resident doctors in New Zealands public hospitals work rosters that can include seven nights in a row and 12 days in a row. The union wants DHBs to agree to replace the seven nights with a maximum of four nights in a row followed by three days off, and change the 12 days in a row, followed by two days off, to rosters with a maximum of 10 days followed by four days off. The action was called after mediation failed following 10 months of negotiations. The DHBs offered to reduce the number of consecutive night shifts from seven to four over the next two years, and committed to reviewing the maximum number of consecutive day shifts over the next two years. A DHB spokeswoman ingenuously claimed the offer would deliver some of the best hours of work in the world. NZRDA national secretary Deborah Powell said the offer did not go far enough, with no guarantee that the reduction of consecutive night shifts would be permanent and no guarantee of recovery time between four consecutive night shifts and the following day shifts. The DHBs denounced the planned strike as a pay claim in the guise of a health and safety issue. Doctors told the media they voted to strike because they have no choice and the exhaustion caused by long working hours is putting patient safety at risk. According to a survey conducted by the union, 1,182 doctors said they had made mistakes at work due to fatigue, and 275 had fallen asleep driving home after work. One doctor, Helen Saywell, told Radio NZs Checkpoint program that the fatigue which hits after a week of consecutive overnight shifts should be of concern to everybody. After her first run of seven night shifts in a row, she fell asleep on the job at 3am, and was so bone-tired that she didnt wake up when her pager went off. It also made me question how I could possibly be making safe judgment calls if I was literally hanging onto consciousness by my fingernails, she said. Richard Chen said he was currently working 12 days straight, with two 15-hours shifts in the middleroughly 115 hours on duty between weekends. The dispute was never about pay, he said. Chen explained that any reduction in working hours would result in a loss of salary in most cases. The atrocious conditions have been imposed over three decades by governments of all stripes, abetted by the trade unions that have negotiated and enforced successive employment contracts while suppressing any struggles over draconian working hours. A DHB spokesperson, Julie Patterson, noted that the present system had been in place since the 1980s. In this period, the Labour government launched its pro-market assault on the working class, which included sweeping attacks on public health and education on behalf of big business. The protracted erosion of funding has produced a deepening crisis in the health system. According to the OECD, the rate at which NZ performs elective surgery is less than half the rate of most advanced countriesand around a third of the rate of Australia, Canada and most of Europe. New Zealand also ranks poorly on indices for access to diagnostic tests, time taken for treatment after diagnosis, and time taken to see a specialist. The average wait for joint replacement surgery, the most common procedure among the elderly, has risen to 304 days. An estimated 174,000 New Zealanders in need of publicly-funded surgery are not even on a waiting list. This situation has worsened since the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. The Council of Trade Unions estimates a funding shortfall in government health expenditure of at least $NZ1.2 billion since 2009. The Canterbury DHB revealed this week that it is $35 million in debt, with budget deficits forecast every year until at least 2021. With access to public treatment now far from assured, those who can afford it are increasingly being forced to turn to private healthcare. There is widespread sympathy in the working class for the struggle of the resident doctors and the defence of public health more generally. The ruling elite is therefore looking to the union to quickly settle the dispute within the existing funding and workload framework. After warning that patients would bear the brunt of the strike, the Dominion Post absurdly declared that to resolve the roster impasse, funding priorities need to be looked at, and some doctors duties should be picked up by experienced senior nursing staff or distributed widely to other health professionals. The NZRDA is indicating that it will collaborate to impose a settlement acceptable to the government, big business and health authorities. The NZRDAs own claim, for a start, does nothing to resolve the chronic workload issues facing doctors and other staff within the hospital system. The NZRDA leadership is already seeking to make a deal with the DHBs. Interviewed on TV One last Tuesday, Powell declared that she had been involved in negotiating doctors employment conditions for nearly thirty years, and was confident that a settlement could be reached. In the event of the strike going ahead, a so-called Life Preserving Services agreement previously negotiated with the health unions ensures non-striking staff, including senior doctors, nurses and 300 residents who are non-union members will keep the hospitals functioning. Ian Powell, executive director of the senior doctors union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, said members would be expected to work longer hours to ensure no patients are harmed as a result of the strike. The authors also recommend: The pseudo-lefts role in the defeat of the British junior doctors struggle [3 October 2016] The Ford Foundation, one of the most powerful private foundations in the world, with close ties to Wall Street and the US government, recently announced that it is overseeing the funneling of $100 million over six years to several organizations that play leading roles in the Black Lives Matter movement. Were eager to deepen and expand this community of social justice funders, the foundations announcement reads. We want to nurture bold experiments and help the movement build the solid infrastructure that will enable it to flourish. Fortune Magazine wrote that the foundations announcement would make anyone sit up straighter if they read it in a pitch deck [a presentation for startups seeking investor capital]. The contribution of such an immense sum of money is a gift from the ruling class that will allow Black Lives Matter to construct a bureaucracy of salaried staff and lobbyist positions. The influx of money will bring the movement greater influence through campaign contributions and integrate it even more closely with the Democratic Party and the corporate media. The Ford Foundation will also provide various forms of consultancy and advisory assistance to a consortium of 14 groups associated with Black Lives Matter. Both the financing and the auxiliary services are to be organized through a fund called the Black-Led Movement Fund (BLMF), which is being overseen by a firm called Borealis Philanthropy. The Ford Foundation receives the bulk of its endowment from corporate contributors and very wealthy donors through trusts and bequeathments. Established in 1936 by Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford and his son, Edsel, it today boasts the third largest endowment of any foundation, valued at roughly $12.4 billion. The Ford Foundation has for years maintained close ties to US military and intelligence agencies. A British historian of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Frances Stonor Saunders, described the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations in her book The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters as conscious instruments of covert US policy, with directors and officers who were closely connected to, or even members of American intelligence. Today, the foundation is not formally connected to Ford Motor Company, but its board of directors is a whos who of powerful corporate players, including CEOs and Wall Street lawyers. The chairperson of the board of directors is Irene Inouye, widow of deceased Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye. The $100 million gift is an acknowledgment by a powerful section of the ruling class that the aims of the Black Lives Matter movement are aligned with those of Wall Street and the US government. In an interview with Bloomberg News in 2015, the Ford Foundations current president, Darren Walker, an ex-banker at UBS, spelled out the pro-capitalist perspective underlying the foundations decision to bankroll Black Lives Matter: Inequality in many ways undermines our vision for a more just and fair world, he said. Indeed, the American people, and its not just the Trump supporters, are feeling increasingly vulnerable, increasingly insecure, and what that does is it drives wedges in our society, in our democracy. Inequality is bad for our democracy. It kills aspirations and dreams and makes us more cynical as a people What kind of Capitalism do we want to have in America? The foundations support for Black Lives Matter is an investment in the defense of the profit system. Black Lives Matter portrays the world as divided along racial lines, proclaiming on its web site that it sees itself as part of a global black family. It claims that black people are extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, and especially our children It explicitly rejects the notion that any other section of society has the right to raise grievances of its own. Its group history page notes: Not just all lives. Black lives. Please do not change the conversation by talking about how your life matters, too. The petty-bourgeois leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement are now poised to exercise a significant degree of political influence directed at securing privileges within the political elite. A quick look at the founders of Black Lives Matter gives a sense of the opportunist and self-promotional character of the group as a whole. The official Black Lives Matter organization was founded by three people: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi. The three met as members of BOLD (Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity). BOLD is one of the 14 organizations now being funded by the Black-Led Movement Fund. One of these founders, Garza, runs an organization called the National Domestic Workers Alliance, on whose board sits Alta Starr. Starr oversees a fund at the Ford Foundation. She is also on the board of a foundation backed by billionaire George Soros, the Open Society Foundations Southern Initiative. Patrisse Cullers is the director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. This organization was founded by Van Jones, a Democrat who worked under Obama as a special advisor on green jobs, enterprise and innovation. He is also a long time contributor to CNN. This organization also receives funds from the Open Society Foundation. A leaked document from an October 2015 board meeting of the Soros-funded US Programs/Open Society revealed that the organization provided $650,000 to invest in technical assistance and support for the groups at the core of the burgeoning #BlackLivesMatter movement. The document notes that the board planned to discuss the difficulty of dealing with a de-centralized movement: What happens when you want to throw a lot of money at a moment[sic], but there isnt any place for it to go? It was also raised that the Soros name could discredit Black Lives Matter if the public became aware of his financial support. Many of the organizations on the list of Ford recipients are also members of the newly-formed Movement for Black Lives, which has published a policy agenda document centered on demands for greater government financing of black-owned businesses and institutions. In an earlier period, nationalist movements such as the Black Panthers, however politically disoriented, had a genuine element of social struggle and conflict with the state. While their political program was of a petty-bourgeois character, they had a significant base of support among the oppressed. This was the period of the mass civil rights movement against Jim Crow segregation in the South and the urban rebellions in the North. In response to the upheavals of the late 1960s, a section of the ruling class sought to cultivate a base of support among the more privileged sections of minorities that would be loyal to the status quo. As a result of policies such as affirmative action, social inequality among African-Americans has soared, with a small elite holding positions of power in corporate America and the state. This found its apotheosis in the election of Barack Obama to preside as president over a historic transfer of wealth to the financial aristocracy following the Wall Street crash of 2008. These social transformations are reflected in the political outlook of the Black Lives Matter movement, which is devoid of any genuine element of social protest or democratic struggle. The agenda of these organizations, as underscored by the support of groups like the Ford Foundation, has nothing to do with the real social and economic grievances of millions of workers and young people of any race or ethnicity. They speak for highly privileged sections of the middle class who are fighting over the distribution of wealth within the top 10 percent of the population. In the face of rising popular opposition to war, police violence and social inequality, the decision to advance the racialist program of Black Lives Matter is aimed at dividing the working class and preventing the emergence of an independent and unified working class movement against the capitalist system. Anna Toomsen, ARNP, has joined the medical team of Mercy Family Clinic-Rockford. Toomsen graduated from Maryville University in Missouri as a family nurse practitioner. She also earned her bachelor of science degree in nursing from Allen College in Waterloo. Most recently, Toomsen completed clinic rotations at Franklin General Hospital, Hubbard Medical Clinic, Hansen Family Hospital Womens Health Clinic and MercyNorth Iowa Pediatric & Adolescent Clinic. Prior to joining Mercy Family ClinicRockford, Toomsen worked with patients at the Hansen Family Hospital in Iowa Falls and Sartori Memorial Hospital in Cedar Falls. The clinic is welcoming new patients of all ages. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 641-756-3303. * * * The Humane Society of North Iowa is honoring employee Rachel Garcia, who is celebrating her 30th anniversary with the organization. Garcia was hired in 1986 on a part-time basis to clean kennels and care for the shelter animals when the shelter was located on the north end of Mason City. Over the years, she has been promoted to kennel manager and works full time for the organization at its location on South Birch Drive. In the past 30 years, Garcia has provided care to almost 10,000 animals, which is the number of animals that have been adopted through the Humane Society of North Iowa since 1986. I love taking care of the animals now as much as I did when I first started 30 years ago, said Garcia. Knowing that Im helping these animals find loving forever homes is what keeps me going. For more information, call the Humane Society at 641-423-6241 or visit www.hsni.org. * * * Harrison Truck Centers has presented the North Iowa Area Community College Diesel Technology Center with a new Freightliner Cascadia. This gift is a yearly commitment for the use of a new truck each year for five years and is part of the Keeping NIACC First capital campaign. Harrison Truck Centers has seven locations in Iowa and Minnesota, including Clear Lake. For more information, visit www.htctrucks.com. For more on the NIACC Diesel Technology Center, visit www.niacc.edu/academics/career-clusters/diesel-technology/overview-employment. * * * The North Iowa Landlords Association will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, at the First Presbyterian Church, 100 S. Pierce Ave., Mason City. Speakers will be from the Cerro Gordo County Public Health Department and Civil Rights. * * * Chad Heggen, Joice, won the Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association directory and calendar photo contest. His winning photo was taken off of a gravel road in Worth County. He received $100 and his winning photo will be featured on the cover of both publications. Ellen Jordan of Forest City was the second-place winner. She received $50 and will have her photo featured in the calendar. Shane Dahl of Emmons was the third. He received $25 and will also have his photo featured in the calendar. Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association is a member-owned cooperative providing service in North Central Iowa and southern Minnesota. * * * Are you making business news? Send your information to news@globegazette.com. Include a jpg photo (its use is not guaranteed). For more information write tom.thoma@globegazette.com. A recently published book, along with several reports, highlights the increasing levels of poverty and inequality in the UK. All note that the growth of poverty is particularly pronounced among young people. A new book, Student Lives in Crisis: Deepening Inequality in Times of Austerity, published on September 21 and authored by Lorenza Antonucci, a senior lecturer in social policy and sociology at Teesside University, is based on studies of students lives in England, Italy and Sweden. Antonucci shows how life chances of students with rich parents, who can subsidise their living costs at university, and the reliance on loans by many others has a direct effect on the reproduction of inequality. Speaking to the Guardian newspaper Antonucci said, The grants have gone. The loans are not enough and they (the Students Loan Company) assume that families will contribute. But families dont have the amount of money that the state assumes they haveStudents who have fewer resources are stressed and feel guilty that their family are in debt or have to mobilise their inheritance, and this puts pressure on young people at university. A report published in September by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) entitled, The Economic Circumstances of Different Generations: The Latest Picture, compares the financial well-being of young adults in their 30s to those of a decade earlier. One of its findings is that, Those born in the early 1980s were the first post-war cohort not to enjoy higher incomes in early adulthood than those born in the previous decade. This is partly the result of the overall stagnation of working-age incomes, but it also reflects the fact that the Great Recession hit the pay and employment of young adults the hardest. It also showed that those born in the 1980s, now in their early 30s, have a net median wealth of around 27,000 compared to those born in the 1970s whowhen they were in their early 30shad a net median wealth of around 53,000. Wealth was defined as housing, financial assets and pensions. It went on to explain that among the reasons for the decline was the much lower rate of home-ownership among this cohort and the fall in access to better paying Defined Benefit (DB) pension schemes. It noted, At the age of 30, only 40 percent of those born in the 1980s were owner-occupiers, compared to at least 55 percent of the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s cohorts. It adds, Less than 10 percent of private-sector employees born in the 1980s were active members of a DB scheme compared to more than 15 percent of those born in the 1970s and nearly 40 percent of those born in the 1960s. A BBC news comment on the report quoted Campbell Robb of the Shelter housing charity. Robb said, With sky-high house prices so out of step with average wages, its no wonder a whole generation are being priced out of a home of their own and left with no choice but expensive unstable private rentingwith thousands of people forking out most their income on rent and left living one pay cheque to the next. A Resolution Foundation (RF) report also published September, Hanging on: The stresses and strains of Britains just managing families, focuses on the nearly six million familiescomprising 10 million adultsdescribed as just managing financially. They are worse off today than 10 years ago just prior to the 2008 financial crisis. The six million families are comprised of working age households on low to middle incomes with at least one person in work, mainly in full-time employment. The report notes, An unprecedented pay squeeze, rising housing costs and the added financial pressure of having children mean that the typical incomes of just managing families are lower than they were over a decade ago...While the income of just managing families is principally wages from work, they are often topped up by welfare support because they account for two-thirds of all working families with children in receipt of tax credits. This has left them doubly exposed to Britains earning squeeze and cuts in welfare support to working families It notes the fall in home ownership among this group, with a only a third owning their own home compared to two thirds in 1995, means they have to spend more of their income on housing. David Finch, a senior economic analyst at RF, noted, This switch from owning to renting means that just managing families are now having to set aside a quarter of their income on housing. As a result they have suffered over a decade of lost income growth. The RFs press release noted the inability of this group to be able to save stating, This squeeze means that such families now typically spend the entirety of their income with no money left aside for savingover two-thirdshave less than a months income worth of saving. Finchs warning over the level of savings is supported by recent research by the Money Advice Service (MAS). The government-funded MAS provides free-of-charge advice on money and financial decisions to people in the UK. Its Closing the Savings Gap reveals that 40 percent of the working population (16 million people) have savings of less than 100. In some parts of the country, the percentage having less than 100 in savings is even higher. In Wales, the North East and Yorkshire and Humberside, those with less than 100 is around 50 percent, while in the West Midlands and Northern Ireland it is around 55 percent. The MAS report said 25 percent of the working population could be classed as non-savers. It added that; just one emergency could easily push 16.8 million into debt. The reports above highlight the financial squeeze being imposed on the vast majority of the population that is fuelling staggering levels of inequality in the UK. An Oxfam briefing also published last month, How to Close Great Britains Great Divide, spelled out the growing chasm between an ultra rich elite and the rest of the population. It noted, The UK is one of the most unequal developed countries in the world. Three decades of high-level inequality have had a profound impact, leading many people to believe that they have little stake in society It continued, Despite the fact that the UK is one of the richest countries in the world, one in five people live below the poverty line According to data from the widely respected Credit Suisse, the richest 10 percent of the UK population own half the countrys total wealth (54 percent), and the richest one percent own nearly quarter (23 percent), while the poorest 20 percent of the population nearly 13 million people share just 0.8 percent of the countrys wealth between them. On taking office as prime minister, Conservative leader Theresa May professed concern for those who; can just about manage. While cynically pouring crocodile tears over the fate of the working class, the assembled Tories at this weeks annual conference made clear there will be no let up in their imposition of brutal austerity. The systematic lowering of the living standards of the vast majority of the population will only continue as the Tories, following the 1997-2010 Labour government, protect the ill-gotten gains of the super rich. Socialist Equality Party vice presidential candidate Niles Niemuth spoke to students Monday at Wayne State University in Detroit about the partys presidential campaign and the November 5 conference, Socialism vs. Capitalism and War, being held on the campus. Niemuth encountered strong opposition to the war plans of the US ruling elite as well as disgust with the campaigns of both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. Students reacted in particular to the spectacle of the Clinton-Trump debate held Sunday night, where the big business candidates traded insults while avoiding any serious discussion of the issues confronting working people and students. Niemuths campaign on campus coincided with a visit to Wayne State that afternoon by Clinton, who is desperately seeking to rally support from students. In her remarks, Clinton treaded lightly on the question of her support for the US military actions in the Middle East, including the looming confrontation with Russia over Syria, while advancing a series of empty and vague promises, which, judging from the audience applause levels, even her supporters do not take very seriously. Danny, a Wayne State student, told Niemuth, From what I can see Clinton and Trump are not focusing on the big picture. If there was to be a war they could start calling up people off the draft list. That would directly impact me since I am age 20 and would likely be among the first to go. Another student also expressed her disgust with the Clinton-Trump debate. It was all a diversion, she said. Wars are all about the money. The United States went into Vietnam to preserve a French colony, and 58,000 American soldiers were killed. Megan said she had supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary campaign against Clinton. She told Niemuth she was interested in the November 5 conference at Wayne State. When it comes to things I hope to hear in the elections, I feel more aligned with socialist values. I would like to see more people realize that their values align with socialism. The discussions I have had with other young people is that they want to see a candidate that is more progressive, more aligned to socialism, she said, indicating she did not like either Clinton or Trump. Niemuth explained that while millions of young people supported Sanders based on his claim to be a democratic socialist, he was in fact a supporter of capitalism, demonstrated by the fact that he had now endorsed Clinton. We are in favor of the working class taking power and reconstituting society on the basis of production for human need, not private profit, he said. A student from Pakistan said he had been disgusted by the debate Sunday night. It was all based on personal attacks. I would like to see the candidates talk about the jobless rate and issues like the killings of African Americans by the police. He said he strongly agreed with the need to oppose war. He was disturbed by the prospect of a war between India and Pakistan, but even more concerned with developments in the Middle East. If it goes to the point of war between the US and Russia over Syria that would be a catastrophe. I strongly believe we need to build an anti-war movement. Niemuth said, The US wants to control the oil and keep it out of the hands of Russia and China. We call for the dismantling of the US military machine. That requires the building of a political movement to unite the working class. Two students from India, Rashmani and Banipreet, said they were appalled by the danger of war in South Asia between nuclear armed India and Pakistan and both registered for the conference. Niemuth explained, We are fighting to unite workers in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and throughout Asia against capitalism. Workers in the United States, Russia, China, India or Pakistan have no interest in these wars. These wars are a product of the conspiracies of the ruling elites against the working class. Another student who identified himself as a libertarian and a registered Republican told the socialist candidate that he had been in the US military and had served in Afghanistan. I dont think it was the right thing to do to occupy the country for 15 years, he said. At least half the people there didnt want it. Niemuth said, The invasion wasnt about helping people. President Obama promised to end the wars when he was elected, but instead the wars expanded and are continuing. Now, no one is being asked if they want to go to war with Russia. We are opposed to that. Both the Democrats and Republicans are right-wing parties that support the interests of Wall Street. The socialist movement is the only force that is genuinely opposed to war, which means opposing capitalism. We are not oriented to the ruling classes but the working class. Amber told SEP campaigners that she had previously supported Sanders but would not be supporting Hillary Clinton. She called the arguments being advanced to vote for Clinton, An insult. She continued, Hillary Clinton is not TrumpIts a terrible argument. She noted that the Clinton campaign had even resorted to McCarthyite-style baiting of Trump over his alleged ties to Russia. If Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee, I dont care. The information that was revealed was more important than the question of who hacked it, she said, referring to further revelations about Clintons intimate political ties to the Wall Street oligarchy. The conflict in Yemen is escalating following the criminal strikes by Saudi war planes on Saturday on a packed funeral hall that killed at least 140 civilians and wounded more than 500. The attack has provoked widespread outrage in the capital of Sanaa, not only against Saudi Arabia and its Gulf State allies that have intervened aggressively in the countrys civil war, but also against its backersthe United States, Britain and France. The Saudi aircraft targeted the funeral of Sheikh Ali al-Rawishan, the father of Galal al-Rawishan, the interior minister in the Houthi-rebel led government in Sanaa. The interior minister and other political figures were among the dead and wounded. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets on Sanaa on Sunday to condemn the strikes. Ferea al-Muslimi, an analyst at the Sanaa Centre for Strategic Studies, told Reuters: Despite all the massacres that have happened in this war, attacking a funeral is unprecedented and crosses a major red line in Yemeni culture. The air strikes killed powerful people, and their tribes and families will be drawn closer to the Houthis as they all try to retaliate. Saudi Arabia has denied responsibility, but its disavowal lacks any credibility as the war planes of the Saudi-led coalition are the only ones flying over Yemen. The Saudi air force has carried out thousands of sorties over Yemen in a bid to oust the Houthi rebels and their ally ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh from Sanaa and is responsible for numerous atrocities. Most recently Saudi aircraft attacked a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in August killing or wounding at least 30 people. The Saudi attack threatens to widen the war not only in Yemen but by drawing in other countries, including the US, more directly. In a televised statement, Houthi leader Abdulmalek al-Houthi said he had evidence that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the air strikes, adding: The Saudi war crimes in Yemen have been committed with the American green light. Yesterday, the US navy said that two missiles had been fired from Houthi-controlled territory in the direction of one of its warships, the guided-missile destroyer USS Mason operating off Yemen in the strategic Bab al Mandab strait. The missiles missed the US destroyer and Houthi officials denied responsibility for the attack. The USS Mason is part of a three-ship deployment armed with cruise missiles and carrying US Special Forces. Saudi officials claimed yesterday that its forces destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by Houthi militiaone at a military base in Taif in central Saudi Arabia, and the second at Marib in central Yemen, which is held by the Houthis opponents loyal to Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Hadi was installed as president in 2012 as part of a deal sponsored by the US and Saudi Arabia to end the upheavals that led to the resignation of his predecessor Saleh. The Houthis, who had boycotted the one-candidate election, moved against Hadi, seizing the capital and much of the north of the country. Hadi was forced to flee and currently resides in Saudi Arabia, which has been waging an air war since March 2015 to install him as their puppet. Saudi Arabia accuses the Shiite Houthis of being stooges for its regional arch-rival Iran. In addition to thousands of air strikes, Saudi Arabia and its allies have mounted a naval blockade of Yemen, compounding the economic and social crisis facing the population. The country is the most impoverished in the Middle East, with one in five Yemenis in need of urgent food assistance and nine provinces on the brink of famine. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon yesterday condemned the Saudi air strikes in Yemen on Saturday and called for an international inquiry into whether the attack constituted a war crime. He dismissed Saudi denials, saying: Aerial attacks by the Saudi-led coalition have already caused immense carnage and destroyed much of the countrys medical facilities and other vital civilian infrastructure. Excuses ring hollow given the pattern of violence throughout the conflict. Ban declared: Despite mounting crimes by all parties to the conflict, we have yet to see the results of any credible investigations. This latest horrific incident demands a full inquiry. However, as Ban himself is well aware, no serious international investigation will take place, not least because an examination of Saudi Arabias role would also highlight the involvement of the US and its allies. The US is not only selling billions of dollars worth of precision-guided bombs and other military hardware to Saudi Arabia but also supporting the air war in Yemen with intelligence, targeting data and aerial refuelling. The Pentagon has deployed military personnel to coordinate with their Saudi counterparts and sent Special Forces teams into Yemen to assist in Saudi operations. In all likelihood, the US knew of, and possibly even planned, last weekends air strikes on Sanaa. American officials and the media have sought both to downplay and distance Washington from the latest Saudi war crime. According to the US State Department, Secretary of State John Kerry rang Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Sunday to express deep concern over the attack. He urged them to take urgent steps to ensure such an incident doesnt happen again. Washingtons muted response to the latest Saudi atrocity is another glaring example of gross hypocrisy as the US ratchets up its war of words against Russia over its alleged attacks on civilians in Syria. Just last Friday, Kerry launched another tirade calling for an appropriate investigation of war crimes, declaring: This is a targetted strategy to terrorise civilians and to kill anyone who is in the way of their military objectives. The reckless US actions in both Syria and Yemen, as well as its renewed war in Iraq, are creating a maelstrom of regional rivalry that threatens to engulf the entire Middle East and draw the major powers into direct conflict. HAVANA, FL (WTXL) -- Law enforcement agencies from three states are in Gadsden County this week for the Florida Public Safety Institute's 8th annual instructor training seminar. Two speakers during Monday's opening ceremony shared stories to encourage law enforcement to stay alert and continue to work hard -- because lives depend on it. October 10 is a day Bill DeMott can't forget. Monday marked one year since his 20-year-old daughter Keri Anne was killed by a drunk driver. Since her death, DeMott has given several talks about driving under the influence. "Decisions can cost lives or save lives," he said. "Everybody's got to make a decision, and we just want to make sure they're making the right one." Miami-Dade police officer Mario Gutierrez had to make a difficult decision three years ago. He said nearly lost his life stopping a man from setting a gas station on fire. "Fear basically gripped me," Gutierrez said. "I said, 'We're going to die. This is going to explode -- this 8,000-gallon tank." Gutierrez said the man stabbed him and nearly bit off one of his thumbs. The officer used a taser but was forced to fire his weapon to save his own life. He was hospitalized for a week in serious condition with multiple conditions. "It's a tough job, but it's also a calling, so that's what I recommend," Gutierrez said. "You have to have a cop's heart." TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - A Florida federal court has decided to extend the voter registration deadline one more day. On Monday, a federal court found that the voter deadline should indeed be extended, not only because the decision is in the public's interest, but prioritizing deadlines over people's right to vote is "nonsensical". "It has been suggested that the issue of extending the voter registration deadline is about politics. Poppycock. This case is about the right of aspiring eligible voters to register and to have their votes counted. Nothing could be more fundamental to our democracy," said U.S. District Judge Mark Walker. The Florida Democratic Party filed the suit against Governor Rick Scott and Secretary of State Ken Detzner late Sunday to try to force state officials to extend the deadline for up to a week to allow residents who fled Hurricane Matthew to continue registering. According to the judge, Florida law does not allow for the State to extend the voter registration deadline see page nine, paragraph two. Therefore, according to the judge, extending the voter registration deadline is not a decision specifically granted to the Governor of Florida, including in a declared state of emergency like Hurricane Matthew," said Jackie Schutz, Scott's Communications Director, "Additionally, the judge stated that the Governor is not a proper party to the lawsuit. The State will follow the courts decision and discuss with the Legislature possible amendments to current law during the upcoming legislative session. As a result of the hearing, the voter registration deadline for all of Florida was extended to Wednesday at 5 p.m. We are thrilled with todays ruling and we look forward to making our case on Wednesday for extending the voter registration deadline to October 18th. This is a win for the people of Florida, said FDP Chair Allison Tant. A court document said that another hearing will be held in Tallahassee on Wednesday to see if the deadline will be extended by another week. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) -- During Hurricane Hermine, a Tallahassee man stayed at his homeless camp to weather the storm. It has been a little over a month since Hermine, and they're still in need of supplies. Tucked away deep in the woods is a camp that's like a small village in Tallahassee. Dan Hadders is the person in charge. "The way it's set up is to help people," said Hadders. "It's not designed for people to stay forever. " He built his house here himself. It's equipped with basically everything he needs to survive including canned food, generators, tarps for his roof, and a radio to stayed tuned in to what's happening in the world. A few people are staying here right now. Every tent here has a purpose. One is even used for storage and another is even set up for church. (Story continues under video) Hadders stayed in his tent home during Hurricane Hermine. "Everything flying, there were trees flying. You're like, please Lord, don't hit my house," said Hadders. He says after the storm a pastor put him up in a hotel for a few days. He knows recovery from storms can take quite some time. Pat Smith with Pat's Pantry is trying to help the tent community, and she's gathering things like tarps, tents, and sleeping bags from the public. "This is my sixth year out here, said Smith. "When you get to know them, you get to love them. You understand some of their life stories, and you just want to help them." Hadders says he never wants to deal with a storm like Hurricane Hermine again, and he hopes those who live outside on the east coast took the proper precautions to protect themselves from Hurricane Matthew. Here is a list of what's needed: hats gloves socks rubber work boots tents tarps You can contact Pat's Pantry at (850) 875-2133. Reporter Stephen Jiwanmall also got up close and personal with homelessness in Tallahassee when he slept outside in the elements for a night. To read more on what he learned about homeless youth, click here. TALLAHASSEE, FL (The News Service of Florida) - With little more than 24 hours to go before Florida's voter registration deadline, there was no word from a federal court mid-day Monday on a lawsuit seeking to give residents more time to sign up for the November presidential election. It was unclear whether any decision would come from the court on Monday, which marked a federal holiday, Columbus Day. The Florida Democratic Party filed suit late Sunday to try to force state officials to extend the deadline for up to a week to allow residents who fled Hurricane Matthew to continue registering. Gov. Rick Scott, who heads a super PAC supporting GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, has refused to allow more time. In the suit, lawyers for the Democratic Party argue it was unfair for Scott to warn residents to follow evacuation orders ahead of the storm while at the same time refusing to give people more time to register after the storm displaced them and forced government offices to close. "Even if would-be voters choose to disregard the commands of Defendant Scott and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and venture out to attempt to register amid the chaos caused by Hurricane Matthew, it is unlikely that any office permitted to accept voter registration applications will be open," the suit argues. Thousands of Floridians fled areas threatened by the storm, and at least a half a dozen deaths in the state have been attributed to Matthew and its aftermath. The filing also says the effects of the decision not to extend the deadline will hurt some voters more than others. The party argues in its lawsuit that minority voters are more likely to register closer to the election, and that voters in parts of the state untouched by Hurricane Matthew will face fewer obstacles to signing up. "Unlucky Floridians who happen to live in the counties stricken by Hurricane Matthew who have not yet registered will be unable to register by the October 11 deadline and will therefore not be permitted to vote in the upcoming general election," the lawsuit said. "Meanwhile, their neighbors to the west, who by happy geographic accident will not have to contend with the devastation of Hurricane Matthew, will have no difficulty registering by the October 11 deadline and casting their vote in the general election." The registration deadline has become a flashpoint in Florida, the nation's largest swing state, one month ahead of Election Day in one of the most heated presidential campaigns in recent political history. The Democrats' lawsuit was announced less than two hours before a testy debate between Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. On Friday, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Florida's 10 Democratic U.S. House members sent a letter to Scott urging him to extend the deadline. But Scott had already signaled he was unlikely to do so. "Everybody has had a lot of time to register," Scott said Thursday. Clinton's campaign announced Monday morning that she and former Vice President Al Gore would focus on voter registration Tuesday during a campaign stop in Miami. TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - One of the accused in the slaying of FSU professor Dan Markel in 2014 admitted on Monday that he was part of the "hit for hire" scheme surrounding the professor's death. After Luis Rivera reached a plea agreement in court last week that sentenced him to 7 years in prison, he admitted to investigators on Monday that he was part of the operation to kill Markel. In a newly released video, Rivera detailed the car ride between he and Sigfredo Garcia, the other man accused in Marke's murder. He mentioned to investigators how during their first trip to Tallahassee, they drove by Wendi Adelson, Markel's ex-wife, while she was with her children. Rivera told investigators that he noticed Garcia and Adelson making eye contact and said he began to wonder she was. That's when he said he began suspecting that Garcia was displaying to Adelson that they had arrived. Rivera also admitted that he strongly believed Katherine Magbanua, a woman with ties both to the Adelson family and one of the alleged shooters in his death, had a hand in everything from the beginning. He said he heard Garcia having several phone conversations with her throughout their trip. Rivera also added that he did not know who Markel was before Garcia let him in on the plan. Rivera's confession comes after a long, complex investigation into the law professor's murder. Beginning with a messy divorce in 2013, Markel's wife Wendi Adelson was denied a request to move her children to South Florida. In July of 2014, Markel was shot multiple times and died from his injuries. One of the men that investigators believe was hired by the family of Adelson to kill Markel, Sigfredo Garcia, was arrested in May 2016. In June, Rivera was identified by investigators as the second shooter. Magbanua has also been charged in the law professor's murder, after court records suggested that she received payment from the Adelson's. She is also the only connection between the Adelson family and the other alleged gunmen. Though no first appearance date for Magbanua has been set yet, Garcia's next appearance has been set for Oct. 17th. MIDWAY, Fla. (WTXL) -- The former Hurricane Matthew became a "post-tropical" system over the weekend before a cold front in the western Atlantic merged into its remnants. The previously shown forecast of the storm "looping" around the western Atlantic and returning to the Bahamas is no longer valid. There remains tropical storm Nicole as the Atlantic basin's only active tropical system, with 60-mph peak winds about 400 miles south of Bermuda. Its forecast movement to the north and northeast may bring the system very close to the island nation later this week, with chances to strengthen back to hurricane level before advancing into the colder waters of the northern reaches of the ocean. There are no other points of concern currently existing in the tropical Atlantic basin as of Monday afternoon. MIDWAY, Fl. (WTXL) -- Only Nicole remains in the Tropics, as of now. The latest advisory has Nicole with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph, making it a strong tropical storm. Winds may increase more over the next couple of days and Nicole is expected to reach hurricane strength before hitting or moving VERY close to Bermuda. Interests in Bermuda should monitor the progress of the storm. No other development is expected in the next week over the Atlantic. You are the owner of this article. Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence emerged Monday after a weekend out of the public eye reaffirming his relationship with Donald Trump and hitting the campaign trail, including planning a stop in Iowa. After canceling a weekend campaign appearance and leaving Trump alone to deal with a video of sexually predatory remarks, Pence was campaigning again and praising Trumps Sunday debate performance. Pence will hold a rally Tuesday afternoon at the Des Moines Area Community College campus in Newton, then speak at the Scott County GOP Annual Reagan dinner Tuesday night in . Representatives of the Democratic side of the presidential race will also be in the state this week. Former President Bill Clinton will campaign for his wife and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Iowa Wednesday and Thursday. Clintons bus tour encouraging people to vote early will hold an event Wednesday evening at the Cattle Congress in Waterloo. He also will make stops in Indianola, Linn County and Davenport Wednesday and Thursday. Other surrogates for Hillary Clinton to visit Iowa this week include: Actress and playwright Danai Gurira, who plays the character Michonne in the AMC series, The Walking Dead, will be in Ames, Grinnell and Des Moines on Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and former Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis will be in Des Moines Tuesday morning. Davis will also visit Fairfield Tuesday afternoon, and Luther College in Decorah and Wartburg College in Waverly on Wednesday. TOPPENISH, Wash. -- The Yakamas and other tribes in the region are applauding the U.S. Senat Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy A leading radio show with a right-wing, religious affiliation, held a discussion recently on Yesh Atid Leader Yair Lapids attraction to Judaism. There is a feeling that Lapid is eyeing the prime ministers seat as he poses for photographs at the Western Wall, and as his wife observes the dough offering mitzvah and splits the hoof (a sign of a kosher animal), the radio host said, dead serious. Her noisy opponent did not even doubt the comment. She may be setting aside doughbut splitting the hoof? Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter This funny episode is just one in a series of ignorant Jewish chatter piling up around us. Somewhere on the folklore spectrum, between the crazy Breslov charlatans and Kabbalah institutes with their patron saint, Madonnacan anyone even separate the real from the parody? People in prayer at the Western Wall (Photo: AFP) All joking aside, these benign offshoots are spreading in the large vacuum created in the Jewish identity of the countrys secular and traditional majority, which is being defeated in battle. This majority has given up on its Judaismeither unwillingly or indifferentlyin favor of Orthodox Judaism. And Orthodoxys victory is everyones defeatbecause it is political rather than ethical. The meaning of this kind of Judaism is mainly about prohibitions, constraints and excuses on opening businesses, public transportation and leisure, people marrying whoever they choose, issues of faith or a different sexual inclination and an excuse for being exempt from military service (like I was told in basic training: If things get difficult, then we say were religious). The religious community, mainly the Haredi society, is itself undergoing a revolution. And like in any revolution, those who feel that the power is slipping through their fingers react radically. And so the secular-traditional Jew sits and watches in disbelief such disgraces as discrimination between Sephardic and Ashkenazi students in educational institutions, corruption, crushing womens rights, with ideas like the voice of a singing woman equals lewdness and invented modesty issues that have no trace in the laws of the Bible. In some sense, this make womens situation even worse than our grandmothers lives in the ghetto, in the shtetl and in the mellah. If these are Judaisms Lord Keepers of the Privy Seal, he will ask himself, what have I got to do with it? The second partner in the Orthodox victory, Religious Zionism, has replaced the ancient principles of faith with a single under no circumstances. This land is all mine, they say, and the world can explode, or at least the Temple Mount. All the Jewish chips are placed on the beginning of the redemption, self-sacrifice, are busy preparing us for the religious war that will eventually arrive, Inshallah, against Islam in general and the Palestinians in particular, so that there is no chance to discuss anything else with them. And everyone else basically a traitor who wants to take away their house in their Amona. The reaction to these Judaism shows is sometimes hostile contempt, like the amulet kissers, and mostly includes a silent acceptance of exploitation for political gain: this is a Judaism that rewrites the Bible to Joshuas legacy, a Judaism that plants a fear of the Holocaust and sends delegations to Poland, all the while having women offer dough and split hoofs. Secular Israel is missing the point, or the essence. It does not engage in studying our Judaismor infusing it with its own, original content. For example, what can actually be translated from the Jubilee year mitzvot (in the spirit of Jabotinsky)? How does Maimonides philosophically overcome the problem of the existence of evil? Can we detach the term gentile from its ghetto meaning? And what will our childrens holiday and Sabbath look like during the second millennium? A moment before Yom Kippur, it seems that we have never been further away from the Judaism that acts as a basis of our collective identity myth, tradition and memory that bring together a group of people for the sake of a better shared future. South Korea summoned China's ambassador Tuesday to protest against what it says was a deliberate collision by a Chinese fishing vessel with a South Korean coast guard patrol boat that later capsized and sank. Disputes over illegal fishing are an irritant in relations between China and US ally South Korea, even as their economic relations grow close. They also share concern about North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programmes. South Korea's Ministry of Public Safety and Security, which oversees the coast guard, said one of its patrol boats sank last week during an operation to crack down on a group of Chinese vessels fishing illegally off the Korean peninsula's west coast. It said the patrol boat was rammed by one of the Chinese vessels. On Tuesday evening, the Jewish people will begin a 25-hour fast marking Yom Kippur, which will last until nightfall on Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Come sundown, the Jewish 'Kol Nidre' prayer service will be heard in synagogues across the globe, ushering in the holiday of Yom Kippur. The holiday will end with the Neilah prayer and the blowing of the shofar. Paying at the Western Wall during 'Slihot' (Photo: EPA) On Monday, some of the leading rabbis in Israel conducted Slihot (the Jewish tradition of repentance) in front of the Western Wall, in preparation for the holiday. Yom Kippur times information Police have increased its presence, particularly in Jerusalem, in preparation of Yom Kippur. Border Police, reinforcement and volunteers will be dispersed throughout the country to keep the peace and allow for a calm and hopefully uneventful holiday. IDF Border Patrol soldiers prepare with extra vigilence for the Jewish tradition of 'Slihot' (Photo: Gil Yohanan) As is tradition, the Jerusalem Police and municipality will set up roadblocks along the citys main roads to prevent traffic from leaving East Jerusalem into West Jerusalem. Yom Kippur Prayer: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks X Ultra-orthodox men gather for the Rosh Hashanah ritual of 'Tashlich' at the Yarkon River in Petah Tikvah (Photo: Reuters) Praying at the Western Wall (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) As is done for every holiday, the IDF will impose a general closure beginning on midnight between Tuesday and Wednesday in the West Bank and the Gaza border crossings. The closure will be lifted on Wedneday at 11:59pm, in accordance to the situation. During the closure, only humanitarian, medical and unusual cases will be allowed to cross into Israel. Performing the atonement ritual of 'Kapparot' in Jerusalem (Photo: AFP) Public trasport will be brought to a halt, with Israel Railways starting to taper off from 1pm until 2pm, when all its services will cease completely. Yom Kippur prayer: Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL X At Ben Gurion Airport, the last landing on Tuesday will take place at 1:30pm Israel time, with the last departure scheduled for 1:55pm. Some 46,000 passengers are expected to fly through Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday morning. Gathering to pray at the Western Wall (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) Yom Kippur prayer: Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee X Flights are due to resume on Wednesday at 10:30pm, with the first international flight slated for 11:30pm. Soweto Ekel, 39, couldn't hold back the tears as he was reunited with his mother whom he hadn't seen for 14 years. "I waited years for this moment," he says after taking part in the ceremony welcoming new Falash Mura immigrants from Ethiopia. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Hundreds came to Terminal 1 at Ben-Gurion International Airport to welcome the 64 new immigrants waving Israeli flags and singing. Many had emotional family reunions with relatives between whom their most recent encounter was more than a decade ago. Emotional family reunions abounded (Photo: Omri Efraim) Ethiopian immigrants arrive in Israel (: : ) X As first reported by Ynet, following a three-year hiatus, immigration from Ethiopia resumed Monday as the first phase of the government's November 2015 plan to bring 9,000 Ethiopian immigrants within five years. However, the Prime Minister's Office decided to suspend the decision for more than seven months. The renewal of the plan was only made possible as a result of a crisis within the coalition government led by MKs David (Dudu) Amsalem and Avraham Neguise. Following pressure from the two MKs, the government decided in August 2016 to bring 1,300 immigrants out of the planned 9,000 waiting in transit camps in Addis Ababa and Gondar to Israel within the year. The 64 who arrived Monday are the first to arrive since the government approved the decision. Soweto and his mother (Photo: Omri Efraim) MKs Neguise and Amsalem The fate of the rest of the Falash Mura community, who are yet to immigrate, remains unclear however, as a result of budgetary constraints. Public figures and activists have called in recent weeks for the implementation of an emergency plan to bring the rest of the community to Israel as a result of the unstable security situation in Ethiopia. A group of Ethiopian IDF soldiers also arrived at the airport in uniform to greet family members who arrived from Ethiopia. "I have mixed feelings," says A, an officer who has not seen her two sisters for nearly 20 years. "I'm happy there is finally some progress, but also really sad that none of my family arrived." Photo: Omri Efraim Kibert Ezra, a recently discharged soldier whose five brothers and sister are currently waiting in a transit camp in Addis Ababa, is one of the activists who arrived to welcome the immigrants. "The big question is what will happen with the thousands who are still waiting in extremely difficult conditions. The government has brought dozens, but thousands are still waiting in deteriorating security conditions. The government has not kept its commitment and the increase was delayed for six months and we are now demanding that broader action be taken." Photo: Omri Efraim Photo: Omri Efraim Minister of Immigration and Absorption, Sofa Landver, also attended the ceremony and promised the government would soon implement the plan. "They are on the way," Landver told reporters. Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky told immigrants "Everything is now in your hands. After 2,500 years of prayers, you can expect a big future." A 22-year-old resident of the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem has been arrested and indicted for planning to carry out a massive suicide bombing attack in the capital last month, it was cleared for publication Tuesday by the Shin Bet. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The arrest of the would-be terroristMuhammad Fauaz Ibrahim Joulanicame following a joint operation with the Shin Bet and the Israel Police. Muhammad Joulani: 'Allahu Akbar' (: ) X The investigation revealed that Joulani, a Hamas member, contacted activists from the terror organization controlling the Gaza Strip and expressed his will to carry out attacks on its behalf. Joulani was asked to recruit additional accomplices to conduct terrorist attacks and managed to compile and send a list of names to his handlers in Gaza. Muhammad Fauaz Ibrahim Joulani (Photo: Ofer Meir) The investigation further revealed that Joulani had a number of ideas for potential terrorist attacks such as a shooting attack at the Hizma checkpoint, a bombing at a Jerusalem store in which he had worked in 2011, throwing a pipe bomb at the Shuafat checkpoint. He also considered carrying out a bombing attack at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station and the busy Malha Mall. The latter plan was abandoned as a result of increased security measures at both locations. Looking to strike less secure targets, Joulani planned to revert back to a strategy which had been the central characteristic of the Second Intifada. To that end, he planned a suicide attack on a bus line in the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood of Jerusalem. Shuafat refugee camp (Photo: Gil Yohanan) In the course of planning the attacks, Joulani acquired the raw materials necessary for building a lethal explosive device, including nails and batteries. However, following experiments with the materials, he was discovered by his parents and was subsequently forced to travel to Hebron to purchase additional raw materials. At the beginning of September, it was decided that the suicide attack would be carried out after Eid al-Adha holiday so as to prevent security measures from disturbing Muslim worshippers at the Temple Mount. In order for Joulani's activities to be financed, he was sent to Hebron where he received NIS 7,000 from a local resident to acquire the necessary explosive materials. At the behest of Joulani's handlers, he recorded a last will and testament, but was unable to send the recording due to technical difficulties. The terrorist received financing from people in Hebron The investigation also detailed an incident in which Joulani intended to carry out a stabbing attack in Pisgat Ze'ev, but ultimately decided against its implementation for fear that his parents' home would be demolished by Israeli security forces in retaliation. Two family members were also arrested with Joulani, one of whomIyad Joulaniwas also found to be in possession of hidden weapons. The Shin Bet and Israel Police said that the arrest illustrate the relentless efforts of Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip to carry out serious terrorist attacks inside Israel and the West Bank. Furthermore, both agencies emphasized the use of Arab-Israeli residents by Hamas to gain access to Israeli territory. German Chancellor Angela Merkel land in Ethiopia, where her meeting on Tuesday with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency and other issues including migration. Merkel's African tour, with stops earlier this week in Mali and Niger, is meant to highlight the global migration crisis and discuss security issues. Ethiopia is one of the world's largest hosts of refugees, with hundreds of thousands arriving from nearby Somalia, South Sudan and elsewhere. This East African country, one of Africa's best-performing economies, declared its first state of emergency in a quarter-century on Sunday, after months of protests demanding wider freedoms. German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer has said Merkel will also "of course clearly address human rights" in Ethiopia. The IDF sealed off the entry to the candy shop belonging to the family of the terrorist who carried out Sundays attack in Jerusalem on Tuesday. The security forces welded iron rods to block the entry to the store, in which the terrorist filmed his will before heading out for the attack. In light of the attack, and in an effort to meet public dafety concerns, security in Jerusalem was put on high alert ahead of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The terrorist managed to kill two people 1st Sgt. Yossi Kirma and Levana Malihi before being shot and killed himself by security forces. The IDF moves in to seal off the candy shop of the family of the terrorist responsible for Sunday's attack (: ") X The candy shop was closed by decree of Head of Central Command Maj. Gen. Roni Numa. The shop is set up on the first floor of the building, underneath the terrorists home. The welding roused members of the village to physically confront the security forces on the job, who contained the violence before it escalated further. An IDF soldier working on welding shut the entance to the terrorist's family's sweet shop (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit) Welding iron rods to the entry (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit) Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit The victims from Sunday's attack: Levana Malihi (L) and1st Sgt. Yossi Kirma, The terrorist from Sunday's shooting attack Handing out sweets in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, in celebration of Sunday's attack Celebrations outside the terrorist's family's home in the village of al-Ram Following the attack, celebrations broke out in East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, and candy was handed out to passersby . Palestinian media reported that the candy was provided by the terrorists family. The terrorists daughter also put out a video after word of the attack broke out, praising her father and saying their relationship was excellent. In addition, the IDF also destroyed a house of Amjad Elewi, who was responsible for supplying the terror cell with the weapons that were used to kill Naama and Eitam Henkin in 2015 in front of their four children. He was convicted and is now serving two life sentences. Demolishing the Nablus home of the terrorist involved in the killing of Na'ama and Eitam Henkin (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit) Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit Elewis house was only now demolished due to a delay caused by petitions made to the High Court against the move, which based their arguments on the notion that while he did supplied the weapons, he did not carry out the attack. In December 2015, the IDF destroyed a house in Nablus belonging to the head of the terror cell that killed the Eitams, had recruited people to his cell, guided them how to execute the attack and made sure to provide them with weapons. It is the eve of Yom Kippur, and it is time for repentance. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter This is the time of year in which we should all examine our own actions and see what we've done wrong in the past year and how we could've acted differently. This is done, of course, with the aspiration to rectify things in the coming year. Each and every one of us should examine our behavior primarily towards those around us: Whether we were attentive, caring and respectful towards one another. With that in mind, I would also like to express my feelings on the public level. I too feel the need to ask for forgiveness from the public, as one who is standing at the helm of a wide-scale system of thousands of rabbis and prayer leaders who do a holy workpreserving Judaism in the Land of Israel. Chief Rabbi David Lau I ache and regret the fact that a significant part of the Jewish people in Israel feels that the religious and observant public in the country are trying to impose lifestyles in different areas of life, while no one bothers explaining why. You must understand. There is no area in our lives that law hasn't touched upon and set boundaries, impositions. We must not drive on Israel's roads at whatever speed we so desire, and we must wear a seatbelt. These are examples of two out of hundreds of imposed laws that were put in place for the benefit of the individual citizen, the general population, and public order. In matters of Judaism, there is no law that forces one to observe the rules of the faith or to lead one lifestyle or another, and each is allowed by law to live his life based on his beliefs and views. However, as a Jewish state, we must work to maintain its Jewish nature as the country's founders envisioned throughout the generations. To that end, there are some fields of life in which legislation makes many citizens act differently to what they wantin marriage, divorce, conversions, etc. The late president Shimon Peres, may he rest in peace, used to tell of his last memory of his grandfather, who was murdered in the Holocaust, and of his will to his grandson that he must never forget his Jewish origins. And so Peres foughtregardless of his own beliefsto preserve the state's democratic nature but also its Jewish one. As members of the Jewish nation, we have an obligation towards future generations as well to ensure that our children and grandchildren remember what is the meaning of Jewish heritage and tradition, even if they choose to live their personal lives their own way. And even if parts of our people don't observe Israel's Torah or its teachings, we are all on the same big boat carrying the Jewish people across the generations, and we must protect the structure of this boat so it may reach its destination. Despite the difficulties in maintaining the status quo on issues of religion and state, which was set back in David Ben-Gurion's time, it's important to usto all us, even those who disagreeto preserve it. It is not for us that we seek to do this, but for our children and grandchildren, so they may remember what Judaism is, what tradition is, what Israel's holidays are. That they may never forget the Torah. G'mar Chatima Tovah to all of Israel. CLEAR LAKE School cooks moved into their new kitchen last week as Clear Lake makes progress on $2.5 million in high school renovations. Earlier this year, the School Board awarded the project to update the schools commons area, kitchen and front entrance to Dean Snyder Construction of Clear Lake. The project will solve several issues confusion over where the main entrance is located, a multitude of exterior stairs, an outdated kitchen configuration and a crowded lunchroom. The 21,553-square foot kitchen features $400,000 in new equipment including a walk-in cooler, dishwasher, pub tables, cappuccino machine and an industrial panini-maker. It is the kitchens first update in 50 years, Food Service Director Lora Jenson said. The reconfigured commons will allow up to 175 students to be served in new dual serving lines during each of the two lunch periods, instead of three. Students have been eating lunch in the gymnasium since school began, Superintendent Doug Gee said. The commons and seating area is expected to be completed by Oct. 24. The cafeteria will offer four to five different food choices per day, Gee said. Its going to be more like a college dorm situation, he said. Jenson said the school is considering holding a contest to name a panini or sub sandwich in honor of the schools mascot the Lions. Renovations to the commons and front entrance is tentatively expected to be completed in late November, Gee said. Plans from architectural firm Bergland + Cram of Mason City call for adding a covered entry and replacing exterior bricks and stairs. A courtyard to the north of the commons will be enclosed to add a secure entry and main office with clear sight lines. School officials say they plan to use the current main office for counseling, health and conference space. Its located on the other side of the building. The project will be funded by sales tax revenue, which is mainly designated for school infrastructure needs. Administrators are scheduled to provide an update on construction progress during a School Board meeting on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Diligence leads to discovery, donation A commanders dogged persistence has acquainted her unit with both its lineage and two World War II veterans and resulted in a donation of historically significant photos and artifacts to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The 14th Intelligence Squadron, a Reserve unit commanded by Lt. Col. Dianne Hickey at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, was activated about two years ago to conduct intelligence analysis and assessments for Air Force Materiel Command. The squadron works in collaboration with the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) and reports to the 655th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group. Its personnel were told its history dates back to the Army Air Corps 9th Photographic Technical Squadron, but could not find out anything about the unit through Air Force archives or even a Google search. Hickeys intense research led to the discovery of 93-year-old John Jerry Johnson of Mercer, Penn., and Milton Dienes, 92, from King of Prussia, Penn., both members of the 9 PTS which among other things, was responsible for processing before and after photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to provide battle damage assessments. The two veterans and their caregivers visited Wright-Patterson AFB from Sept. 22 to 25, with every member of the 14 IS, from Airman to master sergeant to captain, eager to host them, Hickey said. Johnson and Dienes took part in a meet and greet at NASIC; toured the Air Force museum; spoke at the 655th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group commanders call; attended a Group picnic; and participated in an oral history interview with Senior Airman Jeremy Tkach, the 14 ISs historian. The interview will be sent to the Library of Congress and the Veterans Voices Project at Wright State University. A highlight of the visit was Johnsons donation of 71-year-old items from his unit. A ceremony was held the afternoon of Sept. 23 at the museum in front of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bockscar, which dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945. Photos and artifacts from the 9 PTS complemented the aircraft that had taken the images. This is another example of a veteran donating prized possessions, said Jeff Duford, a curator in the research division at the museum. For him to give these materials to the museum is truly extraordinary. They are so valuable here where we can make them available to researchers and authors and potentially the public. The donations from photo units or photo processing units are wonderful because they are typically first-generation prints being made directly from the negatives. Seeing the donated materials will help launch forward the military mindset of the Reservists in the 14th Intelligence Squadron, Hickey said. They are now seeing history before them. Its going to give them stronger bonds to the 14 IS. We have a World War II streamer on our guidon and that didnt mean as much before. Now every time they see it, theyre going to remember these two veterans, who earned that streamer with the missions they did. It is going to make us a tighter-knit group with a deeper understanding of the Air Force. Johnson had called the Smithsonian about making a donation but his call was not returned. I cant think of any entity better to have these items than the United States Air Force, he said. I cant believe the Photo Technical Squadron is still in existence. Johnson was in the unit from the day it activated to the day it deactivated, shortly after the end of WWII. He recalled there were 200 members of the 9 PTS but did not know Dienes. Im so pleased to meet him; there are hardly any of us left, he said. Johnsons caregiver Tom Smigel noted that the items belong to the American people. We hope everybody comes to see them, he said. Robert Young, NASIC historian, noted, This is very much a part of intelligence history. The images these guys processed went on to teach us about the potential and threat of nuclear warfare. What is amazing about these pictures is their negatives were on this airplane, he said, pointing to the Bockscar. Bockscar brought them back to these men, and then they turned them from negatives into these legendary photos. Thats what neat about the important role they fulfilled. Those pictures wouldnt have existed; theyre something now the whole world can look at. Seventy-one years later, were combining the airplane, the photos and the men. Earlier in the day, NASIC personnel had welcomed Dienes and Johnson with an outpouring of interest in everything the veterans had to tell them, Young said. We dont see many 92- and 93-year-old veterans going through our halls. It was just wonderful. It was like getting into a time machine and learning things you dont normally learn in a day, he said. Tkach, the 14 IS historian, said he was thankful for Hickeys tenacity in discovering the two veterans and the 14 IS lineage. She never gave up on it. Its amazing Lt. Col. Hickey was able to find this and them. We have uncovered an enormous amount of our history now, and every 14 IS member is tied to it. These photographs and artifacts havent seen much of the light of day since 1945. Thats whats really cool about this, he said. Dienes has provided the squadron with copies of aerial and ground shots of Nagasaki. Large prints of the most significant photos will be made to hang on the walls of the building where the 14 IS is located. During the donation ceremony Hickey was presented with a coin from Col. John McKaye, 655 ISRG commander, for her efforts. Im truly delighted we have folks in uniform looking back to the people who performed the mission as part of their heritage and blazed the trail, showing them respect and honor, Duford said. This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company. As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism. We hope you are equally as excited as us. This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers. Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited. In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy. Happy shootin' my friends! Buying Guides: Firearms Firearm Accessories Ammunition Gun Safes Scopes & Optics Hunting Air Rifles Best AR-15 Best AR 15 Scope Best Hunting Rifle Best Gun Safe Best AK 47 Best AR 10 Best Glock Triggers Best Glock Best Home Defense Shotgun MASON CITY Mason City Fire Marshal Jamey Medlin held up a smoke detector and asked a group of 22 third-graders to take a deep breath. In unison, they inhaled with gusto. This smoke detectors kind of doing that all the time, Medlin said to the students gathered in the departments basement classroom. This is breathing in, kind of taking in air, and its smelling for smoke. Smoke detector maintenance and replacement is a central theme of tours and talks Mason City firefighters are giving local schoolchildren this week as part of National Fire Prevention Week. On Monday, Medlin urged Kay Larsons third-grade students from Harding Elementary to tell their parents, Dont wait, check the date, on the back of their smoke detectors. Theres actually a date printed on them and thats when they were born; thats when they were made, he said. If theyre over 10 years old we want you to replace those smoke detectors, but before you replace them make sure you have new ones. The National Fire Protection Association estimates three of every five deaths in house fires from 2009 to 2013 happened in homes without any smoke detectors or in buildings without any smoke detectors. Missing, dead or disconnected batteries were blamed for 70 percent of smoke detector failures in home fires from 2009 to 2013. This is the third year in a row the National Fire Prevention Association has stressed smoke detector safety during Fire Prevention Week. Firefighters are stressing the importance of smoke detectors and other fire safety measures during assemblies for kindergartners, first-graders and second-graders at Mason City schools. Theyre giving the message to third-graders during tours of the fire station. All students and families are invited back to the fire station on Sunday for the annual open house. The event is 1-4 p.m. at the station, 350 Fifth Street SW. There will be several activities for children, as well as the opportunity for one student to win a ride for them and a few friends on the departments antique fire truck. The ride is open to students from kindergarten to fourth grades. Teachers will send home entry forms with students this week. The entry forms must be handed in to the fire station by 4 p.m. Sunday. Forms also will be available at the fire station during the open house. Health News Atlanta, Georgia - More than 2,000 individuals across the country have accepted the challenge to be a part of the American Cancer Society's Real Men Wear Pink campaign. Real Men Wear Pink is a distinguished group of community leaders raising awareness and funds for the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer events in 2016. Participants will wear pink every day in October and compete to raise money through online fundraising and networking. "This year in the U.S. more than 240,000 of our daughters, wives, mothers, sisters, and friends will be diagnosed with breast cancer. We are making progress: breast cancer death rates have declined by 36 percent since 1989, which means 249,000 fewer breast cancer deaths," said Gary Reedy, CEO of the American Cancer Society and Real Men Wear Pink participant. "I'm proud to take part in Real Men Wear Pink and excited to see so many leaders across the country do the same." Some of the many high-profile participants include: Jim Boeheim, head basketball coach, Syracuse University Ben Higgins, account manager, Talisys in Denver, CO, and "The Bachelor" on the TV series earlier this year. Dhani Jones, former Cincinnati Bengal, host of NBC's Spartan Race Scott Sibella, president & CEO, MGM Grand, Las Vegas Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh In addition to community and business leaders who are supporting the American Cancer Society in our efforts to diminish the pain and suffering of breast cancer, communities across the country are uniting together at Making Strides Against Breast Cancer events this month. To learn more and participate in a Making Strides event, visit http://MakingStridesWalk.org Latest News Caribbean Sea - The Honorable Peter F. Mulrean, U.S. ambassador to Haiti, visited the amphibious dock ship USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) Sunday, as the ship began its humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts in response to Hurricane Matthew. Mulrean toured the ship with Rear Adm. Roy I. Kitchener, commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 2, and Capt. Randall Peck, Mesa Verde's commanding officer. Following a tour of various spaces throughout the ship, Mulrean held an all hands call and expressed gratitude towards the service members for their efforts in response to the deadly storm. "I would like to thank each and every one of you for being here. You are bringing a unique capability to Haiti at an important time of need," Mulrean said. "I've flown over the affected regions from the hurricane and I was on the ground in the most damaged city yesterday. I can tell you it's not only disastrous, it is heart breaking." Natural disasters have afflicted Haiti multiple times in recent history and the United States has been a consistent supporter of the disaster relief efforts. "Our countries come together in unity. We have a lot of Haitian-Americans that live in the United States and we're neighbors." said Mulrean. "We're with each other geographically and as a country. Haiti is an important country to us and we will help them during their times of need." Mulrean also explained the importance of working with the various agencies to provide relief supplies and equipment to areas most affected by the storm. "It's great to have you here and to know that you're all here. You are what makes the United States respected around the world, particularly in operations like this." Mulrean said. "We all come together and we do what we do best. I can't say enough for you, thank you all." The U.S. military is working with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the government of Haiti, other international partners and non-governmental organizations to provide relief to the people of Haiti at request of the Haitian government. The role of Mesa Verde during this disaster relief mission is to rapidly respond with critically-needed capabilities to deliver assistance and aid to areas the government of Haiti deems most necessary. Living Section Somerton, Arizona - The Somerton Library will host the 5th Annual Fall Festival on Saturday, October 29th, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Families are invited to enjoy stories, games, crafts, and a Halloween costume contest! Light refreshments will be served. There is no charge to attend. The Somerton Library is located at 240 Canal Street in Somerton, AZ. For more information, call (928) 627-2149. Spanish Health Somerton, Arizona - On Tuesday, October 25th, Alzheimer Grupo de Apoyo (Alzheimers Caregiver Support Group) will meet at 10:30 a.m. at the Somerton Library. Caring for someone with Alzheimer's can be challenging, but a support group can give you the reassurance you need. Connect with other caregivers and share tips, advice, and support. There is no charge to attend. Please note, this is a Spanish-language group. The Somerton Library is located at 240 Canal Street in Somerton, AZ. For more information, call (928) 627-2149. MASON CITY A Mason City man arrested last week on a charge of public intoxication faces further charges for allegedly spitting on police officers and a paramedic and threatening to get a gun and kill two of them. Henry Nabors, 48, was found lying near North Iowa Broadcasting at 201 N. Federal Ave. at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, unable to get up under his own power, according to the criminal complaint from the Mason City Police Department. While being taken out of an ambulance, Nabors allegedly spat on a paramedic and threatened to get a gun and kill the paramedic once he got out of jail. Nabors reportedly also spat on two police officers. After Nabors was put in a patrol car, he allegedly threatened a third officer who was in the car with him that he would get a gun and shoot the officer when he got out of jail. Nabors is charged with two counts of first-degree harassment, three counts of assault on persons in certain occupations and one count of public intoxication (third or subsequent offense), all misdemeanors. He was still in the Cerro Gordo County Jail Tuesday morning on $9,000 cash bond. He has a court date scheduled for Friday. Mary Pieper MASON CITY | A Mason City man who allegedly delivered meth in March is now in the Cerro Gordo County Jail. Cody Kirchner, 26, has been charged with felony delivery of methamphetamine. He delivered meth to an individual under the control of agents of the North Central Iowa Narcotics Task Force March 2 in Mason City, according to the criminal complaint. A warrant for his arrest was issued on Sept. 29. The warrant was served at the Sac County Jail on Friday, where he was being held for a domestic abuse charge. Kirchner was transported to the Cerro Gordo County Jail, where he is being held on $10,000 cash bond. His arraignment is set for Oct. 18. Mary Pieper Ahmedabad: For those, especially women, who want to look eternally beautiful like Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, Gujarat Gauseva and Gauchar Vikas Board recommends them to massage their face with cow urine. According to a Times Of India report, the board has issued an advisory to women which states that cow milk, ghee, urine and dung are the best ingredients for a facial treatment that can leave the skin glowing. Interestingly, the board has cited the example of 'Cleopatra' who was known for her timeless beauty. "The queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, considered the most beautiful woman in the world, also used milk for bathing," the board's advisory said. The 'Aarogya Geeta', an advisory on the board's website, which enumerates home remedies based on cow urine, dung and milk for treating various diseases, also cites interesting case studies by researchers from Italy, Russia and America to prove how these by-products are useful in treating several facial disorders. The facial treatment in the chapter titled 'Gaumutra, Essential treatment for women's eternal beauty' in the 'Aarogya Geeta' recommends that women first massage their face with cow milk for 15 minutes. This has to be followed by 15 minutes massage with cow ghee and turmeric. The third step is to massage it with cow urine for 15 minutes. The last step is an application of a face pack of cow dung, to be washed off with neem water after 15 minutes. Interestingly, when the board's chairman, Vallabh Kathiria, was asked to confirm if Cleopatra really bathed in cow milk, he said, "Yes. She may have bathed in cow milk." Here, it is interesting to note that historical records claim Cleopatra would bathe in donkey milk. Washington: Calling former US president Bill Clinton a "predator" and the "worst abuser" of women, Donald Trump today threatened to expand his attack on his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and her husband if they release more "inappropriate" tapes. "If they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we'll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things. There are so many of them, folks," Trump told a rally in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. "Bill Clinton was the worst abuser of women ever to sit in the Oval Office. He was a predator," the Republican presidential nominee said. Slamming the media for allegedly protecting Democratic presidential nominee, the real estate tycoon from New York threatened the Clintons that he would speak about their alleged sexual assault cases if they release more tapes about his inappropriate remarks, like the one in which he is seen making lewd remarks against women. Trump, 70, alleged that without media's support Clinton would not be even elected as a dog catcher. He said the 68-year-old would not have a chance without media's support. "The only thing she's got going in the media. Without the media, she would not have a chance," he said. Trump's campaign suffered a heavy blow over the weekend after surfacing of a series of such remarks by him about a decade ago. "One more very important issue where I exposed the hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton, and the media, was on Hillary Clinton's treatment of women. I was getting beaten up for 72 hours on all the networks for inappropriate words 12 years ago. Locker room talk, whatever you want to call it. And I just saw very inappropriate words, but Bill Clinton sexually assaulted innocent women and Hillary Clinton attacked those women viciously," Trump told his supporters at an election rally in Pennsylvania. "You probably saw yesterday we brought four wonderful women to St Louis. Honestly, it was both very beautiful and very sad. They have been trying to get their feelings out for so long and the media wouldn't take it. One thing with me, the media takes it. Whatever. So they were able to get what they wanted to get out," he said. But perhaps the greatest window into the character of Hillary Clinton can be found in what she did as a lawyer when she was defending a man who raped a 12-year-old little girl, he alleged. Amidst booing from the audience, Trump said desperate to win her case, Clinton blamed the 12-year-old victim. Trump said the last 72 hours has framed what this election is all about. It's about the American people fighting back against corrupt politicians who don't care about anything except staying in power and keeping their donors happy. "What I want to say to every American right now is that I accept the mantle of this responsibility for all of us, for all of us," he said. Washington: The Republican leadership appeared bitterly divided over the kind of relationship it should have with the party's presidential candidate Donald Trump after a series of audio and video tapes surfaced in which he made lewd and derogatory comments about women. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, however, strongly dispelled rumours that the party would disconnect itself with Trump in view of the Trump tapes. Priebus remarks came soon after powerful Speaker of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan virtually abandoned Trump. Ryan yesterday told lawmakers he will no longer "defend" or campaign with Trump and instead focus on maintaining his party's majority in Congress. In a private conference call with Republican leaders, Priebus said, "I want to make it very clear that the RNC is in full coordination with the Trump campaign, and we have a great relationship with them. If there's any takeaway from this call, that's the takeaway." "Nothing has changed in regard with our relationship and we remain very much involved and together in all levels of making these decisions with how to run this operation across this country," Priebus said. During another conference call, he told party leaders he will spend rest of his time in protecting the majority of his party in the House of Representatives. Texas Senator Ted Cruz said he is still backing Trump as he does not want his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to occupy the White House. "I am supporting the Republican nominee because I think Hillary Clinton is an absolute disaster," he said. One of the Trump's close supporter Newt Gingrich warned the party leadership of opposing the party's presidential nominee. "My only advice to Republican leaders is simple: In the end, you either help defeat Hillary Clinton or you help elect Hillary Clinton," he said in a Gingrich Facebook Live. "If she gets elected, she will be a nightmare, this will be the most corrupt and dishonest administration in American history, and you will find her even harder to work with than [President Barack] Obama, because she will simply smother you," Gingrich said. Former Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain who withdrew his endorsement of Trump over the weekend said he might "write in" Lindsey Graham for US President. "It's not pleasant for me to renounce nominee of my party. I have daughters," he said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the attendees at an election rally they should not ask him about the presidential race. "If you are interested in the presidential election, you might as well go ahead and leave because I don't have any observations to make about it," McConnell said. Trump's candidacy suffered a blow after a 2005 tape was released in which he made lewd and derogatory comments about women. Jakarta: The body of a new-born baby has been found in the toilet of a plane after it arrived in Indonesia from Doha, with police waiting to question a female passenger, an official said today. The grim discovery was made late Sunday by cleaners as they moved through the Qatar Airways flight after its arrival at the main international airport serving Jakarta. The foetus was estimated to be between five and seven months old, airport police spokesman Endang Sutrisna told AFP. Staff found it wrapped in tissue paper in a toilet. A female passenger - an Indonesian migrant worker - was taken for a medical checkup before being transferred to a police hospital in East Jakarta for further tests. Officials did not say what relationship she had to the baby. "If the results of the doctor's examination shows she is fit for questioning, then she will be brought to the airport police to answer inquiries, and account for her (alleged) actions," Sutrisna said. It is not yet clear if the woman will face criminal charges, the official added. Middle Eastern countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are major destinations for Indonesian domestic workers, particularly women who work as maids and send money home to their families. Paris: Russian President Vladimir Putin will not come to Paris next week after declining to meet President Francois Hollande only for talks on Syria, a source in Hollande`s office said, the latest deterioration in ties between Moscow and the West. French officials have been grappling for ways to put new pressure on Russia after Moscow vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria. Their growing anger at events in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo had led them to reconsider whether to host Putin on Oct. 19. "There were contacts between the Kremlin and the Elysee this morning to offer to Putin a working visit on Syria, but excluding all other events that President Hollande could have taken part in," the source said. "In response to this proposal, Russia has just indicated that it wants to postpone the visit planned on Oct. 19." The Russian leader was scheduled to inaugurate a new Russian Orthodox cathedral and visit a Russian art exhibition in the French capital. While France has said it is vital to keep dialogue going with Moscow and not cut ties, events in Syria have damaged their relations with the two parties supporting opposite sides in the conflict. France`s foreign minister said on Monday his diplomats were working to find a way for the International Criminal Court`s prosecutor to launch an investigation into war crimes it says have been committed by Syrian and Russian forces in eastern Aleppo. Diplomats have also said Paris was leading discussions on whether to impose new European Union sanctions on Russia specifically over Syria, where Moscow backs President Bashar al-Assad in the five-year-old war. Earlier on Tuesday, Russia`s ambassador to France Alexander Orlov had said that Putin still wanted to come to France on Oct. 19. "Of course he still wants to come to Paris," Alexander Orlov told Europe 1 radio. "I think dialogue needs to continue and we are here to talk especially in difficult moments. Seoul: South Korea`s coastguard warned Tuesday of a "more aggressive" firearms policy towards Chinese fishing boats illegally operating in its waters, following a clash that sank one of its vessels. Disputes over illegal fishing have dogged relations between South Korea and China for years, and there have been numerous skirmishes between the coastguard and Chinese crew members. In the latest incident on Sunday a coastguard vessel capsized and sank after being rammed by a Chinese trawler that then sailed away. There were no casualties but the South Korean foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned the Chinese ambassador in Seoul to lodge a stern protest and demand "swift action to investigate, arrest and punish those responsible." Meanwhile, the coastguard called a press conference to condemn the incident and warn of eased restrictions on the use of weapons -- ranging from ship`s cannon to crew sidearms -- during such altercations. "So far we have been very cautious using such crew service weapons but now... we will take a more aggressive stance in using them when our officers are in danger," senior coastguard official Lee Chun-Jae told reporters. The current rules on the use of firearms have "a very limited scope," Lee said, adding they would be revised as soon as possible to allow officers more freedom. "We plan to use any firearm, whether crew service weapon or individual weapon, to enforce our laws on those who violently protest," Lee said. The South has been asking China to take a tougher stand on Chinese vessels that have been entering its waters in increasing numbers to satisfy growing demand at home for fresh seafood. Small wooden Chinese ships were once tolerated in an area where the top priority has always been guarding against potential incursions from North Korea. But in recent years, the small boats have given way to larger steel trawlers which engage in bottom trawling -- dragging a large weighted net across the seabed that sweeps up everything in its path. South Korea says many fishing vessel crew members arm themselves with steel pipes and knives to threaten officers trying to board their ships. Dozens of officers have been injured and one was stabbed to death by a Chinese sailor in 2011, an incident which sparked fury in the South and soured ties for months. MASON CITY -- Iowa State Police cited a Hampton woman after hitting a Mason City police officer in a two-vehicle crash on Tuesday morning. Linda Palo was turning from southbound on N. Georgia Avenue to East State Street around 11:55 a.m. when she struck a patrol car also heading eastbound. Palo was briefly checked by paramedics at the scene and released. Officer Brent Dettman was not injured. The front left corner of Dettman's patrol car was damaged. The front portion of Palo's green Chrysler Sebring was damaged. That car was also towed from the scene. A police SUV temporarily blocked a small segment East State Street's eastbound lanes as crews swept debris at the scene. Mason City Fire medics provided assistance at the scene. The Iowa State Patrol led the investigation. Meredith Colias Bangkok: Thailand`s most prominent opposition Red Shirt leader was back behind bars on Tuesday after a court ruled that he had breached bail conditions by criticising the junta during a television show. The grassroots Red Shirt movement is loyal to the ousted government of Yingluck Shinawatra and her brother Thaksin whose administrations were both toppled by military coups, the latest in May 2014. Since then both Yingluck and Red Shirt leaders have been slapped with a slew of legal cases that have kept them bound up in the courts and facing lengthy jail spells. On Tuesday morning Bangkok`s Criminal Court jailed Jatuporn Prompan, the most outspoken of the Red Shirt leaders. In a statement the court said Jatuporn had breached bail conditions by being "sarcastic" about the work of the junta. "The suspect went on a television programme and implicated other people and caused damage to their dignity and reputation with harsh words," the statement said. The bail conditions stem from a separate ongoing terrorism prosecution Jatuporn faces over his role in large, sometimes violent pro-democracy demonstrations in 2010 that were eventually quashed by soldiers resulting in dozens of protester deaths. Speaking to reporters before the hearing Jatuporn greeted the prospect of jail with dark humour. "I have been imprisoned twice so if today the court revokes my bail and sends me to prison I have prepared my personal stuff, although I have only brought my sneakers, not socks," he said. The remark was a reference to the recent death in custody of a suspect who police said hung himself using a sock. The military says it was forced to seize power to curb political corruption and bring much-needed stability after a decade of political turmoil between Shinawatra supporters and their opponents. But critics say the putsch is an attempt to ensure the Shinawatras are never in power again. The Shinawatras are adored by rural supporters in Thailand`s northeast but loathed by a military-allied elite based in Bangkok who accuse them of corruption and nepotism. Shinawatra parties have won every poll in the past decade. Thailand`s generals have clamped down on politics and severely curbed free expression since their 2014 power grab, jailing scores of critics of the government and monarchy -- often for comments posted on social media. Convictions under the country`s draconian royal defamation law have also surged. Analysts say anxiety over 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej`s ailing health has exacerbated the past decade of political conflict, as competing elites wrestle for influence. Chennai: At a time when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is being treated at the Apollo Hospital where she continues to be on respiratory support, main Opposition party DMK has demanded a ''new Chief Minister" to streamline governance in the AIADMK-ruled state. According to reports, the demand was made by DMK treasurer MK Stalin, who had said ''either a CM in-charge or a new Chief Minister'' be appointed for smooth governance. However, Stalin's demand found little support, even from the ally of DMK - the Congress. "When Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital, medical bulletins said that she will be discharged in a few days. Now, they say that she has to stay longer, and under such circumstances the state is also facing several issues like Cauvery," DMK treasurer and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, M K Stalin told reporters. "Hence, in order to ensure that the administration is being run properly, for sure, immediately a chief minister in-charge or a new chief minister should be appointed," he had said. He also remarked that, "It is the duty of the government to streamline governance (by appointing a new CM or a CM-incharge)." Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president S Thirunavukkarasar however said, "A regime is in place and the Chief Minister's health is improving." "There is a Governor for (supervising) governance, (who is) the Constitutional head of the State government like the President at the Union level ... there is a Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Secretaries for departments, Director General of Police, and senior Ministers are there ... there is a government machinery (in place)," he said, adding there was no "such need" for a Chief Minister in-charge. MDMK chief Vaiko too said there was no need for any chief minister in-charge. Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (which is part of the People's Welfare Front comprising MDMK, CPI, and CPI(M)) chief Thol Thirumavalavan said, "Till such time the Chief Minister recovers, a democratic and transparent interim arrangement should be made in accordance with the Constitution to run governance in Tamil Nadu." On Monday, the Apollo Hospital said that Jayalalithaa is being "constantly monitored" by the doctors, including one from AIIMS, who had examined her last week and visited her again yesterday. "Prof Dr G Khilnani, Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), visited Apollo Hospital again on October 9 and 10 and examined Honourable Chief Minister," the hospital's Chief Operating Officer, Subbiah Viswanathan, said in a release. Khilnani, part of a three-member AIIMS panel which examined Jayalalithaa last week, had discussions with the expert panel of the hospital and "concurred with the present line of treatment" being given to the chief minister, the hospital said in a release. Jayalalithaa continues to be under treatment and is being "constantly monitored" by the intensivists and the other consultants in the expert panel," the release said, adding that necessary respiratory support, antibiotics, nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy were being given to her. London: Young men looking for redemption from crime, drugs or gangs by waging 'jihad' are the new targets for the ISIS terror group, a media report said on Tuesday. In what it called a "dangerous new crime-terror nexus", The Telegraph reported that more than half of European jihadis have criminal histories as ISIS offers 'redemption'. A poster with an image of a masked fighter wielding a Kalashnikov shared on Facebook by Rayat al-Tawheed, a group of British ISIS fighters from London calling themselves the "Banner of God", had the slogan: "Sometimes people with the worst pasts create the best futures." "Their target is young men looking for redemption from crime, drugs or gangs, willing to save their souls by waging jihad for the so-called Islamic State," the report said. It cited new research to show that "for all of its professed piousness", majority of recruits of the terror group have criminal histories, an unprecedented figure for former Islamist movements emphasising purity and scholarly knowledge. A report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) shows that criminal and terrorist networks across Europe are merging to create a dangerous brand of jihadi for whom violence is not just a holy pursuit, but a way of life, it said. Professor Peter Neumann, director of the ICSR at King's College London, was quoted as saying that the new "crime- terror nexus" was making radicalisation harder to spot for European security services. Several European fighters in the ICSR's database continue to smoke, drink and even take drugs up until their departure for the ISIS even as security services might expect radicalised young men to change their behaviour and act "religiously", Neumann said. "Similarly, criminality does not always stop with a commitment to jihad. Said Kouachi may have used funds from selling counterfeit trainers to buy the weapons he and his brother used to carry out the Charlie Hebdo massacre, while the Paris and Brussels "supercell" used their connections in the criminal underworld to manufacture the fake documents that would let them evade security services," the report said. Neumann said that of the jihadis examined for the study, two-thirds had not just a criminal history but a violent history. In European countries where the figure is known, more than half of ISIS fighters were previously known to the police. "It gives criminals a moral justification for doing what they have always been doing ? only now they will go to heaven," he said. ISIS' ideology puts less emphasis on theological knowledge and more on absolute obedience to its own interpretation, with the majority of recruits listed in leaked registration forms tellingly describing their Sharia knowledge as "basic". "It (ISIS) basically says 'you can come in if you sign up to the mission, we don't care if you know true Islam, we are true Islam'," Neumann said. French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday he was prepared to meet Vladimir Putin "at any time... to further peace" after his Russian counterpart cancelled a visit to Paris in a row over Syria. Hollande, speaking in the northeastern French city of Strasbourg, said Paris and Moscow had a "major disagreement" over Syria. The Kremlin said Putin called off the October 19 visit to inaugurate an Orthodox church in the French capital but is "ready to visit when it is comfortable for President Hollande." Moscow will "wait for when that comfortable time comes," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in the Russian capital. Hollande said Monday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad`s troops had committed a "war crime" in Aleppo with Russia`s support. "Those who commit these acts will have to pay for their involvement, including at the International Criminal Court," Hollande said in an interview with TMC. French officials said earlier Tuesday that Putin wanted to postpone the visit to Paris after the French presidency insisted he hold talks with Hollande about Syria. The presidency said it told the Kremlin that the only event Hollande wanted to attend with Putin during the visit would be a "working meeting" on Syria. The long-planned visit to Paris to inaugurate the church near the Eiffel Tower had been billed primarily as "private". But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that Putin would hold talks with Hollande on Syria, where Russian forces have carried out air strikes on besieged rebel-held areas of Aleppo in support of the Syrian regime`s offensive. Panajai: Rajkumar Singh, the former watchman at Sapana Raj Valley at Sangolda, where noted Goa perfume expert Monika Ghurde's was found dead, has revealed before the interrogators why and how he executed his plan to murder the latter. A Times Of India report said on Tuesday that Singh had admitted before the cops that he undressed Ghurde completely to make MMS video clip in order to blackmail her later. The Goa Police, probing the case, however, said that it is yet to ascertain whether Singh also assaulted Ghurde sexually. 21-year-old Rajkumar was employed as a watchman at Sapana Raj Valley at Sangolda, where Ghurde used to live. Singh, a native of Bathinda, Punjab, was arrested on Sunday afternoon from Bengaluru and brought to Goa by road on a transit warrant. The ToI report also quoted a senior police official as saying, ''Singh, during his interrogation in Bengaluru, had said that after smothering Ghurde, he thought she was unconscious.'' "We still don't know whether Singh had actually filmed Ghurde," he added. Detailing what he did on the day of crime, Singh told cops that after smothering her, he went into the kitchen, boiled two eggs and ate them. He was under impression that she would wake up. However, Ghurde was lying 'unconscious', so he checked on her again and after realising that she had died, he fled from the spot. Cop say that Singh was familiar with the layout of the society since he had worked there as watchman. Singh is believed to have entered the compound afternoon by jumping over the rear fence. He would be produced before the judicial magistrate first class, Mapusa, today during which cops would seek his custody for further interrogation. The Goa Police had managed to arrest Singh after they obtained CCTV footage of him withdrawing money from an ATM in Porvorim using Ghurde's ATM card. He had travelled from Goa to Mangaluru by train and stayed there for a day before boarding a bus to Bengaluru, police added. Rajkumar told police that he entered Ghurde's flat on Wednesday with the intention of robbing her. He entered the flat, flashed a knife, threatening her to keep quiet. He later tied her hands to the bed at knife-point and took her ATM card and forced her personal identification number (PIN) from her. New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Siddharta Singh on Tuesday reacting to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav soft endorsement of Vice-President Rahul Gandhi`s `khoon ki dalali` remark said that such an endorsement for the sake of alliance and bonhomie is condemnable. "If during an election, a political party is looking for an alliance with another party, because their stock is low, there is no harm in it and Samajwadi Party`s stock in Uttar Pradesh is low and therefore they are looking for an alliance and bonhomie with the Congress party. There is nothing wrong," Singh said."But, during that if you trade off the national security and support a statement made by Rahul Gandhi of "khoon ki dalali" (blood dealing), basically insulting the Armed forces and the soldiers fighting in the borders, then it`s a compromise and therefore it is condemnable what Akhilesh Yadav has done by not condemning Rahul Gandhi and he is trading off for his bonhomie with Congress and looking at the political expediency," he said. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has sparked off political speculation with his soft endorsement of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi`s `khoon ki dalali` remark. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Lucknow to celebrate Dusshera today, but there have been reports that Akhilesh Yadav might not be present. On enquiring whether Akhilesh Yadav will skip the function, Singh replied, "The constitution says that when the Prime Minister is visiting a state, the State Chief Minister should accompany him for the political functions or any other function. Ramleela is a cultural and religious function and therefore the Chief Minister of the state should be present with the Prime Minister and that`s what the constitution demands. "Speculation about a possible electoral alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress is not new. Leaders on both sides have been officially denying it. It sparked off with Rahul Gandhi describing Akhilesh as a "good man" in July this year. This bonhomie was also evident during the month-long Kisan Yatra undertaken by Rahul across the state last month. It became clearly evident that more than the Samajwadi Party government, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP which was on Rahul`s agenda. Beijing: India's move to completely seal its border with Pakistan was a "very irrational decision" and would further complicate India-China relations considering Beijing's all-weather strategic ties with Islamabad, a state media report on Tuesday quoted leading experts as saying. "India is making a very irrational decision, since no exhaustive investigation has been conducted after the Uri incident, and no evidence proves Pakistan is behind the attack," the Global Times quoted Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow from the official think-tank Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy, as saying. Hu was commenting on Home Minister Rajnath Singh's announcement on Friday that the 3,323-km-long border between India and Pakistan would be "completely sealed" by December 2018. A "completely sealed" border would further hinder the already scarce border trade and talks between the two countries, Hu said. Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, said that a sealed border would only disrupt peace efforts made by the two sides. "The country's decision reflects its Cold War mentality, and would only cause deeper hatred among residents living in Indian- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir," Hu added. Since Pakistan is China's "all-weather" strategic partner, India's decision would make China-Pakistan-India relations more complicated, Hu said. But he said a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute is in the interest of China's homeland security, especially its western regions. Their hardline comments come ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India this week to take part in the BRICS Summit in Goa during which he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will be their second meeting in two months. The two met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou last month. Yesterday, China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong defended China's "technical hold" in the UN on a ban on Masood Azhar, the head of Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad. "China is opposed to all forms of terrorism. There should be no double standards on counter-terrorism. Nor should one pursue own political gains in the name of counter-terrorism," he had said indirectly accusing India. Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday celebrate the festival of Dussehra in Lucknow. The PM would witness the famous 'Ram Leela' at Aishbagh and thereafter stay back for the 'Ravan Dahan', burning of Ravana effigies. Meanwhile, a few hoardings in the city declare "Lucknow welcomes the avengers of Uri". The hoardings have been placed despite the Opposition's charge that the Prime Minister's visit to Lucknow has a 'hidden agenda'. It is for the first time any Prime Minister is celebrating the festival in Lucknow. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was Lok Sabha member from Lucknow when he was Prime Minister, did not visit the city on Dussehra. As a tradition, all previous prime ministers have spent Dussehra in the union capital and have witnessed the Ravan Dahan in Delhi where even the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha shares the stage with the PM at the Ram Leela ground festivities. The move is being seen as an attempt by the BJP to gain a foothold in the state which is slated to go to polls early next year. According to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice president and city Mayor Dinesh Sharma, Prime Minister Modi will fly back to New Delhi after spending around two hours in the city. He has no other engagements during his visit to Lucknow. It is, however, not clear whether Modi will attend the Ram Leela in New Delhi and then fly to Lucknow or skip the Delhi event. (With IANS inputs) Nagpur: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Tuesday celebrated Vijay Dashmi and its 91st foundation day in Nagpur. The outfit chief Mohan Bhagat in its annual speech spoke about a range of issues like Pakistan-supported terrorism, surgical strikes, Kashmir unrest and cow vigilantes among others. We take a look at some of the key quotes from his annual Dusshera address. On cow protectors and cow vigilantes: "There are some people who are dedicated to cow protection, it is part of directive principles of state policy. Gau-rakshaks (cow vigilantes) operate under the law, the administration must keep in mind; Those who break the law shouldn't be compared to gau-rakshaks. There is a need to identify real Gau-rakshaks from the fake ones since an attempt is being made by some forces to mislead the entire nation. Small farmers are dependent on cows and their progeny. There are cow protection laws in various states. Many communities like Jains are involved in gau-raksha. Gau-rakshaks are good people but they should work under the law and Constitution." On Surgical strikes: "I heartily congratulate our government and our valorous soldiers and all the wings of our Armed Forces, who, through an efficient and expert move, have given a firm and befitting reply to this wanton attack. This firmness and the efficiency shown in the matter of diplomacy and defense should permanently reflect in our policy. It is matter of great pride the way situation was handled by the government. The entire world has got the message about the capability of the Indian Army that has reinstated the country's position; there are limits to one's endurance." On Pakistan-supported terrorism, Kashmir unrest and Kashmiri Pandits: "A large part of Kashmir is free of tension; we must act against those indulging in violence and strict action should be taken against them. Kashmir matter is a great concern and they (Pakistan) must know that entire Kashmir including Mirpur, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan belongs to India. Pakistan is encouraging separatist forces in Kashmir and it is a fact not hidden from anyone and the whole world knows. Our government has given a befitting reply to them. Under the present leadership, the army has shown courage. Justice must be delivered to Kashmiri Pandits." On securing borders: The administrative leadership has done a commendable job. The government must ensure that our borders are secured and well guarded. Some separatist forces create trouble in border states. A level of perpetual co-ordination and co-operation is needed among in the defence forces and intelligence agencies as we have to pay a heavy price for a moments distraction." On work done by Narendra Modi government: "The present government is a one that wants to works and is not one to sit idle. There are a lot of expectations and there is still a lot to be done. But the way this government is functioning there is a believe they will do something. The society now has a belief that the country will progress. Nobody can deny that the county is steadily progressing. But we all know that there are forces in the world that do not want that India's influence rise in the world. Those whose shops run on division runs on bigotry, they don't want India to progress. The influence of such forces is evident in our country and we can also find people who indulge in appeasement of these forces for their own interests. These people who indulge in such appeasement, don`t like the present government and the fact that the country is progressing." On current education system: "Education is needed so that a person imbibes good values. However, the government must ensure that the cost of education is low. The role of a teacher is very important and people who genuinely wanted to educate children should be selected as teachers and not just someone who wants to get a salary from a job." Srinagar: The standoff between security forces and guerrillas holed-up inside a government building near Pampore town in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district continued for the second day on Tuesday even as reports said one militant had been killed but there was no official confirmation yet. Security forces kept on pounding the hostel of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) where guerrillas armed with rockets, grenades and automatic gunfire have been holding the security forces at bay for over 24 hours now. While parts of the multi-storey building caught fire, guerrillas kept on changing position inside the building while using their ammunition sparingly, police said. Reports said in the evening, one guerrilla had been killed in the operation and his body was lying inside the building. Defence sources here said they would confirm the death only after the body was recovered. "Although the entire complex has been illuminated with floodlights, there is complete darkness inside the building this time. "We don't want to take any unnecessary casualties. The operation will be resumed with the first light tomorrow (on Wednesday)," a defence sources said. Security forces had resumed the operation on Tuesday morning with rockets and heavy automatic weapons being used against the ensconced militants. Two security personnel and a policeman were injured as the militants fired from inside the hostel building of the EDI on Monday after they entered the building. The 70-room, seven-storey building is located at Pampore on the banks of the river Jhelum and 12 km from the Srinagar city centre. The joint operation was launched by the army, the Special Operations Group of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The main building of the institute was attacked in February when militants captured it and launched a major attack on security forces. Six persons - a civilian, three soldiers and two paramilitary troopers -- were killed then before the three militants were shot dead. CEDAR RAPIDS | Michael Luick-Thrams said he assumed from the get-go I wouldnt win Iowas race for U.S. Senate. That seems a safe bet since the Mason City cultural historian counts about 50 active supporters, had raised less than $4,000 as of June 30 and gets exposure speaking at the State Fair, striking up conversations as he travels Iowa and piggybacking on events like the University of Northern Iowas Indigenous Peoples Day. Im raising issues, Luick-Thrams told The Cedar Rapids Gazette Editorial Board Tuesday. I want to raise issues Grassley and Judge wont raise and help Iowans see the real issues as well as understand that voting for the same old, same old isnt helping. We vote for people we know. We avoid risk, he said. Iowa voters keep returning people to office who support the status quo. So they get Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley -- Uncle Chuck, who Luick-Thrams said is great on Social Security and getting your brother-in-laws Iranian wife a visa. Democratic challenger Patty Judge is the Democratic national Committees girl, foisted on the Iowa Democratic landscape an old boy in a skirt. As a historian, Luick-Thrams said he takes the long view and believes the key to Iowas future success can be found in its past. Iowa thrived when its water was clean, before one-third or more of its topsoil had been washed down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Now, 71 of 99 counties are losing population. Small towns are struggling as Walmarts move in and young people move out. We need triage, Luick-Thrams said. We need to draw a line like deciding county seats cannot be allowed to go under. Too many current leaders fail to recognize the importance of rural Iowa to the states vitality. It wasnt the cities that built the rest of Iowa. The rest of Iowa built the cities, Luick-Thrams said. There is something inherently valuable in the rural experience. That means challenging many accepted beliefs and practices. Why should Iowa feed the world? he asked. He said increasing row crop yields and livestock production is turning the state into a chemical dump. Were raising all of this food in Iowa, but its poisoning us, he said. Theres a direct correlation between Iowa and obesity because federal subsidies contribute to the over-production. Its time for a change, and neither Grassley nor Judge can or will deliver because they are products of The Depression too blinded by the cornstalks to see the field. Luick-Thrams, who has lived and studied in Germany, said Iowans need a senator who can see the bigger picture, someone who has lived outside Iowa, who knows the impact of U.S. foreign policy, someone who knows what its like not to come from (Iowa) framework. Were being had, Luick-Thrams said. Im the real deal. New Delhi: While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to arrive in Lucknow to celebrate Dussehra on Tuesday evening, other top rung leaders too have their plans to make this festival a special one. Mohan Bhagwat Setting the tone for Dussehra festivities, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat used the occasion to address his cadres during which he praised the Narendra Modi government for the recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army against the terror launch pads across the Line of Control. "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is a part of India," said Bhagwat. "We all know that the outrage in Kashmir is because of forces across the border," he said while addressing an event in Nagpur. In an open message to political parties, the RSS chief said that there was a need to promote nationalism in Jammu and Kashmir, adding that the 'gau rakshaks' who were working within the laws of the society were good people. Narendra Modi Narendra Modi will visit the historic Aishbagh Ramlila in Lucknow today, which will also be the first time that a Prime Minister celebrates Dussehra outside the national capital. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who represents Lucknow constituency in Lok Sabha, will also accompany the PM on his visit. The city has been converted into a fortress with the officials of Special Protection Group taking their position and monitoring the security of Aishbagh Ramlila ground and the roads. UP Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Akhikesh Yadav are likely to welcome the PM at the airport. Modi's visit assumes an added significance because of assembly polls due next year in Uttar Pradesh where the saffron party is making a concerted bid to come back to power after a gap of 15 years and is up against ruling Samajwadi Party and main opposition Mayawati-led BSP. The Aishbagh Ramlila is also seen as a symbol of pluralistic culture, also called 'Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb', as Muslim rulers patronised it and allotted it space equal to Eidgah, which is situated right next to it. Rahul Gandhi From the opposition parties, one of the most prominent leaders to be watched will be Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who will expectedly address a gathering at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi around 5 pm. It will be interesting to observe what Rahul Gandhi has to say after his 'khoon ki dalali' remark sparked outrage in the country from several quarters and the ruling BJP. "You (Modi) are hiding behind the blood of soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir and those who carried out the surgical strikes for India. You are exploiting their sacrifices, which is very wrong," Rahul Gandhi had said. Arvind Kejriwal Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's will also use the occasion to hit out at his political rivals, especially in view of the criticism he had faced for asking PM Modi to give evidence of Indian Army's surgical strikes across LoC. he is expected to attend the Dussehra festivities at the Ramlila Ground this evening. Among others who will attend the Ramlilas today and tomorrow are President Pranab Mukherjee, vice-president Hamid Ansari, BJP president Amit Shah, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Union ministers Harshvardhan, Dharmendra Pradhan and Nitin Gadkari, former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad etc Truly, a very 'special' Dussehra is definitely on the cards. With PTI inputs Lucknow: Breaking from the tradition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday attended the historic Aishbagh Ramlila in Lucknow on Dussehra. In an obvious reference to Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the time had come to uproot terror and those who patronise terrorists. Addressing a massive Dussehra gathering at the Aishbagh Ram Leela ground here, Modi said terrorism in all forms was anti-humanity and Hindu Lord Rama represented all that was human. PM's first public speech after surgical strikes It was the Prime Minister's first public speech after the September 29 surgical strikes by the Indian Army at terror launch pads in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. He made no direct reference to the surgical strikes or to Pakistan that killed an unspecified number of terrorists but made it more than clear which country he had in mind. "Those who spread terrorism need to be annihilated and those who aid terrorism will not be spared either," Modi said in a speech laced with references to Hindu religion. Everyone has to speak in one voice against terrorism: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 11, 2016 PM Modi said India was a country that respected both Lord Krishna who led the Pandavas in the war of Mahabharata and Mahatma Gandhi who propagated non-violence. Everyone has to speak in one voice against terrorism: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 11, 2016 From Yuddha to Buddha "We are the people who go from yuddha (war) to Buddha (peace). Sometimes war is necessary, but our path is not that of war, but that of Buddha. "We create balance... I hope the path shown by Buddha will be our final path," he said. PM invokes Ramayana The Prime Minister invoked Ramayana and asked people to keep a vigil against terror and fight it the way the vulture Jatayu fought Ravana in a desperate bid to try rescue the abducted Sita from the demon. "We may not be able to become Ram, but we can all try and be Jatayu and give a befitting reply to the nefarious designs of terrorists," he said, beginning and ending his speech with loud cries of "Jai Shri Ram, Jai Jai Shri Ram". "If a country of 1.25 crore keeps an eye on every terrorist activity, terrorists will never succeed," PM Modi said to loud cheers. He said decades ago when India discussed terrorism, nobody paid heed. 'Terrorism knows no religion, no boundaries' The BJP veteran recalled how during a visit to the US years ago, American officials argued that terrorism was a law and order problem. Terrorism is an enemy of humanity: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 11, 2016 But all this changed after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US and the 2008 Mumbai carnage that left 166 people dead. "Terrorism knows no religion, no boundaries." Modi earlier arrived to a grand welcome at the sprawling ground in the heart of Lucknow, the capital of election-bound Uttar Pradesh. Accompanied by union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and other state BJP leaders, Modi performed 'aarti' of the characters playing Lord Ram and Sita and was later felicitated by the city Mayor Dinesh Sharma, the convenor of the 70-year-old Ram Leela. The Prime Minister was gifted a silver mace, an arrow and a bow. A turban was tied on his head. Modi said effigies of Ravana had been burnt for centuries on this day but "we should rededicate ourselves today to demolish the evils within us as well". This festival is about the victory of good over evil: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 11, 2016 Dussehra, Modi said, also meant to do away with 10 evils within humans and kill the Ravana within that raises its head in the forms of dishonesty, greed, filth, blind faith and ego. He urged people to fight against female foeticide. "If for bringing dishonour to one Sita, Ravana can be burnt for ages, why not fight against killing girls in wombs." Chhindwara: At least 39 policemen were left injured, including three serious, when their bus overturned near a village in the district today, police said. They were on their way to Bhopal from Balaghat for VIP duty deployment when the bus carrying them overturned between Jhirpa and Rainikheda villages, Chhindwara Superintendent of Police G K Pathak said. The VIP duty deployment pertains to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's likely visit to Bhopal on October 14. Among the injured, the condition of three was stated to be serious and they have been referred to the district hospital at Chhindwara for treatment. The SP reached the spot and those injured were sent for treatment. New Delhi: As the festival of Vijaya Dashmi is being celebrated with religious enthusiasm across the country on Tuesday marking the victory of good over evil, President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have greeted the people on the eve of Dussehra. In his message, President Pranab Mukherjee appealed to the people to resolve to follow the path of moral and ethical rectitude which has guided for centuries. Vice President M Hamid Ansari expressed hope that the festival will bring peace, harmony, and prosperity in the nation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a series of tweets also greeted the nation. In the national capital, the traditional Ramlila will come to an end with the burning of effigies of Ravan, Meghnad, and Kumbhkaran. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has made elaborate security arrangements to avoid any untoward incident. New Delhi: Amidst escalating tension with Pakistan, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will brief around 150 editors of regional media about the country's internal security and prevailing situation along the Indo-Pak border. Singh, a key member of the Cabinet Committee on Security, will tell the editors of mostly regional newspapers published and circulated in North and Northeast about various steps taken for strengthening the internal security apparatus as well as border security at a two-day conference to be held in Chandigarh next week. The Home Minister will inaugurate the Regional Editors Conference on October 17 which will be attended by editors of regional papers of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and other Northeastern states, a Home Ministry official said. The Home Minister will give deeper perspective and context with regards to various initiatives, policies and programmes of the government, the official said. The conference comes nearly a fortnight after the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads in PoK after 19 soldiers were killed by terrorists in Uri. A sizeable section of the armed forces personnel come from these states from where the editors of the regional media hail and sentiments of the people there about the ongoing tension with Pakistan is considered to be very high. The Home Minister is expected to tell the editors about the NDA government's broader agenda on internal security and steps taken to strengthen security on the international border and Line of Control with Pakistan. Singh had already said that the border with Pakistan would be sealed by December 2018. He had also said India never attacks anyone and it does not intend to occupy others' land. "Our heritage is 'Vasudev Kutumbakam' meaning the whole word is one family. We never open fire first, but if attacked, in retaliation we never count the bullets after pulling the trigger," he had said. The Home Minister also said that despite Modi government's efforts to improve relations with Pakistan, there has been no reciprocation from Islamabad and stressed that there will be "no compromise with the honour of the country". Singh is expected to announce the NDA government's intention to set up regional media centres in different parts of the country on the line of National Media Centre established in New Delhi. During his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir, journalists of the state had requested him to help in setting up media centres in Srinagar and Jammu. Nagpur: Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday accused Pakistan of encouraging separatist forces in Jammu and Kashmir and demanded strict action against people indulging in violence. "Pakistan is encouraging separatist forces in Kashmir. A large part of Kashmir is free of tension; we must act against those indulging in violence, strict action should be taken," Bhagwat said while lauding Indian Army for surgical strikes across the LoC. "Pakistan has got the message that there is a limit to our tolerance," he said during his annual Vijayadashami speech at the Reshimbagh Ground here on 91st foundation day of RSS. Bhagwat also sent a message to the hostile neighbour that Kashmir is an integral part of India and so is Gilgit-Baltistan. "Entire Kashmir including Mirpur, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan belongs to India", he said. Commending the Indian Army for successfully carrying out surgical strikes across the Line of Control against terrorist launch pads, Bhagwat also used the opportunity to hail the Narendra Modi government at Centre for working for country's progress. "I heartily congratulate our Government and our valorous soldiers and all the wings of our Armed Forces for carrying out surgical strikes. The government at Centre has taken a commendable step by carrying out surgical strikes at LoC. However, our borders should be guarded and well managed," he said. "India is progressing under Prime Minister Narendra Modi; however, there are some parts of the world which do not want to see India progress," he said in an apparent reference to Pakistan. Asserting that Gau rakshaks (cow protectors) operate within the ambit of rule of law, the RSS chief said that 'gau raksha' is an integral part of the Constitution and added that there are some divisive forces in the country who are bent on portraying the members of the community in a negative light. "Small farmers are dependent on cows and their progeny. There are cow protection laws in various states. Many communities like Jains are involved in gau-raksha. Gau-rakshaks are good people but they should work under the law and Constitution," he said. Bhagwat asserted that "there is a need to identify real gau-rakshaks from the fake ones since an attempt is being made by some forces to mislead the entire nation. "We need to be careful against these divisive forces. We need to unite society so that such elements do not take advantage." RSS was founded on the occasion of Vijayadashami in 1925. There is a visible departure from tradition this time - RSS workers were officially donning their new outfit, replacing khaki shorts with brown trousers. Every year, Bhagwat's outlines his message to his cadre on Dussehra. His speech is also seen as a message to the saffron party. Present at the event were Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Moradabad: Two Bajrang Dal activists were on Tuesday arrested for carrying out celebratory firing during `Shastra Puja` on the occasion of Vijayadashami in Uttar Pradesh`s Moradabad city. After the celebratory firing, the Bajrang Dal activists were also seen posing for a photograph.`Shastra Puja` or weapon worship is one of the parts of the Vijaydashmi celebrations being carried out by the Hindus on the occasion. Washington: The latest batch of emails released by WikiLeaks from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta gives an insight into the planning done by the Obama administration to ensure a successfull visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Silicon Valley in 2015. More than a month and half before Modi was to visit Silicon Valley in the last week of September, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal wrote an email to John Podesta, who had by then joined the Clinton Campaign, seeking his advice and input on making the trip successful and also checking if the former US president Bill Clinton can co-host a clean energy event with the Modi at Stanford. In an email to Podesta dated August 12, Biswal said there is a lot of interest in the Indian government to focus on two themes for the Silicon Valley visit. First is the digital economy, she wrote and added that here the focus will be a visit to google and some announcements on Google's massive investments in India, she said. "The other focus is on clean energy. Here the Indians want to visit Tesla and hopefully announce a Tesla partnership/venture with India focusing on their battery storage system for solar," Biswal said. "The other major effort is around a clean energy roundtable with Stanford that Commerce had been working on. It now it seems (Commerce Secretary Penny) Pritzker cannot make it to California and the Indians are looking for some other USG (US government) principal to participate with industry, academia and government," she wrote. "Before I engage the WH (State Department) and State or DoE (Department of Energy), I wanted to see if you had thoughts on how we should approach this. The Indians have said that it would need to be a Cabinet rank principal to convene this with the PM (Prime Minister)," Biswal said. "We will of course see if Secretary (of State John) Kerry or Secretary (of Energy Earnest) Moniz can go to California that weekend but things are complicated by the (Chinese President) Xi (Jinping's) visit and the UNGA (UN General Assembly) schedule. Are there other options you would suggest we pursue?" she asked. "Another option would be to see if (California) Governor (Jerry) Brown or perhaps President Clinton would be interested in co-hosting/convening. Also, would you want to participate in the roundtable? Let me know if you have thoughts on this or want to discuss," Biswal wrote as per the email released by WikiLeaks yesterday. The State Department has not authenticated the email. Srinagar: One jawan and seven civilians were injured on Tuesday after terrorists launched an attack on paramilitary convoy patrolling in Shopian district in Jammu and Kashmir, said a News18 report. As per the report, grenades were hurled at Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy today morning. One security personnel and seven civilians were left injured in the attack. The attack comes amid the ongoing encounter between Indian Army and a group of terrorists, who are hiding inside a government institute in Pampore, 15 km from Srinagar. The encounter, that began on Sunday morning, entered its second day today. OSAGE Nicholas Lenz brutalized and terrorized a woman while trying to beat her into submission for two days in March after she rejected him, prosecutors say. Lenz, 23, is on trial this week in Osage on charges of felony first-degree kidnapping and willful injury. In opening statements Tuesday morning, Assistant Iowa Attorney General Coleman McAllister described an extremely violent alleged encounter between Lenz and a woman he was dating. Lenz punched the woman, kicked her, broke her jaw, strangled her, put a lit cigarette on her face and at one point left her zip-tied to pipes in an unheated camper in rural Otranto, McAllister said. He taped her mouth, he dragged her by the hair, pulling out her hair. ... All because she wanted him to leave, McAllister said. Defense Attorney Parker Thirnbeck, in his opening argument, told the jury that Lenz committed assault, but said his client was not guilty of kidnapping and did not commit willful injury. Prosecutors say the alleged incident lasted from March 5 until early March 7, when the womans father suspected someone had broken into her home in Mitchell and called sheriffs deputies. Mitchell County Sheriffs Deputy Jerry Jensen testified he found Lenz sleeping on a couch in the residence. He said a gun was later found tucked into the cushions near where Lenz was lying. The woman, who the Globe Gazette is not naming, is expected to testify during the trial. Judge Christopher Foy said he may order media covering the trial not to photograph or videotape her testimony. McAllister showed the jurors photos of the womans swollen, bruised face. She had a black eye as well as swollen and cut hands and red marks on her ankles. A dark, horseshoe-shaped bruise on the underside of her chin came from the butt of a .357-caliber handgun Lenz shoved into her face, McAllister said. Defense attorney Thirnbeck told the jury of eight women and six men that his client and the alleged victim were engaged to be married and had spent the week prior to the alleged incident together, visiting with Lenzs relatives and accepting money for the two of them to go to a casino. The situation deteriorated when they both began using crack cocaine and alcohol, Thirnbeck said, to the point Lenz became concerned for the womans welfare. Youll hear that, as odd as it may sound, and it doesnt seem right, but Nick actually believed that he was helping protect her because he believed her judgment was impaired form the alcohol and drug use, Thirnbeck told jurors. Thirnbeck said the womans strained relationship with her own family was a factor in charges being filed against Lenz. He did not specify during brief opening remarks how that family dynamic influenced the situation, saying only, It is the defenses opinion thats a fundamental reason we are here this week. Prosecutors called seven witnesses Tuesday afternoon, including four Mitchell County sheriffs deputies and Sheriff Greg Beaver. Jensen, the deputy who found Lenz on the couch, described for the jury how a handcuffed Lenz escaped from the deputys patrol vehicle and ran down the street. He said the chase culminated in a wild scene where a still-handcuffed Lenz, trying to flee in a pickup belonging to the father of the alleged victim, drove off with the womans father standing on the running board grabbing at him as the truck was moving. The vehicle slid to a stop about a block away in front of The Town Pump, a local bar, Jensen said. Lenz was put back in a patrol vehicle and taken away, but not before the alleged victims brother reached into the vehicle and punched a still-handcuffed Lenz in the side of the head. The trial continues Wednesday morning. The prosecution expected to wrap up its case Wednesday or early Thursday. The defense will then begin calling witnesses. Srinagar: Security forces on Tuesday morning resumed operation against militants holed up inside a government building near Pampore town of Kashmir`s Pulwama district. According to reports, two security personnel and a policeman were injured as the militants fired from inside the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Institute (JKEDI) in the fighting that began on Monday. "Operation against the holed up militants has been resumed. Floodlights were used during the night to ensure that the militants were prevented from escaping under the cover of darkness," a senior police official said. Rockets and heavy automatic gunfire were used this morning to engage the militants. Two to three militants stormed into the EDI complex in the wee hours yesterday and took positions inside one of the buildings, a police official said. The official said the ultras could have entered the complex from the riverside but that can only be ascertained once the operation is over. After getting inside the complex, the militants set on fire a few mattresses inside a hostel room to attract the attention of the police and other security forces, who arrived within minutes of the smoke emanating from the building, the official said. The 70-room, seven-storey building is located at Pampore on the banks of the river Jhelum and 12 km from the Srinagar city centre. The joint operation was launched by the Army, the Special Operations Group of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The main building of the institute was attacked in February when militants captured it and launched a major attack on security forces. Six persons - a civilian, three soldiers and two paramilitary troopers -- were killed then before three militants were shot dead. (With Agency inputs) Srinagar: The gun battle resumed at dawn between security forces and terrorists who are holding up inside a government complex near here even as the siege continued for over 24 hours. After a brief lull during the night, the firing started again around 6 am on Tuesday, the Times Now reported. It said at least two terrorists are still holding fort inside the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Institute (JKEDI) and retaliating at the security forces with assault rifles and grenade launchers. The militants' target was the 49 Rashtriya Rifles camp of the Indian Army but when their attempt was foiled they took shelter in the seven-storey government building in Pampore on the banks of the Jhelum river, some 12 km from Srinagar. Security forces have surrounded the complex from all sides to prevent the militants from escaping. The building was lit up during the night so that the guerrillas do not flee under the cover of darkness. "All escape routes have been sealed," a senior police officer had said last night. But despite heavy rocket shelling and intense gunfire by the security forces, the terrorists are still reportedly alive. The guerrillas are heavily armed but using their ammunition sparingly. They are also changing their positions constantly to avoid getting killed, a police officer said. Imphal: A flash flood triggered by torrential rains on Monday night along Manipur-Myanmar border washed away a bridge and destroyed several houses, the police said on Tuesday. However, no casualty was reported. "The water level of the Khujairok river along the international border receded within a few hours," a police officer told IANS. He said there was heavy downpour lasting over an hour on Monday night and the level of the Khujairok river breached the danger mark in no time. Tribal people from nearby villages said they were virtually caught napping. "The flash flood razed six houses at Chavangphai village near the international border. But, as we managed to run uphill, there was no casualty. Pigs and other domesticated animals are also safe," a villager said One of the engineers posted in Moreh area along the border said, "There was a wooden bridge, connecting Chavangphai village with Moreh Ward No.5. It got washed away. Now it will take some time to construct another bridge." Receding waters came as a huge relief to the villagers, as they could wade through the river water since Tuesday morning. Government officials and elected representatives of people rushed to Moreh on Tuesday to assess the damages. A government official said that a report has been sent to the government and financial assistance could be extended to the victims to reconstruct their damaged houses. Amritsar: Amid India-Pakistan tensions, a group of locals in Amritsar has decided to burn an effigy of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with Ravana, Kumbhkaran and Meghnad on the occasion of Dussehra on Tuesday. Elsewhere too, effigy-makers, this time, had demands from customers to either make an extra effigy of 'terrorism' or the demon king with anti-terrorism slogans, keeping up with the current mood after the last month's surgical strikes along the Line of Control by the Indian Army. In Punjab's Amritsar, Nawaz Sharif's effigy was spotted wrapped up in the Pakistan flag with the Pakistani premier's photo affixed on top. "The reason we have affixed Nawaz Sharif`s photo because the country shelters terrorism, it promotes them and exports them to other countries. I believe that this will convey a message to Pakistan, that if it doesn`t reign in terrorists, it will meet the same end like this effigy," Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi told news agency ANI. Indian commandos raided terrorist launch pads across the LoC in Pakistani territory on the intervening night of September 28-29, killing an unspecified number of terrorists. Pakistan denies this happened. The strike was carried out after the terror attack on an Army camp in Uri, where 19 soldiers were killed. Amritsar: With India-Pakistan tensions becoming more evident in the recent past especially after the surgical strike by the Indian Army, a group of locals in Amritsar have decided to express their displeasure by burning effigies of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif`s along with Ravana, Kumbhkaran and Meghnad on Dussehra. The effigy was spotted wrapped up in the Pakistan flag with Sharif`s photo affixed on top. "The reason we have affixed Nawaz Sharif`s photo because the country shelters terrorism, it promotes them and exports them to other countries. I believe that this will convey a message to Pakistan, that if it doesn`t reign in terrorists, it will meet the same end like this effigy," Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi told ANI. Indian Army on September 29 said that it conducted surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in response to the terrorist attack at Uri sector. Two Pakistani soldiers and over 30 terrorists were reportedly killed in the attack. Director General of Military Operations Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh said that the motive of the operation was to hit out at the terrorists who were planning to infiltrate into the Indian Territory. Hyderabad: Telangana will see the birth of 21 new districts on the auspicious occasion of Vijaya Dashmi on Tuesday, taking the total number of districts in India's youngest state to 31. Telangana, which came into existence on June 2, 2014, as the 29th State of India, started out with 10 districts. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government said reorganisation of districts will help take the administration to people. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will formally inaugurate Siddipet district, being carved out of existing Medak district. Telangana Assembly S Madhusudhana Chary will inaugurate Jayashankar district while Council Chairman K Swamy Goud will launch Jangaon district. Both these districts are being carved out of the existing Warangal district. Warangal Rural, another district being carved out of existing Warangal, will be inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari. Another Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahamood Ali will inaugurate Jagitial district, being created out of existing Karimnagar district. Sixteen other districts will also be inaugurated simultaneously by the ministers. These districts are - Yadadri, Peddapally, Kamareddy, Medak, Mancherial, Vikarabad, Rajanna, Asifabad, Suryapet, Kothagudem, Nirmal, Wanaparthy, Nagarkurnool, Mahabubabad, Jogulamba and Medchal (Malkajgiri). Barring Hyderabad, the existing 10 districts have been split into three or four districts. The reorganisation of districts was done as part of a massive exercise undertaken by the state government to revamp administrative units. The TRS government is also reorganising mandals (a low-level division of a district) and other administrative units. The government appointed a committee, headed by Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma, earlier and another panel led by TRS MP K Keshava Rao to go into the issue. The reorganisation of districts also witnessed protests. Opposition Congress, TDP and BJP have hit out at the TRS government for allegedly going about the reorganisation of districts in an unscientific and unilateral manner. Leader of Opposition in the Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir took exception to the government not conducting an all-party meeting for a second time on the issue. Telangana TDP working president and MLA A Revant Reddy alleged the Rao government adopted a discriminatory attitude in the formation of districts and mandals. He said the TRS government acted against the interest of adivasis and other social groups. (With Agency inputs) Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday advised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi in state capital Lucknow, rather than passing comments on his visit. "Instead of passing comments on Prime Minister Modi`s visit, being the chief minister of the state, Akhilesh Yadav should have welcomed the prime minister in his state capital. If the state and the Centre will not have co-ordination, then the development of the state will be hampered," BJP national council member Swami Prasad Maurya told ANI. Maurya said that in the past, prime ministers` have visited some place or the other on the occasion of Dussehra and Prime Minister Modi attending a function in Lucknow should not be objected to. Yesterday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav dubbed Prime Minister Modi`s upcoming visit to the state capital to attend the Dussehra celebrations as politically motivated with an eye on the upcoming state assembly polls. Echoing similar sentiments, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday dubbed Prime Minister`s Modi`s visit to Lucknow a political stunt and said that the event should have been toned down taking into account the loss suffered by the families of soldiers killed in the Uri terror attack. Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Lucknow and attend Dussehra festivities at the historic Aishbagh Ramlila ground on October 11. Mathura: As people across the country celebrated Dussehra on Tuesday burning effigies of Ravan, the Shiva temple premises near new bridge on Yamuna here reverberated with hymns for over an hour in praise of the mythical king of Lanka. Not only members of 'Lankesh Bhakta Mandal' paid their obeisance to Ravan, they also decided they would ask people not to burn effigies of "such a learned devotee of Lord Shiva" year after year. "The Mandal now not only would try to educate people of Mathura against the evil of burning of effigy of Ravan every year but would also spread the message in the neighbouring districts," said Omveer Saraswat, Advocate and President of Lankesh Bhakta Mandal. He said the practice of burning of effigy of "such a learned devotee of Lord Shiva", should be given up. Lauding values practised by Ravan, Saraswat said, he did not touch lord Ram's wife Sita, who was in his custody in Ashok Vatika, even after the death of his brothers and son. "He performed duty of a priest during construction of Setu Bandh Rameshwarm even though it was used by Ram for attacking Lanka," he said. "It is not only humiliating but against culture of this country to burn effigy of such a noble figure every year," he said. Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday attended the historic Ramlila celebrations here where he launched a veiled attack on Pakistan, saying those who help and provide shelter to terrorists cannot be spared, but made no reference to the surgical strikes. Making terrorism the centrepoint of his over 20-minute speech, he said terror was the worst enemy of humanity and called upon the world community to speak in one voice against the menace to put an end to it. PM Modi became the first PM to attend a Ramlila event outside Delhi and his participation at the Aishbagh celebrations assumes significance in the context of Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year. Here's top quotes from PM Modis speech in Lucknow: - Terrorism is the enemy of humanity. Terrorism does not have any boundaries. It is bound to destroy all. It will not be possible to save humanity without eradicating terrorism. - Those who help terrorists and provide shelter to them can no longer be spared. All forces across the world have to talk in one voice and end it. - In 1992-93, was talking to someone from US Department of State on terrorism, they said it's your 'law and order problem'. That changed after 9/11. - Ye desh charkhadhaari Mohan ka bhi hai, aur Budh ka bhi hai. hum yudh se budh ki yatra kay logh hai. Krishna je jeevan me yudh tha, Ram ke jeevan me yudh tha, par hum vo hai jo yudh se Budh ke marg pe jaana chate hai. (We are the people who go from war to peace. Sometimes war is necessary, but our path is not that of war, but that of Buddha.) - If a country of 1.25 crore keeps an eye on every terrorist activity, terrorists will never succeed. - Ramayana is the witness, that the first fighter against terrorism was Jataayu, who fought for a woman's honour. - Even if all of us can't be Lord Ram, we can all try and be Jatayu, and keep terrorism at bay. - There should be a celebration of Dusshera within ourselves as well, kill the 10 'haras' within ourselves. - Communalism, casteism, nepotism are forms of evil inside us, need to get rid of these 'Ravanas'. - Today is the International Day of the Girl Child. There is a need to end discrimination based on gender. Women need to be respected and treated right, no matter what religion or background one comes from. (With Agency inputs) Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday received Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Lucknow airport. PM arrived in poll-bound UP to attend Dussehra Mahotsav at the Aishbagh Ramleela Ground. Yesterday, rejecting Opposition's charge, BJP had said that PM Modi's visit to Lucknow had no "politics" or "hidden agenda". "There is no politics or hidden agenda behind the prime minister's visit to the historic Dussehra Mela at Aishbagh ground tomorrow," BJP national vice president and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma had said. "Ravan was the first terrorist and his effigy is burnt till this day... This is the feeling among countrymen, and the prime minister is coming here to commemorate it," he had added, as per PTI. He had also said that it was a traditional event and was totally apolitical. A patron of the Aishbagh Ramlila committee, Sharma had claimed that the committee had been sending invitations to Presidents and PMs but this was the first time a PM has accepted it. Meanwhile, earlier yesterday, Akhilesh had said that PM Modi would have taken part in Ravan Vadh in Bihar had there been election there, while BSP president Mayawati had termed the visit as politically motivated. (With Agency inputs) The North Iowa Babywearers are a different kind of parenting group. Their focus is on encouragement and support for parents who choose to use baby carriers for their little ones. The North Iowa group started as a splinter group of the Cedar Valley chapter when Miranda Fielder, 23, and other parents saw that there was enough interest. For many parents, the choice to use carriers came out of necessity when two arms just werent enough. We found out when we were pregnant with our second kids that we needed to be able to take care of a 2-year-old and a baby, Fielder said. She said many women will receive a carrier as a baby shower present and it may not work for them. Sometimes people get turned off the idea because they didnt like one kind, but there are so many options, Fielder said. There are more options than just what you see at the store, and they dont have to be uncomfortable. The Babywearers have a library of carriers to try and loan with a membership. We want to help people find the right carrier for them, Fielder said. We believe that there is no bad carrier, just ones that better suit your needs. In addition to finding the proper carrier, the group helps educate how to use each type safely and comfortably. Group leaders can do fitting checks and make sure both the caregiver and child are safe and comfortable. Laura Wight said the group was a great way to meet new friends and like-minded parents when her family moved to Clear Lake. Sometimes your child wants to be held and you get tired, Wight said. This way theyre close but your hands are free. Wight likes to use a wrap-like carrier to hold her 2-year-old son, Ethan, on her back. When youre on a trip and doing a lot of walking, they get tired and want to be held, Wight said. This way, hes being held and Im comfortable, too. The group has a Facebook page and alternates meetings between Mason City and Charles City each month. It has around 230 members in North Iowa. Although most of the Babywearers are moms, the group encourages dads to participate as well. In addition to carriers, the group also talks about other parenting topics and can serve as a support group. This is something that parents 20 years ago didnt have, Fielder said. Its nice to know youre not alone. Lucknow: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi warmly and thanked him for deciding to spend Dussehra in Lucknow. "Grateful for PM Modi that he chose to spend Dussehra in Lucknow. Lucknow represents the composite culture of our country. Lucknow was Vajpayee ji's karambhomi and my constituency. I welcome him," he said, while addressing the crowd at Aishbagh Ramleela Ground. "PM dealt with corruption and raised the image of India all over the world," he added. Yesterday, rejecting Opposition's charge, BJP had said that PM Modi's visit to Lucknow had no "politics" or "hidden agenda". "There is no politics or hidden agenda behind the prime minister's visit to the historic Dussehra Mela at Aishbagh ground tomorrow," BJP national vice president and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma had said.BJP national vice president and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma had said. "Ravan was the first terrorist and his effigy is burnt till this day... This is the feeling among countrymen, and the prime minister is coming here to commemorate it," he had added, as per PTI. He had also said that it was a traditional event and was totally apolitical. A patron of the Aishbagh Ramlila committee, Sharma had claimed that the committee had been sending invitations to Presidents and PMs but this was the first time a PM has accepted it. Meanwhile, earlier yesterday, Akhilesh had said that PM Modi would have taken part in Ravan Vadh in Bihar had there been election there, while BSP president Mayawati had termed the visit as politically motivated. (With Agency inputs) Amnesty International on Tuesday welcomed Jordan`s move to allow aid deliveries to thousands of Syrians trapped on its desert border, but called for a long-term solution to the crisis. More than 70,000 Syrians are trapped in "hellish conditions" in a remote, arid strip of no-man`s land on the Syrian side of the border, the rights group said. Jordan closed the border, halting aid deliveries to a makeshift camp, after a bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed seven Jordanian soldiers in June. Since then the kingdom has only allowed a single delivery of aid to the refugees, in August. But it said on Monday it would allow further deliveries by crane across the border in the coming weeks. Amnesty said the announcement was "a long-awaited glimmer of hope that should be followed by a sustainable, long-term solution". "News that humanitarian assistance will be resumed to tens of thousands of refugees... comes as a welcome relief," said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty`s director of global issues and research. "However, we are worried by reports that aid will be lobbed across the border by crane or that refugees will be coerced... to move to areas where they may be at risk of attack in order to receive it." She called for unfettered humanitarian access and for the refugees to be allowed onto Jordanian territory. Jordan closed its entire desert border with Syria and Iraq, after the bombing near the Rukban crossing on June 21. Jordanian officials said the bomber had come from a camp just across the border. Jordan says it is hosting over 1.4 million Syrians on its territory, of which 630,000 are registered with the United Nations. The kingdom has repeatedly said it is not receiving enough international help to share the burden. Beijing: China rebuked New Zealand`s defence minister at a forum in Beijing on Tuesday, criticising his stance on tensions in the South China Sea, saying countries "not involved" should not interfere. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion worth of trade passes each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the sea. An international tribunal in the Hague ruled in July that China had no historic title over the waters and had breached the Philippines` sovereign rights there. That decision infuriated Beijing, which dismissed the court`s authority. We "hope that countries who are not involved in the disputes respect the countries who are having the disputes to ... work among themselves," Fu Ying, chairwoman of China`s foreign affairs committee for parliament, said at the Xiangshan Forum, which China styles as its answer to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore. "Outside involvement, I think the developments have shown, interference, can only complicate the differences and sometimes even add to the tension," Fu, a former deputy foreign minister, said. Fu, who was chairing the session, made her comments immediately after New Zealand Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee spoke at the start of the forum. "We oppose actions that undermine peace and erode trust and would like to see all parties actively take steps to reduce those tensions," Brownlee said earlier. "As a small maritime trading nation, international law and, in particular, the United Nations convention on the law of the sea, is important for New Zealand. We support the arbitral process and believe that countries have the right to seek that international resolution," he said. This isn`t the first time China has clashed with New Zealand over the territorial dispute. In February, New Zealand urged Chinese restraint after Beijing`s apparent deployment of an advanced missile system on a South China Sea island, while Beijing said New Zealand`s proposal was "unconstructive". Brownlee on Tuesday honed in on the issue of China`s building of artificial islands in the territory, including new airstrips, which has rattled nerves around the region. "A particular cause of... heightened tension has been the reclamation and construction activity and deployment of military assets in disputed areas," he said. China says much of the building and reclamation work it has been doing in the South China Sea is to benefit the international community, including for civilian maritime navigation. After Fu`s response, Brownlee told Reuters on the sidelines of the forum that it was reasonable for New Zealand to express its concerns, which represent smaller countries as well, as all parties are able to have a say. A Malaysian general told Reuters on the sidelines of the forum that China has exercised restraint over the dispute, and there has been no increase in Chine se military activity in the parts of the South China Sea which Malaysia claims. "In fact, we are establishing military cooperation with China to build up confidence so that we understand one another better," said Malaysia Armed Forces chief Zulkefli Mohd Zin. New Delhi: Dawn journalist who wrote the article about a discord between the civilian government and the powerful military in Pakistan following India's surgical strikes against terrorists in PoK has reportedly been asked not to leave the country. Cyril Almeida, who works for the Dawn newspaper, has been put on the Exit Control List, which means he won't be able to leave the country, the Quint reported. Post surgical strikes, in an explosive story Almeida claimed that the Nawaz Sharif government has directed the country's military leadership to act against terrorists or face international isolation. The story, headlined Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military, has triggered a major political storm in Pakistan since the article suggested that it was a direct fallout of the surgical strikes by India. Indians considered this development as a major sign of Pakistan conceding its earlier ground that cross-border terrorism is carried out by non-state actors. The article claimed that Sharif gave the orders at a high-level meeting in which India was a major topic of discussion between the civilian and military rulers. His story was subsequently denied by the government and the armed forces. Washington: Donald Trump stepped up his attacks against U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday, calling him a "weak and ineffective leader" and saying Ryan and other Republicans were hurting his bid for the White House by holding back their support. The day after Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, told party lawmakers he was breaking with the presidential nominee and would not campaign for him, Trump issued a barrage of social media posts criticizing Republicans who have abandoned his campaign. The stinging attacks deepened the party`s dramatic rift over the former reality TV star, who has seen a string of Republican defections after a video surfaced on Friday showing him bragging crudely to a reporter in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. "Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty," Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday. Ryan told congressional Republicans he would put his energy into preserving Republican majorities in Congress, all but conceding that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would likely win the White House in the Nov. 8 election. The move angered some Trump supporters, although Ryan said he would not withdraw his endorsement of the New York businessman. Trump also referenced Sunday`s second presidential debate, where he was credited with giving a stronger performance than in the first showdown with Clinton. And while complaining about the lack of support, he implied his abandonment by establishment Republicans had freed him up to be himself on the campaign trail. "Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!" Trump, who has never held political office, said on Twitter. "It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to," he said in a later post on Twitter. Trump, whose campaign has been marked for months by controversies over both his policies and his brash style, has slipped further behind Clinton in opinion polls. Many Republicans are worried his chaotic campaign could hurt their chances of holding majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in next month`s election, and will inflict long-term damage on the party. In an extraordinary party revolt, nearly half of all 331 incumbent Republican senators, House members and governors have condemned Trump`s lewd remarks on the video, and roughly one in 10 have called for him to drop out of the race, a Reuters review of official statements and local news coverage indicates. Unlike Ryan, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told RNC members on Monday that the committee, the party`s leadership and fundraising arm, still backed Trump, two RNC members told Reuters. Trump`s vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, reinforced his support in television interviews on Monday. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a former rival for the White House who has became a close ally of Trump, also reaffirmed his backing although he called Trump`s comments in the 2005 video "completely indefensible." "In the end, this election is about bigger issues than that," Christie told CBS Radio`s WFAN on Tuesday, adding he did not blame other Republicans who have withdrawn their support. U.S. Representative Steve King of Iowa, however, did not hesitate to criticize those backing away from Trump. "That`s a mistake ... that drags the entire ticket down," he said in an interview with CNN. "What does it do to your integrity if you help Hillary Clinton become president?" Both Trump, 70, and Clinton, 68, head to the key battleground state of Florida with campaign events later on Tuesday. The Reuters/Ipsos State of the Nation project released on Monday estimated that Clinton had at least a 95 percent chance of winning the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become president. The polling did not capture reaction to Trump`s performance in Sunday`s debate or Friday`s news reports on the video. Former Secretary of State Clinton, the first woman to be picked as a presidential nominee by a major U.S. party, tried to focus on issues that could win over undecided women voters on Tuesday, proposing to expand the child tax credit so more low-income families can benefit and to increase by $1,000 a year the tax credit available to families for each child up to age 4. A little girl protected by the embrace of her dead father was the last survivor pulled out of the rubble of collapsed multi-storey buildings in China, reports said Tuesday. She was found deep in the debris of four six-storey residential buildings more than 12 hours after they crumbled in Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, killing at least 22 people, state broadcaster CCTV said. Three-year-old Wu Ningxi survived with only minor injuries thanks to the protection offered by her young father, who was found dead after shielding her from falling rubble, it added. "The child was able to survive entirely thanks to the fact that her dad used his own flesh and blood to prop up a life-saving space for his daughter," a rescuer told the China Youth Daily. The 26-year-old shoe factory worker was found under a thick cement pillar, draped over his daughter. The family had been buried alive in their living room and the body of Wu`s mother was discovered not far from the pair. Photos showed hard-hatted rescuers lifting the girl`s half-naked body from the mess of cement and fallen bricks late Monday, her hair matted with dust as they carried her out and gingerly placed her onto a stretcher. The search through the three-storey-high debris concluded early Tuesday, the Lucheng district government said at a press conference, with 22 confirmed dead and only five survivors other than the girl rescued. The cause of the disaster was still under investigation, CCTV said. Recent heavy rainfall combined with the poor quality of construction and age of the buildings, built by the villagers themselves, were probable contributing factors, it cited a preliminary analysis as saying. Neighbouring buildings constructed in the 1970s were being demolished to prevent further collapses, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The buildings had been packed with migrant workers, among them Wu`s parents, hundreds of millions of whom have moved from China`s countryside to its towns and cities in recent decades, their labour fuelling the country`s economic boom. Many remain poorly paid and face restrictions on buying homes in the areas where they work. China has seen several building collapses in recent years, with some blamed on low-quality construction. In May 16 people were reported dead after a residential building in Guizhou province in the southwest collapsed due to landslides. Abu Dhabi: The first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi will be ready to welcome worshippers by the end of 2017, a businessman overseeing the project said on Tuesday. The temple is being built on land donated by the government of Muslim Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. Hindus currently travel to Dubai, the UAE`s tourism and commercial hub more than 100 km (60 miles) away, to perform prayers. The government announced it was allocating land to build the temple during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hundreds of thousands of Indian Hindus live in Abu Dhabi. Indian billionaire businessman B.R. Shetty, who is chairman of the Temple Coordination Committee, said: "The UAE is a great example of religious tolerance with people of different nationalities living in harmony here." The temple project will be funded privately, he said. The government has allocated 20,000 square metres of land in Al Wathba, just outside Abu Dhabi city. Indians make up the largest expatriate group, about 2.6 million or 30 percent of the UAE population, according to figures from the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi. Dubai also has a Sikh Gurdwara and both Dubai and Abu Dhabi have Christian churches. Abu Dhabis Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan will be the chief guest at India`s annual Republic Day parade next year. Afghanistan has deployed hundreds of commandos backed by NATO air strikes in Lashkar Gah to drive Taliban insurgents from the southern city after the militants killed 14 people in a coordinated attack, officials said Tuesday. The assault Monday marked the insurgents` latest attempt to seize the capital of Helmand province, underscoring unravelling security as they expand their foothold across the opium-rich province. "More than 300 commandos... have been deployed to the city to prevent Taliban advancement," said Abdul Jabar Qahraman, government special envoy for security in Helmand. Provincial spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP the commandos were sent from Kabul and neighbouring provinces to launch a "clearance operation" in Lashkar Gah after the attack, which killed 10 policemen and four others. "Soon the security forces will clear the whole city from Taliban," Zwak said. "US enablers are in the area and will support as needed. Yesterday there were two air strikes in Helmand, both of these were in support of ANDSF (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) strategic operations," a NATO spokesman told AFP Tuesday. The Taliban have waged an insurgency against the western-backed Kabul government since being toppled from power by a US-led invasion in 2001. They have intensified attacks across the country in recent months, pressuring Afghan forces on multiple fronts. Around 30,000 people have been displaced in Helmand in recent weeks and most have fled to Lashkar Gah. But the city is practically besieged, with roads from neighbouring districts heavily mined by the insurgents. The intervention in Helmand has fuelled the perception that foreign powers are increasingly being drawn back into the conflict as Afghan forces struggle to rein in the Taliban. Monday`s early morning assault also underscored the Taliban`s sustained push into urban centres, coming a week after they briefly stormed into Kunduz in the north before being repelled by Afghan forces. The attack began with a car bombing in an attempt to break through the security belt around Lashkar Gah and enter the city, according to officials and local residents. Mohammad Radmanish, a defence ministry spokesman, said security forces had managed to repel the attack and push back the insurgents, but it was feared they would return. "We have enough forces on the ground now. Afghan air force and NATO`s air support is also helping our forces," he said.On Saturday General John Nicholson, the NATO military commander in Afghanistan, flew with the Afghan defence minister to Lashkar Gah to assure provincial elders that the city would not fall. The Taliban effectively control or contest 10 of the 14 districts in Helmand, the deadliest province for British and US troops over the last decade and blighted by a huge opium harvest that helps fund the insurgency. In August Washington deployed some 100 troops to Lashkar Gah, the first major US deployment to the city since foreign forces withdrew in 2014. In recent months the militants have attempted to overrun other provincial capitals, from Kunduz and Baghlan in the north to Farah in the west, but Afghan forces have managed to repel the attacks. On Tuesday Taliban fighters renewed their offensive against Farah, triggering heavy fighting that lasted for hours. A regional police spokesman Abdul Ahad Walizada said security forces drove back the attack, killing over a dozen insurgents, though he admitted sporadic fighting around the city continued into the night. NATO officially ended its combat mission in December 2014, but US forces were granted greater powers in June to strike at the insurgents as President Barack Obama vowed a more aggressive campaign. Beirut The Islamic State group said Monday that a senior operative considered the group's information minister had been killed, confirming an earlier Pentagon report. An IS statement on social media affirmed the "martyrdom" of Abu Mohammad al-Furqan, the nom de guerre of Wa`il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, saying he was an "emir" of the group`s central media body. It did not release any further details. Last month the Pentagon said al-Fayad, also known as "Dr. Wa`il", was killed in a precision strike on September 7 near Raqa, the Syrian city that is the de facto capital of the Islamic State jihadist group. He oversaw the group`s media production of videos showing torture and executions, said the Pentagon, describing him as "one of ISIL`s most senior leaders" and a close associate of Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, the IS group spokesman killed on August 30. Since it announced a self-styled caliphate across Iraq and Syria in 2014, IS has become notorious for broadcasting its macabre tactics. The group`s online network has taken advantage of social media`s instant publishing power to circulate footage of mass killings and beheadings. Israeli authorities have barred Palestinians from entering the country from the occupied West Bank or the Gaza Strip ahead of the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday that begins on Tuesday evening, the army said. Such closures are often put in place for major Jewish holidays, but Israeli security forces are on especially high alert following a Palestinian gun attack in Jerusalem on Sunday that killed two people. Thousands of Jews visit the Western Wall in east Jerusalem`s Old City during Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, which ends on Wednesday evening. The closure, in place Tuesday and Wednesday, applies only to Palestinians and not the roughly 400,000 Israeli settlers who live in the West Bank. The Gaza Strip is always under an Israeli blockade, though some crossings are usually allowed for work or medical purposes. Humanitarian and urgent medical cases will be allowed through during the holidays despite the closure, the army said. More than 3,000 police are being deployed in Jerusalem for the holiday. Meanwhile, the army said it had demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian sentenced to life in prison for the shooting deaths of an Israeli couple in front of their children a year ago. The home of Amjad Aliwi, an apartment on the third floor of a building in the West Bank city of Nablus, was destroyed overnight with explosives, Palestinian police said. The Israeli army says Aliwi was part of a Hamas cell responsible for planning and carrying out the October 1, 2015 attack on the settler couple in the West Bank. The army also accused him of buying the gun that was used to kill them. The attack marked the beginning of a wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming assaults that has lasted more than a year. Tony Flores Sr. GUADALAJARA, Mexico Tony Flores Sr., 96, of Guadalajara, MX and formerly of Dubuque, IA and Mason City, IA, passed away Monday, Oct. 3, 2016, at his home. Funeral Services were held in Guadalajara, MX at the Infinity Funeral home, Oct. 4, 2016. A Funeral Mass was held Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016. Tony was born Sept. 2, 1920, in San Antonio, Texas, son of Jose and Guadalupe Flores. Tony grew up in Mason City, IA and volunteered for duty in World War II, where he served as a Combat Engineer in the European Theater. He later served briefly in the Iowa National Guard. After his service overseas, he married Alice B. (Nasheim) Flores and started a family. He was employed by Lehigh Cement Plant and later found his life calling as Head of Maintenance at Mercy Hospital, both in Mason City. In 1969, he moved to Dubuque, IA in response to the request of Mercy Medical Center, to serve as the Project Engineer for the new addition they were constructing. After his retirement from there, he worked for Management Science for Health as a Building Technical Specialist. Here he worked alongside a team of advisors who mentored staff in Central and South American hospitals, enabling them to upgrade services and equipment, and thereby provide the latest advances in the health care field. He was a dedicated husband and father who loved boating and was as mechanically inclined an individual as you would ever find; the man could fix anything. While living in Mason City he founded the Tony Flores Orchestra and spent many a Saturday night playing the drums while dressed in a white sport coat and black bow tie. Tony lived a full life and loved people; he grew gentler and kinder as each year passed. He was the epitome of a true gentleman, always polite, and at 96, retained old fashioned manners. He had a sense of humor and had learned the most important thing in life; to know which things really matter from the ones that are not important. He had a peaceful way of looking at you, and always with the warmest of smiles. He enjoyed the little things in life and his greatest treasure was his family. He instilled in his children many fine qualities, enabling them to live successful lives and raise happy families. Each one of them knows that had it not been for him, they would not have enjoyed the successes they had. Each could easily say, they had the best Dad ever. Tony is survived by his wife Maria L. (Plascencia) Flores of Guadalajara; one daughter, Tina P. (Jane Novak) Flores of Bayside, WI; four sons, Gerry L. (Estela) Flores, Tony Jr. (Patty) Flores, Robert W. (Roxanne) Flores, all of Dubuque and Anthony D. (Veronica) Flores of The Woodlands, TX. Additionally he is survived by six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Tony was preceded in death by his wife Alice B. Flores, an infant son, three brothers: Joe, Salude, Jesse, and four sisters: Mercy, Francis, Jenny, and Shirley. Rest in Peace Dad, well love you forever. Islamabad: A day after barring a prominent Pakistani journalist from leaving the country after he reported on a rift between civilian and military leaderships, a minister here on Tuesday said that the Nawaz Sharif government and Army are on the same page on terror. Talking to CNN-News 18, Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Barjees Tahir tried to insist that media is free in Pakistan, but if they don't follow a law, it is wrong. Cyril Almeida, a columnist and reporter for the Dawn newspaper, tweeted that he has been told that he has been put on 'Exit Control List' - a system of border control maintained by Pakistan government which allows it to bar people whose names appear on the list from leaving the country. The development has come less than a week after he wrote a front-page story in the widely-read daily about a rift between Pakistan's civilian and military leaderships over jihadi groups operating from Pakistan but engage in war against India and Afghanistan. Maintaining that there is no rift between the Nawaz Sharif government and Army, Tahir told the channel that Almeida should come out with the source of investigation. It was irresponsible of the reporter to file a story of this kind, said the minister, adding: It's a preventive measure and it is a transparent enquiry. On October 6, Almeida, citing sources, reported about a verbal clash in a meeting of top officials of civilian government of Sharif and spy chief of military-led Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) over alleged support to militants. His report said the civilian government told the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan due to their alleged support to militancy. Pakistan government has repeatedly denied the story. "(The) Prime Minister took serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action," according to an official statement. Almeida's scoop came amidst a backdrop of heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the attack on an Indian army base in Uri on September 18 in which 19 soldiers were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit. On September 29, India carried out "surgical strikes" on seven terror launch pads across the LoC, and the Indian Army said it had inflicted "significant casualties" on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan has denied the surgical strike by India but has claimed two of its soldiers were killed in alleged ceasefire violations along the LoC by Indian troops. (With Agency inputs) Paris: Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to come to Paris next week to discuss the tough issues, his country`s ambassador to France said on Tuesday as relations between the two countries deteriorate over the Syrian war. French officials are grappling for ways to put new pressure on Russia after Moscow vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria. Their growing anger at events in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo have led them to reconsider whether to host Putin on Oct. 19. "Of course he still wants to come to Paris," Alexander Orlov told Europe 1 radio. "I think dialogue needs to continue and we are here to talk especially in difficult moments. "You`re elected president precisely to find solutions to difficult problems. Vladimir Putin will come to discuss the subjects that cause anger." President Francois Hollande said at the weekend he was unsure whether it was useful or necessary to see Putin. The Russian leader was scheduled to come to Paris to inaugurate a new Russian Orthodox cathedral and visit a Russian art exhibition in the French capital. Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Monday there would be no point meeting Putin just for pleasantries, although he indicated the two leaders may meet in Berlin on the same day for a summit to discuss the crisis in Ukraine. Canada: Baloch activist Lateef Johar said on Tuesday that he fears for the life of activist and Balochistan Student Organisation (BSO-Azad) information secretary Shabir Baloch, who was abducted by Pakistani forces on October 4. "I`m really worried for Shabir`s life. I fear that the ruthless Pakistani forces and the ISI will kill him like they killed our other friends and leaders and the innocent civilians in Balochistan," Johar told ANI. He said that before Shabir was abducted, his house was torched. His family members were also abducted and subjected to torture. "Before his abduction, his house was burnt and his family members were also abducted and subjected to worse kind of human torture and killed. Two of his cousins were recently killed by the Pakistani forces. His other cousin Safarkhan Baloch is still missing. He was abducted by the forces in 2013." BSO-Azad also staged a protest on Saturday in Karachi against Shabir Baloch`s unlawful abduction from Gowarkop. The protestors raised slogans like "Where are you UNO", "Stop military operations in Balochistan", "Free Free Baloch Abductees" and "Stop Baloch Genocide". Shabir was attending a gathering against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) when the Army raided the place. Apart from Shabir, 29 others were also picked up. Pro-freedom Baloch political parties and student organisations say that most regions in Balochistan fall under the CPEC. Beijing had recently expressed concern about the security of its workers in Balochistan after the Baloch Liberation Army had accepted the responsibility for an attack on Chinese workers in Windar region of Balochistan. Two Chinese engineers were killed and several injured. The Baloch Liberation Army and other pro-freedom resistance organization have been continuous warning China to refrain from investing in `occupied Balochistan` until the Balochistan conflict is resolved. South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Tuesday told her government to prepare for large-scale defections from North Korea, just days after direct appealing to its citizens to flee their country. A recent spate of high-profile North Korean defections have provided a propaganda windfall for Seoul, which has spun them into a narrative of a Pyongyang leadership in crisis and riven with descent. Notable defections have included the North`s deputy ambassador to Britain and a rare, group escape by a dozen waitresses from a North Korean-run restaurant in China. In an address to mark Armed Forced Day earlier this month, Park had vowed to "keep the road open" for future escapees and urged North Koreans to "come to the bosom of freedom in the South." Pyongyang`s response was to call Park a "bare-faced and impudent bitch" in a commentary carried by the ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun. Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Park reiterated her defection appeal, and stressed the importance of preparing the ground for any new arrivals. "Defectors are like unification that has arrived early, and a test bed for unification," Park said. "I hope we can swiftly secure sufficient system and capacity to accommodate North Korean citizens who come seeking freedom," she added. The government currently runs two resettlement centres for defectors with a combined capacity of around 1,100 people. South Korea`s top-selling Chosun Ilbo reported Saturday that the government was planning a two trillion won (US$1.8 billion) project for building a defector camp that would hold up to 100,000 people. Citing an unnamed government official, the report said closed-down schools and new buildings would be used to accommodate an influx of North Korean refugees that could be triggered by any sudden shift in the dynamics of the North-South border. South Korea`s unification ministry, which handles cross-border affairs, declined to confirm the report. Ties between the two Koreas are at the lowest ebb since the height of Cold War in the 1970s, with Pyongyang test-firing more than 20 missiles and carrying out two nuclear tests this year alone. Over the years, nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression in their country and settled in the South. Seoul: South Korea summoned China's ambassador on Tuesday to protest against what it says was a deliberate collision by a Chinese fishing vessel with a South Korean coast guard patrol boat that later capsized and sank. Disputes over illegal fishing are an irritant in relations between China and U.S. ally South Korea, even as their economic relations grow close. They also share concern about North Korea`s nuclear weapons and missile programmes. South Korea's Ministry of Public Safety and Security, which oversees the coast guard, said one of its patrol boats sank last week during an operation to crack down on a group of Chinese vessels fishing illegally off the Korean peninsula`s west coast. It said the patrol boat was rammed by one of the Chinese vessels. No injuries were reported from the incident. South Korean media reports have said the Chinese vessel fled the scene and was believed to have returned to its home port. Qiu Guohong, China's ambassador to South Korea, did not comment to reporters as he arrived at the foreign ministry. China`s coast guard is also looking into the incident to identify the fishing boat accused of crashing into the South Korean coast guard vessel after requests by its South Korean counterpart, the Ministry of Public Safety and Security said in a statement on Monday. South Korean coastguard vessels regularly chase Chinese boats for fishing illegally off its coast, at times resulting in violent confrontations at sea. Three Chinese fishermen were killed last month in a fire that broke out on their boat when a South Korean coast guard crew trying to apprehend them for illegal fishing threw flash grenades into a room in which they were hiding, according to a South Korean official. In June, South Korea and the United Nations Command, which oversees the Korean War armistice, launched a joint operation to keep Chinese fishing vessels from operating illegally off South Korea's west coast. South Korea has repeated its complaint to China about illegal fishing by Chinese trawlers and urged Beijing to help come up with a permanent solution. Skopje: Several thousand people marched Tuesday along the streets of Macedonian capital Skopje protesting against the rule of conservative leader Nikola Gruevski`s VMRO-DPMNE party ahead of December snap elections. The march, called by the main opposition social democrats, was symbolically held on the 75th anniversary of Macedonia`s anti-Fascist uprising against Bulgarians, Italian and German occupiers at the beginning of World War II. "We are writing history, toppling a regime, getting back our freedom," opposition leader Zoran Zaev told the rally in front of the parliament`s building, where the march ended. "Our weapon is our vote," Zaev told the crowd as protesters chanted "Freedom, freedom!" and "The fight continues!" waving with Macedonian national flags. The rally was the first mass street protest since June when thousands of opposition and pro-government supporters demonstrated daily. Macedonia has been deep in political crisis since February 2015, when Zaev began releasing tapes that appeared to reveal official and widespread wiretapping, top-level corruption and other crimes. After street protests on both sides, the European Union stepped in to mediate a deal that included early elections. Gruevski stepped down in January to make way for the election after 10 years in power. Having delayed the vote twice due to opposition claims that conditions for free and fair elections had not been met, leaders of four main political parties, including Gruevski and Zaev, agreed to hold snap polls on December 11. Regular polls were due in 2018. Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005 but has yet to open accession talks. Washington: The United States blacklisted four men and their companies based in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, for purported ties to an organisation accused of laundering money for drug traffickers and Chinese, Colombian and Mexican crime groups. Among them was Pakistani national Obaid Khanani, whose father Altaf Khanani was arrested by U.S. authorities in September 2015 and accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of laundering billions of dollars for the Taliban and other groups. The department said in a statement that Obaid Khanani, 29, continued to help lead his father`s money laundering organization after the arrest. Altaf Khanani is set to be tried on money laundering charges in Miami this month, according to federal court records. Another man on the list, Hozaifa Khanani, also 29, is Altaf Khanani`s nephew and was involved in real estate investments on behalf of his uncle`s organization, the Treasury Department said. Muhammad Javed Khanani, Altaf Khanani`s brother, was "heavily involved in laundering criminal proceeds via money service businesses" Treasury said. It said a fourth man, Atif Polani, helped move funds on behalf of Khanani`s organization. The sanctions block any assets the men or companies might have had in the United States, and bars Americans from dealing with them. "Treasury remains committed to combating illicit money laundering networks around the world and today`s action is the result of close coordination with our partners in the United Arab Emirates," said John E. Smith, acting director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which imposes sanctions. The department also blacklisted several businesses based in Pakistan and Dubai for either being owned by the men or being linked to money laundering. OSAGE After concerns were raised about the construction of a 120-foot cell tower just off Osages historic commercial district, the Osage City Council will hear comments from the public regarding the potential impact of the tower at its next meeting. The Monday, Oct. 17, meeting, begins at 5:30 p.m. Following its Sept. 19 meeting, the council referred the matter to its utility committee (Rick Bodensteiner, Brian Adams and Judy Voaklander) for further review of the health and historic district concerns raised by Osage resident Penney Morse as well as a state official. Morse provided the council with source material outlining studies of suspected adverse effects of cell towers and Wi-Fi on those who live near them. While many have assumed the only potential problem with electromagnetic frequencies has to do with thermal impact, studies have shown, she said, that EF fields can also have a disorganizing effect on the ability to learn and remember and can also be destabilizing to immune and metabolic function. She cited the Presidents Cancer Panel that in 2010 issued a report that said RF radiation was categorized to be a suspected carcinogen. On behalf of the committee, Voaklander reported, despite any health risk concerns Morse or other citizens may have, the council could not stop the construction based on those concerns. The Federal Communications Commission has deemed the cellular tower and its emissions to be in compliance with federal law, said Voaklander, so we cant make any decision on radio frequency emissions or any safety concerns. The matter that can be considered is whether people have any historic preservation concerns. U.S. Cellular wants to place a tower just south of Main Street on the green space that borders South Seventh Street where the old fire station was once located. The company proposed to lease the space for $600 a month. The proposal calls for the tower to be built on the corner of the lot, preserving much of the green space. Morse, head of the Mitchell County Historic Preservation Association, was contacted for input by U.S. Cellular, in accordance with the Protection of Historic Properties law, which regulates how new construction would affect historic properties. She, in turn, contacted the State Historical Society of Iowa for help in making a recommendation. The Office of State Archaeologist reported the tower would have the greatest visual impact on the two nearest properties, the Osage Commercial Historic District and the Sage Public Library, the building that today houses City Hall. The tower, the report said, would be twice as tall as any building in the district. The office concluded that the tower would have an adverse visual effect on the district and the image the city wants to project. Though it may not be convenient for U.S. Cellular and their customers, the concern of the City Council should be the interests of all citizens of Osage, said Morse. The residents should have a chance to weigh in on whether the benefits outweigh potential risks of building this structure. The council does not plan to make any decision at the Oct. 17 meeting, regarding whether to vote for or against the tower, but rather will hear any concerns from the public regarding the impact the tower may have the downtown historic district only. We are only interested in hearing about any historical concerns, said Voaklander. SHEFFIELD | A farm worker was not injured in a Monday evening fire that destroyed a combine near Sheffield. The Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office says Terrell Juhl, 72, Hansell, was combining beans east of 20625 110th St. around 7 p.m. when the 2004 John Deere 9400 combine he was driving caught on fire. The combine, which is owned by Gregory and Marilee Jones of Sheffield, was a total loss, according to the sheriffs office. The Dougherty Fire Department provided assistance at the scene. Ashley Miller MASON CITY Two people were arrested on felony drug charges early Monday after being stopped in a vehicle in Mason City. Driver Jacob Ganseveld, 24, Klemme, and passenger Bethany Karnes, 26, Indianola, were both charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver after more than seven grams of ice methamphetamine was found in the vehicle, criminal complaints state. The vehicle was stopped at 1:39 a.m. at the intersection of 14th Street Southeast and South Delaware Avenue. Ganseveld allegedly was in possession of plastic baggies, a drug scale and needles. Karnes had a large quantity of ice methamphetamine on her lap and next to her in the vehicle, authorities say. She allegedly admitted to knowing where it was purchased. She also had a bottle with three Latuda pills in her purse, according to the complaint. She allegedly admitted she had gotten the antipsychotic medicine from a friend and did not have a prescription for them. Ganseveld and Karnes are each facing a felony charge of failure to affix a drug tax stamp. Karnes also was charged with misdemeanor unlawful possession of a prescription drug. Ganseveld also faces misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, driving while license denied, driving without registration and improper use of registration. Both were still in the Cerro Gordo County Jail Tuesday afternoon. They have a court date scheduled for Friday. FERTILE | The name of a 21-year-old Buffalo Center man killed in a crash in Worth County Monday afternoon has been released. Breck Christopher Zittritsch died after his westbound 2006 Ford Mustang crossed the center line of U.S. Highway 9 and collided with an eastbound Pontiac Grand Am near Balsam Avenue, according to an Iowa State Patrol crash report. The crash was reported about 2:30 p.m. The scene is about 3 miles west of the city of Fertile. The driver of the Pontiac, Amy Kofron, 27, was taken by helicopter to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa. Her condition wasn't immediately available Tuesday morning. Troopers say the two children in Kofron's car, a 2-year-old boy and a female infant younger than 1 year old, were not seriously injured. A bystander helped the children out of the car. An Iowa State Patrol crash report says the children were taken to the hospital by private vehicle, not an ambulance. Molly Montag Irish Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, poses with a copy of the 2017 budget during a photocall in front of the government buildings in Dublin, Ireland on October 11, 2016 Ireland's government on Tuesday outlined tax breaks for the tourism and farming sectors in a bid to offset the effects of the British pound's sharp devaluation and the expected impact of Brexit on the economy. In a speech to parliament Finance Minister Michael Noonan said that while the ultimate fallout from Britain's June 23 referendum was still unknown, Ireland would put on "economic shock-absorbers" to mitigate the inevitable damage. "Whatever the final settlement, what we know with certainty is that Brexit has increased risk to the Irish economy," he told lawmakers. "As well as introducing specific measures to assist particular sectors of the economy, we must also put in place safety nets to protect us against future economic shocks," he said. Noonan said Ireland wanted to retain the current economic ties with Britain as much as possible and to avoid the necessity for a hard border with Northern Ireland which he said would disrupt the economy. He outlined favourable tax treatment for several sectors, specifically tourism, food and agriculture, all of which are already coming under pressure because of the fall in the value of the pound of nearly 20 percent compared to the euro since the start of the year. Ireland last week reduced its 2017 economic growth forecast to 3.5 percent after its biggest trading partner Britain voted in June to leave the EU. Trade between the two countries is worth an estimated 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) a week. Ireland is the UK's fifth largest export market and imports more from the UK than any other country. In its 2017 budget Ireland will have 1.3 billion euros more to play with as a result of its ongoing recovery. Following almost a decade of austerity, the government chose to allocate one billion euros to public spending and the remainder to tax relief. As part of its strategy to "Brexit-proof" the economy, the government is not only aiming to reduce its budget deficit over the next two years but to turn this into surplus after 2018. Story continues It plans to then set aside up to one billion euros a year in a "rainy day fund" to offset future downturns. - 'Urgent reform' - While national debt has fallen from 120 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the height of the economic crisis, the minister announced the government's intention to reduce it from 76 percent at the end of 2016 to 45 percent over the coming decade, well below the EU requirement of 60 percent. "We must get away forever from the boom and bust cycles that have caused such grief in this country in the past," Noonan said. The government's budget announcement came as the OECD criticised Ireland's anti-bribery laws as being in need of "urgent reform". "Ireland still needs to make substantial progress on key recommendations issued three times since March 2007," the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a statement. The international body highlighted Ireland's law on corporate criminal liability as one area in need of an overhaul, specifically "so that it can be effectively applied to cases where senior managers of companies use subordinate employees to bribe". Dublin also needs to harmonise its two foreign bribery offences, the OECD said. Responding to the criticism, Ireland said it had already implemented a number of recommendations and the authorities were committed to investigating any allegation of an offence of foreign bribery of a public official. "A number of recommendations relating to suggested improvements to the existing anti-bribery legislation remain outstanding but are under consideration in the context of forthcoming Criminal Justice anti-corruption legislation," Ireland's department of justice said in a statement. The OECD noted that since 2003, Ireland has not prosecuted any cases of foreign bribery. While Ireland has regained its financial independence following the financial crisis, it is still subject to complaints from international organisations relating to the way Dublin deals with multinationals. While it is too early to predict the disappearance of Samsung from the phone market, rivals such as Apple, Google and Huawei are nipping at the heels of the market leader Smartphone customers losing faith in Samsung have plenty of choice at a time when Apple, Google and China's Huawei are each pushing new models that up the features ante and do not self-combust. "All of Samsung's competitors are rubbing their hands in glee," said Thomas Husson, an analyst with the Forrester technology research and consultancy firm. "It's basically a good product, released at the right time, but a slip-up, and we've seen in the past with Nokia or Blackberry that these can have disastrous effects," he added. While it is too early to predict a similar disappearance from the phone market of the South Korean company, rivals are nipping at the heels of the market leader. These include not only Apple and Chinese companies like Huawei, but also internet titan Google, which entered the smartphone market last week with its own device -- the Pixel. "There will inevitably be some moderate-to-marginal benefit for Samsung?s handset rivals, more particularly Apple, perhaps faster-growing Huawei can benefit more from Samsung?s Note 7 travails," said analyst Ken Odeluga at the online trading firm City Index. - Apple and Huawei - However Ian Fogg, senior director and head of the mobile and telecoms team at the IHS technology consultancy, said that "Huawei will be the biggest beneficiary from brand damage to Samsung." One of the largest providers of network infrastructure globally, Huawei has been pushing into the smartphone market, including the top-end segment with its P9 model that features a camera with two Leica lenses. "Huawei will look to pick up sales right across its portfolio," said Fogg, noting that Huawei was already the third-largest smartphone maker. "Like Samsung, it uses Android and offers smartphones at a wide range of prices." The blow to Samsung is unlikely to be fatal, however. "Competitors might enjoy a short-term boost to sales as a result of a major player having to withdraw its new model, though overall it is likely to remain a competitive market," said Laith Khalaf, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown brokerage. Story continues Part of the reason is that its competitors have their own challenges to surmount. Huawei, for instance, still needs to build its brand in Europe and North America. Meanwhile Apple needs to recapture the excitement around its products that has disappeared in recent years. - Tip of the iceberg? - Thomas Husson at Forrester believes "it is too early to say what the long-term impact will be" from this incident, although the recall is likely to set it back a considerable amount. Linda Sui, wireless smartphone strategies director at Strategy Analytics, estimated that Samsung could lose "$10 billion or more" over the recall. "The loss of sales from the Galaxy Note is only the tip of the iceberg," warned CMCMarkets analyst Jasper Lawler. "Demand for the flagship Galaxy S8, scheduled for release early next year, could be severely impeded by the loss of consumer confidence in the Samsung brand." But City Index's Ken Odeluga said that "nobody wants to believe Samsung has ?lost its touch? at producing beautiful and advanced consumer technology. "So there is some underlying sentiment that views its problems as the kind of bad luck which could afflict almost any smartphone maker that is pushing boundaries." But ManMohan Sodhi, a professor of operations and supply chain management at Cass Business School in London believes that it wasn't bad luck as much as bad judgement. "They should have figured out the product but with Google coming out with the Pixel, they did not give it enough time," said Sodhi. While Google has developed the Android operating system that powers the smartphones made by Samsung and other manufacturers, except for Apple, it has generally stayed on the sidelines when it comes to handsets. The release of the Pixel, along with its Google Home virtual assistant, indicates that Google aims to get its artificial intelligence technology into the hands and homes of consumers. In late September in a speech titled "The Status Quo Is Not an Option", Ontario Securities Commission Chair and Chief Executive Officer Maureen Jensen stated that the OSC's whistleblower program launched during the summer "has been fruitful right out of the gate" and already received more than 30 tips. Thirty responses to a program that promises up to $5 million for the right tip doesn't seem like a lot. However, once the OSC starts announcing rewards paid, business in my opinion, should pick up. Indeed, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission introduced its whistleblower program in 2011 and since then has paid out US$111 million to 34 whistleblowers. In fact, from 2011 to August 2016 the SEC received about 14,000 tips including more than 200 from Canada. Successful enforcement actions resulted in sanctions exceeding $500 million. The OSC's Office of the Whistleblower website asks, "Are you a whistleblower? Do you have inside knowledge of, or suspect, a possible violation of Ontario securities law that could harm investors? We want to hear from you." It goes on to say that the OSC wants "high quality information that contains timely, specific and credible facts regarding potential misconduct." While this may seem like a recruitment ad for some country's Ministry of State Security, the OSC is hoping that by offering compensation people will provide information about insider trading, market manipulation and serious accounting and disclosure violations. Whistleblowers whose information leads to an OSC proceeding which results in sanctions or voluntary payments of $1 million, or more, may be eligible for a reward of up to $5 million. The OSC whistleblower website also states that the OSC "will make all reasonable efforts to protect the identity of whistleblowers. Under the Ontario Securities Act, the OSC may take enforcement action against employers who take reprisals against whistleblowers. Whistleblowers can choose to report anonymously if they are represented by a lawyer." Story continues I suggest that anyone contemplating blowing their whistle should first determine whether their likelihood of getting a reward is somewhat greater than the probability of the Toronto Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup this season. They should also consider whether they will be viewed by former colleagues and potential employers as outcasts if the efforts to protect their identity fail. Reading the fine print of the Whistleblower Program OSC Policy 15-601 should be a good start. It says that tips related to criminal or quasi-criminal matters are excluded, so if you have knowledge of these and inform the OSC you won't get a monetary reward for your efforts and you will be whistling Dixie. The policy statement also says that nothing will be paid unless the $1 million threshold for sanctions or voluntary payments has been met. That suggests that for reporting something minor, a whistleblower expecting a reward also will be whistling Dixie. Also, anyone contemplating the receipt of the maximum $5 million bounty and living the life of luxury on some Caribbean beach should recognize that there are conditions. Key is that for an award greater than $1.5 million to a maximum of $5 million, the OSC has to collect the sanction or voluntary payment. Good luck with that. Historically regulators have had a dismal record of collecting such moneys, as I explained in this column a few years ago. Payments to whistleblowers will be between 5% and 15% of the sanction or voluntary payment amount. Whether a whistleblower gets 5% or 15% or any amount in between depends on a number of factors and is discretionary. These factors include the timeliness of the whistleblower's initial report, the significance of the information, the whistleblower's assistance in interpreting evidence and whether the whistleblower "appropriately encouraged or authorized others who might not otherwise have participated in the investigation to assist Commission Staff." The SEC, by the way, pays 10% to 30% of the money collected when sanctions are greater than $1 million. The number of initial tips in Ontario may seem significant, but tips don't necessarily mean actions. An OSC news release on enforcement in 2015 states that the OSC's Contact Centre referred more than 360 complaints to Enforcement for further investigation. However, the OSC commenced only 31 cases last year, of which 18 were before the OSC Tribunal and 13 were criminal and quasi-criminal in nature and were before the courts. It's too early to predict how successful the whistleblower program will be. Not everyone can be a whistleblower. For instance, lawyers providing legal services to a company could not provide a whistleblower submission about that client. The same would apply to auditors as well as officers, directors and chief compliance officers of a company. Of course anyone "who knowingly makes statements or submits information that is misleading or untrue or does not state a fact that is required to be stated to make the statement not misleading would be ineligible. The exceptions are when a whistleblower believes that blowing his whistle "will prevent the subject of the whistleblower submission from engaging conduct that is likely to cause or continue to cause substantial injury to the financial interest or property of the entity or investors." Of course I have no knowledge of the whistleblower submissions already received, but I would bet some of those are from spouses in divorce litigation who have detailed knowledge of insider trading of their spouses using nominee names and practices of creative income splitting. Income splitting may or may not be, depending on specifics, in the purview of the OSC, But, it would certainly be of interest to the Canada Revenue Agency. Virtual Reality New VR Lab Enhances Medical Training at Stanbridge College A new virtual reality lab at Stanbridge College in California allows students to observe and interact with virtual-holographic 3D models and animations for medical training. The lab is outfitted with virtual reality all-in-one computers and software from zSpace, as well as Cyber Science 3D and Cyber Anatomy 3D virtual dissection apps. Students in the college's Nursing, Occupational and Physical Therapy, and Veterinary Technology programs can now access more than 1,000 models of biological and anatomical structures, ranging from the cellular level up to human or animal bodies and body systems. "Using a stylus and 3D glasses, students can virtually 'lift' an object off of the zSpace screen, manipulating and adjusting it to see it at different angles and magnify it for fine details," according to a press release. "Students can dissect layers and components of a model for a deeper understanding of interconnectivity." The lab will also offer access to Smithsonian X 3D Explorer, a tool for interacting with 3D models of the museum's artifacts, plus an extensive repository of 3D images. "Our goal is to give our students every opportunity to learn in a way that fits their needs," said Yasith Weerasuriya, president of the college, in a statement. "We are very pleased to partner with zSpace Education Systems and expand our classroom technology initiative by adding virtual reality technology to our existing complement of high-fidelity human and canine simulation manikins, synthetic and real human cadavers, and world-class skills labs. This extension of opportunities for kinesthetic learning gives our students an advantage as they prepare for professional licensure and employment." "The models jump off of the screen and right into the hands of our students," said Mark Petersen, instructor for the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program at Stanbridge College. "They can move them in all different angles and see every detail of how a neck muscle moves along with the spine or how a heart pumps blood. It's something that no one model, video, photo, book or live resource can really provide. Our students have both real and now virtual resources to learn and understand complex anatomy, symptoms, pain, illness and the overall health of their patients and clients." OSAGE Jury selection will resume Tuesday morning in the trial of North Iowa man accused of first-degree kidnapping and other charges after allegedly injuring a woman while holding her against her will at a Mitchell residence. Jury selection for Nicholas Lenz, 23, Mitchell, began Monday morning in Mitchell County District Court in Osage. Potential jurors were dismissed for the day shortly before 4:30 p.m. Judge Christopher Foy said he expects jury selection to be finished by mid-morning Tuesday. Lenz confined the woman March 5 and 6 by using zip ties and packaging tape, according to the criminal complaint filed by the Mitchell County Sheriffs Office. Mitchell man charged with first-degree kidnapping MITCHELL A man was charged Monday with first-degree kidnapping for allegedly holding a wom While the woman was confined, Lenz allegedly punched her several times in the face and chest. Those injuries required surgery, according to the criminal complaint. If convicted on the kidnapping charge, Lenz faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Lenz also is being tried on two counts of felony willful injury. In addition, he has been charged with two counts of first-degree theft and three counts of third-degree burglary, all felonies, and one misdemeanor count each of third-degree theft and operating a motor vehicle without the owners consent. However, Judge Rustin Davenport ruled in June that these charges should be separated from the kidnapping and willful injury charges, with trial to proceed first on the latter charges. Lenz, who investigators say escaped from Beje Clark Residential Center in Mason City on Feb. 26, was found sleeping on a couch at a Mitchell residence around 6:30 a.m. March 7, according to authorities. He reportedly admitted to law enforcement a revolver in his possession was stolen. A woman found during Lenzs arrest was transported to a local hospital. She was later transferred to a Minnesota hospital for additional treatment. The theft and burglary charges against Lenz stem from burglaries and thefts authorities say he committed at a rural St. Ansgar residence and Sportsmans Bar and Grill in St. Ansgar March 6, as well as a burglary at Gerbs Bar in Stacyville at 1:30 a.m. March 7. The charge of operating a motor vehicle without the owners consent stems from Lenz allegedly entering a vehicle that did not belong to him in an attempt to escape law enforcement after officers found him and made the initial arrest on March 7. Danish English Trygs Supervisory Board has today approved the interim report for Q1-Q3 2016. Solvency ratio of 217. Pre-tax profit improved significantly, driven primarily by a large swing in the investment return. Financial highlights Q3 2016 Solvency ratio of 217 including the Skandia child insurance portfolio consolidated from 1 September Profit before tax of DKK 923m (DKK 186m) and after tax DKK 732m (DKK 110m) Improved technical result of DKK 744m (DKK 647m), however, broadly in line with previous year when adjusted for one-off effects in Q3 2015 Combined ratio of 83.7 (86.1) same level as Q3 2015 adjusted for one-off effects Expense ratio of 14.5 (16.3 ) broadly in line with Q3 2015 adjusted for one-off effects Premium growth of 0.0% (0.6%) in local currencies with increase in Denmark and drop in Norway Investment return of DKK 191m (DKK -441m) boosted by a very strong return on the free portfolio, driven primarily by equity markets Financial highlights Q1-Q3 2016 Profit before tax of DKK 2,420m (DKK 1,565m) and after tax DKK 1,911 (DKK 1,215m) Technical result of DKK 2,076m (DKK 1,901m) Combined ratio of 84.4 (86.3) due to lower level of weather claims and large claims, slightly lower run-offs but also a higher underlying claims level Lower expense ratio of 14.9 (15.7 ) impacted by one-off effects in 2015 Premiums declined by 0.4% (-0.5%) in local currencies Investment return of DKK 389m (DKK -264m) Customer highlights Q2 2016 NPS of 24 (20) Retention rate of 88.0 (88.1) Share of customers with three or more products of 57.0% (56.7%) Statement by Group CEO Morten Hubbe: We delivered a profit before tax of DKK 923m for Q3 2016, which was significantly higher compared to the prior-year period. When adjusted for one-off costs in Q3 2015, the technical result is virtually unchanged. As expected, the underlying claims level remained slightly high, but minor price adjustments and claims handling initiatives will contribute to addressing this in the course of 2017. New initiatives are being planned in all areas, which together with the initiatives already implemented will ensure that Tryg achieves an expense ratio at or below 14 in 2017. An investment return of DKK 191m was realised, which is markedly higher than the result for the prior-year period. On 1 September 2016, Skandias child insurance portfolio was integrated with Trygs business, which is very positive, both because it is a profitable business area, but also because it is a product area with a lot of potential across the Nordic countries. A further 95,000 customers were converted to our new insurance products, bringing the total number of customers that have been converted to our new and updated products to 325,000. The positive development in premium income for Private Denmark continued in Q3 2016, with growth of 2.2% being achieved, which is very satisfactory. The payment of the member bonus from TryghedsGruppen is also likely to support the Danish business in the longer term. Conference call Tryg hosts a conference call on the day of the release at 10:00 CET. CEO Morten Hubbe and CFO Christian Baltzer will present the results in brief followed by a Q&A session. The conference call will be held in English. An on demand version will be available shortly after the conference call has ended. Conference call details: Danish participants: +45 35 44 55 83 UK participants: +44 (0) 203 194 0544 US participants: +1 855 269 2604 All Q3 material can be downloaded on tryg.com/en/Investor/Downloads shortly after the time of release. AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mission of Hope Haiti has been on the ground bringing aid to the hardest hit areas along the coast of Haiti since Saturday. Through collaboration with their HaitiOne network, an alliance of over 500 indigenous partners, they continue to provide more aid via helicopters, barges, and a fleet of trucks. But despite their efforts and the work of many other NGO's, the organization is expressing concern over the threat of starvation and cholera for many who have survived the storm. Many roads are still inaccessible, and there are men, women and children who have yet to be reached with aid. There are residents in these unreached areas who have been without food, water or shelter for a week now and are facing starvation. Mission of Hope (MOH) is working to organize air drops to these areas and will continue advancing with trucks as roads are cleared. "The need is great and the situation is critical. Many lives are on the line," says MOH Vice President Annette Boorman. Concerns over the spread of cholera are now a major concern as well. With water now contaminated, there is a spike in cholera cases, and without treatment, cholera can be fatal in a matter of hours. MOH aid workers believe the fatality numbers from cholera and starvation could greatly surpass the number of those killed in the storm. "We are getting reports from the south that hundreds of people are suffering from cholera and there are many fatalities. It is much worse than we anticipated, and many of the clinics are ill-equipped to handle this crisis," says Barbara Campbell, MOH Director of Medical Operations. Mission of Hope is already setting up cholera treatment centers in hard hit locations. They are working to secure water purification tablets and water filters to distribute as well. The journey to relief and recovery for Haiti will be arduous. Reports show 90% of crops and chickens were destroyed in areas along the coast, leaving the potential for a food epidemic. But Mission of Hope says it is committed to a long-term plan of relief, recovery and sustainability in Haiti. "The earthquake was bad, but it was centralized," says Brad Johnson, President of Mission of Hope, Haiti. "This is wide-spread, and there are areas along the coast that are completely decimated. This is going to be a long-term effort to rebuild, and we are here for the long haul." About Mission of Hope: Mission of Hope feeds over 90,000 children daily, educates over 6,500 students, trains over 3,000 farmers, and provides medical care to over 30,000 patients a year. To support relief efforts or find more information, visit www.mohhaiti.org/relief. For media inquiries, contact Bridget Henderson at 512-963-2733. Photos accompanying this release are available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41646 http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41647 If viewers of Sundays presidential debate hoped to hear heartfelt contrition from Republican Donald Trump for the vulgar, sexually predatory remarks he made in a 2005 recording, they were no doubt disappointed. Others who expected to hear both candidates explain actual plans to fix the serious problems facing our country also, no doubt, were disappointed. A serious town hall-style debate designed to help Americans choose their next president instead came dangerously close to turning into a primetime version of the Jerry Springer Show. Trumps apparent tactic was to put Democrat Hillary Clinton on the defensive by hammering on her husbands sexual escapades. The apparent goal was to divert attention from the fact that GOP leaders are abandoning him in droves. Hillary Clinton evaded answers about the deletion of emails, while an FBI investigation was underway, from the private server she used as secretary of state. She evaded answers about her private speeches to elite financial firms in which she embraced free trade and open borders. Trump evaded answers about his own, still-unreleased tax returns and his $916 million writeoff in 1995. He also took the bizarre tactic of disagreeing openly with his running mate, Mike Pence, about the need for a military response in Syria. Trump took it a step further by labeling as stupid a Pentagon strategy that has cut Islamic State ranks by 60 percent and forced the terrorist group into retreat on all fronts in Iraq and Syria. Trump made clear he is not aiming for a campaign reset but instead will use misogyny as a theme to attack his opponent. As angry accusations flew between him and Clinton, Trump stated bizarrely, We have a divided nation because of people like her. Believe me, she has tremendous hate in her heart tremendous hatred. In response to the laundry list that Hillary Clinton gave of his insulting treatment of women, Latinos, Muslims, immigrants and disabled people, Trumps response was to wave it off along with the scandal that erupted Friday regarding his 2005 remarks: Its just words, folks. Just words. That was locker room talk. He then, inexplicably, tried to transition from that to a critique of the Obama administration and the Islamic State. More than two dozen GOP members of Congress, including 16 Republican senators, have now withdrawn support for Trump, and its not difficult to see why. Whether Trump managed to win over undecided voters with his show Sunday night is anyones guess. We are unswayed in our belief that he is dangerously unfit to be the next president. By the St. Louis Post Dispatch, another Lee Enterprises newspaper As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday he is backing Iowa State University President Steven Leath in the recent controversy over his use and subsequent crackup of a university airplane. Leath used a plane that sustained $12,500 in damage from a hard landing while he was flying it. Turns out he had flown the plane on four trips involving private and university business that cost $4,637. He later paid that money back and donated $15,000 to cover costs of repairs to the plane. We dont blame Branstad for standing by Leath. By all accounts hes done a fine job as university president, and has traveled extensively in support of a $1.1 billion fundraising drive. Goodness knows, money like that doesnt come flowing in. You have to go out and work for it work hard and thats what Leath was doing, partly, in using the plane. What Branstad said, and what we agree with, is that Leath made a mistake by doing so a violation of state policy. And now hes paying for that mistake. Its kind of like, say, a university student using his parents car without permission, wrecking it, then having to pay out of his own pocket to have it fixed. Theres more: Leath admitted he was wrong to get involved in a $1.1 million private land deal with Bruce Rastetter, president of the controlling board of regents which now, by the way, is doing what Branstad called a full review of travel policies for all three state universities. Theres the rub with the land deal: Just as it is looking at travel policies, the regents with Rastetter at the helm would oversee any probe into Leaths conduct and activities. In that case, Leath said he and his wife were looking for recreational property, and when he found a parcel larger than they wanted, he and Rastetter decided to go together, buy it and split it. Rastetters company, Summit Agricultural Group, bought the land at auction for $1.14 million. A Leath family corporation bought 145 acres for $623,000; Summit kept the rest. To his credit, Leath said he understood why critics would question his private business with Rastetter. Combined with his position on further airplane use and the fact he has paid for damages, its understandable that Branstad would support him. We will, too, this time. We have to believe Leath learned how inappropriate his conduct was. He expects his staff and students to know and follow all the rules. This time, he slipped up. Next time, we hope he thinks twice before asking to borrow the car. English Finnish Swedish Wartsila Corporation Financial Calendar 11 October 2016 at 10:30 am EET Wartsila's Interim Report January-September 2016 to be published 25 October 2016 at 8.30 a.m. local time Wartsila Corporation will publish its Interim Report for the period January-September 2016 on Tuesday 25 October 2016 at 8.30 a.m. Finnish time. The report will be available in pdf-format and in a web-based report system at www.wartsilareports.com as well as on the company website at www.wartsila.com after publishing. An analyst and press conference will be held on the same date, on Tuesday 25 October 2016, at 10.00 a.m. Finnish time (8.00 a.m. UK time), at the Wartsila headquarters in Helsinki, Finland. The combined web- and teleconference will be held in English and can be viewed at the following address: http://wcc.webeventservices.com/r.htm?e=1278954&s=1&k=6DAAD0150CB60B0FBAD47F8A58FD8D46. To participate in the teleconference please register at the following address: http://emea.directeventreg.com/registration/89931295. You will receive dial-in details by e-mail once you have registered. If problems occur, please press *0 for operator assistance. Please use *6 to mute your phone during the teleconference and the same code to unmute. An on-demand version of the webcast will be available on the company website later the same day. www.wartsila.com TEMPE, Ariz., Oct. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VirTra, Inc. (OTC Pink:VTSI), a leading provider of use of force simulators and firearms training simulators, announces today that on October 7, 2016 it filed a Certificate of Change to its Articles of Incorporation to effect a 10-for-one reverse stock split of its outstanding and authorized common stock. This action was approved by the Companys board of directors by written consent on September 29, 2016 and no consent of its shareholders was required in accordance with the relevant sections of the Nevada Revised Statutes. The Company will file a notice regarding the Certificate of Change with The Financial Information Regulatory Association, Inc. (FINRA). The Certificate of Change will not become effective until approved by FINRA. The Company will file an updated announcement upon FINRA acceptance and approval of the Certificate of Change. As a result of the reverse stock split, every ten shares of the Companys pre-reverse split common stock will be combined and reclassified into one share of common stock. Proportionate voting rights and other rights of common stock holders will not be affected by the reverse stock split. No fractional shares will be issued in connection with the reverse stock split and stockholders who would otherwise hold a fractional share of common stock will be rounded up to a full share. After giving effect to the reverse split, there will be approximately 15.8 million shares of common stock outstanding and no shares of Series A Preferred Stock outstanding. The number of outstanding stock options will also be adjusted by the same ratio used for the common stock reverse split. This decision to effect a reverse stock split has been made in consultation with investors, advisors and our Board of Directors, and we believe the expected increase in share price will enable us to move toward achieving increased trading liquidity for our stock, said Bob Ferris, Chairman and CEO of VirTra. In addition to our ongoing investments in human capital, infrastructure and R&D, we have been and will continue to implement changes in the area of financial reporting and corporate governance that will better prepare us to eventually obtain a listing on a national stock exchange. VirTras transfer agent and registrar, Continental Stock and Transfer & Trust Company, will act as the exchange agent for the reverse stock split. Registered stockholders holding pre-split shares of the company's common stock electronically in book-entry form are not required to take any action to receive post-split shares. Stockholders owning shares via a broker or other nominee will have their positions automatically adjusted to reflect the reverse stock split, subject to each brokers' particular processes, and will not be required to take any action in connection with the reverse stock split. Stockholders should direct any questions concerning the reverse stock split to their broker or VirTras transfer agent and registrar, Continental Stock and Transfer & Trust Company, (212) 509-4000. About VirTra VirTra is a global leading provider of the world's most realistic and effective judgmental use of force simulators. VirTra is the higher standard in firearms training simulators, offering a variety of simulator platforms, powerful gas-powered recoil kits and the patented Threat-Fire simulated hostile return fire system. VirTras products provide the very best simulation training available for personnel that are entrusted with lethal force and critical missions. The Companys common stock is not registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Company does not currently file periodic or other reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. www.VirTra.com Forward-looking Statements This news release includes certain information that may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by terminology such as could, may, "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," proposed, planned, potential and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including statements about VirTra's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although VirTra believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. VirTra cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Accordingly, due to the risks, uncertainties and assumptions inherent in forward-looking information, readers and prospective investors in the Company's securities should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof, is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof and is subject to change. The Company assumes no obligation to revise or update forward-looking information to reflect new circumstances, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. ADVISORY, Oct. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) plans to release its third quarter 2016 financial results on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. You are invited to participate in a conference call following this release. The information is: Date: Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016 Time: Noon Eastern time, 9 a.m. Pacific time Call in by 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, 8:45 a.m. Pacific time Call-in Number: 1-877-600-7013 domestic 1-414-238-0944 international A live audio broadcast of the conference call will be available on the Investor Relations page of the Northrop Grumman website at http://www.northropgrumman.com. For those who cannot participate in this call, it will be archived on the Investor Relations page for a limited time. It will also be recorded and available through Wednesday, November 2, 2016, by calling 1-855-859-2056 (domestic) or 1-404-537-3406 (international). Please use conference ID 91302822. If you have any questions, please call Steve Movius, vice president, Investor Relations, at 703-280-4575 or Denny McSweeny, director, Investor Relations at 703-280-4578. LOS ANGELES, Oct. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nammo is proud to announce that Berger Bullets, a global leader in the manufacturing of premium rifle bullets, has joined the Nammo Group. For over 60 years Berger Bullets has produced the highest quality rifle bullets for varmint hunting, target shooting, game hunting and tactical use. Berger Bullets' products have established many of the existing national and world records among the top precision oriented rifle shooting events. Morten Brandtzg, President and CEO of the Nammo Group says, "Having Berger Bullets on board is the perfect match for Nammo. Their products, which are complimentary to our other premium brands, will strengthen our group's strategic position in the US commercial ammunition market." Berger Bullets joins an existing family of premium Nammo commercial ammunition components and ammunitions brands - SK, Vihtavuori and Lapua. The addition of Berger Bullets to Nammo unifies four brands that all share one common goal, which is producing the ultimate in precision performance. The four brands will continue to operate as unique brands servicing precision rifle and handgun shooters, while working together to enhance their collective offerings and services. Raimo Helasmaki, Executive Vice President of Nammo Commercial Ammunition says, "This is a very exciting proposition for Nammo to execute an opportunity to join with a company that has the same passion as we do for precision, performance and serving the needs of the rifle shooters who care most about performance." Eric Stecker, President of Berger Bullets said, "Supported by Nammo, Berger will continue to produce the highest quality rifle bullets in the world. Written words fail to describe how excited we are about the future of Berger Bullets and the growth of the other premium Nammo brands within the US market." Berger Bullets will continue to operate as they have providing a leadership role in the sponsorship of significant shooting events for the discerning rifle shooter. Walt Berger and Bryan Litz, along with the rest of the existing Berger team, will continue on as part of Nammo's US growth plan going forward. The completion of the acquisition will be subject to regulatory approvals by US governmental authorities. www.bergerbullets.com www.lapua.com www.vihtavuori.com www.sk-ammunition.com For further information, please contact: Sissel Solum SVP Communication Nammo Group +47 95 05 12 20 sissel.solum@nammo.com Eric Stecker President Berger Bullets +1 714-441-72100 eric.stecker@bergerbullets.com Adam Braverman Business & Sales Manager Nammo, Inc +1 660-826-3232 abraverman@nammoinc.com The Nammo Group is a supplier of high performance products to the aerospace & defense industry. Its core businesses are military and commercial ammunition; shoulder fired systems; rocket motors and environmentally friendly demilitarization. Nammo has 2,100 employees located in 12 countries. Read more on www.nammo.com. NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES OR TO ANY PERSON LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO DISTRIBUTE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. Polygon AB (publ) announces a consent solicitation for its outstanding up to maximum EUR 180,000,000 senior secured floating rate notes due 2019 with a current outstanding total nominal amount of EUR 120,000,000 (ISIN SE0005878535) (the "Notes") Polygon AB (publ) reg. no 556816-5855 (the "Company") announces that it is soliciting consent from holders of the Notes (the "Noteholders") to amend certain terms and conditions of the Notes (the "Consent Solicitation"). The Consent Solicitation is made subject to the terms and conditions, and certain restrictions, described in the consent solicitation memorandum regarding the Consent Solicitation issued by the Company and dated 11 October 2016 (the "Consent Solicitation Memorandum"). Consent solicitation from Noteholders The Company today announces that it is soliciting consents from all Noteholders to certain amendments (the "Proposals") of the terms and conditions (the "Term and Conditions") governing the Notes. A Noteholder who delivers a valid voting instruction in favour of the Proposals before 17:00 CET on 19 October 2016 (the "Early Bird Consent Fee Deadline") may be eligible to receive an early bird consent fee of 1.50 per cent. in respect of the Notes (the "Early Bird Consent Fee"). The Proposals are passed through voting at a noteholders meeting held at the offices of Nordea Markets at Smalandsgatan 17, 111 47 Stockholm, Sweden, and will take place at 09:00 CET on 26 October 2016 (the "Meeting"). In order for the Proposals to be passed at the Meeting a quorum of at least twenty (20) per cent. of the adjusted nominal amount must be reached and a majority of at least sixty-six and two thirds (66 2/3) per cent. of the adjusted nominal amount must approve the Proposals. Noteholders may cast a vote at the Meeting by participating in person or via representation by proxy. Noteholders that wish to be eligible to receive the Early Bird Consent Fee should not participate in person or via representation by proxy at the Meeting, but should use the consent voting instruction form annexed to the Consent Solicitation Memorandum. Noteholders are advised to read carefully the Consent Solicitation Memorandum for full details of and information on the procedures for participating in the Consent Solicitation. This press release is for information purposes only and is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. The Consent Solicitation is being made solely pursuant to the Consent Solicitation Memorandum. If any Noteholder is in any doubt as to the contents of this press release, the information contained in the Consent Solicitation Memorandum or the action it should take, such Noteholder should seek its own financial and legal advice, including in respect of any tax consequences, immediately from its broker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other independent financial, tax or legal adviser. To receive copies of the Consent Solicitation Memorandum or for questions relating to the Consent Solicitation, please contact Nordea Bank Danmark A/S acting as solicitation agent (the "Solicitation Agent"). Any individual or company whose Notes are held by a nominee must contact such nominee to participate in the Consent Solicitation. Solicitation Agent: Nordea Bank Danmark A/S: +45 6161 2996, bibi.larsen@nordea.com / LiabilityManagement@nordea.com Paying Agent: Nordea Bank AB (publ): IssuerSeCustodian@nordea.com For further information, visit www.polygongroup.com or contact Mats Norberg, CFO at Polygon Phone: + 46 (0) 70 331 65 71 Mail: mats.norberg@polygongroup.com This information is information that Polygon AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 18:00 CET on 11 October 2016. which I didn't think would work at ALL in a town hall format. At first, I thought Mr. Trump was winning with the sound off. When Sec. Clinton perched on the edge of her stool, it looked a bit passive and like she needed to rest. He looked better at first because he wasn't hunching over his podium like he needed to hold on to something to keep anchored. Also, there was much less split screen and as I mentioned the last time, the split screen completely erased the difference in their heights and was good for her. But the apparent advantage quickly went away. As things moved on, she looked relaxed by sometimes sitting. His pacing looked more like nerves. And the looming behind her looked (sorry for this word, but it really fits) impotent. He could get all up in her space (apparently because of the angle, I presume he wasn't actually very close to her) and couldn't do anything. She looked like a little boat braving a storm. I completely disagree with the body language experts article in the Post on her smiling. The timing of the smiling while he was still talking wasn't smug. They communicated that she knew how to respond even before he finished talking. So her response was expected even before he finished. This is an amazing way to watch. Ronald Reagan The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive. Albert Einstein If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. Winston Churchill It isnt so much that liberals are ignorant. Its just that they know so many things that arent so. With integrity nothing else counts; Without integrity nothing else counts. Winston Churchill Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself. Harvey S. Firestone It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office. H. L. Menken Referenda insure all have a voice in land use decisions. U.S. Supreme Court Listen carefully to first criticism of your work. Note just what it is about your work the critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping. Jean Cocteau Be in the know a closer look at FR Fabric Blends REGISTER Below to view the FREE ONDemand Version This webinar occurred on: November 2, 2016 When choosing an FR garment program, there are many choices and considerations. Now with addition of blends into the FR PPE space the options have dramatically increased. Safety managers and end users are overwhelmed with options and each application need is different and may require the user to consider one fabric characteristic over another. The importance of different fabric characteristics may vary from application to application, but there are some fabric characteristics that resonate universally across most applications and end users. How do blends help or complicate the decision process? What criteria or performance specifications are the most meaningful when choosing a FR garment program? What fabric characteristics are the most important? What tradeoffs are wearers willing to make? And thats just a sneak peak at some of the questions we will be working through. Join us for this FREE webinar as we explore the many facets of the decision process so that you can be in the know too. - DuPont(TM) Nomex(R) Sales Technical Leader - Apparel, North America Duration: 1 Hour News Microsoft Explains Windows Servicing Model Ahead of October Release With a cumulative update scheduled to arrive for all supported Windows systems this week, Microsoft recently outlined a few more details about the new update structure. Oct. 11 will be "patch Tuesday," the day that Microsoft will release its October security updates for its software products. Microsoft actually labels these monthly releases "Update Tuesdays." It also refers to them as "B week" releases, according to an explanation by Michael Niehaus, a Microsoft senior product marketing manager for Windows. A cumulative update is a collection of software patches that contains all previously released fixes for a product. Currently, Windows 10 follows this monthly cumulative update model. On Oct. 11, Microsoft will subject users of "Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2" to this same monthly cumulative update model. However, the initial cumulative update releases for those products won't quite have all of the fixes included. Microsoft expects them to be fully inclusive "starting in early 2017." Microsoft has various security update types, which can get deployed depending on an organization's patch strategy. However, the notable change for IT pros managing Windows systems is that the new cumulative update model happening on Oct. 11 will preclude the ability to roll back an individual patch when things go wrong during the monthly update process. Instead, IT pros will have to roll back to the previous month's cumulative update. Update Definitions Niehaus provided some definitions and timing for the new cumulative update process, as summarized in the following table: Update Name Scope Publish Method Windows Update? Security-only quality update Monthly (only security patches) On "B week" to WSUS and the Windows Update Catalog; accessible via SCCM No Security monthy quality update (a.k.a the "monthly rollup") Cumulative (security plus non-security patches) On "B week" to WSUS and the Windows Update Catalog Yes Preview of monthly quality update (a.k.a the "preview rollup") Cumulative (security plus non-security patches) On "C week" to WSUS and the Windows Update Catalog Yes Separate updates (e.g., "out-of-band" security fixes) Monthly or separate Whenever Probably Nomenclature and timing for Microsoft's monthly security updates for supported Windows clients and servers, starting on Oct. 11, 2016. The cumulative updates will start to include all past fixes by early 2017. "B week" represents "patch Tuesday," or releases that occur on the second Tuesday of each month. "C week" represents releases that occur on the third Tuesday of each month. WSUS, Windows Server Update Services; SCCM, System Center Configuration Manager. Source: Microsoft Windows blog post and Enterprise blog post. Niehaus recommended that organizations have "a ringed deployment approach for all updates" for testing purposes. According to this scheme, the IT department gets the update first, followed by end user test groups. If there's a patch-associated problem, organizations should contact Microsoft Support "as soon as possible," Niehaus indicated. In response, Microsoft will either roll back the update for the problematic machines or it will install "other updates known to resolve the issue," according to Niehaus. Microsoft also recommends working with independent software vendors (ISVs) to resolve application problems after applying a Windows monthly cumulative update. Microsoft will have two basic types of security updates each month. One is known as the "security-only" version. The other is labeled as the "monthly rollup." The important point is that the monthly rollup also includes nonsecurity fixes. IT pros do not necessarily need to install both security updates each month, Niehaus explained. However, if an organization just applied the security-only updates, then the computing environment would still need to apply the monthly rollup to get the nonsecurity fixes. Niehaus also mentioned that Microsoft will offer previews of the next monthly rollup. Those previews get released on "C week," or the third Tuesday of each month. It's possible to test these monthly preview releases to gain extra time to resolve potential problems in a computing environment, according to expert advice from research and consulting firm Gartner Inc. Generally speaking, there are three Windows 10 update types, namely monthly security fixes, monthly quality updates and feature updates that get released once or twice per year, according to Gartner's analysis. Microsoft also will release monthly updates to the .NET Framework per the new update scheme. The monthly updates won't upgrade the existing installed .NET Framework version, though. These updates will include both security fixes and reliability improvements. There's also a "security-only" .NET Framework monthly update that's available through the Windows Server Update Services solution or the Microsoft Update Catalog. Utopia or Patch Apocalypse? Microsoft's top recommendation for organizations is to just to "install all security and non-security fixes as we release them." It's advice that most IT pros will instinctively resist. However, after Oct. 11, the time-honored method of simply rolling back an individual flawed patch won't be an option for IT pros. Doubtless, the new patch model coming this week for all supported Windows versions will lead to troubles for organizations. Microsoft's Windows 10 monthly updates haven't been problem free for organizations so far. It might be quite difficult to get to the kind of patch-and-forget utopia that Microsoft has been trying to get going. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he would soon visit China and hoped also to travel to Russia, as he again criticised longtime ally the United States for "arrogance". The mission to China will be Duterte's first outside of Southeast Asia since assuming the presidency on June 30, in a symbolic move highlighting the importance he places on improving ties with Beijing that soured over competing claims to the South China Sea. "China has repeatedly invited me. I have accepted the offer," Duterte said in a speech at the presidential palace. He gave no specific dates for the visit, but said it would take place before he went to Japan from October 25 to 27. Duterte said he had originally planned to visit Japan, the Philippines' biggest source of foreign aid, ahead of China. However he explained that Japan offered a "definite" date, then China told Duterte there was a "vacancy" earlier and so he accepted. Duterte also said that, after Japan, "probably I will go to Russia". Duterte has looked to build closer ties with China and Russia, while launching repeated tirades against the United States, the Philippines' former colonial ruler and defence ally. His tirades have been largely in response to US criticism of Duterte's war on crime, which has claimed more than 3,300 lives and raised fears about extrajudicial killings. Duterte has cancelled joint patrols with the United States in the South China Sea, said he may scrap a defence pact that allows thousands of US troops to rotate through the Philippines, and threatened to eventually cut ties completely. Duterte has also branded US President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" for expressing concern about human rights in the drug war. In contrast, he has described Chinese leader Xi Jinping as "a great president", and praised China and Russia for showing respect in not criticising his crime crackdown. - 'Arrogant' allies - Duterte on Tuesday gave another lengthy critique of the United States, branding the nation as "arrogant" and powerless to stop Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. He also said the Philippines gained nothing from holding military exercises with the United States, which have been a mainstay of the defence relationship. "What's the point? They are the only ones benefiting. We are not," he said, as the allies wrapped up a week of war games involving about 2,000 troops in the Philippines. Duterte had said they were to be the last of his six-year term, putting on ice the 28 exercises they hold annually. The Philippines had long been regarded as one of Washington's most loyal allies in Asia, with the two nations bound by a mutual defence pact signed in 1951. Duterte's predecessor Benigno Aquino sought to draw the United States even closer in a bid to counter Chinese efforts to take control of the South China Sea. China claims nearly all of the sea, even waters close to the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations, and has in recent years built artificial islands capable of hosting military bases in disputed areas. The 2014 defence agreement and the joint patrols were key to Aquino's strategy to contain China. Aquino further angered China by filing a case with a UN-backed tribunal in 2013 against Beijing's claims to most of the sea. In July, shortly after Duterte took office, the tribunal ruled in favour of the Philippines, saying China's claims had no legal basis and its construction of artificial islands in disputed waters was illegal. But Duterte vowed not to "taunt or flaunt" the verdict and to seek a "soft landing" with China on the issue. He has launched negotiations with China over the dispute, a tactic rejected by Aquino. China has welcomed Duterte's overtures. "The clouds are fading away. The sun is rising over the horizon and will shine beautifully on the new chapter of bilateral relations," Chinese ambassador to Manila Zhao Jianhua said this month. (Bloomberg) -- Regulators ordered Falcon Private Bank to cease operations in Singapore and slammed the bank for serious breaches of anti-money laundering regulations in relation to its role in moving funds associated with the troubled 1Malaysia Development Bhd. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said the firms local branch manager has been arrested and Switzerlands Financial Market Supervisory Authority has started enforcement proceedings against two of Falcons former executives and threatened to withdraw its license if there were any further breaches of money-laundering regulations. Finma linked the private bank to $3.8 billion of 1MDB fund flows, according to a statement released Tuesday. Falcon has seriously breached money laundering regulations, Finma said. The private bank failed to carry out adequate background checks into transactions and business relationships associated with Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB which were booked in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Falcon failed to adequately investigate the background of so-called pass-through transactions totaling $681 million and the repayment six months later of $620 million according to the Finma statement. Thats the amount that appeared in Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razaks accounts in 2013 and most was later returned, the countrys attorney general said earlier this year. The Swiss regulator didnt mention Najib. Unsettling Move "Wealthy clients typically get very nervous when they read about their bank being the target of an anti-money laundering investigation, said Jonas Floriani, a banks analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in London. When a regulator goes as far as to shut down part of the business theres every chance some clients will run for the hills. The two regulators fined Falcon a combined $5.6 million, with UBS Group AG and DBS Group Holdings Ltd. also drawing penalties from the MAS for anti-money laundering lapses. In a statement, Falcon said it and its Abu Dhabi-based owner, Aabar Investments PJSC, welcomed the completion of the investigations, which finally resolves the 1MDB topic for the bank with the regulators. Since 2013, the firm had further enhanced its compliance and taken additional measures to prevent future issues, it said. Story continues Abused, Naive We will take care to wind down the Singapore branch in an orderly fashion, Chief Executive Officer Walter Berchtold told journalists in Zurich Tuesday. Falcon was abused and was a little naive on occasion. Falcon had under $900 million in client assets in Singapore, out of 18.2 billion Swiss francs ($18.5 billion) globally, Berchtold said. Aabar, the banks parent company, is not going to sell the Swiss lender, he said. Aabar stands behind the bank 100 percent and views it as a strategic asset. Falcon had a relationship with a young Malaysian businessman with ties to that countrys government, the Swiss regulator said. The man, who it didnt identify, had been able to acquire $135 million of assets in a short period of time and transferred a total of $1.2 billion to his accounts at a later date. The bank did not verify how he was able to do so, even though the transaction was clearly inconsistent with the information he gave when opening the account. Besides Singapore and Switzerland, U.S. authorities are also digging into how billions of dollars may have been improperly diverted from 1MDB, which was set up in 2009 to fund development projects across Malaysia. Singapore said in May it would revoke Lugano, Switzerland-based BSI SAs local license, and in July rebuked four banks -- including Falcon -- for lapses in anti-money laundering controls related to transactions linked to the Malaysian fund. 1MDB has consistently denied wrongdoing and Malaysias government has said it will cooperate with lawful investigations of local companies or its citizens in relation to the fund. Singapore has criminally charged four people, including three former BSI bankers for their roles in transactions and money flows linked to 1MDB. For a QuickTake Q&A on 1MDB, click here. The Swiss regulator said it had identified serious shortcomings in Falcons anti-money laundering activities and in risk management between 2012 and the summer of 2015. Assets amounting to about $3.8 billion associated with 1MDB were transferred to accounts at Falcon during that period and generally moved on quickly. The business relationships and transactions booked in Switzerland and at Falcons Singapore and Hong Kong branches were unusual and involved a high level of risk for the bank both through their nature and the amounts transacted, Finma said. Although managements attention was drawn to these matters, it repeatedly failed to properly investigate the business relationships. The MASs withdrawal of the firms merchant-bank status brings to an end a boutique private-banking operation that began in the city in August 2008. The regulator had fined Falcon S$300,000 for anti-money laundering lapses after an inspection in 2013, and uncovered an even larger number of breaches as well as serious failings by senior management at the banks head office and by the Singapore branch manager, the MAS said. Serious Failings The branch manager, Jens Sturzenegger, was arrested by Singapores Commercial Affairs Department on Oct. 5, the MAS said. The regulator fined Falcon S$4.3 million ($3.1 million) for 14 breaches of Singapores anti-money laundering rules including failing to adequately assess irregularities in customer accounts and to file suspicious transaction reports. Falcon Bank has demonstrated a persistent and severe lack of understanding of MAS AML requirements and expectations, the regulator said. Taking into account the totality of Falcon Banks conduct, MAS assessment is that the merchant bank will be unable to comply with these requirements and expectations going forward. Falcons Singapore office on the 26th floor of a building overlooking the citys downtown area was quiet on Tuesday morning, with employees moving about, talking on their mobile phones. Two of them, who declined to provide their names, said they had been notified about the MAS decision and refused to comment further. Building security said later they had been instructed to deny media access to the office. Taking Action Founded in 1965 as Ueberseebank, the Zurich-based bank was renamed Falcon in 2009 after Aabar, an investment company controlled by the Abu Dhabi government, took over the firm from American International Group Inc. Falcon has offices in London, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The Singaporean regulator, which had vowed stronger action on anti-money laundering lapses earlier this year, also fined UBS S$1.3 million and DBS S$1 million in relation to 1MDB. The MAS had found control lapses by specific bank officers, the regulator said, adding that it had completed its inspections of the two banks 1MDB fund flows. UBS and DBS said in separate statements they will strengthen controls and take actions against employees responsible for the lapses. The boards and senior management at banks must set the tone from the top that profits do not come before right conduct, MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon said in the statement. MAS will work closely with the industry to ensure that standards are kept high and will take strong deterrent actions against institutions that fall short. (Updates with analyst comment in fifth paragraph, Falcon CEO in seventh.) --With assistance from Niluksi Koswanage David Yong David Roman Pooja Thakur Klaus Wille Shamim Adam Giles Broom and Jeffrey Vogeli To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Tan in Singapore at atan17@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Ross Larsen, Andrew Blackman 2016 Bloomberg L.P. CLEVELAND, Oct. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE: PH), the global leader in motion and control technologies, today announced that it will release its fiscal 2017 first quarter earnings before the market opens on Friday, October 21, 2016, followed by a conference call at 11:00 a.m., Eastern time. During the call, the company will discuss fiscal 2017 first quarter financial performance and respond to questions from institutional investors and security analysts. The conference call will be webcast simultaneously on Parker's investor information website at www.phstock.com with an accompanying slide presentation. The call also will be archived on the site and available for replay later that day. With annual sales of $11 billion in fiscal year 2016, Parker Hannifin is the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of mobile, industrial and aerospace markets. The company has operations in 49 countries around the world. Parker has increased its annual dividends paid to shareholders for 60 consecutive fiscal years, among the top five longest-running dividend-increase records in the S&P 500 index. For more information, visit the company's website at www.parker.com, or its investor information website at www.phstock.com. ### As part of Slam Citys ongoing 30th anniversary, the London store has teamed up with Vans (who are currently celebrating their own 50th anniversary) to bring you a very special evening at the House of Vans on October 20th. To mark the release of two special edition Slam City X Vans shoes, from 7pm the House of Vans will be holding a screening of Slam Citys Summer in the City 2 video entries, alongside an exhibition of Slam print ads from 1987 to 2005, with DJ Odin keeping the evening going by way of a special skate video themed DJ set. Check the poster for more details see you all there! Last month I encouraged everyone to make blog reading part of their day. While its easy to ignore your daily reading list or think its not a productive use of your time, the truth is staying up to date on blogs is a great way to stay in tune with whats happening in your industry, educate yourself on new trends, and even to keep your own creative juices flowing for material. As mentioned yesterday, by becoming part of your local ecosystem, it also makes you a more attractive link/traffic target. I thought today I would share a short list of blogs I think every small business owner would benefit from reading, regardless of your industry. Below are some of my personal recommendations. Business Leadership/Entrepreneur Blogs QuickSprout QuickSprout is a blog penned by serial entrepreneur Neil Patel and covers a wide variety of tips from leadership, to social media, to search engine optimization, and everything in between. While it would arguably fit in any of the categories on this list, Neils posts on business best practices are some of his most valuable. But as an SMB, youd be wise to listen to anything Neil talks about. Harvard Business Review The Harvard Business Review is a great place to head for general business advice, leadership tips, crisis management information, and a host of other topics. Articles are written by expert authors and I always leave with a few new takeaways and things I want to start implementing in my own work. Killer Startups As the name would suggest, you can find some killer information here on everything you need to know to run a successful company. Theres information on the best tools, apps, how to build a great team, product reviews, etc. This blog has been in my feed reader for a long time, and with good reason. Mixergy I really enjoy checking out Mixergy to hear from other entrepreneurs who have created successful businesses, how they did it, and to get a sense of their personal stories. I think thats something Mixery does really well it lets you hear directly from the people holding the sweat equity. Right now there are more than 750 interviews on the site to benefit from. Search Engine Optimization Advice Mike Blumenthal Blog Mike is a familiar face here at SmallBizTrends.com, as we often reference some of the great finds he comes across. If youre a small business owner trying to understand all the changes associated with Google Places, local search, and what bugs are getting fixed when, Mikes blog is among the best in the industry to follow and a huge resource. I think he may have a secret line to Google because he seems to know things before anyone else. David Mihm Known to many for his annual Local Search Rankings Survey, David Mihm is a constant source of expert local search information. Hes also known for his GetListed.org events, which bring noted local search experts to various towns across the country to help small business owners learn more about SEO, social media, and how to increase their Web presence. Search Engine Lands Local Search Category Search Engine Land is a huge SEO resource for marketers of all levels. However, small business owners will want to pay special attention to the Local Search section which is designed with them specifically in mind. Theres great tips and best practices on how to craft an effective listing, how to use social media, and other small business issues. If youre interested in further social media reading or other topics, youll also be able to find that information in other SEL categories. Content Marketing Blueglass The folks at Blueglass cover a lot of great topics on their blog, but their content marketing topics may be of most interest to small business owners. Here youll find tips, tools, and personal experiences that anyone can learn from and implement in their own business. One of the most strategic, forward-thinking outlets on content marketing topics. Andy Sernovitz Andy Sernovitzs blog where he shares great examples of word of mouth marketing, oftentimes centered around the content were using or how were talking to customers. There are great case studies, as well as examples from big and small brands. Copyblogger The goal of Copyblogger is to help you get traffic, attract links, increase subscribers and grow revenue through content. The site offers strategic advice on how to become better with content and is a must read for anyone looking to build a business on the Web. Convince and Convert Jay Baers blog is a great resource for marketers looking to use social media and content to better connect with customers. What I love about Jays blog is its chock full of data that marketers can use to make informed decisions. Its less theory and more hard-hitting evidence of success. And of Course. Google Small Business Google has an official blog for small business owners to keep them up to date on new releases, using Google tools, and other news. Some of it can be a little overly-promotional at times, but its worth following. This is a Google world, after all. Above are some of my favorite blogs to help me in my daily business life. What blogs do you currently rely on? Bonus Pick Be sure to read Small Business Trends daily! Blog Photo via Shutterstock Even if youre the best blogger in the world, youll lack readers if folks cant find your posts online. How do you lead readers to your posts? By promoting your blog in as many ways as possible. If you want your blog posts to get the attention they deserve, youll need to know the best places to promote your blog on the Web. Then you need to do the legwork necessary to have your blog listed in those places. Below are a bunch of places to start. Places to Promote Your Blog on the Web Email Signature Including a link to your blog in your email signature will promote your blog every time you message a customer, vendor, new contact, colleague or even friends from high school. Using tools such as WiseStamp, you can also include a link to your latest blog post automatically. Social Media Profiles Have a Twitter account? What about Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ or Instagram? As you can see in the example Twitter image below, theres space to include a link to your blog in each: Per-Post Social Media Sharing Buttons Make sure that each and every one of your blog posts prominently feature social sharing buttons like the set on the left in the image below: These buttons enable your readers to promote your posts for you and thats a very good thing. If you have a WordPress site, click here for a list of social sharing plugins. In-Post Social Media Sharing Links Encourage readers to share your posts by providing sound bites they can share with the click of a button. Click here to tweet this (FYI we used ClickToTweet to create this free link) Social Media Updates Whenever you publish a new post, let your social media fans, followers and connections know about it by posting an update with a title that attracts attention and a link to the post. Use @Mentions to Increase Social Media Reach If you refer to a source in your blog post (e.g. a site or person), make sure to @mention them in the social media updates promoting that post. This lets them know that youve promoted them and, in turn, they may share your update with their own fans, followers and connections. Social Media Groups and Communities Posting an update to social media groups (on Facebook and LinkedIn) and communities (on Google+) will promote your blog to targeted readers. One warning however: make sure the blog posts you promote are truly useful or you will be seen as spammy, something that will drive readers away rather than attract them to your blog. Share Blog Posts Multiple Times on Social Media Your targeted prospects are neither on social media all the time nor at the same time. To increase the odds that your blog updates are seen, you should promote them many times. Again, to avoid being spammy, dont pelt your followers, fans and connections with updates send them over time. Post Social Media Updates When Theyre Most Effective Tools, such as the free Google Analytics, can tell you the best days and times to post on social media based on the number of clicks your previous updates received. Paid Promotion on Social Media Social media advertising is on the rise, and its a handy way to extend the reach of your promotional updates. Click here for some social media advertising tips. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a practice that will help your blog posts obtain higher ranks in search engine results so readers are more likely to discover them. Click here to learn some SEO basics. Paid Promotion on Search Engines Search engines offer Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising that can be aimed at your targeted readers. This is an especially useful tool if your target market is specific. Other Paid Promotion Platforms There are a number of paid promotion platforms that can get your blog in front of millions of potential readers. Heres how that looks on one of these solutions, Outbrain: Other solutions include: SimpleReach, Taboola, ZergNet, and Adblade. Guest Contributing on Other Sites Get the word out about your blog by guest contributing on other authoritative blogs in your industry. Not only will you get in front of their readers, but youll be able to point people back to your blog, as well. Leverage Sites with Heavy Traffic Similar to guest contributing, this approach enables you to post content on heavily-trafficked sites, such as LinkedIn (tips) or Medium, to leverage the readership theyve already built. Be sure to include a call-to-action link back to your own blog so they can read more of your posts. Set Up and Promote an RSS Feed on Your Website Readers who subscribe to your RSS feeds will be automatically notified when you publish a new blog post. Make sure to promote your RSS feeds (with a button as shown below) so readers can subscribe. Use Desktop and Mobile Push Notifications A growing number of solutions enable you to send desktop or mobile notifications when a new post is published. Heres how that looks on one of the solutions, Roost (desktop on top, mobile on the bottom): Other solutions include: and OneSignal and Pushbullet. Leverage Your Email Marketing List Bring list subscribers back to your site by sending an email when a new post goes live. Click here for some email marketing tips. Add Your Posts to Curation Sites When you add a post to a curation site such as Scoop.it or Storify, folks can add your post to their own list of must-read content for their followers to see. Team Up with Other Bloggers on Triberr Triberr is a reciprocal social media site for bloggers where you form a tribe that shares each others posts with your respective audience. This is a great way to leverage others to promote your content. Links Roundup Submissions Many sites create weekly link roundups that are perfect for promoting your posts. Click here to see a list of sites to start with. Submit Your Site to Content Aggregators Regardless of topic, get your blog listed in popular news aggregators to help people find it. Two examples are Alltop and DoSplash. Social Bookmarking/News Sites These sites allow you to submit your post after which its visibility depends on the number of people who vote your post up. Examples include: BizSugar, Digg, Blog Engage, StumbleUpon, and more. Syndicate Your Content to Top Blogs Many top blogs and networks will allow you to republish your content on their site with credit back to you. Most big blogs, including mega publications like Business Insider and Huffington Post, do it if they feel that your content is good enough. Answer Questions on Quora Quora is a site where you can establish your authority and attract attention by answering questions. Make sure your profile has a link to your blog and youll drive readers to your posts. Make Comments on Other Blogs Have a list of blogs that you read and respond to regularly? Include the link to your blog either in the text or in the URL field as a reference point for who you are and what youre knowledgeable about. You dont want to get in the habit of spamming blogs with your blog URL, but if youre adding to the conversation, it doesnt hurt to leave it. Use a Press Release For posts with truly interesting or exclusive news, consider using a press release to promote your work. Bonus Section Offline Places to Promote Your Blog Here are some ways to promote your blog in the real world: Print Promotional Material Hey, just because that brochure or handout resides offline, doesnt mean you shouldnt be using it to promote what youre doing online. Make sure customers are aware youre a business whose blogging by putting the address and blog-related call-to-actions on printed promotional material. Customer Receipts Whether they made a purchase in your store or through your website, put your blog address on receipts to build awareness and encourage people to check it out. Packaging Why not send customers home with something else to check out? During Presentations Speaking at a local or national event? Using a PowerPoint or a Keynote presentation? Dont forget to mention your blog! On Business Cards Its not just for your phone number anymore. Include your blog URL + all social profiles! Community Happenings Sponsoring an event or just taking part in a community activity? Make sure to include literature that mentions your blog or direct people there during conversations. Conclusion Knowing the best places to promote your blog on the Web is the key to building your readership, use the list above as a map for your promotional journey. Do you have additional ideas on how to promote your blog you want to share? STEM Siemens Expands STEM Middle-Skill Initiative The Siemens Foundation has added two new partners to its STEM Middle-Skill Initiative, which aims to support the development of middle school students' skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The two new partners are: The Center to Advance CTE, an affiliate organization of Advance CTE, a national non-profit organization representing state directors and leaders of secondary, postsecondary and adult career and technical education (CTE) across the United States; and The Center on Education and Skills at New America (CESNA), an organization working to expand the array of high quality educational options for students of all ages. The Center to Advance CTE will work with four participating states to attract students to high quality career and technical education (CTE) programs. According to Kimberly Green, executive director of Advance CTE, many people hold outdated stereotypes that may "prevent more students from benefiting from these programs." Advance CTE will work with state and local leaders to identify effective messaging "that resonates with students and parents" and will support states "as they identify, implement and evaluate strategies for student recruitment into high-quality programs that lead to college and career success," stated a news release. The Siemens Foundation will announce the four participating states in early 2017. Countries such as Germany and Switzerland have long-established practices of apprenticeships for high school students. The Center on Education and Skills at New America will study high school apprenticeship programs abroad to identify best practices that could be adapted for the United States. "Understanding the barriers both real and perceived to growing youth apprenticeship in the U.S. is an essential first step for building an evidence-based strategy that can effectively overcome those barriers," said Mary Alice McCarthy, director of the Center on Education and Skills, in a prepared statement. The center expects to complete its research in 2017. The Siemens Foundation established its STEM Middle-Skill Initiative in October 2015. The initiative's first two partners were the Siemens Technical Scholars program and the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence with the Aspen Institute's College Excellence Program. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. - Bumped onto an old photo of Senator Moses Wetangula's daughter Silvia Nasambu. She's a ravishing lawyer In 2009, Silvia Nasambu Wetangula used to call herself Sly Wetts. Like a cool kid. That was before the allure of marriage came calling and she abandoned her social media accounts. CORD co-principal and Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetangula. Image: Business Daily READ ALSO: A creepy photo of Mudavadi's daughter playing with a big dangerous snake In this digital age, if someone's face is not on the cyberspace, it is practically impossible to locate them. Okay, almost impossible seeing that we got the job done. Look at those eyes boy! READ ALSO: 12 positions to win you a gold medal in the Bedroom Olympics (illustrations) Wetts, like she used to be known back in the day is a practicing lawyer and is listed by the law society of Kenya as an advocate. She works with Adera and Co advocates at Embassy house. READ ALSO: Conspiracy theories claim Uhurus mother cheated on his dad, we have the truth! Nasambu got married in 2010 to her longtime lover Stephen Biko Adera. It was a glamourous wedding at the St Marks ACK in Westlands that was even attended by the then president, Mwai Kibaki. Cover Image: the-star.co.ke Source: TUKO.co.ke A photo of a woman speaking to someone- believed to be her husband - on a mobile phone while kneeling has caused mixed feelings on social media. The woman- believed to be from Uganda- is seen kneeling as she speaks, characteristic of ladies from some communities in Uganda. READ ALSO: See the cheap phone that President Yoweri Museveni uses This Ugandan woman recevieng husbands call while kneeling has everyone talking READ ALSO: Raila Odingas sister takes the Museveni challenge While it is not clear the source of the photos, the comments from a section of male and female social media users were hilarious. Most Kenyan men took the opportunity to praise ladies from Uganda for their respect towards men. Kenyan Ladies on the other hand jumpe on their defenses and said the practice of ladies kneeling before their husbands is retrogressive. Two Ugandan ladies seen kneeling before some foreigners READ ALSO: Zimbabwe reacts to reports that Robert Mugabe was beaten by wife It is not uncommon for women from some communities in Uganda to kneel before men elder than them or simply their husbands. It is interpreted as a show of respect. Source: TUKO.co.ke These are the happiest countries in the world, according to the 2016 Happy Planet Index. The report measures how effectively countries residents use their resources to achieve long and happy lives. Nations are rated according to four factors - ecological footprint, inequality of incomes, life expectancy and wellbeing. Somewhat surprisingly, Western countries with high GDPs fare badly in the list. No European countries appear in the top ten, the UK comes in at 34th place, and America languishes at number 108. Instead the highest ratings go to countries in Asia-Pacific and the Americas, which achieve high life expectancy and wellbeing with low ecological footprints. High levels of inequality of incomes within a country drag ratings down considerably, as the research found that this has a strongly adverse affect on happiness. This is the top 12. 12. Norway Norways free education, public pensions and universal healthcare contribution to the countrys high levels of wellbeing. (Getty) 11. Jamaica The Caribbean nation has a relatively low GDP, but a high life expectancy of 75 years and a low ecological footprint. (Getty) 10. Ecuador Ecuador entered the top ten for the first time in 2016. In 2008 its government adopted a policy of Beun Vivir - good living - as a guiding philosophy. (Getty) 9. Thailand Low income inequality and high life expectancy combine to give Thailand the ninth best happiness index score in the world. (Getty) 8. Bangladesh Bangladesh has an extremely low GDP per capita. But the country does a lot with limited resources - it has a very low ecological footprint and a high life expectancy compared to countries with a similar GDP. (Getty) 7. Nicaragua This Central American country is recovering well from a brutal civil war that ravaged that nation during the '60s and '70s. It scores highly for wellbeing and life expectancy, despite a low GDP. (Getty) 6. Panama The citizens of the sixth happiest country in the world reported impressively high levels of wellbeing. (Getty) Story continues 5. Vietnam The number of people living in poverty in Vietnam dropped from 58% in 1993 to 11% in 2010. School enrollment is 98% - one of the highest in the world, and the country has an extraordinarily low ecological footprint. (Getty) 4. Vanuatu A study conducted by Vanuatus National Statistics Office found that the countrys tight-knit social communities, which meet regularly to discuss their local issues - contribute to the inhabitants high sense of wellbeing. (Getty) 3. Colombia Despite the violent civil war that has battered Colombia since that '60s, its residents experience high levels of wellbeing and a life expectancy of 74. (Getty) 2. Mexico Wellbeing in Mexico is higher than that of neighbouring America, despite its economy being almost five times smaller. (Getty) 1. Costa Rica Costa Rica tops the list of the worlds happiest countries with a substantial lead. The country entirely abolished its army in 1949, reallocating funds towards education and healthcare. The country spends more on education as a proportion of GDP than the UK and produces 99% of its electricity from renewable sources. (Getty) Igor Sechin Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin The price of oil is dropped substantially on Tuesday morning after Igor Sechin, the president and chairman of Russia's state oil company, said he saw no reason for an immediate freeze or cut in oil production. Crude-oil prices on Monday had risen to their best levels of the year after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped the OPEC cartel of oil-producing countries reached an agreement over production limits. "Russia is ready to join the joint measures to cap production and is calling for other oil exporters to join," Putin said while speaking at an energy congress in Istanbul, according to Reuters. Speaking with Reuters at the same conference, however, Sechin often referred to as "Russia's Darth Vader" and once dubbed the "world's scariest man" questioned why he would take part in a cut and said Rosneft would not cut or freeze oil production as part of any possible agreement with OPEC, of which Russia is not a member. When asked on the sidelines of the conference in Turkey about the potential for a freeze or a cut, Sechin said, "Why should we do it?" Sechin also cast doubt on whether some members of OPEC would even be willing to join in with a cut. "Try to answer this question yourself," he said. "Would Iran, Saudi Arabia, or Venezuela cut their production?" Sechin is one of Putin's closest allies, but his comments are almost the opposite of what Russia's president said on Monday, suggesting potential conflicts in Russia's official stance on oil. His words caused oil to slip a little off its best levels from Monday, with both major benchmarks lower by about 1% on Tuesday. The slide was made even worse after new data from the International Energy Agency showed that production reached its highest level, clearly showing the scale of the challenge facing OPEC as it tries to boost prices. However, around 2.10 p.m. BST (9.10 a.m. ET), oil has pulled back from its losses and with both major benchmarks down just 0.2%. Brent crude, the international benchmark, is at $53.03 a barrel, a drop of 0.21%, while US West Texas Intermediate crude had lost 0.18% to trade at $51.26. Story continues Here is how Brent looks: Screen Shot 2016 10 11 at 14.11.53 Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin NOW WATCH: 9 animated maps that will change how you see the world See Also: SEE ALSO: Crude oil is ripping higher after Putin says 'Russia is ready' to cap its production British businessman Sir Philip Green and British model Kate Moss attend the Topshop Unique collection during London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2014, at the Tate Modern in central London, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014. (Photo by Jonathan Short/Invision/AP) Jonathan Short/Invision/AP Favoured staff at BHS' head office were paid a collective 2 million ($2.4 million) by former parent company Arcadia as the department store was collapsing, according to the BBC's Panorama programme. However, billionaire retail tycoon Sir Philip Green, who owns Arcadia, has hit back at the claims, calling them "fundamentally untrue." Sir Philip claims the payments were made to retain key staff during the sale process. 200 BHS head office staff were told they would receive the payments on June 2, according to the BBC investigation that aired on Monday night, the same day that BHS announced 11,000 jobs would be lost at the chain. The payments were transferred directly to employees' bank accounts and many dubbed it a "Philip Bonus," in reference to Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green. A spokesperson for Sir Philip told Panorama the payments were made to retain key staff during the sale process. The public relations firm working with Sir Philip provided Business Insider with the below letter from former BHS CEO Darren Topp, signalling he was behind the payments. Here's the letter in full: To whom it may concern: Background We reduced the Head Office number by just over 100 people at the end of January 2016 as part of driving efficiency reducing costs. Following the announcement of the CVA at the end of March 2016, almost 100 people resigned in 4 weeks. Actions When it became clear we were entering administration keeping Head Office employees was critical to our ability to sell the business whole and indeed run the business short term. This is evidenced by the the discussions we had with potential purchasers all of whom wanted to keep the Head office structure in tact. In order to stem the tide of resignations I in conjunction with the Administrator sought funds from Arcadia to offer payments to the Head Office team. These monies would then be paid to individuals on either the sale of the business , the closure of the business or when we no longer required them and would be paid in the week following their last day of work or company sale. This money allowed us to retain key people in order to continue to trade and should a successful buyer have been found the business would have had the necessary resources to be operate normally very quickly. Arcadia agreed to support the business in order to make these payments. Story continues Darren Topp Ex CEO Bhs LTD A spokesperson for Arcadia also says in an emailed statement: "Prior to Panorama this evening showing a programme on BHS, they have published on their website an allegation that is fundamentally untrue. The BBC asked us to clarify the money paid. "We publish here below a letter written to the BBC today by Darren Topp, former CEO of Bhs who cleared this with the administrator Duff and Phelps this afternoon. We believe this to be self-explanatory." Sir Philip Green bought BHS in 2000 for 200 million. He sold it for 1 in 2015 and the department store collapsed into administration in April of this year, less than a year after Green sold it. BHS had been struggling for years and a government report into its collapse blames under-investment and excessive dividend payouts for sending it into a downward spiral. It accuses Sir Philip and subsequent owner Dominic Chappell a twice bankrupt former racing driver of the "systematic plunder" of BHS. The department store had a 275 million pension scheme black hole when the chain collapsed and the BHS pension scheme has fallen into the state-backed Pension Protection Fund (PPF), dubbed the "pensions lifeboat." Sir Philip Green has repeatedly said he will "sort" the funding shortfall. The Pensions Regulator on Tuesday asked for new powers to intervene in the sale of businesses that have a final salary pension scheme like BHS to stop them being dumped. NOW WATCH: Nobel prize-winning economist Stiglitz rates Yellens performance as Fed chair See Also: SEE ALSO: 'SYSTEMATIC PLUNDER': The report on the collapse of BHS is out and it is damning DON'T MISS: The 1 takeover of BHS was 'a bit of a punt' NEXT UP: The man who bought BHS for 1 got 2.6 million out of it before it collapsed WASHINGTON The Obama administration is turning up the rhetorical heat on Russia, accusing senior Russian officials of ordering the hacking of American political sites to try to interfere in the upcoming presidential election and suggesting that Russias military is committing war crimes in Syria. Fridays barrage of allegations from Washington coupled with angry denials from Moscow marked a descent to yet another low point in increasingly poor relations between the former Cold War foes, who are deeply divided over key international issues of war and peace and appear on a path of one-upsmanship perhaps not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The hacking allegations, made publicly for the first time since cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee earlier this year, came amid pressure on the administration to call Russia out for the hacking, which has produced the release of embarrassing internal emails. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russias senior-most officials could have authorized these activities, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a joint statement with the Department of Homeland Security. It said recent disclosures of alleged hacked emails on websites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks, and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona, are consistent with the methods and motivations of efforts directed by Russia, which has denied involvement. These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process, the statement said. Such activity is not new to Moscow. The Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. The White House declined to say whether the formal attribution would trigger sanctions against Russia and senior officials said the U.S. would respond at a time and place of its choosing, but stressed that any retaliation may not take place in the open. Part of the difficulty with responding to cyberattacks is the lack of an official rulebook for doing so. Fridays announcement blaming Russia publicly appears to be continuing precedent, and the acknowledgement of at least one rule or line in the sand, under the Obama administration. These are core values, said Michael Morell, the former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency. It doesnt get any more core than this, and when you get countries starting to mess around, you need to send a very powerful signal that we are not going to allow this to happen. The U.S. has worked with countries around the world over the last five years to cultivate a set of voluntary norms, or guidelines, for cyberspace. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegations as nonsense, but didnt deny Russian involvement. Every day there are tens of thousands of attacks on (Russian President Vladimir) Putins website. Many of the attacks can be traced to the U.S., Peskov was quoted as telling Russias Interfax news agency. Were not blaming the White House or Langley every time, he added, referring to Langley, Virginia, home of CIA headquarters. The U.S. statement stopped short of linking attempted hacks or probing of U.S. state electoral systems directly to Russia although intelligence officials say many of these originated from servers operated by a Russian company. The accusation came just hours after Secretary of State John Kerry called for a war crimes investigation into Russian and Syrian military strikes in Syria, particularly in Aleppo where they are alleged to have hit civilian targets, including hospitals and medical workers. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Kerry was trying to divert attention from U.S. failure to uphold a cease-fire it he negotiated with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last month in Geneva. Russia and the regime owe the world more than an explanation about why they keep hitting hospitals and medical facilities, and children and women, Kerry told reporters at the State Department alongside French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who was in Washington after meeting Lavrov in Moscow on Thursday. These are acts that beg for an appropriate investigation of war crimes, Kerry said. Theyre beyond the accidental now, way beyond, years beyond the accidental. This is a targeted strategy to terrorize civilians and to kill anybody and everybody who is in the way of their military objectives. The U.S. has little chance of being able to initiate a war crimes probe of either Russia or Syria. Russia has veto power at the U.N. Security Council and has blocked repeated attempts over the last 5 years to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assads government or hold it accountable for the widespread allegations of indiscriminate killing, torture and chemical weapons attacks. Nonetheless, Kerrys comments hit a nerve in Moscow. Kerry used these words from the point of view of fanning tensions, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. As long as war crimes are at question, the Americans should start with Iraq. And then look at Libya and Yemen to see what is going on there. Kerrys Sept. 9 agreement with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would have created a new counterterrorism alliance in Syria, had fighting stopped for a week and aid deliveries been permitted to reach desperate civilians in rebel-held parts of Aleppo and other besieged areas. Neither condition was ever met. The truce then shattered completely when Syria and Russia renewed their military offensive in Aleppo. Kerry ended bilateral discussions with Russia on the military partnership earlier this week. Meanwhile Friday, Russian lawmakers ratified an agreement allowing Russias military to indefinitely maintain an air base in Syria and Russias ambassador to the United Nations said Moscow would veto a French-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Aleppo and the grounding of all aircraft over the besieged Syrian city. I cannot possibly see how we can let this resolution pass, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said, setting up a showdown for Saturday when the Security Council is expected to vote. ___ Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper, Deb Riechmann, Tami Abdollah and Josh Lederman contributed to this report. WASHINGTON The disintegration of diplomatic talks with Russia has left the Obama administration with an array of bad options for what to do next in Syria. Despite harrowing scenes of violence in the city of Aleppo and beyond, President Barack Obama is unlikely to approve any dramatic shift in strategy before handing the civil war over to his successor in January. The options under discussion at the White House limited military strikes, sanctions, more weapons for rebels, multiparty talks have one thing in common: None appears likely to halt the bloodshed in the short term. The more aggressive proposals come with the added risk of pulling the U.S. into direct military confrontation with Russia, a threat illuminated by a string of recent taunts from Moscow. Obama has wrestled for years with the Syria crisis and is reluctant to entangle the U.S. in another Mideast war. He insisted the only viable path forward involved U.S.-Russia-brokered talks, but they have now fallen apart, He faces the prospect of leaving office as a bystander to a war in which an estimated 500,000 people have been killed and 11 million people half of Syrias pre-war population have become refugees. Obamas practically lame-duck status only reinforces the argument for maintaining the current policy, said Jonathan Stevenson, a former senior Mideast adviser to the president. Its true, of course, that presidents on their way out are not always risk-averse, but maybe they should be. Secretary of State John Kerry and others are clamoring for a stronger response after the Syrian and Russian assaults on Aleppo punctured the veneer of a productive diplomatic track, and the U.S. withdrew from talks with Russia last week. Evidence of the collapse of relations abounded Friday. The U.S. formally accused Russia of trying to meddle in the U.S. election by hacking U.S. political groups, and Kerry accused the Kremlin of war crimes in Syria. Earlier, Russia suspended deals with the U.S. on nuclear research cooperation and disposal of weapons-grade plutonium. The turn of events has led the White House to cautiously reconsider proposals that had been largely ruled out, including economic penalties against Russia that the U.S. would have to orchestrate with Russias larger trading partners. Senior U.S. officials said the administration was discussing options with European countries while U.S. intelligence agencies map out companies and individuals that could be targeted. Under a separate proposal, the U.S. would take narrow, short-term military action against Syrian President Bashar Assads military, such as its air force assets, officials said. The goal wouldnt be to eliminate Assads ability to attack opposition groups, but to scare Syria and Russia into returning to the negotiating table, said the officials, who werent authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity. Yet officials from multiple U.S. agencies said chances appeared slim that Obama would approve the strikes. Such a move probably would trigger at least a short-term uptick in violence, they noted, with long-term prospects for starting a peace process unclear. Moreover, there is no U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing strikes against Syria, leaving the U.S. without a clear legal basis to act. Russia has bolstered its capabilities in Syria with state-of-the-art S-300 missile defense systems, while warning it could fire back if Assads assets come under U.S. attack. Russia launched its military campaign in Syria last year to help Assads forces fight the opposition. The U.S. military and its partners are only targeting the Islamic State group and other extremists in the country. Even with diplomatic talks ended, Russia and the U.S. are maintaining military-to-military deconfliction contacts to prevent an accidental confrontation in Syrias crowded sky. But Russias military warned ominously this week that it wouldnt have enough time to use the hotline before shooting back. Both parties will try to avoid any sort of escalation that may entail unpredictable consequences, but various things may happen, said Fyodor Lukyanov, the head of Council for Foreign and Defense Policies, an association of top Russian political experts. The risks are high, especially now when mutual aversion is strong. In sanctions, too, the U.S. sees potential drawbacks. The U.S. had blamed Moscow of being either unable or unwilling to persuade Assad to abide by the most recent cease-fire. But it is holding out hope that Moscow has a change of heart, perhaps in response to sanctions. The White House and State Department had argued to Congress that new sanctions legislation could undermine efforts with Russians to forge a cease-fire between Assad and rebel groups. Lawmakers responded last month by canceling a vote on a bipartisan bill requiring Obama to impose sanctions on anyone who does business with Syrias government or central bank, its aviation industry or energy sector. While the Russia talks have collapsed, the administration maintains concerns about the sanctions might also hurt Iran, another Assad supporter, giving Tehran an excuse to renege on the U.S.-brokered nuclear deal. The administration also demanded that lawmakers strip out mandatory requirements so that Obama can waive sanctions at his discretion, congressional aides said. The U.S. has legal authority to target Russian entities over support for Syria, but there have been no Russia sanctions to date for its actions in Syria. The White House has argued that because the U.S. does little trade with Russia, U.S. sanctions would be ineffective unless European countries join. The administration also has long considered allowing Saudi Arabia and other Assad opponents to arm the Syrian opposition with more sophisticated weaponry. But theres widespread concern about weapons reaching extremists, given intermingling across Syrias battlefields by various groups fighting Assad. That leaves renewed diplomacy, through the U.N. or the 20-nation International Syria Support Group, as the most probable focus. Both formats include Russia. ___ AP National Security Writer Robert Burns in Washington and Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report. New Mexico Mutual will hold a ceremony this morning to mark the groundbreaking of its new 58,000-square-foot headquarters on a five-acre site at San Mateo and Balloon Fiesta Parkway NE. The $17.2 million facility is designed to meet the needs of the workers compensation insurers workforce for years to come. The company will move from its current headquarters north of the Century Rio 24 movie complex in about a year. The new workspace has what we need to take our company forward for the next 50 years, said Norman Becker, New Mexico Mutuals president and CEO, in an interview with the Journal. Located next to Balloon Fiesta Park, the building will consolidate the operations of New Mexico Mutual with those of Integrion Group, its wholly owned claims-adjusting subsidiary. Currently, the two companies operate out of separate leased buildings. It was time to buy our own place, Becker said. New Mexico Mutual was established by the Legislature in 1991 to provide workers compensation for New Mexico businesses at a time when many national carriers were pulling out of the state. The not-for-profit business repaid the state funding a few years later. Since then, workers comp rates have stabilized at an average of 42 percent less than they were in 1991, according to the company. Our mission is to be a New Mexico company selling only to New Mexico employers, Becker said. Working with 400 independent agents throughout New Mexico, the company writes more than 30 percent of the voluntary workers compensation insurance market in the state. Premium payers are 7,000 businesses, covering approximately 150,000 workers. The new facility will not only emphasize contemporary trends but will elevate the work environment for the companys 150-person workforce, which is expected to grow in time. The home office will be an open environment fostering collaboration, with few doors and many places to meet. Realizing that employees dont have to be deskbound during the entire shift, there will be spaces throughout the building where claims adjusters, analysts, underwriters and medical reviewers can easily plug in their laptop computers for short-term tasks. Creating a building from scratch allows for not only a sleek, stylish design, but also green features, including LED lighting, an energy-saving HVAC system, recycled building materials low in volatile organic compounds and drought-tolerant landscaping. The heavily windowed building will allow loads of light and fresh air into the premises. A bike storage facility and a walking trail also will be included. New Mexico Mutual has retained Architectural Research Consultants, RMKM Architecture, Bradbury Stamm Constuction and adviser John Pate, an architect with Molzen Corbin, to carry out the job. An all-New Mexican labor force of about 200 construction workers will be involved in the yearlong project, Becker said. In addition, the companys construction partners will purchase materials and other items whenever possible from local vendors. SANTA FE Theres been yet another wrong-way driving case on Interstate 25 near Santa Fe, three weeks after two Santa Fe residents died in a fiery crash because one of them was going the wrong way, just the latest of many fatal head-on wrecks on a short stretch of the interstate. About 3 a.m. Sunday, officers with the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office and the Santa Fe Police Department pulled over 23-year-old Diana Nunez-Montes for driving northbound in the southbound lanes on I-25 near the Cerrillos Road exit. Police Capt. Jerome Sanchez said Nunez-Montes drove from the La Cienega exit south of Santa Fe to the Cerrillos Road exit thinking she was on the frontage road the whole time. Sanchez said she was arrested after failing field sobriety tests and was later found to have a blood alcohol content of .08 and .09. The presumed level of intoxication in New Mexico is .08. She was intoxicated to some degree, Sanchez said. Nunez-Montes was released from the Santa Fe County jail around 11 a.m. Sunday after posting her $1,500 bond. Anton Gress, also 23, was killed Sept. 24 when a car driven the wrong way by 44-year-old Clara Avina hit his car head on around 11:30 p.m. on I-25 about two miles east of Santa Fes Old Pecos Trail exit. Avina, a records clerk at the State Personnel Office, also died at the scene. Avinas family reportedly told sheriffs deputies that she drank alcohol before she drove, but deputies are still waiting on her autopsy report to see if she was intoxicated during the crash. Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales recently called on the Department of Transportation to conduct a safety assessment on that stretch of highway from the Eldorado exit about seven miles east of town through the city limits, saying theres a pattern of accidents along I-25 between the Eldorado exit into the City limits involving wrong-way driving, often by drivers shown later to have been intoxicated. The worst of several head-on crashes in that area came in 2006 when a drunk Dana Papst of Santa Fe drove the wrong way into a van, killing himself and five members of a Las Vegas, N.M., family. The deaths of at least 20 people in New Mexico who overdosed on the powerful painkiller fentanyl, disguised as oxycodone, underscores New Mexicos opioid drug problem. The Ruidoso victims illegally purchased what appeared to be 30-milligram pills of oxycodone, a prescription painkiller, but federal agents believe it was fentanyl mixed with a neutral powder. Fentanyl is up to 100 times stronger than morphine. It can be lethal even in small doses. Drug Enforcement Agency agents say the pills were likely manufactured in Mexico using fentanyl powder from China that can cost a few thousand bucks for a kilogram and be turned into counterfeit oxycodone pills that can net traffickers millions of dollars. Oxycodone pills typically cost $1 per milligram, or $30 for one 30-milligram pill, while the fentanyl pills have been sold for as little as $5 a pill. Toxicology tests in the 20 New Mexico deaths showed fentanyl and slightly different chemical versions of it called analogs, which can be stronger than legally produced fentanyl and may take more naloxone (Narcan) to counter than it would to counter a heroin overdose. Fake oxycodone pills are showing up around the country, and there were more than 700 fentanyl-related deaths in late 2013 and 2014. If that scares you, and it should, consider the growing use of carfentanil, a synthetic anesthetic designed to tranquilize elephants and other large animals. It is not approved for use in humans, but drug traffickers are mixing it with heroin and it has become popular in some states among addicts looking for ever stronger highs. It has caused hundreds of overdoses and several deaths in states like Ohio, which has been particularly hard hit. Carfentanil is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times stronger than fentanyl, as reported by columnist Diane Dimond in a recent Albuquerque Journal. So we have Chinese chemists and Mexican drug pushers to thank for introducing even more powerful ways to make obscene profits at American addicts expense. But part of the solution must lie with slowing the demand on the U.S. side of the border for high-risk drugs that damage and destroy lives and families. Which is why the HOPE (Heroin and Opioid Prevent and Education) Initiative of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of New Mexico and the University of New Mexicos Health Sciences Center is so important. In addition to prosecution, its focus is on diversion, rehabilitation and re-entry programs and it is working with community organizations, such as the Bernalillo County Opioid Accountability Initiative. The fact that people are so addicted that they are willing to turn to knock-off drugs or buy pills they think hope are the real thing says a lot about how serious the drug epidemic has become. This is a new kind of drug war. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. WASHINGTON Republicans faced a deepening split in their ranks Monday as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan declared he would no longer defend Donald Trump and instead focus the last four weeks of the presidential campaign on preserving the GOPs majority in Congress. He urged fellow lawmakers to do whatever is necessary to win Nov. 8, effectively declaring every man and woman for themselves. Ryan drew an immediate backlash, on Capitol Hill and at the partys grass roots, as loyalists were stunned the top elected Republican in the country was cutting loose the GOP standard-bearer a scant 29 days before the election. Trump responded with a slap on Twitter. Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee, Trump wrote. Supporters were equally aggrieved. Im so proud of everyone in this room. You didnt run, said Ron Howard, a military veteran who introduced Trumps running mate, Mike Pence, at a rally in North Carolina. The rest of the Republican establishment are running away from the sound of gunfire. The backbiting, a day after Trump and Hillary Clinton waged a searing, insult-filled debate, underscored the bind facing the GOP and its leaders, who had come around to Trumps candidacy with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The choice amounts to rejecting the candidate chosen by voters and risk the partys base staying home out of pique, or continuing to embrace Trump overlooking his offensive behavior and possibly alienate women and other swing voters who can make a difference in close House and Senate contests. Republicans made a deal with the devil, and when you make a deal with the devil you end up in hell, said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist in Sacramento, Calif., and longtime Trump skeptic. The move by Ryan, who has been distinctly cool toward Trump, reflected a growing sense of panic among Republicans that their nominee was not only fated to lose the presidential race but could face the kind of landslide that would drag many GOP candidates down with him. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey conducted over the weekend, before Sunday nights debate, showed Clinton pulling out to a 52 percent-38 percent lead over Trump. In a four-way match-up including Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and the Green Partys Jill Stein, Clinton led by 11 percentage points. The survey was in line with other polls that showed support for Trump slipping even before a 2005 video surfaced on Friday, showing him boasting that his celebrity allows him to grope and kiss women against their will. More worrisome on Capitol Hill, likely voters sided with Democrats, 49 percent to 42 percent, when asked which party they would prefer in control of Congress. The result is up from a 3-point Democratic advantage last month. Democrats could retake control of the Senate if Clinton is elected and they gain four seats, a goal that seems well within reach. (Her vice presidential running mate, Tim Kaine, could cast a tie-breaking vote.) If Trump is elected, Democrats would need to gain five seats. Democrats would need to pick up 30 House seats to take control, a number that has seemed far beyond their capacity until civil war broke out within the GOP. Dozens of party leaders and elected officials either rescinded their endorsement of Trump or said they would not vote for him after the tawdry video surfaced. In Sunday nights debate Trump apologized for the remarks and characterized them as locker room talk that belied his true feelings. Ryan cut his ties to Trump in a Monday morning conference call with GOP lawmakers, telling Republicans they should do whats best for you in your district, according to a participant who was granted anonymity to discuss the private session. The Wisconsin lawmaker said he would not defend Trump or campaign with him for the remainder of the election. About a dozen members spoke up on the call, and most disagreed with the speaker. The best way to ensure a Republican majority in the House is to make Donald Trump the most successful candidate we can make him, one of the participants, Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, said in an interview afterward. The idea that running from him strengthens that, I dont buy that strategy. A Clinton spokeswoman scoffed at Ryans decision. There was a time where they could have spoken out. That time was this summer, Jennifer Palmieri told reporters traveling with Clinton to a campaign stop in Detroit. Obviously its too late now. (EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE) Some Trump supporters suggested they might punish Republicans who back away from him now. A lot of the politicians are trying to protect their future of getting elected and not necessarily protecting the future of the United States, said Gary Burgess, a 65-year-old engineer from Charlotte who came to the Pence rally in a converted warehouse now used for concerts and theater. Appearing on cable TV before the rally, the vice presidential hopeful insisted he was fully behind Trump after initially refusing to defend his sexually aggressive and predatory comments. It is absolutely false to think at any time we considered dropping off this ticket, Pence said on CNN. I look forward to campaigning shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump. He also said he accepted Trumps explanation that talk of forcing himself on woman and grabbing their crotch was only talk. He said it is not something he has done, Pence said. He made it clear last night. Pence also waved away Trumps statement during the debate repudiating Pences position on the civil war in Syria a potential U.S. military response to Russias involvement blaming the discrepancy on the way the question was asked. He said both men support establishing safe zones in Syria to protect civilians and using military resources for that effort. (Barabak reported from San Francisco and Mascaro from Washington. Staff Writer Noah Bierman contributed from Charlotte and Evan Halper from Washington.) 2016 Tribune Co. Visit Tribune Co. at www.latimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. - PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194): Paul Ryan _____ AMBRIDGE, Pa. Speaking Monday to a crowd of roughly 2,500 in a high school gym near Pittsburgh, with thousands more watching on a giant screen outside, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump followed up Sunday nights bruising debate with an equally pugnacious speech. My whole life Ive been a fighter, and now Im going to fight for you, Trump said during a 45-minute speech, his first public appearance since Sunday nights debate. In an address that appeared to rely on teleprompter, Trump said the debate had been a lot of fun, and I would say that Hillary is highly overrated. He spent much of his speech revisiting Sunday nights debate, repeatedly boasting that Clinton had been unable to defend herself from his attacks. I was getting beaten up for 72 hours on all the networks for locker room talk, whatever you want to call it, he said, referring to the Friday release of a decade-old tape recording in which Trump boasts of physically accosting women. But as he did last night, he argued that Bill Clinton sexually assaulted innocent women. He blamed Clinton for being deeply familiar with her husbands predatory behavior, and enabled him to take advantage of even more women. Clinton has never been charged with, let alone convicted of a crime, and the accounts of his accusers are hotly contested. But Trump showed no signs of backing down, promising to revisit the issue throughout the campaign if they want to release more tapes about saying inappropriate things. Trump and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who also appeared returned repeatedly to his debate-night threat to have Clinton investigated by a special prosecutor for alleged crimes involving her email server. Giuliani said he had spoken with a federal judge who he did not name who told him part of that debate sounded like a confession to a federal crime. For his part, Trump recited a litany of accusations regarding Clintons use of a private email server. It prompted not for the first time chants of Lock her up! from the crowd. Special prosecutor, here we come, said Trump. That kind of language bothers some legal observers. Wesley Oliver, who teaches criminal law at Duquesne University, said he thought Trumps pledge Sunday night wasnt meant literally. But hes said so many things that could be taken literally when he doesnt mean them that way. And he worried Trumps rhetoric would have a long-term effect on the country in that when Hillary Clinton is elected, and I believe she will be, I think it undermines her legitimacy. Much of the rest of Trumps speech reprised familiar promises, including Trumps pledge to bring back steel jobs to the Pittsburgh region. Were going to start making things in America again. And were going to start making things in Pennsylvania again, he said. Trump ascribed the disappearance of those jobs to global trade deals, a premise that many economists reject. But whatever the merits of his diagnosis, Trump professed allegiance with the workers whod once held those jobs. Im not proud of everything that Ive done in my life, he said. But Im proud that Ive always treated the blue collar workers that make this country run with tremendous respect. Mondays appearance came in the wake of defections by some high-profile Republicans from Trumps banner, including Arizona Sen. (and 2008 presidential nominee) John McCain and Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. But the crowd inside responded enthusiastically and members of the audience at least one of whom wielded a Trump That B sign seemed to take the coarse language used in the leaked videotape in stride. Five hours before Trump took the stage, hundreds were lined up on the street outside, where a clutch of young men chanted Trump! Trump! Trump! at passing traffic, along with an occasional vulgar chant about Democrat Hillary Clinton. I am absolutely voting for him, said Ambridge resident Joann Crano. Most of my family changed from Democrat to Republican this spring to vote for him. Crano, whose T-shirt read Gun-toting deplorable Christian women vote Trump, said shed admired Trump for his honesty. Hes not your typical insider. Like others in line, Crano said she was pleased with Trumps performance in a town hall style debate Sunday night: She called it 1000 percent better than his first one. I think he was nervous: Hes never been in this ring before. She also said she was satisfied with his handling of questions about a decade-old tape that surfaced on Friday. In the tape, Trump can be heard boasting about accosting women. Was that appropriate? No, Crano said. But I dont think thats the person he is. I think he was trying to be one of the guys. (EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE) Youre talking about words, not actions, she added. Bill Clinton basically molested a young intern in the White House a reference to the former presidents relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Guys talk. They say things that never happen out of bravado, said Ron Burrows, of Salem, Ohio. Even if (the remarks) were genuine, it was no big deal. It happens every day everywhere. He didnt have anybody killed, or be responsible for people dying, added Beverly Bruno, referring to the 2012 attack on American diplomats at Benghazi. And his (spouse) wasnt in the White House. Hillary Clinton, the Columbiana, Ohio, resident said, bore some responsibility for Clintons infidelity because shes too wrapped up in herself to pay attention to her husband. Trumps visit comes as recent polling in Pennsylvania has shifted against him. Last week, a Monmouth University poll showed Clinton leading in the state by 10 points; a Franklin & Marshall College poll showed her leading by 9. Sunday evening, widely regarded political prognosticator Larry Sabato moved Pennsylvania from Leans Democratic to Likely Democratic, noting that her lead in polling averages right now is bigger than the 5.5 point margin of victory Obama enjoyed in Pennsylvania in 2012. But in Ambridge, a borough built by manufacturing and now haunted by its decline, Trump finds a suitable backdrop for his themes: opposing trade pacts, and trying to restore American manufacturing. Named for one of its chief employers over a century ago, American Bridge, the 1.7-square-mile borough has fallen on hard times. Its population of 7,000 residents is about one-third of its 1930 height, and nearly 29 percent of its current residents are living below the poverty level almost twice the level of the state as a whole. When people arent doing well economically, they look for someone to scapegoat, said Ross McCoy, a Clinton supporter who joined a demonstration across Duss Avenue from where Trumps backers were lined up. Its usually someone at the bottom and not at the top. McCoy, who said hed lived in Ambridge his whole life, said that when the community booming, not just my family but everybody here was an immigrant. Now were one of the most depressed areas in the country, and attitudes about immigrants are drastically changing. Nearby, a group of female union members affiliated with the United Steelworkers cat-called those waiting to enter the Trump event. The two camps traded gibes some in obscene language from across a street thick with traffic, including a pickup truck circling the area with a lock her up! sign and a caricature of Clinton mounted in the bed. Were here because were women, and we know what Trump stands for, and what Hillary stands for, said Paulette Battisti. He objectifies women, and we wont be grabbed by our genitals, or called ugly. Battisti said she spent 17 years working at the local water authority. She described the experience of working in a male-driven field as being like Trump running for president: It was hell. But I succeeded and moved on, and so will we. Standing nearby was Bennett Lefebvre, a senior at Ambridge Area High who said Trumps appearance at the school didnt reflect the student body. The student body is very diverse, and everyone supports everyone else, he said. Its a bully-free zone so I dont know why theyd let Trump here. 2016 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at www.post-gazette.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. - PHOTOS (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194): _____ DETROIT Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wasted little time Monday in attacking her Republican opponent using her Wayne State University appearance to rebut a number of Donald Trumps claims during their second debate Sunday night. Anybody see that debate last night? (Youve) never seen anything like that, she said seconds after a beyond-capacity crowd roared their welcome at the Matthaei Center in Midtown Detroit. Donald Trump spent his time attacking when he should have been apologizing. She went on to use words like bizarre to describe the Republican nominees various claims throughout the debate. What she didnt directly address was Trumps controversial comments about sexually assaulting women that were captured on video and audio in 2005 and became public Friday. The first speaker of the event Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan took a sly shot at Trumps reference to his comments being simply locker room talk. Hillary is speaking for all the people who arent in those country club locker rooms. Clinton told the crowd that her campaign is winning more and more support not just from independents but also Republicans. Since the release of the 2005 tape, a number of Republicans including former presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John McCain and Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley have withdrawn their endorsements, but have said they will still not vote for Clinton. Detroit resident Barry Marshall, 47, of Detroit, said after the speech he wished Clinton has spent more time on Trumps treatment of women. I dont think theres anyone out there who believes him when he says hes changed and is a different person, Marshall said. My dad always told me that who you were when you thought no one was looking was who you really were. Hes a sexist pig and theres no way around that. The one controversy Clinton spent time on was Trumps taxes. The New York Times reported Trump took a nearly $916 million loss in 1995 and likely hasnt paid federal income tax since. That didnt sit well with Clinton. I believe everyone in this room has paid more income tax than (Trump) has, she said. After attacking Trump, Clinton made sure to feed red meat to her crowd made up of college students and union workers. She took Trump to task for his companies business practices, including buying cheap steel from China to build his skyscrapers. I do have some advice for Donald Trump: He wants to make America great again. Start by buying American steel, she said. (EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM) She also reiterated her support for making college tuition free for families earning les than $125,000. That drew a loud cheer, including from Danielle Marcus, 19, a sophomore at Wayne State. We pay way too much for college, she said. You have to take out huge loans and then you are in debt forever. It can really ruin your life. I think college should be like high school and be free, at least for those who dont make very much money. Mondays visit was Clintons first appearance in Michigan since Aug. 11, when she gave a speech on jobs and the economy in Warren. She has sent a flock of surrogates to speak on her behalf in recent weeks, including her husband, former President Bill Clinton; her daughter, Chelsea Clinton; vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine and his wife, Anne Holton, and former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley, who was a Democratic candidate for president until dropping out after the Iowa caucuses. Bernie Sanders made several stops in Michigan last week campaigning for her. Trump has made has been in Michigan five times since he was nominated. (END OPTIONAL TRIM) In the latest Free Press/WXYZ poll taken before Sundays debate, Clinton regained an 11-percentage-point lead 43-32 percent over Trump in the new poll, the same level of support she had following the nominating convention in Philadelphia in July and far outdistancing last months results, when her 3-percentage-point lead over Trump was within the polls margin of error and suggested he might catch her in a state that hasnt backed a Republican nominee since 1988. 2016 Detroit Free Press Visit the Detroit Free Press at www.freep.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ SANTA FE Its finally voting time in New Mexico. Absentee and early voting for the Nov. 8 election start today statewide, and its the last day for eligible voters to register to participate in the general election. Those wishing to register before the deadline can do so online up until midnight via the Secretary of States Office, or can mail in a completed paper registration form provided its postmarked no later than today, Bureau of Elections Director Kari Fresquez said. Fresquez said elections officials have been busy testing voting machines and are ready for whats expected to be a high-turnout election largely due to this years heated presidential race. The county clerks are still processing thousands of voter registrations, and there is definitely excitement in the air, she told the Journal . We have been very busy fielding registration and voting questions in our office and assisting county clerks as they get equipment, polling locations, and poll workers ready to go. Full early voting at voter convenience centers doesnt start until Oct. 22, but registered voters can cast their ballots beginning today in county clerks offices. Clerks in some counties have designated alternative locations for space reasons. That includes Bernalillo County, which has designated the Clerks Annex, 1500 Lomas NW, for such voting. The states voter rolls have swelled in advance of this years election, and more than 1.2 million New Mexicans were registered to vote as of Sept. 30, according to the Secretary of States Office. That figure included 589,667 Democrats, 392,220 Republicans and 233,294 independents, or registered voters who declined to state a party affiliation. By percentage, that meant 47 percent of voters were registered as Democrats, 31 percent were Republicans and 19 percent were independent, with the remaining percentage of voters affiliating with minor political parties. In addition to the presidential race, other contests on the ballot in New Mexico include all three congressional districts, all 112 legislative districts, judicial and county-level races and a showdown between Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Republican Nora Espinoza to determine who will become New Mexicos next secretary of state. SANTA FE New Mexico lawmakers had barely reached the Roundhouse doors last week after adjourning a seven-day special session before Gov. Susana Martinez lashed out at Democratic Senate floor leader Michael Sanchez. The governors criticism of Sanchez over the Senates handling of crime bills sought by Martinez the Senate approved a big budget-balancing package but did not touch the House-passed crime bills underlined an icy relationship between Martinez and Sanchez and deep political and philosophical differences between the two. Now, with Election Day less than a month away, the hottest race in New Mexico this year might be unfolding along the banks of the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque, where Sanchez, a Belen resident, is facing off against Republican challenger Greg Baca. Sanchez, a member of the Senate since 1993 and Democratic floor leader since 2004, said the focus of the governors political machine on defeating him on Nov. 8 borders on obsession. When things go well for this administration they want to take credit, and when things go bad they want to blame me, he told the Journal recently. Huge amounts of money are expected to pour into the race from outside Senate District 29, as Sanchezs influential position as Democratic floor leader has put him in the cross hairs of pro-Republican political committees like Advance New Mexico Now, which is run by the governors political adviser, Jay McCleskey, and reported last month having more than $1 million in its bank account. But labor unions and Democratic-leaning groups are expected to rally around Sanchez, who also has a sizable personal campaign war chest. Were prepared for those negative ads, and we will have responses for them, Sanchez said in a recent interview. There are a lot of criminal penalty bills that have got through while Ive been in the Senate. Baca, the Republican challenger, is an attorney and small-business owner he owns a self-service carwash who recently moved back to Valencia County from Albuquerque. Hes a Gulf War veteran and political newcomer whose campaign message hinges on the need for change and new views in the Legislature. My opponent has been there for a good, long time in that (leadership) position, Baca said in an interview. Change is a good thing and a new direction is definitely a positive when were performing the way we are. He also insisted hes keeping a distance from outside groups, including deep-pocketed independent expenditure groups, or super PACs, saying hes trying to focus on running his own race. Im not anybodys puppet, he said. My campaign is an island here. Sanchez targeted In 2012, the last time all 42 Senate seats were up for election, Sanchez won re-election with more than 55 percent of the votes cast in his race, but another high-profile Senate Democrat, former Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings of Roswell, was ousted by a GOP challenger. Jennings said Sanchez takes arrows for other senators by being the face of the Democratic majority in the chamber, which prides itself on being the more independent of the two legislative chambers. The Senate is a big threat to the Republicans because its the most responsible body, Jennings told the Journal . He also said Martinez is targeting Sanchez in this years general election in a big way with vengeance. As majority leader, Sanchez has the authority to decide which bills get voted on by the full Senate, and in what order. However, he does not have unchecked power to assign bills to committees for vetting. In recent years, Sanchez has been called out by proponents of bills seeking increased criminal penalties, including family members of victims of violent crimes, who have suggested his work as a defense attorney guides his actions in the Legislature. And in a recent letter to the Journal, Steve Suttle, a former prosecutor in the Attorney Generals Office, called Sanchez an autocratic one-man Senate who has been responsible for the death of a wide variety of criminal law measures. Sanchez said most of his legal practice actually consists of domestic, non-criminal cases, and said its unfair to use his profession as a political wedge issue. He also said the state should be focusing more on treatment and prevention programs, including early-childhood education, instead of longer mandatory criminal sentences. To say, Lets lock them all up, that doesnt solve the problem, Sanchez said. During this years 30-day session, the Senate signed off on legislation enacting more severe penalties for repeat DWI offenders and individuals convicted of child pornography possession and manufacturing, but several other House passed crime-related bills were derailed. None of the three crime bills passed by the House during the special session was considered in the Senate, including a proposal to reinstate New Mexicos death penalty for certain violent offenses. Focus on business The political newcomer in the race, Baca supports loosening business regulations, saying the state needs to be more construction-friendly. He suggested at a business-focused candidate forum last month Sanchez did not attend it that the state should ease its enforcement of such regulations. In a recent interview, Baca said hes tired of seeing boarded-up businesses around Valencia County. It seems like we have all the pieces, but we just cant put the puzzle together, he said. I think the old solutions are just not working for us anymore. Although he supports many of the governors policies, Baca has voiced divergent views from the Martinez administration on several key issues. He expressed misgivings about the states current teacher evaluation system in a recent Journal questionnaire, saying he does not believe the current policy has achieved the required results. Baca also said that along with using spending cuts to fix a massive budget shortfall, he would favor delaying planned tax cuts until after the revenue downturn eases. A 2013 tax cut is slated to gradually drop the states corporate income tax rate from 7.6 to 5.9 percent, but the Martinez administration during the just-ended special session vehemently opposed a proposal to halt for two years the scheduled decrease. Meanwhile, Baca pointed out that if he succeeds in ousting Sanchez on Nov. 8, there will be a change in the Senates leadership ranks, even if Democrats hold on to their majority in the chamber. Democrats currently outnumber Republicans 24-18. If I win my race, youre guaranteed a change of leadership either way, he said. Background checks Already, outside entities have been actively digging into both candidates backgrounds. The Republican Party of New Mexico filed a complaint last month about Sanchez improperly claiming a head-of-household property tax exemption for two properties Sanchez responded by saying he was unaware of the issue and would pay any taxes owed and criticized him for taking credit for a child pornography bill that passed the Senate this year only after being significantly revised. On the other side, a progressive nonprofit group called Progress Now New Mexico alleged that Baca also claimed the same property tax exemption for two different properties in violation of state law. The group also obtained Bacas voting records and said they showed he has not voted in a Valencia County general election in at least 11 years. Baca was apparently registered to vote in Albuquerque during that period. In response, Baca said hes always maintained ties in the local community even while being gone. Absolutely I feel connected, Baca said, adding that hes owned businesses in Valencia County for about 14 of the past 20 years. He also said the only reason he left Valencia County was to pursue higher education including both his undergraduate and law school degrees and for military service. Meanwhile, Advance New Mexico Now has already launched a barrage of hard-hitting mailers targeting Sanchezs past votes. Those votes include no votes on both a 2005 child abuse bill and the 2013 tax package that included the corporate tax cut, and a yes vote on a 2010 budget-balancing tax hike package. One mailer claims Sanchez made your grocery bill cost more, even though then-Gov. Bill Richardson used his line-item veto authority to strike down a proposed tax on most food items that was included in the 2010 tax hike package. While Baca has never held elected office, Sanchez suggested in a recent interview that Baca was not well-vetted, though he declined to provide specifics. Baca acknowledged in the Journal questionnaire that he pleaded guilty to a DWI offense in 2003 and was also charged with an affray in 1993, though he said the charges in connection with that incident were dismissed. Baca reported raising $109,798 during this years election cycle, with $71,601 in his campaign account as of last month. Some of Bacas big contributions came from a commercial real estate group, Yates Petroleum and various GOP legislators. As for Sanchez, he has reported raising $234,913 during the 2016 election cycle and reported last month having $175,059 on hand. His donations include dozens of contributions from defense attorneys and several large donations from labor unions and environmental groups. Candidate positions on Legalizing recreational marijuana use: Sanchez Supports Baca Unclear (would support healthier alternatives) Reinstating capital punishment for certain cases: Sanchez Opposes Baca Supports Taking more money from the states largest permanent fund for early childhood programs: Sanchez Supports Baca Unclear Enacting a so-called right-to-work law: Sanchez Opposes Baca Supports Copyright 2016 Albuquerque Journal Third of three parts Boarding homes that cater to patients discharged from the state mental hospital in Las Vegas, N.M., must be licensed by the New Mexico Health Department if they provide services that qualify them as assisted living facilities. But only one boarding home in Las Vegas the Loving Care Shelter Home is licensed by the Health Department as an assisted living facility, and the department hasnt conducted a full inspection of the home since 2007. The home also doesnt have an active state Board of Pharmacy permit to store and dispense residents medications, as required by the departments rules for assisted living facilities, according to Board of Pharmacy records. The inspection of the boarding home in 2007 found several licensing compliance problems, including too many residents for its license, lack of staff training, lack of individual service plans for residents, failure to have residents medication regimens reviewed by a pharmacist, failure to have the heating system tested and lack of criminal history checks for staff. The home said at the time that it would correct the problems. A Health Department spokesman declined to respond when asked why the home hadnt been inspected for nine years. He also declined to say when it would be inspected, saying the department doesnt announce when it plans to make inspections. The operator of the home didnt respond to repeated requests to be interviewed. Although the Loving Care Shelter Home is the only boarding home classified as an assisted living facility in Las Vegas, the area has several other boarding homes that cater to patients discharged from the states only public psychiatric hospital, the Behavioral Health Institute. The Health Department says it doesnt have the authority under state law to regulate those boarding homes because they dont qualify as assisted living facilities, although some state legislators, advocates for people with mental illness and others disagree with that position. A Journal investigation found that residents of some boarding homes live in crowded conditions and may go hungry because of inadequate meals provided by operators. There also have been reports of verbal and physical abuse and financial exploitation by operators, as well as violence and drug abuse by residents. Sondra Everhart, former state long-term care ombudsman, says the state needs new regulations tailored to boarding homes because the homes generally dont provide the kind of health care services found in assisted living facilities. The advocacy group Disability Rights New Mexico also says the department is allowing some boarding homes to operate as assisted living facilities without seeking licenses. Possible rules The state Legislative Health and Human Services Committee held hearings last summer on whether or how to regulate boarding homes that arent assisted living facilities. But there is a concern among some lawmakers, advocates and guardians for people with mental illness and others that burdensome rules could force homes out of business and their residents out on the street. It is at least the third time in six years that state policymakers have considered re-regulation of boarding homes with no consensus to move forward. Concern about the lack of regulation was heightened in 2013 when two men who had been discharged from the Behavioral Health Institute died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a backyard shed without plumbing. The men paid a total of $1,100 a month to live there. After the deaths, representatives of the Health Department and other agencies held meetings over several months to consider oversight of boarding homes, but the department held to its position that it lacks the legal authority under current law to impose boarding home regulations. For years, weve seen a flurry of activity after something bad happens and then things die down. It is likely because these individuals (with mental illness) have no power and no voice, says Nancy Koenigsberg, senior attorney at the nonprofit advocacy group Disability Rights New Mexico. A study of boarding homes in 2010 requested by the Legislature and headed by the Health Department recommended the department work with home operators to develop minimum standards. The study also said the department could oversee boarding home conditions through contracts. Neither recommendation was acted on. Daily help Under Health Department regulations, a facility must be licensed by the state as an assisted living facility if it provides residents with assistance with one or more activities of daily living, which are defined as eating, dressing, oral hygiene, bathing, grooming, mobility or toilet use. Assistance means prompting or encouraging, in addition to hands-on help. Before 2000, the Health Department had specific regulations for boarding homes in Las Vegas and elsewhere around the state, and those rules prohibited the homes from accepting residents needing assistance in daily living activities. The boarding home rules set minimum statewide standards for living conditions and staffing, and required annual checks by health and fire inspectors. The department says it investigates if it receives information that a facility is operating as an assisted living facility without a license. But in a 2014 letter to a legislative committee, Lynn Gallagher, then deputy health secretary and now head of the department, said she was concerned about the agency being forced to close a boarding home that was required to seek licensure as an assisted living facility but didnt come into compliance with regulations for such facilities. If the Department shuts down a home, we must have a place for those individuals to go, Gallagher wrote. Housing needs There is widespread agreement that New Mexico has a shortage of suitable housing for people with mental illness and that housing is critical, allowing those with mental illness to focus on their health rather than where they will sleep or find their next meal. John Barnum, president of the Albuquerque affiliate of the nonprofit National Alliance on Mental Illness, told the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee at a hearing in July in Las Vegas that regulations are needed to ensure boarding homes are safe but the state shouldnt overburden operators with compliance costs and force them out of business. Disability Rights New Mexico says that fire inspections need to be required for boarding homes and that the Behavioral Health Institute and other hospitals that discharge people to boarding homes should require documentation of minimum health and safety standards. Troy Jones, before leaving this year as executive director of the state mental hospital, said the facility is in the behavioral health business and doesnt have the resources to assess living conditions in boarding homes. Ill leave that to the experts in that area, he said. Possible legislation Luciano Garcia of Las Vegas, who along with his wife works as a guardian for people with mental illness, says he favors state oversight of boarding homes but without a heavy hand. Garcia says that 90 percent of boarding homes are excellent and that the other 10 percent, despite their problems, still provide housing for people with mental illness that other homes wont take and otherwise would be homeless. Others dont share Garcias view. Cheryl Yerby, owner of an Albuquerque company that provides guardianship services, says she has about a half-dozen clients in Las Vegas with mental illness. Of the boarding homes shes seen, Yerby says, I havent found one I consider to be appropriate. Roberta Abreu, who has run a boarding home for women in Las Vegas for about 35 years, says she would close if the homes were regulated because she cant afford the cost of compliance. Theyre just going to end up in homeless shelters, Abreu says. Las Vegas Mayor Tonita Gurule-Giron declined to be interviewed for this story. Rep. Deborah Armstrong, D-Albuquerque, who previously headed the state Department of Aging and Long-Term Services under Gov. Bill Richardson, says the state needs to adopt basic safety and quality-of-care standards for boarding homes and at a minimum inspect homes in response to complaints about conditions. It would be a huge step up from what we have now, Armstrong says. She says she believes the Health Department currently has the legal authority to regulate boarding homes but says she is considering proposing legislation to make that clear. Armstrong is a member of the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee, which will consider possible boarding home legislation in November. Well be glad to make any changes they (Health Department officials) believe necessary, says committee Chairman Gerald Ortiz y Pino, an Albuquerque Democratic senator. But for such legislation to be successful, the department must want to regulate boarding homes, he says. A Health Department spokesman declined to say whether the agency would support legislation giving it the explicit authority to regulate boarding homes. Copyright 2016 Albuquerque Journal Republican nominee for President Donald Trumps recent boasts about kissing and groping women without their consent have caused many to disavow the self-described billionaire reality star turned politician, including New Mexicos college Republicans. In a statement issued over the weekend, the New Mexico College Republicans said theyre dumping Trump and instead will support Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico and the Libertarian candidate for president. The story is the same for college Republicans at the University of New Mexico, according to the groups president Ryan Ansloan. Additionally, the college students called out Trumps comments unearthed by the Washington Post on Friday. The Oval Office is no place for a vulgar and classless individual, they said in a statement released Saturday. The leader of the free world is someone that young girls and boys from all over the country look to for leadership and maturity. The American president should be a role model, a leader, not someone who would bring shame and embarrassment to our country. The statement also said Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is unfit to be president. The New Mexico College Republicans have a presence at UNM, New Mexico State University, Highlands University and Eastern New Mexico University, with about 100 members. Trumps campaign in New Mexico didnt return a reporters call by deadline. The students are just the latest to distance themselves from Trump following his comments. Republican New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez disavowed Trump over the weekend, joining a stream of conservative officials who have abandoned their partys nominee. And on Monday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he will no longer defend Trump and instead will focus on races down the ticket. Michael Aguilar, the chairman of the New Mexico College Republicans, said its never easy being a Republican in the traditional left-leaning college campus environment, but this election cycle with Trump as the standard-bearer has made it even harder to recruit. And Aguilar, 21, a recent graduate of UNM living in Las Cruces, said he hopes the groups disavowal sends a clear message. We dont agree with the hateful rhetoric Trump is known for, Aguilar said. He said committee members who made the anti-Trump decision unanimously supported the move to endorse Johnson over Trump. Some Republicans have called for Trump to step down and let his vice presidential candidate, Mike Pence, run instead. Aguilar said he also dislikes Pence and would still vote for Johnson if Pence led the ticket. Johnson, who was a Republican as New Mexicos governor from 1995 to 2003, is a better choice given his political history, Aguilar argued. To say the least, Aguilar said, he feels isolated by the current GOP. And he said hes aware that the decision to disavow Trump will anger traditionalist GOP members who would argue they should fall in line. We just feel thats not right, and were not going to do it, Aguilar said. I WISH SOMEONE would explain the legality of why someone who doesnt own property and therefore doesnt pay property taxes can vote on bond issues that, in most cases, raise my property taxes? H.M.C. NEW MEXICO needs to put a greater emphasis on education. The high school graduation rate is one of the worst in the country at (nearly) 70 percent. No wonder the state is so poor if 30 percent of the population doesnt even have a high school diploma. R.B. IT TOOK ME a long time to realize there are no impossible things. There are only things that arent possible from my current vantage point. N.S. I AM TIRED of all the donation requests for food and clothing for kids. Yes, they are important but there are needy seniors in our city. Many go without food or warm clothing. Theyve earned it. A.J.K. WHEN A NATION settles for evil leaders, it will only experience misery, loss of freedom and grief. J.C. HOW MANY passengers now take a bus from one location on Central to another location on Central? How many are expected with Albuquerque Rapid Transit? Without this basic info, ART is a boondoggle federal dollars are paid by us, so nothing is free. J.L. BRING BACK THE death penalty? If I had wanted to live in Texas, Id have moved there. Whats next? Cockfighting? S.D. IT IS A complete waste of time and money to do a Journal poll. The Democrats in the state Senate pay zero attention to the will of the people. They do what rewards them and to hell with the citizens who they consider stupid sheep existing only to pay taxes and keep them in office. R.D.H. RE: THE Albuquerque Rapid Transit how are the hapless pedestrians going to get to the median? C.C.B. OUR ECONOMIC laws havent been working, so maybe we ought to mimic some of the adjacent states laws and achieve success ourselves! Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is not working! J.C. RED LIGHT RUNNERS are the biggest threat to safety in Albuquerque! Typically, there are three to five cars running red lights in left turn lanes Wyoming and Academy, Montgomery and San Mateo, etc. Should have a bounty out for these violators. B.R. BEFORE WE ENACT new firearms laws, as many suggest, we need to enforce the laws that are on the books. But that is an unpopular approach as, unlike creating a new law, it requires effort. It is already illegal for a felon to possess a firearm, so an expanded background check law will do no good. J.E.H. I WOULD SUPPORT a constitutional amendment permitting the death penalty if it also created a right to die for the terminally ill. S.M. JUST SMELL THE air around this city. Ride on a city bus. The stench of weed is everywhere. Drug use does matter no matter the job duties. How can an employer count on someone whos buzzed half the time? Any worker needs to be focused and prepared to do his job every day, all day. D.P. SAD TO THINK that so many people prefer the use of drugs rather than holding down a good job and setting a good example for their children. D.A. WE SHOULD OUTLAW all of this panhandling at city intersections and off-ramps. These bums are probably the ones getting hit and they are always drunk. Stop giving them money, fellow citizens. F.C. NEW MEXICO wants to help Make America Great Again. S.F. RIOTS IN CITIES such as Charlotte, N.C., are the result of peoples anger expecting government to solve their problems. Nothing will be solved until people assume personal responsibility for their lives and solve their own problems. B.B. HILLARY (CLINTON) has the temperament and knowledge of how to handle Americas nuclear arsenal, if elected. She calls for America to stand with allies and honor its defense commitments. J.P. Stop and frisk causes more harm IN THE OCT. 1 issue of the Albuquerque Journal, columnist Diane Dimond advocates bringing back stop and frisk as a way to take the handcuffs off police (Done right, stop and frisk is a legal, rational policy). This is a curious proposal because Dimond admits in her column that almost 90 percent of those stopped were young black or Latino men who had committed no crime. Furthermore, she acknowledges that most of the few arrested were charged with possession of marijuana. While stop and frisk was practiced in New York City, a total of about 5 million stops were made. As Dimond has tacitly admitted, in only a tiny percentage of cases was the person stopped found to be in violation of the law, including carrying an illegal weapon. Thus, New York City police spent an enormous amount of time, which resulted in meager results. Their time could have been better spent doing other types of police work. As for Dimonds contention that stop and frisk was not declared unconstitutional, she is technically correct, because a higher court reversed a federal judges finding that it was unconstitutional; however, because of its highly disproportionate application to African Americans and Latinos, stop and frisk violates the spirit of the 14th Amendments equal protection of the law provision. At a time when relationships between minority communities and law enforcement are deeply frayed, why introduce another irritant, by which lives in those communities are being daily disrupted in a manner that will not take place in majority-white communities? LAURI E. KALLIO Albuquerque Death penalty is medieval practice (GOV.) SUSANA MARTINEZ staff has not done its homework in recommending that New Mexico reinstate the death penalty for selected crimes. The death penalty was repealed in New Mexico and in many other states, not because it was applied too loosely to crimes that did not merit it, but because our criminal justice system is fallible. We are discovering more and more cases where someone was wrongly convicted, or even wrongly executed, of a death-penalty crime. Why has this happened? Because people make mistakes. Especially when emotions are high. We all can understand that the justice system would be pressured to find the criminal in high-profile cases. We have research that shows how faulty and malleable a persons memory can be. Given all this, how does it make sense to reinstate the death penalty for cases where a child or a law enforcement officer is killed? Those are exactly the types of cases that are most likely to go off track. For the love of mankind, do not let us regress to medieval mores and practices. Even if we agree in deterrence, it is wrong to sacrifice even one innocent person in order to ensure revenge against the others. BARBARA MILLS Albuquerque Noncitizen abuse of voting is obvious MANY OPPONENTS of a voter identification requirement cite the low number of prosecutions for voter fraud as support for their position. One reason for the low number of prosecutions is that our voting system makes it virtually impossible to identify persons who are not eligible to register and vote, but do so anyway. Hence, a noncitizen can use the following process to register and vote and unless someone recognizes the person as a noncitizen and reports them, nothing is done and the potential voter fraud is uncounted. Here is how persons who are not U.S. citizens can potentially vote in New Mexico. Register by mail, online or through a third-party registration agent. The only proof of citizenship required is for the person to check the citizenship block on the registration form and sign the form. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court, in two recent decisions, stated officials may not require proof of citizenship before allowing persons who registered by one of these ways to vote. Go to an early voting location or an election day voting location on election day. Identification proof is required for first-time voters who did not register in person. A drivers license or a current utility bill are two of several acceptable forms of identification. For Albuquerque city elections, get a New Mexico drivers license. A drivers license is one way to satisfy the city of Albuquerques picture ID requirement to vote in city elections. An Albuquerque Motor Vehicle Department person told me citizens and noncitizens are issued the same type drivers license. This process can be and frequently is used by citizens. However, the potential for noncitizen abuse is rather obvious. BOB SPURLOCK Albuquerque Journal owes Gov. Johnson apology YOUR POLITICAL CARTOON of Oct. 1 leads readers to believe that Gov. (Gary) Johnson does not know the name of any foreign leader, hinting he is too out-of-touch to be president. The truth is he was asked to name a foreign leader he admired. His answer was he couldnt think of one far from what you reported. The Journal is either biased or guilty of sloppy reporting. You owe him an apology either way. WAYNE MORRIS Bernalillo Minimizing social problems continues THE ABSURD SLANT of your Friday editorial (Foreign policy failures top beauty queens size) is only matched by your incessant and destructive editorial policy of minimizing the major social, political and environmental issues of our lives to appease corporate economic interests and the poorly conceived views of those marginalized by the aforementioned corporate interests. And what is particularly contemptible is that most of your articles are cherry-picked mostly right-wing propaganda from various sources outside of our home state. PETER LAWTON Albuquerque Faulty view of nontraditonal pupils IN READING THIS editorial (NM students rise to the top, Sept. 29) implying that the number of National Merit semifinalists is as high as it is due to the number of students not at traditional public schools, I feel that your conclusion is faulty. Why do you assume that the students who became semifinalists at private, charter or home schools would not be just as smart and do just as well at a traditional public school? I would bet that any of these nontraditional students would have been semifinalists in any setting. LYNNE CLARK Bernalillo Reforms needed for election times CAN YOU BELIEVE the current status of the 2016 election? Instead of discussing the challenges we face, both candidates, their surrogates and media spend majority of the time focused on trivia, sensationalism, personal attacks, perpetuating myths, leaks/tweets of the day and who is worse. So, here is an actionable proposal for reform, given that there are only two requirements for someone to run for POTUS be born in the U.S. including U.S. bases and embassies and be over 35 years of age. So, to cut back on all this talk of taxes, charitable contributions, business acumen and birther movements, we immediately require that any one wanting to run for POTUS provide the following to the Federal Election Commission: 1. Birth certificate verifies place, date of birth and age. 2. Tax returns and summary of income, percentage paid in federal and state income taxes, charitable contribution and net worth. 3. Reason one wants to run for POTUS, a two-pager listing qualifications, expertise, experience and why they feel they should be a candidate. 4. Allow top three to five candidates to debate nationally rather than current system to break the two-party stronghold. Also, debates should be run by a non-partisan organization e.g., The League of Women Voters as it used to be rather than the two campaigns dictating the terms of the debate. 5. Media focus on issues rather than playing round the clock, useless propaganda; i.e., practice responsible journalism. What do you think? I believe these reforms would help us evaluate candidates based on factual data rather than assertions and accusations. AJOY MOONKA Albuquerque ABQ students disrespect aspen trees WE WERE HIKING in the mountains near Santa Fe on Oct. 2 and came across six high school girls. They told us they were from La Cueva High and Eldorado High and were taking senior portraits in the aspens. Unfortunately, one girl was also carving the word wonder with something underneath it very deeply into an aspen trunk. As we were passing we said, you shouldnt do that it damages the tree, to which they replied, oh, yeah. They didnt stop. It was so disappointing to see a group of young women showing such little regard for their environment. We really hope that Albuquerque high schools, particularly Eldorado and La Cueva, are teaching more of a respect for the environment than these girls demonstrated. It certainly reflects poorly on their school and their senior class. Im sure their portraits will be beautiful theyre lovely girls and they werent taking photos with the tree they defaced. DONNA SCHEER Santa Fe Lawmakers must aid cancer screens AS A CANCER survivor, Ive seen just how a diagnosis like this changes your life and the lives of those around you. Congress has an opportunity to prevent more people from hearing the words, you have cancer, simply by passing legislation to close a loophole that currently causes a financial barrier for seniors to access potentially lifesaving colonoscopies. While individuals on private health care plans have colonoscopies covered as a preventive service, a loophole exists that allows individuals on Medicare to be charged for their screening if a polyp is found and removed during the procedure. This screening is proven to save lives in fact if everyone over the age of 50 received recommended colon cancer screenings, we could prevent half of all colorectal cancer deaths. Ensuring seniors have the same access to cancer screenings as individuals on private health insurance plans is the right thing to do. Thats why I recently traveled to Washington, D.C. with more than 700 of my fellow American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network volunteers from across the country to urge Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich to support the bipartisan legislation currently in Congress and get it passed this year. Our lawmakers have a responsibility to make getting a colonoscopy just as affordable for seniors as it is for others. In doing so, they could potentially save thousands of lives, reduce suffering and reduce cancer costs in Medicare. KRIS STICHMAN Volunteer, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Albuquerque Trumps excuse about audits has no legal basis AS A RETIRED New Mexico attorney who worked exclusively in the field of taxation for more than 20 years, I have some thoughts to add to the discussion about whether Donald Trump should release his tax returns. Trump has said that he is refusing to release his federal tax returns on the advice of his attorneys, which suggests that his attorneys ability to defend him in the audit is somehow compromised by releasing his returns. As all of us who file federal income taxes know, the signature line on the return states that, Under penalty of perjury, I declare that I have examined this return and accompanying schedules and statements, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, they are true, correct and complete. Assuming that Trump is under audit, then it is also fair to assume that his attorneys will be defending the accuracy and correctness of his tax returns in their dealings with the Internal Revenue Service. Thus, there is no conflict raised by the fact that Trump is under audit that would in any way compromise his ability to defend himself in the audit proceedings that could warrant his refusal to release his returns. We must ask ourselves why Trump is unwilling to share the same information, that he has sworn to be truthful, with the American public that he is asking to entrust with their vote. JERRY RICHARDSON Santa Fe Trump is smart to keep personal finances private PAYING AS LITTLE tax as possible should be a normal objective, unless you are a wealthy Republican. I guarantee you that wealthy Democrats use every method and then some to avoid paying taxes it is just a norm. Lets get one thing straight the tradition of presidential candidates revealing their tax returns is not required and I appreciate (Donald) Trump not succumbing to that tradition. It quite simply is no ones business what a candidate pays in taxes. Besides, most people running for president are politicians who have been living off of you and me for years, so they have already figured out how to manipulate their returns to look good. My guess is the tradition was started by liberals as a tool to use against Republicans those selfish rich fat cats who do not pay their fair share. Trump is a businessman, (Hillary) Clinton is not. If you somehow think that Clinton is not using her foundation to avoid paying taxes, you are a fool. The tax code has been around a long time. It punishes productivity and success but for every tax rule on the books, there is a legitimate tax rule to avoid that tax. Business people and entrepreneurs invest their fortunes to make more money nothing wrong with that. But taking those opportunities is at times risky. The tax code allows for investment loss carry-overs as a means of recouping those losses. At the same time, successful investments will be taxed at some point at a sale or even upon your death. The tax man is there always waiting. Thats life in America. An accountant once told me, the government is your partner get used to it! The smear campaign against Trump for not paying taxes is by design and most of it is hypocritical and nonfactual for the dumbed-down voter. Same thing happened to (Mitt) Romney. Sen. (Harry) Reid fabricated lies about his tax returns no one fact-checked it, Romney did not defend himself and the results were in. Believe me, Trump will not make the same mistake and good for him. GARY HAYS Albuquerque Millionaires who avoid taxes burden middle class WHEN A MILLIONAIRE claims a billion-dollar tax loss, saying it is in the tax code that they helped write and for their employees benefits, who do they think picks up the cost of the government Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Defense, unemployment, Medicaid/care, etc. Who do they think are paying the money to keep government running. It is not the millionaires, it is the middle-class employees who faithfully pay their taxes. They are the ones who are picking up the share of the millionaires responsibilities to the country. Their greed places more burdens on the middle class, faithful workers, their workers who they sanctimoniously say they are protecting by using all the loopholes. They are not smart geniuses they are greedy, self-serving leeches on society members who feel their responsibilities are serious. DAVID PREININGER Albuquerque LAS CRUCES Las Cruces city councilors said Monday they plan to wade into a looming health care crisis affecting Dona Ana County: a shortage of doctors within fields ranging from primary care to neurology. National guidelines indicate that the county is short no less than 131 providers, said Phillip Rivera, president of Las Cruces Physician Practices, affiliated with Memorial Medical Center. Within that figure, the county is short 80 primary care, 16 psychiatry and 12 OBGYN doctors, among other categories, he told city councilors on Monday. The situation is dire, Rivera said. To me, this about the long-term future of health care in our community, he said. Also part of the problem is that the average age of doctors in the county 65 is higher than in other places, according to Rivera. While new doctors are initially attracted to the area because of several positive attributes, he said, they dont wind up staying after they realize the financial difficulty of practicing in Dona Ana County. Many new doctors leave medical school with debt ranging from $250,000 or more and must earn a certain income to repay those loans, he said. Several factors are to blame for the situation. For starters, a high percentage of patients locally more than 40 percent have Medicaid. And the reimbursement rates to doctors for Medicaid claims saw no increases for eight years though costs of providing care continued to increase and also were cut on July 1. He said Medicaid payments rarely cover actual costs of care. Secondly, Rivera said, the county is at a disadvantage compared to northern New Mexico cities when seeking reimbursement from insurers called managed care organizations for care provided to their clients. The hospital is not allowed by law to speak with other providers to find out what theyre paid from the insurer. But Rivera said the hospital does get a glimpse of other rates because its own employees do receive medical care in other cities. And those records are showing that insurance companies are paying Las Cruces doctors significantly less than their peers in other cities, such as Albuquerque, for the same types of services being provided. Additionally, Rivera highlighted several state laws that he said arent being followed by insurers in all instances, which leads to lower payment to doctors. For example, he said, a statute requires insurers to pay gross receipts tax on claims it pays to physicians, but thats not always done. To me, theres a regulation on the books that isnt being followed by MCOs, Rivera told city councilors. Another state law provision imposes deadlines on insurers to credential new doctors as acceptable providers which allows the doctor to bill the insurance company for care provided. But MCOs at times drag their feet on such approvals, Rivera said. The Sun-News left a message for the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance, responsible for enforcing provisions tied to health insurance, on Monday, but was not able to reach anyone at the office. Also, four MCOs in New Mexico could not be reached for comment by press time. Las Cruces City Councilor Jack Eakman, a retired nonprofit hospital administrator, said the physician shortage is of critical concern to the well-being of residents. Reimbursement rates must be high enough to allow the city to compete with other places to recruit and retain physicians, but theyre not, he said. Las Cruces and Dona Ana County are at a distinct disadvantage, he said at Mondays work session. Debbi Moore, president and CEO of the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, told Las Cruces city councilors that the problem is front and center on that organizations radar. She said the organization is willing to work with the city on solutions. City Councilor Ceil Levatino, whose husband is a Las Cruces doctor, told Rivera he was spot-on in his portrayal of the state of medical care in the city. She said another aspect of the problem is the lengthy wait times to get an appointment with physicians, specialists in particular. Thats causing some patients to seek care in other cities, she said. City Councilor Olga Pedroza asked Rivera why providers havent filed a lawsuit against the MCOs to seek enforcement of state laws. He said theyd prefer to work collaboratively before resorting to an adversarial stance. But he acknowledged the situation could wind up in a lawsuit, if circumstances dont improve. Several city councilors expressed support for the city taking steps to counter the physician shortage. City Councilor Gill Sorg said the city will be discussing priorities it wants to push in the 2017 state Legislature. And I would like to see this put at the top of the list, he said. Interim City Manager David Dollahon told councilors the item will appear on a future meeting agenda to become a city priority for the legislative session. Dona Ana County Commissioner Billy Garrett told city councilors hes willing to throw his support behind councilors effort to address the physician shortages. He suggested coordinating with other southern New Mexico counties because the problem is likely a regional one. Two residents, one of whom is a registered nurse, told councilors they moved to Las Cruces because of a number of positive traits in the city. However, they realized that access to health care and specialists is lacking. They plan to go to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona for any serious needs and may move out of state if the local health care landscape doesnt improve. Eakman asked that the city compile whats known as a loss run report, which shows the reimbursement paid to providers for medical claims filed by city government employees. Dollahon said city staff will compile that. Rivera said he fields many requests from doctors who are looking to join the hospital because their own clinics are struggling. Every day that goes by, folks are running for cover, looking for how to save their practices, he said. Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443, dalba@lcsun-news.com or @AlbaSoular on Twitter. 2016 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ FARMINGTON San Juan Colleges first celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day included discussion, music and a food demonstration. College officials implemented the day after students and staff called for its recognition last year. Recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day as a counter-celebration to Columbus Day has gained momentum in recent years in cities across the country. While the majority of celebrations focus on Native American culture and history, organizers at San Juan College decided to acknowledge indigenous people from throughout the Americas. This morning, students gathered in the Learning Commons Plaza for a lecture about the indigenous experience, self-identity, community and unity. Jorge Garcia, senior program manager for El Centro de la Raza at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, said cultural differences exist between the indigenous peoples of North and South Americas, but they share an understanding of life after 1492. We understand one another, and in that understanding, we have more similarities than we can think of, Garcia said. Virginia Necochea is the executive director for the Center for Social Sustainable Systems in Albuquerque. During her talk, she spoke about her experience reclaiming an indigenous self-identity. For Necochea, part of the process included using the term xicana as oppose to chicana, which she explained is a rejection of the Spanish version of the Nahuatly word. That idea, that thinking, that reflection of your identity is so important, she said. She also talked about the importance of colleges and universities offering courses in indigenous and native studies. Another item she called attention to is the protest by members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Necochea, who visited the area earlier in the year, said the gathering continues to attract tribal members from North, Central and South Americas and represents a resurgence of native peoples joining to protect the environment. That movement represents an indigenous community saying, No more,' she said. Other presentations took place inside the Native American Center, where Beclabito Chapter resident Patricia Whitehorse demonstrated how to make frybread. Whitehorse, whose granddaughter attends San Juan College, carefully explained the steps to making the bread, including how to add ingredients without measuring cups and spoons. On her table were items involved in the process, including a large bowl, flour, salt, baking powder and water. While making the dough, Whitehorse spoke about the importance of frybread and how it could be used as criteria for judging potential in-laws. If you make frybread with lots of holes in it, its not good. Especially if youre an in-law, she said with a chuckle. Todays event was organized by the Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration Committee, which formed after the college approved the day. Tsaa Henderson, student secretary for the committee, said the event accomplished its mission of providing information to students. Im sure they were educated, Henderson said, adding the committee will start planning next years event. Noel Lyn Smith covers the Navajo Nation for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4636. 2016 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at www.daily-times.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ LUMBERTON, N.C. The Latest on the recovery from Hurricane Matthew (all times local): 8:15 p.m. Florida officials say nine deaths are now blamed on Hurricane Matthew. The states tally includes two deaths in Miami-Dade County, one each in Orange, Putnam and Duval counties and four in Volusia County. The four deaths reported by Volusia officials were a woman struck by a falling tree during the storm, an elderly man later electrocuted by a downed power line, a boy who inhaled generator fumes and a worker crushed by a large log while removing trees in the storms aftermath. Matthew brushed Floridas Atlantic coastline last week, staying just offshore as it moved from the Miami area to Jacksonville. The storm has been blamed for more than 500 deaths in Haiti and 34 in the United States 18 of those in North Carolina. ___ 7:10 p.m. North Carolina officials say the death toll associated with Hurricane Matthew has risen to 18. McCrory told a briefing Tuesday afternoon that two people drowned in Robeson County. There were also drownings in Columbus and Wayne counties. Each was attributed to cars either being submerged or swept away in flood waters, but no additional details were immediately available. The U.S. death toll now stands at 33. Some 500 people are feared dead in Haiti. ___ 5:30 p.m. The White House says President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in South Carolina. The declaration provides federal aid to supplement state and local governments responding to Hurricane Matthew. Federal money is also available for projects designed to mitigate the damage from future storms. Obama also spoke with North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory on Tuesday to discuss the widespread flooding taking place. The White House says Obama continues to stress that the danger of flooding will continue over the coming days. He is urging residents in the path of the flooding to listen to local officials. FEMA is also transporting food, water and blankets to residents. More than 5.2 million meals, 3.7 million liters of water and 72,000 blankets were placed in position before the storm to distribute to residents as needed. ___ 2:30 p.m. NASAs Kennedy Space Center is back open for business. NASA is still tallying up all the damage from Hurricane Matthew mostly ripped-off roofs. Center director Robert Cabana said Tuesday that even though damage is in the millions of dollars, it would have been much worse had Matthew not weakened and veered slightly offshore Friday. As he puts it, We were definitely blessed. Among the buildings with roof and water damage: the 1960s-era beach house once used by astronauts for parties and barbecues before launch. Industrial air conditioning units were rushed in from around the country, after the roof came off the building that serves as the electric room for air conditioning throughout the main launch area. The switching equipment ended up soaked. Just over 8,300 people work at Kennedy. ___ Officials have raised the U.S. death toll from Hurricane Matthew to 30, and half of them are in North Carolina. Authorities there reported four more fatalities Tuesday. Three motorists washed away by flood waters and a man whose car was struck by a tree. Florida also raised its death count to eight from five that had previously been reported. Matthew killed more than 500 people in Haiti. ___ 11:20 a.m. Officials in Robeson County, North Carolina, have found the body of a man who was in a car that was washed away in the flooding that followed Hurricane Matthew. Emergency Management Director Stephanie Chavis said the mans body was found late Monday afternoon after an extensive search. The mans name has not been released. The death raises the storms toll to 27, including 15 deaths in North Carolina. All but one have involved motor vehicles. Chavis says officials have been working to contact people thought to be missing who are not getting phone calls because of power outages. She says shes not sure what searchers will find once the flooding is over. Chavis says state its hard to get help to everyone quickly because of flooded roads. ___ 11:15 a.m. Georgias utility companies say nearly 90,000 customers remained without power in southeast Georgia and along the states coast as crews continue working to restore electricity and other services after Hurricane Matthew. Georgia Power reports that about 75,000 of its customers remained without power Tuesday morning. Most of them were in the Savannah area. Separately, the states electric membership cooperatives said about 14,000 of its customers were without power Tuesday morning. The cooperatives, which serve many rural parts of Georgia, said its remaining outages are in the most heavily damaged areas from the storm. Other services are slowly being restored along the coast. Water officials on Tuesday announced that residents and businesses on St. Simons Island no longer need to boil water after tests were negative for contaminants. ___ 10:45 a.m. The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta has opened its tanks to more than a dozen sea turtles temporarily moved from Jekyll Island to keep them safe during Hurricane Matthew. Authorities say the storm prompted workers at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center to send 18 turtles to Atlanta over the weekend. The sea turtles are expected to remain at the aquariums animal care facility for at least a week as Georgia Sea Turtle Center staff head back to Jekyll Island to evaluate their homes and the facility. The Georgia Sea Turtle Centers website says the facility is focused on conservation and increasing awareness through sea turtle education, rehabilitation, and research programs. Its also one of the islands main tourist attractions, where visitors can watch employees care for the animals. ___ 9:35 a.m. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory says a state trooper shot and killed a man during a confrontation amid floodwaters in hart-hit Lumberton. McCrory said Tuesday that the trooper and two deputies encountered the man while going through high water in a Humvee around 8 p.m. Monday. McCrory says he has few details about what led to the shooting only saying it happened in very difficult circumstances. The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting. The agency did not immediately respond to messages seeking more information. ___ 9:20 a.m. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory says three more people have died in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. McCrory said Tuesday that the new deaths were vehicle-related. The most recent deaths occurred when a tree fell on a vehicle in Wake County. The other two were traffic accidents in Wilson and Cumberland Counties. All but 1 of the 14 deaths have been vehicle-related. The other person died in a fire that was attributed to the storm. ___ 8:20 a.m. Power is slowly flowing back to South Carolina homes left in the dark after Hurricane Matthew hammered the state. Utility company outage maps show that as of early Tuesday, just over 300,000 customers across the state remain without power. Thats down from about 400,000 late Monday and down from the total of about 850,000 customers who lost power during last weekends storm. Its expected to be several days before power is restored. ___ 7:55 a.m. Officials in North Carolina say a dam thats been in danger of a breech following Hurricane Matthew is holding, so far. Deputy Public Safety Director Scott Brooks says crews worked until about 2 a.m. Tuesday to get sandbags in place to reduce the threat at Woodlake Dam in Moore County near Vass. Brooks said crews would be out again later Tuesday morning to finish. He says the work will need to be inspected before residents can return home. Brooks says he doesnt know how quickly that inspection can occur. He says the evacuation ordered late Monday is the second in the last three days. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for the area in Moore County, as well as Hoke and Cumberland counties because of the danger a dam failure would pose. ___ 7:35 a.m. Officials are waiting for all train tracks to be checked before freight trains can resume service from Georgia to North Carolina, following Hurricane Matthew. CSX Transportation spokeswoman Kristin Seay told The Fayetteville Observer on Monday that some railroad ties and rail lines were washed out from the hurricanes torrential rains over the weekend. A statement on the CSX website says the company is working to restore rail lines, but service remains suspended from Savannah, Georgia, to Pembroke, North Carolina. ___ 3:30 a.m. Helicopters and rescue boats are expected to return to work in North Carolina looking for people stranded by flooding after the heavy rains dumped by Hurricane Matthew. Rescue teams will be back at work across eastern North Carolina on Tuesday as the deluge rolls downstream toward the Atlantic Ocean. At least three rivers were forecast to reach record levels, some not cresting until Friday. The full extent of the disaster in North Carolina is still unclear, but it appears that thousands of homes were damaged, and more are in danger of flooding. The storm killed more than 500 people in Haiti and at least 23 in the U.S. nearly half of them in North Carolina. At least three people were missing. PHILADELPHIA Charles Walton served burgers and beers at Applebees in suburban Philadelphia. Emergency-room physician Deborah Pierce rescued the citys wounded. Fox network anchor Gretchen Carlson reported on the news, and former exotic dancer Melody Schofield took on lap dances at Delilahs Den in Philadelphia. And then there are 380,000 Uber drivers. Blue collar or white collar, what all these people have in common was a disagreement with their employers, a dispute they wanted to take to court, but instead had to arbitrate. Now its likely that the U.S. Supreme Court is going to look at this growing employment trend. Proponents of arbitration, particularly management-side lawyers, say its a streamlined and less expensive dispute-resolution method. Others have a different view, describing it as a hidden system of justice that skews in favor of employers, in part by precluding class-action lawsuits. Im a fan of a streamlined process, said management-side lawyer Rick Grimaldi, a partner at Fisher & Phillips in suburban Philly. To the extent there is an opportunity to engage in an alternate means of litigation, it benefits employers and employees alike. Thats not Pierces take: After my experience, it is simply unbelievable that one could claim arbitration is a low-cost alternative to the court system, she said, testifying at a congressional hearing several years ago. I didnt know companies had this kind of power to take away your rights to a trial by jury, said Tara Zoumer, of California, who tried to sue WeWork on behalf of herself and others when she found herself making less than minimum wage, working 10 to 30 extra hours a week for $42,000 a year. Zoumer thought she was getting in on the ground floor as an associate community manager at the hip co-working space, but ended up switching beer kegs and cleaning up after parties. Because Zoumer signed an arbitration agreement when she was first hired, a judge ruled that she must arbitrate her dispute in Washington, an expensive airplane ticket away. What were talking about is a private court system where employers avoid being held accountable for large-scale labor issues, she said. Zoumer has filed a complaint about WeWorks arbitration policy with the National Labor Relations Board. WeWork global spokeswoman Jennifer Skyler sent a statement: Arbitration is only one part of our dispute resolution program that aims to resolve all disputes fairly and at no cost to our employees. Attorneys on both sides say a Supreme Court review is inevitable, particularly the part about precluding class actions. Our clients are ready to get this before the Supreme Court, said John DiNome, a partner at Reed Smith LLP. Everyones on pins and needles, not knowing how to approach employment agreements because of the uncertainty in the law. On the employee side, as an employment-right class-action lawyer, the possible elimination of arbitration is the most important issue in employment law, said Peter Winebrake, at Winebrake & Santillo LLC outside Philadelphia. The issues legal history stems from a class-action consumer lawsuit filed by cellphone customers disputing their bill with AT&T Mobility. AT&T said their contract required them to arbitrate and precluded any class action. In 2011, the Supreme Court agreed, citing the Federal Arbitration Act. An increase in employment arbitration agreements followed, and between 2010 and 2014, the courts turned away 470 worker lawsuits, sending them to arbitration. That compares with 149 moved between 2005 and 2009 a 215 percent increase, according to a New York Times analysis of federal court dockets. As the trend was building, the National Labor Relations Board stepped in, saying arbitration agreements banning class actions violate federal law guaranteeing the rights of workers union or not to band together for protected concerted activity to improve their pay or working conditions. Several circuit courts agreed, setting up a potential Supreme Court faceoff, pitting the Federal Arbitration Act against the National Labor Relations Act. In September, the NLRB, along with Ernst & Young and Epic Systems Corp., two employers involved in key appellate cases, asked the court to review the issues. It will be too late for Charles Walton, the ex-waiter at the suburban Applebees run by the Rose Group, a restaurant company. Walton and others had sued, saying the Rose Groups payment procedures often meant they earned less than the minimum wage. Rose Group countered, saying that Walton shouldnt be in court. It pointed to an arbitration agreement Walton signed when hired. U.S. District Judge Berle Schiller reluctantly agreed, writing, Applebees workers must chew on a distasteful dilemma give up certain rights or give up the job. Rose Group declined to comment. Walton lost the job and the arbitration. Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson fared better, by about $20 million. She filed a lawsuit accusing Roger Ailes, then Fox News chairman, of sexual harassment, which he denied. Because she had signed an arbitration agreement, the court sent the case to arbitration. The dispute was settled Sept. 6 for a reported $20 million. Exotic dancer Melody Schofields case is now before an arbitrator, 20 months after she filed her lawsuit. In her suit, she complained that on slow nights, by the time she paid an $85 house fee for every night on the job, tipping the disc jockey, the bouncer, and the house mom who runs the dressing room, she wasnt even making minimum wage, let alone overtime. I think its really unfair that they werent compensating us for our time, Schofield said. The potential class of exotic dancers in Schofields case is relatively small, but in another case, on Sept. 7, a federal appeals court in California handed Uber a victory in a ruling that affects 380,000 Uber drivers. The court ruled that Uber drivers who sued as a class in a background-check case must arbitrate their disputes individually. In Philadelphia, however, a small group of Uber Black limousine drivers found a way to pursue their class-action lawsuit. Their attorney, Jeremy Abay, explained: Uber often updates its ride-sharing app and when it does, it frequently also amends its driver agreements. This time, a driver noticed that Uber Black drivers could opt out of the arbitration agreements if they contacted the company within 30 days. In Philadelphia, the drivers quickly spread the word and we ended up getting 244 drivers to opt out, Abay said. Now were the only one to have survived that issue. On July 21, U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson in Philadelphia denied Ubers motion to force the case into arbitration. Most of us dont even know what arbitration is, said Uber Black driver Ali Razak, president of the Philadelphia Limousine Association, one of those who opted out of arbitration. Beyond the issues in each case, both sides see darker forces at work. In class-action suits, the employee plaintiffs get relatively little, while the attorneys rake in big fees, the management-side attorneys said. No wonder plaintiffs lawyers dont want that type of litigation to go away. Class actions provide economies of scale, allowing the little guy to stand against big corporations, plaintiffs lawyers say. Even the case involving Deborah Pierce, who, as a doctor, earns a higher wage, cost her lawyers $500,000. (She lost the arbitration with a physicians practice group.) Damages in individual cases involving waiters and janitors are too small to make it worth the fight, plaintiffs lawyers say, and the employers know it. The great equalizer is the right to go to court, said Anthony Marchetti, a plaintiffs lawyer representing a class of former Robert Half International staffing managers in an arbitration/class-action case. Anyone, he said, can file a lawsuit and take on the biggest companies and the most powerful of the most powerful. 2016 The Philadelphia Inquirer Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.philly.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. SAN ANTONIO Prosecutors say a Bandidos biker gang leader has pleaded guilty to racketeering, drug trafficking and extortion charges in Texas and faces up to life in federal prison. Sergeant-at-arms Justin Cole Forster remains in custody in San Antonio pending sentencing next year. A gunfight in May 2015 during a bikers meeting in Waco left nine people dead and led to more than 170 arrests. Prosecutors in January announced Forster was among several Bandidos leaders indicted and accused of deadly violence against a rival gang since 2013. Forster pleaded guilty Friday to four counts of a superseding indictment. Prosecutors say the investigation involved conspiracy to participate in murder, attempted murder, robbery, extortion, racketeering and drug trafficking. Three other Bandidos leaders or members charged in the superseding indictment await trial. A powerful surveillance program that police used for tracking racially charged protests in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, relied on special feeds of user data provided by Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, according to an ACLU blog post published Tuesday. The companies reportedly provided the data often including the locations of users to Geofeedia, a Chicago-based company that says it analyzes social media posts to deliver surveillance information to 500 law enforcement agencies. The social media companies sought to restrict Geofeedias access to the streams of user data in recent weeks after the ACLU discovered them and alerted the companies about looming public exposure. The popularity of Geofeedia and similar programs highlights how the rise of social media has given governments worldwide powerful new ways to monitor crime and civil unrest. Authorities often target such surveillance at minority groups or others seeking to publicly air political grievances, potentially chilling free speech, said the ACLUs California affiliate, which unearthed Geofeedias relationship with social media companies through a public records request of dozens of law enforcement agencies. These platforms need to be doing more to protect the free speech rights of activists of color and stop facilitating their surveillance by police, said Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties policy director for the ACLU of California. The ACLU shouldnt have to tell Facebook or Twitter what their own developers are doing. The companies need to enact strong public policies and robust auditing procedures to ensure their platforms arent being used for discriminatory surveillance. Geofeedia did not have immediate comment when contacted Tuesday. Twitter tweeted in a statement, Based on information in the @ACLUs report, we are immediately suspending @Geofeedias commercial access to Twitter data. Facebook, which owns Instagram, said in a statement: This developer only had access to data that people chose to make public. Its access was subject to the limitations in our Platform Policy, which outlines what we expect from developers that receive data using the Facebook Platform. If a developer uses our [user data] in a way that has not been authorized, we will take swift action to stop them and we will end our relationship altogether if necessary. Most users of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram know the social media services as platforms for sharing thoughts or images with friends. But companies such as Geofeedia and others collect and analyze social media data to help their own customers track emerging online trends. Specialized data streams from social media companies can provide access to faster, more exhaustive collections of posts than otherwise are publicly available. Civil libertarians have grown increasingly concerned that the rising power of government surveillance technology is prompting a spike in the monitoring of African Americans and other minority groups through video surveillance, social media and the tracking of cellphone calls. Police spying on social media has a disproportionate impact on black people, said Malkia Cyril, the executive director of the Center for Media Justice, an Oakland-based activist group. Theres a movement afoot to ensure that black lives matter. That is being spied upon. That is being surveilled. Before the social media companies limited access, Geofeedia was using specialized data streams for police surveillance. In one email discovered by the ACLU, a company employee boasted that it had a confidential legally binding agreement with Facebook for data. Another email said users of Geofeedia could pull private information for Instagram and Twitters. Neither claim could be independently verified. Because social media posts increasingly provide location information from users smartphones, surveillance systems can map out areas of looming unrest or political activism. Geofeedia documents made public by the ACLU made references to tracking protests in Baltimore in 2015 after the death of a black man, Freddie Gray, while in police custody and also to protests in Ferguson in 2014 after the police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram make most of their money selling advertising, but all have side businesses selling outsiders access to their rich data streams about users. For example, through software known as an API, developers have been able to use Facebook to get access to a persons friend list, birthday, profile picture, education history, relationship status, and political affiliation if a persons Facebook profile and location are public. Twitter also sells its own so-called data firehose, which includes the contents of tweets, and demographic information like gender and interests, the cellular network users and geolocation, by latitude and longitude coordinates, if the user tags it. Customers include financial firms that monitor business trends, retailers looking for product mentions, organizations like the Red Cross, which use the data to monitor crises, and law enforcement. According to the documents obtained by the ACLU, Facebook provided Geofeedia with access to a data feed that enabled the surveillance startup to monitor topics trending from public posts about events, such as riots or protests. Twitter did not provide access to the full firehose, but offered Geofeedia a database to search public tweets. Instagram provided access to the Instagram API, which included photos posted publicly as well as location information if the users tagged their pictures. News stories about Geofeedia, which was founded in 2011, first emerged last month, when the Daily Dot website reported that local police in Denver had spent $30,000 on online surveillance tools. Shortly after, the ACLU of California published public records showing that police departments across the state were rapidly acquiring social media monitoring software to monitor activists. The ACLU said the social media companies had sought to close Geofeedias access to the special data feeds. Facebook and Instagram closed off Geofeedias access on Sept. 19. Twitter imposed contractual limits in an attempt to block Geofeedia from using posts for surveillance. Twitter also sent a cease and desist letter on Monday to Geofeedia, the ACLU said. On Tuesday, Twitter announced it would block the feed to Geofeedia altogether. The civil liberties group said that social media companies should go farther in implementing public policies and other restrictions to keep their posts from being used for government surveillance. Without specialized data feeds, outside companies could still implement programs to scrape social media data as it becomes publicly available, but that approach would be less effective and also would violate the terms of service for some companies. In addition to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the Geofeedia documents found by the ACLU show that the company also analyzes data from Vine and Periscope, as well as VK and Weibo, popular social media services in Russia and China, respectively. It is not clear whether any of those companies provide special data feeds to Geofeedia. surveillance-1stld-writethru Hillary Clintons name is on the ballot, but the 2016 race so far has been just as much a contest between Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Never in modern times has a retiring incumbent been so central to a presidential campaign, a phenomenon embraced by a nominee who initially kept her distance. Crowds sometimes cheer four more years when Obama or his wife, Michelle, headline rallies for Clinton. The outsize role Obama is playing reflects a strategic choice by Clinton to tap an election-year surge in his popularity; the president enjoys 53 percent job approval in the latest Gallup Poll. The Clinton campaign knows that she simply cant get to the White House unless she can appeal to a coalition she has struggled to excite the African-American, Hispanic, and younger voters who delivered Obama the presidency, said a Democrat close to the campaign and to the Obama administration. Barack Obama has essentially put Hillary Clinton on his back and is trying to carry her across the finish line metaphorically, said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who has polled presidential elections since 1964. There is no president that has put his prestige and his power behind a candidate more than Barack Obama, and if Hillary Clinton is successful she will owe it to Barack Obama more than any candidate I have ever known. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest declared Obama the cleanup hitter for Clinton at a recent news briefing. In that role, Obama plans to devote one to two days each week to campaign for her through the election. He heads to North Carolina on Tuesday looking to run up the score on Trump, whose campaign is reeling after last weeks release of a 2005 video tape in which he made vulgar comments about women a development that led many GOP allies to desert him. More than a year ago, long before Trump was considered a viable nominee, Obama and his advisers already were planning an unprecedented push for Clinton, seeing the election of a Democratic successor as critical to securing his policy achievements. But Trumps emergence has intensified that fervor, said the Democrat close to the administration who spoke on condition of anonymity. Obama has an antipathy toward Trump that runs deeper than politics, the Democrat said. The president and his advisers consider Trump antithetical to core Obama values such as a commitment to racial and cultural diversity, a reliance on reasoned decision-making and a willingness to work within global norms. Following the release of the decade-old video in which Trump boasted about groping women, Obama said the comments offer additional evidence of why he isnt fit for office. It tells you that hes insecure enough that he pumps himself up by putting other people down, Obama said at an Oct. 9 fundraiser in Chicago. It tells you he doesnt care much for the basic values of civility or respect. The disdain between the men is evident. Trump led the birther movement that falsely questioned Obamas nationality early in his presidency, and Obama responded by publicly ridiculing the billionaire at the 2011 White House Correspondents Association Dinner. During the most recent debate, Trump railed against Obamas foreign policy, health-care program, and handling of racial unrest, repeatedly linking Clinton to the president. This country cannot take another four years of Barack Obama, and thats what youre getting with her, Trump said. The 2016 race has been roiled by protests over police shootings of black men, the fight over the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord, anxiety over immigration, economic angst among working-class whites and fears of Islamic State-inspired terrorism at home. Trump and Obama personify those social tensions in the campaign. The starkly different ways Americans interpret those developments are embodied in North Carolina, a melting pot of southern white conservatives, a sizable black population, and some of the nations most prestigious universities. Its largest city, Charlotte, has been gripped by protests following a deadly police shooting last month. Tension between police and the communities they serve will likely be a central theme of a town hall even Obama will attend in Greensboro. The event is hosted by ESPNs The Undefeated, a website devoted to the intersection of black culture and sports, on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University. Hell later attend a rally for Clinton. Its hard to think of a time when not only the presidents legacy but the president himself is as central to the campaign, said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University. Trump talks about Crooked Hillary,' he said. But his real gripe is not only what the Obama presidency stood for but everything Obama himself stands for. Traditionally, the presidential nominee emerges as party leader by the summer convention. Yet the most durable moments of Julys Democratic convention were speeches by First Lady Michelle Obama and the Muslim parents of a U.S. soldier killed in action. Clinton spent much of August out of the public eye raising money, and was sidelined for several days last month by pneumonia. Any president on the campaign trail is likely to overshadow any candidate, especially when they have the campaign skills of Barack Obama, said Democratic political consultant Steve McMahon. Thats not to take anything away from Hillary Clinton; hes an extraordinary and remarkable campaigner. Few nominees have begun their campaigns as widely recognized as Clinton, a former first lady, senator from New York, 2008 presidential candidate and secretary of state. Yet Clinton acknowledges her weakness in generating excitement on the campaign trail, and her instinct for privacy further handicaps her connection with voters. When it comes to public service, the service part has always been easier for me than the public part, Clinton said in Philadelphia last month. I confess I dont enjoy doing some of the things that come naturally to most politicians like talking about myself. While an incumbent president always wields influence in the contest to succeed him, Obama has had an unusually forceful presence. His role in the campaign will include rallies, fundraising and television, radio and social media appearances. The first lady already has appeared in a television ad. The appearances are directed and organized by the Clinton campaign, White House aides said. Obamas predecessor, George W. Bush, by comparison was so diminished in his final year that he left public response to the worst financial crisis since 1929 to his treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, and the two presidential candidates, Obama and Republican nominee John McCain. Bush didnt even attend the 2008 Republican convention. Ronald Reagan in 1988 and Bill Clinton in 2000 kept similarly low profiles in the campaigns of their vice presidents, George H.W. Bush and Al Gore. Though Gore distanced himself from Clinton because of the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, Bill Clinton and many Democratic strategists, including some Obama advisers, think that may have cost Gore the election. While Obamas popularity has been rising, the nominees are more despised than admired: only 43 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Clinton and 36 percent of Trump, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls conducted Sept. 27 through Oct. 9. Obamas criticism of Trump has been a continuing thread in his speeches this year, spanning remarks in Springfield in February on the U.S. political discourse to his final address to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 20, in which Obama warned that a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself. Obama is becoming more vehement as the election approaches. Should African Americans fail to turn out to support Clinton in large numbers, he told the Congressional Black Caucus this month, he would consider it a personal insult an insult to my legacy. Justin Sink contributed. campaign-obama Khloe Kardashian told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres that her sister Kim Kardashian is not doing that well after being robbed at gunpoint during Paris Fashion Week. Its incredibly traumatic what happened to her, but our family is super close and great and well get through it together, and we do appreciate all your guys love and support and it will take time, Khloe said. The interview, set to air on Ellen Tuesday, makes Khloe the first member of her family to directly address the Oct. 2 robbery. Kim has not made any public statements. Her spokeswoman told CNN that the reality star was badly shaken, but physically unarmed after thieves stole more than $10 million worth of jewelry. Police officials said Kim was tied up and locked in a bathroom in her discreet luxury apartment during the ordeal. Family matriarch Kris Jenner declared in an Instagram post Monday that she is grateful for my family, who I love more than words can explain. Kim has been uncharacteristically silent on social media, which experts have estimated could cause her to lose more than $1 million a month in revenue from Instagram ads and personal, branded apps including her personalized emoji (Kimoji) and her wildly popular game, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. DeGeneres asked Khloe if the family was collectively scaling back on social media. Well, I think its just a wake-up call to make a lot of life adjustments. But this is a really serious matter, and for Kim, I think thats really personal as to when that emotional terror you could move on from that, Khloe said. I think for us its all a wake-up call for all of us, but definitely just to make sure our sisters OK. Were a family and well do this together and I think it is important to maybe make those adjustments and to pull back a little bit I think is always smart, she added. Kevin Hart, a guest host on Tuesdays episode, also chimed in: I think thats the dope thing about the Kardashian family is that you guys do stick together. So in a situation like this is something thats gonna bring you guys closer and youll be able to make adjustments accordingly and move on, the comedian said. Khloe also discussed the ongoing drama between her brother Rob and his fiancee Blac Chyna, who currently star in their own E! reality show. kardashian WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Tuesday suggested that racial bias in the jury room may trump the centuries-old legal principle of secrecy in jury deliberations. The justices heard an appeal from an immigrant in Colorado who was convicted by a jury on which one man reportedly tied the defendants guilt to his Hispanic heritage. The Supreme Court has resisted the call in earlier cases to examine what was said in the jury room. But several justices appeared persuaded that allegations of racial bias raised by defendant Miguel Angel Pena Rodriguez justify piercing the sanctity of jury deliberations when the constitutional right to a fair trial is at stake. Justice Stephen Breyer said questioning jurors in such cases may be needed to create a jury system that is seen as fair. Chief Justice John Roberts worried that the door to the jury room might be opened too wide and wondered whether sex, religious and other discrimination also should be investigated. Justice Samuel Alito said a jurys decision to reach a verdict by flipping a coin was just as unfair. Jeffrey Fisher, representing Pena Rodriguez, said the court could limit its opinion to race, for now. The reason why is this court has said time and again that race is different, Fisher said. He said 18 states allow racial bias claims to be investigated. The dispute arose after a jury convicted Pena Rodriguez of inappropriately touching teenage girls. Two jurors said that a third determined that he was guilty because Pena Rodriguez is Mexican, and Mexican men take whatever they want. No other juror was alleged to have said anything improper and all 12 jurors, including the two who reported the inappropriate comments, voted to convict him. Lawyers for Colorado and the Obama administration acknowledged that the statements attributed to the juror identified only as H.C. were indefensible. But they told the court Tuesday that jury secrecy is crucial to the judicial system and said there are better ways to address racial bias on juries, including closer screening of potential jurors. Jurors also could be encouraged to report misconduct during deliberations before a verdict is reached, they said. A decision in Pena Rodriguez v. Colorado, 15-606, is expected by spring. He thought she was dead. David Martinez had heard his co-worker fall as his group of subway workers walked off the underground tracks in New York City on Friday afternoon. He saw Monique Brathwaite lying across the third rail that powers the No. 1 train under West 145th Street in Harlem with 600 volts of electricity. I was suspecting the worst, said Martinez, 54, who lives in Queens. There was smoke coming out of her hair. I said, Shes dead. Martinez, who has worked for the subway system for 16 years, said he thought of her children. He moved closer to her. I saw her move. A co-worker called dispatch to shut off the power and Martinez, never trained in CPR, recalled reading an article in July in The Washington Post about the Districtof Columbias fire chiefs efforts to train everyday citizens in a new version of saving people from heart attacks. Its called Hands-Only CPR, which eliminates mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and emphasizes chest compressions to quickly pump blood to an oxygen-deprived brain. It can be quickly taught and easy to remember. The fire chiefs goal is to train everyone in the District. He reached 10,000 on Oct. 6. Martinez said he learned by reading the article on his Kindle and by watching a video produced by the American Heart Association that accompanied the story on the Internet. People are told to pump chests to the beat of the song Stayin Alive, because its 100-to-120 beats per minute is an ideal pace. Martinez remembered the important part, if not the lyrics. I kept singing Keep Alive, Keep Alive, he said. It took several minutes for New York firefighters to reach Brathwaite, a 35-year-old single mother of three who took the job as signal maintainer seven months ago. Its regarded as among the most dangerous positions in the transit administration; the union saidshe took the job because it provided extra money for her family. By the time firefighters got there, Martinez said, Brathwaite was breathing. She had a convulsion and she opened her eyes, he said. Brathwaite was rushed to Harlem Hospital Center where leaders of her labor group, Transport Workers Union Local 100, said she was placed in a medically induced coma. She was taken out of the coma Monday and was alert and talking, said the unions spokesman, Pete Donohue. John Samuelsen, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, said that subway workers in New York, unlike in most other cities, perform routine maintenance in underground tunnels while trains are running and the electrified third rails are activated. Typically, one worker dies each year in the system, he said. Ms. Brathwaite was very lucky, he said. Its very rare that an individual has an accident, comes in contact with the third rail, and lives to tell the tale. A GoFundMe page set up to help support her children and pay bills said she has nerve damage in her right hand and suffered third-degree burns on the left side of her body and both arms. She could be hospitalized for months. She has four sons ages 7, 12, 16 and 19 and is putting the oldest through college. Her 19-year-old son, Jeremiah McCoy, said he has not yet talked to Martinez but learned from his mother about her co-workers heroics. She didnt remember anything, McCoy said. She doesnt know how she fell. She was told a man saved her live and gave her CPR. McCoy said his mother left her old job at the post office to work in the subway system to better provide for her family. I didnt realize her job was this high risk, McCoy said. I dont think my mom wanted us to be too concerned. Martinez, who suffered a back injury during the rescue, has children of his own as well. A 4-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son live with relatives in the Dominican Republic; two other sons, ages 21 and 23, live in New York. He and Brathwaite the savior and the saved saw each other again for the first time at the hospital on Monday. She was really grateful, Martinez said. She told me, Because of you, Im alive. I really feel good. Its a miracle shes alive. subway-cpr SANTA FE Gov. Susana Martinez has appointed Matt Geisel, an economic development official for the city of Rio Rancho, as the Cabinet secretary of the state Economic Development Department. Geisel has also served on the New Mexico Economic Development Partnership, the marketing arm of the EDD, and previously traveled on trade missions headed up by the governor in that capacity, according to the Governors Office. Matt knows first-hand what it takes to bring new jobs and investment to our state, Martinez said in a statement. He was with me when we first met with executives from Facebook in the Bay Area; hes a proven leader who will continue to spread the message that New Mexico is open for business. However, Geisel will also take over the departments reins at a time of stark challenges. New Mexico has lagged behind neighboring states in terms of job creation in recent years, and the Economic Development Department like many other state agencies is facing a 5.5 percent budget cut under legislation passed in a special legislative session that ended last week. In a statement released today, Geisel indicated he plans to follow many of the same guiding policies set by the agencys previous secretary. Im looking forward to continuing efforts to diversify New Mexicos economy, Geisel said. By building on our business-friendly environment through balanced and responsible regulations, lower taxes and targeted incentives, well be able to continue creating more quality jobs for New Mexicans. Former EDD Secretary Jon Barela, who held the position for more than 5 1/2 years, stepped down from the job last month to become CEO of the Borderplex Alliance, a regional economic development organization. LAS CRUCES Republican Congressman Steve Pearce faces off tonight against Democratic challenger Merrie Lee Soules in the first debate for the second congressional district contest. Pearce, the conservative former owner of an oilfield services firm in Hobbs, has held the southern New Mexico district for 12 years in two separate stints. Soules, a former General Motors executive of 30 years and Las Cruces resident, is a progressive with an uphill battle in a district that has been a longtime Republican stronghold. The sprawling district stretches from the rural Bootheel in the southwest, to the southeastern oil and gas patch, north to Cibola, Valencia and Guadalupe counties. It is a majority Hispanic district, with the largest eligible Latino voter population of the states three congressional districts, according to Gabe Sanchez, University of New Mexico professor of political science and research director of polling firm Latino Decisions. But turnout among Hispanic voters who are more likely to lean Democrat has historically been low in the district, Sanchez said. The New Mexico League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, is hosting the debate, which will cover six topics: education, the economy, health care, immigration, veterans issues and the environment. Each candidate will have two minutes for an opening statement and two minutes to speak on each topic; the audience will have a chance to ask questions. In a statement, LULAC state director Paul Martinez said, The purpose of this forum is to provide all voters of Dona Ana County information and education on their choices of each candidate and their respective positions on public policies that impact our lives daily. This forum will give voters a chance to see why we believe Merrie Lee Soules is the better representative for the second congressional district, said campaign spokesman Rene Romo, flagging her support for immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for qualifying undocumented immigrants and investments in the states renewable energy resources. Pearce spokeswoman Megan Wells said the congressman plans to focus on ways to improve our economy and schools. The debate will be held 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Dream Center at 1400 N. 6th Street in Las Cruces. The Soules camp will stream the debate live online here. SUNIZONA, Ariz. Authorities in southeastern Arizona say a man has been arrested in the shootings of two neighbors a woman who was killed and her husband who was wounded. The Cochise County Sheriffs Office says 48-year-old Jesse Lee Steel of Sunizona was arrested on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, burglary and entering a residence with intent to assault. Sheriffs spokeswoman Carol Capas says Steel was arrested at a residence in the vicinity after 59-year-old Sam Coleman reported that he and his wife, 58-year-old Elizabeth Coleman had been shot at their home Monday. Capas says investigators havent determined a possible motive and that theres no indication that Steel has an attorney who could comment on the allegations. Sam Coleman was hospitalized in stable condition after undergoing surgery. FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. A Navajo Nation Council panel is unanimously opposing a proposed tramway and other tourism development at the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers in the Grand Canyon. The five members on the Law and Order Committee said during a hearing at Twin Arrows Casino Resort in Flagstaff that money for the Grand Canyon Escalade project would be best spent elsewhere, reported The Arizona Daily Sun (http://bit.ly/2d5hWZz ). About 100 supporters and critics of the project attended the meeting, the first of four to be held on the topic. Members voted against legislation for a master development agreement that would set aside $65 million from the Navajo Nation, among other commitments. If we start establishing these particular projects across Navajo Nation how are we going to be in five years? In 10 years? said Navajo Council Delegate Kee Allen Begay Jr. Why cant we invest back in our own culture, our traditional way of life? The legislation goes to the full council regardless of whether the committees approve it. Approval requires two-thirds of the tribal council. The project has been pitched as a way to create jobs. It would be along Grand Canyon National Parks eastern edge. I think theres a lot of unknown, said Lamar Whitmar, managing partner for project developer Confluence Partners LLC. They (councilmembers) expressed they dont know a lot about the project and they need to know more so well be meeting with as many of them as we can so that we can resolve these issues. Opponents have sent the Office of Legislative Services 66,291 negative comments on the proposal, while supporters have tallied 131. Save the Confluence is a group that has collected thousands of signatures against the legislation. Were excited to know our elected officials are listening and willing to speak up for the families, for the people and for the culture, said Save the Confluence member Renae Yellowhorse after the committee meeting. Were not talking about extracting natural resources from the canyon, said supporter Larry Hanks, who lives in the area without running water or electricity. Were not talking about desecrating the canyon. Were creating jobs and opportunities. ___ Information from: Arizona Daily Sun, http://www.azdailysun.com/ PARIS The British government announced Monday that the U.K. will begin accepting eligible children from the Calais migrant camp in northern France within a week at the most. Speaking in Parliament on Monday evening, Home Secretary Amber Rudd told British lawmakers that she expects aid organizations to give her a list of the qualified children stranded in Calais seeking to enter Britain in the coming days. Some have been stranded for over a year; others have since disappeared. Rudds deadline follows the French governments recent pledge to demolish what is known as Calais Jungle camp before the end of 2016. Although no details have been provided, the leaders of humanitarian organizations said that the planned demolitions could begin as early as Monday morning. When the French government demolished a crowded portion of the Jungle earlier this year, 129 unaccompanied children vanished, according to census figures collected by Help Refugees, a British aid organization. There is no official census of the Jungles population. Charlotte Morris, an official at Safe Passage UK, the group drafting Rudds list, said that she and her colleagues are working to ensure that the same does not happen this time. Already, Morris added, the group has lost contact with 50 of the 178 children in Calais with family in Britain that they had reported to the Home Office in August. We know of one for sure thats definitely disappeared, Morris said. It just goes to show you what kind of danger these kids are in. During this next round of demolitions, she said, Safe Passage will provide a number of children in the Jungle with emergency packs containing cellphones, chargers and food. The transfers are likely to take place via Eurostar or bus. Clare Moseley, the leader of Care4Calais, another aid organization in the Jungle, doubted the British governments promise to ferry children across the English Channel so quickly. Theres no way theyre going to bring these children over in a couple days, she said, insisting that only questions remains. In terms of the children, where are they going to put them in the meantime? Where will they be in the demolition? Will they be safe? Safeguarded? In Britain and France, the issue of unaccompanied children mostly from Afghanistan and Sudan living in the squalor of a sprawling migrant camp between two of Europes wealthiest capitals has become one of the most widely denounced aspects of Europes historic migration crisis. There are roughly 85,000 eligible children across Europe, only 1,000 of whom are in Calais, according to Morris. For some, the situation has eerie overtones of World War II. Before the Nazi Holocaust, Britain welcomed some 10,000 Jewish children from Central Europe in the famous Kindertransports a humanitarian legacy that British survivors have sought to rekindle even amid the anti-immigrant rhetoric and spike in hate crimes that have followed the Brexit vote. Earlier this year, one Kindertransport survivor, Alf Dubs, 84, a member of Britains House of Lords, successfully sponsored an amendment to an immigration bill to bring 3,000 unaccompanied children to Britain in a similar fashion. But since his amendment passed in May, only about 50 such children have actually crossed the English Channel. On Monday, Rudd blamed French bureaucracy for the delay. Meanwhile, Bernard Cazeneuve, Frances interior minister, appealed to Dubs and his supporters. As he told Frances RTL radio before meeting in London with Rudd, I solemnly ask Britain to live up to its moral duty. In an interview, Dubs said he heard nothing regarding the logistics to follow the upcoming transfers. Speaking from experience, he said, the important thing to get right is a safe family environment. A lot of them dont show it, but they are quite shocked, he added, referring to a recent visit to the Jungle. They need a sympathetic environment in which they can feel safe and secure, and to recover from the trauma theyve suffered. britain-migrants CHEYENNE, Wyo. A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday against Wyoming officials who sought to require the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to round up wild horses from overpopulated herds, a decision praised by horse advocates as potentially precedent-setting for managing the animals across the West. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld a ruling last year that the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act doesnt mandate roundup of overpopulated wild horses. Wild horse advocacy groups including the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign hailed the latest decision. The groups attorney, Bill Eubanks, said the ruling could affect similar federal cases originating in Utah and Nevada. This is, in our view, pretty important, Eubanks said. There are two other pending cases in the American West right now that raise exactly the same legal issue. The appeals court found that Wyomings wild horses arent necessarily overpopulated because the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act doesnt clearly define at what point they would be, Eubanks said. Even so, Eubanks said, the Bureau of Land Management has other options besides roundups to protect rangeland health, including giving them fertility-control drugs and reducing cattle grazing. Wild horse numbers exceed federal population goals in several areas across the West. The animals compete with cattle and other livestock for forage, especially around watering holes where animals of every sort congregate, ranchers say. Each year, the Bureau of Land Management rounds up thousands in a never-ending attempt to control their numbers. The agency adopts many out to the public and sends others to live out their days on sanctuaries. Wild horse advocates object to roundups as cruel and unnecessary. Wyoming filed its lawsuit against the Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management in 2014, saying too many wild horses can damage rangelands and that federal law requires land managers to curtail their numbers. The wild horse groups and federal government didnt dispute Wyomings claim that wild horse numbers topped the Bureau of Land Managements population objectives in seven of the 16 federal wild-horse management areas in the state. As of March, wild horse numbers had exceeded population objectives in 15 of the 16 areas, Gov. Matt Mead said in a statement. Wyoming wildlife, including wild horses, are treasured assets. Mismanagement adversely affects all species and the rangelands necessary for their health and survival, Mead said. Mead said he was disappointed by the ruling and had asked Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael to review the states options. Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Kristen Lenhardt declined to comment on the ruling, citing agency policy not to discuss litigation. The Bureau of Land Management will continue to manage Wyomings wild horses for the health of both the horses and rangelands, she said in statement. ___ Follow Mead Gruver at https://twitter.com/meadgruver CAMP VERDE, Ariz. Authorities say a Phoenix man sought in connection with a fatal shooting at a convenience store in Yavapai County has been taken into custody in Pinal County. The Camp Verde Marshals Office says the Phoenix Police Departments fugitive apprehension detail apprehended 27-year-old Levi Jones in San Tan Valley on Tuesday. The Marshals Office says Jones was sought in the shooting early Monday morning of 31-year-old John Warren Kyle Silva of Camp Verde. Sheriffs Commander Jacquelyn says MacConnnell says Jones was at the store with a woman who was involved in an altercation with a woman who was with Silva. KABUL Gunmen opened fire on Shiite worshipers at a shrine in the Afghan capital Tuesday, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than 40 others during events marking one of the holiest days for Shiite Muslims, authorities reported. Afghanistans Interior Ministry, which issued the death toll, gave few immediate details about how the attack unfolded. But the ministrys spokesman, Sediq Siddiqui, said the last attacker has been gunned down by about 9:30 p.m. and described the situation as under control. Earlier, police officials said that one attacker had taken an unknown number of hostages but that security forces had evacuated most people from the Sakhi shrine. The domed hillside sanctuary is one of the most popular places for Shiites to gather on holidays, and the surrounding area was filled with people. At least 43 people were wounded, the Health Ministry reported. Police said that at least three attackers were involved, wearing police or military uniforms, and that they may have set off explosions before the gunfire. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. A video posted on social media showed the shrines massive tiled dome illuminated by bursts of gunfire, with sounds of screams and wailing in the background. Officials had warned that violence could erupt on Wednesday, the climactic final day of the month of Muharram, when Shiite men ritually flagellate themselves in the streets as a sign of mourning. The Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs had asked people not to congregate in large numbers or cover their car windows with paint, a common practice during Muharram that could potentially hide attackers. Five years ago, suicide bombers attacked another Shiite shrine in Kabul on the same day, known as Ashura, killing more than 50 people, and bombs were also detonated at mosques in two other Afghan cities. That series of attacks was claimed by a violent Sunni sectarian group based in Pakistan that is officially banned. Officials were also worried about the potential for violence because of a recent deadly bombing in the west Kabul community of ethnic Hazara Shiites. On July 23, bombers attacked a peaceful protest rally there, killing more than 80 people. The attack was claimed by a regional affiliate of the Islamic State. Ashura is an emotionally charged day of mourning in which all Muslims, but especially Shiites, commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad, who was killed in a battle in 680 A.D. in what is now Iraq. It has also become an increasingly bold statement of religious identity by Hazara Shiites. All week, excitement and tension have built in the community, with loudspeakers blaring rhythmic dirges, and thousands of brightly colored flags rippling in the streets and affixed to caravans of honking cars. Food and drink have been given away at dozens of stands draped in black, and giant black paper portals have been erected along many streets. Security volunteers from local mosques have kept a watchful eye on crowds roaming the streets and have sometimes searched bundles and purses. On Monday, one volunteer urged a reporter not to stop and interview people because it could create a target for attack. In Afghanistans Muslim society, the Shiite minority makes up about 30 percent of the populace, and relations with the Sunni majority have historically been amicable. But Shiites were suppressed during Taliban rule in the late 1990s, and the rise of radical sectarian groups such as the Islamic State since then has also created tensions. Shiite Hazaras, historically ostracized, have bounded back under democratic rule since 2001, flexing increasing political and religious muscle. In the past year, a Hazara group called Enlightenment has demanded more services and justice for the community and held numerous rallies. It was one of their rallies in July that was bombed by the Islamic State. afghan LOS LUNAS With a rousing chorus of three, two, one, Facebook!, New Mexico officials and representatives from the social media giant broke ground on Facebooks new data center in Los Lunas. This is a big win for our state and the community here, said Gov. Susana Martinez, wielding a hard hat and shovel in the companys signature blue. Proponents have called the project important to the states economic recovery. Critics have said the 30 to 50 jobs the data center will provide arent worth the tax incentive package New Mexico promised to Facebook. Los Lunas has promised Facebook a property tax break through $30 billion in industrial revenue bonds, a gross receipts tax reimbursement of up to $1.6 million annually and $10 million in Local Development Act funding. The state also will offer the company access to $3 million in Job Training Incentive Program money, although it is unclear how much of the money Facebook will use. The data center is certainly the largest capital investment in the state in recent memory: $250 million in its initial phase alone, dwarfed only by Intels $1.8 billion Rio Rancho expansion in 1993. Martinez said the state completed an extensive economic analysis of the deal during the process of courting Facebook to New Mexico, and that she is confident the companys impact on the economy will last long past the inevitable construction boom that will occur while the data center is being built. Facebook has had a positive impact on every location theyve been in, she said. The same will be true here. Rachel Peterson, director of data center strategy and development at Facebook, said the company felt that of all the potential it looked at including West Jordan, Utah, which was the other final contender for the project Los Lunas was the best fit in terms of access to construction labor, ability to accommodate the data centers infrastructure, and response from the local community. We couldnt be more excited to be here, said Peterson. Activism and Healing through Poetry Agnes Scott Colleges mission of thinking deeply, living honorably, and engaging with the social and intellectual challenges of our times is exemplified by the work done by our faculty daily. The goals of academia are not stagnant antiquity but rather an active and responsive living We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain. Tech and government investment specialist Veritas Capital has made another deal in the wake of its weighty $10.65bn Fund VIII close from earlier this month with the buyout of analytics provider Verisk's energy business. Cette annonce nest plus disponible et aucune proposition ne peut etre transmise. Terrain de 32000m2 a louer a Djibouti Bonjour, je loue un grand terrain d'une superficie de 32,500 m2 entierement remblaye et entoure d'un grand mur avec un large portail de 15 metres, il est situe dans une zone securisee et les agents de securite sont inclus dans la location. Je recherche uniquement des grands societes interessees pour entreposer des containers ou d'autres materielles. Hi, I have a piece of land 32,500 square meters to let, it is fully backfilled, surrounded by a large wall with a wide gate of 15 meters. It is located in a very secure area and security is included in the rent. I am looking for only large corporations looking to store containers or others materiels. Immobilier, Location maisons, appartements 10 juillet, 2016 109 vues au total, 0 vues cette semaine This daily digest focuses on Yuan rates, major Chinese economic data, market sentiment, new developments in Chinas foreign exchange policies, changes in financial market regulations, as well as market news typically available only in Chinese-language sources. - The PBOC continued to weaken the Yuan fix on Tuesday, setting a new six-year low. - Next levels for the USDCNH are 6.7165, 6.6819 and 6.7585. - Chinas Premier Li said that the countrys debt risks are under control. To receive reports from this analyst, sign up for Renee Mu distribution list. Yuan Rates - The PBOC weakened the Yuan fix for the second consecutive day: the Yuan was set by 90 pips lower against the U.S. Dollar to 6.7098 on Tuesday, a new six-year low. However, in an immediate response to the daily fix, the offshore Yuan strengthened against its U.S. counterpart: the USD/CNH dropped to 6.7200 from 6.7246 within the first 15 minutes after the release of the Yuan fix. The pair recovered later and traded around 6.7274 at 12:30 pm EDT. USD/CNH 1-Day Prepared by Renee Mu. At the same time, the onshore Yuan has dropped to the lowest level against the U.S. Dollar since September 2010: the USD/CNY dipped 6.7180 in the late portion of the Asian session on Tuesday. USD/CNY 1-Week Prepared by Renee Mu. The Yuan fix, onshore and offshore Yuan rates all have broken the key psychosocial level of 6.70. However, it may be too soon to look for levels at or above 6.80 before the PBOCs priority become clearer, amid multiple ongoing issues inside the country. In the near term, some technical levels are worth to keep an eye on: the previous resistance level of 6.7165 could become the new support for the USD/CNH. Also, according to our Currency Strategist Michael Boutros who specializes in technical levels, 6.6819 and 6.7585 are key levels for the offshore Yuan rate as well. Market News Sina News: Chinas most important online media source, similar to CNN in the US. They also own a Chinese version of Twitter, called Weibo, with around 200 million active users monthly. - Chinas Premier Li Keqiang said that Chinas debt risks are under control in general; the major issue is the debt structure. Also, the economy in the third quarter was better than expected. He pointed out that the jobless rate in 31 big cities in September has dropped below 5%, the first time in years. - Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange, China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation and Hong Kong Central Clearing and Settlement signed agreement regarding the upcoming stock link between the two regions on Tuesday. This marks one step further towards the official launch of the long-anticipated program. -To receive reports from this analyst, sign up for Renee Mu distribution list. National Institutes of Health, COBRE Center for Cancer Research Development at Rhode Island Hospital, Rhode Island Foundation Medical Research Grant, Jason and Donna McGraw Weiss Brown University researchers have developed a new image analysis technique to distinguish two key cancer cell types associated with tumor progression. The approach could help in pre-clinical screening of cancer drugs and shed light on a cellular metamorphosis that is associated with more malignant and drug-resistant cancers. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition, or EMT, is a process by which more docile epithelial cells transform into more aggressive mesenchymal cells. Tumors with higher numbers of mesenchymal cells are often more malignant and more resistant to drug therapies. The new technique combines microscopic imaging with a machine learning algorithm to better identify and distinguish between the two cell types in laboratory samples. "We know that there are these different cell types interacting within tumors and that therapeutics can target these cells differently," said Susan Leggett, a doctoral student in Brown's pathobiology graduate program and lead author of a paper describing the technique. "We've developed a model that can pick out these cell types automatically and in an unbiased way. We think this could help us better understand how these different cell types respond to drug treatment." The technique is described in an article published in Integrative Biology. Generally speaking, the two cell types can be distinguishable by their shapes. Epithelial cells are more compact in appearance, while mesenchymal cells appear more elongated and spindly, both in their overall appearance and in the appearance of their nuclei. "It's not hard to distinguish the two in the most extreme instances," said Ian Y. Wong, assistant professor of engineering at Brown and the senior author of the research. "But sometimes the shape differences are subtle and it can be hard for humans to recognize the difference, which makes categorizing the two a bit arbitrary. The innovation here is that we can train a computer to pick out those more subtle variations." That training was done by using an epithelial cell line, cultured in a petri dish, that serves as a model for human breast cancer. The researchers activated a transcription factor called Snail that is well known to cause these cells to quickly undergo an extreme form of EMT. Those cells, imaged before and after the transition, served as a training set to teach the algorithm to distinguish between the two cell types. The researchers showed that, after training, the algorithm was able to categorize individual cells as either epithelial or mesenchymal with greater than 92 percent accuracy. The team then used the algorithm to analyze sets of cells that undergo EMT triggered by pathways less well studied than that used in the training set. They treated epithelial cells with a compound called TGF-beta1, which promotes rapid cell growth and is also thought to induce EMT. They showed that the growth factor induced EMT more slowly than in the training set, and produced changes in cell shape that were subtler. Still, the algorithm was able to classify the cells after EMT with a high degree of confidence. In a third experiment, the researchers looked at epithelial cells treated with the chemotherapy drug Taxol. Recent research has suggested that Taxol and other drugs, when delivered in sub-lethal doses, could induce EMT in the cells they fail to kill. In that way, the drugs may actually prime the tumors to become more drug resistant. The experiment found that while sub-lethal Taxol created a range of cell shapes, more than 70 percent of those could be classified by the algorithm as mesenchymal. It's a preliminary finding that will require much more study to fully understand, Wong says. But it could shed light on how tumors become resistant to Taxol and other drugs. "The acquisition of drug resistance and subsequent tumor relapse remains poorly understood," Wong says. "This work suggests that EMT could be a mechanism through which tumors become more resistant." With more development, the researchers think their technique could provide a new means to screen the effectiveness of cancer drugs. "When we do initial lab testing of drugs, we put cells on a plate, apply the drug and see what lives and what dies," Wong said. "This could provide us with a more nuanced picture of the drug's effects, and help us to see whether sub-lethal doses may prime cells for resistance." Wong says that another intriguing result from the study was that while the algorithm categorized most cells with high confidence, about 10 percent of cells in each of the experimental groups seemed to defy categorization. It's possible, the researchers say, that this indicates an intermediate cell type that is somewhere between epithelial and mesenchymal. "People have wondered if there might be more than two cell types of interest," Wong said. "We can't say for sure at this point, but we might be picking up a third type. That's something we'll be looking at in future work." ### Legget and Wong's coauthors on the study were Jea Yun Sim, Jonathan Rubins, Zachary Neronha and Evelyn Kendall Williams, all from Brown. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (5T32ES007272-24), the COBRE Center for Cancer Research Development at Rhode Island Hospital (1P30GM110759-01A1), a Rhode Island Foundation Medical Research Grant, Jason and Donna McGraw Weiss and Brown University. As world's largest cotton producer, China yields six to eight million tons cotton (30% of total world production) every year. However, high quality cotton cultivars are vulnerable to Verticillium wilt disease. Due to their long-term survival and vascular colonization of pathogen, the disease cannot be controlled by fungicides. How V. dahliae infects cotton was largely unknown and very limited resistance genes can be used for cotton breeding. A group of Chinese scientists led by Prof. GUO Huishan from Institute of Microbiology of Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered that trans-kingdom small RNAs (sRNAs) can be used to protect crops from infection of fungal pathogens. This RNAi-based mechanism has been successfully manipulated to protect cotton from infection of a soil-borne fungal pathogen Verticillium dahlia (V. dahliae), the causal agent of vascular wilt disease so-called "Cotton Cancer" in China. This study has been published online in Nature Plants. GUO's focus on the research of cotton-V. dahliae's infection process can be traced back to her visit in 2008 to Xinjiang in Northwest China, where she was astonished by the scene of huge area of infected cottons and desperate farmers. She began to try to search for a novel strategy to target V. dahliae. Eight years of laboratory experiment and field research have brought GUO's team consecutive achievements in understanding Verticillium wilt disease. The team finds that trans-kingdom sRNAs exist during cotton-V. dahliae interactions, and some target virulence genes of pathogens. A novel penetration structure "hyphopodium" helps V. dahliae to "break" plant cell, which determines successful fungal infection (http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1005793). Most importantly, cotton cultivars expressing specific sRNAs are resistant to Verticillium wilt disease (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2016.02.008). Taking advantage of RNA and genome sequencing, the team found that cotton sRNAs exist in V. dahliae hyphae retrieved from infected cotton, which means sRNAs naturally transmit from host to pathogens during cotton-V. dahliae interaction. They also demonstrated that some transmitted sRNAs target fungal genes were involved in pathogenicity and efficiently degraded gene transcripts. This phenomenon gave confidence to GUO that cotton would gain disease resistance by stably expressing sRNAs that target V. dahliae virulence genes. "It was really time-consuming to generate the cottons stably expressing specific sRNAs, but we obtained them finally," said GUO. Their research proved to be successful both in the lab and in the field. sRNA expressing cottons showed 22.25% more disease resistance compared to the other cotton cultivars in the same cotton production base. The new generated cottons show resistance to wilt disease, especially in the field where the fungal populations are diverse. More efficient fungal targets need to be found based on the established systems, which can also be guidelines for other un-controlled crop diseases in the future. ### This work was supported by grants from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Transgenic Research and Commercialization Key Special Project. Researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), working together with scientists at other national and international centers, have identified a mechanism that allows the Leishmania parasite, which causes leishmaniasis, to evade the immune system and thereby produce an infection. The study, published in Immunity, shows that a molecule produced by the parasite binds specifically to a receptor called Mincle (Clec4e) expressed on the surface of dendritic cells (a kind of antigen-presenting cell), sabotaging their function. There is currently no effective vaccine for leishmaniasis, and the research team speculates that the poor performance of vaccines derived from whole parasite extracts might be due in part to the presence of the Mincle ligand. Leishmaniasis is transmitted to people through bites of phlebotomus sandflies. The disease mostly affects people in tropical and subtropical zones, but is also present in mediterranean countries, including Spain, where an outbreak occurred near Madrid in 2012. Dogs also act as resevoirs of the disease. World Health Organization data indicate a prevalance of 12 million infected people, with 1.3 million new cases and 20 000 to 30 000 deaths per year. Leishmania is one of the five most important parasites, and leishmaniasis belongs to a group of "forgotten diseases" because of its wide distribution, high incidence and resistance to control. The most severe form of the disease, visceral leishmaniasis, also known as kala-azar, is characterized by episodes of fever, weight loss, hepatosplenomegaly, and anemia. Visceral leishmaniasis patients require immediate administration of a comprehensive treatment that is in many cases toxic and ineffective. Moreover, although patients who have survived leishmaniasis are resistant to reinfection, there is currently no effective vaccine. The parasite colonizes the patient's macrophages, which are simultaneously the location where parasites survive and replicate and the cells charged with eliminating them. Blocking the immune system Abundant evidence indicates that the Leishmania parasite has evolved to manipulate and evade the host immune system, it is unknown exactly how these immune-inhibitory processes occur. The Immunity study demonstrates the role of the receptor Mincle (Clec4e) in blocking the immune system. This result is unexpected because Mincle generally transmits an activating signal in the dendritic cell that initiates the immune response. The new finding identifies Mincle as a possible target for future leishmaniasis treatments. David Sancho, lead author and head of the CNIC Immnuobiology Lab, explains that "the study reveals that the number of parasites detected after skin infection with Leishmania major in mice lacking Mincle is 90% below-normal, and as a result these mice have less skin disease." First author Salvador Iborra explained that the Mincle-deficient mice showed an elevated adaptive Th1 response to the parasite. In the presence of Mincle, the parasite manages to weaken the immune response, allowing it to replicate and be transmitted. In contrast, the Mincle-deficient mice showed an early Th1 response, leading to rapid control of the parasite and blockade of disease progression. Joint first author Maria Martinez commented that "without Mincle, dendritic cells are able to migrate, mature, and activate T lymphocytes, and the mice therefore generate a more effective Th1 response." Another important finding is that the inhibitory effect of Mincle is also observed after immunization of mice with dead Leishmania parasites. The authors speculate that the poor Th1 immunity generated with current vaccines might be due to the presence of a Mincle ligand in the total Leishmania extracts used. ### LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Nearly two years ago, Sandia National Laboratories researchers Joe Pratt and Lennie Klebanoff set out to answer one not-so-simple question: Is it feasible to build and operate a high-speed passenger ferry solely powered by hydrogen fuel cells? The answer is yes. The details behind that answer are in a recent report, "Feasibility of the SF-BREEZE: a Zero Emission, Hydrogen Fuel Cell High Speed Passenger Ferry." SF-BREEZE stands for San Francisco Bay Renewable Energy Electric Vessel with Zero Emissions. "The study found that it is technically possible to build a high-speed, zero-emission hydrogen-powered ferry. We also believe this can be done with full regulatory acceptance," said Pratt. "In the course of the study, we examined over 10 major issues where feasibility was initially unknown. SF-BREEZE sailed through them all," added Klebanoff. Tom Escher, president of San Francisco's Red and White Fleet, first conceived of the project when he asked if it was possible to do away with emissions altogether on one of his ferries. "This is a game changer. We can eliminate environmental pollution from ships," he said. "This could have a major impact on every shipyard in the country." Funded by the Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration and led by Sandia, the feasibility study brought together the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), the U.S. Coast Guard, naval architect Elliott Bay Design Group, the Port of San Francisco and dozens of other contributors. "Not long ago, the prospect of pollution-free transportation seemed like science fiction," said Maritime Administration Administrator Paul "Chip" Jaenichen. "Today, through public-private collaboration on projects like SF-BREEZE, we are making progress to turn it into a reality." Novel boat design Hydrogen-powered ferries do exist, but most are smaller, slower vessels used for tours on lakes and rivers. The SF-BREEZE study set out to discover whether it is technically feasible to build a large, fast vessel; it could meet maritime regulations; and it could be economically competitive with modes of transportation already available in the San Francisco Bay area. The group drew up conceptual specifications: a 150-passenger commuter ferry that would travel four 50-mile round-trip routes each day at a top speed of 35 knots (roughly 39 miles per hour) about 60 percent of the time. The ferry could refuel midday, between the morning and afternoon commutes. "This kind of boat has never been built before," said mechanical engineer Curt Leffers, the project manager for Elliott Bay Design Group. "Hydrogen fuel cells are heavier than diesel engines for a given power output, so achieving the right power-to-weight ratio for the vessel was tricky." The need for speed drove the design to a slightly longer catamaran. The engineers were able to save weight by consolidating the support equipment for the fuel cells. To achieve the necessary safety standoffs from the fuel cells, the designers placed the fuel cells on the main deck of the vessel in a separate compartment. Leffers explained that this provides physical separation between the fuel cells and passengers. The project supports Elliott Bay's commitment to the environment. "I'm a big believer in developing environmentally friendly designs," Leffers added. "This project has been terrific because it's something I really believe in. I think that this proof-of-concept, that this boat can be built, is very important for future projects." Regulations and economics ABS issued a conditional Approval in Principal to verify that the conceptual design would be compliant with applicable regulations and rules and to identify any potential gaps in compliance. Combining their assessment with feedback from the U.S. Coast Guard, Sandia found no regulatory show-stoppers and concluded that the vessel will be acceptable from a regulatory perspective once a more detailed "ready-to-build" design is generated. "ABS is proud to have participated in the SF-BREEZE feasibility study and advance the research on unique challenges of designing a high-speed passenger ferry powered solely by hydrogen fuel cells," said ABS Chief Technology Officer Howard Fireman. "The collaboration with Sandia and the project team extends our knowledge base and the potential technology transfer to address the challenge of reducing the environmental footprint." The hydrogen ferry would cost about twice as much as a comparable diesel ferry with today's prices. Much of that cost is in the fuel cell system. "Right now, we can't achieve economic parity with a comparable diesel ferry," said Pratt. "But this is a question we need to explore further. Is economic parity necessary from the outset? Lessons from the automotive market tell us maybe not." Vehicle manufacturers have successfully brought fuel cell electric vehicles to market even though those cars are more expensive than comparable internal combustion engine vehicles. Many experts expect mass adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles to bring down prices of hydrogen fuel cells. Optimization is next step The next step is to optimize the vessel design. "We need to consider if the parameters we started out with are optimal for the technology that is available today," said Pratt. Working with Red and White Fleet and other stakeholders, Klebanoff and Pratt are now undertaking an optimization study. They will examine the tradeoffs between speed and costs and emissions among other factors. Red and White Fleet President Escher sees SF-BREEZE as the start of a revolution in marine transportation. "When this boat is launched, it will be a seed. When you add a seed to water, it grows," he said. "This seed could grow into a 40-meter tugboat, a 70-meter supply boat or a 300-meter oceangoing ship trading between the West Coast and Hawaii. And all at zero pollution." ### Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness. Philadelphia, PA, Oct. 10, 2016 - Patients who have received a solid organ transplant require lifelong immunosuppressive therapy. The threat of transplant rejection due to insufficient drug therapy must be balanced against increased risks of infections and cancer from excessive immunosuppression. A significant unmet need exists for non-invasive diagnostic tools to monitor transplant recipients, especially for early detection of active injury and rejection. A report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics describes a new non-invasive test that measures donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) in plasma that has the potential to reduce complications and rejection, improving outcomes in transplant recipients. "dd-cfDNA is an emerging biomarker of transplanted organ injury, and the availability of a clinical-grade, analytically validated assay is critical for advancement of this biomarker toward improving the outcomes of transplant patients," explained lead investigator Marica Grskovic, PhD, Associate Director, R&D, CareDx, Inc. (Brisbane, CA). Plasma cfDNA has been proposed as a biomarker for prenatal testing, cancer, and organ transplantation. Taking advantage of genetic differences between a transplant donor and recipient, techniques have been developed to measure levels of a donor's DNA in the recipient's plasma, serum, or urine as a way to monitor the health of transplanted tissue, whether from the heart, lungs, liver, or other organs. Although dd-cfDNA assays for research have been described previously, this is the first time a clinical-grade assay has been reported. The new assay detects plasma dd-cfDNA within the range of levels evident from transplant patient samples. An advantage of the new next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based amplification assay is that it does not require determination of the donor's and recipient's genotype, a process which requires significant time, cost, and tissue availability. Although tissue biopsy is another way to monitor a transplanted organ, it is invasive, time consuming, costly, and risky. The new assay can be completed within three days, which can be important for clinical decision-making. In the current report, data are presented from a multi-center heart transplantation study showing that dd-cfDNA was, on average, three-fold higher in patients experiencing acute rejection than in stable transplant recipients without acute rejection. A decrease in dd-cfDNA levels upon successful anti-rejection treatment was also observed. Hannah Valantine, MD, Senior Investigator NHLBI, and NIH Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity, stated, "In collaboration with colleagues Drs. Stephen Quake, Kiran Khush, and Iwijn De Vlaminck at Stanford, we performed the pioneering research studies using NGS for heart and lung transplant. I am delighted to see this technology translating into a clinical-grade assay to which patients will have access to improve the precision of patient management." The researchers expect the assay to be useful for monitoring other types of transplanted organs. Additional multi-centered observational studies for heart and kidney transplant patients are underway to further evaluate the assay's clinical validity and utility. The assay is currently validated only for single organ donor/recipient pairs. "These results show promise in using cfDNA not only to detect rejection, but also to monitor response to treatment. The ongoing measurement of cfDNA may allow clinicians to better personalize care, adjust immunosuppression regimens, and improve the long-term outcomes of transplant recipients," noted Dr. Grskovic. ### Researchers saw no significant difference in overall survival between the custirsen and placebo arms of the study LUGANO-COPENHAGEN, Oct. 10, 2016 - A phase III randomized controlled trial of custirsen in combination with cabazitaxel/prednisone in patients with previously-treated metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer has shown no significant survival gains compared to cabazitaxel/prednisone alone, according to data presented at the ESMO 2016 Congress in Copenhagen1. "Despite the negative outcome of the trial, the evaluation of custirsen in prostate cancer was conducted on the basis of solid preclinical and clinical evidence supporting anti-tumour activity," said principal investigator Professor Karim Fizazi, head of the Department of Cancer Medicine at the Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France. Custirsen blocks production of the protein clusterin, which is known to be involved in carcinogenesis and tumour growth, as well as contributing to treatment resistance. A previous phase II trial of custirsen combined with chemotherapy in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer suggested inhibition of clusterin may lead to improved clinical outcome, and an earlier phase III trial of custirsen in combination with docetaxel suggested patients with more aggressive cancers may benefit from the combination. In the AFFINITY trial, 635 patients with metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer -- who had previously been treated with docetaxel -- were randomized to 21-day cycles of custirsen plus cabazitaxel/prednisone or cabazitaxel/prednisone plus placebo, until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or ten cycles. Researchers saw no significant difference in overall survival between the custirsen and placebo arms of the study, with a median overall survival of 14.2 months in the custirsen arm and 13.4 months in the placebo arm (p = 0.529). The same was observed in the 62% of patients who met the criteria for poor prognosis, where median overall survival was 11.1 months among those taking custirsen and 10.9 months in those in the placebo group. Similar numbers of patients in each arm discontinued due to progressive disease - 28.9% in the custirsen arm and 25% in the placebo arm - while 21.9% of patients treated with custirsen and 18.9% of patients in the placebo arm discontinued due to adverse events. The most frequently reported serious adverse events were neutropenia, anemia, fatigue, asthenia, bone pain, and febrile neutropenia. "I am obviously disappointed with the results but am proud to have been involved in this program, and we will take the learnings of this trial to advance our knowledge of the disease in the hope to further advance care," Fizazi said. "Custirsen remains a viable candidate currently being evaluated for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, as failure in one tumour type does not predict the outcome of trials in other indications," said Fizazi. Commenting on the study, Dr Cora Sternberg, Chief of the Department of Medical Oncology at San Camillo Forlanini Hospital in Rome, Italy, said "A number of approaches have been investigated to overcome resistance in prostate cancer, including the use of novel taxanes and tubulin inhibitors, and the inhibition of cell survival pathways." "Given the results observed using a taxane as either first-line or second-line chemotherapy in castration resistant prostate cancer, the hypothesis was that combination with custirsen may decrease taxane resistance and enhance the survival benefit of taxane therapy," Sternberg said. "There was a strong rationale for adding custirsen to chemotherapy to overcome resistance but unfortunately the final results were negative. We likely need even more robust biological molecular stratification before launching phase III trials," concluded Sternberg. ### EPICORL is the first nationwide prognosis study of head and neck cancers in France LUGANO-COPENHAGEN, 08 October, 2016. A nationwide study of head and neck cancers in France has revealed that the true burden of the disease is underestimated by at least one-third, and that head and neck cancers carry a very high risk of secondary primary cancers, according to two presentations at the ESMO 2016 Congress in Copenhagen. The EPICORL study is the first nationwide prognosis study of head and neck cancers in France, using data from the French National Hospital Discharge database from 2008-2012. It identified 131,965 patients discharged with head and neck cancer from French hospitals, 41% of whom later died in hospital, representing an overall five-year survival rate of 34%.(1,2) Distant metastases at diagnosis were recorded in 12% of patients, which was associated with a six-fold increase in the risk of death (HR = 6.2). Relapse during follow-up was recorded in 31% of patients diagnosed at an early stage and 57% of patients diagnosed at an advanced stage, and was also associated with a nearly six-fold increase in the risk of death (HR = 5.9).1 "Due to its main risk factors of tobacco smoking and alcohol use disorders, head and neck cancer carries a very high risk of secondary primary cancers and significant burden of severe comorbidities," said investigator Dr Florence Huguet from the Department Of Radiation Oncology at Tenon Hospital in Paris. More than half the patients in the study had a cancer other than head and neck cancer, or had severe Charlson comorbidities other than cancer, which were associated with significantly lower survival. Researchers also noted a high incidence of secondary primary head and neck cancers, which were observed in 6.1% of patients at diagnosis and 2.3% of patients during follow-up. "We found cumulative incidences of relapse and secondary metachronous H&N cancer in the range of previous reports, though each risk was significantly increased in patients with advanced stage at diagnosis as compared to patients with early stage at diagnosis," Dr Huguet said. The EPICORL researchers also found that the national cause of death statistics underestimated the burden of head and neck cancer by 38%.2 Investigator Dr Caroline Even, from the department of Head and Neck Cancer at Gustave Roussy said this was likely due to the fact that 43% of the 41,503 patients who died in hospital with advanced head and neck cancer were also treated for a cancer other than head and neck. "Because determining the underlying cause-of-death is conflicting in presence of multiple primary cancer sites, we found unsurprisingly that the presence of former or synchronous cancers other than head and neck cancer were a major explanatory factor of the mortality gap observed in National Statistics," Even said. While the incidence of head and neck cancer has been reported as decreasing with the decline in the two main risk factors - tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption - the study found the annual death toll of head and neck cancer increased in hospital over the study period. Commenting on the study, Professor Sandrine Faivre, medical oncologist at Hopitaux Universitaires Paris Nord Val de Seine, France, said "this study is a major piece of data giving the nationwide spectrum of analysis in a country were the population has been exposed to tobacco and alcohol for the last decades." "HPV infection does not appear to impact positively in this recent French epidemiology report, which shares the classical features of tobacco/alcohol-induced head and neck cancers". "The study highlights the burden and the poor prognosis of head and neck cancers linked to tobacco/alcohol, which also induce significant comorbidities in this population of patients. Besides recurrence, of note is the high incidence of second primary other cancers, which warrants screening or explorations toward organ sites of risk, such as other head and neck sites or lung." "This is a message of warning to physicians in France treating patients with head and neck cancer: in practice we should be reminded of the fragility of such patients who may have multiple comorbidities, making them especially vulnerable to the toxicities of treatments," Faivre concluded. ### Notes to Editors References 1) Abstract 960P - Causes of death statistics underestimate the burden of head and neck (H&N) cancers: a nationwide study from France in 2008-2012 (EPICORL study) will be presented by Dr C. Even at a Poster Session on Sunday 9 October at 13:00 CEST 2) Abstract 963P - Survival of patients with head and neck (H&N) cancers: a nationwide study from France in 2008-2012 (EPICORL study) will be presented by Dr F. Huguet at a Poster Session on Sunday 9 October at 13:00 CEST Disclaimer This press release contains information provided by the authors of the highlighted abstracts and reflects the content of those abstracts. It does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of ESMO and ESMO cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the data. Commentators quoted in the press release are required to comply with the ESMO Declaration of Interests policy and the ESMO Code of Conduct . About the European Society for Medical Oncology ESMO is the leading professional organisation for medical oncology. Comprising more than 13,000 oncology professionals from over 130 countries, we are the society of reference for oncology education and information. We are committed to supporting our members to develop and advance in a fast-evolving professional environment. Founded in 1975, ESMO has European roots and a global reach: we welcome oncology professionals from around the world. We are a home for all oncology stakeholders, connecting professionals with diverse expertise and experience. Our educational and information resources support an integrated, multi-professional approach to cancer treatment. We seek to erase boundaries in cancer care as we pursue our mission across oncology, worldwide. http://www.esmo.org A genomic analysis of 28 dog breeds has traced the genetic history of the remarkable Fonni's Dog, a herd guardian endemic to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. The results, published in the journal GENETICS, reveal that the regional variety has developed into a true breed through unregulated selection for its distinctive behavior, and that its ancestors came from the very same geographic areas as Sardinia's human migrants. Just as Sardinian people have long provided a wealth of genetic insights to scientists, the canine natives are an example of an isolated population that could prove a powerful resource for finding genes that influence health and behavior. Fonni's Dogs (Cane Fonnese in Italian) are large, rugged dogs known for their wariness towards strangers and their intense facial expression. Although there are descriptions of these shephard's companions dating to at least the mid-nineteenth century, it is not officially recognized as a breed by most international registries, including the largest federation of kennel clubs, the Federation Cynologique Internationale. "If you were to look at ten Fonni's Dogs, you would see there's a lot of variation in coat color and fur length. But they are all good protectors of their flocks. That's because nobody cares what they look like; they've been bred to do a job and to do it right," says study leader Elaine Ostrander of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). That job is guarding the possessions of their owner, to whom they are fiercely loyal. "Fonni's are also outstanding thieves," says Ostrander. "They can be trained to sneak over to the neighbors' and bring items home." While this particular duty isn't required by today's Fonni Dogs, written records from the mid-1800's indicate that thievery was part of their historical repertoire. The island home of the Fonni's Dog has long held the interest of geneticists. Because Sardinia is geographically isolated, its human inhabitants share a unique ancestry and relatively low genetic diversity. Those characteristics make it easier to study genetic influences on disease and aging in Sardinians than in other human groups. Ostrander and other canine geneticists argue that each of the hundreds of different dog breeds also represents an isolated population that could be harnessed for genetic studies. "Dogs get all the same diseases as humans, and there are lots of dog breeds with genetic predispositions, for example to particular types of cancer," Ostrander says. "Once we understand the genetic history of a breed we can search for disease genes in a much more powerful way than is possible in humans, enabling us to hone in on medically-relevant genes." To better understand how the Fonni's Dog developed, scientists from the NHGRI, the University of Milan, and G. d'Annunzio University analyzed blood samples from Fonni's Dogs living in different parts of Sardinia and sequenced the whole genome of one of these dogs. To trace the Fonni's relationship to dogs from around the Mediterranean, the team compared the data to DNA from 27 other European, Middle Eastern, and North African breeds. The data revealed that the Fonni's dog shows all the genetic hallmarks of being a breed, even though it developed in the absence of a regulated pedigree program and only arose through the tendency of Sardinian shepherds to choose their best guard dogs for breeding. The researchers compared individual dogs from within the same breed and across different breeds, quantifying many aspects of genome variation and genetic distinctiveness. All these measures confirmed that the Fonni's Dog, in genetic terms, is a breed. The study also revealed the ancestors of the Fonni's Dog were related to the Saluki, a swift and graceful "sight" hound from the Near and Middle East, and a large mastiff like the Komondor, a powerfully-built sheep guardian from Hungary that looks a bit like a mop. Strikingly, the origins of the Fonni's Dog mirror human migration to Sardinia. Studies of the island's human inhabitants have shown they share greatest genetic similarity with people from Hungary, Egypt, Israel, and Jordan. "The map we can draw of the dog's origins is the same as the map of human migration to Sardinia," says Ostrander. "Clearly ancient people traveled with their dogs, just as they do now." The close parallels between the history of the dog and human inhabitants of the island has a practical implication, says Ostrander. "Our study shows how closely dog migration parallels human migration. It could be that if you have missing pieces in a study of a human population's history, samples collected from dogs in the right place could fill in those gaps." The team plans next to study in greater detail eleven regions of the genome that likely make the Fonni's Dog distinct -- these may be responsible for their characteristically loyal and protective behavior. Ostrander points out the study was a collaborative effort with scientists from Italy, including Sardinia, and says she is gratified to find so many researchers across the world interested in similar questions. Her group is hoping to work with colleagues in a range of countries to explore other so-called "niche" dog populations, regional varieties that often have a history of being bred for a particular job. Their goals are to better understand how dogs have evolved and to demonstrate yet another important job for these faithful human companions: tracking down disease genes. ### CITATION Commonalities in Development of Pure Breeds and Population Isolates Revealed in the Genome of the Sardinian Fonni's Dog Dayna L. Dreger, Brian W. Davis, Raffaella Cocco, Sara Sechi, Alessandro Di Cerbo, Heidi G. Parker, Michele Polli, Stefano P. Marelli, Paola Crepaldi, Elaine A. Ostrander GENETICS October 1, 2016 vol. 204 no. 2 737-755; http://www.genetics.org/content/204/2/737 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.116.192427 People from Denmark are genetically similar to each other no matter which part of the country they come from, report researchers in the journal GENETICS, a publication of the Genetics Society of America. Eight hundred Danish high school students contributed genetic material to the Where Are You From? project, and the data were used to decode population-wide patterns of genetic variation. Although there were subtle traces of the impact of Danish history on genetic similarity between different regions, the study revealed that, in genetic terms and disregarding recent migration in the last two generations, Denmark has a relatively homogeneous population, and people have mixed freely between different parts of the country. Denmark has played a crucial role in European history over the past thousand years, and the genetic signatures of its occupants can add perspective to that history. A recent study in the United Kingdom found that Danes have contributed to British ancestry in an important way, but a deep dive into genetic population studies in Denmark had not been conducted before now. Georgios Athanasiadis, from Aarhus University in Denmark, led this detailed investigation of Danish genetics. "Despite its small size and lack of geographic barriers, Denmark has many distinct dialect groups and has been in contact with neighbouring populations. Having a clear vision of the country's genetic structure is an interesting endeavour," he says. Athanasiadis and his colleagues used a unique method of enrolling subjects into their study. They launched a nationwide outreach project called Where Are You From? in which high school students submitted DNA samples and demographic information. The project also presented seminars for participants to learn more about genetics and basic science with the aim of "building bridges between academia and young students interested in...a scientific career." "The response was overwhelming. We had more participants interested than the budget actually allowed us to genotype!" says Athanasiadis. Despite budget limitations, participants were able to attend the seminars even if they weren't tested. Around 800 students contributed DNA and reported information on their ancestry. Researchers used genetic data from these students together with four additional European datasets to explore fine-grain patterns of genetic differences between regions of Denmark and historic mixing with other populations. For some of these analyses, they concentrated on DNA from around 400 students who had all four of their grandparents born in the country. They found that the majority of the students were distantly related, and they did not observe any strong correlation between geography and genetics. This led them to conclude that people whose ancestors all came from Denmark are genetically homogeneous. Athanasiadis says that, although many ancestral European populations were also relatively homogeneous, he was impressed by the extent of the result in Denmark. "I personally was surprised to see that all classical methods for detecting genetic 'structure' in populations failed to pick up strong signals. Even cutting-edge methods returned very similar "mixture profiles" for all regions in Denmark," he says. Athanasiadis recognizes that their findings are most true for an older Danish population; their sampling was not representative of recent migration to the area that has increased the ethnic diversity. A few regions of Denmark remain underrepresented in the study due to the sampling method, and the gene testing technology used focuses on common genetic variation instead of rare variation: populations tend to look less homogeneous when rare variants are taken into account. Still, the observation that genetic mixing of the Danish population has happened equally throughout the country is striking, and Athanasiadis is excited to revisit these results as independently-collected datasets continue to become available. ### CITATION Nationwide Genomic Study in Denmark Reveals Remarkable Population Homogeneity Georgios Athanasiadis, Jade Y. Cheng, Bjarni J. Vilhja?lmsson, Frank G. Jrgensen, Thomas D. Als, Stephanie Le Hellard, Thomas Espeseth, Patrick F. Sullivan, Christina M. Hultman, Peter C. Kjrgaard, Mikkel H. Schierup, and Thomas Mailund GENETICS October 2016 204(2) 711-722; doi: 10.1534/genetics.116.189241 http://www.genetics.org/content/204/2/711 Originally distributed September 14, 2016 Eggs from small flocks of chickens are just as likely to be contaminated with Salmonella enteritidis -- often referred to as SE -- as eggs sold in grocery stores, which typically come from larger flocks, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. That conclusion -- which flies in the face of conventional wisdom that eggs from backyard poultry and small local enterprises are safer to eat than "commercially produced" eggs -- was drawn from a first-of-its kind, six-month study done last year in Pennsylvania. Researchers collected and tested more than 6,000 eggs from more than 200 selling points across the state. Salmonella enteritidis is a leading foodborne pathogen in the United States, with many outbreaks in humans traced back to shell eggs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires shell-egg producers from farms with more than 3,000 chickens be in compliance with the FDA Final Egg Rule, which is aimed at restricting the growth of pathogens. However, small flocks with fewer than 3,000 layer chickens currently are exempted. Eggs from these producers often are marketed via direct retail to restaurants, health-food stores and farmers markets, or sold at on-farm roadside stands. From April to September 2015, the researchers purchased two to four dozen eggs from each of 240 randomly selected farmers markets or roadside stands representing small layer flocks in 67 counties of Pennsylvania. Internal contents of the eggs and egg shells were cultured separately for Salmonella using standard protocols. Salmonella recovered were classified by serotype, and any Salmonella enteritidis isolates present were further characterized to evaluate their relatedness to isolates of the bacteria that have caused foodborne illness outbreaks. Test results revealed that of the 240 selling points included in the study, eggs from five -- 2 percent -- were positive for Salmonella enteritidis. Eggs sold at one of the positive selling points contained the bacteria in egg shells; the eggs from the other four selling points had Salmonella enteritidis in internal contents. That is a higher prevalence of the pathogen than that found in studies of eggs from large flocks, noted lead researcher Subhashinie Kariyawasam, microbiology section head at Penn State's Animal Diagnostic Laboratory. Those eggs, from flocks of more than 3,000 birds, are subject to federal regulations aimed at reducing Salmonella enteritidis contamination. These regulations require measures such as placement of Salmonella-"clean" chicks, intensive rodent control, cleaning and disinfecting between flocks, environmental monitoring of pullet and layer houses, continuous testing of eggs from any Salmonella-positive houses, and diverting eggs from Salmonella-positive houses for pasteurization. Kariyawasam -- who presented the research findings to the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Avian Pathologists at their August meeting in San Antonio, Texas -- said the study clearly demonstrated that Salmonella enteritidis is present in the eggs produced by small flocks. "The research highlights the potential risk posed by the consumption of eggs produced by backyard and small layer flocks. And, analysis of the Salmonella enteritidis present in the eggs from small flocks shows they are the same types commonly reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from human foodborne outbreaks," she said. "These findings emphasize the importance of small-producer education on Salmonella enteritidis control measures and perhaps implementation of egg quality-assurance practices to prevent contamination of eggs produced by backyard and other small layer flocks." Eggs from small flocks make a negligible contribution to the table egg industry in the United States, Kariyawasam noted. But the growing demand for backyard eggs and eggs from nonfarm environments -- with small egg-producing flocks managed in cage-free systems and pasture situations -- suggests these production systems deserve some scrutiny. "We were curious about Salmonella contamination of eggs produced by these flocks because the prevalence of this pathogen in smaller flocks was not known. Now we know that the prevalence of Salmonella enteritidis in eggs produced by small flocks is higher than in eggs produced by larger flocks." Salmonella enteritidis, like other foodborne bacteria, is destroyed by proper cooking. However, Salmonella infections can be very serious, even life-threatening, especially to the very young, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. "The bottom line is, if you buy your eggs from the small producers, you need to worry about Salmonella just as if you bought eggs produced by large flocks," Kariyawasam said. "And, beyond the consumption of eggs, birds in these flocks can have Salmonella, so people with backyard poultry need to be aware of the dangers with pet birds -- there is a risk to allowing birds to come into the house and children playing with the chickens." ### Other Penn State scientists who contributed to the study were Eva Wallner-Pendleton, senior research associate and avian pathologist, Gregory Martin, poultry science extension educator, and Thomas Denagamage, postdoctoral scholar in veterinary and biomedical sciences. The the Animal Health and Diagnostic Commission of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture supported this work. RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC - RTI International is pleased to join Cambodia, the World Health Organization and the United States Agency for International Development in celebrating the elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem in Cambodia. Also known as elephantiasis, lymphatic filariasis causes fluid buildup in the lymph system that can lead to severe disfigurement, as well as social and economic discrimination against those affected. RTI implements USAID's ENVISION project, which leads the global fight against seven neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), including lymphatic filariasis (LF), with activities in 19 NTD-endemic countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. As part of the project, RTI worked with the Ministry of Health in Cambodia to develop their "dossier" which compiles the data needed to prove elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem. Cambodia was one of the first countries to be validated as having eliminated LF as a public health problem under WHO's new official process for validation. "We join the global NTD community in congratulating the Government of Cambodia for this remarkable accomplishment," said Lisa Rotondo, ENVISION project director at RTI. "As we aim for global elimination of LF by the year 2020, this success gives clear evidence that our goal is reachable. With numerous other partners, RTI is proud to have played a part." Approximately 120 million people around the world have lymphatic filariasis, and more than 1.3 billion are at risk. USAID is working with 24 lymphatic filariasis endemic countries to eliminate the disease by 2020. ### ENVISION provides support to 19 NTD-endemic countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2015, the project supported the treatment of 115 million people for at least one NTD. To learn more about RTI's work fighting NTDs, click here and follow us on Twitter at @RTIfightsNTDs. Follow news and updates as part of the 10th anniversary of USAID's NTD program at #NoMoreNTDs. SURA today announced that the U.S. Senator Mark Warner would receive its 2016 Distinguished Friend of Science Award during its Board of Trustees meeting on November 3. The Senator is being honored for his extraordinary efforts to "advance collaborative research and education and to strengthen the scientific capabilities" of our nation. "Senator Warner has been a tireless champion of the innovation agenda on Capitol Hill, and has brought to Congress a common sense approach to fostering opportunities to the global economy," said Gordon Gee, President of West Virginia University and Chair of the SURA Council of Presidents and Executive Committee. "He brings a needed bi-partisan voice of advocacy for research and science investments." As Governor of Virginia from 2002-06, Warner supported growing the Commonwealth's general support for Jefferson Lab - the nuclear physics research lab in Newport News, managed by SURA for the U.S. Department of Energy. That funding had fallen by one-third due to budget cuts, but was brought back to its historical $1M level under Governor Warner. That support also laid the groundwork for the 12GeV Upgrade contribution of $9M from Virginia in the next governor's term. That contribution helped keep the lab's $328M upgrade on schedule, ensuring the lab's high reputation and performance within the national lab complex. Additionally, Governor Warner participated in SURA's 2003 announcement of AT&T's donation of dark fiber to help grow the next generation IT infrastructure. Those assets helped leverage growth within regional research and education networking organizations within Virginia and across the country. "As a former technology executive, I know the vital role government can play in encouraging entrepreneurship and the development of new technologies. We need to increase --not scale back--this support so we can continue to be a leader in the field of science around the world," said Sen. Warner. "I want to thank SURA for this valuable distinction. I look forward to help continue the strong partnerships we began during my time as Governor so we can build on the progress we have made, and power the future innovations that will provide new methods of productivity, security systems, and medical advances to the benefit our society." In the Senate, Warner has been committed to ensuring student access to the quality education and training needed to succeed in our global economy, without the burden of crippling student debt. Senator Warner co-sponsored the Computer Science Education and Jobs Act, a proposal to promote and increase computer science and STEM education. He was also helpful in passage of last year's Omnibus Appropriations Bill that included permanent extension of the Research and Development Tax Credit, which helps encourage business innovation, research and collaboration. The Senator also serves as the co-chair of the Senate Science Forum and was co-founder of the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine (VASEM) - which "promotes research and the application of knowledge in science, engineering and medicine." The SURA Distinguished Friend of Science Award was established in 2006 to commemorate the organization's 25th Anniversary. SURA's Executive Committee manages the solicitation, screening and selection of the recipient for this award. Past honorees included U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and John Warner of Virginia; Norman Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed Martin and advocate for American leadership in research and innovation; Chuck Robb, former governor and U.S. Senator from Virginia; Neal Lane, former NSF Director and White House science advisor; and the Task Force for American Innovation. Each of SURA's 59 member institutions is eligible to nominate candidates for the award. Senator Warner will be presented the award at a reception held in conjunction with the SURA Board of Trustees Fall Meeting in Arlington, Virginia. ### The Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) is a consortium of over 60 leading research institutions in the southern United States and the District of Columbia established in 1980 as a non-stock, nonprofit corporation. SURA serves as an entity through which colleges, universities, and other organizations may cooperate with one another, and with government and industry in acquiring, developing, and using laboratories and other research facilities and in furthering knowledge and the application of that knowledge in the physical, biological, and other natural sciences and engineering. For more information, visit http://www.sura.org. Twenty-three million years ago, the Antarctic Ice Sheet began to shrink, going from an expanse larger than today's to one about half its modern size. Computer models suggested a spike in carbon dioxide levels as the cause, but the evidence was elusive - until now. Ancient fossilized leaves retrieved from a lake bed in New Zealand now show for the first time that carbon dioxide levels increased dramatically over a relatively short period of time as the ice sheet began to deteriorate. The findings, appearing in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, raise new questions about the stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet today as atmospheric CO2 concentrations rise to levels never before experienced by humans. "We see here that when the Antarctic ice sheet starts deteriorating, it is not that easy to get it back," said study lead author Tammo Reichgelt, a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "Some models have shown that, at the rate we're going right now, the Antarctic Ice Sheet might reach a critical tipping point and start reducing the extent of ice very quickly. We see here that that has happened in the past." The scientists examined a 100,000-year period at the transition between the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. The Antarctic Ice Sheet was about 125 percent larger at the start of that period than it is today. By the end, it was about 50 percent smaller than today. Just before the ice sheet began its decline, atmospheric CO2 levels began to spike, rising from about 500 parts per million (ppm) to between 750 and 1550 ppm over a span of just 20,000 years, the study found. The CO2 level returned to around 425 ppm after that, but positive feedback loops continued to drive melting, the scientists said. "This is the first time we have found evidence that CO2 fluctuations of this magnitude can happen on relatively short time scales," Reichgelt said. To compare the CO2 increase to modern times, atmospheric CO2 recently passed 400 ppm and is rising. What caused the CO2 spike 23 million years ago is still unknown, Reichgelt said. Glacial periods have coincided with cyclical changes in Earth's orbit, and one theory suggests that organic material that had built up in the Southern Ocean may have started oxygenating quickly and released large amounts of CO2. To dig into the past, the scientists analyzed sediment cores from the bottom of an ancient lake on New Zealand's South Island where conditions at that time were ideal for preserving evidence of climates past. Foulden Maar was a humid, subtropical area surrounded by a diverse rainforest back then, and the lake was deep, creating low-oxygen conditions at the bottom that helped preserve forest leaves that fell in and sank. In those now-fossilized leaves, the scientists can clearly see the size, shape and number of the leaves' stomata, the opening through which leaves "breathe" CO2 in and release oxygen. The carbon isotope composition of the leaves together with the stomatal data provided the atmospheric CO2 estimates for the period 23 million years ago. "The leaves living in the forest surrounding the lake were responding to a change in CO2 by reducing the number of stomata as CO2 increased," said co-author William D'Andrea, a Lamont associate research professor and climate scientist. Other recent studies have found that Antarctica may be more sensitive to changes in CO2 and lower levels of CO2 than previously thought. One international group of scientists working with a sediment core from the Ross Sea off Antarctica and ice sheet modeling found that Antarctica was highly sensitive to changes in CO2 during the early and mid-Miocene, and that the ice had retreated far inland during times when atmospheric CO2 passed 500 ppm. D'Andrea noted that even the lowest end of the CO2 estimates in the new study, around 750 ppm, appears to have been high enough to destabilize the Antarctic Ice Sheet. "Prior to this study, it was unclear if atmospheric carbon dioxide increased during the termination of the Miocene Mi-1 glaciation, a factor critical to ending glaciations," said Aaron Diefendorf, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Cincinnati who was not involved in the new study. "This new study will provide Earth scientists new information to study this glaciation and provide a new framework to approach other glaciations and events in Earth's past." ### The other co-author of the new study is Bethany Fox of the University of Waikato, New Zealand. The paper, "Abrupt plant physiological changes in southern New Zealand at the termination of the Mi-1 event reflect shifts in hydroclimate and pCO2" is available online or from the authors. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X16305064 Author contacts: Tammo Reichgelt tammor@ldeo.columbia.edu William D'Andrea dandrea@ldeo.columbia.edu More information: Kevin Krajick, Senior editor, science news, The Earth Institute/Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory kkrajick@ei.columbia.edu 212-854-9729 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is Columbia University's home for Earth science research. Its scientists develop fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution and future of the natural world, from the planet's deepest interior to the outer reaches of its atmosphere, on every continent and in every ocean, providing a rational basis for the difficult choices facing humanity. http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu | @LamontEarth The Earth Institute, Columbia University mobilizes the sciences, education and public policy to achieve a sustainable earth. http://www.earth.columbia.edu. In a study appearing in the October 11 issue of JAMA, Fredric Blavin, Ph.D., of The Urban Institute, Washington, D.C., estimated the association between Medicaid expansion in 2014 and hospital finances by assessing differences between hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid and in states that did not expand Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid eligibility for millions of low-income adults. The choice for states to expand Medicaid could affect the financial health of hospitals by decreasing the proportion of patient volume and unreimbursed expenses attributable to uninsured patients while increasing revenue from newly covered patients. However, whether Medicaid expansion has been associated with improved hospital profits is uncertain, particularly for hospitals that received generous support from state or local government for providing uncompensated care. This study included data from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey and the Health Care Cost Report Information System from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for nonfederal general medical or surgical hospitals in fiscal years 2011 through 2014. The sample included between 1,200 and 1,400 hospitals per fiscal year in 19 states that expanded Medicaid in early 2014 and between 2,200 and 2,400 hospitals per fiscal year in 25 states that did not expand Medicaid (with sample size varying depending on the outcome measured). Expansion of Medicaid was associated with a decline of $2.8 million in average annual uncompensated care costs per hospital. In addition, hospitals in states with Medicaid expansion experienced a $3.2 million increase in average annual Medicaid revenue per hospital, relative to hospitals in states without Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion was also significantly associated with improved excess margins (a profitability indicator that includes all other sources of income, not just those from patient care) (1.1 percentage points), but not improved operating margins. "For states still considering Medicaid expansion, these findings suggest that expansion may be associated with improvements in hospitals' payer mix and overall financial outlook. However, changes in financial outcomes for hospitals in any specific state will likely depend on a host of factors, such as the state's pre-ACA income and coverage distribution, Medicaid eligibility thresholds, Medicaid reimbursement levels, and the subsidies hospitals receive for providing uncompensated care," the author writes. "Further study is needed to assess longer-term implications of this policy change on hospitals' overall finances." ### (doi:10.1001/jama.2016.14765; the study is available pre-embargo to the media at the For the Media website) Editor's Note: This study was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The author has completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported. To place an electronic embedded link to this study in your story This link will be live at the embargo time: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.14765 Researchers from the University Health Network have described the genomic landscape of schwannomas: one of the most common posterior fossa brain tumors and the most common spinal tumor (TORONTO, Canada - Oct. 10, 2016) - Researchers from the University Health Network (UHN); Toronto Western Neurosurgery Division and MacFeeters Hamilton Neuro-oncology Program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have described the genomic landscape of schwannomas in a paper published online today in Nature Genetics. Schwannomas are one of the most common posterior fossa brain tumours and the most common spinal tumour. They stem from schwann cells, which are the cells that surround nerves and are critical in nerve function. Schwannomas commonly affect one of the cranial nerves - typically the acoustic/vestibular nerve (associated with hearing), as well as nerves leaving the spinal cord towards various sites in the body. While schwannomas are benign tumors, often they can cause debilitating symptoms depending on their location and size. Schwannomas can cause significant long-lasting neurological deficits due to a compromising of the nerve they arise from or a compression of the brain and spinal cord structures they compress. In rare cases, there can be swelling of the brain or death depending on the location of the tumours. Schwannomas can occur either sporadically or in the context of a genetic predisposition called Neurofibromatosis. The team performed a comprehensive and integrative multi-platform molecular analysis of brain and spinal schwannomas, describing new mutations in genes that are associated with the development of schwannomas. Principal Investigator Dr. Gelareh Zadeh says that this work has identified new molecular alterations as drivers of schwannoma growth that have not previously been known and notes that the most exciting aspect of the study is that the results can change the course of treatment for some schwannomas. Dr. Zadeh, a Neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital at UHN, holds the Wilkins Family Chair in Brain Tumour Research, is a Scientist, at the MacFeeters-Hamilton Neuro-oncology Program at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and is the Head of Surgical Oncology at UHN. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. "Our work underlines the value of translational science carried out best through an international team approach," says Dr. Zadeh. "We analyzed clinical samples using state-of-the-art molecular techniques in collaboration with expertise within UHN and internationally to establish fusion breakpoints, mutations, and targeted molecular sequencing of tumour samples. The combined effort from these investigators has allowed them to create the possibility that patients with schwannomas can benefit from a personalized approach to their tumour when treatment options are being considered. I must recognize Sameer Agnihotri, who is the first author on this elegant paper describing all of the work necessary to achieve this result, and Dr. Kenneth Aldape, who has been instrumental in guiding the focus of the project." The team profiled 125 clinically annotated schwannoma tumour samples and, using molecular testing, was able to identify subsets of tumours. One subset in particular showed a novel gene fusion (abnormal joining of 2 genes together). The two genes, called HTRA1 and SH3PXD2A, are physically separated in normal cells, but in a subset of schwannoma tumors, show a rearrangement, whereby a portion of one gene is joined to a portion of the other, creating a fusion gene. The authors demonstrate that the fusion gene has cellular functions consistent with the promotion of tumour development, suggesting that it functions as a "driver" of tumorigenesis. Since the fusion is unique to tumor cells, it represents an ideal candidate for therapeutic targeting, since abolishing its function would represent a tumour-specific approach that would spare normal cells in the body. The fusion occurs in the same site future work by the investigators will focus on targeting this abnormal fusion gene for diagnostic and therapeutic development. "Personalized medicine describes an approach that requires the understanding of a patient's tumour cell structure," says Dr. Aldape, the paper's co-Senior Author. "This work demonstrates that a molecular understanding of tumours such as schwannomas will redefine the existing understanding and approaches toward the diagnosis and classification of these tumours. With this knowledge we can move on to develop individual treatment approaches to the various genetic mutations, in particular the fusion proteins." Dr Aldape is a molecular neuro-pathologist, Senior Scientist and Director of MacFeeters-Hamilton Neuro-oncology Program at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Dr. Sameer Agnihotri, first author of the study, highlights the importance of the fusion protein through a series of elegant studies that demonstrate how the fusion promotes the development of schwannomas via its effect on cell proliferation and cell invasion. He notes that "our work demonstrates that tumours are dependent on this fusion protein, making it an ideal therapeutic target for a subset of patients with treatment-refractory schwannoma." Dr. Agnihotri is a Scientific Associate in the MacFeeters-Hamilton Neuro-oncology Program. ### Drs. Zadeh, Aldape and Agnihotri have a research program funded by Canadian Institute for Health Research (CHIR), Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, the Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospital Foundation through the Wilkins Family Chair in Brain Tumour Research, the Terry Fox Research Institute, Elizabeth Raab Neurofibromatosis Program and the MacFeeters-Hamilton Neuro-Oncology Research Program. About University Health Network University Health Network consists of Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospitals, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and The Michener Institute of Education at UHN. The scope of research and complexity of cases at University Health Network has made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. It has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in cardiology, transplantation, neurosciences, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. University Health Network is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. http://www.uhn.ca A group of researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have examined how a communication network can arise within a new experiment called Expert Game. They discovered that the driving mechanism for the emergence of communication network was trust building between people. The results are published in the scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, PNAS. Today, more and more are working in knowledge-based jobs and solve very complex tasks. If you are challenged on the job to solve a task that is beyond your area of expertise, you will often seek guidance from others. And if you then return the favour and share your knowledge with colleagues, helping them to solve a problem, they will be grateful for the help. This type of knowledge sharing where 'experts help experts' increases overall efficiency and promotes innovation. But people are often so pressed for time that they simply do not have the time to be helpful, as they also need to take care of their own duties. But who is happy to share their knowledge with others? And what does it take for someone to do it? Forced to prioritise "We wanted to investigate how knowledge was shared and if a robust communication network would emerge in a setting where people were forced to prioritize between doing their own job versus helping others with their task" explains Kristian Moss Bendtsen, PhD in biophysics, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen. The three researchers, Kristian Moss Bendtsen, Florian Uekermann and Jan Haerter, all from the Center for Models of Life at Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, therefore developed a new experiment called 'The Expert Game'. "In real organisations, questionnaires and other indirect methods have been used to measure knowledge sharing and collaboration. We wanted to have a directly measurable, quantitative experiment that mimics a professional work situation, but which removes some of the complications from the real world, so we created 'The Expert Game' experiment," explains Jan Haerter, assistant professor in the Center for Models of Life at the Niels Bohr Institute. 16 people participated in the experiment. During the experiment, participants spent four hours in the laboratory, where they could only communicate through a limited number of defined and standardised messages similar to emails and all communication was monitored by a specially designed programme. Trust creates a greater flow of information The experiment was designed so that it connects information with monetary profit. The researchers analysed the data and found that strong network connections were created between the participants. By then applying the theoretical model to process the behaviour of the participants in the experiment, the scientists assessed the extent of the social relations that were formed. "Our experiment is constructed such that it ties information to monetary gain, but when we discovered how to further link information flow with trust, we got really excited, because we knew that this would allow us to investigate the formation of so called social capital.", explains Jan Haerter. 'Social capital' is an abstract term that captures the ability of social ties to generate economic advantage. In the social sciences, the concept of social capital has long been studied, but it has proven hard to measure. A formula for helpfulness Using their theoretical model to reproduce the participants' experimental behavior, the authors then went on to quantify the formation of social capital. They conclude that formation of social capital is both a matter of time and the investment one makes in terms of helpful messages. Overall, the experiment showed that even simple, standardised and impersonal emails create trusting relationships that promote knowledge sharing. As the researchers put it, the experiment could therefore be seen as a step towards a more measurable understanding of knowledge sharing and the creation of trust in professional contexts. However, there is still a long way to go - both in terms of larger and longer experiments and in terms of applying the method to the real world. ### Contact: Kristian Moss Bendtsen, researcher, Center for Models of Life, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Kmoss@nbi.dk, +45 4096-1521 Jan Haerter, researcher, Center for Models of Life, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, haerter@nbi.dk, +34 6042-56282. University of Cincinnati physicists team up with international efforts to find an elusive sterile ghost particle that may shed light on poorly understood dark matter University of Cincinnati physicists have joined forces in a major international collaboration to shed new light on one of the most pressing questions in particle physics -- "do sterile neutrinos exist?" After looking at how the three known neutrino types behave and interact -- classified as electron, muon and tau 'flavors' -- a new research collaboration between the U.S.-based MINOS accelerator neutrino experiment and China's Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment has looked for an elusive new light sterile neutrino that may resolve some outstanding puzzles in astrophysics and cosmology. "Neutrinos are almost nothing at all, as they have almost no mass and no electric charge, but these itty-bitty ghost particles that can travel at near light speeds are all around us, from those created at the Big Bang to those originating in nuclear fusion at the center of the sun - the same process that produces sunlight," says Alexandre B. Sousa, University of Cincinnati assistant professor of physics and part of the MINOS experiment. "And they play an essential role in our fundamental understanding of how the universe works." Back in the 1990s, scientists working on the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) experiment at Los Alamos announced evidence of muon neutrinos oscillating into electron neutrinos. However, the oscillation was occurring much faster than the neutrino oscillations discovered by the Super-Kamiokande experiment that led to the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics. According to the researchers, if the LSND results are correct and due to neutrino oscillations, the most likely explanation is the existence of a new, fourth type of neutrino. But this new neutrino would have to be much stranger than anything seen before, being sterile, meaning that it does not interact with matter except through gravity. Over the last twenty years, a number of experiments have tried to confirm or refute the LSND findings, but Sousa says the results have been inconclusive. The new results released by the MINOS and Daya Bay experiments strongly suggest that the ghost-like sterile neutrinos do not explain the LSND result after all. The findings of these studies, which include physicists from the University of Cincinnati, are now published in the journal Physical Review Letters, titled, "Limits on Active to Sterile Neutrino Oscillations from Disappearance Searches in the MINOS, Daya Bay and Bugey-3 Experiments." Since the LSND experiment saw muon-type antineutrinos turning into electron-type antineutrinos, scientists must look at both types of neutrinos simultaneously to address the LSND observations -- this is where Sousa says the collaboration between Daya Bay and MINOS comes in. The MINOS experiment uses an intense beam of muon neutrinos that travels 735 km from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Chicago to the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. MINOS has made world-leading measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters by studying how these neutrinos disappear as they travel between the two detectors. The existence of a sterile neutrino could cause some of these muon neutrinos to disappear at a faster rate than one would expect if sterile neutrinos do not exist. So far scientists working on the MINOS experiment have shown that this does not happen. The Daya Bay experiment looks at electron antineutrinos coming from a nuclear power plant in the Guangdong province of China. Daya Bay observed that some of these antineutrinos disappear and measured for the first time one of the parameters governing neutrino oscillations, for which they earned the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. A sterile neutrino would affect the rate at which these electron antineutrinos disappear, but the Daya Bay scientists have also seen no evidence for this. These two separate results from MINOS and Daya Bay, on their own, are not enough to address the puzzle that LSND set out almost twenty years ago. "Neither the MINOS nor Daya Bay disappearance results alone can be compared to the LSND appearance measurements," says En-Chuan Huang of Los Alamos Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the scientists working on the Daya Bay experiment. "Looking at multiple types of neutrinos together, however, gives us a much stronger handle on sterile neutrinos." In spite of the results, the researchers say they have significantly shrunk the hiding space for this light sterile neutrino. "It's not common for two major neutrino experiments to work together this closely," says Adam Aurisano, postdoctoral fellow with the University of Cincinnati Department of Physics and the lead MINOS scientist who worked on the result. "But to really make a statement about the LSND evidence for sterile neutrinos, we must take Daya Bay's electron-antineutrino data and the MINOS muon-neutrino data and put them both together into a single analysis." It is the combination of these two results, the MINOS experiment probing the conversion of muon neutrinos to sterile neutrinos and the Daya Bay experiment testing the conversion from electron antineutrinos into sterile neutrinos that researchers say has significantly shrunk the hiding space for this light sterile neutrino. This will also help other search efforts for knowing where to look for these elusive particles. Moreover, the researchers -- including Jacob Todd, UC physics doctoral student who is the lead analyst in searches for sterile neutrinos with MINOS+ -- anticipate an even more sensitive search for sterile neutrinos. New data from the MINOS+ experiment (which uses a higher energy beam than MINOS) will be combined with four times more data from Daya Bay in a forthcoming joint analysis to be carried out over the next year. "The neutrino is one of the most enigmatic particles we have encountered," says Aurisano. "And as history suggests, surprises may await us." ### More on: Limits on Active to Sterile Neutrino Oscillation from Disappearance Searches in the MINOS, Daya Bay and Bugey-3 Experiments https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.151803 Related news: Mysterious Neutrino Particles May Hold Keys to Evolution of the Universe http://www.uc.edu/news/nr.aspx?id=22053 Hunting the un-huntable http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/hunting-the-nearly-un-huntable COLUMBIA, Mo. (Oct. 11, 2015) -- The United States spends more on health care than any other country in the world, yet the life expectancy of its citizens is significantly shorter when compared to other high-income countries. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine are suggesting that an innovative systems-thinking approach to population health could improve the country's current health disadvantage. "Our country's inability to define, monitor and improve on preventable deaths has complicated our progress in managing the health of our communities and population," said Julie Kapp, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Health Management and Informatics at the MU School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "This goes beyond collective impact. A national systems-thinking approach could be a step in the right direction toward improving the health and health care of the U.S. population." A national systems-thinking approach considers how components within a larger structure operate and interact, and how to optimize the design, implementation and evaluation of that system. This approach can be applied to various health concerns, including obesity, infant mortality and disparities to elder care, so long as the ultimate goal is improving quality and quantity of life. Kapp used the Malcolm Baldridge Framework for Performance Excellence as a model of which to apply systems thinking to population health improvement. "We consider U.S. population health a supra-system, which means it contains many subsystems at federal, state and local levels," Kapp said. "This approach requires all health and health care organizations to share metrics." Kapp said this approach could be implemented by creating an evidence-based national reporting dashboard and offering incentives to health care organizations that agree to use a shared measuring system. She also recommended that community-based nonprofit organizations be required to use shared outcomes-focused metrics when applying for federal funds and accreditation. "To improve the effectiveness of how community-based organizations address health and health-related issues, we must change their funding requirements," Kapp said. "Changing their funding requirements on a broad scale requires change at the federal level. Therefore, a systems approach is required." Kapp's recommendations are conceptual and are intended to provide a theoretical framework for implementing a systems-thinking approach to U.S. population health. Applying the Baldrige framework in this way would be innovative, Kapp said, but she also acknowledged that implementing a systems approach in the U.S. would probably take many years to accomplish. "However, given our country's current health outcomes compared to other peer countries, and our failure to make progress on improving the proportion of citizens dying from preventable deaths after 100?years of awareness, we cannot afford to not consider an aligned and integrated systems thinking perspective for improving U.S. population health," Kapp said. ### Kapp's research, "A Conceptual Framework for a Systems-Thinking Approach to U.S. Population Health" was published by Systems Research and Behavioral Science. Kapp was a 2014 Baldrige Executive Fellow. The Baldrige Executive Fellows Program is a one-year, nationally ranked leadership development experience for direct reports to the most senior leaders in the organization or business unit leaders. For more information on Kapp's research, please visit: http://nistbaldrige.blogs.govdelivery.com/2016/09/15/bringing-a-systems-approach-to-u-s-population-health/ A report published today, 11th October 2016, by charity Brain Tumour Research shows that funding for research into brain tumours is still woefully inadequate, despite it being the biggest cancer killer of children and people under the age of 40. The brain tumour research team at Plymouth University are members of one of four Research Centres of Excellence throughout the country supported by charity Brain Tumour Research. The team are European leaders in the investigation of low-grade brain tumours, which typically affect children and young adults. Their work focuses on identifying and understanding the mechanism that makes a cell become cancerous and exploring ways in which to halt or reverse that mechanism. They test new drugs in human primary cell cultures and investigate how existing drugs could be re-purposed as a therapy for brain tumours, making drug therapies available to patients safely and more quickly. This is vital work, as the only treatments currently available for brain tumours are invasive surgery and/or radiotherapy. According to the charity's report, entitled the National Research Funding Report, fewer than 10% of people in the UK know that brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer. Brain Tumour Research commissioned a study of over 2000 adults. Respondents cited leukaemia as the biggest cancer killer of children and breast, lung and bowel as the biggest cancer killers of adults in the UK. The charity's new National Research Funding Report is aimed at addressing the historical underfunding of research into brain tumours and the devastating consequences of limited treatment options for patients and families. The report highlights the need for substantial funding increases from three main drivers of brain tumour research spend: Government partners of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI); Cancer Research UK and other charity partners of the NCRI; Brain tumour research charities supported by the general public and organisations. Brain Tumour Research is campaigning to see the national spend on brain tumour research increased to 30 - 35 million a year, in line with breast and leukaemia , in order to advance treatments and ultimately find a cure. The report, published today, describes the stark inequalities in cancer research funding in this country, which correlate tragically to poor survival rates for brain tumour patients. Fewer than 20% of brain tumour patients survive beyond five years of their diagnosis, whereas 86% of breast cancer and 51% of leukaemia patients survive beyond five years. In 2005, five-year survival for brain tumour patients was just 14%, so it is encouraging to see an improving trend, partly due to scientific advances particularly for medulloblastoma in children. However, survival is still far behind breast cancer and leukaemia, diseases that lead on levels of national research spend. The figures demonstrate that the number of all cancer deaths of people aged under 75 actually reduced by 3.7% between 2002 and 2015, due to advances in research. There was a significant lowering in the number of breast cancer deaths, which decreased by 18%, and leukaemia which reduced 12%. In contrast, people dying from brain tumours under the age of 75 increased by 10%. The total number of people dying from brain tumours increased between 2002 and 2015 by 27%. Brain tumours now account for one in 143 of all deaths and represent 2.6% of all cancer deaths. The report reveals that the incidence of brain tumours is rising. Latest figures show that the total number of cases in England has grown 19% since 2002, from 3,546 to 4,201 cases in 2014. Every week, a family loses their child to a brain tumour, more than those lost, under the age of 15, to leukaemia. In 2015, the number of children dying of cancer was 194, with brain tumours taking 67 of these (35%) and leukaemia 46 (24%). Since the NCRI (National Cancer Research Institute) began collating the research spend data of its funding partners in 2002, the average annual national research spend on breast cancer has been 34 million (8% of the total) and for leukaemia 28 million (7%). For brain tumours the average spend was just 4 million (1%). This means 8,759 was spent on leukaemia research for each death, compared with 1,858 for brain tumours and 3,872 for breast cancer. The financial burden has fallen heavily on the third sector. In 2015, charities funded 86% of the national research into brain tumours. The charity has discovered, for the first time, that Government spend on brain tumour research represented just 0.52% of its total spend on cancer research in 2015. The House of Commons Petitions Committee's report earlier this year stated that "successive governments have failed brain tumour patients and their families for decades". Following a parliamentary debate on this issue, the then Health Minister, George Freeman MP, announced the setting up of a "Task and Finish" working group at the Department of Health looking at areas highlighted by the Petitions Committee report. The group, comprising charities, parliamentarians, researchers and clinicians, will meet for the first time on 18th October. Every two hours, someone is diagnosed with a brain tumour in England. The report has also uncovered a shocking postcode lottery around the country, with the North East and South East both witnessing a 40% rise in diagnosed cases (per 100,000 population), between 2011 and 2014, closely followed by London at 35%. The South East also had the highest number of cases in total. At the other end of the spectrum, although still representing a substantial increase, was Yorkshire and the Humber with a rise of 13%. Brain Tumour Research member charity, brainstrust, estimates that 55,000 people are living with a brain tumour in the UK. "For too long, brain tumours have been a neglected cancer," said Sue Farrington Smith, Chief Executive of Brain Tumour Research. "Along with our member charities, we have been campaigning for as long as the NCRI has been in existence to have our voices heard. The Petitions Committee has listened, highlighting that successive governments have failed brain tumour patients and their families for decades. The Government has now acknowledged that current funding is not enough. Working with the Government's "Task and Finish" group, we will be challenging the Government and larger cancer charities to bring research into brain tumours in line with other cancers, such as breast and leukaemia." Research into brain tumours at Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry is led by Professor Oliver Hanemann, Associate Dean for Research. He said: "We fully support our partner Brain Tumour Research in its effective campaigns to raise awareness of and funds for research into brain tumours. Its latest report makes for difficult reading, but we hope that it will galvanise policy makers and funders into action to provide more support our work and the work of colleagues across the country." 1 million a year is needed to continue the vital research at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at Plymouth University. A local man recently left a gift of 100,000 in his will to research into brain tumours at Plymouth University, and a number of organisations offer support including Plymouth Argyle FC, Plymouth Raiders, Dartmoor Zoo, WBW solicitors, Bright solicitors, and local branches of Santander. ### PITTSBURGH, Oct. 11, 2016 - The Department of Urology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has been awarded more than $7.7 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create an O'Brien Urology Cooperative Research Center, tasked with investigating important factors involved with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). BPH, also known as an enlarged prostate, and LUTS are major medical problems affecting most elderly men and costing about $4 billion annually in treatment. The goals of the center are to identify new targets for developing novel preventative and therapeutic treatment approaches while attracting new investigators to the field of BPH. "There is an urgent need for new approaches to prevent and treat BPH," said Zhou Wang, Ph.D., professor and director of urological research in the Department of Urology and project leader. "Although BPH is generally not life-threatening, its treatment is associated with side effects and is very costly." The center also will establish an Administrative Core and Tissue Resource and Morphology Core (TRMC) to increase synergy and efficiency. The Administrative Core will provide administrative support through project review, pilot project selection and monitoring, as well as promote multi-institutional collaboration, enrich education and gather biostatistical analyses. TRMC will provide human tissue specimens, morphology support, and animal tissue processing and distribution. Dr. Wang will serve as Administrative Core director. Rajiv Dhir, M.D., professor of pathology at Pitt and chief of pathology at UPMC Shadyside, will serve as TRMC director. The research projects will focus on inflammation involved with BPH and LUTS. Along with Dr. Wang, they will be led by Naoki Yoshimura, M.D., Ph.D., professor of urology, pharmacology and cell biology, and director of neuro-urological research at Pitt; and Donald DeFranco, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of medical education and associate dean for medical student research at Pitt. The first project, led by Dr. Yoshimura, will address a key issue regarding the impact of prostatic inflammation on the nerve and urothelial systems that connect the prostate to the bladder, leading to bladder sensitization. The second, headed by Dr. Wang, will determine luminal epithelial cellular junctions in BPH specimens, the effect of inflammation on those junctions and the role of E-cadherin, an important protein with those junctions, in luminal epithelial permeability. Dr. DeFranco will lead the third project, which ultimately could lead to new approaches to enhance the efficacy of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in treatment and prevention of BPH and LUTS. ### About the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine As one of the nation's leading academic centers for biomedical research, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine integrates advanced technology with basic science across a broad range of disciplines in a continuous quest to harness the power of new knowledge and improve the human condition. Driven mainly by the School of Medicine and its affiliates, Pitt has ranked among the top 10 recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1998. In rankings recently released by the National Science Foundation, Pitt ranked fifth among all American universities in total federal science and engineering research and development support. Likewise, the School of Medicine is equally committed to advancing the quality and strength of its medical and graduate education programs, for which it is recognized as an innovative leader, and to training highly skilled, compassionate clinicians and creative scientists well-equipped to engage in world-class research. The School of Medicine is the academic partner of UPMC, which has collaborated with the University to raise the standard of medical excellence in Pittsburgh and to position health care as a driving force behind the region's economy. For more information about the School of Medicine, see http://www.medschool.pitt.edu. http://www.upmc.com/media Contact: Lawerence Synett Phone: 412-647-9816 E-mail: SynettL@upmc.edu Contact: Wendy Zellner Phone: 412-586-9777 E-mail: ZellnerWL@upmc.edu Physicists at The University of Texas at Arlington have shown that using microwaves to activate photosensitive nanoparticles produces tissue-heating effects that ultimately lead to cell death within solid tumors. "Our new method using microwaves can propagate through all types of tissues and target deeply situated tumors," said Wei Chen, UTA professor of physics and lead author of the study published this month in he Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology titled "A new modality of cancer treatment-nanoparticle mediated microwave induced photodynamic therapy." Photodynamic therapy kills cancer cells when a nanoparticle introduced into tumor tissue generates toxic singlet oxygen after being exposed to light. Singlet oxygen is a highly reactive type of oxygen that irreversibly damages cell mitochondria and eventually causes cell death. "Up to now, photodynamic therapy, which depends on visible, ultraviolet or near infrared light, was considered effective for skin cancers or cancers close to the skin surface," Chen said. "Our new concept combining microwaves with photodynamic therapy opens up new avenues for targeting deeper tumors and has already proven effective in rapidly and safely reducing tumor size." In prior studies, the researchers had identified a new type of nanoparticle, copper-cysteamine or Cu-Cy, that could be activated by X-rays to produce singlet oxygen and slow the growth of tumors. X-ray radiation, however, poses significant risks to patients and can harm healthy tissue. In this new lab study, the team demonstrated that the nanoparticle Cu-Cy also can be activated by microwaves, which can be targeted directly at the tumor itself without harming surrounding tissue. "Our new microwave-induced photodynamic therapy offers numerous advantages, the most significant of which is increased safety," Chen said. "Our nanoparticle Cu-Cy also demonstrates very low toxicity, is easy to make and inexpensive, and also emits intense luminescence, which means it can also be used as an imaging agent." The researchers demonstrated that both in vitro and in vivo studies on an osteosarcoma cell line showed significant cell destruction using copper cysteamine nanoparticles under microwave activation. The heating effects and the release of copper ions from copper cysteamine upon activation was the main mechanism for the generation of the reactive oxygen needed for cancer cell destruction. Chen was joined on this research by Lun Ma, a UTA research assistant professor in physics, as well as Mengyu Yao, Lihua Li and Yu Zhang from the Guangdong Key Laboratory of Orthopaedic Technology and Implant Materials in Guangzhou, China, and Junying Zhang from the Physics Department at Beihang University in Beijing, China. The U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, the National Science Foundation and Department of Homeland Security's joint Academic Research Initiative program, the National Basic Research Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the five-year plan of the Chinese Military, all supported this research. "This new invention is largely based on the new photosensitizer copper cysteamine that we invented and patented, and I would like to thank all our team members, particularly Dr. Lun Ma, for the time and energy spent on this project," Chen said. Alex Weiss, UTA chair of the Physics Department, emphasized the importance of this research in the context of UTA's increasing focus on health and the human condition within the Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions|Global Impact. "Dr. Chen's research into nanoparticle activation has led to important discoveries that could potentially transform cancer treatment," Weiss said. "This new paper on the possibilities of microwave activation demonstrates yet again how Dr. Chen's search for new modalities of therapy could play a key role in finding safe, viable and inexpensive treatments for cancer." ### Chen came to UTA in 2006 following an international career in the United States, Canada, Sweden and China. He received his doctorate in chemistry from Peking University in Beijing, China. About The University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington is a Carnegie Research-1 "highest research activity" institution of about 55,000 students in campus-based and online degree programs and is the second-largest institution in The University of Texas System. U.S. News & World Report ranks UTA fifth in the nation for undergraduate diversity. The University is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is ranked as the top four-year college in Texas for veterans on Military Times' 2016 Best for Vets list. Visit http://www.uta.edu to learn more, and find UTA rankings and recognition at http://www.uta.edu/uta/about/rankings.php. For more on the Strategic Plan, see Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact. UTA researchers have earned two grants that will install longer-lasting, sturdier fiber-reinforced concrete pipes developed in UTA labs in actual highway projects in Texas and develop the 100-year service life protocol testing criteria for built pipes for Florida. Ali Abolmaali, Department of Civil Engineering chair and Dr. Tseng Huang Endowed Professor, is leading the team working on the grants, which came after five years of extensive research on the pipes, which are laced with polypropylene synthetic macrofibers. Co-principal investigator Yeonho Park, a UTA faculty research associate, will be instrumental in implementing the pipes in the Texas projects. The UTA-developed fiber-reinforced pipe meets an American Society for Testing and Materials specification for the first time ever. Abolmaali worked with industry associations and colleagues around the globe to establish that new standard - ASTM C1818 Specification for Synthetic Fiber Reinforced Concrete Culvert, Storm Drain and Sewer Pipe - last year. The new standard describes a technically strong and durable reinforcement option that can be used for underground piping. The excellent, long-term performance of the concrete pipes reinforced with the polypropylene synthetic macrofiber was observed. In addition to Abolmaali's team, the American Concrete Pipe Association, its members and Germany-based BASF Construction Chemicals collaborated on the project. The $800,000 Texas contract is funded through the Texas Department of Transportation. A separate $283,000 contract is funded through the ACPA for developing 100-year service life protocols for synthetic fiber pipes for the Florida Department of Transportation. Brian Barth, TxDOT's Fort Worth district engineer, said the state agency is excited about trying the new pipe standard. "We're anxious to see how it does in wet-dry environments," Barth said. "Many of the pilot areas are in rural spots where culverts run alongside the highway, which represent those wet-dry conditions. We'll see how the non-corrosive, fiber-reinforced pipes work in those environments." Peter Crouch, UTA College of Engineering dean, said this is yet another remarkable example of academia working with industry. "Dr. Abolmaali and his team deserve a lot of credit for establishing a new American Society for Testing and Materials specification, setting a new national standard in construction that will have very tangible effects industry wide," Crouch said. "His work makes substantial contributions to UTA's focus on sustainable urban communities contained within the Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact." Several leading concrete pipe producers teamed up with UTA to produce more than 300 full-scale test pipes in different geographical locations within the U.S. with different concrete mix and equipment. "The UTA-developed fiber pipes first attracted the TxDOT engineers for implementation in Texas for a more durable and resilient infrastructure," Abolmaali said. UTA and TxDOT will implement the UTA-developed fiber pipes under highways and roadways subjected to vehicle traffic, particularly at locations with junctions of multiple pipes and high underground water tables. The pipes will be placed in series with conventional concrete pipes in multiple TxDOT construction projects for comparative evaluations. Abolmaali's team will design, produce and evaluate both types of pipe. A UTA-owned robot will travel through the pipes after the construction to transmit condition assessment data. This evaluation will be conducted for three years so the UTA developed pipes can be tested in real TxDOT projects. "The UTA fiber pipes will not experience corrosion of reinforcement during its lifetime. That has and will continue to attract many departments of transportation around the county and the world," Abolmaali said. "In addition to TxDOT, we are working with Florida Department of Transportation to implement the UTA fiber pipes in that state. Several other departments of transportation are joining or negotiating with UTA as well." In addition to TxDOT grant, the American Concrete Pipe Association has awarded Abolmaali's team a $283,000 grant to develop the 100-year service life protocol testing criteria Florida's design specification. This study includes accelerated aging of UTA-developed fiber pipes for up to 100 years by building a large pool and soaking the pipes in the pool with specific chemicals subjected to high temperature. "We can simulate the 100-year pipe conditions in only one year," Abolmaali said. Abolmaali specializes in pipe construction and evaluation. He is currently performing an $882,000 performance evaluation on the city of Arlington's sewer pipes, and then prioritizing which pipes need mending immediately. He also received a $600,000 grant from the Tarrant Regional Water District to simulate behavior and response of pipe-soil interaction that will surround the 150-mile Integrated Pipeline Project. Abolmaali was recognized by ASTM with the Spangler Award, which is presented to a member of ASTM C13 who has been highly active technically on the committee, involving themselves in research, authoring research papers, and supplying data and knowledge which changes the existing standards and adds to the development of new standards. ASTM C13, a committee with a membership of approximately 200, has jurisdiction over 55 national and international standards published in the Annual Book of ASTM Standards. ### About The University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington is a Carnegie Research-1 "highest research activity" institution of about 55,000 students in campus-based and online degree programs and is the second-largest institution in The University of Texas System. U.S. News & World Report ranks UTA fifth in the nation for undergraduate diversity. The University is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is ranked as the top four-year college in Texas for veterans on Military Times' 2016 Best for Vets list. Visit http://www.uta.edu to learn more, and find UTA rankings and recognition at http://www.uta.edu/uta/about/rankings.php. For more on the Strategic Plan, see Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact. Information about what personal data we collect about you and how we process it (including information about how we personalize our website for you and deliver content tailored to you) can be found in our privacy policy. This article has been presented and discussed by the leadership and organizers of the Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Laboring Masses - PLM) to mark the coming 100-day anniversary of the Duterte administration. It is a contribution to the discussion among the Left and progressive forces on how to view this administration and the tasks ahead. I. The tactical period1. According to Vladimir Lenin, the Marxist conception of a tactical period is based on an objective consideration of the sum total of the relations between absolutely all the classes in a given society, and consequently a consideration of the objective stage of development reached by that society and of the relations between it and other societies, [which] can serve as a basis for the correct tactics of an advanced class. [ From Tactics of the Class Struggle of the Proletariat, V.I. Lenin, https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/granat/ch05.htm 2. How do we assess and analyze the tactical period faced by the broad working class movement and its positioning in relation to all other classes under the present Rodrigo Duterte regime?3. Lets begin with the ruling class. The ruling class today is undergoing intensifying factionalism because a new faction has emerged vis-a-vis the older factions coming from or supported by the oligarchy and the so-called Yellow trapos [traditional politicians].4. The new faction is the Duterte faction which is based among the local trapos and the local elite that have long been opposing the rule of Imperial Manila or the older factions. One of the main goals of this faction is to overturn the rule of the previous factions by enforcing federalism or a federal with a parliamentary or presidential/parliamentary system.5. The broad masses, who have been disenchanted and dissatisfied with the previous regimes that ruled after the Edsa Revolution (regimes which they lump together as the Yellow/Dilawan), are generally still supportive of the Duterte presidency. Duterte has the highest trust rating, reaching as high as 91%, among presidents during the first weeks of his presidency.6. Dutertes pronouncements on providing peace and security to many (through an anti-drugs, anti-criminalism campaign), eradicating corruption, increasing social benefits for the poor, and the likes, fuel the expectation of the masses that change is indeed coming under this administration. They consider the Duterte administration the last bastion of hope for a better future. It is however only a hundred days of Duterte administration and the masses seem ready to wait for a while and see whether the promised change will come their way.7. A large section of the middle classes supports Duterte, especially his war on drugs or the peace and order campaign. Those who have assets and properties to protect (big or small) are relieved that the campaign gives them some security.Left and progressive groups1. In general, the Left and progressive groups are divided into those in coalition with Duterte and those against Dutertes presidency. The former includes those aligned with the Communist Party of the Philippines/National Democratic Front forces. The CPP has characterized Duterte as the chief political representative of the ruling classes and the head of the reactionary client-state today. Duterte has offered them some choice positions in his Cabinet, which they accepted by putting open leaders of the mass movement there. However, there are different signals on how they stand on the Duterte regime, ranging from outright collaboration to critical collaboration or critical engagement with the Duterte regime.2. The anti-Duterte groups include former leaders and members of Akbayan (or leaders and members who are still with Akbayan but critical of its dalliances with the Liberal Party or the Yellow forces).3. There are however some sections of the Left and progressives who long consider themselves independent from both the elite factions: the Duterte and the Yellow forces. It is in this third force that PLM (Partido Lakas ng Masa) positions itself.State apparatus1. How strong and consolidated is the state apparatus under Duterte? Dutertes Cabinet continues to be under the helm of neoliberal technocrats and trapos despite the posts given to the CPP-allied leaders. The parliamentary apparatus (Senate & the House of Representatives) are now under Duterte supporters, since a large section of the Liberal Party Coalition has joined up with the majority faction out of political opportunism. But theyre not really loyalists of Duterte; they can easily change sides depending on how the wind blows or on undue pressures from US imperialism and the oligarchs.2. The PNP and the AFP are reported to be still supporting Duterte as the latter continues doing the rounds of visit to police and military camps all over the country. Duterte has put his own people at the helm of the PNP (Chief Bato dela Rosa) and the AFP (Chief of Staff Ricardo Visaya) and has been campaigning hard to attract the police and soldiers to his no-nonsense, seemingly strong style of leadership and to promise them more support and funds. Yet, its more likely that the forces in the AFP and PNP who are supportive of US imperialism, the oligarchy and the Yellow trapos are waiting in the wings to make their moves soon.US imperialism1. The foreign powers, especially the US government and its adjuncts, are becoming wary of the Duterte government. A few weeks ago, the US considered the Duterte administration under a business as usual situation. The country has a colorful president who still adheres to a neoliberal program that does not pose a threat to their political, military, and trade and economic operations in the country.2. After the US and its allies critiqued the Duterte government for human rights violations, Duterte has counteracted by threatening to kick out US military troops in the Philippines, review the US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty (which he said was an unequal treaty), and open up more trade and economic relations with China and Russia (including buying arms from these rival countries of the US). Now it is not only the US but the European Union which has taken a critical stance against the Duterte regimes human rights violations.3. Dutertes tirade has continued by calling for an end to the joint US-Philippines military exercises and by threatening to cross the Rubicon soon, meaning deserting the alliance with the US and opening up new alliances with its rivals. These declarations may still be rhetoric, but theres consistency in Dutertes tirades that come from the nationalist positions he took when he was a young activist of the Kabataang Makabayan. These may not be anti-imperialist pronouncements, but a threat to shift to rival alliances surely will rile the chief imperialist power, the United States.4. Duterte must have known that this early, the United States might have been contemplating a regime change in the country. Duterte is too unpredictable and his dalliances with the revolutionary Left are problematic to them. To plot for a regime change is something that the US imperialist forces have done in a number of countries in order to keep their interests intact and to retain a docile government that it can use as a proxy to serve their interests. It is also in the interest of the US to restore the rule of the Yellow forces and the old oligarchs as they have been its partners for a long time. It is not unrealistic to say that the Senate inquiry on extra-judicial killings and the anti-drugs war, initiated by the Yellow forces, and the counterpart House of Representative inquiry are part and parcel of the regime change scenario and its attendant reaction coming from Dutertes legislative supporters.II. The political scenario1. Where is the situation heading? Right now, we are in a very unstable period; we can even say its a very perilous period for the Left and progressive forces.2. There are two possible scenarios in the immediate future:2.1. One is the degeneration of the Duterte regime into a dictatorship or a neo-fascistic regime. This scenario is already being raised by many forces including independent forces among the Left and the progressives.2.2. The other is the intensification of US intervention and the ouster of the Duterte government either through constitutional (impeachment) or extra-constitutional means (coup detat or assassination). This scenario is being raised by forces of the CPP and those supporting Duterte.3. Both scenarios can also coexist as one can be a counter-reaction to the other.4. A seeming third scenario of Duterte going to the Left by siding with the revolutionary movement in actual deed, not only in rhetoric, is somewhat far-fetched. It is being hampered by the nature and character of the Duterte regime itself (still a reactionary regime of a faction of the elite), its avowed program of neoliberalism, the weak state of the revolutionary movement, the support of the state institutions especially the military and the police, the regional balance of forces (in terms of US imperialism and the rival powers in the region), and others.The dictatorship scenario1. The degeneration of the Duterte government into a dictatorship is indicated by the warlord and authoritarian mould of the Philippine president. The phenomena of warlordism in the country is itself characteristic of a political system shaped by a mongrel, backward capitalism (others call it the semi-colonial, semi-feudal system). This points to a weak nation-state, headed by oligarchs and top political clans who care less about the regions and provinces as long as they dispense the loot in government. This may be the first time that a local warlord has come to sit as the national president.2. The warlord type of rule, which includes a command of private guards and goons and an impunity for violence, including violence against women and extreme forms of sexism, has been emblematic in areas such as Davao (Duterte with the Davao Death Squad), Isabela (the Dys), Escalante (the Yaps), Maguindanao (the Ampatuans), and the likes. Warlordism is founded on authoritarianism and violence, and can easily slide into a destruction of bourgeois or formal democratic processes and the imposition of martial rule.3. Dutertes authoritarian and violent bent is being unraveled by the mass killings and the human rights violations incurred by its war on drugs in the communities. The killings are happening in urban poor areas and have reached a death casualty of more than 3,000 during the 100 days of the Duterte government. Those killed, either by direct police actions or so-called vigilante operations, are generally the small-time pushers and users in the communities.The underclass1. Although theres a rising number of children and innocents killed in the war on drugs, the main target is the so-called underclass the layer of society which has been alienated and debased by the very system of mongrel, backward capitalism that exists in our urban jungle or in any other Third World cities in the world today. This is the layer that was originally called by Karl Marx as the lumpen its the class of outcast, degenerated and submerged elements that make up a section of the population of the [urban centers] which include beggars, prostitutes, gangsters, racketeers, swindlers, petty criminals, tramps and all sorts of declassed, degraded or degenerated elements. [Marxist Internet Archive, https://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/l/u.htm ] For Marx, this is the layer of the working class that is unlikely ever to achieve class consciousness and can even be an impediment to the realization of socialism.2. Much has changed in the categories of lumpen or lumpenproletariat as Marx defined it. This is a fluid, not a static or sharply defined category. (Some of the anti-social activities for instance are being done by members of the capitalist class itself). In todays underclass belongs the millions of people who have been hooked to shabu (methamphetamine, meth, ice or crystal in other countries) and are the living zombies who carry out criminal activities under the influence of this drug or to support their vices. It is no wonder that even in the urban poor communities, people are supporting the war on drugs campaign of the government, as it provides them the peace and security that they long for.3. The trading of shabu has replaced jueteng as a form of livelihood in urban poor communities where many people are chronically unemployed or unemployables. This increases the number of probable targets (three million pushers and users according to Duterte) of the war on drugs. In the government list, we do not add yet the police force and its generals who are the coddlers or main operators of the drugs trade. This only means that the Duterte government cannot really implement a successful war on drugs if the very forces it unleashes to stamp the drug trade are the main perpetrators.4. While we point to the underclass as the main target of Dutertes war on drugs, the Left should never countenance a murder spree to get rid of these elements. We strike at the very root of the problem, which is the existence of a mongrel, backward type of capitalism which drives people into utter destitution and into a life of criminalities and drugs.US intervention1. The intensification of US intervention in the country is not only based on the human rights violations of the Duterte regime, although this is now being used as the main excuse for a possible regime change scenario. Dutertes pronouncements go against the US consolidation of military might in the region and the containment of China through its Pivot to Asia (now called Rebalance to Asia) by the US imperialist forces.2. The De Lima inquiry in the Senate is an attempt to launch an early impeachment proceeding against Duterte. This immediately lost ground as Duterte and his cohorts in the Senate ousted Senator Leila de Lima as chair of the inquiry and are now using every effort to shift the investigation away from Dutertes role in the DDS (Davao Death Squad) killings. Then there is the Kangaroo court in the House of Representatives which is using every trick in the book to undertake a demolition job against De Lima (including resorting to personal, misogynistic, vilely sexist- shaming tactics). As to where this will head depends on the balance of forces that will arise in the unceasing faction fight among the trapos.III. Our Calls, Our Tasks1. What is our stand in this tactical period?2. We should intensify our campaign for a stop to the killings and the drift towards more authoritarian rule or the imposition of dictatorship by the Duterte government. But this campaign (Stop the Killings, No to Dictatorship) should not play into the hands of the Yellow forces, the oligarchs and the US imperialists who are using the campaign to their own advantage. We should lead the campaign as an independent force, so it will not be seen or used as just another plank of the US and the Yellow forces to discredit and bring down the Duterte government.3. We do not discount the possibility of a coup detat, impeachment or assassination plot against Duterte. As Duterte reacts by further threatening to take an anti-US position, an independent foreign policy position, and even join up with the anti-US rival foreign powers, it will be a matter of time before the plot of regime change will be implemented. To this, we say No to US intervention in Philippine politics.4. The tactical period is also characterized by the government continuing its neoliberal economic program despite pronouncements against labor contractualization and expansion of social welfare for the masses. There has been no improvement in the lives of the poor but the neoliberal program, which victimizes the poor, continues without letup. Dutertes supporters in government and those in the legislative even want to impose more taxes against the poor, diminish welfare benefits for senior citizens, and change the constitution to accommodate foreign corporations and liberalize trade and investment.5. We call for an End to Neoliberalism and all its attendant policies privatization, liberalization, deregulation, regressive taxation, and contractualization. Our campaign against contractualization and all its forms should expose the entire neoliberal program of the government.IV. The Alternative1. It should be clear to all that the alternative to the Duterte regime is not another form of coalition with the trapos, the oligarchy, the Yellow forces, or even the local trapos and the warlords themselves.2. The genuine alternative is a Government of the Masses for the masses, by the masses, and of the masses. We should be clear about this, although the present situation does not point to the possibility of such. The CPP has called for a Government of National Unity (GNU) which includes Duterte, i.e., if Duterte abides by an anti-neoliberal and pro-masses program of the government. The call for a GNU is in consonance with the multi-class provisional government or a bloc/state of four classes (workers, peasants, petty-bourgeoisie, and national bourgeoisie) that the CPP adheres to in pursuing the national democratic stage of the Philippine revolution.3. It is however problematic to base our call on the possibility of Duterte allying himself with the revolutionary movement, or abiding to a national democratic program of government. At some point, CPP leader Jose Ma. Sison has even acknowledged a Duterte regime that merely undertakes bourgeois reforms as the only possible relief that the masses can get from the government today.4. We have a choice. We can be pragmatic and accept the realities and limitations of the present political juncture. But when the heat and the opposition build up, Duterte will more likely take a Rightist position than align himself with the Left. Hes not even a Peron, and perhaps will not be given time and opportunity to become one.5. At this stage, it is perhaps better to put up the guidepost of the alternative society we want, including a strategic call for a Government of the Masses instead of a very tactical governmental call. A Government of the Masses is the only alternative to a series of regimes that merely continue to exploit, oppress and dehumanize the masses.6. A Government of the Masses is a government of the broad working class and the peasantry and other oppressed sectors of society. It overturns the mongrel, backward capitalism and paves the way for a transition to socialism.IV. An Independent Mass Movement1. Our calls should be many-sided. We should go beyond single-issue calls and a single-issue movement as we are trying to develop a movement of a broad working class that seriously challenges the system and poses itself as an alternative power to the ruling class or its factions.2. Lenin in What Is to be Done also called for an organization that conducts comprehensive and all-sided exposure against the tsarist regime, an exposure of issues that point to the need for a programmatic system change (towards socialism) instead of a regime change. In a sense, this is also what we need to do at this juncture.3. In the present tactical period, we need a movement that can do this. The main tactic is to develop an independent mass movement carrying the independent class line of the broad working class masses. It is an erroneous tactic to ally or coalesce with any faction of the ruling class, with potentially disastrous consequences for the working class movement. It is bound to fail as the Left has experienced during the Cory period, the Erap period, the GMA period, and the Noynoy period.4. Finally, the tactic is addressed to all Left and progressive forces and individuals whichever blocs or parties they are aligned with -- who see the need for an independent mass movement that can take on the tasks of the present tactical period. This is where Left unity is crucial if we can unite and combine our forces and resources, we can build a movement that can contest, even shift, the outcome of the present tactical period to our advantage. This is also the opportunity presented by the tactical period.# U.S. Court of Appeals denies injunction that would have halted construction during appeal process Cannon Ball, N.D., October 9, 2016 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today rejected the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes request for an injunction to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners. The decision comes as the Tribe is pursuing an appeal to stop construction while the rest of the case proceeds in U.S. District Court.The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is not backing down from this fight, said Dave Archambault II, Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. We are guided by prayer, and we will continue to fight for our people. We will not rest until our lands, people, waters and sacred places are permanently protected from this destructive pipeline.The 1,168-mile pipeline crosses through the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes ancestral lands and within a half mile of the reservation boundary. Construction crews have already destroyed and desecrated confirmed sacred and historic sites, including burials and cultural artifacts. The original pipeline route crossed the Missouri River just north of Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota. The route was later shifted downstream, to the tribes doorstep, out of concerns for the citys drinking water supply.We call on Dakota access to heed the governments request to stand down around Lake Oahe, said Jan Hasselman, lead attorney from Earthjustice, which is representing the Tribe. The government is still deciding whether or not Dakota access should get a permit. Continuing construction before the decision is made would be a tragedy given what we know about the importance of this area.In its ruling, a panel of U.S. Circuit Court judges denied the tribes request for an injunction, allowing construction to continue as the Tribes appeal is considered. Previously, the Department of Justice announced a temporary halt to pipeline construction on federal lands and requested that Energy Transfer Partners voluntarily halt construction on private lands.The federal government recognizes what is at stake and has asked DAPL to halt construction, said Archambault. We hope that they will comply with that request.Archambault notes that by allowing pipeline construction to continue, todays ruling threatens millions.This ruling puts 17 million people who rely on the Missouri River at serious risk, said Archambault. And, already, the Dakota Access Pipeline has led to the desecration of our sacred sites when the company bulldozed over the burials of our Lakota and Dakota ancestors. This is not the end of this fight. We will continue to explore all lawful options to protect our people, our water, our land, and our sacred place.Link to court documents:Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Internships Provide Experiential Learning Opportunities for Students Like Diehl Emily Diehl '17 (right) first interned at Progressive Impressions International in summer 2015 along with classmate Cam Weber 16. Oct. 11, 2016 BLOOMINGTON, Ill. In case anyone still believes an internship is about fetching coffee for the full-time employees, Emily Diehl 17 is here to set you straight. A business administration major at Illinois Wesleyan University, Diehl is a marketing account executive intern at Progressive Impressions International (pii), a Bloomington-based direct mail marketing provider. Shes held the internship for more than a year, working on the special projects team. In her first few weeks on the job, Diehls supervisor asked her to conduct research on a potential client, a task ordinarily completed by an account executive. My boss found I have a knack for research, so thats become my primary focus, Diehl said of her responsibilities. In fact, Diehls investigation of consumer trends in the auto industry led to the invitation to help train the companys account directors on how to market a new product. It was very interesting to be 15 years younger than a lot of the professionals in the room, giving them a step-by-step guide on how to market this new product, said Diehl, a native of Atkinson, Ill. Emily Diehl 17 Employers regard such teamwork and communication skills as vital. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Job Outlook 2016 Spring Update , employers regarded four competencies critical thinking/problem solving, professionalism/work ethic, teamwork, and communication skills to be essential and absolutely essential in the college graduates they are looking to hire. Internships offer students opportunities to demonstrate their abilities to work in teams, to problem solve, and to present their ideas orally and in writing. Diehl successfully exhibited all of these attributes about eight months into the job when she was tasked with managing a company pitch for new business. With account executives and her boss out of the office for the day, Diehl served as project manager between account executives in the companys Florida office and a graphic designer on Diehls team, ironing out details on the proposals due date. It was an awesome feeling to be in charge of a project that big, to have it completed on time, and to have everyone be happy with the end result, said Diehl. With Illinois Wesleyans curriculum focused on creativity, critical thinking and effective communication, Diehl said her coursework has prepared her well for success. Cassie Collins '11 (right), an HR generalist at Progressive Impressions International, talks with Tia Sims '17 at the Illinois Wesleyan annual Internship Fair. She said her most significant takeaway from her internship has been the opportunity to live the concepts we are taught in the classroom, and then taking those concepts above and beyond. She said she is well-versed in SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of any company shes researching. Theres nothing like doing it for a real company rather than a classroom exercise, yet you have to be taught how to do it in the classroom. No employer wants to take the time to teach it to you. This fall semester nearly 80 students are interning at 49 different locations. Many employers take part in the universitys annual Internship Fair, where Diehl first met representatives from pii. Illinois Wesleyan students reported interning at 240 locations last academic year, and 66 percent of recent graduates had at least one internship experience just one example of experiential learning opportunities for students at Illinois Wesleyan. Quality internships, like Emilys, provide students with a chance to put their liberal arts education to use in a real-world work environment while gaining some of the career-ready skills that employers value in future hires, said Laurie Diekhoff, associate director for career engagement at the Hart Career Center. We are thankful for organizations like pii who take extra steps to ensure interns have opportunities to learn, grow and contribute. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Oct. 11, 2016) - Callinex Mines Inc. (the "Company" or "Callinex") (TSX VENTURE:CNX)(OTCQX:CLLXF) is pleased to announce that the first hole from its ongoing drilling campaign, drill hole SDB-005, has intersected 24.9m of Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") mineralization with base and precious metal values at the Sourdough area of the Pine Bay Project located near HudBay's operations in Flin Flon, Manitoba (see Figure 1). The hole was drilled below and to the north of the historic Sourdough VMS deposit in order to test a large borehole geophysical target (see News Release dated June 15, 2016). The drill hole intersected the edge of the target and a conductive zone of sulphide mineralization between 811.2 and 836.1 metres (see Figures 2 and 3). The results from this drill hole enhance the likelihood that the borehole geophysical target is solely caused by conductive bands and stringers of massive sulphides that may be laterally associated with more significant base and precious metal values. Upon completion of SDB-005, two additional borehole electromagnetic surveys were conducted with various loop configurations to further refine and isolate nearby conductive responses. The survey indicated that the main target area, which was not intersected in SDB-005, is very conductive and has significant dimensions. This target area is located above drill hole SDB-005 and to the north where no drilling occurs within the immediate vicinity. Callinex plans to complete a step-out drill hole during the next drilling program to test this large geophysical target within a prospective rhyolitic setting that hosts sulphide mineralization with base and precious metal values. Drilling conducted in the area since mid-2015 has indicated increasingly favorable geology to the north, towards this target area. In addition to the large target to the north, there also appears to be a local conductor above the hole and to the south, in the direction where Callinex recently confirmed the presence of a new mineralized VMS zone in drill holes SDB-001 and SDB-004 (See News Releases dated September 14, 2015 and June 15, 2016). The significant zinc assay in the entire 24.9m sulphide zone was obtained from a 0.44m interval between 812.1 and 812.5 metres that carried 2.14% Zn, 0.397 g/t Au, 16.70 g/t Ag and 0.38% Pb along with trace copper values. The significant copper assay within the sulphide zone was obtained from a 0.23m interval between 816.9 and 817.1 metres that carried 0.46% Cu, 0.063 g/t Au, 0.33 g/t Ag along with traces of Zn and Pb. True widths are currently unknown. Callinex has completed three drill holes as part of the summer drilling campaign and expects to receive analytical results from the second hole 284-3-93-DPN imminently, which will be disclosed once received. Figure 1: Sourdough Deposit Area within Larger Pine Bay Project Figure 2: Plan Map of the Sourdough Deposit Area and Large Geophysical Target Figure 3: Longitudinal Section of the Sourdough Deposit and Large Geophysical Target QA/QC Individual samples were labeled, placed in plastic sample bags, and sealed. Groups of samples were then placed in security sealed bags and shipped directly to SGS Canada Inc in Vancouver, B.C. for analysis. Samples were crushed to 75% passing 2mm and pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns in order produce a 250g split. All copper, zinc and silver assays were determined by Aqua Regia digestion with a combination of ICP-MS and ICP-AES finish, with overlimits (>100 ppm Ag, >10,000 ppm Zn, and >10,000 ppm Cu) completed by fire assay with gravimetric finish (Ag) or Aqua Regia digestion with ICP-AES finish (copper and zinc). All samples were analyzed for gold by Fire Assay of a 30 gram charge by AAS, or if over 10.0 g/t were re-assayed and completed with a gravimetric finish. QA/QC included the insertion and continual monitoring of numerous standards and blanks into the sample stream at a frequency of 1 per 10 samples, and the collection of duplicate samples at random intervals within each batch at a frequency of 1 per 10 samples. SGS Canada Inc carried out some or all of following methods to obtain the assay results for Callinex: G_LOG02 Pre-preparation processing, G_WGH79 Weighing and reporting, G_PRP89 Weigh, dry, crush, split, pulverize, G_SCRQC QC for crush and pulverize stages, G_CRU22 Crush >3kg, G_DRY11 Dry samples, GE_FAA313 @Au, FAS, AAS, 30g-5ml (Final mode), GE-IC14A Aqua Regia digestion/ICP-AES finish, GE_IMS14B Aqua Regia digestion/ICP-MS package, GE_IMS14 Aqua Regia digestion, GO_FAG303 30g, Fire assay, gravimetric finish (Au)(Final Mode), GO_FAG313 30g, Fire assay, gravimetric finish (Ag)(Final Mode), G0_ICP13B Ore Grade, Aqua Regia digest/ICP-AES. Ag >10ppm was analyzed by ICP and GO_XRF77B-pyrosulfate fusion James Pickell, P.Geo,, a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and a consultant to Callinex, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release. About Callinex Mines Inc. Callinex Mines Inc. is focused on discovering and developing zinc and copper rich mines within prolific Canadian VMS mining jurisdictions. The Company is actively exploring its Pine Bay Project, located in the Flin Flon mining district of Manitoba, which hosts significant historic VMS deposits that are within close proximity to a processing facility. The larger project portfolio hosts three significant zinc rich mineral resources including the Point Leamington, Nash Creek and Superjack Projects located in Eastern Canada. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future expenditures. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others, the ability to complete contemplated work programs and the timing and amount of expenditures. Callinex does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement. School to reform science education for original ideas By Jung Min-ho Korea's best schools may produce the world's best test-takers who know how to choose the one "right" answer, but it is far from producing creative talent. The country's long-cherished dream of winning a Nobel Prize in any area of science has never come close to materializing, while scientists from its "Asian rivals" Japan, China, Taiwan and India have earned the award for their groundbreaking discoveries. Recognizing this problem, the science college at Seoul National University (SNU), one of Korea's most selectively exclusive schools, plans to form an education reform committee to focus more on fostering creativity in its teaching methods, according to school officials, Monday. Some of the key changes will be adopting "flipped learning," in which students learn new content outside of the classroom in advance and discuss it in class, and "peer teaching," which allows them to learn from one another. For some of its programs, the college will also introduce an honor system, where students take tests without supervisors after pledging not to cheat. Physics Professor Yu Jae-jun will collect opinions from professors in different departments to complete the formation of the committee by the end of the month. The aim is to give students more room to be creative, moving from the old method in which professors gave top-down instruction and students only memorized what they heard. With the changes, the college hopes that students will focus more on learning the process of finding answers rather than just getting answers themselves. "Following the footsteps of other countries does not require creativity, but to become a first mover in any area of science, students need to be able to find their own research colors and approaches," Yu said. "The school is trying to set up the right environment to help them." Kim Seong-keun, dean of the science college, also believes the open environment can better help students grow as independent scientists. "We want to nurture more deviators from the typical courses," he said. Critics of Korea's education methods say the country's narrow emphasis on academic work kills creativity of both teachers and students as well as the prospects of winning a Nobel Prize. It is unclear how much the new methods will help in achieving the goal, which Kim believes requires a sense of curiosity and original thinking on how to figure out why things happen. "Because winning the award is not a record game, it requires originality more than a high-level of research expertise," he said. "As Korea tries to reform itself to foster more creativity, it will get closer to deserving the prize." An annual cultural festival at Hwaseong Fortress, a UNESCO-designated cultural heritage site, bid its attendees farewell in the city of Suwon, south of Seoul, culminated by a full-scale reenactment of a filial monarch's pilgrimage to his father's tomb. The 53rd Suwon Hwaseong Fortress Cultural Festival, which opened on Friday for a three-day run, was held in celebration of the 220th anniversary of the fortress' construction. King Jeongjo, the 22nd monarch of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), had the fortress built. Visitors to the festival were enthralled by a total of 26 programs including the reenactment of King Jeongjo's travels to his father's shrine, the reenactment of a royal birthday party for his mother Crown Princess Hong, a martial arts demonstration called "Mumuhwapyeong" and a concert at the fortress' Banghwasuryujeong Pavilion. About 15,000 people jampacked the venue near the fortress' Changryong Gate to take part in an event marking the festival's close around 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young said in his address, "The festival was a great feast to show Suwon citizen's true potential and their joyfulness," vowing to present a better and more fruitful festival next year to visitors. Yeom's declaration of the festival's close was followed by a performance reenacting the king's training of soldiers and a farmers' group play, known as "daedongnori," in which the visitors mingled together. The highlight of the festival was the two-day reenactment of the king's pilgrimage to the fortress starting from Saturday. Crown Prince Sado was deposed by his own father, King Yeongjo, and later confined to a rice chest, where he starved to death in 1762 at age 28. After ascending the throne in 1776, King Jeongjo traveled to the fortress 13 times for the purpose of paying tribute to his deceased father at Yunggeon Royal Tomb, where his father Sado is buried near Suwon. His trips to the fortress were the largest royal processions during the dynasty. Leaving Changdeok Palace in Seoul, the procession stayed at Siheung Temporary Palace one night before reaching the fortress via the nearby town of Anyang and Jijidae Hill at the city's entrance. In 1795, King Jeongjo embarked on an eight-day trip to Suwon Hwaseong to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his reign and the 60th birthday of his mother. During the trip, the king was accompanied by a 6,000-strong entourage. This pilgrimage to the tomb, during which the king accompanied his mother with care, was one of many deeds that he did to show his filial affection toward his father. Under the Suwon city government's plan, organizers reenacted the royal procession on a route that spans 47.6 kilometers from the Seoul palace to the fortress based on its original form. Reenactments of the procession had previously taken place along the route in Gyeonggi Province and did not start in Seoul. The Suwon city government teamed up with the Seoul metropolitan government to reenact the 1795 royal procession to the fortress, as described in a collection of documents called "Wonhaeng Eulmyo Jeongri Uigwe." Uigwe is a text that records and illustrates royal protocols used during the Joseon Dynasty. A total of 3,093 people and 368 horses were mobilized for the event. A takeaway from the event, Yeom said, is the linkage of Suwon Hwaseong Fortress and Changdeok Palace, both designated as a UNESCO cultural heritage site in 1997, through the reenactment of the king's pilgrimage. Yeom also thanked the municipal governments of the three other cities along the pilgrimage's route -- Seoul, Anyang and Euiwang -- for joining the festival. This year's event had a stronger orientation toward the people than ever so that citizens were encouraged to participate, drawing an estimated 480,000 visitors during the three-day event, the organizers said. The organizers also held a quiz game in which participants must solve riddles involving people who lived during the reign of King Jeongjo. (Yonhap) Estimados amigos, Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia. Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro. Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras. There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen. You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out. No soy alguien que sabe, sino alguien que busca. Only Gold is money. Everything else is debt. Las grandes almas tienen voluntades; las debiles tan solo deseos. Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada. History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. LifeStyle The best LifeStyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel LifeStyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Deb Hutton and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand. Get Foxtel Were excited to announce that metalbulletin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving metals market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. - Police officers have been deployed to FUTA following agitations for the removal of the institutions VC, Adebiyi Daramola, by labour unions - Daramola allegedly abused his office and mismanaged the school funds - He is said to be holding meetings with principal officers of the institution in a bid to resolve the impasse Police officers have been deployed in the premises of the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), following agitations for the removal of the institutions Vice Chancellor, Adebiyi Daramola, by labour unions. According to a report on Premium Times, Daramola who was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday, October 5, but later released, allegedly abused his office and mismanaged the school funds. Police officers have been deployed to FUTA following agitations for the removal of the institutions VC, Adebiyi Daramola, by labour unions. However, the decision by the anti-graft agency to release Daramola has been greeted with extreme repugnance by the school unions, as they protested his release. READ ALSO: Married women now prostitute to feed families - Egberongbe The workers, members of the Non Academic Staff Union of Universities, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the National Association of Academic Technologists, are demanding the prosecution of the VC and his removal as head of the institution. But the police have moved to maintain law and order in the school premises as vehicles were on Monday, October 10 barred from entering into FUTA by armed policemen, as only the pedestrian gate was opened to visitors. The Public Relations Officers of Ondo police, Femi Joseph, said the officers were asked to still remain at the entrance of the institution in order to avoid breakdown of law and order. He said: Our men are still there to maintain law and order and also to ensure that peace return to the school. It is the peace we are after that is why you saw those policemen there. But as soon as we are sure that peace has returned our men will leave the place. However, report has it that Daramola has started holding meetings with principal officers of the institution in a bid to resolve the impasse. He is also said to have stayed away from his office in the institution. READ ALSO: FUTA student brags about raping girls who form 'hard-to-get' Following his arrest last week, Daramola was quizzed by the anti-graft agency, alongside the bursar, Emmanuel Oresegun, for alleged abuse of office and mismanagement of funds. He was alleged to have drawn furniture allowance annually instead of once in four years as approved and paying himself housing allowance while residing in the University Vice Chancellors Quarters. He was also alleged to have diverted funds from various unrelated subheads to finance other projects without the appropriate approvals. Source: Legit.ng A Brooklyn man who worked as an advocate against gun violence was fatally shot while in Miami last weekend. Lavon Walker of Crown Heights was gunned down outside of a diner on Miami Beach's Ocean Drive at roughly 7 a.m. Sunday. In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, Walker admitted to once leading a life of crime. I was out here everyday sellin drugs, robbing cars, robbing stores, gang-bangin, hanging with the crew, he told the news organization in August. I was out here jumping people, fighting people, you know, whatever we had to do. But in 2010, Walker turned his life around and worked to co-found Save Our Streets, a non-profit dedicated to ending violence across Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights. In the years that followed, Walker often walked the streets with a group of fellow activists, talking to neighbors and mediating conflicts before they took a turn towards violence. We find out what their needs are anything thats going to gear them or shift them to a different mentality toward gun violence, he told the Times in 2010. We become like their bigger brothers, even closer than their fathers. Walker had been married with two young children. (Crown Heights Community Mediation Center director Amy Ellenbogen told Miami New Times that Walker was down in Miami "to clear his head after going through a number of personal tragedies.") As of Monday, local detectives had yet to uncover a motive for Walker's killing, according to Miami New Times. Officers are searching for three men they believe to be involved in the shooting who were seen fleeing the diner in a vehicle. "He's a superman, he's a superman," Save Our Streets Co-Founder Derick Scott told ABC7. "Lavon was a strong young man...that's why he was loved." Save Our Streets will hold a candlelight vigil for Walker tonight (Tuesday) at 7 p.m. in front of 256 Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights. In a statement posted to their website, the organization expressed collective grief at the news of his murder. "To us in the office, he was our heart. He was always smiling, cracking jokes and keeping us honest. He saw the vision for a violence-free Brooklyn." Another of Walker's colleagues, Kenneth Edwards, 43, remembered him to the Daily News as an unselfish man of faith devoted to his community. "Lavon took a stance against what was happening among men and women in the same neighborhood he grew up in," Edwards said. "He turned his life around and was making a difference. - Minister Udoma disgraced Buhari-led administration for not knowing the exact figure of Nigerias debt profile - The minister stated that different committees were responsible for compiling these figures - However, the website of Debt Management Office Nigerias shows that debt profile has risen by 4.17 trillion naira under Buhari President Buhari shakes hands with the Minister of Budget and Planning Udo Udoma Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and National Planning, during the 22nd Nigerian Economic Summit holding place in Abuja on October 10, disgraced the incumbent government when he was asked about country's total debt profile. The minister was answered to questions posed at him during a panel discussion. READ ALSO: Dear President Buhari, your falsehood and empty promises will not end recession Zain Asher, a CNN journalist, asked Minister Udoma to name the specific figure of Nigerias debt profile. How much is Nigerias total debt? a journalist asked. The minister in his response said: I cant tell you the exact figure. I will have to get back to you on that. But you are the minister of budget, Asher added. Watch the video below: However, later Mr. Udoma answered by saying that different committees were saddled with the responsibility of assembling Nigerias debt and as such, he could not give an exact figure. The audience booed the minister for his response. President Buhari opens 22nd Nigerian Economic Summit The Debt Management Office was established to centrally coordinate the management of Nigerias debt, which was hitherto being done by a myriad of establishments in an uncoordinated fashion. READ ALSO: President Buhari patronises made-in-Nigeria goods (Photos) The data of the Nigerias debt is presented on its site and is open for everybody who is interested in. According to the recent data released by the Debt Management office, Nigerias debt profile has risen by 4.17 trillion naira representing 34.41% under President Muhammadu Buhari. Nigerian Senate had in September called for the sack of Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma for lacking the essential expertise and professional qualifications in managing the economy. Source: Legit.ng Hours after the NYC Department of Homeless Services announced that it would no longer be converting a Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth, Queens into a 110-bed homeless shelter for families, local residents were fuming over DHS's decision to rent 30 rooms in the hotel to house employed homeless men. At a protest in front of the hotel on Monday night, many saw a bait-and-switch on the part of the city, which cited "local opposition" in its decision to scrap the shelter, yet immediately moved 30 men into the hotel. "We continue to stand outside this building until we get it the way we want it, because Mayor de Blasio, day and day out, is sending messages trying to make himself look good, and us to look bad," said State Senate candidate Michael Conigliaro to the crowd of more than 100 keyed-up protesters. Last month, City Hall released a video criticizing the Maspeth protesters for exporting their rallies to other hotels that had been converted to homeless shelters. Conigliaro continued, "I want to make sure that that man knows we're going to be here every night, because he has no right to tell us what's going to happen." While hotel guestsit was unclear if any were the recently relocated menmilled by the windows of the Holiday Inn, peering down on the activity below, Maspeth residents continued their now-nightly protest outside the hotel, banging pots, blowing whistles and chanting for the removal and jailing of the sitting mayor. "The shelter doesn't have kitchens for the men, it doesn't have the support they need. It's just a warehouse for them now, and that's what we're protesting," said Mark Perkowski, a 23-year-old lifelong Maspeth resident who attended the rally wearing a red 'Make America Great Again' hat. "I'm not opposed to a homeless shelter if the city was straightforward with us, but we haven't been able to trust them one bit during this entire process." The handful of police officers on the scene chatted and shook hands with protesters, whom they prevented from entering the hotel or even walking up its driveway. Calling into his superior, one lieutenant noted that while the protest "was a bit bigger than normal," it was nothing to worry about. The crowd marched in circles in the closed-off street in front of the hotel, alternating between chants "Dump the Dope from Park Slope" and "Maspeth's Gonna Win." "For me, I want these people taken care of, not taken advantage of," said Democratic candidate for State Assembly Brian Barnwell, who rode the tide of ardent opposition to the shelter to a shocking win in the September primary. "But when you move in just 30 people, it makes you wonder who they are? They could be sex offenders. The city's done that beforemoved in sex offenders to hotels they've rented out." In the nearby Pan-Am Hotel on Queens Boulevard, at least two sex offenders were in residence as of this past June. While protesters like Barnwell spoke of safety concerns for the neighborhood, others had more practical or financial concerns about turning the hotel into a type of shelter. "This shelter is not near any buses, anywhere any of these residents could walk to," said Patricia Farrell, a longtime Maspeth resident. "I think the mayor should do a better job of converting old buildings into real homes. Where are these people to go during the day? There's nothing around here." Ben, who declined to give his last name, has lived in nearby Woodside since 1961. He told Gothamist he believes that instead of handing out lucrative contracts to hotel owners to take on shelter residents, the city should be investing in housing vouchers. "Somebody is making tons of money off of this deal. People ask me, 'What do you do for the homeless? Well, I pay my taxes," he said. "I work, I break my ass and I pay my taxes. What they do with my money, these contracts come out to $4,000 a month per person. You couldn't find an apartment for them to live for cheaper? I'd rent them my upstairs apartment! I'd go live in the Hamptons on that money." (DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the nightly per-room cost of housing 30 men at the Holiday Inn Express.) Multiple signs at the protest bemoaned the lack of media coverage for the protests, which took place only feet away from parked news vans from each of the citys major local news networks. Despite the apparent media presence, protestors maintained that the media and the de Blasio administration were in cahoots about the shelter plan. One older individual approached for an interview demurred at the prospect of speaking with Gothamist. "I watched the debate last night," he said. "To me, the media is all evil." Eliot Spitzer (Getty Images) The woman who said that former NY governor Eliot Spitzer attacked her at the Plaza Hotel but then left the U.S. for Russia is back stateside. And she's been arrested. Svetlana Zakharova Travis was arrested "on a grand larceny by extortion charge" because she allegedly tried to demand money from Spitzer in exchange for her silence. Back in February, police were reportedly called to the $1000/night hotel suite by Travis, who said she was having a breakdown and had cut her wrist. When police arrived, Spitzer reportedly answered the door and told responders that everything was fine. However, when cops returned and found broken glass and blood, they called EMS, who took Travis to the hospital. Once there, she reportedly told hospital staff that Spitzer had attacked her. The Daily News' source said, "After the hospital visit, while she was being driven by police, 'at one point she gets out of the car and says she doesnt want to press charges.'" It's believed that Travis has been a $5000/night escort; a person named Svetlana Z. wrote on Medium, "If someones not paying you, you dont have to do blow jobs, you dont have to smile all the time, you can be yourself. But after a while you feel like something is missing. The something is money. Youre sitting in the same apartment, youre the same you, but something is missing. Your wallet is empty. Sex is sex, but money is money." Spitzer left the governor's office because of his many dalliances with prostitutes. Spitzer's lawyer Adam Kaufmann had confirmed to the NY Times that he and Travis had a relationship "in the past," but said that their February meeting was initiated by her (with Spitzer booking the room) and that she tried to cancel the 911 call. Kaufmann showed the Times an email to Spitzer from someone who claimed to be Travis: "You tried to save me," explaining she accused him to avoid hospitalization. "If I didnt say Eliot started (it) all, I think I would be hospitalized in some mental home for a few months. I made up the story in order to not be hospitalized." Months later, though, Spitzer's lawyers sued Travis over the incident, because she was threatening to "ruin" his life if he didn't pay herand then pulled the lawsuit months later. The Post reports that she was arrested yesterday for trying to extort $50,000 from Spitzer, adding, "Travis was also charged with second-degree forgery for a second incident, in which she allegedly faked a signature on papers that made an unsuspecting businessman the guarantor on a lease that cost him $18,000." The Bronx District Attorney is handling the case, because Manhattan DA Cy Vance is recusing himself due to his relationship with Spitzer. Spitzer's lawyer Kaufmann told the Daily News, "We have been informed by the Bronx District Attorney that Ms. Travis has been arrested and charged with extortion-related crimes against Mr. Spitzer and others. Our knowledge of the charges is limited to the allegations set forth in the felony complaint. Mr. Spitzer will cooperate with the Bronx District Attorney's investigation." Have you heard of Hanlans Razor Its a philosophical principle thats usually expressed in one of a couple ways, such as: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. or Dont assume bad intentions over neglect and misunderstanding. The 2016 election has been a great one for Hanlons Razor, and we should all take heed of it now, with accusations flying about that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are conspiring to somehow rig the election. Kurt Eichenwald, Newsweek writer and professional Hillary Clinton cheerleader, made the case through some pretty overt implication in a piece published last night that has since spread like wildfire. Here are the facts: 1. Last October, Eichenwald wrote about Benghazi, specifically the hearings that Clinton was about to endure, and came down heavily on the side of Clinton. Like most sane people, he recognized the hearings for the partisan witch hunt that they were. In the midst of that article, though, he wrote the following paragraph: One important point has been universally acknowledged by the nine previous reports about Benghazi: The attack was almost certainly preventable. Clinton was in charge of the State Department, and it failed to protect U.S. personnel at an American consulate in Libya. If the GOP wants to raise that as a talking point against her, it is legitimate. 2. Sidney Blumenthal, friend to Hillary, emailed the article to John Podesta, the chairman of her election campaign. He quoted the paragraph above. 3. John Podestas emails were later hacked and released by WikiLeaks, which, yeah, may involve the Russians. 4. Sputnik, a very big Russian government news service, found the email among the document dump and released a BREAKING story with the following three-paragraph intro: In a major revelation from the second batch of WikiLeaks emails from Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta it was learned that Hillarys top confidante Sidney Blumenthal believed that the investigation into Benghazi was legitimate because it was preventable and the result of State Department negligence. In an email titled The Truth from Hillarys top confidante Sidney Blumenthal, the adviser writing to undisclosed recipients said that one important point that has been universally acknowledged by nine previous reports about Benghazi: The attack was almost certainly preventable in what may turn out to be the big October surprise from the WikiLeaks released of emails hacked from the account of Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta. Then came the money quote: Clinton was in charge of the State Department, and it failed to protect U.S. personnel at an American consulate in Libya. If the GOP wants to raise that as a talking point against her, it is legitimate, said Blumenthal, putting to rest the Democratic Party talking point that the investigation into Clintons management of the State Department at the time of the attack was nothing more than a partisan witch hunt. The mistake here is obvious, and stupidSputnik is attributing Eichenwalds words to Blumenthal, not realizing that Blumenthal had simply copied and pasted a quote from Newsweek to send to Podesta. They proceed to spin this stupid error into the so-called October surpriseClintons advisors are telling each other that Benghazi was preventable!!!! This is really shoddy journalism, from an outlet that nobody should trust anyway, and Sputnik has since taken the story down. But man, the story got out. 5. About four hours after the Sputnik story hit, and had already been turned into a meme by the Internets weird alt-right army, Trump triumphantly crowed about the revelation at a rally in Pennsylvania. From Eichenwald: This just came out a little while ago, Trump said. I have to tell you this. And then he read the words from my article. Hes now admitting they could have done something about Benghazi, Trump said, dropping the document to the floor. This just came out a little while ago. The crowd booed and chanted, Lock her up! Now, there are two possible explanations for this: Explanation A: A Russian news outlet, historically irresponsible and with an anti-Clinton agenda, made a stupid error. Trump, who seems to scour the Internet for bullshit and has retweeted idiotic (and sometimes fascistic) alt-right content in the past, found it, didnt bother fact-checking, and brought it up in Pennsyvlania. Explanation B: TRUMP AND PUTIN CONSPIRED ON THE STORY AND ARE WORKING TOGETHER. Here, I would urge you to remember Hanlons razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. I would have urged Eichenwald to remember the same thing, but toward the end of his article, he flew off into the realm of conspiracy: This is not funny. It is terrifying. The Russians engage in a sloppy disinformation effort and, before the day is out, the Republican nominee for president is standing on a stage reciting the manufactured story as truth. How did this happen? Who in the Trump campaign was feeding him falsehoods straight from the Kremlin? (The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment). It was all over the Internet! It could have been literally anyone on his campaign staff, or Trump himself! This was big news in the alternate reality occupied by Pepe the Frog memesters! The big question, of course, is why are the Russians working so hard to damage Clinton and, in the process, aid Trump? Because Trump is a terrible choice for president that would, quite obviously, weaken America? So no, Mr. Putin, Im not Sidney Blumenthal. And now that you have been exposed once again, get the hell out of our election. And Mr. Trumpyou have some explaining to do. Heres how Trump could explain the situation: Im a moronic demagogue who routinely spouts meritless bullshit I find online, and Ive never once stopped to check if any of it is true. My entire campaign, and the faith all my supporters, is based on the principle that were hateful people who are totally untethered to reality. There. Done. No need for Russian collusion. Phillip Bump, in The Washington Post made the point more humorously than I have: How could Trump have gotten that? He could have gotten a secret message from a KGB agent posing as a hot dog vendor in the rally arena, the two surreptitiously meeting after Trump gave the appropriate hand signal. Or maybe one of his allies, who follows Sputnik, saw the article and was like, Hey, Donald, check this out. Of course, none of that stopped many of our most reliably hysterical mainstream pundits from going over the deep end: Trump now directly repeating Russian propaganda too ludicrous for Breitbart. Whos feeding it to him? https://t.co/JQr4ZGTjUy Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 11, 2016 Ditto for some who are not quite so mainstream, but who seem to have almost willfully gotten all the major facts wrong: So basically Trump and Sputnik had the same set of incorrect facts. Only them. Only Trump and a Russian propaganda outlet. Let it sink in Karoli (@Karoli) October 11, 2016 IT WAS ALL OVER THE G*$$#AM INTERNET!!! FOR FOUR HOURS!!! Eichenwald has been the most amusing to follow on Twitter, though. After his breathless start, hes been backtracking like crazy. Heres the dramatic introduction, implying the greatest political scoop since Watergate. How did Donald Trump come to be reciting false info that ONLY appeared with Russian gov news agency as fact? https://t.co/1d5qvU01Yi Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 11, 2016 I have written some really disturbing stories about Donald Trump. The one that is minutes away is even leaving my mouth agape. Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 11, 2016 Anndddd the backtrack, after the publication of the WaPo article: @JustSchmeltzer @pbump ...I asked questions about how this happened and the disturbing implications. Did u read the article? Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 11, 2016 @JustSchmeltzer @pbump ...with the exception of the speculation about how info went from one to the other. I didnt even speculate Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 11, 2016 @JustSchmeltzer @pbump This is the most bizarre article Ive ever read. It recites exactly what my article says happened. Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 11, 2016 Except that speculation is exactly what Eichenwald was doing, both in the article and in his Twitter feed, and for him to claim otherwise is an outright, stumbling lie. If theres a lesson here, its two-fold. First, dont trust the neoliberal mainstream media, which Eichenwald has embodied since the primaries. Second, respect Hanlons Razorit explains far more than your darkest political fantasies ever will. Its been speculated that our world isnt real, but is in fact a high-level simulation of reality. If thats true, then clearly the 2016 election has completely broken that simulation, and all logic and reason has disappeared. The latest development in our collapsing reality comes courtesy of Glenn Beck, the pro-life, climate change-denying uber-libertarian, chalkboard aficionado and Tea Party leader. Beck, of all people, has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Well, sort of. In a Facebook post. that went live on Oct. 8, Beck commented on Senator Mike Lee of Utah calling for Trump to step down. Beck said: It is not acceptable to ask a moral, dignified man to cast his vote to help elect an immoral man who is absent decency or dignity. If the consequence of standing against Trump and for principles is indeed the election of Hillary Clinton, so be it. At least it is a moral, ethical choice. Beck doesnt like Clinton by any stretch, but he argues that at least under her, the world does not end. Becks post is more of a defense of Republicans rejecting Trump than an endorsement of Clinton, but to see one of the most well-known conservative talking heads side with Hillary over the Republican candidate is pretty remarkable. While Beck would prefer Clinton over Trump, that doesnt mean hes casting his own vote for her. Speaking to Vice News, Beck said, To vote for Hillary, it has crossed my mind. I cant do it because shes just a horse of a different color. ... Im going to vote for Darrell Castle, hes the Constitutional Party candidate. You can read Becks full post below. Every person, each of us must decide what is a bridge too far. Mike Lee has obviously reached that point, where the moral compromise his party is asking him to make is simply beyond what is acceptable. It is not acceptable to ask a moral, dignified man to cast his vote to help elect an immoral man who is absent decency or dignity. If the consequence of standing against Trump and for principles is indeed the election of Hillary Clinton, so be it. At least it is a moral, ethical choice. If she is elected, the world does not end. Once elected, Hillary can be fought. Her tactics are blatant and juvenile, and battling her by means of political and procedural maneuvering or through the media , through public marches and online articles, all of that will be moral, worthy of man of principal. Her nominees can be blocked, her proposed laws voted down. The alternative does not offer a moral person the same opportunity. If one helps to elect an immoral man to the highest office, then one is merely validating his immorality, lewdness, and depravity. But its OK, at least it is not her! Right?? No. Lees call for Trump to step down and withdraw from the race is respectful to him and to the process. Trump stepping down does not guarantee a Clinton win, but it does guarantee that the Republican party still stands for something, still allows its members to maintain thier own self respect and that it still has a future. #donaldtrump #mikelee The Midwest thrives off its animal agriculture. Particularly, Nebraska has the highest rates of beef exports compared to anywhere in the United States. Fortunately, the vegan community has been growing ever since Isa Chandra Moskowitz opened her restaurant, Modern Love, two years ago. Omahas first ever vegan festival was held downtown just outside of the historic Old Market district on Monday, September 26th. Yelp Omaha organized the Un-Meat Eats Festival with six locally-owned vegan-friendly businesses in Nebraska: B&G Tasty Food, Blatt Beer & Table, Catina Laredo, Fauxmaha Hot Dogs, High Vibe Care, Stickalicious Pops and Vegan Mouth. Although admission was free with a RSVP on the Yelp app, a $10 donation to Homeward Bound in the Heartland, an animal rescue and no-kill shelter in Omaha, was suggestions. The event attracted over 250 attendees and raised over $1,100. Danielle Corcione is a freelance writer and journalist. 1 of 18 B&G Tasty Food, a burger-focused restaurant based in Omaha, served a slide version of its veggie burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mustard, and ketchup. Photo: Danielle Corcione 2 of 18 Blatt Beer & Table, a locally-owned gastropub with three locations in Omaha, served currywurst and pickled coleslaw. Photo: Danielle Corcione 3 of 18 Blatt Beer & Table, a locally-owned gastropub with three locations in Omaha, served currywurst and pickled coleslaw. Photo: Danielle Corcione 4 of 18 Cantina Laredo, a Mexican chain restaurant with a location in Omaha, served veggie tacos with chips and guacamole. Photo: Danielle Corcione 5 of 18 Fauxmaha Hot Dogs, Nebraska's only vegan hot dog stand, served its classic dogs. Attendees were invited to add their own toppings. Photo: Danielle Corcione 6 of 18 Fauxmaha Hot Dogs, Nebraska's only vegan hot dog stand, served its classic dogs. Attendees were invited to add their own toppings. Photo: Danielle Corcione 7 of 18 Fauxmaha Hot Dogs, Nebraska's only vegan hot dog stand, served its classic dogs. Attendees were invited to add their own toppings. Photo: Danielle Corcione 8 of 18 High Vibe Cafe, a juice bar with locations in both Lincoln and Omaha, served nacho cheese kale chips and carrots with hummus. Photo: Danielle Corcione 9 of 18 High Vibe Cafe, a juice bar with locations in both Lincoln and Omaha, served nacho cheese kale chips and carrots with hummus. Photo: Danielle Corcione 10 of 18 House of Loom, a bar and nightclub blocks away from the downtown Old Market district, hosted the festival. Photo: Danielle Corcione Before Friday, I thought Donald Trumps mission in the upcoming debate should be to persuade Americans hes not a bad guy. After Friday, his mission may be to persuade people hes not a monster. You prove these things by conducting yourself accordingly. You cant prove them by attacking your opponents character. And if you attack the character of your opponents spouse, you tend to confirm that youre a bad guy. Nor is there any need for Trump to show that Hillarys character is bad. America understands this. The electorate favors her only because it believes Trumps character may well be worse. Thus, the hit back twice as hard philosophy is ill-suited for tonights debate. Its perfectly suited for Trumps persona, though. Therefore, he will be tempted to revert to it at some point. Count on Hillary and/or the moderator to push hard on that button. If Trump can resist the temptation, the debate provides him an opportunity to make a full-throated and unqualified apology for his remarks. The apology will be heard, unfiltered, by a much larger audience than he otherwise could reach so soon after the release of the p****y grabbing video. And it will be heard during an event that may create other things to talk about. In addition, Trump will be answering questions from voters in a town hall setting. This setting increases his opportunity to come across as human. To capitalize on this opportunity, Trump shouldnt say that the remarks arent him. He needs to say they arent him anymore. He cant try to explain the remarks any as meaningless locker room talk. No matter how many times they come up, he needs to repeat his apology and pivot to the issues. His model should be Hillary Clinton. When the emails came up in the first debate, she didnt trot out any of her lame excuses or explanations. She said that using the private server was a mistake for which she apologizes, and she quickly moved on. Trump needs a fuller, more heart-felt apology the first time the issue arises one that could go something like this. After that, he needs to repeat the apology and move on. In tonights debate, Trump should focus on getting off the mat, not landing haymakers. If he survives this debate, he can go for a knockout in the final one. But does Trump even realize that hes on the mat? The Associated Press reports on Donald Trumps talking about Hillary Clintons role in her husbands rape and sexual harassment scandals. Perhaps recognizing that some people might consider being an accessory to rape and sexual assault more serious failings than talking crudely about women, the AP doesnt take any chances. You almost have to read between the lines to extract the story from the spin: Hours before a make-or-break presidential debate, a defiant Defiant means he is in trouble, his back against the wall. Donald Trump unleashed an aggressive and politically dangerous So pointing out that Hillary was deeply involved in Bills rape and sexual harassment scandals is politically dangerous to Trump? Might there not be some political danger to Mrs. Clinton? The AP apparently thinks not. personal attack on Democrat Hillary Clinton Sunday When eleven-year-old video of Trump talking crudely was released, was it a personal attack? No. But Trumps criticism of Hillary Clinton is. by seizing on Seizing on warns the reader that the person in question, Trump, is desperate and the issue he is seizing on is not important or meritorious. unsubstantiated rape allegations The rape allegation is substantiated by the victim, Juanita Broaddrick. If the AP means that there werent any corroborating witnesses to the rape, that is true. As with most rapes, there were only two people presentthe rapist and his victim. But calling Mrs. Broaddricks story unsubstantiated is intended to suggest that it has failed some test of veracity, which is false. levied against her husband years ago. The years ago is a nice touch, given that the video that supposedly has ended Trumps chance for the White House dates from 2005. The pointed and unproven charge against Bill Clinton There they go again! Mrs. Broaddricks testimony is evidence that the rape occurred. Bill Clinton, on the other hand, has denied that a rape took place. Whether the charge is proven depends on ones assessment of Mrs. Broaddricks credibility. If you think she is a truthful witness, the charge is proven. By calling it unproven, the Associated Press is coming down on Bill Clintons side, even though he is a notoriously untruthful person. outlined in an interview that Trump tweeted, marks a dramatic escalation of an already nasty campaign The dramatic escalation wasnt the release of the Trump video, it was Trumps pointing out that Hillary has a long history as an enabler of her husbands career as a sexual predator. So Trump is the one dragging the campaign into the gutter. as Trump seeks to deflect fallout from his own sexually predatory comments. Got that? No substance to Trumps claims, he is simply trying to deflect attention from his own predatory comments. And note what a strange phrase that is. How can a comment be predatory? Actual predatory behavior (not comments) was shown by Bill Clinton when he raped Juanita Broaddrick, grabbed Kathleen Willeys breast, and sexually harassed Paula Jones. But the AP wants you to think that such criminal conduct is minor (and in any event unproven), whereas Donald Trumps crude bluster is predatory. There is much more, but you get the point. I would continue, but the spin is making me dizzy. I started noodling on a few What if thoughts about this long election cycle the other day, but the one on my mind this afternoon is this: What if the electoral college actually worked the way the framers intendedas a gathering of eminent citizens who would pick a good man to be president, rather than a Byzantine mechanism merely for channeling a popular majority? Remember, in most states you arent actually voting for either Trump or Clinton or Gary Johnsonyoure voting for electors pledged to them. And I believe it is not possible legally to bind electors, and weve had a few faithless electors in recent decades. (One Ford elector in 1976 cast his electoral college vote for Ronald Reagan, for example.) So what if Trump won an electoral college majority on election day, but then a number of electors cast their votes for Mike Pence instead, thus throwing the presidential selection to the House of Representatives? Since the Constitution provides that the House chose from the top three finishers, they could then select Pence to be president. Crisis solved. (Not really: Trump and his passionate supporters would scream from the rooftops, sue everybody in sight, and it would be a worse mess than Bush v Gore in 2000. But its interesting to think about.) Some other what ifs: What if? What if Jeb Bush had not run, and Mitt Romney had run again instead? Romney was rightly faulted for being relatively inarticulate, especially about conservative ideas. Next to Trump, Romney is Demosthenes. All the more reason to be annoyed that Jed scared off Romney from running again, only to train his fire mostly on Rubio and others in the field who might have stopped Trump. What if? What if Marco Rubio had not been part of the ill-considered Gang of Eight immigration reform bill of 2009? Or what if hed simply apologized early in the campaign, admitted that he made a mistake in backing comprehensive immigration reform, instead of trying to defend his ghastly mistake? What if? What if Republican leadership had taken more seriously the portents of the Tea Party defeats of Bob Bennett, Richard Lugar, and Eric Cantor? These men were not RINOs, and yet did not see, as much of the party still does not see, the depth of the discontent with Republican leadership at the present time. What if? What if we find out six or nine months from now that the Clintons were secretly behind Trumps candidacy? Sort of the way Nixon is said to have helped pave the way for McGovern to be his opponent in 1972? We know that Trump is said to have spoken with Bill Clinton about whether he should run. . . Ive finally stopped smacking my head against my desk, and it does feel good to end the pounding. But the Trump Train Wreck is still happening. A few thoughts: I got a lot of Twitter traffic today (@stevenfhayward if you dont already follow)maybe the most everfor recounting Ronald Reagans reaction to the news of Gary Harts sexual peccadillos in 1987: Boys will be boysbut boys will not be president. While Hart was doomed, five years later we got more than a randy boy in the White House: we got full on sexual predator Bill Clinton, whose enabler wife is now on the ballot. A lot of respondents noted this fact, as though it should mean Trump should be held to the same standard, if not thought of more favorably, since Trump merely talked about grabbing womens genitals while Bill Clinton actually did it. But if conservatives stand for anything, it is to hold their own to a higher standard than liberals. It is a huge concession to what Pat Moynihan called defining deviancy down if we appeal to the Bill Clinton standard and the tendentious arguments liberals used in the 1990s to excuse his despicable behavior. Beyond this, Im wondering whether I can watch the debate this evening, or more to the point, let my kids watch it. The Clintons richly deserve to have their mendacity exploded in front of a huge audience. On the other hand, I can think of some rather effective Hillary retorts, and I imagine shes got several in the can. Trump has already proven that hes not very facile in a head-to-head debate with Hillary. Moreover, Ive seen some press reports that there are polling and focus group results suggesting that a majority of Americans really dont want to have Bill Clintons bad behavior from 20 years ago brought up. Its not right; its not fair. But it is the world we live in. Im thinking the Clinton campaign is behind the release of this recording, and have run every angle on how it plays out. Everything seems in suspended animation right now. The next 24 to 48 hours may be the most extraordinary of any presidential campaign in our history. Top and bottom line performance at hotels in Amsterdam realigned this month after a boost in demand fuelled significant year-on-year growth this time last year thanks to the quinquennial SAIL event hosted by the city, according to the latest data from HotStats. The SAIL event is one of the biggest [] You can edit anyones information you want: The question, boiled down, was haunting: Want to see how easy it would be to get into someones voter registration and make changes to it? The offer from Steve Klinka Lafayette-based public consultant who works mainly with Indiana public school districtswas to use my voter registration record as a case study. Only with my permission, of course. I will not require any information from you, he texted. Which is the problem. Turns out he didnt need anything from me. He sent screenshots of every step along the way, as he navigated from the Update My Voter Registration tab at the Indiana Statewide Voter Registration System maintained since 2010 at www.indianavoters.com to the blank screen that cleared the way for changes to my name, address, age and more. The only magic involved was my drivers license number, one of two log-in options to make changes online. And that was contained in a copy of every countys voter database, a public record already in the hands of political parties, campaigns, media and, according to Indiana open access laws, just about anyone who wants the beefy spreadsheet. A doctoral researcher at the University of Bayreuth has discovered an unusually cunning imitation strategy in the plant kingdom. Many flowering plants attract insects which pollinate their flowers. This is only in this way that they can ensure the survival of their species. A twiner native to southern Africa, Sandersons parachute flower (Ceropegia sandersonii), has a particularly cunning strategy for attracting flies for pollination. Its way of ensuring pollination is a complicated ploy involving fraud and imprisonment. These "crimes" in the plant kingdom have now been exposed by Annemarie Heiduk, a doctoral researcher in biology at the University of Bayreuth. Scientists from Bayreuth, Salzburg, Bielefeld, Darmstadt, London, and Pietermaritzburg helped her gather the evidence. The international team has now presented its research findings in the latest issue of the journal Current Biology. An irresistible fragrance: scent surprisingly similar to honeybees under attack The victims of this scam are freeloader flies of the genus Desmometopa. To attract such flies, the parachute flowfers produce a complex fragrance that is irresistible to these two millimetre large insects. The reason is that Desmometopa flies always have a healthy appetite for honeybees. However, they don't hunt down the prey themselves. It is rather spiders and insect predators that attack and kill the honeybees. The flies are then able to detect the prey within a few seconds and feast on the fluid leaking from their bodies while the predators are eating them. They thus steal food from the predators. For this reason, biologists also refer to the flies as kleptoparasites. A mixture of substances emitted from the glands of the struggling or dying bees helps the flies to find their favourite prey. "These substances (we also refer to them as 'alarm pheromones'), which are released in moments of great distress, have a scent that is as about as appetizing to the flies as the aroma of a Sunday roast is to humans," explains Annemarie Heiduk. The Bayreuth scientist has demonstrated that the parachute flowers produce no fewer than 33 substances that are also emitted by honeybees that have been fatally attacked. Together, these substances produce a floral scent so deceptively similar that it tricks the flies with nearly perfect chemical mimicry. To the surprise of the flies, instead of enjoying a feast, they plunge into the plant's pitfall flowers. Trapped without food: flies caught by the flower The Desmometopa flies, notorious food thieves, have now been doubly deceived: not only do they find no dying bees, they do not even find any nectar or other substances produced by flowers (e.g. pollen). The flowers of Ceropegia contain absolutely nothing for the flies to eat. They are known as "deceptive flowers," allowing themselves to be pollinated by the insects they attract without rewarding them with food. In addition to this trick, there is also the ensuing imprisonment, as the plants trap the flies in their flowers for around 24 hours. This ensures that the flies -- searching for both food and a way out -- do all the work when it comes to pollination. As a result of this activity combined with food deprivation, the flies are quite weak when they are finally allowed to fly away. As hungry as they are, they are magically drawn to the alluring, deceptive scent of neighbouring flowers, where they end up back at square one. advertisement Deceptive pollination strategies by no means uncommon "These types of deceptive plants that manipulate their visitors and abuse them via pollination without reward are not all that rare," explains PD Dr. Ulrich Meve, who is supervising Annemarie Heiduk's dissertation together with Prof. Dr. Stefan Dotterl of the University of Salzburg. "Today researchers estimate that there are around 15,000 such plants. However, the parachute flower, which is found in xerophytic shrublands and belongs to the genus Ceropegia, employs a particularly surprising strategy." For years, the Dr. Meve has been investigating the phylogeny and systematics of Ceropegia and other members of the milkweed family together with Prof. Dr. Sigrid Liede-Schumann at the Institute of Plant Systematics. He recalls that the importance of flies as flower pollinators is often underestimated. "In fact, around 15% of all plants that are pollinated by animals rely on pollinating flies for their sexual reproduction. This puts flies right behind the bees -- which have a monopoly on pollination for 20% of flowering plants -- as the second most important pollinating insects," explains Dr. Meve. Successful research in Bayreuth and Salzburg Annemarie Heiduk figured out the deceptive tricks of Ceropegia using technically demanding methods of investigation. To analyse the scent of the bees and flowers, she employed gas chromatography linked to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and carried out electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) on the pollinators. She tested the effects of individual scent compounds on the flies outdoors (biotests) in Bayreuth, Salzburg, and KwaZulu-Natal, a province of South Africa. It was discovered that the antennae of the Desmometopa flies can perceive nearly half the substances that are contained in both the bee scent and the flower's mimicked scent. Heiduk was supported by a grant from Bavaria's Elite funding programme and is a member of the University of Bayreuth Graduate School. Here she is active in the Programme for Ecology and Environmental Research. In addition, she is conducting research at the University of Salzburg together with Prof. Dotterl, who also used to work at the University of Bayreuth. "The interaction between plants and animals in reproduction promises many more exciting discoveries, including fraud and deceit," said Heiduk, a graduate of the master's programme Molecular Ecology at the University of Bayreuth and the Elite degree programme Macromolecular Science. "Our new study is sure to inspire further investigation of unexplained pollination strategies in the plant kingdom. The genus Ceropegia alone contains around 250 species that are known or believed to use mimicry tricks to ensure their pollination." A phase III trial of sunitinib has met its primary endpoint of disease-free survival for adjuvant treatment of high-risk renal cell carcinoma after nephrectomy, researchers report at the ESMO 2016 Congress in Copenhagen. "The recurrence rate of kidney cancer after nephrectomy, where part or all of a kidney is removed, is up to 50% in some subgroups of patients," said lead author Professor Alain Ravaud, head of medical oncology, University Hospital of Bordeaux, France. "This distinguishes it from other tumours such as breast cancer where in general there is a low chance of the cancer coming back." "We have good drugs to control disease in patients with metastatic kidney cancer but there are no standard adjuvant treatments," he added. This phase III trial tested the ability of adjuvant treatment with sunitinib, a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, to improve disease-free survival in a type of kidney cancer called clear cell renal carcinoma. The study included 615 post-nephrectomy patients at high risk of their cancer recurring. Patients were randomised to placebo or sunitinib for one year. Sunitinib was administered at 50 mg per day in a four weeks on / two weeks off schedule, and one dose reduction to 37.5 mg per day was allowed. Patients with suspected metastases in an independent central review were excluded from the study. The primary endpoint was disease-free survival. It was assessed by an independent central review committee of radiologists who examined CT scans and ruled whether an event had occurred or not. Events could be recurrence in the remaining kidney or in local lymph nodes, metastases, or a second malignancy. In cases of disagreement between the independent central review and the study investigators a decision was reached by obtaining a biopsy or surgery sample of the tumour -- if it contained cancer this was ruled as a recurrence. The primary endpoint of the trial was met with a significantly longer disease-free survival of 6.8 years with sunitinib compared to 5.6 years with placebo (hazard ratio 0.761, p=0.03). Adverse events of grade 3 or higher were more frequent with sunitinib (62.1%) compared to placebo (21.1%). There were no deaths due to treatment toxicity. Ravaud said: "Sunitinib is a potential new option for adjuvant therapy in renal cell carcinoma, given the increase in disease-free survival and the manageable safety profile. The results of this trial could change practice because there is currently no standard treatment in this setting." He concluded: "We hope sunitinib will be approved by regulators for adjuvant therapy in renal cell carcinoma. Clinicians should then use the drug according to the trial. In other words, in patients with predominant clear cell renal cell carcinoma without metastases and at high risk of recurrence, at a starting dose of 50 mg and a minimum dose of 37.5 mg per day and with the same dosing schedule. This is particularly important since sunitinib was not beneficial in another trial using a different methodology." Commenting on the results, Professor Thomas Powles, professor of urology cancer, Barts Cancer Institute, London, UK, said: "This positive trial should be taken in the context of a previous larger adjuvant study (ASSURE) with a very similar design. ASSURE showed no difference in disease-free survival or overall survival. This generates a lot of uncertainty. I suspect a meta-analysis of progression-free survival would be negative and at this point it would be premature to change practice. Both studies show that adjuvant sunitinib is assocated with toxicity." He continued: "Disease-free survival is a useful surrogate endpoint, but the results from different studies have been contradictory. It does not necessarily translate to overall survival, which is the gold standard. Preliminary results in this setting do not point towards a survival benefit. There are a number of other trials ongoing in this area and I would like to see one of these being positive to tip the balance towards benefit." Powles concluded: "Without a consistently positive disease-free survival signal it would be premature for me to recommend sunitinib as adjuvant therapy for my patients, particularly when one considers the toxicity. A positive survival signal, or meta-analysis for disease-free survival, would be needed. Other studies in this area are awaited." Children who develop asthma or allergies have an altered immune response to intestinal bacteria in the mucous membranes even when infants, according to a new study from Linkoping University, Sweden, and Center for Advanced Research in Public Health, Spain. The results also suggests that the mother's immune defence plays a role in the development of asthma and allergies in children. "The results confirm our idea that the intestinal flora (also known as the 'intestinal microbiota') early in life plays a role during the development of allergy symptoms. We believe that diversity among the bacteria contributes to strengthening the immune defence in the mucous membranes. In our new study we saw differences in the immune response against intestinal bacteria in children who subsequently developed allergy symptoms," says Maria Jenmalm, professor of experimental allergology at Linkoping University and one of the authors of the study. The researchers investigated in detail the immune defence of the mucous membranes against different bacteria. Mucous membranes are present in the airways and gastrointestinal tract, where they come into contact with large amounts of bacteria and viruses. High concentrations of antibodies known as "IgA antibodies" are present in mucous membranes. They bind to microorganisms that they recognise and act as a barrier, preventing them from entering the body. The researchers in the new study analysed stool samples from infants aged one month and again at 12 months. The first year of life has a profound influence on how the immune defence reacts later in life when challenged with bacteria, viruses and allergens. The researchers identified the intestinal bacteria and determined whether they had IgA bound to them or not. "Children who subsequently developed allergies had a lower fraction of IgA antibodies bound to their intestinal bacteria when aged 12 months than children who did not. This difference may suggest that the barrier function of the mucous membranes is less effective in children who later develop allergies. The lack of IgA was particularly noticeable in children who developed asthma during the first seven years of life," says Maria Jenmalm. The researchers looked at the composition of the bacteria in the stools and used bioinformatic methods to study differences in IgA antibodies against intestinal bacteria between healthy and allergic children. "There were clear differences in the types of bacteria that the immune defences of the two groups of children reacted against. We were interested to note that these differences were clear in infants as young as one month. This surprised us, since the IgA antibodies in children so young come largely from the mother, through breast milk. So it seems that the immune response of the mother and the antibodies that the child receives in breast milk are connected with the development of allergies. This is something we want to look at in more detail," says Maria Jenmalm. Maria Jenmalm has led the study together with Alex Mira at the Center for Advanced Research in Public Health, Valencia, Spain. The research has received financial support from donors that include the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, and MINECO in Spain. Will astronauts traveling to Mars remember much of it? That's the question concerning University of California, Irvine scientists probing a phenomenon called "space brain." UCI's Charles Limoli and colleagues found that exposure to highly energetic charged particles -- much like those found in the galactic cosmic rays that will bombard astronauts during extended spaceflights -- causes significant long-term brain damage in test rodents, resulting in cognitive impairments and dementia. Their study appears in Nature's Scientific Reports. It follows one last year showing somewhat shorter-term brain effects of galactic cosmic rays. The current findings, Limoli said, raise much greater alarm. "This is not positive news for astronauts deployed on a two-to-three-year round trip to Mars," said the professor of radiation oncology in UCI's School of Medicine. "The space environment poses unique hazards to astronauts. Exposure to these particles can lead to a range of potential central nervous system complications that can occur during and persist long after actual space travel -- such as various performance decrements, memory deficits, anxiety, depression and impaired decision-making. Many of these adverse consequences to cognition may continue and progress throughout life." For the study, rodents were subjected to charged particle irradiation (fully ionized oxygen and titanium) at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at New York's Brookhaven National Laboratory and then sent to Limoli's UCI lab. Six months after exposure, the researchers still found significant levels of brain inflammation and damage to neurons. Imaging revealed that the brain's neural network was impaired through the reduction of dendrites and spines on these neurons, which disrupts the transmission of signals among brain cells. These deficiencies were parallel to poor performance on behavioral tasks designed to test learning and memory. advertisement In addition, the Limoli team discovered that the radiation affected "fear extinction," an active process in which the brain suppresses prior unpleasant and stressful associations, as when someone who nearly drowned learns to enjoy water again. "Deficits in fear extinction could make you prone to anxiety," Limoli said, "which could become problematic over the course of a three-year trip to and from Mars." Most notably, he said, these six-month results mirror the six-week post-irradiation findings of a 2015 study he conducted that appeared in the May issue of Science Advances. Similar types of more severe cognitive dysfunction are common in brain cancer patients who have received high-dose, photon-based radiation treatments. In other research, Limoli examines the impact of chemotherapy and cranial irradiation on cognition. While dementia-like deficits in astronauts would take months to manifest, he said, the time required for a mission to Mars is sufficient for such impairments to develop. People working for extended periods on the International Space Station, however, do not face the same level of bombardment with galactic cosmic rays because they are still within the Earth's protective magnetosphere. Limoli's work is part of NASA's Human Research Program. Investigating how space radiation affects astronauts and learning ways to mitigate those effects are critical to further human exploration of space, and NASA needs to consider these risks as it plans for missions to Mars and beyond. Partial solutions are being explored, Limoli noted. Spacecraft could be designed to include areas of increased shielding, such as those used for rest and sleep. However, these highly energetic charged particles will traverse the ship nonetheless, he added, "and there is really no escaping them." Preventive treatments offer some hope. Limoli's group is working on pharmacological strategies involving compounds that scavenge free radicals and protect neurotransmission. Vipan Kumar Parihar, Barrett Allen, Chongshan Caressi, Katherine Tran, Esther Chu, Stephanie Kwok, Nicole Chmielewski, Janet Baulch, Erich Giedzinski and Munjal Acharya of UCI and Richard Britten of Eastern Virginia Medical School contributed to the study, which NASA supported through grants NNX13AK70G, NNX14AE73G, NNX13AD59G, NNX10AD59G, UARC NAS2-03144 and NNX15AI22G. Every school child knows that ice melts in the summer and freezes in the winter. But it turns out that the process isn't that simple in the Arctic, where one type of sea ice structure, called an ice ridge, can actually get stronger in the summer due to melting. Think of it as Lazarus ice: instead of melting away to nothing in the heat of the Arctic summer, some ice ridges actually come back to life like Lazarus from the Bible, and are stronger at the end of the summer. Scientists predict that ships will be able to sail directly over the North Pole by 2050. The Northern Sea Route, which extends from the North Atlantic along the northern coast of Arctic Russia to Asia, reduces the shipping distance between Europe and Asia by as much as 40 per cent compared to travel via Suez Canal. While low oil prices have reduced the traffic on this route to just 18 ships in 2015, in 2013 71 ships traveled the route with more than 1.3 million tonnes of cargo. In spite of the variation in numbers, the trend is clear. Naval engineers need the most comprehensive information they can get to design ships and ocean structures for a future that can include travel through polar seas. And that's where the research of Aleksey Shestov, a postdoc with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's Sustainable Arctic Marine and Coastal Technology Programme, or SAMCoT, comes in. Icebergs rare, ice ridges common Shestov studies ice ridges, big wrinkles in sea ice that form when ice floes slam together. What makes ice ridges of particular interest for both ships and offshore structures like oil platforms is that they are far more common than icebergs. advertisement "When you talk about icebergs (the probably of a collision) is a 100-year event," which means that it has only a 1 percent chance of happening in any one year, Shestov says. In contrast, ice ridges need to be factored into ship and offshore structure designs "because you expect to encounter ice ridges every day." Shestov is specifically interested in understanding the complicated freezing processes that take place inside an ice ridge. The way an ice ridge freezes together over time partly controls how big and strong it can get. Shestov had an unusual opportunity to look at what happens to ice ridges during the summer last year when he spent part of May and much of June aboard the Lance polar research vessel. The Lance spent six months in the Arctic waters north of Svalbard for a multinational research project coordinated by the Norwegian Polar Institute to study young, or first-year sea ice. Salinity is key If you could cut an ice ridge in half, what you would see would be the ridge, above water, which researchers call the sail, and a protrusion underwater, which researchers call the keel. The flat sea ice around the ridge itself is called the level ice. The core of the ridge is made up of jumbled blocks of sea ice that smashed together and then were frozen solid. advertisement The blocks of ice that form the centre of the ridge have holes between them, which not surprisingly are filled with sea water. Sea water, being salty, freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water, so it can remain liquid even as it is entombed inside the core of the ice ridge. During the winter, ice ridges freeze hard and they can grow, as atmospheric cooling causes more and more ice to form around the ridge, Shestov said. As spring comes with its warmer temperatures, ice ridges melt, both from above and from below. But here's where the surprise comes in. As the ice ridge melts from the top, puddles of relatively fresh water form around the sail of the ridge, and that melt water can trickle into the core of the ridge, causing the briny sea water that is trapped in between the jumbled blocks inside the ridge to become less salty. "This dribbling down of fresh water helps consolidate the ridge, because when it replaces the salt water, it can extract the cold from the ice in the ridge and freezes," Shestov says. "So the ice ridge actually consolidates during the summer. It's still melting, but there is also freezing inside the ridge." That means ice ridges can be stronger than they might seem given their size, because of this interaction between the ice and fresh water. First-hand experience of thawing While Shestov has a background as a physicist and mathematician, his affiliation with SAMCoT and his work at UNIS, the University Centre in Svalbard, has led him to spend more and more time out in the field, measuring sea ice ridges and developing physical models of how they grow and thaw. Sometimes this work takes a surprising turn, as it did during the last few days of the N-ICE cruise last June. At that point, the Lance was anchored to a thin ice floe that was several kilometers across, where Shestov and a number of other scientists were making measurements. Everyone knew the ice floe would melt. That was part of the reason they had anchored up to the floe, so that they could measure what happened with temperatures and salinities as the ice floe melted away. But when the ice floe finally broke up, it happened extremely quickly. "Suddenly cracks appeared by the ship. We were right by the ice edge, and exposed to the dynamics of the open sea. A small swell was all it took," wrote Mats Granskog, chief scientist for the cruise on a blog post for the project. "Within minutes our floe had disintegrated into smaller floes, no bigger than some tens of meters in size." Stay calm and keep filming Shestov watched with fascination as the floe broke up, with much of his equipment still out on the ice, where he had originally planned to continue his work. Once the ice began to break up, however, he knew the ice would break up relatively fast. "I was surprised that some of my colleagues were actually planning to work again, after we saw part of the floe break up. They thought that all we needed to do was to adjust the mooring line and continue, but when the floe began to break up, it was a clear signal that the swell had arrived and it was time to hurry up. It took at least two hours to pluck all the scientific equipment off of the ice, which the crew managed to do without losing anything. Shestov made a video of the experience. "I just try to stay calm and do the work that is needed," he said. You can see the video he made of the ice breakup at: https://youtu.be/SeMZGZrhQSA Nearly two years ago, Sandia National Laboratories researchers Joe Pratt and Lennie Klebanoff set out to answer one not-so-simple question: Is it feasible to build and operate a high-speed passenger ferry solely powered by hydrogen fuel cells? The answer is yes. The details behind that answer are in a recent report, "Feasibility of the SF-BREEZE: a Zero Emission, Hydrogen Fuel Cell High Speed Passenger Ferry." SF-BREEZE stands for San Francisco Bay Renewable Energy Electric Vessel with Zero Emissions. "The study found that it is technically possible to build a high-speed, zero-emission hydrogen-powered ferry. We also believe this can be done with full regulatory acceptance," said Pratt. "In the course of the study, we examined over 10 major issues where feasibility was initially unknown. SF-BREEZE sailed through them all," added Klebanoff. Tom Escher, president of San Francisco's Red and White Fleet, first conceived of the project when he asked if it was possible to do away with emissions altogether on one of his ferries. "This is a game changer. We can eliminate environmental pollution from ships," he said. "This could have a major impact on every shipyard in the country." Funded by the Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration and led by Sandia, the feasibility study brought together the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), the U.S. Coast Guard, naval architect Elliott Bay Design Group, the Port of San Francisco and dozens of other contributors. advertisement "Not long ago, the prospect of pollution-free transportation seemed like science fiction," said Maritime Administration Administrator Paul "Chip" Jaenichen. "Today, through public-private collaboration on projects like SF-BREEZE, we are making progress to turn it into a reality." Novel boat design Hydrogen-powered ferries do exist, but most are smaller, slower vessels used for tours on lakes and rivers. The SF-BREEZE study set out to discover whether it is technically feasible to build a large, fast vessel; it could meet maritime regulations; and it could be economically competitive with modes of transportation already available in the San Francisco Bay area. The group drew up conceptual specifications: a 150-passenger commuter ferry that would travel four 50-mile round-trip routes each day at a top speed of 35 knots (roughly 39 miles per hour) about 60 percent of the time. The ferry could refuel midday, between the morning and afternoon commutes. "This kind of boat has never been built before," said mechanical engineer Curt Leffers, the project manager for Elliott Bay Design Group. "Hydrogen fuel cells are heavier than diesel engines for a given power output, so achieving the right power-to-weight ratio for the vessel was tricky." The need for speed drove the design to a slightly longer catamaran. The engineers were able to save weight by consolidating the support equipment for the fuel cells. advertisement To achieve the necessary safety standoffs from the fuel cells, the designers placed the fuel cells on the main deck of the vessel in a separate compartment. Leffers explained that this provides physical separation between the fuel cells and passengers. The project supports Elliott Bay's commitment to the environment. "I'm a big believer in developing environmentally friendly designs," Leffers added. "This project has been terrific because it's something I really believe in. I think that this proof-of-concept, that this boat can be built, is very important for future projects." Regulations and economics ABS issued a conditional Approval in Principal to verify that the conceptual design would be compliant with applicable regulations and rules and to identify any potential gaps in compliance. Combining their assessment with feedback from the U.S. Coast Guard, Sandia found no regulatory show-stoppers and concluded that the vessel will be acceptable from a regulatory perspective once a more detailed "ready-to-build" design is generated. "ABS is proud to have participated in the SF-BREEZE feasibility study and advance the research on unique challenges of designing a high-speed passenger ferry powered solely by hydrogen fuel cells," said ABS Chief Technology Officer Howard Fireman. "The collaboration with Sandia and the project team extends our knowledge base and the potential technology transfer to address the challenge of reducing the environmental footprint." The hydrogen ferry would cost about twice as much as a comparable diesel ferry with today's prices. Much of that cost is in the fuel cell system. "Right now, we can't achieve economic parity with a comparable diesel ferry," said Pratt. "But this is a question we need to explore further. Is economic parity necessary from the outset? Lessons from the automotive market tell us maybe not." Vehicle manufacturers have successfully brought fuel cell electric vehicles to market even though those cars are more expensive than comparable internal combustion engine vehicles. Many experts expect mass adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles to bring down prices of hydrogen fuel cells. Optimization is next step The next step is to optimize the vessel design. "We need to consider if the parameters we started out with are optimal for the technology that is available today," said Pratt. Working with Red and White Fleet and other stakeholders, Klebanoff and Pratt are now undertaking an optimization study. They will examine the tradeoffs between speed and costs and emissions among other factors. Red and White Fleet President Escher sees SF-BREEZE as the start of a revolution in marine transportation. "When this boat is launched, it will be a seed. When you add a seed to water, it grows," he said. "This seed could grow into a 40-meter tugboat, a 70-meter supply boat or a 300-meter oceangoing ship trading between the West Coast and Hawaii. And all at zero pollution." Artificial structures of tumour antigens, so-called mimotopes, applied in vaccinations of cancer patients can trigger a long-term immune response. For the vaccine, however, a carrier is required that triggers an immune response itself. A team of researchers from the Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, and the Medical University of Vienna showed in laboratory tests that virus-like particles of harmless adeno-associated viruses (AAV) are particularly suitable as carriers. The scientists were able to produce mimotopes for the growth factor HER2, a tumour antigen of about 30 percent of breast tumours, without chemical after-treatment at these AAV carrier particles and use them directly as a specific vaccine. In the future, this vaccine could serve as a prophylaxis for high-risk patients or breast cancer patients that have already received a therapy. Due to close similarities of the growth factor in humans and dogs, also a treatment of canine breast tumours seems possible. The results were published in the journals OncoImmunology and Oncology Letters. The immune system reacts to exogenous proteins of bacteria and viruses, so-called antigens, by producing antibodies. Also characteristics of tumour cells such as a protein which is too abundant in the cell envelope are called antigens. But as they are endogenous substances, the immune system tolerates them. Targeted vaccinations can end this tolerance and trigger an immune response against the tumour cells. Artificial imitations of the surface structure of specific tumour proteins -- mimotopes -- are particularly suitable for immunotherapies. They stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies against the tumour antigens, too. Particles from Adeno associated viruses improve the production of vaccines Mimotopes are selected for each type of cancer from a broad range of different structure imitations -- a so-called library. "If we use antibodies against tumour antigens, we can exactly select the right mimotope from the library," explained Erika Jensen-Jarolim, principal investigator of the study from the Messerli Research Institute at Vetmeduni Vienna. However, the selected imitations alone are not a full vaccine. They have to be additionally bonded to a carrier that triggers an immune response itself as an adjuvant. Mimotopes have been chemically bonded to a carrier so far. But this proved disadvantageous because the structure of the mimotope can change retrospectively, leading to reduced effectiveness of the vaccine. Therefore, Jensen-Jarolim and her team used parts of adenoviruses, so-called adeno-associated viral particles (AAV particles) as carriers. These particles do not cause a disease but a strong immune response. Mimotope libraries can be developed together with the particles. Thus, no chemical after-treatment is necessary and the structure is retained. "After specifically selecting mimotopes with antibodies, we get a full vaccine ready to use," said Jensen-Jarolim. Mimotope against antigen of breast cancer successfully tested Together with a partner from the industry, the research team successfully tested a vaccine from a new AAV mimotope library for a tumour antigen of breast cancer, the growth factor HER2. Being a signal protein in the cell membrane of tumour cells, HER2 stimulates malign growth and survival. In 30 percent of human breast tumours, this growth factor is much more abundant in the membrane than in healthy cells. advertisement The effectiveness of the vaccine was proved in animal tests. Mice vaccinated with the mimotope were significantly protected against growing tumours with the HER2 tumour antigen. The control group without the vaccination developed breast tumours. Mimotope as a prophylactic vaccination against breast cancer Unlike active immunotherapy with mimotopes, a passive immunotherapy with specific anti-tumour antigens has been clinically used for quite some time. In this therapy, the immune system does not react -- it remains passive. Therefore, antibodies have to be administered repeatedly. The vaccination with mimotopes, however, induces long-term immune protection through the production of endogenous antibodies against HER2. "For this reason, a vaccination with mimotopes might also serve as a prophylaxis for high-risk patients," said Jensen-Jarolim. "Similar to other vaccinations, the immune system remembers the administered structures. When a protein is more abundant on the cell surface of tumour cells, the immune system has already been sensitised and will react." Such a vaccination could protect high-risk patients prophylactically and provide further protection of breast cancer patients who already received a therapy. Prospective vaccination also suitable for dogs This method does not only work for humans. The HER2 mimotopes produced for humans are also suitable for dogs. Jensen-Jarolim and her team found out in a test that 90 percent of the structures of the relevant growth factor in dogs correspond. The growth factor plays a similar role in human and canine breast cancer. "The HER2 mimotopes we found, together with the Adeno-associated viruses as a substance carrier, could be applied in human and veterinary medicine. Both medical fields could benefit from the tests," explained Jensen-Jarolim. Spreading tumor cells are able to adapt their metabolism to the specific organs they are invading. This conclusion forms the gist of a VIB-KU Leuven paper published in the scientific journal Cell Reports. The researchers examined lung cancer metastases that originated from breast tumors, discovering that the two tumors have different ways of converting nutrients into biomass building blocks. Thanks to these findings, scientists may be able to develop new therapies that target the metabolism of cancer cells, thereby halting a tumor's growth. When the Belgian research group of professor Sarah-Maria Fendt (VIB-KU Leuven) started this project, their choice to examine breast cancer that had spread to the lungs was no coincidence. Although fewer and fewer people die from breast cancer -- thanks to both increased screening and improved treatment -- a breast tumor's spread to other organs causes a whopping 90% of all deaths caused by breast cancer. In addition, only 22% of all patients with spreading or 'metastatic' breast cancer survive. Environment overrides genetics According to today's models, genetic aberrations define how cancer cells convert nutrients (carbohydrates, fats and proteins) from their environment into biomass building blocks in order to grow. As a result, the treatment of breast cancer metastases (the cancer's new occurrences in other organs) is currently based on the genetic background of the primary breast tumors. However, these treatments often fail. The study by prof. Fendt might just have uncovered a key element in this issue. Prof. Sarah-Maria Fendt (VIB-KU Leuven): "There are two major metabolic pathways used by cells to generate biomass building blocks for tumor growth. We discovered that in vivo cancer cells in secondary lung tumors are more prone of using one of these two systems compared to the primary breast cancers. This is a response to subtle changes in the lung microenvironment that override the influence of cancer-specific genes." Tailored new medicines Some cancer therapies directly target tumor cell metabolism, but this study implies that cancer metastases should be treated with different drugs than the primary cancers. Prof. Sarah-Maria Fendt (VIB-KU Leuven): "In time, our findings may be put to use in patients with advanced breast cancer. But first, we will follow the basic lanes and investigate which other metabolic pathways are impacted by the tumor microenvironment. We will also examine the role of the microenvironment at the point when the cancer starts spreading. In this way, we are gradually throwing more light on all the parameters of tumor growth -- a crucial information needed for developing more precise and effective anti-cancer therapies." Researchers at Aalborg University, in conjunction with Bang & Olufsen in Denmark, have developed a sound laboratory that can reproduce the acoustics of any environment from cars to concert halls. One goal is better design of sound systems for cars. In the basement beneath Aalborg University are 40 small speakers and three subwoofers placed around a narrow walkway with just enough room for a chair. The space is an anechoic chamber where the walls, ceiling and floor are covered with thick, pointed, foam plates that absorb sound that hits the walls. The 43 speakers are set up so that along with a newly developed recording system and an advanced computer program they can reproduce the exact acoustic conditions from any other room. If you put a CD in the drive or start an audio file on a computer, it will sound entirely as it would in the space the laboratory is simulating. Artificial head The sound lab is the latest addition to the accurate reproduction of acoustic conditions. Years ago, Aalborg University along with Bruel & Kjr, Delta Akustik and Bang & Olufsen developed an artificial head with built-in microphones that could record how the human ear perceives sounds coming from different places. The artificial head was later developed to turn to each side and accurately map how the acoustics of a room affect sound when you move. By reproducing the sound in a pair of headphones with a head-tracker, you can make it sound as if you are in the room. The perceived acoustics are very close to those of the real room and thus you can simulate how speakers and sound systems will work in different rooms. advertisement Not the same with headphones Recordings with artificial head technology have been used for a number of years to reproduce various acoustic conditions, but the problem has always been that we do not ordinarily experience the sounds of our surroundings through a pair of headphones on a daily basis. In order to more accurately reproduce an acoustic environment, you can enhance the experience considerably by using a loudspeaker setup in an anechoic environment to create a precise spatial illusion. The idea and the system were originally developed by researchers at Aalto University in Finland for studies on sound in concert halls. The system at AAU is an advancement aimed at smaller spaces such as living rooms and automotive interiors. "With headphones on, it often feels as if all sound is quite close to or inside the head. You do not have the feeling that something comes from farther away -- the spatial element is very difficult to recreate," explains PhD student Neo Kaplanis who developed the new sound reproduction system at AAU. "The same goes for the experience of a powerful bass. It's not something we just hear with our ears; it's something that can be felt in the entire body. You simply cannot reproduce it with a pair of headphones. However, in the accurately positioned array of speakers in the new sound lab, you can. By using recordings made with the appropriate recording method we can recreate the sound of any room. If you wear a blindfold or turn off all the lights in the lab, your ears make you believe that you're in a completely different place; in fact that's how we run the experiments," says Neo Kaplanis. Better sound in the car Right now the lab is set up to reproduce the acoustic space in a car, and with good reason. The university's partner, Bang & Olufsen, was until recently one of the world's leading manufacturers of Hi-Fi audio for luxury cars. The automotive department was recently sold to American speaker manufacturer Harman, but their development department is now in Struer, right next to B&O's headquarters. advertisement When you develop a sound system for a brand new car, it takes a very long time because you test the car with many different speaker systems that have to be changed along the way. It is a long and costly affair, but because the entire production of new cars is top-secret, audio system manufacturers typically only have a prototype of the car available for a few days. "With the new system we will be able to map the car's acoustic conditions, send the car back to the factory, and then adapt and adjust the audio system with measurements in the lab. It makes it possible to develop much higher quality sound," says Sren Bech, Director of Research at Bang & Olufsen, who divides his time between the Struer company and a professorship at AAU's Department of Electronic Systems. The possibilities in the sound lab are not limited to the best speaker solutions for luxury cars. With the new system, in principle we can reproduce the sound from all kinds of spaces, from concert halls to living rooms -- to buildings that are still on the drawing board. The setup will thus be an important tool in future research/development projects. Facts Avid mushroom hunters will tell you that fire is essential for finding morels. These fungi, distinguishable for their dark, honeycomblike caps, pop out of the ground by the bushel in spring after a large wildfire. This ecological knowledge is mostly anecdotal, shared among morel enthusiasts for recreational hunts and commercial harvesting, in what is now a multimillion-dollar, worldwide industry. Yet few scientific studies have actually quantified morels' abundance after a fire. A paper published Oct. 1 in the journal Forest Ecology and Management is one of only a handful of reports documenting and analyzing the patterns of morel growth following a wildfire. The research was led by the University of Montana, with co-authors from the University of Washington and other institutions. The part of the mushroom you pick and eat is actually its fruit. Most of the fungus lives underground as a connected, threadlike structure known as mycelium. Certain conditions such as fire prompt some species of morels to fruit, but their affinity for fire and other environmental factors is largely a mystery. "It's fun being a researcher working on something where there is still so much unknown," said co-author Alina Cansler, a research scientist in the UW's School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. "We now have a working framework of morels' distribution after a fire that can be tested in the future." Cansler, lead author Andrew Larson, a UW alumnus who is now an associate professor at the University of Montana, and other collaborators, drew from a meticulously mapped, well-studied section of forest in Yosemite National Park for their morel research. The roughly 60-acre plot burned during the 2013 Rim Fire, but for four years prior, these researchers -- along with more than 100 students and professionals volunteering their time -- have mapped every live tree, downed wood slab and shrub patch. advertisement In other words, it was a section of land for which the researchers knew intimately and had scores of data, making it an ideal area to study even after the fire. "It was really an opportunity we were able to take advantage of," Cansler said. "That's the benefit of having a permanent, long-term research site where you already have information and infrastructure: you can easily add additional studies." For a week in May 2014, the researchers searched for morels in 1,119 plots within the Yosemite research site. They found the mushrooms did in fact cluster in parts of the forest that had burned completely, where no "fuel" was left on the ground. These are areas where the fire consumes everything along the forest floor, leaving only blackened soil, ash or burnt needles. Additionally, they found that morels clustered in groups across burned areas, meaning that after finding one mushroom, the likelihood of finding more increased within 10 to 23 feet of the first. "The mushrooms are very patchily distributed; if you find one, you're much more likely to find another one nearby," said Larson, who completed his bachelor's degree and doctorate at the UW. "Practically, this means if you're picking mushrooms, you really want to focus searching efforts on a local area around where you have already found at least one morel." This is the first study in Yosemite, and the entire Sierra Nevada, to examine morel abundance after fire. The park has a morel recreational harvest limit of 1 pint a day per person. The researchers believe that limit could potentially quadruple without depleting park morels, given what they now know about the mushroom's abundance in the region. They estimate that burned white fir and sugar pine forests throughout Yosemite -- the type of forest that burned in their study site -- could produce more than one million morels a year in the park. "The data we have, combined with common sense, says there's not a lot of concern about overharvesting," Larson said. "Mushrooms are a wonderful way to engage the public with its natural resources and the environment. It could be an opportunity for the National Park Service to encourage a different demographic of visitors to value, understand and engage with the natural world." The researchers expect similar clustering patterns among morels in forests in Washington and Oregon that also see mushrooms pop up after fire disturbances. Cansler, for example, has found fruiting morels in Washington's North Cascades after a fire at nearly 6,000 feet in August -- not a typical time for fruiting, but indicative of their tight relationship with fire. "We don't know why these species fruit after fire," she said. "There are a number of theories and none have been tested scientifically." People from Denmark are genetically similar to each other no matter which part of the country they come from, report researchers in the journal GENETICS, a publication of the Genetics Society of America. Eight hundred Danish high school students contributed genetic material to the Where Are You From? project, and the data were used to decode population-wide patterns of genetic variation. Although there were subtle traces of the impact of Danish history on genetic similarity between different regions, the study revealed that, in genetic terms and disregarding recent migration in the last two generations, Denmark has a relatively homogeneous population and people have mixed freely between different parts of the country. Denmark has played a crucial role in European history over the past thousand years, and the genetic signatures of its occupants can add perspective to that history. A recent study in the United Kingdom found that Danes have contributed to British ancestry in an important way, but a deep dive into genetic population studies in Denmark had not been conducted before now. Georgios Athanasiadis, from Aarhus University in Denmark, led this detailed investigation of Danish genetics. "Despite its small size and lack of geographic barriers, Denmark has many distinct dialect groups and has been in contact with neighbouring populations. Having a clear vision of the country's genetic structure is an interesting endeavour," he says. Athanasiadis and his colleagues used a unique method of enrolling subjects into their study. They launched a nationwide outreach project called Where Are You From? in which high school students submitted DNA samples and demographic information. The project also presented seminars for participants to learn more about genetics and basic science with the aim of "building bridges between academia and young students interested in...a scientific career." "The response was overwhelming. We had more participants interested than the budget actually allowed us to genotype!" says Athanasiadis. Despite budget limitations, participants were able to attend the seminars even if they weren't tested. Around 800 students contributed DNA and reported information on their ancestry. Researchers used genetic data from these students together with four additional European datasets to explore fine-grain patterns of genetic differences between regions of Denmark and historic mixing with other populations. For some of these analyses, they concentrated on DNA from around 400 students who had all four of their grandparents born in the country. They found that the majority of the students were distantly related, and they did not observe any strong correlation between geography and genetics. This led them to conclude that people whose ancestors all came from Denmark are genetically homogeneous. Athanasiadis says that, although many ancestral European populations were also relatively homogeneous, he was impressed by the extent of the result in Denmark. "I personally was surprised to see that all classical methods for detecting genetic 'structure' in populations failed to pick up strong signals. Even cutting-edge methods returned very similar "mixture profiles" for all regions in Denmark," he says. Athanasiadis recognizes that their findings are most true for an older Danish population; their sampling was not representative of recent migration to the area that has increased the ethnic diversity. A few regions of Denmark remain underrepresented in the study due to the sampling method, and the gene testing technology used focuses on common genetic variation instead of rare variation: populations tend to look less homogeneous when rare variants are taken into account. Still, the observation that genetic mixing of the Danish population has happened equally throughout the country is striking, and Athanasiadis is excited to revisit these results as independently-collected datasets continue to become available. A genomic analysis of 28 dog breeds has traced the genetic history of the remarkable Fonni's Dog, a herd guardian endemic to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. The results, published in the journal GENETICS, reveal that the regional variety has developed into a true breed through unregulated selection for its distinctive behavior, and that its ancestors came from the very same geographic areas as Sardinia's human migrants. Just as Sardinian people have long provided a wealth of genetic insights to scientists, the canine natives are an example of an isolated population that could prove a powerful resource for finding genes that influence health and behavior. Fonni's Dogs (Cane Fonnese in Italian) are large, rugged dogs known for their wariness towards strangers and their intense facial expression. Although there are descriptions of these shephard's companions dating to at least the mid-nineteenth century, it is not officially recognized as a breed by most international registries, including the largest federation of kennel clubs, the Federation Cynologique Internationale. "If you were to look at ten Fonni's Dogs, you would see there's a lot of variation in coat color and fur length. But they are all good protectors of their flocks. That's because nobody cares what they look like; they've been bred to do a job and to do it right," says study leader Elaine Ostrander of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). That job is guarding the possessions of their owner, to whom they are fiercely loyal. "Fonni's are also outstanding thieves," says Ostrander. "They can be trained to sneak over to the neighbors' and bring items home." While this particular duty isn't required by today's Fonni Dogs, written records from the mid-1800's indicate that thievery was part of their historical repertoire. The island home of the Fonni's Dog has long held the interest of geneticists. Because Sardinia is geographically isolated, its human inhabitants share a unique ancestry and relatively low genetic diversity. Those characteristics make it easier to study genetic influences on disease and aging in Sardinians than in other human groups. Ostrander and other canine geneticists argue that each of the hundreds of different dog breeds also represents an isolated population that could be harnessed for genetic studies. "Dogs get all the same diseases as humans, and there are lots of dog breeds with genetic predispositions, for example to particular types of cancer," Ostrander says. "Once we understand the genetic history of a breed we can search for disease genes in a much more powerful way than is possible in humans, enabling us to hone in on medically-relevant genes." To better understand how the Fonni's Dog developed, scientists from the NHGRI, the University of Milan, and G. d'Annunzio University analyzed blood samples from Fonni's Dogs living in different parts of Sardinia and sequenced the whole genome of one of these dogs. To trace the Fonni's relationship to dogs from around the Mediterranean, the team compared the data to DNA from 27 other European, Middle Eastern, and North African breeds. advertisement The data revealed that the Fonni's dog shows all the genetic hallmarks of being a breed, even though it developed in the absence of a regulated pedigree program and only arose through the tendency of Sardinian shepherds to choose their best guard dogs for breeding. The researchers compared individual dogs from within the same breed and across different breeds, quantifying many aspects of genome variation and genetic distinctiveness. All these measures confirmed that the Fonni's Dog, in genetic terms, is a breed. The study also revealed the ancestors of the Fonni's Dog were related to the Saluki, a swift and graceful "sight" hound from the Near and Middle East, and a large mastiff like the Komondor, a powerfully-built sheep guardian from Hungary that looks a bit like a mop. Strikingly, the origins of the Fonni's Dog mirror human migration to Sardinia. Studies of the island's human inhabitants have shown they share greatest genetic similarity with people from Hungary, Egypt, Israel, and Jordan. "The map we can draw of the dog's origins is the same as the map of human migration to Sardinia," says Ostrander. "Clearly ancient people traveled with their dogs, just as they do now." The close parallels between the history of the dog and human inhabitants of the island has a practical implication, says Ostrander. "Our study shows how closely dog migration parallels human migration. It could be that if you have missing pieces in a study of a human population's history, samples collected from dogs in the right place could fill in those gaps." The team plans next to study in greater detail eleven regions of the genome that likely make the Fonni's Dog distinct -- these may be responsible for their characteristically loyal and protective behavior. Ostrander points out the study was a collaborative effort with scientists from Italy, including Sardinia, and says she is gratified to find so many researchers across the world interested in similar questions. Her group is hoping to work with colleagues in a range of countries to explore other so-called "niche" dog populations, regional varieties that often have a history of being bred for a particular job. Their goals are to better understand how dogs have evolved and to demonstrate yet another important job for these faithful human companions: tracking down disease genes. Some cemeteries are home to both the living and the dead. Like the Sarhento Mariano cemetery in Manila, Philippines, where poor families often move into the stone mausoleums. But they're not alone - there are dogs who also call the cemetery home. Of all the residents of the Sarhento Mariano cemetery, the 150 or so dogs who live here may be the most downtrodden - desperately hungry, many suffering from a condition called sarcoptic mange, which leaves them without fur. When Ashley Fruno, founder of local rescue group Pasay Pups, came across this place a couple of years ago, they already seemed to have at least one paw in the grave. "When we first arrived, it was sort of like - I don't even know how to describe it - like something out of a movie," she tells The Dodo. "Or basically, just something out of hell." On weekends, before the sun rises and the heat becomes unbearable, Fruno, along with a team of volunteers, takes the dogs for walks. If a breeze ever blows through Sarhento Mariano cemetery, it's likely from the collective whirring of tails that greets her arrival. Dodo Shows Faith = Restored Rescued Wild Horse Loves To Play With A Little Donkey The dogs come running from beneath stone monuments, leaping excitedly at her heels. They get a meal, medical checkups and much-needed tenderness. There is also a spay-and-neuter program in place, and with all this care, many of them have grown their fur back. But Fruno's mission doesn't end with the dogs. Many of them are considered pets, claimed by the families who live alongside them. "In the Philippines, the concept of ownership applying to dogs is very loose," explains Fruno, a Canadian working in Manila. "It can be your dog even if you feed them once a week. The dog just sort of generally lives around your area. Most of them are free-roaming and wander around to find food." Fruno thinks the best way to help them is by empowering the entire community - starting with its youngest members. "I think the most important aspect of working with the community involves the children," she says. "Because they're just so apt to learn. As kids learn something, I think it's easier for them to influence their parents. I think much easier than it is for, let's say us, to do it." And so, as Pasay Pups wends its way through the cemetery and surrounding neighborhood, volunteers work to educate the community on how to care for the dogs. "I have found through this work that when the people have it bad, the animals have it even worse," she says. "The daily struggles that these families face are unimaginable to most of us." But gradually, Fruno has been making a difference. Volunteers often come from among the locals, who join the teams that feed and walk the dogs. Children, especially, are growing up to see dogs not so much part of the scenery, but companions and even best friends. "You'll see people giving their dogs access to water when they didn't before," Fruno says. "Or people bathing their dogs with flea and tick shampoo that we provide. Or kids walking their dogs on their own. Or petting dogs - things you wouldn't necessarily see before." And, along the way, an entire community is learning the joys of having a dog. For Christmas, Pasay Pups is making a special delivering to the neighborhood - about 500 gift packages for children. Every pack will have a coloring book that teaches kids how to care for animals, as well as educational toys, school supplies, a hygiene item and snacks. And, of course, there's the most important ingredient - a sense of hope for both humans and dogs alike. "I really believe that the world would be a better place if everyone just did what they can to help others," Fruno says. "For me and the other Pasay Pups volunteers, we're just doing what we can." NIAGARA FALLS, ONT. Premier Kathleen Wynne is defending the Liberal government's decision to introduce a cap-and-trade program next year to combat climate change, calling Ontarians "very bad actors" when it comes to creating greenhouse gases. Wynne admits Ontario led the way in fighting climate change by shutting down its coal-fired electrical generation stations, but said the province must do more even though it produces only fraction of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. "When I see Ontario in the context not just of the country but of the continent and the globe, we have to play a role," she told the Niagara Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. "And even though we're a small percentage overall of the global greenhouse gas emissions, we're very bad actors in terms of our per capita creation of emissions." The Liberal government predicts cap-and-trade will add about $5 a month to home heating bills and about four cents a litre to the price of gasoline at the pumps when it kicks in Jan. 1. Business groups have expressed concerns about the economic impact of cap-and-trade, which will require polluters to buy emission credits that they can sell if they come in under their limit or buy from others if they can't meet their targets. "I know there's some anxiety in the business community," Wynne said. The Liberals chose cap-and-trade over a carbon tax because the money raised from emission auctions will be used to help businesses reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, in part by developing new, clean technologies, she added. "It's not just a financial burden," said Wynne. "They actually get money back in order to innovate, so that's how they will reduce their emissions and be supported by the system." The world is seeing more severe storms because of climate change, said Wynne, who insisted the cost of doing nothing would be much greater than cap-and-trade. "We are developing the capacity to develop clean technologies that we can obviously use here in industry to reduce greenhouse gas emission, but we can also export that technology," she said. "That's the kind of combined motivation." Wynne insisted she wasn't worried that two auctions for the cap-and-trade market with Quebec and California that Ontario is set to join next year sold just a fraction of available emission allowances. Only 35 per cent of the available carbon pollution credits were sold in California and Quebec's latest joint auction in August, and that was up from just 10 per cent in the previous round. "It is a market and it goes up and down," said Wynne. "Overall it has been a very productive market. The key thing is that we set targets and we see those greenhouse gas emissions go down." Money raised from the emissions auctions will be used to help Ontario companies reduce their greenhouse gases, added Wynne. "That money will be reinvested in businesses to help them to make the transmission and to develop innovative strategies," she said. "We'll be measuring the reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions and ... giving people clear insight into how that money is being invested." Ontario will cap emission allowances at roughly 142 metric tonnes per year in 2017, and the cap is expected to decline 4.17 per cent each year to 2020, when the Liberals hope to have achieved a 15-per-cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over 1990 levels. Read more about: SHARE: Samsung Electronics Co.s mounting crisis with its flagship Galaxy Note 7 has left millions of premium smartphone buyers looking for an alternative. The obvious candidate is Apples iPhone 7, but Googles slick new Pixel device could get a lift, too. Samsung recalled and pledged to replace millions of Note 7 phones in early September after reports that their batteries were bursting into flame. But over the past week, new reports have emerged that some replacement phones are catching on fire, too. Samsung has now asked retailers to stop selling all Note 7 phones while the company and U.S. officials investigate why the new batch of devices seem to be afflicted with the same problem. Many people upgrade their phones during the Christmas shopping season, giving Apple and Google an opportunity to fill the Samsung vacuum and making it even harder for the South Korean company to bounce back. The Pixel may be especially appealing to Samsung users looking for another device that runs the Android operating system. Theres been a shift toward bigger screen devices, and theres less competition there given the Note 7 issue, so theres definitely more opportunities for the iPhone 7 Plus, said James Cordwell, an analyst at Atlantic Equities LLP. As for Google, the Pixel suddenly has got very limited competition at the high end of the market. Samsung on Tuesday asked wireless carriers to stop selling its most expensive phone and instructed consumers to stop using them. The move came as carriers including AT&T Inc., T-Mobile US Inc., Sprint Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. and Australias Telstra Corp. halted Note 7 sales following reports of problems with devices thought to be safe. Before the exploding batteries, Samsung had defied a slowing smartphone market with better-than expected Galaxy sales and successfully capitalized on a lull in demand for new iPhones. In recent months, Samsung had expanded its already considerable market share. The company shipped 77 million smartphones in the second quarter for a market share of 22 per cent, thats up from 73 million, or 21 per cent share a year ago, according to IDC. Apples shipments dropped 15 per cent to leave it with market share of 12 per cent. Now the South Korean company enters the crucial holiday shopping season with no large-screen smartphone. Because Samsung and Apple have basically split the market for $700-plus smartphones between them, the latter is a natural beneficiary of Samsungs woes. Investors seem to expect that to happen and pushed Apple shares up 1.7 per cent to $116.05 Monday in New York, the highest level since December 2015. In the long-term, Apple could attract Android users to its sticky iOS ecosystem, which boasts a ~95 per cent loyalty rate, Credit Suisse Group AG analyst Kulbinder Garcha wrote in a note. Still, Googles Pixel, which debuts in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada and Germany on Oct. 20, could appeal to those who are immune to Apples charms. The Pixel is the first phone the search giant has conceptualized, designed, engineered and tested in-house. It has a number of features that will be broadly appealing, including a Siri-like virtual assistant, a flashy camera and speedy apps. Of course, the Pixel is untested, Googles previous forays into hardware have floundered, and the company lacks its own retail stores. How much Apple and Google benefit depends on what Samsung does next. Already pressure is mounting for the company to kill its troubled phone altogether. Said Greg Roh, an analyst at HMC Investment Securities Co. in Seoul: Its meaningless to continue producing the Note 7. Read more about: SHARE: Khloe Kardashian told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres that her sister Kim Kardashian is not doing that well after being robbed at gunpoint during Paris Fashion Week. Its incredibly traumatic what happened to her, but our family is super close and great and well get through it together, and we do appreciate all your guys love and support and it will take time, Khloe said. The interview, set to air on Ellen Tuesday, makes Khloe the first member of her family to directly address the Oct. 2 robbery. Kim has not made any public statements. Her spokeswoman told CNN that the reality star was badly shaken, but physically unharmed after thieves stole more than $10 million worth of jewelry. Police officials said Kim was tied up and locked in a bathroom in her discreet luxury apartment during the ordeal. Family matriarch Kris Jenner declared in an Instagram post Monday that she is grateful for my family, who I love more than words can explain. Kim has been uncharacteristically silent on social media, which experts have estimated could cause her to lose more than $1 million a month in revenue from Instagram ads and personal, branded apps including her personalized emoji (Kimoji) and her wildly popular game, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. DeGeneres asked Khloe if the family was collectively scaling back on social media. Well, I think its just a wake-up call to make a lot of life adjustments. But this is a really serious matter, and for Kim, I think thats really personal as to when that emotional terror you could move on from that, Khloe said. I think for us its all a wake-up call for all of us, but definitely just to make sure our sisters OK. Were a family and well do this together and I think it is important to maybe make those adjustments and to pull back a little bit I think is always smart, she added. Kevin Hart, a guest host on Tuesdays episode, also chimed in: I think thats the dope thing about the Kardashian family is that you guys do stick together. So in a situation like this is something thats gonna bring you guys closer and youll be able to make adjustments accordingly and move on, the comedian said. Khloe also discussed the ongoing drama between her brother Rob and his fiancee Blac Chyna, who currently star in their own E! reality show. Read more about: SHARE: In a bid for new ways to address HIV/AIDS across the country, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has denied or cut back project funding requests of several HIV/AIDS organizations historically supported by the federal government, leaving some worrying where theyll find financial resources to keep operating. Among those facing cuts is the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN), which chief executive officer Ken Clement said had its $750,000 proposal cut down to $250,000 a two-thirds reduction. We may have to close our doors. That is, I think, one of the realities right now, Clement said on the phone from CAAN headquarters in Vancouver. Weve been given notice of a 70 per cent cut, so we dont know what well be able to do. CAAN is a not-for-profit coalition representing 26 member and associate member organizations that provides leadership, support and advocacy specifically tailored for indigenous Canadians with HIV/AIDS. I think theres absolutely panic and theres also anger, and theres also shock, Clement said. Its, in our view, against the principles of what (Minister of Health Jane Philpotts) been promoting and advocating in terms of supporting indigenous HIV across Canada. CAAN and several of its member organizations have sent letters to the prime minister and Philpott. The Canadian AIDS Society, which represents 85 community-based organizations, also had the amount proposed in its LOI heavily reduced, executive director Gary Lacasse told the Star. He declined to comment further, saying CAS was consulting with its members. According to PHAC spokesperson Eric Morrissette, the federal health agency received 224 project submissions following an open call for Letters of Intent (LOI), the first step for organizations seeking funding from PHACs $26.4 million HIV and Hepatitis C Community Action Fund. One hundred twenty-four organizations were invited to submit full project proposals, but another 42 are not recommended for further consideration some of whom have been funded by PHAC for more than 10 years, Morrissette wrote in an email. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Gregory Taylor said PHAC is looking at new ways to approach HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C and, based on consultations that started two years ago, identified new approaches for projects to focus on. It does not mean that the organizations weve worked with in the past are doing bad work. It means our priorities have changed, Taylor said Thursday, acknowledging that some of the organizations arent real happy. The new priorities include a focus on indigenous populations 24 indigenous organizations had their projects green-lit, up from 15 from the previous funding cycle and geographic areas where blood-borne diseases are more prevalent. The Canadian Treatment Action Council (CTAC), which focuses on access to treatment for people living with HIV as well as Hepatitis C, had its LOI rejected, confirmed spokesperson Terry Santoni. CTAC has some concerns in terms of the funding but will continue to do what were doing and to push forward our good work, Santoni said. The organization is riding out the last six months of a three-year grant from a previous funding cycle and, in the meantime, will be trying to diversify our funding stream and looking for opportunities to form new relationships and alliances. Were quite hopefully that there are a lot of other opportunities and without having those constraints that we were subject to under the contribution agreements that we had, Santoni added. We might be able to advocate even further and stronger for the populations that we serve. PHAC will be reaching out to all organizations whose LOIs were rejected and work with them to see if theres any that this maybe do an undue hardship, Taylor said, explaining that $600,000 from the fund had been set aside and is intended to fill any potential gaps. This money could be used to assist networks or organizations who would have difficulty once their current funding ends on April 1, 2017, and PHAC is also looking into whether organizations could work with others who had their projects approved. Taylor said he doesnt anticipate a gap in services to appear come the new fiscal year, when the old funding runs out and the new one kicks in. These new organizations . . . It isnt core funding, theyre already in the business, this is project funding for them. Theyve been notified now and theyll have six months to ramp up, he said. So our hope is that there will be minimal disturbances in terms of the services to the populations. SHARE: Though most of the hallways inside Capital Hill Mall have been closed to the public, one of the building's new owners expects to have plans for its future by the end of the year. Much of the interior space, which has been used by walkers in wintry months, has been closed to address fire, safety and insurance concerns. David Kimball, who purchased the property with Bradd K. Christensen, said emergency responders could have had a hard time finding anyone who needed emergency medical care in the mostly vacant building. Mall customers can use the exterior entrances to businesses that have them. They can still use the interior entrance to American Eye Care, which does not have its own exterior entrance, though the dark hallways beyond the retail store are now cordoned off with yellow tape. Kimball said the owners are still deciding whether the building will be renovated or torn down and the site redeveloped. The property, with 181,645 square feet of space available for lease on nearly 13.4 acres, had been listed in October 2014 for $2.9 million. Kimball is part of the Kimball Investment Co., which was formed in 1977 by David and Victor Kimball. According to the companys website at http://kimballinvestment.com, Kimball Investment Co. has extensive experience in developing and marketing properties in Utah, Nevada, Texas, Idaho and California. Among the companys achievements are the development and management of hotels, shopping centers, industrial parks, office buildings, subdivisions and apartments, the website noted. When touring the property in early August after the sale was completed in July, Kimball explained he would seek an anchor tenant for the empty retail space on the malls east end, which had been a Dillards department store before it closed in 2010. On Monday, Kimball said hes spoken with potential anchor tenants including Trader Joes, a chain of specialty grocery stores; Whole Foods Market, which exclusively features products without artificial preservatives, colors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats; as well as stores such as Ross Dress for Less and Kohls department store company. There really hasnt been a lot of interest in the Helena market, he said, noting that the market here is small and companies are reluctant to move here. The business climate for retail stores is not the best these days, Kimball continued, explaining most millennials, those who are generally between the ages of 18 to 34, do most of their shopping online. The Pew Research Center noted online in April that millennials, numbering 75.4 million according to U.S. Census Bureau, surpassed baby boomers, ages 51 to 69 and amounting to 74.9 million, as the largest generational group. The malls location, he added, didnt appear to be a concern for the retail companies. Each day, some 12,380 vehicles pass along the three, one-way lanes of Prospect Avenue on the mall's north side as traffic funnels into Helena. On 11th Avenue, which borders the southern front of the mall property, 12,850 vehicles each day travel the one-way street's two lanes. Kimball is also waiting for a decision from JC Penny Co. regarding its store in the mall. JC Penny has five, five-year lease options for its space in the mall and may be in the first year of the first five-year option, Kimball said in August. The company has not indicated that its interested in relocating or having the current store torn down and a new one built, Kimball said, adding that he was still providing the company with information on options for its store. Ontarios highest court has dismissed a challenge to the provinces endangered species regulations, a decision environmental groups say will leave many species without legal protection. The Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld a lower court decision that found the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry was within its rights to grant exemptions to industries such as forestry, oil and gas and mining under changes made in 2013 to the Endangered Species Act. The regulations provide 19 exemptions from the act. One exemption, for example, allows someone to kill or hurt caribou or damage or destroy the animals habitat if that person is conducting forest operations, provided the person has an approved management plan. Its a terrible day for endangered species in Ontario, said Caroline Schultz, the executive director of Ontario Nature, one of two environmental advocacy groups behind the appeal. It means that the Endangered Species Act doesnt do what it professes to do. Ontario Nature and Wildlands League argued that in granting the exemptions, the Natural Resources Minister failed to consider the potential impact of the regulation on each individual species. The not-for-profit environmental groups also argued the lower court erred in finding that the exemptions were consistent with the purpose of the act, which they said was to protect and enhance the recovery of species at risk and not to balance such interests with economic interests. The appellate court disagreed with both arguments, saying the minister had properly considered the effects of the regulation on each species and that the law was meant to protect biological diversity while also considering social, economic and cultural concerns. It agreed with the government that the effect of the proposed regulation is not likely to jeopardize the survival of the affected endangered or threatened species in Ontario or to have any other significant adverse effects on these species at risk. A Wildlands League spokeswoman said she was gutted by the decision. No endangered or threatened species in Ontario right now has legal protections not to have their habitat destroyed or the legal right to not be killed, said Anna Baggio, director of conservation planning with Wildlands League. The ministry, meanwhile, said it was pleased with the decision and would be assessing its next steps in light of the ruling. A ministry spokesperson said the regulatory changes simplified the rules for landowners, municipalities and businesses while continuing to protect endangered and threatened species. SHARE: H&Ms new viral video ad, heralded by the Huffington Post as a badass, feminist redefinition of ladylike, opens onto a full-bodied woman in her underwear, walking away from the camera, into a bathroom. Once inside, the woman doesnt avoid the gaze of the mirror above the sink or pinch the skin at her sides; instead she does her hair with confidence and swagger. All the while, a sultry, female-sung rendition of Tom Jones 1971 hit, Shes a Lady, plays in the background (a song the Huffington Post deemed misogynistic in its original form). Next we see a wide variety of H&M-clad ladies do things likely never done before in a fashion ad. A group of mixed race friends dine out at a fancy restaurant and laugh their heads off as a little white girl observes them curiously from a distance. An Asian businesswoman appears to lay down the law at a boardroom table full of dudes; a white woman in a long dress manspreads on a subway car; a skinny teenager with pink hair and hairy armpits unzips her jeans and eats French fries on a bed. The ad is earnest but its also artful. At first watch, its a beautifully shot, welcome departure from the fashion status quo. Its inherent message, We are H&M, and we love you just as you are, even if our previous ad campaigns suggest a singular fondness for emaciated cool people is on the surface, a positive one. In the words of the brands Canadian spokesperson, Emily Scarlett, who gave a statement to the Star via email, we want to celebrate diversity and encourage women around the world to be who they truly are. We dont take a religious or political stand, but we want to show H&M is all about inclusiveness and diversity. Upon closer inspection though, the Swedish retailers new inclusive stance does beg the question: What if you happen to be one of those women around the world whose job it is to produce garments for the brand? What if you arent an unconventional beauty in North America or Europe who likes to shop at H&M (and thus, a person who might appreciate its new inclusive stance) but a pregnant woman in India or Cambodia who happens to craft the clothes that find their way into our closets? I hate to make this argument, because it always comes off as cynical (after all, cant somebody just do something good for once without there being a catch?) but it must be made regardless. The notion that H&M and companies like it care in any meaningful sense about feminism is pretty rich when you consider how the women who produce their garments are treated or mistreated at work. According to a study called Precarious Work in the H&M Global Value Chain, released earlier this year by the Asia Floor Wage Alliance, workers from 11 out of the 12 H&M supplier factories surveyed reported either witnessing or experiencing termination of employment during pregnancy. And workers at nine out of 12 Cambodian factories surveyed in the report, said they experienced sexual harassment on the job. To make matters worse, efforts by a mostly female workforce to unionize or ask for better treatment in dead-end contract positions, were according to the report, predominantly squelched. In H&Ms defence, Scarlett says all the cases in the aforementioned report have been investigated and the brand found no evidence of these incidents taking place. As well, she says, All suppliers mentioned in the report have clear policies and routines to minimize the risks of these practices occurring. In addition to this, Scarlett reports that H&M is working with the International Labour Organization on a project that will strengthen the dialogue between workers and management in Cambodia. And yet, the brands attempt to foster discussion among low-wage workers and management doesnt eliminate the possibility that its allegedly feminist ad campaign may paint a picture of an inclusive world that is drastically different from the one inhabited by the women workers who produce its garments. It also doesnt distract from the reality that so many of us in the west have a tendency to uncritically embrace feminist messaging by brands whose labour practices may be far from egalitarian. In fact, the mere possibility that H&M mistreats garment workers renders the companys image of old i.e. the glorification of emaciated cool chicks far easier to swallow than its current oh-so-progressive one. But it also reveals a sad truth, discussed at length by Bitch Media co-founder Andi Zeisler in her recently published book We Were Feminists Once, that the commercialization of feminism by brands and celebrities has produced a preoccupation with the language and images of feminism, but not necessarily with the activism necessary for material change. This is the same brand of feminism, Id add, that cares more about symbolism than results: that would rather ban the supposedly rapey Robin Thicke song Blurred Lines from college radio stations than offer Rohypnal-detecting nail polish to female students during frosh week. The kind of feminism that rebukes Tom Jones for a sexist song he sang in 1971, but has only kind words for corporations accused of treating meagrely paid women workers like dirt. The kind of feminism, in other words, that has its head in the clouds. Correction - October 12, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Tom Jones wrote the song, "She's a lady." In fact, the lyrics were written by Paul Anka. SHARE: STEPHENVILLE, N.L. Police in Newfoundland say its a first: instead of busting a guy trying to break out of prison, theyve arrested a man for trying to break in. Bay St. George RCMP Cpl. John Butler says police received reports Friday night that an intoxicated man was trying to climb the fence at the West Coast Correctional Centre in Stephenville. Butler said the fence in question fence is about 15 feet high and topped with razor wire. Weve had a couple of cases of them breaking out of there, but nobody climbing to get in. Im sure they would have taken him if he had made it all the way over, he said. Butler said a man was arrested a short distance away in a residence for the College of North Atlantic. He just made a real poor decision as to how he wanted to show off that night, I guess, Butler said. A 32-year-old man originally from the St. Johns area is expected to appear in court on Dec. 5 to face a charge of mischief. SHARE: Ontarios police watchdog has charged three Toronto police officers with assault following an incident during a 2013 arrest and two of the officers have been in trouble before. A 46-year-old man was arrested at his home on Feb. 13, 2013, and was taken to a police station in the back of a police cruiser, the Special Investigations Unit said in a media release Tuesday morning. There was an interaction between the man and three officers during transportation, the SIU says, and the man was taken to Humber River Regional Hospital to examine what was determined to be a serious injury. The SIU was informed of the incident in August 2015. Const. John Darnell, Const. Piara Dhaliwal, and Const. Adam Morris are facing assault charges. They will appear in court on Nov. 3; all three officers have been suspended with pay, said Const. Meaghan Gray. Dhaliwal was subject to a Professional Standards investigation after an Ontario Court judge found that his testimony and that of his partner to be deliberately misleading and added that Dhaliwals actions amounted to an assault. Dhaliwal and Const. Akin Gul alleged they were assaulted by Abdi Sheik-Qasim while investigating a noise complaint in January 2014. Sheik-Qasim, then 32, had taken out a cellphone to record the encounter. Within seconds, Dhaliwal knocked the phone out of Sheik-Qasims hand; Sheik-Qasim was then arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer and failing to comply with a court order. The phone was seized by the officers at the time, but not returned to him after he was released from detention. However, the phone automatically uploaded video files to the cloud, and the video evidence was used during his trial. Officer Dhaliwals swing of his arm and hand was the very first physical force during the interaction. The accused didnt grab a hold of the belt of Officer Gul in advance of this action by Officer Dhaliwal, said Ontario Court Justice Edward Kelly, adding he had doubt it happened at all. I believe that Officer Dhaliwals action amounted to an assault against the accused, Kelly said in a decision issued Sept. 10, 2015. Sheik-Qasim was acquitted of both charges. It is not known what result the Professional Standards investigation produced. Meanwhile, Gray confirmed one of the officers, Const. Adam Morris, was arrested back in 2013. Morris was pulled over on Hwy. 400 when he was approached by a York Region police officer, after having several drinks in an industrial parking lot after reporting off duty. York police officers performed a breathalyzer test, which Morris failed. He was taken back to a station, where his gun was seized by police. Morris took two more breath tests, one showing he was exactly at the legal limit and the second showing he was over it. He was released with no criminal charges, and instead received a three-day driving suspension. The decisions of certain members of the York Regional Police Service not to proceed with criminal charges against Const. Morris should in no way detract from the seriousness of this misconduct, the prosecutor told the disciplinary hearing in 2013. Morris apologized for his actions and told the hearing it would never happen again. He was docked 18 days pay. The SIU investigates allegations of police involvement in any interactions resulting in sexual assault, injury, or death. With files from Jayme Poisson, Jesse McLean, and Wendy Gillis Read more about: SHARE: A food bank that serves new Canadians in one of the poorest and most densely populated neighbourhoods of Toronto says they are deep in debt and often short of food. The Flemingdon Community Food Banks chair confirmed the organization is now $90,000 in rent arrears, and have recently experienced food shortages. A Sept. 22 press release they sent out claimed that the charity was about to close imminently due to a food shortage with our supplier the Daily Bread Food Bank. But Gail Nyberg, the executive director of Daily Bread which distributes food to 130 member agencies including the Flemingdon Community Food Bank said the urgent appeal for food caught her off guard. We have no shortage of food at all, she said. They may (have one) and we dont (but) they havent told us that they do. According to reports from the Daily Bread, 98,395 pounds of food have been sent to the Flemingdon food bank since Jan. 1, which is up from 87,909 pounds that Daily Bread sent to them this time last year. But the thing that interests me is saying it is due to a food shortage, she said. Were quite surprised at this. They dont provide all of the food to Flemingdon, said Nyberg, but the lions share. The Daily Bread has also written off money that Flemingdon owes them. There are talks between Daily Bread, the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, Flemingdon Community Legal Services, local MP Robert Oliphant and other interested parties who are looking at this and prepared to take over the program, said Nyberg continued. The plan is to set up a new food bank and they are actively searching for affordable space. The various organizations are prepared to step up and open a food bank in that area, but not one affiliated with this particular Board of Directors, Nyberg added. You cant get yourself into this much trouble. Abdul Hai Patel, whos been the chair of the Flemingdon Community Food Banks board of directors for six years now, told the Star that rent in the basement suite of 10 Gateway Blvd. is $2,800 a month, but that their landlord, the Lakemount Development Corporation, has been very gracious (allowing us) to stay here. Patel was not aware of another food bank opening. We will see what happens if and when it opens, he said. And we will continue to serve as we are and as long as we are a member of the Daily Bread We are not closing. But Marjorie Hiley, the executive director of the Flemingdon Community Legal Services, confirmed that she would assist in winding down the corporation in an amicable fashion, and then through a transitional period to start up a new corporation. It takes a while to come up with a new Board of Directors, bylaws etc. and everyone wants to do it properly, she said. On a recent visit to the bank, service users lined up their shopping carts and took away cereal, bread, yogurt, canned lentils and other groceries. The shelves werent packed, but they werent empty either. But in any given week, 80 per cent of the shelves are empty, said Kate Ahmat, a program manager with the Flemingdon Park Ministry, which is associated with the food bank. We get a delivery on Monday but by Wednesday we struggle to feed people for the next few days. We have more in candies and snacks than in real table food. Just a few weeks ago, the food bank turned 13 families away, said William Heslop, who wrote the urgent news release and has worked at the food bank for the past three years. Last week, he said, they turned away eight families. But Heslop thinks the food bank will be OK . . . I dont expect this week that Ill have to postpone (feeding) any families (for the next little while) . . . but we need money. The food banks troubles are something that even Premier Kathleen Wynne, MPP for Don Valley West, has been involved in. In an emailed statement, she told the Star that her office had hosted a meeting last month with community groups, other elected officials and the board of the food bank at her constituency office to try to find a way to overcome the challenges theyre facing and find the best path forward. I am optimistic that as we work together through some of these challenges, the Flemingdon Community Food Bank will continue to serve the community in a meaningful way, she said. Heslop estimated that 1,600 families come to pick up food each month and 4,700 families are registered with the food bank in total. They also do 142 home deliveries, according to David Lockett, a volunteer at the food bank for 14 years. Patel did not sound resistant Tuesday to the idea of a new food bank. We dont have to be (the only one) there. Its difficult to manage. Volunteers say they are always in need of staple items such as rice, flour, cooking oil, pasta, canned vegetables, fish and Halal soups, as well as things like cereal and peanut butter. Baby items, such as diapers and bottles, are also greatly appreciated. Donations can be brought to the basement floor of 10 Gateway Blvd. between 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Monday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. For more information, call 416-425-1841. Read more about: SHARE: An article claiming that Muslims are molesting teenage girls in Mississauga schools which a local web publication took down over the weekend has quickly reappeared on another website. The article, first appearing online in the Mississauga Gazette on Friday, made incendiary claims about Mayor Bonnie Crombie, specifically that she is converting Mississauga into a dangerous Islamic war zone so that they can kill her son just for being gay. The Gazette later yanked the article, saying in a statement on Oct. 9 that staff of the online publication received death threats over the phone and that freedom of speech is dead. The article was, however, then reposted on Gazette webmaster and co-owner Kevin J. Johnstons own website that same day. Im a fan of freedom, said Johnston, when he confirmed the website muslimlandcomic.com was his. Even though Im just the guy who stuck the article up, Im taking the flak for it. The article claims an unnamed father of a Grade 10 student at Rick Hansen Secondary School told the Gazette that she has been routinely assaulted by Muslim boys, an allegation a Peel District School Board told the Star that school leaders had never heard of. The articles listed author is Gazette editor Acton Michaels, who is described in his bio on the site as a seasoned veteran of journalism, who was a cameraman for various news outlets in India, Saudi Arabia and Indo-China. Johnston, however, confirmed that the photo thumbnail on the website is not really (Michaels). Its an actor that was hired at some point in the past. Michaels' thumbnail image is also found on the website of the Cincinnati modelling agency New View Management Group, where it is identified as a model named Emmett L. Emmett Leopardi, the man in the photo, called the Star on Monday night, said the use of his photo was fraudulent and no deal had been made to use his image. This doesnt represent who I am or what I think in any way, said Leopardi, who is a 65-year-old former military man and Ohio resident. I dont like what its been associated with at all. Michaels could not be reached Monday to respond to Leopardis comments. Johnston confirmed that he founded the online publication, formerly called the Mississauga Jackal, but that Michaels bought majority control and cut him a good cheque. Johnston said the Gazette has not reported the death threats to police. Mayor Crombie, however, filed a hate-crime complaint on Saturday, before the Gazette pulled the article down. She said Monday that she was not aware that it had reappeared on Johnstons website, but her complaint had been assigned to an investigator. Peel Regional Police Const. Paolo Carretta could not confirm the status of the mayors complaint, saying only that police would have to go through everything line by line and look into the (Criminal) Code and see if it applies. Johnston didnt seem worried on Monday. Should this go down and the police see something (they can charge us with), let Bonnie know that our website traffic is going to skyrocket, he told the Star. The level of support that weve received is unbelievable. Read more about: SHARE: An activist group hopes to help defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. election with a secret weapon: American expatriates living in Canada. Avaaz, an international progressive network, held a phone-bank event Monday in Toronto to encourage eligible voters living north of the border to submit their voter registration forms on time. In many American states, Tuesday is the deadline to register to vote. Avaaz estimates there are one million American citizens living in Canada and eight million worldwide. Americans living abroad have the ability to be the secret swing state in this election, said Avaaz global campaigner Andrew Nazdin. If they turn out and vote, theres no reason why they cant turn major states across the U.S. Although the roughly 40 volunteers made no mention of specific candidates in their phone calls on Monday, the organization feels a strong expat voter turnout could be key to electing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. When we look at the feelings of Americans living abroad, we see that they are broadly progressive, Nazdin said. They voted overwhelmingly for Hillary and Bernie in the primaries, theyve donated more to Democrats than Republicans in the last three elections. These are progressive people and when they turn out to vote, progressives get into office. Many of the volunteers who spent their Thanksgiving Monday making phone calls said they were concerned about the elections global effect. Whoever runs the U.S., it impacts the world whether we like it or not, said Rana Khan, 57, who moved from India to Canada in 2008. Historically, Americans outside America, they dont really vote. This time were trying to make sure its a sizable number and we can maybe affect the swing vote. May Moore of Democrats Abroad a partisan group whose members were also involved in the phone bank said she doesnt understand how so many Americans remain committed to voting for Trump despite his constant scandals and incendiary statements. I dont know how women can vote for this man, said the 73-year-old, a longtime Toronto resident originally from Pennsylvania. It just shows, the same thing with Bernie, that there are people that are very disgruntled. Helen Pach Goldstein said she took part in Mondays phone bank because shes scared s---less. Why? Hes a misogynist, hes a pig, hes a liar. Hes, in my opinion, a sociopath, if not a psychopath. I find him very scary, said Pach Goldstein, a Canadian with two daughters who live in California. Ive asked them, if Trump wins, what are you going to do? And they just shrugged and they said things will stay the same, said Goldstein. They dont get that it wont. Nazdin called Trump a global threat that will make people around the world less safe. Hes shown us throughout the election that he is a racist, hes a xenophobe and we had confirmation of that ... during the debate and the tapes that have been released, he said. He shouldnt go anywhere near the White House. Many Canadians, such as 52-year-old Stephen Traub, were busy making calls to upwards of 50 expatriates on Monday despite being ineligible to vote in the U.S. themselves. Traub said its impossible to ignore the situation unfolding south of the border. As I think (Pierre) Trudeau once said, were sleeping with an elephant, so what happens south of the border impacts Canada too, said Traub. Wed just really hate to see our neighbours take such a giant step backwards by electing someone like Trump. Goldstein said shed do anything she can to help defeat Trump. I dont believe that the Americans really deserve this. I believe that they deserve better, she said. He has to be stopped. SHARE: A Toronto lawyer who represented a high volume of Roma refugees has been found guilty of professional misconduct for relying on unqualified non-lawyer staff to prepare his clients asylum claims. Joseph Stephen Farkas faced complaints from 10 former clients who claimed the lawyer was not directly involved in assisting them in their asylum claims, which one expert witness said were vague, lacked important details and contained mistakes in spelling and grammar. The Law Society Tribunal also heard eight of the 10 complainants asylum narratives fell below the standard of a reasonably competent lawyer. Farkas could face suspension, supervised practice or lose his licence. The panel does find these (spelling and grammar) errors significant. Mr. Farkas repeatedly said that these errors were deliberately left in to reflect the authentic voice of the complainants, wrote the three-member tribunal in a 48-page decision in September. Related: Court slams refugee judges rejection of Roma case In the panels opinion, the numerous spelling and grammatical errors were not deliberately left in as initially and repeatedly claimed. They were the result of careless preparation. Farkas is the third Toronto lawyer to be found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to the questionable quality of legal counsel provided to Roma asylum seekers. Last year, lawyers Viktor Hohots and Elizabeth Jaszi were also found guilty of professional misconduct. The former was suspended where the latter was fined and disbarred. According to an Osgoode Hall Law Journal article, the three lawyers represented a total of 985 Hungarian Roma refugee claimants between 2008 and 2012. The vast majority of them have been denied asylum and deported. Advocates for Roma have for years blamed the groups low asylum acceptance rates which former Conservative Immigration Minister Jason Kenney used to label them bogus refugees and introduce restricted access on the poor legal representation they received in the asylum process. If there is one thing that a refugee claimant is entitled to in Canada, it is a fair process, and many former Romani refugee claimants from Hungary did not get this, said Jennifer Danch of the Canadian Romani Alliance. Thats why we are calling on the Liberal government to create an opportunity for former clients of Farkas, Hohots and Jaszi to have their claims reassessed. Farkas, who was called to the bar in 1991, declined the Stars interview request but his lawyer, Samuel Robinson, confirmed his client would appeal the tribunal decision. Mr. Farkas is understandably disappointed with the tribunals decision, Robinson said in an email. However, I can confirm that we are instructed to appeal that decision and that a notice of appeal is being prepared and will be filed imminently. During 17 sittings of the hearing that stretched over nine months, the tribunal heard testimony from witnesses including Farkas and three of the Hungarian interpreters who worked in his office, as well as two of the 10 complainants. It heard that Farkas would hold a Prep 1 meeting to review a clients asylum story, obtain updates from the client and to discuss possible amendments and/or additional documentation. He would then hold a Prep 2 meeting to discuss the hearing process and issues that the clients might need to address at their hearing. What was in dispute was the level of Farkas involvement in the process. While the lawyer testified he recalled being directly involved in the preparation process for many of the complainants, the tribunal said it heard conflicting and inconsistent evidence from Farkas two Hungarian interpreters, Szilvia Sztranyak and Tamas Buzai. Buzai testified his boss would meet with new clients but it would be one of the interpreters who prepared the asylum documentation, according to the tribunal decision. Sztranyak, however, told the tribunal when families came into the office, they were never taken to meet the lawyer. She also alleged clients were asked to sign on blank forms and submit their own asylum narratives for her to translate and they were not read back to the refugee claimants a practice supported by two complainants who testified but refuted by Farkas and Buzai. Ms. Sztranyak testified that she did not see Mr. Farkas involved in the PIF (personal information form) preparation process. She noted that he had an extremely heavy workload and had virtually no interaction with the work she was doing, the tribunal noted in its decision. However, Farkas argued before the tribunal that part of his management style his way of supervising was to walk around and observe staff working, and the office was physically so small that he could see what everyone was doing. SHARE: BEIRUTDoctors Without Borders pleaded on Monday for access to treat the wounded in the rebel-held part of Syrias Aleppo as government forces pressed ahead with an offensive that has killed hundreds of people in recent weeks. The international charity, also known by its French acronym MSF, said in a statement that medical workers in Aleppo are exhausted and that the overstretched facilities face an impending fuel shortage. MSF, which supports eight hospitals in Aleppos besieged eastern quarters, says just 35 doctors remain in the area, serving a population of 275,000. Eastern Aleppos Health Directorate said the wounded were sleeping outside overcrowded hospitals, waiting for care. The UN has warned that the Aleppo bombardment by Syrian and Russian warplanes could leave thousands more dead by the years end. Russia and Syria must stop the indiscriminate bombing now and abide by the rules of war to avoid the extreme suffering of the unprotected civilian population, said Pablo Marco, MSFs operations manager for the Middle East. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict through local contacts, reported heavy fighting along the east-west Aleppo front lines. Another activist-run group, the Local Coordination Committees, said rebels were fighting to repel government forces from the citys largest water facility, which serves more than a million people. In another besieged area near the capital, Damascus, doctors reported up to two dozen cases of kidney failure that they said resulted from malnutrition. Muhammad Darwish, a local physician, said doctors confirmed renal failure in 12 people in the town of Madaya and were investigating another 12 cases. Government forces have laid siege to Madaya, home to some 40,000 people, since late last year. Last winter, MSF reported at least 16 deaths there resulting from malnutrition and lack of medical care. We are only eating carbohydrates. We arent receiving any vitamins or protein, said Darwish. The government has prohibited the UN from delivering seeds or dialysis kits to the town, in what the opposition says is a strategy aimed at forcing the town to surrender. The UN Security Council is deadlocked over how to respond to the Aleppo crisis, with Russia on Saturday vetoing a French-drafted resolution demanding an immediate halt to Russian and Syrian airstrikes and the rest of the council voting down a Russian resolution calling for the evacuation of opposition fighters. Moscow has been a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the conflict. Russia and Syrias government have both endorsed a proposal by UN envoy Staffan de Mistura to evacuate Al-Qaeda-linked militants from east Aleppo while skirting around the reciprocal part of the proposal, to abide by a ceasefire for the besieged area. An official at Syrias Foreign Ministry said the government would ensure the safety of any civilians or militants who desire to leave, saying gunmen could take their personal weapons and relocate to other rebel areas. The official spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with ministry regulations. Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a visit to Turkey on Monday that Moscow and Ankara want to facilitate the delivery of aid to Aleppo, but that Syrian rebels would have to withdraw from a main supply route to ensure the safety of deliveries. He blamed the U.S. for failing to get them to do so, saying the American side does not want to do that, or is not capable of doing that. Moscow and Washington have repeatedly traded blame for the failure of a Syrian ceasefire last month. UN chief Ban Ki-moon meanwhile urged the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court for investigation of possible war crimes. He told reporters Monday that he was deeply disappointed at the lack of unity on Syria in the council, saying it must stop debating and disagreeing and work to protect human lives, to bring this matter to a political solution. Earlier, in an interview with the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Ban blamed Assad for the bloodshed, saying more than 300,000 people have been killed since the start of the war because of his failure of leadership. He also referenced previous conflicts in which the international community failed to halt mass killings. We should have prevented Srebrenica. We should have prevented the Rwandan genocide. In Aleppo, were doing our utmost, he said. The future of one person, like President Assad, should not block this process. The Czech Republic meanwhile dispatched a plane with medical aid to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. The Czech Republic has co-ordinated aid deliveries directly with the Syrian government, while other Western nations have worked through third parties. The Czechs pledged earlier this year to provide aid worth some $8 million to Syria until 2019. Read more about: SHARE: WASHINGTONNewly leaked emails show consternation among those closest to Hillary Clinton about how Bill Clintons business dealings might damage his reputation and potentially affect her presidential hopes. The emails, posted Monday by the WikiLeaks organization, also give insight into tension and turmoil within the Clinton Foundation while Clinton was serving as secretary of state. The chief operating officer of the family charity was reported to be threatening to commit suicide over the stress. WikiLeaks began releasing on Friday what it says are years of messages from the accounts of Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta. Podesta has acknowledged his emails were hacked, but warned the messages may have been altered or edited to do political damage to Clinton. It wasnt immediately clear who hacked Podestas emails, though U.S. intelligence officials last week blamed the Russian government for a series of breaches and leaks intended to influence the presidential election. The emails that circulated among Podesta, Chelsea Clinton and former Bill Clinton aide Doug Band detail internal tensions that simmered inside the Clinton Foundation and appear to have played a role in Bands departure from the family charity. Internal concerns among Clinton family intimates about Band and the private corporate advisory firm he co-founded, Teneo Holdings, have been previously detailed in several media accounts. But the new emails provide raw glimpses of an apparent power struggle between the Clintons daughter and Band, who worked closely for Bill Clinton for more than a decade after the end of the Clinton administration. In an email exchange from December 2011, Chelsea Clinton tells Podesta and others including Clinton adviser and current Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe that shes increasingly concerned about Teneo. The email includes a forwarded news article that alleges that Bill Clinton had collected $50,000 a month through Teneo from MF Global, the commodities brokerage formerly run by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, while MF Global was preparing to file for bankruptcy. Chelsea Clinton told Podesta and others that two people separately came up to her at a London event for the Clinton Foundation to raise concerns that someone representing Teneo clients had been calling members of the British Parliament on behalf of President Clinton without her fathers knowledge. Chelsea Clinton said the calls had people in London making comparisons between the profit motivations of the former president and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Which would horrify my father, Chelsea Clinton wrote. Band wrote in an email that Chelsea Clinton seemed more concerned about critical news coverage about MF Global, a derivatives broker, and Bands advisory firm, Teneo, than published reports about Bill Clintons infidelity. I realize it is difficult to confront and reason with her but this could go (too) far and then we all will have a real serious set of other problems, Band vented in an exchange sent to Podesta. I dont deserve this from her and deserve a tad more respect. ... She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues to justify what shes doing because she, as she has said, hasnt found her way and has a lack of focus in her life. The emails reflect the ascendance of Chelsea Clinton as early as 2011 inside the family charity. The younger Clinton was recently was anointed as the Clinton Foundations future leader if her mother wins the presidency next month. Bill Clinton announced in August that he planned to step down from the charitys board if his wife becomes president. Chelsea Clinton will remain on the organizations board. Bill Clinton explained in a letter to supporters in August that he would resign and stop raising funds for the charity to eliminate legitimate concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Calls seeking comment from the Clinton Foundation and from Teneo, where Band works, received no response Monday. Also in December 2011, Clinton Foundation chief operating officer Laura Graham contacted Band to complain that stress she blamed on the former president and Chelsea Clinton was causing her to consider suicide. Band wrote that when Graham called him, she was in her car parked near the water with her foot on the gas pedal. He said he dissuaded her from hurting herself. She called me to tell me the stress of all of this office crap with wjc and cvc as well as that of her family had driven her to the edge and she couldnt take it anymore, Band wrote in an email to Podesta and Cheryl Mills, then Hillary Clintons chief of staff. Graham later departed the Clinton Foundation, taking a new job with the Empire State Development Corporation. Phone messages left for Graham on Monday received no response. Read more about: SHARE: Prosecutors will tell you that sexual assault cases can be some of the most difficult to prosecute. Survivors will testify to the lasting physical and emotional scars from their assault. Thats why we at the Montana Department of Justice have worked to improve laws, ensure survivors are treated appropriately, bring perpetrators to justice, and help Montanans prevent such horrible crimes from happening. Not long ago, I announced that Montana received nearly $3 million in federal grants that will allow local law enforcement agencies to submit old sexual assault evidence kits for testing. This came after I formed a task force to examine the issue and conduct a statewide census of unsubmitted kits. It was the first time in Montanas history that the Attorney Generals Office had ever done this. We learned that there are approximately 1,400 kits stored in local law enforcement evidence lockers around the state, some dating back to 1995. While there can be legitimate reasons why a kit wouldnt be submitted for testing, we began with the goal of ensuring all kits that need testing are submitted. Not only will the grants allow law enforcement agencies to test all past kits, but also create a tracking system so agencies and survivors can follow the process. The grants will fund a cold case investigator and a statewide victim coordinator, as well as facilitate the development of formal procedures to ensure kits in need of testing are never again shelved. Thats just one example of what my office has been doing to improve how Montana handles sexual assault cases. In August I was delighted to announce that the Missoula County Attorneys Office is in full compliance with our landmark 2014 agreement on improving prosecutions of sexual assault. I negotiated that agreement after intervening in the legal standoff between the U.S. Department of Justice and Missoula County Attorneys Office. Through the agreement, my office worked closely with the Missoula County Attorney to rethink and retool how cases are prosecuted and how survivors are treated. The result is a new framework that all prosecutors in Montana can utilize. Sexual assault is a particularly heinous crime, and so it deserves a focused prosecutorial expertise. Thats why our agreement called for the Missoula County Attorneys Office to create a special victims unit, and why I created the first-ever sexual assault prosecution unit in the Attorney Generals Office. Recently, with my offices assistance, a legislative committee advanced proposals bringing needed changes to how the state defines terms such as consent and incapacitation. This was the result of our work with Sen. Diane Sands during the 2015 session calling for a top-to-bottom review of Montanas sexual assault laws. Weve also taken steps to prevent sexual assault crimes, particularly in enhancing the states Sexual or Violent Offender Registry as a tool for citizens to stay informed. When I took office, 83 percent of registered sex offenders lacked a tier-level designation, depriving law enforcement agencies of important tools for keeping track of offenders whereabouts. Through our legislative efforts and just plain hard work, weve brought that number down to 50 percent and it continues to fall. To help local law enforcement agencies keep track of offenders in their communities, in 2013 I launched multi-agency compliance check operations. My agents partner with local, state, and federal officers and go into specific regions to track down non-compliant offenders. These operations have resulted in numerous arrests and offenders being brought into compliance with state registration laws. Working with county attorneys, local law enforcement officials, our federal law enforcement partners, state legislators and others, we have improved Montanas response to sexual assault crimes and strengthened tools for prevention. Our vigilance must never end, and so our efforts will go on. As your attorney general, I look forward to continuing this important work building a safer Montana. Tim Fox is Montanas 24th Attorney General and oversees the Montana Department of Justice. LONDON Former U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says that he doesnt know a heck of a lot about British politics, but that hasnt stopped him from endorsing his brothers bid for a seat in Parliament. He said Tuesday that his brother Larry Sanders is a very, very caring human being who wants to see government represent all of the people, not just the people on top. Larry Sanders is running as a Green Party candidate in the Oct. 20 vote to fill the seat recently vacated by former Prime Minister David Cameron. The 82-year-old Larry Sanders has pledged to prevent the privatization of the National Health Service in Britain, something applauded by his brother. Bernie Sanders challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination in a hard fought primary race. Read more about: SHARE: NEW YORKOn Facebook and Twitter, on the phone and on the job, from living rooms to hair salons, Donald Trumps Grab em by the p---- comment has unleashed a tsunami of stories from women sharing painful memories of sexual assaults. Many of these women were grabbed by the genitals exactly as Trump described doing by men who fled or melted into a crowd. Some women were molested as children on a playground or school bus. Others were groped on a train or dance floor. Theyve told of attacks getting out of taxicabs, harassment in the workplace and rapes on college campuses. Many shared their experiences for the first time in the days since the video of Trumps comments aired, while others have been exorcising their demons for a long time on blogs or in therapy. Whatever the forum, whatever their experience, one thing is for sure: A presidential candidates boastful description of manhandling womens bodies has become a national conversation about sexual assault. Thousands of women have stood up to say, publicly and firsthand, This happened to me! Jennifer McGraw, 35, of Cleveland, wrote a blog post Sunday about being molested as a child called My Disposable Body that began with these words: It all started with a grab of the p----. McGraw, who is also a rape survivor, said social media conversations about sex assaults have blown up because Trumps comments about groping made speaking out more urgent than ever. This is somebody who could be our president, she told The Associated Press. I cant not talk about it at this point. Theres too much at stake. I feel strong enough at this point in my life to share my story and share my truth. Thats the only way people will heal. From presidential candidate Gary Harts sexual relationship with Donna Rice in the 1980s and Bill Clintons affairs a decade later, to Anthony Weiners more recent sexting scandal, the sex lives of politicians have been in headlines. But never before has a U.S. candidate for president made comments boasting of sexually accosting women, characterized by Trump as locker room talk. When asked by CNNs Anderson Cooper during Sundays debate if hed sexually assaulted women, Trump said he had not. The national conversation about sexual assault is a powerful thing, said Delilah Rumburg, CEO of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. We saw this in the last year with campus sexual assaults when many young women started coming forward and speaking their truths. This is a way for them to feel like they have some power back when they can tell those stories, to hold not only those who commit these crimes accountable but the systems as well. I know those survivors voices can do much more than I ever could as an advocate. A survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that 44 per cent of U.S. women have experienced sexual violence victimization other than rape at some point in their lives, and nearly one in five has been raped. Edith Bluhm, 48, of Nashville, Tennessee, says her friends Facebook threads have been filled with harrowing stories of everything from date-rape to child molestation. I have had the experience of going into a crowd and someone has their hand inside my shirt, she said. Or youre on a dance floor and some guy is grinding against you. Or Im on a train and felt a hand up my skirt. Its not just about rape. Theres all these things that women have endured, these violations of our bodies, that Trump says you can get away with. Somehow its dismissed because its fleeting, Bluhm added. Its a hand and then its gone. ... If I say, angrily, Some guy over there was just rubbing up against me, you might say, Oh gross, and move on. But later why do I feel like I want to crawl out of my skin? ... Its completely wrong. Alicia McCauley, 30, blogged about her experiences with sexual assault, from being grabbed between the legs as a child to being raped. Just recently, a New York City cab driver pinned and groped her as she got out of his taxi. She filed a complaint against him and discovered four other women had filed similar reports against the same driver. Hearing Trump say you can do anything you want, you can grab them by the p----- I hate using the word triggering but it felt very reminiscent of all the traumas I have experienced, she said. McCauley said she told relatives that if they voted for Trump, I would see it as personal, saying its OK to do these things to women. They are agreeing with rape culture and agreeing with male entitlement. McCauley said the stories have always been there, but theyre pouring out now because the outrage over Trumps comments has created a space where people are finally agreeing with assault survivors. Trumps comments prompted Alexa McGriff, 28, to post about her experiences as a rape victim and how triggering Trumps words were. I think about the person who raped me when I was in college, she said in an interview. I can just picture him saying similar things. Her attacker was an athlete, which gave him celebrity status on campus that McGriff compared to Trumps. He could do whatever he wanted and get away with it, she said. At the same time, McGriff noted that Trumps comments have ironically provided a platform that empowers women to stand up and speak out. Writer Kelly Oxford unleashed thousands of sex assault stories from women over the weekend by asking women to tweet their assaults: they arent just stats. Ill go first: Old man on city bus grabs my p----- and smiles at me, Im 12. Many responses were posted with the hashtag #NotOkay. Among those who tweeted stories back to Oxford were friends of Spring Weaver, 33. I felt really sad for my friends who were being triggered by the statements of a presidential candidate, said Weaver, who also recounted sitting in a hair salon in Chicago on Saturday where the sole topic of conversation among every stylist and customer was Trumps comments. Then, Sunday night, watching the debate, Weaver said, I found myself crying, tearing up. I was just so upset that there were no repercussions for him. Read more about: SHARE: LEIPZIG, GERMANY Syrians who tied up bomb suspect hailed as heroes Three Syrians who overwhelmed a fugitive wanted in an alleged Islamic extremist bomb plot and handed him over to police were hailed as heroes in Germany Tuesday, helping temper anti-migrant sentiment fuelled in part by fears of such attacks. Jaber Albakr, 22, was tied up and held by three fellow Syrians who alerted police in the eastern city of Leipzig in Saxony. He was arrested early Monday nearly two days after he evaded officers during a raid on an apartment about 80 kilometres (50 miles) away where police found explosives. Though Saxony has been the heart of the anti-migrant group Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, known by its German acronym PEGIDA, residents of the states largest city were focused Tuesday on the actions of those who apprehended Albakr. I immediately thought: hats off to the guys who did that. It was dangerous, after all, said retiree Maria Haubold, dismissing the idea that refugees were a general threat to German society. They come over here to live in peace and not to live through the same things they experienced at home, war and poverty, she said. Leipzig Mayor Burkhard Jung thanked the Syrians, whom authorities are not identifying out of concern they could become targets for retribution. A person who at first glance seems to have been obviously dangerous was held by fellow Syrians and handed over to the police. Thats a very courageous act, Jung told The Associated Press. Many, many refugees are here because they are fleeing the fighters of the so-called Islamic State. Thats worth remembering, and this story serves to emphasize that, he said. Albakr, who had been granted asylum in Germany, was among 890,000 migrants who arrived in the country last year, many of them from Syria. Worries over the difficulties of integrating large numbers of Muslim newcomers and over the possibility of radicalized migrants carrying out attacks have helped boost anti-foreigner sentiment in recent months. In July, several people were wounded in two attacks carried out by asylum-seekers and claimed by Daesh, also known as ISIS; both assailants were killed. Andre Hahn, a prominent lawmaker with the opposition Left Party, told Bayerischer Rundfunk radio that the men who captured Albakr should be granted asylum as soon as possible in recognition of their courage. That would be very important for all honest refugees who need help and who in their absolute majority have nothing to do with the self-styled Islamic State or any terrorist activities, Hahn said. The Syrians asylum status wasnt immediately clear. Albakr met the men who eventually would turn him in after he fled the police raid on an apartment where he was staying in the city of Chemnitz and posted on an internet network for Syrian refugees that he was at Leipzigs main rail station and needed a place to stay, German newspaper Bild reported. One of the Syrians, identified only as Mohamed A., was quoted as telling the newspaper that he and a friend picked Albakr up and took him back to another friends apartment, only later seeing police notices on Facebook about the bomb plot suspect. As Albakr slept on Sunday evening, they discussed with other Syrians on Facebook whether their guest was the fugitive, and then tied him up with electric cords. He offered us 1,000 euros ($1,115) and $200 if we let him go. He had that in a backpack together with a knife, the man was quoted as saying. I am so grateful to Germany for taking us in. We could not allow him to do something to Germans. On Tuesday nobody answered the door of the apartment in the modest social housing complex where Albakr was apprehended. Neighbours noted that Mohamed A.s shoes were missing and suggested that he might have been taken to a safe house by police before dawn, in part to evade the notice of TV crews. Bild columnist Franz Josef Wagner opened his second-page column Tuesday with the words Dear Heroes. I dont know how good your German is and whether you know our Constitution (women and men are equal, freedom of religion etc.), he wrote. But beyond language and tradition, you know what good and bad are. That makes you friends. Even the nationalist, anti-migration Alternative for Germany party appeared relatively muted in its response to the Chemnitz case. Investigators think Albakr was considering Berlins airports as potential targets. Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the domestic intelligence agency, told ZDF television it received information in early September that Daesh was planning attacks on infrastructure, stations and airports, in western Europe, particularly Germany. Following the abstract tip, Maassen said German authorities generated a lot of information ourselves, and exchanged a lot of information with partners, until we came to this name and this address. He and other officials were tight-lipped with details of Albakrs suspected contacts with Daesh, saying that is part of their ongoing investigation. From intelligence information, there are good reasons to say that he had relations with IS, Maassen said. Read more about: SHARE: MANCHESTER, N.H.Women voters in swing states are expressing deep disgust about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps assertion that an old tape featuring him talking about groping women amounted to locker-room banter and not sexual assault. But interviews with several dozen on Monday show Trumps latest actions, including bringing women who have accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment or rape to Sundays debate, did little to sway their opinions about the presidential contest. Many Republicans and independents said they already werent going to support Trump, but werent convinced to vote for Hillary Clinton. Some said they wouldnt vote at all or would choose Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. It didnt surprise me that it came from him. It makes it even more shameful that theres a possibility that he would represent the United States, said Chris ORourke, a New Hampshire voter who doesnt identify with a political party. But, she added, Im not a fan of the Clintons . . . I dont know if Im going to vote. In the 2005 recording released Friday, Trump is heard saying he can grab, kiss and do anything with women because he is famous. On Sunday he denied that hes ever grabbed women without their consent and again characterized the comments as locker room talk. Prior to the debate, he met with three women who have accused Bill Clinton of harassment or rape. The former president never faced criminal charges in relation to the allegations, and a lawsuit over an alleged rape was dismissed. He did settle a lawsuit with one of the women who claimed harassment. Trump was already struggling with women voters, while Clinton is looking to run up her margins with them to make up for her challenges among men. Among registered voters, women were more likely than men to say theyd be afraid if Trump were elected, 60 per cent to 52 per cent, according to a recent Associated Press-GfK poll released before the tape of Trump came to light. They were more likely to say hes not at all civil, 54 per cent to 49 per cent, or compassionate, 58 per cent to 50 per cent. And 51 per cent of women said they planned to vote for Clinton compared to 34 per cent for Trump. The 2005 tape prompted a stream of elected Republicans, including Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Rob Portman of Ohio, to denounce their partys nominee. But many women voters said the tape shouldnt have been surprising. Debbie Manzanares, a Republican from Colorado, wont cast a vote for Trump, but the tapes arent the reason. If anyones surprised, she said. They havent been listening. Marie Cote, of New Hampshire, is one voter who said the tape did sway her vote. Cote, 60, said she was on the fence about voting for Trump because she sees him as a go-getter. But she has five daughters, and Trumps comments about grabbing and kissing women disturbed her. It concerns me about what their future will be like if hes president, she said. Cote said shes now leaning toward voting for Clinton but hasnt decided, adding, It is hard for women. Cote said she thinks its fair game for Trump to link Hillary Clinton to her husbands infidelities: She mustve known he was a womanizer. Still, some female voters said they planned to vote for Trump despite being appalled by his latest remarks. Susan Broadwell of New Hampshire, who wore a Nobody for President shirt as she grocery shopped, said some of Trumps behaviour is distressing, to say the least. But she said Trumps words pale in comparison to some of Clintons actions, particularly her response to the 2012 attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya. Broadwell, 56, met Trump at a rally in New Hampshire earlier this year. She said she appreciates that he is the same person in public and in private. Im willing to see what he can do, she said. But others said theyll vote for Johnson because they dislike Clinton and Trump so deeply. Cynthia Isom of Pennsylvania said the recording reveals Trumps true thoughts on women and that she felt he was trying to intimidate Clinton in Sundays debate. I just cant look in the mirror and say I voted for either one of them, she said. Democrats like Anne Green of Pennsylvania wonder how any women could vote for Trump at this point. If any woman votes for Trump, theyre out of their mind, but I do know a few people who are, she said. SHARE: When Donald Trump told Hillary Clinton at Sundays presidential debate that if he were president, youd be in jail, he was threatening more than just his opponent. He was suggesting that he would strip power from the institutions that normally enforce the law, investing it instead in himself. Political scientists who study troubled democracies abroad say this is a tactic typical of elected leaders who pull down their systems from within: former President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, the fascist leaders of 1930s Europe. Todays United States, unlike the countries in those cases, has strong institutions and norms that prevent any president from going that far, these experts stress. But Trumps threat to jail his opponent for her deletion of thousands of emails sent from a private server while she was secretary of state, they warned in interviews on Monday, would chip away at the things that make U.S. democracy so resilient. Trumps comment was a threat to the rule of law, a threat to the stability of our institutions, a threat to basic agreements that are necessary for democracy to function, said Adrienne LeBas, a political scientist at American University. For those of us who work on authoritarian regimes and hybrid regimes, she added, referring to a kind of government midway between democracy and dictatorship, such as Turkey, this sort of thing is just eerily familiar. Trumps remark, then, could be interpreted as a threat not only to Clinton, but also to the police agencies, prosecutors and courts that normally apply the law. By suggesting that he alone could determine her fate appointing a special prosecutor on a case the FBI has already dismissed and predetermining the outcome Trump seemed to disregard these institutions as illegitimate. LeBas called this the absolute personalization of power, in which leaders consolidate authority under themselves something she had seen in Zimbabwe, Togo, Ethiopia, cases like that, where there are explicit threats to imprison opponents. She said the closest parallel was Chavez, who came to power in 1999 by arguing that elites had corrupted Venezuelas democracy. Rather than strengthening institutions, he took their power for himself and persecuted opponents, all while riding a wave of populist support. Sheri Berman, a professor of political science at Barnard College in New York, emphasized that leaders like Chavez were able to seize so much power because their states were very weak something that is not true of the United States. Our institutions are strong enough to prevent him from doing anything truly horrific, she said of Trump. But many Americans wrongly perceive their countrys democratic features as inviolable facts of life, she warned, when they are actually only as strong as the institutions and norms that uphold them. No president is strong enough to collapse those norms, she said, but one could erode them. Related: Fact check: Donald Trump made 33 false claims at second debate Donald Trumps candidacy imploding over sexual assault remarks Worried European leaders blast hate preacher Trump Paul Staniland, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, said these kinds of attacks can undermine the whole idea of democratic elections, where each side agrees that whoever won will then rule. He said he had been unnerved by the degree to which Trumps threat on Sunday echoed authoritarian leaders. This is something that, as someone who studies the developing world and political violence, is kind of freaky, he said. LeBas said Trump was unlikely to succeed in jailing Clinton, much less consolidating power in the manner of Chavez or Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary. But even invoking their playbook can have real consequences, she said, adding, Theres a great deal that Trump could do with executive power if hes elected. LeBas said Trumps two intertwined arguments that American institutions cannot be trusted and that extralegal action is justified have, when made in other countries, led to violence. Supporters see the state as too corrupt to enforce order, so they take it upon themselves. Trump, she pointed out, has already encouraged supporters at his rallies to violently eject protesters. He went even further in suggesting that gun rights advocates might take matters into their own hands to stop Clinton from appointing judges they do not like. Vigilante justice is not that long ago in this country, LeBas said. Im talking about the South; Im referring to the KKK. All of that is very recent. Trump, in threatening to jail his rival, was not just echoing authoritarians like Chavez or President Vladimir Putin of Russia. He was also promising to take what is often one of the first steps by which a democracy becomes more authoritarian. It kind of reminds me of Bangladesh, Staniland said, referring to the countrys history of political violence and instability. Thailand is like this, too. You have this real sense that whoever wins the election will go after the loser. Even if leaders succeed only rarely in using the state to punish their rivals, he said, that can quickly spiral out of control, turning politics into a zero-sum game for control over the institutions of law and order. If I believe the other party will purge me and my supporters if I lose the next election, then I have powerful incentives to try to do everything I can to win the next election, Staniland said. Berman said U.S. democracy was strong enough to prevent such a sudden transformation, but she still worries that voters take this for granted. Democratic institutions, like all institutions, can corrode and erode over time, she warned, saying of Trump, Even if he couldnt become an Orban, much less a Mussolini, he could do damage so that the next person that comes along has even more leeway. LeBas was more blunt. Our institutions and our democratic orientations and attitudes, she said, are far weaker than we think they are. Read more about: SHARE: NEW YORKA woman who accused former New York governor Eliot Spitzer of assaulting her has been arrested for trying to extort money from him, police said. Svetlana Zakharova, 26, was arrested Monday night in New York City and charged with grand larceny by extortion. She also was charged with forgery in an unrelated case in which police said she used a 67-year-old Bloomfield, N.J. mans information and signed a lease agreement that ended up costing him $18,000. The Russian woman fled the country after accusing Spitzer in February of assaulting her in a room at The Plaza Hotel, an allegation his attorney said was false, created by someone with emotional difficulties. Attorney Adam Kaufmann said at the time that the woman phoned Spitzer from California, where she had been living, to say she was returning to her native Russia via New York. The two agreed to meet at The Plaza Hotel. And they had a brief and amicable conversation, and then Mr. Spitzer left, Kaufmann said. But she called a few hours later and asked that he return to the room, where she had become highly emotional and was threatening self- harm, he said. The woman called 911, saying she had cut herself and was distraught and having a breakdown, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. She called back and tried to cancel the emergency call but police were already en route, they said. When police arrived they noticed the woman had a cut on her arm and took her to a hospital. There, she told doctors that Spitzer had choked and shoved her, the officials said. She did not want to press charges, and left on a flight to Russia the next day, one official and Kaufmann said. No charges were ever filed against Spitzer in the case. Police did not say Monday night how much Zakharova was allegedly trying to extort from him. It was not immediately known if she has an attorney who can comment on the charges. Zakharova is scheduled to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday. Spitzer, a Democrat, resigned in 2008 amid revelations that he had sex with prostitutes. He was named as a prostitution ring patron during a federal investigation, but was not charged. SHARE: LONDONThe man who stands a reasonable chance of becoming the next president of the United States is a hate preacher. He is unfit to hold the office because of his stupefying ignorance. His pattern of reckless behavior inspires a retching feeling. Those are not the words of Republican nominee Donald Trumps domestic political opponents, eager to take him down in the rancorous home stretch of an almost incomprehensibly acid American election. Instead, they are the sentiments of Washingtons closest allies, who, gazing across the Atlantic, have broken with decades of precedent that calls for studious silence and openly taken sides in a U.S. presidential election. From the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean coast, the prospect of Trump taking control of the worlds greatest power has triggered widespread anxiety in European capitals. It has also brought periodic outbursts from leaders who no doubt hope, perhaps in vain, that the views of Americas foreign friends will somehow make a difference among American voters. But what Trumps rise hasnt done is prompted European allies to get ready for the possibility that he could actually win. They are taking it seriously, said Xenia Wickett, head of the Americas program at the London-based think tank Chatham House. But I dont think theyre preparing for it. That lack of preparation leaves Europe dangerously exposed should Trump find a way out of the maelstrom generated by his vulgar comments in a 2005 video and pull off an unexpected victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in next months vote. Europe is already at a vulnerable moment even without a White House resident who has called the most basic tenets of the trans-Atlantic alliance into question, and whose coziness with President Vladimir Putin comes as Russia has made a habit of menacing its weaker European neighbors. Across the continent, populist movements that share much with Trumps nativist nationalism are on the rise. Britain is on its way out of the European Union. The continents ability to hang together amid problems ranging from the refugee crisis to terrorism is being tested daily. But a Trump victory could be the biggest challenge of all, forcing European nations to bind together to compensate for a likely American turn toward isolationism. Even if Trump opted to maintain the traditional U.S. role as guarantor of European security, his extreme positions may prove so anathema that Europe would have little choice but to distance itself from Washington, said Wickett, a former U.S. National Security Council official under President George W. Bush. America would no longer be a country that you would necessarily want to be partnered with, she said. That shift has already been telegraphed through the scathing words of top European officialswords that could make it difficult to reconcile with Trump if he wins. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in August called Trump a hate preacher who had much in common with Brexit backers and with the German far right. He said they were linked by their exploitation of fears to achieve political goals. This was incendiary for society, Steinmeier said. Steinmeiers boss, Chancellor Angela Merkel, has been more circumspect, though she has left little doubt about her true feelings. She has heaped praise on Clintons strategic thinking and commitment to the trans-Atlantic partnership. Whenever I had a chance to work with Hillary Clinton, it has been a great pleasure, Merkel told the German newspaper Bild. As for Trump, all she would say was that she doesnt know him personally. Neither, presumably, does French President Francois Hollande. But that didnt stop him from saying that Trumps excesses had given him a retching feeling. Britains Parliament has even gone so far as to debate whether Trump should be banned from the nations shores. The January session yielded no action, but did exhaust the thesauruses of dozens of lawmakers who struggled to creatively convey just how much they disliked the real estate tycoon. Demagogue, buffoon and wazzock a semi-obscure Britishism meaning, roughly, twit were among the insults that echoed off the drafty stone walls in the mother of all parliaments. Theres little evidence that Trumps reputation in Britain has improved since then, even though he, unlike Clinton or President Obama, backed the winning side in the countrys June Brexit referendum. Trump has called himself Mr. Brexit, an apparent allusion to his belief that he can shock the world with victory much in the way anti-E.U. activists did in the referendum. The most bombastic of those activists, longtime U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, has become a highly visible Trump ally. Farage spoke at a Trump rally in Mississippi in August, and was Trumps guest at Sundays debate. Trump has found other friends in the ascendant populist movements of Europe, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Orban, who built a razor-wire fence along the countrys southern border to block refugees and migrants from entering the country last summer, has hailed Trumps proposals to crack down on terrorism. I myself could not have drawn up better what Europe needs, Orban said in July. But Orbans stand places him firmly in the minority among European leaders. For other nations, particularly the four NATO members that border Russia, Trump is the source of deep, almost existential anxiety. The Republican nominee has gone back and forth over whether he would come to the aid of U.S. allies if they were attacked, even as Russia has staged provocative military drills and air incursions in the two years following its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Three of Russias NATO neighbors the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are together smaller than Missouri and stand no chance of defending themselves in the event of a Russian invasion. In that context, comments from top Trump adviser Newt Gingrich that Estonia is in the suburbs of St. Petersburg shook many in the region who have long counted Republicans as their staunchest advocates. Concern over Trump runs so deep that Latvian lawmakers have started to reach out to Republicans in Congress, eager to build support among a constituency that might be a forceful counterweight to the would-be presidents isolationist impulses. Ojars Kalnins, chairman of the Latvian Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee, said Latvian lawmakers were in talks with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., to lead a delegation of Baltic politicians that hopes to speak in front of a Senate committee during the lame-duck session of Congress. The Trump comments and the Gingrich comments did prompt us, Kalnins said. It was a realization that people arent as attuned to the Baltic states as they used to be. But those modest steps are about as far as Europe has gone to prepare for a Trump presidency. The prevailing strategy for many diplomats and politicians is to hope he doesnt win, and if he does, to simply wait and see what he will actually do, given his often-contradictory statements. Some European analysts believe Trumps foreign policy ideas are so radical that he would have trouble stocking the government with enough people committed to carrying them out. We expect there would still be cadre diplomats, a lot of people who are not showing the opposition flag to Trump but who are the safe tier of professionals, said Juri Luik, a former Estonian foreign and defence minister who runs the International Centre for Defence and Security in the Estonian capital Tallinn. But Luik also cautioned that Europeans shouldnt kid ourselves and noted that in the United States, the president calls the shots on security policy. Indeed, far from being reassured, European leaders have often gone out of their way to stress just how worried they are. Trump is not only a problem for the EU, but for the whole world, European Parliament President Martin Schulz recently told the German weekly Der Spiegel. If a man is sitting in the White House . . . with no clue and describes expert knowledge as elitist nonsense, a critical point has been reached: Then an apparently irresponsible man is in a position which requires the highest sense of responsibility. RELATED: Trumps lewd comments disgust women Trump made 33 false claims at second debate Read more about: SHARE: Automobile manufacturers aren't disposed to understatement when launching an important new vehicle model. Test drives in exotic locations, celebrity endorsements, hoopla and elaborate advertising are the norm. Ford (F) , however, is making an exception with the low-key and offbeat launch of its new Continental sedan, flagship of the Lincoln luxury brand that the automaker has been striving to overhaul. Last month, the first 775 retail sales of Continental were reported by Kelley Blue Book. Today, Lincoln announced it had hired renowned photographer Annie Leibowitz to shoot pictures of the new model, which will appear uncredited in traditional and social media. The advertising campaign won't focus on the car, but rather travel experiences. Leibowitz "said that's how she first developed her photographic eye -- by looking out the back window at the horizontal framing of the landscapes of America," said John Emmert, a marketing manager for Lincoln. "So in the end, we have 13 different shots that tell a story with a nice backdrop of rural and urban -- and all decidedly unconventional in terms of car photography." Kumar Galhotra, head of Lincoln, said in a statement that the "rich, warm emotions her photos evoke mirror the feelings we want our clients to experience on all their journeys in the new Lincoln Continental." Ford has made the revamp of Lincoln one of its top corporate goals, mirroring General Motors' (GM) effort to resurrect Cadillac as a competitive brand to Daimler's Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen's (VLKAY) Audi, BMW and Toyota's (TM) Lexus. Luxury cars typically are disproportionately profitable compared to mass-market models, which is why GM has spent multiple billions over the past fifteen years revitalizing Cadillac. Joe DeMatio, an editor of Road & Track magazine, has seen Continental but so far hasn't had a chance to test it. "The reaction to the way Continental looks has been very positive," DeMatio said. "I think that Ford has thought carefully about how it's going to launch the car and is trying something different. "With Lincoln, Ford is hoping for a more modest investment, going for pure luxury, convenience, and styling, especially in the new Continental, rather than hard-edged performance, figuring it will sell as many, if not more, cars than Cadillac, despite the superior dynamic profiles of the Cadillac models." Unlike GM, Ford has elected not to follow GM and try to "out-German" the German luxury brands by developing highly sophisticated body architectures, engines and transmissions designed to improve acceleration, handling and other technical performance. Instead, Ford devoted an older front-wheel-drive body architecture and existing engines to Continental, while concentrating on attractive exterior and interior design and passenger amenities. Ford's luxury strategy may prove to be shrewd. Trying to match the German carmakers is a multi-billion dollar effort that will take years at a moment when consumer definitions of luxury may be changing to emphasize connectivity and autonomous safety features as opposed to a vehicle's speed, acceleration and cornering prowess. Driverless cars are coming and will cost a fortune in invested capital to bring to market. Through September, Lincoln had sold about 80,000 of its various models in the U.S., compared to about 120,000 for Cadillac. BMW and Lexus each had sold about 230,000 vehicles for the first three quarters, while Mercedes-Benz was the top seller of luxury models in the U.S. with about 275,000 vehicles sold. Doron Levin is the host of "In the Driver Seat," broadcast on SiriusXM Insight 121, Saturday at noon, encore Sunday at 9 a.m. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Chevron (CVX) were gaining in late-afternoon trading on Monday as oil prices rose on expectations of a coordinated production freeze or cut. Crude oil (WTI) was recently up 2.69% to $51.15 per barrel and Brent crude was increasing 1.91% to $52.92 per barrel. The commodity is benefiting as Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced his support for efforts by OPEC and non-OPEC members to stem output. Russia pumps more crude that any other country, but is not an OPEC member. The 14-nation cartel wants to Russia to reduce its current production of 11.1 million barrels a day by between 200,000 and 300,000 barrels a day, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Russia's energy minister Alexander Novak is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with Saudi Arabia's energy minister Khalid al-Falih and others to discuss a potential cut, the Journal adds. Chevron is a San Ramon, CA-based oil and gas producer. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates the stock as a "hold" with a ratings score of C. Chevron's strengths such as its solid stock price performance and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures are countered by weaknesses including feeble growth in the company's earnings per share, deteriorating net income and poor profit margins. You can view the full analysis from the report here: CVX TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this article's author. NEW YORK (TheStreet) --Yum! Brands (YUM) was first introduced to the Chinese market in 1987 with the initial location opening near Tiananmen Square. Today, Yum! China still encompasses 23% of the market share in the country, however, that has begun to shrink. So much so that in a meeting with investors and analysts Tuesday Yum! is expected to discuss the Chinese spinoff business. "Just for context, Yum! is to China what McDonalds (MCD) was to the Soviet Union in the 1980s, that is giving a communist country a taste of capitalism," CNBC's Susan Li reported during Tuesday's "Squawk Box." "The China business is volatile; you saw that in the recent earnings report with same-store sales in China missing badly," she added. Recent negative sentiment stemming from political uncertainties in the South China Sea and past food safety concerns are also hurting Yum! sales. "That's kind of the reason why activist investors in Yum! are looking for the spinoff, they want to isolate the volatile, unpredictable China business from the rest of Yum!" Li said. Investors will be seeking clarity in today's meeting with Yum! - clarity on financials, strategy moving forward, a recovery plan for boosting same store sales - and on the China business, Li noted. "RBC expects Yum! China, which will be listed as "Yum! C," to be priced at $33. That represents maybe a 21 PE, so it's not cheap. Also looking for the rest of Yum! to be priced at $64 and change," she explained. Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings team rates Yum Brands as a Hold with a ratings score of C+. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth and compelling growth in net income. However, as a counter to these strengths, the team also finds weaknesses including weak operating cash flow and poor profit margins. You can view the full analysis from the report here: YUM This November, voters will be asked to vote on constitutional initiative, I-116, Marsys Law. If approved, this initiative will add a section 36 to Article II of Montanas Constitution setting out some 20 specific rights of crime victims. Reading the proposed amendment, one can hardly argue with its compassionate language; we can all agree that crime victims should be treated with dignity and respect and should not be revictimized by the criminal justice system. But there are some hidden problems that voters should be aware of. First, the proposed amendment is a solution in search of a problem. Montanas Legislature has already enacted a comprehensive body of laws that provide virtually the same victims rights as does I-116. Second, it is wrong to assume that police officers, prosecutors and judges, among others, presently ignore the plight of crime victims. They dont, based on my 40+ years of experience as a former prosecutor working with state and federal law enforcement and as Supreme Court justice. Third, constitutionalizing victims rights, especially given the overly broad language of the amendment, creates numerous hidden problems. For example: If one of the victims (and that term is very broadly defined) numerous constitutional rights is violated she or he is entitled to file suit for a remedy, which the court must fashion. This suit can be brought directly under the new amendment since it is self executing something very rare in constitutional law. The victim will likely need the assistance of an attorney to file suit but there is no provision for appointed counsel; so hiring an attorney is on the victims dime. That leads to another problem: law enforcement, prosecutors and judges all enjoy some form of immunity from suit. Thus, if the victim intends to sue one or more of those officials for monetary damages, that remedy will probably be 99 percent unsuccessful. And, unless the victims attorney has some likelihood of getting paid (out of a damage award), it will be difficult for the victim to hire counsel. Moreover, the taxpayers are going to wind up defending or dealing with any suit that the victim brings. And, all facets of the criminal justice system are already grossly understaffed and underfunded. But, here is the worst problem. In enforcing the victim's constitutional rights, the defendants constitutional rights may be violated. For example, the victim can do that by preventing the defendants counsel from interviewing the victim and some witnesses. If the defendants constitutional rights to a fair trial, to due process, to effective assistance of counsel, to confront and meet accusers and witnesses face to face and to compulsory process for witnesses, both Montana and Federal Constitutional law may require that the charges against the defendant be dismissed or may require a second trial -- the victims rights notwithstanding. That, obviously, is the last thing a crime victim needs. If victim's rights are truly a concern, then voters and victims should insist that the present statutory protections be adequately funded and enforced. There is always the remedy of the ballot box for public officials who wont perform their duties. Marsys Law is, in many respects, illusory. It is going to create more problems -- and expensive ones -- than it solves. Voters should read their Montana Voter Information Pamphlet and should think very carefully before voting for I-116. Jim Nelson of Helena is a retired Montana Supreme Court justice. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.K. cabinet ministers are banned from wearing the Apple (AAPL) Watch to meetings under U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's leadership, the Telegraph reported. The ban was put in place to prevent Russian spies from using the devices to gain access to their meetings, the publication said. "The Russians are trying to hack everything," one source told the Telegraph. May's decision on Apple Watches was discussed by a panel on Fox Business' "Varney & Company" on Tuesday morning. Smartphones have been banned at the meetings since 2013, although former Prime Minister Cameron did allow members to wear the Apple Watch, noted Fox Business' Stuart Varney. Some members used lead-lined boxes to further protect their phones from hacking, he added. "I don't know why I'm laughing. I shouldn't really," Varney said of the extreme precautionary measures. But Jeff Sica, Circle Squared Alternative Investments founder and special guest on today's show, thought the ban was appropriate. "That's what the hackers want. They've been trying to monitor through the iPhone to listen, to take photographs. This is necessary. Not only necessary in the U.K., but necessary here [in the U.S.]," Sica claimed. Shares of Apple were higher in early-afternoon trading on Tuesday. (Apple is held in Jim Cramer's charitable trust Action Alerts PLUS. See all of his holding with a free trial here.) Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings team rates Apple as a Buy with a ratings score of B+. This is driven by some important positives, which the team believes should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks the team covers. You can view the full analysis from the report here: AAPL AAPL data by YCharts NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of LPL Financial (LPLA) were surging 8.06% to $33.38 on heavy trading volume late Tuesday afternoon as the broker-dealer explores strategic alternatives including a sale, sources told Reuters. The company is working with Goldman Sachs (GS) on a potential sale that has garnered interest from companies and private equity firms, according to Reuters. About 1.38 million shares of LPL Financial have been traded so far today, well above the company's average trading volume of roughly 511,837 shares a day. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates the stock as a "buy" with a ratings score of B-. LPL Financial's strengths such as its attractive valuation levels, notable return on equity and growth in earnings per share outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. You can view the full analysis from the report here: LPLA TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this article's author. ENERGY Work on oil pipeline resumes in N. Dakota In turn, protesters said they are discussing nonviolent opposition measures, including chaining themselves to work equipment. And at least eight people were arrested Tuesday trying to shut down pipelines in other states as a show of solidarity with the Dakota Access protesters. Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners resumed digging trenches and laying pipe, Morton County Sheriffs Office spokesman Rob Keller said, a move that comes in light of Sundays federal appeals court ruling that allowed construction to resume within 20 miles of Lake Oahe. That Missouri River reservoir is the water supply for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes reservation. Associated Press Also in Business From news services Coming Today From news services Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 was supposed to be the top of its smartphone line, but the devices have been plagued by battery fires. (Shawn L. Minter/AP) Samsung said Tuesday that it would discontinue production of its highest-end smartphone, an unprecedented move for the company and one that could reorder the global market for mobile devices. The Galaxy Note 7 was supposed to be the crown jewel of the smartphone lineup for Samsung, which once garnered little respect in the clubby world of Silicon Valley but is now the primary rival to Apple. Samsungs ascendancy has been celebrated by those who wanted a high-quality alternative to the iPhone and held up in Korea as evidence of the countrys arrival as tech power. But Samsungs failure to manufacture phones that do not explode in purses or catch on fire on flights may be catastrophic for the companys brand, many technology analysts said. Samsungs shares fell 7.5 percent in Tuesday trading in Seoul, wiping out $17 billion of the companys value. Some analysts said the company, in its race to release a new phone ahead of Apple, simply rushed. The Note 7s battery was one of its best selling points more powerful than that of the iPhone 7 Plus and capable of charging the phone nearly to full power in 30 minutes. Apple had endured criticism for not bringing such innovations to the iPhone. But its caution now looks wise, said John Cui, an assistant professor at Georgetowns McDonough School of Business. Samsung has stopped production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after a series of explosions in the original and replacement models surfaced. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post) Had this just stopped at replacement units, Samsung would have walked out of this, added Ramon Llamas, an analyst at the tech market research firm IDC. The fact that it didnt work out again? Now well be suspicious. The damage isnt likely to be contained to the Galaxy Note model, which had a large 5.7-inch screen and cost $800. The government has also issued a warning about exploding Samsung washing machines, though the problems with those appliances are not related to a battery. [First it was phones. Now its exploding Samsung washing machines.] A recent survey from the brand-analysis firm Branding Brand found that 34 percent of current Samsung customers said they wouldnt buy another smartphone from the company in a poll taken before news surfaced of the replacement phones also catching on fire. The Note 7 fires also call to mind other incidents involving lithium-ion batteries, which increasingly power most personal devices and cutting-edge technologies, such as electric cars, mobile gadgets and childrens toys. Unexpected explosions forced U.S. retailers to pull popular childrens scooters called hoverboards this year. Boeing had to ground its super-advanced 787 Dreamliner jets because of lithium-ion battery fires in 2013. The supply chains that build the batteries in smartphones and other electronics are notoriously complex and opaque. Companies such as Samsung and Apple buy batteries from several makers, which source the battery parts from different firms across the globe. [Tracing the path from deadly mines in Congo to batteries for phones and laptops] Samsung, the largest battery-maker in the world, last year bought smartphone batteries from its own Samsung SDI division as well as from Maxwell, Amperex Technology Limited, Panasonic and Lishen, according to Avicenne Energy, a consulting firm. But Samsung was unusually dependent on Samsung SDI for about 75 percent of its batteries. By contrast, Apple has bought iPhone batteries from five companies, none of which supply more than a third of its batteries. That enables Apple to nimbly switch manufacturers if a problem surfaces. Samsungs missteps are likely to help Apple, which offers the only other premium large-screen smartphone that is well-recognized by consumers. The new iPhone 7 Plus sold out within a day, just as reports of exploding Note 7s emerged. In general, large-screen phones generate more profits for manufacturers than smaller ones. [I played around with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus; heres what it was like] Other analysts said Samsungs problems might be an even more important development for Android makers, many of which have struggled to make a dent against Apple and Samsung. Google, in particular, stands to gain, analysts said. The tech giant recently introduced its own line of high-end phones, called the Pixel, which could appeal to the anti-iPhone crowd. The Pixel phone could be a beneficiary here since it shares many traits with the Note 7, said Brian Blau, vice president of technology research firm Gartner. [Googles hardware push is still really about its software] Samsungs crisis may be cushioned because carriers already have agreed to promote its other phones for the crucial holiday season. But over the long term, the debacle may set back its relationship with its customers, who had to wade through shifting warnings from the company. At first Samsung was slow to offer replacements. Only after U.S. officials, as well as airlines and subway systems, began to warn passengers to turn off their Galaxy Note 7s did the company offer an official recall. And as of Tuesday, Samsung had not extended that recall to include the replacement Note 7 phones sold after Sept. 15, even though several of those devices have reportedly caught fire. The company has only asked owners of the replacements to stop using those models. The mixed messages have frustrated U.S. officials. In a speech last month, Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Elliot Kaye criticized Samsung for trying to handle the problem without coordinating with his agency and for putting customers at risk. I would say thats uncommon, said Kaitlin Wowak, an assistant professor of business at Notre Dame. Its important for companies dealing with recalls to have whatever relevant organization the FDA, NHTSA, the CPSC get behind them. Todd Frankel contributed to this report. Peter Allen, a broadcaster who for 29 years was the announcer of the Metropolitan Operas Saturday matinee radio broadcasts, delivering Wagner and Verdi to millions of listeners beyond the Mets gilded and glittering New York theater, died Oct. 8 at his home in Manhattan. He was 96. A niece, Carol Epstein, confirmed his death but did not cite a cause. Now in their 86th season, the Mets Saturday radio presentations are billed as the longest-running continuous classical radio series in American broadcast history. Their patrons, widely dispersed rather than gathered in a single theater, are famously devoted fans, tuning into the radio no less avidly than the Mets season subscribers sink into their red velvet seats. For the first 43 years of Met radio broadcasts, listeners knew very nearly only one announcer Milton Cross. He inaugurated the series in 1931 and hosted more than 800 subsequent broadcasts, missing only two upon the death of his wife. Cross died of an apparent heart attack on Jan. 3, 1975, while readying himself for the next days matinee of Rossinis LItaliana in Algeri. Mr. Allen, who had trained as Crosss understudy, took over for that performance and remained for over 500 more. He retired on April 24, 2004, after a performance of Wagners Gotterdammerung, missing not a single broadcast in nearly three decades. Speaking to the New York Sun, his successor, Margaret Juntwait, described him as sort of like the Cal Ripken of radio broadcasting. Cal Ripken never missed a game and Peter Allen never missed a broadcast. Juntwait died last year of ovarian cancer, at age 58, and was succeeded by Mary Jo Heath. Today, the matinee broadcasts reach listeners on 573 U.S. stations, as well as other stations around the world and on Sirius satellite radio, according to the Met. While recognizing his indebtedness to his predecessor, Mr. Allen said that he sought to distinguish himself from Cross, who retained the floridity of 1930s radio broadcasting long after the decade was out. No flamboyance, no phoniness, no deliberately putting a chuckle into my voice, Mr. Allen told the New York Times in 1975. If I can honestly convey a sense of the drama, in a way thats intelligible and attractive, that should be enough. He saw himself primarily as the listeners guide to the opera, like Virgil to Dante in The Divine Comedy, leading the way through byzantine plot twists, interpreting libretti in a universe of foreign languages and describing the costumes, settings and action for audiences that could hear but not see the excitement in the house. To prepare for performances, he attended dress rehearsals, immersed himself in study of the opera and interviewed other members of the Met operation. Although many of his listeners were regulars, he had special affection for those who might be tuning in for the first time. Sure, there are millions who already know the story of Carmen backwards and forwards, but each year there are as many millions for whom this is a first-time thing, who dont even know that Carmen is in French, he told the Times. I want to be ready with plenty of material. And I want to be prepared to talk intelligently about the particular opera being performed, not just flummer around with generalized remarks about the history of opera or the weather. He studied costumes in advance, inquiring whether they were silk or silk look-alike, to avoid leading his listeners astray. Describing the onstage props, he took pride in sometimes noticing details that escaped many others in the theater. Like the cafe scene of La Boheme, where [director] Franco Zeffirelli has used real street posters from 19th-century Paris, advertisements for laxatives and lingerie, he told the Associated Press. Mr. Allen conducted his broadcasts from a sound booth behind the Mets Grand Tier. He stood at a lectern with the operas libretto before him and opera glasses in hand. Also in the sound booth was his wife, Sylvia Lipson Allen, a fellow opera-lover. He said she signaled him when he made the rare mistake, so that he might correct himself. Operatic comedy, and tragedy, occasionally took place offstage. Once, Mr. Allen recalled, he was waiting for the conductor, James Levine, to ascend the podium, while Levine was waiting for Mr. Allen to conclude his narration. Mr. Allen described it as a classic case of After you, Alphonse. During an intermission in Puccinis Tosca, Mr. Allen received an enigmatic order: keep talking. Only later did he learn that the tenor Carlo Bergonzi had been seized by a coughing fit. In 1988, Mr. Allen had to fill airtime after the commotion when a patron jumped to his death from the balcony during an intermission in Verdis Macbeth, based on the Shakespeare play. The rest of the show was eventually cancelled. There is a theater legend about Macbeth being a jinxed play, Mr. Allen once told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The opera carried that out. Mr. Allen was born Harold Peter Levy in Toronto on Sept. 17, 1920, and he grew up in Cleveland. According to his niece, he took the surname Allen after entering radio. His career began at Ohio State University, where Mr. Allen was principal violist in a student symphony and was invited to play on the radio with a quartet. When the other three musicians failed to report for the job, Mr. Allen could scarcely perform the quartet alone. He talked instead. He was a radio announcer in Columbus before moving to WQXR, a classical radio station in New York City, where he worked for 26 years before assuming his post at the Met. Mr. Allens wife died in 2006 after 65 years of marriage. He had no immediate survivors. By the time he retired from the Met, Mr. Allen was 84. I dont like to emphasize my age, he told the Times, not out of vanity, but I dont like to reinforce the cliche that opera is for old people. He wanted to be known, he said, as just a guy who enjoys the opera. A boy suffering from cholera receives treatment at a health center in Anse D'Hainault, Haiti, on October 11. The United Nations said Hurricane Matthew has increased the risk of a spike in the number of cholera cases. (Dieu Nalio Chery/AP) People throughout Haitis devastated southwest peninsula formed makeshift brigades Tuesday to clear debris and try to get back to their pre-hurricane lives as anger grew over the delay in aid for remote communities more than a week after the Category 4 storm hit. A community group that formed in the seaside community of Les Anglais began clearing tree limbs from streets and placing them into piles while others gathered scraps of wood to start rebuilding homes destroyed by Hurricane Matthew. Carpenter James Nassau donned a white construction helmet as he rebuilt a neighbors wall with recycled wood, hoping to earn a little money to take care of 10 children, including those left behind by his brother, who died in the storm, which hit October 4. My brother left five kids, and now Ive got to take care of them, he said. Nobody has come to help. The scene repeated itself across small seaside and mountain villages dotting the peninsula, where people pointed out helicopters buzzing overhead and questioned why they havent received any help. Residents of Anse D'Hainault line up for food nearly a week after the storm smashed into southwestern Haiti. Some communities along the southern coast have yet to receive assistance. (Dieu Nalio Chery/AP) Israel Banissa, a carpenter who lives near the small mountain town of Moron, said a Red Cross assessment team stopped outside his village to ask people questions but didnt leave any supplies. Theres no aid thats come here, he said as he sawed wood to help rebuild his home and dozens of others. I dont think they care about the people up here. Health workers in the area are dealing with not only with injuries from the storm but also the threat of a spike in the number of cholera (pronounced COLL-er-uh) cases. People will die soon if we dont get some aid, health worker Darline Derosier told the Associated Press on Monday. Derosier was the only one helping about 40 patients inside a police station that was turned into a medical clinic. Some of the patients had cholera, a deadly disease that infects people who drink contaminated water. Cholera has killed roughly 10,000 people in Haiti since 2010 and sickened more than 800,000. Dominique Legros, a top cholera official at the World Health Organization, said Tuesday that the agency had decided to send 1 million doses of cholera vaccine to Haiti as soon as possible and said safe drinking water and treatment of those affected by the disease are top priorities. The National Civil Protection headquarters in Haitis capital, Port-au-Prince, raised the official nationwide death toll to 473, which included at least 244 deaths in Grand-Anse. But local officials have said the toll in the region tops 500. In addition to disease, storm survivors faced a lack of food. Elancie Moise, director for the Department of Agriculture in southern Haiti, said between 80 to 100 percent of crops have been lost across the southern peninsula. Crisis is not the word to describe it, he said. You need a stronger word. It is much worse. There is no food for people to eat. The United Nations humanitarian agency in Geneva, Switzerland, has made an emergency appeal for nearly $120 million in aid, saying about 750,000 people in southwest Haiti alone will need lifesaving assistance and protection in the next three months. U.N. officials said earlier that 2.1 million Haitians have been affected by the hurricane. Charles Jones, right, leads the group ACCESS, or the Action Coordinating Committee to End Segregation in the Suburbs, on a 64-mile march around the Beltway on June 8, 1966. (Steve Szabo/The Washington Post) On a sunny June day in 1966, J. Charles Jones stood on the shoulder of the Beltway at Georgia Avenue and spoke with reporters. I feel as if I own this road, Jones said, as traffic whizzed past. This is my Beltway. Jones had good reason to claim a familiarity with the circle of concrete. He had just completed a pedestrian circumnavigation of the road, walking its 64 miles with a group that fluctuated in number between eight and 35. It was a protest organized by a group Jones led called ACCESS, or the Action Coordinating Committee to End Segregation in the Suburbs. By marching around the Beltway, Jones wanted to shame area landlords who were refusing to rent to African Americans like him. The segregated apartment complexes around the Beltway, Jones said, amounted to a white ghetto surrounding the black ghetto. It had taken the protesters four days to complete their Beltway circuit, but the work wasnt finished. Now we have to make the circle larger, with people who have seen the depth of our commitment, Jones said. Jones listens to police officers on June 11, 1966, on the Beltway. (Steve Szabo/The Washington Post) Not long ago, I wrote about a pair of Bethesda, Md., dads who hike a segment of the Beltway every week or so as a midlife microadventure. It seemed that their effort was unprecedented. But then a reader told me about Charles Jones, who made headlines 50 years ago. [Two guys have set themselves a challenge: Hike all the way around the Beltway] Jones was a veteran of the civil rights movement, having led sit-ins in his native Charlotte. Hed been arrested for his nonviolent protests several times, including in Albany, Ga., with Martin Luther King Jr. In 1966, Jones had just finished law school at Howard University. He was deeply troubled by housing discrimination in the Washington area. ACCESS would picket outside whites-only apartment complexes and the homes of their owners. On June 6, 1966, James Meredith, the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, was shot and injured by a sniper during a walk from Memphis to Jackson, Miss., to encourage black voter registration. This spurred Jones to ratchet up his protest. I said to myself, Charles, why dont we combine what Martin and I had done, what [Mahatma] Gandhi had done, and organize a group and walk around the Beltway, starting at Georgia Avenue on the north side? Jones told me. On June 8, about nine protesters started walking counterclockwise around the Beltway, bearing signs that read End Apartment Segregation and We Demand Open Occupancy. The ring road completed only two years earlier was only two lanes in each direction, more parkway than superhighway. In 19687, Jones turned his attention to another aspect of the fair housing movement: African American military members were finding it hard to procure off-base housing in the Washington area. (Tom Kelley/The Washington Post) Jones had the support of Unitarian ministers and congregants, many of whom marched with him. The mixed-race group marched through the heat and the rain, covering 15 to 20 miles a day on the shoulder. In the evenings, marchers would stay in the homes of church members. Then the next morning, wed pick it back up, Jones said. That happened all the way around the Beltway. The protest garnered attention, not all of it welcome. Some motorists honked, jeered or shouted obscenities. One tractor-trailer swerved slightly onto the shoulder of the highway as it passed the group at high speed, forcing four ACCESS members and a reporter to jump aside. I remember that truck very well, Jones said. Im not sure if he had a Confederate flag inside. But the majority of drivers were supportive. Some even stopped to deliver baskets of food and drink to the marchers. Once the march was completed, Jones turned his attention to another aspect of the fair housing movement: African American military men were finding it hard to procure off-base housing in the Washington area. As Washington Post columnist William Raspberry noted: It is both absurd and immoral to ask a man to risk his life for a country that denies him the right to live in freedom and decency at home. In 1967, Jones met with Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. The Pentagon, Jones said, had the power to declare apartments that wouldnt rent to blacks off limits to all military personnel. (It was the same power that military police used to prohibit visiting brothels.) Rep. Joe D. Waggoner Jr. (D-La.) denounced the suggestion, saying that doing so would intrude into the personal, after-hours affairs of military men. He also called the ACCESS marchers a rag-tag band of unwashed. In June of 1967, a year after the Beltway march, McNamara banned service members from renting at any segregated apartment within 3.5 miles of the Andrews Air Force Base control tower. It was a start. Jones is 79 now. After a law career, he lives in semi-retirement in Charlotte. He feels that the Beltway protest and his discussions with McNamara helped integrate suburban apartments. He was dismayed by the destructive protests that broke out in his home town after the recent police shooting of Keith Scott, but he said protest leaders there have since embraced the nonviolent action that he and King practiced. It is always a continuing journey, Jones said of our nations march toward equality. And, it seems, the road isnt always straight. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. MARYLAND Hogan endorses Plaster for Congress Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday endorsed Mark Plaster, a fellow Republican and businessman, in his underdog battle to oust Rep. John P. Sarbanes (D) in the states 3rd Congressional District. Hogan likened Plasters campaign to his own 2014 gubernatorial run against then-Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D), saying, Mark is exactly the kind of person we need to go clean up the mess in Washington. Plaster, who is a doctor and a lawyer, said he dreamed of running for office but never thought a successful campaign was possible for a Republican in the heavily Democratic state until Hogans victory. Ovetta Wiggins Ex-mayor registers as write-in candidate Former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon registered as a write-in candidate for mayor Tuesday, setting up an unconventional general-election rematch with her Democratic primary opponent, state Sen. Catherine E. Pugh (Baltimore). I have never been the status quo, Dixon said in Baltimore. This is not going to be a traditional campaign. Dixon is one of a half-dozen candidates to launch a write-in campaign for mayor. Pugh, Republican Alan Walden and Green Joshua Harris are the only candidates who will appear on city voters general-election ballots. Baltimore Sun Driver in collision with trooper dies A Maryland man involved in a fiery crash Saturday with a Maryland state trooper died of his injuries Monday, police said. At around 2 a.m. Saturday, Trooper Constance Davis, 25, was in a marked patrol car traveling east on Smallwood Drive in Charles County with emergency lights activated as she prepared to stop a speeding motorist, Maryland State Police said. James Cousins Sr., 75, of Waldorf, tried to make a left turn from westbound Smallwood Drive. Cousins hit Daviss cruiser, forcing her car into a tree as flames engulfed both vehicles, police said. Davis escaped her cruiser, police said. Justin Wm. Moyer Term-limits challenge ends for Montgomery The Maryland Court of Appeals has declined to hear a case challenging the validity of petitions collected to place a term-limits proposition on Montgomery Countys Nov. 8 ballot. Fridays order by the states highest court exhausts the legal remedies available to opponents of Question B. The proposed charter amendment would limit the county executive and members of the County Council to three four-year terms. Bill Turque Virginia Fairfax teacher, student arrested A Fairfax County schoolteacher and student worked together to steal a case of beer from a gas station Monday, and the pair was found at the teachers Reston home with a variety of illegal narcotics, police said. Fabriana Alicia Ciammaichella, 30, a Spanish teacher at South Lakes High School, and Adelmo Ernesto Arias Guillen, 18, a sophomore at the school and also from Reston, were charged with drug, alcohol and larceny offenses, Fairfax police said. A schools spokesman said Ciammaichella, a South Lakes teacher since 2012, has been suspended pending the outcome of the case. Justin Jouvenal Regarding the ACLU and the recent incident of a student wearing a "white power" shirt to school in Polson, Caitlin Borgmann, executive director of the ACLU of Montana, said in a statement: This incident sadly reflects how we are failing our children in teaching them mutual tolerance and respect for those of different backgrounds. Borgmann said the ACLU of Montana would be investigating the homecoming incident and making sure Polson High School had appropriate anti-bullying and anti-racism policies in place. I believe that it is just such an attitude that diverts our teachers' efforts away from teaching the basic skills of reading, writing, math and science and toward teaching social skills that are the responsibility of parents and are best taught at home. Teachers and school systems cannot be parents to students and should not be held responsible for teaching them "mutual tolerance and respect for those of different backgrounds." Wearing a "white power" shirt to school should not be tolerated, but neither should it be a focus of teaching time. It's a shame that the actions of two students will divert so much time from the school's real purpose. Teachers have little enough time to teach the basics as it is. THE DISTRICT Man charged in fatal shooting from August D.C. police arrested and charged a 36-year-old man Monday in the fatal shooting in August of a man in the Burrville neighborhood of Northeast Washington. Sean Smith of Northeast was charged with second-degree murder while armed in the death of Matthew Walker, 26, of Northwest. Walker was fatally shot about 1:25 a.m. Aug. 7 in the 900 block of Eastern Avenue NE. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said Smith was in the D.C. jail at the time of his arrest; court records show that he was awaiting trial on a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle. Police did not disclose a possible motive in the killing. But police reported that in the hours after the shooting, relatives of both the victim and the suspect who was arrested Monday had exchanged threats. In court documents, D.C. police said that on Aug. 7, a gunman later identified as Walkers brother shot three of the suspects friends or relatives at a church in the 500 block of M Street NE, where the family of the suspect worshiped. The suspected gunman also was wounded in the noontime shootings, and he was charged with assault with intent to kill. Peter Hermann MARYLAND Man breaks up fight, dies of stab wound A Temple Hills man was charged with fatally stabbing a man in Forestville on Sunday, Prince Georges County police said. Keenan S. Fitzgerald, 27, was arrested Monday in the killing of Emmanuel Sutton, 50, of Good Hope Court in Southeast Washington, police said. Officers were called to the 7800 block of Parston Drive about 2:45 a.m. for a reported stabbing, police said. Officers found Sutton suffering a stab wound to the upper body. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police said a preliminary investigation found that Fitzgerald had been involved in a fight with another man. Sutton tried to break up the dispute, and he was stabbed, police said. Fitzgerald has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, police said. Justin Jouvenal N. Bethesda home blaze displaces family Fire caused more than $1.5 million in damage Sunday night to a 9,000 square-foot home in North Bethesda, the Montgomery County fire department said. The accidental fire at the house, in the 11800 block of Danville Drive, was reported shortly after 11: p.m. Fire officials said the blaze began on a porch and sent flames shooting above a roof. Three adults and two children were evacuated before the blaze was brought under control. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, but no other injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was not provided. Justin Jouvenal State reports its first flu case of the year Marylands health department has announced the first case of seasonal flu in the state this autumn. The patient was an adult in the Washington region, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said Friday. The virus strain involved was type A(H1N1), one of those included in this years flu vaccine, the department said. The patient was not hospitalized, officials said. The first case this year occurred earlier than last year, when the first confirmed flu case was reported Nov. 4, the health department said. Martin Weil VIRGINIA Pedestrian is struck, killed in Loudoun A pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle in Loudoun County early Monday, authorities said. Andres Zambrana, 65, of Washington was crossing Sterling Boulevard near East Beech Road in Sterling about 2:25 a.m. when he was struck by a vehicle northbound on Sterling Boulevard, the Loudoun County sheriffs office said. A witness told investigators that the driver had a green light at the time of the incident. The driver remained on the scene and called 911. Zambrana died at a hospital. Justin Jouvenal Two sought in Woodbridge shooting A man fatally shot in the Woodbridge area Saturday has been identified as Jose Moises Garcia Flores, 40, Prince William County police said. Police said he was found about 6 p.m. at the Bayvue Apartments in the 1400 block of Bayside Avenue. Police said they are looking for two black men, of unknown ages. They said one was 5-foot-7, with a thin build and medium complexion, last seen wearing a gray hooded jacket and blue jeans. The other had a heavy build and a full mustache and beard, and was last seen wearing dark clothing, including a black cap with white front. The Maryland Court of Appeals has declined to hear a case challenging the validity of petitions collected to place a term limits proposition on Montgomery Countys Nov. 8 ballot. Fridays order by the states highest court exhausts the legal remedies available to opponents of Question B. The proposed charter amendment would limit the county executive and members of the County Council to three four-year terms. A group headed by former Rockville Town Council member Tom Moore (D) argued that many of the 18,000 signatures gathered by Question B proponents were incomplete or did not meet other technical requirements. Evidence produced by Moore and lawyer Jonathan Shurberg included petition sheets in which dates next to some signatures were filled in by someone other than the signer. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg ruled against Moore and Shurberg on Sept. 21. They asked the Court of Appeals to hear the case immediately and bypass the Court of Special Appeals, which is usually the next rung on the judicial ladder. Question B opponents argue that term limits restrict the ability of voters to make their own decisions about whether to retain officeholders. Republican activist Robin Ficker, of Boyds, who spearheaded the petition drive, contends that term limits are needed to curb the power of an entrenched incumbent class in the county, one that has raised taxes and voted itself pay raises. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Tuesday continued his long-standing criticism of GOP White House nominee Donald Trump, calling the businessmans lewd remarks about women disgraceful and outrageous. Hogan, who is extremely popular nearly midway through his first term governing the majority-Democratic state, declared last spring that he would not vote for Trump or for the Democratic nominee for president, Hillary Clinton. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released last week found that 75 percent of Marylanders approve of Hogans rejection of Trump, including 3 out of 4 political independents and more than 9 in 10 Democrats. Republicans were split on the question, with 43 percent approving and 47 percent disapproving of Hogans decision not to vote for or endorse his partys nominee. The poll was taken before The Post published a 2005 recording from the set of Access Hollywood in which Trump talks, among other things, about groping women and kissing them without permission. Asked Tuesday what he will do on Election Day, Hogan said he has not decided. Im sure Ill write in someone who I think will be a good president, he said. Clinton leads Trump in Maryland by 36 points, according to the poll. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Tuesday that the embattled Howard County sheriff, who has been accused of making bigoted comments, discriminating against employees and retaliating against deputies who did not support his reelection bid, should resign. The governor joins other elected officials who have called for Sheriff James F. Fitzgerald (D) to step aside. Im very disturbed by the comments, Hogan said. I do believe he should resign. I share the opinions of many of the people who think he should resign. After a year-long investigation, the Howard County Office of Human Rights recently released a report detailing claims that Fitzgerald made derogatory comments about African Americans, women and Jews. The report triggered outrage in a community known for racial tolerance and inclusivity. Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman (R) said Monday that he is seeking legal remedies to oust the sheriff. Hogan said that he does not have the power to force Fitzgeralds removal but that he would support a move by the House of Delegates to push for an impeachment process. He also said he would like Fitzgerald to resign before that happens. The Howard County Council and the countys state delegation have pushed for Fitzgerald to step down. The sheriff has said he will not do so. Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, the son of a sawmill laborer who rose from the Jim Crow South to become a Howard University law professor and chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, said Tuesday he will not seek a fourth term. I dont want to use the word retire, but Im not running, said Leggett, 71, first elected to the executives post in 2006. Leggett, the countys first African American council member and county executive, has broadly signaled since his 2014 reelection that he would not run again. But with the 2018 political cycle set to begin after the Nov. 8 general election, he has started saying so explicitly in public comments. On Sunday, he told a crowd at a Silver Spring fundraiser for No On B, the group opposed to the term-limits ballot question, that he was done. Its the first time Ive heard him say it to an audience in public, said council member George L. Leventhal (D-At Large), who attended the event at Denizens Brewing Co. Leventhal acknowledged that he pays close attention to Leggetts comments on the subject hes one of several council incumbents looking closely at a run for county executive in 2018. He joins council members Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda), Marc Elrich (D-At Large), Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) and Craig Rice (D-Upcounty) as possible contenders. Most of these hopefuls were poised to run in 2014, after Leggett passed the word that his wife, Catherine, wanted him to leave after two terms. He changed his plans, creating a kind of generational logjam in county politics. [Leggett seeks to complete unfinished projects in third term ] This time, he said, its real. Im not running again. Period, Leggett said. If Question B is approved by voters next month, Leggett would have no choice but to leave. The proposed charter amendment limits the executive and council members to three terms. He said the term limits proposition which he opposes has nothing to do with his decision. Nor, he said, does his health: He has undergone two surgeries over the past year for spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spine that can cause pain by compressing nerves in the back. He said his condition is much improved. Leggett has presided over dramatic change on his watch, as Montgomery accelerated its transition from a cosseted, largely white suburb to a rapidly urbanizing majority minority jurisdiction with deepening pockets of poverty. His own story embodies the turbulent change that overtook the county and the country. The seventh of 13 children raised in central Louisiana, he attended historically black Southern University in Baton Rouge, where he was in the middle of the burgeoning battle for civil rights. He also served four years in the Army, including an infantry stint in South Vietnam. Montgomery was 85 percent white in the mid-1980s when Leggett, then head of the countys Human Relations Commission, launched his first council campaign. He did not use a photograph in his early campaign literature. After four terms on the council and a stint chairing the Maryland Democratic Party, he ran for county executive in 2006. Leggett said he regards as one of his proudest accomplishments keeping the county on a steady financial footing through recession and sequestration a program of automatic cuts to federal government spending. He also points to significant county investments in affordable housing and capital construction projects. Later this month, the county will open its new Public Safety Training Academy in Gaithersburg, new community recreation centers in Potomac and Sandy Spring, and a new fire station in Glenmont. A smart growth initiative encouraging development around mass transit in White Flint and Shady Grove will also leave a lasting impact, he said. [Leggett recounts his own police profiling incidents] Weve not gone around and bragged about this stuff, but go back and look at the record, he said. Major unfinished business includes finalizing an agreement with a private developer to create a life sciences town center adjacent to the campus of the Food and Drug Administration in White Oak and launching the first segment of the countys bus rapid-transit system. Leggetts legacy will also be defined by some setbacks. They include the Silver Spring Transit Center, which was years late and millions of dollars over budget because of design and construction problems. The county has taken contractors to court in an effort to recover extra costs. A group of Maryland lawmakers is vowing to abolish cash bail for poor defendants, and an opinion issued Tuesday by the state attorney generals office on the constitutionality of the policy may be the backing they need to do so. In an 11-page opinion, Sandra Benson Brantley, counsel to the General Assembly, wrote that the current system, which sets bails at amounts many defendants cant afford, could violate due process. If pretrial detention is not justified yet bail is set out of reach financially for the defendant, the opinion said, it is also likely the Court would declare that the bail is excessive under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the government from imposing excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishment. State lawmakers have argued that the current system, which leaves defendants in jail for months awaiting trial, is discriminatory and unfair. If the state was to do away with the cash bail system, Maryland would join a handful of other states, including Kentucky and New Jersey, that have enacted pretrial detention reform. Kentucky eliminated cash bail and replaced the system with one that focuses on risk assessments. Other jurisdictions have also done away with cash bail after lawsuits were filed. Several cities in Mississippi, including Jackson, stopped using cash bail in misdemeanor cases as part of a settlement. I think [the opinion] makes it very clear that our system of money bail is out of step, said Del. Kathleen M. Dumais (D-Montgomery), who sponsored a bill during the 2016 legislative session to implement reforms. Id like to see Maryland be a leader and that money bail is only used in extreme cases when there is a concern for public safety. . . . I think this opinion helps us turn the page. Dumais, Del. Erek L. Barron (D-Prince Georges), Del. Shelly L. Hettleman (D-Baltimore), Del. Marc A. Korman (D-Montgomery) and Del. Brooke E. Lierman (D-Baltimore) sent a joint letter to Attorney General Brian E. Frosh in August asking him to weigh in on whether setting bail, without considering whether a defendant could afford to pay, was a violation of the equal protection and due process clauses under the 14th Amendment. Dumais said pretrial reform should be the next step in the states efforts to improve criminal justice. Earlier this year, lawmakers passed a far-reaching criminal justice bill that eliminates mandatory-minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, increases penalties for several violent crimes and allows some nonviolent criminals to be released from prison earlier. [Md. lawmakers poised to eliminate mandatory minimums] We want a system that is fair, Barron said. Were talking about people who are presumed innocent. Several high-profile national cases have pushed the issue to the forefront. Among them was the detention of a teenager who was accused of smashing a car window during the Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore. The 18-year-old was detained on a $500,000 bail, which was higher than the bail set for the six officers charged in Grays death. Advocates also point to the case of Kalief Browder, who was imprisoned without conviction at age 16, accused of stealing a backpack. Browder spent three years at Rikers Island, much of it in solitary confinement. He committed suicide last year. In Maryland, 86 percent of felony defendants with bonds remain in jail waiting for their cases to be heard because they cant make bail. Nationally, about 47 percent of felony defendants remain jailed because they cant afford bail. Studies by the Pretrial Justice Institute have found that the cash bail system disproportionately affects African Americans and Hispanics. They also have found that defendants in jail waiting for trial are more likely to plead guilty, even if they are not guilty, to get released sooner. Its a very substantial problem, and its ripple effect is very significant, said Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project. Its money buying justice; money buying freedom. Mauer said those who can afford bail can return to work and build a good record. Those who spend their time in jail awaiting trial, Mauer said, lose their jobs, leaving a negative impression on judges. No judge is going to say it out loud, but its almost inevitable, Mauer said. They think: Its not much of a loss to the community if this person is sent to prison. Advocates have been pushing for bail reform in Maryland for years. Two panels the Task Force to Study the Laws and Policies Relating to Representation of Indigent Criminal Defendants and the Governors Commission to Reform Marylands Pretrial System have explored the issue, but neither resulted in abolishing cash bail. Marc Schindler, the executive director at the Justice Policy Institute, said Maryland has been behind the curve on bail reform in the region and across the nation. For two decades, judges in the District have released defendants without requiring them to leave any money behind. Those who are arrested have to promise to return to court and oftentimes agree to drug testing or to check in with a pretrial officer. In 2003, Virginia became the first state to test and implement a pretrial risk assessment tool. The state funds local pretrial services programs across the state. Last year in Maryland, the Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council had some spirited discussions about the challenges that poor defendants face under the current bail system and the impact their inability to pay bail can ultimately have on sentencing. Many of the members of the panel pushed for pretrial reform to be included in the panels recommendations to the General Assembly. But, in the end, other members of the council said changes to the bail system went beyond the scope of the panel and the issue was shelved. Schindler said pretrial reform should have been part of the landmark legislation, given its role in sentencing. What happens at the front end is a big driver of prison costs, he said. The Justice Policy Institute conducted a study in 2010 that found that Maryland, which operates the jails in Baltimore City, would save a significant amount of money under bail reform. According to the study, the state at the time estimated that it cost $100 a day to house a person in the Detention Center and $159 a day in Central Booking. Meanwhile, the institute estimated the cost of pretrial release services to be $2.50 per person per day. A Prince Georges County public high school teacher who taught foreign language at DuVal High School in Lanham was arrested on charges of second-degree assault and soliciting sex from a minor. (WUSA9) A Prince Georges County public high school teacher who taught foreign language at DuVal High School in Lanham was arrested on charges of second-degree assault and soliciting sex from a minor. (WUSA9) A Prince Georges County public high school teacher was arrested on charges of second-degree assault and soliciting sex from a minor. Doney Olivieri, 66, of Southeast Washington sexually assaulted one male student and exchanged inappropriate text messages with another, according to court charging papers. On Saturday, police interviewed a 16-year-old student who reported that his foreign-language teacher at DuVal High School in Lanham had not only sexually assaulted him but had also squeezed him on the chest and asked him for a kiss in the classroom in September, police said. Police said Olivieri asked another student in the class for the alleged victims number but the student provided his own number instead. Olivieri then began texting sexually explicit messages to the other student, believing he was communicating with the 16-year-old, police said. Police said they interviewed Olivieri, who they said acknowledged asking for sexual activities with a teen via text. Doney Olivieri, 66, of Southeast Washington is accused of sexually assaulting one male student at DuVal High School in Lanham, Md., and exchanging inappropriate text messages with another. (Prince George's County police) [For years, Pr. Georges didnt strengthen school sex-abuse policies] The school system said in a statement that it was aware of the teachers arrest and that he has been placed on administrative leave. Olivieri has been with Prince Georges County Public Schools since 2003, first working at Oxon Hill Middle School before joining DuVal in August 2004, according to a spokeswoman for the school system. Olivieri was arrested Monday, police said. He is scheduled for a court hearing in Prince Georges County on Nov. 7. [School system adopts new policies after sexual abuse case roils community] He was released on bail Tuesday, according to online court records. When reached at his home by phone, Olivieri told a reporter that he had no comment but did say that I didnt touch any student at all. Olivieri said he taught Spanish at DuVal and previously worked for the D.C. Public Schools. D.C. schools officials said they could not immediately verify Oliveris employment record. He previously worked for Howard University as an adjunct professor but has not been affiliated with the university for at least five years, according to officials at Howard. The arrest comes as the Prince Georges school system faces several child abuse and sex abuse investigations involving teachers, bus employees and a student volunteer in the county. More than 250 employees are on paid administrative leave on allegations of inappropriate conduct, abuse or neglect, according to the school system. In February, a former volunteer at Judge Sylvania W. Woods Elementary School was arrested on child pornography charges in a case that police say involves at least 23 victims as young as 9. Some of the alleged abuse occurred on school grounds and during the school day and other reported instances occurred at a local community center, a church and a swimming pool, police said. [Teacher pushed out of Head Start kept in school system for months] In August, the school system lost a $6.4 million grant funding the countys Head Start program after federal officials found the school district had failed to correct problems involving staff misconduct and child abuse. And this month, a school bus aide was arrested in the alleged sexual abuse of two special-needs students ages 4 and 5. Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report. An employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs stole his co-workers confidential information and shared it with a friend who used it to obtain a credit card and access a bank account ultimately making charges at a Diesel clothing store and with a plastic surgeon, authorities said. The allegation comes from an affidavit filed not against the employee but against his friend. Allise Jones is charged in Alexandria federal court with computer fraud. The VA employee, identified in court papers only as AW, has not yet been charged with a crime but is no longer working at the agency, according to the testimony in court Tuesday of Special Agent Lars Hansen of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. According to court documents, Jones also obtained the personal information of employees at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, commonly called Freddie Mac, and used it to attempt to withdraw money from those staff members bank accounts. It is unclear how she gained access to the information, which included names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and addresses. She was arrested in March 2014 in Hyattsville, Md., Hansen said, for attempting to withdraw money from the bank account of a Freddie Mac employee. On her phone, police said they found an image of a spreadsheet with the personal information of about 2,500 current and former Freddie Mac employees. Hansen later found that Jones had tried to withdraw funds from the account of another Freddie Mac employee a month earlier. When Joness home was searched in April 2014, authorities said they found emails showing the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers for about 117 VA employees. While Jones claimed not to know where the information had come from, she acknowledged knowing AW, and Hansen found that AW had access to those emails, the agent testified. Jones ran credit checks on at least 31 individuals on the two lists, authorities said. Hansen testified that Jones opened a credit card in the name of one VA employee and used it to spend thousands of dollars. Her purchases included $3,571 at a Diesel fashion-chain store in McLean, Va. She also appeared to have charged his bank for $12,500 owed to a Miami plastic surgeon. On her phone and in the surgeons files, Hansen said, authorities found a Maryland state license with her picture and the employees name. In August of this year, Jones was found guilty of theft in Harford County, Md. She also served 18 months in prison in 2010 after pleading guilty to theft in Howard County. Sign warns about city sewage where it enters the Potomac river at the Oronoco outfall. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) The city of Alexandria is working on a plan to address the millions of gallons of sewage that annually spill into the Potomac River at Oronoco Bay, Mayor Allison Silberberg said Tuesday, and will seek financial help from the state Legislature. This issue has been festering for 20 years, and it is this council that is moving forward, Silberberg (D) said in response to a Washington Post article about the issue. This is a huge undertaking, but its been a long time coming. The city, under orders from state and federal authorities, is beginning an expensive effort to capture and contain overflows in three locations where stormwater and sewage spill into Hunting Creek each time there is measurable rain. But the citys plan, which is awaiting approval from the state Department of Environmental Quality, does not include the biggest outfall of all, the one at the foot of Pendleton Street that dumps nearly half of all Old Towns sewage directly into the river. [Alexandia spews 11 million gallons of raw sewage into Potomac each year] Fixing the three discharge pipes now under state order will cost $125 million to $188 million, which would pay for building a 1.6 million-gallon storage tunnel and a 3 million-gallon holding tank. Those facilities would capture the overflow during rainstorms and later send it to the citys treatment plant. Adding another tunnel and tank for Old Town North could cost $70 million to $100 million, officials say. Silberberg said she and other city officials spent one-third of a recent two-hour meeting with the local legislative delegation discussing how to get state money to help fix the problem. State Sen. Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax) and State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) said they agreed to pursue funding comparable to what Lynchburg and Richmond received for similar projects. What were trying to do is figure out what that [money] is, Saslaw said, adding that a request would not be made for the current biennial budget but possibly for the next one. Its something we need to do, he said. Ebbin said its not just a question of money, but how the project would be done. Putting in an additional tunnel and holding tank would require digging up the streets of Old Town North for years, he said, and there may be other ways to solve the problem. We all share the goal of having the General Assembly contribute to solving the problem, as they have with Lynchburg and Richmond, Ebbin said. LuAnn Bennett (D), left, and Rep. Barbara Comstock (R), shake hands after their first debate in the race for Virginias 10th Congressional District on Thursday in Lansdowne, Va. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) A sweetheart deal, broken promises, tax breaks the accusations against Democrat LuAnn Bennett in recent television ads sound like they could be pulled from an ad attacking GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. But Bennett, a real estate developer challenging Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), says the claims are false and she is considering fighting back in court. The ad in question was funded by the National Republican Congressional Committee and aired in the metropolitan D.C. market that includes Comstocks hotly contested Northern Virginia congressional district. It argues that Bennett backed out of a deal to build a preschool on land her company developed in the Districts rapidly gentrifying NoMa neighborhood. Lawyers for Bennett say she fulfilled all her obligations and the ad is false, misleading and deceptive. The NRCC said it stands by the ad, which ended its week-long run on broadcast television on Monday but continues to appear on cable television and radio. It spent $842,559 to air the ads to date. Comstock campaign manager Susan Falconer said the campaign was unaware of the content of the ad before it aired because it is an independent expenditure. The ad, titled Parking Lot, claims Bennett promised the District that she would build a day-care center on vacant land at 77 H St. NW but instead created a parking lot. LuAnn Bennett. She makes government work . . . for her, the ad says. In 1990, Bennetts company signed a 99-year lease with the city to develop the District-owned lot at New Jersey and H streets. As part of the deal, the Bennett Group agreed to build a preschool there. The Bennett Group assumed only a federal agency would locate in what was then a less-desirable part of the city, the campaign said. As the company sought such a tenant, it made a side deal with the nearby U.S. Government Printing Office to allow employees to park on the property. After years of trying unsuccessfully to develop the site for various federal agencies, the company renegotiated terms of the lease, including a provision that required it to give $1 million to an educational foundation instead of building the day-care center. The company wanted to drop the day-care facility because after the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, when 15 children died in an attached day-care center, it became less desirable to locate day-care facilities alongside federal agencies. Eventually, Bennett scrapped the federal agency concept and built 300 apartments and a Walmart on the site. In addition to the $1 million donation, the company was required by the city to give about $9 million to other community groups, the campaign said. Its one of the things Im most proud of, she said. We were really able to develop this in a way that benefits D.C., the community and our partners. Its exactly what we need to do more of in government. The National Republican Congressional Committee said it stands by the ad and did not pull it early; it said it had always planned to stop airing it on Monday. LuAnn Bennett gave her word to the District of Columbia Zoning Commission that she would build a preschool at this site, said NRCC spokesman Chris Pack. The preschool LuAnn Bennett said she would build does not exist because LuAnn Bennett broke her promise to build it. The flap is the latest twist in a race overshadowed by the presidential contest. In another year, Comstock might sail to victory in Virginias 10th District, which was drawn for a Republican to include Loudoun County and choice sections of Fairfax and Prince William counties as well as conservative rural counties bordering West Virginia. Instead, the 10th District is very much in play. Bennetts campaign has tried to link Comstock to Trump, emphasizing that they both oppose abortion and equal pay for women. Bennett has been trying to woo independents, women and immigrants in the district and are cool to Trumps comments about women, his proposal to build a wall along the Mexican border and his threat to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Comstock had neither repudiated nor endorsed Trump until Friday, when a 2005 video surfaced in which Trump bragged in lewd terms about using his celebrity to kiss and grope women without consequence. That was when the congresswoman became one of the first GOP lawmakers to urge Trump to drop out of the race, calling his behavior obscene and unbecoming of anybody seeking high office. Political experts say the move shows Comstock feared losing independent voters turned off by Trump more than she risked alienating die-hard Trump fans. She wont lose many of her core GOP voters by dumping Trump, but she will earn respect for her stand from many independent voters the people who will decide the outcome of this race, said Mark J. Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. Comstock is relying on voters to support her even if they are opposed to Trump. Mitch Sproul, a self-described fiscal conservative from Loudoun, was a reluctant Trump supporter who is now considering writing in a different candidate altogether. The 61-year-old finance executive said he was delighted by Comstocks response to the video, which he said did not disturb him as much as Trumps non-apology apology did. Good for her, he said. No ifs, ands or buts Im sticking with Comstock. But Chalet Jean-Baptiste, a 36-year-old Democrat and teacher at Northern Virginia Community College, views Comstocks statement as an insincere play for votes. If Comstock were truly offended by the Trump video, she should have been disturbed by any number of other insults Trump has lobbed throughout the campaign, Jean-Baptiste said. Yes, this is disgusting, she said, referring to the video released last week. But what he did previously was disgusting as well. [Trump is lightning rod in debate between candidates in Northern Virginia race] BILLINGS -- Forget red districts and blue districts when looking for an election-year slugfest. The color where the actions at is a very deep, and in Montana extremely rare, purple. This district is in play because its solidly purple, said Jessica Karjala, a Billings Democrat who flipped a Republican House district two years ago and now has a GOP challenger breathing down her neck. Its composed of two really different precincts. The one-term incumbent told The Billings Gazette that she hasnt felt comfortable enough to stop knocking on doors. Karjalas challenger, Republican Robert Saunders, said hell spend about eight hours a day from now to Nov. 8, trying to convince constituents that hes their guy. The grittiest of battleground districts, identified by campaign workers from both parties are few in number and similar in characteristics. Theyre spread across large communities like Billings and Missoula, as well as smaller ones, like Livingston. They have battle scars from previous elections. Karjalas House District 48 was half of a Senate District that in 2010 set the state record for money spent in a legislative race, more than $100,000, and ended with a Democratic challenger narrowly defeating an incumbent Republican. The seat was held by Republican Dennis Lenz two years ago, who had more campaign cash than Karjala, but was out-hustled. This years HD48 race has been a battle. Last month, Saunderss attorney wrote Karjala a warning letter accusing her of attempting to damage his reputation by suggesting he believes only rich people should vote. The allegation was based on an online survey response Saunders filled out. Saunders told The Gazette that Karjala is misinterpreting what he wrote. Likewise, Karjala is accusing Saunders of misrepresenting her record by telling constituents she voted to give herself a pay raise, which she didnt. Between them, the HD48 candidates have $40,000 to spend on the race. In Missoula, Adam Hertz has raised $21,000 in his challenge of incumbent Andrew Person in House District 96. The district, which Republicans say is one of their top races, includes the northwest corner of the city and a rapidly growing portion of the county. Person, a native Helenan and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, won this area with a three-figure cushion two years ago. But Republicans also did well in the region. The Democratic incumbent understands why Republicans like the race. He has raised about $10,000 for his campaign. I think when I won the race in 2014, a lot of people were scratching their heads about how I won it, Person said. If you look at the statewides, Ryan Zinke won here by a substantial margin. It looks like theres a lot of cross-party voting. Hertz knows the margins. He said Person won the district by less than 200 votes. Zinke carried the district by about 400 votes. There had to be crossover, which is one reason the real estate agent is excited. Hertz also has a political victory on this turf. In 2011, he was elected to the Missoula City Council as a Republican, which isnt exactly like winning the Powerball, but it isnt easy. Hertz won by 5 votes in a recount. Because he did well in the city portion of HD96, Hertz likes his odds. Its certainly a district that has a lot of swing voters, said Hertz, who thinks rural voters will lean Republican, improving his prospects. I expect that it will be within 100 votes or less, but I like that better than five votes. Livingston could have the toughest race of all. Republican incumbent Debra Lamm is being challenged in House District 60 by Laurie Bishop, a 20-year resident of Livingston. But the real purple hue in HD60, which runs from Livingston west to the Gallatin County line, comes from a bruising political history of upsets. Since 2007, the district has swung back and forth between the parties four times. There's about $24,000 between the two candidates. "Deb Lamm, that is a race we think we can pick up handily this year," said Amanda Frickle, who works on legislative races for the Montana Democrats. "Laurie has lived there for 20 years. She's a Main Street business woman. She's working to assure that high schoolers graduate." Before the first drops of rain from Hurricane Matthew hit Florida, American politicians were already politicizing the storm. Here's how. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Before the first drops of rain from Hurricane Matthew hit Florida, American politicians were already politicizing the storm. Here's how. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, residents still struggling to return to their homes and assess the damage are facing another challenge: registering to vote before its too late. Nowhere is the issue more acute than in Florida, where a fight to extend that deadline has turned bitterly partisan and litigious. Some 1.5 million Floridians were placed under evacuation last week as the Category 4 hurricane bore down on the states coast, closing down county and state government services. After Gov. Rick Scott (R) refused to extend Tuesdays deadline to register, a federal judge ruled against him, extending it at least until Wednesday and rebuking Scotts decision as irrational, nonsensical and poppycock. These voters have already had their lives (and, quite possibly, their homes) turned up-side down by Hurricane Matthew, U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker wrote. They deserve a break, especially one that is mandated by the United States Constitution. [How big storms can affect big elections] Even as he was pleading desperately for people to flee Matthew, Scott steadfastly refused to extend the voter registration deadline. On Sunday, the Florida Democratic Party filed a lawsuit asking the federal courts to intervene before the deadline passed. Leaders in other states hard hit by the storm have taken steps to minimize the effect on voting. In South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has extended the states registration deadline to allow paperwork to be postmarked by Tuesday. And in Georgia, voters can register electronically, an option not available to Florida residents. In North Carolina, where saturated rivers are forcing thousands from their homes, newly restored rules that were nearly taken away by Republicans will allow voters who miss the deadline to register during early voting. But with many of that states eastern counties struggling with still-rising floodwaters, it remains unclear what effect the storm could have on polling places and displaced residents. The North Carolina State Board of Elections said Monday it was still trying to assess possible damage and effects. [Thousands plucked from rising floodwaters in North Carolina] In 2012, when Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey in the week before the presidential election, it hindered voters. According to a study by Robert M. Stein of Rice University, voter turnout decreased by 2.8 percent in affected counties, and there were also fewer polling places available. Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) walks over debris as he visits a damaged beach in St. Augustine. He had refused to extend Tuesdays deadline to register to vote. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images) In the crucial swing state of Florida, where polls have shown Democrat Hillary Clinton slightly ahead of Republican Donald Trump but within the margin of error, voting rights activists, legal experts and Democrats have accused Scott of taking political advantage of the storm to prevent residents still reeling from the hurricane from voting. You shouldnt have to choose between your physical safety and your right to vote, said Myrna Perez, deputy director of the Brennan Centers Democracy Program. Its something you would think would have bipartisan support. Scott, chairman of the super PAC supporting Trumps presidential campaign, explained his decision last week before the hurricane hit, saying, Everybody has had a lot of time to register. On top of that, weve got lots of opportunities to vote: early voting, absentee voting and Election Day. So, I dont intend to make any changes. When pressed by reporters, Scott said, Look, this is, this is politics. At stake are a sizeable number of potential votes. In the 2012 election, during the last five days before the deadline, 104,351 Floridians registered to vote, said Daniel Smith, a University of Florida political scientist. The number increases as you get closer to the deadline, he said. People procrastinate. They wait until the last minute to register. Of those last-minute registerations in 2012, 40 percent were Democrats compared with 21 percent Republicans. And a disproportionate number were minorities, he said. But Smith and others point out other factors that make it less clear if Republicans would gain any substantial advantage by refusing to extend the registration deadline. Of those who registered at the last minute in 2012, Republicans were more likely than Democrats to cast a ballot afterward. Others point out that many of the Florida counties hit hardest by Hurricane Matthew lean Republicans. Thats why I find the whole thing so surprising, said Perez. Im not hearing a good defense for why he doesnt do this. In their lawsuit on Sunday, Floridas Democrats pointed out how aggressively Scott appealed to voters to evacuate, telling them, This storm will kill you. Time is running out. But on the same day he made those appeals, Scott announced that the registration deadline would not be extended. Leading up to the hurricanes arrival, voting activists noted, post offices and county offices were closed. Many residents either evacuated or holed up in their homes. And in its wake, roads have been flooded and many residents have lost power. Scotts staff did not answer questions emailed to his office, but pointed to voting legislation signed by Scott and recent statements in which he said he wanted 100 percent participation. Scott spokeswoman Lauren Schenone said that at an event Monday, the governor discussed that it is very important people have the opportunity to vote. He also mentioned that people still have time to register and should do so over the next few days. Exacerbating the situation is that unlike other states, Florida does not offer same-day registration. Nor does it offer online registration. In their lawsuit, the Democrats raised constitutional objections as well as claims that Scotts actions violate the Voting Rights Act because they could disporportionately affect minorities. In his order Monday granting a temporary extension, the judge said there is no reason Florida could not extend its deadline when other states have done the same. If aspiring eligible Florida voters are barred from registering to vote, then those voters are stripped of one of our most precious freedoms, Walker said. ARIZONA U.S. to prosecute Maricopa sheriff The Justice Department will pursue a criminal contempt-of-court case against Joe Arpaio, the firebrand Arizona sheriff who a federal judge has said willfully defied his orders to stop detaining suspected undocumented immigrants without legal basis. At a hearing in federal district court Tuesday, prosecutors with the Justice Departments Public Integrity Section told a judge that they intend to proceed to trial against the Maricopa County sheriff on criminal charges, a department spokesman said. The judge ordered them to file the appropriate paperwork by Wednesday and set a trial date of Dec. 6, the spokesman said. Mel McDonald, Arpaios attorney, said that Arpaio vehemently denies that he was ever knowingly and willfully contemptuous of any court order and that he intends to fight the allegations. The development thrusts Arpaio, a prominent Donald Trump supporter, back into the public eye as the presidential election approaches. He was ordered years ago to stop enforcing federal immigration law by detaining people who are believed to be in the country illegally but who are not charged with violating state law. In August, U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow ruled that Arpaio was violating the courts order and that he should be referred to another judge for criminal contempt proceedings. The hearing Tuesday marked the first time the Justice Department had announced that it would go forward with the case. Matt Zapotosky OKLAHOMA Man killed by police had PCP in system An unarmed Oklahoma man shot dead by a police officer after his car broke down on a city street last month had the hallucinogenic drug PCP in his system when he died, a medical examiner said Tuesday. Terence Crutcher, 40, had acute phencyclidine intoxication when he died Sept. 16. Officer Betty Jo Shelby was charged with first-degree manslaughter after his death, with a prosecutor saying she reacted unreasonably when Crutcher disobeyed her commands. Medical literature says PCP, also known as angel dust, can induce euphoria and feelings of omnipotence and can lead to combativeness-agitation, mania and depression. Video from the incident shows Crutcher walking away from Shelby and other officers as they confronted him in fading light on a north Tulsa street. Shelbys attorney, Scott Wood, said Shelby was so focused on Crutcher that she did not hear other officers near her before she fired her service weapon. Almost simultaneously, another officer fired a stun gun at Crutcher as he moved toward his SUV. Shelby, 42, has pleaded not guilty. She faces between four years to life in prison if convicted. Associated Press RUSSIA Putin cancels visit to France over Syria row Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday canceled a visit to Paris after the French leader called the recent bombings of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo a war crime and questioned publicly whether it made sense to meet with Putin at all. The decision to call off next weeks trip underscores the increasing divides between the West and Russia over Moscows military aid to Syrias government in the countrys conflict. French officials have said that they want the International Criminal Courts prosecutor to open a war crimes investigation of Russia and Syrias airstrikes in Aleppo, which have become a byword for the grave humanitarian crisis unleashed by the five-year-long civil war. Russia says it is targeting only terrorists in Aleppo and has accused the West of using terrorist groups to engineer the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a key Russian ally. The attacks on Aleppo expanded sharply late last month after the collapse of a cease-fire plan brokered by Russia and the United States. The cancellation of the visit is the latest diplomatic breakdown between Russia and the West over Syria. The United States last week halted diplomatic talks with Russia because of the Aleppo bombing campaign. Russia on Saturday blocked a French-sponsored U.N. Security Council resolution that would have imposed a no-fly zone in Syria. A Russian counterproposal, which would not have halted airstrikes in Aleppo, also was vetoed. Andrew Roth SOUTH AFRICA Finance minister faces fraud charge South Africas finance minister faces a fraud charge and must appear in court on Nov. 2, the countrys top prosecutor said Tuesday, deepening concern about the weak economy and rifts within the government of President Jacob Zuma. South Africas currency, the rand, dropped more than 3 percent after the move against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who has been widely praised for his stewardship of the economy and is scheduled to give a budget speech on Oct. 26. The Democratic Alliance, South Africas main opposition party, described the move to prosecute Gordhan as a disaster for the economy. The Finance Ministry also criticized the legal proceeding, saying that it will damage the economic well-being of South Africans and essential processes of government and that the case is contaminated by abuse for political ends. Shaun Abrahams, head of the National Prosecuting Authority, said the plan to prosecute Gordhan was not politically motivated, but there have been allegations that government factions close to Zuma want to wrest control of the national treasury from the independent-minded finance minister. Abrahams said Gordhan will be prosecuted for illegally approving an early-retirement package for a former tax official who then continued to work. He also said that a police probe continues into an allegedly unauthorized unit of investigators set up years ago at the countrys tax agency at a time when Gordhan led it. Associated Press Israel demolishes home of Palestinian attack accomplice: The Israeli military demolished the family home of a Palestinian convicted of being an accomplice to a deadly attack on Israelis last year, while security was stepped up for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Judaisms holiest day. The military said the accomplice, Amjad Elewi, assisted in the planning and execution of a shooting attack that killed two Israelis in the West Bank. He is serving two life sentences plus 30 years for his role in the attack. The military said it sealed the crossings in and out of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a security precaution for Yom Kippur. Airstrikes in Aleppo, shelling in southern Syria kill 20: Airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 14 people, while the shelling of a government-held neighborhood in the south hit a school, killing at least six, opposition activists and state media said. Syrias official news agency also reported rare shelling of neighborhoods in the capital, Damascus, including mortar shells fired by opposition groups that landed in the Qasaa district and close to the Umayyad Mosque, wounding an unspecified number of people. From news services POLITICIANS LIE all the time, it is sometimes said. Never before has an American politician come as close as Donald Trump has to making the saying literally true. Despite what you may have heard at Sunday nights presidential debate . . . Syrian refugees are vetted before they enter the country. Americans are taxed at lower rates than the citizens of many other developed countries. Mr. Trump publicly backed the Iraq War before the invasion. His claims otherwise have been repeatedly debunked. The Fact Checkers Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee round up suspect claims from Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. (The Washington Post) The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has not endorsed Mr. Trump. The countrys nuclear arsenal is not exhausted. The U.S. economy is growing at faster than 1 percent per year. There has been hacking of U.S. email accounts this election year. The U.S. intelligence community has blamed the Russian government. Mr. Trump did urge his Twitter followers to check out an alleged sex tape involving former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. Hillary Clinton is not responsible for the racist birther campaign Mr. Trump waged against President Obama. She did not laugh at a rape victim. Clean coal is a contradiction in terms. The trade deficit was not $800 billion last year. Ms. Clinton has not proposed admitting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. She does not favor a single-payer health-care plan. Most health-care premiums are not spiking by 68 percent, 59 percent, 71 percent. The Islamic State does not control a good chunk of Libyas oil. The North American Free Trade Agreement was not a disaster for jobs. Ms. Clinton did not order the deletion of State Department emails after they were under subpoena. U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens did not make 600 calls for help before dying in the September 2012 Benghazi attacks. The United States is not giving Iran $150 billion as part of the nuclear deal. There is no evidence many people saw the bombs all over the apartment of the San Bernardino, Calif., shooters. Most African Americans do not live in bombed-out inner cities. Earlier this year, Politico subjected a weeks worth of Trump campaigning to its magazines fact-checking procedure and found that Mr. Trump averaged about one misstatement every five minutes. By our reckoning, he far exceeded that pace Sunday night. Last week we published a series of editorials on the damage Mr. Trump could do if he were president. But no one should minimize the damage he has already done. One casualty is the old-fashioned idea that, whatever the cynical proverb, politicians should not routinely lie. ETHIOPIAS RULERS have redoubled a repressive policy that is failing. Instead of looking for ways to alleviate the pent-up frustrations of the ethnic Oromo and Amhara populations that spilled out in demonstrations over the past 11 months, Ethiopias authorities on Sunday announced a six-month state of emergency, allowing the deployment of troops and bans on demonstrations. Already, rights have been severely restricted; the state of emergency will bottle up the pressures even more, increasing the likelihood they will explode anew. The latest confrontation was tragic and emblematic of the governments wrongheaded use of force. On Oct. 2, in Bishoftu, a town 25 miles southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, an enormous crowd gathered to celebrate Irreecha, an important festival that marks the end of the rainy season and onset of the harvest. Since last November, protests have been rising among Ethiopias approximately 40 million ethnic Oromos, fueled by anger over plans for reallocating their land, political disenfranchisement and detention of opposition activists. Anti-government chants began at the festival, and security forces responded with tear gas. In previous protests, tear gas has foreshadowed live ammunition. When the tear gas in Bishoftu was followed by the sound of gunshots, panic ensued. Many people were killed when they fell into deep trenches and drowned or were trampled. In August, at least 90 protesters were shot and killed by Ethiopian security forces in the regions of Oromia and Amhara. All told, according to Human Rights Watch, Ethiopian security forces have killed more than 500 people during protests during the past year. In announcing the state of emergency, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn blamed anti-peace forces and foreign enemies whom he claimed are trying to destabilize Ethiopia. But attempts to point to foes abroad masks the truth that unrest is being fueled by a deep sense of anger at home. The ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front, the target of the rage, would do better to confront the root causes than to answer with bullets and tear gas. The violence threatens to shake foreign investment that has been a pillar of Ethiopias development agenda. In recent days, businesses owned by foreigners have been attacked; Africa Juice, a Dutch-owned firm, was set alight last week by a crowd of hundreds in Oromia. Ethiopias human rights abuses and political repression must be addressed frontally by the United States and Europe, no longer shunted to the back burner because of cooperation fighting terrorism. With the state of emergency, Ethiopias leaders are borrowing a brutal and counterproductive tactic from dictators the world over who have tried to put a cork in genuine popular dissent. It wont work. The Post reported that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps charitable foundation failed to register to solicit funds in New York [Trumps foundation may lack N.Y. status, front page, Sept. 30]. Regardless of what one thinks of Mr. Trump, I am not clear how it is constitutional for a state to require someone to obtain a license as a prerequisite to the exercise of free speech, i.e., soliciting funds through oral or written means. The Supreme Court has struck down similar charitable-solicitation licensing requirements over the past several decades. Constitutional concerns aside, what rational purpose is being served from the registration requirement? What evidence is there of public harm being caused from charitable solicitations, and how is it being solved by requiring someone to fill out a registration form and pay a fee? If the concern relates to tax evasion, as suggested in the article, or some other type of fraud, that can be more effectively addressed through the normal means by which a state enforces its tax laws or otherwise prosecutes fraud. Individuals intending to commit fraud through charitable solicitations are unlikely to reveal such motives in registration forms. At least the registration fee is only $25 in New York. The District, however, charges $412.50 for a two-year charitable-solicitation license for nonprofits, which are supposed to be exempt from taxation, raising as little as $1,500 per year. Matt Forman, Washington MISSOULA -- Questions of judicial ethics and fairness, along with the influences of campaign spending on courts, dominated the discussion at a Montana Supreme Court election forum in Missoula on Monday night. Although only one seat on the ballot is contested, all four candidates appeared at the University of Montana School of Law to speak to a few dozen people, primarily students. Chief Justice Mike McGrath and Justice Jim Shea are unopposed but appear on the ballot for retention votes. Longtime Cascade County District Judge Dirk Sandefur and former adjunct professor of law Kristen Juras are competing for an eight-year term on the court after Patricia Cotter announced she would not be seeking re-election. Shea, a former judge for the states Workers Compensation Court who was appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock to fill a vacant seat, opened the forum by calling for increased public interest in judicial elections. He noted that in 2014, when two seats were contested, 40,000 Montanans who cast a ballot just skipped the Supreme Court races. Its like the third largest city in Montana just staying home, he said. We are the third co-equal branch of government in this state and there are only seven of us on the Supreme Court. These are important races. The seven-member court rules on hundreds of civil and criminal appeals that originate primarily in state district courts. The court also has jurisdiction over appeals from the Montana Water Court and the Montana Workers Compensation Court, among other limited duties. The court is the final arbiter on numerous important state issues, including criminal convictions, civil suits and the constitutionality of state law. From wills to water rights, most cases draw little public attention but nonetheless are important to the individuals involved. A handful, however, are high profile, such as recent rulings to uphold 2011 legislative reforms to limit the sale of medical marijuana, to require online travel companies to collect state lodging taxes from customers and to strike down a 2012 law approved by voters to require employees offering state services to inquire about the residency status of clients. Shea and McGrath spoke frequently about how the public and Legislature misunderstands the role of the court. Were the only ones who dont make decisions with an eye toward making everybody happy, Shea said, echoing a similar remark by McGrath that the ability to make impartial decisions, regardless of personal beliefs or public reaction, is critical for a strong government. To quote Justice Roberts, the job of a judge is to call balls and strikes. We dont get to change the strike zone because the Mariners are one game back to the wild card. McGrath agreed. Our job is to be a backstop, to ensure the Constitution is enforced and enforced evenly, no matter what youre accused of, he said. But the spike in spending on judicial campaigns has heightened public concerns over whether the justices who are elected can do that. More than $1.1 million has been raised by Juras, Sandefur and organizations supporting their campaigns, according to state campaign finance records. The Republican State Leadership Committees Judicial Fairness Initiative, a DC-based political group funded primarily by large corporations, has bought ads to attack Sandefur, while various political action committees of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association have lined up to oppose Juras in what could be another record-setting fundraising year. We have out-of-state corporate money being dumped into Montana by the Koch brothers and major companies not in Montana, who dont give a hoot, Sandefur said. Dont give a hoot about crime victims. Dont give a hoot about criminal justice." McGrath called it unfortunate that the states strict rules on campaign contributions and disclosure were largely erased by the Supreme Court of the United States Citizens United ruling, leading to unlimited and often undisclosed independent expenditures in campaigns. He argued in an opinion that the nation's top court ultimately struck down that the ruling, which had focused on federal elections, did not consider the influence of big money on state-level judicial races. Federal judges are appointed. Its easy to cherry-pick somebodys record, like they did Dirk (Sandefur)s, and distort what they did in that particular case, McGrath said, referencing advertisements paid for by the Republican State Leadership Committee, a national nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors except sometimes in tax filings months after Election Day. We dont know who those people are or what the source of their money is. Sandefur suggested that spending was intended to buy the goodwill of his opponent. "Theyre doing it because they think she will best suit their needs do their bidding on our court," he said. Juras defended her impartiality, saying the rule of law must prevail when making decisions, and tossed the accusation right back at Sandefur. Id just as soon not have any independent expenditures in the race. Frankly, we have no control over it, she said. Through a PAC, a single law firm can donate hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those same attorneys appear before the Montana Supreme Court. I do think that causes concern. Sandefur called the comparison false equivalency because the trial lawyers, unlike the GOP group and its corporate donors, actually live and work in Montana. The opponents also contrasted their credentials for the Montana Supreme Court. I have relevant experience, she doesnt, Sandefur said, noting that he has spent the last 14 years as district judge deciding the kinds of cases that end up before the states top court. Juras disagreed. With all due respect, both Judge Sandefur and I have relevant experience. We have different experiences, she said. To suggest that representing farmers and ranchers in their daily issues, to suggest that water rights background, easement disputes, contract disputes, quiet title actions, is not relevant experience is wrong, and I think small businesses would also agree. At the forum, the candidates broadly agreed on one issue: That many Montanans lack access to civil courts and often cannot afford legal representation. "The biggest problem we have in the court system is all people don't have access and there are a lot of reasons for that," McGrath said, celebrating the expansion of legal aid programs and shifted procedure rules that have helped in recent years. "It's a right," Shea said, arguing that legislative funding and cooperation was ultimately needed. "The problem with that is when you do have people who can't (access) or navigate the court system, it becomes more of an illusion." Marilyn Cheng and Out Xanamane get married in a courthouse ceremony in Montgomery, Ala. (Courtesy of the Xanamane family) For an illustration of how cruel the countrys latest wave of nativism has grown, look to Louisiana. Here, a little-noticed new state law has effectively made it illegal for thousands of refugees to get married. It all started last year. Having lost the fight over gay marriage, the states religious right decided that the sacred institution of wedlock was once again under attack this time, by devious immigrants. Undocumented workers and even terrorists had newly discovered they could exploit Louisianas marriage laws to gain citizenship, legislators claimed, leading to a supposed epidemic of marriage fraud. The response? Make it more difficult for immigrants to get married, of course. So, as of this year, any foreign-born person wanting to get married in Louisiana must produce both an unexpired visa (even though a federal court has ruled that marriage licenses cannot be denied based on immigration status), as well as, somewhat inexplicably, a birth certificate. No birth certificate, no marriage, no excuses. [Robert Kagan: The cowardly GOP has engineered its own suicide] The law has indeed placed marriage off-limits to immigrants in the country illegally, as intended. But its hurt plenty of legal immigrants, too. Louisiana is home to thousands of refugees, predominantly Vietnamese and Laotians who received asylum in the 1970s and 1980s after fleeing war and communism in their homelands. Today these Louisianans often have green cards and even U.S. citizenship, but no access to their original birth documents, if such documents even exist. The law received little attention when it went into effect in January. Which means people such as Out Xanamane often learn about it only when they get turned away at the courthouse. Xanamane was born in a village near Savannakhet, Laos, in 1975, the year the country fell to communism. Born at home, he never received a birth certificate. He remembers little of his early childhood, except that there were bombs and land mines everywhere. In the decade before his birth, the U.S. military dropped 2 million tons of explosives on the tiny nation, making the country one of the most heavily bombed per capita in history. Xanamanes family arrived in Louisiana in 1986, after spending time in refugee camps in Thailand and the Philippines. He has lived in the United States ever since and is now a U.S. permanent resident in the process of applying for citizenship. It wasnt until he got sick this summer that his lack of birth certificate was ever an issue. In July, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, the same illness that claimed his brothers life two years ago. The diagnosis meant a lot of changes for his family, the most pressing of which was he really, really needed the state to recognize his marriage. [Scandal! Wikileaks reveals Hillary Clinton to be . . . reasonable.] Xanamane and his significant other, U.S.-born citizen Marilyn Cheng, were married in a Buddhist temple in 1997. But like many in the local Laotian community, they never sought an official marriage license, and never felt they needed to. They have called each other husband and wife for two decades, have four children and assumed they probably had a common-law marriage at the very least. They didnt; Louisiana doesnt recognize common-law marriage. The couple discovered this when Chengs employer, under whose health-insurance plan Xanamane was covered for the past two years, abruptly asked for a copy of their marriage license after bills for his cancer treatments came in. Suddenly all the marriage-related legal protections theyd taken for granted health coverage, hospital visitation rights, Social Security survivor benefits vanished. Within days they went to the courthouse, armed with Xanamanes green card, refugee documents and drivers license. Twice they were turned away. They told me I have to go back to Laos and get my birth certificate, said Xanamane, who has never returned to his country of birth. But there isnt any birth certificate there, either. They contacted friends, family, lawyers, public officials, judges, other parishes in the state. No one could help. Out of options, and with Xanamanes access to medical care hanging in the balance, the couple opted for a last-minute destination wedding in a more enlightened state: Alabama. They packed their kids and Xanamanes sister into the car and drove seven hours to Montgomery, a jurisdiction that happily took appointments for courthouse marriage ceremonies and accepted green cards as proof of identity. On Aug. 8, 2016 the 19th anniversary of their Buddhist marriage ceremony Xanamane and Cheng were legally declared husband and wife. Then they turned around and drove seven hours home. Its not clear whether the champions of the Louisiana law intended to make marriage less accessible to people like Xanamane, or if theyre merely indifferent to an unintended consequence of their anti-immigrant reflexes. The organization that legislators told me lobbied for the bill, the Louisiana Family Forum, did not return my calls; the state representative who introduced the law, Valarie Hodges, declined an interview request. All we know is that both claim to be a voice for traditional families a category that, in 2016, apparently no longer includes immigrants. Regarding the Oct. 9 editorial Another rotten prison in Maryland: I agree that the problem is systemic and not being solved. Hiring procedures should be toughened. The state should be able to hold its correctional officers accountable. The true problem in Maryland, as in many other states, is the lack of transparency about what goes on behind prison walls. Last year, the legislature finally mandated the department of corrections to report annually on how many prisoners are being held in isolation, what their average length of stay is, how many mentally ill are held in isolation and a number of other categories. This is a small step forward to make prisons more transparent. However, the indictments on the Eastern Shore indicate that much more needs to be done. Secrecy breeds corruption and brutality. Maryland needs to set up an independent prison review board that can enter prisons without prior announcement. The Corrections Information Council in the District performs that function by reviewing federal prisons that house D.C. residents. Such reviews in Maryland would provide more accountability for the public. The state spends more than $1 billion annually on its system of criminal justice. We should know how that money is spent. We should be able to hold prison authorities accountable. Charles Feinberg, Washington BEFORE NATIONAL board members of the NAACP gather in Cincinnati to decide whether to ratify a call for a moratorium on charter schools, they might want to do a little homework. We would suggest a field trip to the District, where they would see how a thriving community of charter schools has reshaped education by providing a diverse array of educational programs. That the beneficiaries of this rich choice are, in large part, children of color hopefully is not lost on an organization that is supposed to be looking out for the interests of minority people. The some-60 members of the board are set to vote Oct. 15 on a resolution passed in July at the NAACPs national convention that roundly criticized charter schools and called for a nationwide moratorium on their growth. Among the alleged sins: draining needed resources from traditional public schools and fueling segregation. The resolution even went so far as to liken educators in the charter movement to predatory subprime-mortgage lenders that put low-income communities at risk. Who exactly the NAACP, the nations oldest civil rights organization, thinks it is speaking for immediately came into question as witnessed by the reaction of black leaders across the country who have been involved with and know a little something about charter schools. More than 160 of them sent a letter last month to the NAACP board saying the criticisms were based on cherry-picked and debunked claims. In truth, the leaders wrote in the Sept. 21 letter, charter schools generally receive less per-pupil funding than traditional public schools and often no resources for school and classroom facilities, but despite such hurdles are helping students achieve at higher levels than traditional district schools. If the NAACP were to get its misguided wish for a moratorium, the people who would suffer lost opportunities would be African American students, many from low-income and working-class families. To appreciate the importance of those educational opportunities, one need only look at the array of innovative programs that have developed in the District in the 20 years since charter schools were made possible. There is a two-generation program that educates adults and their prekindergarten-age children, a boarding school for students in foster care, an immersion high school offering three languages and an all-girls school. Set to open next year is a school focused on disconnected youths, 14- to 21-year-olds who are not working, not in school or at risk of dropping out. Instead of calling for limits, the NAACP should be pushing for new possibilities for students with unmet needs. Cheering the call for a moratorium and a similar resolution approved by the Movement for Black Lives are the teachers unions that have waged a fierce battle against charters and that have provided financial support for NAACP activities. It will be interesting to see if the NAACP acts in those interests or in the interests of the nearly 700,000 black families who send their children to public charter schools, and the tens of thousands more who are on waiting lists. On Jan. 31, Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, smiles as he listens to Donald Trump at a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (Jae C. Hong/Associated Press) The late Jerry Falwell, leader of the Moral Majority and founder of Liberty University, built the religious right into a major political force. His son Jerry Jr. is well on his way to destroying it. Falwell fils, now Libertys president, was among the first and most prominent evangelical Christian leaders to embrace thrice-married, foul-mouthed casino mogul Donald Trump, declaring in January that Trump had lived his life in the spirit of Jesus. This endorsement validated Trumps character for millions of evangelicals, helping to propel Trump to the Republican nomination. Falwell continued to campaign for Trump, spoke at the Republican convention and likened Trump to Winston Churchill in an August op-ed in The Post. Now the Access Hollywood video, in which Trump boasts in vulgar terms about sexually assaulting women, has caused late defections from Trump by Republican officeholders and conservative thought leaders. But Falwell is standing by his man. He speculates that the leak of the video might have even been a conspiracy among the establishment Republicans, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.). Falwell allowed that what Trump said in the video was reprehensible, but he argued on New Yorks WABC Radio that were all sinners and dismissed Trumps words as dumb comments on a videotape 11 years ago. Politicians across the aisle scolded Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump after The Washington Post on Oct. 7 released a 2005 video in which he makes vulgar comments about women. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) [Why we shouldnt forgive the Republicans who sold their souls] Trump is creating a lot of wreckage as his campaign founders and he lashes out on Bill Clintons sexual misdeeds and even the late Ted Kennedys 1969 Chappaquiddick scandal. One of Trumps victims is likely to be the religious conservative political movement, as many of its leaders have averted their gaze from Trumps misogyny, hoping ends justify means. Ralph Reed, formerly of the Christian Coalition, claims that for evangelical voters, a 10-year-old tape of a private conversation with a TV talk-show host ranks pretty low on their hierarchy of their concerns. Tony Perkins, who runs the Family Research Council, told The Posts Sarah Pulliam Bailey that hes sticking with Trump because his support is built upon shared concerns. And Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, dismissed Trumps lewd video by saying the candidate was only trying to look like hes macho. These religious political leaders continued support of Trump undermines their claims to speak for traditional morality. And their political calculation that theyre supporting Trump because hed appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court appears to be backfiring, as well. Trumps woes are putting the Senate (and perhaps the House) in jeopardy for Republicans, potentially depriving them of whatever defenses they would have had against Hillary Clintons nominees and policies. Ryan has belatedly located his moral and political compasses and is making clear that his only goal now is to protect the House Republican majority. Though not for Clinton, few conservatives are willing to advocate for Trump other than the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Fox Newss Sean Hannity, who defended Trump by saying, King David had 500 concubines for crying out loud. [Donald Trump is the GOPs chemotherapy] In the past, as Pulliam Bailey has chronicled, religious-right leaders claimed to care about personal morality. We will not rest until we have leaders of good moral character, Reed said back in the Monica Lewinsky days. Evangelical leader James Dobson advocated Bill Clintons impeachment in 1998 because he set a bad example about respecting women. But Dobson supports Trump, excusing his behavior because the candidate is a baby Christian. Franklin Graham, though formally neutral, draws equivalence between Trumps crude comments and Democrats godless agenda. There are a few evangelical leaders, including Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention and Christianity Today executive editor Andy Crouch, who have tried to maintain their integrity. Theologian Wayne Gruden, who had endorsed Trump as a morally good choice, now says, I cannot commend Trumps moral character, and I strongly urge him to withdraw from the election. And James MacDonald, who has been on Trumps evangelical advisory council, called Trumps words on the video the kind of misogynistic trash that reveals a man to be lecherous and worthless . . . the guy who gets a punch in the head from worthy men. But where are the high-profile figures in the movement, such as Reed, Robertson and Falwell? In January, Falwell said Trump lives a life of loving and helping others, as Jesus taught. He likened Trump to his father. And now, no regrets. Falwell said that years from now, I dont think anybody is going to be sitting around thinking about whether Donald Trump said this or that on the videotape in 2005. I think theyre going to be sitting around saying, Gosh, I wish we had different Supreme Court justices. Or maybe theyll be wondering how differently things might have turned out if Falwell, with his ends-justify-the-means logic, hadnt made a deal with the devil and destroyed the moral credibility of the movement his father built. Twitter: @Milbank Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Regarding the Oct. 6 editorial Wrecking world trade in a few easy steps : Imposing crushing tariffs on imports from other countries, ostensibly to protect American jobs, is the classic definition of trade protectionism. This should be deeply troubling to Donald Trumps conservative supporters concerned about taxes, government regulation, economic growth and jobs. Tariffs and other trade barriers are hidden federal consumption taxes paid by American consumers (not the Chinese or Mexicans) through higher prices on foreign and domestic products. These taxes particularly hurt poor, working families. Trade protectionism is a system through which the government, not the free market, dictates to its citizens what they will be allowed to buy, in what quantity and at what price. The government bureaucracy necessary to control this system would look like something cooked up by a Soviet apparatchik. The history of trade protectionism, including the catastrophic consequences of the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, shows what a miserable policy failure it has been as a means to protect jobs and spur economic growth and innovation. Erik Autor, Falls Church Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former vice president Al Gore wave to supporters following a rally at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus on Tuesday in Miami. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Retired Democratic warhorse Al Gore was trotted out at a rally here Tuesday with Hillary Clinton to highlight an issue he has long championed combating climate change and to remind voters how important voting can be to the outcome of close elections. Gore, who lost the 2000 presidential race following an aborted recount here in Florida, vouched for Clintons credentials on increasing the use of solar power and other renewable energy and said voters face a stark choice in the election next month against embattled Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Her opponent, based on the ideas that he has presented, would take us toward a climate catastrophe, said Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on putting climate change on the worlds political agenda. Clinton sees new opportunities to woo Republicans in Trumps troubles] Appearing clean shaven and considerably grayer than during his years in office, Gore sounded professorial as he talked about atmospheric changes, and he came across as a little rusty on the political stump. It was his first and expected to be his only appearance this election with Clinton, whose husband he served under for eight years in the White House. Former vice president Al Gore speaks during a rally for Hillary Clinton. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) The Democrats emphasis on climate change was intended to resonate with millennials, a voting bloc that has been slow to warm to Clinton and that in polls consistently ranks the issue as a greater concern than their older counterparts. Trump has famously referred to climate change as a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. Clinton told the audience at Miami Dade Colleges Kendall campus that she would turn to Gore for advice on climate change upon entering the Oval Office and called him one of the worlds foremost leaders on the subject. Gores presence Tuesday also was also intended as a cautionary note to Democratic-leaning voters who may consider sitting this election out or peeling off to vote next month for Libertarian Gary Johnson or Green Party nominee Jill Stein. In 2000, Democrats say, Gore would have become president if not for Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate, who siphoned more votes from Gore than Bush. [Trump declares war on the Republican Party four weeks before Election Day] Your vote really, really, really counts, Gore told the audience assembled in a gym here. You can consider me as an Exhibit A of that. Chants broke out of You won, you won, you won. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton listens as former vice president Al Gore speaks during a rally. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Florida was a poignant choice of venue for Gore. Had he prevailed in the state in 2000, he would have succeeded Bill Clinton as president instead of George W. Bush. Floridas status as a key battleground again in this years presidential race was evident elsewhere in the state Tuesday, with Bill Clinton and Trump also making appearances. It has been 10 years since the debut of An Inconvenient Truth, an Academy Award-winning documentary that traced Gores efforts to educate citizens of the dangers of global warming that led to his 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He remains active on the issue, heading the Climate Reality Project, a global advocacy group. Tuesdays event was part of an effort by Clinton to continue a partial focus on policy issues in a race that has become dominated by the fallout over a 2005 video on which Trump was captured talking about women in extremely lewd terms leading to a historic internal crisis among Republicans about his candidacy. The joint appearance with Gore here came on a day, just four weeks before the election, when Trump was lashing out at House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and other members of the GOP establishment whove backed away from his candidacy. Aides to Clinton acknowledged that part of the motivation in appearing with Gore was to get some media attention at a stage of the campaign where Trump is so heavily dominating headlines. We cannot risk putting a climate denier in the White House, Clinton said here, speaking of the Republican nominee. We need a president who believes in science and who has a plan. Clinton touted her plans to expand use of renewable energy, reduce oil consumption and invest in infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather. She also touted the Paris climate agreement that she helped lay the groundwork for as secretary of state a deal that Trump has said he would cancel. Like Gore, Clinton said that the effects of Hurricane Matthew on Florida had been worse because of the ongoing effects of climate change. And in a clear bid to the concerns of millennials, she called climate change one of the most important issues at stake in this election. Clinton enjoys a sizable lead over Trump among millennials in polls, but an unusually large number of voters under 30 have been considering third-party candidates. During the primaries, they gravitated toward her opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. During the rally here, Clinton was interrupted twice by hecklers alleging her husband is a rapist an unproven accusation that has been pushed by Trump with particular intensity in recent days. Lets focus on whats really important in this election, Clinton told the audience as one of the hecklers was led out of the gym. Despite the college location, the audience included many middle-aged and older Florida residents more familiar with Gores political career. Gore decided not to take sides in the Democratic nomination contest this year and did not attend the Democratic National Convention. Ahead of her trip to Florida on Tuesday, Clinton called in to WMBM-AM, a Miami radio station that caters to an African American audience, and urged listeners not to take the election for granted, despite Trumps current troubles. Florida is key, Clinton said. If we win in Florida, theres no way my opponent can win. Trump was in the midst Tuesday of three consecutive days in which he has Florida stops scheduled. Despite all the terrible things hes said and done, hes still trying to win this election, Clinton told the radio audience. Much of the interview was devoted to Clintons views on a range of issues of heightened interest to African Americans, including criminal justice, youth unemployment and gun control. This is a critical choice, and it is a particularly critical choice for African Americans, Clinton said of the election. Hes insulted everyone, she said of Trump. People need to understand whats at stake in this election. Justice Elena Kagan called it the best smoking-gun evidence youre ever going to see about race bias in the jury room. Now she and her colleagues on the Supreme Court will need to decide whether it is a good enough reason to allow a Hispanic defendant to challenge the long-standing principle of secrecy in jury deliberations. A lawyer for Miguel Angel Pena Rodriguez told the court Tuesday that the constitutional right to a trial by a fair and impartial jury justified asking a judge to look behind the guilty verdict to jury deliberations that usually are secret. In his case, a juror said during deliberations that he felt that Pena Rodriguez was guilty of sexual assault because he was Mexican, and Mexican men take whatever they want. Pena Rodriguez was challenging federal rules and those employed in Colorado and elsewhere that forbid challenging statements made during jury deliberations. But his attorney, Stanford law professor Jeffrey L. Fisher, said those rules must give way if there is an allegation of racial discrimination. This is a principle that goes quite a ways back in the courts jurisprudence, which is the perception of fairness when it comes to racial bias and racial discrimination is paramount, Fisher said. He said 18 states already allow such investigation. Fisher found support among the courts liberals but was immediately questioned by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. about where he would draw the line. What about religious bias? Roberts asked. Same thing in this case, except its not, you know, this is how Mexicans act. Its this is how Catholics or Jews act, so theyre obviously guilty. Wouldnt that also come under your exception? Fisher said he was only advocating that racial remarks be covered. But Alito said that was avoiding the inevitable. Youre not being very helpful to the court in your answers, Alito said. Suppose we start with race, and the next case involves religion. Now, how would you distinguish religion from race if we were to reach an opposite conclusion in the religious case? Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said gender stereotypes could be another example. But Fisher said that those would be questions for another day and that the court often identifies racial discrimination as the first evil to try to eradicate. Justice Sonia Sotomayor agreed. I always thought the most pernicious and odious discrimination in our law is based on race. Pena Rodriguez was convicted of groping two teenage girls in a bathroom at a Colorado track where he worked in 2007. He denied it, and said it was a case of mistaken identity. The jury acquitted him of a felony charge and convicted him of misdemeanors. After the verdict, two jurors told defense attorneys that another juror, identified in court papers as H.C., had made the comments about Mexicans and said that as a former law enforcement officer he had seen numerous similar cases. Pena Rodriguezs lawyers wanted the judge to investigate the comments to decide whether they deprived their client of a fair trial. But the judge said he was barred from conducting such a review, and his decision was upheld by a 4-to-3 vote of the Colorado Supreme Court. Colorado Solicitor General Frederick R. Yarger told the justices Tuesday that the alleged comments from the juror were no doubt reprehensible. But he added that the citizen jury system requires safeguards to ensure full and fair debate in the jury room and prevent harassment and tampering after verdicts are handed down. But Kagan said that, even granting that, verdicts based on race discrimination pose a harm that verdicts based on other kinds of unfairness, which exist in the world, and are terrible, but still, that its just not the same kind of harm. The justices also questioned whether questions asked of potential jurors could ever combat the problem. The court in a 2014 case unanimously decided that it was not worth violating the norm of jury secrecy in a case in which a juror during deliberations spoke of her daughters automobile accident in a damages case resulting from a car crash. But in a footnote, the justices seemed to assume a case such as Pena Rodriguezs was possible. There may be cases of juror bias so extreme that, almost by definition, the jury trial right has been abridged, the court wrote in that case. If and when such a case arises, the court can consider whether the usual safeguards are or are not sufficient to protect the integrity of the process. The case is Pena Rodriguez v. Colorado. U.S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, right, and FBI Director Robert Mueller, shown in 2004, speak about possible terrorist threats against the United States. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would consider a long-running lawsuit against former attorney general John D. Ashcroft and other top officials filed by immigrants who say they were racially profiled and illegally detained after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The court will be even more shorthanded than usual: Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan recused themselves from the case, meaning it could be heard by a minimum quorum of six justices. The nine-member court has a vacancy because of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. The case was filed by six men on behalf of hundreds of mainly Muslim noncitizens who were detained on civil immigration charges for as long as eight months. They never were charged with terrorism but were held in harsh conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Besides Ashcroft, they attempt to sue former FBI director Robert Mueller and former Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner James W. Ziglar. Ashcroft ordered that respondents were to be held in these conditions (and their deportations delayed) until they were cleared of any connection to terrorism, the men said in a brief filed with the Supreme Court. Mueller oversaw the clearance operation, and would not authorize release of Respondents even after the New York field office cleared them, awaiting a CIA name check. Respondents and others languished for months in solitary confinement even after they had been cleared. The suit has been mired in legal maneuvering in the lower courts. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said it could proceed, and the government asked the full circuit to reconsider. The judges split 6 to 6. Those who said the suit could advance said the men plausibly alleged that Ashcroft ratified the rogue acts of a number of field agents aimed at men who were Arabs, Muslims or both. The dissenters said the decision did not comport with the Supreme Courts earlier decisions that protected Ashcroft from similar lawsuits. The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to intercede in this case, as well. In its petition to the court, the Justice Department said that unless the justices stopped the suit, the nations highest ranking law-enforcement officers could be subjected to compensatory and even punitive damages in their individual capacities because they could conceivably have learned about and condoned the allegedly improper ways in which their undisputedly constitutional policies were being implemented. Rachel Meeropol, a lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents the men, said the justices should have simply let the case proceed. No one is above the law. To suggest that the most powerful people in our nation should escape liability when they violate clearly established law defies the most fundamental principle of our legal system, she said. At a time when racial and religious profiling are put forward as serious policy proposals for dealing with everything from immigration to terrorism, it is more important than ever that the high court affirm that government officials, especially those at the highest levels, can be held accountable when they break the law, she said. We look forward to making that argument before the justices. As is customary, Sotomayor and Kagan did not say why they recused themselves. But Sotomayor was a judge on the 2nd Circuit before she was confirmed to the Supreme Court. As President Obamas solicitor general, Kagan might have dealt with some aspect of the litigation. The combined cases against the officials will be called Ziglar v. Turkman. White House officials on Tuesday presented what they believe are the reasons for educating young women overseas and unveiled a number of new financial commitments to the effort totaling more than $5 million. The move was part of a campaign to ensure that President and first lady Michelle Obamas signature Let Girls Learn initiative lasts long after they leave office. The new pledges from the private sector include $2.5 million from a program by the public health group Rise Up to enable girls in Malawi to finish school and delay marriage; a $1 million donation by Newmans Own Foundation to support Peace Corps initiatives and the Kibera School for Girls in Kenya; $500,000 from the Central Asia Institute to provide services for girls in Afghanistan; and $400,000 from Endeavor Energy and $200,000 from Water Charity and the National Peace Corps Association to fund Peace Corps volunteers work. Tuesdays announcements mean that in a year and a half, Let Girls Learn has amassed more than $1 billion in support for federal programs to educate girls in 50 nations around the globe. The initiative has been a special focus of Michelle Obama, who in the past 18 months has promoted it with intensity. She pointed out that she has no budget for programs or authority to pass laws, but by raising awareness she has been able to make global girls education a priority of the federal government, establish partnerships with corporations and work with other developed countries, including Japan, Canada and Mexico. First lady Michelle Obama speaks to students at the Mulberry School for Girls in London and other girls around the world on Oct. 11 via a video link. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP) This is personal for me, Obama told a group of girls from around the world gathered for a conversation hosted by Glamour magazine at the Newseum. I wouldnt be here not just in this chair, but in the life that I have without my education. The first lady, joined by teenage actress Yara Shahidi, spoke for more than an hour with dozens of young women, some of whom were brought into the conversation via Skype from Jordan, Peru, Tanzania and Britain. The conversation was part of a White House celebration of the International Day of the Girl, which boosted the program. Tina Tchen, who serves as assistant to the president and the first ladys chief of staff, said in an interview that Let Girls Learn has developed into a whole of government operation led by the National Security Council that includes the Departments of State, Labor and Agriculture as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. The initiative has become one of the Obamas more prominent development programs, in the way that the Presidents Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief helped define part of the legacy of George W. Bush and his wife, Laura. The program has been the impetus for Michelle Obamas overseas trips in recent years, and while visiting East Asia last month President Obama announced that Let Girls Learn will start up in Laos and Nepal. [Obamas launch a global initiative to educate girls overseas] They both have spent a lot of time with young people, both in the United States and around the world, Tchen said. They both obviously have a global presence and recognition as leaders that will position them however they choose to move forward on these issues in the post-presidency. The first lady has leveraged her office, as well as social media and the administrations ties to a range of private groups, to boost public awareness of the program and the estimated 98 million adolescent girls who are denied educational opportunities worldwide. In January, she spoke to a gathering of the Association of Magazine Media. After that appearance, the administration secured a commitment from 65 magazines to donate advertising space promoting Let Girls Learn. The magazine association said it was the largest donation of ad space in history. [For the first lady, a rare chance to belt feminist lyrics while riding shotgun] CNN trailed Michelle Obama on a trip to Morocco, Liberia and Spain this summer. On Wednesday, the cable network is scheduled to air a documentary about the first ladys trip that explores the stories of some of the girls she met there. Forty-four of the young women Obama met while in Morocco and Liberia were flown to Washington to participate in activities coinciding with the International Day of the Girl on Tuesday, as well as a multi-day program arranged by the State Department. The group includes Raphina Felee, a 20-year-old Liberian who met Obama during the first ladys visit to Monrovia this summer to promote Let Girls Learn. Felee grew up in a refugee camp in Guinea and now lives with her uncle and his family in Kakata, a town surrounded by rubber plantations in southwestern Liberia. She juggles household chores with attending school. A young woman from Tanzania told Obama about the barriers that girls in her country face, including being raped or attacked by thieves on the way to school, or being subject to female genital mutilation and early marriage. The first lady called such stories heartbreaking and said they inspired her to start Let Girls Learn. To make the case for maintaining the program under the next administration, the White House has issued an eight-page fact sheet outlining the national security benefits of investing in adolescent girls education. Aspects of the initiative have attracted some new funding, including $25 million for USAIDs Let Girls Learn Challenge Fund and $30 million for the Peace Corps. Obama said the Peace Corps is key because the program has focused on attacking these barriers from the ground up working with local leaders, parents themselves and working with the girls. She also shared with the young women participating in the conversation her own story of growing up in a working-class family in Chicago and told the girls that she, too, had been underestimated. You see me now as the first lady, but there are still doubts. There are people who questioned whether I would be a good first lady . . . people who questioned whether I was strategic enough or whether my initiatives would have an impact, she said. All throughout my life there are people who have underestimated me. Rep. Todd Young is reluctantly sticking with Donald Trump. The Republican Senate candidate from Indiana, who is in a tight race against Democratic former senator Evan Bayh, has considered abandoning the Republican presidential nominee at several points over the past several months but never withdrew support. This week was no different. After the release of a video revealing Trump talking about aggressive sexual behavior toward women, Young said he was giving very serious consideration to withdrawing support. But, again, he resolved to continue backing Trump. Youngs positioning and repositioning on Trump is slightly different from that of most Republicans in tough Senate races. Almost every other Republican is facing headwinds because of their states Democratic lean, making it critical to find voters willing to support both Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and a GOP Senate candidate. But Young is running in a reliably red state that, at least until last week, was poised to vote for the Republican for the 12th time in the 13 most recent presidential elections. So whatever qualms he may have about Trump, abandoning him is not a viable option. My position is the same as their position. Most Hoosiers intend to support the Republican nominees. Most Hoosiers believe leaders like myself should speak out when we disagree, Young said Monday afternoon in an interview here after touring a plant that manufactures medical devices. Young, 44, a former Marine intelligence officer and father of four, is pledging to run the final weeks of the campaign as someone who will be a check against presidential excess regardless of who wins the White House. Ill be a check and balance against whomever our next president is, he said. Youngs position is actually the overwhelming position of a majority of Republicans on Capitol Hill. Despite revulsion toward Trump and sagging poll numbers following Fridays Washington Post report about the video, only about three dozen of the more than 300 Republicans in the House and the Senate have publicly said they will no longer support his candidacy or have joined calls for him to drop out of the race. A small minority of congressional Republicans are boisterous backers of Trump, and several voiced displeasure at House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) during a conference call Monday in which he essentially greenlighted others to abandon the nominee if it fit their political or personal purposes. [Paul Ryan wont defend or campaign for Trump ahead of election] Some Republicans have completely rejected Trump, either from the outset last spring when he locked up the nomination or in the wake of this latest controversy. But the vast swath of Republicans appear to fall into the same category as Young, not at all happy with their partys nominee but still on board with his bid. This has created a particularly delicate balancing act in which these Republicans try to sidestep discussions about Trump while campaigning. If successful, they avoid angering both the large number of their supporters backing him as well as the many voters who despise him. Thats how Young spent Monday. At two stops, here at Boston Scientifics 1,000-employee plant and then later in Bloomington with Indiana Universitys College Republicans, Young never mentioned Trump. He focused the discussion on how the Affordable Care Acts tax on medical devices had hurt the companys ability to grow and how exports fueled its growth. He told inspiring stories to the college students and asked them to volunteer and he also delivered a full frontal assault on Bayhs record of supporting President Obamas agenda in his last two years in the Senate and then becoming a corporate lobbying magnate the past six years. Young has chopped Bayhs initially huge lead of about 20 percent down to just a few percentage points, largely by accusing the former governor and senator of going Washington. Within an hour or two of The Posts report about Trumps sexual banter in 2005, the Associated Press reported about Bayhs last months in office in 2010 conducting job interviews. Its unclear how much that story broke through over the Trump noise. Both Bayh and Young are sensitive about the anger Trump supporters feel toward Washington. In the interview, Young explained that Indiana chose Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) in the states Republican and Democratic primaries. In trying to explain those outsider victories, Young said: In the absence of specific solutions, or evidence that we have people in Washington, D.C., who can make a significant difference . . . people will cling to those who at least speak to their frustrations. On Sunday evening, at a Democratic fundraiser in Howard County, 40 miles north of Indianapolis, Bayh avoided direct attacks on Trump. Instead, he empathized with Trump supporters. Its stuck, its broken. Its not working. Thats why you see some of the stuff you see in the presidential election. People are fed up, theyve had enough, Bayh said of Washington. The situation has left young conservatives distressed. After Youngs address to the College Republicans, the groups leader confessed that he would not back Trump. This is a tough year for everybody, said Brian Gamache, the president of the group. He paused for more than 10 seconds. No, Im not voting for him, said Gamache, who turned 22 on Tuesday. Reagan Kurk, 19, agreed. I see my vote as being in support of somebody, she said, explaining that her opposition was forged long before the latest controversy. The lesser of two evils is still evil. For Young, neither Trump nor Clinton is particularly fit to be commander in chief. He paused for five seconds considering Trump running the military. His response summed up the Republican dilemma. I intend to support him, and I would, I would take that position as a United States senator. I would be supportive of him, but when hes wrong, I would be an independent voice prepared to speak out quite forcefully against him, he said. I do believe that with the right people around him, and with the right support in Congress, he can be effective. Donald Trump started attacking members of his own party in a series of tweets Tuesday after many Republicans rescinded their support for the presidential nominee. The Fix's Chris Cillizza weighs in on the unprecedented unraveling of the GOP. (Jayne Orenstein/The Washington Post) Donald Trump started attacking members of his own party in a series of tweets Tuesday after many Republicans rescinded their support for the presidential nominee. The Fix's Chris Cillizza weighs in on the unprecedented unraveling of the GOP. (Jayne Orenstein/The Washington Post) Donald Trump declared war on the Republican establishment Tuesday, lashing out at House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and other GOP elected officials as his supporters geared up to join the fight amid extraordinary turmoil within the party just four weeks before Election Day. One day after Ryan announced he would no longer campaign on Trumps behalf, the GOP nominee said as part of a barrage of tweets that the top-ranking Republican is weak and ineffective and is providing zero support for his candidacy. Trump also declared that the shackles have been taken off him, liberating him to fight for America the way I want to. Trump called McCain foul-mouthed and accused him with no evidence of once begging for his support. McCain, the partys 2008 presidential nominee, pulled his endorsement following a Friday Washington Post report about a 2005 video in which Trump is heard making vulgar comments about forcing himself on women sexually. I wouldnt want to be in a foxhole with a lot of these people, that I can tell you . . . especially Ryan, Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel. He said if he is elected president, Ryan might be in a different position. In perhaps the most piercing insult, Trump said his party is harder to deal with than even Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, whom conservatives loathe. Yet he also released a new TV ad featuring footage of Clinton coughing and stumbling during a recent bout with pneumonia signaling that few issues are out of bounds for his scorched-earth campaign. In the wake of a new Washington Post report showing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaking in very lewd terms about women in 2005, some Republicans are calling for Trump to step down as nominee. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post) Disloyal Rs are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary, he wrote for his more than 12 million followers on Twitter, his preferred platform for picking fights. They come at you from all sides. They dont know how to win I will teach them! By backing away from Trump, Ryan and his allies were hoping to insulate themselves and their majorities on Capitol Hill from the baggage weighing down the nominees flagging campaign. For many, the breaking point was the 2005 video. But they are suddenly dealing with another problem: an impulsive and bellicose businessman with an army of loyal supporters willing to exact retribution against elected officials they feel have abandoned them. The rift could have profound ramifications for the Republican Party as a whole, shattering any sense of unity and jeopardizing its chances of holding onto the Senate and even, potentially, the House. [The GOP tumbles toward anarchy: Its every person for himself or herself] Trumps barbs left some backers unsettled, including Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who has been a Trump booster for months and an informal adviser. Dr. Carson has been unwavering in his support but the last 24 hours have made that support very difficult to maintain, Carson adviser Armstrong Williams said in a statement. Carson said in a brief interview that Trump would be wise to praise Ryan rather than be at war with him. I keep trying to emphasize to him that the issues are where you win. 1 of 28 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Here are some of the Republicans who cut ties with Trump after lewd remarks View Photos Following a Friday report by The Washington Post on a 2005 video of the GOP presidential nominee, various Republicans have said they no longer plan to vote for him and some call for him to drop out. Caption Following a Friday report by The Washington Post on a 2005 video of the GOP presidential nominee, various Republicans have said they no longer plan to vote for him and some call for him to drop out. Sen. John McCain Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) joined the cavalcade of Republicans withdrawing their support for Trump. There are no excuses for Donald Trumps offensive and demeaning comments in the just released video; no woman should ever be victimized by this kind of inappropriate behavior. He alone bears the burden of his conduct and alone should suffer the consequences, McCain said in a statement. Susan Walsh/AP Wait 1 second to continue. But many others rallied around Trump, including the Republican National Committee. Its chairman, Reince Priebus, was in close touch all day with Trump advisers and RNC strategist Sean Spicer was at Trump Tower in Manhattan. Mica Mosbacher, a Trump fundraiser and surrogate, said she was invited to a fundraiser next week for Ryans joint fundraising committee but is not going to attend or contribute because of the way Ryan has treated Trump. I dont feel that Ryan is supporting our nominee and being a team player, said Mosbacher, who is vowing not to give financial backing to Republicans who have crossed Trump. Diana Orrock, a Republican National Committeewoman from Nevada, said she will not vote for Republicans who have pulled their support for Trump including Rep. Joe Heck (Nev.), who is running for a seat that is critical in the battle for the Senate majority. I think they have really irritated a lot of Trump supporters, Orrock said of Heck and Rep. Cresent Hardy (R-Nev.), who also rescinded his endorsement. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally, said Trump should use the enormous power of social media to mount a pressure campaign on wavering Republicans. Its time for him to send targeted messages to each district and state and have Republican voters ask their candidates: Are you going to help us defeat Hillary Clinton? And Trump should make it clear that the side effect of not helping Trump is electing Hillary Clinton. Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson tweeted Monday that she could not keep her mobile phone charged due to the mass volume of texts from people who plan to vote for Trump but not for other Republicans on the ballot. [Trumps truest believers start to worry: You could easily lose] Ryan said Monday that he would no longer defend or campaign with Trump. Dozens of other Republican elected officials have gone even further, calling on Trump to leave the race in the wake of the 2005 video. Paul Ryan is focusing the next month on defeating Democrats, and all Republicans running for office should probably do the same, Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement responding to Trumps attacks Tuesday. Trump began his Twitter attacks Tuesday morning in New York before jetting off to raise money in Texas and to host an evening rally in Panama City Beach, Fla. At a San Antonio fundraising event, Trump tore into Ryan, whom he accused of total disloyalty to the party. I think they forgot that there was an election because something happened in the last month where you didnt see them, right? Trump said of prominent Republicans who have not campaigned for him, according to audio of the fundraiser obtained by the Texas Tribune. You didnt see them. I said: Why arent they on the shows? Why arent they all over the place? Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said the campaign was not preoccupied over whether congressional leadership is with the nominee. Mr. Trumps campaign has never been driven or fueled by Washington. Its always been driven by the grass roots and it will continue to be, Miller said. What we want is everyone who wants to defeat Hillary Clinton to be on board. Anyone whos concerned about the direction of the country. A Ryan confidant said the House speaker the highest-ranking Republican in the country is trying to strike a careful balance by turning away from Trump but not officially withdrawing his endorsement. Hes threading a lot of needles here, said the confidant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to talk candidly. He wanted to make a clean break with Trump. So saying I wont defend him and wont campaign with him was his way of making a break. He was so repulsed by the tape. But there are still a lot of members in the conference who dont want to be at war with Trumps voters in their district. Speaking on his radio show Tuesday, popular conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said: The Republican Party has sided with its donors and its lobbyists, and this is why were where we are. The Republican Party is in a predicament that it made itself. It made its own bed, and now they dont want to lay in it. Now they want to run from the bed that they made. Some Republicans have agonized over how to deal with Trump in the final weeks of the race. Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), who ran against Trump in the GOP primaries and is running for reelection in a key battleground state, issued a statement Tuesday saying he continues to support the nominee, whom he once called dangerous and a con man. I disagree with him on many things, but I disagree with his opponent on virtually everything, Rubio said. I wish we had better choices for President. But I do not want Hillary Clinton to be our next President. And therefore my position has not changed. The sentiment that Trump is far from ideal but is better than the only realistic alternative is one many of his backers are clinging to as justification for maintaining their support. You dont go after somebody who is, as Ronald Reagan would say, your 80 percent friend. What you do is stand with them, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said in an interview with Fox Business Network. And it is not helpful to have this kind of drama going on. What you need to do is say we have a binary choice. Democrats on Tuesday continued their fierce criticism of Trumps lewd comments about women. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that President Obama found the 2005 video repugnant and that there has been a pretty clear statement by people all along the ideological spectrum that those statements constituted sexual assault. Campaigning for Clinton in Greensboro, N.C., Obama called Republican officials out for the way they have dealt with Trump. They cant bring themselves to say, I cant endorse this guy, Obama said. Of those who did pull their endorsements, the president added: Whyd it take so long for some of them to finally walk away? We saw this coming. [Trumps truest believers start to worry: You could easily lose] A friend of Ryan, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, said the speaker didnt rush into his Monday decision, but was deliberative and thoughtful. In the end, there was no way to make everyone happy. Hes just in a hard place, and Trump is recognizing that hes in a hard place and pushing the lever harder, the friend said. David Weigel in Washington and David Nakamura in Greensboro, N.C., contributed to this report. At a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Oct. 10, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he might make six campaign stops a day during the week leading up to Election Day. (The Washington Post) At a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Oct. 10, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he might make six campaign stops a day during the week leading up to Election Day. (The Washington Post) The morning after the vice-presidential debate, Cathy Frasca woke at 5 a.m. and hand-wrote a four-page letter to Donald Trump that said: It is obvious that you could easily lose this election. The 89-year-old grandmother urged Trump to release his taxes, ignore the controversies that Hillary Clinton tries to start, stop tweeting at 3 a.m. and remember that Bill Clinton is not running for election, so please avoid using precious time to discuss his sex life. Instead, Frasca wrote, Trump should tell voters about how he will improve the country. You know what to do but time is running out, she wrote in closing. My prayers are with you always. As Trump bounces from one controversy to another and Hillary Clinton gains in the polls, there is a growing realization among some of his most devoted supporters that he could lose the election. They still hope he will win, as the idea of another President Clinton angers and scares them. They blame the Republican Party for not doing enough to support its nominee, the media for focusing on comments Trump made years ago and Democrats who, they say, rigged the system. But they also place a little blame on Trump. As Frasca watched the second presidential debate Sunday night, she was glad to see that Trump seemed better prepared and that he apologized for his toilet talk in 2005 when he told an Access Hollywood host that he could grope women and force himself on them sexually because he was famous. She was delighted to hear Trump tell Clinton that she should be in jail, but she didnt understand why he dragged along women who have accused former president Bill Clinton of sexual assault or harassment. Donald Trump supporter Cathy Frasca handwrote a four-page letter with advice for the GOP nominee that said: It is obvious that you could easily lose this election. (Jenna Johnson/The Washington Post) On Monday morning, Frasca put on a yellow T-shirt featuring a screaming Hillary Clinton, flames and the message, Liar! Liar! Pants suit on fire. She and a few friends from her retirement community in Sewickley traveled a few miles north to a high school gym in this suburb of Pittsburgh for a Trump rally. Frasca brought along a copy of the letter she mailed to Trump Tower, just in case she got to meet the candidate. [The GOP tumbles toward anarchy: Its every person for himself or herself] At rallies like these, Trump can live in a world where he is still winning. He was introduced as the next president and greeted by a screaming crowd of 2,500 while, he said, thousands and thousands more waited outside. There were no polls showing Clinton with a double-digit lead, no debate moderators grilling him on the Syrian conflict, no party leaders telling him to tone it down. Here, Trump declared himself the winner of the debate, berated the media and attacked Clinton without any interruptions from fact-checkers. Crowds like these are Trumps case for not dropping out of the race. Crowds like these are his evidence that he can still win. Crowds are his polls. But Trump has already won these people over, and if he wants to win the election, he has to dramatically broaden his following. Outside the high school, a few dozen union workers and protesters gathered. One man held a sign that said, Trump is a sexual pervert. Three young women chanted: Trumps unfit! Jamie Young, 49, watched the commotion from a friends porch. She voted for Trump in Pennsylvanias Republican primary and went to five of his rallies and is now embarrassed that she did. 1 of 28 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Here are some of the Republicans who cut ties with Trump after lewd remarks View Photos Following a Friday report by The Washington Post on a 2005 video of the GOP presidential nominee, various Republicans have said they no longer plan to vote for him and some call for him to drop out. Caption Following a Friday report by The Washington Post on a 2005 video of the GOP presidential nominee, various Republicans have said they no longer plan to vote for him and some call for him to drop out. Sen. John McCain Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) joined the cavalcade of Republicans withdrawing their support for Trump. There are no excuses for Donald Trumps offensive and demeaning comments in the just released video; no woman should ever be victimized by this kind of inappropriate behavior. He alone bears the burden of his conduct and alone should suffer the consequences, McCain said in a statement. Susan Walsh/AP Wait 1 second to continue. The tipping point for me was this last video its like, enough is enough. Enough is enough. Ive had it, said Young, an airport worker who now plans to write in Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee. I believed that he was tough and he had a set but his set is a little too big. Clinton supporter Marlene Monza, 65, brought along a mannequin dressed in a suit and wearing bright lipstick, along with a sign decorated with hearts: This is the presidential look that has my vote! This contest is not so much between him and her, its gender-based, because if we had a Democrat who was a 90-year-old man in a wheelchair on oxygen he would be 90 points ahead of Donald Trump right now, said Monza, who remembers being asked at her first job interview if she had a boyfriend and, later, not being able to get a credit card in her own name. [As Clinton gains, Trump supporters seem to hate her more than ever] Her friend Joan Verner, 73, almost started crying as she looked at a line of Trump supporters stretching more than a quarter of a mile. Verner brought along two black cats Halloween decorations turned into political statements about Trumps crude boast on the 2005 videotape about grabbing women by the p---y. I cannot believe all of the derogatory things that he has said about women, said Verner, who has voted for Republicans and Democrats. He does not have a nice thing to say about women. And they want to line up and vote for him? On the other side of the street, a Trump supporter in line screamed: What about Bill Clinton? Clinton is still a rapist! A vendor sold blue yard signs that said: Trump that b---- before its too late. Another sold T-shirts showing a cartoon Trump urinating on the word Hillary. Pam Butler, 59, is worried Trump will lose. She blames the Republican establishment. Butler, who lives in Evans City and works at the post office, was appalled to learn that House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) announced Monday he would no longer defend Trump or campaign with him. Im sickened by it, just sickened, she said. Theyre going to regret it. . . . Theyre going to regret it in the end. I hope they do. Their constituents are going to leave them. Ron Ritz, 69, blames the media for making a big deal out of Trumps 2005 comments. Ritz said now that Trump has apologized, everyone needs to move on and focus on issues of greater importance such as Clintons use of a private email server while secretary of state and her response to the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. We are guys, and there are locker room statements, okay? There are girls that go to locker rooms and make statements, too, said Ritz, an Air Force veteran who lives in Somerset County. He said he had never expressed anything like what Trump said in the tape but admitted, I have said things to guys that I would not say to a girl. Ritz said that the polls are not accurate and that he expects Trump to win but that the Republican could lose because Democrats will use the names of dead people to pile up fraudulent votes. If things are done aboveboard and legally, the American people want Donald J. Trump. They do not like Hillary, Ritz said. Where I have been, I have not seen two Hillary signs and hundreds of Trump signs. Thats a fact. In the high school gym, it seemed like Trump was polling at 100 percent. The screaming crowd reassured Frasca, the letter-writing grandmother who still hopes Trump will read her letter and adopt her strategy. If he wins, she has promised her neighbors that she will crack open an expensive bottle of Scotch that belonged to her late husband. I pray every night that he will be president, she said. And every night I worry that she will be president. A young boy rides his bicycle outside the Jungle Books Cafe in the Jungle migrant camp on Sept. 6 in Calais, France. The French government has said it will demolish the camp before the end of the year. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) The British government announced Monday that the country will begin accepting eligible children from the Calais migrant camp in northern France within a week at the most. Speaking in Parliament on Monday evening, Home Secretary Amber Rudd told British lawmakers that she expects aid organizations to give her a list in the coming days of the children who qualify by having relatives in Britain and who are stranded in Calais seeking to enter the country. Some have been stuck for more than a year; others have since disappeared. Rudds deadline follows the French governments recent pledge to demolish what is known as Calaiss Jungle camp before the end of the year. Although no details have been provided, the leaders of humanitarian organizations said that the planned demolitions could begin Monday morning. When the French government demolished a crowded portion of the Jungle earlier this year, 129 unaccompanied children vanished, according to census figures collected by Help Refugees, a British aid organization. There is no official census of the Jungles population. Charlotte Morris, an official at Safe Passage UK, the group drafting Rudds list, said that she and her colleagues are working to ensure that the same does not happen this time. Already, Morris added, the group has lost contact with 50 of the 178 children in Calais with family in Britain that they had reported to the Home Office in August. An aerial view of the jungle camp in Calais. (Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images) We know of one for sure thats definitely disappeared, Morris said. It just goes to show you what kind of danger these kids are in. During this next round of demolitions, she said, Safe Passage will provide a number of children in the Jungle with emergency packs containing cellphones, chargers and food. The transfers are likely to take place via Eurostar or bus. Clare Moseley, the leader of Care4Calais, another aid organization in the Jungle, doubted the British governments promise to ferry children across the English Channel so quickly. Theres no way theyre going to bring these children over in a couple days, she said, insisting that only questions remain. In terms of the children, where are they going to put them in the meantime? Where will they be in the demolition? Will they be safe? Safeguarded? In Britain and France, the issue of unaccompanied children mostly from Afghanistan and Sudan living in the squalor of a sprawling migrant camp between two of Europes wealthiest capitals has become one of the most widely denounced aspects of the regions historic migration crisis. There are roughly 85,000 eligible children across Europe, only 1,000 of whom are in Calais, according to Morris. For some, the situation has eerie overtones of World War II. Before the Nazi Holocaust, Britain welcomed some 10,000 Jewish children from Central Europe in the famous Kindertransports a humanitarian legacy that British survivors have sought to rekindle even amid the anti-immigrant rhetoric and spike in hate crimes that have followed the Brexit vote. Earlier this year, one Kindertransport survivor, Alf Dubs, 84, a member of Britains House of Lords, successfully sponsored an amendment to an immigration bill to bring 3,000 unaccompanied children to Britain in a similar fashion. But since his amendment passed in May, only about 50 such children have actually crossed the English Channel. On Monday, Rudd blamed French bureaucracy for the delay. Meanwhile, Bernard Cazeneuve, Frances interior minister, appealed to Dubs and his supporters. As he told Frances RTL radio before meeting in London with Rudd, I solemnly ask Britain to live up to its moral duty. In an interview, Dubs said he had heard nothing regarding the logistics to follow the upcoming transfers. Speaking from experience, he said, the important thing to get right is a safe family environment. A lot of them dont show it, but they are quite shocked, he added, referring to a recent visit to the Jungle. They need a sympathetic environment in which they can feel safe and secure, and to recover from the trauma theyve suffered. Read more: France and Britain just beat Donald Trump to building a border wall French truck drivers protest in Calais, call for dismantling of Jungle migrant camp Migrant flows to Europe continue as U.N. convenes summit in New York Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world The Islamic State claimed Wednesday it masterminded an attack on Shiite worshipers in Kabul that left at least 17 people dead during events marking one of the holiest days for Shiite Muslims. The Amaq news agency, an Islamic State-linked media wing, asserted that the group was involved in planning Tuesdays bloodshed and said an Islamic State fighter was among the gunmen, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist websites. The claim could not be independently confirmed, but the Islamic State has tried to expand its footholds in Afghanistan and has carried out previous attacks against Shiites in Iraq and elsewhere. At least 62 people were wounded, including 12 policemen, during the battles at Kabuls Sakhi shrine, a domed hillside sanctuary is one of the most popular places for Shiites to gather on holidays. Police said that at least three attackers were involved, wearing police or military uniforms, and that they may have set off explosions before the gunfire. A video posted on social media showed the shrines massive tiled dome illuminated by bursts of gunfire, with sounds of screams and wailing in the background. [Taliban explosives are becoming more powerful. Afghan soldiers are paying the price.] Officials remain on high alert Wednesday, during Ashura, a major holiday in Shiite Islam, in the month of Muharram, when Shiite men ritually flagellate themselves in the streets as a sign of mourning. The Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs had asked people not to congregate in large numbers or cover their car windows with paint, a common practice during Muharram that could potentially hide attackers. Five years ago, suicide bombers attacked another Shiite shrine in Kabul on the same day, known as Ashura, killing more than 50 people, and bombs were also detonated at mosques in two other Afghan cities. That series of attacks was claimed by a violent Sunni sectarian group based in Pakistan that is officially banned. Officials were also worried about the potential for violence because of a recent bombing in the west Kabul community of ethnic Hazara Shiites. On July 23, bombers attacked a peaceful protest there, killing more than 80 people. The attack was claimed by a regional affiliate of the Islamic State. Ashura is an emotionally charged day of mourning on which all Muslims, but especially Shiites, commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad, who was killed in a battle in A.D. 680 in what is now Iraq. It has also become an increasingly bold statement of religious identity by Hazara Shiites. [Not their job: Turning Afghanistans special forces into regular troops] All week, excitement and tension have built in the community, with loudspeakers blaring rhythmic dirges, and thousands of brightly colored flags rippling in the streets and affixed to caravans of honking cars. Food and drink have been given away at dozens of stands draped in black, and giant black paper portals have been erected along many streets. Security volunteers from local mosques have kept a watchful eye on crowds roaming the streets and have sometimes searched bundles and purses. On Monday, one volunteer urged a reporter not to stop and interview people because it could create a target for attack. In Afghanistans Muslim society, the Shiite minority makes up about 30 percent of the populace, and relations with the Sunni majority have historically been amicable. But Shiites were suppressed during Taliban rule in the late 1990s, and the rise of radical sectarian groups such as the Islamic State has also created tensions. Shiite Hazaras, historically ostracized, have bounded back under democratic rule since 2001, flexing increasing political and religious muscle. In the past year, a Hazara group called Enlightenment has demanded more services and justice for the community and held numerous rallies. It was one of its rallies in July that was bombed by the Islamic State. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated that Ashura, a major holiday in Shiite Islam, was the final day of the month of Muharram. It is actually the 10th day. Brian Murphy in Washington contributeed to this report. Read more: It has been 15 years and we still dont know what will become of Afghanistan Taliban enters capital of Helmand province after weeks of fighting Donors pledge billions to Afghanistan but seek push for peace Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world BILLINGS -- The campaign opposing a Montana medical marijuana ballot initiative has filed a second complaint against I-182, which appeared in two recent magazine ads. Safe Montana issued the complaint on Oct. 6 to the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, alleging that the ads are unreported election communications. The fall 2016 issue of Outside Bozeman contains two full-page advertisements for medical marijuana providers. Both ads include images that say "vote yes I-182." The ads depict two businesses: Greener Pastures Natural Medicine and Lionheart Caregiving. I-182 would remove restrictions placed on the state medical marijuana program by a 2011 law. In February, the Montana Supreme Court upheld a majority of the contested provisions. One of those provisions was a ban on advertising for medical marijuana. If I-182 passes, it would maintain that ban. The Safe Montana complaint was signed by the group's founder, Steve Zabawa. The complaint said that the businesses behind the magazine ads should have registered with the state and reported the expenditures as campaign spending. Simultaneously, Safe Montana said that the groups tied to the I-182 campaign should have reported the ads as in-kind contributions. Those groups are Montana Citizens for I-182 and the Montana Cannabis Industry Association. The latter group is a trade organization that has financially supported the I-182 campaign. Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl already has two complaints on his docket related to this campaign. The proponent and opponent groups for I-182 have filed complaints against each other. No ruling has been issued. Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and French President Francois Hollande at a meeting in Moscow in November 2015. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday canceled a visit to Paris after the French leader called the recent bombings of the Syrian city of Aleppo a war crime and questioned publicly whether it made sense to meet with Putin at all. The decision to call off next weeks trip underscores the increasing divides between the West and Russia over Moscows military aid to Syrias government in the countrys more than five-year conflict. French officials have said that they want the International Criminal Courts prosecutor to open a war crimes investigation of Russia and Syrias airstrikes in Aleppo, which have become a byword for the grave humanitarian crisis unleashed by the Syrian civil war. Russia says it is targeting only terrorists in Aleppo, and has accused the West of using so-called terrorist groups to seek the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a key Russian ally. The attacks on Aleppo expanded sharply late last month after the collapse of a cease-fire plan brokered by Russia and the United States. The Kremlin confirmed that an Oct. 18 visit to Paris had been canceled, ostensibly because the opening of a Russian cultural and spiritual center had been delayed. But Dmitri Peskov, the presidents spokesman, noted that Putin said that he would be ready to visit Paris when it was convenient for French President Francois Hollande. We will wait for this convenient time to come, he added. The canceled visit is the latest diplomatic breakdown between Russia and the West over Syria. The United States last week halted diplomatic talks with Russia because of the Aleppo bombing, saying Russia had failed to live up to its own commitments. Russia on Saturday blocked a Frenchsponsored U.N. Security Council resolution that would have imposed a no-fly zone in Syria. A Russian counter-proposal, also vetoed, would not have halted airstrikes in Aleppo. Hollande on Sunday questioned whether he should receive Putin. I asked myself the question: Is it useful? Is it necessary? Can it be a way of exerting pressure? Can we get him to stop what he is doing with the Syrian regime? he said during an interview on Frances TMC television channel. He said he would tell Putin that the bombing of Aleppo is unacceptable and called the campaign a war crime. Putin may still meet with Hollande next week in Berlin as part of discussions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Read more: Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Haiti is still reeling from Category 4 Hurricane Matthew, which killed hundreds of people and left thousands more without their homes. (Victoria Walker,Joshua Partlow/The Washington Post) Haiti is still reeling from Category 4 Hurricane Matthew, which killed hundreds of people and left thousands more without their homes. (Victoria Walker,Joshua Partlow/The Washington Post) A week after Hurricane Matthew leveled swaths of western Haiti, the relief effort is finally gaining steam, with the flow of food and medicine increasing to cities that will serve as hubs for desperate outlying villages, aid workers and diplomats say. The storm that struck on Oct. 3 killed hundreds of people and forced thousands from their homes, setting off the worst humanitarian crisis in this impoverished country since the devastating earthquake six years ago. Winds tore buildings apart, and flooding has contaminated water supplies and helped spur a new outbreak of cholera along the coast, with at least 200 cases reported, according to the United Nations. Ive seen it from the air, and it looks catastrophic, U.S. Ambassador Peter F. Mulrean said in an interview Tuesday. Ive seen it from the ground, and it is heartbreaking. In some areas, residents have erected roadblocks with logs and brush to stop aid trucks so that they can ransack the supplies. Increasingly desperate survivors are pleading for food, water and shelter. There have been worrying instances of looting of international aid and assistance on their way to most-affected communities, said Ariane Quentier, spokeswoman for the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti. In more general terms, there are tensions mounting within communities awaiting help, which is also a worrying development. People wash clothes on a beach near ruined houses on Oct. 10, 2016, a week after Hurricane Matthew hit Jeremie, Haiti. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters) Haitis national civil protection agency has increased the death toll nationwide from the hurricane to 473, but that seems likely to grow, and some estimates put it at more than 1,000. Some 175,000 people are living in shelters. The World Health Organization announced Tuesday that it was sending 1 million doses of cholera vaccine to Haiti. It said about one-quarter of the health-care facilities in southern Haiti had been destroyed or seriously damaged. Cholera can be deadly and is transmitted through contaminated water or food. [In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, Haitian towns struggle with cholera] American officials say the priority for relief remains saving lives: providing food and clean drinking water by truck, boat or helicopter to many communities that remain hard to reach. A U.S. disaster response team of more than 50 people has bivouacked in the atrium of the U.S. Embassy here, while the American military is working out of the airport, with about 425 affiliated personnel, moving relief supplies by helicopter. A cargo flight of U.S. government relief supplies, the fifth so far, was scheduled to arrive Tuesday and was to include hygiene items, cooking kits and tarpaulins for homes that lost their roofs. The U.S. government is working with charities and aid groups to hasten the distribution to remote villages. The Haitian government, operating with an interim president, has seemed largely absent from many shattered coastal towns. Aid workers and diplomats, however, say the governments civil protection agency has been actively putting together the strategy for the hurricane response while relying on foreign donors to bring in the supplies and carry out the plan. Haiti is in the midst of a long-running political crisis. Last years first round of the presidential election was engulfed in accusations of fraud, and the second round was repeatedly delayed. An interim government, led by Jocelerme Privert, remains in charge, although his mandate expired in June. A presidential election scheduled for this past Sunday was postponed indefinitely because of the hurricane. Robert Perito, a Haiti expert and adjunct professor at George Mason Universitys School of Policy and Government, said the fact that Haitis government was organizing an election was distracting officials from the immediate disaster relief. The government is simply not present in many areas and is always slow to respond when it reacts at all, he said. Haitians are prickly about their sovereignty, but this is an interim government with little capacity, so incompetence is probably a factor. Mulrean, the U.S. ambassador, said he has met or spoken with Privert almost every day and has toured the hurricane-damaged zones with him twice. Emergency operations centers in the capital and around the country, set up after the earthquake, are functioning well, and have embedded U.S. staff, he said. The government is interim, but its in place, and they took their responsibility very seriously, Mulrean said. Weve got a government that wants to be out front. That we want to be out front. Obviously they need a lot of support. And we and others are prepared to do that. The provisional electoral council has met in recent days with the government and foreign ambassadors to discuss the timing for an election, but no date has been proposed. Everyone agrees that the elections need to move forward and need to be completed and that having a newly elected president in place will allow the government to deal [better] with the longer-term issues than having a provisional government in place, the ambassador said. He added that it was important to find the balance between the political imperative to hold the elections as quickly as possible and what is technically feasible to run credible elections. Among the main difficulties for the relief effort so far has been the inaccessibility of the villages battered by the storm. It struck the western edge of the Tiburon Peninsula, cutting off an already remote part of the country, a region where one paved road is often the only way to reach towns. Many of those roads were made impassable by fallen trees and washed-out bridges. U.S. officials said that communications had collapsed in the hurricane but were slowly coming back. Two cities, Jeremie and Les Cayes, have become hubs for shipments of food and other supplies that are to be distributed to smaller coastal villages. Beyond the immediate survival needs, Haiti faces a mass rebuilding effort, as thousands of homes and other buildings were damaged or destroyed. The peninsula is an important agricultural area, producing rice, fruit, cassava and other crops, and much farmland was damaged. In some parts of Haiti you have 90 percent of homes destroyed, plus people losing all their crops, said John Hasse, national director in Haiti for the aid group World Vision. For them, its not just about getting immediate relief supplies; its more like: What happens next week? What happens next month? Read more: Nothing left to live on: Haitis hurricane survivors face loss Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder is sending medical supplies to Haiti Haiti needs food, jobs, doctors and now a president Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Filipov reported from Washington. Outside China, Ilham Tohti is considered a moderate Uighur voice, but he was convicted in 2014 on charges including advocating separatism and inciting ethnic hatred. (Andy Wong/AP) China dismissed the awarding of a major human rights prize Tuesday to scholar Ilham Tohti, an ethnic Uighur who was jailed for life in 2014 on charges of advocating separatism and supporting terrorism. Tohti, who taught at Beijings Minzu University, was an outspoken critic of Chinas ethnic policies in the mainly Muslim far-western region of Xinjiang. He was widely respected outside the country as a moderate voice within Chinas Uighur minority community but was sentenced to life behind bars after a two-day trial in September 2014 on accusations of advocating separatism, inciting ethnic hatred, criticizing the government and voicing support for terrorists all charges he denies. A coalition of 10 leading rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which bestowed their annual Martin Ennals Award on Tohti, said he had worked for two decades to foster dialogue and understanding between Uighurs and Chinas ethnic Han majority, and had rejected separatism and violence. But Chinas Foreign Ministry said his case had nothing to do with human rights. In the classroom, Ilham Tohti openly made heroes of terrorist extremists that conducted violent terror attacks, said ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. He also used his position as a lecturer to entice and coerce some people to form a group to promote and participate in East Turkestan separatist forces activities. Uighurs in Xinjiang, which is sometimes called East Turkestan, have long complained about repression and discrimination at the hands of the Chinese government. Resentment has sometimes , turned violent, as witnessed by deadly riots in 2009 and more recent terrorist attacks, apparently inspired by a violent interpretation of Islam. Tohti began writing about problems and abuses in Xinjiang in 1994 and later set up a website that offered a counter to the official government narrative, attempting to foster discussion about the economic, social and developmental issues Uighurs face. He said the site took pains not to promote separatist ideas. At the time of his 2014 trial, the White House said that Chinas government had failed to distinguish between peaceful dissent and violent extremism and that Tohti played a vital role in reducing inter-ethnic tension. In January this year several hundred academics petitioned Beijing to release him. The real shame of this situation is that by eliminating the moderate voice of Ilham Tohti, the Chinese government is in fact laying the groundwork for the very extremism it says it wants to prevent, said the Martin Ennals Foundations chairman, Dick Oosting. Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said that instead of criticizing the award, the Chinese government would do better to look in the mirror and release Tohti immediately. When Tohti was nominated for the award, his daughter Jewher Ilham said her father had used only one weapon in the struggle for the basic rights of Uighurs: Words. Spoken, written, distributed and posted. This is all he has ever had at his disposal, and all that he has ever needed. And this is what China found so threatening. A person like him doesnt deserve to be in prison for even a day, she said. The other finalists for this years award were the Ethiopian independent journalism collective Zone 9 Bloggers and Razan Zaitouneh, a Syrian human rights lawyer, activist and journalist. In 2010, another jailed Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and he remains behind bars. The Chinese government reacted furiously to that decision, curbing imports of Norwegian salmon. China gives moderate Uighur scholar life in prison Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world The German government is massively expanding its political, economic and military involvement in Africa. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is currently touring Mali, Niger and Ethiopia with a high-level delegation. On Sunday, Merkel met President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in Malis capital Bamako. We want to make a contribution to stabilising Mali so that it can make a good development, she said. It is important to us that we establish coherence in connection with our development cooperation and military support. In reality, there is no development aid taking place in Mali, but a military operation in which 650 German soldiers are participating. In Bamako, Merkel thanked the German troops there, saying, Firstly, I want to thank you for your service, since this is quite a challenge given the unaccustomed temperatures and given the climatic conditions. An official report by the German government openly admits that what is involved in Mali is a military combat operation: MINUSMA and French soldiers are attempting to bring the north of Mali back under the control of the government in Bamako, and in this are fighting against Islamic groups [emphasis added]. As well as MINUSMA, Germany is involved in two further missions in Mali: the EU training mission EUTM and a mission to train the Malian police to guard the countrys borders. On Monday, Merkel met with President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger in the countrys capital, Niamey. The chancellor announced financial support of 17 million euros, which above all is for the fight against smugglers. Berlin will also provide 10 million euros to equip the countrys armed forces, supposedly for the fight against terrorism. A few days before Merkels visit, the German ambassador to Niger, Bernd von Munchow-Pohl, announced that following the US and France, Germany too now planned to establish a military base in Niger. With the establishment of a German military base for aviation in Niamey, the MINUSMA mission should be supported, Pohl was quoted saying. Germany was ready to do more in the Sahel and take on more responsibility. The official reason for Merkels Africa trip is the opening of the so-called Julius Nyerere Peace and Security Building in Addis Ababa, which Germany had financed to the tune of 30 million euros. It contains the headquarters of the Africa Union, as well as a meeting chamber and facilities for directing military operations. Today, the chancellor is scheduled to deliver a speech on the architecture of African peace and security, according to a government spokesman. The official propaganda cannot disguise the fact that Germany is increasingly pursuing a military course in Africa, collaborating with authoritarian governments to keep refugees in Africa, far from Europe, and above all in order to assert Berlins economic and geostrategic interests in this populous continent, rich in raw materials. Before her departure, in an interview with news weekly Die Zeit, Merkel said, in the manner of a colonial master, Now, of course, we cant make the world better in one fell swoop. But if we want to pursue German interests, we must say realistically that Africas wellbeing is also in Germanys interest. Whose wellbeing and which German interests are involved in Africa is especially apparent when one studies the current foreign policy strategy papers of the federal government and takes a look at history. Merkels first extended trip to Africa since 2011 has been long prepared politically and is part of Germanys return to an aggressive foreign policy. Just weeks after President Gauck and the government announced the end of German military restraint at the Munich Security in January 2014, Merkels cabinet agreed on Africa Policy Guidelines. This is a strategy paper of German imperialism to exploit the population and resource-rich continent in the 21st century. In the first part of the guidelines, under the heading, Background: growing relevance of Africa for Germany and Europe, one reads, The potential of Africa arises from demographic change with a future market with high economic growth, rich natural resources, potential for agricultural production and self-sufficient food security ... African markets are developing dynamically andbeyond the extractive industrieswill be of growing interest to German business. The second section, Our engagement in Africa, demands Germanys engagement in Africa in the spheres of politics, security and development policy has to be strengthened in a targeted fashion. The government aims to act early and swiftly, in a decisive and substantive manner, based on values and human rights. This also includes military interventions. The government wants to use the whole spectrum of means available to it in the fields of politics, security, development and regional policy, business, academia and culture [emphasis in original]. Since the adoption of the paper, Berlin is increasingly seeking to impose its economic and geopolitical interests under the guise of the fight against terrorism and the fight against the causes of flight in Africa. Already in early 2013, the Bundestag (parliament) decided to support the French military intervention in Mali and deploy the Bundeswehr in the country. Since then, the mission has been repeatedly extended. Other German missions are currently under way in Senegal, Central Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Sahara, Sudan, Southern Sudan and Somalia, and all have been extended or expanded. The crowing of the Bundeswehr in Africa, like the return of German militarism to Eastern Europe and the military interventions in the Middle East, stands in the tradition of German colonial and great-power politics. In his notorious speech to the Reichstag (parliament) on December 6, 1897, when the future Chancellor Bernhard von Bulow called for Germany, as a nation that had come too late, for the first time to have a place in the sun, he meant primarily the acquisition of colonies in Africa. As a result, the German Empire, although never able to catch up with the leading colonial powers France and England, was able to establish the so-called German protectorates formed at the beginning of World War I, creating the fourth largest colonial empire on earth. This included German Southwest Africa (todays Namibia), German West Africa (todays Togo, the eastern part of Ghana, Cameroon, the eastern part of Nigeria, parts of Chad, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo and Gabon), German East Africa (todays Tanzania and Rwanda) and German Witu (today southern Kenya). Germany had to give up its colonies following defeat in World War I. But under Hitler, sections of the German elite were again enthusiastic for a German colonial empire in Africa, which could serve as a tropical extension to a Europe dominated by Germany. In a memorandum dated July 1940, the director of the Deutsche Bank and head of the Economic Colonial Political Office of the NSDAP (Nazi party), Kurt Weigelt, summarised the interests of the Third Reich as follows: Seen economically, the countries on the Guinea coast are of the highest worth. Based on our old local possessions (Togo and Cameroon), the Gold Coast-Togo-Dahomey-Nigeria-Cameroon form the ideal central element of Germanys possessions in Africa. With well over 30 million inhabitants, this area is not only the optimum of the tropical extension but with a few exceptions, (copper), provides all the nationally important economic needs of the homeland. He continues: It is completed from a forestry products perspective with the inclusion of French Congo, whereby it also extends to the Belgian Congo, which would also meet the needs for copper. On the way to this area, lie the iron ore reserves of Conakry and the phosphates of French Morocco (special arrangements), as well as air and marine bases at Bathhurst, or Dakar. Seventy-five years after the fall of Nazi Germany, the time has come again when the German elites aggressively enter the new scramble for Africa. As in the past, this will not only worsen the plight of the local population, but also fuel the conflict between the imperialist powers themselves. The German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), a Hamburg research institute that advises, among others, the foreign ministry, noted in a 2014 paper on the new German Strategy for Africa: Increasingly, the African continent is the scene of new geostrategic rivalries between the European Union, China, the US and other leading powers such as India, Brazil and Turkey. German foreign policy is bound to reflect the new constellations and challenges and new conceptions towards Africa. Another factor behind the German offensive in Africa is Berlins fear of a revolutionary uprising of the African masses. The GIGA paper warns: From Mauritania to Sudan, for decades a deep-seated distrust of governments and governors has existed. In the eyes of the population, these have done little or nothing [...] In the villages of the Sahel, there is hardly any electricity, few streets and the population isapart from a few circles of the elitecompletely impoverished and has no prospect of ever getting a job. The Sahel is one of the poorest regions of the world. For many years, experts have warned of social unrest. More than 100 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) musicians and support staff have been on strike for over a week, after unanimously rejecting management demands for a 15 percent pay cut, an end to defined-benefit pensions, and changes in hiring rules that would allow management to cut jobs. Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra musicians have also been on strike since September 8, seeking to recoup pay cuts ceded in 2010. The Philadelphia Orchestra also struck on September 30, but ended the strike after ratifying a contract two days later that roughly maintains current compensation levels but does not restore concessions given up during its 2012 bankruptcy. These attacks on symphony orchestra musicians mirror those that led to strikes in Detroit (2010), San Francisco (2012), and Spokane, Washington (2012), and a lockout in Minneapolis (2012-2013). The financial elite in the US and worldwide constantly claim that there is no money for the arts, public education, safe drinking water, or any other basic right of the working class. Meanwhile, trillions have been used to finance illegal wars and to bail out criminal banks. The $1.5 million annual deficit the PSO management cites to justify its concession demands is less than a third the cost of a single Predator drone. The PSOs entire $32 million annual budget is roughly 1 percent the cost of a single Virginia Class nuclear submarine. Meanwhile, the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts, $147,949,000 in 2016, is less than 30 percent what was in 1979, in real terms. The PSO has received broad support from workers and artists in Pittsburgh and around the country, with many supporters of the orchestra joining the picket line. Orchestra musicians have played numerous free concerts at various locations in Pittsburgh. One such concert on Friday evening at Carnegie Mellon University, where many PSO musicians also teach, drew an audience of hundreds, primarily students. Musicians chose to play two simultaneous concerts to ensure no one was turned away. A WSWS reporting team, including a member of the University of Pittsburgh chapter of International Youth and Students for Social Equality, interviewed striking musicians and supporters at the picket line at Heinz Hall, the home concert hall of the PSO. Zachary Smith, a French horn player with the PSO, explained the reasons he chose to strike. This is one of the best orchestras in the world, he said. What we have here is a very special thing. You want to attract the best musicians in the world. Pittsburgh has always been a destination. The management are all corporate restructuring guys, but were not a corporation. I do think its a real problem. They threatened earlier this week to replace us with replacement musicians. When you look at an orchestra, of course its inefficient, but it has to be. Youve got one percussionist doing this, another doing this, and another doing this, Zachary explained, miming different movements. But if you have just one guy trying to do it all, its not going to work. Youre not going to trim the Mona Lisa to fit it into a smaller frame, but thats what theyre trying to do here. You cant do that. This is a great orchestra because of its continuity and cohesion. Its in the DNA, built up over the years. Were the stewards of the orchestra, he added. Its our responsibility to the people who came before us, and the people who will come after us. Mark Huggins, the associate concertmaster of the PSO, explained the reasons he was on strike. Were very committed to maintaining this great institution, he said. When I came to the Pittsburgh symphony, the community wanted and supported a world-class symphony orchestra. It attracts the best all over the world. I came from Europe. We have musicians from China, Venezuela, Asia. Brett Rutherford, a poet, publisher and editor, spoke of his deep connection to the PSO: This is my first orchestra. I came as a high school student to hear the Pittsburgh symphony. William Steinberg was my first conductor. I just retired back to Pittsburgh, and one of the main reasons to be here is this orchestra. They want to start cutting down the number of players. A lot of places are doing that. In Minneapolis, theyre practically a chamber orchestra at this point, and once you start giving up players, they never rehire them. This is equivalent to the use of adjuncts in academia. You let your orchestra be whittled down, and then you have to hire pickup players when you do a really big concert. I think its great that the players are holding forth for the full complement. Dont stab each other in the back. Its all of us or none of us. A full orchestra is 102-104 people, and if you dont have that, you cant play the full repertoire. Peachesz Zukowski, a local artist, described the enormous impact the PSO had had on her life. My husband had stage four cancer, she said. They told him he had three months to live. The concerts, the symphony, the music literally breathed life into him. He lived 10 years, and every single concert he looked forward to, right up until the last week. It really gave him the ability to fight the cancer. He was a biker, a truck driver, and a mover, a big tough guy. He had eight chemotherapies. My husband and I moved to Pittsburgh because of them [the PSO]. Speaking of PSO musicians, Peachesz continued: I dont think people realize how much they do, just to present a good performance. Its really disappointing to see them being treated this way. When I hear their music, I think that a lifetime of dedication is something that should be rewarded. I know people feel like they make so much money, and meanwhile everybodys struggling on like 10 dollars an hour, but they dont get what they have to go through. I see them. One of my friends is a member of the orchestra, and her entire life is wrapped up in the music. The amount of schooling she had to go through, the cost of the instruments. I just saw a bow, one bow that was going for $125,000. Their lives are so wrapped up with it. My girlfriend has been in the orchestra for 15 years. You cant have a normal life. I have to catch her in between practice and performances. Its so intense. I have immense respect for them. I think it took a lot of insight for them to go on strike, because I think they sense the way that theyre being treated is disrespectful. I dont think theyre getting enough press coverage. I dont think theyre getting anything they deserve. I dont think its right theyre stopping benefits while theyre on strike. People dont realize how important it [culture] is. It elevates you, it takes you from the ordinary to the sublime. What other way could somebody transcend chemotherapy? He was in so much pain, but when he heard the music, he would just close his eyes, he was gone into another dimension. Emotional support animals can ease the stress of flying. (Photo: Getty Images) If youve flown on a commercial flight where a passenger was sitting next to his beloved snake or marmoset, you wont be surprised to learn that the Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has created an Access Advisory Committee to create a compromise around the definition of comfort animals. According to a report from USA Today, airlines are looking to restrict emotional support animals (ESA) from traveling alongside their companion. The only pets that will be allowed in the cabin would be service animals, meaning those that perform tasks for individuals with a disability (e.g., guiding someone who is blind, alerting someone who is deaf, pulling a wheelchair), which include dogs and miniature horses (yes, youve read that correctly), according to the Americans With Disabilities Act. The reason: Airline and federal officials believe many frequent fliers are passing off their pet as a comfort animal to avoid paying the extra cargo fee. In terms of air travel, emotional support animals are animals that are used for the treatment of mental disorders, says Hal Herzog, a professor of psychology at Western Carolina University and a columnist for Psychology Today whose articles focus on the complex psychology of our interactions with other species. He explains that in order to qualify for an ESA, an owner must be under treatment for disorders recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, which can include anxiety disorders like panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder. Unlike service animals, which must be trained for a specific function, ESAs can simply be pets that relieve the patients anxiety, Herzog says. And while federal law has established that service animals can only be dogs or miniature horses, ESAs can be any species even snakes, llamas, and hamsters, he continues. For example, there are excellent studies showing that guinea pigs can lower stress in autistic children in classroom situations. However, many of the claims made for the use of animals in therapy (for example, dolphin therapy) have not been supported by high-quality clinical trials. Story continues Herzog adds that there are also a limited number of controlled studies regarding the effectiveness of ESAs. And I dont know of any studies that have examined the therapeutic impact of ESAs on airline passengers, let alone animals such as turtles, monkeys, and lizards, he says. Currently, people who want to take their ESA on a commercial flight must provide a letter from their doctor or certified mental health professional. But, Herzog points out, certain websites offer fake identification papers for ESAs and service animals, as well as fake medical letters. I see ESAs in airports all the time, and I recently saw a woman with clearly fake ESA identification papers for her dog talk her way onto a plane even though she admitted to the gate attendant that she did not have the required letter from her doctor, he says. In fact, Herzog adds, sniffing out the frauds is extremely challenging. Establishing effective ways to separate real from fake support and service animals is nearly impossible under the law, as there are three different federal agencies that regulate service and support animals, he explains. These regulations conflict with each other. Further, the public is divided on this issue. He feels the most obvious solution would be to limit ESAs to dogs. A more restrictive measure would be to apply the same criteria to ESAs as the Feds apply to psychiatric service animals under the Americans With Disabilities Act, Herzog concludes. That is requiring that the animal be trained to serve a specific function. Unfortunately, the act does not have any teeth, as the owner of a service animal does not have to provide any proof that the animal has been trained in order for the animal to have access to public places, such as restaurants. Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Shailene Woodley, who has been protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline for months, was arrested Oct. 10 for criminal trespassing. (Photo: Instagram) Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars actress Shailene Woodley was in the midst of a peaceful protest at the Dakota Access Pipeline Oct. 10 when she was arrested for criminal trespassing and she shared the entire experience on Facebook Live. Riot police are arriving at this peaceful protest where people are praying, Woodley says in disgust at the beginning of the video, shaking her head at the scene starting to unfold at the site in Morton County, N.D. Woodley recorded more than two hours of footage that was shared on Facebook, showing herself among a crowd of people picketing and chanting. Every once in a while she would turn the camera around on herself to address viewers. This is America America, she says sadly. And look what were faced with when were trying to protect clean water. Its toward the end of the video when Woodleys part in the protest takes a turn. After one of the organizers announces that its time to leave, the demonstrators begin to break up and start returning to their vehicles to go home. Woodley continues her live feed, showing that her mom is at the protest with her, commenting on the police presence in the area (These cops with their helicopter behind them its so eerie, theyre out of their element. But I have to say, they were pretty cool today.) And she almost makes it back to her RV, safe and sound almost. Guys, not to make a bad cinema joke, but theres some Divergent s*** about to happen, she tells the camera, then turns it around to show a large armored vehicle parked right next to her RV. I was just told the cops are following me. Send some prayers! The cops were indeed following Woodley and decided to make their presence officially known to her. I dont know if you guys just heard me, but I was walking back to my RV, which is right there so that we can go back to camp peacefully and they grabbed me by my jacket and said that I was not allowed to continue, she told the camera. And they had giant guns and batons and zip ties and theyre not letting me go. Story continues Woodley attempts to address the cops, but gets shut down quickly. We cant talk right here, one of the cops tells her. But right now youre going to be placed under arrest for criminal trespassing. I have one question, Woodley starts, but the cop cuts her off. Were not going to answer any questions right now, he says bluntly. Why am I being arrested and no one else is being arrested right now? she persists. You trespassed on the property, so youre being placed under arrest right now, another cop states. Yeah, but so were hundreds of other people, Woodley tells him. When you asked us to leave, we did. You were identified, the cops explain. All right, Im being arrested, she tells the camera as she puts her hands behind her back. Because I was trespassing like everyone its because Im well known. Its because I have 40,000 people watching. As shes being led away, she explains, So everybody knows we were going to our vehicle which they had all surrounded and waiting for me with giant guns and a giant truck behind them just so they could arrest me. I hope youre watching, mainstream media. Woodley has never been shy about sharing her political leanings and her passion for environmental issues. She has been a staunch supporter of Bernie Sanders, trumpeting his stance against the Dakota Access Pipeline also known as the Bakken pipeline throughout the year. In August, Woodley attended a rally with 200 other protesters arguing against the pipeline an event she also shared on Facebook Live that ended without incident. Shailene laid it all on the line (or street) to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. (Photo: Instagram) Initially it seemed the Oct. 10 protest would also end without issue. As the video continues from Woodleys introduction, it shows the crowd of protesters coming to a standoff with riot police but their protest is nonviolent, with the crowd largely choosing to stand defiantly in front of the cops. Sometimes theyre talking among themselves; sometimes theyre standing in silence. Periodically a chant of You cant drink oil! rumbles through the crowd, but as Woodley continuously documents, nobody is behaving aggressively. So the reason why were here is because last night, the U.S. District Court of Appeals decided to deny the injunction to halt construction of the pipeline, Woodley explains roughly an hour and a half into the live feed. As she shares with an interviewer later on, What does this mean? This means that once again the government isnt paying attention to people, theyre paying attention to corporations. Woodley has been actively protesting the pipeline since February, along with fellow actresses Rosario Dawson and Susan Sarandon. If completed, the pipeline would run 1,100 miles across the Missouri River and through the Dakotas, amid concerns of contaminated ground water and environmental destruction. (Photo: Instagram) When interviewed by a journalist from Fusion on the scene, Woodley stated, Im a 24-year-old woman who cares not only about the generations that are alive right now, but the generations to come. And were here to protect clean water, and were here to protect the land, and were here to reconnect humanity to our roots, which is the earth, which is recognizing that we cannot help the earth and do anything to and for the earth until we realize we are made of earth, so we have to start with ourselves. Woodley is in good company theres an illustrious lineup of celebrities who have been arrested in the name of their political beliefs. In 2012, George Clooney was arrested when protesting against violence in Sudan, rallying against President Omar al-Bashir in order to get humanitarian aid to the region. Darryl Hannah has been arrested numerous times once in 2006 for protesting the bulldozing of the South Central Farm in Los Angeles (during which she famously chained herself to a tree for three weeks), in 2009 for protesting mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia, and again in 2011 for protesting the Keystone XL oil pipeline during a sit-in outside the White House. Woody Harrelson was arrested in 1996 with nine other protesters who climbed the Golden Gate Bridge in the name of a 60,000-acre redwood grove they wanted the government to protect. In 2001, actor James Cromwell was arrested for a protest he staged with PETA inside a Virginia-area Wendys. And Woodleys fellow pipeline activists have also felt the legal sting of standing for their rights. Sarandon was arrested multiple times in high school for protesting the Vietnam War, and Dawson was arrested this past spring as part of a protest against the financial systems that taint the election process. On Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric talks with Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor and former DNC chair, about the state of the 2016 election and how aspects of it compare with his outsider candidacy in 2004. Yahoo News Now Special Edition: 2016 The Choice Every weekday until the election, well be coming to you live from the Yahoo Studios in New York City, bringing the latest information and analysis of the days most compelling storylines in the race for the White House. Taiwan-based Burmese filmmaker Midi Z produces his best work yet with The Road to Mandalay. Returning to narrative features after the documentaries Jade Miners and City of Jade, Z maintains his focus on Burmese exiles with a low-key, high-impact love story about two illegal immigrants with very different ideas about making money and starting a new life in Bangkok. Very well performed by Zs regular actress Wu Ke-xi and established Taiwanese star Kai Ko (You Are the Apple of My Eye), The Road to Mandalay is bound to travel far and wide on the fest circuit following a prestigious hat-trick of selections in Venice, Toronto, and Busan. Taiwan and Hong Kong theatrical release is set for Dec. 9. A good example of a filmmaker whos stuck to his task and steadily improved with each outing, Z has weeded out the overlong shots and plot meanderings that crept into his early features Return to Burma and Poor Folk. Following his big leap forward with Ice Poison, Midi Z has now delivered a tightly edited and emotionally rewarding drama that places him in the top rank of Asian social realists. The films title may conjure all sorts of exotic notions, but the reality is something very different. The only part of Burma seen here is a riverbank on the Thai border where strangers Lianqing (Wu) and Guo (Kai) are ferried to the other side and packed into a van bound for Bangkok. With very little dialogue, Z paints a clinical picture of how the desperation of those fleeing conflict and poverty and the opportunism of corrupt officials perpetuates the people smuggling trade. Clearly attracted to his traveling companion, Guo makes stumbling romantic moves once they hit the capital. He wants Lianqing to follow him into a textile factory where no questions are asked. But the determined young woman has bigger ideas. Her plan is to get a legitimate job and eventually secure a Thai passport. Despite the help of her kind-hearted flatmate, Cai (Yue Gai-huan), things dont work out. Unable to produce the required documents, Lianqing is forced into low-paid work as a restaurant dishwasher. Its not long before shes caught in a police raid and swindled by scam artists and crooked officials promising to supply genuine work documents. In sheer desperation, Lianqing joins the workforce at Guos factory. Story continues Even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, Lianqing simply refuses to give up. Wus spot-on performance all inner strength and steely determination is the films quiet yet powerful emotional core. Audiences will root for her through ordeals including a brush with the sex trade that may be real or imagined, but is genuinely startling either way. Zs lean and efficient screenplay neatly houses Lianqings struggle within the larger picture of Bangkoks unofficial economy, where labor and life are cheap. The Thai capital has rarely looked as drab and unwelcoming as it does here. With expert control of tone and performances, Z ramps up the stakes as Guo makes his intentions clear. Disillusioned with dead-end life abroad, he wants to return to Burma and starts talking about marriage. Lianqings response to his overtures propels the tale to a climax that audiences wont soon forget. Virtually a one-man band at the start of his career, Z is armed this time with a much larger budget and greater technical resources. The outstanding contributions of cinematographer Tom Fan and editor Matthieu Laclau (the Jia Zhangke-directed features Mountains May Depart and A Touch of Sin) contribute significantly to the success of The Road to Mandalay. Composer Lim Giongs eerie sonic sculptures are perfectly positioned to maximize the characters sense of displacement and alienation. Related stories Asia Box Office: Reliable Sources Sometimes Hard to Come by Busan: M-Line Picks Up Warner Korea's 'A Single Rider' Busan: Lotte Sells French Novel Adaptation, Comedies Not every country celebrates birthdays with presents and cake. In China, birthday tradition dictates that you slurp down long noodles to represent longevity. In Jamaica, your friends and family might chase you down and cover you in flour on your birthday. With perhaps the strangest tradition of all, Swiss parents may hire a creepy clown to follow you around on your birthday. At the end of the ritual, the clown pies you in the face. [See: 10 Fun, Frugal Ways to Spend Your Free Time.] Of course, the U.S. is not without its share of unique customs. For instance, it's become increasingly common for restaurants to treat you to free meals and other goodies on your special day. Track these awesome eateries down, and you can spend your birthday feasting on overstuffed burritos, towering stacks of pancakes and steak dinners. To start off your search for the sweet and savory, check out these 10 restaurants where you can eat for free on your birthday. Keep in mind that many restaurants require that you sign up for their e-clubs in exchange for your natal day nosh. 1. Einstein Bros. Bagels: Free egg sandwich. On your birthday, Einstein Bros. Bagels will hook you up with one of their egg sandwiches. Stack your birthday bagel with a choice of bacon, turkey-sausage or ham and Swiss cheese. Go for a plain bagel or spice it up with a gourmet variety, like pretzel or pumpernickel. To qualify for this treat, join Einstein Bros. Bagels' loyalty club, called Shmear Society. 2. IHOP: Free pancakes. Sign up for the IHOP Pancake Revolution email, and you'll score a coupon for a free Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity. This hearty breakfast pairs fruit-topped pancakes with bacon, sausage and eggs. 3. Hooters: Free wings. Hooters promises a "free birthday gift" to members of the Hooters eClub. Legend has it that this free birthday gift includes 10 of their wings. You may be able to commemorate your special day with a platter of Hooters' wings, choosing from a selection, such as bacon-wrapped or boneless. Story continues [See: 12 Habits of Phenomenally Frugal Families.] 4. Baja Fresh: Free burrito. If you are a member of their loyalty club, Baja Fresh will help you celebrate your special day with a birthday burrito. Feast on a warm tortilla stuffed with handmade guacamole, zesty pico de gallo and your choice of protein. Choose from meats like fire-grilled chicken or pork carnitas. 5. Black Angus Steakhouse: Free steak dinner. Black Angus Steakhouse rewards Prime Club members with a free dessert -- but the restaurant doesn't stop there. The steakhouse also gifts birthday diners with entire steak dinners. Visit the restaurant on your special day to get your fill of bone-in ribeye certified Angus beef. Top your steak with toppers, such as fresh baby portobello mushrooms, roasted garlic and fresh herbs. 6. Jersey Mike's: Free sub and drink. On your birthday, you can wash back one of Jersey Mike's hot or cold subs with a drink. Take your pick from the menu's array of ingredients, such as chipotle chicken, 99 percent fat-free turkey breast or their signature Philly cheesesteak. 7. Johnny Rockets: Free burger. This burger joint will whip you up a free, freshly made hamburger on your birthday. Sign up for the Rocket eClub, and you can land a toasted bun loaded with all-natural seasoned beef, bacon and other tasty toppings. 8. Spaghetti Warehouse: Free meal. Pull up a chair at a Spaghetti Warehouse table, and you might score a free birthday meal. If you're a member of the Warehouse Club, you can dive your fork into a bowl of spaghetti topped with hand-rolled meatballs, baked pepperoni or Italian pork sausage. [See: 10 Money Leaks to Shut Down Now.] 9. Texas de Brazil: Buy one, get one free dinner. Texas de Brazil hints at a "great birthday gift" for its email club members. In the past, the birthday gift has included a coupon for a buy one, get one free dinner. When a fellow diner orders one of their Brazilian-inspired meals, you can have partake in a dinner of your own, with your pick of meats, like lamb chops, flank steak and chicken sausage. 10. Buca di Beppo: Free cake. To honor your natal day, Buca di Beppo might spoil you with a whole cake. To take advantage of this offer, make a reservation online for a party of four or more. Once you've booked your birthday table, you'll receive an email voucher you can exchange for your free cake. Maria Lalonde honed her deal-hunting skills while traveling through South America and Southeast Asia, combing colorful local markets for unique finds. Her love of blogging and thirst for deals brought her to Offers.com, where she blogs about savings tips. thinking Benjamin Franklin began and ended each day with a question: "What good shall I do this day?" in the morning, and "What good have I done this day?" in the evening. In fact, many great thinkers embraced the idea of constantly questioning things. As Albert Einstein reportedly said, "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." Of course, getting into the habit of self-reflection is easier said than done, as we often prefer to avoid asking ourselves the tough questions. As philosopher and psychologist John Dewey explained in his 1910 book, "How We Think," reflective thinking involves overcoming our predisposition to accept things at face value and the willingness to endure mental unrest. But enduring this discomfort is well worth the effort, as it can result in the confidence boost necessary to perform better in our work and daily lives. To help kickstart your habit of self-reflection, here are 11 daily questions you can start asking today: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' In 2005, about a year after he received his pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs told Stanford's graduating class that, for 33 years, he would look in the mirror every morning and ask himself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" If the answer was "No" for too many days in a row, he says he know he needed to change something. "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important," Jobs explained. "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." Story continues 'How do I see myself? "This questions gets at your likely unspoken beliefs about who you are," writes Wanleo.com founder and CEO Deena Varshavskaya on Quora. She says that changing how you see yourself in various situations can also change your actions and, ultimately, who you are. "An example: if you see yourself as an unproven entrepreneur, the focus of your actions will be to prepare for later when you are more proven. By changing this to start looking at yourself simply as a hard working and capable entrepreneur, you can change what actions you take, who you chose to speak to, and so on," she writes 'Is getting rich worth it?' "It changed the way I looked at life, and it might change yours too," writes Quora user David Liew. Liew points to another Quora user's response to the Quora question, "Is getting rich is worth it?" as one of the most insightful responses: "Most people hold the illusion that if only they had more money, their life would be better and they would be happier. Then they get rich, and that doesn't happen, and it can throw them into a serious life crisis. If you're part of the middle class, you have just as many opportunities to do with your life what you want of it. If you're not happy now, you won't be happy because of money." Asking if getting rich is worth what you're about to do or if it's worth being your primary motivator daily could help you adjust your priorities and prevent you from making some big mistakes. 'What is my biggest strength?' VaynerMedia CEO and cofounder Gary Vaynerchuk writes on Quora that asking this question is the key to loving your job. As he explains, so many people have jobs they hate because they haven't found their true passion yet. "They are good at a few things, so that's what they do here and there, but they aren't sure what that one big thing they want to do forever could be," he says. "Stop doing stuff you hate. Nail down your strengths so you can discover your passion," he advises. 'What pain do I want in my life?' Happiness requires struggle, as well as an understanding of what we are willing to struggle for, writes self-development blogger Mark Manson. "What determines your success isn't 'What do you want to enjoy?' The question is, "What pain do you want to sustain?' The quality of your life is not determined by the quality of your positive experiences but the quality of your negative experiences. And to get good at dealing with negative experiences is to get good at dealing with life," Manson explains. 'What was different then from now?' If you're struggling to start a new habit, "Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives" author Gretchen Rubin suggests thinking about a time in the past when you successfully changed your behavior. Asking yourself, "What was different then from now?" can help you figure out what factors helped you successfully change your behavior in the past so that you can emulate them going forward. "If you set it up in a way that's right for you, you're going to have much better success," Rubin told psychologist Ron Friedman at the Peak Work Performance Summit. 'How are you doing?' Quora user Michael Hopkins writes: "It's silly, but it all started when I watched an episode of 'The Tick' where the Tick travels on a quest inside his own mind to seek the answer to any one question. When he finally meets his inner being, and can ask any question he wants, he asks something like, 'How are you doing?' "I took from that a very profoundly meaningful lesson: At the center of each of us, this is the most basic and truest and most important question. It leads to so many internal conversations that we would all be better off having with ourselves each day." 'Why so serious?' "I tend to fuss over little things and don't feel quite alright until I get them done in the manner I desire," writes Quora user Soham Banerjee. The question is a good reminder to us all not to take life so seriously all the time and can help put things in perspective. "And also, asking that question in the Joker's voice is fun," he notes. 'Do I pick partners and friends who support me, challenge me, encourage me, and help me grow?' Quora user Nela Canovi says: "There is a saying that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Think about the people in your life. Are the people close to you helping you grow as a human being? Or do you spend time with people who don't respect their own time (and therefore won't respect yours), who drain your energy, who are negative and only like to complain, and who exemplify a 'fixed mindset' instead of a 'growth mindset' so that at the end of the day you struggle to understand why you don't feel happy and energized around them? "Be selective about who you keep in your inner circle of friends. Surround yourself with people based on your common interests, your values, the things you consider important to your personal growth, as well as how you value time, knowledge, and friendship." 'Did I do my best to set clear goals today? Did I do my best to make progress toward my goals today?' These are actually two out of 32 questions Marshall Goldsmith asks himself daily, as Business Insider previously reported. Goldsmith writes on his blog that he challenges himself every day by answering questions that represent behavior that he knows is important, but that is easy for him to neglect given the pressures of daily life. Of these questions, six are what he calls "active questions," and he believes they can help set anyone up to be more successful. Specifically, they are: "Did I do my best to increase my happiness?" "Did I do my best to find meaning?" "Did I do my best to be engaged?" "Did I do my best to build positive relationships?" "Did I do my best to set clear goals?" "Did I do my best to make progress toward goal achievement?" As Goldsmith explains, "There is a huge difference between 'Do you have clear goals?' and 'Did you do your best to set clear goals for yourself?' The former is trying to determine your state of mind; the latter challenges you to describe or defend a course of action." It injects accountability into the equation. He says there's nothing wrong about asking passive questions, but, "when asked exclusively, passive questions can become the natural enemy of taking personal responsibility and demonstrating accountability. They can give people permission to 'pass the buck' to anyone and anything but themselves!" 'What went well today?' Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino and her colleagues asked workers to spend 15 minutes at the end of their workdays writing about what went well that day, and they found that the journaling employees had 22.8% higher performance than those who didn't ponder on their workday. As former Tech Insider reporter Drake Baer points out, reflecting on the day's successes can help you incorporate those lessons into the next day. "It's like the process of 'iteration' that startup folks are always talking about. You introduce a stimulus, gather the data of your experience, and then improve from there," he writes. It's worth noting that study participants didn't simply think about what went well, but wrote their responses down. "It's very easy to deceive yourself if you're just thinking about it," Gino notes, "but when you write things down on paper, it's easier to identify what's helpful." Some responses have been edited for clarity. NOW WATCH: 4 morning rituals that are hard to adopt but could really pay off More From Business Insider The Daily Beast Patrick Pleul/AFP via GettyJust days after he promised advertisers that Twitter would not become a free-for-all hellscape, Elon Musk used the platform he now owns to amplify a baseless conspiracy theory about the hammer attack on Nancy Pelosis husband by an intruder.There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye, Musk tweeted Sunday morning in reply to a tweet by Hillary Clinton blasting the Republican Party for creating a toxic environment that lays the gr More than 25 previously unpublished "Dead Sea Scroll" fragments, dating back 2,000 years and holding text from the Hebrew Bible, have been brought to light, their contents detailed in two new books. The various scroll fragments record parts of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Samuel, Ruth, Kings, Micah, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Joshua, Judges, Proverbs, Numbers, Psalms, Ezekiel and Jonah. The Qumran caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered had yet to yield any fragments from the Book of Nehemiah; if this newly revealed fragment is authenticated it would be the first. Scholars have expressed concerns that some of the fragments are forgeries. [See Photos of the Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments] These 25 newly published fragments are just the tip of the iceberg. A scholar told Live Science that around 70 newly discovered fragments have appeared on the antiquities market since 2002. Additionally, the cabinet minister in charge of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), along with a number of scholars, believes that there are undiscovered scrolls that are being found by looters in caves in the Judean Desert. The IAA is sponsoring a new series of scientific surveys and excavations to find these scrolls before looters do. The Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in a series of 11 caves by the archaeological site of Qumran in the Judean Desert, near the Dead Sea. During that time, archaeologists and local Bedouins unearthed thousands of fragments from nearly 900 manuscripts. Some of the Bedouin sold their scrolls in Bethlehem through an antiquities dealer named Khalil Iskander Shahin, who went by the name "Kando." Shahin died in 1993 and his son William Kando now runs his business and estate. Many scholars believe that the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden in the Qumran caves around A.D. 70, during a Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire. They may have been written by a Jewish sect known as the Essenes. Story continues Qumran and its caves are located in the West Bank, a territory captured by Israel from Jordan during the Six-Day War in 1967. Jordan at times has asserted that the Dead Sea Scrolls belong to them. Although the term Dead Sea Scrolls usually refers to the scrolls found at Qumran, there have been scrolls found in caves at other sites in the Judean Desert that are considered Dead Sea Scrolls. Collecting scrolls The 25 newly published scroll fragments were purchased by two separate collectors. [Gallery of Dead Sea Scrolls: A Glimpse of the Past] Between 2009 and 2014, Steve Green, the owner of Hobby Lobby, a chain of arts and crafts stores, purchased 13 of the fragments, which he has donated, along with thousands of other artifacts, to the Museum of the Bible. Green is helping to fund construction of the museum, scheduled to open in Washington, D.C., next fall. (A fly-through of the museum can be seen on YouTube). A team of scholars has published details of these donated fragments in the book volume "Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments in the Museum Collection" (Brill, 2016). The provenance of this batch of scrolls is not certain. "Some of these fragments must have come from Qumran, probably Cave 4, while the others may have derived from other sites in the Judean Desert," wrote Emanuel Tov, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in the book volume. "Unfortunately, little is known about the provenance of these fragments because most sellers did not provide such information at the time of the sale." Antiquities dealer William Kando told Live Science that he doesn't know where the donated fragments originated. Scientists are conducting tests on the donated fragments to help determine if any are forgeries, said Michael Holmes, executive director of the Museum of the Bible Scholars Initiative, in a statement sent to Live Science. The results will be combined with an analysis of the writing to help determine what the chances are of the different fragments being forgeries. "The results will be incorporated in our future museum exhibits, inviting visitors to grasp and engage with issues involved with assessing authenticity," Holmes said. Biblical manuscripts Martin Schyen, a collector from Norway, owns the other batch of the recently revealed Dead Sea Scrolls. The texts from those fragments are detailed in the book "Gleanings from the Caves: Dead Sea Scrolls and Artefacts from The Schyen Collection" (Bloomsbury, 2016). Also detailed in the book are other artifacts related to the scrolls, including a linen wrapper in which one of the Dead Sea Scrolls was found. [Photos: Who 'Penned' the Dead Sea Scrolls?] Schyen, who has a vast collection of antiquities, began collecting biblical manuscripts in 1986. "The ultimate challenge had become to acquire a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls with a biblical text," Schyen wrote in the book. "It was for me a 'Mission: Impossible.'" His determination paid off as, gradually, he was able to track down scroll fragments that were for sale by a number of sources. He bought several from a family collection that is now in in Zurich (the name was not published) and several more from the descendants of tourists or collectors who had purchased scrolls from Shahin's shop in Bethlehem in the 1950s. He also purchased a few fragments that were once owned by two scholars who had worked in the Qumran caves as students in 1948 (the students got the fragments as gifts from a bishop who supported the work). "The quest that started as a 'Mission: Impossible' in 1986, gradually proceeded to become a collection of [about] 115 fragments from around 27 different scrolls," Schyen said. He added that some of the fragments in his collection come from caves 1, 4 and 11 at Qumran, while some come from other caves in the Judean Desert. Nehemiah A highlight from the newly published Museum of the Bible collection is a fragment from the Book of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2:13-16). The fragment tells of a man named Nehemiah who lived during the fifth century B.C., at a time after Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Persian Empire had taken over Babylon's territory and the Jews, who had been forced to leave Israel by the Babylonians, were allowed to return home. The fragment records Nehemiah's visit to a ruined Jerusalem, finding that its gates had been "consumed by fire." According to the fragment text, he inspects the remains of the walls before starting work on rebuilding them. Scholars have noted in previous studies that archaeologists hadn't found any copies of the Book of Nehemiah in the Qumran caves. How this fragment came to America is unknown, and scholars say they can't be sure it's from Qumran. "It is assumed to come from Cave 4 [at Qumran], but in the final analysis it must be said that the provenance of the fragment remains unknown," wrote Martin G. Abegg Jr., a professor at Trinity Western University who led the team that analyzed the fragment, in the book "Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments in the Museum Collection." Leviticus A highlight from the Schyen Collection is a fragment containing part of the Book of Leviticus. In the fragment text, God promises that if the Sabbath is observed and the Ten Commandments are obeyed, the people of Israel will be rewarded. "If you walk according to my laws, and keep my commandments and implement them, then I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their fruit," part of the fragment reads (translation by Torleif Elgvin). "I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down untroubled by anyone; and I will exterminate vicious beasts from the land, and no sword shall cross your land," the fragment continues. "I will look with favour upon you, and make you fertile and multiply you." Schyen published a note from William Kando saying that the Leviticus scroll fragment was once owned by his father who got it from Bedouin in 1952 or 1953 and it was sold, along with other fragments, to a customer in Zurich in 1956. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / October 11, 2016 / EDGE Dimension - 3D and VR Studio based in Montreal, Canada, believes that "hyper realistic video game graphics in real estate can be cool." The company has released new real estate floor plans using technology that eliminates rendering time processes. Maxime Vignola with EDGE Dimension - 3D and VR Studio says, "Traditional image rendering does take a long time to be generated. Once the artists have placed all the models in the scene, created the materials and added the lights, he or she must then render that image." Vignola states that it generally takes half an hour to one hour to generate just one image. EDGE Dimension uses video game technology in order to eliminate the rendering time process, making it much faster and easier to create a variety of video and games. "Once the scene is created, you can walk-around your scene without any limitations," says Vignola. He states that what used to take hours or even days of image processing can now be generated in real time, saving a lot of time compared to traditional methods. A beautiful cinematic can also be created with just the click of a button. The company states that to take things one step further, clients can also connect a virtual reality headset and be completely immersed in their virtual environments. Vignola says that the main goal of the company is to help their clients save time and money by streamlining the photorealistic 3D rendering process as much as possible. He says that by reusing high quality assets and images that the company has created in the past for parts of a project, there is no need to spend time creating precisely those same images again, which makes the entire process run much more smoothly and much faster than before. Those interested in learning more about the 3D rendering services company can visit them on their official website. Contact EDGE Dimension - 3D and VR Studio: Maxime Vignola +1 514-433-5029 mvignola@edgedimension.com 8815 Av du Parc #402, Montreal, QC H2N 1Y7, Canada SOURCE: EDGE Dimension Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Three people were killed and five wounded during pitched gun battles between Brazilian police and drug traffickers in two Rio slums, triggering panic in the nearby Copacabana and Ipanema tourist areas. Two "criminals" were wounded in a morning clash and died at the hospital. A third "fell off a cliff and died," military police said in a statement to AFP about the shootouts in the Cantagalo and Pavao-Pavaozinho favelas. The man who fell to his death was wearing a backpack containing about eight kilograms (almost 18 pounds) of cocaine, the statement said. In the afternoon, another clash wounded three police officers and two suspects. Eight suspects were arrested and eight firearms seized, police said. The clashes began when several police bases were attacked in Pavao-Pavaozinho, said the Police Pacification Unit (UPP), specially created police squads set up to restore law and order in Rio de Janeiro's crime-ridden slums. Police called in reinforcements and the fight dragged into the afternoon. As of 3:00 pm (1800 GMT), shots could still be heard and a military helicopter flew overhead. Passersby and cars sped up as they drove past the slum, and some locals said they heard grenade blasts. Stores pulled down their metal shutters and one entrance to a subway stop in Ipanema shut down, news reports said. Rio, a city of 6.5 million, is plagued by crime fueled in large part by fighting between heavily armed drug trafficking gangs. The government deployed 85,000 police and soldiers during this summer's Olympics in Rio -- twice the number used in the 2012 Summer Games in London. (Photo: SCDF Facebook page) A fire broke out at a coffee shop and wet market at Blk 493, Jurong West St 41 early Tuesday morning. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) reported that the wet market and coffee shop of Blk 493 were completely engulfed in flames. SCDF was alerted to the fire at about 2:45am, it said in a statement posted on Facebook. It dispatched three fire engines, four Red Rhinos, seven support vehicles and four ambulances to the scene. Police and SCDF officers evacuated about 300 residents from surrounding blocks. The residents are now progressively being allowed to return home, said SCDF. SCDF said, At the height of the fire, the roof of the wet market collapsed and the exterior side wall of a coffee shop at Blk 494, which was directly facing the raging blaze, sustained fire damage. The fire was extinguished by 4:15am. A resident in her 60s experienced difficulty in breathing during evacuation and was conveyed to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. No other injuries were reported and SCDF is investigating the cause of the fire. Photos: SCDF In a bid to expand its aviation and supply chain services across emerging markets, aviation support provider AAR Corp. AIR recently entered into a five-year contract, with South African Airways Technical (SAAT) Ltd. Notably, SAAT is the largest and the most advanced full-service maintenance, repair and overhaul organization (MRO) in Africa. Details of the Deal Bearing a maximum value of $125 million, this deal authorizes AAR Corp. to offer power-by-the-hour (PBH) component inventory management and repair services to SAAT. To provide these services, AAR Corp has joined forces with local joint venture (JV) partner JM Aviation South Africa (Pty) Ltd. This tie-up aims at supplying nose-to-tail component and repair management support as well as day-to-day, on-the-ground account management and technical support to South African Airways' (SAA) fleet. Moreover, this JV partnership will allow JM Aviation to work closely with AAR's global parts supply warehouse team in Brussels. Work related to this deal officially began on Oct 1, 2016. In addition, this JVs objectives include expansion of SAATs MRO services to third-party customers/airlines across the continent. Besides, based on AAR Corps global reputation of offering improved operational efficiencies at reduced costs through its customer-centric solutions, SAAT will be able to enhance its fleet readiness at no higher cost incurred. AAR will also support expansion of SAAT's component repair capabilities, including landing gear, and potentially support a new MRO facility in West and Central Africa to satisfy growing regional travel in sub-Saharan Africa and increasing international travel to the continent. AAR CORP Price AAR CORP Price | AAR CORP Quote What Will AAR Corp. Gain from the Deal? The African continent, which has been experiencing high population growth lately, is characterized by vast distances and has neither very strong road, nor rail systems. Consequently, aviation seems to be the strong alternative option for business, tourism and freight. Story continues However, the aviation industry remains largely untapped and therefore offers a lucrative investment source for aviation support companies like AAR Corp. as well as aircraft majors. In fact, AAR Corp. has been aiming to take advantage of this rapidly growing market in Africa for the last couple of years. The companys first PBH component inventory management and repair services contract that it signed in 2014 with Kenya Airways, to support its fleet of 737NGs, outlines AAR Corp.s first effort in this venture. More recent deals include a PBH contract with Fastjet the award-winning, Africa-based low-cost airline, illustrating the global reach of AAR's supply chain solutions. Surely this recent five-year deal reflects significant progress on AAR Corps part to expand its business in Africa, wherein the company has recently established a base of operations in Johannesburg. Stocks to Consider In this context, we mention here a few other significant stocks in the aerospace and defense sector such as General Dynamics Corp. GD, Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT and The Boeing Company BA. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BOEING CO (BA): Free Stock Analysis Report GENL DYNAMICS (GD): Free Stock Analysis Report LOCKHEED MARTIN (LMT): Free Stock Analysis Report AAR CORP (AIR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research On Tuesday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a copyright lawsuit brought by the heirs of William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello against producers of the Tony Award-nominated play, Hand to God. However, the appeals court didn't accept dismissal for the same reason the lawsuit was initially thrown out. And in coming to its decision, the 2nd Circuit raises the possibility that the world famous comedy routine "Who's on First?" is no longer under copyright. The lawsuit came in June 2015 while Hand to God, about a demonic hand puppet belonging to an introverted student in a religious small town, was enjoying a very successful run on Broadway. At issue was a scene where the the main character performs more than a minute of the "Who's on First?" sketch to impress a girl before later admitting that it is a "famous routine from the fifties." A New York federal judge rejected the lawsuit with a finding that producers' exploitation of "Who's on First?" was a fair use in a play that served as a "darkly comedic critique of the social norms governing a small town in the Bible Belt." That's not enough for 2nd Circuit judge Reena Raggi. She writes in her opinion that the district court didn't explain how the purpose and character of "Who's on First?" was transformed by Hand to God and how the extensive copying was necessary to this purpose. "[T]he focus of inquiry is not simply on the new work, i.e., on whether that work serves a purpose or conveys an overall expression, meaning, or message different from the copyrighted material it appropriates," the opinion states. "Rather, the critical inquiry is whether the new work uses the copyrighted material itself for a purpose, or imbues it with a character, different from that for which it was created. Otherwise, any play that needed a character to sing a song, tell a joke, or recite a poem could use unaltered copyrighted material with impunity, so long as the purpose or message of the play was different from that of the appropriated material." Story continues Raggi goes on to conclude that the play appeared to use "Who's on First?" without alteration so that the audience would recognize it as well as the main character'sclaim for having created it. "The 'dramatic' purpose served by the Routine in the Play appears to be as a 'McGuffin,' that is, as a theatrical device that sets up the plot, but is of little or no significance in itself," writes the appellate judge. "More than the Routine's ability to capture audience attention is necessary to provide such justification." Hand to God producer Kevin McCollum would be in trouble if the analysis stopped at the conclusion that the use of "Who's on First?" wasn't transformative, was too much, and could have an adverse impact on licensing of the sketch, but the producers are saved by the failure of the heirs of Abbott and Costello to demonstrate ownership of a valid copyright on the comedy sketch. The routine was first performed in the 1930s on radio, and the comedy duo signed a deal with Universal Pictures to license their work. Abbott and Costello performed "Who's on First?" in the 1940 film, One Night in the Tropics and an expanded version in the 1945 film, The Naughty Nineties. Abbott and Costello registered a copyright on their routine in 1944, but didn't renew it. For this lawsuit, the heirs relied on the copyright to One Night in the Tropics. In 1984, Universal quitclaimed the routine as performed in the film to the heirs' companies. The problem is that the defendants argued that Universal didn't have the right to renew the copyright because only Abbott and Costello - as the authors - could. The heirs responded that Abbott and Costello either assigned ownership or created the routine as a "work for hire" or that the routine merged into the film so as to support a single copyright, but Raggi says these theories have "no merit." Read the full opinion for her explanation. As such, there's a strong possibility that the copyright has lapsed and "Who's on First?" is now in the public domain. The 2nd Circuit hasn't definitively made such a conclusion, but in a footnote, Raggi writes, "Because both parties seemingly concede that the Routine was protected from entering the public domain through at least Tropics's initial copyright term, we need not determine whether Tropics's publication automatically divested Abbott and Costello of their common law copyright and injected it into the public domain." On Tuesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a copyright lawsuit brought by the heirs of William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello against producers of the Tony Award-nominated play Hand to God. However, the appeals court didn't accept dismissal for the same reason the lawsuit was initially thrown out. And in coming to its decision, the 2nd Circuit raises the possibility that the world- famous comedy routine "Who's on First?" is no longer under copyright. The lawsuit came in June 2015 while Hand to God, about a demonic hand puppet belonging to an introverted student in a religious small town, was enjoying a very successful run on Broadway. At issue was a scene where the the main character performs more than a minute of the "Who's on First?" sketch to impress a girl before later admitting that it is a "famous routine from the fifties." A New York federal judge rejected the lawsuit with a finding that producers' exploitation of "Who's on First?" was a fair use in a play that served as a "darkly comedic critique of the social norms governing a small town in the Bible Belt." That's not enough for Second Circuit judge Reena Raggi. She writes in her opinion that the district court didn't explain how the purpose and character of "Who's on First?" was transformed by Hand to God and how the extensive copying was necessary to this purpose. "[T]he focus of inquiry is not simply on the new work, i.e., on whether that work serves a purpose or conveys an overall expression, meaning, or message different from the copyrighted material it appropriates," the opinion states. "Rather, the critical inquiry is whether the new work uses the copyrighted material itself for a purpose, or imbues it with a character, different from that for which it was created. Otherwise, any play that needed a character to sing a song, tell a joke, or recite a poem could use unaltered copyrighted material with impunity, so long as the purpose or message of the play was different from that of the appropriated material." Story continues Raggi goes on to conclude that the play appeared to use "Who's on First?" without alteration so that the audience would recognize it as well as the main character'sclaim for having created it. "The 'dramatic' purpose served by the Routine in the Play appears to be as a 'McGuffin,' that is, as a theatrical device that sets up the plot, but is of little or no significance in itself," writes the appellate judge. "More than the Routine's ability to capture audience attention is necessary to provide such justification." Hand to God producer Kevin McCollum would be in trouble if the analysis stopped at the conclusion that the use of "Who's on First?" wasn't transformative, was too much and could have an adverse impact on licensing of the sketch, but the producers are saved by the failure of the heirs of Abbott and Costello to demonstrate ownership of a valid copyright on the comedy sketch. The routine was first performed in the 1930s on radio, and the comedy duo signed a deal with Universal Pictures to license their work. Abbott and Costello performed "Who's on First?" in the 1940 film One Night in the Tropics, and an expanded version in the 1945 film The Naughty Nineties. Abbott and Costello registered a copyright on their routine in 1944, but didn't renew it. For this lawsuit, the heirs relied on the copyright to One Night in the Tropics. In 1984, Universal quitclaimed the routine as performed in the film to the heirs' companies. The problem is that the defendants argued that Universal didn't have the right to renew the copyright because only Abbott and Costello - as the authors - could. The heirs responded that Abbott and Costello either assigned ownership or created the routine as a "work for hire" or that the routine merged into the film so as to support a single copyright, but Raggi says these theories have "no merit." Read the full opinion for her explanation. As such, there's a strong possibility that the copyright has lapsed and "Who's on First?" is now in the public domain. The Second Circuit hasn't definitively made such a conclusion, but in a footnote, Raggi writes, "Because both parties seemingly concede that the Routine was protected from entering the public domain through at least Tropics's initial copyright term, we need not determine whether Tropics's publication automatically divested Abbott and Costello of their common law copyright and injected it into the public domain." ABCs Nightline is returning to its roots with Inside the Final 30, a daily look at the historical presidential election and how the Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump showdown is being covered. When Nightline debuted in 1979, it was a daily update on the Iran hostage crisis. The show will once again stick with the same topic every night with a daily documentary series leading up to Election Day. While the hostage crisis lasted 444 days, the election is less than a month away. Nightline executive prouder Roxanna Sherwood told TheWrap that the show aims to take viewers behind the scenes on the campaign trail. Also Read: Donald Trump Lashes Out at 'Disloyal' Republicans, Paul Ryan: 'I Will Teach Them!' Its important that while we go about our reporting on a race made for the history books, we provide as much insight as we can, Sherwood said The goal is to give our viewers as much transparent context to some of the most defining moments of our time and transcend the daily headlines to provide a broader perspective. Throughout the 30 days, Nightline co-anchor Byron Pitts and chief foreign correspondent Terry Moran will travel around the country on the trail to speak with voters as they come to their final decisions. The series will include reporting from Nightline co-anchors Juju Chang and Dan Harris, as well as correspondent David Wright. Also Read: 3,000 Sexual Assault Survivors Tell GOP 'Stop Enabling Trump' in Full-Page Washington Post Ad The series kicked off on Monday with a behind-the-scenes look at the second presidential debate. Related stories from TheWrap: Debate Ratings: CNN Dominates Fox News, MSNBC With 11.2 Million Viewers Everyone Is Talking About Melania Trump's 'Pussy Bow' Debate Dress Donald Trump Wanted Bill Clinton Accusers in His Family Box During Debate Does the drug use history of an organ donor matter? The Doctors examine whether a donors past drug use should make a difference when it comes to life or death. There are nearly 80,000 people in America who are actively awaiting organs and 20 people on transplant waiting lists die each day because the right organ is not available. The number of donors who died from an overdose dramatically rose from 230 to 848 from from 2006 to 2015. But does this matter when someone desperately needs an organ and should doctors disclose this information to patients? Watch: Benefits of Organ Donation The Doctors explain that organs are tested for infectious diseases and common viruses and ER physician Dr. Travis Stork, explains, Most of the time the effects of that drug are not affecting those organs in way that they arent suitable The only issue is that time period when an infectious disease wouldnt be caught. The Doctors go on to say that organs which might be damaged by certain drugs or alcohol would never be used for someone in need of that particular organ. For example, if a donor was a heavy drinker or drug user, that liver would not be given to someone in need of a liver transplant. Watch: Familys Search for Life-Saving Bone Marrow Donors If you are considering becoming an organ donor, Dr. Stork reminds us that you can save up to 8 lives, if not more by becoming one. For more information on how to become an organ donor, visit the Organ Donor Registry website. (Updates with background of Dakota Access, adds details throughout) By Nia Williams CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Several climate-change activists were arrested on Tuesday after they attempted to shut five oil pipelines from Canada that can carry nearly 15 percent of daily U.S. consumption, in the latest move by environmental groups to disrupt movement of oil across North America to heighten awareness of the dangers of pollution. Protesters in Montana, Minnesota, North Dakota and Washington state were arrested after turning off valves on pipelines that flow from Canada's oil sands into the United States, said Climate Direct Action. The activist group also posted videos online showing the protesters breaking chains and turning the valves. It did not say how many people had been arrested and no confirmation was immediately available from police in the localities involved. In a press release, the group said it had attempted to shut the pipelines in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has been protesting the construction of a $3.7 billion pipeline carrying oil from North Dakota to the U.S. Gulf Coast over fears of potential damage to sacred land and water supplies. "We are acting in response to this catastrophe we are facing," Afrin Sopariwala, a spokeswoman for the group, told Reuters. Together, the lines impacted can carry up to 2.8 million barrels of oil a day, equivalent to about 15 percent of daily U.S. petroleum consumption. The incident is the latest in a series of actions by environmentalists and others in response to growing concern over the effects of fossil-fuel production on the environment and the potential effects on land and livelihoods of spills. Sopariwala said protesters shut down the pipelines between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. PT (1330 to 1430 GMT) by manually shutting off valves. In some places they had to cut chains to reach the valves. She said the group had spent months researching how to safely shut down the pipelines. Story continues Enbridge Inc said that it temporarily shut its Line 4 and 67 pipelines at its valve site in Leonard, Minnesota, but that there would be no effect on deliveries. The company said in a statement the activists "are inviting an environmental incident" and endangering public safety. Spectra Energy, one of four companies said to be affected, said trespassers had tampered with a valve on its Express Pipeline in Montana and it had shut the line down as a precaution. It later said it was taking steps to restart it. The other pipelines claimed to have been shut in are TransCanada's Keystone pipeline and Kinder Morgan's TransMountain pipeline. TransCanada said its Keystone pipeline in North Dakota was shut down temporarily as a precaution after protesters tried to disrupt it. Kinder Morgan confirmed trespassers broke into a location of one of its two Trans Mountain feeder lines in Washington state but it was not operating that part of the pipeline at the time and no product was released. The company said the line has since reopened and deliveries on Trans Mountain were not affected. In January Enbridge was forced to shut a crude pipeline in Ontario, Canada, after a protester tampered with a valve station, while in December the company turned off another line in the province of Quebec for several hours after activists chained themselves to equipment. The most notable protest has been against construction of the 1,100 mile (1,770 km) Dakota Access pipeline, a project spearheaded by Energy Transfer Partners that would carry oil from North Dakota's Bakken shale play into Texas. Construction of one section in North Dakota has been halted after protests and lobbying of the Obama administration. Permitting on that line is still under review and protests have continued. On Monday, 27 people were arrested in North Dakota including actress Shailene Woodley, who narrated her arrest on Facebook Live. All Tuesday's protesters and their support crews have been arrested, Sopariwala said, with police turning up 20 to 90 minutes after the valves were turned. Carl Weimer, executive director at the industry watchdog Pipeline Safety Trust, said the action was a "dangerous stunt". "Closing valves on major pipelines can have unexpected consequences endangering people and the environment. We do not support this type of action," he said. (Reporting by Nia Williams in Calgary and Catherine Ngai in New York; Additional reporting by Laila Kearney and Scott DiSavino in New York, Liz Hampton in Houston and Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by James Dalgleish) Veteran actor Peter Coyote and Aden Young have joined the cast of the drama The Disappearance from NBC Universal International Studios and Canada's CTV. The psychological family drama will see E.T. star Coyote play retired judge and prosecutor Henry Sullivan, with Young as Luke Sullivan, Henry's son, and a scruffy, soulful musician. Young joins the six-parter shooting in Montreal after exiting a role to star opposite Logan Marshall-Green in USA Network's Damnation. Young is also coming off of his breakout role on Sundance TV drama Rectify. Emmy Award-winning JoAnn Alfano (You, Me and the Apocalypse, Resurrection) will executive produce The Disappearance for NBCUniversal International Studios, with Peter Stebbings to direct. "The Disappearance is an exceptional series that will resonate with viewers in Canada and the world over," Alfano, executive vp, scripted programming at NBCUniversal International Studios, said in a statement Tuesday. The drama's ensemble cast includes Joanne Kelly (Warehouse 13) as Catherine Sullivan; Camille Sullivan as Helen Murphy Sullivan; and Micheline Lanctot and Kevin Parent. The Canadian drama, developed by CTV and produced by Productions Casablanca, portrays the sudden disappearance of Anthony Sullivan on his 10th birthday, with the police and the Sullivan family conducting their own investigations. NBCUniversal International Studios will handle international distribution of The Disappearance, which is set to debut on Canada's CTV in 2017. Read more: 'Rectify's' Aden Young Exits USA Drama 'Damnation' A gripping drama depicting the harrowing plight of Afghan refugees is targeting Oscars history as it vies for the top prize at Asia's premier film festival this week. Director Navid Mahmoudi was told shortly before making the trip to the 21st Busan International Film Festival in South Korea that his debut film "Parting" was being put forward as Afghanistan's hope for best foreign language film at next year's Oscars. If it wins, it would become the first-ever film from the strife-torn country to take the prize but the director told AFP he had other matters on his mind. "I am honoured to be here and to have this attention," Mahmoudi said. "But the most important thing at this stage is that people see my film." The are certainly doing that at BIFF, where the film has played to full houses as it vies for the main New Currents award for first- and second-time Asian filmmakers. Mahmoudi's film charts an ordeal similar to that endured by many of an estimated six million of his countrymen in the 15 years since international forces entered the country and helped overthrow the Taliban leadership. The director admitted he had concerns for those who remained in Afghanistan, a sense heightened as fears mount that hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees may soon be forced to return to their homeland. "There are soldiers everywhere there," said Mahmoudi. "It's a bit like when you put a bird in a cage and that bird should feel safe. The Afghan people are in a cage but they still do not feel safe. That's why they leave." When it came time to make his first full-length feature film, the Tehran-based Afghan director said the story was evolving "all around me". - 'A place to be alive' - "Human beings are always looking for a place where they can be happier," said Mahmoudi. "But for those who come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, they are just looking for a place where they can be alive." Story continues So it is with the two central characters in Mahmoudi's film - a married Afghan couple reunited in Iran but looking to move to Europe by any means necessary. Their plight draws them into contact with any number of con men and criminals while problems they thought might have been left behind in their homeland also threaten to derail their planned escape. Mahmoudi decided to cast the central roles in the film - filled by the impressive Reza Ahmadi and Fereshteh Hosseini -- by scouring the refugee camps on the outskirts of Tehran for first-time actors because, the director said, he wanted people who "knew those fears". "It was important for me to find people who had shared these experiences," he said. "Parting" is shot in a cinema verite style with Mahmoudi's cameras peeking through windows, into doorways and alleys as the couple make their plans for freedom. The sense of desperation is palpable. The director said the choice of style came through his desire to heighten the characters' desperation by having scenes of often-frantic daily life on the fringes of the Iranian capital swirl around them as the tension rises. "This is the reality for these people," he said. "Many move through Iran and never make it to the centre of Tehran. Life is a desperate day-to-to struggle." Mahmoudi's feature is among the early contenders in a New Currents crop that looks particularly strong this year, with critics also lauding the likes of first-time Chinese director Liu Yulin's gritty family drama "Someone to Talk To". The award has over the years proved a stepping stone to further critical and commercial success for emerging Asian directors and this year's BIFF opened last Thursday with the heart-warming drama "A Quiet Dream," from Chinese-born South Korean director Zhang Lu, who won the New Currents award back in 2005 with his debut feature "Grain in Ear". The New Currents award winners will be announced on Saturday when BIFF comes to a close. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Six South African construction companies will contribute a total of 1.25 billion rand ($90 million) over the next 12 years towards a fund to develop skills in the sector and give black workers a bigger role, a cabinet minister said on Tuesday. Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said the voluntary contribution would be in addition to a 1.4 billion rand penalty imposed by antitrust authorities on the sector in 2013 for collusion in tendering processes. "There are financial penalties for not complying (with the pledged contributions)," Patel added. The Competition Commission investigated 140 projects in both the private and public sectors over almost four years before imposing the fine paid by 15 of 18 companies found to have breached tender rules in Africa's most industrialised country. Over the next 12 years, construction companies will be required to make a collective annual payment into the fund, which will be managed by industry representatives and government officials, the minister said. The deal also settles potential claims for damages from state-owned entities against companies in the sector, a provision that most of the firms implicated have had to flag in their financial results for the past few years. South Africa's economy is still mainly in white hands more than two decades after the end of white-minority rule. As part of the deal, each firm also committed to either transfer 40 percent of its equity to black South Africans or to help emerging black-owned enterprises to grow. "The objective of the fund will be the development, enhancement and transformation of the construction industry, as well as the promotion of social infrastructure for all South Africans," one of the signatories, Group Five, said in a statement. The others include Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon, Stefanutti Stocks, Raubex, Aveng and Basil Read. Murray and Roberts will seek approval of the deal by its board and is expected to join the other firms within a week, said Patel, increasing the total contribution to 1.5 billion rand. South Africa's construction industry has slowed sharply as government contracts, which big companies depend on, stall and weak commodity prices hit demand from the mining industry. ($1 = 13.8542 rand) (Reporting by TJ Strydom and Nqobile Dludla; Editing by James Macharia and Mark Potter) Johannesburg (AFP) - South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has been described as the cleverest person in government. But he will need all his wits about him if he is to survive the country's treacherous politics and the legal system while trying to rescue the moribund economy. Calm and measured in public, but tough behind the scenes, Gordhan, 67, has earned an international reputation for fiscal prudence and for taking a firm stand against corruption. Now he faces prosecution over alleged fraud in 2010, in a case that many analysts have dismissed as a politically-motivated attack on him by loyalists of President Jacob Zuma. Gordhan was suddenly re-appointed by Zuma in December last year for his second stint at the treasury. Just days previously, the president had fired finance minister Nhlanhla Nene and replaced him with an obscure lawmaker, triggering panic among investors and a sharp drop in the rand. Gordhan's name alone stabilised the markets, and the local currency began to recover as he stressed his intention to rein in spending, tackle graft and reduce the budget deficit. But if the appointment pleased investors and taxpayers, it angered some Zuma associates -- and over the last year he has regularly clashed with Zuma loyalists in a public tussle for control over the public coffers. - Tax boss - A police investigation was revived into an allegedly illegal "spy unit" that targeted politicians during Gordhan's time as head of the tax collection department between 1999 and 2009. On Tuesday, he was ordered to appear in court on November 2 on the related case of allegedly authorising an illegal early retirement package for a senior colleague at the department. The court summons sent the rand tumbling. His fate is seen as a symbol for South Africa's future, and his arrest or sacking would convince many investors and voters that the government is heading towards fiscal chaos. Born in the port city of Durban in 1949, Gordhan's political life began as a pharmacy student at the University of Durban-Westville, an Indians-only institution established during white-minority rule. Story continues There, he joined the anti-apartheid Natal Indian Congress, also becoming involved with the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party. Throughout the 1980s, Gordhan was repeatedly arrested for his political activities. He then played a pivotal role in the talks that steered South Africa towards its first democratic elections in 1994, before becoming a member of parliament for the newly elected ANC. He was "probably the cleverest person in government", political journalist Stephen Grootes wrote in his book "SA Politics Unspun". - 'A principled centralist' - He was widely praised for overhauling the tax system, tripling the country's tax haul from 185 billion rand ($13 billion at current rates) in 1999 to 558 billion rand in 2009. During that time Gordhan approved a unit to investigate tax-related crime syndicates. Press allegations that the "spy unit" illegally monitored politicians and set up a brothel were retracted, but have refused to die down. Promoted to finance minister in 2009, Gordhan clamped down on graft and worked to improve efficiency. "We will not tolerate corruption; we will act forcefully against wastage," he said in his first budget address, sending a message he still repeats today. Analyst Richard Calland called him "a principled centralist", writing in "The Zuma Years" that Gordhan won "respect from both sides of the ANC". In 2014, he was appointed as minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs and he appeared to be heading for a peaceful retirement. But after Zuma's extraordinary sacking of two finance ministers within a week last December -- and with a downgrade by ratings agencies on the horizon -- Gordhan was back in the action at the most volatile of times. Now he is heading to court for an experience that could test even his phlegmatic demeanour. Varsha Rao Airbnb's head of global operations, Varsha Rao, has left the company after three years, Business Insider has learned. Rao joined the home-sharing site in 2013, when it was valued at just $2.7 billion, and has been leading its global push. Today, Airbnb is valued at $30 billion, and its services are available in 191 countries around the globe. Airbnb confirmed her departure and said she will remain an important adviser to the company. "Varsha has worked tirelessly on our international growth efforts. We are grateful for all she has done for Airbnb and are pleased that she will continue advising the company," an Airbnb spokesperson told Business Insider. Rao did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Her next move is also unknown, but the experienced entrepreneur has both started companies and scaled startups through hypergrowth. Rao's entrepreneurial journey started in the dot-com boom, when she cofounded Eve, a beauty e-commerce startup, and was co-CEO. She then had roles at Gap and was CEO of Singtel, a Singapore digital media company. She then served as a senior vice president for LivingSocial and led its international business across Asia, Europe, and Latin America. It was that experience that drew her to Airbnb, which is focused on building a global travel business. In her three years at the startup, Rao traveled around the world to grow Airbnb's international travel market, with a special focus in China and India. NOW WATCH: The 9 most sought-after Airbnb properties More From Business Insider By Tim Hepher PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus Helicopters hit back on Tuesday at Poland's decision to cancel a multi-billion-dollar military helicopter deal, deepening a defence procurement row that has soured relations between France and its eastern European NATO ally. In an open letter to the country's prime minister, Europe's largest aerospace group accused the Warsaw government of shifting the goalposts as Airbus competed with U.S. and Italian rivals and attempting to contravene European Union regulations. Airbus Helicopters Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said the deal would have led to the creation of 3,800 local jobs and generated more value for Poland than for Airbus itself. Poland's previous centrist government, which was beaten by the Law and Justice (PiS) party in elections last October, had provisionally agreed with Airbus to buy 50 of its Caracal multi-role helicopters in April 2015 as part of efforts to modernize its military at a time of tensions with Russia. But on Oct. 4 the new administration said it was scrapping the contract. France reacted angrily, saying Paris would review defence cooperation with Poland and cancelling a presidential visit to Warsaw. Lifting the lid on the typical secrecy surrounding defence contracts and the economic trade-offs or "offsets" that typically go with them, Faury said the decision to cancel the deal came a day after Airbus had offered new concessions. He said Airbus Helicopters had offered offsets worth more than the net value of the helicopters, or 10.8 billion zlotys (2.25 billion pounds). He also said the ministry of development had slapped an additional 23 percent in value-added tax (VAT) on the deal, bringing the overall value to 13.4 billion zlotys. "Although compensation of a value-added tax through offset is not standard practice, Airbus Helicopters agreed to compensate this gross value," the letter said. He said the ministry had also introduced other new requirements in August, some of which Airbus had been unable to meet because they contravened European Union regulations, but did not give any details. Story continues Polish officials were not immediately available to comment. Airbus said the deal would have led to the transfer of 45 items of security-sensitive technology and provided 30 years of work for state-owned companies, modernising an industry depending on servicing "old-generation Russian helicopters". Faury claimed Airbus had gone further than its rivals, Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky and Italy's Leonardo in offering a state-owned assembly plant. "Airbus Helicopters offered a full H225M Caracal assembly line mirroring the capabilities of the existing French facility," he said, adding it had also promised a parts production plant worth 370 million zlotys. Parent Airbus Group says it employs 900 people in Poland and spends 204 million euros annually there. A French source said last week the French government, which holds 11 percent in Airbus Group, would advise it to review its strategy in Poland, including investments already made. Airbus declined comment. (Editing by Greg Mahlich) Paris (AFP) - Airbus on Tuesday angrily lashed out against the Polish government's handling of a failed helicopter deal which has caused diplomatic tensions between Paris and Warsaw. "Never have we been treated by any government customer the way this government has treated us," Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said in a statement seen by AFP. The sharp criticism comes days after French President Francois Hollande postponed a visit to Warsaw in response to a breakdown in talks aimed at Poland buying Airbus choppers. "The controversial and contradictory declarations of the Polish government over the course of this procurement proceedings created the impression of unprecedented confusion," Enders said. "Airbus wanted to invest in Poland big time and we wanted to contribute to building a competitive aerospace industry in this country. But the Polish government slammed the door on us. We take note of this," he added. There is disagreement over who actually ended the negotiations, with Poland on Saturday blaming Airbus for the breakdown in talks over what would have been a contract worth more than three billion euros (dollars) for military helicopters. "I want to make it perfectly clear that it wasn't the Polish side who broke off the talks," Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz told reporters Saturday in Warsaw. "Unfortunately the two sides did not see eye to eye on the offset package," he said, referring to arrangements whereby a supplier of military hardware typically sweetens a deal by setting up a factory in the purchasing country or agrees to place orders with companies there. Poland subsequently said it will now buy Black Hawk helicopters from US defence giant Lockheed Martin instead of Airbus's Caracal model. On Monday Macierewicz said "this week we will open talks" with Lockheed Martin and already on Tuesday he followed up with the news that Warsaw would pick up at least 21 Black Hawks. Story continues He said two Black Hawks produced in Poland would be delivered before the end of the year, followed by eight in 2017 and 11 in 2018. - 'Confusion' - The short interval between the announcement of talks and the release of specifics have led some to wonder whether Poland had already been in touch with Lockheed Martin before it officially announced the breakdown of negotiations with Airbus last week. Poland's liberal opposition put forward the hypothesis and called for a parliamentary probe into the military contracts. Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky had been among Airbus's competitors for the chopper deal that fell apart, a fact not lost on Enders. "The confusion has been further increased by the latest declarations of the Polish government concerning the purchase of helicopters from contractors who decided to submit non-compliant offers in the tender and were disqualified," he said. "We have an impression that we have been misled for months by the current Polish government. We spent a huge amount of efforts and money in recent years trusting that we were in a fair and professionally-conducted competition. "We will of course seek remedies," he concluded on Tuesday. Polish media had earlier already suggested that Airbus may want to pursue the matter in court. Deputy Defence Minister Bartosz Kownacki countered that it was Poland that was in a position to seek damages from Airbus, without elaborating. Further fuelling the debate, Airbus Helicopters chief Guillaume Faury on Tuesday sent an open letter to Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo rejecting Warsaw's arguments for picking Lockheed over Airbus. The letter addresses disputes over investment and employment in Poland and also takes issue with Polish ministers claiming that their choice was motivated by national security interests. Poland's previous liberal government had announced in 2014 it was planning to buy Airbus choppers as part of a major military upgrade triggered by regional tensions over Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine that year. But the new right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) administration called the deal into question not long after it took office in late 2015. Former Vice President Al Gore praised Hillary Clintons credentials on climate change at a Florida rally Tuesday that brought the presidential campaign to the front lines of the fight against global warming in the U.S. and laid out a clear contrast with Donald Trumps denial of the science. The speeches from both Clinton and Gore in Miami delved into the science and policy of climate change in rare depth and nuance for a presidential campaign rally. The speakers took time to explain the science behind phenomena like sea-level rise, how climate change affects the spread of infectious diseases like Zika and how storm surge easily inundates cities with water during large storms. That tenor of the argument departed sharply from the dramatic warning that Gore has adopted in the past, including in his global-warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth. That strategy may not appeal to the average voter unversed in the issue but could lend credibility to some activists skeptical of Clintons position on that issue. Her campaign said the rally was intended at least in part to energize millennials who care deeply about global warming. Hillary Clinton will make solving the climate crisis a top national priority, Gore said. Her opponent, based on the ideas he has presented, would take us toward a climate catastrophe. Read More: Donald Trump Promises Oil and Gas Industry Big, but Skepticism Remains Gore also devoted a significant portion of his speech to dismantling Trumps position on man-made climate change. The GOP presidential nominee has said repeatedly that he does not believe the phenomenon exists, calling it merely weather and a hoax invented by China. Trumps position has been debunked repeatedly by scientists, including a group of 375 leading scientists, including 30 Nobel laureates, who slammed the candidate in a recent letter. The choice of Florida to hold a climate rally one that echoes a similar move by President Obama last year takes the issue to its U.S. heart. Scientists rank coastal Florida particularly Miami and its environs as the U.S. region most vulnerable to sea-level rise with more than $130 billion of real estate at stake. Images of Hurricane Matthew sweeping through the state just last week certainly contribute to that message. Lets really focus on whats important in this election, Clinton said. At the rate we are going, 1 in 8 homes in Florida could be underwater by the end of the century. Story continues Florida is also home to a recalcitrant state government that reportedly denies the existence of climate change by the order of Governor Rick Scott. The lack of acknowledgement by state officials has created difficulties for local officials in need of funding and other assistance to address the issue. Read More: Why Trumps Promise to Save the Coal Industry Does More Damage Than Good The rally represents perhaps the most focus the issue has received in this years long and winding presidential race. Trump devoted two speeches to energy and environmental issues, but in those he quickly dismissed climate change and focused instead on how he would repeal regulations. Beyond that, the issue has come up only briefly in presidential debates, including last Sundays. The next President whoever he or she may be will enter office with a clear set of challenges on environmental issues. The U.S. has fallen behind on its commitment to cut greenhouse-gas emissions included in the Paris Agreement, and the Clean Power Plan Obamas signature measure to address global warming remains wrapped up in litigation. A President Trump would struggle to reinvigorate a coal industry that has fallen behind due to market forces as he has repeatedly promised. He would also struggle to dismantle the Paris Agreement as he has promised after that deal took effect this year. Gore emphasized that voters need to weigh in to stop Trumps climate agenda, no matter how difficult some of the GOP candidates promises may be to achieve. Please take it from me, every single vote counts, Gore said in reference to the controversial Florida vote counting during the 2000 presidential election. If you are not registered to vote, do so today. Here are some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be tracking for you today. Alcoa (AA) shares fell in early trading after the aluminum giant posted a miss on both earnings and revenue for the third quarter. Sales fell 6.5% from a year ago due to lower alumina pricing and changes to aerospace delivery schedules. Alcoa is set to split into two publicly traded companies on November 1. Apple (AAPL) faces off with its Korean rival Samsung at the US Supreme Court. At issue is how much Samsung has to pay Apple for infringing upon Apple designs for 11 Samsung phones. The High Court will decide whether Samsung owes Apple all the profits it made from those 11 phonesor just the profits related to the design features that Samsung copied. A ruling in Samsungs favor could save the company nearly $400 million. Twitter (TWTR) shares continue their rocky ride this morning. The stock is higher after plunging 11.5% on Monday. Reuters reported late yesterday that Salesforce (CRM) is still considering a bid for the struggling social media network despite resistance from shareholders. This comes after Bloomberg reported over the weekend that Salesforce is was no longer pursuing a deal. Twitter shares have lost about third of their value since October 5 on concerns that other potential suitors, such as Alphabets Google (GOOGL) and Disney (DIS), were no longer interested in making offers for the company. Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) averted a strike in Canada after it reached a tentative deal with the autoworkers union. Under the deal, Fiat Chrysler agreed to make more than $300 million in investments in local operations. Union members will vote on the deal next week. Illumina (ILMN) shares sank in early trading after the gene-sequencing firm warned that third quarter revenue would come in below guidance and also gave a dour outlook for the current quarter. The company blamed a bigger-than-expected decline in sales of its sequencing instruments. By Nick Carey (Reuters) - Metals company Alcoa Inc (AA.N), weeks away from splitting into two, on Tuesday reported a quarterly profit that missed estimates and lowered its revenue forecast for the unit serving the auto and aerospace sectors, sending shares down 10 percent. Quarterly revenue fell in the business making products for the automotive and aerospace industries, due partly to delays with new jet aircraft engines and pricing pressure, Alcoa said. It posted a higher third-quarter profit as cost-cutting offset lower revenue from curtailed or closed smelting operations and falling prices. "We are performing well despite the low pricing environment ... demanding conditions on the commodity side as well as aero industry teething problems," Alcoa Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld told Reuters. "We have concentrated on what we can influence and you see our strong resilience." Alcoa will split into two entities ahead of the market opening on Nov. 1. The first company, keeping the Alcoa name, will focus on the traditional smelting business. The other, Arconic, will specialise in higher-end aluminium and titanium alloys for the automotive, aerospace and construction industries. The company lowered its full-year 2016 revenue targets across all areas of the business, which it said was due to near-term challenges, particularly in the aerospace industry. The delay in building new, more energy-efficient jet engines stems from the need to test all the metal parts involved, which is taking longer than planned and delaying production. Charles Bradford of Bradford Research said Alcoa has done "quite well on the cost side" in the third quarter, adding that its problems were largely external, from low alumina prices to the delay in aircraft production. "The jet engine issue is nothing to do with them," Bradford said. "Demand for those engines is strong, the problem is actually making them." Alcoa said global automotive production will rise between 1 percent and 4 percent in 2016 and that aircraft deliveries will be flat to up 3 percent in 2016. Story continues Its quarterly results came as benchmark aluminium prices (CMAL3) hit two-month highs on Tuesday before retreating on oversupply concerns and rising output by top producer China. But Kleinfeld said Chinese capacity growth "has not been substantial," adding Alcoa sees aluminium demand increasing 5 percent in 2016, outpacing supply growth of 3 percent. He said the continued "aluminumization" of the auto industry is a positive, "although the overall market in the U.S. seems to be plateauing." Earlier Tuesday the top executive at rolled-aluminum product maker Novelis Inc (NVLX.UL) told Reuters that aluminium demand should grow 4 percent to 5 percent in 2017, boosted by sales to automakers. New York-based Alcoa reported a third-quarter net profit of $166 million, or 33 cents per share, up from $44 million, or 6 cents a year earlier. Excluding items, earned 32 cents a share. Analysts, on average, expected 35 cents. In the most recent quarter, Alcoa reported "productivity gains" of $377 million across all segments. Revenue fell to $5.2 billion from $5.6 billion a year earlier and was below estimates of $5.3 billion. Alcoa shares tumbled $3.24 at $28.27 in afternoon trading. (Reporting by Nick Carey in Chicago; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) Edgar Mitchell and Alan Shepard WikiLeaks purloined emails cover a wide range of issues that were handled by Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, John Podesta, but the farthest-out issues may well have to do with E.T., alien energy sources and Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell. While GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump focused his fire on what the WikiLeaks file had to say about Clintons Wall Street speeches, UFO fans dwelled on what Mitchell was telling Podesta as he made the transition from the Obama White House to the Clinton campaign in 2015. In an email from January of that year, Mitchell asked for an urgent meeting with Podesta about disclosure and zero point energy, and promised that a colleague named Terri Mansfield would bring us up to date on the Vaticans awareness of ETI. Mitchell sent another plea via email that August. Remember, our nonviolent ETI from the contiguous universe are helping us bring zero point energy to Earth, Podesta was told. They will not tolerate any forms of military violence on Earth or in space. The reference to ETI extraterrestrial intelligence set off alarm bells. So did mention of zero point energy, which its fans claim could be harnessed as an inexhaustible power supply. Hillary Clinton Leaked E-Mails Reveal Shocking Discussions on SPACE WARS, UFOs and ETs, one of the more breathless (and search-optimized) headlines read. But in fact, Mitchell never met with Clinton or with Podesta, for that matter. The meeting with Podesta, sadly, never took place, Carol Rosin, one of Mitchells longtime collaborators, told GeekWire today in an email. Rosin and Mansfield confirmed that Mitchell was indeed the author of the two emails, even though they went out via Mansfields email address, terribillionairs@aol.com. They said they worked with an aide to Podesta in hopes of arranging a meeting with him to discuss a treaty to ban weapons in outer space. Story continues Rosin noted that Mitchell and Podesta shared an interest in extraterrestrial lore. As you know, Dr. Mitchell was courageously educating people about the fact that we are not alone, that there is no evidence of there being any hostile ETs here or coming to control, intervene or harm us, that we can have zero point energy, that there are no weapons based in space and that this is the unique time in history when our leaders can sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space that has been introduced by the leaders of Russia and China, Rosin said. So, what about Podesta? When he left the White House in February 2015, he said in a tweet that his biggest regret of the previous year was once again not securing the disclosure of the UFO files. Ive talked to Hillary about that, Podesta told KLAS-TV this March during a campaign stop in Las Vegas. There are still classified files that could be declassified. Podesta hasnt discussed what might be in those files, but Clinton has vowed to get to the bottom of any mystery that still surrounds the UFO phenomenon. Two other emails in WikiLeaks Podesta file were sent by Tom DeLonge, a veteran of the rock band Blink-182. Those emails refer to a UFO-related documentary project perhaps the Sekret Machines multimedia project that DeLonge kicked off this year. In an email from last October, DeLonge told Podesta that hes the one who interviewed you for that special documentary, relating to our sensitive topic. In the other email, sent this January, DeLonge referred to Air Force Maj. Gen. William McCasland in connection with the 1947 Roswell UFO incident. Roswell was of interest to Mitchell as well. When I interviewed him in 2014, he acknowledged that he relied on the claims that others have made about Roswell and other UFO sightings. That secondhand perspective also probably applies to Mitchells reference to the Vatican connection. Even if Clinton (or Trump) comes across new revelations, itll be too late for Mitchell. He passed away this February at the age of 85. Nevertheless, there may yet be more to come from the late moonwalker. The book Edgar and I wrote decades ago will soon be published, Rosin said in her email. More from GeekWire: "Last Kopek, Havoc!" to be released in DVD and USB formats only. 11 Oct Actors Along Eyzendy and Pablo Amirul are adding the title 'producer' to their respective resume it seems, as the duo are working together to produce an upcoming action comedy movie called "Last Kopek, Havoc!". The movie is set to be produced under the Malayan Brotherhood Venture banner, the company set up by the two actors along with several of their friends. They will be working with Hornbill World Sdn Bhd for their first movie project. "The project is a collaboration between the big names in the local movie industry. I am touched by the commitment given even though we realise that the movie is not as big as other movies in the market," said Pablo as quoted by Harian Metro. Directed by Along and Reen Emran, the movie stars Johan Raja Lawak, Fezrul Khan, Wan Hanafi Su, Azad Jasmin, Saiful Apek, Soffi Jikan and more. Pablo revealed that the movie, which was made on a budget of RM350,000, had to be shot with a minimal number of crew due to the restricted budget. The "Kampung Drift" actor also shared that pre-production and filming have concluded last July. Meanwhile, Along explained that their first movie will take a different approach compared to other movies, as it will not be screened in cinemas but will instead be released in the form of either DVD or USB. "We do it a little differently by bringing the movie to the audience, instead of forcing the audience to come to the cinema." The two are currently travelling through Malaysia, especially to rural areas and higher institutions. Along also said that his side is planning to produce 50,000 copies of DVD to sell. At the same time, they also encourage local companies to support their effort through the purchase of DVD and USB as part of their sell will be donated to those in need. (Photo source: Utusan Online) Altered Innocence has picked up the U.S. rights to Pirjo Honkasalos Concrete Night. The film, which received its world premiere in the Masters section of the Toronto Film Festival, will receive a release in January 2017. The deal was negotiated between Frank Jaffe from Altered Innocence, also an executive with North American distribution company Strand Releasing, and Film Republics Xavier Henry-Rashid. Jaffe commented: Im beyond excited that I have the chance to expose more people to this stunning and heartbreaking film in the U.S. market. Concrete Night tells the story of impressionable 14-year-old Simo as he keeps his soon-to-be incarcerated brother company over the course of one night in a beautiful and otherworldly Helsinki. The film screened in over 60 festivals, garnered six Jussi Awards, and was presented as Finlands official entry to the Academy Awards, as well as winning the ASC Spotlight Award for cinematographer Peter Flickenberg. The film was edited by Niels Pagh Andersen (The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence). Honkasalo, whose career spans four decades, is best known known for her documentaries. These include the multi-award winning The Three Rooms of Melancholia, which launched at Sundance in 2005. Concrete Night is written and inspired by the book by her partner, Pirkko Saisio. The film is produced by Misha Jaari and Mark Lwoff at Helsinkis BUFO Film, a production company that produces commercials, television and features films. BUFO recently launched Plan-B distribution, whose first releases include Cannes winner The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki, Finlands contender for a foreign-language Oscar nomination. Related stories Finnish Film Noir 'Concrete Night' Wins at Croatia's Pula Film Festival Warsaw Fest to Screen 22 World Preems 'Concrete Night' And 'Heart of a Lion' Set to Play at Finnish Film Affair Concord Bicycle Music has partnered with Andrew Lloyd Webber and his Really Useful Group to form the Musical Company, which will provide a full array of services to creators of musical theater works. Sean Patrick Flahaven, formerly Warner/Chappell's senior vp of theatre and catalog development, has been appointed CEO to lead the new company. The new entity will provide an all-in-one place infrastructure for musical theatrical creators, by offering a combination of theatrical expertise, publishing infrastructure and label, which can be tapped wholly or a la carte. Both sides of the partnership -- initiated and executed by Lisbeth Barron, chairman & CEO of Barron International Group -- are contributing copyrights for management to the new company which has been appointed as exclusive agent to manage performance licensing for professional and amateur productions of his and Tim Rice's works, such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, as well his Webber's solo repertoire including Phantom of the Opera, Cats, School of Rock, Starlight Express, and Sunset Boulevard. As part of the deal, Bicycle Music will also handle publishing administration for Webber's song portfolio worldwide, including "Memory," "The Music Of The Night," "All I Ask Of You," "Think Of Me," "Pie Jesu," "Love Changes Everything" and hundreds of other songs. "We are extremely enthusiastic about collaborating with [Concord Bicycle] to create an exceptional multi-disciplinary theatrical music rights management company," Webber said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Musical Company has also been named as the manager of Concord Bicycle's interest in Marvin Hamlisch's works, including songs, film scores and musicals like A Chorus Line, They're Playing Our Song, The Goodbye Girl and Sweet Smell of Success. In addition to administrating the Webber song catalog in mainstream licensing opportunities, it will exclusively manage the grand rights performance licensing for second tier professional and amateur productions of his solo and collaborative works. (Grand Rights licensing are works that combine music and a plot, as in a musical play.) Story continues Currently, there are 36 first class productions -- large theater replica reproductions with a professional cast -- of his works around the world, and they are being handled by the Really Useful Group. "TMC enters the market with a unique and superior skill set in support of musical theatre creators: professional & amateur licensing, music publishing and original cast recording," Concord Bicycle Music CEO Steve Smith said in a statement. "[We are] exceptionally well-capitalized; asset richand worldwide." He added the Musical Company will create new opportunities for its affiliated writers and rights holders as well as , preserving the long-term value of their works. In forging the Musical Company, they are positioning themselves to compete against such giants as the Rogers & Hammerstein Organization, owned by Imagem, which offers most of those services, minus the label component. In tapping Flahaven to lead the new entity, they have someone who has been a producer on nine albums nominated for Grammy Awards -- including the smash hit, Hamilton. Prior to Warner, he was a producer, music director, orchestrator, composer, playwright, and professional & amateur licensing executive. "The creators of music for theatre just can't afford to put their repertoire into a music publishing company focusing on frontline pop and expect to get attention," Flahaven says. "There are thousands of shows being licensed for professional and amateur productions around the world and we will compete for those rights. We will have access to capital so if a portfolio of existing works come up for sale, we will be able to compete for the acquisition." The company, which will have offices in London and New York, will add six positions by the end of the year, and ultimately employ somewhere between 12-and 15 dedicated staffers, in addition to leveraging the staff of Concord Bicycle and Really Useful, Flahaven says. Moreover, he says he will seek to selectively add new signings. "Starting with these iconic catalogs and the support of Andrew, [the Really Useful Group and Concord Bicycle Music] gives us a terrific base from which to actively seek new talent," he added in a statement. A couple had some unexpected wedding guests in the form of cranky birds who repeatedly swooped down on them during their wedding photo shoot. (Photo: Getty Images) Weve seen how celebrities and adorable shelter puppies can really add a special something to wedding photos. How about a pair of birds speeding toward the bride and groom with an evil death glare? It sure adds drama. Phillip and Sara Maria were posing on a picturesque bridge during their wedding in New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday, when a pair of magpies decided they were not fans of human romance. Photographer Karen Parr told the BBC that the whole wedding party had driven half an hour away from the ceremony for the photo shoot, so they decided not to cede to the territorial birds. I think we probably got swooped about 20 times, Parr said. It was quite scary at the time. We were cursing the birds. While Parr said the attacks made her scream a couple of times, the bride and groom just rolled with it. From the moment we got there, the magpie kept us in his sights and we were continually getting swooped for two hours whilst we got our photos done, Sara Maria told the Armidale Express. By the end, our best man and maid of honor got given the job of magpie-spotting. Magpies are apparently a prevalent danger in Australia in the spring. The birds attack when they have chicks in a nearby nest. They can be particularly vicious and have even been known to attack children. The website MagpieAlert.com, which tracks and maps attacks via social media, reports 5,803 attacks and 903 injuries in 2016. Theyre a protected species in Australia. While those birds may be the most relentless, theyre certainly not the only examples of entertaining wedding photobombers. Have a laugh at this meerkat cameo at the Edinburgh Zoo, admire the oozing lava in this volcanic wedding shoot, and just try not to squirm when you witness the approaching tornado behind these newlyweds. Mother Nature doesnt stop for a wedding, but sometimes she likes to make a guest appearance. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Ansel Elgort and John Green spoke up about Shailene Woodleys arrest, and their support is super sweet You might have heard (or seen) actress Shailene Woodley get arrested yesterday. Lucky, while the word arrest seems a bit scary and dangerous, Woodley didnt do anything wrong she was just part of a peaceful protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Woodley, a known activist, might have made people even more aware of the construction of the line thanks to her run-in with the law, which shell probably be quite happy about. The dispute started between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Energy Transfer Partners in Dallas. If the pipeline is constructed and happens to leak, a lot of waste will be dumped in the Missouri River. Environmentally, its not a wonderful project, and its been disputed for many months. Of course, so many people have Woodleys back even her past co-stars. Both Ansel Elgort, who played love interest Gus in The Fault In Our Stars, and John Green, who wrote the book that made the movie possible, made sure to comment on Woodleys strength and courage. SHAI WAS ARRESTED TODAY for protesting the North Dakota Pipeline. Read about what she was protesting here https://t.co/wCuQaaYRmJ Ansel Elgort (@AnselElgort) October 10, 2016 Elgort posting more information about the Dakota Access Pipeline is just an extremely smart move that way, people can form their own opinions on what happened and why, and not focus on the arrested part of it. Of course, John Green had nothing but sweet words. (I mean, the man is good with words, so we expected no less!) .@shailenewoodley walks the walk, and I deeply admire her determined and passionate activism. https://t.co/5hUCuSq3Il John Green (@johngreen) October 10, 2016 Its just incredible to know how many people are inspired by Woodleys passion. Luckily, Woodley was released not long after she was detained. Story continues Shailene Woodley has been released from the Morton County Jail in North Dakota. She appreciates the outpouring of support, not only for her, but more importantly, for the continued fight against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, her rep said to People. Were really proud of Woodley for standing up for something she believes in. The post Ansel Elgort and John Green spoke up about Shailene Woodleys arrest, and their support is super sweet appeared first on HelloGiggles. Washington (AFP) - The epic legal battle pitting Apple against its bitter rival Samsung over the design of the iPhone reaches a new level Tuesday when it heads to the US Supreme Court. The high court is set to hear arguments over financial damages the South Korean smartphone giant owes Apple for allegedly violating design patents by producing copycats of its groundbreaking smartphone. Observers are watching the case closely to see how the court -- which has not taken up a design patent case in more than a century -- tips the balance between technological innovation and protecting intellectual property. A ruling is expected in several months. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a $400 million verdict -- part of a nearly billion-dollar award in Apple's favor later reduced to $548 million -- that found Samsung had copied the iPhone's distinctive front screen and graphical touchscreen user interface. California-based Apple had protected those features with US design patents that concern the way items look. They are distinct from utility patents, which protect how articles are used and work, and do not concern copyrights or trademarks. Samsung is challenging the verdict, disputing how damages are calculated in design patent cases. Such awards are currently determined by devices' "total profit," in accordance with a statute first adopted in 1887 and re-adopted in 1952. Samsung argues it should be held liable only for some portion of the profit tied to patented design aspects, given the many innovative components that go into the making of smartphones. Apple interprets the statute more narrowly, saying it is entitled to all profits from Samsung's phones. - How much design protection? - The legal battle, which began more than five years ago, could have major repercussions in a tech industry where design and innovation play key roles in distinguishing one device from another. But a major debate is underway on just how much protection should be granted for visual design. Story continues In preparation for its arguments before the Supreme Court, Samsung obtained the support of major Silicon Valley and other IT sector giants, including Google, Facebook, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, as well as a group of law professors. Apple, for its part, got backing from big names in fashion and manufacturing, such as Calvin Klein and Adidas, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association, whose members -- largely lawyers -- represent owners and users of intellectual property. - Look-alike smartphones - Apple's supporters argue that Samsung's argument would hurt the tech industry by weakening the patent system. "A strong patent system will force technology companies to actually innovate, not mimic. That is how patent systems are designed to work all over the world," said Matthew Siegal, an intellectual property lawyer with the firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. "The differences in Samsung and Apple smartphones are marginal because of copying, not innovating," he added. "A strong patent system will lead to the next generation phone based on actual innovation." Tuesday's hearing is set to take place in the court's cavernous marble hall before a short-handed panel of eight justices, with a ninth still missing since Antonin Scalia's death in February. Republicans in Congress have refused to replace him with President Barack Obama's nominee before the Democrat leaves office in January. The hearing takes place at a difficult time for Samsung, as it is struggling to contain a snowballing safety crisis that threatens to derail the powerhouse global brand. It told customers worldwide on Monday to stop using Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, calling a halt to global sales and exchanges following complaints that its lithium-ion battery explodes while charging. Apple is also facing challenges from mounting international competition, having lost a critical share of the Chinese market after critics there found its latest iPhone 7 lacks major innovations. When Apple sued Samsung for patent infringement more than five years ago, it kickstarted a wave of contentious litigation that quickly spread across a number of legal jurisdictions across the globe. In the process, a treasure trove of Apple secrets were revealed as Apple spared no expense as it tirelessly fought to hold Samsung accountable for ripping of the look and feel of both the iPhone and the iPad. DON'T MISS: Does the iPhone 7 have any competition anymore? Ultimately, Apple's patent battle with Samsung was a successful endeavor, with a jury initially deciding that Samsung owes Apple a little more than a billion. Over the past few years, various updates and rulings have lessened that amount considerably. As it stands today, there's no question that Samsung will have to open up its wallet and hand over some serious cash to Apple. What remains unknown, however, is just how much Samsung will be on the hook for. Looking to settle things once and for all, Apple and Samsung tomorrow will head to the U.S. Supreme Court where they will both plead their respective cases. Specifically, the two companies will argue just how much out of a $548 million judgement Samsung will have to pay Apple. At the very least, Samsung will pay Apple $149 million. That said, the two companies have opposing views when it comes to how much of the remaining $399 million should be paid. In broad terms, the arguments each side will put forward will be extremely familiar. Apple will argue that Samsung willfully infringed upon its design patents and that letting them off the hook will only serve to lessen the protections afforded to patent holders, thereby lessening the incentive for companies to innovate. Samsung, meanwhile, will argue that Apple shouldn't enjoy patent protection for items that are obvious in nature. More specifically, Samsung will argue that the $399 million in damages - itself based on patent infringement from a handful of ancient Samsung devices such as the Galaxy S2 and the Samsung Infuse 4G - is far too excessive. Story continues CNET, which has a really comprehensive piece about what we can expect to see tomorrow adds: Samsung believes design patents are given too much value when it comes to legal damages. The company contends that Apple should get profits only from the parts of a smartphone that infringe Apple's patents -- the front face and a grid of icons on a user interface -- not the profits from the entire phone. Apple, meanwhile, quotes Congress in saying that "it is the design that sells the article" and, because profits attributable to design are often "not apportionable," it wants the Supreme Court to uphold the lower court ruling. When lawyers from Apple and Samsung show up in Washington D.C. tomorrow, it will mark the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has heard a patent case in more than 120 years. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com Dubai (AFP) - French-Lebanese designer Ingie Chalhoub has closed a busy Arab Fashion Week with a collection inspired by American pop art icon Andy Warhol. Her models strutted down the catwalk in pleated skirts and blouses and disco-style dresses and jackets, all in a mix of bright red, fuchsia, blue and black. "My design is all about the Parisian chic woman who is travelling all over the world," Chalhoub told AFP after the show late Monday at a luxurious Dubai hotel. This "woman is very feminine and glamorous," said the blonde designer, wearing a long black-and-blue skirt with a black top. "This collection was mostly inspired by an exhibition I saw in Paris from Andy Warhol and as I'm very fond of him I wanted to take back his drawings and his paintings and to make out of them some fabrics and some designs," she said. Chalhoub says she designs the prints she wants on her fabrics "very carefully". "I play a lot with the fabrics and I play also on the print," she said, adding that among her favourite combinations is matte crepe with the contrasting brilliance of satin. Palestinian designer Jamal Taslaq's show preceded the closing act, featuring gowns in traditional Palestinian patterns as models walked out to the music of Lebanese composer and oud player Marcel Khalife. Italian designer Giada Curti also presented a colourful Spring-Summer 2017 collection with floral prints and stripes. In its third edition, the fashion week presented more than 20 collections from more than 10 countries. The show shed light on designs by Gulf women, such as Lamya Abedin from the United Arab Emirates, Alanoud Al-Attiya from Qatar who refused to appear on stage or camera, and Jeans Couture by a Saudi mother and daughter duo. It also presented the first ever Emirati model, Rafeea al-Hajsi. - 'Very different' - Organised by the Arab Fashion Council, which represents the 22 countries of the Arab League, the week aims to attract fashion-conscious women from the Gulf, as well as luxury buyers from Russia and China. Story continues Alina Cocci, who came from Milan to attend the week, told AFP after Chalhoub's show that she found the Arab designers "amazing". "They're very particular. They have this oriental touch that we Europeans don't have, so this is something interesting," said the Italian, who works in the fashion industry. She did however criticise the "organisation" of the event, with shows being delayed for at least an hour-and-a-half every day, adding that unlike in Paris and Milan, Arab Fashion Week has attracted a limited audience. Russian artist and fashion illustrator Alena Ogden said that "it's very different from other countries," with more evening gowns on display. Designers showcasing their pieces at the Dubai show "know their clients very well, the Arab women, so that's why it's all... gowns (that are) so bright, shiny, and extravagant but not much street fashion." Asked if she had Arab customers in mind when designing her collection, Chalhoub insisted that "today there is no such fashion that is only for the Middle East or only for Paris." "With the internet... fashion is becoming more and more global." (PHOENIX) Prosecutors said Tuesday they will charge Sheriff Joe Arpaio with criminal contempt-of-court for defying a judges orders to end his signature immigration patrols in Arizona, exposing the 84-year-old lawman to the possibility of jail time. The announcement in federal court sets in motion criminal proceedings against the sheriff less than a month before Election Day as he seeks a seventh term as Maricopa County sheriff. The 2016 election cycle has also seen Arpaio take a prominent role on the national stage, appearing alongside Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on several occasions. A judge previously recommended criminal contempt charges against Arpaio but left it up to federal prosecutors to actually bring the case. Prosecutor John Keller said in court that the government will bring charges, with the next step being a court filing possibly in the next day thats akin to a criminal complaint. Arpaio could face up to six months in jail if convicted of misdemeanor contempt. Arpaio lawyer Mel McDonald said the sheriff will not be arrested and no mugshot will be taken. He will plead not guilty by court filing and hopes to prevail before a jury. We believe the sheriff, being an elected official, should be judged by his peers, McDonald said. The move is yet another key defeat for the sheriff who became a national political figure over the past decade by aggressively carrying out immigration patrols and attention-getting endeavors such as making prisoners wear pink underwear. Following complaints by Latino drivers about racial profiling, a judge demanded that Arpaio stop the enforcement efforts. He was later found to have violated the order, causing it to morph into a contempt of court case. Arpaio has acknowledged violating the order to stop the immigration patrols but insists his disobedience wasnt intentional. County taxpayers have shelled out $48 million so far in the profiling case, and the costs are expected to reach $72 million by next summer. By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Same-sex marriage will likely be delayed for at least three years in Australia after the opposition Labor party said on Tuesday it would not support a national vote, dealing another potential blow to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Australia's center-right coalition government introduced legislation to parliament last month to hold a public vote in February 2017 on whether to legalize same-sex unions. The bill required the support of some opposition lawmakers because Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Liberal-National coalition has only a one-vote majority in the lower house of parliament and does not have a majority in the upper house. The rejection is a blow to Turnbull, who has seen his popularity wane amid frustration that he has failed to live up to his progressive reputation. Same-sex marriage is supported by 61 percent of Australians, a Gallop poll in August found, and Turnbull's inability to deliver the legislation could further damage his support. Several independent MPs had already ruled out supporting the national plebiscite on same-sex marriage. The rejection by the center-left Labor party, which wants same-sex marriages legalized by parliament, ended any hope the plebiscite bill could pass. "Why should gay Australians be subjected to a different law-making process than any other Australians?" said Labor leader Bill Shorten. "Why should a couple in a committed relationship have to knock on the doors of 15 million of their fellow Australians and see if they agree with it? The easiest way is the way which this parliament has done for a hundred years - legislate." Advocates of same-sex marriage are also concerned public debate around the vote would prove harmful, sparking homophobic rhetoric against same-sex unions. Turnbull has said that, should the legislation proposing a national vote be rejected, the issue of same-sex marriage would not be reintroduced into parliament until after the next election, which is due in or before November 2019. Waning political support threatens Turnbull's position, analysts have said, in a country that has seen five prime ministers in nine years. On a two-party preferred basis - where votes for minor parties are redistributed to the two main blocs - the government trails Labor by a margin of 52-48, a Newspoll by The Australian newspaper on Monday showed. Dissatisfaction with Turnbull's government is at an all-time high of 56 percent. "If things don't turn around by this time next year, and Turnbull's poll numbers haven't improved, he will find himself under pressure from within his own party," said Haydon Manning, an associate professor in political science at Flinders University in Adelaide. (Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Paul Tait) Sydney (AFP) - Australia's most populous state made an embarrassing backflip on Tuesday on its plan to ban greyhound racing after sustained industry and public pressure, admitting the government "got it wrong". New South Wales Premier Mike Baird announced in July that he would shut down the sport in 12 months' time after a series of "disturbing and horrific" scandals including "live baiting" and the slaughter of tens of thousands of dogs. But the controversial decision was widely seen as a knee-jerk reaction and met with a backlash from the public, with fears that regional communities reliant on the industry could be devastated. There was also widespread political, industry and media pressure to reconsider the ban. The once popular Baird, who has seen his approval ratings plummet this year due to a number of issues, including the greyhound ban, said he had listened to feedback. "It's clear in hindsight, as we reflect on this, we got it wrong. I got it wrong, cabinet got it wrong, the government got it wrong," he said in Sydney. "I previously didn't think the industry could change, it is clear the community wants to give them the opportunity. "Today I can announce the greyhound industry will be given one last chance. It will be given an opportunity to reform as it needs to." Baird said the industry had come up with a number of new initiatives and the government would be "ensuring the toughest animal welfare standards and regulation are put in place", with a new body established to oversee dog racing. "We are not returning to the status quo. The barbaric practices we have seen have to end," he added. - Committed to reform - Australia has one of the world's largest greyhound racing industries and live baiting has been banned for decades. But last year national broadcaster ABC revealed that live animals such as piglets, rabbits and possums were used as bait to train some of the country's most successful dogs. Story continues Greyhounds traditionally chase an artificial hare or rabbit and the revelations sparked raids across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland states that rocked the industry. It prompted an inquiry by the New South Wales government that uncovered widespread live baiting and the mass killing of tens of thousands of dogs considered too slow to pay their way. The probe also revealed systemic deception of the public about the numbers of deaths and injuries -- such as skull fractures and broken backs -- during races. The New South Wales probe was one of several into greyhound racing around Australia, although no other states went as far as proposing an industry ban. The NSW Greyhound Racing Alliance said it was relieved at the about-turn and vowed to work on setting "world best practice standards for the industry". "The ban was devastating for so many communities and families and we are thankful that the government has listened and responded," said executive director Brenton Scott. Scott said the alliance was committed to a zero tolerance policy on animal cruelty, with life bans for any infringement. It was also intent on better managing injured and retired greyhounds, ensuring safe racing, and pursuing controlled breeding programmes. "We are now completely committed to making the people of NSW proud of their greyhound industry," he said. SYDNEY, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Australian state of New South Wales has reversed a ban on greyhound racing that was due to come into force on July 1 next year. The sport will now be allowed to continue but with fewer tracks, a cap on the number of dogs bred for racing and much tougher measures to ensure the welfare of the animals. State Premier Mike Baird, who has been under pressure from his own party on the issue, said the reprieve was a last chance for the industry to reform. "I previously didn't think the industry could change, it's clear the community wanted to give that opportunity," he told reporters in Sydney. In July this year, Baird said the findings of a commission of inquiry had left the government with "no acceptable course of action except to close the industry down". The inquiry found evidence of systemic animal cruelty, including live baiting, and that up to 68,000 greyhounds bred in the last 12 years had been destroyed because they were considered uncompetitive. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Greg Stutchbury) "Right when I started doing American movies [in 1998], I got pregnant [by then-boyfriend Michael Sheen], probably 10 or 12 years earlier than any of my friends or anyone normal," says actress Kate Beckinsale as we record an episode of The Hollywood Reporter's 'Awards Chatter' podcast at the Empire Hotel in New York. "I was sort of navigating all of this [newfound stardom] while also being largely a single mom to quite a small baby and being very, very concerned with doing a good job at that. So, really, I kind of look at my career before that and now [with daughter Lily Mo Sheen nearly 18] as kind of bookends." On one end is the first film the now-43-year-old made in America, 1998's Last Days of Disco, an original story about New York party girls in the '80s, and on the other is 2016's Love & Friendship, an adaptation of a little-known Jane Austen novella about a widow constantly scheming for ways to attract rich husbands for herself and her grown daughter in 18th century England. The former put Beckinsale on the map. The latter had its world premiere at Sundance in January, opened theatrically in May, received notices that still are among the year's best and landed her on many best actress Oscar shortlists. Interestingly, both are comedies of manners written and directed by Whit Stillman, co-starring Chloe Sevigny and centered on Beckinsale playing characters she lovingly calls "difficult women." (Click above to listen to this episode now or here to access all of our 90+ episodes via iTunes. Past guests include Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Eddie Murphy, Lady Gaga, Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez, Louis C.K., Kristen Stewart, Harvey Weinstein, Amy Schumer, Jerry Seinfeld, Jane Fonda, J.J. Abrams, Kate Winslet and Michael Moore.) Over the 18 years in-between those projects, Beckinsale became a huge international star and sex symbol, partly through the blockbuster Pearl Harbor and the rom-com Serendipity (both released in 2001), but mostly by playing a latex-clad vampire in five installments, over 15 years, of one of the first female-led and last original-concept film franchises, which started with 2003's Underworld and will continue on Jan. 6 with Underworld: Blood Wars. Read more: Kate Beckinsale to Star in Marc Webb's 'The Only Living Boy in New York' (Exclusive) Along the way, many forgot - if they ever knew - that the heroine of these blockbusters first rose to prominence not on her bankability or looks, but because she demonstrated, first in her native England and then in America, that she is a damn good actress. Beckinsale accepts responsibility for this. "I was so busy having my baby and juggling nine movies that I didn't ever sit there and think, 'Right, I need to have a persona and a niche, and I'm going to create that,'" she says. "I didn't do that. I think other people do that and I think that's really smart. They decide, 'What am I and what am I gonna market myself as?' I just kind of blew along. And what happens is, I think, other people then decide your persona for you, and I didn't realize that until I was knee-deep into the persona." She continues, "If I hadn't had a child, would I have done different movies? A hundred percent. But there were so many reasons that weren't to do with just the movie that would make me do certain movies." Moreover, she adds with a laugh, "It's not like I sat there going, 'Well, no, I don't think I'll do Blue Jasmine, I think I'll do Underworld 7!'" Beckinsale, the daughter of an actress and an actor (her father was a well-known star of British comedies who died of a heart attack when he was just 31 and she was just five), has been performing professionally for 25 years now. She landed her first parts while still a student at Oxford University, mostly in British period-piece productions adapted from great works, like Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film version of Much Ado About Nothing and the 1996 TV movie version of Emma. She accompanied boyfriend Sheen to New York when he landed a part on Broadway and soon began working there herself. Early on, Beckinsale's looks received little of the sort of attention they do these days, quite by design. "I did have a kind of 'I'm not going to be that kind of longhaired, pretty starlet that you feel that you can wrestle in a hotel hallway,'" she says. "I had, you know, steel toe-capped Dr. Martens and kind of a boy's haircut and went around looking fairly cross and all that. And I think that really did protect me, actually. I haven't ever had somebody, you know, really seriously try and casting-couch me and I haven't been asked those kind of inappropriate questions that I hear other actresses get when they go into an audition with a really important director and the first question is, 'Are you dating?' I've never had that." Read more: Sundance: Kate Beckinsale, Chloe Sevigny Talk Adapting Jane Austen for 'Love & Friendship' She did, however, encounter sexism of a different sort when she went to work on Pearl Harbor, her first big studio movie. "I didn't know who [director] Michael Bay was, I didn't know who [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer was and I didn't know what that meant," she says. "It was a bit shocking turning up and going, 'Okay, I'm playing a '40s nurse,' and then finding this insane workout schedule [to force her to lose weight], which was just kind of like, 'Wait, am I playing a bodybuilder? What's going on here?' Ben [Affleck] had already done a movie with them and Ben had had all his teeth [fixed] or something - like, there were much worse things. So it really wasn't kind of, 'Oh, let's beat this woman up.' It wasn't that. It was just, I didn't fit their aesthetic." After the film was finished, Bay told interviewers he had cast Beckinsale because she wasn't beautiful enough to be distracting. "That was where I kind of was like, 'Okay, dude, now you need to relax on this,'" she says. "I think there's something shaming about saying, 'We don't think Kate is attractive enough,' whatever it was he said." (She insists, though, that she has no hard feelings.) Beckinsale's next project, Serendipity, didn't find much of an audience upon its initial run, as its world premiere came two days after 9/11 and its theatrical release less than a month later. "We had shot it in New York," she says. "The Twin Towers had to be removed [digitally from the film]. It was a really kind of awkward and upsetting thing." The film did, however, become a cult favorite on DVD and airplanes, "most particularly with men, weirdly enough," she says. "If a man comes up to me and says, 'I just want to say my favorite movie of yours - ' it's always Serendipity, which is interesting." If that's true, fans of the Underworld film must be close behind, since men, as much as women, seem to enjoy watching Beckinsale kicking ass in that iconic costume. She signed on to the first installment because, after a string of movies that had her in corsets, she wanted to do something that "really was outside my comfort zone." She explains, "I'd had a couple of meetings for movies where [I would be] playing a cop or something, and they'd say, 'Well, but she's sort of English and fragile and a bit classy and we're not sure she's really got an edge.' And I thought, 'I'm gonna have to take care of that.'" While none of the Underworld films ever will be compared to Citizen Kane, Beckinsale still is happy she did them. On the first one she met the man who would become her husband, director Len Wiseman (they married in 2004 and separated in 2015), and the series is, in a way, socially significant. "When we were doing the first Underworld, the two women that you would reference [as female action heroes] were Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton," she says. "Now there's a ton. I feel really good about being part of having moved that needle." (However, she reveals, not even on Underworld could she escape corsets: "That's what's so crazy, is that Underworld has a corset [under the latex], too!") Read more: Kate Beckinsale Returns to UTA After Six Months at CAA (Exclusive) Much of Beckinsale's best work has gone under the radar. She was handpicked by Martin Scorsese to portray Ava Gardner in The Aviator (2004), and proved an effective but largely overlooked part of its ensemble. She and Sam Rockwell gave tour de force performances in the little-seen indie Snow Angels (2007). And, most notably, she gave a great performance as a Judith Miller-like journalist protecting a source in Nothing But the Truth (2008), the demise of which she calls "the biggest tragedy" of her professional life. Just as the film was about to be released, its distributor went bankrupt, so it barely got seen at all. (Enough press had seen advance screenings of it to bestow upon her a Critics' Choice Award nomination.) "Oh, my God, it was like a miscarriage," she says. "I mean, this thing that you were feeling so proud of and precious of and actually excited about was just, all of a sudden, absolutely dead. And that was really destabilizing. It just makes you go, 'What's the point of doing this?'" Beckinsale didn't work again for three years. "That took a little bit of the momentum out of it for me." But reuniting with Stillman on Love & Friendship, nearly two decades after Last Days of Disco, has changed everything. She was touched to learn that, even back when they first worked together, he had been thinking of her for the part of Lady Susan. When she read his script, she says, "I just felt, 'Oh, this is so exactly my kind of humor.' I love that kind of humor where the character's got kind of a blind spot and could be just the most awful person in the world, but actually is somehow charming and likable." And, not insignificantly, as a young single mother who would do anything for her daughter as she enters the adult world, she felt a personal connection to the material, as well. Now, with Love & Friendship applause still ringing in her head, Beckinsale is plowing ahead with a renewed sense of enthusiasm. She's currently in New York shooting The Only Living Boy in New York, a Marc Webb film in which she stars opposite Jeff Bridges. She's once again writing, something she enjoyed and for which she received recognition in school, specifically a screenplay, with her friend Emma Forrest. And she's excited to return to the theater, to do more comedy and generally to take on challenges that frighten her. "Now that I'm no longer toting around a three-year-old everywhere," she says with a chuckle, "it'll be interesting to see what effect that actually has, 'cause I think it will have one." In an attempt to make medical diagnoses easier and help both patients and doctors, Chinese search engine company Baidu has announced the launch of Melody, a medical assistant chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Reported on by VentureBeat, Melody can be found in Baidu's existing Baidu Doctor app for Android and iOS where she will collect medical information from patients before passing it on to doctors. The chatbot has been developed to ask questions on important health factors such as age and symptoms, before passing the answers on to doctors in an easy-to-use form. Doctors can then proceed with their diagnosis and respond to patients, reducing the amount of time that patients and medical professionals spend exchanging basic information. To make sure information is accurate, Melody only sends responses on behalf of doctors after the doctors have verified it, with Baidu chief scientist Andrew Ng commenting in an interview with VentureBeat that, "It's not our role to diagnose -- it's the doctors' role to diagnose. We try to assist the doctors." In an effort to make the channels of communication easier patients can also make appointments with their doctors using the Baidu app. Recognized as one of the experts in his field, Ng has developed Melody with a type of AI called deep learning, which involves training artificial neural networks on large amount of labeled data and then making inferences about new data. Deep learning is used for many different purposes, including speech recognition and object detection. Melody herself was taught how to interact with patients' chat messages using real online text conversations between doctors and patients, with Ng adding that "There's a ton of data," behind Melody's development. However at the moment Melody can only communicate in and understand Chinese and is only available to patients and doctors in China, with Ng commenting that "I don't think we have an announcement to make right now about English-language products, but I guess there are other possibilities." By Sinead Cruise and Anjuli Davies LONDON (Reuters) - As Britain heads for the EU exit, financial firms intending to move London-based jobs to continental Europe face a costly choice: offer generous relocation and redundancy packages, or expect a flood of lawsuits from disgruntled staff. Employment lawyers say some worried City workers have already been in touch to clarify their rights if banks, asset managers and other businesses decide they need new homes in the euro zone for operations hit by Brexit uncertainty. While the terms of Britain's exit remain unknown, many firms operating in the City of London are intent on protecting their right to sell financial services throughout the European Union under its "passporting" rules. This is likely to mean setting up shop in a center still in the bloc, such as Paris or Frankfurt. But lawyers told Reuters this option could expose employers to legal action if workers in love with London life, or who have pressing family reasons to stay in the British capital, don't want to move or feel under-compensated for their troubles. "The practical logistics of moving lots of people are complex and the legal side will also be very complex," said Crowley Woodford, partner at law firm Ashurst. "It will be very hard for banks to avoid constructive dismissal lawsuits. There will be the headache of litigation coming out of this." Prime Minister Theresa May said last week she would trigger what is likely to be a two-year process to leave the EU by the end of March.[nL5N1C805Q] This heightened a sense of urgency among financial services firms to decide which parts of their businesses need to be moved, to where, and when, industry sources said. Investment banks have already warned they could move thousands of jobs if the City loses access to the EU's single market, while the European Central Bank has signaled it could force euro trading out of London, the world's largest foreign exchange market. Many bankers are reluctant to go. One told Reuters that being forced to relocate would make his life very difficult. "I am working for a European bank which might or might not decide to move out. It would be difficult to uproot my family and children to a new country," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Story continues RISKY MATERIALS Bank chiefs acknowledge any shift must be done with great care. Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, who heads the European business of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, likened moving operations - including staff - to handling hazardous materials. "The materials that are being moved are risky materials, and you don't move nuclear waste in a race," he told a parliamentary committee last month. "You do it in a very carefully coordinated and managed process." HSBC (HSBC.L) is already shifting 1,000 jobs from London to a new commercial and retail banking headquarters in the city of Birmingham, about 160 km (100 miles) away. While unrelated to Brexit, this move within the same country and currency zone will take three years to complete. Before Britons voted on June 23 to leave the EU, HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver estimated that around 20 percent of his 5,000 London staff who work in global banking and markets would move to Paris in the event of Brexit, depending on the terms. The stakes are high. Britain's financial industry could lose up to 38 billion pounds ($48 billion) in revenue if it ends up with restricted access to the EU single market, according to a report commissioned by an industry group. [nL5N1CB10V] Banks have been quick to quash any media reports that they have already decided how many employees to relocate. But consultancy firm Oliver Wyman estimated that if finance firms lose the right to sell their services freely across Europe, 75,000 jobs in Britain may disappear. Those jobs wouldn't necessarily all reappear in other EU countries, as banks may decide that the difficulty of relocation makes some parts of their business unviable. Nevertheless, analysts at JP Morgan (JPM.N) have estimated that eight major U.S. and European banks face a combined $7.5 billion bill in the next five years if they need to move capital markets operations out of London. Under British law, an employer cannot force workers to move abroad without risking a breach of their contracts, giving staff the opportunity to claim constructive or wrongful dismissal. Even those firms which have negotiated clauses theoretically allowing them to transfer staff to a location of their choice may find it hard to enforce such provisions at tribunals that handle employment disputes. "Tribunals are very sensitive about whether it is reasonable to enforce these clauses on any employee because of their own circumstances. They may have children in schools, partners who work for other firms who might not be able to relocate," said Kevin McCavish, who heads the employment team at Shoosmiths law firm. "Exercising those clauses must be done in a reasonable fashion - giving employees adequate advance notice and consultation, giving relocation packages etc," McCavish said. RELOCATION OR REDUNDANCY Many employers must decide whether to move London-based staff or pay them off and hire new workers where any new foreign operation is set up. Neither option will be cheap and both carry significant legal risk. "For many operations, with the exception of key personnel, (redundancies) might be their preferred choice. It probably would be cheaper and that would give the bank the flexibility to recruit in other jurisdictions," McCavish said McCavish has already received inquiries from worried employees. "Their concerns are mainly about the financial packages that the bank is proposing for them. They are concerned the bank isn't actually considering relocating their jobs - it is more a question of the bank making everyone redundant at their place of work in the UK," he said. UK legislation gives employees the right to keep their jobs if they are willing to follow the business of their team abroad on at least the same terms and conditions as in London. But Ashurst's Woodford estimates that nine out of 10 of any potential 'transfers' will involve redundancies with packages that are so generous that staff members waive these rights and opt against suing the bank. For those who do take legal action, compensation for unfair dismissal in Britain is capped at around 79,000 pounds ($101,000), a relatively modest sum when legal costs are factored in. Some bankers might be persuaded to move but want to keep their big city life, meaning the quieter charms of Germany's financial capital are less attractive. "I would consider relocating to Paris but not Frankfurt. Very few people would go to Frankfurt," said another banker. "Paris is a large metropolitan center with lots of culture and things to do." However, some senior staff might remain based in London and commute to Paris by high-speed train, he said, adding: "If my family weren't happy, I wouldn't move." ($1 = 0.7837 pounds) (editing by David Stamp) (LONDON) As Britain heads for the E.U. exit, financial firms intending to move London-based jobs to continental Europe face a costly choice: offer generous relocation and redundancy packages, or expect a flood of lawsuits from disgruntled staff. Employment lawyers say some worried City workers have already been in touch to clarify their rights if banks, asset managers and other businesses decide they need new homes in the euro zone for operations hit by Brexit uncertainty. While the terms of Britains exit remain unknown, many firms operating in the City of London are intent on protecting their right to sell financial services throughout the European Union under its passporting rules. This is likely to mean setting up shop in a center still in the bloc, such as Paris or Frankfurt. But lawyers told Reuters this option could expose employers to legal action if workers in love with London life, or who have pressing family reasons to stay in the British capital, dont want to move or feel under-compensated for their troubles. The practical logistics of moving lots of people are complex and the legal side will also be very complex, said Crowley Woodford, partner at law firm Ashurst. It will be very hard for banks to avoid constructive dismissal lawsuits. There will be the headache of litigation coming out of this. Prime Minister Theresa May said last week she would trigger what is likely to be a two-year process to leave the E.U. by the end of March. This heightened a sense of urgency among financial services firms to decide which parts of their businesses need to be moved, to where, and when, industry sources said. Investment banks have already warned they could move thousands of jobs if the City loses access to the E.U.s single market, while the European Central Bank has signaled it could force euro trading out of London, the worlds largest foreign exchange market. Story continues Many bankers are reluctant to go. One told Reuters that being forced to relocate would make his life very difficult. I am working for a European bank which might or might not decide to move out. It would be difficult to uproot my family and children to a new country, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Risky Materials Bank chiefs acknowledge any shift must be done with great care. Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, who heads the European business of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, likened moving operations including staff to handling hazardous materials. The materials that are being moved are risky materials, and you dont move nuclear waste in a race, he told a parliamentary committee last month. You do it in a very carefully coordinated and managed process. HSBC is already shifting 1,000 jobs from London to a new commercial and retail banking headquarters in the city of Birmingham, about 160 km (100 miles) away. While unrelated to Brexit, this move within the same country and currency zone will take three years to complete. Before Britons voted on June 23 to leave the E.U., HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver estimated that around 20 percent of his 5,000 London staff who work in global banking and markets would move to Paris in the event of Brexit, depending on the terms. The stakes are high. Britains financial industry could lose up to 38 billion pounds ($48 billion) in revenue if it ends up with restricted access to the EU single market, according to a report commissioned by an industry group. Banks have been quick to quash any media reports that they have already decided how many employees to relocate. But consultancy firm Oliver Wyman estimated that if finance firms lose the right to sell their services freely across Europe, 75,000 jobs in Britain may disappear. Those jobs wouldnt necessarily all reappear in other E.U. countries, as banks may decide that the difficulty of relocation makes some parts of their business unviable. Nevertheless, analysts at JP Morgan have estimated that eight major U.S. and European banks face a combined $7.5 billion bill in the next five years if they need to move capital markets operations out of London. Under British law, an employer cannot force workers to move abroad without risking a breach of their contracts, giving staff the opportunity to claim constructive or wrongful dismissal. Even those firms which have negotiated clauses theoretically allowing them to transfer staff to a location of their choice may find it hard to enforce such provisions at tribunals that handle employment disputes. Tribunals are very sensitive about whether it is reasonable to enforce these clauses on any employee because of their own circumstances. They may have children in schools, partners who work for other firms who might not be able to relocate, said Kevin McCavish, who heads the employment team at Shoosmiths law firm. Exercising those clauses must be done in a reasonable fashion giving employees adequate advance notice and consultation, giving relocation packages etc, McCavish said. Relocation or redundancy Many employers must decide whether to move London-based staff or pay them off and hire new workers where any new foreign operation is set up. Neither option will be cheap and both carry significant legal risk. For many operations, with the exception of key personnel, (redundancies) might be their preferred choice. It probably would be cheaper and that would give the bank the flexibility to recruit in other jurisdictions, McCavish said McCavish has already received inquiries from worried employees. Their concerns are mainly about the financial packages that the bank is proposing for them. They are concerned the bank isnt actually considering relocating their jobs it is more a question of the bank making everyone redundant at their place of work in the U.K., he said. U.K. legislation gives employees the right to keep their jobs if they are willing to follow the business of their team abroad on at least the same terms and conditions as in London. But Ashursts Woodford estimates that nine out of 10 of any potential transfers will involve redundancies with packages that are so generous that staff members waive these rights and opt against suing the bank. For those who do take legal action, compensation for unfair dismissal in Britain is capped at around 79,000 pounds ($101,000), a relatively modest sum when legal costs are factored in. Some bankers might be persuaded to move but want to keep their big city life, meaning the quieter charms of Germanys financial capital are less attractive. I would consider relocating to Paris but not Frankfurt. Very few people would go to Frankfurt, said another banker. Paris is a large metropolitan centre with lots of culture and things to do. However, some senior staff might remain based in London and commute to Paris by high-speed train, he said, adding: If my family werent happy, I wouldnt move. By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A region of Belgium is set to block a planned EU-Canada free trade agreement, which could undermine the European Union's entire trade policy and dim Britain's hopes of a speedy deal once it leaves the bloc. EU trade ministers will vote in a week on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which requires unanimous support to enter force. Belgium's federal government favors the pact, but needs the backing of the country's three regions and linguistic communities to give its formal approval. Lawmakers in French-speaking Wallonia, except Prime Minister Charles Michel's liberal MR party, oppose CETA because they see it as a threat to public services and to farmers, through a flood of imported pork and beef, and they also reject what they see as its over-protection of foreign multinational firms. "We had hoped that the negotiators would have at least tried to find some improvements, some corrections for Belgium. Today that hasn't happened," Andre Antoine, president of the Walloon regional parliament, told Reuters. "We will probably have, though I will leave it for each to say, a rejection by Brussels, in Wallonia and likely too the German-speaking side. Simply put, the south of Belgium is not in favor," he added in a telephone conversation late on Monday. The government of Belgium's 70,000-strong German-speaking community said it had still not decided. The Walloon parliament will debate the issue on Friday. Virginie Defrang-Firket, an MR lawmaker in Wallonia, said she doubted there would be a change of course. "They have gone so far in their opposition that, whatever is proposed, they can't take a step back. They are not in a constructive attitude that could lead to a solution," she said. "What message are we giving to our European partners?" Trade experts say failure to seal a deal with Canada will undermine the EU's credibility as a potential trade partner. "If the EU cannot do a deal with Canada, I think it is legitimate to say who the heck can it do a deal with," Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said in June. The European Commission, which negotiates on behalf of the 28 EU nations, is also seeking trade agreements with a series of other countries, including the United States and Japan. Britain, which voted in June to leave the EU, would also have to forge a new trading arrangement with the EU27, any one of which could block a negotiated settlement. Critics, including environmental groups and labor unions, say CETA and other trade deals will lead to deteriorating standards and allow big business to challenge governments across Europe. [L8N1BW3TG] CETA supporters say the deal, the EU's first with a G7 nation, will increase trade in goods and services by more than 20 percent and EU economic output by about 12 billion euros ($13.4 billion) per year. They say the boost to the economy and employment is essential at a time of low growth. Belgium's regions are not the only threat to CETA. Austria's Social Democratic Chancellor Christian Kern is wavering, Slovenia's government has concerns, Hungary may still put it to a parliamentary vote, while Romania has said its support will hinge on Canada agreeing a separate deal to allow visa-free travel access. Germany's Constitutional Court will also rule on a legal challenge to CETA on Thursday. (Additional reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek in Brussels, Marja Novak in Ljubljana and Krisztina Than in Budapest; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Global fashion brand Benetton is on track to launch a new "Made in Italy" line layer this year, in a bid to bring the company back to its roots and "refocus on its main expertise". The collection, to be made in Treviso and titled "TV 31100" in a nod to the city's postal code, is slated for a November debut, with the first designs to be a series of super light knits, crafted from a blend of merino wool and cashmere. The company has reportedly invested to the tune of 2 million euros for the project, acquiring 36 Shima Seiki machines to spin the knits, and employed approximately 50 extra workers for production (via WWD). The first products made in Treviso will arrive in Europe in November, followed by India and Mexico, and will be consistent with the brand's pricing, retailing at below 80 euros, or around US$89. Access Hollywood Billy Bush is doing his best to distance himself from the Donald Trump locker-room banter controversy. In the leaked footage, Bush cheered on Trump as he spouted lewd comments about women in 2005. But despite his newfound reticence, Bush was reportedly still bragging about the 11-year-old comments as recently as the Rio Summer Olympics. Page Six reports that Bush had bragged to staffers during a party in Rio while covering the summer Olympics. Bush apparently claimed that he had audio of Trump spewing these inflammatory comments. The boasting prompted producers to look for the tape, with one NBC official telling the publications Bush could be fired over a morality clause in his contract: Billy was bragging about the tape to other NBC staff while in Rio. If he knew about the tape, and remembered the full extent of such an explosive conversation with a presidential candidate and didnt disclose that to NBC News, that is a very, very serious problem. One staffer said they werent sure if Bush brought up the comments because he remembered the severity of the conversation or if he believed it could be a news story. Whatever his reasoning was, he doesnt sound great on the leaked audio either. Bush is already in hot water with NBC brass over the tape, as they have suspended him from Today. This, on top of his defense of Ryan Lochte this summer, hasnt won him over any new supporters, and were sure Al Roker is still furious. (Via Page Six) Billy Bush and NBC are negotiating his exit from NBC News, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. His impending exit - which could come this week - will cap a whirlwind few days that began last Friday, when the Washington Post released video of a lewd and misogynistic 2005 conversation between Bush, then the co-host of NBC's Access Hollywood, and GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. The tape has imperiled Trump's candidacy less than a month before the election and upended Bush's short tenure at the Today show; he joined the program full-time in September. Since the tape was revealed, NBC's social media platforms have been deluged with negative comments, while Hollywood publicists also have promised to keep their clients away from Today if Bush remains. Marcel Pariseau, a partner at True Public Relations, who has a number of high-profile female clients, including Scarlett Johansson, wrote on Facebook: "He was rude and lewd to a few female clients of mine. Boycotting the 9 a.m. hour of the Today show." When the tape leaked, one celebrity publicist told THR, "People who were already booked on the Today show were saying, 'Maybe we should look at GMA or make sure it's not him doing the interview.' There are people who wouldn't talk to him before the news. At Access, he was always 'that guy.' There were people who were anxious about him before he started [on Today]." Hive Collective co-founder Bumble Ward, whose clients include Sofia Coppola and Mira Nair, wrote on her Facebook page: "At last year's Oscars he was the only interviewer who was downright dismissive of my asking him, very politely, and before the rush of celebrities hit him, whether he'd like to speak to my (nominated) director client. He actually turned away with a roll of the eyes." Read more: Donald Trump Caught on Hot Mic in 2005 Talking About Women: "When You're a Star, They Let You Do It" Story continues Bush boasted about his lewd conversation with Trump as far back as last summer, THR has confirmed. Page Six reported Monday night that Bush talked up the Trump tape when he was in Rio for NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympics. But NBC News sources have stressed that news management did not learn about the existence of the tape until early last week, on Monday night or Tuesday morning. And they immediately began vetting it with in-house legal counsel to clear it for release. NBC News declined comment. Bush was recruited to join the 9 a.m. iteration of Today amid faltering ratings for the third hour of NBC's morning news franchise. He supplanted Willie Geist, who now hosts the Sunday edition of Today and also continues to appear on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Sources at NBC News tell THR that even before the release of the tape, Bush had alienated many staffers at Today, including his co-host Tamron Hall. And the tape only hardened many of his colleagues against him. He issued an apology on Friday, the day the tape became public. "Obviously I'm embarrassed and ashamed. It's no excuse, but this happened 11 years ago - I was younger, less mature and acted foolishly in playing along. I'm very sorry," Bush said in a statement. But an initial plan to let him apologize again on the Today show this week was scuttled after the show's predominantly female staff expressed outrage that he would not suffer any consequences. And by Sunday evening, less than two hours before the second presidential debate began, Today senior vp Noah Oppenheim sent an email to staffers informing them that Bush was suspended indefinitely. "Let me be clear - there is simply no excuse for Billy's language and behavior on that tape," Oppenheim wrote. "NBC has decided to suspend Billy, pending further review of this matter." On the tape, Bush is heard engaging in a lewd conversation with Trump about Nancy O'Dell, who was then Bush's Access Hollywood co-host, as well as Days of Our Lives actress Arianna Zucker. He also very clearly encourages Zucker to hug Trump and also asks Zucker for a "hug for the Bushy." Read more: Tapes or No Tapes, 'The Apprentice' Alums Recall Donald Trump's Sexist and Racist Behavior DECATUR After a long wait and several false starts, the Decatur Fire Department is getting a new training facility. Its nothing fancy: seven large shipping containers welded and stacked together on a concrete foundation at Fire Station 2 on East William Street. But department leaders say the new facility will provide flexibility to practice a variety of scenarios. It will also allow Decatur to train its recruit classes in the city, instead of using Mount Zions facility, as the department did in 2012. The only time you fight a fire should not be at the fire, Fire Chief Jeff Abbott said. Weve got to practice. Guys get rusty over time if they havent done something over and over. The more replication we can put them through, the better they are on the scene of an actual fire. The departments former training tower was deemed unsafe to use by Chastain and Associates in 2006. Initial plans for a new facility would have cost $486,000, but the money was diverted when the city hit hard financial times in 2008. New design plans were approved in 2012, using shipping containers in a manner similar to Mount Zions facility, Abbott said. Every year, the city made more progress without actually completing the tower: In 2013, the foundation was poured and containers delivered. In 2014, containers were stacked and welded together. In 2015, the city removed absbestos from the old tower and demolished it. After all that, Abbott and Deputy Chief Rich Pruitt said they are looking forward to completing the project, possibly by the end of October. King-Lar, the winning bidder, will add stairs and doors at a cost of roughly $115,000. The building is configured so that the floor plan can be changed, which is crucial for firefighters who never know what theyre walking into for each call. Outside stairs will allow the firefighters to access the second floor and descend inside, imitating the experience of a basement fire. Fires will be set in the southeast corner of the building, likely in an overturned dumpster that would allow smoke and heat to spread. The department could also use 55-gallon burn barrels in different locations in the building. You definitely dont want it to be that nice, Abbott said of the building. You just want it to be safe and practical. The building will also feature a top railing for roof drills and holes in the ceiling to allow practice of specialty skills, such as trench rescues. We can use different techniques, Abbott said. New equipment comes along, like different types of thermal imaging cameras, this gives us the ability to try out that equipment to see if it works the way we want it to work and get our guys familiar with it. Abbott and Pruitt said they anticipate using the new tower more than 30 times a year, with three shifts practicing each type of exercise. The department is set up to do some training exercises in Station 1. It has also relied heavily on the generosity of property owners, who sometimes donated structures for training before they were scheduled for demolition. The training tower represents a definite expansion of options. When that kind of stuff is not available, weve really been handcuffed on what we could do Pruitt said. ... With this, well be able to have multiple trainings here year round. Australias foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has blasted the opposition party over its inconsistent and contradictory stance on running freedom-of-navigation exercises in the South China Sea. Bishop is the latest coalition MP to attack the Labor Party over its strategy, joining critics including former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating. While addressing parliament during Question Time on October 11, Bishop said the government has remained consistent in its stance, "calling on all nations to refrain from coercive behaviour and for China and the Philippines to accept the recent [UN] arbitration ruling award as final and binding. Labors Shadow Defence Minister [Richard Marles] decided Australia should escalate tensions by having our Navy conduct freedom-of-navigation operations within 12 nautical miles of Chinese-controlled land features that are also contested by other claimants, said Bishop. Australia should be thinking to deescalate tensions in the region Australia is not a claimant state, Australia should not take sides, and we should continue to urge all parties to conduct peaceful negotiations between the claimants, she said, adding that the leader of the opposition, Bill Shorten, should put an end to inconsistent mutterings on the issue. Credit: Australia Parliament House Heather Bresch Mylan CEO EpiPen On Friday, Mylan, the maker of EpiPen, announced that it had reached a $465 million settlement with the US Department of Justice for overcharging the government for the life-saving drug. Mylan will not admit to wrongdoing. The settlement came faster than most, and the news sent Mylan's stock soaring. But there was actually more bad news that came with it. If you just read the Mylan's statement, and not the document it filed with the SEC, you missed that the SEC has opened its own investigation into the company for the exact same issue. From the filing: Also on October 7, 2016, Mylan received a document request from the Division of Enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking communications with the CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] and documents concerning Mylan products sold and related to the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, and any related complaints. Mylan intends to fully cooperate with the SECs investigation. The information in Items 2.02 and 7.01 (including Exhibit 99.1) shall not be deemed to be filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), or otherwise subject to the liability of that section, and shall not be incorporated by reference into any registration statement or other document filed under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing. In other words, this $465 million fine is just the beginning of the matter. And of course, the matter is just one among Mylan's many problems. The company came under fire in August after it raised the price of a 2-pack of EpiPen to $608. A pack cost around $100 when Mylan bought the drug in 2007. That's why officials all over Washington are looking into the matter. Story continues It's hard to say with a straight face that you did nothing wrong when your company has to repay nearly half a billion dollars," Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said in a statement following the announcement of the settlement. "With investigations now being initiated by Congress and others, this may be the beginning of Mylan's problems--not the end. Our constituents are still paying far more than they should be for this critical medication. Cummings was instrumental in getting Mylan CEO Heather Bresch down to Washington to testify before the House last month. He's also requested more documents from the company since then. So you might want to wait a little before you think the coast is clear. NOW WATCH: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf could walk away with $200 million More From Business Insider Cumberland County Sheriffs Office deputies helped save a horse from rising flood water on Monday, October 10. The swift water rescue team were called in after flood water threatened to swamp the livestock pens at the Cumberland County Animal Control in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The team were successful in leading the horse through the floodwaters to dry land where he was loaded onto a trailer and taken to safety. Bob, a local horse, who has not had a good life, was being housed in one of the animal control livestock pens that was quickly filling with water. Bob would need to be moved from the pen through deeper waters before reaching higher ground, said Sheriff Earl Moose Butler in a statement shared on Facebook. The Swift Water Rescue Team while not being trained for this type operation did not fail Bob. The team was able to get Bob to safety on higher ground, where he could be loaded on a trailer and transported to another facility for safe keeping, said Butler. Bob the horse is now seeking a new home. North Carolina faced record flooding after Hurricane Matthew, which has now been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, slammed into the state on Sunday. Credit: Facebook/Cumberland County Sheriffs Office Amazon Prime Air announcement Boeing says it will convert nine used 767 passenger jets into freighters for Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, which will use them in its cargo transport operations for Amazon. Amazon made a splash in August when it unveiled its first branded Prime Air jet and spilled the details about its air cargo ambitions. New York-based Atlas Air as well as Ohio-based Air Transport Services Group have been flying packages for the online retailing giant for months. By the end of 2018, each of the companies expects to be operating 20 leased 767 jets for Amazon deliveries. Atlas Air spokeswoman Bonnie Rodney told GeekWire via email that her company is currently using one aircraft the branded 767 that made its public debut at Seattles Seafair festival. But she added that we have acquired the vast majority of the aircraft that we will need for Amazon and we have secured all of the conversion slots for Amazon Prime Airs jets. That includes the nine slots announced today. We look forward to supporting Atlas with our Boeing Converted Freighters as they expand their freighter operations, Rick Anderson, vice president of sales and marketing for Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, said today in a news release. Boeing converts 767 passenger jets to freighters in Singapore under an arrangement with a maintenance and modification company called Singapore Technologies Aerospace, or ST Aero. Boeing says it foresees a need to make 400 wide-body jet conversions over the next two decades, with strong demand for 767 freighter conversions due to the rise in e-commerce. The Seattle Times reported that the company may open a second conversion line in Shanghai or Taipei to handle the demand. The Times estimates the cost of a used 767 airliner at $10 million or less, and the cost of passenger-to-freighter conversion at $15 million or so. Meanwhile, ATSG says it currently has 11 Boeing 767s flying for Amazon Prime Air, with an additional plane joining the delivery fleet every month or so. More from GeekWire: Rome (AFP) - Who's afraid of a referendum? Italy faces one in December, France's Nicolas Sarkozy has promised two if he wins the presidential election next year, but as the recent shock votes in Britain, Colombia and Hungary show, the risks are high. In London, ex-prime minister David Cameron hoped to use a popular vote on whether Britain should remain in the European Union to rein in a belligerent anti-EU wing of his own Conservative Party -- but it spectacularly backfired. "He will be remembered as the man who accidentally took us out of Europe," former Conservative party minister Ken Clarke said after the June vote and Cameron's resignation. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos had no better luck, calling a referendum this month on a historic peace deal between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), only to see it rejected by voters. "Politicians do not know how to draw lessons from history. If we look at the recent referendums, they were all miscalculated," Professor Iain Begg, a research fellow at LSE's European Institute, told AFP. "Very few referendums go the way forecast" by those in power, he said. - 'Quickly go wrong' - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban also bet and lost: his anti-migrant referendum was declared invalid after failing to obtain the necessary turnout. But with more than 98 percent of those who did cast their ballots saying "No" to an EU migrant quota plan, he could spin it as a victory of sorts. "It may be normal in Switzerland, but it is rare for the British, Italians and French to face referendums and they can quickly go wrong," Begg said. "Even if there are good reasons to put the vote to the people, the fact is it's a "yes" or "no" vote, there is no in-between." Switzerland seems to be exception that proves the rule, with its citizens voting every three months on popular initiatives, presented by parties or citizen groups, and referendums put forward by the State. Story continues "There is a great voting tradition, which means the elites have learned what is necessary to inform, persuade and prepare public opinion," Swiss political scientist Pascal Sciarini told AFP. - 'Emotionally charged' - As his counterpart at Lausanne University, Oscar Mazzoleni, points out: in cases like Italy, referendums are a seized as a chance for a protest vote. "They are emotionally charged, it's an opportunity for people to vent." Sarkozy has been accused of hoping to exploit that fact to revive his flagging campaign by cashing in on the emotionally-charged issues of immigration and Islam with his proposed referendums. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is well aware of the dangers he faces with his December 4 ballot on constitutional reform, aimed at streamlining the political system and increasing government stability. Having said months ago that he would resign if voters reject the reform, he is now scrambling to insist it is not a personality contest. "I know I'm not the most likeable person in the world," he admitted in a television interview last weekend. "But voters who cast their ballots based on likeability clearly have little interest in the good of the country." It may be too little, too late. "Renzi is running a risk. He was counting on using the referendum to consolidate his political power, but his wavering -- presenting it as a vote on his fate, then back-peddling -- is harming him," said Domenico Fracchiolla from Rome's Luiss University. There are few referendums in which voters actually answer the question posed, and Italy is no exception, commentators say. "The December 4 vote is not about constitutional reform, an issue most Italians know nothing about," La Stampa daily said. "The real question, the one they'll be answering 'yes' or 'no' to, is: "Do you still have more faith in Renzi than in his opponents?" The Syrian Civil Defense, an emergency response group also known as the White Helmets, reported that more than 30 people were killed and dozens injured amid a barrage of airstrikes on civilian areas of the besieged city of Aleppo on Tuesday, October 11. A number of neighborhoods in rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo were targeted, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. This footage shows the aftermath of an airstrike on Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, where RFS Media Office reported that at least eight people were killed and more than 20 wounded. Local activists reported that an airstrike on Aleppos al-Firdaws neighborhood left at least six dead. Credit: YouTube/Aleppo Media Center Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (AFP) - Bosnia is "a failed concept," Serb leader in the Balkans country Milorad Dodik said Tuesday, adding that he "thinks a lot" about a referendum on independence for his Republika Srpska. The troubled leader has already threatened to call such a vote, which would further undermine fragile institutions established by the Dayton agreement that ended the inter-ethnic 1992-1995 war. "I do not want to pretend to support a failed concept called Bosnia and Herzegovina," Dodik told AFP in an interview at his presidency in the northern town of Banja Luka. However, he said he was ready to work "to ensure sustainability of Bosnia as previewed by the constitution." Today "Bosnia and Herzegovina is a place that nobody wants except few idealists in Sarajevo who want to preserve it," he said, adding that "from a rational point of view nobody benefits from it." Dodik added that unless a consensus can be found between Bosnia's communities -- Muslims, Serbs and Croats -- the country will disappear. - 'I am a target' - Since the end of the war that claimed 100,000 lives, Bosnia has been split along ethnic lines into two semi-independent entities -- Muslim-Croat Federation and Serb-run Republika Srpska. They are linked by fragile central institutions vehemently contested by Dodik. Despite the opposition of the international community, a constitutional court veto and the rage of Muslim leaders in Sarajevo, Dodik last month organised a referendum over Serbs' "national holiday." The defiant Serb leader won the plebiscite, with almost 100 percent of voters backing the idea, dealing a blow to Sarajevo and the court. The prosecutor's office in Sarajevo summoned Dodik as a suspect for having organised the referendum, considered illegal after the court ban. Repeatedly saying that he is ready to give a statement through a video link or in the territory of Republika Srpska, Dodik said he would not travel to a location whose jurisdiction he considers "illegal." Story continues "My roads do not lead to Sarajevo," he said. "I am a target of Sarajevo Muslims and their politics. I have no link with Sarajevo and nothing attracts me there." - 'Opposite direction at highway' - Strengthened by his party's recent victory at local elections, Dodik again brought up the prospect of organising an independence referendum for Republika Srpska. "I think about it, I think a lot," he said. Dodik acknowledged that just suggesting such an option "could be used against me before a court, because in Bosnia and Herzegovina we do not have the right to think". "If you think, you are immediately considered a bigger enemy than those from the Islamic State who walk around freely," he added, referring to some 330 Muslims who have left the country to fight for the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. Muslim leader Bakir Izetbegovic has accused Dodik of playing with "the red line," 25 years after the war that left some two million people homeless. He recently likened Dodik to the driver of a vehicle heading "in the wrong direction on the highway, convinced that hundreds of other drivers are wrong" and adding that "an accident is inevitable" unless the dangerous driver changes direction. "That depends on my vehicle. Maybe I could run over all those driving in reverse, we will see," Dodik retorted, adding that he was "happy to drive in the opposite direction" to Izetbegovic. "We will either build a Bosnia respecting the will of all, or it will not exist any more. When will it happen? I do not know." Dodik accused the West of "accelerating the process of disappearance" of Bosnia by imposing its will or sending "third-class ambassadors" there. They "come to practise here" before going elsewhere, "I do not want to be their guinea pig." British oil giant BP on Tuesday ditched plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight after reviewing its global exploration programme, a decision environmentalists hailed as a victory for the pristine wilderness. The company had wanted to drill four deep exploration wells in waters off the South Australian coast to see whether commercial quantities of oil or natural gas are present. But it was a controversial move with the huge bight a haven for whales, seals, dolphins and penguins and home to sea eagles and albatross. BP was responsible for a massive oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico and conservation groups were concerned about the risked posed to the environment. The energy giant's managing director for exploration and production in Australia, Claire Fitzpatrick, said the decision not to proceed followed a review of the company's upstream strategy earlier this year. "We have looked long and hard at our exploration plans for the Great Australian Bight but, in the current external environment, we will only pursue frontier exploration opportunities if they are competitive and aligned to our strategic goals," she said in a statement. "After extensive and careful consideration, this has proven not to be the case for our project to explore in the Bight." Greenpeace said BP should never have considered drilling for oil in "such a pristine wilderness". "This news will be especially welcomed by the local communities near the waters of the Great Australian Bight like the tourism operators, oyster farmers and fishers who rely on it for their livelihoods," said Greenpeace Australia oceans campaigner Nathaniel Pelle. "Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should now heed this signal from BP, stop further oil exploration in the Great Australian Bight for good, and protect this unique wilderness while he still can." Other oil and gas companies, including Chevron and Santos, are eyeing exploration in the bight and the Wilderness Society said they should take note of BP's decision. Story continues "If BP with all its experience cannot produce an acceptable drilling plan for NOPSEMA, the remaining companies exploring in the Bight will be wasting their shareholders' money trying to pursue this folly," said the society's national director Lyndon Schneiders. "The fact is that drilling here is far too dangerous for our environment and our communities and our Great Australian Bight needs to be permanently protected from the risks inherently associated with oil and gas exploration." BP's application to drill had repeatedly hit hurdles at the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for failing to meet strict environmental criteria. But the company denied this impacted its decision. "This decision isn't a result of a change in our view of the prospectivity of the region, nor of the ongoing regulatory process run by the independent regulator NOPSEMA," said Fitzpatrick. "It is an outcome of our strategy and the relative competitiveness of this project in our portfolio." DECATUR Ayu Pummer of Vienna, Austria, had a reason for setting up her information table next to that of fellow college junior Kate Christie of Caloundra, Australia. I don't want people to think I made a spelling mistake, Pummer said. I'm from Europe, I speak German, and I don't have kangaroos. Such was the more basic level of education Monday evening during Millikin University's International Month festival in Richards Treat University Center, but some of it was far more advanced. One example was the way Lauren Musurlian, a junior biology major from Racine, Wis., took the opportunity to pump Christie for information to help prepare for studying abroad next semester in Australia. She'll go through (autumn) all over again while she's there, Christie said. For another, Millikin graduate Justin Ostergard described how his recent experiences teaching English in South Korea and backpacking through southeast Asia elevated his life to new level. There was a specific moment in my life where everything seemed to be going perfectly, the theater major said. I was in '42nd Street' playing opposite Karen Ziemba, I was running a business, I was dating a super hot guy. But I wasn't happy or fulfilled for whatever reason. Molly Berry, Millikin's director of Inclusion and Student Engagement, said the purpose of the event is to expose students to a global environment. More than a dozen countries were represented, including Afghanistan, China, El Salvador, France, Lithuania, Taiwan and Vietnam. For some, including displays for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tajikstan, Japan and India, students wore clothing from their home countries. Juniors Yuina Hiraoka and Chiho Iwasaki of Japan explained that the yukatas they were wearing cost only about $400 apiece a mere fraction of the price for a traditional furisode, the most formal of kimonos a young woman wears for her Coming of Age Day when she turns 20. Parag Sachdeva, a freshman entrepreneurship major from New Delhi, said that the Nehru jacket he wore was also for special occasions only. Did you know that India is the world's second-largest English-speaking country? he asked visitors. Ostergard was joined by two Millikin seniors to answer questions at the end of the evening. They were Jocelyn Hernandez, a marketing major from Des Plaines, who spent the spring semester studying in Spain; and Haley Hogenkamp, a business management major from St. Henry, Ohio, who studied last fall in Geneva, Switzerland. For me, the biggest challenge the language barrier, because I didn't speak French, Hogenkamp said. There I was, and I couldn't even order food. There was no way for me to prepare for it, other than to think about what I could do to not get frustrated. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f242622%2fdb753c445de5418e956d37b87171a2a3 In a victory for environmentalists, oil giant BP announced Tuesday it would not proceed with its plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight. It was a significant reversal for the company, which had once suggested the region could become an oil field to rival the Gulf of Mexico, the Guardian reported. "That territory could be something like the Niger Delta or Mississippi Delta, so it's of interest to the world, not just Australia and BP," head of BP Australia Andy Holmes told the Australian in 2014. SEE ALSO: The 5 most prevalent climate change phenomena explained simply The Great Australian Bight is located off the south coast of Australia. It's home to threatened species such as the Australian sea lion and blue whale as well as industries such as tourism and fishing that rely on a pristine marine environment. BP was awarded exploration licences for the region in 2011. BP claimed the backdown was decided for business reasons. "We have looked long and hard at our exploration plans for the Great Australian Bight but, in the current external environment, we will only pursue frontier exploration opportunities if they are competitive and aligned to our strategic goals," Claire Fitzpatrick, BP's Managing Director for Exploration and Production in Australia, said in a statement. "After extensive and careful consideration, this has proven not to be the case for our project to explore in the Bight." Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who had been outspoken against the project, greeted the news on Twitter. Breaking: BP drops their push to drill for oil in the Great Aust Bight. Now time to permanently protect it from big oil #FightForTheBight Sarah Hanson-Young (@sarahinthesen8) October 11, 2016 BP pulls out of the Bight. Community (1), Big Oil (0) Sarah Hanson-Young (@sarahinthesen8) October 11, 2016 According to the Guardian, Australia's offshore oil regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA), had made requests for more detail about BP's plans in the Bight in recent months. Story continues NOPSEMA said in a statement Tuesday the environmental plans submitted by BP remained under assessment: "NOPSEMA has not received a withdrawal request." In a statement, Wilderness Society national director Lyndon Schneiders suggested BP's failure to satisfy NOPSEMA should be a warning to other companies hoping to drill in the area. "This decision shows that it's too expensive to establish the significant and costly risk management and clean up capacity infrastructure needed to protect our communities from the enormous spill risks," he said. "We call on these companies to follow BPs lead and leave the Bight, and the communities surrounding the Bight, in peace." Modelling commissioned by the Wilderness Society, as well as BP itself, suggested oil from a spill would reach the coast. The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), which had been a part of protests against BP's project, welcomed the news Tuesday. "This was the biggest new proposed fossil fuel project in the country, if it went ahead it would fuel dangerous global warming and risk a safe climate," Amy Gordon, AYCC national campaigner, told Mashable in an email. "International oil companies, Chevron and Statoil still have plans to drill for oil in the Bight, but they should look to BP who cited the fact the lack of financial value in the project as the main reason they were walking away," she added. "Drilling in the Great Australian Bight is too expensive for oil companies and is too expensive for our climate." The AYCC also called for Prime Minister Turnbull to ban all oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight. Image: PA Wire/Press Association Images Karoon Gas Australia is one of a number of companies that have also been approved to drill in the region, the Guardian reported. On Friday, it announced it had been granted a permit to explore 17,793 square kilometres of the Great Australian Bight, or what it called "Australia's most active and prospective frontier oil exploration province." "Karoon recognizes the GAB is a pristine wilderness and an iconic Australian coastline with significant environmental and commercial fishing sensitivities. The eastern portion of the Permit includes a Commonwealth marine reserve running through it," Karoon acknowledged in its statement. "The Great Australian Bight waters are deeper, more treacherous and more remote than the Gulf of Mexico, where BP was responsible for 800 million litres of oil spewing into the Gulf for 87 days in 2010," Wilderness Society South Australia director Peter Owen added. "Its time to end the dangerous fiasco of oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight." Karoon has been approached by Mashable for comment. Istanbul (AFP) - BP chief executive Bob Dudley on Tuesday said the company was "a little bit saddened" by the Hollywood film released this year over the 2010 disaster on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, arguing it had done everything to win back trust. The explosion in 2010 on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 men off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, causing 134 million gallons (507 million litres) of oil to spew into the sea in a major environmental disaster. Speaking at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, Bob Dudley confirmed that the company had spent over $61 billion "to restore trust" in paying off liabilities after the accident. "We have been focused on earning back trust," he said. But Dudley praised the management team he put together from 2010 after taking over from Tony Hayward in the wake of the Deepwater tragedy to deal with the aftermath of the crisis. "The accident shook the company to the core," he said. The film Deepwater Horizon, starring Mark Wahlberg and Kate Hudson and released in the US in September, shows how two workers on the oil rig help rescue their co-workers as families deal with the impact of the disaster back home. "They (the management staff) have seen the movie, they are a little bid saddened by it," Dudley said, adding that the film took sides by painting a picture of "heroes and villains". "That is not how it is real life," said Dudley. "We have had to restore trust day by day by delivering safe, reliable operations, and looking more widely," said Dudley, noting that BP had to sell off a third of the company to meet its obligations after Deepwater. But he also acknowledged "there is a longstanding issue of trust in the oil and gas industry" and "our industry has a real image problem in some countries". Dudley said the energy industry should be "proud of the service we deliver to the world" as it manages a "great transition" to keep meeting demand while fulfilling climate change commitments. (Adds comments, details) NEW YORK, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The approval of a federal spending cap in a first-round vote shows Brazil is tackling its fiscal woes and is on its way to entering a sustainable growth path, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said on Tuesday. Meirelles said the mere expectation of a budget reform has lifted confidence, but stressed that the spending cap and a pension reform must pass to have a lasting effect on growth. An overwhelming majority in the lower house of Congress on Monday passed a proposal to cap public spending that is at the heart of President Michel Temer's austerity plan. "The economy is showing signs of recovery," Meirelles told journalists in New York, where he is meeting with investors. Meirelles added the budget reforms will improve Brazil's credit rating, although not immediately. Brazil lost its investment grade rating by all leading agencies last year. Asked about the impact of a potential rate hike in the United States, Meirelles said the reforms will help Brazil become less dependent on other economies. (Reporting by Christian Plumb; Writing by Silvio Cascione; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrea Ricci) Brasilia (AFP) - Brazilian prosecutors on Monday accused former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of influence peddling, compounding the woes of a fallen political giant already charged in the Petrobras scandal. The new charges allege that after leaving office in 2010 and until 2015, Lula helped the construction company Odebrecht win contracts in Angola. Lula intervened with a government bank called BNDES so it would provide financing for Odebrecht projects in the southern African country, prosecutors said. In return, Lula and 10 other suspects charged Monday in this case received Odebrecht shares that are currently worth a total of more than $9.3 million, the prosecutors' office said. Those 10 people include Marcelo Odebrecht, former chairman of the company that bears his name -- it has also been linked to the Petrobras case -- and Taiguara Rodrigues dos Santos, a nephew of Lula. Lula had already been ordered to stand trial for alleged corruption and money laundering in the pay-to-play scandal at state-owned oil company Petrobras. He will also stand trial for obstruction of justice. Lula's lawyers insisted Monday that he is innocent, as they outlined the defense they will use in the Petrobras trial. A legendary figure of the Latin American left, Lula has said he is willing to run for office again in 2018 to keep the right from taking power. His successor Dilma Rousseff was impeached and removed from office this summer for violating budget rules. She and Lula argue that the charges were trumped up to end more than 13 years of leftist Workers' Party rule in the South American giant. Rousseff was replaced by her former vice president Michel Temer of the center right PMDB party. He will serve until the 2018 vote. The Workers' Party was punished badly in recent municipal elections, losing two-thirds of the mayoral posts it had won in 2012. The Hague (AFP) - The Duchess of Cambridge made her first solo official trip abroad Tuesday with a day-long visit to The Netherlands, seen as part of a British charm offensive after the Brexit vote. Kate, the wife of Britain's Prince William, first met with Dutch King Willem-Alexander for lunch at the royal residence in Wassenaar, an exclusive leafy suburb just outside The Hague. "Welcome, welcome, very nice to see you," the king said, as he greeted his guest for the first visit by a British royal to the Dutch kingdom in three years. Kate looked chic in a long-sleeved light blue two-piece with a peplum jacket. Her hair was tied back in a neat chignon bun, showing off pearl earrings in an apparent subtle nod to the famous Dutch 17th century painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer. The masterpiece hangs in the historic Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague's city centre, where Kate later viewed 22 paintings by Dutch masters on loan from the British Royal Collection as part of a current exhibition. Crowds lined the streets as Kate arrived outside the museum just steps from the Dutch parliament, parts of which date back to the 13th century. She was greeted by the museum's director Emilie Gordenker, and stopped to chat briefly with some excited children waving Dutch and British flags, who were lined up in front of three traditional red British telephone boxes erected for the exhibition. The popular British royal then met with a local institute to discuss mental health and addiction issues at the ornate British ambassador's residence. Later, the 34-year-old Kate travelled to the southwestern port city of Rotterdam to visit a community initiative that provides a public workspace for local residents and children. Kate was in the country only a day after British Prime Minister Teresa May met late Monday in The Hague for talks with her Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte. Rutte said it was "a good time for an exchange of views" adding that after the Brexit vote "we are in uncharted waters." Story continues The Duchess's visit also comes after the Dutch king warned last month at the opening of parliament about uncertainty in Europe following the June vote and that it could trigger Dutch job losses. Britain is the third most important trading partner for Dutch exports after Germany and Belgium, with the Dutch central statistics office (CBS) saying declining trade could cost the lowlands country 10 billion euros ($11.1 billion) in losses by 2030. "The Duchess of Cambridge will become Britain's secret weapon in attempts to beef up relationships with EU countries during Brexit," the Daily Mail said on Monday. "Kate will make a solo visit to The Netherlands as Britain contemplates the process of negotiating trade deals with every EU member state," it said. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f242755%2fnickelbackstrikesback LONDON Notwithstanding that many (on both sides) feel its result could threaten existence as we know it, the U.S. presidential election has also provided an endless source of inspiration for comedians and internet trolls alike. And the butt of several politically charged jokes has inevitably been Nickelback the band everyone loves to hate. No more. SEE ALSO: Someone from Nickelback's entourage wants Aussie police to stop making fun of them While many may scoff at Nickelback, it seems the Canadian rockers have had enough, or at the very least, they're not taking shade from arguably their counterpart in the UK: British rock duo Royal Blood. Over the weekend, Royal Blood tweeted this: And in response, Nickelback had a pretty smooth comeback: NIckelback jokes are like @royalblooduk, they were a lot cooler a couple years ago. Don't drink and tweet fellas. Stay safe. XO https://t.co/Gb1IizED4c Nickelback (@Nickelback) October 8, 2016 Fans chastised Royal Blood for the attack, too. #WhentheTrollsGetTrolled: @royalblooduk maybe fist start selling an album or two before attacking another band. #Nickelback rocks btw...y'all dus suck #bye Jacqueline Ellis (@Jackster31) October 8, 2016 @royalblooduk @Nickelback Not the best way to try & encourage a WorldWide band to bring you on as an opening act to get your career going! JediJohnny (@JediJohnny) October 10, 2016 @royalblooduk If you two twonks created innovative music then you could talk. Instead you sound like you're bitter @Nickelback outsell you. Larry Ash (@LarryFlippinAsh) October 10, 2016 Sorry fellas, looks like you just got owned... by Nickelback... Story continues Don't worry though, you're not the first. Whatever you think of the rock group's musical abilities, they've got mad Twitter skillz. Check out some of their finer shutdowns below: @simetradon I bet it was the best day you've had in awhile. #yourwelcome Nickelback (@Nickelback) January 22, 2012 @mybueno we blame you. Not sure for what, but it was definitely you. Nickelback (@Nickelback) January 22, 2012 Bryan Cranston had played numerous roles on screen (soap operas, Seinfeld, Malcolm in the Middle) and in life (paperboy, security guard, family man) before landing the part that would forever cement him in the pantheon of TV icons: Walter White in AMCs Breaking Bad. In this exclusive excerpt from his new memoir, A Life in Parts, Cranston discusses his first encounter with the script that would come to define him, and his meeting with its creator, Vince Gilligan. Im not sure i knew what that title meant then, but the script was ohmy-God superb, the best hour-long drama Id ever read. Great characterizations, complex plots, nuanced story elements, surprises that left you thinking: What on earth is going to happen next? By virtue of the writing, I began dreaming about this character, this Walter White. I was waking up in the middle of the night with him on my mind. I recalled being back on the Blue Ridge Parkway, marooned by rain. I got so lost in an Ibsen play, the story and the characters, that I forgot about the rain. I cant describe how rare that is to find in script form. I cant explain how an actor longs for that richness and depth and humor and humanity to work with. To build on. This was it. I had no idea where the story was going, but I knew it was gold. I had a meeting set with Vince the following week. I told my agents: Make it sooner. I went into the AMC offices in West L.A., knowing I was scheduled for twenty minutes, and ended up staying an hour and a half. Do you know how he should look? I asked. Uh, kinda, Vince answered, smiling. I ventured some of the ideas that had come to me since Id read the script. Hes missed so many opportunities in life, I said. You can see that in every part of him. He has a mustache that isnt manly. That isnt anything. You look at him and say: Why bother? His skin and his hair are the same bland hue. He wears pale yellow and sand and taupe. He blends into the background. Invisible. To society. To himself. Im thinking hes doughy. One hundred eighty-six pounds. Story continues I saw this character, this man, so clearly. I knew how he carried himself. Burdened. His shoulders were slumped like those of a much older man. I was imagining a man who carried himself a lot like my dad. When I asked about his plans for the arc of the show, Vince told me in his genteel Virginia drawl, I want to take this character from Mr. Chips to Scarface. So youre going to take this guy from good to bad? I said. He nodded and smiled slyly. If theyll let me. I couldnt believe it. All television, to that point, had been based on stasis, characters you come to know and love. The prevailing thought for most of the history of television had been that viewers want someone they can count on. Archie Bunker. In every episode of All in the Family, hes consistently Archie. Jerry Seinfeld, same. Ross and Rachel, you see them in different situations will they or wont they? but theyre invariably Ross and Rachel. Even the characters weve known to break new ground, like Tony Soprano. As genius and gamechanging as that show and performance were, you didnt see Tony change a whole lot from the beginning to the end. Tony Soprano is Tony Soprano. Don Draper may change a little, but he basically remains Don Draper until the shows meditative finale, and even thats debatable. Some argue the workaholic adman was meditating not on the here and now, but on the creative for a Coke commercial. Classic Don. Vince was proposing to blow up the model of a successful show. Walt would truly change. By the time the series ended, hed be unrecognizable to viewers, to himself. Youre really going to do that? I asked again. Thats the plan, he said, laughing. Do you realize that no ones ever done that in the history of television? Vince shrugged. Well see if it works. I didnt know if it would work, either. But I knew I wanted in. I had to have it. From A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston. Copyright 2016 by Bryan Cranston. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Related stories Emmy Awards: Bryan Cranston, Claire Danes, Amy Poehler Set as Presenters Best Actor Oscar Contenders Land in Telluride Film Review: 'Wakefield' (Adds Marcato statement) By Michael Flaherty Oct 11 (Reuters) - A battle between Buffalo Wild Wings Inc and an activist hedge fund heated up on Tuesday after the company named three new directors to its board. The restaurant chain's board shuffle sparked an angry response from Marcato Capital Management LP, the activist fund that owns 5.2 percent of the stock and is the company's fourth-largest shareholder. "After attempting to engage in substantive dialogue with Buffalo Wild Wings for months, we are deeply disappointed by the company's unilateral decision to reconstitute its board without consulting us or other outside shareholders," Marcato said in statement. Buffalo Wild Wings said early on Tuesday that it appointed CBS Radio President Andre Fernandez, eBay Inc executive Hal Lawton and Levi Strauss & Co Chief Financial Officer Harmit Singh as independent directors. The company also said it would expand its board to nine from eight directors. The new directors "underscore our commitment to proactive board refreshment, strong corporate governance and independence and diversity," Chief Executive Officer Sally Smith said in a statement. The move comes after Marcato said in August that it would be "inappropriate" to add new directors without consulting its major shareholders and offered a senior Marcato executive to serve on the company's board. (http://bit.ly/2bYRMXp) The San Francisco-based hedge fund disclosed its stake in July and said the company needed to add more directors to its board with restaurant experience. Marcato, founded by ex-Pershing Square Partner Mick McGuire, also has said the company should franchise out more of its restaurants. Marcato could launch a proxy fight in early 2017 by nominating its own directors, if friction between the two sides continues. Buffalo Wild Wings' director nomination window will likely run from early January to early February, based on last year's proxy. Its annual meeting is usually held in May. Story continues McGuire said in an interview last week that Buffalo Wild Wings' management had not been as receptive to Marcato's plans "as we would like" and repeated his view that the company's shares could triple over a four-year span. Buffalo Wild Wings said on Tuesday that two existing board members would step down from their positions effective immediately. (Additional reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Martina D'Couto and Cynthia Osterman) J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (JCP) isn't dead yet. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) has completely turned itself around and is expected to be profitable this year and next. J. C. Penny is one of the oldest apparel and home furnishing retailers in the United States, operating over 1,000 store locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and its online website. 4 Big Beats in a Row Last year, Wall Street left J.C. Penney for dead as earnings and revenue spiraled lower, pushed by the relentless attacks on the old model department store. It looked like the retailer was going to go the way of Montgomery Ward. But the company got a new CEO in 2015 in Marvin Ellison. He had been at Home Depot and brought Home Depot's sensibility over to the clothing retailer. It looks to be working. J.C. Penney has beat the street 4 quarters in a row. It's second quarter beat was by $0.10, as the company reported a loss of $0.05 versus the Zacks Consensus of $0.15. Comparable store sales rose 2.2% as its top selling divisions were beauty and cosmetics company Sephora, Home and Footwear and Handbags. Geographically, the Ohio Valley and the Pacific were the two best performing regions. Beauty and Appliances Its alliance with Sephora continues to give the stores a big boost. It will be rolling out more in-store Sephora locations over the next few years. It also recently started an aggressive national advertising campaign touting its appliances. It will roll out appliance sales in 500 stores and on jcp.com. To compete with online retailers, it is also rolling out same day in-store pickup. Earnings Estimates Rise In August, J.C. Penney reaffirmed its full year guidance which included comparable store sales of 3% to 4%. It also presented its 3-year strategy for growth which included annual compounded comparable sales growth of 3%. The analysts liked what they heard as 10 estimates were raised for fiscal 2016 in the last 2 months. 1 analyst recently lowered estimates however. Story continues Still, the analysts believe J.C. Penney will return to profitability this year. The fiscal 2016 Zacks Consensus Estimate jumped to $0.16 from $0.05 in that time period. The company lost $1.03 last year so that is earnings growth of 115%. Analysts are also bullish about fiscal 2017. The 2017 Zacks Consensus Estimate has jumped to $0.72 from $0.69 in the last 30 days. That's earnings growth of 345%. The CEO Dives In and Buys More Shares It's not just the analysts who are buying into the turnaround story. The new CEO has bought shares twice in 2016. His first open market purchase was in march 2016 when he bought 50,000 shares. He recently bought another 50,000 shares on August 25, 2016. He has over 2.5 million shares and gets awards from the company. When an insider buys more shares using their own cash it sends a bullish signal. Many buy because they believe the shares are likely to go higher. Are Shares Cheap? Share sold off to multi-year lows in recent years on the belief that the company may not survive. They haven't recovered much and have yet to break out to even a 2-year high. Now that the company is expected to be profitable, based on fiscal 2016's numbers, it's not cheap. It trades with a forward P/E of 58. But if you believe the company could make $0.72 next year, then it's trading at about 12.5x. And that's an attractive valuation. For investors looking for a turnaround story in the apparel industry, J.C. Penney is definitely one that should be on the short list. Now, which stocks should you sell? As a Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buy, this Bull of the Day deserves consideration. But today there are 220 Zacks Rank #5 Strong Sells that demand even more urgent attention. If any of these are lurking in your portfolio, they should be removed immediately. Since 1988, such stocks have actually performed more than 11X worse than the S&P 500. See all Zacks Strong Sells and Strong Buys absolutely free >>. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PENNEY (JC) INC (JCP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research DECATUR Eisenhower High School edged out St. Teresa High School for fifth place among schools giving to the 15th WSOY Community Food Drive on Friday at the Airport Plaza Kroger. Totals released Tuesday by Neuhoff Media showed Eisenhower gave 42,835 pounds/dollars, just 100 more than St. Teresa. This year's drive is the first time a Decatur public school finished in the top five since the first event in 2002. Fifth place is worth $500 from sponsors of the food drive. I am very excited, said Maria Robertson, community engagement director for the school district. It warms my heart to see high schoolers finding it important to be good citizens in the community. Eisenhower will also get another $500 traditionally provided by Tate & Lyle to the top five performing Decatur public schools. According to official results, the other schools are MacArthur High School, Parsons and Dennis schools and Hope Academy. A total of 47 schools/districts participated in the food drive, which collected a record 1,400,895 pounds/dollars for food pantries, including those of Decatur Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army. Sponsor-provided cash prizes for the top four schools were $2,500 for St. Patrick, $1,500 for Mount Zion High School, $1,000 for Our Lady of Lourdes and $750 for Warrensburg-Latham. Sponsors include Archer Daniels Midland Co., Dales Southlake Pharmacy and Colee's Corner Drugs, Decatur Back & Neck Center, DynaGraphics/Wood Printing, First Christian Church, Herald & Review, JL Hubbard Insurance and Bonds, Jones & Thomas Inc./JTnet, Skeff Distributing, Soy Capital Bank and Trust, Ticket-N-Trips, United Way of Decatur and Mid-Illinois and WAND-TV. Nairobi (AFP) - Burundi said Tuesday it had suspended co-operation with the UN's human rights office over its "complicity" in a report accusing Bujumbura of systematic abuses and warning of a risk of genocide. The move came a day after the small central African state barred the report's three authors. "Following the complicity of the UN High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Burundi in the drafting of the dishonest and controversial report ... the government of Burundi has decided to suspend all cooperation and collaboration with this office," read a statement from the government. Bujumbura added it had asked the OHCHR to set up a team to renegotiate the "mandate, duration and size" of its office in Burundi. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said there were 51 rights officers working in Burundi. "We feel their work is critical in order to shine a light on the situation in the country and we very much hope that they will be able to continue their work," Dujarric told reporters in New York. Pablo de Greiff from Colombia, Christof Heyns from South Africa and Maya Sahli-Fadel of Algeria had been appointed in December to lead the independent probe which led to their being declared personae non grata. Their report, issued last month. said "gross human rights violations have and are taking place (in Burundi), committed primarily by state agents and those linked to them." Thousands of people have been tortured, suffered sexual abuse or disappeared, while arbitrary detention has happened "on a massive scale", the report said. - Withdrawal from ICC - Last week, Burundi said it planned to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), alleging there was "a plot to do harm" the country. In April, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she was conducting a "preliminary examination" of the situation in Burundi -- the first step towards a full investigation and possible prosecutions -- looking into allegations including murder, torture, rape and forced disappearances. Story continues Also last week, a representative of the non-governmental organisation Trial International was stripped of her visa and ordered to leave Burundi. The employee planned to provide legal training to Burundian lawyers defending victims of state-sponsored violence. Burundi has been in turmoil since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans in April last year to run for a third term, which he went on to win. More than 500 people have died, many of them in extrajudicial killings blamed on Burundian police, security forces and militias linked to the ruling party, according to the United Nations. At least 270,000 people have fled the country. The UN Security Council is due to discuss the crisis in Burundi on Thursday. Three of Asias top filmmakers, Taiwans Hou Hsiao-hsien, Japans Kore-eda Hirokazu and Koreas Lee Chang-dong, used the Busan Film Festival as a platform to tease their upcoming films and projects in development. It is a mystery thriller, said Lee. It is a story about young people in todays world. When they think of the world and their own lives, I think it must feel like a mystery. If everything goes well, Ill start shooting next month. His new film is tentatively titled Burning, and is a co-production between Lees brother-producer Lee Joon-dongs Now Film and Oh Jung-wans Bom Film Productions. It will be Lees first film in seven years since 2010s Poetry. Kore-eda is developing a courtroom drama.Over the years, Ive always had the same question: why I would always make family dramas, said the Japanese director. This time, it is not. It will be a suspense courtroom drama that revolves around a murder case. Hou, the eldest of the three, did not mention a specific project. For a while, it will be difficult for me to make another film like Assassin, as it requires so much preparation, he said. Like I made Goodbye South, Goodbye, which only took 17 days to shoot, after Good Men, Good Women, I am thinking that the film that comes after Assassin must be something simpler, and modern. Instead, the 68-year-old director revealed his producing project with a TV station in Taiwan. Hou has selected five rising Taiwan-based directors and will be involved in their works as executive producer. The project starts next year with a total budget of US$480,000 (NT$15 million.) I believe it can expand to other territories in Asia, once it is successfully launched in Taiwan, he said. Speaking at a special talk session about solidarity in Asian cinema, the three masters agreed that they have each been influenced by each others work. Supporting each others success in filmmaking is itself a form of solidarity. They also spoke with one voice, insisting that the Busan festival is a place that ties Asian filmmakers and audiences together. Story continues I think a good festival is where people come and think of what they can do for cinema, and how to protect it, said Kore-eda. The kind of solidarity that filmmakers have formed to protect cinema for the past two years shows what the Busan festival has become through its 21-year-long history. It would be a great loss to the film industry if we lose the BIFF, said Hou. Busan is an imperfect city without the festival. [] if the festival is in trouble again (I hope that the organizers call) me to show up and add a voice. Related stories Busan: Mostofa Sarwar Farooki Heats up 'Holy Bakery' (EXCLUSIVE) Busan: Sanjoy Nag Readies Same-Sex 'Starring Ranbir & Hrithik' Busan Film Review: 'Sunday Beauty Queen' BUSAN Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, who is serving on the Busan Film Festival short film jury, has revealed plans for his next film. Holy Bakery is based on incident in July 2016, where armed gunmen held up customers, mostly foreigners, at the Holey Artisan Bakery for 12 hours, before killing 20 of them and two of the bakery staff. Two police officers and five of the gunmen died in a shootout. Holy Bakery will be a one-shot film. It will be intimate and intense, says Farooki. In that one-shot I believe we will be able to explore the complexity of South Asian politics, the rise of the culture of hatred, the rise of intolerance, the rise of militancy and conflict between the modern Bangladesh and a small segment of those who are conservative. A cast will be set in place in early 2017 and principal photography will begin in March. Farookis production outfit Chabial will produce with other entities joining shortly. Farooki is in post-production on No Bed of Roses (Doob), starring Irrfan Khan (Inferno), Nusrat Imroz Tisha (Television), Parno Mittra (X: Past is Present) and Rokeya Prachi (The Clay Bird). He is also producing A Foolish Man (Apodartho), directed by Abu Shahed Emon, whose Jalals Story was Bangladeshs entry to the 2016 Oscars. The project has been selected for the National Film Development Corporation of Indias annual Film Bazaar co-production market in November. And No Mans Land, an ambitious film set across five countries, will be next up. I love my past, but I am triggered by the potential of future. What I have done or what I am doing doesnt trigger me much. Rather, Im moved by what I am going to do. This is what keeps me busy with too many ideas and projects at the same time, says Farooki. Farooki is the most visible face of Bangladeshi cinema internationally. His Television won the grand jury prize at the Asia Pacific Screen awards and won a Muhr AsiaAfrica special mention at the Dubai international film festival in 2012. Ever since Television closed Busan in 2012, Bangladesh has seen an uptick in independent cinema. Story continues Related stories Busan: Art House Giants Talk New Projects, Solidarity in Cinema Busan: Sanjoy Nag Readies Same-Sex 'Starring Ranbir & Hrithik' Busan Film Review: 'Sunday Beauty Queen' BUSAN For anyone familiar with Bollywood, Ranbir Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan are superstars. However, in Indian filmmaker Sanjoy Nags latest project Starring Ranbir & Hrithik, Ranbir and Hrithik are merely characters without surnames. They are characters who play important parts. They are not called Ranbir Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan. People are just reading into it. They are just Ranbir and Hrithik in the film, says Nag. Nag describes the film as an out and out love story. Only, it is between two women. The titular characters play a significant part in the lives of the two women. Nag is seeking co-producers and finance for the English and Hindi language film at the Busan Asian Project Market. The film is budgeted at $375,000 of which $10,000 of seed money is from Indias Bunty Talkies. Memories in March, Nags feature debut, where a mother discovers that her recently deceased son was secretly gay, had its world premiere at Busan in 2010 and was in competition in the New Currents section. Homosexuality in India is illegal under Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code, dating back to 1860. It was decriminalized in 2009, only to be reinstated in 2013. We had to look at the legal loopholes. I constantly talk to lawyers. This kind of content can become tricky and sensitive. There is 377 looming large over you in India all the time, says Nag. Nag has spoken to some well-known actors to play the leads, but no contracts have been signed yet. A small amount of gay themed films are made in India but Nag does not think the stories are being told well. The problem is, the moment you get into a same sex relationship film, you think youre doing something different. These kinds of films are attempted by mostly newcomers who know that cinema is also a platform for coming out, but they are not trained filmmakers and thats why the films are not good enough, says Nag. Nag will begin principal photography at northern Indian locations in late 2017. He is currently completing post on his feature Good Morning Sunshine, starring Shabana Azmi (The Black Prince), Revathy (Margarita with a Straw) and Rituparna Sengupta (Praktan). Story continues Related stories Busan: Mostofa Sarwar Farooki Heats up 'Holy Bakery' (EXCLUSIVE) Busan: Art House Giants Talk New Projects, Solidarity in Cinema Busan Film Review: 'Sunday Beauty Queen' Carson Daly is filling in for Billy Bush for now. An NBC source confirmed to ET on Monday that The Voice host would appear on Tuesday's Today show in place of Bush, though it is unclear whether Daly will continue to appear on the show moving forward. Bush was suspended by NBC on Sunday after a 2005 recording was made public where the then-Access Hollywood host can be heard laughing along as Donald Trump makes disparaging comments about women, and appears to brag about being able to sexually assault people because of his celebrity status. Bush was spotted out in Encino, California, on Monday following his suspension. An eyewitness tells ET the host looked disheveled as he wore sweatpants and flip flops. EXCLUSIVE: Nancy O'Dell Addresses Donald Trump Comments on 'Entertainment Tonight' Splash News Trump has repeatedly called the past comments "locker room talk," and in Sunday night's presidential debate denied ever committing sexual assault. "Obviously I'm embarrassed and ashamed. It's no excuse, but this happened eleven years ago," Bush told ET in a statement about the past conversation with Trump. "I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. I'm very sorry." Although the Today show shakeup occurred quickly, a source close to the situation tells ET, "The staff is comfortable with how the situation is being handled." WATCH: 'Today' Show Addresses Billy Bush's Suspension Over His 2005 Conversation With Donald Trump Today co-host Savannah Guthrie mentioned the suspension on Monday's program, saying, "We want to note one other thing, pending further review of the matter, NBC News has suspended Billy Bush, host of Today's third hour, for his role in that conversation with Donald Trump." Later, co-hosts Tamron Hall and Al Roker further addressed the suspension. "As you can see, Billy Bush is not here joining us today, as you're probably aware, part of that 2005 Access Hollywood taping with Trump that's been in the news all week," Roker said. Hall added, "NBC, which owns Access Hollywood, has suspended Billy for his role in that conversation pending further review." Story continues WATCH: 'Today' Show Staff 'Comfortable' With Billy Bush Suspension -- But Will He Return? Meanwhile, though some reports have circulated suggesting Bush is unpopular among his co-hosts, ET's source says, "Billy has a good relationship with each of the anchors and hosts. Let's not forget Billy has been a part of the NBC family for a long time and they have all known him." In any case, Bush's future at Today is uncertain. WATCH: Donald Trump Denies Sexual Assault Claims, Again Calls Taped Comments 'Locker Room Talk' in Second Debate According to Reliable Sourceshost and CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, Bush "was planning to apologize on camera this time for his awful comment on that 2005 videotape." "But on Sunday night, NBC bosses decided he would not get the opportunity to apologize at all. He would be suspended, and we don't even know for how long," Stelter told ET. "It's very possible he'll never be back on the Today show." Watch the video below for more on Bush's Today show suspension. Related Articles ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hunger levels in developing countries have fallen 29 percent since 2000, but efforts to curb hunger must be accelerated in order to meet an international target to eradicate it by 2030, according to an annual index published on Tuesday. Hunger levels are "alarming" in seven countries, with Central African Republic (CAR), Chad and Zambia experiencing the worst levels, according to the 2016 Global Hunger Index. Haiti, reeling from last week's Hurricane Matthew and still recovering from a massive 2010 earthquake, has the fourth highest hunger score. Another 43 countries, including India, Nigeria and Indonesia, have "serious" hunger levels. At the current rate of decline, more than 45 countries - including India, Pakistan, Haiti, Yemen, and Afghanistan - will have "moderate" to "alarming" hunger scores in the year 2030, the authors of the index said. "Countries must accelerate the pace at which they are reducing hunger" if they are to meet the 2030 target, Shenggen Fan, director general of the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), said in a statement. "Ending global hunger is certainly possible, but it's up to all of us ... (to) set the priorities right to ensure that governments, the private sector and civil society devote the time and resources necessary," Fan added. World leaders agreed a 2030 deadline for ending global hunger last year as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - an ambitious plan for tackling poverty, hunger and inequality. IFPRI produces the annual index along with aid agencies Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe. Overall, some 795 million people go to bed hungry every night. "We have the technology, knowledge and resources to achieve (zero hunger). What is missing is both the urgency and the political will to turn commitments into action," said Dominic MacSorley, CEO of Concern Worldwide. The hunger index ranks countries based on undernourishment, child mortality, child wasting (low weight for height) and child stunting (low height for age). The 2016 report ranked 118 developing countries. Nearly half the population in CAR and Zambia, and one in three people in Chad, are undernourished, it showed. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest hunger levels, followed closely by South Asia. "Too many people are hungry today. There is a need for urgent, thoughtful and innovative action to ensure that no one ever goes hungry again," said David Nabarro, special adviser to the U.N. secretary-general on the SDGs. (Reporting by Alex Whiting, Editing by Emma Batha. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) Jean Catuffe/Getty Images Charlotte Hornets small forward Nicolas Batum is putting his newly inked $120 million contract to immediate use, picking up a 10,320-square-foot mansion in Cornelius, NC, for $3.7 million in late August. Built in 2007, the Mediterranean-style home features six bedrooms, six bathrooms, and three half-baths on 1.3 waterfront acres. The massive mansion is primed for entertaining, with two kitchens, a wine room, three wet bars, a media room, two recreation rooms, a veranda with wet bar and fireplace, two pools, and a spa. Exterior realtor.com Patio and pools realtor.com The homes numerous balconies overlook Lake Norman (the largest articial lake in North Carolina) and the propertys private dock. Twin garages have room for up to five cars. The home initially hit the market for nearly $4 million in July, public records show. Dock on the shore of Lake Norman realtor.com Batums purchase represents the top end of the market in Cornelius, which has a median list price of $425,000. Of the nearly 400 homes for sale in the city, just five are currently listed above $3 million. The purchase certainly eases Batums commutethe home is located about 30 minutes north of the Hornets arena in downtown Charlotte. The French hoops star, 27, was drafted in 2008 by the Portland Trail Blazers, and he spent the bulk of his career in Rip City, where he proved an effective shooting guard and small forward. He was traded to the Hornets in mid-2015. In November of that year, he faced his former team, recording a season-high 33 points in the Hornets 106-94 win over Portland. In December 2015, the baller sold his Lake Oswego mansion in Oregon for $2.5 million. The post Charlotte Hornets Star Nicolas Batum Buys $3.7M Mansion in North Carolina appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com. WASHINGTON -- About 90 days ago, when Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, he had a moment of equanimity. As convention delegates chanted "Lock her up!" Trump shook his head no. "Let's defeat her in November," he counter-proposed. It was a very different Trump who appeared at Sunday night's second presidential debate: on his heels, facing a revolt in his party over a video unearthed by The Washington Post in which Trump boasted about sexually assaulting women. And Trump declared that, if elected, he would subvert the justice system to go after his political opponent. "I didn't think I'd say this, but I'm going to say it, and I hate to say it," Trump began -- always a sign that he was about to say something ill-advised. "But if I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception." Special prosecutors, of course, are designed to remove political influence from the justice system; Trump was proposing a special prosecutor for the express purpose of punishing a political opponent. "It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country," Hillary Clinton replied. "Because you'd be in jail!" Trump interrupted. Sunday night called for contrition from Trump, as his campaign implodes because of his taped performance as sexual predator. But Trump, though turning in a more even debating performance than he did in his debut, does not do contrition. Before the debate, he lined up women who claimed they were victims of Bill Clinton's sexual misdeeds and posted a video of their meeting, with poor audio, on Facebook. Sixteen minutes into the debate, Trump invoked Bill Clinton's infidelities. After 22 minutes, he started interrupting his opponent. Before long he was pacing, scowling, pursing his lips, shaking his head and hectoring her: "Oh, you didn't delete them? ... Oh, 33,000? Yeah. ... Oh yeah, what about the other 15,000?" "Please allow her to respond," interjected moderator Anderson Cooper. "She didn't talk while you talked." "Yes," Clinton agreed, "that's true, I didn't." "Because you have nothing to say," Trump snapped. Trump then started arguing with the moderators. "I'd like to know, Anderson, why aren't you bringing up the emails? I'd like to know." In fact, the previous question had been about Clinton's emails. Trump had his moments Sunday night and hit Clinton in all her areas of vulnerability. But throughout the debate he was a man at odds with everybody -- even his running mate, Mike Pence. When moderator Martha Raddatz reminded Trump that Pence had said that Russian provocations in Syria should be met with American strength and the United States should be prepared to strike the Assad regime, Trump replied: "OK. He and I haven't spoken, and I disagree." On the most important foreign policy issue of the moment. Trump repeated his grudging apology for the new video of his predatory sexual language, but he repeatedly chalked it up to towel-snapping. "It's locker room talk, and it's one of those things. I will knock the hell out of ISIS," he declared. As in the previous debate, Trump took some of his trademark detours around the truth, declaring anew that he opposed the war in Iraq and that such a claim "has not been debunked" (he gave his approval to the war on Sept. 11, 2002, on Howard Stern's radio show). He twice declared that "I don't know Putin"; he previously said "I got to know him [Putin] very well." When Cooper asked about his middle-of-the-night tweet telling people to check out a sex tape, Trump replied, "no, there wasn't 'check out a sex tape.'" His exact words in the tweet were "check out sex tape." But mostly, Trump was angry, with everybody and everything. "Why don't you interrupt her? You interrupt me all the time," he complained to Raddatz, though Trump had plenty of air time. And again: "Excuse me. She just went about 25 seconds over her time." And again: "You know what's funny? She went over a minute over, and you don't stop her. When I go one second over, it's like a big deal." Will arguing with the refs win Trump more votes? Probably not any more votes than he wins by dismissing his aggressive sex talk as locker room banter. But Cooper and Raddatz have reason for concern: If Trump wins, maybe he'll send a special prosecutor after them, too. It was only ranked fifth costliest in the region. Flying in business class has gotten more expensive in Asia, but Singapore is amongst the cities bucking the trend. According to a price index released by recent Julius Baer Wealth Report, there was an average increase of +4.5% (+4.1% in US dollar terms) in prices for business class flights were from specific Asian cities to London/New York from 2015-2016. Julius Baer Wealth Report is the same study which ranked Singapore as second most expensive city in Asia. The most expensive city to fly in business class is Taipei, which costs US$7,782. This is followed by Seoul (US$US$7,609), Hong Kong (US$7,223), and Shanghai (US$7,191). Singapore, meanwhile, is on the fifth place with outbound flights via business class costing US$5,860 or S$7,916. This is 0.8% cheaper than last year, in local currency terms. The cheapest cities for a roundtrip full fare business class flight to New York and London are Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Mumbai. More From Singapore Business Review STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Chess master Garry Kasparov on Tuesday won a case against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights for unlawful arrest and violation of his right to attend a rally he missed as a result of his detention. The complaint by the former world champion and political activist, a Russian national who lives in the United States, dates back to 2007, when Russian authorities confiscated his ticket and passport and detained him at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. The detention prevented him from attending an opposition political rally scheduled to be held at an EU-Russia summit in Samara. According to a court statement, the 53 year-old Kasparov was questioned for five hours over whether his ticket had been forged. "While the authorities claimed they had been investigating Mr Kasparov for committing the crime of forgery, there was no evidence that any forgery had taken place, let alone that the authorities had a reasonable suspicion that he had committed that offense," the court statement said. (Reporting by Gilbert Reilhac; writing by Andrew Callus; editing by John Irish) (Adds comments from Civic Federation president and city alderman) By Karen Pierog and Dave McKinney CHICAGO, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A tentative deal reached late on Monday between the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and its teachers union averted a strike that had been scheduled for Tuesday but the impact on the district's already shaky finances was uncertain. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who controls the nation's third-largest public school system, agreed to initially pour more surplus revenue from city development districts into school coffers. But it was not clear if the increase to $88 million from the $32.5 million the district already folded into its current budget would be sufficient to fund new contract terms. The second-term mayor said the agreement will make CPS finances stronger. But Laurence Msall, president of local government finance watchdog the Civic Federation, said the surplus tax increment financing dollars were a one-time revenue source and would not solve the schools' deep fiscal problems. "It's not enough in terms of the deficit the Chicago Public Schools face," Msall told reporters on Tuesday. Even Emanuel's city council floor leader had questions about earmarking unobligated money from the economic development districts in the city. "Those TIF dollars build up over time, and when you empty that account, that money is gone," said Alderman Patrick O'Connor, referring to tax increment financing. "So clearly, to rely on a settlement that relies on TIF surplus is not something you are going to be able to guarantee every year." CPS has received about 52 percent of annual surplus revenue from Chicago's tax increment financing districts. But that revenue stream has fluctuated greatly over the years, making it unreliable. The proposed deal was enough to stop the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) from going forward with its planned Tuesday strike, which would have been the third since 2012. Chicago schools are grappling with escalating pension payments that will jump to $720.2 million this fiscal year from $676 million in fiscal 2016, as well as credit ratings that have fallen to junk level. The district, which has nearly 400,000 students, ended fiscal 2016 on June 30 with a $7 million operating deficit, according to a school financial report. Story continues The proposed four-year contract, which has a retroactive start of July 1, 2015, was posted on CTU's website on Tuesday. It commits CPS to continue to cover all but 2 percentage points of the current teachers' pension contributions of 9 percent, a payment the cash-strapped district had tried to phase out. The so-called 7 percent pension pickup will apply only to educators hired before Jan. 1, 2017. Base salaries for teachers hired after Jan. 1 of next year would be increased by 3.5 percent in January and 3.5 percent in July. Current teacher salaries would remain flat until a 2 percent increase in fiscal 2018 and a 2.5 percent hike in fiscal 2019. The deal creates early retirement programs if a sufficient number of eligible educators participate. The programs include nonpensionable lump sum payments CPS would have to make to teachers and others covered under the contract by Dec. 31, 2017. The union late on Monday also persuaded CPS to agree to put teacher assistants in kindergarten through second grade classrooms with 32 or more students. The tentative agreement must be voted on by the CTU's house of delegates, followed by a vote by the CTU's members. (Additional reporting by Renita Young and Timothy McLaughlin in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis) By Karen Pierog and Dave McKinney CHICAGO (Reuters) - A tentative deal reached late on Monday between the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and its teachers union averted a strike that had been scheduled for Tuesday but the impact on the district's already shaky finances was uncertain. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who controls the nation's third-largest public school system, agreed to initially pour more surplus revenue from city development districts into school coffers. But it was not clear if the increase to $88 million from the $32.5 million the district already folded into its current budget would be sufficient to fund new contract terms. The second-term mayor said the agreement will make CPS finances stronger. But Laurence Msall, president of local government finance watchdog the Civic Federation, said the surplus tax increment financing dollars were a one-time revenue source and would not solve the schools' deep fiscal problems. "Its not enough in terms of the deficit the Chicago Public Schools face," Msall told reporters on Tuesday. Even Emanuels city council floor leader had questions about earmarking unobligated money from the economic development districts in the city. Those TIF dollars build up over time, and when you empty that account, that money is gone, said Alderman Patrick OConnor, referring to tax increment financing. So clearly, to rely on a settlement that relies on TIF surplus is not something you are going to be able to guarantee every year. CPS has received about 52 percent of annual surplus revenue from Chicago's tax increment financing districts. But that revenue stream has fluctuated greatly over the years, making it unreliable. The proposed deal was enough to stop the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) from going forward with its planned Tuesday strike, which would have been the third since 2012. Chicago schools are grappling with escalating pension payments that will jump to $720.2 million this fiscal year from $676 million in fiscal 2016, as well as credit ratings that have fallen to junk level. The district, which has nearly 400,000 students, ended fiscal 2016 on June 30 with a $7 million operating deficit, according to a school financial report. Story continues The proposed four-year contract, which has a retroactive start of July 1, 2015, was posted on CTU's website on Tuesday. It commits CPS to continue to cover all but 2 percentage points of the current teachers' pension contributions of 9 percent, a payment the cash-strapped district had tried to phase out. The so-called 7 percent pension pickup will apply only to educators hired before Jan. 1, 2017. Base salaries for teachers hired after Jan. 1 of next year would be increased by 3.5 percent in January and 3.5 percent in July. Current teacher salaries would remain flat until a 2 percent increase in fiscal 2018 and a 2.5 percent hike in fiscal 2019. The deal creates early retirement programs if a sufficient number of eligible educators participate. The programs include nonpensionable lump sum payments CPS would have to make to teachers and others covered under the contract by Dec. 31, 2017. The union late on Monday also persuaded CPS to agree to put teacher assistants in kindergarten through second grade classrooms with 32 or more students. The tentative agreement must be voted on by the CTUs house of delegates, followed by a vote by the CTU's members. (Additional reporting by Renita Young and Timothy McLaughlin in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis) Chick fil A bbq Chick-fil-A is bringing back its original barbecue sauce after months of protests from angry customers online. The chain announced the move on Tuesday, just a few months after it replaced its classic barbecue sauce with a variation called smokehouse barbecue. According to Chick-fil-A, the backlash was almost immediate when the chain rolled out the new sauce in late July. It's not unusual for a menu change to lead to some degree of resistance from committed customers. However, typically the resistance fades over time. When it came to the smokehouse barbecue, the backlash only grew. I was silent when they took the perfect fudge brownie. My political protest didn't last long due to school fundraisers being hosted there. But I remain silent no more. The old BBQ sauce was the best. This new one is awful. I hope you'll join me in this most important fight. #bringbackthesauce #makethissaucegreatagain A photo posted by Maggie Burleson (@mmburleson) on Jul 27, 2016 at 11:50am PDT on Jul 27, 2016 at 11:50am PDT More than 2,000 people have signed a petition that was started in July, calling for Chick-fil-A to bring back the original BBQ sauce. "I've been going to Chick-fil-A for years and always made sure to get ranch and BBQ sauce," one customer wrote on Chick-fil-A's Facebook page soon after the condiment swap. "Today was the first time in my entire life I said no to having Chick-fil-A simply because the new sauces disappointed me." Online, the pressure grew, as Twitter users banded together using the hashtags "BringBackTheBBQ" and "BringBackTheSauce." @ChickfilA WHAT DO U ALL NOT UNDERSTAND THE NEW BBQ SAUCE IS NOT GOOD BRING BACK THE OLD SAUCE #bringbackthesauce pic.twitter.com/Kn9ougNfnw Danny (@Teenage5Runaway) July 11, 2016 Not really into Twitter crusades but this has me heated: the new @ChickfilA BBQ sauce is awful, I want the old stuff back #BringBackTheBBQ Kyle Hearty (@k_hearty) August 2, 2016 Chick-fil-A took notice. The original barbecue sauce will return to stores starting on November 7, the chain says. Chick-fil-A announced the return of the classic sauce on social media on Tuesday, with a video of employees including members of the menu development team reading tweets calling for the return of the classic barbecue sauce. Story continues Chick-fil-A said it plans to send customers who petitioned to bring back the original condiment bottles of the classic barbecue sauce to thank them for their vehement support. Chick fil A But don't take this to mean that Chick-fil-A will bring back other fan favorites that have been dumped. According to Chick-fil-A, bringing back menu items like the spicy-chicken biscuit could slow down service. And while customers protested the loss of Chick-fil-A's spicy-chicken biscuit and coleslaw, Chick-fil-A said that the menu items that replaced them the Egg White Grill and the kale and broccolini side are selling better. NOW WATCH: There's only one way to get a burger at Chick-fil-A More From Business Insider Beirut (AFP) - The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement late Tuesday called for widespread protests in solidarity with Yemen after an air strike there killed at least 140 people. Hassan Nasrallah made a rare live appearance in front of thousands of supporters in the southern suburb of Beirut on the eve of Ashura, one of the most important festivals on the Shiite Muslim calendar. "Tomorrow, we will renew... our stance beside the oppressed, honourable, slain, and besieged Yemeni people," Nasrallah said, referring to Wednesday's morning march in commemoration of Ashura. "We say to them: You are not alone. We are all Yemen," he said in comments carried live by the group's television station Al-Manar. Saturday's strike on a funeral ceremony in Yemen was one of the deadliest attacks since the Saudi-led coalition launched a bombing campaign against Shiite rebels there in March 2015. Nasrallah accused Saudi warplanes of carrying out the raid, echoing Yemen's Huthi rebels who blamed the Riyadh-led coalition for the strike. The head of the powerful Shiite movement was met with chants of "Death to the Saud family" from supporters wearing green in commemoration of Ashura, referring to the Sunni-majority kingdom's ruling family. For Shiites around the world, Ashura is a symbol of the struggle against oppression as it commemorates the assassination of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in 680. "Our region is witnessing escalation and instability, unlike what we had seen in recent months, which had indicated the region was heading towards a political solution," Nasrallah said. "But in the last few weeks, every optimistic political development that had given a positive impression has collapsed," he said. Nasrallah, whose group has intervened in neighbouring Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad, said fighting was escalating across Syria after the collapse of a US-Russia truce deal last month. More than 300,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011. The war has drawn in regional and world powers, and several attempts at securing a diplomatic solution have fallen flat. HONG KONG, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Rising debt levels will worsen the credit profiles of China's top 200 companies this year, requiring the country's banks to raise $1.7 trillion in capital to cover a likely surge in bad loans, S&P Global said in reports published on Tuesday. The study sees little scope for improvement in 2017 amid worsening leverage and substantial excess capacity in almost all sectors. Seventy percent of the companies surveyed were state owned, comprising 90 percent of the sample companies' debt. The rating agency estimated the problem credit ratio at Chinese banks was 5.6 percent at the end of 2015. In a downside scenario of unabated credit growth, that ratio could worsen to 11-17 percent. In such a situation, banks would need as much as $1.7 trillion in recapitalisation funds by 2020. Even under a base case scenario, they would require $500 billion. S&P expects China's government to continue to allow rapid credit growth over the next 12-18 months before attempting to rein it in, implying that risks would heighten in one to two years' time. Debt has emerged as one of China's biggest challenges, with the country's total debt load rising to 250 percent of GDP. Excessive credit growth in China is signalling an increasing risk of a banking crisis in the next three years, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) warned recently. The IMF has warned China its credit growth is unsustainable, with corporate borrowers sitting on $18 trillion in debt, equivalent to about 169 percent of gross domestic product(GDP). On Monday, Beijing announced a series of guidelines aimed at cutting company debt levels which some fear could destabilise the world's second largest economy. Encouraging mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcies, debt-to-equity swaps and debt securitisation are some of the measures intended to improve credit allocation and stop wasteful spending in the economy. "We expect further deterioration in the credit strength of state owned enterprises as they continue with their debt-funded expansion," S&P Global's report said. Story continues "High leverage in corporates will likely constrain investments and aggregate demand." A Reuters survery showed profits at roughly a quarter of Chinese companies were too low in the first half of this year to cover their debt servicing obligations, as earnings languished and loan burdens increased. But privately owned companies in China were turning around as cost controls and reductions in capital expenditure had eased pressure on their cash flows, S&P Global's report said, highlighting the contrast in performance versus state-owned enterprises (SOEs). As a result, SOE's median leverage, at about 6 times as of the end of 2015, was about twice the level for private sector entities. "The divergence in credit risks between SOEs and private sector companies will therefore continue to increase," it said. (Reporting by Umesh Desai; Editing by Kim Coghill) By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - China rebuked New Zealand's defense minister at the opening of a high-profile security forum in Beijing on Tuesday, criticizing his stance on tension in the disputed South China Sea, saying countries "not involved" should not interfere. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion worth of trade passes each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. An international tribunal in the Hague ruled in July that China had no historic title over the waters and had breached the Philippines' sovereign rights there. That decision infuriated Beijing, which dismissed the court's authority. We "hope that countries who are not involved in the disputes respect the countries who are having the disputes to ... work among themselves," Fu Ying, chairwoman of China's foreign affairs committee for parliament, said at the Xiangshan Forum, which China styles as its answer to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore. "Outside involvement, I think the developments have shown, interferences, can only complicate the differences and sometimes even add to the tension," said Fu, a former deputy foreign minister who was chairing the session. Fu's comments came in response to remarks by New Zealand Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee about his country's concerns over the South China Sea. "We oppose actions that undermine peace and erode trust and would like to see all parties actively take steps to reduce those tensions," Brownlee said. "As a small maritime trading nation, international law and, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is important for New Zealand. We support the arbitral process and believe that countries have the right to seek that international resolution," he said. This is not the first time China has clashed with New Zealand over the dispute. In February, New Zealand urged Chinese restraint after Beijing's apparent deployment of an advanced missile system on a South China Sea island, while Beijing said New Zealand's proposal was "unconstructive". Brownlee on Tuesday honed in on the issue of China's building of artificial islands in the territory, including new airstrips, which has rattled nerves around the region. "A particular cause of ... heightened tension has been the reclamation and construction activity and deployment of military assets in disputed areas," he said. China says much of the building and reclamation work it has been doing in the South China Sea is to benefit the international community, including improving civilian maritime navigation. After Fu's response, Brownlee told Reuters it was reasonable for New Zealand to express its concerns, which represent smaller countries as well, as all parties are able to have a say. Since the ruling, China and members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) have been trying to reduce tension in the region. Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan told the forum that China and ASEAN would hold maritime drills next year, though he gave no details, adding China was willing to "manage disputes". A Malaysian general told Reuters on the sidelines of the forum that China had been exercising restraint, with no increase in Chinese military activity in the parts of the South China Sea Malaysia claims. "In fact we are establishing military cooperation with China to build up confidence so that we understand one another better," said Malaysia Armed Forces chief Zulkefli Mohd Zin. (Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) China and Russia blasted Washington Tuesday for its decision to deploy a missile defence system in South Korea in response to Pyongyang's nuclear programme. Speaking at the 7th annual Xiangshan regional defence forum in Beijing, top military officials from the countries said the move by Seoul and Washington represented a threat to regional stability and was a step towards a new global arms race. The US and South Korea agreed to install the system, known as THAAD, this summer following repeated nuclear and missile tests by Beijing's wayward ally Pyongyang. Washington was using the North's actions as a pretext to gain military superiority over China, Chinese general Cai Jun told defence officials at a briefing on the forum's sidelines. Deploying the system in South Korea, he said, was "not conducive to the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula", he said, adding "it has increased the risk of military conflict in the region". Beijing fears that THAAD could be used against its own missiles, effectively undermining its nuclear deterrence capabilities against the US. From a global perspective, Cai said, the US's insistence on developing its missile defence programme could trigger "an arms race at a high level, even to outer space." Speaking on a panel during the forum, Russian deputy defence minister Anatoly Antonov also slammed the agreement. "We are concerned about the attempts of certain nations to exploit the complex situation in the Korean peninsula," he said, "pumping this sub-region with clearly excessive defence capabilities." The decision has "aggravated regional tension" and "adds problems to solving the situation." North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test last month, drawing international censure and a push to put further sanctions on the isolated country. - Flashpoint for conflict - Tuesday's meeting -- themed on "building a new type of international relations" -- followed a year of growing tension in the region, primarily centred on Beijing's actions in the strategically vital South China Sea, where it has built islands capable of supporting military facilities. Story continues China's defence minister Chang Wanquan opened the forum with a thinly veiled criticism of recent US involvement in Asian trouble spots. "Some countries seek absolute military superiority, ceaselessly strengthen their military alliances, and seek their own absolute security at the costs of other countries' security," Chang told defence officials and academics at the meeting. The US under President Barack Obama has sought to "pivot" to Asia by increasing military and economic engagement in the region, raising concerns in Beijing that Washington is working to contain the Asian giant's growing power. Beijing says it has rights to almost the entire South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and Taiwan all have rival claims. In July, an international tribunal said that almost all of Beijing's claims have no legal basis, a decision China attacked as biased and vowed to ignore. Washington argues that Beijing's moves pose a challenge to freedom of navigation and has sought to challenge Beijings claims by dispatching military ships and aircraft to the area. Addressing the forum, former Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke warned that the disputes, if not properly managed, could become "a flashpoint for US-China conflict". "These disputes have the potential to disrupt the entire regional order," he said. GENEVA (Reuters) - A Chinese academic, jailed for life two years ago for campaigning for the rights of the Muslim Uighur people, has won a prestigious annual human rights award, organizers said on Tuesday. Ilham Tohti, who is an ethnic Uighur, was selected from three finalists for the Martin Ennals Award, whose jury is composed of 10 activist groups, including Amnesty International, where Ennals was an early secretary-general. "A renowned Uighur intellectual in China, Ilham Tohti has worked for two decades to foster dialogue and understanding between Uighurs and Han Chinese," the jury said. "He has rejected separatism and violence, and sought reconciliation based on a respect for Uighur culture, which has been subject to religious, cultural and political repression in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region." Tohti is China's most prominent advocate for the rights of Muslim Uighur people, a Turkic-speaking people. Many resent restrictions on their culture and religion, and complain they are denied economic opportunities amid an influx of majority Han Chinese into Xinjiang. Rights advocates said at the time of his sentencing after a two-day trial on separatism charges in September 2014 that it sent a clear signal the government was determined to suppress dissent. In Beijing, the government dismissed the award, saying Tohti's "crimes are clear". "In the classroom, Ilham Tohti openly made heroes of terrorist extremists that conducted violent terror attacks. He also used his position as a lecturer to entice and coerce some people to form a group to promote and participate in East Turkestan separatist forces' activities," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing. "Ilham Tohti has nothing to do with human rights," he said. Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, the main Uighur exile group, called the award a "huge encouragement". "It is also a warning to the Chinese government that attacking a scholar who promotes universal values is absolutely mistaken and creates hate and conflict," he said in an email message. Other finalists were Syrian human rights lawyer Razan Zaitouneh and the so-called Zone 9 Bloggers of Ethiopia. The award's first recipient in 1994 was Chinese dissident Harry Wu. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Michael Martina; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Clarence Fernandez) SANAA (Reuters) - More cases of cholera have been registered in the Yemeni capital Sanaa but a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday the epidemic was not yet spreading. The United Nations first reported the cholera outbreak on Friday and said three cases had been confirmed in Sanaa. But a WHO official on Tuesday said 11 cases had now been registered. "All the suspected cases are from the same area, they are all interconnected, there is no spread of the disease," Omar Saleh told a news conference in Sanaa. Medics were working to curb the epidemic, which has yet to claim any deaths or spread beyond the capital, he said. Thousands of families fleeing Yemen's war are living in camps outside Sanaa, where conditions could lead to the spread of cholera, including through contaminated food or water. Much of the country's infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, has been destroyed by the 18-month old conflict between a Saudi Arabia-led coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthi group which controls much of northern Yemen, including Sanaa. Saleh said that more than half of Yemen's health centers had ceased to operate since the start of the war after not receiving funds from the health ministry. The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced millions, the United Nations estimates. (Clarifies headline and first para to make clear disease not spreading) (Reporting by Mohamed Ghobari, Writing by Tom Finn, editing by Sami Aboudi and Angus MacSwan) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f243590%2fshut-it-down-minnesota-enbridge-pipeline- Wielding little more than wire cutters, wrenches and a willingness to be arrested, a group of climate activists shut down five oil pipelines across the United States on Tuesday. As of 10:30 a.m. ET, the activists said they had cut down wire fences and manually turned emergency shutdown valves on pipelines in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Washington. Activists also alerted pipeline operators before shutting down the lines. The targeted pipelines carry a particular type of heavy, high-carbon crude oil from Canada's tar sands region in Alberta. Nine people, including filmmakers, were arrested and removed from the sites, said Afrin Sopariwala of the Climate Disobedience Center, which helped organize the protests. SEE ALSO: Shailene Woodley was just arrested while protesting Dakota Access Pipeline She said activists had turned the pipelines' emergency valves to warn of the climate change "emergency" that threatens to bring rising sea levels, more extreme and frequent storms, and other effects. "We have to take escalated action to match this escalated [climate] catastrophe," she told Mashable. A recent study by Oil Change International found that the potential carbon emissions from the world's working coal mines and oil and gas fields would warm the planet more than 2 degrees Celsius the threshold that countries promised not to pass under the Paris climate agreement. Tar sands oil is considered particularly dangerous to the climate because it requires an extensive amount of energy to extract and refine. Gasoline and diesel fuels made from Canadian tar sands crude on average had 18 to 21 percent higher emissions than those derived from U.S. conventional crudes, according to a 2015 study by the American Chemical Society. The pipeline shutdowns were also a show of solidarity for the roughly 5,000 protesters in North Dakota who are fighting to block the construction of the 1,170-mile Dakota Access Pipeline. Story continues Native American tribes and environmentalists claim the Army Corps of Engineers violated multiple statutes for protecting clean water and culturally significant sites by issuing permits to Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline's builder. Law enforcement officers, left, drag a person from a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline, Oct. 10, 2016. Image: APTom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP Dozens of people were arrested Monday near the town of Cannon Ball on charges of criminal trespass and engaging in a riot, including the Divergent actress Shailene Woodley. Tuesday's protests targeted the following five pipelines: Enbridge's Line 4 and Line 67 in Leonard, Minnesota; TransCanada's Keystone pipeline in Walhalla, North Dakota; Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline in Anacortes, Washington; and Spectra Energy's Express pipeline in Coal Banks Landing, Montana. Enbridge, Kinder Morgan and Spectra Enbridge confirmed that activists had tampered with their pipelines. Michael Barnes, a spokesman for Enbridge, said the company temporarily shut down lines 4 and 67 on Tuesday afternoon out of "an abundance of caution." "The actions taken to unlawfully trespass on our facility, use bolt cutters to cut chains off our valves and then attempt to turn the valves to stop the flow of oil were dangerous and reckless," he told Mashable by email. "These are criminal acts that endanger the public and the environment," he said. "We take this very seriously and will support prosecution of all those involved." Spectra Energy confirmed that activists broke into a locked facility and tampered with a valve on the Express pipeline in Montana. The 786-mile conduit can carry up to 280,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Canada's Alberta province to Casper, Wyoming. Devin Hotzel, a spokesman for Spectra Energy, said the company shut down that section of the pipeline as a cautionary measure and was coordinating with law enforcement. "Our first concern is for the safety of the community and the environment, and tampering with this important U.S. energy infrastructure will not be tolerated," he told Mashable in an email. "This pipeline provides a vital source of affordable, reliable energy to fuel the everyday lives of Americans." Hotzel said he did not know how long Spectra intended to suspend operations along that section of the pipeline in Montana. (Update: Spectra safely restarted its pipeline on Tuesday at 1 p.m. MDT.) Ali Hounsell, a spokesperson for Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline, confirmed that "reckless trespassers" broke into a location on the pipeline's Puget Sound system. The 69-mile pipeline runs from Abbotsford, British Columbia, to three refineries in Washington. "At the time of the incident, we were not operating through that portion of the line and their actions did not cause the release of any product," Hounsell said in an email, noting that three people were arrested this morning at the pipeline site. "We are conducting a thorough inspection to ensure the integrity of the pipeline system," she said. Representatives from TransCanada did not immediately return Mashable's requests for comment. By Amanda Becker NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton's campaign was worried about the "hard balance" she would need to strike as the presidential candidate prepared to oppose a Pacific trade pact championed by President Barack Obama that she once supported, according to emails published on Tuesday by WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks released its latest batch of apparently hacked personal emails of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta with exactly four weeks left in the long 2016 presidential campaign before the Nov. 8 election. White House hopefuls have made trade a key theme of their campaigns, with the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a prime target for criticism by both Democrat Clinton and Republican opponent Donald Trump. In an Oct. 6, 2015, email the day after the Obama administration finalized the details of the TPP, Clinton speechwriter Dan Schwerin circulated a new draft of a statement the campaign was preparing about Clinton's position, according to WikiLeaks. "This is indeed a hard balance to strike," Schwerin wrote in the email to a handful of top advisers, "since we don't want to invite mockery for being too enthusiastically opposed to a deal she once championed, or over-claiming how bad it is, since it's a very close call on the merits." The next day, as she campaigned in Iowa, the first state to pick candidates during the nominating contest, the campaign released a statement from Clinton saying the pact did not meet the "very high" bar she had set to earn her support. The Clinton campaign declined to verify the authenticity of the latest batch of Podesta emails released by WikiLeaks. The U.S. government last week formally accused Russia of hacking Democratic Party organizations in an effort to influence the presidential election, a charge Russia has denied. As a result, Clinton campaign officials and supporters have warned that such email releases could include fraudulent or misleading documents among genuine emails. Clinton's October 2015 announcement on the TPP came just a week before the first debate in her primary race against U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, a vocal opponent of the deal. Key Democratic constituencies, such as progressives and organized labor, have also criticized the pact. Clinton had previously declined to say whether she would support the TPP, a main tenet of Obama's strategic pivot to Asia that began when she was his secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, explaining that she wanted to wait to assess the final negotiated terms. "I accept the position we're taking but she has generally been more pro-trade than anti," Clinton strategist Joel Benenson responded to the draft from Schwerin. "While we're opposing this, don't we want to say something generally about ensuring American manufacturers can compete around the world?" EARLY WARREN MEETINGS Clinton's nascent campaign began meeting with advisers to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren even before Clinton announced her second White House bid, according to the hacked emails. In a January 2015 email sent three months before Clinton officially launched her campaign, Schwerin briefed close aides about a meeting with a longtime policy adviser to Warren, a firebrand leader of the Democratic Party's liberal wing. Warren's team was concerned that Clinton would staff her campaign with economic advisers that were too closely associated with the centrist policies of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, such as those championed by his Treasury secretary, Robert Rubin. The Warren adviser, Dan Geldon, "laid out a detailed case against the Bob Rubin school of Democratic policy makers, was very critical of the Obama administration's choices," Schwerin wrote. Schwerin said he and Geldon went over a list of recommended hires that Warren had sent to Clinton. Geldon told him they would be "watching carefully" to see how Clinton staffed her campaign, Schwerin wrote. "They seem wary - and pretty convinced that the Rubin folks have the inside track with us whether we realize it yet or not," Schwerin wrote of Warren's advisers. Geldon declined to comment on the email. Schwerin also added that Geldon expressed "some flexibility on Glass-Steagall," a Depression-era law that prohibited commercial banks from engaging in risky trading activities that was repealed during Bill Clinton's administration. "Said too big too fail is the bigger issue," Schwerin wrote. Many Democratic activists believe that reinstating Glass-Steagall would help prevent future financial crises such as the one that rocked the U.S. economy in 2008. Warren has said that there are two ways to break up too-big banks, either based on size alone or by instituting a modern version of Glass-Steagall. She introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate to reinstate a version of the law. Clinton weighed supporting a new Glass-Steagall law but eventually rejected that route, announcing a risk-based approach for breaking up banks, according to an email WikiLeaks released on Monday. (Reporting by Amanda Becker; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) By Amanda Becker and Luciana Lopez (Reuters) - A longtime political adviser to Hillary Clinton last year urged her presidential campaign to support a new version of a law that separated commercial and investment banking to avoid antagonizing the Democratic Party's progressive wing, according to emails published by Wikileaks on Monday. Mandy Grunwald, an outside adviser to Clinton, urged Clinton's policy team in October 2015, just days before a Wall Street policy rollout, to consider endorsing a new version of the Glass-Steagall Act, according to an email reviewed by Reuters. The Glass-Steagall Act was a Depression-era law that prohibited commercial banks from engaging in risky trading activities. The 1933 law was repealed in 1999 during the presidency of Bill Clinton when he passed legislation removing barriers between commercial banks, investment banks and insurance companies. Many Democratic activists believe that reinstating the Glass-Steagall law and breaking up large financial institutions would help prevent future financial crises such as the one that rocked the U.S. economy in 2008. Grunwald said if Clinton did not back a new Glass-Steagall, she risked alienating liberal U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, an outspoken critic of Wall Street who is popular in the left wing of the Democratic Party. The Clinton campaign would neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of the latest batch of hacked emails of Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta released by Wikileaks. The U.S. government last week formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations, a charge Russia has denied. As a result, Clinton campaign officials and supporters have warned that such email releases could include fraudulent or misleading documents among genuine emails. At the time of Grunwald's email, Clintons primary debates against her then-rival U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont were fast approaching. Grunwald worried that if Clinton did not support a new Glass-Steagall law, it would make it more difficult to defend her plan to curb Wall Street risk. It could also prompt Warren to endorse Sanders, Grunwald wrote in the email released by Wikileaks. Grunwald said that in conversations with Clinton, the former secretary of state had indicated she was "leaning toward endorsing Glass Steagall," instead of or in addition to the risk-based approach she ultimately announced. "I understand we face phoniness charges if we 'change' our position now - but we face risks this way too," Grunwald wrote, adding that Clinton's policy team told her it should be a political decision. In the weeks after the email, Clinton announced that she would look to break up large banks based on the risk they posed to the economy, not based on size alone or type of investment activity. Clinton also proposed levying a "risk fee" on the liabilities of banks with more than $50 billion in assets, saying it was a more comprehensive approach. Democratic Party sources told Reuters on Monday they believe that around 50,000 of Podesta's emails are in the possession of Wikileaks and they expect them to be dribbled out periodically between now and the Nov. 8 election between Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. A previous dump of hacked emails from Podesta on Friday included what appear to be excerpts from paid speeches that Clinton made to Wall Street, which her campaign had refused to release. (Reporting by Luciana Lopez in New York, Amanda Becker in Detroit and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by Grant McCool and Lisa Shumaker) Clue, the Hasbro board game and 1985 movie it inspired, is headed to the stage in a new play penned by the movies writer-director, Jonathan Lynn, and bowing regionally at the Bucks County Playhouse in May prior to a national tour. The project, which isnt currently targeted for Broadway, is the latest to grow out of the partnership between the Araca Group, the Broadway producer and brand management firm (Wicked), and Hasbro Inc., following the announcement of an upcoming Monopoly musical. Developed with an eye toward the theatrical licensing market for regional and amateur troupes clamoring for a stage version of the property, Clue is produced in partnership with Work Light Productions (White Christmas) and Aged in Wood (Cinderella, Avenue Q). The Paramount movie adaptation of Clue, which starred Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn, has become a cult favorite in the years since its release; a screen remake is currently in development at Fox. Lynn (My Cousin Vinny) is adapting his screenplay into a stage version that will be a play, not a musical, with a cast of about ten. The world premiere of Clue at Pennsylvanias Bucks County Playhouse, where Aged in Woods Robyn Goodman is executive producer, will be directed by Hunter Foster, an artistic associate there. Anna Louizos (Holiday Inn, School of Rock) designs the sets, while the Road Company, a theatrical booking agency, is laying plans for the North American tour. A U.K. tour is also in the works. Casting and other details for the May 2017 bow of Clue, and the tour that will follow, remain to be set. Related stories 'Family Ties' to Be Adapted as Stage Play 'Clue' Remake From Hasbro Lands at Fox 'Transformers' Massive Mobile Game Launching in 2017 Brussels (AFP) - The world's biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev confirmed the sale of major businesses in Africa, Europe and Asia on Tuesday, as it completed the mega-takeover of rival SABMiller. The furious round of deal-making follows the buyout by AB InBev -- the maker of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois -- of London-based group SABMiller, in one of the biggest ever mergers in history. The new company is called AB InBev, sounding the death knell of SABMiller and cementing AB InBev's dominant position as the world's top beer-maker, leaving only MillerCoors and Heineken as potential rivals. AB InBev's merger with SABMiller was finalised late Monday and the shares of the new group are now listed in several exchanges. But the historic tie-up required the greenlight of regulators, which ordered sell-offs of assets, including some of SABMiller's most internationally-recognised brands. To satisfy European Union regulators, AB InBev said it successfully sold SABMiller brands Peroni and Grolsch to Japanese brewer Asahi for 2.55 billion euros ($2.76 billion). The EU has also demanded the brewer divest SABMiller's business in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. In Asia, AB InBev said it successfully divested SABMiller's 49-percent stake in Snow breweries, China's highest-selling beer brand, for $1.6 billion as a commitment to regulators in Beijing. Coca-Cola meanwhile is in line to buy the stake AB InBev holds in the US Coca-Cola's African subsidiary, the two companies announced Tuesday. SAB Miller, which had done much of Coca-Cola's bottling worldwide, held a majority share in it. A column of thick smoke and ash rose from a crater at the Colima volcano in Mexico on Sunday, October 9, through to Monday. Mexican army on Monday delivered aid to communities in the municipalities of Comala and Cuauhtemoc, which were affected by the volcanic activity. Geophysics Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Instituto de Geofisica de la UNAM) member Hugo Delgado Cranados said eruptions at the volcano had become more frequent, reported Diario de Colima. This video shows the eruption on Sunday. Credit: YouTube/webcamsdemexico Bogota (AFP) - Colombia will free some imprisoned ELN guerrillas so they can take part in peace talks due to open on October 27, a facilitator said Tuesday. The released rebels "will act, and have already been acting in some cases, as promoters of peace," said the archbishop of the Colombian city of Cali, Dario Monsalve, who is facilitating negotiations between the government and the leftist guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN). The government and ELN, Colombia's second-largest rebel group, will hold talks in the Ecuadoran capital Quito, they announced Monday. The news comes as President Juan Manuel Santos seeks a definitive peace deal with the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), after voters narrowly rejected an initial deal in a referendum. Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last week for his efforts, has staked his legacy on ending a half-century conflict that has killed more than 260,000 people and left 45,000 missing. Monsalve did not say how many ELN members would be released. The rebels in question are "experts on the regions" where the guerrillas are active, he told Caracol Radio. He said around 500 ELN members are currently in Colombian prisons. The ELN has freed three civilian hostages in recent days -- a pre-condition set by Santos for opening talks. Authorities say the rebels are still holding at least two hostages. They have pledged to release them before talks begin. The FARC also released all its hostages before opening peace talks with the government in 2012. New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 81F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 59F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Caracas (AFP) - The Colombian government and the country's second-largest rebel group, the ELN, announced they would launch negotiations on October 27 in Ecuador's capital, with President Juan Manuel Santos predicting "total peace". Both sides have committed to doing everything in their power to "create an environment favorable to peace" once the talks begin, according to a joint statement delivered at the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry in Caracas. The move comes as welcome news for Santos, fresh from his Nobel Peace Prize win but still reeling from voters' rejection in a referendum of a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group. "We've been seeking negotiations with the ELN for almost three years to end the armed conflict with them as well... Now that we're moving forward with the ELN, we will have total peace," Santos said in Bogota. The ELN freed a civilian hostage, the International Committee of the Red Cross said, ahead of what the rebels had billed as an "important announcement" on potential peace talks with the government. It was the third hostage release in two weeks by the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN). Colombia and the ELN agreed in March to launch peace talks, in parallel with the government's negotiations with the FARC. But the government has said negotiations with the ELN cannot begin until the group frees all its hostages. In the text presented in Caracas, the ELN vowed to "initiate the process to free hostages before October 27". The Red Cross said ELN fighters had handed over the latest hostage, who it did not identify, in a remote area in the department of Arauca, on the Venezuelan border. Catholic Church sources identified the hostage as Nelson Alarcon, kidnapped three months ago. The ELN is still believed to be holding at least one hostage, former congressman Odin Sanchez. But the text announcing peace talks spoke of "two cases," without giving further details. Story continues Sanchez handed himself over to the rebels in April in exchange for the release of his brother, Patrocinio Sanchez, a former governor who had fallen ill after nearly three years in captivity. - Fight for peace - Santos is working to end half a century of conflict in Colombia that has killed more than 260,000 people, left 45,000 missing and uprooted nearly seven million. Over the decades, the conflict has drawn in several leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs. The last two leftist guerrilla groups, the FARC and ELN, have been at war with the state since 1964. The ELN is estimated to be about one fourth the size of the FARC, with some 1,500 fighters. After nearly four years of talks with the FARC in the Cuban capital Havana, the government and rebels signed a peace deal on September 26 -- only for the Colombian people to unexpectedly vote against it six days later, sending both sides back to the drawing board. Critics of the deal argued it was too soft on the FARC. Its top opponent, former president Alvaro Uribe -- Santos's predecessor and former boss -- said the deal would give impunity to rebels who committed gross human rights violations and let them run for elected office. - UN to stay - Santos's Nobel prize was seen as a boost for the process, as the government negotiates with both the opposition and the FARC to salvage the deal. Meanwhile, FARC leader Timoleon "Timochenko" Jimenez tweeted that the ELN could "count on our militant support and solidarity. Many successes in this process that has now started". Formal peace talks with the ELN would mark another victory for Santos, who has staked his legacy on ending the oldest armed conflict in the Americas. Separately, a United Nations mission sent to Colombia to oversee the FARC's disarmament -- part of the now-sidelined peace deal -- said Monday it would ask the Security Council to "adjust" its mandate so it can monitor a ceasefire as negotiators try to hash out a compromise. "We think the conditions are in place at this time for the Council to continue its solidarity with the country," the head of the UN mission in Colombia, Jean Arnault, told a press conference. He said he would travel to New York this week to make his case before the Security Council. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - There is "extreme risk" to the stability of Democratic Republic of Congo as a deepening political rift over President Joseph Kabila's future will likely spark large-scale violence, the United Nations envoy to the country said on Tuesday. Kabila, in office since 2001, is barred by constitutional term limits from standing for a third term. But the country's electoral commission says logistical and budgetary obstacles will prevent it from organizing a new poll before December 2018. "Actors on all sides appear more and more willing to resort to violence to achieve their ends," Maman Sidikou, head of the 18,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, told the U.N. Security Council. "While MONUSCO will do everything it can within its mandate to protect civilians, the scope of the threats dramatically outstrip the mission's capabilities," he said. Anger has been simmering for months in Congo over what opponents of Kabila believe are his efforts to hold on to power as other African leaders have done. In March, the U.N. Security Council called on the country to organize a poll this year. Last month anti-government protests in the capital Kinshasa turned violent and dozens of people were killed. The Security Council called on Congolese authorities to exercise maximum restraint and urged the leaders not to exacerbate the situation. A Congolese opposition leader was arrested late on Sunday for his role in anti-government demonstrations last month in which more than 50 people died, the government said on Monday, leading to threats of more protests if he is not released. "The Democratic Republic of Congo has entered a period of extreme risk to its stability," Sidikou said. "The coming period will certainly be extremely difficult, the tipping point in the serious violence could be reached very quickly." Congo, Africa's top copper producer, has been further destabilized by the fall in global commodity prices, which forced the government in June to cut its 2016 budget. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Sandra Maler) A species of freshwater dolphin thought to be extinct may have returned to the Yangtze river in Asia, Chinese conservationists say. An amateur expedition team claims it spotted the baijiknown as the goddess of the Yangtze or the white dolphinin a stretch of the worlds third longest river near the city of Wuhu, even though the creature was declared functionally extinct by researchers a decade ago, The Guardian reports. At around 9:20 a.m. on Tuesday, the team of 11 saw what looked like a dolphin in the Yangtze river close to the city of Wuhu, in Anhui province, while on a one-week expedition to look for the animal, a description on the government-backed news website Sixth Tone reads. The dolphin jumped out of the water in easy view of one of the teams boats, which was around 100 meters away. People on the teams second boat, which was around 300 meters away, also saw the animal. This is not the first time a creature thought to be extinct has been rediscoveredsometimes after many years. When this happens, the species becomes a Lazarus speciesnamed after the biblical story in which Jesus miraculously raises Lazarus from the dead. A passenger plane flies through aircraft contrails in the skies near Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, April 12, 2015. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo If you ask someone who believes in chemtrails or identifies as a 9/11 truther why they believe conspiracy theories, they'll tell you that they aren't conspiracy theorists at all. Instead, most who believe in these theories think of themselves as "critical freethinkers," willing to challenge the conventional wisdom, according to a study recently published in the journal Cultural Sociology. "[C]onspiracy theorists appropriate the image of the radical freethinker to differentiate themselves from the 'sheeple' who simply follow the crowd," authors Jaron Harambam of Erasmus University in the Netherlands and Stef Aupers of the University of Leuven in Belgium write. (In what has to be among the best footnotes in an academic paper ever, 'sheeple' is defined in the notes section: "Sheeple = sheep + people, a common term in the conspiracy milieu to describe the 'gullible mainstream who do not think for themselves but just go with what everyone else is doing.") Harambam and Aupers, who set out to answer the question of how conspiracy theorists view themselves, noted that other researchers have looked at these populations from the exterior to see how their beliefs affect culture. Still, there haven't been many studies looking at how those in the "conspiracy milieu" define themselves, or at their relationships with others within their ideological circles. Conspiracy theorists or "critical freethinkers?" "[W]e aim to find out inductively who they think they are," the authors write. Over a two year period, they spent time at conspiracy-related gatherings (shows, conferences, political demonstrations, and movie screenings), conducted extensive interviews with 20 Dutch conspiracy theorists, and spent time analyzing conspiracy media (movies, websites, and all kinds of YouTube videos). This research was conducted in the Netherlands, so it's possible that these findings are most accurate for the Dutch conspiracy theorists in the study. Still, many of the ideas these people describe a secret world government, the idea that authorities are trying to poison people with vaccines or by releasing gas from airplanes, the beliefs of 9/11 truthers or those espoused by people like David Icke or Alex Jones are popular among conspiracy theorists the world over. Story continues The study's authors say that people in the conspiracy scene have certain traits in common, mainly an "opposition towards the cultural mainstream." They don't trust government, media, or conventional academic institutions. tin foil hat But there are also major differences among conspiracy believers, according to Harambam and Aupers. Mostly, even though these people reject the label "conspiracy theorist" for themselves, they'll use it to describe others in the conspiracy believing world as a way of differentiating themselves both from the mainstream and those they call "the 'real' paranoids." For example, Tom, a 9/11 truther, tells the authors that the "real conspiracy theorists" threaten his credibility. "David Icke for example, I find him terrible, I also warn people active with 9/11 to not refer to him, please dont, that man is crazy as a loon, just psychotic, a real demagogue," he says. (Icke is known for theorizing that secretly, lizard-people run the world). 3 types of conspiracy theorists Harambam and Aupers say that based on the way people think they should act because of their beliefs, it's possible to divide conspiracy theorists into three groups. 1. Activists: This group believes they need to confront society to change things. "We need to do something, we need to go protest and go into resistance," Liam, one activist, tells the authors. "So now I am constantly approaching politics, media, science and all other authorities to tell them, 'guys, open your eyes, because this is serious, its not going well.'" The militant advocacy among some members of this group can disturb other conspiracy believers. "[T]hese people really go too far, like Alex Jones or so, well, hes a true fear monger," Michael, an economics student who wants to help society cast off its shackles, tells the authors. A picture illustration of crumpled one Dollar banknote laying amongst euro and kuno banknotes, taken in Zagreb January 18, 2011. REUTERS/Nikola Solic 2. Retreaters: Members of this group think it's folly to try and convince the mainstream that conspiracies really are happening and that instead, they should just focus on themselves. "I dont think resistance is the right way to go, what I do instead is to apply it to myself," an agricultural entrepreneur named Robert tells the authors. "And if other people notice it, ask about it, feel touched by it, then it will have effect, not by imposing it on people, I think that will have much more effect than pushing. To inspire others instead of terrifying them." 3. Mediators: Finally, there's a group that believes you can't force change on society, but you may be able to convince them of "the truth." As Tom tells the authors, "My work [running a 9/11 truther website] is not directed at the people who are already convinced [9/11] is bullshit. I aim explicitly at those who are used to the mainstream ... I want to bring down the wall between the mainstream and the critical current in society." It's not enough to identify conspiracy theorists as a monolithic group, the authors say. In order to understand how these ideas circulate, we need to see how individuals create their own identities, separating themselves from both the mainstream and the "real" paranoids. NOW WATCH: The worlds largest pyramid is not in Egypt More From Business Insider From Harper's BAZAAR Kendall Jenner is returning to Love magazine, but not as a model-as a photographer. In lieu of appearing on the cover herself, the 20-year-old and Editor-in-Chief Katie Grand are searching for the glossy's next cover star on social media, whom Jenner will shoot in Los Angeles. Anyone between the ages of 15 to 35 can apply by taking a picture of themselves on Instagram or Twitter and tagging #LOVEME17. Applicants can also apply by emailing loveme@condenast.co.uk. "Say who you are and what you love to do," Jenner explained to prospective models on Instagram today. Twenty finalists will be chosen to pose for Jenner in L.A. in November. The issue itself will release in February 2017. See the model's full post below for all the details. Although Jenner has already graced the cover of Love back in 2014, this won't be her first behind the lens either. Earlier this year she made her photographic debut when she snapped Kaia Gerber for the magazine's 16th issue, which hit newsstands in July. You Might Also Like In light of the sales scam surrounding Wells Fargo & Company WFC, CtW Investment Group, the Union pension fund adviser, recently called on boards of JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, Bank of America Corporation BAC and Citigroup Inc. C to review their employment practices. It said that it will not support the re-election of directors who failed to comply with the examination of incentive pay practices. It sent letters to the lead directors of these banks and called them to review whether incentives paid to workers encouraged unethical behavior. A renewed round of scrutiny on whether big lenders' sales practices have become too aggressive to meet goals has already been conducted. Notably, on Oct 3, Morgan Stanley was charged by Massachusetts' top securities for "dishonest and unethical conduct" for having pushed its brokers to sell loans to clients. Further, CtW which manages more than $250 billion funds for the union pension, mentioned in its letter that the Wells Fargo case "evinces the significant risks that inappropriate and poorly designed human capital management practices may pose to a bank's operations, reputation, and regulatory standing." In the past, some of the actions taken by CtW have helped bring certain changes including the departure of directors from JPMorgan after the so-called "London Whale" trading debacle. Moreover, it has called on Wells Fargo to take some actions. This includes adding two new directors with human capital expertise. Meanwhile, other activists have called on Wells Fargo and have filed shareholder resolutions to study a breakup and to differentiate between the roles of CEO and chairman. However, spokespeople for JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup each have not yet made any comments regarding the matter. Confidential from Zacks This week, Zacks researchers have named 7 other stocks that look to break out even sooner than today's Bull of the Day. You can see these time-sensitive tickers free, and access additional trades that are not available to the public. Simply click here>>. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report JPMORGAN CHASE (JPM): Free Stock Analysis Report WELLS FARGO-NEW (WFC): Free Stock Analysis Report CITIGROUP INC (C): Free Stock Analysis Report BANK OF AMER CP (BAC): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. And check out five condos with psf prices not exceeding $1000. With the weaker retail spending amidst the softened global and local economy, more tenants are looking to downsize and consolidate their businesses. According to Knight Franks latest Singapore retail bulletin in 3Q2016, average monthly island-wide retail rents slipped 0.2% QoQ to $31.20 psf in 3Q2016. Click here to find out more. Two former private bankers who are involved in the Malaysian state fund 1MDB fiasco were charged with forgery and failing to report suspicious transactions. Yak Yew Chee and Yvonne Seah were each hit with seven charges, three for forgery and four for failing to report suspicious transactions, court documents showed. Know more about the story here. Some Singaporeans would never have imagined that HDB flats would transact at close to or even beyond the million-dollar mark. However, reasonably-priced condos do exist. Click here to find condos from 99-year leasehold properties with a psf price not exceeding $1000. More From Singapore Business Review Copenhagen (AFP) - Denmark's intelligence service on Tuesday asked police to investigate its former head for allegedly breaching his confidentiality agreement in a book about his time at the agency. "It is the Danish Security and Intelligence Service's (PET) assessment that the book, which is partly based on interviews with the former head of PET, Jakob Scharf, contains information... covered by his confidentiality agreement," the agency said in a statement. Scharf, who headed PET between 2007 and 2013, denies violating his confidentiality agreement, insisting he did not reveal anything that was not already public knowledge. PET said it believed the publisher of daily Politiken may also have broken the law when it published the book, called "Seven Years for PET -- Jakob Scharf's Time", in its entirety on Sunday. The move came after PET obtained a provisional injunction early Saturday against the book's publication from the City Court of Copenhagen, amid fears it could contain secrets, prompting accusations of censorship. The book's publisher, its author, a Danish radio station that discussed its contents, and bookstores that sold it could also all have breached the country's penal code, PET said. The agency planned to file a separate complaint over Politiken's decision to violate the injunction, the intelligence service added. PET asked the court to lift the injunction on Tuesday since it was "no longer practically possible to maintain." Violating the Danish penal code's paragraph 152, on public officials unlawfully passing confidential information, typically carries a fine or up to six months in prison but can in some cases be punished with up to two years in jail. While Politiken noted that the book included comments on the US and Pakistani intelligence services, Flemming Splidsboel Hansen of the Danish Institute for International Studies told the paper that it was "doubtful" that they would affect Danish cooperation with those agencies. Denmark prides itself on championing freedom of expression and according to the annual rankings of Reporters Without Borders was placed fourth for freedom of the press this year. The death toll in a gun attack on Shiites marking Ashura in Kabul jumped to at least 14, with 36 wounded, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP Tuesday. Thirteen of the dead were civilians and one a police officer, Sediq Sediqqi said, in the attack on pilgrims gathering in the Afghan capital to mark one of the most important festivals on the Shiite calendar. In the past 48 hours, Ken Bone has gone from a married father of a preteen son, working in a Shiloh, Ill., power plant to a pop culture phenomenon. His mustached face has been all over the internet and social media ever since he was called upon during the second presidential debate Sunday night to ask Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump a question about the country's energy needs. The 34-year-old Bone now has more interview requests than he can count and has been a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. But through it all, he has stayed grounded. Although he is enjoying the ride - which includes a Twitter account that jumped from 7 followers to more than 100,000 - Bone said the upcoming election should be the primary focus. In a Tuesday interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bone discussed his top moments from the past two days, including offers coming his way, whether he would campaign for a candidate once he has made up his mind, and threats he received that required police involvement. What has been the craziest part of the past 48 hours for you? I think the most fun thing I have done was Jimmy Kimmel, but also last night Chris Hardwick with @midnight dedicated a huge portion of his show to me. And my wife and I are huge fans, and we thought that was just wild. That was a surreal experience, watching Brian Posehn make jokes about me on one of our favorite shows. Who have you been most starstruck by thus far? Anderson Cooper is probably the favorite person I have talked to so far. He really deserves his reputation as the nicest guy in national media. What is the most outlandish offer you have received to this point? There hasn't been anything too crazy. It's all been phone interviews and media appearances. There are a couple of things people are asking me to do that I can't really tell you about yet because it is not set in stone. But, it's not like I making money off of this. So far, it's just been a fun time of participating. Story continues Have you been approached for representation from Hollywood? No, but I have been approached by a couple of local agents, and I kind of blew it off. I didn't think I would really need to be represented, but maybe I am starting to change my mind because it is hard to keep up with all this with just me and my notebook. But I really don't think it's a long-term thing. When the media stops calling me in a few days, it's over. And when it's over, it's over. I am not going to try and book myself back on stuff. Have you given any thought to what you want to do when the election is over? Media is really fun. I have been having a great time, but I don't know that I have the chops to make a career of it. Broadcast is a very difficult industry and that would be a big risk for my family. So, I am just going to stay the course. I am going back to work at my power plant tomorrow evening. I was supposed return tonight, but I called in sick because of the obligations I have been making all day. If anything great presented itself, I would love to be a part of it, but I have a great career that I am very proud of. What do you think of those who will undoubtedly fill in your name when they vote? That kind of love and support is touching to me, but there are actual candidates, even if it's a third party candidate. I am not old enough to be president, and I am not registered to run, so please don't do that. Vote for who can be president. Do make your voice heard. What does your family think of this whirlwind in which you've been caught? I think my son was having a really great time for about the first half-hour. He is 12 years old and having a dad on the internet was probably super cool, but the cool is starting to wear off. He had to go back to school today after a holiday yesterday, so I think he is pretty much ready for it to be over. I hope he hasn't gotten too hard of a time from his friends today. And my wife has put as much work into this as I have, but she doesn't get to do any of the fun stuff. She's also probably ready to be done. Given any thought to campaigning for a candidate once you have made up your mind? I have not been approached by either campaign as far as I know. I do have a lot of messages I need to get back to. But even after I make my decision, I will not be doing any official media for either campaign. I will not be releasing who I am going to vote for before the election happens and I may not release it after the election. I do not want to influence anyone. I want everyone to vote their heart and their conscience, which is what I am going to do. People are having a ball with nicknames for you and fans. Do you have an opinion on these? I'm just glad everyone is having a good time. A little gentle ribbing never hurt anybody. I realize I look goofy and I say things normal people wouldn't say on television, but that's all part of the fun. I'm just trying to have a good time. So, if people want to do a little give-and-take with that, I am fine with it. The really mean parts of the internet are kind of sinking to the bottom and mostly it has all been positive stuff with people who just want to have fun. Have there been any negative responses? I have only had one or two phone calls that were kind of alarming, but I've alerted my local police, who are really great and they're doing increased patrols in my neighborhood to make my wife feel safe while I'm not there. But [feedback] has been overwhelmingly, like 99 percent, positive. How alarming were those few calls? I think I got one while I was on another station earlier today and the person read me my home address and told me he would meet me when I got home. You hate to hear that kind of thing. I don't really put that much stock into it. Negative people are going to be negative. The odds of him living in my area are remote. He's just some guy who got my number from the internet. And finally, the country knows your first and last name, what is your middle name? It's Dean. They wanted to name me for both of my grandfathers. Kenneth Bone, he was my father's father, who they gave me my first name for. And then Maurice, my mother's father. But then they decided they didn't like the name Maurice as much, so they gave me his middle name, Dean. Like, James Dean. Read more: Donald Trump Blasts Paul Ryan; Says His "Shackles" Have Now Been Removed Pakistani artists like Fawad Khan, Ali Zafar and Mahira Khan were accepted by India and they enjoyed a huge fan following in the country. But, post Uri attacks, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association announced a ban on all the Pakistani artists and this has become one of the hot topics for discussion these days. As it concerns actors like Fawad and Mahira, Bollywood celebs have opened up on the issue. While stars like Salman Khan were against the ban, Ajay Devgn spoke in favour of it. Now, Deepika Padukone has also talked about but in a very diplomatic manner. The Piku actor was in Delhi for attending NDTVs live show and she was asked to comment on the current scenario. Recommended Read: CONFIRMED! Deepika, Ranveer, Shahid team up for Padmavati, to release in 2017 To which, she responded by saying, I think my answer to that is I do have a thought on it, but I think we should save it for another time. Well, we must say that Deepika chose the safest way out being diplomatic! UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - has recognized Dilijan , Armenia among its Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC). Dilijan joins a dynamic network of cities worldwide that support and accelerate the practice of lifelong learning in the worlds communities, while promoting policy dialogue and peer learning among member cities through forged links and fostered partnerships that promote the progress of the learning cities. It is a great honor for the all Dilijan residents to receive such a coveted recognition from UNESCO as Dilijan continues to offer pioneering educational programs for preparing our citizens for the 21st century learning, said Dilijan Community Center Program Director, Rubina Ter-Martirosyan who was instrumental in Dilijans selection as a GNLC. Dilijan has become the designated site for such local and international learning centers as UWC Dilijan College, Central Bank of Armenias Training and Research Center, American University of Armenia, Tumo Center for Creative Technologies, the Dilijan Community Center as well as many artistic venues which culminated in the launch of the first Dilijan Arts Observatory this year, Dilijan Mayor, Armen Santrosyan added. Arne Carlsen, Director, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, commended Dilijans vision, planning and implementation of the learning city concept in a letter of recognition and expressed eagerness to learn about Dilijans future developments. Veronika Zonabend, co-founder of UWC Dilijan and the Dilijan Development Foundation which supports Dilijan Community Center and other regional projects stated: The goal of our foundation is to return to Dilijan its fame and further develop it into an educational, cultural and recreational regional hub. And this international recognition is an important step towards this goal. Inclusion in the Network will help Dilijan achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education while promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all its citizens. Additionally, Dilijan will be listed amongst other world cities recognized as a UNESCO GNLC. Gagik Adibekyan, co-founder of the Dilijan Development Foundation and founding-partner of UWC Dilijan College stated, "We live in a complex, fast changing world, in which the competitiveness and economic growth of the country depend heavily on the quality of education. I am certain that Dilijan's entry into the Global Network of Learning Cities will contribute to solving the important task of turning Dilijan into the educational hub of Armenia . About Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) Currently, there are more than 1,000 cities and communities worldwide that have become or are in the process of becoming learning/educating cities. These cities benefit from participating in international policy dialogue, action research, capacity building and peer learning, and effectively using learning city approaches to promote lifelong learning for their citizens. UNESCO established the Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) to encourage the growth of learning cities, accelerating the practice of lifelong learning in the worlds metropolitan areas. The GNLC global network mobilizes cities while demonstrating how a citys resources can be used most effectively to provide learning opportunities to its citizens to enrich human potential, promote equality and social justice, maintain social cohesion, and create sustainable prosperity. GNLC is intended to help cities create a better future for their citizens as well as the planet, by transforming themselves into learning cities. UNESCO cites studies showing how lifelong learners are better equipped to adapt to evolving changes in their environments and communities. Lifelong learning, and the idea of the learning society therefore have a vital role to play in a generations transition to sustainable societies. Nawazuddin Siddiqui made headlines when he was reportedly asked by the Shiv Sena volunteers to pull out of a Ramleela show as he is a Muslim. The Raman Raghav 2.0 actor was to play the role of Maareech, Raavans maternal uncle. According to reports, the decision to force him to leave the role followed police warnings that they would not be responsible if things went out of control and if Siddiqui were to go on to play the role. Recommended Read: Nawazuddins childhood dream remains unfulfilled after Shiv Sena protests against him participating in a Ramleela event! The whole controversy garnered a lot of attention and people posted their thoughts on the social media and many Bollywood celebs too reacted on the same. Now, Deepika Padukone, who was in Delhi to attend NDTVs live show, was asked about her opinion on the controversy. She said, I think as society in general, we should become more inclusive and sensitive to people and such situations. What do you think of Deepikas thoughts on the issue? Ever since Padmavati has been announced, there have been a lot of rumours about the cast and films release date. While Deepika Padukone will play the titular role, Ranveer Singh has been roped in for Allauddin Khiljis character in the film. Shahid Kapoor is also onboard and will be seen as Deepikas husband Rawal Ratan Singh. The release date of the film has now been confirmed and a trade analyst also took to Twitter to reveal the details. The tweet says, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Sanjay Leela Bhansali finalize release date of #Padmavati: 17 Nov 2017 Stars Ranveer, Deepika and Shahid. Recommended Read: CONFIRMED! Deepika, Ranveer, Shahid team up for Padmavati, to release in 2017 With this confirmation, we have one more historical saga to be told to the audience and we all know, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is perfect when it comes to directing such sagas! By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) - Doctors are much better than symptom-checker programs at reaching a correct diagnosis, though the humans are not perfect and might benefit from using algorithms to supplement their skills, a small study suggests. In a head-to-head comparison, human doctors with access to the same information about medical history and symptoms as was put into a symptom checker got the diagnosis right 72 percent of the time, compared to 34 percent for the apps. The 23 online symptom checkers, some accessed via websites and others available as apps, included those offered by Web MD and the Mayo Clinic in the U.S. and the Isabel Symptom Checker in the U.K. The current symptom checkers, I was not surprised do not outperform doctors, said senior author Dr. Ateev Mehrotra of Harvard Medical School in Boston. But in reality computers and human doctors may both be involved in a diagnosis, rather than pitted against each other, Mehrotra told Reuters Health. The researchers used a web platform called Human Dx to distribute 45 clinical vignettes - sets of medical history and symptom information - to 234 physicians. Doctors could not do a physical examination on the hypothetical patient or run tests, they had only the information provided. Fifteen vignettes described acute conditions, 15 were moderately serious and 15 required low-levels of care. Most described commonly diagnosed conditions, while 19 described uncommon conditions. Doctors submitted their answers as free text responses with potential diagnoses ranked in order of likelihood. Compared to putting the same information into symptom checkers, physicians ranked the correct diagnosis first more often for every case. Doctors also got it right more often for the more serious conditions and the more uncommon diagnoses, while computer algorithms were better at spotting less serious conditions and more common diagnoses, according to the results published in a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine. In medical school, we are taught to consider broad differential diagnoses that include rare conditions, and to consider life-threatening diagnoses, said Dr. Andrew M. Fine of Boston Childrens Hospital, who was not part of the new study. National board exams also assess our abilities to recognize rare and can't miss diagnoses, so perhaps the clinicians have been conditioned to look for these diagnoses, he said. Physicians do get it wrong 10 to 15 percent of the time, so maybe if computers were augmenting them the outcome would be better, Mehrotra said. In a real-world setting, I could envision MD plus algorithm vs MD alone, Fine told Reuters Health by email. The algorithms will rely on a clinician to input physical exam findings in a real-world setting, and so the computer algorithm alone could not go head to head with a clinician. Computers may be better suited to amend or reorder diagnoses based on new information in certain settings, like the emergency room, he added. Patients need to know that most (symptom checkers) have limited accuracy, and should not be considered a substitute for a history and physical examination by a healthcare provider, said Dr. Leslie J. Bisson of the University at Buffalo department of orthopedics in Amherst, New York, who was not part of the new study. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2e78GBa JAMA Internal Medicine, online October 10, 2016. Donald Trump blasted House Speaker Paul Ryan this morning as the GOP erupted in internecine battle over an Access Hollywood tape in which the Republican presidential candidate said he was so famous he could grope women with impunity. Trumps latest Twitter tirade, which is keeping TV news outlets hopping this morning, comes after Ryan told fellow Republicans he would not campaign with the candidate through the election and was done defending him. It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 In the contentious phone call with fellow Republicans just four weeks before the election, Ryan said Monday he would use the next month to make sure Congress stays under GOP control, campaigning on behalf of down-ticket candidates, but will not engage with Trump. He has, however, not pulled his endorsement of Trump. Meanwhile, Billy Bush was expected to be taken off Today after the NBC news divisions Sunday decision to suspend him. Until then, the cousin of Jeb Bush thought he was going on the air Monday and address the tape, following an initial statement issued Friday in which he was embarrassed by its release and was less mature 11 years ago. Bush was suspended Sunday for an indefinite, but expected to be fairly short, period of time. NBC is investigating potential workplace issues in Bushs reaction to Trumps admission he tried to bed Bushs co-host at the time. Also raising eyebrows is Bushs decision, on tape, to ask an NBC soap actress to hug and kiss Trump, immediately after the then-star of NBCs The Apprentice made his remarks about kissing and groping women. Story continues Adding to the companys headache, the TV news industry still is abuzz this morning about NBC News having hired a participant in a presidential campaign-changing tape, and yet managing to get skunked on the story by the Washington Post. At Sundays second presidential debate, Trump noted he had apologized for the remarks caught on the hot mic in 2005, and was not proud of them, but insisted it was locker room talk. When pressed by moderator Anderson Cooper, Trump said he had not done the things he claimed in the tape. Also at the debate, Trump said he wanted to put Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in jail if he is elected. Before the debate, Trump staged a photo op with women who previously have claimed to have been attacked by Clinton or her husband. Though Trump this morning insists he won every post-debate poll by a landslide, he cites unscientific online polls, and those are not the results in more reliable polls: Related stories Donald Trump-ish 'Law & Order: SVU' Episode Tiptoes Around Election Cycle Gloria Allred Not Allowed To Deliver Letter Calling For Release Of 'Apprentice' Outtakes 'Saturday Night Live' Week 2 Telecast With Host Lin-Manuel Miranda Sets 12-Year Ratings High (WASHINGTON)Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of Twitter attacks Tuesday on the party he hopes to lead to the White House, threatening to plunge Republicans into an all-out conflict with just four weeks remaining until Election Day. Declaring himself unshackled, the billionaire businessman went after House Speaker Paul Ryan after the congressional leader effectively abandoned Trump in a private call with fellow Republicans. The series of Twitter posts appeared designed to stem the flow of GOP lawmakers whove said they wont vote for Trump or have urged him to exit the race since last weeks release of a tape showing him using predatory language regarding women. Disloyal Republicans are far more difficult than Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump lamented. They come at you from all sides, he tweeted. They dont know how to win I will teach them! According to people on Mondays telephone conference call, Ryan said he would no longer campaign with Trump, focusing instead on ensuring Clinton doesnt get a blank check with a Democratic-controlled Congress. Ryan received both support and criticism from House members, reflecting Republicans disunity and the disarray of their election strategy with less than a month to go. Assailing Ryan, Trump said Tuesday that members went wild at the disloyalty of the very weak and ineffective speaker. It is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support! Trump tweeted, declaring inaccurately that every poll had him winning the weekends second presidential debate against Clinton. One tweet complained that Democrats are far more loyal to each other than the Republicans! Another was celebratory: It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to. Trump also blasted Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican standard-bearer and another critic. Story continues While Trumps candidacy has long exposed the partys divisions, GOP leaders had hoped to prevent an all-out civil war until after the election. But House and Senate candidates fear Trumps 2005 comments about women will drag down their own electoral prospects, if not stain the Republican brand for a generation. Others see no way for Republicans in some races to win without the backing of Trumps loyal supporters. Brendan Buck, Ryans spokesman, offered a muted response to Trump. Ryan is focusing the next month on defeating Democrats and all Republicans running for office should probably do the same, he said. Forty Republican senators and congressmen have revoked their support for Trump with nearly 30 of them urging him to quit the race altogether. Few of these were ever passionate Trump supporters, and Republicans in Congress number 300 in all. The head of the Republican National Committee has stuck by the GOP nominee, citing full coordination with Trumps embattled campaign. Trump apologized during Sundays debate but also dismissed his comments about groping women without their permission as merely locker room talk. The explanation failed to end the controversy, and Trumps attacks on Ryan Tuesday threatened to distract from what Republicans want to be his main message: Going after Clinton. The Democratic nominee, for her part, touted new ideas Tuesday to provide tax relief for families with young children. Her plan would double the Child Tax Credit and provide low-income families more money in refunds. The new tax credit will make their lives a little bit easier and help restore fairness to our economy, Clinton said before a scheduled event with former Vice President Al Gore in Florida, the state that cost him the 2000 election. Theyre expected to discuss climate change concerns. Meanwhile, Clintons campaign is grappling with newly leaked emails shedding more light on the interplay among the former secretary of states family, her husbands business relationships and her presidential ambitions. The emails posted by WikiLeaks detail concern about former Bill Clinton aide Doug Band and the private corporate advisory firm he co-founded. Daughter Chelsea Clinton in 2011 forwarded a news article about money Bill Clinton was receiving through Bands company and expressed alarm with its representatives calling British parliamentarians on behalf of President Clinton without her fathers knowledge. Band tells John Podesta, Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, that Chelsea is acting like a spoiled brat kid because she hasnt found her way in life. WikiLeaks says the messages come from Podestas accounts. Podesta has said messages may have been altered or edited to damage Clinton. It isnt clear who hacked Podestas emails. Last week, U.S. intelligence officials blamed Russias government for breaches and leaks intended to influence the presidential election. Ryans goal over the next month is preventing Republicans from losing House control, a scenario that seemed remote just a week ago. They hold a wide 246-186 seat majority. Donald Trump was on Twitter early Tuesday morning, criticizing Paul Ryan for, in his opinion, not supporting the GOP presidential nominee. Calling the House Speaker both "very weak and ineffective," Trump said it is hard for him to do well in the polls when he has "zero" support from Ryan. The Wisconsin politician has not withdrawn his endorsement of Trump, yet, but he has distanced himself from the billionaire businessman after Trump's latest scandal involving a recording from 2005 in which the then-Apprentice host makes vulgar comments about women. Other high-ranking Republicans, such as Sen. John McCain, have pulled their endorsement after the tape was brought to light last week by The Washington Post. After he blasted Ryan, Trump said in an ominous tweet that he was now free to be himself. "It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to," Trump said. He followed that post by taking a shot at the Republican Party as a whole. "With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!" Trump tweeted. Hours later, Trump turned his sights to McCain, tweeting, "The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks!" Trump made even more headlines during the second presidential debate this week when he invited women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault to the event. At the debate, Trump brought up the accusations to Hillary Clinton and made mention of the women's presence. Read more: Tapes or No Tapes, 'The Apprentice' Alums Recall Donald Trump's Sexist and Racist Behavior Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support! - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 Story continues Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty. - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to. - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans! - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during hisprimary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks! - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 The following is an open letter addressed to Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians regarding a recent Kolkota Armenian high school ruling. His Holiness Karekin II Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Catholicosate of All Armenians Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Armenia Your Holiness, Who would have thought that Your Holiness above all people in Armenia would be the architect of curbing higher education or children. It has been officially announced to the students of the Armenian College by Rev. Father MovsesSargsyan, manager of the school, that the boys will have to return to Armenia once they complete class X, to serve in the Armed forces of Armenia. Until now the students were given the opportunity to complete class X and XII and go to college or get vocational training. This would groom them for their adult life. The ACPA (Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy) was founded by patriotic Armenians from Iran and this unique institution has educated Armenian children from many countries. They have been groomed with further studies after school to face their future. Why should children come to India any more if they cannot fulfill their dreams of further studies; they can have their basic education in Armenia. The ACPA was handed over to His Holiness Karekin I (God rest his soul) who was highly educated and spoke many languages. He fully understood the importance of good education and that military training can be done when they complete their studies. Soldiers are very important to a country such as ours, no one would disagree. However, Armenia also needs educated young people for her overall development. There seem to be no care for the poor Armenians by your Holiness; more emphasis is being laid on promoting the 'Kingdom of Etchmiadzin by taking over churches in the East and far East, some of which are very wealthy and located in prime locations in their countries. Priests and Your Holiness live in the lap of luxury and not as servants of God, and there is no effort to help the underprivileged population of Armenia. I can well imagine how parents will feel when they know of your ruling- almost sure that your Holiness will not be popular with these hapless people, - not that you are now in any case, as the recent news circulating in the media suggest. Respectfully, Sonia John Former Chairperson - Armenian Holy Church of Nazareth, Kolkata Former Manager - Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy Kolkata, India (Photo: Getty Images) Oh, the irony! Donald Trump once fired a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice for her locker-room talk. In resurfaced footage of the show in 2010, the former host reprimanded professional wrestler Maria Kanellis for using the word crap in his boardroom, and threw her out. PHOTOS: Donald Trumps Most Offensive and Outrageous Quotes Donald Trump in 2010: This is my boardroom. Its not a locker room. Maria, youre fired. \_()_/ pic.twitter.com/UlsP9Xjg7F The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) October 10, 2016 Kanellis was confronting fellow contestant Curtis Stone for using the ladies restroom, and said: The reason why I said you were so arrogant was because you came in our dressing room and you took a crap and left the stench in the room. But Trump took offense to the language and sided with the Australian chef calling her accusations a little below the belt. Even as she attempted to defend herself the 70-year-old said: It is sort of gross, though, bringing that up. Its like disgusting. PHOTOS: Celebrity Feuds: The Biggest Ever! He then delivered the line, This is my boardroom, its not a locker room, Maria youre fired. Related: For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS. The clip, which was posted on The Daily Shows Twitter page on Monday, October 10, comes in the wake of Trump defending his own vile comments about women, that were captured in a hot mic moment in 2005. PHOTOS: Biggest Reality TV Villains Ever! During the second presidential debate on Sunday, October 9, he once again brushed off the degrading conversation he had with Billy Bush 11 years ago. Im not proud of it. I apologize to my family, he said during the debate with Hillary Clinton in St. Louis. "I apologize to the American people. Certainly Im not proud of it. But this is locker-room talk. Check out the clip from The Celebrity Apprentice above. Cant get enough of Us? Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter packed with the latest celeb news, hot pics and more! If you only read one thing: Donald Trump is not backing down after his slash-and-burn debate performance Sunday night. On the campaign trail Monday, Trump continued to bring up allegations about Hillary and Bill Clinton, reiterated that he would seek to send his rival to prison, and his top aides began making jokes about his locker room banter. He is also turning his fire on disloyal Republicans who abandoned him in light of his offensive comments. In a Tuesday morning tweetstorm, Trump said hes freed up by their abandonment. It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to, he said, as he continued to fire missiles at his own party. President Obama is set to return to the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton Tuesday at a critical moment at the campaign. After calling Trump insecure this weekend, expect the president to continue to lay into his would-be successor as he seeks to protect his legacy. How the debate on Syria is across parties. Trumps interruptions are down. And a Trump advisor wont clarify his position on Syria. Here are your must reads: Must Reads President Obama Is Now Campaigning for His Legacy Hes hitting the trail for Clinton and himself, TIMEs Maya Rhodan writes Donald Trump Dismisses His Locker Room Talk As Normal. Athletes Say Its Not Several professional athletes tell TIME they disagree with Trumps caricature of the locker room [TIME] Paul Ryan Says He Wont Defend Donald Trump All-but-concedes defeat [Associated Press] In Debate on Syria, Its Trump vs. Pence, and Clinton vs. Obama Intra-party disagreement [New York Times] Clinton Sees New Opportunities to Woo Republicans in Trumps Troubles Trump slide creates an opening [Washington Post] Im the Last Thing Standing Between You and the Apocalypse Inside the final weeks of Hillary Clintons cautious and surprisingly risky campaign [New York Times] Story continues Sound Off And I consider myself, in a certain way, to be a blue collar worker. Donald Trump in Pennsylvania Monday Wikileaks, I love Wikileaks Donald Trump in Pennsylvania Monday Bonus: It doesnt necessarily make me uncomfortable. Im just refusing to do it. I think its theyre the ones who are running for office. Theyre the ones who ought to create the doctrine and the policies and shape them the way they want, not an adviser. Former CIA Director James Woolsey, a senior advisor to the Trump campaign on national security refuses to discuss campaigns position on Syria Bits and Bites Donald Trumps Interruptions Down in Second Presidential Debate [TIME] There Is No Room for Objectification of Women: Nancy ODell Addresses Donald Trump Tape [TIME] Court Extends Florida Voter Registration Deadline After Hurricane Matthew [Associated Press] What to Know About Donald Trumps Unaired Apprentice Tapes [TIME] Tim Kaine Wants You to Know Hes Americas Cool Dad [TIME] Warren Buffett Fires Back at Donald Trump on Taxes [TIME] Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says Colin Kaepernicks Protest Is Dumb [TIME] Barack Obama: America will take the giant leap to Mars [CNN] Donald Trump Once Fired a Celebrity Apprentice Contestant For Locker Room Talk [TIME] Seth Meyers Belittles Donald Trump as The Pervert on the Bus [TIME] Rudy Giuliani Makes Locker Room Joke at Rally [Wall Street Journal] From Esquire "And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life." -Judges 16: 29-30 ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI-Well, I hate to say I told you so, but, dammit, I told you so. Way back in 2013, I told you this was coming, that the unquiet ghosts of the Great Penis Hunt of the 1990s were awaiting only a sorcerer well enough versed in the dark arts to bring them forth upon the land again. Little did I know that they would be summoned not only to destroy Hillary Rodham Clinton, but also by a near-suicidal Republican presidential campaign willing to bring the temple down on its own head as long as the party establishment died under the rubble as well. There is no modern parallel to what Donald Trump did prior to Sunday night's debate. Seated in a room in a luxury hotel that looked like nothing more than the town council chamber in a backwater Rust Belt town, El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago hosted a bizarre photo-op with three of Bill Clinton's most famous accusers, Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones, and Kathleen Willey, as well as Kathy Shelton, who was raped when she was 12 by a man who later became a client of young lawyer Hillary Rodham Clinton. From NBC News: "Mr. Trump may have said some bad words, but Bill Clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me. I don't think there's anything worse," Broaddrick said. Trump told reporters the four women had asked to be present for the panel, which was billed to the press as part of Trump's preparation for the debate. Broaddrick, Wiley and Jones will all be in the debate hall tonight, a Trump aide confirmed. Trump did not respond to a reporter who shouted a question to Trump about whether he believes his star power allows him to touch women without their consent. Story continues Thus was democracy rendered a shambles, once again, by a vulgar talking yam who speaks for far too many of his fellow citizens. And let us pause in our chortling to remember that, to a substantial percentage of the people in the country, this event was absolutely the balls. For a considerable number of them, it was an orgasmic celebration of the impeachment interruptus in which, they believe, Bill Clinton beat the rap. In short, Trump may have managed throughout the night to stop Republicans from running away into the night, screaming. They still may abandon him, but they'll slip silently away in the darkness, like deserters from the Confederate army heading for the hills. On Sunday night, he solidified his base the only way that his base can be solidified-with bullying, bluster, and an amazing ability not to know dick about so many of the important issues of the day. And he left us all with one amazing, indelible moment. CLINTON: I told people it would be impossible be fact checking all the the time-I'd never get to talk about anything I want to do or how we're going to make lives better for people. So go to HillaryClinton.com. You can fact check him in real time, last time at the first debate, we had millions of people fact checking, so expect we'll have millions more fact checking. It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law of our country. TRUMP: Because you'd be in jail. Even for a guy who spent the first quarter of the encounter talking in fluent 4-chan, this was a startling bit of business, the first time in American political history that one candidate promised to throw the other candidate in jail. It should be the only thing anyone talks about until the next debate. No arrest. No indictment. No trial. No conviction. Just, "You'd be in jail." And he got enough of a cheer in the hall that Anderson Cooper screwed on his stern librarian face and told people to shut up. I'm telling you, for somewhere between 37 and 42 percent of your fellow Americans, the earth moved at that moment. [contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="Related%20Story" customtitles="America%20Has%20Been%20Waiting%20for%20Donald%20Trump" customimages="" content="article.49415"] In truth, while Trump took the debate into the sewer early, by talking at length about his Special Guest Stars and the perfidy of both Clintons, he didn't stay there long, which I guess counts as something of an improvement in his debating style. And he did seem to throw Clinton off-balance. Maybe it was the Undead of the Starr Report. Maybe it was Trump's alpha-male strutting around the stage, but Clinton had moments when she was uncertain and overly prolix. When Martha Raddatz brought up the recent WikiLeaks publication of what purport to be the speeches she gave to various Wall Street gombeens, Clinton got completely lost in the fog. Raddatz: I want to move on. This next question from the public through the bipartisan Open Debate, where Americans submitted questions that generated millions of votes. It was reported that excerpts of secretary Clinton's paid speeches, in which she has refused to release, and one line, in which you say you need both a public and private position on certain issues. So, Tu (ph), from Virginia asks, Is it okay for politicians to be two-faced? Is it acceptable for a politician to have a private stance? CLINTON: Right, as I recall, that was something I said about Abraham Lincoln, and after having seen the wonderful Steven Spielberg movie called Lincoln. It was a master class watching President Lincoln get the Congress to approve the 13th Amendment. It was principled and strategic. I was making the point that it is hard sometimes to get the Congress to do what you want to do. To keep working at it. And yes, President Lincoln was trying to convince some people to use some arguments. That was a great, I thought, a great display of presidential leadership. Photo credit: Getty I know what point she was making. In order to get big things done, sometimes, presidents have to be deft at moving the pea around under the shells. She used Lincoln's finessing the 13th Amendment through Congress, but a better example is Franklin Roosevelt and Lend Lease. Anyway, whatever its merits, Clinton simply couldn't bottle the answer. And then she went on to point out that the American intelligence community has said explicitly that "the Kremlin" is trying to monkeywrench the election, which is true, but which also is not a denial that she said what the documents say that she said, and then pivoted again, clumsily, to Trump's reluctance to release his tax returns. Gifted with a lovely opportunity, Trump fell on his face. He basically accused the American intelligence community of lying to benefit the Clinton campaign. TRUMP: I notice anytime anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians-she doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking. But they always blame Russia and the reason is because they think they're trying to tarnish me with Russia. I know about Russia but I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia. I have no businesses. I have no loans from Russia. He then got in a plug for his new hotel in Washington. At this point, the debate spun off into parallel universes. Trump beat his chest, waved his dick, and basically talked to the people he's been talking to for going on three years. He had a good moment punching away at Clinton on her e-mails, and then defused the whole thing by slipping into Whiny Twerp mode and bleating about how unfair the moderators were. He doubled back on his remarkably stupid argument that we should have launched a "sneak attack" on Mosul. TRUMP: The biggest problem I have with the stupidity of our foreign policy, we have Mosul. We have ... coming out of Washington and Iraq, we will be attacking mosul in three or four weeks. All of these bad leaders from ISIS are leaving Mosul. Why can't they do it quietly? Why can't they do the attack, make it a sneak attack and after the attack is made, inform the American public that we've knocked out the leaders, we've had a tremendous success. People leave. Why do they have to say we're going to be attacking mosul within the next four to six weeks which is what they're saying. How stupid is our country. Moderator Martha Raddatz, who's seen more combat than Trump has allegedly groped starlets, at this point appeared to be looking around for a RPG launcher to end this whole exercise. [contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="Related%20Story" customtitles="Bob%20Schieffer%20Sums%20Up%20the%20'Disgraceful'%20Debate" customimages="" content="article.49437"] And, on the subject of healthcare, this is what he said. I quote it in full in the hope that somebody, somewhere, can figure out what in the name of Hippocrates the man is talking about, because I took a wrong turn somewhere in the second sentence and had to sleep under a tree for the rest of the night. TRUMP: I'll tell you. You're going to have plans that are so good because we're going to have some competition. Once we break out the lines and allow the competition to come. COOPER: Are you going to have a mandate that Americans have to have health insurance? TRUMP: President Obama by keeping those-and it was almost gone until just right toward the end of the passage of Obamacare, which was a fraud. You know that, because Jonathan Gruber, the architect of Obamacare, said it was a great lie. It was big lie. President Obama said you keep your plan, the whole thing was a fraud and it doesn't work. When we get rid of those lines, you have competition and we'll be able to keep preexisting and help people that can't get, don't have money because we are going to have people protected. And Republicans feel this way. Believe it or not and strongly this way. We're going to block grant. Into the states. Block grant into medicaid. So we will be able to take care of people without the necessary funds to take care of themselves. The one identifiable idea in that mess-block-granting Medicaid to the states-is appallingly bad. (Sure, let's give Pat McCrory in North Carolina some Medicaid money to fund his stupid lawsuits defending his stupid laws, or to Scott Walker in Wisconsin, to dole it out to the penny-ante cronies with whom he surrounds himself.) As for the rest of it, I'm not sure, but I don't think Donald Trump believes that states have actual borders. As for HRC, she was herself. She was dogged, determined, and talking to whomever out there was looking for a president and not for a carnival act. She spoke long and earnestly about the situation in Syria. (Pro Tip: Nobody in or out of American government knows fck-all how to deal with that ongoing humanitarian disaster.) She had a fine, extended colloquy linking Trump's ghastly remarks on Access Hollywood to the rest of his long record of inflammatory blather. CLINTON: And he has said that the video doesn't represent who he is. But I think it's clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly what he is. Because we've seen this throughout the campaign. We have seen him insult women. We've seen him rate women. On their appearance. Ranking them from one to 10. We've seen him embarrass women on TV and on Twitter. We saw him after the first debate spend nearly a week denigrating a former Miss Universe in the harshest, most personal terms, so, yes, this is who Donald Trump is. But it's not only women and it's not only this video that raises questions about his fitness to be our president. She'll never be quick. You will always come up with snappier comebacks from your sofa than she will on the stage. But she presses, presses, presses, and, given her opponent in this great sucking mire of an election, that is the perfect approach to take. If the best that can be said for your opponent is that, on this night, he was insane, but manageable, then dogged and determined, and simply knowing what you're talking about, goes a long, long way. [contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="Related%20Story" customtitles="This%20Trump%20Lie%20from%20Sunday's%20Debate%20Is%20Stunning" customimages="" content="article.49431"] Of course, after the debate, the Trump campaign trotted out its surrogates and the whole thing went to the zoo all over again. The four Clinton Accusers made the rounds of the Spin Room. (Dear Commission on Presidential Debates: Why?) Kellyanne Conway went on with Chris Matthews and tried to spin the Access Hollywood taping by explaining that the halls of Congress are not dissimilar to that scene in Roman Polanski's Repulsion where all the hands come out of the wall to grab Catherine Deneuve. "When I was younger and prettier, them rubbing up against girls, sticking their tongues down young women's throats And some of them, by the way," she added, "are on the list of people who won't support Donald Trump 'cause they all ride around on a high horse." Holy hell. It's like a stickier version of Joe McCarthy. "Senator, are you now or have you ever been a throat-diver?" And, speaking of a stickier brand of McCarthyism, Rudy Giuliani dropped by MSNBC to lend his unique brand of insight to close out the evening. "THERE WAS SEMEN ON HER DRESS!" Jesus Christ, get the net. Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page. You Might Also Like Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Monday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (Photo: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images) Down Ticket is Yahoo News complete guide to the most fascinating House, Senate and governors races of 2016. Coming to you every Tuesday and Thursday until Nov. 8. What you need to know today. _____ Down-ballot Republicans are finally dumping Donald Trump. The question now is whether divorcing the Donald will help them win in November or doom them at the ballot box. In an election as crazy and unpredictable as this one, either outcome is possible. The exodus began in earnest last weekend after a leaked Access Hollywood video showed Trump bragging that he can grab women by the p**** simply because hes a star. At least 15 leading GOP figures including Arizona Sen. John McCain, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, and Nevada Senate candidate Joe Heck, all of whom will be on the ballot this fall either withdrew their earlier endorsements or said they could no longer in good conscience vote for the Republican nominee; another 40 or so went further, calling for Trump to step aside and let someone else take his place atop the ticket. Sen. Kelly Ayotte at the Seacoast Republican Women Chilifest in Stratham, N.H., last month. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images) I thought about years from now when my daughter, Kate, is old enough to know what is in those tapes and understand what he is talking about, embattled New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte told reporters. (Ayotte previously tried to have it both ways on Trump by saying she would vote for him but not endorse him, and its worth noting that none of his previous remarks about Muslims, Mexicans or other groups provoked such a definitive rebuke perhaps because, unlike women, Muslims, Mexicans and other groups make up far less than 51 percent of the New Hampshire electorate). I want her to know where I stood. I want my daughter to know that that is more important to me than winning any election. Ayotte went on to say that she would write in the name of Trumps running mate, Mike Pence, on Election Day. Some conservatives were hopeful that Trumps brash, base-pleasing performance in the second presidential debate on Sunday a performance marked by conspiratorial accusations, physical intimidation and authoritarian impulses would stanch the bleeding. Story continues But then House Speaker Paul Ryan easily the partys most influential voice spoke up. Fresh off disinviting Trump from a Saturday rally in his small-town Wisconsin district, Ryan, who has repeatedly tussled with Trump despite technically supporting his candidacy, spent Monday morning on an hourlong conference call with his fellow House Republicans. His message? That he would never again campaign for Mr. Trump and would dedicate himself instead to defending the partys majority in Congress, according to the New York Times. Effectively conceding defeat for his party in the presidential race, the Times continued, Mr. Ryan said his most urgent task was ensuring that Hillary Clinton did not take the helm with Democratic control of the House and Senate. A Trump supporter holds up a sign and heckles House Speaker Paul Ryan at the annual Fall Fest in Elkhorn, Wis., on Saturday. (Photo: Anthony Wahl/The Janesville Gazette via AP) To be sure, Monday wasnt all terrible news for Trump. After dodging phone calls, halting the partys pro-Trump mailings, and reportedly telling staffers to do whats best for them, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus reemerged on a closed conference call Monday evening to make it very clear that the RNC is in full coordination with the Trump campaign and we have a great relationship with them. Nothing has changed with regard to our relationship, Priebus added. Even so, Ryans repudiation will likely carry more weight with down-ballot Republicans than Priebus recommitment. Every candidate wants to win even if it means disavowing the partys presidential nominee. Ryan just gave the rest of the Republican roster permission to do just that. As a result, the remainder of the down-ballot campaign will probably devolve into an every-man-for-himself free-for-all, with individual Republicans weighing the conditions in their own states or districts when deciding how best to handle Trump. Will it work? Can the party preserve its majorities in the House and Senate with a patchwork approach to its own standard-bearer? Or will Democrats capitalize on Trumps downfall to take back control of Congress? Its hard to say. America has never seen anything quite like this before. The closest we came was in 1996, when the GOP was stuck with a presidential nominee, Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, who clearly wasnt going to be the next president. In July of that year, according to a Gallup Poll, Dole trailed incumbent Commander in Chief Bill Clinton 39 percent to 57 percent a hopeless 18-point deficit. Exactly one month later, nothing had changed. By the beginning of October, Clintons lead had ballooned to 22 points. On Nov. 5, Clinton wound up clobbering Dole by 220 electoral votes. That year, however, the Republican Party made a fateful decision in the final weeks before Election Day: They ditched Dole and focused on rescuing down-ballot Republicans instead. Bob Dole, left, and Jack Kemp at the Republican National Convention in San Diego on Aug.15, 1996. (Photo: Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) On Oct. 23, 1996, the New York Times reported that Republican operatives were now instructing their partys Congressional candidates to cut loose from Bob Dole and press voters to maintain a Republican majority in order to deny a re-elected President Clinton a blank check; the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) went on to launch a $4 million ad blitz designed to deliver the same message to 50 hard-fought congressional districts. The liberal special interests aligned with Clinton desperately want to buy back control of Congress, the NRCC ad claimed. If we give the special interests a blank check in Congress, whos going to represent us? The strategy wound up working: Republicans retained control of the House and actually picked up two seats in the Senate that November. Ryan & Co. are clearly hoping the same thing will happen again this year. But they shouldnt count on it. There are a few big differences between 1996 and 2016 that could make it tougher for the GOP to save Congress by shunning its nominee. For one thing, split-ticket voting used be fairly common; today, its exceedingly rare. Hillary voters will be harder to peel off than Bill voters. Theres also the nominee to consider. In mid-October 1996, 53 percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of Dole; only 37 percent saw him unfavorably. He wasnt tarnishing the GOP brand. Trump is. In fact, his current ratings are almost the exact opposite of Doles: 36.4 percent favorable versus 59.1 percent unfavorable. Those are the worst numbers in the history of presidential-election polling and the GOPs stats are even worse. Finally, Dole, while disappointed, accepted his partys decision. He didnt attack the House speaker as weak and ineffective. He didnt threaten to jail his opponent if elected. He didnt revive decades-old scandals or recite fever-swamp conspiracy theories. He didnt promise to punch back even harder. Most importantly, he didnt rail against the GOP establishment and rally the far right to his side, alienating crucial swing voters in the process. Trump supporters cheer during a rally on Monday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) Trump has. As a result, he has put down-ballot Republicans in an impossible position. To win toss-up House and Senate races, Republicans need to turn out right-wing Trumpers and pick off a few moderate, independent types. But now, thanks to Trump, they can no longer do both at the same time. So do they dump the Donald and move to the center, thereby risking the support of Trumps reinvigorated base? Or do they stick with an emboldened Trump and his ever-defiant fans and go down with what appears to be a sinking ship? On Monday, some GOP operatives argued for Option 1. Stop cowering in fear of a backlash from Trump supporters, they told Down Ticket. There isnt as much downside as you think. If Im running in a swing district or a blue or purple state, Id take the gamble on losing some hard-core Trump voters versus getting crushed with independents, said Liesl Hickey, who ran the House Republicans campaign arm two years ago and is now working as a consultant on a handful of races. Most Republican voters tolerate or even dislike Trump, Hickey explained. The reason theyre supporting him, she continued, is because they loathe Clinton. Which means that as long as Hillary is still on the ballot Nov. 8, they will still show up to vote. Mike Murphy, a veteran GOP consultant who ran the super-PAC supporting Jeb Bushs presidential candidacy, agreed. Break their hearts, he said of the Trump loyalists. Save the party. And most will still vote [Republican] in November, down-ballot. Yet the calculus for each candidate is different. In Pennsylvania, Sen. Pat Toomey, the Republican incumbent, has done a good job of shoring up his standing with swing voters in the highly populated Philadelphia suburbs, so he hasnt felt compelled to reject Trump altogether. (Toomey condemned Trumps comments from the 2005 video and says hes still waiting to be persuaded to support him.) Sen. Pat Toomey, who condemned Trumps comments from the 2005 video but hasnt rejected the GOP candidate altogether, campaigns in Villanova, Pa., on Tuesday. (Photo: Matt Rourke/AP) Meanwhile, in New Hampshire where Ayotte, Toomeys counterpart, has bailed on Trump the GOP candidate for governor, Chris Sununu, is sticking by his partys presidential nominee even as he describes Trumps remarks about women as repugnant, unacceptable and offensive. Both candidates have their reasons. Ayotte doesnt need to rally the base; her ground game is strong, and her support among conservatives is solid. Shes more worried about independents flocking to her Democratic opponent, Gov. Maggie Hassan, in the wake of the Access Hollywood scandal. Sununu, on the other hand, doesnt have a great field operation and isnt trusted on the right. He needs all the fired-up Trumpers he can get. Finally, in Nevada, Republican Joe Heck pulled an Ayotte on Saturday and revoked his Trump endorsement. I can no longer look past the pattern of behavior and comments that have been made by Donald Trump, the three-term congressman said in Las Vegas. Therefore, I cannot in good conscience continue to support Donald Trump. The decision makes sense mathematically. Twenty-seven percent of Nevada voters are Latino not Trumps best demographic group. The state twice voted for Barack Obama. And Heck has led in every poll since the start of September. The Republican likely figured that he could afford to anger a few Trump fans in order to avoid losing the center. But the repercussions have been real: right-wingers have been booing Heck at his rallies, and Democrats have been relentlessly hammering him as a political opportunist. Congressman Hecks reversal is nothing more than a pathetic, desperate attempt to salvage his career as a Washington politician, says Sarah Zukowski, a spokesperson for Hecks Democratic rival, Catherine Cortez Masto. Where the heck was Congressman Heck when Trump was calling women fat pigs, slobs and dogs, Mexicans rapists and criminals, and mocking a disabled reporter? Still standing by Trumps side. Well Congressman Heck, its too little, too late. Nevadans know this is not leadership, its just a Washington politician trying to save his career. From left, Mitt Romney, Rep. Cresent Hardy, Rep. Joe Heck, Sen. Dean Heller and Nevada Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, posing with campaign volunteers at a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday, all say they cant support Donald Trump. (Photo: Michelle Rindels/AP) In the end, however, it may not matter what individual Republicans do. As Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight has shown, the races for the Senate and the White House have been moving in lockstep. Seventy-six percent of the variation in the 2016 Senate polling averages can be explained by the presidential vote, Enten recently wrote, noting that the number in previous cycles was identical. Theres no sign at all that the strange presidential race is upsetting the recent trend of voters supporting the same candidate in both Senate and presidential races. What that means is that if Trump plummets in the national polls and Clinton surges down-ballot Republicans will likely suffer as well. Even before the Access Hollywood brouhaha, Democrats were well-positioned to take back the Senate. To do so, they need a net gain of four seats, assuming Clinton wins the presidency. The FiveThirtyEight model gives them a 54.8 percent chance of success; the New York Times Upshot model gives them a 50 percent chance; the Princeton Election Consortium model gives them a 63 percent chance. And again, thats only taking pre-tape polling into account. The House will be harder. To win control, Democrats need to pick up 30 seats; currently, the Cook Political Report rates only 14 Republican-held seats as toss-ups and only an additional 12 as Lean Republican. Thats 26, total; Democrats could sweep them all and still come up short. Political science has also shown that the more of a lock one partys presidential nominee becomes, the more voters tend to gravitate toward the other partys down-ballot candidates in the name of balance. Theoretically, Clintons coattails could boost House and Senate Democrats up to a certain point and then, if she seems certain to win, the balancing effect could come into play and counteract some of those gains. Still, a stretch isnt the same thing as an impossibility, as weve written before. Swings of 30 or more seats arent unprecedented even in this era of rampant polarization and partisan gerrymandering. A change of this size has happened in two out of the last five congressional elections: a 31-seat gain for Democrats in 2006 and a 63-seat gain by Republicans in 2010, notes neuroscientist Sam Wang of the Princeton Election Consortium. In the modern era of polarization, 1994-2014, a change of that size has happened in 3 out of 11 elections. Since 1946, it has happened in 10 out of 35 elections. The Freshman class of House members gathers in front of the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill in Washington in 2010. (Photo: Harry Hamburg/AP) So what would it take for Democrats to pull off a similar feat this time around? The answer is pretty simple: They will need a wave election, which is what happens when some overarching, nationwide dynamic tips down-ballot races in a particular direction. Like Trumps implosion, for instance. Size matters here. Pollsters like to ask voters whats known as the generic congressional ballot question: Which partys House candidate do you plan to vote for? The final results tend to come within 3 percentage points of Novembers actual nationwide congressional vote, so analysts have some sense of what this years tipping point the coast-to-coast margin that propels 30 or more of the partys House pick-up candidates to victory should be. The consensus? To gain 30 seats, Democrats will need to lead on the generic congressional ballot question by at least 7 percentage points and possibly by as much as 13, thanks to redistricting. So far, theres only been one national poll taken since the Access Hollywood tape came out. But its a doozy. According to NBC and the Wall Street Journal, Clinton is now trouncing Trump by 14 percentage points 52 percent to 38 percent in a head-to-head matchup, and by 11 percentage points 46 percent to 35 percent in a four-way contest with Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. And when likely voters were asked whether theyd prefer a Congress controlled by Democrats or a Congress controlled by Republicans, 49 percent said Democrats and only 42 percent said Republicans. Thats a 7-point gap right on the low end of tipping-point range. Last month, Democrats led by 3 points on the generic congressional ballot question; in June, Democrats and Republicans were tied. If the numbers keep moving in the right direction, Nancy Pelosi & Co. could have a chance of recapturing the House no matter how their Republican rivals react to Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan receives the gavel from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Capitol Hill in Washington last October. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) _____ The best of the rest GOP candidates running for seats currently held by Rs but most at risk of a D victory are evenly divided on Trump https://t.co/21Ds0fqKwm pic.twitter.com/9tWUteiMy6 NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) October 11, 2016 INSIDE TEAM RYAN He is still eyeing completely walking away from his endorsement of Trump before election day https://t.co/SZ3l0ATgdA Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 11, 2016 Hiding from the press and Trump, Rubio is still winning Senate race in new poll https://t.co/3PgG2jBDy7 Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) October 11, 2016 As some in GOP sever ties with Trump, McConnell ignores him https://t.co/jmDUr64hYL Adam Beam (@adambeam) October 10, 2016 To endorse or not to endorse the presidential nominee, that is a question N.C. candidates have grappled w/before https://t.co/rkv0P0DtLC pic.twitter.com/L9wT0o5yxn Wake Forest News (@WakeForestNews) October 11, 2016 _____ Countdown _____ (Cover tile photo: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images) From Road & Track "Mad" Mike Whiddett is a drifter from New Zealand known for driving an 812-horsepower, three-rotor Mazda RX-8. As he showed at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, he's perfectly at home on a tight course that leaves little room for error. But his latest drift video takes things to a completely different level. That different level meant Whiddett had to head down to Cape Town, South Africa to shoot on the Franschhoek Pass. The scenery there is breathtaking, but unlike at Goodwood, a mistake would have meant much more than a ruffled hay bale. We're not sure we could have kept our composure, but even at speeds as high as 154 mph, Whiddett nailed each corner. And the resulting video is nothing short of stunning. If you like what you see, be sure to check out Whiddett drifting a Miata around Highlands Motorsport Park in New Zealand, as well as the video of him drifting Crown Range in his RX-7. via Jalopnik You Might Also Like Mexico City (AFP) - Prosecutors questioned on Monday a lawyer for imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman after he relayed a message from his client's sons denying their involvement in the killing of troops. Refugio Rodriguez was asked to appear at the attorney general's office after he told news outlets, including AFP, that Jesus Alfredo and Ivan Guzman rejected allegations they were behind the September 30 ambush that killed five soldiers. After emerging from an hours-long meeting at the anti-organized crime unit, Refugio Rodriguez said he repeated to the authorities that the brothers denied a role in the "terrible" attack in Culiacan, capital of the northern state of Sinaloa. "I received a telephone call from one of their relatives who asked me that I tell the media that they had nothing to do with what happened," Refugio Rodriguez told reporters. The sons say "they have nothing to do with this" and they request "an impartial and effective investigation," the lawyer said. Dozens of gunmen attacked a military convoy with assault rifles and grenades on September 30 to free a suspect who had been wounded in a separate shootout hours earlier. A military commander, General Alfonso Duarte, said Guzman's sons, who have been accused by the US Treasury Department of working for their father's Sinaloa drug cartel, were "very probably" behind the attack. Duarte said Guzman's brother, Aureliano Guzman Loera, alias "El Guano," is battling for control of drug production against the Beltran Leyva drug cartel in the remote mountains of Sinaloa. Joaquin Guzman, the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was recaptured in January, six months after his brazen escape from a maximum-security prison through a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) tunnel. He faces a US extradition request. From Redbook When it comes to royal engagements, the Duchess of Cambridge is a pro. Yet her latest trip is an important milestone, as it's the first time she has made a visit abroad without her family by her side. The Duchess arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday for a day of royal duties in The Hague and Rotterdam. Kate, who was dressed in a pale blue suit by one of her favoured designers Catherine Walker, made her first stop at the Dutch royal family's residence Villa Eikenhorst, where she met King Willem-Alexander. It was a poignant meeting, as reports suggest Kate will serve as an impressive ambassador for Britain post-Brexit, particularly after Prime Minister Theresa May discussed the withdrawal process from the EU in the Netherlands on Monday. After lunch with the Dutch king, Kate's second public appearance was at The Hague's Mauritshuis museum, where she greeted by local school children before enjoying a private tour of works by the Dutch Masters. Surveying the Dutch masterpiece The Bull by Paulus Potter pic.twitter.com/YE54a31TLd - Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 11, 2016 According to her agenda shared by Kensington Palace, Kate will visit the British Ambassador's Residence later in the afternoon to take part in a discussion on addiction and mental health. The one-day trip will finish in Rotterdam, where Kate will visit a community workshop in an economically deprived district that provides facilities for teenagers. You Might Also Like KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A joint venture of HaskoningDHV UK and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co has been awarded a contract to design the infrastructure for the Ras Al Khair maritime yard in Saudi Arabia, a statement from the firms said on Tuesday. The duo, based in the Netherlands and South Korea, have been awarded the front-end engineering design contract, with the work expected to take five months to complete, they said. The value of the contract was not disclosed. The huge ship repair and shipbuilding complex in the east of the country, which is due to be fully operational by 2021, is part of the kingdom's sweeping economic reform plan aimed at reducing the dependence of the Saudi economy on oil revenues. Saudi Aramco (IPO-ARMO.SE), the state oil giant in charge of the project, has said it expects the complex to create 80,000 jobs and allow Saudi Arabia to reduce its imports by $12 billion while increasing gross domestic product by $17 billion. (Reporting by Reem Shamseddine; Writing by David French; Editing by Andrew Torchia) BERLIN (Reuters) - Low-cost airline easyJet (EZJ.L) will focus on strengthening its existing bases in Germany before considering expansion at other airports such as Frankfurt, the head of its German operations said on Tuesday. "We want to be the No. 1 and 2 in Berlin and Hamburg, respectively. That is the priority, not our market share in Germany," Thomas Haagensen told Reuters in an interview. EasyJet, the biggest airline at Berlin's Schoenefeld airport and the third biggest at Hamburg, currently has a market share of around 3 percent of air traffic in Germany, while rival Ryanair (RYA.I) aims for 10 percent by the end of the current fiscal year. Haagensen said easyJet did not have a target market share for Germany, saying it only made sense to add share if it was profitable. Asked about whether easyJet could fly from Frankfurt, he also said fees there were still quite high for easyJet compared with other German airports. HSBC analysts said this week that easyJet needed to establish a meaningful presence in Germany to remain a leading pan-European airline and suggested the carrier could do a deal with TUI's (TUIT.L) TUIfly to buy German market share and compete with Ryanair. The chief executive of Fraport (FRAG.DE), the operator of Frankfurt airport, told Reuters last week he was in talks to bring more budget flights to the hub but would not be drawn on which airlines could add routes through Frankfurt. (Reporting by Klaus Lauer; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Christoph Steitz and Jane Merriman) Cairo (AFP) - When Egypt's parliament passed a hard-fought civil service law last week, it was seen as a rare outbreak of resistance to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The final, amended draft made it harder to fire members of the country's bloated bureaucracy, which Sisi has suggested should be trimmed down. But such defiance has been an exception to what critics call the rubber-stamp role parliament has assumed since its election in 2015. "The parliament spent most of its time approving legislation by the government in the form that the government wants," said Ahmed al-Tantawi, a member of the "25-30" grouping of lawmakers that has opposed several bills. Its election, following a referendum on the constitution and a presidential vote, was hailed by Sisi as the third milestone in a democratic roadmap after the military, led by Sisi himself, toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The 2014 constitution granted parliament extensive powers, including impeaching the president and a confidence vote on the prime minister. It was an uneasy arrangement for Sisi, who has tolerated little dissent, saying the country needs to get back on its feet after years of unrest pummelled the economy. As it turned out, he has been able to count on parliament's support. When a lawmaker inquired in late July about whether pensions were still going to retired military officers who assumed senior positions in industry and state institutions, parliament speaker Ali Abdel Aal shouted him down. "This talk is over," Abdel Aal yelled at the parliamentarian, Mohamed Anwar Sadat, saying such mention of the military was inappropriate. From the start, experts had warned the parliament's structure would produce a weak and divided legislature. The vast majority of elected members of the 596-seat parliament were independent candidates, with only 20 percent from coalition lists. The legislature is dominated by a coalition of pro-government individuals and parties while the main opposition, Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, has been banned. Story continues With Egypt running without a legislature since June 2012, parliament, elected in October last year, had to review more than 300 laws issued by Sisi and Adly Mansour, the interim president after Morsi. Many parliamentarians "believe that if you oppose the regime, then you oppose the state," said Amr Hashem Rabie, a political researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. -'Agree on everything'- The only coalition in the parliament, of which Abdel Aal is a member, is the pro-government "Support Egypt" bloc. "The government got everything it wanted from the parliament," Mohamed Zakareya Mohyeldin, an independent lawmaker, told AFP. "The majority of Support Egypt agree on everything." When it came to discussing the annual budget, "the parliament was more than just a rubber stamp... It also offered excuses," says Salma Hussein, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. EIPR says the budget ending July 2017 did not meet constitutional spending requirements on education, health, and scientific research, totalling 10 percent of gross national product. Spending on these areas was estimated to be 97.4 billion pounds ($11 billion) less than required by the constitution, EIPR said in July. The Planning and Budget committee had said the requirements were met when they included in their calculations the servicing of loans previously spent on those sectors. The budget "was an opportunity because the constitution obligates you with it, so you should have held on to the constitution and told the government to abide by it. So it's a lost opportunity." Abdel Aal has warned members who criticise monetary policy, or who participate in workshops by foreign agencies that he said may be working against Egypt. Sadat says he resigned from heading the human rights committee after several relevant laws bypassed the committee. They included a law that bans all but police-sanctioned protests, a law that critics say constricts the work of civil society groups, and a law that organises church-building. But MP Mohamed Hasan Madina defended the house's performance, saying it gets the job done. "The parliament has achieved in the first session what previous parliaments could in five years," he said. "It passed some important and pressing laws." In a flowing scarlet dress, Rafeea al-Hajsi fulfilled a dream by becoming the first Emirati model to strut the Arab Fashion Week catwalk after years battling social constraints. "It's amazing to be on the catwalk... a lovely feeling," she said. "I enjoy it with all my heart." As she prepared to model two dresses by Lebanese designer Aiisha Ramadan on Sunday, the model said excitement, fear and happiness all come together when she faces the audience. "When I see the lights on my face, life lights up with the feeling that international fame is ahead," she said. A curvy brunette with long hair, a square jaw and light brown eyes, her passion for being on camera was obvious, even backstage. Surrounded by make-up artists and overwhelmingly Western models, she posed for the cameras in a black mini-dress, casting sultry looks. Her phone never left her hand as she took selfies, uploaded clips, and streamed live video. "Even if I keep working 24 hours, I have no problem at all with modelling," she said. She said she faced many obstacles in a conservative Muslim society where most local women cover themselves from head to toe in black abaya robes. "I consider myself a very courageous girl to be in this field," she said. "It was very difficult for me to become a model, especially as an Emirati." Hajsi started off modelling traditional local costumes. She declined to give her age, but said she had to wait years for society to "open up a little". "It took around eight years for you to see me standing here in front of you," she said. After five years of modelling local clothes, she started presenting radio and television shows, which opened up opportunities to move ahead in the world of fashion. - 'Sacrifice' - Hajsi's first appearance at a fashion show was earlier this year in France, when she modelled for Lebanese designer Ziad Nakad at Paris Fashion Week. Story continues She appeared at Thursday's opening of the third Arab Fashion Week, which takes place twice yearly. On Sunday she took to the catwalk to model a long red one-sleeved dress and another off-shoulder black gown -- both from Aiisha Ramadan's Spring-Summer 2017 collection. The designer, also Lebanese, said her varied and colourful dresses were inspired by trips to amusement parks with her two-year-old daughter. She said Hajsi's fuller figure made her stand out from super-thin fashion models, meaning women could relate to her. Hajsi "has a waist," she said. "To me, this is my client. Rafeea represents the beautiful Arab girl." "We made her wear something very simple to show that the Arab girl knows how to dress in something simple and how it suits her." She agreed that Arab models often face barriers keeping them out of the fashion world. "For the model to become international, she needs to reveal a lot of her body and this can be unacceptable in (Arab) culture," the designer said. Hajsi admitted that she keeps society in mind when considering modelling offers, saying she has turned many down because of the revealing designs. "There are limits that I always consider," she said. "It's painful. Sometimes there is a dress I really like and which the designer wants me to wear, but I can't because the design is not suitable for our society." "I sacrifice international fashion shows that are great opportunities for me, just to be considerate towards our society and my family," she said. But she added that Arab Fashion Week showed Emirati society was becoming more open towards fashion. "I fought many things in my life as a model," she said. "As you can see, I've reached a level where I am satisfied." She flashed a big smile and headed off to pose for a nearby photographer. photo credit: Nina Linton, WDE photo credit: Nina Linton, WDE With the addition of three more divisions this year, the youth fitting contest grew in 2016. This contest is the first competition of the week, being held on Sunday morning on the Expo grounds. The top winners came from three different states. The newly installed Intermediate Division is for participants ages 13 to 16 years old. The Senior Division now includes ages 17 to 21. Two new divisions were also created specifically for female competitors. The general layout of the competition dictates that participants bring an animal to the contest area (sale pavilion) where they clip and prepare the animal for evaluation. Joan Seidel, Avon, N.Y., served as the fitting judge. The animal did not have to be owned by the exhibitor, but must have been an animal entered in the show or a consignment in one of the breed sales held at World Dairy Expo. A pair of Wisconsin natives dominated the Intermediate Male and Female divisions with Grant Fremstad and Melissa Sprecher taking home the two titles respectively. In the senior division, it was talent from the East Coast that brought home the grand prize clippers in the Senior Female Division. Pennsylvanias Elizabeth Acel received that honor. In the Senior Male division, Iowas Levi Banowetz edged out the competition to win. Awareness of this contest is building as well as enthusiasm and momentum. Full results of the contest are below: Intermediate Female: photo credit: WDE Melissa Sprecher, Sauk City, Wis. 2. Hannah Nelson, Ellsworth, Wis. Intermediate Male: photo credit: WDE 1. Grant Fremstad, Westby, Wis. 2. Kurtis Frischknecht, Teeswater, Ont. 3. Tucker True, Perry, N.Y. 4. Benjamin Kronberg, Milton, Wis. 5. Alek Krueger, Hazel Green, Wis. By Tulay Karadeniz and Tuvan Gumrukcu ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan warned Iraq's prime minister he should "know his limits" after he criticized Turkey's military presence there and said the Turkish army, shaken by a failed coup bid, had not lost so much standing as to take orders from him. NATO member Turkey shares a 1,200 km (750-mile) border with Syria and Iraq and faces threats from Islamic State militants in both. But it is concerned that international efforts to destroy radical Islamists will leave new dangers in their wake. The Turkish army, its senior ranks purged following a failed military attempt to overthrow Erdogan in July, launched an incursion into Syria in August to push back Islamic State and prevent U.S.-backed Kurdish militia fighters from seizing territory. Ankara is wary of Washington's support for what it sees as a hostile Syrian Kurdish force. Erdogan suggested Turkey could take a similar attitude in Iraq, where expectations are growing of an assault to drive Islamic State out of the northern city of Mosul. "We will approach the operation in Iraq, the operation that will be in Mosul soon, with the same attitude," Erdogan told a meeting of Islamic leaders in Istanbul in televised comments. "Turkey cannot intervene against the threats right next to it? We will never accept this ... We dont need permission for this, and we dont plan on getting it." The main point of contention is the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq, mainly at the Bashiqa camp in the north of the country, training Sunni Muslim and Kurdish Peshmerga units which Turkey wants to take part in the battle for Mosul. However, the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad is keen that its forces be in the forefront of the offensive on the city, the largest under Islamic State control. The United States said on Tuesday any foreign forces in Iraq should be there with the approval of the Baghdad government and under the umbrella of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants. "The Turkish forces that are deployed in Iraq are not there as part of the international coalition and the situation in Bashiqa is a matter for the governments of Iraq and Turkey to resolve," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told a daily press briefing. 'SECTARIAN WAR' Turkey's parliament voted two weeks ago to extend the deployment of an estimated 2,000 troops across northern Iraq by a year to combat "terrorist organizations" - a wording broad enough to refer to Kurdish militants as well as Islamic State. Iraq condemned the vote, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned Turkey risked triggering a regional war. His government has requested an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the issue, and both countries have summoned each other's ambassadors in a mounting diplomatic stand-off. "The Iraqi prime minister is insulting me, first know your limits," Erdogan said. "Iraq had certain requests from us regarding Bashiqa, and now they are telling us to leave. But the Turkish army has not lost so much standing as to take orders from you." Turkey argues that involving Shi'ite militias in a drive to expel Islamic State from Mosul will not bring peace. "If you try to change the demographic structure in Mosul, you will ignite the fire for a major sectarian war," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told members of his ruling AK Party at a meeting in parliament. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey could play the same role in the Mosul offensive or any campaign to take Raqqa, Islamic State's stronghold in Syria, as it did with its August incursion into the Syria, when it sent in tanks and fighter jets in support of Syrian rebels fighting the Islamist radicals. "Turkey can give the support it gave Jarablus to Raqqa or Mosul as well," Cavusoglu said in an interview on Turkey's A-Haber television. "Turkey is ready for any kind of support to cleanse Syria and Iraq of Daesh," he said, using an Arabic term for Islamic State. (Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay in Ankara and Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul, and Eric Beech in Washington; Writing by Nick Tattersall; editing by Ralph Boulton, Grant McCool) By Gabriela Baczynska and John Irish BRUSSELS/ PARIS (Reuters) - Outraged by Russia's intensified air strikes on rebels in Syria, the European Union is now less likely to ease sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine, diplomats say, and some in the bloc are raising the prospect of more punitive steps against the Kremlin. While the EU says conflicts in Syria and Ukraine need to be kept separate, the latest military offensive by Damascus and its ally Moscow on rebel-held eastern Aleppo further clouds the strained ties between Moscow and the bloc. That weakens the hand of Italy, Hungary and others who have steadily increased pressure for easing sanctions, returning to doing business and re-engaging with Moscow after first hitting it with punitive measures for annexing Crimea in March 2014. "It's clear that the assault on Aleppo has changed the mindset of some. It will be impossible to back an easing of sanctions on Ukraine in the current context," said one EU foreign minister. A French diplomatic source echoed the view, saying: "The prospect of the Russian sanctions over Ukraine being lifted are practically nil after Aleppo." France says the Aleppo attacks amount to war crimes and wants Syria and Russia investigated. EU and NATO officials on Monday said the Ukraine sanctions on Russia should be kept in place. "There is just no appetite for an easing of sanctions now. Ukraine is one thing, but what is going on in Syria creates no atmosphere for any overall improvement in ties with Russia," said one diplomat in Brussels. EU leaders will discuss their ties with Moscow on Oct. 20-21 in Brussels. The bloc's main economic sanctions against Russia over Ukraine are now in place until the end of January. The sanctions include restrictions on Russia's access to international financing, curbs on defense and energy cooperation with Moscow, a blacklist of people and entities and limitations on doing business with the Russian-annexed Crimea. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has long called for a substantial debate, saying that the crisis in Ukraine, where Russia backs rebels in the country's east, must not rule out more economic cooperation. Italy is backed by Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia and Hungary in calling for doing more business with Russia, the EU's main gas supplier, not least to help economic growth. "Things are going from bad to worse. No one will dare to ask for an easing. At this stage, the doves will be happy if things stay where they are," said another diplomat in Brussels. Russia says it will never return Crimea to Ukraine. Efforts led by Germany and France to implement a broader peace deal in east Ukraine have stalled for many months. Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet some leaders of the EU and Ukraine on Oct. 19 for more talks. Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko is expected in Brussels at the time of the 28 EU leaders' summit and the bloc will then hold a high-level meeting with Kiev on Nov.24. NEW SANCTIONS SEEN A LONG SHOT Diplomats said France was leading discussions on whether to impose new sanctions on Russia specifically over Syria, where Moscow backs President Bashar al-Assad in the five-year-old war. Russia last week vetoed a French-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate end to air strikes and military flights over Aleppo. "The option cannot be ruled out even if it could take time," said a second French diplomat. "Its a heavy price and there is no point pushing it if other Europeans arent backing it." On Monday, EU foreign ministers will discuss the bloc's reaction to the devastating bombings of Aleppo. Britain, whose influence has waned in light of its decision to leave the European Union, said on Tuesday it wanted further sanctions on Moscow and Syria. "We have to step up the pressure on Assad's regime through sanctions and on the Russians through sanctions," Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told lawmakers. Some countries were reluctant to impose sanctions on Russia because of their dependency Russian gas, he added. Germany is seen as opposing new sanctions on Moscow and diplomats in Brussels cast doubt on chances for any swift move on that, saying there was no critical mass among EU states. (Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Elizabeth Piper in London, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska and John Irish, Editing by Angus MacSwan) By Gabriela Baczynska and John Irish BRUSSELS/ PARIS (Reuters) - Outraged by Russia's intensified air strikes on rebels in Syria, the European Union is now less likely to ease sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine, diplomats say, and some in the bloc are raising the prospect of more punitive steps against the Kremlin. While the EU says conflicts in Syria and Ukraine need to be kept separate, the latest military offensive by Damascus and its ally Moscow on rebel-held eastern Aleppo further clouds the strained ties between Moscow and the bloc. That weakens the hand of Italy, Hungary and others who have steadily increased pressure for easing sanctions, returning to doing business and re-engaging with Moscow after first hitting it with punitive measures for annexing Crimea in March 2014. "It's clear that the assault on Aleppo has changed the mindset of some. It will be impossible to back an easing of sanctions on Ukraine in the current context," said one EU foreign minister. A French diplomatic source echoed the view, saying: "The prospect of the Russian sanctions over Ukraine being lifted are practically nil after Aleppo." France says the Aleppo attacks amount to war crimes and wants Syria and Russia investigated. EU and NATO officials on Monday said the Ukraine sanctions on Russia should be kept in place. "There is just no appetite for an easing of sanctions now. Ukraine is one thing, but what is going on in Syria creates no atmosphere for any overall improvement in ties with Russia," said one diplomat in Brussels. EU leaders will discuss their ties with Moscow on Oct. 20-21 in Brussels. The bloc's main economic sanctions against Russia over Ukraine are now in place until the end of January. The sanctions include restrictions on Russia's access to international financing, curbs on defence and energy cooperation with Moscow, a blacklist of people and entities and limitations on doing business with the Russian-annexed Crimea. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has long called for a substantial debate, saying that the crisis in Ukraine, where Russia backs rebels in the country's east, must not rule out more economic cooperation. Italy is backed by Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia and Hungary in calling for doing more business with Russia, the EU's main gas supplier, not least to help economic growth. "Things are going from bad to worse. No one will dare to ask for an easing. At this stage, the doves will be happy if things stay where they are," said another diplomat in Brussels. Russia says it will never return Crimea to Ukraine. Efforts led by Germany and France to implement a broader peace deal in east Ukraine have stalled for many months. Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet some leaders of the EU and Ukraine on Oct. 19 for more talks. Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko is expected in Brussels at the time of the 28 EU leaders' summit and the bloc will then hold a high-level meeting with Kiev on Nov.24. NEW SANCTIONS SEEN A LONG SHOT Diplomats said France was leading discussions on whether to impose new sanctions on Russia specifically over Syria, where Moscow backs President Bashar al-Assad in the five-year-old war. Russia last week vetoed a French-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate end to air strikes and military flights over Aleppo. "The option cannot be ruled out even if it could take time," said a second French diplomat. "Its a heavy price and there is no point pushing it if other Europeans arent backing it." On Monday, EU foreign ministers will discuss the bloc's reaction to the devastating bombings of Aleppo. Britain, whose influence has waned in light of its decision to leave the European Union, said on Tuesday it wanted further sanctions on Moscow and Syria. "We have to step up the pressure on Assad's regime through sanctions and on the Russians through sanctions," Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told lawmakers. Some countries were reluctant to impose sanctions on Russia because of their dependency Russian gas, he added. Germany is seen as opposing new sanctions on Moscow and diplomats in Brussels cast doubt on chances for any swift move on that, saying there was no critical mass among EU states. (Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Elizabeth Piper in London, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska and John Irish, Editing by Angus MacSwan) Nairobi (AFP) - Hundreds of Ethiopian troops pulled out of a town in central Somalia Tuesday, at least the second location vacated by their forces in recent weeks, a Somali security official said. Security official Abdirisak Moalim Ahmed said Ethiopian soldiers present in El-Ali, Hiran region, as part of an African Union mission withdrew on Tuesday morning after artillery fire targeted their base overnight. Nearby Shabaab militants then reoccupied the town, which lies about 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the provincial capital Beledweyne. "The Ethiopian troops pulled out of El-Ali town early this morning," said Ahmed, adding the reason for the withdrawal was unclear. "They have headed for Beledweyne and the town is already taken by Shabaab militants," he said. The troop movement comes just days after Ethiopia's embattled government declared a state of emergency in a bid to bring an unprecedented wave of protests under control. El-Ali is at least the second town Ethiopian troops have vacated in recent weeks, after abandoning nearby Moqokori. No explanation has been given by the Ethiopian military while the spokesman for the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) did not respond to requests for comment. "They continue creating vacuums and giving chances to the militants retake liberated towns," said Ahmed. The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab militants announced the takeover of El-Ali in a message distributed via the group's Telegram account. A resident said some townsfolk as well as Somali security forces had also abandoned the town. "Most of the traders have fled the town after the Ethiopian troops pulled out this morning, we can see many people including the Somali security forces who have reached Beledweyne," said Osman Adan. ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said on Tuesday that police had not used violent tactics against protesters and the government would investigate such incidents, speaking during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Ethiopia has been hit by a wave of protests over land and political rights for more than a year, in which rights groups and the opposition say police have used excessive force. The government denies this and say the death toll is exaggerated. Merkel told the prime minister that protests should be allowed and any police response should be proportionate. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Edmund Blair) The 2016 World Classic sale featured some of the most sought-after genetics in the Holstein breed. Although the Holstein show ran late, and the sale began later than anticipated, the excitement in crowd was palpable. Tom Morris Ltd. managed the sale that had buyers from 13 states, two Canadian provinces, and 3 countries. The 44 lots averaged $31,002. The high seller was OCD Supersire 9882-ET at $270,000. She is a VG Supersire with a GTPI of +2701 and is backed by 10 generation of Very Good and Excellent dams. As lot 10, she was a proven donor dam and sold in absentia to Triple Crown Genetics, Idaho; Genosource, Iowa; and Jerry Jorgensen, Michigan. The consignor was Matt Steiner of Pine-Tree Dairy in Ohio. A Bacon-Hill Pety Modesty, born last June, was the second high seller at $74,000. Kings-Ransom Farm of New York was the consignor and Select Sires purchased the heifer with a+2794 GTPI. From North Florida Holsteins, a Bacon-Hill Montross daughter with a GTPI +2715 was the third high seller at $62,000. Triple Crown Genetics added this one-year-old heifer to their breeding program in Idaho. Other Breed Sales: Top of the World Jersey Sale: Total Sales: $88,750 Lots: 28 Sale Average: $3,169.64 Highest Lot: $12,500 World Ayrshire Event Sale: Total Gross Sales: $76,150 Lots: 20 Sale Average: $3,807 Highest Lot: $6,000 World Premier Brown Swiss Sale: Total Sales: $120,200 Lots: 29 Sale Average: $4,145 Highest Lot: $8,000 World Premier Milking Shorthorn Sale: Total Sales: $29,300 Lots: 8 Sale Average: $3,663 Highest Lot: $8,100 International Guernsey Classic Sale: Total Sales: $69,113 Lots: 40 Sale Average: $1,728 Highest Lot: $6,100 Patti Hurtgen The author is the online media manager and is responsible for the website, webinars, and social media. A graduate of Modesto Junior College and Fresno State, she was raised on a California dairy and frequently blogs on youth programs and consumer issues. By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A European Union decision on whether to include international flights in its scheme to curb airline pollution will not come until next year at the earliest after the bloc's executive has assessed a global deal which was finally approved last week. International flights have been exempted from the EU's emissions trading system (ETS) since 2013 in an effort to avoid a trade war and give the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) time to craft its agreement. Europe wants a tougher regime than that agreed by ICAO members, and has reserved the right to impose its own rules rather than adopting the ICAO measures which curb pollution from flights at 2020 levels. "The Commission will early next year present a review to the European Parliament and the (European) Council on the outcome we reached at ICAO before deciding on the next steps," Henrik Hololei, director general of the European Commission's transport department, told a parliamentary committee. While the EU exemption automatically runs out at the end of the year, airlines will only have to surrender carbon emissions allowances in the first quarter of 2018, meaning the EU has until then to reach a final decision. Hololei did not say whether the ICAO deal justified extending the exemption. Any Commission proposal has to be agreed by the European Parliament and member states in the European Council. "The Commission will thoroughly assess the (ICAO) resolution and consider what action to take with respect to the EU ETS," he told EU lawmakers in the transport committee. "Of course I would have wanted it to be more ambitious." After the deal was announced Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and chief executive of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that it "ensures that the aviation industrys economic and social contributions are matched with cutting-edge efforts on sustainability." But EU lawmakers have been critical of the deal, saying it does not go far enough to reduce emissions from flights, but have left open whether they could apply the EU scheme to foreign carriers. "The EU should be welcoming of this deal, but cautious of completely doing away with its own safeguards contained in the EU ETS," Seb Dance, a lawmaker from the center-left group, the second-biggest in the Brussels legislature, told Reuters in an email after the ICAO deal. "The spirit we should go forward with is certainly one of collaboration but the EU member states should retain the right to move faster on tackling climate change when desired." Law firm Reed Smith said it was more likely the EU would extend the exemption post 2016 given the commitment of major aviation states to take part in the ICAO offsetting scheme in its first voluntary phase from 2021. "EU member states were among the 44 European states who supported the CORSICA (Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation)," a spokesman for IATA said in an email, referring to the global deal agreed last week. "The aviation industry feels that the CORSIA is the best single global option for covering aviations emissions from 2020," he said. (Additional reporting by Susanna Twidale in London; Editing by Alexander Smith and Jane Merriman) The Hague (AFP) - Europe's new security commissioner Julian King on Tuesday praised EU members for their work in beefing up security, as he pledged more backing from Brussels to fight the growing terror threat. EU member states have done "a lot of work in this area. But that doesn't mean that there isn't a real job to be done at the EU level," King told a press conference in The Hague. "There is work to be done to close down the space in which terrorists can be active," the continent's security czar said, including through introducing new legislation and tackling radicalisation. King, a former British ambassador to France, was confirmed last month as the new European Union security commissioner, tasked with improving information and intelligence sharing in the face of deadly terror attacks. And he will likely be Britain's last top official to the EU, after Jonathan Hill stepped down from the important financial services post following Britain's shock June vote to quit the bloc. It was King's second visit to the European security organisations based in The Hague, after an earlier visit in September to the European police agency Europol. His appointment comes as European governments grapple with how to tackle terror threats after a series of attacks in cities such as Paris and Brussels. Last week, King hailed the Belgian city of Mechelen during a visit as a model for tackling radicalisation as he backed similar "grass-roots" activities elsewhere. Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Ambridge, Pa. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) As conservative religious voters grapple with how to respond to an audio recording of Donald Trump lewdly boasting about groping women, Christianity Today, the flagship magazine of American evangelicalism, released on Monday a blistering critique of the GOP presidential nominee. The editorial, written by executive editor Andy Crouch, was accompanied by a subtitle that minced no words: Evangelicals, of all people, should not be silent about Donald Trumps blatant immorality. For the magazine founded more than 50 years ago by famed evangelist Billy Graham as an alternative to mainline Christian publications, the editorial amounts to a grenade tossed into the presidential campaign. Roughly 70 percent of white evangelicals in the most recent Pew Research polls support Trump, and few conservative evangelical leaders have criticized him, even following the release of the recent tape. But Crouch, who spent years as an Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship campus minister before coming to the magazine a decade ago, used the editorial to channel the growing concern among younger evangelicals that the political deals cut by previous generations have compromised the integrity of their faith. Noting that the magazine is a nonprofit organization and does not endorse candidates, Crouch nonetheless writes: Just because we are neutral, however, does not mean we are indifferent. We are especially not indifferent when the Gospel is at stake. The Gospel is of infinitely greater importance than any campaign. As for Trump, Crouch says, There is hardly any public person in America today who has more exemplified the earthly nature that Paul urges the Colossians to shed: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry (3:5). This is an incredibly apt summary of Trumps life to date. That Trump has been, his whole adult life, an idolater of this sort, and a singularly unrepentant one, he continues, should have been clear to everyone. Story continues Crouch does not spare Trumps evangelical supporters, who have proposed a variety of theological justifications for making him their candidate. He is particularly dismissive of the argument put forward by many high-profile conservatives, including Grahams son, Franklin, that because the Bible includes examples of God using flawed men to accomplish His will, evangelicals shouldnt be concerned about Trumps personal morality. And he calls out the long-standing conservative evangelical reasoning behind backing Republican candidates simply out of concern over the makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court. There is a point at which strategy becomes its own form of idolatry an attempt to manipulate the levers of history in favor of the causes we support, writes Crouch. Strategy becomes idolatry, for ancient Israel and for us today, when we make alliances with those who seem to offer strength the chariots of Egypt, the vassal kings of Rome at the expense of our dependence on God who judges all nations, and in defiance of Gods manifest concern for the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and the oppressed. Crouchs indictment of Trump is not dissimilar from complaints lodged by Trumps secular critics as well, but the language he uses may remind many of Christianity Todays 130,000 subscribers of Old Testament prophets: He has given no evidence of humility or dependence on others, let alone on God his Maker and Judge. He wantonly celebrates strongmen and takes every opportunity to humiliate and demean the vulnerable. He shows no curiosity or capacity to learn. He is, Crouch concludes, the very embodiment of what the Bible calls a fool. By Ahmed Rasheed and Maher Chmaytelli BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nuri al-Maliki is once again positioning himself as Iraq's most powerful man, poised to return as kingmaker in a fight for influence that could decide Iraq's fate as a unified country after the coming battle to recapture Mosul from Islamic State. Two years after he was pressured to leave office by both the United States and Iran for failing to stop Islamic State fighters from sweeping across the country, the former prime minister still leads a powerful Shi'ite parliamentary bloc. In recent weeks his followers have been using their authority in parliament to dismantle the cabinet of his successor, Haidar al-Abadi. They have held corruption hearings, forcing out the government's leading Sunni and Kurdish figures, Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi and Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, who both deny corruption and say they were pushed out to hurt Abadi. Maliki's office denies that he has any plans to return to the premiership, and his allies say he is more likely to try to name an ally as the next prime minister rather than take back the role for himself. But there is now little doubt that his aim is to sideline Abadi and restore the power of his own Iran-backed Shi'ite faction, which minority Sunni and Kurdish politicians say could put Iraq's future at risk even if it vanquishes Islamic State. Zebari, who served as foreign minister for more than a decade and was Baghdad's most senior Kurdish politician until he was forced out of the finance ministry last month, said Maliki was deliberately undermining the government on the eve of the campaign to recapture Islamic State's last major stronghold. "They dont want this government to succeed in Mosul," Zebari told Reuters in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region, referring to the northern city where U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are preparing for a major offensive. "Because Maliki was responsible for the fall of Mosul and the melting of the Iraqi security forces under his command. So any successes here would be a major rebuke to him and his future chances of a comeback." In the latest victory for Maliki, the supreme court ruled on Monday that Abadi violated the constitution last year by scrapping three positions of vice-president. Maliki, who became one of the three vice presidents when he left office as prime minister, will now return to that job. Two politicians close to Maliki said parliament may soon summon Abadi himself to face questioning in parliament over his performance, as well as Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, another former prime minister and potential rival to Maliki. Maliki's media office denied that the campaign against ministers in Abadi's cabinet was part of an attempt by the former prime minister to return to power and said the moves demonstrated parliament exercising its role to hold the government to account. But allies say Maliki will seek to remove Abadi from office at the next election, whether or not Abadi, who lacks a strong political faction of his own, decides to campaign as part of an alliance with Maliki. Maliki's "aim is not necessarily to become PM but to have the PM chosen supported by him," said Sami al-Askari, a former lawmaker who has served as an advisor to Maliki. "If Abadi joins Maliki for the elections, Maliki will not choose him to be PM again; if Abadi runs without Maliki, he has no chance to win enough seats." CONCILIATORY TECHNOCRAT Maliki left office reluctantly in 2014 after the security forces crumbled and fled in the face of a lightning advance by Sunni Muslim fighters from Islamic State. His foes, including the Obama administration in Washington, accused Maliki of having run a sectarian government during eight years in power that alienated Sunnis, driving them into the arms of Islamic State, and undermined the morale of the army. Abadi, a conciliatory technocrat, took office promising to reduce sectarian polarization. He swiftly introduced reforms to limit the patronage of sectarian parties by cutting the number of senior posts, although parliament has mostly fought to block or delay the changes. Abadi has won widespread credit for rebuilding the army with American support and recapturing most of the territory seized by Islamic State. But he has not built up a political power base of his own in the parliament, which was elected in 2014 and where Maliki's faction is still the largest. A new national election is not due until 2018. But the two politicians allied to Maliki said it could be brought forward to as soon as April next year when provincial elections are due. Jasim al-Bahadli, a Baghdad-based political analyst, said Maliki's ambition to shape the next government was realistic given the backing he still has among majority Shi'ites. Maliki "has still enough support from large sections of the Shiite community, not necessarily to return to power, but to have the upper hand to decide who should be the next prime minister," Bahadli said. AFTER MOSUL Despite removing some of Abadi's cabinet colleagues, parliament is unlikely to take the drastic step of unseating the prime minister himself before the U.S.-backed offensive on Mosul, which could start as soon as this month. That battle will be fateful. Mosul is the largest city in northern Iraq, four times the size of any other city captured by Islamic State. Defeating the militant group there would destroy its self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq. But a victory will not be enough on its own to ensure Iraq survives as a unified state. Kurdish and Sunni politicians fear a new phase of turmoil, with sects and ethnic groups fighting for oil and land in areas where the militants once ruled. Maliki's return to a position of power would make it more difficult for Baghdad to win over the loyalty of Sunnis, said Baghdad-based political analyst Ahmed Younis. Sunnis "look to Malikis period as their worst ever, during which they were hugely persecuted and suffered bloody crackdowns against what they see as legitimate protests," he said. Maliki is far from the only senior Shi'ite figure who will be seeking more authority after the Mosul offensive. The war on Islamic State has increased the influence of Iranian-backed Shi'ite paramilitary groups which helped defend Baghdad after Mosul fell and fought to recapture territory. The largest militia is the Badr Organisation, whose leader Hadi al-Amiri "is seen by majority of the Shiite population as the leader of the war against Islamic State in Iraq," said analyst Bahadli. "He will definitely win most of the credit of the victory rather than anyone else within the Shiite governing establishment." Were Amiri to take on a higher profile political role, that would probably be even more alarming to Sunnis than a Maliki comeback. Sunnis accuse the Shi'ite militia of carrying out abuses in regions taken back from Islamic State. Two prominent Sunni MPs said they would not vote for Amiri, asking not to be identified so as not to exacerbate tension. (With additional reporting by Stephen Kalin in Baghdad and Michael Georgy in Erbil; editing by Peter Graff) Ben Affleck is getting candid about co-parenting his three children with estranged wife, Jennifer Garner. The A-list couple separated over a year ago, but continue to live on the same property and share responsibilities for their daughters, Violet and Seraphina, and son Samuel. "We do our best," the actor and producer told ET's Lauren Zima at the Los Angeles premiere of his new film, The Accountant. "We try our best." EXCLUSIVE: Ben Affleck on His Kids Meeting Taylor Swift: 'It Was Like God Came Down and Walked on Water' The 44-year-old star added that while the couple share parenting duties, there's one task he's not so great with homework! "My areas of expertise with the kids [are] spotty at best," he said. "Not homework. I only play an accountant in the movie. In real life, I'm badly wanting." He may not be putting his hand up to help with homework, but the children's work is never far from his side. Asked about his trailer must-haves when he's filming, the Academy Award winner noted they revolve around the youngsters. "[It's] mostly stuff from my kids," he said. "It's the only personal stuff I have -- the drawings and art. It's a good place to hang up the latest artwork to come out of school." NEWS: Jennifer Garner Talks Parenting Her 3 Kids With The Accountant hitting theaters on Friday, Affleck will next be seen in Live by Night, which he also co-produced with Leonardo DiCaprio, and next year's Justice League film. The highly-anticipated superhero flick has just wrapped shooting and Affleck is looking forward to seeing how the film's received. "It's fun, in one word," he said. "I hope you like it, I think it's gonna be a lot of fun." See Affleck open up more about his family in the video below. Related Articles By Katharine Houreld NAIROBI (Reuters) - Many guns imported by the Somali government with U.N. approval are being resold by arms dealers on the black market in the nation's capital Mogadishu, two Western diplomats said. Such sales violate a three-year-old deal which exempted government weapons imports from a U.N. arms embargo. The U.N. Security Council partially lifted it in 2013 to equip government forces fighting al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants. The United Nations imposed a blanket arms embargo on Somalia shortly after the nation plunged into civil war 25 years ago. The two diplomats, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said through photographic evidence it was calculated between 35 to 40 percent of automatic rifles and other small arms on sale on the Mogadishu black market were imported by the government under the exemption. U.N. reports identified some cases of government weapons and ammunition being sold on the market. But these findings, revealed by diplomats and analysts to Reuters, are the most comprehensive examination of the problem and show its scale. A Somali government official acknowledged there was some leakage of weapons, although he said this involved small amounts in one-off cases rather than a systematic problem. "I am not denying that some cases (of diversion) happen from our side but it is not permanent and systematic," Awes Hagi Yusuf, policy unit chief at Somalia's presidency, told Reuters. U.N. officials declined to comment for this article. Poorly-paid soldiers are known to have sold their weapons to buy food to feed their families. WEAPONS CACHES The diplomats did not give precise numbers for diverted weapons on sale in Mogadishu, but they said the arms helped to supply dealers who now sell weapons in the capital from the backs of vehicles or caches hidden in private villas. Two Nairobi-based security analysts told Reuters between 15,000 to 20,500 light arms had been imported since 2013. The United Nations approves shipments on a case-by-case basis. The analysts, who also declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, estimated only 6,000 weapons had been stamped with identifying markings under a joint U.N.-Somali government program that began in 2014. Neither paper records nor the markings showed which weapon was issued to which individual, the analysts said. The diplomats said the new findings will worry U.N. Security Council members, who hold an annual review of the embargo exemption in November. The 2013 amendment to the embargo required the Somali government to notify the United Nations of each arms shipment, forbade weapons from being resold, and required the government to report every six months on efforts to make sure the exempted arms are kept secure and create a system to keep track of them. The findings show the Western-backed government, which has been criticized by donors for corruption in the past, is struggling to ensure its imported arms do not go astray. The Somali government says it needs more guns to keep its army equipped. Western allies are keen to strengthen Somalia's armed forces fighting al Shabaab but fear that money and equipment will be siphoned off. Matt Bryden, head of Nairobi-based think-tank Sahan, said that if the government could not secure its arms, then "imports of arms and ammunition for the government are likely to continue feeding the open market and the government's enemies". WEAPONS MARKING Despite imported weapons finding their way onto the local arms markets, diplomats said the weapons marking program represented progress as it was now possible to track which branches of the Somali armed forces -- the police, intelligence services or military -- were selling on weapons illegally, even if individuals could not be identified. "We have challenges but we are making tremendous progress, especially the marking and the weapon management," said the presidency's Yusuf, saying most weapons on sale by dealers were illegal imports, arms once used by private security firms and guns used in the war that have been circulating for years. However, one of the diplomats said the government could improve its records by registering the serial numbers on weapons to individuals or specific units, and this could be linked to a U.N. database used to pay Somali soldiers. That would still not solve the problem of poorly-paid troops selling their arms to feed families, he added. A new rifle sells for around $1,500 and old ones for about $500, said Mogadishu arms dealer Ismail Nur, although he declined to say whether any arms he handled came from government soldiers. In addition to individual sales, a researcher who has regularly visited Mogadishu's arms markets said there were signs of bulk diversion of weapons. In one case, the researcher said, a dealer offered several government rifles with similar numbers in the same plastic packaging, implying the guns were sold as a batch before they were sent to the government armory to be marked. "Arms dealers use secret villas, and homes and underground sites for selling weapons since open markets for weapons disappeared some time ago," the researcher said. (Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu; Editing by Edmund Blair and Peter Millership) By Tim Cocks, Michelle Nichols and Marine Pennetier DAKAR/UNITED NATIONS/PARIS (Reuters) - A draft United Nations memo seen by Reuters suggests that dozens allegations of sexual abuse against U.N. peacekeepers in Central African Republic have been fabricated by people seeking financial payoffs. The revelations put the spotlight back on how the world body deals with abuse cases. In December an independent review panel criticized the United Nations for mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse by international peacekeepers, who were not under U.N. command, in Central African Republic. The 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force there, known as MINUSCA, has been dogged by allegations of sexual abuse since its deployment in April 2014 to curb fighting between the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels and the anti-balaka Christian militias. French troops deployed in a separate intervention in the former French colony have also been accused of abuses. The United Nations in March expanded its inquiry into new accusations of sexual abuse and exploitation in the country's Dekoa region. It told France, Gabon and Burundi that dozens of accusations had been made against their soldiers in MINUSCA. However, an internal Aug. 24 memo - written by the chief of the U.N. Department of Field Support's Conduct and Discipline Unit suggested many accusations were strikingly similar and appeared to be motivated by financial gain. Written by Mercedes Gervilla, the memo, citing information from the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services, said: "OIOS notes that many of the complaints followed a specific pattern of accusations; many of the complainants' stories were nearly identical, lacked specific details and fell apart when probed. It appeared as though the complainants had memorized a script." The memo said a local charity tasked with referring abuse accusations to the U.N. children's agency UNICEF had placed complainants on a monthly remuneration scheme, offering a financial incentive for people to present themselves as victims. The memo appeared to be a draft as it had not been signed by Gervilla. PAYMENTS "ROUTINE PART" OF RESPONSE TO ABUSES "Further, OIOS obtained information indicating that a purported social worker was inciting complainants to make false allegations given the possible economical return. The same person is said to have extorted payments from complainants in exchange for being presented as victims," Gervilla wrote. UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said it had a long-standing arrangement with a local charity to provide care to children and women who come forward as victims of sexual abuse. She said cash transfers to those people were a "routine part" of the response to sexual abuse and exploitation. "UNICEF has no role in determining whether a person coming forward as a victim has in fact been sexually abused or sexually exploited," she said. "As a first-line responder to these incidents UNICEF proceeds on the assumption that a person coming forward as a victim is entitled to care and support." Mercado said that as part of the response to the accusations of abuses in Dekoa, the charity had provided a one-time payment of $35 to 106 self-described victims. The memo, which said the OIOS investigation was close to completion, focused on more than 150 accusations made between March and June this year about events that happened between 2013 and 2016 and involved troops from Burundi and Gabon. Gervilla estimated that about 50 percent of cases were not supported by any evidence and only 20 percent by substantive evidence. The remaining 30 percent had partial evidence, but lacked corroborating material. "It should also be noted that the substantive allegations are of sexual exploitation - sex in exchange for food. There is little or no substantial evidence of sexual abuse," she wrote. Gervilla said a further 216 allegations were made against Burundian, Gabonese and French forces during an OIOS fact-finding mission at the end of August. "Many if not all of these allegations result from what appears to a systematic effort to initiate false accusations against peacekeeping personnel in Dekoa," she said. A U.N. peacekeeping official in New York said the OIOS had interviewed some 435 complainants and witnesses. The evidence was now being reviewed by OIOS ahead of final reports to be sent to U.N. troop-contributing countries for appropriate action to ensure accountability of peacekeepers. MINUSCA spokesman Herve Verhoosel said the mission was taking the allegations seriously but would not comment further until the investigation was finished. France, which at its peak had some 2,000 soldiers in Central African Republic, has initiated investigations in Paris but has yet to charge anybody. (Writing by John Irish; editing by Mark Heinrich) The sounds of loud exhaust and car doors slamming woke Dave Gibbons in his residence above his business early Monday. Surveillance cameras he installed after two break-ins last year caught an intruder inside the business office at Gibbons Auto Service, N7735 Amsterdam Prairie Road in the town of Holland. Gibbons grabbed his gun, told his wife to call 911 and walked downstairs about 1:30 a.m. A burglar disguised with a ski mask and hood was rummaging through desk drawers. Gibbons said he called out to remove the mask. The intruder didnt respond and moved toward Gibbons, who backpedaled. Then, he fired once. She said, Are you going to shoot me now? Gibbons recalled. And I told her, I think I just did. The intruder identified by authorities as serial burglar Amy Zielke and by Gibbons as a former customer removed her mask as Gibbons called to his wife to bring a towel to stop the bleeding from her leg. Zielke, 37, of Onalaska was treated for the gunshot wound at Gundersen Health Care and booked into the La Crosse County Jail, where she is being held without bond on a burglary charge. She makes her first appearance Tuesday in La Crosse County Circuit Court. Prosecutors early this year charged Zielke with trying to break into Kratt Lumber on Nov. 24 and burglarizing a Holmen car wash of cash and electronics on Dec. 18 for drug money while on bond for burglary in Trempealeau County. She was charged in another case with breaking into Fiesta Mexicana, 5200 Mormon Coulee Road, on April 12 and fleeing police while on bond. (Facebook/DaDMuM) F Kim K and the Royal Duchess. Take as long as you need to look after yourself and get yourself back into the swing of things. Wise words from daddy blogger Brad Kearns. He recently took to Facebook to voice his frustration over the pressure on women to physically bounce back after pregnancy. For 9 months of pregnancy the body is stretched, poked and prodded like a science experiment. Personal space is no longer a thing. From the bathroom to the toilet, everyone wants to know whats going on. It swells and gains weight in places it hasnt gained before. Its OK though because everyone tells them theyre glowing and that should make it all better because its beautiful and natural. Then the baby is born. Holy f. That was insane. The next few days are OK, people come in and visit, they say how great mum looks while they cuddle the baby. The partner takes a week off work to help out while they recover. But soon enough, the partner has to return to work. People arent visiting as often. Theyre left with the original responsibilities and a newborn that isnt sleeping properly yet. Its hard to rest, hard to eat well, hard to even leave the house for some. Then they look at Instagram and Facebook. Oh what do you fing know, the celebrities with a personal trainer, chef, nanny and a make up artist post a picture that goes viral of their post baby body. That only took 6 weeks. From that point onwards the expectation is set. F that expectation. Kearns describes how his own wife often struggles to get ready, claiming she has nothing to wear, when the reality is that its challenging to dress her new postpartum body. Find something that makes you feel nice. Clothes, candles or a new hairstyle. Nobody who loves you is going to care how long you take. He also warns that setting yourself up to fail by looking at celebrities like Kim Kardashian and the Duchess of Cambridge can be detrimental to your mental health. Its unhealthy to think 6-12 weeks is enough time to bounce back with your pre-baby body. If youre not ready, dont set the bar so high that you fail. Set your own bar. The one that works for you. Story continues This isnt the first time the blogger has been outspoken about pregnancy and parenting. Hes also vented his frustration with people judging his wife for being a stay at home mom, the struggles of buying a stroller and what its like dealing with having a stillborn baby. What do you think of his post-baby body rant? Let us know by tweeting to @YahooStyleCA. SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS> told customers on Tuesday to stop using their Galaxy Note7 smartphones while it investigates reports of fires in the devices, as the tech giant scrambled to contain a deepening recall crisis. The following is a chronology of major developments related to Samsung's recall of the Note 7s since the launch of the smartphones in August. Oct. 11 - Samsung asks customers to stop using all Note 7 smartphones, halts sales and exchanges of the device globally as it investigates reports of fires in new devices. Oct. 10 - Samsung says it is adjusting Note 7 shipments for inspections, quality control due to more phones catching fire. Oct. 9 - AT&T, T-Mobile say they have halted issuing new Galaxy Note 7 smartphones due to safety concerns. Oct. 6 - A Southwest Airlines plane in the United States evacuated due to smoke from a Note 7 device on board. Oct. 1 - Samsung resumes selling new Note 7s in South Korea. Sep. 29 - Samsung says more than 1 million people globally now using Note 7s with safe battery. Sept. 25- Samsung delays S.Korea re-start of Note 7 sales by 3 days. Sept. 22 - South Korea orders extra battery safety measures for Note 7 phones. Sept. 21- Verizon Communications, Sprint Corp begin taking orders for new Note 7s. Sept. 19 - Samsung says a Note 7 phone a China user claims caught on fire was caused by external heating. Sept. 19 - Samsung starts Note 7 exchange programme in SouthKorea. Sept. 16 - Florida man sues Samsung for burns from Note 7 explosion. Samsung says to resume Note 7 sales in South Korea on Sept. 28. Sept. 15 - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission formally announces recall of about 1 million Note 7 phones. Sept. 9 - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urges Galaxy Note 7 users to stop using their phone. Sept. 8 - U.S. Federal Aviation Administration advises passengers to not turn on or charge Note 7 smartphones aboard aircraft or stow them in plane cargo. Sept. 2 - Samsung announces global recall of 2.5 million Note 7 phones, citing faulty batteries. Sept. 1 - Samsung starts Galaxy Note 7 sales in China. Aug. 31 - Samsung delays shipments of Note 7s to South Korean carriers. Aug. 24 - Report of a Note 7 explosion surfaces in South Korea. Aug. 19 - Samsung starts Galaxy Note 7 sales in 10 markets including United States and South Korea. Aug. 2 - Samsung unveils the Galaxy Note 7 at a New York media event. (Reporting by Nataly Pak and Se Young Lee; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Kenneth Maxwell) Seoul (AFP) - The elder brother of South Korea's Lotte Group chairman has filed a lawsuit against his younger sibling for alleged accounting fraud, his spokesman said on Tuesday, reigniting a bitter family feud over a stake in the business empire. "We submitted a complaint to the prosecutors' office on September 30," Thomas Hong, spokesman for Shin Dong-Joo, former vice president of Lotte Holdings, told AFP. Hong said Shin accused Lotte chairman Shin Dong-Bin and two other officials of breaching accounting rules by omitting 370 billion won (US$333 million) worth of losses on capital reduction posted by Lotte Shopping from May 2013 to November 2015. Shin claimed that Lotte Shopping deliberately waited to announce the loss -- the first deficit posted by the firm since 2006 -- and that the net loss is larger than the reported amount. In a regulatory filing in February this year, Lotte Shopping announced 346.1 billion won in net losses in 2015 due to a re-evaluation of its business rights in China. An official at Lotte Group told Yonhap news agency that the company was unaware of the complaint and said it will take "necessary countermeasures" after reviewing the case. The complaint was filed a day after a Seoul court dismissed an arrest warrant on Shin Dong-Bin, who had been under investigation on embezzlement charges. The Seoul-based group, founded in Tokyo in 1948 by Shin Kyuk-Ho, has a vast network of businesses in South Korea and Japan including department stores, hotels and processed food, with combined assets valued at more than $90 billion. The group has made headlines since last year because of a bitter feud between the founder's two sons. Dong-Bin and his older brother Dong-Joo locked horns over the control of the business empire and launched a series of personal and very public attacks on each other. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Khizr Khan, the father of a decorated American soldier killed in Iraq, lashed out at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday for saying his son would still be alive if Trump had been president at the time. "For this candidate to put his political expediency ahead of any realization of pain and suffering of the families is shameful," Khan said in an interview with CNN. The New York businessman raised the name of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan in a Sunday night presidential debate while criticizing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for voting in favor of the 2003 invasion of Iraq when she was a U.S. senator. "If I was president at that time he would be alive today," Trump said. Despite his assertion that he always opposed the war, Trump had expressed support for it in a 2002 interview. Khizr Khan had delivered a speech to the Democratic National Convention in July showcasing his son's military service and criticizing Trump's campaign call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country. Trump responded at the time by questioning whether Khan's wife, Ghazala Khan, was not "allowed" to speak when she appeared next to her husband on the stage, an insinuation of some conservative form of Islam that embroiled the candidate in an unpopular dispute with the Muslim parents of a fallen war hero. The Khans were stunned to hear Trump bring up the name of their son, who was killed in 2004, in Sunday's nationally televised debate, the father said. "We were not only shocked, we were saddened for such disingenuous expression of his thinking and of his feeling," Khan said. Trump has said he has modified his call for a ban on Muslims entering the country to a plan for "extreme vetting." (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Frances Kerry) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f242676%2fcdea374395ed4c90b622725837007c9e Is it possible to call yourself a feminist and in the same breath, dismiss another woman's violent ordeal? According to Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph, it's possible and it's gold. The paper ran columnist Vanessa de Largie's SEO-friendly piece "I wanted Kim Kardashian to die" Monday and we dare say, Kim Kardashian would have some strong words to say about it. Or at the very least some massive eye rolls. SEE ALSO: Kanye West cuts gig short after Kim Kardashian reportedly held at gunpoint The piece starts with a confession: "When I heard the news the Kim Kardashian West had been gagged and robbed at gunpoint in her private Paris apartment last week, my first thought was 'Why couldn't they have killed her?'" The writer goes on to say that her own subconscious murderous thought shocked her (good to know) then proceeds to doll out the generous compliments. The story is built on the shaky foundation that Kim Kardashian is soulless and has no opinions perhaps forgetting about that recent time she wrote an open letter on the Armenian genocide for the New York Times, or that other recent time she used social media to search for a bone marrow match for someone in need. The piece goes on to say she doesn't deserve to be called a feminist icon and that she's "vapid, vacuous and narcissistic." Because she loves naked selfies? Whoever among us hasn't taken a naked photo of ourselves, let them cast the first stone. All in all, the article is a uplifting piece on sisterhood and the power of women to uplift each other in dark times. Kidding. Here are some highlights: "Admittedly, I've never liked Kardashian West. Any human being who has the time and inclination to take 1200 selfies a day, is lost on me. I have zero interest in anything without a soul." "I can't connect to cookie-cutter celebrities, Botox, and reality TV. They make me want to chunder. Give me real people. Give me people who can move their faces. Give me people that have views and opinions." Story continues "Feminist-Icon-Land only reserves places for women like Camille Paglia, Germaine Greer, and Gloria Steinem. Oiling up your butt-implants for a glossy doesn't get you a guernsey. Sorry, Kim!" "Kardashian West is vapid, vacuous and narcissistic. As a society, we should be disturbed that people like her actually have influence over our young." "I was not surprised when I went on social media and read thousands of comments echoing my initial thoughts of the robbery. The masses wanted her blown away." "It must've been absolutely terrifying what Kardashian West endured. Having to plead for your life. Thinking you may never see your children again. They say tragic events build character in people. I'm holding out hope for Kim." Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCAU) on Monday night reached an 11th-hour agreement with its Canadian labor union, Unifor, that dodged a strike set to begin at midnight. The four-year deal is subject to a vote by union members, currently scheduled for Sunday, October 16. The agreement with FCA follows the pattern established by the contract deal reached in late September between General Motors Co. (GM) and Unifor. The main union issue with FCA was further company investment in an assembly plant in Brampton, Ontario, where the company has now agreed to invest $245 million in improvements. Union president Jerry Dias also said the agreement includes a commitment by FCA to assemble a plug-in hybrid vehicle at the Windsor, Ontario, assembly plant. ALSO READ: America's Richest (and Poorest) States According to a report at Automotive News, wage and pension provisions reflect those of the GM contract. Workers will receive a $6,000 signing bonus, legacy workers will receive a 4% raise over the life of the deal and new hires get wage increases annually for 10 years. Unifor also agreed that FCA could place new hires in a defined contribution pension program while maintaining the defined benefit plan for legacy workers. The earlier agreement with GM requires a 4% matching contribution from the company, and it is likely, though not yet known, that the deal with FCA is similar. That leaves only Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) to reach an agreement with its main Canadian labor union. The union expects to commence negotiations with Ford on Monday, October 17, with a strike deadline of October 31. ALSO READ: 8 Big Stocks Analysts Want You to Sell Now The negotiations with Ford may be a bit more contentious. The union local is said to have "huge concerns" about the 10-year wage agreement for new hires. The national union says its top priority is to get Ford to invest in the company's two engine plants in Windsor. Unifor represents more than 310,000 Canadian workers, of which about 23,050 work for the Detroit Three automakers. Related Articles Montreal (AFP) - The union representing Canada's auto workers said Tuesday it has reached a deal with Fiat Chrysler that avoids a labor disruption at the company's Canadian assembly plants. The collective agreement, which would apply to Canada's 10,000 unionized Fiat Chrysler workers, was concluded late Monday and includes concessions for new investments in the country, similar to those offered by General Motors in September talks with the Unifor union. As part of the deal, Fiat Chrysler will invest further capital in two of its three plants in Ontario province that assemble its Chrysler 300, Dodge Caravan and Pacifica. However the exact monetary figure was not announced. Workers will also receive a small wage hike, and a signing bonus. The four-year agreement must still be ratified by Fiat Chrysler's unionized Canadian workers at a vote on Sunday, before Unifor's negotiating team turns its focus to Ford. After the recent Uri attacks, a ban on Pakistan artists working in Bollywood films was demanded by many industry insiders and political parties. While this sparked a nationwide debate, there were many mixed opinions on the same. This ban also brought Karan Johars Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Shah Rukh Khans Raees under the scanner as it stars Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan respectively. Interestingly, Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA) also agreed with the decision to ban but added that the movies which have been already shot, should be excused from the same. Recommended Read: Karan Johar and Kajol dont share the same warm equation anymore - Ajay Devgn Ajay Devgn too echoed the same and told us in an interview. When asked, if hypothetically, Shivaay starred a Pakistani actor, what would have been his stance keeping in mind the current scenario, Devgn revealed, I would have followed the public sentiment. But honestly speaking, what I said earlier, things which are already made, I think it is not their fault. Films which are going to start, they shouldnt cast anybody right now, till the problems get solved. Well, what do you think of Ajays stance? ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi will be ready to welcome worshippers by the end of 2017, a businessman overseeing the project said on Tuesday. The temple is being built on land donated by the government of Muslim Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. Hindus currently travel to Dubai, the UAE's tourism and commercial hub more than 100 km (60 miles) away, to perform prayers. The government announced it was allocating land to build the temple during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hundreds of thousands of Indian Hindus live in Abu Dhabi. Indian billionaire businessman B.R. Shetty, who is chairman of the Temple Coordination Committee, said: "The UAE is a great example of religious tolerance with people of different nationalities living in harmony here." The temple project will be funded privately, he said. The government has allocated 20,000 square meters of land in Al Wathba, just outside Abu Dhabi city. Indians make up the largest expatriate group, about 2.6 million or 30 percent of the UAE population, according to figures from the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi. Dubai also has a Sikh Gurdwara and both Dubai and Abu Dhabi have Christian churches. Abu Dhabis Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan will be the chief guest at India's annual Republic Day parade next year. (Reporting By Stanley Carvalho; Editing by Janet Lawrence) (The following statement was released by the rating agency) SINGAPORE/JAKARTA, October 11 (Fitch) Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Malaysia-based conglomerate Sime Darby Berhad (Sime Darby) to Stable from Negative. At the same time the agency has affirmed the Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'BBB+'. Sime Darby's senior unsecured rating and the rating on its sukuk issue have also been affirmed at 'BBB+'. The revision of the Outlook to Stable follows the Sime Darby's announcement of a successful share placement, proceeds from which will help the company lower its leverage. In addition, the outlook for its principal oil palm plantation business has improved significantly following a recovery in crude palm oil (CPO) prices this year. Higher cash flows from the plantation business will also support deleveraging at Sime Darby, in our view. KEY RATING DRIVERS Share Placement Aids Deleveraging: Sime Darby said on 5 October 2016 that it raised MYR2.4bn (USD569m) cash by placing out 316.35 million shares, which account for 4.7% of its expanded capital base. We estimate the share placement will help the company lower its FFO-adjusted net leverage to 3.0x in the financial year ending 30 June 2017 (FY17), compared with 4.0x in FY16 as per unaudited summary financial statements. The company proposes to use around 50% of the placement proceeds to repay debt, and the rest of the proceeds to fund capex and working capital. Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) will continue to be Sime Darby's largest shareholder with a stake of approximately 53% after the share placement. Fitch does not expect the share placement to change the company's cash dividend payout of around 40% of net income in the medium term. Improving EBITDA Margin: CPO prices increased 30% to USD736/tonne in August 2016 from USD565/tonne in January 2016 due to reduced inventory levels in Malaysia and steady demand. Fitch expects CPO prices to remain at the current levels or even increase, which would drive an improvement in Sime Darby's operating EBITDA margin to around 11.5% in FY17-18 (FY16: 10.8%). Improvement in Sime Darby's margins would facilitate deleveraging to below 3.0x by FY18. Sime Darby's plantation business, mainly oil palm cultivation and processing, is a key driver cash flows and earnings, and accounted for 27% of its consolidated FY16 revenue and 45% of EBITDA. Low CPO prices and the muted performance of Sime Darby's industrial business resulted in a relatively weak consolidated EBITDA margin in FY16. Fitch expects the plantation business to continue to be the dominant cash flow contributor and key driver of its rating over the medium term, so we have amended the rating sensitivities to capture weakness in the profitability of its plantation business. Further Deleveraging from Divestments: Sime Darby realised MYR1.2bn in cash by selling non-strategic subsidiaries, JVs, associates and assets in FY16, including the sale of two Singapore-based property subsidiaries for around MYR600m. Sime Darby plans to raise around MYR1bn through the sale of non-strategic assets in FY17, such as its stake in property developer Eastern & Oriental Bhd for over MYR300m. KEY ASSUMPTIONS Fitch's key assumptions within our rating case for the issuer include: - Average CPO selling price of USD650/tonne (MYR2,800) in FY17, improving further to USD675/tonne by FY19 - Consolidated operating EBITDA margin of around 12% over FY17-19 - Average EBITDA per mature hectare for plantation business of MYR7,000 over FY17-19 - Annual capex of MYR2.7bn on average over FY17-19 - Proceeds from asset sales (net of acquisitions) of MYR300m in FY17; none thereafter. RATING SENSITIVITIES Negative: Future developments that may, individually or collectively, lead to negative rating action include: -FFO-adjusted net leverage exceeding 3.0x on a sustained basis -EBITDA per mature hectare for plantation business falling below MYR6,000 (FY16: MYR4,300) -No material weakening of profitability across its other businesses Positive: Future developments that may, individually or collectively, lead to positive rating action, include: -FFO-adjusted net leverage falling to less than 2.0x on a sustained basis -Improvement in FCF generation with margin of 5% or above on a sustained basis (FY16: -1%) Contact: Primary Analyst Nandini Vijayaraghavan, CFA Director +65 6796 7216 Fitch Ratings Singapore Pte Ltd 6 Temasek Boulevard #35-05 Suntec Tower Four Singapore 038986 Secondary Analyst Rufina Tam Associate Director +62 21 2988 6813 Committee Chairperson Vicky Melbourne Senior Director +61 2 8256 0325 Media Relations: Leslie Tan, Singapore, Tel: +65 67 96 7234, Email: leslie.tan@fitchratings.com. Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com Applicable Criteria Criteria for Rating Non-Financial Corporates (pub. 27 Sep 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/885629 Criteria for Rating Sukuk (pub. 16 Aug 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/885806 Treatment and Notching of Hybrids in Non-Financial Corporate and REIT Credit Analysis (pub. 29 Feb 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/878264 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr _id=1012919 Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1012919 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/regulatory ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. Copyright 2016 by Fitch Ratings, Inc., Fitch Ratings Ltd. and its subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, (212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast information), Fitch relies on factual information it receives from issuers and underwriters and from other sources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of Fitch's factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, the availability of independent and competent third- party verification sources with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of Fitch's ratings and reports should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any third-party verification can ensure that all of the information Fitch relies on in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the information they provide to Fitch and to the market in offering documents and other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, Fitch must rely on the work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature cannot be verified as facts. As a result, despite any verification of current facts, ratings and forecasts can be affected by future events or conditions that were not anticipated at the time a rating or forecast was issued or affirmed. The information in this report is provided "as is" without any representation or warranty of any kind, and Fitch does not represent or warrant that the report or any of its contents will meet any of the requirements of a recipient of the report. A Fitch rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a security. This opinion and reports made by Fitch are based on established criteria and methodologies that Fitch is continuously evaluating and updating. Therefore, ratings and reports are the collective work product of Fitch and no individual, or group of individuals, is solely responsible for a rating or a report. The rating does not address the risk of loss due to risks other than credit risk, unless such risk is specifically mentioned. Fitch is not engaged in the offer or sale of any security. All Fitch reports have shared authorship. Individuals identified in a Fitch report were involved in, but are not solely responsible for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes only. A report providing a Fitch rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of Fitch. Fitch does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to any security. Fitch receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In certain cases, Fitch will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or dissemination of a rating by Fitch shall not constitute a consent by Fitch to use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and distribution, Fitch research may be available to electronic subscribers up to three days earlier than to print subscribers. For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: Fitch Australia Pty Ltd holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 (The following statement was released by the rating agency) SINGAPORE, October 11 (Fitch) Perisai Petroleum's bond default is symptomatic of financial strains across much of south-east Asia's oil & gas service industry. Singapore banks are exposed to credit risks emanating from the sector, but are well-placed to withstand potential losses, says Fitch Ratings. Perisai Petroleum, a Malaysian offshore oil & gas service provider, defaulted on bonds worth SGD125m (USD90m) on 3 October after bondholders rejected the company's restructuring plans. Perisai has other debt - worth around MYR791m (USD260m) at end-June 2016 - with major Singaporean and Malaysian banks likely to be among the main creditors. The combined oil & gas exposure of Singapore's three rated banks - DBS, OCBC and UOB - was SGD51.3bn at end-June 2016. This represented 55% of their combined core equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital. This may seem high, although the majority of their oil & gas exposure is collateralised. Furthermore, only SGD17bn of this exposure is to the more vulnerable subsector of offshore support services, accounting for 18% of banks' CET1 capital. The weighted-average NPL ratio for these three banks remained low at 1.23%, but we expect this to rise modestly as more oil & gas-related NPLs emerge. Fitch believes Singapore banks are securely positioned to withstand further asset-quality deterioration, given their disciplined underwriting standards and healthy provision buffers of just over 100% (as a proportion of NPLs). Adequate profitability, sound funding and liquidity positions, and strong capitalisation also support Singapore banks' 'AA-' ratings, which we affirmed in May with Stable Outlooks. Perisai's case is far from isolated. A number of other regional oil & gas service companies have also run into trouble this year. Swiber Holdings filed for creditor protection in July, leading DBS to classify SGD651m of its SGD721m exposure to the troubled group as non-performing, with the remainder expected to be classified in the third quarter. Swissco Holdings on 4 October appointed Ernst & Young to assist in the refinancing and restructuring of SGD100m worth of bonds due in 2018. The others in various stages of debt reorganisation include AusGroup and Marco Polo Marine. Fitch had expected the credit metrics of south-east Asian oil and gas issuers to deteriorate this year. The sector is on negative outlook, and we have made multi-notch downgrades on the ratings of oilfield-service companies in the region. Upstream oil producers are still actively looking to reduce costs despite recent rises in oil prices to just over USD50/bbl. Oil & gas service companies have been at the sharp end of the negative effects from investment cuts by oil producers, as well as cost-reductions that have led to lower day-rates for equipment, machinery and services. Small operators like Perisai are especially vulnerable. Larger companies that have more diversified revenue streams or strong balance sheets are better placed to withstand the investment cutbacks. Contacts: Wee Siang Ng Senior Director Financial Institutions +65 6796 7230 Fitch Ratings Singapore Pte Ltd. #35-05, Suntec Tower 4 6 Temasek Boulevard Singapore, 038986 Buddhika Piyasena Senior Director - Head of Energy & Utilities Ratings, Asia Pacific Corporate Ratings +65 6796 7223 Dan Martin Senior Director Fitch Wire +65 6796 7232 Media Relations: Leslie Tan, Singapore, Tel: +65 67 96 7234, Email: leslie.tan@fitchratings.com. The above article originally appeared as a post on the Fitch Wire credit market commentary page. The original article can be accessed at www.fitchratings.com. All opinions expressed are those of Fitch Ratings ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. Copyright 2016 by Fitch Ratings, Inc., Fitch Ratings Ltd. and its subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, (212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast information), Fitch relies on factual information it receives from issuers and underwriters and from other sources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of Fitch's factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, the availability of independent and competent third- party verification sources with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of Fitch's ratings and reports should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any third-party verification can ensure that all of the information Fitch relies on in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the information they provide to Fitch and to the market in offering documents and other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, Fitch must rely on the work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature cannot be verified as facts. As a result, despite any verification of current facts, ratings and forecasts can be affected by future events or conditions that were not anticipated at the time a rating or forecast was issued or affirmed. The information in this report is provided "as is" without any representation or warranty of any kind, and Fitch does not represent or warrant that the report or any of its contents will meet any of the requirements of a recipient of the report. A Fitch rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a security. This opinion and reports made by Fitch are based on established criteria and methodologies that Fitch is continuously evaluating and updating. Therefore, ratings and reports are the collective work product of Fitch and no individual, or group of individuals, is solely responsible for a rating or a report. The rating does not address the risk of loss due to risks other than credit risk, unless such risk is specifically mentioned. Fitch is not engaged in the offer or sale of any security. All Fitch reports have shared authorship. Individuals identified in a Fitch report were involved in, but are not solely responsible for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes only. A report providing a Fitch rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of Fitch. Fitch does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to any security. Fitch receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In certain cases, Fitch will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or dissemination of a rating by Fitch shall not constitute a consent by Fitch to use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and distribution, Fitch research may be available to electronic subscribers up to three days earlier than to print subscribers. For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: Fitch Australia Pty Ltd holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 Damascus (AFP) - At least five children were killed by rebel fire on a school in the southern Syrian city of Daraa on Tuesday, state media said. "Five children were killed and 15 wounded in terrorist shelling of a primary school in the Al-Sahary neighbourhood of Daraa," state news agency SANA reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, also reported the rocket fire on the school, saying at least six people had been killed, five of them children. It said that at least 25 people were wounded in the attack, and that the death toll was likely to rise because a number of the wounded were in critical condition. Rebel forces control most of Daraa province, but the provincial capital is largely controlled by the government. Daraa is sometimes dubbed the "cradle" of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that began with protests in the province in March 2011. Washington (AFP) - Residents in central North Carolina were told late Monday to evacuate their homes amid fears that rising floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew could breach a dam, adding to a storm toll of 11 dead. Officials in Moore county ordered a mandatory evacuation ahead of an imminent breach of Woodlake Dam, WRAL TV reported. Evacuations have also been ordered for two more counties along the Neuse River. Earlier Monday, Governor Pat McCrory said the storm's effects had killed 11 in the state, with three people still missing. "A lot of people are hurting right now in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew and the devastation is beyond words," he told a news conference. "Floodwaters are rising very quickly," he added, with water knee-deep in many places. "We do have people on the roofs as we speak, and we have a lot of helicopters and boats that have been deployed that are, at this point in time, rescuing them." Most of those killed died when floods carried their cars off roads, WTVD reported officials as saying. Several rivers broke their banks on Monday after up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) of rain fell in some places, the National Weather Service reported. Water from the Lumber River poured into the southern city of Lumberton early on Monday, leaving some 1,500 people stranded, McCrory said. Water is expected to keep rising in some rivers as floods move downstream. The authorities have declared a federal disaster in 31 counties. In Moore county, officials said the dam breach could cause as much as two to three feet (60-90 centimeters) additional flooding for those downstream. Emergency crews have rescued at least 1,400 people since Hurricane Matthew struck the state last week. The storm struck Florida and South Carolina after battering the Caribbean island of Haiti, leaving at least 372 dead and 1.4 million people requiring emergency aid. PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Tuesday it deplored a decision by Burundi to ban three U.N. investigators from its territory, saying the east African country was losing credibility over promises to respect human rights. In a brief letter from Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Aime Nyamitwe, Burundi on Monday blacklisted the investigators linked to a report which identified officials suspected of ordering political opponents to be tortured or killed. "France deplores the decision by the Burundi authorities to declare personae non gratae the three members of the independent experts mission on the human rights situation in Burundi," Foreign MKinistry spokesman Romain Nadal told a daily briefing. "This decision harms the credibility of Burundi's commitment to respect human rights." The African country has been gripped by political strife since President Pierre Nkurunziza sought and won a third term in 2015, which opponents said violated the constitution and terms of a peace deal that ended civil war in 2005. The U.N. Human Rights Council agreed last week to set up a commission of inquiry to identify perpetrators of killings and torture in Burundi, and to ensure they are brought to justice. Burundi rejected the move. Nadal called on the central African country to reverse its decision and cooperate with the United Nations. (Reporting By John Irish; Editing by Ingrid Melander/Mark Heinrich) PARIS (Reuters) - France inaugurated its first supervised injection facility for drug users on Tuesday, setting aside years of acrimonious debate over the merits of a strategy that has slowly gained traction since the Swiss embraced it three decades ago. France's Socialist government pushed legislation permitting supervised injection centers through parliament last year. The world's first such facility opened in the Swiss city of Berne in 1986. Health Minister Marisol Touraine described the move as a milestone in French public health strategy. Many European neighbors including Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Spain already run such centers. Australia and Canada have also taken the same path but it is a policy that has yet to make significant inroads outside of Western Europe despite campaigns for its introduction in some places such as New York state. "It's also a strong political response, for a pragmatic and responsible policy that brings high-risk people back towards the health system rather than stigmatizing them," Touraine said. The new center, located in a street adjoining Paris's Gare du Nord train station, will allow addicts to inject with clean syringes and under supervision in order to curb overdose deaths and transmission of diseases spread by needle-sharing. Touraine said that the conditions of many hard drug users amounted to a public health emergency. As many as one in 10 was HIV-positive and up to one on four infected with hepatitis C, she said. Official statistics show drug use in France is heavily tilted towards cannabis, and while figures for hard drug use are harder to compile, a report by an interministerial committee on anti-narcotics policy estimates that the number taking heroin was in the region of 500,000, with another 1.5 million cocaine consumers. Touraine said about a hundred people were expected to make use of the new injection room each day from when it opens to users on Friday. Since Berne in 1986, more than 90 government-backed centers where users can inject in a safer, supervised environment have opened across the world, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addition, an EU-funded body. That body, created to promote a evidence-based approach to a morally divisive issue, said in a report in 2004 that benefits of such injection centers help improve safety, hygiene and access to social services. (Reporting By Brian Love and Simon Carraud; Editing by Andrew Callus and Raissa Kasolowsky) (Adds details and comments by U.S. Treasury, Fed officials, paragraphs 6-11) By Jason Lange WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Group of Seven industrial powers on Tuesday said they had agreed on guidelines for protecting the global financial sector from cyber attacks following a series of cross-border bank thefts by hackers. Policymakers have grown more worried about financial cyber security in the wake of numerous hacks of SWIFT, the global financial messaging system, including an $81 million theft in February from the Bangladeshi central bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve. "Cyber risks are growing more dangerous and diverse, threatening to disrupt our interconnected global financial systems," according to the guidelines agreed by G7 finance ministers and central bankers. The guidelines, which officials described as non-binding principles, were in a three-page document posted on the Web pages of G7 government agencies. The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin told reporters in a telephone briefing that G7 officials had surveyed their existing cyber security practices and identified potential shortfalls. A Treasury official later said the guidance was an effort to encourage regulators and firms to approach cyber security from a risk-management perspective. Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said in a statement the guidelines would address the weakest links in global cyber security. Cyber thieves have targeted large financial institutions around the world, including America's largest bank JPMorgan, as well as smaller players like Ecuador's Banco del Austro and Vietnam's Tien Phong Bank. The U.S. Federal Reserve's internal security staff detected more than 50 cyber breaches between 2011 and 2015, with several incidents described as "espionage." The guidelines released on Tuesday instruct governments to ensure that they police their own cyber-security readiness as well as that of companies they regulate, and that public and private institutions continually update their defenses. Story continues The goal of the guidelines was also to get firms and regulators across the world to approach risks the same way, according to the Treasury official. "If we get this right we will drive a common lexicon," said the official, who asked not to be named. Governments are also supposed to notify one another about joint threats and cooperate to contain computer system breaches, while firms are encouraged to share information and ask for help when they need it. "Maintaining trust and confidence in the financial sector significantly improves when entities and public authorities have the ability to mutually assist each other," according to the guidelines. (Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio) On Tuesday, Gawker asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to conduct an examination into Peter Thiel's role in funding litigation against the company. The debtor once led by Nick Denton also is suggesting that it could have legal claims against Thiel. Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire who co-founded PayPal and was one of the first investors in Facebook, provided Hulk Hogan with financial backing for a privacy lawsuit against Gawker over the publishing of a sex tape. The case resulted in a $140 million judgment that spurred Gawker to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In bankruptcy, Gawker sold many of its assets to Univision for $135 million. As the bankruptcy case continues, Gawker has filed a discovery motion to explore how Thiel worked with Hollywood attorney Charles Harder to bring down the company. Gawker has recently put forward a plan to liquidate its flagship site, Gawker.com, after it was excluded from the Univision sale. There will soon be a vote on Gawker's plan for reorganization. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Stuart Bernstein was told that the investigation would help figure out whether the votes of unsecured creditors - those, such as journalist Ashley Terrill, who are represented by Harder's firm and have asserted claims against Gawker in court - should be rejected for a lack of good faith. Additionally, Gawker said that the reorganization plan and any settlement of offers will be impacted by any control that Thiel has over creditor claims. But it's the potential lawsuit against Thiel that holds the most intrigue. "Given the apparent motive of Mr. Thiel to destroy the Debtors by his financial support of (and actual or de facto control regarding claims of) major alleged creditors, the Debtors require discovery to ascertain whether certain claims exist on behalf of the estates," states Gawker's motion. "For example, the New York Times report of Mr. Thiel's intent to destroy the Debtors to avenge, inter alia, the Gawker.com's 2007 publication (of a story about him) raises the possibility that the Debtors have a cause of action for prima facie tort under New York law." Story continues Gawker's lawyer admits that such an action would have a "heavy burden." According to the court papers, "Such a tort claim would require the Debtors to show: (1) an intentional infliction of harm; (2) without excuse or justification and motivated solely by malice; (3) resulting in special damages; (4) by an act that would otherwise be lawful. As to the second element of prima facie tort, the plaintiff must show that the defendant was 'solely motivated by malice.' Other motives, such as 'profit, self-interest, or business advantage will defeat a prima facie tort claim.'" The debtor's lawyer goes on to say that articles about Thiel's activity "ambiguously suggest that Mr. Thiel both is and is not motivated by pecuniary gain." The investigation may help them figure out once and for all Thiel's motive. A lawsuit would certainly be closely watched in both the media and legal communities, with the potential for defining boundaries on litigation finance, especially of the revenge caliber. But there's no guarantee that Gawker will be permitted to undertake this fishing expedition. For one thing, the motion will surely prompt an objection that many of the documents being sought are shielded by attorney-client privilege. Gawker anticipates such an argument. "The requested discovery includes documents relating to litigation financing, a law firm's solicitation materials, and requests to parties that may share the same attorney (Mr. Harder)," states the brief. "Notably, such information is not privileged. For example, courts have held that a litigant waives privilege where he shares (or allows his lawyer to share) due diligence materials related to the strength of his claims with a third-party funder. Further, litigation financing agreements themselves are not privileged." BERLIN (Reuters) - The German cabinet is due to take a decision on final funding from Germany's top utilities in return for handing over responsibility for the storage of nuclear waste on Oct. 19, government and commission sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The country's top four energy groups -- E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall -- are in final talks with Berlin to nail down the details of a deal proposed by a government-appointed commission in April. Under the plan, the utilities are to transfer 23.3 billion euros ($26.10 billion) in funds to the state, along with responsibility and liability for storing their nuclear waste. Provided the cabinet gives the green light to the deal on Oct. 19, it is likely that the new law will only take effect at the start of 2017 once it has been approved by parliament, the sources said. (Reporting by Markus Wacket; Writing by Caroline Copley; Editing by Madeline Chambers) (Recasts with all clear, details on security threat) BERLIN, Oct 11 (Reuters) - German federal police re-opened a train station in the town of Rastatt in south-west Germany on Tuesday after finding nothing suspicious following a bomb threat. Police had evacuated and sealed off the train station in Rastatt, south of Karlsruhe, after receiving the threat at around 9.15 local time (0715 GMT), a spokesman said. Sniffer dogs and explosive experts were involved in the search. Germany is on a heightened state of alert after a Syrian refugee was arrested on Monday after a weekend manhunt on suspicion of planning an Islamist bomb attack. (Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Madeline Chambers/Jeremy Gaunt) ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A senior Ethiopian opposition figure said on Tuesday that visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel should press Ethiopia's government to launch a national dialogue and release political prisoners. "The message she should be delivering to the leadership here is that killings cannot solve the problem, and that political prisoners should be released and a national dialogue launched," Merera Gudina, chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress, which is from a region where protests have raged, told Reuters. The government denies it has any political prisoners, saying any politicians it has arrested have broken the law. It also says it plans to offer more space to the opposition with proposed changes to the electoral law. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A surcharge levied on German consumers to support renewable power will most likely rise by around 8 percent next year, despite government efforts to scale back support for green power, sources in the power transmission sector said on Tuesday. The fee makes the biggest single contribution to financing Germany's Energiewende policy shift to more renewable power, raising 24 billion euros ($27 billion) last year. The surcharge under the renewable energy act (EEG) will be 6.88 euro cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) in 2017, up from 6.35 cents this year, the sources said ahead of an official statement from the country's network operators (TSOs) due on Friday. If this level is applied, an average household consuming 3,500 kWh a year will pay around 22 euros more per year, or a total of 286 euros including value added tax of 19 percent, towards the EEG. In 2016, the EEG accounts for about 22 percent of customers' total bill. The figure reflects the increase in renewable installations, such as wind turbines and solar panels which receive above-market payments in order to gradually make them competitive with conventional energy generation units whose output is priced by the wholesale market. (Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Mark Potter) GettyImages 151964338 The internet was set ablaze Monday with speculation that conservative media mogul Glenn Beck had decided to vote for Hillary Clinton. But was there any truth to the hearsay? Not really. The rumor mill started churning when Breitbart, a pro-Trump website known for pushing conspiracies, published a story about a Saturday Facebook post authored by Beck. In the post, Beck wrote that Donald Trump was an unacceptable candidate for president. He added that even if opposing the billionaire resulted in Clinton as president, it was "at least" a "moral, ethical choice." Breitbart, which has a vendetta against Beck, photoshopped a photo of the conservative radio host with Clinton's campaign phrase, "I'm With Her," emblazoned on it and headlined a story "Glenn Beck: Electing Hillary Clinton 'Is A Moral, Ethical Choice.'" A video released on Monday in which Beck revealed he had thought about voting for the Democratic presidential nominee kicked speculation into overdrive. "I will tell you that it has crossed my mind," he told Vice News. "To vote for Hillary. It has crossed my mind." But Beck made it clear to Vice News that while he had pondered the idea, he could not pull the lever for Clinton in November. Instead, Beck said he would vote for Constitutional Party candidate Darrell Castle. Before endorsing Castle for president, Beck was an outspoken supporter of Republican candidate Ted Cruz. His relationship with the Texas senator later soured when Cruz announced he would vote for Trump. Editor's note: The author of this story formerly worked for TheBlaze, a multiplatform media organization owned by Glenn Beck. Story continues NOW WATCH: Here are all the prominent Republicans voting for Hillary Clinton More From Business Insider * Eurogroup chief says cap on capital buffers nonsense * France's Sapin considers 5-percent hike as red line * EU estimates put rise at 25 percent, officials said (Recasts, adds quotes and details after meeting) By Francesco Guarascio LUXEMBOURG, Oct 11 (Reuters) - European Union countries were at odds on Tuesday over a global reform of banking rules with divergent views about a cap on increases in banks' capital buffers that might result from the review. The Basel Committee, banking supervisors from nearly 30 countries, is due to complete its reform, known as Basel III, by the end of 2016. The new rules are meant to make the sector more financially sound by reducing reliance on internal risk models. European banks and regulators have warned against an excessive increase in capital requirements that could affect mostly European banks because they use internal models more than their U.S. rivals, which rely more on standardised methodology. Higher capital reserves would raise costs for EU banks. Asked whether there should be a set limit to any hikes in capital requirements, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters before an EU finance ministers' meeting that discussed the issue: "My approach is different". Reacting to France's push for a 5-percent limit, he said: "I haven't heard it. It does not make sense." French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said a 5-percent hike would be considered significant and would be opposed by France. Speaking with reporters after Dijsselbloem's remarks, Sapin said that the French position was shared by Germany and most other EU states. The discussion on Basel at the finance ministers' meeting was requested by France, with the support of Germany, EU officials said. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble kept out of the quarrel, limiting his comments to saying after the meeting that European banks should not be penalised. A proposal for a 5-percent limit was included in a EU finance ministers' draft statement but was removed from the final conclusions of a meeting in July, as member states could not agree on the issue. Story continues The Slovak finance minister Peter Kazimir, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said ministers did not discuss a figure on Tuesday, and pleaded with his colleagues to keep a common front on the Basel reform. He referred to the EU position in the conclusions of the July meeting, where ministers simply urged the Basel group to avoid a "significant increase" in overall capital requirements but set no limit. Officials at banking trade body AFME estimated the new rules were likely to increase the capital buffer held by lenders by at least 6 percent on average from the existing figures. The hike may be as high as 25 percent, according to EU estimates based on a sample of 95 banks discussed on Tuesday by EU finance ministers, two EU officials said. After the meeting, the EU commissioner in charge of financial services, Valdis Dombrovskis, reiterated EU red lines for the Basel reform and said proposals may lead to significant rises in capital requirements as well as increased risks. (Additional reporting by Frank Siebelt in Luxembourg; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Louise Ireland) Gloria Allred appeared near the of MGMs corporate offices in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, urging the company and producer Mark Burnett to release additional footage from The Apprentice, the reality TV competition that Republican presidential candidate hosted for 14 seasons. Allred said at a press conference that it was in the public interest that the tapes be disclosed immediately unless there is a legal prohibition to doing so. Burnett issued a statement on Monday in which he said that he does not have the ability nor the right to release footage or other material from The Apprentice. Various contractual and legal requirements also restrict MGMs ability to release such material. But Allred said that she was sending a letter to Burnett proposing that she meet with him to discuss the legal prohibitions, or that he disclose those restrictions to a panel of three retired judges who could determine if the footage can be released. Although the judges would be bound to confidentiality in their review of the restrictions, their conclusions should be made public, she said. A leaked 2005 Access Hollywood recording, in which Trump makes lewd and vulgar remarks about women to Billy Bush, has been a bombshell in the presidential race. It has turned attention to The Apprentice and whether Trump has made such remarks that were edited from the show or are featured in outtakes. The Associated Press reported last week that Trump would use sexist and demeaning language on the set. The AP interviewed more than 20 people who worked on the show or who were contestants. Allred said that before and after the Access Hollywood tape was disclosed, she had been contacted by women who have described inappropriate conduct by Mr. Trump. But she declined to go into any more detail, citing attorney-client privilege. She was joined by Jerilyn Stapleton, president of California NOW, and Carolyn Fowler, Southern Chair, California Democratic Party Womens Caucus. Also joining was civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, a board member of the Feminist Majority. Story continues They all signed their names to another letter they planned to send to Burnett. They wrote that the Access Hollywood tape revealed what Donald Trump really thinks about women, and his pride in using his celebrity as a blank check for sexual assault. Now, the election may turn on what further evidence exists of Donald Trumps hate speech, rampant misogyny, or wrongdoing. As president of MGM Television, you have that evidence, and releasing it is your civic duty. A spokeswoman for MGM did not immediately return a request for comment. They had planned to deliver the letter to the MGM offices, but security guards stationed outside on Beverly Drive told them they would not be allowed in the building. In 2012, Allred represented a transgender Miss Universe Canada contestant, Jenna Talackova, who was barred from competition. Trump, who owned the pageant, eventually allowed her to participate. Allred did note that she was a California delegate for Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention. Related stories Billy Bush Negotiating His Exit From NBC News in Wake of Lewd Trump Tape NBC's 'Law & Order: SVU' Tackles Donald Trump-Like Character in Episode That Drew Internal Scrutiny Twitter: Trump-Clinton Second Debate Live Average Viewership Up 7%, Most-Tweeted Debate Ever Gloria Allred and groups including the National Organization for Women and California Democratic Party Womens Caucus plan to hand-deliver an open letter to studio brass at MGM headquarters today urging them to release footage from The Apprentice. They believe the release of tapes from the reality show once fronted by Donald Trump is a civic duty and will hold a news conference at 2 PM PT outside the studios Beverly Hills building to urge producer Mark Burnett and MGM to do so. GOP White House nominee Trump is in hot water over a lewd conversation between him and now-suspended Today co-host Billy Bush that was caught on tape in 2005, when Trump starred on The Apprentice and Bush was on Access Hollywood. Allred and the womens groups say Trump has made a campaign issue of his attitudes about women, African-Americans, Latinos, and other marginalized groups by his own statements and policy proposals and say voters should hear what the candidate says about those issues behind the scenes. Apprentice creator and EP Burnett and MGM said Monday that neither is able to release the footage. Mark Burnett does not have the ability nor the right to release footage or other material from The Apprentice, the producer and studio said in a joint statement. Various contractual and legal requirements also restrict MGMs ability to release such material. Allred and the groups say compelling public interest should override those confidentiality clauses. In tape released Friday by the Washington Post, Trump is heard explaining to Bush that, among other things, when youre famous enough, you can grab a woman by her genitals. RelatedThe Circus Cuts Vacation Short To Dive Into Lewd-Tape-Gate Related stories Gloria Allred Not Allowed To Deliver Letter Calling For Release Of 'Apprentice' Outtakes Any Donald Trump-'Apprentice' Footage Won't Come From Mark Burnett Rumored Trump 'Apprentice' Outtakes Peeve Ted Cruz, Entice Wikileaks Pressure continues to mount on Mark Burnett to release potentially embarrassing outtakes of Donald Trump from his 11 years as the star of NBCs The Apprentice. Today, attorney Gloria Allred and representatives from several womens advocacy groups tried to deliver an open letter to Burnett at MGMs offices in Beverly Hills, but security guards wouldnt let them in the building. On Saturday, Bill Pruitt, a former producer on the show, tweeted that Trump made far worse comments in those outtakes than were seen on the Hollywood Access tapes that surfaced Friday. But Trump, who owns a stake in The Apprentice his Trump Productions LLC co-produced it has threatened to sue if the outtakes are made public. Burnett and MGM said Monday that they are unable to release the outtakes. Mark Burnett does not have the ability nor the right to release footage or other material from The Apprentice, they said in a joint statement. Various contractual and legal requirements also restrict MGMs ability to release such material. Allred, however, isnt having any of that. She offered to assemble a panel of three retired judges to view the material and the contracts to see if they could be presented to the public legally. RelatedDonald Trump Attacks Paul Ryan, Billy Bush Prospects Dimming In Wake Of Video Standing before a bank of news cameras outside the studios offices, Allred read a letter shed written to Burnett, who produced the show and is president of MGM Television: I am writing to request an immediate meeting with you and/or senior executives at MGM with reference to the release of footage of The Apprentice. You have publicly stated that there are legal restrictions and prohibitions on releasing the tapes. I would request and welcome a meeting with you and your attorneys in which you would explain in detail the specifics of those claimed restrictions and/or prohibitions. In the alternative, I would proposed that the evidence supporting your assertion that there is a legal basis for your refusal to release footage of Mr. Trump on The Apprentice be disclosed to a panel of three retired Los Angeles Superior Court judges who would review your claimed legal restrictions and determine if the footage of Mr. Trump can legally be released. Story continues That, however, is almost certain not to happen especially in light of the fact that Allred revealed during the news conference that she has been contacted by an undisclosed number of women who say that they have been victimized by Trump. If Allred plans to file a lawsuit on their behalf, her best hope of obtaining the footage would be through a subpoena and that could take months or even years. The election in November 8. RelatedNancy ODell On Trump Recording: No Person Should Be The Subject Of Such Crass Comments Another letter signed by Allred and several other womens rights leaders including National Organization for Women president Terry ONeill and the Feminist Majority president Eleanor Smeal told Burnett that it is his civic duty to release the outtakes. The compelling public interest overrides any confidentiality clauses MGM, Burnett Productions Co. or you personally may be hiding behind, they wrote. Those clauses are not intended to shield a presidential candidate from scrutiny that he himself has invited by making his racism, xenophobia and misogyny a campaign issue. Mr. Burnett, history can turn on a single act, one decision to do the right thing. You have an obligation to take that step today. Unable to deliver the letters to Burnett personally, Allred said that they would be delivered to him via FedEx. RelatedJohn Oliver Tears Into Donald Trump & Billy Bush Over Hot Mic Controversy Related stories Mark Burnett Slams "Hatred, Division & Misogyny" Of Donald Trump's Campaign Presidential Debate 3 Topics Announced In Case Donald Trump Shows Up Seth Meyers: "We're About Two Weeks Away From Learning Name Of Trump's Childhood Sled" Google announced that it has acquired FameBit, a YouTube and social-media marketing startup that connects digital influencers with advertisers and brands for paid sponsorships and promotional deals. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Google, FameBit will continue remain a standalone operation for now, based in Santa Monica, Calif. FameBit, founded in 2013, had raised $1.5 million from investors including Science Inc., Third Wave Digitals Allen DeBevoise, 500 Startups, DeNA and Highline, according to Crunchbase. The company says it has worked with brands including Marvel Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Sony, LOreal, Canon, Activision Blizzard, Adidas, Rovio and Conair. To date, FameBit has brokered deals between advertisers and creators that have resulted in more than 25,000 branded videos, which have generated over 2 billion minutes of viewing time. YouTube felt compelled to stress that the FameBit acquisition doesnt mean it will grant preference to FameBit to over other competing digital-marketing agencies or services. Creators will always have the choice in how they work with brands, and there are many great companies who provide this service today. This acquisition doesnt change that, Ariel Bardin, YouTube VP of product management, wrote in a blog announcing the deal. Our hope is that FameBits democratized marketplace will allow creators of all sizes to directly connect with brands, as well as provide a great technology solution for companies like MCNs (multichannel networks) and agencies to find matches for their creators and brand partners. FameBit founders David Kierzkowski and Agnes Kozera, in a blog about the deal, said that given the combination of Googles relationship with brands and YouTubes partnership with creators worldwide, we hope to connect even more brands to creators, engage more audiences, and make brand marketing more creative and authentic than ever. To join the FameBit marketplace, creators must have at least 5,000 followers on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr. Story continues FameBits primary investor was startup incubator Science Inc. In a blog post about the Google deal, Science CEO Michael Jones said FameBit was the first social-influencer marketing platform he had seen that had created true self-service capabilities, reminding me of the early days of AdSense. Its safe to say that influencer marketing isnt going anywhere online influencers on social platforms impact millennials and Generation Z even more than traditional celebrities do, Jones wrote. Related stories On YouTube, Clinton-Trump Debate No. 2 Views Up 40% Over First Clash Google to Rename its Cast App to Boost Google Home Twitter Sale: Disney, Google Are Out of the Running (Reports) By Nia Williams CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canadian cash crude differentials held firm on Tuesday, shrugging off coordinated climate change protests that temporarily disrupted five major cross-border crude pipelines to the United States. Activists in four U.S. states broke into remote flow stations to manually turn off valves on TransCanada Corp's Keystone line, Enbridge Inc's Line 4 and 67, the Spectra Energy Express line and a feeder line on Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain system. All the lines affected were shut down as a precaution, but the disruption was short-lived as they restarted later on Tuesday afternoon, helping minimize the impact on prices. Wester Canada Select heavy blend crude for November delivery last traded at $13.70 per barrel below the West Texas Intermediate benchmark, having widened out slightly to $13.80 per barrel below WTI earlier in the session. That compares with a settlement price on Friday, the last trading day before the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, of $13.70 per barrel below the benchmark. Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for November delivery last traded at 10 cents per barrel below WTI, having changed hands at 15 cents per barrel under the benchmark on Friday. (Editing by James Dalgleish) ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece has rejected asylum requests from seven of eight Turkish soldiers who fled there after an abortive coup attempt against President Tayyip Erdogan in July, their lawyer said on Tuesday. The eight Turkish soldiers flew a military helicopter into northern Greece on July 16, hours after a coup attempt by elements of the military in Turkey started unraveling. Turkey said they were involved in the coup attempt, an allegation the soldiers deny. Four members of the group were informed on Tuesday their asylum claims had been rejected by a first-instance board, joining another three previously rejected. One of them has lodged an appeal while the asylum board has not issued a decision on the eighth applicant. In a statement released by their lawyer, Stavroula Tomara, the soldiers said they believed the decision was guided by political expediency. She says they fear for their lives if are returned to Turkey. "We came to Greece to save our lives, not be pawns of foreign policy and bilateral agreements. We have not been labeled terrorists even in our own country," their statement said. Authorities had previously said the soldiers failed to furnish Greek authorities with sufficient evidence that they were not involved in the coup. Turkey had formally sought the extradition of the eight, describing them as "traitors" as Greece processed their asylum applications. It underscored occasionally strained relations between Athens and Ankara, NATO allies at odds over issues from Cyprus to air rights in the Aegean. The eight - three majors, three captains and two sergeant-majors - have been kept in protective custody pending the outcome of the asylum applications. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Alison Williams) Conakry (AFP) - Guinea's political parties have agreed to compensate victims of pre-election violence in 2013 by the government and the opposition, which rights groups say left 60 people dead. The months running up to the 2013 general election in the west African nation were beset by violence, while the opposition coalition alleged massive fraud including ballot stuffing and voter intimidation during the vote itself. The agreement was announced after the close late Monday of a "national dialogue" between political parties and civil society which has also produced a rough timeframe for long-delayed local elections. "One fund will be dedicated to compensating the beneficiaries of the dead and for disabled people, and a second will compensate victims of looting," opposition spokesman Aboubacar Sylla told AFP. Politics in Guinea typically polarises some two dozen ethnic groups who otherwise live in harmony alongside each other -- with the Fulani, the largest at around 40 percent of the population, followed by the Malinke and Soussou. A spokesman for the ruling Guinean People's Assembly (RPG) confirmed that compensation would be given to victims of violence in 2013 only. His statement follows a report issued by rights groups Monday condemning the absence of prosecutions or payouts to those affected by similar crimes in a 2015 presidential election. The Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International report also touched on the 2013 abuses, describing them as "unaddressed". The majority of 60 deaths registered during the run-up to the vote "were allegedly caused by members of the security services," they said. TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 11, 2016 / Gunpowder Capital Corp., (CSE:GPC), (CSE:GPC.PR.A), (YS6N.F), (the "Corporation") announced today that its fully owned subsidiary GP Self Storage has completed its first acquisition. The Corporation has acquired a fully automated storage facility in Madoc Ontario for the purchase price of Two Hundred and Ninety-Nine Thousand Dollars ("$299,000.00") CDN. The property was secured by making a payment of One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ("$150,000.00") CDN. The remaining balance was financed by a large Canadian financial institution with a 15 year mortgage bearing interest at 4.1% per annum. Revenue generated from the facility is approximately Thirty-three Thousand Dollars ("$33,000.00") per annum. The technological system in the facility is fully automated and handles payments, booking, access & security. GP Self Storage is currently looking at other facilities with a goal to rolling out the automated platform to achieve purchase synergies. The Corporation, after conducting and completing its due diligence, has decided not to pursue the second storage facility it was considering acquiring as stated in its July 6th, 2016 press release. Mr. Paul Haber stated: "We are very pleased to have completed our first self storage acquisition. This acquisition compliments our recent real estate purchase and provides hard assets and consistent cash flow against our merchant banking business which can be more cyclical in nature. We continue to look at expanding both of this operations as well as additional business lines that may benefit our stakeholders." For further information please contact: Mr. Frank Kordy Interim CEO & Director Gunpowder Capital Corp. T: (647) 466-4037 E: frank.kordy@gunpowdercapitalcorp.com Mr. Paul Haber CFO Gunpowder Capital Corp. T: (416) 363-3833 E: paul.haber@gunpowdercapitalcorp.com Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Although Management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: Gunpowder Capital Corp. Deadlines Jeremy Gerard and Jujamcyn Theatres majority owner and president Jordan Roth talk about the state of the industry, the only stipulation being no holds barred. GERARD: Its been more than a week since the death of Gordon Davidson and the Broadway League has yet to honor him with its one-minute dimming of the marquee lights. Whats wrong with your colleagues? If he had done no more than direct In The Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, The Trial Of The Catonsville Nine, The Shadow Box and Children Of A Lesser God, dayenu. But as head of the Center Theater Group/Mark Taper Forum, he nurtured and promoted works by Tony Kushner, August Wilson and Luis Valdez (though it was a Broadway flop, Zoot Suit was one of my favorite shows, way before its time), among countless others. I realize he was no Joan Rivers, but. ROTH: Of all the honors in our industry, this one is both the most significant and the most challenging. Significant because it speaks to a legendary life on and for Broadway and because so few receive it. Challenging because it comes or doesnt at the most painful moment for all who love and respect the person and because it is wholly subjective. At those moments, its impossible for those grieving not to compare one life to another. Why her and not him? Why then and not now? For everyone who had a meaningful impact on the theater, there are those who believe the lights should be dimmed. And theyre right. Everyone who dedicated their lives to the theater deserve its highest honor. But not all will receive it in the same way. Some will be honored by dimming at the one theater they worked mostly at, as we recently did at the ONeill for our beloved Irene Vincent, usher of almost 50 years. Some will be honored in the city they most worked in, as the great Gordon Davidson was last week when the major Broadway presenting houses of L.A. dimmed for him. And still others will be honored with memorial services in theaters or other tributes or in our hearts. That doesnt mean they gave less, doesnt mean they mattered less, doesnt mean they are less missed. GERARD: Jordan, your response leaves me speechless. To my mind it underscores the very provincialism the Broadway League has sought for years to dispel, as well as a disrespect for Broadway history. Gordon Davidsons impact on the theater went far beyond Los Angeles, as the Tony Awards acknowledged in 1977, when the Mark Taper Forum became only the third company (after D.C.s Arena Stage and, 28 years earlier, Virginias Barter Theatre) to be given the Regional Theatre Tony. All of the shows I mentioned above had a direct impact on contemporary American theater and on Broadway Next subject: My colleague Philip Boroff broke the news last week that producer Jeffrey Seller and his team have upped the top price of Hamilton tickets to $1,000 (OK, $998) during the holiday season. Will anybody in the business call this out? ROTH: Well, you just did. I had a sticker-shock moment too, but Im interested that you seem to be taking issue only with the show for charging it and not the ticket buyers for paying it. Takes two to tango. Or hip-hop. But just because people will pay it, does that mean shows should charge it? As long as legislation requires that tickets be resellable, then yes. Because if people are willing to pay it and shows dont charge it, brokers will. If you want to meaningfully limit what a ticket should cost, then you have to also limit resale so the person who ends up sitting in that seat actually paid the face value of the ticket. Even so, what should a ticket to the hottest current show on the most sought after week of the year in the best seat in the house cost? Thats the question we often miss in this ongoing debate. Were not talking about all tickets to all shows all year in all locations. And we do a disservice to our audience when we pretend we are, because theyll mistakenly think theres no way to come to Broadway for less. Theyll miss out on us and well miss out on them. GERARD: Sure, we know that in the free-marketplace, no matter how high the legitimate price goes, there will always be entrepreneurs to service the price-is-no-object crowd. Two things, however: First, the Hamilton folks, led by Seller and Lin-Manuel Miranda, have made it their cause to promote legislation prohibiting the use of bots by brokers to vacuum up tickets for the resale market and yet they consign large blocks of tickets to Broadway.com, a broker. Second, Miranda says he wants Hamilton tickets to be available to everyone on an equal basis. Yet these insane prices send a very different message, and to my mind that message is the one voiced by Michael Douglas in Wall Street: Greed is good. When do you draw the line between fair return on investment (need I point out that Hamilton recouped in record time?) and Gordon Gekkoism? Related stories 'Saturday Night Live' Week 2 Telecast With Host Lin-Manuel Miranda Sets 12-Year Ratings High 'Wicked' Leads 13% Broadway Box Office Surge; Liev Schreiber Looks Hot In 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' 'Saturday Night Live' Recap: Trump, Trump, And More Trump Harry Potter actor Devon Murray opens up about suicide and depression and we are here for him 100% Devon Murray spoke out about his own battle with depression in honor of World Mental Health Day and we are so proud of him. The Harry Potter actor took to Twitter to share his own experiences and encourage others to seek help. Murray played Seamus Finnigan, one of the Gryffindor House members and part of Dumbledores Army, in all of the Harry Potter films and although on-screen he was upbeat and cheerful most of the time, off screen the Irish actor was facing some inner demons. On Monday, October 10, which is World Mental Health Day, the 27-year-old actor opened up about his depression and it was quite powerful. Ive been battling depression in silence for ten years & only recently spoke about it and has made a huge difference #worldmentalhealthday, Murray first tweeted. I've been battling depression in silence for ten years & only recently spoke about it and has made a huge difference #worldmentalhealthday Devon Murray (@DevonMMurray) October 10, 2016 I had suicidal thoughts this year and that was the kick up the arse that I needed! Open up, talk to people #worldmentalhealthday, he added. I had suicidal thoughts this year and that was the kick up the arse that I needed! Open up, talk to people #worldmentalhealthday Devon Murray (@DevonMMurray) October 10, 2016 According to BBC, Murray had financial stress in April, after he was forced to pay his former agent 260,000 euros for unpaid commission. This amongst other things couldve attributed to Murrays suicidal thoughts, but luckily he is now getting the help he needs and feeling better. Story continues If you suspect a friend or family member is suffering in silence #ReachOut to them. Let them know you care #worldmentalhealthday, he finished saying on Monday. After the outpouring of love and support from his fans, Murray again spoke out on Twitter thanking everyone for their stories and kind words. Im so happy that from me opening up it helped so many of you find the strength to.We are all loved and cared about by those around us #talk, he wrote on Tuesday. Im also so thankful for all the kind messages of support yesterday. So much love for you all , he added. Were so grateful the Harry Potter star is speaking out on such an important issue as well. Good luck on your recovery, Devon! The post Harry Potter actor Devon Murray opens up about suicide and depression and we are here for him 100% appeared first on HelloGiggles. Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - Regime ally Russia carried out its heaviest strikes in days on Syria's Aleppo on Tuesday, as rebel fire killed at least five schoolchildren in the war-torn country's south. The raids in Aleppo killed 25 civilians, a monitor said, and caused massive damage in several residential areas of the city's rebel-held east. Russian President Vladimir Putin meanwhile cancelled a trip to Paris in a row over the violence in Syria, where Moscow is helping President Bashar al-Assad's forces in an operation to recapture all of Aleppo. Syria's army announced a bid last month to retake the city, which has been divided since mid-2012. The assault began after the collapse of a short-lived truce negotiated by Washington and Moscow, and has seen the besieged east of the city come under fierce aerial assault. The army said last Wednesday it would reduce its bombardment, after days of attacks that killed hundreds and destroyed the largest remaining hospital in the east. But an AFP correspondent and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported renewed heavy bombing on Tuesday. "This is the heaviest Russian bombardment since the Syrian regime announced it would reduce the bombardment" last week, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. The 25 dead, among them four children, were killed in raids in east Aleppo including in the districts of Bustan al-Qasr and Fardos, the Observatory said. - Children caught in crossfire - An AFP correspondent in Bustan al-Qasr saw a multi-storey residential building that had been destroyed, its facade sheared off. White Helmets rescuers removed two lifeless toddlers from the building and wrapped them in sheets. Footage by the Aleppo Media Centre activist group showed a toddler, blood smeared across her face, lying on a hospital bed. An elderly man near her wailed in pain as a team of medics bent over him, calling out instructions to the nurses. The Britain-based Observatory -- which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information -- says it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved. Story continues Backed by Russian air raids, government forces have been advancing street by street into rebel-held parts of Aleppo. More than 300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by government or Russian fire since the operation began, according to the Observatory. Rebel forces were also firing on western government-held districts of Aleppo on Tuesday, with state news agency SANA reporting four dead and 14 wounded in rebel bombing of Hamdaniyeh district. SANA also reported an unidentified number of injuries in a mortar shell attack near the famous Umayyad mosque in the Old City of Damascus. An AFP correspondent reported intense mortar fire raining down on several neighbourhoods of the capital. - France-Russia tensions - Elsewhere, state media said five children were among six people killed in rebel rocket fire on a primary school in the southern city of Daraa. The Observatory also reported the deaths, saying at least 25 people were wounded and the death toll could rise. Rebels hold most of Daraa province, but the regional capital is largely controlled by the government. The assault on Aleppo has sparked international condemnation, with fears for the fate of more than 250,000 civilians trapped inside the east of the city since the government imposed a siege in mid-July. French President Francois Hollande Sunday described the Aleppo campaign as a war crime, a day after Moscow vetoed a French-drafted UN resolution on a halt to air strikes on the city. In a sign of escalating tensions, the Kremlin Tuesday said Putin had called off an October 19 visit to inaugurate an Orthodox church in Paris, but was "ready to visit when it is comfortable for President Hollande". Moscow would "wait for when that comfortable time comes," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The French presidency said it had told the Kremlin Hollande would only meet Putin for a "working meeting" on Syria. British foreign minister Boris Johnson meanwhile called for anti-war campaigners to protest outside the Russian embassy in London. Johnson said the "wells of outrage are growing exhausted" and anti-war groups were not expressing sufficient outrage over Aleppo. More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011, and more than half the population has been displaced. Herbalife Ltd. HLF being a global nutrition company is committed toward providing weight management, energy and fitness and personal care products through dedicated Independent Herbalife members in more than 90 countries. Recently, the company unveiled the Herbalife SKIN Clearify product line to treat acne, blemishes, blackheads and whiteheads, as it aims to enhance the skincare line, and help people live healthier, happier lives through better nutrition. The Herbalife SKIN Clearify line is a dermatologist-tested treatment that delivers impressive results in four to eight weeks. The product targets consumers of age group 14 to 35 years. Salicylic acid is the main ingredient in the Herbalife SKIN Clearify line, which also contains fresh scented botanicals, such as aloe and orange oil. None of the products contain sulfates or parabens. Herbalifes SKIN Clearify product line includes a cleanser to reduce acnes severity, a moisturizer to heal the skin, a mask to penetrate pores and eliminate most blemishes, and a spot treatment to dry pimples. The four products can be purchased individually or in a kit containing full-size products of the entire treatment line for $70.25. HERBALIFE LTD Price and Consensus HERBALIFE LTD Price and Consensus | HERBALIFE LTD Quote We note that this weight management and nutritional products company has managed to beat estimates in the last four quarters, generating an average positive earnings surprise of 21.59%, on the back of volume improvement. Herbalife has been witnessing improving volume point trends in key markets, primarily impacted by its marketing plan changes, which were implemented in Feb 2015. In fact, the company is witnessing sequential improvements in key metrics in these markets and remains encouraged by the positive trends. However, Herbalife has been the target of activist investor William Bill Ackman, hedge fund manager of Pershing Square Capital Management since Dec 2012, when he launched his $1 billion short position in Herbalife shares. Ackman believes that the company was running a pyramid scheme business model, in which profits are largely derived from recruiting new distributors and not from product sales. Story continues Since then Ackman has been trying every means to prove that Herbalife runs a pyramid scheme model. Ackman's back-to-back allegations prompted a civil investigative demand in 2014 by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) related to the companys marketing practices. Nevertheless, in mid-Jul 2016, Herbalife reached a settlement with the FTC, and agreed to pay $200 million as penalty charges. The FTC had charged that Herbalife's earnings potential claims were deceptive and its compensation structure hinged on recruiting other product distributors instead of its selling capability. Ackman, however, maintains his stance against Herbalife even after the maker of weight-loss shakes and supplements reached a settlement with the FTC. On the other hand, activist investor Carl Icahn, the largest shareholder in Herbalife, is on a buying spree. He has asked the FTC for permission to buy as much as 50% of Herbalife. The step signals Icahns confidence in the nutritional products maker despite continuous allegations by fellow billionaire Bill Ackman who calls Herbalifes business model a pyramid scheme. It is not the only company which employs sales representatives to sell its products. Other multi-level marketing companies like Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. NUS, USANA Health Sciences Inc. USNA and Avon Products Inc. AVP also follow the same model. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AVON PRODS INC (AVP): Free Stock Analysis Report NU SKIN ENTERP (NUS): Free Stock Analysis Report USANA HLTH SCI (USNA): Free Stock Analysis Report HERBALIFE LTD (HLF): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research From Cosmopolitan Raissa Santana just made major history as the first black woman in 30 years to be crowned Miss Brazil. Back in 1986, Deise Nunes was crowned the first black Miss Brazil, making Santana the second black woman in the countrys history to ever hold the title. In other words, this is a big freaking deal. Heres why this pageant is so significant: According to the Latin Times, 54 percent of Brazils population consider themselves black or multiracial. However, the countrys pageants do not historically represent this demographic. This year, six out of 27 Miss Brazil contestants were black, making it the most diverse the pageant ever been. Santana, a 21-year-old marketing student and professional model from the southern state of Parana, has always been an advocate for diversity. During the competition she told the judges she wanted to "break the 30-year-old fast" since Afro-Brazilian Diese Nunes won the title. According to Essence, after Santanas victory she said, "Im very emotional. This here is a mixture of great emotions. I didnt expect to win this title, but I am very happy to have won this title and to represent black beauty and encourage girls who have the dream of having something, to conquer, to be a model, to be a Missnow I want to encourage these girls and show them that they can. I have no doubt that Santana, with her natural hair and all, will sparkle with her #BlackGirlMagic all over Brazil and beyond. Yaaaas, stunt and slay queen! Get non-boring fashion and beauty news directly in your feed. Follow Facebook.com/CosmoBeauty. Follow Maya on Instagram and Twitter. You Might Also Like Pot of coffee Dave Lutz, head of Exchange Traded Funds at JonesTrading, has a quick guide to what traders are talking about on Tuesday. In brief: Stock futures are slightly lower. Alcoa unofficially kicked off earnings season and reported profits that were lower than expected. The dollar is surging towards four-month highs against other major currencies, while the euro is falling and Brexit fears continue slamming the pound. Crude oil prices are pulling back from one-year highs after the International Energy Agency said OPEC production hit a record in September. Here's Lutz: Good Morning! US Futures are under some pressure, losing 20bp as we await AA to kick off earnings Season this AM. Its a sea of Green in Europe, with Fins reversing early losses, and Luxury acting well on back of LVMH #s while Tech and Energy shares are leading to the downside. FTSE is lagging a bit as UK Fins grapple w/ Brexit headers, offsetting a pop in those exporters. Volumes relatively muted, with most EU exchanges trading 10-20% light to trend. In Asia, Re-opening from a 3day weekend, NIkkei leapt 1% on the falling Yen - Shanghai added 60bp but Hang Seng fell 1.3% as Chinese property stocks continued to get whacked after the weekend headers - Aussie climbed small as Energy shares offset losses in the Big Fins, while the KOSPI was hit for 1% as Samsung got whacked. We have a full DXY ripper towards 4month highs as Evans (Huge Dove, Non-Voter) chattered a December increase and Trump implodes in the polls while that 10YY thru 1.77% and on new 4month+ peaks. The Euro is dropping fast below 1.11 despite a better German ZEW, while those Brexit hard-landing fears smacking the Pound again. Ore rose 2% for a 2nd day in a row in China, but all other metals are firmly red this AM, led by a 2% drop in Zinc and 1% drop in Silver. Oil is retreating from 1Y highs as IEA says OPEC production hit a record in September, while Gasoline is dropping 1% as the street awaits API data later tonight. Story continues Ahead of us today, we get Canadian Housing Starts at 8:15 - Bank of England Bond-Buying Operation Results at 9:50 - Fed's Kashkari Speaks at Town Hall in Arden Hill, MN at 11 - ECB's Mersch Speaks in New York at noon right when World Agricultural Supply & Demand Estimates hit. At 4:30 we get the API data for Crude, Gasoline and Distillates, and Yom Kippur begins at Sundown. Earnings season begins with AA today, but all eyeballs are on the big US banks reporting later this week. NOW WATCH: FEMA is tracking Hurricane Matthew using the 'Waffle House Index' More From Business Insider BEIRUT (Reuters) - The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said on Tuesday the Middle East was in a phase of escalating tension and there appeared to be no prospect of a political solution to the war in Syria. "The regional scene is currently one of tension and escalation, and it does not appear that there are paths for negotiations or solutions", he said in a rare live televised speech before thousands of supporters in Beirut. Speaking about Syria, where the Iran-backed group is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Nasrallah said "the theater was open to more tension, escalation and confrontation". However, large sections of his more than hour-long address, marking Shi'ite Islam's annual Ashura commemorations, were spent attacking Sunni power Saudi Arabia, the main regional rival of Iran, mostly over its military campaign in Yemen. Nasrallah said the Saudi leadership were pushing their country to "the abyss" and accused Riyadh of being responsible for an air strike on a Yemeni funeral in the capital Sanaa on Saturday that killed scores of people. Saudi Arabia, which backs Syrian rebels, earlier this year marshalled other Arab states to denounce Hezbollah as a terrorist group, part of Riyadh's efforts to contain Iran's influence and reduce its ability to support Assad. Hezbollah denies being involved in terrorism and Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in his speech on Tuesday. The thousands of Hezbollah supporters in the crowd, mostly dressed in the traditional dark colors worn by Shi'ites at Ashura, were shown repeatedly chanting "Death to the Al Saud", Riyadh's ruling dynasty, while pumping their fists in the air. (Reporting by Laila Bassam, Tom Perry and Angus McDowall; editing by Ralph Boulton) Violent threats made toward high schools involving clowns have swept the nation recently. "There's movies with creepy clowns, but that people are threatening kids with creepy clowns is just out of control and crazy," Cathy Archambault, a parent of a student at Bristol Central High School in Connecticut told a local news station. But many of these incidents have turned out to be hoaxes. A Montana teen was facing charges last week for making a threat against Missoula high schools involving clowns, which he said was a prank, a local newspaper reported. These aren't the only kind of threats that cause concern for high school administrators -- bomb threats, school shootings and other threats regularly occur, but often turn out to be unfounded. Parents and teachers of high schoolers may wonder whether to take threats seriously, but they should keep the following in mind before they make a judgment. 1. Don't dismiss any threats: The last thing parents or teachers should do when they hear about a threat is keep the information to themselves, says Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers. Share the information with law enforcement or the school's administration, he says, so they can investigate the threat. Find out [how high school educators should address traumatic events in class.] "I tell parents, if you have a question about anything, call us. That's why we are here. I would much rather spend an hour taking calls around clowns if that helps alleviate a fear within the community or helps alleviate some anxiety for students," says Daniel Kelley, principal of Smithfield High School in Rhode Island. He has handled bomb threats and hoaxes throughout his career, but none involving clowns yet, he says. If teachers see something amiss in their classroom, they should let administrators know, Canady says. 2. Don't investigate threats yourself: That can sometimes be tough for parents, Canady says, because there's a natural tendency for them to want to find out what's going on. But police may already be looking into the situation and parents could unintentionally hamper the investigation if they get involved. Story continues Kelley tells parents to be judicious about what they read or write on social media sites like Facebook. Facebook is not reliable source, he says, and when users share information that is not vetted, it can potentially cause more harm. Sometime parents may communicate with each other on social media and not realize there are students reading, he says. He would rather parents call the school if they have concerns than hash them out over Facebook. 3. Recognize there are procedures in place to keep teens safe: Officials don't dismiss any threats, Canady says. "I can't guarantee anyone's safety anywhere, but what I can say is that we do a lot of things to put safety measures in place, to create barriers to make it more difficult for would-be suspects to do egregious things," he says. "It's not perfect, but it's overall, I think it's a pretty sound principle that we follow when we do this in school." Learn [how schools are working to prevent school shootings.] And teens may be the ones keeping the school safe. The majority of hoaxes and threats Kelley has dealt with have been reported by students. Sometimes he receives private messages from students on social media late at night alerting him to concerning information. "The kids, really, kind of look out for each other because of the culture that we are trying to create and cultivate here in our school." Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at highschoolnotes@usnews.com. Alexandra Pannoni is an education Web producer at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at apannoni@usnews.com. Filming of History's Knightfall series is due to resume at its Barrandov Studios backlot set in mid-November following a major blaze in late August that caused a reported $4 million in damage. Local producers of the drama set in the Middle Ages say they are on schedule to wrap season one by Christmas. David Minkowski, a senior producer at Stillking, the local producer on Knightfall, told The Hollywood Reporter that the team "did not lose a day of filming after the fire," lauding "an amazing show of cooperation from everyone involved." "We are primarily waiting for the backlot to be re-built and not using alternative locations, as the backlot set is a unique and impressive set that cannot be duplicated," he went on to say. "That said, we did shift some scenes to various castles around the countryside." "We re-scheduled to shoot all interiors and location sets of every episode," Minkowski went on to say. "The backlot re-build completion coincides with completion of all interior/location work, so we will then go back and consecutively shoot all the missing backlot scenes for each episode. "The insurers approved [a claim] and backlot reconstruction began several weeks ago," he added. "Construction is scheduled to be completed by mid-November, so we will complete season one of the series before the holidays." On Aug. 26, a fire tore through a newly built set for the series, significantly damaging it. The damages were estimated at 100 million Czech crowns, or $4.1 million, according to various local media reports. The 10-episode season, which features Jeremy Renner as an executive producer and a guest star, was ordered in January. It is part of the cable network's continued scripted push on the heels of the success of Vikings. Read more: Oscars: Czech Republic Selects 'Lost in Munich' for Foreign-Language Category By Carlo Allegri and Gene Cherry LUMBERTON, N.C./KINSTON, N.C. (Reuters) - Flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew has displaced several thousand people in North Carolina, and authorities were helping more evacuate on Tuesday as swollen rivers threatened a wide swath of the state. Governor Pat McCrory warned of "extremely dangerous" conditions in the coming days in central and eastern North Carolina, where several rivers were at record or near-record levels. Matthew, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007, killed at least 1,000 people in Haiti last week before barreling up the U.S. southeastern coast and causing nearly 30 deaths in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. At a late afternoon news conference, McCrory said three more drownings had been confirmed, raising the death toll in the state to 17. An additional U.S. death occurred on Monday night in Lumberton, North Carolina, where officials said a highway patrol officer fatally shot a man who became hostile and flashed a handgun during search-and-rescue efforts in fast-running floodwater. Nearly 4,000 people have taken refuge in North Carolina shelters, including about 1,200 people in the hard-hit Lumberton area, where the Lumber River had crested at almost 4 feet (1.2 meters) above the prior record set in 2004 after Hurricane Frances. Water blanketed the city of 21,000 people, leaving businesses flooded, homes with water up to their roof lines and drivers stranded after a stretch of Interstate-95 became impassable. "We lost everything," said Sarah McCallum, 62, who was staying a shelter set up in an agricultural center after floodwaters drove her from her home of 20 years. State officials are particularly concerned about victims like McCallum, who have no flood insurance because they do not live in areas typically prone to such inundation. President Barack Obama on Monday signed a disaster declaration for North Carolina, which will make federal funding available to people in the hardest-hit areas. Obama approved a similar declaration on Tuesday for South Carolina, where Matthew made landfall on Saturday. State officials are now urging residents to prepare for potential flooding from the Waccamaw and Little Pee Dee rivers. About 532,000 homes and businesses remained without power in the U.S. Southeast on Tuesday, down from the peak of around 2.2 million Sunday morning when the storm was still battering the Carolina coasts. WORST FLOODING SINCE FLOYD Matthew dumped more than a foot (30 cm) of rain in areas of North Carolina already soaked from heavy September rainfall. It has triggered the worst flooding in the state since Hurricane Floyd in September 1999, the National Weather Service said. That storm caused devastating floods in North Carolina, resulting in 35 deaths, 7,000 destroyed homes and more than $3 billion in damages in the state. In Matthew's wake, officials are monitoring a number of overtopped or breaching dams in addition to the threat of inland river flooding, the governor's office said. Concerns about a potential breach of the Woodlake Dam, which led to overnight evacuations in the central North Carolina town of Spring Lake, had eased by Tuesday afternoon after it was reinforced with 700 sandbags. McCrory warned that the Tar River was expected to crest in Greenville, where a mandatory evacuation order is already in place. And officials remain concerned about Kinston, where significant flooding was already occurring from the Neuse River, which is expected to crest at about 27 feet (8 meters) on Saturday, just shy of the Floyd record. Retired construction worker Wesley Turner, 71, said he fled his home near Kinston with his dogs on Friday after his power went out and the water quickly rose to about chest deep. After several nights in a shelter, he did not know on Tuesday whether he had anything to return to. "I can't get to my house because it is under water," Turner said. (Additional reporting by Letitia Stein and Joseph Ax; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Bill Trott and Tom Brown) Miami (AFP) - The next US cargo supply trip to the International Space Station has been postponed until Sunday due to Hurricane Nicole, which is bearing down on Bermuda, NASA said Tuesday. Initially set for Thursday, Orbital ATK will now launch its unmanned Cygnus cargo ship no earlier than Sunday from Wallops Island, Virginia, the US space agency said. Nicole is expected to reach Bermuda on Thursday, and could interfere with key equipment used to assist with the launch which has been rescheduled at 8:03 pm (0003 GMT Monday). "The tracking station at Bermuda is required to conduct the Antares launch from Wallops," said Steven Kremer, chief of the Wallops Range and Mission Management Office. "The ability to support a launch will depend on the impact the storm has on not only our systems, but also the overall Bermuda infrastructure." Once the storm has passed Bermuda, experts will assess the damage and see what, if any, steps are needed to make the site operational again. Nicole was upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category One hurricane on Tuesday at 2100 GMT by the US National Hurricane Center, which issued a hurricane warning for Bermuda. Packing winds of 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour, the hurricane is currently the weakest on the Saffir-Simpson scale's 1-5 ranking, but is expected to strengthen in the coming days. Nicole could become a major hurricane, meaning Category Three or higher, by Wednesday, forecasters said. (Beijing) A group of leading rights organizations has awarded its annual prize for human rights defenders to imprisoned Chinese Muslim minority economics professor Ilham Tohti, shining new attention on a case that has brought strong international condemnation. The Martin Ennals Award is bestowed by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and eight other human rights groups. The award ceremony takes place in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday evening. Tohti, 46, was given a life sentence on charges of separatism in September 2014 after a two-day trial. A member of the Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group, he taught at Beijings Minzu University and was an outspoken critic of Beijings ethnic policies in the far western region of Xinjiang. Tohti denied Beijings relentless accusations of advocating separatism and violence. Tohti has sought reconciliation by bringing to light repressive Chinese policies and Uyghur grievances. This is information the Chinese government has sought to keep behind a veil of silence, the group said in a statement, using an alternative spelling for Uighur. He remains a voice of moderation and reconciliation in spite of how he has been treated, it said. Prevented from publishing, Tohti turned to the internet, running the site Uyghurbiz.net to foster discussion about the economic, social and developmental issues Uighurs face. Seven of Tohtis students were also sentenced in what was seen as a move to strengthen the governments case against him. Authorities accused Tohti and his students of forming a criminal gang that sought to split Xinjiang from China. Tohtis sentence was one of the harshest handed down to a government critic in recent years and came amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent under President Xi Jinping. He was tried and imprisoned in Xinjiang, more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) from Beijing, making it difficult and expensive for his family to see him in brief bi-monthly visits. Story continues Tohtis trial and sentencing brought statements of condemnation from numerous Western governments and the European Union, and in January this year several hundred academics petitioned Chinas authoritarian Communist government to release him. Many pointed out that Tohti was a voice for moderation and understanding at a time of intense friction between Islam, the West and China. The real shame of this situation is that by eliminating the moderate voice of Ilham Tohti, the Chinese government is in fact laying the groundwork for the very extremism it says it wants to prevent, said Dick Oosting, chairman of the foundation that presents the award, named after a former secretary general of Amnesty International. Many Uighurs say Chinese government policies and an influx of migrants belonging to Chinas majority Han ethnic group have threatened their culture and left them economically marginalized. Such sentiments are seen as driving occasional outbursts of violence, including deadly riots in the regional capital of Urumqi in 2009. At a regular briefing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman reiterated the authorities allegation that Tohti was inciting others to participate in terrorist activities. Geng Shuang said Tohtis case was backed by evidence and has nothing to do with human rights. The government was enraged by the awarding of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo. China accused Norway, which hosts the award ceremony, of a deliberate insult, and relations between the two have yet to recover. The award not only duly recognizes Prof. Ilham Tohtis courageous work promoting minority rights and dialogues between Hans and Uighurs, it also highlights the Chinese governments increasingly harsh punishment against its critics, said Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based researcher with Human Rights Watch. Instead of reacting angrily to the news, the Chinese government should release Ilham Tohti and reverse its repressive policies in Xinjiang, Wang said. This years other finalists for the award were Ethiopian independent journalism collective Zone 9 Bloggers, and Syrian human rights lawyer, activist and journalist Razan Zaitouneh. Tohti is also one of four candidates for the European Unions prestigious Sakharov Prize for human rights awarded later this month. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at Ohio State University in Monday. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) The Clinton campaign today tried to tamp down a mounting controversy over a newly disclosed, and potentially explosive, email in which the former secretary of state appeared to accuse the Saudi and Qatari governments of secretly funding the Islamic State. On Aug. 17, 2014 eight months before she declared her candidacy for president Clinton sent a detailed strategy for combating the Islamic State, which she referred to as ISIL, in an email to John Podesta, then a White House counselor and now her campaign chairman. Along with a military campaign to roll back the terror group in Iraq, the Clinton email talks about confronting the Saudis and the Qataris, both key U.S. allies, over what she refers to as governmental backing of ISIL. The Clinton email states: We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region. As a basis for the assertions, Clinton in the email cites Western intelligence, U.S. intelligence and sources in the region. The email was among thousands hacked from Podestas private Gmail account and released this week by WikiLeaks in what appears to be an attempt to embarrass the Clinton campaign. The campaign has struggled to respond to the contents of the emails, insisting it does not want to authenticate material that it and the U.S. government now believe came from a Russian state-sponsored cyberattack. The campaign would not say whether Clinton personally wrote the email, which reads like a position or policy paper, although it was sent from her private email account. These are hacked, stolen documents by the Russian government, which has weaponized WikiLeaks to help elect Donald Trump, Glen Caplin, a senior Clinton campaign spokesman, told Yahoo News. Were not going to confirm the authenticity of any specific alleged communication. Story continues At the same time, a campaign aide also argued that the sentiment expressed in the email isnt new. Clinton has repeatedly called out the Saudis and Qataris for supporting terrorism, said the aide, declining to be named. As evidence, the aide pointed to Clintons remarks in a speech last November. And, once and for all, the Saudis, the Qataris, and others need to stop their citizens from directly funding extremist organizations, as well as schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path toward radicalization, she said then. In yet another instance cited by the aide, Clinton asserted in a September 2015 speech at the Brookings Institution that nobody can deny that much of the extremism in the world today is a direct result of policies and funding undertaken by the Saudi government and individuals. We would be foolish not to recognize that. But in that and other remarks, Clinton appeared to be referring to general Saudi support for Islamic mosques that have been accused of spreading extremist ideology while calling out its government for not cracking down on private citizens sending money to terror organizations. In her email to Podesta, she goes beyond this, saying the Saudi and Qatari governments themselves are funding ISIS a far more serious allegation with potentially more dramatic diplomatic implications. And one that has riled up critics of Saudi Arabia here in the U.S. Clearly, this Clinton email shows the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is continuing to covertly fund and logically support terrorist groups that kill Americans, said Kristen Breitweiser, one of the leaders of the 9/11 family members who have been lobbying for recently enacted legislation opposed by the Obama administration that would allow them to sue the Saudis in federal court over their support for al-Qaeda. Apparently, everybody in Washington knows that the Saudis are doing this, yet the White House and the State Department are against holding them accountable. Breitweiser added about the contents of the email: This is a clear example of the difference between how people speak to each other privately compared to what they say publicly. Clinton broke with Obama over the legislation Breitweiser lobbied for; her campaign said she would have signed the bill allowing U.S. citizens to sue countries that sponsored terrorism into law. The Saudi government, through Qorvis Communications, one of its lobbying and public relations firms, responded to questions about the email Tuesday, saying it would not comment on leaked documents, but adding that the allegations of government funding are preposterous and simply defy logic. Saudi Arabia is on the forefront of fighting terrorism in the region and around the world, the Saudi statement said. Daesh (an Arabic term for the Islamic State) is a sworn enemy of Saudi Arabia. It has called for the overthrow of the Saudi government and made the gulf kingdom its main target because it is the birthplace of Islam and home to the Two Holy Mosques. Noting the military and other actions the Saudi government has taken to fight the Islamic State including an aggressive public education and ideological campaign to discredit the group, the Saudi statement added: Saudi Arabia has long-maintained that it will thoroughly investigate any reports of funding of terrorist organizations by Saudi citizens or institutions. Its unclear if Clinton actually wrote the email herself or was simply passing along a policy paper that was written by an aide or some other source. The lengthy document is in many respects unlike any of the mostly terse emails from her private email account that have been made public by the State Department. (Some former top U.S. national security experts last week warned that the Russians may seek to doctor leaked material, but the Clinton campaign has yet to offer evidence that any of the WikiLeaks emails were forged or tampered with.) And the rest of the positions outlined in the email such as stepped-up air campaign and arming the Kurds match closely with Clintons publicly stated positions on how to fight ISIS. Still, the email goes much further than Clinton or President Barack Obama have before in publicly pointing a finger at U.S. allies for funding ISIS. But it does appear to reflect views that have been shared privately by some in the White House. A few months after Clinton sent this email, Vice President Joe Biden was forced to apologize for similar remarks. He told a group of students at Harvards Kennedy School of Government that our allies contributed to the rise of ISIS. The Turks the Saudis, the Emirates, etc., what were they doing? They were so determined to take down [Syrian President Bashar] Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war, what did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens, thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad, Biden said then. (Asked about the content of the Clinton email, White House spokesman Edward Price said: Well decline to comment on purportedly leaked emails.) Clinton sent the email to Podesta when he still worked for Obama as counselor. He became Clintons campaign chair in January of 2015. Adding to the potential awkwardness for her campaign, Podestas brother, Tony Podesta, runs one of Washingtons biggest lobbying firms, which in September 2015 signed a contract to lobby for the Saudi government. A few weeks later, Tony Podesta held a Clinton campaign fundraiser, attended by John Podesta, and has since been listed as one of the campaigns chief bundlers or premier fundraisers. The Clinton campaign did not return a request for comment about whether the candidate believes it is appropriate to accept campaign donations from someone who has lobbied for a government she believes is sponsoring terrorism. Podesta also did not respond to a request for comment. INDORE, India (Reuters) - Cheteshwar Pujara continued his prolific form by registering an eighth test century to help India set New Zealand a huge 475-run victory target in the third and final test on Tuesday. Paceman Umesh Yadav then quickly trapped Tom Latham (six) lbw to leave the hosts needing nine New Zealand wickets in four sessions to complete a 3-0 series sweep. New Zealand were 38 for one at tea on the fourth day with Martin Guptill (eight) and skipper Kane Williamson (23) in the middle, the tourists needing 437 more runs for an improbable victory. Earlier, Gautam Gambhir struck 50 on his test return and Pujara remained not out on 101 as India declared their second innings on 216-3 around an hour before the tea break. Resuming on 18-0, the hosts lost their first wicket when opener Murali Vijay was run out for 19 after aborting a quick single but Gambhir returned to the crease and scored fluently. Injuries to openers Lokesh Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan prompted Gambhir's return to the test arena after a two-year absence and the southpaw initially failed to capitalise with a patchy first innings score of 29. Things looked worse for Gambhir on Monday when he retired hurt with an injured shoulder but the Delhi player walked back out to bat after Vijay's exit. Gambhir hit six boundaries before completing his 22nd test fifty off 54 balls but was dismissed when he drove off-spinner Jeetan Patel straight to Guptill at cover. Patel dismissed home captain Virat Kohli (17) lbw for the second time in the match but Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane (23 not out) added 58 quick runs before Kohli called them in. Pujara's hundred, to go with his three fifties in the series, included nine boundaries. (Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by John O'Brien) By Michael Georgy, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Ahmed Rasheed ERBIL/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State militants have placed booby traps across the city of Mosul, dug tunnels and recruited children as spies in anticipation of an offensive to dislodge the jihadists from their Iraqi stronghold, Iraqis and U.S. officials said. Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been the headquarters of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in northern Iraq since 2014 and the militants are making complex preparations to prevent Iraqi security forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, taking it back. The battle for the city, expected later this month, will help shape the future of Iraq and the legacy of U.S. President Barack Obama. Even if Islamic State is driven out, there is a real danger of sectarian strife, especially if civilian casualties are high in a mainly Sunni city wary of the Shi-ite led Iraqi government and the Shi'ite militias it depends on. The jihadists, who swept into Mosul almost unopposed two years ago as Iraqi forces fled, have rigged its five bridges with explosives, prepared car bombs and suicide attackers and stepped up surveillance, according to four residents who spoke via telephone or social media. "They are digging in to fight for Mosul. They are more cautious, shaving their beards to blend in with the population and constantly moving their headquarters around," said former finance and foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari, Zebari, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party with access to intelligence on Islamic State movements in Mosul, and Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, both said the group was moving men and equipment through underground tunnels. "You see a fighter go in one place and pop up in another," said Dorrian. "The entrances are always exposed and those are a priority target." Islamic State fighters have put up concrete embankments and are using concrete T-walls to block points of entry for the attacking force, he said. Mosul residents said the militants have also dug a two meter by two meter trench around the perimeter of the city to be filled with burning oil to make air strikes more difficult. Aid groups have expressed concern over the prospect that many civilians could be killed in the fighting. About 200,000 people are expected to flee within the first two weeks of fighting, said Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq. "FUTURE TERRORISTS" Reuters was unable to directly verify the reports of Islamic States battle preparations. This story is based on interviews with U.S. and Iraqi officials such as Zebari and Dorrian and phone interviews with civilians in Mosul. The planned coalition attack is part of a concerted assault that has reclaimed territory from IS in Syria, Iraq and Libya. The militants have recently lost control of the Iraqi cities of Falluja and Ramadi and are threatening to execute anyone discussing "liberation" in Mosul, according to residents and Sunni militia forces who spoke to relatives there. One resident said children as young as eight, sometimes armed with pistols and knives, have been deployed across the city to monitor and inform on the population. The children recruit other children for the same task. "Its a really heartbreaking scene to see Mosuls kids becoming future terrorists. I taught my seven-year-old son all about autism to pretend hes mentally ill to avoid being recruited by Daesh," the resident said by WhatsApp, using an Arab acronym for Islamic State. "They are desperate and they could force even children to fight once government troops are at the doors of Mosul." Other residents say they have begun using older mobile phones which cannot carry applications like Viber, WhatsApp or Facebook messenger, because Islamic State fighters are highly sensitive to the use of smart phones which make it easier to pass information about their operations to security forces. Jihadists sit on the rooftops of tall buildings on the edge of Mosul with night-vision binoculars to watch for anyone trying to escape and fighters are making holes in the streets with jackhammers to place improvised explosive devices. "It would make it like hell if they placed bombs in each hole," one of the residents said. SECTARIAN FEARS The campaign could either increase the chances of a unified Iraq or break it up if sectarian clashes follow as various groups compete for influence in the country's second largest city, Iraqi officials say. Iraq descended into civil war, mainly between Shi'ites and Sunnis, after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, and some Sunni Arab tribal leaders and former members of Saddam's Baath Party support Islamic State. Before a single shot has been fired, Iraqi security forces have been working in Mosul to sway community leaders away from the group, a Western diplomat said. Zebari said there were signs of a nascent resistance movement in the city, where some residents have spray painted "wanted" signs on the houses of Islamic State fighters and commanders, risking death. The jihadists have started bringing women along for surprise house searches so they can check that female residents, who are not allowed to mix with men outside the family, are not hiding anything from the group. They are desperate, they look afraid , this is the first time they use their women in searching houses," a Mosul resident, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, told Reuters over social media. "Two days ago, I rushed to my house door after hearing repeated knocks and when I opened the door I saw three women in Islamic hijab showing only their eyes with three Daesh fighters behind them," the resident said. All the residents said the group was using cranes to lower fighters beneath bridges in the city to place explosives there. "They carry out the booby trapping of the bridges during the night to avoid air strikes," said one. Some Islamic State leaders and fighters have been leaving for the town of Tal Afar, also under Islamic State control, or further on across the Syrian border, U.S. officials said. The security forces have been buoyed by victories against the group in Falluja and Ramadi, but face an additional challenge as Iraqi officials squabble over the composition of the fighting force for Mosul, Iraqi officials said. The primary goal is to keep Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias out of Mosul to avoid sectarian clashes in a Sunni-majority city. Shi'ite militias will be allowed to take the lead in operations to retake Hawija, a nearby town controlled by Islamic State, officials said. They hope that driving Islamic State from Mosul will debilitate the group, although it could still threaten Iraq. "They could go underground and carry out terrorist acts," Zebari said. "But not as an organized movement." (Additional reporting by John Walcott in Washington; editing by Philippa Fletcher) VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 11, 2016 / International Lithium Corp. (TSXV: ILC.V) (the "Company" or "ILC") in conjunction with strategic partner Pioneer Resources Limited ("Pioneer") (ASX:PIO) have mobilized field crews to the Mavis and Raleigh lithium pegmatite projects east of Dryden, Ontario, Canada. In addition, 3 claims totalling 640 hectares (1,581 acres) were added to the west and along trend of the high-grade lithium spodumene pegmatites adjacent to the Mavis project boundary. Planned Exploration Programs' Key Highlights: Mavis: 400 lithogeochemical (rock chips) sample program to refine drill targets in high priority areas; Mavis West: 3 claims totalling 640 hectares newly staked to encompass extension of high-grade pegmatites near western edge of previous Mavis project boundary; 58 km ground magnetic survey to delineate target lithology along pegmatite trend; 100 lithogeochemical sample program to define continuation of pegmatite corridor; Raleigh: 500 lithogeochemical sample program to refine and extend drill targets in high priority areas; Comprehensive airborne magnetic survey across entire project to delineate target lithology to assist with drill placement; Mavis and Raleigh Exploration Programs A $1 million budget has been allocated across the Mavis and Raleigh lithium pegmatite projects ("Projects"). The exploration programs will include lithogeochemical sampling, ground and airborne geophysics and 3,000m of diamond drilling with 1,500m allocated to each of the Projects and anticipated for the fall and winter 2016. The budgeted exploration expenditures will be wholly funded by Pioneer as part of their earn-in on the Projects (See details regarding the terms of the Mavis and Raleigh option agreements in Company news releases dated June 22 and July 26, 2016). To date a continuous-reading ground magnetic survey has been completed over much of the Mavis Lithium Project that has produced a high resolution image revealing the preferential lithological contacts and structures hosting the lithium spodumene pegmatites. In addition a first phase of lithogeochemical sampling has been completed. The current field program will primarily comprise a follow-up 400 lithogeochemical sampling program to refine drill targeting in areas identified as high priority. Story continues Along strike and to the west of the high-grade spodumene pegmatites near the western edge of the Mavis project boundary, 3 claims totalling 640 hectares have been contiguously staked. The new project area, referred to as Mavis West, is known from historical work to host pegmatites that are situated on trend of the Fairservice Group of high-grade spodumene pegmatites near the western boundary of the Company's Mavis Project. The Mavis West claims will form part of the existing Mavis Project and be incorporated into the associated option agreement with Pioneer. The current exploration program at Mavis West comprising a 58 km ground magnetic survey and a 100 lithogeochemical sampling program is designed to define the continuation of the prime pegmatite corridor and continue to delineate the target lithology that hosts lithium bearing pegmatites. Following completion of the exploration program at Mavis the field crews will move to the Raleigh project. The exploration program at Raleigh will comprise a 500 lithogeochemical sampling program to refine drill targets in high priority areas and a comprehensive airborne magnetic survey across the entire Project to delineate the target lithology and assist with drill placement. About the Mavis and Raleigh Lithium Pegmatite Projects The Mavis and Raleigh Lithium Projects are situated 19 and 80 kilometres east respectively from the town of Dryden, Ontario. Both Projects are in close vicinity to the Trans-Canada highway and railway major transportation arteries linking larger cities such as Thunder Bay, Ontario, to the southeast and Winnipeg, Manitoba, to the west. When rare-metal pegmatites are emplaced, the host rocks adjacent to the pegmatite may be enriched by the associated fluids forming a rare-metals' dispersion halo around the pegmatite body. Normally the extent of the rare-metal alteration halo is within a few meters of the pegmatite. Whereas, the pegmatite belts at Mavis and Raleigh exhibit alteration halos on the order of tens of metres wide, representing some of the broadest and strongest host-rock lithium anomalies observed around the world and denoting an intense mineralizing system. Previous exploration programs on the Projects successfully discovered spodumene bearing high-grade Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum ("LCT") pegmatites within these anomalous bands (see Company news releases March 14, March 23, July 13 and July 25, 2016 for further details). The close proximity of the Projects presents clear strategic and operational advantages. ILC is pursuing lithium prospects with reported high grades in this region and seeking to consolidate them with the aim to identify sufficient resources in multiple prospects to potentially feed a common processing facility. The Upper Canada Lithium Pool is the anticipated geographical consolidation of projects and partnered companies hosting amenable grade, volume, access and infrastructure in order to mitigate the financial burden on any one company when advancing specific projects to reach this goal. John Harrop, P.Geo, FGS, is a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101 who has supervised preparation of the technical information contained in this news release. About International Lithium Corp. International Lithium Corp. is an exploration company with an outstanding portfolio of projects, strong management ownership, robust financial support and a strategic partner and keystone investor Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd., a leading China based lithium product manufacturer. The Company's primary focus is the Mariana lithium-potash brine project, a joint venture with Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. within the renowned South American "Lithium Belt" that is the host to the vast majority of global lithium resources, reserves and production. The 160 square kilometre Mariana project strategically encompasses an entire mineral rich evaporate basin that ranks as one of the more prospective salars or 'salt lakes' in the region. Complementing the Company's lithium brine project are three rare metals pegmatite properties in Canada known as the Mavis, Raleigh, and Forgan projects; and one project in Ireland (Avalonia project) that encompasses an extensive 50km long pegmatite belt. The Avalonia project is under option to strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium and the Mavis and Raleigh projects with strategic partner Pioneer Resources Limited (PIO:ASX). The Mavis, Raleigh and Forgan projects together form the basis of the Company's newly created Upper Canada Lithium Pool designated to focus on acquiring numerous prospects with previously reported high concentrations of lithium in close proximity to existing infrastructure. With the increasing demand for high tech rechargeable batteries used in vehicle propulsion technologies and portable electronics, lithium is paramount to tomorrow's "green-tech", sustainable economy. By positioning itself with solid development partners and acquiring high quality grass roots projects at an early stage of exploration, ILC aims to be the resource explorer of choice for investors in green tech and build value for its shareholders. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Kirill Klip President, International Lithium Corp. For further information regarding this news release contact Caroline Klukowski (Corporate Communications) at 604.687.7551 or view the website at www.internationallithium.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Statements in this press release other than purely historical information, historical estimates should not be relied upon, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, are forward-looking statements. News release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the Company's business, including risks inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. SOURCE: International Lithium Corp. By Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India may merge two large state banks in the coming fiscal year once a cleanup of bad assets has run its course, the official overseeing a turnaround of the sector told Reuters, days before a new process to resolve stressed assets goes live. Consolidation of India's public-sector banks would represent a final step in rebuilding a financial system capable of underwriting credit growth and job-creating investment in Asia's third-largest economy. First, though, the state banks must cleanse their balance sheets. They accounted for 88 percent of a pile of stressed loans that exceeded $138 billion in June, the legacy of a lending binge under the last government that has hobbled Prime Minister Narendra Modi's growth agenda. Vinod Rai, the veteran bureaucrat hired this year to head a new Banks Board Bureau, said a next step could be the merger of "two large Mumbai-based banks" that he declined to identify. "Once that consolidation has taken place, in the second phase, we will put a weaker, smaller bank into this merged entity," he said in an interview. Rai declined to go into detail, saying deliberations were preliminary and depended on the success of efforts to restructure the balance sheets of India's nearly two dozen public sector banks. Apart from market leader State Bank of India, now acquiring several affiliates, the two largest public sector banks based in India's financial capital are Bank of Baroda and Bank of India. SEEKING RESOLUTION Rai, a 68-year-old former auditor general, was hauled out of retirement to strengthen management at state banks that had often succumbed to political pressure to back projects that were not economically viable. His mandate quickly grew, however, and a proposal to create an advisory committee that could review proposals to take writedowns, or "haircuts", on irrecoverable loans was enshrined in a Reserve Bank of India circular in June. The Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets, or S4A for short, survived a leadership transition at the central bank and is backed by its new governor, Urjit Patel, who announced after his first policy meeting last week that he would tweak its terms to make it more practical for banks. Story continues "I have had detailed discussions with the new governor, who is totally on board," Rai said. The two-man panel comprises ex-Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar and Janki Ballabh, previously SBI chairman, and will review its first three loan restructuring cases next week. "If bankers find that it is easy to use this channel to get a resolution, they will queue up," said Rai. "It takes the onus of the decision off their backs." BAD BANK DEBATE Starting from the 2017/18 fiscal year, minority shareholders in state banks will be encouraged to subscribe to rights issues - offerings of new shares - alongside the state. Rai said these investments would be attractive because many state banks are valued at a discount to their book value. But this process should only move ahead once non-performing assets, or NPAs, are dealt with. "Recapitalising the banks when they are carrying huge amounts of NPAs on their books makes no sense. It just gets lost into that big black hole." Non-performing loans grew to 11.3 percent of total loans at public sector banks as of June. India is fiscally constrained and, although Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has signalled he could inject more capital beyond the 700 billion rupees ($10.5 billion) budgeted over four years to March 2019, that is nowhere near enough. Rai played down reports the government was again considering a so-called bad bank as a repository for bad loans - an idea opposed by former RBI chief Raghuram Rajan. India already has 15 so-called asset reconstruction companies, and setting up another one and loading it up with non-performing loans "would be a futile exercise", he said. ($1 = 66.5919 Indian rupees) (Additional reporting by Devidutta Triphathy; Editing by Kim Coghill) Karbala (Iraq) (AFP) - Thousands of Iraqi security personnel guarded areas in and around Karbala on Tuesday to protect hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims flocking to the shrine city for annual mourning rituals. Shiites in Iraq have come under frequent attack by Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group who regard them as heretics and who still control some territory in Anbar province, to the west of Karbala, though attacks in the city itself are rare. Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, is buried in Karbala, and Shiite pilgrims pack the city each year for Ashura commemorations, which mark his death in the 7th century. "Our forces from the army and local and federal police took strict security measures culminating today to protect pilgrims in and around Karbala," police spokesman Colonel Alaa al-Ghanimi told AFP. "Forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi have implemented security measures to control areas in the west of Karbala province," Ghanimi said, referring to an umbrella organisation for pro-government militiamen. According to Ghanimi, some 30,000 security personnel are taking part in efforts to guard the city and its surroundings. On Tuesday, pilgrims sang songs about the story of Imam Hussein's death, some beating their chests with their hands or their backs with chains in mourning. Black banners were draped around the city, and pilgrims, most of them black-clad, packed the streets around the shrines of Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas. The number of pilgrims participating in the Ashura commemorations is expected to be huge, with Karbala deputy governor Ali al-Mayali saying it was expected to reach three million. Some 250,000 pilgrims have arrived over the past two days, Mayali said. Ghanimi said there had been no security breaches so far, and while IS frequently targets Shiites in Baghdad and elsewhere, Karbala is usually much more secure. - 1,300 years of mourning - IS claimed a Sunday bombing in Baghdad that hit a tent where Shiites were distributing refreshments on the occasion of the commemorations for Imam Hussein, killing at least five people. Story continues Imam Hussein was killed in 680 AD by forces of the Caliph Yazid, and his death is marked every year on the 10th day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, which is known as Ashura. Imam Hussein's death was part of a dispute over who should succeed the Prophet Mohammed, which eventually developed into a bitter schism between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam. Some Muslims, who became known as Shiites, believed that a blood relative of the Prophet Mohammed should succeed him as the spiritual and temporal leader of Muslims, and backed his cousin and son-in-law Ali -- Hussein's father -- as successor. Others, now known as Sunnis, insisted that relationship to the prophet by blood was not required -- a position that carried the day for his three immediate successors before Imam Ali became the fourth. Muawiyah, who founded the Umayyad dynasty, took power as caliph on Ali's death, and, according to Shiite tradition, named his son as successor in violation of an agreement under which Imam Hussein should have succeeded. According to Shiite belief, Imam Hussein went knowingly to his death at the hands of Yazid's forces in what is now Iraq in a bid to expose the corruption and irreligiosity of his rule. This ideal of self-sacrifice is a key tenet of Shiite Islam to this day, inspiring followers to give their lives for causes, including the war against IS. Iraqi forces are currently preparing for a final push on Mosul, the last city in Iraq held by IS, which has lost much of the ground it seized in 2014. Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi hit back on Tuesday against dismissive comments by Turkey's president, mocking his appeal to the nation via video call during a failed coup attempt. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Abadi earlier in the day to "know your place," and said that he is "not on my level" -- another escalation in the war of words between the two sides over Ankara's deployment of troops in Iraq's north. "We will liberate our land through the determination of our men and not by video calls," Abadi's official Twitter account said. Erdogan made a desperate appeal via video calling application FaceTime for citizens to resist a July attempt to overthrow the government, rallying resistance that helped to thwart the coup. Abadi's spokesman Saad al-Hadithi told AFP that Erdogan, with his latest remarks, was "pouring oil on the fire," adding that Turkey's responses had made an issue of law and security into a "problem of a personal nature". "It seems that Turkey is not serious about solving the problem with Iraq," Hadithi said. Abadi has repeatedly called on Turkey to withdraw troops deployed near the northern city of Mosul, and said that they will not play a role in the operation to retake it from the Islamic State jihadist group. Turkey has ignored these requests and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said last week that the country's forces would stay "no matter what the Iraqi government in Baghdad says." The dispute has now lasted for almost a year, and was reignited by the Turkish parliament's decision to extend a government mandate, thereby allowing Turkish troops to remain in Iraq. Turkey has had forces deployed in northern Iraq since the 1990s in areas that are part of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, which also currently controls the area near Mosul where the Turkish troops are deployed. Story continues Kurdish security forces are in practice not under Abadi's command, meaning that appealing for their withdrawal and pushing for allies to help is his main recourse at the moment. Iraq has called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the dispute, which threatens to complicate plans to recapture Mosul from IS. Iraqi forces are currently preparing for the operation to seize the city from IS, which overran it and other areas in 2014 but has since lost significant ground in the country. * Ireland is country most exposed to risks from Brexit * Budget measures aim to help exporters, tourism * Business groups critical, main opposition demands more * Budget also cuts income taxes, helps new home-buyers (Adds reaction) By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries DUBLIN, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Ireland's finance minister unveiled his "Brexit-proof" budget on Tuesday, but business groups and the opposition said it failed to protect the economy from the likely impact of its main trading partner quitting the European Union. The 2017 draft budget cuts taxes and increases spending by 1.3 billion euros, and includes measures to help exporters already suffering from a dive in the value of sterling that is squeezing their profit margins. "The UK's decision to exit the European Union represents a real risk to our economy," Finance Minister Michael Noonan told parliament as he presented a budget aimed at shielding Ireland's strong economic recovery. "The best and most immediate policy under our control to mitigate this risk is to control the public finances," he said. The budget keeps a lower VAT rate for the tourism sector, to help cushion a slowdown in British visitors, and farmers dependent on exporting to Britain will be offered cheaper loans and other tax relief. Taxes will also be cut for entrepreneurs but modest increases in funding for enterprise agencies were described as "pathetic" by the main opposition party, Fianna Fail, whose cooperation is needed for the government to pass the budget. "If you compare that to what is being done throughout Europe, who have a lot less at stake, my God they are a lot better prepared for what is coming down the track," Fianna Fail's finance spokesman Michael McGrath told parliament. The Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) said an 18 percent plunge in the value of sterling versus the euro since the June 23 Brexit referendum put thousands of export jobs at risk. "It's not a Brexit-proof budget and doesn't look much different from what it would have been had Brexit not happened. They clearly have not done enough to help those companies that are most exposed," said IBEC's chief economist Fergal O'Brien. Story continues "Business will be looking for the taoiseach (prime minister) to lead an urgent response in the next 60 days in terms of further measures." "DETRIMENTAL IMPACT" Ireland's economy is set to grow faster than any other in the European Union for the third successive year but is also the most exposed to Brexit, which has already led to a cut in its growth forecasts in 2016 and 2017. In a presentation accompanying the budget, the finance ministry said the risk of a "hard Brexit", where Britain leaves the EU's single market, was now high and would have a "detrimental impact on Irish-UK trade". With over two-thirds of the budget package going towards services still suffering from years of spending cuts during the financial crisis, Noonan introduced modest income tax cuts for low- and middle-income earners for the third year in a row. Improved childcare subsidies were also introduced, as were details of a grant of up to 20,000 euros for first-time buyers of new homes struggling to save deposits required under central bank rules, though some worry it would just boost prices. Even though gross domestic product ballooned by 26 percent in 2015 on a technical revision, improving Ireland's debt dynamics at the stroke of a pen, Noonan committed to cutting the national debt faster than required under EU rules. He set a new target to reach a debt-to-GDP ratio of 45 percent, lower than the 60 percent EU limit, by the mid-2020s, or later depending on economic growth. Voting on the budget will begin later on Tuesday and continue in the coming weeks. Fianna Fail's McGrath told Reuters last week he was confident the budget would pass, although in his speech in parliament he did not say how his party would vote. (Editing by Robin Pomeroy) By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's finance minister unveiled his "Brexit-proof" budget on Tuesday, but business groups and the opposition said it failed to protect the economy from the likely impact of its main trading partner, Britain, quitting the European Union. The 2017 draft budget cuts taxes and increases spending by 1.3 billion euros, and includes measures to help exporters already suffering from a dive in the value of sterling (GBP=D4) that is squeezing their profit margins. "The UK's decision to exit the European Union represents a real risk to our economy," Finance Minister Michael Noonan told parliament as he presented a budget aimed at shielding Ireland's strong economic recovery. "The best and most immediate policy under our control to mitigate this risk is to control the public finances," he said. The budget keeps a lower VAT rate for the tourism sector, to help cushion a slowdown in British visitors, and farmers dependent on exporting to Britain will be offered cheaper loans and other tax relief. Taxes will also be cut for entrepreneurs but modest increases in funding for enterprise agencies were described as "pathetic" by the main opposition party, Fianna Fail, whose cooperation is needed for the government to pass the budget. "If you compare that to what is being done throughout Europe, who have a lot less at stake, my God they are a lot better prepared for what is coming down the track," Fianna Fail's finance spokesman Michael McGrath told parliament. The Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) said an 18 percent plunge in the value of sterling versus the euro (EURGBP=D4) since the June 23 Brexit referendum put thousands of export jobs at risk. "It's not a Brexit-proof budget and doesn't look much different from what it would have been had Brexit not happened. They clearly have not done enough to help those companies that are most exposed," said IBEC's chief economist Fergal O'Brien, calling for more measures by year-end. Story continues Noonan said this would not be the last set of such policies but until visibility on Britain's exit negotiations was clearer, he could not add measures "to counteract unknown consequences". "DETRIMENTAL IMPACT" Ireland's economy is set to grow faster than any other in the EU for the third successive year but is also the most exposed to Brexit, which has already led to a cut in its growth forecasts in 2016 and 2017. In a presentation accompanying the budget, the finance ministry said the risk of a "hard Brexit", where Britain leaves the EU's single market, was now high and would have a "detrimental impact on Irish-UK trade". It also said it had built its forecast for gross domestic product growth of 3.5 percent for next year and an average of 3 percent thereafter on the euro trading at 85 pence. The euro traded weaker again on Tuesday at 91.2 pence. Previous research from the department estimated that every five percentage point depreciation in sterling reduces Irish GDP by an average of 0.8 percent a year. With over two-thirds of the budget package going towards services still suffering from years of spending cuts during the financial crisis, Noonan introduced modest income tax cuts for low- and middle-income earners for the third year in a row. Improved childcare subsidies were also introduced, as were details of a grant of up to 20,000 euros for first-time buyers of new homes struggling to save deposits required under central bank rules, though some worry it would just boost prices. Responding to distorted GDP figures that flattered Ireland's debt dynamics, Noonan set a new target to reach a debt-to-GDP ratio of 45 percent, lower than the 60 percent EU limit, by the mid-2020s, or later depending on economic growth. The first vote to increase tax on tobacco passed without the need for a formal vote. Further votes are due in the coming weeks and Fianna Fail's McGrath said he expected his party would abstain to allow the budget to pass. (Editing by Robin Pomeroy and James Dalgleish) DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland never decided for certain it would offer a 25 percent stake in state-owned Allied Irish Banks (ALBK.I) next year and will sell when the time is right, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said on Tuesday. Earlier this year Dublin pushed back the likely timetable for partially cashing out its 21 billion euro ($23 billion) investment in the 99 percent state-owned bank to the first half of 2017 from late 2016, citing unfavourable market conditions. "We never decided we would have (an initial public offering) in 2017, the only consideration is the amount of money we can recover for the taxpayer and we'll sell when we think we're at the best position to get the maximum amount," Noonan told a news conference. ($1 = 0.8928 euros) (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel boosted security and barred Palestinians from entering from the occupied West Bank or the Gaza Strip ahead of the solemn Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur that began Tuesday evening. Thousands of Jews visit the Western Wall in east Jerusalem's Old City around Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, which ends on Wednesday evening. The same measures were taken for last week's Rosh Hashanah holiday and will be imposed again for next week's Sukkot festival. Last year's holiday period led to clashes and marked the start of an upsurge in Palestinian gun, knife and car-ramming attacks. Israeli security forces are on especially high alert after a Palestinian gunman killed two people in Jerusalem on Sunday. Israeli soldiers shot dead a 20-year-old Palestinian man, Ali Shiouki, after clashes broke out Tuesday in the Silwan area of east Jerusalem, according to Palestinian officials. More than 3,000 police are being deployed in the city for Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, and police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said roadblocks had also been mounted. On Monday night, tens of thousands of Jews crowded into the square around the Western Wall, Rosenfeld said. Prayers led by Israel's two chief rabbis began shortly after midnight and continued until sunrise for some worshippers, in one of the largest Jewish ceremonies of the year. Moshe Cohen, a 19-year-old from Jerusalem, said the ceremony was among the most important days in the Jewish calendar. "You pray and you get free (of) all the bad things you do," he said. "You feel connected to God." - Shooting rampage - Cohen said he felt the number of faithful was roughly similar to last year. Rosenfeld did not provide a specific figure. Many Palestinian shops in the Old City were closed. Near the Lions' Gate entry to the Old City, used by many Palestinians, Israeli forces erected a temporary barrier stopping cars from going further. Story continues Closures of the Palestinian territories are often put in place for major Jewish holidays. This week's lockdown applies only to Palestinians and not the roughly 400,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Gaza is always under an Israeli blockade, though some crossings are usually allowed for work or medical purposes. Humanitarian and urgent medical cases will be allowed during the holiday, the army said. Beyond visits to the Western Wall, the holidays also see more Jews visit the adjacent Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The site is holy to both Muslims and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. It is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing Israel may one day seek to assert further control over it. On Sunday, a 39-year-old Palestinian who saw himself as an Al-Aqsa protector went on a shooting rampage in Jerusalem, killing two Israelis. The attacker, Misbah Abu Sbeih, who was reportedly scheduled to begin a prison term on the same day, was killed by police after he fled into an east Jerusalem neighbourhood. - Thwarted bus attack? - Hamas welcomed the attack and said Abu Sbeih was a member, but did not claim responsibility for it. Overnight the army sealed off a sweet shop owned by members of his family, saying it was affiliated with Hamas, police said. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities announced they had arrested a Palestinian, Mohamed Joulani, last month on suspicion of planning a suicide attack on a bus in Pisgat Zeev, an Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem, on behalf of Hamas. In addition, the army said it had demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian sentenced to life in prison for shooting dead an Israeli couple in front of their children a year ago. The home of Amjad Aliwi, a third-floor apartment in the West Bank city of Nablus, was blown up overnight, Palestinian police said. The army says Aliwi was part of a Hamas cell responsible for the October 1, 2015 attack on the settler couple in the West Bank. Israel regularly demolishes the homes of attackers in a bid to deter violence. Palestinians and rights groups say the measure amounts to collective punishment since family members are forced to suffer for the acts of others. MORRISVILLE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / October 11, 2016 / Issuer Direct Corporation (NYSE MKT: ISDR) announced today that Brian Balbirnie, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, and Michael Colon, VP of Corporate Development and head of our Regulation A + practice, will moderate and be a panelist respectively on the Regulation A Plus panel at the fifth annual Global Crowdfunding Convention in Las Vegas on October 15-17, 2016. Issuer Direct will also be unveiling its new Crowdfunding platform powered by its Investor Network brand. This platform will address the needs of companies thinking about raising capital under regulation A+ all the way through public listing and IPO. "In order to build a network large enough to benefit from RegA+ you have to start by introducing your company to the right prospective investors, at the right time," said Michael Colon, VP of Corporate Development. "Our crowdfunding platform gives entrepreneurs access to the only complete test-to-invest platform on the market today." Others who are on the GCC's keynote speaker roster include: Vladimir I. Ivanov, Ph.D., SEC-Senior Financial Economist; Loral Langemeier, five time New York Times best seller; Andrew Dix, CEO of Crowdfund Insider; Craig Denlinger, Crowdfund CPA, Partner; Brad Yasar, GCC Partner; Jilliene Helman, CEO and co-founder of RealtyMogul.com; Allesandro Lero, founder of Italy's Lerro & Partners; and Lisa Song Sutton, Miss Nevada 2014/Entrepreneur. With a world-class roster of industry heavy-hitters, the 2016 Global Crowdfunding Convention is an event not to be missed. For more information on the event and to purchase tickets, please visit: www.thegccworld.com. About the Global Crowdfunding Convention The Global Crowdfunding Convention (GCC) consistently hand picks the best and the brightest in the field and covers all topics of crowdfunding. Produced by Crowdfunding industry experts, it attracts the world's business leaders to discuss the industry's most pressing issues. Story continues About Issuer Direct Corporation Issuer Direct is a disclosure management and targeted communications company. Our integrated platform provides tools, technologies and services that enable our clients to disclose and disseminate information through our entire network. With a focus on corporate issuers, the Company alleviates the complexity of maintaining compliance with its integrated portfolio of products and services that enhance companies' ability to efficiently produce and distribute their financial and business communications both online and in print. Learn more about Issuer Direct today: Investor Tear Sheet. For Further Information: Issuer Direct Corporation Brian R. Balbirnie 919-481-4000 brian.balbirnie@issuerdirect.com Brett Maas Hayden IR (646) 536-7331 brett@haydenir.com James Carbonara Hayden IR (646)-755-7412 james@haydenir.com SOURCE: Issuer Direct Corporation Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f242710%2fjk_rowling_donald_trump_tweet LONDON There are a lot of things J.K. Rowling doesn't have time for on Twitter, and both Donald Trump and the angry opinions of Twitter eggs are high up on that list. SEE ALSO: Daniel Radcliffe just dropped the mic on that Donald Trump/Voldemort comparison Following Rowling's three-tweet shutdown of the Republican presidential candidate on Monday, one such hapless egg made the foolish decision to question her. @jk_rowling aren't you British? Mind your own business#USA Gina Murray (@glmurray56) October 10, 2016 Big mistake. Once again, the Harry Potter author was only too happy to demonstrate the wand-worthy power she's capable of wielding in a mere 140 characters. When a man this ignorant & easy to manipulate gets within sniffing distance of the nuclear codes, it's everyone's business. #RestOfTheWorld https://t.co/yHBIIuhYEN J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 10, 2016 "Gets within sniffing distance." You really can't compete with that, can you? BONUS: Watch Trump lurk behind Clinton in the debate. A jailed Chinese scholar defending the country's mostly-Muslim Uighur minority won a leading human rights honour on Tuesday, a move swiftly condemned by Beijing. Ilham Tohti, serving a life sentence for "separatism", was awarded the Martin Ennals prize for his criticism of Beijing's policies towards Uighurs in western China's Xinjiang region. The award foundation lauded his decades-long effort "to foster dialogue and understanding between Uighurs and Han Chinese" and his rejection of extremist rhetoric. Xinjiang has seen a security crackdown in recent years, prompted by clashes that left hundreds dead. The 47-year-old university professor began writing about abuses in Xinjiang in 1994, leading Beijing to target him with official surveillance. Chinese authorities later prohibited him from teaching or publishing. He launched a blog -- Uyghurbiz.net -- in 2006, which ultimately triggered a tough government reaction. After Ilham Tohti posted details of Uighurs who had been arrested and killed he was confined to house arrest and hit with a travel ban. In 2014, he was sentenced to life in prison by a court in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang. - 'The worst situation' - During his trial, Ilham Tohti rejected claims he was advocating an independent Uighur state, insisting that his only goal was to safeguard his people's basic rights. "The real shame of this situation is that by eliminating the moderate voice of Ilham Tohti the Chinese government is in fact laying the groundwork for the very extremism it says it wants to prevent", Martin Ennals Foundation chairman Dick Oosting said in a statement. Ilham Tohti's daughter, Jewher Ilham, told journalists at the United Nations in Geneva that her family had visited her father in prison earlier this year and reported that he had lost a significant amount of weight and his hair had turned grey. Supervision by prison authorities constrained what relatives could tell the detained activist, said Jewhar Ilhan, who is studying in the US state of Indiana. Story continues It is unlikely her father even knows he was nominated for the Ennals prize, the 22-year-old added. Asked about whether the award might worsen her father's treatment by attracting attention to his case, Jewher Ilham said: "my father has already been given a life sentence." "This is already the worst situation we can have," she added. - 'Root cause of hatred' - The Martin Ennals foundation is named after the first secretary general of Amnesty International and the 30,000 Swiss franc ($30,000, 27,000 euros) prize is judged by the London-based rights group, along with Human Rights Watch and other leading organisations. China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang slammed their decision, saying "there is clear evidence of Ilham Tohti's wrongdoings." "In his class, he hailed suspects who launched terrorist attacks as 'heroes'," Geng said in a statement. "His case has nothing to do with human rights." The World Uyghur Congress, an exile group, said the prize should serve as "a reminder to the Chinese government." "Suppressing those who uphold universal values is absolutely wrong and is the root cause of hatred and conflict," the group's spokesman Dilxat Raxit said in an email to AFP. The other finalists -- awarded 10,000 Swiss francs each -- included Syrian Razan Zaitouneh, who documented violations in the country's civil war before she was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in 2013. She was taken from an area near Damascus that was controlled by the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) and some blame the group for her abduction. Also nominated was a collective of Ethiopian bloggers called Zone 9, a name inspired by the country's notorious Kality prison which has eight zones and where political prisoners and journalists are often held. Last year's Martin Ennals laureate was Ahmed Mansoor, who has campaigned for human rights in the United Arab Emirates. French fashion brand Jean Paul Gaultier has launched a new 360-degree experience titled "Be The Drop," in a bid to promote the reissue of its two perfumes "Le Male" and "Classique" as Essences de Parfum. The campaign, which includes two videos, takes viewers on a unique sensory journey, from the perspective of a drop of perfume, tracing its path and delving into the various elements of each fragrance. For "Male," the essences of leather and wood are paramount, while "Classique" explores the extracts of white flowers and amber musk. At the end of the short films, viewers discover the new design of the iconic perfume Jean Paul Gaultier, in the form of transparent faceted bottles. Watch the two videos for "Be The Drop" here: "Le Male" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sZiEltSMKw "Classique" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-6JQLP8nS4 Jennifer Garner is hitting the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton! The Dallas Buyers Club star was out supporting the Democratic presidential candidate and getting new voters to register in Reno, Nevada, on Monday, and we have to say, she seemed to totally be crushing it as a community organizer! EXCLUSIVE: Ben Affleck Opens Up About Co-Parenting With Estranged Wife Jennifer Garner: 'We Try Our Best' "Everyone who's registering to vote, wave their hands." the 44-year-old actress implored. "Everyone who's gonna vote for Hillary, 'Yay, Hillary!'" The best part of the surprisingly sweet video from the event is when Garner gets down to business and helps a student register, who is adorably starstruck by Garner being there. MORE: Jennifer Garner Talks Parenting Her 3 Kids: 'I Try to Be the Best Version of Myself' And it looks like she had a pretty big impact, because after the event, students were gushing over Garner on social media. One wrote, "When Jennifer Garner hugs you and you die. She's the sweetest person ever. My life is made." WATCH: Celebs Slam Donald Trump's Answers, Sniffling and Demeanor in Second Debate Against Hillary Clinton When Jennifer Garner hugs you and you die. She's the sweetest person ever. My life is made pic.twitter.com/Ttg471v6vE Victoria Ramos (@toeeramos) October 10, 2016 "BEST MONDAY EVER BC I MET JENNIFER GARNER," another fan shared. BEST MONDAY EVER BC I MET JENNIFER GARNER pic.twitter.com/fUhZHrUqKZ Danielle Gordon (@danielleegordon) October 10, 2016 And of course, there was the political activation part of it, too. WATCH: Ivanka Trump Shares a Moment With Chelsea Clinton After Debate Story continues "So Jennifer Garner helped me register to vote today #ImWithHer now lol," one new voter tweeted. so Jennifer Garner helped me register to vote today #ImWithHer now lol pic.twitter.com/OQHXjDh2cP spookycatie (@catieeelala) October 10, 2016 All in a day's work for Garner! WATCH: Jennifer Garner Jokes She's Dating Brad Pitt: 'Isn't It Great?' In addition to registering new voters, a Clinton campaign spokesperson said that the actress will participate in a phone bank in support of her candidate, Reno's News 4 and Fox 11 report. Meanwhile, ET caught up with Garner's estranged husband, Ben Affleck, on Monday at the Los Angeles premiere of his new movie, The Accountant, where he candidly addressed the two of them co-parenting and continuing to live on the same property after separating over a year ago. Watch the video below to see what he said. Related Articles Following the mountainous success of his 20/20 Experience Tour in 2014, Justin Timberlake wanted to capture and preserve the final day of the tour. The result is his latest offering, the concert film Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids, which will debut on Netflix Wednesday night (Oct. 12). Prior to premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, Timberlake dedicated the film to Prince. "His influence is all over everyone's music and there's so much that I feel like I've maybe consciously and unconsciously borrowed from him that it felt right," he told E! "It just feels right to dedicate the film to him." The morning after the screening, Timberlake spoke with Today's Willie Geist about how he has never felt more nervous to debut a project -- "there is something more personal about the way [director] Jonathan [Demme] captured us," Timberlake says -- and about how fatherhood has shaped his career moving forward. Elsewhere in the interview, Geist tells Timberlake that Demme referred to the multi-talented star as a "funky Frank Sinatra," to which Timberlake shyly laughed. He then proceeded to discuss fatherhood, and when asked if having a newborn son has changed the way he thinks about music, Timberlake replied, "It changes everything." Check out the full Today interview below. The Duchess has landed! Kate Middleton arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday morning for her first solo royal trip. The Duchess of Cambridge, 34, met with King Willem-Alexander in The Hague, Netherlands at his home in Villa Eikenhorst. MORE: Kate Middleton, Prince William, and Prince Harry Give Joint Speech for World Mental Health Day: Pics! For the event, the mother of two wore a matching sky blue suit with blush-colored heels, pulling her hair back. Getty Images She will only be abroad for the day as it's already been a busy week of royal engagements. On Monday, she visited County Hall and the London Eye with her husband, Prince William, and brother-in-law, Prince Harry, to celebrate World Mental Health Day. Catherine gave a joint speech with the other royals about the importance of mental health awareness. Getty Images "William, Harry, and I feel it is our duty to do what we can, with your help, to shine a spotlight on emotional wellbeing and highlight the support that is out there to prevent or manage the pain at difficult times," she told the crowd. "William, Harry, and I feel it is our duty to do what we can, with your help, to shine a spotlight on emotional wellbeing and highlight the support that is out there to prevent or manage the pain at difficult times," she told the crowd. Getty Images WATCH: Prince George and Princess Charlotte Wave Goodbye as the Royals End Their Canadian Trip -- See the Pics! William and Kate also recently returned from the Royal Tour of Canada, where they were accompanied by their two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. For more on their trip, watch the video below! Related Articles Kate Middleton arrived in the Netherlands Tuesday to visit the Dutch King Willem-Alexander as part of her first solo trip outside the U.K. as a member of the royal family. Wearing a pale blue Catherine Walker pencil skirt and jacket, she set off on her day trip onboard a British Airways flight, just one week after her return from an eight-day tour of Canada along with her husband Prince William, and children George and Charlotte. The Duchess of Cambridges packed schedule includes a visit with King Willem-Alexander and a tour of the Mauritshuis museum in the Hague, to see the exhibition At Home in Holland: Vermeer and His Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection. Kate takes her seat for a round table discussion about mental health in the British Ambassador's residence #RoyalVisitNL pic.twitter.com/xoX1EilCqc Victoria Murphy (@QueenVicMirror) October 11, 2016 She is also hosting a roundtable discussion with two charities she supports: the Anna Freud Centre, a child mental health research, training and treatment center in London, and Action on Addiction, a charity that works with people affected by drug and alcohol addiction. Nairobi (AFP) - Kenyan police on Tuesday arrested a British national alongside two Somali women, all suspected of recruiting for Somalia's Islamist Shabaab militants, police sources said. The British male, who works for a well-known advertising agency, was arrested in a raid on his home in the upmarket Nairobi suburb of Gigiri, which is popular with expatriates. "We have three suspects in custody and one of them is British. We are still interrogating them with a view to taking them to court tomorrow," one police source said. "They are being investigated for radicalisation." Another source said the three were suspected of "recruiting Kenyan youths to join Al Shabaab." "They are strong indications that they have travelled to and from Somalia on several occasions and the investigations will be centred on that aspect," he added. The raid was carried out in the presence of the director of Kenya's Criminal Investigations Department Ndegwa Muhoro, sources said. The Al-Qaeda backed Shabaab has fought to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu since 2007, but turned its sights on Kenya when the army was sent into Somalia in 2011 to fight the Islamic insurgents. In November 2014 gunmen flagged down a commuter bus, separated passengers by religion and executed 28 non-Muslims. Since then the militants have targeted civilians in different parts of Kenya, including a dramatic assault on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in which at least 67 people were killed and the murder of 148 people at Garissa University in the northeast in 2015. Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes have been sued by one of the blood-testing start-up's biggest backers, for allegedly lying to attract nearly $100 million in investment, the Wall Street Journal and other outlets reported. The WSJ report said that San Francisco-based hedge fund, Partner Fund Management, filed a suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery on Monday. The suit accused Holmes and Sunny Balwani, a former top Theranos executive, of deceiving the hedge fund by claiming Theranos had developed "proprietary technologies that worked" and were close to getting regulatory approvals, the WSJ reported. To read the full WSJ report, click here. Reuters reported, meanwhile, that Partner Fund Management had described the lawsuit to its investors in a letter that said, "Through a series of lies, material misstatements, and omissions, the defendants engaged in securities fraud and other violations by fraudulently inducing PFM to invest and maintain its investment in the company," Holmes said in a public letter this month that the troubled start-up would close all its clinical labs and retail-focused Wellness Centers to concentrate on more specialized testing technologies. In a statement given to CNBC on Monday, Theranos said that Partner Fund Management's suit was without merit, and that it would fight the legal action vigorously. "The hedge fund is engaging in revisionist history,making claims that are not rooted in facts," the statement said. "The company remains committed toits mission and is appreciative of its strong investor base that understands and continues to support those efforts." Partner Fund Management did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment, made outside office hours. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. More From CNBC Trump Child Impersonator "Saturday Night Live"'s Alec Baldwin might have some competition impersonating Donald Trump. The GOP nominee was joined onstage at rally in Pennsylvania by a little boy who was dressed like the businessman with a suit, a trademark red power tie and even the same hairdo. Hes supposed to look like Donald Trump, but hes actually much too good looking. You are really handsome, Trump told the kid, who seemed to be too busy taking in his surroundings. At one point, Trump, who is still reeling from dismal poll numbers and weeks of turmoil within the Republican Party, asked the kid if he wanted to go back to his parents or stay with him on stage. "Trump," the kid replied, leaning toward the microphone. And the crowd goes wild. Watch the video of Trump's toddler impersonator below: Trump invites toddler impersonator on stage at Pa. rally: "Hes supposed to look like Donald Trump, but he's actually much too good looking" pic.twitter.com/XohYwES18Q ABC News (@ABC) October 11, 2016 NOW WATCH: 'He never said that': New Clinton ad shows Trump contradicting Pence's VP debate denials More From Business Insider Kim Kardashian West is fighting back against allegations that she lied about her robbery in Paris, France. The 35-year-old reality star filed a federal lawsuit against website MediaTakeOut.com on Tuesday for three of their posts about the incident, which included allegations that there was evidence she staged her own robbery, ET can confirm. "MTO Shock Exclusive: New Evidence Suggests Kim Kardashian And Her Mother 'STAGED' The Robbery Just Like RYAN LOCHTE!! (Here Are The FACTS)" one headline read. The site also published a story claiming "French authorities" suspected Kim herself had let the robbers into the apartment. A later post noted that Kim had filed an insurance claim for her stolen jewelry and that "if she faked the robbery ... she just committed a FEDERAL CRIME." According to the lawsuit, Kim alleges the website cited "unidentified and clearly uninformed" people on social media as its sources. WATCH: Kardashians Spend Quality Time Together on Snapchat as Kim Kardashian Stays Out of the Spotlight The posts on the website mentioned in the lawsuit now read, "Removed Story." According to court papers obtained by ET, Kim demanded the site publish a retraction and apologize but was "ignored." "After having been the victim of a horrific and traumatic armed robbery in France, Kim Kardashian returned to the United States only to again be victimized, but this time by an online gossip tabloid that published a series of articles in early October 2016 referring to her a liar and thief," the lawsuit states. "Defendants' reckless and malicious publication of the Articles was calculated to cause maximum harm to Kardashian." ET has reached out to MediaTakeOut.com for comment. A source close to Kim previously told ET that the mother of two was definitely not exaggerating about her scary incident in Paris, during which she was held at gunpoint and begged for her life. Story continues "Besides the fact that it would not only be uncharacteristic of Kim to lie about something like this, she'd never put herself in this kind of danger," the source said. "They wouldn't do something like this for a reality show. She was scared for her life." ET also confirmed last Thursday that filming for Keeping Up With the Kardashians is currently on hold. "Kim's well-being is our core focus right now," a spokesperson for E! said. "No decision has been made as to when production will resume." Kim has yet to break her silence about the robbery, but a source close to the star told ET that the incident will definitely have lasting consequences for her in the future. "This really shook her and gave her a major reality check," the source said. WATCH: Kris Jenner Stresses the Importance of Family After Kim Kardashian's Robbery -- 'Count Your Blessings' Meanwhile, Kim's sister, 32-year-old Khloe Kardashian, broke her silence on Kim's robbery during her appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, airing Tuesday. Khloe admitted that her older sister's "not doing that well." "I mean, it's incredibly traumatic what happened to her," Khloe said. "But our family is super close and great and we'll get through it together, and we do appreciate all of your guys' love and support. It will take time. You know, it was horrible what happened to her." "I think it's just a wake-up call to make a lot of life adjustments," Khloe continued. "This is a really serious matter for Kim." Watch below: Related Articles Kim Kardashian isn't taking a gossip site's claim that she lied about her traumatic Paris robbery lightly. The reality star is suing mediatakeout.com and its owner Fred Mwangaguhunga for libel per se. "After having been the victim of a horrific and traumatic armed robbery in France, Kim Kardashian returned to the United States only to again be victimized, but this time by an online gossip tabloid that published a series of articles in early October 2016 referring to her a liar and thief," writes Kardashian attorney Andrew Brettler in a complaint filed Tuesday in New York federal court. Kardashian was robbed of $11 million in jewelry in the middle of the night on Oct. 2 while lounging at her Paris hotel, according to local authorities. The articles claim she "faked the robbery, lied about the violent assault, and then filed a fraudulent claim with her insurance company to bilk her carrier out of millions of dollars," Brettler writes. As public figures, stars typically face tougher battles in proving libel and usually have to show a publication printed a story with "actual malice" - either knowing claims wereor acting with reckless disregard of the truth. Brettler says the site failed to identify or cite any credible sources and the publication of the articles were designed to cause maximum harm. "Kardashian was assaulted and robbed by two masked men, who placed a gun to her head, duct-taped her hands, legs and mouth, and then left her lying helplessly on the bathroom floor of her rented apartment while the thieves absconded with millions of dollars in jewelry," Brettler writes. "As if that ordeal were not awful enough, Defendants made it worse by publishing on the Website, only hours after the assault, that Kardashian faked the robbery and then committed insurance fraud by filing aclaim with her carrier." Kardashian is seeking general, special, punitive and exemplary damages. Story continues The website has not yet commented in response to the lawsuit. Kim Kardashian West is keeping up with the tabloids. Kardashian West and her attorneys are suing mediatakeout.com and its founder Fred Mwangaguhunga for libel, saying the outlet claimed she lied about being held up at gunpoint and robbed in Paris. MTO and its owner Mwangaguhunga published several Articles on their website MediaTakeOut.com (the Website), in which they claimed, without any factual support whatsoever, that Kardashian faked the robbery, lied about the violent assault, and then filed a fraudulent claim with her insurance company to bilk her carrier out of millions of dollars, reads the suit. Defendants malicious publication of the Articles, which paint the victim of a serious crime as a criminal herself, is libelous per se. On Oct. 2 at approximately 3 a.m., Kardashian West was reportedly held up at gunpoint, tied up and locked in a bathroom of her Paris hotel room. She was subsequently robbed of nearly $11 million worth of jewelry. Defendants published the Articles under patently false and misleading headlines stating, in no uncertain terms, that Kardashian staged a robbery and committed a federal crime by engaging in insurance fraud, continues the suit. The Articles themselves are fraught with unsupported allegations and fail to identify or cite to any credible sources to back up the wild claims asserted therein. Defendants reckless and malicious publication of the Articles was calculated to cause maximum harm to Kardashian. Shortly after the robbery, Kardashian Wests representatives told Variety she is badly shaken but physically unharmed. Since the incident, production of Keeping Up With the Kardashians has halted indefinitely. Related stories Kim Kardashian Robbery Spurred by Her Social Media Posts, Police Say Kim Kardashian Held Up at Gunpoint in Paris Hotel Room What the RNC Could Learn From Reality TV From Harper's BAZAAR Kim Kardashian West has added former Secret Service agents to her security team after being robbed at gunpoint in Paris last week, TMZ reports. The new guards will be "armed," sources close to the reality star said. She'll also be accompanied by at least two bodyguards at all times (though she hasn't made any public appearances since returning home yet) and her car will supposedly be "armored." After the attack in Paris, Kardashian West reportedly met with former members of the Israeli army's special forces, former CIA agents and former Secret Service members to talk new protection strategies. Her husband Kanye West was also met with execs from "two top security firms," according to TMZ. Her bodyguard Pascal Duvier-who was guarding Kourtney Kardashian and Kendall Jenner during the robbery and who took down the man who accosted Kim at Paris Fashion Week days prior-is reportedly still employed by the reality star. He did, however, wipe mentions that he worked for her on social media. Word of Kardashian West's new security personnel follows news that the star is staying quiet on social media, that she and her family are avoiding public appearances after the robbery, and that their show Keeping Up with the Kardashians is indefinitely on hold. You Might Also Like The British designer Tom Dixon is presenting his first exhibition in Korea at 10 Corso Como -- a concept store in the South Korean capital, Seoul -- October 12 to November 20. For the first time, Tom Dixon is set to present his full range of creations, as well as never-before-seen pieces. The exhibition is split into three sections -- "Yesterday," "Today" and "Tomorrow" -- and is accompanied by a pop-up store where visitors can buy products from the designer's latest collection. "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" is, as its name suggests, a retrospective looking back over the British designer's entire career. "Yesterday" reflects Tom Dixon's fascination with the underlying structures of objects, rather than their surfaces, highlighting early creations such as the "Flame Cut Chair." "Today" explores the designer's current obsession with materials such as copper, stone, wood, glass, wax, iron and brass. Products on show include the "Mass Dining Table," made from brass, the wooden "Fan Chair," and the glass "Flask Pendant Oil." Finally, "Tomorrow" offers insight into Tom Dixon's future creations, with exclusive products and rare prototypes. "We wanted to give visitors an understanding of where we come from. Korea is a very design-aware nation, fantastically interested in bold and industrial production, and we thought it might be nice to show some history as well as products we haven't sold yet," said Tom Dixon. The connection between Tom Dixon and Corso Como dates back to 1991, when the designer launched the famous "S-Chair" at 10 Corso Como in Milan. The self-made designer rose to fame in the 1980s, notably thanks to his work for Cappellini, a major Italian design brand. He was named head of design at Habitat in 1998, before creating Tom Dixon Studio in 2002. The brand is currently sold across 63 countries. Founded in 1990 in Milan by Carla Sozzani, 10 Corso Como is a pioneer in the field of the concept store. In 2008, its Korean outpost opened in Seoul. More information: www.10corsocomo.com SEOUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Head of South Korea's antitrust regulator said the agency will closely examine whether Google's agreements with handset manufacturers on the U.S. firm's Android mobile operating system limits market competition. Jeong Jae-chan, chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission, said the agency will re-examine anti-competition issues over Google's policies on the Android platform but did not elaborate on specifics. The agency said in August it was looking into whether the U.S. firm, whose corporate parent is Alphabet Inc., has violated South Korean anti-competition laws but did not elaborate on what potential charges might be brought against Google. (Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Michael Perry) 11 Oct - Kris Aquino has recently addressed long-circulating rumours that she has supposedly worn Imelda Marcos' jewellery at an event last year. As reported on PEP News, the rumour has been circulating since last year during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Summit, with some claiming that Aquino had access to the sequestered jewellery originally belonging to the former First Lady while her brother Benigno Aquino III was still in power. Last weekend, Aquino decided to clarify the situation, saying that the rumours are ridiculous. "It seems you don't want me to stay quiet and your trolls want to keep perpetuating lies about me. My friend JC Buendia and my sister Viel both showed me this continuous [Facebook] post. The necklaces supposedly belonged to Mrs. Marcos and I was brazen enough to wear them for the APEC DINNER. Duh?" she expressed online with much annoyance. Aquino stressed that the necklace she wore was made from cubic zirconia and silver, even if it was from the Italian brand Bottega Veneta. The actress continues to express her ire, and remind her critics that it will be the last warning and that she will not be hesitant on taking further action. While it was just recently Aquino had denied the rumours, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) actually issued a statement denying rumors that Kris wore Marcos' jewellery last year, saying that the prized possession is currently stored at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. (Photo source: instagram.com/rbchanco) Kris Jenner finally broke her silence post-Kim Kardashians robbery and shared this inspiring tweet The Kardashian family has had a harrowing past few weeks following the armed robbery of Kim Kardashian on Monday, October 3rd. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star and wife to Kanye West was bound and gagged in her Paris apartment while two men stole a trove of jewelry costing about 11 million dollars in total. Although Kardashian reps have been in contact with media outlets, the family unit had been fairly quiet, especially Kris Jenner, since the event until yesterday when Jenner broke her silence via Twitter and Instagram. She posted a heartfelt message telling her followers to cherish each moment you have with loved ones. She tagged the post with #blessed, #love, #family, and #grateful. Khloe Kardashian appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Tuesday and reported that Kim is not doing that well post robbery. She reassured DeGeneres that the family is super close and that theyll get through it together. According to People Magazine, Kim blames herself for the robbery, wishing she hadnt flaunted her 4 million dollar ring via social media. As Khloe reiterated on Ellen, the Kardashian-Jenners are stepping out of the public eye and reevaluating their social media presence as a response to the traumatic event. The group of five men who committed the robbery are still at large. As scary as that is, the Kardashian-Jenner family is trying to redeem a sense of normalcy. For security reasons, the sisters have cancelled book signings and other public appearances for the time being. Kanye West returned to his Saint Pablo tour after calling off several shows to deal with the family emergency. Shooting for Keeping Up With the Kardashians is on an indefinite hold while the investigation continues. Story continues Here's a pic from my new edition of SELFISH out in October. How sweet is my Saint at 2 months old & my little North A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Aug 12, 2016 at 10:48pm PDT Kris Jenners emotional tweet is an important reminder for all of us. Never take anything or anyone for granted. Were glad the family is safe and together during this stressful time. The post Kris Jenner finally broke her silence post-Kim Kardashians robbery and shared this inspiring tweet appeared first on HelloGiggles. KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 11, 2016 / Laguna Blends Inc. (CSE:LAG) (LAGBF) (Frankfurt:LB6A.F) (the "Company" or "Laguna", is pleased to announce that it has signed a letter of intent (the "LOI") with Carlsbad Naturals ("Carlsbad") whereby Laguna and Carlsbad plan to enter into an equity acquisition and exclusive licence agreement ("Equity and License Agreement") for the purpose of pursuing mutually beneficial business opportunities in the Cannabidiol (CBD) bottled water Industry and CBD ingestible products Industry (the "Proposed Transaction"). Carlsbad is a market leader in the distribution and sales of nano-amplified CBD bottled water in the USA. The Company has a proprietary process of incorporating CBD into its formulation. Carlsbad Naturals has achieved unaudited U.S. sales in excess of $500,000 in its first year of business as of August 31, 2016. The hemp cannabinoid innovator, Isodiol, sources nano-amplified hemp CBD to manufacturers to create unique finished products. Isodiol is a shareholder in Carlsbad. "We are proud to announce the alignment of Laguna Blends and Carlsbad Naturals," states Jared Berry, co-Founder of Carlsbad Naturals. "Laguna Blends' extensive client base and distribution network will fulfill the growing demand for hemp CBD products worldwide." Mr. Stuart Gray, Laguna's CEO said, "With the growing awareness and market demand of CBD worldwide Laguna is positioning itself to be a market leader in the sale of CBD bottled water. In addition to the current sales growth of Carlsbad, Laguna can generate CBD water sales through its existing affiliates in the USA and Canada. Laguna currently is in discussions internationally with wholesale distributors regarding Carlsbad white label opportunities." Mr. Ray Grimm, Laguna's President stated, "The partnership with Carlsbad, firmly solidifies Laguna as a unique player in the crowded multibillion dollar bottled water industry. The team of Doctors that formulated the Carlsbad water did so with the sole purpose of creating a high alkaline water offering the benefits of CBD. Many believe this to be the next evolution in the water industry, providing unique health benefits due to the proprietary nanotechnology. Carlsbad CBD water provides antioxidants at the cellular level along with providing cellular hydration and energy." Story continues "Carlsbad Naturals' all-natural hemp CBD nano-amplified water has been a game changer for the people who frequent our location," states Larry Banegas, founder of the Kuseyaay Wellness Center on the Barona reservation. "Since the beginning of time, indigenous people have always been in tune with nature and sought benefits from plant botanicals. With today's natural retail products, however, consistency can be difficult to achieve. The formulators of Carlsbad Naturals' water have achieved consistency and quality at the highest level. It doesn't get more natural than this. Visitors to our facility have come to rely on an ample supply of this unique bottled water." Pursuant to the terms of the Proposed Transaction, Laguna will have the ability to acquire majority control of the Company with total equity interest of sixty percent (60%). Laguna will initially purchase nineteen percent (19%) equity interest in Carlsbad for a one-time payment of $570,000 USD (paid for in Laguna common shares). Laguna will then have a 120-day option from the date of a signed definitive agreement to acquire an additional forty-one percent (41%) interest for $1,230,000 USD (paid in shares and cash). The common shares issued are subject to a six month hold and a lock up leak out agreement. After completion of the first 19% equity interest in Carlsbad, Laguna, will receive exclusive Carlsbad Naturals marketing rights for CBD water in the following regions: Canada, Germany, Japan, India, South Korea and Thailand. In addition, Laguna will have nonexclusive marketing rights in the USA. Laguna will have the ability to negotiate the transfer of marketing rights and or white label CBD water rights in these regions under the terms of the agreement. In addition, after completion of the first 19% equity interest in Carlsbad, Laguna will also receive the exclusive network marketing rights for VitaDots, CBD Gummies and nonexclusive retail and online marketing rights for VitaDots in the following regions: USA, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. In addition, Laguna will have the right to transfer the non- exclusive ownership rights to a third party at its discretion and negotiate white label opportunities. Under the licence agreement Carlsbad will grant to Laguna (i) a licence to its trade-marks to be placed on the water bottles, (ii) a right and licence to Laguna to sell the Carlsbad CBD water products in Canada, USA, Germany, Japan, India, South Korea and Thailand. (iii) a licence to its trade-marks to be placed on the VitaDot bottles, (iv) a right and licence to Laguna to sell the VitaDot products in Canada, USA, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. Under the licence agreement Carlsbad will grant to Laguna (i) a licence to its trade-marks to be placed on the VitaDot bottles, (ii) a right and licence to Laguna to sell the Carlsbad products in Canada, USA, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. Laguna and Carlsbad anticipate finalizing the definitive Agreement by Nov 10, 2016. Bottled water is poised to become the king of beverages in the United States. It seems that Americans love their bottled water. According to data recently released by Beverage Marketing Inc., the amount of bottled water sold rose 7.9 percent in 2015. That's on top of a 7 percent increase in 2014. Americans now drink astonishing amounts of bottled water: In 2015, we bought the equivalent of 1.7 billion half-liter bottles of water every week. That's more than five bottles of water for every man, woman, and child in the country every single week. A typical family of four is going through one of those shrink-wrapped 24-packs of bottled water each week. Bottled water sales in 2015 rose almost three times faster than the whole market for "liquid refreshment," and bottled water rose even as sales of carbonated soda fell 1.5 percent, to the lowest level per person since 1985. The flip in consumption habits between carbonated soda and bottled water just since 2000 has been dramatic. In 2000, each American was drinking 53.7 gallons of carbonated soda a year, equal to 573 12-ounce cans a year, 11 a week. Soda consumption in 2015 was down to 38.9 gallons per person. In contrast, from 2000 to 2015, bottled water consumption more than doubled, from 16.7 gallons a person to 36.4 gallons. If bottled water sales continue to grow close to what they have the last two years, and carbonated soda sales fall just another one percent, 2016 will be the year that Americans buy more bottled water than packaged soda. About Carlsbad Naturals Created by a team of doctors, Carlsbad Naturals brings cutting edge science to deliver nutrients and hydration in an effective way, naturally and responsibly. Applying quantum physics, our nanotechnology successfully increases the surface area of each substance we put in our water, so that less is much more. Carlsbad Naturals is a market leader in the distribution and sales of CBD Water. With its unique and proprietary way of infusing CBD's though nanotechnology Carlsbad is poised to remain the market leader. We at Carlsbad Naturals are committed to providing the highest quality products for our customers. This is why we work with Solar Rain, a company in California with the same high standards, not only for the products they make but also their strong belief in preserving our planet by their use of sustainable and renewable resources. For more information about Carlsbad Naturals, go to www.cbdnaturals.com For more information about Solar Rain, go to www.SolarRainWatery.com About Laguna Blends Inc. Laguna is a network marketing company that generates retail sales through independent affiliates. Affiliates utilize tools and technology that enable them to build an international business from their own home or anywhere else in the world. This technology replaces the need for expensive travel and hotel meetings. The Company is currently focused on the nutritional health benefits derived from hemp and CBD's. Functional Beverage Products "Caffe" is an instant, "just add water" hot coffee beverage that is infused with both whey and hemp protein. With 2 grams of protein in every serving, Laguna's proprietary product packs a powerful protein punch. Caffe, contains Instant coffee, whey protein hydrolysate, hemp protein, natural flavors. "Pro369" is a single serving, "on-the-go," plant based, instant, hemp protein that is served cold and comes in 4 delicious flavors. Pro369 is water soluble and can be directly mixed in water, added to milk, almond milk or coconut milk. Pro369 can also be blended in a shake or smoothie. Pro369 is also a source of Omegas, 3, 6 and 9 and contains ginseng. Laguna Blends has been granted approval from Health Canada for four powdered Pro369 flavours: Chocolate Banana, Mixed Berry and Vanilla Caramel and Tropical Powder. Pro369 contains Hemp protein, natural flavors, stevia, and American ginseng. The Minister of Health from Health Canada has granted Laguna a product license along with a Natural Product Number ("NPN") for all four of the Pro369 Flavours. They are all listed under the same NPN. A source of protein that helps build and repair body tissues. Source of amino acids involved in muscle protein synthesis. Assists in the building of lean muscle. An adaptogen to help maintain a healthy immune system. Supportive therapy for the promotion of healthy glucose levels. CannaCeuticals, CBD Skin Care Products "CannaCeuticals" Swiss heritage is at the core of Canna's revolutionary skincare products. It's pure, cosmeceutical-grade CBD extract hails from the crisp, clean air of Switzerland, but Canna's heritage goes much further than that. Swiss culture is known for its precision and perfectionism, and CannaCeuticals radiates that same standard in every formula it produces. Canna's team of formulators are made up of chemists and product developers that analyze every detail, sourcing ingredients from all ends of the earth to create the most balanced, highly efficacious, anti-aging CBD skincare products in the world. CannaCeuticals CBD7 anti-aging skincare products incorporate cannabidiol (CBD), a superior antioxidant and a potential anti-inflammatory agent, both of which are significant in anti-aging. Canna's Swiss heritage influences a sense of unity in its products, and it combines CBD with other essential anti-aging ingredients to create formulas that pack a powerful punch. Clinical trials were conducted by BioScreen Testing Services, Inc., a third party FDA approved lab located in the USA. The test subjects that used the Cannaceutical facial serum noticed a 100% overall improvement of the skin appearance within a two-week period. Laguna has signed a distribution agreement with ISO International, LLC, a transaction under which Laguna has acquired the exclusive right to market, promote and distribute seven CBD skin care products of CannaCeuticals of California, USA ("Canna") Hemp has long been recognized by the health and nutrition industry as a super food, cited in many publications as a balanced source of all ingredients required to achieve health and wellness. What is Cannabidiol Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid found in abundance in the hemp plant. Hemp genetics are naturally rich in cannabidiol as well as other non-psychoactive cannabinoids and phytochemicals. Cannabidiol, and all the other cannabinoids in the cannabis plant, were patented by the United States Government in 2003 as neuroprotectants and antioxidants. None of the statements contained in this news release are health claims and the FDA has not evaluated these claims. Laguna's products and proposed products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. HempOmega HempOmega is an environmentally sustainable, vegetarian source of Omegas 3 and 6 that boasts a superior nutrient profile. A water soluble, homogenous, powdered ingredient, it can be easily integrated and/or manipulated, with no unpleasant taste or chemical contamination opening up entirely new product formulation opportunities. Hemp Omega's greater ability to endure the digestive process delivers unmatched bioavailability, thereby maximizing its potential health benefits. The Company currently sells its products through its independent affiliates in the USA and Canada. HempOmega is a Trademark owned by Naturally Splendid Enterprises, Ltd. and is used under license by Laguna Blends Inc. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Stuart Gray" Chief Executive Officer CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS: Howe & Bay Suite 600 - 535 Howe St. Vancouver, BC V6C 2Z4 1.604.449.5302 COMPANY: Laguna Blends ir@lagunablends.com www.lagunablends.com https://cbdskincream.com/ Join Us On Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/LagunaBlends/ Twitter: @LagunaBlends Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to statements regarding the Company's business, products and future the Companys business, its product offerings and plans for sales and marketing. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Such forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance and developments to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, the risks that the Company's products and plan will vary from those stated in this news release and the Company may not be able to carry out its business plans as expected. Except as required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation, and does not intend, to update any forward looking statements or forward-looking information in this news release. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct and makes no reference to profitability based on sales reported. The statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. SOURCE: Laguna Blends Inc. * CFE amasses US$5.5bn book for new debt issue * Bermuda returns to bond market with new 10-year * Creditors work with Egyptian billionaire to shore up Oi By Mike Gambale NEW YORK, Oct 11 (IFR) - Below is a recap of primary issuance activity in the Latam primary market on Tuesday: Number of deals priced: 2 Total issuance volume: US$1.665bn CFE Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), a Mexican state-owned utility, announced a bond maturing in February 2027. Expected ratings are Baa1/BBB+/BBB+. BBVA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup are acting as leads. IPT: T+337.5bp area PRICE GUIDANCE: T+312.5bp area (+/- 12.5bp) LAUNCH: US$1bn at T+300bp PRICED: US$1bn 4.75% cpn 10-year (2/23/2027). At 99.876, yld 4.766%. T+300bp. BOOK: US$5.5bn BERMUDA The government of Bermuda has announced a long 10-year bond. The senior unsecured bond is expected to be rated A2/A+ by Moody's and S&P. Proceeds are being used to help fund a cash tender, to repay a US$200m credit facility and to fund a portion of the fiscal deficit. HSBC is acting as a sole bookrunner. IPTs: low 200s over Treasuries PRICE GUIDANCE: T+200bp (+/-5bp) LAUNCH: US$665m long 10-year bond at T+195bp PRICED: US$665m long 10-year: 99.986: 3.717%Y; T+195bp - Maturity January 25 2027 BOOK: North of US$1.6bn PIPELINE LATAM Airlines Group S.A. ("LATAM", NYSE: LFL), a Chile-based airline group, mandated Citi and J.P. Morgan as global coordinators and joint bookrunners and BNPP, BofAML, Deutsche Bank, and Santander as joint bookrunners to arrange a series of fixed income investor meetings in Chile, Europe, and the US commencing on October 12. A USD-denominated benchmark 144A/Reg S 7-year offering is expected to follow, subject to market conditions. Meeting schedule as follows: October 12, Santiago; October 14, Los Angeles; October 17, London; October 18, Boston; October 19, New York. Global Bank, from Panama, is preparing a possible senior unsecured note. The issuer was in Boston on Wednesday and Los Angeles on Thursday. Ratings are Ba1/BBB-/BBB-. Story continues The deal is being done in conjunction with a tender for its outstanding 2017 covered bonds. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have been mandated as leads, with UBS coming in as co-manager. Nafin, a Mexican development bank, has wrapped up roadshows, as it looks to market a potential US dollar bond through Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC. The issuer is rated A3/BBB+/BBB+. The Republic of Suriname (B1/B+/B+) is roadshowing this week and next to market a potential debut 144A/Reg S bond offering. The borrower was in London on Tuesday and will head to Boston on October 12, the mid Atlantic coast on October 13, the West Coast on October 14. Roadshows will finish in New York on October 17 and 18. Oppenheimer and Scotiabank have been mandated to organize the meetings. (Reporting by Mike Gambale; Editing by Shankar Ramakrishnan) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made villains out of Mexican immigrants this election, promising to build a border wall to keep out rapists and drug dealers. Not surprisingly, its going to cost him at the polls in November, according to a new poll released Tuesday. According to the Pew Research Center survey, Clinton has 58 percent of support from Latino voters, compared to Trumps 19 percent. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has 10 percent of Latino support, while Green Party candidate Jill Stein has 6 percent. Overall, 64 percent of those surveyed said they identify with or lean Democratic, while 24 percent say the same about Republicans. Trumps support from Latinos pales in comparison to Hispanic votes for Mitt Romney in 2012 (27 percent of Latino voters), John McCain in 2008 (31 percent of Latinos), and George W. Bush in 2004 (44 percent). The poll also showed that Trumps rhetoric toward Latinos has resonated. Some 75 percent said they have talked about Trumps remarks with coworkers, friends, and family over the course of the last year. If theres a downside for Democrats, its that only 69 percent of registered Latinos said they were absolutely certain they would vote, compared to 77 percent in 2012. However, an edge in the Latino vote is still a plus for Clinton, simply because of demographics. The number of Latinos eligible to vote this year will be the largest in U.S. history, according to Pew. The research group estimates there will be 27.3 million eligible Latino voters this year. The number of Hispanic registered voters and the number of Hispanic voters is likely to reach new records in 2016, just as it has in every previous presidential election cycle for the past three decades, the Pew report said. The survey was conducted August 23 to September 21 among 1,507 Latino adults. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Monday showed Clinton with a double-digit lead over Trump among all voters. It was taken after a video of Trump making lewd comments about women and sexual assault was released last Friday. The Pew report also serves as more evidence that the Republican party has ignored the findings of its own 2012 election post-mortem, which found that the GOP had to improve outreach to Latino voters if it wants to stay competitive in national elections. If anything, the Trump campaign has set these efforts back to where they were well before Latinos overwhelmingly choose President Barack Obama over Romney four years ago. Photo credit: Getty Images The latest Wizard of Oz adaptation will have a Hispanic Dorothy and we are SO EXCITED Growing up, Dorothy Gale was one of our favorite movie characters. I mean, seriously, what girl didnt want a Toto by her side? And as we grew older, we obviously hunted for an enviable pair of ruby-red high heels (still on the hunt, tbh). That would explain why we were so excited to hear the following news At this years Comic Con, NBC revealed its long-awaited series Emerald City and leading the cast will be the first ever Hispanic Dorothy Gale played by Adria Arjona! Debuting January 6th, 2017, Emerald City is changing the way we view the Land of Oz and its infamous protagonist Dorothy. Tarsem Singh, the director of all ten episodes, promises that the show will be dark and edgy, and will going by the tagline Say goodbye to Kansas. To put it simply: We are excited to see what is in store. The only way out is Oz. #EmeraldCity premieres with a two-hour event Friday, January 6 at 9/8c. A photo posted by Emerald City (@nbcemeraldcity) on Aug 29, 2016 at 4:14pm PDT Now, can we take a moment to applaud NBC over this insanely diverse cast? According to executive producer Shaun Cassidy, There was no ethnicity prescribed for any role they were just the best actors. Not only is the show lead by a minority director, but the cast is composed of several races and nations. Also, The Los Angeles Times reports that the show will feature transgender characters. A new Oz awaits. #EmeraldCity is coming soon to @nbctv. A photo posted by Emerald City (@nbcemeraldcity) on May 10, 2016 at 7:16pm PDT Perfect example: Dorothy Gale will be played by the incredibly talented Hispanic actress Adria Arjona. The most important thing to note is that Arjona was not cast just because she was Hispanic. She fit the role within the story Singh wanted to tell, and he made sure to keep the casting door open. But if Arjona did not feel comfortable trying out for this role, we would not be witnessing such a meaningful casting choice. I remember thinking to myself, Im Hispanic, Im never really going to get this,' Arjona said. In the end, she decided, You know what? I am Hispanic. Im just gonna do it, and Im going to do it 100 percent. As a woman who grew up watching The Wiz religiously, featuring Diana Ross as Dorothy, I applaud NBC for featuring such a diverse cast. Seeing Dorothy being played by a black woman who looked like me, talked like me, and was surrounded by a family like mine taught me that any platform I wanted to stand on was possible, as long as I worked hard and fervently pursued what I wanted. Ultimately, its refreshing to see Hollywood open up the platform for diverse representation on such classic stories. Not only is it important to exist in a society that welcomes diversity, but Im hoping that when I have children, I wont have to explain why diversity is so important. Seeing Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Indian, and LGBTQ characters will hopefully be ordinary for them. Get ready to meet a Dorothy for a new generation in #EmeraldCity. #NYCC A photo posted by Emerald City (@nbcemeraldcity) on Oct 8, 2016 at 4:22pm PDT According to the Los Angeles Times, how Dorothy ends up in Oz will be completely different from the original story. After crashing her police car in Kansas after a stormy night, Dorothy realizes that she has killed a witch. But this time, instead of the Munchkins being happy the witch is gone, Dorothy is greeted by a group of characters who are upset the witch is dead. Dorothy is then exiled with her dog, Toto, who is no longer the small dog we are accustomed to seeing. Toto is now a German Shepherd! After being banished, this heroine goes on a hunt to find the Wizard, but little does she know the Wizard (Vincent DOnofrio) is tightening his grip on the residents of Emerald City. We honestly cant wait to give this show a watch especially since encouraging diversity is truly how we Make America Great Again! The post The latest Wizard of Oz adaptation will have a Hispanic Dorothy and we are SO EXCITED appeared first on HelloGiggles. ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A prominent Pakistani journalist says he has been barred from leaving the country after he wrote an article, denied by the authorities, about a rift between the government and the powerful military. Cyril Almeida's name has been placed on the Exit Control List, his newspaper Dawn reported on Tuesday, citing officials. An interior ministry spokesman said he could not confirm the order had been issued. Almeida, a leading columnist and assistant editor at one of Pakistan's most respected English-language dailies, issued a tweet late on Monday about the ban. "I am told and have been informed and have been shown evidence that I am on the Exit Control List," he said. "Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan." Almeida's story, published on Oct. 6, gave an account of a tense, high-level security meeting held between military and government officials. Quoting anonymous sources, it said civilian government officials called for the military not to interfere if civilian authorities tried to arrest members of anti-India militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba. India has long accused Pakistan's military of sponsoring these groups to foment unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir and elsewhere, a charge that Pakistan denies. SENSITIVE TIME The government issued two denials of the Dawn story. On Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif to discuss the article's contents, according to a statement from the prime minister's office. "The participants were unanimous that the published story was clearly violative of universally acknowledged principles of reporting on National Security issues and has risked the vital state interests through inclusion of inaccurate and misleading contents," the statement said. "(The) Prime Minister took serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action." Relations between the civilian government and military have often been strained in a country where several prime ministers, including Sharif himself, have been ousted in coups. The Dawn article comes at a particularly sensitive time, however, with nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan locked in a tense standoff in disputed Kashmir after militants attacked an Indian army base there last month killing 19 soldiers. Since 2014, Pakistan has launched a crackdown on Pakistani Taliban militants and their allies along the northwestern border with Afghanistan, but it is unclear if that operation has extended to anti-India groups. Dawn's editor, Zaffar Abbas, issued a statement saying the paper stood by the report. Pakistan's press is vibrant, but rights activists say reporting on national security issues is heavily controlled. Pakistan ranks 147th of 179 countries on Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index. At least 59 journalists have been killed in targeted attacks since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance 1981, the Pakistani government has the authority to bar the exit of any citizen from the country. Those on the list may apply for a review by the government itself, but not by the courts. The measure has been used in the past to control the travel of convicted criminals, politicians and some Islamist militants. It has rarely been used against journalists. (Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Mike Collett-White) Hillary Clinton Bill Clinton A State Department official close to Hillary Clinton appeared to give preference to former President Bill Clinton's friends after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, emails leaked to ABC News revealed on Tuesday. The official, Caitlin Klevorick, was one of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's senior aides. She was managing Clinton Foundation contacts who were offering assistance to the State Department. In one email, Klevorick wrote, "Need you to flag when people are friends of WJC," referring to William Jefferson Clinton. "Most I can probably ID but not all." She wrote in another email: "Is this a FOB [Friend of Bill]! If not, she should go to cidi.org," referring to a general government website. The person was emailing to offer medical supplies in the wake of the earthquake. In another case, billionaire Clinton Foundation donor Denis O'Brien wrote to Clinton aide Doug Band and Clinton Foundation foreign policy director Amitabh Desai for help figuring out how to fly supplies into Haiti and get employees of his company, Haitian telecom firm Digicel, out of the country. Desai referred to O'Brien as a "WJC VIP" in an email with the subject line "Friend of Clintons." O'Brien later wrote in an email to Band that he was "not making any progress through conventional channels." Band then wrote to Desai to "pls get on this." While some offers of help were charitable, others might have been seeking lucrative government contracts as part of the Haiti reconstruction and recovery efforts, ABC noted. Klevorick told ABC News that she asked questions about whether the contacts were friends of Bill Clinton to determine whether they had previously worked in Haiti or with disaster relief. She said the priority "was to get the necessary resources to the right places as soon as possible to save lives." Bruce Lindsey, the chairman of the board of the Clinton Foundation, said in a statement to ABC News that "no special treatment was expected or given." Story continues "This was a time of dire need, and we mobilized our network and wanted to make sure that any help offered was put to good use," Lindsey said. Donald Trump's campaign slammed the Clintons in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon. "Today's bombshell from ABC News about big Clinton Foundation donors profiting off the suffering of Haitian earthquake victims thanks to Hillary Clinton's State Department is disgusting, disturbing and completely disqualifying," Jason Miller, the senior communications advisor for the Republican presidential nominee's campaign, said in the statement. "Hillary Clinton's penchant for putting the profits of big donors ahead of suffering civilians shows what kind of person she is. Clinton is not 'fighting for you,' she's only fighting for herself and her donors." Trump himself tweeted Tuesday afternoon. He called the ABC News report "unbelievable." NOW WATCH: Watch the brutal Hillary Clinton ad that pits Trump against himself More From Business Insider (WASHINGTON) Newly leaked emails show consternation among those closest to Hillary Clinton about how Bill Clintons business dealings might damage his reputation and potentially affect her presidential hopes. The emails, posted Monday by the WikiLeaks organization, also give insight into tension and turmoil within the Clinton Foundation while Clinton was serving as secretary of state. The chief operating officer of the family charity was reported to be threatening to commit suicide over the stress. WikiLeaks began releasing on Friday what it says are years of messages from the accounts of Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta. Podesta has acknowledged his emails were hacked, but warned the messages may have been altered or edited to do political damage to Clinton. It wasnt immediately clear who hacked Podestas emails, though U.S. intelligence officials last week blamed the Russian government for a series of breaches and leaks intended to influence the presidential election. The emails that circulated among Podesta, Chelsea Clinton and former Bill Clinton aide Doug Band detail internal tensions that simmered inside the Clinton Foundation and appear to have played a role in Bands departure from the family charity. Internal concerns among Clinton family intimates about Band and the private corporate advisory firm he co-founded, Teneo Holdings, have been previously detailed in several media accounts. But the new emails provide raw glimpses of an apparent power struggle between the Clintons daughter and Band, who worked closely for Bill Clinton for more than a decade after the end of the Clinton administration. In an email exchange from December 2011, Chelsea Clinton tells Podesta and others including Clinton adviser and current Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe that shes increasingly concerned about Teneo. The email includes a forwarded news article that alleges that Bill Clinton had collected $50,000 a month through Teneo from MF Global, the commodities brokerage formerly run by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, while MF Global was preparing to file for bankruptcy. Story continues Chelsea Clinton told Podesta and others that two people separately came up to her at a London event for the Clinton Foundation to raise concerns that someone representing Teneo clients had been calling members of the British Parliament on behalf of President Clinton without her fathers knowledge. Chelsea Clinton said the calls had people in London making comparisons between the profit motivations of the former president and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Which would horrify my father, Chelsea Clinton wrote. Band wrote in an email that Chelsea Clinton seemed more concerned about critical news coverage about MF Global, a derivatives broker, and Bands advisory firm, Teneo, than published reports about Bill Clintons infidelity. I realize it is difficult to confront and reason with her but this could go (too) far and then we all will have a real serious set of other problems, Band vented in an exchange sent to Podesta. I dont deserve this from her and deserve a tad more respect. She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues to justify what shes doing because she, as she has said, hasnt found her way and has a lack of focus in her life. The emails reflect the ascendance of Chelsea Clinton as early as 2011 inside the family charity. The younger Clinton was recently was anointed as the Clinton Foundations future leader if her mother wins the presidency next month. Bill Clinton announced in August that he planned to step down from the charitys board if his wife becomes president. Chelsea Clinton will remain on the organizations board. Bill Clinton explained in a letter to supporters in August that he would resign and stop raising funds for the charity to eliminate legitimate concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Calls seeking comment from the Clinton Foundation and from Teneo, where Band works, received no response Monday. Also in December 2011, Clinton Foundation chief operating officer Laura Graham contacted Band to complain that stress she blamed on the former president and Chelsea Clinton was causing her to consider suicide. Band wrote that when Graham called him, she was in her car parked near the water with her foot on the gas pedal. He said he dissuaded her from hurting herself. She called me to tell me the stress of all of this office crap with wjc and cvc as well as that of her family had driven her to the edge and she couldnt take it anymore, Band wrote in an email to Podesta and Cheryl Mills, then Hillary Clintons chief of staff. Graham later departed the Clinton Foundation, taking a new job with the Empire State Development Corporation. Phone messages left for Graham on Monday received no response. How Let Girls Learn led me to meet some of the most incredible girls in the world As you might know, today is International Day of the Girl. While we aim to empower, uplift, and inspire girls every single day, today especially were taking some extra time to talk about ways we can help and do our part. One way in particular? Learn more about girls across the globe and their access (in many cases the lack thereof) to an education and the tools they need to be successful. A program that aims to aid girls and connect them with the resources they need to get the education they deserve is Let Girls Learn, and initiative led by First Lady Michelle Obama. The program also gives US the tools we need to take action and support these girls. A couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity to travel with Let Girls Learn again (yup, I got the chance before, and it was life-changing). The first time I was able to go to Africa and meet girls learning life skills and getting leadership training thanks to Peace Corps volunteers in Liberia. This time, USAID partnered with Let Girls Learn to bring four fabulous and brilliant young women from Pakistan, Malawi, and Jordan to New York for two days to meet with First Lady Michelle Obama at an event designed to bring attention to the issues young women face in trying to get an education. Their names are Noor, Halima,Summyka, and Deepa, and I was beyond honored to meet them. All of the girls were traveling to the U.S. for the very first time to be a part of a Broadway event with stars from the musicals The Color Purple, Wicked, Waitress, Beautiful and speakers First Lady, Michelle Obama, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and First Lady of Malawi, Gertrude Maseko. Stephen Colbert was the host for the evening but I can honestly say that Noor, Halima, Summyka, and Deep were the stars of the show. Their speeches represented the severity of each regions education crisis but they all delivered them so eloquently and infused their personality into every point that it was impossible to focus on anything but their moving words. Story continues On stage, their humor and intelligence shined through as though this was a thing they did every day (so, honestly, watch out Stephen Colbert youve got some competition). At one point, the mic for Halima wasnt working and Noor grabbed her own and crossed the stage to help her out. #Pro. Keeping in mind that not only had these girls never been on stage before, but they were also speaking in front of a packed theater with some of the post powerful women in the world. These girls all came with a purpose and a message and when they were given their time to speak they were not going to waste their shot to represent their countries and make a difference. Today especially, Id like to recognize Noor, Halima, Summyka, Deepa. These girls are the embodiment of what International Day of the Girl is about. Their stories show us how taking small steps forward can change, and in many ways save, the lives of girls all around the world. While I have you here (hi, hello!), please take the time to read about all the amazing work Let Girls Learn is doing and spread the word. Social media is a powerful tool and the more people that involved, raise their voices, and share these tools the better! To read more about Summayka Qadir and Deepa Kumari from Pakistan theres a great article HERE and info HERE To read more about Halima Robert from Malawi and get involved check out the info HERE and resources HERE And to read a fabulous piece on Noor Abu Ghazaleh of Jordan check THIS out and get started HERE Read more about the LGL x Broadway event here and read the transcript from the night here The post How Let Girls Learn led me to meet some of the most incredible girls in the world appeared first on HelloGiggles. From Esquire "It's just words, folks. It's just words. Those words, I've been hearing them for many years." -Donald J. Trump, Republican candidate for president, October 9, 2016. The most predictable fallout from Sunday night's gutterdammerung in St. Louis was that the leaders of what we now laughingly call the Republican Establishment would be wrapping themselves in their most eloquent weaselspeak as regards to their party's standard-bearer. And we were not disappointed. On Monday morning, Speaker Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny-starver from the state of Wisconsin, led the chorus. Per CNBC: House Speaker Paul Ryan told fellow Republican lawmakers Monday he will not defend Donald Trump and focus only on holding congressional majorities. "The speaker is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities," a Ryan spokeswoman told NBC News. His decision follows outrage over a leaked 2005 video that shows GOP presidential nominee Trump joking about touching women without consent. Following the video's release, numerous Republican lawmakers said they would not back Trump, though Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had not explicitly rescinded their support. Good lord, he must be looking at internal polling that turns his liver to water. But, beyond that, what the hell does this mean? It means that Ryan doesn't have the stones to rescind his endorsement and that he is telling the rest of his caucus to swim away from the wreckage before it sucks them all down into the abyss. It also means that Ryan is resigned to a President Hillary Rodham Clinton and that his primary focus is to keep the power to obstruct yet another Democratic president. It also means that Ryan still thinks there's enough energy in the dank regions of The Base to do him and his caucus real damage if he were to rescind formally his endorsement. His loyalty is purely toward his caucus, not toward the country. This was Paul Ryan's Ecce Homo moment. He did everything except ask for a basin in which to wash his hands. The essential gutlessness of the man always will shine through. Story continues And then there's Mike Pence, the vice-presidential candidate. All through the 48 hours after the release of the pussy-grabbing tape, Pence was said to be livid-"apoplectic," was the word bandied about most frequently-at what was on the video. Trump did nothing between the release of the tape and Sunday night's debate except turn the election into even more of a freak show in which, among other things, he tossed Pence under an APC in the sands of Syria. In the aftermath, Pence, that good Christian man, went on CNN to pronounce himself still a loyal crewman. Pence made no immediate public reference to their foreign policy disconnect. At the debate's end, Pence tweeted "congrats to my running mate @realDonaldTrump on a big debate win! Proud to stand with you as we #MAGA." Pence on Monday insisted that he and Trump stood "shoulder to shoulder" on Syria. He told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day" that debate moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News "misrepresented" his position. "I think the way she framed that was to suggest that I had implied we ought to use military power to achieve regime change," Pence said. "I simply never said that." Pence said he and Trump agree on the establishment of safe zones in Syria to address the country's humanitarian crisis. He said that could include using military power to secure those zones. Asked by Camerota why Trump said Monday night that he had not spoken with Pence about the issue, Pence said his running made said they "hadn't spoken specifically" about what Raddatz asked. They know, all of them know, that there is a substantial portion of their party that feeds itself on lies and slander, and they know that those people can still fck their shit up in a hundred ways. They know that those people were thrilled by what El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago did on Sunday. This would be true even if HRC were to pitch an Electoral College shutout. And now we have the putative leaders of the party taking refuge in the low bigotry of soft expectations. It's every weasel for themselves and there isn't anywhere near enough room on the ratlines of the listing hulk of the 2016 Republican campaign. Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page. [contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="Related%20Story" customtitles="Donald%20Trump%20Is%20Without%20Parallel" customimages="" content="article.49443"] You Might Also Like LINE Friends Store in Japan & Korea seems to be gearing up for the upcoming festive season with multiple new launches that caught our eyes. This one goes out to all the LINE Friends devotees, please dont hate me for burning a hole in your wallet. Here are the MUST BUY from Line Friends latest collection whether youre visiting the store or not! LINE Friends Tableware (Only at Harajuku, Sendai, or Fukuoka) Entire 5 piece set at 6,264 Yen (Approx SGD $82) source Gone are the days when we eat out of dull plastic bowls. Gather fellow LINE Friends fanatics for a themed dinner! You can serve them food in this brown pot, accompanied with equally adorable plates and cutlery. only 500 sets of this set were released, are you one of the lucky one? LINE Friends x LOccitane Shea Butter Gift Set Set of 3 pieces at 4,320 Yen With 40 pieces at 54,000 Yen source For the uninitiated, LOccitane is known for its moisturising lip products that are also value for money. To have LOccitane beauty products with LINE Friends packaging!? Were officially sold. Dump your boring chapsticks now for this LOccitane x LINE collectible series! LINE Friends x Lamy Fountain Pen (Available in Japan & Korea) Entire set comes at 5900 Yen source This will be a yay or nay for some of you. Some may perceive this fountain pen to be unprofessional. Heres my take: we can all have more colours and fun in our everyday lives! Besides, Lamy has been producing quality fountain pens for decades! With adorable packaging and quality of product covered, there is really no reason not to fall in love with this. LINE Friends stationery (Available in Japan) Notebooks Starting at 350 Yen Ballpoint pens at 350 Yen Clear folders at 400 Yen Plastic pouches at 550 Yen Masking tape at 400 Yen source LINE Friends stationery makes homework a little less miserable! The entire set is the perfect substitute for your uninteresting G2 pen or exercise books. The affordable price tag also makes it an practical gift to students & your classmates! Story continues LINE Friends Brown Chocochip Cookie Box of 8 cookies at 2100 Yen source You know youre a true Singaporean when you never stray too far from food. Yes, this may just taste like any other cookie in the market. But, just look at the LINE Friends packaging. I cant, and I wont resist! LINE Friends Passport Cover This item would generate some excitement amongst frequent travellers. You no longer need to fret about having an Instagram worthy passport cover. Your pre-boarding picture will never look as cute Furthermore, if youre sentimental by nature, this cover comes with external pockets to store your plane tickets! These items are all exclusively sold at LINE Friends stores in Japan or Korea. If youre not travelling there anytime soon, our travellers can hand-carry them back for you! LINE Friends Collectibles - Airfrov Blog The post Line Friends Store Year End Collection: Irresistible Tableware, Stationery & Collabs appeared first on Airfrov Blog. By Ginger Gibson and Grant Smith WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Donald Trump has dismissed his vulgar sexual comments about women that surfaced on a video as "locker room talk," but his explanation did little to soothe the queasiness of Esther Rosser, a 71-year-old grandmother from Virginia. I know he apologized, and all you can do is apologize, but he could have said more, said Rosser, who has voted Republican her whole life but decided this weekend that she would support Trump's rival for president, Democrat Hillary Clinton. He disrespected us," she said of Trump, referring to women in general. Rosser's misgivings echoed many of the sentiments expressed by more than two dozen women voters interviewed by Reuters who, as recently as September, had not decided whether they would support Trump or Clinton in the Nov. 8 U.S. election. In the informal survey conducted by phone the day after Sunday's presidential debate, many women said they were appalled by the 2005 video in which Trump bragged of kissing and groping women without consent. The video surfaced on the Washington Post's website on Friday afternoon. Several of the voters also said they disliked the Republican presidential candidate's strategy of highlighting the infidelities of Hillary Clinton's husband, Bill Clinton, in an effort to defend his own conduct, or shift attention away from it. "I didn't like the fact that he was attacking Hillary on things her husband did," said Connie Sasso, a 66-year-old retiree from Missouri. "It's wrong - it's just wrong." FLOORED, DISGUSTED In the second presidential debate with Clinton on Sunday in St. Louis, Missouri, Trump said he was embarrassed by the video but dismissed his comments as "locker room talk." He also accused Hillary Clinton of attacking women who had alleged sexual misconduct by her husband, who was president from 1993 to 2001. Trump's criticism of Bill Clinton's infidelities drew applause from supporters at a Monday rally he held in Pennsylvania. But Trump, whose core voters are overwhelmingly male, has struggled to appeal to women, who made up 53 percent of the U.S. electorate in the 2012 election. If Trump is unable to narrow the gender gap, he will be unable to overcome Clinton's lead in the polls. "I cant with good conscience vote for someone with that kind of mindset to the presidency, said LeighAnn Chase, a 27-year-old nursing student from Lakeland, Florida. As a woman, she was "floored" by Trump's comments, and disgusted that others would seek to justify them, said Chase, a registered Republican who said she is now backing Clinton. Patsy Bennewise, 58, of North Little Rock, Arkansas, never voted for Clinton's husband during the nearly 10 years he was her state's governor. But her streak of never voting for a Clinton is set to end in November when she said she will cast her ballot for the Democratic candidate. She said of Trump: Hes turned the presidential election into a mockery. SOME STAY ON FENCE Not all undecided women voters contacted by Reuters came out against Trump. Amy Fryzelka, a 37-year-old tutor from Kansas City, Missouri, said she thought Trump's comments were "horrible" but she believed his personal life would not influence how he would govern. She said she is leaning toward the Republican candidate because she believes Clinton is too deceptive. "I'd prefer not to vote for either of them, really," Fryzelka said. Jane Simmons, 78, of Sterling Heights, Michigan, also said she would rather not vote for either Clinton or Trump. Simmons, whose mail-in ballot arrived on Friday, hours before she and other Americans learned of Trump's lewd comments, said the video led her to consider backing Clinton. This is an indication of what the man is, although it was a decade ago, I dont think he changed very much, she said. I dont believe hes got a conscience. For Rosser, the Virginia grandmother, the decision to cast her vote for Clinton came when her 14-year-old granddaughter asked her to explain why Trump would say the things he said in the video. "He's not a good role model for kids," she said. (Reporting by Amy Tennery and Grant Smith in New York and Ginger Gibson in Washington; Editing by Caren Bohan and Bill Rigby) Prague (AFP) - Researchers at the Czech national film archives said Tuesday they had found a film by early cinema pioneer Georges Melies that was thought to have been lost forever. The silent two-minute "Match de prestidigitation" ("Conjuring contest"), dating from 1904, was found on a reel given to the archives by an anonymous donor, labelled as another film. Frenchman Melies, a stage magician turned movie-maker, is credited with developing many technical and narrative developments in the 500-plus movies he made between 1896 and 1912. "The reel was titled 'Les Transmutations imperceptibles' ('Imperceptible transmutations'), which is the name of another work by Melies. But our specialist immediately realised it was another film," archives spokeswoman Jana Ulipova told AFP. "Based on detailed analysis and research at the National Library of France, among other places, we can say with certainty that it is 'Match du prestidigitation', up to now considered lost." The recovered film shows a magician, who divides into two. The two doubles then take turns to perform tricks before merging back into one man. "We are planning to show the film in cinemas as part of a collection of Melies works," Ulipova said. The Czech archives have 22 movies by Melies, whose "Voyage dans la Lune" ("A Trip to the Moon") from 1902 is seen by many as the first ever science-fiction film. Most of the films made by Melies, who died in 1938, have been lost. A painstakingly restored colour version of "A Trip to the Moon" was screened at France's Cannes Film Festival in 2011. One of the worlds oldest and largest film production companies, Russian studio Mosfilm, set up in 1923, was the powerhouse of film production during the Soviet Union era, producing more than 3,000 films. It continues to be a major film producer, with over 1,200 employees. Leveraging the companys extensive film library, Mosfilm has been a pioneer in the field of restoration of classic films, restoring around 7-8 titles per year, using intensive frame-by-frame restoration. In 2010, the company launched a partner channel with Youtube featuring a large number of Soviet-era films, many of which were unknown in the West, including a substantial number with English-language subtitles. Titles available on the Youtube channel include well-known films by Andrei Tarkovsky and Sergei Eisenstein and lesser-known titles such as Zerograd, (Gorod City), directed by Karen Shakhnazarov, who has served as Mosfilms General Director and Chairman since 1998. In last years Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon, Mosfilm unveiled the restored versions of Sergey Eisensteins Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible. At this years fest it will be screening Shakhnazarovs Zerograd (pictured). Shakhnazarov spoke exclusively to Variety about Mosfilms current film restoration plans. What are the main objectives associated to your film restoration strategy? To begin with, restoration of heritage films for us is primarily a cultural policy rather than a commercial project. Mosfilm invests considerable amounts in film restoration and we believe that its absolutely necessary to restore heritage films. We have begun with films that have great artistic value, such as the films by Eisenstein and Tarkovsky. What are the main distribution channels you use for restored films? Of course were always pleased to present these restored films in different film festivals. And of course on TV, when channels want them. We also upload our films onto the Internet, in particular via our partner channel with Youtube. Many of our restored films can be viewed free of charge on this channel. In general, we are always happy to collaborate with anyone willing to present our restored films. Story continues Has the Mosfilm Youtube channel been a success? We are very happy with our viewers on Youtube. We have recorded many millions of viewers and the statistics show that they are from all over world Latin America, North America, Europe, Asia. At present the Mosfilm Youtube channel, has about 300 films, of which 50-60 have subtitles. Once we provide English language subtitles, the Youtube technology provides an automatic translation into other languages. What are the most popular titles on your Youtube channel? I dont have a precise statistic immediately available to tell you, but the most popular are probably old Soviet comedies from the 1960s and 1970s, because of course many of the films on this channel are viewed in Russia and by Russian viewers living abroad, who enjoy these films. Do you generate any revenues from restored films? DVD and the theatrical market bring in some income. But nothing compared to the investment. We dont just scan the source materials. We do frame by frame deep restoration, which is very expensive. Does having films available for free on Youtube have a negative impact on DVD, Bluray, VOD sales? It does have some effect. But on the other hand some people who have watched films on Youtube also go out and buy the films. Our Youtube partner channel also brings in some revenues because it is ad-supported. The revenues are not very large. But it does bring in some revenues. Do you collaborate with other studios in restoration activities? We are in contact and exchange ideas and experience with other countries involved in restoration, but in practice we do everything in house. We have acquired state of the art equipment. Our specialists are very well trained. Everything is done in house. We do however restore films for other companies until now essentially with Russian companies. We have done some small restoration jobs for foreign companies, for example Italian firms, but this has been very marginal. In Russia we have provided restoration services to the Russian state film archive and to the Gorky Film Studio, which also has a large library What are the main priorities in terms of film restoration? The first important priority were the classic titles by well-known directors such as Eisenstein and Tarkovsky but most of these films have now been restored. Restoration is a long-term project. We restore 7-8 films per year Mosfilms full library has around 1500 titles and so it will take a lot of time to restore all the films. Only about 70-100 titles in our full library have been restored so far. Some of the films available on Youtube have not yet been restored. Which titles are currently being restored? Tarkovskys Ivans Childhood is currently being restored it will probably be finished by the end of this year. This is the only Tarkovsky film in our library which hasnt yet undergone deep restoration. We have already restored Tarkovskys Mirror, Andrei Rubhlev, Solaris, and Stalker. For Nostalghia we only had rights for the Russian territory and for Sacrifice we had no rights. We are also in the process of restoring Sergei Bondarchuks War and Peace which should also be ready by the end of this year. These are the most important titles at present. The problem is that when you start restoring a film, you never know how long it will take. For instance Eisensteins Ivan the Terrible took 8 months, because it was in very poor condition. For films in relatively good condition it can take around 2 months. Do you acquire films for restoration? Considering films that we have in our catalogue and the time it takes, our primary task is restore our own films so we have our hands full. But if we are approached we can always consider acquisitions or joint restoration initiatives. Is the audience for your restored films expanding? Definitely. There is major interest. Over the last 2 years, we have presented restored films twice in Cannes and twice in Venice. The theatres were full. When we present these films in Russia, the cinemas are always full. I do believe that the interest for this kind of film heritage is growing very quickly. This shows that we are not working in vain. Have you maintained the same level of investment in film restoration per year over recent years? Generally the quantity of films per year has remained the same. The key factor is the number of film restoration experts who can work in the proper manner on each frame. We have three such specialists. It takes a lot of time and effort to train new specialists, and at present we have decided to remain with three, which determines the number of films we can work on each year. Of course there is software available which is steadily improving and for some projects can increase the speed, but for this kind of restoration, which is done frame by frame, specialists have to work with every frame taking out the artifacts and patching etc. It remains very slow. Sometimes difficulties arise that have to be resolved by our engineers. Sometimes we encounter artifacts, or spoiled passages which occurred even when the film was shot. We try to improve on that, using sophisticated engineering solutions. Do you organize commercial releases of your restored films, as occurs, for example, with classic titles in France? Unfortunately that is not the case in Russia. Russian film distributors are very reluctant to release classic films theatrically. Sometimes we can arrange one-off seasons or showcases of restored films. When we do, the audiences are always very big. But distributors are nonetheless very apprehensive. They focus on the immediate financial return and dont want to run the risk. Do you receive any public support for your restoration projects? Mosfilm is a state-owned company. But its self financed. We do not receive any state financing. We pay taxes to the state. We dont receive funds for restoration. Overall, Mosfilm generates profits from our other activities. That gives us the possibility to invest in restoration. We do receive some commercial revenues from restored films. But they are very small compared to the cost. We view this area as a loss leader. Nonetheless, we try to increase revenues. Part of this strategy is to participate in film festivals, in order to present our restored films. We also sell restored films in foreign markets, which brings in some revenues. We hope this will increase. We sell to both TV companies and independent distributors. When we sell TV rights we prefer to deal directly with the channels. I believe it is beneficial to Mosfilm and to world culture to restore these films. We concentrate on restoring films that have great artistic value, which form part of world cinema heritage. Even if they dont generate high revenues now they will always be in the center of attention. And I think that over the long run we will recoup our investment. What is the cut-off date for restored films? We are not so keen to set a date. Again it depends on the films that have great importance. Another factor is the condition of the recent films in terms of the source materials. Some recent films are already in bad condition. Some recent films from the 1980s, such as Vladimir Menshovs Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, have also been restored and also some films from the late 1980s, such as, Zerograd, that will be shown in Lyon, which was released in 1988. Related stories Schoonmaker, Scorsese on Powell and Pressburger's 'Tales of Hoffmann' Claude Sautet: The Things of Life Gaumont Preps its 120th Anniversary Dairy farmer Sarah Lloyd will face Republican incumbent Glenn Grothman for the 6th District seat in Congress in the Nov. 8 general election. SUBMITTED PHOTO Maine Gov. Paul LePage suggested that the United States might benefit if a victorious Donald Trump exercised authoritarian power to balance out the past eight years of President Barack Obamas tenure. The embattled Republican governors apparent endorsement of some authoritarianism a political system based on unlimited governmental power and limited personal liberties came during an interview on a conservative radio show in Maine. He also accused Obama of being an autocrat, which is an absolute ruler, such as a monarch or dictator, who has all the power of the state in his or her hands. Sometimes I wonder that our Constitution is not only broken but we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country and bring back the rule of law, LePage told George Hale and Ric Tyler of WVOM Tuesday morning, because weve had eight years of a president that just hes an autocrat, he just does it on his own, he ignores Congress, and every single day, were slipping into anarchy. I just think four more years of a similar mentality is going to destroy this nation. LePage also dismissed the controversy surrounding Trumps vulgar conversation about women from 2005. He conceded that Trump may be a slimeball, and he wouldnt want the real estate tycoon to date his daughter, but said that national security and the national debt are more important. Furthermore, he attacked former President Bill Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Its one thing to be in a locker room and talk. Its another thing to be the White House and do it, he said. Im sorry, guys. Maine Gov. Paul LePage attends an opioid abuse conference in Boston earlier this year. (Photo: Michael Dwyer/AP) According to LePage, the major divide is not between Democrats and Republicans but between the elite and the common man. He accused Obama of want[ing] to really destroy our country. Alison Beyea, the executive director of the ACLU of Maine, condemned LePages call for an authoritarian leader to protect the Constitution, noting that the Constitution was intended to protect against authoritarianism. Story continues The Constitution was written to protect Americans from against the very thing Gov. LePage is calling for an all-powerful, overreaching government, she said in a statement. The governor says he wants to bring back the rule of law, but it actually sounds like he wants to replace the rule of law with the rule of tyranny. This is not the first time LePages brash talk has landed him in the national spotlight. Last summer, he said he had collected information about people trafficking drugs into Maine in a three-ring binder of people and that most offenders are Hispanic and black people from the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and the Bronx or from Waterbury, Conn. Maine Rep. Drew Gattine accused him a racism for the comments and, subsequently, received a threatening, profanity-laden voicemail in response. LePage called him a socialist c***sucker and told local reporters that he wishes it were the 19th century so he could settle their dispute in a duel. In late September, the Washington Post published an editorial titled Maines unhinged governor, calling for LePage to resign. His term is set to last until 2018. LePage threatens to remake his states image from a vacation paradise of surreal natural beauty to a hotbed of hatred, the editorial board wrote. The Mall of America is doing something its never done, and everyone is cheering When youre driving down to meet relatives for your Thanksgiving feast, you might see two things one, open stores. And two, customers camped outside of big retailers to form a Black Friday line. Its a bummer. Thanksgiving is all about food, merriment, and family, so its upsetting when companies would rather squeeze a few dollars from you than let their employees celebrate. So, thats why everyone is cheering for the Mall of America, who (finally) decided that this year will be the first they close for the Thanksgiving. The Mall of America, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, is still known as the worlds biggest and even after facing the recession, theyre still thriving. Even though there are a ton of different stores and activities inside, the big bosses are trying their hardest to close as many parts of the mall down as possible even their movie theaters, and Nickelodeon Universe. Weve been talking about this for months, looking at the numbers, looking at the pros and the cons, mentioned Jill Renslow, the senior vice president of marketing and business development at the mall, to The Star Tribune. Were excited to give this day back to our employees so they can celebrate with their families. This is a huge and powerful move, and definitely a step in the right direction. Reports do mention that certain people will still have to be there namely, security guards but giving the option to close for approximately 15,000 mall workers is something to celebrate. Of course, people throughout America are quite excited about it. #MallofAmerica is closing on Thanksgiving. Retailers everywhere should take note. Holidays are for loved ones. That's all. Daniela (@DanielaEspo) October 7, 2016 I that the #MallOfAmerica will be closed on Thanksgiving! I hope other businesses follow their lead. Everyone deserves to be with family. Stefne Miller (@StefneMiller) October 5, 2016 Downright patriotic! Thankful that #MallofAmerica steps up & lets working people get their gratitude on with family & friends this year. https://t.co/dJ0I1hm20d damiqti (@damiqti) October 5, 2016 Keep up the good work, Mall of America! And thanks for remembering to put families first this year! The post The Mall of America is doing something its never done, and everyone is cheering appeared first on HelloGiggles. A 54-year-old hiker was lucky to survive a bear attack that left him with cuts, gashes and a bite. Dan Richman told KTLA that he was fortunate to escape from the terrifying ordeal Monday when hiking alone in the Angeles National Forest in California, north of Sierra Madre. Having never seen a bear in the wild before, he described himself as pretty freaked out when he came across one standing on its hind legs. Richman backed away, but didnt see a second bear waiting towards his left. 54 yr old man explains how he survived terrifying bear attack in San Gabriel Mountains @KimberlyChengTV reports https://t.co/8LNVA1wgJJ pic.twitter.com/bWyl3ldbbe KTLA (@KTLA) October 11, 2016 He grabbed my wrist. Grabbed my upper leg. He actually put his mouth around my neck. And I just stayed really, really still, Richman told KTLA. I just didnt move The bear was on top of me. He eased up and I got up and walked away. Once I thought it was clear I just ran down the mountain. Richman was taken to the hospital covered in blood, with multiple cuts to his head, torso, legs and feet, as well as a head injury. However, he told the news station he was feeling good despite pain from a bite on his leg. If the bite had been a millimeter more it wouldve severed my tendon, he added. Im just really fortunate. When a man posted a photo taken with a drone of extremely flooded homes in North Carolina to Twitter on Sunday, October 9, he unwittingly set the ball in motion to save a stranded veteran and his dog. Quavas Hart was tweeting the photo of flooded homes in Hope Mills in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, when he got the attention Craig Williams in Texas. This is now updated with a longer version of the original video showing the whole rescue. Craig had been worried about his brother, Chris, who was stuck in his house with his dog due to the flooding. To cheer him up, Craig reportedly sent Chris the picture posted by Hart, to show him others were worse off than he, when Chris responded that one of the houses in it was, in fact, his. Craig immediately contacted Hart and asked him if he could help rescue his brother. According to local news reports, Hart returned to the scene and flagged down a rescue crew who saved Chris and his dog Lana from the flooded house. This drone footage captures the rescue. Credit: YouTube/imsofirst ARLINGTON, VA / ACCESSWIRE / October 11, 2016 / Manitex International, Inc. (MNTX) will be presenting at this year's The MicroCap Conference on October 24-25 in Philadelphia at the Hotel Monaco, along with 60 other companies in the microcap universe. The MicroCap Conference is an exclusive event for investors who specialize in small and microcap stocks. It is an opportunity to be introduced to and speak with management at some of the most attractive small companies, learn from various expert panels, and mingle with other microcap investors. This event is free for private and institutional investors - to learn more, please click here. About Manitex International, Inc. Manitex International Inc. is a leading provider of highly specialized and custom configured cranes, materials and container handling equipment sold through dealerships, internationally. The Company's equipment is sold into a select group of end-markets and geographies, currently focused on construction/housing, utilities, military, railroads, ports, and government/agency applications. Manitex International has steadily grown both organically and as a consolidator in its industry, having acquired numerous branded product lines since going public in 2006. Its two largest transactions were announced in late-2014: ASV, Inc., a Joint Venture with Terex Corp (NYSE:TEX), with 2014 revenues of approximately $130 million and the acquisition of PM Group, of Modena, Italy, with 2014 revenues of approximately $100 million. SOURCE: Manitex International Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy EXCLUSIVE: Marjorie Kaplan is leaving Discovery Communications after two decades. I hear the announcement was made today internally by JB Perrette, President of Discovery Networks International. Discovery could not be reached for comment. Kaplan moved to London a year ago when she was named President of Content for DNI. As part of a new emphasis on local production and local content, the company is moving away from a centralized structure, with the DNI Content Group and Kaplans position being phased out. Kaplans team will be consolidated into DNIs UK unit, with all of her direct reports now reporting to Susanna Dinnage, General Manager, Discovery Networks UK/Ireland, with the exception of Bob Scanlon, EVP and GM of Velocity and Automotive Content, who will report into a TBA US-based executive. In her newly role as President & Managing Director, Dinnage will report to Perrette will add add responsibilities of working with executives in the US and around the world on creating global franchises. Kaplan will stay on board through the end of the year to help with the transition. Before moving to London, Kaplan served as Group President for TLC, Animal Planet & Velocity. She originally joined Discovery Communications to launch Discovery Kids Channel. She then revamped Animal Planet with shows like Whale Wars, River Monsters and Tanked. At TLC, she launched My Big Fat Fabulous Life and I Am Jazz. She also served as president of Velocity. Also as part of the restructuring at DNI, the company is disbanding its Northern Europe division. Dominic Coles, who was CFO/COO of Northern Europe and managing the Nordic markets, is being given a new role as EVP, Strategic Projects, continuing to report to Doug Baker, and working on special projects. Mike Lang will expand his current responsibilities to lead the new Nordic region as President, International Development, Digital & Discovery Nordics. Related stories Story continues Idris Elba To Train As Pro Kickboxer For Discovery's 'Fighter' Limited Series Discovery Networks International President Re-Ups Through 2019 Discovery Scales 'Everest Rescue' Series; Takes Shark Week Global From Cosmopolitan God bless, Martha Raddatz, the winner of the second presidential debate. Throughout the bewildering experience that was Sunday nights presidential debate, Raddatzs performance as co-moderator with Anderson Cooper was a beacon of hope. Here are some of Raddatzs finest moments from the debate: Y'all, watching @MarthaRaddatz do her thing is magical. MAGICAL. She can't deal with the stupidity. #Debates2016 - shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) October 10, 2016 1. When she pressed Trump to "answer the question." sonofthebronx: Debate moderator Martha Raddatz implores Donald Trump to CBS CBS News: The https://t.co/KRzA8eY0uA pic.twitter.com/DsTog1puu0 - FanNewsClips (@FanNewsClips) October 10, 2016 2. When she pushed back on Trump about U.S. military presence in Mosul. At one point, Trump criticized the U.S. government for warning residents of the Iraq city of Mosul that it planned to attack ISIS militants in the city. Trump: Why do they have to say were going to be attacking Mosul within the next four to six weeks, which is what theyre saying? How stupid is our country? Raddatz: There are sometimes reasons the military does that. Psychological warfare. Trump: I cant think of any. I cant think of any. And Im pretty good at it. Story continues Raddatz: It might be to help get civilians out. Trump: "I can't think of any good reasons." Moderator Martha Raddatz: "It may be to save innocent civilian lives." BOOM lol #debates - Eric Rosswood (@LGBT_Activist) October 10, 2016 3. When she told the audience to chill. Although audience members were told not to react to the candidates answers, they still erupted into applause or laughter after a handful of responses. At point, Raddatz had had enough. "And really, the audience needs to calm down here," she said. Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper trying to control the candidates and audience pic.twitter.com/BlITwlbRcy - John Kavula (@jkav96) October 10, 2016 4. When she pushed Trump for actual policy details. During the same exchange - which was prompted by a question about what the U.S. government should do in Syria - Raddatz pushed back on Trump, saying, "Tell me what your strategy is." "Tell me what your strategy is," Raddatz says, Trump ignores the question and keeps rambling about how great he is. - Adam Servianski (@AdamSerwer) October 10, 2016 5. When she repeated the question for Trump. 6. When she asked Hillary Clinton whether it was OK for politicians to be "two faced." Ahead of the debate, Wikileaks released transcripts of Clintons paid speeches, which she has refused to make public. Referring to a question from a voter, Raddatz pointed to a section of the transcript where she apparently remarks on having a public stance and a private stance on certain issues. "So, Tu (ph), from Virginia asks, is it OK for politicians to be two-faced?" she asked. Pretty sure Martha Raddatz just called Clinton "two-faced" - Josh Lederman (@joshledermanAP) October 10, 2016 7. When she had zero time for Trumps complaining. You Might Also Like Ronald McDonald McDonald's is hiding its famous mascot, Ronald McDonald, in the midst of a wave of scary clown sightings across the US. The company said Tuesday that it's "mindful" of the clown sightings and it's paring back Ronald McDonald's public appearances as a result. "McDonald's and franchisees in the local markets are mindful of the current climate around clown sightings in communities and as such are being thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald's participation in community events for the time being," McDonald's spokeswoman Terri Hickey told Business Insider. Ronald McDonald with his clown-like face paint, red wig, and yellow jumpsuit has long been the face of McDonald's. But with a recent rash of disturbing clown sightings across the country, Ronald McDonalds appropriateness at public events is suddenly being called into question, as the Associated Press first reported. The creepy sightings began in Greenville, South Carolina, in August, when several children told authorities that a group of clowns offered them money to follow them into the woods. The suspects were never found. Since then, there have been hundreds of reports of strange clown sightings, some of which have turned violent. A mother in San Francisco last week claimed she fought off someone dressed as a clown who tried to grab her daughter. In a separate incident last week in New York City, someone dressed as a clown and wielding a knife threatened subway riders and chased a teenage boy off a train. NOW WATCH: We tried the trendy restaurant that could become the Chipotle of Greek food More From Business Insider (Reuters) - An 11-year-old boy was hailed as a hero on Tuesday after he helped his family escape a fire in their Memphis apartment, local media reported. The child heard a smoke alarm go off after the fire started shortly after midnight at Ten Mile Creek Apartments Tuesday morning, Memphis television station WREG reported. The boy, who was not identified, woke up other family members, and all eight of them escaped to safety, Memphis Fire Department Lieutenant Wayne Cooke told the television station. "We consider (him) a hero and we applaud him for his efforts in getting that family out without any harm," Cooke said. When fire fighters arrived, flames were coming through the roof, but no one was hurt, Cooke told the station. The cause of the fire was under investigation, he said. The Memphis Fire Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Richard Chang) By Andreas Rinke ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a trip to Ethiopia, said she would make Africa a priority for Germany's G20 presidency next year and outlined plans for a conference in Berlin. The German leader is on the last leg of a three day trip which has also included stops in Mali and Niger. She is seeking investment opportunities which she hopes will help drive economic growth and curb future migration to Europe. Earlier Merkel told Ethiopia to open up its politics and ensure police do not use heavy-handed tactics against protesters, after more than a year of unrest that rights groups say has led to about 500 deaths. [nL8N1CH25E] Then, in a speech to the African Union, Merkel said Berlin would host a high-profile conference on Africa in mid 2017. "We want to strengthen private investment to create sustainable growth and jobs," Merkel said, adding it was important to expand infrastructure on the continent and improve professional training. Participants in the conference would include industry representatives and international organisations, she said, urging companies to engage in Africa. "There are already many German companies active in Africa but there could be more," she said, adding that sometimes other countries offered deals for infrastructure projects that were linked to financial packages. Germany would have to change if German firms wanted to be successful, she said, adding that in some other countries the state and economy were more closely linked. Chinese firms, especially, have become active in some African countries in the last few years, often also offering attractive financing deals. Merkel has described Africa, with its population of 1.2 billion people, as central to the migration issue and wants the EU to agree a migrant deal with north African countries. She also said that African states had to increase their efforts in fighting Islamist militants and illegal migration, adding they needed to introduce democratic and economic reforms to undermine terrorist activity. Merkel also urged the African Union to get involved in trying to solve the conflict in Libya. "I am expressly in favour of the African Union bringing its influence to bear to help solve the conflict," Merkel said in her speech to the African Union, adding Libya had become a "sad example" of the consequences of state structures collapsing. (Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) A Madison man was charged Tuesday with second-degree reckless injury after police said he repeatedly slashed the face and head of a Stoughton man who was defending his inflatable Minnesota Vikings lawn decoration from ruin. Jacob A. Justice, 21, fought with Vikings fan David Moschel in the yard of Moschels home in the 700 block of South Van Buren Street in Stoughton on Sunday night. Moschel told police he caught Justice cutting a hole in the large inflated ornament, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday. During the struggle, Moschel was cut eight times, mostly on his face and head, and received 67 stitches and eight staples, the complaint states. The complaint doesnt say what kind of knife was used. Police said a box cutter was used. Justice was jailed on $3,000 bail Tuesday after appearing in court, where Assistant District Attorney William Brown called the attack exceptionally vicious. Dane County Court Commissioner Brian Asmus said it appeared lucky this didnt end up as a homicide. According to the complaint: Moschel told police that he was in his home with his windows open and could hear a slicing noise outside. He went outside and saw Justice, whom he did not know, cutting his Vikings lawn ornament. When he asked what he was doing and why, Moschel told police, Justice charged at him and a fight ensued. Police arrested Justice at the scene. A neighbor who saw the struggle told police he called 911 after hearing one of the men in the struggle shout, Call 911, hes got a knife, call the cops, call the cops. Lisa Moriarity, Moschels girlfriend, was at their home with five of their children when the incident took place. The children, ranging in age from 5 to 14, witnessed the attack, she said. Im just so shaken up and trying to process it, Moriarity said Tuesday. We havent had time to let anything sink in. The complaint does not state why police believe Justice damaged the Vikings ornament. Police said Justice told officers he cut Moschel and that he threw or dropped the knife. Moriarity described Moschel as a die-hard Vikings fan, something he inherited from his older brother while growing up. For as long as he can remember, its just been about the Vikings, she said. Moriarity said she was raised a Green Bay Packers fan. But if the person you love is a die-hard, she said, you do what you can to support them. After learning about the incident, the Vikings have invited Moschel to a future practice and to their Nov. 20 game against the Arizona Cardinals, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. State Journal reporter Briana Reilly contributed to this report. Michelle Williams is in early negotiations to portray Janis Joplin in Sean Durkin's long-in-the-works biopic centering on the 1960s rock icon. The project, titled Janis, is based on Love, Janis, a book penned by the late singer's sister, Laura Joplin, which uses Janis' letters to family and friends to tell the story of a young woman rising from playing at coffeehouses to performing at Woodstock and dealing with sudden fame and celebrity while combating alcohol and heroin addiction, all the while trying to keep her creativity. Joplin died in 1970 at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose after releasing only three albums and enjoying such hits as "Piece of My Heart." A fourth album was released just months after her death and featured one of her last hits, "Me and Bobby McGee." Hollywood has been trying to make a Joplin biopic for at least a couple of decades and there are competing projects in development. The singer has proved to be an enticing figure and actresses such as Renee Zellweger, Amy Adams, Zooey Deschanel and Broadway star Nina Arianda, among others, have riffed in and out of projects over the years. Williams is warming up her pipes for The Greatest Showman, Fox's musical centering on circus impresario P.T. Barnum that stars Hugh Jackman and will shoot this winter. She also stars with Casey Affleck in awards-season contender Manchester by the Sea, the drama that Amazon and Roadside Attractions will release in November. Williams is repped by WME. For more celebrity videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS. Miley Cyrus, who has pretty much always been outspoken about her beliefs, just opened up about her sexuality in a really personal way. A way that is important and feels intimate and also educational. But first, before we get into that, I have a confession: I sometimes feel too old for Miley Cyrus. BUT I FREAKING LOVE HER. By too old, I mean I was an adult when she was Hannah Montana. But then, when I was even older, Miley released a music video in which she had the raddest short platinum haircut and wore white platform shoes and had bad ass friends who ate money sandwiches and I was like whaaaaat??? I was paying attention. And then she had a homeless man accept her 2014 VMAs award And started the Happy Hippy Foundation that raises funds and awareness to support homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable populations, and I was like, THIS POPSTAR IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE. And then she went on The Voice as a judge, wearing the kookiest, most colorful outfits and every time she shows up I love her more. Shes not Madonna, shes not Britney, shes not Gaga, shes a true Original. NBC / giphy.com She recently spoke with Variety about everything from the presidential race to her time as a Disney star, to her sexuality, and she is the bomb. Of her wacky outfits for The Voice, she says, I think it makes the contestants feel safer. When I turn around, people laugh and feel lighthearted. I think they get to see that side of me. NBC Universal She explains that the decision to do The Voice was to help her activism. I am only doing The Voice because that helps Happy Hippie. Miley is dedicating herself to using her celebrity to help disenfranchised youth. SHE ROCKS. She says her activism came from a place of feeling insignificant, like her persona and career moves werent serving anyone. Story continues I think I just felt so stupid. I felt like what I was doing didnt have value, because being a pop star was really silly when people are homeless and hungry. She adds, It was making me feel like I was living a dumb life like I should just pick another job. I didnt understand my power at that point. People listen because of who I am, so instead of being embarrassed, I should say: Fuck yeah, I got the microphone. And then she gets into her own sexuality, saying she never it or her own gender. Her first relationship was with a female, and she is still dating Liam Hemsworth, but bisexual feels too limiting for her. She spent some time at the LGBTQ Center in Los Angeles. I saw one human in particular who didnt identify as male or female. Looking at them, they were both: beautiful and sexy and tough but vulnerable and feminine but masculine. And I related to that person more than I related to anyone in my life I think that was the first gender-neutral person Id ever met. Once I understood my gender more, which was unassigned, then I understood my sexuality more. I was like, Oh thats why I dont feel straight and I dont feel gay. Its because Im not. giphy.com Of the way the public views her, like some sort of wild, partying It Girl, she says shes settled down to become quite the opposite. Literally all I do is Im obsessed with yoga, I love hiking, and Im reading constantly. My life is so positive. From the outside, people think Im partying with rappers. That was back in my prime, the singer and activist says. Hey, nothing wrong with someone whos been through a lot, experienced many pressures, skipped adolescence for a very public career and unforgiving scrutiny feeling settled, more mature, self-evolved and self-reflective. Thats rad, actually. NBC SNL / giphy.com Of her potential influence as shes been able to shape it, she says, On The Voice, this young girl started crying when she left, because Im the reason she came out. My mom started crying. She was like, Im so sorry about the way I was when you were that age and coming out. She never understood me until she saw that girl who couldnt be herself. It was very cool. Well, Miley, you can also say youve inspired this way-older-than-you totally not pansexual or gender neutral or even gender fluid person to be more daring and confident in expressing her individuality. We are way into everyone accepting ourselves and each other for who we are. Youre an excellent role model, Miley Cyrus. The post Miley Cyrus just opened up about coming out as pansexual, and weve never adored her more appeared first on HelloGiggles. Miley Cyrus was at a turning point in her life after a performance as a gyrating teddy bear at the 2013 Video Music Awards generated mockery and endless media coverage. It seemed wrong that I had so much attention, and there were so many people in the country that didnt have a place to call home, Cyrus says. I wanted to bring attention to what was really important. The next year, she attended the VMAs with a 22-year-old homeless man named Jessie Helt, who went onstage to accept Cyrus Video of the Year award, delivering a speech about homelessness in front of 13.7 million viewers. The gesture was inspired by the 1973 Oscars, at which Marlon Brando sent Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather to decline his award. Warwick Saint for Variety I thought it was the best thing Id ever seen, Cyrus says. Finally, someone made it not about them. Enter the Happy Hippie Foundation, which Cyrus founded in 2014 as a nonprofit to provide basic needs and support to homeless youth, the LGBTQ community, and other vulnerable populations. The group, working with the Los Angeles-based My Friends Place, has donated 40,000 meals, 20,000 snacks, and 40,000 pairs of underwear and socks to homeless kids over the past two years. Happy Hippie has partnered with Gender Spectrum to create support groups for 1,300 transgender and gender-expansive youth and their families; MAC AIDS Fund, to help transgender people living with HIV in L.A. and San Francisco find medical care and housing; and the Zebra Coalition, which offered immediate counseling and support in the aftermath of last summers Orlando nightclub shooting. Cyrus has been the organizations voice and embodies its spirit; this includes handing out bottles of water and graham crackers to homeless people she passes on the street. I just think I found a purpose to do things, says Cyrus, who serves as a mentor on NBCs The Voice and recently released an album of 23 songs free of charge. Story continues Thats what I wanted to do. Thats what made me happy. And thats what Happy Hippie is about: doing what you do, being happy, and not hurting anyone. It gave me meaning in everything. Related stories Miley Cyrus on 'The Voice,' Donald Trump and Coming Out Laverne Cox Changes the Narrative Around LGBTQ Communities Laverne Cox Teases Fox's 'Rocky Horror': 'It's No Holds Barred' On the latest season of NBCs The Voice, Miley Cyrus has reinvented herself from a twerking pop star to a mama-hen mentor. I cry all the time, Cyrus says about having to axe members of her team during the shows elimination rounds. Behind the scenes, she dispenses copies of the self-help book The Untethered Soul to her contestants, trying to calm them down before live performances. On camera, she showcases an eclectic style like an outfit covered in paper flowers meant to counteract any last-minute jitters. I think it makes the contestants feel safer, says Cyrus of her colorful wardrobe. When I turn around, people laugh and feel lighthearted. I think they get to see that side of me. For many years, Cyrus had a different public persona. People saw me as being wild, and literally all I do is Im obsessed with yoga, I love hiking, and Im reading constantly. My life is so positive. From the outside, people think Im partying with rappers. That was back in my prime. Congratulations to our #PowerOfWomen honoree @mileycyrus! (Photo by @WarwickSaint for Variety) A photo posted by Variety Magazine (@variety) on Oct 11, 2016 at 6:00am PDT Its hard to keep a straight face when Cyrus uses that line shes only 23. Then again, shes been on television since grade school. At 11, Cyrus was cast as the squeaky-clean face of Disney Channels Hannah Montana, which made her the Hayley Mills of her generation. The role brought intense tabloid scrutiny, particularly as she tried to grow up. I had a clothing line at Walmart and got kicked out, because they said you had to choose weed or Walmart, Cyrus says. And you see what I did I chose weed. In 2013, the Miley media circus reached a tipping point at the VMAs, where she gyrated alongside a row of teddy bears. She insists that the moment was misunderstood. That was a joke, she says. Cyrus has taken a U-turn since then. Her new career path revolves around her foundation: Happy Hippie, dedicated to supporting at-risk LGBTQ and homeless youth. I am only doing The Voice because that helps Happy Hippie, Cyrus says about engaging the shows audience to promote her cause. Story continues Cyrus has headlined such films as The Last Song and Bolt, but shes ambivalent about making movies now. I know that acting is boring, she says. People get paid way too much for what they are doing. She almost turned down the Woody Allen TV series Crisis in Six Scenes but was eventually won over by the role playing a 1960s activist. Over a vegan lunch in Los Angeles, Cyrus talked about what drives her, recalled how she struggled with her pansexual identity as a teenager (shes currently dating Liam Hemsworth), and shared her thoughts on the election. For more celebrity videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS. You just filled in as host of Ellen DeGeneres talk show. I had to introduce Sarah Jessica Parker, and she asked me if I had any friends that are voting for Donald Trump. I was like, Do you think I have friends that would vote for Donald Trump. Come on! Who do you think Im hanging out with? The country is very polarized. This is not a dig. But I do think theres something that goes with the Kardashians and Trump. The Kardashians are better than Trump, because they are not trying to run the country. They are just trying to be famous, and thats fine. We are obsessed with celebrity. When Trump started this, I was laughing. I thought its not going to go anywhere; theres no way hell be the candidate. Were you always a Hillary Clinton supporter? I was a really big Bernie supporter. What do you say to Bernie supporters who still wont vote for Hillary? Thats fucking crazy and youre out of your mind. Its literally pissing me off more than anything. If you could ever consider Donald Trump, you never understood Bernie in the first place. Where did your sense of activism come from? I think I just felt so stupid. I felt like what I was doing didnt have value, because being a pop star was really silly when people are homeless and hungry. In 2013, when I did the VMAs, it became the biggest story in the world. I never expected that to happen. I just did my own thing. I went out there dressed as a teddy bear, danced with teddy bears, never thought about the world thinking that was going to be a bad thing. Did the experience make you feel bad about yourself? It was making me feel like I was living a dumb life like I should just pick another job. I didnt understand my power at that point. People listen because of who I am, so instead of being embarrassed, I should say: Fuck yeah, I got the microphone. How did you become involved with the LGBTQ community? My whole life, I didnt understand my own gender and my own sexuality. I always hated the word bisexual, because thats even putting me in a box. I dont ever think about someone being a boy or someone being a girl. Also, my nipple pasties and shit never felt sexualized to me. My eyes started opening in the fifth or sixth grade. My first relationship in my life was with a chick. I grew up in a very religious Southern family. The universe has always given me the power to know Ill be OK. Even at that time, when my parents didnt understand, I just felt that one day they are going to understand. Did you talk to them about how you felt? Yeah. My mom is like an 80s rock chick big blonde hair, big boobs. She loves being a girl. I never felt that way. I know some girls that love getting their nails done. I fucking hated it. My nails look like shit. I dont wax my eyebrows. I never related to loving being a girl. And then, being a boy didnt sound fun to me. I think the LGBTQ alphabet could continue forever. But theres a P that should happen, for pansexual. When did you first identity as pansexual? I think when I figured out what it was. I went to the LGBTQ center here in L.A., and I started hearing these stories. I saw one human in particular who didnt identify as male or female. Looking at them, they were both: beautiful and sexy and tough but vulnerable and feminine but masculine. And I related to that person more than I related to anyone in my life. Even though I may seem very different, people may not see me as neutral as I feel. But I feel very neutral. I think that was the first gender-neutral person Id ever met. Once I understood my gender more, which was unassigned, then I understood my sexuality more. I was like, Oh thats why I dont feel straight and I dont feel gay. Its because Im not. Why do you think inequality still exists for women in Hollywood? A lot of it could be changed if we had a female president. That would give us a subconscious boost. I think people will have to realize theyre looking really dated. For example, theres a show called Supergirl. I think having a show with a gender attached to it is weird. One, its a woman on that fucking billboard its not a little girl. Two, what if youre a little boy who wants to be a girl so bad that this makes you feel bad? I think having a title like Supergirl doesnt give the power that people think it does. Where does your power come from? My empowerment comes from feeling like I have a purpose now. On my tombstone, I didnt want the Wrecking Ball lyrics. I wanted it to be something greater. Im the only fucking Disney star who would say Im pro lesbian and gay, before it was OK to say that. Did you get in trouble? I actually didnt, because a lot of the dudes that work for Disney are gay, so they were very happy to have someone on their side. Youre a mentor on The Voice. Do you think youll do more seasons? I dont know. I definitely would like to if it made sense. I havent done the live shows yet. I want to see how that feels. They might be a lot more pressure. Do you not like live TV? I dont mind the live TV as much as I do that America gets to vote when it comes to The Voice, and America did vote for Donald Trump to be the candidate. I actually told my team they can be the Bernie Sanders of The Voice. How often do you cry on the show? When I have to kick them off. Its a nightmare. For a non-confrontational person, its the worst gig ever. How did you get cast in the Woody Allen TV series? Were you a fan of his work? I am. I had moved, and the only thing that I brought into my new house was a picture of Woody Allen. My first night I slept in my new house, [my manager] called and said, Woody wants you to fly to New York. I loved working with Woody. You do like two takes. He just wants to go home and have dinner with his wife. One night it was 5:30, and the camera operator wanted to do another take. He goes, I cant dedicate my entire life to making movies. Many people are now having a conversation about whether its possible to separate the art from the artist. Were you aware of the sexual-abuse allegations made by Dylan Farrow against her dad, and if so, did that give you pause? I live a similar life to Woody I live a public life. Until I know someone and I know their story, I never really judge anyone. Thats kind of how I went into it. From the way I saw him with his family, I never saw him be anything but an incredible person and a really great dad. People might slam me for saying that. Im sure it was a hard time for that family. My family has been through hard things, and I think everyones suffering is different. What do your parents think about your work now? On The Voice, this young girl started crying when she left, because Im the reason she came out. My mom started crying. She was like, Im so sorry about the way I was when you were that age and coming out. She never understood me until she saw that girl who couldnt be herself. It was very cool. Related stories Laverne Cox Changes the Narrative Around LGBTQ Communities Laverne Cox Teases Fox's 'Rocky Horror': 'It's No Holds Barred' Ava DuVernay Makes Sure Girls See Themselves in Movies and Books RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's King Mohammed on Monday named moderate Islamist leader Abdelilah Benkirane as prime minister for a second term after his party won the most seats in last week's election, a senior party member said. After five years in government, the Justice and Development Party (PJD) party won 125 seats while the rival Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) took 102, in a tight race for the 395-seat parliament that will complicate formation of a coalition. The elections were a test for Morocco's constitutional monarchy, five years after the king devolved some powers to an elected government to ease Arab Spring-style protests demanding democratic change. The king still holds most executive authority and names the premier from the winning party in elections. "I can confirm his majesty named him as the new prime minister," Mustapha Ramid, outgoing justice minister and a senior PJD party official, told Reuters, after attending the nomination of Benkirane in Casablanca. Benkirane confirmed his nomination to local news websites. Under Morocco's multi-party system, no one party can secure an outright majority, and must negotiate with others to form a coalition government. The PAM's strong position means the PJD must join with at least three other parties to have a house majority. Since being appointed prime minister in 2011, Benkirane has pursued economic reforms to reduce the budget deficit and tackle subsidies. The PJD has been popular for its anti-corruption message. No party in the vote directly challenged the palace. The PAM, founded by a close friend of the king who is now a palace adviser, portrayed itself as a liberal alternative to Islamists. But critics say it was used by the royal establishment, uncomfortable about sharing power with Islamists, to push back PJD influence. (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; writing by Patrick Markey; editing by Andrew Roche) Tesco Corporation TESO is looking like an interesting pick from a technical perspective, as the company is seeing favorable trends on the moving average crossover front. Recently, the 50 Day Moving Average for TESO broke out above the 200 Day Simple Moving Average, suggesting a short-term bullish trend. This has already started to take place, as the stock has moved higher by 24.6% in the past four weeks. Plus, the company currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) suggesting that now could definitely be the time for this breakout candidate. More bullishness may especially be the case when investors consider what has been happening for TESO on the earnings estimate revision front lately. No estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 1 higher, while the consensus estimate has also moved higher too. So given this move in estimates, and the positive technical factors, investors may want to watch this breakout candidate closely for more gains in the near future. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Tale of the Tape, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report TESCO CORP (TESO): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's opposition party Renamo will not abandon talks with the government, its spokesperson said, after one of its senior officials was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on a Maputo beach at the weekend. The killing of Jeremias Pondeca, a member of the Joint Commission set up to find ways to overcome a standoff between the government and Renamo over a range of issues, came days before the commission was due to resume talks. But Renamo national spokesperson Antonio Muchanga was quoted by state news agency AIM as saying that the negotiations will go ahead. "Renamo will continue the negotiations. Even today, if the Joint Commission was in session, Renamo would be willing to take part in the negotiations," Muchanga was quoted as saying. "This barbaric act, committed by the enemies of democracy and of the well-being of the Mozambican people, is intended to force Renamo to abandon the dialogue," he added. The talks were meant to resume on Monday after being interrupted on Sept. 30. But the coordinator of the international mediating team, Mario Rafaelli, has announced a further delay to Oct.18, AIM said. Muchanga said Pondeca will not be replaced as there were still "a reasonable number" of Renamo members on the commission to continue its work. The commission has so far reached no definitive agreement on any of the matters on its agenda, including Renamo's demands for six provincial governors and the inclusion of its militia in the army and police. Renamo and the government were on opposing sides in a civil war from the late 1970s until the early 1990s before a peace accord ended the fighting. But it still has its own militia. In the run-up to elections in October 2014, Renamo partisans clashed sporadically with troops and police. Renamo said it would not take up its parliamentary seats in protest at the results of the election. (Writing by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Hugh Lawson) A Sauk County sheriffs deputy answering a call for a suicidal man in West Baraboo was shot in the hand by the man, who fired a shotgun through his apartment door. William Abate, 56, was arrested on a tentative charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and other charges might be made against him as well, the Sheriffs Office said. The incident happened at about 1:40 p.m. Monday, when Abate called 911, saying he no longer wanted to live. When deputies arrived, the man answered the door armed with a shotgun, Sheriff Chip Meister said, causing officers to retreat. Abate then opened the door, closed it and fire a shot through the door, hitting the deputy in the hand. The unidentified deputy, a 23-year veteran of the force, was treated and released. Evidence at the scene indicated the man had several firearms available to him in multiple rooms of his apartment, Meister said. He may have been planning on engaging law enforcement in a gun fight. Roger Hargreaves' series of "Mr. Men" children's books is to become host to the latest incarnations of the reincarnating timelord Doctor Who. Four authorized illustrated books in the style of the Mr. Men are expected to arrive northern spring 2017, BBC Worldwide announced on October 11. Each 32-page paperback stars a different version of the doctor, according to its title: "Dr. First" (played by William Hartnell,) "Dr. Fourth," (Tom Baker,) "Dr. Eleventh" (Matt Smith,) and "Dr. Twelfth" (current actor Peter Capaldi) are all listed for an April publication in the UK. Mr. Men were conceived of by British author Roger Hargreaves with publication beginning in 1971, and characters include Mr. Tickle, Mr. Happy, Mr. Bump and Mr. Silly. A corresponding Little Miss range was introduced in 1981. Following his death, Hargreaves' son Adam picked up the mantle; Mr. Men and Little Miss are now part of the Sanrio company, which is well known for its Hello Kitty character and merchandising. Twelve titles in the Doctor Who meet the World of Hargreaves range are planned for publication through Penguin Random House. From Road & Track One of the most common phone calls I get at my law office goes like this: "I just bought a CPO car and found out that it has all sorts of problems that should have been found in the CPO inspection. Can I return the car?" The answer is almost always no. Mainly because most people do not understand what rights they get with a CPO car. The Certified Pre Owned designation is a fairly modern marketing tool where a manufacturer creates a program to help its used cars sell for more money. The manufacturer asks dealers to inspect late model used cars and then, if they pass the inspection, label them as "Certified Pre-Owned." The CPO label is highly touted in advertising by both automakers and the dealers. But what do you really get with a CPO car? General Motors describes the advantages of its CPO this way: Introducing our improved CPO benefits package. For starters, we've extended the Powertrain Limited Warranty to 6 years or 100,000 miles1 for greater peace of mind. Plus, every Certified Pre-Owned Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC vehicle is inspected and reconditioned by authorized factory technicians to meet GM standards. There's more. We look out for you even after your purchase with our exclusive CPO Scheduled Maintenance Program with two included maintenance visits. Altogether, you enjoy over $2,800 of Built-in Value-that's a greater value than ever before. Notice that it does not say that any of the items on the checklist are guaranteed or warranted in any particular way. They just say you get an extended powertrain warranty and some "included maintenance visits." Most CPO programs are very clear. All you are getting is a used car with a slightly better warranty than what might be available on a non-CPO car. Can you count on the inspection? No. The inspection is done by the dealer at the behest of the manufacturer. They might say the car was checked against a 175-point checklist, but if the technician doing the checking missed something? Too bad. Nowhere does it say that the dealer is guaranteeing that nothing on the checklist was missed. The checklist was done for the sake of the manufacturer, not the buyer. And nowhere in any company's CPO guidelines does it ever say that the items on the checklist are guaranteed any differently than how the car would be covered otherwise. Story continues The manufacturers are very careful about this. Most CPO guidelines simply state that the CPO car is a fabulous car with a wonderful warranty from the manufacturer. The first half of that statement-about the car-is not legally enforceable as a warranty. And the second half is only as enforceable as the warranty the CPO car comes with. You bought a CPO car and the door handle broke off the first time you tried to open the door when you got it home? Better hope the door handle is covered by the factory warranty, because whether or not the door handle was supposedly inspected and was on that CPO checklist is irrelevant. I have written and spoken about this topic many times and every time it comes up, I hear from two groups of people. Disgruntled car buyers always check in with their horror stories. Mainly, things which were obviously not inspected even though they were included and checked off on the checklist. The other people I hear from are the salespeople who work at dealerships. And they come from all makes. I hear about how late model cars are traded in and being pushed out on the lot as CPO cars without anyone doing anything other than rinsing them off and slapping a CPO sticker on the window. Two-hundred-seventy-five-point checklist? Yeah, right. So, my advice to a person buying a CPO car is the same as what I tell a person buying any used car: Take it for a test drive and have it inspected. But whatever you do, don't lower your guard because the car supposedly passed a "multi-point" inspection. If it really did go through an inspection, it's not something you can count on, nor does it give you any recourse beyond the CPO's extended warranty. Steve Lehto is a writer and attorney from Michigan. He specializes in Lemon Law and frequently writes about cars and the law. His most recent books include Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow, and Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird: Design, Development, Production and Competition. He also has a podcast where he talks about these things. You Might Also Like From Cosmopolitan In March of 2015, Disney announced that it would be giving its 1998 animated classic Mulan the live-action treatment, which got fans excited but also somewhat anxious - you know, given Disneys track record of not always being best at cultural sensitivity. Theres now more reason for concern, if leaked info from someone who claims to have read the first draft of the script is to be believed. The writer, a mole inside the film industry, reveals in an anonymous post on the Angry Asian Man blog that the spec script, written by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin (those are not Chinese last names, btw), nixes the character Li Shang, a man whose studly annoyance launched a thousand problematic crushes. In his place is a 30-something European trader who only chooses to help the Chinese army because of his desire to climb into Mulans hanfu. To make things even worse, this white guy gets to white guy all over the place and take credit for defeating one of the biggest villains of the movie. For the animated film, at least, Disney had the decency to let Mulan take the lead on destroying the bad guys. Well, this Hollywood whistleblower is shook by these changes. Little girls looked up to Mulan because of her strength. She shimmied up that pole using medals! She did it for herself! She didnt need a boring white savior who is so wound up by her exotic beauty that he graciously decides to help her. I dont want to see 90 minutes of what is essentially Ryan at a Bar() doing that whole Say something in Chinese! bit while, like, a firecracker goes off in the distance. NO THANKS. The other issue is that, according to our mole, Disney seems insistent on hiring a 16- or 17-year-old established, known Chinese actress from China to play Mulan instead of giving the opportunity to an Asian American actress from the U.S. (Quick: Name three Asian American actresses really fast. Lol. Exactly.) As an Asian American girl who grew up with nothing but Mulan to save me from the ridicule of classmates asking me if my vagina was as slanted as my eyes, the prospect of this live-action Mulan feels fucking TERRIFYING. Asian Americans have barely any representation in media and pop culture today. Do you know how it feels to be so underrepresented that seeing a BuzzFeed listicle about growing up Chinese brings tears to your eyes? WE NEVER GET ANYTHING. LET US HAVE THIS, DISNEY! Story continues Update 10/11 9:33 a.m.: Vulture and Vanity Fair both have reports from a source close to the movie who says that the love interest will be Chinese. "The spec script was a jumping-off point for a new take on the story that draws from both the literary ballad of Mulan and Disneys 1998 animated film," the source told Vulture. "Mulan is and will always be the lead character in the story, and all primary roles, including the love interest, are Chinese." Disney also hired new screenwriters, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who worked on Jurassic World. Follow Carina on Twitter and Instagram. You Might Also Like In a TV-time-honored attempt to goose the ratings of a couple of shows in need of a goosing, Fox has declared Tuesday nights episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and New Girl a crossover event. The casts do indeed cross over, but the result barely qualifies as an event. In fact, Im afraid it does not even carry the light weight of history that Steve Urkels invasion of Full House signaled so long ago. The shows are time-period neighbors, so Brooklyn Nine-Nine is up first, with a main plot that involves the precincts coping with exhaustion and sagging morale at pulling the night shift. Also, Andy Samberg does a lot of slapstick work as his Jake copes with a limp and a cane. A half-hour later, the cast of New Girl travels from Los Angeles to New York, where Schmidt (Max Greenfield) thinks hes being honored by his old high school class. The scene the two shows share is one in which Jess (Zooey Deschanel) is driving a car to fetch some soup for Schmidt and Jake flags her down to commandeer the vehicle to pursue a criminal suspect. For the few moments theyre in the car together, Deschanel and Samberg exhibit an easy camaraderie-under-pressure theyre pleasantly unlikely car-chase participants. Theres a lot more crossing-over done in New Girl than there is in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Jess and Jakes car-meet-cute is the extent of it in Brooklyn. In New Girl, Jess enters the Nine-Nine squad room and interacts briefly with most of the rest of the Brooklyn cast. I wish I could say the results were funny. Alas, what occurs is two rather strained, mediocre episodes of a pair of shows that can still, at their best, be entertaining. As ratings-bait, this stunt compares poorly with that time when the Green Hornet and Kato crossed over to Batman. Brooklyn Nine-Nine and New Girl air Tuesday nights at 8 and 8:30 p.m. on Fox. Watch clips and full episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and New Girl for free on Yahoo View. Shanghai (AFP) - Australia's Nick Kyrgios said he was "bored" during his straight-sets win over Sam Querrey as he extended his hot run of form at the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday. The outspoken 21-year-old, who lifted the Japan Open trophy on Sunday, won 6-4, 6-4 in just 53 minutes as he cantered past the American world number 29 and into round two. Afterwards Kyrgios, who is at a career-high 12th in the rankings and eyeing the top 10, suggested he wasn't at his best so soon after his long week in Tokyo. "I was just a little bit bored at times," he said, when asked why he wasn't his usual vocal self on court. "I was feeling very tired today. "I didn't have the greatest sleep last night and obviously got in late the day before, and the ride to the courts isn't great either. "It was just tough. I'm just tired today, so maybe I just wanted to get the job done." The Shanghai Masters, held at the Qi Zhong Stadium complex one hour from the city centre, is perhaps not a favourite tournament for Australia's number one. Last year he was slapped with a $1,500 fine for an audible obscenity in a tirade in which he slammed the event as a "circus" and complained about the ball kids, according to reports. However, Kyrgios now presents a more focused figure after teaming with British strength and conditioning expert Martin Skinner in recent weeks. "I just trust him. He tells me what to do and I do it. I think that's one thing I've improved on the most, the off-court stuff," Kyrgios said of Skinner. Tuesday's win was the sixth in the row for Kyrgios, who has won all three of his ATP titles this year and is in line to become Australia's first top 10 player since Lleyton Hewitt in 2006. "It was a solid match. I wasn't feeling 100 percent, obviously tired from last week and not having so much time here so I'm pretty pleased to move forward," Kyrgios said. "It's not easy for anyone. I think to win a tournament and come back and beat a quality opponent like Sam... I'm pretty pleased with the way I backed it up," he added. Hip-hop's reigning queen Nicki Minaj has built her empire from the streets of Jamaica, Queens up to the No. 6 spot on Forbes' 2016 Hip-Hop Cash Kings list. Her evolution from street mixtape rhymer to pop powerhouse with "Anaconda," which hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, has solidified her rank among her male counterparts. In her November cover shoot for Marie Claire, the Queens native is all about women's empowerment, and confesses her admiration for Jay Z's hustle. Nicki Minaj has always encouraged women to be be their own boss, and have a sense of independence, instead of looking for cop-outs like "marrying into money". "I don't want that to be a woman's goal in life. I want your goal in life to be to become an entrepreneur, a rich woman, a career-driven woman," she tells Marie Claire. While she gained prominence with Lil Wayne's co-sign and residency on his Young Money imprint, Minaj has flourished in the male-dominated hip-hop industry, often calling out the industry for its unfair treatment towards women and biased beauty standards. If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year -------------------------- - NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015 Minaj has also pocketed a few collaborations with Beyonce, like the "Flawless (Remix)" and "Feeling Myself" off Nicki's 2014 LP The Pinkprint, and says she feels "inspired" when the two artists work together. "Every time Bey and I do something together, I see how women are inspired, and it has nothing to do with how we look," the "Super Bass" MC explains. "It has to do with how we are owning who we are, and telling other women you should be the boss of your own career and the brains behind your life or your decisions or your art. I just love that feeling." Our November cover star is here to slay. Read highlights from @NICKIMINAJ's interview here: https://t.co/K16nQJH52M #NickiforMC pic.twitter.com/WPjQPnmqhT - Marie Claire (@marieclaire) October 11, 2016 Though she seeks the same opportunities her fellow rappers have, she's found a way to look past the industry's faults in order to build her empire, and has modeled her career after one of hip-hop's true moguls: Jay Z. "He did such a great job being an authentic street guy and a businessman, and I was like, 'Why aren't there women doing that, taking the success from rap and channeling it into their empire?'" she confesses about the Brooklyn-bred lyricist. "I felt like anything he could do, I could do." A 25-year-old Madison man who was shot in the head two weeks ago has died as police continue to search for the suspect in what is now a homicide. Madison police said the victim of the Sept. 28 shooting on the South Side died Monday night at a local hospital. The Dane County medical examiner had not released the mans name. The case has been upgraded to a homicide, and the suspect remains at large, said police spokesman Joel DeSpain. Police are looking for Brandon Crockett, 27, of Madison, a suspect in the morning shooting in the 2700 block of McDivitt Road on the citys South Side. The victim was outside when he was shot, police said, and more than 25 shell casings fired by multiple guns were found at the scene. At least two bullets hit a nearby apartment building. Police are looking for Crockett in Madison but DeSpain said he might have left the area. He should be considered armed and dangerous, DeSpain said. Anyone with information about him should call 911. Detectives believe there was a personal conflict between the two men, and that the shooting was not gang- or drug-related. Seven people have been arrested on tentative charges unrelated to the shooting as detectives investigate the case. Nicki Minaj just gave the most incredible advice to anyone who thinks the most important thing in life is marriage When shes not driving her fans insane by orchestrating fake album releases, Nicki Minaj is busy giving out pretty amazing life advice. Case in point: her recent interview with Marie Claire. Minaj covers Marie Claires November Power issue, and in it she speaks out about why its important for women to put their careers and themselves first, offering A+ marriage advice and life advice in one fell swoop. A photo posted by Nicki Minaj (@nickiminaj) on Oct 11, 2016 at 9:40am PDT She said, Nowadays, I feel like [young women] see marrying into moneyI think thats a big thing now. I dont want that to be a womans goal in life. I want your goal in life to be to become an entrepreneur, a rich woman, a career-driven woman. You have to be able to know that you need no man on this planet at all, period, and he should feel that, because when a man feels that you need him, he acts differently. In an Instagram post about the cover story she wrote, I promise if you trust me, Ill lead you to greatness. Close your eyes and trust and were definitely inclined to believe her! Everything she touches seems to turn to gold (*ahem* The Pinkprint) and her confidence is infectious. I promise if u trust me, I'll lead you to greatness. Close your eyes & trust A photo posted by Nicki Minaj (@nickiminaj) on Oct 11, 2016 at 9:53am PDT Minaj is known for being blunt and no-nonsense in interviews, so we werent surprised to see her speaking her mind on marriage and relationships. Shes always willing to tell it like it is even when a reporter comes at her sideways. In an interview with The New York Times last year, writer Vanessa Grigoriadis made the mistake of asking Nicki if she thrives on drama because more than one man in her life was involved in a beef (for the record, Nicki had nothing to do with any of their grievances). Immediately calling out the sexism of the question, Minaj replied, Thats disrespectful. Why would a grown-ass woman thrive off drama? What do the four men you just named have to do with me thriving off drama? Why would you even say that? Thats so peculiar. Story continues She went on to chastise Grigoriadis for put[ting] down a woman for something that men do, as if theyre children and Im responsible, and quickly ending the interview. Because nobody messes with Nicki. Seriously, though, whats clear from both of these interviews is that Minaj doesnt stand for anyones sexism period. And for that, we absolutely love her. The post Nicki Minaj just gave the most incredible advice to anyone who thinks the most important thing in life is marriage appeared first on HelloGiggles. The father of murdered Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch has vowed no forgiveness for his son, who killed his daughter on the pretext of "honour", after her death cast a global spotlight on the practice. Pakistan last week passed long-awaited legislation aimed at closing loopholes which allowed murderers like Baloch's brother Waseem to walk free, with hundreds of women killed in defence of the family "honour" in the conservative country each year. Rights activists, who for years called for tougher laws to tackle violence against women, have praised the move as a step forward though lawyers criticised the amendments for not going far enough. "There is no pardon from our side," Baloch's father Muhammad Azeem told AFP this weekend, calling for his son and the three men accused with him to be punished "at the earliest. They should get life imprisonment or death -- I will feel happy." He and his wife, Baloch's mother Anwar Mai, said they had been unaware of the change in the law, which came three months after their daughter's death sparked revulsion in Pakistan and abroad. Their son, Mai said, had not understood the repercussions the murder would have. The death of Baloch, judged by many in the country as infamous for selfies and videos that by Western standards would appear tame, reignited polarising calls for action after her brother admitted killing her. "I am not embarrassed at all over what I did," he told media at a defiant press conference in July, calling his sister's behaviour "intolerable". His mother said this weekend that he had thought his parents would become the only complainants in the case, which under previous legislation would have allowed him to escape punishment if his family had forgiven him. Waseem thought he would be imprisoned for just "two to three months and then after he will be free, he was not aware that this would become a high-profile case," Mai told AFP. Story continues Lawyers told AFP the wording of the legislation, aimed at mandating a life sentence for honour killings, still leaves too much up to a judge's discretion. "There is a danger that it can be interpreted to mean that this only applies in cases when there is a disagreement over pardon of the offencer," said criminal law professor Abira Ashfaq. "Unfortunately, the lawmakers have not made it an uncategorically uncompoundable offence. They have only made the penalties heavier." "If the lawmakers wanted to make life imprisonment compulsory for honor killing, all they had to do was to state the same," said senior lawyer Anees Jillani. In practice, Ashfaq added, most such cases are settled by police before they even reach court. "We need to change the culture ... It would take a few high-profile prosecutions covered by media." The language must also be changed, Ashfaq said. "We should call it something negative -- patriarchal/misogynist crime, rather than 'honour' killing, which associates a positive value with this type of crime." kim FORT BLISS, Texas On Sunday, the only nation to have pulled off the unwelcome feat of testing nuclear weapons this century celebrated a controversial anniversary. On October 9, 2006, North Korea became the eighth nation to join the world's nuclear weapons club with its testing of a nuclear device in the North Hamgyong Province. The underground detonation was largely viewed as a failure due to its low yield of about one kiloton of energy followed by a registered 3.9 magnitude tremor. A decade later, the Hermit Kingdom continues to carry out defiant nuclear tests with its largest one discharging an explosive yield of about 10 kilotons and registering a 5 magnitude tremor. The September 9 launch, which was the second one this year and fifth since 2006, occurred on the 68th anniversary of the North's founding, and it has become common practice to exalt anniversaries with defiant tests. And while South Korea's Defense Ministry said the rogue regime is ready to conduct an additional nuclear test at any time, satellite imagery shows increased activity around a known test site. nk sat images "Should these movements on the ground develop into some kind of provocation it would both be consistent with North Korea's past pattern of coinciding these things with important historical events but also it would be the latest in a long string of provocations this year," Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider. "This is no longer something that can be easily dismissed," Karako said after viewing the satellite photos of the area. nk sat image Published by monitoring group 38 North, a program of US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, the images show the area around North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site. Story continues "Punggye-ri is a challenge," Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told Business Insider. "North Korea has dug a large tunnel infrastructure for many tests that makes it hard to predict when a test is coming. The vehicle activity could be linked to an upcoming test or just ongoing work on the site, which remains very busy," Lewis said. A satellite image of the area around North Korea's Punggye-Ri nuclear test site shows graphics pointing to what monitoring group 38 North says are signs of increased activity, in a photo released by the 38 North group October 7, 2016. Airbus Defense & Space and 38 North/Handout via Reuters "The North's missile capabilities are advancing on several fronts, and both the United States and our allies in the region will have to do something about it," Karako said. So far this year, North Korea has conducted a little more than 15 rounds of ballistic-missile tests and has fired 30 various rockets. "The accelerated pace of missile testing represents not only a further demonstration of the North's preexisting short and medium range capabilities, but also the ambition to develop longer range and more mobile systems," Karako said. Earlier this year, the US and South Korea agreed to deploy a THAAD Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to further defend South Korea. In conjunction with the US, Seoul plans to have the unique air-defense system operational by the end of 2017. Related video: For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS. NOW WATCH: Meet THAAD: Americas answer to North Korean threats More From Business Insider By Ross Kerber BOSTON (Reuters) - A 2016 Nobel Prize winner said executive pay plans have grown too complex and cited the overuse of consultants, remarks that pay specialists on Tuesday said echoed the complaints of many investors about ever-more detailed compensation statements. Finland's Bengt Holmstrom, a co-winner of the Nobel Economics Prize for his work on contract theory, said that too many pay plans include contingencies or long-term performance goals that make them unwieldy. "They have got to get to something simpler," the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor said of corporate boards. He was speaking at a press conference the school held on Monday after the latest Nobel Prize winners were announced. Holmstrom's work addresses a host of questions from how best to reward executives to whether schools and prisons should be privately owned. Asked what changes he would like to see made to pay packages, Holmstrom said, "Robust plans that don't change every year." At telecommunications network provider Nokia Corp (NOKIA.HE) where Holmstrom was a board member for 13 years until 2012, "executive compensation went from reasonable to absolutely dreadful, and dreadful because of all the consultants," he said. In his later years on the board, "it was not Nokia really deciding itself anymore what to do," he said. A Nokia spokeswoman declined to comment. Executive pay has soared while income for typical U.S. workers has stagnated. Median total compensation for S&P 500 chief executives in 2015 reached $10.4 million, according to pay consulting firm Equilar, up from $8.9 million in 2011. While the gap between executive and worker pay has drawn political criticism, investors overwhelmingly approve most CEO pay packages in advisory votes. Shareholders complain instead about how unwieldy pay has become, said specialists including Marc Hodak, who advises companies and private equity firms on compensation. Pay plans that take up 20 pages of corporate proxy statements could often be boiled down to four pages, he said in an interview on Tuesday. Story continues Hodak blamed the plethora of rules which limit board discretion in order to make pay decisions transparent for reviewers like Institutional Shareholder Services. "The problem is, governance critics don't like subjectivity," he said. David Kokell, ISS' head of U.S. compensation research, said in an interview on Tuesday that many of the measures were necessary. "If it's just based on a subjective assessment, it's hard for the investor to evaluate how closely payouts are linked to actual performance." (Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Richard Chang) OSLO, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Friday's flash crash in sterling was a correct move that reflected the expectations of the UK economy, a senior official at Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, told Reuters on Tuesday. The fund is one of Britain's biggest foreign investors, owning shares in most top UK companies and holding $11 billion in government bonds. It co-owns Regent Street, one of London's premier shopping streets. Conversely, Britain is crucial to the fund as its second-largest investment location after the United States, accounting for 10.2 percent of the fund's value at end-2015. "It (the flash crash) was a permanent impact on the price. So if you do believe in markets, it was a correct move. It reflects the expectations of the UK economy," Oeyvind Schanke, the fund's Chief Investment Officer for asset strategies, said in an interview. Asked whether he shared that view, Schanke said: "Yes, I do believe in market forces and I do believe that investors have an ability to price. And what that price move indicates to me is that they are worried about what is happening in the UK." He declined to say if the fund had taken any steps after the flash crash. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik) By Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) - The flash crash in sterling was a "correct move" that reflected economic expectations, a senior official at Norway's sovereign wealth fund, one of Britain's biggest foreign investors, said on Tuesday. The pound plunged about 10 percent in a matter of minutes in early Asian trading on Friday, prompting the Bank of England to investigate why. The currency recouped much of the loss - which may have been due to automated trading - but was still down 1.5 percent on the day. "It (the flash crash) was a permanent impact on the price. So if you do believe in markets, it was a correct move. It reflects the expectations of the UK economy," Oeyvind Schanke, chief investment officer for asset strategies at the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, told Reuters. "I do believe in market forces and I do believe that investors have an ability to price. And what that price move indicates to me is that they are worried about what is happening in the UK," he said in an interview on the sidelines of a seminar. Schanke declined to say if the fund had taken any steps after the flash crash. The Norwegian wealth fund owns shares in most top British companies and holds $11 billion (8.94 billion) in UK government bonds. It co-owns Regent Street, one of London's premier shopping areas. Britain is its second-largest investment location after the United States, accounting for 10.2 percent of the fund's value at end-2015. Before and after the vote to leave the European Union, the fund said it would remain a long-term investor in Britain despite "question marks" as to what Brexit would look like, once it has been negotiated. "For a fund that invests the way we do, anything that is not in favour of free movement of goods, services and people -- that creates frictions in the market place," deputy CEO Trond Grande told Reuters in August. "And if that hampers growth in some shape or form, that will ultimately be to our disadvantage." Story continues In August the fund cut the value of its unlisted real estate portfolio in Britain, made by external evaluators, by 5 percent, to reflect the uncertainty of valuating assets following the Brexit vote - it did not say how much it was worth at the time. But on Friday, the fund said that uncertainty had vanished, allowing it to stick to the original valuation. Some 23 percent of the fund's property investments are in Britain, and 16 percent in London alone. Real estate accounts for 3.1 percent of the fund's total investments. (Editing by Terje Solsvik and Robin Pomeroy) A little more than a month ago, like students across the country, Chris Crandall was getting ready to go back to school. The finish line was in sight Crandall was six credits away from completing his degree in the drafting and design program at ITT Technical Institutes Madison campus, an accomplishment he hoped would earn him a raise at his job. Then, on Sept. 7, ITT announced it was shutting down. The Madison campus and each of ITTs 130 locations closed permanently, and Crandall, his classmates and thousands of students like them were thrown into limbo, unsure about whether and how to continue their educations. Infuriated, Crandall says when he recalls the day he found out about the closure. Then all the worries came through: Are my credits going to transfer? Where am I going to go from here? Am I going to be starting all over again? A month later, those questions have proved difficult to answer for Crandall and several other former ITT students interviewed by the Wisconsin State Journal. Forty-one students were enrolled in classes at ITTs Madison campus on Rimrock Road when the closure was announced. Another 250 were at a campus in Greenfield, and 35,000 were enrolled in 38 states. Those who took out loans to pay tuition, as a vast majority of ITT students did, can apply for a loan discharge from the federal government that will wipe out their debt. But it will require them to forfeit the credits they spent months or years earning. The other option for students is to keep those credits and try to continue their degree by transferring to another college, which would mean staying on the hook for their loans. Other schools might not accept all of the credits students earned at ITT, which would set them back on their path to a diploma. The only way students can transfer schools and have their loans discharged is if the program they enter at their new college is in a different field from the one they studied at ITT. Further complicating their decisions, students say they have been frustrated by long waits to receive their ITT transcripts, conflicting information from officials and a lack of answers from other colleges about how many of their credits will transfer. Crandall said he was told he could lose more than half of his credits if he enrolled at another school, but said he has not been able to get a definitive answer from Madison Area Technical College about how many will transfer. He doesnt have many other options, though. Crandall, who spent 11 years in the Marine Corps, said he paid for his ITT tuition through the GI Bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs program that covers veterans education costs for up to 36 months. Federal officials say the benefits Crandall and other veterans used while attending ITT wont be refunded, so he plans to finish his degree. Left to fend for ourselves Although state regulators have sought to provide students with information about their options, several said their former school has not been helpful. ITT, in my eyes, is not helping anybody, said Jerry Field, a student from Watertown who, like several others, said his calls and emails to the college havent been returned. Its like all the faculty and the school itself disappeared overnight. They basically left us to fend for ourselves, student Shayba Pierce said. Im just in a stand-still, because I dont know what to do. ITT was one of the biggest for-profit college chains in the country but had faced increasing scrutiny from federal regulators in recent years. In August, the U.S. Department of Education barred ITT from enrolling new students who used federal financial aid, saying the company had become a risk to students and taxpayers; ITT blamed the closure in part on that action. Other colleges locally and across the country have sought to attract former ITT students, encouraging those who want to complete their degrees to transfer. Keith Cornille, MATCs senior vice president for student development and success, said students need only provide the college with their transcript to get the process started. Cornille said he was surprised by the difficulty Crandall faced, and said MATC has set up a team to help students like those from ITT whose colleges have closed. Were here to support any of those students and answer their questions whether (they are from) ITT or any other institution, Cornille said.Three former ITT students have enrolled at MATC so far, he said. Confusion over degree Brenda Williams of Fitchburg would like to join them, but in an example of the confusion many ITT students have faced since the schools closure, she must first figure out whether she graduated from her program at ITT. Williams said she completed the last courses for her business management degree at ITT during the summer term that wrapped up just before the school shut down, then was told she would not get her diploma because of the closure. It was a kick in the stomach, she said. But David Dies, executive director of the Educational Approval Board, which regulates for-profit colleges, said anyone who finished their program before the closure will eventually receive their credential, meaning Williams would have her degree after all. There was another wrinkle, however although Williams said she has paperwork from ITT saying she finished her program, the Educational Approval Boards records indicate she was short of the number of credits needed to graduate. Dies said Monday that he has asked Parchment, a digital credential service that is helping ITT students get copies of their transcripts, to look into whether Williams completed her program. Williams said she plans to enroll in an 18-month medical assistant program at MATC in January. For now, though, she must wait to find out whether her time at ITT will end with a diploma. Its hard to stay encouraged, Williams said. It just keeps pushing me down. ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will consider a variety of responses to Russia's hacking of political party organizations and it is possible that any action may not be announced publicly, the White House said on Tuesday. "There are a range of responses that are available to the president and he will consider a response that is proportional," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One. "It is certainly possible that the president can choose response options that we never announce," he said. (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe, Timothy Gardner, Jeff Mason; Editing by Alistair Bell) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f242975%2f7a522dc02d5341bdbb1b944cf83c6564 The U.S. government is partnering with private space companies to send humans to Mars by the 2030s, President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday. In an op-ed for CNN, the president said the ultimate goal is for humans to eventually be able to remain on Mars for "an extended time." Obama published the op-ed two days ahead of the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh. The president will host the Oct. 13 event, which will bring together America's top scientists, engineers, innovators and students to "dream up ways to build on our progress and find the next frontiers," Obama wrote. SEE ALSO: Elon Musk: Is his Mars Shot impossible or inspired? The op-ed also coincides with a joint announcement from the White House and NASA that builds on Obama's vision to make the human settlement of deep space a reality. On Tuesday, John Holdren, who directs the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden co-authored a blog post explaining two new space initiatives. They said accomplishing the administration's Mars vision will require extensive public-private cooperation, and such initiatives are already moving forward. Image: NASA "For humanity to successfully and sustainably settle the 'final frontier,' we will need to take advantage of investment and innovation in both the public and private sectors," Holdren and Bolden wrote. The first initiative involves habitation systems, or "habs," that could sustain and transport astronauts on long duration, deep-space missions such as a mission to Mars. In August, NASA selected six private companies to produce ground prototypes of habitat modules through NASA's new Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP, program. These companies include Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas, Boeing and NanoRacks of Webster, Texas. The second initiative aims to open up the International Space Station to private space companies, and eventually transfer the ISS to being a mainly private sector space outpost. This fall, NASA will start giving companies opportunities to add their own modules and other capabilties to the ISS. Story continues "At NASA, weve worked hard over the past several years to develop a sustainable Mars exploration plan, and to build a coalition of international and private sector partners to support this vision," NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz told Mashable. "And we've made extraordinary progress implementing this plan." NASA estimates its Mars mission will cost tens of billions of dollars to mount. A global view of Mars' Valles Marineris hemisphere. Schierholz said that Obama's op-ed largely emphasizes ideas and plans that NASA has already publicly discussed about the mission to Mars. But the piece still highlights those details "for anyone who may not be following NASA closely, to make them aware of all the progress made and how plans are evolving," she said. Obama's goal to send humans to the Red Planet within two decades also isn't new. In 2010, NASA set targets of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s. The U.S. space agency said last year it was already developing the capabilities needed to make such journeys possible. By the 2020s, NASA expects to "study landing and in-situ resource utilization" on Mars and "conduct a round-trip robotic sample return mission," Schierholz said. Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and founder of SpaceX, has said the first passengers to Mars using his company's spacecraft could take off as soon as 2024 so long as SpaceX can build the rocket and habitats needed to fling humans at least 33.9 million miles, or 54.6 million kilometers, from Earth to Mars. Musk laid out his Mars vision in September during at talk at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico. He estimated it would cost $10 billion to develop a rocket capable of taking humans to Mars. Each SpaceX vehicle would take 100 passengers on the Mars-bound journey, with trips planned every 26 months. Musk said tickets might cost $500,000 at first before declining steadily over time. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, April 8, 2016. Image: NASA via Getty Images Still, Musk admitted that SpaceX probably wouldn't accomplish this vision on its own. "Ultimately, this is going to be a huge public-private partnership," he said during the talk. Obama, writing in the Tuesday op-ed, reflected on what it would mean for him to look up into space one day with his future grandchildren. He said one of his earliest memories is sitting on his grandfather's shoulders years before man set foot on the moon and waving a flag as U.S. astronauts returned to Hawaii. "Someday, I hope to hoist my own grandchildren onto my shoulders," he wrote. "But instead of eagerly awaiting the return of our intrepid explorers, we'll know that because of the choices we make now, they've gone to space not just to visit, but to stay and in doing so, to make our lives better here on Earth." BONUS: What 'The Martian' might look like as a musical comedy Coyote Creek Homeless San Jose 1 More than 4,000 people are homeless in San Jose, California. The 10th largest city in the US has long run out of beds to keep them sheltered. A new law will make the city, located an hour's drive south of San Francisco, the first in the state to legally permit construction of tiny homes for the homeless, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Starting in January, the city will temporarily make an exception to state building, safety, and health codes and build houses so small, they wouldn't ordinarily be approved for construction. The new residences will measure 70 square feet for individuals and 120 square feet for couples. It's still unknown how many people the program will accommodate. Cute as they may be, tiny houses are often illegal. tiny house side Many US city and county governments (including San Jose prior to this new law) do not authorize residences under a certain square footage. Development codes have requirements related to plumbing, utilities, and building foundations that such unconventional dwellings don't meet. That's unfortunate, because tiny homes offer a creative solution to the homelessness crisis. Tiny homes cost between $200 and $400 per square foot, depending on the materials used and their extravagance, according to Forbes, while the median list price in San Jose is $515 per square foot. Earlier this year, the city became the first in the US where the average home costs over $1 million. Coyote Creek Homeless San Jose 6 In San Jose, where many of the city's homeless stay in camps along trails, creeks, and rivers, something had to give. The city declared a "shelter crisis" back in December for the purpose of building homes that skirt existing development codes, according to the Mercury News. "This law really is the first of its kind," Ray Bramson, San Jose's homeless response manager, tells the Mercury News. "It will allow us to create bridge housing opportunities a stable place people can live and stay while they're waiting to be placed in a permanent home." Story continues San Jose isn't the first city to build tiny houses for the homeless. A number of cities, including Austin, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and Portland, Oregon, have experimented with "tiny villages" for the homeless. Residents of these villages speaking to the media describe a sense of pride in their communities. tiny house home homeless In Austin, the creator of one such village estimates it will save taxpayers up to $3 million annually that's normally spent on medical bills and criminal justice expenses for the homeless. San Jose plans to hold a competition where people can submit designs for the new homes. Cost effectiveness and the ability to duplicate homes easily are two major criteria, according to Bramson. The future locations of the tiny homes is still to be determined. The law that temporarily allows their construction in San Jose will be suspended in 2022, when the city will evaluate the program's impact. Should it prove successful, other cities in California might look to San Jose to see how it's done. NOW WATCH: These Harvard-designed tiny homes are the future of weekend getaways More From Business Insider So, we have a new pair in your film now? Yes, Saiyami is hardworking and a down-to earth kind of a girl whereas Harshvardhan is very intelligent and handsome. I wanted a fresh pair for my film. I am too proud of my lead pair. Romance has always been the theme of your films but why such a long gap after each film? Lot of us get colored by the idea of romance. Love and relationship are two different things. Regarding why I take time to make a film I cannot repeat my scene or film. I take time to make a film. I write the screenplay first and then decide to direct it. I have realized that I have to work faster. I havent slept properly for 15 years. I am now writing my next film. So, we have a new pair in your film now? Yes, Saiyami is hardworking and a down-to earth kind of a girl whereas Harshvardhan is very intelligent and handsome. I wanted a fresh pair for my film. I am too proud of my lead pair. Romance has always been the theme of your films but why such a long gap after each film? Lot of us get colored by the idea of romance. Love and relationship are two different things. Regarding why I take time to make a film I cannot repeat my scene or film. I take time to make a film. I write the screenplay first and then decide to direct it. I have realized that I have to work faster. I havent slept properly for 15 years. I am now writing my next film. Madisons Downtown hotel boom is coming to State Street. A development team is proposing to demolish a six-story, largely vacant building at 122 State St. and a two-story bar next door for a $30 million-plus, 120-room boutique hotel that would stand four stories tall on State Street and rise higher at the rear of the parcel that faces Carroll and Dayton streets. The project would be a partnership between Provenance Hotels of Portland, Oregon, which specializes in creating unique spaces often in historic buildings that draw upon local ambiance for art and dining, Ascendant Holdings Real Estate of Madison and Milwaukee, and Central Properties of Madison. Provenance which runs independent hotels in Portland, Oregon, Seattle and neighboring Tacoma, Washington, as well as Nashville, Tennessee, and New Orleans chose Madison for its creative vibe and, like other cities where it operates, intends to spend time to understand the community before making choices on design, art, furnishings, and a bar and restaurant, company president Bashar Wali said. What we will do will be one of a kind, Wali said. There will be no other. The development team owns the building at 122 State St., which was built as the citys original YWCA in 1917 but has undergone multiple remodeling projects over the decades. The ground floor currently holds The Fountain bar and restaurant and the upper floors are mostly vacant office space. Harold Langhammer, who runs Central Properties, has owned the building for decades. The team has an option to buy the adjacent building at 118 State St., which has hosted restaurants and is currently a spot for drinks and events called Winedown. The proposed redevelopment would cover the footprint of both buildings, team members said. Its a great piece of real estate at a great location, said Eric Nordeen, a principal at Ascendant Holdings. Ascendant Holdings and Central Properties explored the feasibility of reusing the properties, but much of the original exterior of the old YWCA was removed for a new facade in 1971 and the interior of the building has no historic architecture that can be preserved, Nordeen and Prescott said. It was a pretty cool, interesting building when first constructed, but it has lost its identity inside and out, Prescott said. A new structure would be contemporary yet timeless, and be something appropriate to the street, Wali said. We are not going to try and fake other things. The fate of a pedestrian bridge connecting the YWCA building and a parking garage is uncertain, but there is a strong chance it will be removed. The hotel would not provide new on-site parking spaces, but is in initial discussions with the city about leasing spaces in the garage on West Dayton Street. City Council President Mike Verveer, 4th District, who represents the area, said, At first glance, Im extremely supportive of the concept of a hotel there. Its a great land use at that location. Height and parking are the main concerns related to the project. Many people would welcome the removal of the pedestrian bridge and opening the view to Overture Center, Verveer said. The Downtown Core Zoning District allows a variety of uses, with a maximum height of four stories on State Street, and following a 30-foot setback after the fourth story, six stories on the rest of the site. Provenance is likely to seek some relief from height limits on the site so it can build the number of rooms needed to make the project economically viable, spokeswoman Kate Buska said. The building, Wali said, would have a pedestrian entrance on State Street and a vehicle entrance on North Carroll Street. You have two front doors, one for people and one for cars, he said, stressing that both will be attractive, clean and well-lit. It allows vibrancy on both streets. But more important is the interior, Wali said, which will have a marquee restaurant, meeting space and a rooftop lounge. It will complement the nearby Overture Center and Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, he said. Its about creating an interesting experience, he said. How do we get that experience? We look at the DNA of every community we go into. The cocktail bar and roughly 70- to 100-seat restaurant could be an opportunity for a top Madison-area chef to run his or her own operation or for a local restaurateur to open a new establishment, Buska said. It wont be snooty, Wali said. It will be approachable but it will be high-quality. Samantha Negrin, vice president of Capitol Neighborhoods Inc., had a positive first-blush reaction and agreed with Verveer that residents will have questions about height and parking. This is definitely an exciting addition to Downtown, she said. Im looking forward to the neighborhood meeting and seeing more details of the project. The project would neatly follow W. Jerome Frautschis recent $11.6 million redevelopment that brought new storefronts, restaurant and office space through a mix of new construction and historic preservation on the other side of the 100 block of State Street, said Susan Schmitz, president of Downtown Madison Inc. To have a small, local boutique hotel on the 100 block of State Street is absolutely perfect, Schmitz said. It think its a great fit. The hotel would need an advisory recommendation from the Landmarks Commission because its next to a landmark building at 114 State St. It would also need approvals from the Plan and Urban Design commissions, and perhaps the City Council, depending on final plans that are submitted. The team hopes to open the hotel in 2018. Its about creating an interesting experience. How do we get that experience? We look at the DNA of every community we go into. Bashar Wali, president of Provenance Hotels of Portland, Oregon, one of the partners in the State Street proposal Theranos Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Holmes speaks on stage at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards where she receives an award, in the Manhattan borough of New York November 9, 2015. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri A hedge fund that invested $96.1 million in Theranos is suing the blood-testing company, The Wall Street Journal reports. Partner Fund Management LP invested in Theranos back in 2014. The firm, among other investors that collectively funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into Theranos, largely remained silent as the startup withered under increasing scrutiny during the past year, The Journal said. "Through a series of lies, material misstatements, and omissions, the defendants engaged in securities fraud and other violations by fraudulently inducing PFM to invest and maintain its investment in the company," the company said in a letter to investors that The Journal reviewed. The suit comes less than a week after Theranos stopped all of its clinical operations, cutting 340 positions and closing its Wellness Centers where blood tests were performed. Instead, Theranos will focus solely on its technology, namely the miniLab platform it introduced in August at a scientific conference. The product reveal didn't go over too well because those in attendance were hoping for large amounts of independently reviewed data that validated the company's blood-test results. "We are fortunate to have supporters and investors who believe deeply in our mission of affordable, less invasive lab testing, and to have the runway to realize our vision," Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes said in an open letter published Wednesday. Theranos until Wednesday was trying to own all the parts of the blood-testing industry by building the technology as well as administering the tests to patients. The company's business model was based on offering more than 100 simple blood tests at a cost much lower than at traditional blood labs, in addition to developing its own technology to test that blood, which Holmes had emphasized would need to be drawn in only very small amounts. Story continues In the past year, however, Theranos' aspirations to be a one-stop shop have been derailed, with the company having to void two years' worth of tests. The government agency that regulates clinical labs found that Theranos' Northern California lab posed "immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety." theranos finger-prick The firm alleges, according to The Journal That Theranos said it could do more forms of its finger-prick blood tests than it actually could. That the company overstated how much it had submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. That the company couldn't uphold its partnerships with companies like Walgreens, which ended its partnership with Theranos back in June, closing 40 Wellness Center locations. Here's Theranos' response: "The suit, filed by a hedge fund, is without merit and Theranos will fight it vigorously. The hedge fund is engaging in revisionist history, making claims that are not rooted in facts. The company remains committed to its mission and is appreciative of its strong investor base that understands and continues to support those efforts." NOW WATCH: These are the only vitamins you should be taking and the ones you should skip More From Business Insider By Rania El Gamal and Olesya Astakhova ISTANBUL (Reuters) - OPEC will hold talks with non-member oil producers on Wednesday in a bid to hammer out details of a global agreement to cap production for at least six months as Russia lent its support for the plan. Ministers from OPEC members embarked on a flurry of talks at an energy conference in Istanbul to shore up support for the OPEC deal they agreed in Algeria last month hoping to adopt it at the end of November. Oil prices that have more than halved since mid-2014 as global supplies swelled. "I can say that many countries from outside OPEC are willing to join ... we are not talking about support, we are talking about contribution," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told Reuters on Tuesday in Istanbul. Representatives of some OPEC members and non-OPEC countries including Russia, Azerbaijan and possibly Mexico will hold a round-table meeting at 1100 GMT on Wednesday on the sidelines of the World Energy Congress, according to OPEC ministers. Any deal would initially be applied over six months and then reviewed, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said. "We are confident that the other non-OPEC producers will join this (agreement) because it is in the benefit of all producers ... and also consumers," Barkindo said. Eulogio Del Pino, the petroleum minister for cash-strapped Venezuela said he preferred a deal to extend for a full year in order to include peak output periods of different oil producers. Last month in Algiers, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed modest oil output cuts. The goal is to cut production to a range of 32.50-33.0 million barrels per day (bpd). OPEC's current output is a record 33.6 million bpd. The International Energy Agency said global oil supply could fall in line with demand more quickly if OPEC and Russia agree to a steep enough cut in production, but it is unclear how rapidly this might happen. [IEA/M] Any deal would face challenges from a 3 billion barrel global inventory build in recent years as well as efforts by OPEC members Libya and Nigeria to increase production curtailed by conflict. Iran, OPEC's third largest member, had said it would not curb its supplies before it reached 4 million barrels per day, a level it had seen before international sanctions were imposed in 2012 and lifted in January this year. Speaking at the Istanbul conference, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the world's top producer would maintain its current oil output unchanged under a deal. Russia pumped 11.1 million barrels per day in September. On Monday, President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was ready to join the proposed cap on oil output by OPEC members. But Igor Sechin, Russia's most influential oil executive and the head of Kremlin energy champion Rosneft , said his company would not curb oil production. Falih said he would not attend Wednesday's meeting due to prior engagements but met with Novak in Istanbul on Tuesday. He is due to meet his Russian counterpart for talks later this month in Riyadh, according to a statement by the Saudi energy ministry. "The ministers emphasized that their two countries are committed to working together and with other producers, OPEC and non-OPEC, to help improve oil market fundamentals, which will benefit producers, consumers, the energy industry and the global economy," the statement said. (Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi, writing by Ron Bousso, editing by David Evans) Orange Is the New Black shocked everyone with a tragic death in Season 4, and that even includes some of the shows stars. The writers didnt tell me, Samira [Wiley] didnt tell me, so I was definitely taken aback, Adrienne C. Moore, who stars as Black Cindy on the Netflix prison drama, told TheWraps Stuart Brazell. And then I remember [reading] the final episode, and it was her backstory and you got to see a lot more about her Those kind of moments are some of my favorites. Wileys character, Poussey, was killed off when her characters was inadvertently crushed to death by a poorly trained guard attempting to shut down a prisoner protest. Also Read: 'Orange Is the New Black' Star Adrienne C. Moore Exclusive StudioWrap Portraits (Photos) I remember the last time I filmed a scene with Sam, Moore said. We all went into one of the dressing room and gave her a wonderful gift. That whole moment was very special to me. Moore also discussed the future direction of her own character, saying shed like to learn more about Black Cindys backstory. Im still wanting to know about Black Cindy, she said. Shes this funny sort of humorous, quick-witted person Does she use humor to mask a lot of what that pain is? Also Read: How 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,' 'Orange Is the New Black' and Other Sitcoms Fight Mental Health Stigmas When we were filming Black Cindys progression into becoming Jewish, one of my old [babysitting] clients, her eldest daughter turned 13 and had her bat mitzvah, Moore recalled. And I remember thinking Hm, this would be really intersting research and it was the most boring thing Ive ever been to. Related stories from TheWrap: 'Orange Is the New Black' Star Adrienne C. Moore Exclusive StudioWrap Portraits (Photos) How 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,' 'Orange Is the New Black' and Other Sitcoms Fight Mental Health Stigmas 'Orange Is the New Black' Star Slammed for Tweeting About Airport Agent's Comments ARLINGTON, VA / ACCESSWIRE / October 11, 2016 / OurPet's Company (OPCO) will be presenting at this year's The MicroCap Conference on October 24-25 in Philadelphia at the Hotel Monaco, along with 60 other companies in the microcap universe. The MicroCap Conference is an exclusive event for investors who specialize in small and microcap stocks. It is an opportunity to be introduced to and speak with management at some of the most attractive small companies, learn from various expert panels, and mingle with other microcap investors. This event is free for private and institutional investors - to learn more, please click here. About OurPet's Company OurPet's Company is a leader in creating and marketing innovative products for the pet industry. With over 170 patents issued or pending, OurPet's concentrates in Feeding/Storage, Toys (Cats & Dogs) and Waste Management/Odor. The Company sell its products worldwide through Pet Specialty, Mass Retail and Ecommerce channels. SOURCE: OurPet's Company 11 Oct - The Malacanang Palace has recently addressed criticisms from actress Agot Isidro against the president, and stressed that she is entitled to her own opinion. As reported on Inquirer, Isidro recently made the news after she expressed her ire against President Duterte for daring the United Nations and other major superpowers to withdraw their aid to the Philippines, after he was criticised for his unorthodox method in his ongoing drug war. Isidro stressed that the people are starving enough now without having Duterte challenging the US and EU to retract their assistance. But when asked about Isidro's statement recently, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that what the people should do is listen to what the President actually wants for the country. "The President is calling for Filipinos to be truly independent economically and mentally and psychologically. The President is calling Filipinos to be free from dependence on foreign aid, which is what the lady is fearful we will lose," said Abella. (Photo source: philippinenews.com) On Oct 7, we issued an updated research report on Panera Bread Company PNRA. Of late, Panera has been increasingly focusing on the rollout of Panera 2.0 program, menu innovation, promotional strategies and new store design, in order to boost its competitive position. Particularly, the Panera 2.0 program includes the achievement of operational excellence, along with digital access to Panera, through mobile, web and kiosk. The program aims at growing sales as well as earnings, while lowering costs. Moreover, under the program, the company expects to remove all artificial ingredients, including colors, flavors, preservatives and sweeteners, from food items across its 2000 bakeries/cafes by 2016-end. Notably, companies like McDonald's Corp. MCD and The Wendy's Company WEN, have also pledged to shift completely to cage-free eggs and use chicken raised without antibiotics. Additionally, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG uses genetically modified organism (GMO)free ingredients in its food items. However, Panera has stolen much of the spotlight from its competitors and is leading the race of offering fresh and additive-free foods. Evidently, the initiatives undertaken by the company have started yielding results as the second quarter of 2016 marked the ninth straight quarter of positive transaction growth. Moreover, the companys sound marketing initiatives along with its loyalty program should continue to drive growth. Also, increased focus on catering service should drive revenues in the near term. However, though the initiatives undertaken by the company under the Panera 2.0 program are expected to yield benefits over the long term, they are likely to affect margins and earnings in the near term. Moreover, higher investment, labor and pre-opening expenses, along with startup and transition costs related to immature Panera 2.0 cafes, are expected to hurt margins. Further, a soft consumer spending environment in the U.S. restaurant space adds to the concerns. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PANERA BREAD CO (PNRA): Free Stock Analysis Report CHIPOTLE MEXICN (CMG): Free Stock Analysis Report MCDONALDS CORP (MCD): Free Stock Analysis Report WENDYS CO/THE (WEN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Madison Ald. Rebecca Kemble was arrested and jailed on Monday while acting as a legal observer of the continuing protests over a controversial oil pipeline in North Dakota that a Native American tribe says threatens tribal land. Kembles version of events contrasts sharply with statements by law enforcement, who characterized the event as a riot. Kemble was among more than two dozen people arrested on Monday at two protests, Morton County Sheriffs Department spokesman Rob Keller said. She faces tentative charges of misdemeanor criminal trespassing, destruction of evidence, resisting arrest and engaging in riot. She was taken to Morton County jail and released after posting a $250 bond Tuesday morning, Keller said. Actress Shailene Woodley, who starred in the Divergent movie series and most recently in Oliver Stones film Snowden, was also among those arrested. Kemble said Tuesday afternoon that she was wearing a hat that identified her as a legal observer and was videotaping a peaceful prayer ceremony when police arrived and began making arrests. She said she intends to fight the charges. I wasnt protesting. It wasnt a protest, she said. I was legal-observing. I was targeted by law enforcement for my camera. Kemble, 18th District, traveled with her husband over the weekend to Morton County to present the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe with a parchment copy of a recent City Council resolution expressing solidarity with those protesting the pipeline. The tribe wants construction halted due to concerns of potential contamination of its water supply and says the pipeline will encroach on tribal burial sites and other cultural artifacts. On Monday morning, Kemble said she went with others to attend a ceremony that started at an encampment on the reservation. The ceremony, she said, moved to the pipeline site near St. Anthony and featured prayer, drumming and dancing by tribes from Argentina and the Arctic Circle. She said most people were beginning to leave after the event, except for about 16 people sitting under a tepee, when at least 40 police officers arrived. A commanding officer, Kemble said, told the protesters they faced arrest if an officer touched them. She said most people backed up but police pursued. She said the commanding officer ran at her, grabbed her while she was holding her camera, put her hands behind her back, bound her with a zip tie, and took her camera as evidence, with police taking her and those arrested to jail. A Morton Countys Sheriffs Department press release on Monday afternoon describes a different scene. On Monday morning, authorities got a call that two protesters had locked themselves to equipment on private property near St. Anthony and were arrested and charged with a felony and misdemeanors, the release said. Another arrest was made and the group disbanded. About two hours later, authorities were alerted to a convoy of about 100 vehicles assembling near the pipeline site, the release said. Law enforcement closed a road and told the protesters to disband. The crowd refused and 24 more people were arrested, it said. In the statement, Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said, While some would like to say this was a protest, this was not a protest this was a riot. Kemble rejected the description. What alternate universe was the sheriff in that day? she said. It was so peaceful. The whole day was steeped in prayer and ceremony. The police are fear-mongering. Kemble said shell present the parchment to tribal leaders Wednesday morning. Last weekend, the Dane County Sheriffs Office sent 10 deputies from its special events team to the site of the protests, part of a state contingent of 40 members of law enforcement that have gone to provide assistance to the area. Construction resumed Tuesday on the $3.8 billion, 1,200-mile pipeline on private land about 20 miles from the so-called Red Warrior Camp where thousands of protesters have gathered, The Associated Press reported. Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the bond amount posted by Kemble on Tuesday. By Gina Cherelus NEW YORK (Reuters) - The cash-strapped Pennsylvania city that was ridiculed and then praised in 2014 for its scrawny "Charlie Brown Christmas" tree has decided to go artificial this year, gracing its town square with a brightly lit, factory-made model that will last for years. Reading Mayor Wally Scott agreed to erect a donated 34-foot synthetic tree rather than take another chance on the imperfections of nature. With luck, it will last up to 20 years. "I like the idea and I saw the tree and I fell in love with the artificial tree," said Scott, who presides over one of the poorest cities in the United States. "It will always guarantee that Reading will have a beautiful tree." In 2014, employees of Reading's public works department had planned to obtain a tree from a local farm. But they instead chopped down a raggedy, 45-foot Norway spruce from a local ball field and erected it in a downtown square. The humble, lopsided tree immediately attracted unflattering international attention and brought a torrent of derision on social media. But the city, about 60 miles west of Philadelphia, turned the tables on its detractors. It decorated the tree with a single red bulb, reminiscent of scenes from the animated holiday classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas," and was congratulated for embracing the true spirit of Christmas. Money is tight in Reading, which has a higher percentage of its population living below the poverty level than any other city in the United States, according to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data. The city, which has about 100,000 residents, accepted a donated 25-foot-tall natural tree last year, according to the Reading Eagle newspaper. The artificial tree will have 1,250 ornaments, more than 1900 lights and 5-foot three-dimensional stars draped over its plastic branches. The city is receiving more than $20,000 in donations to help pay the bill. The newly elected mayor said that as a private citizen he loved the charming 2014 'Charlie Brown' tree and plans on commemorating it this year. "Somewhere in one of our parks, we've decided we're gonna light up a random tree to represent the 'Charlie Brown' tree," Scott said. (Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Andrew Hay) By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday warned that whoever fired missiles at a U.S. Navy destroyer and an accompanying ship off the coast of Yemen over the weekend had done so "at their own peril," language that suggested preparations for possible retaliation. Two shore-launched cruise missiles, which U.S. officials believe were designed to hit vessels at sea, were fired at the U.S. Navy ships on Sunday from Houthi-controlled territory of Yemen, just north of the Bab al-Mandab strait. Both failed to hit the ships but the attack, which was first reported by Reuters, could deepen U.S. involvement in Yemen. U.S. military action in the country has largely been reserved for the battle against al Qaeda's affiliate, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, not the Houthis. "Anybody who takes action, fires against U.S. Navy ships operating in international waters, does so at their own peril," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told a news briefing. Asked whether the Pentagon was developing targets for retaliatory strikes, Davis said: "I'm not confirming that right now." U.S. support for a Saudi Arabia-led coalition battling the Houthis has been reduced in recent months, and had been under review amid growing concerns about civilian casualties in Yemen's war. It includes refueling Saudi jets that are carrying out strikes. The Houthis, allies of Iran who drove the Western- and Saudi Arabia-backed President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi from the capital in 2014, have denied firing at the USS Mason guided missile destroyer and the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport dock. But U.S. officials have told Reuters that Washington is operating under the assumption that Houthi forces fired the cruise missiles on Sunday. Davis suggested as much on Tuesday, noting that the Houthis had previously acknowledged responsibility for firing on a vessel from the United Arab Emirates a week earlier. "The Houthis have said publicly before that they would target any ships in that area that were supporting the coalition against them," Davis said. "So the facts certainly seem to point to it, but we are still assessing and we will have more for you." The strikes against the UAE and U.S. vessels risks disrupting commercial traffic through the Bab al-Mandab strait, one of the world's busiest routes. While shipping companies have yet to divert vessels, there are growing worries that an escalation could hinder oil supplies and lead to higher insurance costs. Nearly four million barrels of oil are shipped daily through the Bab al-Mandab gateway to Europe, the United States and Asia. The UN last week said it took threats to shipping around Bab al-Mandeb "extremely seriously." (Additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Jonathan Saul; Editing by Alan Crosby) According to a recent Bloomberg report, Brazils state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. or Petrobras PBR is in the process of negotiation with Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. regarding the sale of two offshore oil fields. The divestment is being viewed as the companys strategy to generate proceeds to pay for its huge debt load. Petrobras will likely sell 100% stake of Bauna field located in the Santos Basin as well as 50% stake in Tartaruga Verde situated in the Campos Basin. Bauna currently develops almost 45,000 barrels per day, whereas Tartaruga Verde is now in the early phases of development. Notably, Petrobras plans asset sales of as much as $15.1 billion for 201516. The company intends to raise an additional $19.5 billion through divestments and partnerships between 2017 and 2018. Petrobras also projects divestitures worth $40 billion over the next 10 years. Through these sales, the company intends to reduce debt and exit from non-core businesses like biofuels, fertilizers and petrochemicals to focus on the most profitable deep water projects. We appreciate Petrobras massive asset sale program as its involvement in a multibillion dollar money laundering scam has not only tainted its goodwill but has also made it difficult for the company to raise money from both debt and equity markets to pay off its debt. Hence, we are optimistic about Petrobras asset divestment program. PETROBRAS-ADR C Price PETROBRAS-ADR C Price | PETROBRAS-ADR C Quote In such a scenario the OPECs recent decision to curb oil production is highly favorable for Petrobras. This is because the OPECs unexpected production cut amid an oversupplied commodity market will likely help recover oil prices. This improvement in the crude front will help the company to generate significant cash flows after selling oil at higher prices. Other energy majors that are poised to benefit from the increase in crude prices include Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A, BP plc BP and Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM. Story continues Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PETROBRAS-ADR C (PBR): Free Stock Analysis Report BP PLC (BP): Free Stock Analysis Report ROYAL DTCH SH-A (RDS.A): Free Stock Analysis Report EXXON MOBIL CRP (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte questioned the importance of a defense treaty with the U.S. Tuesday. However, he added that he will not repeal the treaty. The controversial president reportedly criticized the military exercises between the two countries, saying that they were beneficial only to the U.S. The war games, which involve about 500 Filipino troops and 1,400 U.S. troops, ended earlier than planned. Duterte said last month that these war games would be the final one under his administration thereby putting a 65-year-old military alliance, one of the U.S. oldest in Asia, in question. You [U.S.] are scheduled to hold war games, which China does not want. I will serve notice to you now that this will be the last military exercise. Jointly, Philippines [and] the U.S.? Last one, Duterte said. But Filipino military officials denied that the early end to the war games had anything to do with Dutertes comments. Duterte said earlier that he wanted to initiate new alliances for trade and commerce with Russia and added Tuesday that he is likely to visit Russia this month. The 71-year-old is to visit Brunei, China and Japan this month. Speaking to newly appointed government officials, Duterte reportedly said, I will go to Japan, then probably I will go to Russia. Duterte said last week that the European Union and the U.S. can go ahead and suspend financial aid to the Philippines following their criticism of his war on drugs campaign. Go away, bring your money to somewhere else. We will survive as a nation, Duterte said. How do you look at us, mendicants? We will survive. Even if we'll go through hardships, we will survive. But we will never, never compromise our dignity. If you think it is high time for you guys to withdraw your assistance, go ahead, we will not beg for it. Dutertes brutal war on drugs, which has claimed over 3,000 lives since he came to power in June, has received criticism from several world leaders and international institutions. Related Articles Manila (AFP) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he would soon visit China and hoped also to travel to Russia, as he again criticised longtime ally the United States for "arrogance". The mission to China will be Duterte's first outside of Southeast Asia since assuming the presidency on June 30, in a symbolic move highlighting the importance he places on improving ties with Beijing that soured over competing claims to the South China Sea. "China has repeatedly invited me. I have accepted the offer," Duterte said in a speech at the presidential palace. He gave no specific dates for the visit, but said it would take place before he went to Japan from October 25 to 27. Duterte said he had originally planned to visit Japan, the Philippines' biggest source of foreign aid, ahead of China. However he explained that Japan offered a "definite" date, then China told Duterte there was a "vacancy" earlier and so he accepted. Duterte also said that, after Japan, "probably I will go to Russia". Duterte has looked to build closer ties with China and Russia, while launching repeated tirades against the United States, the Philippines' former colonial ruler and defence ally. His tirades have been largely in response to US criticism of Duterte's war on crime, which has claimed more than 3,300 lives and raised fears about extrajudicial killings. Duterte has cancelled joint patrols with the United States in the South China Sea, said he may scrap a defence pact that allows thousands of US troops to rotate through the Philippines, and threatened to eventually cut ties completely. Duterte has also branded US President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" for expressing concern about human rights in the drug war. In contrast, he has described Chinese leader Xi Jinping as "a great president", and praised China and Russia for showing respect in not criticising his crime crackdown. Story continues - 'Arrogant' allies - Duterte on Tuesday gave another lengthy critique of the United States, branding the nation as "arrogant" and powerless to stop Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. He also said the Philippines gained nothing from holding military exercises with the United States, which have been a mainstay of the defence relationship. "What's the point? They are the only ones benefiting. We are not," he said, as the allies wrapped up a week of war games involving about 2,000 troops in the Philippines. Duterte had said they were to be the last of his six-year term, putting on ice the 28 exercises they hold annually. The Philippines had long been regarded as one of Washington's most loyal allies in Asia, with the two nations bound by a mutual defence pact signed in 1951. Duterte's predecessor Benigno Aquino sought to draw the United States even closer in a bid to counter Chinese efforts to take control of the South China Sea. China claims nearly all of the sea, even waters close to the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations, and has in recent years built artificial islands capable of hosting military bases in disputed areas. The 2014 defence agreement and the joint patrols were key to Aquino's strategy to contain China. Aquino further angered China by filing a case with a UN-backed tribunal in 2013 against Beijing's claims to most of the sea. In July, shortly after Duterte took office, the tribunal ruled in favour of the Philippines, saying China's claims had no legal basis and its construction of artificial islands in disputed waters was illegal. But Duterte vowed not to "taunt or flaunt" the verdict and to seek a "soft landing" with China on the issue. He has launched negotiations with China over the dispute, a tactic rejected by Aquino. China has welcomed Duterte's overtures. "The clouds are fading away. The sun is rising over the horizon and will shine beautifully on the new chapter of bilateral relations," Chinese ambassador to Manila Zhao Jianhua said this month. (Adds details) Oct 11 (Reuters) - Phillips 66 Partners LP said on Tuesday it would buy some pipelines and terminals from parent Phillips 66 for $1.3 billion. The deal, the largest so-called "dropdown" from Phillips 66 to the unit, includes assets supporting Phillips 66's refineries in Bayway, New Jersey; Billings, Montana; Borger, Texas, and Ponca City, Oklahoma, Phillips 66 Partners LP said. Houston, Texas-based Phillips 66 Partners is the master limited partnership formed by Phillips 66 to acquire and operate midstream assets. The deal is for 30 assets, which include crude pipelines, refined products and natural gas liquids pipelines and terminal systems, the company said. Phillips 66 will also enter into a 10-year terminaling and throughput agreements that will include minimum volume commitments covering about 85 percent of expected volumes. The deal is expected to close this month, Phillips 66 Partners said. Phillips 66 Partners plans to fund the deal with debt and $196 million in new units issued to Phillips 66. (Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel) Philadelphia police say a three-day operation ended with dozens of wanted criminals behind bars and thousands of dollars in cash and drugs in police custody. Police departments around the country have used special software to monitor Black Lives Matter protests on social media, according to a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). One of the most popular tools for this purpose, dubbed Geofeedia, had special data sharing agreements with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter but the companies are now curtailing access to make sure that their platforms arent used for profiling. The ACLU has been investigating the use of social media by police agencies for months, requesting records from 63 California police departments this summer. Scouring the thousands of pages of paper the organization received as a response, it realized that at least a third were using social media monitoring tools. The documents also showed that these tools were often used to broadly cast peaceful protesters and people of color as security risks. Geofeedia for example labeled union activists taking part in these protests as overt threats, and a potential sign for anticipated riots and looting. Documents also showed that Geofeedia was telling law enforcement officials that it had special access to data from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Like other companies building social media marketing tools, Geofeedia was making use of data supplied by these platforms. However, both Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been vocal supporters of Black Lives Matter protests. The use of their companies data to track these very protesters, and label them as potential threats, couldnt go over well with the companies and they both responded Tuesday by curtailing Geofeedias access. Based on information in the ACLUs report, we are immediately suspending Geofeedias commercial access to Twitter data, tweeted Twitter public policy team Tuesday. And Facebook terminated the companys access to Instagram data, stating that it will take swift action whenever someone uses Facebook or Instagram data in an unauthorized matter. Story continues Geofeedia didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. The ACLU now wants the two companies to go one step further and permanently ban any company that has law enforcement ties from accessing their data. Law enforcement should not be using tools that treat protesters like enemies, wrote ACLU Technology and Civil Liberties Project Director Nicole Ozer in a blog post. Related stories Twitter: Trump-Clinton Second Debate Live Average Viewership Up 7%, Most-Tweeted Debate Ever Two Months of Gains Erased From Twitter's Stock as Possible Buyers Back Out Twitter Sale: Disney, Google Are Out of the Running (Reports) I have learned the hard way not to put my personal life on the Internet. But suffice it to say that, God willing, things should be pretty much back to norm... 2 weeks ago Every pregnancy is one to be celebratedeven when this mom and pop are expecting a litter of puppies. Read: After Rescue from Hoarder Home, Pregnant Chihuahua Poses in Maternity Photo Shoot Chanel, a very pregnant 5-year-old golden retriever from California, has stolen hearts on social media after posing in a maternity photo shoot just days before she was expected to give birth. today I did a maternity photoshoot for my dog. pic.twitter.com/cuwDCrnXg6 Ken (@kennedysorensen) October 1, 2016 "I saw a few people in my age group taking maternity pictures, so I thought it would be fun to do them for my dog," Kennedy Sorensen, 21, told InsideEdition.com. To document Chanel's first set of puppies, the golden retriever posedwith the help of many treatsnext to the father of her litter, LeeRoy. "Kennedy thought the shoot would be fun, and I agreed," said photographer Amy Rients, who is also the owner of LeeRoy. "Chanel was a fabulous subject... Leeroy, not so much," she joked. In photos posted to social media, the pups could be seen smooching and smiling while holding up a sign that read: "9 days until puppies." Read: Let The Games Begin! Canines Compete For the Gold in Rio's First Ever Dog Olympics "She's doing well now and we are just waiting for her to pop," Sorensen said. Their litter is due on Wednesday, and Rients said she and Sorensen have already scheduled a newborn shoot the moment the soon-to-be mom gives birth. "I think she will be an amazing mother," Sorensen said. Watch: Mom And Her Dog Give Birth on The Same Day, Adorable Photo Shoot Ensues Related Articles: President Obama said were going to Mars and its a lot sooner than youd think President Obama just announced that that U.S. government will be partnering with private companies with the explicit goal of sending humans to Mars. While their goal already sounds pretty ambitious, their timeline is the most impressive part of the partnership. Obama said that hed like to see humans on Mars by the 2030s. The President, who made the announcement through an op-ed for CNN, will soon be hosting the White House Frontiers Conference, which brings together innovators in science and technology from around the world. No doubt the excitement and support for this announcement will be *earth-shattering.* In the piece, he explains some of his reasoning behind not only the goal itself, but also why its so important to our identity as Americans. Obama wrote, [Our space program] represents an essential part of our character curiosity and exploration, innovation and ingenuity, pushing the boundaries of whats possible and doing it before anybody else. nasa He emphasizes that we need to be specific in our goals in order to make this dream a reality. He added, We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of Americas story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time. Since there have already been some incredible discoveries on Mars in recent years that have helped us learn even more about the conditions there, its certainly possible that we might be able soon learn how to send actual humans to the planet and have them return to tell their tale. martian Though Obamas announcement is major, NASA has had similar plans in the works for a while. The President has been a big supporter of space initiatives, with a number of cool projects like creating livable pods that could transport people on long, deep space missions already moving forward. Allowing private companies (many of whom have had private space initiatives for years) to partner with the government means that there will be a lot more resources and incredible minds working on all of these (literally) out-of-this-world goals. h/t Mashable The post President Obama said were going to Mars and its a lot sooner than youd think appeared first on HelloGiggles. Oct 11 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - Twitter Inc executives are continuing deal talks with Salesforce.com and Chief Executive Jack Dorsey is now not averse to selling the company. http://nyti.ms/2d8RHwi - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett volunteered detailed information about his income taxes after Donald Trump called him out during the presidential debate. http://nyti.ms/2d8QKo0 - Federal prosecutors filed new corruption charges against Brazil's former president, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, raising pressure on him and his family over dealings in Angola. http://nyti.ms/2d8RLwa - Venture capital firm Greylock Partners said it has raised a $1 billion fund, increasing its assets under management to $3.5 billion. http://nyti.ms/2d8RGIL - Blood-testing company Theranos is being sued by investor Partner Fund Management, which accuses the company of securities fraud over engaging in "a series of lies, material misstatements and omissions". http://nyti.ms/2d8VpWE - Wells Fargo & Co said it would create a new division focused on payments and virtual solutions and will also expand the bank's operating committee to 12 members from nine. http://nyti.ms/2e1UldC (Compiled by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru) The Duchess of Cambridge, left, in a Catherine Walker skirt suit; Queen Letizia of Spain, right, wearing a white suit in a similar style. (Photos: Getty Images) Hillary Clinton is the empress of pantsuits, but foreign royals rule the skirt suit realm. On Tuesday, Britains Duchess of Cambridge and Queen Letizia of Spain attended separate events in different countries wearing very similar styles. Kate, who is on her first official trip alone, to the Netherlands (she was supposed to visit Malta in 2014 but had to cancel owing to extreme morning sickness while pregnant with Princess Charlotte), stepped out in a light blue ensemble from Catherine Walker & Co. While meeting with King Willem-Alexander, she opted for a sophisticated pencil skirt that hit right above her knee. She paired it with a blazer with a Peter Pan collar, oversize buttons, and a belt around the waist. She wore nude heels and carried a matching clutch. Meanwhile, Queen Letizia attended a seminar at the Casa de America in Madrid wearing a strikingly similar outfit to Kates. Arguably a bit more fashion-forward,the queens Felipe Varela white set included a boucle skirt with a jacket in the same material featuring military-inspired details such as wide lapels and flap pockets. As with Kate, Queen Letizias coat also added shape, thanks to a waist-cinching belt. Both women managed to take a silhouette generally reserved for the office and make it work for their respective royal engagements. Maybe Clinton should take notes. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. By Margarita Antidze TBILISI (Reuters) - A small pro-Russian party has won seats in the Georgian parliament despite Russian troops controlling one fifth of the ex-Soviet republic and lingering memories of a short war between the two countries less than 10 years ago. With 100 percent of the vote counted, data from the Central Election Commission showed on Tuesday that the pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots had won 5.01 percent of the vote, just passing the 5 percent threshold needed to get into parliament. Its presence in the 150-seat parliament will be small, but some Georgians are upset that a pro-Russian party has got in despite recent history and are disappointed that smaller pro-Western parties failed to win any seats. "I'm so disappointed that we won't have politicians from these other (pro-Western) parties in parliament," said Tamta Kirvalidze, a 26-year-old resident of Tbilisi, the capital. The Alliance of Patriots favors greater integration with Russia and opposes Georgia joining NATO. Its leaders also talk up the Russian Orthodox Church's links to Georgia and warn that closer integration with Europe could damage Georgian traditions. By contrast, the ruling Georgian Dream party, which comfortably won overall with 48.67 percent of the vote, favors integration with the West as well as closer ties with Russia, while the opposition United National Movement, which came second with 27.11 percent, is strongly pro-Western. A U.S. ally traditionally buffeted between Russia and the West, Georgia hopes to join the European Union (EU) and NATO one day even though that is something that Russia, its former colonial master, strongly opposes. Criss-crossed by strategically important oil and gas pipelines, a fifth of Georgian territory remains under the control of pro-Russian separatists following a short war with Russia in 2008. Analysts don't expect any immediate changes in Georgia's foreign policy as a result of the election. "I don't think that Georgia's pro-Western course will be changed, though a lot will depend on the pace of our integration with the West as well as on our desire to be more careful with Russia," said Koba Turmanidze, director of the Tbilisi-based Caucasus Research Resource Centre. (Editing by Andrew Osborn) Alphabet Inc (ticker: GOOG, GOOGL), the company formerly known as Google, is the second-most valuable corporation on the planet. When companies grow to that enormous size, they can have trouble continuing to grow. Look no further than the biggest, Apple ( AAPL), which is expected to see revenue fall in 2016 for the first time since 2001. Last quarter, Alphabet's second-quarter revenue soared 21 percent from the previous year. In short, GOOG stock doesn't have Apple's problem. That said, no company is perfect, and no investment is risk-free. Looking at Alphabet stock, what's the potential upside, and where's the potential downside? Pros of GOOG stock. Google is now technically owned by its corporate parent Alphabet, which is a holding company. Google's other so-called "moonshot" endeavors officially became their own companies, and are now broken out separately under Alphabet's financials in the segment "Other Bets." Those other bets, though, aren't paying off yet. Nearly all of Alphabet's revenue comes from Google, and 90 percent of Google's revenue is advertising-based. Despite all the glitz, glamour and innovation that we associate with Google -- artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, virtual reality, fiber-optic cable networks, etc. -- it all pales in comparison, financially speaking, to search. Search advertising, since day one, has been the money machine launching GOOG stock skyward. The number of paid clicks (advertisers pay Google every time you click an ad on a search results page) has been soaring in recent years, jumping 29 percent in 2014 and 33 percent in 2015. The growth of YouTube (which also falls under Google's umbrella), combined with steady global expansion and higher mobile traffic, are driving that growth. [Read: Google Stock or Apple Stock? Why Investors Should Choose Both.] Cost-per-click (CPC), however, has been falling for the same reasons: advertisers pay less for YouTube and mobile ads. Still, CPC fell just 15 percent last year and 7 percent the year before, so as long as paid clicks continue to advance far more quickly, GOOG will put up big growth numbers. Story continues That said, the search giant is trying its darndest to diversify its revenue stream, and you can't do that without smart people at the helm. "Alphabet understands that one of the best ways to keep strong momentum in business operations and execution is to have really talented people," says Scott Kessler, equity analyst at CFRA Research. Kessler cites three recent hires as evidence of the firm's deep commitment to high-level talent: Lyor Cohen, Diane Greene and Ruth Porat. Cohen, a legendary music industry executive who formerly led Def Jam Recordings and Warner Music Group, was just installed as global head of music for YouTube. Greene, founder of VMWare ( VMW), a virtualization software company, was recruited in 2015 to help lead Google's cloud businesses. But Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat, who was poached from the same position at Morgan Stanley ( MS), has been the most influential thus far. "Porat has instilled a disciplined approach to spending, which has always been a criticism against Alphabet -- that they spend without a great focus on return on investment," says Josh Olson, technology analyst at Edward Jones. As far as Wall Street's concerned, Porat's been a great investment, worth every penny of her $70 million pay package that goes through 2019. Since coming aboard, GOOGL stock (there are two share classes) has shot from around $550 to over $800 in under 17 months. That translates to a market capitalization gain of nearly $74 billion. In order to help grow the non-search side of its business, Google is launching an all-out assault on the hardware market. On Oct. 4, it launched a laundry list of new products. [Read: Why You Should Buy More Foreign Stocks.] The highlight of the event was Google's new $649 smartphone, the Pixel, which heavily features Google Assistant, the company's newest AI-powered personal assistant. It also boasts a sleek design, a 12-megapixel camera it claims is the best of any smartphone, unlimited photo and video storage on the cloud via Google Photo, and a prominently advertised headphone jack. "It's obviously squarely aimed at Apple and the iPhone," Kessler says. Google also introduced a virtual reality headset, a new Chromecast Ultra, a smart wi-fi router and a product called Google Home. In fact, GOOG has been feeling mighty pugilistic recently, because the Google Home is another blatant attempt to go head-to-head with a major competitor: Amazon.com ( AMZN). The $129 Google Home is an AI-powered home speaker and personal assistant -- eerily similar to the $179 Amazon Echo. Cons of GOOG stock. If Amazon is even a wee bit scared about Google's AI home assistant stealing market share from its Echo and Echo Dot products, Alphabet should be absolutely phobic about Amazon, which is eating into Google's bread-and-butter: search. Thirty-eight percent of online product searches begin on Amazon, while 35 percent begin on a search engine, according to a 2016 PowerReviews survey. A 2013 Forrester survey found that 30 percent of online shoppers began on Amazon, while 13 percent started on Google. Many of the most expensive keywords on Google are product keywords because they tend to be hot leads that frequently end in sales. Amazon's growing influence in product search was one reason Wall Street research firm Wedbush recently downgraded Alphabet stock to "underperform," giving it a $700 price target. The rise of ad-blockers was also cited in the bearish note. But Amazon and ad-blockers are both external factors outside Google's control. What are some of GOOG's internal weaknesses that investors should keep an eye out for? "Where Google is still trying to find its footing is in the shift to mobile. We've seen them struggle to gain traction there especially relative to its closest mobile competitor, Facebook (FB)," Olson says. Kessler thinks YouTube has been a disappointment, and that a familiar competitor is doing it better. "We've seen Facebook doing a lot particularly when it comes to video and Facebook Live," Kessler says. Even Twitter ( TWTR), he notes, is becoming a destination for livestreaming. On top of that, the "Other Bets" aren't performing well. On 2015 revenue of $448 million, their operating losses were $3.6 billion. And while GOOG is certainly willing to take risks, its foray back into hardware is somewhat oddly timed to some. "Its recent rollout of the Pixel phone, Home device and Daydream View virtual reality headset all come with a slight whiff of catch-up desperation," says Barry Randall, technology portfolio manager on Covestor. No one knows how those products will fare, and their previous venture into hardware ended when Google sold Motorola to Lenovo for a $9.6 billion loss. [Read: Where Twitter is Quietly Destroying Facebook.] But until its global dominance in search starts waning -- Google currently controls about 70 percent of the global market -- GOOGL stock, trading around $800 and for a forward price-earnings ratio of just 20, seems like just the stock risk-tolerant investors should be looking for. See More Internet Software and Services Stocks John Divine is a staff writer for U.S. News & World Report. He is also a longtime investor, and has previously written about investing and the markets for InvestorPlace and The Motley Fool. You can follow him on Twitter @divinebizkid or give him the Tip of the Century at jdivine@usnews.com. Russian President Vladimir Putin has indefinitely postponed a visit to France, the Kremlin said Tuesday, following a bitter rift over Syria between the two countries. Putins decision came after French President Francois Hollande suggested Moscow was guilty of war crimes in Syria, CNN reports. Putins spokesman, however, said the reason for the cancellation was that the events scheduled during the visit had changed, according to the Associated Press. Tensions are high between the countries after a Franco-Spanish U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an end to air strikes and military flights over Aleppo was vetoed by Russia (along with Venezuela) last weekend. On Monday, President Hollande told a French TV station that Russia could face war crimes charges over its bombardment of Aleppo in the International Criminal Court (ICC). These are people who today are the victims of war crimes. Those that commit these acts will have to face up to their responsibility, including in the ICC, he said, the BBC reported. The AP reports that Putin was to meet with the French President and inaugurate a new Orthodox church next to the Eiffel Tower along with a cultural center during his now-canceled Paris trip. Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told AP that Putin could visit France at a later date which would be comfortable for Hollande. Paris (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday cancelled a visit to France in a furious row over Moscow's role in the Syrian conflict. The announcement from the Kremlin came a day after French President Francois Hollande said Syrian forces had committed a "war crime" in the battered city of Aleppo with the support of Russian air strikes. Putin had been due in Paris on October 19 to inaugurate a spiritual centre at a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower, but Hollande had insisted his Russian counterpart also took part in talks with him about Syria. The unprecedented cancellation of a visit so close to being finalised is a "serious step... reminiscent of the Cold War", said Russian foreign policy analyst Fyodor Lukyanov. "This is part of the broader escalation in the tensions between Russia and the West, and Russia and NATO," he told AFP. Russia has been waging a punishing aerial bombing campaign in Syria for more than a year in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces, part of a multi-front war that has claimed some 300,000 lives and seen Moscow further estranged from the West. The French president had admitted he was agonising over whether to meet Putin, but the Kremlin on Tuesday called off the visit. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin was "ready to visit when it is comfortable for President Hollande", adding that Moscow would "wait for when that comfortable time comes". Hollande responded that he was prepared to meet Putin "at any time... to further peace". Speaking in Strasbourg, Hollande said France and Russia had had a "major disagreement" over Syria. "It is necessary to have dialogue with Russia but it must be firm and frank," Hollande told the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe rights body. Thomas Gomart, head of the French International Relations Institute (IFRI), said the optics of a Putin visit at this time would be "explosive". Story continues He said the cancellation was the "culmination of a divergence that has been widening" for some months between France and Russia. - 'Outrage' fatigue - Outspoken British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson waded into the row, calling for anti-war campaigners to protest outside the Russian embassy in London. Johnson said the "wells of outrage are growing exhausted" and anti-war groups were not expressing sufficient outrage at the conflict in Aleppo. "Where is the Stop the War Coalition at the moment? Where are they?" he said during a parliamentary debate. On Saturday, Russia blocked a draft French UN resolution calling for an end to the barrage of air strikes on the rebel-held east of Aleppo that have escalated in the last month, leaving hundreds of people dead, including dozens of children. It was the fifth time that Russia used its veto to block UN action to end the five-year war in Syria that has sent millions fleeing and triggered the biggest migration crisis in Europe since World War II. In the aftermath of that decision, Hollande described the bombing of Aleppo as a "war crime". He said in a TV interview on Monday: "Those who commit these acts will have to pay for their involvement, including at the International Criminal Court." On Tuesday, at least 12 civilians were killed in the heaviest Russian bombardment in days of Aleppo, a monitoring group said. An AFP correspondent and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported it was the most intense bombing since the Syrian army said on October 5 it would reduce its onslaught on the northern city. Despite cancelling his visit to Paris, Putin is still considering travelling to Berlin on October 19 for a meeting on the conflict in Ukraine, one of his aides told Itar-Tass on Monday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed the meeting along the lines of the so-called Normandy format, bringing together Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, with the possible participation of Hollande. But it is uncertain whether Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is prepared to take part. The outbreak of the Ukraine crisis in 2014 eventually prompted France to cancel the delivery to Russia of two Mistral assault ships and repay almost 950 million euros ($1.1 billion). The ships were subsequently sold to Egypt. Bernie Marcus Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus says the leaked tape of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaking crudely about women shouldn't sway voters in the election. "This country is not in good shape 75% of the people agree that it's not in good shape and we see this calamity that is happening overseas with ISIS, all over the Middle East," Marcus told Fox Business in an article published Monday. "And we are talking about what he said 11 years ago? "Come on, get real, Republicans. What is wrong with you? There's something wrong with you." Marcus slammed Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan for withdrawing their support from Trump in the wake of the tape scandal. Ryan said Monday he would no longer campaign for or defend Trump, but he did not rescind his endorsement. Marcus conceded, however, that Trump was not his first, second, or even third choice for president. "He's not articulate," Marcus said. "He's not a smooth politician. He's not a politician he's a businessman." On the other hand, Marcus said, "I'm supporting him because I cannot envision Hillary Clinton in the White House and cannot support what she's going to do to the economy." Marcus said in a previous interview with Fox Business that the US would "go down the drain" if Clinton were elected. Marcus founded Home Depot in 1978, and he was the company's first CEO. He served as chairman of Home Depot's board until retiring in 2002. Watch his interview with Fox Business: NOW WATCH: Why McDonald's Chicken McNuggets come in only 4 shapes More From Business Insider Screen Shot 2016 10 11 at 1.27.33 PM Update: The Antigo Police Department has confirmed that the video is "100% fake." It identified the camera man or producer, actor, and actress in the video and emphasized that the video bears no connection to Kayla Berg's disappearance. Original story: A YouTube video posted to the subreddit "Unsolved Mysteries" is drawing widespread attention as some think it includes footage of Kayla Berg, an Antigo, Wisconsin, native who went missing at age 15 in 2009. The Antigo Police Department is now investigating the video as a potential lead in the seven-year-old case. The Reddit user hammerforce9 started the thread with a post titled "Is this a video of Kayla Berg?" The user then described some key details of the case of the missing teen before linking to an Imgur thread that originally reposted the YouTube video with some screengrabs and analysis. It's unclear whether the Imgur thread catalyzed the investigation. The Antigo Police Department announced on Facebook that it was investigating the video on Monday, about one hour before the Reddit post. The Reddit post linked to the Imgur thread, timestamped one day ago. The YouTube user "Hi Walter! It's me Patrick!" first posted the video, titled "Hi Walter! I got a new gf today!" to YouTube in October 2009 two months after Berg was last seen. It features a man, presumably named Patrick, speaking to his friend, Walter, about a girl he claims to have met that day at the mall. "Hi, Walter. I was at the mall today, and guess what happened?" the man begins in an excited voice. He describes meeting the "most wonderful girl," going shopping with her, and buying her jewelry. "She picked out the most amazing necklace I've ever seen, and I know she wanted me to buy it for her because she kept on looking at me and kept on giving me that look. You know the look," the man continues. He then describes leaving the mall and bringing the girl back to his place. Story continues "I know she hates cameras, Walter, but I'm going to show you her anyway. You ready?" he asks before the video cuts to a shot of the man in what looks like a basement. He walks over to a room in the basement and opens the door, revealing a girl who is bound and on her knees, crying, and making muffled yells. At one point, it sounds as if the girl says, "Why are you doing this?" When the man enters the room and closes the door, the video abruptly ends. The video has since been removed from YouTube for violating its "policy on harassment and bullying." The video generated intense interest on the subreddit it was posted on, as users speculated about the video's authenticity and its potential link to Berg's disappearance. Officers visited a home in Marathon County in search of the man in the video, but they were not able to make contact with the person who lives there, WSAW-TV reports. Numerous users also raised the possibility that the girl in the video was an actress named Sarah Bull. In a YouTube video of her own, Bull said visitors to her YouTube channel harassed her and "bombarded" her with questions about whether she was the girl in the video. "I am not the girl in this video," she said. Berg was last seen in Wausau, Wisconsin, on August 11, 2009, and was reported missing six days later, on August 17. The Antigo Police Department told Business Insider it was investigating the video because of the date it was posted exactly two months after the day Berg was last seen and the girl's resemblance to Berg. It asks that any parties with information pertaining to the investigation call the Antigo Police Department at (715) 627-6411. NOW WATCH: An aspiring cop went undercover in a jail and says inmates have more power than guards More From Business Insider Rent-A-Center Inc. (RCII) saw its shares take a dive early on Tuesday after the company gave a preliminary report on selected third-quarter financial information. Keep in mind that this information is unaudited and potentially subject to change, but at a first glance the data appear to be damning. The company estimates core U.S. same-store sales for the three months ended September 30 to be down roughly 12%, and Acceptance Now same-store sales to be essentially flat. Core U.S. gross profit, as a percentage of total revenue, is estimated to be flat compared to the third quarter of last year as ongoing benefits from the changes made to the companys sourcing model were offset by a third-quarter clearance event focused on previously rented product. ALSO READ: America's Richest (and Poorest) States On the bottom line, earnings per share (EPS) for the third quarter 2016 on both a GAAP basis and excluding special items are expected to be in the range of $0.05 to $0.15. Thomson Reuters consensus estimates call for $0.39 in EPS for the quarter. Robert D. Davis, CEO of Rent-A-Center, commented: Following the implementation of our new point-of-sale system, we experienced system performance issues and outages that resulted in a larger than expected negative impact on Core sales. While we expect it to take several quarters to fully recover from the impact to the Core portfolio, system performance has improved dramatically and we have started to see early indicators of collections improvement. Looking ahead, the company will release its full third quarter financial results on October 26. ALSO READ: 8 Big Stocks Analysts Want You to Sell Now Excluding Tuesdays move, Rent-A-Center has underperformed the broad markets, with the stock down 12% year to date. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is actually down 47%. Shares of Rent-A-Center were down 30% at $9.06, with a consensus analyst price target of $16.33 and a 52-week trading range of $8.00 to $26.26. Related Articles Whether you think Donald Trump won Sundays debate or simply survived by not spontaneously combusting onstage, the suspense has drained from this election. Hillary Clinton will in all likelihood become the 45th president of the United States, and the question I have is what she plans to do with that responsibility. After all, a landslide victory culminating in the same legislative gridlock and on-the-margins executive action does no more for the American people than a nail-biter. And despite the Trump-splosion, Republicans are still likely to control the House, or at least have enough Senate seats to filibuster bills. Democrats can still capitalize on the opportunity the Trump debacle offers, at least on domestic policy. After a jaw-dropping weekend, with the release of a tape of Trump boasting about sexual assault prompting dozens of Republican office-holders to ask their nominee to step aside, the best response would be to force those Trump rejecters to take an actual and not merely rhetorical position on respect for women. Related: There Is No Honor Left in Abandoning Trump Now The rationale most of these GOP politicians gave was ridiculous anyway. First of all, they would have to have been comatose not to see Trump for who he is until last Friday. And there was no need to open their statements with As the parent of a daughter. I dont have kids, but somehow my brain can process unwanted groping as criminal activity. But if Republicans want to make this specifically about women and families, a Clinton administration can spend the next year continuing the conversation to the point of discomfort. There are numerous bills that would compel Republican leaders to choose between their public statements and their votes, and most of them are part of Clintons existing platform. For example, she has called for the repeal of the Hyde amendment, which bans public funding for the legal medical procedure of abortion. Republicans telling women that they deserve dignity doesnt square with denying them the ability to make choices about their own bodies. But the polarization around this issue runs so deep that, while a solid display of hypocrisy, the possibility of conservatives actually relenting is extremely remote. Story continues Other policies hold more hope of a breakthrough, and some are directly tied to Trumps behavior. President Obama just signed a bill called the Sexual Assault Survivors Rights Act, which mandates prompt reporting to rape victims of the results of evidence collection, and the preservation of that evidence. The law passed Congress unanimously. But though weve taken a step forward in how civilian victims of sexual assault are treated, members of the military still dont have basic protections. Related: Paul Ryan Throws in the Towel on Trump The chain of command still decides whether to act on reports of sexual assault, and the majority of women who report cases are retaliated against. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrands Military Justice Improvement Act would put independent prosecutors in charge of whether cases move to trial. For years, Republicans have kept this out of the defense authorization bill, most recently in June. After a high-profile example of how powerful men can evade accountability for sexual predation, the Gillibrand bill should be flung in the face of every Republican claiming to abhor Trumps conduct. The Paycheck Fairness Act is another bill that would exacerbate the tension between Republican words and actions. One of the reasons men exploit power imbalances to prey on women is because they make more money and hold more high-ranking positions. Respect for women is clearly tied to providing equal pay for equal work, and Republicans abandoning Trump to hold onto some shred of support from women should have to answer for that. The policy I think would have the best chance of passing even a Republican Congress in the wake of Trump is paid family leave. We are the only industrialized nation without this, as the recent NPR series Stretched, about working parents, painfully indicates. This is an issue for fathers struggling to help with child-rearing and bond with their offspring as well as mothers; it doesnt map fully onto my if you care about women, prove it strategy. But unlike other policies, both presidential candidates have their own paid family leave bills. And the issue has broad appeal to downscale voters who dont have employers that bestow these benefits upon them; in other words, a key segment of the Republican coalition. A strong push could get this over the line, or at least put Republicans in a terrible position, stuck between voters and corporate interests. Related: With Friends Like Trump, Senate Republicans Dont Need Enemies Moreover, Republicans want to frame their disavowal of Trump through the lens of their own families. But America shows through its policy framework that it doesnt give a damn about families, not enough to even let a woman who has a baby on a Friday get so much as a day off from work the following Monday. And 2017 can offer a moment to force Republicans to come to terms with that. Clinton has some work to do here as well. Her plan guarantees 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a newborn or a sick relative with up to two-thirds of salary. But she funds it through taxing the wealthy, instead of the common way most nations handle this, with a social insurance program. Kirsten Gillibrands FAMILY Act has a near-identical structure to Clintons plan, but funds it with a 0.2 percent payroll tax, giving everyone a stake and protecting the program from perennial changes in tax law. Related: The Most Family-Friendly States The Clinton funding mechanism, given the disparity in our income tax system, makes for a nice talking point. But if you actually want to get something done, you need something durable that Republicans might actually agree to. Trumps plan is half as long, with six weeks of paid leave just for mothers with new children, and gets funded through the unemployment system by eliminating fraud, which is absurd and illogical. But theres at least a basis for negotiations there, backed by a strong message about Republicans needing to prove their pretensions of caring about families. Paid family leave has overwhelming public support, high-level political attention and the potential for real action. All thats missing is for the Republican Party to fulfill the meaning behind their rhetoric. Thats the way to salvage anything meaningful out of this horror show of an election. If by the end we value women and families a little bit more, maybe itll have even been worth it. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: We issued an updated research report on machinery company Rexnord Corporation RXN on Oct 7, 2016. The company engages in manufacturing and supplying process & motion control and water management products worldwide. Rexnord Corporation has strong fundamentals, supporting growth. However, exposure to risks has restricted its growth momentum in the near term. Below we briefly discuss the companys tailwinds and headwinds. We believe that Rexnords end-market diversification has a boon for it over time. The company supplies its products to a vast clientele in various industries, including mining, food & beverage, aerospace, non-residential construction and global water infrastructure. In the years ahead, accelerated demand from the non-residential construction, aerospace, and food and beverage end markets of the U.S. will boost the companys growth prospects. Also, Rexnord prefers improving profitability by disposing non-core assets and acquisition of meaningful businesses. In first-quarter fiscal 2017 (ended Jun 30, 2016), the company exited its non-strategic RHF product line for the best interests of its shareholders while acquiring Cambridge International Holdings Corporation. Acquired assets in the quarter contributed nearly 1% to revenue growth. Driven by such positives, Rexnord targets mid-single digit core growth, a 30% incremental profit margin and free cash flow in excess of net income in the long run. Also, adjusted EBITDA incremental margin is expected to be within 3035% and 2025% for the Process & Motion Control and Water Management segments, respectively. However, we believe the positive impacts of the above-mentioned tailwinds are offset by adverse impacts of headwinds faced by Rexnord Corporation. International expansion has exposed the company to risks arising from foreign currency translations and other geopolitical issues. Also, global uncertainties lay an impact on the construction, general industrial, mining and aerospace markets, among others. Any downturns in one or more of these markets could produce an adverse material impact on Rexnords businesses. Moreover, Rexnord faces risks from stiff competition from both larger and smaller companies that offer the same or similar products and services, or those producing different items suited to the same use. The company faces competition from EnerSys ENS, Schneider Electric SE SBGSY and AO Smith Corp. AOS. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SMITH (AO) CORP (AOS): Free Stock Analysis Report SCHNEIDER ELECT (SBGSY): Free Stock Analysis Report ENERSYS INC (ENS): Free Stock Analysis Report REXNORD CORP (RXN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research In the wake of Uri attacks and IMPPA temporarily banning the Pak artistes, here we have Raees producer Ritesh Sidhwani quashing the rumours about the movie being rescheduled. Setting the records straight Ritesh said, We are sticking to the release date we announced earlier for Raees. I dont think something like a ban has happened. The association has itself written to the government that people who have already made their films, who have completed their shooting, we should respect that. Let those movies release and whatever the government decides in the future, they will take a call on that, he added. Recommended Read: Raees in trouble again! SRK and Mahira left to shoot certain portions of the film Ritesh reserved his comments on the Pak actors ban and asserted, I dont want to comment on that (Pakistani actors ban). It is very sensitive. Right now everything is very heated, I dont think it is the right moment to talk about it. Meanwhile, MNS has rejected IMPPAs appeal to let Raees and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil release peacefully and is in no mood to relent. Just a couple of days after his video message about wanting to punch Donald Trump in the face went viral, providing a brief distraction from the Access Hollywood leaked video recordings, Robert De Niro has verbally attacked the Republican nominee once more. Speaking in Dubai over the weekend to promote financial opportunities in the Caribbean, where he reportedly has multimillion-dollar investments in resorts in Antigua and Barbuda, the actor was - naturally - asked about his comments regarding Trump, reiterating that he would "love to punch him in the face" to loud applause. "This guy does not have a clue about what goes on in the rest of the world no matter what he says," he added, according to The National newspaper. "It's disgraceful this guy was allowed to get as far he has. I don't understand how people could be seduced into thinking this guy has an answer. He has no answer." De Niro also responded to remarks made by Jon Voight, who had used social media to blast De Niro for the "foul words" he had used in the video. "Voight is a nice guy," said De Niro. "But he's delusional." Read more: Robert De Niro on His Connection to the Malaysian Corruption Scandal: "I Don't Give a Shit" Nearly two years after Rolling Stone was greeted with condemnation for its since-retracted article about a brutal rape at the University of Virginia, the publication is bracing for a defamation trial set to begin Monday. Tensions are running high for the parties involved in UVA dean Nicole Eramo's lawsuit, and now, the publication's lawyers are worried they won't get a fair trial because ABC's 20/20 will be featuring the case and an interview with Eramo on Friday. On Monday, Rolling Stone told a Virginia federal judge in an emergency motion that Eramo's side "intentionally leaked copies of video depositions," including one showing Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the author of the controversial rape story, crying during pretrial testimony. ABC is promoting the episode in a trailer that states, "Now, for the first time, those at the center of the scandal, speak." "[U]ndoubtedly, many citizens in the Charlottesville Division will watch this sensationalized television broadcast about the University located in their backyard, or will access the program online," states W. David Paxton, attorney for Rolling Stone in court papers. "In the aftermath, seating an impartial jury in Charlottesville will be difficult, if not impossible." Rolling Stone is now demanding that Eramo be held in contempt and that she not be able to use any deposition testimony at trial. The publication has asked ABC to refrain from using the video recordings, but if the show airs as scheduled, Rolling Stone is also asking the judge to transfer the case to another district and postpone the trial. The development marks the latest twist in a case that's received close attention and has millions of dollars on the line. Eramo is suing over an article that presented the brutal rape of a freshman, identified as "Jackie." The story described how Jackie was invited to a date party at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, where she was led to a pitch-black room upstairs, tackled through a glass table, punched in the face and gang-raped for three hours by seven men. Story continues According to Eramo, she's been cast as the "chief villain" of the story for purported efforts to persuade Jackie not to report the rape. The Dean asserts that her reputation has been tarnished by an article that triggered an investigation by the Columbia Journalism School before it was retracted four months after being published in November 2014. At trial, Rolling Stone will be looking to defend itself by asking the jury to interpret some of the article's statements, including that Eramo "silenced" Jackie or "discouraged" her from reporting her gang rape to the police, as either opinion or exaggerated rhetoric, based on a reading of UVA's sexual assault policies, and not susceptible to a defamatory meaning. On summary judgment, U.S. District Court judge Glen Conrad decided that the statements could reasonably be interpreted to assert factual connotations regarding Eramo, though held back in deeming the statements to be defamatory per se. Among other things, Eramo will still need to show that the statements in question, including ones directed at the administration at large, were "of and concerning" her and that she was damaged. Additionally, Conrad has found Eramo to be a limited-purpose public figure, meaning she will have to prove the magazine acted with actual malice to prevail on her defamation claims. Rolling Stone has argued Eramo will be unsuccessful in showing the publication believed the challenged statements in the article to be . "To the contrary, the undisputed evidence shows that Defendants firmly believed - and still believe today - that the Article's reporting on Eramo and UVA's handling of sexual assault reports is accurate and well-substantiated," stated a summary judgment motion. Conrad will let a jury decide and believes there's enough of a possibility for Eramo to clear the actual malice hurdle. In allowing the case to get to trial, he pointed to potential evidence possibly showing a jury that Sabrina Rubin Erdley had a preconceived storyline and may have consciously disregarded contradictory evidence; evidence suggesting that Erdley should have further investigated Jackie's allegations; evidence suggesting that Erdley had reasons to doubt Jackie's credibility; that at least three individuals advised the writer that her portrayal of Eramo was inaccurate; that deposition testimony could lead a jury to believe Erdley harbored ill will for Eramo or intended to injure the administration; and finally, evidence about the events between the publication and Rolling Stone's apology in an editor's note a couple weeks later. But will the trial really take place next week? Rolling Stone is demanding sanctions and a postponement over an alleged release of confidential deposition testimony to 20/20, but Eramo's lawyer, Elizabeth Locke, denies any violation of the secrecy imposed on the case. "There is no 'Emergency,' " she writes. "Defendants' Motion rests entirely on speculation, a misconstruction of the relevant law, and an erroneous and tortured reading of the Court's Protective Order." Specifically, Eramo's attorney doesn't believe there's any automatic restriction on the disclosure of videotapes of depositions, and that the videos only express transcripts already part of the public record. That's not good enough for Rolling Stone, which is worried about the tainting of a jury that has yet to be seated. "There is a vast difference between the public release of deposition transcripts and video testimony," the publication tells the judge. "The latter - due to the nature of the video medium - engenders a much greater risk of abuse, harm, and embarrassment. This is already evident here, as ABC chose for its promotional trailer a public display of Erdely at her most vulnerable moment." After Brexit shocked the world, Europeans eagerly are anticipating (some might say fearing) the outcome of November's U.S. presidential election. In Italy, where interest in all things American always is sky-high, the Trump vs. Hillary debate is reaching fever pitch. "America is always the center of conversation in Italy. Everyone's concerned with who is going to win," says Antonio Monda, the Rome-born, New York-based artistic director of the Rome Film Festival. As a result, Monda will put the U.S. election front and center at this year's festival. In addition to a retrospective of films centered on American politics, Oliver Stone will share his thoughts on the election when he sits down for a Q&A with Monda before a screening of his latest politically charged drama, Snowden. It might seem odd to focus a large portion of a European festival on an American election, but for Monda the choice was obvious. "It's a no-brainer - it would be silly on my side [not to]," says the 53-year-old, also an NYU film professor and a writer who is well-regarded within New York arts circles for hosting lively salons at his Manhattan apartment. The doc Fire at Sea examines Europe's migrant crisis. The main festival lineup offers 40 films, many dealing with political topics and American history. In addition to the Stone talk, Monda expects politics to pop up in public Q&As during the 11-day event. Several of this year's honorees hold well-known political views, including ardent Clinton supporter Meryl Streep and noted conservative David Mamet. Other guests include Tom Hanks, who will receive the fest's lifetime achievement award, Hugh Grant, Bernardo Bertolucci, Viggo Mortensen and the always-outspoken Vanessa Redgrave. Monda hopes the retrospective, which will feature 18 films about U.S. politics - including Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog (co-written by Mamet), Warren Beatty's 1998 comedy Bulworth and 1972's prescient Robert Redford starrer The Candidate - will give attendees a fresh perspective on current events. "I'm hoping that through these films people can see what is new and what is not so new about American politics," says Monda. Story continues Redford in the 1972 political drama The Candidate. The festival also will include a retrospective of films about immigration, such as Elia Kazan's 1963 autobiographical pic America America and Gianfranco Rosi's doc Fire at Sea, winner of this year's Golden Bear in Berlin. They will screen at a school where 70 percent of students hail from outside Italy. For those expecting a festival of Trump bashing, Monda anticipates a far more balanced discussion. "I'm happy that I have Oliver talking about [politics] three weeks before the election. I'm sure it will be a heated conversation," he says, adding, "Although I read he cannot stand Hillary as well." This story first appeared in the Oct. 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. Read more: Rome Film Festival: 3 Filmmakers on Where to Eat While in Town By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday that an arms embargo should not be placed on South Sudan despite U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon reporting that the government has done little to allow more peacekeepers to be deployed and to improve access for U.N. troops already there. President Salva Kiir agreed during a U.N. Security Council visit to South Sudan last month to accept 4,000 extra peacekeepers and to allow some 12,000 peacekeepers already on the ground to move around freely in order to protect civilians. In an August resolution, after heavy fighting in July in the capital, Juba, the 15-member council had threatened to consider a possible arms embargo within five days of a report by Ban that Kiir's government was not fulfilling both measures. Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Petr Iliichev said that an assessment report from Ban to the council on Monday said that "South Sudan was not impeding or increasing difficulties, so it's a very neutral letter." "Our opposition (to an arms embargo) doesn't change. Yesterday we were discussing Central African Republic, where an arms embargo is in place but the country is just inundated with weapons," he said. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said he would discuss the situation with council colleagues to decide whether or not to push for discussion of a resolution to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan, the world's newest nation. "If we find that there isn't that full cooperation then yes it'll definitely be time to look again at the arms embargo," Rycroft told reporters. U.S. Deputy Ambassador David Pressman told reporters he expected there would be a "robust discussion." The council is due to discuss the situation in South Sudan next Monday. In Ban's letter to the council, seen by Reuters, he said "it will take some time to evaluate whether these commitments (by South Sudan) translate into improved freedom of movement on the ground or amount to business as usual." Ban has previously urged the council to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan. Political rivalry between Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer, led to civil war in 2013 that has often followed ethnic lines. The pair signed a shaky peace deal a year ago, but fighting has continued and Machar fled the country after the July violence. He is now in Khartoum. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool) LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson warned Russia on Tuesday it risked becoming a pariah nation if it continued to bomb civilian sites in Syria and urged protesters to demonstrate outside the Russian embassy against its alleged war crimes. Western nations on the United Nations Security Council are taking a tougher line against Russia amid growing anger over a Russian-backed Syrian government onslaught against rebel-held areas of the city of Aleppo. "If Russia continues on its current path then I think that great country is in danger of becoming a pariah nation," Johnson told parliament, calling on anti-war protest groups to demonstrate outside the Russian embassy. "I'd certainly like to see demonstrations outside the Russian embassy," he said, calling on anti-war groups such as the Stop the War coalition, which is backed by the leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn. Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm, a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. President Bashar al-Assad seeks the complete recapture of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the 5-1/2-year war, and which has been divided between government and opposition control for years. Johnson also said the West should do more to put pressure on Russia, which has helped the Syrian government gain the upper hand against rebels on many frontlines in the conflict. He blamed Russia for an attack on an aid convoy in Syria last month. "We've got to make sure we have innovative ways of getting aid into Aleppo, and as several members have said, we have to step up the pressure on Assad's regime through sanctions and on the Russians through sanctions," he said. (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Helen Reid; editing by Elisabeth O'Leary and Dominic Evans) Istanbul (AFP) - Russia on Tuesday said its oil majors were ready to back moves by the government to curb oil production in coordination with OPEC to push up pressured oil prices. A day after President Vladimir Putin propelled oil prices higher by saying Moscow could join OPEC by freezing or cutting production, Energy Minister Alexander Novak confirmed that Russia was ready to take part in the process of "rebalancing" prices. But speaking at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, Novak emphasised that Russian companies, who include state-controlled oil giant Rosneft, were prepared to be included in such moves. "We have discussed this situation with our companies... And I repeat again that our companies have expressed readiness to take part in joint actions on the oil market." "We will continue this work with our companies," he said, noting that while Russia has some 200 oil companies, 10 prominent players account for 90 percent of production. Putin's declarations on Monday, also at the Istanbul forum, gave oil markets a boost with the prospect of tighter coordination between the top non-OPEC oil producer Russia and the cartel. Novak is expected on Wednesday to hold talks in Istanbul with some OPEC members. OPEC had last month in Algiers agreed its first production cut in eight years to bolster prices. "I think that very soon we can join decisions taken by OPEC," said Novak, echoing Putin's comments. "It is important for the producers and consumers." He said that OPEC and non-OPEC members could take actions to stabilise the situation on the oil markets "without touching the fundamental market principles". "It is a shared task," he said, praising participants for showing "sense and flexibility". The secretary general of OPEC Mohammed Barkindo, described the Algiers agreement as a "turning point" and hailed the greater coordination with non-cartel members like Russia. Story continues "We have restored the broad consensus among all producers," he said. Following the mismatch of supply and demand that drove up prices, he said there was an "overhang" of high stock inventories "rising to levels we have never seen before." "In order to restore stability we need to -- with our non-OPEC friends - to address the issue of this overhang." "Until we address this, we will not achieve the fair (oil) price." By Olesya Astakhova and Nick Tattersall ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey and Russia signed an agreement on Monday for the construction of a major undersea gas pipeline and vowed to seek common ground on the war in Syria, accelerating a normalization in ties nearly a year after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan hosted Russia's Vladimir Putin at an Ottoman-era villa in Istanbul for talks which touched on energy deals, trade and tourism ties, defense and the conflict in Syria, where the two leaders back opposing sides. "Today has been a full day with President Putin of discussing Russia-Turkish relations ... I have full confidence that the normalization of Turkish-Russian ties will continue at a fast pace," Erdogan told a joint news conference. The warming relations between NATO member Turkey and Russia comes as both countries are dealing with troubled economies and strained ties with the West. Putin said Moscow had decided to lift a ban on some food products from Turkey, imposed after the Turks shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border last November, and that both leaders had agreed to work toward the full-scale normalization of bilateral ties. They signed a deal on the TurkStream undersea gas pipeline, which will allow Moscow to strengthen its position in the European gas market and cut energy supplies via Ukraine, the main route for Russian energy into Europe. The plan for TurkStream emerged after Russia dropped plans to build the South Stream pipeline to Bulgaria due to opposition from the European Union, which is trying to reduce its dependence on Russian gas. Erdogan also said plans for a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Turkey would be accelerated. Time lost on the Akkuyu project because of strained relations would be made up, he said. In 2013, Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom won a $20 billion contract to build four reactors in what was to become Turkey's first nuclear plant, but construction was halted after the downing of the Russian jet. DEEP DIVISIONS ON SYRIA Putin received Erdogan in a Tsarist-era palace outside his home city of St Petersburg in August, when the two leaders, both powerful figures ill-disposed to dissent, announced plans for an acceleration in trade and energy ties. But progress on Syria, over which they remain deeply divided, has been more problematic. Erdogan described the topic as "very sensitive", but said he had discussed Turkey's military operations in Syria with Putin on Monday. Both men said they had agreed on the importance of delivering aid to the city of Aleppo, whose opposition-held eastern sector has been encircled by Russian-backed Syrian forces for all but a short period since July. "We have a common position that everything must be done to deliver humanitarian aid to Aleppo. The only issue is ... ensuring the safety of aid delivery," Putin said, adding he had agreed with Erdogan to intensify military contacts. Russia has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with a year-long air campaign against the rebels fighting him. Turkey backs the rebels and wants to see Assad out of power. On Saturday, Russia vetoed a French-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution that would have demanded an end to air strikes and military flights over Aleppo. A rival Russian draft text failed to get a minimum nine votes in favor. Erdogan said there would be further talks with Russia over the conflict in Syria. But there was little sign of any concrete progress toward reconciling their differences. "We discussed ... how we can cooperate on this matter, especially on humanitarian aid to Aleppo, what strategy can we implement so people in Aleppo can find peace," Erdogan said. "We will come together with our foreign ministries and top military leaders and intelligence officers." (Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Anna Willard) PARIS (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to come to Paris next week to discuss the tough issues, his country's ambassador to France said on Tuesday as relations between the two countries deteriorate over the Syrian war. French officials are grappling for ways to put new pressure on Russia after Moscow vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria. Their growing anger at events in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo have led them to reconsider whether to host Putin on Oct. 19. "Of course he still wants to come to Paris," Alexander Orlov told Europe 1 radio. "I think dialogue needs to continue and we are here to talk especially in difficult moments. "You're elected president precisely to find solutions to difficult problems. Vladimir Putin will come to discuss the subjects that cause anger." President Francois Hollande said at the weekend he was unsure whether it was useful or necessary to see Putin. The Russian leader was scheduled to come to Paris to inaugurate a new Russian Orthodox cathedral and visit a Russian art exhibition in the French capital. Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Monday there would be no point meeting Putin just for pleasantries, although he indicated the two leaders may meet in Berlin on the same day for a summit to discuss the crisis in Ukraine. (Reporting By John Irish; Editing by Leigh Thomas) BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm, a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Air strikes mostly hit the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, Zakaria Malhifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group told Reuters. "There is renewed bombardment and it is heavy," he said. The Observatory said the death toll from bombing in Bustan al-Qasr, Fardous and other neighborhoods rose to at least 25, with scores of wounded. At least 50 civilians were killed by strikes on the rebel-held part of the city and nearby villages controlled by insurgents, residents and rescue workers said. In Bustan al Qasr, residents said, the strikes hit a medical center and a children's playground. The Syrian army, backed by Iranian-backed militias, also said it had consolidated its control of the al Jandoul traffic circle at a major road intersection on the northern outskirts of Aleppo. Moscow and Damascus reduced air raids in the northern city last week. The Syrian army said that was partly to allow civilians to leave opposition-held eastern neighborhoods. The Syrian government said rebels holed up in Aleppo can leave with their families if they lay down their arms. Insurgents denounced that offer as a deception. President Bashar al-Assad seeks the complete recapture of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the 5 1/2-year war, which has been divided between government and opposition control for years. Assad's Russian allies have meanwhile built up its forces in Syria after a brief ceasefire collapsed last month. Since Russia intervened in the war a year ago, the government's side has gained the upper hand on numerous fronts, including Aleppo, where the opposition-held sector has been completely encircled for weeks. Insurgents have advanced elsewhere, including in Hama province further south, where they captured a series of towns and villages last month. But in recent days government forces have regained some of that ground. In the southern city of Deraa, which is split between government and rebel control, insurgent shelling of a school killed at least five people, including children, on Tuesday, the Observatory and state media reported. Rebels denied they fired at the school. Residents reported the same death toll. Near the Turkish border, rebels backed by Turkey and a U.S.-led coalition closed in on the Islamic State-held village of Dabiq, the site of an apocalyptic prophesy central to the militant group's ideology. Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel groups have been pushing south into Islamic State's territory in an operation backed by Turkey since Aug. 24, and have taken more villages near Dabiq in recent days. But hundreds of mines planted by the militants were delaying their progress, rebels said. The militants even retook the villages of Ihtimlat and Kafra only hours after the FSA fighters seized them, rebels said. "They planted along their front lines of defense hundreds of mines," a rebel from the Failaq al Sham group said. Now the goal of FSA forces was to retake the town of Soran, an Islamic State stronghold in the area, before moving on to Dabiq, he said. (Reporting by John Davison and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; Editing by Larry King) Ryan Reynolds honored a late friend over the weekend, on what would have been his 14th birthday. Connor McGrath, a Deadpool fan from Canada, died in April after a three-year bout with cancer, but not before winning over Reynolds, who starred as the "merc with a mouth" in February's Deadpool standalone film. WATCH: Ryan Reynolds Supports Cancer Patient With Sweetest Facebook Message "My friend Connor McGrath would have been 14 years old tomorrow," Reynolds wrote Saturday on Instagram. "He isn't here now, but he stuck around long enough to make everyone he knew fall over laughing. Right up to the very end he was as quick with a joke as he was with a hug. "@makeawishamerica brought us together and nothing -- not even a cowardly, f**kfaced thing called cancer can take that away," he continued. "Sending his amazing parents, Kim and Gerald McGrath crisp high fives and bear-hugs of love. Anything you do to support your local Make-A-Wish Foundation is alright with me." While McGrath was undergoing cancer treatment at an Alberta hospital in January, Reynolds, who hails from Vancouver, personally screened the movie with him. "Of course, the Deadpool was right up his alley, because Connor's the funniest, potty-mouthed Canadian mercenary I've ever met," Reynolds posted to Facebook in February. "We met because he loved Deadpool. In a certain sense he WAS Deadpool. Or at least everything Deadpool aspires to be; balancing pain, fearlessness, love and a filthy (filthy!) sense of humor in one body. I wish he could've stuck around a lot longer." Story continues WATCH: Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool Makeup Made His Baby Daughter Cry Reynolds isn't the first Marvel superhero to bring some in-person joy to kids battling cancer. Last year Chris Pratt and Chris Evans teamed up to visit children in treatment for cancer near Boston, Massachusetts. Watch the video below for more. Related Articles By Greg Roumeliotis and Liana B. Baker (Reuters) - Salesforce.com Inc is still deliberating whether it should make an offer for Twitter Inc in the face of resistance from Salesforce shareholders over the strategic merits and valuation of such a deal, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Twitter shares have lost as much as a third of their value since Oct. 5 on concerns the company has attracted less interest from potential acquirers than previously envisaged. It now has a market capitalization of $12 billion. Salesforce is deliberating whether it is worth making a lowball offer for Twitter in the coming days based on Twitter's stock performance and any news of other bidders, the people said. Other potential acquirers such as Alphabet Inc's Google and Walt Disney Co have backed away from making offers for the Internet company, the people said. There may however be other companies contemplating offers for Twitter whose identity has not yet been reported, some of the sources suggested. The sources asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. Salesforce declined to comment while Twitter, Google and Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters previously reported that Twitter aimed to conclude deliberations about selling itself by Oct. 27, when it reports its third-quarter earnings. Salesforce.com, run by CEO Marc Benioff, is focused on cloud-based sales and marketing software. Unlike Twitter, its main product is aimed at business users, not consumers. Under Salesforce.com, Twitter could become a corporate tool used to power sentiment analysis and nurture customer relationships. A potential acquisition of Twitter has weighed down Salesforce's stock since news broke on Sept. 23 that it was vying for Twitter. Its shares rose as much as 7 percent on Monday after a weekend report by Bloomberg News suggested Salesforce was unlikely to make an offer. Some analysts and investors have questioned why Salesforce would need to own Twitter, when it already licenses the Twitter "firehose" for its new artificial intelligence platform, Einstein. At Salesforce's annual client conference last week, Benioff said Salesforce considers buying many companies but maintains discipline, and wished Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey "well." These comments tamped out expectations that Salesforce would be an aggressive bidder for Twitter. Since its founding a decade ago, Twitter has struggled to generate revenue growth and profit, despite having some 313 million average monthly active users and a growing presence as a source of news. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York and Liana B. Baker in San Francisco; Editing by David Gregorio) The leaked audio of Donald Trump's lewd conversation on the Access Hollywood bus and Sunday night's debate were hot topics of discussion on Monday's late-night shows. Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers all weighed in on Trump's vulgar 2005 comments and his debate performance. Bee called Trump and then Access Hollywood host Billy Bush, "two leering dildos" having a disgusting conversation on "an adolescent boner bus." She said that while some "normal men" may be shocked by Trump's words, every woman she knows has "had some entitled testosterone monster grab her like a human bowling ball." The Full Frontal host did have one commendation for Trump, though. "Take a Tic Tac and grab them by the pussy is the closest thing to a plan Donald Trump has described this entire election," she said. Bee added that the way Trump shrugged off his comments as unimportant made sense when you considered who he had in his corner - "Roger Ailes of the esteemed PR firm Ailes Cosby Polanski and Gibson," she joked, flashing a photo of a billboard advertising the services of a company headed by Ailes, Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski and Mel Gibson. Moving on to the GOP response to Trump's bus comments, Bee put together a montage of Republicans talking about the women they're related to. "Trump's comments are not wrong because you have female relatives," said Bee. "Trump's comments were wrong because women are human." She continued, "If you hadn't stood cravenly by while he insulted them for a year, you wouldn't be in the pile of elephant shit you are today." Read more: John Oliver on Trump Tape: GOP Nominee Is a "Py-Grabbing Warthog in a Red Power Tie" Trump's debate performance was Bee's next target. She talked about the press conference he had with Bill Clinton's sexual assault accusers and asked why Bill Clinton and Trump can't be locked in a closet to "let them grope each other to death." Story continues She mocked Trump for stalking Hillary Clinton around the debate stage, threatening to jail Clinton and "fornicating with a chair." She joked, "When you're a star, the chairs let you do it." And she fired back at Trump's "locker room talk" defense for what he said on the Access Hollywood bus, telling him, "You weren't in a locker room, you sleazy pair of sweatsocks, you were at work." Trevor Noah used his own biting humor to take on Trump's comments. He said he'd never heard the phrase "grab them by the pussy" in his life, and joked that "maybe it's a tiny hands thing" and Trump needed something to grab on to "like a baby holding a grapefruit." "Trump's scandals right now are like when the first black guy joined white sports," said the Daily Show host. "People were like, 'I had no idea that was possible.' " Like Bee, Noah pointed out that Republicans who were finally taking offense to Trump were doing so by listing their female family members. "The Trump tape shouldn't offend you on behalf of women, it should offend you as a human being," said Noah. He joked about what kind of locker rooms Ben Carson has been in, since Carson defended Trump's comments, and said that Trump supporters like Carson are "conflating sex talk and sexual assault talk." At around the eight-minute mark, Noah talks about the difference between speaking crudely and speaking about an illegal act. "If you conduct locker room talk everywhere, it's not the locker room, it's you, motherf---er!" he shouted at Trump. Noah also talked about how Trump continues to remind him of an African dictator, something the Daily Show host first brought up a year ago. "Jailing your opponent is straight out of the African dictator playbook," he said in reference to one of the times Trump lashed out at Clinton during the debate. He marveled at the Muslim woman at the debate town hall, saying that a Muslim still being undecided about whether to vote Trump or Clinton is "like a stoner having trouble deciding between ordering a pizza or calling the cops." Noah also joked that he understood why Clinton didn't want to shake Trump's hand at the beginning of the event. "In Hillary's defense, I guess she didn't want to touch his hand after hearing what he does with it." Read more: Watch Nancy O'Dell Address Trump Tape on 'Entertainment Tonight': "I Didn't Ask to Be a Part" of This Seth Meyers referred to Donald Trump as the "pervert on the bus" in his "Closer Look" segment about Trump's weekend. The NBC late-night host also talked about Billy Bush being suspended from Today, saying there's "currently a higher standard for host of the third hour of the Today show than there is for Republican nominee for president." Meyers said that Trump's comments are "not the way men in locker rooms talk" and then mocked the way he "lurked behind Hillary Clinton" at the debate, calling it Trump's "locker room walk." "Trump finally revealed his inner dictator," said Meyers, echoing Noah's sentiments about Trump's threat to jail Clinton. Read more: Tapes or No Tapes, 'The Apprentice' Alums Recall Donald Trump's Sexist and Racist Behavior SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS> is considering permanently halting sales of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones as an option after fresh reports of fires in the premium devices, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The person, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said Samsung had not yet made a final decision. Samsung did not immediately comment on whether it is considering ending Note 7 sales for good. (Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates) * Says ending all sales, production of Note 7 * Samsung had asked all global partners to stop sales, exchanges * Firm, regulators say users should stop using all Note 7s * Investors wipe $18.8 bln off Samsung market cap (Adds analyst comment, sales data, likely beneficiaries) By Se Young Lee SEOUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd scrapped its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone on Tuesday less than two months after its launch, dealing a huge blow to its reputation and outlook after failing to resolve safety concerns. Samsung announced the recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in early September following numerous reports of the phones catching fire and on Tuesday it finally pulled the plug on the $882 device in what could be one of the costliest product safety failures in tech history. The decision to scrap the Note 7 came after fresh reports of fires in replacement devices prompted new warnings from regulators, phone carriers and airlines. "(We) have decided to halt production and sales of the Galaxy Note 7 in order to consider our consumers' safety first and foremost," the South Korean firm said in a filing to the Seoul stock exchange. Samsung said earlier it asked all global carriers to stop sales of the Note 7s and the exchange of original devices for replacements, while it worked with regulators to investigate the problem. The company is offering to exchange Note 7s for other products or refund them. Samsung's decision to pull Note 7s off the shelves not only raises fresh doubts about the firm's quality control but could result in huge financial and reputational costs. Analysts say a permanent end to Note 7 sales could cost Samsung up to $17 billion and tarnish its other phone products in the minds of consumers and carriers. Investors wiped nearly $20 billion off Samsung Electronics' market value on Tuesday as its shares closed down 8 percent, their biggest daily percentage decline since 2008. "This is the first time that I have seen a product recall go this badly wrong," financial analyst Richard Windsor said in a note to clients. "When it comes to the damage that it will do to Samsung's brand, we are in uncharted territory". Story continues The premium device, launched in August, was supposed to compete with Apple Inc's latest iPhone for supremacy in the smartphone market. Well received by critics, its first problem was a shortage as pre-orders overwhelmed supply. But within days of the launch images of charred Note 7s began appearing on social media, in the first sign that something was seriously amiss with the gadget. FILLING THE VOID Samsung, the world's top maker of smartphones had nearly twice the global market share of Apple at mid-year, having shipped 77.6 million phones in the second quarter alone, said Neil Mawston, an analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics. The South Korean company was counting on the Note 7 to replace its previous flagship model, the Note 5, which had sold around 15 million units over the four quarters ended in June, according to Strategy Analytics data. Instead, Samsung will be forced to count on existing models such as its Galaxy S7 edge, which has a slightly smaller screen but is also slightly less expensive. The void left by the demise of Samsung's flagship phone leaves the door open to rivals like Apple, which last month introduced its latest iPhone 7 line and Google, which is set to launch its new Pixel phone later this month. However, the most likely beneficiaries are other high-volume Asia-based makers of premium-priced phones based on Google's Android operating system, Mawston said. "The gap is likely to be filled by rivals including Apple and Google Pixel, although probably Oppo, Vivo, LG Electronics and Sony stand to benefit the most," Mawston said. Oppo and Vivo are distinct smartphone brands owned by privately held Chinese electronics giant BBK Electronic corp., while the other rivals are classic global rivals of Samsung. CAUSE UNKNOWN The South Korean firm did not comment on whether it had identified the cause of the fires in the replacement devices, although officials in Seoul said it was looking at several possibilities including the batteries. "It is more difficult to analyse the cause of the accidents this time because of various patterns of the accidents," an official with the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, which met with Samsung and experts on Monday, told Reuters. China's quality watchdog said Samsung would recall all 190,984 Note 7s sold in the mainland. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Samsung was making the right decision by halting sales and exchanges of the device. "No one should have to be concerned their phone will endanger them, their family or their property," CPSC Chairman Elliott Kaye said in a statement. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and South Korea's transport ministry added their voices to concerns from the aviation industry, saying no Note 7s should be used or charged inside airplanes. Verizon Communications Inc, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, said it may shift marketing away from the Note 7 heading into the critical holiday selling season. "We have the new iPhone, we're about to launch the new Google Pixel, which is exclusive to us. We've got great phones from Motorola as well," Verizon spokeswoman Kelly Crummey said. "I think you'll see our marketing focused on those devices because there is certainty on those at this time." ($1 = 1,114.7500 won) (Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in Frankfurt, Deborah Todd in New York, Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Miyoung Kim, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Alexandra Hudson) By Se Young Lee SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd scrapped its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone on Tuesday less than two months after its launch, dealing a huge blow to its reputation and outlook after failing to resolve safety concerns. Samsung announced the recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in early September following numerous reports of the phones catching fire and on Tuesday it finally pulled the plug on the $882 device in what could be one of the costliest product safety failures in tech history. The decision to scrap the Note 7 came after fresh reports of fires in replacement devices prompted new warnings from regulators, phone carriers and airlines. "(We) have decided to halt production and sales of the Galaxy Note 7 in order to consider our consumers' safety first and foremost," the South Korean firm said in a filing to the Seoul stock exchange. Samsung said earlier it asked all global carriers to stop sales of the Note 7s and the exchange of original devices for replacements, while it worked with regulators to investigate the problem. The company is offering to exchange Note 7s for other products or refund them. Samsung's decision to pull Note 7s off the shelves not only raises fresh doubts about the firm's quality control but could result in huge financial and reputational costs. Analysts say a permanent end to Note 7 sales could cost Samsung up to $17 billion and tarnish its other phone products in the minds of consumers and carriers. Investors wiped nearly $20 billion (16.25 billion) off Samsung Electronics' market value on Tuesday as its shares closed down 8 percent, their biggest daily percentage decline since 2008. "This is the first time that I have seen a product recall go this badly wrong," financial analyst Richard Windsor said in a note to clients. When it comes to the damage that it will do to Samsungs brand, we are in uncharted territory. The premium device, launched in August, was supposed to compete with Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) latest iPhone for supremacy in the smartphone market. Well received by critics, its first problem was a shortage as pre-orders overwhelmed supply. Story continues But within days of the launch images of charred Note 7s began appearing on social media, in the first sign that something was seriously amiss with the gadget. FILLING THE VOID Samsung, the world's top maker of smartphones had nearly twice the global market share of Apple at mid-year, having shipped 77.6 million phones in the second quarter alone, said Neil Mawston, an analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics. The South Korean company was counting on the Note 7 to replace its previous flagship model, the Note 5, which had sold around 15 million units over the four quarters ended in June, according to Strategy Analytics data. Instead, Samsung will be forced to count on existing models such as its Galaxy S7 edge, which has a slightly smaller screen but is also slightly less expensive. The void left by the demise of Samsung's flagship phone leaves the door open to rivals like Apple, which last month introduced its latest iPhone 7 line and Google (GOOGL.O), which is set to launch its new Pixel phone later this month. However, the most likely beneficiaries are other high-volume Asia-based makers of premium-priced phones based on Google's Android operating system, Mawston said. "The gap is likely to be filled by rivals including Apple and Google Pixel, although probably Oppo, Vivo, LG Electronics and Sony stand to benefit the most," Mawston said. Oppo and Vivo are distinct smartphone brands owned by privately held Chinese electronics giant BBK Electronic corp., while the other rivals are classic global rivals of Samsung. CAUSE UNKNOWN The South Korean firm did not comment on whether it had identified the cause of the fires in the replacement devices, although officials in Seoul said it was looking at several possibilities including the batteries. "It is more difficult to analyse the cause of the accidents this time because of various patterns of the accidents," an official with the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, which met with Samsung and experts on Monday, told Reuters. China's quality watchdog said Samsung would recall all 190,984 Note 7s sold in the mainland. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Samsung was making the right decision by halting sales and exchanges of the device. "No one should have to be concerned their phone will endanger them, their family or their property," CPSC Chairman Elliott Kaye said in a statement. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and South Korea's transport ministry added their voices to concerns from the aviation industry, saying no Note 7s should be used or charged inside airplanes. Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), the largest U.S. wireless carrier, said it may shift marketing away from the Note 7 heading into the critical holiday selling season. "We have the new iPhone, were about to launch the new Google Pixel, which is exclusive to us. Weve got great phones from Motorola as well," Verizon spokeswoman Kelly Crummey said. "I think youll see our marketing focused on those devices because there is certainty on those at this time." ($1 = 1,114.7500 won) (Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in Frankfurt, Deborah Todd in New York, Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Miyoung Kim, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Alexandra Hudson) Samsung on Monday evening announced that it has halted sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone worldwide. In a statement, Samsung said that it is working closely with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to investigate reports of replacement units that have exploded over the past week. While the joint investigation is underway, Samsung has instructed all of its global retail partners to halt sales and exchanges of the Note 7. DON'T MISS: Does the iPhone 7 have any competition now that the Galaxy Note 7 is dead? The company issued the following statement to BGR via email: We are working with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note7. Because consumers safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 while the investigation is taking place. We remain committed to working diligently with the CPSC, carriers and our retail partners to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation. Consumers with an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 should power down and take advantage of the remedies available, including a refund at their place of purchase. For more information, consumers should visit samsung.com/us/note7recall or contact 1-844-365-6197. As noted in the statement above, Samsung is recommending that all owners of any Galaxy Note 7 handset power down their phones immediately, whether they are original units or a replacement models. Samsung's retail partners will allow customers to exchange their Note 7 phones or return them for full refunds. The news comes hot on the heels of more than half a dozen reports claiming that "safe" Galaxy Note 7 phones had exploded. These replacement units were issued to customers after Samsung recalled its first run of Galaxy Note 7 handsets, some of which were found to have a battery defect that could potentially cause them to combust. Samsung initially believed that the defective batteries were all sourced from one supplier, so the company used batteries from a different supplier in its replacement units. Story continues Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com The Galaxy Note 7 is dead. Samsung has confirmed that it has stopped sales and is no longer making the handset. Samsung provided the following statement to Tom's Guide. "For the benefit of consumers' safety, we stopped sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 and have consequently decided to stop production." After a worldwide recall that impacted 2.5 million Note 7 devices, at least five reported cases of supposedly safe replacement versions of the handset caught on fire last week. MORE: 25 Worst Gadget Flops of All Time Samsung said it was previously working with the CPSC to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Note 7, and had asked all carrier and retail partners to stop sales and exchanges. Samsung says that it remains committed to working with the CSPC and its retail partners to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation, and it is encouraging owners of both the original Note 7 and replacement Galaxy Note 7 to power down. The company also says that consumers can get a refund at their place of purchase, and that they should visit samsung.com/us/note7recall or contact 1-844-365-6197 for more information. Last week there were five reports of replacement Galaxy Note 7 phones catching fire or smoking. One such incident led to the evacuation of a Southwest Airlines flight, and another caused smoke inhalation to a victim who needed to be treated at a hospital. Given that a number of these incidents occurred earlier in the week, some are criticizing Samsung for being too slow to respond. In fact, all of the major carriers stopped selling the Note 7 before Samsung decided to act. See also : 25 Worst Gadget Flops of All Time Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recently announced that he plans to introduce a bill during the next session of Congress that he claims will close the loopholes Donald Trump reportedly could have used to avoid paying federal taxes for 18 years. "Special tax breaks and loopholes in a corrupt tax code enable billionaires and powerful corporations to avoid paying their fair share of taxes while sticking the burden on the middle class," Sanders said in a press release. "It's time to create a tax system which is fair and which asks the wealthy and powerful to start paying their fair share of taxes." What Are the Loopholes? According to the press release, there are four main "loopholes" Sen. Sanders is looking to close exemption for real estate from passive loss rules (section 469), exemption for real estate from at-risk rules (section 465), like-kind exchanges (section 1031), and debt and depreciation as these tax breaks are likely what "made it easier for [Trump] to claim losses of $916 million in the 1990s and avoid paying income taxes in subsequent years," according to the release. "Maybe he has a book about his plans for each, but it sounds like he's just saying just get rid of these," Jared R. Callister, an attorney at Fishman Larsen & Callister in Fresno, California, who focuses on real estate transactions and taxations, said. "I don't see the benefit of that. Maybe he can modify the rules to make it a middle ground." What Does This All Mean? Callister broke down each of the items Sanders is hoping to change when Congress meets again in 2017, starting with the passive loss rule. He said this allows real estate developers to offset their losses with income they earn from other sources. In Trump's case, that would mean he could balance out what he loses investing in real estate with the income he gets from non-real estate projects, like book royalties, TV appearances or endorsements. "I think there is an argument to re-examine if we want professional real estate developers to benefit the way that they do," Callister said. Story continues In terms of real estate exemptions for at-risk rules, Callister said he thinks Sanders has "some good arguments there," as this currently allows real estate investors to claim losses that are more than what they invested. The like-kind exchanges law allows people to defer paying taxes on money made from property sales, assuming the person uses the money to purchase another property, Callister explained. "The reason Congress put that in place is because they don't want people to be hesitant to buy and sell property," Callister said. "They think property changing hands is better than forcing someone to hold onto it because they don't want to pay the taxes." He did note that if this law is changed, it could hurt farmers, as "you'd have farmers stuck holding land they don't really want because they don't want to pay the tax, but as long as they buy another real property, they get to defer the tax. It's a delay and deferral of [paying a] tax, not avoidance of it." The debt and depreciation regulation is the item Callister said is baffling to him. "I don't know why [Sanders] would challenge that," Callister said. "It doesn't make any sense to me. If you borrow money and pay interest on the debt, I don't know why you wouldn't be able to deduct your interest." However, Callister said that the thing most notable about Sanders' announcement is the "glaring omission" of the Net Operating Losses rule that predominately helped Trump get out of paying a large portion of taxes. Representatives from Sen. Sander's team did not immediately respond to Credit.com's request for comment. Paying Your Taxes We are still several months away from Tax Day, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be thinking about what you may have to pay. It is a good idea to have some money set aside just in case you do end up owing the IRS come April 15. Owing on your taxes doesn't necessarily affect your credit, but how you choose to pay them might. For example, if you take out a personal loan or charge the bill to your credit card, these things will most likely be reported to the credit bureaus. You can see how your credit is being affected by these and other financial habits by viewing a snapshot of your credit report for free, updated every 14 days, on Credit.com. More from Credit.com ISTANBUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco feels "comfortable" that by 2018 oil prices will have recovered and the market conditions will be right for what could be the world's largest public listing, its chief executive Amin Nasser said on Tuesday. Speaking at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, Nasser said that all markets were still being considered for the initial public offering (IPO) of up to 5 percent of Aramco. He also said the company plans to invest $300 billion over the next decade, with the focus on gas. Saudi's Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, unveiled ambitious plans earlier this year aimed at ending the country's "addiction" to oil and transforming it into a global investment power. The listing of less than 5 percent of state-run Aramco is a centrepiece of that effort. (Reporting by Ron Bousso; Writing by Nick Tattersall) By Rania El Gamal ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih will not attend meetings on Wednesday between OPEC and non-OPEC countries in Istanbul but told Reuters he saw signs that countries outside OPEC were willing to contribute to balancing the oil market. "Tomorrow's meeting is a very informal consultative meeting between the countries that happened to be here," Falih told Reuters at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul. "Unfortunately due to prior commitments I am leaving now so I will not be in the meeting but I will be following it from afar and I will be getting indications about what countries have agreed to," he said. OPEC officials are embarking on a flurry of meetings to nail down details of an agreement reached in Algiers last month on modest oil output cuts, the first such deal since 2008. The chain of meetings, starting in Istanbul, signal that unlike in the first half of 2016, the group is more serious now about managing the global supply glut and propping up prices. Falih said he had met with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in Istanbul, and described the energy conference in the Turkish city as a "great step forward". "From the meetings I have had on the sidelines of this conference today and yesterday ... it is quite clear that many countries are not only supportive of the OPEC decision in Algiers but are enthusiastically willing to join," he said. "We are not talking about support, we are talking about contribution in the direction we are seeking which is basically that we are going to attempt to speed up the balancing process that is already underway." Falih said those efforts were not about the oil price itself, but about sending a signal to the oil industry to start investing again. Oil prices have dropped sharply since mid-2014, forcing producers and companies alike to shelve projects and cut oil investments, raising worries over a future supply shock that could lead to a spike in prices. Story continues Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, currently produces 10.6 million barrels per day and has a production capacity of 12.5 million bpd, leaving it able to boost output further to meet any global shortage. But despite that significant potential, Falih said "we want the industry to always have some ... spare capacity so that we respond to any emergencies. To do that we need to start investing across the industry and across different regions." "We are concerned that there is not enough new capacity coming for the next few years to meet the incremental demand that is back at healthy levels and also to offset whatever natural decline that has taken place," he said. "What we want to see ... is a moderate level of capacity increases coming from across the industries." (Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by David Evans) With just under a month until Election Day, Sean Parkers civics-focused startup Brigade wants to help American voters figure out which candidates to vote for. Brigade, whose founders include billionaire tech investor Sean Parker and former Causes CEO Matt Mahan, rolled out on Tuesday a major update to all users of its desktop, iOS and Android apps that includes a digital ballot guide powered by social media. The election tool serves up personalized recommendations for more than 13,000 federal and state races and ballot propositions largely based on a users social connections with friends, neighbors and political influencers in their voting districts. Theres too much at stake in this election to stay home, and yet nearly half of eligible voters will do just that on November 8, Mahan, Brigades CEO, told Yahoo Finance. Even worse, half of those who turn out will fail to vote in the critical state and local races that affect their lives even more directly than who sits in the Oval Office. Weve built a dead-simple social ballot guide for voters to help each other pledge to vote and ultimately turn out for candidates and ballot props that align with their values. Theres too much at stake in this election to stay home, and yet nearly half of eligible voters will do just that on November 8, Brigade CEO Matt Mahan told Yahoo Finance. Simply put, Brigades so-called social ballot guide feature will ask users to opt in and sync up their Facebook, email and phone book contacts so the app can figure out which of their friends are also Brigade users. The app also capitalizes on a feature in the app which lets users connect their Brigade accounts with their public voter file. Based on a complex set of algorithms and data like how your contacts voted, or pledged, on issues inside Brigade, their public voter file, as well as a larger set of overall user pledge data, Brigade is able to decipher the views of candidates. That includes even down-ballot candidates on most issues and offers recommendations on who to vote for all without having to perform the impossible task of manually pulling data on each and every federal and state race. Story continues Additionally, from now through Election Day, users who recruit or invite pledges from friends on the app also become eligible to join Brigades Precinct Captains Challenge a competition, replete with leaderboard, that awards users who recruit the most pledges on any given day with gift certificates from Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NLFX) or Spotify. The Precinct Captain with the most votes come Election Day snags a three-day trip to Washington, D.C. for the presidential inauguration next January. Brigade contends that this kind of low-key social pressure from other Brigade users could improve voter turnout. Indeed, real-world experiments on voter turnout appear to back up Brigades assertions. Offline field experiments demonstrate that voter turnout can be significantly affected by social pressure, explained Donald P. Green, Burgess Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and one of the countrys preeminent researchers of the ways in which political campaigns mobilize and persuade voters. The next frontier in voter turnout research lies in understanding how online social networks and social pressure affect voter behavior. Since Brigade launched in June 2015, the civics-focused social network has seen users take 7 million positions to date across a wide array of topics including civil rights and energy to religion and taxes. The startup has also raised about $9.5 million in funding to date from Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, SV Angel founder Ron Conway and Parker, who carved out his name in Silicon Valley by co-founding the file-sharing service Napster and serving as early Facebook (FB) president. With all that data, Mahan says he already knows what the next challenge is beyond the social ballot guide. Weve got to figure out what to do with all that user-generated content and how to aggregate it up in interesting and productive ways, explained Mahan. JP Mangalindan is a senior correspondent for Yahoo Finance covering the intersection of tech and business. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook. More from JP Mangalindan: San Franciscos real estate market has reached peak unaffordability: housing expert Facebook exec hints at next logical step for Messenger Box CEO: Investors have two very different perspectives on our business Apple isnt the only giant US company being scrutinized for its overseas taxes Youre not the shooter, are you?! My night at LAX john legere t-mobile When John Legere was offered an interview with the CEO of Deutsche Telekom in 2011 to discuss leading its struggling American mobile carrier, T-Mobile US, he found it "laughable and really not something I'd do," he told Business Insider in a recent interview. He had just sold the previous company he led for 10 years, Global Crossing Limited, in a $3 billion sale to Level 3, and gotten divorced in the same month. It was a strange time in his life, he said. Legere said he agreed to an interview for the T-Mobile CEO opening only because the headhunter was his good friend. When he sat down with Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann, he told Obermann there was only one way the company could fail in the United States: "Do exactly what you're doing nothing." Legere took the job in 2012." On the very first day at T-Mobile, I remember sitting there, and as I was doing interviews I thought about this company becoming the complete opposite of the other carriers in this industry, becoming the 'Un-carrier,'" Legere told Business Insider, referring to his signature initiative. "The manifesto followed." He laid out a plan for how T-Mobile would reinvent itself and make waves in the industry. In his four years as CEO, Legere has taken T-Mobile US public, more than doubled its customer count, and overtaken Sprint as the third largest carrier in the country. The following document is the slightly refined version of the original manifesto Legere and his team worked on in early 2013, ahead of the first Un-carrier launch in March, which eliminated traditional service contracts. You'll see that the company was already planning other initiatives, including its latest, which is the move to a single unlimited data/text/calling plan for all customers. t mobile manifesto NOW WATCH: Former Navy SEAL commanders: 'There are no bad teams, only bad leaders' More From Business Insider (Reuters) - A self-styled Minnesota church leader who was arrested in Brazil last year on allegations of sexually assaulting two 15-year-old girls pleaded guilty on Tuesday to felony sex crimes, prosecutors said. Victor Barnard, a 55-year-old self-proclaimed pastor, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence of 30 years, Pine County Attorney Reese Frederickson said. "The agreement was approved by both of our victims and essentially if we had gone to trial and prevailed on all counts he'd have only faced 30 years," Frederickson said by phone. Barnard's attorney, Dave Risk, said Barnard chose to plead guilty to "spare the victims, the families, and the communities from what would otherwise be a difficult and salacious trial." "From that perspective, that was a commendable thing he did," Risk said. Barnard founded the River Road Fellowship, recruiting followers to a camp in rural Minnesota and convincing some to allow their young daughters to live with him, the U.S. Marshals Service said. He allegedly kept the girls in a housing area known as Shepherd's Camp, it said. After some adult members began questioning what he was doing, Barnard moved his family and the church to Washington state. A number of his followers, including the young girls, left with him, the agency said. Barnard was initially charged with the 59 counts related to the assaults, which authorities said occurred between 2000 and 2009, before he dropped from sight. It was unclear when he went to Brazil, but the U.S. Marshals Service said they believed he was receiving assistance from followers in Brazil before his capture there. Risk said the two victims were 15-years-old at the time of the assaults for which he pleaded guilty and said Barnard admitted assaults continued over a period of years. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 28, Frederickson said. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Geneva (AFP) - The World Health Organization said Tuesday it would send a million cholera vaccine doses to Haiti, which has seen cases of the disease surge since it was ravaged by Hurricane Matthew last week. The storm, which has killed at least 372 people in the impoverished Caribbean nation, came as Haitians were already struggling with the intestinal disease spread by contaminated food and water. WHO cholera expert Dominique Legros told reporters in Geneva there had already been "a sharp increase" in cases in the south of the country, with 148 cases detected in the Grande'Anse department and 53 more in the South department. The potential for a reinvigorated cholera outbreak is especially alarming for Haiti, which has grappled with the disease since the aftermath of its catastrophic earthquake in 2010. Since then, around 10,000 people have died from the disease, and on average some 500 new cases have been reported every week over the past six years. New cases had already begun rising before the hurricane, with 29,000 reported since the beginning of the year, an average of nearly 800 a week, WHO said. The hurricane, which fouled water sources, hit Haiti just as the country was approaching the period of the year when it generally counts most cholera cases, Legros said. Making matters worse, the storm damaged around a quarter of all health facilities in the south of the country, making it more difficult for cholera patients to get treatment. To try to halt the spread of the deadly disease, WHO has decided to send one million vaccine doses to Haiti for a large-scale immunisation campaign, he said. Two doses of the vaccine are needed to offer full protection, but Legros said WHO and the Haitian government were considering a one-dose campaign in a bid to reach more people. Legros explained that one dose of the vaccine had been shown to offer full protection for about six months, with the effect fully disappearing within about a year. He said this should be "enough to cover the period most at risk." Before the hurricane, some 400,000 people had already received a double dose of the vaccine since 2013, he said. From Cosmopolitan Shailene Woodleys rep has confirmed to People that the actress was released from jail on Monday after being arrested for criminal trespassing during a peaceful protest against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in Bismarck. Shailene, who streamed the protest and her arrest on Facebook Live, was arrested along with 27 others. The video has since been viewed more than 3.3 million times. According to her rep, Shailene was released from the Morton County Jail in North Dakota: She appreciates the outpouring of support, not only for her, but more importantly, for the continued fight against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. For more celebrity videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS. As the Facebook Live shows, the group of protestors followed orders after being told to leave he area because they were trespassing. When Shailene got to her RV, she found police waiting for her. Im being arrested, she says during the last few minutes. I was down there with everybody else. Its because Im well known. Its because I have 40,000 people watching so everybody knows, we were going to our vehicle, which they had surrounded and waiting for me with giant guns in the giant truck behind them just so they could arrest me. Following Shailenes arrest on Monday, several celebrities voiced their support on Twitter. 28 arrests today @ #StandingRock the most peaceful "riot" I've ever heard of respect & thanks for using your voice @shailenewoodley #NoDAPL - Daryl Hannah (@dhlovelife) October 11, 2016 I stand with @shailenewoodley for standing with the Standing Rock Water Protectors. #NoDAPL !!!!! - Nikki Reed (@NikkiReed_I_Am) October 11, 2016 I stand with @shailenewoodley for standing with the Standing Rock Water Protectors. #NoDAPL https://t.co/BqIbfApUCI - Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 10, 2016 .@shailenewoodley walks the walk, and I deeply admire her determined and passionate activism. https://t.co/5hUCuSq3Il - John Green (@johngreen) October 10, 2016 Shailene has been a longtime supporter of the fight against the $3.8 billion project, which, if completed, would transport oil across North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. According to protestors, the project would threaten the main water source and several sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes reservation, which is within a half-mile of the pipeline. Story continues Follow Peggy on Twitter. You Might Also Like Another Malaysian O&G firm defaulted on bonds worth $125m. Perisai Petroleum's bond default is symptomatic of financial strains across much of south-east Asia's oil & gas service industry. Singapore banks are exposed to credit risks emanating from the sector, but are well-placed to withstand potential losses, says Fitch Ratings. Fitch believes Singapore banks are securely positioned to withstand further asset-quality deterioration, given their disciplined underwriting standards and healthy provision buffers of just over 100% (as a proportion of NPLs). Adequate profitability, sound funding and liquidity positions, and strong capitalisation also support Singapore banks' 'AA-' ratings, which the agency affirmed in May with Stable Outlooks. Here's more from Fitch: Perisai Petroleum, a Malaysian offshore oil & gas service provider, defaulted on bonds worth SGD125m (USD90m) on 3 October after bondholders rejected the company's restructuring plans. Perisai has other debt - worth around MYR791m (USD260m) at end-June 2016 - with major Singaporean and Malaysian banks likely to be among the main creditors. The combined oil & gas exposure of Singapore's three rated banks - DBS, OCBC and UOB - was SGD51.3bn at end-June 2016. This represented 55% of their combined core equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital. This may seem high, although the majority of their oil & gas exposure is collateralised. Furthermore, only SGD17bn of this exposure is to the more vulnerable subsector of offshore support services, accounting for 18% of banks' CET1 capital. The weighted-average NPL ratio for these three banks remained low at 1.23%, but we expect this to rise modestly as more oil & gas-related NPLs emerge. Perisai's case is far from isolated. A number of other regional oil & gas service companies have also run into trouble this year. Swiber Holdings filed for creditor protection in July, leading DBS to classify SGD651m of its SGD721m exposure to the troubled group as non-performing, with the remainder expected to be classified in the third quarter. Swissco Holdings on 4 October appointed Ernst & Young to assist in the refinancing and restructuring of SGD100m worth of bonds due in 2018. The others in various stages of debt reorganisation include AusGroup and Marco Polo Marine. Story continues Fitch had expected the credit metrics of south-east Asian oil and gas issuers to deteriorate this year. The sector is on negative outlook, and we have made multi-notch downgrades on the ratings of oilfield-service companies in the region. Upstream oil producers are still actively looking to reduce costs despite recent rises in oil prices to just over USD50/bbl. Oil & gas service companies have been at the sharp end of the negative effects from investment cuts by oil producers, as well as cost-reductions that have led to lower day-rates for equipment, machinery and services. Small operators like Perisai are especially vulnerable. Larger companies that have more diversified revenue streams or strong balance sheets are better placed to withstand the investment cutbacks. More From Singapore Business Review SINGAPORE, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has asked Swiss wealth manager Falcon Private Bank Ltd to cease operations in the city state over lapses related to handling fund flows with scandal-hit Malaysian sovereign fund 1MDB. The move comes after MAS - Singapore's central bank - in May ordered the shutdown of Swiss private bank BSI and subsequently charged people in connection with the probe and froze assets linked to 1MDB. It also imposed financial penalties on DBS Bank and the Singapore branch of UBS AG for breaches of AML requirements. "Falcon Bank has demonstrated a persistent and severe lack of understanding of MAS' AML (anti money laundering) requirements and expectations," MAS said in a statement on Tuesday. "Taking into account the totality of Falcon Bank's conduct, MAS' assessment is that the merchant bank will be unable to comply with these requirements and expectations going forward," MAS said. (Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Anshuman Daga and Singapore bureau; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) The Aleppo factor. Moscows attempts to cajole the European Union into easing economic sanctions imposed after Russias invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014 dont appear to be working. And the indiscriminate bombing campaign in Aleppo is to blame. Its clear that the assault on Aleppo has changed the mindset of some, one EU foreign minister tells Reuters. It will be impossible to back an easing of sanctions on Ukraine in the current context. A French diploma adds, The prospect of the Russian sanctions over Ukraine being lifted are practically nil after Aleppo. The new resolve among some of the EUs larger members may halt what was a growing campaign led by countries like Italy and Hungary to ease the sanctions. While new sanctions appear unlikely, EU leaders will discuss Russia during a meeting in Brussels Oct. 20-21. Turkey wants in. Tensions between Turkey and Iraq are entering dangerous territory over the continuing refusal of Turkey to pull troops out of a base near Mosul in northern Iraq. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ripped into Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Tuesday, saying Abadi needs to know his limits, adding, Iraq had certain requests from us regarding Bashiqa, [the Turkish base in Iraq] and now they are telling us to leave, but the Turkish army has not lost so much standing as to take orders from you. Erdogan also said that Turkish troops would participate in the upcoming fight for the ISIS-held city of Mosul, a fight Baghdad and Washington have not asked Ankara to join. Words mean things. Ankara also lashed out at Democratic nominee for president Hillary Clintons call on Sunday to arm Kurds fighting Islamic State in Syria. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Tuesday that such calls are unethical, adding that Turkey could push into Kurdish-held areas east of the Euphrates River in Syria if it sees terrorist activities there, as Turkey considers all armed Kurdish groups to be terrorists. Turkish-backed rebels and special forces pushed into northern Syria in August in a move that surprised Washington, in an effort to drive both the Islamic State and the Kurds off of Turkeys southern border. Story continues Chinese protests. Chinas plan to slim down its military by around 300,000 troops for a leaner, meaner force is garnering some pushback. Reuters reports that sacked troops have been protesting the move in Beijing, saying that they havent received their promised transition benefits to be set up in civilian jobs after being fired. As the wire service notes, protests, even by soldiers, are not necessarily a rarity in China. Nonetheless, Beijing officials appear to be closely monitoring the protest, blocking demonstrators access to a military building in the city as well as reporters access to the protest. Congress eying Saudi over strikes. Members of Congress are bristling over continued U.S. military aid to Saudi Arabia in the wake of last weeks devastating airstrike in Sanaa that killed 140 civilians attending a funeral. The continuing civilian carnage caused by the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition in Yemen appears to be war crimes, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) told FPs John Hudson Monday. Lieu, who earlier led an unsuccessful House effort to block a $1.15 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia, demanded the U.S. immediately cease support to the Saudi coalition while the Obama administration reviews options to permanently pull American assistance. On Sunday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) added, the administration should pull U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Officials at the White House and State Department declined Monday to specify which types of U.S. support to the Saudi coalition could be withheld, or if Washington was still providing targeting information to the coalition. The U.S. currently provides refueling and logistical support to Riyadhs air force. Taliban push through in Helmand. The Taliban finally punctured the provincial capital of Helmand province on Monday, detonating a suicide car bomb and mounting other attacks that killed 14, just two days after Gen. John W. Nicholson, the top U.S. and NATO military commander in Afghanistan, flew to the city to promise defenders it wouldnt fall. We are with you and we will stay with you, Nicholson told a small group inside a police compound. Lashkar Gah will not fall. Indeed, it didnt, and government forces pushed the attackers out, but the city remains virtually surrounded by Taliban fighters who control most of the province despite 15 years of American military involvement, and over $60 billion in U.S. military aid. Last month, Nicholson said that the Taliban has control over 10 percent of Afghanistans population, while Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford told a Congressional panel that the government controlled about 70 percent of the country. The nuclear. Aviation Weeks Lara Seligman went ahead ran a fact check of Republican nominee Donald Trumps assertion Sunday evening the United States nuclear program has fallen way behind Russias. Russia is new in terms of nuclear. We are old. We are tired. We are exhausted in terms of nuclear, he said. Turns out, while Moscow has a bit of a jump on upgrading their systems, the American nuclear triad has long been slated to be replaced in the 2020s or 2030s, and the Russian warheads arent designed to last as long. Hans Kristensen, director of the Federal of American Scientists Nuclear Information Project said, this just shows that he misunderstands the issue, because its not about what you are building when, its about are the ones that you have ready to be used or credible?I dont think theres anyone in the U.S. military who would say sure, lets swap. Good morning and as always, if you have any thoughts, announcements, tips, or national security-related events to share, please pass them along to SitRep HQ. Best way is to send them to: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and the U.S. intelligence community are at loggerheads over his characterization of Russian hacking. Trump told the audience at Sunday nights presidential debate that he had no idea if Russia was behind the recent string of breaches and leaks of Democratic party emails and documents. An anonymous senior intelligence official, however, tells NBC News that both Trump and Hillary Clinton were given lengthy briefs on the subject during their intelligence briefings. To profess not to know at this point is willful misrepresentation, the source said. South Sudan and the U.N. Salah Khaled, the top UNESCO official in South Sudan, was shot after his farewell party in Juba, South Sudan as his white U.N.-labeled Toyota Land Cruiser was approaching the Egyptian Embassy, where he was staying as a guest in July. South Sudans ambassador to Washington said he was unaware of the Khaled shooting, which was reported in a local report. UNESCO officials withheld judgment on the culprits in the attack against Khaled, telling FPs Colum Lynch that the case remains under investigation. But a senior U.S. State Department official and a senior U.N. official said it was clear that government forces shot Khaled. Haiti Hurricane Matthew blew a path of devastation through Haiti, killing more than a thousand people as it moved across the country. Now, Navy Times reports, the U.S. Navy is sending 1,700 troops along with MH-60 Seahawk helicopters and MV-22 Ospreys to provide disaster assistance. Two ships are participating in the operation, the Iwo Jima amphibious assault ship and the Mesa Verde amphibious transport dock as part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. So far, survey teams from the military have been helping the USAID-led recovery mission, providing assessments of the wreckage caused by the hurricane. Libya The Wall Street Journal got a hold of documents from the Islamic State in Libya showing how the ill-fated affiliate hoped to build a state in the Mediterranean country. True to its harsh reputation, notebooks left behind by the groups officials show it cracked down on locals accused of violating its severe interpretation of Islamic law, doling out lashings and prison sentences for flunking religious courses or traveling with unmarried women. The documents also show that the Islamic State shook down locals for taxes, which it used to pay for its para-state and personnel. Islamic State The Islamic States propaganda output has taken a nosedive, according to a new study from West Points Combating Terrorism Center. Islamic State media outlets issued around 700 items in August 2015. A year later, its August 2016 output was down to 200, matching its decline in territory, foreign fighters, and money over the past year. The character of Islamic State propaganda has also changed, according to the study, as the U.S.-led coalition has stripped away its territory. At the height of its power, the group focused on items that highlighted governance and state-building, now shifting to military-focused releases as the caliphate crumbles. In another metric of the Islamic States decline, the group is now carrying out fewer suicide attacks according to its own numbers. The Long War Journal looked at statements released through the Amaq news agency, an Islamic State-linked propaganda outlet, and found that the group claimed an average of 87 suicide attacks in Syria, Iraq, and Libya throughout 2016. The numbers for just Iraq and Syria in September, however, plunged to 53, besting a previous low in July. Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images SkyWest Inc. SKYW revealed a 5.3% (8,647) year-over-year decline in block hours (a measure of aircraft utilization) to 154,095 in Sep 2016. The St. George, UT-based carrier, which remains focused on streamlining its operations, mentioned that the fall in the metric was in sync with its fleet transition plans. The carrier aims to reduce the 50-seat jets in its fleet and add new E175 aircraft. SkyWests dual class aircraft accounted for approximately 42% of the carriers total block hour production for the month. The comparable figure was approximately 39% a year ago. The carrier, which provides scheduled passenger and air freight services with over 3,000 departures per day to the U.S., Canada and Mexico as well as the Caribbean, reported a 6.4% decrease in block hours for the first nine months of the year. Apart from the block hour reduction in keeping with its fleet optimization plans, SkyWest recorded a 5.1% decline in consolidated capacity (measured in available seat miles) for the month of September to 2.72 billion. Airline traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles, decreased 4.2% year over year to 2.25 billion on a consolidated basis. Load factor (percentage of seats filled with passengers) increased 80 basis points (bps) at 82.8% in the month, on a consolidated basis. The number of departures in September was down 5% on a year-over-year basis. SkyWest is not the only carrier to have disclosed its September traffic numbers thus far. We have seen carriers like Delta Air Lines DAL, Alaska Air Group ALK and Allegiant Travel Company ALGT recently unveiling their respective September traffic numbers. SKYWEST INC Price SKYWEST INC Price | SKYWEST INC Quote Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report DELTA AIR LINES (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report SKYWEST INC (SKYW): Free Stock Analysis Report ALLEGIANT TRAVL (ALGT): Free Stock Analysis Report ALASKA AIR GRP (ALK): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research From Esquire Until the middle of the 20th Century, there was no such thing as a women's or a men's fragrance-there were only fragrances. The fact that we've been trained to think of women's scents as "perfume" and men's as "cologne" is nothing more than marketing (not to mention a gross misunderstanding of those terms). In reality, the only thing that matters in a fragrance is whether or not you like the smell. And more and more, fragrance manufacturers are embracing to that old-school philosophy. According to a recent article in Pret-a-Reporter, the gender-free niche fragrance market is up 24 percent over last year, and is currently experiencing double-digit growth. "Five years ago there were fewer than 200 new niche fragrances, but last year alone there were over 1,000 new launches, and probably 950 of them were gender free," Amy Bourne, North American regional marketing director for International Flavors and Fragrances' told the website. The fact that we often think of scents as masculine or feminine can be traced to the 1940s, when fragrance companies began working with movies stars like Clark Gable and John Wayne to promote the idea of masculine scents. The notion stuck and, within a few years, the industry divided itself into scents for men and scents for women. During the 1990s, however, Calvin Klein famously pushed back against that gender divide with his iconic unisex fragrance CK1. More recently, Tom Ford created a line of gender-neutral fragrances. And today we have niche brands like Le Labo, Jo Malone, and Atelier that are working to obliterate the idea of a strict gender divide in scents. Ultimately it's the emotional connection to a fragrance that makes it important, not some arbitrary gender demarcation. Smell, more than anything else, is connected to emotion and memory. Proust understood it, and we should to. If we want our scents to truly tell our story, we shouldn't be worried about the gender of the model that appears in the ad. Story continues [contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="Related%20Story" customtitles="A%20Signature%20Scent%20Is%20Your%20Secret%20Style%20Weapon" customimages="" content="article.39770"] You Might Also Like Sophia Bush doesnt support Billy Bush and she wants to make sure People magazine gets the message. The Time Inc. magazine included Sophia Bush, star of NBCs Chicago PD, in a story about celebrities who support Billy Bush, the Today cohost who landed in hot water when a tape surfaced of him engaging in lewd talk with Donald Trump in 2005. The disgraced Bush is now reportedly negotiating his exit from Today. Only problem: Sophia Bush says she doesnt support Billy Bush (who is no relation). In fact, quite the opposite. Also Read: Billy Bush Is Negotiating Exit From NBC and 'Today' (Report) Oh no hell no @people I did NOT say I support Billy Bushs vile encouragement of groping after that tape, Sophia Bush tweeted to followers late Monday. Do not twist words for clickbait. Oh no hell no @people I did NOT say I support Billy Bushs vile encouragement of groping after that tape. Do not twist words for clickbait. https://t.co/btg3ebKJRW Sophia Bush (@SophiaBush) October 11, 2016 The source of the confusion apparently stems from an earlier Sophia Bush tweet, where she noted the irony that Bush had been suspended for his role in the lewd incident from 2005, but that Trump was still running for president. Peoples writers and editors evidently construed that as a pro-Billy sentiment, until TVs other Bush complained. Also Read: Sophia Bush to 'Random Dude' on a Plane: 'You Don't Get To Harass Me' As a result, @people removed a tweet about the matter, and also corrected the article by deleting the reference to Sophia Bush. A call to a spokesperson for People was not returned. Johannesburg (AFP) - South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan will be prosecuted for fraud, officials said Tuesday, in a move that sent the rand tumbling over concerns about political in-fighting and the country's fragile economy. Gordhan, an internationally-respected technocrat, was appointed only last year to calm panicked investors after President Jacob Zuma sacked two finance ministers within four days. Since then, Gordhan has regularly clashed with Zuma loyalists when vowing to battle poor governance and graft in a government that has been engulfed by regular corruption scandals. Gordhan was summoned to appear in court in Pretoria on November 2. Shaun Abrahams, head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), told reporters that Gordhan would be prosecuted for alleged misconduct over a retirement package paid to a colleague in 2010. Gordhan and two others "must be prosecuted and arraigned" for fraud, Abrahams said. Abrahams repeatedly denied that the NPA was being politically influenced, and he lashed out at criticism that it was not independent. "The days of non-accountability and not holding senior government officials accountable are over," he said. The NPA said the case focused on allegations that Gordhan illegally authorised the retirement payment for a colleague at the tax collection department, which Gordhan headed between 1999 and 2009. - Witch-hunt? - Gordhan, who first served as finance minister from 2009 to 2014, is widely seen as engaged in a months-long battle within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party over control of the treasury. He has often clashed with Zuma and senior ministers over alleged excessive spending, particularly at cash-bleeding state-run entities such as South African Airways. "I received a phone call from my family that someone had come to my house to issue the summons this morning," Gordhan, 67, told an economics forum in Johannesburg, according to local media. Story continues "South Africans must ask who the Hawks (police) are really serving," he added, pointing to suggestions of political interference. A statement from the Finance Department said "it is quite clear that these legal proceedings are contaminated by abuse for political ends." "I intend to continue doing my job," said Gordhan in the statement. "The fight against corruption, maladministration, and waste of public resources will continue." The New York-based Eurasia Group consultancy said the court summons "would appear to signal the intent of the patronage network around the president to remove Gordhan." "This is a political witch-hunt," Mcebisi Ndletyana, professor of political science at the University of Johannesburg, told AFP. "The charge is flimsy and it has dire consequences on the economy." Zuma has previously said he backs Gordhan, who has also been targeted by investigators over a so-called "rogue unit" set up to probe top politicians when he headed the tax service. - Junk status - South Africa's economy has been struggling with record unemployment, drought and political scandals surrounding Zuma. Growth is set to be flat this year, and the country risks a damaging credit ratings downgrade to junk status. Abrahams on Tuesday said he believed that Zuma, who is currently visiting Kenya, knew about the prosecution. "Because this matter affects a sitting cabinet minister... I deemed it prudent for the (justice) minister to inform the president," he said. The rand dropped as much as 3.6 percent against the dollar shortly after the announcement. Zuma is due to step down when his second term in office ends in 2019, and he has shrugged off growing calls from anti-apartheid stalwarts and from within the ANC to resign earlier. The ANC easily won the 2014 general election, but received a setback in August local elections when its suffered its worst poll performance since white-minority rule fell 22 years ago. The vote was widely seen as a referendum on Zuma, who has been plagued by scandals and court cases since taking office in 2009. Zuma last month paid back $500,000 (450,000 euros) of public money spent renovating his private house after a damning ruling against him by the Constitutional Court. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has formed a ministerial team to help bring an end to weeks of clashes at university campuses between police and students demanding free education, the presidency said on Tuesday. The government, grappling with a budget deficit equivalent to nearly 4 percent of economic output, says education subsidies should not be paid for at the expense of other sectors of the economy such as health and housing. It has also said 2017 university fees may rise by up to 8 percent. Police clashed sporadically with student protesters on Tuesday at the University of the Witwatersand (Wits), Talk Radio 702 said. Wits was hit by violence on Monday after reopening following angry protests that forced its closure last week. The team set up by Zuma consists of eight ministers including Higher Education minister Blade Nzimande and Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko, and is tasked with resolving the crisis. The main opposition Democratic Alliance party criticized Zuma, however, for excluding Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. "At the heart of the crisis is the chronic under-funding of higher education over the last decade," it said in a statement. Zuma's government has said it will continue subsidizing university costs for the poorest students but could not afford free education for all. "We are not saying... everybody must receive free education, even if the parents can afford, because we have got to balance the resources," Zuma told a news conference in Nairobi on Tuesday during a state visit to Kenya. The Wits Student Representative Council said in a statement that they would be continuing the struggle for free education. Some students are demanding all universities be shut down until the government provides free education. (Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Hugh Lawson) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday that he backs Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan who was issued with a formal summons to appear in court on Nov. 2 over fraud charges. [nL8N1CH1PG] "The President has reaffirmed his support for the Minister," the Presidency said in a statement. "The President has urged the National Prosecuting Authority and other institutions concerned to conduct the matter with the necessary dignity and respect." (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by James Macharia) South Korea's coastguard warned Tuesday of a "more aggressive" firearms policy towards Chinese fishing boats illegally operating in its waters, following a clash that sank one of its vessels. Disputes over illegal fishing have dogged relations between South Korea and China for years, and there have been numerous skirmishes between the coastguard and Chinese crew members. In the latest incident on Sunday a coastguard vessel capsized and sank after being rammed by a Chinese trawler that then sailed away. There were no casualties but the South Korean foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned the Chinese ambassador in Seoul to lodge a stern protest and demand "swift action to investigate, arrest and punish those responsible." The coastguard called a press conference to condemn the incident and warn of eased restrictions on the use of weapons -- ranging from ship's cannon to crew sidearms -- during such altercations. "So far we have been very cautious using such crew service weapons but now... we will take a more aggressive stance in using them when our officers are in danger," senior coastguard official Lee Chun-Jae told reporters. The current rules on the use of firearms have "a very limited scope," Lee said, adding they would be revised as soon as possible to allow officers more freedom. "We plan to use any firearm, whether crew service weapon or individual weapon, to enforce our laws on those who violently protest," Lee said. The South has been asking China to take a tougher stand on Chinese vessels that have been entering its waters in increasing numbers to satisfy growing demand at home for fresh seafood. Small wooden Chinese ships were once tolerated in an area where the top priority has always been guarding against potential incursions from North Korea. But in recent years, the small boats have given way to larger steel trawlers which engage in bottom trawling -- dragging a large weighted net across the seabed that sweeps up everything in its path. South Korea says many fishing vessel crew members arm themselves with steel pipes and knives to threaten officers trying to board their ships. Dozens of officers have been injured and one was stabbed to death by a Chinese sailor in 2011, an incident which sparked fury in the South and soured ties for months. South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Tuesday told her government to prepare for large-scale defections from North Korea, just days after direct appealing to its citizens to flee their country. A recent spate of high-profile North Korean defections have provided a propaganda windfall for Seoul, which has spun them into a narrative of a Pyongyang leadership in crisis and riven with descent. Notable defections have included the North's deputy ambassador to Britain and a rare, group escape by a dozen waitresses from a North Korean-run restaurant in China. In an address to mark Armed Forced Day earlier this month, Park had vowed to "keep the road open" for future escapees and urged North Koreans to "come to the bosom of freedom in the South." Pyongyang's response was to call Park a "bare-faced and impudent bitch" in a commentary carried by the ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun. Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Park reiterated her defection appeal, and stressed the importance of preparing the ground for any new arrivals. "Defectors are like unification that has arrived early, and a test bed for unification," Park said. "I hope we can swiftly secure sufficient system and capacity to accommodate North Korean citizens who come seeking freedom," she added. The government currently runs two resettlement centres for defectors with a combined capacity of around 1,100 people. South Korea's top-selling Chosun Ilbo reported Saturday that the government was planning a two trillion won (US$1.8 billion) project for building a defector camp that would hold up to 100,000 people. Citing an unnamed government official, the report said closed-down schools and new buildings would be used to accommodate an influx of North Korean refugees that could be triggered by any sudden shift in the dynamics of the North-South border. South Korea's unification ministry, which handles cross-border affairs, declined to confirm the report. Ties between the two Koreas are at the lowest ebb since the height of Cold War in the 1970s, with Pyongyang test-firing more than 20 missiles and carrying out two nuclear tests this year alone. Over the years, nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression in their country and settled in the South. Space brain is real and heres what it means for folks who dream of living on Mars Bad news, interplanetary travelers: Turns out going to space could really damage your brain. A new study published Monday in Scientific Reports claims extended time in space can cause major brain damage AKA space brain. This occurs after too much exposure to galactic cosmic ray radiation (which, despite sounding like something Buzz Lightyear would say, is actually a real thing). lateshow Long-term exposure to the radiation caused lasting dementia in rodents, according to researchers at the University of California, Irvine. Charles Limoli, who led the study, said the more time that a person spends in space, the more radiation that reaches them a major problem, as NASA turns its eye toward 300+ day journeys to Mars. Its difficult for scientists to gauge just how the radiation will affect human brains, Limoli told Mic. Thats because no human has actually reached the surface of Mars yet. The Earths magnetosphere, which limits the radiations damaging effects, still protects astronauts in the International Space Station, Limoli said. So what does this mean for future space travelers? Lasting cognitive impairments could have scary effects on future space travelers, Limoli said. One of which is the loss of fear extinction, or, in other words, the brains ability to process scary stuff. Story continues Limoli told Mic: Its like if you hear a car horn and you associate that with an oncoming car thats a problem in a crosswalk. But if you hear it in your house, [fear extinction] will cause you to freak out because you cant dissociate that the car isnt in your living room. This means a colony on Mars is still a far-off dream for the human race. Until we have a means of protecting human brains from dangerous radiation, well have to leave the planetary exploration to the robots. walle The post Space brain is real and heres what it means for folks who dream of living on Mars appeared first on HelloGiggles. Madrid (AFP) - Spanish police said Tuesday a boat carrying nearly 20 tonnes of hashish to Libya was seized as part of a global operation targeting the financing of armed groups in North Africa and the Middle East. With the help of Europe's police agency Europol, information from French customs and air support from Italian police, Spanish forces intercepted the boat registered under the Panamanian flag off Spain's southeastern coast on September 23. They said all crew members were detained -- 11 Ukrainians and one Uzbek -- in what a spokesman for French customs said was "one of the biggest seizures of hashish" ever in Europe. The Guardia Civil police force said the boat was intercepted as part of an operation launched in 2013 by Spanish, Moroccan, French, Italian and Greek authorities, with additional support from the US Drug Enforcement Agency. Some 100 tonnes of hashish have been seized in the multi-country operation and 109 people detained -- with a majority being nationals of Syrian, Moroccan and Spanish. "This trafficking is being used to finance insurgents in existing conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East," Javier Rogero, lieutenant colonel at the Guardia Civil, told reporters. He would not be drawn on which groups the drugs and weapons were benefiting, but said police were "convinced... that they also finance jihadist terrorism." - Captagon pills seized - Rogero described the Mediterranean Sea as "a sort of highway for illicit trafficking." A total of seven boats have been caught as part of the operation -- two of them carrying weapons and five full of hashish, believed to be used to buy arms. The boats had all departed from Turkey. In the case of those carrying drugs, though, the hashish -- which came from Morocco -- was loaded on board in the Atlantic ocean. In the case of the two boats carrying weapons, the arms were already on board when they left Turkey. One of them was intercepted last year, and another in February. Story continues Altogether, they carried 11,400 long guns, more than a million cartridges and ten tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make explosives. One of the boats, which was registered in Togo, was heading to Misrata on Libya's northwestern coast. The intended recipients are unclear but Misrata is home to powerful militias who were among the forces that seized the capital Tripoli in 2014 and forced the government to flee further east. But they are now fighting alongside forces from a UN-backed unity government formed earlier this year -- and re-established in Tripoli -- to oust the Islamic State group from nearby Sirte. Rogero said that the exchange of information with other countries also allowed the Egyptian navy to intercept a shipment of 1.2 million Captagon pills, an amphetamine popular in Gulf and other Middle Eastern countries that is also believed to play a crucial part in Syria's civil war. The production of this synthetic stimulant provides income for the warring factions and also keeps fighters awake and energised over long periods. MADRID, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Spain's King Felipe will meet leaders of all the main political parties Oct. 24 and 25 in the latest attempt to pick a candidate to form a government after almost 10 months of political stalemate following two inconclusive elections. Under Spanish law, the king acts as a formal broker between political parties after elections in December and June which gave no single leader a clear majority. After the last consultation following the June election, acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was tasked with finding parliamentary support to form a government, but lost two confidence votes in his bid for a second term. The resignation this month of Socialist party head, Pedro Sanchez, who blocked Rajoy's reelection in previous votes, may prompt the traditional left-wing opposition to abstain in a confidence vote avoiding the need for a third election. (Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by Sonya Dowsett) By Jim Finkle and Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - St. Jude Medical Inc (STJ.N) on Tuesday said it would recall some of its 400,000 implanted heart devices due to risk of premature battery depletion, a condition linked to two deaths in Europe. The devices shock dangerously racing heartbeats back to their normal rhythm or to treat heart failure. All the devices, called ICDs and CRT-Ds, contain batteries that were manufactured before May 23, 2015, when the company added insulation to reduce the chance of an electrical short circuit. "There have been two deaths that have been associated with the loss of defibrillation therapy as a result of premature battery depletion," St. Jude's vice president of quality control, Jeff Fecho, said in an advisory to physicians on Tuesday. The devices were introduced in 2010 and are meant to last for seven years or longer, until their batteries are depleted, the company said. They are designed to vibrate at regular intervals once power is diminished, a signal to patients that they should visit their doctors for replacements within 90 days. In addition, a home monitoring unit wirelessly reads the battery level and other information and routinely sends details to doctors. The company said one of the patients died after his vibration signal indicated low power, but a few days before his planned replacement. The company said the recall is not expected to have a material financial impact on the company, although many patients are expected to visit their doctors and some could request early replacements. St. Jude said 841 devices had been returned to the company for analysis due to premature battery depletion, traced to a build-up of lithium clusters in the batteries. Mark Carlson, medical officer of St. Jude, said in an interview the company's advisory board of physicians has strongly recommended that most patients not seek prophylactic replacements "because the risk associated with replacing the devices outweighs the low risk of a patient problem occurring." Story continues News of the issue surfaced late on Monday when short-selling firm Muddy Waters tweeted a copy of a physician advisory from St. Jude, which agreed in April to sell itself for $25 billion to Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N). The letter said problems with the lithium batteries were rare and could be identified by patients using tools for monitoring battery levels at home. Patients should seek immediate medical attention as soon as they get a low-battery alert from the monitoring devices, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said, in announcing the recall. "Hospitals should immediately remove any unused devices affected by this recall, and contact the manufacturer to receive corrected devices," the FDA said. Wedbush Securities analyst Tao Levy said the recall would likely cost St. Jude no more than "a few million dollars" because relatively few patients will need early replacements and devices now being sold have improved and reliable batteries. St. Jude's shares fell 3.5 percent, while Abbott's declined 5.4 percent. Abbott said it still expects to close the St. Jude deal this year. The recall comes as St. Jude is defending itself against unrelated allegations that its heart devices are riddled with defects that make them vulnerable to cyber hacks. Those claims were made by Muddy Waters and research firm MedSec Holdings. St. Jude has denied the allegations and sued both firms. The FDA said on Tuesday its investigation into the cyber security vulnerabilities of the devices, including the Merlin@Home monitoring system, was continuing. "Despite the allegations, at this time, the FDA strongly recommends that the Merlin@Home device be used to monitor the battery for these affected devices because the benefits of continued patient monitoring and the life-saving therapy these devices provide greatly outweighs any potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities," the FDA said in a statement. Battery-depletion recalls or advisories have been issued in the past two years by Boston Scientific Corp (BSX.N) and Medtronic Plc (MDT.N), with no visible impact on company businesses, according to Barclays analyst Matt Taylor. Medtronic in November recalled three models of its InSync III pacemakers due to battery problems, but overall company pacer sales continued to grow sharply thanks to newer products, Taylor said. Boston Scientific in September 2014 alerted doctors of potential battery-life problems with two ICDs, and recommended that patients upgrade their software. St. Jude advised patients to check its website for details on which devices were affected by the battery issue. (http://www.sjm.com/batteryadvisory). (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston, Ransdell Pierson in New York and Ankur Banerjee and Natalie Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Lisa Shumaker) Stephen King has had enough! See the message he sent to the terrorizing clowns The world is going to the clowns and Stephen King is over it. With Halloween quickly approaching, the continual fear of clowns terrorizing towns is becoming more and more intense and King has a message for those evil clowns. The clown craze started back in August when a man dressed as a clown was trying to lure children into the woods in South Carolina. When reports first surfaced, there was a creepy masked clown terrorizing kids in two different apartment complexes in the state and everyone took notice. Its safe to say our fear of clowns became all too real almost instantly. King, who is responsible for probably most peoples uneasiness around clowns, due to his creation of Pennywise, the murderous clown from his 1986 horror novel, It, previously spoke out about the creepy clowns and their menacing ways in an interview with Bangor Daily News in September. I suspect its a kind of low-level hysteria, like Slender Man, or the so-called Bunny Man, who purportedly lurked in Fairfax County, Virginia, wearing a white hood with long ears and attacking people with a hatchet or an ax, King told the publication. The clown furor will pass, as these things do, but it will come back, because under the right circumstances, clowns really can be terrifying. The current creepy clown epidemic has been getting worse after threats were made on numerous Connecticut schools on Instagram and a group of clowns targeted college campuses in early October. With all this negative clown press and fear at an all-time high, King tweeted at the bad clowns and hopefully theyll listen. Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteriamost of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh, King tweeted on October 3. While clowns at childrens parties arent scary, these new clowns are a whole other level of weird. Heres to hoping there arent any more clown incidents this Halloween season. Just in case, wed advise staying away from anyone dressed like a clown happy or creepy! The post Stephen King has had enough! See the message he sent to the terrorizing clowns appeared first on HelloGiggles. By Joe Brock PRETORIA (Reuters) - South African prosecutors ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Tuesday to appear in court on Nov. 2 to hear fraud charges against him, news that sent the rand and share prices reeling. The rand dropped as much as 3.4 percent against the dollar amid fears Gordhan's legal troubles could damage investor confidence in South Africa, where he has stood out as a reliable figure for financial markets against a backdrop of corruption. The banking index fell as much as 5.12 percent, wiping 46.3 billion rand ($3.3 billion) off the market capitalization of South Africas six biggest banks. Prosecutor Shaun Abrahams said Gordhan, in his previous role as head of the South African Revenue Service (SARS), had cost the tax agency around 1.1 million rand ($79,000) by approving early retirement for tax agency deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay and re-hiring him as a consultant. Gordhan was served a summons to attend a court hearing at which he would acknowledge the charges against him, as outlined in the summons, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said. It was not a plea hearing, the NPA told Reuters. Gordhan said he would remain in his post despite the court summons. He has denied the allegations, saying they are part of a politically motivated campaign against him. In a statement late on Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma reaffirmed his support for Gordhan, adding that the decision to prosecute him came at a sensitive time when the minister was successfully leading initiatives toward economic revival. Perceived rifts between Gordhan and Zuma have previously rattled markets in Africa's most industrialized economy, which faces the risk of ratings downgrades later this year. Speaking to reporters, Abrahams said: "I can assure you there has been no political interference in this matter." Gordhan is already being investigated for his role in setting up a surveillance unit at the tax department a decade ago that is suspected of spying on politicians including Zuma. He was first questioned about this in February by an elite police unit but in August ignored a police summons on the inquiry, saying he had done nothing wrong. Analysts say Gordhan has urged fiscal prudence to appease ratings agencies while factions close to Zuma want to push through expensive projects. The president has denied any rift with Gordhan. Gordhan confirmed prosecution officials had delivered the summons to appear in court to his house on Tuesday morning. "It looks like we are in for a bit of excitement going forward," he said at a business seminar in Johannesburg. His lawyers later said in a statement Gordhan was seeking legal advice "to bring the matter to an expedited end." "A STEP CLOSER" Gordhan's political allies and opponents alike expressed concern over the impact a prosecution could have. David Maynier, the shadow minister of finance for the main opposition Democratic Alliance party, said that prosecuting Gordhan would be "a disaster for the economy" and would make a credit ratings downgrade more likely. The ruling African National Congress urged Gordhan to cooperate with the summons and said the lingering inquiry was having a detrimental effect on the economy. The ANC said it hoped the prosecutor's latest move would bring the country "a step closer to uncovering the truth from facts" and resolve the saga. South Africa's Communist Party, a member of a ruling alliance with the ANC, said it was opposed to "political persecutions in any manifestation." Analysts said the Gordhan summons undermined the business climate in the country. "This will further erode confidence in the political and economic management of South Africa," Daniel Silke, director of Political Futures Consultancy, said. "It will potentially affect our chances of sustaining the current rating agency levels." Government and dollar bonds fell sharply, while the cost of insuring exposure to South African debt leapt to three-month highs. Investors and rating agencies back Gordhan's plans to rein in government spending in an economy that has been forecast by the central bank to grow at just above zero percent this year. A cut to "junk" status in ratings reviews due later this year would have pushed up Pretoria's borrowing costs, making it harder to plug the budget deficit. But Cathy Powell, a public law lecturer at the University of Cape Town, said she believed Gordhan was likely to come away unscathed. "I am willing to lay quite a lot of money on a bet that Gordhan will be found not guilty and he could then possibly make a civil claim against the NPA for malicious prosecution." (Additional reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, Ed Stoddard Tanisha Heiberg in Johannesburg, and Wendell Roelff in Cape Town; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Ed Cropley/Mark Heinrich) By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide whether to revive a civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of a Mexican teenager against a U.S. Border Patrol agent who fatally shot the 15-year-old from across the border in Texas in 2010. The justices will review an April 2015 ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that threw out the civil rights claims against the agent, Jesus Mesa, filed by the family of Sergio Hernandez. The appeals court ruled that the lawsuit could not move forward in part because the U.S. Constitution's ban on unjustified deadly force did not apply to Hernandez because he was a Mexican citizen on Mexican soil when the shooting occurred in June 2010. The incident took place at a border crossing between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The U.S. Border Patrol said at the time that Hernandez was pelting U.S. agents with rocks from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande before the shooting. U.S. authorities have asserted that Mesa shot Hernandez in self-defense. Lawyers for Hernandez's family disputed that account, saying he was playing a game with other teenagers in which they would run across a culvert from the Mexican side and touch the U.S. border fence before dashing back. The FBI also said Hernandez was a known immigrant smuggler who had been pressed into service by smuggling gangs that took advantage of his youth. Hernandez guided illegal immigrants into the United States, the FBI said. Hernandez's family sued both the U.S. federal government and Mesa. The Supreme Court appeal only concerns the claims against Mesa. The case was seized on by activists who accused the United States of using heavy-handed tactics in dealing with immigration and human smuggling. The shooting was condemned by Mexico's government and prompted demonstrations in Ciudad Juarez. The court will hear oral arguments and decide the case in its current term, which ends in June. The justices also announced on Tuesday that they will hear three related cases on a similar legal question concerning whether immigrants detained after the Sept. 11 attacks who said they faced abusive treatment can sue government officials. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) On Tuesday afternoon, the United States Supreme Court said it would accept an appeal from the family of a boy from Mexico who was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer. Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, 15, died in 2010 as he stood on Mexican soil by a border officer who fired his gun while on United States soil in Texas. The agent claimed Hernandez and others were throwing rocks at him. Hernandezs family sued the agent for damages, but in 2015 the Fifth Circuit appeals court said the family had no standing to sue because the teen was a Mexican citizen and not protected by the Fifth Amendment under its Due Process clause or by the Fourth Amendment. The full appeals court had unanimously ruled in favor of the agent. The Supreme Court took the appeal today and also added a question about determining if the parents had a constitutional right to sue a Border Patrol officer. Last year, Constitution Daily Supreme Court correspondent Lyle Denniston explained to our readers the core constitutional issue in this case. Overseas, or offshore, application of the rights spelled out in the Constitution was dealt a major setback in 1990, when the Supreme Court ruled that a Mexican national who was being held prisoner inside the United States had no Fourth Amendment right to challenge a search of his home in Mexico by a joint investigative team from the two countries, Denniston said, referring to a case called United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez. Even a quarter-century later, however, just what that decision actually means about extraterritorial reach for the Constitution remains a matter of considerable debate. The main opinion said that constitutional rights do not apply outside the country to an individual who had no voluntary links to the United States. But Justice Anthony M. Kennedy supplied a necessary fifth vote to make a majority in that case, and his separate opinion suggested that he thought that the specific context of each case might actually make the difference in the analysis. Then, Justice Kennedy wrote a major opinion for the Court in Boumediene v. Bush in 2008 extending the constitutional right of habeas corpus to the foreign nationals that the U.S. was then holding (and scores of whom it still holds) at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. That opinion, if understood to apply beyond the specific factual situation of the detainees at Guantanamo, would appear to stand for the proposition that the extraterritorial application of the Constitutions guarantee of rights depends upon objective factors and practical concerns (as Kennedy put it in the opinion), rather than the nearly categorical approach of the Verdugo-Urquidez decision in 1990, Denniston explained. ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's financial watchdog FINMA has sanctioned Falcon Private Bank Ltd after it "seriously breached" money-laundering regulations over its handling of funds linked to scandal-hit Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB, FINMA said on Tuesday. FINMA, the Financial Market Supervisory Authority, ordered Zurich-based Falcon, owned by Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), to turn over 2.5 million Swiss francs ($2.56 million) in what the watchdog said were illegal profits. It also said it has opened enforcement proceedings against two former Falcon executives, without citing them by name. The news comes as Singapore directed Falcon to cease operations in the city-state and fined top local lender DBS Bank and UBS AG over lapses in its biggest crackdown on entities dealing with 1MDB. (Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) 2 kimchi quesadilla A surprising menu mashup has found incredible success at Taco Bell restaurants in South Korea. The kimchi quesadilla makes up 10% of sales in the country, Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol said at Yum Brands' annual investor day on Tuesday. Taco Bell only launched kimchi quesadillas in South Korea in June, combining the fermented Korean dish with typical Taco Bell cheesiness and spicy chicken. However, just because the dish is a hit doesn't mean Americans can expect to see it on menus in the US. According to Niccol, the dish represents Taco Bell's attempt to "localize" menus as the chain expands internationally. Today, Taco Bell has 300 international locations in 22 countries. By 2022, the chain wants to have more than 1,000 restaurants internationally in 40 countries. taco bell fries Part of this expansion strategy is appealing to local tastes. That means that Taco Bell has served up options such as the Tikka Masala Burrito in India and beer in Spain. Loaded fries are on the menu everywhere from Chile to Canada to Japan. Appealing to local tastes also means that many of these intriguing items aren't going to come to Taco Bell locations in the US any time soon including the kimchi quesadilla. "Our kimchi quesadilla is very popular in South Korea and fitting for what our customers and the culture of that market are looking for," Taco Bell spokesperson Alec Boyle told Business Insider. "It is not as reflective of what our consumers here in the states are looking for when they come to Taco Bell." , ~! # ! ~! # # # # #KoreaTacoBell # A photo posted by Taco Bell Korea (@koreatacobell) on Jun 22, 2016 at 9:14pm PDT on Jun 22, 2016 at 9:14pm PDT The fast-food chain is in a phase of experimentation, especially when it comes to new ways of serving up fried chicken. Its Crispy Chicken Chips are described as "wedge-shaped chicken tenders," and its Naked Chicken Chalupa is essentially a taco that swaps a tortilla for fried chicken. Story continues For now, however, the kimchi quesadilla is unlikely to join the ranks to American menu items. Taco Bell's dedication to including local favorites in new countries may be disappointing for American eaters but it's a win for the increasingly international chain. NOW WATCH: Heres the easiest and fastest way to dice an avocado More From Business Insider TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares of Takata Corp <7312.T> fell sharply on Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported late last week that the troubled Japanese air bag maker is weighing a U.S. bankruptcy filing as one option for clearing a path for an outside investor. Takata issued a statement on Tuesday saying the reported plan was not something it had announced. Markets were closed in Japan on Monday for a public holiday. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday that Takata's U.S. arm would seek protection from creditors in a federal bankruptcy court under preliminary plans being discussed. Takata, which has retained investment bank Lazard Ltd as an advisor, has been working to choose a sponsor for its turnaround as it faces huge costs related to the global recall of millions of potentially faulty air bag inflators. Reuters reported last month that all five bidders seeking to bail out Takata presented restructuring plans that require the company to file for bankruptcy protection. Takata shares were trading down 6 percent in the morning session on Tuesday after initially falling as much as 10 percent. (Reporting by Ayai Tomisawa and Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Richard Pullin) From ELLE Well. That happened. The second 2016 Presidential Debate took place last night and it was a stimulating hour of thoughtful points and rich discussion about the minutiae of national policy. Just kidding, it was an episode of Jerry Springer as written by Edward Albee. Here's actual footage of Hillary Clinton leaving the auditorium: The candidates entertained questions from a room full of voters who, I can only assume, are undecided because they've just returned from a year-long voyage to space on Elon Musk's ship. Like, is The Martian a true story? Is that what happened? How could we leave Ken Bone stranded on Mars?! No Bone left behind! Photo credit: NBC.com Welcome back, Ken Bone: American Hero. I tried to get the hashtag #ImWithBone started but it got awkward very quickly. Anyway, Captain Kenneth Bone and these 49 other brave, undecided astronauts peppered the candidates with questions while Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper sassed their way through moderation like two parents on the last leg of a 12-hour trip to Disney World with a carful squabbling toddlers. It was a whole scene. That grimace of incredulity didn't leave Martha Raddatz's face for a full hour. Meanwhile, Anderson Cooper was 100 percent done from the jump. It's like he suddenly realized that he was too rich and too famous for literally everything that was happening around him all at once. Anderson Cooper was the kind of done you get when your work friend drags you to the hot new bar in the city for happy hour and, of course, there's a line 30 deep and they're charging $17 for a martini and you're like "Dammit, Sheila, no offense but this is really threatening my chi right now. I told you we should have just gone to the Applebee's on the Interstate. Why do you always have to be so fancy?!" It was like that. Anyway, if you weren't one of the undecided voters on the mission to Mars (Code name: ET Phone Bone) you didn't really need to actually listen to the debate. In fact it was probably better if you didn't. Story continues Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Blessings to whomever decided to give the candidates handheld microphones because what could have been a dramatic reenactment of your parents' divorce proceedings, with the sound off becomes a really solid episode of VH1's Diva Live! I have to admit, I think I was too quick to judge the Mary J. Blige method of engaging in political discourse through song. If we've learned anything from the 6,000 times we've listened to The Last Five Years cast album, it's that every bitter, soul-crushing disagreement is beautiful in song! I mean, this image is basically a still from "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Actually, what it needs to be is a still from The Police song "Don't Stand So Close to Me" because Trump is all up on Clinton like a virus. Message to guys: never do this. Make like Stevie Nicks and stand back. No woman wants your hot breath tattooing the aroma of your lunch on her neck. Nobody wants this actually. Save your close talking for the locker room. Anyway, no matter what your feelings about the candidates are, it's so much better to look at pictures of them and imagine they spent last night belting on Broadway. They'd enter with a swinging jazz medley. One of them would suggest the Sinatra standard "The Lady Is a Tramp" but that would be nixed because we're all going to commit to not being terrible humans from now on. They'd settle on the "It Don't Mean a Thing" followed by "Don't Be That Way" and finally the Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong tune "Can't We Be Friends?" The crowd would eat it up. Next up: the Patti LaBelle/Michael McDonald hit "On My Own." Photo credit: Robyn Beck/Getty Check out that dramatic staging! Props to Hamilton director Tommy Kail for his great work on this show. Segueing into their Broadway section, Trump tackles the Sondheim classic "Last Midnight" from Into the Woods. It's an... interesting choice. Photo credit: Robyn Beck/Getty But "Trouble" from The Music Man is delightfully on the nose. And Clinton's "Rose's Turn" brings down the house. Photo credit: Paul J. Richards/Getty "Gangway world, get off of my runway!" Appealing to a younger crowd, the candidates make the controversial decision to include a pop and hip-hop section. They end up cutting the "Great Diss Tracks of the '90s" segment, but some other numbers make the final show. Photo credit: Paul J. Richards/Getty "We could have had it alllll. Rolling in the deeeep." Photo credit: Paul J. Richards/Getty Here Hillary Clinton absolutely kills the Nicki Minaj verse in "Monster." And Trump shocks everyone by hitting every single key change in "Love on Top." Photo credit: Win McNamee/Getty What a great night for the country! What a great night for music! What a great night for democracy! Follow R. Eric Thomas on Twitter. You Might Also Like Sen. Ted Cruz, left, and Gov. Chris Christie at a Republican presidential debate in Boulder, Colo., last October. (Photo: Rick Wilking/Reuters) Republicans are abandoning Donald Trump in droves in the wake of his shockingly lewd comments about women, but Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Ted Cruz wont be joining them. Im still supporting Donald, the New Jersey governor said in a radio interview with WFAN on Tuesday. Im really upset about what I heard, but in the end this election is about bigger issues. Cruz agrees. I am supporting the Republican nominee because I think Hillary Clinton is an absolute disaster, the Texas senator told a local television station in Muleshoe, Texas, on Monday night, hours after House Speaker Paul Ryan told his fellow House Republicans that he would no longer defend Trump but would focus instead on down-ballot races. Trump fired back on Twitter. Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2016 Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 During the Republican primary, Trump frequently referred to Cruz as Lyin Ted, insulted his wife and suggested that Cruzs father was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Cruz was booed when he gave a speech while declining to endorse his partys nominee. Story continues Now my differences with Donald, I have articulated at great length during the campaign, Cruz said. And I tried all my might. I gotta tell you, it was an amazing journey. But Cruz, who ultimately endorsed Trump last month, insisted his endorsement has more to do with his commitment to the party and to taking down Trumps opponent than anything else. This is an election unlike any other, but I tell you, Hillary Clinton I think is manifestly unfit to be president, Cruz said in the interview, which was conducted at a Mexican restaurant part of the senators three-day state agriculture tour. The policies shes advancing are the continuation of eight years of Barack Obama. He added: We need to have a president, we need to have leaders in Washington that will fight to defend our jobs, to get government off our back and to defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights to keep us safe. Related: Evangelical magazine publishes scathing anti-Trump editorial In a 2005 video tape published Friday by the Washington Post, Trump was caught on a hot mic bragging to then Access Hollywood host Billy Bush that he could do anything he wanted to with women because of his celebrity status. I just kiss. I dont even wait, Trump said. And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything. The comments led to a cavalcade of Republicans including Arizona Sen. John McCain rescinding their endorsements of Trump. On Friday night, Trump apologized for his remarks but quickly pivoted to an attack on Bill Clintons sexual scandals. Christie said he was disappointed with the initial apology, but said he believed Trump was genuinely sorry. I do think hes sorry, Christie said. I was there when he found out about it, and there is no question in my mind hes embarrassed by it. But I think that he should have been much more direct and much more focused on just saying Im sorry and only Im sorry, and thats what I would have done. I wouldve just focused on making sure people understood that he was really sorry for what he had done 11 years ago. On Sunday, Cruz questioned the timing of the tapes release. NBC had tape 11 yrs. Apprentice producer says they have more & worse. So why not release in 2015? In March? Why wait till October? #MSMBias https://t.co/WCEEHhZKd6 Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 9, 2016 NBC had tape 11 yrs, he tweeted. Apprentice producer says they have more & worse. So why not release in 2015? In March? Why wait till October? Last week, Cruz was seen working the phones at the Republican Party headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, to encourage potential GOP voters to come out and vote in next months presidential election. A year ago, I stood onstage and promised to support the Republican nominee, whoever that was, Cruz said at the event. And I am honoring my word. Terror suspect Jaber Albakr arrested in Leipzig, Germany German police outside of the apartment building where hours earlier police arrested Syrian terror suspect Jaber Al-Bakr on October 10, 2016 in Leipzig, Germany. Al-Bakr is accused of planning a terror attack and having prepared high explosives for it at an apartment in Chemnitz. Police raided the Chemnitz apartment on Saturday but Al-Bakr managed to flee. According to media reports he approached two fellow Syrians at the main train station in Leipzig and asked if he could stay with them. The two men reportedly brought him to their apartment but then overwhelmed him and called the police. (Carsten Koall/Getty Images) Syrian refugee arrested in Germany on Monday after being tied up by three compatriots was plotting to bomb a Berlin airport in the name of the Islamic State group, the head of domestic intelligence said. We have received information from the secret services that he initially wanted to target trains in Germany before finally deciding on one of Berlins airports, Hans-Georg Maassen told German public TV channel ARD. While some German media outlets over the weekend suggested the suspect, Jaber Albakr, 22, had such a target in mind, this was the first official confirmation. The decision to arrest the suspect was taken Friday after he bought hot-melt glue. We thought this was the last chemical product he needed to make a bomb, said Maassen. Albakr had narrowly slipped through the police net Saturday when commandos raided his apartment and found 1.5 kilos (over 3 pounds) of TATP, the homemade explosive used by jihadists in the Paris and Brussels attacks. The explosives were almost ready, or even ready for use, said Joerg Michaelis, chief investigator in the eastern state of Saxony, adding that the suspect was apparently preparing a bomb, possibly in the form of a suicide vest. He tried to bribe us After a two-day manhunt, police finally got their man with the help of three of Albakrs fellow Syrians in the eastern city of Leipzig. (AFP) See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr. Tesla (TSLA) is doubling the size of the factory in Fremont, California, where it makes its cars. The company recently submitted a plan to the city of Fremont for an additional 4.5 million square feet of buildings, essentially doubling the amount of factory space. The move comes as the company sets the ambitious goal of increasing its manufacturing output to 500,000 by the end of 2018, even as some analysts and investors have worried about its track record of missing delivery targets. Tesla said earlier this month that its production numbers hit a new record of 25,185 for the third quarter, a 37 percent rise over the previous quarter. Still the company will probably badly need the new space to meet not only its overall production goal, but also a successful rollout of the Model 3 sedan Tesla's chance to break into the mid-priced car market. Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company is aiming to make 100,000 to 200,000 Model 3 sedans alone in just the second half of 2017. At its current rate of roughly 2,000 cars per week, the company would only make 104,000 total cars for the whole year. This is what the plan looks like, according to the proposal: The proposed buildings are outlined in red on the image, and there is a red dashed line outlining Tesla's property. The Fremont Planning Commission is scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss the plan and choose whether to recommend an approval to the Fremont City Council, which will likely hold a meeting next month to decide whether to approve the plan. "We are really excited," said Fremont Mayor Bill Harrison in an interview with CNBC. "Tesla has been expanding in Fremont over the last few years, and we think the submission of this plan solidifies their investment in Fremont. But it also shows people that we can still manufacture in California." The factory currently employs about 6,210 people, according to the proposal Tesla submitted to the commission. The new square footage would create an estimated 3,105 to 9,315 jobs, the proposal said. A BART mass transit rail station will open soon next to the plant, making it the only auto manufacturing plant in North America to be next to mass transit, Harrison said. Story continues Local laws require that Tesla first grant permission for its larger development project, then obtain permits for individual buildings, which Tesla may build over a period of several years. Tesla will also be able to make some changes as it goes forward. "This is a conceptual plan, this gives them flexibility in the future if they need to move things around as they get closer to rolling out the Model 3," Harrison said. Harrison said he thinks the expansion will also attract other companies "that want to be around Tesla," such as solar power firms, battery companies, and other businesses, and that the city is already beginning to see such interest. "We are calling it the 'Tesla effect,'" he said. Thailand's junta chief appealed for calm Tuesday after police warned of a plot to target Bangkok with car bombs, sparking a security alert across the capital including at airports. An unusually detailed police memo was handed to reporters on Monday warning that an unidentified group was planning to target Bangkok between October 25-30. The memo said "areas such as malls, car parks and tourist attractions" were at risk and ordered police to be extra-vigilant. In the past year Thailand has been rocked by blasts hitting its crucial tourist sector, a rare bright spot in an otherwise lacklustre economy. The junta has refused to label the assaults terrorist attacks and has played down suggestions tourists are being deliberately targeted. "Let officials carry out their jobs and please be confident in their work," Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who seized power in 2014, told reporters. He said the bomb plot was an "ongoing warning" and an investigation was underway but told people not to panic. Security was stepped up at Bangkok's main airport Tuesday and police were deployed to search cars parked in some of the capital's luxury malls. For more than a decade Thailand has had a notoriously turbulent domestic political scene and a festering Muslim Malay insurgency in its far south. Until recently foreigners had largely avoided being caught up in the violence. But in early August coordinated blasts struck multiple places in Thailand's tourist-popular south, killing four Thais and wounding dozens including foreign visitors. A year earlier a bomb tore through a Bangkok shrine popular with Chinese visitors, killing 20 and wounding more than 100. Most of the victims were ethnic Chinese overseas visitors. Both attacks were followed by confusing and contradictory statements from authorities, with military leaders initially keen to blame domestic political opponents. But police now believe the multiple bomb attacks in August this year were carried out by Muslims from the "Deep South". Story continues Shadowy militants have waged a 12-year fight there for more autonomy but rarely attack targets outside of the three southern Malay-speaking provinces. Monday's police memo did not say who might be behind the bomb plot, though the southern insurgents have used car bombs in previous attacks. October 25 is also the anniversary of 2004's "Tak Bai incident," when more than 80 people in the deep south died, most of them protesters crushed to death in overloaded vans after they were arrested. The deaths lit the fuse of the current southern rebellion. According to Thai police, last year's shrine bombing was the work of two Chinese Uighurs who are currently on trial for the attack. Most analysts believe the bombing was revenge for Thailand's forcible deportation of 109 Uighurs back to China, where rights groups say they face significant repression. Thai authorities maintain the attack was not political and was carried out by a passport forgery gang angry at a policing crackdown. Thailand's most prominent opposition Red Shirt leader was back behind bars on Tuesday after a court ruled that he had breached bail conditions by criticising the junta during a television show. The grassroots Red Shirt movement is loyal to the ousted government of Yingluck Shinawatra and her brother Thaksin whose administrations were both toppled by military coups, the latest in May 2014. Since then both Yingluck and Red Shirt leaders have been slapped with a slew of legal cases that have kept them bound up in the courts and facing lengthy jail spells. On Tuesday morning Bangkok's Criminal Court jailed Jatuporn Prompan, the most outspoken of the Red Shirt leaders. In a statement the court said Jatuporn had breached bail conditions by being "sarcastic" about the work of the junta. "The suspect went on a television programme and implicated other people and caused damage to their dignity and reputation with harsh words," the statement said. The bail conditions stem from a separate ongoing terrorism prosecution Jatuporn faces over his role in large, sometimes violent pro-democracy demonstrations in 2010 that were eventually quashed by soldiers resulting in dozens of protester deaths. Speaking to reporters before the hearing Jatuporn greeted the prospect of jail with dark humour. "I have been imprisoned twice so if today the court revokes my bail and sends me to prison I have prepared my personal stuff, although I have only brought my sneakers, not socks," he said. The remark was a reference to the recent death in custody of a suspect who police said hung himself using a sock. The military says it was forced to seize power to curb political corruption and bring much-needed stability after a decade of political turmoil between Shinawatra supporters and their opponents. But critics say the putsch is an attempt to ensure the Shinawatras are never in power again. The Shinawatras are adored by rural supporters in Thailand's northeast but loathed by a military-allied elite based in Bangkok who accuse them of corruption and nepotism. Story continues Shinawatra parties have won every poll in the past decade. Thailand's generals have clamped down on politics and severely curbed free expression since their 2014 power grab, jailing scores of critics of the government and monarchy -- often for comments posted on social media. Convictions under the country's draconian royal defamation law have also surged. Analysts say anxiety over 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej's ailing health has exacerbated the past decade of political conflict, as competing elites wrestle for influence. A brilliant new collaboration between Tesco and St Johns Ambulance is hoping to teach parents baby CPR [Photo: Instagram/st_john_ambulance] Not knowing what to do if your baby started to choke has to be up there with one of the biggest parenting fears. But despite the concern a recent study by findababysitter.com has revealed that 72% of parents across the UK wouldnt know how to assist an unconscious child, attend to a burn or scald or administer CPR. Scary stuff. But a brilliant new collaboration between Tesco and St Johns Ambulance is hoping to change all that by designing a free babygrow containing easy-to-follow instructions which will help teach parents how to give baby CPR. The launch comes after the charity found that 74% of mums and dads said that their baby not breathing is the first aid emergency they fear the most, while also revealing that of the 2,000 parents surveyed only a quarter knew what to do if their baby actually stopped breathing. The exclusive babygrows were available earlier this year in Tesco stores, but following huge demand from parents St John's Ambulance have today announced that the babygrows will now be available via sja.org.uk/getagrow for a 3 donation to St John Ambulance. We hope the worst will never happen but the babygrow, and our online video, shows parents what to do in a very clear and simple way, said Sue Killen, CEO of St John Ambulance. Cute and practical [Photo: St Johns Ambulance] The cute babygrow features a reminder from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty of the five puffs and 30 pumps, followed by two puffs and 30 pumps parents need to give their baby if they stop breathing. There are also clear instructions on the collar of the babygrow and on the tag to help parents remember what to do. The hope is that parents first aid knowledge will increase every time the babygrow is worn, washed or handled. Story continues "We're thrilled by the support we have received for the CPR babygrow. Lots of parents have contacted us to get their own babygrow and we are delighted Tesco has made them available online. These life saving babygrows would be ideal stocking fillers for new parents - but be quick as they are limited edition!" Sue Killen, CEO of St John Ambulance said. What do you think of the idea? Let us know @YahooStyleUK The rise of the digi parent: Why smartphones are offering a lifeline to new mums Parents are being warned not to let babies sleep in car seats for long periods of time NAIROBI (Reuters) - A ruling party official and two others were killed in a bar in southern Burundi, an official said on Tuesday, as the toll from 18 months of political violence grows. Unidentified gunmen attacked the bar in Saga village, Rumonge province, at around 8:30 p.m. on Monday evening, regional official Joachim Manirakiza told Reuters. Manirakiza said a school principal was among the victims. The African country has been gripped by political strife and conflict since President Pierre Nkurunziza's sought and won a third term in 2015, which opponents said violated the constitution and terms of a peace deal that ended civil war in 2005. At least three rebel groups have taken up arms against Nkurunziza and hundreds have been killed, including opposition figures and government officials, in tit-for-tat violence. The U.N. Human Rights Council agreed last week to set up a commission of inquiry to identify perpetrators of killings and torture in Burundi and to ensure they are brought to justice. Burundi rejected the move. At least 564 killings have been documented by the United Nations in Burundi since the unrest broke out. (Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Alison Williams) (Reuters) - "Game of Thrones" actor Liam Cunningham paid a surprise visit on Tuesday to a teenage Syrian refugee now in possession of a German visa and living in Stuttgart, a month after first meeting him in Jordan. Cunningham, who plays Ser Davos Seaworth in the HBO television channel hit medieval fantasy first met 16-year-old Hussam when he visited Jordan's northern city of Irbid in early September, as part of a project by the charity World Vision to raise awareness about the plight of refugees. The Irish actor and his British co-stars, Lena Headey and Maisie Williams, have also visited refugee camps in Greece earlier this year. Hussam told Reuters he was "really happy, really happy" when Cunningham surprised him, adding, "It is like seeing my father." Hussam fled first to Jordan after his school in Syria was struck by missiles during his final exams. "A plane shot the school with missiles. So, many students (and) my friends are dead and killed," Hussam said. Hussam is one of more than four million Syrians who have fled the country's war, which began in 2011 after a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and his family's rule. The war has killed more than 300,000 people, half the population has been displaced and much of urban Syria has become a wasteland. According to World Vision, Hussam's father and brother are already legally settled in Germany. Hussam is now staying in a hotel in Stuttgart with his mother until they find accommodation and the teenager has been teaching himself to speak German. Cunningham commended Germany for welcoming refugees fleeing war in their home countries. "This is the result of somebody in the government here and the large heart that the German people have of accepting people in trouble," Cunningham said. (Reporting by Reuters Television) Remember when Tim Tebow hit a home run on the first pitch of his professional career in New York Mets instructional camp? Yeah, that was something. Well, Tebow made his debut in the Arizona Fall League on Tuesday. Hes playing at a higher level now, against legit MLB prospects and, this time, there was no such dynamic debut. It was, in a couple words, not great. Tim Tebow warming up for the Scottsdale Scorpions. (AP) Tebow went 0-3 at the plate for the Scottsdale Scorpions with three groundouts. He also crashed head-first into the outfield wall while trying to catch a flyball. Then there was this: Tebow hit a ball right in front of the plate and didnt even run to first. From the looks of the video below, via The Big Lead, you could guess that Tebow didnt know it was a fair ball. Nonetheless, doesnt this sound like the type of game that would cause people to criticize Tebow if his name were Yasiel Puig? Were sure Tebow, on the other hand, will be praised for playing hard and will be forgiven for his mistakes because hes still learning. More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd told customers on Tuesday to stop using their Galaxy Note7 smartphones while it investigates reports of fires in the devices, as the tech giant scrambled to contain a deepening recall crisis. The following is a chronology of major developments related to Samsung's recall of the Note 7s since the launch of the smartphones in August. Oct. 11 - Samsung asks customers to stop using all Note 7 smartphones, halts sales and exchanges of the device globally as it investigates reports of fires in new devices. Oct. 10 - Samsung says it is adjusting Note 7 shipments for inspections, quality control due to more phones catching fire. Oct. 9 - AT&T, T-Mobile say they have halted issuing new Galaxy Note 7 smartphones due to safety concerns. Oct. 6 - A Southwest Airlines plane in the United States evacuated due to smoke from a Note 7 device on board. Oct. 1 - Samsung resumes selling new Note 7s in South Korea. Sep. 29 - Samsung says more than 1 million people globally now using Note 7s with safe battery. Sept. 25- Samsung delays S.Korea re-start of Note 7 sales by 3 days. Sept. 22 - South Korea orders extra battery safety measures for Note 7 phones. Sept. 21- Verizon Communications, Sprint Corp begin taking orders for new Note 7s. Sept. 19 - Samsung says a Note 7 phone a China user claims caught on fire was caused by external heating. Sept. 19 - Samsung starts Note 7 exchange programme in SouthKorea. Sept. 16 - Florida man sues Samsung for burns from Note 7 explosion. Samsung says to resume Note 7 sales in South Korea on Sept. 28. Sept. 15 - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission formally announces recall of about 1 million Note 7 phones. Sept. 9 - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urges Galaxy Note 7 users to stop using their phone. Sept. 8 - U.S. Federal Aviation Administration advises passengers to not turn on or charge Note 7 smartphones aboard aircraft or stow them in plane cargo. Sept. 2 - Samsung announces global recall of 2.5 million Note 7 phones, citing faulty batteries. Story continues Sept. 1 - Samsung starts Galaxy Note 7 sales in China. Aug. 31 - Samsung delays shipments of Note 7s to South Korean carriers. Aug. 24 - Report of a Note 7 explosion surfaces in South Korea. Aug. 19 - Samsung starts Galaxy Note 7 sales in 10 markets including United States and South Korea. Aug. 2 - Samsung unveils the Galaxy Note 7 at a New York media event. (Reporting by Nataly Pak and Se Young Lee; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Kenneth Maxwell) From Cosmopolitan On August 8, 2014, 26-year-old Warriena Wright allegedly tried to escape Gable Tostees 14th-floor apartment by climbing over the balcony and fell to her death. The 30-year-old is now on trial - and pleading not guilty - for her murder, Stuff.co reports. Wright, originally from New Zealand, was in Australia for a friends wedding and vacation. According to ABC.net, she and Tostee first spoke via Tinder seven days before her death and arranged to meet. Its unclear what they did before heading back to Tostees apartment, but the pair began drinking when they got there. Prosecutors also believe they had violent sex (or engaged in some sort of rough physical activity) before Wright ended up on the balcony early on the morning of the 8th. Recordings of the entire night pulled from Tostees phone include noises consistent with her being choked or strangled in some way, though Tostees defense argued he restrained her as self-defense and that she became increasingly erratic as the night went on. "Are you going to f*cking untie me because I will f*cking destroy your jaw," Wright reportedly said at one point. I should have never given you so much to drink," Tostee replied. Photo credit: undefined The Guardian reports Tostee can be heard saying Youre lucky I havent chucked you off my balcony you God damn psycho bitch. Youre not going to collect any belongings, youre just going to walk out. If you try to pull anything Ill knock you out. Ill knock you the fuck out do you understand? in the recording. Wright also allegedly expressed that she wanted to leave several times before that. Tostee at some point allegedly locked Wright out on the balcony, though its unclear if she got there voluntarily. Neighbors testified hearing her scream No, no, no, please let me go home before seeing her fall from the balcony just seconds later. Tostee allegedly called his father at that point and told him "I forced her out on to the balcony and I think she mightve jumped off. Story continues Tostee was originally granted bail in 2014 under the condition he stay with his parents, according to ABC.net. He was also ordered to stay off online dating sites through trial and be treated for a diagnosed alcohol problem. Trial is expected to go through the end of the week. Follow Tess on Twitter. You Might Also Like An adorable tiny kitten got pam'purrred' with a small, cozy sweater, made just for her, after being rescued from Hurricane Matthew. Read: Meow Do I Get Down? Cat Rescued After It's Stuck on 12th Floor Ledge of Building The weeks-old old kitty was brought into PetSmarts Banfield Pet Hospital in North Carolina, where veterinarians made her a tiny, make-shift sweater out of a tube sock that was equipped with little holes for its arms. It was then that a family walked in to look at cats with the children eager to find a new furry addition, according to another customer, Sarah, who was in the store at the time. A vet assistant saw the kids and asked if they were looking for a cat and the father laughingly replied Maybe," Sarah said in a Twitter post. Sarah said the employee suggested the newly rescued cat to the family and once they saw her strutting her stuff in her outfit, they were ecstatic. Both he and his kids were obviously IN LOVE, Sarah wrote. After what Sarah called a heart-melting meet and greet, the father consulted his wife about and minutes later she was cradeled in his wife's arms and they were already shopping for supplies for her. Read: Four Newborn Kittens Rescued From Back of Laundromat Dryer After They're Separated From Momma Cat "I was relieved the kitten found a loving new home," Sarah said. Sarah posted to Twitter that if the family didnt take the kitten, she would have offered to transport the animal to a nearby shelter. Thankfully, that wasn't necessary. Watch: Watch Coast Guard Save Tiny Kitten's Life with Mouth-To-Mouth CPR Related Articles: Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f242343%2f5194ec774723482689bb05ffa6552719 If you're still an undecided voter, maybe Tom DeLonge, formerly of blink-182, can help sway you to Clinton's team. DeLonge parted ways with the band to devote more of his time to researching extraterrestrial life. Now WikiLeaks has published emails DeLonge sent to Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta, about UFOs. SEE ALSO: 10-hour loop of Tom DeLonge's verse on Blink-182's 'I Miss You' is hypnotic The Wall Street Journal first reported on the emails, in which DeLonge, who has had a scholarly interest in extraterrestrial life for the past couple decades, proves that he's not like you guys. Oh, and he doesn't like the word aliens anymore. In an email from October 2015, DeLonge suggests bringing "A-Level" officials to Washington, D.C., to meet with Podesta in person. DeLonge wisely declined to share any sensitive information in an email, so we may never know the specifics. A second email from January 2016 gets into a little more detail. DeLonge writes about General McCasland, who he claims to be working with, and who, apparently, has inside knowledge of Roswell that made him believe in extraterrestrial life. Another email sent at the beginning of this year suggests that DeLonge may have successfully made contact. With the Clinton campaign, that is. The email shows that Susan McCasland Wilkerson accepted an invitation from Podesta to an event called "DeLonge/Podesta Meeting." McCasland Wilkerson is likely the former NASA astronaut candidate of the same name. She comes from DeLonge's hometown of San Diego and apparently performs live music, which is something DeLonge still sometimes does. Clinton has previously stated that she wants the government's UFO files released. If there is something there, unless its a threat to national security, I think we ought to share it with the public," she said. Maybe Clinton can be DeLonge's new Mark Hoppus. Bonus: 5 Seconds of Summer play pop-punk charades (Corrects speaker attribution in 10th, 11th paragraph) By Andrew MacAskill and Anjuli Davies LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Top bankers warned on Tuesday they could start moving staff abroad as early as next year if there is no clarity on whether Britain will retain access to the European single market when it leaves the EU. Senior executives from European divisions of some of the world's biggest financial institutions told a conference in London they felt the government's tougher rhetoric on immigration risked harming the economy. James Bardrick, the UK head of U.S. bank Citi, said the main dilemma facing the finance industry was how urgently it needed to act on contingency plans aimed at protecting their businesses, following Britain's vote in June to leave the European Union. "How do we and when do we start making decisions ... knowing the plan is ready to go ... it could be in the first quarter of 2017," he told a conference in London. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said she would trigger the two-year process to leave the EU by the end of March and last week appeared to prioritise capping immigration over retaining access to the single market. The future of London as Europe's financial centre is expected to be a major negotiating point in May's talks with EU partners, with banks keen to retain the "passporting" rights which allow them to sell financial services across the bloc. Rob Rooney, CEO of Morgan Stanley international, said his bank would also have to move parts of their operations from London if Britain were shut out of the single market. "It really isn't terribly complicated. If we are outside the EU and we don't have what would be a stable and long-term commitment to access the single market then a lot of the things we do today in London, we'd have to do inside the EU 27," he told delegates at a conference in London. Getting the best deal for the City of London will be an "absolute priority" in Brexit trade talks with the EU, financial services minister Simon Kirby told the conference. Story continues CULTURE HIT Tim Roberts, managing director of consulting firm Promontory Financial Group, said London began to rival New York as a financial centre in the 1980s because it welcomed people regardless of their nationality or gender. "If we lose that, and we allow not Brexit itself, but some of the sentiments expressed nationally that led up to the referendum to erode that culture then I think it damages London as a financial centre," Roberts said. The government backtracked on a recent proposal to make companies list their foreign workers after an outcry from business groups, who said any initiative to "name and shame" employers would be divisive and discriminatory. The chairman of the Lloyd's of London insurance market John Nelson criticised the tone of language used by government ministers, and said Britain risked turning its back on the global economy for the first time since World War Two. "We have to be very clear that the rest of the world is looking very, very closely right now," Nelson said. "We have to be careful that we keep the UK open... and making sure we are able to attract the right talent globally. If we don't do that we will not remain the financial sector that we are today." (Editing by Sinead Cruise/Keith Weir) Sanaa (AFP) - Leading rebel officers were among those killed in the weekend air strike on a funeral in Yemen's capital, blamed on pro-government Arab coalition warplanes, according to official media reports on Tuesday. Funerals for several top rebel-allied officers and officials killed in Saturday's strike were held in Sanaa on Tuesday, rebel-controlled Saba news agency reported. The Iran-backed rebels have blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the air strike, one of the deadliest since the alliance launched a military campaign against the Shiite insurgents in March 2015. After initially denying responsibility, the coalition said Sunday it was ready to investigate the "regrettable and painful" strike, while UN chief Ban Ki-Moon demanded a "prompt and impartial" probe. Three commanders of the elite republican guard brigades, loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who is allied with Shiite Huthi rebels, were said to be among those killed. They were named by Saba as General Ali al-Jaefi, head of the republican guard and Brigadiers Abdulmalik Marzooq and Ali al-Hamzi. General Ahmed Manea, a member of the supreme security committee, was also among those killed in the air strike which killed at least 140 people and wounded more than 525 others according to the UN. Deputy security chief of Sanaa province, Ahmed al-Shalef, and the head of the rebels' civil status authority, brigadier Yehya al-Rowaishan, were also listed as killed in the attack. The Saudi-led coalition has come under increasing international pressure over civilian deaths. The conflict has killed more than 6,800 people -- almost two thirds of them civilians -- and displaced at least three million since the coalition launched it campaign in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. Integrated oil & gas company TOTAL S.A. TOT announced that it has signed an agreement with The Carlyle Group CG to sell its specialty chemicals affiliate, Atotech B.V., for $3.2 billion. Divestment a Part of TOTALs Strategy The agreement to sell the specialty chemical business comes as part of TOTALs portfolio management strategy, given that Carlyles asset base is a strategic fit for TOTALs business plans. The deal is also in line with TOTALs $10 billion divestment program over the 20152017 time frame. TOTALs Acquisitions & Sales TOTAL is forging ahead with its asset sales and buyouts in a bid to reshape the portfolio and optimize profits from its existing assets. During third quarter, the company signed an agreement with Qatar Petroleum, under which it acquired a 30% interest in the giant offshore Al-Shaheen oil field. The agreement will be valid through 25 years starting Jul 14, 2017. However, TOTAL has to compete with the likes of ExxonMobil XOM, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corporation CVX and BP Plc. for acquiring assets and licenses for the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, as well as for the sale of manufactured products based on crude and refined oil. In the second quarter, TOTAL acquired assets worth $206 million, primarily comprising shares in Saft, and sold assets worth $472 million, consisting mainly of its retail network in Turkey. TOTAL FINA SA Price TOTAL FINA SA Price | TOTAL FINA SA Quote New Strategy to Counter Weakness Like every other major company operating in the oil and gas space, TOTAL is suffering due to the weak commodity price environment. To counter this, TOTALs management aims to continue leveraging its diverse asset portfolio to maximize profits, which is in sync with its long-term growth objectives. TOTALs long-term outlook is to boost annual production by an average 5% between 2014 and 2020 (up to 2019 as per the prior guidance). The company commenced started four projects this year and already has 10 projects under construction, which will give support to managements production goals. (Read more: TOTAL Revises Strategy to Profit amid Weak Oil Prices) Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CHEVRON CORP (CVX): Free Stock Analysis Report TOTAL FINA SA (TOT): Free Stock Analysis Report EXXON MOBIL CRP (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report CARLYLE GROUP (CG): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> official on Tuesday raised concerns about California's plans to require compliance with a planned U.S. autonomous vehicle safety check list, calling it "preposterous." Hilary Cain, director of technology and innovation policy at Toyota Motor North America, criticized California's proposal to require automakers to submit the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) 15-point safety check list before testing vehicles. "If we don't do what's being asked of us voluntarily by NHTSA, we cannot test an automated system in the state of California. That is preposterous and that means testing that is happening today could be halted and that means testing that is about to be started could be delayed," she said at a Capitol Hill forum. On September 30, California unveiled revised rules that carmakers will have to certify that they complied with the 15-point NHTSA assessment instead of self-driving cars being required to be tested by a third-party, as in the original proposal. California would allow for the absence of a human driver and a steering wheel in advanced self-driving cars, provided there is two-way communication with the vehicle and NHTSA approval. California will hold a public hearing on the proposal October 19. President Barack Obama wrote a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette op-ed last month saying the administration is asking automakers "to sign a 15-point safety checklist showing not just the government, but every interested American, how theyre doing it." Cain also raised concerns about whether the NHTSA guidelines are too vague. "The problem is there is going to be accountability and there is going to be enforcement," Cain said, saying in some areas NHTSA needs to offer more specific guidance. "We need to go through this with a fine tooth comb." Former NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, who now represents self-driving advocates including Alphabet Inc's Google unit , Ford Motor Co and Uber Technologies [UBER.UL], raised concerns at the forum about whether NHTSA has the expertise to review all of the data they are seeking on self-driving vehicles. Congress may need to "better resource the agency to deal with this new mission," he said. NHTSA has said it may need authority to conduct "pre-approval" of self-driving technologies before they are marketed. Cain said "the approach is somewhat flawed" and called for more conversation about how consumers can be assured that self-driving cars are safe. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told Reuters last month he strongly believes "we'll get great compliance from the auto industry" on voluntary self-driving guidelines. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Alistair Bell) Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday that the shackles have been taken off his campaign a thinly veiled threat suggesting that the final 28 days of the presidential race will be filled with personal attacks. That scorched-earth strategy is on full display in the Trump campaigns latest ad, which targets Hillary Clintons health. Our next president faces daunting challenges in a dangerous world, a voice-over says at the beginning of the ad. Iran promoting terrorism; North Korea threatening; ISIS on the rise; Libya and North Africa in chaos. Hillary Clinton failed every single time as secretary of state. Now she wants to be president. The 30-second spot, titled Dangerous, then cuts to clips of Clinton coughing on the stump and being helped up the stairs and into her van. Hillary Clinton doesnt have the strength, stamina or fortitude to lead in our world, the narrator continues over an image of her checking email on her BlackBerry. She failed us as secretary of state. Dont let her fail us again. Clintons health which has long been the subject of right-wing conspiracy theories was put into stark relief on Sept. 11 when she abruptly departed a 9/11 memorial service at Ground Zero, and video emerged of her stumbling and needing to be helped by aides into her van. Hours later, the campaign said that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days before and that she had become overheated and dehydrated at the event. The episode forced Clinton off the campaign trail for three days to rest. Trump did not initially attack Clintons dizzy spell, but the former Celebrity Apprentice star disclosed the results of his own recent physical on The Dr. Oz Show prompting his Democratic rival to release an updated letter from her doctor. My overall impression is that Mrs. Clinton has remained healthy and has not developed new medical conditions this year other than a sinus and ear infection and her recently diagnosed pneumonia, Clintons longtime physician, Lisa Bardack, wrote in the letter. She continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as president of the United States. Story continues In recent weeks, however, the Republican nominee has attacked Clintons stamina head-on, mocking her for taking time off the trail and mimicking her Sept. 11 stumble. You see all the days off that Hillary takes? Day off, day off, day off, Trump said at a rally late last month. All those day offs, and she cant even make it to her car. Isnt it tough? All those day offs. Boom. But during Sundays presidential debate, Trump was asked if there was anything he admired about his opponent. Shes a fighter. I disagree with much of what shes fighting for, he said. I do disagree with her judgment in many cases. But she does fight hard, and she doesnt quit, and she doesnt give up. Washington (AFP) - Embattled presidential hopeful Donald Trump lashed out against "disloyal" Republicans in a ranting tweetstorm, deepening a split that threatens the future of the 162-year-old party. Declaring himself unchained from party strictures, the White House nominee berated Republican leaders for offering "zero support" and promised a bareknuckle 28-day campaign against Hillary Clinton. Trump called Paul Ryan, the nation's top elected Republican, a "weak and ineffective leader." He ridiculed the party's 2008 White House nominee John McCain as "very foul mouthed." "It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to," Trump said in a three-hour cyber outburst. "I will teach them!" He doubled down in an interview with Fox News Tuesday night, saying of Ryan: "I don't want his support. I don't care about his support." "I wouldn't want to be in a foxhole with these people, including Ryan, especially Ryan," he added later in the interview, referring to Republicans who have turned their backs on him. Relations between Trump and party leaders have always been strained -- from the outset many considered the bombastic reality-TV-star-turned-politico unfit to take up the mantle of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. But the snapping point has been Trump's precipitous fall in the polls after the emergence of a video in which he bragged about groping women. US President Barack Obama addressed the scandal Tuesday, after White House spokesman Josh Earnest earlier in the day called the comments "repugnant" and said most people would consider the actions described as "sexual assault." "You don't have to be a husband or a father to say that's not right. You just have to be a decent human being," Obama said while campaigning for Clinton in North Carolina. Story continues Trump has apologized for the comments, saying they were just "locker-room" banter. "If that's why I'm going to lose an election... that's going to be sad," he said in the Fox interview. He added with his typical bombast: "But I think we're going to win." The latest Real Clear Politics polling average has Clinton ahead by six points across the country, and the latest polls show her ahead in a slew of must-win states for Trump. With his campaign in a tailspin, Trump seemed determined to ram a wedge between party leaders and the radicalized grassroots that propelled his political career. - The gloves are off - Trump's anger seems to have been prompted by Ryan suggesting in a conference call with Republican lawmakers on Monday that they stop defending the party nominee and focus on limiting electoral losses in Congress. But Trump's belligerent reaction is an ominous sign for Republicans worried about losing control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. "Disloyal R's are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary. They come at you from all sides. They don't know how to win -- I will teach them!" Trump tweeted. Trump's campaign has long had a no holds barred quality but the break with the Republican establishment signals the start of an even more vitriolic campaign. Obama said it "does not make sense" that some Republicans expressed their disapproval of Trump's lurid comments but continue to support him for the White House. "You can't repeatedly denounce what is said by someone and then say: I am still going to endorse him to be the most powerful president on the planet," he said. Trump has also alienated allies by bringing up unproven sexual abuse allegations against Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, in a debate Sunday watched by tens of millions of Americans. The last few days have seen Hillary Clinton's speeches interrupted by people shouting "Bill Clinton is a rapist!" A right-wing website has offered $5,000 to anyone who goes to a rally and does the same. An unsparing Trump campaign ad released Monday showed Hillary Clinton when she had pneumonia last month, coughing at a dais and stumbling as she tried to get into her motorcade after a 9/11 anniversary ceremony. "Hillary Clinton doesn't have the fortitude, strength or stamina to lead in our world," the narrator says. - 'Accountable' - Clinton's campaign will be eager to tether the whole Republican Party to Trump's harsh message -- which is popular with the party base but appears to have little appeal with the wider public. "Somewhat of a civil war is breaking out in the Republican Party," said Clinton communications director Jen Palmieri. "But I think that Donald Trump didn't become the nominee of his party on his own." "The voters I imagine will hold them accountable (in) House and Senate races," she added. Clinton revived the Clinton-Gore 1992 White House ticket on Tuesday, campaigning in Miami with her husband's vice president Al Gore. Gore has been largely absent from politics since he lost the 2000 race in Florida to George W. Bush by a handful of votes. In Miami, he focused on the high stakes of November's election. "Your vote really, really, really counts. You can consider me as Exhibit A." For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS. From Esquire Just ahead of Sunday's second presidential debate, Donald Trump held a press conference with four women. Three had accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct. As a defense lawyer, Hillary Clinton represented a man whom the fourth accused of raping her in 1975. Unsurprisingly, Trump set out to use these four women for his own personal gain once he got out on stage with Clinton, just over two days after the release of a tape where he is caught on a hot mic talking about assaulting women himself. Trump's Sunday night stunt was also a massive lie: FACT CHECK: Trump says Clinton got rapist's charges dropped & laughed at victim. She did not. More: https://t.co/RaTNKcPXVi #debate pic.twitter.com/h9F94bXU0H - NBC News (@NBCNews) October 10, 2016 This is a fairly stunning subversion of the truth. The intent is to make Clinton look like a sociopath who sought out a rapist to get off the hook so she could laugh at the victim afterwards. In reality, Clinton was appointed to the case by a court, and, according to The New York Times, tried to get out of defending the man. She did not get him off, the prosecution bungled the case and he pled out to a lesser charge. In an interview years later, she laughed about how his ability to beat a lie detector test destroyed her faith in them-not at the victim. Essentially, nothing beyond the most basic details of Trump's account-that there was a case, the victim was 12-years-old, and Clinton defended the accused-is true. Of course, that's right in line with the rest of the debate record. By some accounts, Trump lied 33 times to Clinton's five last night. The Times has a breakdown of the diverse subjects on which he told falsehoods, from Syrian refugees, to the state of the job market,to his own position on the Iraq War (again), to the idea he didn't instruct his Twitter followers to "check out" Alicia Machado's imaginary sex tape. Story continues The 33-5 breakdown, by which standard Trump lied more than six times as much as his opponent, is actually an improvement on the first debate. In that one, it was 34-4-and that only includes authentic, unequivocal falsehoods. More subtle perversions of the truth were left out. You Might Also Like A recently resurfaced interview with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from 1993 reveals he understood that his image as a wealthy womanizer might come back to haunt him if he were to seek elective office. A lot of people have this image of you as a high-rolling tycoon associated with glamorous women. Is that the sort of image you enjoy of yourself? Trump was asked by a reporter for New Zealands TV3. No, I dont enjoy that image. I guess I have that image. Uh, I think women are beautiful. I think certain women are more beautiful than others, to be perfectly honest, and its fortunate I dont have to run for political office, Trump said at the time. But I do have a level of popularity, and frankly its not the image I want. The image I want is that Im doing great in business. I mean my business is very important. According to the station, which released the video on Monday, Trump was visiting the city of Auckland to apply for a casino license. At the time, the real estate moguls love life his divorce from Ivana Trump and romance with Marla Maples was fodder for the tabloids. From the beginning, Trumps presidential campaign has been riddled with accusations of sexism, racism and Islamophobia. But the outrage over his views on women, in particular, reached a high point Friday after the Washington Post released a 2005 video in which Trump had a vulgar discussion about women. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Oct. 10, 2016. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) The video shows Trump heading to the Days of Our Lives set with Billy Bush, then at Access Hollywood. In a hot-microphone conversation, he can be heard bragging about how his celebrity status allows him to kiss women and grope their genitals. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything, Trump said. Many Republicans sought to distance themselves from their partys standard-bearer after the video appeared. On Sunday, during the second presidential debate, CNNs Anderson Cooper confronted Trump over the controversial comments. That is sexual assault. You bragged that you have sexually assaulted women. Do you understand that? Cooper asked. Story continues No, I didnt say that at all, Trump responded. I dont think you understood what was said. This was locker-room talk. Donald Trump is lashing out at Republican leaders in the wake of the news that House Speaker Paul Ryan told his fellow House Republicans he could no longer defend the partys nominee. Trump unloaded on Ryan in a series of tweets on Tuesday, calling him weak and ineffective. Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 Paul Ryan is focusing the next month on defeating Democrats, Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement. And all Republicans running for office should probably do the same. The brash real estate mogul drew the ire of some current and former GOP leaders by bringing three of Bill Clintons accusers as his guests to Sundays presidential debate, and he appears to be continuing a scorched-earth strategy, suggesting Hillary Clinton would be in jail if he were president. It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 In a 2005 video tape published Friday by the Washington Post, Trump was caught on a hot mic bragging to then Access Hollywood host Billy Bush that he could do anything he wanted to with women because of his celebrity status. Story continues I just kiss. I dont even wait, Trump said. And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything. The comments led to a cavalcade of Republicans including Arizona Sen. John McCain rescinding their endorsements of Donald Trump. The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 During a conference call Monday morning, Ryan said he would no longer defend Trump but would focus instead on down-ballot races. Trump fired back on Twitter. Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2016 On Tuesday, Trump suggested the Democratic Party has been far more loyal to each other than the GOP has been to him. With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016 Industrialist Shalabh Kumar told CNBC on Tuesday the 2005 video threatening to unravel Donald Trump 's bid for the White House is not a reason to pull his support. Kumar, founder and chairman of the Republican Hindu Coalition, said if he were Trump he'd be "embarrassed." But the leaked "Access Hollywood" tape, in which Trump brags about groping women, was "just talk," he added. At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer, Kumar, chairman and CEO of manufacturing firm AVG Group, pledged a $1.1 million contribution to Trump's campaign. By John Whitesides and Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump lashed out at U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and other "disloyal" Republicans on Tuesday and vowed to campaign in whatever style he wants now that the party establishment has largely abandoned him. Trump, in a barrage of stinging Twitter posts, condemned the Republicans who have backed away from his White House run, deepening a dramatic rift in the party over his struggling campaign for the Nov. 8 election. "It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to," Trump said on Twitter, adding he would engage Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on his own terms. Describing "disloyal" Republicans as more difficult than Clinton, he said: "They come at you from all sides. They don't know how to win - I will teach them!" A string of Republican officials and officeholders have distanced themselves from Trump since a 2005 video surfaced on Friday showing him bragging crudely to a reporter about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. Despite the turn away from Trump by some elected Republicans, a Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely voters, released on Tuesday, found 58 percent of Republicans wanted Trump to stay atop their party's ticket and 68 percent said the Republican leadership should stand by him. The poll, which was conducted after the second presidential debate on Sunday, showed Clinton's lead over Trump widening to 8 points from 5 points last week, before the release of the video. Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, told party lawmakers on Monday he was breaking with Trump and would not campaign for him, all but conceding Clinton would win the presidency. The move angered some Trump supporters, although Ryan said he would not withdraw his endorsement of the New York businessman. Trump slammed Ryan as a "very weak and ineffective leader" and complained in another tweet that it was hard to do well with "zero support" from Ryan and others. Ryan's spokesman, Brendan Buck, said on Tuesday that the speaker "is focusing the next month on defeating Democrats, and all Republicans running for office should probably do the same." Trump also took aim at U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, who said on Saturday that he could not vote for Trump. "The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks," Trump said. There was no immediate reaction from McCain, who secured his primary election win in August. Many Republicans worry that Trump's chaotic campaign could hurt their chances of holding majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in next month's election, and will inflict long-term damage on the party. PARTY REVOLT In an extraordinary party revolt, nearly half of all 331 incumbent Republican senators, House members and governors have condemned Trump's lewd remarks on the video, and roughly one in 10 has called for him to drop out of the race, a Reuters review of official statements and local news coverage indicates. Unlike Ryan, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told RNC members on Monday that the committee, the party's leadership and fundraising arm, still backed Trump, two RNC members told Reuters. Trump's vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, also reinforced his support in television interviews on Monday. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a former 2016 Republican presidential contender who has became a close ally of Trump, also reaffirmed his backing, although he called Trump's comments in the 2005 video "completely indefensible." Trump, 70, who has portrayed himself as tough on national security, released a hard-hitting television advertisement on Tuesday featuring footage of Clinton, a 68-year-old former secretary of state, stumbling last month after leaving a service commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks. Her campaign said she had been diagnosed a few days earlier with pneumonia. "Hillary Clinton doesn't have the fortitude, strength or stamina to lead in our world," the ad's narrator says. "She failed as secretary of state. Don't let her fail us again." 'INSULTED EVERYONE' Both Trump and Clinton headed to the key battleground state of Florida on Tuesday. Before her Florida rally with former Vice President Al Gore, Clinton told a Miami radio station that Trump had "insulted everyone." "People need to understand what's at stake in this election," she told WMBM. The White House said on Tuesday that Trump's remarks about groping women in the video amounted to sexual assault. President Barack Obama had found the comments repugnant, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One. Clinton, the first woman to be picked as a presidential nominee by a major U.S. party, tried to focus on Tuesday on issues that could win over undecided women voters, proposing to expand the child tax credit so that more low-income families can benefit and to increase by $1,000 a year the tax credit available to families for each child up to age 4. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Ayesha Rascoe and Chris Kahn; Writing by Emily Flitter; Editing by Frances Kerry and Peter Cooney) Just weeks before Iraqi troops are to begin their push to retake the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, an unexpected wrinkle has appeared: Turkey wants in on the fight, and refuses to pull its troops out of Iraq despite Iraqi threats that Ankaras refusal could lead to war. Responding to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis call last week for Turkey to pull its 2,000 troops and two dozen tanks out of their base near Mosul, President Tayyip Recep Erdogan shot back Tuesday that Abadi should know his limits since the Turkish army has not lost so much standing as to take orders from you. We will approach the operation in Iraq, the operation that will be in Mosul soon, with the same attitude, as aggressive cross-border operations in northern Syria, Erdogan said Tuesday. Turkey cannot intervene against the threats right next to it? We dont need permission for this, and we dont plan on getting it. Turkey is concerned that once ISIS is pushed out of Mosul, the Shiite-led government in Baghdad will make it difficult for Sunni residents of the city to return, while Kurds will dominate the surrounding areas. (Kurdish forces have grabbed control over the contested city of Kirkuk thanks to the onslaught of the Islamic State.) Ankara is leery of Kurdish fighters, even though it maintains cordial relations with Iraqi Kurdistan, given its decades-long battle with Kurdish terrorist group PKK. The controversy over Turkish troops in Iraq comes at a tough time domestically for both countries. Abadi is struggling with a restive parliament that wants Turkish forces out of Iraq. Meanwhile, Erdogan and the Turkish military are still smarting after Julys failed coup. Thousands of military officers have been purged or arrested in the wake of the coup attempt, and those left behind are looking for opportunities to prove their loyalty to the increasingly authoritarian Erdogan, who wants to show he commands a functioning, and competent, military. Story continues With about half of Turkish generals in jail or ousted, an ongoing Kurdish insurgency in its south, and deployments in Iraq and northern Syria, the Turkish military is overstretched, but the government is trying to project power in the region and domestically, said Gonul Tol, director of The Middle East Institutes Center for Turkish Studies. It wants to rebuild the image of the military, and sticking it out in Iraq would be a big part of that. Another reason the Turks feel the need to stay is to continue training Sunni tribal fighters to take on both ISIS and after that, likely, Iranian-backed Shiite militias. The idea is to find fighters other than Kurdish peshmerga to take the war to terrorists and other militants; too much Kurdish success, especially in northern Syria, has worried Ankara. Turkey is trying to show the U.S. that they dont need the Kurds, Tol continued. But Turkey is fighting on several fronts, so it is hard for them to remain there for long. The battle between Baghdad and Ankara erupted late last month after the Turkish parliament voted to extend its Iraqi deployment by another year. Iraqs parliament responded by requesting a U.N. Security Council session to condemn the Turkish move, calling it a blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Abadi followed that up by insisting that the Turkish presence in Iraq which he originally negotiated in December 2014, months after Mosul fell to ISIS in the first place had no justification. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim immediately shot back at Abadi, vowing to stay no matter what Baghdad says. Turkey wants to make sure that as the Islamic State is rolled back, Kurdish forces dont fill up the vacuum. It launched an operation in August to push Kurdish fighters to the east bank of the Euphrates in northern Syria. If you try to change the demographic structure in Mosul, you will ignite the fire for a major sectarian war, Yildirim told members of his ruling AK Party recently. Both Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu have demanded that Turkish troops be involved in fighting for both Mosul and the Islamic States de facto capital of Raqqa, in Syria. Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army fighters poured over the border into Syria in August to push both ISIS and the Kurds off the border, and continue to slowly push south toward Raqqa. Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday that he would leave the back and forth to the Iraqis and the Turks, but encouraged all parties to focus on the common enemy at hand, which is ISIL. Photo Credit: MAHMOUD AL-SAMARRAI/AFP/Getty Images Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday snubbed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's criticism of the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq ahead of a planned operation to retake Mosul city, urging him to "know your place". "He is insulting me personally. You are not my interlocutor, you are not at my level," Erdogan told a meeting in Istanbul, in comments addressed to Abadi. "It's not important at all how you shout from Iraq. You should know that we will do what we want to do," he added. "Who's that? The Iraqi prime minister. First you know your place!" Turkey has said its troops would remain in Iraq despite Baghdad's growing anger ahead of a planned operation to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) group. Ankara maintains an estimated 2,000 troops in Iraq -- around 500 of them in the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq training local fighters who will join the battle to recapture Mosul, according to Turkish media reports. The Iraqi premier's spokesman later Tuesday said Erdogan was "pouring oil on the fire" with his remarks and showed Ankara was not serious about resolving the dispute. Turkey's responses had made an issue of law and security into a "problem of a personal nature", Saad al-Hadithi told AFP. Baghdad has repeatedly called on Ankara to pull out its troops, with Abadi warning the Turkish deployment risked a regional war. The dispute between Ankara and Baghdad flared up after the Turkish parliament extended a government mandate by one year, allowing its troops to remain on both Iraqi and Syrian soil. The Iraqi parliament has labelled the Turkish troops an "occupying force". Erdogan on Tuesday rejected the Iraqi premier's demand for a withdrawal. "The army of the Turkish republic has not lost its quality to a degree to receive instructions from you," he said. The Turkish-Iraqi tensions risk complicating plans for an operation to save Mosul, which was captured by IS jihadists in 2014. The Turkish president has expressed his country's willingness to join the battle under a similar understanding it had reached for the recapture of Jarabulus in Syria. Turkey's army has launched an ambitious operation in Syria, backing opposition fighters who recaptured the town of Jarabulus near the Turkish border from IS jihadists in September. Athens (AFP) - Turkish military officers who fled to Greece following the failed July coup claimed Tuesday to be the victims of politics after Greek authorities turned down their initial requests for asylum. "The asylum service has so far rejected in the first instance the request by seven members of the Turkish military," their lawyer Stavroula Tomara told AFP. "We are expecting the decision on the eighth next week," added Tomara, who said a second hearing would follow for those whose asylum claims had been rejected. In a statement, released by the lawyer, the eight Turkish officers claimed that the Greek asylum service's decision "had not been taken with regard to international and European law, but was dictated by bilateral politics". The eight said they "came to Greece to save our lives". The Turkish asylum seekers have insisted their lives are in danger despite denying any role in the failed coup. The two commanders, four captains and two sergeants requested asylum in Greece after landing a military helicopter in the northern city of Alexandroupoli shortly after the attempted government takeover in mid-July. Soon after they arrived, a Greek court sentenced the eight -- who face a military trial in their homeland if sent back -- to suspended two-month prison terms for illegal entry. The eight claim they will not receive a fair trial in Turkey, where the authorities have detained thousands of people over the coup, including top generals. They will remain in police custody in Greece until their asylum applications are heard. Rights group Amnesty International has said it has "credible evidence" of the abuse and torture of people detained in sweeping post-coup arrests -- something Ankara has denied. In their statement on Tuesday the Turkish officers complained that while they are not considered to be terrorists at home "we are considered terrorists by a Greek public service which is depriving us of international protection". Story continues Ankara has called on Athens to extradite them all, but that request will only be considered by Greek justice once the asylum issue is definitively decided, according to a Greek judicial source. The case threatens to strain ties between the uneasy NATO allies. Numerous Turkish army personnel and civil servants fled Turkey following the coup attempt, fearing arrest after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a purge against the putschists. Turkey has suspended more than 500 military personnel, mostly officers, from the air force and navy for suspected ties to the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen who is blamed for the failed coup, Turkish media reported last week. ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday vowed to root out any "terrorists" within the governing party with connections to a religious movement he blames for an unsuccessful military coup. Authorities will go after AK Party members just as they are executing operations against the network throughout the country, Yildirim told members of his party in parliament. Separately, Yildirim also said that Kurdish militants were following through on orders to attack AKP officials in suicide bombings and assassinations. Two AKP district officials were gunned down since Sunday in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast. (Reporting by Ercan Gurses and Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Ece Toksabay) ANKARA (Reuters) - A proposal by Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee in the U.S. presidential election, to arm Kurds fighting Islamic State in Syria is "unethical" and not befitting a NATO ally, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday. Clinton said at a debate on Sunday she would consider giving equipment to U.S.-backed Kurdish militias, despite concerns from "some circles," referring to NATO member Turkey, which considers the main Syrian Kurdish milita "terrorists." Turkey could take action east of the Euphrates River in Syria if it sees "terrorist activities" there, Yildirim also told party members in parliament. Turkish forces entered north Syria in August to push Islamic State from its border and to curb territorial gains by Syrian Kurds. (Reporting by Ercan Gurses and Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Ece Toksabay) The images are scratchy and grainy, but absolutely gripping: Somehow a prisoner in solitary confinement conducts a video chat with a reporter, describing appalling conditions in an Alabama correctional facility that has endured what looks like a state of chaos for months. That five-minute segment in the middle of the debut episode of Vice News Tonight, a new weeknight program airing on HBO and available on all its platforms, shows the promise of this new alliance between an old-media giant and the upstart Vice News organization. Antonia Hyltons report on the strike at Holman Prison and the conditions for inmates throughout the state is thorough and fair: She also talks to a former guard at the prison, who describes how difficult it was to keep order in the understaffed facility. Other sources and information-gathering bolsters her report, which means that its centerpiece the interview with the prisoner is far from a sensationalist detail. It adds a human dimension to a story that is admirably concise, well-paced and informative. After kicking off the broadcast with a quick and slick roundup of headlines about everything from the Galaxy Note 7s travails to a tuition protest in South Africa, Vice News showcased a series of longer pieces, and Hyltons was by far the best. Ahead of the prison piece in Mondays lineup was a report that represented the more slipshod and superficial kinds of reporting that Vice sometimes delivers. Correspondent Michael Moynihan journeyed all the way to the remote ranch of conservative commentator Glenn Beck, with whom he watched Sundays presidential debate. Who Beck is, within the context of American politics and the conservative commentariat, was barely explained, and very little time was devoted to the two men actually watching the Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton showdown. That could have been a fascinating experience, given that Becks Tea Party affiliation and other conservative crusades helped pave the way for Trumps candidacy. Unfortunately the segment ended with little insight from Beck or Moynihan about what Sundays St. Louis clash meant for the political landscape, or for America in general. Story continues When Trump talked about putting Clinton in jail, Moynihan observed, Its a good line, though, and Beck, whod said voting for Clinton had crossed his mind, replied that was a great line. Not long after, the segment was over. The fascist tendencies inherent in Trumps statement werent even remotely explored, nor was a Monday Trump rally that a Vice News correspondent attended explored in any depth. The correspondent on the scene at the Pennsylvania rally, Evan McMorris-Santoro, merely made a few anodyne observations while standing near the line for admission. Trump fans were seen holding signs, but not interviewed. Whether or not news crews had been banned from the inside of the rally was addressed, but to go to the rally and then mostly ignore the people attending it didnt make much sense. A big part of the Vice News brand is sending correspondents into the field, but neither reporter at the rally nor at Becks ranch got much mileage out of being on the spot. In an era of shrinking news budgets, to see that travel money essentially go to waste was a bit cringe-inducing. That said, the prison segment and another piece on the shady banking practices of Wells Fargo were ably reported, and an explainer from Arielle Duhaime-Ross about the severity of storms in the age of global warming was well-executed, if short. Other news bits scattered throughout the 23-minute broadcast helped break up the pace, and Michael Kalenderians brief report on a few of the previous days Internet trends was reasonably entertaining. But its hard to believe that HBO subscribers or Vice fans would reject longer, meatier segments if the subjects (i.e. Beck, the rally, the prison strike, etc.) warranted it. Segments coming up this week will be devoted to an interview with Amanda Nguyen, an activist for sexual assault survivors; a photographer documenting the unrest in the Philippines since the ascension of President Duarte; and Syrian refugees who have made it to Vermont. Given that the inaugural broadcast was fairly evenly split between pieces that provided insight, context, and thoughtfully arranged information, and those that barely scratched the surface of the subject at hand, its too early to tell whether Vice News Tonight will become must-see viewing. But the substantial pieces certainly warrant revisiting the show in the future. If nothing else, its good to know that two organizations with deep pockets are coming together in a major effort to help keep citizens and especially younger Americans informed. Perhaps the best thing about Vice News Tonight is that you dont need an HBO subscription to view it (each broadcast will also be available at vicenews.com). Between HBO and the Internet, one hopes the best of the organizations reporters will see their work reach a much broader audience. Related stories Vice Sets Launch of Vice Money Business and Finance Channel Vice News Touts New Hires in Staff Reshuffle Under Josh Tyrangiel Vice News Hit With Layoffs in U.S., U.K. * UK's Pure Gym and Germany's OfficeFirst cancel IPOs * Many market debuts in 2016 have disappointed * Bankers had hoped for a market upturn * Misys, ConvaTec, Telefonica's O2 due to IPO in next months (Adds detail, BAML banker) By Sophie Sassard and Dasha Afanasieva LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Two European companies cancelled plans to IPO on Tuesday due to unfavourable conditions, joining a growing number of firms to cancel listings this year amid disappointing debuts for many that did brave choppy markets. The withdrawals by UK gym operator Pure Gym and German real estate company OfficeFirst are a setback for bankers who had hoped a market window was finally looming, allowing them to revive deals postponed earlier this year due to uncertainty over China's growth, the oil price and Britain's Brexit vote. Tuesday's cancellations in London and Frankfurt respectively come just weeks after Telefonica pulled its plan to float its infrastructure unit Telxius due to insufficient investor appetite. "Given the challenging IPO market conditions, the Board has decided not to proceed with a listing despite the strong interest shown by potential investors", Pure Gym's chief executive Humphrey Cobbold said. Britain's blue chip FTSE 100 index hit a record intraday high on Tuesday following sterling's recent plunge, but bankers expect smaller, UK-focused companies to be exposed to a possible downturn of the British economy following the Brexit vote. This could explain why investors are cautious about buying into UK-focused companies like Pure Gym, which had announced its plan to float just last month and hired Jefferies and J.P. Morgan as global coordinators, Credit Suisse as joint book runner and Rothschild as financial adviser. "PRICE SENSITIVE" INVESTORS The German unit of IVG Immobilien AG, OfficeFirst, said two weeks ago it was planning to sell shares worth up to 880 million euros in mid-October. However its chief executive Michiel Jaski said on Tuesday investors were not prepared to pay the price of 21-23 euros it was asking for shares. Story continues The fall in the price of its peer Alstria during marketing of OfficeFirst's IPO in recent weeks may have spooked investors. "The IPO market is open but not indiscriminate, Craig Coben, Head of Global Equity Capital markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch told Reuters. "Investors are more price sensitive than normal especially after a couple of bellwethers performed poorly after flotation. These IPOs chastened investors." Driving bankers' hopes of an upturn was Denmark-based payment services provider DNets which made its market debut last month. Demand for its shares exceeded expectations but the firm is now trading below its offer price. Shares in Innogy, the green energy business of struggling power group RWE, fell below their issue price in its debut on October 7, but recovered later in the month. Last week British energy supplier First Utility postponed plans to list shares due to uncertainty created by Brexit and because proposals to improve competition in the energy market have not yet borne fruit. The company also said it was in no hurry to raise cash. Money raised from initial public offerings (IPOs) fell by more than a third to $79.2 billion in the first three quarters of this year, the slowest such period since 2009, Thomson Reuters data showed. UK-based software company Misys, medical device maker ConvaTec and Telefonica's UK mobile operator O2 are among the largest European IPOs expected in the coming few months. But Telefonica, which was initially aiming for a December listing for O2, is now considering to postpone the deal to next year, sources told Reuters. J.P. Morgan topped the league tables for both equity offerings and public listings globally according to TR data. (Editing by Alexandra Hudson) By Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump's praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and inconsistent comments about NATO are unnerving some U.S. voters of eastern European heritage, creating a political opening that Democrats are targeting in key swing states. More than 15 million Americans claim some central and eastern European ancestry. Many live in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida, hotly contested states ahead of the Nov. 8 election between Republican Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Many of those voters tend to lean conservative and Republican. But Clinton's campaign, seeing an opportunity to capitalize on concerns about Moscow's actions on the global stage, including its 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, is reaching out to them at community gatherings. In Sunday's second presidential debate in St. Louis, Trump said: "I think it would be great if we got along with Russia because we could fight ISIS together," referring to the Islamic State militant group. Last month, he described Putin as a better leader than U.S. President Barack Obama. Trump said in March the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, formed after World War Two to counter Soviet military might, was obsolete. In July, he suggested the United States might walk away from some of its NATO commitments if other members did not pay more for their defense. In September, he said in a debate: "I'm all for NATO." Russia and NATO are sensitive subjects in eastern and central Europe and for some Americans with ties to the region. "We have been absolutely petrified ... we can't believe the statements Donald Trump is making," said Andrij Dobriansky, spokesman for the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, an umbrella group for about a million Ukrainian-Americans. Marina Kuchar, a Ukrainian-American from Pennsylvania who arrived in the United States in 2000, said she liked many Republican ideas. But Kuchar, 44, told Reuters in an interview she would not vote for Trump "because he thinks Putin is smart." Trump's campaign did not respond to requests for comment. COURTED BY DEMOCRATS Voters in America's eastern European diaspora communities are influenced by many issues, such as jobs and the economy, and their numbers are not comparatively large, but Democrats are paying attention to them. The Clinton team for months has been visiting eastern European-American parades and festivals, said John McCarthy, director of the campaign's "heritage community outreach." "Our activists, who have been out front and center at these events, will have people come up to them and say: 'Ive never voted for a Democrat before, but Donald Trumps pro-Kremlin ties are ... giving me second thoughts,' McCarthy said. In recent years, Russian foreign policy has become more assertive, stirring tensions with the United States and its allies over such issues as the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and the presence of NATO troops in eastern Europe. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but the Crimea annexation rekindled eastern European anxiety about Russian power. A group of Lithuanian-Americans was so concerned about tensions in eastern Europe, where fighting continues between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, that it asked for and got an off-the-record White House briefing last week. The group declined to discuss details. NATO COMMITMENT Diana Vidutis, spokeswoman for Lithuanian-American Community Inc, told Reuters: "We were absolutely shocked that one of the candidates considered abandoning our commitment to NATO." Her group promotes Lithuanian culture for 600,000 Lithuanian-Americans. Their ancestral homeland is one of three small Baltic states formerly part of the Soviet Union. All three have joined NATO. The other two are Estonia and Latvia. Clinton spoke to such concerns while campaigning in Ohio last week. In an Oct. 3 speech in Akron, home to thousands of Americans from eastern Europe, she said Trump "has a weird fascination with dictators like Vladimir Putin." "We have a lot of people living in this part of Ohio who either themselves, or their parents or grandparents, came from countries that were under the yoke of oppression, and were never going to let that happen again," Clinton said. There are signs that Trump is trying to allay the anxiety he has created. He visited the Polish-American Congress in Chicago on Sept. 28 where he gave his assurance that as president, he would support NATO and the security of Poland. Poland, once part of the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact, shook off communism after the collapse of the Soviet Union and joined NATO. Many Ukrainian-Americans in Pennsylvania's coal country are likely to support Trump, who has promised to bring back coal industry jobs, said Paula Holoviak, a political science professor at Kutztown University and a Ukrainian-American. Holoviak, a Clinton supporter who lives in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, added: "This is smack dab in the middle of Trump country." (Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney) By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said on Tuesday he was confident the United Nations would make "significant" progress on tougher sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, despite apparent differences with China over targeting coal exports. China appears to have pushed back on a bid by Washington to close a U.N. loophole that allows North Korea to export coal for "livelihood purposes," saying the well-being of North Koreans is a priority in negotiations on possible new sanctions. Asked about China's stance in the U.N. Security Council on a response to North Korea's fifth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 9, Daniel Russel, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told reporters:"Its very important to get progress; We are determined to get progress. "When it comes to negotiations, and particularly on negotiations in the first instance with China in New York at the U.N. Security Council, but more broadly with the 15 members, I will invoke the wisdom of that great sage Yogi Berra, who said, 'it ain't over 'til its over.'" "We wont know how far we will get ... but we know there will be a new Security Council resolution and I have great confidence that it will represent a significant ratcheting forward of the sanctions and the constraints on North Korea." In March, the 15-member Security Council imposed tough new sanctions on North Korea following its fourth nuclear test in January. That resolution bans the 193 U.N. member states from importing North Korean coal, iron and iron ore unless such transactions are for "livelihood purposes" and would not be generating revenue for Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said on Sunday that some of the exemptions included in the March resolution, out of concern for the welfare of North Koreans, appeared to have been exploited. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday China supported a further response by the Security Council but that it should focus directly on North Korea's nuclear program. Russel said it was important to "enhance the enforcement" of the March sanctions. He said there was also more countries could do individually to "protect ourselves and the international infrastructure" from the North Korean threat. Russel said the United States and its allies remained open to negotiations with North Korea - provided they focused on the nuclear issue. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; editing by Grant McCool) A San Francisco-based hedge fund has filed a lawsuit against Theranos Inc, accusing the blood testing company of using fraudulent methods to attract an investment of nearly $100 million, according to an investor letter filed by the fund. The hedge fund, Partner Fund Management LP, filed the lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery on Monday afternoon, a letter to the hedge funds investors said. Through a series of lies, material misstatements, and omissions, the defendants engaged in securities fraud and other violations by fraudulently inducing PFM to invest and maintain its investment in the company, said the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters. PFM said in a statement to Reuters that Theranos had repeatedly lied about having developed proprietary technologies that worked, and concealed the truth about the commercial viability of its technology and methods. A spokesman for Theranos said in a statement: The suit is without merit and Theranos will fight it vigorously. The company is very appreciative of its strong investor base that understands and continues to support the companys mission. The company said last week it would lay off about 340 workers, or about 43 percent of its full-time employees, as it closes its clinical labs and wellness Centers, signaling a withdrawal from the consumer blood-testing business. (Reporting by Lawrence Delevinge and Vishaka George in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney) Oct 10 (Reuters) - A San Francisco-based hedge fund has filed a lawsuit against Theranos Inc, accusing the blood testing company of using fraudulent methods to attract an investment of nearly $100 million, according to an investor letter filed by the fund. The hedge fund, Partner Fund Management LP, filed the lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery on Monday afternoon, a letter to the hedge fund's investors said. "Through a series of lies, material misstatements, and omissions, the defendants engaged in securities fraud and other violations by fraudulently inducing PFM to invest and maintain its investment in the company," said the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters. PFM said in a statement to Reuters that Theranos had "repeatedly lied" about having developed proprietary technologies that worked, and concealed the truth about the commercial viability of its technology and methods. A spokesman for Theranos said in a statement: "The suit is without merit and Theranos will fight it vigorously. The company is very appreciative of its strong investor base that understands and continues to support the company's mission." The company said last week it would lay off about 340 workers, or about 43 percent of its full-time employees, as it closes its clinical labs and wellness Centers, signaling a withdrawal from the consumer blood-testing business. (Reporting by Lawrence Delevinge and Vishaka George in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney) By Luciana Lopez NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's hardline rhetoric on immigration might not trigger the surge in Latino voter turnout for which many activists are hoping, according to a Pew Research Center survey released on Tuesday. About 89 percent of Latino registered voters who were surveyed said they planned to vote in the Nov. 8 election, down from 91 percent who said in October 2012 that they were planning to vote in that year's election. The decrease was within the surveys plus or minus 4.6 percent margin of error. The Pew report was based on a bilingual telephone survey of 1,507 Latino adults, including 804 registered voters, from Aug. 23 through Sept. 21. In July 2008, four months before the presidential election that year, 94 percent of respondents said they planned to vote. According to previous Pew research, about 81.7 percent of Hispanic registered voters cast ballots in 2012, the year Democratic President Barack Obama ran successfully against Republican Mitt Romney. That turnout was down from 84 percent in 2008, when Obama ran against Republican John McCain and won. The latest Pew survey found that Democrats continued to maintain an edge as the party "more concerned" for Latinos. Hillary Clinton is relying on a coalition of minority voters to help her against Trump, who launched his presidential bid last year by calling some Mexican immigrants rapists and promising to build a wall to stop them entering the United States. Latinos, a growing segment of the U.S. electorate with rising influence in closely fought states like Florida and Nevada, tend to lean Democratic and favor Clinton heavily over Trump. According to the survey, some 58 percent support Clinton compared to 19 percent for Trump. Another 10 percent favor Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and 6 percent prefer Green candidate Jill Stein. MAKE THE DIFFERENCE Turnout among Latinos tends to run well below that of whites and African Americans, blunting their impact in political races. A number of civic groups opposed to Trump have been working to ensure Latinos get to the polls. Pew said that 27.3 million Latinos were eligible to vote. However, knowing how many of those people are registered is harder to measure because many states do not capture information such as race or ethnicity along with voter registration information. In 2012 an estimated 11.2 million Latinos voted in the presidential election, according to Pew. In 2008 that figure was 9.7 million Latino voters. While one must be a U.S. citizen to cast a ballot in U.S. elections, requirements for voter registration can vary by state. Immigrants' rights group America's Voice, for example, launched a new Spanish language radio ad in Miami and Orlando for the next two weeks bashing Trumps hardline immigration proposals, which include deporting all undocumented foreigners and making it harder for would-be immigrants to get visas. In Nevada, the Culinary Union, which is heavily Latino, is working to ensure its members get to the polls, helping them with logistics like finding their polling stations and arranging transport. "It could make the difference between a one point loss and a one point win," said Yvanna Cancela, the union's political director. Sergio Garcia-Rios, a professor of Latino studies at Cornell University, said Clinton could be missing an opportunity to drive voter turnout further by not engaging Latino voters enough on policy. "We can't just rely on an anger reaction to Donald Trump," he said. The challenge is "to create enthusiasm for Latinos to get out and vote." (Reporting by Luciana Lopez; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) MARFRANC, Haiti (AP) At a cramped police station serving as a makeshift clinic, Darline Derosier fastened IV drips to jail cell bars, wiped the brows of cholera patients and tended to the wounds of those injured when Hurricane Matthew slammed into Haitis southwestern peninsula. She was the only health worker helping about 40 patients Monday inside the station bereft of police as she waited for help to arrive in the hard-hit town of Marfranc nearly a week after the Category 4 storm struck Oct. 4. Among the patients was an elderly woman lying unconscious on a cell floor with a leg bandaged in an old rag and a man with gashes around his neck, his eyes fluttering. People will die soon if we dont get some aid, an overwhelmed Derosier told The Associated Press. The town is a 45-minute drive southwest from the coastal city of Jeremie, where food, medicine and fresh water are finally arriving but still slow to reach increasingly desperate communities. We havent received anything from Jeremie, Derosier said, adding that she has made several calls requesting help and medical supplies. The U.N. humanitarian agency in Geneva made an emergency appeal Monday for nearly $120 million in aid, saying about 750,000 people in southwest Haiti alone will need life-saving assistance and protection in the next three months. U.N. officials said earlier that at least 1.4 million people across the region need assistance and that 2.1 million overall have been affected by the hurricane. Some 175,000 people remain in shelters. Electricity was still out, water and food were scarce, and officials said young men in villages along the road between the hard-hit cities of Les Cayes and Jeremie were building blockades of rocks and broken branches to halt relief convoys. A convoy of food, water and medicine was attacked by gunmen in a remote valley where there had been a mudslide, said Frednel Kedler, coordinator for the Civil Protection Agency in the Grand-Anse Department, which includes Jeremie. Story continues The National Civil Protection headquarters in Port-au-Prince raised the official nationwide death toll to 372, which included at least 198 deaths in Grand-Anse. But local officials have said the toll in Grand-Anse alone tops 500. The U.N. also said the hurricane has increased the risk of a renewed spike in the number of cholera cases. A cholera outbreak since 2010 has already killed roughly 10,000 people and sickened more than 800,000. Roosevelt Zamos of the Civil Protection Agency told AP there were 40 cases of cholera in Jeremie alone. He said eight people have died of cholera in Grand-Anse since the storm. It can take from 12 hours to five days for cholera symptoms to appear after ingesting contaminated food or water, according to the World Health Organization. The open-air cholera treatment center at Jeremies main hospital had no running water Monday, and at least a dozen of the new patients were under age 10. Etienne Chimene tried her best to soothe her 13-month-old son, Cenelson, who was lying in a wooden bed with a hole cut in it and a bucket underneath. I feel like my baby is getting worse, she said as she stroked his head and he whimpered. The center was overcrowded, and patients who were improving were forced outside. Among them was 21-year-old Nedrine Cabane, who sat on the ground with her father. He had brought her a pot of plantain soup that she ate gratefully her first meal in three days. The fact that there is so much dirty water around makes me think that more people are going to get sick, she said. Dr. Thiery Francois, lead doctor for the Ministry of Health at the cholera center, said he didnt know how many new cases had been caused by the storm nationwide. Certainly there are cases we dont know anything about, he said, referring to still-isolated areas. People in the southern seaside community of Les Anglais and surrounding areas said little to no aid had reached them by Monday. An aid group tried to distribute food and other emergency supplies by boat on Sunday, but it was forced to leave after a large crowd gathered. There were too many people fighting. They went to give it someplace else, Claude Pierre Louis, 63, said angrily as she washed pots in a plastic bucket on the porch of her house, which lost its roof during the storm. She said Les Anglais needed building supplies because almost every house was damaged, and most were destroyed. She added that people already had created a community group to help clear the streets of debris and rebuild on their own. An estimated 158 people died in Les Anglais, said two police officers who declined to give their names because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Francis Jean, a 42-year-old farmer and taxi driver, was awaiting help after he, his wife and three daughters survived the storm but lost their roof and all their belongings. You cant even explain what happened here. Ive never seen anything like this in my life, he said. This town doesnt exist anymore. Theres nothing. ___ Fox reported from Les Anglais, Haiti. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaton in Geneva contributed. By Kristina Cooke SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. police departments used location data and other user information from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to track protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday. Facebook(FB.O), which also owns Instagram, and Twitter (TWTR.N) shut off the data access of Geofeedia, the Chicago-based data vendor that provided data to police, in response to the ACLU findings. The report comes amid growing concerns among consumers and regulators about how online data is being used and how closely tech companies are cooperating with the government on surveillance. "These special data deals were allowing the police to sneak in through a side door and use these powerful platforms to track protesters, said Nicole Ozer, the ACLU's technology and civil liberties policy director. The ACLU report found that as recently as July, Geofeedia touted its social media monitoring product as a tool to monitor protests. Geofeedia is a software platform that enables clients to monitor posts tied to a specific location. The company said it aims to provide real-time, publicly available information to clients including corporations, media groups, cities and sports teams. Geofeedia is committed to the principles of personal privacy, transparency and individual rights and has clear policies to prevent the inappropriate use of its software, Chief Executive Officer Phil Harris said. "That said, we understand, given the ever-changing nature of digital technology, that we must continue to work to build on these critical protections of civil rights," Harris said in an emailed statement. Geofeedia works with over 500 law enforcement agencies and public safety agencies across the country, according to an email the ACLU obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. In a 2016 case study obtained by the ACLU, Geofeedia quoted Baltimore police Detective Sergeant Andrew Vaccaro who said the force intercepted kids with backpacks full of rocks after the Geofeedia team alerted them to chatter from a local high school. Story continues Baltimore was swept by rioting in April 2015 following the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died from a spinal injury after being arrested by police. In an October 2015 email message, a Geofeedia employee touted its "great success" covering racially charged protests in the aftermath of the August 2014 shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. Facebook and Instagram terminated Geofeedia's access on Sept. 19, according to the ACLU. "This developer only had access to data that people chose to make public," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. "Its access was subject to the limitations in our Platform Policy, which outlines what we expect from developers that receive data using the Facebook Platform." Facebook's platform policy says developers may not sell, license, or purchase any data obtained from us or our services. In a tweet, Twitter said that it was "immediately suspending Geofeedias commercial access to Twitter data," following the ACLU report. (Reporting By Kristina Cooke; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Oct 11 (Reuters) - Consumer watchdog Public Citizen on Tuesday urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reject the application for Entergy Corp to sell the FitzPatrick nuclear power plant in New York to Exelon Corp . The group said the application does not include New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposed Zero Emission Credit (ZEC) subsidy, which would allocate about $8 billion over 12 years to three of the state's nuclear power facilities, it added. "If the sale of FitzPatrick is approved, Exelon would gain control over all the ZEC-recipient facilities - and would get all $8 billion in subsidies." After the companies account for the ZEC-payment, the acquisition of the nuclear plant will likely not be in the public interest, Public Citizen said. On Aug. 19, Entergy Corp and Exelon filed an application with FERC for permission to sell the FitzPatrick nuclear power facility to Exelon, according to the statement. (Reporting by Harshith Aranya and Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand lower court rulings allowing Pennsylvania and Maryland to keep tens of millions of dollars in a dispute with tobacco companies involving the massive 1998 settlement over deceptive marketing and advertising of cigarettes. The justices declined to hear appeals, filed by Reynolds America Inc, Altria Group Inc and other companies that were part of the settlement, of rulings that had favored Pennsylvania and Maryland regarding the amount of the annual payment that those states should receive under the deal. The dispute centered on the 2003 annual payment that companies that participated in the settlement were required to make to the various states as part of the deal. An arbitration panel found that six states, including Pennsylvania and Maryland, had not met their side of the bargain to ensure, as required, that companies that were part of the settlement did not disproportionately lose market share as a result of the terms of the deal to competitors that shunned it. The arbitration panel reduced the amount of money the six states would receive for that year, but state courts in Maryland and Pennsylvania subsequently ruled in favor of those states when they objected. As a result of those rulings, Pennsylvania was able to keep $125 million and Maryland was able to retain $50 million that the companies had demanded be given back. Under the landmark settlement reached with 46 states, the largest U.S. tobacco companies promised to pay nearly $200 billion over 25 years to states to settle lawsuits over cigarette-related public health costs. Among other provisions, the deal imposed restrictions on the sale and marketing of cigarettes including barring ads targeting youths. The major tobacco companies worried that they would have to raise prices on their brands in order to fund the settlement. So the 1998 agreement required states to pass laws that prevented cigarette companies that did not sign the agreement from gaining an unfair economic advantage over those that did sign it. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) Ride-sharing giants Uber and Didi could be facing several serious regulatory challenges in China as at least three of the countrys major cities look to impose new rules that would govern who can drive and what vehicles may be used. The Chinese cities of Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing are all looking to pass municipal regulations on ride-hailing businesses that could wipe out many of Uber and Didis drivers and cars. There will be a sharp drop in market supply of rideshare vehicles. In Shanghai, for instance, less than 20 percent of existing rideshare vehicles meet the proposed wheelbase requirements, said Didi on its social media outlets, which was translated by Tech in Asia. Among the regulations include requirements that drivers have residency in the city they drive in and new policies that would limit the sizes of cars used for rideshare programs. Migrant workers from Chinas lower-class economies would be barred from driving, and a large chunk of small and mid-size cars used by Uber and Didi drivers would be banned. There will be significant decrease in the number of rideshare drivers. Of over 410,000 activated driver accounts in Shanghai, only less than 10,000 are residents with Shanghai residency registration, Didi continued. These city-based requirements are not the only regulatory challenge facing Didi and Uber in China. In September, the Chinese government opened an antitrust probe into Ubers sale of its China operations to Didi (also read: Uber Gives Up on China, Sells Business to Rival Didi Chuxing). Leading up to the deal, Uber had been noticeably lagging behind Didi. Uber had operations in 45 cities, while Didi operated in over 400. Uber conceded victory to rival Didi Chuxing in a deal to sell their China operations to the company for $7 billion. The payment is not in cash, but rather stock in Didi. While both companies wait on the resolution of that probe, current operations stand to be threatened by the latest series of regulatory challenges. You are invited to download the full, up-to-the-minute list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" free of charge. Many of these companies are almost unheard of by the general public and just starting to get noticed by Wall Street. They have been pinpointed by the Zacks system that nearly triped the market from 1988 through 2015 with a stellar average gain of +26% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Esha Vaish (Reuters) - Confidence among employers in Britain is "fragile" following the country's vote to leave the European Union, with multinational firms holding off from hiring, particularly in the financial services sector, recruiter PageGroup (PAGE.L) said on Tuesday. The company, which makes about a quarter of its earnings in Britain, said its gross profit there fell 4.7 percent in the three months to Sept. 30 at constant currencies and it would cut about 20-30 UK jobs if there was no improvement this quarter. "At the moment they're slightly fewer jobs and (firms are) taking slightly longer to turn jobs into new appointments .... It's that sort of caution we're talking about, rather than jobs getting pulled," Chief Executive Steve Ingham told Reuters, adding he did not expect the British recruitment market to recover this quarter. Although British consumers have taken "Brexit" in their stride, helping the economy show some resilience, surveys released on Monday suggested firms are cautious about investing, stoking fears unemployment could rise. PageGroup, which mainly finds candidates to fill permanent positions, said employers were particularly wary when recruiting for higher paid jobs. The company is the first UK recruiter to give an insight on hiring trends after the Brexit vote in June. Staffing firms such as PageGroup, Hays (HAYS.L), Robert Walters (RWA.L) and SThree (STHR.L) are seen as gauges of wider economic health because people tend to switch jobs more often when confidence rises. The 4.7 percent drop in PageGroup's UK gross profit to 37.8 million pounds ($47 million) in the third quarter was steeper than the 2.3 percent fall in the previous quarter, but less than four analysts forecast, as hiring for lower paid and temporary positions held up better than expected. That could be good news for Hays, which has a strong UK position in such roles, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note. Hays, which reports quarterly results on Tuesday, said last month hiring in Britain weakened sharply after Brexit. Robert Walters reports results on Monday, having previously blamed Brexit for lower first-half profit. Story continues PageGroup shares were up 4.2 percent to 363.6 pence at 1025 GMT. Hays and Robert Walters were both up 2.5 percent. PageGroup's worldwide gross profit rose 1.3 percent at constant currencies to 158.6 million pounds, helped by strong growth in Latin America outside of Brazil and in continental Europe - indicating the concerns around Brexit have not yet spread to the rest of the region. It announced interim and special dividends totalling 31.7 million pounds from its cash pile of about 100 million. Morgan Stanley expects a similar payout in the first half of 2017. (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Kate Holton and Mark Potter) LONDON, (Reuters) - British consumers picked up the pace of their spending in September after a weak August, but the country's planned exit from the European Union is likely to weigh on sales ahead, an industry group said on Tuesday. Spending rose by fell by 1.3 percent compared with September last year, recovering from a fall of 0.3 percent in August, the British Retail Consortium said. However, the average growth in total sales of 0.9 percent over the past 12 months was the slowest since the BRC began publishing its Retail Sales Monitor in 1995, the group said. "The monthly out-turn continues to highlight ongoing volatility in retail spending and to reflect longer-term economic headwinds," BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said. Retailers were starting to mitigate the impact of higher import costs due to the fall in the value of the pound, she said in a statement, adding to signs that prices are likely to rise following the EU referendum in June and eat into spending power. The BRC added its voice to a chorus of business groups who are calling on Prime Minister Theresa May to minimise the impact of Brexit on the economy. "The BRC will be ensuring that in the forthcoming Brexit talks government negotiators have their sights set firmly lowering import costs as well as avoiding any increase in tariff costs as the UK leaves the EU, Dickinson said. On a like-for-like basis, stripping out changes in the amount of retail space open to shoppers over the past 12 months, sales rose by an annual 0.4 percent in September after falling by 0.9 percent in August, the BRC said. Over the three months to September, total sales were up 1.0 percent, higher than in most of 2016 but slower than in 2015. Separately on Tuesday, credit card firm Barclaycard sounded more upbeat, saying consumer spending grew by 3.6 percent in the July-September period, speeding up from 2.8 percent and 3.1 percent in the first and second quarters of 2016. Barclaycard also said its measure of consumer confidence in the British economy hit its highest level since it began tracking it in 2014, with 48 percent of people saying they feel upbeat, up from 34 percent in the second quarter. That confidence contrasts with the mood among many employers. Surveys published on Monday showed weak investment intentions as the prospect of Brexit weighs on firms. (Reporting by William Schomberg; editing by Andy Bruce) LONDON, (Reuters) - British consumers picked up the pace of their spending in September after a weak August, but the country's planned exit from the European Union is likely to weigh on sales ahead, an industry group said on Tuesday. Spending rose by fell by 1.3 percent compared with September last year, recovering from a fall of 0.3 percent in August, the British Retail Consortium said. However, the average growth in total sales of 0.9 percent over the past 12 months was the slowest since the BRC began publishing its Retail Sales Monitor in 1995, the group said. "The monthly out-turn continues to highlight ongoing volatility in retail spending and to reflect longer-term economic headwinds," BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said. Retailers were starting to mitigate the impact of higher import costs due to the fall in the value of the pound, she said in a statement, adding to signs that prices are likely to rise following the EU referendum in June and eat into spending power. The BRC added its voice to a chorus of business groups who are calling on Prime Minister Theresa May to minimise the impact of Brexit on the economy. "The BRC will be ensuring that in the forthcoming Brexit talks government negotiators have their sights set firmly lowering import costs as well as avoiding any increase in tariff costs as the UK leaves the EU, Dickinson said. On a like-for-like basis, stripping out changes in the amount of retail space open to shoppers over the past 12 months, sales rose by an annual 0.4 percent in September after falling by 0.9 percent in August, the BRC said. Over the three months to September, total sales were up 1.0 percent, higher than in most of 2016 but slower than in 2015. Separately on Tuesday, credit card firm Barclaycard sounded more upbeat, saying consumer spending grew by 3.6 percent in the July-September period, speeding up from 2.8 percent and 3.1 percent in the first and second quarters of 2016. Barclaycard also said its measure of consumer confidence in the British economy hit its highest level since it began tracking it in 2014, with 48 percent of people saying they feel upbeat, up from 34 percent in the second quarter. That confidence contrasts with the mood among many employers. Surveys published on Monday showed weak investment intentions as the prospect of Brexit weighs on firms. (Reporting by William Schomberg; editing by Andy Bruce) United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN peacekeeping force in Haiti must stay for another six months to help the Caribbean nation cope with the humanitarian crisis from Hurricane Matthew, the UN envoy said Tuesday. Sandra Honore told the Security Council ahead of a vote on renewing the mission's mandate that damage from the hurricane was extensive, potentially affecting Haiti's stability. "There can be no doubt: this is a humanitarian tragedy and an acute emergency situation with 1.4 million persons in need of immediate assistance," Honore said. A presidential election scheduled for October 9 was postponed as well as partial senatorial votes and legislative reruns as Haiti struggles to recover. "The impact of Hurricane Matthew on the political process and on the stability in the country can only serve to reconfirm the recommendation of the secretary-general for a six-month extension," said Honore. The council is to vote on Thursday on extending the MINUSTAH mission until April next year. Council members however said plans for a drawdown of the force, which currently stands at 6,000, must not remain on hold for too long. A strategic review is to be completed over the coming six months on a full pull-out of the mission, which could be replaced by a smaller UN presence. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that a massive international response was needed to help Haiti as the United Nations launched a $120 million flash appeal for the next three months. Hurricane Matthew killed at least 473 people in Haiti, according to a provisional count from authorities, with more feared dead as rescuers reach the hardest-hit areas. The envoy said the health impact of the disaster cannot be overestimated, with water and sanitation infrastructure severely damaged, causing a high level of diseases including cholera. Matthew crashed ashore on Haiti's southern coast on October 4 as a monster Category 4 storm, packing winds of 145 miles (230 kilometers) per hour. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - South Sudan's government has yet to take concrete steps to allow a UN-mandated regional force to deploy in Juba, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council. In a letter to the council late Monday, Ban said the Juba government still has reservations about the composition of the proposed 4,000-strong force and the areas of deployment. While the government has indicated it is ready to accept the new UN force, "these commitments have not yet translated into concrete actions on the ground," Ban wrote. The council voted in August to deploy the regional protection force (RPF), which will be under the command of the UN mission known as UNMISS, which has 16,000 peacekeepers. The new force will help provide security in the capital and at the airport, and step up protection of UN facilities after Juba was rocked by heavy fighting in July. The council has threatened to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan if the government blocks the deployment, but that would require a vote on a new resolution. Ban did not specify in his report whether the council should move to impose the ban on arms deliveries. US Deputy Ambassador David Pressman said he expected a "robust discussion" at the council on the next steps when the council meets on Monday to discuss South Sudan. "If we find that there is not enough full cooperation, then yes, it will definitely be time to look at an arms embargo," said British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft. - Significant limitations - In his letter, Ban said the Juba government had proposed "significant limitations" to the new force which it said should only protect UN compounds and installations. "These limitations clearly contravene the intention of resolution 2304" setting up the force, wrote Ban. Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda will contribute infantry troops to the new force and Rwanda has also offered to deploy tactical helicopters, which South Sudan has in the past opposed, he added. Story continues South Sudan descended into war in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup. During the fighting in July, Machar, who had been persuaded to return to Juba to join a national unity government, fled the country and is now in Khartoum, having been replaced by Taban Deng Gai in Juba. Ban told the council he was "extremely concerned" by Machar's recent call for renewed war and stressed the need for a political process to finally put an end to the war. Tens of thousands of people have died and more than 2.5 million have been driven from their homes in the nearly three-year war, which has been marked by appalling levels of rape and killings. The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search. Some college campuses are more walkable than others, so the convenience of having a car on campus varies. Among the 215 ranked National Universities that submitted these data to U.S. News in an annual survey, Wayne State University in Michigan topped the list of schools where the most students had cars on campus for the 2015-2016 school year at 98 percent. [Discover five things to consider before bringing a car to college.] At Wayne State, which also had the largest percentage in the previous version of this list, 88 percent of students lived off campus. The school is once again followed by Mississippi State University and Spalding University in Kentucky, where 95 percent of students brought cars. The University of West Georgia -- also at 95 percent for 2015-2016 -- didn't appear on last year's list. Falling on the opposite end of the spectrum were schools such as Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., which reported zero percent of students had cars on campus in 2015-2016, U.S. News data show. The school doesn't provide any on-campus parking for undergrads, according to its website. Meanwhile, the average proportion of students with cars on campus among the 14 schools on the list was almost 93 percent, significantly higher than the average among all the National Universities that submitted these data, which was around 48 percent. No school on the list ranked higher than a tie at No. 152 in U.S. News' 2017 Best National Universities rankings. Among the universities on the list, Immaculata University in Pennsylvania had both the highest rank and lowest total enrollment. Enrollment data for Spalding University were not available. Story continues [Explore the benefits and drawbacks of living at home during college.] Half of the schools where the most students brought cars are designated as Rank Not Published, or RNP, which means they fell in the bottom one-fourth of the ranking category. U.S. News calculates rank s for these schools but has decided not to publish them. Below are the 14 schools where the largest percentage of students had cars on campus during the 2015-2016 school year. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. Don't see your school on this list? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find data on cars, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights. U.S. News surveyed more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2016 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The car data above are correct as of Oct. 11, 2016. Jordan Friedman is an online education editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at jfriedman@usnews.com. putin Relations between the US and Russia took a nosedive last Monday when Washington announced it would be suspending its negotiations with Moscow over its refusal to halt airstrikes on Syria's largest city, Aleppo. That was only the start of a long week one that saw the two countries entering their lowest point in relations since the end of the Cold War. After reports emerged last Tuesday that the US was considering launching airstrikes on the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Russia deployed surface-to-air missiles to its naval base in Tartus on Syria's western coast and suspended a nuclear and energy-related research pact with the US. Then on Thursday, Russia's ministry of defense released a statement implying that US warplanes could be shot down without warning if they were to attack Syrian army positions. On Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry responded by calling for a war-crimes investigation into Russia and Assad's scorched-earth offensive on Aleppo, which has killed hundreds of civilians since late last month. The tumultuous week culminated with an unprecedented move: On Friday afternoon, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a statement that for the first time publicly accused Russia of orchestrating a series of cyberattacks "intended to interfere with the US election process." Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has accused the Russian government of trying to tip the scales in favor of Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has been more sympathetic to Russia on the campaign trail. Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, condemned the accusation on Saturday, saying the current US administration was "not averse to using dirty tricks" to stir up "unprecedented anti-Russian hysteria." aleppo Story continues Later that day, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution proposed by France and backed by the US to immediately halt the bombing in Aleppo, calling it a ploy to protect former Al Qaeda fighters operating in and around the city. On Tuesday, Retired Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Buzhinsky told the BBC that "as far as Russia sees it, as Putin sees it, it is full-scale confrontation [with the US] on all fronts." "It's extremely worrisome," retired Adm. James Stavridis, the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, told NBC News last week of the developments. "The trend lines are very bad," he added. "We're not in a new Cold War, but we're edging close to one." 'Denial of reality isn't a useful policy option' Experts are divided over what options Washington has now that its relationship with Moscow has reached its lowest point in decades especially since it's unlikely that Russia, having successfully edged the US out of the Middle East and been credited with hacking into US political organizations, will ease up anytime soon. Adding to the tension is NATO's buildup of combat battalions on Russia's doorstep in the Baltic countries and Poland. Russia has responded to the increased NATO presence by assembling troops and bases around Kaliningrad, which lies between Poland and Lithuania. Among the highest-profile politicians arguing for a more robust response to Russian aggression is Trump's running mate, Mike Pence. Pence called Russian President Vladimir Putin "small and bullying" in last week's vice-presidential debate, and he said he supported US military action to end Russia's bombardment of Aleppo. In an extraordinary moment in Sunday night's presidential debate, however, Trump said he "disagreed" with his running mate on Syria policy. In any case, Ian Bremmer, the president of the political risk firm Eurasia Group, has not expressed optimism about Washington's recourse. US-Russian relations "are now at the worst level since Andropov," Bremmer told Business Insider in an email, referring to the Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, the general secretary of the Communist Party who was instrumental in the Russians' 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. tim kaine mike pence "On Syria, the US doesn't have realistic options," Bremmer said. "The Russia talks didn't just fail, they failed immediately and completely, with brutal attacks against civilians. Assad isn't going anywhere, and the Russians (and Iran) are willing to ensure they get to determine the outcomes. That's not easy for the US to accept, but denial of reality isn't a useful policy option." In an op-ed article for The Wall Street Journal last week, US Sen. John McCain of Arizona called Kerry's suspension of talks with Russia over Syria "meaningless." He advocated more forceful diplomacy backed by "strength." "Any alternative approach must begin with grounding Mr. Assad's air power," McCain wrote. "The US and its coalition partners must issue an ultimatum to Mr. Assad stop flying or lose your aircraft and be prepared to follow through." He added that the US should hold Russian aircraft "at greater risk," and step up its support to vetted Syrian opposition groups that are fighting the regime. Many analysts who have been monitoring the conflict agree that massive Western support for Syria's opposition is the only viable way for the US to intervene especially given Moscow's recent suggestion that it is prepared to shoot down American warplanes and the lack of appetite within the US for another incursion into the Middle East. Russia's President Vladimir Putin (2nd R), Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L, back), U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attend a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, September 28, 2015. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin Both Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, support establishing a no-fly zone in Syria. While that strategy may have worked had it been enacted before Russia entered the conflict on behalf of Assad in October of last year, as Defense One has noted, setting up a no-fly zone is extremely difficult when an adversary has a strong air force. Enforcing a no-fly zone, moreover, would require sending more American troops into Syria to operate, support, and protect the increased number of US warplanes that would be flying in the area waiting to intercept violators. The US has a small number of "advisers" stationed in Syria now, but Clinton said during Sunday night's presidential debate that she did not support sending in more. Neither does Trump. As such, increased support to vetted rebel groups seems to be the most realistic option. But to decisively turn the war around, experts say, such support must arguably include surface-to-air missiles weapons the Obama administration has so far refused to supply to the rebels out of fear they may fall into extremists' hands. Short of that, "the military alliance between Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iran, and Russia has managed to make constant progress and appears set to regain control over the whole of Syria," Ulrich Speck, an independent foreign-policy analyst, wrote for Carnegie late last month. 'You use yours, we use ours, nobody wins, world destroyed' The US's options in the cyber realm are equally as limited. When asked last week how the US should respond to reports that its voter-registration systems had been targeted, Trump emphasized going offensive and "launching crippling cyberattacks" against America's adversaries. Pence also warned of "serious consequences" if it is determined that Russia is interfering in US elections. But cybersecurity experts are divided, too, over whether a more offensive posture would deter potential hackers or escalate the global cyberwar even further. "It seems like Trump wants to have a detente strategy similar to how we have traditionally handled nuclear weapons," Jason Glassberg, a cofounder of the cybersecurity firm Casaba Security, told Business Insider. "You use yours, we use ours, nobody wins, world destroyed," he added. "I don't think that will work. The hacking game is ever changing and ever morphing and ranges from the very sophisticated to the downright lame." The logo of the Wikileaks website is pictured on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken in Tokyo November 29, 2010. REUTERS/Toru Hanai Glassberg said as Trump has when discussing other aspects of US counterterrorism strategy that it would be unwise for the US to show the world how capable it is of staging harmful attacks against its adversaries. Other experts disagree. Michael Borohovski, a cofounder of the cybersecurity firm Tinfoil Security, said Trump wasn't wrong to call for a more offensive-minded cybersecurity policy in general. "Cybersecurity is an offensive game focusing only on defense essentially means you are always behind," Borohovski told Business Insider in an email. "Attackers only have to succeed once defenders have to succeed every time." Bremmer, of Eurasia Group, called the cyberattacks "an unacceptable sovereignty breach" that demanded US retaliation. "I'd expect sanctions against Russian individuals and firms engaged in the attacks, possibly a withdrawal of the US ambassador," he said. "But there has to be a more significant deterrent out there. Probably best on the cyber side as well a threat that if it continues the US will disrupt or damage the Russian Internet." White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Tuesday that the president will consider a "proportional" response to the Russian cyber attacks. "It is certainly possible that the president can choose response options that we never announce," he said. NOW WATCH: A global intelligence analyst explains why Russia isn't as strong as people think More From Business Insider Washington (AFP) - The United States threatened Tuesday to retaliate for a missile attack that missed a pair of US warships in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen. "Counterstrike, retaliatory strike: I can tell you that those things are things that we are looking at," said Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Defense Department spokesman. The US Navy has said the missiles, which fell short of the USS Mason, a destroyer, and the USS Ponce, an amphibious warfare ship, were fired within an hour of each other on Sunday from territory in Yemen controlled by Huthi rebels. "We want very much to get to the bottom of what happened," said Davis. "We're going to find out who did this and we will take action accordingly." "We will make sure that anybody who interferes with freedom of navigation and puts US Navy ship at risk understands they do so at their own peril," he said. The United States backs a Saudi-led coalition that is fighting the Huthi rebels and the forces of former Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Saleh. The US military provides intelligence and air-refueling for Arab coalition aircraft conducting air strikes against the rebels. It also supplies advanced munitions and logistics support to the Saudi-led war effort and is the kingdom's biggest arms supplier But US air forces are not directly involved in air strikes in Yemen, which are increasingly criticized by the international community for their devastating impact on civilians. After a deadly air strike by the Saudi-led coalition Saturday on a funeral in Yemen that killed more than 140 people, the US administration announced an "immediate review" of its cooperation. According to Pentagon officials, no concrete action has been taken Tuesday to reduce US support, which is considered limited. "To go down from there would be almost a stop in any cooperation," said a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to the Pentagon, Sunday's missile strikes targeted the USS Mason and the USS Ponce, which were patrolling near each other. A Huthi spokesman denied the US ships were targeted. Story continues The Mason took countermeasures after detecting the first missile, which fell into the sea. No countermeasures were taken when the warships detected a second missile fired about an hour later. It also fell into the sea. The incident came just days after a warship from the United Arab Emirates, a Saudi ally, was hit by rocket fire in the Red Sea. Washington (AFP) - As Turkey and Iraq traded insults over the Turkish troop presence outside Mosul on Tuesday, the United States urged its allies to resolve the spat before a major offensive on the city. Iraq is preparing to fight to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State group with support from the United States and a broad -- though sometimes fractious -- coalition of international partners. But recent preparations for the looming offensive have been overshadowed by tensions between Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Abadi has repeatedly urged Turkey to withdraw troops deployed near the northern city in an area nominally part of Iraq but controlled by forces loyal to the country's autonomous Kurdish region. Erdogan has refused, insisting that Turkey has a role to play in liberating the city from the jihadists, and with tempers rising, both sides have resorted to insults. In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the operation would be led by Iraq and that it was a matter for Baghdad which forces should be deployed on its sovereign territory. "The Turkish forces that are deployed in Iraq are not there as part of the international coalition and the situation in Bashiqa is a matter for the governments of Iraq and Turkey to resolve," he said. Ankara maintains an estimated 2,000 troops in Iraq, around 500 of them in the Bashiqa camp training local fighters whom Turkish media say will join the battle to recapture Mosul. "It is imperative for all parties to coordinate closely over the coming days and weeks to ensure unity of effort," Kirby added later, in a statement released as Ankara and Baghdad traded barbs. Abadi's latest gibe was scripted to get under Erdogan's skin, mocking a desperate video call he made to a television station in July to prove he was still alive during a military coup attempt. "We will liberate our land through the determination of our men and not by video calls," Abadi's official Twitter account said. Story continues Earlier, Erdogan had sneered at Abadi's call for him to withdraw his force back to Turkey. "It's not important at all how you shout from Iraq. You should know that we will do what we want to do," he said. "Who's that? The Iraqi prime minister. First you know your place!" The Kurdish peshmerga forces that control the area where Turkey's troops are deployed are in practice not under Abadi's command, but they are expected to play a key role in the upcoming battle. Aboard Air Force One (AFP) - The United States will give a measured response to what it believes to be Russian interference in the US election process, including the hacking of Democratic Party computers, a White House spokesman said Tuesday. "We obviously will ensure that our response is proportional," spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with President Barack Obama on Air Force One. "It is unlikely that our response would be announced in advance," he added. The warning to Russia came four weeks before the November 8 election to pick a successor to the Democratic president. Last Friday, the Obama administration formally accused the Russian government of trying to "interfere" with the American election, and vowed to respond at an undisclosed time and place. The assertion against Russia came with relations already frayed over NATO defenses and stalled efforts to end the bloody civil war in Syria. Earnest highlighted the United States' capacity for responding to cyber attacks. "The president has talked before about the significant capabilities that the US government has to both defend our systems in the United States but also carry out offensive operations in other countries," he said. The US statement, issued Friday, said the American intelligence community "is confident that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations." It also said the disclosures of allegedly hacked emails on WikiLeaks and other websites and by the online persona "Guccifer 2.0" were "consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts." Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, has accused Russia of trying to tilt the presidential election in Republican rival Donald Trump's favor through a series of email hacks. The Obama administration has appeared prudent about the way it responds to hacking and computer attacks, seeking to avoid an escalating cyber war. Story continues The line sometimes is difficult to draw between traditional espionage -- which the United States also practices, and must thus tolerate -- and full-blown cyber assaults. The Obama administration has repeatedly declared its right to respond with all the means at its disposal, and not only through technology measures. After North Korea hacked Sony Pictures in 2014, Obama responded with economic sanctions against the regime. Washington (AFP) - The United States warned its African ally Ethiopia on Tuesday not to abuse the state of emergency it declared this week to suppress dissent and welcomed talk of political reform. Ethiopia declared an emergency on Sunday after six months of anti-government protests, but on Tuesday Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn promised that opposition voices would be heard. US State Department spokesman John Kirby welcomed this offer from the government "to address some of the grievances raised by protesters such as land rights and electoral reform." But he urged President Mulatu Teshome's administration to "clarify" how it intends to implement a state of emergency which authorized "detention without a warrant, limitations on free speech, prohibitions on public gatherings and the imposition of curfews." "Even if these measures are intended to restore order, silencing independent voices and interfering with the rights of Ethiopians is a self-defeating tactic that exacerbates rather than address those grievances," he argued. Ethiopia is facing its biggest anti-government unrest in a decade, with unrest among the majority Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups which feel marginalized by a minority-led government. Tensions have been rising since an Oromo religious festival last week ended in tragedy when police fired tear gas on protesters, triggering a stampede that left more than 50 dead. The declaration of a six-month state of emergency is unprecedented in the 25 years the current Ethiopian government has been in charge. The United States regards Ethiopia as its key partner in the Horn of Africa, and works with it in its efforts to resolve crises in neighboring South Sudan and Somalia. A major nine-month exhibition of Cristobal Balenciaga's work within the world of haute couture fashion is to go on display from May 2017 at the Victoria & Albert in London. In profiling Balenciaga, the exhibition will be the first of its kind in the UK, and is timed to occur during the 100th anniversary of the designer's first fashion house, in San Sebastian, Spain, as well as the 80th anniversary of his 1937 Paris salon. "Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion" will showcase around 100 garments and 20 hats, as well as sketches, photographs, fabric samples, x-rays, toiles and film. Many of the V&A's Balenciaga pieces have not been shown to the public before, the museum said in its announcement. Paris hosted an exhibit of the designer's work in 2006, while in Getaria, Spain, a musuem dedicated to Cristobal Balenciaga has been open since 2011. Lowell McAdam , CEO of Verizon, said Monday he was "not that shocked" about a Yahoo data breach where the information from 500 million users was stolen, saying it was not a matter of if, but when. The internet is "not the happy place where you can put all your personal information out and expect it to be safe," McAdam said. "You've got to take steps to protect yourself." McAdam spoke from the Internet Association's Virtuous Circle conference in Menlo Park, California, meant to gather "the most important stakeholders of the internet economy." After enduring years of high-profile struggles, Yahoo (YHOO) finally reached a deal to be bought by Verizon (VZ) for $4.8 billion in July . But since then, Yahoo has come under fire after it revealed the security breach, likely perpetrated by state actors, that occurred in late 2014. Such actors have a lot of resources, McAdams said, and he said "occasionally they're going to land a punch." "Certainly not anything we wanted to have happen," McAdam said. "Certainly we're going to do everything we can to fortify ourselves. But I think people are beginning to realize this is part of the way the internet operates." McAdam said the company is 50 to 60 percent done with its investigation. Media outlets have reported that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer may have known about the breach sooner , that the company was slow to invest in cyberdefenses and that Yahoo may have authorized emails to be scanned by the government. Since then, a report from the New York Post, unconfirmed by CNBC, indicated that Verizon may demand a price negotiation on their deal. "That is just total speculation we still see a real value to the asset there," he said. "But in fairness, we're still understanding what was going on, to define whether it's a material impact to the business or not. But the industrial logic of doing this merger still makes a lot of sense ... I'm hoping we can get through all this stuff and get to the close [of the deal]." Story continues Yahoo said that reports of government requests were "misleading" and that it is working closely with law enforcement on the cyberattack. "With the government involved, sometimes you're asked not to disclose this kind of thing," McAdam said. Verizon's investment on Yahoo comes on the heels of its acquisition of AOL, which introduced Verizon to the way advertising technology works. He said it's important to be clear and let customers elect what data they want to share. "I think, and we'll see how AOL and Yahoo come together, but I think that entity can be easily one of the top three," McAdam said. "I think we can provide the content and applications that will stand up with anything that goes up on the West Coast." Reporting by CNBC's Mike Newberg and Julia Boorstin . Correction: McAdam spoke at the Internet Association's Virtuous Circle conference. A previous version misstated the name of the conference. As the major carriers yank them from shelves, Verizon (NYSE: VZ)'s CEO said he's never seen a recall like the one for the Galaxy Note 7. "This is by far the biggest concern I've seen in cellphones during my tenure," said Lowell McAdam . "I think [Samsung's] a little surprised the fix didn't fix things. So it's a major black eye for them. As I said to Tim Cook the other day, they've got pretty good karma, because they launched the iPhone 7 when they did." McAdam spoke from the Internet Association's Virtuous Circle conference in Menlo Park, California, meant to gather "the most important stakeholders of the internet economy." "I certainly, in however many years it's been now, have not seen a recall like this," McAdam said. It comes after at least five reports have surfaced of Galaxy Note 7 phones overheating or catching fire, according to The Associated Press, despite a global recall of the handsets last month. A Verizon spokeswoman told Reuters that it may shift its marketing away from the Galaxy Note 7 phone heading into the holiday season. "We recognize that carrier partners have stopped sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 in response to reports of heat damage issues, and we respect their decision," Samsung (Korea Stock Exchange: 593-KR) told CNBC. "Even though there are a limited number of reports, we want to reassure customers that we are taking every report seriously." McAdam said he expects Samsung will get back on its feet, but reports of problems in the replacement device are "pretty well-substantiated." "We'll give you a device of your choice versus another Note 7 it's just not safe at this point in our view," McAdam said. "Note 7s are off the shelf at this point." He said Verizon customers can turn their Galaxy Note 7 phones into Verizon in exchange for another device. So far, he's seen that most Android operating system customers are very loyal to it, and so Samsung's other phone, the Galaxy S7, and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL)'s Pixel, are both selling. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has also seen a small boost, he said, but people "aren't flocking away from Samsung." Story continues Verizon is one of the only carriers that invests in testing laboratories for the devices it carries, McAdam said, and the batteries will get a lot of testing going forward. But McAdam said that at the end of the day, Verizon will still have to rely on smartphone makers. "I have tremendous respect for them if you look at where Samsung was 10 years ago. ... The landscape has changed dramatically and they have become a very high-quality company," McAdam said. Reporting by CNBC's Mike Newberg and Julia Boorstin . Correction: McAdam spoke at the Internet Association's Virtuous Circle conference. A previous version misstated the name of the conference. More From CNBC So much school spirit! The Victorias Secret PINK Campus Showdown Back to School Event is returning to Virginia Tech this year, the company announced on Tuesday, October 11. PHOTOS: Music's Hottest Breakout Artists The over-the-top annual bash will be taking over the campus Drillfield area on Tuesday, October 18, for a special musical performance by Diplo, games, giveaways of the brands cutest gear and more. The Blacksburg, Virginia, university beat out several other schools, including University of Texas at San Antonio, West Virginia University and University of North Florida, in a series of social media contests, which involved following and liking photos on their schools own PINK Instagram and Snapchat accounts. In the final round, Virginia Tech got the most views (169,000!) in 24 hours on their Campus Showdown Instagram video and was declared the winner! PHOTOS: Music's Most Stylish Stars WE WON PINK CAMPUS SHOWDOWN!!!! Way to show em what the Hokie Nation can do! We love you all! the schools campus reps posted on the Virginia Tech Instagram page. PHOTOS: Supermodels: Then and Now In previous years, Victorias Secret PINK has brought Zedd, Kid Cudi, Drake, Iggy Azalea and Girl Talk to colleges around the country. Back in 2012, Virginia Tech previously won the competition, which featured a performance by Gym Class Heroes and appearances by VS models Elsa Hosk and Jessica Hart. Related Content: From Popular Mechanics The German government has begun to use virtual reality simulations of concentration camps to prosecute Nazi war criminals. Jens Rommel, head of Germany's federal office for the investigation of Nazi war crimes, finds and investigates guards at the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Last August, he sent details of eight new suspects to prosecutors in August. But he and his office have found that suspected guards often use the same excuse. That, from the places they were stationed in the came, none of the atrocities were visible. It's a claim that's actually complicated to check, and it's only getting harder with time. While much of Auschwitz-the worst of the camps, with some eleven million killed and the site of a prisoner uprising-remains preserved as a museum, key visual elements like crematoriums have been dismantled. Not only are the old sightlines corrupted, but tourists are a constant presence, making a real-life recreation all but impossible. But with the original construction plans, Rommel turned to Bavaria's State Criminal Office (LKA) for a virtual recreation. Photo credit: Ralf Breker's Team / Bavarian State Criminal Investigation Office The LKA program allows users wearing VR goggles to observe Auschwtiz as a guard would: with complete access. A user can walk around the grounds, enter the barracks, even climb a watchtower and observe prisoner movements. There are no people in the recreation, but their walking routes can be easily determined, potentially giving Breker a crucial piece of evidence. The LKA team combined on-site 3D modeling with aerial photography, allowing the camp to be seen in both summer and winter conditions. As use of the program continues, the LKA team hopes to allow for greater interactivity. The next steps could allow two or more users to enter the Auschwitz simulation at the same time and see each other there, allowing for in-program research. While building the program was harrowing-Breker describes it as "one of the most difficult tasks" he has ever faced in his current position-it could prove to quicken evidence gathering against suspects, allowing Breker the one thing needed most while racing to prosecute elderly war criminals: time. Story continues Source: NBC You Might Also Like Volunteers were literally bursting from the seams of this animal shelter after more than 800 pets were adopted into loving homes, emptying the cages of their facilities. Read: Tiny Kitten Gets Sweater Made From a Sock After Being Rescued After Hurricane Matthew To demonstrate the amount of empty kennels at a rescue in Kansas City, Missouri, volunteers and staff could be seen in a video hopping into the vacant cages of their shelter and cheering loudly in celebration of having adopted out most of their dogs, cats, chinchillas, rats, guinea pigs, and hamsters over the weekend. "That was the highest number we've ever adopted out," said KC Pet Project's Tori Fugate. "There were a lot of really great pets finding homes. Some were in there a really long time." Fugate explained the annual event came as a combined effort between three of the largest rescues in the city, one of which being KC Pet Project. While their combined goal was to adopt out 500 pets between the three organizations, they exceeded their goals in sending 834 rescued animals to loving homes, a first for their annual event. Read: Fur the Love of Animals: Donated Coats Keeping Orphaned Critters Safe and Warm The KC Pet Project alone was able to send 281 rescue animals in their shelters to homes last weekend -- another all time high for the rescue. To celebrate the success, the pets that remain at the shelter -- most of which were on hold during the adoption event -- will still be sent to homes for a reduced adoption rate for the rest of the week. Watch: Chow Chow and Terrier Brothers Adopted Together After Starving Themselves While Living Apart Related Articles: A Donald Trump supporter claimed Hillary Clinton was guilty of "hypocrisy" for criticizing the GOP nominee for his "locker room talk" because of her professed admiration for Beyonce. Wait, what? Betsy McCaughey, a former Lt. Gov. of New York, attempted to defend Trump from the fallout from Friday's revelation of a hot mic incident, by claiming it was rich of Clinton to pile on when she herself "idolizes" and "imitates" Beyonce whose lyrics were just as bad. Or something. "I mentioned rap music because it's full of the f-word, the p-word, the b-word, the a-word," said McCaughey as she began to thread the needle of her argument. Confused CNN host Don Lemon, clearly falling for McCaughey's rhetorical trap, was forced to ask where she was going with her point. To which McCaughey dropped the hammer, the full quote making plain her thesis: "Hillary Clinton expresses that she finds the language on that bus, 'horrific,' but in fact, she likes language like this. 'I came to slay, bitch. When he f---ed me good I take his ass to red lobster.' "That happens to be from Beyonce, her favorite performer. Whom she says she idolizes and would like to imitate. So you know what I'm saying to you? There's a lot of hypocrisy, in Hillary Clinton expressing such horror at language on the bus." Here's the video of some choice verbal jujitsu. "All that, and a @Beyonce reference," said @donlemon. Here's the @Betsy_McCaughey moment our host was referencing https://t.co/n1xzb7QtJZ - CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) October 11, 2016 This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter. donald trump Donald Trump unleashed on House Speaker Paul Ryan Tuesday morning, one day after the Wisconsin Republican announced he would no longer defend or campaign for the GOP presidential nominee. In a series of tweets, the real-estate mogul praised his own debate performance citing unscientific polls to do so and simultaneously slammed the speaker's leadership. "Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty," Trump wrote. "Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!" Trump said in an earlier tweet. The only scientific poll conducted in the immediate aftermath of the second debate on Sunday found that Hillary Clinton walked away with a decisive victory. The barbs from Trump came less than 24 hours after he tweeted that Ryan should stop spending his time criticizing the nominee. "Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee," Trump wrote on Monday. Ryan's decision not to defend Trump followed the release on Friday of a video from 2005 that showed Trump bragging in private about kissing, grabbing, and forcing himself onto women without their permission. Sens. John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, John Thune, and Rob Portman are among a slew of prominent Republican officials who unendorsed the nominee after revelations about Trump's 2005 comments. For his part, Ryan is still endorsing Trump, though the two earlier this year flirted with the possibility of not endorsing each other. A spokesperson for Ryan told Business Insider on Tuesday that the speaker "is focusing the next month on defeating Democrats, and all Republicans running for office should probably do the same." NOW WATCH: Trump says 'every poll' shows he won the second debate, but scientific polls suggest he lost More From Business Insider For every person who seeks out the perfect sunset over the Pacific or a quiet stay in the wilderness, there is somebody whoswoons over a vast trove of books.For those peoplethe Hermione Grangers, the Rupert Gileses, the Lisa Simpsonswe recommend addingthe British Library in London to your bucket list. Why? Though it may not be the most historic or the most beautiful libraryon the planet, it isthelargest, defined by thenumber of items cataloged. With over 170 million books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, sound and music recordings, magazines, and drawings,its no wonder the libraryattractsover 1.75 million visitors per year. Luckily, there's lots of space on offer tooenough room to accommodate more than 1,200 readers and625 kilometers of shelves. British Library The library boasts that, if a visitor were to see five items every day, it would take a whopping 80,000 years to see the entire collection. But before your lifetime is up, youll surely want to check out the Diamond Sutra, otherwise known as the worlds earliest dated printed book, which is often on display in the exhibition galleries of the library. See also treasures like teh Magna Cart and handwritten Beatles lyrics. It may come as a surprise, but as far aslibraries go, the British Library isn't actually that oldit was established in 1973 as a result of the British Library Act, which was enacted the year before. It's thelargest public building constructed in the UK in the 20th century, and its modernist style is still controversial. British Library TheBritish Library is open to all. Next time you're in London, head here to seeold manuscripts on display to the general public, including Beowulf, Canterbury Tales, Jane Eyre, Alice's Adventures Under Ground, and Just So Storiesto name a few. Related Articles Yahoo Finance is tracking the stocks youre following, based on your Yahoo Finance ticker searches. Alcoa (AA) The company posted adjusted earnings per share of 32 cents on revenue of $5.21 billion for the fiscal third quarter, missing analysts estimates on both the top and bottom lines. This was the last earnings before Alcoa splits into two companies. Wells Fargo (WFC) The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Wells Fargo managers pushed branch employees to come up with new ways to get customers to sign up for potentially costly overdraft protection. WSJ is also reporting that Wells Fargo held an hour-long call with top executives Monday to lay out the banks strategy to move past its scandal. Ford (F) The US auto giant is closing its Mustang factory in Michigan for a week after US sales for the vehicle plunged 32% in September. The plant, located in the city of Flat Rock, employs 3,702 workers. Apple (AAPL) The US Supreme Court will hear its first case involving the patent battle between Apple and Samsung. Apple claims Samsung copied many design features of the iPhone, including its shape, front screen and display grid. Twitter (TWTR) Reuters is reporting that Salesforce (CRM) is still considering a bid for Twitter, despite earlier reports that the company is no longer interested. Twitter now has a market cap of $12 billion. MSF Jason Cone As it turns out, giving away medicine for free won't be the way to end drug pricing fury. The US director of Medecins Sans Frontieres, otherwise known as Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian group focused on supplying medical care in emergency situations around the world, penned a blog post Monday detailing the organization's reasoning for not accepting free pneumonia vaccines from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. (A spokeswoman for Pfizer said it offered to donate 1 million vaccine doses.) In theory, a donation seems as though it would make sense: Give vaccines away for free, and then they can be used by people who might not otherwise be able to afford them. But MSF argues it'd be better if the organization could just pay for the drug at a discounted rate than deal with the complications and restrictions that come with donations. "Free is not always better. Donations often involve numerous conditions and strings attached, including restrictions on which patient populations and what geographic areas are allowed to receive the benefits," Jason Cone, executive director of MSF in the US, wrote in the post. "This process can delay starting vaccination campaigns, which would be an untenable situation in emergency settings, or grossly limit who you're able to reach with the vaccine." Pfizer, meanwhile, stood by its decision to use donations to increase access to vaccines. "Pfizer strongly disagrees with MSF's stated policy and believes product donations play a crucial role in addressing humanitarian crises around the world," the company said in an emailed statement regarding the blog post. Cone also argued in his post that donations are not a sustainable solution since they could be cut off or discontinued at any time. Pneumonia which can be caused by a virus, bacteria, or fungus killed 920,000 children worldwide in 2015, according to the World Health Organization. Pneumonia vaccines protect against the bacteria Streptococcal pneumoniae. Story continues MSF is concerned with two pneumonia vaccines out there: one made by GlaxoSmithKline, the other by Pfizer. For the past two years, Pfizer and GSK have donated the vaccines to MSF, which Cone noted was not part of any long-term arrangement. MSF has been pushing both companies to supply the vaccine for $5 a child, and GSK agreed in September to provide it for around $9 a child. A spokeswoman for Pfizer told Business Insider that the company had offered MSF 1 million vaccine doses, including 100,000 doses right away, which Pfizer said would "build on the significant donation previously provided to MSF." When asked if the donations would be the only way Pfizer would provide doses (as opposed to cutting the price), the company said, "We are actively exploring a number of new options to enable greater access to our [pneumonia] vaccine, Prevenar 13 (Prevnar 13 in the United States), to aid NGOs facing humanitarian emergency settings." Other organizations that provide vaccines to developing countries, such as the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, have policies in place about drug donations. GAVI, for instance, resorts to donations only "under exceptional circumstances." "Donations of medical products, such as vaccines and drugs, may appear to be good 'quick fixes,' but they are not the answer to increasingly high vaccine prices charged by pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and GSK," Cone wrote. This post was updated to clarify Pfizer's response. NOW WATCH: Watch Jeff Sachs destroy the anti-vaccine movement in under two minutes More From Business Insider The Supreme Court will hear a long-running corporate battle on Tuesday over how much Samsung should have to pay its rival Apple (AAPL) for copying the iPhones design. The dispute has attracted over a dozen amicus curiae (friend of the Court briefs) arguing the case has wide-ranging implications. One of those briefs came from major tech companiesincluding Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Dell and Hewlett Packard (HPQ)which asserted the dispute presented a question of enormous practical importance to them. This is the first time the High Court has taken a look at design patents in well over 100 years, four years after a lower court jury found Samsung had copied part of the iPhones design and awarded Apple nearly $1 billion in damages that were later reduced. That question is not whether Samsung copied parts of the iPhones designincluding its rounded corners, a bezel or surrounding rim, a grid of 16 colorful icons and the phones distinctive front faceamong other features, according to Apples description. Rather than deciding the issue of infringement, the Supreme Court justices will decide whether Samsung owes Apple all the profits it made from its infringing phonesor just those profits attributable to the infringing features. Samsung Electronics North America President & CEO Gregory Lee delivers opening remarks at the introduction of the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone at the Samsung Galaxy Studio, in New York, Monday, Feb. 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) This decision will interpret a design-patent statute passed in 1842, long before the world even contemplated something like the iPhone or its alleged copycats. It was originally used to protect the designs of simple products like wallpaper, rugs and fireplace grates, the tech companies noted in their amicus brief. But the world is a lot different now, with companies like Samsung making complex, multicomponent technological products, the brief noted. If certain elements of those products infringe design patents, then the maker should only have to pay damages attributable to the offending components, according to the amicus brief. Those tech companiesand Samsung, for that matterare asking the Supreme Court to overturn a decision last year by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that ruled in Apples favor. That decision found Apple was entitled to total profit from the article of manufacture bearing the patented design. Story continues If its allowed to stand, that decision could pave the way for frivolous lawsuits that could hamper tech companies and stymie innovation, the tech companies argue. From the brief: As predicted by numerous commentators, the Federal Circuits decision has already prompted so-called patent trolls to threaten design-patent litigation against Samsung and its amici. Meanwhile, companies are applying for and obtaining record numbers of design patents, which are certain to be asserted at similarly growing rates. The ensuing litigation, and threats of litigation, will further undermine innovation and the research and development efforts of amicia particularly troubling development in light of the spurious quality of many design patents While a jury initially awarded Apple $930 million back in 2012, the award was later reduced to $548 million. If Samsung succeeds in the Supreme Court, it could stand to get back $399 million of that amount, which was attributed to profits it gained from selling the infringing phones. Samsung suggests in a statement that this isnt just about the money, noting, Samsung took this case to the Supreme Court because we believe the way design patent law has been interpreted is not in line with modern times because it discourages competition, innovation and consumer choice. Apple CEO Tim Cook Lucy Nicholson | Reuters For its part, Apple has contended in a Supreme Court brief that it spent billions of dollars developing the iPhone and that its design played a key role in its success. A products design enables a manufacturer like Samsung to sell a particular product and make a profit in the first place, Apples brief notes. Samsungs smartphones are sold as single, unitary articles to ordinary purchasers, the brief notes, and their infringing designs are closely intertwined with the phones hardware and software to create the products overall look and feel. Apples brief also suggests Samsungs infringement was brazen, noting, The evidence showed how assiduously Samsung copied Apples iPhone in response to its crisis of design, and instantly increased its market share, the brief noted. In its own brief supporting Apple, the shoemaker Crocs also touched on the importance of design patents. From its very inception, Crocs has devoted substantial resources to researching, developing, and bringing to market innovative and iconic footwear designs, the company noted. Indeed, Crocs designs are almost one and the same with its brand. Erin Fuchs is deputy managing editor of Yahoo Finance. On Oct. 21, 2015, Hillary Clinton confidante Sid Blumenthal fired off an email with an ominous subject line The truth to a list of undisclosed recipients that included the Democratic presidential nominees campaign chairman, John Podesta. This week, Blumenthals email turned up in a trove of the Democratic powerbrokers released emails, and has become the center of a strange saga featuring WikiLeaks, Donald Trump, and wild allegations the Kremlin succeeded in putting into words from the mouth of the businessman and GOP presidential nominee. The email from Blumenthal was in fact far more benign than the subject line might imply. It contained highlights and the full text of an article by Newsweek writer Kurt Eichenwald about the attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. That article concluded the GOP outrage over the incident was largely manufactured for political gain, but conceded that the attack was almost certainly preventable. If the GOP wants to raise that as a talking point against [Clinton,] it is legitimate, Eichenwald concluded. When that email was released by WikiLeaks on Monday and obtained by Sputnik, the state-controlled Russian news agency, it became something else altogether. Sputnik either misread or deliberately distorted the email as a message from Blumenthal about Benghazi, rather than the summary of anothers work. Hillarys top confidante Sidney Blumenthal believed that the investigation into Benghazi was legitimate because it was preventable and the result of State Department negligence, Sputnik reported in a story that has since been deleted. Several hours after the publication of the Sputnik item, Trump read from Eichenwalds article while on stage at a Pennsylvania rally and attributed it to sleazy Sidney. Hes now admitting they could have done something about Benghazi, Trump declared. Of course, there was no such admission from a member of the Clinton camp, an error that Sputnik itself has apparently realized and took down its article. Story continues But Eichenwald saw a much larger conspiracy at play: Russia govnt falsified an email. Then Trump recited the falsified email at a rally. Only those two knew it. How? https://t.co/1d5qvU01Yi Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 11, 2016 Follow trail: Russia manipulates email, publishes on govnt media. No one else reports it. Trump reads it at rally. https://t.co/1d5qvU01Yi Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 11, 2016 To be clear, the Russian government didnt falsify an email; a state-backed news outlet misrepresented one. Information flowed from hacked emails obtained by WikiLeaks just how remains unknown into the hands of a Russian state-journalist who appears to have misread, either deliberately or mistakenly, a document. That a spurious report by a Russian propaganda outlet made it into Trumps small hands and was repeated isnt exactly surprising. But coming on the heels of the U.S. intelligence communitys declaration Friday that Russia was responsible for recent computer breaches at the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations, and that the publishing of emails by WikiLeaks and others fits a pattern of Russian behavior, its tempting to see a grand plot by Moscow afoot here. At the very least, Russian propagandists can count Mondays events as a clear victory. Whoever wrote the Sputnik report, even if it was subsequently deleted, succeeded in getting the GOP nominee for president to parrot his article. Thats no small feat for a state-backed news agency, especially when you consider that the American equivalent of Sputnik basically labors in obscurity. But is there a more damning conclusion to be had? Eichenwald wrote on Twitter that Trump just recited false info from a Russian disinformation op as fact, implying Moscows fingerprints were on both the WikiLeaks report and the subsequent, skewed Sputnik report. But that relies on a set of circumstantial evidence that is very much up for interpretation. While the U.S. intelligence community has said that WikiLeaks publishing of hacked emails fits a pattern of Russian behavior, it remains unclear how Julian Assange obtained the email archive belonging to John Podesta. Given his publishing of emails obtained from the DNC, whose penetration by Russia is well documented, Assange may well be relying on his Moscow contacts. The publishing of emails belonging to Clintons campaign chairman undoubtedly represents an information operation Assange would call it an act of radical journalism against the former secretary of state, whom the WikiLeaks founder loathes. But is it Moscows operation? Russia is certainly the leading suspect, but its guilt is not an established fact. Rather, Eichenwalds response is a symptom of our times. When the Russians are blithely hacking a huge number of American targets, it starts to seem like the Russians are everywhere and anywhere, without actually knowing that they are. This is how cyberspace breeds a particularly virulent strain of a paranoia. Such inability to determine with any certainty the provenance of the information published on WikiLeaks illustrates why Russia is able to act so aggressively. Plausible deniability drastically lowers the cost of meddling in a foreign countrys election. At the same time, Washington has dithered in coming up with a response to Russian hacking. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said a U.S. response would be forthcoming and it would be proportional. He provided no clarity on the shape of U.S. retaliatory action, which could include sanctions or cyber operations against Russian targets. It is unlikely that our response would be announced in advance, he said. STEFFI LOOS/AFP/Getty Images A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that the leadership structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau makes the independent agency -- one of the headline achievements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act -- unconstitutional. The three-judge panel of the US District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that because the CFPB is structured as an independent agency, and is managed by a single director rather than a board, it gives too much power to an individual. The CFPB director, furthermore, while appointed by the president, cannot be removed from his position before his or her term has expired, except for cause. Related: Despite the Scandal, Wells Fargo Is Doing Just Fine The CFPBs concentration of enormous executive power in a single, unaccountable, unchecked Director not only departs from settled historical practice, but also poses a far greater risk of arbitrary decision making and abuse of power, and a far greater threat to individual liberty, than does a multi-member independent agency, the judges ruled. In the ruling, the justices sever the element of the law covering the termination of the director, which they say brings the agency into compliance with the Constitution. With the for-cause provision severed, the President now will have the power to remove the Director at will, and to supervise and direct the Director. The CFPB therefore will continue to operate and to perform its many duties, but will do so as an executive agency akin to other executive agencies headed by a single person, such as the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury. The ruling is a bit of a constitutional bank shot, because there is nothing in the Constitution specifically preventing a government agency from having the sort of structure the Dodd-Frank Act gave the CFPB. However, it is being cheered by conservative activists and financial services trade groups who view the CFPB as an out-of-control regulator. Story continues Related: Heres How Bad the Insurance Claims for Hurricane Matthew Could Be The agency was created so that there would be a central authority charged with implementing consumer financial protection laws -- a responsibility that had previously been parceled out across a patchwork of financial regulators. It was formed in the shadow of the financial crisis that helped bring about the Great Recession. In just a few years, CFPB has been a vigorous pursuer of penalties against institutions and sometimes entire sectors of the financial services world, for what it sees as the mistreatment of customers. Most recently, CFPB was involved in the exposure of Wells Fargo bank for creating millions of unauthorized customer accounts. However, from its founding, the CFPB has had powerful opponents, including many in Congress, who disapproved of the agencys structure. This is a great day for limited government and the constitutional separation of powers, said Sam Kazman, general counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Todays ruling will play a major role in providing proper accountability for this rogue agency. Related: Oil Prices Are Creating a Goldilocks Scenario for the Global Economy Supporters of the CFPB said that they expect the government to challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court, and that they expect it to be overturned. Were disappointed that a court would heed the self-serving demands of special interests to weaken the independence of a consumer agency whose work it itself called critical, said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for U.S. PIRG and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund. While this decision must be overturned, nothing in it denies the need for a strong CFPB. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: October 14, 2016 will mark the 90th anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh: the gentle children's stories written by A.A. Milne based upon his son and his cast of stuffed animals. To celebrate this legacy, four new illustrated tales have been published, and a new character -- with a real-life reference -- has been introduced. Christopher Robin Milne and his boyhood stuffed bear were fictionalized in the series penned by his father, A. A. Milne. In addition to boy and bear, further characters from the stories had real-life toy counterparts: Eeyore (a Christmas present), Piglet (a gift from an acquaintance) Kanga, Roo, and Tigger (gift purchases from Harrods). "Winnie-the-Pooh," first published in 1926, was an immediate success: 35,000 copies were sold in the UK, and over 150,000 copies sold in the US. Since then, the book's popularity has only ascended further, resulting in translations in over 50 languages, from Catalan to Thai to Esperanto. Egmont Publishing -- also responsible for Lemony Snicket and Thomas & Friends -- has recently released an official sequel set of Winnie the Pooh stories, to offset the two A.A. Milne originals. The new publication is titled "The Best Bear in All the World" (published October 6), and Paul Bright, Kate Saunders, Jeanne Willis and Brian Sibley have created four new tales, one per season, thus introducing Winnie-the-Pooh to a new generation of readers. The new book is in fact the second contemporary release, following the publication of "Return to the Hundred Acre Wood" by David Benedictus (2009). Joining the gang in the Hundred Acre Wood is a new character, Penguin, based upon a photograph of A.A. Milne and Christopher playing with a penguin toy. Author Brian Sibley commented in a statement: "The thought of Pooh encountering a penguin seemed no more outlandish than his meeting a kangaroo and a tiger in a Sussex wood..." Sebastian Wormell, Harrods archivist, noted in a statement: "In the early years of the 20th century, toy penguins soared in popularity as the exploits of Antarctic explorers We believe that the toy pictured could be Squeak', which originated in our 1922 catalogue and came from Pip, Squeak and Wilfred, a popular cartoon-strip." Story continues The four-part collection is complemented with drawings by Mark Burgess, which hew to the style of E. H. Shepard's original illustrations. However, Burgess noted: "I did especially enjoy drawing Penguin. With a new character I feel I'm not quite so much in Shepard's shadow." Rupert Hill, a trustee at Pooh Properties, said: "We are delighted to be celebrating Winnie-the-Pooh's 90th anniversary this year, as the Queen celebrates hers." Earlier this year, Pooh and Queen Elizabeth II met in a special story, "Winnie-the-Pooh and the Royal Birthday" by Jane Riordan with illustrations by Burgess available via the Disney website. Meanwhile, moviegoers will be able to learn more about Pooh's creator A.A. Milne in a biopic about the author starring Domnhall Gleeson and directed by Simon Curtis, currently in production and set for release next year. By Lisa Baertlein (Reuters) - Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N), owner of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell chains, said on Tuesday it will more than double returns to shareholders by 2019 as part of a program started last year, sending its shares up as much as 3.8 percent. The company, which is spinning off its China division at the end of the month, now plans to expand its share buyback plan to $13.5 billion, including dividends. It already has bought back about $5.5 billion shares as part of a previously announced $6.2 billion capital return program that has reduced its share count by about 16 percent. Yum did not immediately have a breakdown on much of the extra returns would be from share repurchases and how much from dividends. Executives say Yum Brands will be leaner and less exposed to the ups and downs of the restaurant business following the separation of Yum China and the sale of more company-owned restaurants to franchisees. "It's about delivering higher growth with lower risk," Yum Brands Chief Executive Officer Greg Creed told Reuters in a telephone interview. Yum said franchisees will own 93 percent of the nearly 36,000 Yum restaurants remaining in the company after the China unit is carved off. The combined company currently is 77 percent franchised, in part because Yum China owns most of its restaurants. Yum Brands aims to have at least 98 percent of its restaurants owned by franchisees by the end of 2018, which will lower costs and increase its dependence on more stable franchise and license fees. Yum's China business will begin trading on Nov. 1 on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol YUMC. The new company, Yum China Holdings Inc, will become a licensee of Yum Brands in mainland China and will have exclusive rights there to KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Yum China now accounts for 45 percent of Yum Brands' earnings, a contribution expected to fall to 14 percent after the spinoff, when Yum China will begin paying Yum Brands a license fee of 3 percent of restaurant system sales, Creed said. Story continues The company plans to reduce annual capital expenditures to about $100 million in 2019 from about $500 million in 2015 and cut general and administrative expenses by a cumulative $300 million by fiscal 2019. About half of that $300 million in new savings will come from shifting restaurant expenses to new franchisees, the remainder will come from job eliminations and tighter expense controls on things like travel, Creed said. Yum last week reported its first same-store sales drop in five quarters in China, blaming anti-U.S. protests after an international court rejected China's claim to historic rights in the South China Sea. Shares in Yum were up 1.1 percent at $88.31 after hitting a session high of $90.68. Up to Monday's close, the stock had risen about 20 percent since the start of the year. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein, additional reporting by Siddharth Cavale and Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Andrew Hay) (Adds executive comment) By Lisa Baertlein Oct 11 (Reuters) - Yum Brands Inc said it can triple the number of restaurants in its China division, which is being spun off after a string of sales setbacks that have raised the risk profile of the company's top profit generator. Yum opened its first KFC in China near Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1987, beating major rivals to the country. It has been China's biggest Western restaurant operator for years and now has more than 7,300 KFC and Pizza Hut outlets there. "I really don't see any reason why we cannot have 20,000 restaurants in China," said Micky Pant, chief executive of Yum's China division, which will be spun off on Oct. 31. But Yum China's once-predictable growth has been called into question. It has grappled with internal and external challenges in recent years, including marketing blunders, rising competition, bird flu outbreaks, food safety problems and slowing economic growth. Earlier this month, executives blamed anti-U.S. protests sparked by political tensions in the South China Sea for a surprise 1 percent drop in sales at established China restaurants during the latest quarter. Pant said those sales were recovering and described the division's first same-store sales drop in five quarters as a blip, telling Reuters, "the fundamentals of the brands in China are very strong." Pant said Yum China will have 15 percent earnings expansion in the world's fastest-growing economy and that it will open restaurants in burgeoning mega cities, major transportation hubs and new shopping malls. The company also plans to open Taco Bell and Little Sheep restaurants, albeit at a far slower pace than its two dominant brands. Partners Primavera Capital and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd affiliate Ant Financial, which will buy a $460 million stake in Yum China, bring competitive advantages such as local real estate market knowledge and digital leadership, Pant said. Yum China already is the biggest user of Ant's popular Alipay service and the restaurant operator is investing in making its mobile ordering system and loyalty programs even more robust, executives said. Story continues Analysts say KFC, which accounts for roughly 70 percent of Yum's restaurants in China, still has plenty of room to add new units but suggest its limit may be lower than the company's long-term target. China has about 4 KFC stores per million people and its level of "Peak KFC," or restaurant penetration, is likely to be equal to Japan's at 9 stores per million people, rather than the 13 stores per million people in the United States, Bernstein Research analyst Sara Senatore said in a recent note. Pant told Reuters he "can absolutely see getting" to 12 KFC restaurants per million people in China, equivalent to a tripling of the business. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Meredith Mazzilli) Zach Galifianakis was in our SuperFan Los Angeles studio with his Keeping Up With the Joneses castmates, Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot, and Isla Fisher, and we had to take a moment to discuss his recent Between Two Ferns interview with democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Of course the former Secretary of State was only pretending to dislike Galifianakis, and he had only good things to say about working with Clinton. Costar Jon Hamm also appeared on the third episode ever of the Funny or Die web series, back in 2008 when only friends and fellow comedians were being terribly interviewed on the faux-public access show. Since then, Galifianakis has annoyed Oscar winners, music icons, and President Barack Obama, asking the current leader of the free world, Whats it like to be the last black president? Obama quickly fired back, Seriously? Whats it like for this to be the last time you ever talk to a president? Tell us what you think! Who has been your favorite Galifainakis guest? And who would you love to see get between the Two Ferns? Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter. (Facebook/Emily Robinson) By now, most people have heard the lewd comments made by Donald Trump back in 2005. And while the presidential candidate has apologized for his words, one mom was not satisfied. Enraged by what she heard on the video, Emily Robinson felt she had to act. When her husband handed her a Trump campaign mailer over the weekend, she took the opportunity to make her statement. Yes I did, she writes in a Facebook post . The post features a picture of the mailer as well as a separate letter to Trump, which reads, Dear Mr. Trump. Im not able to mail you my actual p-, so Ive included the next best thing. Taped to the letter is a chunk of Robinsons pubic hair. While the post certainly gained some traction with Facebook users its been shared 340 times with more than 1,400 likes Robinson hopes the attention serves a greater purpose. Respectfully, all you fathers out there who are taking this opportunity to reflect on these very serious issues and beginning comments with as a father with daughters.. Please pause, she says in another post on her Facebook page. Begin these conversations first with your sons. Boys need to hear about sexism more than girls do. We already know. We already understand. Its a way of life for us. Inform your sons and empower them to have empathy, understanding, and yes, how to be proud feminists. While Robinson doesnt expect to get a response from Trump or his team, shes still happy to have done something. (Facebook/Emily Robinson) After I did it, I drank a beer, chuckled, and felt better, Robinson tells Scary Mommy. And for those who claim her response is just as lewd as Trumps comments, Robinson chooses to disagree. My pubes arent gross. They are just trimmed off, clean little hairs. A man who thinks its okay to talk about how he grabs ps (in front of several other people on a bus) is way more gross than few taped down short n curlies. What do you think of her actions? Let us know by tweeting to @YahooStyleCA. Incredible: A uterus transplant recipient gave birth with her own mothers womb! Science is advancing faster than some of us have anticipated, but its not all for fun and games. When it comes to reproductive health, science could be the key to helping people have healthier pregnancies. A case from Sweden may give hope to those who dont have uteri or whose uteri arent compatible with pregnancy. pregnant4 As reported by Romper, a mother named Emilie Eriksson gave birth to her son using her mothers uterus two years ago. The transplant surgery that facilitated this successful pregnancy and birth is still relatively new (and not always effective for patients who undergo it), but this case gives hope to those who have challenges with reproductive health. Plus, two years later, all those involved are healthy which demonstrates the potential of this transplant surgery for those in need. Emilie did not have a uterus, but received her mother, Maries, womb in a trial surgery by Matts Brannstrom a doctor at the forefront of uterus transplants. The procedure was tough on Emilies body; she dealt with episodes of rejection, as explained by Romper. But once stable, doctors used in-vitro fertilization to insert an embryo into Emilies new womb. She was pregnant a few weeks later, and she is now the mother of a healthy 2-year old son, Albin! A video posted by Dokter Translate Kedokteran (@jasa_jurnal) on Jun 23, 2016 at 7:55pm PDT Emilie spoke to the Associated Press about the incredible and surreal nature of what she has experienced: Its like science fiction. This is something that you read in history books and now in the future when you read about this, its about me. pregnantbook Though this procedure could positively affect patients with reproductive health struggles, teaching the procedure to new doctors is very challenging. Doctors who have successfully completed the procedure find it difficult to teach it to other surgeons, especially at hospitals outside of Sweden, where the most successful procedures have taken place. It may be a while before these procedures are widely accessible for every person who needs them, but the success of the Erikssons procedure gives us hope for the future of reproductive health assistance. The post Incredible: A uterus transplant recipient gave birth with her own mothers womb! appeared first on HelloGiggles. Last week, more than a dozen artisans from across the globe convened in New York City for a three-day Artisan Leadership Summit facilitated by the nonprofit group Nest. The industry immersion and education program included panel discussions, lectures and one-on-one sessions with executives, designers and merchandisers from Warby Parker, West Elm, Bergdorf Goodman, Brand Assembly, the CK Home Collection and the Fashion Law Institute, among others. The goal was simple: For global artisan businesses to thrive in the competitive international marketplace, they should have access to professionals who know the contemporary fashion, home and design industries inside and out, Nest organizers said. Bruce Kayitare agreed. Ive learned so much more about the market, about compliance, how to treat employees and pricing strategies, he said, adding that having discussions with global companies and brands and getting their insights and perspectives has been extremely valuable. Kayitare is a production manager of Rwandan accessories company Abahizi, which employs more than 160 women artisans who make handbags for Kate Spade New York. He was joined by participants from Japan, Peru, Indonesia, Morocco and the U.S. This is the second leadership summit for Nest, which helps artisans across the globe overcome supply-chain hurdles and other issues via direct programming. The organization also serves as an advocate of the global artisan community, which is mostly composed of women. Its a community that generates $32 billion annually in handcrafted apparel, accessories and home goods. Nests work with artisans comes at a time when consumers particularly Millennials demand greater authenticity from the brands and products they purchase. Shoppers want to know where products are made and sourced, and the narratives behind the products to include the people making the items. Its also part of a larger trend supporting greater corporate social responsibility from retailers and major brands. Story continues Apparel, jewelry and home goods produced by artisans are also more individualized and stand apart from mass-produced goods. Luis Heller, who serves as an administration manager of Allpa, a Peruvian WFTO (World Fair Trade Organization) member that produces jewelry, furniture and ceramics as well as handwoven and knitwear textiles, said the summit is helping him gain market intelligence that will help his company grow. I have a much better understanding of trends and how to identify trends by looking closely at the consumer, Heller said, adding that the program works well because it creates an intimate experience that fosters more effective learning. Theres also a high degree of practicality, Heller said in reference to a session on developing a pricing strategy. In that presentation, Lisa Hendrickson, founder and chief executive officer of Spark City, told participants that if theyre using the back of a napkin to figure out their sales and earnings and create a pricing strategy, thats simply not effective. Creating a pricing strategy is complicated, Hendrickson said. And there are no simple solutions. Instead, the ceo urged the artisans to spend time studying the market and understanding the consumer especially as the market has experienced a fundamental shift since the Great Recession. You need to ask: How do I serve a customers needs and what do they want? she said, and then gave an brief overview of six different pricing strategies. Hendrickson noted that although it takes work to create a pricing strategy, the results on the bottom line can be significant. Moreover, it requires just a small upward nudge. The pricing expert said reducing fixed and variable costs, for example, by 1 percent can bolster profits by 1.5 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively. And increasing sales by just 1 percent can push profits up 2.5 percent. But raising prices by 1 percent can increase profits by 7.1 percent. If you just do one thing when you get back to your businesses, please just increase your prices by 1 percent, Hendrickson said. Related stories SAP and Aldo on Following the Consumer's Lead Downtown Style Hunters Initiate New Eyewear Craze Using Technology to Manage Hurricane Matthew's Impact on Supply Chains Apple has been locked in bitter lawsuits with Samsung ever since late CEO Steve Jobs vowed to take revenge on its Korean rival for slavishly copying the iPhone. One of those cases, which began in 2011, goes before the eight Supreme Court Justices on Tuesday to settle a dispute over how much Samsung should pay for infringing three of its design patents that cover early versions of the iPhone. While you can read a full Q&A about the hearing here, its worth taking a closer look at the patents themselves since they highlight Apples approach to design--and are what led a jury to order Samsung to pay $399 million in damages (an amount that could get reduced after the Supreme Court rules). Remember these are design patents, which protect the ornamental parts of an invention as opposed to more common utility patents which protect the invention itself. Its important to note that design patents claim only what is within the solid black lines (like the ones you see below) --everything in dotted lines is excluded. Here are Apples patents: US Patent D618677 (Black rounded rectangle design) As you can see, what Apple is claiming is the rounded rectangle shape on the front of the iPhone. The patent also limits the claimed design to the color black. US Patent D593087 (Front and the bezel design) This one covers the design appearance of the front of the phone, including the raised frame (aka the bezel) that affixes the glass screen to the rest of the device. Sarah Burstein, a design law professor, explains in a blog post that the patent claims the front, flat portion of the iPhone, including the bezel and the home button. US patent D618677 Get Data Sheet, Fortune's technology newsletter. US Patent D604305 (Design of Icon Layout) This patent covers not the design of the device itself, but the icon layout that appears on the screen. In Apples words, it covers a graphical user interface for a display screen or portion thereof showing our new design. (Retro fans will appreciate the old-school icons for YouTube and SMS). Story continues US Patent How much is a design worth? The big legal fight on Tuesday revolves around how courts should interpret a law that says a patent owner should get the total profit when a competitor infringes its design. An appeals court took that to mean that Samsung must hand over all its profits for phones like the Galaxy, which used Apples patented designs. Meanwhile, Samsung and many scholars say this is absurd since a single design element doesnt represent the full value of the phone to consumers. More generally, there are questions of whether design patents have become too broad or if such protection is necessary to ensure innovation. Fortune will have a report shortly after Tuesdays hearing. The Supreme Court will likely rule on the case in December or January. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Samsung has halted production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after grappling with a battery issue that caused the phone to overheat and, in some cases, catch fire. Shoppers who already bought the Note 7 are being encouraged to return them for another device. So what should you do if youre suddenly in the market for a Note 7 replacement? TIME picked some great alternatives that match some of the Note 7s features, most notably its comparatively large size. For those who dont mind switching to a different software platform, Apples iPhone 7 Plus is an excellent choice. The iPhone 7 Plus water-resistant design, long battery life, and high-quality camera make it a sensible option. And with its 5.5-inch screen, the iPhone 7 Plus is almost the same size as Samsungs 5.7-inch Note 7. But lots of Android fans out there dont want to make the jump to the iPhone. For them, Googles upcoming Pixel phone could be a great choice. It comes in a 5.5-inch size option and includes Googles new conversational virtual assistant. Still, we cant recommend the Pixel until weve had more time with the device, which begins shipping in the coming weeks. For Android fans who arent willing to wait for Googles Pixel, here are three other Note 7 replacements worth considering: Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 Edge These Samsung phones are slightly smaller than the Note 7, and they lack features like the S Pen stylus and iris scanner. But otherwise, theyre as close to the Note 7 as one can possibly get. The overall design language is the same, while the Note 7 inherited a few hardware components from the S7 and S7 Edge, including its impressive 12-megapixel low-light camera and sharp screen resolution. Those who really miss the Note 7s subtle curves could splurge on the more expensive S7 Edge model, which has slightly rounded edges. OnePlus 3 The OnePlus 3 is one of my favorite smartphones of the year for three key reasons: its easy to use, its well-built, and best of all, its much cheaper than most high-end rivals. It sells for $399 without a carrier subsidy, while many premium phones cost upwards of $600-$700. Since the OnePlus 3 runs on a relatively unmodified version of Android, its software feels fast and slick, and it doesnt come loaded with bloatware. Its 5.5-inch screen makes it just 0.2 inches smaller than the Note 7. Those who want the freedom to add more storage as they see fit and care a lot about photography may want to look elsewhere, but this phone offers a lot for the price. Moto Z Droid/Moto Z Force Droid The main draw behind Motorolas latest flagships are the way theyre designed to work with specific accessories called Moto Mods. These are add-ons that snap on to the back of the phone meant to enable specific use cases. One such accessory turns the Moto Z into a portable projector, while another boosts its battery life. These modifications aside, the new Moto Z phones stand out on their own as well. The Moto Z Droid is incredibly thin and light, while the Moto Z Force offers a shatter-proof screen, a larger battery, and a higher resolution camera. The Moto Zs biggest shortcoming, as is the case with most Android phones, is its bloatware. My review unit included more than a dozen apps Ill probably never use. By Matt Scuffham TORONTO (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has yet to reach a deal with unionized workers in Canada, four hours ahead of a midnight strike deadline, the union said on Monday, adding that workers were prepared to walk off the job. Any strike by more than 9,000 of the company's Canadian workers would disrupt production of minivans built in Windsor, Ontario, including the new Chrysler Pacifica, as well as sedans assembled in Brampton, Ontario. "No agreement has been reached," Denise Hammond, director of communications for the Unifor union, told reporters. While Fiat Chrysler has enough inventory to weather a brief strike without it hitting sales, an extended walkout would be problematic. The company has about a 70 days supply of Pacifica minivans on hand, according to Automotive News. Unifor represents Canadian manufacturing workers at Fiat Chrysler, Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co . It uses a pattern bargaining strategy to negotiate with the three automakers, selecting one company to hold talks with and then holding the other two to the broad terms of that deal. It reached a pattern deal with GM last month, including new investment that is expected to save thousands of jobs at the company's Oshawa, Ontario plant. Hammond said that although some progress had been made since the last union update at 4 p.m. EDT/2000 GMT, the two parties faced a "major hurdle" in reaching an agreement that matches the GM deal. Outstanding issues include future investment and wages. Fiat Chrysler declined to comment on the talks. Unifor has scheduled another briefing at 10 p.m. EDT. If a deal is not reached, workers will strike a minute after midnight, Hammond said, adding that local strike negotiators have made preparations to set up picket lines. Unifor had said ahead of contract talks that its top priority would be securing new investment in Canada, including an overhaul of the paint shop in Fiat Chrysler's Brampton plant northwest of Toronto. The Brampton plant builds large sedans, including the Chrysler 300, Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger, employing about 3,300 unionized workers. With some 6,000 unionized workers, the Windsor van plant produces all of Fiat Chrysler's minivans for the North American market, including the new Chrysler Pacifica, the Chrysler Town and Country and the Dodge Caravan. The contract also covers about 450 workers that make parts in Toronto's west end. (With additional reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson; Editing by Alan Crosby and Cynthia Osterman) fatihhoca |iStock / Getty Images Plus | Getty Images. Lloyds Banking Group has partnered with a U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Pindrop to use its technology to detect fraudulent phone calls. Lloyds Banking Group (London Stock Exchange: LLOY-GB) has partnered with a U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Pindrop to use its technology to detect fraudulent phone calls. Five-year-old Pindrop uses so-called machine learning technology which takes into account large amounts of data to learn the difference between a legitimate and fraudulent call is. In theory, the technology will get smarter and the company now has around 360 million calls going through its system which helps the software learn. Pindrop can identify 147 different features of a voice from a phone call or even Skype call which can help a person identify information such as the location that a caller is in creating an "audio fingerprint". Lloyds Banking Group will introduce the software across the Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands early next year. Pindrop's software will be integrated into Lloyd's customer service offices. Representatives will see a traffic light system that will alert them if the call is fraudulent. From there, they can pass the call onto fraud specialists. "Every time we mark a phone call as fraudulent, we tell the system it did well and the machine learns. When we get it wrong, Lloyds lets us know, the machine learning system is constantly learning," Vijay Balasubramaniyan, chief executive of Pindrop, told CNBC by phone. When it started trialing the technology with Lloyds this year, Pindrop said it would correctly identify a fraudulent call 85 percent of the time. That success rate is now up to 95 percent. Lloyds said the partnership with Pindrop will help it cut down call times as well as protect customers. "The reason for us doing it is about saving money from fraud. Where we do think there is an additional business case if you think a customer comes through, we may need to ask security questions. One advantage is that I might not need to ask as many security questions as I did because I have the assurance it is the customer calling," Martin Dodd, group telephone managing director at Lloyds Banking Group, told CNBC by phone. Story continues Pindrop has gained a lot of traction from top investors. The company raised a $75 million funding round earlier this year from Google Capital, the venture capital arm of Alphabet. More From CNBC Michael Bay has a long and storied Hollywood career as both a director and a producer. Over the last two decades, Bay has had a hand in some of the biggest movie blockbusters, including The Rock, Armageddon, and of course, four forgettable Transformers movies. As anyone familiar with Bay's resume can attest, films directed by Bay typically tend to feature outlandish explosions, crazy non-stop action, and a jaw-dropping amount of resulting property damage, all thanks to the magic of CGI, of course. DON'T MISS: Does the iPhone 7 have any competition anymore? Recently, a Quora thread embarked on a quest to figure out just how much damage (in terms of overall dollars and cents) Michael Bay's films would have caused if they were real. Heeding the call, Kynan Eng stepped up to the plate and delivered an incredibly detailed answer that covers all of the financial ins and outs from Bay's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. According to Eng, all of the damage in Bay's films, if they happened in real life, would add up to $1.3 trillion. Interestingly enough, the film with the biggest liability with respect to damage is Armageddon, the 1998 film starring Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and a number of other A-listers. Armageddon alone, Eng writes, would result in a $1.1 trillion hit, primarily due to meteorites completely demolishing the cities of Paris and Shanghai. Paris - complete obliteration of the central city. The GDP of Paris was around EUR 624B in 2012, which is around $700B in 2016. Surprisingly, the total value of the city was estimated as not that much higher in 2013: around $956B. Shanghai - the level of destruction is unclear, as Shanghai is depicted at night as a small fishing village in the movie. Its 2016 GDP is around $400B, with a much higher total value - but this is of course much higher than what it was in 1998 due to explosive growth of the city as a whole. As a wild guess, I will estimate the value of Shanghai as around $150B in 1998. Story continues Following far behind in second place is Transformers: Dark of the Moon which Eng estimates would result in $105 billion worth of real world damage. What makes Eng's write-up so engaging is that he provides a detailed analysis behind his estimates. If you're an action movie aficionado, you'll definitely get a kick out of reading the list in its entirety via the source link below. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com Amid rising political tensions with the U.S., Russia is planning to further lower its usage of licensed software from IT giants like International Business Machines Corp IBM, Microsoft Corporation MSFT, SAP AG SAP and Oracle Corporation ORCL. Per Bloomberg, The State Duma, Russias lower house of parliament, is drafting a bill to restrict government agencies from buying licensed software, giving preference to open-source software. The proposed law is an addition to an already existing federal law that came into effect on Jan 1, 2016, which restricts the use of foreign software in the public sector, if there is a domestic version available. Growing Security Concerns Over the years, licensed software from the U.S firms or software built on frameworks like IBMs Web sphere or Microsofts ASP.Net were hugely popular with Russian state agencies and firms. Per Bloomberg, almost 75% of an estimated 157 billion rubles ($2.9 billion) in Russian software spending went to imports in 2014. According to the ministry of communications, the share of imported software in the government sector was between 50% and 97%, depending on the type. However, license software usage has declined over the last couple of years due to the fears of international sanction post Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014. Additionally, Russian governments import substitution strategy - preferring domestic products - has also fuelled local growth. Moreover, dependence on foreign software - in this case U.S based - is creating security risks according to Andrey Chernogorov, executive secretary of the Dumas commission on strategic information systems. To explain the risk, the draft law has cited vulnerability issues faced by the Russian government website zakupki.gov.ru last year. The website which was based on IBMs framework faced security concerns after the companys contract with Russian vendor Lanit expired. The reduced dependence on U.S. based software is positive, in this regard. President Vladimir Putins government has laid out a plan to cut foreign program reliance to less than 50% by 2025. Expanding Exports a Positive for Russia According to industry association Russoft, the export of software and IT services in 2015 increased by 16% from 2014 to $7 billion. The growing footprint of Russian companies like Kaspersky Lab, InfoWatch and Positive Technologies in international markets boost exports. Additionally, Russias close association with BRICS members (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is helping it to lower dependence on the U.S. companies in enterprise software segments. This include rapidly growing fields like client and mobile operating systems (OS), server operating systems, database management systems, cloud software and virtualisation, as well as user-defined office software. Moreover, Russia is partnering Finnish developer Jolla to create a new mobile operating system based on its open-source Sailfish OS. In November last year, software company Parallels announced a locally-built cloud computing platform called Rosplatforma, to store data online. The new service aims to challenge existing US platforms such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Cloud. Further, Russian IT companies are increasing their presence in the U.S., Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as in Brazil, India, the Middle East and China. This will further bolster exports in the long haul. Story continues Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report INTL BUS MACH (IBM): Free Stock Analysis Report MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report ORACLE CORP (ORCL): Free Stock Analysis Report SAP AG ADR (SAP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. In an extremely costly setback, Samsung Electronics said it will permanently end the production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone line. The move, announced Tuesday, comes after the company bungled a massive recall of the devices, whose batteries posed a risk of overheating and bursting into flames. Samsung last month recalled 2.5 million of the devices and began issuing replacement units, but the replacement Galaxy Note 7s experienced the same battery problems as the original models. Apple stands to see in surge in iPhone 7 sales because of Samsungs problems, as Galaxy Note 7 users look for alternatives in the wake of the crisis. Googles new Pixel phone also is likely to benefit, with the internet giants Android smartphones slated to begin shipping Oct. 20. Taking our customers safety as our highest priority, we have decided to halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung said in a regulatory filing. Samsung will continue to sell Galaxy S7 smartphones; the Galaxy Note 7, which began shipping in August and started at $850, had featured a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display and a stylus. On Monday, Samsung said it would temporarily halt production and sales of the Galaxy Note 7 following recent reports of the devices igniting, and later urged customers to switch off the devices as a precautionary measure. Then, the South Korean company officially said Tuesday that the product was being discontinued, a move that analysts say will cost Samsung billions and tarnish its brand globally. Samsungs stock tumbled 8% Tuesday on the Korea Exchange, its biggest single-day decline in eight years, as investors reacted to the full impact of the product debacle. With the suspension of Galaxy Note 7 sales, Apple could sell 14 million to 15 million additional iPhone 7 smartphones over its 2017 fiscal year, which started Sept. 25, according to CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino up about 7% over previous forecasts. Related stories Samsung Tells Note 7 Users to Switch Off as Smartphone Crisis Deepens Story continues Samsung Halts Galaxy Note 7 Smartphone Production Amid Ongoing Fire Risk Samsung to Close Milk Music on September 22 While it is too early to predict the disappearance of Samsung from the phone market, rivals such as Apple, Google and Huawei are nipping at the heels of the market leader (AFP Photo/Spencer Platt) Paris (AFP) - Smartphone customers losing faith in Samsung have plenty of choice at a time when Apple, Google and China's Huawei are each pushing new models that up the features ante and do not self-combust. "All of Samsung's competitors are rubbing their hands in glee," said Thomas Husson, an analyst with the Forrester technology research and consultancy firm. "It's basically a good product, released at the right time, but a slip-up, and we've seen in the past with Nokia or Blackberry that these can have disastrous effects," he added. While it is too early to predict a similar disappearance from the phone market of the South Korean company, rivals are nipping at the heels of the market leader. These include not only Apple and Chinese companies like Huawei, but also internet titan Google, which entered the smartphone market last week with its own device -- the Pixel. "There will inevitably be some moderate-to-marginal benefit for Samsungs handset rivals, more particularly Apple, perhaps faster-growing Huawei can benefit more from Samsungs Note 7 travails," said analyst Ken Odeluga at the online trading firm City Index. - Apple and Huawei - However Ian Fogg, senior director and head of the mobile and telecoms team at the IHS technology consultancy, said that "Huawei will be the biggest beneficiary from brand damage to Samsung." One of the largest providers of network infrastructure globally, Huawei has been pushing into the smartphone market, including the top-end segment with its P9 model that features a camera with two Leica lenses. "Huawei will look to pick up sales right across its portfolio," said Fogg, noting that Huawei was already the third-largest smartphone maker. "Like Samsung, it uses Android and offers smartphones at a wide range of prices." The blow to Samsung is unlikely to be fatal, however. "Competitors might enjoy a short-term boost to sales as a result of a major player having to withdraw its new model, though overall it is likely to remain a competitive market," said Laith Khalaf, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown brokerage. Story continues Part of the reason is that its competitors have their own challenges to surmount. Huawei, for instance, still needs to build its brand in Europe and North America. Meanwhile Apple needs to recapture the excitement around its products that has disappeared in recent years. - Tip of the iceberg? - Thomas Husson at Forrester believes "it is too early to say what the long-term impact will be" from this incident, although the recall is likely to set it back a considerable amount. Linda Sui, wireless smartphone strategies director at Strategy Analytics, estimated that Samsung could lose "$10 billion or more" over the recall. "The loss of sales from the Galaxy Note is only the tip of the iceberg," warned CMCMarkets analyst Jasper Lawler. "Demand for the flagship Galaxy S8, scheduled for release early next year, could be severely impeded by the loss of consumer confidence in the Samsung brand." But City Index's Ken Odeluga said that "nobody wants to believe Samsung has lost its touch at producing beautiful and advanced consumer technology. "So there is some underlying sentiment that views its problems as the kind of bad luck which could afflict almost any smartphone maker that is pushing boundaries." But ManMohan Sodhi, a professor of operations and supply chain management at Cass Business School in London believes that it wasn't bad luck as much as bad judgement. "They should have figured out the product but with Google coming out with the Pixel, they did not give it enough time," said Sodhi. While Google has developed the Android operating system that powers the smartphones made by Samsung and other manufacturers, except for Apple, it has generally stayed on the sidelines when it comes to handsets. The release of the Pixel, along with its Google Home virtual assistant, indicates that Google aims to get its artificial intelligence technology into the hands and homes of consumers. BUSAN The crisis afflicting the worlds leading smartphone manufacturer Samsung Electronics turned from bad to worse on Tuesday. The South Korean giant halted all sales of its troubled flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7, and told existing users to turn off their devices. After a series of explosions and fires, bans by many airlines, and a product recall in mid-September there is now speculation that Samsungs top-of-the-line phone model may now be abandoned completely. [UPDATE, 5:15 a.m. PT: Samsung officially announced later on Tuesday that it will permanently end production of the Galaxy Note 7.] That prospect sent the companys shares tumbling 7.5%, to KRW1,554,000 ($1,387.86), on Tuesday, after having staged a partial recovery on Monday. Because consumers safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while the investigation is taking place consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available, the company said in a statement on its website. In mid-September the company announced a product recall, having pointed to a problem with the batteries. But a switch to a new battery supplier does not appear to have solved the problem. And many of the supposedly safe replacement phones have also been involved in incidents. The company is locked in a worldwide battle with Apple for dominance of the global smart-phone market. It launched the Note 7 two months ago. Reuters quoted financial analysts as suggesting that the Note 7 crisis could cost the company some $17 billion. Related stories Samsung Is Killing the Galaxy Note 7 Because of Fire Hazard Samsung Halts Galaxy Note 7 Smartphone Production Amid Ongoing Fire Risk Samsung to Close Milk Music on September 22 On Saturday night, Marvel and Netflix hosted a joint panel at New York Comic-Con to discuss their slate of upcoming shows. With Luke Cage having debuted at the end of October, there remained only one Defender to introduce: Iron Fist. SEE ALSO: US carriers stopped Galaxy Note 7 sales even before Samsung pulled the plug Last week, we learned that Iron Fist would be coming to the streaming service on March 17th, 2017. We'd hardly seen any footage from the show, but now that shooting has wrapped, Marvel and Netflix were prepared to show off the most extensive trailer yet at NYCC, giving fans a better look at the fourth Defender: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sEJeWB3RA8 K'un-Lun saved him. Lei Kung trained him. And now, Danny Rand is back to fight for what's his. Although the first season of Iron Fist will likely be the final season of Marvel's Netflix shows to premiere before The Defenders mini-series kicks off, The Punisher is getting his own show as well, and made an appearance at NYCC to reveal that Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page) would reprise her role in the show. Finally, all four DefendersCharlie Cox (Daredevil), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Mike Colter (Luke Cage) and Finn Jones (Iron Fist)surprised the crowd by joining one another on stage at the end of the panel, bringing Sigourney Weaver with them and announcing that she would play the villain in The Defenders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eoDxcgP0BM Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com After Facebook Inc FB enabled end-to-end encryption for WhatsApp a few months back, the company has now extended the same to its Messenger platform. Last week, the social media giant unveiled secret conversations feature for Messenger on both Android and iOS platforms. The new feature is so designed that only two people involved in the conversation can read the messages. Let alone any other entities (read governments and privacy watchdogs), even Facebook wont be able to access these conversations if the user activates the feature. Plus, users will have the option to set a timer for message deletion. Once erased, the messages cannot be retrieved ever. However, the secret mode will not work for group conversations. Secret Conversations can only support messages, pictures and stickers. Gifs, videos, voice/video calling remain outside the purview of the secret mode. However, there is one stark difference between end-to-end encryption deployed by Facebook on WhatsApp and Messenger. While on WhatsApp, encryption is the default mode, on Messenger, a user needs to activate the secret mode. Analysts observe that this could be Facebooks way of avoiding legal/ political problems. Ever since, WhatsApp has deployed encryption, the subsidiary and its parent company have come under fire from various regulatory authorities across the globe. The spat with Brazilian law enforcement agencies and privacy watchdogs over drug trafficking rackets has been the ugliest, resulting in the arrest of a top Facebook executive and several local courts banning the service. However, the decision was overturned later on. Per media reports, both Messenger and WhatsApp have deployed the Signal encryption system app developed by Open Whisper Systems. Data collection and security has emerged as a major bone of contention between government and tech companies nowadays especially after the Apple Inc. AAPLFBI conflict. The problem is none of the sides are wrong from their point of view. Tech companies are doing what they should be doing i.e protecting their users data but the governments demand to gain access to the data stems from national security concerns. Thus, it makes it a highly debatable topic. Story continues In February this year, Apple was ordered by a California judge to provide assistance to the FBI to unlock an iPhone used by one of the attackers in the San Bernardino shooting that killed 14 people last December. Apple was asked to create a backdoor to its operating system but Apple refused to compromise on the security of its devices. The companys decision was backed by numerous Silicon Valley members including Facebook, Alphabet GOOGL, Twitter TWTR, Amazon and Microsoft. However, the end of this case came as a shock to tech companies as the FBI managed to crack the code without Apples aid. The Apple-FBI case has indeed been an eye-opener for tech companies like Facebook who are more than ever keen on reinforcing their encryption standards to protect their users privacy. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report FACEBOOK INC-A (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report ALPHABET INC-A (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report TWITTER INC (TWTR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. By PTI: San Francisco, Oct 11 (PTI) Two persons have been arrested in connection with an alleged hate crime attack on a 41-year-old Sikh-American IT expert in the US, police said today. Maan Singh Khalsa was attacked on September 25 in Richmond Bay area, California when a group of white men in a pickup truck began to attack him, completely unprovoked. advertisement One of the men threw a beer can at his car while cursing and yelling at him. Khalsas head was pulled out of the window of his car, his turban was forcibly removed and his long hair was cut off, authorities said. Dustin Albarado, 25, and Chase Little, 31, were arrested after the attack. A third assailant and two remaining accomplices have not been apprehended, Richmond Police Lt. Felix Tan was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times. The Sikh Coalition, a national civil rights organisation, is urging California law enforcement officials to file hate crime charges in connection with the attack that left Khalsa with several injuries. The group argues that Khalsa, an information technology specialist and part-time caregiver, was targeted because of his ethnicity and religion. "The attackers caused physical injuries and deep harm when they targeted my Sikh faith," Khalsa said in a statement. "I urge a thorough investigation so we can address the tide of violence and bigotry in this country." The Sikh Coalition had also written a letter to Richmond Police Chief Allwyn Brown and Contra Costa County District Attorney Mark A. Peterson, urging them to investigate the incident as a hate crime. PTI AMS AKJ AMS --- ENDS --- The gunmen opened fire at a shrine, killing 14 and leaving at least 43 people injured in Kabul. By Reuters: At least 14 people were killed on Tuesday when a gunman opened fire on worshippers gathered at a shrine in the Afghan capital Kabul for a Shi'ite holy day, officials said. Thirteen civilians and one police officer died, with 36 people wounded, said Ministry of Interior spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi. Ministry of Public Health officials said at least 43 people had been injured in the incident and had been taken to hospitals in the city for treatment. advertisement The attack began just before 8 pm (3:30 p.m. GMT), police said, with witnesses reporting an explosion followed by gunfire. Also read: Afghan Taliban leader preached in Pakistan for 15 years, despite government vow to crack down SHRINE EVACUATED Initial reports put the number of attackers at three, but Sediqqi said police special forces who responded to the scene found and killed only one gunman. Security forces at the scene had evacuated the shrine as the attack unfolded, said Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi. The attack occurred at one of Kabul's largest shrines as Shi'ite Muslims had gathered to observe the Ashura holy day, which commemorates the 7th Century death of a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. The attackers were dressed in a police or military uniform, according to a police official. Also read: Pakistan to US: Road to peace in Kabul lies in Kashmir --- ENDS --- By Naseer Ganai: With militants taking position inside sprawling Entrepreneur Development Institute (EDI) building at Pampore, on the outskirts of Srinagar, security agencies say the encounter is likely to stretch for long. "We are not rushing in. There is no hurry," said a senior security official requesting anonymity.. This is the second time since February this year that the militants have entered the EDI campus. advertisement MILITANTS FIRING FROM INSIDE Since Monday morning, explosions are being heard regularly from within and around the building after the army cordoned it off. An army soldier was injured in the initial firing. Unlike February, the security official said, this time they would not rush in the hostel building. According to officials, the militants might have entered the building from a rear side after crossing river Jhelum by a boat. They said the militants lit a fire in one of the rooms of the top floor of the building early Monday morning, making the guards, who were in an adjacent building, to call a fire tender. However, the fire tender was fired upon by the militants. Later, when the army cordoned off the building, they were fired upon from inside, injuring an army jawan. During the day-long gun fight, the militants hiding inside the building kept on changing their positions. "The operation is still on," said Srinagar based defence spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia. Officials say they have no clarity whether the militants entered the building on Sunday evening or Monday morning. The Army is also refusing to divulge the details about the number of the militants who are inside the building. ALSO READ: Pampore operation: Terrorists cornered in govt building, structure ablaze, 1 soldier injured How India's surgical strikes created a rift between Lashkar terrorists, Pakistan army --- ENDS --- The attack occurred at one of Kabul's largest shrines as Shia Muslims gathered to observe the Ashura holy day, which commemorates the 7th Century death of a grandson of the prophet Mohammed. Afghan policemen stand guard near the site of an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on October 11, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) By Reuters: At least 18 people were killed on Tuesday when a gunman in a police uniform opened fire on worshippers gathered at a shrine in the Afghan capital of Kabul for a Shia holy day, officials said. Thirteen civilians and one police officer died and 36 people were wounded, said Ministry of Interior spokesman Sediq Sediqqi. Ministry of Public Health officials said at least 43 people had been injured in the incident and had been taken to hospitals in the city for treatment. advertisement The attack began just before 8 pm (3:30 pm GMT), police said, with witnesses reporting an explosion followed by gunfire. "People were gathered inside the shrine for worshiping when the attackers arrived, first they shot the policemen at the gate of the shrine and then they entered the compound," said Sardar Hedayat. Anguished worshippers carried the bodies of dead and wounded people from the iconic building, which is covered in brilliant blue tiles. Initial reports put the number of attackers at three, but Sediqqi said police special forces who responded to the scene found and killed only one gunman. The attacker was dressed in a police uniform, said Jamshid Jan, who witnessed the attack. An Afghan man sits inside an ambulance after an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on October 11, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) An angry crowd surrounded and kicked at the suspected attacker's dead body, with some vowing to burn his remains, before police intervened. Security forces at the scene evacuated the shrine as the attack unfolded, said Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi. The attack occurred at one of Kabul's largest shrines as Shia Muslims gathered to observe the Ashura holy day, which commemorates the 7th Century death of a grandson of the prophet Mohammed. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. A Taliban spokesman denied any involvement. Afghanistan's chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, condemned the shooting and vowed to "hold terrorists (and) their supporters accountable." Afghanistan has largely avoided widespread sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, but Afghanistan's Shi'ite minority has complained of discrimination and has faced increased threats. At least 84 people were killed and another 130 injured in a suicide attack on a Shi'ite demonstration in July. That attack, during a protest march in Kabul, was claimed by Islamic State . In 2011, Ashura gatherings were targeted by suicide bombers in Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing about 80 people altogether. ALSO READ | Mumbai: Police issue fresh circular for possibility of drone attacks --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: From Shubha Dubey Paris, Oct 11 (PTI) Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor gave the city of romance a taste of Bollywood as they launched the trailer of their upcoming film "Befikre", at the Eiffel Tower. The Aditya Chopra- directed movie became the first film in the history of cinema to have an event on one of the most popular monuments in the world. advertisement "Paris is one the worlds most beautiful cities and it has been a privilege and an honour to shoot the film here. The kind of support we got from the crew who was almost entirely French and the civic authorities was overwhelming," Ranveer told reporters. "Without a shadow of doubt this has been my most memorable shooting experience. Spike in tourism has happened before through Hindi films and I can assure the tourism spike from India is going to be huge after this film," the 31-year-old actor said. The actress, who is fluent in French and has spoken the language in the film, said the Parisian essence is the prominent part of the movie. "There is a very prominent character in the film apart from Dharam and Shyra and thats Paris. When we were shooting this film here we were not Indian, not French but just Befikre," said Vaani. The trailer was launched in the presence of Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo and Indian Ambassador to France Mohan Kumar. "With this film, Indian people will discover the most prestigious and enigmatic places of Paris. This film will encourage Indians to come to our city. I am honoured that Indias biggest production company and biggest actors have chosen Paris as the location for their film," said the Mayor. "Befikre" is a free spirited contemporary romance, celebrating Parisian love, and the Indian Ambassador feels the film can extensively promote the tourism. "There is only one religion in India and that is cinema. It has got a lot of soft power and the time has come for India to project this soft power. "Bollywood has got the power to unify. With Befikre I think we can promote Paris and the tourism," Kumar said. The romantic comedy has been shot across the popular locations of the city. The movie was completed in just 50 days with 90 percent of the crew being French. Produced by Yash Raj Films, "Befikre" will hit Indian theatres on December 9. PTI SHD PSH PSH --- ENDS --- Nokia is coming back. It's coming back really soon. Is that right, you ask? Yes it is. By Saurabh Singh: Nokia is coming back. It's coming back really soon. Is that right, you ask? Yes it is. Earlier in May this year, Nokia announced that it was gearing up to make a comeback into phone business with a slew of Android phones and tablets. That being said, very little was known about Nokia's grand plans to rise from the dead, apart from the fact that it was working with a Finland-based company called HMD and that Nokia-branded phones would be coming towards the end of 2016. advertisement Well, it is October and we are fast approaching the end of 2016. What's Nokia up to, you ask? Where is the slew of Android phones and tablets that it was supposed to launch later in the year? Hold your breath, ladies and gentlemen; the prodigal son is on the verge of returning. No, we do not know for sure when exactly, but we do know that as many as three Nokia-branded Android phones are coming. We do not know anything about a possible Nokia-branded Android tablet for the time being though. But brace yourself; Nokia-branded Android phones are coming and they are coming soon. At this point of time, there's intel on as many as three Nokia phones incoming. Wait, it gets better. Two of these phones are said to be high-end flagship phones with high-end hardware, and quite possibly a hefty price tag. The third phone of the lot would be a relatively affordable affair, with a price tag hovering around the mid-range. The affordable Nokia The Nokia D1C -- a relatively mid-level offering - has been spotted on multiple occasions, on Geekbench earlier andon Antutu recently, giving out key feature set of the phone in question. As per the Antutu listing, the Nokia D1C will come with a 1080p resolution display, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor clubbed with Adreno 505 GPU 3GB RAM under the hood. The phone will come with 32GB internal memory and will run Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box. On the camera front, it is said to sport a 13-megapixel camera on the rear and an 8-megapixel camera on the front. The flagship Nokia(s) Nokia is said to be working on two high-end Android phones: one with 5.2-inch display and another with a 5.5-inch screen. Both the phones are said to sport a 2K resolution display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor under the hood. On the camera front, the high-end phones from Nokia are said to come with a 22.6-megapixel camera on the rear with LED flash and support for 4K video recording. Who is making these phones? "HMD has been founded to provide a focused, independent home for a full range of Nokia-branded feature phones, smartphones and tablets. HMD's new smartphone and tablet portfolio will be based on Android, uniting one of the world's iconic mobile brands with the leading mobile operating system and app development community," Nokia had earlier said in a statement. advertisement HMD has acquired the rights to use the Nokia brand and would likely be involved in making and selling its Android phones in the days to come. As far as manufacturing is concerned, these phones would likely be made by Foxconn. ' Also Read: Nokia announces return to phone business with Android phones, tablets --- ENDS --- By Rohit Parihar : Speculations are rife that a Cabinet reshuffle is on the cards, following a meeting of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje with BJP President Amit Shah. Rajasthan state BJP Chief Ashok Parnami, and Joint Secretary V Satish were also present in the meeting in Delhi on October 10. According to sources, Shah gave a green signal to Raje for constituting state executive that has been pending for long now. However, the issue whether Raje should go ahead with the reshuffle and expand her cabinet before Diwali is still under wraps. advertisement The chief minister wants to sack two cabinet ministers and three ministers of state, and change portfolios of eight besides inducting some more people. At least one minister of state could be promoted to Cabinet rank on the RSS's insistence despite Raje's reluctance. Also read: Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje for tourist friendly tiger park NO UNANIMITY There has been no unanimity between the high command and Raje over the names yet, which may lead to a delay, before a reshuffle is carried out. A general impression in the state is that bureaucracy has been made too powerful during Raje's regime with most ministers feeling helpless before their departments' stubborn secretaries and other officers. Besides, there has been a general feedback that administration has been working slowly. Some people are also of the opinion that that Raje is not in her usual best as she was during her previous tenure. BJP AND RSS With assembly elections due in December 2018, a reshuffle in organisation, cabinet and bureaucracy is much needed. How good it would is dependent on how much weightage is given to merit, integrity and efficiency. Also read: A tragic end to this Ramayana: Artist dies while enacting Hanuman on stage in Rajasthan Shah and RSS have given their recommendations but there is no doubt that Raje will have the last word in who has to be given what. After all, it will be her responsibility again to lead the party in next elections. --- ENDS --- The 3-year-old girl was found under the rubble of the building wrapped in arms of her parents after 15 hours. By AP: Rescuers pulled out a 3-year-old girl who survived under the remains of collapsed homes in the arms of her dead parents, state media reported today. The bodies of her mother and father protected Wu Ningxi from being struck by heavy objects. The three were found under the rubble 15 hours after a group of decrepit homes collapsed in eastern China, killing 22 people. Six people survived. advertisement State broadcaster CCTV said the child had only minor injuries, but her parents died after being struck on the back and head by a piece of cement floor. They were found with their arms wrapped around their daughter. Also read: China open to India's NSG bid, but opposes UN ban on Jaish chief Masood Azhar "We first found a young man. Then his wife and daughter were found as we were clearing the rubble," firefighter Sun Jing told CCTV. "We found them tangled together, with mother and father facing down and the little girl between their bodies facing up." INVESTIGATION ON The cause of the collapses in an industrial district on the outskirts of the city of Wenzhou is under investigation. Reports said the four buildings were built in the 1970s by their farmer owners and were in a highly degraded state. Extra floors had been added over the years, making them between three and five stories high and further weakening their structures. The official Xinhua News Agency said five adjacent houses that were still standing were being demolished "to avoid secondary disasters." Also read: China media slams India's 'irrational' move to seal Pakistan border Poor construction quality has long been a problem in China, particularly in the countryside and smaller cities. --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Aditi Khanna London, Oct 11 (PTI)Young men looking for redemption from crime, drugs or gangs by waging jihad are the new targets for the ISIS terror group in Europe, a new report co-authored by an Indian-origin researcher said today. "In many European countries, the majority of jihadist foreign fighters are former criminals," the report titled Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus said. advertisement It has been co-authored by Indian-origin senior researcher Rajan Basra for the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) at Kings College London. "The profiles and pathways in our database suggest that the jihadist narrative ? as articulated by the Islamic State (ISIS) ? is surprisingly well-aligned with the personal needs and desires of criminals, and that it can be used to condone as well as curtail the continued involvement in crime," it adds. The emergence of the ISIS has strengthened the link between crime and terrorism and the dreaded group is increasingly turning to "ghettos", prisons and "underclasses" to recruit individuals with a history of criminal behaviour, according to the report which examined the profiles of European jihadists recruited since 2011. The researchers, including Peter R Neumann and Claudia Brunner, also found that jihadists not only condone the use of "ordinary" criminality to raise funds, they have argued that doing so is the ideologically correct way of waging "jihad" in the "lands of war". The report profiles 79 European "jihadis" who progressed from petty or violent crime to hardened jihadism on the European continent or the Middle East. It finds that criminal and extremist groups recruit from the same social pools, resulting in the transfer of skills and an environment that suit those susceptible to violence and experienced at averting law enforcement agencies. Co-author and ICSR director Neumann also highlighted that many security services still expect radicalised young men to change their behaviour and act "religiously", perhaps by growing a beard or changing their clothing. For some the pattern is still seen, but in many cases it is not, with several European fighters in the ICSRs database continuing to smoke, drink and even take drugs up until their departure for the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). Of the "jihadis" examined for the study, two-thirds had not just a criminal history but a violent history, the report said, adding prisons will become "breeding grounds" for jihadist groups as they provide a ready supply of "angry young men" who are "ripe" for radicalisation. "It gives criminals a moral justification for doing what they have always been doing ? only now they will go to heaven," Neumann said. advertisement ISIS aims to portray membership as a route to action, adventure, power and the sense of brotherhood desired by frequently vulnerable recruits searching for purpose and belonging. PTI AK/SAI AKJ SAI --- ENDS --- "It has been observed that the quality of dossiers being prepared by the districts is very poor. Only basic information is being provided and filled," said Delhi Police commissioner Alok Verma. By Ankur Sharma: The top brass of Delhi Police are not happy with the district staff as the force is preparing "very poor" dossiers on criminals. Recently, Delhi Police commissioner Alok Verma pulled up the district heads and his office sent a strongly-worded letter to all the districts asking them to improve the quality of dossiers. LAXITY SHOWN WHILE PREPARING DOSSIERS Verma has also directed the investigating officers and other senior district officers not to prepare multiple dossiers on one criminal. "It has been observed that the quality of dossiers being prepared by the districts is very poor. Only basic information is being provided and filled," a letter sent to the districts from the commissioner's office stated. According to the letter, districts are showing laxity while preparing the dossiers. advertisement Moreover, the police headquarters found multiple dossiers on a single criminal who had used various names. The districts, it seems, do not verify about these criminals, sources told Mail today. "It has been found that multiple dossiers have been prepared by the districts on a criminal who changed his name at the time of arrest. The investigating officers are directed to carefully examine this and ensure that no multiple dossiers are prepared in respect to any criminal," the letter stated. UPDATING CRIMINAL RECORDS AND DOSSIERS "We have found that various criminals who were arrested by the districts multiple times have several dossiers on them. The districts don't even verify the antecedents of these criminals. The districts prepare the dossiers on the basis of the name of the criminal when he is arrested. There cannot be any slackness while preparing these dossiers as it is one of our key jobs," a top Delhi Police official said. Top police officials also lashed out at the district staff for not updating these dossiers. Considering this, it will now be the responsibility of additional DCP-1 of the districts to ensure the quality of these dossiers. "Not only the investigating officers, but also the additional DCP-1 will be held responsible for the poor quality of dossiers. Also, the in-charge of the investigation will be held responsible for multiple entries on any criminal or if half-baked information is provided in these dossiers," the official added. According to sources, the staff of Delhi Police are not updating records in the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) either. According to a police official, top Delhi Police officials recently analysed the performance of all districts and found that not even 50 per cent of the records are updated. Considering this situation, the Delhi Police 'have plans to hire operators to make the data available online', sources said. ALSO READ: Mumbai: Accused escapes as he was being escorted to jail Delhi: Two men arrested by police with counterfeit coins --- ENDS --- Two persons from Anand Vihar locality were arrested by the police after they threatened and attempted to extort a woman. By Tanseem Haider: Delhi Police today arrested two persons in connection with an incident of extortion. The accused have been identified as Rajeev Gupta and Akash Pathak both residents of Anand Vihar locality Delhi. The duo was arrested after a woman filed a complaint with the police. On October 8, the woman filed a complaint stating that she was getting threatening calls on her mobile number. She told the police that the anonymous caller demanded Rs 10 lakh and threatened to make her photographs viral on social media if she did not pay the amount. advertisement Based on the location of the caller and evidence proving the identity of the accused the police arrested the Akash Pathak from near the railway terminal. During investigations, Pathak admitted his involvement and also revealed the name of his aide Rajeev Gupta who was arrested later. Accused Rajeev Gupta further disclosed that he was an employee at a restaurant. He along with accused Akash made a plan to extort money from the complainant. As per plan, accused Akash registered a false lost report of his mobile phone. He later used another mobile phone for making extortion calls to the complainant. --- ENDS --- By Mail Today Bureau: This festive season, Delhi Police are keeping a strict watch on religious institutions and isolated police stations that are on the radar of terror organisations. Intelligence agencies had recently alerted police about a possible terror attack during the festivities, said sources in Delhi Police. INTELLIGENCE SAYS ATTACK LIKELY The national Capital has been put on high alert after the Army's cross-border surgical strike. Security forces have been deployed in large numbers at railway and Metro stations, crowded markets and the busy Indira Gandhi International Airport. According to a specific input, terror groups are trying to target religious places, including Durga Puja venues. advertisement They may also strike at police stations that are away from the city. The Delhi Police's elite Special Cell has issued an alert of a possible terror attack at places where a large number of people are expected to gather. With the ongoing Navratri and Durga Puja festivities, the national Capital has been put under tight security cover. HIGH ALERT Regular police force and teams of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandos have been deployed at places where the devout lot are gathering. The police claim that apart from massive deployment, personnel in plain clothes have been deployed to mix with the crowd and keep an eye on any suspicious movement. Considering the series of festivals - Durga Puja, Diwali, Chhat Puja and Muharram, local intelligence and preventive and precautionary measures have been beefed up. Sources said four teams of SWAT have been deployed at important locations that attract large crowds, including India Gate. Under security cover are areas like Red Fort, Jhandewalan Temple, Chhatarpur Temple, a chain of malls at Saket, IGI Airport, railway stations, Metro stations, ISBT, vital installations, markets, puja pandals and parking zones. "Considering the sensitivity of the situation, 30 to 40 SWAT commandos have been kept on a standby," the source said. According to a highly-placed source, attempts of a Pathankot-like terror strike are also being made in Delhi, which can be carried out by a small group of terrorists. "A special drive is being conducted at the colonies of migrants to check the background of people who have recently shifted to the Capital. It is suspected that a fidayeen attack can be carried by a lone wolf. Informers at the ground level have been activated," a senior officer told Mail Today. PREPAREDNESS Security has been beefed up in sensitive zones and prominent establishments that may be targeted by suicide attackers. There is a high possibility that a spectacular attack could take place before the end of this year. "It is imperative for police to be prepared round the clock. It is also necessary to carry out mock drills to assess response time, status of weapons and equipment, mobility and coordination with the special forces," a senior officer said. "Various police stations like those in Jafarpur Kalan and Narela are situated at isolated areas. These stations do not have good connectivity with the main city but the staff have been briefed about possible attacks. We have prepared routes and plans to react to any terrorist attack," a senior officer said. advertisement Security agencies have also enhanced vigil at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and urged flyers to cooperate. Civil airports in the western states and those in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru have been put on a high alert to tackle any possible attack or sabotage. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Delhi Police and Quick Response Teams have been deployed in crowded areas and have been asked to step up the vigil. "All security agencies, especially CISF and Delhi Police, which maintain the security of important institutions in Delhi, are in the highest state of alert," said a senior official. The chief of the CISF, which provides security cover to airports, had recently reviewed security of the IGI Airport. This week, a joint mock drill was carried out by the Delhi division of Northern Railway and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) near Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. Delhi Police are also reviewing the security measures for VIPs. Senior officers say security audits are usually carried out before August 15 and January 26. But following the Uri attacks and because of the current festive season, it was thought necessary to review the arrangements. ALSO READ: advertisement Delhi put on high alert over possible terrorist attacks False radiation alarm triggers panic at Delhi's IGI Airport --- ENDS --- The police said that the duo got inspired to commit the crime after watching popular shows of Crime Patrol and Saavdhaan India. By Mail Today Bureau: Social media can be a tool used with criminal intent. And that's exactly what two persons allegedly wanted to do when they threatened to upload "obscene" photographs of a married woman if she failed to pay Rs 10 lakh. ARREST AND INTERROGATION The two men have been arrested. Akash Pathak, who made the ransom calls, was arrested from Anand Vihar railway terminal following a trap laid by the police with the help of the victim, who had called the accused after agreeing to pay the ransom, said DCP (East) Rishi Pal. Pathak told the police that he was making the calls at the behest of Rajeev Gupta, former employee of the woman's paramour, a senior police officer said. Gupta was later arrested from Parsvnath Metro Mall, he said. advertisement During interrogation, Gupta said he was working at the restaurant owned by the victim's paramour around a couple of years back, police said. He said that he had access to his employer's laptop and that he had copied the pictures from the device to a pen drive in 2013, thinking that he will blackmail the couple when an opportunity arises, police said. HOW THE PLAN WAS HATCHED The police said that the duo got inspired to commit the crime after watching popular shows of Crime Patrol and Saavdhaan India. Gupta, who had been facing some financial issues hatched the plan to blackmail the married woman, who was having an extra-marital affair with his former boss, who was also married. He roped in Pathak, who was unemployed, and used the latter's phone to make the ransom calls. The duo had been harassing the woman for a month. In order to throw the police off track, Pathak had lodged a complaint last month alleging that his phone had been stolen. Police recovered two pen drives containing some obscene videos and photographs and four mobile phones. ALSO READ: Delhi Police arrest two persons for extorting woman --- ENDS --- While the festival of Dussehra is said to be a celebration of Ram's victory over Ravana, there are some places in India that worship the Lankan king as their hero. Here's a look at 4 such places. By India Today Web Desk: For most of us, the festival of Dussehra is synonymous with the victory of good over evil, which in turn is synonymous with Ram's victory over Ravan. But there are some places in the country that symbolise the exact opposite of the above-mentioned belief. These places do not believe in celebrating Dussehra, and observe it as a solemn occasion instead. advertisement A lot has already been said about Ravan being an ardent believer of Lord Shiva and being worshiped in several parts of Sri Lanka, but do you know about these four Indian temples that continue to worship him after all this time? Let us help you. 1. Ravan Mandir Bisrakh, Delhi NCR Believed to be the birthplace of Ravan, a temple in Bisrakh, Greater Noida, is dedicated to the Lankan king. The temple has obviously faced the wrath of several people who believe in the power of Ram, but that hasn't changed the stand of the institution that is situated in a village that derives its name from Ravan's father, Vishrava. The Ravana mandir in Bisrakh. Picture courtesy: Facebook/Arun Kumar 2. Dashanan Ravana Temple, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh This temple in Kanpur reportedly opens its doors just on the occasion of Dussehra, which is when believers of Ravana swarm it and pay homage to their hero. Built in the Shivala area of Kanpur, the temple is situated right next to a Shiva temple and is said to celebrate Ravana's knowledge and strength. Also Read: These women dhakis or drummers are ushering in a new-age Durga Puja in Bengal 3. Ravangram Ravana Temple, Madhya Pradesh With an entire village dedicated to Ravana, the city of Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh has a set of devout Ravana worshipers. Vidisha's Ravangram has a Ravana temple with a 10-foot-long reclining statue of the Lankan king. The temple is said to be the brainchild of Kanyakubja Brahmins--the sect of Brahmins Ravana is believed to be a part of. The residents of the village neither burn effigies nor celebrate Dussehra; they in fact turn to 'Lord Lankesh' and include him in every joyous occasion there is. It is said that if the statue in Vidisha was to stand, a huge calamity would strike the village. Picture courtesy: Facebook/Temple Connect 4. Kakinada Ravana Temple, Andhra Pradesh Situated in the coastal city of Andhra Pradesh, a Ravana temple here celebrates the Lankan king's admiration for Lord Shiva--as is evident by a gigantic Shivling mural. At Kakinada's Ravan Mandir, The Lankan King and Lord Shiva co-exist. Picture courtesy: Facebook/ Temple Connect --- ENDS --- Greater Noida's Bisrakh village is said to be the birthplace of the Lanka ruler and a maha yagna is organised to pray for the soul of Ravana on the day of Dusshera. By India Today Web Desk: As the Navratri comes to an end and the entire nation celebrates Vijayadashmi or Dusshera, one village in Uttar Pradesh worships Ravana. Greater Noida's Bisrakh village is said to be the birthplace of the Lanka ruler and a maha yagna is organised to pray for the soul of Ravana on the day of Dusshera. advertisement When once a celebration took place in the village on the day of the Dusshera, an unfortunate incident occurred and since then residents believe that Ravana does not want them to celebrate the day, reported Punjab Kesari . Recently, an idol of Ravana was found vandalised in this temple. Villagers claimed that right wing activists wearing saffron scarves had entered the temple and vandalised the idol of Ravana. This is not the only village that does not celebrate Dusshera and mourns the death of Ravana. Ravana's wife, Mandodari, is the daughter of King Mandawar who once ruled Mador village in Rajasthan so the residents of that village too do not celebrate Dusshera and has a statue of Ravana installed in their temple. Even in Shivala area of Kanpur, people are worshiping Ravana in the 125-year-old Dashanan temple. The temple was constructed around 1890 by Maharaj Guru Prasand Shukl and is open for devotees only once a year. The Lanka ruler is worshiped because of his knowledge and his devotion towards Lord Shiva. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Jaipur, Oct 10 (PTI) Security has been beefed up at sensitive areas in Rajasthan ahead of the festival season in the state with the deployment of additional police staff and home guards, a senior police official said today. "28 companies of Rajasthan Armed Constabulary in adequate number have been deployed across the state for the festival of Dussehra, Muharram. Besides, every district will have deployment of Home Guards," ADG Law and Order N R K Reddy said. advertisement He said regular checking at railway stations, bus stands, inns is going on to and night patrolling has also been started. "The police are on alert in the festival season and the security has been beefed up across the state. Additional police deployment has been made at sensitive places," he said. PTI SDA AJR --- ENDS --- Amitabh Bachchan, spoke to the media on his 74th birthday, and urged the nation's people to stand by its soldiers and show solidarity to those who are sacrificing their lives every day. By India Today Web Desk: On his 74th birthday, Amitabh Bachchan addressed the media in Mumbai and when asked to comment on the issue of Pakistani artists being banned from working in India, the veteran actor said the country is angry now and it is the time to show solidarity with our soldiers. Speaking to the media, Amitabh Bachchan said, "People of this country are very angry by the incidents that have been happening at our borders, it's time to show solidarity." advertisement "Its time to show solidarity towards our jawans and armed forces who are sacrificing their lives so that you and me can be safe," he went on to add. ALSO READ: Karan Johar to Ram Gopal Varma, B-Town showers birthday wishes on Amitabh Bachchan ALSO READ: At 74, Amitabh Bachchan is Bollywood's most high-profile character actor Since the terror attacks at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18, which resulted in the death of 19 soldiers, several groups all throughout India have clamoured for Pakistani artists to leave India. The most prominent of these groups is the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) which has threatened to beat up Karan Johar and Mahesh Bhatt if they make or release films featuring Pakistani actors. Meanwhile, Bollywood is divided on the issue of the indefinite ban on Pakistani artists from working in India by the IMPPA (Indian Motion Pictures Producers' Association). On the one hand, Nana Patekar, Randeep Hooda and Ajay Devgn are supportive of the ban, while on the other, Saif Ali Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Mahesh Bhatt have spoken in favour of Pakistani artists working in India. When Amitabh Bachchan was asked to comment on his contemporary Shatrughan Sinha pitching Big B's name for the President of India, senior Bachchan said, "Shatrughan babu mazaak karte hain, unka bachpana hai. Aisa hoga nahin." (Shatrughan sir jokes, he is childlike. Nothing like that will happen.) Amitabh Bachchan has earned rave reviews for his performance in Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's Pink which released a few weeks ago. The actor earned his fourth National Award because of his performance in Shoojit Sircar's Piku last year. Speaking of his future plans, Bachchan said, "I only wish to continue working and take up challenging roles in future as well." --- ENDS --- The email released on Friday revealed that US Secretary Clinton and her campaign chairman John Podesta met former NASA astronaut to discuss alien intelligence. By India Today Web Desk: An email leaked by Wikileaks has revealed that Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman secretly met former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell to discuss extra-terrestrials. The email was released on Friday by Wikileaks and it reveals that Secretary Clinton and her campaign chairman John Podesta met Edgar Mitchell, a member of the Apollo 14 mission and the sixth man to walk on the moon, to discuss alien intelligence. advertisement "We're arguably closer than ever to war in space. Most satellites orbiting Earth belong to the US, China and Russia. And recent tests of anti-satellite weapons don't exactly ease the scare factor," Mitchell wrote in the email to Podesta as reported by Mirror. He also said that the "potential for real-life star wars is real enough". "Take a moment to think about everything satellites do. GPS, surveillance and communications all depend on them. And the Scientific American notes you can disable satellites without missiles. Simply spray-painting lenses or breaking antennas is enough." Both Mitchell and Podesta had been vocal about their belief in aliens. In fact, the former NASA astronaut who died earlier this year had argued for full disclosure on extra-terrestrial intelligence (ETI). Hillary Clinton though has not stated whether she believes in aliens or not but has promised to declassify the government's "X-files" on alien intelligence if she becomes President. You can read the email here . --- ENDS --- India imports telecom instruments, computer hardware, fertilizers, chemicals and drugs from China. But the Indian companies haven't been given similar access to Chinese markets. By Devina Gupta: With India gearing up for BRICS summit, it is the Indo-China equation that will be watched very closely. INDIA TO PLAY TRADE CARD From stalling India's NSG bid to veto on declaring Masood Azhar a terrorist at the UN, Beijing continues to flex its muscle. Now ahead of Chinese President Xi Jingping's visit, India is playing its trade card. advertisement Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told India Today that its time for Beijing to give greater market access to Indian companies. "We are talking with China to give us a greater market access. Only a week ago I raised these issues all over again with the Chinese ambassador to India designate. These issues had come up when in June 2014 I accompanied the Vice President to China and from then joint working group had talked about it. The Chinese delegation had come to see some of our labs for clearances. So the process has been on for too long, I had reminded the ambassador that China cannot consume so much time for clearances", said Nirmala Sitharaman to India Today TRADE TODAY Indo-China trade stands at $70.73 billion, but its skewed in Beijing's favour with trade deficit swelling to $52.68 billion so far. India imports telecom instruments, computer hardware, fertilizers, chemicals and drugs from China. But the Indian companies haven't been given similar access to Chinese markets. "Indian IT companies which are in China for whom, registration or any other regulatory activity are time consuming. Indian banks and Indian pharma companies don't get their due in terms of market access. So we are definitely working with China to see how to increase our goods access in China", said Nirmala Sitharaman added. MORE ACCESS TO CHINESE MARKETS So at a time when Beijing is expanding its reach with China-Pak economic corridor in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and extending its Quinghai-Tibet rail network to Nepal, India is betting high on its trade advantage to rein in the dragon. "There are issues of security also at the same time, but to me economic relationship can trump it. Chinese will see their own interest in stronger and wealthier India", Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman, Niti Aayog told India Today. Interestingly, the Union Commerce Minister when questioned on a positive signal to ease diplomatic tensions between the two nations shifted the onus on Beijing to first adopt an open trade outlook. "Definitely, Chinese giving greater access to Indian goods will be a good step forward", said Nirmala Sitharaman. Interestingly, China has pressed for a free trade area between BRICS nations ahead of the summit, to remove tariffs and non-tariffs barriers. --- ENDS --- advertisement By Shashank Shekhar, Arvind Ojha: Indian security agencies have placed under scanner a Karachi-based cyber unit for snaring defence personnel into honey traps on social media to siphon off valuable security-related data and communication. The 300-member unit, headed by hackers Sajid Rana and Abid Rana, has the backing of Pakistani spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), and is believed to have targeted thousands of Indian officers through Trojan malware disguised as a chatting app, over last one year. advertisement DATA STEALING APP The app was used by Pakistani handlers to access Indian troop movement after the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot in January 2016, intelligence sources told Mail Today. "We found Rana brothers promoting a popular app which was basically a datastealing software to take control over the user's phone," said Rajshekhar Murthy, director of the National Security Database. Murthy was part of the team which tracked the Karachi snooping unit. It is feared that the spy centre was successful in stealing loads of data and telephonic conversation through software 'installed' in their victims' phone. The two brothers came on Indian radar last year when they were operating Smeshapp, which contained spyware that could be deployed on not just smartphones but even on desktop computers, enabling a third party to access personal information such as phone logs, text messages, even photographs stores on the compromised device. This was blocked by Google play and removed from their store. LURING INDIAN SOLDIERS However, Indian experts said Rana brother are still promoting the spyware as a chatting-interface on social media and luring their victims to download it. "Their unit members create Facebook account using fake pictures. In the first phase of their operation, a cyber team dedicated to track Indian defence personnel on social media connects them with several potential victims," Murthy said. "Once they become friend with the targeted officer, they exchange obscene pictures and also make an internet call through voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to win confidence." Other sources in intelligence told Mail today that the spy unit also created news portal related to Indian defence forces promising credible data and information. But as soon as a user logged into the web site, their computer or smartphone would fall prey to Trojan malware. Security agency disclosed that with ISI funding, the Rana brothers teams of hackers has been working on mobile app development, creating fake profiles on social media, tracking Indian officers on the internet and keeping a log of their database. Security agency this year found the spyware-laden app in use by Pakistani intelligence to monitor movement of Indian troops. The app allegedly had access to smartphones used by armymen. The spyware was deployed by luring Facebook accounts via honey traps, with fake Facebook profiles. The said app targeted all branches of the armed forces, including the Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). advertisement The targets 'selected' for luring were apparently susceptible field-level officers, although the operation apparently even included retired members of the Indian military. The information collected by the app was reportedly stored on a server in Germany and hosted by a man based out of Karachi. Recently, Pakistani hackers were spotted at various international conferences where they presented themselves as app developers in search of international servers for hosting their app. However, intelligence source said, the motive was information gathering and cast the net wider. NEW GUIDELINES Post-Pathankot, army authorities issued fresh guidelines regarding use of instant messenger, WhatsApp, under which a personnel can use a WhatsApp account in their individual name without disclosing their actual identity. There should be no mention of rank and posting in the profile. Besides, they can only share personal messages. In December last year, Indian Air Force (IAF) official Ranjith KK was arrested by Delhi Police's Crime Branch from Punjab's Bathinda city as he allegedly passed on secret information to a honey trap set by ISI. advertisement ISI agents had created a fake profile in the name of Damini McNaught, who claimed to be an executive of a UK-based media firm. McNaught claimed that she required IAF-related information for an article she was writing for their news magazine. "The woman befriended the airman and started extracting information about the IAF. The officer never knew that he was passing on information to the Pakistani agency. She started taking details from him online on the pretext of an article on the IAF. Ranjith shared information on a number of fighter jets and also details of each and every building at his air force station," said a police officer investigating the case. ALSO READ: Surgical strike fallout: Pakistan's ISI chief likely to be replaced Over 300 terrorists flee from training camps in PoK following surgical strikes --- ENDS --- In Ramayana, Jatayu was believed to be the son of Aruna and a nephew of Garuda. A demi-god in the form of vulture, Jatayu was an old friend of king Dasharath, father of Lord Rama. Jatayu was the first person who tried to rescue Sita from the clutches of Ravana while he was taking her to Lanka. He fought valiantly with Ravana. However, Ravana clipped his wings and severely injured him. Even as Jatayu was battling with life, he managed to inform Lord Rama about Sita's abduction. Sensing that Jatayu won't survive, Lord Rama, a Vishnu incarnate, decided that Jatayu must attain salvation. DMK has said the Tamil Nadu government "lacks proper direction" with CM Jayalalithaa still in hospital and has urged the Governor and the Centre to take appropriate action. Jayalalithaa has been hospitalised for almost 20 days now. By Press Trust of India: DMK has said the Tamil Nadu government "lacks proper direction" with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa still in hospital and has urged the Governor and the Centre to take appropriate action. Referring to the Cauvery row, DMK President M Karunanidhi said the upper riparian state Karnataka was "least bothered" about implementing the Supreme Court directives on releasing water to Tamil Nadu, even as farmers in the state were keenly watching what the Centre, state and the apex court had to say on the matter. advertisement AIADMK GOVT LACKING DIRECTION: DMK "Everybody feels the state government is lacking direction because the chief minister is in hospital. Although no all-party meeting or cabinet meeting or special Assembly session has been held on behalf of the AIADMK government, all parties in Tamil Nadu are united in supporting the demands of farmers, including constituting the Cauvery Management Board, he said. Also read: Jayalalithaa's health improving, likely to be discharged soon, says Kerala Governor "Since ministers or the Chief Secretary are not prepared to take any steps in very important matters like the Cauvery issue without consulting the Chief Minister who is in hospital, there is a passive situation in Tamil Nadu," he said in a letter to party workers. "In such a scenario, political leaders in the state have been individually raising various issues and the government's stand on these must be informed after taking decisions on them", Karunanidhi said. GOVERNOR MUST INTERVENE: KARUNANIDHI "It is the wish of the people of the state that the Centre or Tamil Nadu governor (Ch Vidyasgar Rao) decide and immediately take action," he said. "Until the time Chief Minister Jayalalithaa resumes work after recovering, appropriate legal steps should be taken to implement the essential needs of the people of Tamil Nadu," he said. Also read: In absence of Jayalalithaa, DMK demands appointment of new CM This was the request of the people as well as "ours", Karunanidhi added. DMK Treasurer MK Stalin had last week demanded that the state government name an interim Chief Minister or a Deputy CM till the time Jayalalithaa returned. Karunanidhi also slammed the Centre on the Cauvery issue, criticising it for changing its stand on constituting the Cauvery Management Board. 2 ARRESTED FOR SPREADING RUMOURS Meanwhile, Chennai Police yesterday arrested two persons for spreading rumours about Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's health. The two men were arrested by Tamil Nadu Police, Cyber Crime division for spreading false news about the chief minister's health on social media. The accused have been identified as Satish Kumar, an IT professional from Tiruchengode and Madasami, who has completed ITI in AC mechanicals from Madurai. advertisement Also read: Jayalalithaa's health: Chennai Police arrest 2 for spreading rumours --- ENDS --- By Pramod Madhav: The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Vidyasagar Rao, allocated the portfolios held by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to O Panneerselvam who currently holds the post of Finance Minister for the state. The Governor using Clause (3) of the Article 166 of the Constitution of India, allocated the subjects dealt by Jayalalithaa as the Chief Minister. Jayalalithaa who was admitted to the hospital on 22nd September and currently under treatment for a certain lung infection, was advised by the doctors for a longer stay. advertisement The Governor held a meeting with the Chief Secretary to the state Ram Mohan Rao, Finance Minister O Panneerselvam and PWD Minister, Edapadi Palanisamy. Later it was informed by Raj Bhavan that the meeting was mainly about Cauvery water issue. Also Read: Jayalalithaa health: Medical team from AIIMS to assist in treatment Meanwhile, Opposition party leaders and Subramaniam Swamy demanded that a Deputy Chief Minister should be appointed to the state as the State government has entered a mode of stasis due to the absence of the chief minister. Jayalalithaa in her portfolio held Public, Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Forest Service, General Administration, District Revenue Officers, Police and Home Affairs which have currently allocated to Panneerselvam who will handle them along with Finance , Planning, Legislative Assembly, Elections and Passports, Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Personnel and Administrative Reforms(Training). O Panneerselvam had always remained Jayalalithaa's loyal subordinate and held the throne in her absence in earlier occasions as well. The press release from the Governor also stated that Panneerselvam will also head the cabinet meetings and the arrangement was made as per Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's advice and Jayalalithaa will remain as the Chief Minister as per the arrangement.Also read: As Jayalalithaa remains in hospital, storm brews in Tamil Nadu's political cup Jayalalithaa will be alright soon, says Rahul Gandhi after meeting ailing Tamil Nadu CM --- ENDS --- Top Army sources have told to India Today that 15 fidayeen militants had been divided in 5 groups, with 3 members in each group. By Ashraf Wani: Fifteen fidayeen terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba had managed to infiltrate in Jammu and Kashmir from Nowgam sector of LoC after surgical strikes by Indian Army on Lashkar's launching pads in PoK, said top Army sources. Top Army sources have told to India Today that 15 fidayeen militants had been divided in 5 groups, with 3 members in each group. advertisement 3 GROUPS STILL AT LARGE One fidayeen group was neutralised by Army in Handwara terror attack on 30 Rashtriya Rifles on October 5. Another group has been holed up in EDI building in Pampore and three more groups are still at large. This vital information was received by armed forces from documents recovered from 3 killed militants in Handwara. As per Army information, the other three groups are still hiding in Handwara area. SECURITY FORCES ON HIGH ALERT Security forces all across Kashmir Valley has been put on high alert for possible terror attack by these three fidayeen groups. Also read: Pampore operation enters second day, forces may demolish EDI building Pampore: Jawan wounded, efforts on to neutralise terrorists holed up inside EDI building Post Uri terror attack, Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express sees drop in passenger footfall Terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin moved to Pakistan Army camp Sources in the Army have said that these militants may try to target security forces on Srinagar-Jammu highway or Srinagar-Kupwara highway. Both highways had been kept under check round the clock by swift action teams of Army, assisted by CRPF. Also read:Opinion: Serving in Army is a job, not about ultra-patriotic deshbhakti Opinion: Pakistan will not get into a nuclear war with India that easily Opinion: Disability pensions cut: How Modi sarkar is betraying Indian Army --- ENDS --- Rejecting Opposition's charge, the BJP has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lucknow has no 'politics' or 'hidden agenda'. PM Modi's visit to Lucknow today is being seen as politically motivated by the Opposition. By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Modi will attend the Aishbagh Dussehra Mela in Lucknow today, and the ruling BJP is projecting him as Lord Rama who would kill demon Ravana (interpret as Pakistan) in the aftermath of the surgical strikes across the LoC. "Lucknow welcomes the avengers of Uri," the hoardings in the city declare, backing the assessment that the cross-border strikes in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir were in retaliation for the 19 soldiers killed in September's terror attack at the army camp in Uri. Poster welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lucknow. (Image via Twitter) advertisement PM's VISIT NOT POLITICAL: BJP Meanwhile, rejecting Opposition's charge, the BJP has said Prime Minister Modi's visit to Lucknow has no 'politics' or 'hidden agenda'. "There is no politics or hidden agenda behind the prime minister's visit to the historic Dussehra Mela at Aishbagh ground," BJP national vice-president and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma said. Also read: Opinion: Why Modi is feeling special this Vijaya Dashami "Ravan was the first terrorist and his effigy is burnt till this day... this is the feeling among countrymen and the prime minister is coming here to commemorate it," he said, adding it is a traditional event and is totally apolitical. AKHILESH, MAYAWATI ATTACK MODI Yesterday, Chief Minister Akhilesh said Modi would have taken part in Ravan Vadh in Bihar had there been election there, while BSP president Mayawati termed the visit as politically motivated. Also read: If Rahul accused PM Modi of 'khoon ki dalali', there must be a reason: Akhilesh "This (Modi's visit) is indicative of his belief and regard towards the land of composite culture (Lucknow)", Sharma said. "The PM and people are aware Ravan was killed hundreds of years ago and it is celebrated every year. Then what has it to do with Uttar Pradesh elections which are next year," the BJP leader asked. BJP SLAMS OPPOSITION "Mayawati's party is facing desertion while the Samajwadi Party family is breaking up. I do not want to say this but their duty is to look after their parties first," he said. A patron of the Aishbagh Ramlila committee, Sharma claimed the committee had been sending invitations to Presidents and PMs but this is the first time a PM has accepted it and will come here. Also read: Modi government spreading hatred in Uttar Pradesh, says Mayawati "We are taking the achievements of the party and the government to the people to mobilise votes in our favour. As part of that we are also enumerating the surgical strikes as one of our achievements and with a legitimate claim", Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Chandra Mohan has said. advertisement RAMLILA GROUND CAPACITY He said the Ramlila ground, with a seating capacity of 25,000 people, is under the SPG control. Besides local policemen, central forces, a bomb disposal squad and RAF have also been deployed. Besides the Union Home Minister and local MP, Rajnath Singh, Governor Ram Naik and UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya will also attend the function. ALSO READ: BJP, Opposition debate over evidence of Indian Army's surgical strikes Lalu hails Army, flays BJP on surgical strikes (WITH INPUTS FROM PTI) --- ENDS --- Maulana Azad Medical College doctors allege that eight among them have been transferred to central hospitals for opposing Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain's move to occupy a heritage building. By Astha Saxena: Senior faculty members in Delhi government's Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) are up in arms against the recent transfer of eight of its doctors to central government-run hospitals in Delhi. On Monday, the doctors decided to approach Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung requesting him to look into the matter. The decision was taken at the general body meeting of the faculty association on Monday. advertisement HEALTH MINISTRY PUNISHES DOCTORS? "Last time, a delegation from the faculty association of MAMC had met the L-G against the order of the health department by which the health minister and his staff were to occupy the heritage building of MS Lok Nayak Hospital," said a senior doctor from the hospital, requesting anonymity. "Now, all these faculty members have been punished with their transfer orders and sent to the central government hospitals. This is totally unjustified," the doctor added. In June, doctors of the MAMC had strongly opposed the Delhi government's move to shift the office of the Delhi health minister to the space where critical functions are carried out. The doctors had said that the move would compromise patients' safety and quality of healthcare. The doctors had then written a letter to Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain requesting him to withdraw the order. The medical representatives also threatened to go on strike, if the orders were not withdrawn. GOVT DENIES IMPLEMENTING ANY SUCH ORDER However, the government had denied implementing any such order. "No such order has been implemented as of now. We will consult doctors of Lok Nayak Hospital before taking any such decision. The government does not have any wrong intention," a Delhi government spokesperson had said. "The Delhi government hospitals are already facing shortages of doctors and at a time when cases of vector-borne diseases are already at a high, transferring doctors from the hospitals doesn't seem to be a wise decision," a senior Delhi government official told Mail Today. Delhi is already witnessing a health crisis with cases of chikungunya increasing. So far the national Capital has reported 8,456 cases of chikungunya and 2,711 cases of dengue. While cases of dengue are comparatively lower, cases of chikungunya and malaria are making life difficult for the people and the health department. At least 30 people have died due to chikungunya in Delhi and surrounding areas this year. The state government had even earned the ire of the High Court over its tussle with the L-G at such a crucial time. ALSO READ: Standing counsel appointments row: L-G Jung to take call on Delhi govt's legal eagles advertisement 2,000 beds unoccupied in Delhi hospitals, claims AAP minister Satyendra Jain --- ENDS --- US President Barack Obama said, "We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America's story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time." Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks on Mars inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water are seen in an image produced by NASA (Reuters) By Reuters: US President Barack Obama, highlighting his pledge to send people to Mars by the 2030s, on Tuesday announced further public-private efforts to build habitats that could help humans live long-term far from the Earth. MISSIONS INTO DEEP SPACE "We are working with our commercial partners to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space. These missions will teach us how humans can live far from Earth - something we'll need for the long journey to Mars," Obama said in an opinion piece on CNN's website. advertisement His comments come ahead of a meeting planned by the White House in Pittsburgh this week to team up scientists, students and others to advance the commercial space market, Obama said. NASA separately said it was coordinating with commercial space companies to develop "deep space habitat modules" and create opportunities for companies to use the International Space Station's docking port. SENDING HUMANS TO MARS Obama has previously sought to boost space exploration and renewed that pledge on Tuesday: "We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America's story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time." The two-term president's re-commitment comes in the final months of his tenure and faces an uncertain future after he leaves office in January. His successors will be chosen on Nov. 8 in an election that could also reshape Congress, which allocates government funding. Obama, a self-described "nerd" who last year hosted budding astronomers at the White House, has made known his love of space. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her rival, Republican Donald Trump, have given little, if any, attention to the issue on the campaign trail. JOURNEY TO MARS Humans have yet to travel to Mars, Earth's neighbor some 35 million miles (56 million km) away. Like Earth, the so-called Red Planet also has seasons, and a 2012 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) mission found conditions there once supported microbial life, according to the US space agency. It would take about eight months to get there, depending on rocket velocity, according to NASA experts. Efforts to fund the space program have faltered in recent years over concerns about fiscal priorities. As part of the space habitat effort, NASA said on Tuesday it was entering the so-called "proving ground" stage to demonstrate and test various technologies over the next 10 years. ALSO READ: Paris climate deal a turning point for planet: Obama Mars likely to experience global dust storm in next few months: NASA --- ENDS --- Singh was found fleeing on a train and was apprehended between Karnataka and Maharashtra. By India Today Web Desk: The arrest of perfumer Monika Ghurde's murderer has been caught on CCTV camera. The video footage shows accused Raj Kumar Singh being apprehended by Goa Police from a mobile store. Singh was found fleeing on a train and was apprehended between Karnataka and Maharashtra. He lost his job three months ago after several complaints were filed against him. advertisement ARREST AND INTERROGATION The police said that Singh was arrested after they tracked his ATM withdrawals from Goa, Mangalore and Bengaluru. Singh had also stolen Ghurde's mobile phone after committing the crime. "We have arrested the accused from Bangalore. He worked as a security guard in the apartment where Ghurde was staying. When we interrogated him, he confessed to the crime," DIG Goa, Vimal Anand Gupta. Gupta added that the investigations are underway. Ghrude's body was found naked with her hand and legs tied at her apartment in Sangldan on October 7. Her post-mortem report confirmed that she was strangulated and smothered using a pillow. Ghurde was an independent perfumer based out of Goa and founded 'MO Lab'. She set up her first lab in Chennai. Before turning to perfumery, Monika was a photographer and graphic designer. She also co-founded Graf Publishing, design and publishing company. ALSO READ: Perfumer Monika Ghurde's murder: One accused arrested from Bengaluru Goa: Perfumer Monika Ghurde's killers identified, caught on camera --- ENDS --- PM Narendra Modi, who was a part of Dussehra celebrations in Lucknow, said that nations shielding terrorists should not be spared. By Brijesh Pandey: Dussehra or Vijayadashami celebrates the triumph of good over evil, of Ram over Ravana. And the story of Ramayana was the prime theme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Dussehra speech in Lucknow, where he called terrorism the new Ravana. PM Modi greeted the crowd at the Ramlila Ground in Lucknow's Aishbagh with 'Jai Shri Ram'. Modi reminded people that Lucknow derived its name from Lakshman, the younger brother and constant companion of Lord Ram. advertisement READ| Prime Minister Modi set to inaugurate war memorial in Bhopal on Friday INVOKES JATAYU'S ROLE IN FIGHTING TERRORISM He invoked Jatayu, the bird, who died fighting Ravana mid-air as the demon king flew to Lanka with Sita, who he had abducted onboard. He called Jatayu's battle with Ravana the first fight against terrorism. PM Modi said countries shielding terrorists must be isolated, adding that our way was peace, not war. "Because of circumstances, wars sometimes become inevitable," he said, hinting towards the surgical strike the Indian Army's special forces undertook after the Uri attack. LUCKNOW WELCOMES AVENGERS OF URI To welcome the PM , hoardings that read "Lucknow welcomes the avengers of Uri" were put up at several places. READ| RSS pants: Nagpur goes full, but Agra stays half He pointed out other evils plaguing the Indian society, especially gender discrimination. "Birth of girl child should be celebrated. Daughters are our pride and they should be protected," PM Modi said pointing out that girls are killed in the womb. "We are killing Sitas in the womb everyday," he staying with the Ramayana theme. "While we punish Ravana every year on Dussehra for abducting Sita we must also see to it that our own 'Sitas' the girl child is saved and given honour and respect she deserves," PM Modi. He stated that there was a need to ensure that be it any community or caste, women from all faiths should get equal rights and justice. Although war also becomes essential sometimes we come from the land of Buddha therefore we prefer peace over war. HOW AKHILESH IDENTIFIES THE POLITICAL MOTIVE Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has earlier stopped short of calling the PM's visit politically motivated. "What can I say about anyone going anywhere? I guess if elections were happening in Bihar, then Ravana would have been burnt there," Yadav had said. advertisement READ| A tragic end to this Ramayana: Artist dies while enacting Hanuman on stage in Rajasthan The BJP, however, rejected such charges. "Ravana was the first terrorist and his effigy is burnt till this day... this is the feeling among countrymen and the Prime Minister is coming here to commemorate it," said BJP National Vice-President and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma. Ahead of the visit, Lucknow turned into a fortress with companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and Rapid Action Force (RAF) being pressed into service. Here is what Modi said: The first war waged against terrorism was done by Jatayu. He was the one who clashed with even a powerful force like Ravana to save Sita. We need to identify not just those who give birth to terrorism but also those who aid and support it. While we punish Ravana every year on Dussehra for abducting Sita, we must also see to it that our own 'Sitas' the girl child is saved and given honour, and respect she deserves. I also want to make sure that be it any community or caste, women from all faiths should get equal rights and justice. Although Yuddha (war) becomes essential sometimes. We come from the land of Buddha. Therefore, we prefer peace over war. With the Ravana that we set on fire, every Dussehra we also need to get rid of our inner vices. This year's theme in this Ramlila is terrorism. Ram signifies humanity and sacrifice. We need to learn from him. advertisement Watch the video here: Also read: Lucknow welcomes Uri avengers, read hoardings on PM Modi's visit for Dussehra Mela today --- ENDS --- By PTI: Nahan (HP), Oct 11 (PTI) A Nepali national was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Valmiki Basti area here today. We received the information about the presence of the dead body from locals and sent it for post mortem, Additional SP Vinod Kumar Dhiman said. The deceased has been identified as Lal Bahadur and worked as labourer, he said. advertisement The cause of his death would be ascertained after the post mortem report is received, the ASP said. He said efforts are on to contact his family members in Nepal. PTI PCL AQS AQS --- ENDS --- Nostalgia walks hand in hand with romance on the red sandstone ramparts of Narendra Bhawan in Bikaner. Come discover your altar ego. Rajasthan in the 80s was a land full of exotic tales. On a recent trip to Bikaner, we stumbled upon one such delightful tale that struck a chord. An antique dealer who used to visit Maharaja Narendra Singh of Bikaner discovered that he was a food lover as the king once shared his tiffin with him. Following that first exchange, there was a regular request for tiffin by the king who was fond of traditional eats. The boxes never went back empty to the antique dealer as the king ensured food, money or some other gift was placed in them. An eccentric man with eclectic tastes, the Maharaja never took his royalty for granted and maintained the humble Rajasthani custom--of always giving something in return for a gift. advertisement Bikaner, one of the most stunning cities of Rajasthan, is also one of its most underrated, despite its 500-year-old history, its world-famous sweets and snacks, the beautiful havelis, forts and temples. Architectural marvels like the Lallgarh palace, Karni Mata temple, Laxmi Niwas, Kolayat temple, Junagarh Fort and museum, Bhandasar Jain temple, among others, have kept the spirit of the city alive across time. As you step into Bikaner, you are transported to an age that is far removed from contemporary madness. The urban hubbub doesn't distract from the majestic red sandstone structures that stand as a testament to a time when the world was different. The history, evident in every nook and corner of the city, dates back to 1488 when a young prince, Rao Bika from the Jodhpur dynasty, gave up his legacy and went on to establish his own kingdom. He chose a barren patch of land and called it Jungladesh. Legend has it that Bika had a difficult relationship with his father and brothers and was allowed to take the family heirlooms with him when he left, in exchange for giving up his claim to the throne of Jodhpur forever. He didn't, however, stay true to his word and a clash between the two Rajput principalities continued till the early 16th century. Bikaner, an energetic and self-motivated kingdom, still bears proof of this rough evolution. With every passing decade, the city grew under the welfare of rulers like Maharaja Ganga Singh, Maharaja Karni Singh and especially the last Maha-raja Narendra Singh, who presided over the state efficiently from 1988 till 2003, despite being a mere titular head. REVIVING A LEGACY The descendants of the founding father Bika--from whose name the city-state Bikaner was derived--are known for being outstanding generals in the Indian army, driven politicians, and competitive sportsmen. Narendra Singh was born in 1948 when India was rising from the ashes of its colonial past. He was a modern prince who was building his identity as India built its own. Both were young and ready to become something. After attending Mayo College, Ajmer, in 1966 he went to Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi. He began travelling incessantly. advertisement On his overseas travels, he watched Broadway shows, Moulin Rouge performances, visited plenty of museums and finally returned to Bikaner where he began to slowly showcase his foreign travels. A recluse by nature, he was an animal lover and owned a staggering 500 cows and 90 dogs, with a name for each. He never used to eat before they were well fed and some say that whenever a calf was born in Bikaner, he used to go visit. In addition to all his travel memorabilia, he kept all the things he acquired from his father Maharaja Karni Singh, including the gold furniture and chandeliers from France, creating a special place for them at his royal residence. Narendra Bhawan, which was built in 1969, was acquired in 2005 by hotelier Manvendra Singh Shekhawat and the project started in 2008. Today, it is an independent design hotel rich in history. Over the years, Narendra Bhawan has grown organically, and is today a snapshot of the life led by its original owner who was deeply influenced by the arts and loved travel. Shekhawat, 32, the managing director of Narendra Bhawan today, personifies the essence of the palace and has a vision that seeks a new kind of acceptance of this beautiful residence, apart from its royal heritage. Through Narendra Bhawan, he says, "I've attempted to provide an insight to the great family's rich legacy and its contribution to India. advertisement The low seating area in the corridors of narendra Bhawan. Bikaner is the hidden jewel of Rajasthan. It offers unsurpassable antiquity, old world charm and regalia, intricate havelis, grand palaces and great food befitting for any fairy tale nuptial." By 2008, Shekhawat also realised that hotels in the state were no longer as aspirational as they used to be. Millennials were not impressed by crystal chandeliers, thread counts and intrusive hospitality. They sought unique and bespoke experiences. So they thought, if they just provide guests comfortable accommodation, great local food and attempt at being genial hosts, tell people unheard stories, give them a sense of space and a slice of time, and help them discover unexplored facets of the region, it would help them create a a new market and put them in a monopolistic situation in the area." "During the design process," he says, "many people who were known very well to Narendra Singh and his daughter Princess Sidhi Kumari were interviewed; many of the letters written by him were studied to develop an understanding of his tastes and habits. advertisement Designer Ayush Kasliwal, who lives in Jaipur, used that research as inspiration while designing this eclectic hotel residence,"says Shekhawat. THE DESIGN INSPIRATION The six floors and 82 rooms of this palatial residence have elaborate themes. The Portuguese tiles, traditional crafts, elaborate ceiling details, and Bikaner terrazzo floors offer a calm sanctuary, away from the noise of the city. You have the Residence Rooms, which are a tribute to the maharaja's eclectic tastes and were designed for his guests. Featuring luxe velvets, English prints, ornate mirrors and mosaic, the Prince Rooms are stately. Similarly, the Regimental Rooms reflect a ceremonial order with army memorabilia sensitively interspersed with modern conveniences. These rooms are thoughtfully curated with objets d'art and have a rich colour palette. The India Rooms are quintessentially Indian but fashioned for the cosmopolitan traveller seeking a mix of traditional accents and modern conveniences. And finally, the Republic Suites are chic, edgy, and a tribute to the architects of Independent India. The galleries, courtyards, illuminated fabrics and architecture paint a royal wedding picture in all its glory. With its distinctive terrain, folklore, hospitality and vibe, Narendra Bhawan sets a unique backdrop for fairy tale weddings. The Gaushala at the entrance is a tribute to Lord Krishna. Entrance of Narendra bhawan. The Rathi cows, a dual purpose cattle breed that originated in Bikaner were Narendra Singh's favourites. The easy lounging area, the Verandah, is strongly influenced by the Bombay Art Deco movement; motifs and design elements present an interior that is reminiscent of a vibrant age. Modern Indian furniture and tribal artworks add a touch of finesse to the dcor. A corner houses an electric red baby grand piano, Edith, once favoured by Narendra Singh. The dining space is fragmented into many worlds. The Mad Hatter, the bake house is a quirky space with puddings, pies, toffees, rum balls and fudges of all sorts. P&C or the Pearls and Chiffons dining room, on the other hand, is for the ladies of the house, inspired by Rajasthani royalty. It features a curated wine list, table-side preparations and tiffin lunches. The drawing rooms take you back to the gold and the crystal rooms, which are inspired by the mandatory smoking rooms for gentlemen and withdrawing rooms for ladies in the 50s. The central courtyard, the Diwali Chowk, is the heart of Narendra Bhawan, with canopies, low India style seating and trees; ideal to enjoy the Bikaner Badakhana and savour Marwari cuisine. Karan Singh, president of the heritage property group that includes Narendra Bhawan and Laxmi Niwas in Bikaner and Suryagarh in Jaisalmer says, "the aim was to create a residence as a tribute to its last incumbent. There is a sense of eclecticism and distinctiveness to this property." The palace of stories and royal snippets is all set to write a new chapter in the history of Bikaner for travellers, tourists and art lovers alike. The city rises from the desert to offer a glamorous escape, bringing romance back in the lives of those who head here in search of that magic moment where the worlds of history and real life collide. It's a world where khidmat goes beyond service; where ladies and gentlemen, as Cesar Ritz said, serve ladies and gentlemen. --- ENDS --- By Shuja-ul-Haq : Till last reports came in, heavy exchange of fire is underway between security forces and militants holed up inside a government building in Pampore area on the outskirts of Srinagar. "Pampore operation is in the last stage, forces plan to demolish Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) building where terrorists are holed up," said sources. The militants have been trapped inside the seven-floor hostel building of Jammu and Kashmir's Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) located on the banks of the Jhelum river, some 12 km from the Srinagar city centre, since Monday morning, officials said. advertisement Security forces and militants exchanged fire all night. Also read: Pampore: Jawan wounded, efforts on to neutralise terrorists holed up inside EDI building Post Uri terror attack, Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express sees drop in passenger footfall Terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin moved to Pakistan Army camp A soldier was injured on Monday in a gunfight that erupted after 2-3 militants opened fire at security forces. "Security forces have surrounded the building and all escape routes of militants were sealed," a police officer said. HOW MILITANTS REACHED Residents living nearby said that the militants entered the institute complex from the river side and captured the hostel building. There were some JKEDI employees inside the complex at the time of the operation, but most of them said they were not sure how the militants got inside. EDI BUILDING ATTACKED LAST IN FEB The main building of the institute was razed down in a February shootout when militants had captured it and launched a major attack on the security forces. Militants had killed six persons - a civilian, three soldiers, and two paramilitary troopers before three militants were gunned down in the battle that raged for nearly three days. The institute, situated on the strategic arterial road connecting Jammu and Srinagar, has three buildings - a guest house, a hostel complex and the main office building - on a large swathe of 3.5-acre land on the Jhelum. Also read:Opinion: Serving in Army is a job, not about ultra-patriotic deshbhakti Opinion: Pakistan will not get into a nuclear war with India that easily The road on which the institute is located is the lifeline not only for local supplies but is the only all-weather link used by the army to reach the Srinagar-based 15 Corps headquarters that is the nerve centre of the fight against militancy in the state. The area around the building houses a government-owned joinery factory and a highly secured complex of medium and shortwave radio transmitters of Radio Kashmir, Srinagar. Also read: Series of lapses lead to the killing of 8 CRPF personnel in Pampore attack advertisement Watch video --- ENDS --- A village council in Bihar has announced the decision to thrash people if caught drinking. They say that alcoholics will be mercilessly thrashed before being handed to the police. By India Today Web Desk: A village court in Bihar has announced the decision to publicly thrash all those caught drinking. For this, they have even set up a team to trace out alcoholics. The decision was taken at a meeting of residents of Dihi-Pakadi village council in West Champaran district on Sunday. The village council was forced to form a 'Drunkard Search Team' after scores of people were caught frequently crossing into Uttar Pradesh for drinking liquor after Bihar imposed total prohibition in April this year. advertisement "We were compelled to take this decision irritated at frequent raids by police at our village looking for drunkards," Bolar Chaudhary, deputy head of the village council said on Monday. From now on, all those found in an inebriated state will be first given a merciless thrashing before being handed over to the police, Bolar Chaudhary said. THE MISSION Bolar explained, according to a Gulf News report, that a 10-member team will keep a close watch on the state border and if the drunkards are caught, they will be first presented before the village council, of course for being thrashed according to the new decision the council has taken. "We have the information that villagers have taken this step to strictly enforce the prohibition law," a local police official Abdul Mazid said. --- ENDS --- The head at the shrine, Namdevshastri Sanap had warned Pankaja against making a speech at the annual meet during Dussehra organised at Bhagwangad. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: In what is seen as a struggle of supremacy over the 'Vanjari' caste, Pankaja Munde will address the annual Dussehra rally at the foothills of Bhagwangad. HEAD AT THE SHRINE AGAINST PANKAJA'S SPEECH The head at the shrine, Namdevshastri Sanap had warned Pankaja against making a speech at the annual meet during Dussehra organised at Bhagwangad. This has led to an ugly tussle between the two, making it appear like a tug of war over the control of the community. advertisement Bhagwan baba temple on the borders of Ahmednagar and Beed districts is a pilgrim centre revered by the Vanjari community to which Pankaja belongs. Vanjari is also a politically dominant caste in Maharashtra along with Marathas , Mali and Dhangar. TRADITION STARTED IN 1993 The Annual Dussera rally at the Bhagwangad shrine is a tradition started by Pankaja's father and BJP leader late Gopinath Munde in 1993. Ever since, lakhs from the community gather at the pilgrim centre on Dussehra, which is also seen as a show of strength by the caste. But this year, the Bhagwangad temple trust has resolved that it won't allow Pankaja to address the gathering. Namdevshastri has written to the state warning of a law and order situation if Pankaja insists on speaking. Alleged audio clip of Pankaja and Namdevshastri threatening each other had gone viral. Meanwhile, the administration has issued notice under Section 144 at the religious shrine. With Pankaja adamant on addressing a rally though at the foothills, huge security has been deployed on the hills of Bhagwangad and surrounding areas. Also read: BJP's Pankaja Munde calls on ailing Bhujbal, raises eyebrows Prohibitory orders issued in Palghar ahead of Pankaja Munde's visit to tribal area --- ENDS --- By Mail Today Bureau: Describing India as land of 'buddh' (knowledge) and not yudh (war), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday drew a parallel between Ram's victory over Ravana with the modern-day fight against terrorism. He said, "We are at a point now where those who support terror or allow it cannot go unpunished." DEFEATING TERROR The PM attended historic Ramleela function at Aishbagh Maidan in Lucknow in a first public address after surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and sent a message about India's determination to fight terrorism. Starting and ending his speech with "Jai Sri Ram", a slogan that had become symbol of BJP's resurgence, Modi said Ram left behind legacy of humanity and sacrifice and Jatayu, the eagle that tried to stop Sita's kidnapping, was first to fight against terrorism. advertisement He asked people to remain vigilant against terrorism just like Jatayu. The Prime Minister said India will not spare who shelter terrorist in a remark seen against Pakistan which exports terrorism. "We see visuals of what terrorism is doing to Syria. It brings tears to one's eyes. It gives us the conviction that there is no guarantee for the safety of humanity without defeating terrorism," he said. DEFEATING SOCIAL DISCRIMINATION Apart from talking about terrorism, the Prime Minister also focused on equality of women as October 11 is also the International Day of the Girl Child. "We should collectively work towards an India where there is no discrimination based on gender and where girls get all the opportunities to shine," he said. The Prime Minister's symbolism of Ram and the anti-terror operations in pollbound Uttar Pradesh was meant to deliver a strong political message. "We burn effigy of Ravan every year but what lesson do we take? We should have only one resolve - to finish our social evils and strengthen our will to end all evils," he said, adding that the Ravan within us must be destroyed. VIJAYA DASHMI The Vijaya Dashami celebrations at the historic venue were attended by all the bigwigs of the BJP including Union home minister Rajnath Singh. Modi performed 'aarti' of the characters playing Lord Ram and Sita and was later felicitated by the city mayor Dinesh Sharma, the convener of the 70-year-old Ramlila. The PM said that it was his good fortune to attend the event at the land that has given Ram and Krishna. Home minister Singh said that Lucknow was "karmabhoomi" of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The PM spoke about 20 minutes and most of his speech was on terrorism but he resorted to only veiled attacks against Pakistan. "Terrorism is against humanity. The entire world is being destroyed? if you think that we are insulated against terrorism, then we are wrong. It is a virus affecting our societies. All forces across the world have to talk in one voice and end it," he said. This is the first time when a Prime Minister has attended Dussehra outside Delhi. Prime Minister Modi chose to travel to Lucknow and his visit got linked to the Assembly elections due in the state early next year. It was expected that the PM will give a strong message against terrorism. ALSO READ: advertisement Lucknow welcomes Uri avengers, read hoardings on PM Modi's visit for Dussehra Mela today No holiday for Modi: Prime Minister of India is always on duty, PMO's response to RTI applicant --- ENDS --- Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate Shaurya Smarak in Bhopal on October 14. He is likely to address a gathering of ex-servicemen and families of martyrs. By Rahul Noronha: At a time when the both the government and the Opposition are caught in a battle of one-upmanship over surgical strikes, the Prime Minister will be in Bhopal on Friday to inaugurate a war memorial. He is also expected to address a gathering of ex-servicemen and families of more than 200 martyrs from Madhya Pradesh at the Lal Parade Ground. advertisement ALSO READ: Uri martyr's wife asks PM Modi to conduct surgical strike against politicians questioning it DELAYED BY FOUR YEARS The war memorial, called Shaurya Smarak, is spread over 12 acres and located at the Arera Hills in Bhopal. The work started on it in 2010 and was scheduled to be completed by 2012. After several delays and cost overruns, the project was finally completed at a cost of Rs 40 crore. Its foundation stone was laid by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and then Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor. ALSO READ: Lt General Shekatkar slams Rahul Gandhi for 'Khoon Ki Dalali' remark against Modi DEPICTS A SOLDIER'S LIFE The smarak includes a 62-feet tall pillar that depicts the life of a soldier. The three elements depicted on the pillar represent the armed forces -- Earth stands for the Army, water for the Navy and air for the Air Force. Besides the pillar, the memorial also houses a museum that has a photo gallery on various wars India has fought over the years. It also has a 60-seater theatre where short films can be shown. Chief Minister Chouhan said the Shaurya Smarak will make the people of the state proud of the achievements of the armed forces. ALSO READ: Para commandos destroyed 2 Pakistani army posts during surgical strikes: RSS mouthpiece ALSO READ: Rajasthan CM Raje prepares to hold yajna to boost morale of security forces near LoC --- ENDS --- PM Narendra Modi and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping are expected to discuss the ban on Masood Azhar and India's NSG bid in Goa this week. By Maha Siddiqui: PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be meeting in Goa on the sidelines of BRICS this Saturday. Ban on Masood Azhar and India's NSG bid rank high on the agenda. Pakistan's permanent representative to UN in Geneva Tehmina Janjua has said that through a series of actions in diverse areas, Pakistan has demonstrated its credentials and eligibility to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). "We expect that a non-discriminatory, criteria-based approach is followed for expanding NSG's membership, which would strengthen the non-proliferation regime in an equitable and credible manner," Janjua said. advertisement READ| China open to India's NSG bid, but opposes UN ban on Jaish chief Masood Azhar At the behest of Pakistan, China has already made an attempt to club India and Pakistan together for NSG membership bid. India has maintained that there is no comparison between the neighbours on the nuclear non-proliferation issue as India is a responsible nuclear armed country whereas Pakistan's infamous credentials on nuclear proliferation are there for the world to see. Ahead of Modi-Xi meeting in Goa this weekend, Pakistan has tried to put a spanner in the NSG talks. It has told the UN Committee in Geneva that it expects a non-discriminatory, criteria-based approach to be followed for expanding NSG's membership. ALSO READ: After blocking India's move to ban Masood Azhar, China now wants action against global terrorists US playing key role in reducing tension between India-Pakistan: Nawaz Sharif's envoy Post surgical strikes, Nawaz Sharif trying to reinforce himself over policy domains --- ENDS --- Top spy agencies have concluded that the Nawaz Sharif government has now found an opportunity to emphasise how Pakistan army's current policy of supporting terror has isolated the country internationally. By Rahul Kanwal: With the Pakistani army on the back foot after the Indian Army's successful surgical strike inside PoK, the civilian government led by Nawaz Sharif has started reasserting itself in the hope of winning back some of the domestic and foreign policy space that it had ceded to the army. New Delhi's secret assessment of the Pakistani establishment post India's strikes shows Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been trying hard to reinforce himself over policy domains that virtually came under the military's thumb after his son and daughter were named in the Panama offshore scandal. advertisement Last year's joint statement by India and Pakistan in Ufa, Russia, had also put Sharif on the mat at home. But after India's cross-LoC assault has pushed the Pakistani army on the back foot. "There appears to be truth to the reports coming from Pakistan about a tiff between the Pakistan army and the civil government. But a fight has serious consequences only if both parties are of equal competence," a senior government official told India Today. SHARIF FEARING ANOTHER MILITARY COUP? The Modi government feels PM Sharif has long been convinced that violence is no solution to the Kashmir problem. "Nawaz Sharif believes that nothing is going to be achieved through covert operations and that a political solution is the best way to resolve the Kashmir issue," the official said. "However, after the Ufa blowback, the Panama Papers controversy and his surgery, Nawaz Sharif became insecure and starting fearing another military coup. He started spending more and more of his time in Lahore and almost became a puppet of the army," the official added. The Pakistani prime minister, according to Indian assessment, chose to stay subservient to the army that had been emboldened by the success of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in the country's North West Frontier Province and by Beijing's pledge to build a $46-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). But India's surgical strikes, intelligence reports denote, seem to have changed the prevailing dynamics in Pakistan. PAKISTAN ARMY'S POLICY OF SUPPORTING TERROR FAILED? Top spy agencies have concluded that the Nawaz Sharif government has now found an opportunity to emphasise how Pakistan army's current policy of supporting terror has isolated the country internationally. According to an internal presentation made by Pakistan's foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, the world response to Islamabad's attempts to raise the Kashmir problem globally had been extremely lukewarm. Chaudhry's presentation, whose details were accessed by Indian intelligence agencies, suggested that no senior political leaders of host nations met Pakistani delegations that visited world capitals with claims of humanrights violations in Kashmir. In most countries, Pakistani delegates could only meet officials at the level of a joint secretary. Not just did the attempt to raise the Kashmir bogey flop, no country came forward to back Pakistan over India's bold announcement about crossing the Line of Control and no one accused India of transgressing Pakistan's sovereignty. advertisement The Modi government, most senior officials told India Today, now feels that the next major cue from Islamabad will come with the announcement of the new Pakistan army chief. General Raheel Sharif is set to retire at the end of November. But New Delhi assesses the surgical strike might force him to review his stance as he'd need more time to plot a successful response. ALSO READ: US playing key role in reducing tension between India-Pakistan: Nawaz Sharif's envoy --- ENDS --- Preity Zinta isn't exactly impressed with the way the paparazzi pounce on celebrities these days. By India Today Web Desk: Preity Zinta on Monday took to Twitter to vent her frustration over how press photographers pounce on celebrities, leaving them scared. "Stepping out in Mumbai is not fun any more; photographers just pounce on you. No one politely asks for a photo any more. They actually scare you," Preity tweeted on Monday (October 10). ALSO SEE: Preity Zinta visits the Taj Mahal with husband Gene Goodenough advertisement WATCH: Salman Khan and Iulia Vantur attend Preity Zinta's wedding reception together Zinta, who married Gene Goodenough this year, shuttles between Mumbai and Los Angeles. She said now one needs to have a 'riot gear' to control the paparazzi. "Earlier the photographers were so polite and amazing. I always had conversations with them and cracked jokes. Now we need riot gear," Preity added. The Kal Ho Naa Ho actor then had a live chat session with Twitter users, where many users slammed her for complaining about the interest people have in her life, which is because of her star status. Responding, Preity said, "I'm only complaining because I almost fell down and was about to get a heart attack when suddenly people appeared from the dark." Then to another user, she wrote, "You sound like an ignorant person... I worked hard in life and fame is the after-effect of it. That does not mean I should be punished for it!" Preity says she just wants photographers to be polite. She said, "Ok maybe it's silly to ask for privacy -- but what about etiquette and being polite? Sure there is a polite way to ask for a photo instead of 'Dhavaa'." Zinta summed up her lessons for the paparazzi in a series of tweets: Gotta run now, but before that I wud like 2tell everyone (specially the photographers with big flashes ) that lurk in the dark a few things. Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 1) Please don't jump on us or PUSH our PARENTS or KIDS or friends n family for a photo. ASK POLITELY or U will NEVER get a proper photo ! Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 2) If a star's security pushes you there is a GOODENOUGH Reason that U deserved it so stop making news about how badly behaved we are ??? Pls Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 3) If I don't want to be photographed I will hide my face. Not cuz I have had bad surgery, or have no make up or whatever - It just means NO Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 4) It's my face, my life and my choice ! If I'm dying to be photographed I will post it on twitter or Instagram so pls be polite or OK BYE??? Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 5) Next time U take my picture don't look for body parts you can circle or put in a loop later on to body shame me & make money for you ??? Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 6) You & Me - we both have to live here. If you are more considerate & decent you will probably get great images & ???LEAVE THE KIDS alone. Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 I hope I could represent every actor & star in this dialogue with the other side ??? I am making a genuine attempt so things can go smoothly Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 advertisement --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Natasha Chaku Melbourne, Oct 10 (PTI) Indias energy major Adanis USD 21.7 billion Carmichael coal and mine project in Australia, bogged down by opposition from green groups, will be fast-tracked by the Queensland government which called it a "critical infrastructure" for the state. State Development Minister Anthony Lynham issued a statement yesterday, saying the combined mine, rail and associated water infrastructure have all been declared "critical infrastructure" and the projects special "prescribed project" status has been renewed and expanded to include its water infrastructure. advertisement Lynham said his decision would mean less red tape for the proposed project and the jobs and business opportunities it offered. "This step bundles together major elements of the project for the first time -? the mine, the 389-km rail line, and the water infrastructure, including a pipeline, pumping stations and a dam upgrade," he said. Lynham said the declaration was based on advice from the independent Coordinator-General, who continued to meet regularly with Adani for the progress of the project. "When this government came to power in early 2015, it is fair to say that there was a long way to go with the approvals that Adani needed before they could start construction. "Since then, 22 key Commonwealth, State and local government approvals have been granted to Adanis mine, rail and port facilities and there have been 29 key milestones reached," he said. Lynham said Adani has now obtained all the necessary primary approvals for its mine, rail and port projects, including the important mining leases. "At a state-level, the only key approvals remaining are water licenses and Adani is actively working on those with my Department of Natural Resources and Mines.I know that regional communities particularly will welcome the advice from Adani that construction of the project is set to begin in 2017," he said. Lynham said the progress on the project had been achieved while protecting the Great Barrier Reef and meeting Queensland and Commonwealth environmental impact assessment requirements. However, the latest decision has been criticised by Australian Greens Party, which said the state governments move to designate Adani coal mine, railway and water infrastructure as "critical infrastructure" was "reckless and short-sighted". "Adanis mega-mine and the dredging at Abbot Point coal port will be a climate disaster and Reef destroyer if they go ahead," Australian Greens Deputy Leader and environment spokesperson Senator Larissa Waters said. "In an age of global warming, extreme weather and mass coral bleaching, with clean energy alternatives waiting, it is just crazy to prioritise this giant coal mine that would turn the Reef into a coal ship highway. We know that Adani will likely pay no tax in Australia and will only generate a fraction of the jobs originally promised, 1,464, not 10,000," it claimed. PTI NC KIS UZM --- ENDS --- advertisement RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in a series of tweets said his wife must be credited for forcing the RSS to change its uniform. By India Today Web Desk: A day after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) decided to ditch its iconic khaki shorts for trousers, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said the credit must go to his wife Rabri Devi for making the RSS take this step. In his trademark style, Yadav tweeted : "We forced RSS to wear trousers. Rabri Devi had rightly said that they (RSS men) are not aware of our culture. Elderly cadres roam freely wearing half pants without shame". advertisement CREDIT GOES TO RABRI The khaki shorts have been the RSS uniform for 90 years. While RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that the change in uniform is in sync with the changing times, the RJD chief feels his wife is the one responsible for bringing this change. ? RSS?? ? ??? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ???? ???? ? ??? ?,? ?? ??,??-?? ?? ??? ?? ??? ? Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) October 11, 2016 Rabri Devi's statement forced them to transform, the RJD supremo said in a series of tweets. ALSO READ: RSS ends its shorts story: After 90 years, members don trousers In another tweet, Lalu Prasad Yadav said that just like the uniform, the RSS will be forced to change its mindset as well. "Right now, we have forced them to wear trouser from shorts. Not only their uniform but their thinking also needs a transformation... we will force them to shun weapon and will not allow them to spread hatred." SHORTS AND SHAME During an RJD function in Patna in January, former Chief Minister Rabri Devi had made a pointed attack at RSS for its volunteers wearing khaki shorts. "Elderly cadres roam freely wearing shorts without feeling shame," she had said. The new RSS uniform came into effect on Monday, which was also the Sangh's 91st foundation day. ALSO READ: RSS pants: Nagpur goes full, but Agra stays half The RSS has also approved change in the colour of socks to be worn by its volunteers, replacing the old khaki with dark brown, to go with the brown trousers they would now wear, with white shirt and black cap. The traditional bamboo stick will, however, remain part of the uniform. (with inputs from PTI) ALSO READ: Now, RSS chief Bhagwat sings Modi's tune on gau rakshaks, says don't breach law in name of protection ALSO READ: Rahul blames BJP, RSS for shoe attack, says he's not afraid of such assaults --- ENDS --- advertisement Railway minister Suresh Prabhu had sought to know what an employee would do to improve the Railways if he was made minister for a day. By Mail Today Bureau: Over 13 lakh employees operate the vast Indian railway network round the clock, but the ministry is struggling to get actionable ideas to cut down expenses and improve its functioning. ASKING FOR SUGGESTIONS Railway minister Suresh Prabhu had sought to know what an employee would do to improve the Railways if he was made minister for a day. The ministry has received over one lakh suggestions, most of which relate to cutting down expenses. The exercise was ideated by Prabhu who has been insisting on improving the work culture in the ministry. "Since the railways have a workforce of over 1.3 million, the railway minister sought suggestions from our employees. These employees are closely associated with the operation of the Railways and we have been expecting practical suggestions from them," said a senior railway board official. COST CUTTING AND REVENUE LEAKAGE advertisement According to officials, a number of employees have stressed on checking revenue leakage in the form of ticketless travelling and reducing expenses on purchase of diesel. For this, they have suggested complete electrification of the rail network, which officials said, was a long-term solution as it would require huge expenditure. Some suggested turning railway premises into closed areas like Delhi Metro and airports so as to check ticketless travelling. "Cost-cutting has been a key concern of most employees. We haven't gone through all suggestions but they mostly relate to reducing expenditure. Expenditure on diesel is much more than electricity," an official said. Notably, the Railways spends Rs.18,000 crore annually on purchase of diesel. Interestingly, a number of employees have admitted that the department's functioning was marred by rampant corruption but none of them suggested concrete measures to check the menace. Railway officials said that a detailed action plan will be chalked out after studying all suggestions, and a presentation will be given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PUBLIC RESPONSE In a similar exercise, the Railways had earlier sought public response on cutting down expenses and increasing revenue. They had suggested railways to stop giving concessions to railway employees and MPs and MLAs on train journeys, particularly after a significant hike in their salaries and perks as recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission. They suggested that freebies given by the Railways caused a big loss to the exchequer. Every year, the Railways incurs huge expenditure on subsidy and concessions. It offers 43 per cent subsidy on a single train journey to passengers. Data shows the Railways incurred an expenditure of Rs.34,000 crore on 'social service obligation' for 2015-16. Of this, Rs.1,600 crore was spent on myriad concessions on train travels. This is in addition to the free journeys permitted to certain sections. ALSO READ: Coming soon in India: Trains with glass top coaches! Railway authorities gears up to curb illegal trade between India and Pakistan --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Just a night before Dussehra, Dhanna Ram Dellu, 61, who was playing the character of Hanuman in Ramlila died in Bikaner, while bringing Sanjeevani. The actor died while performing on the stage. Dellu had been playing the character of Hanuman in Ramlila at Loonkaransar, Bikaner for four decades. On the night of October 10, as he readied to bring Sanjeevani, a herb that brings a dead Lakshman to life in the play and to perform this stunt, they used a rope to lift the hanuman in the air. Dellu slipped from the rope and fell from a height of almost 50 feet. A cut out of Ravana too was pulled down. The entire tragedy was caught on video camera. advertisement Also read: 4 Indian temples where Ravana is worshipped He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead. The tragedy left everyone shocked in the remote town where he had lot of fan following. At several places, locals cancelled Dussehra celebrations as a mark of respect to the actor who was cremated today. --- ENDS --- The Russian delegation met Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to discuss investment in the field of mines and minerals. By Rohit Parihar : A Russian delegation headed by Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation met Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today to discuss collaboration in mining and agriculture. Manturov led a high-level delegation comprising of senior government officials from Moscow, Tula region, the Khabarovsk territory, the Sverdlovsk region, and representative of Business Russia. The visit follows Raje's participation in the international industrial trade fair 'INNOPROM 2016', held in Russia earlier this year. advertisement "With increasing economic growth, the infrastructure requirements in Rajasthan are growing and Russia can help address this need. Russia can complement Rajasthan's efforts in strengthening the state's engineering industry, specifically in automotive, mines and minerals," said the chief minister. Also read: Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje for tourist friendly tiger park RUSSIAN COMPANIES INVITED Earlier in the day, the Russian business delegation attended the Russia-Rajasthan Business Forum event organised by government of Rajasthan and Confederation of Indian industry (CII) where Rajasthan Industries Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar too was present. Khimsar said, "We have robust opportunities for partnership in the field of defence, energy, science and technology and other areas. I take this opportunity to invite companies from Russia to partner with us in 'Make in Rajasthan' initiative of our able chief minister and establish manufacturing facilities in Rajasthan." Also read: A tragic end to this Ramayana: Artist dies while enacting Hanuman on stage in Rajasthan The Russian delegation also visited the Mahindra World City. It hosts around 65 Indian and global companies spread over 4,600 acres in Jaipur. --- ENDS --- Expelled AIADMK MP Sasikala Pushpa has written to the Tamil Nadu Governor stating she fears Chief Minister's Jayalalithaa's signature could be forged to name her deputy. By Pramod Madhav: Expelled AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa, in a letter to the Governor of Tamil Nadu, has said that she fears that someone close to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa might forge her signature to nominate a deputy in her absence. The letter comes at a time when Jayalalithaa's confidante Sasikala Natrajan is being widely projected as party's de facto in-charge even as Jayalalithaa continues to be in the hospital. advertisement FEAR OF FORGERY In her letter to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, the MP writes: "It is feared that some people around Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, now hospitalised, may forge her signature to nominate a deputy general secretary to AIADMK and to run the government also". ALSO READ: Tamil Nadu government lacks proper direction with Jayalalithaa still in hospital, says Karunanidhi Earlier speaking to mediapersons in New Delhi, she had demanded a CBI inquiry into the health condition of Jayalalithaa. "It should be found out that whether she fell sick naturally or was forced to become sick," Sasikala said. ATTEMPT TO GAIN POWER She had alleged that Sasikala Natarajan, in the name of Jayalalithaa, was "controlling all the officers in the state and trying to gain power within the party". ALSO READ: Jayalalithaa's health: Chennai Police arrest 2 for spreading rumours She had also accused state government officials of working under the influence of a certain party leader rather than the chief minister. Also read: Opinion: Everyone says Jayalalithaa is fine "Tamil Nadu is without a leader. We are like a child who lost its mother. People around the CM are trying to take advantage of this situation," she said. ALSO READ: Jayalalithaa's health improving, likely to be discharged soon, says Kerala Governor The expelled leader is facing heat over the sexual assault case filed against her and her husband and son on the complaint of her domestic help. ALSO READ: In absence of Jayalalithaa, DMK demands appointment of new CM ALSO READ: As Jayalalithaa remains in hospital, storm brews in Tamil Nadu's political cup --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Oct 11 (PTI) Shiv Sena workers allegedly disrupted a programme organised by BJP MP Kirit Somaiya in suburban Mulund wherein an "effigy of corruption" was to be burnt to mark the festival of Dussehra. Police, however, said workers of both the parties clashed at the venue. "Sena workers disrupted the program and forced us to end it. They also took away the effigy," a leader close to Somaiya alleged. advertisement Somaiya, who represents the Northeast Mumbai constituency, said he will continue his fight against the "mafia-raj and corruption in Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM)". The Shiv Sena, however, defended its workers, saying they prevented a "mischief". MCGM is ruled by the Sena-BJP alliance for the last 20 years and civic polls are scheduled early next year. Somaiya, a former Mumbai BJP chief, has aggressively targeted Sena and has repeatedly alleged that civic body was riddled with "mafia-raj and corruption". "Today, Somaiya was at the event to burn the effigy of Ravan, which was a symbol of prevailing corruption in MCGM led by Shiv Sena. But the Sena workers disrupted our programme," Prakash Gangadhare, a local BJP leader, said. Gangadhare alleged that the "Sena workers also manhandled women workers of their party who were objected to their hooliganism". He claimed that the BJP workers gave "a befitting reply to the Sainiks". Sena spokesperson Arvind Bhosale alleged, "From our point of view, Somaiya is himself a Ravan and therefore, he did not have any moral right to burn the effigy of Ravan because Ravan cannot burn himself." Defending the act by the Sena workers, Bhosale said, "In fact, our party workers prevented a mischief and the effigy of Ravan was burnt by the true followers of Ram." Bhosale also rejected BJPs charges that the workers manhandled women workers. "Shiv Sena has utmost respect for women. Our Sainiks kept distance from women," he claimed and alleged that Somaiya is "taking the shield of women to gain sympathy". Mumbai Police spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe said an offence will be registered in this regard at Navghar police station. PTI APM DC NRB KRK GVS BAS --- ENDS --- Addressing the party's annual Dusshera rally at Shivaji Park in Central Mumbai, Uddhav said the party never thought that someone with whom they have stayed for 25 years would backstab them. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: While praising PM Narendra Modi for the surgical strikes on one hand, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on the other hand dared the BJP to end the alliance for the BMC polls. Addressing the party's annual Dusshera rally at Shivaji Park in Central Mumbai, Uddhav also supported the demand for Maratha reservations. Uddhav lauded the army and the Centre for the Surgical strikes. "It was a "manly" strike... I personally called the PM and congratulated him for the strikes. I told him that it is this 'Narendra Bhai that we want... But don't just stop at surgical strikes, next time take such an action that not only PoK, but the entire Pakistan should be known as a part of India...," Uddhav said. advertisement ALSO READ | Uddhav Thackeray to blow BMC poll bugle at Shiv Sena's Dussehra rally 'WILL SHOW YOU WHAT SHIV SENA'S SURGICAL STRIKE IS' Daring the BJP to snap ties Uddhav said, "We were off guard during last Vidhan Sabha elections. We never thought that someone with whom we have stayed for 25 years would backstab us. I dare you to break alliance and then come on us. Then we will show you what Shiv Sena's surgical strike is". On the backdrop of the massive rallies by Maratha community, Uddhav supported the demand. ALSO READ | Stop humiliating Sena MLAs or they will resign: Uddhav Thackeray to BJP "Balasaheb always believed that reservations should be given on economic status and not on caste basis. Reservations to Maratha community must be given without touching the present reservation to others. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should show the same courage as shown by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to offer reservations beyond 50 per cent," Said Uddhav. Uddhav, however, differed from his cousin Raj Thackeray's stand on scrapping the Atrocities Act. "If the law is being misused then appropriate changes in atrocity law are must, but with everyone's consent," he said. ALSO READ | On Uddhav Thackeray's birthday, CM Fadnavis praises him as a 'true friend' --- ENDS --- By Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta: For Bengalis, Durga Pujo is homecoming. According to Hindu Mythology, Durga, the daughter of Menaka and Himalaya--the lord of mountains--returns to her parents' home every autumn and the mortals celebrate her homecoming with Durga Pujo. The goddess has a short five-day vacation to visit Mother Earth and is ready to go back to her own abode in Kailash by the fifth day. Bijoya Dashami, the fifth day of Durga pujo and tenth day of Navratri, is when you bid adieu to Ma Durga. advertisement While a large part of India celebrates Vijaya Dashami as a day symbolizing the victory of good over evil, for Bengalis Bijoya Dashami holds a melancholy note. Bengalis are emotional creatures and the Mother's going back to Kailash is not a day of joy and merriment for them, victory be darned. It is a day tinged with subtle sorrow. Well, it could be also because the day marks the end of five days of intense celebrations, adda and food. The Dashami rituals are primarily women centric and so my Mother and Aunts would be up since wee hours of morning, rolling perfect balls of narkel narus, and painstakingly molding sondesh, for Durga's farewell ritual. These were the sweets they offered the Goddess after smearing her head with sindoor, once the symbolic Bisarjan was over. Strangely, though our highest respect is for the female power, Shakti, women play only menial roles during the actual five days of Pujo. I have never seen a female priestess doing arati or the actual puja ceremony, women are mostly on the periphery. The only day they are allowed to touch the Goddess is after the Bisarjan on Dashami. Back home from the mandap on Dashami, we followed the age-old tradition of exchanging Bijoya greetings. You touch your elder's feet and seek their blessings, embrace your peers with a "kolakuli", bless the little ones and exchange greetings of 'Shubho Bijoya'. Picture courtesy: Instagram/mumbaikakhana It is after this that Bengalis do what they love most. Eat. In a Bengali home, sweets are synonymous with Bijoya Dashami as is visiting elderly relatives and paying respect on this day. You eat varieties of mishti and nimkis and naru's. You eat to forget the sorrow of Durga's as well as your vacation being over. You go across town to find far flung relatives and bond over still more sweets. I am never sure whether the mishti is offered to spike the sugar level and induce happiness or they are offered as a celebratory offering because Durga defeated Mahisasur. I have a hunch it is the former. advertisement Traditionally the sweets made at our home on this day were narkel narus with grated coconut and fragrant khejur gur, malpoas soaked in sugar syrup, crisp gojas flaked with crystallized sugar on the surface, and sondesh shaped like conch made with fresh homemade chhana. Roshogolla, Kheer Kodombo and ChomChoms were usually bought in big earthenware containers from the neighborhood mishtir dokan. By nightfall, all that sugar would have worked wonders for our spirit and we looked forward with hope to the next year when Ma Durga would be back again--"Asche bochor abar hobe". SONDESH The first Sondesh was introduced by Bhim Nag in 1826 but Nakur Chandra, Sen Mahashoy and Balram are some of the oldest and famous sondesh makers of Kolkata. Here is a version of norom paak (soft cooked) Sondesh that I make at home. Ingredients: 4 cups (1 litre) whole milk 2 tbsp (almost 1 lime) lime juice 1/8th cup (2 tbsp) sugar 1/8th cup (2 tbsp) khejur gur Note: Adjust the sugar and jaggery according to your taste. You can use no sugar and all jaggery too. Picture courtesy: Instagram/ankur.pride.leo Recipe: 1. To curdle the milk, bring it to boil. 2. When the milk is boiling, add lime juice and lower the heat. In seconds, you will see the milk curdle and clumps of white milk solids forming. 3. When you see the greenish water separating, take the milk off the heat. Let it sit for 30 seconds or so. 4. Now, line a colander with cheesecloth and drain the chhana/chenna/paneer. Next, lightly rinse the chhana with water to remove the lemony taste and let it drain. 5. After a few minutes, gather the ends of the cheesecloth to form a purse-like shape and squeeze out the remaining water from the chhana. 6. Put it on a flat plate and weigh it with a slightly heavier object and let it remain like that for the next hour. 7. Now, we have to knead the chhana. Knead the chhana with the heel of your palm for about 5 minutes. Add about 1/8th cup of fine sugar and knead for 4-5 more minutes until the sugar is totally mixed with the chhana. 8. Since the khejur gur is usually hard, we will microwave 1/8th cup of jaggery + 1 tsp of water for few seconds to soften it and then add it to the chhana. If your khejur gur is already soft, you don't need to microwave it. 9. Knead for 5 more minutes until your palm is oily with the fat from the chhana. About 15-18 minutes of kneading is good, at the end of which, chhana will look like a smooth ball of dough. 10. To add saffron to sondesh (optional), warm 2 tbsp milk in microwave and soak saffron strands in it. 11. Put a non-stick pan on low heat and add the kneaded, sweetened chhana. Add the saffron and milk. Stir and cook on low heat. Keep stirring with a spatula for next 10-15 minutes. The chhana should come together and will no longer stick to the pan by the end of it. 12. Take a small portion of the chhana and try rolling a ball. If you can make a smooth, firm ball, the chhana is ready! 13. Now, take out the warm chhana and immediately shape with moulds or just toss into balls. If you wait, it will harden, making it impossible for you to shape it. For further decoration you can warm few strands of saffron in drops of milk and dot each sondesh with the saffron or add bits of pistachio. advertisement Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta is an author, Bong Mom, and blogger for Bong Mom's Cookbook. advertisement --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Navya Naveli Nanda is quite the sensation among the online generation, who have seen her pictures flashed on multiple platforms with captions ranging from 'hot pictures of Navya in swimsuit' to 'Navya seen partying wild with friends'. Having a pretty face apart from being Amitabh Bachchan's granddaughter means she gets more than her fair share of attention. advertisement ALSO SEE: Navya Naveli aces the nerd look while partying with friends ALSO READ: Amitabh Bachchan's letter to Navya and Aaradhya is a must-read In an emotional letter, Shweta Nanda has demanded media personnels especially those who run gossip websites lay off her daughter Navya, and not invade her privacy. Here are excerpts of the letter which she wrote for a leading daily publication: "She is a teenager, and as most young teens are wont to do, she likes to dress up, hang out with her friends, pose for pictures and yes, go out to parties (she has a deadline and is always home well before it is over). If she finds herself on a beach, she will wear beach-appropriate attire - namely, a swimsuit - as would any young girl anywhere." "Websites with a keen interest in Bollywood and its goings-on, make fake identities (mostly in the names of her friends) and send requests to anyone following her and often to her as well. They then plunder the accounts of her friends and use their photos to post on their websites captioning them irresponsibly and disrespectfully, most of them stop short of objectifying and shaming her." "She doesn't have any particular interest in acting or pursuing a career in acting as of now. She is generous and kind and bright, but these attributes don't make fetching headlines! Do the adults who run these sites even know how invasive and inappropriate what they are doing, is? Do they even care? And would they like it if this happened to their children?" "You can well imagine what it would do to the self-esteem of a young, impressionable girl, who hasn't asked to be thrust into the spotlight in this way. She is somebody's child, a most treasured and beloved child. As a parent, I sit helpless. Unable to plug the flow of this filth that is distributed in the name of information and journalism, and all in the pursuit of hits and likes, leading to some kind of monetisation. In effect, they profit off pictures stolen from my daughter's life. If there is rock- bottom, this would be it." advertisement "I had decided that I was not going to fight this, I was going to let it be. She doesn't have to hide, she isn't doing anything wrong. Her parents and her family are absolutely okay with what she wears and does." Hopefully, the letter will fall on ears open to criticism, and will mend their ways in the future when they use private information pictures in the name of journalism. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Cong Amritsar, Oct 11 (PTI) Suspended Akali Dal MLA Inderbir Singh Bolaria and former district chief of the party Upkar Singh Sandhu today joined the Congress which said Navjot Singh Sidhu too was "welcome" to join hands with it. The two were inducted into the party by Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh in the presence of AICC secretary Harish Chaudhary, MLAs Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, OP Soni, Sukh Sarkaria and Raj Kumar Verka among others. advertisement Welcoming the former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders into the party, Amarinder said, "This is the beginning of the end for SAD." "The exodus from Akali Dal to Congress has just begun and it will keep happening till the election," he said, adding that there were several other leaders in touch with the party leadership who will join it "in the due course". Assembly polls are due in Punjab early next year and the Congress is eyeing to wrest power from the SAD-BJP combine. Amarinder said Bolaria joined the party "unconditionally" and added that the entire rank and file of the Congress in Amritsar welcomed the two into the party. Amarinder, who is also the Amritsar MP, said, Bolaria had a Congress background as his father had worked closely with him in the party before joining the Akali Dal. "It is rather a homecoming for Bolaria," he said. Two-time MLA from Amritsar South Bolaria had rebelled against the SAD as he was not in favour of a solid waste treatment project in his constituency. In April, the party had sacked him from the post of Chief Parliamentary Secretary (education) after he launched a protest against the project. Replying to a query about the possibility of former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu joining the Congress, Amarinder said, everyone was "welcome" to join the party "without any condition" and "whoever does so, would have to follow a certain discipline". He reiterated that Sidhus Awaaz-e-Punjab front was "welcome" to merge with the Congress but ruled out the possibility of an alliance with it. Amarinder condemned the alleged assault on Congress leaders and workers in Ludhiana "by the Akali goons". He said, the Congress workers had "every right" to put up effigies of Akali leaders for blasting as Ravan "as everyone believes the Badals (Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal) and (Bikram) Majithia to be the embodiment of the evil". "Not just Congress leaders, whole of Punjab believes them to be worse than Ravan and there is no harm if they are compared with him," he said. advertisement Replying to questions from reporters, Bolaria said, "The Akali Dal has been reduced to the family fiefdom of the Badals and Majithia." He claimed that the party will soon be "decimated" as its leaders and workers were feeling increasingly "disillusioned and alienated". PTI SUN RC --- ENDS --- By PTI: Washington, Oct 11 (PTI) A strong network of friends may be just as big a factor in acts of group violence as having a charismatic leader or a savvy battle plan, according to a new study. The findings may also apply to potentially violent activities associated with terrorism, revolutions and gangs, researchers said. Researchers at Yale University in the US studied the social dynamics of the Nyangatom, a nomadic tribal group in East Africa that is regularly involved in violent raids with other groups. advertisement They mapped the interpersonal connections among Nyangatom men over a three-year period, focusing on how those friendship networks affected the initiation of raids and participation in those raids. "Social interactions in networks are crucial for the emergence of positive phenomena, like cooperation and innovation, but they also play a role in other sorts of collective behaviour, like the seemingly spontaneous emergence of violence," said Nicholas Christakis, co-director of the Yale Institute for Network Science (YINS) and senior author of the study. "People go to war with their friends, and the social network properties of such violent activities have rarely been explored," Christakis added. The study found that the initiation of Nyangatom raids depended on the presence of leaders who had participated in many raids, had more friends and held central positions in the social network. However, membership in raiding parties depended on a population much larger than the leaders network of friends. Non-leaders, in fact, had a bigger impact on raid participation than leaders, by virtue of their own friendships. "Collective action doesnt get off the ground with just a charismatic leader attracting random followers," said Alexander Isakov, co-first author of the study and a postdoc at the Human Nature Lab at YINS. "People are driven to participate in the group predominantly due to friendship ties," said Isakov. A surprising aspect of the findings, according to the researchers, was the interplay between leadership and friendship in an environment without any formal hierarchy. The Nyangatom raiding groups are informal groups of peers, yet individuals played distinct roles that mirrored a formal leadership structure. "They have no formal political leaders or chiefs," said co-first author Luke Glowacki, a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in France. "The lack of political centralisation creates an opportunity to study the social dynamics of collective action in a way that is difficult in a state society such as our own. We wanted to know how, outside of formal leadership or institutions, real-world collective behaviour, including violence, is initiated," said Glowacki. advertisement The findings appear in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. PTI SAR SAR --- ENDS --- President Xi Jinping announced last year that the 2.3-million-member People's Liberation Army would cut 3,00,000 personnel but little has been said about the cost or where the surplus troops would go. Uniformed people take part in a protest outside the Bayi Building, a major Chinese military building in Beijing, China, on October 11, 2016. (Photo: Reuters/ Thomas Peter) By AP: More than 1,000 protesters walked and chanted in front of China's defence ministry today, the latest apparent demonstration by soldiers as the world's largest standing military modernises and downsizes. The protesters stood for several hours in front of the Bayi building in central Beijing, home of the Chinese Ministry of National Defence. Many wore green fatigues bearing the hammer-and-sickle logo of China's ruling Communist Party. advertisement The purpose of their demonstration was unclear. Protesters approached by The Associated Press declined to be interviewed, and censors blocked searches on social media about retired soldiers or the Chinese defence ministry. Hundreds of police and plainclothes security officers surrounded the protesters, hemming them in with buses and police vehicles. While Chinese authorities routinely suppress discussions about the military and soldiers' issues, one human-rights activist, Huang Qi, told the AP that veterans have staged more than 50 protests this year alone. However, demonstrations on such a large scale are extremely rare in the center of the heavily policed capital. MILITARY PENSION ROW Two demonstrators told AP they were veterans who wanted the government to address military pensions, but they didn't want to discuss the issue with foreign media. The protesters declined to give their names. Liu Feiyue, editor of the website Minsheng Guancha, which monitors civil rights issues, said he was told by retired soldiers that other ex-soldiers were present. Demonstrations on such a large scale are extremely rare in the center of the heavily policed Beijing. "They protested because they don't have a job now after serving a long period of time in the army, some for a dozen years," Liu said. "They are asking for employment." CHINA CUTTING 3,00,000 TROOPS China's armed forces are undergoing a large-scale modernisation to become a nimble organisation that can better handle conflicts at sea and in the air. Those measures have gained pace as China builds up its presence in the South China and East China Seas amid territorial disputes and as relations have soured with self-governing Taiwan - which China claims as its own territory to be unified with by force if necessary. President Xi Jinping announced last year that the 2.3-million-member People's Liberation Army would cut 3,00,000 personnel but little has been said about the cost or where the surplus troops would go. Veterans have staged sit-ins and protests for several years over low or absent pensions and an inability to find work outside the military. It wasn't clear if anyone had been arrested today. Local police did not respond to faxed questions, and no one answered the phone at the press office of the defence ministry. advertisement ALSO READ: India to play trade card with China ahead of BRICS summit --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Oct 11 (PTI) The Republican leadership appeared bitterly divided over the kind of relationship it should have with the partys presidential candidate Donald Trump after a series of audio and video tapes surfaced in which he made lewd and derogatory comments about women. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, however, strongly dispelled rumours that the party would disconnect itself with Trump in view of the Trump tapes. advertisement Priebus remarks came soon after powerful Speaker of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan virtually abandoned Trump. Ryan yesterday told lawmakers he will no longer "defend" or campaign with Trump and instead focus on maintaining his partys majority in Congress. In a private conference call with Republican leaders, Priebus said, "I want to make it very clear that the RNC is in full coordination with the Trump campaign, and we have a great relationship with them. If theres any takeaway from this call, thats the takeaway." "Nothing has changed in regard with our relationship and we remain very much involved and together in all levels of making these decisions with how to run this operation across this country," Priebus said. During another conference call, he told party leaders he will spend rest of his time in protecting the majority of his party in the House of Representatives. Texas Senator Ted Cruz said he is still backing Trump as he does not want his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to occupy the White House. "I am supporting the Republican nominee because I think Hillary Clinton is an absolute disaster," he said. One of the Trumps close supporter Newt Gingrich warned the party leadership of opposing the partys presidential nominee. "My only advice to Republican leaders is simple: In the end, you either help defeat Hillary Clinton or you help elect Hillary Clinton," he said in a Gingrich Facebook Live. "If she gets elected, she will be a nightmare, this will be the most corrupt and dishonest administration in American history, and you will find her even harder to work with than [President Barack] Obama, because she will simply smother you," Gingrich said. Former Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain who withdrew his endorsement of Trump over the weekend said he might "write in" Lindsey Graham for US President. "Its not pleasant for me to renounce nominee of my party. I have daughters," he said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the attendees at an election rally they should not ask him about the presidential race. advertisement "If you are interested in the presidential election, you might as well go ahead and leave because I dont have any observations to make about it," McConnell said. Trumps candidacy suffered a blow after a 2005 tape was released in which he made lewd and derogatory comments about women. PTI LKJ ABH --- ENDS --- Despite repeated attempts of forest officials at Van Vihar National Park, a four-year-old tiger refuses to mate with tigresses. By India Today Web Desk: A big cat's unusual behaviour has left the officials at Bhopal's Van Vihar National Park flummoxed. The tiger, in his prime, refuses to mate with the tigresses in the park. According to the report published by The Times of India, officials have tried pairing Bandhu with other tigresses but he has shied away every time. MEDICAL TEST TO DETECT THE PROBLEM advertisement Anxious officials are now planning to let the big cat undergo a medical check-up to find out why he is not keen on mating. ALSO READ: Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje for tourist friendly tiger park "If he is not physically fit for mating then he will be just for display," the paper quoted Van Vihar Director Atul Srivastava. REPEATED ATTEMPTS FAILED The four-year-old tiger, according to the forest officials, was first paired with a tigress called Gauri. Despite repeated attempts, Bandhu did not show any inclination towards mating. ALSO READ: Diwali and Dussehra superstitions spur demand for bird claws, tiger nails Then, they tried mating him with Riddhi, another tigress at the park. The officials are giving some time to Bandhu to see if he mates with her. KANHA BACK IN ACTION With Bandhu out of action, forest officials are left with Kanha, a relatively old tiger. Kanha, in the past, has fathered children who have been sent to different cities. "Though Kanha is a little old now, he has been successfully completing the process," the newspaper quoted the national park director. ALSO READ: Maharashtra wants CBI to look for missing tiger Jai ALSO READ: Big cat in danger: International poaching mafia gunning for India's tigers --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Sajjad Hussain Islamabad, Oct 11 (PTI) Pakistan today claimed that Turkey has reaffirmed its "traditional and strong support" on Kashmir and the need for "restraint" and use of peaceful means to resolve the issue. According to Foreign Office (FO) statement, on the first day of their visit to Turkey, Prime Ministers special Kashmir envoys Muhammad Pervez Malik and Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha met a cross-section of the Turkish parliamentary leadership, media, civil society and think-tanks. advertisement "Turkey has reaffirmed its traditional and strong support for the cause of the people of Jammu and Kashmir," the FO said. The envoys apprised them of the "gross and systematic violations of human rights" by the security forces in Jammu & Kashmir. The Special Envoys called on the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) Ismail Kahraman and briefed him in detail about the "atrocities being committed against the defenseless Kashmiri people" -- demanding their legitimate and inalienable right to self-determination, the statement said. "They highlighted that the death of the young Kashmiri leader, Burhan Wani, had re-ignited an intense phase of the popular uprising in Jammu and Kashmir," FO said. The envoys also briefed the speaker on the latest security situation in the region, including the "surgical strikes" on seven terror launch pads across the LoC. Speaker Ismail Kahraman reiterated support for Pakistan in its fight against terrorism and underlined that Pakistan and Turkey had always supported each other on their respective national causes, the Foreign Office said. "Turkey was concerned at the unresolved nature of the Kashmir dispute as it negatively impacted peace and stability in the region, besides undermining prospects for the well-being and development of its people. In the current phase, Turkey had called for restraint and use of peaceful means to resolve the Kashmir dispute," FO quoted the Turkish speaker as saying. He underlined the unique relationship between Pakistan and Turkey. He thanked Pakistan and its people for their strong support and solidarity for Turkey against the attempted coup of July 15, the Foreign Office said in the statement. PTI SH UZM AKJ UZM --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Oct 11 (PTI) Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray today lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the recent surgical strikes across the LoC even as he challenged its bickering ally BJP to snap the ruling alliance ahead of the crucial civic polls in Mumbai. "From BJP, anyone gets up and speaks of contesting polls independently. The Chief Minister should first decide who is the leader. Dont stab us in the back. Fight from the front. Contest separately if you have the courage," he told Shiv Senas 50th annual Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai. advertisement "Break the alliance and we will show you our surgical strike," Thackeray said, in an apparent reference to BJP MP Kirit Somaiyas recent remark that BJP was all set to contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, due early next year, independently. "Let anyone confront us in Mumbai civic polls. We will show them that Mumbai belongs to Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena belongs to Mumbai," he said. "Our bond with Mumbaikars is that of blood," he said, adding "We wont come after you (BJP) with a begging bowl." "For now you (Sena workers) dont think of alliance. We will take a decision on that, whatever that may be," he told the gathering. Stating that Modi fought with Pakistan like a man ("mard"), Thackeray congratulated the Indian Army and the prime minister for the surgical strikes. "After the strikes, I phoned Modi and told him, "Narendrabhai, this is the Narendrabhai we want as PM," he said. "Modi should now take such an action that not only PoK but entire Pakistan should be known as part of India," he said, adding "Our Army has that much capability." Condemning those who questioned the veracity of the strikes, Thackeray said, "Those who said the strikes were fake have rotten brains and water of gutters of Lahore and Karachi and not blood flows through their veins." "Did Rahul Gandhi learn of the khun ki dalali from Bofors (scam)," he asked. "How can you show mistrust on Army while criticising Modi," he said. "Those who show distrust for our brave soldiers may be offspring of Pakistan," he said. (More) PTI ND VT KRK ZMN --- ENDS --- The email gives an insight into the preparations done by the US for a successful visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Silicon Valley in 2015. By Press Trust of India: The latest batch of emails released by WikiLeaks from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta gives an insight into the planning done by the Obama administration to ensure a successful visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Silicon Valley in 2015. More than a month and half before Modi was to visit Silicon Valley in the last week of September, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal wrote an email to John Podesta, who had by then joined the Clinton campaign, seeking his advice and input on making the trip successful and also checking if former US president Bill Clinton can co-host a clean energy event with Modi at Stanford. advertisement In an email to Podesta dated August 12, Biswal said there is a lot of interest in the Indian government to focus on two themes for the Silicon Valley visit. Also read: China open to India's NSG bid, but opposes UN ban on Jaish chief Masood Azhar First is the digital economy, she wrote and added that here the focus will be a visit to Google and some announcements on Google's massive investments in India, she said. "The other focus is on clean energy. Here the Indians want to visit Tesla and hopefully announce a Tesla partnership/venture with India focusing on their battery storage system for solar energy," Biswal said. "The other major effort is around a clean energy roundtable with Stanford that commerce had been working on. It now seems (Commerce Secretary Penny) Pritzker cannot make it to California and the Indians are looking for some other USG (US government) principal to participate with industry, academia and government," she wrote. Also read: Lucknow welcomes Uri avengers, read hoardings on PM Modi's visit for Dussehra Mela today "Before I engage the WH (State Department) and State or DoE (Department of Energy), I wanted to see if you had thoughts on how we should approach this. The Indians have said that it would need to be a Cabinet rank principal to convene this with the PM (Prime Minister)," Biswal said. "We will of course see if Secretary (of State John) Kerry or Secretary (of Energy Earnest) Moniz can go to California that weekend but things are complicated by the (Chinese President) Xi (Jinpings) visit and the UNGA (UN General Assembly) schedule. Are there other options you would suggest we pursue?" she asked. "Another option would be to see if (California) Governor (Jerry) Brown or perhaps President Clinton would be interested in co-hosting/convening. Also, would you want to participate in the roundtable? Let me know if you have thoughts on this or want to discuss," Biswal wrote as per the email released by WikiLeaks yesterday. Also read: This girl is responsible for Donald Trump running for president and now, she feels terrible about it The State Department has not authenticated the email. advertisement --- ENDS --- Curating information literacy stories from around the world since 2005 Zeitung in der Schule (ZiS News at School), an initiative founded by the Austrian Newspaper Association (VOZ), has been honoured as a Center of Youth Engagement Excellence by WAN-IFRA, for its innovative News in Education programs that have reached more than 1 million students in the past decade. Our Center of Youth Engagement Excellence designation honours initiatives that have a deep, long-term commitment and devote resources to news literacy and youth engagement, said Vincent Peyregne, CEO of WAN-IFRA. "ZiS has been running since 1995 and in 2016 alone has involved more than 100,000 students." Nadja Vaskovich, CEO of ZiS noted that although Austria is among the richest countries in the world, one in five Austrian teenagers cannot properly understand, use and reflect on written texts according to the latest OECD PISA results, Therefore, ZiSs efforts are more important than ever concerning not only the faith of the newspaper industry, but the future of the country. Gerald Grunberger, CEO of VOZ, concurred, pointing out that ZiS is Austrias largest private initiative enhancing media and reading literacy of children and young people on a national level. The programme is supported by almost all of the countrys print media and promotes our democracy. ZiS has developed a variety of different projects. For example, all Austrian schools are encouraged to participate in ZiSs Newspaper Project and to order free newspapers for four weeks. Hence, the Austrian newspaper publishers reach about ten percent of all the Austrian pupils throughout all grades and all kinds of schools. ZiS also offers trainings for teachers and student teachers on how to use newspapers and journals in class in the context of media literacy. Journalists give them insights on how newspapers work from September to June 2016 ZiS trained nearly 500 teachers and students. Austrias ZiS is the 16th initiative to be designated a Center of Youth Engagement Excellence. The others include: the Newspaper Association of Americas American Press Institute, Asociacion Nacional de la Prensa (ADP) in Chile, Danske Medier in Denmark, the Finnish Newspapers Association, the Hungarian Publishers Association, the Serikat Penerbit Suratkabar Pusat (SPS) in Indonesia, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening in Norway, NDP Nieuwsmedia in the Netherlands, SPQR, SPQN and ARPEJ in France, Associacao Nacional de Jornais in Brazil, Bundesverband Deutscher Zeitungsverleger in Germany, Nihon Shinbun Kyokai in Japan, Andiarios in Colombia, Lapresse.be (Journaux Francophone Belges), and the Korean Association of Newspapers. Details about all the centers can be found here. The induction took place at the 2016 News Publishing Expo in Vienna and was followed by the 2016 WAN-IFRA Youth Engagement and News Literacy Committee Briefing this week in Vienna, hosted and supported by the ZIS and the Austrian Newspaper Association. The professional focus of the Vienna meeting was the latest challenges related to digital news content and sharing best practises related to news in education, media literacy and a better understanding of media. storing an extract of a protected work comprising 11 words and printing out that extract, is such as to come within the concept of reproduction in part within the meaning of Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC ..., if the elements thus reproduced are the expression of the intellectual creation of their author". The CJEU ended up saying that merely " [October 10, 2016] Top 6 Vendors in the Global Data Protection as a Service Market From 2016 to 2020: Technavio Technavio has announced the top six leading vendors in their recent global data protection as a service (DPaaS) market report. This research report also lists 27 other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period. Many countries in APAC such as Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, and Singapore are focusing on cloud-based backup and disaster recovery services to develop tactical plans to safeguard IT systems from breakdown and to achieve cost advantages. On May 17, 2016, Acronis, a leading DPaaS provider, achieved 200% year-over-year growth for Acronis Backup Cloud in APAC. The growth was because of the increase in man-made and natural disasters, increase in data volumes, and cyber threats such as ransomware. Competitive vendor landscape There is an increased need for better data storage solutions across various industries in countries such as the UK and the US. Due to intense market competition, firms provide advanced services to their clients to have a competitive edge and to focus more on their core competencies. With the rise in data volume among business enterprises, the demand for protection of data stored in the cloud will increase during the forecast period. "Large vendors are adopting the M&A strategy to improve their market presence and expand their geographical reach. Through acquisitions, large companies can acquire advanced technologies and obtain more opportunities to enter new markets," says Ishmeet Kaur, a lead enterprise application analyst from Technavio. New players are entering the market, and the consolidation of small players with large players is shaping the vendor landscape. The competition in the market is intense as vendors are trying to sustain in the market by improving their delivery models using technology. As many vendors are seeking to gain market share, more acquisitions will occur during the forecast period. Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=53259 Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Top six DPaaS market vendors Amazon.com (News - Alert) Amazon.com is an American ecommerce and cloud computing company. Amazon.com offers products and services for various segments such as retail goods, consumer electronics, digital content, and games. Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) is a subsidiary of Amazon.com and a leading coud service provider that offers IT infrastructure services to large enterprises and SMEs worldwide. Amazon Web Services offers cloud computing solutions that provide developers with a flexible, scalable, deployable, low-cost method of delivering their applications. Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) provides secure, highly scalable, and durable object storage with web service interface to store and retrieve data on the web. It uses a web service interface to store and retrieve data from anywhere over the internet. HP HP is one of the leading global providers of IT products, software, technologies, services, and solutions. Since 2015, HP Inc. and HP Enterprise are two successors of HP. HP Inc. retains HP's personal computers and printer business. HPE Data Protector is an adaptive backup and recovery software solution that provides cost-effective and reliable protection of information. In 2015, globally, more than 45,000 customers used the HPE backup and recovery software solution to solve enterprise backup challenges such as high cost and latency. IBM (News - Alert) IBM is one of the major vendors in the global big data services market such as big data analytics in the cloud. The company provides various types of consulting, hardware, software, and infrastructure services. Its offerings find applications in sectors such as customer products; aerospace and defense; banking, financial services, and insurance; and electronics. The company has expertise in disaster recovery, work area recovery, business continuity, and recovery planning for more than 50 years. A comprehensive portfolio of disaster recovery services allows the company to provide cost-effective solutions that meet modern-day business and regulatory needs. Its solutions are highly customizable and enable the recovery of data up to the point of failure. Veritas Technologies In 2005, Veritas Technologies was merged with Symantec (News - Alert), but it was separated in January 2016. Veritas Technologies includes storage management software and office backup software. The company is one of the prominent vendors in the backup and recovery market. Its NetBackup platform caters to virtual machines. In addition, it offers solutions as a multi-tenant model, with a self-service option that will help deploy and deliver BaaS to internal users and external customers. Commvault It is a leading global provider of enterprise recovery and backup services. It provides storage and backup services for customer's applications, endpoints, files, and virtual machines with maximum efficiency depending on information type and recovery profile. It optimizes storage with deduplication and recovers information easily and quickly based on the customer's needs. It also leverages reports for customers to improve recovery and backup processes. The company provides data protection and data management software that focuses on mid-range and enterprises-level environments. EMC (News - Alert) Dell announced to acquire EMC in October 2015 to evolve Dell business areas such as personal computer, enterprise server, and mobile business with EMC's enterprise storage business. EMC was established in 1979 and is headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, US. The company offers virtual infrastructure technologies, information infrastructure, solutions, and services. It also provides security solutions, enterprise software, and cloud solutions, which include the EMC Documentum portfolio that offers information and content management. Browse Related Reports: Global Anything-as-a-Service Market 2016-2020 Global Data-as-a-Service Market 2016-2020 Global IT Security-as-a-Service Market 2016-2020 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161010005352/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 10, 2016] Fitch: Mylan's EpiPen Settlement Moves Major Risk Aside Mylan's $465 million settlement of claims it had misclassified its EpiPen injector allays the otherwise significant risk of rebate recoup payments to Medicaid agencies related to the recent EpiPen scrutiny, according to Fitch Ratings. The firm remains subject to other government-related investigations, however. Mylan announced last week a settlement with the federal government to "resolve questions that have been raised about the classification of EpiPen ... for purposes of the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program," according to a Mylan statement. Mylan had been accused of misclassifying EpiPen as a non-innovator multiple-source (or generic) drug, rather than as a branded drug, for the purpose of paying rebates to Medicaid. Pharmaceutical firms are required to pay a 13% rebate for generic drug sales paid for by Medicaid agencies, compared to 23% for branded products. The announcement brings a greater degree of certainty, and more quickly, than Fitch expected. Mylan will have sufficient liquidity to make the settlement payment without derailing expected de-leveraging subsequent to its mostly debt-funded acquisition of Meda. Still developing, however, is the impact of Mylan's pending launch of its own authorized generic version of EpiPen. Fitch maintains our view that there will not be significant changes to the underlying economics for Mylan following the launch of its own authorized generic. Mylan will remain the sole source for EpiPen - whether branded or generic - and will not be subject to any incremental direct outside competition. Therefore, pricing negotiations with private third-party payers shouldn't change much, and demand is not expected to shift in any significant manner to the few competing therapies available. That said, Medicaid pricing for Mylan's soon-to-be-launched authorized generic EpiPen is unknown. We expect the average manufacturer price (AMP) will be lower than pricing currently employed, but probably not drastically. Mylan has disclosed that approximately 20% of EpiPen sales are paid by state Medicaid agencies. For branded sales in the remainder of 2016 or those that remain after the authorized generic launch, we expect a modest incremental reduction in profitability due to higher rebates paid to un-/under-insured consumers and to Medicaid. Some workdown of inventory in advance of the generic launch on the part of distributors and/or pharmacies may also impact sales recognized by Mylan. Most of this impact will be realized in third-quarter 2016, as reflected in the company's 2016 guidance revision. The launch of an additional generic competitor poses the greatest threat to EpiPen's profitability in the medium term. We note that the FDA may be under pressure to approve another generic version as soon as possible, which could aid Teva Pharmaceuticals or other generic firms in bringing new generic version to market. Teva's application for an epinephrine injector was rejected by the FDA in February 2016 citing "major deficiencies." Consequently, Fitch does not anticipate meaningful outside direct competition before second-half 2017 at the earliest. Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com. The above article originally appeared as a post on the Fitch Wire credit market commentary page. The original article, which may include hyperlinks to companies and current ratings, can be accessed at www.fitchratings.com. All opinions expressed are those of Fitch Ratings. ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. 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Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161010006048/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] VirtDB Data Unfolder Lite, the First FREE Data Manager for SAP BUDAPEST, Hungary, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- VirtDB Inc. a central-eastern European data management startup released the beta version of Data Unfolder Lite enabling SAP (R/3) users to analyze their operational ERP data in business intelligence tools, like Tableau, QlikView or TIBCO Spotfire. Until now analysis required costly preparations, planning and heavy corporate IT resource consumption to extract, transform and load (ETL) relevant SAP data first. VirtDB makes SAP data analytics quick and affordable by changing the ETL process into a single-click user action. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/426796 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/426797 Data Unfolder Lite uses the operating system's clipboard to obtain data from SAP, it does not require any components to be installed on SAP Application Server. "We have done many business intelligence projects where the time spent on load-SAP-data-from-here-to-there efforts were 40-50% in total. Companies pay big bucks for this," Peter Csillag, VirtDB's CEO said. "I liked to e paid well for handcrafting ETL processes on SAP data, but to be honest, it had no added value for customers most of the time. It just killed their productivity by hindering iterations on the data, laming the agility in analytics projects," he added. Data Unfolder Lite's first version is targeted for personal use and fast prototyping of BI content. VirtDB has an enterprise grade SAP data management product as well, called Data Unfolder, providing additional features and scalability. Both versions enable end-users to build data transfers from SAP to their own choice of business intelligence and big data systems without IT help. "We have released a free version of our SAP data management tool to evangelize the market. FREE, AGILE and SAP words are not common in the same sentence this is what we want to change," explained Tamas Holics, CTO of VirtDB. "We will always have a free version to provide value to entry level clients as well." For more information, visit https://virtdb.com or check out the Youtube channel. About VirtDB VirtDB Inc. is a software technology startup developing new generation data access solutions. VirtDB wants to connect legacy and new, personal and enterprise, on-premise and cloud data storages to make all data easy to utilize. VirtDB Inc. is a spin-off of Starschema Ltd, a successful big data and business intelligence service provider company. VirtDB received a seed investment from CKTA, a Hungarian VC fund. Contact Information: Peter Csillag VirtDB Inc. Email T: (+36) 20 4434 605 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/virtdb-data-unfolder-lite-the-first-free-data-manager-for-sap-300341836.html SOURCE VirtDB Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Cassia Networks Raises $10.27M Series B Co-Led by IDG-Accel and Everest Capital to Further Enterprise Solutions Offerings NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cassia Networks (www.cassianetworks.com), maker of the world's first Bluetooth router, is announcing today at the Bluetooth SIG Discover Blue Conference that it has secured $10.27 million in Series B funding co-led by IDG-Accel and Everest Capital, with participation from China Rock, Social Starts, GCP Venture, Z-park Capital, TEEC Angel, and SumaVision USA. This investment brings the company's total funding to over $13 million. Cassia Networks, which first gained recognition for its Best of CES product, Cassia Hub, the world's first long range Bluetooth router, will use the funds to scale operations and support its emerging enterprise solutions offering for a variety of applications including audio, medical & health, senior safety, education, fitness & sports, and other industrial applications. In addition to new funding, Cassia Networks is unveiling a groundbreaking, new, patent-pending feature, "Cassia BlueStream," which lets users set up their own multi-room Bluetooth speaker system using any Bluetooth speakers and the Cassia Hub. The new feature doesn't require any change in user behavior and lets users stream music from any app Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, etc. to multiple speakers simultaneously by simply connecting to the Cassi Hub as if it were a Bluetooth speaker. Users can also BlueStream audio from any Bluetooth audio source including smartphones, tablets, computers, Amazon Echo and more. "We believe Cassia Networks' improvements in Bluetooth are a game changer and laying the groundwork for the new future of IoT applications," said Maria Zhang, Investment Partner, IDG-Accel. "We are excited by the business opportunities presented by Cassia as their innovation will have far reaching effects on a variety of industries including everything from medicine to sports, connected home and more." "Cassia Network's technology enables an entirely new category of IoT applications via Bluetooth that were previously not possible," said Jing Wang, Everest Capital founder. "We are confident that Cassia Networks has the best team and collective experience to bring the vision of Bluetooth as a universal wireless protocol to fruition." "At Cassia, we're partnering with innovative companies aiming to develop emerging new applications for Bluetooth," said Felix Zhao, CEO of Cassia Networks. "We've received hundreds of inquiries about implementing our hubs in a variety of enterprise settings and industries and we're excited about the opportunity Bluetooth has to play in the growth of the Internet of Things." The Cassia Hub with BlueStream is available for purchase from the Cassia Networks website for $149.99. Previous Cassia Hub owners can get the BlueStream feature through a firmware update. Visit www.cassianetworks.com for more information. About Cassia Cassia Networks was founded in 2014 with a mission to liberate Bluetooth and make it the universal wireless protocol of choice for the next generation of IoT applications. The company's first product, the Cassia Hub, won Best of CES 2016 in the Connected Home category for being the world's first Bluetooth router and enabling long distance and remote control of up to 22 Bluetooth devices without requiring any changes to the Bluetooth end devices. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley and Beijing, Cassia Networks is made up of a group of talented individuals from some of the top internet and communications companies like Google, Cisco, Tencent, Aruba, Roku, and Facebook. Media Contact Cristina Dunning Spark for Cassia Phone: (503) 507-4758 Email: [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/426944 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/427029LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cassia-networks-raises-1027m-series-b-co-led-by-idg-accel-and-everest-capital-to-further-enterprise-solutions-offerings-300342178.html SOURCE Cassia Networks [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Core Informatics Introduces OData API for Platform for Science New Standards-Based API Eases Lab Informatics Integrations BRANFORD, Connecticut, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Core Informatics today introduced a new API (application programming interface) leveraging the Open Data Protocol (OData) standard for RESTful web-services. The new API is available as part of Core Connect, Core's software integration product, in version 5.2 of Core's Platform for Science. The API turns the Platform for Science into a producer of OData, making it easier for users to build integrations. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150615/223236LOGO Core's OData API was built to meet the needs of developers and end users in scientific industries who need to integrate data across a variety of proprietary databases, programming languages, and applications. The OData API enables out of the box use of powerful integration tools and enterprise service bus (ESB) middleware such as Mulesoft, Informatica, and Dell Boomi. Development time and costs are lowered by leveraging the many OData libraries available in multiple development languages including Java, .NET, JavaScript, and others. For example, PowerQuery, a popular plugin for Micrsoft Excel, can consume data from an OData API to render 'live' workbooks from a user's centralized data stored in the Platform for Science. In this example, scientists developing cellular therapy processes will be able to analyze sequencing metrics without the need to export any data from PFS or other tools, saving time and eliminating data transformation errors. Core Informatics is the first LIMS provider offering an OData compliant API to its customers. The OData API effectively unlocks data within the Platform for Science to be consumed by other OData services, improving interoperability and easing integration for Core Informatics' customers. The OData API extends Core's position as the leading lab informatics platform for integration, adding to Core's already best in class JSON web service. "Using traditional proprietary APIs can be work intensive, due to the time needed to learn and understand how to code against the API. Adopting APIs that adhere to an open and modern standard such as OData eases this burden," said John Stalker, Product Manager for the Platform for Science. "Users of Core's new OData API can leverage IT resources (not software engineers) to easily connect their systems with other tools that speak OData via simple configurations using consumer driven integration tools such as Zapier or ESBs no custom coding required!" Core Informatics will present an in-depth discussion on the OData API during the November 15th webinar, "REST Easy with OData A practical introduction to a new web-service API in the Platform for Science." The announcement was made during Core Informatics' fifth annual user group meeting, Launch2016. About Core Informatics Core Informatics is a leader in lab informatics, providing cloud-based scientific data management. Core Informatics partners with customers across the globe to build solutions to derive more value and insight from their data. Founded in 2005, Core Informatics supports customers worldwide from its offices in Branford, CT; Cambridge, MA; San Diego, CA; and London, England. For more information, visit CoreInformatics.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Fuze Reimagines User Experience for Business Communications Fuze, the leading UCaaS solution for the modern enterprise, today released a new user interface that brings together voice, video, and messaging into a single, unique app, reimagining how people interact in the workplace and redefining unified communications (UC). The new user interface features a best-of-breed, enterprise-grade platform supported by a high degree of quality, reliability, security, and analytics demanded by today's businesses. According to Gartner, many employee-facing applications deliver a poor user experience (UX) when compared to consumer applications, resulting in employee dissatisfaction and reduced application ROI. To make matters worse, IT often can't improve the UX of the worst applications, because they were bought from vendors with weak UX design and the resulting applications can't easily be changed.* In a recent Fuze survey of over 1,000 U.S. workers, 73 percent believe workplace technology needs to catch up to match what they use in their daily lives as consumers. With the new reimagined experience from Fuze, beta customers showed high adoption and engagement rates with 80 percent of testers regularly using the app over the course of several months. "The traditional approach to designing business software is to ask people what they want and try to engineer a product to fit that request. With our redesign, we took a consumer-inspired approach to UX, observing individual behavior in a personal setting and then optimizing the experience based on that user behavior," said Steve Kokinos, CEO, Fuze. "On average, people use four-to-six communication apps at work daily. The result is a disconnected experience with overlap in services that creates redundancy and confusion. For the business, this results in poor user adoption, a lack of control, and excess cost associated with multiple overlapping technologies," continued Kokinos. More than half of the traditional UC market cites issues with deployment, delaying time-to-value. Fuze has partnered with customers to design and implement a solution that fits the unique characteristics of their environment. With Fuze, employees only need to install and learn one user experience across all channels for both iternal and external communications, avoiding the need for extensive training in the short term and enabling unfettered access to collaboration tools in a single place in the long term. CIOs and technology leaders can rest assured that they have selected a platform that streamlines solutions, increases capabilities and productivity, and enables greater value for the customer and their employees. "For us it is all about user experience. If the product isn't usable, our employees won't use it. They'll find something else that meets their needs and their standards," said Andy Yates, IT Business Partner, ThoughtWorks, a Fuze customer with over 2,000 active users participating in over one million minutes in meetings per month. "But this introduces complexity, and opens up security issues. Perhaps counterintuitively, removing choice improves the user experience. We chose Fuze because it covered more of our use cases with better quality and better usability, and most of all because of our strong partnership, which meant our feedback found its way back into the product. Add to that a common experience as you transition from mobile to desk to meeting room, where you don't need to think about switching tools and, well, that's all the more lovely." "With the modern, global workplace being increasingly disconnected due to differences in systems, time, and location, the need for effective unified communications and collaboration is greater than ever," said Jim Lundy, Principal Analyst, Aragon Research. "The convergence of enterprise communications including voice, video, and messaging has given companies the flexibility to support the future of collaboration with the promise of truly unified communications." "Too many organizations look for excuses for not implementing any form of a UX design process; however, these excuses are most likely a result of limited understanding of the UX design process in action," said Keith Johnson, Chief Product Officer, Fuze. "Fuze provides the highest quality global video and audio in the industry while doing so on a proven enterprise-grade cloud platform ensuring uptime, security, and analytics that enable users to communicate and collaborate seamlessly, 24/7." Experience the new Reimagined UX and for more information, learn why work is finally working. For a closer look, view the media kit. To view use cases referenced in this release and more, visit: https://fuze.com/customers. About Fuze Fuze is a global, cloud-based unified communications platform that empowers productivity and delivers insights across the enterprise by enabling simplified business voice communications, flexible video conferencing, and always-on collaboration. Formerly ThinkingPhones, Fuze allows the modern, mobile workforce to seamlessly communicate anytime, anywhere, across any device. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, Fuze has additional locations including New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Ottawa, London, Amsterdam, Aveiro (Portugal), Madrid, Paris, Munich, Zurich, Copenhagen, and Sydney. For more information, visit www.fuze.com. Citations *Gartner (News - Alert) CIOs Must Push Vendors to Get Serious About UX Design - Here's How to Do It, Brian Prentice, 30 November 2015 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005999/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 11, 2016] Cirrus Data Solutions and Align Partner to Simplify and Accelerate Transition to New Data Center Solutions Cirrus Data Solutions, a leader in data migration, data acceleration, and data protection, and Align, the premier global provider of IT infrastructure solutions, today announced an agreement to deliver world-class data center solutions to their customers in the United States. Specifically, the Cirrus Data Solutions Data Migration Server (DMS) and Data Caching Server (DCS) are now available as part of the Align Data Center Solution. Through this strategic partnership, Align and Cirrus Data plan to deliver clients comprehensive data center solutions that meet next-generation technology requirements. The Cirrus Data Solution DMS accelerates, automates, and simplifies the block level migration of data from fibre channel storage area networks (SANs) to any new storage destinations. Furthermore, the latest version of the DMS provides the easiest, fastest way to move data without disruption: simply plug it into the network and begin moving source data to new destination storage in minutes. "Our customers are continually challenged by the explosion of data from online transactions, growing mobility, and the Internet of Things," said Jim Johnson, Director of IT Services Align. "We require technology that provides our customers with a path to the future, fast. CDS is the only block-level storage that enables enterprises to migrate the data and storage workloads with no application downtime required." Align is the premier global provider of technology infrastructure slutions, specializing in strategy, design, deployment, ongoing support, optimization and transformation of technology infrastructure. Since 1986, the world's leading firms have relied on Align to guide them through IT challenges and deliver complete solutions for business change and growth. With headquarters in New York City and offices in London, Chicago, San Francisco, Arizona, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, Align supports clients of any size, location or industry. "Cirrus Data Solution offers a truly unique approach to storage migration," said Ron Croce, Vice President Worldwide Sales of Cirrus Data. "The latest version of the DMS unlocked these benefits for channel partners worldwide. We're excited to partner with Align as they are now able to deliver a highly affordable, flexible, and easy-to-use migration solution that businesses can take advantage of without delays or downtime." Align and CDS will demonstrate how together they are redefining data center modernization at the DELL EMC (News - Alert) Forum New York City on October 13, 2016. For more information or to register for this free one-day event, visit: http://www.emc.com/campaign/global/forum/new-york.htm About Cirrus Data Cirrus Data Solutions, Inc. (CDS) is leading provider of next-generation solutions for data migration, data acceleration, and data protection. The company distributes its solutions through systems integrators, managed services providers, channel resellers, and partners including IBM, Datalink, Fujitsu (News - Alert), ePlus, SHI, Mainline, Sirius, WWT and others. CDS is headquartered in Syosset, New York, with sales and support offices worldwide. About Align Align is the premier global provider of technology infrastructure solutions specializing, in strategy, design, deployment, ongoing support, optimization and transformation of technology infrastructure. Since 1986, the world's leading firms have relied on Align to guide them through IT challenges and deliver complete solutions for business change and growth. With headquarters in New York City and offices in London, Chicago, San Francisco, Arizona, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, Align supports clients of any size, location or industry. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006267/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] STRASBURG -- The Concordia University Chicago Concert Choir, Kapelle, will perform in Strasburg on Saturday while on its annual fall concert tour. The Kapelle is conducted by Dr. Charles P. Brown, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities at Concordia University Chicago. The choir will perform at St. Pauls Lutheran Church, 511 S. Walnut at 6:30 p.m. Kapelle is the premier choral ensemble of the university. Chosen by audition, the choir prepares a variety of music for local and national audiences. At Christmas, Kapelle presents a Service of Lessons and Carols and an annual spring 10-day tour takes Kapelle to a variety of regions in the United States. Additionally, Kapelle embarks on an international tour every four years and has performed in European and South American countries including Finland, France, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Chile and Argentina. The ensemble most recently performed a concert tour in France in 2011 and toured to Poland in 2015. In addition to touring opportunities, Kapelle has produced 12 recordings. The concert program will center on music in respect to the theme, Hymns of The Reformation, which will include a variety of pieces programmed for wide audience appeal. Admission is free; however, a free will offering will be received. For more information, contact Lisa Rincker at 217-644-2661. Concordia University Chicago is a distinctive, comprehensive university of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, centered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and based in the liberal arts. Concordia University's goal is to equip men and women to serve and lead with integrity, creativity, competence, and compassion in a diverse, interconnected, and, increasingly urbanized church and world. CHARLESTON -- The Coles County Public Health Department (CCHD) will be offering a walk-in Flu Shot Clinic at the LifeSpan Center on Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. to noon. The cost of the vaccine is $45 for adults 65 and older and $35 for ages 6 months to 64 years. The Coles County Health Department has been preparing for this upcoming flu season. They would like to inform you of the influenza vaccinations that will be offered by the CCHD at the upcoming clinic this year. The CCHD will offer a quadrivalent vaccine for individuals six months through 64 years of age. The quadrivalent vaccine will protect against four strains of influenza (two Influenza A strains and two Influenza B strains). This will enable them to offer the most protection possible to the individuals receiving the influenza vaccine this coming season. A high-dose influenza vaccine for individuals 65 years of age and older will also be an option -- in limited quantities. The high-dose vaccine offers the best protection to this age group due to the immune system decreasing its ability to respond to the regular vaccine as people age. The high-dose vaccine offers advanced levels of antigen so that the individual will have a higher immune response -- and the best protection available for this age group against the influenza virus. Please bring your insurance/Medicare/Medicaid card with you. CCHD will take care of billing Medicare or the following insurance companies: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Coventry, and Health Alliance. Payment will be necessary at the time of the vaccination. Acceptable forms of payment include cash, check, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover cards. Individuals receiving the influenza vaccine for the first time will be asked to stay approximately 15 minutes after receiving it in order for the CCHD staff to observe and evaluate any unexpected reaction. The Coles County Health Department and Coles County Council on Aging look forward to helping our community be prepared and protected against this up-coming flu season. Support the CCHD by getting your flu shot at your LifeSpan Center. Your support helps them continue to offer all of their services to the community. For more information, contact Sherri Pforr, programming/public relations director, LifeSpan Center, Coles County Council on Aging, Inc., at 217-639-5150. 'Spy Games' Murder Mystery Dinner Theater a success The magic lies in the interaction that occurs in a room full of people who began the evening as strangers, but go home as friends! The Coles County Council on Aging thanks area sponsors, contributors, and participants for their generous support of the fall 2016 Spy Games Murder Mystery Dinner Theater, held Friday, Sept. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 1, at your LifeSpan Center. Hilltop Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation served as major sponsor of the event -- joined by Koerner Distributor, Inc. We would also like to give special thanks to Howell Asphalt for the use of their lighted sign, and the Coles County Airport for allowing the sign on their property. The CHS Speech & Drama Team, led by Tina Winings, assisted as servers, staff and cleanup crew each night. Richard G. Jones, Jr. and Rachel Z. Fisher served as actors for the event and Scott Brooks offered his skills as sound technician -- with Central Illinois Stage Company (CISCo). Both evenings included a delicious three-course meal, complete with appetizer and dessert provided by Saathoffs Catering, and adult beverages, served by Gateway Liquors. Attendees were also given the chance to interact with the actors, and help solve the case. Loads of fun for all! The Coles County Council on Aging mission is to enhance the quality of life for older adults and their families -- and people of all ages and abilities -- through programs and services that address the needs of this growing segment of our population. Events such as the dinner theaters raise funds critical to program operations. One hundred percent of the proceeds go to serve people in Coles County. We invite you to learn more about the Coles County Council on Aging and explore our programs to learn what were doing in your community! -- Sherri Pforr, MATTOON -- Lake Land College has lent its support to efforts to expand the Effingham Enterprise Zone to include Teutopolis. On Monday, the Lake Land College Board of Trustees authorized the college district's continued participation in property tax abatement for this enterprise zone in Effingham County. The board also heard proposals regarding a new enterprise zone in Shelbyville and an existing one in Fayette County. The City of Effingham and Effingham County partnered to establish their enterprise zone in 1988 to offer incentives for commercial and industrial development, including temporary abatement on property taxes for new construction and building rehabilitation projects. Now, the Village of Teutopolis seeks to join the Effingham Enterprise Zone. The participating local governments plan to jointly apply to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to expand this zone. Regarding Shelbyville, Mayor Jeff Johnson presented a proposal for the college district to take part in a new 15-year Shelbyville Enterprise Zone. The proposal calls for the district to temporarily abate property taxes for new commercial, residential subdivision, and industrial development in this zone. Johnson said enterprise zones are among the few tools that Illinois municipalities can use to promote economic development. If the state approves the Shelbyville Enterprise Zone, he said, local officials will actively highlight these incentives as part of their marketing efforts for the community. "We can grow. We have the potential," Johnson said. "We see a bright future for Shelbyville and the Lake Shelbyville area." Lake Land Trustee Ann Deters of Effingham said enterprise zones are a way to attract businesses to a community -- businesses that generate property tax revenue for local infrastructure and schools. "It really would be an economic development engine for the community," said Lake Land President Josh Bullock. Regarding Fayette County, the board heard a proposal for a 15-year enterprise zone extension from economic development planner Luke Eastin of the South Central Illinois Regional Planning & Development Commission. This zone covers the villages of Brownstown and Ramsey, and the City of St. Elmo. The Lake Land board is scheduled at its Nov. 14 meeting to vote on the Shelbyville and Fayette County enterprise zone proposals. Other actions taken by the board on Monday included: Accepting a $10,000 Dual Credit Enhancement Grant and a $5,000 Career Pathways Enhancement Grant from the Illinois Community College Board, plus a $15,348 safety grant from the Illinois Public Risk Fund. Hiring Laura Paruleski of Shumway as a nursing instructor, effective Jan. 9. MATTOON -- The Lake Land College Board of Trustees voted Monday evening to not increase tuition and fees for spring semester 2017. In addition, the board heard that the enrollment of area high school students in Lake Land dual credit classes has increased by 8.9 percent, or 84 students, from 943 students in the 2015 fall semester to 1,027 in the current fall semester. Regarding tuition and fees, Vice President for Business Services Bryan Gleckler recommended that the board maintain the current structure for these students' expenses in spring 2017. Gleckler said one reason for his recommendation is that the funding allocated by the state's stopgap budget is consistent with what Lake Land assumed in its fiscal year 2017 budget projections. Lake Land also will be able to hold the line on tuition and fee increases in spring 2017 with the help of tuition revenue from fall 2016 enrollment that is higher than what the college had assumed, Gleckler said. The current tuition structure is $102.50 per credit hour for in-district students, $229.96 for out of district, and $423.36 for out of state. The activity fee is $2.50 per credit hour and the service fee is $21.30 per credit hour. This structure resulted from a tuition increase for fall semester 2016. Tuition and fees combined will continue to be $126.30 per credit hour for in-district students, or about $1,900 a semester for a full-time student taking 15 credit hours in spring 2016. "We are still one of the most affordable community colleges in Illinois by far," said President Josh Bullock. He added that Lake Land places a priority on ensuring students have access to affordable high quality education. Regarding dual credit, the board heard a report on the increase in total headcount from Director of Dual Credit Steve Garren. He also reported that the number of full-time equivalent credit hours taken by dual credit students increased by 12.9 percent, 34.6, from 268.3 in fall 2015 to 302.9 this fall. The classes for dual high school and Lake Lake College credit are taught by qualified teachers at area high schools. "Sixty percent of the students who take dual credit eventually come to Lake Land College," Garren said, adding that dual credit classes provide an important "gateway" to enrollment. Lake Land also started offering a Career Academy program in 2015-16 in which area high school students can take automotive technology, building construction technology, and mechanical-electrical technology courses on the college's campus. Information technology was added to the program this fall. Garren said headcount in the Career Academy totaled 26 students from seven high schools in all of 2015-16 and has already reached 19 students from seven schools this fall. He said the program is designed to serve students at high schools where trade-oriented courses are not available. CHARLESTON -- A man received the maximum probation term possible when he admitted stealing a bag of checks from a rural Coles County business. Zackery T. Shoot, 43, for whom court records list an address of 520 Price Ave., Mattoon, was also ordered into Coles County's drug court program for taking the checks that belonged to Howard's Disposal on June 17. The charge was a felony because of Shoot's prior convictions, which include burglary, and he was placed on probation for 2 1/2 years. Probation requirements included the drug court program, which involves frequent court appearances, supervision and other restrictions. In some cases, it can lead to a criminal charge being dismissed if it's completed successfully. The sentence also included payment of about $400 in fines and court fees, while jail time was stayed, meaning Shoot won't have to serve it if there are no violations. Coles County Circuit Judge Teresa Righter sentenced Shook, accepting the terms of a plea agreement that Assistant State's Attorney Tom Bucher and Public Defender Anthony Ortega recommended. In other cases in court recently, Righter also accepted guilty pleas from: Jeremy E. Pieper, 34, whose address on record is 1104 Prairie Ave., Mattoon, to a methamphetamine possession charge alleging he had the drug on March 28. A charge accusing Pieper of also having a prescription medication was dismissed and he was placed on probation for 2 1/2 years. Terms of the sentence included substance abuse treatment, about $1,400 in fines and fees and stayed jail time. Righter accepted a plea agreement that Assistant State's Attorney Bryant Hitchings and Ortega recommended. Michael J. Thompson, 58, for whom records list an address of 1520 Marshall Ave., Mattoon, to a charge of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with a traffic stop on Feb. 13. The charge was a felony because Thompson has prior DUI convictions and he was placed on probation for two years. Terms of the sentence included about three weeks in jail with more jail time stayed, treatment and about $1,900 in fines and fees. Thompson was also ordered not to enter bars or other businesses that primarily sell liquor. Assistant State's Attorney Joy Wolf and defense attorney Cheryl Whitley recommended the plea agreement. Todd C. Parker, 46, whose address on record is 1516 S. Ninth St., Mattoon, to an aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol charge in connection with an Oct. 4, 2015, traffic stop. The charge was a felony because of prior convictions, and terms of Parker's two-year probation sentence included three weeks in jail, treatment and about $900 in fines and fees. Assistant State's Attorney Jesse Danley and Ortega recommended the plea agreement. Stacy S. Stewart, 36, for whom records list addresses in Oakland and in Worchester, Tenn., to an aggravated battery charge alleging he hit a man at an Oakland residence on March 22. Terms of Stewart's two-year probation sentence included counseling, payment of about $400 in restitution and about $1,600 in fines and fees. Bucher and defense attorney Mark Petty recommended the plea agreement. Marquanita J. Darughtery, 25, no address on record, to an obstructing justice charge alleging she lied about her identity to a Charleston police officer on Oct. 4 to try to avoid arrest on an Arkansas warrant. Darughtery was sentenced to six months of conditional discharge, similar to probation but with fewer restrictions, and agreed to return to Arkansas. Bucher and Assistant Public Defender Lupita Thompson recommended the plea agreement. MATTOON (JG-TC) -- The Sarah Bush Lincoln Board of Directors on Tuesday named Jerry Esker, RPh, president and CEO of Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, according to a press release. He follows Timothy Ols, formerly president of the hospital since 2011. Sarah Bush announced in late July that Ols was no long with the health system, but gave no explanation for his departure; no additional information on the reason has been made available. Esker, who has served as interim president & CEO since late July, has been with the organization for more than 30 years. He began his career at Sarah Bush Lincoln in 1985 as a staff pharmacist. Within three years, Esker was pharmacy director, and in 2007 he was named vice president of Practice Management. The board members have known and worked with Jerry for many years, Steve Wente, board chairperson, said. He led the Practice Management division for nine years and has proven time and again what a knowledgeable and valuable asset he is to Sarah Bush Lincoln. As the vice president of Practice Management, Esker led the divisions strategic growth by increasing the number of employed medical staff members from 78 to 147 and virtually eliminating resignations by medical staff members. Over that same time period, clinic office visits rose from 185,000 a year to 286,000 a year, and medical staff satisfaction improved from the sub-median level to the 90th percentile nationally by 2013. Wente added that the sustained growth of Practice Management is directly correlated with the success of the entire health system. During the same time period, physician revenue more than doubled. Over the last few months, Jerry has been a trusted leader moving Sarah Bush Lincoln forward as it executes its strategic plan. His focus and the focus of the entire staff is patient safety, service and the implementation of Cerner, the organizations new operating system, Wente said. In response to the announcement, Esker said, I am humbled that the board of directors asked me to lead Sarah Bush Lincoln. Ive been part of this organization almost from the beginning and have enjoyed contributing to its success. I am excited about our future and the many ways we can positively impact the health of our community. Sarah Bush Lincoln has 2,266 employees and is a growing health care organization. Construction of its new Regional Cancer Center is complete and will open to patients on Nov. 7. Construction continues on a new Casey Clinic, and renovations continue inside the hospital on 3 West, 2 East, 2 West and Sterile Processing. The health center recently purchased acreage adjacent to its current Walk-In Clinic in Mattoon to build a freestanding building to accommodate the volume of people seeking care there. Construction began this month. A Teutopolis native, Esker has lived in Charleston for more than 30 years with his wife, Lana, who recently retired from the Charleston school dDistrict. They have five children. Active in the community, hes a member of the Coles Together board of directors, served as board member of the Charleston Community Unit One School District, Sexual Assault Counseling & Information Services and Charleston Education Foundation (past president). Additionally, he has served on the Illinois Hospital Association Mid-level Provider Task Force. Tuesday, October 11, 2016 Dems Have Different Takes On Death Penalty In Two Key House Races, Plus: Candidate TV Ads Begin In Earnest (Capital punishment) is not a proven deterrent, nor a fiscally sound policy. However, for rare and extreme cases I believe capital punishment would be appropriate. Prioritization should first focus on reinstating the extreme state funding cuts made to behavioral health, CYFD and programs established to prevent abuse and reduce crime. In the recent special legislative session last House Dems voted against the Governor's proposal to reinstate the death penalty for cop and child killers. Romero's stance breaks with the caucus position as the Guv's political machine pounds any Dem who does not support the penalty. Romero's position will disappoint some Dems but if she beats Maestas Barnes it could be instrumental in the Dems regaining control of the House. That's why Romero has carved out that narrow exception open to much interpretation on exactly what kind of death penalty she would vote for. Meantime, in the other ABQ House seat designated a swing district, Dems appear more confident that they can withstand an assault on the death penalty. Former Dem State Rep. Liz Thomson, who lost the seat to Republican Conrad James but who is now retiring, While I am outraged by recent events, this is not the answer. It is insanely expensive, which the state cannot afford. It has not proven to be a deterrent to criminals. Many wrongful convictions make it untenable. The Legislature needs to be focused on fixing the economic disaster. That answer reflects the higher confidence the Dems have for the Thomson district. She has won this seat before and is opposed by GOP newcomer Christina Hall, not a GOP incumbent as is Romero. NORTHERN ACTION As for his campaign for re-election to his district, you can't say the heavily favored Lujan is excited, but he appears to be happy. His first Lujan is opposed this cycle by Republican ASK HER We watched KOAT-TV report again that Governor Martinez is not "supporting" Donald Trump, but will they or someone in the media (hello AP) please ask her if this means she will not vote for Trump? Come on, man. SOS RACE Dem Secretary of State candidate Maggie Toulouse Oliver is first up with Duran was the first GOP Secretary of state since the 1930's. Polling has shown Oliver, the two term Bernalillo County Clerk, with a healthy lead in the early going. Espinoza, a Roswell state representative, is expected to try to catch up with a wave of attack ads. The race is ranked lean Democrat. BARGAIN PRICES While TV ads are still a mainstay of the modern political campaign, they sure aren't what they used to be, at least when it comes to price. Not long ago a 30 second ad on the 10 p.m. news on KOAT-TV in ABQ often went for well over $1,000. Not so today. Contracts we have gone over have candidates getting the 10 p.m. news for a mere $650 for a 30 second ad. It makes sense. Today TV news has to share the audience with the Internet, plus the economy here has kept a lid on the demand for advertising. WHAT'S THE POINT? Reader (and Republican) Tony Schaefer writes to lament what he sees as the lack of leadership from Gov. Martinez Joe, New Mexico has the second highest rate of opiate drug overdose in the nation. This mirrors the rise in violence we see as our state and communities languish in one of the nation's worst economies. Drug use is fueled by desperation created by no jobs and the failure of social programs designed to provide a safety net for those most at risk. Our schools fail to demonstrate relevance in education, whether 3rd graders are retained or not. And now, we have no money and face the prospect of further cuts to education and social programs. Why is it that the Governor failed to see the impact of the fall in oil prices upon state revenues? Why is it that the executive branch failed to mend the agencies charged with promoting child and family welfare? Why did the Governor fail to even make a proposal to address the budget shortfall during the special session? Susanna Martinez has consistently failed to articulate or advance policies aimed to improve the plight and lives of any constituency, much less those she occasionally espouses, children. Her single agenda is increasing the ranks of Republicans in government. Sadly, even as she has succeeded, there remains a dearth of worthwhile proposals that she will support. So, what is the point? This is the home of New Mexico politics. Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. ( c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2016 This is why they call them "swing districts." Take a look at this answer from Dem Ane Romero on capital punishment as she campaigns to overtake freshman GOP state Rep. Sarah Maestas Barnes in their hotly contested ABQ North Valley and NE Heights district.In the recent special legislative session last House Dems voted against the Governor's proposal to reinstate the death penalty for cop and child killers. Romero's stance breaks with the caucus position as the Guv's political machine pounds any Dem who does not support the penalty.Romero's position will disappoint some Dems but if she beats Maestas Barnes it could be instrumental in the Dems regaining control of the House. That's why Romero has carved out that narrow exception open to much interpretation on exactly what kind of death penalty she would vote for.Meantime, in the other ABQ House seat designated a swing district, Dems appear more confident that they can withstand an assault on the death penalty. Former Dem State Rep. Liz Thomson, who lost the seat to Republican Conrad James but who is now retiring, rejects the death penalty:That answer reflects the higher confidence the Dems have for the Thomson district. She has won this seat before and is opposed by GOP newcomer Christina Hall, not a GOP incumbent as is Romero. Northern Dem Congressman Ben Ray Lujan is getting excited about the possibility that the Dems could make major gains in the US House in November. He's the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee so any progress made will reflect favorably on his leadership.As for his campaign for re-election to his district, you can't say the heavily favored Lujan is excited, but he appears to be happy. His first TV spot features him with his mother Carmen joking about his strong work ethic as he goes about feeding horses and mowing the lawn. The ad is airing in both English and Spanish.Lujan is opposed this cycle by Republican Michael Romero , a retired police officer from Taos County. Lujan is seeking his fifth, two year term. The sprawling district is ranked safe Democrat.We watched KOAT-TV report again that Governor Martinez is not "supporting" Donald Trump, but will they or someone in the media (hello AP) please ask her if this means she will not vote for Trump? Come on, man.Dem Secretary of State candidate Maggie Toulouse Oliver is first up with TV ads in her race against Republican Nora Espinoza. In her 15 second spots she brings up former GOP Secretary of State Dianna Duran who was forced to resign the office and served a month in jail on a corruption conviction.Duran was the first GOP Secretary of state since the 1930's. Polling has shown Oliver, the two term Bernalillo County Clerk, with a healthy lead in the early going. Espinoza, a Roswell state representative, is expected to try to catch up with a wave of attack ads. The race is ranked lean Democrat.While TV ads are still a mainstay of the modern political campaign, they sure aren't what they used to be, at least when it comes to price. Not long ago a 30 second ad on the 10 p.m. news on KOAT-TV in ABQ often went for well over $1,000. Not so today. Contracts we have gone over have candidates getting the 10 p.m. news for a mere $650 for a 30 second ad. It makes sense. Today TV news has to share the audience with the Internet, plus the economy here has kept a lid on the demand for advertising.Reader (and Republican) Tony Schaefer writes to lament what he sees as the lack of leadership from Gov. MartinezThis is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com) Links HOME E-MAIL ME About Joe Google News Real Clear Politics Huffington Post Drudge Report The Politico New Mexico newspapers NM TV stations Gov. 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Though the Gallup chairman and CEO acknowledged that gross domestic product -- the official gauge for determining whether recessions are occurring -- continues to grow at 1 to 2 percent a year, other measures show the country is going backward economically. Clifton said sales at large publicly traded companies have declined for five straight quarters and their net profits have fallen for seven consecutive quarters. "Big business is in a full recession," Clifton told attendees at Tuesday's "Removing Barriers in Nebraska" conference at the Embassy Suites. Not only are those large companies seeing shrinking profits, they are seeing their ranks thinned, Clifton said, with the number of public companies being cut in half over the past 15-20 years. One potential solution is more growth in small businesses, Clifton said, but growth in those businesses has been lagging over the past few years. That, he said, is largely due to a lack of entrepreneurs. Clifton said there is a mistaken view among many people, including economists, that what has driven the phenomenal U.S. growth over the past several decades is innovation. But "innovation has no value whatsoever until a customer is standing next to it," he said. Innovators are inventors, Clifton said, and many of them have no idea how to sell their inventions. That's where entrepreneurs come in. But currently, he said, the U.S. has, "such an oversupply of innovators and such an undersupply of the entrepreneur." Clifton said part of the $30 million his family donated last year to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is being used on research to identify students at the College of Business Administration who have the right entrepreneurial traits. He said the first round of testing this year identified 20 freshman with the right entrepreneurial potential, "and we expect them to start 20 businesses." Clifton was the keynote speaker at Tuesday's event, which was put on by the Platte Institute for Economic Research. The 13 Lincoln Electric System line workers helping restore power to parts of Florida rocked by Hurricane Matthew are headed to South Carolina, a utility spokeswoman said Monday night. They will leave Vero Beach, Florida, which is about two hours north of Miami, and head to Bennettsville, South Carolina, LES spokeswoman Kelley Porter said. It's unclear how long the crew will be in South Carolina, where most of the damage was from the wind, she said. The crews are part of a mutual aid network coordinated by the American Public Power Association. A registered sex offender is back in jail after Lincoln police say he tried meeting up with a 15-year-old girl for sex. Richard T. Walls, 36, of Oxford, began talking with an undercover officer online on Sept. 18. Court documents say the officer was posing as a 15-year-old girl and Walls was aware of her age. He requested photos of the girl and asked how much she charged for various sex acts, documents say. On Oct. 8, Walls asked if he could take the girl to Kansas with him for a week while he worked. They made arrangements, and Walls told her he would drive from Grand Island to Lincoln to pick her up at a gas station, documents say. When Walls arrived to the gas station Monday, Lincoln police arrested him on suspicion of enticement by an electronic communication device. The Nebraska Sex Offender Registry says Walls was convicted of the same crime in October 2012 in Furnas County. In that case, documents say the victim was a 14-year-old girl, not an undercover officer. He was released from jail in December 2013 and came off of parole January 2015. A Malcolm couple is in jail on suspicion of causing serious bodily harm to a 5-year-old girl. On June 16, Cassondra Karst called 911 to say the girl fell down the stairs and was unconscious but breathing, according to court documents for their arrests. Lancaster County Sheriff's deputies arrived to find the girl on the kitchen floor on the opposite side of the home than the stairs, documents say. At the hospital, a nurse told deputies the girl had bruises in different stages of healing on her head, chest, shoulders and left shin, marks on her buttocks, a large knot on her forehead and bruises inside and beneath both ears, according to court documents. A CT scan revealed a brain bleed on her left frontal lobe, documents say. The medical director with the Children's Advocacy Team at Children's Hospital in Omaha said the girl's head injury could have been fatal and could have been caused by blunt force trauma or being shaken, according to court documents. The child was taken into emergency protective custody and turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services for placement after she was released from the hospital, the sheriff's office said. Investigators examined evidence, interviewed numerous people and consulted with medical personnel including two pediatric physicians, and on Friday arrested Karst, 25, and her fiance, Bruce Sampson, 26. They gave consent to search their phones, and, court documents say, deputies found conversations between them referring to child abuse. They included one in which Karst said, "I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. I can't ... it's killing me. She's upsetting me way to much. I can't handle it." In his reply, the documents say, Sampson told her to smack the girl harder, and Karst said, "I've tried I can't I'm too upset I'm shaking." Deputies arrested Karst and Sampson on suspicion of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury. Both remained in jail Tuesday. Armed with a machete, under cover of darkness, Mark Lynas and other environmental activists would march onto test plots for genetically modified maize, sugar beets and potatoes to hack them to pieces. I destroyed them, because I believed there was something fundamentally unnatural, something inescapably evil almost about the technology of genetic modification, Lynas told a crowd at Nebraska Innovation Campus Monday afternoon. The British environmental activist admits the campaign against so-called genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, was successful in undermining public support for the technology around the world. Leading off this year's Heuermann Lecture series, Lynas described his transformation from anti-GMO crusader to science communicator who has renounced his former views and now promotes using science to improve crop stability and productivity around the world. It all started in the early 2000s as Lynas researched a book on another hot topic for environmental activists: climate change. To humanize the effects of global warming, Lynas traveled to Tuvalu to explore how the rising oceans would affect the tiny Pacific island nation which sits about 3 feet above sea level, and climbed the Andes Mountains to get a glimpse of a disappearing glacier that feeds much of Perus coastal towns' fresh water, and saw how melting ice in Alaska caused villages to disappear. It wasnt enough, however. The goal of translating the science behind climate change from a jargon-laden subject into a topic easily digested by the general public required diving into the hard facts. Having come back with all of these anecdotes, wanting to present them into a compelling picture of the reality of global warming, I knew I had to back these up with science, Lynas said. Immersing himself into evidence-based data behind melting glaciers, deforestation, sea level rise and other topics, Lynas published two books on the topic -- High Tide: The Truth About Our Climate and Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet. The process aligned him more and more with the scientific community, he said, and against many of the positions he formerly held as an activist. Still, he was penning anti-GMO articles for British newspapers. It had no references, no basis in peer-reviewed literature, no academic standing whatsoever, he said. I just made the same kind of rhetorical assertions I had already been making with other GMO activists for over a decade. Lynas said he read the comments on his story, which called his stand on GMOs witchcraft without any basis in science. It made an impact. That stung me, he said. I considered myself aligned with the scientific community on the climate issue and worked very hard to achieve that kind of credibility. So Lynas replicated the process he used to learn about climate change on the topic of genetically modified crops, diving into molecular biology and chemistry to learn just what a GMO was and what it was capable of doing. He told the nearly 200 people in attendance Monday he learned that crops modified to be more nitrogen efficient needed less fertilizer; drought-resistant crops required less watering; and crops receiving yield boosters meant less land would be required for farming. Further, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science said GMOs posed no harm to consumers. Lynas said he came to the conclusion that his past opposition to GMOs did more harm than good, and that he needed to do something to correct it. He began working with scientists developing new genetically modified crops to create a campaign aimed at convincing the activists to stop destroying test plots, and in 2013 went before the Oxford Farming Conference to renounce his former views. It was a crossing the Rubicon moment and one that drew heavy criticism in the British media. I couldnt then say youve got to listen to the 97 percent of the experts who believe climate change is happening, and youve got to ignore an equivalent consensus on the safety of GMOs, he said. Isnt that an inconsistent position? Since his conversion in 2013, Lynas has worked with farmers in developing countries like Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to develop genetically modified crops that can help increase food security. His work has brought him into the orbit of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as the Cornell Alliance for Science, which is advocating against myths tied to GMOs, like their part in causing cancer, autism, obesity and any number of maladies. To me, this is a profound injustice that our sort of superstitions in well-fed, rich countries have been exported to the detriment of those in food-insecure, developing countries, he said. This just isnt about science, this is about justice and righting a profound wrong which is being done to people around the world. Arun Gandhi was walking home from school through a sugar cane plantation in South Africa on Jan. 30, 1948, with his younger sister when he learned Mahatma Gandhi had been assassinated by a Hindu nationalist. His grandfathers murder left an impression that lingers to this day, nearly 70 years later. Growing up in South Africa, where he was neither part of the ruling white minority nor the black majority, Arun Gandhi said he was targeted by both groups, and grew angry and temperamental. Then his parents packed up their lives and moved to India, putting him at the side of his grandfather, the leader of a nonviolent protest movement against the ruling British Empire. The lessons he learned, which stress no physical violence and no passive violence against others, have stood as examples to leaders in a wide array of movements over the past century, including the Civil Rights movement in the U.S., Arun Gandhi told a crowd of about 200 at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in College View Tuesday morning. While his grandfather is revered around the world for his practice of nonviolent civil disobedience, he wasnt always the leader recognized by history, he said. One mistake we tend to make is we see all of these people who achieve greatness in their life and we think they were born great and they were privileged people for whom it was ordinary to do great things, he told Union Colleges Leadership Symposium. The elder Gandhi stole money from his parents to buy meat -- forbidden in his familys home -- and later lied to his family about it, he said. He was as mischievous and ornery as many young people his age, his grandson said, but after a time, the deception weighed too heavy on Mahatma Gandhis conscience, and he confessed. They both cried, and Grandfather said those tears wiped out the sin of lying, Arun Gandhi said. Thats when Mahatma Gandhis transformation began, his grandson said. He felt the purpose of any individual is not to just accept our own weaknesses and do nothing about them, but to learn to change those weaknesses into strengths, he said. From that point onwards, he began to change and transform himself. Mahatma Gandhi built a successful legal practice in South Africa, where he sought to use the law to bring the conflicting people together and bind them back into friendship, his grandson said. Still, he felt unfulfilled, so using the fortune he amassed, Mahatma Gandhi created a public trust to improve the community in which he lived and later began volunteering at the hospital doing the jobs no one else wanted to do. Arun Gandhi said his grandfather recognized the importance of humility to a leader. We have a lot of ego in us, and very often we are driven by ego and that is not always a very constructive thing, he said. We need to be humble, we need to have that humility in us to be able to achieve great things for people. Mahatma Gandhis philosophy of nonviolence, which was developed over a lifetime, was not simply about the absence of war or curbing violence in the streets, his grandson said. Its about understanding how we commit violence every day of our lives, he said. Passive violence has crept into language, relationships, attitudes and other every-day facets of life, Arun Gandhi said, and it causes anger in its victims and serves as the fuel to physical violence. He asked the audience to consider their weaknesses each day -- the ways in which they commit passive violence against others -- and strive to turn each into strengths. It may take a lifetime, he added, but the transformation will create better human beings capable of carrying a great impact everywhere they go. Logically, if we want to put out the fire of physical violence, we have to cut off the fuel supply, and since the fuel supply comes from each one of us, we have to become the change that we wish to see in the world, he said. Tuesday morning, six Lincoln City Council members did what a judge ordered them to do last week: They voted unanimously to approve a property tax rate that will support Mayor Chris Beutlers budget proposal, which is now the citys two-year budget. Lancaster County District Judge Robert Otte ruled that Beutlers proposal was the legal two-year budget for the city and that the council was required to approve a tax levy -- 33.366 cents per $100 in valuation -- that would raise enough money to fund it. Later in the week, the Republicans on the council, who had been fighting for a slightly lower tax rate, said they would not appeal Otte's decision to the Nebraska Supreme Court, effectively ending the six-month budget fight that began while Beutler was preparing his plan. Tuesdays 7:30 a.m. meeting allowed the council to approve a tax rate just in time for the Lancaster County Board, meeting as the Board of Equalization, to certify tax rates for all governmental units. Several council members offered statements before the vote about the budget process and the court decision. Councilman Jon Camp was out of town. Councilwoman Cyndi Lamm, in the most strongly worded statement, criticized both the budget process -- the mayor does all of the preliminary planning in private meetings with department directors -- and the partisan politics of the three Democrats on the seven-member council. Lamm, a Republican, blamed the Democrats for helping the mayor in this tyranny, and for walking in lock-step with him throughout the budget process and on other issues even if to do so is not in the best interests of Lincoln residents. Lamm said her 17-month experience on the council has shown her that at the top of the executive branch of city government, there is a desire to rule rather than to serve and to view governance as a game. Lamm also said some in government make enough money that the property tax increase will not bother them. She mentioned specifically Councilwomen Jane Raybould and Leirion Gaylor Baird -- who she said, have been financially privileged through life -- and the mayor and city directors, who will get $2,000 to $4,000 raises this year. And she apologized for her Tuesday morning vote to approve the higher tax levy. My vote has been taken from me by the mayor and the courts, she said, referring to Ottes ruling that the council must set a tax rate that corresponds with the legal budget. Other council members were more conciliatory or did not speak during the meeting. Councilman Carl Eskridge, a Democrat, said council members and the mayor tried to balance the needs of the city -- police and fire, public transportation, the looming threat of the emerald ash borer and police and fire pension -- with the tax burden. He also pointed out the city's property tax levy makes up just 15 percent of the property taxes paid by Lincoln property owners. Republican Councilman Trent Fellers had already said publicly that it was best to stop the court fight and move forward with city business. On Tuesday, he said he hopes the council can get back to the place where we are not talking about the budget and only the budget. But Fellers said he doesnt think the budget process as outlined in the City Charter is the way the city should operate. "I think we need a different process, he said. Raybould, a Democrat, continued to support the mayors budget, as she has during the budget process, saying it supports a growing and thriving city. Gaylor Baird, a Democrat, thanked everyone, including private Lincoln residents, who cared deeply about the budget and wrote or called with their opinions. The 6-0 vote Tuesday ends the contentious budget season during which council members split along partisan lines. The three Democrats consistently voted for the mayors budget plan while Republicans Roy Christensen, Camp, Lamm and Fellers approved a budget with reduced spending that required a lower tax rate. But the Republicans did not have the five votes required to override a mayors veto of their budget plan, and the mayors proposal became the citys legal budget. In his court ruling, Otte said the City Charter created this system, including the veto provision that required the city to fall back to the mayors original budget plan. Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence's scheduled campaign stop in Omaha this week was scrapped Monday with Donald Trump's presidential campaign in disarray, but plans are in the works to reschedule the event. Gov. Pete Ricketts said "logistical issues" prompted cancellation of a Nebraska Republican Party fundraising event and a public rally that had been scheduled for Tuesday. Responding to reports that he "pulled the plug" on the Tuesday appearances and national speculation about what that might mean, Ricketts said he would be "proud to stand on the stage with Mike Pence anywhere" and he still intends to cast his vote in November for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The governor's comments came during a late-afternoon Drive Time Lincoln radio interview with Coby Mach on KLIN-AM. Ricketts, the father of two young daughters, said he continues to believe that Trump's lewd remarks about and behavior toward women, all of which surfaced in a video disclosure last week, were "reprehensible (and) I don't believe his apology was sufficient." But, the governor said, the choice for voters in November is between Trump and a Hillary Clinton presidency that would be "terrible for our country." Ricketts said it will be "a long road" for Trump to overcome the damage that has been inflicted on his campaign, as measured by his falling numbers in most political polls, but the governor suggested Trump has "plenty of time to make his case." During this week's presidential debate, the governor said, Clinton made it clear that she would change the composition of the U.S. Supreme Court, raise taxes and probably support single-payer health care reform. "Hillary Clinton made the case for why she can't be president," Ricketts said. Clinton would not be the kind of president who could lead the country to economic progress, he said. Ricketts also took a shot at former President Bill Clinton, suggesting his behavior toward women did not set "a high moral standard." Over the weekend, Republican Sen. Deb Fischer and Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry joined Republican Sen. Ben Sasse in urging Trump to withdraw from the race with Pence emerging as their preferred alternative presidential choice. A local Spirit Halloween Headquarters store pulled all of its Native American Halloween costumes and paraphernalia following complaints the scantily clad Indian princesses were offensive. Kim Peters, manager of the Halloween stores in Lincoln, Grand Island and Papillion, said as soon as she learned of the complaint, she had her employees at all three locations pull the costumes, including Noble Warrior, Wolf Dancer, Native American Chief, World Spirit, Queen of the Tribe and Tribal Royalty -- all adult costumes. In addition, she pulled childrens Native-themed costumes and accessories including tomahawks, headdresses and beads. Peters quick action earned high praise from Lincolns Native community and others. Leo Yankton, host of KZUM radios The Drum and Native Sounds, Native Voices, commended Peters for her sensitivity, compassion and understanding. We really appreciate it. We were not trying to be combative. We were just trying to be comfortable, and not be turned into objects, Yankton said in a telephone interview. Peters, who has managed Spirit of Halloween consignment stores for 10 years, said it is not the first time she has pulled offensive costumes. Four or five years ago, we got costumes for 12- and 13-year-olds that I thought were inappropriate. I pulled them. We never hung them up. She returned those costumes to the stores home office, which is what she intends to do with the Native-themed merchandise. Peters, whose own family is culturally diverse, said Halloween should be a fun holiday for children, not something that embarrasses or shames other cultures and people. In her decade of running the stores, Peters said this is the first time offended customers have asked her to remove costumes. And frankly, she is surprised more people havent spoken out. The daughter of a Dane, Peters said her father would be unhappy at the Viking costumes. Even the sexually provocative naughty nun and happy priest costumes have not received complaints. In fact, Peters recalled how a priest bought himself a pope costume to wear at a Halloween party. The costume that triggered the action was named Reservation Royalty and featured a woman in a very short and low-cut fringed leather dress and tall boots. Angel Scott, a Native woman, was shopping for costumes with her children when she spotted the package and snapped a picture. "The word 'reservation' caught my eye," Scott said. "I was shocked to see it in Lincoln." She noticed several other Native costumes on the rack beside it. "To me it is very degrading. Natives think of their culture as very sacred. It (costume) is like a mockery," Scott said. Scott's 16-year-old son who was shopping with her said the costume drove home the point the Lincoln High School Native American Caucus is trying to make with its "Our culture is not a costume" campaign. Yankton said such costumes objectify Native women. In the Native community, Native women are three times more likely to get raped and kidnapped in America and Canada (than other ethnicities), Yankton said. There is a lot of sexualizing of Native Americans as being exotic, but we believe that is reflected in the higher percentage rate of sexual abuse. When I see people wearing a fake priest or nun uniform it makes me cringe a little bit. It feels disrespectful to a religious group that devotes their lives to their beliefs, he said. "Its the same with (a) chiefs headdress. I am one of the people quickly becoming a leader in my Native American community and I do not have the right to wear that. He also dislikes Pocahontas costumes. The story romanticizes her as a young lady meeting a romantic knight in shining armor, Yankton said. In real history she was actually kidnapped at the age of 12 and forced to be with this man. We know the truth, and it adds to the historical trauma we deal with. It goes deeper than costumes and it is a trend we are trying to stop, he said. Something as little as a costume can change the perception of a child in the future." A growing number of communities are now ditching the traditional Columbus Day holiday in favor of Indigenous People's Day, which, supporters say, is meant to promote an accurate telling of the United States' history and commemorate the resilience of its original inhabitants against European settlers. On Thursday, Vermont Gov. Peter Schumlin signed an executive proclamation marking the second Monday of October as Indigenous People's Day. According to the proclamation, the day is to recognize that the state "was founded and is built upon lands first inhabited by the Indigenous Peoples of this region," an NBC affiliate reported. Meanwhile in Lincoln, close to 100 people gathered on the steps of Nebraska's Capitol to celebrate the city's first Indigenous People's Day. "(This) really encourages me about our prospects as Native people," said Frank LaMere, a Winnebago activist. LaMere and others at the rally applauded the Lincoln City Council's decision in September to commemorate the day as a move recognize the people who were here long before Nebraska became a state. "Indigenous (People's) Day is now telling the truth about history," said Marty Ramirez, a Latino activist. LaMere said Omaha needs to follow Lincoln's lead. Elsewhere, city council members in Phoenix voted unanimously last week to celebrate Indigenous People's Day, the Arizona Republic reported. It won't replace Columbus Day because Phoenix already doesn't celebrate that as a city holiday. "It is important to acknowledge the original people of this land, and that is something that Columbus Day has completely contradicted," Laura Medina, an Arizona State University student and activist, told the City Council on Monday, according to the Arizona Republic. Also this week, the City Council in Denver, which observed Indigenous People's Day last year under a temporary proclamation, made the holiday permanent after a unanimous vote Monday, according to Fox News affiliate KDVR. Phoenix and Denver joined at least 26 other cities across the country in celebrating Native Americans on Monday, while federal and state governments observed Columbus Day. The idea of celebrating Indigenous People's Day was first proposed nearly 40 years ago, when a delegation of Native nations to a U.N. conference Geneva passed a resolution. Thirteen years later, in 1990, the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance in Ecuador passed a resolution changing Columbus Day into a celebration of Native Americans. Berkeley, Calif. and South Dakota became the first city and state, respectively, to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People's Day in the 1990s. Cities including Seattle; Minneapolis; Spokane, Washington; Boulder, Colorado; Albuquerque; Portland, Oregon; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Olympia, Washington did so over the next several years following calls from activists to honor indigenous communities and their history instead of Christopher Columbus. The momentum, however, did not gain traction in some areas. The Cincinnati City Council rejected a proclamation Wednesday that would've recognized Indigenous People's Day over Columbus Day, after five of the council's nine members abstained from voting, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. A majority of the members who didn't vote declined to comment about their decision, according to the paper. Guy Jones, president of the Miami Valley for Native Americans, told the Cincinnati Enquirer that because of the defeat, Native Americans are again left out. "There is a tremendous amount of ignorance and arrogance about our history," Jones told the paper. Columbus Day commemorates the arrival of Columbus in the New World in 1492. However, many have said that Columbus's discovery of America is a misconception in the country's history. During four trips that started in 1492, Columbus arrived on the Caribbean islands now known as the Bahamas. He also landed on an island called Hispaniola -- today Haiti and the Dominican Republic -- and explored the Central and South American coasts. The Italian explorer didn't reach North America, which by that time, was inhabited by millions of Native Americans. Still, Columbus Day is celebrated in many parts of the United States and is observed by the federal government. Although Native American groups consider Columbus a European colonizer responsible for the genocide of millions of indigenous people, supporters of the holiday have argued that he was an important figure in Italian American heritage. A day in his honor celebrates "the beginning of cultural exchange between America and Europe," according to the Order of Sons of Italy in America. "After Columbus, came millions of European immigrants who brought their art, music, science, medicine, philosophy and religious principles to America," according to the organization. The first Columbus Day celebration recorded in the United States happened in New York in 1792 to honor Italian American heritage. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Columbus Day a federal holiday after intense lobbying by a Catholic service organization consisting largely of Italian Americans, the Los Angeles Times reported. Its gratifying that Rep. Jeff Fortenberry and Sen. Deb Fischer have joined Sen. Ben Sasse in rejecting Donald Trump as a presidential candidate. Their statements after release of a 2005 tape in which Trump boasted that he could grope women with impunity mean that four out of the five members of Nebraskas congressional delegation have repudiated Trump. Rep. Adrian Smith of the states Third Congressional District stopped short of rejecting Trump. Smith acknowledged that Trump has said many things that are inappropriate, even indefensible, but he said only that Trump should step aside if he is unable to restore confidence in his ability to serve as the Republican nominee. Release of the tape was followed Sunday night by a presidential candidate debate that left Americans wondering to what depths the campaign would sink before the Nov. 8 election. Probably the lowest moment of any presidential debate was when Trump told Clinton that if he was elected president he would name a special prosecutor to look into your situation. Moments later Clinton said that Its just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country. Trump rejoined, Because youd be in jail. Really? Throwing political opponents in jail is something that dictators do -- not the United States of America, where power is transferred peacefully from one party to another. As he has throughout the campaign, Trump Sunday night continued to repeat assertions debunked long ago, such as the canard that he opposed the invasion of Iraq and the baseless allegation that thousands of Muslims cheered the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps for those who accept Trumps alternate reality, which is buttressed by the myth-spinning Breitbart website -- co-founder Steve Bannon is Trumps campaign CEO -- Trump put on a strong performance. Trump put Clinton on the defensive on her email scandal. When Clinton tried to explain that a speech to Wall Street bankers referred to the Steven Spielberg movie Lincoln, Trump drew laughs with the line, Now she is blaming the lie on the late great Abraham Lincoln. Polls, though, showed Clinton the debate victor. A CNN/ORC poll showed 57 percent of respondents thought Clinton won, compared to 34 percent for Trump. A YouGov poll showed Clinton winning 47 percent to 42 percent. On Monday more GOP leaders were distancing themselves from Trump. And House Speaker Paul Ryan said although he will not withdraw his endorsement of Trump, he would no longer defend or campaign for him. As vile as the 2016 presidential campaign has become, it may not have yet hit rock bottom. Just when you think things couldnt get any worse, they do. Nebraskans who care for their state and their nation will follow the lead set by Sasse, and now Fischer and Fortenberry. Trump is unfit to be Americas president. Tax cuts should be approved by the Legislature next year despite a state revenue shortfall and at the advent of a new two-year budget cycle because they will lead to job creation and economic growth, state senators and business representatives were told Tuesday. Nebraska taxpayers are suffering "the real shortfall," Platte Institute CEO Jim Vokal said at a legislative summit hosted by the business-friendly organization. Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion said the only way to accomplish the income tax cuts supported by business will be to pursue "a comprehensive approach to get the necessary votes in the Legislature" and that means additional reductions in agricultural property taxes along with both individual and corporate income tax cuts. Smith, who is seeking the chairmanship of the Legislature's Revenue Committee, signaled long ago that he plans to introduce a tax cut plan. Nebraska is "uncompetitive and overtaxed," Smith said, particularly people in the high-income tax bracket. Those taxpayers include small businesses, he said. "The greatest burden on small businesses is income taxes," he told the audience that included perhaps a dozen state senators. If those tax rates become more competitive, he said, Nebraska would attract more business and create more jobs. Earlier, Gov. Pete Ricketts centered on the continuing need to reduce government regulations and "leverage technology better to bring more efficiency" to state government. "If we knock down barriers, we create opportunities for business," he said. Ricketts said his administration already has been doing that and has successfully applied the reins to the growth of state government. Spending growth in state government was reduced from 6.5 percent to 3.6 percent during his first budget biennium, the governor noted. Meanwhile, state government funded property tax refunds largely aimed at agriculture during both years, he said. "There's no silver bullet," Ricketts said, but the best path is to "control expenditures and allow revenue to rise." Vokal said the fastest-growing states have reduced taxes. "Nebraska is underperforming economically because of taxes," he said. Jerry Peters, chief financial officer for Green Plains Inc., an ethanol producer with five plants in Nebraska, said lower taxes "would drive more capital for the company," resulting in increased investments and additional employment. Mother Nature cooperated with a sunny sky over the colorful prairie and temperatures in the 70s, as nearly 200 people gathered Sept. 18 at one long, winding table during the ninth annual Tastes in the Tallgrass dinner to support the Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center (SCPAC) near Denton, Nebraska. Mother Nature knows were trying to do something special out here, and she has graced us with good weather, Glynnis Collins, SCPACs director since November 2015, said at the event. Previously, Collins was executive director of the Prairie Rivers Network in Champaign, Illinois. Attendees walked the prairie trails and enjoyed appetizers, dinner and wine with live music by Dave Morris, Mike Semrad and Brian McGovern. Collins said the $35,000 in proceeds raised at the event will support the centers work in nature education and conservation. Nowadays, to keep the prairie what it is, we have to simulate the wildfires and bison that were there naturally many years ago, Collins said. To do that, we graze cattle and do controlled burns. The prairie thrives in burns, but invasive plants do not. That takes time and money, so event proceeds will go to that and to our education programs for kids and adults. A recent education program was Prairie Immersion, which involved 1,500 Lincoln Public Schools fourth-graders who took field trips to experience the prairie in September and October. The field trips are part of a curriculum that connects students with our regions natural and cultural heritage. About half the students visit Spring Creek Prairie, and the other half go to the Pioneers Park Nature Center prairie, Collins said. In Nebraska, only 2 percent of the tallgrass prairie remains, she said. This is the biggest chunk (850 acres) remaining in the region. Its a real gem for our community. The entire eastern third of Nebraska was prairie before settlers came and plowed it. Collins noted that several buildings have been cleared from the Bennet Road property as part of developing the Haines Branch Corridor, a 7-mile recreational trail that will eventually connect the nature centers at Pioneers Park in Lincoln and Spring Creek Prairie near Denton. The next step on those 50 acres is to get the water supply and fencing up for the cattle to incorporate that land into the regular burn-graze-rest cycle for Spring Creek Prairie. Then a native seed mix will likely be needed, she said. Along that Haines Branch trail, hikers and bikers will see wetlands, woodlands and wide expanses of tallgrass prairie. Keynote speaker Twyla Hansen, Nebraskas State Poet, said she grew up on a farm in Northeast Nebraska, but didnt discover the prairie until she took a field trip to Nine-Mile Prairie west of Lincoln as part of a landscape design class led by Professor Richard Sutton of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Its been a love affair with the prairie ever since, she said. Hansen read out loud to the audience some of the poems she has written about the prairie and nature. They included Little Bluestem, When the Prairie Speaks, Great Blue Heron, Red-tailed Hawk, Bobcat (based on a photo of a bobcat taken at Spring Creek Prairie by nature photographer Michael Forsberg) and This Fragile, Healing Land. One of Hansens poetry books, Prairie Suite: A Celebration, includes drawings of plants, animals and insects by ornithologist/artist Paul Johnsgard. The book is sold in the SCPAC gift shop to raise funds for its prairie conservation and education programs. Mari Lane Gewecke, SCPAC stewardship advisory board chair, welcomed guests to the prairie. Richard Hawthorne emceed the event, and Tom Bassett presided over an auction of art, vacation getaways, dining and nature experiences donated by community members. For more information about the SCPAC, see springcreekprairie.audubon.org or call 402-797-2301. Lincoln continues to love public art projects such as the Tour de Lincoln Bikes, and most recently, the enormous Light Bulbs created for Illuminating Lincoln: Lighthouse. What's the next public project in store for our community and state to look forward to and enjoy? ANSWER - The next project will feature 6-foot fiberglass Hearts (and in some cases steel and bronze Hearts). It promises to be a bigger-than-life component of Nebraskas 150th Anniversary celebration throughout 2017. Nebraska by Heart is endorsed as a Legacy Project by the Nebraska Sesquicentennial Commission. The herculean goal of this statewide project is to see 93 Hearts displayed close to or on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, May 1 September, 2017, with a public auction of all the Hearts in October, 2017. In order for an artists vision in their proposal to become a reality on a 6-foot Heart, a sponsor is needed to step forward as patron of an artist and the project. Why sponsor a Heart? 1) Support of the 150th Anniversary Celebration of Nebraska by individuals, businesses, neighborhoods, organizations and communities. 2) Recognition of friendship, family or a loved one. 3) Support of the project's two sponsoring organizations the Sadie Dog Fund and Hope College Center (a program of Boys Hope Girls Hope). 4) just because Nebraska by Heart promises to bring so much joy especially to children, who love how an enormous blank, white canvas can be transformed by an inspired individual into many dynamic, creative ways. Sponsors will be noted as the artists/projects patron and be recognized on the sculptures plaque, project website, in news releases, on a map showing the heart locations and in the auction booklet. If underwritten, a book about the project will be created and offer patrons additional recognition. A sponsorship is a tax-deductible $3,000 per sculpture, which pays for the manufacture of the heart, a materials stipend for the artist and Nebraska by Heart project expenses. Sponsors will feel pride for supporting the Sesquicentennial Celebration, which will be enjoyed by thousands of city, state, national and international viewers who will visit Lincoln just to experience our display of 93 Nebraska by Heart sculptures, which will become a reality as a result of their generosity. To see the 176 Nebraska by Heart proposals, visit www.nebraskabyheart.org For more details contact Liz Shea-McCoy, Project Director, at (402) 430-5923 liz_shea@windstream.net In five years, Dale Tinstman went from being on the ground floor of discussions about building a retirement community complex, to moving into an apartment on the second floor of The Landing at Williamsburg Village. As he and fellow residents prepared for their retirement communitys 15th anniversary this month, Tinstman paused to reflect on the developments that led to construction of the complex at 3500 Faulkner Drive. Early talks Dale and Jean Tinstman were part of a couples social group that met monthly to celebrate birthdays and socialize. It was at one of those gatherings in 1996 that the conversation shifted to retirement community living. We had our eyes on one Gateway Senior Living but it was full, and it was farther north than what most of us wanted, Tinstman recalled. At our outing the following month, one of my friends asked me, Why dont you find us some place in southwest Lincoln? Embarking on a mission, Tinstmans search led to a phone call to Lincoln developer Joe Hampton. I told him, Joe, we need a Gateway (retirement community) in southwest Lincoln. Tinstman said hed observed some vacant property several blocks south of 35th and Old Cheney Road that just might work. Hampton said the site Tinstman had his eyes on was bought in 1993 by Tabitha. Tinstman, a law school graduate who spent most of his professional life in the investment industry and later as president and chairman of Iowa Beef Processors (IBP), then called Al Sward, executive director of Tabitha at the time, and the two did some number-crunching. Tinstman then reconnected with Hampton, who suggested that the proposal be presented to Immanuel Retirement Communities, which operated four retirement communities in Omaha. Agreement reached Eventually, Immanuel and Tabitha coventured on the project with Immanuel taking the lead. In October 2001, The Landing welcomed its first residents. Two months later, Dale and Jean Tinstman moved into their spacious, 2,100-square-foot apartment on the complexs second floor. The five other couples from the monthly birthday club also followed suit: Jim Stuart Sr. and his wife, "H.K."; Harry and Franny Seward; Don and Alice Purvis; Paul and Florence Amen; and Claire Hoppe, whose husband, John, passed away before The Landing opened. Tinstman emphasized the role Joe Hampton played in making The Landing a reality. "He was very instrumental in the development of this retirement community." There were two key requests that our group expressed, Tinstman recalled. My wife wanted high ceilings, and Paul Amen wanted an indoor pool. Both were granted. The Tinstmans married in 1942 and were together during Dales nearly seven years of service in both World War II and the Korean War. Jean Tinstman died in August 2011. Dale Tinstman, now 97, was one of the guest speakers at a special event earlier this week in celebration of The Landings 15th anniversary. RACINE A Burlington woman will spend the next five years on probation for her role in an embezzlement scheme that drained $32,000 from a payroll account at the Ardagh Glass plant, 815 McHenry St. Kathleen D. Sabor, 44,of the 500 block of Emerson Street, and her co-worker John F. Anderson, of the 600 block of Cardinal Circle, were charged in November of last year with theft from a business setting, exceeding $10,000, a felony. According to the criminal complaint, the arrangement between Sabor and Anderson had Sabor regularly issuing fraudulent travel expense checks to Anderson, who was then supposed to cash the checks and give half of the amount to Sabor. The thefts occurred between the summer of 2014 and early 2015. Sabor pleaded guilty to the theft charge in August and on Monday was sentenced to five years on probation, with the potential that she could serve three years in prison and three years on extended supervision if she violates the terms of her probation. She was also ordered to pay $64,869 in restitution, according to online court records. Anderson, 44, was sentenced in September to five years on probation for his role in the crime. RACINE A Racine woman is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Oct. 19 regarding charges she is facing for allegedly selling oxycodone from her home earlier this year. According to a criminal complaint, Deanea M. Guenther, 41, of the 1500 block of Boyd Avenue, in April twice met with a cooperating citizen working with the Racine County Metro Drug Unit. For both incidents, the citizen allegedly wore a hidden camera. During the first incident on April 26, the cooperating citizen allegedly purchased 10 oxycodone pills from Guenther and the citizen recorded the sale on camera, which reportedly showed a child in the background, the complaint said. The citizen reportedly purchased 15 pills during the second encounter, which took place on April 27, according to the complaint. On June 27, the Racine County Metro Drug Unit executed a search warrant on Guenthers residence and allegedly discovered Guenther on the porch. Numerous children were found in the house, according to the complaint. Guenther admitted that she was selling oxycodone from her home from her prescription, her mothers prescription and her nieces prescription, the complaint said. Guenther, who was charged on Monday, faces two felony charges for delivery of scheduled narcotics, three other felony charges for second degree recklessly endangering safety, possession with intent to deliver narcotics and maintaining a drug trafficking place. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 19 at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave. Guenther remained in custody as of Monday night at the County Jail, online records indicated. RACINE The student government at Horlick High School didnt have a lot of time to organize the fall blood drive. It was almost not a thing this year because it was rushed, said Shannon Campion, a senior and student government president. The blood drive has been happening since before we were in high school. The change to block scheduling has meant the Horlick student government often meets on their own time. We have to do a lot of after-school meetings or before-school meetings, Campion said. Its been kind of stressful to get all of this together. With roughly a week to pull things together, the students started calling local restaurants to donate food for the blood drive. Its a really nice incentive for people to donate (blood), once they hear (Buffalo Wild Wings) is donating, Campion said. The community answered the call and the students got donations from places like Buffalo Wild Wings, Chipotle, Joses Blue Sombrero, Toppers Pizza, Sausage Kitchen and Chick-Fil-A. Even Piggly Wiggly donated $300 worth of gift cards for the students to purchase plates and cups. Were really grateful for that because without them we wouldnt really be able to have it, Campion said. Critical donations The school partnered with the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, which came to the school and drew blood from more than 150 students on Wednesday during the schools homecoming week. Fay Spano, director of public relations for the BloodCenter, said these blood drives at Wisconsin high schools are critical to the center. We typically we see a drop in blood donations over the summer because the schools arent in session, Spano said. Its a tribute to the students who organize these blood drives on their own. Last year, according to the BloodCenter, 14 high schools in Racine County held blood drives, resulting in more than 1,200 blood donations. In 2015 across the whole state 253 high schools held blood drives, contributing more than 14,500 blood donations. With this one day we have the ability to save hundreds of lives because with every blood donation you can save three lives, Campion said. Campion and junior Kylie Mattice have been working together organizing the blood drive for the last three years. The blood thats donated here, it stays in Wisconsin, Mattice said. The student government hopes the blood drive reminds others about how important it is to donate. People forget about it, Campion said. And how easily you could need a transfusion. You get into a car accident or something happens to you, a blood transfusion can save your life. RACINE According to a survey conducted by the Cleveland Clinic, just over 40 percent of men will only visit the doctors office when they think there is something seriously wrong with their health. Additionally, 19 percent of men admit they only go to the doctor to stop their significant other from nagging them. In an effort to tackle the issue of mens health care locally, the City of Racine Health Department will present a free community interest program entitled Sustainable Health Care For Men from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, at the Golden Rondelle Theater, 1525 Howe St. The presentation will contain information beneficial to men and those who care for and support them. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 300,000 men in the United States lose their lives to cancer every year. The most common kinds of cancer among men in the U.S. are skin cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and colorectal (colon) cancer. There are effective prevention methods and screenings for each type of these cancers. This program will encourage men to look for ways to improve health and wellness at all stages of life. The keynote presentation will feature Dr. Terry Mason, chief operations officer of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System in Illinois. Mason will provide information on prostate cancer and mens health issues as he advocates for critical lifestyle choices and the role these choices have in mens health. For reservations, go to www.scjohnson.com/CIPreservations or call 262-260-2154. MOUNT PLEASANT A community meeting on Lake Michigan bluff erosion has been set for Tuesday. The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive. Residents can engage with experts on issues related to the erosion discuss steps to protect their property, according to a village press release. Various agencies involved in combating the erosion will also provide updates, officials said. Wisconsin Emergency Management, Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wisconsin Coastal Management Program and the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute have been invited to attend. It's the second community meeting scheduled since severe erosion issues came to the forefront earlier this year. Officials have said dozens of homes in Mount Pleasant and Caledonia, as well as public utilities and infrastructure, are threatened by erosion caused by high Lake Michigan water levels. RACINE About 200 Racine absentee ballots and counting could be considered void due to incomplete witness addresses, Racine City Administrator Tom Friedel said Monday. On the absentee form, in addition to putting your name, theres a place for a witness, he said. Every absentee voter is required to have a witness and put their full address and thats the problem area. According to Friedel, the Wisconsin Elections Commission notified municipalities across the state Thursday about the importance of absentee voters writing the entire address of their witness in the specified area on the form. City employees are reaching out to absentee voters with incomplete ballots to attempt to rectify the situation. Weve been contacting those people by phone, Friedel said. The voters must give consent for us to write the city and state in. Oftentimes, the addresses of the witnesses can be easily identified as Racine addresses even without the municipality written in, but according to Friedel, state law specifies that city employees still need permission to finish filling out the ballot. They dont have to be city addresses, he added. Somebody could be visiting from Alaska and they could be your witness. Friedel said that extra staffers brought in by the city this month are calling the affected voters. However, those employees were originally hired to aid with registration and absentee voting collection and not this specific issue. We added extra staff, but not for this purpose, Friedel said. We have added extra staff for the next four weeks. Thus far, Friedel said hes been encouraged by the results of the phone calls. I think were recovering nicely, he said. Fortunately a lot of the people who were calling have landlines. Part of that could be because many of the ballots in question came from older voters. Anecdotally, I talked to one of the clerks who has been doing the calling and that has been her experience so far, Friedel said. The 200-ballot estimation is likely to fluctuate over the next few weeks as clerks resolve issues by contacting voters and more incomplete ballots file in. As for what Friedel thinks could be done in the future to avoid this problem, he said adding a disclaimer about witness addresses could help significantly. Well add notifications to next years mailings, he said. No other reports The issue had not surfaced in other county municipalities contacted Monday. Burlington City Clerk Diahnn Halbach said Monday that the most common problem she notices is unsigned absentee ballots, while Mount Pleasant Village Clerk Stephanie Kohlhagen said the villages absentee voters are 100 percent so far at filling out their ballots completely. Those looking for certain decorations from Wind Point resident Nick Comandes now-retired Halloween display, Hollows Way, will need to head over to Mount Pleasant instead. Comande passed down the torch and some of his decor to his first cousin twice removed, Brayden LoPiccolo, after last years holiday was Hollows Ways 50th and final year. The state Republican Party is asking the Waupaca County District Attorney to investigate the Democratic Waupaca mayor over allegations that he used government resources to help his campaign against incumbent Republican Sen. Luther Olsen of Ripon. In May, after Mayor Brian Smith announced his candidacy, the Waupaca County Democratic Party chairman Philip Nolan forwarded three emails to Smith's city email address that included voter lists, Smith's candidate nomination form and other campaign-related materials. The mayor responded to one of the emails. Smith called the complaint "frivolous" and said it was based on a few emails that were forwarded to him before he asked Nolan to stop. State GOP excutive director Mike Duffey alleged Smith violated state and Waupaca County laws prohibiting using government resources for a candidate's personal gain. Waupaca County District Attorney John Snider's office on Monday acknowledged receiving the complaint but he declined further comment. Smith responded to one of the emails, and told Nolan he "was unable" to open any of the attachments. Smith said this meant he refused to do so because he was using his city email address. It is not illegal for government officials to receive campaign-related emails unsolicited. He said he told Nolan to stop using his city email address after that email was sent. Nolan did not respond to a request for comment. "I can't stop people from sending me emails and I think I did pretty good job of (getting them to stop) -- as you can see, there aren't any (forwarded) emails after May," Smith said. "I almost feel bad I'm putting our legal and law enforcement staff in this situation -- it's so frivolous and they have so many other things to do." State GOP spokesman Pat Garrett said the emails warrant a deeper review. While the emails attached to the complaint, with the exception of one, do not show Smith's name as a recipient or sender, Smith said Monday the emails were forwarded to him. Olsen did not return a phone call seeking comment. Chicago Crime Continues to Spiral Out of Control By John Boch. October 9th, 2016 When Donald Trump mentioned that violence in Chicago is out of control, that upset a lot of folks, especially on the left. The inconvenient truth, though, is that he's right. Homicides in Chicago are on a record pace. Crime in general has skyrocketed as well. The graphic at the top of this page represents homicides in Chicago versus military casualties among those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. With homicides since September 6th, Chicago is just shy of 8,000 total dead in that time span. It'll likely happen by the end of this coming weekend. It's also interesting to see how few cases the Cook County State's Attorney prosecutes through to a conviction. And even where there is a conviction, meaningful prison sentences are nearly non-existent. ...... The main point to be made here is that the vast percentage of shootings and homicides is gang related, but,the anti-gun crowd as ever will ignore that and lump in these figures to the totals and then use that to gain leverage to their call for bans. It might also be added that guns used will for the most part not have been legally obtained, but will still be 'blamed' for 'gun violence' - further leverage for the disarmament crowd. The status quo continues. "You don't have to be Jewish to fight by our side." 2016 JPFO All rights reserved. jpfo@jpfo.org 1-800-869-1884 Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership 12500 NE 10th Pl. Bellevue, WA 98005 USA Americas most aggressive civil rights organization We make the NRA look like moderates Join JPFO Back to Top NC prez Deuba, UML Chair Oli extend Vijaya Dashami wishes Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli have all extended hearty best wishes to all the Nepali citizens on the occasion of the Bijaya Dashami festival 2073 BS. New South Wales reverses greyhound racing ban The government of the Australian state of New South Wales has reversed plans to ban greyhound racing. Vijaya Dashami being celebrated today (In pictures) The 10th day of the Bada Dasain festival is being celebrated all over the country on Tuesday with great enthusiasm by receiving Tika and blessings from elders. VP Pun extends wishes on Bijaya Dashami Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun has extended his greetings and wishes for national prosperity and happiness, peace and prosperity to all the Nepali brothers and sisters in the country and abroad on the occasion of the Bijyaya Dashami festial 2073 BS. A section of city traders has fallen out with the current leadership of the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) and formed the Kampala Arcaders Traders Association (KATA) accusing the former of failing to address their grievances. The spokesperson of newly formed traders faction -KATA, Henry Mpungu, says their major objective is to have a common body as traders in arcades that will help in finding solutions to their problems. He revealed that under their new body, they will cater for every category of trader to ensure that their rights are defended, and make their businesses more vibrant. Meanwhile, Kacita Chairperson, Everest Kayondo has dismissed KATAs claims as baseless, stressing that they have been effectively handling the traders issues for the last 15 years. He advised them to focus on fighting those frustrating city traders but not those who are defending their rights. Story By Damali Mukhaye The head of the European Union delegation to Uganda has called for the abolition of the death penalty. Ambassador Kristian Schmidt says Uganda has the highest number of laws that prescribe the death penalty for criminal offenders as the maximum sentence. He argues that there were 209 people on death row as of 2nd March 2016, a situation he says can only be addressed by abolishing the death penalty. He says the death penalty has already been abolished in many countries across the globe and Uganda should make a similar move. In a related development, the chairperson of parliaments human rights committee Jovah Kamateeka is asking the civil society to take the lead in sensitizing Ugandans about why the death penalty should be abolished. Kamateeka has challenged these organisations to ensure that they provide a condusive environment so that when the law is re-tabled in parliament, it finds the ground softened. She says that with adequate sensitization, the campaign against the death penalty will get the support it needs to ensure safety of Ugandas inmates who are on death row. Story By Damali Mukhaye The Forum for Democratic Change party has condemned the manner in which the police handled their leaders yesterday as they planned to hold parallel independence celebration. Addressing journalists at the party headquarters in Najjanakumbi, the party President Mugisha Muntu criticized the government for violating their freedom to assemble. He also attacked the government for playing double standards by allowing members of the Uganda Peoples Congress to celebrate their independence in Lira while the ruling NRM government attended the national celebrations in Luuka district. Yesterday police arrested a number of opposition figures at their homes as they planned to hold their own event at Katwe play grounds. Those arrested include Dr. Kizza Besigye, Makindye West MP Allan SSewanyana, Kampala Lord mayor Erias Lukwago. Muntu has berated the government for this describing it as panic by the government, vowing that they will continue with their campaign to bring change to Uganda. Opposition Forum for Democratic Change has welcomed Gen kale Kaihuras pledge to hunt down armed robbers in Kitgum district but cautions on general security concerns in northern Uganda. Mr Reagan Okumu (FDC-Aswa County) the FDC Vice President for Northern region says that the police chief should instead beef up security in the entire region due to similar incidents of mysterious killings. The Inspector General of Police pledged to residents of Kitgum Municipality that he would deploy the fly Squad to hunt down armed robbers. Okumu however cautions that handling Kitgum municipality alone cannot end security gaps in Kitgum. Gen Kaihuras pledge by followed his visit to the district just after two people including Mr Tony Olanyah a former Customs Officer in the Uganda Revenue Authority were gunned down mysteriously. South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party said Tuesday the country must consider stricter actions against Chinese boats accused of obstructing justice in Korean waters, adding options could include the use of force and firearms. "(We urge the government) to implement an active crackdown on illegal and violent resistance from unregistered Chinese fishing boats, which interferes with the execution of law by local authorities," said Rep. Kim Gwang-lim, Saenuri's chief policymaker. Kim added the government must prepare countermeasures to protect the livelihoods of local fishermen and to protect the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The remark came after a Coast Guard boat was sunk last week during a law enforcement operation by a Chinese boat illegally operating in the area. The Coast Guard said one of its 4.5-ton speedboats was engaged in stopping a Chinese fishing vessel that was in South Korean waters without permission, when a 100-ton ship intentionally rear-ended it. The boat that rammed the Coast Guard boat was part of a larger flotilla of Chinese boats operating illegally in the EEZ. The rate of seizing Chinese fishing boats that were illegally operating in South Korean waters has remained well below 1 percent in the past five years, the country's Coast Guard said Tuesday. The number of Chinese vessels that emerged near South Korea's northern sea border area, called Northern Limit Line (NLL), or the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Yellow Sea increased from 53,359 in 2012 to 95,064 in 2014 and reached over the 100,000 mark last year, according to the Coast Guard. This year's tally was 50,022 as of September, but is likely to increase during the winter season, it said. Still, the seizure rate stood at 0.11 percent in 2012, with only 63 vessels having been caught, data showed. It was 0.04 percent in both 2014 and 2015. "Even among the Chinese fishermen, they say it is extremely unlucky if they are caught by South Korea's Coast Guard," an official said, asking not to be named, citing office rules. It is not easy to actually seize them as the authorities' boats in crackdown operations are outnumbered by the Chinese vessels, the official said. There have been growing calls to toughen control over the Chinese boats poaching in South Korean waters as they have recently become more violent and organized. On Friday, a 4.5-ton Coast Guard speedboat was sunk during an operation in the Yellow Sea after a 100-ton Chinese boat intentionally rear-ended it. No one was hurt, but the incident showed the blatant disregard for the local law the Chinese fishermen exhibit when operating in South Korea's waters. (Yonhap) South Korea and Japan will hold a meeting this week on ways to promote bilateral partnerships in the health care industry, a government ministry here said Tuesday. The South Korean government has held the annual conference since 1993 to boost business and trade cooperation with the Japanese region of Kyushu. The neighboring countries take turns hosting the event. This year's session of the Korea-Kyushu Economic Exchange Conference will be held in Fukuoka on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Under the theme of "The cooperation and future of South Korean and Japanese health care industries," it will focus on how to strengthen ties between the two sides in the field, added the ministry. One-to-one business consultation meetings will be held as well for companies involved in the health care sector, as some South Korean firms plan to participate in the Eco-Techno 2016 Expo to open in Kyushu on Wednesday for a three-day run. (Yonhap) By Doug Bandow North Korea's Kim Jong-un continues his confrontational course. After conducting his nation's fifth nuclear test, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter declared it to be a "direct challenge to the entire international community." But this is complete hooey, to use a technical term. It's about time for the "international community" to stop acting as if there really is an international community. And especially that any of the many bad guys around the globe pay the slightest attention to that mythical body. There's certainly no consensus of the world's 7.4 billion people behind whatever policy the U.S. government, let alone Secretary Carter, might advocate. Even more, it's fair to assume that Kim isn't much concerned about what the "international community" thinks, let alone intends to "challenge" it. Kim, like his father and grandfather before him, has more specific foreign targets in mind. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea faces manifold threats and potential threats. The "international community" is not one of them. The United Nations Security Council might impose sanctions, but that body is only a tool of its members, and enforcement is possible only through them. So Pyongyang adopts the perfectly sensible policy of targeting those countries, not the fantasy "international community." Why nukes? It's not hard to figure out. First, and most important, there's the South Korea-U.S. alliance. Deterring the U.S. is no easy task, especially for the government of an impoverished, sometimes starving society; nuclear weapons are about the cheapest, most effective means of doing so. After all, Washington's proclivity for regime change does not run to nuclear powers. Indian army officials made this observation after the first Gulf war. The DPRK was brutally dismissive of Libya's decision to give up his nuclear and missile programs; Pyongyang made clear that it would not make a similar mistake. While the U.S. might be the main target in a deterrent sense, not for a suicidal first strike it is not the only one. Japan, though only slowly abandoning its pacifist heritage, remains distrusted, even hated, by Pyongyang (as well as the Republic of Korea). Also on the North's naughty list, ironically, are its traditional allies, Russia and China. The DPRK began its nuclear program during the Cold War, when it still could theoretically rely upon support from both the People's Republic of China and Soviet Union. But North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung jealously guarded his regime's independence. Only nuclear weapons would free the North of reliance on its supposed friends. Moreover, these days it's not so clear either qualifies as a friend. The Soviet-Pyongyang relationship essentially ruptured after the end of the Cold War, when Moscow established diplomatic relations with the ROK. Although bilateral relations recently rebounded, Russia remains a minor player in Korean affairs. In contrast, the PRC plays a much larger role in DPRK affairs, and therefore is resented much more in Pyongyang. Chinese enterprises heavily invest in and trade with the North; one reason offered for the execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle nearly three years ago was the "selling of precious resources of the country for cheap prices" to the PRC. Beijing pressured all three Kim regimes to reform the economy and abandon the nuclear program. Pyongyang consistently dismissed the PRC's advice, sometimes in humiliating fashion. The two countries might better be referred to as "frenemies" than allies. Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan. North Korea plans to hold an international event in August 2017 to bolster the personality cult of three generations of late founder Kim Il-sung's family, Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday. The North plans to hold a gathering to praise the accomplishments of the Kim family at Mt. Baekdu, the highest peak on the Korean Peninsula, and in Pyongyang next year, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). North Korea's founder Kim, his son Kim Jong-il and the North's current leader Kim Jong-un are called the Mt. Baekdu bloodline in the country, which helps reaffirm the legitimacy of the Kim family's three-generation succession. The KCNA said that next year will be important as it marks the 105th anniversary of the late founder's birthday and the 75th birthday of Kim Jong-il who died in late 2011 due to heart failure. The year of 2017 will also mark the fifth anniversary of the current leader Kim Jong-un being elected to the first secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). At a party congress in May, Kim's title was changed to the WPK's chairman. The KCNA said that colorful political and cultural events should be held throughout next year to praise the young leader. The move is seen as North Korea's bid to break away from international isolation while promoting the Kim Jong-un's regime by highlighting his one-man leadership. North Korea has strengthened the personality cult of the current leader since Kim took office in December 2011 following the sudden death of his father. (Yonhap) ANGOLA After 24 years as a firefighter for other communities, Ryan Shambaugh is coming home to serve as Auburns new fire marshal. Officially, Shambaugh holds the title of division chief for the Fire Prevention Division of the Auburn Fire Department. Shambaugh has been looking forward to a job as a fire inspector for a long time, he said Monday at Auburns Fire Station No. 1. We definitely knew he was the right fit for the job, said Fire Chief Mike VanZile. After graduating from DeKalb High School in 1989, Shambaugh started his career in 1992 as volunteer for the Orange Township Fire Department of Rome City, where he continued for six years I knew I wanted to be a paid, career firefighter, he said. He achieved that goal in 1998, when he was hired as full-time firefighter in New Castle, in east central Indiana. Looking to get closer to his roots, in 2004 Shambaugh joined the Angola Fire Department for a 12-year stay as a fire engine driver and operator. He also served as the contact for the city building department and fire prevention program. Now, the opportunity to join his hometown fire department represents a wonderful, true blessing for my family, he said. Shambaugh and his wife, fellow DeKalb graduate Stacy (Taylor), and their 16-year-old daughter will be moving to Auburn in two weeks, he said. Throughout his career, Shambaugh said, he has been just loving the fire service, being out and helping the community and everything that comes along with a job. While at Angola, he worked part-time as a building inspector for LaGrange County, while earning state and national certificates as a fire inspector and taking courses at Ivy Tech. I like being out in the public and working on fire prevention, he said. Weve always had a good fire inspection, code inspection program with (retired fire marshal) Dave Bunn, and we want to continue that for the community, VanZile said. The goal of the fire department is to create a safe community for everybody. Shambaugh said his role calls for eliminating safety hazards and protecting building occupants and owners. Its not just about being a code enforcer, he said. Its about educating the public. Its about keeping the public safe. Seven arrested over the weekend ANGOLA The following people were arrested by law enforcement officers working in Steuben County over the weekend and lodged in the Steuben County Jail. Ryan A. Bussing, 48, of the 600 block of North Washington Street, arrested on a civil warrant alleging contempt of court. Catherine M. Melhuish, 31, of the 900 block of Willis Avenue, Syracuse, New York, arrested in the 6000 block of Old U.S. 27 on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct and felony charge of battery to a law enforcement officer. Frankie J. Mullins, 48, of the 8000 block of East C.R. 560S, Wolcottville, arrested on a warrant alleging felony nonsupport of a dependent child. Trenton M. Pifer, 25, of the 300 block of Lane 587AA Lake James, Fremont, arrested on a warrant alleging misdemeanor failure to appear. Gabriel M. Reger, 21, of the 2000 block of North S.R. 3, LaGrange, arrested on a warrant alleging misdemeanor failure to appear. Martin A. Surma, 22, of the 100 block of South Darling Street, arrested at home on a felony charge of battery with a deadly weapon. Tahat Tirado-Guzman, 29, of the 100 block of East Franklin Street, New Holland, Pennsylvania, arrested at AWayne and Woodhull streets on a misdemeanor charge of operating while intoxicated. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today A few showers early, becoming a steady light rain for the afternoon. High 61F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Cloudy with light rain this evening. Low 48F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. Teresa ODonnell-Ebners recent questions (HCN, Sept. 29) about why Minnesotans are not receiving needed tax relief can be answered with two simple words: Gov. Dayton. Despite what ODonnell-Ebner wants you to believe, the taxes bill was completed on time. It was supported by 89 percent of Democrats and Republicans in the entire legislature because it would have assisted working families, farmers, Main Street business owners, and college students, among others. It would have provided needed tax relief to the Caledonia School District and re-established income tax reciprocity with Wisconsin. And Gov. Dayton killed it because he wanted more money for another train for Minneapolis. The drafting error she speaks of? In the past, these have always been handled with a tax chairmans letter signed by both of the chairmen from the House and Senate agreeing to rectify the situation. There were also a number of other different ways we could have solved this issue, which I outlined in a letter to Gov. Dayton before he made his veto decision. Instead the governor ignored it and vetoed the bill over a drafting error. The reason why is very simple: political gamesmanship. We could have held a one-day special session on tax relief alone and approved it within minutes. But Gov. Dayton chose not to call one because the Legislature would not agree to spend more money on a train for Minneapolis. It is truly a shame that the governor chose politics over what was best for Minnesotans across this state, but thats exactly what he did. Deep down, Im guessing ODonnell-Ebner knows this as well, but those facts dont fit well into her partisan Election Day preferences. ARCADIA Gov. Walker visited Arcadia on Monday afternoon to check out infrastructure meant to boost the city's economy. The governor toured a nearly finished flood control project in the city and was part of two two-ribbon cuttings: one at an Ashley Furniture Industries expansion project and another at the company's new Chapel Hill Advanced Technology Center. The $1.5 million flood control project moved 125,000 cubic yards of earth to divert and re-landscape Myers Valley Creek. The city sustained $10 million in damage in 2010 when the creek overflowed its banks and water rushed into downtown. Walker stopped to look at the current state of the project, funded in part by a $500,000 Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant. Ashley donated six acres of land to provide the new creek channel as well as a promise of $300,000 upon completion of the project. The governor stopped briefly to look at photos of the project's first test: flash flooding last month. Both Arcadia Mayor Bob Reichwein and Ashley founder and chairman Ron Wanek said the flood control project prevented flooding that could have been as bad as or worse than that in 2010. "This was all water," Reichwein said. "If it had been 2010, it would have all gone downtown. It's too bad we had to take it (the project) for a test-drive so quick." Walker's next stop was just up the hill from the creek at Ashley's new technology center on St. Joseph Avenue. Housed in the former St. Joseph Hospital building, built in 1948 by the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Angels, the facility was bought by Ashley in 2015 from previous owner Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare for $100,000. On Monday, Ashley employees hosted an open house. The top two floors have been renovated and work continues on the bottom two. During one of the tours, Ashley interior designer Lindsey Aschenbrener took guests through the construction work and finished by highlighting the new offices and meeting space in the center. The renovations have taken care to keep as much of the original brickwork and concrete columns as possible she said while removing and donating Catholic iconography and religious artifacts. The new office space features a lot of natural light as well as glass windows and doors to keep the space feeling open. "It's fun to be in the brand new building we kind of had a hand in designing," Aschenbrener said. Information technology, marketing and interior design staff have moved into the building. The 82,000-square-foot building will house more than 200 office professionals when construction work is completed next spring. During the dedication ceremony, Ashley CEO Todd Wanek spoke of how the company is investing in the city. Earlier in the day, the company held a ribbon cutting for a 155,000-square-foot expansion to one of its manufacturing plants, part of $50 million the company has invested in Arcadia and Whitehall over the past year and a half. The center will be an anchor for high-tech jobs in the city, Wanek said. The company likely will move its employee wellness center into the Chapel Hill facility, allowing room for future company growth. "We are making sure we have a path to the future," Wanek said. "We want to always make sure the company is always cutting edge and state-of-the-art." HOUSTON, Minn. The Houston Public School District was briefly placed on lockdown Monday after a threat, according to the Houston County Sheriffs Office. After a threat of violence was made toward Houston Public Schools, the preschool, elementary, middle school and high school students were in a short lockdown, then all students were escorted from the building, and were dismissed from school safely, the office said. The office was questioning a juvenile boy in connection with the event. The office said it had no additional information to release Monday evening, but would release more going forward. I want to thank all the students, parents, teachers, school administration and citizens for your cooperation with our local law enforcement, sheriff Mark Inglett said in a statement. Wisconsin Republicans either reiterated their support for Donald Trump or said nothing Monday, even after House Speaker Paul Ryan told nervous members of his caucus that he will not defend the GOP presidential nominee or campaign with him before the election. In La Crosse, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson called Trumps remarks about groping women indefensible but did not rescind his support for the nominee. The first-term Republican, who is in a tight race against former Sen. Russ Feingold, deflected questions about Trumps fitness to hold the office, talking instead about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In a country of 320 million people, when you take a look at the two candidates, certainly I wish we had better role models, Johnson said. Im certainly concerned about Hillary Clinton. U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, whose northern Wisconsin district was the only one Trump carried in the April primary, stood by Trump while Gov. Scott Walker, GOP legislative leaders and others were silent. I never endorsed Donald Trump because of his stance on women or his family values, Duffy said in a statement. I endorsed him for his policies ... four years of Hillary Clinton would be unacceptable. More than two dozen Republicans in Congress have called on Trump to step down and at least a dozen more have pulled their support, including Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte who are in tough re-election fights in battleground states. Speaking to reporters after addressing a gathering of business leaders at the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce, Johnson listed some of the scandals that have plagued Clinton, including her handling of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi and her use of a private email server while secretary of state and said she threatened and trashed the women that Bill Clinton used and abused. Her actions, to me, completely disqualify her from being president of the United States, Johnson said. We ought to be talking a little bit more about that. Trumps campaign was thrown into crisis Friday with the release of audio from 2005 featuring Trump making lewd remarks and bragging about how his fame allowed him to do anything to women. During the second presidential debate Sunday, the businessman dismissed his comments as locker room talk and insisted he had great respect for women. At the debate, Trump turned up his attacks on Hillary Clinton, labeling her the devil and threatening to throw her in jail for her email practices at the State Department. He also accused her husband, former President Bill Clinton, of having been abusive to women. Johnson echoed those attacks in a Monday interview on WLIP-AM in Kenosha by questioning why Feingold is standing by Clinton. Johnson said Clintons dereliction of duty cost four American lives in Benghazi and her use of a private email server put national security at risk. Johnson said Clinton trashed the women that Bill Clinton abused another line of attack that Trump used against her in the debate. Feingold reiterated his call for Johnson to pull his support for Trump. Ryan told fellow Republicans on a rare out-of-session conference call Monday that rather than defend Trump or campaign for him, he would focus on helping Republicans maintain their majority in the House, said one person on the call. The House Speaker all but conceded that Trump couldnt win the presidency, telling House members he was focusing on making sure that Hillary Clinton does not get a blank check, said the source, who requested anonymity in sharing the details of the private call. Ryan canceled a Trump campaign appearance in Wisconsin on Saturday in what would have been their first joint appearance. Ryan was heckled by some Trump supporters as he addressed a rally originally designed as a display of party unity. The 8th Congressional District in northeast Wisconsin is open this year and Ryan has said hes focused on helping Mike Gallagher win the seat against Democrat Tom Nelson. Republican Rep. Reid Ribble, who holds the seat now and is retiring after this year, was an early Trump opponent. Johnson asked why Feingold is standing by Clinton, saying her dereliction of duty cost four American lives in Benghazi and her use of a private email server put national security at risk and that she trashed the women that Bill Clinton abused. A La Crosse County judge heard arguments Monday on whether to uphold state approval of a second high-voltage power line slated to run through the town of Holland. The town petitioned the court for review of the Public Service Commissions approval of the Badger-Coulee line and its routing, which will follow the Hwy. 53 corridor parallel to the recently-built CapX2020 line, but on separate poles. A joint venture of American Transmission Co. and several regional utility companies, including La Crosse-based Dairyland Power Cooperative, the 180-mile line will run between the Madison suburbs and Holmen, where it will connect to another high-voltage line, CapX2020, that runs across Minnesota and western Wisconsin. The owners say the lines will make the electric grid more reliable and provide a pipeline between remote locations with strong wind resources with population centers such as Madison and Milwaukee where the energy is needed. The $580 million cost will be passed on to ratepayers in 15 Midwestern states and one Canadian province. The three-member PSC, all appointed by Gov. Scott Walker, approved the project in 2015 with a route that essentially parallels CapX through the town of Holland, often putting massive towers side by side or on opposite sides of the road. The town challenged the ruling, arguing that the PSC did not follow state law when it comes to establishing a need for such projects, that the agencys environmental review was insufficient, and that it was wrong to route the line through the town without using the existing poles. Unlike CapX2020, which the PSC decided was necessary to meet the supply demand of the La Crosse area, Badger-Coulee was not billed as a project to keep the lights on but one that would make the electric grid more resilient and ultimately save ratepayers millions of dollars by opening the door to lower-priced electricity. Those savings depend largely on the future growth of electricity sales, which have been essentially flat over the past decade. We do not believe the legislature authorized the Public Service Commission to make bets with ratepayer money and impose the litany of burdens that come with a transmission line, said Frank Jablonski, attorney for the town. PSC attorney Alex Mahfood argued the agency, with its staff of engineers, economists and environmental experts, should be given broad deference to interpret state law and exercise judgment in whether and where such projects should be built. Attorneys for ATC and several partner utilities spoke in support of the PSC decision, as did an attorney for the city of Onalaska, which argued against siting the line through its borders. Judge Todd Bjerke could affirm the PSCs decision, overturn it on the grounds of need, require the agency to conduct another environmental review or require that the line be strung on the same poles as CapX. Its not clear when he will issue a decision. ATC has started building the eastern end of the line and is doing engineering and design of the rest. Construction of the segments in La Crosse and Trempealeau counties is expected to start sometime next year, and the line is scheduled to be in service by the end of 2018. Hundreds of people walk in and out of the employee entrance hallway at the Gundersen La Crosse Hospital every day. But when it came to a near- Wisconsins bear season closed Tuesday with at least 40 hunting dogs confirmed killed by wolves, far exceeding the previous record of 23. The states growing wolf population or possible increased hunting activity could have contributed to the number of dogs killed or it could be an anomaly, said state Department of Natural Resources large carnivore specialist Dave MacFarland. We dont have much to go on except speculation, MacFarland said. We know things are happening where there are a lot of wolves and dogs. Many hunters blame the end of the states wolf hunt, which has been followed by rapid growth in the wolf population. Others say wolf numbers needed to grow to avoid a repeat of the disappearance of the animal from the state, and that bear hunters could protect their dogs by avoiding known wolf caution areas established by the state. MacFarland said scientific study will be needed to determine what caused the higher death toll. Everybody can agree that we hope we dont see a repeat of what we saw this year, MacFarland said. Although the hunt ended Tuesday, more hunting dog deaths could be reported to the agency on Wednesday. Pat Quaintance, president of the Wisconsin Association of Sporting Dogs, said wolves are so thick and damage to domestic animals so great in the northernmost part of the state that he believes residents will begin poaching the endangered species. Theyll take matters in their own hands. There will be an all-out war on wolves, Quaintance said. After the all-but-extinct wolf was given protected status, its numbers grew in Wisconsin, prompting its removal from the endangered list in 2012. Three hunts were held with critics warning that another population collapse was imminent before a judge found fault with state management and placed the species back on the list in 2014. The estimated winter population of wolves grew 16 percent to about 900 this year, and claims for financial compensation from livestock and dog owners have also been on the rise. Melissa Smith, executive director of Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf, said livestock damage caused by wolves isnt great, and it could be minimized if more farmers used measures such as fencing and noise-making devices that scare wolves away. The roughly $200,000 the state paid to farmers, hunters and others to compensate for wolf damage should be spent to help keep wolves, bear and other animals from damaging livestock and crops, Smith said. At the $2,500 rate the state pays owners of hunting dogs killed by wolves, the bill for taxpayers probably will reach $100,000 this year. Smith said far fewer dogs would be killed if hunters didnt run dogs through areas the DNR cautions against because wolves are protecting pups or already in the habit of fighting off dogs. I dont think they care about their dogs very much, Smith said. Quaintance said hunters he knows care about their dogs, and about wolves, too, but there are too many of the wild predators. This year, Quaintance said, he decided against hunting in a part of Bayfield County after seeing fresh wolf tracks. He didnt lose any dogs this year, but in the last two decades bear hunters have lost thousands of acres of hunting land to wolves. Theres no place now that a guy can turn a dog loose without it getting attacked by a wolf, Quaintance said. A DNR map of reported wolf-dog conflicts shows several expanses where no dogs were killed this year, but Quaintance said they were areas that werent hospitable to bear hunting because they lacked enough public land or had other shortcomings. DNR maps show areas of Bayfield, Ashland, Sawyer, Lincoln, Burnett, Douglas, Iron and Clark counties where dogs were attacked by wolves after previous attacks led to caution maps being posted online. The DNRs MacFarland said its not clear why, but after a wolf pack has once attacked a dog, it is more likely to do so again if the opportunity is presented. Wisconsin Wildlife Federation executive director George Meyer said wolves stir up strong emotions, positive and negative, but in the end, the federal government will need to remove the species from the endangered list so that hunting can resume with scientists setting quotas that will result in a sustainable population. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is standing by fellow Republican Donald Trump, even as other party members campaigning for the U.S. Senate in competitive states have abandoned their embattled White House nominee. Other top Wisconsin statehouse Republicans stayed silent Monday after a weekend in which dozens of prominent national Republicans deserted Trump a development that, at this stage of a presidential campaign, is without modern precedent. The catalyst was Fridays Washington Post report on a 2005 video in which Trump brags about making unsolicited advances on women because when youre a star, they let you do it. Since then, U.S. Sens. Kelly Ayotte, John McCain and Rob Portman, and U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, all Republicans in potentially competitive Senate races, renounced their support for Trump. Johnson denounced Trumps comments Friday, calling them completely indefensible. But he has continued to support Trumps candidacy. Speaking Monday to WLIP-AM radio in Kenosha, Johnson asked about his opponent, Democrat Russ Feingold, calling for him to revoke his endorsement of Trump responded by echoing one of Trumps key attacks against Clinton in Sunday nights presidential debate. Johnson accused Clinton of having not only threatened but trashed women who alleged abuse by her husband, Bill Clinton. The former president never faced criminal charges in connection with the allegations. But Trump and his allies have latched onto them to argue Hillary Clinton is hypocritical. I dont know how Sen. Feingold can support Hillary Clinton, Johnson said. Feingold, D-Middleton, said Monday that Johnson is putting politics before country in standing by Trump. Beyond politics, we all have a responsibility to do whats right for this nation, Feingold said. It has never been more obvious in the history of this country that a person like Donald Trump should not be president. Many other state Republicans declined to comment on Trump. Gov. Scott Walkers campaign spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Walker participated in at least two official events Monday, in Stevens Point and Arcadia, without notifying reporters in advance as is customary. State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, also declined to respond to requests for comment. Their Democratic counterparts called for them and other state Republicans to denounce Trumps statements, or at least tell the public where they stand. I think this is a time for people to stand up for whats right, said Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha. Theres a point at which your loyalty to your party should come second to your loyalty to your country. In the state Senate, Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, released a statement from her campaign naming 24 Republicans who are members of or candidates for the Senate who had not publicly denounced Trumps statements and rescinded their support. Shilling said Democrats and Republicans should be united in our opposition to sexual assault and gender inequality. State Journal reporter Matthew DeFour contributed to this report. Gov. Scott Walker today sent a letter to President Barack Obama requesting a federal disaster declaration for 12 western Wisconsin counties after torrential rains and flash floods last month caused more than $11 million in damage to roads and public infrastructure. The request is for federal assistance to help local governments recover from the disaster. "Once again, heavy rains caused flash flooding and mudslides over a large section of our state causing widespread damage to homes, businesses and roads, Walker said. We need the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to quickly approve this request. The flooding has put huge strains on many local budgets and time is of the essence as crews are working hard to get these roads and bridges repaired before winter begins. Walker requested federal disaster assistance for Adams, Chippewa, Clark, Crawford, Eau Claire, Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe, Richland, Trempealeau and Vernon counties. Last week, FEMA, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Wisconsin Emergency Management conducted damage assessments across the impacted areas with local officials. The Public Assistance Program would help communities recover some of the costs incurred fighting the floods, protecting citizens, removing debris, and repairing roads and other infrastructure. The program is not for businesses or homeowners. However, Walker is working with other federal and state agencies to see if there are additional programs that could provide assistance to flood victims. Heavy rains pummeled western Wisconsin Sept. 21-22, causing flash floods, mudslides and washed out roads. The ground was already saturated from previously heavy rainfalls that had occurred since August. County emergency management officials reported numerous roads, bridges, and other infrastructure damaged in the flooding. During FEMA assessments, Vernon County had more than $5.2 million in damage. If the federal declaration is approved, FEMA provides 75 percent of eligible costs. The state of Wisconsin and local communities impacted share the remaining 25 percent. Walker also issued Executive Order No. 217 today adding Juneau County to the list of counties previously declared in the State of Emergency due to the floods. In recent days, Juneau County reported new public infrastructure damage caused by the September storms to Wisconsin Emergency Management. 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(3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (3) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (2) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (4) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (5) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 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(1) Sep 19 (1) Sep 18 (1) Sep 17 (2) Sep 16 (1) Sep 15 (2) Sep 14 (2) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 11 (2) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (1) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (1) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (2) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 12 (1) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (6) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (6) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 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(1) The European Union has launched a new border force to control the flow of immigrants entering EU member countries. The new force is called the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. A ceremony marking its creation was recently held at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing on Bulgarias border with Turkey. Europe has received millions of migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa in recent years. This has put pressure on many EU members and led to calls to close off the borders. Dimitris Avramopoulos is the EUs commissioner for migration. He praised the new border force. He notes the force came to exist just nine months after it was first proposed. The European citizens have demanded, and they rightly do so, a tangible European response - and today we deliver it collectively. Permanent employees at the new agency formerly known as Frontex - will be more than doubled, according to EU officials. At least 1,500 border guards will be ready to quickly deploy to areas experiencing a sharp increase in migrant activity. Currently, E.U. citizens are permitted to travel freely across borders of 26 countries. But the rising number of refugees and migrants led some nations to reestablish their own border controls. More than 300,000 migrants have arrived in Europe in this year alone -- many passing through Turkey. Critics of the E.U.s new border force say wealthy E.U. nations are not doing enough to care for their share of migrants and refugees. Gauri van Gulik is Deputy Europe Director for the rights group Amnesty International. She said the wealthiest E.U. member countries currently host less than 10 percent of the worlds refugees. That needs to shift, and no border guard is going to make that happen. Thats going to require political will and some durable solutions... Flows of migrants from Turkey have decreased since E.U. officials struck a deal with Turkey in March. Under that agreement, Turkey promised to return all migrants who try to enter Europe illegally. But Van Gulik said this is just a way for Europe to outsource its asylum policy. Theyre leaving it up to Turkey to host millions of refugees. Theyre leaving it up to the very borders of Europe so mostly Greece and also Italy now to host refugees. And it means that people are stuck in the most horrendous conditions... E.U. officials have said the new border agency will respect human and refugee rights. But they say the force must also be used to help the E.U. regain control of its borders to prevent another crisis. Im Bryan Lynn. Henry Ridgwell reported this story for VOANews.com. Bryan Lynn adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story re-impose v. put in place again host v. take in, accept durable adj. remaining in good condition for a long time outsource v. sending work out to be done by another company, often in another country horrendous adj. very bad or unpleasant Every day, more than 100 women of Afghan ancestry meet at a home in New York City. The women learn together in rooms that are crowded with chairs and small tables. They come to learn about the necessities of life in the United States, such as getting a permit to drive a car, or reading and writing in English. They also can get help with something as complex as dealing with an abusive husband. The program is a project of a womens support group called Women for Afghan Women (WAW). The attendees are a mixture of single, married and divorced women. Some are new arrivals to the U.S., while others have been here for several years. Their advisors and teachers are mostly Afghan-Americans who are naturalized U.S. citizens. WAW was formed in the Queens area of New York before the September 11, 2001 attacks. Its aim is to help Afghan women learn to read and stop violence in their families. The group receives money from the federal and state governments. WAW expanded its program after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. It launched efforts to educate the women and discuss community fears. An estimated 20,000 Afghan families live in and around New York City. That number comes from Afghan consulate officials and local Islamic centers. Traditionally, the Afghan community has been a patriarchal society, leaving women with less control. That can lead to physical abuse, fewer chances for an education, and other issues because of a lack of rights. Safety first Manizha Naderi, WAW's director, said, "We're trying to make sure Afghan women are safe. Our goal is for women to have access to education, justice, so they can be normal citizens." The group also wants to change old customs. Naderi explained that it has not been easy to stop years of gender inequality. "We work with the communities not just women, but with the families because Afghanistan is a patriarchal society, and women don't want to leave their families. They just want to be safe within their families," Naderi said. Sitara Momand ended her marriage and came to New York in 2013 with a young daughter. "I was married to a very violent husband," Momand told VOA. In Afghanistan, she and her husband lived with her husbands parents. She experienced violence from both her husband and his parents. I left Afghanistan and went to Pakistan to escape the violence. Then I came to America," she said. Hired by group Sitara Momand heard about WAW after arriving in New York. She reached out to the group for help. She needed money. WAW gave her a job cleaning their space. Later, Momand found her own place to live. "WAW helped me get public benefits, helped getting my child in school, and helped me learn to read and write in English," said Momand. She continues to work at WAW and has a second job in a restaurant. She said she was very happy to be living in America. Yalda Afif, a program planner at WAW, deals with many women who have been abused by their husbands and their husbands parents. "I have seen terrible abuse, sexual abuse by their partners," Afif told VOA. But these women never told anyone about the abuse. Then, after being in Queens for a while, the women began to trust WAW. Afif said she learned more about what was really going on, the root of the problems. She added, "We try to make the family understand that they cannot control everything; they have to share with their wives. If a woman is empowered, and gets a job, for example, she is helping to remove some of the pressure from the man, Afif explained. Important basic skills In addition to helping women get jobs and places to live, WAW places great attention on education. The group assisted Faozia Noory, a naturalized U.S. citizen who has been in the United States for eight years. It helped her prepare for her citizenship exam and helped her get a driving permit. Noory is happily married with four children. "This is home, sweet home, for me, she said. I like the feeling of being safe." WAW also offers the Young Leadership Program where it teaches skills to younger Afghan-Americans. The program is mostly young women, some as young as 15-years-old. "Some had been forced into marriages they didn't want," said Naderi. "We teach them empowerment, how to ask for their rights, what their rights are, what the rights of women in Islam are, and what the rights of the family are. And, you know, education is the key to it, to everything, Naderi said. She noted that, since the girls leadership program began in 2005, not one girl in the community has been forced to marry. What about Afghanistan? WAW has expanded its programs to Afghanistan. It has child support centers in 13 Afghan provinces and provides legal support to abused women through its center in Kabul. Because it tries to promote acceptance of women in the labor force, the organization has struck a nerve in the male-dominated society. "We've been targeted by the Taliban," Naderi said. "In 2014, two of the WAW staff were kidnapped by the Taliban. She said the Taliban released the women in 2015 because of help from local Afghan communities. Change can be very difficult," she said. Im Jill Robbins. And Im Alice Bryant. Bernard Shusman wrote this story for VOANews.com. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story spouse - n. someone who is married : a husband or wife divorced - adj. a word describing someone whose marriage has legally ended consulate - n. the building where a consul lives and works patriarchal - adj. cultures or societies that are controlled by men province - n. any one of the large parts that some countries are divided into access - v. a way of being able to use or get something benefit - n. a good or helpful result or effect strike a nerve - expression. to offend or anger someone by discussing a certain subject Nearly 600,000 people need urgent assistance because of recent severe flooding in North Korea as the winter season approaches. Large amounts of water from a typhoon hit villages near the Tumen River in September. The river runs along the borders with China and Russia. Non-governmental organizations report that at least 138 people have died. Reports also say 400 people are missing and that the flooding has forced 70,000 people to leave their homes. Some call this one of the worst humanitarian disasters to affect North Korea since the 1990s. At that time, lack of rain and poor harvests led to reports of starvation across the country. The recent floods have destroyed 20,000 homes and many schools and hospitals. Floodwaters also damaged 30,000 hectares of crops that were almost ready for harvest. Paolo Fattori is the North Korea program director for Save the Children, an international childrens rights organization. Fattori says the flood victims need clean water, food and new shelters. These are all needed in the next few weeks, before the temperatures in the region drop below freezing. In all the areas there is a strong need for support, actually because this event occurred at the end of the summer season, which means that the time to respond is very, very short, Fattori said. The United Nations Childrens Fund and other organizations together are asking for $28.2 million in aid. They say money is needed both right away for urgent needs and for long-term assistance. This includes rebuilding homes, schools, hospitals and repairing damaged water supply and sanitation systems. Currently the fund to help North Korea has collected only about $6.5 million. Humanitarian organizations say that is far less than what is needed. However, raising money for North Korean humanitarian aid is difficult because of the countrys nuclear weapons program. The North Korean government has carried out five nuclear tests since 2006. Two of the tests took place this year. North Korea has also carried out land-based and submarine launched missile tests this year. As a result, the United Nations Security Council, South Korea and the U.S have placed sanctions on North Korea. United States ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power visited South Korea. She has discussed the need to increase international economic sanctions and military defense against North Korea. On Sunday, Power said those with emergency aid to offer the country cannot be sure their money and assistance will go to the people in need. Humanitarian organizations say the aid for North Korea is used to directly help victims and affected areas. They say money is not given to or controlled by the government. Most of the funds are going to international procurement [of] specific materials that are needed, Fattori said. No funds are directly managed by the local government, in the case of Save The Children for sure. The South Korean government still is not providing any flood aid to the North. South Korean officials warn that any aid would at some time be used to support the government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. They say he is spending billions of dollars on nuclear and missile tests while most of his people live in poverty. Jeong Joon-hee is the spokesman for the South Korean Unification Ministry. He recently said, While North Korea is putting forth a huge amount of money and effort for provocations, it is [clear] our well-meaning purpose could be distorted if we provide support for the flood damage.The North Korean government says it has brought 200,000 people together to help with the recovery effort. The government also has promised to build 20,000 homes and other buildings before winter arrives. Fattori says the countrys disaster recovery efforts have improved. But, he adds, the government is still not prepared to deal with a humanitarian disaster of this size without international support. Im Pete Musto. Brian Padden and Youmi Kim reported on this story for VOA News. Pete Musto adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. What systems does your country use to respond to disasters? How often does your country offer aid to others? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story typhoon n. a powerful ocean storm in the area of the northwest Pacific Ocean humanitarian adj. having to do with efforts to make peoples lives better starvation n. suffering or death caused by not having enough to eat region n. an area of a country or the world sanitation n. systems used to carry away waste and keep places clean fund n. an amount of money that is used for a special purpose unification n. the bringing together of people or things provocations n. an action or occurrence that causes someone to become angry or to begin to do something distorted adj. to change something so that it is no longer true or accurate Sunday's U.S. Presidential debate was the most-tweeted debate in Twitter's ten-year history, the social network said. Twitter users sent more than 17 million debate-related tweets during the 90 minute debate. Highly Anticipated Debate The second presidential debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump was held at Washington University in Saint Louis. Officials at the school in the state of Missouri held a lottery for seating. More than 10,000 students applied; 315 received seats just hours before the debate began. Part of the anticipation surrounding the debate came from recent information about statements by former Secretary of State Clinton and businessman Trump. Two days before the debate, a video appeared on the internet showing Donald Trump making lewd comments about women. Then, Wikileaks released parts of Hillary Clinton's speeches to financial companies. The speeches appeared to show her close ties with those companies. Contentious Beginning The candidates began the debate in a contentious way; they did not shake hands when they appeared in front of the audience. In general, American presidential candidates shake hands before beginning a debate. The two did shake hands after the debate ended. Supporters of Trump and Clinton posted their opinions about the tense greeting under the hashtag #nohandshake. The candidates shook hands before their first debate. One Twitter user, a critic of Clinton, said Trump did not want to shake Clinton's hand because she is responsible for the death of American citizens who were in Benghazi. Another Twitter user, a critic of Trump, said that Hillary refused to shake Trump's hand because he made lewd comments about women in a video. One of the first questions of the debate addressed the video of Trump. The candidate defended his words by saying "I don't think you understand what was said at all. This was locker-room talk. I'm not proud of it." Locker-room talk refers to a conversation between men that is usually harsh or sexually offensive in nature. Trumps defense included accusations about Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton. Trump said that Bill Clinton did "far worse." He also criticized Clinton for her use of a private email system while she led the State Department. He added that if he were elected, he would instruct a government investigator to look into the issue. This statement became one of the top three most-tweeted moments in the debate according to Twitter. Clinton answered that Trump's accusations were not true. The Federal Bureau of Investigation studied Clinton's email use. F.B.I. Director James Comey said there was no reason to bring charges against her. The issues The candidates discussed several foreign and domestic policy issues, including Syria and the set of health care laws commonly called Obamacare. Both candidates called for creating safe zones in Syria. Safe zones are areas where civilians can be kept safe during war. Trump said he disagreed with his running mate, Governor Mike Pence, about Syria. Twitter said this statement became the most tweeted moment in the debate. Trump and Clinton also debated the future of President Barack Obama's healthcare law, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Clinton admitted the law had problems, but she promised to fix it by bringing down costs and helping small businesses give coverage to their employees. Trump promised to replace Obamacare with a system that allows insurance companies to compete in every state. The two candidates will hold their final debate on October 19th. Im John Russell. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. John Russell adapted this story for Learning English using sources from AP, VOA News, and CNET. Mario Ritter was the editor. ____________________________________________________ Words in This Story tweet v. to put a message on Twitter anticipated v. to look forward to (something) lottery n. a system used to decide who will get or be given something by choosing names or numbers by chance lewd adj. sexual in an offensive or rude way contentious adj. involving a lot of arguing The Northwest school board listened to Marcy Luth from Almquist, Maltzahn, Galloway and Luth P.C. summarize the findings and highlights of the annual audit for the Northwest school district, which resulted in unmodified opinions being issued on all opinion units of school district, as well as an unmodified opinion being issued on compliance for major programs. Luth said that an unmodified opinion is the desired outcome for any audit report because it means the district has basically received a clean audit report. After Luth concluded her report, the board accept the audit that she presented. During his monthly report to the board, Superintendent Matt Fisher talked about a meeting he had with a group of local business and industry leaders about an internship program that Northwest High School is trying to start for its students. He said people at the meeting were asked whether they would be willing to be on an advisory board for the proposed program and Fisher said he believes everyone at the meeting is willing to serve on that board. Fisher said people on the board will be able to provide input on what things will work and what things probably would not work for a local internship program. Principal Tim Krupicka said he believed people at the meeting were "pretty willing partners. We're doing some pretty groundbreaking stuff here, so we appreciate the fact that they're going to lend us a lot of good ideas about how their companies work and how we can make our relationship with them a good working relationship." He said the meeting attracted a good cross section of local business and industry, as well as good representation from the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce. Fisher said the district is interested not only in professional internships for students who want to have a career in medicine or engineering, but also internships for people who are interested in food service, construction, manufacturing and other areas. "We want to be able to have partners that whatever a student's interests are, we can say, Here's a business that aligns what your interests are and we want you to do a job shadow." He said the long-range vision, which is still subject to change, is for students to do several job shadows during their junior year to sample different careers and then have a senior year internship, where students spend meaningful time in a career area of interest. Board member Duane Witt said he thinks the high school should also try to provide internships for students who are interested in various careers in agriculture. Jeanette Ramsey, curriculum coordinator for the Northwest school district, noted that while not all jobs at CHI Health St. Francis require a four-year college degree or a four-year college degree plus additional education. She said the hospital has a number of jobs that require less than a four-year degree. In other discussion, Fisher said he hopes that even more people will show up for Tuesday evening's restructuring meeting at Chapman School than showed up for the initial meeting at Cedar Hollow. He said many people at the Cedar Hollow meeting expressed an interest in coming to future meetings. He thinks they will share the importance of the restructuring meetings with their friends and encourage them to also come to remaining restructuring meetings. Fisher said he thinks many people indicated they had watched the meeting via the live stream that was provided. He said he thinks many people also watched the meeting from the video that was produced from that live stream. He said being able to follow the meetings electronically is great, but it is also important for people to be able to participate in the discussions about possible restructuring of the school district. Fisher said Northwest officials and representatives from DLR want to find out the questions that people want answered as part of a potential restructuring. He noted the board's challenge will be to weigh the input gathered at the restructuring meetings, surveys and polling. He said Tuesday's meeting will focus on the middle school concept, including the advantages of having a true middle school and the financial aspects of having a middle school. Fisher said the meeting will also look at how Northwest school district finances are impacted by option students. He said the meeting likely will look at how different proposed scenarios might be impacted by adding or subtracting option students. He said the intent is to put people in small groups and discuss these ideas, then report back to the big group on what they see as the most viable options. Fisher said he would like to have people with children who go or have gone to each of the district's four K-8 schools get together in small groups, as well as have the small groups have a mix of parents of option students and district residents, who may or may not have students going to any of the Northwest schools. He wants each of the small groups to reflect a range of opinions and have thoughtful discussions of what is good and bad about the various options. He said that hope is that differing opinions can be brought together to develop a consensus on what, if anything, should be done on restructuring. Fisher said that Pat Phelan of DLR has emphasized that the educational pros and cons be discussed before people get too deep into all the financial implications. Depending on how Tuesday's meeting progress, people may or may not have the opportunity to use remote control devices to answer some questions anonymously. Fisher said that eventually, the district may want to get survey results form current students. Charter schools, experience and the backing of the Nebraska state teachers union are factors in two contested races for the Nebraska State Board of Education. Democrats Patsy Koch Johns and Lisa Fricke head into the Nov. 8 election backed by the union. The union represents about 28,000 public school teachers and other educational professionals across Nebraska. Republicans Stephanie Bohlke-Schulte and Glen Flint, the incumbent, received neither the backing nor the financial help of the union. In District 2, Flint seeks to retain the seat to which then-Gov. Dave Heineman appointed him in March 2014. Flint said he favors vouchers to give parents more control over their childrens education. He said he supports allowing charter schools into Nebraska. The state has no law authorizing them. If we could get one of those top-performing charters in here, and see how it goes, I think people would be happy with the results, he said. Critics say charters siphon money from traditional schools, but Flint said school dollars belong to the students. If we could take the same money and come up with better results for the students, we ought to do that, he said. Flint advocates for competency-based education, an approach in which a student works at his own pace and moves ahead as he demonstrates mastery of academic content. Instead of measuring seat time, were actually measuring how much you learned, Flint said. Flint said he would push for ways to identify students with disabilities at a younger age to provide them help earlier. He said he also wants to make option enrollment transfers more accommodating for families. Give parents the benefit of the doubt they know what theyre doing, he said. Fricke said there are a few good charter schools, but there are so many more that start out great and then they fail, or theyre fraudulent, or mismanaged. She said charter schools dont have an elected school board and are often for-profit enterprises. I want to keep our tax dollars invested in our students in public schools, she said. She said her top priority is to keep public schools strong. She said her 36 years of experience in the public schools setting working with parents, administrators and the community better prepare her for the job. Fricke said she would be an advocate for early childhood education, which she said is proven to build literacy in kids. We know from research that one of the best practices is early childhood education and getting them going before they begin kindergarten, she said. She said she seeks to raise the level of academic achievement and improve accessibility for all kids to a quality education. I want to serve the public schools that provided me such a rewarding career, she said. In District 1, Koch Johns and Bohlke-Schulte each touts her experience as an educator. Koch Johns said shes been on the front lines of education more than 40 years. She said she has been working directly with parents and kids in urban and rural Nebraska. Not only have I worked in the educational system but Ive been really active in this community of Lincoln for over 16 years and trying to share my talents and my time, not only to create an environment in the schools but in the community, where all students get the opportunity for success. She said shes particularly interested in how poverty affects children. To that end, she directed a video documentary project for Nebraska Loves Public Schools called Poverty: Not a Choice. The award-winning video featured youths speaking on the impact of poverty. She said she would protect public schools and strive to make schools inclusive, innovative and high-quality. Bohlke-Schulte said she is uniquely qualified to be on state board because of her 26 years in education, particularly 10 years as a principal. I have a lot of experience with testing, assessment, setting goals, standards, aligning curriculum and assessment to match the standards, she said. Thats very unique, plus two terms on a local school board. She said she has extensive experience with the kinds of things the board deals with. Coupled with that, then, is the fact that I have a conservative, family-orientation and philosophy on life that will guide the kinds of decisions I make. She said shes not advocating any pet projects. I want to see the best possible education provided to all students in Nebraska, and will work to do that, she said. Incumbents Rachel Wise, District 3, and John Witzel, District 4, are running unopposed. For the past 18 years, the L'Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science programme has encouraged, promoted and honoured women scientists all over the world. More than 2,500 researchers from 112 countries have been distinguished for their extraordinary discoveries and supported at key moments in their careers. L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science 2016 fellows with judges Impacting the lives of people around the planet, their discoveries are offering new solutions and answering vital questions. Their ground breaking innovation is advancing entire fields of research and even opening new ones. The fellows work and research is contributing to curing diseases, increasing food supplies, enabling sustainable development, helping ensure the survival of our planet to better understand our universe, adding to our knowledge of the very foundations of life. Our changing world has never been in greater need of women and their discoveries. With the For Women in Science programme, the LOreal Foundation is committed to promoting these women in science who will change the world. We are determined to fight for science and to build a more beautiful world together, stated Sandeep Rai, managing director, LOreal South Africa. As part of the programme, 14 female scientists from across Sub-Saharan Africa have been honoured for their work and impact in the scientific field. This year applications were received from 26 countries which is testament to the increasing awareness of the program and the brands commitment to advancing women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The recipients of the Post-Doctoral Fellowships of 10,000 Euros each are: Raquel Garcia, Angola, Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, project: Effects of plant invasions on native ectotherms under a warming climate. Stephanie Fanucchi, South Africa, University of Cape Town and CSIR, with her project: Deciphering the roles of non-coding RNAs in immune gene regulation. The recipients of the Doctoral Fellowships of 5,000 Euros each are: Juliet Sackey, Ghana, University of South Africa (UNISA), project: Biomimicry of the multi-scaled architecture on selected butterfly wings for photonic applications. Millicent Akotam Agangiba, Ghana, University of Cape Town, project: Investigating E-government Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities in Developing Countries - The Case of Ghana. Madina Mohamed Adia, Uganda, Makerere University, project: Bioactivity, Toxicity and Phytochemistry of selected medicinal plants used by Rukararwe and Prometra Herbalists in treatment of malaria in Uganda. Luicer Anne Ingasia Olubayo, Kenya, University of Witwatersrand, project: Construction and functional characterization of Genotype E of Hepatitis B virus replication competent plasmids with authentic endogenous promoters. Angela Karoro, Uganda, University of South Africa (UNISA), project: Solar selective properties of the Laser treated tubular cobalt-alumina nanocomposite. Bibi Nafiisah Chotun, Mauritius, University of Stellenbosch, project: Hepatitis B virus-related liver cancer in South Africa: Investigations into the risk profile of a previously unscreened population from the Western Cape, South Africa. Colette Njiki Chatue, Cameroon, University of Dschang, project: Petrogenesis of the Numba granitic pluton (SW Cameroon). Rokhiya Dia, Senegal, Universite de Thies, project: Numerical simulation of velocity and pressure fields for fluid flow through microtubes with complex geometries: Application to the flow dynamics of cerebrospinal fluid along a shunt device in patients with hydrocephalus pathology. Eseoghene Umukoro, Nigeria, University of Johannesburg, project: Experimental and computational study of the electrochemical and photo-electrochemical oxidation of organic pollutants at carbon based-semiconductor composite electrodes. Penelope Dobrowsky, South Africa, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, project: Legionella Species Persistence Mechanisms in Treated Harvested Rainwater. Usisipho Feleni, South Africa, University of Western Cape, project: Smart bio-electrochemical sensing and signaling of inter-individual responses to breast cancer treatment. Xandri Schoultz, South Africa, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, project: Novel rhenium-benzazole complexes as anti-cancer agents. How will sub-Saharan Africa achieve its Millennium Development Goals without the required 2.5 million new engineers and technicians as estimated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)? Image by 123RF In the developing world, far more young minds need to be attracted to engineering and in particular women, who are under-represented in many fields, must be part of the solution. Global engineering and infrastructure advisory company Aurecon is attempting to help address Africas problem of under-representation of women, which is particularly prevalent in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers and Entrepreneurship. The company recently hosted 25 female Grade 10 and 11 learners from schools in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, at its Tshwane office as part of a STEM promotion programme. The fast-paced seven-day programme is run by Taungana, a movement that seeks to empower rural African high school girls by providing them with the opportunity to access and explore STEM careers. This year marks Aurecons third successive year of supporting the movement. Aurecon is committed to becoming a more innovative organisation that provides unique solutions to our clients challenges, said Sonja Jansen van Rensburg, a member of Aurecons Africa leadership team. This is being achieved by creating a work environment where everyone, regardless of gender, colour or culture, feels valued and is willing to contribute. Similarly, to positively shape Africas future, we have to change the composition of its leaders to become more gender equitable and that change starts today. Design thinking One of the key aims of the week-long programme is to help the girls identify potential entrepreneurial projects in their communities and to develop these ideas into a business case. To support this, Aurecon took the girls through a design thinking session, a human-centred methodology that necessitates innovation and creativity to solve critical problems. The learners were required to ideate; a process that encourages the exploration of different possibilities and solutions for the challenges they encounter in their respective communities specifically in the spheres of agriculture, health, public transport and education. Building on Aurecons theme for this years programme, #digitalinmylife, they then explored how technology and digital solutions could alleviate some of these day-to-day challenges. Giving the girls exposure to the process of design thinking and using it to build a solid business case for the projects they identified has been an interesting and educational process for both the girls and our participating employees, added van Rensburg. The young minds are bright and inquisitive and there will undoubtedly be some future leaders from this years group. Charlotte Mpenyana, quality, environmental and sustainability regional manager at Aurecon and this years Aurecon Champion, stresses the importance of such initiatives, saying, Working with Taungana during Womens Month was a great experience. We are helping to empower a generation of African girls to change their lives and contribute significantly to sustainable development on the continent through exposure to STEM careers. Mumbai: Amid the demand for ban on Pakistani actors after the Uri terror attack, megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Tuesday said the nation is incensed and it is time to express solidarity with the Indian jawans. To a question regarding the issue during a press conference in Mumbai on the occasion of his birthday on Tuesday, Bachchan also said he respects all artistes. Following the Uri attack, the Raj Thackeray-led MNS had raised objection to Pakistani artistes working in India. When asked if Bollywood is divided over supporting Pakistani artistes working in India, Bachchan said, "With folded hands, I request you that this is not the time and I don't think it is right to put forward these questions." The megastar, who turned 74 on Tuesday, felt that considering the grave situation at the border one should express solidarity with Indian soldiers. "Who said what and why, where and how, this is not the time for it. The nation is incensed, the people of this country are very angry by the incidents that are happening at our border," he said. "I think it is time to express solidarity with our jawans, armed forces who are sacrificing their life so that you and me can be safe now. That's what needs to be put in question and nothing else." When asked if an artiste from a country should be banned or not, he said, "I have answered this question earlier. I respect all artistes." Bachchan refuted reports that he would be singing a song for Uri martyrs. "This is not correct. I was in New Delhi where a Member of Parliament was acknowledging the Hanuman Chalisa, Ganpati aarti and he said I should sing for this (Uri martyrs). I said yes ok but I need some inputs. I think he went and said I should sing (for Uri martyrs), and from 'should' it became 'will', you (media) know better how it happens," he said. By Nisha Susan Last month, novelist Omair Ahmed wrote the following lines while glumly reviewing Suketu Mehtas new novella What Is Remembered? Indian immigrant fiction is largely a production by upper middle class Indians the bhadralok united who find that being upper middle class in the US is not the same thing. This terrible disappointment forces them to reflect on their own people and country, generally with contempt for the lower orders. After having spotted Priyanka Chopra on the cover of Conde Nast Traveller, in the most discussed white t-shirt in India, its been hard to not think of those lines and to not share Ahmeds glumness. When we first saw this t-shirt, my colleagues and I joked and called it the ganji from hell and then made what we called a translation. Perhaps this is what PC and her stylist Cristina Ehrlich really wanted the T-shirt to say, we said. Subsequently there has been a ton more of discussion about the niyat, the good/bad intentions of the t-shirt. We also puzzled over the detail that the T-shirt had been designed by V Sunil, the same person who designed the Make In India logo. Priyanka Chopras t-shirt is like a funhouse mirror. Depending on where you stand while looking at it, it gives you a special and twisted reflection. The question is, which way was PC facing when wearing it for the cover of the Indian edition of an international magazine? Is she standing in the US looking India-wards, saying dont call me a refugee/migrant/outsider, call me a traveller? In which case PC and the crew behind this cover seem blissfully unaware that I am a traveller is one of the most heavily mocked contemporary tropes. Everyone has made fun of the smug privilege of the I quit my job to travel the world posse. I mean everyone from the Indian blogger Local Tea Party (So I have concluded that it is better to avoid all this inspired travel business and nonsense because as Indians we anyway have to come back and deal with Airtel customer care and other such important things in life. All such magical things happen to white people because first of all they can just buy a ticket and show up at the border without any plan.) to the less nimble New Yorker (Im a free spirit, whose father owns a South American rubber empire.). Is she standing in the US looking out at the American landscape she has cut swathes through, saying dont call me a refugee/migrant/outsider, call me a traveller? That t-shirt doesnt look much better now. What ridiculous meaning would it have to turn your back on the label refugee in 2016, a label that tortures 60 million people around the world. Or the words immigrant and outsider which are floating about in a toxic, boiling cauldron in the US. During this US Presidential elections one candidate has a. promised to build a wall on the border to keep Mexicans out because they are drug dealers, criminals, rapists b. promised to deport all 11 million illegal immigrants, even the children born in the US c. sworn to prevent all Muslims from entering United States and d. continued to spread the canard that the first African-American president faked his birth certificate, and was therefore not in office legally. Most of Hollywood has responded to Trumps worldview with disgust and outrage. This includes American-born actors of colour such as Kerry Washington, lead of Scandal and member of Stop Hate Dump Trump, and those who are still citizens of their country of birth such as musician Shakira, who has said that no one living in this century should stand behind so much ignorance. It makes a sad kind of sense then that Priyanka Chopra would, in the middle of this heated debate, participate as a member of the ever-ready-to-please model minority Asians in America. This is, to quote Everyday Feminism, a stereotype that generalises Asian Americans and pits them against other communities by depicting them as the perfect example of an if-they-can-do-it-so-can-you success story. In recent times, some Asian Americans have joined the race debates with cultural productions such as Fresh Off the Boat and social media movements such as #ModelMinorityMutiny and standing beside Black Lives Matter activists. Ever seen the confusing garment called a 'skort' both skirt and shorts? This t-shirt has turned out to be equally mutant. It combines a cluelessness about what Third World folks living in the Third World think about travel and a cluelessness about what people of colour feel about living in the First World right now. It isnt the political statement made by Lupita Nyongos headwrap at the premiere of Queen of Katwe or her sculptural traditional hairstyle at the Met Gala in New York in May 2016. It isnt the complicated dance of identity that Nyongo is performing while being an extremely successful Kenyan-born actor in Hollywood. This is the mildly annoying, aspirational equivalent of Indian ads in which people are walking down fake-Paris streets carrying straw baskets with baguettes. What an admirable career path Chopra has blazed in a quick couple of years in Hollywood. This cover appearance, on the other hand, has fallen rather short in the inspiration stakes. The Ladies Finger (TLF) is an online womens magazine After triggering a wave of criticism, accusations of insensitivity, privilege and political incorrectness, Conde Nast Traveller has finally issued a statement regarding the "refugee" t-shirt worn by Priyanka Chopra on its recent cover. Priyanka Chopra's 'refugee' t-shirt triggers Twitter row; actress called out for insensitivity The t-shirt had the words "refugee", "immigrant", "outsider" and "traveller" written across it. The first three options were struck out, leaving only "traveller". In the accompanying interview inside the magazine, Priyanka talks about not having roots, and being a "West Coast kind of girl" among other things. "Im more of a West Coast kind of girl. I like the chill of LA. But Im a nomad. And look at the world we live in today, we can literally get on a plane, go somewhere for five hours, have lunch, and come back. Why do you have to commit? I have commitment issues anyway," she was quoted as saying. people took to social media to point out that for millions of people displaced by civil war and other calamities, being a refugee was not a matter of choice. Others said that a condition created due to war should not be used as a silly marketing gimmick by a magazine. Firstpost published this analytical takedown of the "ganji from hell", written by Nisha Susan of online magazine The Ladies Finger. Read it here: Priyanka Chopra's refugee t-shirt row: What was that 'ganji from hell' really saying? Susan points out that depending on who the message on Priyanka's t-shirt was directed at, it can be interpreted in different ways: Is she standing in the US looking India-wards, saying dont call me a refugee/migrant/outsider, call me a traveller? In which case PC and the crew behind this cover seem blissfully unaware that I am a traveller is one of the most heavily mocked contemporary tropes. Everyone has made fun of the smug privilege of the I quit my job to travel the world posse... Is she standing in the US looking out at the American landscape she has cut swathes through, saying dont call me a refugee/migrant/outsider, call me a traveller? That t-shirt doesnt look much better now. What ridiculous meaning would it have to turn your back on the label refugee in 2016, a label that tortures 60 million people around the world. Or the words immigrant and outsider which are floating about in a toxic, boiling cauldron in the US. Meanwhile, Conde Nast Traveller has finally issued a statement in an attempt to clarify its stance. The following in the text of their statement: "We believe that the opening up of borders and the breaking down of walls can help us discover the world, and open up our minds and hearts. So, when we had actress Priyanka Chopra wear a T-shirt we created on the cover of our 6th anniversary issue, we had a point to make. And it's not about privilege. Or fashion. It's about how our labelling of people as immigrants, refugees and outsiders is creating a culture of xenophobia. We are allowing thousands of innocent people who are forced to cross borders due to unimaginable terror and atrocities to be treated without humanity and empathy. Its about how we are allowing some powerful leaders to build barriers that make it more difficult for bright, motivated and hardworking people to see more of the world, learn from it and make it better for us all. Its time we demand better, and stand against the building of walls, literal and otherwise. We must demand a world free of racism and bigotry and prejudice, so that we and generations after us may enjoy all the abundance that travel offers, the beauty of a world that is open and rich and diverse in its people and cultures and geographies. And we must, in the midst of our many differences, find and celebrate our commonalities, our oneness. We must recognise that we are all on a journey. Whether we are moving across oceans or just a few kilometres, or in our mind's eye, into a completely different world, whether we are doing so due to free will or circumstance that we are all travellers. And this is why Priyanka Chopra a star at home and abroad, who has experienced firsthand the opportunities that travel offers is the perfect ambassador." Unfortunately, that is exactly why that refugee t-shirt is politically incorrect, insensitive and just plain ill thought out all the accusations that have been levelled at it. "Priyanka Chopra a star at home and abroad, who has experienced firsthand the opportunities that travel offers" cannot be the perfect ambassador because she wasn't displaced, she chose to travel to further her career, and is paid a tremendous amount of money to do so. Why that isn't the narrative of most displaced people in the world why you can't take away the violence and deprivation of their circumstances and give it a cool sounding label like 'traveller' doesn't really need to be explained. If the message that the cover truly intended to convey was one of inclusion, of doing away with xenophobia, of drawing attention to the refugee crisis, maybe the "perfect ambassador" would have been someone like Olympian swimmer Yusra Mardini. Or any of the other athletes who participated under the 'refugee' flag at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro. And they wouldn't have wanted their situation to be explained away as 'traveller'. Amitabh Bachchan's daughter Shweta Nanda joins a long list of celebs who have expressed their annoyance over paparazzi attention on their and their children's lives. In a column titled 'A Mother's Request' in DNA she slams the media for using click-bait headlines to draw attention to her daughter Navya Naveli Nanda's life. "You do not know my daughter, the websites that post her pictures with captions like Navya Nanda HOT pics or Navya Nanda parties with friends, WILD! certainly do not know her either. Nor, might I add, do they have her permission to post her private pictures. She is not a public figure. Yes, she is related to some very famous people, but that is something completely out of her control," Swetha writes in the letter. She questions why her daughter who enjoys life like every other teenager is seen in a different way just because she comes from a Bollywood family. All Of Navya Nanda's social media accounts are private and she is not on Twitter. Yet she already enjoys celebrity status on social media with many fan pages on Twitter and Instagram. The troubled mother goes on to vent her helplessness in protecting her child from the world's prying eyes. She speaks about the effect that the comments that judge her and call her names can harm her self-esteem. Earlier in the day Preity Zinta also took to Twitter to talk about media attention. She says she does not like the way photographers pounce on her to take pictures as it makes the actress uncomfortable. The 41-year-old star slammed the increasing paparazzi culture in the country, saying these days no one politely asks for a photograph. Stepping out in Mumbai is not fun anymore; photographers just pounce on U ! No one politely asks 4 a photo anymore. They actually scare u Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 Ok maybe it's silly to ask4 privacy - but what about etiquette & being polite ? Sure there is a polite way 2ask 4a photo instead of DHAVAA Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 When netizens began In a series of tweets the actress slammed the media. Gotta run now, but before that I wud like 2tell everyone (specially the photographers with big flashes ) that lurk in the dark a few things. Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 1) Please don't jump on us or PUSH our PARENTS or KIDS or friends n family for a photo. ASK POLITELY or U will NEVER get a proper photo ! Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 She further said that photographers should not "make news" saying that stars misbehaved with them, because if their bodyguards push lensmen, they have a valid reason. 2) If a star's security pushes you there is a GOODENOUGH Reason that U deserved it so stop making news about how badly behaved we are Pls Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 3) If I don't want to be photographed I will hide my face. Not cuz I have had bad surgery, or have no make up or whatever - It just means NO Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 4) It's my face, my life and my choice ! If I'm dying to be photographed I will post it on twitter or Instagram so pls be polite or OK BYE Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 Preity was quick to take on body shamers, writing, 5) Next time U take my picture don't look for body parts you can circle or put in a loop later on to body shame me & make money for you Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 6) You & Me - we both have to live here. If you are more considerate & decent you will probably get great images & LEAVE THE KIDS alone. Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 I hope I could represent every actor & star in this dialogue with the other side I am making a genuine attempt so things can go smoothly Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 10, 2016 Many celebrities like Rani Mukerji, Akshay Kumar and Jaya Bachchan have earlier raised objection over paparazzi invasion in their lives. With inputs from PTI The Jammu & Kashmir Bank on Monday said there is a huge scope for Islamic banking in the state, but the concept need to be understood in its right perspective to make it acceptable. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banking regulator, has been hesitant so far to accept the idea of Islamic banking citing that it doesn't fit in well with the existing banking regulations. The RBI, however, has initiated discussions with various stakeholders on this subject. Islamic banking is practiced in certain countries. The model follows Shariah law and differs from conventional banking on two main accounts since under this, payment or receipt of interest is prohibited. Also, it does not permit investment in matters that are considered sinful - like manufacture of alcohol, gambling and pornography. Besides, the model doesn't accept deposits, only investments, which, more or less, make banking a venture capital activity. The research and the academic exercises carried out on the subject in the state shows us that there is massive scope for Islamic banking in the state unfortunately the issues has not been understood in its right perspective, Parvez Ahmad,the newly appointed Chairmen of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, told Firstpost. "Some sections of out of society, not just in the state, but in the mainland India had remained financially excluded for religious reasons that prevents them from using banking services with elements of interest. Even the RBI had said this, Ahmad said. But it is a regulatory issue. Any such permission will have to come from the RBI for which the Parliament has to enact law, he said. Ahmad, the incumbent Executive President of J&K Bank, is the first in-service and second in-house Chairman and CEO of the bank. He is senior most Executive President of J&K Bank with 18 years of experience in banking and Financial Services. Ahmads assertion is echoed by Islamic scholars and a section of people in the banking industry, who say in the Muslim majority state of Jammu and Kashmir, people will naturally opt for Islamic banking. Last year, with a view to create awareness Mehboob Makhdoomi, a Harvard trained economist set up Islamic Banking Kashmir- a research and advocacy group to educate the masses about Islamic finance. Makhdoomi said Islamic Banking had tremendous scope in the state but is misunderstood concept in the country. It is not merely about Interests but much more than that. We have carried out a district survey in major districts of Kashmir and the number of people interested in interest-free banking is mind-boggling, Makhdoomi said. Ahmad said the bank is yet to take up the issue formally with the central bank. "We have not given a serious thought to it. We will examine this idea and take up with RBI," he said. Mubashir Hassan, an economist and religious scholar based in Srinagar says Riba (interest) is strictly prohibited in Islam. Prophet Mohammad has classified Riba to be one of the seven deadly sins. Even calculating, counting, witnessing, keeping its records or giving of interest has been prohibited. The backbone of present world economy is banking, which is based on interest model. Obviously it is difficult to remain aloof from it. Anyway the present banking system has hemmed us in such a manner that almost every one of us, willingly or unwillingly, gets involved in it. The interest based banking is based on exploitation, the depositor is safely enjoying the hard work of others and in case there occurs any accident/loss that has to be borne by the poor borrower, he said. In its 2015-16 annual report, the RBI had said that it will discuss the possibilities of Islamic banking with the government. "Towards mainstreaming these excluded sections, it is proposed to explore the modalities of introducing interest-free banking products in the country in consultation with the government," the RBI report said. Religious leader and Grand Mufti Bashir-u-Din Ahmed said when banks in certain countries have adopted Islamic Banking as away of life, in India this has not happened as banking regulations do not permit the model. "In our banks, people have apprehension that their money is used to interest business and it is also not allowed in Islam. If tomorrow, the RBI decides to give it a go ahead, then you will see 99.5 percent of people adopting Islamic Banking, said Bashir-u-Din. New Delhi: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) eyes up to Rs 20,000 crore from monetisation of 30 to 40 projects in the first phase. The move follows the government's move to authorise NHAI to monetise the public funded highway projects in August. "We target to bring out overall 30 or 40 projects initially and we would be able to raise about Rs 15,000 to 20,000 crore out of it to begin with," NHAI Chairman Raghav Chandra told PTI. Chandra said NHAI is hopeful of bidding out a few projects by December but the process is going to be a continuous exercise and NHAI would take it from time to time. "We hope that in the next two months we should be able to bid out our first few projects. We are getting DPRs (detailed project reports) prepared ...we will be looking at the issues connected to the projects," the NHAI chief said. "The traffic studies related to that projects, the revenue streams available and overall the viability of the project. As soon as those are ready, we will bunch some of these projects and would be able bid them out," Chandra said. He said there was enthusiasm about the scheme and NHAI was confident there will be a large number of takers for these. "We already have extremely positive enthusiasm there for this with all kinds of borrowing investors, the Canadians, the Europeans, the Americans and so on and especially the sovereign wealth fund etc in the Middle East," he said. NHAI is hopeful that as soon as it launches the scheme there will be a sufficient number of takers, he said adding, this would be good in the overall interest of the country as private sector operators will come to manage the roads and "they will be able to bring in a special focus on safety practices". He said, "Monetisation of projects would be undertaken in a selective manner so that we can raise funds, we would like private sector efficiencies in operating and managing those projects and we do require monetisation to be able to provide us with the requisite fund support that we require to expand our footprint in our programme." The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on August 3 authorised NHAI to monetise the public funded highway projects which could result in funds in the range of Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh crore initially, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said. Around 75 operational NH projects completed under public funding have been preliminarily identified for potential monetisation using the toll operate transfer (TOT) Model. T he corpus generated from proceeds of such project monetisation could be utilised by the government to meet its fund requirements regarding future development and operation and maintenance of highways in the country and could address development of highways in unviable geographies. Market feedback indicates that certain institutional investors from outside the country have a long term investment appetite and are keen to participate in operational highway projects with stable toll revenue outlook. By Se Young Lee | SEOUL SEOUL Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) told customers on Tuesday to stop using their Galaxy Note7 smartphones while it investigates reports of fires in the devices, as the tech giant scrambled to contain a deepening recall crisis.Top U.S. and Australian carriers on Monday suspended sales or exchanges of the flagship Note7s, while major airlines reiterated bans on passengers using the phones, after smoke from a replacement device forced the evacuation of a passenger plane in the United States last week.The world's top smartphone maker said it had asked all global carriers to stop sales of the Note7s and the exchange of original devices for replacements, while it worked with regulators to investigate the problem."Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 device should power down and stop using the device," the company said in statement.Samsung's decision to pull Note7s off the shelves for the second time in two months underscores the South Korean firm's struggles to fix the over-heating issue.The premium device launched in August was supposed to compete with Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) latest iPhone for supremacy in the smartphone market. Well received by critics, its first problem was a shortage as pre-orders overwhelmed supply. But within weeks of the launch images of charred Note7s began appearing on social media, in the first sign that something was seriously amiss with the gadget.Samsung has since recalled 2.5 million Note7s due to faulty batteries, and the latest reports of fires in replacement devices is raising fresh doubts about the firm's quality control procedures. Edward Snyder, managing director of Charter Equity Research, said it was important to get the Note7 off the market. "This has probably killed the Note7 brand name, who knows if theyll even be allowed to re-release it," Snyder said."By the time they fix the problem they have to go through recertification and requalification and by the time that happens theyre going up against the (Galaxy) S8 launch." A person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday Samsung had temporarily halted production of Note7s and Samsung said it had adjusted shipments of the phones. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Samsung was making the right decision by halting sales and exchanges of the device."No one should have to be concerned their phone will endanger them, their family or their property," CPSC Chairman Elliott Kaye said in a statement. "While we continue our active investigation into reports of phones overheating and burning in multiple states, consumers should power down and stop using all Galaxy Note7s. This is the safest course of action." The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards also said consumers should stop using Note7s and said it would work with Samsung on future steps. (Additional reporting by Deborah Todd in NEW YORK; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by James Dalgleish and Stephen Coates) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. New Delhi: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday batted for grant of state citizenship rights to Hindu refugees in Jammu and Kashmir and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, who were forced to leave the Valley due to militancy. He said the state government should work with the Centre to pursue one policy and move in one direction, noting that the nationalist forces should be strengthened and "undesirable" activities be rooted out. The situation in the state is a matter of concern, he said. "Many issues continue to hang fire. During the partition and subsequently many Hindu refugees were displaced from Pak-occupied Kashmir and arrived there. Sheikh Abdullah assured them that they will be given their rights. Their third generation is living there. They don't have state citizenship rights. They don't have ration cards and jobs. How long will they wait?" asked Bhagwat. "For decades, Kashmiri Pandits have been living outside. They should live where they used to and be sure of their protection as patriots and Hindus. Such circumstances should be created and they be given justice," he said in his Dussehra address. Their dreams will have to be fulfilled, he said, adding that only then people will believe that they are being taken care of in the same way other states are working for their citizens. The issue of grant of citizenship rights to Hindu refugees in the state has been a controversial one there with parties like National Conference and PDP expressing reservation over it. The state government, which is headed by PDP in alliance with BJP, should see to it that a transparent and clean administration is there, Bhagwat said. Despite lot of money being pumped into the state, development work is not happening and people wonder where all the money is going, he said. Those creating trouble should be dealt firmly, he said, claiming that there is no trouble in entire regions of Jammu and Ladakh, besides a large part of Kashmir. Beijing: India's move to completely seal its border with Pakistan was a " very irrational decision" and would further complicate India-China relations considering Beijing's "all-weather" strategic ties with Islamabad, a state media report on Tuesday quoted leading experts as saying. "India is making a very irrational decision, since no exhaustive investigation has been conducted after the Uri incident, and no evidence proves Pakistan is behind the attack," the Global Times quoted Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow from the official thinktank Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy, as saying. Hu was commenting on Home Minister Rajnath Singh's announcement on Friday that the 3,323-km-long border between India and Pakistan would be "completely sealed" by December 2018. A "completely sealed" border would further hinder the already scarce border trade and talks between the two countries, Hu said. Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, said that a sealed border would only disrupt peace efforts made by the two sides. "The country's decision reflects its Cold War mentality, and would only cause deeper hatred among residents living in Indian- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir," Hu added. Since Pakistan is China's "all-weather" strategic partner, India's decision would make China-Pakistan-India relations more complicated, Hu said. But he said a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute is in the interest of China's homeland security, especially its western regions. Their hardline comments come ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India this week to take part in the BRICS Summit in Goa during which he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will be their second meeting in two months. The two met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou last month. On Monday, China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong defended China's "technical hold" in the UN on a ban on Masood Azhar, the head of Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad. "China is opposed to all forms of terrorism. There should be no double standards on counter terrorism. Nor should one pursue own political gains in the name of counter terrorism," he had said indirectly accusing India. If you enter the house of Naresh Kumar, it will be a while before you notice the entrance to an underground bunker. Deep under the courtyard, Kumar'a father built a six-by-ten feet tall bunker which can accommodate more than 25 people in standing posture. When the village of Abdullian is shelled and fired upon from three sides by Pakistani rangers in RS Pura sector on the working International Border (IB) between India and Pakistan, this bunker is their last hope of survival. Whenever there is a firing, we all rush to this bunker because fence is just behind us and Pakistani posts can be seen from our rooftop. It is frightening but this room is safe and we can survive mortars here, Kumar, 17, told Firstpost. Kumars father, Avtar Singh, built this bunker out of his own money after shells started landing in the area almost every day last year and the government failed to build one, despite making promises. On 28 August last year, a date which every villager remembers, Abdullian was heavily shelled from three sides by Pakistani rangers. One of the shells landed on the next door neighbour's house, killing his son and injuring many others. Before Singh returned to his village after living for months in a filthy migrant camp, 25 kilometres from here, he immediately started construction of this bunker. A ten feet tall pitch-dark room supported by four stonewalls and a thick concrete pillar in the centre, the bunker is protected by seven feet thick ceiling made of concrete and covered with clay. For ventilation, there are two small openings in the ceiling and three lamps to lighten up the room. Not an engineering marvel but it took almost Rs one lakh to build it. Since the day India claimed to have carried out surgical strikes along the LoC, Amitabh Chaudhry has been camping in Singhs home, refusing to live in his house. He stays in the room located closest to the bunker, ready to jump into the bunker anytime. Our neighbour's arm was amputated and his son was killed when shell landed on his house last year. I dont want to get killed, Chaudhry, 15, told Firstpost, pointing to a Pakistani bunker from Singhs rooftop which is distinctly visible to naked eye. After shelling intensified between the two armies last year, the then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, told the state assembly that over 20,000 bunkers will be built along the Line of Control and International Border for the safety of residents living in border areas in Jammu region. Sayeed, who passed away earlier this year, said his government had sent a proposal to union home ministry for the construction of 20,125 community-type bunkers at various places in Jammu division for people living near the border. The cost of constructing the bunkers was expected to be over Rs 1,000 crore. But those bunkers are yet to be constructed, making thousands of villagers vulnerable during cross border skirmishes. The Indian army constructed hundreds of bunkers in 1971 war along the LoC and International border which are still used by villagers during the time of crisis. However, villagers say these bunkers cant withstand the attack of an 88 mm mortar shell. Chamail Singh, a resident of Abdullian village, said the old bunkers cant be trusted when you are fired from three sides. Whenever firing takes place, we go inside them. If we dont get a chance, we just sit in someones house and hope that it will pass soon. The government has come up with a single bunker in the village for 100 households. There is not enough space for so many people, Singh, who served in the Indian Army, said. For combat reasons, these bunkers face the Pakistani side, but when the shelling takes place from three directions, they become vulnerable. The walls of these bunkers are crumbling and whenever tensions escalate, villagers cover them with sand bags from four sides and spend night in cramped spaces. The BJP's Parliamentarian, Jugal Kishore Sharma, admits there should be more bunkers. He says people have been demanding more such facilities whenever he visits the border areas. Bunkers are being constructed and there are few already in Arneia, Bishna and Suchetgarh, but they are used only in immediate circumstances when villages are shelled and people have to move from their houses, Sharma says. But people cant stay in these bunkers for ever. These can be used for one night. For that purpose, bunkers have been made and some are being built these days," he added. Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Pawan Kotwal, who has been monitoring the situation said the Central government has mooted a pilot project for the construction of underground bunkers but it is still incomplete. The Centre has already approved a project of Rs 60 lakhs as a pilot project to set up underground bunkers in Jammu. Presently there are no bunkers in Poonch region and I am sure if more bunkers are constructed, they would save lives, Kotwal said. In Malta area of Poonch district along the LoC, Suhail Ahmads house was destroyed by the shelling last Friday. Firing has been taking place intermittently after the 'surgical strikes', "We requested the government to build bunkers in the area but our pleas fall on deaf ears, he says. Ahmad refused to migrate after cross border tensions escalated and whenever firing takes place, he rushes into a cave like bunker dug into the gentle slope of a mountain near his home. In 1998, after a particularly difficult phase of cross-border shelling, the Jammu and Kashmir government provided funding to residents of border villages and helped them build 6,000 bunkers, like the one Ahmad lives in, to protect themselves. However, most of those bunkers were destroyed in 2005 earthquake, which struck northern Pakistan and the Kashmir region. "These bunkers were our only hope of survival. With them gone, we have turned into shooting targets for Pakistani forces," he said. Rajkumar Singh, who was arrested in a Bengaluru hotel on 9 October for allegedly murdering celebrity perfumer Monika Ghurde at her flat in Goa, told the investigators that he had undressed Ghurde to film her nude in order to blackmail Ghurde later. Believing that Ghurde was unconscious, the accused went to the kitchen and ate two boiled eggs. Rajkumar later fled the crime scene when he noticed that she was dead, reported The Times of India. However, a senior officer involved in the investigation told The Times of India that they did not know whether the accused had actually filmed Ghurde. Ghurde was found strangled to death in her three-bedroom rented apartment in Sangolda village in Goa. The 39-year-old's naked body was recovered on 6 October but investigation revealed she was killed on 5 October. According to the report, Goa police is questioning Rajkumar to ascertain whether he had sexually assaulted Ghurde. The accused had worked as a security guard in a building complex where Ghurde stayed earlier, and was fired from the job following complaints by several residents. "The accused was arrested from Bengaluru, where he had checked into a hotel after committing the crime," Deputy Inspector General of Police Vimal Gupta told PTI. The fashion designer-turned-perfumer had been living alone in the flat since July 2015. Gupta said police had lodged a murder case after her estranged husband Bharat Ramamrutam filed a complaint with Saligao Police Station. Rajkumar had stolen Ghurde's two ATM cards and mobile phone, and transactions made through them helped the police to track him, he said. The 22 years-old accused had also clicked a selfie in front of a shop in Bengaluru and posted it on Facebook, reported Deccan Chronicle. Police procured CCTV footage from the ATM booth and identified him with the help of a photo available with them in a tenant verification form submitted to Porvorim Police. Ghurde had studied photography at Mumbai's JJ Institute of Applied Arts. She had set up her perfume-making company Mo Lab, and was also researching perfumery. She had collaborated with eminent designers, such as Jean Francois Lesage, Christian Louboutin and Anand Kabra. With inputs form PTI On 2 October, the Jammu and Kashmir government banned the publication of the Srinagar-based English daily, Kashmir Reader, to prevent disturbance of public tranquillity. Now, The Editors Guild of India, an informal journalist body comprising of over 200 members from the media, has asked the states chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, to look into the newspapers complaint and reconsider the ban. On 6 October, the news channel NDTV ran a graphic during its primetime. Titled, "India above politics", it said that "national security cannot be compromised by politics" and that "the current political debate threatens to do so." It further said, "NDTV will not air any remarks that risk security for political advantage". The graphic was aired following an internal mail by NDTVs editorial director, Sonia Singh, explaining the channels new editorial policy. The same morning, NDTV had run excerpts of an interview with the former Union Home Minister and senior Congress leader, P Chidambaram, conducted by the channels anchor, Barkha Dutt. In the excerpt, Chidambaram is seen criticising statements made by Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, in the aftermath of the 29 September surgical strikes. But instead of airing the full interview like it had promised, NDTV ran the graphic statement and later even the excerpt was pulled off its website. In a subsequent statement, NDTV said that it ran interviews based on their relevance and newsworthiness in a continuum of developments. It further said that on matters of wild and unsubstantiated allegations, of which there is no shortage today in the country's politics, we will not report them without the accuser offering proof that has been verified by us and found to be news-worthy. The channel did not clarify even after being asked by Chidambaram himself which part of his interview contained remarks that risked security for political advantage. It also did not specify what wild and unsubstantiated allegations Chidambaram had made, if any, or if the channel thought that an interview with a former Home Minister on a hot topic was not relevant or newsworthy. Lets for a minute try and go with NDTVs decision. Let us say the channel thought it had genuine reasons (which have not been specified) for deciding to not air Chidambarams interview. Based on this judgment, the channel took a call and decided to cull the interview. But how are these things supposed to work? A news channel and its editors can take a call on not airing a particular interview because it supposedly compromises national security, but an elected government cannot take a decision to ban a newspaper on the same principle? Look at some of the reports Kashmir Reader chose to publish before its ban. On 12 August, it published a threat issued by pro-Pakistan groups, warning that those who defy them will be treated as traitors and will be dealt [with] accordingly. In another item, it openly carried a diktat by the United Jihad Council chief, Syed Salahuddin, asking pro-India politicians to resign and join them or else the nation wont spare them later. In yet another instance the newspaper carried a report of rebel organisation Lashkar-e-Toyyaba [sic] seeking permission from the separatist leadership to eliminate Indian agents in the state who dont mend their ways despite warned time and again. The newspaper also chose to carry the full protest calendar issued by the separatist leadership allowing no relaxation to the Kashmiris. In a blog post, a few years ago, one of the newspapers editors termed the exiled minority Hindus as intestinal parasites. The call for lifting ban on the newspaper by champions of Press freedom prompted researcher and blogger, Vinayak Razdan, to write a post, citing the example of the 1966 agitation (to press for the ban on cow slaughter), in which hundreds of thousands of sadhus descended upon Delhi, attacking several government buildings, including the parliament. In the ensuing violence, several sadhus lost their lives while many were arrested. Razdan writes: Imagine if [the] Jan Sangh in response to the event had issued a diktat asking all Hindu state employees to choose between secular India or Hindu India appealed them to join their movement. imagine if all Hindu employees who chose Secular India were told to be ready for the "natural consequences "... Imagine if this diktat was published in [the] Hindustan Times or [the] Times of India as a paid advertisement. The ad would have been inserted in stories about the pious life of dead sadhus and images of their dead gory faces. Imagine the consequences. What kind of publishing house [read: newspaper] would have carried such an ad and what kind of editors would have allowed such stories? On the guilds website (which has not been updated to reflect its current office bearers), upholding the freedom of the Press and striving for improvement of professional standards, safeguarding the editorial independence and taking appropriate steps to implement and further these aims are listed as its main objectives. But while the guild has chosen to speak for a newspaper, we havent heard anything about the curious case of NDTV, especially when the guilds website lists Barkha Dutt herself as one of the executive committee members (at least in 2014-15). What are we supposed to make of this silence? What is the criteria for intervention, or non-intervention, for that matter? While these developments are unfolding, there is hope from Pakistan. The editor of the English daily Dawn, whose reporter has been barred from leaving the country (after he wrote a controversial story), has issued a strong statement, standing by both the story and by the sacred oath to its (Dawns) readers to pursue its reporting fairly, independently and, above all, accurately. Sometime in 2004, a senior Bush administrator told a New York Times Magazine reporter, Were historys actors and you, all of you [journalists], will be left to just study what we do. The problem with Indian journalism is that many of us falsely think of ourselves as historys actors but might be ultimately left to study history made by editors of a neighbouring country. Mumbai/Ahmedabad: Suspected Pakistani hackers managed to breach the websites of Government Law College (GLC) in Mumbai and a private college in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. In Mumbai, the GLC authorities lodged a complaint at the Marine Lines police station after hackers put up a message on the college website, saying "To all Indians out there...surgical strike...lolx...", apparently referring to the army's recent surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Some students noticed it last evening and alerted the authorities. "We are investigating the IP address from which the website was defaced," said an officer of the Cyber Crime Cell of Mumbai police. The GLC website is hosted through a private server and the hackers may have taken advantage of the security loopholes in it, said the officer. In a similar case of cyber-attack, suspected Pakistani hackers, who identified themselves as 'Death Adders Crew', hacked the website of Gandhinagar-based LDRP Institute of Technology and Research (LDRP-ITR). They posted a photograph of Pakistan's flag and the slogan, 'Pakistan Zindabad', on the homepage of the institute, www.ldrp.ac.in. The hackers also warned of more attacks, saying "Abhi toh party shuru hui hai" (the party has just started), borrowing a line from a popular Hindi film song. The college authorities noticed the incident last night. LDRP-ITR is under Kadi Sarva Vishwavidyalaya (KSV), a private university. "We immediately deactivated the website. Only the homepage was hacked, while the data on the server is safe. Our technical team will put the website back online in due course after carrying out the required maintenance," said Registrar of the university SK Mantrala. No police complaint had been lodged so far, he said. A prominent journalist has been barred from leaving Pakistan after he reported on a suspected rift between civilian and military leaderships during a crucial meeting in which the ISI was told its support for terrorist groups was leaving the country globally isolated. Cyril Almeida, a columnist and reporter for the Dawn, tweeted that he has been told he has been put on 'Exit Control List' a system of border control maintained by Pakistan government under an ordinance which allows it to bar people whose names appear on the list from leaving the country. "Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan," Almeida tweeted. I am told and have been informed and have been shown evidence that I am on the Exit Control List. cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 10, 2016 I feel sad tonight. This is my life, my country. What went wrong. cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 10, 2016 Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan. cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 11, 2016 Was a long-planned trip, for at least several mths now. There are certain things that I will never, ever forgive. cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 10, 2016 In one of his tweets, he also claims that the Pakistani immigration officers are asked to be on a lookout for him. "Ur very famous in the airport. Ur name plastered at each immigration officer's desk. A big A4 sheet with just your name." - 'sources' say cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 11, 2016 The Exit Control List is a system of border control maintained by the Government of Pakistan under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance. Almeida's story about the unprecedented showdown between the Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, and the armys spy chief General Raheel Sharif triggered a controversy when it was published on 6 October. Almeida was booked on a Tuesday morning flight to Dubai for a holiday with family. But on Monday evening he received word that he would not be allowed to board the plane. Dawns editor Zaffar Abbas posted on Facebook, defiantly defending the newspapers position. The development came less than a week after he wrote a front-page story in the daily about a rift between Pakistan's civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in war against India and Afghanistan. On 6 October, Almeida, citing sources, reported in the widely-read daily that the civilian government has told the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan due to alleged support for militancy. Pakistan government has thrice denied the story since. The Foreign Office vehemently rejected the report and termed it "speculative". On Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered authorities to take "stern action" against those responsible for publishing the "fabricated" story. "Prime Minister took serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action," according to an official statement. Almeida's scoop came amidst a backdrop of heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the attack on an Indian army base in Uri on 18 September in which 19 soldiers were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists from the Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit. On 29 September, India carried out "surgical strikes" on seven terror launch pads across the LoC, and the Army said it had inflicted "significant casualties" on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan has denied the surgical strike by India but has claimed two of its soldiers were killed in alleged ceasefire violations along the LoC by Indian troops. Various senior journalists stood in support of Almeida and criticised Pakistani government's actions. #StandWithCyril was seen trending. Travel ban on Cyril @cyalm for doing his job is shameful. zahid Hussain (@hidhussain) October 10, 2016 What an absolute mockery PM Nawaz Sharif and Gen Raheel Sharif are making of democracy & press freedom#StandWithCyril #Pakistan https://t.co/rvgDYMhlSB Mohammad Taqi (@mazdaki) October 10, 2016 Bullies doing what bullies do best. Threaten, intimidate, make examples. #StandWithCyril https://t.co/ji96xdOBpr Imran Khan (@iopyne) October 10, 2016 So banned outfits can roam around freely,do rallies but a journalist has been put on ECL fr a story.really Prime minister?? #StandWithCyril shahzeb khanzada (@shazbkhanzdaGEO) October 10, 2016 Also read: Grounded Pakistani journalist Cyril Almeida has Goan roots With inputs from PTI Srinagar: Security forces pounded the government building in Pampore near here with mortars and blasted IEDs for the second day today to target the militants believed to be holed up there but there seems to be no early end to the operation. Army personnel fired mortar shells at the multi-storey building of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway at regular intervals with the aim of flushing out the militants or cornering them to one side of the building, officials said here. The ultras did not fire in retaliation, they said. The operation has been now going on for 36 hours and unlikely to end before daybreak tomorrow. It was launched in the wee hours yesterday. Most part of the concrete building has been reduced to a skeleton as many of its walls have been blown up. Elite Para commandos of the army have also been called in to neutralise the militants but the security personnel are not rushing into the building to avoid casualties, the officials said. The area around the EDI premises has been cordoned off to prevent the militants from escaping, the official said. Two to three militants stormed into the EDI complex in the wee hours yesterday and took positions inside one of the buildings. The ultras could have entered the complex from the riverside after travelling by boat but that can only be ascertained once the operation is over, the officials said. After getting inside the complex, the militants set on fire few mattresses inside a hostel room to attract the attention of the police and other security forces, which arrived within minutes of the smoke emanating from the building. In the initial exchange of firing, one army soldier was injured, the officials said. The security forces on Monday used mortar shells, Light Machine Guns and other small arms to flush out the militants. Militants had targeted the EDI building in February this year as well. Five security force personnel including two young army officers and a civilian employee of the Institute and three militants were killed in that operation which lasted 48 hours. Even as Indian troops take on holed up terrorists in Pampore and try to flush them out, Kejriwal, Chidambaram, Nirupam and Alok must be deeply concerned that it is not happening and is just another sidetrack by prime minister Narendra Modi to shift the attention away from showing evidence of the surgical strikes that they so vehemently disbelieve. And if they are meeting in conclave to discuss the honesty quotient of the ongoing Pampore assault they can always find comfort in the fact that why is it always Pampore. Suspicious, whatmaybe the BJP has a movie set there. It happened in 2013, then it happened again when a bus carrying soldiers of the 161 battalion were ambushed so isnt there something fishy about it all. Right? This can be their basis for attacking the BJP government for not doing enough to strengthen our forces and their security in Pampore and allowing these militants to enter the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) where suspected militants have taken refuge. After all, if the media can chance it and go there to cover the attack, why cant our politicians do much the same. Give them a flak jacket and let them get a taste of what it feels like to hear the ping of bullets flying around and the stench of cordite bruising their tender nostrils. That way at least we will not have to hear them tell us it never happened or that they have to seek proof that it did. This is actually not facetious as a suggestion. These people have embarrassed us so much these past few days by spreading doubt and even making our armed forces come off as liars that there have to be consequences which go beyond merely criticism. You do not believe the militant camps were attacked well then, next time, come along and join the party. You have nothing to fear since you dont accept it is occurring anyway so no worries. It is one thing to lacerate the BJP government for behaving as if they were some embodiment of the Dussehra spirit and had personally gone out to slay Raavan and other sundry dragons and make political capital out of things but quite another to suggest that a three star General would hold a post operation press conference in full uniform and lie about what was done. That is the part which galls. If there is anything to cavil about it is the use of the phrase surgical strike in its purest military sense. It is a sudden pre-emptive attack that wipes out the enemy completely and ends that chapter. In this case we destroyed several camps but we have not eliminated the threat or dismantled the hostile infrastructure. The attack on Baramulla almost soon after indicates that the operation was a successful raid on specific targets but not truly surgical in that nothing has changed.The threat is still a clear and present danger. Time the government stopped bleeding the issue to its advantage and strengthened its front-line. That government building in Jammu and Kashmir currently occupied by militants. Get rid of it. Now, that might qualify as surgical. Auto refresh feeds Two CRPF jawans and four civilians injured in a grenade attack in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/oPcmxiJMxs The militants behind the attack may have escaped but a search operation is on, reported Times Now. The nine injured included four women. They have been shifted to a hospital, the police officer said. Moreover, the grenade exploded on the roadside in Bon Bazar area of Shopian district when a CRPF party was patrolling the area, a police officer said. IANS reports that nine people have been injured in the attack. Rockets and heavy automatic gunfire were used on Tuesday morning to engage the militants. IANS "Operation against the holed up militants has been resumed. Floodlights were used during the night to ensure that the militants were prevented from escaping under the cover of darkness," a senior police official said. Two security personnel and a policeman were injured as the militants fired from inside the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Institute (JKEDI) in Pampore in the fighting that began on Monday. Three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers and five civilians were injured on Tuesday after unidentified persons hurled a grenade at a CRPF convoy in the Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir, said reports. On Monday, a soldier was injured in the exchange of fire between security forces and militants holed up inside a government building in Pampore which had witnessed a suicide attack in February this year. The operation to flush out militants holed up inside the government building entered its second day on Tuesday, even as security forces launched a fresh offensive against the militants. An army official said the area around the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) premises has been cordoned off and exchange of fire was going on. "Security forces have launched a fresh offensive this morning to flush-out the militants," the official said. On Tuesday, curfew remained in force in the interior areas of Srinagar as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in view of the fourth day of mourning a young boy, who was hit by pellets during a protest. Curfew continues in five police station areas of downtown (interior areas) city as a precautionary measure, a police official had told PTI. He said the curbs on the movement of people in the police station areas of Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, Safakadal and Maharaj Gunj have been imposed in view of the fourth day mourning of 12-year-old Junaid Akhoon, who was hit by pellets at Saidapora and later succumbed to injuries at SKIMS Hospital at Soura. He was buried on Saturday. Normal life remained affected for the 95th consecutive day in the rest of the Valley following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on 8 July. Another PTI report had said that at least 250 terrorists belonging to three Pakistan-based terror groups were active in the Kashmir Valley, trying to target security forces to "avenge" the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian army in PoK. Quoting intelligence inputs, top government sources had said, most of the 250 terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen had infiltrated before the surgical strikes on the intervening night of 28 and 29 September, which caused significant damage to their outfits. The terrorists were given clear instructions by their handlers across the border to target security forces in Kashmir Valley to "avenge" the surgical strikes, sources said. The central government had asked security forces operating in Jammu and Kashmir to maintain maximum level of alertness and take all precaution to foil any attempt by the militants to target them. Sources had told PTI that even though vigil along the LoC as well as the International Border has been intensified, there are gaps in many places due to difficult topography of the region. With inputs from PTI Mental Health (Awareness) Week was observed in many countries, culminating in the World Mental Health Day on Monday, 10 October. It seems a timely opportunity to highlight that homosexuality has been taken off the list of mental disorders. It is now, considered a normal orientation. As a gay man in post-colonial India, I have something more challenging to worry about. I am subjected to a discriminatory colonial law: Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which renders the law of our country against me. This Section criminalises sexual behaviour thats 'against the order of nature'. Despite homosexuality and forms of sexuality besides heterosexuality being found in over 450 species of the animal kingdom, order of nature is loosely interpreted as just penile-vaginal sex. Or worse, sex only for the purpose of procreation. Truth be told, heterosexuals dont have sex only when they decide to have a baby either. Besides, I learn from my numerous heterosexual girl friends that they have received great sexual pleasure even when it didnt involve penile-vaginal sex. While this law is used in divorce cases, where the husband is penalised under Section 377 if it is proven that he persuaded his wife to have oral or anal sex with him, in the case of homosexuals, their very existence comes under threat. I should add that it is not illegal to identify as gay in India, any kind of sexual expression between men fondling of penises, oral sex or anal sex could be used to implicate gay men under Section 377. To say that society has shut its empathetic eye to homosexuals is not an exaggeration by any means. There are tales of discrimination one would hear even from activists who celebrate their sexuality. Discrimination has not come to an end but yes, the reactions of activists to the discrimination has evolved over time. When you have the law of the land against you, you will be most vulnerable. If you are in a prejudiced society that thinks of everyone who is different as odd, you will be vulnerable. And vulnerable people sadly become a reservoir of mental health challenges. Bullying, pressure to be normal, lack of support systems, marital pressures and inability to be open about their relationship, all add up to an aggravated mental health issue. It is hence not surprising that suicide attempts are high in the LGBTIQ community. Many people who are out today and proud are also people who I could term as survivors because suicide is way too common. Why am I talking about this now? Because I was amazed when I found something very interesting in the Mental Health Care Bill that was passed recently in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill projects a ray of hope. With positive measures such as access to public healthcare, insurance cover for mental health patients and, more importantly here, the decriminalisation of suicide attempts; the Bill clearly mentions that there would be no discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Clause 21(1)(a) of the Bill speaks about the right to equality and non discrimination. It reads, there shall be no discrimination on any basis including gender, sex, sexual orientation, religion, culture, caste, social or political beliefs, class or disability. Yes, besides this, Article 15 of the Indian constitution asserts, no person shall be discriminated on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and sex, much to the annoyance of homophobes and bigots, is extended to sexual orientation. However, clause 21(1)(a) of the Mental Healthcare Bill explicitly mentions sexual orientation. [View the entire Bill, especially clauses 15(2) and 21(1)(a), here.] So, in a way, the nation causes duress with an inhuman, unscientific and insensitive law that is detrimental to mental health through Section 377, and then it offers the same people access to mental health without discrimination under clause 21(1)(a) of the new Bill. These point at a great paradox in the Indian Constitution. It is reasonable to suggest it may be prudent to strike down a law which criminalises consensual sexual behaviour between adults in the first place. I hope the five-judge Constitution bench, which is taking a closer look at Section 377 to determine if the Supreme Court needs to review its constitutionality, looks at the Mental Health Care Bill to draw much needed inspiration. Editor's note: This is the second in a three-part series for Navratri, on how the Durga Saptashati shaped our knowledge of the goddess. Read the introduction and part one of the series here. *** Part II: Durga Saptashati Key Takeaways for Contemporary Times Durga Saptashati is a composition that weaves in many basic tenets of life and spiritual thought in its narrative. This piece of poetry with its engaging narration and vivid imagery could suggest these tenets to those for whom the arcane and pithy language of the Upanishads was inaccessible. Some of the takeaways relevant for our times are discussed here. There is only Supreme Being the Divine Goddess Shakti, who is formless, but manifests in various forms. As discussed earlier, episode two of the Saptashati discusses the emergence of the Devi. The formless (nirguna) Devi assumes form (saguna) when the various gods of the then well-established Hindu pantheon Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma and the devatas combine their energy (tejas). The tejas is nothing but the primordial Shakti who is the epitome of that who is One the eternal Brahman. There is no discord within the multiplicity of forms and paths that lead to the One Truth. [1] Shakti is the benevolent Mother who reincarnates/appears to re-establish the reign of Good over Evil. One of the cornerstones of Indian thought is that the formless Divine manifests at the behest of the devotees to defeat the forces of evil and re-establish the forces of good. The Saptashati reiterates this in its narrative, proclaiming that while Shakti is eternal and unborn, She, the benign mother, manifests herself again and again to protect the world [2]. It assures us that we need not despair for She will protect and guide us. The I within us is constantly engaged in a combat with good and bad. We have to transcend the I (aham) or ego to reach the Divine. The Saptashati reminds us that there is constant battle within us a battle between our saintly and our demonic tendencies. It has to be won. We have to transcend our own nature with all its wrong conceptions (the Mahisha within us) and move beyond the false sense of I (aham) to reach and merge with the higher divine consciousness for happiness and bliss. The arrangement of the episodes in the Saptashati symbolises the different stages of this elusive process of transcending the self. Our ego and our pride keep resurfacing till they are annihilated. As mentioned earlier, in the third episode, Kali and the Matrikas kill the ferocious Raktabija (rakta is blood and bija is seed). Raktabija can be likened to our ego and our pride. Our ego keeps resurfacing in various demonic forms when hurt and is like the drops of blood which keep giving rise to Raktabija again and again. It has to be destroyed completely for us to be able to move forward. There is a multiplicity of purusharthas (goals) at various stages of our existence. The Indian tradition recognises that each one of us has a different goal based on the cosmic law of karma. Both, the desire for artha and moksha are valid as long as they are achieved by following the dharmic path. At the end of the frame narrative, Surath asks for the power to defeat his enemies in the current birth and for a kingdom in the next birth artha. Samadhi requests for that knowledge which does not distinguish between the Divine and the I moksha [3]. The Devi grants both. The Supreme Divinity can be and is visualised in a Feminine Form. There are many references in earlier Indian literature including the Vedas, where the Supreme Being is referred to as the Divine Mother. She, as prakriti (the active principle), is the cause of all creation in Samkhya thought, she as shakti is the energy of the Universe and she as maya conceals the true nature of reality in Vedanta. The Saptashati, however, brings together all forms of the Divine feminine, coalesces them into a whole and crystallises the fiercely independent Goddess as The Supreme Being The Ultimate Godhead The Divine Feminine. She is the Mahadevi who creates the Universe, pervades all creation (omnipresent) and sustains all creation, and then destroys it. She is the Mahadevi who possesses the powers of all the male gods combined (omnipotent). All divine beings are just manifestations of her there is no second one in this Universe [4]. The composition also brings together the vatsalya of the Matrikas with the fierceness of Kali to fuse into the great Mahadevi. Next: Part III Re-imagining the Kumari Puja in households *** Notes: [1] Indram mitram varunamaghnimahuratho divyah sa suparno gharutman, ekam sad vipra bahudha vadantyaghnim yamam matarisvanamahuh "They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garuda. To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan." (Rig Veda 1.164.46) [2] Evam Bhagawathi devi saa nithyapi puna puna, Sambhooya kuruthe Bhoopa, Jagatha paripalanam. (Durga Saptashati 12.36) [3] Thatho vavre nrupo rajyamavi bramsa janmani, Athrapi cha nijam rajyam hatha shatru balam balath. So api vaishyastato gyanam vavre nirvinamanasah, Mamethyahamithi pragna sangavichyuthikarakam. (Durga Saptashati 13.17 and 13.18) [4] Aham vibhoothya bahubhiriha roopair yathasthadha. Tatsamhrutham mayaikeva thishtamyajou sthidhirobhava. (Durga Saptashati 10.5) Garima is an independent business and strategy consultant and an Indic Studies enthusiast. She can be reached at garima.c@hotmail.com Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat set the tone for the kind of Dussehra that will be celebrated by politicians on Tuesday. Bhagwat used the occasion of Dussehra to address the RSS cadre and praise the Narendra Modi government for the surgical strikes by the Indian Army against the terror launch pads across the Line of Control. "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is a part of India," said Bhagwat. "We all know that the outrage in Kashmir is because of forces across the border," he said, praising the central government again. "But we gave a proper response to them. The Indian Army gave a proper message. And the people behind the commotion in Kashmir got the message that there is a limit to tolerance," he said, clearly referring to Pakistan. Bhagwat also said that there was a need to promote nationalism in Jammu and Kashmir and said that gau rakshaks who were working within the laws of the society were good people. The speech given by the RSS chief is a good example of the politics behind Dussehra and what we can expect from other political speeches to come. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will all deliver speeches on Tuesday. And like Bhagwat's speech, we can expect the surgical strikes to come up in all their speeches. With PM Modi's visit to the historic Aishbagh Ramlila in Lucknow, this will be the first time that a Prime Minister of the country celebrates Dussehra outside the national capital. Home Miniter Rajnath Singh will also accompany the PM on his visit. Modi's visit assumes an added significance because of assembly polls due next year in Uttar Pradesh where the saffron party is making a concerted bid to come back to power after a gap of 15 years and is up against ruling Samajwadi Party and main opposition Mayawati-led BSP. The Aishbagh Ramlila is also seen as a symbol of pluralistic culture, also called 'Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb', as Muslim rulers patronised it and allotted it space equal to Eidgah, which is situated right next to it. In the absence of strong regional leaders, BJP is again banking on Modi's appeal to power its campaign in the state, with which it won the Lok Sabha polls, riding on a national wave in his support. However, it is perceived to have slipped since the Lok Sabha polls. The party had earlier said that Modi will be in the state every month before the campaign picks up when he is expected to address rallies and attend more events. From the Opposition parties, one of the most prominent speeches will be that by Rahul Gandhi at the Ramlila maidan in New Delhi, which is expected to take place after 5 pm. It will be interesting to observe what Rahul Gandhi says after his 'khoon ki dalali' remark sparked outrage in the country from many people and the ruling party. "You (Modi) are hiding behind the blood of soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir and those who carried out the surgical strikes for India. You are exploiting their sacrifices, which is very wrong," Rahul Gandhi had said. Arvind Kejriwal's speech will also be significant, especiialy after the flak he got for asking Modi to respond to Pakistan's allegations that the surgical strikes were fake. It's not just Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi though. A lot of other political bigwigs like President Pranab Mukherjee, vice-president Hamid Ansari, BJP president Amit Shah, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Union ministers Harshvardhan, Dharmendra Pradhan and Nitin Gadkari, former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and BJP leader Sambit Patra will also attend the Ramlilas on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to this report in The Economic Times. A very political Dussehra is definitely on the cards. With inputs from PTI As I watched television clips of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati addressing a rally in Lucknow on Sunday, I was reminded of a conversation with BSP founder, Kanshi Ram, a quarter-century ago. This was a year or two before he installed Mayawati as deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh; the soft-spoken and mild-mannered founder was still the undisputed supremo of the party. I was about the only mainstream English-language journalist who would meet him. As the chief of the political bureau of the newspaper for which I worked, I had distributed the popular 'big' parties to my colleagues to cover, and given myself the small parties that no one wanted to cover. So I spent quality time interviewing and chatting with Kanshi Ram. On the afternoon of which his proteges speech reminded me last Sunday, he took me across a large map of Uttar Pradesh on his office wall, explaining the demographic importance of Muslims votes. He pointed out belts where Muslims comprised between 20 and 30 percent of the population, or between 10 and 20 percent. He already knew where Dalits were in relatively large numbers. He was not talking so much about 'vote bank politics' as explaining why Indias electoral system demanded that political parties reach out to different communities. His political strategy was clear, and based on a long-term understanding of the subcontinent's society and history. The name of his party stemmed from that understanding: he said that those who do not see themselves as Brahmins, Rajputs, Baniyas or Kayasthas together constitute 85 percent of the people - what he called the 'Bahujan Samaj'. This majority must be empowered, he said. His argument was based on historical exploitation and social suppression. He wished for all the people of the 85 percent 'Bahujan' to vote together for a just and equitable society. He would hold up a pen vertically to indicate 15 percent at the top, then turn it horizontal to show the equitable effect on society of the 'Bahujan Samaj' being empowered as equals. Of course, that was wishful thinking, given the deep and antagonistic divisions in society. Jats and Yadavs, which castes had successively gained political power in UP on the basis of increased land ownership in recent decades, turned out to be more averse to supporting Dalits than 'upper castes'. And various 'Dalit' castes too did not always see their interests in the same light. Since at least the 1940s, castes associated with cleaning took to Gandhi, while castes associated with leather appeared to be more attracted to Ambedkar. In Uttar Pradesh, the latter were Kanshi Rams core supporters (he and Mayawati are from castes associated with leather). Yet, his talk of 'Bahujan' unity inspired at least a united 'Dalit identity. Perhaps it was only for the additional support of the less prosperous backward castes that Kanshi Ram actually hoped - even in the face of the evident attractions of 'Sanskritization,' and the cultural inclusion that RSS ideologue Golwalkar urged. In any case, that map survey he gave me clearly showed that Kanshi Ram was sure of one thing: his party could not win without Muslim support. In fact, he told me that no party could. Amit Shah and Narendra Modi seemed to have proved him posthumously wrong in 2014 when the BJP won 72 of Uttar Pradeshs 80 seats. At her rally on Sunday, Mayawati strongly reached out to Muslims, asking them to combine with her Dalit backers in order to defeat the BJP, which she described as oriented to the upper castes. Of course, Mayawati is a very different kind of leader from Kanshi Ram. She is easily associated with state power, street muscle and political deals. That may be one reason she appears to have given up on the social and historical understanding that undergirded the 'Bahujan' ideology. She even won a majority mandate by overtly seeking and projecting Brahmin support for and power through the BSP. On the other hand, there were strong shades of class in the political style with which Kanshi Ram promoted his 'Bahujan' thinking. During the 1970s and 80s, he and his activists bicycled around the villages of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, spending nights in sympathizers huts, where they often shared their ideas in the shadows cast by lanterns and candles. By seeking Dalit-Muslim resistance at the state level against BJP power at the Centre in her speech on Sunday, Mayawati implicitly acknowledged that her battle is against the optics generated by the BJP at the national and international levels. That is an anti-Pakistan rhetoric which very easily, albeit subliminally, becomes an anti-Muslim bias. Given the hyper-nationalist mood of many across the land, Mayawatis political gamble is bold. One key is whether Dalits are swayed by nationalism sort or by the obvious anti-Dalit biases of BJP leaders and ranks. A second key is whether some of the more-backward castes share the perception of BJP caste-based contempt. How Muslims perceive the answers to those two questions is only the third question. On those answers hangs the future of the country, maybe even the subcontinent. Aishbagh, a small locality in the backyard of old Lucknow known for its lush green forest cover and a beautiful lake known as Motijheel will have the distinction of hosting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the festival of Dussehra at its sprawling Ramlila Maidan on Tuesday. In choosing to celebrate the festival at the low-profile destination, Modi has become the first prime minister to step out of New Delhi for Dussehra. But why Aishbagh? Though speculations are rife about his motive, there is no denying that Aishbagh serves a combination of rich syncretic tradition of Oudh and a unique history of social harmony. Old timers in Lucknow would recall a saying deeply buried in their memory, that goes like, jisko na de maula use de Asaf-ud-Daula (those denied by God, are rewarded by Asaf-ud-Daula instead). The munificence of Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula, the eighteenth century wazir of Oudh, was legendary. More than a century before economist John Maynard Keynes was born, and later discovered pump priming as a tool to revive a sluggish economy, Asaf-ud-Daula deployed massive state expenditure to overcome a famine-like situation in the region in the 1780s. The architectural grandeur of old Lucknow bears testimony to the Nawabs sagacity and perspicacity. The story of Asaf-ud-Daula assumes significance in the current context for many reasons. For instance, in Aishbagh, the Nawab donated lands for the purpose of celebrating Ramlila and Idgah, which exist cheek by jowl even today. Despite the combustible combination of the population that draws from Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs in the locality, Aishbagh has always remained an epitome of Oudhs syncretic culture, even in the worst of times. In this context, Modis presence at one of Indias oldest Ramlila grounds would serve as a powerful symbolism that goes beyond politics. Modi might have chosen Aishbagh randomly or for political reasons, but the place is certainly out of the ordinary. Barely a few yards away from the Ramlila Maidan exists a Gurudwara in the Rakabganj area which is adjacent to a Karbala ground, where Shias mourn the sacrifice of Imam Hussain on the occasion of Muharram. This small locality in Lucknow is a multi-cultural cauldron that contains various strands of all faiths, co-existing together in perfect harmony for centuries on end. Apart from the historical context, Aishbagh was once upon a time an industrial area modelled on the Soviet Unions planned economy. And, as Indias first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru reposed faith in the Soviet-style planned economy, Aishbagh was chosen as a place to give fillip to industrial development. The government constructed two sprawling colonies to provide cheap but good accommodation to those who worked for private industries. In the post liberalisation phase, however, the small, medium and large industrial units set up in the locality found it difficult to cope with the changing times. The once smoke-billowing chimneys have now fallen silent. On first glance, there is a graveyard like silence in the industrial estate which once used to be hyper-active with labour activities and manufacturing. Over the past three decades, however, the locality has witnessed a transition of its blue-collared workers into the powerful middle-class by adapting to the changing economic realities and joining the service sector. Aishbagh is also symbolic of a rising neo-middle class that is rootless, nimble-footed and guided more by self-interests than political ideology. In essence, the transition of Aishbagh from a lush green forest to an industrial estate and subsequently to a neo-middle class colony is coterminous with the historical journey of rest of India. What is certainly outstanding about Aishbagh though is the fact that it has managed to retain its distinctive feature of cultural syncretism, inherited from the rich history of Oudh. The Brics Summit this weekend in Goa comes at a time when India-Pakistan relationship has hit a new low. Between Pakistan's renewed intransigence in leveraging anti-India proxies to prosecute its Kashmir agenda, and India's signal that will meet the same using limited military options, the discussions in Goa will invariably be coloured by the recent events in South Asia. Of special interest would be the stance China takes on terrorism during the Summit and whether it will look beyond its all-weather friendship with Pakistan to accommodate India's concerns when it comes to cross-border and increasingly Islamist terrorism. China's calculations will be driven by the relative weights its puts on its geopolitical imperatives behind supporting Pakistan, its professed desire to upgrade its relationship with an increasingly assertive India, and its own vulnerabilities when it comes to Islamist terrorism in the restive region of Xinjiang. At the face of it, China and Pakistan make for a strange couple an avowedly secular one-party government on a relentless march towards domestic prosperity and international influence, and a revanchist power driven by the mosque and the military and in the news almost always for the wrong reasons. But there is a certain logic to this marriage of convenience between China and Pakistan. That China sees Pakistan as a geopolitical instrument to balance India's nearly-hegemonic presence in South Asia is obvious. China sees no reason why it can't also be an ersatz South Asian power by cultivating a client in the region. It also sees Pakistan as a key link to the Islamic world especially at a time when it expands its footprint to the west of Asia. Finally, it views the proposed port of Gwadar in Balochistan as a key to mitigating its Malacca dilemma. That Pakistan can also emerge as a convenient location to dump its industrial surpluses and as low-cost labour base (especially as China moves towards higher-end manufacturing and the services sector to drive its economy going forward) no doubt adds to the attractiveness of Rawalpindi in the eyes of Beijing. Pakistan's incentives in cultivating China are all too clear. The United States seems to have lost interest in Pakistan and is no longer willing to enable Rawalpindi's geostrategic rent-seeking behaviour. China, on the other hand, continues to have good reasons to humour Pakistan with cash, armaments and, most crucially, its clout as a (permanent) member of the UN security council. It is this last point that has emerged as a major point of contention in the India-China relationship: China continues to support a 'technical hold' that prevents Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar from being declared a global terrorist by the United Nations. It is established at this point that it was the JeM that staged the Pathankot attack in January and more than likely that it was behind the attack on the military facility in Uri last month. Terrorism analysts have long viewed Azhar and the JeM as being actively supported by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence. Therefore China's hold on the UN ban on Azhar is almost certainly at the behest of Rawalpindi. The real question, however, is this: given that all other members of the UNSC P5 support such a ban and given the extremely low appetite western powers have for the shenanigans of Islamist terrorists right now how long can China keep up its current stance? Much will depend on how the India-China relationship shapes up in the upcoming months. At this point, India has lot more 'asks' from China than it 'gives': India simultaneously wants China to support its bid for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, to address its concerns with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC -- which passes through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir), as well as to lift the hold on the UN ban on Azhar. In return, it has little to give to China at a bilateral level beyond, perhaps, easing rules for Chinese businesses and industries to set up shop in India further. China had believed that India would continue to be neutral when it comes to its disputes in the South China Sea. India's growing partnership with Vietnam, for example, means that this will not be the case. This lopsided diplomatic balance strengthens the Chinese hand. Beijing has noted with due alarm which was communicated through its state-sponsored scholars and analysts Prime Minister Modi's reference to Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan in his Independence Day speech in August. Both areas are of crucial importance to China as it promotes its dual-use infrastructure projects through CPEC. It also views the renewed vigour in the India-United States military relationship as directed towards keeping Chinese power in the Indian Ocean region in check. It is, therefore, extremely optimistic to believe that Beijing will change its mind unilaterally anytime soon, barring perhaps a grand bargain between India and China whereby New Delhi looks the other way when it comes to CPEC-related activities, in return for Beijing removing the hold on the ban on Azhar. Securing Beijing's support could also take the form of a moonshot collaborative project between China and India perhaps in the west or central Asia or a manifestly accommodative posture by New Delhi when it comes to Chinese interests in Afghanistan. Of course, there are other more coercive diplomatic measures India could adopt to compel China to change its stance towards Masood Azhar and Pakistan's use of proxies in general. Such measures could involve inviting exiled separatists from Xinjiang to India (something the government pondered, and then discarded, a couple of months ago) or by bringing into prominence the Tibetan government-in-exile. It could also, gently, signal that the Government of India's official 'one-China' policy which recognizes Taiwan to be a part of China is not set in stone, to be continued in perpetuity. However, such diplomatic measures are likely to be extremely escalatory in nature. At a time when New Delhi has its hands full, once again, with managing Pakistan, it may well realize that now might not be the best time to take on Chinese obstructionism directly, but instead, bide for more time. The author is a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and a national security columnist for Firstpost. Views expressed here are personal. He tweets @AbhijnanRej BOGOTA Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe on Monday proposed that leaders of the Marxist FARC rebel group lose their freedom for at least five years and they would be banned from elected office as part of changes to a peace deal between the government and the insurgents.Uribe, now a popular opposition senator, led the group of Colombians that narrowly rejected a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a plebiscite last week, throwing a long negotiation to end the 52-year war into limbo.Representatives of those who voted "No" presented the government with the first in a series of changes they want implemented in the accord which was signed on Sept. 26 by President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, better known by his nom de guerre Timochenko.Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to end the war.Uribe opposed FARC leaders receiving non-traditional sentences like clearing landmines, and instead insisted that those found guilty of war-time crimes should lose their freedom for between five and eight years even if they are held on agricultural farms. He also wants them banned from holding elected office. Although the FARC has said it is willing to hear new ideas, Uribe's proposals may be difficult for its leadership to accept, given they have repeatedly refused to consider jail time and they want to form a political party. Uribe, who scored major military gains against the FARC when he was president, fought against the negotiations since Santos began the peace talks in 2012, describing them as far too lenient on rebel leaders and a national embarrassment.He accused Santos of selling out Colombians by promising 10 congressional seats instead of prison cells in return for ending a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people. Santos said they must move quickly to present the new ideas to the FARC."What's vital now is that we get over this uncertainty quickly," he said in a speech after announcing peace talks with the second biggest rebel group, the ELN."They mustn't be impossible proposals." Uribe also proposed that as many as 7,000 FARC fighters who have not been involved in serious crimes should receive amnesty and help eradicate coca, the raw material that goes to make cocaine.But those involved in drug trafficking should be tried as ordinary criminals and not be judged for political crimes.The original peace accord envisaged FARC rebels handing over their weapons and confessing to their crimes. Those involved in serious crimes would have been restricted to certain areas for eight years. (Reporting by Helen Murphy and Luis Jaime Acosta) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Kylie MacLellan | LONDON LONDON A number of lawmakers who opposed a British exit from the European Union in June's referendum would now back a start of formal divorce proceedings from the bloc - provided parliament gets to decide at all, a Reuters poll showed.Results of the online survey opened the possibility that Prime Minister Theresa May might be able to win a vote in what has been a predominantly pro-EU parliament, although her government remains determined to prevent such a vote from happening.May has said she will trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty - which begins an initial two-year period during which Britain must negotiate the terms of its exit - by the end of March next year without giving lawmakers a vote. However, London's High Court is due on Thursday to start hearing a legal challenge led by a pro-EU investment fund manager seeking to force May into letting parliament decide when, how and whether to invoke Article 50.[nL5N1CB51W]In the online poll, Reuters asked members of parliament's lower House of Commons - excluding the nearly 100 who hold government posts and are therefore obliged to follow May's line - how they would vote if the challenge were to succeed.Of the 57 lawmakers who responded, more than 60 percent said they would back the start of formal negotiations. Over a third of respondents who had voted "remain" in the June 23 referendum said they now supported triggering the Brexit process."The consequence of a leave vote was clear to everyone, that we would leave the EU. The majority of remain voters do not want the democratic process in the referendum bypassed by MPs," one Conservative who supported remain but now favours triggering Article 50, said in response to the anonymous survey.May has described legal challenges to Brexit - another is underway in Northern Ireland - as an attempt to "subvert" democracy and delay the process after Britons voted by 52 to 48 percent to leave the bloc. In the poll, all 21 lawmakers who voted leave in June supported invoking Article 50. Of the 36 respondents from the remain camp, 14 said they had come round to backing a start to Brexit negotiations. May would need a significant shift in opinion among lawmakers, were it to come to a parliamentary vote. Around three-quarters of the 650 members of the lower house backed remaining in the EU before the referendum. Many say they would now respect the wishes of the country and not block the exit.However, May's Conservatives have long been deeply divided over EU membership and she herself voted in June to remain. The party has a small majority in the lower house and none in the upper House of Lords, so parliament's involvement could risk seeing the Brexit process prolonged by months or even years."SIDELINING PARLIAMENT" Attorney General Jeremy Wright will represent the government in this week's London court proceedings, and will argue that a decision to withdraw from the EU is a power that only ministers can take on behalf of the monarchy. [nL8N1C43ID]Lawyers expect the final decision will be made by the Supreme Court, Britain's highest judicial body, in December.Victory for the claimants would mean parliament would have to debate triggering Brexit, vote on Article 50 and then pass legislation, a process which could delay an EU exit.The nearly 100 Conservative lawmakers who hold government roles would back the government position if a vote took place. Only one of the 26 Conservative lawmakers who responded to the survey said they would vote against triggering Article 50. The opposition Labour Party has yet to reveal its official position if a vote were held, but a third of the 24 Labour lawmakers who responded to the survey said they would back triggering Britain's EU exit.Even if the House of Commons backs the divorce proceedings, the government may run into trouble in the House of Lords, where it has had several measures blocked over the last year.Some lawmakers said they would not support triggering Article 50 until the government had set out more about its negotiating position and what kind of future relationship it was seeking with the EU. Others said parliament should be given a vote on the terms of the final Brexit deal."It seems that the government want to draw up negotiating terms, negotiate and reach a deal without any parliamentary approval. That is not making parliament sovereign, it is sidelining parliament," Labour's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer told parliament on Monday.Labour wants a vote on the basic terms proposed by the government before Article 50 is invoked, he said."We accept and respect the result of the referendum, but neither those who voted to remain nor those who voted to leave gave the government a mandate to take an axe to our economy." (Editing by David Stamp) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Tim Cocks, Michelle Nichols and Marine Pennetier | DAKAR/UNITED NATIONS/PARIS DAKAR/UNITED NATIONS/PARIS A draft United Nations memo seen by Reuters suggests that dozens allegations of sexual abuse against U.N. peacekeepers in Central African Republic have been fabricated by people seeking financial payoffs.The revelations put the spotlight back on how the world body deals with abuse cases. In December an independent review panel criticised the United Nations for mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse by international peacekeepers, who were not under U.N. command, in Central African Republic.The 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force there, known as MINUSCA, has been dogged by allegations of sexual abuse since its deployment in April 2014 to curb fighting between the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels and the anti-balaka Christian militias.French troops deployed in a separate intervention in the former French colony have also been accused of abuses.The United Nations in March expanded its inquiry into new accusations of sexual abuse and exploitation in the country's Dekoa region. It told France, Gabon and Burundi that dozens of accusations had been made against their soldiers in MINUSCA. However, an internal Aug. 24 memo - written by the chief of the U.N. Department of Field Support's Conduct and Discipline Unit suggested many accusations were strikingly similar and appeared to be motivated by financial gain.Written by Mercedes Gervilla, the memo, citing information from the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services, said: "OIOS notes that many of the complaints followed a specific pattern of accusations; many of the complainants' stories were nearly identical, lacked specific details and fell apart when probed. It appeared as though the complainants had memorized a script." The memo said a local charity tasked with referring abuse accusations to the U.N. children's agency UNICEF had placed complainants on a monthly remuneration scheme, offering a financial incentive for people to present themselves as victims. The memo appeared to be a draft as it had not been signed by Gervilla. PAYMENTS "ROUTINE PART" OF RESPONSE TO ABUSES "Further, OIOS obtained information indicating that a purported social worker was inciting complainants to make false allegations given the possible economical return. The same person is said to have extorted payments from complainants in exchange for being presented as victims," Gervilla wrote. UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said it had a long-standing arrangement with a local charity to provide care to children and women who come forward as victims of sexual abuse. She said cash transfers to those people were a "routine part" of the response to sexual abuse and exploitation. "UNICEF has no role in determining whether a person coming forward as a victim has in fact been sexually abused or sexually exploited," she said. "As a first-line responder to these incidents UNICEF proceeds on the assumption that a person coming forward as a victim is entitled to care and support."Mercado said that as part of the response to the accusations of abuses in Dekoa, the charity had provided a one-time payment of $35 to 106 self-described victims. The memo, which said the OIOS investigation was close to completion, focused on more than 150 accusations made between March and June this year about events that happened between 2013 and 2016 and involved troops from Burundi and Gabon.Gervilla estimated that about 50 percent of cases were not supported by any evidence and only 20 percent by substantive evidence. The remaining 30 percent had partial evidence, but lacked corroborating material. "It should also be noted that the substantive allegations are of sexual exploitation - sex in exchange for food. There is little or no substantial evidence of sexual abuse," she wrote.Gervilla said a further 216 allegations were made against Burundian, Gabonese and French forces during an OIOS fact-finding mission at the end of August. "Many if not all of these allegations result from what appears to a systematic effort to initiate false accusations against peacekeeping personnel in Dekoa," she said.A U.N. peacekeeping official in New York said the OIOS had interviewed some 435 complainants and witnesses. The evidence was now being reviewed by OIOS ahead of final reports to be sent to U.N. troop-contributing countries for appropriate action to ensure accountability of peacekeepers.MINUSCA spokesman Herve Verhoosel said the mission was taking the allegations seriously but would not comment further until the investigation was finished.France, which at its peak had some 2,000 soldiers in Central African Republic, has initiated investigations in Paris but has yet to charge anybody. (Writing by John Irish; editing by Mark Heinrich) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Paris: French President Francois Hollande has not yet decided whether to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Paris next week, after the Kremlin blocked a UN bid to end the bombing of Aleppo, Paris said. Putin is due in Paris on 19 October to inaugurate a new Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower in a visit that is fast turning into a diplomatic headache for France. On Sunday, Hollande left open the question of whether he would receive Putin, describing the scorched-earth campaign in the Syrian city of Aleppo as a war crime. "I asked myself the question... Is it useful? Is it necessary? Can it be a way of exerting pressure? Can we get him to stop what he is doing with the Syrian regime?" Hollande told the TMC channel on Monday. The Kremlin however said preparations for Putin's visit were continuing. "There are plans for talks with the Elysee Palace (seat of the French presidency) and Putin will take part in the inauguration of the Russian spiritual centre," his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Paris had not informed Moscow of any changes to their plans, he added. Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told France Inter radio on Monday that Hollande would decide whether to meet with Putin "in light of the situation in Aleppo and Syria". If Hollande agrees to meet Putin, "it will not be for pleasantries, it will be to speak the truth," he said, calling the Syrian and Russian bombardments of Aleppo a "gift to terrorists". Ayrault was given short shrift in Moscow on Friday as he tried in vain to persuade his opposite number Sergei Lavrov to implement the Aleppo ceasefire plan. But Ayrault said Russia was still "a partner" of France and there might also be talks to try to resolve the nearly three-year-old conflict in eastern Ukraine. He did not give details but France and Germany have for weeks been trying to organise a meeting between Hollande, Putin, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko. During a visit to Istanbul, Putin outlined a potential first step toward getting badly needed aid into Aleppo, where some 250,000 residents live in the rebel-held east. "We have a common position which is to do everything to get humanitarian aid to Aleppo... The problem is ensuring the safety of these deliveries," Putin said. Few would disagree with the fact that Donald Trump is easily one of the most trolled public figure amid tweeples. And when the Republican Presidential nominee, known for making offhand comments, spewed fresh vitriol in his second debate with Democratic Hillary Clinton, he gave twitterati more reasons to poke fun at him. A member from the audience, Gobrah Hamed questioned Trump about what are his thoughts on growing Islamophobia and how his presidency will help people who are being labelled as a threat just because they are Muslims. Trump, who clearly attempted to tone down his response as compared to some of his previous statements about Muslims, apparently failed to package it in a palatable manner. While on one hand Trump agreed that Islamophobia is indeed a problem, he also tried to allude that Muslims fail to do enough about reporting terrorists. Sample this: "You're right about Islamophobia and that's a shame. One thing we have to do is we have to make sure that because there is a problem, whether we like it or not and we could be very politically correct, but whether we like it or not, there is a problem and we have to be sure that Muslims come in and report when they see something going on. When they see hatred going on, they have to report it." Twitter was taken by a storm as people all over the world started tweeting with #MuslimsReportStuff. The thread garnered some hilarious responses as people resorted to "reporting stuff" even the banalities of everyday life. Kale salad is a good thing, and I don't care who disagrees with me. #MuslimsReportingStuff Danger Mouse (@snarkysum) October 11, 2016 Alright world, I'm off to bed! Thought I'd better let this be known just in case.. #MuslimsReportingStuff #muslimsreportstuff Norah Fahim (@nefahim) October 10, 2016 I put the milk in the bowl before putting the cereal this morning #MuslimsReportingStuff Sophia R. (@Sophia_A_R) October 11, 2016 Sometimes I watch Make Up tutorials #MuslimsReportingStuff Mo Kaji / Gold Heart (@MoKaji) October 10, 2016 Reporting Ahmed for eating dinner twice today. #muslimsreportingstuff https://t.co/CYzZSpaOkm Faisal Yaqub (@faisalyaqub) October 10, 2016 My friends played Exploding Kittens @gameofkittens today, there were 'attacks' and 'explosions' everywhere #MuslimsReportingStuff #debate Filza Mazahir (@filzamazahir) October 10, 2016 And even this. Some people just used the thread to express their anger and point out that his comment was made in bad taste. There is an orange clown on tv threatening to ban Muslims from this country. #MuslimsReportingStuff Moumita Ahmed (@disruptionary) October 10, 2016 Was this the best political discourse that the US could produce? Democracy in the US is now officially a global joke. #MuslimsReportingStuff Biryani For One (@biryaniforone) October 10, 2016 As a Muslim, I would like to report a narcissist, misogynist, racist and a sexist man trying to become US President#muslimsreportingstuff Raza Haidery (@heyitsraza) October 10, 2016 And some just had a laugh at his expense. #muslimsreportingstuff There's an idiot running for President in the US.. Heeeelp! George Khoony (@WaldyKKhan) October 10, 2016 There is a man getting too close to a woman at the #debate trying to grab her by the ***** #MuslimsReportStuff pic.twitter.com/MYSYoI665K Driss Temsamani (@DrissTemsamani) October 10, 2016 Cyril Almeida, a columnist and reporter for Dawn, has been barred from leaving Pakistan after he reported on a suspected rift between civilian and military leaderships. He pointed out that his name has appeared on the exit control list via Twitter on Monday. I am told and have been informed and have been shown evidence that I am on the Exit Control List. cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 10, 2016 "Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan," Almeida tweeted. Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan. cyril almeida (@cyalm) October 11, 2016 He had written a front page story for Dawn about a rift between Pakistans civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in war against India and Afghanistan, according to PTI. As Pakistan minister Mohammad Barjees Tahir told Times Now, Almeida has "only" been asked not to leave the country. For the uninitiated, the Exit Control List is a system of border control maintained by the Government of Pakistan under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance. What's Exit Control List? The Exit Control List is a system of border control maintained by the Government of Pakistan under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance. The Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981 was promulgated in General Zias era and was validated and saved to the constitutional amendments in the Constitution by then Parliament, reported The Express Tribune. It allows the government to bar people whose names appear on the list from leaving the country. According to the ordinance, the Pakistani government may "prohibit any person or class of persons from proceeding from Pakistan to a destination outside Pakistan, notwithstanding the fact that such person is in possession of valid travel documents." Before prohibiting a person, the government is not bound to afford an opportunity "of showing cause to the person against the order." The government may also withhold the reasons for the prohibition if it appears that "it will not be in the public interest." Whoever tries to defy the order or move out of the country while being on the Exit Control List shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years. Former President Pervez Musharraf was also included in the Exit Control List but his name was removed by the Supreme Court in March, 2016. He was allowed to travel abroad for medical reasons, reported Dawn. Also read: Grounded Pakistani journalist Cyril Almeida has Goan roots By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS Russia said on Tuesday that an arms embargo should not be placed on South Sudan despite U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon reporting that the government has done little to allow more peacekeepers to be deployed and to improve access for U.N. troops already there. President Salva Kiir agreed during a U.N. Security Council visit to South Sudan last month to accept 4,000 extra peacekeepers and to allow some 12,000 peacekeepers already on the ground to move around freely in order to protect civilians.In an August resolution, after heavy fighting in July in the capital, Juba, the 15-member council had threatened to consider a possible arms embargo within five days of a report by Ban that Kiir's government was not fulfilling both measures.Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Petr Iliichev said that an assessment report from Ban to the council on Monday said that "South Sudan was not impeding or increasing difficulties, so it's a very neutral letter." "Our opposition (to an arms embargo) doesn't change. Yesterday we were discussing Central African Republic, where an arms embargo is in place but the country is just inundated with weapons," he said. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said he would discuss the situation with council colleagues to decide whether or not to push for discussion of a resolution to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan, the world's newest nation. "If we find that there isn't that full cooperation then yes it'll definitely be time to look again at the arms embargo," Rycroft told reporters. U.S. Deputy Ambassador David Pressman told reporters he expected there would be a "robust discussion." The council is due to discuss the situation in South Sudan next Monday. In Ban's letter to the council, seen by Reuters, he said "it will take some time to evaluate whether these commitments (by South Sudan) translate into improved freedom of movement on the ground or amount to business as usual."Ban has previously urged the council to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan. Political rivalry between Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer, led to civil war in 2013 that has often followed ethnic lines. The pair signed a shaky peace deal a year ago, but fighting has continued and Machar fled the country after the July violence. He is now in Khartoum.South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. LONDON British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson warned Russia on Tuesday it risked becoming a pariah nation if it continued to bomb civilian sites in Syria and urged protesters to demonstrate outside the Russian embassy against its alleged war crimes.Western nations on the United Nations Security Council are taking a tougher line against Russia amid growing anger over a Russian-backed Syrian government onslaught against rebel-held areas of the city of Aleppo."If Russia continues on its current path then I think that great country is in danger of becoming a pariah nation," Johnson told parliament, calling on anti-war protest groups to demonstrate outside the Russian embassy."I'd certainly like to see demonstrations outside the Russian embassy," he said, calling on anti-war groups such as the Stop the War coalition, which is backed by the leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn. Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm, a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.President Bashar al-Assad seeks the complete recapture of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the 5-1/2-year war, and which has been divided between government and opposition control for years. Johnson also said the West should do more to put pressure on Russia, which has helped the Syrian government gain the upper hand against rebels on many frontlines in the conflict. He blamed Russia for an attack on an aid convoy in Syria last month. "We've got to make sure we have innovative ways of getting aid into Aleppo, and as several members have said, we have to step up the pressure on Assad's regime through sanctions and on the Russians through sanctions," he said. (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Helen Reid; editing by Elisabeth O'Leary and Dominic Evans) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. JOHANNESBURG South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has formed a ministerial team to help bring an end to weeks of clashes at university campuses between police and students demanding free education, the presidency said on Tuesday.The government, grappling with a budget deficit equivalent to nearly 4 percent of economic output, says education subsidies should not be paid for at the expense of other sectors of the economy such as health and housing. It has also said 2017 university fees may rise by up to 8 percent. Police clashed sporadically with student protesters on Tuesday at the University of the Witwatersand (Wits), Talk Radio 702 said. Wits was hit by violence on Monday after reopening following angry protests that forced its closure last week. [nL8N1CG2E1]The team set up by Zuma consists of eight ministers including Higher Education minister Blade Nzimande and Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko, and is tasked with resolving the crisis. The main opposition Democratic Alliance party criticised Zuma, however, for excluding Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan."At the heart of the crisis is the chronic under-funding of higher education over the last decade," it said in a statement. Zuma's government has said it will continue subsidising university costs for the poorest students but could not afford free education for all."We are not saying... everybody must receive free education, even if the parents can afford, because we have got to balance the resources," Zuma told a news conference in Nairobi on Tuesday during a state visit to Kenya. The Wits Student Representative Council said in a statement that they would be continuing the struggle for free education. Some students are demanding all universities be shut down until the government provides free education. (Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Hugh Lawson) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Kristina Cooke | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO U.S. police departments used location data and other user information from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to track protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday.Facebook(FB.O), which also owns Instagram, and Twitter (TWTR.N) shut off the account of Geofeedia, the Chicago-based data vendor that provided data to police, in response to the ACLU findings.The incident comes amid growing concerns among consumers and regulators about how online data is being used and how closely tech companies are cooperating with the government on surveillance. The ACLU report found that as recently as July, Geofeedia touted its social media monitoring product as a tool to monitor protests. Geofeedia's product enables clients to monitor posts tied to a specific location. Geofeedia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Geofeedia works with over 500 law enforcement agencies and public safety agencies across the country, according to an email the ACLU obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. In a 2016 case study obtained by the ACLU, Geofeedia quoted Baltimore police Detective Sergeant Andrew Vaccaro who said the force intercepted kids with backpacks full of rocks after the Geofeedia team alerted them to chatter from a local high school.Baltimore was swept by rioting in April 2015 following the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died from a spinal injury after being arrested by police. In an October 2015 email message, a Geofeedia employee touted its "great success" covering racially charged protests in the aftermath of the August 2014 shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. Facebook and Instagram terminated Geofeedia's access on Sept. 19, according to the ACLU. "This developer only had access to data that people chose to make public," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. "Its access was subject to the limitations in our Platform Policy, which outlines what we expect from developers that receive data using the Facebook Platform." Facebook's platform policy says developers may not sell, license, or purchase any data obtained from us or our services. In a tweet, Twitter said that it was "immediately suspending Geofeedias commercial access to Twitter data," following the ACLU report. (Reporting By Kristina Cooke; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. South Sudans government vowed action after more than 127 civilians were killed on a southern highway over the weekend by armed groups seen as targeting members of the countrys largest ethnic group. Gunmen killed passengers traveling to South Sudans capital, Juba, on Oct. 8 because they belonged to the Dinka community. The three-truck convoy was carrying more than 200 people whod left Yei town because of recent violence and were seeking sanctuary, he said. A Dinka man was also separated from other passengers and killed during an attack on three buses on another highway on Monday. President Juan Manuel Santos says hell donate almost USD1 million in Nobel Peace Prize money to the victims of Colombias half-century conflict. Santos made the announcement yesterday during a visit with his family and top government officials to an impoverished town in western Colombia where dozens of people were killed while stranded in a church during an intense battle between leftist rebels and far-right militias. He promised the residents of Bojaya that he wont give up on securing peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia despite voters rejection of a deal with the guerrillas in a referendum a week ago. More than 96 percent of residents of Bojaya voted for the peace deal. You symbolize the suffering of the victims of 52 years of war and are at the center of the solution to this conflict, a visibly moved Santos told the crowd. The victims have taught me that the capacity to forgive can overcome hatred and rancor. Of the 81 Colombian municipalities hardest-hit by the conflict, 67 voted for the peace deal, according to the Bogota-based Peace and Reconciliation Foundation. Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday less than a week after the peace accord was shot down in a vote that even surprised government opponents. Polls taken before the referendum showed the yes vote winning by an almost two-to-one margin after Santos and FARC leader Timochenko signed the 297-page accord in front of world leaders six days earlier. During his visit to Bojaya, Santos attended a Mass at the church rebuilt following the mortar attack launched by the FARC. Residents gave him a replica of the Christ statue mutilated during the attack, a gift the president said he values as much as the Nobel Prize and which encourages him to find a way to implement the peace accord. Im not going to falter a single minute. Im not going to give up a single second in the search for peace, he said. Santos said the donated money would be channeled to infrastructure projects in conflict areas and to victims groups. FARC leaders have twice visited Bojaya to ask forgiveness and discuss with community leaders actions to help the town rebuild. Nobel committee secretary Olav Njoelstad said there was broad consensus on choosing Santos. It was the first time the peace prize has gone to Latin America since 1992, when Guatemalan indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchu won. It is Colombias second Nobel honor after beloved novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez won for literature in 1982. Joshua Goodman, Bogota, AP China and Portugal have vowed to upgrade economic cooperation by enhancing investment and trade and exploring the third-party market. The pledge came as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held talks with his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday. Hailing the two countries economies as highly complementary, Li called on both sides to realize the potential of cooperation and link Chinas Belt and Road Initiative with Portuguese development. Li encouraged the two countries to consolidate and explore the third-party market and multilateral cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries, and enhance cooperation in areas such as agriculture, infrastructure and auto manufacturing. We can combine Chinas market potential and advantages in equipment manufacturing with Portugals advanced technology to create long-lasting and mutually beneficial cooperation, Li said at a press conference. Both countries can create new growth points in the sectors of energy connectivity, renewable energy and clean energy, Li told Costa, calling on both sides to be committed to trade and investment liberalization. Li said he believed that Portugal will provide a better investment environment and better legal safeguards for investors, including Chinese entrepreneurs. Costa, who was in Beijing at the start of a five-day official visit that started on Saturday, said Portugal was willing to maintain high-level visits with China, jointly promote third-party market cooperation and deepen investment and trade cooperation in areas such as energy, finance, port and railway construction, agriculture and tourism. The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on enhancing third-party market cooperation. Both countries also called for more diplomatic and cultural exchange, with the signing of documents to open direct flights from Beijing to Lisbon, and the establishment of each others cultural centers in both countries. On the political front, Li said the bilateral relations have undergone stable and healthy development in the past 37 years since the two forged diplomatic ties. The Chinese PM also mentioned that Portugal and China realized the smooth handover of Macau from Portugal to China in 1999 via negotiation, which set a good example for countries to deal with historical issues and opened a new chapter for China-Portugal ties. On EU integration, Li said China has always viewed the EU from a strategic height and long-term perspective, supported the process of EU integration, and believed that a united, prosperous and stable EU was in line with the interests of all sides and conducive to the worlds economic recovery. MDT/Xinhua MGM has garnered five awards from influential publication Human Resources Magazine in Asia on October 6 at the HR Innovation Awards 2016. The HR Innovation Awards Gala took place at Hotel ICON in Hong Kong. The awards ceremony brings together industry leaders to celebrate excellence in the HR profession, recognizing individuals, teams and companies for outstanding achievements in people management and strategies among key regions in Asia. MGM entered into the top five finalists in seven categories among 150 entries, and was achieved awards in five categories: three Gold Medals in Excellence in Employee Development, Excellence in Employee Work-Life Balance, and Excellence in Organization Development, and earning two Bronze Medals in Excellence in Retention Strategy and Excellence in Workplace Wellbeing. According to a press release issued by the gaming operator, the Human Resources Magazine is Asia is a leading source of HR-related news to help senior HR managers do their jobs better through its monthly magazines, daily email newsletters, website and suite of targeted events. Grant Bowie, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of MGM China Holdings Limited, said: We are honored and grateful to be recognized by one of the regions most prestigious, professional HR publications. Our team is the most important part of the company, and this award is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our HR team, always striving to create an optimum working environment for our team. It is with this condition that our employees are able to unleash their potential to the fullest, creating great moments for us and our guests. The new chairman of Chinas Communist Party, Hua Guofeng, has ordered the arrest of four leading radicals in Peking. It is a sign that China is changing political direction following the death last month of Chairman Mao Zedong. The so-called Gang of Four is led by Chairman Maos widow Jian Qing, and includes Wang Hongwen, Yao Wenyuan, and Zhang Chunqiao. They were active proponents of the Cultural Revolution instigated ten years ago by Chairman Mao. This was a political and ideological campaign aimed at reviving revolutionary fervour and resulted in enormous social, economic and political upheaval. Ideological cleansing began with attacks by young Red Guards on so-called intellectuals to remove bourgeois influences. It is believed millions were forced into manual labour, and tens of thousands were executed. Mr Zhang rose up the ranks during the first year of the Cultural Revolution in Shanghai and was until recently chief political commissar of the armed forces. Mr Wang had less power but was regarded a wonderboy he rose to number three in the party in 1973 while still only in his late thirties, relatively young by Chinese standards. Mr Yao, also a member of the Politburo standing committee, is regarded as dedicated, if not fanatical, in his belief in Maoist ideals of social development. Jian Qing, formerly an actress, became Chairman Maos third wife in 1939. She is regarded as a radical and active proponent of Maoist principles but in the years before his death, had led an independent life from her husband. News of the arrests have not been confirmed by Chinas officials but it is believed the four were attempting a coup in the wake of the death of Chairman Mao on 9 September. Some reports say Jian Qing was in the process of forging Chairman Maos will placing her as Maos successor, when she and her associates were surrounded by Hua Guofengs personal bodyguards and placed under house arrest. They are being questioned about their campaign against former prime minister Zhou Enlai, who died in January. Commentators say the arrests might lead to a liberalisation of foreign, cultural and economic policy -the Times newspaper editorial calls this latest move the most potent sign of a new political direction following 27 years of Maoist dogma. Courtesy BBC News In context The Gang of Four were kept under house arrest and, following a propaganda campaign against them, were expelled from the Communist Party in July 1977. By the end of 1978 reformist Deng Xiaoping had effectively wrested power from Hua Guofeng although he did not assume the title of premier of China and chair of the CCP until 1982. On 20 November 1980 all members of the Gang of Four were put on trial charged with attempting to overthrow the government and establish a hardline Communist dictatorship. They were sentence to death, later commuted to long-term imprisonment. After a period of political indoctrination Jian Qing was released in 1991 and died soon after some reports say she committed suicide. Wang Hongwen died in 1992, Zhang Chunqiao died in April 2005 and Yao Wenyuan died in December 2005. A former Chinese provincial Communist Party boss was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve as part of the countrys ongoing crackdown on corruption at all levels. The Anyang City Intermediate Peoples Court in Henan Province said this week Bai Enpei was found guilty of taking a huge amount of bribes and possessing a large amount of income from unidentified sources. Bai had been a senior lawmaker with the national legislature and formerly served as the top-ranking official in the western provinces of Qinghai and Yunnan. His entire personal assets were also confiscated and he was barred from ever again holding office. Suspended death sentences in China are usually reverted to life imprisonment after two years with good behavior. Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to end corruption and government waste, although critics have accused him of using the campaign to attack political rivals. Thousands of officeholders have been investigated as part of the campaign, and some Chinese have complained that the drive has resulted in bureaucratic paralysis as officials refuse to perform certain standard tasks out of fear of being accused of bribe-taking. Two other former high-ranking officials, Zhou Benshun and Yang Dongliang, have also been formally charged with corruption, Chinas official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the state prosecutors office. Zhou had been party boss of Hebei province, just outside Beijing, while Yang had led the State Administration of Work Safety. Both were charged with taking bribes. Yang was also accused of embezzling public assets. Yang was placed under investigation in August of last year, shortly after a massive explosion at a chemical storage warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 173 people mostly firefighters and police in one of Chinas worst-ever workplace accidents. AP Seoul officials said yesterday theyve lodged a formal complaint with Beijing accusing Chinese fishing boats of ramming and sinking a South Korean coast guard vessel. The sinking happened on Friday when South Korean coast guard officers were trying to stop about 40 Chinese fishing boats from suspected illegal fishing off South Koreas west coast. No causalities or injuries were reported, according to South Koreas coast guard. One coast guard officer was on the South Korean vessel rammed by two Chinese boats before he jumped into the water and was rescued by his colleagues. Eight fellow coast guard officers boarded a Chinese boat for an inspection, the coast guard said in a statement. On Sunday, South Koreas Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese consul general and complained about the sinking. The Chinese diplomat expressed regret over the incident, according to the South Korean ministry. An official in Beijing said Chinese authorities were still verifying the situation but urged South Korea to remain calm. We hope the South Korean side can bear in mind the large picture of the bilateral relationship and regional peace, and handle the case reasonably with a level head, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a regular briefing. South Korean media reported coast guard officers fired shots at Chinese fishing boats and into the sky as the boats approached the South Korean vessel. South Korean coast guard officials yesterday confirmed that warning shots were fired into the sky, but said they dont know if any were fired at the Chinese boats, saying an investigation into the case was still underway. Violent clashes have occurred in recent years between South Koreas coast guard and Chinese fishing boats venturing farther from their increasingly barren home waters. Late last month, three Chinese fishermen died after a fire erupted when South Korean coast guard officers threw flashbang grenades into their boat. Flashbang grenades are non-lethal devices that produce a blinding flash of light and loud sound. AP The Macau Community Development Initiative (MCDI), along with lawmakers Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kin Sam, delivered a letter, written to Li Keqiang, Chinas Prime Minister, to the government headquarters. In the letter, Li Keqiang is urged to pay close attention to Macaus democratic political system. Moreover, it says selecting the Chief Executive from among small groups leads to the SARs administration suffering from collusion between the government and the businessmen. The letter also reads that indirectly elected lawmakers occupy the majority of the Legislative Assembly (AL), and that does not reflect real public opinions. The group considers that Chui Sai On has not pushed Macaus political reform forward. As written in the letter, the current Chief Executive, Chui, in his re-election proposal said that he would push Macaus democratic politics forward according to the basic law, but he has instead been shifting towards political reform since his re-election. Earlier, in a survey delivered by the group to the AL, 60 percent of the interviewees support the election of a CE by universal suffrage, with two thirds of them considering that this policy should be achieved in 2019. Over 70 percent of the interviewees hope AL will implement universal suffrage in the future. Recently, the CE delivered a legislation law amendment bill with no direct election position added. As to the CE election system which has to be initiated by the CE, nothing has changed, and if the situation continues to be like this, [we are] afraid that there will be nothing done during [Chuis] term, the letter reads. The Premier Li Keqiang , who is visiting Macau to take part in the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum of Economic and Trade Cooperation Between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries, praised the recent economic improvement. We can acknowledge that in the first semester of this year and specially in the last two months the economy had a new [positive] change and that will also have effects in the future, he said referring to the recent gaming results, although not specifically mentioning them. The Premier was speaking yesterday at an event held at the governments headquarters that aimed to evaluate the work from MSAR government. Li made clear that the central governments evaluation on the work by the MSAR government is very positive. On the last few years and under the leadership of the Chief Executive, the MSAR government has benefiting the population and the fellow countryman of Macau, ha said. The Chinese Premier also reaffirmed the hopes of the central government regarding the diversification of the local economy. I had the opportunity to see and acknowledge the modernity and prosperity of Macau but also the cultural diversification and I believe that this will continue and the economy will reach the goal of its diversification, Li remarked. During the event at the governments headquarters, the Chief Executive, Chui Sai On, reaffirmed the fulfillment of what is stated by both the Macau Basic Law and the directives from central government regarding the 13th five-year plan of the Peoples Republic of China. The CE expressed confidence that during the coming 5 years, the MSAR government will carry out all the projects that seek to uphold the stability and wellbeing of the population. It is expected that during the three-day visit Li Keqiang will announce supportive policies for Macaus long-term stability. The measures from Chinas central government will be aimed at promoting and speeding up Macaus diversification. Final press conference canceled The press conference scheduled to be held today after the Ministerial Conference was cancelled yesterday evening, the Government Information Bureau announced. The event has been held in previous occasions of the ministerial conference and was the main meeting between the participants and journalists. A total of 78 journalists were registered to attend, many of them from Portuguese media outlets. In a short message and without further explanation, the GCS stated that the cancelation was made at the request of the Forum and due to adjustments of the program. Several Hong Kong activists have been turned away by local immigration yesterday. League of Social Democrats lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, also known as Long Hair, and eight activists were detained yesterday afternoon as they tried to enter Macau. RTHK reported that the group had travelled to protest during Premier Li Keqiangs visit to the city, planning to urge Beijing to free dissidents and to give Hong Kong more autonomy. As they got off the ferry, the activists began shouting slogans and Leung reported that they were refused entry as they had violated Macaus internal security laws. Roy Tam, an environmentalist from political party Neo-democrats, was also refused entry upon arrival in Macau on Saturday. On Wednesday, two activists and one director also from the neighboring SAR were refused entry due to the same reason. The second-ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee, and the Premier of China arrived yesterday to Macau on a special flight around 11 a.m. Li Keqiang is visiting the territory to attend the opening ceremony of the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum of Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries. The Chief Executive (CE) Chui Sai On greeted Li inside his aircraft. Upon his arrival, Li received bouquets of flowers from two primary school students, and proceeded to congratulate the principal officials of the SAR government who were waiting for him. The arrival of the Prime Minister was also welcomed by 200 primary school students holding the national and regional flags and silk flowers. The Public Security Police Force (PSP) band performed live during Lis arrival. The former CE Edmund Ho, the president of the Legislative Assembly Ho Iat Seng, in addition to several secretaries,, also welcomed Li at the airport. When speaking to the media at the airport parking apron, Li announced that the central government will continue to support Macau in the implementation of the One Center, One Platform paradigm, and he promised the future announcement of a series of supporting measures to achieve this goal. This marks the first visit of Li to Macau. He said that the visit is an opportunity to meet with local compatriots, and he declared to be happy when he left the plane and saw the children smiles, which represent the hope and the future of Macau. Grasping the opportunity, Li invited the media to convey on behalf of the Central Government, sincere greetings and good wishes to local compatriots. Li recalled that at the time of the 10th anniversary of Macaus handover to China, he was in Zhuhai, representing the central government, attending the ceremony of the construction launch of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. On that occasion, he went to the bridge in Zhuhai to see Macau. Today, I am stepping on the motherlands treasurable territory, but most noticeable is the fact that [Macau] is the territory which successfully implemented the principle of One Country, Two Systems, said Li. I strongly hope that [I can], in Macau, see more, walk more and listen more, and experience Macaus change, local traditions, and the daily life of Macau compatriots. At the end of Lis speech, he noted that, besides participating in the Ministerial Conference, he will also have meetings with various sectors of the society to show the world, as well as to Macau residents, that the central government will continue to support Macau. Later, Li g visited the Macau Tower, around 3 p.m., right after his meeting with Chui. During the visit, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, introduced Li to Macaus recent economic development as well as to the territorys development goals. Julie Zhu Transportation schedules change during visit Seven buses are changing their schedules and eight roads have been temporarily closed starting from yesterday until Wednesday. This coincides with Prime Minister Li Keqiangs visit to the city, surrounded by heavy security measures. The Transport Bureau announced that since the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum of Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macau) commenced, six roads in Taipa and Cotai are being partially closed from 8 a.m. on Monday to 6 p.m. on Wednesday. In addition, two roads were closed from 9 a.m. yesterday until 12a.m. on Wednesday. On three of the aforementioned set of roads, parking is also forbidden. Siemens AG said its weighing a bid for a USD3.7 billion project as South Africas program to generate power from natural gas gains momentum. The process is moving now, Siemens South Africa Chief Executive Officer Sabine DallOmo said in a phone interview from Johannesburg. South Africa is ready for foreign direct investment. DallOmo said Siemens has had significant discussions with potential partners about bidding for the contract to develop 3,000 megawatts of gas-fired generation at two ports on the east coast of South Africa. The plan announced by the Department of Energy on Oct. 3 involves importing liquefied natural gas to generate electricity sold under a 20-year power-purchase agreement with state-owned utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson declared gas-power development a priority in August last year as the government tries to reduce the nations dependence on coal. The program will create jobs and build generating capacity that consumes less water than existing coal-fired plants, according to DallOmo. The bidding teams will prequalify in April after making submissions in February, with a final request for proposals planned for August, according to the energy department. Participants within a group may include the developer of the gas-fired plant, the LNG supplier and the port and fuel-storage operator. The timetable seems ambitious, given the complexity, Tracy Lothian, vice president of LNG global market development for Exxon Mobil Corp., said last week at a conference in Cape Town. Bidding groups will need as much information as possible, she said. Eskom CEO Brian Molefe created investor uncertainty in the energy industry in July when he questioned the need for procuring renewable electricity from private developers. One month later, he refused to sign an agreement for a solar-power plant that had already been approved by the government. Siemens will require certain clarity with regards to the role that Eskom will take in the gas-to-power program, DallOmo said, noting that the utility is one of its customers. While construction of the gas plants will be fairly standard, the most complex elements will be the financing around the gas, she said. That includes hedging the foreign-currency risk associated with purchasing LNG, which is priced in dollars. The Department of Energy projects initial demand for the fuel to be 1.6 million metric tons a year. The project also requires third-party access to infrastructure so that LNG can be supplied to other power plants as well as used in commercial, residential and transport applications, BMI Research said in a report last week. We note upside risk to South African gas consumption forecasts, which are currently constrained by domestic production and pipeline imports, BMI said. A successful South African project could also have positive effects on the wider region, which could tap the developing industry and expertise, according to DallOmo. Theres massive influence into our neighboring countries, she said. Paul Burkhardt, Bloomberg Taiwans new president, Tsai Ing-wen, said yesterday her self-ruled island will not bow to Chinese pressure and that Beijing should recognize her governments existence and engage with it in talks, in remarks likely to further anger China. Speaking in a National Day address, Tsai acknowledged that ties between Taiwan and China have been bumpy in recent months. But we will not bow to pressure, and we will of course not revert to the old path of confrontation, she said at a ceremony outside the Presidential Office Building in central Taipei attended by 11,000 people, including more than 360 foreign guests. China should face up to the reality of the Taiwanese governments existence and of the islands democracy, Tsai said, adding that the two sides should sit down and talk as soon as possible. China claims Taiwan is its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Tsais election in January upended Beijings strategy of using economic inducements to convince Taiwanese that political unification is not only inevitable but also in their best interests. Tsai said her government wants to maintain the status quo, referring to the state of tense but stable peace and robust economic exchanges between the sides, which split during Chinas civil war in 1949. China has said it isnt satisfied with that position and demands she endorse Beijings formulation that the two are part of a single Chinese nation. That formula was embraced by her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, who was seated on the stage at the ceremony. Tsais reluctance to do so, and risk alienating her partys supporters, clashes with her hopes for renewed talks between the sides that Beijing cut off shortly after her May inauguration, said Liu Yi-jiun, a professor of public affairs at Taiwans Fo Guang University. So far I just dont see anything happening at this time, Liu said. (Tsai) really wants her counterparts to sit down and find some solution. Thats something positive. But I dont think these kinds of words will turn the situation around. Whether Taiwans public likes the speech is hard to say because it covers nothing new, Liu said, adding that China will just carry on. Tsais reference to the need to maintain progress since a breakthrough meeting in 1992 between the sides, and her use of Taiwans official name, the Republic of China, could be seen by Beijing as a positive sign that she intends no radical moves toward formal independence, said Nathan Liu, an international affairs professor at Ming Chuan University in Taipei. If China instead insists on maintaining the current stalemate, thats not going to help, he said. Responding to Tsais remarks, a spokesman for Chinas Taiwan Affairs Office said Beijing would not budge from its fundamental demands and would oppose and contain any steps toward Taiwanese independence. Spokesman An Fengshan said in a statement that talks can only proceed on the basis of the formulation Beijing calls the 92 consensus that recognizes Taiwan and China as part of a single Chinese nation. Rejecting that principle is an evil road that goes nowhere, An said. There is no force that can block the historical stride of national unification and the revitalization of the people, he said. Taiwan prison authorities declined to let ex-Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian out of house arrest to attend the event. Chen, elected to office in 2000 as the candidate of Tsais Democratic Progressive Party, is serving a sentence for corruption. China despised Chen for his pursuit of greater independence for Taiwan. Formations of troops during Mondays ceremony were lighter than in previous years, when large amounts of military hardware rolled past the Presidential Office Building in a gesture of strength to China. Tsai also discussed plans to strengthen the islands high-tech, export-dependent economy and improve opportunities for young people. Ralph Jennings, Taipei, AP Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy TWIN FALLS Think of SkillStack as a way gather merit badges that will help you earn college credits or a job. The online tool was created by Idaho Career & Technical Education using federal grant money. The program kicked off in high schools across the state this fall. While its more complicated than getting dual credit for a high school course, badges earned through SkillStack can be used toward credit at any Idaho technical institution and, its online resume-building tool can also help match employers to future employees. I think CTEs goal is to ensure that the students meet the quality standards for employment and industry, said Karrie Hornbacher, College of Southern Idahos coordinator for accelerated learning. How it works On skillstack.idaho.gov, a student creates an account and finds a pathway to pursue for college credit like welding technology. If a student wants to earn two credits for a safety and leadership course at an Idaho technical college, the student can take a career and technical education course, or in some cases several courses, at their high school. To get credit, the student must earn four badges the Lab Rules & Procedures badge, the Hand Tools badge, the Power Tools & Equipment badge and a Work & Job Place Readiness Skills badge. Each badge is made up of skills. A Hand Tools badge, for example, requires two skills: safe handling and use of appropriate tools; and proper cleaning, storage, and maintenance of tools. Once a student has demonstrated a skill, its checked off online by the high school instructor. Skills stack up to badges, which stack up to credits, Hornbacher said. But before receiving credit, the student also has to pass a state-approved technical skills assessment and a hands-on assessment in front of a college professor. It displays skills that people have obtained, not just a grade for being in a classroom for a specific amount of time, said Caty Solace, spokeswoman for Idaho Career & Technical Education. That is the power of SkillStack. Credits are transferable to any of the six technical colleges in Idaho: CSI, North Idaho College, Idaho State University, College of Western Idaho, Eastern Idaho Technical College and Lewis-Clark State College. Its only for a few programs which have gone through the alignment process, Solace said. The intent, Hornbacher said, is to align postsecondary CTE programs across Idahos technical institutions, to make the freshman first-semester experience the same. That better equips us to push consistent career and technical education curriculum down into the high schools, she said. Does that mean CSI will remove dual-credit courses altogether? Most definitely not, says Terry Patterson, an instructional dean for CSI. I think well see dual-credit continue and see it going stronger, he said. In his mind, dual-credit and SkillStack credit are one and the same. SkillStack, however, will apply to multiple institutions and be useful for getting college credit from courses that arent dual-credit. But besides resume-building, it isnt going to have the same benefit to students who dabble in different career courses. Its for the serious student, Hornbacher said. It is going to take a very focused student and driven student. Whats in it for employers All the skills in SkillStack were compiled and organized after surveying employers in the industries about what skills are critical, Solace said. Theyre actually driving the process, she said. Once students begin earning badges, the usefulness to employers becomes clear. Businesses can create accounts on SkillStack, which are verified by Idaho Career & Technical Education. From there, they can tell SkillStack what skills or badges they want for someone to fill a job opening. SkillStack will email the job posting to students who have those skills or badges checked off. The employment piece is still in development right now, Hornbacher said. In the meantime, students can create their online, linkable, portfolios on SkillStack, and even attach photos or videos of their projects. Itll literally become a living part of their resume, Solace said. And the longer its used, the more valuable it will become. TWIN FALLS Twin Falls School District trustees are taking the first steps toward searching for a new superintendent. After hearing a presentation Monday night, school trustees voted unanimously to hire the Idaho School Boards Association to provide assistance with the search. It will cost $7,500. After nearly 14 years at the helm, superintendent Wiley Dobbs will retire Sept. 1, 2017. His departure will lead to a major transition for south-central Idahos largest school district with nearly 9,300 students. Selecting a new superintendent is absolutely the most important decision you as school board members will make, said Christine Donnell, a consultant for the Idaho School Boards Association. Dobbs made the announcement in late September of his intent to retire next year. The 1976 Twin Falls High School alumnus became superintendent of his hometown school district in July 2003. The school district has big shoes to fill in finding a new superintendent, said Donnell, a retired superintendent from Meridian. I must congratulate you. You really have longevity in terms of your superintendents, she told school trustees. This must be the most outstanding community and an amazingly well-run district from what Ive heard and what others have said. The sooner the school board can get started with the search process, the better, she said. Trustee Liyah Babayan asked how many other Idaho school districts are looking for a superintendent. At least seven will be looking for next school year, Donnell said. The ISBA will assist the school board with a variety of steps in the search process. That will include marketing the job advertisement, putting together public forums, reviewing each application and providing feedback to the school board, conducting reference checks on top candidates, recommending four to six candidates for school board consideration, communicating with applicants and scheduling interviews. The superintendent job could be advertised regionally or nationwide depending on what the school board wants. I truly believe you owe it to your community to do a thorough search, Donnell said. For other Idaho school districts whove hired a superintendent, weve received some incredible applications from people all over the United States, she said. One of the first steps is to determine the qualities community members want to see in a superintendent. Your district has grown and gone through an evolution, Donnell said. Board chairman Bernie Jansen asked if the board would get help coming up with community survey questions. Surveys can do a lot of things, he said. They can either get you in trouble or they can help you. The association could provide some of the questions, she said. For other school districts, theyve used a lot of open-ended questions, she added, and there were thoughtful responses from the community. Elementary programs director Teresa Jones asked if there would be any room for input from staff. Donnell said in other school districts, there have been those opportunities. Its also important to have community feedback once superintendent finalists have been identified, Donnell said. Trustee Paul McClintock asked if it would be appropriate for Dobbs to help with hiring his replacement. Donnell said generally, the current superintendent doesnt get involved. Jansen said he doesnt want to involve school district employees in anything more than a few technical things, either. He said it could lead to hard feelings. I really think its up to us to hire the superintendent, he told his fellow trustees. During their meeting, trustees also: Approved the 2015-16 budget report for the Idaho Financial Accounting Reporting Management System. Considered board tasks for this school year under the districts 2015-20 strategic plan. Recognized employees of the month from Bickel Elementary School: fifth-grade teacher Briana Rieth and Title I paraprofessional Kayla Paulk. House Joint Resolution 5 (HJR 5) will be on your November ballot. By voting yes on HJR 5, you will be securing the ability to hold politicians accountable, protect Idahoans from excessive regulations, ensure your voice is heard and hold our state government accountable to the people it serves. The whole purpose of democracy is for everyone to have a say in rules, regulations and what goes on in their state. Every year a review occurs of state government rules that are overreaching and too burdensome. A key part of the review each year is listening to citizens who are best qualified to tell us whether or not the rules will work in real-life situations. A yes vote on HJR 5 ensures that in the future, the legislatures current authority to approve or reject agency rules will not be taken away by an activist court, as has happened in other states and at the federal level. Our great nation was founded upon a system of government that created a balance of power within three branches. Each branch has its own role to play. This system was built so no single person or group could gain excessive power. When that balance of power blurs, it impacts all Americans. This same system applies to Idaho government as well. Voting yes on HJR 5 encourages better communication and cooperation within our branches of state government. Politicians and state government employees will not be able to blame each other for unnecessary, burdensome regulations that affect your everyday lives. HJR 5 holds them accountable to citizens, ensuring that our voices are heard. Agencies are unelected government officials that often do not understand the impact of their rules and regulations on Idaho families, farmers, ranchers and small businesses. Voting yes on HJR 5 prevents state agencies from implementing overreaching and burdensome rules that negatively impact your livelihood, your leisure, and your way of life. For these reasons and many more, HJR 5 has the strong support of the Idaho Farm Bureau, the Milk Producers of Idaho, the Idaho Chamber of Commerce Alliance, the Idaho Realtors Association, and the Idaho Water Users Association just to name a few. Many other small business owners, farmers, ranchers and families are supporting this important initiative. I urge you to join them and me and vote yes on HJR 5 and hold your state government accountable for its actions. This appeared in Mondays Washington Post: Has there been a more disturbing low in presidential politics? If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, Republican nominee Donald Trump threatened in the course of the second presidential debate Sunday night. Its just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton responded. Because youd be in jail, Trump shot back. Mark the moment. A major-party presidential nominee is officially promising to lock up his political opponent, despite the fact that an impartial federal investigation concluded that no fair prosecutor would have charged Clinton in the matter of her e-mails. If anyone needed any more proof that Trump does not understand the meaning of rule of law as opposed to arbitrary rule of autocratthat he would use the levers of the federal government in a vindictive, self-serving and corrupt mannerTrump provided it. When the discussion turned to policy, Trump was little better. He called Syrian refugees the great Trojan horse of all time, as usual without evidence or foundation. He doubled down on the falsehood that he opposed the Iraq War. Trump again defended Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, suggesting that, contrary to a finding by the U.S. intelligence community, Moscow is not attempting to intervene in the election through computer hacking. While Clinton harshly blamed Russia for aggression in Syria, Trump said he disagreed with his own running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, that the United States should act to stop bombing by Russian and Syrian forces because, Trump said, those forces are going after the Islamic State. In fact, as Clinton and Pence understand, the primary victims of Russian and Syrian attacks are civilians, especially doctors and other health-care workers. Clinton had to account for a weekend revelation of her ownthe disclosure of emails allegedly showing that she had public and private views on issues. She pointed out that she was discussing Abraham Lincolns efforts to pass the 13th Amendment when she made those remarksducking the question of whether she holds one view on, for example, trade agreements in private and another in public. But the overwhelming impression was that Trump, with his campaign sinking and Republican office holders urging him to withdraw, decided that his best response was to snarl and double down on old falsehoods. Coming out of a disastrous first presidential debate, an even more disastrous aftermath and the release of a video in which he made disgusting comments about women, Trump dismissed his boasting of sexually predatory behavior as locker room talk. When that did not work, he dredged up accusations in Bill Clintons sordid past. It was a desperate and ineffective counterpunch. Clinton pointed out, rightly, that Trumps recently disclosed comments were entirely in characterjust the latest in a series of insults he has issued to all sorts of vulnerable people and groups. Trump helped make her case later in the debate when, asked by a Muslim American woman about Islamophobia, the Republican nominee stoked anti-Muslim sentiment by insinuating that U.S. Muslims are hiding vital information about terrorists in the country. By contrast, Clinton said, My vision of America is one where everyone has a place. That is not Trumps vision. The Egyptian Presidency has refuted press reports claiming that Russia and Egypt are close to reaching an agreement for the establishment of a military base in the North African country. The news was reported by Russian newspaper, Izvestia, citing diplomatic and military sources. The Presidency Spokesperson Alaa Youssef said there are no plans to allow a foreign country to have a military base on the Egyptian territory. A military source added that welcoming foreign military bases in the country is against the governments principles. Izvestia reported that discussions between the authorities were centered on leasing military facilities to Russia and an air base in Sidi Barani, a town 95km east of the border from Libya. The report added that if the two countries reached an agreement, the base could be operational by 2019. The Soviet Union had, before its disintegration, a naval facility near the Sidi Barrani until 1972 and it was used to monitor US naval forces deployed to the region. Egypt under President Sisi has developed close ties with Russia and last month, an offensive missile corvette was given as a gift to Cairo. Their navies also had their first ever joint naval drill in 2015 off the coast of Alexandria. The exercise lasted for eight days. Military ties between the two countries have been strengthening as Cairo tries to diversify its military artillery that used to heavily depend on American supplies. Earlier this year, Sisi approved $25 billion loan from Russia to build a nuclear power plant. The fostering of their relationship was slowed by last years crash of a Russian plane that killed all 224 people on board, mostly Russians. The Ethiopian government on Monday accused Cairo of providing support to rebellious Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). Getachew Reda, Ethiopian Government spokesman and Minister of communication was flatly clear: We know for a fact that the terrorist group OLF is receiving all kinds of support from Egypt. The Ethiopian official noted that they have ample evidence that Cairo provided training and financing to the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). Its leaders used to be in Asmara (Eritrea) now they are in Cairo, he added. For the Ethiopian government, Cairo is trying to ignite a rebellion in the neighboring country to promote historical rights over access to the Nile River, The New Arab reports. Ethiopia and Egypt have been in water war over Ethiopias Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project on the Blue Nile. Cairo deems the dam construction illegal, arguing that it puts strain on its water supply from the river. Egypt depends largely on the Nile. Cairo has sought to rally opposed voices against the project but Addis Ababa is determined to carry on with the project, which will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa when completed. Egypt denied fomenting any rebellion in the neighbor country. Ethiopia has been shaken by anti-government protest mainly in Bishoftu, southeast of the capital, since last month. Fifty people had been reported killed in a stampede after government forces opened fire on anti-government protesters during a religious festival on October 2. Foreign businesses came under attack in Oromia region from angry protestors, which the government believes were directed by anti-Addis Ababas elements. What we have is anti-Ethiopian elements using the protesters to attack whatever achievements Ethiopia has made in the last 15 or 20 years, said the spokesman. The government has imposed a state of emergency in a move to control the situation. Ethiopias government has declared a 6-month state of emergency on Sunday citing deteriorating security situation in Oromia regional state. Anti-government protesters in Oromia, the countrys most populated region, attacked trucks, factories and farms, and burned down government buildings. Major towns and cities across Ethiopias Oromia region are experiencing unrest and widespread violent protests of people demanding wider freedoms. Groups have demonstrated in the area since November last year amid claims of state repression and marginalization. This week attacks follow the deaths of about 100 Ormo on Oct. 2, when the forced dispersal of a protest at a cultural celebration caused a stampede. We put our citizens safety first. Besides, we want to put an end to the damage that is being carried out against infrastructure projects, education institutions, health centers, administration and justice buildings, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said in a televised address announcing the state of emergency. The state of emergency will not breach basic human rights enshrined under the Ethiopian constitution and will not affect diplomatic rights listed under the Vienna Convention, said Desalegn. The government of the Horn of African nation regularly accuses Eritrea of supporting hostile groups. It also blames Egypt for supporting illegal acts. Ethiopian officials summoned Egypts ambassador to the country, Aboubakr Hefny, for discussions, after a video appeared online purportedly showing members of the Oromo Liberation Front sharing a stage with what Ethiopias state broadcaster described as Egyptians. Ugandan long-standing opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been arrested on Sunday for allegedly attempting to organize a parallel Independence Day celebration. The former presidential candidate, who came second in the contested presidential election in February, was arrested and charged with treason in May after a video surfaced on social media showing him taking the oath of office for president in a mock swearing-in ceremony. His party, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) had threatened repeatedly to hold their own celebrations in the capital, Kampala, even though the government had planned the official celebration in the Luuka district. The Ugandan police chief had warned Besigye and the FDC that any parallel celebrations to the government organized event will not be accepted because Uganda had only one government. Dr. Besigye and councillor, Allan Sewanyana were arrested while leaving their respective homes, NTV Uganda reported. The recent public order management law in Uganda grants police and other security services wide discretionary powers to permit or disallow public meetings. It has generally been implemented to undermine or obstruct Ugandans assembly rights when protesting against President Museveni and his government. Museveni, 71, who has ruled Africas biggest coffee exporter since 1986, is one of the continents longest serving leaders alongside Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola and Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe. The Kaduna state government this weekend declared Shiite Muslim sect with at least 4 million followers unlawful in the West African nation. According to the state government, anyone convicted of being a member of the sect could be imprisoned for seven years, fined or both. The size of the fine was not specified. Members of the sect are among the several thousand Shiite Muslims whose movement was inspired by the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The sect had a violent clash with the Nigerian Army last year leading to deaths, arrests and destruction of property. The spiritual leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, parent body of Shiites, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife have since then been detained. The authorities of the state in northern Nigeria said the group had overtly continued with unlawful processions and obstruction of public highways since the clashes. A spokesman for the sect, Ibraheem Musa, said the sect members were not going to be intimidated into resorting to violence. Very soon, we shall challenge this ban through legal and peaceful means, he said. According to local news, the group is armed and has links with Irans government and Hezbollah and has occasionally clashed with Sunnis in the northern Nigerian states of Kaduna and Sokoto. The African Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency have granted $258.82 million to Tanzanian government for a high voltage electricity line to connect its national power grid to Kenya, it was officially announced on Sunday. The 400 kilovolt (kV) line will be completed within two years, Tanzanias power utility TANESCO said in a statement. East Africas second biggest economy has secured $1.6 billion in loans and grants from the World Bank which it said it will use to help end chronic power shortages, rebuild its railways and develop its farming. The country is revamping its power generation and hopes to use some of its estimated 57 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves to cut its reliance on oil-fired and hydro power plants. Tanzanias finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday that it had secured the loans ahead of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington, D.C. last week. The World Bank funding will also include a $200 million loan for Tanzanias state-run power utility, Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), to help it clear its arrears of about $250 million which it has said it plans to pay off by the end of 2016 by switching to cheaper, domestic gas-fired plants. According to the state-run National Bureau of Statistics, Tanzanias economy expanded 7.9 percent in the second quarter, driven by the mining, manufacturing and energy sectors. The country is Africas fourth-largest gold producer and has deposits of coal, diamonds, uranium and gemstones. However, 70 percent of the population rely on agriculture for a living, and it has struggled to spread the benefits of its rapid economic growth. Sutherlandia is a supplement commonly taken in Africa to fight symptoms of infection and some chronic diseases, such as diabetes, but MU researchers found it may disrupt anti-tuberculosis drugs. Credit: University of Missouri-Columbia Botanical supplements are used by people around the world to treat a wide range of physical and mental ailments. Some of these botanical supplements have high levels of antioxidants, which may have some positive health effects for certain conditions. However, a new study from the University of Missouri in partnership with scientists in Africa has uncovered evidence that these supplements and their antioxidants may reduce the effectiveness of prescription medications. The researchers examined the effects of a widely used African botanical supplement, called Sutherlandia, and found that it may disrupt the effectiveness of a common anti-tuberculosis drug. This could lead to the development of active tuberculosis and perhaps drug resistant forms of the pathogen in some patients. For the study, William Folk, a professor of biochemistry in the University of Missouri School of Medicine and College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, and his colleagues monitored South African patients who were taking either Sutherlandia or a placebo, along with the world-standard anti-tuberculosis drug, isoniazid. Sutherlandia is a supplement commonly taken in Africa to fight symptoms of infection and some chronic diseases, such as diabetes. The researchers observed that several patients taking the Sutherlandia supplement developed active tuberculosis despite taking Isoniazid. "We believe that the antioxidants in Sutherlandia can directly disrupt how Isoniazid functions within the body to prevent tuberculosis," Folk said. "Isoniazid is very reliable in preventing the active form of this potentially deadly microbe, which is present in nearly one-third of all humans, but if individuals concurrently take a botanical supplement, they could undo the good that the scientifically proven drug is accomplishing. More than one-third of the world's population is susceptible to active tuberculosis, so it is unfortunate that Sutherlandia, which traditionally is taken to prevent or treat infections, can actually cause them to develop the disease, and perhaps also cause the microbe to become a drug-resistant 'super bug.'" Folk says this finding could apply to many different botanical supplements and many different medications, including cancer-fighting drugs. He says it is important for future research to examine potential interactions between drugs and antioxidant-laden supplements. "With so many people around the world turning to botanical supplements to help with a wide range of health issues, it is vital that we explore how these supplements interact with established medical drugs," Folk said. "Many drugs use pathways that could be disrupted by antioxidants, so we need for physicians to better advise their patients. Many physicians do not know everything that their patients take, so it is important for people to inform their physicians, and for physicians to ask, so they can better advise their patients what is best for their health." Explore further Shorter Combination treatment as effective as monotherapy for TB prevention in kids More information: William R. Folk et al. Does Concurrent Use of Some Botanicals Interfere with Treatment of Tuberculosis?, NeuroMolecular Medicine (2016). William R. Folk et al. Does Concurrent Use of Some Botanicals Interfere with Treatment of Tuberculosis?,(2016). DOI: 10.1007/s12017-016-8402-1 Doctoral student Yan Zhu (left) and Eamonn Keogh, professor of computer science and engineering, adjust a mosquito trap designed by researchers at UCR and Microsoft. Credit: UC Riverside While millions of people are fighting Zika with bug spray and long pants, researchers at the University of California, Riverside are using another toolbig data. By collecting and analyzing large datasets, they can track the mosquitoes that spread the disease in real time, intervene quickly, and help governments plan for future outbreaks. This is just one example of research combining computer science and entomology that will be the focus of UCR's new graduate program in computational entomology. Led by Eamonn Keogh, a professor of computer science and engineering in UCR's Bourns College of Engineering, a multi-disciplinary team of researchers has received $3 million from the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) program to prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers who will learn how to exploit the power of big data to understand insects. The program, the first of its kind worldwide, will serve as a replicable education and training model for other institutions with an interest in developing computational entomology programs. There are at least 950,000 living insect species in the world. They spread diseases like Zika virus and malaria; they feast on crops, causing billions of dollars in food damage each year; and they pollinate wild and agricultural plant communities. Despite their enormous diversity and significance, few scientists have tapped into the power of computer science to classify insects and explore their behaviors. For the past five years, Keogh has been doing just that. The researcher and his graduate students have been developing low-cost, wireless insect sensors that classify species with up to 99.9 percent accuracy and generate masses of data that can be incorporated into classification algorithms. In about three years, and with dozens of sensors running continuously, the team collected tens of millions of data pointsmore than all previous work in the field combined. By counting and classifying insects on this scale, scientists can help farmers determine precisely when to apply pesticides, and help public health officials stop the spread of insect-borne diseases. Many other areas of entomology would benefit from such in-depth analyses, Keogh said. To develop the new program, Keogh will work with UCR faculty members Erin Wilson Rankin and Anupama Dahanukar, both assistant professors of entomology; Daniel Jeske, professor of statistics; and Christian Shelton, professor of computer science and engineering. Called the 'NRT in Integrated Computational Entomology' (NICE), the program will launch next summer and fund at least 80 graduate students enrolled in engineering or the life sciences. It will begin with a month-long introductory boot camp and feature weekly seminars, field trips, and community service projects. There will be a strong emphasis on collaboration across disciplineswith biological sciences students gaining a foundation in computing techniques and engineers an understanding of critical entomological and ecological issues. Keogh said students will pursue their own research interests. Some might continue his work on sensors, developing real-time tracking devices that send text messages to farmers letting them know when a harmful insect is multiplying. Some may use video analytics to study insect behavior and how to control it. Some will sequence mosquito DNA to pinpoint genes that determine prey preference. The common thread, Keogh said, is the power of big data to expand our understanding of insects, improve human health, and alleviate food waste. "Challenges in entomology and ecology generate enormous amounts of data, and fully exploiting it calls for experts whose knowledge spans two disparate fields. This training program will bridge those fields, creating endless research possibilities and a new way to address some of the most critical challenges of our time," Keogh said. Explore further Help wanted: Insect classifiers needed Research suggests the human heart may start to beat as early as 16 days after conception. Credit: Shutterstock When does our heart first start to beat? Until now, researchers thought that the first time our heart muscle contracted to beat was at eight days after conception in mice, which equates to around day 21 of a human pregnancy. Now, a team funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) at the University of Oxford has demonstrated earlier beating of the heart in mouse embryos which, if extrapolated to the human heart, suggests beating as early as 16 days after conception. In the study, published in the journal eLife, researchers looked at the developing mouse heart and found that the muscle started to contract as soon as it formed the cardiac crescent an early stage in heart development. In mice, this crescent forms 7.5 days after conception, which is equivalent to day 16 in the human embryo. Previously, it was thought that the heart started to contract a stage later, when the heart appears as a linear tube. Congenital heart disease is diagnosed in at least one in 180 births, which equates to around 4,000 each year or 12 babies every day in the UK. The researchers ultimately hope that by understanding more about how the heart forms in the womb, they will one day be able to prevent heart conditions that arise as a foetus develops. By adding fluorescent markers to calcium molecules within the mouse embryo, the team was able to see at exactly which point in time the calcium tells our heart muscle cells to contract and then become coordinated enough to produce a heartbeat. The team also found that this initiation of beating was essential for the heart to develop properly at an early stage and that a protein called NCX1 plays a key role in the generation of the calcium signals needed to produce the beating action of the heart. The heart is the first organ to form during pregnancy and is critical in providing oxygen and nutrients to the developing embryo. The process of heart development is highly conserved between mammalian species, meaning that these findings may add considerably to our understanding of how the human heart develops. BHF Professor Paul Riley, who led the research at the University of Oxford's Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, said: "We are trying to better understand how the heart develops, and ultimately what causes the heart defects that develop in the womb before birth and to extrapolate to adult heart repair. "By finding out how the heart first starts to beat and how problems can arise in heart development, we are one step closer to being able to prevent heart conditions from arising during pregnancy. "We also hope that this new research will help us learn how the beating of new heart muscle cells might be triggered in replaced muscle after a heart attack." Professor Riley and his team also hope that these findings will bring them closer to being able to repair damaged muscle after a heart attack. One of the main difficulties with repairing the heart is that the new cells need to connect and synchronise their beating with the existing tissue. Just like making origami, without having the right set of instructions it becomes much more difficult to make a heart, or even parts of the heart, with the right form and function. By finding out how and when the heart first starts to beat, the team has uncovered some of the 'instructions' that may help them transform stem cells into fully functional cardiac cells in the lab. Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This study describes some of the very first stages in the development of a beating heart, identifies some of the key molecules involved and shows that the initiation of the beat itself has a bearing on the further development of the heart. "Such fundamental research is vital in understanding and ultimately preventing diseases that affect the heart." More information: Richard CV Tyser et al. Calcium handling precedes cardiac differentiation to initiate the first heartbeat, eLife (2016). Journal information: eLife Richard CV Tyser et al. Calcium handling precedes cardiac differentiation to initiate the first heartbeat,(2016). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.17113 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Rini Kramer-Carter has tried everything to pull herself out of her dark emotional hole: individual therapy, support groups, tai chi and numerous antidepressants. The 73-year-old musician rattles off the list: Prozac, Cymbalta, Lexapro. "I've been on a bunch," she said. "I still cry all the time." She has what's known as "treatment-resistant depression." It's commonly defined as depression that doesn't respond to two different medications when taken one after the other, at the right dose and for the right amount of time. Nearly 16 million adults have major depression, and up to a third do not respond to treatment. The disease afflicts people of all ages, but experts say that as many as half of older adults don't get better with standard treatment. Mental health experts expect treatment-resistant depression to become more widespread as baby boomers age. Boomers already have been identified as having higher rates of depression than previous generations, and over time their depression may no longer respond to medication. "We are seeing treatment-resistant depression more, and we are recognizing it more," said Helen Lavretsky, a geriatric psychiatrist at UCLA. "And in older adults, the answer to understanding what it is and what to do about it is more complicated than in younger adults." The consequences among older adults can be devastating. Persistent depression can raise the risk of early death and suicide, expedite memory decline and lead to a loss of independence. The phenomenon isn't well studied, but psychiatrists believe there are several reasons why depression in older adults may not respond to treatment. For one thing, if a person has been depressed and taken different medications for a long time, it can diminish their effectiveness. Patients also may neglect to take their medication as prescribed, because they have memory problems or they believe they no longer need it. "Sometimes people say, 'I'm better. I don't need this,' and stop the medicine," said Anthony P. Weiner, who directs outpatient geriatric psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. "Then the symptoms recur ... and if the person goes back on the medicine, it may not be fully effective." Seniors are also more likely to have chronic medical illnesses, which raises the risk of depression. Their illnesses may make it more difficult for them to recover from depression. And it can mask whether antidepressants are working, because symptoms of chronic illness can be mistaken for depression - and vice versa. Poverty, isolation, pain, grief over the loss of a spouse, or being a caregiver can also lead to or intensify a senior's depression. And no matter what medication the patients take, Lavretsky noted, those external factors don't go away. "Either they change their perspective or they change their circumstances, or the depression just persists," she said. Antidepressants can help seniors gain some perspective. But Lavretsky and others agree that even if the medications are effective, they shouldn't be used in isolation. "It's an emotional experience," Weiner said. "The whole answer isn't just, 'Oh, here take a pill.' There is such a central role for psychotherapy." Kramer-Carter, who speaks slowly and hugs everyone she meets, has felt depressed for as long as she can remember. As a young adult, she worked as a secretary and a proofreader but got fired more than once because she had trouble getting out of bed and making it to work on time. She went to the emergency room many times and in her 30s, she was diagnosed with depression. Now, she spends a few days each week driving her husband, Eugene Carter, to medical appointments. When she feels up to it, she volunteers delivering food to poor families. Kramer-Carter checks all the boxes for being at high-risk of treatment-resistant depression. She is a long-time caregiver, first for her parents and now for her husband, a stroke survivor with short-term memory problems. Her own list of health problems is long: diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, fibromyalgia and gout. "Who wants to be aching all the time?" she said. Money problems don't help either. The couple depends financially on Social Security. If she had more money, she said she would go to the theater or see live concerts. She misses both. "We wouldn't be so stuck," she said. As it is, they spend everything on food, rent and other bills. "It's a constant struggle," she said. "You have to borrow from Peter to pay Paul." Despite the prevalence of treatment-resistant depression, few resources exist to help psychiatrists make treatment decisions. Clinical trials have been scant, and there are no universally accepted protocols for the condition. The risks and benefits of different medications for older adults are largely unknown. Given a shortage of geriatric psychiatrists, decisions on treatment are often left to primary care providers, who may not have relevant training or might be reluctant to take on such complicated care. Doctors with patients who don't respond to traditional therapies frequently make ad hoc decisions about whether to change the dosage, add a medication or switch to a new one. "The clinicians use their best experience and trial and error," said Evelyn Whitlock, chief science officer at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. "They try something, and if it doesn't work, they try something else." Trial and error is not ideal, she said. Many of these people have been living with depression for so many years, and providers need to be able to provide them with effective treatment. In an effort to produce better medical outcomes for people with treatment-resistant depression, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute announced in July that it was funding three major studies that will test different approaches to the illness. The goal of the research is to produce tangible evidence that can be used immediately to help patients and their doctors make more informed treatment decisions. The Washington, D.C. nonprofit, which finances health research, earmarked $40 million for the five-year studies, which it expects to begin this fall. They will include more than 2,500 patients at sites in California, Ohio, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. One of the studies will examine electroconvulsive therapy - its impact on quality of life and its potential for relieving the symptoms. Another will compare the effectiveness and safety of three strategies - using magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain, adding an antipsychotic medication or switching to a specific antidepressant. The research will assess how these approaches affect the patients' ability to function at home and work. The third and largest study, with about 1,500 patients, will focus specifically on older adults, testing different drugs and studying how aging affects the risk and benefits of antidepressants. UCLA, where Kramer-Carter is being treated, is part of the third study, which will weigh life circumstances and disabilities in addition to depression. The grants represent an "unprecedented opportunity to look at this population," Lavretsky said. "It will be a comprehensive look at the condition, why it happens and what are the ways of alleviating suffering," she said. "Are there some similarities among all people with treatment-resistant depression? I suspect we will find some." On a recent afternoon, Rini Kramer-Carter visited Lavretsky at UCLA. She said the only time she truly escapes her sadness is when she plays percussion along with other musicians. But she hasn't been playing lately, and she has been sleeping up to 20 hours a day. "If I can stay in bed all day, that's what I do," she said. Sometimes she watches TV comedies to try to dissipate her black moods. Kramer-Carter said she learned about Lavretsky after seeing a newspaper ad for another research study, of a drug typically used to treat early-stage dementia. During their appointment, Lavretsky went over a list of questions included in the study. "On a scale of zero to 10, where do you place yourself in terms of depression?" the doctor asked her. Nine, she responded. She told the Lavretsky she sometimes felt restless and anxious, but not suicidal. "Do you feel full of energy?" Lavretsky asked. "Do I look like I am full of energy?" she responded with a sigh. Lavretsky told her that no pill will completely fix her problems, but medication might give her more energy and the ability to cope. Kramer-Carter said she knows a drug won't produce any miracles. She just wants some relief. "I just want to be able to live my life," she said. Explore further Less than one-third of adults with depression receive treatment 2016 Kaiser Health News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Electron microscopic image of a single human lymphocyte. Credit: Dr. Triche National Cancer Institute Scientists at the University of Birmingham have described a previously-unknown molecular mechanism that could lead to the genetic mutations seen in certain types of aggressive cancer cells, involving a cell's own transcription machinery. Genetic mutations are fundamental to the spread of cancer cells that form malignant tumours in the body. They are often caused by 'replication stress' within the cell, whereby DNA becomes damaged while it is duplicated. However, the underlying cause of this process has long been a mystery. In a new study published today in Nature Communications, researchers reveal how replication stress (and subsequent genetic mutations) can be caused by an increase in activity of a cell's own transcription machinery. The research shows that in cells with an activated version of the cancer-promoting gene (or 'oncogene') H-RasV12, the rate of transcription and protein production is dramatically increased. The resulting RNA can form unusual structures called 'R-loops' within the DNA of the cell, which in turn cause DNA damage and replication stress. Although it was previously suspected that H-RasV12 caused increases in transcription, this study provides the first solid evidence of the mechanism, as well as the first description of the role of this oncogene in R-loop formation. 'This research is the first to show conclusively that an oncogene-induced boost in gene expression is enough to interfere with DNA replication,' says lead researcher Dr Eva Petermann, from the University of Birmingham's Institute of Cancer and Genomic Studies. 'Our findings help to create a new unified view of the roles of transcription and replication in the process of cancer cell mutations. This is a big step in basic cancer biology, and potentially opens up a whole new area of research into transcription proteins and replication stress.' A better understanding of replication stress may help improve the efficacy and application of a number of new cancer drugs currently undergoing clinical trials, including AstraZeneca's ATR and Wee1 inhibitors. Explore further Collisions during DNA replication and transcription contribute to mutagenesis More information: Panagiotis Kotsantis et al. Increased global transcription activity as a mechanism of replication stress in cancer, Nature Communications (2016). Journal information: Nature Communications Panagiotis Kotsantis et al. Increased global transcription activity as a mechanism of replication stress in cancer,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS13087 Micrograph showing prostatic acinar adenocarcinoma (the most common form of prostate cancer) Credit: Wikipedia Men hoping to avoid some side effects of prostate cancer treatment are paying out tens of thousands of dollars for a procedure whose long-term effects are unknown and that insurers, including Medicare, won't pay for. Proponents say high-intensity focused ultrasound can have fewer negative side effects than surgery or radiation, while giving some patients another option between actively watching their cancer and those more aggressive steps. Critics, however, say the procedure is being oversold, leading some patients to get a treatment they don't need. Device makers are busy selling the $500,000-and-up machines to doctors around the country and offering training courses. Billboards advertising this "new noninvasive treatment for prostate cancer" are springing up, while treatment center websites promise "a safer method" with benefits such as "no erectile dysfunction and no incontinence," although studies show those side effects can occur, but less often than with types of more aggressive treatments. The treatment's cost can range from $15,000 to $25,000. HIFU is the latest treatment to prompt concerns over whether there should be limits - such as requiring tracking of results - placed on expensive new technology while additional data are gathered. "This is going to join the group of uncertain-yet-available therapies that physicians can use, yet we have no clear understanding of who will benefit in a real-world population," said Art Sedrakyan, a professor of health care policy and research at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. The treatment of prostate cancer has been a particularly controversial - and lucrative - niche, since the disease for some men can be slow growing and their tumors wouldn't be fatal. A host of new "nonsurgical' treatments are now also on offer using sophisticated machines to destroy cancer cells with proton beams or other types of high-dose radiation. Using HIFU, devices direct ultrasound waves to heat prostate tissue to about 195 degrees, ablating all or just portions of the gland. Focusing on just a portion of the gland is a newer trend in prostate cancer treatment. Anesthesia is used. HIFU machines have been used in Europe longer than in the U.S, although national health programs in the United Kingdom and elsewhere limit coverage to patients enrolled in clinical trials or other research programs. While the devices are approved in Canada, the national health program does not pay for it. Until recently, some U.S. men traveled to have the procedure done by U.S. doctors working in Mexico, the Bahamas or Bermuda. In the U.S., advisory committees to the Food and Drug Administration twice turned down applications from manufacturers to market HIFU devices as a treatment for prostate cancer, citing not enough long-term evidence. But in October 2015, the FDA approved Charlotte, N.C.-based SonaCare Medical's device for the ablation of prostate tissue. Data submitted by the company included an analysis of 116 men who had their entire prostrate treated and were followed for 12 months. "While the oncological outcomes form this study are inconclusive, the results provide reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness of the device in the context of prostate tissue ablation," the FDA said in its review. A device by Lyon, France-based EDAP won similar approval shortly thereafter. Researchers say it's too soon to say conclusively that partially treating the disease works as well as totally removing it. There is also debate over the type of patients best suited for the treatment: low risk, intermediate risk or those who have had types of prostate cancer treatment without success. Ongoing and previous studies from abroad are available, but have limitations, including fairly short follow-up periods. "The biggest studies in the world are only four or five years into it," said Michael Koch, chairman of the urology department at Indiana University School of Medicine, a proponent of HIFU for some patients. "We don't have survival data to see if (HIFU) does better than surgery or radiation." To get more complete answers, some physicians say it's critical to track outcomes with unidentified-patient information in a nationwide registry. It's not a new idea. Some technologies have been granted approval by the FDA or coverage by Medicare with a condition that patients must be enrolled in clinical trials or registries. "Short of the FDA saying to device makers, 'You need to do this,'" establishing a comprehensive tracking method is challenging, said Jim Hu, a urologist and a robotic surgery specialist at Weill Cornell. Hu co-authored a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association in July with Sedrakyan and UCLA urology resident Aaron Laviana calling for a registry. Meetings between registry proponents, the FDA and the device makers are ongoing, but challenges remain, Hu said. A registry is operating in England that will soon open to U.S. users of SonaCare Medical's HIFU devices. While SonaCare funds the registry, it does not have control of the data, said SonaCare CEO Mark Carol. His company will also contribute money to a broader U.S. registry that Hu and his co-authors support, which would also incorporate results from other HIFU. The evidence gathered could convince Medicare and other insurers that a treatment is valuable - and worth covering. But some practitioners may not want insurers to cover the treatment because when a treatment isn't covered, cash payments by patients can often exceed what practitioners would be paid by insurers. Currently, men usually pay for it themselves. "The financial piece of this is somewhat perverse," Hu said. "Men are being charged $25,000 for this, yet no one feels pressure to demonstrate the efficacy of the treatment." Meanwhile, the continuing debate regarding patients' treatment options has created an opportunity for HIFU. Surgery and radiation can pose problems such as incontinence or impotence, while hormonal treatments also cause impotence and can also result in hot flashes, muscle weakness and other problems. When the cancer is aggressive, the benefit of these approaches outweigh such side effects. But for men with lower-risk profiles, based on factors such as age, and results of tests and biopsies, the choice is more difficult. Some health care experts encourage these patients to choose "active surveillance" instead. That means keeping an eye on the cancer through regular testing. But some men are uncomfortable just watching - and that's where HIFU could play a role. Patients who have an area in the prostate with a higher grade tumor could choose to treat just that portion with HIFU, said Indiana University's Koch, who was part of the clinical trials of SonaCare's device in the U.S. and has accepted funding from the company. "If we can treat (that area) with therapy, we can get them back on active surveillance," Koch said. Others say more study is needed. With prostate cancer, there may be a dominant tumor, but small cancer cells elsewhere in the gland, said Justin Bekelman, associate professor of radiation oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. Still others note that patients who choose HIFU need to select physicians with lots of experience and training because the procedure is complex. "HIFU is a steep learning curve. Some of the doctors buying these machines are not ready for it," said Jim Wickstrom, who had the procedure four years ago in Bermuda and is a big proponent. He said patients should do their research and choose only very experienced physicians who are willing to show their outcome data. Registries could also help provide more information on outcomes, but one challenge is determining who would pay for it. "The main reason those (registry efforts) fail is the industry doesn't want to fund those studies, even if they think the treatment is better," said Sean Tunis, president and CEO of the Center for Medical Technology Policy in Baltimore and a former medical director at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Mainly, that's because they don't need to unless required by the FDA, Tunis said. They already have marketing approval based on a limited number of studies demonstrating safety and efficacy. Also, while registries are useful they also have limitations. Because they are not randomly controlled trials, registries aren't the best way to compare treatment A to treatment B, said Fred Masoudi, a professor at the University of Colorado's medical school. But they can show how treatments, drugs or devices perform in common use. "It's not a foregone conclusion that results will be the same (as in clinical trials), which is why registry programs are so important," said Masoudi, who has been involved with other such registries. SonaCare said it has sold more than 30 of the machines in the U.S., with medical centers in California, Florida, New York, North Carolina and Texas using them. Competitor EDAP reported late in August that earnings from its HIFU division rose 68 percent in the first six months of 2016. Patient advocates caution men to do a lot of research before choosing any type of treatment. "With any procedure, there is a risk of temporary or ongoing issues with ED or incontinence," said Chuck Strand, CEO of Us Too, a prostate cancer patient group that is partially funded by industry. "Anytime anyone is looking at any therapy, we urge them to do their homework, ask lots of questions and get a second or even third opinion." Explore further New prostate cancer treatment to be evaluated 2016 Kaiser Health News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 20% more tourists visit Georgia this year, exceeding 4 million Tourism is growing in Georgia, and the country is reaping the benefits of billions of dollars coming into the local economy from international tourism.So far this year, almost five million foreign guests have enjoyed the sights and sounds Georgia has to offer.Today head of Georgias National Tourism Administration (GNTA) Giorgi Chogovadze summed up activities of the tourism sector during the first nine months of 2016.Between January and September 2016 the number of tourists who visited Georgia increased by 19.5 percent, while the number of international travellers had increased by 8.6 percent year-on-year (y/y).In the first nine months of the year Georgia hosted 4,879,031 international visitors (tourists, transit, other). Of this number 2,156,731 were tourists, said Chogovadze.Between January and September 2016 the most international visitors came from: Afghanistan 563 percent increase y/y Australia 217 percent increase Malaysia 46 percent increase Brazil 42 percent increase Jordan 40 percent increase Egypt 35 percent increase India 34 percent increase Yemen 33 percent increase Latvia 26 percent increase Denmark 23 percent increaseSo far this year $867.9 billion was generated from international tourism in Georgia.Chogovadze said this was 13.2 percent or $101 million more y/y.The value of foreign card transactions made by international visitors in the first eight months of 2016 reached 1.03 billion GEL, 13.6 percent more year-on-year, he said.In September 2016 alone, 631,302 international visitors arrived in Georgia. This was 11 percent more than September 2015, said Chogovadze.Meanwhile 304,814 tourists spent more than 24 hours in Georgia and this was a 34.2 percent increase y/y.Last month the most international visitors came from: Iran 572 percent increase y/y Iran 571.9 percent increase Egypt 199 percent increase Syria 160 percent increase India- 132 percent increase Saudi Arabia 83 percent increase Russia 31.3 percent increase Germany 22 percent increase Latvia 22 percent increase Turkey 21.5 percent decreaseLast year 5.9 million visitors came to Georgia, said the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat). This was seven percent growth on 2014. Ex-President not to interfere in election process By Messenger Staff President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili has called on the countrys ex-President, now the Governor of Odessa in Ukraine, Mikheil Saakashvili, not to interfere in the countrys October 8 Parliamentary election process.Margvelashvili made the statement in response to Saakashvilis active but distant involvement in the election processes in favour of his United National Movement (UNM) party.I am still trying to call on the former president as politely as possible not to interfere with the electoral process ongoing in Georgia, Margvealshvili said.Margvelashvili stressed that the public is oriented towards making a free choice and any case of tension will be a step against democracy.This is the most important democratic experience for us. We are conducting free, modern European elections, Margvelashvili said.Saakashvili, who was President of Georgia between 2004-2007 and 2008-2013, has no Georgian citizenship and remains wanted by Georgian law enforcement on several charges.The ex-President automatically lost his Georgian citizenship when he accepted Ukrainian nationality in 2015.Georgias Election Code prohibits the involvement of foreign citizens in the countrys electoral process.Local NGOs have several times appealed to Saakashvili to refrain from video addresses at UNM rallies andGeorgias Central Election Commission also said Saakashvilis behaviour goes against the law.Saakashvili knows that he is breaking the law but still continues his illegal activities; some might perceive this as a sign of disrespect to Georgia's legal code, while others will claim that he only acts in this way due to his sincere belief in the corruption of Bidzina Ivanishvili's GD party.However, it is certain that Saakashvili knows that the only chance he has of returning to Georgia is if the UNM party are victorious, which has prompted his excessive remote appearances at UNM events. The News in Brief GDDG Hires U.S. Lobbying & PR Consultancy Firms The ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) party has hired Impact Management Group (IMG) for lobbyist services in the United States in the run up to and after the October 8 parliamentary elections in Georgia. Under a four-month contract, running from August 4 till November 30, Georgias ruling party will pay USD 320,000 to IMG, according to filings submitted this month by the firm to the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. For government-relations consultancy, IMG hired a subcontractor, the Alpine Group, a Washington-based lobbying firm, which will receive USD 22,500 in a period between August 29 and October 8, 2016. For media relations services, IMG has a separate subcontract with public relations agency K-Global, which was providing services to the Georgian Dream back in 2012 ahead of the previous parliamentary elections. The subcontract with K-Global, worth USD 10,000, runs from August 29 till October 10, 2016. According to the contract, IMG will assist GDDG representatives with scheduling meetings with members of the U.S. Congress and relevant agencies for the purpose of educating them regarding Georgia and upcoming parliamentary elections. IMG will advise GDDG on communication strategy and assist with placement of news stories with credible news organizations, coordinate messaging, assist to communicate to Western news organizations, and help to deliver messages of the party to political leaders in U.S. The firm will also provide logistical support for trip of GDDG representatives to the United States and their meetings with Congress members, as well as logistical support for a trip of members of Congress to Georgia, according to the contract. In April the Georgian government hired law and lobbying firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman to get advice and assistance on U.S.-Georgia bilateral relation and in communicating with the U.S. administration officials and Congress members. Under one-year contract, the government is paying Pillsbury USD 50,000 per month. (Civil.ge) Elections 2016: Imedi TV releases latest public poll One of Georgias leading television broadcasters, Imedi TV, released the results of its most recent poll predicting who will win the October 8 Parliamentary Elections in Georgia. The poll, commissioned by Imedi TV and conducted by American research firm JPM, revealed the current ruling party will win the elections. The poll revealed that only two parties will overcome the five percent election threshold GDDG (who received 32.7 percent voter support in the poll) and opposition United National Movement (who was supported by 12.8 percent polled). JPM was commissioned to organise the survey while field works were carried out by local research organisation Georgian Opinion Research Business International (Gorbi). Imedi TV said 1,187 people were surveyed nationwide between September 16-24. Of the people questioned, 61 percent intended to vote, which was three percent more than an earlier poll conducted by Imedi TV in August, when at this time 41.3 percent of people surveyed refused to answer the question or were undecided who to vote for. Who will Georgian public vote for in the October 8 Parliamentary Election? The Imedi TV poll indicated the current ruling party had the most support from voters. The survey asked people who they will vote for. The results showed: Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia 32.7 % United National Movement 12.8% Free Democrats 3% Labour Party 2.9% Alliance of Patriots 2.2% Paata Burchuladze-State for People 2.1% Democratic Movement-United Georgia 1.7% Usupashvili Republicans 0.7% Industrials Party 0.3% National Forum 0.2% Undecided 41.4 % The survey asked the 41.4% of undecided voters who they were likely to vote for. The results showed: Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia 42.4% United National Movement 18.8% Free Democrats 5.8% Alliance of Patriots 5.4% Labour Party 4.5% Democratic Movement-United Georgia 3.2% Paata Burchuladze-State for People 3.2% Usupashvili Republicans 0.7% Imedi TVs first pre-election survey, conducted by JPM between August 18-27, showed similar results. The poll showed GDDG and UNM were the only two parties to receive more than 5 percent of votes and overcome the minimum threshold. In this survey GDDG received 30 percent of votes while UNM gained 16 percent. Also in August a private broadcaster in Georgia, Rustavi2, released results of a survey carried out byGerman-American GFK. The survey was conducted nationwide between August 2-18. The Rustavi2-commission poll showed four parties could overcome the five percent threshold: GDDG (35.9%), UNM (34.2%), Paata Burchuladze-State for People (9. 8%) and Labour Party (5.4%). In July, the Georgia branch of the United States National Democratic Institute (NDI-Georgia) released findings of a pre-election survey. The survey was commissioned by NDI and carried out by Caucasus Research Resource Centre (CRRC). This survey was conducted nationwide through face-to-face interview with 4,113 people. In these polls 19 percent of respondents said they were likely to vote for GDDG while 14 percent said they were likely to vote for UNM. Over half of those surveyed (67 percent) said they would vote if elections were held tomorrow, while 57 percent were undecided. NDI country director Laura Thornton said: "The ratings for each of the individual parties are so low that they cannot be taken as a guide to the outcome of future elections. "With 67 percent of Georgians planning to vote and 57 percent undecided, the numbers seen in the final election tallies will look considerably different than the numbers presented in this poll as the results will depend on how these undecided ultimately cast their ballots, she said in July when the survey was released. (Agenda.ge) UNM: The 5 October rally will be held a few days before the change of Ivanishvilis government The 5 October rally will be held a few days before the change of Ivanishvilis government through elections and we hope that the Ministry of Internal Affairs will not do anything stupid, Giga Bokeria, one of the leaders of the United National Movement, said before entering the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where a meeting is to be held about the security measures to be taken for the planned rally with the Deputy Interior Minister. Nika Melia, another participant of the meeting, told reporters that they arrived at the Ministry in order to prevent any misunderstanding, as the 5 October rally will apparently be large in scale. We will hold a final, large-scale rally in Rose Square where a lot of our supporters will gather. We need to agree some organizational issues in order to avoid any misunderstanding, he said. (ipn) How do old people live in Georgia? By Messenger Staff Georgias Public Defender believes that the rights of older persons in Georgia still cannot respond to modern challenges and international approaches.Ucha Nanuashvili says the majority of old people do not have access to adequate housing, social services or protection mechanisms, and therefore they are at risk of poverty, homelessness and isolation.They are often subjected to violence. The existing state programs do not provide for alternative care services for the elderly and no needs-based programs are being developed, the Ombudsman said.The Public Defender's Office monitors the protection of the rights of older people. Last year's parliamentary report focused on the difficult socio-economic conditions and challenges faced by older persons; recommendations were also developed.To solve the problem, the Public Defender suggested making the process of preparation of state policy documents and an action plan more active.The adoption of the State Policy Concept on the Ageing of the Georgian Population by the Parliament of Georgia in 2016 can be considered a step forward. According to the concept, the Government of Georgia was instructed to develop and approve a national action plan for 2016-2018 till August 1, 2016. However, the action plan has not yet been developed, Nanuashvili says.The Public Defender believes that the national action plan development process must be completed as soon as possible and the Government must adopt a document which will trrigger engagement of the issue of ageing in different sector policies and programs, as well as proper protection of the rights of older persons.We should say no to ageism, which often intercrosses with other forms of discrimination, (discrimination on grounds of gender, disability, ethnicity, etc) by our positive activities, Nanuashvili says.The problem is very obvious in Georgia; one can see a large number of elderly men and women asking for help in streets or rummaging in garbage bins.Pensions offered in Georgia are not enough for elderly people to pay monthly obligations and at the same time eat properly.There are so many problems in Georgia that need to be settled that the problem of the elderly population is still out of focus.However, the solving of some issues could play a vital role in settling the problems of the elderly population.Economic development, for example, will enable the relevant bodies to take steps and launch programmes to make elderly people's lives easier. ease the being of the elderly people. At the present, many elderly people are at risk from starving or freezing to death in the winter. The News in Brief I found a true man of God - Pope Francis on the Georgian Patriarch According to Pope Francis, he saw two surprises in Georgia. The Pope made his comments in response to a question of the Public Broadcaster at a press conference held at the airport before leaving for Italy. "I saw two surprises in Georgia - one is Georgia itself. I would never imagine such a place full of Christian faith. My second discovery was the Patriarch, a person with the deepest belief. He is a man of God. I was moved by him and I had this feeling at every meeting with him. I left the country with the feeling that I found a true man of God," Pope Francis said. As to the question about the chances of a constructive dialogue between the Churches about the existing dogmatic peculiarities and differences, the Pope pointed out that it is the business of theologians. (IPN) Anti-NATO, antigay MP withdraws from majoritarian race, expresses allegiance to Ivanishvili A member of the Georgian parliament, notorious for his radical anti-NATO and homophobic statements, on Thursday withdrew his candidacy in a majoritarian district and expressed his support for the Georgian Dream party and its founder, former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili. Nine days before the election, Tamaz Mechiauri, MP, and a leader of the Tamaz Mechiauri United Georgia party, released a statement which claimed that he will not continue his election campaign. Tamaz Mechiauri was a member of GD but left it after constant bickering with Republican Party members, which was also in the same coalition that time. He set his party up only after formally leaving GD in June. Mechiauri called on voters of Georgian Dream to support him. Despite different views about the countrys foreign policy, our party expresses support to Bidzina Ivanishvili and his team and is ready to stand by him in any critical situation, including any attempt at destabilization, Mechiauris short Facebook statement reads. Recently, an anonymous video tape was published on YouTube purporting that United National Movement leaders, including ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, are plotting a revolution in Georgia after the elections if they lose. Soon afterwards, GD politicians accused the UNM, a major opposition force in the country, of plotting to violently overthrow the government. The UNM denies the accusations. Mechiauri earlier planned to run as a majoritarian candidate in the Dusheti, Kazbegi and Tianeti districts. He left Georgian Dream on May 21. Mechiauri has become known amongst the public for his anti-NATO and homophobic statements. The latest polls indicate very little popular support for Tamaz Mechiauris party, and in the rush for anti-NATO voters he has been soundly outflanked by other parties, such as Nino Burjanadzes Democratic Movement. (DF watch) European Council to discuss Georgias visa liberalization on October 5 - Radio Liberty It seems there will be a green light on Wednesday for the European Council to start talks with the European Parliament on granting visa liberalization to Georgia, Radio Liberty correspondent Rikard Jozwiak posted on Twitter. According to him, the talks will not start until there is a deal with the European Parliament regarding the so-called suspension mechanism. Rikard Jozwiak says the MEPs are expected to discuss the issue on October 5. Earlier it was reported that the issue of granting visa liberalization to Georgia, Ukraine and Kosovo would be discussed on 11 October. (IPN) Zugdidi Technology Park opens in west Georgia The countrys second Technology Park has opened, encouraging young creative thinkers outside Tbilisi to develop their entrepreneurial skills and innovative potential. Georgias Economy Minister, Dimitry Kumsishvili, has opened a new Technology Park in Zugdidi, in the western Samegrelo-Zemo-Svaneti region. The new 700m2 Technology Park, described as a special workspace where dreams can be brought to life, opened in the Zugdidi Presidential residence. The purpose of opening a Technology Park in Zugdidi is to help local population, private companies or local governance to develop their activities and gain knowledge of about creative industries by using the hard to access technologies, said Kumsishvili. The Technology Park would promote scientific research and innovative ideas in Georgia, and create a partnership between innovation and technology. This is the second Technology Park in Georgia which is equipped with the latest technologies, even more modern than we have in Tbilisis Technology Park. The space is open and all services are free of charge, said the Minister. The Zugdidi Technology Park featuresd a modern laboratory study areas, a shared work space, a conference hall and a recreational zone. In the past three years 1,359 large infrastructural projects have been implemented in Samegrelo-Zemo-Svaneti region, worth 632 million GEL (about $269 million/239.41 million*). (Agenda.ge) Montanas prisons and jails are over capacity. What changes in statute and/or funding at the state level if any do you think are necessary? If no changes, why not? Before I could effectively answer this question I need to know the breakdown on the wide variety of possible crimes contributing to Montanas prisons being filled beyond capacity. Violent crimes? Nonviolent crimes? Drugs? DUIs? Sexual offenses? An evaluation of these questions and answers would influence my opinions, and therefore my decisions greatly. Its my understanding that a fair, but yet-undetermined percentage of inmates in state and county jails are afflicted with mental health issues that potentially contribute to their criminal behavior. The state dedicated $3 million to mental health issues last session, and that investment's results need to be analyzed. Has the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission adequately guided the states hunting and fishing concerns, or does the Legislature need to give the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks more specific direction regarding topics such as land acquisition, wildlife management, predator control, and bison? Legislators are elected by the people to represent their best interests, and for the purpose of providing statutory oversight of all government entities. Thats the way our representative republic was designed and is intended to be managed. The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission is appointed by the governor, which is a departure from the series of checks and balances built into our system of government. Many Montanans depend on the extraction of fossil fuels for jobs, yet there is a strong demand for clean and renewable energy in the region, especially since prices for the latter are falling. How do you propose to help workers in the coal, oil and natural gas industries find jobs in this new economic landscape? Montana produces 25 percent of the nation's coal. The elimination of coal mining in Montana means the loss of 7,000 good-paying jobs; jobs that also provide reliable electricity to the western United States, which is something neither wind or solar can claim. Until such time as they can match the cost, efficiency and reliability, our focus should be on keeping our coal plants open. According to Montana University System records, as recently as 1992, the stated funded 76 percent of the university system. Now, though, state support has fallen to 40 percent, which means tuition funds 60 percent of the system putting higher education out of reach for some Montana families. Do you as a legislator have a responsibility to help and if so, how? If not, why not? I, as a legislator, have a responsibility to do everything I can to create a business-friendly environment that will promote a vibrant, prosperous economy, which in turn will enable additional collage funding. Its impossible to reconcile drastic job losses and tax revenues with increased school funding. The later requires the former in a balanced budget. Montana has actually done far better than many states since the great recession, spending only 5 percent less than in 2008, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. What do you regard as the most urgent problem facing Montana, and how do you propose dealing with it? With Montana being ranked 48th in income and Ravalli County sitting at a 17 percent poverty level, clearly good-paying jobs are the most important issue facing Montanans. We need a governor skilled in job creation and a Legislature who will push back against federal government overreach and excessive regulation, and put our citizens back to work. Eran Pehan, former executive director of the Poverello Center, said many of the people with a criminal record who stayed there had the income to afford an apartment. What they didnt have is an individual willing to give them a chance, she said. Access to housing was one of the key barriers cited by four panel members from Partners for Reintegration who spoke at City Club Missoula on Monday regarding how recently incarcerated felons can return to the community in a way that reduces their chances of re-offending. Pehan, who is now head of the city's Office of Housing and Community Development, said the very low supply of open apartments and rental houses in Missoula, coupled with high prices and stiff competition, leaves former prisoners at an acute disadvantage. A lot of times it comes down solely to that background check, she said. This spring, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development put out new guidelines for landlords, Pehan said. While it did not provide specific recommendations, she said the agency implied that screening out a potential tenant based only on the results of a criminal background check could be considered illegal discrimination. Kim Lahiff, western Montana probation and parole bureau chief for the Department of Corrections, said after years of being a somewhat closed-off agency, it began to break down the silos internally and reach out to partner with community organizations concerned about issues like reintegration. I think its taken our agency a while to admit that we cant do it alone, she said. There are 1,300 people in Missoula County being supervised by probation and parole officers, part of the 9,300 under supervision across Montana. With a per person cost of $92 per day to keep someone in prison, Lahiff said community supervision is accomplished at a rate of just $5 per day. A lack of stable housing has a domino effect, Lahiff said, often interrupting a persons treatment, employment and conditions of probation. Obtaining housing is one of the largest issues the recently incarcerated face. They have felony records and thats difficult to overcome, she said. Pehan said that in looking at how other communities in the country have dealt with the issue, one tactic that has been effective is establishing a risk mitigation fund, a pool of public or private money that would be used to reimburse landlords if they rented to a tenant with a criminal history. The money would be used to reimburse a landlord if someone walked away without paying or damaged a unit. She said such funds are rarely drawn on, but merely having them has been shown to be enough to get landlords to take a chance on a person. *** Robert Howe said he knows firsthand how difficult the housing issue can be. Despite a history as a sergeant in the U.S. Army and work as a journeyman ironworker, Howe said after he was released from prison for a felony DUI in May 2012, he had difficulty finding housing. That struggle eventually led him to start Good Neighbors Missoula, an organization that works to find housing for people returning to the community from incarceration. Good Neighbors recently celebrated the first anniversary of its housing program with 13 beds across five buildings in the city, Howe said. Events like Mondays forum are an opportunity to engage the public, with the hope more landlords will step up and offer housing in partnership with Good Neighbors. H said his hope is to have housing for the recently incarcerated spread throughout the community so specific buildings aren't branded as felony housing. Jana Staton, co-chair of Partners for Reintegration, echoed the statements by the other panelists, but added that housing is far from the only issue facing felons returning to the community. She praised the city and county for removing questions on their employment applications asking for criminal history. Doing so reduced barriers for people who have left jail and are trying to find work. She said she was looking forward to seeing more change at the state level, in particular the draft legislation from the Montana Legislatures Interim Commission on Sentencing. Larry Riley is retired only in the sense that he doesn't work at Garlington, Lohn and Robinson anymore. Since the attorney officially retired this summer after 50 years as a trial lawyer, he's been devoting his time to his legal guardianship project, an effort to bring the service at a free or reduced rate to families across Montana. Legal guardianship means a person has the legal authority to act on behalf of an individual. Riley has been working with families of people with developmental disabilities to obtain legal guardianship since 2012 in western Montana. Now, he wants to expand it statewide. "To the normal, everyday Joe, they think what's the big deal about guardianship," said MaryAnne Hunt, family support specialist at Missoula's Child Development Center. "But there's a lot that goes into it." *** In 2010, Riley got a phone call. It was from a family he had helped 18 years before when they adopted their son. They needed his help again. In 1992, the going rate for adoption services from other attorneys was about $400, which the couple couldn't afford. Riley had been charging $50. "In a flash I thought, 'Holy cow,'" Riley said. "This couple badly wanted to adopt the baby, and the baby was available. But for that unreasonable fee, the child would have been with them for a year now." He didn't tell them, but his mind was made up. He would stop charging for adoption services. The couple's son has developmental disabilities, and now that he was 18 years old, they needed to obtain legal guardianship. It was deja vu. Again, Riley decided not to charge. "It's not terribly complicated or a time-consuming thing, but it's extraordinarily important to these families," he said. "In the eyes of the law, of someone who's developmentally disabled, they're still considered an adult when they turn 18. So sometime before they turn 18, this is something important to have done." *** To obtain legal guardianship, a petition is filed with the district court. The court then appoints a physician, visitor and attorney. The physician and the visitor (a family support specialist, for example) prepare reports saying why a guardianship is necessary. Riley or whichever attorney is representing the prospective guardians sends those reports to the public defender's office. The public defender's office represents the individual, legally called a "ward." That attorney then does his or her own evaluation of the need for legal guardianship. The report from the public defender is added to the reports from the physician and visitor, and all three are filed with the court. Then there's a hearing for a judge to sign the order appointing the legal guardian. "If you have an uncontested motion ... instead of having a hearing, you can submit the information and the judge will sign the order," Riley said. Most guardianships are uncontested, he said. But every once in awhile, they get complicated. Both parents must be notified of an effort to obtain guardianship, and he's seen situations in which the non-custodial parent will try to fight the other parent. The guardians then go to the clerk of court's office to receive the Letters of Guardianship. It may seem like overkill, Riley said, but it provides a system of checks and balances to avoid abuse or fraud. *** Word spread that Riley was providing the service pro bono. He gave a presentation at Missoula's Child Development Center and learned more about the need. It pulled him to CDC's Kalispell office, and things took off from there. Riley thought he would do two to three legal guardianships a year. He's done 50 since 2012. But his odometer was racking up the miles as he drove to Thompson Falls, Libby, Kalispell and more to help families. Then he remembered that if a motion for guardianship is uncontested, there's really no need for him to physically be in court. A hearing before a judge isn't required at that point, so Riley can instruct families over the phone. After 45 years, Riley decided he needed to change things up. The Montana Rules of Professional Conduct recommend that lawyers do at least 50 hours of pro bono work a year. Riley always wanted to do more. His work was "demanding and stressful," he said, "but tremendously rewarding." So in 2012, he started "a new life" with legal guardianships. That's when Kelly Johnson heard about Riley through word of mouth. Johnson now has legal guardianship for her adult daughter, Shelley, who has Down Syndrome. Johnson is also the legal guardian for two men with developmental disabilities living in a group home. In addition, Johnson works as a direct care staff recruiter for the CDC. "He is a man who has so much compassion, it exudes from him," Hunt said. "It's the fabric of who Larry Riley is. He's cut from a different cloth." *** In March, Riley and Billings attorney Tom Lynaugh brought a proposal to the State Bar of Montana. They're asking for a statewide program, establishing a directory of lawyers willing to do legal guardianships either pro bono or at a substantially reduced fee. It's under consideration right now. The idea is that families seeking legal guardianship would go to their local social services agency, which would be connected to that statewide program and be able to connect them with a local attorney on the list. Riley also hopes some attorneys would offer their services on the other side, to take some work off the desks of the public defenders. Currently, because public defender's offices statewide are overloaded, there are delays in getting legal guardianships processed. There is a $120 filing fee for the petition, and Johnson said attorney fees can sometimes stack up to about $5,000. That cost is impossible for many families. If the family doesn't obtain legal guardianship, the individual becomes their own guardian when they turn 18. At that point, a person with a developmental disability must make significant medical or financial decisions on his or her own. "People who are high-functioning are the ones who need guardianship the most," Johnson said. "They're susceptible to being taken advantage of." Johnson called Riley a "godsend." "The gratitude you receive is overwhelming," Riley said. "There's a kind of payment for legal services that's separate and distinct from money. That's sincere gratitude." Last month, an appeals court in Washington, D.C., heard a case that will determine whether the Environmental Protection Agency has the power to require states to restructure the electric grid. At issue is the EPAs Clean Power Plan, which would expand the power of the federal government immensely, cost thousands of jobs and give the EPA a veto over decisions that have always been left to state legislatures and utility commissions. A majority of states, including Montana, are challenging EPAs regulation. The Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of it. In the past, the EPA regulated emissions by identifying a control technology and requiring that device, or its equivalent, to be installed on a factory or power plant. The EPA Power Plan is a radical departure from this tradition. The Clean Power Plan requires emissions rates at Montanas coal plants to be cut by 47 percent. No commercially available technology can achieve that level of emissions at a coal plant, and certainly not by the EPAs mandated timeline for compliance. So how does the EPA assume it is possible? The agency bases its requirement on the idea that if only other, brand new natural-gas or renewable power plants existed, then those coal plants would operate less of the time. The state would be expected to restructure its energy economy accordingly, and jeopardize the grids reliability while doing so. EPAs extension of federal control over local economies will have profound consequences for Montana as it faces the most severe requirement of any state in the nation. It will likely result in the loss of thousands of jobs at Colstrip, worth $360 million in personal income. The loss of tax revenue will leave county and state budgets in the lurch. It is an affront to the Crow Tribe and trades unions, many of whom depend on coal mining for revenue that sustains their livelihoods. Montana will already face a significant economic impact when Colstrip Units 1 and 2 close, which their owners have agreed to do by 2022 in response to environmentalist litigation. But even the closure of those generators only accounts for half of what the EPA is requiring. Whats more, the EPA has spelled out no clear limits to its newfound authority to adopt this kind of regulation. If electricity can be regulated in this way, what about transportation? Will the EPA one day discover it has the authority to specify an emissions limit on refiners based on what they would emit if only there were more hybrid vehicles or electric buses? Additionally, in calculating Montanas requirement, the EPA gives our state no credit for our hydroelectric facilities, including the facilities NorthWestern Energy bought only two years ago. If the rule stands, Montana consumers will get no credit for that clean energy, despite paying hundreds of millions of dollars for it. Its popular these days to say we should have a Montana-created energy policy. We completely agree. The EPA should not be allowed to commandeer it. Im writing in support of re-electing our governor, Steve Bullock. I am a caregiver. I work as a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home here in Missoula, 40 hours or more every week. I put in as many extra hours as I can so that my wife can stay home with our three kids. Bullock has always worked hard for me and my family. He works hard for all Montana families. I take care of your loved ones your parents, grandparents and family friends. Unfortunately, having such an important and necessary job doesnt always mean I make enough to support me or help support my family, no matter how long or how hard I work. Now, Bullock's opponent is talking about making it even harder for Montanas working families to get by. My family struggles to even afford gas, heat and other necessities now. A new sales tax will only make workers more than their fair share. It isnt right. Right now, clothes are particularly expensive for us. Providing them for a family of five is a constant struggle. Our older car often breaks down, and trying to keep it repaired is really hard. A sales tax will mean I have to find a way to work more hours, and maybe take a second job. I am grateful that Gov. Bullock knows how unfair a sales tax would be and has come out against this terrible tax. Please join me in re-electing Steve Bullock on Election Day. Matthew Jackson, Missoula Tuesday evening at the Doubletree Hotel, a traveling pastor will present a lecture, "The True Face of Islam." The pastor is paid by ACT! for America, which is recognized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group, and whose founder, Brigitte Gabriel, has said that "Arabs have no soul" and that "all practicing Muslims are radical Muslims." ACT! and its event represent bigotry and hatred, and that is not the true face of Missoula. We call this city our home because of the kind and generous people who live here. The people who share our workplaces and schools also share a curiosity about other places and other ideas, and because of them Missoula is both welcoming to outsiders and full of opportunities for locals: Saudis attend our amazing university and with their help, our children learn to speak Arabic. Japanese students come to see the National Bison Range, then their Missoula friends go to climb Mount Fuji. When a choir from Costa Rica comes to Missoula, we learn how to sing in Spanish. Families of Congolese refugees have started to live and work here and we are learning about community from them. We love how our town knits itself with the world and we consider what is "foreign" to be a blessing and an invitation to grow. Today, in this hyper-ventilating political season, many in our country see Islam or Muslims as foreign. Fear has begun to creep into Missoula. We are not immune to or disdainful of that fear, but we believe that Islam is a beautiful faith and that those who adhere to it are peaceful, honest and interesting people who belong in our community too. We will be standing in silent protest outside the ACT! event to express this, and we hope you will join us. Brendan Work and Clem Work, Standing Alongside America's Muslims (SALAM), Missoula COLUMBIA FALLS An adult grizzly bear and her cub have been released into Glacier National Park after being captured near Columbia Falls. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear managers said the bears had been seen feeding on apples during the previous two weeks along the base of the Swan Mountains and were ultimately removed from a meat processing plant last weekend. The bears had been eating meat scraps behind the meat processing plant. The adult bear is about 15 years old and weighed 419 pounds. Wildlife officials said the cub was also in good shape, weighing in at 144 pounds. Wildlife officials still have traps set for a male bear that had been seen with the others. BILLINGS - One of her emergency cellphones was missing. She checked her bank accounts. They were drained. The $900 she had set aside for her escape was also gone. And her boyfriend was on his way home. She had no plan, no safety net, and she was out of time. When Shannon Tinajero and her 11-year-old daughter made their escape on a September night in 2015, Tinajero was wearing house clothes and no shoes. Her daughter had on flip flops. Almost a year to the day since Tinajero discovered her escape plan thwarted, she sat in a plush chair at Angelas Piazza. For a year and a half, Tinajero was subjected to mental and physical abuse from the man she lived with. He deprived her of sleep, kept her from her family, threatened her children and hurt her. A few weeks before she left, he killed her dog, she said. People Tinajero did not even know believed she was either overreacting about what had happened to her or lying about what her abuser had done. For a long time Tinajero also believed she wasn't being abused. During the last couple months of their relationship, Tinajero was almost always sleep-deprived. He would follow me around," she said. "I would go to sleep and wake up with him standing over me." Judy Schmidt, a domestic-violence educator and womens advocate at Angelas Piazza, said sleep deprivation is a common tactic for abusers to use. They try to keep victims' thoughts muddled, she said. It is pretty common to try to make (a victim) look unstable, Schmidt said. Its a head game. Abusers will try to confuse a victim, even attempt to convince them the abuse never happened, Schmidt said. When Tinajero left, she and her daughter went to the YWCAs Gateway Shelter. There, Tinajero found a flyer for Angela's Piazza. 'Somebody got it' The first day she went to the domestic abuse support group at Angela's Piazza, Tinajero found out how common her story of abuse was. I was so relieved," Tinajero said. "I remember thinking, 'Somebody can hear me, somebody related, somebody got it.'" Angelas Piazza offers women a place for solace and understanding. The repurposed home on Grand Avenue was opened by Sister Mary Dostal and Sister Pat Funderhide in 1998. They created a refuge for women who suffered domestic violence. The small home serves up to 75 women a week, offering classes on domestic violence, support groups for women and parenting classes. Women can come to there for quiet reflection, to journal or to share with someone who will listen, Dostal said. I think our biggest role is to help women realize the many ways they have experienced domestic violence, Dostal said. Much of domestic violence isnt physical. It can be financial, meaning someone controls the finances of the household and refuses to give the other partner access, forcing them to be dependent on one of the partners. It can also be psychological, with one partner insulting the other and keeping their self-esteem down, Dostal said. Tinajero began to put her life together through help from the YWCA Gateway Shelter and the staff at Angelas Piazza. The citys domestic violence task force was able to help Tinajero get her boyfriend prosecuted for misdemeanor domestic violence, to which he later pleaded guilty. Other victims Tinajero said there are many women who continue to suffer at the hands of their abusers. One person on the task force told Tinajero for an abuser to face real consequences, they need to be reported at least seven times. Dont assume there are laws to protect victims, and dont assume there are services to help them, Tinajero said. Billings Police Department officer Kate Nash once spoke at one of the Angelas Piazzas support group meetings. Though she planned to stay only an hour, she stayed for two to explain to the women in abusive relationships there why help was hard for them to come by. There is not enough funding for the task force to help all the victims, Nash said, and the policies in place in the justice system do not always address the realities of an abusive relationship. Control Even after Tinajeros abuser sent her to the hospital, he persuaded her to ask the prosecutors to drop the no-contact order between them. I was just trying to keep the peace, Tinajero said. Victims will go back to their abusers if the abuser is able to re-establish control over them, said Erin Lambert, YWCA Director of Programs. For the abuser, the entire relationship is about controlling their partner, she said, and they will use whatever tactic they can to regain that control. This is why the Gateway Shelter alone cannot solve these women's problems, Lambert said. It takes them a long time to believe they are safe, she said. YWCA CEO Merry Lee Olson wants to address victims' needs after leaving their abusers by building Gateway Vista, an affordable housing complex that would be near the YWCA campus. The victims would have more access to counseling, legal services and job training as they recover. YWCA applied for $3.8 million in federal tax credits from the Montana Board of Housing to construct Gateway Vista. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. BILLINGS - About 24 people gathered outside U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke's Billings office on Tuesday, imploring him to renounce his support for Donald Trump. They held signs that said things like "Grab them by the ballot" and "Grabbing back Nov. 8," in response to the Republican presidential nominee's recently released comments about women. On Friday, the Washington Post released a 2005 video of Trump, in which he described, using explicit terms, making sexual advances on women, including grabbing them. Tuesday's demonstration, which was part of the Montanans Rally for Women group, was attended mostly by women. Speakers said that if public officials maintain their support for Trump in light of his comments, then they fail to take a stand against sexual violence. Event organizer Kate Olp-Restad said that she wanted to show Zinke that voters are taking notice. "Here in Billings, we stand up for victims of sexual assault," she said. Zinke has been a steady supporter of the Republican nominee while running his own reelection campaign. Following the release of Trump's comments, Zinke joined a list of party officials who condemned the words but stopped short of taking back their endorsements. "The language is shocking and wrong, and should never be used, ever," Zinke said in a statement on Saturday. "My wife, Lola, and I have talked about it, and we pray he has grown from his mistake." Some Republican officials have said they will not vote for Trump, including U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Gov. Gary Herbert, both of Utah. Facing the building where Zinke maintains a field office, the group listened to stories of sexual assault. No one from the Congressman's ninth-floor office met the audience. Jade Bahr shared stories from her own life, when she witnessed sexual violence. She said that as a child, she saw her father be abusive toward her mother. She saw her friend go through an abusive relationship. She said that if people like Zinke don't fully disavow those actions, it makes them more pervasive. "Then he is normalizing rape culture," Bahr said. "And he is endorsing violence against women." Another woman, Karen Jarussi, joined others at the event and called on Zinke to take back his endorsement. She said that when women speak about unwanted sexual advances, it's not a phenomenon isolated to some women. That's what brought Wanda Walker out on Tuesday. "Sexual assault is a part of every woman's life," she said. Nicht Ihr Computer? Dann konnen Sie fur die Anmeldung ein Fenster zum privaten Surfen offnen. Weitere Informationen Time to vote for our next president! Time to choose just the right person to lead our worlds most militarily advanced superpower. Thats why presidential elections should be nonviolent and fulfilling on a deep personal level! O whom, shall I choose? Lets see. . . Hillary Rodham Clinton: Democrat and fellow feminist. Speechifies against poverty, then talks privately to Wall Street about open trade and open borders. Almost never met a U.S. military venture she didnt like. On her website: We should maintain the best-trained, best-equipped, and strongest military the world has ever known. Feminism has never been bossier. Gary Johnson: Libertarian Party. Nyet. Donald Trump: Republican. Paralyzingly horrific to imagine this xenophobic, lunatic gasbag in the Oval Office. Interestingly, Trumps promise to make our Military so big, powerful and strong that nobody will mess with us resembles the armed-and-dangerous feminism of Clinton. BUT IS TRUMP SELF-DESTRUCTING? Note how his leaked, private 2005 remarks on pussy-grabbing damage Trumps image far more than his recent, public declaration that Mexican immigrants are criminals and rapists. Would his campaign be intact now, if Trump had only been overheard talking about grabbing immigrant snatches? Jill Stein: Green Party. Only people-over-profits candidate. Supports reparations for slavery, college loan forgiveness, would end military intervention, fight climate change. Jill urges us not to endorse the politics of fear, i.e., voting for the lesser evil. So Ill vote JILL! Take THAT, politics of fear! Thank you, Peace Diary. Fuck you, Peace Diary, Also fuck those politically correct progressive realists who yell at me for supporting Jill Stein. Steins politics are cleaner, greener, they say, but not meaner. The Green Party is pathetic, Jills sure to lose, and youll end up voting for Trump. These are people, Peace Diary, who once thought Bernie Sanders was too bougie. Now theyre afraid every state is a swing state and we cant take chances. I hate them. I especially hate the POLITICALLY CORRECT A-HOLE who called me self-involved on Facebook in answer to my post, I could never vote for Hillary. Self-involved? So all the years Ive demonstrated against U.S. military bombings and invasions mean no more to me than my Facebook status? That the rending grief I feel for the millions of innocent lives obliterated in Iraq and Afghanistan and you-name-it by the USA makes me a narcissist? How politics-of-fear can you get? Actually, I think were all probably right to be afraid. Not so much of Trump its more the Americans supporting Trump who are the guys to fear. My guys; my people: Mostly working-to-lower-middle-class Caucasians who sense that the one ace-in-the-hole they ever held for a noble self-image their whiteness has been taken away from them by eight years of a Black presidency. To be honest, Peace Diary, the person I hate most is myself; I hate my powerlessness. So what if Stein talks a good line: If Trump remains viable, there may be wisdom in voting HRC. Yes, HRC: she whose vowels shall not be spoken. She whose strongest argument is that shes not Donald Trump. Dear Peace Diary, More comparisons of Trump to Adolph Hitler; more pressure to vote Clinton. I get it; Im afraid. The Nation magazine, which spent months supporting Bernie, just threw down for Hillary. And a NY Times review of a new Hitler bio outlines Hitlers salient personality traits devastatingly similar to Donald Trumps: often described as an egomaniac who only loved himself known for a bottomless mendacity fomented chaos by playing to crowds fears and resentments promised to lead Germany to a new era of national greatness Hitlers rise was not inevitable. I get why this election matters. But I still cant get how people whove spent a lifetime calling themselves progressives can think the answer is voting for Hillary. These are people whove wanted to fight the power and overthrow the state. If revolutionary Germans in the 1930s had known what was coming, dont you think at least one of them would have talked about assassinating Hitler? Dear Peace Diary, Why am I so afraid to talk about assassinating Donald Trump? Although its not a good idea to raise on Facebook, it definitely has its charms. I mean, its way more effective than voting for Hillary. If I did the deed, surely thered be some Nuremburg-type statute that would allow me to spend no more than 85 years in prison for this. Then, instead of Che Guevara on their t-shirts, those smug, PC thugs would have to wear me. HA HA! Who are you calling self-involved now? Id ask them. Dear Peace Diary, On second thought, Ive decided not to assassinate Donald Trump. I hope, instead, to see the Donald and his crotch go down in flames. But whether I vote or for whom Clinton will still love corporations and the military more than shell ever love me, and the people who love Trump will still exist. I now fully subscribe to the politics of fear. And so should you. But fear turns us into competitors, mudslingers, and sad, sad people. So heres what I know for sure: Were all screwed; Were taking it out on each other; and However this election turns out, we had better stop. Because, for all our vast, mutually disgusting differences, we on the Left are all weve got left. Because ultimately, the survival plan we need goes way beyond this fucking election. Susie Day is a writer. Her book Snidelines: Talking Trash to Power is available from Abdingdon Square Publishing:will@cvradio.com
LAKETOWN, Utah (AP) A man is facing charges after police say he held his girlfriend against her will inside a cabin near the Utah-Idaho border.
KSL-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2dIcg5x ) that police were called Monday after receiving reports that the man had threatened to kill the woman and was keeping her held in an upstairs closet. The womans mother contacted police after hearing from her daughter.
The mother did not know where her daughter was being held, other than that it was a cabin near the state line. It took more than an hour for authorities to find the correct address.
According to the Rich County Sheriffs Office, police detained the man while searching the home and found the woman upstairs in a closet.
The Japanese ocean carrier has doubled the frequency of its automobile transport service between Thailand and Northern Vietnam to twice a month and shifted from calling Cai Lan to the port of Hai Phong, closer to the capital city of Hanoi.
Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) Line has expanded its automobile transport service in Northern Vietnam, the company said in a statement.
The Japanese ocean carrier increased the frequency on its car carrier service from once a month to twice monthly, and shifted from calling Cai Lan to the port of Hai Phong to be closer to the countrys capital in Hanoi. The expanded service, which NYK has dubbed the Ruffles Ao Dai RORO Express (REX), commenced with the Oct. 8 arrival of the car carrier Modern Link in Hai Phong.
The REX operates with two NYK-operated roll-on/roll-off vessels on a full port rotation of Laem Chabang, Ho Chi Minh, Hai Phong and Laem Chabang.
NYK said the increased frequency and rotation change was in response to growing demand for finished automobiles in Vietnam.
Lord Byron once called Layla and Majnun the Romeo and Juliet of the East. Based on a real-life Arabic poet who was said to have lost his mind over his cousin, the story has had as many lives as a cat. Most famous is a twelfth-century version by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi, which provided the libretto for the first Middle Eastern opera, by Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov, in 1908. Now the Mark Morris Dance Group is bringing its brand-new version of the work to Ann Arbor.
When they meet as students, Majnun is unwound by Laylas beauty. The two fall quickly in love, but the bond so consumes them that their parents forbid them to see each other. When Laylas family arranges her marriage to another man, Majnun moves into the wild, taking leave of his sanity.
Morris collaborated with Yo-Yo Mas Silk Road Ensemble to realize his vision of the story. In this production, musicians forgo the orchestra pit to join the dancers on stage, where an abstract backdrop by Howard Hodgkin is painted in rich tones of earth and heat. Hodgkins costumes, much like the music, combine traditional structure with Western elements in an attempt to create a universal story set on foreign soil. Accompanied by members of the Silk Road Ensemble, playing their revamped version of Hajibeyovs score, revered Azerbaijani mugham singers Alim Qasimov and Fargana Qasimova perform the libretto of devoted, requited, but unlived love.
Morris is celebrated for his impeccable musicality and use of live music, which makes him particularly suited to collaborations like this one. His choreography shows a scholarly attention to detail, and he often borrows from the archives of dance history to pepper a sequence with Baroque poses or to braid original steps into the traveling patterns of traditional folk dances. He never plays tourist, says Yo-Yo Ma. Any tradition Mark incorporates becomes organic to his work.
Above all, Morris likes his dancers to resemble humans more than sylphs, to tap into intelligence before virtuosity. With such modern movers on his palette, Morris creates dances that evolve like shifting geometric equations, which, over the course of an evening, reveal themselves as poems.
The University Musical Society brings Layla and Majnun to the Power Center Oct. 13-15.
Mental Health Matters: Yes, depression is a 'real illness.'
Research suggests that people who have depression and another medical illness tend to have more severe symptoms of both illnesses.
City Deal leaders should eat humble pie - and take the whole thing back to the drawing board, a top councillor says.
Tim Bick, the man who negotiated with the Government to secure the 500 million housing and transport package, says workable long-term solutions are needed, not a quick fix".
He is urging the City Deal chairman Lewis Herbert, and the City Deal board, which meets on Thursday, to start the process all over again.
Cllr Bick, leader of the Lib Dems on the city council, told the News: Have they really got the message? Is humble pie really on the menu? It doesn't sound like it to me.
Stagecoach boss backs Cambridge road restrictions trial
If the recipe for humble pie is just exempting certain groups from the road blocks, then the City Deal will be missing the point. Different arbitrary lines on the map and more bureaucracy to decide if you are deserving case is not what people were marching for last week.
The City Deal has missed the point because it has not posed the question that needed asking. At a public meeting I went to, the invitation was to talk about operational detail - not whether road closures make for a good plan in the first place. Nowhere on their questionnaires do they allow people to give an opinion about the whole approach. That is why they now face thousands and thousands of petitioners who were given no other way.
I saw the whiff of a people's rebellion last week. If the City Deal leaders are astute, they will have seen it too. It's not that people can't see that congestion needs a solution. It's not only that the road closure plan is a blunt and unfair tool. It's that people feel they are being taken for fools.
There is more than one way of tackling the city's congestion problem. The manner in which it's done is fundamental to the way people live their lives, here and beyond. People expect and need to be properly consulted about the choice between alternatives, so they can assess the pros and the cons. We need to work towards a consensus as a city rather than being served up a pre-packed solution in the hope we'll all get tired of complaining about it."
Cllr Bick accused Labour leaders in the city of moving into a bunker, adding: They should take a look at the report from Dr Mario Weick, arguing that their scheme will hit less affluent areas of the city hardest and privilege those who can afford taxis most. And they should remember that it was a Labour government which legislated to enable congestion charging, which transport policy guru Professor David Begg, when in Cambridge a few weeks ago, reminded them has the financial capacity to improve the lives of everyone who relies on public transport.
My plea to Lewis Herbert and the City Deal board is to make sure they really digest that humble pie. Take this whole exercise back to the drawing board. Come back to the public with the options. Cambridge and its surroundings want the best long term solution, not a quick fix. And they want to be part of it, not have it done to them."
What is the City Deal?
The Greater Cambridge City Deal is an agreement set up between a partnership of local organisations and Central Government. It aims to help secure future economic growth and quality of life in the Greater Cambridge city region. It is the largest of several City Deal programmes taking place in the UK.
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Residents have spoken of their shock after a man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder at a home in Cambridge.
Cambridgeshire police were called to reports of violence at the home in Kimberley Road, West Chesterton in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
When police arrived on scene they discovered that a woman in her 70s had suffered serious injuries.
The man, 83, is now in custody and the woman has been taken to Addenbrookes Hospital.
Neighbours told the News that they are worried about the people who live in the home.
One resident said: My old neighbours live there and Im worried about them.
The serious incident team were there but naturally couldnt tell me anything.
They could only tell me that it would be in the news.
A police spokeswoman said the force was called at 4.35am on Tuesday morning with reports of violence in Kimberley Road, Cambridge.
The spokeswoman added: The victim, a woman in her late 70s, has suffered serious but not life threatening injuries.
She is currently in Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.
An 83-year-old man from Cambridge has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
He is currently in custody at Parkside Police Station in Cambridge.
Residents of Kimberley Road expressed their shock and concern over the incident.
One woman, who did not wish to be named, said: Im shocked, I think the incident really is very sad.
The woman is really old and frail, its quite serious.
I dont know all the facts, but Im hoping shell be OK.
We dont know them well, just that they are an old couple.
Theyre nice and we say hello to them every now and then.
Resident Anna Kennedy said she hoped the woman will be OK, while another resident said she was not upset, just scared.
She added: Ive seen the couple before and Ive lived here for 17 months.
Another man said the incident was a sad, desperate situation and said he was very surprised that something like this should happen where he lived.
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Who is Sunny Hostin? Her Husband, Family & Net Worth Sunny Hostin is no ordinary Latina American lawyer but also a successful columnist, multi-platform journalist, and social commentator. A happily married woman and mother of two, Hostin is the Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for ABC News and co-host of ABCs popular morning talk show, The View. She is a legal expert popularly known as a former ...
Who Is Robert Costa and Is He Married, Who Is His Wife? Robert Costa is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC who is regarded as being part of Americas next generation of journalists. The University of Notre Dame graduate, who is of Italian/Portuguese descent, has been lauded for his fresh political perspectives in an industry full of old heads. In addition to his work listed above, Costa ...
Team Valor Pokemon Go 7 Key Facts You Need To Know Team Valor Pokemon Go The craze of the new game Pokemon Go is one that took the gaming world by storm sending teenagers and adults alike into a frenzy and one of its teams Team Valor, has proven to be instrumental in making it so. Before the game was created, Pokemon was a cartoon ...
Sheryl Underwood Husband, Family & Net Worth She is known for her trademark smile which can be described as the brightest and broadest smile ever seen on planet earth. She is none other than Sheryl Underwood the comedian, actress, and TV host whose funny wits has left America in great awe. Although Sheryl has risen to become an important personality in the industry, ...
Team Mystic Pokemon Go: 7 Facts You Need To Know And Signs You Are One Team Mystic of the break out game Pokemon Go is a team that is full of sass and chivalry. With an enchanting monicker, Team Mystic stands out from the rest of its counterparts and deserves to take the crown as champion in the Pokemon gaming-verse. To be a member of this exceptional team of Pokemon battle ...
Exploring Guy Beahms Dr Disrespect Persona, Wife and Why He was Banned Permanently From Twitch Guy Beahm who is popularly known by his online alias Dr DisRespect, is an award-winning Twitch.tv streamer. He has leveraged on the Twitch platform to become an internet personality that is quite widely known. His online success is just more proof that anyone who is good at what they do can attain celebrity status ...
Critical Facts About Lee Ann McAdoo The Infowars Anchor Lee Ann Mcadoo is a conservative journalist and television host whose interests in conspiracies and astrology has established her as a famous American reporter. Often referred to as Wonder Woman, McAdoo is a reporter who works for InfoWars.com, a controversial right-wing website run by radio show host, Alex Jones. Who Is Lee Ann McAdoo? Lee Ann McAdoo was born on 7 ...
Millie Weaver Age, Husband & Infowars Career Millie Weaver is an American model, journalist, political activist, and social commentator. The young and beautiful journalist rose to fame working as a reporter for a controversial right-wing website InfoWars.com. Also known as Millennial Millie, Weaver is a social media influencer with over 100,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel and over 35,000 followers on Twitter. Who Is Millie Weaver and What Is ...
Is Jessica Tarlov Married? What Are Her Height & Weight? Jessica Tarlov is an American political consultant, strategist, and analyst whose influential and regular TV presence has made a popular figure. A good example of beauty with brains, Tarlov has appeared on various TV networks, mostly the FOX News Network where she is known for her liberal views on political analysis and insights. She is also the senior director ...
Who Is Kelly Rebecca Nichols Alex Jones Ex-Wife? Kelly Rebecca Nichols is the ex-wife of controversial American radio show host, Alex Jones. She got nationwide attention following her divorce and subsequent custody battle with her estranged husband. Nichols, who worked with PETAs public relations department, was herself no stranger to controversies as she was involved in several publicity stunts of the non-profit animal rights ...
Who Is Bree Morgan Cole Sprouse Ex-Girlfriend And What Is She Up To Now? Although Bree Morgan became famous through the Instagram, she also sapped some dose of popularity from Disneys sweetheart, Cole Sprouse of the Sprouse brothers. She is not only an Instagram star but also a YouTube vlogger whose popularity has long exceeded the ordinary level. Bree is conspicuously prominent on the internet and has her digital savviness ...
Does Vanna White Have Husband or Children, What Is Her Net Worth / Salary? For over three decades, Vanna White has been a household name, famous as the co-host and letter turner of the iconic NBC game show Wheel of Fortune. The talented and beautiful television personality is also an actress with several TV series and films to her credit. Since making her Wheel of Fortune debut in 1982, she has become one ...
Liz Wheeler Biography, Husband & Net Worth Liz Wheeler is the kind of girl who sets the room on fire whenever she comes around. In this situation, however, she sets our screens on fire each time she appears as the host of One America News Tipping Point. She is, therefore, a presenter, publisher, consultant and a member of the Board of Zoning ...
Betty White Net Worth, Children & Husband The entertainment industry will remain indebted to personalities like Betty White who brought something extra to the table and kept the world entertained for donkey years. The comedienne, actress, and writer graced the big screens in the early 50s as a show host and has been a delight since then. She is the queen of ...
Is Bill Nye (The Science Guy) Dead or Alive, What Are His Net Worth & Education? Everyone will always remember Bill Nye as the Science Guy. Besides his TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy, he is well-known for his Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World which started airing in 2017 as well as his appearances in many famous media projects as a science educator. The star studied mechanical engineering ...
Is Cesar Millan Dead, Who Is The Wife & What Is His Net Worth? Cesar Millan is the famous dog whisperer who often stirs up mixed emotions. The Mexican-American is precisely speaking, a dog behaviorist; he has been in the game for over 25 years. His Emmy-nominated television series, Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan further pushed his method and tactics into the limelight. The series was produced from 2004 ...
Is Thomas Sanders Gay and Does He Have A Boyfriend? By the time Vine was shut down in January 2017, Thomas Sanders was already popular within and beyond the internet community for his heavy involvements on the online video hosting platform. After the tragic shutdown of Vine impacted on the growing career of the multi-talented personality, he immediately switched over to YouTube where he continued to upload ...
Is Shepard Smith Gay, Who Is The Boyfriend & What Is His Net Worth? There are only a few media personalities who are as bold and confident as Shepard Smith. Apart from his impressive stint at Fox News Channel which includes but not limited to his classic news delivery, upfront stance on virtually every issue and much more; he loves his job as much as he loves his personality. Smith ...
Is Milo Yiannopoulos Gay? His Husband and Net Worth Milo Yiannopoulos is a popular writer, journalist, polemicist, public speaker, and political commentator who is also known as the founder of The Kernel, an online blog. He has been said to be among the list of 100 weird and influential people in the United Kingdom. He appeared on this list as a result of personal beliefs and ...
Does Ryan Seacrest Have A Wife Or Girlfriend, What Is His Net Worth? From radio to television, Ryan Seacrest is a household name and a force to be reckoned with in showbiz. The radio personality, television host, and producer is best recognized as the host of the popular TV talent search contest American Idol. Heres how the media personality who always knew what his lifes ambition was and diligently pursued ...
Is Anderson Cooper Gay, Who is The Boyfriend or Husband? For many, the thought of becoming a millionaire by writing and talking about other people appears unachievable but this is the reality of the prominent American journalist Anderson Cooper who gathered millions of dollars for conducting accurate political analysis and other vital reports on TV. He is the main anchor of the CNN news show Anderson ...
Is David Muir Gay or Does He Have A Wife, What Is His Salary? David Muir is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works for the ABC broadcast-television network and anchors the ABC World News Tonight with David Muir program while also co-anchoring the magazine program 20/20. The Ithaca College graduate, whose show has become the most-watched newscast in America, has covered stories from all across America and the world; reporting ...
Joel Osteen Divorce Rumors, Net Worth & Family Members Joel Osteen is an American Televangelist, Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church based in Houston, Texas, a husband and a father of two. He is an author of many books, seven of which are New York Times Best Sellers and his televised sermons capture more than 7 million viewers per week and 20 million every month ...
Who Is Todd Chrisley? What To Know About His Children, Gay Rumors & Net Worth Premiered on the USA network in 2014, Chrisley Knows Best is one of the most watched family reality TV shows in the U.S. The series which is currently in its sixth season is centered around U.S real estate mogul Todd Chrisley and his family. The show reveals Todd the patriarch of the Chrisley family as a strict dad who rules ...
Who Is Shannon Bream Of Fox News? Her Husband, Children & Net Worth Shannon Bream who hosts the iconic primetime program started her journalism career in the late 1990s debuting as the evening and late-night news reporter for the CBS affiliate, WBTV. The beauty from America currently works for the Fox News Channel and she is best known for anchoring the primetime program. She also hosts Americas News ...
Is Troye Sivan Gay, Who Is His Boyfriend and What Is His Net Worth? Troye Sivan is an Australian singer and songwriter best known for songs like Happy Little Pill, Youth, Heaven (with Betty Who) and The Boyfriend Tag (with Tyler Oakley) which have all garnered him different awards and ranked on the Billboard Charts. Sivan, who was born in South Africa but now resides in the United States, is ...
Did iDubbbz Have Cancer, Is He Gay and Who Is His Girlfriend Now? iDubbbz is one YouTuber who has made a career out of courting controversy. Renowned for his absurdist channels and comedy video series, the Los Angeles based personality is the owner of two channels, iDubbzTV, and iDubbzTV2, as well as the brains behind comedy video series such as Content Cop, Kickstarter Crap, Gaming News Crap, and ...
Inside Greg Gutfelds Love Story With Wife Elena Moussa and Why Fans Thought He Was Gay Greg Gutfeld is a seasoned American television producer whose career in the media industry has spanned over a decade. He is a man of many talents who makes extra income through comedy, journalism, and editorial works. Gutfeld regularly appears on Fox News Channel as a panellist and co-host of the political talk show The Five ...
Works That Made Bo Burnham A Household Name and How Much He Is Worth Now One of YouTubes first viral stars and the worlds most exciting young comedian, Bo Burnham, has always amazed critics and comedy aficionados alike. Often regarded as the Justin Bieber of comedy, thanks to his fresh looks, floppy blond hair and hoodies, he has a multi-faceted career bigger than many comedians twice his age. It wouldnt ...
Is Louie Anderson Gay And What Is His Net Worth? Louie Anderson has one of the most abstract faces in the industry and equally knows how to use it to his advantage. He is not only a stand-up comedian but also an actor and television host who is known for his distinctive comic wits. Some of his notable projects include Family Feud, where he was ...
Is Don Lemon of CNN Gay, Who is His Partner and What Is His Salary? Don Lemon has risen to become one of the most recognizable faces on CNN over the past few years. The fiery journalist, who anchors CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, is liked and somewhat disliked for his strong and candid opinions on a variety of matters that do not just include politics but also race, significantly, matters that ...
Is Rachel Maddow Gay, Who is the Wife and How Much Does She Earn in Salary? Rachel Maddow is an award-winning American journalist, political commentator, and television news anchor. She is best known for hosting the popular nightly TV show The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Prior to this, she hosted a talk radio program on Air America Radio from 2005 to 2010. As of now, the TV sensation co-anchors MSNBCs ...
Demystifying Pokimane Her Real Name, Ethnicity & Boyfriend Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Pokimane Thicc is one of those stars who took advantage of the internet to make a name for herself. Given the unlimited potentials which the social media space offers, many people have been instantly propelled to fame just by posting creative online contents. Not only has ...
A Breakdown of Kris Jenners Net Worth, Sources Of Income and Relationships Over The Years Standing outside and looking in, Kris Jenner looks like the oil that greases the wheels of the entire Kardashian/Jenner machine. She has been dubbed a momager and rightfully so because she seems to have had a part to play in the trajectory of each and every one of her daughters individually and the Kardashian brand ...
Pursuits That Brought Liza Koshys Fame To its Zenith and Her Love Life Since David Dobrik Liza Koshy is an American actress who has leveraged YouTube as a platform to promote her comedy while also serving as a television host on occasions. She is talented and funny and has gathered a lot of fans from around the world. Koshy started on Vine in high school and was able to get millions of ...
Alex Aiono Biography Inside The Life Of The American Singer Not everyone who started from the streets has attained the heights where Alex Aiono is currently. His story could be referred to as the perfect definition of rising from Grass to Grace. He came into the limelight after he started out as a YouTuber, singer, and producer. One fascinating thing about the young YouTuber is ...
Virginia Vallejo Biography And Her Love Story With Pablo Escobar Virginia Vallejo can be referred to as one of the oldest whistleblowers in history after her involvement with Pablo Escobar which made her famous. Over the years, many questions have been raised about her relationship with the drug lord and why she endangered her life to be with him despite his notorious acts. The death ...
Princess Love Bio Ethnicity, Real Name & Parents For many people, Princess Love is simply Ray Js wife but there is so much more to this feisty lady than meets the eye. She is a star in her own right and has many feathers on her cap. Princess Love is a reality TV star, a model, video vixen, and fashion designer. She and her ...
Who is Papa Franku Also Known As Filthy Frank or Joji, Where is He Now? The social media as we all know today has given people the opportunity to be creative and innovative and at the same time, make something of themselves. YouTube is one of the known social platforms we have today that makes it possible for people to express their God-given talents and post videos they created to ...
Who Is Molly Qerim, How Did She Become a Famous Sports Anchor and Who Is Her Husband? Molly Qerim is an American sports anchor popularly known for moderating First Take, a highly rated sports talk show, on ESPN. Prior to joining ESPN, Qerim hosted Fantasy Live and NFL AM on NFL Network. It is quite obvious that the widely acclaimed television personality is in a class of her own when it comes ...
Safiya Nygaard Height, Parents & Net Worth Safiya Nygaard is an American YouTuber, writer, content producer, and director who is popular for posting makeup, beauty and fashion videos on YouTube. Her videos regularly top at least one million views, thanks to her lively character as well as her willingness to experiment with outrageous outfits and different beauty products. Here are the things to ...
The Rigors of Sunlen Serfatys Career Journey Until CNN and Fun Facts About Her Personal Life CNN correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty is an Emmy Award-winning journalist known for covering a broad range of breaking news stories, national news, and Washington politics. She has been able to garner widespread recognition for herself which even goes beyond the sphere of her work. Her profile also increased with the extensive work she did in covering ...
Demystifying Jazz Jennings Real Name, Boyfriend & Family Of One The Youngest Transgenders Jazz Jennings is an unusual personality who became famous as a transgender activist and was recorded as the youngest documented public figure to be seen as transgender. She is also a YouTube personality and spokesmodel for brands, her fans, and other transgenders. She fought for acceptance in her high school with her super supportive family for over ...
Inside Fred Armisens Life Ethnicity, Romantic Relationships and Gay Rumors Fred Armisen is an award-winning American comedian, he is also a writer, an actor as well as a musician. He was a cast member of the legendary comedy show, Saturday Night Live for 13 years and also one of the brains behind the successful satirical show Portlandia. Find out more about this incredibly talented guy ...
Ed and Lorraine Warren Biography: Cases, Kids, and Family Life Have you ever woken up with fear you could not explain, or felt a strange presence that made the hair at your nape rise or even experienced strange occurrences around you? Well, these were some of the promptings that made the well-known paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren delve into trying to explain the ideas ...
Truth About Tony Romos Wife, Kids and Life Since His NFL Retirement Tony Romo grew from the field as a quarterback to the screens as an American Football Analyst. He was a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the richest football league in the world (NFL) before retiring. As a junior, he was honored as an All-Ohio Conference Member, an Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and ...
Who is Brittany Venti, The Controversial Game Streamer and YouTuber? In recent times, many people live stream themselves playing video games. This has become a popular pastime on the internet and many highly skilled gamers have become internet celebrities through this means. However, some of them rather than becoming renowned for their gaming skills and great commentary, have become controversial and infamous. A good example ...
Rob Dyrdeks Family: His Kids And Relationship With Wife Bryiana Noelle Flores A multi-talented star and an elite pro skateboarder, Rob Dyrdeks success story began at a remarkably young age. Yet another proof that schooling doesnt always correlate with success, Rob has established himself not just as a phenomenal sportsman but also as a successful entrepreneur. Besides perfecting his skill as a natural talent on the board, ...
xChocobars Biography and Everything You Should Know About Her Having distinguished herself and recorded massive successes in an industry notably dominated by men, it is very safe to say that Xchocobars deserves all the attention and cash she makes from her career. A household name on Twitch (a smart live streaming video platform), the online-gamer is popularly known for streaming classic games such as Stardew ...
Everything To Know About Mary Padian, Her Boyfriend and Net Worth Mary Padian is a famous American television reality personality best known for her involvements on the Reality show Storage Wars. She also has her own shop called Mary finds where she displays her antique collections. Since her childhood, Padian has been a creative learner. At the time, she used to create new items out of reusable ones and ...
Betsy Woodruffs Family Life: Is She Married or Related To Bob Woodruff? An old name in the world of journalism, Betsy Woodruff has warmed her way into the hearts of many with her impressive talents. Through hard work, Woodruff has carved a niche for herself in a very competitive field. Betsy has strong family and work values and is also an advocate for equal opportunities for everyone ...
Matpat (Matthew Patrick) Wife, Height & Net Worth As far as internet business is concerned, Matpat remains one of the most dynamic and seasoned figures. He boasts a wealth of experience that has helped him in growing his business from one level of greatness to another. Like most successful people, MatPat started out small but today, he makes millions of dollars from his ...
Facts About Ricegum His Girlfriend, Real Name & Net Worth Ricegum is an online gamer and YouTube sensation who ditched college; took advantage of the digital era, and made a name for himself on the internet. Though he began as a gaming YouTuber, Ricegum soon gained recognition as a controversial internet star following his many diss tracks. Here is everything you need to know about the youngster ...
Joy Taylor Once Married MLBs Richard Giannotti Inside Look At Her Love Life and Family The erosion of the sexist idea that women have no business in sports broadcasting created a host of women celebrities who attained fame outside of modeling and acting. One of them, Joy Taylor, a radio personality and TV host for Fox Sports 1, has been in the industry since 2009, becoming one of the most ...
What To Know About Conan OBriens Wife, Kids & Family Today The name Conan OBrien is one that jumps right at you almost immediately you start talking about the most popular television hosts in the USA and this is no surprise because the man behind that name has risen to become one of the most admired men in the business. Known for hosting the late-night talk ...
David Letterman Net Worth, Wife & Son In all of American, one man whose face has been seen frequently by late night TV talk show lovers is none but David Letterman. The comedian and TV show veteran has been hosting late night talk shows for more than three decades. His Late Night with David Letterman show began on February 1st, 1982 aired ...
Demystifying Sssniperwolfs Family Background And The Boyfriends Shes Had Since she launched her eponymously named channel in 2013, Sssniperwolf has been on the rise when it comes to video game influencers. She is one of the biggest names in the online gaming subgenre of YouTube videos. Real name Lia Shelesh, she started with Call of Duty: Black Ops II but has diversified with other ...
Lester Holt Wife, Family & Net Worth Lester Holt is a multiple award-winning journalist, newscaster, reporter, and actor who has worked for notable media houses like WCBS TV, CBS, MSNBC and among others. His remarkable feat in journalism has endeared him to the hearts of many and earned him some awards and recognitions. Read on to get acquainted with his biography, ethnicity, ...
What Is Louis C.K. Doing Now, Where Are His Family And How Much Is His Net Worth? It is not easy to make it in comedy. It takes more than a funny bone and the ability to elicit a few giggles from a listening audience. For all the complexities that go into making a successful career in comedy, Louis C.K, the Washington D.C-born comedian, did it. For years, he was at the ...
The Progression of Hoda Kotbs Career, Her Ancestry and Family Life Hoda Kotb gained fame as a television host and news anchor for NBC. She anchors the shows signature show Today, and it has been an excellent vehicle for her skills in front of a camera. Kotb has won several awards, including Daytime Emmys and Peabody Awards. Simply put, she is one of the most successful ...
Jerry Seinfelds Family: All About The Amazing Comedians Wife and Kids Apparently one of the highly important entertainers in America, Jerry Seinfeld is a man of many talents. A very funny man, he is considered to be one of the most successful comedians in the USA who has been in the business as a professional rib-cracker for more than 40 years. As an actor, he has ...
The Rigors Of Sarah Silvermans Rise To Prominence And Rundown Of The Men She Has Dated A comedian, writer, and actress, Sarah Silvermans art and craft is as unique as you would ever find. Her poignant use of comedy to discuss social issues such as race, sexism, politics, and religion has gained her an impressive following. As unorthodox as her style is, so is her life experiences. She previously suffered from epiglottitis ...
Who Is Hannibal Buress, Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend & Why Was He Arrested? Making people laugh when they are tense or not in the mood is a tough order and to ply the trade, it must indeed take some guts and expertise, this is what the humor maker, Hannibal Buress has been able to achieve and sustain after his inital teething process. The African-American is a screen writer, stand-up ...
The Success of John Mulaneys Career Efforts Since His Work On Saturday Night Live and Facts About His Wife John Mulaney had been working as a professional comedian for years before Saturday Night Live changed his status for life and like many who are now his fans, you probably did not know of him then. However, that changed when he joined the sketch comedy show in 2008. Since then, he has been one of ...
Jeff Dunham Wife, Children and Net Worth Ventriloquism is a very subtle method of making an inanimate object (like a puppet, doll or dummy) appear to be saying words which are actually coming from the person (holding the inanimate object). In effect, the individual throws his/her voice to the puppet and can even appear to be having a conversation with it. Not ...
Ellen DeGeneres Net Worth, Wife Portia de Rossi & Parents Ellen DeGeneres is an American female standup comedian who has proven that whatever a man can do, a woman can also do. Since her journey as a standup comedian started in 1981, she has held swirl as one of the finest comedians America and the world at large has seen. She is often referred to ...
Revisiting Joan Rivers Death The Daughter, Husband & Net Worth She Left Behind Joan Rivers was a renowned American comedian, TV host, writer, and actress. Her brand of comedy consisted of scathing one-liners and no individual or topic is spared. She hosted her own talk shows in the 80s and 90s and was a pioneer for women in stand up comedy. She was the first woman to host a late night ...
The Struggles of Margaret Chos Childhood, How It Influenced Her Career Growth and Love Life Margaret Cho is best described as a comic star who knows how to maneuver everything related to life into a rib-cracking joke. She is also known to criticize every social and political problem, especially those involving race and sexuality. Apart from her talents as a comic actress, she does amazingly well as a singer and ...
Where Is Eric Bolling Today? Who Is His Son & What Is His Net Worth? Eric Bolling who was once a notable figure on Fox News, is an American TV personality, an author, and versatile Journalist. As a political and financial analyst/commentator, he anchored discussions bothering on finance for Fox Business Channel. Here is everything there is to know about his career, family, and allegations that led to his exit ...
Who Is Chelsea Handler and Does She Have A Husband or Boyfriend? Chelsea Handler is one of Americas top female comedians. She is also an actress, writer, television host, producer, and activist. She is known to be very outspoken even with things that are very personal. In separate interviews with The New York Times, Handler revealed that she had an abortion twice when she was 16. She has authored five books ...
How Did Laura Lee Achieve Fame, How Much is She Worth and Who is Her Husband? Laura Lee is a popular American YouTuber, make-up artist and beauty blogger. From posting videos of her makeup routines on Instagram, Lee has transformed into a beauty influencer and a YouTube sensation. Today, her YouTube Channel has over 630 million views and 4.5 million subscribers. Asides having millions of followers across all social media platforms, ...
Madison Gesiotto Bio Ethnicity, Parents & Measurements Madison Gesiotto is no ordinary woman; although she excelled in quite a number of pageants and competitions while she was in school, it is her views on politics and issues in America that has made her name known to most people. She possesses beauty and intelligence in a seemingly equal measure and has been able ...
Who Is Lil Tay? Parents, Brother, Sister, Age, Net Worth, Ethnicity Child stardom is nothing new in the entertainment world. With the advent of social media, we have seen more stars made from the internet than ever before, and Lil Tay is one of them. Her uploaded rap videos trademark is cursing, swearing, cash-throwing, and use of obscene languages. Her fame went wild after she dropped ...
What To Know About Tig Notaros Wife, Kids and Family Today Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comic star, writer, actress, and radio analyst. Since she started her career in 2001, she has become one of Americas best comedians, particularly when it comes to observational comedy. One prominent aspect of her routine involves her family, which includes a wife and two children. Interestingly, Tig Notaro is part ...
Who Is Chantel Jeffries? What To Know About Her Age, Ethnicity & Net Worth Chantel Jeffries is a lady of many talents. Beyond being celebrated as a DJ, she has fared well as a model, an actress, musician, and as an artist. She first rose to fame on Instagram where she has a large following. However, in recent times, she has hit the spotlight for her rumored relationships with some ...
Is Ellen DeGeneres Married, Who Is The Brother Vance DeGeneres and Family Members? Ellen DeGeneres is one of a kind celebrity in todays world as she has used her wealth for the greater good for many people. She has served a host of famous awards shows like the Grammy, Primetime Emmy and Academy Awards. Moreso, she is probably one of the most decorated entertainment personalities around the world and ...
Carli Bybel Bio Height, Boyfriend & Net Worth Video blogging is now on the rise and YouTube is the place where most of it happens. If you are a lady who cares about her looks or a guy who likes to help his woman out with her looks, then one person whose name rings a bell when it comes to giving beauty tips ...
Who Is Lexy Panterra? What To Know About Her Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth Lexy Panterra is one of the YouTube personalities whose breakout came through the Twerk dance videos she posted on her social media handles and YouTube which has so far generated over 13 million views for her. From there on, she created her LexTwerkOut workout program in 2014. She is sure very talented as she as moved ...
Who Is AnneMunition? What Is Her Ethnicity & Does She Have A Girlfriend or Boyfriend? AnneMunition is a professional gamer and content creator of American origin. She is one of the most sought-after streamers on Twitch a popular online platform for watching and streaming videos, especially video games. AnneMunition has almost half a million followers on Twitch and her channel has accumulated at least 13 million views. Her favorite games ...
Norm MacDonald Former Wife, Son & Net Worth Recently, 59-year-old former Saturday Night Live stand-up comic Norm MacDonald caused a not-so-funny stir when he expressed his personal opinion about the #MeToo movement speaking in defense of Louis CK and Roseanne Barr. Following the backlash of his actions, he is diligently doing damage control for his questionable opinion by posting a public apology on ...
Inside Iliza Shlesingers Life With Husband and How Much She is Worth Now Witty, spontaneous, and truly humorous, Iliza Shlesinger is an American comedian who is clearly proving that the stereotypical claim that women are not really funny is not only incredibly wrong but completely outrageous. Having been in the game for more than 10 years, Shlesinger has grown bigger with each step, stunning fans with her incredible ...
Who Is Nessa Diab? Details of her Parents, Ethnicity & Relationship With Colin Kaepernick Nessa Diab has gained more fame as the girlfriend of different footballers than in her career. She is currently with the popular National Football League (NFL) player, Colin Kaepernick, and has stood by his side during his most trying times. Also known for her mononym, Nessa, she recently engaged in a tweet battle with the ...
Samantha Bee Inside the Life of Full Frontal Comedian and Presenter We have over the decades seen various brands of humor and personalities who have walked the ropes. One of the formidable forces in the world of comedy is no other than the iconic Samantha Bee of the Daily Show who now runs her own television show on TBS channel. She is a Canadian-American political commentator, ...
What Happened To Jessica Williamss Boyfriend And Which Are Her Best Works? Jessica Williams is a woman who has a lot of feathers in her cap and keeps acquiring more. The former senior political correspondent of the comic Daily Show, who is also a comedian and actress whose recent movie appearance include starring as a playwright just recovering from a recent split with her boyfriend, Damon, and ...
Who is Nicole Byer? Here are 5 Facts You Need To Know About The Comedian Nicole Byer, an American comedian, actress, and writer, made a name for herself after she played supporting roles on MTVs prank show Ladylike and the reality show Girl Code. The latter was a series that featured comedians who analyzed in minute details, all the issues that young women deal with daily, from period to dating, to weird friendship dynamics and questions about sex. Currently, ...
A Closer Look At Bart Kwans Ethnicity, Height & Personal Life Bart Kwan is one of few Asians who is known for being successful in the comic industry at an international level. His fame broke out after the YouTube channel which he created with his close pal Joe Jo garnered up massive followings. The talented duo has been running the channel since 2007 and their success ...
Heres How VanossGaming Achieved Fame Online, His Worth and Other Facts About The Gamer For many years, the decision to drop out of college to pursue an online career was considered to be foolish and self-destructive by conventional wisdom. It was no different when Evan Fong, popularly known as VanossGaming, dropped out of college to pursue a YouTube career. However, that radical move paid off, and he stands shoulder to ...
Desi Perkins Ethnicity, Net Worth & Husband YouTube is littered with videos of makeup tutorials by different people but if you are interested in learning how to do your makeup like a pro, there is just one person on that platform who you must follow. She is none other than Desi Perkins! She is a popular make-up artist, Instagram star, and vlogger. Desi, ...
The Phases of Casey Neistats Pursuits and His Love Story With Candice Pool YouTuber, vlogger, filmmaker, and creator extraordinaire; these are just a few hats that Casey Neistat wears and the story of how he got here is incredible. A native of Connecticut, Neistat started out by making refreshingly-authentic short films and videos that featured content that was based on everyday life and called attention to serious issues. He ...
Connor Franta Inside The Life of American YouTuber YouTube has produced a lot of young celebrities in modern times and Connor Franta happens to be one of them. Apart from being a YouTuber, the young American is also an entrepreneur, entertainer, and writer. His journey to fame began almost a decade ago when he started a self-named YouTube channel where he uploads content ranging ...
Rhett and Link Bio, Who are Their Wives, Net Worth and Family Facts Rhett and Link refer to an American comedy duo who are very popular on YouTube. They are known for their comic songs, viral commercials, skits and the daily show, Good Mythical Morning. Good Mythical Morning is the most watched daily show online, averaging 100 million views in a month. The show has featured guests such ...
A Walk Through The Maze of Ryan Higas Career Pursuits And Relationship With Arden Cho Ryan Higa is not only celebrated as a YouTube star, but he is also famed for appearing on television screens as an actor and comedian. Nigahiga, his Youtube channel, has gathered over 20 million subscribers and billions of views with his different comic acts, short films, and music videos uploads. With the rise in his career, ...
What to Know About The Shows That Made Craig Ferguson a Star and His Family Ties Rising to the top of your profession can sometimes be a hard and difficult process. It requires days and nights of working consistently hard to be better than what you were yesterday. It requires not giving up when all of your experiences seem to be pushing you to quit. It is because of these challenges ...
David Dobrik Married Liza Koshy for One Month Inside His Family and Relationships David Dobrik is a YouTube sensation who has garnered fame not just for his vlogs but his love life too. Given his career as a YouTuber, his channel is one place where he shares his romantic escapades. With a cute boyish look like his, this Slovakian young man is definitely a good catch, and not ...
Merrell Twins Bio Ethnicity, Parents & Boyfriend One of the beautiful things about modern life is social media. As rudimentary as it might seem, it could turn out to be the greatest thing that would be invented in the next 50 years because of its impact on human life. Very few tools have revolutionized human behavior and culture as much as social ...
Who Is Bunny Meyer, Is She Married & What Is Her Net Worth? Bunny Meyer is a YouTube celebrity who has amassed over 8.8 million subscribers with 1.5 million viewers on her channel. She is popularly known as Grav3yardgirl and is one of the highest-paid YouTubers in the world. She initially started out as a fashion designer and later chose the path of a YouTuber. Grav3yardgirl has used her knowledge on fashion, makeup, ...
Ninja Inside The Life of The American YouTuber and Internet Personality Ninja is a talented video game player known for his mastery of Fortnite and other seemingly difficult games he plays with ease. The video gamer made a career out of what is ordinarily the hobby of many people and has since then amassed a huge online following. Find out about him here, including the controversies that ...
What Is Eva Gutowskis True Sexuality and How Did She Rise So Fast As an Influencer? Ever since Eva Gutowski joined YouTube in 2011, it has been an interesting journey for her, moving from one milestone to the other. Backed by an army of young women and teenage girl fans known as Evanators, she has risen to become one of the most-talked-about personalities in the digital stratosphere. She has also leveraged ...
Emma Chamberlain Biography Age, Height & Net Worth Before now, people in the entertainment industry could only achieve popularity after many years of dedication and hard work but since social media came into the scene, massive success and overnight popularity became possible. That is the story of Emma Chamberlain who encountered fame as a fifteen-year-old. Emma is one of the many young people who became ...
Anna Akana Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth There is a new crop of YouTubers known by their different contents with a very strong uniqueness that stands every one of them out, some upload video games, some fashion while some others have comedy video contents to showcase on their channels. Anna Akana has used her platform to showcase her comedy contents to the ...
Revealing Truths About Lilly Singhs Ethnic Background, Family and Her Relationship With Yousef Erakat Lilly Singh is an Indian-Canadian YouTube personality, actress, and comedian also known as Superwoman. She kicked off her YouTube career in 2010 with the launch of her channel IISuperwomanII and followed it up with a vlog channel in 2011. This paved the way for her fame and success which led to a world tour. The ...
Who Is Andrea Constand, Is She Married and What Is Her Connection With Bill Cosby? Many people got sexually molested but could not voice out due to the stigma victims suffer and what will become of them thereafter. Very few of the victims danm every consequence to seek justice and bring the perpetrator to the book, like Andrea Constand. She never got any media buzz, not until her friend cum molester; ...
Who Is Lazarbeam (Lannan Eacott)? Here Are Facts You Need To Know Lannan Eacott became a person of interest after his YouTube channel, LazarBeam pulled him to the limelight. Initially, he started with uploads of Madden Challenge videos before deciding to build his own channel in January 2015. Within the space of three years, his YouTube channel had gathered over 7 million loyal subscribers. Today, he has not ...
Puzzling Facts About Wengies YouTube Success and More About Her Fiance Among the many YouTubers who have succeeded in winning the hearts of millions of people is Wengie. She is a Chinese-Australian YouTube personality, vlogger, singer, and voice actress. Wengie is famous for a lot of things, from her simple life hacks, DIYs, craft ideas to fun experiments, tricks and pranks. Her content portfolio also includes hair tutorials, diet & fitness tips, lookbooks, ...
Is Jeffree Star A Billionaire and How Much Does He Make On YouTube? If looks can be deceptive then theres no other person who proves this maxim better than Jeffree Star. A quick look at Stars pictures would likely leave you wondering whether or not to tag him a male or female. But who says being controversial has to be a curse? For Star, his looks have caught ...
The Place of Rosanna Pansinos Career Hats In Her Rise To Fame and Facts About Her Personal Life There are a few phrases that could summarize Rosanna Pansinos rise to fame. None of them can do it better than the famous axiom, no knowledge is lost. Her popularity YouTube comes out of her foray into other professions, specifically acting. Although acting now occupies one of the major professional hats in Rosannas resume, it was ...
Muselk (Elliott Watkins) Biography Age, Girlfriend and Net Worth The new and best in-thing in terms of career is video gaming and we have over time seen young men and women make massive income from an activity that was purportedly designed to serve as a hobby or a relaxation activity. One of such individuals is the Australian-born YouTube Celebrity and Twitch streamer, Muselk, whose ...
PopularMMOs Biography: 5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know We have over the years seen social media millionaires, especially on the YouTube social platform. These celebrities cum millionaires have made names for themselves after carving out niches on the internet, and a typical example of one of such exciting media personality on the YouTube is American Minecraft gamer and YouTube star, PopularMMOs whose channel ...
Jason Nash Once Married Marney Hochman What To Know About His Ex-Wife and Kids The now-defunct video-sharing app Vine was the path that led Jason Nash to fame. With it, he built an audience of over two million followers, which he parlayed into a significant YouTube career. That move has seen him become one of the most popular personalities on the internet, with the cash income to go with ...
Where Does Dantdm Live? What Do We Know About His Net Worth, Wife and Brother? Most parents buy video games for their kids to occupy their time leisure, while other parents frown at their kids when they play video games. Despite the disparity, every parent would be proud of their child if he/she eventually turns a celebrity or millionaire through playing video games like Dantdm. Biography of Dantdm Dantdm was born Daniel ...
LaurDIY Biography: 5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTuber LaurDIY is the YouTube channel of Lauren Riihimaki which she created on December 1, 2011, when she was still a college undergrad with the sole aim of giving Do It Yourself (DIY) as well as practical fashion and beauty tips to her followers. She has used the channel to establish herself as a YouTube personality ...
Lachlan Ross Power Bio And Family Life Of Australian The YouTube Star It is amazing the varied sources of income that the internet has made possible in this day and age. Internet fame can get its holder a whole lot of monetary and social benefits, but it must be noted that it does not come easy or cheap. For those who desire fame, content is the sacrifice ...
Alfie Deyes Bio and Net Worth: Everything You Need To Know Alfie Deyes is one internet personality you definitely would like to know about. He boasts of over 10 million subscribers on three of his YouTube channels and has three bestseller books to his name. He is probably the most renowned young personality on YouTube today and his vlogging empire continues to grow by the day. ...
Colleen Ballingers Love Story With Husband Erik Stocklin and How Much She Is Worth Now Colleen Ballinger is an American comedian and YouTuber who is a very funny, adventurous, and highly talented woman. She is also an actress, singer, and writer. Collen is widely known for her work on YouTube where she posts content on her channel, Miranda Sings. The comedian has gained many subscribers over the years and has ...
Who Are The Dude Perfect Members and How Much Are They Worth? Entertainment in the 21st century can be digested in many forms and with platforms like YouTube, the creators and purveyors of entertainment have been democratized. Today, one of the most popular platforms to exhibit ones creative talents is YouTube, even though there are other platforms like Twitter, Facebook, who suffer in comparison to YouTube because ...
Who Is Rudy Mancuso, What Is His Earning Power and What Do We Know About His Girlfriend? Rudy Mancuso started his internet journey on Vine. He would later transition to YouTube where he solidified his place among the internets most beloved comedic creators. He is now regarded as one of the renowned internet personalities in the world, with a presence in mainstream TV and film projects like Comedy Centrals Drunk History and ...
Vsauce (Michael Stevens) Biography and Net Worth: All You Need To Know The advent of YouTube and the internet as a whole revolutionized how human beings consume information. With each passing year, the percentage of learning that is done in a traditional classroom decrease as a seismic shift to internet-based learning happens in our education industry. From open courses online to YouTube classes and videos, there are ...
How did Jake Paul Make His YouTube Big Break and Who is His Wife? One of the most interesting Social Media personalities of the 21st century is the young and popular Jake Paul whose elder brother is the famed Vine star, Logan Paul. Jake has utilized the power of the internet to bring himself to the limelight with a channel named JakePaulProductions that has amassed up to six billion ...
5 Facts You Need To Know About Reaction Time (Tal Fishman) The American YouTuber Before 2015, the leading meaning of reaction time was the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus, until Tal Fishman started his channel, Reaction Time on YouTube and the dominant meaning changed. Today, a google search of Reaction Time would deliver Tal Fishmans videos and YouTube channel link with a few physics ...
Grace Helbig Net Worth, Boyfriend and Family Life of The YouTuber Grace Helbig is an American internet personality, comedian, actress, and writer. She became popular due to her daily vlog series, DailyGrace, which ran on My Damn Channel from 2008 to 2013. Helbig is also popular for her own indie series on YouTube, ItsGrace, which she launched in 2014. Her vlogs which feature random stuff such as ...
Mark Wiens Bio Ethnicity, Wife and Parents Food is a great way to connect with people. We all love to eat, if not for the pleasure of food, the satisfaction of quenching hunger, and the very process of providing and sharing that food is part of the strongest bonds that bind humanity together. Maybe it is our historical connection to food, where ...
Is Filthy Frank Dead, What Happened To Him and How Much Is He Worth? As George Kusunoki Miller, he was a nobody. However, as Filthy Frank, George was one of the most famous internet personalities on the planet. The Filthy Frank Show, a sketch series on his YouTube channel, TVFilthyFrank, was one of the platforms most influential creations. He is the reason a crazy dance song, Harlem Shake, made it ...
CaptainSparklez Bio Net Worth, House and Cars of The Famous YouTuber Sometimes, what society wants from its citizens is quite different from what the citizens want for themselves. This is evident in the life and career of video blogger and American YouTube personality, Jordan Maron famous for his YouTube channel CaptainSparklez. He dropped out of school after discovering his talent in playing an online game called Minecraft. ...
Who is Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg)? Here are Facts You Must Know Canadian Youtube personality, Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg) originally started out polishing and designing nails even before it became a trendy culture in the social media. Simply Nailogica started out her showbiz career in her early days as a child actress, acting in commercials for game and toy companies. Aside from acting, she is blogger, vlogger, specializing ...
5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know About Huda Beauty In the world of entrepreneurship, it is interesting when an individual has a mentor who he/she looks up to, this yield more productivity on the part of the individual. The iconic and rich American beautician and makeup artist Huda Kattan nicknamed Heida is the founder of the Huda Beauty blog which is number one Instagram beauty blog ...
Is Dino MasterChef Gay? Details About His Ethnicity, Girlfriend, Where He Is Now Food, for the better part of the early years of human life, was nothing more than what we needed for survival. There was no artistry or curation to the method of cooking. The scarcity of food left no room for artistic expression until we figured out agriculture and we could make as much as we ...
Who Is Gabbie Hanna And How Did She Become Famous? As the world shifts to digital media and depends more and more on streaming services for its news and entertainment content, YouTubers have become one of the leading creators in the new media world. Their understanding of the online audience: how to create, maintain, and increase followers, are all handy skills that have primed them ...
Jacksepticeye Height, Girlfriend & Net Worth Jacksepticeye is a YouTuber and actor who gained popularity with a series of gaming videos he uploads on his channel to the delight of millions of his subscribers. He is Known primarily for his comic video game series titled Lets Play and his vlogs. His channel was formerly ranked 46th in the list of most subscribed ...
Chris Heria Personal Details: About His Wife, Height & Ethnicity Background In this generation, keeping fit has become one of the major criteria for being hale and hearty. In fact, most occupations these days are majorly concerned with ones body mass, weight and looks. Unlike the past where most people have to register in a gym to keep fit, social media has made it quite easy ...
Everything You Need To Know About Game Grumps Gaming is becoming incredibly popular on YouTube these days with game vloggers make millions of dollars out of them yearly. One of the most popular up-coming gaming YouTube channels is Game Grumps. The Lets Play series was created in 2012 and celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 18th, 2017. In six years of its existence, the ...
Daithi De Nogla Biography, Girlfriend and Net Worth YouTube has created an avenue for many to make wealth and become famous from the comfort of their homes while having fun. Many have built a career out of the platform, uploading numerous videos that have earned them the admiration of viewers across the globe. For Daithi De Nogla, he is loved for his humorous commentary on ...
Does Phoebe Robinson Have A Boyfriend or Husband and What Do We Know About Her Family? Phoebe Robinson is a New York-based comedian, writer, and actress. She is best known as the co-creator and co-host of the WNYC Studios podcast 2 Dope Queens. Just like some other female comedians, she never had any original plans of becoming a stand-up comedian even though, according to her, she took a class on a whim at Carolines on Broadway. After ...
Who Are Lex and Alana from Listed Sisters? What Is Their Ethnicity & Is the Show Cancelled? America is a country built on diversity. Everywhere you look all over the country, a countless number of immigrants or children of immigrants have become an integral part of the fabric of the country. From entertainment to business, immigrants are creating a niche for themselves and climbing to the summit of their respective professions. One ...
Riveting Facts About Danielle Lombard And What She Is Best Known For The American entertainment industry is one that provides many avenues for aspiring hopefuls to express their talents and become famous. From films to television shows and game shows, there is no shortage of ways for men and women who desire fame to pursue and earn it in the United States of America. Another tested medium ...
Unearthing New Details About The YouTube Success And Personal Life of Alex Burriss of Wassabi Productions Wildly hilarious and truly audacious, Alex Wassabi is an American YouTuber who has become a very popular face on the video-sharing platform after having garnered millions of subscribers over the years by keeping people glued to his channel with his witty parody video releases. If you have always loved parody videos, there is every chance ...
Everything You Need To Know About H2O Delirious H2O Delirious whose full birth name is reported to be Jonathan Gormon Dennis has successfully kept himself mystified by hiding his face behind the masks leaving his loyal fans speculating who he really is for many years. The American YouTube star is easily identified by the Jason Mask Style with make-up which he wears on his ...
Who Is HolaSoyGerman and What Happened To Him? German Garmendia has certainly seen it all when it comes to internet success. His channels, HolaSoyGerman and JuegaGerman are in the top twenty most subscribed channel on YouTube. The Chilean YouTuber found a way to tap into one of the worlds greatest inventions and make a living from it. He has been able to build ...
Who Are Glenn Becks Family, What Is His Net Worth And What Happened To Him? The American political commentary space is filled with different personalities. A few of them, through their rhetoric, charisma, and resources have been able to build a large following of men and women who listen to them for insight and direction for various political and social issues in the United States. For Conservatives, the story is ...
Following Charissa Thompsons Rise Through The Ranks Of Sports Casting and All About Her Boyfriend Superstar TV host and sportscaster, Charissa Thompson, has been hailed as one of the highest-profile women journalists in America, and the reason is there for all to see. She has worked for popular establishments such as Versus, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, GSN, and Big Ten Network. She currently hosts the popular pre-game show, Fox NFL Kickoff, ...
Is Chris Kattan Gay or Does He Have A Wife? What Is His Net Worth? Chris Kattan is a popular American comedian and actor. He has appeared in several comic movies and TV series such as The Middle, A Night at the Roxbury and Bunnicula. Kattan is, however, most popular for his six-year stint as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. During his time on the legendary show, he ...
Everything You Should Know About the Rise of Insta Star Claire Abbott and Why She Gave It All Up A lot of young Americans have shot into the limelight for uploading different kinds of videos on YouTube. Some of these young stars include Connor Franta, Desi Perkins, Emma Chamberlain, the Dolan Twins (Ethan and Grayson), and Claire Abbott. The latter became a social media celebrity for uploading sexy bikini pictures of herself on social media. Apart from ...
5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTube Channel h3h3Productions H3h3Productions is a YouTube channel that specializes on Comic responses or reactions of other contents or trendy stories. The celebrity couple that created the channel has over time racked up sizable views for their commentaries and contents. Even though they had their own fair share of copyright cases, thankfully they scored an unprecedented victory in all ...
Lilypichu Bio Height, Brother and Love Story With Albert SleightlyMusical Chang Like most popular internet celebrities, Lilypichu is one of those Twitch streamers who spend their lives on camera. From daydreaming about the possibility of becoming a full-time professional streamer, she grew to live out her dreams on the popular live streaming platform where people play games, make crafts, and showcase their day-to-day activities. Given the rise of ...
KSI What To Know About His Girlfriend, Brother Deji Olatunji & Net Worth Assuredly, when Internet inventors Vint Cerf and Bob Khan created the technological masterpiece, they probably did not know how massive the creation will be harnessed by many for different purposes including as a platform for earning money through content creation. One of such person who smiles to the bank regularly today for spending time creating ...
The Interesting Progression and Highlights of Carrie Keagans Career as a Host and Actress Carrie Keagan has garnered huge fame through her various stints on television. She is not just your regular TV host but one with a difference. Keagan has hosted several high profile events and TV shows, including VH1s Big Morning Buzz Live and Fox News Channels Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. However, not many know she ...
The Gist On Elise Jordans Marriages And Her Rise To Prominence Political commentaries tend to be boring when it is handled by someone who does not have a knack for it. However, when you see the likes of Elise Jordan run the same commentary, you will have a lot of reasons to look forward to watching her again as the journalist is well-versed in the field ...
What Is Timmy Thick Best Known For and How Successful Is The Star? Thanks to the internet, many people whose talents would have ordinarily gone unnoticed have become famous. A very good example of this modern-day internet celebrity is Timmy Thick, an American social media star. He became popular on Instagram due to his penchant for posting raunchy pictures of himself. He also often posted videos of himself ...
What Does Heather Storm Do For a Living and Who Is She Dating? Reality Television is a great way to make a name for oneself as well as amass a fortune. Heather Storm can attest to this as she is one of those who have made a name and earned a lot from reality TV. She made her name appearing on shows like Car Fanatics, Awesome Autos, and, ...
Matt Carriker Biography Net Worth, Wife & Height Unlike your regular veterinary doctor next door, Matt Carriker chose to spice up his noble profession with the unusual. Though he is known to many as a medical practitioner, Carriker is better renowned as a YouTube star and an animal lover. Having recorded huge successes on his various YouTube channels, the vet doctors name and ...
Jillian Mele of Fox News Career Achievements, Husband & Measurements There are quite a good number of presenters on radio and television who listeners and viewers may never wish to miss any of their shows because of their sensational golden voice, beauty or the special way or artistry they anchor their shows. Jillian Mele is one of such. She has been at the top of ...
Who is Gillian Turner of Fox News? Her Fiance or Husband and Net Worth Gillian Turner is well-known as a news correspondent for Fox News Channel but before she became a TV personality, she built an intimidating resume working for different institutions, including the American government. She served in different capacities at the White House National Security Council during the administration of former US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. ...
Gloria Govan Bio Age, Ethnicity & Height Even as Gloria Govan is famous as an American actress, author, a TV host, and reality television star, shes more popular as the wife of the former NBA player, Matt Barnes. She became known after appearing on the Florida version of the reality television series, Basketball Wives and later, Basketball Wives: LA after Matt was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Sadly, ...
Michael Fishmans Interesting Start as an Actor and Why He Divorced His Wife of Many Years When one door closes, another one opens. As silly as that axiom may seem, it is the story of the resurgence of Michael Fishman, who plays D.J Conner on the popular show, Roseanne. Having played the character for several years as a child actor into his teenage years; when the show originally ended, Michael did ...
Who Is October Gonzalez Tony Gonzalezs Wife? All You Need To Know October Gonzalez is a popular American TV host and media personality. Additionally, she is also a model. Gonzalez has hosted several TV shows such as Beat Shazam, Entertainment Tonight, and Rachel Ray. She has also featured in several reality TV shows. Gonzalezs fame is not just due to her profession but also because of her ...
Who Is Tony Berlin Harris Faulkners Husband: His Children and Family Facts Tony Berlin is a popular American media guru. He has variously worked as a reporter, anchor, and producer for some of the biggest TV networks in America. They include CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC (where he hosted the popular Good Morning America). Berlin has now diversified into public relations and owns his own PR firm. ...
The Progression of Gianna Tobonis Journalism Career and Details About Her Marriage to Kyle Buckley Gianna Toboni may not be your ideal newscaster but her unusual reporting is what made her a household name. The American journalist is renowned for her hard-hitting and authentic reportage. A motivator and activist for total press freedom, Gianna loves to explore pervasive cultural issues. Not only does this unique and ambitious journalist call for all ...
Dog The Bounty Hunters Family Including Details of His Late Wife and Kids Popularly known as Dog, a name which he got from the television series, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Duane Chapman, an American bounty hunter, and one-time bail bondsman, went from being convicted for a felony to being a reality TV star. He was brought to the limelight following the capture of the convicted criminal, Andrew Luster in 2003 and this eventually made ...
Vicky Karayiannis, Chris Cornells Wifes Bio, Children and Family The world of showbiz is made up of different people who serve different roles, and function in a variety of capacities, and one of the most important people are those in the background. Publicists are undoubtedly one of these background people yet they are vital to the life and fame of most of our favorite ...
Joe Rogan Has A Step-Daughter and 2 Other Kids With Wife Jessica Ditzel Meet His Family Joe Rogan is a popular American stand-up comedian and TV host. His journey to stardom began in the late 80s and has seen him host several shows, the most popular is the game show titled Fear Factor. The exciting show dares contestants to face some of their greatest fears and embark on challenging stunts. The ...
Josh Gates and Wife Hallie Gnatovich Have 2 Kids But Who Has the Higher Net Worth? Best known for his explorations and adventures, Josh Gates, is a television presenter with a voracious appetite for seeing the world and the beauties in it. Some of that beauty, however, is in his home, in the form of two children he shares with his wife, Hallie Gnatovich. Not excluded is their marriage which has lasted ...
Holly Sonders Wiki, Plastic Surgery & Why She Divorced Her Husband Erik Kuselias After trying everything within her capacity to have a low key wedding, Holly Sonders was drawn to the public because of her husbands controversy at his workplace. Well, the two are rumored to be divorced but the article below will give more light on how true these rumors are. Meanwhile, Holly Sonders is yet to ...
Nadeska Alexis Bio Age, Boyfriend & Net Worth Journalism is one diverse profession that allows the practitioners to choose their area of specialty, build a career on it by reporting the truth and facts which in the long run will distinguish them as deserving commendation and recognition among their peers. Some choose to specialize in political journalism, while to others it is sports ...
Media Platforms Charlamagne Tha God Has Explored and All The Controversies He Has Courted Charlamagne Tha God is an American on-air personality, radio presenter, and more recently, author. He is popularly known as a co-host on New York radios nationally syndicated show, The Breakfast Club, a program he has been hosting alongside DJ Envy and Angela Yee since 2010. However, his early years had no connection to his current career ...
A Look At Jimmy Fallons Net Worth and Family Including His Wife & Kids Sometimes, a childs passion for something is a pointer to what he/she would become in the future. As a child, Jimmy Fallon was literally obsessed with watching the late-night comedy program, Saturday Night Live (SNL). Then, his parents would tape the clean parts for him to watch and later, he and his sister would re-enact sketches from the ...
Kay Adams Biography Does The Sportscaster Have A Husband or Boyfriend? When you hear the phrase sports enthusiast, women are hardly the first group that comes to mind. Well, thats changing pretty fast. Especially with the rise of female sports analysts and broadcasters like Kay Adams who is famed for knowing more about sports than most men do. And why not, shes paid handsomely for it ...
Ben Shapiros Family Meet His Wife, Kids and Sister Who is Popular for the Wrong Reasons A multi-talented man, Ben Shapiro is a man of controversial nature, an attribute that has made him an unusual public figure. An intellectual whose career path was clearly defined even before he became a man, the Jewish conservative commentator has always had his way with words. He became popular by sharing his critical and often ...
QVC Shawn Killinger Bio Husband, Net Worth & Facts To Know Shawn Killinger is a prominent TV personality who has worked her way to the top. Though not initially a journalist by training, she defied the odds and today has established herself as a household name, as well as, worked alongside some industry legends. More than just being a reporter, newscaster, and anchor, heres all you ...
Liv Lo Dissecting the Ethnicity, Parents and Personal Life of Henry Goldings Wife While many are aware that Liv Lo is the better half to Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding, only a few understand why his beautiful wife appears increasingly endearing to fans. A former model turned TV personality, and fitness star, Liv has an impressive resume which when combined with that of her statuesque spouse is considered a perfect ...
Stpeach Age, Husband and Other Facts About The Twitch Streamer Lisa Vannatta, famously known by her online alias, STPeach is a Canadian video game streamer cum vlogger who has garnered fame through her appearances on different video-sharing/social networking platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, Twitch, Reddit, and Twitter. The beautiful lady got her career to a start in August 2015 when she joined the live streaming video platform, Twitch. She rose to ...
Insights into Seth Meyers Wife, Family and What His Net Worth Is Celebrities are mostly remembered and known for the work they do. For Seth Meyers, his career as a comedian, writer, actor, TV host, and producer is his biggest identifier. He was on Saturday Night Live SNL show as a head writer and cast member for more than ten years during which he built a reputation ...
Who Is Jessica Gadsden Age, Net Worth & All About Charlamagne tha Gods Wife Jessica Gadsden is an American fitness coach as well as a personal trainer. She is better known as the spouse of popular American media personality, Charlamagne Tha God. Charlamange Tha God is a well-known TV and radio personality in the U.S. He has featured in several shows (both on the radio and TV) and is ...
Who Is Collins Tuohy Michael Ohers sister ? Her Wedding, Husband & Net Worth Collins Tuohy is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, blogger, and social media personality. She is also better known as the adoptive sister of NFL player, Michael Oher, whose life story inspired the Hollywood blockbuster The Blind Side. The Blind Side tells the true life story of Oher who grew up in an impoverished background consisting of a ...
Eye-Popping Facts About The Personal Life And Career Success Of Sportscaster Heidi Watney Heidi Watney is a media personality who has created a niche for herself as a sportscaster. Starting out as a radio presenter, the brilliant young lady has gone on to work for several prominent sports networks, and currently, she is with the MLB. The sportscaster is also known to have been an avid sports lady right ...
Marty Lagina Bio Siblings (Martina and Rick Lagina), Net Worth and Wife Marty Lagina is an American engineer and businessman who has risen to fame as a reality TV star. This is thanks to his involvement in the adventure TV series, The Curse of Oak Island. The Curse of Oak Island is a long-running TV series which airs on the history channel. The show aims to solve ...
Is Jordan Schlansky Just A Character or a Real Life Person and What Does He Do? The world of late-night television is an interesting one. Shows during that time are geared towards giving viewers comedic relief from a long day at work through interviews and comedy sketches. The often charismatic host of this show requires the balancing talent of a producer whose primary job is to deliver great episodes. It is ...
Heres How Wealthy Jimmy Kimmel Is From All The Phases of His Career, Marriages and Sons Health Jimmy Kimmel is a renowned late-night talk show host known for his charm, wit, and the A-list guests he features on his show. As the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! On ABC, Jimmy has been serving comedy to television viewers for years which played a pivotal role in launching him into mainstream fame and enabled ...
Natasha Bertrand Biography Is She Married? Who Is the Husband & What Is Her Age? Natasha Bertrand is not just a young prominent journalist but a first-rate investigative reporter. With her natural beauty and smile, Natashas sharp, insightful political commentary also makes her a thorough reporter. Her sound political perspective and coverage in the country have made her a force to be reckoned with in the profession. Renowned for her ...
What Happened to Shane Kilcher? His Injury Update, Net Worth and More Shane Kilcher is well-known thanks to the Discovery Channel series Alaska: The Last Frontier. It is a show that documents the daily lives of the extended Kilcher family, people who live without plumbing or modern heating. The episodes follow their routines as they rely on hunting and farming for their nutritional needs as well as ...
Is Stephanie Gosk Gay or Lesbian, Who is the Wife or Partner Jenna Wolfe? In August 2013, NBCs Today viewers were greeted with two shocking news. Today weekend anchor, Jenna Wolfe, announced that she was as a lesbian, introducing her partner as NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, and said the two are expecting their first child. A long time has passed since then and certainly, a lot of things ...
Nikki Mudarris Bio and Net Worth: 5 Interesting Facts You Need to Know Nikki Mudarris, also known as Miss Nikki Baby, is a reality television star, model and fashionista. Shes best known for VH1s reality TV series Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood. Her entrepreneurial skills enable her to create and run a successful lingerie line Nude by Nikki. Not only that, but Nikki has also successfully run the Las ...
5 Interesting Things You Need To Know About Kelly Nash Ever heard of the lady who gained national prominence for taking a selfie with a dangerous ball just a few inches away from hitting her? Its no other person than Kelly Nash, an American sports broadcaster currently working as host of The Rundown show which airs on MLB Network every weekday at 2 pm ET. ...
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A police watchdog has found failings that allowed paedophile doctor Myles Bradbury to continue sexually abusing children suffering from cancer at a Cambridge hospital.
Bradbury, who worked at Addenbrooke's Hospital treating children suffering from cancer, was jailed for 22 years for sexual assaults on child patients.
Notices were served on four officers who worked for the police's national Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) as part of an Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation.
CEOP was criticised because it had been given information about Bradbury by Canadian police in Toronto in July 2012, but the information was not passed on for 16 months, as the News reported.
The information was shared when the National Crime Agency took over CEOP in November 2013. Bradbury 41, of Herringswell in Suffolk, was arrested a month later.
He carried out his offences while working at Addenbrooke's between 2009 and 2013.
There were 18 victims of sexual abuse and he was also found with 16,000 indecent images of children.
Results of the investigation have now been released and the IPCC identified failings within CEOP in their handling of intelligence.
CEOP was formed in 2006 to work nationally and internationally to bring those suspected of committing online offending against children before the courts. One of CEOP's primary functions was to develop the information it receives into intelligence which can be disseminated to a law enforcement body or other agencies for appropriate action to be taken.
In July 2012 Toronto Police provided CEOP with an information package which contained the details of a large number of customers who had accessed a Canadian website and purchased films which it was suspected contained indecent images of children.
At that time CEOP was under the command of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, which the National Crime Agency (NCA) replaced in October 2013.
The information had come from an investigation which the Canadian authorities had been carrying out since 2010. The investigation was known as Operation Spade. Following a request by Toronto Police in October 2013 for an update on progress with the intelligence it became apparent that the information had not been fully processed or sent to UK police forces for their consideration.
At that time, the NCA identified a number of concerns about the handling of information. The NCA actioned the intelligence and commissioned two internal reviews to ensure that processes were improved. All of the recommendations of these reviews were accepted and have been implemented.
The NCA also referred the matter to the IPCC in September 2014 and an IPCC investigation began. This looked at how the information was handled and who had responsibility for owning and progressing the intelligence.
The investigation found that the initial handling and assessment of the material had been appropriate.
The primary issues of concern identified by the investigation related to how the information had thereafter been dealt with including what appeared to be the lack of formal procedures for reviewing the progress of referrals. There was evidence of a lack of a general understanding or agreement as to who had ownership of the issue for some time, disagreements as to which team within the organisation might have the capacity to take the lead and consider and process the information most appropriately.
Decisions in respect of the Toronto police referral had not been taken and there had been a lack of adequate supervision. This was against the background of, at that time, there being a significant backlog of work and other information to deal with within CEOP. As a result the information was not dealt with in a timely manner.
As a result of the IPCC investigation, a police officer, who had been seconded to CEOP at the time, faced misconduct proceedings for allegedly failing in his duties and responsibilities. At a meeting on Monday the allegations were found not proven.
An NSPCC spokesman said:The Watchdog has identified critical blunders made by officers from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) regarding intelligence. Their intervention and effective information sharing could have saved Bradbury's victims from his grotesque crimes.
Whilst changes have now been made agencies need to ensure that sensitive information about professionals who work with children is prioritised and dealt with immediately. Close scrutiny will be needed to gauge whether the CEOP follows the key recommendations made by the National Crime Agency in the aftermath of this shocking case.
Anyone who has concerns about a child should call the police or contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000."
Management advice was also provided to a member of NCA staff.
IPCC Commissioner Carl Gumsley said: The IPCC investigation produced evidence to show that the intelligence provided by the Canadian authorities was poorly handled by the CEOP Centre. The NCA had already identified this fact and had commissioned two internal reviews which had already made a number of recommendations that were accepted by the Agency and CEOP, to improve its processes. This, at least, is something positive to come out of this matter."
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A petition calling for attacks on police dogs to be classed as attempted murder has gained more than 19,000 signatures - after a brave member of Cambridgeshire's dog unit was stabbed in the head whilst chasing an armed robber.
The petition comes after brave police dog Finn was stabbed in the head and chest while helping his handler PC David Wardell catch an armed robber in Stevenage.
The seven-year-old German Shepherd required emergency surgery after trying to apprehend a man suspecting of robbing a taxi driver at gunpoint.
One of the stab wounds had perforated his lung by eight inches and in order to save his life part of his lung was removed.
PC Wardell, of Hertfordshire police, also sustained an injury to his hand but both are now on the mend after the incident on October 5.
Now a petition, being referred to as Finn's Law, has been launched to change the law so attacks of this kind against animals would be classed as assault or attempted murder.
The petition, called "Give status to Police Dogs and Horses as 'Police Officers'" needs 100,000 signatures before it can be considered in the House of Commons.
David Berstow created the petition which read: "I propose that UK Police Dogs and Horses be given protection that reflects their status if assaulted in the line of duty.
"This would be similar to the US Federal Law Enforcement Animal Protection."
The Beds, Herts and Cambs Police Dog is now recovering at home and is said to be doing well by taking an interest in his toys and food.
A 16-year-old from Lewisham denied charges of criminal damage relating to Finn and actual bodily harm relating to PC Wardell when he appeared at Stevenage Magistrates Court on October 6.
The youngster admitted possession of an imitation firearm and possession of a combat knife.
A date for his trial at youth court has been set for January next year.
| BY Ricki Green |
Everyone can relate to the feeling of unrequited desire, so the story at the heart of a new campaign for Audi Australia, created in partnership with 303 MullenLowe Sydney, is told from the perspective of a man who longs to drive his own Audi.
The campaign promotes Audis 2.0% comparable rate finance offer and introduces the tagline Today is your day.
Says Andrew Doyle, managing director, Audi Australia: This campaign represents an evolution for Audi Australia as its sales message is driven by a human insight, while our 2.0% per annum comparison rate is the catalyst that will help people realise today is their day for owning the Audi theyve been longing for.
Today is your day showcases the Audi A4 Sedan and Avant, Audi A5, Audi TT and Audi A1 Sportback models across TV, print, online and point of sale.
Earlier this month, 303 MullenLowe unveiled a brand campaign for Audi Australia, which champions the companys heritage ahead of a new wave of product arriving soon in Australia. The first installment, Challenge, launched on 7thSeptember, with Details and Versus soon to follow.
Client: Audi Australia
Agency: 303 MullenLowe
ECD: Richard Morgan
Copywriter: Joe Van Trump
Art director: Jeena Van Der Heul
Group Business Director: Georgie McGarr
Business Manager: Kiely Decker
Producer: Sean Ascroft
Production company: Collider
| BY Ricki Green |
Bank of Melbourne has this week launched the evolution of its For the Makers campaign in collaboration with Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne, titled Walk your Walk.
Says Jac Phillips, head of brand and marketing, Bank of Melbourne: Theres an undeniable pulse to Victoria. Its alive, full of restless thinkers and creators, doers and makers all working towards their goals in unique ways. Were proud to unveil the next stage of our For The Makers brand campaign, inspired by Victorias energy and individuality.
Says Mark Cochrane, managing director, Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne: As a state that walks the walk, rather than talks the talk, were really pleased with how this campaign captures the maker spirit of Victorians. Its been a really collaborative process with all involved.
The first part of the campaign will be prominent across Victoria in TV, social, out of home and in-branch.
Client: Bank of Melbourne
Head of Brand & Marketing, Bank of Melbourne: Jac Phillips
Brand Marketing Manager: Luke Shelley
Senior Marketing Manager (Consumer): Tara Hennessy
Creative Consultant: Megan Quinn
Creative Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: Leon Wilson
Associate Creative Director: Tom Wenborn
Copywriter: Sam Harris
Senior TV Producer: Jo Alach
Senior Account Director: Symon van Haalen
Client Services Director: Rebecca Robertson
Production
Director: Tom Campbell
Producer: Kat Latour
Production House: Exit Films
DOP: Sam Chiplin
Editor: Michael Lutman, The Butchery
Colorist: Martin Greer, The Refinery
Online: Eugene Richards, The Refinery
Music: Level Two Music
| BY Ricki Green |
oOh!media Limited has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the share capital of Executive Channel International (ECN) for $68.5 million through oOh!s wholly owned subsidiary, Inlink Group.
oOh! chief executive Brendon Cook (left) said the acquisition of ECN is an exciting opportunity for oOh! to expand its digital presence, particularly targeting the premium CBD audience that is highly valuable to advertisers.
Says Cook: The acquisition will consolidate oOh!s market leading position in the highly valuable CBD office segment. It is in line with oOh!s strategy of driving engagement with audiences through a diversified portfolio of digital and classic screens in unmissable locations and will further enhance our digital market leadership. The combination of the businesses will deliver significant cost synergies and value creation opportunities.
The ECN group was founded in Australia over 10 years ago. ECN operates a leading network of digital displays in CBD office towers and car park environments across Australia. The company has installations in over 280 different venues delivering real time content and advertising, and is underpinned by strong relationships with more than 110 property owners.
Cook said the acquisition is highly complementary to oOh!s existing portfolio of products and audiences. The acquisition will further expand oOh!s inventory, bringing the number of buildings under management between ECN and Inlink to over 630 and more than 3,500 displays across Australia.
Says Cook: The acquisition further enhances our position as Australias largest reaching digital sign network and consolidates our number 1 position in the CBD office segment. This offering increases the value we can deliver to advertisers through greater reach and more efficient targeting of audiences.
Combining ECN with oOh!s existing product offering represents a valuable opportunity to leverage the strengths of the respective businesses and realise significant cost synergies. This will allow oOh! to build the most effective digital CBD platform to complement our existing diversified portfolio of assets to generate long term sustainable growth for our shareholders.
ECN is forecast to contribute over $8 million of EBITDA to oOh! in CY2017 including approximately $3.2 million of estimated cost synergies forecast to be realised in CY2017, but before any revenue synergies, one off integration costs and transaction costs. The acquisition is forecast to be approximately 3% EPS accretive in CY2017.
Completion of the acquisition is conditional on certain matters which are considered by oOh! to be largely customary working capital adjustments and conditions precedent for a transaction of this size and nature, including that 100% of ECN shareholders sign up to a sale agreement. Shareholders holding a majority of shares have executed a sale agreement, with the balance expected to sign or alternately be dragged pursuant to the ECN Shareholders Deed. ECN shareholders have pre-emptive rights under the Shareholders Deed and it is a condition precedent to the transaction that no shareholder exercise their pre-emptive rights between signing and completion. All of the conditions precedent are expected to be satisfied by the end of October 2016. Additionally, a component of the consideration is subject to certain conditions customary for a transaction of this nature.
Capital raising
oOh! is undertaking a fully underwritten placement (the Placement) to eligible institutional investors, of approximately 12.6 million fully paid ordinary shares (New Shares) to raise $60 million to partially fund the acquisition of ECN.
The Placement price of $4.75 per share represents a 2.9% discount to the last closing price on 10 October 2016. The Placement bookbuild is expected to be completed today. The Placement is expected to settle on 14 October 2016 and the New Shares issued under the Placement will be allotted on the following business day 17 October 2016. New Shares issued under the Placement will rank equally with oOh!s existing shares.
No shareholder approval is required for the placement, as the company will utilise a portion of its existing placement capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1.
oOh!s shares will remain in trading halt today while the Placement is conducted. Normal trading in oOh! shares is expected to recommence on 12 October 2016 or such other time as the completion of the Placement is announced to the market.
Share purchase plan
A share purchase plan (SPP) will accompany the Placement with eligible oOh! shareholders in Australia and New Zealand offered the opportunity to acquire additional shares in oOh!. The SPP will not be underwritten and participation in the SPP will be optional.
Shareholders on the oOh! share register at 7.00pm on 10 October 2016 (Record Date), with a registered address in Australia or New Zealand will be entitled to subscribe for up to $15,000 worth of oOh! shares through the SPP, subject to the eligibility criteria and other terms and conditions of the SPP which will be set out in the SPP booklet and dispatched to eligible shareholders in due course. Shares issued under the SPP will rank equally with existing shares of oOh!.
Trading commentary
| BY Ricki Green |
Porter Davis has launched #campaignforrespect with an exhibition of thought provoking portraits by renowned Australian photographer Nick Leary. The portraits have also featured in a major outdoor campaign that traverses the Eastern seaboard and travels all the way to Times Square in New York.
Head of brand and marketing for Porter Davis, Joanne Bradley, worked in tandem with Fiona Leeming, creative director of Honey Communications, to create a campaign to promote a more positive, inclusive message.
The exhibition was first seen in Melbourne City Square and then moved to Southbank in Melbourne and will feature in billboards in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and New York City.
Why Porter Davis? Why not! says Joanne Bradley, Our ethos Respect the Dream is what we are known for, but were not just building someones dream home, were building the foundation for happy, healthy communities.
Says Leeming: I think its time for all of us to reflect on what it takes to build strong, inclusive communities. Without respect, civil societies cannot evolve.
In taking the message to New York, Porter Davis hoped to add something to the pre election debate.
Says Paul Wolff, director, Porter Davis: Given the anti Muslim sentiment that is playing out in the US in the lead up to the election, we thought we could add a more inclusive message of mutual respect to the conversation.
It is a bold move for a company from a traditionally conservative industry. The leading Victorian home-builder, Porter Davis core company value is respecting its customers and it is taking it to another level with its provocative new campaign with support from high profile industry partners such as AAA Trusses, Austral Bricks, Reece, Rinnai, National Tiles USG Boral, Technika and Frasers Property.
Says Anthony Roberts, managing director, Porter Davis: Every now and then, a brand has to step up and make a statement that goes to the core of their values as a business. At the same time, along with our land developer partners and suppliers, we do believe that mutual respect in our homes, locally and in the broader community is good for the long term of our industry.
Learys raw and captivating portraits perfectly capture the areas where the conversation around respect is most critical; religion, race, gender, sexual equality and age discrimination.
Says Leary: It is intrinsically rewarding to work with a brand that stands for greater things. I believe this campaign allows the audience to connect on a very real level. In my opinion it shows Porter Davis is at the forefront of thinking in this space.
Celebrated Australians will be adding their voice to the conversation in social media, sharing their personal thoughts on the crucial role respect plays in our lives and communities. The outdoor campaign will be running over the next two years and will be supported by social media and ongoing exhibitions.
Client: Porter Davis
Head of Brand & Marketing: Joanne Bradley
Marketing Manager: Erin Field
Agency: Honey Communications
Executive Creative Director: Fiona Leeming
Production: Rob Walker
Photographer: Nick Leary
Video: SIRAP
Casting: Mackintosh Casting
PR: Style Counsel
| BY Ricki Green |
Social Soup has launched an Australian first influencer app with Carlton United Breweries signing on as an exclusive partner.
Australian influencer marketing agency will use the new platform to manage its operations and expand its offering to clients with enhanced campaign management and richer data analytics.
The purpose built app, which was a year in development, will allow Social Soups more than 170,000 strong influencer community improved access to new campaigns and easier sharing of content, with all posts managed through it.
Gamification has been used to define and build the new app from the ground up. The gamified systems are designed to keep members engaged and motivated with brands and as a result, create even more quality influencer content. Members earn points, levels and achievements for participating in brand missions and projects.
Social Soup will be expanding its offering to the market as the app rolls out with live reporting on social impact, voucher delivery to pick-up products and real-time research.
CUB has entered into a partnership with Social Soup across all its cider launches this summer across key festivals, events and summer moments, igniting an army of influencers behind its new brands. The first launch with the app will be for Pure Blonde Cider which will see influencers sharing the new product over summer. Influencers will take part in a series of walks set-up around Sydney where they check-in with the app and get access to prizes and product in real time.
Says Sharyn Smith, founder and CEO, Social Soup: This innovative platform will provide deeper data for our clients and improve the experience for our influencers. It will streamline our operations and help drive further growth for the business. It has taken some time to get right, but were delighted with its functionality and the simplicity of use.
Social Soup has worked with CUB for sometime and to have them on board as a launch partner is testament to our strong and effective relationship.
Says Brian Phan, head of brands cider and flavoured beer: Influencers are an important part of our marketing strategy so we are very excited by the new Social Soup app to help us be at the leading edge of influencer marketing. Partnering with connected influencers through the Social Soup app will increase our campaign reach and also give us incredible measurements which are vital to understand the success of our programs. Social Soup is part of the launch plans for all of our new cider products this year as we know getting visibility in social media is crucial to the success of new products.
Social Soup has been operating for more than 10 years, boasting Australias biggest network of influencers. The agency works with some of the biggest brands in the country, including Unilever, Nestle, CUB, PayPal and Optus.
| BY Lynchy |
Grey Group Indonesia has announced the dual appointments of Nugroho Nurarifin (Executive Creative Director) and Sawitri Hertoto (Head of Activation). Based in Jakarta, they will report to Monika Rudijono (President Director, Grey Group Indonesia).
Nurarifin (pictured right) joins the ranks of Grey Group Indonesia as an Executive Creative Director. A highly-acclaimed creative who prides himself on delivering impact through stories of human connection, his decade-long career include previous stints with the McCann Worldgroup, and fellow WPP agencies Ogilvy & Mather, and Young & Rubicam. Formerly the Global Creative Lead for Kopiko Candy at McCann, his portfolio of former clients include LOreal Paris, Wyeth, and Nestle Breakfast Cereals (Koko Krunch). Joining Grey represents a major opportunity and a great step forward for my creative growth and journey. I love a challenge, and look forward to being at the center of some amazing new work, said Nurarifin.
Hertoto (pictured left) returns to Grey from McCann, where she was previously Group Brand Director managing the LOreal Paris, Maybelline New York, and Cathay Pacific accounts. In addition, she also oversaw all Activation, Shopper Marketing, Digital, and ATL-related activities. With 15 years of experience in Marketing, her distinguished career included a previous stint at Grey, where she was instrumental in setting up the Shopper Marketing division. In her current role, she will lead all activation capabilities and bolster Team P&Gs offerings. Her move is aligned with recent instances of ex-Grey staff returning to the network, with Arun Raman of Grey group India the most prominent example. Its great to be back at Grey and I am looking forward to taking on this role and working closely with the Grey team in order to take the work up to the next level, said Hertoto.
Monday, October 10, 2016 at 9:58PM
The Samsung Galaxy Note7 has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. We've not even had a chance to review this flagship handset but have already published multiple posts regarding various dangerous fires and explosions due to faulty batteries. Even as the company tried to get in front of the issue and kicked off a global replacement program. Well, after some of the replacement units started exploding it seems that the issue is bigger than many thought.
Samsung has just issued a statement asking all global partners to stop sales of replacement Galaxy Note7 units and has also asked all, "Canadian consumers with either an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 device should power down and stop using the device. Details of the remedies available for Note7 customers are detailed below."
Samsung says that, it is "working globally with relevant regulatory bodies to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note7. Because consumers safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 while the investigation is taking place."
At Samsung Canada we remain committed to working diligently with regulatory authorities, carriers and our retail partners to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation. Canadian consumers with either an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 device should power down and stop using the device. Details of the remedies available for Note7 customers, which will include a full refund at their place of purchase, will be announced shortly. For more information, Canadian consumers should contact 1-800-SAMSUNG.
As of this point, the Note7, whether an original unit or a replacement, should simply be returned to carriers, retailers or to Samsung for a full refund. Samsung needs to investigate the issue which could take a long time and it seems that owning a Note7 is more trouble than its worth. Consumers should cut their losses and consider another model like the Galaxy S7 or the Note5 or any alternative Android or iPhones available in the market.
"I know a lot of trainers from Canberra and from outside the ACT who have been worried about what they are going to be doing in the future," he said. "This will be a relief to them and great news."
Ahmed Al Abbasi, also known as Khaled Al Abbasi, 31, pleaded not guilty to three charges of rape and two sexual assault offences allegedly committed against two sex workers and in the company of two other men on March 12.
"I think that this move shows that BP were not prepared to provide all of the information for NOPSEMA. The fact they've been rejected multiple times means they've tried to see this as a pushover and they've found it harder to get through without mitigating the risks adequately.
Did she or didnt she? That is the question Amanda Knox explores with laser-like precision. Different viewers will come to different conclusions, but without doubt this strong documentary sheds a powerful light on this particular case while emphasizing the ultimate unknowability of absolute truth.
As directed by Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn, Amanda Knox does without a subtitle and frankly doesnt need one. The case of the American college student twice convicted and twice acquitted of the murder of her roommate in Italy was such a tabloid and social-media sensation that a Google search reveals more than 7 million results.
That factoid comes from Knox herself, who is interviewed extensively here, as are her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, the tenacious Italian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini who put them both behind bars, and the British tabloid journalist Nick Pisa, who reported extensively on the case.
One of the great virtues of Amanda Knox is that it allows all these key participants, and a handful of others, the chance to unburden themselves at length about their roles in a story, equal parts Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith, that took eight years to play out.
Here, for instance, is Knox herself, articulate and self-possessed, thoughtfully summarizing her polarizing situation: If I am guilty, I am the ultimate figure to fear. If I am innocent, it means everyone is vulnerable, and thats everyones nightmare. Either I am a psychopath in sheeps clothing or I am you.
In addition to this wealth of interview material, directors Blackhurst and McGinn provide a large amount of court documents and archival footage, including a previously unseen video clip of the murder victim, 22-year-old Meredith Kercher, taken by Knox herself.
Just as disturbing is the visual evidence of the rabid way the case was covered by the media, with tabloid headlines screaming things like Orgy of Death and Amanda the Man-Eater on a daily basis.
TV newscasters were no better, with Diane Sawyer giving Knox an unapologetic hard time, and individuals such as CNNs Chris Cuomo pounding her with questions like Were you into deviant sex?
Seen today, Knox, not surprisingly given what she has been through, is a serious and somber individual, living alone in Seattle and intending to work as an advocate for those wrongfully convicted.
In her pre-Italy years, however, video shows Knox to be much livelier, someone quirky and ridiculous who admired Xena the Warrior Princess. Im my own person, is how she thought of herself, but Im going to find my place.
A student at the University of Washington, Knox decided to become an exchange student in Perugia, Italy, to get out of her comfort zone and ended up rooming with young British student Kercher.
Just a week before the murder, Knox and young Italian student Sollecito meet and fall in love. Despite all that has happened to them since, both light up at the memory of how happy they were for that week, spending every free minute in each others company.
Then Kercher (inevitably something of a cipher here) is murdered, and two new people become key in everyones lives. These include journalist Pisa, someone who delights in the buzz of the scoop and is perfectly happy to spread the most salacious stories and theories, and prosecutor Mignini.
Knox partisans looking for a convenient villain will not find one in Mignini, who comes off as decent and sincere, a fan of Sherlock Holmes who has a passion for investigating and connecting clues.
But what is also true of Mignini is that he is a practicing Catholic who believes God runs the world but man has free will, the father of four girls and a pillar of Perugias traditional society.
As such, you can feel in these interviews Migninis almost visceral dislike of and even antipathy toward Knox personally he describes her at one point as inexplicable, irrational and the world of youthful sexual license she seemed to represent.
Mignini and the Perugia police evolve the theory, spread by Pisa and others, that Kercher was killed in a drug-fueled sex game gone wrong and arrest Knox, Sollecito and a third man, Patrick Lumumba, in the crime.
Though both Knox and Sollecito initially protested that theyd been together all night in his apartment, under intense police questioning they temporarily changed their stories. Hearing both of them talk about the almost surreal pressure put on them inevitably brings to mind the coerced confessions that figure in Ken Burns The Central Park Five documentary.
If possible, things get even more complicated when Lumumba is released and yet another man, Rudy Guede, is arrested. DNA evidence is trumpeted in the trial as being conclusive and eventually seen as tainted (independent Italian experts are among those interviewed here).
It is all so complicated that it took directors Blackhurst and McGinn and editor Matthew Hamachek a full year to fit all their material into the hour and a half on view here, but it was worth the effort. Hard as it is to say that anything is the last word in this most divisive of cases, Amanda Knox looks to be it.
Today co-anchor Billy Bush has been asked to take a break in light of his role in the leaked recording of his lewd conversation with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
An NBC News spokesperson confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that Bush will not be at work Monday on the NBC shows 9 a.m. hour. The decision comes after a weekend in which audio of him exchanging sexist remarks with Trump ran in heavy rotation on cable news.
NBC News executives said Saturday that there are no plans to suspend or fire Bush over the leaked conversation that took place before he and Trump taped a 2005 segment for Access Hollywood.
But the situation now appears to be fluid.
The exchange, in which Trump profanely boasts about his ability to grope women with impunity because he is a celebrity, has led many Republican politicians to withdraw their support of him as the partys presidential standard-bearer. Many called for him to step down. Trump issued a videotaped apology late Friday night for the remarks and has said he has no plans to drop out of the race. He was to meet Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in their second debate on Sunday night.
In the leaked video Bush is heard laughing and egging Trump on, even as the mogul revealed his attempt to seduce Bushs Access Hollywood co-host Nancy ODell. Bush delivered his own apology Friday.
Obviously Im embarrassed and ashamed, Bush, 44, said in a statement issued by NBC News. Its no excuse, but this happened 11 years ago _ I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. Im very sorry.
But as the story continues to engulf the Trump campaign, Bush is now indelibly attached to it. On ABCs This Week, Republican Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania referred to the tape as the Billy Bush video.
Bushs involvement could prove a long-term problem as morning-show audiences are not always forgiving. Harsh comments from Today fans appeared on the programs Facebook page, many calling for his firing.
They will no longer receive my ratings or buying power when they have this guy as a host, wrote Elizabeth Fahy of Cranford, N.J. He is disgracing the women and daughters he wants to watch him. Count me out for now, Today, until Billy Bush is gone as a host.
After 12 years as co-host of Access, Bush moved his family from Los Angeles to New York City to join Today in August. He is a co-host for the programs third hour with Al Roker and Tamron Hall.
Bushs arrival led to speculation that he is being groomed to eventually succeed long-time Today stalwart Matt Lauer, who has been in the 7 to 9 a.m. co-anchor chair since 1997.
Bushs misogynistic repartee with Trump will likely be a major setback in attaining that goal.
NBC News executives were not overly concerned about Bushs presence on the tape with Trump when it was first reported by The Washington Post on Friday. But the story escalated Saturday, sending Today staffers looking for answers on Bushs status and how the controversy will be addressed on the program.
Reaction to Bushs vulgar comments cannot be taken lightly as Today has had issues with female viewers in the past.
After Ann Curry tearfully left the show after 13 months as co-anchor, many press accounts portrayed Lauer as being behind her ouster. The narrative led many viewers to tune out, ending the Todays 16-year reign as the most-watched morning program.
One talent agent who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it would have been difficult for NBC News to dismiss or suspend Bush for something he said 11 years ago. The only option would have been to buy out his recently signed multi-million dollar contract.
A dismissal or suspension would have also risked opening the door to scrutiny of sexist remarks or behavior of other NBC News employees over the years.
The guests were as lively as the food being served at least that was the idea.
No actual people were harmed to make the cannibal buffet that was hosted Saturday night by the Museum of Colorado Prisons as a fundraiser.
The fundraiser, which was outside of the Gibson Mansion, was the first of its kind and had about 120 people in attendance.
The menu featured tasty items, such as elbow macaroni salad, eyeball meatballs and spaghetti and finger ladies for desert.
Museum Director Stacey Cline said the fundraiser will help support the museum, which is housed at 201 First St. in the former state womens prison.
One-hundred percent of the proceeds will go to support the museum, Cline said.
She said that the money they raise could possibly help the museum buy microfiche.
A microfiche reader, Cline explained, will allow the museum to read and study film that could contain microphotographs of the pages of a newspaper, catalog or other documents.
Some of these documents date back to like 1893, itll just expand the history we already have, Cline said.
The theme for the cannibal buffet was suggested by museum board member Donna Murphy.
She said she was knowledgeable of Aflerd Packer, an infamous Colorado cannibal who spend 15 years in the Colorado State Penitentiary, located in Canon City.
He was only convicted of murder but never cannibalism, Murphy said, because cannibalism is not against the law in Colorado.
In the winter of 1874, Packer was traveling with a group of five other men seeking gold. But when a snowstorm hit, according to the Colorado Virtual Library, the men soon ran out of food and resorted to boiling and eating their moccasins.
But after they ran out of those, Packer was accused of resorting to cannibalism.
I just thought of the cannibal dinner idea one night, and it went from there, Murphy said.
While guests dined, an Alferd Packer impersonator walked around taking photos and possibly sizing up the guests.
After dinner, Brendan Pardue, owner of the mansion, opened his doors for anyone to go inside and look around.
Pardue said the mansion was built in 1898 by a lumber baron and that many of the unique furnishings he found at antique stores.
The mansion was filled with artistic decorations, such as a knight, a copy of the painting Mona Lisa and a statue depicting the Archangel Michael fighting Lucifer.
I live here by myself, so I think it would be lonely to not show it, Pardue said.
Sarah Matott: 719-276-7648, matotts@canoncitydailyrecord.com
Rialto Theater fundraiser never tasted so good
Do you like craft beer? Do you like helping out a good cause? Now you can do both at the same time. Hans Praul, owner of the Florence Brewing Company has created a seasonal brew called the Reel Rialto.
Sponsors have joined the Rialto Theater and the Florence Brewing Company to sponsor and amount of money for every pint of Reel Rialto that is sold. During the month of October, stop by the Florence Brewing Company and enjoy a cold Reel Rialto brew and help to renovate the Rialto Theater. Anyone who would like to be a sponsor of this tasty fundraising campaign may call (719) 269-0678.
Rialto Theater receives state award/honor
The Historic Rialto Theater in Florence received the 2016 Governors award for downtown excellence. Downtown Colorado Inc. presented the Rialto Board of Directors with the Colorful Colorado award for creative fundraising.
During the last year, the Rialto Board has created many ways of fundraising to assist with the Theater renovations. From Internet campaigns to sitting on the marquee for three days to even collecting spare change in a 6-foot tube in front of the Rialto all summer. Downtown Colorado Inc. recognized the efforts of the Board and chose to honor Rialto Theater as the clear choice for the Colorful Colorado award.
This award is for our entire community, Vice President Todd Williams stated. Without the support of our community, there would not be any funds to raise. It shows us that the community really cares and wants the Rialto opens again.
Private and group tours of the Rialto Theater are available by calling (719) 269-0678.
Blue Spruce Gallery has openings available
The Blue Spruce Gallery has three openings available in the long standing cooperative gallery. The gallery now has room for a 2-dimensional artist working in pastels, oils, watercolors or other media. The gallery currently does not have space for a photographer. There is also an opening for two 3D artists, working in clay, wood, fiber or other media.
Jury for the gallery is at 5 p.m. Oct. 20. Representative work needs to be at the gallery one day prior to the jury meeting, labeled with artist information, and priced. The positions will remain open until filled, and the next jury date will be in November.
If interested, or to find out gallery and cooperative requirements, call 784-1339 during regular business hours or call Lynn Lemmon-Oliver at 671-3581. Gallery is located at 205 W. Main St. in Florence.
Daily Record Staff
RIP Cemetery Tour happening Friday
The RIP Cemetery Tour will be at 5 p.m. Friday at the Greenwood Cemetery, at the top of First Street Hill. Tickets of Doom may be purchased at the Golden Age Center, 728 Main St. Cost is $4 per person, and group rates area available, as well. Tickets also my be purchased at the cemetery, prior to the event from 4:30-5 p.m. Flip-flops and open-toes shoes are not advised, costumes and children are welcome. For more information, call (719) 275-5177.
Sixth annual Trivia Contest slated for Saturday at new location
The sixth annual Trivia Contest hosted by Fremont Search & Rescue will be at 7 p.m. Saturday at its new location, Harrison K-8 School, 920 Field Ave. As in previous years, the Quiz-Masters will be Ed Norden and Kathy Herrin. The event includes four rounds of fascinating trivia questions. A team may include 3-6 people. Registration cost is a minimum donation of $60 per team. Register early to reserve a spot either on Facebook or by calling Deb at (719) 429-0491.
Sons and Brothers will perform Sunday
Sons and Brothers will perform at 7 p.m. Sunday at Oak Creek Southern Baptist Church, 640 Oak Creek Ave., in Rockvale. A freewill love offering will be taken. For more information, call (719) 784-4305 or (719) 431-9030.
Florence Police Department will offer Coffee with a Cop
The Florence Police Department will offer Coffee with a Cop from 9-10:30 a.m. and 3-4:30 p.m. Wednesday and Oct. 19 at the Pour House, 202 W. Main St., in Florence. This is an opportunity for citizens to ask questions, express concerns and get to know officers.
Hunter Education
A special one-day, 12-hour hunter education course for the permanent certificate will be given from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. Minimum age is 14. Two weekend courses will be given from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 15 and 16 and Oct. 29 and 30. Minimum age is 10. Internet conclusion requirement will be given Oct. 13, 15 and 29. Minimum age is 17. Pre-registration is required for all sessions. All sessions will be held at the Knights of Columbus Hall at 1601 Bonforte Blvd. in Pueblo. All persons born on or after Jan. 1, 1949 must successfully complete a hunter education course before being able to purchase or apply for any hunting or trapping license in Colorado.
Daily Record Staff
Hurricane Electric will offer its IP transit services to the France-IX community in Marseille and will benefit from reaching a wider customer base within the EMEA region, offering additional value on France-IX members connection ports.
Franck Simon, managing director at France-IX, explains the success of the peering node is partly due to the role that Marseille plays as an international gateway.
"A few years ago we saw its potential and decided to bet on it. Marseille was already connected with multiple cables going to the African continent, the Middle-East and further afield into Asia, he said.
More of these cables, with even bigger capacities, are expected to be rolled out by the end of 2016 and into the beginning of 2017. With such an advantage, Marseille naturally stood out as the perfect place nearest to central Europe for African and Middle-Eastern operators to interconnect with both French and English content providers.
The Marseille IX has attracted 29 interconnected networks to date including those originating from France and serving local markets and also nationwide operators and US, European, Middle Eastern and African operators. In addition to Marseille, Hurricane has also joined the France-IX marketplace in Paris, where it reaches a community of over 320 networks.
Hurricane Electrics CEO, Mike Leber, added: Hurricane Electric can provision IP transit by the gigabit to any member of France-IX within the span of a few days. France-IX members ask the internet exchange for the set-up of a private VLAN between our port and theirs and we provide the service within 24 hours. With the marketplace programme, we are also able to meet requests from more networks, as the France-IX infrastructure is spread out over two datacentres in Marseille - Interxion and Jaguar Network.
The news comes after France-IX and BICS partnered to accelerate internet peering and French web hosting provider Online.net migrated from four 10Gbps ports to two 100Gbps ports on France-IXs internet exchange to bolster its capacity and performance.
Mexicos America Movil has announced it will invest $600 million in its Dominican Republic unit, Claro Dominicana, over the next three years, America Movil CEO Daniel Hajj said to local daily Listin Diario.
The announcement was made immediately after a meeting between Hajj and Dominican President Danilo Medina.
"The Dominican Republic is currently the fastest growing country, and we will continue investing," Hajj said. He also said that the company would invest $200 million a year in the roll out of broadband and LTE networks.
In February this year the three big telcos, Claro, Dominicana/Altice, Orange and Trilogy Dominicana, announced investments of more than $400 million to be made in 2016.
Claro is the market leader, followed by Orange Dominicana/Altice and Trilogy Dominicana.
I don't know how many young women come to this blog or how many are parents of teenage or young adult women, but here are some safety tips from Kelsey's Army:
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P
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1. Trust your instincts - If something feels wrong then something probably is wrong.2. Know your surroundings - know who and what is around you.3. Always have a plan for where you would go and what you would do if a situation arises.4. Be willing to make a scene in order to be noticed.5. Let someone know where you are going and when you will be back.Remember the acronym TIPS:ake Chargenform others of your whereaboutsrepare for any situationurvival Mentality (role play situations so you will respond should they happen)For more information, go to Kelsey's Army
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.
Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.
Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.
You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh says the Azerbaijani forces made more than 25 ceasefire violations at the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijani line of contact
The Ministrys announcement reads: Overnight October 10-11 the Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire regime more than 25 times by firing over 210 shots from various caliber small arms at the Armenian positions in Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact.
The Defense Army forces adhered to the ceasefire regime and continued confidently fulfilling their military tasks.
Armenians of Aleppo are in need of medications, material support
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Avetis Kitanyan, representative of the Central Committee of the ARF of Lebanon told ARMENPRESS an increasing flow of Armenians into Lebanon is seen due to the overheated situation in Aleppo.
Overall the flow of Syrian-Armenians into Lebanon has somewhat decreased in the past one year, because according to the Lebanese legislative changes the entrance of Syrian citizens has become difficult. Despite this, Syrian-Armenians continue coming to Lebanon. Sometimes they dont have the chance to come with their entire families, in this case the young people arrive and address Armenian institutions for receiving assistance regarding entrance issues. Due to bombardments of Aleppo, we can say that the dynamics of this applications have increased, Kitanyan said, noting the Armenian institutions are assisting as much as possible.
Mainly the Syrian-Armenians who arrive in Lebanon have various issues: accommodation, in case of having children schooling issues, kindergarten and healthcare issues. In addition to this assistance is provided to families living in Syria.
We are focused on providing medications and material support to people who are located here. There are people who are in a very difficult material situation. First of all, transporting food is not easy for us, and as we know it is not a necessity for them either. Besides safety concerns, the problem is the lack of medications. So we are trying to send medication, he said.
Speaking on the issue whether or not Syrian-Armenians are willing to leave, but have no means Kitanyan said both cases are documented. According to him, there are numerous Armenians who would have left Aleppo if they had the means, however there are families in great numbers who are willing to stay in Aleppo, hoping that someday the situation will improve in Syria.
Regarding the number of Syrian-Armenians in Lebanon, Kitanyan says according to 3 month-old data 8-10 thousand Syrian-Armenians live in Lebanon. These are people who have received assistance from Armenian organizations of Lebanon in any form. In addition, there are 2-3 thousand Armenians who havent addressed these organizations at all. Kitanyan says presenting a complete number of Armenians living in Lebanon is difficult since there have been re-locations. Many have left for the West or Armenia.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. While on a working visit to the United States, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan participated in Armenia: Investment Forum 2016 in New York on October 10 which has been organized by Armenia Development Fund, press service of the Presidential administration told Armenpress.
During the Forums first plenary session entitled Armenia as a gate to major markets, President Sargsyan delivered a speech presenting Armenias current economic and political priorities, Armenias achievements after Independence, the countrys competitive advantages and investment opportunities, the ongoing large-scale reforms, favorable business environment, the simplicity of access to regional markets through Armenia and macro-economic stable condition.
The Armenian President suggested the investors to utilize Armenias opportunities as a gate to major markets of the region.
Serzh Sargsyan also answered the participants questions.
Representatives of leading companies presenting a number of economic sectors, financial structures, experts and over dozen international investors took part in the forum.
The plenary session was chaired by founder of Kuhn Foundation, international corporate strategist, investment banker and public figure Robert Kuhn. Congressman Frank Pallone, EEC Board Chairman Tigran Sargsyan, Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank Wencai Zhang, World Bank Executive Director Frank Heemskerk attended the session.
"Armenpress" presents the President's full speech:
Dear Chairman Kuhn,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to greet you all at this landmark event, which comes at a symbolic time for Armenia and Armenians around the globe. Having summed up 25 years of independence, Armenian nation continues to pave its way towards future. The past two and half decades have been challenging, yet equally rewarding. After 25 years of independence we look into the future with confidence, determined to build upon our achievements that we have attained through the hard work of our people and with the help of our friends and partners.
It is no coincidence that Armenia as a gateway to major markets has been selected as a heading for this event: Armenias role as such had been determined at the time primordial, outlined by the history and geography of our land and the identity of its people. Situated at the crossroads between continents, Armenia has always bridged various civilizations, thus becoming a very important center for the cultural and trade exchanges. True to its role and given its historic experience, modern Armenia adheres to a strategy designed to build bridges among its major trading, economic and political partners.
As any other country, Armenia has its own comparative advantages. Interestingly enough our comparative advantages as an economy to a certain extent grew out of our limited resources and disadvantageous geopolitical realities. A landlocked country with a small-size economy that had been inherently Soviet-styled, with no energy resources, and blockade imposed by some of our neighbors, we never surrendered to those impediments. Quite to the contrary, we took advantage of those to push the boundaries of our creativity and competitiveness. Thus, human capital has become the source our main wealth, efficiency has become our master tool and reconciling often opposing interests has become our lifestyle.
Although the financial crises did not pass by Armenia, we made significant strides in building a knowledge-based society and the constant drive to embrace cutting-edge innovation have placed our country of just 3 million among technologically advanced nations. Notwithstanding the financial resources available to it, almost every single Armenian family strives to heavily invest in the education of their children. It is quite natural that for many years now our schoolchildren at the World Subject Olympiads win over 20 awards.
Today we are leading the list of the ranks by countries for the young students per capita wining world prizes in mathematical Olympics. In the same vein, we have the highest number of Chess grand masters on per-capita basis. Incidentally, Armenia was the first country in the world that introduced chess in the school curriculum in order to promote strategic thinking among new generation.
Another interesting example to that effect is the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies that provides secondary and high school students with an opportunity to convert their ideas into IT solutions and products.
Luys Foundation was established upon our initiative back in 2009; since then it has provided with scholarships Armenian students around the globe to attend and study at the top-notch universities in order to make sure that Armenia keeps up with the developments of our times.
Today, the availability of qualified workforce and a highly developed human capital brought fame to Armenia among those who seek accessible innovative IT solutions. We are becoming a desired destination for carrying out R&D and complex projects, as well as undertake the design and production of high value added, sophisticated products.
To give more momentum to the development of Information and Communication Technologies we provide tax privileges to the start-ups exempting them from profit tax and levying only 10% tax on income. As a result in recent years we have seen 25% average increase in the field of ICT.
Other than IT, Armenia has also been successful in the area such as medical and especially dental tourism, providing best money for quality services.
Year in and year out we have been developing our capacity for providing high-quality education, which also create opportunities for foreign students to study in our country. A great example to that effect is the Dilijan International School, which makes part of the United World Colleges education network. It received students from about 60 countries, and some of them are from the most advanced ones.
In the course of the past 25 years we have implemented cardinal reforms that improved Armenias performance in the international rankings: according to the World Bank estimates, among 189 countries Armenia ranks 35th on the ease of doing business, 5th on starting business, and 29th on trading across border. Today Armenia stands out for excellent investment opportunities due to its liberal business culture, favorable business environment and an unswerving commitment to the ongoing reforms.
Today, our geographic location and political and economic arrangements with partner nations enable Armenias easy access and trade with markets of more than 300 million consumers, where many Armenian goods and services have already established brand value. As a member to the Eurasian Economic Union, we have customs-free access to more than 180 million consumers. A common border and visa free regime with the Islamic Republic of Iran open up a market of 80 million consumers. Historically friendly relations with Georgia give us access to the Black Sea ports as well as safeguard Armenias trade turnover with Russian Federation, other EEU countries and the European Union.
The forthcoming opening of the major infrastructure projects such as North-South highway corridor will make Armenia the shortest transit route connecting Persian Gulf to the Black Sea ports. Besides that, shared values with the EU have opened up privileged trade opportunities for Armenia with the EU as a part of the GSP+ arrangement.
China increasingly becomes more engaged in the Armenian market with new economic prospects, also through the project of the Silk Road Economic Belt. Besides that, we enjoy historically close relations with various Middle Eastern countries with whom our trade volumes have been growing consistently over the past few years.
I would like to especially underline the advantage we enjoy due to the presence of the large Armenian Diaspora around the globe. Due to these fellow Armenians we have been recognized widely at the markets of the countries that are important for us, and we have been able to quickly get acquainted with the internal dynamics of the targeted markets and establish contacts with their business circles. In the same vein, through the Diaspora we are able to spread the word on the economic attractiveness of Armenia to the foreign investors. Since the independence was attained numerous entrepreneurs from Diaspora have made significant investments in Armenia; they also have established enterprises through which they contributed to the economic growth of ours and instilled best business practices in Armenia.
Distinguished Colleagues,
Armenia provides stable macro environment, which is the major precondition for businesses in seeking stability for their investments. Recent developments in the region and in CIS countries, with skyrocket currency depreciations, attest to Armenias capacity to cope with external negative shocks while keeping macro-environment stable and predictable. Armenian government and Central Bank effectively anchor public expectations allowing Armenian dram to depreciate in line with the path of economic fundamentals. Looking to the future Armenia will strongly continue to follow the golden rule of maintaining macro stability through the application of effective fiscal and monetary policies.
We most certainly are committed to further enhancing the business climate of the country. Our utmost priority is the introduction of a digital governance to provide for the services in line with the requirements of our people and business circles appropriate for the 21st century. For instance, nowadays everyone can track all treasury expenditures in real time, submit inquires and questions to our public service and follow up on the status of their applications online, to receive licenses and other state service electronically.
A lot more is envisaged to make business environment in Armenia highly efficient, especially with significantly improved customs and tax services. A week ago Armenias parliament adopted a new tax code that provides for a number of benefits to business and investors in Armenia. We have simplified the procedures followed by our tax administration bodies, thus making the tax monitoring processes much more business friendly.
Recently, weve committed ourselves to making our business environment much more stable and predictable through the application of judicial reforms and a commitment to strong principles of investment protection. These principles are in fact embedded in the Constitutional reform we have adopted in 2015. This reform will result in the soon to follow transition from the semi-presidential mode of governance to the parliamentary one. That initiative was also conditioned by the economic considerations since the parliamentary mode of governance, in our view, will be more effective for our country, also in the economic terms.
The new cabinet, which was formed just a few days ago, was been mandated to take bold steps to further enhance legal and institutional reforms, making the investment environment of Armenia much more attractive for both local and foreign investors. To this end we have reformed the Ministry of Economy into the Ministry for Economic Development and Investments in order to provide the entrepreneurs interested in investing in Armenia with a political platform to raise the issues they face and find solutions to those issues. Furthermore, we have empowered the Development Foundation of Armenia, which acts as an implementation agency, to assist foreign investors in all matters.
We see the engagement of international investors as an essential component to boost Armenias economy. Therefore, we commit ourselves to tailoring legislative solutions for global actors, who would wish to partner with us in making our vision of Armenia as one of the most efficient, secure and profitable opening to the major markets in the region to come true.
We look forward to seeting you all in Armenia.
I thank you very much for your attention, and I would be happy to take your questions if you have any.
The Koreans are prepping a nippy hot hatch, but sadly, it wont make it over to the States. However, Hyundai wont leave the U.S. market without an N performance variant.
The i30 N was teased and teased again, most recently, by the RN30 concept car at the Paris Auto Show, but it wont be available for all markets. However, its powertrain will be, albeit packaged in another body.
According to Car&Driver, Albert Biermann, Hyundais head of product development, suggested that another N-branded car will be available as well, which will use the I30Ns 2.0-litre, 260 hp turbocharged four-banger.
The next car is focused on the U.S. and Koreaits a different platform. After that, theres another one for Europe, then I start thinking about Chinabut the Chinese have not discovered what a performance car is yet, we need to tell them a little bit about it, said Biermann
Although its too early to speculate about the third model, the American magazine believes Hyundais second N machine will be based on the Elantra, especially as the model is already being sold in South Korea as the Avante, and its the car makers newest model in both markets.
As for the i30 N, dont sweat it too much. Biermann went on questioning the other car makers obsession with setting a lap record on the infamous Nurburgring:
Forget it, were not going for that. We were working on tuning at the Nurburgring, but not a lap time number. We know the car is fast, but theres no plan to offer it with cup tires or without rear seats. Of course, I can speak to Michelin or Pirelli and get them to make me some nice tires, maybe go 10 seconds quicker on the Nordschleife . . . [but] we dont want to do this.
Even so, he confirmed that Hyundai is working on an even more powerful, all-wheel-drive i30 which hasnt been marked for production (yet), looking for various powertrain solutions:
We look at all kinds of solutions, and of course we talk to suppliers, just like Ford does, he said. Yes, we have started this sort of thing, and we always want to have [a] strong value for [the] money, we need to be sure the customer benefit for such expensive technology is really there.
PHOTO GALLERY
Red Bull pro drifter Mad Mike Whiddett has proven once again that skilled drivers other than Ken Block can star in stunning, action-packed videos.
In his latest stunt, the Kiwi headed to spectacular South Africa with his revered Mazda RX-8 drifter dubbed BADBUL and tackled the countrys oldest and one of its road beautiful roads, the Franschhoek Pass.
Located east of Cape Town, this road traverses across a breathtaking mountain range and thanks to its flowing corners, proved the perfect place for Mad Mike to show off his precision driving skills at speeds of up to 248 km/h (154mph).
According to the man himself, The drive itself was just crazy. I can compare it a bit to Conquer the Crown a very successful project we did back home that was a game-changer for drifting because of the credibility the sport got for the precision driving. The scenery is very similar, but this road was far more raw, with like massive cliff-drops and not much run-off. Not much space for error.
Enough talking, watch and enjoy the video.after the jump.
VIDEO
Dacia introduced facelifted versions of the majority of its model line at the Paris Motor Show last month. But in many countries where you can buy Dacias products, theyre not sold as Dacias. Outside of Europe, theyre typically sold under the Renault brand, which has now revealed its own versions of the budget automobiles.
The updated range includes the Logan sedan (sometimes sold as the Symbol), the Logan MCV van, the Sandero hatchback, and the ruggedized Sandero Stepway. Each receives new C-shaped headlights with LED daytime running lights, fog lights, and a fresh grille with Renaults diamond emblem front and center.
The rear end has been similarly refreshed, and the interior fitted with updated trim including switchgear, vents, steering wheel, and upholstery. Features you might expect to find in any car no matter how cheap like power windows, armrests, a 12-volt socket, and an interior release for the gas cap are now fitted as standard. The new range even includes a back-up camera and hill-start assist.
In short, the French-badged versions get everything their Romanian counterparts received, only, you know with a Renault badge instead. Check them out in their Renault form below, and the broader gallery of near-identical updated Dacia models below that. All we need now is the Sandero RS that Renault sells only in Latin America and well be all set.
Renault
Dacia
Photo: Contributed
I would like to inform you about the tremendous positive impact you have had on my driving behaviour and that of my husband.
In addition, your influence has resulted in me becoming a better pedestrian.
Thank you, Colleen, for those incredible words, which caused my heart to almost burst from my chest. I could not have felt more esteemed and valued.
I also thank you for sharing your road-safety suggestion.
Colleen gave her husband credit for the suggestion, even though she uses the tool daily in her work as a therapist.
She referred to it as mindfulness and explained: He believes it is more effective to be fully aware and present in the moment without judgment as opposed to thinking about where you need to be and how late you are.
I have long identified inattention a lack of constant, direct attention to the important driving task at hand, as being the cause of the vast majority of crashes.
I have pointed to the insane prevalence of rear-ender crashes, where drivers simply fail to notice that traffic has stopped, and crash into the back of the stopped traffic.
Mindfulness, if defined as a heightened or complete sense of awareness of whats going on in the moment, would eliminate the inattention that causes crashes.
If we simply make mindfulness behind the wheel our goal, there should be no need to make a list of all the various activities or thoughts that can distract our attention, like putting on make-up, texting, having a cell phone discussion, thinking about work, eating, etc.
There is an endless list of things that can steal our attention, pulling it away from the road ahead just enough, at just the right moment, to cause a crash.
However unnecessary it should be to make that list, I think it can be helpful to consider the various distracters in the context of activities that everyone agrees, without question, must command our constant, focused attention.
Consider your dentist having a hands-free telephone discussion while drilling away on your tooth.
How about a woodworker taking a bite out of a burger while pushing wood through a table saw.
Consider a chef slicing vegetables with a sharp knife while daydreaming.
If we recognize that distracters dont fit with those activities, perhaps we will clue in that they dont fit with driving either.
I came up with a fun way to visually illustrate the point.
My road safety campaign, One Crash is Too Many, is sponsoring a contest.
There are first and second prizes ($100 and $50) for three age categories of artists, plus a photograph category and a video category for a total of $750 in prizes.
Details can be found on the One Crash is Too Many website.
Basically, you use art, photography or video to show someone doing an activity you wouldnt dream of doing without your constant, undivided attention, while engaging in some behaviour or exhibiting an impaired or other mental state that distracts attention.
Of course, please dont actually put anyone in danger if you are using photography or video.
Its a good cause, but not that good.
The deadline for submissions is Nov. 9. Winners will be announced on Wednesday evening, Nov. 16, at the fifth annual Kelowna commemoration of the National Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Music, laughter and wine filled the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre during the final fall festival weekend in the Okanagan.
An event like none other, Cropped brings together 26 farmers, market vendors and 70 wineries from up and down the valley for a sensory and visual experience.
Blair Baldwin with the Okanagan Wine Festivals Society says close to 2000 people attended over the two day event.
It shows people do want an authentic event and to turn a wine tasting into an opportunity to see the wine harvest going on and there is just amazing vendors here from maple syrup vendors to furniture makers, explained Baldwin.
Cropped is designed to be an indoor-style farmers market that showcases the best of the best of the Okanagan.
We had been trying to think of a wine to do a farmers market and a wine tasting for sometime, but our thoughts were generally outdoors, and those were more of a challenge, said Baldwin. Then it occurred to us we need to break the paradigm. We dont need to have a farmers market outdoors, you can bring it indoors.
Guests at the event could enjoy everything from a cheese seminar, to local tapas, to a pinot bar.
Many said while wine tasting was the best part of Cropped, the food and friendly atmosphere werent ranked far behind.
Cropped, the final event, held on Thanksgiving weekend wrapped up the 36th annual Fall Okanagan Wine Festival.
Baldwin says the festival's signature events sold out across the valley this year.
We have about 100 to 110 events from restaurants to wineries to grape stomps, epicurean dinners, all of which have done incredibly well, he said.
It will take a few weeks to gather all the information but all signs are pointing to a record attendance and a record volume here in the Okanagan of wine tourists from around the world.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. An intergovernmental agreement on the Turkish Stream pipeline has been signed in Istanbul in the presence of both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who held talks earlier, RT reported.
You now witnessed the signing of the intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the Turkish Stream. As part of this project and the broadening of our cooperation, we agreed on a mechanism by which to provide a discount on gas [for Turkey], Putin said at the press conference following the signing of the agreement.
This way we are moving towards realizing the plans of the Turkish President to create a major energy hub in the country, he added.
According to Russias Energy Minister, Aleksandr Novak, Gazprom and Turkish energy giant Botas have already been tasked with working out the amount of the discount.
Right now, by those signatures, we make a decision to intensify works on the construction of the Turkish Stream. Another important issue was [Turkeys first ever] Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. Here we reached an agreement to increase the construction pace even more. Im sure that well be able to catch up on the time that was lost recently, Erdogan said.
Earlier on Monday, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said that the Turkish Stream project agreement envisioned the construction of two pipeline branches, each with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters (bcm).
The first branch will supply gas directly to Turkey, while the second is to be used to deliver gas to European countries through Turkey, he explained.
The intergovernmental agreement would also define the deadline by which the two maritime threads are to be built. Its December 2019, Miller said.
Russia will construct and own the maritime stretch of both Turkish stream branches, Novak said.
The land part of the branch, supplying gas to Turkey, will belong to a Turkish company, with a joint venture to be created which will assume ownership of the transit pipeline, he added.
During his speech at the 23rd World Energy Congress earlier on Monday, Putin said that he and President Erdogan had thoroughly discussed the joint Turkish Stream pipeline ahead of the visit, saying they intend to implement the project.
The pipeline would allow Russian natural gas to be delivered directly to Turkey via the Russian Black Sea coast and on to Greece.
The project, with an estimated total cost of 11.4 billion (US$12.7 billion), was announced in December 2014 during Putins visit to Turkey as an alternative to the canceled South Stream route through Bulgaria.
But after the downing of a Russian jet by the Turkish Air Force in November 2015, Russia suspended the project. It was revived only after Turkey publicly apologized for the incident this August.
Photo: Contributed
Police say a woman is dead after a diving accident near a park in West Vancouver, B.C.
The West Vancouver Police Department says crews were called to Whytecliff Park around noon Sunday after a diver was brought to shore in medical distress.
They say the woman signalled to her diving partners that she was in trouble, but investigators are still looking into the nature of the emergency.
First responders worked to resuscitate the 43-year-old woman, but police say she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police have not released the woman's name, but say she is from Surrey, B.C.
The BC Coroners Service has taken the woman's diving equipment and is investigating with police.
Photo: Surrey RCMP
UPDATE: 4:30 P.M.
Surrey RCMP have called off the search for Donald Jarden, saying that he has been found and is safe.
ORIGINAL: 2 P.M.
Surrey RCMP is asking for the public's help to find a missing 81-year-old-man.
Donald Jarden was last seen on Oct. 9th at his residence in Surrey, in the area of 90th Avenue and 160th Street.
Jarden suffers from a number of medical issues that, if not taken care of daily, could result in serious deterioration of his health.
Jarden does not have access to a vehicle and is known to use taxis to get around. He is also known to frequent the Whalley Strip area.
Jarden is described as: caucasian male, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 154 pounds, short grey/brown hair and with a slim build. He was last seen wearing a black and white checked shirt, blues jeans and black shoes.
Police and family are concerned for his health and well-being as it is out of character for him to be out of touch this long.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Jarden is asked to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502, or Crime Stoppers, if they wish to remain anonymous, at 1-800-222-8477 or www.solvecrime.ca, quoting file number 2016-146213.
Photo: Contributed
The United States appears to be working toward a system for privately sponsoring refugees, potentially making it the latest country to emulate the program Canada has deployed during the Syrian migration crisis.
A group that works with the government on resettling refugees says a pilot project is in the works. An assistant secretary of state reportedly referred to it at a public forum. Canada's immigration minister says he has heard about a pilot project, and one small-government advocate says he's been advising policy-makers on it.
David Bier of the libertarian Cato Institute said he used the experience of the northern neighbour while making the case to government officials that the private sector could play a bigger role in resettling refugees.
He said there was initial reticence when he first discussed it last year with government officials, but he said the White House became enthusiastic and the State Department got involved in the details.
In the meantime, the Canadian program started getting international attention.
"The fact that it was already in operation in Canada and had proven successful was invaluable to our advocacy," Bier said in an interview. "I have no doubt that this is going to happen (in the U.S.). This is something that's part of the agenda and is being developed by the most important actors in the American refugee system."
The Canadian program allows people to sponsor a refugee for $12,600, which includes help with income and initial costs like groceries and rent. Nearly half the Syrian refugees Canada brought in starting late last year entered through private or quasi-private initiatives.
At least 13 countries have made inquiries about emulating the program, said Canada's immigration minister John McCallum. Australia and New Zealand have adopted such programs, and McCallum said the United Kingdom is working on one.
He said he's happy to offer technical advice.
"We're definitely the pioneers in it," he said in an interview. "I think this is a model that would be of some value all over the world, given that we face a huge global refugee crisis...
"I understand that (the U.S.) is going ahead with a pilot project in this area."
The White House didn't confirm or deny its intentions when asked last week.
Photo: The Canadian Press
Let insiders easily cash in stock options, as Enron did, and you risk seeing executives abandon a failing company. Encourage contractors to sacrifice quality to cut costs and you might cause problems like those that led the U.S. Justice Department to phase out privately run prisons.
Designing contracts is a tricky business. For their groundbreaking work on how to make contracts fairer and more effective, Oliver Hart of Harvard University and Bengt Holmstrom of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology won the 2016 Nobel prize for economics Monday. They will share the 8 million kronor ($930,000) award for their contributions to contract theory.
For decades, the two men have studied practical problems involving the countless kinds of contracts that underlie modern commerce:
How should companies pay their executives? What types of tasks should government agencies outsource to private contractors? How best to write an auto insurance policy to protect drivers from financial loss without lulling them into carelessness?
Pay packages, Holmstrom's work suggests, are best tailored to avoid either punishing or rewarding CEOs for happenings beyond their control.
"You don't want to reward the CEO because the S&P 500 (stock index) has gone up 20 per cent," said Patrick Bolton of Columbia University Business School, who studied under Hart and has written a textbook on the economics of contracts. "You want to reward the CEO when his company outperforms the S&P."
Likewise, companies fare best when they establish pay packages that incentivize executives to prioritize the long term as much as the short term, to avoid focusing too much on quarterly profit expectations.
"These kinds of insights into how we should design contracts are very important because we don't want to give the wrong incentives to people," said Tomas Sjostrom, a member of the Nobel committee. "We don't want to reward them for things that they were not responsible for. We want to reward the right thing."
Hart, 68, is a London-born U.S. citizen who has taught at Harvard since 1993. Holmstrom, 67, is an academic from Finland who formerly served on the board of the country's mobile phone company Nokia. Economists who have long known the two men and their work offered warm praise Monday.
"This is the Nobel Prize in economics at its best," said George Akerlof of Georgetown University, who won the prize in 2001. "The character of both Bengt and Oliver shines through in their work and their character: They are true intellectuals and truly great people."
At a news conference at MIT, Holmstrom declined to say whether he thought CEO pay a hotly contentious issue in the United States and elsewhere had become excessive.
"It is somewhat demand and supply working its magic," he said.
Photo: The Canadian Press
A Rhode Island man has squashed a record set by his son by taking first prize in a pumpkin contest with a 2,261.5-pound gourd.
WJAR-TV reports Richard Wallace's 2,261.5-pound pumpkin beat the North American giant pumpkin record set by his son, Ron, at the same event last year. Ron Wallace's pumpkin topped the scales at 2,230 pounds at the Frerichs Farm Pumpkin Weigh Off in Warren in 2015.
Ron Wallace was the first person in the world to break the 1-ton barrier when he grew a 2,009-pound pumpkin in 2012.
The younger Wallace said last year that his secret is "a lot of hard work" and what he calls the Wallace organic wonder fertilizer.
Frerichs Farm has hosted the event since 2000.
Photo: The Canadian Press
Presidential campaigns resumed in the key battlegrounds of Florida and North Carolina on Monday, though some campaign offices remain closed and a legal dispute over voter registration lingers after Hurricane Matthew battered the Atlantic coastline, leaving behind fatalities, property damage and widespread power outages.
Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence was in western North Carolina on Monday, while Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was planning to visit south Florida on Tuesday. GOP hopeful Donald Trump was also to campaign in Florida the next two days with stops in three cities that are usually GOP strongholds.
Yet the storm's interruptions could yield even marginal effects on voter turnout efforts by campaigns of Clinton and Trump. North Carolina and Florida remain close, even as Clinton appears to be taking a commanding national lead. And going days without door-knocking and phone-banking around Fayetteville, North Carolina, or registering voters around Jacksonville, Florida, is enough to make Republican and Democratic aides nervous.
"The time for politics will come back, and it will just have to take care of itself," said Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, which together with the Republican National Committee leads voter turnout efforts for Trump and the rest of the GOP slate.
Woodhouse said GOP campaign offices remained closed in Fayetteville, Greenville and Wilmington.
In his first public campaign appearance since Sunday's second presidential debate, Pence told a Charlotte crowd that eastern North Carolinians are "inspiring" for their handling of the hurricane. Pence also praised Trump for apologizing after the Friday disclosure of a 2005 NBC video that captured the real estate billionaire making predatory comments about women.
In Florida, Democrats were still pushing to extend Tuesday's voter registration deadline, even as they plan to mark the occasion with campaign stops from the candidate, former President Bill Clinton and former Vice-President Al Gore. The deadline applies to both in-person registration and postmarks for mailed forms.
It was not clear Monday afternoon when a federal court might consider an extension sought in a complaint filed Sunday by Florida Democratic Party with Clinton's support. The suit argues that Matthew constituted a "daunting" and "life-threatening obstacle" to registration and that would-be voters should have additional time since Scott urged 1.5 million people to evacuate ahead of the storm.
Scott previously declined requests from the Clinton campaign to extend the deadline under his emergency powers. "People have had time to register," the governor said.
In 2004, then-Gov. Jeb Bush used emergency authority to allow several Florida counties to delay the start of early voting after Hurricane Charley.
Scott's legal advisers are reviewing the suit, aides said.
Court offices were closed Monday in observance of Columbus Day.
Photo: Penticton and District Community Arts Council
The Penticton & District Community Arts Council recently received a grant in the amount of $27,500 from the provincial government.
Local MLA Dan Ashton was on hand to present the funds to the Arts Council's executive director Vaelei Walkden-Brown and board of directors vice-president Timothy Tweed.
We have a very strong and clear vision for the future of the Penticton Arts Council as an advocate for the Penticton and district arts community," said Walkden-Brown.
"Arts and Culture are integral to the development of a strong, vibrant and prosperous city. We are encouraged by the provincial government's continued dedication to the growth of the arts in this constituency.
Tweed added his gratitude to the government for the funding as well.
"It demonstrates their recognition of the importance of the arts to the local community," he said.
The Arts Council is encouraging people to become a member, by registering in person at the Leir House (220 Manor Park Avenue) during office hours, or by visiting their website.
Photo: The Canadian Press
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau will open the trading day at the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday to mark International Day of the Girl.
She is collaborating with three charitable organizations G(irls)20, Plan International Canada and FitSpirit to illustrate how important it is for girls to have equal opportunities to boys.
Farah Mohamed, the CEO of G(irls)20, said it's important for people to realize that investing time and resources into girls pays off.
Mohamed said G(irls)20 "literally invests in girls and women around the world," by training, mentoring and advocating for them.
She said the organization also helps girls launch their own social profit initiatives.
The organization frames women's and girl's equality differently from other organizations, using financial language. Mohamed says girls are themselves resource in which businesses and governments should invest, noting that they have a high return on investment.
Mohamed says when women earn a salary, they tend to put most of the money they make back into the community, which in turn raises the GDP.
She adds that using this type of language breaks through to people who are more business-minded. "We started out advocating to G20 leaders," she said, "and they're all about the GDP."
Mohamed says it's natural to involve Gregoire Trudeau who she describes as a "champion for girls and young women" in the effort.
Gregoire Trudeau has previously worked with Plan Canada as an ambassador for the organization's Because I Am A Girl initiative, and has spoken fairly regularly about issues of gender equality since her husband became Prime Minister.
After opening the TSX, Gregoire Trudeau will lead a discussion with Canadian girls, "showing that girls and women belong in the seats of classrooms, boardrooms, trading floors, Senate, courtrooms, press rooms and corner offices," says a Plan International Canada news release.
Photo: Google Maps
UPDATE: 10:30 a.m.
RCMP say the shooting occurred in a residential area shortly after 10 p.m. Monday.
Const. Jamie Phillipson says the shooting was targeted, and both parties know one another.
Further details about the suspects have not been released.
Police say the investigation is ongoing.
The Canadian Press
ORIGINAL: 6 a.m.
RCMP in Coquitlam are investigating a report of shots fired into a vehicle.
In a press release issued just before 4 a.m., police say shots rang out on the 1200 block of Thomas Avenue, in the Maillardville neighbourhood, near Rochester Park.
Staff Sgt. D. Stewart said in the email there were no injuries in the shooting incident.
One vehicle was damaged.
Shortly after the initial report, two people were taken into custody, with the assistance of Surrey RCMP.
No other details were released.
Photo: The Canadian Press
If you're angry or upset, you might want to simmer down before heading out for an intense run or gym workout. A large, international study ties heavy exertion while stressed or mad to a tripled risk of having a heart attack within an hour.
Regular exercise is a healthy antidote to stress and can help prevent heart disease the biggest problem is that too many people get too little of it. But the new research suggests there may be better or worse times to exercise, and that extremes can trigger harm.
"This study is further evidence of the connection between mind and body. When you're angry, that's not the time to go out and chop a stack of wood," said Barry Jacobs, a psychologist at the Crozer-Keystone Health System in suburban Philadelphia and an American Heart Association volunteer.
He had no role in the study , led by the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Results were published Monday in the Heart Association journal Circulation.
Earlier studies have looked at anger and exertion as heart attack triggers but most were small or in one country, or included few women or minorities. The new study involved 12,461 people suffering a first heart attack in 52 countries. Their average age was 58 and three-fourths were men.
They answered a survey about whether they were angry or upset, or had heavy exertion, in the hour before their heart attack or during the same time period the previous day. That way researchers could compare risk at different times in the same people and the effect of these potential heart attack triggers.
Being angry or upset doubled the risk of suffering heart attack symptoms within an hour; heavy physical exertion did the same. Having both at the same time more than tripled the risk for a heart attack.
The risk was greatest between 6 p.m. and midnight, and was independent of other factors such as smoking, high blood pressure or obesity.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. There is a stable macro-economic environment in Armenia which is an important condition for doing business, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said during Armenia: Investment Forum 2016 in New York, Armenpress reported.
The President said the recent developments in the region and the CIS states, in particular, the sharp depreciation of currencies showed that Armenia is capable of resisting external negative shocks ensuring stable and predictable macro environment in the country.
He said the Armenian Government and the Central Bank satisfy the publics expectations and enable our national currency to be depreciated in accordance with economic fundamentals. Serzh Sargsyan emphasized that they are going to strictly follow the golden rule of maintaining macro-economic stability through effective fiscal and monetary policy.
Of course, we are committed to further improving Armenias business environment. We give priority to introduction of digital governance aimed at providing our people and business circles with services in line with 21st centurys requirements. For instance, today everyone can follow online all budget expenses, can make requests and inquiries to the public service authorities and follow the process of his/her application, can obtain licenses and other state services via e-mail, the President said.
He said they are planning to significantly improve the tax and customs sectors for making the business environment more effective in Armenia.
The Armenian Parliament adopted the new Tax Code a week ago which gives certain privileges to businessmen and investors. We have simplified the procedures carried out by the tax authorities. Recently we were committed to making our business environment more stable and predictable through the implementation of reforms in the justice field and firm commitment to principles of investments protection. Those principles actually were enshrined in 2015 Constitutional reforms, where there is a special emphasis on provisions related to business development and investments facilitation. Due to such changes there is going to be a transition from semi-presidential system into parliamentary in Armenia soon. We think that the parliamentary system will be more effective for Armenia, from the economic point of view as well, he said.
The newly formed Armenian Government has received wide powers to move forward the process of legal and institutional reforms for making Armenias investment environment much more attractive for local, as well as foreign investors. In this regard, the Ministry Economy was renamed into Ministry of Economic Development and Investors. Moreover, the Armenian Development Fund received a power to assist foreign investors on all issues.
We consider the involvement of foreign investors as an important component for boosting Armenias economy. Thus, we are obliged to ensure pilot legislative solutions for major investors who will want to use todays and tomorrows Armenias opportunities as a gate to major regional markets, Serzh Sargsyan said.
Photo: CTV
Firefighters had to pull back from fighting a house fire in Port Coquitlam early this morning after ammunition started going off in the home.
Heavy smoke poured from the two-storey home on Lincoln Avenue about 3 a.m.
According to reports on Twitter by CTV, two people were hurt in the fire, which is believed to have started in a basement sauna.
Residents tried fighting the fire with a hose before firefighters arrived.
with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: Getty Images
A special heavy-rain weather statement has been issued for most of the South Coast.
According to Environment Canada, Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, Whistler and the Fraser Valley can expect powerful October storms to hit the region on Wednesday.
Those storms are expected to bring heavy rains and strong winds through the area from Wednesday through to the weekend.
Rainfall will be heavy at times, writes Environment Canada.
Total rainfall accumulations from these storms may exceed 200 millimetres for the west and inland areas of Vancouver Island, while inner coastal regions may exceed 100 mm.
The weather statement warns that strong winds will also accompany these storms, with winds over exposed coastal areas that may exceed 80 km/h at times during these storms.
As these storms advance toward the South Coast and progress through the region, weather warnings will be issued and updated as needed, adds Environment Canada.
You can continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada here.
To report severe weather, send an email to [email protected] or tweet reports to #BCStorm.
Send your weather photos and video to [email protected].
Photo: Handout
UPDATED: 12:35 p.m.
A Saskatchewan man is dead and four other men were injured after a plane crashed in British Columbia's central Interior on Monday.
Transportation Safety Board spokesman Bill Yearwood says the de Havilland Beaver aircraft left an airfield in Vanderhoof, west of Prince George, and was headed to Laidman Lake.
Yearwood says the men were planning on hunting in the remote region.
He says the plane crashed into trees, although the aircraft did not catch fire in the snow-covered area.
Rescuers found one man dead at the scene, and Yearwood says one of the other four men injured was in serious condition.
The name of the man killed hasn't been released.
The Transportation Safety Board has sent a team to investigate the cause of the crash.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer
There has been another reported break and enter in Penticton's downtown area.
Community Policing Co-ordinator Rick Dellebuur said the incident took place at the Classic Guitars store at 465 Main Street on the night of Oct. 6.
One guitar was taken from the music store, according to the police.
Photo: CTV
Police say a man found in a ravine near a homeless camp on the weekend was murdered.
The Integrated Homicide Investigations Team identified the man as Kevin William Knuff, 56, and investigators have now confirmed his injuries were "consistent with foul play."
Police have not yet determined a motive or identified a suspect.
The homeless camp itself was not large, with less than 10 residents occupying the camp. However, the camp was empty at the time Mr. Knuff was found. Police are concentrating our efforts towards identifying and speaking to the other camp residents, says staff-Sgt. Jennifer Pound.
Police say they'll be scouring the large area for evidence for the next couple of days.
Anyone with information is asked to call the IHIT tip-line at 1-877-551-4448, or call Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous.
Photo: RCMP
UPDATE: Oct. 12, 2:15 p.m.
Police say a Kamloops teenager who went missing has been found.
ORIGINAL: Oct. 11, 11:55 a.m.
Kamloops RCMP are looking for help finding a missing teenager.
Angelis Justis, 15, was reported missing Oct. 5 from the North Shore.
She's described as Caucasian, 5-foot-5, with a slim build, dark shoulder length hair and a tattoo of dots on her left forearm.
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call Kamloops RCMP at 250-828-3000.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer
The City of Penticton is facing yet another lawsuit this time over a injury allegedly resulting from a pothole.
In his claim filed on Oct. 3, Joseph Daniel Frocklage said he was travelling along a crosswalk at the intersection of Main Street and McDougall Avenue, when his electric wheelchair hit a pothole on May 4.
The wheelchair fell over, which the claim states caused Frocklage injuries, including leg injuries, cuts on the right shin and swelling in the ankle.
That, he claims, has affected his everyday living, including a loss of housekeeping abilities, and has caused him continuing pain.
Frocklage is asking for healthcare costs, as well as costs incurred due to the damage to his wheelchair and from a loss of income since the incident, which he claims will be ongoing.
He says the city had a duty to ensure that the sidewalk was safe for use, and that he was exposed to risks which the city "knew or ought to have known."
He claimed the city was negligent in allowing the crosswalk to become hazardous.
In its response, filed Oct. 7, the city has denied facts surrounding the incident.
Its response denies that Frocklage "fell either as alleged ... or at all and further denies that (Frocklage) suffered or continues to suffer any injury, damage or expense, as alleged or at all."
The city claims it has maintained the crosswalk in question in reasonable condition for safe use, and is therefore not responsible for any injuries suffered by Frocklage.
The city added that if the accident did happen, it calls on Frocklage to prove that he has suffered ongoing pain and costs as a result.
This latest filing adds to a number of lawsuits the city is facing, including one filed the same day by local car dealerships, and another similar suit, in which a man alleges negligence from the city after he slipped on an icy sidewalk.
There are also two lawsuits against the city over the Skaha Lake Park Waterslide.
Photo: Facebook
There has been an outpouring of support for the family of Beverly Anne Louie, after the Osoyoos Indian Band member died in a car crash early Monday morning in the Oliver area.
People have taken to social media to offer their condolences, with this being the second major tragedy to befall the family in recent years.
Louie, 47, is the mother of murder victim Roxanne Louie, whose case is currently moving through the court system
In response to all the well wishes, the family issued a statement on Tuesday.
"The family of Beverly Louie would like to thank everyone for the prayers and good wishes being sent to the family. They want you to know that the fight for Justice for Roxanne Louie continues and they will continue to ensure her child is cared for and protected," the statement reads.
The family requests privacy to mourn and process this overwhelming loss. The community and family thank you for your co-operation and support during this very sad time."
Photo: file photo
Search and rescue volunteers retrieved three people from a sailboat that ran aground off Gabriola Island, Monday.
The vessel ran aground near Silva Bay.
Royal Canadian Marine Search & Rescue responded to the mayday call about 3:45 p.m.
Search and rescue crews from Nanaimo and Ladysmith assisted in the operation, and a Coast Guard hovercraft was also dispatched from Vancouver.
The sailboat was towed back to Silva Bay.
with files from CTV Vancouver Island
Photo: Contributed
The conservation officer service is reporting that a mature bull moose was shot in the Naramata area on the weekend.
Conservation officer Mike Stern said the animal was shot and then left up Arawana Road at about the 15-kilometre mark, sometime between late Saturday evening and early Sunday morning.
"The animal was partially field-dressed. However, the person did not take the moose," he said.
Stern added that there is limited entry hunting for moose in that area, but conservation officers don't believe this animal was legally shot,
Anyone with information is asked to call the RAPP hotline at 1-877-952-7277.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenia Investment Forum started in New York with participation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on October 10, with the main aim of introducing foreign investors to investment opportunities in Armenia, press service of the Development Foundation of Armenia informed Armenpress.
The Development Foundation of Armenia organized the two-day forum where representatives of leading companies from various sectors and international finance organizations, experts, and around one hundred international investors are participating.
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan gave a speech highlighting current geopolitical and economic priorities, achievements since the quarter-century of independence, the countrys competitive advantages, investment opportunities, implemented reforms, the favorable business environment, easy access to regional markets through Armenia and a stable macroeconomic environment. The President suggested investors use Armenia's assets as a gateway to the region's major markets.
Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan, Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank Wencai Zhang, Executive Director of the World Bank Group Frank Heemskerk, and US Congress Representative Frank Pallone delivered speeches at the forum.
The bridging role of Armenia between Europe and Asia, east and west, in the context of global developments was presented to potential investors during the forum. This bridge offers international investors a favorable alternative considering Armenias membership to various international unions and free trade agreements. Speakers emphasized that Armenia is a member of the EEU, with a market of 180 million people; it has signed a free trade agreement with all the CIS countries, with a total of 230 million customers; and benefits from the EU Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) that gives privileges for the export of 6,400 product items. Armenia also has a GSP trade regime with the USA, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and Norway. Additionally, traditional trade and economic relations with Iran are now opening links for other economies to the Iranian market.
Presentations also covered the competitive advantages in Armenia such as ease of entrance to strategic markets, educated and inexpensive workforce, and the safe and reforming business environment. These advantages make Armenia an attractive country for investment and bestow an edge over other markets of the region.
Over the course of the forum, representatives of the Armenian government provided firsthand information about the potential for innovation in the IT, mining, agro-food, telecommunication, transport, pharmaceutical, tourism, and financial sectors to potential investors during ten panel sessions of the forum. A large report about private investment support tools by international finance institutions were also covered during the forum.
Representatives of foreign investors such as Armenia Marriott Yerevan, Contour Global, Azad Pharma AG, National Instruments, Synopsis, Armenia International Airports, Coca Cola Hellenic Armenia presented present their investment success stories to the participants of the forum. Various meetings and a memorandum signing in the IT sector took place at the forum.
More detailed information is available at the official web page of the Armenia Investment Forum at http://invest-armenia.com. An information package with the agenda, session participants and work covered over the first day is attached to the press release.
Photo: CTV
The criminal trial stemming from an aviation fuel spill in the Slocan Valley in 2013 has been put off for two more months.
Judge Phillip Seagram agreed to restart the trial on Dec. 6, in order to give Crown and defence attorneys more time to prepare their cases.
The Executive Flight Centre, one of its employees, and the provincial government are all co-defendants in the case, begun after a tanker truck carrying aviation fuel up a logging road in the Slocan Valley tipped over and spilled 33,000 litres of fuel into Lemon Creek.
The spill killed fish and wildlife downstream, and forced the evacuation of residents living in the area.
The trial was set to begin Tuesday, but the lawyer for the prosecution, John Cliffe, told the judge he was going to call at least 65 witnesses to establish the Crowns case. The proceedings took place via conference call in a Nelson courtroom.
The extra time will be used to ensure all the parties have the information needed for the trial to proceed.
It took nearly three years after the spill for charges to be laid, and only after a local activist, Marilyn Burgoon, successfully laid private criminal charges against the defendants. Her win in court prompted the federal government to lay charges in July.
Burgoon, who was in the courtroom Tuesday, said she was pleased the Crown planned to call so many witnesses.
Its something I could never have done, it would have been too costly and lengthy, said Burgoon, whose case has been put on hold while the federal trial proceeds. I cant access what the government can access in terms of information.
The defendants have been charged with two counts of depositing a deleterious substance in a water frequented by fish under the Fisheries Act. The penalty on conviction is a minimum of $5,000 for an individual and $100,000 for the government or a company. There are also six counts of introducing waste into a stream causing pollution under the Environmental Management Act. The maximum penalty set out in the Act is a $1-million fine or six months in jail.
The defendants have not made their pleas in the case.
Photo: CTV
A man who attacked a nurse at an Abbotsford hospital will not serve time in jail.
Ryan Stard pleaded guilty earlier this year to assault causing bodily harm for the March 2015 attack on a male nurse at the Abbotsford Regional Hospital.
The provincial court heard there were mitigating factors that contributed to the attack, including mental health issues.
Stard was given a conditional discharge in court on Tuesday.
The B.C. Nurses' Union calls the judgment unacceptable and disappointing.
President Gayle Duteil says the sentence sends the message that it's okay to beat up health-care workers.
"In the courtroom today, we were compared to police officers and peace officers, and yet the justice system let the nurses of B.C. down," she says.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Turkey will not cross the line in relations with Russia, Director of the NAS Institute of Oriental Studies, expert on Turkish studies Ruben Safrastyan said commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putins visit to Turkey and the normalization process of the Russian-Turkish relations, reports Armenpress.
The two countries belong to different military-political alliances. Turkey and the US are military allies within NATO, whereas US-Russia relations are escalated in the military-political field. Thus, Turkey will not cross the line in relations with Russia, Ruben Safrastyan said.
He said the two countries seek to restore the previous level of economic relations. He attached importance to the Turkish Stream gas pipeline agreement. Safrastyan said if it is implemented, Turkey will strengthen its position serving as a gas supply center.
The heads of two states discussed also political issues, in particular the Syrian issue. The sides agreed to continue efforts on supporting people of Aleppo.
This is important since Turkey actually doesnt join the West which criticizes Russias policy on this issue. Moreover, the Turkish troops operations in Syria were discussed, he said.
The heads of two states agreed to hold deeper talks on Syria. They are trying to establish a base in Syria for joint actions.
As we know, the two states have opposing stances on certain issues, in particular, over Assad, but there was no talk about him. Turkey and Russia are trying to put aside the opposing stances. This is in the interests of both, Turkey receives an opportunity to continue operations in Syrias north. Russia gives importance to the fact that its actions are not being criticized by a state which is a part of NATO military-political alliance and is Syrias neighboring country, Ruben Safrastyan said.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to Paris for a visit scheduled for October 19, a source in the Kremlin said, TASS reported.
"The visit of the president to Paris on October 19 wont take place," the source said commenting on media reports.
Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out that such a visit could be held and said that the Russian side was preparing for it. He said more details would be revealed as soon as the final agreement was reached.
On Monday, French President Francois Hollande expressed doubt whether these talks were needed amid the differences with Russia over Syria. Later Frances Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Hollande would make a final decision on his personal meeting with Putin "taking into consideration the situation in Syria."
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Aleppo has become hostage in the hands of rebels, Director of the NAS Institute of Oriental Studies, expert on Turkish studies Ruben Safrastyan said commenting on recent developments in Syria, reports Armenpress.
In this situation the most important for us is our compatriots life. The fact that our compatriots lives are in danger is very real. According to UN estimates the situation in Syria is going to worsen during the upcoming two months. Thus, for us it is important to ensure our compatriots secure exit. The most important is to save that peoples life, he said. Ruben Safrastyan said large-scale operations are possible to be carried out in Aleppo soon.
Referring to Russia-US worsening relations, Safrastyan said a very serious process is taking place. He said in recent decades the world hasnt seen what is happening in Syria and Europe.
If relations of Russia and the US continue worsening, an occasional clash may occur between the Russian and US armed forces in Syria. It can lead to unpredictable consequences, the expert said.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Armenia on October 14 to take part in the CSTO session, the Kremlin press service said, reports Armenpress.
On October 14 Vladimir Putin will visit the Republic of Armenia to take part in the regular session of the CSTO Collective Security Council. Issues related to the situation in the CSTO responsibility zone, as well as the further improvement of the structures collective security system will be discussed A special emphasis will be put on taking measures for fight against international terrorism, the statement said.
It is said the CSTO chairmanship will pass from Armenia to Belarus during Yerevan session.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. French President Francois Hollande has said he is ready to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin "at any time, TASS reported.
Im ready to meet Putin at any moment," Hollande said at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). "France has important relations with Russia on Syria. But this should be an open dialogue.
Earlier the Kremlin source told TASS Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to Paris for a visit scheduled for October 19.
"The visit of the president to Paris on October 19 wont take place," the source said commenting on media reports.
Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out that such a visit could be held and said that the Russian side was preparing for it. He said more details would be revealed as soon as the final agreement was reached.
On Monday, French President Francois Hollande expressed doubt whether these talks were needed amid the differences with Russia over Syria. Later Frances Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Hollande would make a final decision on his personal meeting with Putin "taking into consideration the situation in Syria."
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. 316,331 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 9 October, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy. Some 167,972 people have arrived in Greece and 144,527 in Italy during 2016, IOM reported.
The total is well below the number of arrivals at this point in 2015, when over 520,000 migrants and refugees had made the journey.
However, the death toll in 2016 is higher. This year some 3,611 people have drowned or been reported missing in incidents off Egypt, Libya, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Morocco and Spain.
IOM Rome reported Monday just over 1,800 migrants have been rescued in the Channel of Sicily and brought to land since IOMs last report. According to most up-to-date Italian Ministry of Interior (MoI) data, 144,527 migrants have arrived by sea to Italy this year, which is an increase of nearly 6 percent from last year in the same period, when arrivals were 136,373.
According to the MoI, as of 9 October around 160,900 migrants and refugees were hosted in formal reception centers in Italy.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. The CSTO Collective Security Councils session will be held in Yerevan on October 14 chaired by President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, press service of the Presidential administration informed Armenpress.
Issues related to the process of the implementation of decisions adopted at last years summits, as well as the priorities set by Armenia during its chairmanship in the CSTO will be discussed.
A number of issues related to international situation, collective security provision will be discussed at the session.
The draft decisions on the CSTO Collective Security Strategy and CSTO crisis response center creation until 2025, the improvement of the CSTO activity, as well as the implementation of decisions on fight against international terrorism will be covered at the session.
It is planned to adopt a number of political statements.
Taking into account that the CSTO chairmanship will pass to Belarus from Armenia for 2016-2017, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will present the countrys priorities at the session.
A number of documents related to the further development of the CSTO military component, training of military personnel, as well as the development of emergency response system of the CSTO member states will be signed.
The heads of states will also make a decision over the CSTO Secretary General.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. The situation in Syria and particularly in Aleppo is peaceful, there is no panic, Minister of Diaspora of Armenia Hranush Hakobyan told Armenpress in response to the question if the rumors that Syrian-Armenians have turned to the Government of Armenia with a plea to be transported to Armenia. According to the Minister, there are people who want to come to Armenia, but they are a small number.
No one can leave Syria without the permittance of our consulate, therefore we work with the consulate on daily basis. Syrian-Armenian families have moved to Armenia during the last week. Employees of our ministry welcome the airplanes coming from the east, and we find out with the help of our organizations in Syria if there are people wishing to come to Armenia, the Minister said.
Minister Hakobyan also noted that situation in Syria is unpredictable and the issue of the ministry is to be helpful for any Syrian-Armenian, be it in Syria or Armenia.
Head of Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians' Issues NGO Lena Halajyan told Armenpress that her organization has received no official request for being moved to Armenia and the rumors derive from non-reliable sources.
According to media reports, 600 Syrian-Armenians have appealed to Yerevan-based Aleppo charitable NGO for being moved to Armenia. The founder of the organization Ani Balkhyan has told Arevelk periodical about this.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. An extraordinary session of the inter-agency committee on coordinating Syrian-Armenians issues took place on October 11 at the Ministry of Diaspora of Armenia. The session focused on the issues of supporting Syrian-Armenians who have moved to Armenia due to the escalation of the situation in Syria and those who are still in Syria and wish to move to Armenia, Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Ministry of Diaspora.
Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan informed the present that the Ministry permanently keeps in touch with Armenian organizations in Syria, as well as Armenias Consul General for assessing the situation and rendering necessary aid. She added that only 4 families moved to Armenia from Syria during the last 10 days. Media reports alleging that there is panic in Syria and many wish to come to Armenia is exaggerated. At the same time she informed that the two airplanes carrying humanitarian aid to Syria by the assignment of President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan have successfully landed and been distributed. Hranush Hakobyan noted that the pivotal issue for now is providing the Syrian-Armenians who have arrived in Armenia with shelter, food and job.
AGBU board member, coordinator of Middle East and Armenia programs Vazgen Yakubian mentioned that after the recent developments in Syria the AGBU has set an extraordinary fund for helping Syrian Armenians.
Head of Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians' Issues NGO Lena Halajyan stressed the importance of not politicizing the issue of transporting Syrian-Armenians to the Motherland. Various fake organizations are established for allegedly supporting the Syrian-Armenians. I have to mention with sorrow that a number of media representatives manipulate the issue of Syrian Armenians for expanding their audience, as a result of which, unfortunately, false information is spread, leaving under shadow the huge works done, she said.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he would help send people to Mars as soon as 14 years from now, pledging to work with private companies to "to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space", Armenpress reports, citing Reuters.
"We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America's story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time," Obama said in an opinion piece for CNN posted to its website.
Obama's comments come ahead of a meeting planned by the White House in Pittsburgh this week aimed at teaming up scientists, students and others to further efforts to develop the commercial space market, according to the piece.
While private companies are already working on missions to space, including to the International Space Station, humans have yet to travel to Mars, Earth's neighbor some 35 million miles (56 million km) away at their closest point in orbit, according to NASA. Like Earth, the so-called Red Planet also has seasons, and a 2012 NASA mission found conditions there once supported microbial life, according to the U.S. space agency.
It would take about nine months to get there, depending on rocket velocity, some NASA experts have said. A high-speed trip could take as little as 130 days, they said on the agency's website.
It has been decades since the United States sent astronauts to the moon in 1969, and efforts to fund the space program have faltered in recent years over concerns about government spending and fiscal priorities.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. The Ambassador of Armenia to Switzerland, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the Geneva office of the United Nations Charles Aznavour gave a reception on October 10 in the event hall of Beau Rivage hotel in Geneva on the 25th anniversary of Armenias independence.
As Armenpress was informed from the press service of MFA Armenia, President of the UN Human Rights Council Choi Kyonglim, representatives of Swiss Federal legislative and executive bodies, numerous diplomatic representatives accredited in the Geneva office of the United Nations and Bern, heads of international organizations, representatives of the Armenian community in Switzerland attended the event.
Ambassador Aznavour mentioned in his speech that the 25 years of independence of Armenia were years of hardships for the Armenian people, but at the same time hose were the years of achievements and victories. And though a quarter of a century is not a long period for a nation with a history of 3 thousand years, the 25 years of independence were crucial for the people of Armenia in their path to reinforcing the sovereign statehood and reintegration in the family of nations.
The Ambassador of Armenia expressed gratitude to all the friends of Armenia, who have accompanied Armenia along that path, specially pointing out the Swiss Confederation and Geneva-based international organizations.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS. After becoming a member state to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Armenia is no longer a country with a population of 3 million, but a part of a huge market with a population of 200 million, Board Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Tigran Sargsyan told during Armenia investment forum 2016 in New York.
Investing in Armenia, as a EAEU member state, you enter a huge area where 4 key freedoms are applied: free movement of products, services, capital and labor, as Armenpress was informed from the press service of the EEC, Tigran Sargsyan said. According to the EEC board Chairman, despite the fact that a lot of works have been done in the EAEU member states for ensuring those 4 freedoms, there is still much to do to apply them in the Union in a final form.
But at the same time Tigran Sargsyan stated that the 5 EAEU member states are confident in their aspiration to make the EAEU a modern economic union.
Tigran Sargsyan noted that the EAEU is a young integration union, where the norms and laws are still in the phase of active elaboration and application in the member states.
Tigran Sargsyan put the emphasis on the fact that the EAEU is an economic, but not a political union, open for cooperation with any state.
We advocate better cooperation, we do not close, but open markets, since the main issue facing us is to improve the living conditions of the people of our countries, Sargsyan stated.
The adversary violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between the Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces around 50 times, from late Sunday night to early Monday morning.
October 10, 2016, 09:29 Karabakh army: Azerbaijan fired over 430 shots at night
STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 10, ARTSAKHPRESS: During this time the Azerbaijani armed forces fired more than 430 shots toward the Armenian position-holders, and by way of various caliber weapons, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Army informed.
But the NKR Defense Army vanguard units adhered to the truce, for the most part, and took actions in response solely when absolutely necessary.
The Chattanooga Theatre Centre has launched a search for original, unpublished scripts to be evaluated for possible production in the Theatre Centres Festival of New Plays in April of 2017.
This is the Theatre Centre's ninth Festival of New Plays, which is held every two years. As many as four scripts may be selected for production as part of the Festival April 21 May 7, 2017.
The top script will receive a fully realized stage production at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre including sets, costumes, lighting and sound, and the playwright of the winning play will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize. Three plays will be presented as staged readings and those playwrights will be awarded cash prizes of $250 each.
Any playwright living in Tennessee or residing within a 150-mile radius of Chattanooga in surrounding states is eligible. Full rules for play submission follow and are posted on our website, TheatreCentre.com. Playwrights should submit three hard copies of his or her script with a cover letter and a submission fee of $25 per script (submission fee is waived for current members of the WGA or Dramatists Guild with proof of current membership) to Festival of New Plays, Chattanooga Theatre Centre, P.O. Box 4023, 400 River Street, Chattanooga, TN 37405. Scripts must be at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16.
The following information is provided to assist you in your submission:
Background
The Chattanooga Theatre Centre is a not-for-profit community theatre in its 93rd season with an annual budget of one million dollars. We have an excellent facility, a deep talent pool and a strong interest in supporting new playwrights.
In April of 2017, we will host our 9th Biennial Festival of New Plays. Our previous festivals have been highly successful presentations of new, unpublished original material.
The 2017 Festival will include a series of up to four new plays selected from submissions. Up to three will receive staged readings and a $250 cash prize. The final play will be awarded a full production and the playwright will earn a $1,000 cash prize.
The Festival will take place during April/May, with the opening of the full production on Friday, April 21, 2017, for a total of ten performances over three consecutive weekends. The additional three readings will take place between April 21 and May 6. Playwrights are welcome to attend any and all activities related to their play, including rehearsals; however, we do not provide for travel or housing expenses.
The Competition
Eligibility
Any playwright living in Tennessee, or who lives within a 150-mile radius of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is eligible. There is no restriction for age. Any play that has not received more than one prior production (for these purposes, a production is defined as fully staged with or without sets or costumes, or a reading to which admission was charged) is eligible for submission. Any previously published works, or works with more than one prior production, are not eligible.
Requirements
Scripts should be full-length, although substantial one-act plays will be considered. The play can be a drama, comedy, mystery or any other format, although for this Festival, we will not accept submissions of musicals. The play must be able to be produced on one of our stages and should take into account the need for simplicity of production (no flying scenery or trap doors, etc.) There is no restriction on subject matter, although nudity, excessive or gratuitous profanity or violence, and plays that degrade any group based on race, ethnicity, sex, religion, and/or sexual orientation will not be accepted.
Awards
Up to four selected scripts will receive productions as part of the Festival of New Plays.
Up to three scripts will be presented as Staged Readings; the playwrights will be awarded prizes of $250 in cash.
One script will receive a fully staged production on a CTC stage, including sets, costumes, lighting and sound; the playwright will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize.
Additional scripts may receive Honorable Mention and be given written feedback from the adjudication committee.
We reserve the right to decline the presentation of any award if, in the opinion of the adjudication committee, no qualified script is submitted.
Evaluation
Each script will receive readings by a panel of judges (the Committee) made up of members of the CTC board of directors, staff, volunteers and community members. Plays will be rated on their construction, character development and suitability to our purpose.
After the first round of readings, the Committee will choose a group of scripts to be given a final reading by a select panel of theatre professionals currently working in their field to determine the winner.
The Committee will determine which play will be given a fully staged production (as well as the $1,000 cash award) and which three plays will be given staged readings (as well as the $250 cash awards).
All decisions of the Committee shall be final.
The CTC and its Committee reserve the right to limit productions if material submitted does not meet the needs of the Festival.
Submission Guidelines
Please submit three (3) copies of your script with the playwrights name omitted or blacked out to maintain objectivity in the review process.
Please include a single, separate cover letter providing your name, address, telephone numbers, and email address in addition to the title of your play.
Scripts will not be returned to you.
Please do not include reviews or other biographical information.
Scripts must be mailed or delivered in person to the Theatre Centre.
No scripts will be accepted via email.
Please send your scripts and cover letter, along with a submission fee of $25 in check or money order made out to the Chattanooga Theatre Centre. Note: Submission fee is waived for current members of the WGA or Dramatists Guild with copy of current membership card.
Submit to: Festival of New Plays, Chattanooga Theatre Centre
PO Box 4023, 400 River Street, Chattanooga, TN 37405
We will begin accepting scripts immediately. Submissions must be at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre by 5 p.m., on Wednesday, Nov. 16. For more information, please contact Kim Jackson, Executive Director; Chattanooga Theatre Centre. execdirector@theatrecentre.com(423) 267-8538, ext. 306.
October 31, 2022 14:54
Armenias 2023 state budget envisages 35% increase in defense spending
According to the 2023 state budget of Armenia, the defense spending will comprise 506 billion drams which is 35% more than that of 2022, Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan said during the session of the parliamentary standing committees dedicated to the debate of the 2023 state budget draft.
Byron Whittington has joined Legacy Senior Living, a Cleveland-based management company of assisted living and memory care facilities, as the director of operations and development support.
In this management position, Mr. Whittington will work closely with Barry Ray and Bryan Cook, Legacy Senior Livings president and COO, respectively, to coordinate, facilitate and catalyze needed support for facility operations and future development projects.
Mr. Whittington became a resident of Cleveland, when he moved from his hometown, Talladega, Ala., to attend Lee University, where he completed a double major in business administration and accounting. He later returned to Lee for his masters in business administration.
Byron joins us after serving many years as the coordinator of business affairs at Lee University. The nearly ten years experience he logged there positioned him very well to be the perfect fit for us in this new role, said Mr. Cook.
Bryan and I have always been impressed with Byrons hard work, can do attitude and professional demeanor. We are very excited to have him as a part of our team and look forward to the contribution he will make to Legacy as we continue to expand our mission and services, said Mr. Ray.
ActiveCampaign, a marketing and customer management software provider based in Chicago, has raised $20 million its first outside funding since it was founded 13 years ago, the company said Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of businesses use ActiveCampaign, and the company's revenue is more than $10 million annually, said founder and CEO Jason VandeBoom.
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Boston-based growth equity firm Silversmith Capital Partners was the lone investor in the Series A round. The firm has previously backed companies including SurveyMonkey and Chicago-based Geofeedia.
"We're just a very product-first type of company, which doesn't always work very well with all venture firms that maybe want to push growth," VandeBoom said. He said he liked Silversmith's history of working with previously bootstrapped companies.
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The company employs more than 75, up from 14 in 2015. VandeBoom said he hopes to hit 100 employees by year-end and double the company's headcount within nine months.
ActiveCampaign is a software-as-a-service company that offers tools for email marketing, customizable automated marketing campaigns and customer retention. The pricing depends on how many features and contacts a customer has.
Its listed prices range from $9 to $350 per month, depending on the number of features and contacts. The largest packages require custom pricing.
The company mainly serves small- and medium-sized businesses, VandeBoom said. Up to two years ago, most of its customers were companies with one to five employees. Now, the average customer has 20 to 80 employees.
VandeBoom said many small- and medium-sized businesses do traditional email marketing but don't know how to go beyond that. He said ActiveCampaign gives them individualized suggestions on how to expand and automate their marketing programs based on their customers' behavior.
"We want to be the brain of marketing, sales and customer success teams," he said.
VandeBoom said he wanted to take on investment to support more aggressive hiring and build out ActiveCampaign's offerings.
"We've been profitable since 2003, so we've had some time to build capital ourselves," VandeBoom said.
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He plans to hire across the company, including for roles in marketing, product, software development, business development and design. He said the company needs to add people as it incorporates data intelligence and predictive modeling features into its software.
aelahi@tribpub.com
Twitter @aminamania
St. Jude Medical's corporate headquarters in Little Canada, Minn., are seen in 2015. The company, which warned Oct. 11, 2016, that batteries in some of its heart devices are running out early, is being acquired by Abbott Laboratories in a $25 billion deal. (Glen Stubbe / Star Tribune)
Abbott still plans to acquire a Minnesota-based medical device company despite a warning Tuesday that batteries in that company's heart devices are running out early, creating potentially life-threatening situations for patients.
St. Jude Medical said Tuesday that the batteries in some of its heart devices, known as implantable defibrillators, are dying much sooner than expected. The devices are implanted near the heart in patients with heart rhythms that are too slow or too fast. They can provide pacing for overly slow hearts and deliver a shock to stop dangerously fast heart rhythms.
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Normally, the devices alert patients up to three months before they need to be replaced through a series of vibrations in the chest. In some of the devices, however, the batteries are running out much faster than they should, meaning some patients are getting the alerts as little as 24 hours before the batteries die, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. That leaves scant time to get new devices implanted.
So far, two people have died, including one in the U.S., in incidents associated with devices that couldn't deliver needed shocks to the heart after their batteries died early, according to the FDA. Ten patients have reported fainting and 37 have reported dizziness because their devices couldn't provide pacing due to early battery failure.
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Of the nearly 400,000 devices in question, 841 have had the problem, leading St. Jude to call it a "rare occurrence" in a news release Tuesday.
"Patients need to understand we are working with their doctors and experts around the world and regulators around the world to put patient safety at the highest priority," said Dr. Avi Fischer, St. Jude medical director and vice president for global education, in an interview. "We have identified ways for both the patient and physician to be alerted and notified of any issues related to this."
The FDA is recommending people with the devices contact their doctors immediately if they feel vibrations indicating the batteries are running out. It's also recommending patients register for home monitoring, which allows the devices to send alerts to their physicians when their batteries are running low. Patients also should seek immediate medical attention if they feel chest pain, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, dizziness or lose consciousness.
The devices typically last about five to seven years, depending on the patient, Fischer said. When the device's batteries run low, the entire device must be replaced in what's typically an outpatient procedure, he said.
St. Jude is not recommending patients replace the devices if their batteries are not running low. The risks of undergoing a procedure to get a new device are generally greater than the risk of leaving the device in, Fischer said. Still, if a decision is made to replace a device, based on a patient's circumstances, St. Jude will cover the cost of the new device.
St. Jude said the battery issue affects only its implanted defibrillators, not its pacemakers, which use a lower voltage. The devices in question were manufactured before May 23, 2015, and patients can see if their devices are affected by the warning at www.sjm.com/batteryadvisory.
St. Jude spokeswoman Candace Steele Flippin said Tuesday that St. Jude does not expect the issue to materially impact its finances.
Abbott Laboratories spokesman Scott Stoffel said in an email Tuesday the Abbott Park-based company still expects its acquisition of St. Jude to close by the end of this year.
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This is the second recent setback for St. Jude since Abbott announced the $25 billion deal in April.
In August, investment firm Muddy Waters Capital called for St. Jude's pacemakers and implantable defibrillators to be recalled, saying they were vulnerable to cyberattacks that could cause them to malfunction.
St. Jude has called Muddy Waters' report "false and misleading." St. Jude sued Muddy Waters and others in September over the issue, alleging Muddy Waters and others released false and misleading information to lower the value of St. Jude's stock so they could profit through a short-selling scheme.
The FDA, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, is investigating those cybersecurity allegations, though it's not recommending any change in the devices' use at this time.
Abbott's stock was down 4.8 percent to $41.41 early Tuesday afternoon, and St. Jude's stock was down 3.5 percent to $78.41.
lschencker@chicagotribune.com
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Retailer Hhgregg announced it will be closed on Thanksgiving, joining a growing list of stores pushing back against the trend. (Rick Kambic / Pioneer Press)
Electronics retailer Hhgregg has joined the club of retailers saying "no thanks" to Thanksgiving shopping.
Hhgregg's Thanksgiving hours had been growing steadily longer since 2011, when stores opened at midnight on Black Friday. Each of the last two years, stores opened at 4 p.m., said Bob Riesbeck, Hhgregg's president and CEO since February.
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"It's just crept in and gotten to be more of a distraction for our associates and more of a source of displeasure from a family standpoint," he said.
The Indianapolis-based retailer, which has 16 Chicago-area stores, isn't alone in shuttering on the holiday. Although 85 percent of retailers plan to be open on Black Friday, just 49 percent plan to be open on Thanksgiving, up 1 percent over last year, according to consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers' 2016 holiday survey. About 9 percent of retailers told PwC they weren't yet certain of their Thanksgiving plans.
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The Mall of America recently announced it's closing on Thanksgiving, though individual retailers will have the choice to stay open.
Cabela's, Staples, Sam's Club, Costco, Crate and Barrel, Ikea, Home Depot and Patagonia also have said they'll be closing for the holiday.
Some retailers have yet to announce holiday hours. Lowe's, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus joined in remaining closed last year, while outdoor retailer REI took it a step farther by closing on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, encouraging employees and customers to spend the day outside.
Just over 40 percent of retailers planning to close on Thanksgiving cited historical precedent. About 25 percent said it wouldn't be aligned with their brand's purpose and 22 percent said employee morale was the main motive for closing, according to PwC.
Those staying closed on Thanksgiving might not be missing out on that much, according to PwC's survey. About 45 percent of consumers surveyed don't plan to shop on Thanksgiving at all and 18 percent said they only intended to shop online. Of the 22 percent who expected to hit the stores down from 26 percent last year just over a third said they planned to do so after Thanksgiving dinner, according to PwC.
Although Thanksgiving was a big sales day at Hhgregg, it was usually driven by a single item with a "doorbuster" promotion, which often wasn't a great experience for customers or employees, Riesbeck said.
"The more we started to look at promotions and the growth of the online business, it's obviously a very important holiday, but we can manage with promotions earlier that week, on Black Friday and through the weekend and not have significant financial impact," he said.
lzumbach@chicagotribune.com
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President Serzh Sargsyan, who is in the United States to attend the annual business conference Armenia Forum-2016, has delivered a speech at the meeting to highlight Armenias economic advantages for businesses.
October 11, 2016, 10:39 Armenia secures stable macro-economic environment for businesses: Serzh Sargsyan
STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 11, ARTSAKHPRESS: Below is the full text of his address published by the presidential press office.
Dear Chairman Kuhn,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to greet you all at this landmark event, which comes at a symbolic time for Armenia and Armenians around the globe. Having summed up 25 years of independence, Armenian nation continues to pave its way towards future. The past two and half decades have been challenging, yet equally rewarding. After 25 years of independence we look into the future with confidence, determined to build upon our achievements that we have attained through the hard work of our people and with the help of our friends and partners.
It is no coincidence that Armenia as a gateway to major markets has been selected as a heading for this event: Armenias role as such had been determined at the time primordial, outlined by the history and geography of our land and the identity of its people. Situated at the crossroads between continents, Armenia has always bridged various civilizations, thus becoming a very important center for the cultural and trade exchanges. True to its role and given its historic experience, modern Armenia adheres to a strategy designed to build bridges among its major trading, economic and political partners.
As any other country, Armenia has its own comparative advantages. Interestingly enough, our comparative advantages as an economy to a certain extent grew out of our limited resources and disadvantageous geopolitical realities. A landlocked country with a small-size economy that had been inherently Soviet-styled, with no energy resources, and blockade imposed by some of our neighbors, we never surrendered to those impediments. Quite to the contrary, we took advantage of those to push the boundaries of our creativity and competitiveness. Thus, human capital has become the source our main wealth, efficiency has become our master tool and reconciling often opposing interests has become our lifestyle.
Although the financial crises did not pass by Armenia, we made significant strides in building a knowledge-based society and the constant drive to embrace cutting-edge innovation have placed our country of just 3 million among technologically advanced nations. Notwithstanding the financial resources available to it, almost every single Armenian family strives to heavily invest in the education of their children. It is quite natural that for many years now our schoolchildren at the World Subject Olympiads win over 20 awards.
Today we are leading the list of the ranks by countries for the young students per capita wining world prizes in mathematical Olympics. In the same vein, we have the highest number of Chess grand masters on per-capita basis. Incidentally, Armenia was the first country in the world that introduced chess in the school curriculum in order to promote strategic thinking among new generation.
Another interesting example to that effect is the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies that provides secondary and high school students with an opportunity to convert their ideas into IT solutions and products. Luys Foundation was established upon our initiative back in 2009; since then it has provided with scholarships Armenian students around the globe to attend and study at the top-notch universities in order to make sure that Armenia keeps up with the developments of our times.
Today, the availability of qualified workforce and a highly developed human capital brought fame to Armenia among those who seek accessible innovative IT solutions. We are becoming a desired destination for carrying out R&D and complex projects, as well as undertake the design and production of high value added, sophisticated products.
To give more momentum to the development of Information and Communication Technologies we provide tax privileges to the start-ups exempting them from profit tax and levying only 10% tax on income. As a result in recent years we have seen 25% average increase in the field of ICT.
Other than IT, Armenia has also been successful in the area such as medical and especially dental tourism, providing best money for quality services.
Year in and year out we have been developing our capacity for providing high-quality education, which also create opportunities for foreign students to study in our country. A great example to that effect is the Dilijan International School, which makes part of the United World Colleges education network. It received students from about 60 countries, and some of them are from the most advanced ones.
In the course of the past 25 years we have implemented cardinal reforms that improved Armenias performance in the international rankings: according to the World Bank estimates, among 189 countries Armenia ranks 35th on the ease of doing business, 5th on starting business, and 29th on trading across border. Today Armenia stands out for excellent investment opportunities due to its liberal business culture, favorable business environment and an unswerving commitment to the ongoing reforms.
Today, our geographic location and political and economic arrangements with partner nations enable Armenias easy access and trade with markets of more than 300 million consumers, where many Armenian goods and services have already established brand value. As a member to the Eurasian Economic Union, we have customs-free access to more than 180 million consumers. A common border and visa free regime with the Islamic Republic of Iran open up a market of 80 million consumers. Historically friendly relations with Georgia give us access to the Black Sea ports as well as safeguard Armenias trade turnover with Russian Federation, other EEU countries and the European Union.
The forthcoming opening of the major infrastructure projects such as North-South highway corridor will make Armenia the shortest transit route connecting Persian Gulf to the Black Sea ports. Besides that, shared values with the EU have opened up privileged trade opportunities for Armenia with the EU as a part of the GSP+ arrangement.
China increasingly becomes more engaged in the Armenian market with new economic prospects, also through the project of the Silk Road Economic Belt. Besides that, we enjoy historically close relations with various Middle Eastern countries with whom our trade volumes have been growing consistently over the past few years.
I would like to especially underline the advantage we enjoy due to the presence of the large Armenian Diaspora around the globe. Due to these fellow Armenians we have been recognized widely at the markets of the countries that are important for us, and we have been able to quickly get acquainted with the internal dynamics of the targeted markets and establish contacts with their business circles. In the same vein, through the diaspora we are able to spread the word on the economic attractiveness of Armenia to the foreign investors. Since the independence was attained numerous entrepreneurs from Diaspora have made significant investments in Armenia; they also have established enterprises through which they contributed to the economic growth of ours and instilled best business practices in Armenia.
Distinguished Colleagues,
Armenia provides stable macro environment, which is the major precondition for businesses in seeking stability for their investments. Recent developments in the region and in CIS countries, with skyrocket currency depreciations, attest to Armenias capacity to cope with external negative shocks while keeping macro-environment stable and predictable. Armenian government and Central Bank effectively anchor public expectations allowing Armenian dram to depreciate in line with the path of economic fundamentals. Looking to the future Armenia will strongly continue to follow the golden rule of maintaining macro stability through the application of effective fiscal and monetary policies.
We most certainly are committed to further enhancing the business climate of the country. Our utmost priority is the introduction of a digital governance to provide for the services in line with the requirements of our people and business circles appropriate for the 21st century. For instance, nowadays everyone can track all treasury expenditures in real time, submit inquires and questions to our public service and follow up on the status of their applications online, to receive licenses and other state service electronically.
A lot more is envisaged to make business environment in Armenia highly efficient, especially with significantly improved customs and tax services. A week ago Armenias parliament adopted a new tax code that provides for a number of benefits to business and investors in Armenia. We have simplified the procedures followed by our tax administration bodies, thus making the tax monitoring processes much more business friendly.
Recently, weve committed ourselves to making our business environment much more stable and predictable through the application of judicial reforms and a commitment to strong principles of investment protection. These principles are in fact embedded in the Constitutional reform we have adopted in 2015. This reform will result in the soon to follow transition from the semi-presidential mode of governance to the parliamentary one. That initiative was also conditioned by the economic considerations since the parliamentary mode of governance, in our view, will be more effective for our country, also in the economic terms.
The new cabinet, which was formed just a few days ago, was been mandated to take bold steps to further enhance legal and institutional reforms, making the investment environment of Armenia much more attractive for both local and foreign investors. To this end we have reformed the Ministry of Economy into the Ministry for Economic Development and Investments in order to provide the entrepreneurs interested in investing in Armenia with a political platform to raise the issues they face and find solutions to those issues. Furthermore, we have empowered the Development Foundation of Armenia, which acts as an implementation agency, to assist foreign investors in all matters.
We see the engagement of international investors as an essential component to boost Armenias economy. Therefore, we commit ourselves to tailoring legislative solutions for global actors, who would wish to partner with us in making our vision of Armenia as one of the most efficient, secure and profitable opening to the major markets in the region to come true.
We look forward to seeting you all in Armenia.
I thank you very much for your attention, and I would be happy to take your questions if you have any.
Four people have been shot Monday including a 16-year-old boy and two relatives, officials said.
Most recently a 16-year-old boy was shot in the leg about 4:25 p.m. in the 3000 block of West Flournoy Street in the city's Lawndale neighborhood, said Officer Thomas Sweeney, a spokesman for the Chicago police. The boy was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was in good condition, Sweeney said.
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Two male relatives, 20 and 25, were shot about 3:40 p.m. in the 7000 block of South Sangamon Street, according to Fire Department officials and police.
The 25-year-old was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the next while his relative, a a 20-year-old man, was shot in the arm and taken to St. Bernard Hospital in good condition, authorities said.
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Additionally, 32-year-old man was shot in the 900 block of North Lawndale Avenue in the city's Humboldt Park neighborhood about 2 a.m. said Officer Kevin Quaid.
The 32-year-old made it to the West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park about twelve hours later, 2 p.m., when police learned of the shooting. The 32-year-old told officers that he was standing in front of a home when an unknown offender emerged from a gangway and fired multiple times across the street and hit him, Quaid said.
The Great American Beer Festival uncoverd some beers worth hunting down in Chicago and elsewhere. (Brewers Association)
If 3,800 beers from 780 breweries across 400,000 square feet sounds like a lot of beer, well, it is. That was the scene at the Great American Beer Festival, which took place at the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver last week.
While it is impossible to draw any terribly broad conclusions from a series of 1-ounce pours during a 4 -hour session you'd be surprised how fast the time goes it's impossible to leave Denver without at least a few memories.
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5 Chicago beers that I'm reminded are delicious
1 Smoke Alley (Cruz Blanca) Light, crisp and vaguely smoky, this is a perfect, easy-drinking food beer. Good thing it's served in Chicago alongside Rick Bayless' take on Mexican food. Works as a needed respite at the nation's largest beer festival too.
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2 Navaja (Half Acre Beer Co.) I dislike at least half of all imperial India pale ales these days nuance and balance, people! but Navaja, manages to be big (9.5 percent alcohol) and hoppy, while not drinking overwhelmingly big or hoppy. Nuance and balance, people!
3 Caramelized Chocolate Churro Baltic Porter (Moody Tongue Brewing) I'm already on record as a fan of this beer, and with a name like that, what else is there to say? A line began to form at Moody Tongue's table during day two of the festival, and this beer seemed to be much of the reason why.
4 Hop Skip (Brickstone Brewery) One of the few perfectly crafted hoppy beers on Chicago's beer landscape, in part because it's an oddity of a style: an extra pale ale. Hop Skip has more oomph than a pale ale and more body than session IPA, but sits just short of the weight of an IPA. In a convention center full of exceptional hoppy beers, Hop Skip hung with them all.
5 Domaine DuPage (Two Brothers Brewing) This Warrenville (and, now, Scottsdale, Ariz.) brewery's flagship a dry, bready, vaguely sweet biere de garde is easy to take for granted after all these years, but it won a gold medal during the weekend for a reason.
5 beers not available in Chicago that you should search for during your travels
1 White Rajah (The Brew Kettle; Strongsville, Ohio) A friend had already clued me in to this IPA with a gifted bottle last year, and my mind was blown at the fresh hoppy-citrus deliciousness within. The return engagement did not disappoint.
2 Monsters' Park (Modern Times Beer; San Diego) An "imperial stout aged in tequila barrels with lime, vanilla and sea salt" (as the bottle says) should not work, but oh, boy, does it. None of those ingredients surges to the fore; they all work in splendid tandem.
3 Chaos Is a Friend of Mine (Beachwood Blendery; Long Beach, Calif.) Beachwood has attempted to replicate environmental conditions of a Belgian brewery for a funky, layered American lambic. If you didn't see the label on the bottle, you might have a hard time telling the difference.
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4 No Rules (Perrin Brewery; Comstock Park, Mich.) An easy-drinking 15 percent imperial porter made with coconut and turbinado sugar aged in bourbon barrels. Did I really say "easy-drinking" and 15 percent" in the same sentence? Believe it. Like drinking velvet. The only question: How is this not a stout?
5 Iron Joe (Rahr and Sons Brewing Co.; Fort Worth, Texas) This Scotch ale aged on oak with coffee was a welcome relief from the flood of hops, sours and stouts, and nailed its sweet-woody-coffee motif. I had three pours.
5 "Really, those beers were poured at GABF, but did anyone actually ask for one?" beers
1 Coors Light (Coors Brewing Co.)
2 Miller Lite (Miller Brewing Co.)
3 Summer Shandy (Jacob Leinenkeugel Brewing Co.)
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4 Samuel Adams Boston Lager (Boston Beer Co.)
5 Pabst Blue Ribbon (Pabst Brewing Co.)
5 breweries at GABF that had great beer and no line
1 Pfriem Family Brewers (Hood River, Ore.)
2 Breakside Brewery (Portland, Ore.)
3 La Cumbre Brewing Co. (Albuquerque, N.M.)
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4 Uberbrew (Billings, Mont.)
5 Community Beer Co. (Dallas)
5 breweries I wanted to check out, but the line was too long; maybe next year
1 Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales (Denver)
2 Jester King Brewery (Austin, Texas)
3 Russian River Brewing Co. (Santa Rosa, Calif.)
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4 Cigar City Brewing Co. (Tampa, Fla.)
5 Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, N.C.)
5 breweries that prove all the good brewery names have been taken
Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >
1 No Clue Craft Brewery (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.)
2 Belching Beaver Brewery (Vista, Calif.)
3 Dad & Dudes Breweria (Aurora, Colo.)
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4 Grillin & Chillin Alehouse (Hollister, Calif.)
5 Ass Clown Brewing Co. (Cornelius, N.C.)
jbnoel@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @joshbnoel
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump dismissed vulgar comments he made about women in 2005 as "locker room talk," but he fired a contestant from "The Celebrity Apprentice" for engaging in "locker room" talk.
"The Daily Show" unearthed a 2010 clip of Trump firing Illinois native Maria Kanellis-Bennett from the NBC competition. Kanellis-Bennett, a professional wrestler, accused fellow contestant Curtis Stone, a celebrity chef, of using her dressing room and leaving behind a foul smell.
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Donald Trump in 2010: This is my boardroom. It's not a locker room. Maria, youre fired. \_()_/ pic.twitter.com/UlsP9Xjg7F The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) October 10, 2016
Trump called the comment "below the belt" and disgusting, before declaring, "This is my boardroom. It's not a locker room. Maria, you're fired."
The Washington Post on Friday published 2005 audio of Trump boasting about how his celebrity status allowed him to sexually abuse women without consequence. He dismissed these comments as "locker room talk" during Sunday's presidential debate.
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A rep for Kanellis-Bennett, who grew up in Ottawa and studied at Northern Illinois University, did not immediately return a Tribune request for comment.
Kanellis-Bennett, 34, retweeted "The Daily Show" clip and tweeted Trump on Saturday: "How can you make light of these comments? It's been a horrible 24 hrs for the women who have been affected by abusive comments and actions."
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Watch the latest movie trailers.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Steve Johnston, left, who has been running Second City Works, is now to head the company. Bob Knuth, right, is to become the creative director of marketing and brand. (Second City photos)
Following the departure of half the cast of the critically acclaimed Second City e.t.c. revue "A Red Line Runs Through It," the venerable Chicago comedy theater has shuffled its creative management team and installed a new president.
Steve Johnston, who has been running Second City Works, the growing sector of the company providing services to business, is now to head the entire company. Bob Knuth is to become the "creative director of marketing and brand." The announcements were made by Andrew Alexander, Second City's longtime owner.
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Alexander's son, Tyler Alexander, who was working in a senior creative position at his father's company, has told staffers that he will be taking a sabbatical.
In an interview, Alexander said that the departures of the actors Scott Morehead, Lisa Beasley and Aasia Lashay Bullock had resulted from some disagreements backstage and also, he said, from some difficult performance experiences with a small minority of audience members.
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"I think," Alexander said, "that this moment of Donald Trump has resulted in a few people feeling more license to shout out crude remarks and behave crudely. As a result, we have made a renewed commitment to making sure that all of our actors feel safe."
With all that in mind, Alexander said, he has hired the alumna Claudia Wallace to serve as interim casting director for the resident stages and touring companies. The longtime casting director Beth Kligerman will now serve as casting director for the cruise ship shows and for Second City's theatrical arm. The longer term plan, Alexander said, is to create a new "artistic director creative collective," a "braintrust" made up of eight current and former Second City performers. Those names have yet to be finalized.
When asked to talk about their departures unusual for cast members of a hit revue that only has been running about five months Morehead, Beasley and Bullock all declined to comment to the Tribune.
"A Red Line Runs Through It" is continuing with rotating understudies; new, more permanent cast members will be announced shortly.
A new e.t.c. revue is not expected until early 2017.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Twitter@ChrisJonesTrib
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton departs White Plains, New York October 11, 2016 enroute to a climate change event with former Vice President Al Gore in Miami, Florida. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP/Getty Images)
Just as America was tossed or did we eagerly jump into the sexual political gutter with Bill and Hillary and Donald, there was other news breaking.
At least I thought it was news. But I must warn you: Sex and sexual politics has nothing to do with it.
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It's Hillary Clinton's dream of an America without borders, as expressed to investors of a Brazilian bank, in comments leaked by WikiLeaks.
An America without borders, Hillary? How positively George Soros of you, Madam Secretary.
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"My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, sometime in the future with energy that's as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere," Clinton reportedly said to investors in a paid speech she gave to Brazilian Banco Itau in 2013.
Here's the thing about borders. If you don't have borders, you don't have a country. Americans are beginning to understand this. Europeans understand it now, quite clearly.
Clinton's dream also includes a Western Hemispheric common market, like the European common market that is dissolving in chaos, fear and debt.
If that is indeed her dream, then she dreams the internationalist dream that would end America. But Americans aren't talking about this, perhaps because there is no video involving sex and Hollywood and Trump.
I would love to hear Clinton's explanation. Perhaps she could put it in some proper context.
Or perhaps she was merely telling the Brazilians something they wanted to hear, because they were paying her a good chunk of cash.
And if there is a way for America to maintain sovereignty without borders, Hillary might be just the one to tell us. But the Clinton campaign isn't commenting. And reporters aren't really pressing, preoccupied as they are by that vulgar video of a boorish Trump.
Clinton campaign spokesman Robby Mook was on one of the talk shows saying Clinton's dreams of American open borders didn't really mean open borders.
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Mook said she meant open borders in the context of green energy for all.
Cool. But then what about her dreams of the hemispheric common market and all the people traveling to and fro across the Western Hemisphere?
So I'd like to hear Hillary Clinton tell it.
The way to deal with this would be for Clinton to release the transcripts of all her well-paid speeches, the ones to Wall Street and the one about border dreams to Banco Itau. That's what Bernie Sanders wanted.
But that's not happening, just like Donald Trump isn't releasing his tax returns.
So the Clintonistas are blaming the Russians for the hacking.
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It might also be true that if a hacker could hack into Clinton campaign emails, then a hacker might also have hacked into top secret emails she kept on her home brew server in violation of federal law when she was secretary of state.
But I won't say anything, lest I be denounced as a Russian spy.
That WikiLeaks information was available just before the last Clinton-Trump debate. The moderators could have asked a question about it, but they chose not to.
They did ask about another drop from WikiLeaks, that of Clinton's belief in holding one public position on policy for the public and another for private consideration by insiders.
Kind of like when she was secretary of state and telling America that the four dead Americans in Benghazi were killed by protesters angry about some video. And then telling her daughter and others, in private emails, that the four were killed in a terrorist attack.
In the debate, Clinton was asked if an official holding a private and a public position could be considered "two-faced."
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She said Abraham Lincoln did it. In a movie.
And now, rather than worry about divisive issues such as borders, we're consumed by that vulgar Trump video.
Yet back when the Clintons held the White House, back when Bill used the cigar on that intern in the Oval Office, the political left protected him. And they defended Hillary for defending Bill, who had a habit of putting his hands on women when he held office.
Sex was a private matter then. It's quite a public matter now. But then it was all a private matter, remember?
And so, after a brief bout of impeachment interruptus, the American political establishment welcomed Bill and Hillary back into the establishment fold, where wealth and near absolute power awaited them.
What's laughable about all this is the Clintonista argument that to cleanse America of the stain of Trump, we must re-install Hillary and Bill back into the same White House that they soiled years ago.
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I get all that.
Trump is a boor and Bill Clinton is a boor and Hillary is Hillary either a loyal spouse or a cunning enabler. And politics is politics, so you'll hate the one or forgive the other based on your preferences, or shout a pox upon them all.
But having an America with or without borders is also rather important, no?
And someone running for president might want to explain it all, in the proper context of course.
An America without borders? That's not a dream, that's a nightmare.
Ask the Europeans. They know.
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Dr. John Bailar III, a statistician and epidemiologist with University of Chicago Medicine, applied rigorous statistical analysis to cancer data to reach the controversial conclusion that the U.S. war on cancer was not hitting its mark.
In a 1986 paper, "Progress Against Cancer?" backed by extensive statistical data, Bailar and co-author Elaine Smith argued that cancer research focused too much on treatment and not enough on prevention, which would have been far more effective.
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Writing 11 years later in the 1997 paper "Cancer Undefeated," Bailar and co-author Heather Gornik concluded, "The effect of new treatments for cancer on mortality has been largely disappointing." The two called for a national commitment to prevention and a rebalancing of the focus and funding of research.
"I recall when the follow-up paper was published, and I'm sure back in 1986, (the conclusion) was viewed at the time very negatively by the cancer research establishment," Gornik said of the two papers, both published in the New England Journal of Medicine. She was a fourth-year medical student at the time and is now a cardiologist with the Cleveland Clinic and an associate professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland.
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Bailar, 83, died of cancer Sept. 6 in the Collington Continuing Care Retirement Community in Mitchellville, Md., according to his daughter Melissa Bailar. He moved to Maryland after living for a number of years in Washington, D.C.
Bailar was born and grew up in Urbana, Ill., where his father was an award-winning chemistry professor at the University of Illinois. Bailar initially followed in his father's footsteps, but after getting a degree in chemistry in 1953 from the University of Colorado, he went on to medical school at Yale University.
He graduated in 1955 and spent a year as an intern at the University of Colorado at Denver before going into research with the U.S. Public Health Service. He spent much of his early career at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he was editor-in-chief of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute for six years.
He spent 24 years in government positions. During that period, Bailar returned to school part time and completed a doctorate in statistics in 1973 at American University in Washington.
In 1980, he moved to Boston, where he taught biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health and served as a statistical consultant for the New England Journal of Medicine. In 1992, he became a member of the journal's editorial board.
He also worked part time with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services. In 1989, he moved to Montreal to teach epidemiology and statistics at McGill University and to conduct research at Montreal General Hospital.
In 1995, he came to the University of Chicago as a professor and the first chairman of the department of health studies, which was then being established. The new department was to be focused on biostatistical methods, epidemiologic investigation and health services research, according to Ronald Thisted, professor of statistics and public health sciences
"We were looking for an outstanding leader and one with substantial distinction himself," Thisted said. "When we recruited him, John had distinguished himself both in biostatistics and in epidemiology and had certainly entered into the policy fray as well, focusing his argument that the war on cancer would be better joined if there was greater emphasis on prevention."
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Bailar published nearly 300 academic papers, reports and book chapters, but he was perhaps best known for those two controversial studies on cancer. He also published and lectured extensively on a wide range of health and statistical topics, from the risks and benefits of screening tests, particularly mammography, to the impact of environmental exposures on health.
"He didn't jump on the bandwagon (but) encouraged people to look at things critically, especially things that mattered," Thisted said. "If we're investing huge amounts of time, money and energy in fighting cancer, are we doing it in the best way?"
Bailar's many honors included selection as a MacArthur Fellow, from 1990 to 1995, and election in 1990 to the Collegium Ramazzini, an international academy of scientists with leading roles in environmental and occupational health. In 1992 he was elected as a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 1993 he was named to the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine). He retired from University of Chicago Medicine in 2000.
Bailar is also survived by his wife, Barbara; another daughter, Elizabeth; sons John IV and James; a stepdaughter, Pamela Monaco; a brother, Benjamin; and eight grandchildren.
Services were held.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter.
The Lake County Board of Elections allowed Griffith to move forward with its referendum asking voters to split from Calumet Township, dismissing a complaint that aimed to block the special election.
Calumet Township filed a complaint with the board asking it to invalidate the town's special election planned for Dec. 20 because the petition failed to properly state the election date for the referendum in the petition and was not properly certified with the Lake County Board of Elections.
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Tuesday, the board's attorneys found Calumet Township's legal citations as not applying to the situation with Griffith's referendum.
John Reed, one of the board's attorneys, said the board had two statutes to consider: One applies generally to public questions placed on the ballot and the second specifically addresses public questions related to secession from a township or municipal body.
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"They are different," Reed said.
Reed said, in his opinion, the board must consider the statute that deals with the situation at hand.
"The statute of specific application prevails," Reed said.
James Wieser, the board's attorney, said he agreed with Reed's assessment and that specific statutes should trump general ones.
Attorney Alfredo Estrada, of Burke, Costanza and Carberry, representing Calumet Township, wrote in the complaint that state law requires petitioners must state the date of an election, but Griffith failed to put a specific date and only gave an election deadline of Dec. 31, 2017.
Second, the complaint stated the town clerk did not properly certify the petition to the elections board. Estrada wrote that Indiana law requires a petition for a ballot question must state the date of the election, contain the signature of petitioners and state the residences of petitioners.
Estrada said while the statute cited by the board is specific, it is not controlling. He said the statute cited in Calumet Township's complaint applies to all local public questions.
Griffith Town Council President Rick Ryfa said the legislation for these types of ballot measures is specific and the referendum followed all of the steps required.
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Estrada said he's considering if any other legal actions will be taken.
The town submitted 1,273 signatures to the Lake County Board of Elections in August, and tentatively set a Dec. 20 election for voters to weigh in on the measure.
Ryfa said, after the complaint was filed, the referendum petition followed the letter of the law and called Calumet Township's assertions "baseless."
Griffith's argument to split from Calumet Township is that state law mandates townships keep spending within 12 times the state average. Griffith officials have argued that Calumet Township is above that mark but that number is different depending on the interpretation of "average" in the state law.
The town reviewed an advisory letter from Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller's office to Rep. Harold Slager, R-15, on if the state uses an arithmetic mean or weighted mean to determine the township assistance property tax rate. Zoeller's office concluded the state should use an arithmetic mean.
clyons@post-trib.com
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Post-Tribune Correspondent Carrie Napoleon contributed.
Europe does see that the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) is an established democratic state, albeit unrecognized.
October 11, 2016, 14:50 Azerbaijan attempts, to achieve objective with help of petrodollars and caviar, are futile
STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 11, ARTSAKHPRESS: Davit Babayan, the NKR Presidential Spokesperson, noted the aforementioned while commentingat the request of Armenian News-NEWS.amon Mondays statement by Secretary General Thorbjrn Jagland of the Council of Europe (CoE).
Jagland had stated that the CoE does not have any information on human rights from the Karabakh conflict zone, and had recalled that everyone has the right to choose.
In Babayans words, it is apparent that the statements and approaches by European analysts, diplomats, and politicians are undergoing a transformation in recent times.
Its clear to everyone: the right of nations to self-determination is inalienable, its a fundamental right, and it cant be disregarded, stressed the NKR presidential spokesperson.
He stressed that Azerbaijans attempts to achieve its objective with the help of petrodollars and caviar are futile.
Time is not working in favor of Azerbaijan, added Davit Babayan. An analysis of the recent trends shows that the NKR recognition issue is getting new impetus and entering a new phase."
A man was killed and at least 10 other people have been wounded in shootings across Chicago between Tuesday afternoon and early Wednesday, police said.
The fatal shooting occurred in the Belmont Gardens neighborhood on the Northwest Side just before 6:10 p.m. A 20-year-old man was in the 2500 block of North Kostner Avenue as several people got out of a nearby car, one of whom opened fire.
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The victim was shot in the chest and pronounced dead at the scene.
About 11:45 p.m. on the Far South Side, a 40-year-old man was shot in West Pullman. He was on the sidewalk in the 900 block of West 127th Street when someone approached, announced a robbery and fired shots. The man was shot in both legs and went to MetroSouth Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized. No property was taken from him.
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About 10:50 p.m. on the Far South Side, three men were shot on a porch in the 10400 block of South Indiana Avenue in the Rosemoor neighborhood. A 33-year-old man was shot in the left hand and went to Roseland Community Hospital, and a 34-year-old man was shot in the left arm and chest and went to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Both their conditions were stabilized. In addition, a 31-year-old man was grazed in the hip and refused medical attention.
Just before 9:40 p.m. on the South Side, a 39-year-old man was shot in West Englewood. He was walking in the 6000 block of South Paulina Street when two people walked up and fired shots. He was shot in both thighs and went to an area hospital. His condition was stabilized.
About 9:20 p.m., a 33-year-old man was shot in Englewood. He was driving in the 6400 block of South Sangamon Street when someone shot him in the back. He went to Stroger Hospital and his condition was stabilized.
About 8:05 p.m., a 19-year-old man was shot in Back of the Yards. He got himself to St. Bernard Hospital with a gunshot wound to the thigh after being attacked in the 5300 block of South Morgan Street, police said.
About 2:15 p.m., three men were shot in West Chatham. Two 19-year-olds and a 20-year-old were in the 8700 block of South Princeton Avenue when a gray vehicle pulled up and someone inside it opened fire.
The two 19-year-olds one shot in the abdomen and waist and the other in the upper left thigh were taken to Stroger Hospital in serious-to-critical condition, authorities said. The 20-year-old was shot in the right ankle and taken to St. Bernard Hospital in good condition.
Amber Pasztor, 29, of Fort Wayne, Ind., was arrested on two counts of murder Sept. 26, 2016. (Elkhart Police Department)
FORT WAYNE, Ind. An Indiana woman accused of smothering her two children after abducting them says she decided to kill them after hearing that authorities had issued an Amber Alert.
Amber Pasztor told WANE-TV in a jail interview Monday that she killed the children so they'd be safe in heaven.
Pasztor says 7-year-old Liliana Hernandez and 6-year-old Rene Pasztor were in good hands in her father's custody, but she didn't think they were safe. She says in her words "My kids are in a better place. They don't have no worries no more."
The 29-year-old Fort Wayne woman is charged with two counts of murder in the Sept. 26 deaths.
Pasztor also told WANE-TV she shot her neighbor and took his car. She hasn't been charged with Frank Macomber's death.
Associated Press
Mug of Elizabeth Kloss. Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that Elizabeth Kloss was intoxicated and suicidal when she was shot by police during an armed standoff in McHenry County and later charged with several weapons offenses. Sheriff's deputies testified at her trial last month that they feared for their safety and for other people nearby when Kloss emerged from a home in Wonder Lake with a semi-automatic assault rifle in 2014. The deputies opened fire, striking Kloss in the head. McHenry County Sheriff's department. - Original Credit: (HANDOUT)
Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that Elizabeth Kloss was intoxicated and suicidal when she was shot by police during an armed standoff in McHenry County and later charged with several weapons offenses.
Sheriff's deputies testified at her trial last month that they feared for their safety and for other people nearby when Kloss emerged from a home in Wonder Lake with a semi-automatic assault rifle in 2014. The deputies opened fire, striking Kloss in the head.
But an attorney for Kloss, of Fox Lake, contends that the officers' version of events is "biased" and doesn't match the physical evidence even questioning whether Kloss was still holding a weapon at the moment she was shot.
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McHenry County Judge Michael Feetterer, however, sided with prosecutors Tuesday in announcing that he found Kloss, 56, guilty of all charges: aggravated assault with a firearm against a peace officer, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition and having no firearm owner's identification card. Kloss had waived her right to a jury trial.
According to prosecutors and deputies who responded to the home of Kloss' boyfriend that day, Kloss was intoxicated and uncooperative during the roughly 10-minute standoff, first recklessly waving around a handgun in the deputies' direction as they tried to find cover near a garage. They said she came in and out of the deputies' view, at one point aiming a pistol at her head, at another point emerging unarmed and yelling at deputies, "Shoot me, shoot me!"
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Deputies said they tried to de-escalate the situation first by talking to Kloss and were retrieving a weapon by which to employ nonlethal force to subdue her.
But when Kloss advanced toward the deputies holding the semi-automatic rifle in their line of fire, they had no choice but to discharge their weapons, prosecutors said.
Feetterer said Tuesday he found the deputies to be "credible" and that they were "reasonable" in determining they were in danger during the call, given Kloss' erratic behavior and the fact she was waving guns around.
Kloss' attorney, Robert Loeb, had given a different version of events during closing arguments last month.
He said the location of bullet holes found in the siding of the house near where Kloss fell, as well as the apparent angle of her bullet wound, suggested that Kloss was crouching down when she was shot, "not upright on her feet advancing toward" the officers.
Loeb said it appeared Kloss was "complying" with officers at that point and was likely crouching down to place the rifle she was holding on the ground.
"She was in the low position when they fired at her and hit her in the head," he said.
However, other testimony indicated the yard was set at an angle, possibly accounting for the apparently downward direction of the bullet that struck Kloss.
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Loeb also highlighted the fact that no fingerprints or DNA from Kloss had been taken from the rifle, and that there was no blood on the weapon, which he contended there should have been if she were holding it when she was shot.
Loeb noted the heightened attention recently on police shootings and said his point wasn't to criticize the conduct of officers in this case.
"Police have a tough job. No one is perfect," Loeb said. "I am not saying they are bad apples, because they are not."
Still, he said, "this case is biased and cannot be believed beyond a reasonable doubt." He said he believes the situation became tense and the deputies "fired prematurely or (mistakenly believed) she was pointing a gun at them and had to come up with a story to justify their actions and fit the evidence."
"True, she was suicidal, but there are many inconsistencies reasonable doubt," Loeb said.
He acknowledged this is "a serious and sad case for (Kloss) and the officers."
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"She was having a bad day, absolutely, she was incoherent, suicidal, but she didn't deserve this," he said.
Kloss cradled her hands in her face and wept quietly during Loeb's closing arguments.
Assistant State's Attorney Rita Gara said what happened is "a tragedy, an absolute tragedy," but it was a turn of events that Kloss herself "set in motion."
She said Kloss played a deadly "cat-and-mouse game" that day and forced the officers "to make a life-or-death decision."
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The officers "did everything right, in an extremely volatile situation," Gara said.
Gara said deputies went to the house that day with the intention to help Kloss and protect her and the neighborhood, only to be put in "the worst position a police officer can find themselves in."
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In shooting Kloss, the deputies had a "reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery" and were justified in their actions, Gara said.
"She had a mission that day to commit suicide using (the deputies)," she said, adding Kloss intended to "commit suicide by police officer."
"She escalated the situation. She was uncooperative," Gara said. Kloss "needs accountability for her actions. (The deputies) wanted this to end a different way."
Outside the courtroom, Kloss' older brother Jerry Kloczkowski, of McHenry, said he believes the officers "are lying." He said his sister was shot in the top of the head and the bullet was lodged in her neck. He said she has needed multiple surgeries. She has suffered pain, paralysis in part of her face, loss of some hearing and vision, and her speech has been affected, he said.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
The selective enrollment Barack Obama Preparatory High School that Mayor Rahm Emanuel hoped to build as one of his signature educational achievements has been "postponed" because the property tax district money that would have been used to help build it will instead go toward the new Chicago Teachers Union contract, the alderman pushing for the new school said Tuesday.
Leaving a budget briefing at City Hall ahead of Emanuel's budget speech Tuesday morning, Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. said he and a handful of other aldermen had been asked to give up significant sums of tax increment financing money to help the city come up with the $175 million the mayor agreed to surplus as part of the deal with the CTU that was announced just before the midnight deadline to avoid a teachers strike.
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Among the TIF funding that Burnett said he would be giving up is the roughly $60 million that was supposed to go toward the controversial Obama Prep High School that Emanuel wants to build near the former Cabrini-Green CHA development on the well-to-do Near North Side.
The 27th Ward alderman held out hope the school would be built eventually, but he said taking away the funding source for Obama Prep isn't the end of the world because an exact timeline and location for the school had never been set.
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"We're still talking about it," Burnett said. "It's not indefinitely, there's a timeline, but it's postponed right now. I don't know (what the timeline is), but it's postponed like it's been postponed for how long? How long has it been postponed?"
Burnett said he had hoped to use the school to jump-start mixed-income housing development around the former Cabrini-Green site near Goose Island. But the alderman said he was willing to get on board with the plan because of the uncertainty of the Obama Prep development, which Emanuel announced in 2014 to great fanfare before finding the project criticized because of the lack of selective enrollment high schools in the South Side neighborhoods where Obama did much of his work as a community organizer.
"Because we never had a permanent spot for it at this time," Burnett said of the planned school. "We have still been working on it. So as far as I'm concerned, we're still working on it as we always have been doing. But at the same time, to help with this situation, and I get what I want, I think it's a good deal."
Burnett did not specify what Emanuel would do for his ward in exchange for giving up the high school project.
A CPS spokeswoman acknowledged the school plan was on hold in a statement that cast the decision as Burnett's own.
"With the magnitude of issues facing Chicago Public Schools, Alderman Burnett stepped up to lead in the effort to provide additional resources by delaying the construction of a high school on the Near North Side," district spokeswoman Emily Bittner said.
Although many of his colleagues, led by 12th Ward Ald. George Cardenas called for a much larger TIF surplus, Burnett had resisted until this week, saying he had plans to put the money to good use in his ward. Burnett is a consistent Emanuel ally, so when the mayor came knocking, it's not surprising that he went along with the mayor's wishes.
Others, like 47th Ward Ald. Ameya Pawar, agreed many weeks ago to give up their TIF money that wasn't already dedicated to a project. In Pawar's North Side ward, where Emanuel lives, that would amount to about $5 million a year, the alderman said.
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Although Pawar had directed money from the TIFs in his North Side ward to schools within it, he said it was no more important to give it to the school district as a whole, given its financial straits.
Chicago Tribune's Juan Perez Jr. contributed.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
hdardick@chicagotribune.com
Before speaking at a Hispanic Heritage Month breakfast at UIC, Gov. Bruce Rauner said Donald Trump's comments in the "Access Hollywood" video were "appalling" and "disgusting." Oct. 11, 2016. (WGN-TV) (Chicago Tribune)
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday sought to reiterate his support for immigrants and Americans of Hispanic origin as Democrats launched a television ad campaign casting the governor and Republican candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot as aligned with anti-immigrant statements made by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
"America is the greatest nation on Earth because we are a nation of immigrants," Rauner said as he attended a University of Illinois at Chicago event celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. "Immigrants built our country, and I am very pro-immigration, very pro comprehensive immigration reform."
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Rauner's remarks and his appearance at the Hispanic event came as Democrats across the country have sought to use outrage over recently surfaced comments by Trump about his dealings with women to reopen a wider conversation about the GOP candidate's history of denigrating minorities and immigrants.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton seized on the comments in the Sunday night debate, warning voters that "it's not only women" who have been the target of Trump's demeaning language. "He has also targeted immigrants, African-Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, and so many others the question our country must answer is that this is not who we are," she said.
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Rauner said Monday that he didn't watch the debate, and he labeled Trump's 2005 remarks in which the then-reality TV star was taped bragging about kissing and groping women "disgusting, appalling, outrageous." But the potential for Trump's candidacy to affect races up and down the ticket can't be lost on the Republican governor or his advisers.
Indeed, a federal super political action committee run by state Sen. Daniel Biss, an Evanston Democrat, began airing an ad Tuesday that aims to connect Trump to the rest of the Republicans on the Illinois ballot.
"Bruce Rauner and the Illinois Republicans support a man for president who insults women demeans immigrants and makes fun of the disabled," a narrator says in the ad, between clips of Rauner telling reporters in March, "I will support the Republican Party's nominee."
The ad concludes: "If Bruce Rauner and the Illinois Republicans support Donald Trump after all that, why would we support them?"
The committee, Leading Illinois For Tomorrow, spent $1 million on the ad, according to disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission. It's airing on Chicago broadcast television and some cable stations, Biss said.
So it was that Rauner on Tuesday listed by name five Hispanic members of his administration's leadership team and noted that Illinois has "one of the largest, most vibrant Hispanic communities anywhere in America."
The governor was less forthcoming when asked how he expects the situation at the top of the ticket might affect down-ballot races a matter of particular concern for a Republican governor spending millions of dollars as he seeks to erode Democratic supermajorities in the General Assembly. The centerpiece of the GOP push funded by Rauner and deep-pocketed friends is to blame longtime Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan for the state's woes.
"Really, I don't think it's appropriate to comment any more. I'm focused on making Illinois strong and healthy. And to be crystal clear, I am not endorsing in the race, and I am appalled by the rhetoric," the governor said of the presidential contest.
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Rauner pledged during the primary season to support his party's eventual nominee, but he skipped the Republican National Convention and has withheld his endorsement since Trump became the party's standard-bearer.
"I'll say, the rhetoric for quite a while has been not representative of American values and very, just wrong," Rauner said. "And that's the reason, quite a while back, I said, I'm not endorsing, and I'm sticking with that."
Biss cast his super PAC, which can collect and spend unlimited amounts of money to influence the election, as an attempt to counter the Republican messaging that's framed the election as a choice between Rauner and Madigan. As chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, Madigan is not allowed to coordinate with the committee. But a former aide to Madigan's House Democrats, Kristen Bauer, is listed as the committee's assistant treasurer.
"The purpose of this PAC is to frame the choice that voters are making up and down the ballot in November, and not to make it about individual candidates, but to make it about the values that the parties represent," Biss said.
Biss would not say who was funding the committee. That information eventually must be reported to federal election officials.
kgeiger@chicagotribune.com
U.S. Senate candidates Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth and Republican Sen. Mark Kirk debate Oct. 3, 2016, in front of the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield.
Topspin
The Humane Society Legislative Fund is endorsing Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk in his bid for re-election against Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth.
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"Mark Kirk believes that all animals should be treated humanely and without cruelty," Sara Amundson, executive director of the group, said in a statement. "Voters in Illinois who care about animal welfare should support Sen. Kirk for re-election."
The group said Kirk got a perfect score in its "2015 Humane Scorecard." But it noted that Duckworth "has also been a strong supporter of animal protection, cosponsoring a wide range of bills to protect animals and consistently gaining high marks on the Humane Scorecard." (Rick Pearson)
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What's on tap
*Mayor Rahm Emanuel is scheduled to give his 11 a.m. budget speech to the Chicago City Council. We imagine he also might have something to say about the tentative CPS-CTU contract agreement.
*Gov. Bruce Rauner and Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti will mark Hispanic Heritage Month with a morning appearance at UIC.
What we're writing
*Illinois Republicans stay the course for now: hit Madigan, ignore Trump.
*CPS, CTU reach tentative contract deal after negotiating late into the night to avert second strike in five years.
*Salaries, support show divide between CPS and other school districts.
What we're reading
*Not something we do when Chicago's mayor freezes us out at news conferences, but maybe New York is different?
*Guy who failed as Bears head coach fired again.
*Maybe somebody forgot to wake them up when September ended?
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From the notebook :
*Briefless: City Hall was uncharacteristically quiet Monday, even for an official holiday, given that it was the day before Mayor Emanuel's scheduled speech on his proposed 2017 budget.
In previous years under Emanuel, budget address eve was an occasion for his administration to start preparing aldermen and certain members of the press corps for what was coming a way to make public some of the budget details public so the mayor could focus on select themes.
But none of that happened Monday. Administration officials hunkered down while the countdown clock to a potential teachers' strike ticked away, with negotiations continuing late into the night. Aides made preparations for the mayor to give his speech, although Emanuel retained the option of shifting gears and postponing it.
The 11 a.m. budget speech would have provided a high-profile platform for the mayor to frame his message in the event of a strike. But going ahead with an address on City Hall matters also carried the risk that Emanuel isn't focused enough on a major crisis, given that the backdrop would be thousands of teachers picketing as children were out of the classroom not learning. All appears to be moot now. (Hal Dardick)
*Get the bus rolling: Sen. Kirk on Monday embarked on what his campaign said was his second bus tour of the state. Kirk will make stops including Rockford, Rock Island, Peoria, Springfield, Washington, Decatur and Bloomington.
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No specifics of the stops were given in a media advisory, however. (Rick Pearson)
Follow the money
*Track Illinois campaign contributions in real time here and here.
Beyond Chicago
*Speaker Paul Ryan won't defend Trump, will focus on House races.
*Wikileaks releases emails showing tension in Hillary Clinton camp over foundation.
*Trump aide dismisses threat to jail Clinton as "quip."
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*UN appeals for aid nearly week after hurricane hits Haiti.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) speaks with primary school students from the Goudell II. school in Niamey, Niger, 10 October 2016. Chancellor Merkel is on a three-day trip through Africa with stops in Mali, Niger and Ethiopia. (MICHAEL KAPPELER / EPA)
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia German Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled support for protesters demanding wider freedoms in Ethiopia during a visit to the country on Tuesday, saying "a vibrant civil society is part and parcel of a developing country."
After meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Merkel said Germany has offered to train Ethiopia's police to deal with the sometimes deadly demonstrations that have caused one of Africa's best-performing economies to declare its first state of emergency in 25 years.
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"We are already working in Oromia to de-escalate the situation there by offering mediation between groups," she said, referring to the region where protests have simmered for nearly a year.
"I would always argue for allowing people of a different political opinion ... to engage with them and allow them to express their views because, after all, a democratic experience shows that out of these discussions good solutions usually come," Merkel said.
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The Ethiopian prime minister responded by suggesting his government may increase dialogue. "We have shortcomings in our fledgling democracy, so we want to go further in opening up the political space and engagement with different groups of the society," he said, noting that the East African country's huge youth population has created "dissatisfaction and desperation."
But the prime minister also sounded a note of defiance. "Ethiopia is committed to have a multi-party democracy as per our constitution. And Ethiopia is committed to have human rights observed. ... But Ethiopia is also against any violent extremist armed struggling groups," he said.
Ethiopia declared a state of emergency Sunday, faced with widespread anti-government protests. More than 50 people died last week in a stampede after police tried to disperse protesters. The incident set off a week of demonstrations in which both foreign and local businesses with suspected government ties were burned, and one American was killed in a rock attack.
Merkel said the German business community has criticized the business climate in Ethiopia, and she expressed hope that the government will discuss the criticism openly.
At least 500 people have been killed in anti-government protests over the past year, according to Human Rights Watch. The protesters demand more freedoms from a government accused of being increasingly authoritarian.
The United States and others have called on the government to use restraint against protesters, and the U.N. human rights office has asked for access to allow independent observers into the troubled Oromia region.
On Monday, Ethiopia's president announced during a Parliament session that the country's election law would be amended to accommodate more political parties and opposing views.
But the country's internet service continues to be largely blacked out after last week's unrest.
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Merkel's African tour, with stops earlier this week in Mali and Niger, is also meant to highlight the global migration crisis and security issues. Ethiopia is one of the world's largest hosts of refugees, with an estimated 780,000 from nearby Somalia, South Sudan and elsewhere.
Ethiopia's prime minister appealed for German support.
Merkel also inaugurated the new African Union Peace and Security Council building in the capital, Addis Ababa, constructed with German funding of 27 million euros. It is expected to be the base for coordination of peacekeeping missions.
Associated Press
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Armenia on October 14 to take part in the CSTO session, the Kremlin press service said.
October 11, 2016, 15:27 Putin to arrive in Armenia on October 14 to take part in CSTO session
STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 11, ARTSAKHPRESS: On October 14 Vladimir Putin will visit the Republic of Armenia to take part in the regular session of the CSTO Collective Security Council. Issues related to the situation in the CSTO responsibility zone, as well as the further improvement of the structures collective security system will be discussed A special emphasis will be put on taking measures for fight against international terrorism, the statement said.
Shout Out from Arlington Heights resident Trevor West, pictured here, a sophomore at Seton Hall University and a recent winner of the college's 32nd Annual Farinella 5K Run. (Courtesy of Trevor West / handout)
Arlington Heights resident Trevor West, 19, is overwhelmingly modest about capturing top honors in the recent 32nd Annual Farinella 5k Run at Seton Hall University, where he aced the men's division with a time of just 19.07 minutes.
West, a sophomore at Seton Hall, said being a member of the track, cross country and water polo teams at Rolling Meadows High School helped prepare him for competing in the annual race, which involves running three loops around the private university's campus in South Orange, N.J.
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Q: Seton Hall is a long way from Arlington Heights. How did you decide it was the right college for you?
A: I met with my college advisor at Rolling Meadows, and they knew I wanted a major with an international focus. At Seton Hall, I'm able to double major in diplomacy and international relations and modern languages, which for me are Chinese and Japanese. And I was pretty diligent in high school. I decided on Seton Hall because I knew it was a good school, with good values.
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Q: What attracted you to the Japanese and Chinese languages?
A: It actually started in middle school, when I got interested in anime, which is a Japanese cultural thing, which really pulled me into the language. We didn't have a Japanese language program at Rolling Meadows, but I was able to take the class at Elk Grove High School, and I ended up participating in their exchange program, which was really awesome. I also just got back from visiting Japan and China before I started the fall semester at Seton Hall, so it was a busy summer.
Q: Considering your double-major, what would be your dream job?
A: Something where I'd be helping translate, utilizing my Chinese and Japanese language skills.
Shout Out is a weekly feature in which we get to know and introduce our readers to their fellow community members and local visitors throughout suburban Chicago.
kcullotta@tribpub
Twitter @kcullotta
Annah Mitchell serves up a hot dog order at the Gobble Doggs food truck in Aurora while the signs in her food truck window offer free online voter registration help. (Denise Linke / The Beacon-News)
"Voter registration?" queried a passerby as he read the notice on a truck parked in front of Yetee art gallery/T-shirt factory Friday evening in downtown Aurora. "This looks like a hot dog stand."
That's because Gobble Doggs is a hot dog stand. The four-year-old mobile catering venture recently became a full-time job for founder Annah Mitchell, a lifelong Aurora resident. But at last week's First Fridays event, Mitchell added a new menu item to her range of turkey hot dogs: free help registering to vote online at the Kane County Clerk's Office website.
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"I was raised to be part of the political process," explained Mitchell, a former political press secretary, as she dished up a constant stream of orders. "My dad was an election judge for more than 20 years, both my parents voted and we (Mitchell and her siblings) were encouraged to vote when we turned 18. I raised my children to be politically active voters, and now that they're 18, I want to help other people use their right to vote."
Mitchell was quick to note that she isn't certified to register voters herself. But she did keep a laptop next to her service window with the online registration website up and running, just in case someone decided to take her up on her offer to guide him or her through the process.
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"It takes less than five minutes, and it's really easy," she added. "Some people think registering is a hassle, but it really isn't."
"People here seem amped about the race," reported Mitchell's friend, 18-year-old Naperville resident Tierra Braxton, as she returned from a reconnaissance mission at the event.
Mitchell said she plans to offer online registration help at every public event she's booked to cater for until the Oct. 23 deadline. That includes a food truck festival Oct. 11 at Elgin Community College, a music festival Oct. 15 at the Music Box Theater in Chicago, Oct. 21 at Solemn Oath Brewery in Naperville and Oct. 23 at the Elgin Halloween Fun Fair.
"I hope I can help some of the students at ECC who have just turned 18 register so they can vote in this election," said Mitchell. "A lot of young people don't really understand how important voting is."
Mitchell got the idea to offer online registration help on the job when she saw friends of her twins, Toussaint and Naambia, become apathetic about voting after Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders lost in the primaries.
"I want these Millennials to understand that their voice counts," she asserted. "I really don't want these kids to lose their inalienable right to vote because they lost heart when their candidate didn't make it to November."
Braxton agreed that voters need to remain involved.
"I didn't really want to bother voting after Bernie lost, but now I want to support the candidate I like second-best," Braxton said. "Even if (that candidate) loses, at least I'll have done something to help."
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Mitchell said she is on a mission.
"I want people to at least think about voting. Even if they don't use my help, just seeing the sign will jog their memory and make them think about registering on their own," she said.
Denise Linke is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
Montgomery may use the Fox River as a source of drinking water for the village. (Judy Pochel / The Beacon-News)
Montgomery may be leaning toward using the Fox River for its water supply.
Montgomery, Oswego and Yorkville commissioned Sugar Grove-based Engineering Enterprises to do an analysis of options for future water supplies. The study was prompted from concerns that aquifers that supply drinking water to communities in the region are continuing to be depleted from overuse.
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Water levels in those aquifers have declined from 1860 to the present, according to experts. Projections by the Illinois State Water Survey predict that water levels will continue to decline and that portions of the aquifer will be dewatered if current water use continues. Some towns in the Fox Valley, including Aurora, already use Fox River water.
Village Board members in Montgomery said they want to explore going into business with their Fox Valley neighbors on a water treatment plant for Fox River water.
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"My preference is to explore going jointly with our neighbors in Oswego and Yorkville. The residents have been supportive of government going together when it is appropriate," said Montgomery Mayor Matt Brolley.
However, Trustee Stan Bond said he thinks the village needs to be more cautious about linking up with the other two towns.
"I tend to favor going it alone. I'm not sure that it is more money, it is simpler and there are fewer parties involved," he said. "We already have a plan in place for that and we already have the infrastructure in place."
Trustee Steve Jungermann said he thinks the three-community proposal is the best.
"I like the idea of the three communities working together. It is in the best interests of everybody so I don't know why we wouldn't," he said.
Trustees were told that even if they start moving toward working with Yorkville and Oswego on a water treatment facility, Montgomery would still have some flexibility.
"Whatever action we take doesn't lock us in," said Pete Wallers, village engineer. "We have a long period of review and a lot of steps. From the staff report we will start with a joint facility, it gives you the most options. Then if we start down the path and the other elements aren't acceptable then the second alternative is your own plan."
Trustee Denny Lee said water is a priority item for the future of the village.
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"We all agree we need water. What are the costs and where (is a treatment plant) going to be," he said.
Wallers told board members they needed to look at land acquisition in the next few years for a site for a water treatment plant.
"The next potential expenditure is if some parcel of land became available that we thought would be a site for the facility, we may want to participate in land acquisition," he said.
Staff reports indicate that land may very well be in the western portion of the village.
Lee also said testing needs to be done locally on Fox River water.
"We want our own data anyway," said Brolley.
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Judy Pochel is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
SYRACUSE Members of 13 central New York labor groups are throwing their support behind U.S. Rep. John Katko in the 24th Congressional District race.
Katko, R-Camillus, held a press conference Tuesday in Syracuse to announce the endorsements he's received from unions representing carpenters, engineers and plumbers, among other professions in the building and construction trades.
Greg Lancette, president of the Central and Northern New York Building and Construction Trades Council, noted that Katko had to earn the unions' support during his first term in Congress.
In 2014, many of the union members in attendance at Tuesday's event supported then-U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei, a Democrat, over Katko. Lancette was one of several labor leaders who endorsed Maffei in the 24th District race.
But after Katko won the race and was sworn into office, Lancette said the labor groups began working with him. And based on that experience, they like what they've seen.
Lancette highlighted Katko's work to prevent the closure of the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Oswego. The plant has more than 600 employees, many of whom are union members.
He also lauded Katko's push to pass a long-term highway bill, called the FAST Act, to fund bridge and road projects. That measure included a provision designating Interstate 81 as a high priority corridor.
I-81 served as a backdrop for Tuesday's press conference.
"His independent thought process to not get consumed in some of the national stuff that's going on and keeping in mind as he works every single day for what's best for central New York and that's why we praise John," Lancette said. "That's why we endorsed John."
Katko acknowledged that many of the union leaders supporting him now didn't endorse him in the 2014 election. That seemed to motivate the Republican congressman.
"When I started out two years ago, I had to earn their support," he said. "It wasn't going to be just given to me. I came out and earned it by being an independent and bipartisan voice in Congress."
He said his work on the highway bill was important because Congress had failed to adopt a long-term agreement for several years. Before the FAST Act passed last year, there were 35 short-term extensions.
Katko had a hand in the legislation. He serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and was appointed to the conference committee that negotiated an agreement between the House and Senate.
One issue Katko advocated for in the highway bill negotiations was the restoration of funding for Centro. An amendment proposed eliminating the High Density States Program, which provides significant funding to Centro and other mass transit agencies.
He teamed with U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, to ensure Centro didn't lose the support that program provides.
The high priority corridor designation for I-81 will be important for the viaduct replacement project, according to Katko. The state is in the process of determining whether to rebuild the elevated portion of the highway or tear it down and install a boulevard.
"(The designation) is going to give it priority in funding and that's going to give it priority in the environmental impact review," he said.
Not all labor groups are backing Katko in the 24th District race. His Democratic opponent, Colleen Deacon, enjoys support from various unions, including 1199SEIU, Bricklayers, New York State United Teachers, Postal Workers, Steelworkers and the United Food and Commercial Workers.
Deacon, D-Syracuse, has been endorsed by the Working Families Party, which is a labor-affiliated minor party. She'll have the party's line on the general election ballot.
Katko, though, is relishing the support he's received from a portion of the labor movement.
"I'm not going to let you down next term," he said. "That I will promise you."
U.S. Rep. John Katko is facing criticisms from Democrats after the release of a video Friday showing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump making sexually aggressive comments about women.
Katko, R-Camillus, quickly denounced Trump and then announced Saturday that he won't support the GOP nominee in the general election.
Colleen Deacon, Katko's Democratic challenger, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have used past statements made by the congressman to claim that he was supportive of Trump. And they're suggesting that when Trump made controversial comments, Katko was more focused on his re-election bid.
In this fact check, we'll look at three main claims made by Democrats related to Katko's stance on Trump.
'A LOT OF GOOD PRINCIPLES'
Democrats have been bombarding media outlets with press releases referring to an interview Katko had with WSYR's Dan Cummings in May. The interview on "Newsmakers" featured a discussion about Katko's stance on the presidential race.
The Democratic claim is that Katko said Trump "has a lot of good principles." That's true. Katko did say that. But that's not all he had to say about Trump.
Here's what he said:
"I think that he has a lot of good principles. He's tapping into something in this country that a lot of people feel disenfranchised. They feel like a professional politician is not serving them well. And I think they're going to have a stark contrast. If Trump is the nominee, the stark contrast is gonna be the professional politician in the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, versus someone who's a businessman his entire life who's going to go out and think outside the box. The problem is can he deliver that message without offending people and that's what we have to deal with going forward."
It's clear from Katko's comments that he thought Trump had some good traits, but also was concerned about the eventual Republican presidential nominee's knack for offending people.
Democrats were right. Katko did say Trump "has a lot of good principles." But they did leave out the part where Katko takes a deeper dive into what some of those principles are and mentions his concerns about the Republican presidential candidate. (It's also worth noting that earlier in the interview with Cummings he said the GOP candidates all have "generally good principles." This interview was taped before Trump officially became the party's nominee for president.)
'ABSOLUTELY WILL SUPPORT'
In a new TV ad released by Colleen Deacon's campaign, viewers are shown a clip from the aforementioned "Newsmakers" interview featuring Katko responding to a question about the presidential race.
The narrator in the ad made it seem Katko said he "absolutely will support" Donald Trump when asked about supporting the Manhattan real estate mogul.
The problem? That wasn't the question.
The actual question was about whether Katko would support the Republican nominee for president. He responded, "Whoever the Republican nominee is I absolutely will support."
That clip in the ad makes it seem as if Katko was for Trump before he was against him. That's not the case. Katko never committed to supporting Trump. He did pledge to support the GOP nominee until it became clear that the nominee was going to be Trump.
Katko's flip-flop (if you wish to call it that) wasn't going from pro-Trump to anti-Trump. It was going from supporting the Republican nominee ("Whoever it is," he said in the WSYR interview) to not supporting Trump as the GOP candidate.
'REFUSED TO DISAVOW TRUMP'
Colleen Deacon released a statement Monday accusing Katko of refusing to disavow Trump and claiming that when the GOP presidential candidate "attacked a Gold Star family, stiffed contractors, mocked POWs and insulted women, Congressman Katko said he was instead more concerned about his race."
The source of this claim is another WSYR interview. The story aired in August and Katko was asked if he would endorse Trump. His response in that interview was the same one gave to other reporters who asked: He wasn't going to endorse Trump unless the GOP nominee's tone changed.
Katko also was asked why he wouldn't denounce Trump after the presidential candidate attacked a Gold Star family, declined to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan and apparently didn't know Russia invaded Ukraine.
Katko's answer: "Well, because you know what? I'm more concerned about my race. First of all, does it really matter whether a freshman congressman endorses or doesn't endorse a presidential candidate?"
There's an issue with the charge made by Democrats. When Trump attacked the Gold Star family, Katko issued a statement calling his actions "incredibly disrespectful."
Another notable moment Katko criticized Trump was when the GOP presidential candidate proposed a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants entering the U.S. Katko questioned the constitutionality of such a plan.
Katko also denounced Trump's lewd comments in an 11-year-old video that was published Friday. On Saturday, Katko said he wouldn't vote for Trump.
In one interview, Katko did say he wouldn't denounce Trump because he was more focused on his race. On the surface, that's an accurate claim.
But there are other statements made by Katko throughout the campaign which show he had concerns about Trump for months. Democrats may have been right about the WSYR interview, but they didn't present the full picture of Katko's position.
Floyd Rayburn will appear on the general election ballot in November, but he's not actively campaigning for the 54th Senate District seat.
Rayburn lost to Pam Helming by 210 votes in the Republican primary. While he wasn't successful in attempting to secure the GOP nomination, he did mount a successful write-in campaign to appear on the Reform Party line.
The victory gave Rayburn a spot on the ballot against Helming, who will have the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines, and Democratic candidate Kenan Baldridge. But having only one minor party line makes him a longshot.
Mike Sigler, a spokesman for Rayburn, said he won't be actively campaigning or fundraising. But he is "fulfilling commitments that were made and he's going to continue to do events that he's also been doing even before he was a candidate."
Sigler added that Rayburn plans to attend an upcoming League of Women Voters forum in Geneva. Before Rayburn committed to participating, Baldridge was the only other candidate who accepted the group's invitation.
"[W]e do not want to give the Democrat in this race an open stage," Sigler wrote in an email Tuesday. "Floyd is still on the ballot and came within 1 percent of the Republican nomination so he wants to make sure those Republican voices are heard while also getting to know the concerns of his neighbors even better than he already does."
Helming is the favorite to win the 54th Senate District race. Republicans hold an enrollment advantage in the district and she has received significant support from the state Senate GOP conference.
The race will fill the seat being vacated by state Sen. Michael Nozzolio, who is retiring at the end of the year. He decided to not seek re-election after learning he needed surgery to repair faulty heart valves.
A super PAC endorsed by House Republican leaders has released its first television commercial in the 24th Congressional District a major piece of an $800,000 campaign targeting Democratic candidate Colleen Deacon.
The Congressional Leadership Fund's ad continues a theme raised by Republicans throughout the campaign that Deacon, D-Syracuse, is unprepared to handle foreign policy challenges.
The 30-second commercial mentions Deacon's support for the Iran nuclear deal an agreement the Republican incumbent in the race, U.S. Rep. John Katko, opposed.
It also features the same clip from "The Campbell Conversations" that's been used in previous GOP ads. In the clip, Deacon is asked how the U.S. should handle the situation in Syria and the fight against ISIS, a Middle Eastern terrorist group.
A portion of Deacon's response is, "Obviously, I don't know what the answer is."
The ad released by the Congressional Leadership Fund is airing on Syracuse-area broadcast and cable television stations.
"Colleen Deacon has demonstrated she doesn't know what she's talking about on national security," said Ruth Guerra, a spokeswoman for the Congressional Leadership Fund. "Whether on fighting ISIS or supporting the Iran nuclear deal, Colleen Deacon will have to ask Nancy Pelosi what to say. New York families' security can't depend on amateur hour from Colleen Deacon."
The group's $800,000 investment in the 24th Congressional District race includes digital advertising and door-to-door canvassing in central New York.
According to Federal Election Commission records, the Congressional Leadership Fund has already spent nearly $300,000 on the 24th District race.
Outside groups have invested more than $1.4 million on the race, records show.
A poll released last week showed Katko, R-Camillus, leading Deacon by 19 points, 53 to 34 percent. It's a large lead in a district Democrats have won in each of the past two presidential election years.
Political forecasters say Katko is in a good position to win re-election. Two of the most prominent prognosticators Cook Political Report and Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report rate the race "leans Republican" and "toss up/tilt Republican," respectively.
UPDATE: Bryan Lesswing, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, issued a statement responding to the Congressional Leadership Fund's campaign:
"While Trump recklessly bragged about declaring war, Katko praised him for having a lot of good principles and refused to disavow him until it was politically convenient. That should worry Central New York voters," Lesswing said. "By supporting Donald Trumps divisive and dangerous campaign, Republican John Katko puts politics above safety and refuses to put Central New York, let alone the whole country, first."
SYRACUSE U.S. Rep. John Katko took umbrage with a comment made by Democratic challenger Colleen Deacon that refers to his stance on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as "cowardly."
Deacon's statement was made during an interview with WRVO. She critiqued Katko's decision not to support Trump a position he first revealed on Saturday.
The announcement by Katko, R-Camillus, came one day after the release of a video showing Trump making sexually aggressive comments about women.
"If you're going to wait until after you've seen a whole number of Republican members of Congress, running for Congress, decide to denounce him, then it's OK for you to denounce him, that just shows that it's cowardly," Deacon, D-Syracuse, said in the WRVO interview. "It does not show leadership and it shows that you will wait until you have backing from your party to make these announcements."
The assessment that his position is "cowardly" struck a nerve with Katko, who heard the interview on the radio while driving his son to school.
"I don't know if she ever understood my background, but I've never been called a coward," he said at a press conference in Syracuse Tuesday.
Katko proceeded to share moments from his career as a federal prosecutor when he was handling cases involving individuals accused of serious crimes.
He recalled prosecuting cases targeting drug cartels. In Puerto Rico, his security became a concern during murder trials. At one point, his wife and son returned to central New York and they lived apart for eight months. In court, he had 13 guards protecting him.
When he returned to the region and worked in the U.S. Attorney's office in Syracuse, a contract was put on his life. He had to move his family out of their house so the U.S. Marshals could install an alarm system.
"I've been the subject of many death threats on a regular basis," he said. "You know what? I never back down. Calling me a coward is really pretty outrageous."
Deacon has been attempting to raise Katko's stance on Trump as a major issue in the 24th Congressional District.
On Sunday, she held a rally in Syracuse to criticize her GOP opponent and the Republican presidential nominee. She called Katko's decision not to endorse Trump "too little, too late."
Deacon's campaign released a television commercial Monday that suggests Katko supported Trump or, at least, pledged to support the GOP nominee.
At his press conference in Syracuse, Katko reiterated his opposition to Trump.
"I've never endorsed him and never said I was going to to vote for him. That's all nonsense," he said. "It's revisionist history and quite frankly, I think it smacks of desperation on her part."
Bryan Lesswing, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, doubled down on the line of attack against Katko.
"The truth is that Katko is just trying to rescue his political career and distract from his own record of praising Trump and his cowardly refusal to disavow Trump until it was clear his electoral future hung in the balance," he said.
Katko is seeking a second term representing the 24th Congressional District. Deacon is U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's former regional director. She also previously worked as an aide to former Syracuse Mayor Matthew Driscoll.
The district is comprised of Cayuga, Onondaga and Wayne counties, plus the western portion of Oswego County.
Election Day is Nov. 8.
Photo taken on Nov. 12, 2015 shows newly-released 100-yuan bank notes in Beijing, capital of China. [Xinhua]
Debt-to-equity swap programs to lower China's corporate debt will not offer a free lunch to profit-losing companies, according to guidelines issued by the State Council on Monday.
Unlike the previous government-led equity-for-debt program launched at the end of the 1990s, the new guidelines require that the program will be launched under market principles.
The government will play a complementary role only, the guidelines said. It will not be responsible for choosing which companies are qualified for the program and won't bear the losses during the swap process.
"The program is open only to promising companies with short-term difficulties," said Lian Weiliang, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission. "Loss-making zombie companies will be strictly banned."
In the meantime, fiscal policies and preferential policies will be provided to support debt-to-equity swap programs in the future, according to Dai Bohua, assistant finance minister.
Fan Yifei, a vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, said the central bank will create a favorable monetary policy environment and ensure that credit growth remains at a proper level to implement the deleveraging process.
The top level guidelines come at a time when rising corporate debt in China is posing increasing risks to the financial sector, according to Lian.
Corporate debt relative to GDP reached 156 percent, according to the National Institute for Finance and Development, and a large proportion comes from profit-losing State-owned enterprises.
"Although the banking sector does face a certain level of pressure brought by bankruptcy and restructuring, debt-to-equity swaps will not lead to a systemic crisis," said Wang Zhaoxing, assistant chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
"Responsive measures to prevent losses are needed," said Wang. "Debt-to-equity swap programs will be conducted step by step, and will be conducted first in some pilot regions."
Zhang Minghe, deputy head of the credit division with China Construction Bank, said that despite market principles helping to prevent simply shifting risks by converting bad debt into bad equity, more detailed plans must guide the debt-to-equity swap process.
Duke Energy Corp has agreed to sell its Brazilian business to China Three Gorges Corp for $1.2 billion, the MarketWatch reported on Monday.
Proceeds from the sales will be used to repay debt, the company said. Duke Energy's long-term debt, including items, was about $39.93 billion as of June 30.
"This is another important step forward in driving our strategy to focus on our core domestic regulated business, and it builds on our recent acquisition of Piedmont Natural Gas," Lynn Good, chief executive of Duke Energy said in a statement.
The deal is expected to close in two to four months, the financial news website said.
Duke Energy, the second-largest US utility owner by market value, said in February it was looking to sell its international assets to drive more stable earnings and cash flow growth from the United States.
Earlier media reported that Duke Energy has invited Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management, French public utility company Engie SA and China Three Gorges Corp to submit binding bids for its Latin American power assets.
Shares of Duke Energy have risen 7 percent so far this year, while the S&P 500 index up 5 percent during the same period.
Yingkou Port, in the northeastern province of Liaoning, has seen a rise in freight volume despite the sluggish local economy, thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative.
During the first nine months of this year, the port registered combined sea-rail freight transport volume of over 340,000 standard containers, up by 9.1 percent year-on-year, said the port management company.
During the first three quarters, the volume of sea-rail combined transport through Yingkou Port accounted for over 56 percent of all ports in northeast China.
As part of Belt and Road efforts, the port now has railway routes to cities such as Moscow, Russia, and Warsaw, Poland.
More cargo from inland areas was processed by the port, as railways helped shorten the time it takes to transport goods to Europe by half compared to traditional marine transport, with logistics cost dropping by some 1,000 U.S. dollars per container, according to the company.
The Belt and Road Initiative -- the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road initiative -- brings together countries in Asia, Europe and even Africa via overland and maritime networks.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Chui Sai On, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), in Macao, south China, Oct. 10, 2016. [Xinhua]
Premier Li Keqiang met on Monday with Chui Sai On, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), pledging full support for the law-based administration of the SAR government.
Over the past nearly 17 years since Macao returned to the motherland, the region has maintained political stability, economic prosperity and social harmony, completing a successful chapter in practicing the "one country, two systems" policy, said Li, who arrived in Macao on Monday for a three-day inspection visit.
In the past two years, Macao's economy has experienced adjustment. The SAR government has led all walks of life in Macao and successfully tackled challenges and made new achievements, said Li when meeting with Chui.
The central government fully recognizes the SAR government's work and hopes the SAR administration will overcome difficulties and continue to take initiative to realize good management, construction and development of the region while uniting Macao's people, said Li.
The premier said he expects the SAR government to continuously push the building of Macao as a world tourism and leisure center and a service platform for economic and trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
The central government cares very much about Macao's development and the wellbeing of local compatriots and has formulated a series of policies and measures to support the SAR in developing its economy, improving people's livelihood and strengthening exchanges and cooperation with inland areas, said Li.
Li said the central government will continue to fully and correctly implement "one country, two systems," "Macao people administering Macao," a high degree of autonomy and the Basic Law.
The central government fully supports law-based governance by the chief executive and the SAR administration and backs Macao's participation in national development strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative to improve the wellbeing of local residents, he added.
Chui welcomed the premier and thanked the central government for its long-term care, support and help in the region.
The SAR government has strictly implemented "one country, two systems," "Macao people administering Macao," and a high degree of autonomy while working in strict accordance with the Basic Law, he said.
Macao's economy has entered a smooth period and various measures to upgrade the local economy have proved effective, according to the chief executive.
Macao has confidence in making greater progress as a world tourism and leisure center and as a platform for cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, as well as in achieving an appropriately diversified economy with the support of the central government and integration with national development strategies, said Chui.
During his visit, the premier plans to attend the opening of the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
OWASCO With Auburn and Cayuga County officials concerned about tests showing low levels of blue-green algae toxins in the public water supply, Colleen Deacon pledged to make Owasco Lake water quality a high priority if she's elected to Congress.
Deacon, D-Syracuse, and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, an Albany-area Democrat, held a press conference Monday at Emerson Park in Owasco to draw more attention to the problems plaguing the lake. They also sought to show why Deacon, not her opponent, U.S. Rep. John Katko, would be better equipped to handle those issues.
Tonko, who is the latest House Democrat to visit the 24th Congressional District and campaign with Deacon, said it's important to protect Owasco Lake and other drinking water sources.
"Without pristine water, we're putting ourselves in harm's way," he said.
A member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Tonko said he's co-sponsored legislation that encourages more investment in drinking water infrastructure. The bill has eight cosponsors. All are Democrats.
Tonko recalled what happened after the legislation was introduced. House Republican leadership said the goal of the bill was great, but wanted to know how it would be paid for.
The funding required for such a measure appears to be the main reason why it hasn't advanced in Congress.
Tonko is hopeful that with Deacon's help, funding for water infrastructure projects will be prioritized.
"Colleen Deacon knows that these choices are critical and that we don't back burner projects simply because of the price tag," he said. "There are certain things that are worthy of our investment and I would suggest again, because drinking water, pristine water is part of every life, part of every job, it's a sound investment! And it makes the argument so weak when they say it's costly."
Owasco Lake has faced water quality issues in recent years, including the threat of invasive species. Blue-green algae has been present in the lake, which provides drinking water to the city of Auburn and town of Owasco.
It wasn't until recently that toxins from blue-green algae were found in the public water supply. The toxins were present in samples taken from Owasco's filtration plant on Sept. 22. The toxins also showed up in Auburn's water.
Aileen McNabb-Coleman, a Cayuga County legislator whose district includes Owasco, noted that the town and the city of Auburn are the first municipalities in New York state to test positive for blue-green algae toxins in the public water supply.
For now, the toxins remain at relatively low levels. The most recent tests found between 0.17 and 0.19 micrograms of toxins per liter in samples taken Friday. Saturday's samples found 0.19 micrograms per liter in Auburn's water and 0.22 micrograms per liter in Owasco's water.
The advisory level set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is 0.3 micrograms per liter for children under 6 years old. For adults and children ages 6 and up, the advisory level is 1.6 micrograms per liter.
Local health officials say there's no threat to the public at the moment, but McNabb-Coleman is concerned.
"As a mother and representative of this community, I feel no detected level of toxin is a safe level," she said.
The Owasco Lake situation has led to comparisons to Flint, Michigan and Hoosick Falls, New York. Both communities experienced issues with drinking water that were far more serious.
In Flint, lead contaminated the drinking water. The water supply in Hoosick Falls was contaminated by PFOA, a toxic chemical. In both cases, the government response was criticized.
Tonko thinks Congress, specifically Republicans in the House and Senate, need to take these issues more seriously.
"Ask the people of Flint, Michigan. Ask the people of Hoosick Falls. Ask the people here, in the Auburn, New York area, about the soundness of their drinking water supplies," he said. "Is it something we're anxious to invest in and want to prioritize? Absolutely it is. But you need the soundness of thinking."
He also lauded Deacon for her standing in the environmental community. She's been endorsed by the national League of Conservation Voters and the New York League of Conservation Voters. And environmental issues are major parts of her platform.
Deacon also has experience working on environmental issues. She served as U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's top aide in central New York for six years. Among the legislative items she worked on was the senator's effort to ban the use of plastic microbeads, which polluted bodies of water.
Last week, she attended the Owasco Watershed Lake Association meeting. The focus of the meeting was blue-green algae.
That hands-on experience is what Deacon hopes will help her win in November.
"These are serious issues that we have to address," she said. "And in order to address them, you have to learn about them."
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Firefighters rescue a 6-year-old girl from the rubble after four buildings collapsed in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, on Monday. [China Daily]
Twenty-two people have been confirmed dead after residential buildings collapsed early Monday morning in Wenzhou City in east China's Zhejiang Province.
The disaster happened in Wenzhou's Lucheng industrial district. About 800 rescuers finished the search at about 1 a.m. Tuesday after 28 people were pulled from the debris.
Only six survived and are hospitalized. They are in stable conditions.
The latest survivor is a young girl who was rescued at 6:45 p.m. Monday, according to the fire department of Wenzhou City. She was protected by the bodies of her parents, who were killed in the collapse.
The cause of the disaster is under investigation.
Rescuers said the collapsed buildings were built by villagers. Five adjacent houses built in the 1970s remain standing, but rescuers are demolishing them to avoid secondary disasters.
Premier Li Keqiang started his three-day inspection visit to the Macao Special Administrative Region on Monday, pledging support for the law-based administration of the SAR government and local development.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Chui Sai On, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), in Macao, south China, Oct. 10, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
Li's plane touched down at the Macao International Airport around noon. He waved to officials and hundreds of representatives and children holding flowers and flags.
On landing, Li shook hands with Macao Chief Executive Chui Sai On and Ho Hau Wah, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who is also a former chief executive of Macao.
In a brief speech at the airport, Li said it was his first visit to Macao and that he was happy to see the smiling children who are Macao's future. The premier passed on the sincere greetings and wishes of the central government to Macao compatriots.
"Today, I myself step on the treasured soil of the lotus flower of the motherland, also a land that has seen the successful practice of the 'one country, two systems' principle," Li said, adding that he hoped to see Macao's development, folk customs and daily life during his stay.
The premier said he would meet people from all walks of life during his trip.
He met with Chui Sai On and pledged full support for the law-based administration of the SAR government.
Over the past nearly 17 years since Macao returned to the motherland, the region has maintained political stability, economic prosperity and social harmony, completing a successful chapter in practicing the "one country, two systems" policy, said Li.
In the past two years, Macao's economy has experienced adjustment. The SAR government has led all walks of life in Macao and successfully tackled challenges and made new achievements, said the premier when meeting with Chui.
The central government fully recognizes the SAR government's work and hopes the SAR administration will overcome difficulties and continue to take initiative to realize good management, construction and development of the region while uniting Macao's people, said Li.
The premier said he expects the SAR government to continuously push the building of Macao as a world tourism and leisure center and a service platform for economic and trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
The central government cares very much about Macao's development and the wellbeing of local compatriots and has formulated a series of policies and measures to support the SAR in developing its economy, improving people's livelihood and strengthening exchanges and cooperation with inland areas, said Li.
Li said the central government will continue to fully and correctly implement "one country, two systems," "Macao people administering Macao," a high degree of autonomy and the Basic Law.
The central government fully supports law-based governance by the chief executive and the SAR administration and backs Macao's participation in national development strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative to improve the wellbeing of local residents, he added.
Chui welcomed the premier and thanked the central government for its long-term care, support and help in the region.
The SAR government has strictly implemented "one country, two systems," "Macao people administering Macao," and a high degree of autonomy while working in strict accordance with the Basic Law, he said.
Macao's economy has entered a smooth period and various measures to upgrade the local economy have proved effective, according to the chief executive.
Macao has confidence in making greater progress as a world tourism and leisure center and as a platform for cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, as well as in achieving an appropriately diversified economy with the support of the central government and integration with national development strategies, said Chui.
Accompanied by the chief executive, Li visited the SAR government headquarters on Monday afternoon, where he listened to a work report of the SAR government.
Li said the SAR government should continue to implement the new demands for the region in areas such as economic and social development put forward by President Xi Jinping when he visited Macao two years ago.
Recently, the central government has put forward multiple policies to benefit Macao in line with the new situation and the demands of Macao's development, said Li.
The new policies include supporting the SAR government in hosting an annual global tourism economy forum, creating influential conventions and exhibitions, setting up a renminbi clearing center for Portuguese-speaking countries and establishing the headquarters of the cooperation and development fund between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, according to Li.
Li hopes Macao will seize the opportunities, make full use of national policies and promote development and prosperity to improve people's livelihood, better solve problems in areas such as housing and public transportation and improve the wellbeing of the 650,000 residents of Macao.
Li also met with Ho Hau Wah, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, on Monday, saying he expects Ho to continue supporting the SAR government and contributing to Macao's development.
During his visit, the premier plans to attend the opening of the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries in Macao.
Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's recent statements that the island would not bow to pressure from the mainland have been rejected by government officials and academic experts as clear distortions.
"The mainland never pressures the island," said Ni Yongjie, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies. "The mainland's only hope is to retain peaceful development on the basis of the 1992 Consensus."
The 1992 Consensus, in which representatives from the mainland and the island agreed that both are part of one China, is the cornerstone of upholding the peaceful development of both sides across the Straits, said An Fengshan, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
Tsai said: "Our promise has never changed. Our kindness has never changed. We will not bow to pressure and we will of course not revert to the old path of confrontation."
But officials called her words misleading.
"Whether to accept the one-China principle is the touchstone to test the so-called kindness proposed by the Taiwan leader," An said.
"As long as the 1992 Consensus is recognized, both sides across the Taiwan Straits can open talks on an equal footing, and people from both sides can have a bright future. It is a dead-end, evil way to deny the 1992 Consensus, stir up confrontation and cut economic, social and cultural ties between Taiwan and the mainland," he added.
Ni called Tsai's remarks nothing new, and said it still involves attempts to negotiate with the mainland.
"As a leader, Tsai is inappropriate," he added.
He also criticized Tsai's reference to "unchanged kindness".
Tsai's administration poorly handled the recent bus fire incident that killed 24 tourists from the mainland, he said. Tsai treated the victims from Taiwan and the mainland differently. "Tsai's attitude indicates no kindness at all," Ni said.
An reiterated that the mainland won't change the sincere kindness it has shown to improve and develop cross-Straits relations on the basis of the 1992 Consensus.
"The mainland won't break the promise to maintain peaceful development," he said.
"No force can stop the historical step for China's unification and rejuvenation. Those who respect history will prosper, those who deny it will perish," An said.
Shanghai opened its first community fridge on Sunday, with the aim of cutting food waste and helping residents in need. It is located in Puxiong Road, Putuo District. [Shanghai Daily]
Shanghai opened its first community fridge on Sunday, with the aim of cutting food waste and helping residents in need. It is located in Puxiong Road, Putuo District.
"Anyone, whether living in the community or not, can claim food from the fridge after a simple registration," said the neighborhood committee director Zhang Jing. "For example, if you forget to make breakfast for your son, he can just pick up something here. Elderly residents living alone can also get fresh food and chat with volunteers here."
The fridge is housed in a community reading room for the elderly and can be used from 8:30am to 11:30am and 1:30pm to 5pm. The stock yesterday included boxes of milk, yogurt and pastries. The foods are supplied by two local supermarkets nearby, a restaurant and a food bank.
Co-launched by Puxiong Community and Shanghai Oasis Public Service Development Center, the project was inspired by "solidarity fridges" in Spain, whereby residents and restaurants can drop off leftovers to curb food waste.
However, to ensure food safety and sourcing, the fridge in Puxiong Community so far only accepts food from certain institutions. Five volunteers take turns to be responsible for accepting food and cleaning the fridge.
"I think this is a brilliant idea, and would be even better if it can spring up around the city," a 79-year-old resident Zhu Guoxin told Shanghai Daily. "However I hope in future individual residents can also be able to put their leftovers or other edible snacks here. Just like the scheme in Spain."
In addition to the shared fridge, the community and Shanghai Oasis Public Service Development Center are also working on a food bank scheme serving low-income families as well as providing medical treatment in the community.
"Packaged food that can be preserved for a long time will be put in food bank to serve residents most in need," said Ella Zhang, the program director with the public service center, "while cooked food or fresh food will be sent to the sharing fridge." She said the Green Food Bank project first started in 2014 and operated from about 50 spots in Shanghai, with food supplied mainly by local farms, food manufacturers, retailers and restaurants. "Some five-star hotels are also contacting us to share their leftovers."
The organization was working with volunteers in other cities including southwestern Sichuan's Chengdu and Urumchi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to spread the model of food sharing nationwide.
The project in Puxiong Community is sponsored by Changshou Funds of Changshou subdistrict government. If successful, the program will be spread to the other 34 communities in the subdistrict.
Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission and chairman of the China Institute for International Strategic Studies, delivers a welcome speech on Oct. 10 at the opening reception for the 7th Xiangshan Forum held in Beijing. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]
Chinese and international delegates to the 7th Xiangshan Forum, a principal forum for defense affairs, have expressed the need for greater dialogue and cooperation on anti-terrorism and security.
The 7th Xiangshan Forum, held in Beijing on Oct. 10-12, hosts more than 400 delegates from 59 countries' defense departments, six international organizations as well as scholars on military affairs.
This year's theme is to "Build a New Type of International Relations through Security, Dialogue and Cooperation."
Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission and chairman of the China Institute for International Strategic Studies, said on Oct. 10 in his welcome speech that while each year's forum adopts a different theme, what remains unchanged is "to cherish and yearn for the world's peace and stability, and to explore and seek the progress of human civilization."
Admiral Sun said that strengthening cooperation on international anti-terrorism is important for the world's peace and development and meets the common expectation of people from all countries.
Also at the reception, General Zulkifeli Bin Mohammed Zin, chief of the Malaysian defense forces, said that the advent of global terrorism is "historically unparalleled."
"While terrorism takes many forms, few would argue that the threat posed by groups driven by religious extremism is not the greatest challenge of our time," he said. Also noting that international cooperation has resulted in IS' recent set-backs, with new data showing that the group has lost more than a quarter of the territory it once controlled.
He stressed that successful collaboration against terrorism would call for "transparency in deliberations, adherence to international norms and practices, engaging members as equals, and taking into account varied national interests."
"Xiangshan Forum plays a significant role in promoting peace across the region and indeed the world, by helping us build ever stronger relationships and trust, as well as developing a greater understanding of the challenges and opportunities each of us faces," said General Zulkifeli.
Yasser Mubarak Elmanasir, brigadier general of Jordan's army, agreed that rampant terrorism headed by IS is the main reason for the current turmoil in the Middle East. But he believed that China and Jordan can enhance their political and military cooperation to help stabilize the situation.
In relation to Asian security and defense issues, Nguyen Chi Vinh, Vietnam's deputy minister of national defense said that the Asia-Pacific region is fortunate not to currently have armed conflict. This forum is about how different countries can work together to create a "conflict-free environment."
Owasco Lake is like the trunk of a tree, said Andrew Snell, a watershed specialist for the lake. Into that tree are tons of branches, which Snell compares to tributaries streams that feed into the lake. And what those branches carry into the main trunk or water body affects the overall health of the system.
The problem, Snell said, is that many people do not know where those tributaries are, or what they are called. To help monitor those crucial lifelines into the lake, Snell is spearheading a project called the Tributary Adoption and Identification Pilot Project. Similar to the state Adopt A Highway program, Snell said, the idea is to get as many eyes as possible on the streams so that any problems or concerns can be reported as quickly as possible.
"Hopefully this is the start of building that protective infrastructure around the watershed," Snell said.
The pilot project, funded by a New York Sea Grant, will focus on Niles, Owasco and Fleming. Three main tributaries there, including Sucker, Van Ness and Dutch Hollow brooks, will be labeled with the new roadside signs but the signs aren't your typical highway labels.
At the top of the signs are the names of the brooks that drivers, bikers and walkers may cross. In large print, that's the only part of the sign meant to be read by motorists whizzing by. Snell tested this and laughed after clearly reading "Sucker Brook" while driving down the road.
"People will know where they're crossing now," he said.
Light-reflecting prisms installed at Emerson Park to deter birds Light-reflecting prisms intended to deter geese and other waterfowl from landing in Emerson
But there are even more features of the sign meant for those passing it on foot or bike: a map, an identification number and QR code for smartphones. The public can scan the barcode and get more information on the tributary, including its characteristics and water quality information, the inspection program and Owasco Lake.
Next to that code is a map that shows where the brook is located in relation to Owasco Lake, and includes a small identifier code. At the bottom of the sign is a phone number to call to reach the Owasco Lake Watershed Inspection team.
Snell said he hopes that if anyone sees a spill, discolored liquid moving through the streams, trash in the tributaries or someone dumping into them, that they will call the phone number and report that ID code.
"We can then deploy to that location, whatever resource may be needed," he said. "So not only is it information-driven, it's multi-purpose. It provides information, a location identifier for emergency response, and it gets the public involved with eyes on the ground."
So far, Snell, with the help and partnership of the local highway departments, has installed a few signs. Overall, there are 25 crossings he plans to mark, with two signs at each location. Once they're all installed, he plans to provide a map with all the identification codes for local fire departments and Cayuga County 911. That way, if there are any major emergencies, help can be dispatched quickly.
While this is a pilot program, Snell said he hopes it will evolve and instigate more stream cleanup projects across the watershed. It's another piece to the puzzle of keeping Owasco Lake the source of drinking water for approximately 45,000 residents in Cayuga County clean.
"We'll see," he said. "We'll see the effectiveness. It'll be nice to track and get feedback from folks."
The upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Cambodia will add new momentum to the bilateral strategic partnership between the two countries, scholars in Cambodia said.
Xi will pay his first state visit to Cambodia on Oct. 13 and Oct. 14 to further enhance bilateral relations and cooperation, both countries formally announced on Monday.
"President Xi's visit illustrates China's unwavering support to the Cambodian government and its people's socio-economic development and poverty reduction," Chheang Vannarith, chairman of the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies, told Xinhua.
Cambodia-China relations strengthened remarkably after the signing of the comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation in 2010, he went on to say, adding that Cambodia has become China's closest natural ally in Southeast Asia and that the country regards China as its most important strategic and development partner.
Vannarith said Xi's visit would contribute further to promoting Cambodia-China cooperation in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, education, trade and investment.
"China should assist Cambodia in innovation, technology transfer and human resources development," Vannarith said.
Mey Kalyan, a senior adviser of the Supreme National Economic Council, which is the Cambodian government's economic policy-making institution, said current relations and cooperation between Cambodia and China are extremely smooth and going well.
Most Cambodian people appreciate the superlative assistance being provided by China to allow the upgrading of the nation's economic development, he said, adding that the recent robust economic growth in Cambodia over the years is due, in no small part, to China's assistance.
"The visit of President Xi is extremely meaningful as it symbolizes the good relationship between the two nations," he said.
"It is a good opportunity for President Xi to have a first-hand view of Cambodia's situation and for Cambodians to thank President Xi and other Chinese leaders for their unwavering support."
Pou Sothirak, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said the upcoming visit by President Xi to Cambodia would be considered as a milestone.
"The visit is expected to fortify the pivoting role China has been playing in Cambodia's multi-faceted development processes, as well as to further strengthen deep friendship bonds between the two countries," he said.
The scholar added that Cambodia continues to attach great economic and strategic importance to the rise of China, as the country is looking forward to reaping the enormous benefits from China's Belt and Road Initiative, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
He said the relations and cooperation between Cambodia and China are at their very best, given the current trend and future prospect remain high.
Pou Sothirak said in December 2010, Cambodia and China upgraded their bilateral ties to a "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation."
"Since then, this elevated relationship has proceeded smoothly and comprised a multitude of practical cooperation and has made continuous progress in all fields of Cambodia's national development, from socio-economic development, to diplomatic and political security cooperation," he said.
"Excellent relations between Cambodia and China will continue well into the future, provided that both sides maintain the mutual respect they have both shown and continue to broaden their understanding of each other as well as not to undertake any activity to harm the reputation of the other, or to undermine their national interests," he said.
Besides promoting an even closer relationship between the two countries, the landmark visit of the Chinese leader to Cambodia will no doubt boost trade and investment between the two countries, especially under the Belt and Road Initiative.
"The initiative is expected to firmly support Cambodia in promoting sustainable economic growth, implemented in good faith, which means that due considerations will be given to quality projects, social and environment condition, good governance, transparency and accountability," he said.
Flash
Sudan's national dialogue conference on Monday approved a final document following deliberations that lasted about a year.
Representatives of the political parties, armed groups and civil society organizations signed the document before it was handed to the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who chaired the concluding session in Khartoum.
The presidents of Egypt, Mauritania, Uganda and Chad attended the closing session.
The final document, covering principles of rule, public freedoms, identity, peace, unity, economy and external relations, will serve as the basis of the country's permanent constitution.
In January 2014, al-Bashir declared an initiative calling on the opposition parties and the armed groups to join a national dialogue to end the country's crises.
The sessions of the dialogue kicked off in October 2015 in a bid to resolve the country's political and social issues, with the participation of a number of Sudanese political parties, civil society organizations and some Darfur armed groups.
However, major political parties and armed movements refused to participate in the conference, including the Revolutionary Front Alliance, which brings together the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector and major Darfur armed movements.
Darfur armed groups and the SPLM/northern sector insist that a preparatory conference should be held, according to decisions of the African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council, to bring together all the Sudanese political forces to agree on procedures to initiate an equitable dialogue with the government, a demand that the Sudanese government rejects.
Flash
Iraqi security forces on Monday launched an operation to push out Islamic State (IS) militants from a rugged area along the border between the central provinces of Salahudin and Diyala, a security source said.
The security forces and allied paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units attacked from three directions of Mteibijah area, some 100 km southeast of Salahudin's provincial capital of Tikrit, the police chief of Salahudin province, Maj. Gen. Dhamin Hameed al-Jubouri, told Xinhua.
The troops, backed by warplanes and helicopters, recaptured a village west of Mteibijah, and destroyed many IS positions, leaving at least six IS militants killed, Jubouri said.
The operation in Mteibijah was designed to take control of the whole area, where dozens of IS militants were still hiding, to prevent them from attacking civilian and military targets in Salahudin and Diyala provinces, Jubouri said.
Meanwhile, a helicopter gunship attacked an IS convoy in Mteibijah, killing at least six militants and destroying five vehicles, one with heavy machine gun.
The predominately Sunni Arab province of Salahudin has been the scene of a major offensive by Iraqi security forces and allied Hashd Shaabi units, which managed to retake control of the province from the hands of IS militants who seized large part of it in June 2014.
Flash
China reiterated Monday that it will continue its support for Sudan's efforts to achieve peace, stability, development and national unity.
"China and Sudan enjoy deeply-rooted ties. China will, as always, support Sudan's efforts to achieve peace, stability, development and national unity," said Li Chengwen, China's special representative to the Sudan's national dialogue conference, which closed in the capital Khartoum on Monday.
Li also noted that China will join the Sudanese government and all Sudanese political parties to seek solutions to the country's crises through dialogue and negotiations.
Sudan's national dialogue conference on Monday approved a final document following deliberations that lasted about a year.
Representatives of the political parties, armed groups and civil society organizations signed the document before it was handed to the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who chaired the concluding session.
The presidents of Egypt, Mauritania, Uganda and Chad also attended the session.
The final document, covering principles of rule, public freedoms, identity, peace, unity, economy and external relations, will provide the basis of the country's permanent constitution.
In January 2014, al-Bashir declared an initiative calling on the opposition parties and the armed groups to join a national dialogue to end the country's crises.
The sessions of the dialogue kicked off in October 2015 in a bid to resolve the country's political and social issues, with the participation of a number of Sudanese political parties, civil society organizations and some Darfur armed groups.
However, major political parties and armed movements refused to participate in the conference, including the Revolutionary Front Alliance, which brings together the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector and major Darfur armed movements.
Darfur armed groups and the SPLM/northern sector insist that a preparatory conference should be held, according to decisions of the African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council, to bring together all the Sudanese political forces to agree on procedures to initiate an equitable dialogue with the government, a demand that the Sudanese government rejects.
Flash
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday signed an agreement on piping Russian natural gas to Turkey and possibly Europe following a meeting in Istanbul.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (5th-R) talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (4th-R) during the World Energy Congress (WEC) in Turkey's Istanbul, on Oct. 10, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
"I strongly believe that the normalization process between Turkey and Russia will continue," Erdogan said at the signing ceremony.
"As part of the Turkish Stream deal, we have also agreed to provide a discount on natural gas for Turkey," noted Putin.
The so-called Turkish Stream project, initiated by Putin in 2014 as an alternative route to the canceled South Stream project that would pass through Bulgaria, intends to deliver Russian gas to Turkey and European markets through the Black Sea.
The project was suspended following Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane in November 2015, but negotiations resumed after Ankara and Moscow moved to revive their relations in late June.
Putin's appearance in Istanbul for the 23rd World Energy Congress and a third meeting with Erdogan in two months is seen as a clear sign of warmer relations between their countries.
The two leaders also announced that they discussed the Syrian issue in all its aspects.
Putin said they agreed that the bloodshed in the region must be "urgently" stopped.
"I informed my partner Erdogan about our request to the United States to ensure the safety of humanitarian aid deliveries," noted Putin. "But somehow our request remained unanswered."
For his part, Erdogan said he and the Russian leader agreed to develop new strategies to deliver humanitarian aid into Syria, especially to the besieged city of Aleppo.
Disputes over the battle for Aleppo have led to a cessation of talks between Moscow and Washington, two stakeholders in the long-running Syrian war.
Erdogan said he also gave information to Putin about Turkey's military operations inside Syria launched on Aug. 24, in which Ankara is fighting both the Islamic State (IS) militants and Syrian Kurdish militias.
"We have discussed the possibilities of cooperation," added Erdogan.
On the occasion, Putin announced as well the lift of a ban on Turkish fruits imposed after the downing incident.
Both leaders made it clear that the normalization process will continue in the fields of military cooperation, trade, tourism and culture at a high speed to make up for the lost time.
"We can consider Putin's visit as a good opportunity for the two countries to develop their cooperation in all aspects and exchange views about regional and international topics," Aydin Sezer, the head of Turkey and Russia Center of Studies, told Xinhua.
"The two countries have lost a significant amount of time in realizing their projects," observed Gurkan Kumbaroglu, the president of the International Association for Energy Economics. "Now they take necessary steps to compensate the lost time."
For Kumbaroglu, the rapprochement in other fields will be helpful in smoothing the two countries' diverging views on Syria.
"And that means in the near future we can see new initiatives in the region," he told Xinhua.
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Flash
Egypt denied on Monday the possibility of allowing foreign military bases on its territories, state-run Ahram Online website reported.
According to the report, Egypt's presidential spokesman refuted recent media reports that Moscow is negotiating with Cairo to construct a military base near the Mediterranean.
The media reports, started by Russian daily newspaper Izvestia, claimed that Russia is negotiating with Egypt to rent a number of military facilities, including an air base in Sidi Barani town, 95 km east of the Egyptian-Libyan borders, starting 2019.
A military source told Ahram that Cairo strongly rejected other countries' requests to build military bases in Egypt, explaining that foreign military bases run against the principles of the government.
Egypt and Russia, once close allies in the 1960s until late 1970s, have reestablished strong military and political ties since Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi took office in 2014.
Last year, the navies of the two countries held their first ever joint naval drill off the coast of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria that last for eight days.
Flash
The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country's second-largest guerrilla group, will begin peace talks on Oct. 27 in Quito, Ecuador, the two sides announced Monday in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
The two sides have worked out an agenda, including the participation of society in the peace process, democratic reforms, and reparations for victims, according to a joint statement.
The announcement came on the heels of a peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group.
The peace deal obviously has prompted the ELN to negotiations with the government although the peace deal with FARC was rejected in a referendum on Oct. 2.
Immediately after the referendum results were revealed, the ELN said that despite the outcome, it called on Colombians to continue to tirelessly fight for peace with change.
As a goodwill gesture, the ELN released a captive to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) earlier Monday.
"I am pleased to report that the person who was freed is currently on the way to being reunited with his loved ones. The neutrality of the ICRC and the confidential dialogue between the parties involved in the armed conflict were crucial to the success of this operation," said Christoph Harnisch, head of the Red Cross delegation in Colombia.
Flash
One police and three militants were killed and 22 other persons injured when Taliban attacked checkpoints in outskirts of Mehtarlam city, capital of Afghanistan's eastern province of Laghman on Tuesday, the provincial government said.
"Militants stormed security checkpoints in Maydani, Harmal and Bibi Hajira localities in eastern outskirts of Mehtarlam city Tuesday morning, triggering clashes that caused one policeman and three militants killed," it said in a written statement.
Among the killed militants were two Taliban local commanders named Naqibullah and Nasim, the statement said, adding that three police personnel and nine militants were also wounded by the clashes.
"Ten civilians, including many children, were wounded after two mortar rounds fired by the militants struck a residential area in Maydani locality during the engagement," the statement reads.
The injured were shifted to a hospital in the city, 90 km east of Afghan capital of Kabul.
Provincial Governor Abdul Jabar Nahimi condemned the attack and instructed the health authorities to provide best medical treatment for the injured.
The Taliban militants have been on the rampage since April when they launched their so-called annual rebel offensive in different places in Afghanistan, including the capital of Kabul, killing and injuring hundreds.
The Taliban urged civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants besides warning people not to support the government.
On Monday, two civilians were killed and five people were wounded after a vehicle touched off a Taliban Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in southern Kandahar province, according to Samim Khpalwak, spokesman of Kandahar's provincial government.
Flash
The upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Bangladesh is a diplomatic boost that heralds a new era in relations between the two countries, said an influential member of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Cabinet.
In a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu said, "His Excellency President Xi Jinping's visit to Bangladesh will take the deep cordial relations between Bangladesh and China to a new greater height."
"This upcoming visit marks the strong bondage between the two nations as well as paving the way of future growth of our ties," said Inu, also president of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), an ally of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling grand alliance, which has been strongly maintaining its one-China policy.
He said the relations and engagements between Bangladesh and China are enormous.
"Our two nations support each other on the principles of peace, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual trust and respect, mutual interest and equitable sharing of mutual benefits."
Inu further said, "We also work closely for developing a quadrilateral economic space between Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar - popularly known as BCIM-EC (Economic Corridor). Definitely coordinated efforts of Bangladesh and China on local and international development issues of mutual interest will result in great outcomes."
The minister said over the last eight years, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in economic growth, women's advancement and empowerment, education and health, and other areas of human development including laying out communication, production and trading architectures.
"To keep the development on track, we look forward to Chinese cooperation in project financing and low-cost investment, technology, upgrading management skills, market access, defense, agriculture, industry, communication, water resources management and media modernization."
Inu said, "China, as an enormous country, has a very wide and modern media network. Media in Bangladesh has seen a milestone rise under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina."
At this very moment, he said Chinese cooperation in this sector will be extremely significant, adding, "Infrastructure building and ICT adoption are the two most prominent sectors where we seek Chinese cooperation in media."
"Already five new television centers in divisional headquarters of the country are being developed with Chinese cooperation and new avenues are to come," he said.
A former bus driver for the Port Byron Central School District has admitted to using his phone to send someone child porn.
David Mangan, of 206 Arch St. Apt. 1, Syracuse, pleaded guilty Tuesday to promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child in Cayuga County.
The 37-year-old who was employed by Birnie Bus as a school bus driver in Cayuga and Seneca counties told Judge Mark Fandrich that he used his phone to send images to another person in November 2015. The images, he said, showed a man having vaginal intercourse with a "prepubescent female," a female he knew was under the age of 17.
Mangan was first arrested by New York State Police in April and charged with felony first-degree attempted disseminating indecent material to minors and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. He was then charged with two additional felonies promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child and possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child in May.
At the time of his arrest, the Port Byron school district said Mangan drove a bus route for the district for four months. Still, state troopers allegedly told the district that no Port Byron students were involved and the crime did not occur during school hours or on school property.
In July, Mangan pleaded guilty to his first felony in Seneca County for trying to send pornography to a minor in Waterloo. Judge Dennis Bender sentenced him to six months in prison and 10 months of probation last month.
Now Mangan could face up to seven years in prison for his crime. However, Fandrich is expected to sentence him to one to three years in prison on Dec. 13.
Mangan was remanded to jail without bail until sentencing. He will also have to register as a sex offender.
Also in court:
A Syracuse woman who was supposed to spend a year in county jail was instead sent to state prison Tuesday after she was arrested for a new offense while awaiting sentencing.
Jessica Colon, of 623 Wolf St. Apt. 2, pleaded guilty to attempted promotion of prison contraband in May for trying to smuggle synthetic drugs into Auburn Correctional Facility last Christmas.
At the time of her plea, Fandrich said he would sentence Colon to one year in Cayuga County Jail and released her until sentencing. However, after the 25-year-old did not appear at her sentencing in August and was arrested for a new offense in Syracuse, Fandrich said he was no longer bound by his promise.
According to Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann, Colon was arrested last month on charges involving "a gun and beating a woman." As a result, he said the plea deal should be revoked and she should be sent to prison.
Fandrich agreed, sentencing Colon to 1 1/3 to four years in prison.
An Auburn man will likely spend at least two years in prison for attempting to possess a loaded gun.
Matthew Hehn, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted criminal possession of a weapon Tuesday. He said he tried to possess a loaded .44 caliber revolver on a street in July, knowing it was loaded and operable at the time.
Hehn, of 68 Clark St., could face up to seven years in prison and three years post-release supervision. However, Fandrich agreed to sentence him to two years in prison plus two years post-release supervision in exchange for his plea.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 13.
New York state will soon receive more than $800,000 in federal funding to purchase thousands of new bulletproof vests for police officers across the state, according to U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.
The funding was allocated through the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance Bulletproof Vest Partnership program to buy 13,005 new bulletproof vests for police officers across 192 jurisdictions, a press release said. In addition, any cities that receive funding will be required to replace vests recently damaged or older than five years.
Central New York will receive 418 vests: four of those will go to the Auburn Police Department, 10 to the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office and 297 to the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office. The remaining vests will be split among New York City, Long Island, the Capital Region, the Southern Tier, the Rochester-Finger Lakes Region, Mohawk Valley, Western New York, the Hudson Valley Region, Westchester and the North Country.
"This massive federal investment will ensure that the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe are equipped with the life-saving gear they need to protect themselves," Schumer said.
"In a dangerous situation, a bulletproof vest might be the only barrier between life and death for an officer," Gillibrand added. "We have to make sure our brave officers are using equipment that is up-to-date and effective."
SPAFFORD The search for a Syracuse man who had apparently drowned on Skaneateles Lake Monday ended after the New York State Police SCUBA unit found him approximately 120 feet underwater Tuesday afternoon.
Ulises Garcia, 50, was located near the area where his companion's pontoon was anchored just off the shore of Lourdes Camp on Ten Mile Point Road in Spafford, according to state police.
The possible drowning was called in at approximately 4:28 p.m. Monday. Authorities had spent more than three hours searching for the man, but the search was suspended around 7:45 p.m. as darkness set in. Crews went back early Tuesday morning to search, eventually finding Garcia's body with side scanning sonar.
Troopers said the man was with two others, a friend and Garcia's son, when they arrived at Ten Mile Point at around 2 p.m. Monday to go scuba diving. Friends at the scene Tuesday morning said they were trying to recover a boat motor that had recently sunk in the lake.
Troopers said Garcia and his friend went out on a red pontoon boat within a quarter mile of the shore, with the son watching from shore. The friend called 911 after Garcia dove into the water but did not resurface, and there was no indication of any air bubbles along the water, troopers said. It is unclear how long the man had been submerged prior to the call.
An autopsy is scheduled Wednesday morning to determine the official cause of death. Police said the investigation is still ongoing.
By Lena Ge, China Aviation Daily | Oct. 11, 2016
Beijing Capital Airlines, a regional subsidiary of HNA Group, will launch the first direct air link between China and Portugal next year.
Witnessed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa, Capital Airlines and the Portugal National Tourism Authority signed an agreement in Beijing on October 9, 2016, which will lead to the launch of scheduled flights between Beijing and Lisbon in June 2017.
The Beijing-based carrier said in a statement it will operate the Hangzhou-Beijing-Lisbon service, using Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
Capital Airlines expressed its intention to use Lisbon as a hub to connect with Brazilian carrier Azul and TAP Portugal, on flights to South America.
Parent HNA Group, a shareholder of Brazilian airline Azul, which is part of the consortium that won the privatization of TAP (Atlantic Gateway), "will have an indirect stake in TAP of 13 percent with the conversion of the bonds by Azul that may reach 20 percent."
Related News:
Capital Airlines Applies for Hangzhou-Beijing-Lisbon Service
BEIJING - The Ministry of Commerce on Sunday expressed concern over Vietnam's investigation into Chinese steel products and urged the country to be cautious and restrained in using trade remedy measures.
"Chinese steel products have contributed a lot to the improvement of Vietnam's infrastructure," according to an unnamed official quoted on the ministry's website.
The remarks came after Vietnam on Friday began investigating H-section steel imported from China, the latest in a series of Vietnamese anti-dumping probes targeting Chinese steel.
"Resorting to trade remedy measures will be detrimental to bilateral economic ties," said the official.
China hopes the investigation will be fair and transparent, said the official, adding that Chinese exporters were guaranteed the right to defend themselves.
As the world's largest steel consumer and producer, China has called for unity in tackling severe overcapacity in the global steel market, saying that protectionism will only compound problems.
SPAFFORD Authorities spent more than three hours Monday searching for a 50-year-old Syracuse man who went diving off an eastern shoreline of Skaneateles Lake and did not resurface.
Emergency crews were called at around 4:28 p.m. to Ten Mile Point near Lourdes Camp in Spafford to initial reports of a possible drowning. The search for the diver was suspended at around 7:45 p.m.
Investigators with the New York State Police have not released the man's name. Troopers said the man was with two others, another unidentified man and that man's son, when they arrived at Ten Mile Point at around 2 p.m. to go diving.
Troopers said the two men went out on a red pontoon boat within a quarter of a mile from shore, with the son watching from shore. The witness called 911 after the 50-year-old dove into the water but did not resurface, and there was no indication of any air bubbles along the water, troopers said. It is unclear how long the man had been submerged prior to the call.
State troopers, who are leading the investigation, were first to respond to the scene. Several other emergency departments responded, including two divers and a search boat with the Skaneateles Fire Department that probed off the shoreline with a helicopter from the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office searching from above.
Capt. Jeffrey Raub, zone commander with state police out of North Syracuse, said the search was suspended for the day due to diminished light. He said the section of the lake that they search goes about 80 to more than 140 feet deep with a steep decline due to an underwater ridge.
"We're securing the scene overnight with state police personnel. We plan to resume diving operations in the morning at first light. We'll probably start ... active operations sometime after (8 a.m.)," he said before adding, "We were losing time. It wasn't prudent to send divers in when the visibility is diminished to that degree."
Mike Preston, director of Lourdes Camp, said he had heard about the incident after seeing other media reports. He said emergency crews were searching an area of the lake that could go as deep as 200 feet, according to the director.
"I opened the building just in case they wanted to get warm or anything," he said. "When I heard it on TV, I came right out."
A visitor tries out a Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note 7 at company's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, October 5, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
China's quality watchdog said on Tuesday Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's local unit will recall all 190,984 Galaxy Note 7 phones that it has sold in the Chinese mainland.
Samsung earlier in the day halted sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and told owners to stop using them while it investigates reports of fires. The move has raised expectations the tech giant will scrap the flagship device.
The latest recall in China includes the 1,858 early-released Galaxy Note 7 smartphones that the watchdog ordered to recall on Sept 14.
Samsung'shares plunged over 7 percent after the company announced Note 7's global sales halt and exchange.The smartphone conglomerate's shares fell 7.02 percent as of 1:50 pm, the largest intraday drop in a month.
The company said on its website that the decision was made after consulting with relevant authorities.
Although a precision investigation is underway over recently reported cases of replacement Note 7 phones catching fire, Samsung said it decided on the temporary suspension for the sake of consumer safety.
"Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 device should power down and stop using the device," the company said in statement.
It said the company is closely cooperating with partners and mobile carriers for consumers using Note 7 phones, promising to notify the consumers of follow-up measures, such as exchange for other devices, as early as possible.
According to China Daily, in late September, Samsung apologized to Chinese consumers for failing to provide a detailed explanation over the safety of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on sale in China after more reports of fires involving the product.
Samsung said in a statement that the smartphones sent for customers in China use batteries from a different supplier, compared with the smartphones recalled at overseas market, and they can ensure the safety of these products that have passed testing and certification and analysis of the independent third-party research institute.
At present, the new Note 7 products that have been swapped at overseas markets are using the same battery supplier to those that are used for the Chinese version, Samsung said.
The company has begun a limited recall of the phones that affects 1,858 smartphones provided in July and August on a trial basis before the phone's official launch on Sept 1 in China.
Samsung said as these 1,858 phones use the similar batteries with those previously sold in the United States and South Korea, they have potential risks. Samsung said it has recalled most of the testing phones and was communicating with users for the rest phones.
Top US and Australian carriers on Monday suspended sales or exchanges of the flagship Note7s, while major airlines reiterated bans on passengers using the phones, after smoke from a replacement device forced the evacuation of a passenger plane in the United States last week.
Samsung's decision to pull Note7s off the shelves for the second time in two months underscores the South Korean firm's struggles to fix the over-heating issue.
The premium device launched in August was supposed to compete with Apple Inc's latest iPhone for supremacy in the smartphone market. Well received by critics, its first problem was a shortage as pre-orders overwhelmed supply.
But within weeks of the launch images of charred Note7s began appearing on social media, in the first sign that something was seriously amiss with the gadget.
Samsung has since recalled 2.5 million Note7s due to faulty batteries, and the latest reports of fires in replacement devices is raising fresh doubts about the firm's quality control procedures.
Edward Snyder, managing director of Charter Equity Research, said it was important to get the Note7 off the market.
"This has probably killed the Note7 brand name, who knows if theyll even be allowed to re-release it," Snyder said.
"By the time they fix the problem they have to go through recertification and requalification and by the time that happens theyre going up against the (Galaxy) S8 launch."
Samsung has temporarily halted the production of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones as fire cases were reported even with replacement phones, Yonhap news agency reported on Monday citing an official of Samsung's subcontractor.
The unidentified official was quoted as saying the production of replacement phones will be suspended in Vietnamese factories that have responsibility for the production of Note 7 phones to be shipped globally.
The official said he heard that the decision was made in consideration of the safety of global consumers in the United States as well as in China and South Korea after consulting with regulatory authorities of the three countries.
The suspension came as several cases of catching fire were reported even with replacement devices.
According to media reports, eight cases were reported, including five in the United States, one in South Korea, one in the Chinese mainland and one in Taiwan.
Limits on residential property purchases are driving capital flows into stocks, resulting in immediate, short-term increases in stock prices in China's A-share market, analysts said on Monday.
As many as 20 cities have pushed up their thresholds for home purchases, including setting higher down payment requirements and narrowing the definition of qualified buyers. More cities are on their way to introduce similar measures to curb fast growth of average housing prices and to limit speculative buying.
Li Xunlei, an economist with Haitong Securities, said that the measures against speculative buying aimed to deleverage the property market.
"A part of the capital withdrawn from the property market will go to the stock market, which has investors with more tolerance for risks and more liquidity," said Li.
Qiao Yongyuan, an analyst with Guotai Jun'an Securities, said that it was a natural result for capital owners to divert money from one market to another when policy makers were cooling down the overheated property market and the stock market was on track for recovery.
However, the impact would not last long because the entire size of capital flows from property to stocks was limited due to the low liquidity of the property market, Qiao added.
Also, the stock market still had uncertainties due to fluctuating currency exchange conditions.
Stricter policies over the real-estate market will also put pressure on the performances of A-share listed developers, according to a CITIC Securities strategy report.
Mao Liyuan, a 48-year-old Shanghai investor who sold her 85-square-meter apartment for 5.1 million yuan ($761,100) in September, said she will put about just one million into the stock market and put the rest in wealth management products and gold to diversify risks.
"You have to take a lot of stock market risks into consideration. For investors, the property and stock markets are not the only options," she said.
The A-share market closed on Monday with gains in both Shanghai and Shenzhen. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.45 percent to 3,048 points and the Shenzhen Component Index gained 1.65 percent to 10,471 points.
Premier Li Keqiang announced on Monday a number of supportive policies for Macao on his first visit to the special administrative region, including a planned renminbi clearing center to exchange currencies with Portuguese-speaking countries.
The central government will support Macao in hosting the annual Global Tourism Economy Forum, building a series of exhibition brands with international renown, and setting up the headquarters for the China-Portuguese Speaking Countries Development Fund, the premier said when visiting the headquarters of the Macao Special Administrative Region government on Monday afternoon.
Li also called on Macao to align its policies with national development strategies and strengthen cooperation with neighboring provinces in order to boost prosperity. He said the region should further improve the livelihood of 650,000 Macao residents through a focus on housing and public transportation.
The premier arrived at the Macao International Airport on Monday morning to start his three-day trip. Fernando Chui Saion, Macao's chief executive, led fellow officials in greeting Li at the airport.
Li will inspect the region and meet leaders from seven Portuguese-speaking countries at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, which kicks off on Tuesday and lasts two days.
"Macao has successfully practiced 'One Country, Two Systems' and I would like to walk around and see the changes Macao has been through by myself," Li said on his arrival at the airport.
The premier said it has been his long-term wish to visit Macao, especially since six years ago, when he was in the neighboring city of Zhuhai to launch construction of the 50-kilometer-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which is projected to be open by the end of next year.
Macao governance was returned to China in 1999. Since 2001, Macao's GDP had grown by 6.8 times to 368.728 billion Macao patacas ($46 billion) in 2015, according to officials. Its per capita GDP increased to $71,984 last year from $15,698 in 2001.
However, last year saw a drop in growth in Macao. The region is trying to diversify its economy, which has relied heavily on tourism and casinos.
The central government's supportive measures are aimed at boosting Macao's social and economic development, Li told Chui. The central government is always Macao's strongest backer, he added.
Chui said Macao will boost cooperation with neighboring provinces and enthusiastically join the Belt and Road Initiative in order to produce greater achievements.
On Monday, Li also met with the visiting Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario, Cape Verde's Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva and Guinea Bissau's Prime Minister Baciro Dja.
The officials, from countries where Portuguese is an official language, were to attend the ministerial conference.
Tourists pose for photos at the Ruins of St. Paul's in Macao, South China, Oct 9, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
Macao in southern Chinarenowned as Asia's Las Vegashas tabled plans to become a hub to make traditional Chinese medicine more standardized and scientific and to further develop it to enable its products to be sold around the world.
Those ambitions were formally unveiled recently in the special administrative region's (SAR) first all-encompassing five-year plan. After a year of preparation, the proposals identified Chinese medicine as one of the key emerging sectors in the cityfollowed by the events and cultural and creative industriesthat are targeting creating new employment opportunities to further diversify its economy.
The aim is not only to wean Macao off its heavy reliance on gambling, but also to take advantage of the city's long tradition in Chinese medical treatment and the growing trend in health tourism.
Liu Liang, dean of Faculty of Chinese Medicine and president of the Macao University of Science and Technology, said the city's state-of-the-art facilities coupled with the Guangdong-Macao Traditional Chinese Medicine Scientific Industrial Park, gave it a strong competitive edge in developing the science of Chinese medicine.
Built on 500,000 square meters of land in Hengqinthe peninsula in Zhuhai that is the closest part of the Chinese mainland to Macaothe park is targeting winning international recognition for traditional Chinese medicine so its products can be sold internationally.
Liu added that innovation and the development of Chinese medical science was a major strategy for China, as well as for the SAR. That was despite the fact that many scholars and western medical experts still believed its remedies contradicted some key western medical theories.
"It is key that we go out and earn world recognition of traditional Chinese medicine, although many still regard it as alternative medicine," said the professor, who is also a veteran Chinese medical doctor.
He cited Chinese pharmacologist Tu Youyou, who received a Nobel Prize for Medicine last year, as an example.
"It has been proven to cure many diseases," Liu said. He added that there would no doubt continue to be a sceptical mainstream scientific reaction to the remedies and it would take time for it to be fully accepted in Western countries.
Liu said he considered Chinese medicine to be an emerging sector that Macao should boost in the future, as medical innovation is a value-added sector that could generate high revenues.
"We want to turn the culture and philosophy of Chinese medicine into products and equipment that can be exported to the rest of the world," he said.
The professor helped to establish ISO standards (ISO/TC249) for Chinese medicine in MUST, which is also home to the standard's secretariat and research center.
While the European Union and Macao had already agreed to increase their cooperation in research and innovation at the 20th European Union-Macao Joint Committee meeting held in the city in 2015, Liu said many western scientists and medical doctors were also coming to Chinese cities to acquire knowledge about Chinese medicine and to gain clinical experience.
He said Macao would be an ideal destination for Portuguese-speaking medical personnel.
Local legislator Antonio Ng Kwok-cheong said he also believed that Chinese medicine is a promising industry the Macao should develop.
"It is a potential market that can tap into the increasing medical expenditure now taking place all around the world," Ng said.
The lawmaker also said he saw increasing synergies between tourism and Chinese medicine. "Gaming is the brand of our city, and it is time to rethink how to merge it with this traditional medical knowledge, which has been popular here for centuries."
A worker carries a windshield after inspecting it for flaws at the Fuyao Glass America plant in Moraine, Ohio. [Photo/AP]
Chinese investments in the United States automotive industry continues to grow with a subsidiary of Fuyao Glass Industry Group, the world's leading automotive glass manufacturing company, planning to invest $1 billion in facilities there.
Fuyao celebrated the grand opening of its newest US plant in Moraine, Ohio, on Friday, and also unveiled plans to transform a building in Plymouth, Michigan, into an automotive glass plant and research and development center.
"Today's grand opening in Moraine is the culmination of a monumental undertaking by Fuyao and our partners," Chairman Cho Tak Wong of Fuyao said in a statement. "We are proud of our work in Ohio, in the heart of the US auto corridor, and are highly committed to supporting the growth of the North American automotive market," he said.
Upon completion, the 47-hectare Moraine facility, which is housed in a former General Motors' assembly plant near Dayton, Ohio, will be the largest glass fabrication plant in the world with the capacity to produce 4 million automotive car sets and 4 million automotive replacement glass windshields each year. Currently employing 2,000, Fuyao expects this to grow to 2,3002,500 by the end of 2017.
In the Detroit suburb of Plymouth, Fuyao will remodel a 4.9-hectare plant and expects to create about 450 jobs there within two years and about 950 within three years as it consolidates research and development operations, said John Buzuvis, community development director for Plymouth.
The Plymouth plant will be used for the final processing of automotive glass, such as windshields, from Fuyao plants in Ohio and Canada.
"Fuyao started its American journey in Michigan in 2009, near Detroit. There are a lot of great automotive companies coming from China to North America. They recognize that the center of the North American automotive industry, and the greatest concentration of automotive talent, is in Michigan. (The state) is a place these Chinese automotive players need to be as they enter the US," Brian Connors, executive director of the Michigan-China Innovation Center in Detroit said in an email.
"(This is) another example of a Chinese company that is eager to expand, invest more and create new jobs and opportunities in our region, after once building a footprint in southeast Michigan," Jerry Xu, president of the Detroit Chinese Business Association said in an email.
Connors is hopeful that Chinese investment in Michigan's auto sector can be duplicated in other segments of the state's economy.
"As more Chinese companies find success and happiness in Michigan, they will tell their friends, and more may wish to come. Already we're seeing great Chinese investments in insurance, education, real estate, and other sectors," Connors said.
"Fuyao's goal is to provide the highest-quality products and outstanding service to our customers," said John Gauthier, president of Fuyao Glass America said.
A truck drives past signage outside the Duke Energy Corp Gallagher Station power plant in New Albany, Indiana, US, July 27, 2015. [Photo/VCG]
Duke Energy Corp has agreed to sell its Brazilian business to China Three Gorges Corp for $1.2 billion, the MarketWatch reported on Monday.
Proceeds from the sales will be used to repay debt, the company said. Duke Energy's long-term debt, including items, was about $39.93 billion as of June 30.
"This is another important step forward in driving our strategy to focus on our core domestic regulated business, and it builds on our recent acquisition of Piedmont Natural Gas," Lynn Good, chief executive of Duke Energy said in a statement.
The deal is expected to close in two to four months, the financial news website said.
Duke Energy, the second-largest US utility owner by market value, said in February it was looking to sell its international assets to drive more stable earnings and cash flow growth from the United States.
Earlier media reported that Duke Energy has invited Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management, French public utility company Engie SA and China Three Gorges Corp to submit binding bids for its Latin American power assets.
Shares of Duke Energy have risen 7 percent so far this year, while the S&P 500 index up 5 percent during the same period.
Zotye Auto unveils its new mid-size sport utility vehicle SR9 in Beijing on Oct 10, 2016. [Photo by Hao Yan/chinadaily.com.cn]
Zotye Auto unveiled its new mid-size sport utility vehicle SR9 in Beijing on Monday, showing off 9 variants of the car.
The new SUV model is powered by a 2-liter turbocharged engine with 190 horsepower and 250 Nm, matching a 6-speed dual clutch transmission or 5-speed manual gearbox.
The Chinese carmaker equips the high configuration version with a tire pressure monitor system, a large moon roof, a rearview camera, electric seat adjustment, seat heating and more.
A total of 8 colors will be available for the exterior and 4 for the interior.
MACAO - China will offer aid and preferential loans worth 4 billion yuan (almost $600 million) to Portuguese-speaking countries in Asia and Africa in the next three years, Premier Li Keqiang announced on Tuesday.
Li made the announcement at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries in Macao.
At least 2 billion yuan of aid will be given to help develop agriculture, facilitate trade and investment, prevent and control malaria, and conduct research on traditional medicine in Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and Timor-Leste, according to the premier.
At least 2 billion yuan of preferential loans will be offered to promote industrial production capacity cooperation and infrastructure development in these countries, Li said.
China will cancel 500 million yuan of interest-free loans from underdeveloped Portuguese-speaking countries in Asia and Africa, Li said.
China also pledges to send medical teams, offer training programs and government scholarships to the countries, and help those in need build marine meteorological facilities in response to disasters and climate change.
SHIJIAZHUANG - Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang on Monday urged more efforts to boost rural tourism as the country strives to increase farmers' incomes and eliminate rural poverty.
During an inspection tour in Laishui County in north China's Hebei Province, Wang described the industry as a major means to develop impoverished areas.
"As urbanization process advances, the beautiful scenery in the countryside has increasingly become a scarce resource that can provide a huge space for tourism," Wang said.
Companies will be encouraged to create new business models, and the government will allow farmers to pledge their land management rights to raise funds for tourism businesses, Wang said. He also stressed the protection of the rural environment and culture.
Rural tourism is burgeoning in China as more urbanites prefer to get a taste of rural life during holidays.
Last year, 2.2 billion trips were made to the countryside by urban tourists, and the revenue from rural tourism totaled 440 billion yuan (around $65 billion), according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The booming sector has created jobs for 6.3 million rural people.
The logo of India's largest online marketplace Flipkart is seen on a building in Bengaluru, India, on April 22, 2015. [Photo/VCG]
Private companies valued at $1 billion and above are called "unicorns". There are 176 unicorn companies with a total cumulative valuation of $626 billion in the world as of August 31, according to the unicorn list released by consulting firm CB Insights.
Here are the top 10 most valuable unicorns in the world.
No 9 Flipkart
Valuation: $16 billion
Country: India
NEW YORK (AP) A woman who accused former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer of assaulting her has been arrested for trying to extort money from him, police said.
Svetlana Zakharova, 26, was arrested Monday night in New York City.
The Russian woman had fled the country after accusing Spitzer in February of assaulting her in a room at The Plaza Hotel, an allegation his attorney said was false and created by someone with "emotional difficulties."
Spitzer, a Democrat, resigned as governor in 2008 amid revelations that he had sex with prostitutes. He was named as a prostitution ring patron during a federal investigation, but was not charged.
Zakharova was charged with extortion and was scheduled to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday. It was not immediately known if she has an attorney who can comment on the charges.
Spitzer and Zakharova met up at The Plaza Hotel in February while she was traveling from California, where she had been living, to her native Russia, Spitzer attorney Adam Kaufmann said at the time.
"They had a brief and amicable conversation, and then Mr. Spitzer left," Kaufmann said. But she called a few hours later and asked that he return to the room, where she had become "highly emotional and was threatening self- harm," he said.
The woman called 911, saying she had cut herself and was distraught and having a breakdown, two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case told The Associated Press in February. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. She called back and tried to cancel the emergency call but police were already en route, they said.
When police arrived, they noticed the woman had a cut on her arm and took her to a hospital. There, she told doctors that Spitzer had choked and shoved her, the officials said.
She did not want to press charges, and left on a flight to Russia the next day, one official and Kaufmann said.
No charges were ever filed against Spitzer in the case.
Police did not say Monday night how much Zakharova was allegedly trying to extort from him.
Zakharova also was charged with forgery in an unrelated case in which police said she used a 67-year-old Bloomfield, New Jersey man's information and signed a lease agreement that ended up costing him $18,000.
Staff members applaud a customer as he arrives to purchase Apple's new iPhone 7 at an Apple store in Beijing. [Photo/Reuters]
Apple Inc has filed two patent applications in China, in a move to prepare for new smartphone features that can resonate with local consumers, as the US giant struggles with tumbling sales and mounting competition in the world's largest smartphone arena.
The California-headquartered firm filed two applications to patent its dual-SIM card technologies in China, which enable one phone to support two carriers at the same time, according to the official website of China's State Intellectual Property Office.
The two applications, filed in February and March respectively, are still awaiting approval, and they are Apple's latest efforts to lure consumers away from competitors such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd which have already unveiled similar features on their top-end devices.
Nicole Peng, research director at Shanghai-based consultancy Canalys, said the dual-SIM card features are popular among businessmen in China and other Southeastern Asian countries.
"The move can help Apple battle mounting competition, though it will take time to apply the new functions to smartphones," Peng said.
The news came shortly after Apple set up its first China research and development center in Beijing, with registered capital of 100 million yuan ($14.99 million). The center will have roughly 500 employees and the total investment will be up to 300 million yuan, the local government said.
Its latest devices, the iPhone 7 series, also achieved an initial success among Chinese consumers, with pre-orders of the 7 Plus, and the iPhone 7 in jet-black color, reportedly sold out before they hit the streets on Sept 16.
Jin Di, research manager at IDC China, said unlike Western countries which chiefly rely on telecom carriers to sell contract phones, China has more diverse retailing channels, including e-commerce sites and professional consumer electronic stores, which prompt more consumers to favor dual-SIM card services.
"Smartphones which support dual-SIM cards account for 91 percent of all handsets shipped to China in the second quarter. The move can help Apple lure buyers away from rivals, especially given opportunities brought by Samsung's ongoing phone recall crisis," she added.
China, which had been one of Apple's largest markets in the past several years, recently became a source of disappointment. In the second quarter, the firm saw a 33 percent drop in sales in China, its highest decline in all regions.
In contrast, local firms Huawei and Oppo were growing rapidly, seeing a surge in shipments of 15 percent and 124 percent respectively during the same time frame, data from International Data Corp show.
A year back, when Yu Lida and three partners founded iOrder Shirts, an online maker of men's custom shirts, little did they imagine their business would expand to 36 cities in nine months with monthly sales touching 2,000 shirts.
Today, Yu talks of expanding the online business to 300 of 334 prefecture-level or moderately developed cities in China by 2018, to sell 500,000 shirts a year.
Firing his confidence is iOrder Shirt's success in raising 6 million yuan ($902,000) in funding from venture capital firms and positive feedback from consumers.
iOrder's shirts are priced 399 yuan onwards up to 499 yuan, and target business executives and young professionals. The fabric made of long stapled cotton appears shiny and can withstand hundreds times of laundry washes without getting wrinkled.
Yu is convinced he can now be a lot more creative in shirt-making even if that hurts the firm's profitability.
For more than 20 years, based in Hong Kong, he engaged in bulk manufacturing. The business was lucrative. But it was dictated by his clients, two major Hong Kong-based shirt and jeans makers that worked for top fashion houses such as Burberry and Armani.
In 2010, when the Hong Kong clients started to shift orders to Southeast Asian countries due to rising labor cost in China, Yu pondered going to Vietnam himself and replicating his success model there.
Had he done so, he thinks he could have continued to make profits in millions of dollars every year using cheap local labor. But he didn't.
He had other ideas. "Many manufacturers went broke when they tried to raise the quality of their products. Their challenge was that they didn't have direct access to consumers. They could only sell to the dealers who only cared about the price," Yu said.
Realizing he had financial freedom and hence nothing to lose if he struck out on his own, he quit his job as sales director and launched a business to gain direct access to consumers.
The new company, with focus on selling custom-made shirts online, was registered in the southern city of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, where its supply chain was based. But its sales and marketing office was based in Shanghai.
"Customization sounds very simple: you take the customer's measurements and make a shirt. At least, that's what many so-called custom garment-makers believe. So, they take the easiest route: outsourcing. But their products just don't meet customers' needs," said Yu.
"If the customer wears a tie, the neck needs to be slightly higher than if he doesn't. If the customer tucks in his shirt, the shirt needs to be slightly longer so that it won't pop out of the trousers when he raises his arms."
So, iOrder Shirt adopted a different approach to shirt customization. Its online store collects 70 different measurements from a customer, so that the fit is perfect.
"Without years of experience (in shirt-making), one can't possibly have a clue how to design an online system that collects customers' data and make the shirts accurately. My business may be online, but the brick-and-mortar factory creates at least half of the value of my company," said Yu.
Some investors tried to persuade Yu to get rid of the elaborate measurement system as they believe it slows down the whole process.
But, according to Yu, the key to delivering a shirt to the consumer within 15 days after recording the measurements online is that each link of the production process must be dovetailed to another. But he does see that personal interaction is a lot more suitable for shirt customization than online measurements.
"I stick to the most standard type of men's shirts. As ordinary as they may seem, I see huge potential in this niche market."
Gao Songya and Mu Sai contributed to this story
A man passes by a Samsung's store in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, Oct 10, 2016. [Photo/VCG]
China's product quality watchdog said on Tuesday that Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's local unit will recall all 190,984 Galaxy Note 7 phones that it has sold in China.
The latest recall in China includes the 1,858 early-release Galaxy Note 7 smartphones that the watchdog recalled on September 14.
Samsung said earlier Tuesday that it had decided to stop selling Note 7 phones in China and is now communicating with Chinese authority to deal with this matter.
The tech giant has decided to temporarily halt the global sales and exchange of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, while it investigates reports of fires in the devices.
Samsung said in a statement that consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available.
Citizens welcome the arrival of missile destroyer Nanchang in Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi province, Oct 10, 2016. The warship began to serve in China's navy in the 1980's and was officially decommissioned as of Sept 8, 2016. It will become a local military-themed park in Nanchang. [Photo/Xinhua]
Algerian Ambassador to China Ahcene Boukhelfa (from left), Afghan Ambassador Janan Mosazai and Swiss Ambassador Jean-Jacques de Dardel visit the Long March exhibit at the China People's Revolution Military Museum.[Photo by ZOU HONG/CHINA DAILY]
Fancy a Kindle? Take the Long March quiz
General Abdoulaye Fall, Senegal's ambassador to China, said visiting the ongoing Long March exhibition at the China People's Revolution Military Museum on Sunday takes him back in time.
That is, not only to the Red Army's implausible strategic retreat from Kuomintang forces 80 years ago that eventually led to victory, but also to his own experience of four decades in his homeland's military.
"This was very moving for me because it reminds me of some parts of my own history, (events) I was myself involved in during different periods of my military career," Fall said.
Compatriot Christelle Mbaya, who works as a journalist in China, said she also saw reflections of Senegal.
"We understand more because of the exhibitions. We didn't really know what these soldiers were going through. They gave all they had to win. Despite conditions that weren't very good, they made it."
Fall and Mbaya were among hundreds of people from over 90 countries, including 35 diplomats and 95 foreign experts, who visited the exhibit on Sunday.
It celebrates the Red Army's 9,000-kilometer trek across treacherous terrain over more than a year.
Only a tenth of those who set out survived, but the Communist Party of China went on to defeat the Kuomintang and found New China in 1949.
The foreign visitors said they were impressed by paintings and sculptures, and actual items, including weapons, blankets and a half-eaten belt.
"It's a mixture of mediums, so it tells the whole story," said Mohamed Faisal, Maldivian ambassador to China.
"This (history) shouldn't be lostfor the whole world. It shows that despite struggles, if you believe in something, you need to fight for it. If you fight for it, the future will be bright."
Thit Linn Ohn, ambassador of Myanmar, said the displays make the history more realistic.
"I already knew some things before, so I like to compare my knowledge to this display to get some information I've never heard from books or other museums," he said.
"The Long March of the Red Army is famous not only in China but also the world."
Liu Yang, from Xuchang, Henan province, had her first child when she was 26.
"I wanted to have a second baby very much, but I did not because of the family planning policy then," Liu said.
Now that all Chinese couples are allowed to have a second child, under a revised national policy adopted at the end of last year, Liu's long-held wish has been revived.
This time, however, Liu, now 42, has to turn to in vitro fertilization to have another baby.
She started an IVF procedure at Henan Provincial People's Hospital in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, late last year. But she did not become pregnant after the implant of an embryo developed from her egg and her husband's sperm, she said.
She kept the other embryos developed during the procedure frozen in the hospital for future use.
"Right now, everything is OK," she said. "I will be following the doctor's advice, and now I am preparing to have one of the embryos revived to have another implant."
Like Liu, an increasing number of Chinese couples are returning to hospitals across the country to use their frozen embryos to have another baby, now that the second-child policy allows them to do so.
"With the adoption of the universal second-child policy, the number of patients to the center has been increasing," said Wang Lu, a doctor at the reproductive medicine department of Henan Provincial People's Hospital. "Sometimes we receive about 500 patients a day, and about a third of them are seeking the embryos they have kept here for implant surgery."
Zhang Cuilian, director of the department, said doctors usually acquire more than one egg from a patient during an IVF procedure, so usually several embryos can be developed for implantation into a patient's womb.
After one or two embryos are transplanted, the others will be frozen in special facilities so they can be revived for use in the future if the first implant surgery fails, she said.
"The (pregnancy) success rate of implant surgeries of frozen embryos is about 60 percent, similar to that of fresh embryos," Zhang said. "Based on the current technologies, embryos can be preserved for many years, and there is no expiration date."
In June in Jiangsu province, a 45-year-old woman gave birth to a healthy baby after being implanted with an embryo of hers that was fertilized 18 years ago and had been kept at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, according to media reports.
Yin Baoli, another doctor at Henan Provincial People's Hospital, said the number of frozen embryos kept at the hospital has increased to about 100,000 since the department was established in 2001. The total number of frozen embryos kept in all five major hospitals certified for assisted reproductive technologies in Zhengzhou is estimated at 400,000, she said.
"Last year, about 2,800 frozen embryos were activated for IVF procedures," Yin said. "The number is expected to increase to between 3,000 and 3,500 this year."
At Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, more than 2,000 frozen embryos had been revived for IVF surgeries in the first eight months of the year, an increase of 50 percent year-on-year, said Chao Wei, the hospital's publicity chief.
"The number of patients seeking advice suddenly increased at the end of last year," said Lan Yonglian, deputy director of the hospital's reproductive medicine department.
"Many couples who had IVF surgeries before have contacted us asking whether their embryos are well kept," she said.
The hospital charges 1,000 yuan ($150) per year to each patient who keeps embryos in the hospital to cover the preservation expenses, she said.
Yang Dongping, publicity chief of Peking University Third Hospital, said the hospital has also witnessed an increasing number of frozen embryos being used since late last year.
"The new policy has definitely spurred much demand, and doctors at our reproductive medicine department are very busy," he added.
The infertility rate in China has been increasing in recent years. The number of infertile couples at the optimum age for conception in China has exceeded 40 million and is still increasing, accounting for more than 12 percent of the group, according to the China Population Association.
Zhou Wenting contributed to this story.
A tour group of primary students pass a border port in Rizhao, Shandong province, before they head for a study tour in South Korea during the winter vacation in January. [Photo/VCG]
The rise in the number of children participating in study tours abroad is leading to conflicts between parents and organizers. Cao Yin reports.
Parents are being urged to ensure that they sign contracts and take time to study all the relevant information before allowing their children to take study tours overseas.
The warnings come after a number of schools and education institutions were sued by parents dissatisfied with the services provided, the subjects taught and the food and accommodations on offer.
China's economic development has resulted in rising living standards and incomes, leading a growing number of Chinese to head overseas to study.
Last year, 523,700 Chinese citizens studied at undergraduate level overseas, compared with 339,700 in 2011, according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Education. Meanwhile, a wide range of programs, such as summer camps and non-degree study trips, are becoming increasingly popular.
For most students, the trips offer an opportunity to study in a new environment and develop social skills. Most pass off without incident, but some parents have sued organizers for not providing the services promised, or because food and accommodations failed to meet specified standards.
A family from Beijing recently sued a private middle school after their 13-year-old son returned early from a 10-month study tour to the United States.
"We hoped a trip to the US would help broaden his horizons and experience, so we allowed him to participate in a study tour organized by the school. But when he told us about the food and lodgings in the US, we weren't satisfied," said the family, who preferred not to name the boy or the school.
"We paid 330,000 yuan ($49,500), but we never thought the daily food allowance would be just $3.33 and he would have to share a room with 10 other students. We couldn't accept that, so we allowed him to come home early, and then sued the school."
However, the dispute wasn't resolved as easily as the family had hoped. "They didn't sign a formal contract with the school. In other words, they had no evidence to prove the organizers didn't deliver what they had promised," said Yang Lu, the judge who heard the case at Beijing No 3 Intermediate People's Court.
"The number of similar disputes between families and study tour organizers, including schools, is rising," she said, adding that four cases have been lodged with her court alone since the summer vacation.
On July 15, Yang ordered the school to return 240,000 yuan of the tour fee.
"The parents were unhappy with the verdict - they thought all their money should have been refunded - but it was actually a good result because both parties were at fault," she said.
The court rejected the school's claim that it had provided basic information and contracts before the tour began. "The documents were far from official and were unacceptable as evidence in court," Yang said.
The school also said parents had been informed that living costs were not high as had been expected, and the boy had left because he was unable to adapt to life in the US, she added.
However, the parents were also culpable, because they failed to read the information provided before the visit, "let alone do some homework, such as learning about the regulations that protect children."
President will meet with leaders of BRICS countries during summit
President Xi Jinping's upcoming trip to Cambodia, Bangladesh and India will be "an important diplomatic activity" aimed at boosting ties with South Asia, a senior diplomat said on Monday.
Kong Xuanyou, assistant foreign minister, said at a news conference in Beijing that it will be the first state visit of a Chinese president to Bangladesh in 30 years. It will also be Xi's first visit to Cambodia since becoming China's top leader in late 2012.
Xi will make state visits to Cambodia and Bangladesh on Thursday and Friday, according to the Foreign Ministry, and then fly to Goa, India, for the Eighth BRICS Summit over the weekend.
"Bangladesh is China's important partner in the South Asian and the Indian Ocean region, and the visit will be a milestone for the China-Bangladesh relationship," he said.
During Xi's visits, China will sign a number of cooperative documents with Cambodia and Bangladesh regarding the Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, which focuses on improving infrastructure and boosting interconnection, Kong said.
Xi already visited some South Asian countries, including India and Sri Lanka, in 2014 and Pakistan last year.
Li Baodong, vice-foreign minister, said the BRICS Summit in India is expected to boost confidence in global economic growth.
"Through this meeting, China expects to send a positive signal of higher confidence," he said.
China also hopes to raise the influence of BRICS members and developing countries in international affairs, to safeguard peace and stability, he added.
During the summit, Xi will meet in bilateral talks with leaders from other BRICS members, including Russia's President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to reach consensus on global governance, Li said.
Jiang Jingkui, director of the Center of South Asian Studies at Peking University, said that the South Asian region, which is not a traditional focus for China, has become increasingly important in recent years, especially after China put forward the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013.
"To some extent, the South Asian region is also one of China's backyards," he said, adding that northern South Asia is a key part of the (Silk Road Economic) Belt and southern South Asia of the (21st Century Maritime Silk) Road.
Bangladesh has been eager to advance the China-India-Myanmar-Bangladesh economic corridor, and Xi's visit will bring more practical cooperative results for the two countries, Jiang said.
Jin Yong, deputy head of the Communication University of China's School of Foreign Studies, said that the large South Asian population means huge market potential for China, an important prospect given the current global economic sluggishness.
Densely populated Bangladesh has more than 150 million people, while India has the world's second-largest population, he said.
Many Chinese textile companies have moved their factories from South China to Bangladesh to save labor costs, and such cooperation has bound the economies of the two countries more tightly, he added.
Lyu Ping, 40, a senior administrative affairs official at a college in Shanghai, has sent her 12-year-old son on visits to the United Kingdom and Japan this year.
I never indulge my son because I want him to be independent and internationally minded. In January, I sent him to London for a 12-day drama course. He told me he visited a number of famous places related to drama, including Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon and the BBC, to learn about the history and development of drama.
He found the trip useful and interesting. We were both so pleased that I helped him register for a seven-day visit to Japan in August. During that trip, he learned how Japanese government, businesses and factories operate.
Both visits were based on my trust and understanding of the educational institutions where my son studied. I did a lot of research, not only into their academic reputations, but also previous similar overseas projects they had organized.
My son has studied at educational institutions overseas for a couple of years, so I also know a lot about the teachers who lead the groups.
I didn't sign contracts with the institutions. Instead, I signed contracts with the travel agencies involved and spoke with the teachers about the specific arrangements for the trips.
Of course, children's safety overseas is key, but I told my son not to contact me via phone calls or WeChat (a popular instant-messaging platform) every day.
As the old saying goes, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", so I encouraged him to solve difficulties on his own in London and Japan, and try to adapt to the different cultures and customs, such as food and lodgings.
Now that he has left home several times, he must learn to be more independent and improve his social skills, otherwise these overseas visits will be meaningless.
I disagree with those parents who bugged the travel agencies, schools or institutions many times every day to see whether their children were eating enough and also what they ate. Children won't grow up if we refuse to leave them alone.
My son is 12, and he will graduate from primary school next year. It's time for children of his age to learn how to tackle affairs on their own, so I seized the opportunity to send him overseas to cultivate his independence and broaden his horizons.
If we are offered another chance, I will encourage him to see more of the world and meet companions of his own age, no matter whether it's for long-term study or a short visit.
Beijinger Zheng Bochao sent his 10-year-old daughter on a 14-day study visit to Canada during this year's summer vacation.
I didn't think twice when my daughter brought home a message that her school had organized a students' visit to Canada in April.
At the time, I had no idea whether the school had an international department that handled overseas trips, or research how the project was organized. I asked the teachers some basic questions, but didn't sign a contract or any other legal documents.
Occasionally, I had qualms about the safety of the trip, but eventually my concerns faded.
Fortunately, it was a safe trip, and the study tour, rooms and food conformed to what had been promised. However, if something had gone wrong I would have been deeply remorseful. Also, the lack of legal documentation meant I could not have challenged the school in court if it had failed to deliver what it had promised.
I contacted the teachers all the time during the trip, hoping to learn what the children were doing, including what they ate and where they were staying. I also asked my daughter to send photos or videos via the WeChat instant-message service - after all, safety is always the top priority. I was so relieved when my daughter came home that I really didn't pay much attention to how she was taught or what she learned on the trip.
After she came home, I realized that I had made a "blind" decision because I didn't take the trouble to learn about similar visits arranged by the school or the relevant government policies and laws.
If my child is given an opportunity for long-term study overseas, or similar projects, I will think twice and be more careful about the legal aspects.
It's essential that schools provide parents with specific information about study tours overseas, which would help us to understand the responsibilities of the organizers.
I think exchanges or visits organized by schools may be acceptable in the future, but I will not allow my daughter to participate in any overseas activities organized by private educational institutions.
A corner at Yin's home in Tuhua village in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, where the boy studies, before being renovated by Guangzhou Qichuang Social Work Service Center. [Photo by Zhong Yongshi and Chen Youzi/For China Daily]
A 12-year-old boy, surnamed Yin, used to do his homework bent over a low table in the 30-square-meter home he shares with his mother, older brother and sister in Tuhua village in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.
Every other surface was covered with books and bric-a-brac.
"My mother and I even sleep in the same bed. There is no place to put a desk," he said.
All that changed in early September, when a study corner equipped with a new desk, chair, bookshelf and lamp was installed ready for Yin's first year of junior high school.
"I like it. Now I have a place of my own to study," he said.
Yin is one of six students to have benefited from a project initiated by Guangzhou Qichuang Social Work Service Center, which renovates disadvantaged children's study areas in the city's Haizhu district free of charge. Each renovation costs about 4,000 yuan ($600), with all the money donated by corporate foundations and individuals, according to Zhong Yongshi, deputy director of Qichuang's department for youth.
A design firm and construction company have even offered to do some of the work for free.
The new study areas not only alter the way a family's living space looks, but also "help the children build their dreams", Zhong said.
Although Yin's brother and sister only graduated from high school, their mother still takes pride in their academic achievements and has hung every certificate they have received since 2005 on the wall, to encourage all her children to study hard.
"In social work, we have a concept called 'person-in-environment'. A dedicated area improves the studying atmosphere and helps a child be more devoted to their studies," said Gu Jiangxia, a professor with Guangdong University of Finance and Economics' department of social work.
Another boy, surnamed Huang, 14, cherishes his new study corner so much that he does not even allow his father, a construction worker from Jiangxi province, to use his new desk and chair - despite the fact they are right beside his parents' bed, said Liu Cuimei, his mother.
His school teachers and social workers thought that he might have a speech impediment, according to his mother. But it has improved since he started to have regular visits from a social worker, she said.
"My son talks very little, but he becomes excited and happy when we tell him social workers are visiting us," she said.
Liu added that the partial renovations to their 20-square-meter apartment in Jianbei village, which included free storage shelves and boxes, had encouraged her to keep the place tidier than before. The apartment is in a seven-story building surrounded by narrow alleyways, webs of electricity wires and unsanitary conditions.
"Some of the families did not care much about their living environment before the project. We told the parents the project is not only meant to create a comfortable study space, but also to encourage them to take action," Zhong said.
"Home does not mean merely a place for the children to sleep after work, but also a place to live."
Professor Gu said that tidying a home can have a positive psychological affect on its occupants, improving both familial relations and parent-child bonding.
Qichuang plans to help 14 more families with the project, but needs additional donations for the design and construction work.
"We then hope to carry on the project to help more families," Zhong said.
More than 200 young cobras recently escaped from a farm in Najing city, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, and more than 50 remained missing by end of Monday.
The local authorities said that the escaped cobras, or monocled cobras specifically, were illegally bred by the Chunyi Animal Breeding Cooperative based in the city's Luhe district.
The snakes disappeared between August 26 and 29, but it was only on Monday night that the local people found out through social media.
"The farm has been searching for the runaway cobras and has captured or killed more than 150 of them," said the Luhe government Monday night.
The government discovered the incident after a cobra was found and killed in a villager's home on Saturday.
The farm bought monocled cobra eggs from Shaoguan city of South China's Guangdong province in early August and incubated about 1,820 cobras, out of which some 1,500 survived.
The farm had neither reported to the government nor got any permission for the breeding business before and after the incubation, according to local authorities, who launched a "carpet search" for the runaway snakes on Tuesday morning.
Officials from the Luhe government's publicity department said the young cobras, about 20 centimeters long, are not as dangerous as the adult ones and they will not probably survive the upcoming cold winter.
The first national research project aimed at uncovering the internal and external causes of birth defects and ultimately establishing standard ways to carry out screening and diagnose molecule levels was officially launched on Monday.
It means that research on key causes and methods of early intervention relating to birth defects, including congenital heart disease, cleft lip or palate, neural tube defects and mental deficiency, is expected to make major breakthroughs by the time the project is concluded in five years, said Huang Guoying, president of the Children's Hospital at Fudan University in Shanghai, which is leading the project.
China has a high incidence of birth defects, and about 70 percent of the more than 80 million disabled people in the country are born with birth defects, Huang said.
"The prevention and treatment of birth defects are now more crucial after the implementation of the universal two-child policy," he added.
Huang said the main goals of the project include establishing a database of patients with the most common birth defects, clarifying the mechanism and process of how the defects develop, and discovering at least eight genetic locations that determine the expression of the diseases.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will cooperate with 20 provincial-level governments to both expand its agricultural products on offer and boost China's agricultural development.
The e-commerce company and 20 provincial-level governments including Shaanxi, Yunnan and Hainan provinces and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region attended the JU20 Convergence Strategy Summit for China's New Agricultural Planning in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, on Monday.
According to Liu Bo, general manager of Juhuasuan.com, a group-buying website under Alibaba, it will cooperate with 216 agricultural science and technology demonstration bases, 100 vegetable bases that provide vegetables for Hong Kong, and more than 900 qualified food export enterprises in the country to directly provide high quality, innovative agricultural products for Juhuasuan.com.
From Oct 10 to 15, the first batch of agricultural products from the 20 provinces and regions will be on sale on Juhuasuan.com, including Chinese wolfberry from Ningxia Hui autonomous region, fresh tremella from Fujian province, green mango from Hainan province and hairy crabs from Jiangsu province.
In order to ensure quality, the e-commerce company and the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China announced at the summit to make joint efforts to guarantee that agricultural products on sale online meet the same standards and quality as those produced for export.
Two suspects who allegedly abducted and raped a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl have been detained by Xuzhou police in East China's Jiangsu province.
According to Xuzhou People's Procuratorate, the girl was kidnapped in Central China's Henan province in 2014 by the two Vietnamese, and then "adopted" by a woman surnamed Xie in Xuzhou.
From May to June this year, Xie introduced the girl to a 35-year-old man surnamed Liu, who later paid her 30,000 yuan ($4,468) as betrothal gifts.
On Oct 4, Liu and a female relative took the girl for prenatal examination in the Xuzhou Central Hospital and claimed that she was 20 years old.
After discovering that the girl was 12 months pregnant, a doctor called police as she appeared much younger.
The news about the girl receiving prenatal examination in the hospital went viral on China's social media and angered many people.
Local procuratorate immediately told a juvenile criminal investigation department to probe the case. Local police said more information will be released to the public after the investigation is completed.
Oct 11 marks the fifth International Day of the Girl Child. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]
China will work together with the international community to continue to promote gender equality, a senior Chinese official said on Tuesday, the fifth International Day of the Girl Child.
China made great progress in promoting gender equality and women's rights in the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), reducing gender inequality in education and healthcare services, and increasing the number of women in senior or managerial roles, said Shen Yueyue, deputy head of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, at a ceremony in Beijing marking the event. Shen is also chairwoman of the All China Women's Federation.
More than 110 girls from underdeveloped mountainous areas in Hunan and Guizhou provinces also attended a ceremony in Beijing marking the fifth International Day of the Girl Child, Oct 11, 2016. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]
To further promote gender equality, China will improve legal systems to ensure women's rights and empower women through education, employment and healthcare so they play a bigger role in politics and the economy, she said.
Wang Pei'an, deputy head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said healthcare for pregnant women and children in China has improved in recent decades. Last year, the maternal mortality rate decreased to 20.1 per 100,000 from 21.7 per 100,000 in 2014, while the death rate for children under the age of 5 fell to 1.07 percent from 1.2 percent in 2013, Wang said, adding that the achievements won high praise from the UN.
More than 110 girls from underdeveloped mountainous areas in Hunan and Guizhou provinces also attended a ceremony in Beijing marking the fifth International Day of the Girl Child, Oct 11, 2016. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]
China's efforts to fight illegal identification of the sex of fetuses and illegal abortion based on sex also produced tangible results, with the ratio of male to female newborns declining to less than 1.14 last year, the seventh consecutive decline since 2009, Wang said.
Li Hongyan, national program officer of the UNESCO Beijing Office, said at Tuesday's ceremony that China has made remarkable progress in ensuring girls have equal access to education and in promoting overall gender equality.
More than 110 girls from underdeveloped mountainous areas in Hunan and Guizhou provinces also attended the ceremony on Tuesday.
The girls, mostly aged between 11 and 14, went on a tour of historic sites and landmarks in Beijing, including Tian'anmen Square and the National Museum of China, from Saturday to Tuesday, which was organized by the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
A ceremony in Beijing on Tuesday to mark the fifth International Day of the Girl Child adopted a theme of "Counting the Invisible: Using Data to Transform the Lives of Girls and Women by 2030".
Plan International China recently published a report revealing that due to insufficient or missing data, large numbers of girls are "invisible", especially to government and policymakers.
Jointly sponsored by Plan International China, Chengmei Charity Foundation and UN Women, the report calls on governments to fill the gaps in data, such as the pregnancy rate of girls under the age of 15 and the prevalence of sexual harassment.
In addition, more comprehensive analysis of existing data must be conducted by disaggregating data according to age, gender, ethnicity, location and disability, it said, adding that the UN Sustainable Development Goals promise to change our world by 2030, but most of the goals and targets cannot be measured due to a lack of data.
"Lack of data means governments are blind to basic rights being denied to girls, such as the right to education or the right to have control over their own bodies," said Sven Coppens, country director of Plan International China.
"Therefore, we urgently need to work with governments, civil society, the public and especially girls themselves to value, track and solve the problems faced by girls and women," he said.
The report introduced a series of reports that will track the progress of girls and women toward true equality during the 15-year life span of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It also highlights the global partnership in which various organizations call on governments across the world to act.
"Systematic collection and analysis of gender data is absolutely essential to achieve all 17 of the Sustainable Developments Goals, since gender should be mainstreamed through all of them," said Julie Broussard, country program manager of UN Women China.
Minister of National Defense Chang Wanquan warned on Tuesday that the pursuit of "absolute military superiority" by some countries was part of a new development in international security that needs "close attention".
"Individual countries are seeking absolute military superiority, keep strengthening their military alliances and seek absolute security for themselves at the cost of other countries security," Chang said during the opening ceremony of the Xiangshan Forum 2016 in Beijing.
Other important aspects, Chang pointed out, of the current international security situation include a closer link between development and security.
"The roots of war and conflicts, terrorism as well as the refugee crisis, can all be found in underdevelopment. The fundamental solutions for these challenges should all be sought through development," he said.
Also, geopolitical factors are playing a more obvious role, and terrorism is posing a greater threat, Chang added.
"Some regional hotspot issues are becoming hotter under provocation by outside forces, which brings destabilizing factors to international security," he said.
Chang didnt name the "individual countries", but Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said she believed Chang was referring to the United States.
Chang also announced that the navies of China and the United States will hold a joint exercise and discussions this year aimed at better applying the code of conduct covering encounters at sea or in the air agreed by the two countries.
He also added that the Chinese navy will conduct joint maritime exercises in 2017 with ASEAN countries.
A new kind of food bank that aids disadvantaged groups in China has debuted in a community in Shanghai.
Unlike similar facilities opened in Shanghai previously, the Green Changshou Community Food Bank's Puxiong branch has a refrigerator to store yogurt, rice cakes, canned food and other snacks that residents can pick up for free.
According to a notice at the bank, excess food from farmlands, food manufacturers, retailers and individuals are collected, transported and stored in the facility before being distributed to needy people.
However, community officials told China Daily that all the food stored in the refrigerator have been donated by nearby supermarkets and restaurants. Officials also said that individual donations are not accepted as part of measures to ensure food safety.
There are also clear signs on the refrigerator stating that the food is free, that they should be consumed before their expiration dates, and that residents should only utilize them according to their needs in order to avoid wastage.
On Oct 11, community residents, mostly elderly people, were seen arriving at the depot and they could collect food from the facility after signing on receipt notes.
The world's first food bank was established in the US in 1967. Thousands of others have since been set up all over the world.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection has fined 150 major companies for discharging excessive pollutants in the first six months, with petroleum companies exposed as the worst offenders.
Some companies in the energy and petrochemical enterprises accounted for a large share, and most of them were fined due to discharging excessive pollutants, according to a statement from the ministry on Tuesday.
For example, Jiangxi Hongyu Energy Development Ltd has been fined 10.6 million yuan ($1.6 million) in the second quarter, the statement said.
Some branch enterprises of the China National Petroleum Corporation have been listed several times in the first six months.
For example, a branch enterprise from the petroleum giant in Dalian city of Liaoning province has received constant fines from the ministry in the first two quarters, reaching 14.4 million yuan, the largest fine.
Another branch company located in Jiling city of Jilin province also was fined 5.06 million yuan due to excessive discharging.
The ministry has conducted the supervision regularly on major companies, which are listed under the national monitoring list because of their high emissions.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers a keynote speech on October 11 at the opening ceremony of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of The Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation Between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries in Macao. [Photo/Xinhua]
Premier Li Keqiang announced 18 measures on Tuesday in Macao to boost ties with Portuguese-speaking countries in fiel ds such as production capacity, people-to-people exchanges and maritime development.
The measures will be implemented in the next three years, and the Chinese government will support the Macao Special Administrative Region in establishing a financial service program, cultural exchange centers, bilingual training bases and juvenile innovation centers for exchanges with these countries, the premier said.
China resumed sovereignty over Macao in December 1999 after it had been ruled since the mid-16th century by Portugal.
Beijing is willing to carry out major projects with these countries by making use of the China-Portuguese-Speaking Countries Cooperation Development Fund and the Silk Road Fund, Li said.
The announcement was made in Li's keynote speech on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the two-day Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation Between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries.
Delegates from seven Portuguese speaking countries Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola and East Timor attended the forum.
Before the ceremony, Li launched a trade and economic cooperation program to promote further exchanges between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
China and the Portuguese-speaking countries contribute 17 percent of the world economy and 22 percent of global population, with varying advantages in technology, capital and market practices, Li said.
The participating countries should consolidate political trust, promote trade liberalization and investment and strengthen cooperation in production capacity and people-to-people exchanges, the premier told the forum.
China's economic restructuring and upgrading will bring great investment opportunities and market potential, creating bright prospects for businesses from Portuguese-speaking countries, Li said.
He said the trade volume between China and Portuguese-speaking countries reached $100 billion last year about 10 times of that of 2003.
Cape Verde's Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva said the Macao forum injected new momentum into strategic cooperation between all the participating countries. He added that his country will align with China's Belt and Road Initiative and make use of the Macao forum to bring more commodities to Africa.
The prime ministers of Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique vowed to adopt favorable policies and improve the rule of law to attract investors.
Deng Yanzi contributed to this story.
The clock ticks on the Macao's first gaming licence renewal since market liberalisation in 2001. Yet, it is high time the government to diversify the economy, a local lawmaker said.
Macao unveiled the final version of its first five-year development plan in September, after almost one year of preparation. The former Portuguese enclave formally embraced a long-term policy to diversify its gambling-focused economy, by accelerating growth of its convention and exhibition industry, cultural and creative industries, Chinese medicine and trade in services.
Antonio Ng Kuok-cheong, a local legislator, noted economy diversification in Macao is not something as new as the five-year plan.
A golden opportunity, however, arises as several gambling concessions will come up for renewal beginning in 2016. One of the main criteria for the assessment of casino operators will be their development of non-gambling facilities.
The licenses are government's high stake to call for not only non-gaming elements, but also conventions and exhibitions, cultural and creative, as well as Chinese medicine collaborations in the casino and hotel establishment.
The six operators are all eyeing the license renewal, an eagerness that can be seen from their exponential investment despite the falling gaming revenue and volatile economy, said Ng.
He urged the government to grab this chance and encourage the casino operators to include the elements of events, creative and Chinese medicine sectors in their resort hotels.
Expecting lesser gaming table and more non-gaming elements, operators can offer more spaces with lower rents to local creative and cultural units and companies, Ng suggested. For Chinese medicine, health tourism is also a plausible investment goal.
It will not be the first time that the SAR authority uses casino concession to boost another industry. Las Vegas Sands won its license in 2002 for its pledge to develop the convention sector in Macao, an edge the company has on its Venetians on the Vegas Strip, according to the local lawmaker.
They invested in event industry even before the government did so, Ng added. It is a spin-off from the gaming industry. Any operators here with luxury resorts and hotels wanted a share of this big market.
Boasting more than 35 casinos, Macao has surpassed Las Vegas to claim the status as the world's No 1 gambling city. However, at a meeting with Macao's chief executive, Fernando Chui Sai-on, in 2013, President Xi Jinping urged the world's top gambling hub to accelerate diversification away from the casino industry.
In fact, local government has been long growing uneasy about Macao's outsize reliance on the gambling industry.
The SAR government never wants to make gaming the only industry in Macao, said Agnes Lam Iok-fong, president of Macao Civic Power, a local political commentary group. Also an assistant professor from the department of communications at the University of Macao, she said the former chief executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah aimed to use the gaming as a dragon-head industry to lead the body.
After the handover, the plan was that the tourists and gaming revenue would help boost cultural and creative, as well as other industries in the city, said Lam. Without a complete plan, the government spent a rather long time to explore the possibilities.
As Macao government formally pledged to diversify its economy, Alexandre Ma Iao-lai, president of the Macao Chamber of Commerce, said the government has weathered many challenges and the diversified economy is dawning.
Addressing a reception prior to China's 67th National Day last week, he remarked that the six casino operators have massively invested in non-gaming elements and collaborated with small-and-medium enterprises to realise diversified economy, under the Chinese government support.
Yet human resources still remain the challenges in diversifying the mono-economy in the SAR, said Lam, adding that there was a shortage of international marketing expertise and contacts with international buyers in terms of events and creative industries.
Davis Fong Ka-chio, Director of Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming, also worried about the dearth of human resources. Due to the shortage, the government should properly weigh which industry was worth developing, he said.
The goal of Macao's development is a happy and peaceful livelihood'. We shouldn't diversify the economy for the sake of diversifying it, said Fong. He said the diversified economy is about building up a portfolio management, rather than three pillar industries.
The government is looking to diversify the economy to avoid the pitfalls that can come with putting too many eggs in one basket, he said. It is all about a sustainable, healthy development.
Nonetheless, many are still looking forward to more plans and policies by 2020. Gaming revenue has long been easy-money, so we have spent decades to nail down a plan of economy diversification, Lam said. But once you start, you cannot stop it.
Premier Li Keqiang delivers a key-note speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, Macao, Oct 11, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Premier Li Keqiang delivered a key-note speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries on Tuesday.
The event, also known as Macao Forum, kicked off on Tuesday and ends on Wednesday.
At Macao's East Asian Games Dome, hundreds of delegates from seven Portuguese-speaking countries, Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola and East Timor, attended the event.
Premier Li attended a group photo session before the opening ceremony.
Premier Li Keqiang delivers a key-note speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, Macao, Oct 11, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
China and Portuguese-speaking countries will set an example of friendly exchanges between nations, Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday.
China and Portuguese-speaking countries account for 17 percent of the world's economic output and 22 percent of global population, and their mutual interests and need of mutual support are increasing, Li said at the opening ceremony of the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries held in Macao.
Talking about cooperation on industrial production capacity between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, Li said it is complementary and mutually beneficial.
China and Portugal have cooperated successfully in other Portuguese-speaking markets, said the Premier, adding that he hopes such cooperation could be introduced to more regions.
During the forum, a memorandum will be signed to promote capacity cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
The Premier said that China will encourage more imports from Portuguese-speaking countries and will exempt some nations from tariffs on 97 percent of taxable items.
Trade between China and Portuguese-speaking countries amounted to $100 billion last year.
China is ready to list more member countries of the forum as destinations for outbound group tours for Chinese citizens, according to Li.
China will offer aid and preferential loans worth 4 billion yuan (around $600 million) to Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa and Asia in the next three years, according to Xinhua.
The event, also known as the Macao Forum, kicked off on Tuesday and ends on Wednesday.
Hundreds of delegates from seven Portuguese-speaking countries, Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola and East Timor, attended the event.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (PSCs) on Oct 11. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
In the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (PSCs) on Oct 11, Premier Li Keqiang compared the forum to a bridge that connects the two sides.
Just as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge, now under construction, would be the worlds longest cross-sea bridge, the forum can be a longer trans-oceanic bridge, the Premier said.
China and Portuguese-speaking countries account for 17 percent of the global economy and 22 percent of the world population. They can work together to set a good example of friendly exchanges between countries, he added.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (PSCs) on Oct 11. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Talking about capacity cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, the Premier said that it is a complementary and win-win situation. China and Portugal have had successful cooperation with other Portuguese-speaking countries in third-party markets, said the Premier, adding that he hopes such cooperation could be replicated in more regions.
A memorandum on capacity cooperation will be signed during the forum.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (PSCs) on Oct 11. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
According to Premier Li, China will encourage more imports from Portuguese-speaking countries, and will actively implement preferential policies concerning zero-tariff treatment of 97 percent of taxable items from some nations.
China is ready to list more member countries of the forum as destinations for organized outbound tours for Chinese citizens, said the Premier.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (PSCs) on Oct 11. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Prime ministers from Portugal, Cape Verde, Republic of Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, and government representatives of Brazil, Angola and East Timor attended the ceremony.
Premier Li posed for group photos with delegation heads before the opening ceremony.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (PSCs) on Oct 11. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, in Macao, South China, Oct 11, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
MACAO China's economy has fared better than expected so far this year, Premier Li Keqiang said on Oct 11, citing the increase of new jobs and contribution of consumers and the service industry to overall economic growth.
"On the whole, the economy this year, especially in the third quarter (Q3), is better than expected," said Premier Li while addressing the opening of a cooperation conference between China and Portuguese-speaking countries in Macao.
China's economy in Q3 not only continued the growth momentum in the first half of this year, but also featured some positive changes, said Premier Li, adding that China is fully capable of maintaining medium to high speed growth.
Consumption and the service sector contributed more to economic growth and some important indices, which had previously weakened or declined, were stabilizing and becoming positive, said the Premier.
Industrial growth, corporate profits and investment, especially private investment, were also stabilizing and recovering, said Premier Li.
In the first nine months, China created more than 10 million jobs in cities and towns, with the urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 big cities coming in at less than five percent in September, the first time in recent years, said the Premier.
China created more than 13 million new jobs in cities and towns annually in the past three years despite the economic slowdown.
China's economy grew 6.7 percent in the first half of the year, within the government's target range of 6.5-7 percent for 2016.
President will meet with leaders of BRICS countries during summit
President Xi Jinping's upcoming trip to Cambodia, Bangladesh and India will be "an important diplomatic activity" aimed at boosting ties with South Asia, a senior diplomat said on Monday.
Kong Xuanyou, assistant foreign minister, said at a news conference in Beijing that it will be the first state visit of a Chinese president to Bangladesh in 30 years. It will also be Xi's first visit to Cambodia since becoming China's top leader in late 2012.
Lyu Ping, 40, a senior administrative affairs official at a college in Shanghai, has sent her 12-year-old son on visits to the United Kingdom and Japan this year.
I never indulge my son because I want him to be independent and internationally minded. In January, I sent him to London for a 12-day drama course. He told me he visited a number of famous places related to drama, including Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon and the BBC, to learn about the history and development of drama.
He found the trip useful and interesting. We were both so pleased that I helped him register for a seven-day visit to Japan in August. During that trip, he learned how Japanese government, businesses and factories operate.
Divisive and damaging as it is, the present impasse across the Taiwan Straits is set to continue.
That was what Tsai Ing-wen, the current leader of Taiwan, told us in the speech she made on Monday.
As Tsai said, she remained faithful to her inaugural speech, and her stance remains "consistent and steadfast".
Staff members from Art Exhibition China pack the treasures in Beijing for the upcoming show Chinese Characters: A Legacy and Marvel Perfected Over Three Millennia in Japan. The exhibits include Terracotta Warriors carved with words and a 7th-century gold slip with 63 characters.[Photo by Jiang Dong/ China Daily]
An exhibition of writing that goes back 3,000 years will tour Japan through next year, Wang Kaihao reports. A panoramic history of Chinese writing is heading eastward.
On Oct 18, the exhibition Chinese Characters: A Legacy and Marvel Perfected Over Three Millennia will begin its one-year tour of Japan. The show includes 118 sets of cultural relics on the development and aesthetics of written Chinese.
These treasures20 percent are classified among China's top-level cultural relicscover a wide spectrum. They include inscriptions on oracle bones dating back to the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century BC), epigraphs on bronzewares, stone rubbings and calligraphy masterpieces.
The exhibits are on loan from 17 Chinese museums in six provinces and municipalities. The display is to be first shown at Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, and will later move to Kyoto, Niigata, Miyagi and Gunma in a tour that continues through September 2017.
The exhibition is designed in three parts: origins of Chinese characters, calligraphy works by renowned artists and their usage in people's daily lives, and the influence of Chinese characters on neighboring countries.
"Chinese characters comprise a unique writing system in the world, whose development has remained uninterrupted for 3,000 years," says Wang Jun, director of Art Exhibition China, the national administration in charge of exchange exhibitions between China and other countries.
"That enables ordinary Chinese people, even without professional training, to recognize many characters from thousands years ago, which is a miracle."
He says many milestones in the development of Chinese characters are to be juxtaposed in the exhibition. A 2,300-year-old bronzeware inscribed with the earliest Chinese duty-free certificate ever found, Terracotta Warriors carved with words and pieces by top 13th-century calligraphy artists such as Zhao Mengfu as well as by Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors are among the highlights.
A 7th-century gold slip with 63 characters is probably one of the most important exhibits. It was used for worship by Wu Zetian (AD 624-705), the only female ruler in imperial China, and is the only cultural relic ever found that belongs to the legendary queen. The slip was once exhibited in Japan a decade ago.
Daimler AG's (DAIGn.DE) Mercedes-Benz will launch about 20 new or upgraded car models in China over the next two years, part of a broader turnaround effort aimed at reversing the brand's recent struggles in the world's biggest auto market.
The plan, a key component of Mercedes' broader "2020 initiative", aims to boost sales of Mercedes-Benz cars in China by a third to more than 300,000 cars a year by 2015, according to two individuals familiar with the matter.
Daimler's new China chief, Hubertus Troska, and his management team are expected to unveil details of the plan, which also includes expanding manufacturing capacity and the sales network, in Beijing and Chengdu this week.
If the sales target were achieved it would make China the brand's biggest market globally, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Last year Mercedes-Benz sold slightly more than 200,000 cars in China, currently its No. 3 market behind Germany and the United States.
Troska's turnaround initiative will kick off with the China launch of a significantly redesigned E-class sedan on Friday at an auto show in the southwestern city of Chengdu.
That will be followed quickly by a China launch of the overhauled flagship S-class sedan during the third quarter of this year, as well as a more affordable small sport-utility vehicle (SUV) called the GLA next year.
STRUGGLING FOR TRACTION
Mercedes-Benz has struggled in China since the start of 2012, when overall demand for luxury cars began weakening amid an economic slowdown in the world's second-largest economy that affected luxury car brands in general.
Mercedes fared worse than most because of a dearth of new or redesigned models and what industry insiders and key operators of Mercedes-Benz dealers described as a short-sighted volume grab that hit the brand's profitability.
Mercedes-Benz's sales rose just 4 percent to 206,150 cars, last year. By contrast, sales of Audi (VOWG_p.DE) cars rose 32 percent to 407,738 cars, while BMW's volume increased 41 percent to 313,638 cars, according to consulting firm LMC Automotive.
BMW and Audi posted impressive gains, but they were also accused by dealers and analysts of boosting sales through heavy discounts and other costly incentives.
With China's economy still slowing compared with the breakneck pace of expansion over the past 15 years, there remains some doubt over whether Mercedes-Benz is going to be able to boost its sales by a third by 2015.
But Yale Zhang, head of Shanghai-based consulting firm Automotive Foresight, said he believed the objective was "doable", partly due to the array of "strong new products they are planning to put in play over the next year".
Aside from the slew of new products, Troska aims to make Mercedes-Benz cars more affordable by producing significantly more of what it sells in China.
The turnaround plan envisages seven out of 10 cars it sells in China will be made in the country by 2015 - up from around half now - a move that would allow the company to avoid the high tariffs and taxes levied on imported cars.
The primary lever to boost in-China production is the new compact GLA SUV that the German carmaker plans to produce at its factory complex in Beijing, which is jointly run with state-owned auto group Beijing Automotive Group, the sources said.
The GLA, which is intended to be a more affordable luxury car, is due for a launch in China next year.
GERMAN PRECISION, MADE IN CHINA
"The days when Chinese consumers thought Mercedes is Mercedes only when they are made in Germany are long gone," a Mercedes-Benz official told Reuters. "If you can deliver German precision and quality in products you produce here, Chinese buyers have no problem at all with them and consider them genuine Mercedes."
It was not immediately clear whether the move to cut prices by boosting local production was in any way a response to a wave of Chinese government investigations into possible anti-competitive violations in the way that global companies, including car makers, price their products in China.
Mercedes-Benz hopes to respond more quickly to changing consumer preferences, which often lead to swings in demand for different types of vehicles, by producing more cars locally.
Cutting prices "is not a bad idea given China's economic growth slowdown", said Jeff Chung, a Hong Kong-based auto-sector analyst for Japanese brokerage Daiwa Securities.
Nonetheless, demand for luxury cars in China is likely to reach 2.7 million vehicles a year by 2020, displacing the United States as the world's biggest luxury car market.
As the economy slows, "even wealthy consumers are likely to shift to more affordable luxury cars, most of which are produced locally in China rather than being imported", Chung said.
That's how Volkswagen AG's Audi, the No. 1 luxury brand by volume in China, stays ahead of its German rivals that together dominate China's top-end market. Audi produces more than nine out of 10 cars it sells in China, according to Daiwa's Chung.
Young Tibetans make traditional crafts at Qumalai Tibetan Craft Products Company in Qinghai province. The county government of Qumalai helps the workshop to hire experienced craftsmen to produce and pass on skills of making ornaments.[Photo by Wang Zhuangfei/ China Daily]
For Sonang Tashi, it's very exciting to be able to pass on an old craft that he has learned since he was a little boy. And at the same time, he is helping young people find a livelihood.
Sonang Tashi, a 54-year-old resident of Qumalai county in Northwest China's Qinghai province, says his family has been devoted to making traditional Tibetan ornaments for generations.
While the craft was only passed on strictly within the family, Sonang Tashi has adapted his idea with time, especially when many old crafts are threatened by modern technology.
"Instead of letting it disappear, I am willing to teach whoever is willing to learn, and promote the traditional craft as I can," says Sonang Tashi.
Sonang Tashi is glad that his goal echoes with that of the local government.
The county government helped him turn his family workshop into a firm called Qumalai Tibetan Craft Products Company in 2013.
The government agreed to fund the company's hiring of 10 experienced craftsmen who specialize in 16 kinds of work, from making traditional ornaments to costumes. In return, the company provides free training to the local youth who are willing to learn the skills.
Nyima Tashi, Qumalai's county mayor, says the free training program is part of the county's effort to alleviate poverty.
"Instead of simply providing financial subsidies, we want to help them learn skills that can sustain them for a lifetime," says Nyima Tashi.
Since the program began, more than 60 students have received training here so far. Most are local people younger than 35 and from poor families.
Meanwhile, a bigger government-funded skills-training center is being constructed in the county, which can take in more trainees at the same time.
The government plans to train about 400 craftsmen every year in the future. The apprentices can expect to earn about 6,000 yuan ($900) per month after two years' training. The government will help promote their products and provide them assistance in finding jobs or opening new workshops, the county mayor says.
"I decided to study the craft because I found the work very interesting after watching other craftsmen," says Tsering Tsongpoi, 17, who has focused on learning the decorations on Tibetan-style knives for more than one year at the workshop.
[Picture/ China Daily]
Is it the food? The service? The authenticity? The recently released Michelin Guide for Shanghai has stirred new debate about how restaurants are rated, and who's judging, Mike Peters reports.
With the possible exception of Salman Rushdie, no author seems to generate as much fuss as the collective critics of the Michelin Guide.
"Rightly or wrongly, everyone has something to say about the Michelin Guide," writes Debbie Yong, digital editor of the Michelin Guide Singapore. That's especially true when the French company pronounces for the first time on a city's restaurant scenetrue in Hong Kong in 2009, and noisily true in Shanghai just last month.
From the internet grousing, few seem happy with the recently unveiled 2017 Shanghai guide. To a degree, this is natural: Read the letters to the editor of any publication or the online comments after any story, and you find the fusspotsnot posts like "What a nice article!"
Some criticism comes from misunderstanding what the Michelin Guide doesand doesn'tdo.
"We'll let you in on a little fact not everyone realizes," Yong says: "There is no such thing as a Michelin-starred chef."
That statement may amaze many on the Chinese mainland, since the phrase falls like confetti from restaurant ads and media releases when celebrity chefs come to Beijing or Shanghai. (Full disclosure: I've written it myself in articles for this newspaper.)
However, world-class meals are often the collective efforts of an entire kitchen team, and not one man (or woman) alone.
"The guide is updated annually and restaurants can lose their stars if they close during the year of assessment, or if they do not maintain their standards over the year," Yong writes. "Chefs cannot take off with the stars, nor do the stars transfer to another restaurant owned by the same chef."
But the idea lingersand stirs controversy.
T'ang Court, the Chinese restaurant at the Langham hotel, scooped up the only three-star rating for the entire city. A chorus of naysayers insist the award is based on the three-star glow of its sister restaurant in Hong Kong, suggesting that the Shanghai version isn't as good. On the other hand, other critics complained that Shanghai's Otto e Mezzo garnered only two stars even though the Hong Kong original is a perennial three-star winner.
While some chefs have suggested that the awarding fo stars wasn't consistent with Michelin standards, others aren't sure that they should be. The Hong Kong and Singapore editions recently broke new ground for Michelin by including street fooda move lauded by some as culturally savvy but panned by others who found it condescending.
Shao Junting wins the Disciples Escoffier Young Talent Trophy for Asia recently after creating the best nicoise-style tournedos among all the contestants.[Photo/ China Daily]
The white-clad contestants were all under the age of 25, with less than five years of restaurant-kitchen experience. After preliminary contests in seven Asian countries and regions, Shao Junting, who was representing China, claimed the Disciples Escoffier Young Talent Trophy for Asia recently, with judges noting "his meticulous techniques and attention to the plating details, as well as his cooking skills".
Just two points behind was first runner-up Yorick Chin Chiang Soh, representing Macao, while Hong Kong candidate Hilda Ho was the second runner-up.
Shao will compete in the world final contest, to be held in France in February, says chef David Jean Marteau, leader of the Escoffier competition team.
Shao, who works at the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai in Pudong, won the spot to represent China at the Asia final after creating the best nicoise-style tournedos with bearnaise sauce and crepes suzette among all the contestants.
This is the ninth year for the Disciples Escoffier Young Talent Trophy, with the Asian regional selection taking place at the Restaurant and Bar Show 2016 last month in Hong Kong.
New strategies will help HK's watch industry recover Updated: 2016-10-11 07:33 By Eddy Li(HK Edition)
Some people think that the world's largest event for timepieces is Baselworld held in Switzerland, which exhibits watches, clocks and jewelry. But when we are talking about watches and clocks only, the largest annual event actually is the HKTDC Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair. The fair showcases only timepiece-related goods, including branded and complete watches, clocks, machinery and equipment, packaging, parts and components.
Hong Kong's watch and clock industry has been playing quite a significant role internationally. According to the latest available statistics, in terms of value in 2014 Hong Kong was not only the world's largest importer of complete watches, it was also the second-largest exporter of complete watches and complete clocks. Since 2008, Hong Kong has kept the title of the world's largest luxury-watch market. But the latest statistics published by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry indicate that Hong Kong has just lost this title to the US. Indeed the city's total Swiss watch imports have been falling by 33 percent year-on-year to below 175 million Swiss francs ($178.2 million), lower than that of the US (178.5 million Swiss francs).
This is not the only worrying sign for Hong Kong's watch industry. Other figures are also worrying: From 2010 to 2014, the industry's annual export value growth has gradually shrunk from more than HK$10 billion to HK$2-3 billion. Last year, for the first time in many years, the industry even reported negative export growth, with the total export value falling from HK$80.32 billion in 2014 to HK$76.72 billion in 2015.
These disappointing figures reflect the difficulties the watch industry is facing. The reasons for the current difficult situation are complicated. Traditionally, Hong Kong's watch and clock industry depends highly on the European and American orders. But recent years have witnessed an economic downturn in those markets.
Moreover, appreciation of the Hong Kong dollar along with the US dollar due to its peg to the latter has led to weaker competitiveness for Hong Kong exports. Meanwhile, while the mainland market is growing, the anti-corruption measures implemented by the central government have had a negative impact on Hong Kong's retail business.
Under these circumstances, what can the industry do to deal with the difficulties it now faces?
The first solution is to go "smart". As smartphones are changing our lifestyle, smart watches are also getting more and more attention from consumers. Multi-functionality is a huge selling point to watch buyers nowadays, and manufacturers should attach more importance to this feature. The industry should also keep an eye on the development of the Belt and Road strategy. The new policy initiative involves 65 countries, with a total population of 4.4 billion, or 61 percent of the world's population, and an aggregate GDP of $21 trillion, or 29 percent of the world's GDP. With such a large market, the business opportunities will be numerous.
In April, I led a group to visit three Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan), which are along the Silk Road Economic Belt connecting China and Europe. After an on-the-spot visit, I believe that there is a wealth of business opportunities for Hong Kong companies there. Resources are abundant in Central Asia; costs and salaries are relatively low (with salaries at $200-400 per month); the investment threshold is lower than elsewhere. Meanwhile, the standard of living there is below the global average; consumption power is still limited, with consumers preferring practical products over high-end ones.
In conclusion, whereas large enterprises might not be interested in this market, there are many opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises. If Hong Kong enterprises set up their factories in Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan, their products can be sold not only in the local market but also in Russia, Armenia, and Belarus. This is due to the custom preferential policy granted by the five-nation Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). This provides a market of more than 170 million in population.
Hong Kong watches are regarded as exquisite, novel and creative in the eyes of consumers. This reputation is widely known around the world and has attracted many buyers with good taste. Backed by this reputation, Hong Kong watchmakers should be able to maximize their advantages. They don't have to compete with mainland private companies in the low-end watches market; and there is no need for them to fight for the top-grade watches market either. Hong Kong watchmakers should stick to the middle-ranged market, which will be greatly expanded by the Belt and Road Initiative as it progresses.
(HK Edition 10/11/2016 page9)
An Italian mosaic art exhibition in celebration of the 45th anniversary of cultural exchange between China and Italy was inaugurated at Qingdao Art Gallery on Oct 8.
The mosaics were provided by the Friuli School of Mosaic, which was founded in 1922 and occupies an important position in the field of ancient and contemporary mosaic art.
Jointly organized by the Institute of Culture at the Italian Embassy in Beijing, the Qingdao Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and the Qingdao International Cultural Association, the exhibition will run until Oct 25, the first stop on a nationwide tour of China.
Visitors can try their hands at making mosaics under the guidance of experts from the Friuli School of Mosaic during the exhibition.
The Friuli School of Mosaic and the cultural bureau of Qingdao's Shibei District signed a letter of intent for cooperation at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, according to which the two parties will jointly run a school to introduce mosaic art to China.
The opening ceremony of the exhibition of the Friuli School of Mosaic is held at the Qingdao Art Gallery in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Oct 8. [Photo/qingdaonews.com]
Visitors admire a mosaic at the exhibition of the Friuli School of Mosaic, which is being held at the Qingdao Art Gallery from Oct 8 to 25.[Photo/news.dailyqd.com]
Taiwan's main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen speaks during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, April 15, 2015. [Photo/IC]
Divisive and damaging as it is, the present impasse across the Taiwan Straits is set to continue.
That was what Tsai Ing-wen, the current leader of Taiwan, told us in the speech she made on Monday.
As Tsai said, she remained faithful to her inaugural speech, and her stance remains "consistent and steadfast".
But that consistency and steadfastness is making things worse. Because, instead of alleviating the worries on the island about her anti-mainland approach, which is hurting the island's economy, Tsai made it crystal clear that her independence-minded Democratic Progressive Party's political agenda comes first.
She did reiterate the need to build consistent, predictable, and sustainable cross-Straits relations, and to preserve the status quo of peace.
She even proposed the two sides "should sit down and talk as soon as possible". "Everything can be discussed," she said, "as long as it is conducive to the peaceful development of both sides and the well-being of people on both sides".
Everything can be discussed, except, she indicated, one China.
With Tsai showing her stance remains unchanged, the possibility of any substantial improvement in cross-Straits relations remains remote for the foreseeable future. If anything, ties will only worsen, since they have taken such a backward stride since Tsai entered office on the island.
Tsai's call to "preserve the status quo" is simply wishful thinking if she was referring to the hard-earned rapport the Ma Ying-jeou administration of the Kuomintang forged with the mainland, because that has become the status quo ante and can now be looked back on as the good old days.
The status quo she claims to want to preserve simply doesn't exist today. The real status quo is the mess she has personally created, and which in her speech she pledged to perpetuate.
Everybody knows what has derailed the two sides' once friendly, promising relationship: It is Tsai's stubborn refusal to acknowledge the 1992 Consensus, which commits both sides to one China.
Though Tsai said in her speech that people expect the government to "correct mistakes", denying the 1992 Consensus is a mistake she has failed to correct. And the people of Taiwan have taken to the streets, calling on Tsai to make corrections.
Tsai, however, continues to refuse to do so, consistently, and steadfastly.
LI MIN/CHINA DAILY
On Saturday, the governments in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen released draft rules on car-hailing services to solicit public opinions.
According to the draft rules released by the four first-tier cities, most vehicles endorsed by the ride-sharing platforms such as Didi-Uber will no longer qualify to serve passengers, as the four cities all require drivers to have a local household registration, or hukou, and vehicles above a certain engine displacement if they are providing rides to passengers. Didi has argued that number of available cars would drop significantly should the rules come into effect and the cost of its services may double.
There has already been a chorus of complaints about the hike in fares following the merger between Didi Chuxing and Uber China in August. The top two ride-hailing service providers in China, which are integrating their managerial and technological experience and expertise while maintaining independent branding and business operations, have slashed their subsidies for passengers and raised their charges during rush hours, particularly in Beijing and Shenzhen.
The fare hikes by Didi and Uber, however, are not just a result of their merger. The two companies have been spending billions of dollars subsidizing their drivers and passengers as they rivaled each other for dominance in the market, and both were losing money hand over fist.
In fact, all the ride-hailing companies have adopted the strategy of spending heavily on entering the market in a bid to gain a significant share of what they believe will be a gold mine. In particular, they have offered high incentives to attract more drivers, even though there was a risk they would be punished for illegally engaging in the ride-sharing business. The car-hailing services will be formally legalized on Nov 1.
That, to a point, explains why Didi offered to "reimburse" the penalties its drivers received before the car-hailing services are legalized, even though this means it has been endorsing an illegal activity.
To compete with the new behemoth, other ride-sharing companies such as Yidao Yongche and Shenzhou Zhuanche are continuing to provide subsidies to drivers and passengers, adding more uncertainties to the competition. Yidao has relaunched its "top-up" compensation, which grants passengers a bonus of the same amount of credits as they top up, while Shenzhou has promised not to take a share of its drivers' earnings.
Yet many fear the merger between the two largest companies Didi and Uber will create a monopoly that will continually push up fares. The Ministry of Commerce has said it is investigating whether the merger would create a monopoly as together Didi and Uber account for more than 90 percent of the market.
However, the truth is, the emerging market is pyramid-shaped, meaning better services are offered to those who pay more. The new national regulation on the ride-hailing industry has endorsed this "differentiated operation", which means the costs for a ride via Didi or Uber China will vary according to people's demands.
In metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai, the provision of public transport lags behind demand, and private capital and internet-based technologies are coming together to meet people's needs. Instead of regulating the industry so it is essentially managed like the traditional taxi industry, local governments should welcome the approach of Internet Plus transportation, because it not only creates employment, but is also prompting changes to the traditional taxi industry and collecting data, such as when and where passengers require a ride, for the urban management authorities, so they can improve public transport to meet people's needs in the long run.
Zhu Wei is deputy director of the Communication Law Center at China University of Political Science and Law. The article is an excerpt from his interview with China Daily's Cui Shoufeng.
An advertisement for online shopping site Taobao.com of Alibaba Group is seen at a metro station in Shanghai, Nov 12, 2014. [Photo/IC]
I am a self-professed shopaholic and traveler. While working in Japan for many years, I crossed the Japan Sea to visit Chinas most popular tourist attractions, which included the Great Wall outside Beijing, the West Lake in Hangzhou, the Li River in Guangxi province and the Bund in Shanghai. These tours are what the Japanese describe as pack tours: whirlwind 3 or 4 day trips where you see the best of China including outlet shopping to boot. Unlike many tourists who hate to be taken on forced shopping sprees, I love them. Once in Shanghai, I spent so much time and money in a silk outlet shop that the tour bus left without me! I vowed someday to work in China so I could see and shop more.
My chance came in late 2012. One of my friends had mistakenly sent me a job advertisement to work at a small university in Loudi City, central Hunan. I inquired and was almost instantly granted the job. Although my adventurous spirit wanted to see a part of China that perhaps no Australian had traversed before, I hesitated to accept. My fears were allayed when my future boss assured me there was a Walmart in the town where you could buy everything you could ever want! My mother and I jumped with glee: I could buy anything I needed at a fraction of the price Id pay in Australia.
On my first visit to the rather grubby Walmart in my new town, I knew I had been seriously misled. It wasnt the shopping mecca Id been promised! Prices for clothes, stationary and home-wares were more expensive than what I would have paid in Japan or Australia. Selection was also lacking. How is it that China, the source of the worlds merchandise, had less on offer at a higher price? I was terribly disappointed! Shops around the university were worse: only basic everyday items for university students.
After spending almost two years relying on trips back to Australia to get my most needed items and clothing in my size, a small miracle happened. A Russian teacher, by the name of Sergei, arrived at my university and moved into the apartment next door. Russians, like Europeans and Asians, have an eye for beauty and a bargain. Although he couldnt read Chinese, hed somehow made a search on Taobao, the biggest online shopping site in China, and asked his students to help buy things for him. I followed suit, and soon I was whiling away the hours searching for stuff online like any Chinese. My apartment started to fill up, yuan flowed out of my bank, but the years of deprivation were over!
Dont think for one minute that I am blind to the foibles of Taobao. I have received the wrong item, size or color. I have also received copied goods, which is of no surprise as it is estimated that 40% of products on Taobao are fakes. On the other hand, Ive found some cheap, useful household goods and the clothes are better quality and dont fadeif I pay more than 200 yuan per item. Taobao or is exactly as its name implies, a search for treasure. Sometimes you find gemstones and at other times rocks. Still, it is preferable to brick and mortar shops in China these days, which mostly disappoint Chinese and foreign tourists alike with their lack of variety and higher prices. To get more for my yuan and to quell my shopping cravings, Ill stick with Taobao for the moment.
Representatives from 182 countries have been gathered in Johannesburg to take stock on how well we're preventing the planet's endangered animals and plants from going extinct.
It's called the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, or CITES for short and they provide varying levels of protection for 35,000 species.
Big on the agenda at this highly anticipated meeting has been African elephants, which are being slaughtered to the brink of extinction for their ivory.
Conservationists and concerned animal lovers have been looking forward to this convention to see if the organization would pull out all the stops and do everything in its to protect elephants.
The results have been mixed, and puzzling. CITES, which was founded in 1973 and kicked into gear in 1975, put all populations of African elephants on its Appendix I - its highest level of protection - in 1989, effectively banning the international trade in ivory.
The protection started to erode in 1997 and 2000 when populations in four African countries (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe) were notched down to Appendix II to allow sales of stockpiles to Japan and China in 1999 and 2008.
At the convention today, a proposal to move them (and all elephants) back onto Appendix I was defeated because it failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority.
How? The European Union voted as a bloc to block it, setting off a firestorm.
"The European Union's position is shocking," said Vera Weber, president of the Switzerland-based Franz Weber Foundation, which has been campaigning to protect elephants for 40 years. "Their patronizing and colonialist attitude to the vast majority of African elephant range states calling for an Appendix I listing is shameful."
Of the 28 EU member states voting in the bloc, only France argued to protect the elephants. And the UK, according to some sources, fully backed the EU position in contradiction to the country's publicity stunts.
Just last week, for instance, Prince William gave what the Guardian described as "a sometimes passionate speech" before a charity group saying that he was not prepared to be a member of the generation that oversees the extinction of the African elephant.
"When I was born there were 1 million elephants roaming Africa," he said. "By the time my daughter Charlotte was born last year, the numbers of savannah elephants had crashed to just 350,000.
"And at the current pace of illegal poaching, when Charlotte turns 25 the African elephant will be gone from the wild."
Aside from leaving one wondering what kind of poaching is not illegal, the UK not backing the top protection status for all elephants is a puzzlement.
"The failure of the EU to support the proposal from the majority of Africa's elephant range states was a disgrace and totally out of touch with the wishes of EU citizens," said Born Free president and CEO Will Travers OBE. "It was also out of step with much of the world, including big markets for ivory such as China and the USA, which now agree that only a total ban on ivory trade can secure a future for elephants.
"Placing all elephant populations back on the CITES Appendix I would have sent a clear message that ivory belongs to elephants and is not for sale," Travers continued. "The European Union's failure to understand this is unforgivable."
Rosalind Reeve, a senior advisor to the Franz Weber Foundation, took it a step further. "The blood of Africa's elephants is on the EU's hands," she said.
The EU officially stated they opposed the move because the four countries' elephant populations were showing an increasing trend and therefore did not meet the criteria for Appendix I.
"Recognizing the efforts made by Southern African countries to sustainably manage their elephant population and combat poaching, those countries should better be encouraged to pursue their efforts," the statement read.
Robert Hepworth, former chairman of the CITES Standing committee, further blasted the EU decision, accusing them of being "desperate not to offend the host country" and ignoring a million-strong petition and a resolution from the European Parliament.
"The EU's behavior today made me ashamed to have voted to stay in the EU," he quipped.
On a happy note, one of the four countries with Appendix II status - Botswana - said that regardless of the vote, it would treat its elephant population, by far the biggest in Africa, as if they were on Appendix I. So there'll be no ivory coming from there any time soon.
Contact the writer at chrisdavis@chinadailyusa.com.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that it's time for Canadians to once again show the leadership that shapes the way the West engages with China.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (second from left), along with Members of Parliament (from left) Arnold Chan, Shaun Chen and John McCallum, meet with members of the Chinese media on Oct 7 in Markham. (NA LI / CHINA DAILY)
Trudeau made the comments at a meeting with Chinese media on Oct 7.
"We're watching China change from being simply an export economy to an import country with incredible opportunity for Canada," said Trudeau. "Three hundred million members of the Chinese middle class have to be consumers and purchasers of good quality goods from Canada, whether it will be agricultural or manufacturing, there is a tremendous opportunity for small- and medium-sized businesses in Canada to actually sell on the Chinese market."
Talking about the economic opportunities and challenges that Canada now faces, Trudeau encouraged Canadian companies to be more engaged with the Chinese economy, mentioning Alibaba, whose chairman, Jack Ma, he met with during an official visit to China one month ago.
"It was also great to settle the canola issue because our western farmers are very pleased that they now have access to the Chinese market," said Trudeau of the MOU signed during Premier Li Keqiang's visiting to Canada two weeks ago. The four-year $2 billion deal allows Canadian canola to continue to be exported to China.
According to Trudeau, Canada and China are establishing regular robust conversations on such issues as human rights and the rule of law, with the priorities of both sides being to find ways to work together and engage with the world.
"I feel that my father was instrumental in shaping the way that the Western world engaged with China as of the early '70s," Trudeau said. "He really demonstrated how the world could work with China to create opportunities on both sides.
"Now we're at a point where China is in rapid transformation away from being solely based on manufacturing and exporting into strong consumers as well," he continued. "So I think there is an opportunity for Canadians to once again show the leadership that shapes the way the West can engage with China."
Trudeau noted that 2018 would be the year of Canada-China tourism and that Canada planned to double its trade with China by 2025.
"We look forward to welcoming many Chinese tourists to Canada, and I also know that many Canadians will be excited about going to discover how beautiful China is," he said.
"The Chinese and Canadians will be important friends and allies as we continue create prosperity for our citizens and hardworking middle class," Trudeau concluded.
"First, you find a house and scope it out. Find a Chinese neighborhood, because they don't believe in bank accounts."
The lyrics from Black rapper YG's song Meet the Flockers, a step-by-step guide on how to perform a burglary, has outraged the Chinese-American community and netizens on the other side of the globe.
Chinese rappers have hit back at YG with "diss tracks", including a Chinese-language hip hop song by the Whale Island Band, and an English track by Ph Dragon, a PhD student at the University of Southern California.
"Yo YG, now the Chinese neighborhood find you, and you gonna taste your own stuff (clean version). What goes around comes around, checking out Youtube look here what I found."
The song on Youtube has received more than 130,000 views and 6,000 likes. As of Oct 7, Ph Dragon had crowdfunded more than $3,000 to shoot a music video for the "diss track".
"After hearing YG's song on robbing Chinese, as a Chinese rapper, I felt I needed to get our voice heard, but I never expected the song to get so popular," wrote Ph Dragon on China's equivalent of Quora, Zhihu.
"I didn't write the song to attack blacks," he said. "I just want people to know we Chinese are not doormats."
Others are fighting the lyrics with political influence.
More than 60,000 people have signed a petition to the White House, asking for a ban on the song.
John Chan of Brooklyn Asian Communities Empowerment confirmed during a Monday press conference that they were organizing a protest in Philadelphia on Oct 15, the same day YG is giving a concert in the city.
"We have to get our voice heard," said Chan, who was also the main organizer of the rallies for Chinese-American police officer Peter Liang earlier year.
Community leaders at the conference also call for a bigger turnout rate for the upcoming presidential election.
"The more votes we get, the louder our voice will be," said Chung Dick, vice-chairman of the American Chinese Commerce Association. "Each vote counts."
The controversy has even caused uproar in China. Recently, Netizens have been sharing YG's song along with footage of a Chinese woman fending off three burglars in her home in Atlanta.
"The overseas Chinese should learn from her, and use guns to protect themselves," said a user on Weibo.
YG and his record label Def Jam have not openly responded to the protests.
Texas' controversial handguns in schools laws are still splitting opinions on campuses across the Lone Star State.
Students go about their campus life as usual under the effect of campus carry law at University of Houston. TIFFANY WANG FOR CHINA DAILY
On one afternoon last week, Baylor University in Waco, Texas, issued a Twitter alert #Baylor to warn students and faculty about a shooting near the campus and advise them to seek shelter.
It was re-tweeted by more than 1,800 accounts, including some news organizations, and followed by comments.
"This is why #Baylor should've allowed campus carry. It's your only way to ensure your safety in an active shooter situation," wrote a tweeter named Will Crisp.
Another by the name of Dan Walden said: "The only thing that makes me happy about this active shooter situation is that we don't allow campus carry #Baylor."
The situation, which occurred on Oct 6, was cleared up an hour later without incident, but the polarized views show that the issue still stirs controversy two months after the campus carry law went into effect in Texas on Aug 1.
The Texas Senate Bill 11 (Campus Carry) allows holders of a concealed handgun license (CHL) to carry a loaded handgun at four-year colleges and universities and junior colleges. The law goes into effect in private schools and two-year community colleges next year. The age limit is 21 and older.
Students at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) organized a rally against campus carry on the first day of school, but campuses across the state are mostly quiet about the law.
Students are as divided as ever over the issue.
"As a first-generation Asian from Vietnam, I personally saw America as a non-violent country where safety is a given, not a choice," said Philip Ninh, a senior at the University of Houston (UH). "It's a one-sided battle of fear and that we need to do this to feel safe'. Instead of having students carrying guns, why don't we trust the campus police who are everywhere on campus to protect us?"
Some view campus carry as distraction. "I already have a hard time focusing on my classes and I don't need a gun to distract me more," said Alec Chi, a UH junior. "I agree that everyone has the right to protect themselves, but is a gun really necessary?"
Earlier this year the UH faculty senate urged its members to be careful discussing sensitive topics, drop certain topics from the curriculum and limit student access during off hours in response to the campus carry law. Campus carry was viewed to have the potential to curb free speech, a view echoed by Johnathan Esquivel, a sophomore at UH.
"I do not believe that controversial issues should be avoided just because a student may become agitated," said Esquivel.
The first campus carry incident occurred in mid-September when a gun was accidentally fired in a dorm at Tarleton State University. No one was harmed in the incident.
"I'm for campus carry because UH students experience multiple thefts every week on average," said Bao Pham, a senior. "I want to keep my friends safe."
"I wanted to get my concealed handgun license, but I don't turn 21 until next summer," said Kiana Muschlin, a sophomore at UH. "I will probably get one then."
"Most were worried about campus carry when school first started, but now students seem to have forgotten about it. This is probably because no campus shooting has happened yet," said Wu Wenyuan, a student.
For those still actively speaking out against campus carry, it has been a frustrating experience to fight a losing battle.
"I just think it's really disappointing that there were campus-wide rallies last year when this legislation was being voted on and individuals who were aware of it were desperately trying to get others to act, but to no avail," said Joseph Stemmler, a junior at UT-Austin. It's a too little too late' scenario where now that it was passed everyone decided that they wanted to act. It's truly disheartening."
May Zhou and Tiffany Wang in Houston contributed to this story.
An insatiable appetite for homemade delicacies and an app are transforming the way overseas Chinese prepare and eat their meals, although some concerns have been raised about the food's safety.
WeChat developed by Chinese tech giant Tencent and released in 2011, now has more than 800 million users. The app has helped the underground food industry flourish among Chinese Americans.
A blend of social media network and e-commerce platform and "basically Facebook, Amazon, Yelp, Twitter, Venmo and Netflix rolled into one" as Hans Tung, managing partner at GGV Capital, once called it, WeChat enables large or small-scale vendors, the so-called WeChat business (weishang), to advertise and sell whatever merchandise that might interest members at a social group capped at 500 members.
A B2C or P2P business model based on whether the vendor is a business entity or individual, weishang especially thrives in the culinary sector thanks to overseas Chinese' limitless desire for hometown delicacies and fresh, healthy food ingredients.
Lily Zhang, a Sichuan native and now a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, said she didn't find authentic Sichuan cuisine at any local restaurants since she moved from the East Coast to Northern California in 2005.
"Until this January, after I joined our local Pleasanton Diners WeChat group," she said, adding that she now can order homemade crown daisy rice cake, chicken with cayenne pepper, spicy sausage and steamed jujube flower bun from a vendor.
"They just taste as good as that in memory," she said.
Zhang said the vendor usually will send messages of food availability with pictures and a short intro into the WeChat group, answering questions on ingredients, preparation and delivery time.
Customers can choose from several sites for food pickup.
"Once you've submitted the form, you're done, very convenient and easy to follow through," Zhang said. "Online food shopping on WeChat now is my biggest expenditure each month, could be as much as $1,000; I thought it's worthy."
Athena Li, a business analyst on a hectic work schedule and mom to a 5-month old, said she would turn to weishang for instant dinner solutions.
"I don't have the luxury of two to three hours for dinner preparation, so the ready-to-cook combination of meat and vegetable, both organic and freshly raised and picked up from local farms, becomes my top choices," Li said.
She routinely would order organic cauliflower, broccoli, kale, squash and beets, together with pork, beef and chicken and ask for same-day home delivery.
"As a new mom still feeding my daughter, I can't afford to take in polluted or heavily processed food," Li said, adding her online-to-offline food-shopping experience so far has been pleasant. "I've asked several times about where the food comes from; they said within a radius of 30 miles."
Still, despite the appeal of ordering online, there are some food safety concerns, because most of the individual vendors are not licensed or regulated. The state of California in 2012 passed a cottage food law that allows some homemade food to be sold on a small scale.
On its "non-potentially hazardous food" list, are jams, pastries and confections such as fudge and flavored popcorn; meat is prohibited from any transactions.
The issue of the food's integrity is a concern of Jun Wang, a chemist in South San Francisco.
"The fear of food-borne illness and being uncomfortable with the sources of food sold on WeChat keep me to stay away from them, although they really sometimes make my mouth water," said Wang. "I would rather resist the temptation than ending up with an emergency room visit," he said. "Food storage, transportation and processing; the whole process needs high-standard quarantine and control of temperature and humidity. I don't think weishang vendors are fairly equipped with knowledge required."
Regulation of weishang and food vendors through WeChat is not in place. There are no regulations in the US saying people can't buy food from unlicensed vendors.
While there are still gray areas, buying food cooked in the home kitchen of a stranger or made up of ingredients from a local farm on WeChat is still popular among overseas Chinese.
"I will continue to do so until one day the government banned them and saying no," said Lily Zhang, adding that she would pick up her order of steamed pork buns and dumplings at her community center.
The Ministry of National Defense has dismissed recent allegations targeting Chinese peacekeepers in South Sudan, raised in a report by a US-based group, describing them as "sheer malicious hyping".
The Washington-based Center For Civilians in Conflict said in a report published last week that Chinese peacekeepers with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan had withdrawn from a civilian protection zone in July after coming under attack, Reuters reported.
Yang Yujun, the ministry's spokesman, said in a written reply issued early on Tuesday that the report's allegations concerning Chinese peacekeepers was "not in accordance with the facts at all and is sheer malicious hyping".
The United Nations is investigating the performance of its peacekeeping force in South Sudan, Yang noted.
"Prior to the UN issuing the investigation's findings, any groundless accusations against UN peacekeepers and personnel is irresponsible," he said.
After the recent outbreak of conflict in South Sudan, the Chinese peacekeepers had conducted missions in and near the capital Juba to ensure the safety of UN peacekeepers and civilians, Yang noted.
Two Chinese soldiers were killed and five others were injured on July 10 following the escalation of the conflict, Yang added.
In another development, the Chinese military on Monday started shipping materials for the deployment of its first peacekeeping helicopter unit, departing from Tianjin Port in northern China.
The materials will arrive at Port Sudan in mid-November before arriving in mid-January at El Fasher, capital of North Darfur State, Sudan, Xinhua reported.
The unit, consisting of 140 soldiers and four helicopters, will be deployed for UN missions in South Sudan, including troop transportation, rescue and evacuation operations and supplying air logistics.
According to the Peacekeeping Office of the Ministry of National Defense, the unit has completed training and the refitting of helicopter and vehicle equipment.
Xinhua contributed to this story.
China and Russia will conduct a second joint anti-missile exercise next year.
A China-Russia joint press conference on missile defense on the sidelines of the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing on Tuesday. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]
The announcement, on Tuesday, was made at a China-Russia joint press briefing on missile defense on the sidelines of the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, a high-end meeting of defense officials and experts.
The two countries held a joint computer-simulated anti-missile drill in May.
Observers noted that Beijing and Moscow have increased their anti-missile cooperation this year as the United States and its ally, the Republic of Korea, pushed forward a joint plan to deploy the long-range Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in the ROK.
The X-band radar associated with the THAAD system has a maximum range of 2,000 km, a radius which is capable of covering parts of China and Russia.
In a joint statement on global strategic stability released following the meeting between President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in June, the countries voiced shared concerns over the deployment of antimissile capabilities globally and said that any unilateral deployment is a setback.
At a China-Russia Northeast Asia security consultation in Moscow in July, Beijing and Moscow agreed that they will "proactively consider strengthening bilateral coordinating measures" to tackle potential negative factors posed by the deployment of THAAD.
I'm starting to feel abandoned.
With the dust barely settled following the UK electorate's bombshell decision to leave the European Union, both principal protagonists in the debate about whether we should or should not part company with the EU have moved on.
Nigel Farage, the man who led the charge to say au revoir has stood down as leader of the UK Independence Party to be replaced by Diane James something that was followed by Ms James' own resignation after only 18 days on the job.
And former UK prime minister, David Cameron, who stepped down as the leader of the UK government immediately after the Brexit referendum, also recently announced his intention to get out of Westminster completely, announcing he will stand down as the Member of Parliament representing Witney in Oxfordshire.
So now, the two people who argued the pros and cons of the EU from opposing trenches are walking off into the sunset, with the country and its voters none the wiser as to what happens next.
No wonder Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem's EU spokesman and formerly deputy prime minister in a David Cameron-led coalition government, said at his party's conference that the UK is "up a Brexit creek without a paddle, a canoe or a map".
It really seems as if Cameron, who allowed the referendum when many thought it too big a decision for relatively uninformed voters, and Farage, who could have blustered and whipped up a frenzy without ever really expected his dream to come true, are making a run for it while the rest of us clean up the mess.
The Lib Dems, a party that once held the balance of power but which is now basically irrelevant, have a point when they say the UK's voters should be given the opportunity to take part in another referendum this time to either approve or nix the deal detailing the future relationship between the UK and EU.
The Tories are about to start negotiating with Brussels on how the UK and Europe will interact in the future. At one end of the spectrum, the deal could see the UK have access to the EU's free-trade area without the burden of providing homes and welfare checks for every poor European who relocates to the UK. At the other end, it could see the UK leave its borders open while losing the right to trade without barriers and tariffs. Then, there is everything in between.
There are so many shades of Brexit that the UK's voters deserve the chance to choose whether or not they want to accept what is put in front of them, and any future referendum should give them the option to not only reject any deal on the table but opt for the status quo remaining part of the European Union.
The Lib Dems don't get much right they recently said they would block Chinese investment in the Hinkley Point nuclear power station but in this case they have got it bang on.
The UN General Assembly is scheduled to appoint Antonio Guterres as next UN Secretary-General on Thursday to replace the retiring Ban Ki-moon on Jan 1, 2017.
According to a letter sent by General Assembly President Peter Thomson on Tuesday, the date for the appointment has been set for Oct 13 at 10:00 a.m. (1400 GMT) at UN headquarters.
The term of office for Guterres will start on Jan 1, 2017 and end on Dec 31, 2021, said the letter.
Thomson will also convene an informal plenary meeting of the 193-member General Assembly with the secretary-general-designate on Oct 19, according to the letter.
On Thursday, the UN Security Council formally and unanimously recommended to the General Assembly Guterres, former Portuguese prime minister and former head of the UN refugee agency, be appointed the next secretary-general.
Under the UN Charter, the UN Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. In practice, the Security Council, particularly its five permanent members, will make the final choice and send a single candidate to the General Assembly for approval.
Guterres, a 67-year-old politician, served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. Before joining the UN refugee agency, Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He was the prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002.
European Union institutions should aspire to build up a talent reservoir during the coming five years comprised of at least 500 civil servants capable of speaking fluent Chinese who are experts in specific China-related areas, says Pierre Defraigne, executive director of the Brussels-based Madariaga College of Europe Center. [Photo by Fu Jing/chinadaily.com.cn]
European Union institutions should aspire to build up a talent reservoir during the coming five years comprised of at least 500 civil servants capable of speaking fluent Chinese who are experts in specific China-related areas, says a former senior Brussels official.
"Only in this way will Brussels know more about Beijing and balance its understanding deficit," said Pierre Defraigne, executive director of the Brussels-based Madariaga College of Europe Centre.
Defraigne told China Daily that Brussels has lacked "quality debates" about China for decades. He said the most important reason for this the lack of civil servants within European institutions who have a deep and intensive knowledge about China's reforms, development and history.
Defraigne was a civil servant from 1970 to 2005, when he retired as deputy director-general of the Directorate-General for Trade (DG Trade). He had been Head of Cabinet between 1999 and 2002 for Pascal Lamy, who was European Commissioner for Trade. And Defraigne was deeply involved in China's WTO accession and has been closely watching China's development for many years.
He noted that EU institutions today employ more than 55,000 civil servants, largely in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg.
"But I should say, no more than 20 of them can speak fluent Chinese and have a good command of special knowledge about this rising power," he said.
Defraigne believes there is still a huge knowledge gap between the two sides, despite decades of active trade and economic exchanges.
"We lack mutual understanding, but it's more on the EU side than on the Chinese side," he said.
Because of the crucial importance of China-EU ties, he wants Brussels to "hire or train" a team of 500 China experts in the coming five years.
These China-ready officials should be able to speak fluent Chinese, read Chinese newspapers and discuss issues with their Chinese counterparts without an interpreter.
"I think it would change a lot in Brussels if we do this," Defraigne said.
He also would like to see EU member states develop more Chinese-speaking officials.
"Brussels should be the main source of expertise on China," he said. "I deeply believe that it should become a key concern of the EU."
Chi Fulin, president of the China Institute of Reform and Development, shares Defraigne's opinion and welcomes his proposals.
In the past year and a half, Chi has traveled to Brussels six times to participate in dialogues with think-tanks and EU institutions.
"We felt it was workable, discussing general topics about China, but it was really hard to deeply explore issues with our European counterparts, and especially with officials," said Chi.
"Defraigne's proposal is visionary and Brussels should give it immediate consideration."
Chi said both China and the EU should consider developing additional projects to expand exchanges within academia and think-tanks.
"Both sides need to make this a priority, to bridge the understanding gap between the two powers," said Chi.
Yao Yueyang contributed to the story
DHAKA - Bangladeshi Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit will come as a big boon for Bangladesh.
The minister said the visit would usher in a new hope of further widening the areas of cooperation between the two countries.
"I think that his visit will bring many good messages for Bangladesh," he told Xinhua.
Khan, an influential member of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet since 2009, said China has already become one of Bangladesh's largest development partners.
"China is immensely contributing to our honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina government's efforts to further develop Bangladesh economy and infrastructure."
He said the visit will not merely further develop Bangladesh-China relations but also surely pave way for Bangladesh to have more support from China in various sectors.
"We need more support from China to implement as many as eight mega projects in shipping sector," he said. "Hope we'll get support from China for all these infrastructure development project."
Meanwhile, Khan said Chinese support will not merely benefit the two countries, but inject dynamism into the regional economies including Bhutan, India, Myanmar and Nepal.
He said the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, or the Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China could stimulate sustainable Asian and global economic growth,
"Hope the visit will also help to expedite the implementation process of the BCIM-EC (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic Corridor) and many other development initiatives."
He expressed his belief that greater economic cooperation between the two countries will help each other henceforth.
The minister stressed the need for further development of Bangladesh-China relations in various fields.
"We're keenly waiting to welcome President Xi," he said.
Xi will be visiting Dhaka this week at the invitation of his Bangladeshi counterpart President Abdul Hamid.
Theres an old joke about a Frenchman, an Englishman and a Russian who are told they have only one day until the end of the world. The Frenchman says he will spend his last day with a bottle of Bordeaux and a beautiful woman. The Englishman says he will take his favorite sheepdog for a walk across the moors. The Russian says he will burn down his neighbors house.
A couple years ago I told a Chinese attorney friend of mine who runs a Shanghai law firm what my firm looks for in all our hires. His response was that he does not like to hire attorneys that good because they will end up wanting to start their own firm because they will not be paid enough. My response was to suggest he pay his people more. His response was to look at me like I had two heads.
In Sub Zero-Sum Game Negotiations in China [link no longer exists], Andrew Hupert, professor of Chinese negotiating at NYU, tells how foreign businesses need to be prepared for burn your neighbors house down lose lose negotiating in China. Andrews post begins by explaining the more familiar win-lose and win-win deals:
Classic negotiating theory divides all transactions into two categories Distributive (Win-Lose deals), and Integrative (Win-Win).
Traditional competitive deals are referred to as Distributed because the two parties split (or distribute) a fixed pool of assets. Integrative deals are often referred to as Win-Win or collaborative because the two sides cooperate to enlarge the pie or increase the total value of assets beyond the initial scenario.
In China, however, where non-economic factors, such as face, guanxi, or lately, nationalism can be important factors, it is common to experience a third scenario: Lose-Lose negotiation. According to Hupert, in China your counter-party will sometimes opt for a situation where they lose a little if you lose a lot over an outcome where you gain a lot and they gain a little. This is most likely to be the case in dealing with a representative from a State Owned Entity (SOE) because that person may not benefit directly from positive outcomes, but may be penalized for a negative outcome. As trade tensions rise between China and the West, Win-Win deals will be regarded with increasing suspicion. Chinese negotiators consider it increasingly advantageous to see you fail.
Chinese negotiators are often working off a different time-frame and valuation model than their Western counterparts. They are usually more willing to wait to achieve a deal that gives them greater control and exposure to technology, and because brand names matter less in China, they are also willing to engage in behavior that could damage their reputation. Finally, nationalism is playing an increasingly important role in Chinese negotiations as real or perceived slights, insults and challenges impact on deal-making.
Hupert sets out five factors Western companies must consider to avoid damaging sub-zero sum game outcomes:
1. Learning curve. Some negotiations are not really negotiations; they are educational opportunities for the Chinese side. Beware of negotiations that are really new-product development exercises.
2. Competitive factors. Joint Ventures (JVs) and cooperative arrangements start out just fine when they focus on production and product development, but when it comes time to access the Chinese market, the deal often falls apart. Many observers consider the DANONE-Wahaha negotiation as a case in point. The JV was quite effective when it was exporting to foreign markets, but things got rocky when it came to the Chinese market.
3. Timing. Sometimes the problem is about timing. The Western side wants to move fast the Chinese side doesnt.
4. Differing valuations of the Chinese market. China has a long and unfortunate history of Westerners benefiting economically from Chinese resources. Chinese policy-makers and managers have become very sensitive to losing control of the domestic market or resources.
5. Risk profile. Chinese and Western negotiators view risk differently. Westerners tend to see uncertainty and risk of loss as two sides of the same coin. Chinese negotiators, however, have a much greater sensitivity to uncertainty and tend to freeze up and stop deal progress if they cant see what the risks are.
Hupert then explains the value to Chinese companies of destroying your China business.
Last but not least, many Chinese entities see a real value in destroying your China business. In some cases there are policy considerations such as Youtube, Twitter and Facebook. But sadly, there are actors on both sides of the Pacific who consider it patriotic to scuttle deals that may yield profits to foreigners. In the US this is generally a regulatory matter that takes place away from the deal table. But in China where you may be sitting across the table from an SOE or policy-driven manager the issue of patriotic hostility is a negotiating matter. Determine the likelihood of executing the deal (not just signing a contract) early in the process before you reveal sensitive technologies or business practices.
What do you think?
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) The Huawei Nova is priced at 399 (approximately $448.68), while the Nova Plus will cost around 429 (roughly $482.41).
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Recent reports claim that Huawei is launching a newer version of the Nova smartphone which will already sport 4GB of memory, instead of just three.
It can be recalled that the Huawei Nova and its premium tiered counterpart, the Nova Plus, were officially launched at this year's IFA conference in Berlin, wherein the company confirmed that the two devices will sport 3GB of memory.
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According to GSM Arena, the new Huawei Nova variant, which has a model number CAZ-AL10, will also support LTE-A provided that the user's carrier supports it. This new LTE technology has a theoretical maximum download speed of 300Mbps.
The new variant of the Huawei Nova and the Nova Plus will be available in two colors: black and white. This makes it easy to distinguish the devices from its predecessors which are available in gold, gray and silver.
Huawei has yet to confirm, though, whether the new model of the Nova and Nova Plus will come with more upgrades, aside from the memory bump.
Despite the unavailability of official price, some reports claim that the upgraded Nova is already being sold in several Asian markets.
Meanwhile, the new Huawei Nova is also expected to come with a 5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 resolution, Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset with an octa-core processor clocked at 2.0GHz, 32GB storage space which can be expanded up to 256GB using a microSD card, runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and has a 3020mAh battery pack.
It likewise boasts of a 12-megapixel rear camera, and an 8-megapixel front shooter for selfie.
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TagsHuawei, Huawei Nova, Huawei Nova Plus, huawei nova upgrade, smartphone memory
(Photo : Getty Images) Dalian Wanda is a Chinese company and the world's biggest private property developer and owner and the world's largest cinema chain operator.
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Banking giant Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) did not proceed with the $4.4 billion deal with Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties.
UBS pulled out from the deal reportedly because of its concerns on credit risk from the privatisation of Wandas commercial properties as well as being uncomfortable with the structure of the transaction, South China Morning Post reported.
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Originally, UBS has proposed the buy-back of Wandas Hong Kong-listed shares during the time when Chinese companies were shifting to higher valuations on mainland exchanges.
However, the Swiss banking institution eventually decided to cut the deal and the potential fees associated with it. In addition, Wandas deal was turned down by at least one other leading international bank.
[The] privatisation process is very complicated, said Carol Wu, the head of China and Hong Kong research at DBS Vickers.
Wanda returned its transaction with mainland investment bank China International Capital Corp (CICC) and later on handled the transaction for the company, completing the deal in September after a series of negotiations with the companys now former shareholders and offers to private investors subscribing to the privatisation scheme.
The Chinese multinational conglomerate assured share buy-back participants that the company would reimburse returns at least 12 percent in the condition that Wanda failed to get a mainland listing within two years of de-listing from the Hong Kong exchange.
Meanwhile, Wanda noted that it is in the process of looking for a listing on the Shanghai exchange, but there are still no approvals from Chinese authorities to date, MingTiandi reported.
Wanda is hoping that by shifting its listing from Hong Kong to Shanghai, the company can take advantage of the valuation premium granted to Chinese companies on their home exchanges.
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TagsUBS, Wanda, Dalian Wanda, Union Bank of Switzerland, Wanda Privatization, Hong Kong, Mainland China, China International Capital Corp
(Photo : Getty Images) ndia and China will conduct joint military drills in Pune in November.
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Despite decades of hostility and mistrust, India and China are steadily taking steps to enhance their military cooperation.
Earlier this year, India and China held their first-ever joint tactical exercises along the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC). Now sources claim that both countries are gearing for the sixth edition of the 'Hand-in-Hand' (HiH) combat exercise, which will be held in the Indian city of Pune from November 15 to 27.
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The sixth edition of the HIH exercise will include China's Tibet Military Command and India's Maratha Light Infantry soldiers. Sources claim that during the joint military drill both armies will use the latest weaponry including 12.7mm anti-material rifles and flame-throwers to "corner-shooting systems" and laser-blinding devices.
The military exercise will also focus on "trans-national terrorism," as the challenge of terrorism looms large over both countries. India remains vulnerable to terrorism activities allegedly emanating from Pakistan, while China is concerned about the expanding influence of jihadist groups in Xinjiang province.
The bilateral relationship between the two Asian powerhouses has been underpinned by decades of festering border issues. China's decision to deepen its military and diplomatic ties with Pakistan has further complicated its ties with India.
China prevented India from blacklisting Pakistani terrorist Masood Azhar at the United Nations earlier this month. However, China has been hesitant in siding with Pakistan in the ongoing tension in the Kashmir region.
Last month, Beijing categorically stated that Kashmir issue is a bilateral issue that must be resolved peacefully by both countries. The northern Himalayan region of Kashmir is the main bone of contention between India and Pakistan.
The latest tension on Kashmir issue is showing no sign of abetting, with India carrying out a surgical attack in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) last month.
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TagsIndia and China, china, India and China Military Excercise, Indo-China Joint Military Drills
(Photo : Getty Images) Men of the PLA train in the snow.
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The People's Liberation Army (PLA), the armed forces of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has published its first Encyclopedia of Military Training of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, a comprehensive study of training regimes employed by the world's militaries, including the United States.
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Compiled by the Shijiazhuang Army Command College (SACC), the encyclopedia is described by the PLA as an important work that promotes advanced military culture. It includes the latest theories and practices in the field of military training at all times and in all countries.
The PLA said the encyclopedia constitutes a scientific, standard, systematic and authoritative knowledge system for military training.
The encyclopedia also provides a professional reference book for the PLA's military operations, training, teaching and research. It fills the gap in enriching and developing the scientific research of military training.
The encyclopedia contains articles written by more than 300 experts from 24 PLA units covering every field of military training. Taking seven years to complete, the encyclopedia consists of some two million characters and 1100 pictures.
The encyclopedia focuses on military theory innovation, which will play an important role in pushing forward the actual-combat military training under the new situation facing the PLA.
That situation is being shaped by a probable war with the United States, which enjoys a tactical and strategic edge in the naval and air power that will dominate any conflict over the South China Sea. The PLA Ground Force will have a minor role to play in this upcoming conflict.
A hindrance to professionalizing the PLA and conducting training in tune with existing realities is the widespread and endemic corruption prevailing in the armed forces.
Senior Chinese military officials yesterday called for stronger determination to build a "clean army."
Fan Changlong and Xu Qiliang, vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC), made the remarks at a meeting planning out the work on rooting out the negative influence of the corruption cases of former CMC vice chairmen Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou.
The PLA said it's been a serious and urgent task to eliminate the influence of Guo and Xu in the military. Fan said any effort to build a strong army should be done in accordance with the requirements and the time schedule put forward by the CMC.
Xu Qiliang urged the military to stay clear-minded and remain determined to erase the bad influence of Guo and Xu Caihou and fighting against corruption in the army.
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TagsPeople's Liberation Army, Encyclopedia of Military Training of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Communist Party of China, Shijiazhuang Army Command College
(Photo : Getty Images) Digital overview imagery of the Scarborough Shoal. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said that he would not discuss the disputed Scarborough Shoal during his three-day trip to China.
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday that he would not raise the dispute over the sovereignty of the Scarborough Shoal during his upcoming trip to China. Instead, he said that he would ask the Chinese government to allow Filipino fishermen to fish in the contested area in the South China Sea.
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Duterte has admitted that his first official state visit to Beijing is meant to de-escalate tensions between Manila and Beijing over contested territories in the South China Sea.
The Philippine leader, who is scheduled to visit China between October 19-21, said he hopes to restore ties with Beijing. The relationship between China and the Philippines turned sour under the leadership of former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.
Trade alliance
Duterte's three-day visit to Beijing comes on the heels of his recent announcement that he would seek broader trade and commerce alliance with China.
"I will go to China. I will not raise yet the issue on the Scarborough Shoal. We are ok with them. Let's not discuss the issue for now. Nothing positive will come out from the talks if I raise the Scarborough Shoal concerns. We will not solve anything if we get angry," Duterte said during a press conference held at a forum in Mindanao.
Duterte added that he would ask Beijing to allow Filipino fishermen to return to the Scarborough Shoal.
An international arbitration court ruled in July that no country has a legal claim over the shoal (which is known as Panatag Shoal in Manila). It is said to be the traditional fishing grounds of both Vietnamese, Philippine, and Chinese fishermen.
Bonanza
President Duterte has expressed optimism about his upcoming trip to China saying Manila is poised to receive a bonanza of financial investments.
More than two dozen Filipino businessmen will accompany Duterte during his visit and are expected to sign several economic cooperation agreements with Chinese companies.
Duterte said the Chinese government would like to help the Philippine economy given Beijing's recent decision to lift the ban on the importation of bananas and pineapples from the Philippines.
"I suspect that they really want to help us," he said.
Standoff
The Scarborough Shoal is located 124 nautical miles from Zambales province, which is well within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
The shoal was seized by the Chinese Coast Guard after a two-week standoff with the Philippine Coast Guard in 2012.
Since then, Beijing has been in control of the shoal and has shooed away Filipino fishermen trying to fish in the area.
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TagsScarborough Shoal, President Rodrigo Duterte, South China Sea, trade alliance, Philippines, china
(Photo : ChungSung-Jun/GettyImages) China's CSC Group and Britain's Founders Factory have entered a partnership.
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Chinese state-backed private equity firm CSC Group has inked a multimillion deal with British startup incubator Founders Factory. The collaboration will see both firms hiring 60 people and investing in five early-stage AI startups. It also plans to launch two new companies every year. CSC Capital is the third largest private equity fund in China.
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Artificial Intelligence is one of the hottest technology segments right now. The technology is being used for diverse purposes.
Dania Zhou, senior managing director of CSC Group, said that the deal is aimed at fusing UK technology with the Chinese market. Zhou said that the UK has 'innovative artificial intelligence technology' while China possesses business model innovation and a massive market.
Similarly, Founders Factory co-founder and executive chairman Brent Hoberman said that the deal would help the incubator in increasing its reach to one of the most attractive markets globally. He also added that in the coming future, AI would impact various sectors ranging from health to commerce.
Chinese firms have been bullish on the AI sector. Earlier this year, Beijing Kunlun Technology Co. announced its acquisition of a 20 percent stake in Woobo Inc. for $800,000. Woobo Inc. is a US-based Artificial Intelligence company. Another Chinese investment group Cocoon Networks also set up a $606 million fund earlier this year. The fund is aimed at early stage biotech, fashion technology, and fintech startups. According to the Heritage Foundation and AEI, Chinese firms invested $110 billion in foreign companies last year.
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(Photo : Getty Images) A senior citizen sits at the corridor of a care center on May 22, 2007 in Zibo of Shandong Province, China.
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An estimated 1,370 elderly Chinese people go missing every day, that is, about half a million individuals aged 60 years and above per year, according to a new report by the Zhongmin Social Assistance Institute on Sunday.
More than 80 percent of the missing elderly were found in big cities, while only half (50%) in rural communities. Most of the cases, however, occurred on less-developed, small cities where relatives tend to leave their elderly to find better-paying jobs in larger cities, the Telegraph reported.
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China has around 222 million elderly last year, and more than half of them live without their children and usually reside on rural areas, the Sixth Tone noted.
"The situation of elderly people going missing is more serious in rural areas than in cities," Yang Fan, a research fellow at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told Sixth Tone. "Few care services can be provided to old people in rural areas. Even if they have memory issues, elderly couples or singles have to take care of themselves."
Meanwhile, many of those who went missing were suffering from mental illnesses. About three-quarters (72%) had memory impairment, while a quarter (25%) were diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer's disease, The Star noted citing Xiong Guibin, the co-author of the report.
According to the Telegraph, a law was passed in Beijing obliging adult children to visit aging parents. Included on the list of obligations to provide for is "the spiritual needs of the elderly." Although many criticized that the measures were too difficult, such were indicators of Beijing's concern about the growing elderly population.
China's elderly population is expected to reach 240 million, account for 17 percent of the country's total population, by the end of the decade, Liu Qian, deputy head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said.
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Tagswelfare, family, china, Elderly population, mental health, missing elderly, China missing elderly
(Photo : Getty Images/George Frey) Samsung has ordered customers to stop using the Galaxy Note 7.
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A widespread battery defect on Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices has led the South Korean tech giant to issue an order to customers informing them to stop using the device to prevent further injuries. Samsung said that it would also stop all sales of the Galaxy Note 7.
In September, Samsung issued a recall for 2.5 million units of the Note 7 after several complaints of the battery of the device exploding. Samsung later assured its customers that it would replace all the affected devices. However, there have been reports that even Samsung's replacement units are also prone to explosion.
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In a statement acquired by the BBC, Samsung said, "Because consumer's safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while the investigation is taking place."
Although Samsung is yet to officially confirm edit, a South Korean media outlet suggests that the tech giant will stop the selling the Galaxy Note 7 permanently.
Analysts say that Samsung's reputation is being put to a test with this fiasco. Samsung has been urged to create a viable contingency plan to deal with the situation. While Samsung had issued recall orders in the past, this is the first time that the company has experienced such a massive safety issue.
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Michael Moore and Phil Robertson compare Hillary Clinton to Jesus, Satan 11 October, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |
ST. LOUIS (Christian Examiner) Hours after the 2016 presidential nominees traded barbs in St. Louis, Missouri, over Donald Trump's "locker room talk" and Hillary Clinton's email scandal, leftist filmmaker Michael Moore began firing off a series of tweets comparing the Democrat nominee's demeanor during the tussle to that of the Son of God.
Moore began by tweeting that the media was wrong for describing the debate as a mudslinging contest between Trump and Clinton. According to Moore, "only one candidate hurled hate and lies and scum."
"The other was kind," Moore wrote.
If there was any question that Moore was referring to Clinton as the "kind" one, those doubts evaporated nine minutes later in another tweet.
Last night, we witnessed a woman who practiced what she believes #HowWouldJesusDebate.
"Trump called her the devil, said he'd jail her, brought w/ him women who say they slept w/ her husband & she still kept her grace and cool," he wrote.
Moore then said Trump was rude, stalking Clinton around the stage in an attempt to intimidate her. He also "nonstop lied about her 2 her face" while she "simply answered the questions the town hall asked."
The effusive praise for Clinton's debate performance culminated with Moore chastising politicians who claim to be Christian but "are anything but" a clear reference to Trump's courting of the evangelical vote among leading evangelical pastors and their congregants. He then compared Clinton to Jesus Christ.
"Last night, we witnessed a woman who practiced what she believes #HowWouldJesusDebate," he wrote.
Not everyone views Clinton so positively. Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson said Clinton isn't anything like Jesus. In fact, he said, she's working for the other team.
The Democrat Party, Robertson said, "literally booed God out of the Democratic Party" when someone suggested adding a reference to God back into the party platform in 2012. Now, that action has borne fruit, he said.
"So you get what you ask for. So here we are," he said. "So the bottom line is, someone says, 'Well, if you entertain the thought of maybe voting for Hillary Clinton,' I say, 'They ran God out of the Democratic Party.' She has a hard time telling the truth because the evil one is the father of lies, according to Jesus, and she's living proof of it, my man."
Robertson said is looking for a win in the fall, but it isn't a temporary political win he wants.
"America needs to repent of its sin and turn back to God," he said. "It's a spiritual fix more than a political one. Our Founding Fathers warned us repeatedly to never let this day come, but the day has now come upon us."
NO MORE: Megachurch pastor withdraws Trump support 11 October, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |
CHICAGO (Christian Examiner) The pastor of one of the largest churches in the United States has put the Donald Trump campaign on notice no more support unless the candidate, whose vulgar "locker room talk" was exposed recently, repents and shows a significant "change of heart."
In an email described and partially reprinted by Ed Stetzer at Christianity Today, James McDonald, pastor of the Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago and a member of Trump's Evangelical Executive Advisory Board, wrote that Trump's comments "are not just sophomoric or locker room banter."
"They are truly the kind of misogynistic trash that reveals a man to be lecherous and worthlessnot the guy who gets politely ignored, but the guy who gets a punch in the head from worthy men who hear him talk that way about women," McDonald wrote to the Trump campaign.
If Mr. Trump isn't seeking our counsel now 1) to be repentant 2) on how to portray that repentance, then the idea of a faith council (which has deteriorated into influence brokering anyway) is really kind of a joke right? I have spent my life helping men get free from such disgusting commentary on women even writing my doctoral dissertation on self-disclosure of sin among men. I cannot and will not offer help to a man who believes this kind of talk a minor error.
McDonald, who declared in 2015 his church would become Southern Baptist, was himself at the center of a debate over moral behavior related to casino gambling in 2012. It is a practice which he told World Magazine he has since ceased.
Stetzer describes McDonald and other members of the advisory council as "concerned" that Trump's erratic and off-the-cuff remarks continue to make waves. They are no longer considered "simply foolish or loose lipped," Stetzer wrote.
Worse, McDonald suggests Trump's advisory council on faith may not be achieving its intended purpose, but instead devolving into tacit approval of his actions.
"If Mr. Trump isn't seeking our counsel now 1) to be repentant 2) on how to portray that repentance, then the idea of a faith council (which has deteriorated into influence brokering anyway) is really kind of a joke right? I have spent my life helping men get free from such disgusting commentary on women even writing my doctoral dissertation on self-disclosure of sin among men. I cannot and will not offer help to a man who believes this kind of talk a minor error," McDonald wrote.
Not all of the members of the advisory council, however, feel the same way. Ralph Reed, chair of the Faith & Freedom Coalition and who also leads the advisory council for Trump, encouraged Christians to stay the course with the candidate because as lewd as the comments were Trump is not Clinton and not a danger to the country.
"I've listened to the tape. My view is that people of faith are voting for president on issues like who will defend and protect unborn life, defund Planned Parenthood, grow the economy and create jobs, oppose the Iran nuclear deal. I think a 10-year-old tape of a private conversation with a TV talk show host ranks pretty low on their hierarchy of their concerns," Reed said in an interview.
Reed also appeared at Liberty University's convocation service Oct. 10. During his address, he encouraged students to view the election through the prism of the Apostle Paul, who said Christians had been given their "earthly citizenship to share our faith, to advance the good, to resist evil, and to build and establish the Kingdom of God."
Reed then encouraged the students not to use their votes for a third party candidate who has no real path to the White House.
"We cannot, and we must not, surrender our precious right as voters and citizens," Reed said. "[It is] a right that has been purchased with the blood of patriots, who gave their lives and their limbs and all they had to give us that right ... for me it is too precious a thing to waste on Nov. 8."
Reed said he wanted the candidates to focus on the issues and stop running negative campaigns, but he added that the stakes were high and only the conservative course of action leads to victory.
Stetzer, who was asked to be on Trump's advisory board but declined, occupies the Billy Graham Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College and it executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.
Three Iranian Christian converts have been sentenced to receive 80 lashes each for drinking communion wine--a punishment they are appealing.
ChristianToday.com reports that Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie, and Mohammad Reza Omidi converted to Christianity from Islam. However, conversion from Islam is forbidden in Iran, so the three men are still considered Muslims under the law.
And because it is a crime for Muslims to drink wine, the three men have been given the harsh sentences. They have also been accused of acting against national security--a crime for which they could face up to six years in prison.
The Iranian government has arrested and jailed over 200 Christians in the past year.
Paul Robinson, chief executive of Release International, condemned Irans violation of the religious freedom rights of its citizens:
"Why should Christians be lashed for taking communion? And why is Iran refusing to allow its own citizens that most basic of all freedoms, the freedom to choose their own faith? These men have chosen to call themselves Christians. The state should respect that."
Rob Duncan of Middle East Concern is requesting prayer for Iranian Christian converts.
"The Iranian regime is conducting a very active campaign against house churches at the moment and leaders of house churches are harassed and put under pressure, he stated.
Publication date: October 11, 2016
Police in a village in Pakistan have denied knowledge of the existence of a post-mortem which shows that a 14-year-old Christian boy was raped, then strangled. Instead, they say he died of natural causes by drinking a sugary drink after eating fruit.
Zeeshan Masih, a resident of Ghos Nagar, Chak 224 RB, on the outskirts of Faisalabad, was found dead on 23 August. His body was hanging from a tree.
Masih was illiterate and helped his father on a farm, taking care of cattle belonging to another man.
We are poor and Christian, so that is why the police are brazenly denying facts and to save the culprits, his father, Sarfaraz, 45, told World Watch Monitor.
Sarfaraz Masih said the death of his son had caused unbearable pain for the family, and that it was frustrating that the police were not helping them. The legal documents prepared by the police describe Zeeshan as 16, but his family insists he was only 14.
The police are one of the most widely feared, complained against, and least trusted government institutions in Pakistan, lacking a clear system of accountability and plagued by corruption at the highest levels.
--Human Rights Watch
I was only few yards away from the place of occurrence, but I was informed more than two hours later, said Sarfaraz. Masih. Also, rather than informing the police, those who witnessed the hanging unhooked the corpse and took it to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, while the police later told me that Zeeshan died due to eating guava.
According to eyewitnesses, Zeeshans feet were touching the ground, his body almost kneeling, so he could not have been strangled. However, the autopsy by the Punjab Medical College in Faisalabad defined the cause of death as strangulation, noting blue marks on the boys neck and wounds on his heels indicative of struggling while being hanged. The report added that there was evidence he had been raped.
Police inspector Farooq Ahmed told World Watch Monitor he didnt know of any autopsy report saying the boy was strangled. He said there had been no indications of suicide or murder and that it appeared to have been a natural death.
We are waiting for the chemical report and, if proven that a crime was committed, then the First Information Report of the crime will definitely be registered, he added.
Shahid Masih Paul, chairman of Christ Assemblies International, a Pentecostal group, told World Watch Monitor the police were trying to cover up the crime because of the prominence of the people being implicated.
Paul said that only few days before the incident, a fight broke out between Sarfaraz Masih and his brother-in-law, Ghulam Mustafa, a recent convert to Islam.
Sarfaraz Masih doesnt regularly work, so about one month ago there was an argument between Sarfaraz Masih and Mustafa that ended in a physical fight, said Paul. Sarfaraz Masih told him that he could not force him [to do anything], as he was not dependent on him for his living, and Sarfaraz Masih also expressed anger over Mustafas conversion [to Islam].
A local [feudal landowner], Muhammad Faheem, arrived while they were fighting and Mustafa complained to him that Sarfaraz Masih had expressed displeasure over his conversion to Islam, at which [Faheem] took out a sickle and placed it on Sarfaraz Masihs neck and told him that someone needed to do something with this chuhra [a term of abuse commonly and exclusively used against Christians in Pakistan].
District-level police are often under the control of powerful politicians, wealthy landowners, and other influential members of society. There are numerous reported cases of police extrajudicial killings of criminal suspects, torture of detainees to obtain confessions, and harassment and extortion of individuals who seek to file criminal cases.
--Human Rights Watch
Paul added that a week before he was killed, Zeeshan Masih had also accidentally hit Faheem with his shoe, which he had thrown at his brother.
I dont think we are in the position to say who actually committed the crime, but we know that the boy was murdered by strangulation and that the police are not helping the family, said Paul. The government should push the local police to stand for justice.
Many Christians in Pakistan are poor, uneducated and illiterate, and have menial jobs (e.g. as cleaners or street sweepers) in rural settings. This can make it easier for crimes to be committed against them with impunity particularly where there is corruption or religious discrimination amongst law enforcers, as perpetrators know the victims will not be able to afford recourse to law, and justice.
A report published by Human Rights Watch on 25 Sep. stated: Public surveys and reports of government accountability and redress institutions show that the police are one of the most widely feared, complained against, and least trusted government institutions in Pakistan, lacking a clear system of accountability and plagued by corruption at the highest levels.
District-level police are often under the control of powerful politicians, wealthy landowners, and other influential members of society. There are numerous reported cases of police extrajudicial killings of criminal suspects, torture of detainees to obtain confessions, and harassment and extortion of individuals who seek to file criminal cases.
Courtesy: World Watch Monitor
Publication date: October 11, 2016
In a recent article at National Review Online, George Weigel tells a chilling story about just how far the culture of death has advanced in some parts of the West.
Three elderly parishioners at the Canadian church he attends during the summer were diagnosed with cancer. Now, thats bad enough. But what followed was even worse. The first thing they were asked after being told their diagnosis was, Do you wish to be euthanized?
While this story should upset us, it shouldnt shock us. Despite all the promises made by supporters of physician-assisted suicide, the so-called safeguards against pressuring vulnerable people to end their lives have proved to be inadequate and have often been watered down or eliminated over time.
Or, as Belgian law professor Etienne Montero observed, What is presented at first as a right [to die] is going to become a kind of obligation.
Thus, in fourteen years Belgium went from euthanizing terminally-ill adults, to killing chronically-ill adults, to offing adults who had lost their will to live, to finally disposing of children.
As Weigels story suggests, Canada seems literally hell-bent on catching up with Belgium in this regard. Physician-assisted suicide has only been legal there since this spring and it has already has transformed the practice of medicine in Canada. And if some Canadian philosophers get their way, a willingness to kill your patients will be a prerequisite for practicing medicine in the Great White North.
Now its Colorados turn to play waiting room Russian Roulette. This November my fellow Coloradans and I will vote on Proposition 106, also known by its Orwellian title: The End of Life Options Act.
The supporters of the act, which is modeled on Californias recent legislation of the same name, assure voters that a vote for physician-assisted suicide is a vote for compassion. They assure us that it will remain limited to cases of extreme suffering.
But as Weigel points out, the language of the proposed act is duplicitous. It characterizes killing someone as palliative care. And it defines an adult as anyone 18 or older, which leads to the absurdity of not being old enough to drink but old enough to request assistance in killing yourself.
And in a backhanded admission of a guilty conscience, the deceaseds death certificate would list the cause of death as the illness they suffered from and not suicide.
If supporters of assisted suicide need to mislead and obfuscate about basic matters such as these, why should we believe their assurances that no one will be coerced into killing themselves? Little wonder that disability advocates oppose the measure.
Colorado history should also give us pause. Thirty-two years ago, then-governor of Colorado, Richard Lamm told a group of health-care lawyers that the terminally-ill elderly have a duty to die and get out of the way instead of trying to prolong their lives. He compared the fulfillment of this duty to leaves falling off a tree and forming humus for the other plants to grow up.
It would be foolish to think that the right-to-die wont, much less cant, one day become the duty to die, especially in an aging society where health care costs as a percentage of the GDP are projected to double over the next 25 years. By the way, also on the Colorado ballot this year, is state-run healthcare.
The only way to prevent the right to die from becoming a duty to die is to reject the right to die from the start. Anything else places the most vulnerablethe elderly and especially the disabledon an already well-greased slippery slope.
Unless the Lord returns, each and every one of us will die of old age, disease, or tragedy. And except in the case of tragedy, if the advocates of so-called compassion have their way, you, I, and our loved ones will end up facing the same question George Weigels fellow parishioners were asked: Do you wish to be euthanized?
BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on todays news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions.
John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
Publication date: October 11, 2016
California is more than a century overdue for the "big one," an earthquake with a magnitude greater than 7.0. But seismologists are now reporting that they have discovered an undersea fault line that may be absorbing pressure from the San Andreas Fault and preventing the earthquake everyone fears.
Their discovery is a metaphor for our day. As cultural pressures escalate, we need hope for a future better than the present. But our hope as a nation does not lie in our nation.
Name this country: the richest in the world, the largest military on the planet, the global center of business, the world's strongest educational system, the world's leading currency, and the world's highest standard of living. The answer: Great Britain in 1900.
A century ago, the United Kingdom was the largest empire the world had ever seen. As late as 1937, the "sun never set on the British empire" as it controlled lands in each of the world's twenty-four time zones. Today the UK ranks far down the global charts for prosperity, literacy, life expectancy, and gross domestic product per capita.
My point is not to criticize Great Britain. I'm actually an Anglophile who loves visiting the UK and is fascinated by British culture and history. My purpose is to note that no nation's future is guaranteed.
These are challenging days for America. Our politics are more divisive than I can remember. Experts report that the economy suffered a large, permanent decline in output following the Great Recession and is still struggling to gain significant momentum. According to the FBI, more than 110 Americans have been charged with supporting ISIS in the last three years.
A new report shows that commitment to the traditional family continues to decline. For instance, the number of women who have cohabited has grown by 50 percent since the 1970s; the number of births to never-married women has nearly doubled in that time.
And evangelical Christians are surprisingly confused about their faith. According to a new study, nearly half of self-defined evangelicals agree with the statement, "God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam." More than half believe their good deeds contribute to earning their place in heaven. And only 52 percent strongly agree that sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin.
However, just as I am not writing to criticize Great Britain, I am not writing to criticize America. I thank God for the privilege of living in this nation. But I want this country I love to love God. The only hope for America is the only hope for any nation: "With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes" (Psalm 108:13).
You and I are alive right now for a reason. Just as God has a will for where we live, he has a will for when we live. It is by his providence that we were not alive a century ago or a century from now (if the Lord tarries). We have Kingdom assignments for this moment in history and the challenges our nation faces.
Don't be discouraged: you and God are a majority. Missionary Hudson Taylor observed, "There are three stages in the work of God: Impossible; Difficult; Done." As Thomas Fuller noted, it's always darkest just before the dawn.
Publication date: October 11, 2016
For more from the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, please visit www.denisonforum.org.
Do you want to live a life in whole-hearted pursuit of loving God and others?
Read today's First15 at www.first15.org.
Thousands of students have led protests to demand free education for all in South Africa since February in a campaign called 'Fees Must Fall'.
Students across the country have participated in the protests, and clashed with the police. There were reports of protesters throwing rocks at the police, and setting buildings on fire with petrol bombs.
Over 300 people have been arrested during the last six months.
Many universities in South Africa were forced to close down because of the protests, but reopened this week despite ongoing clashes. However, some of the universities, including University of Cape Town would remain closed in the coming days.
University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg was one of the colleges where students clashed with the police at the campuses.
"The students started throwing sizeable rocks that could have maimed or killed people," the university said in a statement on Facebook.
The police used tear gas shells and stun grenades to bring the crowd under control. Two people were arrested.
The other universities from where protests were reported included University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, University of Pretoria, and the University of the Free State.
The University of Cape Town has not given any indication when it will resume its classes.
"The decision allows further time for engagement with key stakeholders, including the Student Representative Council and particularly the SRC candidates who are leading the protest actions on campus at present," the university's spokesman, Elijah Moholola, told Bloomberg. "Private security has been withdrawn from the campus until further notice. Police have not been called onto the campus either."
Media reports say that the cost of university education is prohibitive for many black students, but the universities say that taking away the fee might adversely affect standard of education.
Black students are about four times less likely to attend a university. And even if they do, many drop out because of high tuition rates.
"It's normal for maybe a third to drop out, just because they can't afford it. We paid our fees. But what about those who can't?" said Tshikhudo Milalo, an engineering student from Limpopo province.
The government has promised to cover 2017 fee increases for poor students, and will subsidize education for poor and middle-income families, but the students say that the fee must be abolished altogether.
I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of "God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church." Here are 20 quotes from the book, which you should pick up.
home World Catholic clergy in the Philippines divided over drug war
The ongoing drug war in the Philippines is presenting a tough challenge to the Catholic clergy who is now divided over the issue of killings that resulted from President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign.
More than 3,600 have been killed in drug-related cases since President Duterte took office on June 30. Some have died at the hands of the authorities but others have been killed by suspected vigilantes.
The dozens of clergymen interviewed by Reuters have admitted that they did not know how to respond to the killings that are widely supported by Filipinos who are also Catholics.
Fr. Luciano Feloni, a priest in a northern district of Manila, stated that opposing the drug war is dangerous in some locations. He is currently running a drug-rehabilitation program in a community where at least 30 people, including a pregnant woman and a child, have been killed.
"There is a lot of fear because the way people have been killed is vigilante-style so anyone could become a target ... There is no way of protecting yourself," Feloni told Reuters.
Another priest who wished to remain anonymous feared that anyone who questioned the killings could possibly suffer the same fate as the drug pushers and addicts killed in the campaign.
Some priests expressed their support for the war against drugs.
"Are the means unnecessarily illegitimate?" said Fr. Joel Tabora, a Jesuit priest in Davao. "People are dying, yes, but on the other hand, millions of people are being helped," he added.
Fr. Francis Lucas, a priest at the San Felipe Parish Church in Manila, has noted the waning influence of the Church.
"How come everybody wants the Church to act when others don't?" Lucas told Reuters. "Yes, we have influence but times have also changed," he added.
Retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz, who is also the head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), noted the efforts of some clergymen to provide asylum to some individuals.
"There are cases where asylum is being sought and given, which are not brought to the attention of media ... especially during these times when life is cheap and summary execution is a way of living, and extra-judicial killing is a matter of course," Cruz told Reuters.
He believed that the Church is being prudent in speaking out against the drug war because of its popular support among the people.
In a separate report by the Manila Bulletin, Church leaders have expressed their satisfaction for Duterte's first 100 days in office. They noted the president's sincerity in his efforts to bring about change in the country.
home US Court awards financial settlement to creationist who was fired for challenging evolution
A creationist was awarded a six-digit financial settlement from California State University Northridge (CSUN) after he was allegedly fired for publishing his findings on the discovery of soft tissue on a triceratops horn.
In 2012, Mark Armitage discovered the triceratops horn at a dinosaur dig in Hell Creek Formation, Montana. He found that the horn contained soft fiber and bone tissues that were stretchy, The College Fix reported.
His findings were published in the November 2012 issue of American Laboratory magazine and in the online peer-reviewed journal Acta Histochemica in February 2013.
Armitage's lawsuit alleged that the publication of his findings led to his termination. Some of the professors allegedly went on a "witchhunt" against him and one of them reportedly stormed into his office shouting, "We are not going to tolerate your religion in this department!"
Campus officials told Armitage that his position was only temporary and cited the lack of funding as the reason for his termination.
Armitage's attorney, Alan Reinach, maintained that the creationist was fired because the university did not want to be associated with Armitage's article. He noted that the termination took place just a few weeks after his findings were published.
"To have CSUN associated with the creation heresy a that was the capital offense," Reinach told The College Fix.
Reinach, who is also the executive director of the Church State Council, stated that Armitage's article did not go into detail about the implications of the discovery.
According to Nature, Armitage did not publish his views about the age of the fossil and simply reported that it was found in Hell Creek.
The attorney did not state the exact amount he received but according to The College Fix, he said that it was "a substantial settlement representing about 15 times his annual part-time salary."
CSUN still maintained that Armitage had been fired due to a lack of funding and claimed that it only settled the case to avoid a costly legal battle.
Reinach acknowledged that there was no admission of guilt in the settlement but he believed that the university would not pay a large amount if it did not think it would lose the case.
"The evidence was quite clear," he added. "The stated reasons for saying they fired him were simply not true. There were lies and contradictions abounding from several of the key witnesse," Reinach continued.
He said evidence against the campus officials was seen in an email suggesting that Armitage could be eased out of the job by making his position full-time.
"Not only did it not support the notion that there was budgetary concerns, but in fact suggested to the contrary," said Reinach.
home US Hurricane Matthew aftermath sees hundreds stranded in North Carolina floods
Hundreds of people were rescued by boat and helicopter as floodwaters inundated North Carolina towns on Monday in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, and officials warned that life-threatening flooding from swollen rivers would continue for days.
Matthew, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007, was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Sunday.
The hurricane killed around 1,000 people in Haiti and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday some Haitian towns and villages had just about been "wiped off the map."
In the United States, the number of fatalities rose to at least 23, with nearly half in North Carolina.
North Carolina's skies were clear on Monday after the state received as much as 18 inches (39 cm) of rain from Matthew over the weekend, but raging rivers and breached levees posed major problems.
"This storm is not over in North Carolina," Governor Pat McCrory told reporters in Fayetteville. "It's going to be a long, tough journey."
Eleven people have died in the state, officials said. With rivers rising, the governor said he expected deaths to increase.
The flooding prompted President Barack Obama to declare a state of emergency in North Carolina on Monday, making federal funding available to affected individuals in 10 counties hit by the storm, the White House said in a statement.
Some 2,000 residents were stuck in their homes and on rooftops in Lumberton, off the Lumber River, after the city flooded suddenly on Monday morning, McCrory said. Air and water rescues would continue throughout the day, he said.
Many of the homes and businesses in Lumberton were flooded with several feet of water on Monday afternoon and residents were seen paddling about the town in small skiffs.
Major flooding was expected this week in central and eastern towns along the Lumber, Cape Fear, Neuse and Tar rivers. The National Weather Service said the Neuse River would crest on Friday night and forecast "disastrous flooding."
Emergency officials in North Carolina's Lenoir County issued a mandatory evacuation order on Monday afternoon for residents and businesses along the Neuse River.
"IT BREAKS YOUR HEART"
Many coastal and inland communities remained under water from storm surge or overrun rivers and creeks.
McCrory told reporters that he had met an elderly woman at a shelter on Monday who lost everything to floods.
"She's sitting in a school cafeteria at this point in time crying and wondering what her life is going to be all about," he said. "It breaks your heart."
In neighboring South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley warned that waterways were quickly reaching capacity around the state.
"What might not be flooded today could be flooded tomorrow," Haley told a news conference.
She said there had been at least three storm-related deaths, including one in which a person in a vehicle was swept away by floodwaters.
Warnings were also issued over downed power lines. An 89-year-old man was killed in Florida on Monday after touching a downed line, officials said.
About 715,000 homes and businesses were without power on Monday night in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Virginia.
A federal judge on Monday granted a request from Florida's Democratic Party to extend the state's voter registration deadline by one more day, through Wednesday, because of the hurricane. Republican Governor Rick Scott had rejected demands from Democrats to extend the deadline.
A hurricane watch was issued for Bermuda, which could be threatened by another tropical system, Nicole, that is expected to reach the Atlantic island later this week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Be Careful Not To Stereotype Trump Supporters, Warns New York Times CEO
The chief executive of the New York Times has warned against writing off supporters of Donald Trump.
Commentators must not make the same mistake of stereotyping the people who will vote for him, as "Brexit" supporters were stereotyped in Britain before the EU referendum, he warns.
Mark Thompson, former director general of the BBC and a committed Christian, said there was something "fascinating" about Trump, in particular his unpredictability.
Thompson is speaking in a MediaFocus podcast that was recorded before the latest debates over his comments about women.
He says Trump has benefited from the age of social media and rolling news which has seen a shift away from "explanatory power", or the ability to discuss and explain public policy to the public either directly or through the media.
Instead there has been a move towards a need for impact, often accompanied by exaggeration.
In his new book, Enough Said: What's gone wrong with the language of politics? Thompson describes this as "authenticism", which is a kind of slightly unnatural focus on "authenticity" on being authentic. And almost the sense of some people are more real than others.
The "screaming, ranting form of argument of the internet" is something that quite a lot of public figures are beginning to think is normal, he warns.
Thompson, who started out as a BBC trainee, was director general for eight years. While there, he reshaped the organisation to meet the challenges of the digital age, launching the iPlayer and streamlining management.
He joined the New York Times in 2012 as president and chief executive.
Since then the paper, which has almost always supported Democrat presidential candidates, has become the world's first news organisation to get a million digital-only subscribers.
Thompson says: "I think you've really got to be careful about stereotyping Trump supporters in the same way I think in the UK, some commentators were guilty of stereotyping Brexit supporters as angry white working class racists I'm putting that very crudely.
"And stereotyping in this country is very similar. You cannot get to a plurality or above a plurality in the UK on the basis of such a stereotype, and nor can Trump get to some of the numbers he has achieved, about 40 per cent, on the basis of one narrow definition.
"And I think that both in the matter of Brexit and in the matter of Trump and his, if you like, surprising passage through the primaries and now to even if Hillary Clinton wins, and you know, as we speak the odds seem to favour her, though I would say, you know, be careful. Be careful."
Many people were sure that Remain was going to win the Brexit campaign, he says.
"So let's see what happens. I don't think you can explain it by one kind of group of people who won't change their minds. And as you know I've written a book, and one of the things the book is about, this is a book about political language, and one of the things the book is trying to get to the bottom of is what's going on and what gives politicians like Donald Trump the kind of power they've got right now."
Christian Converts In Iran Appeal 80 Lash Sentence For Taking Holy Communion
Three Iranian men who converted to Christianity to Islam are appealing against criminal convictions for drinking alcohol.
Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza Omidi were sentenced to 80 lashes for taking communion wine.
Non-Muslims are allowed to drink alcohol in Iran.
But because conversion to Christianity from Islam is forbidden and regarded as apostasy, the three men are still legally regarded as Muslims.
The third man, Omidi, already has a previous conviction for drinking alcohol. If he is convicted a third time, he is likely to face the death sentence.
World Watch Monitor reports that the three men have also been charged with acting against national security.
Youcef Nadarkhani, the pastor who was in 2009 sentenced to death for apostasy in Iran but subsequently released after he was acquitted in 2012, was also arrested along with his wife Tina and charged with acting against national security. The three converts and Pastor Youcef face up to six years in jail for this offence, if convicted when all four next appear in the Revolutionary Court in Rasht on 15 October.
Since last year, Iranian authorities have already put more than 200 Christians behind bars. At least 43 Christians were arrested in August alone.
Paul Robinson, chief executive of Release International, said: "Why should Christians be lashed for taking communion? And why is Iran refusing to allow its own citizens that most basic of all freedoms, the freedom to choose their own faith? These men have chosen to call themselves Christians. The state should respect that."
Middle East Concern's Rob Duncan said: "The Iranian regime is conducting a very active campaign against house churches at the moment and leaders of house churches are harassed and put under pressure."
Middle East Concern is requesting prayers from Christians worldwide for the Iranian Christian converts.
Deepwater Horizon Survivor Asked God Why He's Alive While Others are Dead Then Shares the Profound Answer He Got
Caleb Holloway is one of the fortunate individuals who managed to survive the tragic blowout that took place at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig back on April 20, 2010.
Because of the blowout, made worst when the oil drilling rig's defence system failed to function, 11 people lost their lives and millions of gallons of oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. The story has been translated into the film "Deepwater Horizon," which stars Mark Wahlberg and Kate Hudson.
Holloway, who is played by actor Dylan O'Brien in the film, says the movie was hard for him to watch because it brought back so many painful memories. "But as far as the story goes and the visual, they did a really good job. I'm just grateful that there's something out there to honor our 11 guys that we lost that night," he tells CNS News.
One person Holloway can never forget is his good friend Adam Weise, and he always remembers him whenever he hears the song "How Great Thou Art." During one of their last moments together, Weise noticed that Holloway had the song lyrics inscribed inside his hard hat.
"You know, that's one of my grandmother's favourite songs," Weise told him, and Holloway replied, "Really? It's a special song to me, I love it. It's one of my favourite ones to sing."
After that conversation, the rig's head drill Dewey Revette told the two of them that one of them needs to go to the pump room. Weise volunteered, and he was killed shortly afterwards.
"I went through the whole depression and post-traumatic stuff early on," Holloway recalls. "It was awful... I found myself asking God, 'Why? Why am I going through this? Why did you take my friends? Why didn't You take me? Why am I a survivor of this?' Then one day it just clicked and I sat down and said 'Who am I to ask God why? Who am I to question Him?'"
When Holloway finally accepted God's plan, he decided to put all of his faith in Jesus Christ. He is now a firefighter in Texas. He is married and has two children.
Europe's Largest Evangelical Bible School To Get New Head
The new head of the London School of Theology is to be Rev Dr Calvin Samuel, a Methodist minister who is currently head of the Wesley Study Centre in Durham.
He is also Academic Dean of St John's College, Durham University.
Founded in the 1940s and originally known as London Bible College, LST is the largest interdenominational theological college in Europe.
Samuel said of his appointment: "I am excited to take the role of principal at one of the world's leading centres of theological study and training within a global city. I look forward to further developing the excellent work being done there, especially as LST grows its international reach through cutting-edge online study options in addition to its life changing on-campus theological education.
"These are challenging as well as exciting times for the Church and LST is uniquely placed to resource and inspire those who will lead, guide and shape not just the church of today but the next generation also."
Born in Barbados and raised in Antigua before coming to Britain to study at Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, Samuel went on to complete an MBA at Manchester Business School before pursuing PhD research at King's College London. He has served as a lecturer in New Testament at Spurgeon's College.
His wife Ramona is also a Methodist minister.
Chair of LST trustees Grant Masom said Samuel's was a "significant appointment". "We look forward to this new chapter in delivering first choice theological education with Calvin at the helm," he said.
Samuel will take up his appointment in January.
Four Ethiopian Teenagers On Trial For Evangelism
Four Christian teenagers have been arrested in an Ethiopian town after distributing Christian literature.
According to World Watch Monitor, the four Eden, 15, Gifti and Mihiret, both 14, and Deborah, 18 were distributing a Christian book in Amharic, Ethiopia's main language, by a local author, entitled: Let's speak the truth in love: Answers to questions by Ahmed Deedat.
The book sets out to answer questions posed by the late South African Islamic scholar and former head of the Islamic Propagation Centre International about the Christian faith. Christians in Babile, around 550 km east of the capital Addis Ababa, decided to distribute it following cross-cultural evangelism training.
However, local Muslims said the book was an insult to Islam and on September 19 a group attacked the Protestant Meserete Kristos Church (MKC), in Babile, damaging its doors and windows.
Town officials arranged a meeting between religious leaders the next day, at which leaders of both the MKC and also the local Full Gospel Church (FGC) apparently apologised for the distribution of the book, from which they distanced themselves.
At a wider public meeting the same day, town officials criticised "some elements" who wanted to "incite religious clashes" and warned that they would take further measures against such "instigators". The Full Gospel Church was also atttacked and the leader of the MKC church was threatened.
The four girls have made several court appearances and their case has now been transferred to a higher court in the city of Harar.
According to World Watch Monitor, there is concern over their wellbeing; Eden suffered a beating on her first night in prison. However, its source, who visited them in prison, said their faith was unshaken. Eden said: "This [suffering] is an honour for us. We should expect persecution. We are not afraid. We are singing and praying here in prison." Deborah said: "It is an honour to be jailed for God's Kingdom".
While Ethiopia says it guarantees freedom of religion, evangelical Christians frequently face discrimination and harrassment.
Great White Hope - Or What Christian Conferences Might Still Be Missing
Another day, another Christian conference. This one declares hope for the nations in times when it may seem lost, which is great. Hope is certainly needed. What's less hopeful is that it will be delivered by seven mostly pale skinned men and a lone woman. The marketing for the event rolls on alongside coverage of the US presidential elections, and indeed some of those on the line up are flying over from America for the occasion. Some come from ministries related to Bethel Church in Redding, from where support for Donald Trump emerged earlier this year. Why does this matter? Does what happen on ministry conference platforms have anything to do with political power and influence? The short answer is yes.
When presidential debates and wider conversations hinge on Donald Trump's disrespect of women, black people, people with disabilities, and any other minority group you might care to mention, it matters what churches of influence say, and it matters who says it. While sidestepping direct political comment and focusing on purely spiritual matters, an event purporting to be about hope for the nations delivered by a group that doesn't represent many in the nation has a hollow ring. The inference is that it's the men who matter, their voices that declare the priorities, it is they who have spiritual authority, and although this may be unintentional it should be examined. In many Christian circles, default male presence is the norm. Either intentional as God intended or just how it is, and for the latter the continuation depends on a polite male supremacy that means line ups like this are released without any perception they could be improved. Women as tokens is acceptable.
The world of Trump seems far away from all this and yet the majority of Christian leaders publicly dropping or reinforcing their support for him are men, while the trigger for this new upheaval is women. It is male leaders who debate whether a boastful admission of sexual assault is make or break for them. What message does this send to women both inside and outside Christianity? It's certainly no advert for the faith. Prominent female leaders have spoken up with no holds barred about why this matters to them, and the effect on women. Their words are personal not falling back on listing female relatives to show why they're invested. Bible teacher Beth Moore said "I'm one among many women sexually abused, misused, stared down, heckled, talked naughty to. Like we liked it. We didn't. We're tired of it." She has been echoed by Christine Caine, among others.
While mainstream Christian events continue to field all or predominantly male line ups they reflect the world they hope to influence rather than model a different way. This should be challenged. The conference has an FAQ page on its website yet 'Why so many men?' one of my frequently asked questions when looking at Christian conference line ups isn't there. In order to ask why, one has to take to twitter, or write a piece like this. To be the one making a fuss, asking for change, well, it's just not very seemly, is it? Better to focus on the message, the hope, unity, Jesus, and pretend it doesn't matter. The answers on gender imbalance from organisers could be lifted from a handy little picture known as the Women Speaker Bingo Card, which emerged from other sectors where women didn't get to talk.
As the bingo card insists, people want the best speakers, not tokenism, so it stands to reason if great women existed they'd be there. Another line up with just one woman this time a British-led event organised by Soul Survivor responded to the "Why so many men?" query on social media this week with the assurance that they'd asked some women but none of them could make it (another bingo card favourite).
@God_loves_women Hey, we've invited a number of women who unfortunately aren't able to make it & we're waiting to hear back from others too NSN (@NSNconf) October 10, 2016
Being involved in both Project 3:28, a collective working towards gender balanced platforms, and the Gathering of Women Leaders, women who are brilliant, capable, inspiring communicators in all fields of faith and life are hard to avoid. They pop up everywhere, in between writing books, academic study, ministry, pastoring, teaching, running organisations and all the things men do that qualify them as must-have speakers. There are fewer of them, because Christian culture hasn't encouraged, enabled or released them as it has men. Many are not invited as often because they're not as well known, and a small number are invited to almost everything because they are already visible.
This leaves questions for conference organisers, particularly those with large churches and ministries: where are the women you're raising up to speak? Where especially are the ones not related to you? Will you make room for women as your equals not as added extras? How far are you prepared to look beyond your doors and expand your networks, friendships and relationships to reflect the nation you live in? How much are you prepared to change to create a church that really offers hope to people who don't look like you? In times like these, anything less won't do.
Vicky Walker is a writer and speaker, among other things. She is author of 'Do I have to be good all the time?' and is currently writing a book on how to navigate Christian culture's teaching on dating, relationships and marriage (you can complete her research survey here).
Muslim Woman Rises from the Dead After 2 Days in Morgue, Tells Family Jesus Brought Her Back to Life
This Muslim woman was pronounced dead and lying cold in a morgue in Moscow, Russia for two days already.
Suddenly, she returned to life and stepped out of the hospital gurney!
Based on her testimony, the woman, named Sabina, says while she was lying at the morgue surrounded by corpses, she had a vision of a tree growing at the top of the well, according to Assist News.
From its trunk, a branch moved toward her. The branch then changed into flesh as Sabina heard the words, "If you grab onto my hand, I will bring you back to life."
Sabina did as instructed. She then woke up and heard the voices of doctors searching for a missing cadaverhers.
"I'm alive. Don't worry," she shouted at the frightened doctors.
The medical staff offered her water, food and clothes, and arranged for her transport to a university research hospital in Moscow, where she had traveled from Central Asia to visit her imprisoned son.
Mystified hospital personnel could not explain how Sabina returned to life after spending two days in a coma and then two more days in the morgue.
When she returned to her home somewhere in Central Asia, Sabina had another big surprise for her family. "There's somewhere I have to go," she told her daughters.
She headed for a Pentecostal church and promptly professed her faith in Jesus Christ, leaving behind her Muslim faith.
The hand that lifted her from the gurney at the morgue, returning her to life, unmistakeably belongs to Jesus. That's why she readily embraced Him upon returning home in gratitude for His saving grace.
After she told her six daughters and a son about how she came back to life, they all converted to Christianity.
Last year, Sabina, who is now 63 years old, saw her 92-year-old mother and a niece also embracing Jesus.
More recently, Sabina's oldest daughterwho just this summer was highly critical of Christianityalso turned to Jesus.
No Same Sex Marriage In Australia After Parliament Rejects Referendum
Same-sex marriage is likely to be delayed for at least three years in Australia after the opposition Labor party said on Tuesday it would not support a national vote.
The move deals another potential blow to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Australia's centre-right coalition government introduced legislation to parliament last month to hold a public vote in February 2017 on whether to legalise same-sex unions.
The bill required the support of some opposition lawmakers because Turnbull's Liberal-National coalition has only a one-vote majority in the lower house of parliament and does not have a majority in the upper house.
The rejection is a blow to Turnbull, who has seen his popularity wane amid frustration that he has failed to live up to his progressive reputation.
Same-sex marriage is supported by 61 per cent of Australians, a Gallup poll in August found.
Several independent MPs had already ruled out supporting the national plebiscite on same-sex marriage. The rejection by the centre-left Labor party, which wants same-sex marriages legalised by parliament, ended any hope the plebiscite bill could pass.
"Why should gay Australians be subjected to a different law-making process than any other Australians?" said Labor leader Bill Shorten.
"Why should a couple in a committed relationship have to knock on the doors of 15 million of their fellow Australians and see if they agree with it? The easiest way is the way which this parliament has done for a hundred years legislate."
Advocates of same-sex marriage who oppose a referendum are also concerned public debate around the vote would prove harmful, sparking homophobic rhetoric against same-sex unions.
Those who oppose it are also critical. The Australian Christian Lobby, which campaigns against gay marriage, said it was disappointed by parliament's decision. Managing director Lyle Shelton said: "Despite constantly claiming overwhelming public support for redefining marriage, it is perplexing that advocates are not willing to trust the Australian people with a decision that has enormous consequences for all families.
"Such a big change with such big consequences for what children are taught at school, the rights of children to know their mother and father and for freedom of speech should be taken to the people."
Additional reporting by Reuters.
Pastor Greg Varney Arrested for 2nd Time in a Week; Is He Acting Out Because of Kidney Failure?
Pastor Greg Varney, the founding pastor of Light of the Word Christian Center in Topeka, Kansas, does not seem to be doing well these days.
He was arrested twice last week after displaying erratic behaviour, and close family and friends believe it is being triggered by his continuous struggle with his kidney disease.
Varney was arrested on Wednesday after an encounter with the Topeka police who were conducting a "welfare check," according to The Topeka Capital-Journal. Varney reportedly left an area hospital behaving strangely. He was then cornered by the police at an address on S.W. 10th.
Because the pastor "was resistive to assistance," the police were forced to take him into custody. He was booked in the Shawnee County Jail on charges of disorderly conduct, and his bond was set at $1,000.
Before that, Varney was already arrested for using a vehicle in an assault against his daughter. A churchgoer told local news station KSNT that Varney was arrested after he rammed into another car while desperately trying to leave the scene of the assault.
Police refused to comment regarding the incident.
The Light of the Word Christian Center pointed out on their Facebook page that Varney never sought to harm anyone, and said he was only acting out because of his kidney disease.
"Light of the World Christian Center is aware of the recent charges against our church founder, Pastor Greg Varney, and his family has given the church permission to relay details about Pastor Greg's medical condition, which is directly responsible for the actions leading to these charges. We also feel it is important to tell the community that Pastor Greg did not harm or attempt to harm any person in the incident leading to his arrest," the church said in its statement.
"In the last few years, Pastor Greg has had health concerns resulting in kidney failure. He took a sabbatical from the church to focus on his health, and he is receiving dialysis. During treatment, however, Pastor Greg's family began to notice unexplained cognitive and behavioral changes they believe were caused by the toxins released in his body when his kidneys were not functioning," it said.
The church also said that Varney and his family have been working with multiple doctors to find a solution to his health problems. They are asking people to pray for Varney's wellbeing.
Pastors Arrested And Churches Set For Demolition As Persecution Increases In Sudan
Six Christians were jailed in Sudan last week for refusing to hand over church property to the government, persecution charity Open Doors reports.
The three pastors and three church members were arrested and briefly detained on 6 October in the town of Wad Medani when they refused to hand over a school run by their evangelical church.
"While in custody, they were questioned by police over the reasons for disobeying the orders. They were released on bail later the same day. It is not clear if further legal action is planned," a source told Open Doors.
Five other churches three belonging to the Sudan Church of Christ, one to the Presbyterian Church and the other to the Episcopal Church have been told their buildings will be demolished.
Open Doors' source said officials told churches "their land had been assigned for investment".
According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Sudanese government "continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief." Designated by the Commission as a 'country of particular concern' since 1999, Sudan's population is over 97 per cent Muslim, and the country's criminal code restricts religious freedom for all citizens. It also imposes Shariah Law on Muslims and Christians, allowing the death penalty for apostasy, stoning for adultery and prison sentences for blasphemy.
The USCIRF's 2015 report also notes the use of government policies and societal pressure to promote conversion to Islam. It is "impossible" to obtain permission to build churches, while their destruction has increased over the past four years.
According to Open Doors, security forces may legally stop any Christian worship or prayer meeting, and confiscate Bibles, documents and computers.
Tory MP Compares Russia's Bombardment Of Syria To Nazis
Russia's targeting of civilians in Syria is similar to atrocities committed by the Nazis, a senior Tory MP has said.
Andrew Mitchell, MP for Sutton Coldfield and the former secretary of state for international development, on Monday condemned last month's attack on a UN relief convoy near Aleppo.
Mitchell branded it a war crime committed by Russian forces.
Some 20 people were killed in the attack on the UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy and the US blamed two Russian war planes which it said were in the skies above the area at the time of the incident.
Moscow rejects the accusations saying it only targets militants and accuses the West of being responsible for the crisis in Syria.
"When it comes to incendiary weapons and munitions such as bunker buster bombs and cluster bombs, the UN makes it clear that the systematic use of such indiscriminate weapons in densely populated areas amounts to a war crime," Mitchell told parliament late on Monday.
"We are witnessing events that match the behaviour of the Nazi regime in Guernica in Spain," he said referring to the destruction of the Spanish town in 1937 by German aircraft from Adolf Hitler's Luftwaffe. The bombing of the historic city became the subject of a famous painting by artist Pablo Picasso.
"They [Russia] are destroying the United Nations and its ability to act, in the same way the Germans and the Italians destroyed the League of Nations in the 1930s."
Mitchell said Russia had "shredded" international law by supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Mitchell's comments come ahead of a three-hour debate to be held in Parliament today about the humanitarian crisis in Syria, especially Aleppo.
The UN estimates that 275,000 people are currently trapped in the east of the city, and hundreds have died since the beginning of an offensive last month.
Even since the collapse of a US-Russia brokered ceasefire three weeks ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 290 people have been killed including 57 children.
Last week, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said the bombardment of Aleppo was "demonic" and shows "absolute contempt for the human spirit".
In an interview with ITV News, Welby said: "What is being done is evil, it is demonic, it is the absolute contempt for the human spirit, for the dignity of the human being. It is the brushing aside of the poor and the weak and the fragile, in a way that is as bad as anything we've seen in the last century."
Additional reporting by Reuters.
Specialist Sara Plumbly examines a rare and bewitching page from a hand-painted copy of the Hamzanama a 16th-century tome depicting mythical exploits offered in our Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds sale on 20 October 2016
Its a fantastic story full of giants, monsters, heroes and villains, says specialist Sara Plumbly, discussing the Hamzanama, a text which recounts the legendary exploits of Amir Hamza, an uncle of the Prophet Muhammad.
This page is taken from an exceptional copy of the work made in India, commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in around 1564. It was, says Plumbly, a huge project, both literally and physically. More than 60 cm high, the manuscript took 15 years to complete, and was illustrated by a skilled team of painters brought together from across India, Iran and Central Asia.
The complete text is known to have had around 1,400 paintings, says Plumbly, who believes the images may have served as a visual aide for public recitations of the story an experience not unlike an early form of cinema. For the illiterate Emperor Akbar, it would also have been a way to read one of Indias most popular tales.
Tuesday
Greater Houston Builders Association Remodelors Council: Luncheon. 11:30 a.m., Lakeside Country Club, 100 Wilcrest.
Speaker: Exit strategies when retiring or handing over your business.
Information: www.ghba.org.
QuickBooks Forum: Free event hosted by Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. 4-6 p.m., 22762 Westheimer Parkway, Suite 555, Katy.
Topic: Understanding your payroll options
Information: Wendy Kelley, 281-395-3606, Wendy@HodgsonCPA.com.
Nonprofit Workshop on cyber Fraud: Hosted by Houston TSCPA Foundation. 4-7 p.m., United Way of Greater Houston, 50 Waugh Drive.
Cost: $40.
Information: 713-622-7733 or www.houstoncpa.org.
Wednesday
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network: Houston Chapter meeting. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Maggiano's Little Italy, 2019 Post Oak Blvd.
Speaker: Jodi Simasingh serves as director of sales for AIG Travel.
Topic: Exploring the credit challenges for expats.
Information: Nancy Gilbert at ngilbert@sarofim.com or 713-308-2717.
Transportation Club of Houston: Mix and mingle. 6-8 p.m., Saint Arnold's Brewery, 2000 Lyons Ave.
Cost: $30.
Information: russell@transclubhou.org or 281-435 9647.
Mastering the Fundamentals of QuickBooks: Hosted by Hodgson CPA. 9 a.m.-4 p.m., 22762 Westheimer Parkway, Suite 555, Katy.
Information: Wendy Kelley, 281-395-3606, Wendy@HodgsonCPA.com.
Friday
Houston Property Rights Association: Meeting. Noon, Lam Bo Restaurant, 6159 Westheimer.
Speaker: Ralph Bivins, editor of Realty News Report, a Texas-focused real estate publication.
Topic: How the Grand Parkway is altering real estate investment in the region.
Cost: $13.
Information: gov.reform.pro@gmail.com or 713-224-4144.
International Language Services: Fifth annual conference hosted by MasterWord Services. 8:30 a.m.- 5:30 p.m., The Junior League of Houston, 1811 Briar Oaks Lane.
Program: Industry leaders, health care organizations, and community advocates come together to discuss the latest developments and best practices in language access within the health care setting.
Cost: $ 85.
Information: www.masterword.com/ilsc/.
Contact: Whitney Gissell or 281-589-0810, ext. 8956 or events@masterword.com.
Brian Wilson, the genius but troubled architect of the Beach Boys' brilliant pop, will bring the band's classic 1966 album "Pet Sounds" to Houston on May 12 at the Revention Music Center.
The 74-year-old Wilson has dubbed the performances "Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds: The Final Performances," so this sounds likely to be his last go-round with the album live.
The dual Italian restaurant concepts being constructed at 500 Crawford in downtown Houston appear to be on track for a December launch. But the restaurants managed by restaurateurs Bill Floyd and Bryan Caswell will open with entirely new names: Kristalla and Osso.
When the project was first announced last January the restaurant names were pitched as Brocca and Il Panchina ("pitcher" and "bench" in Italian), nods to nearby Minute Maid Park and the Houston Astros, owned by Jim Crane who is financing the two dining concepts.
Authorities are searching for a 17-year-old girl who disappeared from a hospital over the weekend in northeast Houston.
Annie Newton was last seen Sunday at Kingwood Pines hospital in the 2000 block of Ladbrook Drive in the Kingwod area, according to the Houston Police Department.
A Houston father who lost his daughter to sex trafficking through Snapchat is pushing lawmakers to crack down on kidnappers and pimps.
John Clark recovered his 18-year-old daughter in May after she went missing in April. Clark told KHOU that his daughter was taken by a man in his 20s that she met on Snapchat.
READ MORE: Lawyer: Backpage.com CEO will fight sex trafficking charges
In May, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office asked the public to help find her. Before she was recovered, she was last seen by her family on April 30. She told her parents she was going to Lifetime Fitness. Later, Clark's daughter left her vehicle and cellphone at the gym parking lot to go to a party with a friend.
Clark told the Chronicle at the time, "She's said that she doesn't want to come home. We don't know what is behind her choice." Clark also said she told her family to call of the search and dropped off social media.
To get his daughter back, Clark set up a website, 800-number and a Facebook page to gather information on where she might be. Clark told KHOU that he found his daughter and her alleged captor at a Houston apartment building.
Now Clark is looking to strengthen anti-human trafficking laws and penalties for those who force people into the sex trade. He's met with Texas lawmakers since she was recovered and has started an online petition to crack down on pimps. Clark says the legal system should treat pimps like drug dealers.
READ MORE: 2 women nabbed in prostitution sting at north Harris County massage parlor
"The police don't focus on pimps in the first place, but even when pimps get caught, prosecuted and convicted, they receive punishment much less severe than drug dealers," Clark wrote in the petition.
With his petition, Clark aims to change the minimum age for sexually orientated businesses from 18 to 21. Clark also wants increased penalties for anyone convicted of compelling or promoting prostitution of anyone under the age of 21.
Clark also wants to extend parental guardianship to girls over the age of 18, in certain circumstances. Clark said he and his wife were not allowed to talk to doctors and counselors about their daughter since she was 18 and legally an adult.
Clark is hoping his petition will inspire new legislation in January when state lawmakers meet for a new session. He points to Louisiana as a possible model, where strip clubs are required to have dancers who are 21 and older as of Oct. 1.
READ MORE: More than 50 people pulled from stash house
In another Facebook post, Clark wrote sex trafficking often starts with a man or woman a few years older than the targeted teenage girl. The groomer takes the teenager to new places, is fun and acts like a mentor, according to Clark. The groomer then introduces the teenage girl to drugs and alcohol while trying to isolate her from her parents. The teenage girl is then introduced to new people and brought to adult places like clubs.
Eventually, the teenager meets a pimp, usually disguised as a musician, club owner or something else exciting to the teenager. After building some rapport, the pimp usually invites the teenager to a party after she turns 18, Clark wrote. That's the point a teenager is most likely forced into sex trafficking.
"If she is 18, law enforcement is handcuffed," Clark wrote in the post. "Unless there is clear evidence of a crime, she is just another young adult who decided to leave her home."
READ MORE: You can help stop human trafficking by using the TraffickCam app
Clark warns that teenage girls can be taken from even the most cautious of parents.
"We went through her phone several times a week. We didn't even let her have her phone upstairs," Clark wrote about his daughter. "We had all her passwords. I had a GPS tracker installed on her car and monitored it every time she left the house. We Facetimed her every time she went out to make sure she was where she was supposed to be, and she was with the people she was supposed to be seeing."
Clark warns other parents to watch for any signs of groomers and to talk to their daughters about the danger of sex trafficking. He also adds to beware of Snapchat, as he and his wife found it difficult to monitor.
A Porter man was sentenced to 35 years in prison after he was found guilty of setting his house on fire, the Montgomery County Fire Marshal's Office said Monday.
In June 2015, Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputies were sent to investigate a report of a domestic disturbance at a home of Patrick Corken, 35, along Stillwater Valley Lane. Corken fled when the deputies tried to make contact with him. As the search went on, Corken returned to the home and barricaded himself inside, officials said.
Investigators with the fire marshal's office said Corken started pouring gasoline inside the home and set it ablaze. Sheriff's deputies went inside the burning home and pulled Corken to safety, officials said.
The same deputies testified at Monday's hearing. Corken was sentenced to 25 years in prison for burning the house and 10 years for evading arrest, officials said.
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From the mean streets of Houston to a Cape Cod beach, Bob is living the good life.
The long-legged mixed breed looks like a Great Dane and was near death, with a maggot-infested ripped throat, when he was taken in by Houston's Sav-a-Pet Rescue in January. He had probably suffered an injury from another dog in a street fight, said Dr. Mike Huddleston at Westheimer Animal Clinic.
Huddleston, who founded Sav-a-Pet Rescue in 1988, remembers getting a call from BARC, the Houston city animal shelter, asking if the rescue based at his Bellaire clinic would take the hapless dog. Huddleston, who has treated countless critical cases, said he estimated Bob's survival chances at 30 percent. Even so, the clinic began immediate treatment, including surgery on the horrible neck wound.
READ MORE: Dump an animal, get caught
"He was really emaciated, all the worst things you could think of," Huddleston said.
Because maggots release toxins, Bob's treatment included intravenous antibiotics and transfusions, the veterinarian said.
"Through all that, he survived. He's innately stronger than we thought. We've found that, no matter how bad it looks, if you try, a lot of these patients will get well."
After two months of professional care and doting, Bob was well enough to be listed for adoption, although it would be another couple months before he was fully healed.
At about the time his information was posted, Beverly Olsen of Cape Cod, Mass., was online printing a recipe.
"Right in the middle of the recipe site was a pop-up with a picture of three dogs," Olsen said. One of them was Bob, who caught Olsen's attention, although she wasn't really looking for a dog and was still grieving the loss of another pet.
"It said Bob was in Boston."
She consulted her husband right away, and they agreed that a 75-mile drive up the Massachusetts coast was certainly worth the time to check out the dog whose photo and story were already pulling at their hearts, Olsen said.
When she called the Boston rescue group and learned that Bob was nearly 2,000 miles away in Houston, the Olsens were still not dissuaded.
READ MORE: Dog rescue groups sniff out new homes
They conferred with Sav-a-Pet volunteer Jill Washburn of Houston, filled out a lengthy application and consented to a home visit conducted by a Massachusetts rescue organization. They were working out transportation of the dog through a "rescue railroad" chain of about 20 volunteer drivers when Washburn came up with another idea.
She and her husband, David Washburn, were planning to drive to Chattanooga, Tenn., to visit their son, Sebastian, and offered to take Bob that far. Hearing that, the Olsens decided to drive down from Cape Cod to help make the trip as smooth as possible for the dog that had already endured so much trauma.
The two couples met in Chattanooga, where Bob, who's estimated to be 9 years old, began to get acquainted with his new family. The Olsens, who are retired, have five adult children and eight grandchildren.
Initially fearful and tentative, Bob has gradually gained confidence and seems to understand how much he is loved, Olsen said.
"He has been the greatest blessing," she said. "He is a gift."
READ MORE: Katrina changed the way we think about pets
Unfortunately, the opportunities for rescuing dogs from cruel fates are all too common, said Washburn, who provides short-term "foster care" for rescued dogs at her home.
One was Frannie, a German shepherd found staving on the streets of Fifth Ward and rescued by Vals Pals. Washburn kept Frannie for about two weeks over Christmas and New Years, feeding her small amounts every four hours around the clock and taking her to the vet every two days for lab work.
Initially so emaciated she could barely stand up, Frannie is now healthy and robust, living with an adoptive family in Fort Bend County.
Last week, Vals Pals took in a female German shepherd with a severed foot and a newborn litter of puppies. Mom and the babies are all now in foster care.
As long as some people are capable of inflicting horrible cruelty on dogs and other animals, rescue groups will have a critical role, Washburn said.
"We need caring people to let as many dogs as possible have the life they deserve," she said.
First came the Friday release of a videotape in which Donald Trump discussed grabbing women by their privates, kissing them on the lips without permission. "You can do anything," he said.
In his apology Saturday, he dismissed the comments as "locker room talk."
For a large number of Americans, the incident stirs painful memories. It's estimated that one in five American women has been raped or experienced attempted rape -- and obviously, an far larger number have endured gropings, unwanted penis pics and other forms of sexual aggression. Nor are women the only targets of such sexual assault.
Over coffee and on the Internet this week, Houstonians have been reliving those ugly memories sometimes simply trying to get past the flashbacks; sometimes claiming the memories publicly and making a statement.
"This election needs a trigger warning," says Rev. Susan Buchanan, a United Methodist pastor who, on Twitter and Facebook, shared some of her own experiences: the teenager who followed her into a bathroom when she was 7, trying to see her naked; the father of the bride at a wedding she officiated who groped her, then tried to tongue-kiss her.
"We tend not to talk about the whispered lewdness and the hidden gropes because we're taught to shake it off, no harm done," she says. "Silence just perpetuates this behavior, and isolates us in our feelings of powerlessness. I've found that we become stronger when we speak out and make that connection with others, women and men, who have these experiences. We can say together that it's not okay. It makes a difference."
Below are some Houstonians' Twitter response to Canadian writer Kelly Oxford, who Friday called on people to tweet their first sexual assault. (The movement later picked up the hashtag #NotOkay.)
We're interested in hearing from other people, too. What's been your experience with sexual assault? And how has this news cycle affected you?
Let us know in the comments section.
Musicals from Clear Springs High School and four other Bay Area campus will compete for honors in the 2016-2017 Tommy Tune Awards, to be held next spring in a Tony Award-style ceremony at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Houston.
Clear Springs High, whose new entry will be its Jan. 27-29 and Feb. 2-4 presentation of "Big Fish," won best musical in 2014 with "Urinetown, the Musical."
Two of the other four schools have won best musical since the program began in 2003 to reward excellence in musical theater productions at Houston-area high schools.
Friendswood High won best musical in 2006 with "South Pacific" and hopes to repeat this year with its Jan. 27-29 and Feb. 2-4 production of "Les Miserables."
In 2013, Pearland High School also scored best musical with a production of "South Pacific." This year's PHS entry will be "Pippin," with a three-judge panel of local musical theater enthusiasts judging one of its performances on Jan. 19-21 and 26-28.
The other Bay Area entries are from schools that are entering for the second year. However, because the 2016 awards ceremony was canceled due to inclement weather in mid-April, which caused some schools to close, students from Clear Lake High and South Houston High will be performing on the Hobby Stage for the first time next year.
Camilla Busselberg, who starred as Laurey Williams in the 202-2016 Clear Lake entry, "Oklahoma!," and fellow 2016 graduate Linda Nibert, who portrayed Ado Annie, had rehearsed with students from each of the 45 schools that participated in last year's competition to perform in the finale of the Tommy Tune Awards ceremony.
"Camilla attends Texas A&M (University) and is studying architecture. Linda is now studying theater at Loyola University in New Orleans," said Clear Lake's head theater director, Colette Currie.
"They loved being involved in finale rehearsals last year and looked forward to performing on the Hobby stage."
Clear Lake High's new performing arts center will be the site of the school's second entry, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," which Currie will stage Jan. 26-29 and Feb. 2-4.
South Houston High students Mariah Martinez, now a senior, and Eddy Reyes, who is a junior, could get a second shot at performing at the Hobby, after rehearsing in April for "the show that didn't go on."
"We were really sad. Our two kids in the show were so disappointed," said South Houston's head choir director Brenda Varvoutis.
Reyes recently portrayed Charlito "Chip" Tolentino in South Houston's fall musical, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."
After co-starring as Mal Beineke opposite Martinez as Wednesday in "The Addams Family" last year, both students could end up vying for Tommy Tune honors this season when South Houston competes with "Once Upon a Mattress," to be performed Feb. 2-4.
Every student who participates in any capacity of a Tommy Tune entry is eligible to apply for a scholarship from Theatre Under the Stars, which produces the contest.
For example, TUTS presented eight scholarships last year, including the prestigious $5,000 Ruth Denney Scholarship named in honor of the legendary Lamar High School drama teacher who mentored Tommy Tune, the Houston native who has won nine Tony Awards, more than anyone else in Broadway history.
In April, winners were announced on the Tommy Tune Awards Facebook page, with a reception that followed in May to honor recipients.
Among those attending the reception were best supporting actor Morgan Lenamon, as Officer Lockstock in the Pearland High School production of "Urinetown, the Musical," and Brooklyn Garza, who portrayed Penelope Pennywise in the show, accepting on behalf of Pearland's win for best musical direction.
"Seussical" at Clear Springs won for best scenic design.
TUTS also prepares each year's best leading actor and actress winners to advance to national competition at the Jimmy Awards each summer in New York City.
In 2015, best leading actress winner Audrey McKee, a Friendswood High senior, won as the magical, musical nanny in "Mary Poppins." She followed 2014 best leading actress Emily Lewis as Hope Cladwell in Clear Springs High School's "Urinetown."
Lewis' classmate, Stephen Louis, won best-featured performer as brittle, British director Christopher Belling in "Curtains" in 2013, then best supporting actor as Officer Lockstock in "Urinetown" in 2014, before scoring a nomination for best leading actor as Professor Harold Hill in "The Music Man" and taking home a $3,000 scholarship in 2015.
As a student, Currie was nominated for best supporting actress at the Tommy Tunes when the daughter of Greg and Susan Currie of Friendswood portrayed Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls" her senior year at Friendswood High School.
Residents of Middlebrook subdivision in Clear Lake hailed the recent deal forged by Houston City Councilman Dave Martin and Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Jack Morman to fund an infrastructure project to widen a two-lane part of El Dorado Boulevard to improve mobility and address safety issues.
The estimated $7.3 million project calls for expansion of a nearly one-mile stretch of El Dorado from the bridge over Horsepen Bayou to Clear Lake City Boulevard. The county has agreed to fund 30 percent of the project, which will provide two traffic lanes in each direction. The remainder of costs will be funded under the city of Houston's Capital Improvement Plan.
"Our neighborhood welcomes this," said Sherrie Matula, president of Middlebrook Homeowners Association, which counts 908 homes. "It's long overdue. We've had numerous traffic accidents on El Dorado, and it's been getting worse."
Matula, a resident since 1977, said it has been increasingly difficult to get in and out of her neighborhood over the years but that the new residential and retail development at the intersection of El Dorado and Clear Lake Boulevard has put even greater pressure on mobility and compromised safety.
"El Dorado was not designed to cope with this kind of traffic," said Dennis Thornton, another involved, longtime Middlebrook resident. "You have a two-lane road trying to support a huge amount of traffic."
Thornton reckoned traffic has increased threefold since the large H-E-B, which anchors the retail development called Clear Lake Marketplace and Clear Lake Shoppes at the Reserve, opened in February. Other tenants include Petsmart, MOD Pizza, Sport Clips, Subway and Nails of America.
Fidelis Realty Partners started developing the 412-acre tract in 2013, combining a residential development on 372 acres with more than 700 homes and a retail development on the remaining 40 acres on the northeast and northwest corners of the El Dorado Boulevard and Clear Lake City Boulevard intersection.
Martin, councilman for District E, said after hearing concerns from the community, he met with Morman and officials from the Harris County engineer's office and the city's Public Works and Engineering Department in April to work on a plan to alleviate road conditions and improve public safety along El Dorado.
The city is preparing to make the funds available for the project by early spring of 2017. The pre-engineering and engineering of the project are expected to take approximately 10 months.
Once the project is completed, maintenance of the improved roadway within Houston will fall to the city."I look forward to completion of this project as well as future partnerships with Commissioner Morman," Martin said in an email.
Matula and Thornton praised Martin for working with the county and coming up with a solution to aid the southern part of Martin's district, which also includes Kingwood.
"We've had to beg, borrow and steal to get services out here," Matula said.
French Country Wines is doing its part to help in the fight against breast cancer with a portion of each Rose sold benefiting The Rose.
For the sixth year in a row, French Country Wines is highlighting Breast Cancer Awareness Month by letting the popularity of its Rose wines support The Rose, a local foundation which offers advanced breast cancer screening and diagnostic services and access to cancer treatment to nearly 33,000 women each year.
Sept. 27
About 4:40 a.m., Sgt. D. Hollie was monitoring the 5900 Interstate Highway 610 traffic control light when he noticed a vehicle traveling southbound and run a red light. Sgt. Hollie initiated a traffic stop for this reason. The driver was arrested for driving while license invalid/enhanced (DWLI) and could not provide proof of financial responsibility (no insurance).
Sept. 28
At 3:25 p.m., Sgt. Hefferin along with Officer R. Guerra were dispatched to the Bellaire Police Department in reference to an identity theft report. Officers arrived at 3:36 p.m. and made contact with the victim who advised an unknown suspect(s) used their name, date of birth and social security number to open at least two credit cards. Officers collected all relevant information for the report and supplied the victim with an incident card for the report and an identity theft information packet.
Sept. 29
At 8:32 p.m., Officer Younger was dispatched to the 7500 block of West Loop South in regards to a welfare check. Officer Younger arrived at 8:32 p.m. and made contact with the residents who lived on location and observed both to be bleeding. Officer Younger's investigation revealed the couple got into a verbal argument that turned into a physical altercation. Both refused to file charges. A Harris County Assistant District Attorney was contacted and refused charges on both parties. Both parties were separated for the night.
At 8:27 p.m., Officer Liccketto was patrolling the area of 4700 Bellaire Blvd E/B and observed a white Ford Van in front of his patrol vehicle. Officer Liccketto conducted a computer query and observed the query return to show Unconfirmed-Vehicle Coverage Expired;Vehicle Last Match Not within 45 days. Officer Liccketto conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and conducted an interview with the driver. During the interview the driver was found to have a suspended driver's license and no proof of financial responsibility. The driver was taken into custody for driving while license invalid-enhanced.
Sept. 30
At 7:19 p.m., Officer Lysack conducted a traffic stop in the 4800 block of Fournace Place on suspect for expired motor vehicle registration on a temporary buyers tag. The driver provided Officer Lysack with his Texas identification card. Officer Lysack conducted a computer query and found the suspect multiple warrants issued for his arrest. During the arrest and search of the suspect Officer Lysack located 2 clear plastic baggies containing marijuana and one marijuana cigar in the front pocket of his pants. The suspect was arrested and transported to the Bellaire Jail.
At 1:44 p.m., Officer Bledsoe was dispatched to 5110 Jessamine St. to meet with a victim of identity theft. An unknown suspect opened multiple accounts using the victim's identifying information, without his consent.
Oct. 1
At 1:25 a.m., Officer Clisham of the Bellaire Police Department observed a vehicle parked in a city park in the area of the 4500 block of Evergreen. After further investigation, one of the subjects in the vehicle was placed into custody for possessing Marijuana. The suspect was eligible and chose to participate in the First Chance Intervention program.
At 12:43 a,m., Officer Ortega was assisting a disabled vehicle in the 7400 block of IH 610 Northbound. Officer Ortega observed a black 2008 Chrysler Sebring fail to control its speed, veering from lane 4 to lane 1, spin out, and finally stop facing Southbound in the Northbound lanes. Officer Ortega observed the driver of the black Chrysler exit the vehicle and to have unsteady balance, red blood shot eyes, slurred speech, and the odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from his person. Upon further investigation, the suspect was placed into custody for driving while intoxicated. Metro Police Officer J. Ng and Bellaire Officer Bellard assisted in this case.
At 3:37 p.m., Officer Younger was dispatched to the Bellaire Police Department in regards to an identity theft report. Officer Younger arrived at 3:41 p.m. and made contact with the reportee who advised an unknown suspect used his social security number to apply for a credit card.
At 2:31 a.m., Cpl. Porter observed a green Ford Explorer traveling eastbound in the westbound lane of travel in the 5200 block of Bissonnet. The driver of the Explorer jumped a curb and continued to travel in the parking lot and struck a metal fence. Upon further investigation, the driver of the green Ford Explorer was placed in-custody and charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI), and possession of marijuana (POM). Bellaire Officers Bellard and Clisham assisted with this case.
At 11:13 p.m., Officer Clisham initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle in the 5200 block of Bellaire Blvd. for failing to signal a lane change and failing to maintain a single marked lane. After making contact with the driver and further investigation, Officer Clisham placed the driver in custody for driving while intoxicated. After reviewing the facts of the case, the Harris County District Attorney's Office accepted charges for DWI on the driver.
Oct. 2
At 2:56 a.m., Officer Clisham was on patrol in the area of the 5400 block of Bissonnet when he observed a white Ford Explorer commit a traffic violation. Officer Clisham initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle and after further investigation the driver was cited for DUI Minor.
Sept. 30
At 7:23a.m., an officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle in the 3100 block of Blue Bonnet for an expired temporary tag. Upon investigation, it was discovered the driver was operating the vehicle on a suspended license and had multiple outstanding warrants with various agencies. The driver was subsequently taken into custody without incident. This subject has prior arrest history including, assault on family member, failure to ID, and driving while license suspended.
An Officer was dispatched to the West U PD Lobby, to meet with an identity theft victim, which claimed a Dish Network account had been opened under their name without permission.
At 4:26 p.m., an officer was dispatched to The Houston Police Department, in regards to a prisoner who had outstanding warrants with the West University Place Police Department. Upon arrival, the prisoner was taken into custody and transported to the West University Place Jail where he was booked in without incident. This subject has prior arrest history including, theft, possession of controlled substance (4x), possession of marijuana, evading, failure to ID.
At 4:06 pm, an officer was dispatched to the 2800 block of W. Holcombe in regard to a report of a burglary of habitation that had already occurred. Upon arrival the officer met with the victim who had come home to discover that a window on her home was shattered and her home/ belongings were in disarray. The victim advised that multiple items were missing.
An officer was dispatched to the West U PD Lobby to speak with a reportee in regards to a Debit Card found in the 6600 block of Sewanee
Oct. 1
No crimes reported
Oct. 2
At 12:52 am, an officer observed a vehicle traveling eastbound in the 4100 block of Bissonnet run a red light at the intersection of Bissonnet and Academy. A traffic stop was conducted on the vehicle for the violation and upon further investigation, it was discovered that the driver was operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. The driver of the vehicle was arrested for DWI. During the inventory of the vehicle, a small baggy was located in the driver's seat containing a controlled substance.
An officer was dispatched to the 6600 block of Buffalo Speedway in regards to a minor accident. Upon arrival and through investigation, it was discovered one of the drivers was operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. It was further discovered the driver was also in possession of control substances. The driver was arrested for DWI and possession of control substances. This subject has prior arrest history including, driving while intoxicated and possession of controlled substance (2x).
Oct. 3
An officer observed a vehicle in the 6600 block of Buffalo Speedway traveling southbound at a high rate of speed. The officer initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle , upon further investigation, it was discovered the driver had multiple active warrants. The driver was subsequently arrested for the out of county active warrant. This subject has prior arrest history including, driving while license invalid (2x), possession of controlled substance, theft, assault on public servant and assault on family member.
An officer observed a vehicle that was displaying a license plate registered to another vehicle. A traffic stopped was conducted and the driver was found to have active warrants with Houston Police Department. The driver was placed into custody, upon further investigation illegal narcotics was found inside the vehicle. The driver was ultimately charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Oct. 4
At 10:42 pm, an officer was dispatched to the police department for a theft that had already occurred. The victim stated sometime between 0600 on 09/19/2016 and 1900 on 10/01/2016 an unknown person took a pair of diamond stud earrings without their consent. The residence had contractors working on their residence at the time the incident occurred.
At 8:36pm, an officer responded to a disturbance in the 3700 block of Plumb. The officer arrived on scene and met with the victim who stated that 3 black males pushed her to the ground and took her belongings. The victim stated that the 3 black males then ran eastbound on Plumb and jumped into an unknown vehicle which headed northbound on Edloe.
Oct. 5
An Officer observed a vehicle traveling 51mph in a 35 mph zone eastbound in the 4200 block of Bissonnet. A traffic stop was conducted for the violation and upon further investigation, it was discovered that the driver was operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. The driver was arrested for DWI.
At 4 p.m., a collection of miscellaneous personal items that were found/lost, and considered abandoned property was brought in by a city employee. These items, primarily sets of keys, and other miscellaneous jewelry items with minimal value, had been recovered no ownership established. These items are being kept at the police department storage room for safekeeping.
Oct. 6
An Officer was dispatched to the West U PD Lobby to meet with an identity theft victim, which claimed a personal check had used under their name without permission.
Oct. 7
At 1:11 am, an officer observed two individuals walking in the roadway in the 6300 block of Wakeforest. A stop was conducted and the two individuals were arrested for the offense of walking in the roadway when sidewalk is provided. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that one of the individuals had a warrant with another agency and a hold was placed. One of subjects has prior arrest history including trespassing, out of state fugitive, theft (2x), unauthorized use of motor vehicle and assault.
Since 2012, Tarkington High School's theater arts department has participated in Thrill the World, a global effort to break the record for the number of people simultaneously dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
The event is timed each year to coincide with Halloween season and this year is no exception. This year's effort will take place at 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29.
Submitted
Members of the Cleveland Rotary Club on Oct. 5 welcomed employees of Naskila Gaming of Livingston and members of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas to discuss their Gaming Center on the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation in Polk County.
Despite legal challenges by the State of Texas, the Tribe feels that they are on firm legal ground in opening a Class 2 Gaming Center, which has only several hundred electronic bingo games and is not a casino.
Source: Spurs waived Primo after allegation of exposure A female former employee alleged that the now-former Spurs guard exposed himself in her presence.
Lizzo names favorite Houston restaurants, backs abortion at show The 'About Damn Time' singer gave a plethora of shoutouts to her hometown of Houston.
In Daniel Silva's new book, Black Widow, the hero Gabriel Allon is forced to do battle with ISIS. The book starts with Hannah Weinberg, a character who is hosting an event to offset anti-Semitic feelings in France.
The event is being held in France where Muslims are protestings in the street. While the crowd is distracted with the protest, a white van gets parked along the street close to the Weinberg Center. Inside the van, unbeknownst to the groups, is a 500 kilogram bomb.
ISIS claims responsibility for the blast that kills hundreds of people and millions in property damage.
The crime is investigated by the Alpha Group or DSGI, which is headed up by Paul Rousseau.
Weinberg is a friend of Gabriel Allon. She had once given him one Vincent Van Gogh painting.
Not long after the first explosion, another rocks the city of Amsterdam.
The head villain is a man named Saladin (Abu Ahmed al-Tikriti). He was formerly employed by Saddam Hussein. Another villain is located in London and does recruitment for ISIS and his name is Jalal Nasser. Another vile villain is Safia Bourihane who goes by the nickname the Black Widow. Together they are a cutthroat crew.
Gabriel decides to infiltrate ISIS. He recruits a lady who is a Jewish doctor named Dr. Natalie Mizrahi. She is thoroughly trained by the office. After her training she is taken to Syria with the help of Jalal Nasser.
Under a new identity of Dr. Leila Hadawi, she begins healing the ISIS people. Late one night she is driven blindfolded to a secret location. She discovers the Saladin has received a chest wound and a leg wound. She does successful surgery on the terrorist leader.
She gains an assignment on the invasion of America. ISIS infiltrates Washington D.C. Washington suspects nothing. Gabrieil is in America to warn the United States. The attack is dominated by suicide bombers.
The United States is caught completely by surprise. Over 700 people were killed. Gabriel and Mikhael Abramov rescue Dr Natalie Mizrahi. Blame for this tragedy is passed everywhere. Saladin still has to be caught. Be sure to read this book.
The Houston Grand Opera's premiere of a holiday classic this season will feature a Spillane Middle School sixth- grader.
CJ Friend has been cast in the production of "It's a Won derful Life." The production will run Dec. 2-17 at the Wortham Theatre Center, 501 Texas Ave. The middle school honor student will play both roles as Young Mary and Janie Bailey in Houston Grand Opera's world premiere of the holiday produc tion.
The opera which is based on the Frank Capra film "It's a Wonderful Life" is a fantasy comedy-drama, with mystical elements incorporated in the production.
"For each show I decide to do, or part I play, I like to have some kind of personal connec tion with the story, or relate to the character I am playing. In this case, "It's A Wonderful Life" is my Dad's favorite movie of all time and when I audi tioned, I was inspired and mo tivated by knowing this is a special story for my him," Friend said. "Overall, my inspi ration for performing comes from a place inside me that en joys entertaining and making people happy."
More Information WANT TO GO? For show times and tickets: www.houstongrandopera.org or call 713-228-6737 See More Collapse
HGO officials felt that Friend stood out during the audition process. The panel of judges during the audition process. The panel believed Friend could do well with playing two roles in the production.
"The audition panel, led by director Leonard Foglia, saw many talented children in the auditions and had the luxury of choice among several wonder ful options. CJ just had that in definable quality that made her instantly believable in the dual roles of Young Mary in Act I and Janie (the elder daughter of George and Mary) in Act II," Mark Lear said, HGO associate artistic administrator. "She is naturally expressive in face and gesture and was beautifully re sponsive to directorial sugges tion."
In addition to performing in various theatre productions, Friend also studies musical theater at TUTs Humphrey's School of Musical Theatre Academy. The young theater students' resume includes per formances in Houston productions such as TUTs, Lone Star College, PH1960, Wildfish The ater, CAPA.
Friend's high school performances include Tommy Tune nominated production such as Shrek at Cypress Ranch (Young Fiona), Gypsy at Spring High School (Baby June), and Meet Me in St. Louis at Cypress Woods. She also is training at NYC Broadway Intensives.
The honor student has made academic achievements through her participation as a member in Mensa, Duke TIPS and Johns Hopkins Talented Youth programs.
Friend is looking forward to playing her dual roles in the HGO holiday production. Her performance in December will be her first opera.
"I have performed in musi cals for seven years, but never an opera. This is a new experi ence for me. This is exciting be cause it's also the "World Pre miere" of this opera. I have never been involved with a world premier so that should be very interesting," Friend said. "I hope to learn more about this area of entertain ment. I am excited to work in a professional environment. I think it will give me an idea of what it would be like to work on a Broadway show."
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One of Texas' oldest dancehalls could find new life as a restaurant after the death knell for the formerly popular Tin Hall was sounded in 2014.
Shuttered behind a chain-link fence on Tin Hall Road in Cypress is the famous white-washed pole barn that will, in due course, have its new lease on life.
"It's really kind of early in the stage," said Fred Stockton, who in September obtained Tin Hall for the second time. "We are still hunting and pecking for a site to put it on."
Mark Martinez, who purchased the land with Tin Hall on it from Stockton in October 2014, sold the property itself to MHI McGuyer Homebuilders who plan to use the land to build a new subdivision.
Martinez hoped to move the dance hall to other property in Cypress near Dry Creek, but those plans never fully materialized, and ownership of Tin Hall reverted back to Stockton two months ago.
Stockton, whose family owned the dance hall for several generations before the 2014 sale, has a place in mind where he'd like to relocate Tin Hall, but he says he has to convince the municipal utility district in that area first before he reveals if that will be Tin Hall's new home.
"No MUD district ever wants you in there, and that's the real problem," he said.
The original Tin Hall was built on a strip of pasture land in 1878, and destroyed by fire several years later.
It was resurrected in 1890, and constructed out of corrugated tin - hence the name Tin Hall - and remained open nearly ever since, hosting weddings, dances, parties and receptions.
Music legends Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Percy Sledge have played there in the past, but these days, music isn't part of what is happening at Tin Hall.
Tin Hall's enjoyed a lot of success during the Urban Cowboy heyday in the late 1970s and early 1980s and like any other business, there were ebbs and flows.
In 1986 Tin Hall closed and remained shuttered until Stockton started another resurrection in 1991.
In the early 2000s, Huffmeister Road, Tin Hall's main entry was rerouted, and a short time later the venue stopped booking shows and evolved into more of an event and community center, opening maybe once a month.
Bruce Hillegeist, president of the Tomball Greater Area Chamber of Commerce and a descendant of the original families in the area, remembers Tin Hall as an integral part of the Cypress community and Tomball community. "Tin Hall was a place that meant a lot to Tomball," he said. "Years ago, that the place to be on Saturday nights. It meant a lot to the area as a family place."
Contrary to popular belief, dance halls are a far different animal than saloons, honky tonks and beer joints, which often cater to rougher patrons and adult only crowds.
Dance halls, were family gathering spots where young people learned to dance and often took a first date; where young couples brought the kids to play while they had a dance or two on an evening out; and where older folks came to meet and gather with friends.
They were places for families.
However, with urban sprawl stronger than ever in Northwest Houston, places like Tin Hall are fading fast, and owners like Stockton are looking at ways to preserve and protect a vital piece of Cypress history, while at the same time evolving into something where families and friends can once again gather and have a good time.
Stockton, who has several people he is partnering with, including local restauranteur Joe Duong, said Tin Hall will never be a dance hall again, and will likely become a restaurant
"I don't want this torn down. It's part of my family history," he said. "I want to make sure that this continues to run as long as I am around."
TIN HALL HISTORY
The former dance hall is destined for yet another resurrection, but it could take a while.
1878: Original Tin Hall is opened by German farmers in Cypress, but burned down soon after
1889: Cypress Gun and Rifle Club rebuilds and reopens Tin Hall
1970s-2000s: Tin Hall enjoys significant success
2014: Fred Stockton sells Tin Hall to Mark Martinez. Martin sells the land to developer with plans to move Tin Hall.
2016: Tin Hall reverts back to Stockton after Martinez is unable to find suitable property
A family in the northwest Harris County area has started working towards building a new home with the help of Habitat for Humanity NW Harris County and a $30,000 community development grant from Bank of America.
In the 85 communities across eight countries in which Bank of America partners with, Houston is a city that Habitat for Humanity affiliates works with on projects and building homes.
"Partnerships like this are vital to Habitat for Humanity Northwest Harris County for many reasons. First of all we need the financial support," said Chad G. Greer, Habitat director of development. "We could not continue without the funds to purchase the material and land for the homes."
At the beginning of the month, the building project for the family kicked off during the third Global Build, which is a week Bank of America and its employees partner with Habitat for Humanity to address housing challenges in the U.S. and around the world.
"We believe that together with organizations like Habitat for Humanity Northwest Harris County, we can address these immediate needs by connecting individuals and families in Houston with access to affordable homeownership opportunities, putting them on a path towards a more stable financial life and, in turn, helping the community to thrive," said David Ruiz, Bank of America Houston market manager. "We always strive to provide not just a solution to the issue at hand, but to improve the lives of those touched by our support."
Bank of America has had a 30 year commitment to Habitat for Humanity International in joining forces to provide individuals and families affordable housing.
"Access to affordable housing is a critical stepping stone on the path to financial stability and success. Individuals and families who have access to affordable housing are better positioned to achieve their long-term goals, including better outcomes at work and education opportunities for their children, all of which contributes to the responsible growth of our community," said Ruiz, who also has volunteered every year with the organization since 2009.
The partnership between Bank of America and Habitat for Humanity will afford the Northwest Harris County Family to move out a home that is dilapidated and damaged with limited access to electricity.
"The (mother) lives with her two sons (16 and 24) and her father. For the past years they have lived in a three bedroom, three bath home which appears to be falling in on itself. The exterior walls are bowing out and there are gaps between the walls and the floor. There is only one operational shower and there is a large hole in the floor in front of it," Greer said. "The light fixture in the bathroom does not work and is supposedly wired directly through the exterior wall. The kitchen has only one working outlet and the family uses a power strip when it is necessary to operate appliances."
In addition to necessary living essentials, the new home will have four bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
Habitat for Humanity of NW Harris County is working on more affordable housing for a substantial number of individuals and families in the county.
The current home that is being built is the 255th home that the organization has built in northwest Harris County since the nonprofit was founded in 1989. To date, 255 families have benefitted from the program. Habitat for Humanity NW Harris County builds between 12 and 14 homes a year in the county.
Through Habitat for Humanity, which is a nonprofit organization that is faith based, volunteer driven organization dedicated to eliminating sub-standard housing, the home buyers will purchase the homes with a no-interest mortgage. Affordability is possible due to the agency using sustainable and energy efficient building practices, yielding more durable Energy Star Certified homes with lower operating costs over time. The uniqueness of Habitat for Humanity is that over 80 percent of the home is built by volunteers.
Habitat for Humanity NW Harris County is one of eight Habitat affiliates in metropolitan Houston. The relationship between Bank of America and Habitat for Humanity NW Harris County has provided more than $255,000 and hundreds of volunteers in the span of seven years.
"Helping people access stable, affordable housing and contributing to community revitalization is just one of the ways Bank of America is helping the Houston economy thrive," Ruiz said. "This year, Bank of America honored 11 nonprofit organizations including Habitat for Humanity Northwest Harris County with $300,000 in community development grants to support their critical work in building stronger, more vibrant neighborhoods in Houston, which is foundational to the overall economic health of our city."
Habitat for Humanity Northwest Harris County
Address: 13350 Jones Rd, Houston, TX 77070
On the Web: www.habitatnwhc.org
Phone: 281-477-0460
While Haiti is many miles away from Cypress, but the country is connected by needles and thread to some middle school students in Cy-Fair ISD.
Cate Vances, family and consumer sciences class teacher at Anthony Middle School, allowed her students to use their skills to sew dresses for girls in Haiti.
During a 2014 professional development seminar, Vance learned about the international organization Dress A Girl Around the World. The organization is a campaign under Hope 4 Women International, a nonprofit organization bringing dignity to women around the world.
Vance felt it was important for her students to participate in giving back to other children.
"The middle school years are a transition from childhood to youth-an age when their capacities are awakening and expanding, the mind is most questing, and ideas about self and society emerge," Vance said. "This is the time of building character and becoming the source of social good. Service applies knowledge, develops intellect, and builds character."
During the seminar, Vance and other middle school instructors were taught how to sew dresses from pillowcases. The middle-school teacher felt compelled to educate her students about other children who were less fortunate in other countries.
The teacher discussed education in impoverished countries to her seventh-grade students in Exploring Foods and Fabrics and eighth-grade students in Principles of Human Services classes. Vance showed photos of girls in impoverished countries, dressed in poorly-made and tattered T-shirts to her students during the 2014-15 school year.
Vance noticed that once her students learned that in order to attend school a girl must have proper clothing, they were inspired to sew the dresses.
"There is no better feeling than to be of service to another human being. One of the greatest services that can be rendered to another person is to offer them the opportunity to develop and be educated, particularly for girls who are the first educators of humanity," Vance said. "Some aspects of our society invite passivity, apathy and harmful behavior. Our students were animated by a spirit of selfless service-a sign that social action is a unifying factor."
In spring of 2015, in addition to completing in-class assignments, the students worked to sew dresses for the children in other countries. In spring of 2016, students from that year's classes completed unfinished projects and a total of 19 dresses were ready to be sent to help some deserving third-world children.
In an effort to show community support and collaboration, Cy-Hope, an organization that helps at-risk students in the Cy-Fair area, connected with Vance and the Foundry United Methodist Church to help get the dresses to the children in need of the clothes in another country. During a summer mission trip, members of Cy-Hope delivered the dresses to girls at the faith-based camp Jacob's Well near the town of Limbe, Haiti.
"Teaching goes beyond the boundaries of our community and the borders of the USA. The dresses made for the children in Haiti teach our students not only how to sew - even a simple dress - but it teaches them the art of giving to others less fortunate," Lynda Zelenka said, executive director of Cy-Hope. "They also learn the way of life and needs of the children in underdeveloped countries. The biggest blessing is to see pictures of children wearing the dresses they put thought and time into making with their own hands. It changes the lives of all involved and teaches everyone, they can make a difference in the lives of others."
Dress A Girl Around the World
http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com
Rachel Eggum Cinader.
Founder of Dress A Girl Around the World
Email: Rachel@h4wi.org
Hope 4 Women International
P.O. Box 8061
Tempe, AZ 85281
Phone: 480-392-1317
During the last year, a Houston man paid $7,000 after a caller told him he was being sought on an arrest warrant for failing to pay fines for missed jury service.
A Clear Lake man who received a similar call paid $1,900 and then sent another $1,900 hours later when the caller told him the first payment had not arrived.
These two men were among dozens of area residents who have been victimized by con men who pose as police officers and demand immediate payment for phony fines stemming from purported missed jury service. The callers say pay up or youll soon be arrested.
The Harris County District Clerks Office has launched public awareness efforts and will rely on news releases, posters, public service announcements and media interviews to combat this jury scam. The DCOs Jury Section this year has received an increasing number of complaints from people who have fallen victim to this scam.
My heart goes out to these victims. The best ways to combat this scam is through education. With information, people can keep from ever becoming a victim.
Remember: Police officers and court clerks will never ask people to pay fines on the phone.
The bottom line is dont give these people your prepaid debit card numbers, your credit card numbers or your Social Security number.
The District Clerks legal counselor Charlie Walker has been working with Precinct 1 Constable deputy inspector Rick Moreno and Sgt. Ruben Castillo and with a robbery detective at the Harris County Sheriffs Office in an effort to catch the con men.
Part of the problem is that the people running these scams may be operating out of state or even out of the country.
Typically, the con men order people to pay the fines using a prepaid debit card. They keep victims on the phone until they provide the number on the card that allows the con men to access the money.
Sometimes, the con men give the name of a real deputy who works in the Harris County Sheriffs Office. Most people are not fooled by the scam. But for the small minority who are, the scam can be costly.
They catch people who are elderly or law-abiding citizens, Moreno said. They say, Were going to arrest you. Moreno said he has investigated seven incidents in which victims paid $2,000-$7,000 in the past eight months.
The District Clerks Office will be putting up posters that warn the public about the scam in the DCOs public areas. Harris Countys four county commissioners have agreed to display posters in areas frequented by senior citizens. The District Clerks Office also will ask local radio stations to air a public service announcement that warns people about the scam.
Residents who have been contacted by the con men may call the DCO at 713-755-7300 or the Harris County Sheriffs Office at 713-274-9210.
After victims give con men the numbers from the prepaid debit cards, the con men often tell victims to mail the prepaid debit cards to the District Clerks Office. The con men provide the DCOs address.
The con men then tell a victim to put his or her name in the envelopes return address area plus a code indicating that the money is payment for an arrest warrant for missed jury service. The code that the con men provide often is BLOODMON33Y.
Moreno said the con men are just laughing at the victims by using the blood money code.
The jury service scam has occurred across the nation.
In Georgia, a man was charged with duping numerous victims out of at least $10,000 by posing as an officer trying to collect fines for missed jury service. Authorities were surprised when they found out the scams base of operations: a Georgia state prison.
An Arizona woman in her 80s was tricked out of $6,500 by a jury service scam.
These con men need to be caught, but its not easy because they often use disposable phones.
By educating the public and asking the public to educate their loved ones, especially the elderly, we can drastically reduce the number of people victimized by this scam.
District Clerk Chris Daniel oversees jury service and maintains court records for 78 courts in Harris County.
If you shop regularly at the Randall's store on San Felipe, north of the Galleria, you might have noticed a handmade sign by the self-checkout machines. As of Oct. 3, the piece of printer paper declares, the self-checkouts will be gone.
What? Why this step back from progress? Weren't robots like these supposed to take over our most menial occupations, until no humans were needed at all?
Dawne Proffitt, a spokeswoman for Randall's and its parent company Albertson's, explained that the removing human element had actually backfired.
"The installation of self-checkouts was in response to a growing trend years ago for retail stores to be even more 'self-service' than ever before," Proffitt says. "Through customer feedback, we learned many people are yearning for a return to a personal, customer service experience. We know engaging one-on-one with customers, making that connection, is important to our business and to those that we serve."
The machines were installed only in about half of Randall's 30 Houston-area locations, and they'll all be removed, a sign of the unexpected wrinkles that will slow our slide toward a fully automated future.
Of course, Randall's isn't the first grocer to junk self-checkouts. Albertson's and Big Y got rid of them in 2011, and Costco and Jewel-Osco a few years later. With the technology now decades old, most chains have a mix of stores with them and without them. H-E-B, for example, has self-checkout at only 15 of its Houston-area stores.
Self-checkout is still growing, but it likely won't become as ubiquitous as other labor-saving retail innovations like the barcode and the price scanner. Although the research firm RBR reported 26 percent U.S. sales growth in self-checkout machines in 2015, many of those were replacements for old machines that have now been in stores long enough to wear out.
Humans continue to work the checkout line. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the number of cashiers to grow by 2 percent from 2014 to 2024 - slower than overall employment, for sure, but by no means a mass layoff.
So why isn't self-checkout taking over the world? Randall's preference for a "personal, customer service experience" might be part of it. Some jobs whose core functions could technically be automated are still performed better by humans, who are able to react to unpredictable situations and provide a degree of emotional comfort, according to a study by the global consultancy McKinsey.
But also, recent research has shown that self-checkout machines allow for a substantially higher amount of shoplifting. Although employee theft is a big part of what retailers call "shrink," a study by British academics found that losses were twice as large with self-service lanes than traditional cashiers, as shoppers were able to slip items by a machine more easily than they might a watchful cashier's gaze.
Proffitt denied that shoplifting was part of the reason Randall's is turning away from self-checkout.
That's another big reason why automation doesn't move as quickly as it might, according to McKinsey researchers. When you add on costs such as the need to constantly upgrade software and fix broken machines, actual humans may still be cheaper, especially in low-wage Texas. The national average hourly wage for cashiers is a paltry $9.40 an hour.
This may all change as technology continues to improve. The largest producer of self-service machines, Atlanta-based NCR, says it's piloting a system called "Scan watch," which takes pictures of each item and raises the alarm if the fancy steak you put on the scale doesn't match the product code you keyed in.
Monica Hachem, who sells such systems for NCR, denies that grocers are cutting self-checkout because of theft. "The simplest way to look at it is that people are going to steal from you no matter what you do, no matter how many security systems you have in place," she says.
But if more staff help solve that problem even a little bit, it may be that more cashiers keep their jobs than the robot evangelists anticipated.
n this Sept. 23, 2011 photo, a row of self checkout lines are available at a Big Y supermarket in Manchester, Conn. A growing number of supermarket chains are bagging their self-serve checkout lanes, saying they can offer better customer service when clerks help shoppers directly. Big Y Foods, which has more than 60 southern New England locations, recently became the latest to announce it's phasing them out. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
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Staff photo by Jessica HillAssociated Press
In this Sept. 23, 2011 photo, a row of self checkout lines are available at a Big Y supermarket in Manchester, Conn. A growing number of supermarket chains are bagging their self-serve checkout lanes, saying they can offer better customer service when clerks help shoppers directly. Big Y Foods, which has more than 60 southern New England locations, recently became the latest to announce it's phasing them out.
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Families are invited to bring their little ghouls and goblins to the Houston Zoo for Zoo Boo.
Enjoy safe Halloween trick-or-treating, music, and fun activities with a wild twist on Fridays, Oct. 14, 21, and 28, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, Oct. 15-16, 22-23, 29-30, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Monday, Oct. 31, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Children can pick a child-sized pumpkin to decorate from the Fiesta Mart Pumpkin Patch, wander through a not-so-creepy Halloween maze, show off their best Zoo Boo costume and learn how to dance like a zombie at the Monster Mashquerade. They also can channel their inner artist and contribute to the Monster Mural and visit the Tatzoo Parlor.
Children of all ages can learn interesting animal facts as they try to guess what's in the Zoo Boo Mystery Boxes. The event also features Halloween-themed Meet the Keeper Talks presented by Phillips 66 and animal-themed Candy Corner candy stations. Activities vary. See the Zoo Boo activities online at www.houstonzoo.org/zooboo/ and in the Zoo Boo program at the zoo.
Guests are also invited to learn all about how the Houston Zoo helps animals like Houston toads and howler at the Howlerween station. Here, children can go on a discovery of which animals here in Houston and around the world need help, and what they can do to save animals in the wild.
All Zoo Boo activities are included with paid zoo admission. Zoo Boo is free for zoo members.
Fridays and Halloween will feature the Fiesta Mart Pumpkin Patch, the Not-so-creepy Creature Maze, Monster Mural, Halloween-themed Meet the Keeper Talks, Tatzoo Parlor, Candy Corner candy stations, Zoo Boo Mystery Boxes and Howlerween.
Activities on Saturdays and Sundays include The Monster Mashquerade, "Thriller" Dance Party with Aldine Dance Co. 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., Costume Parade 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Children's DJ, Fiesta Mart Pumpkin Patch, Not-so-creepy Creature Maze, Monster Mural, Halloween-themed Meet the Keeper Talks, Tatzoo Parlor, Candy Corner candy stations, Zoo Boo Mystery Boxes and Howlerween
The zoo is open daily at 9 a.m. and closed Christmas Day. Visit www.HoustonZoo.org for details.
Zoo Boo is sponsored by Fiesta Mart and United the official airline of the Houston Zoo.
Bear Creek Center to be open for early voting
Workers are in the final stages of repairing the Bear Creek Community Center, which was closed after the weeks of spring floods and rains. And though it won't be ready for classes or full use by the general public quite yet, enough of the center will be ready so it can be used as an early voting location for the Nov. 8 General Election.
The center, 3055 Bear Creek Drive, has long been a popular location for casting early ballots in person, which in this election cycle starts Monday, Oct. 24, and continues until Friday, Nov. 4. Visit www.harrisvotes.com for more information on Harris County early voting.
The center is expected to be fully complete and ready for full use again soon.
Congressman Bill Archer Dog Park among 10 best
Congressman Bill Archer Dog Park, one of five dog parks operated by Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack, was recently named one of the Best Dog Parks in the United States by AmericanTowns Media.
In an article titled "10 amazing Dog Parks guaranteed to make any pooch's day!" the group writes: "The 17-acre park features walking trails, an agility course and shaded structures for hot days. Plus, two bone-shaped ponds give Fido a chance to splash to his heart's content. And to avoid mucking up the car on the ride home, there are dog showers!"
The article on the 10 best dog parks in the nation can be found at http://bestdogparks.info. AmericanTowns Media spotlights local organizations and community initiatives.
Radack was one of the first elected officials in the nation to aggressively pursue dog parks as a serious recreational option for dogs and their owners.
Congressman Bill Archer Dog Park is located at 3201 Texas 6 North. It's open from 7 a.m. until dusk. Details on that dog park and others in Precinct Three can be seen on the precinct's website by visiting www.pct3.com/dog-parks.
Projects shut different sections of trail network
Two sections of hike-and-bike trails in Precinct 3's George Bush Park, 16756 Westheimer Parkway, closed in August due to separate improvement projects by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Precinct 3.
The Noble Road Hike-and-Bike Trail was closed Aug. 1 and is expected to remain closed until the summer of 2019 because of the Addicks and Barker Dam Safety Construction Project by the Corps of Engineers. Also closed will be Noble Road at Texas 6 and the Noble Road Trail parking lot.
On Aug. 8, a 1 mile section of the South Barker Cypress Hike-and-Bike Trail was closed so county crews could replace an old road bridge with a new bridge that will become part of the trail. That project is expected to last until late October or November.
Radack's office also recently closed a section of the Terry Hershey Trail between Park Row and Eldridge because of the Corps of Engineers' dam safety project. The closure was coordinated between the Corps and Precinct 3. This section of trail will be shut down for an undetermined amount of time because of the project.
A separate project by the Harris County Flood Control District to fight widespread erosion along the banks of Buffalo Bayou and Terry Hershey Trail in Terry Hershey Park has also started. This project involves more than a dozen sites on the north side of Buffalo Bayou in need of repair from Dairy Ashford Road to downstream of Wilcrest Road within HCFCD right-of-way.
There was widespread erosion along the trail at the sites being repaired after the flooding and extensive rains of the spring and the three-month release of stormwater from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs.
HCFCD officials are asking trail users and park patrons to take special care to stay away from the heavy equipment in work areas and to be patient. Some of the work might take several weeks to complete and large equipment and vehicles will be entering the park from major streets like North Wilcrest, Kirkwood and Dairy Ashford.
Construction is scheduled during daylight hours and may occur seven days a week. After the banks are repaired, Harris County Precinct 3 will reconstruct and relocate park trails and improvements. Some vegetation and trees will be removed during the repair process. The revegetation process will begin immediately after construction has been completed.
For more information, visit: www.hcfcd.org/thprepairproject. Park patrons with questions about any of these trail projects can call 281-531-1592.
Danny Jackson Family Dog Park remains open
The Danny Jackson Family Dog Park, 4828 Loop Central Drive, remains open for an undetermined amount of time while the precinct awaits word on the start of a CenterPoint Energy project that was to block public access to the facility.
Because of road work in the area by the Texas Department of Transportation, the energy company was going to raise transmission facilities at the park. That would block access to public parking there for almost a year. The project was supposed to begin in mid-August and Precinct 3 closed the dog park for one day before CenterPoint informed Radack's office that public parking was still available at least for now.
Radack immediately ordered the park reopened before it is again necessary to close it. It is not known when CenterPoint will start the work that will necessitate closing the park again. For more information, call the Precinct 3 Parks Office at 281-531-1592.
Commissioner to host October blood drive
Radack and the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center will conduct a blood drive at the Precinct 3 Westside Service Center, 16635 Clay Road, on Friday, Oct. 14, from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. The event is open to the public. Donors are urged to participate. Call Neemesys Magee at 713-266-8193 for more information or to schedule an appointment.
'Digging Old Stuff' at Kleb Woods Nature Center
The Kleb Woods Nature Center in Tomball continues its string of popular fall events with Radack's annual "Digging Old Stuff" program to celebrate early Texas culture and rural life. The program will be Saturday, Oct. 22, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Visitors will be able to jam to Bluegrass music, visit with historians, make a keepsake with blacksmiths, participate in an authentic archeological dig supervised by the Houston Archeological Society and tour the 1896 Kleb homesite. There will be spinners weaving cotton into thread, 19th century games and other family-friendly interactive activities
Admission is free. Patrons are encouraged to bring their own refreshments. Drinks and snacks will not be sold. Guests might also want to wear closed-toe shoes, comfortable clothing and bring bug spray and sunscreen. For more information, call 281-357-5324 or email klebwoods@pct3.com.
Annual Halloween Safe Night is scheduled Oct. 28
Radack will again offer his popular annual Halloween Safe Night at the Precinct 3 Westside Service Center, 16635 Clay Road, on Friday, Oct. 28, from 6 until 8 p.m. There will be refreshments, candy, games and prizes. For more information, call 281-463-6300.
Kleb Woods event takes flight on wings of little birds
Almost 1,100 people attended Radack's annual Kleb Woods Hummingbird Festival on Sept. 10 at the Kleb Woods Nature Center, 20303 Draper Road at Mueschke Road.
Sixty-nine volunteers put in almost 400 hours putting the popular event together. Hummingbird expert Sumitha Prasad captured and banded the small birds and gave patrons a chance to examine the creatures.
Other top draws included the Houston Audubon Society's Mary Ann Weber, who brought raptors to display. She switched birds on display throughout the day and patrons got to see a Great Horned Owl, an Eastern Screech Owl, a Mississippi Kite and a Swallow-tailed Kite.
There were also activities for the kids, along with artists, naturalists and blacksmiths.
Construction reports and staying informed
Updates on Precinct 3 road and construction projects previously featured in this report can now be seen on Radack's website at www.pct3.com. That data will be updated monthly since this report is now generated quarterly.
As always, Precinct 3 encourages comments and questions. Mail them to Radack's office at 1001 Preston, 9th Floor, Houston, Texas 77002 or email pct3@pct3.com. Those who have comments or suggestions about the precinct website are asked to email webmaster@pct3.com.
Connie Dever knew her son needed help by the time he was 3 years old.
He would lash out violently and then isolate himself.
"He got scared one day and ripped the door frame off our home," said Dever, who asked that her son's identity not be revealed. "He entered a program for preschoolers at Katy (Independent School District) called PPCD (Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities) that is for children with special needs."
Dever contacted the first of several psychiatrists. Her son, now 17, eventually would be diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, attention-deficit disorder and as bipolar.
At PPCD, Dever said her son's special needs were focused on and acknowledged. She expected something similar would be provided to him when he began kindergarten at the district's Diane Winborn Elementary School in 2004.
"But when he got to kindergarten, he was basically just treated as one of the regular kids," Dever said. "I gave them everything I had of him in terms of paperwork. His therapist even went with me."
Dever's story is not unique.
A recently published Houston Chronicle investigation found that unelected state officials in 2004 arbitrarily set a statewide benchmark of 8.5 percent for the number of students per school district that should receive special education services.
The investigation explained that the Texas Education Agency, the governing body for the state's public school districts, saved billions of dollars by implementing the benchmark and, as a result, thousands of students in districts across the state have since been denied services they may have critically needed for disabilities such as autism, epilepsy, mental illness and other diagnoses.
The rate of Katy ISD students who receive special education services has dropped by more than 10 percent of what it was in 2004. Approximately 9.9 percent of Katy ISD students received special education services that year, compared to about 8.9 percent of students this year, according to the Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System (PBMAS) at the TEA.
The investigation found that school districts not meeting the benchmark could face consequences such as fines or the implementation of "Corrective Action Plans."
In 2008, Katy ISD's percentage of students receiving special education dropped to below 8.5 percent for the first time since the state set the benchmark. The number reached a low of 7.7 percent of students in 2010. In 2014, it was at 8.5 percent exactly.
At Winborn, Dever's son grew worse as the years passed. He refused to attend school so many times that Dever began having to make truancy court appearances. Dever said the most that school officials offered him were services under "Section 504."
Section 504 refers to a part in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It is used statewide and gives students accommodations such as extra time on tests, but it does not provide typical special education services such as counseling or one-on-one time with teachers. The Chronicle investigation found that many school districts could have used this measure to lower the number of students receiving special education services.
Dever's son transferred to the district's Edna Mae Fielder Elementary School for his fifth-grade year after Dever said teachers at Winborn one day locked her son in a room by himself. At Fielder, Dever said he experienced his best year ever because his teacher made extra time to focus on her son alone.
For sixth grade, Dever's son enrolled at Cinco Ranch Junior High School, where he continued to receive only Section 504 services despite having a mental illness diagnosis. Even when school officials there provided her son with a separate "cool down" room to go to, the teacher encouraged him to return back to his regular class before he was ready to do so, according to Dever.
Later that year, Dever's son refused to return to public schools.
"Why couldn't they have taken him out of class all of those years and helped him with one-on-one time?" Dever said through tears. "They had all of his medicine records and the paperwork. They never gave him counseling. They never told me there were other services besides 504. I never knew I could have asked for more service."
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Katy ISD officials could not comment on Dever's case by press time because they had not received verification and consent from Dever that would allow them to release information regarding her son, according to district spokeswoman Maria Corrales DiPetta. The district, which is the eighth-largest in the state, also did not verify that its percentage of special education students served has decreased because it was trying to meet the statewide benchmark.
Brian Malechuk, executive director of Katy ISD's special education programs, said in a statement that the district "ensures that every family that requests special education testing is provided with an assessment to determine the need for services. The district serves all students who meet eligibility for special education services."
The Chronicle investigation revealed that some school districts encouraged parents to enroll at private schools or seek other alternatives in order to lower the percentage of special education children served. Like Dever, some parents were unaware that they could request special education for their child.
In response to how Katy ISD managed to lower its percentage of special education students served, Malechuk said the district's goal is "to provide intense interventions up front with individual students versus waiting for a student to fail and then test for special education. If interventions are not successful, a student would be tested for special education. However, parents have the right to request testing at any time."
Before the implementation of the benchmark, the average percentage of students in Texas who received special education services hovered around the national average of 13.5 percent. By 2015, it had dropped to 8.5 percent.
Katy ISD, a district of roughly 73,000 students, would serve about 900 more students in its special education programs today if its rate of service was still the same as in 2004, according to the PBMAS data.
But Katy ISD's drop in service should not be the focus for the Katy community, said district trustee George Scott, whose background is in public policy.
"Maybe Katy ISD should have been a whistleblower. But maybe Alief (ISD) should have been. Maybe Aldine (ISD) should have been. Maybe Needville (ISD) should have been. Maybe 1,100 other school districts in Texas should have been," Scott said. "But we cannot allow a frustration perhaps with what school districts didn't do under intimidation to color our judgment about what the damn state of Texas did. The evil-doer here is the state of Texas and the TEA."
Katy ISD has not filed a complaint to the TEA regarding the benchmark, nor has it been audited by the TEA regarding the benchmark, Malechuk said.
In response to the Chronicle investigation, the federal government has ordered the state to end its special education target unless it can prove no children were denied service.
Katy ISD provides education to students age 3 to 21, Malechuk said.
Beyond that, there are support groups that provide information on services for special education students older than 21 years old, such as Family to Family of Katy.
Dever's son is now pursuing his high school diploma through the GED program. Once needing several prescription pills just to make it through the day, he does not require any now, Dever said.
After receiving brain stimulation treatments, his behavior has softened. He still doesn't leave his home much, but Dever said he's more at peace. She's holding onto hope for him.
"Those officials in the state need to be fired," Dever said. "It's not fair. These kids could be successful if the resources were available. They need our help. I just pray it's not too late for my son."
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The Kingwood High School Fillies Dance Team will be welcoming back one of their own to the upcoming Kingwood Fillies Dance Clinic.
Former KHS Fillie and officer Jordan Buss, class of 2008, currently lives in California. She enjoys working as an independent consultant for LuLaRoe, a clothing line that specializes in women's and girls' clothing.
"LuLaRoe helps support women to be financially independent and specializes in conservative, but fashionable clothing," Buss said. "I feel that LuLaRoe has blessed my life. Being able to share my blessings with others is really important to me."
Buss is excited to host her first Pop-Up LulaRoe Boutique Fundraiser to the Kingwood Fillies Dance Clinic Oct. 15 at Kingwood High School.
From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., the community is invited to shop to support the Kingwood Fillies Dance Team.
"A few of the Fillies moms have been shopping with me," Buss said. "Our company encourages us to support our communities. As a former Fillie, I thought this would be a great fundraiser to do during the dance clinic."
Buss will donate $4 to $7 for each item sold to the KHS Fillies Dance Team.
Donna Porter, KHS Fillies Booster Club member, is a Fillie mom and a fan of LulaRoe. This is the first time Porter knows of that a Fillie alumni will have hosted a fundraiser like this during their dance clinic.
"A big thing for the Fillies is being involved in the community and the school, and having an alumni come back to do this ties it all in," Porter said. "We have t-shirts that say 'Once a Fillie; always a Fillie,' and I think this really brings home that statement."
This is Buss' first LulaRoe fundraising event, however she looks forward to hosting more in the future as a way to promote a product she believes in and a community she loves.
The Kingwood Fillies Dance Clinic is open to children from pre-k through high school. Participants will have the opportunity to learn choreography and technique from Fillies dancers.
For more, visit www.kingwoodfillies.net/dance-clinic.
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Turner Chevrolet in Crosby is turning over a new leaf.
With a new showroom and customer waiting area, more vehicles available for sale and an expanded parts and service department, the dealership, situated along U.S. 90 in Crosby, is officially ready to celebrate with a grand opening Saturday, Oct. 15.
The events officially kicks off from 3:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13 with a ribbon cutting ceremony. On Saturday there will be live music, refreshments, a car and lifted truck show and other activities throughout the day.
Owner Robert Turner is ready for the opportunity to let the community know who they are and what they have to offer.
"I first tried to buy this dealership location in the 2004-2005 time frame but it wasn't for sale," Turner said.
"Again in the 2009-2010 time frame, I tried to purchase the dealership and it was eventually sold to another group.
"I continued to focus on the additional operations I had with the Chevrolet dealership in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area when I was approached by the owners of the property about a partnership to which I said no.
"Eventually, the owners sold all of their assets and General Motors awarded the franchise to us and Turner Chevy was born.
"I always thought this was an under-performing location especially with the proximity to the market.
Purchasing this new location for the franchise was a super opportunity for this community we are something different so we took action to clean the place, expand portions, hire a great team of people and provide our residents with a state-of-the-art location to purchase new or used vehicles."
Previously the sales, service and parts department were all in one building so the renovations will help for all departments to better function and utilize space more efficiently
For Turner Chevrolet's General Sales Manager David Mendez, coming back to the Crosby community was like a homecoming, especially since he began his career at the previous dealership before leaving to explore other career opportunities.
"I could not be more excited to welcome the community to our dealership and work for a man who has the same vision," Mendez said.
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, Turner Chevy has a special, lifted truck decked out with pink details and accessories.
A portion of the sales for that truck and all sales will go toward breast cancer research.
Turner Chevrolet is located at 21001 Crosby Freeway in Crosby.
For more information on the dealership, visit www.turnerchevroletcrosby.com.
"look forward to the future with our great staff. It's emotional to see the community support and back us up; it will be exciting to see what happens next; we just want the opportunity for the community to get to know us. I feel blessed to be back here in this community."
Mondays worked at Ron Craft Chevrolet in Baytown for 10 years and then went to work with a friend in another business, which gave him more time to spend with his two children.
"I enjoyed that work but realized I needed something else, more interaction with people and the satisfaction of working with people," Mendez said. "Not long after that, I received a call saying that Turner purchased the Crosby dealership and was interested in speaking with me. Because of my connection to the community and history, the first email I ever had was crosbychevyman@aol.com and I've never gotten rid of it; it's still my personal email today."
Mendez jumped at the chance to be the general sales manager for the Crosby dealership in June 2014 and has worked with Turner to rebuild the dealership and provide state-of-the-art service for their customers.
ship in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area when I was approached by the owners of the property about a partnership to which I said no. Eventually, the owners sold all of their assets and General Motors awarded the franchise to us and Turner Chevy was born.
"I always thought this was an under-performing location especially with the proximity to the market. Purchasing this new location for the franchise was a super opportunity for this community we are something different so we took action to clean the place, expand portions, hire a great team of people and provide our residents with a state-of-the-art location to purchase new or used vehicles."
Previously the sales, service and parts department were all in one building so the renovations will help for all departments to better function and utilize space more efficiently
For Turner Chevrolet's General Sales Manager David Mendez, coming back to the Crosby community was like a homecoming, especially since he began his career at the previous dealership before leaving to explore other career opportunities.
"In 1995, I worked here at the dealership which was John Keating Chevrolet at the time; I was green into the car business and had just started selling cars," Mendez said. "On July Fourth weekend in 1996, I sold a car to a lady, who was in college and was looking for a new car.
"She ended up being my wife so I have a history with this community and this dealership. I worked here for 11 years, worked my way up through management and eventually made the decision to move on to another dealership."
Mendez worked at Ron Craft Chevrolet in Baytown for 10 years and then went to work with a friend in another business, which gave him more time to spend with his two children.
"I enjoyed that work but realized I needed something else, more interaction with people and the satisfaction of working with people," Mendez said. "Not long after that, I received a call saying that Turner purchased the Crosby dealership and was interested in speaking with me. Because of my connection to the community and history, the first email I ever had was crosbychevyman@aol.com and I've never gotten rid of it; it's still my personal email today."
Mendez jumped at the chance to be the general sales manager for the Crosby dealership in June 2014 and has worked with Turner to rebuild the dealership and provide state-of-the-art service for their customers.
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, Turner Chevy has a special, lifted truck decked out with pink details and accessories. A portion of the sales for that truck and all sales will go toward breast cancer research.
"I could not be more excited to welcome the community to our dealership and work for a man who has the same vision," Mendez said. "We've been working to build this new facility for almost two-and-a-half years and now we're here. When I first walked in after they had completed the construction on the sales floor, I cried because we've got a great new facility in a community I love. I look forward to the future with our great staff. It's emotional to see the community support and back us up; it will be exciting to see what happens next; we just want the opportunity for the community to get to know us. I feel blessed to be back here in this community."
Turner Chevrolet is located at 21001 Crosby Freeway in Crosby.
For more information, visit www.turnerchevroletcrosby.com.
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Officials with the Houston-Galveston Area Council and the city of Magnolia are expecting to see significant economic growth around FM 1488 and along Texas 249 when it is completed in 2021.
FM 1488 in Montgomery County is the main east-west corridor that spans between U.S. 290 to the Waller County line, to Interstate 45 south of River Plantation Drive in Conroe and by most standards is still considered largely undeveloped.
"Everything goes there ( along FM 1488)," said Magnolia City Administrator Paul Mendes. "When 249 comes through, it may take some of the pressure off of it, but right now, it's our major thoroughfare."
The Texas Department of Transportation understands the importance of keeping traffic along FM 1488 moving and has conducted numerous public meetings, studies and hearings dating back to the late 1990s towards that effort.
The latest TxDOT plan calls for widening 16 miles of FM 1488, between Joseph Road in Waller County and FM 149 in Montgomery, from two lanes to four lanes.
"The (Farm-to-Market) system and the other state routes are the key way people in these areas are commuting," Alan Clark, H-GAC's transportation director, said. "When you get out of Houston, and into the high growth areas, the FM system are the roads people use."
TxDOT is also looking at a plan to construct a four-lane divided roadway on new location around the north side of Magnolia from the proposed Texas 249 to existing FM 1488, west of Magnolia.
The total length of the project is approximately five miles.
While these improvements are still years away, developers have already see the potential that will come with FM 1488, and the arrival of the Texas 249 tollway within the next three years.
"We've got some development at the intersection of FM 149 and FM 1488," Mendes said. "We are just completing our water (infrastructure) out in that areawe've had quite a bit of interest from developers. When they found out we were putting city water and sewer out there, we heard from quite a few developers in the surrounding land."
Since the announcement of the 249 Partnership in 2012, city and county leaders have been looking to the planned expansion of mobility as a superhighway of growth and economic development.
In preparation for that, the city is hosting informal meetings with residential and commercial developers to talk about the city's unified development code.
Periodically, Magnolia Economic Development Coordinator Tana Ross will meet with the developers to discuss the unified development code - the city's guide to help facilitate managed growth within the city and the Magnolia extraterritorial jurisdiction.
The development code is a comprehensive statute that includes maps of the city and ETJ, and detailed descriptions of the various platting and zoning requirements codified by the city council.
In fact, Ross said the city could see as many as 9,000 homes built between now and 2030.
That estimate is a far cry from where the city population is right now.
Magnolia, which by most standards is a rural community, is roughly 4.5 square miles, and according to 2010 Census figures, there are 1,539 residents living within the city limits, and 138,000 living in what is defined as the retail trade area of the city.
"They are various plans and parcels of land that developers are always coming to (inquire) about," Ross said. "They are always asking about water and sewer because they want to be part of our city limits."
Outside of the promise of greater mobility, there are a number of reasons development is coming to the region.
One of those is a lower tax base, and the wide open spaces that are attracting developers.
"We simply have more land available, and these roadways are opening up all that land," Ross said.
In the area of FM 149 and 149 Spur - referred to as the Golden triangle to locals - is a parcel of land that will likely attract a new H-E-B store and possibly a home improvement store, such as a Home Depot or Lowes, Mendes said.
Behind that planned retail development, another developer has plans to build 1,100 townhomes, while at FM 1488 and Mill Creek, another 540 homes are planned.
"TxDOT has been doing a load of work on FM 1488 and FM 149," Mendes said. "There is as tremendous amount of roadwork to be done here."
More details:
Developers are casting their eyes in Magnolia's direction, but in many cases, they are waiting for the expanded and increased mobility. Some of the foreseeable changes include:
Widening FM 1488 from two to four lanes between Joseph Road in Waller County, to FM 149 in Montgomery County.
Expanding Texas 249 from Tomball to Todd Mission
Constructing a four-lane divided roadway on new location around the north side of Magnolia from the proposed Texas 249 to existing FM 1488, west of Magnolia.
Widening FM 1774 from FM 1488 to FM 149
If you read the Houston Chronicle's Chemical Breakdown series on the poor oversight of Houston's repositories of toxic material, you already know that potentially dangerous stuff could be lurking in your backyard. That might be more common than it is in other Texas cities, according to a new analysis, because of Houston's longstanding resistance to zoning.
The working paper, by economists at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Washington, takes a look at the distribution of commercial and industrial facilities throughout Chicago and several Texas cities to see how zoning had affected them over the years. Zoning typically separates buildings by their uses, so if it had any effect, you would expect to see a gradual segregation of residential, commercial, and industrial areas.
This did in fact appear to have happened in Chicago since that city imposed its zoning code in 1923. Houston, naturally, served as a control case to see what happens when no comprehensive set of rules exists. Although a hazardous materials ordinance passed in 1996, preventing hazmat sites from locating in areas that are more than one-third residential, many of them were established in previous decades and aren't affected.
Judging by the distribution of toxics-emitting facilities on a list maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency - which you can see for Houston here - the economists did find that polluters tend to be more densely clustered in other large Texas cities with fairly traditional zoning codes. In Houston, 65 percent of the city is within one mile of a facility in the toxic release inventory. That number is 30 percent, 44 percent, and 43 percent for Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas respectfully.
Why is this an economics issue? The researchers also found that houses in single-family residential areas tended to be more valuable than those right next to manufacturing facilities. Though they didn't look at prices in Houston specifically, there's already a rich literature on how polluting facilities depress adjacent property values. Thus, it's possible that the diffuse nature of pollution sources in Houston may have made the city overall more affordable (rather than having industrial uses concentrated in one area, which creates adverse conditions mostly for the poor neighborhoods next door).
Now, as with all working papers, this is just one data point in a universe of research around the impact of land-use regulation. The analysis is fairly rough, omitting the distribution of housing throughout the city. There also may simply be more polluters per square mile in Houston than there are in other cities; certainly there are some neighborhoods that host a lot more industry than others. And overall, I don't think Houston's lack of comprehensive zoning is the driving force behind its relatively cheap real estate.
But it does seem logical that having pollution sources distributed throughout the city would also mean that more homes could potentially be exposed, making them less valuable as a result.
Hoping to use a $450,000 grant from the Houston Endowment as an educational catalyst, Spring Branch ISD is moving forward this year with its Strategic Plan.
The plan outlines ways the district believes it can get more than 70 percent of its graduates through post-secondary education soon. Currently, about 44 percent of graduates from Spring Branch ISD have completed this feat, which is up from 36 percent in 2012.
Elliot Witney, who heads the district's research and design, said the district's T-2-4 goal can be reached with this new strategic plan, which went into effect this year. T-2-4 is a district philosophy that every student completes industry training, enters the military, or completes a two- or four-year degree plan after graduating.
The district announced the plan and the Houston Endowment grant at a breakfast Sept. 27.
"What we're excited about with this investment," Witney said, "is that it's going to allow us to move further faster and more effectively."
Planning for the Strategic Plan began in 2012.
"We started asking the community to dream with us about what's possible for the children in Spring Branch," Witney said. "We got incredible ideas generated from parents, students, staff, community leaders, faith leaders, etc. As (the Strategic Plan Committee) integrated their thinking into this plan, it ultimately took shape as one single goal, which has been our goal since 2012. Our goal has been to double the number of kids in our district who complete some form of education."
The grant will help the district provide training to existing employees, allow the district to figure out how to use collected data more efficiently and help develop infrastructure plans, Witney said.
Those are also the three basic components of the Strategic Plan, officially called the Local Innovation Plan.
"We know we need to recruit, select, develop and retain the best of the best for our kids," Witney said. "In order to do that, what you see in the plan is personalized professional learning.
"If a first-year teacher and a 30-year teaching veteran are sitting in the same professional development, it might not be as relevant to one or the other. How do we personalize the learning experience for the adults in our system so they can, like our kids, also reach their full potential?"
The same philosophy carries over to the classroom, Witney said, with more focus being emphasized on individualized learning for students.
He said among other things, keeping children accountable has high importance in the plan.
"One thing that has to happen is we need to make sure our children are held to high expectations," Witney said. "We need to figure out how to ensure every child can meet those expectations, whatever it takes. We know our talent in our system needs to reach their potential so we can help teachers help students."
Ultimately, Spring Branch ISD is hoping to have more post-secondary success with the students it graduates.
"Between evolving our learning, evolving how we think about professional learning and people and aligning our supports in our community, we think that will ultimately be the three buckets of work that help us reach T-2-4," Witney said.
School of Nashville Ballet accepted Levana Hoang, a young dancer from west Houston, to participate in its Summer Intensive program, where she spent part of her summer developing her ballet technique and performance skills at the official School of Nashville Ballet.
Hoang studies at the Allegro Ballet of Houston, which is located at 12680 Goar Road in west Houston.
This year's Summer Intensive program included 313 students from 33 states across the country as well international students from Brazil and Canada. Students had the chance to train with Nashville Ballet's internationally recognized teachers and guest faculty, as well as be seen by artistic director/CEO Paul Vasterling.
"Summer Intensive allows dancers to exclusively dedicate themselves to dance during a short period of time," said Nick Mullikin, director of School of Nashville Ballet. "Students are exposed to a wide variety of dance and teaching styles with classes up to seven hours a day, six days a week. It's an incredible commitment, but they leave with a broader knowledge of dance and the skills to take the next step in their training and career."
This past summer, Nashville Ballet offered eight Summer Intensive sessions for ages 11 and over, ranging from one to five weeks. Students had the opportunity to board at nearby Belmont University in suite-style apartments, as well as go on organized trips to explore the city of Nashville.
"Not only do students develop their abilities inside the ballet studio at Summer Intensive, but they are gaining life skills that can be applied outside of the studio," Mullikin said. "Students are learning qualities like discipline and independence while also forming a lifelong bond with each other over this shared experience. Summer Intensive offers a glimpse into the life of a professional dancer, but if that doesn't end up being your path, you're learning the skills to be successful wherever you may go."
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Residents of a neighborhood in the master-planned Shadow Creek Ranch community have withdrawn their petition to break away from Fort Bend ISD and join Alvin ISD.
But that Oct. 2 action doesn't mean they've given up on their goal to switch districts.
The decision by residents of the Village of Diamond Bay followed the Fort Bend ISD's board's unanimous vote Sept. 26 to reject the petition. Residents withdrew the petition before a scheduled Oct. 3 public hearing of the Alvin ISD board.
The community is postponing, not ending, its efforts to change districts, Diamond Bay resident Sarom In said.
In declined to say why the residents withdrew their petition or when they may resubmit it.
If both school boards had accepted the petition, Village of Diamond Bay residents could have begun the process of switching districts. If just one school board had accepted the petition, residents could have appealed to the Texas Education Agency. Residents could not have appealed if both boards had rejected the petition.
Diamond Bay residents had argued that Alvin ISD campuses were closer and higher achieving.
At the Sept. 26 Fort Bend ISD hearing, Diamond Bay resident Adrianna Mesa's voice broke when she described her son's experience at Blue Ridge Elementary, the Fort Bend ISD elementary school to which the neighborhood is zoned.
"I will not speak ill of the teachers, they are trying their hardest," Mesa said. "They are great teachers, but they're fighting a losing battle ... And they're serving the community that they have, but we're not their community."
More than 100 Diamond Bay residents attended the Sept. 26 hearing. They filled the school board chamber. Fort Bend ISD had to provide overflow seating in the hallway.
Diamond Bay families are zoned to Blue Ridge Elementary, McAuliffe Middle and Willowridge High schools.
The rest of Shadow Creek Ranch is zoned to Alvin ISD schools located within Shadow Creek Ranch.
All three Fort Bend ISD schools are located outside of Shadow Creek Ranch and have a history of low performance. Though the schools met state standards during the 2015-16 school year, they scored significantly lower than nearby Alvin ISD campuses.
Blue Ridge Elementary, for example, reached a score of 66 on student achievement. Nearby Alvin ISD schools Mary Burks Marek Elementary, Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary and Glenn York Elementary scored 84, 89 and 86, respectively, in the same category.
"These schools have been low-performing for decades," Diamond Bay resident Chad Greenfield said Sept. 26. "Just because there is a standard met doesn't mean it's acceptable."
Fort Bend administrators said at last month's hearing that all three schools have shown steady improvement. They maintained that losing the Village of Diamond Bay would have made it more difficult to raise tax revenue and pay off bonds.
It would also cost Fort Bend ISD $453,000 in student revenue annually and $3.9 in property values for the first year.
There have been two successful detachments in 2016, and there was one successful detachment in 2015, according to Texas Education Agency spokesperson Lauren Callahan.
Common reasons include wanting to attend school closer to home, Callahan said.
Another Houston-area community tried to detach just a year ago.
Residents of the Energy Corridor's Thornwood neighborhood unsuccessfully petitioned in 2015 to leave Katy Independent School District in favor of Spring Branch Independent School District.
Since the education code regarding annexations and detachments was approved in 1995, there have been 23 appeals to the Texas Education Agency, said Joy Baskin, director of legal services at the Texas Association of School Boards.
Residents of the Village of Diamond Bay said, until recently, they never thought they would be trying to switch school districts.
Many thought the neighborhood would soon be getting its own Fort Bend ISD elementary school.
The land-use plan for Shadow Creek Ranch included five elementary schools four Alvin ISD campuses, which are either built or in progress, and one Fort Bend ISD campus, Drew Pelter, general manager of Shadow Creek Ranch, said in an email.
Fort Bend ISD owns a 12-acre site within Shadow Creek Ranch, which is valued at $5.2 million.
Fort Bend ISD spokeswoman Amanda Bubela said the district's demographic data currently does not show a need for a new school in Shadow Creek Ranch.
Now, only 74 students in the neighborhood attend Fort Bend ISD schools.
Parents have opted to send their students to private school or have enrolled them in Pearland Independent School District, which accepts inter-district transfers.
And some parents, faced with the choice of pricey private schools or a struggling public one, have already put their houses on the market.
They include Tammy Norris, a mother of two who wanted to stay at home but instead plans to start working again so her two daughters can attend private school.
Her current reality isn't what she envisioned when she moved to the neighborhood because she heard about excellent area public schools.
"This was not what I signed up for," Norris said.
Fort Bend County
Luis Antonio Romero, 42, of Houston was convicted of driving while intoxicated on Oct. 5 by a jury after it deliberated for only 30 minutes.
Judge Robert J. Kern then sentenced Romero to 90 days in the county jail. Romero was arrested in Missouri City after almost crashing into a police car in May 2014.
Sue Lockwood
The Exchange Club of Sugar Land will work at the ticket booths for the Wings Over Houston Airshow at Ellington Airport in Houston on Oct. 21-23.
District 22 U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, will fly in the passenger seat of The Blue Angels Aircraft 7. Olson was a naval aviator deployed in 1992 in the Western Pacific and 1994 in the Persian Gulf.
Sugar Land Cultural Arts Foundation
Ruth Stubenrouch of the Sugar Land Cultural Arts Foundation was honored as a Fort Bend Volunteers! "Behind the Scenes" Volunteer of the Year at the group's fifth annual breakfast on Sept. 28 at Safari Texas.
The foundation nominated Stubenrouch because of her commitment to the organization, execution and perseverance of tasks to promote and support the organization's interests, and her passion for the arts. As a founding member of the organization, she has spent countless hours promoting the arts in Fort Bend County.
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When Joshua Castro completed his Army service, including 1 years in Iraq, he found himself struggling.
"I was in Iraq between 2007 and 2008," said Castro, who was a sergeant when was discharged. "I saw guys blown up. I lost guys. And I was having a lot of problems trying to acclimate. I was self-medicating."
Castro, 31, was affected by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, a psychiatric disorder caused by experiencing or wit nessing life-threatening events. Castro's struggles were touch ing every aspect of his life: work, relationships, physical health.
That's why he decided it could be worth the 27-hour drive from California to Texas when friend Wyatt Pena, who'd deployed with him - told Castro about his experiences with Camp Hope in northwest Houston.
"I heard something different in his voice: hope," Castro said.
Castro experienced a flicker of hope himself when he arrived at Camp Hope in March.
"The second I walked in the house I felt it: instant brotherhood. The staff members have served and gone through the program. You want what they have."
Camp Hope, 9724 Derrington Road, provides interim housing and peer support for veterans learning to cope with PTSD. Since the Houston-based PTSD Foundation of America launched the community of modular housing units in May 2012, Camp Hope has been home to more than 300 residents: veterans and their families.
And earlier this summer, Camp Hope opened its fourth house, bringing its capacity up to 80 beds. The camp's master plan calls for two more houses, which will give it a 180-bed capacity.
During their time there, an average of six months, veterans get help with coping skills, anger management and leadership development during group lessons and support ses sions with other combat veterans, along with mentoring ses sions with combat trauma mentors.
Staff members also help residents with job placement and connect them with other organizations and resources.
"They give you so many tools," Castro said. "It's done more for me in the past few months than I could do for myself in eight years. Things are starting to come together now."
Camp Hope strives to support family members, too, by giving them a better under standing of PTSD and equipping them to help the veteran in their lives.
PTSD Foundation of America works closely with Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, which refers veterans to Camp Hope.
Residents also have access to free counseling from Conroe-based Refuge Trauma & Counseling Center, and through community donations, the bulk of residents' food is provided to them at no cost.
"It has been a grassroots community effort that Houston should be very proud of," Executive Director of Support and Fundraising David Maulsby said.
PTSD Foundation of America also is working to get the word out about PTSD. There is a false perception that people suffering from this disorder are violent, Maulsby said.
"PTSD results in 22 suicides a day, not 22 homicides. PTSD leads to self-destruction, not outward destruction."
Camp Hope can use volunteer help in areas from child care to answering phones to facilitating support groups. Visit http://ptsdusa.org/camp-hope for details.
Also, PTSD Foundation of America will hold its fifth annual BBQ Cook-Off and fundraiser 5-10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at Camp Hope. The event, which features competitors from throughout the country, features free barbecue and music for the community, children's activities and silent auctions.
"Last year, over 1,600 people came by during the weekend," Maulsby said. "It's a lot of fun; it's family friendly; and it gets people on our campus."
-- breakout
Want to know more?
For details about the cook-off, visit http://ptsdusa.org/th_event/5th-annual-bbq-cook-off-benefiting-camp-hope
Veteran Crisis Line: 800-273-TALK (8255)
Four Types of PTSD Symptoms:
Reliving the event
Avoiding situations that remind you of the event
Negative beliefs and feelings
Feeling keyed up
Details: www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/symptoms_of_ptsd.asp
-- photo
Staff photo by Jerry BakerFor the Chronicle
Veteran Josh Castro, left, of Sacramento, Calif. and a resident of Camp Hope, visits with Executive Director David Maulsby in the interim housing area of the camp on June 23, 2016. (Photo by Jerry Baker/Freelance)
In case you missed it, last week the Texas Attorney Generals Office announced that thanks to a multi-agency investigation, 25 suspected child predators in the greater Houston area were arrested.
You can view the story and see the photos of those arrested by going to http://tinyurl.com/j6cvy24.
It is a good thing to see anyone who goes online in search of a minor to get arrested. It is distressing to realize that children are not safe in their own homes in this Internet age.
Those arrested last week were charged with online solicitation of a minor, a felony. All who were arrested were men with most did not have any previous felonies on their records. That is where the similarities disappear.
The men ran the gamut of age and race.
The cases were investigated by likely agencies like the Harris County Sheriffs Office and Houston Police Department, and relatively small agencies like Deer Park Police Department and the Waller County District Attorneys Office.
It all goes to show that when it comes to keeping children safe online, there is no one thing to look for. There is no such thing as a look with regards to a child predator.
Thankfully, there are law enforcement agencies out there taking aim at these individuals. All too often, it simply takes someone way too eager to meet a child to set their own trap.
What parents need to do is monitor what their children are doing online.
There are so many opportunities for strangers to reach out to children online it is pretty daunting keeping track of them all. Snapchat, Kik, Instagram and Google Hangouts are just a few of the places where predators can track down vulnerable children. It is more than just Facebook, although that should not be discounted.
Internet-savvy children can be a few steps ahead of their parents as well.
Internet-savvy predators will educate children on how to cover their tracks, seemingly under the guise that they want to keep talking with them. It does not have to be child with a bad home life that is vulnerable. A bad person can convince an otherwise good kid in a good home to do something wrong.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a newer trend for online predators is sextortion. This is where non-physical forms of coercion are utilized, such as blackmail, to acquire sexual content (photos/videos) of the child, obtain money from the child or engage in sex with the child.
Children are being blackmailed into doing something online that they otherwise would not do.
The NCMEC reports that the average age at the time of the incident was approximately 15 years old, despite a wider age-range for female children (9-17 years old) compared to male children (12-17 years old).
An Internet-savvy predator will most likely know how to manipulate a teen into doing something wrong. That should be scary for most parents.
For more information or to report a crime, go to the NCMEC site at www.netsmartz411.org.
In the meantime, thank local law enforcement for its efforts in getting potential child predators off the streets and behind bars.
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trustee officer in state group
Fort Bend ISD Trustee Jim Rice will serve as secretary-treasurer of the Texas Association of School Boards after an election held during the group's recent annual Delegate Assembly and Convention in Houston. Rice was elected to the Fort Bend ISD board in May 2010. During the past six years, he has served as board secretary, president and currently Audit Committee chair. Elected to the TASB Board of Directors in 2012, he chaired the Legislative Committee during the 84th Legislative Session and served on the Nominations and Planning and Development committees. A graduate of Leadership TASB, Rice is president of Rice & Gardner Consultants, an engineering and construction management firm.
In addition to his professional duties, he currently serves as the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce's Education Division chair and is a 2005 graduate of the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Forum Class. He also has served on the Fort Bend Literacy Council Board of Directors and the Sam Houston Area Council Boy Scouts of America Board of Directors and is a co-founder of Fort Bend Cares, a 501(c)3 charitable organization.
TASB is a nonprofit association established in 1949 to serve local public school boards.
musical programs earn recognition
Seven Fort Bend ISD band and orchestra programs are named winners in the 2016 Mark of Excellence Project.
Among 236 of the finest musical ensembles, representing 36 states nationwide, to enter the competition, FBISD groups are:
National Winner Fort Settlement Middle School Honors Band (directed by Greg Countryman and Theresa Baragas)
Commended Winner Clements High School Symphonic Band (directed by Daniel Galloway)
FBISD orchestras named Commended Winners in the National Orchestra Honors project are:
Austin High School Camerata Orchestra (directed by Carolyn Vandiver and Elizabeth Mandic-Nowak)
Dulles High School Honors String Orchestra (directed by Michael Isadore)
Dulles High School Honors Symphony Orchestra (directed by Michael Isadore)
Fort Settlement Middle School Chamber Orchestra (directed by Angela Peugnet)
Garcia Middle School Symphonic Orchestra (directed by Priscilla McGar)
Sponsored by the Foundation for Music Education, the Mark of Excellence Project is a not-for-profit organization that promotes music education through scholarships and other worthwhile projects. It is a competition, entered by recordings, in which the top-quarter are selected as national winners, and the second-quarter receive commended honors.
academies schedule 8th-grade preview
Fort Bend ISD will host an Academy Preview to give eighth-graders and their families an opportunity to learn about the district's high school academy programs and the application process for the school year 2017-18.
The preview will be 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Ridge Point High School, 500 Waters Lake Blvd., Missouri City.
Families are asked visit www.fortbendisd.com/academies to register.
The district has six high school academy programs:
Digital Media Academy at Hightower High School
Engineering Academy at Elkins High School
Global Studies Academy at Travis High School
International Business and Marketing Academy at Travis High School
Math and Science Academy at Dulles High School
Medical Science Academy at Hightower High School
Each academy will also host an open house. The dates are:
Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Engineering Academy, Elkins High School, 7007 Knights Court, Missouri City, from 6-7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 26 at Global Studies Academy and International Business and Marketing Academy, Travis High School, 11111 Harlem Road, Richmond, from 6-8 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 27 at Digital Media Academy and Medical Science Academy, Hightower High School, 3333 Hurricane Lane, Missouri City, from 6-7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 1 at Math and Science Academy, Dulles High School, 550 Dulles Ave. Sugar Land, from 6-7:30 p.m.
Visit www.fortbendisd.com/academies for more information. Students may apply online at https://secure.fortbendisd.com/academyapp, beginning Nov. 1.
Meeting to focus on service academies
On Wednesday, Oct. 26, Fort Bend ISD will host a Service Academy Information Meeting to give students and their families an opportunity to learn more about the admission process for the nation's five service academies the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy-Annapolis. The meeting will be at Clements High School, 4200 Elkins Drive, Sugar Land, from 6-8:30 p.m., and is also open to school counselors and teachers. Parents are asked to contact the college and career readiness adviser or counselor at their student's school for information.
Randle honored in Washington, D.C.
Lamar Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Thomas Randle is one of six superintendents from across the nation recognized in Washington, D.C., for his commitment to "Lead Higher."
The Lead Higher event, hosted by Equal Opportunity Schools and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, recognized the educators for their work to increase the number of underrepresented students participating in Advanced Placement classes.
Last school year, Lamar CISD implemented EOS programs at Lamar Consolidated and Terry high schools.
The EOS program is designed to examine AP offerings on each campus and then use strategies to find underrepresented groups of students and encourage their participation in AP courses.
In just one year, Lamar CISD added 373 AP students at Lamar Consolidated and Terry high schools.
This year, the district is expanding EOS strategies to Foster and George Ranch high schools.
The EOS program is only part of Lamar CISD's focus on rigorous academics.
The district is one of 130 school districts in the United States - and one of only 21 in Texas - placed on the Gaston Caperton Opportunity Honor Roll.
Monika Zarzycka, instructional associate professor with the University of Houston College of Technology Digital Media program, is one of 10 women honored as a Woman of Distinction at the Graph Expo & Print 2016 Annual Conference.
The annual award celebrates the achievements of women in the graphics communication industry and took place in ceremonies in Orlando, Florida.
"It's such a great honor to be recognized as one of the Women of Distinction among many great female leaders in the graphic communications industry who were chosen for this award," Zarzycka said. "I would like to thank Jerry Waite for supporting me and helping me strive in my career."
Professor Jerry Waite is the coordinator of the digital media program.
The "Women of Distinction" designation is an industry recognition program from OutPutLinks Communication Group, which has been honoring women for 15 years. All honorees were nominated by their peers and selected based on their contributions to the industry.
Zarzycka began her teaching career at the University of Houston in 2005. She and Waite created the digital media major in 2008, and secured a six-year accreditation from the Accrediting Council for Collegiate Graphic Communications in 2010 and in 2016. The major has nearly 500 students.
Through university grants, Zarzycka designed interactive lessons for various courses, including those that help students improve their writing. In fall 2016, she obtained a $25,000 Teaching Improvement Grant to utilize interactivity and gaming in online teaching.
"Seldom in a professor's career is it possible to watch a young student grow from an inquisitive and hardworking college student to a nationally-renown 'Woman of Distinction,'" said Waite. "I am fortunate because I was her teacher at University of Houston and am now her proud colleague. Even though I'll always consider her my 'padawan learner,' she's grown to a position of national prominence and is a positive force in our digital media industry."
Zarzycka is the former president of the Graphic Communications Education Association, past director of college relations for the Houston Production Management Association, and faculty sponsor of a student chapter of GCEA (GCEAUH). She has published scholarly articles in the Visual Communications Journal and presented her research at numerous national and regional conferences.
Zarzycka join 117 women worldwide, representing professional, technical, entrepreneurial and management, who have been recognized by OutPutLInks Communications Group. Visit http://outputlinks.com/092616-wod-reveals-recipients-ol for a complete list of honorees.
Originally from Poland, Zarzycka moved to United States in 1996 as a high school exchange student. Her American host family - C.J. and Martha Fertitta - exposed her to graphic design and printing, which inspired her to pursue studies in that area.
A scholarship allowed her to pursue undergraduate studies at the University of Houston College of Technology, where she earned a degree in technology leadership supervision. She later earned a master's degree in training and development and later a master's of divinity.
A local church has launched an outreach effort aimed at helping the homeless population along FM 1960 in northwest Harris County.
Members of Saint Dunstan's Episcopal Church noticed the homeless population increasing in the area and felt the need to establish a space for the homeless to receive hope in hospitality. Now, the 1960 Hope Center is open and helping the area's homeless population.
"We noticed the change of demographic for the 1960 area. We decided that we needed to take a look at how our church could plug into the changes that were happening in the area," said Debbie Johnson, president of the board. "It was not until we had people living on our property at church and in the woods across the street that we realized from a faith perspective that God had put the people in our midst and that we needed to respond."
The Hope Center is a day shelter for homeless within the FM 1960 northwest Houston corridor. The nonprofit organization is a coalition of various civic, health and religious groups and works with various churches and organizations in Houston as well as the Harris County Sheriffs Office Homeless Outreach Team.
"When we starting seeing the changing demographics in the area we [learned] there was not anything in the area for the (homeless). There were no day shelters of any kind in the area," Johnson said. "We knew that we had a big issue in the area for homelessness."
Last year, the Coalition for the Homeless estimated there were approximately 4,400 sheltered and unsheltered homeless in Harris County. The 1960 Hope Center volunteers learned that there have been nearly 1,000 people identified as homeless between U.S. 290 and Interstate 45 along the FM 1960 corridor.
"I think there is a significant need in this community and it is not recognized by a lot of the people that live in (Harris County) Pct. 4. So, we want to not only raise awareness, but also meet the needs of those who are wondering the streets and in the woods," said Jodie Leach, volunteer and board of directors member. "Unlike the city of Houston, which has services and places for people to go, when people get shifted out of the city and into the suburbs there are fewer resources."
It was not a simple task for the church members to find a building for the center that provides hope for the homeless. Some landlords did not want a homeless outreach ministry in their vicinity. After searching for a home for the hope center, the members of the organization were thankful for finding their current location.
Services available for the homeless at the center are laundry, showers, snacks, computer use, mail, and clothing, and flu shots. Those who come to the center also have access to bible study. Volunteers of the 1960 Hope Center lending a helping hand by registering guests, prepare lunch- off site, serve lunch, housekeeping, in-house laundry service, work the clothing closet, mentor individuals, lead addiction recovery groups, lead study groups, and offer hair-cutting and styling.
Big-ticket needs for the 1960 Hope Center are an industrial dryer and washer. Immediate in-house needs for the center include coffee, coffee cups, creamer, sugar packets, stirrer sticks, liquid soap for bathrooms, Tilex shower spray (without bleach), toilet paper, toilet bowl cleaner, packages with individually wrapped snack items, non-perishable protein items, backpacks, new adult underwear, new socks.
"Our mission is that when the homeless come in we address their social, emotional, physical, and spiritual issues. We are here to address that," Johnson said. "The goal is to get people out of homelessness and into jobs and housing and we are working with agencies to make that happen, if we can not."
The executive director for the 1960 Hope Center is Robert Butler. The board of directors includes Virginia Blake, Jodie Leach, Henry Killen, Frances Mallow-Taylor, Roger Sherrill, Evelyn Stokes, and Reverend Brian Tarver.
The organization will be holding their premier event "Flight to Hope for the Homeless" on Oct. 25 at the Northgate Country Club. The event is aimed to raise awareness and seed funding to offer services for the homeless.
"It doesn't do anyone any good for there to be homelessness. It hurts the community at large, it hurts the people that are homeless and it takes away from productivity," Johnson said. "If more organizations would take this on we would be able to get more people working and contributing to their community."
1960 Hope Center
744 Cypress Creek Parkway Suite B
Houston, TX 77090
832-965-5511
1960hopecenter@gmail.com
"Flight to Hope for the Homeless"
Northgate Country Club
Oct. 25
6:00-8 p.m.
Homeless Outreach Team (H.O.T.)
14511 Falling Creek
281-587-0654
homelessoutreach@sheriff.hctx.net
www.sheriff.hctx.net
Coalition for the Homeless
Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County
2000 Crawford Street, Suite 700
Houston
Phone: 713-739-7514
Council on Alcohol and Drugs of Houston 713-942-4100
Participating Churches for the 1960 Hope Center
St Ignatius Loyola Catholic
Northside Christian Church
John Wesley United Methodist
Windwood Presbyterian Church
Grace Church of Humble
Faithbridge
The Woodlands First Baptist Church
Northwoods Presbyterian Church
Kinsmen Lutheran
Champions Forest Baptist Church
Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic Community
Bammel Church of Christ
Springwood United Methodist Church
The Texas Rangers and the Tomball Police Department are investigating allegations of an inappropriate student-teacher relationship that has led to the dismissal of a district employee from Tomball Memorial High School.
Capt. Ricky Doerre, who leads the investigative division for the Tomball Police Department, said the department is proceeding very carefully in the investigation.
"This is one of those things where you've got to make sure all your i's are dotted and t's are crossed," he said "We are still in the middle of this investigation."
Parents of Tomball Memorial students received an email on Saturday from Tomball Memorial Principal Chad Smith, which stated that administrators had learned of the alleged relationship.
"The information we gathered was turned over to law enforcement officials for further investigation due to the seriousness of this situation," Smith said in his letter to parents.
Tomball ISD spokeswoman Staci Stanfield said the employee, who still has not been officially identified by authorities, was removed from the campus and is no longer employed with Tomball ISD.
"The district does not condone this kind of behavior and takes all allegations of this nature seriously for the safety of our school community," Stanfield said.
Students and teachers, who did not wish to be identified, said police officers were on campus several days last week, but no one was told what was going on.
It wasn't until investigators confiscated a computer from one of the classrooms last week that the school district began preparing the letter that went out over the weekend.
Doerre said while parents were notified over the weekend, authorities were notified of the inappropriate relationship earlier in the week.
"We've been in the middle of the investigation and in communication with the school, prior to the letter being sent," Doerre said. "You don't send a teacher home or dismiss a teacher because someone makes an allegation. You have to do our due diligence to say if there is any credibility to the allegation."
The former district employee is facing charges of inappropriate relationship with a child/student, which is a felony and carries a maximum sentence of is punishable by up to 20 years in a Texas prison and a fine of no more than $10,000.
Doerre said investigators will work with the school district and will make their announcement on a suspect when the investigation is completed.
The 2017 HabitatMCTX Gala Committee celebrated its kickoff at an event hosted by Donna's Home Furnishings. More than 30 men and women gathered at the Conroe Furniture Showroom for food and refreshments to celebrate the beginning of a new Gala year the sixth for the organization.
Kim Lindley, 2017 gala chair, welcomed the group and expressed her enthusiasm for the coming year. The gala theme is "Kentucky Derby: Run for the Roses," appropriately named as the May 6, 2017, gala shares the same date as the Kentucky Derby.
Submitted
Author Mary Helen Specht will appear at Lone Star College-Montgomery, G-102, as part of the Writers in Performance reading series at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20.
Specht's highly accomplished debut novel "Migratory Animals" won the young writer high praise from the nation's top critics along with a host of honors. Her first novel won the Texas Institute of Letters Best First Fiction Award, Writers' League of Texas Best Fiction Award and was listed as Editor's Choice of the New York Times and Austin American-Statesman, as well as an IndieNext Pick and Apple iBook selection. Texas Monthly has listed Specht as one of their "Ten Writers to Watch."
Houston-based Coventry Homes recently received two awards in Houston's Best PRISM Awards hosted by the Greater Houston Builders Association.
The builder won Volume Builder Townhome Product Design for its Versailles floor plan offered in Somerset Green. Coventry's Design 8264 in Avalon at Spring Green took home the award for Volume Builder "Specialty Home" Front Elevation up to $750,000.
"It's always an honor to be recognized among such an elite group of residential real estate professionals in one of the nation's top housing markets," said Paul Blackburn, division president for McGuyer Homebuilders, Inc., (MHI), parent company of Coventry Homes. "We are particularly pleased to have been recognized for our townhome design for Somerset Green because our designers put a great deal of thought into creating something that would fit the European-style aesthetic of the community."
The Greater Houston Builders Association has hosted the awards for nearly 40 years, recognizing the industry's best people, products and promotions. Entries are judged by an independent panel of experts from across the nation.
Coventry Homes builds throughout the Houston region, with homes priced from the $300,000s to more than $1 million in 31 planned developments.
For more information, visit www.coventryhomes.com.
Eleanor Whilden Tinsley was a stylish stay-at-home mom who'd taught piano lessons and Sunday school when a trio of men arrived at her suburban ranch house in 1969, her son recalls. They sought to recruit her to run for school board as part of a slate to finally end segregation in the Houston public schools - more than 15 years after the Supreme Court had officially outlawed it.
In those days, the KKK held regular rallies in the region, and the Houston ISD board had long been dominated by an ultraconservative cabal that had resisted federal court orders to integrate.
At first, Tinsley, then 43, figured reformers might prefer her husband, James, a bookish University of Houston history professor who'd been her sweetheart since their Baylor University days. Instead, they sought Mrs. James A. Tinsley, a lifelong Baptist who wore gloves, hats and Ferragamo heels and who'd been a politely persuasive member of the Parents' League. Her son Tom, who later dubbed the trio the "Masterminds," was the lone dissenter in the 4-1 family vote for her entry into political life.
Today, Tinsley's best known as the namesake of a popular Buffalo Bayou park that offers fireworks, festivals and an unparalleled view of the Houston skyline. But friends and longtime fans remember her as a true steel magnolia who for 40 years won fights others believed unwinnable - desegregating schools, breaking the gender barrier on the Houston City Council and deftly forging alliances to pass ordinances that banned billboards, required bike helmets and fluoridated water and created no-smoking zones in stadiums and bars - reforms opposed in their time by fearmongers, civil libertarians and even well-funded lobbies like Big Tobacco. "I'm just not afraid to tackle difficult issues, and I think my record speaks to that," Tinsley said in a 1987 Houston Post profile.
More Information MILESTONES 1969 Eleanor Tinsley, a 43-year-old civic activist and stay-at-home mother of three, runs as a member of the pro-integration HISD Board of Education slate called Citizens for Good Schools. 1971 Board slate pushes through a desegregation plan and hires a new superintendent. 1972-73 Tinsley is named HISD board chairman but serves only a year before being ousted with other slate members. 1978 Tinsley announces her bid for City Council - targeting a 20-year incumbent. No woman had ever been elected. 1979 Wins City Council race with support from gay activists after her opponent triggers a backlash by labeling Tinsley supporters "homosexuals and oddwads." 1980-96 Tinsley serves eight terms on council, several times winning by record margins. A coalition builder, she engineers, among other things, the passage of ordinances that required bike helmets and fluoridated water, banned billboards and created no-smoking areas. 1998 Eleanor Tinsley Park on Buffalo Bayou opens and becomes a popular home to the city's Fourth of July celebration and other festivals. 2009 Tinsley dies of cancer. See More Collapse
Early on, as a member of that school desegregation slate, Tinsley adopted the strategy of Vietnam War-era U.S. Army commander Creighton Adams, who said: "When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time." Within weeks, the principals of more than 100 schools and 3,300 teachers were handed reassignments. Within a year, the board ousted the longtime superintendent and recruited a progressive young Michigan executive. Meetings overflowed. Tinsley got death threats. Garbage was dumped on her lawn.
Two of Tinsley's three children were still in school, and Tom, a rising senior at Westbury High, protested an involuntary rezoning to Madison, which seemed "on another planet" to him. "On a public and personal level, I believe in equal opportunity for all people," she later said in a speech. "I supported the integration of the school system. I could not make an exception for my son."
Tinsley persevered. Her son finished school at Madison - and met lifelong friends. But then the conservative bloc managed to oust HISD's new superintendent by persuading one of her allies to defect. Tinsley battled back, became board president in 1972 and obtained votes to rehire the ousted executive. Next, she went on to launch Houston Community College, insisting that, too, would increase opportunities for Houston youth. In a post-integration backlash, Tinsley lost her school board seat in 1973.
But Tinsley remained active in civic circles, and five years later, announced a bid for City Council - ignoring the fact that no women had ever served and targeting a 20-year incumbent named Frank Mann. Tinsley, a longtime member of the progressive South Main Baptist Church, already enjoyed support from pro-integration Jewish activists and African-Americans and added members of the city's Gay Political Caucus to her inner circle.
In one raucous council meeting, Mann, a Houston lawyer and former legislator, had shouted down gays who'd complained about police mistreatment by saying: "You're abnormal! You need to see a psychiatrist." In his campaign, he dubbed Tinsley supporters "oddwads and homosexuals." The tactic backfired. The Gay Political Caucus produced 50,000 endorsement cards for Tinsley, and she raised $170,000 - a huge sum then. Her victory, in a runoff, is referenced in history books on the rise of America's gay civil rights movement.
On council, Tinsley surrounded herself with brilliant female advisers, including longtime aide Madeleine Appel. Their first meetings were held around a pingpong table in an enclosed porch that previously served as a game room for Tinsley's children. For her first two years, the male at-large members denied her office space on "their floor" at City Hall. When they finally reconsidered, Tinsley agreed to change floors - if a gleaming art deco sign over the reception area labeled "councilmen" was altered. Soon, a slightly off-center "council" replaced the term she'd found offensive.
At various times, Tinsley's foes labeled her a "communist," a "busybody" and even a dictator with a "feudalistic society mentality." Appel has saved a long typed list of ordinances that Tinsley engineered: establishing setbacks for buildings, a tree preservation program, the Archeological and Historical Commission, a 911 emergency network, the city's mounted patrol and many, many more.
Through it all, her husband, James, served as her sounding board, closest adviser and evening meeting chauffeur.
She served 16 years before term limits forced her to step down in 1996. Then 69, she reflected: "I am proud of my 25 years as a politician, because for me being a politician has meant being a public servant. It has meant participating in life instead of being a bystander," according to a copy of a speech Appel kept. Tinsley remained active both as a volunteer and as a grandmother until she died of cancer in 2009.
One of her projects retains a prominent place at City Hall. Tinsley founded the SPARK program that since its inception in 1983 has forged partnerships and built 200 playgrounds accessible to the public at schools across the region. Her eldest daughter, Kathleen Ownby, joined SPARK as a young working mom and volunteer and runs the office that's housed in the City Hall annex today. Today one SPARK park sits just outside Eleanor Tinsley Elementary School.
Sex offender notification
The Coconino County Sheriffs Office would like to make the following Level 2 (intermediate risk to the community) sex offender notification:
Zackary Anderson Miller, 24, is living at 975 W. Terry Lane in Ash Fork. Miller was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor in 2011 in Yavapai County. He was also convicted in 2014 for failing to register as a sex offender. Miller is not wanted by police at this time.
Notification that Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders are living in the community is required by Arizona law. Resident abuse of this information to threaten, intimidate or harass sex offenders will not be tolerated by the Coconino County Sheriffs Office.
If residents have information about current criminal activity by any offender, contact the sheriffs office at (928) 774-4523 or visit www.coconino.az.gov/sheriff.
For more information on sex offenders in the Flagstaff area, visit the Arizona Department of Public Safety sex offender website at www.azsexoffender.com.
City and county residents who want to report a crime but wish to remain anonymous may call Silent Witness at 774-6111 or (877) 29-CRIME, submit a tip online at www.coconinosilentwitness.org, or text the word Flagtip along with your information to 274637 (CRIMES). Rewards of up to $2,000 are given for information that leads to an arrest.
I am not a fan of the Kardashian family. I do not follow their activities or read about their antics.
Regardless, I know who Kim Kardashian is. She is famous, though for what, I am still not sure. She is a popular figure in our social culture.
Last week, Kim Kardashian was the victim of an aggravated robbery. She was ambushed and attacked in her hotel room in Paris, France. Her jewelry, worth millions, was stolen.
As a result of her fame, Kardashian's horrific experience was front page news. Her trauma was revealed and reviewed by thousands. As the investigation continues in France, so also does the discussion of the crime in America.
The investigators suspect that Kardashian's use of social networking may have contributed to her vulnerability. Use the Kardashian experience to begin a discussion about safe social networking in your home.
Social Safety
Social networking is fun, engaging, and an exceptional method of communication. It is free, fast, and fashionable.
The Kardashian experience is a cautionary tale about the down side of social networking. We are constantly reminded that there are persons who use social networks for malicious intent. Kim Kardashian's experience is an extreme reminder to use social networks with some measure of caution and discretion.
In Kim Kardashian's case, Instagram and other social networks were used to publicize her whereabouts and her extensive jewelry collection. The information, available to millions of followers in real time, is suspected to have contributed to the crime. The perpetrators knew of their target's whereabouts and possessions. They planned their crime accordingly.
Safety Tips
Social networks, when used safely, are fun and secure. Follow a few common sense rules to engage.
Stop. First, take a moment to review your account on a social network. Review the information for personal content. Are your personal identifiers, such as name, social security number, and birthdate, visible to the world through your profile? Are the privacy settings secure?
Safety experts recommend using only an email address to set up a personal account. Refuse to upload optional information such as personal identifiers, preferences, or family history. Maintain the security of your password by changing it every six months.
In addition, use the most secure privacy settings. Reveal your social content only to your friends; do not make it available to any and all that might research or surf to your page.
Think. Consider carefully the information that you are posting. Are you revealing that you are on vacation and away from your home? Even a trip to the movies highlights to a burglar that your home is unoccupied for a predictable period of time.
Consider posting your whereabouts after the fact. Post photos and highlights upon your return. They will be equally interesting, and safer if not posted in real time.
Connect. Use social networks for their intended purpose: for increasing social connections. Monitor your own content with a critical eye. Ask whether identity thieves, burglars, sexual predators, or others could use the information against you.
Social networking is a trend that is here to stay. Use social networks safely. Talk with your kids about managing accounts. Develop good safety habits that become second nature when posting updates and highlights.
It may be the best piece of advice ever received from Kim Kardashian. Exercise cautious discretion when posting the details of your life.
Katherine Cabaniss is the Judge in the 248th District Court in Harris County. She was formerly a prosecutor and the Executive Director of Crime Stoppers. Contact her at cabanissk@yahoo.com.
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The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops on Monday called for an end to capital punishment, declaring the death penalty harms victims of violence and people in general.
In a statement shared by Bishop Curtis Guillory, spiritual leader of the Diocese of Beaumont, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops cited several ways in which capital punishment harms society, including that it is "used disproportionately on the poor, people with mental disabilities and minorities."
The bishops said the "finality of death does not allow for rehabilitation or for consolation for victims' families" and that "studies have shown innocent people have been executed."
The "costs for capital punishment cases are three times that of a prisoner with life imprisonment with no parole" and "crime rates are not affected by a state's use of the death penalty," according to the bishops.
"The death penalty lessens our hearts' capacity for mercy and negatively affects our children's formation in the Christian teaching of mercy and redemption," said Guillory. "It hardens our culture as it fails to allow for redemption. It is also undeniably a pro-life issue."
Texas is the country's busiest death penalty state and currently has 243 inmates on death row.
Three are from Southeast Texas: John William King, convicted in the June 7, 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper; Bartholomew Granger, convicted of killing a woman in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse on March 4, 2012; and Jamaal Howard, convicted of fatally shooting a Silsbee convenience store clerk on May 12, 2000.
Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham said the death penalty is an option that needs to remain available.
"I'm not a strong believer in the death penalty, but there are times and places where there is no other option," he said.
The month of October has been designated Respect for Life Month, offering Catholics the opportunity to recommit themselves to working toward a culture that protects all human life, the bishops said in a statement.
"I am also asking not only Catholics, but all Southeast Texans to reflect more deeply on the precious gift of life during Respect Life Month," Guillory said.
The Texas bishops released their view on "World Day Against the Death Penalty." The bishops said it comes at a time when support for the death penalty is declining across the country and in Texas.
Fewer Texas juries are giving death sentences than at any time in the last two decades and Texas' highest criminal court has granted an unusually high number of reprieves over the last two years due to concerns about the fairness and accuracy of death penalty convictions, the bishops said.
"This year, the state will see the lowest number of executions since 1996," the bishops said.
Texas, which has put to death 1,438 inmates since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, has executed 16 this year. Last year, the state executed 28 people, down from 35 in 2014.
"The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops will also be working in the upcoming Texas legislative session," said Jennifer Carr Allmon, conference executive director.
DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach
Legislation allowing a Grand Canyon tramway and other tourism development at the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers received a clear message of disapproval during its first committee hearing before Navajo Nation lawmakers on Monday.
The five-member Law and Order Committee unanimously opposed the Grand Canyon Escalade legislation during a hearing at Twin Arrows Casino Resort. Members said voting for the project would be a gamble, would require money that should be used elsewhere and didnt have the support of the tribes economic development division, justice department or historic preservation office advisors.
If we start establishing these particular projects across Navajo Nation how are we going to be in five years? In 10 years? Why cant we invest back in our own culture, our traditional way of life? Navajo Council Delegate Kee Allen Begay Jr. said to cheers from those against the project. About 100 people on both sides of the Escalade proposal attended the hearing.
The committee hearing, which was conducted mostly in Navajo, was the first of four that will consider the tramway proposal before it goes to the full tribal council where it must gain approval by a two-thirds majority to pass. Introduced in late August by Council Delegate Benjamin Bennett of Fort Defiance, the legislation will go to the full council regardless of whether it gets voted up or down in the committees.
Looking ahead
The committees vote was welcome news for those against Escalade.
We're excited to know our elected officials are listening and willing to speak up for the families, for the people and for the culture, said Renae Yellowhorse, a member of Save the Confluence, which has gathered thousands of signatures to oppose the legislation. So far, the Office of Legislative Services has received 131 comments in support and 66,291 in opposition.
After the hearing, Lamar Whitmer, managing partner of project developer Confluence Partners LLC, spoke only briefly about his next moves.
I think theres a lot of unknown, Whitmer said. They (councilmembers) expressed they dont know a lot about the project and they need to know more so well be meeting with as many of them as we can so that we can resolve these issues. I thought it was a good opportunity to hear from them what they want to hear.
Four years in the works, legislation calls for approving a master development agreement for the Grand Canyon Escalade Project, a commitment by the Navajo Nation of $65 million to build infrastructure to the isolated site and the withdrawal of 420 acres of tribal land for the development.
The project would include an 8-person, 1,400-foot gondola tramway that would shuttle visitors from the rim to the bottom of the canyon where there would be a riverwalk, food pavilion and amphitheater. On the rim, plans include a multimedia complex, a Navajoland Discovery Center, restaurants, an RV park, retail stores and hotels, including a five star resort. The tribe would be entitled to between 8 and 18 percent of gross revenue based on visitor attendance.
In a presentation to the Law and Order Committee about the project, former Navajo Nation President Albert Hale spoke about the potential for Escalade-related tourism to be a sustainable source of economic development as the tribes fossil fuel-related revenues continue to decline.
We have a responsibility as leaders to make sure we leave something better for our children," he said.
Hale also noted that the project will allow tribal law enforcement to better protect the confluence site and potentially require rafters, backcountry hikers and others to have permits to enter the water there.
Other Escalade backers at the hearing were wearing yellow stickers emblazoned with 3,500 jobs, referencing the projects employment estimations.
Larry Hanks, who has lived in the general area of the confluence his entire life, said those who oppose the project havent suggested a better alternative.
Were not talking about extracting natural resources from the canyon, were not talking about desecrating the canyon. Were creating jobs and opportunities, said Hanks, who said he lives without running water or electricity.
But a letter from an advisory committee to the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department sent the opposite message. The development would pose detrimental irreversible harm to the sacred qualities of the confluence, it said.
A letter from the Hopi Tribe similarly states that the project will irreversibly compromise an area the tribe has held sacred for at least a thousand years and would violate a 2006 intergovernmental compact that commits the Navajo tribe to protect Hopi religious sites and guarantee Hopi religious practitioners privacy.
Council Delegate Otto Tso said he would instead like to see the $65 million, argued as necessary for Confluence Partners to raise initial at risk/high risk investment dollars, used for housing needs and questioned whether the Navajo Nation would exercise eminent domain if grazing leaseholders in the area continue to stand against the development.
We have to draw a line somewhere, Tso said. We cannot build out on every prime spot on Navajo.
Questions also remain about whether the land where the tramway would be built belongs to the Navajo Nation or the National Park Service. Kirby Lynn Shedlowski, spokesperson with Grand Canyon National Park, confirmed that the Park Service still believes land ownership in the area is determined by a 1993 Department of the Interior ruling that classifies the park boundary as a quarter-mile from the eastern bank of the Colorado River. A letter from the chair of the tribes economic development department, however, said the tribe believes the western boundary of the Navajo Nation is in the middle of the Colorado River. It states that Confluence Partners will fund the cost of any litigation on the issue.
Whitmer said he wouldnt be interested in reopening the Escalade proposal, or somehow modifying it, based on feedback received at the committee level. He pointed out one comment made at the hearing by committee chair Edmund Yazzie, that money is the root of all evil. Yazzie made the comment while talking about the divisions the legislation has created between the Navajo Nations elected officials, a point mentioned by others as well.
Whitmer said he sees it differently.
Well I prefer to think of it as love makes the world go round but money greases the axle, he said.
All 5,200 Houston police officers will receive special trauma training to improve their responses and handling of sexual assault and domestic violence cases as part of a combined effort by the city and local advocates for the victims of family violence.
Acting Houston Police Chief Martha Montalvo and Rebecca White, president chief executive of the Houston Area Women's Center, announced the program Tuesday morning.
Homicide investigators have few clues to go on after a man was shot to death late Monday night in north Houston.
The man was found wounded about 10:30 p.m. in the 8500 block of of North Main near East 43rd Street, according to the Houston Police Department. He was lying in the street and had been shot in the back.
A Harris County Sheriff's Office deputy was slightly injured early Tuesday morning when a suspected drunk driver rammed into his squad car in southwest Houston.
The collision occurred about 1 a.m. in the 10700 block of South Main, according the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
Officials said deputy A. Montoya was driving on South Main when a black Dodge Charger approached him from behind at a high-rate of speed. Montoya changed lanes to avoid the Charger, but the driver, later identified as 31-year-old Parisha Shantal Blade, rear-ended him. The impact forced the patrol car into a concrete wall.
Montoya got out of his cruiser and tried to detain Blade, but she drove away. The deputy's car had blown tires from the collision.
A few moments later officers with the Houston Police Department stopped Blade in the 14400 block of Hiram Clark. She was taken back to the scene of the crash.
Montoya was taken to Sugarland Methodist Hospital, where he was treated for an injured elbow and later released. He was in good condition.
Blade was unhurt. She was taken to the Harris County Sheriff's Office Inmate Processing Center, accused of driving while intoxicated and evading arrest in a motor vehicle.
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Two members of the Texas A&M student body government are facing disciplinary investigations over comments they made about classmates in a group text chat, according to The Battalion, the university's student newspaper.
In screenshots of the conversation, two student senators, Nick Page and Taylor Baumann, make jokes about the appearance of A&M's student body president Hannah Wimberly and the sexual assault of another female student leader.
"Careful," said economics senior and student senator Baumann. "You might accidentally rape her. You never know."
READ MORE: Donald Trump's backers have been reduced to suggesting groping may not be sexual assault
Baumann is referring to the student government's executive chief of staff, who had previously revealed to the college senate that she had been sexually assaulted.
"Or at least when it would be convent for her," Baumann said, possibly attempting to spell "convenient."
According to The Battalion, President Wimberly presented the comments to the school senate on Wednesday.
"Let me be as straightforward as possible: This is disgusting," Wimberly said. "And let me clarify again I could care less when you talk about me. But to talk about a ... girl, and to talk about raping her is probably the most egregious behavior that I can possibly imagine."
Wimberly is one of the three women who helped make history at Texas A&M in September, when the school's top student leadership positions were all secured by women.
READ MORE: Females sweep top student leadership posts at Texas A&M
Wednesday's meeting resulted in Page losing his position as the student service chairman, but according to the Battalion, he refused to apologize or confirm his participation in the group.
"Politics is a game," Page said in a statement sent to the Battalion. "As you can see by our national election, there are typically two sides. In this game, I lost. The day I was appointing a subcommittee on sexual assault, pictures were touted to paint me in a horrific light, providing only 'proof' no judge [or] jury would allow."
Baumann, the student who made the remarks about his colleague's sexual assault, sent a written statement to the Battalion apologizing for his actions.
READ MORE: 3,000 Sexual Assault Survivors Tell GOP 'Stop Enabling Trump' in Full-Page Washington Post Ad
"I profusely apologize for the comments that I had made," Baumann said. "In addition, I have directly apologized to those that I hurt most directly. There is absolutely no excuse, no justifiable reason, for making such deplorable, disgusting comments that completely disrespect the inherent worth of another human being."
According to a Texas A&M spokesperson, both senators are set to face two separate disciplinary investigations by the student body government and the university.
As of Oct. 11, 2016, Texas A&M officials say there are no new updates on the outcome of either investigation.
Click through the gallery above to see Texas universities and their sexual assault statistics.
A recent New York Times article goes into great detail describing a hurricane that may eventually be "Houston's doom," a supercharged storm that Rice scientists say is likely to hit Space City.
Hurricanes are not new to Houston. But Roy Scranton, the author behind the New York Times article, claims that the yet-to-happen imaginary storm, called "Hurricane Isaiah," will be one of the worst disasters in U.S. history.
AUSTIN Sen. Ted Cruz says he's standing by Donald Trump, refusing to withdraw support that he offered in a surprising about-face barely two weeks ago.
The Houstonian said while visiting the small Texas town of Muleshoe on Monday, "I am supporting the Republican nominee because I think Hillary Clinton is an absolute disaster."
In the aftermath of the second presidential debate, Facebook and Twitter lit up with two competing memes. One depicts a smiling Hillary Clinton, with the campaign slogan "I'm with her" superimposed in black text at the top of the screen. The second juxtaposes a photo of Clinton -- shown in a menacing shade of red -- with a photo of Donald Trump, standing in front of an American flag: "I have a different pledge," it declares. "My pledge reads 'I am with you, the American people.' "
Both images have been "liked" and shared tens of thousands of times on social media. But neither bubbled up on its own merits -- they were prodded and boosted and given a leg up by their respective campaigns. While it may not be obvious to the casual Twitter user, both the Clinton and Trump camps have enlisted networks of supporters to amplify select, on-brand messages before and during the debates.
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On Sunday, these networks were out in full force, retweeting dozens of designated slogans, memes and links; during the 90-minute debate, and in the hours preceding it, each campaign sent four email blasts instructing their bases on what to tweet.
Strategists call this "rapid-response": the practice of shaping the election narrative in real time as events unfold. As little as 10 years ago, that meant talking directly to reporters. Now, however, digital staff in both camps know that the day-after story about a debate relies, in some part, on what trended on Twitter the night of. And so, Clinton supporters were asked to share the Democratic presidential nominee's "I'm with her" tweet at 4:46 p.m. ET; five hours later, the Republican nominee's supporters got a similar email prompt from Trump's "Big League Truth Team."
"Twitter is what passes for real-time conventional wisdom now," explained Joe Rospars, chief executive of the progressive brand agency Blue State Digital. "You want people consuming bits of the debate with your framing on them. And you want them, through their RTs, to influence the press' impressions."
This sort of strategy is not new, but it has evolved over successive elections. Rospars knows that first-hand: He headed President Barack Obama's digital campaigns in 2008 and 2012. In 2008, the Obama campaign launched an initiative called "Fight the Smears," which basically encouraged supporters to send massive email blasts debunking Obama rumors to all of their friends. In 2012, an even more aggressive effort, called the Truth Team, invited supporters to engage their friends by email, in person and on social media, "responding to unfounded attacks and defending the President's record."
LIVE SKETCH: Political cartoonist's take on the debate
This year, the objectives on both sides seem slightly more diffuse: not "correcting the record," necessarily, but certainly vying for the larger megaphone. The Clinton campaign has organized a network of "Grassroots Tweeters," which it has instructed via listserv during both the presidential and vice-presidential debates. Late last week, the Trump campaign launched The Big League Truth Team.
"My hope is that we're activating people who want to help out and amplifying the conversation," said Amber Discko, who handles Digital Organizing for the Clinton campaign. "We've seen great success so far ... I'm learning a lot from our supporters, even."
Both initiatives employ similar methods, though their messages differ. After signing up on either Trump or Clinton's website with a Twitter handle and an email address, the typical volunteer receives periodic emails from the campaign, asking them to retweet specific posts. Both campaigns also coordinate more closely with a select group of highly-followed "digital influencers": the Clinton campaign through a closed Slack channel, and the Trump campaign via conference call.
Clinton's campaign typically asks supporters to share positive messages about her policy or candidacy, the majority of them from "third-party validators" like advocacy groups, other Democrats, and celebrities. (Of the 16 tweets the campaign asked supporters to boost last night, three involved the Affordable Care Act, two discussed Clinton's potential Supreme Court nominations and one praised Clinton's senatorial record.)
"It's not just about us. I always want to include a diverse group of people," Discko said. "And there's enough negativity out there -- we want to focus on highlighting her record."
The Trump campaign, on the other hand, only asks supporters to retweet messages that have been sent by it or the candidate directly, and many of those messages are on the attack. During the debate, supporters were told to share 18 tweets and four Facebook posts, the bulk of them criticizing Clinton's email scandal and her stance on the Affordable Care Act.
While the Trump campaign did not respond to multiple interview requests from The Washington Post, it has explained its goals on its official website: "We cannot count on the rigged MSM to bring the truth to the American people ... Join the Big League Truth Team and help fact check Crooked Hillary LIVE during the debates."
"It speaks to the broader approach of the campaign," Rospars said. "Trump wants voters to take his word, almost uniquely among other candidates."
As to which approach is more successful, well, that's exceedingly difficult to say. Gordon said that, on average, engagement on a given tweet doubles after it's been included in her email; in the coming weeks, she plans to send the messages more frequently in the hopes of getting voters to register. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, told the Daily Caller that the Big League Truth Team was "insanely successful" after the vice-presidential debate and that it saw engagement rates increase by a factor of 3.5. That would appear to jibe with a recent paper from researchers at the Qatar Computing Research Institute, which found that pro-Trump tweets, no matter their source, are consistently more likely to go viral.
Virality isn't everything, though, and regardless of who won this round, one thing's for sure: There's a definite limit to both the campaigns' and their tweeters' power. According to TweetElect.com, the single most viral tweet from Sunday night's debate was posted by the pollster Frank Luntz, and boosted by neither Trump nor Clinton.
It went viral the old-fashioned way: because a lot of dispersed, unaffiliated individuals decided to retweet it.
The following editorial is from the Sacramento Bee:
Voters who wondered just how low Donald Trump would go in his race against Hillary Clinton got their answer on Sunday night.
From the run-up to the debate in which Trump held a news conference starring women who say Bill Clinton abused them to the debate itself, in which he encroached on Clinton onstage, called her names and threatened to have her jailed if he is elected, the Republican nominee made it clear who he is and what he stands for, which is, among other things, misogyny.
The debate opened with the candidates taking the stage and not shaking one anothers hand, a telltale sign of the state of this miserable campaign.
In any other year, the town-hall-style debate at Washington University in St. Louis might have helped inform voters about where candidates stand on issues. And there were some moments that provided insights about gun control, Obamacare, energy policy and climate change. At the end, Trump even conceded that Clinton is a fighter, though not until after she graciously complimented his children.
Trump was somewhat more composed Sunday night than in the first debate, but still interrupted, offered sophomoric solutions, and lashed out like a cornered and wounded animal, attempting to use President Bill Clintons transgressions against women decades ago in a failed attempt to throw Clinton off her game. She remained composed.
The Republican presidential nominee threatened to retaliate against Republican officeholders who repudiated him in the wake of the Access Hollywood tape that became public on Friday. In the tape, Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women, while the host, Billy Bush, enabled him by laughing.
Instead of directly apologizing and taking responsibility for his words, Trump chose 90 minutes before the second presidential debate to hold a photo-op with three women who say Bill Clinton abused them. A fourth woman was raped as a child; Hillary Clinton, then a defense attorney, defended her attacker.
Once again, Trump was using women, and, in the process, avoiding owning up to his own predatory predilections. Evidently, Trump was suggesting that his misogyny is OK because Bill Clinton cheated on his wife, or that Hillary Clinton defended him, or something.
It was tawdry, but not shocking. Trump has made it clear throughout this campaign that there is no fellow human he wont debase if they try to cross him.
Trump threatened that if he wins on Nov. 8, he would use the power of his office to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton.
You should be in jail, Trump said, invoking a dictatorial and fundamentally un-American idea that the victor torments, banishes and persecutes his opposition.
On Sunday, NBC suspended Billy Bush the cousin and nephew of presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush from his gig on the Today show. That was appropriate, though NBC acted because the tape became public; the media conglomerate had to have known about his behavior, because it owned the tape.
Bush is suspended, and yet Trump remains in the presidential campaign, debasing our democracy, a step away from becoming the most powerful person on Earth.
Friction with Russia is not in the US interest
The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Thursday, Oct. 6:
U.S. relations with Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin, have somehow become an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, as evidenced in Tuesday nights debate between the two vice presidential candidates. What is for the most part lacking in consideration of this question is historical perspective.
It is, for example, important to remember that as early as the mid-19th century, the question of how important a role then imperial Russia would play on the West Coast of what was to become the United States was by no means a foregone conclusion. It was more or less settled by the purchase of Alaska from a hard-up Russian czar by the administration of President Andrew Johnson for $7.2 million.
American administrations since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 have been somewhat adrift in terms of how to deal with post-Soviet Russia. On the one hand, it has been tempting to crow at Americas Cold War victory. At the same time, the new Russia has remained a force to reckon with, given its size in population and area, its oil wealth, its still-considerable military strength and thin skins on both sides.
U.S. peaceful co-existence with post-Soviet Russia is showing itself to be almost more difficult than it was with the Soviet Union.
That, of course, should not be. There are far more points of friction between the United States and Russia than there should be if both sides were being reasonable, in frequent high-level contact and acting in full cognizance of historical perspective. Issues include Ukraine, Syria and easily the most alarming lack of agreement and coordination on nuclear nonconflict, nonescalation and nonproliferation. Competition in the Arctic is a new area of potential discord.
Reasonable coordination shouldnt be so difficult. Both countries have as perhaps their principal foreign policy objective not being rolled over by Islamic terrorism. There is also the fact that rivalry between the two, sometimes at intense levels, occurred between 1945 and 1990 without armed conflict. War between the United States and Russia should remain unthinkable. In that context, political campaign digs and charges are not useful, by either Democrats or Republicans.
Elon Musk aims for a getaway planet
The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sunday, Oct. 2:
If life on Earth is doomed, Elon Musk has a contingency plan. The Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur says an extinction event that would put an end to human life on Earth is inevitable. He doesnt have specifics. But he does know how the human race can survive it:
Go to Mars.
Musk told the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara that the reason he is building his fortune is to help make us an interplanetary species. But according to Forbes, his net worth is $11.7 billion, and according to NPR, he estimates the current cost of going to Mars at $10 billion per person. If he wants company up there, hell need to bring the cost down, and hell need other funding sources, be they donors or investors.
Sometimes it seems that manned spaceflight a great symbol of human achievement peaked with the Apollo missions. For generations of Americans, the moon landings are history to be found in books and old videos, while the Challenger or the Columbia was a shock they will never forget.
But there is always more that is possible for human beings. Musks plans and commitment seem to bring Mars a little closer.
Nearly every person on Earth shares a sense of wonder when looking to the stars, and the President of the United States is one of them. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama released an opinion piece on CNN where he talked about the "next chapter of America's story in space," creating the American Martian.
"One of my earliest memories is sitting on my grandfather's shoulders, waving a flag as our astronauts returned to Hawaii," Obama said. "I still have the same sense of wonder about our space program that I did as a child."
READ MORE: Here's Elon Musk's complete, sweeping vision on colonizing Mars to save humanity
Since the beginning of his administration, Obama and NASA have carefully laid the groundwork for what Elon Musk calls the creation of a "multiplanet species."
In a 2010 address to the Kennedy Space Center, Obama promoted the idea of a manned mission to Mars by 2030, saying he would "expect to be around to see it."
Now, he's doubled down on his six-year-old promise.
"We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America's story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time," Obama said.
READ MORE: Congress is getting ready to regulate space travel
The president also touched upon the efforts by private space companies, whose work now represents more than a third of the commercial launch market.
"More than 1,000 companies across nearly all 50 states are working on private space initiatives," Obama said. "Getting to Mars will require continued cooperation between government and private innovators, and we're already well on our way. Within the next two years, private companies will for the first time send astronauts to the International Space Station."
For yearning dreamers like Obama, old enough to fondly remember the moon landing but wanting more, and for those too young to catch the previous generation's accomplishments in real-time - Mars is the answer, and Obama's words make the journey to the red planet seem right around the corner.
READ MORE: Boeing says it will beat SpaceX to Mars
"Someday, I hope to hoist my own grandchildren onto my shoulders," Obama said. "We'll still look to the stars in wonder, as humans have since the beginning of time. But instead of eagerly awaiting the return of our intrepid explorers, we'll know that because of the choices we make now, they've gone to space not just to visit, but to stay -- and in doing so, to make our lives better here on Earth."
Click through the gallery above to see what life on Mars might look like according to Hollywood.
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
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A new report from the Conference Board of Canada has found that immigration levels should increase to 413,000 per year by 2030 to strengthen Canadas economic growth. The report highlights the need for increased immigration in order to respond to challenges posed by Canadas aging population. It is projected that without significant policy changes, including a substantial increase in immigration, the costs required to support retirees could undermine the strength of Canadas economy in the coming decades.
Proposed Scenarios
The report proposed four scenarios for the future of Canadas population growth. Across all scenarios, it is clear that immigration is an essential component, and that improving the fertility rate 1.6 births per woman in 2015 is not enough to maintain the economy.
In the reports most optimistic scenario, it is projected that Canada inviting up to 413,000 immigrants per year by 2030 will result in the strongest economic growth. This scenario in which Canadas population increases to 100 million by the year 2100 results in a sharp increase in Canadas potential output over the long term, states the report. Under this scenario, the increase in economic growth results in greater revenue for the provincial and federal governments. The number of homeowners also increases, leading to greater spending on durable goods.
Another scenario posed by the report projects that if immigration grows moderately, but shifts to a younger demographic of new arrivals, the impact on Canadas economy and fertility rates could be significant. For example, if more men and women come to start careers and families in Canada, the country may benefit from their economic input and the input of their children for future generations.
More Working-Age Immigrants Needed
The report declares that although immigration may not entirely solve the challenges posed by Canadas aging population, nevertheless new immigrants are essential in order to reduce the side effects. As Canadas population ages, more pressure is put on social welfare systems to support the elderly. In the meantime, more jobs may become available as workers retire, and an influx of young families and workers is needed to fill these positions.
Increasing the Canadian population will cushion the impact of economic consequences of overall population aging, the report states, adding that inviting more immigrants to enter the workforce will boost Canadas labour force and generate stronger long-term economic growth. Economic growth may be strengthened in the long term because inviting qualified, working-age individuals rather than focusing on increasing the fertility rate provides a faster and effective solution to a shrinking pool of workers. It also increases the ratio of workers to retirees, which eases pressure on social services.
If population growth continues as established without a significant effort to grow the population, it is projected that Canada will be home to 54 million people by 2100. That number, argues the report, is not sufficient to sustain a strong economy and support an aging population. The subsequent slowing in economic growth will impact revenue for governments, and consequently job creation and social services.
Looking Forward
Growing Canadas population through immigration boosts economic growth and softens the economic burden of a rapidly aging population and low birth rates in Canada, concludes the report.
The figure of 413,000 new immigrants per year by 2030 proposed in the reports most optimistic scenario is well within the realm of possibility for Canada. As previously reported, in the period of July 2015 to July 2016, immigration levels to Canada reached their highest point since at least 1971, when records began. A total of 320,932 new immigrants arrived in Canada during that time, representing an increase of one-third over the same period in 20142015.
If the growth in immigration levels that we saw from 2015 to 2016 repeats itself in the coming year, it could surpass that most optimistic figure by 2017, says Attorney David Cohen.
Prospective immigrants to Canada may be encouraged that statistics and research support the Goverments agenda to increase immigration. Inviting more immigrants and helping them to establish careers and families in Canada not only enriches our current society, it ensures the future strength of our economy.
To find out if you are eligible for immigration to Canada, please fill out a free online assessment today.
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Caritas Cehia in cautarea unui expert/unei experte sau unei echipe de experti in prestarea serviciilor de consiliere psihologica (pe segmentul burnout) pentru echipa mobila de prestare a serviciilor psiho-sociale pentru refugiatii ucraineni
Claims is at the center of the revolution to maintain a sustainable organization, according to Mark Cloutier, chief executive officer of the Brit Group and keynote speaker at the recent International Association of Claim Professionals annual conference held in Sonoma, California.
A loose monetary policy globally coupled with major debt has the potential to stifle growth, he said, noting that the federal reserve hasnt been very accurate with its growth estimate thus far.
[The] Feds inability to establish a firm expectation of growth in the economy, said Cloutier.
A further challenge to businesses around the world is the declining price of commodities.
Current price earnings suggest a greater concentration of wealth going to the wealthy, causing inequality which is driving continued volatility in insurance industry earning capacity, he explained. Cloutier added that as debt continues to be used for unproductive purposes, larger governments will likely raise taxes.
Worldwide property/casualty rates are expected to decline by about one percent in 2017, he said. As a result, growth will come from global expansion as mergers and acquisitions and disaster-related runoff is expected.
The takeway from his presentation is that the property/casualty industry can expect low to no growth as future consumption is denied and wealth inequality takes hold. Low yields on investment income could mean cash flow may be inhibited for use where needed, he said. The property/casualty industry can expect to see rates decline and falling yields as expense ratios increase. The industry will also likely see increasing regulation, the result of insurers being coupled with the banking industry.
Intermediaries like Airbnb and Uber are encouraging disruption and the industry should take note, Cloutier said. The industry needs to respond by redesigning its model to make the insurance process more efficient and share the savings with consumers.
He said the industry needs to be better about responding to customers and at using data and it should focus on offering better priced products and innovation by introducing new products in response to demand.
Insurers using predictive analytics will see benefits such as better risk selection, better claims outcome and increased customer retention, he said. In addition, Cloutier said insurers need to be better at communicating with regulators.
Because claims is data rich, Cloutier said the department can create new demand for underinsured areas, recognizing missed coverage opportunities to offset slow growth and excess supply. The department is also positioned to identify new risks that need protection resulting in new products. Cloutier suggested the industry needs to reevaluate how it delivers and serves the mature products that already exist.
Claims is the center of change that drives business forward, Cloutier said.
The Indiana Supreme Court has declined to take a case involving a man who was seriously injured in a crash and amassed over $625,000 in medical bills.
The high courts ruling leaves in place a trial court and state appeals court decision that ruled Parkview Hospital will have to release information about how it charges and offers discounts to insured patients, The Journal Gazette reported.
Thomas Frost was taken by air to Parkview in October 2013 after being severely injured in a truck-motorcycle crash. He didnt have medical insurance.
Frost is disputing the reasonableness of the charges Parkview has sought under the Indiana Hospital Lien Act.
Parkview officials blocked his request for the information and asked the state Supreme Court to step in. Parkview attorney Ted Storer said in a hearing with the high court last month that discounts are given because patients have paid insurance premiums or an entity gives a medical provider a large amount of patients.
We dont think a person who is not a member of the club should get the benefits of the club, Storer said.
Their attorneys said Frosts settlement would leave him with 20 percent of the money after paying attorneys fees and medical bills.
A billing expert Frost hired determined the reasonable value of the services Parkview provided was nearly $247,000.
Frosts attorneys argued that the official list of charges for all procedures, services and goods provided by a hospital arent intended to be paid, but are simply a starting point for negotiation between the insurance company and hospital.
The court decided not to take the case in a 3-2 vote. Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justices Steven David and Robert Rucker rejected the case, while Justices Mark Massa and Geoffrey Slaughter voted to take it.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
More than four years since a massive sinkhole swallowed trees in Assumption Parish and forced more than 300 residents from their homes officials say it now no longer poses a risk to the public.
Assumption Parish officials declared Friday that theyve completely lifted the remaining voluntary evacuation orders in the last parts of the Bayou Corne community where the few residents left had remained. Officials said risk from instability and seeping, flammable natural gas released in the sinkholes formation have been mitigated.
Through the preponderance of evidence, the area has been deemed no longer at risk due to the sinkhole and gas associated with its creation, parish officials said in a statement.
The Advocate reports the all-clear order had been coming for months. In June, the parish dropped mandatory evacuation orders to voluntary evacuations.
The sinkhole was discovered in 2012 in Bayou Corne about 30 miles northwest of Thibodaux. It grew from about one acre to about 35 acres. For a time, the sinkhole swallowed whole trees but eventually its growth slowed and has largely stabilized in recent years.
The methane gas released in the sinkholes formation, however, remained an ever-present risk to residents.
Texas Brine was deemed the responsible party after one of its underground salt dome caverns had been tied to the sinkholes formation by state experts. Texas Brine and its insurers bought out much of the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou communities, and lawsuits were filed.
Dennis Landry, who owns vacation cabins and a boat launch in Bayou Corne, said he is happy to see the order lifted.
I cant speak for everybody here, but I think people are ready. I think theyre ready for that evacuation order to be lifted. I think most of them feel like its time, enough time has passed, Landry said.
Texas Brine, which has pressed for more than year to remove the evacuation orders, welcomed the parishs decision, saying it was glad to see state and local officials agree with the company that its response priorities have been satisfied and that the sinkhole does not pose a risk to Bayou Corne.
Texas Brine, in its statement, reiterated its position that the sinkhole was not the companys fault. Still, Landry said, he would like to see Texas Brine continue to monitor the sinkhole.
Landry echoed the sentiment of the parish Police Jury, which in August adopted a resolution asking the state Office of Conservation to hold Texas Brine to previous promises for additional testing and monitoring after the evacuation order was lifted.
But on Friday, Commissioner Richard Ieyoub, after considering the resolution and asking Texas Brine to respond to it, relieved the company of many of its monitoring requirements.
Patrick Courreges, spokesman for the Office of Conservation and state Department of Natural Resources, said data show the risk from methane has been minimized to the extent the gas can be practically removed. The swamp area also naturally has gas bubbles.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
When Christa Savva returned to the Sandy Shoes Beach Resort a day after Hurricane Matthew brushed by Melbourne Beach, Florida, she looked at the beach in front of the pink-flamingo-colored hotel and noticed half the sand dunes had disappeared.
Savva guesses three-quarters of the missing dunes washed into the ocean and the remaining quarter scattered onto the resorts beachfront property, which was undamaged by the hurricane.
I was like, Oh, my goodness! Savva, a property manager for the Space-Age-era hotel, said Sunday. Its crazy to have the dunes gone and all you see is empty space.
The sand on Floridas beaches is the equivalent of tourism gold, and its disappearance over time threatens the states No. 1 industry. While Hurricane Matthew didnt ravage Floridas coast as a series of storms did a dozen years ago, it collapsed dunes, washing away sand that protected buildings and roads during storms, and will likely require the spending of millions of dollars on beach restoration projects.
In Jacksonville Beach, the top of the dunes collapsed onto the lower part of the dunes, creating 10-foot high cliffs of sand, rather than the usual gentle slopes of the dunes.
Federal, state and local officials respond to beach erosion by depositing new sand in areas where it has disappeared, and the sand dunes act as barriers to infrastructure. Before these projects took off three decades ago, sea walls were often the only thing that stood between water, winds and buildings during storms.
The good news is a lot of people dont realize our beaches are engineered. It looks natural, but we construct the sand so its sacrificed during hurricanes and protects roads and structures and potentially human lives, said Jackie Keiser, a Jacksonville-area official with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
While a statewide evaluation of beach erosion has yet to be completed, individual Atlantic-coast counties from south of the Space Coast up to the Georgia border were assessing the lost sand.
A $13.5 million project to replenish Jacksonville-area beaches with 650,000 thousand cubic yards of sand over seven miles was underway before Hurricane Matthew. Keiser said she is certain that same amount of sand was lost from the hurricane and the amount of sand needed for the project will likely double.
Virginia Barker, the natural resources director for Brevard County, the area of Florida often referred to as the Space Coast, said the erosion from Hurricane Matthew appears to be more in the category of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 than a devastating series of hurricanes of 2004 and 2005. After Sandy, 2.4 million cubic yards of sand were needed to replenish 14 miles of Brevard Countys shoreline. The replenishment was far smaller than what was required after Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Jeanne made landfall just south of the Space Coast a dozen years ago.
This is world-famous Cocoa Beach. People come here for the sandy experience, Barker said. Its tremendously important to our economy. The alternative is to allow erosion and let the sea go up and there will be no sandy beach.
In Georgia, its too early to tell the extent of beach erosion, but water did get past huge boulders placed along the shore to buffer properties and stop erosion, said Megan Desrosiers, CEO of One Hundred Miles, a Georgia coastal advocacy group.
The thing about Georgia is, we havent had a storm like this since the 1880s so its hard to know how to prepare when no one remembers the last time there was a storm like this, Desrosiers said. We dont have experience with this type of storm on the Georgia coast, but Matthew was a perfect example of what we will see more of in the future.
Before Hurricane Matthew, more than half of Floridas 663 miles of beaches were considered critically eroded by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The agency defines critical erosion as the disappearance of beach or dune to a degree that it affects the environment, development or recreational activities. About half of Floridas 411 miles of beaches deemed to have critical erosion are part of a beach replenishment program.
Before the storm, Brevard County had 41 miles of critical erosion, the area around Daytona Beach had almost 20 miles of beach erosion, the area around St. Augustine had almost 14 miles of critical erosion and the area around Jacksonville had more than 10 miles.
In Melbourne Beach, now that half of the dunes are gone in front of the Sandy Shoes, the high tide can lap up to the steps that lead to the hotels wooden deck overlooking the beach.
Theres still a beach, and everything but its just a lot flatter, Savva said. High tide is something youre going to have to watch out for now.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio - When the eminent American playwright Edward Albee passed away at age 88 last month, director Claudia Lillibridge was already rehearsing her four-member cast to present his seminal blockbuster, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, for its October 21 opening at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre's River Street Playhouse. The six-evening run includes 8 PM performances on Fridays and Saturdays through November 5. Tickets are $12, general admission.
Rob Walter as George, Darlene Rocco as Martha
WHO'S AFRAID was Albee's Broadway debut and won five Tony Awards, including Best Play, in 1963. It ran for more than a year and a half, finding its way to the big screen in 1966 with the famous Mike Nichols adaptation starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Albee's ruthless and riveting drama has been enthralling and shocking audiences ever since.
CVLT's production features actors Rob Walter and Darlene Rocco as 'George' and 'Martha', the embittered married couple who invite their younger counterparts, 'Nick' (John Hickman) and 'Honey' (Jennifer Betz), over for a night-cap following a university faculty party. What begins as a friendly invitation quickly spirals into a booze-soaked battle of psychological warfare, hurtling through the darker sides of marriage, academia, and the human condition, to reach an explosive conclusion.
As with all of Albee's works, WHO'S AFRAID holds an often-unflattering mirror up to its characters and, by extension, the audience. In interviews with the New York Times and The Guardian, Albee described it as the writer's job to raise that mirror. "All of my plays are about people missing the boat, closing down too young, coming to the end of their lives with regret at things not done, as opposed to things done," he said. "We're not merely decorative, pleasant, and safe."
John Hickman as Nick, Jennifer Betz as Honey
CVLT's River Street Playhouse is the venerable non-profit's intimate 62-seat "black box" stage, offering audiences an up-close seat for the withering dialog and emotional fireworks on stage. WHO'S AFRAID was last seen at CVLT in the same space thirty-four years ago. The script contains very strong language and adult themes and is therefore not recommended for sensitive audiences or those under age sixteen.
Tickets to WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? are available by phone at 440-247-8955 or online at CVLT.org. The River Street Playhouse is located at 56 River Street, just west of the main CVLT building in downtown Chagrin Falls. Seating and parking are limited, and early reservations and arrival are recommended.
CVLT is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and supported by the Ohio Arts Council. CVLT is a proud member of the American Association of Community Theatre.
AKRON, Ohio -- A man serving a life sentence for killing an Iraq War veteran was found guilty Tuesday of attacking and raping a woman in 2000.
Efrem Johnson, 57, was convicted by a jury of rape, kidnapping and felonious assault. Summit County prosecutors said in a news release that Johnson lured a woman, then 38 years old, off Moeller Avenue and into the woods, where he beat and raped her.
Akron police found her partially nude with injuries to her face and head.
Johnson was tied to the rape more than a decade after it happened because his DNA was on file for his 2011 conviction in the murder of Jacob Courie.
Summit County Common Pleas Judge Paul Gallagher will sentence Johnson Nov. 16.
Johnson pleaded guilty to the attack in March. He withdrew his plea the following month, claiming he was misled about the sex-offender reporting requirements.
Jason Wells, Johnson's attorney, did not immediately return a phone call.
Johnson killed Courie, a U.S. Army Reserve veteran, in March 2010.
Courie, 24, was on leave from his second tour of duty in Iraq and was celebrating St. Patrick's Day with family when Johnson shot him in the 300 block of East Exchange Street near the University of Akron campus.
Courie and Johnson argued two different times that night. Johnson went to his nearby apartment, got his shotgun and hid it behind a retaining wall.
He taunted Johnson and lured him behind the wall. He grabbed the shotgun and shot Courie in the stomach.
Johnson pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility in 26 years.
If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Tuesday's crime and courts comment section.
MACEDONIA, Ohio - A Macedonia council member who opposes a pair of tax levies on the November ballot says on-the-clock city workers distributed flyers this week to urge their passage in likely violation of state law law.
But the city's mayor - who backs passage of the two 0.25 percent tax issues to fund road repair, ditch restoration, parks and recreation - says the city's law director approved his decision to use part-time employees to distribute flyers to publicize an upcoming meeting to discuss the levies.
Issue 18 is an additional 0.25 percent tax for 10 years earmarked for road repairs and other work. Issue 19 is the continuation of a 0.25 percent tax for parks and recreation for 20 years.
Mayor Joseph Migliorini said the flyers about a town hall meeting on Thursday don't tell people how to vote and merely describe how the road levy would fund some $20 million in needed repairs and other work.
"There is nothing wrong with what I did," said Mayor Joseph Migliorini, adding that it cost $200 to have city workers put the flyers in mailboxes, while mailing them to residents would have cost around $2,500.
Council member Sylvia Hanneken - who lost last year's mayoral race to Migliorini - says the city can use newspapers and electronic media to tell residents about the meeting, and having city workers deliver the flyers was a waste of tax dollars that may violate the Ohio Revised Code.
Hanneken uploaded a video to You Tube that was taken by a resident who said it showed city workers distributing flyers.
"Residents have every right to expect those working for the city will be working on the residents concerns, not promoting your agenda to raise their taxes," Hanneken said in an email to Migliorini. "I may not be able to prevent this waste of taxpayer money, but I will certainly inform our residents about these activities."
Hanneken said she plans to file a complaint about the issue with Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, but isn't sure Walsh will act because she's allied with Migliorini. Hanneken also said she plans to consult a private attorney about its legality.
A Walsh spokesman didn't respond to a Tuesday inquiry on the issue.
While Hanneken agrees the city needs to fund its roads and parks, she says the city doesn't need to hike taxes and that she'd back a single 0.25 percent levy that is worded differently from the current initiative.
Do you think it's inappropriate for city workers to put the the below flyer in residents' mailboxes? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
ECOT sign.JPG
The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) is appealing court and state rulings that threaten its state funding as it feuds with the state over whether it has to document the work its students do,
(Patrick O'Donnell/The Plain Dealer)
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) has filed appeals with both the Ohio Department of Education and an appeals court to challenge rulings that threaten more than $60 million of its state funding.
Neither appeal offers much detail of the online charter school's case, but they start procedures to block the state from recovering money paid to the school last year because it cannot document how much time its students spent on their classes.
See the appeal letter to the department below.
The department ruled late last month that ECOT was paid for 9,000 more students than it should have, placing as much as $64 million of the $109 million in state tax dollars it received last year at risk.
An attendance review found that the school had what it considered proper documentation for only 6,300 of its 15,300 students - a 59% gap.
The school has claimed all year that a 2003 agreement with the department requires the school to show that students were "offered" at least 920 hours of "educational opportunities," but does not require it to show that students participate in class or do work.
It specifically objects to the state asking for "durational" data of how long students spent logged on to the school's system.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer French ruled against the school on Sept. 30, expressing doubt about whether that agreement has any power today.
"There is a public interest in ensuring that our children are receiving the education that our taxpayers are funding," French wrote. "This may be occurring at ECOT and other eschools but ODE (Ohio Department of Education) has no way of knowing whether it is occurring because there are no records being maintained to ensure that it is."
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Case Western Reserve University's dental school will offer free exams and X-rays to adults on Oct. 19.
(Case Western Reserve University)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Free dental exams and X-rays will be offered to adults at Case Western Reserve University's School of Dental Medicine on Wednesday, Oct. 19.
Services will be provided to those who have never enrolled as a patient at the dental school.
Appointments, which can last up to two hours, are required and can be made by calling 216-368-8730 or 216-368-3200 during business hours.
The free services provided at the dental school's Comprehensive Care Clinic have a value of up to $90.
The clinic expects to see about 300 new patients. They must be age 18 or older.
"It's a chance to reach out to the community and build goodwill," Monica Jackson, coordinator of clinic data at the dental school, said in a statement. "We would like to have as many patients as possible."
Following the exam--which could also uncover signs of diabetes, high blood pressure or other conditions--and X-rays, the clinic will schedule each patient's next appointment aimed to design a detailed treatment plan.
Each year, the dental school's students and residents treat more than 8,000 patients, including university students, employees and the general public, at discounted prices.
Patients are treated by third- and fourth-year dental students, under the direct supervision of dental school faculty members.
The dental school's clinic is at 2124 Cornell Road on the Case Western Reserve campus in Cleveland.
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Cuyahoga Community College graduates can receive discounted tuition through a partnership with Western Governors University.
(Cuyahoga Community College)
COLUMBUS Ohio - Ohio's community college graduates can seamlessly transfer to the online Western Governors University and receive discounted tuition toward a bachelor's degree under a new partnership announced by the Ohio Association of Community Colleges.
The agreement, announced Tuesday, extends online, competency-based learning opportunities to all graduates, offers a tuition discount to graduates and employees and establishes a transfer program in nursing.
"The needs of adult college students are different than those attending straight out of high school," Jack Hershey, president of the state association, said in a release. "Ohio's community colleges understand that because we have adult students in our classroom every day. Those students need the option of having different and flexible pathways if we want more of them to finish their bachelor's degree."
WGU, a nonprofit institution, was established in 1997 by 19 governors who sought to expand access to affordable higher education. WGU now serves more than 72,000 students in all 50 states.
The university currently has 1,456 students in Ohio.
It offers undergraduate and graduate programs in teaching, information technology, business and health.
Each WGU term is six months and can begin on the first of any month. Tuition is about $3,000 per term.
WGU does not offer courses for credit. Its competency-based programs allow students to demonstrate through assessments that they have acquired levels of knowledge, skill, or ability, the university catalog says.
Under the terms of the agreement, WGU will:
Offer graduates and staff of Ohio's 23 community colleges a five percent tuition discount.
Allow graduates and staff to apply for scholarships of up to $2,000 through the
Prepare agreements so associate degrees can be transferred to related WGU bachelor degree programs.
Create transfer options and other programs for nursing graduates.
Work with colleges to develop a reverse transfer program. The program will permit students who transfer to WGU without an associate's degree to obtain a degree from their community college while enrolled at WGU.
"We have already seen 500 graduates from Ohio community colleges go on to earn their bachelor's degree from Western Governors University," Hershey said in the statement. "A similar partnership in the State of Washington saw that state's numbers of graduates grow to over 5,000 within five years. We believe that similar growth is possible in Ohio, because WGU is proving itself to be an institution that is very accommodating to the needs of transfer students."
medical marijuana baby plants
A free panel discussion on Thursday at the Parma-Snow Branch library will focus on Ohio's new medical marijuana law and the future of cannabis reform in Ohio.
(Jackie Borchardt, cleveland.com)
PARMA, Ohio - Ohio's new medical marijuana law took effect last month but the work has just begun to determine what Ohio's program will look like.
Will Ohio doctors register to recommend marijuana to their patients? Who will be licensed to grow marijuana? Is legal recreational marijuana in Ohio's future?
Four people who have a stake in the future of Ohio's medical marijuana program will discuss those issues and more in a free program Thursday in Parma.
The event is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Parma-Snow Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library, 2121 Snow Rd., Parma.
The panelists are:
Dr. Brian Bachelder, president of Ohio State Medical Association and physician at Akron General Hospital
Garett Fortune, CEO of FunkSac, which makes compliant packaging for the cannabis industry
Thomas G. Haren, attorney at Seeley, Savidge, Ebert & Gourash
Aides to Sen. Kenny Yuko, a Richmond Heights Democrat, who led the charge in the Senate to pass medical marijuana legislation. Yuko had planned to attend but has lost his voice
I will moderate the event, and there will be time for audience questions. It's free to attend, but advance registration is preferred at lifelonglearningcleveland.org.
Sponsors of the event include the Case Western Reserve University Siegal Lifelong Learning Program, the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland, The Plain Dealer / Cleveland.com, and the Lakewood and Cuyahoga County library systems. The corporate sponsor is First Interstate Properties, Ltd.
Want to know a little more about medical marijuana and get caught up on Ohio's law? Check out these links:
Hillary Clinton
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
COLUMBUS, Ohio--Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, pulling away from GOP rival Donald Trump, drew an estimated 18,500 people to a Monday evening rally at Ohio State University - considered to be her largest campaign rally to date.
That's the attendance figure provided by the U.S. Secret Service through Clinton's campaign. Though some reporters estimated a lower crowd count, the rally was unusually large compared to other events Clinton has held in Ohio this election season.
Clinton, speaking the day after the second presidential debate and the day before voter registration ends in Ohio, attacked Trump on a number of issues, most prominently on a report that the billionaire businessman has purchased "illegally dumped" Chinese steel in recent construction projects.
Playing to the younger crowd, she also advocated issues touted by primary rival Bernie Sanders, including eliminating college debt and opposing the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
Here are five takeaways from Clinton's visit.
The rally was Clinton's largest to date
During past appearances in Ohio and elsewhere, Clinton's campaign usually books venues that accommodate a few thousand people at most.
But on Monday, according to the Secret Service, 13,500 people watched Clinton from inside a security fence, while another 5,000 stood outside the perimeter.
Crowd at Ohio State as @HillaryClinton comes on stage pic.twitter.com/lL21KBdgXP Jeremy Pelzer (@jpelzer) October 11, 2016
Even if the attendance was lower than that estimate, the rally was different than past Clinton visits to Ohio: it was held outside, at night (after many people got off work). And it had a cooler vibe - celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson, for example, played music beforehand.
Of course, turnout for rallies is an imperfect gauge of how a candidate will do on Election Day - just ask Sanders, who drew thousands to Ohio State in March shortly before Clinton trounced him in Ohio's presidential primary. Trump, for his part, regularly draws large crowds to his events.
But with Trump's campaign in crisis after a video surfaced of him talking vulgarly about assaulting women, and with Clinton leading Ohio in recent polls, the turnout is certainly a sign of the enthusiasm she has here.
Clinton attacked Trump on steel
Renewing an attack she made during Sunday's debate, Clinton went after Trump for using Chinese-made steel in at least two of his last three construction projects. It's a controversy that carries weight in a manufacturing state like Ohio, especially among the white, blue-collar workers Trump has been courting.
Clinton said there was "no justification" for Trump using the "illegally dumped" steel, and criticized his "nerve" for claiming to be on the side of American steel workers.
"It really gets me upset," she said.
Clinton defended her work during the past 30 years
Clinton tried to rebut an effective attack line from Trump that she has little to show during her 30-year career.
"When Donald Trump talks about what I have been doing for the last 30 years, I welcome that," Clinton said.
"Because in the 1970s, I was working to end discrimination and he was being sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination," she continued. "In the 1980s, I was working to improve the schools in Arkansas ... while he was getting a loan for $14 million from his father to start a business."
She added: "On the day that I was in the Situation Room watching the raid that brought Osama bin Laden to justice, he was hosting Celebrity Apprentice."
Clinton took a page from Bernie
Sanders drew a lot of support from college-aged voters, and Clinton tried to win them over on Monday by espousing many of the issues championed by the U.S. senator from Vermont.
Clinton touted a "joint proposal from Senator Sanders and myself" to allow students from families making up to $125,000 per year to attend a four-year public college or university tuition-free - an idea that predictably got a warm response from the crowd.
She also emphasized her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "I oppose TPP now, I'll oppose it after the election. I'll oppose it as president," she said, adding she also wants to find ways to open foreign markets to U.S. exports.
Trump's campaign derided Clinton's visit
Trump campaign spokesman Seth Unger, in a statement released before the rally, noted that despite Clinton's opposition to TPP, leaked speech excerpts show she actually favors "open trade and open borders."
"When Hillary Clinton campaigns in Ohio she pays lip service to an economy that doesn't just work for 'those at the top,' but on Wall Street and in secret paid speeches she promises her fat cat benefactors that her public positions are all for show," Unger said.
"Donald Trump will win Ohio," Unger continued, "because as president he can be trusted to secure our borders, renegotiate bad trade deals that have sent our jobs overseas, and always put America first."
Even as his presidential campaign sputters toward the finish line, Donald Trump may loom large over Ohio politics for years to come.
That's because Trump has emerged as a divide for the slate of GOP politicians who are running for re-election this year, or considering running in 2018.
Cleveland.com collected statements from Ohio Republican statewide elected officials -- including those who defected from Trump on Saturday-- to see where they stand.
Ohio's GOP politicians draw lines over Trump support
By Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com
Oct. 11, 2016
On Saturday, Republicans including some in Ohio began cutting their ties with Donald Trump after a politically devastating 2005 video emerged on Friday that showed Trump making extremely vulgar and sexually aggressive comments about women. While the video was the last straw for some, Trump had long alienated many within the Republican Party establishment because of his divisive rhetoric, shifting policy stances and penchant for insults.
The defections have put other officials on the spot, forcing them to decide how to position themselves in the eyes of Ohio GOP voters who may or may not like Trump, as well as activists, potential employees and prospective donors. They also offer a glimpse of the calculations these candidates, with an eye toward their political future, are making without knowing exactly how Trump may be viewed after the election is over, or what the mood of the 2018 electorate will be. Not everyone was enthusiastic to jump in, and few offered full-throated endorsements of Trump.
Michael Hartley, a Columbus-based Republican political consultant, said candidates each have their own reasons for deciding where they fall on Trump.
These type of decisions should be made on a personal belief, not a political calculation, Hartley said. You have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror.
(Photo by David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com)
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Ohio Gov. John Kasich
Kasich, who had made his distaste for Trump clear, issued an I-told-you-so statement that said he will not pull the lever for Trump this November. Kasich cannot run for re-election in 2018, and is considered a possible presidential candidate in 2020.
"Nothing that has happened in the last 48 hours is surprising to me or many others," Kasich's statement read. "Many people were angry and questioned why I would not endorse Donald Trump or attend the Republican Convention. Ive long had concerns with Donald Trump that go beyond his temperament. We have substantive policy differences on conservative issues like trade, our relationship with Russia, and the importance of balancing the federal budget. Ive held out hope that he would change on those disqualifying policy positions, but he has not. Ive also encouraged him to change his behavior for the better and offer a positive, inclusive vision for our country, but he has not. It's clear that he hasn't changed and has no interest in doing so. As a result, Donald Trump is a man I cannot and should not support. The actions of the last day are disgusting, but thats not why I reached this decision, it has been an accumulation of his words and actions that many have been warning about. I will not vote for a nominee who has behaved in a manner that reflects so poorly on our country. Our country deserves better."
(Photo by Stephen B. Morton, The New York Times)
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U.S. Sen. Rob Portman
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, under criticism from former Gov. Ted Strickland, his Democratic opponent in his re-election bid, rescinded his endorsement of Trump late Saturday. Portman said he respects Trumps supporters but can no longer support Trump himself.
I continue to believe our country cannot afford a Hillary Clinton presidency. I will be voting for [Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov.] Mike Pence for president, Portman said.
Under Ohio law, any write-in votes for Pence would not count because he is not an official write-in candidate.
(Photo by J. Scott Applewhite, The Associated Press)
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Ohio Auditor Dave Yost
Yost rescinded his endorsement Saturday evening in a statement. A former county prosecutor who has hinted a future run for Ohio attorney general, Yost had particularly harsh words for Trump.
I condemn his loathsome words and despicable attitude, Yost said. Much, much worse is the conduct he laughingly describes, which amounts to sexual assault. Mr. Trump must do the only thing remaining in his power to defeat Hillary Clinton: withdraw from the race.
(Photo courtesy of Yost)
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Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine
DeWine, a former U.S. senator and a likely candidate for governor in 2018, posted a three-part statement on his Twitter account Saturday that criticized Trump:
Donald Trump's comments are wrong, repulsive, and unacceptable. No one should ever talk about anyone that way. His comments fall short of the standard we should expect of our public officials, and while it is appropriate that he has apologized, he must demonstrate the sincerity of his apology through his actions moving forward.
But when asked on Monday, a spokesman said DeWine still plans to vote for Trump.
(Photo by Dave Andersen, cleveland.com)
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Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted
Husted, who also is considering a 2018 run for governor, said he can't endorse a candidate as Ohio's chief elections official. But he briefly shared his thoughts on the election with cleveland.com.
Words cannot express how disgusted I am with both candidates, Husted said in a Monday interview. Thats honestly how I feel. I think theyre both awful. And as just somebody who loves our country, loves public policy, Im just sad that the way this campaign is being run and covered because its not advancing any discussion on solving any real problems.
Asked whom he plans to vote for, Husted punted to choosing between each candidates running mate: At this point I cant bring myself to vote for either of them. So I guess at this point Im leaning toward Mike Pence over Tim Kaine.
He declined to clarify whether that means he would write in Pences name.
(File photo)
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Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor
Through a political adviser, Taylor, who is also exploring a run for governor in 2018, issued a statement late Monday that didn't answer the question of whether she supports Trump.
First let me say that as a woman I find the comments Donald Trump made appalling. Over the past several days, like many Ohioans, Ive thought a lot about Ohio and the country and, after last night, I remain convinced that our priority in this election is to continue to help Rob Portman get reelected to the U.S. Senate and help other Republicans win in Ohio.
(Photo by Mark Duncan, The Associated Press)
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U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci
Renacci, who is based out of Wadsworth but represents some of Cuyahoga County, has been testing the waters for a possible 2018 dark-horse gubernatorial run. Hes put himself out there by advocating for the Republican National Convention over the summer while others like Kasich and Portman kept their distance. Renacci continues to serve as an official campaign surrogate for Trumps Ohio operation.
Through a spokesman, Renacci on Monday issued a statement consistent with the official Trump campaign line:
"Donald Trump's comments were appalling and inexcusable and I was glad to hear him apologize for them. Hillary Clinton's actions as a public official have also been appalling and inexcusable. Actions speak louder than words and when seventy percent of the American public disapproves of the direction our nation is headed, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the status quo with Hillary Clinton in the White House."
(Photo by Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer)
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Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel
Mandel broke ranks with the GOP establishment by originally backing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio over Kasich. But he has since endorsed Trump. He is gearing up to once again challenge U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, to whom he lost four years ago, in 2018.
Mandel, through a spokesman, on Monday provided a statement that was similar to Renaccis:
"Treasurer Mandel finds these comments offensive and wrong and strongly condemns them, said the statement. He also believes this election is a choice between Hillary Clinton continuing the disastrous policies of the Obama administration, or Donald Trump having the opportunity to change them. For the sake of the Supreme Court, Second Amendment, religious liberty, fight against radical Islam and many other issues, his endorsement and vote for Mr. Trump still stands."
(Gus Chan, The Plain Dealer)
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U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi
Tiberi, a central Ohio congressman, is a Kasich political protegee who also has been mentioned as a possible candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018. He was out in front in opposing Trump, issuing a statement on Saturday calling for the GOP nominee to step down.
He was not my choice for our nominee and I never endorsed him, Tiberi said. I have always said that I want to see a positive message and winnable strategy against Hillary Clinton from the Republican nominee. It is disappointing, especially for Americans who are looking for real leadership and integrity in their presidential candidate, that Trump has not been able to clear that bar.
(Photo by Jacquelyn Martin, The Associated Press)
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U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce
Joyce is running for re-election to represent Ohios 14th Congressional District, which includes Geauga, Lake and some of Cuyahoga County. Asked about Trump, a spokesman on Tuesday issued a statement that doesn't name Trump. In a follow-up email, the spokesman said Joyce "supports the nominee."
"Dave agrees with Governor Pence and does not condone and cannot defend the comments, the spokesman said. But for him the ability of our next president to appoint 80 people - including a Supreme Court justice - to our federal judiciary remains one of his top concerns. That ability can reshape our country for generations. It impacts almost every facet of peoples lives ranging from religious liberty, free speech, Second Amendment rights, and even commerce. We are one vote away from losing all of those things. For this, and many other reasons, Hillary is the wrong choice."
(Photo by Sabrina Eaton, cleveland.com)
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More Republicans who oppose Trump
To find out the names of more than 100 other Republicans who oppose Trump, click here.
(Photo by Dana Edelson, NBC via the Associated Press.)
Barack Obama
In this photo taken Oct. 5, 2016, President Barack Obama speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.
(Carolyn Kaster, AP Photo)
CLEVELAND, Ohio-- President Barack Obama will campaign for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton Friday morning in Cleveland.
Obama is set to appear at an 11:15 a.m. rally at Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport. He's expected to encourage Ohioans to vote early.
He "will urge Ohioans to go vote for Clinton and to support her agenda to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top," according to a campaign news release.
Anyone interested in attending can RSVP here. Doors open at 8:30 a.m.
The appearance will come just a day after Obama is expected to headline the Ohio Democratic Party's annual state dinner in Columbus on Thursday.
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A photo of Bruce Allen Long, a convicted con man, taken by a widow who accuses him of conning her earlier this year.
This column is an experiment about journalism in the digital era, and it was sparked by an intriguing phone message in September about a man named Bruce Allen Long:
"Hey, Mr. Quinn, my name is Kevin Moley, Ambassador Kevin Moley, retired. I was ambassador to the United Nations from 2001 to 2006, and I have a question about a story you wrote way back in 1993 for The Orlando Sentinel that I'd like to just take a couple of minutes of your time to touch base about."
The story was about Long, a con man who, in the early 1990s, had pretended to be, in turn, an f-18 fighter pilot, paramedic, registered nurse, phlebotomist, orthopedist in training, cardiologist and coroner. Cops caught up with him for the umpteenth time when I was a crime reporter in Orlando, and I wrote about him.
The reason the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations tracked me down 23 years later is that a friend of his, a widowed mom in Georgia, had been conned by Long this year. It turns out that Long did not end his petty crimes in 1993, and a frustrated Moley wanted to talk to someone about preventing him from harming more victims.
Long has no Northeast Ohio connection, so after chatting with Moley for a bit, I was ready to move on, unable to offer much in the way of suggestions. But then I wondered whether Long's cons offered a chance for experimentation, to answer a question about whether the virality of stories about criminals -- like con artists -- in the digital age might give them more permanence than a print-only story 23 years ago.
So I reached out to that widowed mom, who had warned others about Long by publishing a narrative about him on her Facebook page. The widow had met Long through an online dating service, and he charmed her with kindness, attentiveness and stories about his phony Australia upbringing.
When the widow said she had to go to Arizona for a cousin's funeral and to visit her sick dad, Long offered to fly her in a Lear jet, which he claimed to partly own. She declined, but he offered to drive out with her, splitting the costs of food, hotels and gas.
They set off, and Long said he would reimburse her for his half once he was paid on Friday. He also said he would take care of the hotel bill but again cried poor when time came to pay. On the trip back, he appeared to make good on his promise to pay for gas and food, but the widow came to learn later that Long paid for everything with her credit/debit card, she later told police. He somehow got her PIN and used the card to draw cash from her account, she told a detective.
The police in the widow's town told her that because Long used her card in other jurisdictions, not her town, and that he used her card for small amounts not qualifying for felony charges, prosecuting him would be a challenge. She did not press it.
But when she wrote about him on Facebook earlier this year, she heard from other women who said they had been taken by Long. One woman, furious to learn that she had been scammed, did press it, and Long was arrested in April on a charge of financial transaction card fraud in Bryan County, Georgia. The case is pending.
Another wrote to the widow to say that she caught Long early in their relationship skimming $47 from her, and she immediately dumped him. Women who knew Long started trading stories about the screen names he was using on the dating sites, such as Tinder, to help others avoid him.
That's not enough for the widow, or for Moley. They want Long stopped. They don't want others to feel the humiliation of being seduced by a con man. The victims usually are too embarrassed to seek prosecution, which leaves someone like Long on the street.
Long's criminal record did not end when I last wrote about him.
It is dotted with bad check charges and counts of giving police a fake name and resisting arrest. In 2008 and 2007, he was evicted from homes in Florida for not paying rent. I sent a letter to Long to see if he would talk to me, but he did not respond. I did not expect him to.
"This is an A-No. 1 con man," an Orlando detective told me 23 years ago.
So, here is the experiment. After my original story appeared in the Orlando Sentinel in 1993, it was largely forgotten a day later, tossed in the trash. You can find it online today, in the newspaper's web archives, but it's a dated piece.
So here, anew, is Long's story. And his photo. Now that they are published, they should show up in Google searches. They should be easy to find on Facebook. I'm fairly certain it will be shared by a whole bunch of people in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.
And if the word spreads, just maybe, Long will have that much more difficulty convincing women he meets that he is a charming, fascinating Australian who can sweep them off their feet.
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Escape Room Cleveland hopes to open its Strongsville location -- at 14771 Pearl Road, just south of Ohio 82 in Strongsville -- in November.
(Bob Sandrick, special to cleveland.com)
STRONGSVILLE, Ohio - Escape from Strongsville traffic? Not likely. But a new business will soon make other forms of escape fun.
Escape Room Cleveland, a series of escape games inside a Pearl Road storefront, is scheduled to open in November. It's the second location for Escape Room Cleveland - the first opened in March in North Olmsted.
In Escape Room Cleveland, teams of up to 12 are confined to a room, and they search for clues to escape. They have one hour.
Each of five Strongsville escape rooms will have a theme. For example, one game is called "Bomb Squad." Players will look for a way out before an "explosion."
"We will do things in this location that no one has ever done before," said Nimer Elder, co-owner of Escape Room Cleveland. "The props are first-rate. We did it the same way in North Olmsted."
Escape rooms like Escape Room Cleveland first became popular in Asia and Europe, and have started emerging throughout the United States, according to the Washington Post. Corporate executive and athletes use them for team building. Escape rooms host bachelor and birthday parties and ladies' nights out. The clientele is diverse.
In July 2015, an escape room called Trapped! opened on Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights. It was the first escape game in Greater Cleveland, according to Trapped! owners, brothers Scott and Alan Applegate.
Escape Room Cleveland is also a family affair. Elder's partners are his three cousins - brothers Ray, Jimmy and Jay Elder. Also, Nimer Elder's son, Moe Elder, manages the escape room in North Olmsted.
"Family is important in this business because it's review-driven," Nimer Elder said. "If you have good reviews, you will do well. If not, you will sink fast. So you have to go above and beyond for customers."
Escape Room Cleveland opened for the first time earlier this year in North Olmsted
The Elders chose Strongsville for a second escape room because they see a market here.
"Location matters, but if you have good games, people will travel," Nimer Elder said. "I have people coming to our North Olmsted escape room from Detroit, Pittsburgh and Columbus."
The Strongsville escape room is larger than the one in North Olmsted and will include conference space.
"Company leaders, after team-building events in the escape rooms, would like areas where they can eat lunch, bond and talk about what happened," Nimer Elder said. "Managers watch through monitors how their workers are doing in the rooms, and they want to review what they saw."
It was Ray Elder who first suggested that his family start an escape-room business, after he visited a couple of escape rooms in Florida. Nimer Elder, a cell-phone salesman, was lukewarm to the idea, even after research.
"I went to a game room, but I still didn't understand the draw," Nimer Elder said. "It wasn't until I worked from the inside that I understood the concept completely."
Nimer Elder said the family also plans to renovate the North Olmsted escape room.
"The industry has advanced," Nimer Elder said. "It's amazing how the technology evolves so quickly. You can't even keep up."
Westlake police shooting.jpg
Shots were fired after a robbery suspect crashed his car Monday on Detroit Road at Crocker Road on Westlake, police said.
(Evan MacDonald, cleveland.com)
Devan Desnoyers
WESTLAKE, Ohio - The robbery suspect fatally shot Monday by Westlake police had an airsoft pistol during the encounter, investigators said.
Two officers fired shots at Devan Desnoyers just after 9:30 a.m. on Detroit Road at Crocker Road. The 26-year-old man died at University Hospitals St. John Medical Center, police said.
The state's Bureau of Criminal Investigation has determined the airsoft pistol found in Desnoyers' car did not have an orange tip. But investigators are still trying to determine whether Desnoyers drew the pistol during the encounter, BCI spokeswoman Jill Del Greco said Tuesday.
A Westlake Police Department spokesman said Monday that the gun appeared to be real or a realistic replica.
Once the investigation is complete the evidence will be turned over to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office for further review, Del Greco said.
Desnoyers crashed his white Mazda into a police cruiser while fleeing the scene of a robbery at CVS on Detroit Road at Bradley Road. The officer in that cruiser was uninjured, police said.
The two officers fired shots at Desnoyers moments after the crash. They were not injured.
The officers who fired the shots have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure during officer-involved shooting investigations, police said.
The Westlake Police Department did not release the officers' names but said they are a 38-year-old man with 13 years' experience and a 28-year-old man with 3 years' experience.
Desnoyers had been awaiting trial on burglary and theft charges related to a March 24 break-in in Fairview Park, according to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court records.
Detectives said Desnoyers stole a PlayStation 4 console and approximately 25 games at the Fairview Village Apartments on Lorain Road, according to a police report.
The court issued a warrant for his arrest Sept. 13 after he failed to appear at a pretrial hearing. Desnoyers' trial date had not been scheduled, according to court records.
If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section.
How do you say oops in Spanish?
A 12-year-old in Spain reportedly made an expensive mistake, racking up a $112,000 bill when he apparently confused Google 's AdWords and AdSense platforms while trying to promote his band.
Jose Javier, who is a trumpet player in a band called Los Salerosos, was hit with a 100,000 ($112,000) bill from Google after he signed up for AdWords instead of AdSense, according to Spain's El Pais.
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Javier apparently signed up for AdWords, thinking he would make money when people clicked on his advertisement. However, the service actually charges the account holder every time someone clicks on their advertisement.
The service Javier was looking for, AdSense, allows people to make money from advertisements on their page.
That amount would take a lot of allowance money to pay off, but thankfully for Javier, Google was forgiving and cancelled the bill, according to the report.
While it's a big mistake, it's one Google recognizes. The company didn't immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment. However, it's worth noting they have a page explaining the difference between AdWords and AdSense.
Trading is all about profiting from short-term fluctuations in price, which can be caused by a catalyst or by a wild market. In Cramer's opinion, knowing proper strategy for trading will make you a better investor. That is why it is so important to know how to trade around a core position.
"This is a discipline that is incredibly useful, especially in volatile, crazy markets," the " Mad Money " host said.
Learning how to trade around a core position in a portfolio can be an investor's best technique to combat volatility in the market. In fact, it was one of the techniques Jim Cramer used to become successful on Wall Street.
A lot of people think that trading is incredibly exciting, and it can be, but if you're good at trading around a core position, you should be pretty bored.
First, pick a stock that you like and believe will go higher in the long term. Think of a company with solid fundamentals that can stay strong when the market becomes volatile and will go higher with a little patience.
Cramer recommended establishing a position in the stock through buying in increments. Buying it all at once is just plain arrogant, in his opinion.
For instance, if you want to own 100 shares of your favorite stock over time, buy the stock in increments of 25. Buy it four times over a span of weeks or months until you reach 100 shares.
For those who want to live a little and trade, Cramer says home-gamers can make money, too, if trading is done right.
To begin trading on a core position, every time the stock jumps 5 percent, sell 25 shares. Keep shaving a little off the top to bring in some profits. This is called scaling out of a stock, though Cramer always likes to keep the last 25 shares if he loves the stock.
The next step is to wait until something happens to the stock that knocks it down to the same price where you bought it initially, as long as the news isn't specific to the stock. When the stock comes down, you start to buy it in increments again.
This might appear to be small potatoes, but over time the profits add up. Up 5 percent and sell 25 shares, then buy it from where you started. The cash in your pocket will start to accumulate.
"A lot of people think that trading is incredibly exciting, and it can be, but if you're good at trading around a core position, you should be pretty bored. All you're doing is watching the stock move, and trimming or adding to your position accordingly," Cramer said.
The purpose of this technique is to avoid putting yourself in a position where you have too much money on the table for a stock. This way, if the stock takes a hit and goes down, or if you have too little on the table to take advantage of upside, you are prepared.
"Trading around a core position is an important basic trading strategy that everyone can use, even those of you who find the notion of trading, as opposed to investing, to be abhorrent."
More and more companies might be using the renminbi (yuan) to do business with China, but few are capitalizing on the government's new infrastructure initiatives and are missing out on potential business opportunities, according to a new survey by HSBC.
Of the 1,600 senior executives across 14 countries asked by the bank's commercial arm, 24 percent confirmed that their business was using the currency, up 7 percent on an equivalent survey last year.
While 41 percent of survey respondents were aware of the business opportunities presented by the Chinese government's "belt and road" strategy, only 7 percent of these were implementing new means of capitalizing on the development.
"Belt and road" is the Chinese government's coinage for the policy and infrastructure framework which it hopes will spur $2.5 trillion of international commerce per annum, a figure Chinese state news agency Xinhua attributes to President Xi Jinping in 2015. Introduced in 2013, "belt and road" is intended to develop two trade corridors between China and the rest of the world.
"Belt" refers to the historic overland Silk Road trading routes linking China to Europe and the Middle East. Meanwhile, "road" refers to the country's maritime connections in its south with Africa, India and Southeast Asia. According to HSBC, the project will impact trade in 65 countries, home to nearly two thirds of the world's population.
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Samsung may need to declare defeat with its Note 7 device, a technology expert told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Monday. "They are really, really in crisis mode," said Vivek Wadhwa, professor at Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering, who said he had spoken to a higher-up at the company. "They are all over it. What he told me was that the executive team is getting hourly updates on this. So they are taking it very seriously. They know they messed up over here they know they have a disaster on their hands."
Samsung Electronic Company in Thailand announced a recall of its Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to its Samsung mobile customers through fan pages. Thailand promoted the product 'Samsung Galaxy Note 7' from 2-4 September 2016. Adisorn Chabsungnuen | Pacific Press | LightRocket | Getty Images
Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have all suspended sales of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 after a global recall, as reports of overheating batteries continued. Samsung told CNBC it respected carriers' choices and is working diligently with authorities to investigate heat damage issues. Wadhwa said that even though smartphones are a small part of Samsung's business, the company needs to rebrand with a new product line that blows people away. With all the name recognition the company gets from the recall, it may be able to stick in people's minds if it develops a major new product a year from now, Wadhwa said. "Samsung has become a household name," Wadhwa said. "This is the way it goes in marketing you can take a disaster and turn it into a victory if you do things right. Now will Samsung do it? I don't know if their management team is smart enough to do it, but they might well get there, because they're not very good at hype ... but they are very competent at technology."
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Elon Musk Getty Images
It's been a tough year for Elon Musk. Tesla shares are on track for their first down year ever and not just by a hair, but 15 percent. General Motors is about to beat Tesla to market with a long-range EV at a price point for the mass market. Tesla was caught up in the fallout from the first passenger death related to its self-driving vehicle feature. And Musk's plan to have Tesla acquire the solar company he backs, SolarCity , has drawn fire from shareholders and corporate governance experts. Then last month a SpaceX rocket blew up though it's now reportedly under investigation as a potential act of sabotage. A billionaire like Musk is prepared to face existential crises at his companies. He has built them in a way that can withstand short-term concerns and sticks to his guns in a way a visionary can be expected to: skepticism and uncertainty met by equal parts salesmanship and shrewd preparation.
This week he tweeted a typical tease about a big product announcement coming from Tesla on Oct. 17. A few weeks ago, in another slick media-made event, he reminded everyone that he still plans to land on Mars. So here's an obvious lesson entrepreneurs can learn from Musk: Keeping the bold news flowing is always a good idea when the short-term news flow has been bad. Musk has also adopted key ideas from other billionaires who have built empires that last. Here are a few big lessons from Elon Musk's wild and so far successful ride through the markets. First things first: Don't panic. Or if things are so bad you can't help but panic a little, here's some calming advice.
1. Keep moving toward the only goal that can save you.
It probably has not changed and does not suffer from human emotional frailty.
Musk was close to seeing both Tesla and SpaceX collapse in 2008. In fact, he told "60 Minutes" in 2014 that his rocket company, which hit the brink of insolvency after three different failures of its early rockets, would have gone broke if a fourth rocket had failed. At the same time, Tesla was also nearly out of money. Musk told the broadcast that the Sunday before Christmas that year was "the closest I've ever come" to a nervous breakdown.
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Musk kept working on different avenues to raise money for both companies just as the fourth SpaceX rocket was about to launch. When the Falcon 1 successfully launched into orbit in the last days of 2008, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration gave the company a $1.5 billion contract that cemented its survival. Days later Tesla raised $50 million in a venture capital round that would close in May 2009.
2. Be ready to improvise and take the heat when you do.
SolarCity has run into all sorts of market skepticism: Nevada pulled back on rules that are required to make the economics of solar work for residential customers. The notion that other regulators might follow suit made investors much less willing to tolerate SolarCity's losses, which reached $85 million in the first half of this year, with much larger losses in cash flow required to build rooftop systems that will generate revenue over decades. These events have led investors to short SolarCity shares, which are down more than 60 percent this year.
Musk responded with a controversial proposal to have the more financially solid Tesla buy SolarCity in a deal that values stock in the smaller company at $2.6 billion SolarCity's current market cap is under $2 billion.
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How 9 iconic American brands discovered their names To Musk, the deal makes sense because the two companies' products should be used together. SolarCity's panels can be combined with Tesla batteries that store residential power and charge Tesla vehicles. But Musk is chairman and the largest shareholder of SolarCity, and its co-founder and CEO is Musk's cousin Lyndon Rive. Corporate governance experts have torn the deal to shreds. Some shareholders of Tesla have challenged the deal in Delaware's courts, arguing the deal will expand Tesla's losses at a time when it, too, will have to raise money to finish paying for its giant "Gigafactory" battery factory. Musk is sticking to his long-term vision of why the deal is a no-brainer. And earlier this week, he tweeted that neither Tesla nor SolarCity will need to raise more money this year.
3. Like it or not, the government matters.
Tesla financed its first factory with loan guarantees by the Department of Energy after the 2008 financial crisis locked up private debt markets, especially for young companies. SolarCity's clients also benefit from tax breaks, as well as regulations that let them sell excess power they generate when it's sunny to help pay for the conventionally produced electricity they use the rest of the time. Tesla's customers also benefit from a $7,500 tax credit for electric-vehicle buyers, which will expire when the Model 3, due next year, hits sales targets.
Indeed, government aid and incentives are a big part of the reason Tesla was able to go public in a skeptical 2010 market for initial public offerings. Would-be imitators who want to understand what it takes to start and sustain a billion-dollar business need to grasp how the government can help them or hurt them.
Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett has said something useful about the benefits of being in highly regulated, capital-intensive businesses like energy and transportation, including those utilities now making things tough for SolarCity: "We relish making such investments as long as they promise reasonable returns. ... It is in the self-interest of governments to treat capital providers in a manner that will ensure the continued flow of funds to essential projects."
4. Product matters most.
It's the most obvious lesson Musk teaches: His companies are becoming iconic because the product is, especially at Tesla.
Customers and investors alike have been attracted to the sheer audaciousness of his goals, which have set him apart from other entrepreneurs, even in Silicon Valley. Tesla has also won customer loyalty for constantly updating its products, a capacity now being tested as it moves to refine its autopilot system in the wake of a highly publicized crash in May. Wannabe billionaires should ask themselves: Is my product really exciting enough to build a company around? On Monday, when Musk tweeted that a Tesla product announcement was coming, shares went up 3 percent.
5. Do what you say you'll do (preferably when you say you'll do it).
As the general election draws ever closer, Main Street businesses are grappling with the idea of a higher federal minimum wage. Momentum for an increase is building. Currently 29 states and Washington, D.C., have wage floors above the current federal minimum of $7.25 an hour, and both major party presidential candidates have expressed support for a federal wage hike.
The federal minimum wage hasn't been raised since 2009. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has spoken out in support of a $12 wage at the federal level and $15 an hour at state and local levels when economic conditions permit. Meanwhile, Republican nominee Donald Trump has called for a new federal minimum wage of $10 an hour. Congressional Democrats have been pushing for $12 an hour by the year 2020, but, with a Republican majority in place, their efforts have stalled.
Separately, four states are considering raises for workers on November 8th: Arizona, Maine, and Colorado have $12 on the ballot, while Washington State is taking up a wage of $13.50 an hour, according to the National Employment Law Project.
Those initiatives have Sherry Wuebben of La Crosse, Wisconsin, concerned. The owner of St. Joseph Equipment, an agriculture equipment distributor, she pays her 90 workers between $14 and $15 per hour to start. An increase in the federal floor would cause her to have to scale up nearly 30 percent.
"Our cost of living here in the Midwest is much lower: housing is lower, education is lower, gas is lower, childcare is lower, all of these things are lower," said Wuebben, a third-generation business owner. "We are not on par with the different coasts, we are Middle America."
No matter which side of the debate entrepreneurs fall on, they are certainly thinking about how wage hikes may impact their business and workforce. New data from Paychex, a small business payroll and benefits provider, finds that 47 percent of small companies rated the minimum wage increase as "important or very important." What's more, 64 percent of respondents said they supported increasing the federal minimum wage, while only 36 percent said they opposed a hike.
I was saddened by the U.K. decision to leave the European Union, as I deeply believe in the benefits of unification. But Brexit can be an opportunity for Europe.
Competition for top spot in the world economy is fierce, and Western economies risk losing relevance. In this race, size increasingly matters. Without the U.K., the EU will still be the world's second-largest economic bloc, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $13.4 trillion. Breaking away from this union, and its 444 million often highly skilled citizens, represents a risk. By 2050, the European economy is projected to make up only 9 percent of the world economy. This puts the clout of any individual country even that of relatively big players like the U.K. into perspective.
The negotiations over Brexit will be an uncertain period for the U.K. For example, it is unclear whether Britain will still benefit from EU programs to stimulate investment after it leaves. The European Investment Fund committed 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) to 144 U.K. venture funds for the period 2011-15, representing 37 percent of all venture funding raised in the U.K.
Europe can use this uncertainty as an opportunity and turn the situation to its advantage.
Robin Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Baidu, introduces the new AI-powered digital assistant 'Duer' during the 2015 Baidu Technology Innovation Conference on September 8, 2015 in Beijing, China. VCG | Getty Images
Baidu China's biggest search engine introduced an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot on Tuesday to connect with patients, field medical questions and suggest diagnoses to doctors. The company is calling the bot a new feature of the Baidu Doctor app it launched last year Melody the medical assistant. Baidu has developed advanced deep learning and natural language processing technologies to power Melody's artificially intelligent "brain." The bot is designed to be the first port of call for a person feeling sick at home. A patient poses a health query to Melody, which responds in real time with further questions, and compares responses with Baidu's database of medical information. All that data gets crunched, and Melody then poses a possible diagnosis to a doctor who can then recommend next steps.
Artificial intelligence is seen as one way to help compensate for the global dearth of qualified medical professionals, a problem experts predict will only get worse. There will be a global shortfall of almost 13 million health-care professionals within two decades, according to the World Health Organization.
"I don't know how else to solve this problem other than to use AI," said Andrew Ng, chief scientist at Baidu Research. "I'm seeing just the beginnings of what will be a major trend of AI systems in health care."
Baidu has built a 1,000-person team to work on AI, which Ng said is one of the company's top priorities. The app will launch in China the world's biggest smartphone market along with doctor and health-care organization partners. The company is in talks with health-care organizations in the U.S. and Europe, said Ng. "This is resonating well with physicians around the world," he said. AI is shaping up to be one of 2016's hottest areas of innovation. Amazon , Apple , Google , Facebook and Samsung are all investing heavily in this area building giant teams of data scientists internally and through acquisitions. Since AI's success hinges on access data, it is these giant tech platforms that will ultimately control the market.
For Melody's artificial intelligence, Baidu drew on data from a number of public and private sources, including medical textbooks, medical websites which have gathered a vast array of back and forth conversations between doctors and patients and search queries as well as search queries and information supplied by doctors. It then applied deep learning to all that health data in order to make sense of it. "That's at the heart of Melody," said Ng. For example, a person may say something like "my son is feeling under the weather" instead of "my son has the flu." Melody would know to ask follow up questions about symptoms to figure out what type of illness the patient may be suffering. To decipher the complexities of natural language, Baidu's computers have consumed huge volumes of text and applied artificial intelligence.
Over time as Melody has more conversations with patients and doctors and gathers with more data it will get better at knowing the right questions to ask patients and suggesting possible diagnoses, said Ng. Melody is not ready to make diagnoses directly to patients, said Ng. In fact, this type of technology is a long way from replacing human physicians with robo-doctors, he said. "Right now, given the global shortage of health-care workers, in this next period of time the focus should be on helping," he said.
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With less than four weeks to go before voters head to the polls, analysts at Citi have upped their chances of a Hillary Clinton victory in the increasingly unpredictable fight for the White House. In raising their odds on a Clinton win from 60 percent to 70 percent, Citi's global researchers pointed to "continued momentum for Clinton in the polls, and (Donald) Trump's difficulty in overcoming challenges and broadening his appeal behind his stalwart supporters." This reverses the trend from a mid-September note published by the same political analysts, in which Donald Trump's chances jumped from 35 percent to 40 percent due to what Tina Fordham and her team described as an"enthusiasm gap" for Clinton.
Californians have a long list of colorful candidates for the U.S. Senate as voters go to the polls. Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
According to Citi, referencing data from political data source FiveThirtyEight, prediction markets now rate the chance of a Clinton victory at 80 percent and a Trump victory at 18 percent. This reflects an 18 percent bump for the Democratic candidate since the first debate on September 26 and a 17 percent slide for her Republican opponent. Meantime, the same sources indicate polls-based forecasts put the chance of a Clinton win at 82.5 percent (a 27.7 percent jump since thefirst debate) against 18.4 percent for Trump. However, the analysts warned, "we continue to be cautious due to concerns about polls capturing marginalized voters and the high potential for Black Swan events." Last weekend's flurry of headline-grabbing events, including a 2005 recording of Trump making comments widely interpreted as inappropriate and derogatory towards women as well as a WikiLeaks release of Clinton telling banks during paid speeches she has "both a public and private position" on Wall Street reform, are not yet reflected in the latest polls. Nor is Sunday night's second presidential debate which general consensus determined to reflect yet another a lowpoint for U.S.politics but closely tied in terms of who made a better showing, Trump perhaps having the slight edge.
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Failure of both to command broad appeal continues as a distinguishing factor in a race characterized by among the highest ever negative personal ratings for candidates in a presidential battle. Despite this, Clinton's score has recently managed a slight improvement. Turning to the all-important swing states, Citi analysts described momentum on this front as "also moving in her favor" with Clinton currently ahead in 11 states as compared to Trump's lead in four. As we move into the last month of campaigning, the Citi analysts cite key factors to keep an eye on,including the third presidential debate scheduled for October 19. They also highlight "polling on national and state level as well as favorability numbers. The level of support for third party candidates has recently been on the decline, boosting Clinton's chances of winning. This trend as well as the number of undecided voters are important to watch for." According to Citi, any further senior defections from the Trump camp or critical statements from members of the Republican Party could also be "important signposts" about the direction of the race. The analysts pour cold water on the suggestion Trump's recent series of mis-steps may prompt his exit from the race ahead of the election, saying it is, "extremely unlikely Donald Trump will withdraw" and that there is "no mechanism to force him to do so."
MEXICO CITY & LONDON, 11 October August 2016 CNBC International today announced a strategic partnership with Sky Mexico that will see the creation of CNBC Latin America, a dedicated business and financial TV news service.
CNBC Latin America will bring the best of CNBC's English language content from around the globe to the regions business elite.
KC Sullivan, President and MD of CNBC International said:
"The launch of CNBC Latin America is the latest addition to the suite of strategic partnerships underpinning CNBC's emerging markets strategy. We are pleased to bring CNBC's unique and robust content proposition to the region."
The channel will launch this week on Sky Mexico channel 631.
For further updates follow @CNBCiPR.
Ends
Contact:
Lee Thompson, EMEA Comms Manager, CNBC International
+44 (0)20 7653 9398 / lee.thompson@CNBC.com
About CNBC International:
CNBC is the leading global broadcaster of live business and financial news and information, reporting directly from the major financial markets around the globe with three regional networks including CNBC in Asia, CNBC in EMEA and CNBC in the US. CNBC.com is the preeminent financial news source on the web, featuring an unprecedented amount of video, real-time market analysis, web-exclusive live video and analytical financial tools. CNBC is dedicated to CEOs, senior corporate executives; the financial services industry and private investors. The channel is available in more than 385 million homes worldwide. CNBC is a division of NBCUniversal.
Visitors to the Samsung 837 showroom in the Meatpacking District in New York admire the Samsung Galaxy S7, seen on Saturday, February 27, 2016.
In the midst of Samsung's massive Galaxy Note 7 recall, the company's swanky showroom in New York City is electing not to post any prominent signage to inform customers of the recall. Instead, reps are quietly referring questions about refunds or exchanges to its customer service hotline.
The "flagship experience center," which doesn't actually sell products, simply removed all the Galaxy Note 7 displays from the showroom.
Dominic Febbo waited outside the Samsung 837 location in Manhattan on Tuesday morning to help his mom return her Galaxy Note 7 for a full refund. He left empty-handed from the facility, which Samsung says is not a retail store, though devices and merchandise are displayed there.
Febbo was part of a small group of people in line outside Samsung's swanky "technology playground" in New York's Meatpacking District, and a few were there to see about exchanging or returning their newly recalled Note 7. Febbo spent about 25 minutes in the building but was told he wouldn't be refunded right away.
"They told me I have to get the box and shipping label, and then return it to the website," Febbo said. "They can't do it here. I have to call the 1-800 number for Samsung, and they send me everything."
The full price for the phone, he said, was about $879. Once he returns it, it'll be about 10 days for the refund, he said.
The electronics giant said Tuesday it halted production of the device after multiple reports of both original and replacement Note 7s overheating and catching fire.
"For the benefit of consumers' safety, we stopped sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 and have consequently decided to stop production," the company said in a statement.
But not everyone is in a hurry to get the Note 7 off their hands.
Romesh Wijewardena told CNBC he bought the second-generation Note 7 from T-Mobile in late September and doesn't plan on returning it anytime soon, even with the recalls and warnings.
"I'm loving it," he said. "So far, I haven't had any problems with it ... I'm going to keep it. If I have a problem, then I'm going to think about it, and if not, I'm going to keep it."
Wijewardena also has an iPhone, but says he prefers his Note 7 by far.
"I can't compare the iPhone...Samsung is 10 times better," he said. "I'm a Samsung fan [ever since] the very first Note came out. I have every single Note."
All four major US carriers have stopped issuing Note 7 via sales and exchanges. Verizon , AT&T and Sprint said they will exchange Note 7s for another device. Meanwhile, T-Mobile , Best Buy and Samsung have said they will offer exchanges and provide full refunds for customers who want their money back. Amazon will also provide refunds for customers.
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam spoke from the Internet Association's Virtuous Circle conference in Menlo Park, California, on Monday and outlined Verizon's take on the smartphone.
"We'll give you a device of your choice versus another Note 7 it's just not safe at this point in our view," McAdam said. "Note 7s are off the shelf at this point."
Carriers and retailers aren't the only ones encouraging Note 7 owners to return their devices. Facebook -owned Oculus issued an update Tuesday, removing support for all Note 7 devices on the Oculus Gear VR platform, The Verge reported.
When asked if he thinks the recall and issues with the Note 7 will damage the company's credibility, Wijewardena was optimistic and says he has full faith in the company to fix the problem.
"It's a technical issue, and they're going to come up with a solution for it," he said. "I'm not going to switch from Samsung to any other device. Samsung is the best...so far, still."
Samsung and the company's Manhattan location did not immediately return CNBC's request for comment.
--CNBC's Courtney Reagan contributed to this report.
Jean-Bernard Levy, chairman and CEO of European utility EDF, has expressed relief over the U.K. government's decision to give the Hinkley Point C nuclear project the green light.
"We are relieved because it's been many, many years with a lot of work for many people in the U.K., also in France, and in China," Levy told CNBC at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul.
"This is a partnership for Hinkley Point, between the United Kingdom and China and France, so (we are) relieved that we have been able to get this decision behind us," he added.
"We have a little more than nine years to deliver the first unit, so that's a very exciting challenge."
The joint project has proved controversial: Critics have raised concerns over the fixed price of 92.50 ($113.40) per megawatt hour of electricity for 35 years once the plant begins generating as well as potential risks to the U.K.'s security, given that foreign firms will have a stake in crucial U.K. energy infrastructure.
"The new British government, with Mrs (U.K. Prime Minister Theresa) May, they have made their decision, and what they have publicised, there is a very interesting document called Value for Money," Levy said.
The Beatrice Community Players stage will be transformed into a beauty salon where actors of "Steel Magnolias" anticipate laughs and tears from audience members.
Starting Friday, the play is set entirely in the late 1980s in Truvy's Louisiana beauty salon, the centerpiece for a group of women and their gossip, friendships and long-running feuds.
"M'Lynn's daughter, Shelby, is a diabetic who is now the ailing member in the group," said Mason Gustafson, the guest director of the play. "We see the support and strength in these women through this one common heart break."
Gustafson said the cast of six women shed tears over the script during their first rehearsal. Packs of tissues will be sold during intermission as the second act pulls on heartstrings, said Community Players Artistic Director Jamie Ulmer.
Ulmer summed up the play as provoking "laughter through tears."
"To me, this is one of the greatest comedic dramas, because of its believability," Gustafson said. "It's also very funny. The general dialogue and banter and the way these women act is really funny."
Gustafson and Ulmer said the play's original sentiment and dialogue was kept alive in the 1989 film adaptation, and the same can be said for the local production.
"Come ready to laugh, but ready to cry at the same time," Gustafson said. "It is our attempt to make this really real and relatable. Audiences will be able to feel a connection. With the way it turns out, it makes it all the more meaningful."
Ulmer said "Steel Magnolias" is not simply popular because of the film adaptation.
"It's because all of the characters have personalities and traits that are very real," Ulmer said. "We all know each of these people in our lives. We know the curmudgeon, the town gossip, the family that seems to have it all together."
Ulmer compared the community in the story to Beatrice.
"It has a college, it has a big high school, it has a radio station," he said.
When the public voted on productions they'd like to see again on the Community Players stage for its 40th anniversary, "Steel Magnolias" ranked high, beat narrowly by "Harvey" by a few votes, Ulmer said. Community Players put on the production in about 1993.
Ulmer said the playhouse tries to bring in a guest director for one show per season as different styles and perspectives benefits actors and audiences.
Gustafson, originally from Iowa, lives in Lincoln and described Community Players as a "great little theater nestled in Nebraska."
"It's really great to be back with Community Players because everyone is so friendly and really negotiable and easy to work with," Gustafson said. "Even in a moment of turmoil or if things don't go well, everyone remains level-headed and takes that breath.
"It's really fun to see this play unfold. Working with all of these ladies has been really great."
The cast is comprised of six women: Missy Marlatt, Elizabeth Reinders, Janet Ensz, Diane Kahnk, Shelley Keebler and Elizabeth Veverka.
The shows runs Oct. 14, 15, 21, and 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 16 and 23 at 2 p.m. Ticket prices are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. The production is sponsored by Wells Fargo Advisors.
Gustafson has acted in Community Players productions and directed one young adult production on the stage, as well as others in his home state of Iowa. He studied theater at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, and said the directing "Steel Magnolias" is a great opportunity for him to hone his techniques.
If CBS and Viacom merge, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves should be given five years to turn around the company, top CBS and Viacom shareholder and legendary investor Mario Gabelli told CNBC Tuesday.
According to Reuters, Moonves is planning to seek autonomy from the Redstone family, the broadcaster's controlling shareholder, in leading the company if it merges with Viacom.
"Shari [Redstone] has to come to understand that if she wants Les, and she does want Les, and Sumner [Redstone] feels comfortable with Les why not five years?" the chairman and CEO of Gabelli Asset Management said in an interview with "Closing Bell."
While the Redstones have called for the two companies to reunite, negotiations between Moonves and National Amusements (NAI) haven't started in earnest, Reuters reported. The Redstones own an 80 percent stake of CBS and Viacom through NAI.
Gabelli said Sumner Redstone and NAI have to be a "cheerleader for Les."
Meanwhile, he's still bullish on CBS and Viacom, and isn't concerned about the media business in general.
"CBS is a loaded laggard. Viacom is a wonderful opportunity in the sense of distribution in India. Paramount has great distribution," he said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Christopher Gray who incited the biggest Shark Tank fight to date over his app Scholly, which connects students to millions of dollars worth of scholarships.
The business landscape is rapidly evolving and there's a set of professionals, all 35 and under, urging on this transformation using a combination of skill, guts and perseverance. These are the inventors, strategists and entrepreneurs that make up the LinkedIn Next Wave 2016, a group of 120 individuals across a dozen different industries that are doing extraordinary work and transforming their fields. The list, which is driven by data from LinkedIn's global professional network and editorial research, features names you've seen on television (see: Daveed Diggs of "Hamilton") as well as those who work quietly behind the scenes to reimagine everyday conveniences (see: Don Burnette of self-driving startup Otto). Check out some of these standout Next Wavers below and see the full list here.
Zoe Barry
Zoe Barry, CEO and co-founder, ZappRx Source: Zoe Barry
CEO and co-founder, ZappRx The process of filling a prescription for a specialty drug can be incredibly time consuming and complex, requiring reams of paperwork from healthcare providers. Barry, a 31-year-old Wall Street veteran, became interested in tackling those inefficiencies after her younger brother was diagnosed with severe epilepsy. The ZappRx software platform is designed to automate and speed up the prescribing process by creating a secure digital platform that allows more transparency for doctors, pharmacists and patients. Since its founding in 2012, the company has raised $14 million in funding and has grown to a team of 20. The healthcare industry can be slow to innovate and ZappRx has been scaling its offering condition to condition, expanding from pulmonary to neurology and rheumatology. "Early on, any opposition was like fuel for my fire," Barry says. Barry's used to working hard and dealing with a tough market; she worked as a raptor vet in Alaska and later interned in a neuroscience primate research lab at Harvard.
Don Burnette
Don Burnette Co-Founder, Otto Source: LinkedIn
Co-founder, Otto While tech giants like Google, Lyft, Tesla and others race to get to market with autonomous cars, Burnette is thinking bigger about 14 wheels bigger. A former Google engineer, 31-year-old Burnette is the co-founder of Otto, a self-driving trucking company recently acquired by Uber. Some 3.5 million Americans drive trucks professionally and Otto's technology has the potential to upend that industry. Otto execs see it a different way: drivers would be able to double their output from a typical 9-hour driving day by taking naps periodically while on the truck and then getting back to driving. The driverless tech is not complete yet, but Otto already has a fleet of trucks driving around streets and highways testing out new technology. "There's an oversupply of goods that need to be moved and an undersupply of people to move them," he says. "We're going to be able to assist the industry as a whole."
Connie Chan
Connie Chan, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz Nick Otto | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Partner, Andreessen Horowitz While hordes of venture capitalists find themselves heads down focused on all the startup activity in Silicon Valley, Chan is thinking globally. A partner at Andreessen Horowitz, 32-year-old Chan sees herself as a "matchmaker between U.S. and Chinese companies" by helping Andreessen's portfolio forge cross-border partnerships. Most recently, Chan's matchmaking was credited with introducing Lyft's leadership to China's largest ride-hailing company, Didi Kuaidi. Chan's introduction led to a $100 million investment and partnership between the two companies right when Lyft was aggressively trying to step up its international exposure to compete against Uber. "I hope to transform how my industry works by providing a global perspective, reminding us all that Silicon Valley is not the only source of innovation and funding," she said.
Jonas Cleveland
Jonas Cleveland CEO and CTO, COSY Source: LinkedIn
CEO and CTO, COSY One of the critical tasks in retail is to optimally manage the use of floor space within every store. In a huge chain like Walgreens, for instance, with more than 8,000 stores, this knowledge is difficult and expensive to obtain. With the help of Cleveland, 29, Walgreens is testing using artificial intelligence to reduce the kind of out-of-stocks that cost retailers almost $400 billion annually, creating a fully automated robot inventory system. In 2012, Cleveland co-founded COSY, a firm that uses advanced computer vision to allow mobile devices to accurately position themselves indoors. Think of how GPS and Google Maps have transformed so much of our world. Cleveland's app wants to solve the same navigation challenges for places like supermarkets, houses, movie theater or even your doctor's office. "We are giving power through data that's never existed before," says Cleveland.
Cassie DeWitt
Cassie DeWitt, lead data scientist, Detroit Fire Department Source: LinkedIn
Lead data scientist, Detroit Fire Department Local governments collect troves of data, but it's only recently that they've begun to employ sophisticated analytics to improve performance of the services they provide to residents. DeWitt, 35, serves as the Detroit Fire Department's first-ever data scientist. She's trying to find what triggers "bad incidents" things like arsons, ambulance runs, and fires. As she parses the data, she's looking for unique insights that could help the Detroit Fire Department keep residents safer. For example, she's exploring whether neighborhoods with fewer trash pickups, and therefore more debris laying around, have more cases of arson. If that's true, then local authorities could intervene earlier to prevent such scenarios using DeWitt's unique data analyses. She's now developing a live database that will be able to track correlations (like arson and trash) and how they change over time neighborhood by neighborhood, which can then be communicated directly to both firefighters and police in real time.
Elias Friedman
Elias Friedman Photographer, The Dogist Source: LinkedIn
Photographer, The Dogist Three years ago, opportunity came knocking for Friedman it just didn't look like what he expected. After being laid off from a brand strategy firm, he decided to pull out his camera and take to the streets to photograph some of New York's most pampered residents: dogs. "I knew if I was consistent with it and didn't miss days of posting, what's not to love about the story of dogs and posing them like people?" says Friedman. Since then, The Dogist has grown to include some 2.2 million Instagram followers and a New York Times bestselling book by 28-year-old Friedman. He's helped inaugurate a new genre of lucrative dog marketing, attracting big-name sponsors like Google, Uber and Purina. The future is looking even cuter. Next up on Friedman's plate is a book about puppies.
Sal Gentile
Sal Gentile, Writer, Late Night with Seth Meyers Source: LinkedIn
Writer, Late Night with Seth Meyers Gentile found an unexpected sweet spot. The writer for "Late Night with Seth Meyers" is a political junkie who always wanted to be a comedy writer. "So, I basically did everything at once, which was my strategy," joked Gentile, 30. With a background as a producer at MSNBC and comedic chops honed as a performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC, his background made him a perfect fit for his current role: creating hilarious narratives from the political news of the day. More and more shows are looking for ways to reach an audience with a voracious appetite for election news in a post-Jon Stewart world, and Gentile represents the new mixed-breed taking over late-night writers' rooms. It's been a boon for Gentile, but he has one warning for viewers: "Don't rely on just us for your news about the election."
Christopher Gray
Christopher Gray who incited the biggest Shark Tank fight to date over his app Scholly, which connects students to millions of dollars worth of scholarships. Source: Christopher Gray
Founder and CEO, Scholly Many students have been crippled by student debt, but Gray avoided that headache by earning $1.3 million in scholarships for college. But finding all that cash wasn't easy; it was tedious and took months. To fix this, Gray launched Scholly, an app that makes searching and securing scholarships much easier and faster. While still in school at Drexel University, Gray took the idea to Shark Tank and sparked the biggest fight in the show's history, leaving with deals from Sharks Daymond John and Lori Greiner. Following his appearance, his app shot to No. 1 in app stores, and cities across the country began purchasing Scholly for their students. The 24-year-old later won a $100,000 investment from Steve Case and was named on Oprah's SuperSoul 100 list. Some 850,000 students have gotten more than $50 million in scholarships for college.
Nick Halla
the director of strategy and one of the first hires at Impossible Foods, the company that managed to make a plant-based burger that "bleeds" Source: Nick Halla
Chief Strategy Officer, Impossible Foods Founded in 2011 and backed by the likes of Bill Gates, Impossible Foods is focused on making plant-based food ingredients look and taste like meat. (When cooked, the meatless ImpossibleBurger patty appears to bleed when you bite into it.) This level of innovation took some serious molecular science, starting with replicating heme part of the protein found in blood at scale and adding coconut oil flecks to mimic beef fat. Chief Strategy Officer (and Employee No. 1) Halla, 34, says plant-based versions of pork, chicken, fish and dairy could be next. "My upbringing on a dairy farm makes me super passionate about the work we're doing at Impossible Foods," Halla told LinkedIn. "Whether I'm a farmer, an engineer or a business leader, making the world more sustainable has been a longtime aspiration." Industry watchers are keeping tabs: Google reportedly tried to acquire the 130-person company for $200 million.
Daniel Lippman
Daniel Lippman, the co-author of Politico Playbook, who catapulted his career from his dorm room by copy editing top journalists and who is now charged with reinventing the sites flagship newsletter for a younger audience. Source: Daniel Lippman
Co-author, POLITICO Playbook In college, Lippman used email to get the attention of the Washington press corps: His constant notes to reporters, alerting them to typos or errors in their stories, earned him the title of "Washington's independent copy editor." Today, Beltway journos and readers around the world still obsess over his emails now part of his job. Lippman, 26, is one of the writers of POLITICO Playbook, the must-open morning newsletter that has more than 100,000 subscribers. With co-authors Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman, Lippman's helping to refresh Playbook following the summer departure of its founder, Mike Allen (whom Lippman also worked alongside). Playbook 2.0 includes photos and graphics, while the news and gossipy tidbits remain. Lippman, who's also worked as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, wakes at 4 to start putting it together. One scoop he's proud of? In April, he learned that a WashingtonPost reporter had won a Pulitzer before the awards were announced. The item landed at the top of the morning newsletter. And, true to Playbook form, it quickly got D.C. talking.
Brittany Packnett
Brittany Packnett Vice President, National Community Alliances, Teach for America Source: LinkedIn
It's already a well-established fact that renewable sources of energy are clean and increasingly cost effective. But with parts of the world gripped by geopolitical tensions and armed conflict, clean energy can offer something extra: The potential of energy independence and security.
In Germany, the idea of fostering energy independence through renewables is gaining traction with some lawmakers.
"When the conflict between Russia and the Ukraine started, we had a big debate about energy independence," Annalena Baerbock, a Green Party MP in Germany, told CNBC's Energy Future.
"People were thinking of how can we replace nuclear and also fossil fuels and that was the idea, to replace nuclear and afterwards coal with renewable energy," she added.
For its part, the German government has ambitious plans in place. It says that in 2015 renewable energy accounted for around 30 percent of "gross electricity generation."
"The idea is for the Germans to say they want to make more of their energy at home because they know they can rely on that, and that's less exposure to the disruptions," Craig Morris, from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, said.
Wind energy is becoming an increasingly important part of Europe's energy mix. According to WindEurope, the offshore wind industry in Europe saw 14 billion euros ($15.52 billion) in new investments in the first six months of 2016.
"The most promising form of renewable energy was actually the solar panels, but given that Germany is not the most sun intensive country, lately wind is gaining more and more," Baerbock said.
The tide, for some, does seem to be turning. "Back in the 90s when renewable energy started they had only a minute share of the electricity market as a whole, but now that has grown to roughly 30 percent and it is to grow to 80 percent in 2050," Jens Winkler, from wind energy company Enercon, said.
"Wind energy is one of the cheapest natural resources because there (are) zero marginal costs," he added.
For Baerbock, one of the keys to fostering an energy mix based on renewable sources is finding a way to store the power.
"The wind is not always blowing, so the big challenge is currently to work on battery solutions where you can actually turn electricity into gas and then bring it back into (a) form of electricity afterwards when you need it again," he said.
Students and staff were recognized at the Beatrice Public Schools Board of Education meeting Monday night.
The employee of the month is Joyce Wenzbauer, a paraeducator at Paddock Lane Elementary. Her anonymous nominator described her as a great asset to the district and said she makes every student feel important, never gives up and is always willing to try new strategies and share what she learns from training events.
The anonymous letter went on to say that Wenzbauer is always positive and ready with a joke or a smile.
Lincoln Elementary School teacher Susan Wait led the next portion of the meeting in explaining artwork completed by her students and recognized at a state level.
With help from a parent volunteer, all 18 of Wait's students came together to make six collages of birds sitting on branches.
The pieces of artwork are hanging in the walls of the Nebraska Association of School Boards building and can be found on the NASB website's home page at NASBonline.org.
"'All children are artists. The problem is remembering how to be an artist when they grow up,'" Wait said, quoting Pablo Picasso. "I've always remembered that. I think it's important to incorporate art into every classroom."
The BPS school board gave Wait a certificate to hang in the classroom. Two of the student artists were present and recognized.
BPS Superintendent Pat Narouth mentioned in his report the goal of adding more artwork in the hallways of the administration building to give it more of an educational feel.
Beatrice High School seniors Joscelyn Zimmerman and Tia Buhr were also recognized for being nominated for the Believers and Achievers award.
The statewide program is designed by U.S. Bank and the Nebraska State Activities Association to give recognition to Nebraska's future leaders. The award honors students who excel academically and show committed citizenship and involvement with school and community projects.
"I told them both that regardless of the outcome, they should be proud to be nominated because I consider this to be the best of the best -- really well-rounded students," BHS Assistant Principal and Activities Director Neal Randel said at the meeting.
Buhr is a finalists for the award, among 48 throughout the state. She'll attend a banquet in June. Eight of the finalists will receive scholarships from U.S. Bank.
Additionally, Randel showed the board how students' participation in activities is reflected positively in their academia.
Randel said that in the 2015-2016 school year, BHS students who did not participate in any school activities (233 total) had a consolidated average GPA of 2.276 while students who participated in at least one school activity (456 total) had a group average GPA of 3.098 total.
According to the National Federation of High Schools, students who participate in activities have better attendance, lower drop-out rates, fewer discipline problems, better overall health, better grades and are less liked to use drugs or cigarettes, among other benefits read at the meeting by Randel.
The board also unanimously approved updates to district policies, such as the Workplace Privacy Act, a policy regarding homeless students, and descriptions of duties of principals and the Director of Business Affairs. The changes to wording in the policies reflected what the district already does and what recent legislation mandates all school districts to put into their writing, Nauroth said.
The board also voted to discontinue its $2,500 membership with the Greater Nebraska Schools Association while continuing its free membership with Schools Taking Action For Nebraska Childrens Education (STANCE). Board member Andy Maschmann said both groups are reputable and do good things, but they do a lot of the same things and said that time spent by Nauroth in GNSA meetings could be better used in the district.
The next BPS Board of Education meeting is Thursday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. in the board room at 320 N. Fifth St.
Time was set aside during the school day Monday for Beatrice High School seniors to apply to colleges and for scholarships.
"Apply 2 College" days, part of the Nebraska College Application Campaign by EducationQuest, continues on Tuesday at the high school.
All seniors are required to attend one of the sessions (during their regular English class periods) where they apply for colleges and, if they have time, scholarships. This is the second year the high school has held the program.
"I think it's awesome," BHS counselor Jennifer Prososki said. "Often times, students will say, 'I'll do that. I'll do that,' and it never happens and then they're graduated and they're out there."
Prososki and school counselor Tracy Post were available to assist students in every step of the application processes. Students were able to fill out portions of applications during the 45 minutes and finish them on their own time if need be.
"It's good to have time to push our kids to get things done," Prososki said. "And they do feel good about it."
Prososki said the bulk of applications Monday were filled out for Southeast Community College campuses in Beatrice, Lincoln and Milford as well as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Representatives from SCC-Milford and UNO visited the seniors on Monday while representatives from UNK and SCC-Lincoln will be available to answer questions during sessions on Tuesday.
"I think it's good," senior Tia Buhr said of the in-school time dedicated to paperwork. "It encourages people to get it taken care of."
Buhr said some incentives helped motivate the students.
After finishing work at the computer, each students rang a bell, prompting cheers from their peers and the school counselors and media center staff. Then, he or she could pick up a cookie, a sticker and a coupon for a free slushie at Sonic and sign up to be entered into a drawing for gift cards to local businesses and other prizes.
Lastly, the students posed for a photo, holding up the names and logos of the colleges they applied for.
Buhr said the school counselors are very involved in the students' futures and assisting them with applying to college.
"They make sure you're on track," she said. "They don't let you fall behind, which is nice ... The whole staff cares about you and your future."
Buhr, who has her sights set on BryanLGH College of Health Sciences, said the application process makes her more excited about stepping from high school into college.
Prososki said she and Post start to talk about life after high school to juniors starting at the end of their first semester with additional conversations through May. Seniors have the same types of conversations with the counselors throughout the school year.
Overall, students hear the counselors say that anyone can go on to higher education if they want to, that education after high school is highly recommended and that everyone is different and there are educational and career paths for all.
"We highly encourage post-secondary education," Prososki said. That may be a trade school, a specialty school, a two-year college or a four-year college, she said. "We explain to them that it makes them more marketable for whatever job or career they want to do."
A few of the 150 students are enlisted in the military, she said.
"We tell students they need to have a Plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C, because life doesn't always go as planned," Prososki said.
Some students aren't interested in college at all.
"Some kids just want to work after high school," Prososki said. "And that's fine. We just want them to make sure it's something they enjoy and something they can advance in. We realize everyone is different. But we really do want kids to go to college."
In a few cases, Apply 2 College days has changed the minds of students who would otherwise not apply to college.
Prososki said that, of the area universities and colleges, the University of Nebraska is the only one to charge an application fee ($45), but students on free and reduced lunch or in the Upward Bound program can have the fee waived.
SCC's TRIO Upward Bound helps qualifying students apply to college and follows the students through college.
Prososki said the Apply 2 College days costs very little to host. College representatives reached out to the high school to request their visits, free of charge.
A four-year College Access grant awarded to BHS from EducationQuest helped pay for some "college and career readiness" programming aimed at upperclassmen, such as visits to area colleges and universities.
The high school held a Monday night forum led by an expert from EducationQuest for students and parents about financial aid information.
At recent parent-teacher conferences, counselors talked to parents about their children's lives after high school.
About three times this year, BHS staff will wear T-shirts of their alma maters, as a way to facilitate conversations between staff and students about deciding on colleges and the overall college experience.
Creepy clown sightings are on the rise in the United States and abroad, but there's one clown you aren't going to see anytime soon.
Ronald McDonald.
"McDonald's and franchisees in the local markets are mindful of the current climate around clown sightings in communities and as such are being thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald's participation in community events for the time being," a spokeswoman for McDonald's told CNBC.
It is unclear how long the burger chain's clown mascot will be M.I.A. or how this will affect McDonald's events.
The creepy clown sightings began earlier this summer in South Carolina and have grown in frequency through the month of October. Last month, more than a dozen people were arrested for taking part in the clown pranks or for making false reports to police.
While many believe that these sightings are simply pranks, there are a few people on social media that think the clowns are part of an underground marketing campaign for the horror movie remake of Stephen King's "It" due out in 2017.
"We are warning teens and young adults not to get involved in this fad of dressing up as clowns to cause fear," Christopher Nacco, the sheriff of Pasco County, Florida, told NBC News earlier this month. "Because eventually someone is going to perceive their actions as a threat and take justice in their own hands."
Some schools have also banned clown costumes at Halloween celebrations as an extra precaution.
Alexander Novak, Russia's minister of energy, moved to reassure oil-price watchers by reaffirming at a CNBC-moderated panel at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul that his country is prepared to join the oil-producing cartel OPEC in a production freeze.
"Yesterday, when the President (Vladimir Putin) was talking here, I think he answered that question," Novak said through an interpreter during the panel discussion.
"He said that at present, at the current period, the freezing or decreasing of production is the cleverest and the best way to re-balance the market so that we all could decrease the risk and mitigate the volatility risk that can influence the situation in the market."
"It will help in bringing investment into the industry, because if there are no investments In the future we will be faced with the challenge of the lack of energy resources, and it will influence the socio-economic development of different countries."
"That's why we are prepared to join this freezing," Novak went on to say.
Russia was prepared to consider the positions of other countries, Novak said, and understood that the situations and positions of OPEC members could be different. He went on to state that OPEC was an organization that had been influential for a long time, and that the group would "manage to come to a consensus within themselves."
Oil prices rallied on Monday after Russia said it was ready to join OPEC in an output freeze deal loosely agreed in September.
Much of this year's election cycle has centered around the relationship between the U.S. and Russia, especially U.S. allegations that Russia is using cyberattacks to disrupt the democratic process. But the true nature of the threat is a little different than most Americans imagine.
Last week, the Obama administration accused senior Russian officials of authorizing hacks into the Democratic National Committee and other targets. They also pointed to "scanning and probing" of online election rolls in some states that seemed to be coming from Russian servers.
The U.S. government may be reticent about retaliating against Russia with its own cyberattacks right now, according to The New York Times, because Russia could come back to disrupt the U.S. elections next month. The Times wrote, "Attacks on online voter registration rolls could sow chaos at polling places, and the election infrastructure has never truly been tested against a power like Russia."
However, several cybersecurity experts we spoke with suggested the harm that could be caused by Russian attacks would be more psychological than anything else. According to a statement released last week by the U.S. intelligence community and Department of Homeland Security, the federal government has determined it would be "extremely difficult" for even a nation-state to use cyberattacks to alter actual ballot counts in America's decentralized election system.
"It's not clear whether these attacks could change the integrity of the data," said Rahul Telang, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies the economics of information security and privacy. "The storyline that someone was trying to access these systems is more damaging than any actual damage to the data."
Most state voting systems still maintain a paper trail and other checks and balances, but it would take only one perceived success to introduce doubt about the process for many Americans. In a September poll by The Washington Post and ABC News, half of Donald Trump's supporters already aren't confident that the "votes for president across the country will be accurately counted this year."
Igor Sechin, Russia's most influential oil executive and the head of state-controlled energy giant Rosneft, said his company will not cap oil production as part of a possible agreement with OPEC.
His comments underline how difficult it is for Russia to get its oil companies to freeze or cut output as part of a potential deal with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries designed to support oil prices.
President Vladimir Putin told an energy congress on Monday that Russia was ready to join a proposed OPEC cap but did not provide the details.
"Why should we do it?" Sechin, known for his anti-OPEC position, told Reuters in Istanbul on Monday evening, when asked if Rosneft, which accounts for 40 percent of Russia's crude oil output, might cap its production.
Earlier on Monday, Sechin told reporters that Rosneft planned this year to raise its oil production, already the world's largest among listed producers, above the 203 million metric tons (4.1 million barrels per day) it produced in 2015.
Sechin said he doubted some OPEC countries, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, would cut their output either: "Try to answer this question yourself: would Iran, Saudi Arabia or Venezuela cut their production?"
OPEC's oil output is likely to reach its highest in recent history in September, as Iraq boosted northern exports and Libya reopened some of its main oil terminals.
Futile attempts
There have been several attempts in the past for Russia and OPEC to join forces to stabilize oil markets. Those efforts have never come to fruition, however.
Russia's oil industry has argued for years that it cannot cut output to support falling global prices for purely technical reasons linked to the climate in Siberia; in reality it can - as long as it has the political will.
Putin could in theory force companies to cut their production or postpone the launch of new oilfields.
Russia was already pumping at the post-Soviet record high of 11.1 million barrels per day in September thanks to a recovery in oil prices which triggered exploration drilling activity.
Igor Sechin, chief executive officer of OAO Rosneft, pauses during a session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, June 19, 2015.
Igor Sechin, Russia's most influential oil executive and the head of Kremlin energy champion Rosneft , said his company will not cut or freeze oil production as part of a possible agreement with OPEC.
His comments underline how difficult it is for Russia to get its oil companies to freeze or cut output as part of a potential deal with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries designed to support oil prices.
President Vladimir Putin told an energy congress on Monday that Russia was ready to join the proposed OPEC cap, but did not provide any details.
Samsung has a very narrow window of opportunity to fix the Galaxy Note 7, or its dominance of the smartphone market could come under pressure, investment pros have warned.
Michael Robinson, chief technology strategist at Moneymorning.com, told CNBC that if the issues with Samsung's flagship smartphone were not resolved soon, the company could miss the crucial holiday season. Doing so could hit Samsung's sales and give competitors a leg up.
"If they skip the Christmas selling season, it's going to be even worse," Robinson told "Squawk Box" on Tuesday. "On the other hand, they can't really rush [into introducing new Note 7 handsets into the market]," he said.
Nomura analysts C.W. Chung and Chris Chang said in a Tuesday note that the worst case scenario for the Note 7 would be the "termination of Note 7 sales and disposal of existing inventory of three million-plus units sold in third quarter of 2016."
But Robinson dismissed the notion that Samsung could ditch the Note 7 model altogether, because this would aggravate the quality control issues and worsen the public relations disaster. On Tuesday morning, Samsung confirmed that Note 7 production and sales were permanently being halted.
"They need to have some kind of good quality product out in the market," he said.
The South Korean electronics giant announced early Tuesday morning that it would ask all of its global partners to stop sales and exchanges of the Note 7 as it investigates overheating issues in the devices. It also warned all users to power down their devices.
This followed the company's recall of the original Note 7 model due to problems with a flammable battery, and multiple reports that the supposedly safe replacement handsets given to users were also overheating.
Major U.S. and Australian mobile carriers have suspended or halted sales of Note 7s, and on Monday Reuters reported that the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards had confirmed that there were possible defects in the replacement smartphones.
In light of continued developments, primarily since 2008, there exists in these United States a Legal System which operates on a proved Two Tiered approach to justice rendered, which primarily benefits Democratic Elites and Woke Ideological Virtue Signalers, representing their co-dependent wards, to the expressed exclusion of normal hardworking American citizens: What is your suggestion in remedying this widespread injustice and, if not corrected, its existential outcome for our Constitutional Republic?
Complete overhaul of the Department of Justice and their enforcers - the FBI - to reflect a far more honest justice system to keep patriots remaining calm.
Disband the FBI, and request that congress investigate all unethical and non patriotic practices to partially right the wrongs of a distrusted and politically weaponized "Department of Justice."
With the release of the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape and Donald Trump's subsequent drop in the polls, many already reluctant Republicans are now running for cover from him and his campaign.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain are the most prominent among them, and Trump has responded by calling them out individually on his Twitter feed. The GOP civil war so close to erupting so many times during the course of the Trump campaign is finally here. All because of a new drop in the polls that may or may not last very long.
There may be no winners in the end of this intramural battle, but the only one who can win is Trump. And that's why Trump should not just continue to play up this growing rift with the establishment, he should play it up as much as possible.
Think about it: If Trump loses the election, Republican leaders hoping to avoid the worst effects of being associated with his controversial persona won't be spared much. The Trump supporters will never forgive them and the news media and the Left will never given them any credit for "doing the right thing" anyway. It's a form of Stockholm syndrome to not only start to like your captors, but look for reasons to blame the captivity on your fellow hostages. This is a no-win scenario if there ever was one for the GOP establishment powers.
Democracy can be ugly. And what Republicans like McCain and Ryan have had so much trouble accepting is that the voters in the primaries flocked to Trump. It doesn't matter if Trump deserved it or not. It doesn't matter if he had the best chances to win the general election. If a political party works to undermine what its voters want, it is dead. Trump's campaign is thus still alive while we watch the GOP commit a form of suicide as it fears national polls and the news media more than its own voters. This is what losers do when the going gets tough and chips are down, they turn on each other.
Even if Trump is a long shot to win the election, (and he probably won't be for long; look for the polls to steady themselves in another week or so), he can now present himself as the true man of the people no Republican presidential candidate has been able to be or even look like since Ronald Reagan. But the GOP leaders don't get that after the rough years of the Iraq war and the 2008 Great Recession their party's brand died in the eyes of the national electorate. Sure, they can win congressional elections. But the task of creating a national candidate who can win the White House is something this Republican Party cannot do. That's why Trump won the primaries. But the Paul Ryans and John McCains of this world don't get it. Because that's what losers do; sometimes they don't even know that they've lost.
To be clear, "winning" in this context doesn't necessarily mean "better." This is about national political viability, and decidedly not about better governing or morality. Neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton has the "advantage" on that score. But when it comes to winning an election, the only person who needs to look self-assured and like a winner is the candidate. Trump still looks like he wants to fight and fight hard. The Republicans in Congress look like they want to run and hide. Because that's what losers do.
City insiders should take note and think twice before declaring "May Day" over the U.K. Prime Minister's perceived working-class pivot at the Conservative Conference. Critics who bemoan May's model of inclusive capitalism or her hard immigration stance should take a long, hard look at the alternatives.
If May's promise to correct market failures sends shivers up your spine, you only have to travel 280 miles to Paris to witness how populist pressures are pushing government intervention to new extremes.
President Francois Hollande may have been as surprised as anyone to find himself at the center of the sterling storm. The embattled French leader had spent most of the week putting out political fires at home with the controversial rescue of Alstom's Belfort plant. "French government orders fast trains for slow tracks," ran the unintentionally ironic headlines.
The plan includes around 600 million euros ($670 million) worth of orders for high-speed TGV trains that the country currently doesn't need on top of a 70 million euro investment in the 137-year old factory.
Government interference in state-backed businesses is nothing new in France. But with six months to go before a national election, the political brickbats were being thrown in all directions over the ruling government's inability to save 480 jobs at the economically irrelevant factory.
Never mind the fact that the jobs were due to be transferred rather than cut, or that investors had largely welcomed Alstom's willingness to get tough on costs. Hollande determined he could not afford another economic blow when Marine Le Pen, whose National Front is gaining traction in the industrial Northeast, is breathing down his neck.
The Socialist's market-meddling in France might seem a world away from Westminster, but it could easily make a creep across the Channel if the Prime Minister does not make a success of Brexit and the Labour opposition puts its leadership struggles to bed. Debating the sincerity of sitting on a Virgin train floor feels refreshingly tedious compared to living under a government that is willing to put fast trains on slow tracks at the taxpayers' expense.
Until the sterling flash crash, there was an eerie calm over the City in the wake of the Bank of England's swift action and a run of good U.K. economic data. This made it easy for us in the capital to become complacent over the populist angst that gave way to Brexit. In reality, the 17.4 million Britons who voted to leave the European Union are not going anywhere.
Rather than getting on with business as usual, the prime minister should be applauded for correcting the wrongs of tone-deaf leaders who have gone before her. If she succeeds, Theresa May could end up saving the City from itself.
They are also raising questions as to why a "tourism blacklist" the government set up last year to name and shame misbehaving travelers does not seem to have had a greater impact.
Such episodes during the recent National Day holiday have produced a flurry of photographic postings and a spasm of soul-searching in China, highlighting anxieties over the habits and image of tourists at home and abroad in a nation that is increasingly cash-rich but, some say, short on manners and experience with the outside world.
Two young Chinese tourists carve their names on the Great Wall. Hundreds of picnickers leave their garbage moldering on the banks of the Yellow River.
In May 2015, to counter the impression left by an array of widely publicized episodes that have included travelers storming a buffet in Thailand to consume all the prawns, throwing hot water at a flight attendant, carving inscriptions on an ancient Egyptian monument, allowing children to relieve themselves in public places and opening emergency exits on airlines "for fresh air," the government announced the blacklist.
People may land on it either for legal crimes or for moral offenses at home or abroad, according to People's Daily, the Communist Party's main newspaper.
Possible offenses include interfering with aircraft or public transportation; damaging public property or the environment; defacing cultural relics; disrespecting local customs; and participating in gambling, illicit drug activities, prostitution or "dangerous sexual activities."
People added to the list remain there for three years, during which their names are made available to travel companies, airlines, work units and the Public Security Bureau, among other groups. This puts the people on notice that they are under watch and could be barred from tour groups. They may be barred from flying or from visiting scenic spots. But there is no financial penalty.
Over all, the blacklist appears to have had a slow start, suggesting the difficulty even in an authoritarian nation of policing human behavior.
The list is unavailable on the website of the China National Tourism Administration. But according to the Shenzhen Metropolis newspaper, only 24 people are on it.
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That number includes two people added over the recent holiday, according to the China National Tourism Administration: Hou Geshun from Heilongjiang Province, who was accused of burning Vietnamese money in a bar in the Vietnamese city of Danang, and Lu Shan from Beijing, who was said to have beaten up her tour guide in Yunnan Province.
The report did not explain why Mr. Hou burned the money, but China and Vietnam have a testy relationship over conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea that have led to nationalistic demonstrations on both sides. The reason for Ms. Lu's outburst was also not given, but disputes between tour guides and tourists are common, often over travel conditions or shopping requirements.
Hundreds of millions of people made 593 million domestic trips on national transportation networks during the weeklong holiday, according to the tourism administration. That number does not include trips by private car. An additional six million traveled abroad during that period, the tourism administration said.
Industrialist Shalabh Kumar told CNBC on Tuesday the 2005 video threatening to unravel Donald Trump's bid for the White House is not a reason to pull his support.
Kumar, founder and chairman of the Republican Hindu Coalition, said if he were Trump he'd be "embarrassed." But the leaked "Access Hollywood" tape, in which Trump brags about groping women, was "just talk," he added.
At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer, Kumar, chairman and CEO of manufacturing firm AVG Group, pledged a $1.1 million contribution to Trump's campaign.
Voters cannot let the presidential candidates skirt the issue of Social Security, even if it seems early for parts of the electorate to be thinking about retirement, former Sen. Bob Kerrey said Tuesday.
The Nebraska Democrat told CNBC's "Squawk Box" that candidates well before Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump supported a "do-nothing" plan.
The first part of that plan is pandering to seniors, telling them "something other than what's the truth," Kerrey said.
The next component? "In 18 years, benefits get cut. And if you're under the age of 40, they get cut a lot," Kerrey said.
Kerrey said that the two-term system only perpetuates the problem, since incoming presidents do not feel the pressure to change things based on an 18-year outlook.
"You cannot allow people who are supporting the do-nothing plan to get away from answering the question, 'Do you support cuts in the program?'"
Kerrey said Social Security is not getting the proper attention in the 2016 election.
Why?
"In very large numbers, old people vote. And in very low numbers, young people vote," he said.
"It's relatively easy to make a promise to people who are going to vote in large numbers and then not disclose to people who are going to vote in relatively small numbers that they're going to get screwed."
The people who are front-and-center now Clinton, Trump, and most of Congress included will likely not be affected by the do-nothing plan in their lifetimes, Kerrey said. What the media and the electorate need to do is make younger voters aware of the issue before doing nothing results in, well, nothing, he said.
Samsung stopped sales, exchanges and production of the Galaxy Note 7, it announced this week, after a global recall failed to stem reports of batteries that overheated or caught fire. But with the ubiquity of the smartphone, people forget that smartphones have been popular for less than ten years, Cheng said.
"I think it absolutely could happen to anybody," said Cheryl Cheng, a partner at BlueRun Ventures. "In a very short amount of time, we have gone to using smartphones and laptop computers to essentially having a computer in your pocket. So that pace of innovation has been very, very fast faster than any other computer platform."
The pace of innovation has pushed smartphone makers to move product quickly and anyone making a complex device could have made the mistake Samsung did, one technology investor told CNBC's " Squawk Alley " on Tuesday.
Over that time period, the market has quickly and recently matured, meaning that growing sales isn't as easy as it used to be, Roger McNamee, co-founder of Elevation Partners, told "Squawk Alley" on Tuesday.
"I think that it's clear that Samsung cut corners," McNamee said. "And when you get a market that's mature, where sales are harder to come by, the temptations to cut corners increase. So I do think the risk is rising that you'll see things like this from other people."
Prismatic lithium ion batteries, like those used smartphones, require much more careful handling than conventional batteries, said Hector Abruna, director of the Energy Materials Center at Cornell University, in an interview. Alignment of the layers must be very precise to prevent direct contact of the components, Abruna said, a growing challenge as smartphone makers battle to make their products thinner and more appealing to compete and set themselves apart.
In an effort to save space and weight, Samsung likely tried to use a very thin separator and it turned out to be a little too thin, Abruna said. Because of that, there could have contact between two layers the electrodes, causing a short, which in turn gave rise to "thermal runaway," where overheating of the battery cannot be reversed. Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Still, that pressure is no excuse for mishandling the batteries, which are known to be volatile, McNamee said. Indeed, Yingchao Yu, founder and CEO of battery technology start-up Lionano, did not let Samsung off very easy.
"Thermal runaway incidents have been largely avoided by the majority of battery manufacturers. This would suggest that rather than 'accidents' these events could be described as mistakes, both in design and in manufacturing," Yu said in an interview.
Because the smartphone market isn't growing as quickly, it will be much harder for Samsung to recover, McNamee said. Samsung said its is working diligently with the appropriate regulatory authorities and that safety remains a top priority for the company.
"The problem for Samsung is ... they resisted doing the right thing," McNamee said. "They tried to downplay the problems, and I think that has made this consumer problem a lot worse....I would not underestimate how bad this is for Samsung in the smartphone category."
Photo credit: American Air Lines LinkedIn page
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. American Airlines says it will cease service at the Greater Binghamton Airport and Elmira Corning Regional Airport early next year.
On February 15, 2017, we are discontinuing service to and from Elmira and Binghamton from Philadelphia. Our network planning and scheduling teams constantly evaluate our network, looking at supply and demand for every route to better position ourselves to serve our customers. Canceling routes is never easy, but it is what allows us to expand into new markets and add more frequencies, American Airlines said in a statement issued today.
American Airlines becomes the second airline to pull air service from Binghamton.
United Airlines in August announced that it would end flights to and from Greater Binghamton Airport in late November. United had been offering flights between Binghamton and Newark.
American Airlines exit will leave Delta Air Lines as the only carrier serving Binghamton. But Elmira Corning Regional Airport will still have Delta and Allegiant Air offering flights.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com
Responders Rescue Hundreds of Citizens from Floodwaters, Rescues to Continue Throughout the Day
Parts of I-95 closed in multiple locations due to flooding... from Four Oaks south through Fayetteville and Lumberton
I-40 in several locations in Johnston County in and around Benson as well as in both directions near Exit 355 in Sampson County
Parts of US-70 in both directions in Wayne and Lenior Counties (east and west of Goldsboro)
Parts of NC Highway 12 in Dare County remain impassable due to sand and high water on the roadway.
Kinston-mandatory evacuation for all residents in Neuse River Basin
Greenville-began a mandatory evacuation on Sunday
Dare County-imposed curfew on Sunday and only property owners and vehicles allowed in
Halifax County-imposed curfew on Sunday
Princeville-mandatory evacuation due to potential flooding and 7 p.m. curfew set on Sunday
Contact: Crystal Feldman
Crystal Feldman govpress@nc.gov
Raleigh, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory detailed the ongoing life-threatening dangers caused by Hurricane Matthew as record flooding continues to impact inland communities. The governor said that more than 1,400 people have been saved by swift water rescue teams and many more are expected throughout the day.said Governor McCrory.Floodwaters rapidly rose overnight in Lumberton, stranding nearly 1,500 residents. Helicopters, boats and swift water rescue teams were deployed to the area to get people to safety, including teams from FEMA and other states.The Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction over the Lumberton area, so that all aviation activity can focus on the rescues. Drones are prohibited in flooded areas because of their potential to obstruct rescue operations.More than 600 North Carolina National Guard troops and nearly 200 high water and rescue vehicles have been activated. The U.S. Coast Guard continues to assist with rescues. The National Guard, State Highway Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard have increased aviation assets and completed more than 26 air rescues.The greatest threat remains inland flooding that will continue into this week in central and eastern North Carolina. Residents near rivers, streams and levees need to be extremely careful as flooding is expected throughout the coming week.Central and eastern North Carolina have major additional flooding predicted for towns and cities along the: Lumber, Cape Fear, Neuse, and Tar rivers, along with many other rivers and creeks. State officials are monitoring a number of overtopped or breaching dams in central and eastern counties.There have been 10 confirmed weather-related fatalities and five people reported missing. The most recent fatality occurred around 8 p.m. Sunday night in Johnston County when a driver drove into floodwaters.Governor McCrory warned motorists never to drive through standing water on roads and highways, and not to drive through temporary barriers or barricades.said Govenror McCrory.Numerous major interstates and roads, as well as hundreds of secondary roads remain closed. Among the major roads that are impacted include:The latest updates on road closures can be found at ReadyNC.org , the ReadyNC mobile app or by calling 5-1-1.The rains also filled many lakes and ponds to the brim. State and local officials responded to about 11 reports Saturday of dams overtopping. The National Weather Service is forecasting major river flooding across eastern North Carolina through early to mid-week, with potential record levels along the Neuse River. The rainfall and high winds led to many power outages across the state.Power outages across the state continue to fall. As of 10:30 a.m., power outages totaled more than 465,000 statewide, down from more than 800,000 on Sunday. Utilities are continuing to work around the clock to respond to power outages in affected areas.More than 60 emergency shelters remain open in central and eastern North Carolina and are currently housing more than 2,800 people. For those needing information, including nearby shelter, housing, and other storm-related details, call 2-1-1.The American Red Cross is in desperate need for volunteers. They have opened a volunteer intake center in Fayetteville at the Kiwanis Recreation Center at 352 Devers Street.Local officials have issued several mandatory evacuations in:The governor warned of the continued environmental dangers of the standing floodwaters, and asked residents in affected areas not to cross through or swim through flooded waters. This is especially crucial in areas where floodwaters have crossed agricultural areas, which have been hit particularly hard by this storm. Those in affected farmlands who require assistance can call the Agriculture Disaster Hotline at 1-866-645-9403.Governor McCrory emphasized that the state is better prepared than ever to handle the financial implications of the storm. Under the governor's leadership, North Carolina has tripled the balance in the state's Rainy Day Fund to an all-time-high balance of $1.6 billion. The governor mentioned that additional federal financial assistance is also expected.The governor also thanked private sector partners who have been helping with response efforts. They include the WalMart Foundation, Coca Cola, Pepsi, the North Carolina Beverage Association, Sprint, Arby's and Lowes Home Improvement.Other private sector partners who are interested in helping with the relief efforts can email beoc@ncem.org or call (919) 825-2454.For more information about responding to a hurricane and what to do before, during or after a storm, go to ReadyNC.org . You can also get real-time traffic and weather updates on the ReadyNC mobile app. Follow N.C. Emergency Management on Twitter and Facebook for the latest on Hurricane Matthew.
Why there's a pig on these 2016 Kennedy half dollars
Bermudas connection to its famed Hogge money continues with the design of the 1-cent coin issued from 1970 to the present.
An undated (1616) Hogge Islands sixpence graded Very Fine 35 by Professional Coin Grading Service realized $88,125 in Stacks Bowers March 2015 auction.
Mel Wacks has issued a limited number of counterstamped 2016 Kennedy half dollars that celebrate the 400th anniversary of Bermudas Hogge money. The coins are available for purchase from Wacks.
Counterstamped 2016 Kennedy half dollars mark the 400th anniversary of Bermudas Hogge money. Bermuda continues to honor the Hogge money history in circulation today.
Counterstamped 2016 Kennedy half dollars mark the 400th anniversary of Bermudas Hogge money.
The crude coins issued 400 years ago are the first items listed in the standard reference known informally as the Red Book.
They are considered the earliest coinage for any English-speaking region in the New World.
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A hobbyist is celebrating the anniversary of Hogge Money with overstamped 2016 Kennedy half dollars. Mel Wacks of Woodland Hills, Calif., has issued 200 examples of the counterstamped half dollars.
Kennedy half dollar: The shot heard around the world in 1963, a bullet from an assassin's weapon that ended the life of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, is still remembered on the annually produced half dollar struck in his honor since 1964. How much are Kennedy half dollars worth?
The original Hogge Money is named for the hog appearing on the obverse of the coins, which were issued in 1616 in 2-, 3-, 6-, and 12-penny denominations.
Hogge money history
The territory for which the pieces were issued was often called Hogge Islands because of the numerous black hogs that ran wild there. Some sources indicate they escaped a shipwreck of Juan de Bermudez in 1532.
Other sources suggest that Bermudez left the hogs there purposely, as a food supply for any unlucky mariners who might land there unexpectedly. Whatever the source, the animals abundance explains the coin design.
Though Bermudez landed on the islands in the 1530s, decades passed before Bermuda was settled.
In 1609, the Sea Venture was the flagship of a nine-ship provisioning fleet sent from Plymouth, England, to the Jamestown Colony in Virginia.
Captained by Adm. Sir George Somers for whom the Bermuda Islands would be initially renamed when the English crown claimed them the Sea Venture became separated from its fleet in a hurricane, landing at Bermuda three days later.
After living there for several months and building a new boat, the crew sailed away in 1610, but Somers returned shortly thereafter, remaining until he died there in 1611.
By 1615 a colony was founded on Somers Islands, but the colonists lacked money, so bartering was employed.
Finally, governor Richard Tucker arranged for an English mint to produce coinage.
To keep the coins from being exported out of the islands, they were intentionally made in a crude fashion from a low-grade brassy copper. Their appearance was enhanced only by a thin wash of silver, which did not hold up well in the salty Bermuda environment, according to Louis Jordan of the Department of Special Collections at the Notre Dame Library.
The obverse shows a hog with the denomination in Roman numerals above the animal and the legend SOMMER ISLANDS within two circles of beads (the twopence and threepence coins have only a single circle of beads, without the island name).
The reverse displays a ship, most likely the Sea Venture (the ship is known by various names historically), with a single circle of beads around the border and no legend (the twopence and threepence denominations have an S to the left of the ship and an I to the right, for Sommer Islands).
The few well preserved examples confirm that the shilling was minted in varieties with either large or small sails, and sixpence in varieties with either large or small portholes.
Honoring Hogge money today
Today Bermuda honors its legacy by showing a hog on its 1-cent coin.
The counterstamp design created by Mel Wacks features an image derived from an undated 1616 sixpence that Heritage Auctions sold for more than $125,000 in 2015.
These Hogge Money Quadricentennial commemoratives are available for $39.50 each plus $5 shipping from Wacks.
To order, write to him at 5189 Jeffdale Ave., Woodland Hills, CA 91364, or telephone him at 818-225-1348.
Each coin is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
Coin World readers are eligible for a 20 percent discount by mentioning the publications name.
This piece is the 24th counterstamped coin Wacks has issued. The catalog of his counterstamps can be seen online.
In striking this 2014 India 2-rupee coin, the hammer die was rotated 128 degrees counterclockwise relative to the anvil die. The hammer dies elevated pole left the area southeast of the statues base unstruck.
In this 2014 India 2-rupee coin, the hammer die was rotated 132 degrees clockwise relative to the anvil die. The elevated pole of the hammer die left a broad swath beneath the statues base unstruck.
Here's a full look at the obverse and reverse of the 2014 India 2-rupee coin struck by a reverse die that was rotated 65 degrees counterclockwise relative to the obverse die.
In this 2014 India 2-rupee coin, the hammer (reverse) die was rotated 65 degrees counterclockwise relative to the obverse (anvil) die. The hammer die was also tilted up at one pole, leaving the area southeast of the statues base unstruck.
Die alignment errors can involve all three axes and planes that define our three spatial dimensions. In other words, dies can rotate, tilt, pivot, or slide.
Significant die tilt is a problem largely confined to the hammer die. After all, any tendency for the anvil die to tilt will be resisted by the surrounding collar.
A loose hammer die could conceivably tilt within its recess, but that would presumably be a very unstable situation, with the direction and severity of the tilt varying considerably from one strike to another. Consistency in the direction and severity of die tilt is, on the other hand, indicative of a tilted die assembly.
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Dynamic die rotation errors involving significant rotation are undoubtedly caused by a die spinning in its recess. Its hard to conceive of an entire die assembly rotating to this degree. Among dynamic rotated die errors in which the identity of the spinning die can be established, its almost always the hammer die. Its not clear why this is the case. Perhaps the hammer die isnt mounted as securely as the anvil die.
Should a situation develop in which a spinning hammer die is housed within a tilted die assembly, one would predict that the two movements (tilt and spin) would be independent. This prediction is borne out in a sample of nine 2014 India 2-rupee coins struck by the same die pair. The abnormal strike is most easily interpreted as having been caused by a rotating, tilted hammer (reverse) die. This production run is easily identified by the presence of a massive die crack on the reverse face. All of the coins are broadstruck (struck out-of-collar), with no trace of collar contact. In this series (2011 to present), the obverse die or the reverse die can serve as the hammer die, although the former setup is more common.
Normally struck in medal rotation, all but one of the coins show a rotated die error. The extent of rotation varies widely. Degrees of rotation are as follows: zero, 180 degrees, 90 degrees clockwise, 120 degrees CW, 132 degrees CW, 142 degrees CW, 65 degrees counterclockwise, 128 degrees CCW, 123 degrees CCW. I cannot determine if the die rotated in a consistent direction or periodically switched directions.
In contrast to the highly variable extent of reverse rotation, the direction of die tilt is relatively constrained, as documented by patterns of weakness observable on the obverse face. On the obverse face, the weakly-struck pole (which lay opposite the elevated pole of the hammer die) is located roughly between 4:00 and 8:00. More specifically, it coincides with the Ashoka lions base and the area beneath it. In some examples the center of the zone of weakness lies directly below the statues base; in other examples its located to the left or right of the statues base. This relative consistency in the location of the weakly struck area suggests that the anvil (obverse) die was fixed, while the spinning hammer (reverse) die was loosely held by a hammer die assembly that was tilted in the same general direction during each strike. The modest variability seen in the location of the weakly-struck pole suggests that there were some fluctuations in the hammer die assemblys direction of tilt.
The degree of die tilt (and possibly the striking pressure) varies slightly between examples, so that design elements at the weakly-struck pole range from faintly visible to completely absent.
Coin images courtesy of the German Federal Ministry of Finance; background image in the public domain.
Germanys commemorative coin program in 2017 is slated to include a silver 20 coin honoring the bicentennial of inventor Karl Drais dandy horse, a precursor to the bicycle.
The dandy horse (also known as velocipede) is the precursor to the bicycle.
Germany will celebrate the invention and its inventor, Karl Drais, with a commemorative silver 20 coin in 2017.
Drais termed the invention a Laufmaschine, which in German means running machine.
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The invention incorporated the two-wheeler principle of the bicycle and motorcycle and was the beginning of mechanized personal transport. Users of the dandy horse used their feet to propel the two-wheeled machine when needed, and coasted when possible.
The coin celebrating the creation and its creator is due for release in July.
The reverse design, by artist Friedrich Brenner of Diedorf, includes in the background some historical context: a volcanic eruption representing the eruption in 1815 in Indonesia that caused abnormal weather patterns for 1816, now referred to as the Year Without a Summer. The bad weather, which caused worldwide crop failures, prompted Drais to seek a means of transportation that could replace the horse; the result was his invention.
The dandy horse and its rider appear in the foreground, with an inscription in German referring to Drais and his invention.
The obverse carries the standard federal eagle, along with the G Mint mark of the State mints of Baden-Wurttemberg, the Karlsruhe Mint, and notation of the coins .925 silver composition, framed within a circle of the 12 stars of Europe, while the nations name, the year 2017 and the coin denomination encircle the rim.
Edge lettering on the coin marks the anniversary of Drais invention.
The coin will weigh 18 grams and measure 32.5 millimeters in diameter.
Uncirculated examples will be available at post offices for face value. Proof versions will be sold for a higher price, which will be established right before the launch.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Fight over Missouri marijuana amendment nears finish line
In just over a week, Missourians will decide whether to adopt a state constitutional amendment for recreational marijuana.
BISMARCK, N.D. Going against the wishes of three federal agencies, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline said Tuesday, Oct. 11, it plans to promptly resume construction near Lake Oahe and hopes the feds will assist local authorities dealing with protests of the pipeline.
Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners released a statement saying it was pleased with a federal appeals court decision Sunday denying the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes request for an emergency injunction to stop construction of the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile pipeline that will carry 470,000 barrels of crude oil per day from North Dakota to Illinois.
The three-judge panel in Washington, D.C., also lifted a temporary suspension of construction activities within 20 miles east and west of Lake Oahe, a dammed section of the Missouri River.
In light of Sundays court decision, Dakota Access looks forward to a prompt resumption of construction activities east and west of Lake Oahe on private land. We reiterate our commitment to protect cultural resources, the environment and public safety, the company said.
Company spokeswoman Vicki Granado declined to specify when the company will resume construction in the 20-mile area, which includes the area along Highway 1806 where protest activities to block pipeline construction began Aug. 10. An estimated 2,500 to 3,000 American Indians and other pipeline opponents are encamped along the highway and have drawn international support.
The proposed construction area also includes a stretch west of Highway 1806 that was bulldozed on Sept. 3, the day after the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed court documents identifying burial grounds and other sacred sites in that area. Angry protesters clashed with the pipelines private security, with both sides claiming injuries, and a joint law enforcement task force is investigating the incident.
Last week, state archeologists concluded that no sacred sites were destroyed, but the tribe disputes that conclusion because its historic preservation officer wasnt allowed to participate in the survey.
The tribes ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contends the agency didnt properly consult the tribe before granting permits for the project. In a statement Tuesday, tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II called on President Barack Obama to do right by our people and deny all permits for the pipeline.
Because of a failed process by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, we have experienced unimaginable losses. Energy Transfer Partners knowingly bulldozed over the burials of our Lakota and Dakota ancestors, Archambault said.
Energy Transfer Partners said the decisions by two separate federal courts show the Corps acted with great care with respect to the river crossing permits.
The Army Corps and Dakota Access carefully considered the views of all potentially affected tribes that chose to participate in the consultative process prescribed by Congress, and fully complied with both the letter and the spirit of the National Historic Preservation Act, the company said.
The pipeline was 87 percent completed in North Dakota at the end of September and is largely finished in South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.
We continue to believe that the Army Corps will soon issue the easement for approximately 1,100 feet necessary for the crossing beneath the Missouri River the sole remaining authorization necessary for completion of the project, the company said.
The Corps issued a joint statement Monday with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Interior Department, saying it wont authorize construction on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe until it finishes reviewing issues raised by the tribe. The three agencies asked the company to voluntarily pause construction within 20 miles of the lake.
The agencies were scheduled to hold the first of seven consultation sessions Tuesday evening in Phoenix on how the federal government can better allow for timely and meaningful tribal input on infrastructure projects. Archambault called it a critical opportunity to inform the process moving forward so that other tribes dont suffer the same losses as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Energy Transfer Partners urged that any protests be undertaken in a peaceful and law abiding manner. Authorities arrested 27 protesters at two construction sites Monday, including actress Shailene Woodley, bringing the total number of arrests to 123.
All construction efforts will be undertaken in close coordination with state and local law enforcement officials, and we are hopeful their law enforcement efforts will be supplemented by those of the federal government, the company said.
State officials and lawmakers have decried the lack of financial and law enforcement support from the federal government, given that the Corps is withholding the easement and allowing protesters to camp on Corps-owned land. The state Emergency Commission voted last month to borrow up to $6 million from the state-owned Bank of North Dakota to cover overtime and other protest-related costs, and Mondays response involved deputies from Wisconsin the first time out-of-state officers have been used.
RALEIGH North Carolinas voter registration deadline is approaching this Friday, even as thousands of the states residents are still severely affected by Hurricane Matthews impact.
With 31 counties included in a federal disaster declaration, and road closures, power outages, evacuations and flooding continuing to be major problems, Common Cause North Carolina is calling on the State Board of Elections to extend the voter registration deadline for those areas impacted by the storm to Oct. 19.
While a court decision in July reinstated same-day voter registration for the early voting period from Oct. 20-Nov. 5, same-day registration does not apply for Election Day itself. As such, North Carolinians who miss this Fridays voter registration deadline would not have the option of voting on the Nov. 8 Election Day unless the State Board of Elections extends the registration deadline.
Thousands of North Carolinians continue to face loss of power, flooding and serious property damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. They should be able to focus on the safety and wellbeing of themselves and their families at this time, without the added concern about possibly missing an opportunity to vote, said Bob Phillips, executive director of the nonpartisan Common Cause North Carolina. We believe the fair and responsible action for the State Board of Elections is to extend the voter registration deadline. We urge Gov. McCrory and legislators from the affected regions to join us in asking the State Board of Elections to extend the registration deadline.
One of her emergency cellphones was missing. She checked her bank accounts. They were drained. The $900 she had set aside for her escape was also gone. And her boyfriend was on his way home.
She had no plan, no safety net, and she was out of time.
When Shannon Tinajero and her 11-year-old daughter made their escape on a September night in 2015, Tinajero was wearing house clothes and no shoes. Her daughter had on flip flops.
Almost a year to the day since Tinajero discovered her escape plan thwarted, she sat in a plush chair at Angelas Piazza.
For a year and a half, Tinajero was subjected to mental and physical abuse from the man she lived with. He deprived her of sleep, kept her from her family, threatened her children and hurt her. A few weeks before she left, he killed her dog, she said.
People Tinajero did not even know believed she was either overreacting about what had happened to her or lying about what her abuser had done. For a long time Tinajero also believed she wasn't being abused.
During the last couple months of their relationship, Tinajero was almost always sleep-deprived.
He would follow me around," she said. "I would go to sleep and wake up with him standing over me."
Judy Schmidt, a domestic-violence educator and womens advocate at Angelas Piazza, said sleep deprivation is a common tactic for abusers to use. They try to keep victims' thoughts muddled, she said.
It is pretty common to try to make (a victim) look unstable, Schmidt said. Its a head game.
Abusers will try to confuse a victim, even attempt to convince them the abuse never happened, Schmidt said.
When Tinajero left, she and her daughter went to the YWCAs Gateway Shelter. There, Tinajero found a flyer for Angela's Piazza.
'Somebody got it'
The first day she went to the domestic abuse support group at Angela's Piazza, Tinajero found out how common her story of abuse was.
I was so relieved," Tinajero said. "I remember thinking, 'Somebody can hear me, somebody related, somebody got it.'"
Angelas Piazza offers women a place for solace and understanding. The repurposed home on Grand Avenue was opened by Sister Mary Dostal and Sister Pat Funderhide in 1998. They created a refuge for women who suffered domestic violence. The small home serves up to 75 women a week, offering classes on domestic violence, support groups for women and parenting classes.
Women can come to there for quiet reflection, to journal or to share with someone who will listen, Dostal said.
I think our biggest role is to help women realize the many ways they have experienced domestic violence, Dostal said.
Much of domestic violence isnt physical. It can be financial, meaning someone controls the finances of the household and refuses to give the other partner access, forcing them to be dependent on one of the partners. It can also be psychological, with one partner insulting the other and keeping their self-esteem down, Dostal said.
Tinajero began to put her life together through help from the YWCA Gateway Shelter and the staff at Angelas Piazza. The citys domestic violence task force was able to help Tinajero get her boyfriend prosecuted for misdemeanor domestic violence, to which he later pleaded guilty.
Other victims
Tinajero said there are many women who continue to suffer at the hands of their abusers. One person on the task force told Tinajero for an abuser to face real consequences, they need to be reported at least seven times.
Dont assume there are laws to protect victims, and dont assume there are services to help them, Tinajero said.
Billings Police Department officer Kate Nash once spoke at one of the Angelas Piazzas support group meetings. Though she planned to stay only an hour, she stayed for two to explain to the women in abusive relationships there why help was hard for them to come by.
There is not enough funding for the task force to help all the victims, Nash said, and the policies in place in the justice system do not always address the realities of an abusive relationship.
Control
Even after Tinajeros abuser sent her to the hospital, he persuaded her to ask the prosecutors to drop the no-contact order between them.
I was just trying to keep the peace, Tinajero said.
Victims will go back to their abusers if the abuser is able to re-establish control over them, said Erin Lambert, YWCA Director of Programs. For the abuser, the entire relationship is about controlling their partner, she said, and they will use whatever tactic they can to regain that control.
This is why the Gateway Shelter alone cannot solve these women's problems, Lambert said. It takes them a long time to believe they are safe, she said.
YWCA CEO Merry Lee Olson wants to address victims' needs after leaving their abusers by building Gateway Vista, an affordable housing complex that would be near the YWCA campus. The victims would have more access to counseling, legal services and job training as they recover.
YWCA applied for $3.8 million in federal tax credits from the Montana Board of Housing to construct Gateway Vista.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Iain Duncan Smith is a former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, founded the Centre for Social Justice, and is MP for Chingford and Woodford Green.
The debate on Brexit has, after the immediate aftermath of the vote to leave, now found its new centre. The hard core of avowed Remainers have ceased lecturing us all that the vote to leave the EU was wrong and that we should have another referendum. Instead they now say with great condescension that they have accepted the result.
However, I sense this is not the whole story. It seems that they have decided on a new tactic: to seek to grind the Article 50 process to a complicated halt. They claim a renewed belief in Parliamentary sovereignty, demanding that the Government now gives Parliament a vote on the Article 50 process. This is a bit ironic, coming as it does from people who used to lecture us to the effect that parliamentary sovereignty didnt matter any more, and that EU law was supreme. It is also a pretty bogus demand. Just in case they hadnt noticed, the Government is committed to the repeal of the 1972 European Communities Act which of course will give them to opportunity to debate almost any subject that the Article 50 process will cover. Furthermore, all the Opposition has to do, if it wants these matters raised in the Commons, is to hold opposition day debates about them.
Meanwhile, every short term change is seized upon to show how we purportedly cannot prosper outside the EU. The pound goes down, and this is reported as though the entire economy were on the rack. Yet at the same time the FTSE 250 rises to levels higher than before the referendum but this is casually ignored. There was a time, I recall, when we were lectured by remainers that the behaviour of the FTSE 100 and 250 would be seen as the indicator of how adversely we would be affected by a vote to leavebut not now, it seems.
Then following last weeks Conservative conference we have the same old suspects such as the CBI (who, remember, warned us of Armageddon if we voted to leave,) now demanding that we stay in the Single Market even if that means staying under EU law and having uncontrolled borders. If we dont do so, they opine, tens of thousands of jobs will be at risk. Sound familiar?
They seem to confuse being a member of the single market and having access to it. The Single Market is in effect an EU internal market. The UK doesnt have to be in this internal market to have access to it: after all, the EU does a huge amount of bilateral trade with the US, China, India, Canada, Japan, Russia, Australia, Brazil, and many other countries. None of them has free access to the EU but they dont seem to be doing too badly at trading with them.
As the Centre for Social Justices paper The Road to Brexit makes clear, the EU is right to say you cant control your borders and stay a member of their internal market. No amount of special pleading will deliver such an outcome, and trying to negotiate such a position would bog down the Article 50 process with humiliating results. Far better to recognise that the EU wants to keep the four freedoms intact, and discuss instead how to access the internal market with free trade arrangements that would work for both the EU and the UK. Even the WTO offers that option.
And it would do us all good to remember that Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel are heading for elections with two anti-EU parties snapping at their heels, so they cant afford to show any public flexibility. What they say about Brexit publicly should be discounted.
We would instead do far better to concentrate on what the UK needs, and how we could deliver it. Take the issue of controlling migration after Brexit. Despite what the CBI and some others say this is not an extreme demand: instead, properly implemented, it will help right the very real grievance that many around the country feel about the problems that uncontrolled EU immigration has caused them. The CSJ paper makes it clear that the way to do this is to have a simple system of work permits and caps.
Such a system would be flexible and light touch at the top end of value-added high skills employment, but much more restrictive at the low skills end. Bearing in mind that 80 per cent of EU migration has been low skilled, which has had the biggest impact on wages and working conditions, such a system would both control migration and allow flexibility to academics, scientists and other highly skilled workers.
Finally, we should remember as we go into discussions with our friends in the EU, (despite the public rhetoric of politicians) just how much they need and I believe will ultimately want a good relationship with us, and why.
We too often see things from one end of the telescope. European countries need London. After all, the worlds top ten financial centres, according to this years Financial Times ranking were, in order: London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Zurich, Toronto, San Francisco and Washington DC. These are our real competitors for no EU city made it into the top ten list (Frankfurt is 19th). As one German financier said to me: London is the only really global city in Europe with the scale, the skills and the hinterland to be a global finance centre. Why dont you believe in yourselves more?
Quite so and if this wasnt enough, just check the world university rankings for 2016. Four of the worlds top ten and ten of the worlds top 50 universities are in the UK. And how many others are in the EU? Just one: one out of 50, and the highest of these is only ranked 33rd. There are no universities from other EU countries even in the top 50. The Netherlands comes in with one at 55th. Not even Germany gets into the top 50 the top German university is 60th, the top Spanish one166th, and the top Italian one 187th.
It is perhaps not surprising, then, that the UK has the worlds second highest number of Nobel Laureates, the second largest national aerospace industry and the third largest Pharmaceutical Research and development budget. I could go on
A passionate Remainer wrote recently that she feared that the vote to leave the EU was a sign that the UK was in the throes of a breakdown. I disagree. In fact, the vote to leave was a rational response to an EU that is mired in economic chaos and political inertia. This vote was a breakthrough moment to ensure our future as a globally engaged, free trading nation once again. No, the UK is not in the throes of a breakdown; but the EU may well be.
Forget red districts and blue districts when looking for an election-year slugfest. The color where the actions at is a very deep, and in Montana extremely rare, purple.
This district is in play because its solidly purple, said Jessica Karjala, a Billings Democrat who flipped a Republican House district two years ago and now has a GOP challenger breathing down her neck. Its composed of two really different precincts.
The one-term incumbent told The Gazette that she hasnt felt comfortable enough to stop knocking on doors. Karjalas challenger, Republican Robert Saunders, said hell spend about eight hours a day from now to Nov. 8 trying to convince constituents that hes their guy.
The grittiest of battleground districts, identified by campaign workers from both parties, are few in number and similar in characteristics. Theyre spread across large communities like Billings and Missoula, as well as smaller ones, like Livingston. They have battle scars from previous elections.
Karjalas House District 48 was half of a Senate District that in 2010 set the state record for money spent in a legislative race, more than $100,000, and ended with a Democratic challenger narrowly defeating an incumbent Republican. The seat was held by Republican Dennis Lenz two years ago, who had more campaign cash than Karjala, but was out-hustled.
This years HD 48 race has been a battle. Last month, Saunderss attorney wrote Karjala a warning letter accusing her of attempting to damage his reputation by suggesting he believes only rich people should vote. The allegation was based on an online survey response Saunders filled out.
Saunders told The Gazette that Karjala is misinterpreting what he wrote. Likewise, Karjala is accusing Saunders of misrepresenting her record by telling constituents she voted to give herself a pay raise, which she didnt.
Between them, the HD 48 candidates have $40,000 to spend on the race.
In Missoula, Adam Hertz has raised $21,000 in his challenge of incumbent Andrew Person in House District 96. The district, which Republicans say is one of their top races, includes the northwest corner of the city and a rapidly growing portion of the county.
Person, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, won this area with a three-figure cushion two years ago. But Republicans also did well in the region. The Democratic incumbent understands why Republicans like the race. He has raised about $10,000 for his campaign.
I think when I won the race in 2014, a lot of people were scratching their heads about how I won it, Person said. If you look at the statewides, Ryan Zinke won here by a substantial margin. It looks like theres a lot of cross-party voting.
Hertz knows the margins. He said Person won the district by less than 200 votes. Zinke carried the district by about 400 votes. There had to be crossover, which is one reason the real estate agent is excited. Hertz also has a political victory on this turf. In 2011, he was elected to the Missoula City Council as a Republican, which isnt exactly like winning the Powerball, but it isnt easy. Hertz won by five votes in a recount. Because he did well in the city portion of HD 96, Hertz likes his odds.
Its certainly a district that has a lot of swing voters, said Hertz, who thinks rural voters will lean Republican, improving his prospects. I expect that it will be within 100 votes or less, but I like that better than five votes.
Livingston could have the toughest race of all. Republican incumbent Debra Lamm is being challenged in House District 60 by Laurie Bishop, a 20-year resident of Livingston.
But the real purple hue in HD 60, which runs from Livingston west to the Gallatin County line, comes from a bruising political history of upsets. Since 2007, the district has swung back and forth between the parties four times.
There's about $24,000 between the two candidates.
"Deb Lamm, that is a race we think we can pick up handily this year," said Amanda Frickle, who works on legislative races for the Montana Democrats. "Laurie has lived there for 20 years. She's a Main Street business woman. She's working to assure that high-schoolers graduate."
James Frayne is Director of communications agency Public First and author of Meet the People, a guide to moving public opinion. The focus of this column is Theresa Mays conservatism for ordinary working people.
Background
Theresa May will trigger Article 50 before the end of March the start of formal negotiations with the EU on our future relationship. With that will come a Great Repeal Bill that will ultimately repeal all such legislation associated with EU membership that Parliament agrees must go.
All of this is necessary and inevitable: leaving the EU is a complex process and our future relationship with the EU is crucial. But with all the focus on the specifics of our relationship with the EU, there is a danger that we miss the most important issue: a change in Britains national strategy and a new role for Britain in the world. Leaving the EU is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
That end should be a Britain that is more open, innovative and international in outlook, seeking new trading alliances with the worlds fastest growing economies, and new security and diplomatic alliances with powers that share our values and have the ability to help maintain peace and prosperity. That does not come from simply leaving the EU and leaving everything else as it is. We need to create this new role.
What next
Britain should seek to forge a new Global Free Trade Alliance (GFTA). An idea developed by former analysts at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation John Hulsman and Jerry ODriscoll and further developed by Hulsman in what is the best foreign policy column best foreign policy column in the British media, the GFTA would be a voluntary coalition of liberal democracies that would promote free trade.
Unlike with EU membership, states would retain complete independence and their involvement would depend on their ability to meet certain criteria such as openness, a commitment to property rights and light regulation. It would have none of the bureaucratic apparatus of the EU, relying on formal meetings between the GFTAs trade ministers and associated experts. Whether the GFTAs states decided to agree standards on things like state subsidies would be a matter for them.
The GFTA would seek to include at least the majority of the EUs member states (which clearly depends on EU agreement, but membership would be hugely attractive to many members), the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and others. Given these countries commitment to liberal democracy, it would make sense for the GFTA to become the basis for a new set of diplomatic and security alliances again, something that would be attractive to many given the rise of a new multipolar world.
It isnt within Britains power simply to create such an alliance, and it would be premature for May to grandly announce such a scheme. But now that we are outside the EU, creating such an alliance should be the objective of the British Government and should guide their thoughts and actions as they negotiate with the EU and hold exploratory meetings with friendly powers. Of course, such an alliance is highly ambitious, but given that we are leaving the EU and have to forge a new role, such ambition is necessary.
Some favour a Hard Brexit, some a soft one, and others claim that the term is meaningless. There is no such dispute about the future of Northern Irelands frontier with the Irish Republic. All concerned seem to want a soft border. Its easy to see why. A soft border is integral to the latters political settlement. Furthermore, it has been in place since the United Kingdom and most of Ireland went their seperate ways: there has been a common travel area between the two since 1923. And finally, a hard border is a practical impossibility, as our columnist, Daniel Hannan, has pointed out: the Irish border is criss-crossed by a latticework of lanes, many of them dating back to public works projects initiated to offer income to local people during the monstrous famine of the 1840s. Even during the height of the Troubles in the 1970s, it was never feasible to man checkpoints along the entire frontier.
Daniel wrote those words in an article about how Brexit will work after we have a land border with a country that is in the EU, and how it might affect relations between the two. In a nutshell, he argued that neither country is likely to be posed serious problems by illegal immigration and evaded duties after we leave. But since voters and governments will be unwilling to take this for granted, he pointed towards a solution. British customs and border checks could be carried out within Irish territory. Ireland would thus become part of the United Kingdoms external frontier.
At first hearing, this sounds like an outrageous suggestion Britain asking Ireland to solve a problem of its own making. However, the idea is already reality, at least to some degree. The two countries agreed in 2011 to develop electronic border management systems and to share data. James Brokenshire made exactly this point to the Guardian earlier this week. The agreement was a sign not only of how closely European governments now work together on border control (outside the EU as well as within it), but also of the unique relationship between the United Kingdom and the Republic. The two are aligned just about as closely as it is possible for independent states to be, and the links are not only economic and cultural but political. Both sets of citizens can vote in each others elections when resident in each others countries. For example, Irish nationals were entitled to vote here last June on Brexit.
It is true that Britain and Ireland cannot simply negotiate a deal between them. The decision for Ireland is ultimately not in its hands alone but in those of the other EU member states. And while both it and Britain are united in wanting to avoid a hard border with Northern Ireland, those other countries may not automatically see matters the same way. But even if they want to play hardball with Britain, it would be a nonsense for them to do so with Ireland, a fellow EU member and one with which they have no reason to pick a quarrel.
Where theres a will, theres surely a way. We dont want a hard border between north and south, Frances Fitzgerald, Irelands Deputy Prime Minister, has said. There is going to be more focus on the perimeter, which we have said all along. We are now the border effectively for the EU. But the Government will want to handle the matter sensitively. On the one hand, we are entitled to leave the Union if we wish, and the referendum has delivered a verdict to that effect. On the other, the decision has knock-on effects on our closest neighbour one with which we have a troubled past and a happy present. The details of a Brexit deal over border control will be complex, but the principle is clear. If it imposes new costs on Ireland, then Britain should pay them.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. Count Liz Cheney among those still supporting Donald Trump, even as a number of Republicans abandon their party's presidential nominee because of remarks he made about women.
Trump's comments were appalling but Hillary Clinton's actions have been far worse, Cheney told The Associated Press by email Monday.
Cheney was referring to Clinton's handling of sensitive emails on a private server while Clinton was secretary of state.
Cheney is a former State Department official and Fox News commentator. She is the oldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who in May said he supports Trump.
Liz Cheney also said Clinton would devastate the energy industry, name U.S. Supreme Court justices who wouldn't uphold the Second Amendment, and expand the authority of federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency.
"There is no question that Donald Trump would be far better for Wyoming than Hillary Clinton," wrote Cheney, the Republican nominee for the state's lone seat in the U.S. House.
Democratic challenger Ryan Greene said Trump's comments are inexcusable but he hasn't decided how he will vote yet.
"Neither one has earned my vote," he said Monday. "I don't think a candidate should just get your vote by default. They should earn it."
Greene said the candidates need to move beyond an "insult war" and provide "details, details, details" on tax policies and how they will spur job growth.
Greene owns an oilfield services company.
On Facebook, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead called Trump's remarks about women in a 2005 recorded conservation "repugnant" and "deeply troubling." Still, the Republican governor maintained his support for Trump, saying through a spokesman Monday he would be the best candidate for Wyoming.
Battleground Pampore, off Srinanagar
Top US daily Washington Post reports, against the backdrop of suspected militants taking refuge in government building off Pampore, the saffron rich town in the outskirts of Srinagar, that the latest round of the unrest in the Kashmir valley has prompted India go in for its biggest crackdown in decades in the state. Aijaz Hussain, an Associated Press correspondent, reports in the daily, Anxious to quell anti-India protests in Kashmir, Indian forces are carrying out their most severe crackdown in more than two decades against civilian protesters, arresting more than 8,000 this summer across the disputed Himalayan territory.Pointing out that his includes 450 or so civilians being held, possibly for up to six months without trial, under a harsh security law criticized as a human rights violation, the report says, this is happening because India believes that the separatist rebels and civilians who help them are undermining the countrys territorial integrity.Insisting that this is forcing the authorities to keep the Kashmir valley under tight control, the report quotes a senior police official, who says, This is, so far, the biggest crackdown against miscreants. The police officer, the report adds, wanted to remain anonymity because he was not authorized to share details of the crackdown.Worse, the daily says, For weeks, Indian authorities have carried out nighttime raids, rolling curfews and stops at roadblocks, but have failed to stop the rebel attacks and angry public rallies, adding, at Pampore, despite gunshots and grenade blasts, one found scores of people gathered on nearby streets to chant anti-India slogans in a show of solidarity with the rebels.Earlier, the report says, in February, five soldiers, three militants and a civilian were killed in a three-day standoff in the same government compound, underlining, India has faced a separatist challenge in Kashmir since 1947, when India and neighbouring Pakistan gained independence.Refusing to take sides, the report says, while India accuses Pakistan of arming and training rebels to cross the heavily militarized border that divides the region between the two countries, as for Pakistan, it denies the allegation and says it offers the rebels only moral support. However, it adds, most people in the Kashmir Valley are in favour independence or a merger with Pakistan.The report says, more than 68,000 people have been killed in the armed uprising and ensuing Indian military crackdown the report says, While anti-India protests are somewhat common during warmer summer months, this years have been especially fraught amid widespread anger over the killing of a popular rebel commander by Indian forces in July.India has responded with a clampdown that has nearly paralyzed daily life, the report says, adding, More than 80 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in clashes with police and paramilitary troops. Two policemen have also been killed and hundreds of government forces injured in the clashes.Officers are still hunting for at least 1,500 more people suspected of participating in protests, the report says, adding, Rights activists expressed alarm over the governments targeting of protesters. It quotes human rights lawyer Pervez Imron as saying, This crackdown marks the Indian governments failure to reach a political solution of the issue.Activists have long campaigned against Indias armed forces special powers act, which gives troops sweeping powers to interrogate or shoot suspects on sight. Also, under the draconian act, federal army and paramilitary soldiers cannot be prosecuted in civilian courts unless federal approval is granted.
About 24 people gathered outside U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke's Billings office on Tuesday, imploring him to renounce his support for Donald Trump.
They held signs that said things like "Grab them by the ballot," and "Grabbing back Nov. 8," in response to the Republican presidential nominee's recently released comments about women.
On Friday, the Washington Post released a 2005 video of Trump, in which he described, using explicit terms and making sexual advances on women, including grabbing them.
Tuesday's demonstration, which was part of the Montanans Rally for Women group, was attended mostly by women. Speakers said that if public officials maintain their support for Trump in light of his comments, then they fail to take a stand against sexual violence.
Event organizer Kate Olp-Restad said that she wanted to show Zinke that voters are taking notice.
"Here in Billings, we stand up for victims of sexual assault," she said.
Zinke has been a steady supporter of the Republican nominee while running his own re-election campaign. Zinke endorsed Trump on the cable news morning show "Fox and Friends" on May 25.
He introduced Trump during his appearance at Rimrock Auto Arena on May 26.
Also in May, Zinke told Breitbart News that he would serve under Trump if asked, perhaps as the New York businessman's vice presidential pick or any cabinet position, as well as from his current congressional seat.
After the release of Trump's comments, Zinke joined a list of party officials who condemned the words but stopped short of taking back their endorsements.
"The language is shocking and wrong, and should never be used, ever," Zinke said in a statement on Saturday. "My wife, Lola, and I have talked about it, and we pray he has grown from his mistake."
On Tuesday, he released a similar statement through a spokeswoman, saying that he and his wife "can never" vote for Hillary Clinton. He did not directly address his endorsement.
Some Republican officials have said they will not vote for Trump, including U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Gov. Gary Herbert, both of Utah.
Facing the building where Zinke maintains a field office, the group listened to stories of sexual assault. No one from the congressman's ninth-floor office met the audience.
Jade Bahr shared stories from her own life, when she witnessed physical violence. She said that as a child, she saw her father be abusive toward her mother. She saw her friend go through an abusive relationship.
She said that if people like Zinke don't fully disavow those actions, it makes them more pervasive.
"Then he is normalizing rape culture," Bahr said. "And he is endorsing violence against women."
Another woman, Karen Jarussi, joined others at the event and called on Zinke to take back his endorsement. She said that when women speak about unwanted sexual advances, it's not a phenomenon isolated to some women.
That's what brought Wanda Walker out on Tuesday.
"Sexual assault is a part of every woman's life," she said.
About 50 minutes into a meeting between Lockwood and School District 2 trustees, Billings representative Janna Hafer cut to the chase.
"What are you asking of us?" she said.
Lockwood is hoping that Billings doesn't fight an upcoming legislative proposal that would open the door for Lockwood to create its own high school district. Montana law prohibits new high school districts, and Billings opposed SB 107, a Lockwood-backed bill in 2015.
Monday's meeting was a continuation of scattered talks between SD2 and Lockwood that began with a contentious meeting about a year ago. As SD2 went through the high school redistricting process, lingering tension over SB 107 heated up.
Lockwood, along with East Helena, is in the process of drafting a new bill that will likely abandon the component that sparked the most opposition. The previous bill would have allowed newly formed districts to divert assets from districts their students previously attended.
"I think we've decided that if we ever want to get this bill passed that's going to need to go away," Lockwood superintendent Tobin Novasio said after the meeting.
Much of Monday's discussion fell along already well-discussed topics; SD2 representatives maintained that Lockwood should survey their community for support, while Lockwood representatives maintained that it's not worth spending the money on a survey if a high school isn't an option.
SD2 superintendent Terry Bouck said that it would be hard for his board to evaluate a proposal before seeing it.
Trustees touched on the possibility of tax bases voting on a potential split SD2 officials have said they would want Billings taxpayers to be able to vote on a proposal that would affect their taxes, while Lockwood officials have argued that it's primarily a Lockwood issue for Lockwood voters.
Novasio said the draft proposal likely wouldn't include a vote for both districts.
SD2 trustees also said that the possibility of new districts and changes in their student population make planning more difficult. Much of state funding is awarded on a per-student basis.
"The planning is not only fiscal, it's education," chairwoman Greta Besch Moen said.
She also questioned changes that could occur during the legislative process.
"When a bill gets up there, you don't know what the amendments are going to be," she said.
Lockwood board chairman Tim Sather questioned how valuable survey data would be without more specifics about a district proposal.
"People might say, 'Hey, how would like to buy this can of tuna? Sure,'" he said. "But if you ask, 'Want to buy a can of tuna for $500,' the answer could change."
Trustees on both sides bemoaned a larger lack of understanding about how Montana's school funding system works.
"I really don't think the average person on the street has any idea," Sather said.
While discussion occasionally became heated, trustees mostly adopted a civil tone throughout the meeting.
"I'd hate to go through the angst that we had in the last legislative session," Besch Moen said.
As floodwaters that inundated low-lying areas in Phillips County recede, towns downriver shouldn't see as big a swell as was earlier predicted.
"We're not going to have quite the impact to the housing units in town," said Glasgow-based National Weather Service meteorologist Brandon Bigelbach.
In Phillips County, Disaster and Emergency Services coordinator Greg Speer said it's still too early for damage assessments on property and roads.
Content Road, Sun Prairie Road and Beaverton Road were all underwater Friday. Regina Road south of Malta was also underwater after a culvert on Alkali Creek washed away, causing the creek to spill over onto the road.
Some waters have receded, but "everything's waterlogged," Speer said, and dirt roads are too soft to drive. "Until we can get a look at them and see what is needed for repair, it's not a good idea to be cruising around."
There were no evacuation orders as waters rose, but some residents left their homes to avoid being cut off by submerged roads. It's unclear if the flooding caused major property damage.
"It's got to get back down to where they can get back and look at it," Speer said.
Flood warnings have been lifted for much of Phillips County, but remain for the Milk River at Tampico until Saturday evening. The river is expected to reach 26 feet, three feet above flood stage, on Thursday.
In Glasgow the Milk River is already above flood stage, and could crest at 29 feet Thursday evening, four feet above flood stage. Earlier forecasts expected the crest to be near 31 feet.
Phillips County got anywhere from four to eight inches of rain over the past several days, with some isolated areas getting as much as 10 inches about an average year's worth of rain for the area.
Election Day is four weeks away, but early voting starts today in Montana. Eligible voters can go to their county elections office, request and cast their Nov. 8 ballots.
In Yellowstone County in recent years, most voters have requested that absentee ballots be mailed to them. The Yellowstone County Elections Office is scheduled to mail tens of thousands of ballots on Friday, so voters can expect them in Saturdays mail.
Whether voters plan to mark their ballots early or on Nov. 8, they have some homework to do. Voting is important; being an informed voter is vital to democracy in Montana and in the United States.
If you are a regular Gazette reader, you are better informed about election issues than folks who dont read their local newspaper. Local and state issues, as well as candidates (challengers and incumbents) for Legislature, statewide and federal officers are covered in Gazette news stories.
The Gazette also has invited candidates for statewide offices to present their views in guest opinions. Gazette readers share their opinions on candidates and issues in Voice of the Reader.
Gazette guide
On Sunday, a special Voter Guide was included in The Gazettes Montana print editions. It included answers from 49 state legislative candidates who accepted the newspapers invitation to provide biography and contact information about themselves and answer four issue questions. We applaud the candidates who took this opportunity to communicate (free of charge) with voters.
An important way to learn more about your candidates is to communicate directly with them. Check The Gazette Voter Guide for candidate phone numbers, email, mailing address and Facebook information.
Its worth noting that the invitations to participate in the voter guide were sent to more than 70 candidates as far southwest as Gardiner and as far northeast as Plentywood, but only 49 responded. Getting candidates to publicly state their positions, or even talk about their priorities in a public forum can be a challenge. Here are some tools voters can use to learn about candidates and ballot issues:
Project Vote Smart, (votesmart.org) a nonpartisan, nonprofit based in Montana lists the rating assigned to elected officials by a wide variety of interest groups. For example, voters can see how the NRA and NARAL Pro-Choice rated legislators voting records. Vote Smart also present campaign fundraising information on individual candidates.
Another great resource is followthemoney.org, another national, nonprofit watchdog organization based in Montana. Follow The Money analyzes and posts campaign finance information.
Montanas clean campaign officer is Jon Motl, the Commissioner of Political Practices. The Montana COPP website has been vastly improved for this election cycle with filing of candidate and independent political organization reports electronically that means the reports go online the same day they are filed. The COPP website is searchable by candidate, donor, office and committee. Just look online for Montana Commissioner of Political Practices.
4 statewide issues
The Montana Secretary of State Office has prepared a 68-page 2016 Voter Guide, most of which is devoted to the four statewide ballot issues: A constitutional amendment initiative regarding victims rights, and statutory initiatives on medical marijuana, bonding for biomedical research and banning trapping on public lands.
The SOS will mail the Voter Guide to registered voters, but if you want to get a head start on reviewing the complete text of these four initiatives, along with arguments pro and con, go to sos.mt.gov, click on elections, and then on ballot issues.
The Billings Gazette encourages all eligible voters to make well-informed choices by getting to know something about the candidates and issues before marking those little circles on the ballots.
Sussex News
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I'm a Montanan and believe that when Montanans come together we do better by one another.
We come together when people in our communities need a helping hand. We bring casseroles, throw benefits, mow their lawns, and drive them to their doctor's appointment.
Montanans show up for one another when needed, regardless of who you are, where you come from or your political party. Taking care of our families, neighbors and communities is a Montana value.
It's who we are. It's who I am.
As the daughter of a truck driver and a waitress, I was raised in Eastern Montana, graduated from Shepherd High School and attended college at Montana State University Billings. Upon graduation, I started one of Montana's first and largest internet service providers with family and friends.
When I first ran and was elected to the Legislature in 1998, I did it because I wanted to do my part to care for our families, neighbors, and communities. I wanted to make sure that our senior citizens had the care they deserved, our veterans were appreciated for the service they provided, and that moms and dads had good paying jobs to give their children a bright future.
During my four terms in the Legislature, I led the way to create the economic development trust fund and workforce training program that have helped create thousands of good paying jobs in Montana. I also led the committees that reformed the funding of our public education system and created the definition of quality education.
In 2008, you elected me as your state auditor, commissioner of securities and insurance. I have made it my mission to protect consumers over the past eight years and have worked to return more than $385 million to Montana families and business. As a member of the State Land Board, I also helped to generate over $750 million through responsible leasing of our oil, gas, coal and timber resources.
Now I want to be your next secretary of state.
Serving as your next secretary of state gives me the opportunity to continue my work of taking care of our families, neighbors, and communities.
I believe that all Montanans voices matter and that every eligible person should have the opportunity and access to vote on Election Day. As your next secretary of state, I will work to modernize our election system while ensuring it is secure, fair and transparent.
I will work to cut red tape so small businesses can focus on growing our economy and creating jobs. I will continue my work on the State Land Board to help generate millions of dollars for education while also protecting our cherished public lands. As your next secretary of state I will always do my part to grow Montanas economy.
And as your secretary of state I will continue to show up for our families, neighbors, and communities. It's a Montana value. It's who we are. It's who I am.
I would appreciate your vote on Nov. 8.
Cloud News
Facebook Makes Its First Channel Play, Cloud Superstar SADA Among New Workplace Partners
Joseph Tsidulko
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Facebook, the consumer social networking behemoth with 1.09 billion users, is for the first time in its 12-year history turning to the channel.
The $18 billion company, which launched its new Workplace enterprise product Monday, has tapped about a dozen channel partners to sell the product including cloud services superstar SADA Systems, Los Angeles.
[Related: SADA Systems Heads To Microsoft Partner Conference With FY 2016 Revenue Growth Worthy Of Boasting]
SADA, one of the inaugural partners that helped Google become the dominant force for several years in the cloud-based productivity suite market, is now part of the Facebook Workplace Partner Program a group of professional services organizations chartered with selling the product around the globe.
"This is just like [Google] Apps in 2007," said Tony Safoian, founder and CEO of SADA Systems, No. 87 on CRN's 2016 Fast Growth 150 list."They're learning from scratch, going to market with a limited set of partners. They don't have a resale model out of the gate, but they will soon."
With Workplace - a collaboration, messaging and social networking solution geared for the enterprise- Facebook is on its way to becoming a major enterprise player, said Safoian. In fact, he said, Workplace is less expensive and more capable than competitors like Salesforce's Chatter and Slack's namesake social networking product.
"This can become the preeminent social platform to the enterprise," said Safoian. "They're very dedicated to it. The demand is crazy. Everybody wants it. There's a huge gap in the market. Customers are really interested in something that's truly going to transform their culture."
Facebook is still learning the dynamics of the channel, but the consumer-centric company looks eager to develop a thriving implementation partner ecosystem, Safoian said.
Safoian is an expert in how consumer-tech powerhouses are turning their attention to the enterprise.
SADA, based in Los Angeles, was one of the first partners to sell Google Apps (recently rebranded G Suite), a cloud-based productivity suite that quickly rose from obscurity to dominating a sector of the Software-as-a-Service market.
SADA further demonstrated its knack for getting in on the ground floor of disruptive SaaS solutions when it became an inaugural partner for Microsoft Office 365.
The ability to put a business suit on social networking seems even more promising. "Never in the history of enterprise SaaS software there has been this much demand for something before it launched," Safoian said.
Tens of thousands of companies signed to participate in Facebook's beta program, which lasted almost two years under the working title Facebook at Work. Only a few were accepted.
While Facebook is not revealing initial customers for the product, typing in the names of Fortune 500 firms into the Workplace customer landing page yields abundant hits, including Nike, Starbucks, Comcast, General Motors, and Wells Fargo.
It's not clear what formal business relationships those companies have entered into with Facebook. But the number of global enterprises with URLs in that domain suggests wide interest for a newly released product across nearly every major industry.
Driving that demand is Facebook's secret sauceits unique ability to track user habits and then distill insights about its users, often predicting what they want to see or do next.
"Nobody in the enterprise has cracked the social sentiment element of the platform," Safoian said. "But Facebook is excellent at it. They know what everybody is thinking and feeling."
C-level executives are procuring Workplace as a top-down initiative for real-time employee communications, Safoian said, recognizing the value in getting an accurate sense of how their employees are feeling and thinking.
Facebook is driving that wave of enterprise adoption by delivering a product with a superior mobile experience, Safoian said. "Its a framework every user knows," he told CRN. "Who doesn't know how to use Facebook?"
Managed services News
CRN Exclusive: NTT Security Standardizes Managed Security Services Offerings On Qualys
Sarah Kuranda
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As NTT unifies its security brands under NTT Security, the company has teamed up with Qualys to standardize its managed security services offerings.
The news comes as NTT Security looks to establish itself as a new, security-focused company. NTT said in June that it was bringing together its security subsidiary brands, including Solutionary, parts of Dimension Data and NTT Communications, into a single managed security services company called NTT Security. The company officially launched Aug. 1.
Under the new partnership, NTT Security will integrate the Qualys Cloud Platform with its own managed security services offerings, standardizing its security capabilities on the vendor around asset inventory, vulnerability management, policy compliance and web app security.
[Related: NTT Herds Its Security Services Forces Under One Umbrella]
NTT Security Director of Product Management Court Little said the company chose Qualys because it provided a single platform with global reach, proper API support, and a full range of security capabilities to standardize across. Qualys is also a long-standing and trusted brand, he said, which will be key in going to market to customers.
NTT Security has built a first-class managed security services offering that reduces the burden of IT security and compliance for its customers, Qualys CEO Phillipe Courtot said in a statement. By integrating the Qualys Cloud Platform with NTT Securitys managed security offering, customers now have the full and continuous view of their security and compliance posture on a global scale.
NTT Security previously had used multiple vendors for the same functions, including Qualys. Now, Qualys will serve as the base platform for all of NTT Securitys managed security services operations, Little said. In doing so, NTT Security will be able streamline its go-to-market and provide a smoother, more integrated offering to customers. NTT Security also can focus on delivering security solutions, rather than on building and supporting data centers, according to Little.
Especially for us as a new company, its all about trying to get to market faster, trying to establish that global footprint and get services rolled out in a global way, Little said.
Being able to offer that full stack of global security services was a significant driver in the move to bring the companies together under the NTT Security brand, company executives said at the time of the merger. The company, which has an estimated $1 billion in revenue and 1,300 employees, said it was looking to meet the full life cycle of security needs of its customers.
Little said Qualys will lay the foundation for NTT Security as a single managed security services provider. While NTT Security previously operated in different silos in the security world, Little said the companies are now further coming together under one umbrella as a full-stack IT services company. Qualys track record of continuing to bring new solutions to market will prove key as NTT Security expands its relationship with the security vendor, he said.
Networking News
AT&T Opens Up Secure Cloud Connectivity Solution, NetBond, To Solution Providers
Gina Narcisi
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AT&T is helping the channel connect to the cloud.
The telco said it is making NetBond, its secure, cloud connection solution, available to its channel partners.
NetBond lets businesses directly connect to third-party cloud environments via a virtual private network (VPN). This is similar to using a public cloud service in terms of performance, but AT&T said it is able to add an extra layer of security because NetBond bypasses the public internet. AT&T launched NetBond in 2014 and the Dallas-based company announced its availability through the channel for the first time on Tuesday.
As more businesses move to the cloud, solution providers can help get them there securely. Channel partners the trusted IT advisors to many businesses -- can give their customers the best of both worlds when it comes to public cloud, said Sue Galvanek, vice president of marketing, pricing and product solutions for AT&T Partner Exchange.
[Related: AT&T Channel Leaders on Mobility, IoT and What Solution Providers Can Expect From The 2016 Partner Exchange Summit ]
"NetBond allows [partners] to balance security and performance that customers want from a private cloud, while giving them access to the economies and flexibility of the public cloud," Galvanek said.
AT&T's NetBond offering can help businesses connect to 16 different cloud providers today. These providers include IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services, HP, Blue Jeans Network, Sungard Availability Services, VMware, CSC, Box, Equinix, Cisco, EMC, TechM, Virtustream ,and Digital Realty.
AT&T said it will continue to add more cloud service providers to its ecosystem.
Solution providers have been demanding NetBond as an addition to the Partner Exchange portfolio, Galvanek said.
Alliant Technologies, a Morristown, N.J.-based solution provider and AT&T Premier partner was the first solution provider partner to sell and turn up NetBond for one of its business clients. Businesses are using public cloud services, but are hungry for a secure connection alternative to the internet, according to Phil Towle, senior vice president of sales for Alliant Technologies.
"Our customers are all complaining about accessing the ever-growing list of cloud providers through the internet," Towle said. "NetBond adds value to their existing MPLS environment, gives customers using broadband a better class of service. Without a doubt, this is a godsend for our customers and us."
Andy Daudelin, AT&T's vice president of cloud told CRN that NetBond is "a natural addition" to AT&T's VPN offering that solution providers are already selling through Partner Exchange. NetBond will be another recurring revenue opportunity for these partners, he said.
"For those end-user customers that are using AT&T's VPN and want to connect to the public cloud, this is a great way for those partners to add value to the technologies they are bringing to their customers, while strengthening their competitive edge in the market," Daudelin said.
With businesses turning to the cloud and 16 different cloud providers to choose from, NetBond will be a good fit for all Alliant's AT&T VPN clients, Towle said.
"We are going back and proposing NetBond for every one of our VPN customers, and we are seeing a take rate of nearly 100 percent; Customers are eating it up," he said.
AT&T isn't just dropping customers off at cloud's doorstep, Galvanek added. NetBond customers will benefit from AT&T's network management and cloud integration expertise.
Solution providers will also now have access to the NetBond portal to manage their customer's connectivity to their selected cloud providers. Channel partners can add connections to a new cloud provider their client chooses in minutes, Daudelin said.
"This helps customers easily grow their cloud usage," he said.
To help solution providers get up to speed with the latest offering, AT&T will include NetBond in AT&T Partner Exchanges certification program.
AT&T's carrier competitors have made similar direct cloud connectivity offerings available to its channel partners, too. Verizon rolled out its Secure Cloud Interconnect service in 2014. The Basking Ridge, N.J.-based carrier made Secure Cloud Interconnect available to its partners in 2015. Philadelphia-based Comcast also extended private AWS Connectivity to solution providers in March, via its AWS Direct Connect solution.
Android Wars
Suddenly, Samsung's reputation as the premier maker of Android smartphones is vulnerable, as the company has now stopped producing the Galaxy Note 7. Other Galaxy phones, such as the large-screen S7 Edge, are still available, however. But Google may be launching its first Android phones at the perfect time. The large-screen Pixel XL will ship Oct. 20, and users looking for a new Android phone may be especially inclined to give the device a look right now. How do the two phablets compare? In the following slides, the CRN Test Center breaks down how Samsung's popular Galaxy S7 Edge and Google's new Pixel XL stack up on price and specs.
To be considered for admission to Greg Gianforte's private Pre-K-12 Petra Academy, you are required to complete the following from their application, which states:
"Petra Academy is not staffed to handle students with severe learning disabilities or those who have trouble behaviorally. For your child's best interest, please be candid when you answer the following questions . Further elaboration of your answers may be required during an interview.
13. Has your student ever been referred for testing or placed in a special program?
14. Has your student received any other special help or tutoring?
15. Has your student ever repeated a grade for any reason?
16. Has the student ever seen a counselor/doctor/psychiatrist for any type of social, behavioral, or mental problems?
17. Has your student ever been diagnosed by a counselor/doctor/psychiatrist as having hyperactivity or attention deficit disorder?
18. Do you suspect or have you been told that your child might have dyslexia?
19. To the best of your knowledge, does your student have any other learning difficulties or special academic needs?"
Behold Greg Gianforte and Elsie Arntzen's "school choice." We pay, they choose. We send our tax dollars to their schools and they choose who gets in.
Are these our schools of choice? Those who deny access to public lands and schools, are these our representatives of choice?
This election, choose a governor and a superintendent of public instruction who believe all Montanans' are entitled access to public lands and schools.
Help preserve this state we love. Vote for Steve Bullock and Melissa Romano.
Karen Lazetich Moses
Billings
Port of New Orleans Chief Operating Officer Brandy Christian joined Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards in signing a memorandum of understanding with Cuba on Oct. 4 pledging to expand trade and commerce opportunities between Louisiana and the Caribbean nation, according to a prepared statement.
The agreement also calls for joint marketing and information sharing efforts to meet those objectives.
The proximity and historical relationship between Cuba and the Port of New Orleans has us well-positioned should the trade embargo be lifted, and we are prepared to play an important role in trade when the time comes, said Christian, who signed the MOU with Gov. Edwards and Director General Manuel Fernandez Perez Guerra of the National Port Administration of Cuba. We look forward to working closely with Cuban ports and trade authorities to grow opportunities and nurture long-standing relationships that will be mutually beneficial. In the meantime, we will continue to efficiently handle those products that can be legally shipped to Cuba, often by Louisiana-based companies.
Port of New Orleans officials traveled to Havana Oct. 3-7 as part of a 50-member delegation that included Gov. Edwards, Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn Wilson and other state, regional, local, educational and private business leaders. The trip set the stage for greater economic and cultural exchanges between Cuba and Louisiana, and included meetings with Cuban government ministers of trade, agriculture and foreign affairs.
There remains much work to be done before our nations embargo on broader trade with Cuba is lifted. However, there are new opportunities that can benefit Louisiana, and I am optimistic that we will be able to build on our existing trade partnership with Cuba following this bipartisan visit, said Gov. Edwards. We want Louisiana to be first in line to any new opportunities with Cuba, particularly the import, export and foreign direct investment possibilities that could range into the billions of dollars in the coming years. For those reasons, we are eager to embark on this trade mission and to place Louisiana in a unique position of leadership with respect to Cuba.
Prior to the 1962 trade embargo enacted by President John F. Kennedy, the Port of New Orleans was a top trading partner with Cuba exporting agricultural and manufactured goods to the island nation.
Through the years of the embargo, the Port of New Orleans has participated in numerous trade missions and diplomacy visits to Cuba. Since 2010, more than 100,000 pounds of poultry have been exported via the Port to Cuba through a special allowance by the U.S. government. For the past decade, Louisiana has ranked as the No. 1 U.S. state exporting to Cuba, with more than $1.4 billion in cumulative exports.
The Port of New Orleans is also well-positioned for cruise travel to Cuba as tourism becomes more relaxed between the U.S. and Cuba.
Port Tampa Bay and the Tampa Port Ministries celebrated its recent the annual Anchor Ball charity event at the ports Cruise Terminal 3. The annual fundraiser and auction support the day-to-day operations of Tampa Port Ministries, the Tampa Seafarers Center, and provide funds for the Tampa Bay Maritime Scholarship Foundation, which provides scholarships benefitting graduates of Hillsborough County Schools high school maritime studies program, created by the Port of Tampa Propeller Club chapter.
The Port of Tampa said it joined the International Propeller Club of the United States and the Port of Tampa Maritime Industries Association (PTMIA) in promoting the Anchor Ball and its importance to the port community. As part of an ongoing annual tradition, Richard Ghent, of The Mosaic Company, was honored as recipient of the Captain James McKay Lifetime Achievement Award, for his long-term leadership, involvement and contributions to the phosphate industry.
The Tampa Seafarers Center, operated by Tampa Port Ministries and staffed by dedicated volunteers, serves the crews of cargo and cruise ships that visit the port by meeting the physical, social and spiritual needs of seafarers, often of modest means, who spend weeks and months at sea, away from their homes and families.
Each year, the Tampa port community comes together to celebrate its past, present and future at the Anchor Ball. It is very gratifying to see strong support for the work of the Tampa Seafarers Center and this important scholarship program that benefits students and that more long term benefits the port industry locally, said Paul Anderson, port president and CEO, in a prepared statement. Our port is very fortunate to have a committed organization that provides critical services and care for seafarers from all over the world. I also thank the Steinbrenner family for their continued support of this charity event. Moreover, we are very pleased to see Richard Ghent, a respected port leader and Mosaic executive, honored with the Captain James McKay Award for his impressive leadership and contributions over the years.
My name is Jeff and I am a carnivore.
When I saw the announcement that Elm Restaurant in New Canaan was hosting four of the best chefs in Connecticut were gathering in the kitchen to serve a completely vegan menu I was curious. Elms chef Luke Venner arranged for chefs Mazen Mustafa, formerly of The Elm restaurant in Brooklyn, Marcell Davidson, from Community Table in Washington, CT, and Tyler Anderson, from Millwrights in Simsbury. Would these four chefs create a meal this self-professed carnivore would enjoy? The answer is YES.
Mazen Mustafa trained in NYC at several Michelin starred restaurants including Corton, Momofuku Ko, and Restaurant Bouley. Marcell Davidsen brings a unique and artistic approach to his cuisine, celebrating local and natural ingredients, many found as he forages for herbs, flowers, and greens. Tyler Anderson worked with Chicago chefs Charlie Trotter, Sarah Stegner, and George Bumbaris and is a two-time James Beard nominated restaurant Millwright's in Simsbury, CT. He respects and supports Connecticut's farmers and artisan food producers.
When I arrived at Elm every table was occupied and the kitchen was abuzz with activity. I wandered to the rear to say hello to Elms chef Luke Venner and meet the other three chefs. Mustafa, Davidsen and Venner were busy finishing plates. Venner informed me that Anderson was, unfortunately, delayed out of town due to Hurricane Matthew.
While we looked at the menu I ordered the avocado, indian corn tostada... The avocado was serve guacamolestyle and was rich, creamy and delicious. The tostadas were similar to poofy pita rounds, but darker. A little combination of the two; delightful, the avocado was great with the almost wheat-like tostada. It was one of our two favorites of the evening. The other was the buffalo chicken of the woods, blue cheese. Large sections of hen of woods mushrooms were seared and topped with a Buffalo wing sauce and topped with micro greens and dollops of vegan blue cheese. The mushrooms were dense and were a great complement to the slightly spicy sauce and the creamy blue cheese.
Two of the other smaller plates we enjoyed were the tomato tartare, ras el hanout, charred bread and the pineapple steak, cilantro, peanut, szechuan peppercorn. The tomato was served as a disk, exploding with the spiced diversity of the ras el hanout seasoning. The pineapple steak was petit and incredibly sweet with a great balance from the cilantro and the peanuts and Szechuan pepper added crunch and spiciness. From the larger plate section, we ordered the charred eggplant, ratatouille jus, black olive, thai basil and the crispy hen of the woods, farro boullion, pickled onion. The vertically sectioned eggplants were charred and delivered a combination of subtle and deep flavors, which were elevated by the jus and the Thai basil. The mushroom dish was an enormous head of hen of woods mushrooms, which delivered both a crispy exterior and moist interior. The farro boullion was a required addition to each bite to add depth.
For dessert we enjoyed both the chocolate cake with banana ice cream as well as the peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies served with a small glass of almond milk.
Overall I really enjoyed this introduction and total immersion into vegan cuisine. Each dish focused on the tremendous and natural beauty of a single ingredient, and then the chefs added both complementary flavors and textures. If I was able to prepare vegan cuisine anywhere close to these dishes, I would definitely place them on my dinner table as frequently as possible.
The author was not compensated for this review; the meal was provided without charge. The opinions contained herein are solely those of the author.
MISSOULA Not until Tuesday evening will an Iranian-born pastor who converted from Islam to Christianity deliver what he calls "a wakeup call for the world in Missoula.
But Shahram Hadian already has the attention of the locals.
SALAM, a pro-American Muslim group; the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center, and the refugee support group Soft Landing Missoula say theyll maintain a peaceful presence outside the Doubletree Hotel prior to Hadians talk, titled Unveiling the True Face of Islam.
Hadian will provide his opinions on the fallacy of a peaceful Islam; Islams culture of death; its doctrine on beheadings, and of particular import to Missoula right now its agenda of refugee resettlement.
If they want to come and protest, come, Hadian said from his home near Spokane. I would encourage them to come and share their viewpoints. Thats usually not the way it happens.
SALAM, an acronym for Standing Alongside Americas Muslims and an Arabic term for peace, says it's open to dialogue as well.
We dont want this to be a confrontation, SALAM coordinator Eamon Ormseth said. We just want people in Missoula to know there are some of us who disagree with the way this group is portraying Islam. Missoula values diversity, tolerance and inclusion, and well win the day.
Hadian will travel to Kalispell for a Thursday night presentation on Chrislam and what he calls the seductive lie of a common God between Christianity and Islam.
The programs are sponsored by different chapters of the American Congress of Truth for America. The Missoula event is sponsored by the Lake County chapter, which Ed Kugler of Big Arm and Linda Sauer of Dayton started early this year. It was the second chapter in Montana after one in Kalispell, though several more have been founded across the state since.
Formed in 2007, ACT for America is either the nation's leading grassroots organization to promote national security and defeat terrorism or a spewer of "misleading, extreme and Islamaphobic rhetoric," depending on who's doing the defining.
Kugler said Missoula needs to hear Hadian's message.
Shahram does not attack individual Muslims. What he speaks to is the ideology that creates the things that are happening," he said. "He says this is an ideology and this is what it produces. Im sure its a fine line, Im sure its controversial. But we felt that Missoula would be a good venue for the discussion.
Soft Landing Missoula and the International Rescue Committee have yet to resettle Muslim refugees but have welcomed 27 Congolese over the past two months. While the IRC is prohibited from revealing religions of refugees, a fact sheet from the Cultural Orientation Resource Center says that 96 percent of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo are Christian.
Hadian was born in Iran and at age 7 was forced to flee an oppressive Islamic regime. He eventually made his way to the U.S. with his parents, whom he called lukewarm Muslims at best. He converted to Christianity 17 years ago and was a candidate for governor of Washington in 2012, finishing a distant second to Rob McKenna in the Republican primary.
Hadian calls his ministry the TIL Project with a mission to speak the truth in love on root issues facing our nation. Hes not against refugee resettlement in the U.S. per se, he said. But he disagrees with the federal program in which local and state governments have no say on who and how many refugees theyll get.
Resettlement, he claims, is a $2 billion a year industry from which the United Nations and the Obama administration shun Christian refugees in favor of Muslims, and in which refugees of his faith suffer from double persecution first in their own countries, then in refugee camps at the hands of Muslims.
Islamic law itself has a migration strategy that Muslims use to seed and then transform U.S. communities, Hadian said Friday on the statewide radio show Voices of Montana. There are instances in other states and countries where Muslim groups establish enclaves and begin demands for Sharia Law.
Sharia is the major concern because it is antithetical to our Constitution, he maintained, adding that the God of the Christian Bible and the God of Islam are exactly opposites.
Is Montana in danger of an Islamic takeover?
Personally, I think it is, Kugler said. Its happening all over America. Theres a written plan, and their modus operandi is to come in, become part of your community and everythings wonderful. Then they get a little bit of critical mass and start making demands. Ive heard it called stealth jihad.
***
Sheila Mischke was driving to work in Missoula on Friday when she heard Hadian and "Voices of Montana" host Jon Arneson on station KMPT 930 AM.
It took a lot of courage for me get on the radio, but I was so upset, she said later. It was crazy.
Mischke told the radio audience that as a property manager in Missoula shes trying to help the IRC and Soft Landing Missoula find housing for incoming refugees.
Because of this hateful rhetoric we are having a heck of a time getting people to help us, she said. We have people coming to our meetings protesting and saying were trying to infiltrate the community with Muslim terrorists, and its just not true.
Hadian disputed that. What part of what Ive shared was rhetoric instead of factual information?
Responded Mischke: Its rhetoric because it has a political slant and it has to do with fear mongering and letting people think theres a big global conspiracy to seed our communities with Islamic terrorists. You equated it with the refugee program in Missoula and brought up Idaho and other places as well. And I just am calling to tell you that that isnt the case here. I dont know where you get your facts.
Housing for refugees is a valid concern, Hadian said later. People are concerned about whos moving into their neighborhood.
I feel bad that there may be a stigma, but this is the fruit of what theyre doing, he said. When you give a community 30 days or less of knowing whats happening, youre going to have mistrust. Its disgusting that those bringing in refugees cry wolf and say, Oh, you guys are being mean, when a community should have the right to say no.
Its not being mean, its being vigilant.
Should refugees living and coming to Missoula feel fearful in this atmosphere?
If theres any insinuation that my talks stir people to violence, that is outrageous, he said.
Hadian, who also spoke in Kalispell in December, has made several appearances in Idaho, including one at the state capitol in Boise that he said was boycotted by the local International Rescue Committee.
Luke Malek attended a Hadian talk in Sandpoint, Idaho, in the spring of 2015.
An attorney for a Coeur dAlene nonprofit health clinic, Malek is also a Republican state representative. Afterward he told the Spokesman Review he was extremely uncomfortable with how the pastors characterizations of Islam resonated in North Idaho.
We dont have good exposure to this minority religion here, so anything that he says, hes taken as an expert by those who dont know any other source, Malek told the Spokane newspaper. So if you want to seed hatred in a way that it cant be tamped down by facts, and feed fear and seed paranoia, he has an unchecked platform for doing that.
***
Ormseth, the Interfaith coordinator for Emmaus Campus Ministries at the University of Montana, helped SALAM put on Celebrate Islam Week in Missoula in April.
A lot of us in the group are either Muslim or we have Muslim friends, Ormseth said. We see these Muslims living their faith as Americans living normal lives. And we saw the need to engage (Hadian and ACT for America) in some of their hateful rhetoric against Muslims and to provide sources of information for people confused about this ongoing conversation in America.
That sounds similar to what Hadians goals are. He said he cant rely on the media to provide accurate information.
You guys have a pretty set narrative, Hadian said. Youre afraid to touch the subject about this lie that theres this peaceful, tolerant Islam out there. That narrative has to be exposed by looking at doctrine and what Islam says.
Ormseth countered that Hadian's appearances are "coinciding with this rise in our country with hate speech toward Muslims and Arabs.''
I myself have traveled to Jerusalem and Morocco, and I know Muslims who are peaceful people,'' Ormseth said. "So I dont think the true face of Islam is violence bent on world domination.
With origins in aircraft engines dating back to 1913, Bayerische Motorenwerke officially formed in 1916. You know the brand now as BMW.
BMW is celebrating its first 100 years today, with the unveiling of an autonomous concept car in Munich.
Contributed Photo / Contributed Photo
MILFORD A man whose body was found in the drivers seat of a burning car has been identified as Richard Weir, 72, a local businessman who served time in prison for stealing funds from the Milford Special Olympics and other local organizations.
Weir was recently released after serving most of a three-year sentence for second-degree larceny. He pleaded guilty to taking more than $230,000 from the Milford Rotary Club and the Milford Special Olympics during the 18 years he served as the organizations treasurer.
A 23-year-old woman has been sentenced by a federal judge for distributing heroin in an overdose death in Milford in January 2015.
Alyssa Jelliffe, of West Haven, was sentenced Tuesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on Jan. 12, 2015, a 39-year-old male died from an apparent heroin overdose at a residence in Milford. The investigation, which included analysis of text messages captured from the decedents cellular telephone, revealed that Jelliffe and Christopher Fogler sold the the man $170 worth of heroin on the evening of Jan. 11, 2015.
A court-authorized search later that month of Jelliffe and Foglers residence revealed approximately 10 bags of heroin and assorted drug paraphernalia, including a digital scale, razor blades and cut straws.
Jelliffe and Fogler were arrested on Jan. 16, 2015. Jelliffe has been in jail since February 26, 2016, when her bond was revoked.
Jelliffe pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, heroin.
Fogler pleaded guilty to the same charge and, July 19, 2016, was sentenced to 12 months and one day of imprisonment.
U.S. Attorney Deidere Daly noted that the U.S. Attorneys Office, DEA and police departments across Connecticut are working together to investigate and prosecute narcotics dealers who distribute heroin, fentanyl or opioids that cause death or serious injury to users.
This investigation was conducted by the DEAs Bridgeport Task Force and the Milford Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alina P. Reynolds.
The Yale New Haven Childrens Hospital is mulling a merger with Connecticut Childrens Medical Center in Hartford, but involved parties are keeping mum on the details.
Connecticut Childrens Medical Center and Yale New Haven Hospital have agreed to discuss a partnership to create a new Connecticut and regional system of pediatric care with national prominence and deep community engagement, read a statement released by the two hospitals. While we share this important vision, talks are at an early stage and are ongoing.
Yale Childrens Hospital is part of Yale New Haven Hospital, which is itself part of Yale New Haven Health System. The largest in the state, Yale New Haven Health System also includes Bridgeport Hospital and Greenwich Hospital.
Connecticut Childrens Medical Center a 187-bed, not-for-profit facility is Connecticuts only freestanding childrens hospital, and serves as a teaching hospital for the University of Connecticut Medical Schools Department of Pediatrics.
Both hospitals are in good shape, financially. According to the state Department of Public Health, in fiscal year 2015 Connecticut Childrens Medical Center had a profit margin of nearly 9 percent, and Yale New Haven Hospital had a profit margin of 4.3 percent. They also have a lot of skilled staff at their disposal, so a partnership could be beneficial to both of them, said Angela Mattie, chairwoman and professor at Quinnipiac Universitys Department of Healthcare Management and Organizational Leadership.
They both have outstanding reputations for quality patient care, she said.
However, Mattie said, it could be a long time before the deal is finalized. For one thing, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has put a moratorium on some hospital mergers while the state reviews the Certificate of Need process, which regulates the ability of hospitals and other health care facilities to, among other things, change ownership and establish new facilities.
The moratorium was originally put in place until January of 2017, but in September, it was extended until June 30, 2017.
The moratorium only applies to certain mergers, including those that involve a nonprofit hospital transferring a material amount of its assets or operations to a for-profit entity or a change of control of its operation to a for-profit entity.
When contacted, Malloy spokesperson Kelly Donnelly couldnt comment on whether a merger between the two childrens hospitals would be prohibited by the moratorium, but released a statement saying the state is aware that discussions are occurring between the two entities and (we) look forward to learning more details of what ultimately results from that dialogue.
Even if the merger is allowable under the moratorium, the hospitals would have to go through multiple steps to get the merger approved, Mattie said.
These mergers dont happen overnight, she said. Theres due diligence that has to be done. Its a long and arduous process.
STAMFORD A convicted Idaho rapist who police say was found last month camping in a Darien park with a machete has been extradited back to his home state.
Brian Keith Cook, 35, of Idaho Falls, was put on a connecting flight home at the Westchester County Airport Tuesday afternoon. He had been held at the Bridgeport Correctional Center on a $275,000 court appearance bond since his arrest at Cherry Lawn Park in Darien on Sept. 13.
Cook was wanted for a parole violation for leaving his home state without permission at the end of August. He was on parole after being released from prison on a 2011 rape conviction involving a 13-year-old girl.
He was brought to the Stamford courthouse Tuesday morning and turned over to an agent who brought him back to Idaho.
Cook was found under a tarp behind the Darien Nature Center and told officers he was trying to reach Canada, the police report said. He told officers he walked to Darien from Philadelphia after hitching some rides across the country, the report said.
Darien police believe Cook was only in town for a few hours before someone walking on the trail spotted him.
Court records show Cook provided alcohol to a 13-year-old girl and raped her between 20 and 30 times over the course of several weeks, according to the Post Register of Idaho Falls, Idaho. The victim initially denied sexual contact with Cook, but later admitted he abused her, the newspaper reported. Court records show the victim's father was aware of the sexual relationship, and Cook told his fiance he was going to marry the victim when she turned 18, according to the Post Register.
jnickerson@scni.com
MISSOULA Casey Smith wasnt scared when 50-mph winds buffeted his boat, signaling the coming of Hurricane Matthew.
When they gusted up to 65 mph, breaking his anchor line about 20 feet from the cleat? Maybe a little.
Hard rain pelting him while he dropped his final anchor, just before the brunt of the storm moved in, bringing 90 mph sustained winds? Doubtlessly nervous at that point.
But, the way he tells it, riding a 10-foot john boat on the choppy open ocean the day after the storm blew through to get back to his beached sailboat was 10 times more frightening.
Thats where my life was put at risk, was trying to get back to my boat, Smith said during a phone call from his beloved 44-foot ketch, The Swell Horizon.
The boat washed up on the beach around 5:30 a.m. Friday morning on Tybee Island near Savannah, Ga., after three days of being blown around by Hurricane Matthew.
Smith, a former Missoula Realtor and river guide, first received an email advising him to move his boat from the marina on Bull River near Savannah on Wednesday. On Thursday evening he decided to anchor upriver in the marsh, hoping to ride out the storm in the mud and grass.
Most of the other boats at his dock moved, Smith said, and the owner was moving rental boats out of the water Thursday, telling Smith the waves from Hurricane Matthew could destroy the marina.
In a wide section of the river, where the water was about 14 feet deep, Smith set out a heavy tandem anchor.
It was blowing then, he said, and continued to howl Friday, but the anchor held.
***
Around 7 p.m. Friday night, Smith said, the current overpowered the 65 mph gusts and took his boat over the top of the anchor line, snapping it about 20 feet down line from the cleat.
Now adrift, Smith tried starting his motor, thinking to drive into the current and hold a steady position, but the winds and current were too strong.
I notified the Coast Guard that I was adrift in the marsh, he said. I just wanted them to have my position in case there was a huge surge and I started moving toward residences or bridges.
A Coast Guard station in Charleston, S.C., established radio communication with Smith, checking in every 30 minutes with updates on the hurricanes position, while Smith watched his boat drift around on his iPhone, sending screenshots of his position.
With one anchor left, he decided to try and hold his position, though the storm was worsening.
It was all I could do to get that third anchor over and get back down below, he said. The rain feels like youre being shot with pellets.
And, for a little while, his boat held steady, while Smith kept in radio contact with the Coast Guard, checking Facebook on his phone to pass the time.
Then about 2 a.m. all hell broke loose.
His radiomate texted him a satellite image of the storm.
Sure enough man, that thing, the heart of it was sitting directly over my position, he said.
Up to that point, from Thursday evening to around 3 a.m. Saturday morning, Smith said his boat stayed within 100 yards from where he first anchored.
His final anchor broke and the boat started to drift about 2 miles south into the ocean.
He finally ended up beached on Tybee Island early Saturday morning. He received a call from the Coast Guard, asking where he was, if he was safe and if he had provisions to be out there for a few days.
High and dry, yes and yes.
He said made it clear on the phone that he didnt want or need to be picked up by the Coast Guard.
If a boat gets washed up on the beach, its considered abandoned and open for salvaging, Smith said, so staying with his floating home was not a question.
I absolutely wanted to stay with my boat, he said. It has my whole life in it.
Then Smith made a sandwich and fell asleep, for the first time since Wednesday night.
***
Move, move, move!
Smith woke up to a man in a wetsuit and helmet standing in his cabin, trying to get Smith out of the boat into a Coast Guard helicopter.
Ignoring Smiths insistence he didnt need to be picked up, hed already talked to someone, the rescue swimmer told him it was a mandatory evacuation.
Smith grabbed his shoes, but wasnt allowed to lock up his boat.
Hoisted into the helicopter on a little stretcher, then flown to Hunter Army Air Field in Savannah, Smith was told there was a miscommunication about him being able to stay with the boat.
Walking out of the base, a friend from Missoula texted Smith a picture the U.S. Coast Guard Southeast posted to their Twitter account, of Smith walking from the helicopter in shorts, a T-shirt and his sneakers.
The caption read: A man hoisted by @USCG from a marsh near Tybee Island, SC, lands at Hunter Army Airfield.
The preceding tweet, with a breaking news hashtag, said the Coast Guard "rescues stranded man from a marsh near Tybee Island.
The Coast Guard later issued a short press release and video of Smith being hoisted up to the helicopter.
This wasnt anything but a publicity stunt, Smith said. It was all under control and now Im being jacked up in a helicopter and my pictures all over the web, like the Coast Guard saves the day.
The press release said that when Smith first called the Coast Guard on Friday night, he did not request assistance and had no medical emergencies. Coast Guard assets were unable to launch due to inclement weather.
The Coast Guard then had a helicopter from their Savannah air station fly over the area Saturday morning, when they brought Smith in.
The man was taken to Hunter Army Air Field where he is reported to be waiting for his family, the release said.
Smith is unmarried and has no children. He said a friend picked him up.
After a 14-hour nap, Smith said hes waiting in his grounded boat for Monday to come so he can call a barge with a crane to pick up The Swell Horizon and set it back down in the water.
Some friends might come over later to hang out, he said.
Its glorious this morning. The sun is out, he said. Its like I have my own private beach.
***
He picked The Swell Horizon carefully, as Smith plans to make his life sailing around the Atlantic and Caribbean for as long as he can after he ties up the last couple of real estate deals he has going in Montana.
The boat has a double-hull design, is heavy and built for big, blue water, he said.
She was put to the test Friday night, Smith said. And Im in love with her now.
I think shes coming out of this unscathed.
CultNews101.com: news, links, resources. Cults101.org: resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics. CultMediation.com: offers resources designed to help thoughtful families and friends understand and respond to the complexity of a loved ones cult involvement. Intervention101.com: to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement. CultRecovery101.com: assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.
STORY LINK Hard Brexit Fears Continue to Undermine GBP/EUR Exchange Rates
Further Warnings against Hard Brexit Undermine Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates
Eurogroup Greek Bailout Approval Boosts Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates; Irish Government Defiance over Tax Causes Jitters
GBP/EUR Exchange Rate Forecast; Eurozone Industrial Production Able to Overrule Market Sentiment?
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Fears over the impact of a hard Brexit have continued to weigh on Pound Sterling to Euro exchange rate today, although developments in the Eurozone have kept the pairing unstable.A leaked Treasury report suggests that the UK could face annual public sector receipts that are lower by -66 billion per year after 15 years of a hard Brexit.Pound Sterling exchange rates were weakened further after the Bank of Englands (BoE) Anil Kashyap warned that a hard Brexit could have non-trivial fiscal consequences, leading to a hole in the budget.Two senior bankers have commented that they may move aspects of their operations out of the UK in the event the government does exit the single market. James Bardrick of Citi Bank stated;How do we and when do we start making decisions ... knowing the plan is ready to go ... it could be in the first quarter of 2017.Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley CEO Rob Rooney explained;It really isnt terribly complicated. If we are outside the EU and we dont have what would be a stable and long-term commitment to access the single market then a lot of the things we do today in London, wed have to do inside the EU 27.The Brexit decision has also partly been blamed for pushing the UK out of the top 10 in the World Energy Councils global energy ranking for the first time, thanks to creating an uncertain environment that works to dissuade investors.The Eurogroup approved the next tranche of Greek bailout funding today, boosting Euro exchange rates thanks to market relief that Athens had managed to implement the required reforms.While a technical hitch will delay around half of the payment by an estimated two weeks, Greece will nonetheless receive the full 2.8 billion.Although this has improved market sentiment, the Euro to Pound Sterling exchange rate has experienced some moments of weakness, even temporarily dipping into negative territory earlier during the session.The Irish governments defiant stance over its current low levels of corporation tax has potentially set it on a collision course with EU officials intent upon cracking down on corporation tax.Ignoring the recent ruling that ordered the Irish government to collect 13 billion in unpaid tax from Apple after the EU found the company had been given selective treatment, Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan claimed;Irelands 12.5% corporation will not be changed and nobody in Europe or anywhere else is asking for it to be changed.There is no data on the UK calendar tomorrow likely to impact Pound Sterling exchange rates; given the current attitude of the markets this would probably be true even if there was high-impact releases scheduled for publication.German wholesale price index figures and Eurozone industrial production statistics are set for release tomorrow. Eurozone industrial output is expected to have expanded supportively on the month by 1.5% and by 1% on the year. If these forecasts are met, the Euro may strengthen.
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MISSOULA As refugee families adjust to Missoula, their children are entering another new world: the classroom.
So far, six refugee students have enrolled in Missoula County Public Schools in classes ranging from kindergarten through high school. By the end of the month, that will be up to 12.
They're children of the five families from the Democratic Republic of Congo who arrived in Missoula in August and September. The International Rescue Committee says that up to 150 refugees will move here over the next year. They'll represent as many as 15 nationalities.
"It's really new for all of us, but I think we're doing a mighty fine job," said Shirley Lindburg, director of MCPS' English Language Learner program and gifted education.
Missoula has the lone refugee resettlement office in the state.
When it was announced that Syrian refugees would be coming to Missoula, there was a public outcry from a segment of the population that fears that bringing Syrian refugees to Montana could also invite the terrorism that has plagued their home country.
Several protests in Missoula have decried refugee resettlement, saying refugees won't be thoroughly vetted, particularly those fleeing Syria.
Anti-refugee sentiment also has surfaced in political campaigns, from the presidential race to the contest for Montana governor. On Thursday, a group of Christian clergy members from Missoula, Billings, Great Falls and Bozeman sent a letter criticizing Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte and other politicians for "hawking fear designed only to win votes.''
Aria Peters, an ELL teacher, said the response to the Congolese refugees from the schools and students has "been very welcoming.''
"They've provided peer mentors and buddies for the refugee students. I have not encountered any negativity. I have not heard a negative voice, if it is there."
Peters was brought on this fall to fill a retirement. The ELL department was also restructured.
The previous teacher was stationed at Hellgate High, and ELL high-schoolers would go to there for ELL services.
Now, Peters travels to the students' home schools. Her position also includes more teacher support.
"There would be costs associated with any student," Lindburg said of the cost to take in refugee students.
School districts receive federal Title III funding for ELL and immigrant students. While the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement has Refugee School Impact Grants, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services has not applied for one, said DPHHS public information officer Jon Ebelt. As of October 2015, these grants had gone to 38 states.
The state's Immigrant Influx Grant goes to districts that have seen a "significant increase in immigrant students" over the course of a year. That means an increase of five or more.
There's $20,000 in that pot, for the entire state. It comes out of the state's Title III funding. Last year, the entire $20,000 went to Great Falls Public Schools. MCPS will qualify for that grant in the coming year.
"Some of it is waiting to see how many (refugee students) we get, and what impact those numbers have," Peters said.
But it would never get to the point where MCPS couldn't take any more, they said.
"At that point, we would hire more people," Peters said.
Lindburg and Peters are already working on a budget proposal for next year, asking for more staff. At the beginning of September, MCPS had about 108 ELL students, which is about 1 percent of the entire student population. The ELL department consists of Lindburg, Peters and three para educators.
"It's not like it's a one-year increase," Lindburg said.
The goal, of course, is for refugee students to move through MCPS and eventually graduate.
MCPS stays in touch with refugee center and, when a refugee family comes, they set up an enrollment meeting with the ELL department. There, the district handles paperwork (students have to have required immunizations before this meeting is set up).
As soon as possible after this meeting, the student has orientation day at his or her school. They tour the school, meet staff, practice basic communication skills and take assessments to gauge their proficiency.
The next day, it's time for school.
"For me, what I hear from the community is, 'Oh my god, they speak no English, what are you going to do?'" Peters said. "But this ELL program has existed for years. We've always had students with limited English, so this is not something new we're dealing with."
***
While the refugee resettlement experience is new for many in Missoula Hmong refugees came in the early 1980s and Russian refugees in the late 1980s its been a near constant in Idaho, particularly in Boise and Twin Falls.
In the 1980s, Idaho started taking in refugees, primarily from southeast Asia and eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, they took in more than 5,000 refugees, more than half of whom came from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
By the 2000s and through today, refugees have largely come from Iraq, Congo, Burma, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Somalia.
The Idaho Department of Education takes a mostly hands-off approach, with efforts to support refugee students coordinated locally.
"The bulk of the work, effort and policies in place -- how school districts work with students to ensure they're provided a free and public education-- is certainly done at that local level," said DOE chief communications officer Jeff Church. "The assistance we would provide from the state ... is the director of English Language and Migrant Education being essentially a support mechanism for those districts to help facilitate and answer any questions they may have."
Montana's Office of Public Instruction is following suit.
Refugee students fall into existing programs, which will continue to exist and support all students, including refugees, OPI communications director Emilie Ritter Saunders said such as migrant education, English Language Learner and the homeless student program.
"We have different types of folks set up to deal with students who might not be from within our system," she said. "Whether they're for a specific refugee population, I can't speak to that. We don't have a refugee coordinator as other states may have."
There is no discussion at OPI to create anything in response to a rising refugee student population, Ritter Saunders said. Montana is developing its state plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act, though, and efforts supporting Native American, migrant and homeless students will "get a second look."
"How things may shake out is yet to be seen," she said.
***
Since Boise School Districts first refugee students started coming in the 1980s, its refugee and ELL populations have skyrocketed from 40 ELL students in 1987 to 1,700 in 2014.
Last school year, there were 2,692 immigrant students in Idaho schools, a figure that includes refugees. Nearly 60 percent of those go to Boise.
In total, the Boise School District has more than 26,000 students.
BSD broke it down further, finding that of its 1,585 immigrant students last year, 1,019 were refugees. They came from 45 countries and spoke 73 languages.
Its the largest ELL student population in Idaho.
Map of where refugee students in the Boise School District came from, and what languages they spoke, in 2015:
The Idaho Department of Education issued a statement on refugee students, saying that regardless of a student's situation or origin, they will be accepted into Idaho's public schools.
"Superintendent (Sherri) Ybarra will do all that she can to not let harmful perspectives negatively impact innocent refugee or immigrant students and their ability to learn and achieve in Idaho schools," according to the statement.
Because refugee students are a "special population" under ESSA, states must show they are growing academically in comparison to their peers.
"If you take it up one step higher, the conversation around refugee and immigrant students is in my opinion bigger than ESSA," Church said. "It goes up to essentially a fundamental look at the Civil Rights Act. OK, we're talking about refugee and immigrant students, but in reality we're talking about all students, and all students deserve and have a right to a free public education."
In Boise, refugee students are referred to the district's ELL intake specialist before they enroll. They go through paperwork and an orientation, then they head to school, where they're assessed on English proficiency.
For refugee students in grades 7-12, there are two bridge programs that provide a solid English language foundation before they transition to their home schools.
When Ybarra took office in January 2015, she ramped up the English Language and Migrant Education program, moving coordinator Christina Nava to director and adding more staff.
That was "not necessarily driven by the refugee population specifically," Church said. It was in response to rising needs in the program's entire population, which includes English learners, migrant, refugee and immigrant students.
Decades later, refugee resettlement still faces pushback in Idaho.
In March, members of Treasure Valley Citizens to End Refugee Resettlement asked Ada County commissioners, where Boise is located, to put an advisory question on the May ballot: Do you support the tax funded refugee resettlement programs in Ada County? The commissioners declined to do so, saying immigration is a federal issue.
***
Refugees have to not only learn a new language but grasp a new culture.
Its a steep learning curve, one that MCPS is peering up with its refugee students.
MCPS ELL staff create a five-year plan for their new students, since "it takes five to seven years to learn English and almost be a native speaker," Lindburg said.
"Refugee students, because they often haven't had formal schooling, it's more orientation to school culture," Peters said. "Many of our other ELL students, although they have limited English, they have been in schools in their home country."
One of the main goals is to make the refugee students feel at home. They spend most of their school day in a typical classroom.
"We don't want them separated or isolated," Peters said.
The Congolese students speak Swahili, French and tribal languages.
"For the most part, we only speak one language in Montana," Lindburg said, "and we have families moving here who often speak two, three, four languages.
"But it's back to the same challenge. We have a student from another country; it's not about them being a refugee."
At this point, it's about adjusting to numbers, Lindburg said, not where the students are coming from.
The ELL department met recently with Soft Landing Missoula and the IRC "to make sure each partner is clear what we're doing so there's no overlap," Peters said.
They hope those meetings continue, maybe every six weeks, as more refugee students find their desks in MCPS.
These real PA creatures could become cryptids if we don't save them
A journalist facing criminal charges after reporting on a clash between private security and protesters at a Dakota Access Pipeline protest will return to North Dakota within the next week to face the accusations, said Tom Dickson, the Bismarck-based attorney representing Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now.
Dickson said he's planning to use First Amendment considerations to defend her against the misdemeanor criminal trespass charge.
"There's many justifications and legal justifications for why you're on somebody's property," Dickson said. "She wasn't picnicking or on a summer lark. She was reporting the news to the American people."
But the prosecutor said she does not deserve special treatment, because he doesn't consider her to be a journalist.
McLean County State's Attorney Ladd Erickson, who is prosecuting the case for Morton County, said he sees no difference between her and other anti-pipeline demonstrators charged with trespass.
Shes a protester, basically. Everything she reported on was from the position of justifying the protest actions, said Erickson, adding that her coverage of the Sept. 3 protest did not mention that people trespassed during the incident or the alleged assaults on guards.
Is everybody thats putting out a YouTube video from down there a journalist down there, too?" he asked.
Dickson, who considers Goodman to be a journalist, said he is not pleased with the charges against her, blasting them as "unamerican."
"You don't arrest reporters," he said. "I think the government is overplaying its hand."
He said Goodman is returning to North Dakota, because "she's a professional, and she wants to deal with it and defend herself."
Goodman has received several awards for her reporting, including the George Polk Award.
Goodman was charged in Morton County on Sept. 8 with one count of trespassing, based on video footage of her at a protest site on private property during Labor Day weekend, according to court records. A warrant was issued for her arrest.
She reported on a clash between protesters and private security at an active construction site south of Mandan that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said contained historic artifacts. Three guards were reportedly injured, and several protesters said they were pepper-sprayed and bitten by dogs handled by the security personnel. The North Dakota Private Investigation and Security Board has since opened an investigation into the use of dogs at the site.
If convicted, Goodman could face up to 30 days in prison and a $1,500 fine.
A court date for her initial appearance has not yet been set.
In her impressive conference speech last week, Theresa May took justified aim at the out-of-touch, sneering elite who, she said, find it simply bewildering that millions of people voted for Brexit.
The referendum threw this self-serving political and economic class into a monstrous tantrum. And the last few days has shown it will stop at nothing to reverse the result.
Leading the vainglorious charge over the weekend were washed-up former party leaders Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband. Together with former top prosecutor Sir Keir Starmer, now part of the North London cabal running Labour, they demand a soft Brexit.
In her impressive conference speech last week, Theresa May took justified aim at the out-of-touch, sneering elite
Leading the vainglorious charge over the weekend were washed-up former party leaders Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband
What that really means, of course, is more of the same: more EU diktats, more free movement and more money to Brussels. Their snide demands for a vote in Parliament on the terms of Brexit is just a back-door attempt to overturn the will of the people.
Yesterday the Confederation of British Industry those EU fanatics who wanted to shackle us to the job-destroying euro joined in. Its attack on closed door Britain is simply a coded demand for continued open-door migration to keep its members pay bills down.
Is it any wonder that JCB boss Lord Bamford a titan of industry is pulling out of this discredited organisation?
Then theres the enemy within Mrs Mays own party, including bitter former ministers Anna Soubry and Nicky Morgan, and europhile former Attorney General Dominic Grieve.
Then theres the enemy within Mrs Mays own party, including bitter former ministers Anna Soubry (left) and Nicky Morgan (right)
With staggering gall, he claims the June 23 vote was nothing more than advisory and has no legal force at all.
Add to this list the House of Lords, the universities and the BBC which is becoming an echo chamber for anti-Brexit sentiment and the scale of the task facing Mrs May becomes clear.
Her Brexit minister, David Davis, yesterday told Parliament that the mandate for leaving the EU is clear, overwhelming and unarguable and no one should seek to find ways to thwart the settled will of the people. When will the Remoaners get the message?
Profits of shame
Yesterday this newspaper exposed how Royal Mail shamefully profits from letter fraud conmen who target elderly and vulnerable people across Britain.
Todays harrowing revelations show how victims are sold phoney medicines which at best will do nothing for their health and can at worst be toxic.
In one case, a 91-year-old Army veteran, James Horkin, spent 90,000 trying to stop the horrific pain in his legs. Others spent thousands on bogus treatments for dementia and prostate cancer.
The Government response was immediate and condemnatory: the scams should not and will not be tolerated.
But Royal Mail whose Canadian boss, Moya Greene, earned 1.5million last year has its head buried firmly in the sand, claiming it would be illegal to open these letters.
Given the US has already banned scam letters, why can Royal Mail not act? Whats to stop it cancelling lucrative contracts which allow these snake oil salesmen to operate?
Every single victim should be on its conscience, and yet it does nothing. So we ask: Is this the most arrogant company in Britain?
The Mail always suspected David Cameron didnt mean it when, time and again, he claimed he might argue for Britain to leave the EU unless Brussels gave him a good renegotiation deal.
Another week, another catchphrase. Last weeks key word was altercation. After the Ukip MEP Steven Woolfe had been pictured spreadeagled over the floor in Strasbourg, a succession of increasingly bullish Ukip spokesmen appeared on TV to speak of an altercation.
Altercation this, altercation that: its one of those words, like alight, vehicle, complainant and residence that people rarely use in everyday speech, but reserve for those moments when they are feeling defensive, or wanting to be thought of as adult.
Over the course of the next two or three days, Ukippers kept using the word altercation with such gay abandon that it was almost as though they imagined an altercation to be another form of leisure break, like a vacation or a staycation.
Ukip leadership favourite Steven Woolfe (left) on the floor following an altercation at a meeting of the party's MEPs in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg
But that was last week. This week, we have been landed with the three-word phrase: locker-room talk. In his second presidential debate, Donald Trump couldnt stop using it, playing down his secretly recorded boasts about molesting women.
This was locker-room talk. Im not proud of it. I apologise to my family. I apologise to the American people. Certainly Im not proud of it. But this is locker-room talk . . . Yes, Im very embarrassed by it. I hate it. But its locker-room talk, and its one of those things . . . It was locker-room talk, as I told you. That was locker-room talk. Im not proud of it. And so on.
By writing it off as locker-room talk, he was hoping to suggest that this was normal everyday banter between men, and thus meant nothing at all.
Is this really locker-room talk? I am no expert. The time I have spent in locker rooms has been very limited, as I am by nature un-sporty. I once had a school report that claimed, not unfairly, that the only effort I ever put into sport was in getting out of it.
But every now and then, I have had to change into or out of my swimming trunks at a public pool, and so have been forced to pay a visit to a communal male changing room, or, as Mr Trump would call it, a locker room.
Perhaps things are different in America, but here in Britain, men will do anything to avoid locker-room conversation. Instead, an embarrassed hush is the order of the day and the only noise you will ever hear in a locker room is the sudden whoosh of a hand-dryer, the swing and bang of a door or the occasional flip-flap of wet feet on tiles.
The prevailing mood is one of unease. For most men, the aim on entering a locker room is to get out again as quickly as possible. My preferred technique is simple:
In his second presidential debate, Donald Trump couldnt stop using the phrase 'locker room talk', playing down his secretly recorded boasts about molesting women
i) Nip into the most distant corner of the room, as far away from anyone else as you can possibly get.
ii) Change your clothes with the speed of an Olympic Speed-Changing champion. Ideally, pull off your socks, trousers and pants all together in the same movement.
iii) Replace them with swimming trunks before anyone has noticed what you are up to and . . .
iv) Exit without looking left or right.
The master of this technique is, of course, Clark Kent, who is somehow able to step into the confines of a public telephone box, twirl around extremely rapidly three or four times and then emerge fully clad in a freshly laundered Superman onesie without anyone noticing.
What does Mr Kent do with his discarded socks, pants, shirt, spectacles, suit and tie? I have watched him perform his quick-change act on screen countless times, but he never seems to leave a pile of his old clothes scrumpled up on the floor of the telephone box.
Superman never shares his changing-room with anyone, and thus avoids the danger of Trump-style locker-room conversation
Its possible, I suppose, that Superman is partly British, which would explain why he feels so embarrassed about undressing in public. This may suggest that he doesnt actually remove his office clothes, preferring to put on his glamorous personalised onesie over them.
On the other hand, if this were true, then the outline of his old clothes would create a lumpy impression beneath his skintight onesie, as well as causing him a good deal of discomfort on his energetic planet-saving missions.
But it is clear that Superman never shares his changing-room with anyone, and thus avoids the danger of Trump-style locker-room conversation.
The only locker-room conversation I ever hear is when two men enter the room together and then feel obliged to carry on with the chat they were having as they came in, just to prove how unembarrassed they are by their new, more intimate, circumstances.
For a lot of young people, owning a home seems impossible.
House prices, especially those in major cities, have skyrocketed, and it seems like the Australian dream of home ownership is beyond the reach of those except the super wealthy.
But one young woman from Richmond, Tasmania, has managed to create her own small home for only $6,000.
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Innovative: Student Maggie Butler (above) from Tasmania, bought a caravan from Gumtree for only $2,000
Before: The caravan was an empty shell, with nothing in it except some dodgy wiring and bad lino (above)
After: The 24-year-old transformed it into a stunning home for only $4,000
Maggie Butler, who is a student and also works part time, returned home last year to Tasmania after studying on the Gold Coast.
Her parents offered to let her live with them, but 24-year-old Ms Butler wanted her own space. So she started searching for kit homes and other solutions.
'I came across a caravan on Gumtree,' she told Daily Mail. 'It was 24 foot and just a shell when we bought it. It only cost $2,000.'
The caravan had nothing in it except walls, windows and some electrical wiring, most of which had to be replaced.
Genius: Ms Butler moved home to Tasmania after studying on the Gold Coast, and wanted her own space, so bought the caravan to keep on her parent's property
All the trimmings: It has a kitchenette (above) with small oven and fridge, as well as a bathroom
Personal touches: Ms Butler used her eclectic and vintage style to decorate her new home
MAGGIE'S TOP RENO TIPS Plan your space and work out how to utilise your area best Gumtree is your friend. Pick up cheap appliances and furniture from the site YouTube can be a great source of tutorials to do work yourself rather than have to hire someone Use your time over your money and DIY something when you can Set yourself a limit and make sure you don't spend over it to keep costs down Have an idea of the style you want, get tips from the internet Don't overcrowd your space Don't dismiss recycled materials or products, things can often be fixed Make sure everything works together and don't just buy something because it is cheap Advertisement
Ms Butler then went about transforming the 'empty shell' into an eclectic home complete with a kitchenette, shower and bathroom, living area, and of course bed.
In total the entire transformation cost her an extra $3,000-4,000, meaning the total cost of her new home was only $6,000.
' My whole idea was to use all recycled materials,' she explained. 'I hate the mass production of everything, we have a replacement type attitude.'
'I also had friends who helped out with the electricity and plumbing, which kept costs down.'
The clever 24-year-old also used the internet as a great source of information and help, watching YouTube tutorials to learn how to make things rather than pay for them to be done.
She got all of her appliances, including an oven and fridge, from Gumtree. Her shower base, for example, only cost her $10.
The most Ms Butler spent on anything was $100, for a gorgeous vintage chesterfield lounge.
Lots of work: She had friends who helped out with the electricity and plumbing, keeping costs down
'My whole idea was to use recycled materials': Ms Butler found second hand furniture and fixed it
Clever: She utilised space well, putting her queen bed up high so there was storage underneath
The student said that when it came to decorating she wanted something comfortable and that reflected her style.
'It's a space that could house a single person or a couple, a little more comfortable than a travelling caravan,' she explained.
'The queen bed nice and high with storage underneath, it's in a little nook so its romantic.'
Savvy spender: The 24-year-old student watched a lot of YouTube videos to learn how do things herself so she wouldn't have to pay for it
Relaxing space: She made a 'romantic bedroom nook' in the corner of the caravan (above) which has pictures, a mirror, and books
Second-hand savior: Ms Butler says not to discount recycled furniture, and proves how great something can look with some TLC (above)
DIY: She said she liked the challenge of doing everything herself and loved the way it turned out
Cheap as chips: The most expensive item in the caravan was an $100 vintage chesterfield lounge (above)
In the end, Ms Butler said she's extremely happy with how the caravan turned out.
'I liked the challenge,' she said. 'Doing it all myself was quite an experience, but it was really rewarding.'
And ultimately the 24-year-old said that not only can you save money from going DIY, but you can treat the environment better.
In the past four years she has fitted about 1,600 women with the bras
The bras are fitted with special pockets that hold the prosthesis
In the space of two years, Tracey Grills has clocked up 120,000 kilometres on her car.
The Sunshine Coast resident has travelled across Queenslands south-east, visiting women who have undergone a mastectomy.
Mrs Grills owns Tracey G Prosthetics and Lingerie, fitting women who have undergone the often life-saving procedure with comfortable bras.
And while it might not sound like a lot, for the women who have had their world turned upside down by breast cancer the normality of finding a bra that fits can make all the difference.
Extra comfort: A Queensland business offers specialised bras and prosthetics for women who have undergone a mastectomy
Confidence boost: The prosthetics slip in to a pocket on the inside of the bra cup
If you walked in to a lingerie store now you would probably find one rack [of mastectomy bras] in the corner, Mrs Grills told Daily Mail Australia.
I went to a lingerie store not long back and there was not any, they didnt have one.
Breast cancer now affects one in eight women in Australia, and if they walk in to a store and they dont have a bra, how demoralising.
Business mind: Tracey Grills (pictured) started the business as a mobile service four years ago after volunteering at the McGrath Foundation
Filling a niche: The bras fill a niche, with mastectomy items not always readily available in lingerie stores
Mrs Grills, 48, was first made aware of the need for a mobile prosthetics business as a volunteer working for the McGrath Foundation.
I have a history of breast cancer in our family, so I was looking for some way to give back, she said.
Four years ago she started the mobile business, and more recently has set up shop at the Wesley Hospital Choices Centre in Brisbane.
She plans to open a second flagship store in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast on November 7.
Worth the cost: The prosthetics cost between $400 and $450, but Mrs Grills said $400 of that can be claimed in a government rebate every two years
Look and feel great: Mrs Grills said her job is to make women look and feel like they did before their surgery
I think after surgery women worry theyre not going to look like they did before, she said.
Our job is to make sure no one can tell.
The mastectomy bras are fitted with an internal pocket on each cup that is made to hold a prosthetic.
The lining of the prosthetic adheres to the skin like a breast, its so life-like it moves with the body, Mrs Grills said.
The prosthetics cost between $400 and $450, but Mrs Grills said $400 of that can be claimed in a government rebate every two years.
Growing business: In the past four years Mrs Grills has fitted about 1,600 ladies with mastectomy bras
Mrs Grills estimated she has fitted about 1,600 ladies with bras since she started the business.
She believes that women should not be afraid to talk about undergoing a mastectomy.
The Bismarck School Board agreed Monday night to hire a real estate agent to either sell or find someone who will rent-to-own Saxvik Elementary, which was determined to be worth $750,000.
The board decided the school district would be better off following that course of action than renting it out.
"Clearly the district doesn't want to be in the landlord business," Bismarck Superintendent Tamara Uselman said Monday. "Our goal is to sell the building."
Saxvik, located at 523 N. 21st St., closed at the end of the school year and its students were dispersed among other schools in the district. The school's closure was estimated to save $1.5 million annually.
In June, a board committee decided to determine the building's value before moving forward with potential buyers. Missouri Slope Areawide United Way has expressed interest in purchasing the property and has proposed turning it into a family resource center, possibly with after-school care, family programs or job training.
Last month, Dakota Appraisals inspected the school and offered its valuation. The board decided during Monday's meeting to put out a request for proposals to find a real estate company to help with the sale or lease of the building.
The next time the board meets is Nov. 1.
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has always been a passionate advocate for health and is a patron for both the World Health Organisation and the Danish Cancer Foundation.
And it was no different on Friday when the royal participated in the 2016 ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) Congress in Copenhagen.
The 44-year-old looked effortlessly elegant as she arrived at the event in a short-sleeved grey Hugo Boss blouse over a chic black turtleneck.
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Glowing: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark is a passionate advocate for health and is a patron for both the World Health Organisation and the Danish Cancer Foundation
Passionate: And it was no different on Friday when the royal participated in the 2016 ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) Congress in Copenhagen
Elegant: The 44-year-old looked effortlessly elegant as she arrived at the event in a short-sleeved grey Hugo Boss blouse over a chic black turtleneck
She also wore a pair of tailored black trousers and styled her look with a green brooch, an on-trend Cartier Love Bracelet and a Quidam clutch.
Keeping it understated, the Princess wore her hair in a Sixties-inspired style with her locks down and tucked in behind her ears.
Princess Mary took time to meet with a number of researchers and practitioners in oncology from around the world and heard about new research and the most effective advancements in cancer treatment.
Getting involved: Keeping it understated, the Princess wore her hair in a Sixties-inspired style with her locks down and tucked in behind her ears
Natural beauty: She also wore a pair of tailored black trousers and styled her look with a green brooch, an on-trend Cartier Love Bracelet and a Quidam clutch
Dedicated: She was also joined by leading cancer researchers from universities, hospitals, patient associations and pharmaceutical companies
She was also joined by leading cancer researchers from universities, hospitals, patient associations and pharmaceutical companies.
The conference, which was held at the Bella Centre, had a theme of 'From Health Care to Patient Care' and saw more than 18,000 experts and therapists sharing their experience and knowledge.
The Princess was photographed in in-depth conversations with those involved and also assisted in launching a partnership between the Danish Cancer Society, the Danish Society for Clinical Oncology and ESMO.
Learning: The Princess was photographed in in-depth conversations with those involved (pictured with Fortunato Ciardiello, President of ESMO, at the pre-opening of the ESMO cancer congress)
Making a difference: The conference, which was held at the Bella Centre, had a theme of 'From Health Care to Patient Care'
During this meeting, the Princess heard the organisations share their take on the Danish cancer treatment model.
Between raising her four children and appearing at scheduled events, Princess Mary serves as patron for some 25 international organisations.
A thrilling episode of Cold Feet left fans on the edge of their seats last night as central character Pete Gifford (John Thomson) appeared to take his own life.
The dramatic scene in the ITV drama - which has been widely praised since its re-birth after a 13 year break - saw viewers taking to Twitter to share their disbelief that the popular character had committed suicide.
Writer Mike Bullen, who himself has suffered from depression, left fans of the show fearing the worst when Pete, dogged by despairing thoughts, headed to a quarry and appeared to jump.
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Last night's episode of Cold Feet left the hearts of many viewers pounding with a highly tense suicide scene in which fan favourite Pete Gifford (John Thomson) appeared to take his own life
The dream sequence saw Pete, who's been suffering from depression, lying lifeless at the bottom of the rock face, much to the horror of viewers
Reaction: Fans were shocked to see Pete taken to the brink in his battle against mental health issues
His blood-soaked body is then pictured lying on a rock... only for the real Pete to still be on the ledge above, looking down at what might have been.
Twitter user @clairem68 said the scene made her cry and she was left raging at the drama: 'I actually shouted "No, Pete, please don't" at the telly.'
The highly tense scene, which was preceded by a hallucinatory car journey in which he was was joined by all of his family members and even another version of himself, left viewers wide-eyed and fearing the worse.
Pete, who's been tormented by mental health problems throughout the series, then appears to jump after moments of contemplation from a craggy ledge into the abyss below.
@tereb27 commented on the heart-in-mouth moment, saying: 'I literally stopped breathing when I thought Pete had snuffed it, great episode.'
The show portrayed Pete's intrusive thoughts via real-life appearances from other key characters in the show
Pushing the boundaries of reality, Pete sees his family turn against him...and even the appearance of himself as is dogged by negativity
@chickdawe6 was equally moved, writing: 'My heart just nearly sank when I thought Pete had died! I actually was holding my breath!'
Aired on World Mental Health Day, Bullen and Thomson were praised for raising awareness about depression, with a deluge of tweets applauding the writing and acting.
@rebfleming_ penned: 'Pete's storyline in #ColdFeet has been the most accurate creative portrayal of depression I've ever seen on TV.'
At breaking point, Pete heads for a beauty spot, where he ignores an onimous 'Danger - keep out' sign
Viewers said they watched, gripped, as Pete teetered on the edge of a very steep drop
The drama only intensified when Pete appeared to fall forward off the cliff edge. Unsurprisingly fans were convinced of his demise
@jomillerdonny added: 'Thought they handled Pete's depression really well - know from personal family experience just how hard this is.'
@CounsellingLou agreed, saying: 'ColdFeet is wonderfully written and covers #depression and intrusive thoughts brilliantly.'
@ShaunKitchener heaped praise on the show too; 'The way #ColdFeet has handled Pete's depression storyline - particularly tonight - is SO good.'
Writer Mike Bullen revealed last month that the depiction of Pete's depression was too moving for him to watch, having himself suffered from mid-life depression.
Last week's episode of the show saw Pete's daughter Rosie being told that Pete wasn't her real father, a moment that came back to haunt him again in last night's show, when a vision of Rosie joined him in the car and taunted him
He said the scenes left him 'tearing up' and shone a light on his own mental health crisis which hit him in his late forties.
He told the Telegraph that around eight years ago, a struggle to write for an Australian television company left him 'barely able to stir from the sofa.'
He said: 'I was diagnosed as clinically depressed, sent home with a prescription for anti-depressants and an appointment with a psychologist.'
'For the next couple of days I was barely able to stir from the sofa. If Lisa [Bullen's wife] was popping out, to the shops, I had to know when shed be back. Or Id go with her, clutching her hand like a child fearful of getting lost.'
After a month on anti-depressants, he says the 'fog' began to lift and he emerged back into the world.
She was born into rock 'n' roll royalty with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger and former supermodel Jerry Hall as parents, so it is no surprise that Georgia May is heading for similar success.
The genetically blessed 24-year-old, who made her mark when 26 million people watched her walk the catwalk of the Olympic Closing Ceremony, has become one of the world's most successful models.
And it seems she learnt everything she knows from her parents. Speaking to FEMAIL about her parents' influence, the model said: 'My dad is so hardworking and kind to everyone and my mother has amazing style; I love old pictures of her.'
Georgia May Jagger shares her festival style tips with FEMAIL ahead of heading out to her father Mick's epic desert gig
Family-orientated Georgia May is showing her support for her father by flying out to watch The Rolling Stones, Sir Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, The Who, Neil Young and Roger Waters perform on the same stage this weekend at the Empire Polo Club in Indio Valley, California.
Each act all together, they have a combined age of 724 will play a full set, after sundown in front of more than 150,000 people.
'Watching dad is always amazing,' she said. 'The Stones has to be the best gig I have been to but I'm bias and I get to see all my favourite people.'
Despite her riches, Georgia May proves she's down-to-earth when it comes to styling herself for festivals, revealing that she loves shopping at car boot sales (as well as Libertys, Relik, Rokit and Browns).
She was born into rock 'n' roll royalty with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger and former supermodel Jerry Hall as parents, so it is no surprise that Georgia May is heading for similar success
Georgia May is showing her support for her father by flying out to watch The Rolling Stones, Sir Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, The Who, Neil Young and Roger Waters perform on the same stage this weekend at the Empire Polo Club in Indio Valley, California
Sharing her top five tips for looking good at a festival, the model said: 'Pack a mixture of utility and style, a warm jacket, comfortable shoes or boots, one fancy dress item and just have fun with it.
'I always take warm clothes, wet wipes, Vitamin C, a bum bag or backpack and my friends .'
Georgia, who says she loves how creative the people in Japan are with their looks, thinks that the worst thing that British people can do is take fashion too seriously.
The transatlantic model gives New York her seal of approval when it comes to clothes shopping. 'There are so many vintage shops and it's great to just stroll around and pick things you like from the window. I love the east village, it has so many little shops.'
Sharing her top five tips for looking good at a festival, the model said: 'Pack a mixture of utility and style, a warm jacket, comfortable shoes or boots, one fancy dress item and just have fun with it'. Georgia May proves she's down-to-earth when it comes to styling herself for festivals, revealing that she loves shopping at car boot sales
Glamorous Georgia May, who is a British Airways ambassador, is keen to visit every single continent in the future
As well as shopping, Georgia loves exploring different cultures, saying she is 'desperate' to go back to Tokyo.
'I recently went to Vietnam and Cambodia and that was amazing. I went with my boyfriend and we visited all the temples in Ankor. In Vietnam we did a two day boat trip in Halong Bay and saw giant marbel caves,' she added.
'I also love the Caribbean - nothing beats the warm water. But I love planning new trips to places; I really want to go to Madagascar.'
Sharing her top tips for looking good after a long-haul flight, she said: 'It's hard and I definitely don't look my best after a 14 hour flight but I always take my make up off. I cleanse my skin and put on moisturiser or face oil. Then after the flight, I apply more moisturiser and a bit of concealer and blush.'
Georgia at Glastonbury with her boyfriend Josh McLellan
Suki Waterhouse, Georgia May Jagger and Immy Waterhouse show off their model good looks at a fashion bash
As well as exploring more countries, learning to drive and whale watching, Georgia May says her life ambitions are to enjoy herself and spend time with her family and friends.
'I also want to travel and do photography. I'm also designing at the moment and that's very exciting for me,' she added.
So would Georgia May follow in best pal Cara Delevingne's footsteps and venture into acting?
'Acting has never been what I wanted to do but I never say never.'
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Her mother was a successful air hostess for British Airways and it seems the Duchess of Cambridge may have been inspired by Carole Middleton today as she boarded a commercial flight back to London from her first solo overseas tour.
Kate, 34, was sporting a bespoke 'vintage style' pale blue skirt suit by French-born fashion designer Catherine Walker as she stepped onto the 7.15pm British Airways flight from the Netherlands following her whirlwind trip.
With her brunette locks scraped back neatly into a chic bun, the Royal appeared to be channelling an air hostess look as she returned from her first foreign trip on official royal duties without her husband Prince William.
Photographs show her boarding the passenger plane in Rotterdam early this evening, with fellow flyers excitedly taking pictures of her on their mobile phones as she is shown to her seat on the front row of the aircraft.
The scheduled flight the last of the day from Rotterdam to City Airport was full of members of the public who were shocked to see the Duchess board at the last minute.
She was escorted onto the plane by bodyguards and her team ahead of the 50-minute flight. One source said he had 'never seen so many iPhones pop up at once,' as passengers scrambled to get a photograph of the Duchess.
Keeping a low-profile, Kate spoke with a member of her team for the duration of the quick flight before being the first to be escorted from the plane once it landed 'a couple of minutes early'. A car was said to be waiting on the tarmac at London City Airport and the Royal was whisked away before passengers were allowed to disembark.
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The Duchess of Cambridge stunned plane passengers today by jetting back from her one-day tour to the Netherlands on a commercial flight after completing her first solo overseas royal visit. She boarded the 7.15pm BA flight from Rotterdam
Kate, 34, was sporting a bespoke 'vintage style' pale blue skirt suit by French-born fashion designer Catherine Walker as she stepped onto the 7.15pm British Airways flight from the Netherlands following her whirlwind trip - her first solo tour overseas
Given her knowledge of art, it was surely no coincidence that the Duchess of Cambridge borrowed a pair of pearl earrings for her visit to The Hague today, where she viewed Vermeer's most iconic painting
The Duchess looked impeccably polished in a bespoke Catherine Walker suit, which she teamed with her trusty nude suede heels as she arrived at the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague on her one-day visit to Holland
The mother-of-two had spent the day visiting the Mauritshuis museum in the Hague, where she studied The Girl With The Pearl Earring masterpiece and enjoyed a personal tour of an exhibition featuring Dutch Old Masters loaned by the Royal Collection.
A patron of the National Portrait Gallery and a history of art graduate, the Duchess really knows her stuff when it comes to famous paintings.
Standing in front The Girl With The Pearl Earring, Kate looked like a perfect match for the enigmatic figure in Vermeer's masterpiece.
And given her knowledge of art, her choice of jewellery for today's visit - a pair of diamond and pearl earrings borrowed from the Queen - was clearly no coincidence.
Kate views Vermeer's famous work The Girl With The Pearl Earring while wearing similar jewellery loaned to her for today's visit to The Hague by the Queen
Kate smiles as she takes in The Girl With The Pearl Earring by Vermeer, part of the permanent collection at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague
Kate's companion appears to notice the resemblance between the Duchess's earrings and those seen in Vermeer's work
The Duchess of Cambridge visits the Mauritshuis in The Hague for the exhibition 'At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection'
Kate meets a young artist taking part in the Mauritshuis gallery's learning programme
What shall I paint next! A young boy entertains the Duchess with his pensive expression as she greets children who are taking part in a learning programme at the Mauritshuis gallery
The Duchess lingered in front of the Dutch masterpiece, made famous by the film of the same name starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson, to ensure that photographers had ample time to take their pictures of the girls in pearls.
She regarded the visit as 'a real treat' according to the Mauritshuis gallery director Emilie Gordenker who showed her around the permanent collection as well as the Queen's paintings.
She said: 'She didn't mention the earrings she was wearing, but she was interested in the painting. She asked if it had become a lot more popular since the film came out, and I said it definitely had.
'The Duchess seemed to particularly enjoy seeing The Goldfinch, by Carel Fabritius.
The Duchess wore a bespoke Catherine Walker skirt and jacket for today's engagement, which she teamed with the same nude suede court shoes she wore to an engagement in London yesterday
Eager royal fans looked delighted to meet the Duchess on her debut visit to Holland
Kate was looking impeccably groomed today, choosing the sweep her brunette locks back in a sleek updo
The Duchess of Cambridge views 'The Bull' by Paulus Potter as she visits the Mauritshuis in The Hague for the exhibition 'At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection
Kate was interested to know if Vermeer's painting had become more popular since the film The Girl With The Pearl Earring, starring Scarlett Johansson
The Duchess lingered in front of the masterpiece, allowing photographers plenty of opportunity to capture the two girls with their pearl earrings
'But she asked a lot of questions about the presentation of the paintings, because although she is familiar with a lot of the Queen's paintings she has never seen them in this setting before, which gives them a different context.'
Kate was visiting the museum as part of a day of engagements in the Netherlands - her first solo foreign trip on official royal duties without William.
The mother-of-two looked elegant in a bespoke pale blue skirt suit by Catherine Walker and in a break from her usual style she wore her brunette locks swept back in a chic bun.
Kate paused to chat to youngsters who had gathered outside the Mauritshuis gallery to wave Union Jack flags to welcome her
One is amused! The Duchess of Cambridge laughs during a roundtable discussion at the British Ambassador's Residence
The Duchess looked delighted to be meeting the Dutch monarch King Willem-Alexander and was showing no hint of nerves on her first official overseas visit without William
Kate waves to the crowd as she arrives at the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague to visit an exhibition of 22 picture by Dutch artists loaned to the art gallery from the Royal Collection
She teamed her outfit with her trusty Gianvito Rossi suede pumps, which she also wore yesterday for an engagement in London and carried a small nude box clutch from L.K. Bennett.
The chic ensemble gave the Duchess more than a hint of Jackie Kennedy style, and is in keeping with her new high end wardrobe.
Kate was given a personal tour of an exhibition featuring Dutch Old Masters loaned by the Royal Collection, with artwork, furniture and other objects accumulated over centuries by the British monarchy.
The highlight of the visiting exhibition is Johannes Vermeer's 'The Music Lesson,' but the Duchess also toured the museum's permanent collection, which is where she encountered Vermeer's best-known work, as well as 'The Goldfinch' by Carel Fabritius.
Before leaving, the Duchess met children taking part in the gallery's learning programme and attended a short reception with museum supporters.
Kate is greeted by the director of the Mauritshuis gallery Emilie Gordenker in The Hague
Kate shares a joke with King Willem-Alexander as the pair pose for photos before sitting down for lunch
Earlier today, Kate made a courtesy call to King Willem-Alexander at Villa Eikenhorst, the royal residence he shares with wife Queen Maxima and their three daughters, Princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane.
The family home is on the forested De Horsten estate in Wassenaar, near The Hague, and, despite being a private residence, the Dutch monarch sometimes hosts foreign guests.
'Welcome, welcome, very nice to see you,' the king said, as he greeted his guest for the first visit by a British royal to the Dutch kingdom in three years.
Kate has been heralded as a 'secret weapon' for UK diplomacy as the country faces Brexit negotiations
Th down-to-earth Duchess interacts with members of the public during her first official visit to Holland
Kate usually lets her flowing brunette locks flow around her shoulders, but today she opted for a chic updo - all the better for showing off the earrings she borrowed from the Queen
Her one-day trip is a royal milestone for the Duchess as it's the first time she's travelled abroad by herself on official royal duties without William.
A tour of Malta in 2014 was scheduled to be Kate's first solo trip but she had to cancel as she was suffering from acute morning sickness while pregnant with Princess Charlotte.
Folowing her museum visit, Kate travelled to the official residence of Sir Geoffrey Adams, Britain's Ambassador to the Netherlands, to convene a round-table discussion on the themes of addiction, intervention, family and mental health.
Taking part were professionals from the Trimbos Institute, a non-profit research centre working on the issues of mental health and addiction.
Rutger Engels, President and Chief Executive officer of the Trimbos Institute said: 'Still too often children are overlooked when one of their parents has a mental disorder or addiction problem.
'We are very pleased that The Duchess will use her visit to the Netherlands to raise more awareness for the vulnerable position these children are in.'
Kate laughs as she prepares to convene a round-table discussion on the themes of addiction, intervention, family and mental health
Kate gives a cheery wave to well wishers as she is led into the Mauritshuis gallery by its director Emilie Gordenker
Kate (left) admires Vermeer's masterpiece The Girl With The Pearl Earring. Fittingly, the Duchess chose the same accessory for today's visit to The Hague
Kate listens with interest as she tours the Mauritshuis with museum director Emilie E.S. Gordenker
Kate glances at Italian Landscape with Inn and Ancient Ruins 1658 by Jan Baptist Weenix
Royal fans were eager to get a snap as they crowded around the royal visitor with their camera phones
Royal fans were delighted to catch a glimpse of the Duchess on her first visit to The Netherlands - also her debut solo engagement overseas
Kate looks around at the art work as she's led up the stairs at the Mauritshuis art museum by director Emilie E.S. Gordenker
The Duchess arrives at the British ambassador's residence in The Netherlands
The mother-of-two leans in to chat with a young royal fan in the crowd outside the Mauritshuis in The Hague
Kate, who is patron of the National Portrait Gallery looked delighted to be visiting the Mauritshuis art museum
Art fan Kate steps out of her car at the Mauritshuis gallery where she will view an exhibition of Old Masters paintings
Kate surveying the Dutch masterpiece The Bull by Paulus Potter during a personal tour of the exhibition 'At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries' from the British Royal Collection
History of art graduate Kate leans in to admire The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius during a private tour of the Mauritshuis gallery
The Duchess shares a laugh with the children who had gathered outside an art gallery in The Hague to welcome the royal visitor
Mother-of-two Kate looks animated as she chats you young well wishers on her visit to The Hague - her first official overseas trip without Prince William
They were joined by counterparts from two of the Duchess's UK charities - the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families, a leading charity in the research, teaching and the provision of care for children and young people with mental health issues, and Action on Addiction.
Later Kate travelled to the neighbouring city of Rotterdam to learn about Bouwkeet, the social Makerspace of Bospolder-Tussendijken. This is a new community focused initiative in the centre of an economically deprived district which provides a creative design and technology workspace.
The Duchess met with youngsters in woodwork and bike-building classes, and even got the chance to meet a real-life robot, where she was pictured shaking hands with the machine.
Kate was all smiles as she chatted with her royal counterpart at the start of her day of engagements in Holland
Kate carried a small nude box clutch and accessorised with a pair of simple pearl earrings
Kate's outfit is a bespoke creation by Chelsea-based designer Catherine Walker who was a favourite of Princess Diana
Kate, 34, looked elegant in a pale blue skirt suit by Catherine Walker as she made a courtesy call to King Willem-Alexander at Villa Eikenhorst this morning
King Willem Alexander shows Kate into the Villa Eikenhorst on the forested De Horsten estate in Wassenaar, near The Hague where the pair will have lunch together
Local residents can use the facilities, and 'pay' by sharing their skills with others, providing education, skills and positive role models within the community. The centre works with local schools to bring young people in the area into workshops, where they learn to design, create and build their own projects.
Residents pay by sharing their skills with others, providing education, skills and positive role models in the neighbourhood.
The visit comes a day after Prime Minister Theresa May was in the Netherlands for talks with her Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, to put forward her case for a fair deal for the UK with the European Union.
Mrs May also visited Denmark for talks with Prime Minister Lars-Lokke Rasmussen as part of her diplomatic offensive ahead of the formal beginning of the Brexit process.
Kate is handed a bouquet by a local. Her final engagement of the day was a visit to the neighbouring city of Rotterdam
The royal is visiting the Dutch city to learn about Bouwkeet, the social Makerspace of Bospolder-Tussendijken
The Duchess looks delighted as she chats to local youngsters in Rotterdam and is handed an edible gift
Kate looked elegant in a pale blue skirt suit by Catherine Walker as she arrived in the city for her final engagement of the day
Kate is handed countless bouquets and bunches of roses from friendly locals as she arrives in Rotterdam on Tuesday
The Duchess seems determined to shake hands with as many people as possible as she arrives at Bouwkeet in Rotterdam
Some commentators believe Kate will be an asset in helping to safeguard the UK's relations with its European neighbours as Brexit takes shape in the coming years.
One of the Queen's most senior aides, her private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt, joined Kate's small entourage - which may be interpreted by some as reflecting the importance of the trip.
But a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: 'The Duchess' visit centred on an exhibition featuring works from the Royal Collection. Sir Christopher attended in his capacity as a trustee of the Royal Collection.'
Royal sources dismissed the speculation that Sir Christopher's presence was Brexit related, and said his joining the Duchess also reflected the close ties between the British and Dutch royal families.
The Duchess met with youngsters during a class at Bouwkeet workshop in Rotterdam and even got the chance to meet a real-life robot, where she was pictured shaking hands with the machine
Kate collapses into giggles as she is introduced to a robot by a local youngster at Bouwkeet for teenagers
The Duchess seems keen to find out as much as possible about the children's work at the robotics class on Tuesday
Kate looks impressed as she is given a live demonstration during a robotics class after a busy afternoon in Rotterdam
Kate looked fascinated as she met with teenagers who were building a bike in Bouwkeet on Tuesday afternoon
The teens were keen to show Kate the ropes as they demonstrated how to put together pieces on a bike wheel
All hands on deck: The elegant royal showed no signs of being out of her comfort zones as she chatted with youngsters
Kate even offered to help out as she held the wheel in place as the youngsters got to work with a screwdriver
The Duchess looks delighted as she learns about woodworking at a class at Bouwkeet workshop, her final engagement
Kate's visit to the woodworking class marked the end of a busy day of engagement on her first solo trip abroad
Following her visit to Bouwkeet workshop the duchess is set to retire for the day having completed all of her engagements
There were plenty of well-wishers still lining the streets of Rotterdam to see the duchess off after her busy day
A fancy dress lover has worn a different costume every day for a year in a challenge that has raised thousands of pounds for charity.
Aaron Lawrence, of Brighton, East Sussex, swapped his entire wardrobe for the colourful fancy dress outfits which have included famous TV characters and even the yellow brick road.
The 35-year-old wore the costumes while out shopping, on public transport and even attended two weddings in costume.
Aaron Lawrence has spent everyday of the last year in fancy dress in order to raise money for an LGBTQ mental health charity
Aaron finished his 'My Costume Drama' challenge dressed as outrageous 90s TV character Mr Blobby, raising 12,960 for LGBTQ mental health charity MindOut - but admitted he found it tough dressing up some days.
He said: 'Some days I did wake up and think "I'm really not in the mood". I would just think "oh, I really don't want to get on the train at 8.30am today dressed as a lion".
'I had the Mr Blobby costume in my wardrobe for most of the year and it was the only thing I was too scared to wear, so I decided the final day was the day.
Aaron finished his challenge dressed as outrageous 90s TV character Mr Blobby
Although he says that sometimes he wasn't in the mood he threw himself into his 365 different costumes. Pictured: Aaron 1as Virgil from Thunderbirds (left) and Superman (right)
Following his journey which he called 'My Costume Drama' Lawrence raised over 12,000 for the LGBTQ mental health charity MindOut. Pictured dressed as a boxer
'In the first week I did it I was really conscious and just tried to play it down as much as possible, but I have had such a fun year. I actually went to two weddings as well.
'The first I went as a flamingo and the second, which was a black tie event, I thought I would try and fit in so I went as a zebra.'
While he bought some of his costumes, many were donated as part of the charity effort and he even learned to make his own - using his current wardrobe to do so.
Aaron would buy some of his costumes but as his challenge went on he would receive donations and even became adapt at making them himself. Pictured as a frog prince
While some people would avoid eye contact Aaron, dressed as a mime, said that many members of the public would come and ask him questions about his costumes
Aaron would go to work in fancy dress and even go out for dinner with his husband in full costume. Pictured: as a french Kiss
He said: 'I've had a lot of things donated but I've learned how to make things too. I think I've spent less in the last year than I would have done if I'd been buying myself normal clothes.
'My favourite has probably been my chicken costume - the classic fancy dress costume.
'I wore that one really early on and it was a turning point for me, where I decided just to get on with it and really enjoy wearing ridiculous costumes.
Aaron would aim to take a photo of his costume every day, here he is pictured wearing his yellow brick road outfit
Over this Christmas period his outfits became more festive. Pictured: Aaron as the Grinch (left) and as one of Santa's helpers (right)
During the 12 month challenge, he went to a Christmas event at a church dressed as Mrs Christmas
'I've chopped up my whole wardrobe to make outfits, so really the question is what am I going to wear now?'
During the 12 month challenge, he went to a Christmas event at a church dressed as Mrs Christmas - although he did not shave his beard - and hit the streets disguised as the yellow brick road.
He also played the part of a number of fictional characters, including Harry Potter, one of the Thunderbirds crew, Sherlock Holmes, Superman, Popeye and Elliott and ET from the 1982 sci-fi film.
Aaron, pictured as a fire fighter, says that he has always loved fancy dress and used to joke that one day he would do it full time
Aaron, dressed here as a pirate, says that he did the challenge in a bid to tackle the stigma about mental health in the LGBTQ community
Aaron, who is studying astrophysics at the University of Sussex, said that he decided to take on the challenge in a bid to tackle the stigma about mental health in the LGBTQ community.
He said: 'I've always loved fancy dress. One day I joked that I liked it so much I should do it full time.
'As I was also trying to think of a way to raise money for MindOut the idea of 'My Costume Drama' was born.
Aaron says that mental health is a subject that is so often overlooked. Pictured as an Italian punter (left) and as Popeye (right)
In this inventive costume Lawrence uses makeup in order to make himself appear like a surgery patient
'I think mental health is often a subject that can get overlooked but it is an issue that disproportionately affects our community and it is important that we raise awareness.
'There is still a stigma about mental health and we need to be talking about it.'
Aaron says that unsurprisingly he gained a lot of attention from the public during his challenge.
Aaron didn't look too out of place in his parrot outfit here as he joined in the party vive
Aaron's husband Matt says that he finds it weird seeing him without fancy dress now. Pictured: Aaron as Sherlock Holmes (left) and a Zombie at Halloween (right)
Aaron, pictured at as a cat, says that he wanted to attract attention so that people would ask him about his outfits and he can explain the cause
He continued: 'I had people looking at me and then looking away, sometimes with a smile, but others came up to me and asked what it was all about.
'The whole idea of the outfits was to attract attention and then I could explain to people what I was doing and why I was doing it.'
His husband Matt Richards, 40, said: 'It's over now, but it has been good fun.
'I didn't even notice it in the end, in fact he looked really weird to me in jeans and a t-shirt when he was getting ready.'
The Spanish royals proved they love working together as they joked around on an official visit in Madrid on Tuesday.
King Felipe, 48, larked around and showed who was really boss as he pointed at his wife in a jokey manner as they posed for snaps in Spain.
The couple, who are some of the hardest working monarchs in the world, were at the annual meeting of the Cervantes Institute Patronage held at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez on the outskirts of Madrid.
King Felipe, 48, larked around and showed who was really boss as he pointed at his wife in a jokey manner as they posed for snaps at an event in Madrid
The stylish Queen looked as chic as ever in a fitted black dress with a pink Peter Pan collar. The petite royal highlighted her trim frame with the addition of a chunky belt around her waist.
She toted a boxy black handbag and wore a pair of silver earrings.
Her dapper husband looked cool in a suit and was sporting his signature grey-tinged beard for the occasion.
The duo sat down for discussions with acting Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, as they discussed the institute's activities.
The Cervantes Institute is a Spanish Government Language and Cultural Centre, which aims to promote Spanish language teaching. It also helps promote cultural knowledge and learning.
King Felipe VI (L), Queen Letizia (C) and Spanish acting Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo attended the annual meeting of the Cervantes Institute Patronage held at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez on the outskirts of Madrid
The couple, who are some of the hardest working monarchs in the world, were at the annual meeting of the Cervantes Institute Patronage
The centre offers activities to promote arts, literature and culture and regularly hosts shows and musicals.
The Queen was last seen at the El Prado Museum in Madrid last week where she joined other members for the annual event.
The Spanish royal looked right at home among dozens of suited businessmen as she joined them for a talk in the museum.
See the dramatic before-and-after photos and learn if microblading is the right option for you
Beauty writer Sarah Ferguson recently paid a visit to New York City-based brow expert Piret Aava to try the technique
When I was 12 years old, I accidentally shaved off half of my unruly, right eyebrow in an attempt to achieve the thin, arched look that dominated the early 2000s. Enduring the long and awkward growing out process didn't deter my quest, however - I spent the better part of the next decade plucking my brows to smithereens.
Thanks to my years of brow torment, I'm left with noticeable sparse areas that, it seems, will never sprout hair again.
So when I was offered the opportunity to visit Piret Aava a.k.a. The Eyebrow Doctor to try microblading, a buzzy, semi-permanent treatment that promises to make your brows look lush and flawless 24/7, I couldn't say 'yes' fast enough.
Microblading is a form of cosmetic tattooing that entails depositing mineral pigment into the surface layer of the skin. Instead of a tattoo gun, a handheld tool topped with a blade made up of tiny needles is used to draw precise hair-like strokes more realistic than any eyebrow pencil, pen or mascara could ever achieve. And the best part? The effect lasts for up to three years.
Slide me Brow down: Beauty writer Sarah Ferguson, 26, got her sparse eyebrows (swipe right) microbladed by brow specialist Piret Aava with dramatic results (swipe left)
THE PROCEDURE
My treatment began with a consultation in Piret's sunny, doctor's office-like space. She asked me about what I liked and disliked about my brows and how I preferred them to be shaped.
She then used an eyebrow pencil to painstakingly map out her vision for my improved brows. Once I gave her the go-ahead, she mixed up a customized pigment, taking the color of my eyes, the undertones of my complexion and my natural brow color into account.
Now for the scary part: the needles.
As a tattoo virgin, I fully expected the microblading procedure to be painful, even though Piret applied a topical anesthetic beforehand. As she made small cuts into my skin with the blade and painted the pigment on top, I would not say I was comfortable, but the sensation wasn't nearly as unbearable as I had anticipated. If you've ever gotten your brows waxed, tweezed or threaded, you can handle microblading.
The entire process lasted just over an hour.
The consultation: Piret details her vision for Sarah's brows which included defining the arches, cleaning up stray hairs and filling in thin spots
Tools of the trade: Piret custom blends a pigment for Sarah's brows (left) and prepares her tools for the procedure, notably a thin blade made up of tiny needles (right)
The process: Piret applies the pigment on top so it would absorb into the skin after making small cuts with the blade
THE RESULTS
When it was time to meet my new brows, I couldn't believe what was staring back at me in the mirror.
I knew Piret was going deliver amazing results; she began her career as a make-up artist and then spent ten years doing brows at a top New York salon before mastering the art of microblading. Still, I never expected the pigment to look so natural. In fact, if you asked me where my brows end and the pigment begins, I couldn't tell you.
Since skipping out of the downtown space with the defined, thick and perfectly groomed brows of my dreams nearly a week ago, I've received more compliments on my brows than ever before. I find I'm wearing less make-up too, and the whole 'not having to apply brow products in the morning' thing is fantastic.
A closer look: Before and after photos taken by Piret show off the dramatic results
The downtime is fairly minimal. My brows were only slightly red afterwards (a feat for my sensitive skin), but they did feel somewhat sore and itchy for 48 hours.
Piret instructed me to apply ointment twice a day and to avoid any activities that would involve getting my brows wet for a week, including swimming, participating in sweat-inducing workout classes, or getting a facial. A small price to pay for brows that rival Cara Delevingne's, don't you think?
Her husband may have been more than 10,000km away making friends with the British royals.
But Queen Maxima didn't seem fazed at missing out on the fun as she attended a series of solo engagements in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.
The stylish royal, who is married to King Willem-Alexander, looked in her element in the Argentinian capital - which is also her birthplace - as she threw on an eye-popping green leopard print dress.
Queen Maxima was all smiles as she attended a series of engagements in Buneos Aires on Tuesday. The Dutch royal opted for a 2,000 Givenchy dress
The stylish royal looked in her element in the Argentinian capital - which is also her birthplace -in the green leopard print number which she paired with peeptoe heels and a patent bag
Maxima, 45, opted for a striking Givenchy number, which is currently down from 2,080 to 1,040 in the sale.
She added a pair of patent peeptoe heels and a matching Chanel chain bag as she met with the UN Resident Coordinator, Rene Mauricio Valdes, as well as Chancellor Susana Malcorra.
The Queen kept her make-up simple, adding a touch of berry lipstick and wearing her signature blonde hair in loose curls around her shoulders.
She looked delighted to be back in her hometown as posed for photographs next to the Argentinian flag and met with a long line of officials; later on in her visit she is expected to meet with UN dignitaries as well as the country's president.
Thrifty Maxima's dress is currently down from 2,080 to 1,040 in the sale
The Queen kept her make-up simple, adding a touch of berry lipstick and wearing her signature blonde hair in loose curls around her shoulders, as she met with officials
The mother-of-three is was making the visit as part of her role as Special Advisor to the Secretary General of United Nations Ban Ki-Moon on Financial Inclusion for Development.
Later this evening, she is due to give a talk at the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) in Puerto Maderno on 'the importance of strong connections in financial infrastructure', according to La Nacion.
Maxima is also expected to have talks with the Minister of Finance and Public Finance, Alfonso Prat-Gay, and the president of the Central Bank, Federico Sturzenegger.
Busy week: The royal, who is staying at the hotel Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt in Buenos Aires, will also take part in a round-table discussion with representatives from public administrations
The royal looked delighted to be back in her hometown as posed for photographs next to the Argentinian flag
The royal, who is staying at the hotel Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt in Buenos Aires, will also take part in a round-table discussion with representatives from various public administrations.
Meanwhile, Maxima's husband King Willem-Alexander was back at Villa Eikenhorst, the royal residence where he received a courtesy call from the Duchess of Cambridge, 34, who is visiting the Netherlands.
Their three daughters, Princesses Catharina-Amalia, Alexia and Arian, are believed to be at home in the Netherlands.
In her element: But Maxima's husband King Willem-Alexander was back at Villa Eikenhorst, the royal residence where he received a courtesy call from the Duchess of Cambridge
No rest for the wicked: Maxima is expected to meet with the Minister of Finance and Public Finance, Alfonso Prat-Gay, and the president of the Central Bank, Federico Sturzenegger
Last week, the pair teamed up for a visit to Bogota, Colombia, to meet with president Juan Manuel Santos.
It marked the busy queen's third engagement in a week, week having stepped out solo twice already.
'This Guy Is Going To Be A Dad'
This is the heartwarming moment a son surprises his mother with a very special birthday present the message he is going to be a father.
Ashley, from Portsmouth UK, broke the news by t-shirt, wearing a top reading 'This Guy Is Going To Be A Dad'.
As his parents posed for a photograph he rushed over to be in the picture.
Ashley from Portsmouth, right, has a special surprise for his mum and step-dad
The son unveils his top reading 'This Guy Is Going To Be A Dad' on his mum's birthday
'Do you like my t-shirt?' he asked eliciting bemused expressions from his mum and step-dad as they read the slogan from the top.
Slowly the news began to dawn on the couple; 'are you joking?' exclaimed his mum.
'I'm going to pass out' she added in shock, realising she was going to be a grandma.
Her son joked: 'Is that the ultimate birthday present?'
The family then shared a warm embrace as the mother burst into tears.
'You're going to be grandma, smile you're on camera,' said Ashley before the video cut out.
Slowly the news began to dawn on the couple; 'are you joking?' exclaimed his mum
'I'm going to pass out' adds the mother in shock, realising she was going to be a grandma
The happy family then share a warm embrace as the mother bursts into tears
In a note about the clip the 36-year-old wrote online that his mother had longed to be a grandma for many years, and his step-dad to be a grandfather.
'But this news came as a complete shock to them both, they genuinely were not expecting it at all,' he wrote.
The son met his partner Alexandra, from Sweden, five years ago in Denmark, before she moved to the UK to live with him in the South West.
Ashley met his partner Alexandra, from Sweden, five years ago in Denmark
The couple engaged back in March this year after Ashley proposed by Central Park in New York
They became engaged back in March this year after Ashley proposed by Central Park in New York.
A student was given the best summer job after a clothing company flew her the US to wear their clothes and party on yachts.
Ella Crockett, who's in her third year at Newcastle University, won the job as an ambassador for fashion brand Jack Wills.
She was shipped out to Nantucket Island on the east coast of the USA and told to promote the label among super rich kids.
Ella Crockett, pictured with a friend, chronicled her summer of partying in Nantucket on her social media
She was flown out to America and paid to be a clothes horse and party on yachts all summer by Jack Wills
The 21-year-old said: 'It's 100 per cent the best summer I've ever had.'
Ella was involved in organising a 'nautical chic' themed bash on a yacht.
She said: 'We had a DJ for the whole day on board, followed by a sunset dinner party.'
Ella met other promoters or 'seasonnaires' on her travels and together they drank plenty of champagne, all in the name of work.
Speaking to student newspaper The Tab, she added: 'We also did a brewery takeover with Cisco brewery, which is famous on the island, where we were doing Jack Wills giveaways.
'We also got our DJs to do a set there, it was so fun.
The British fashion brand made Ella an ambassador and sent the third year Newcastle University student out to Nantucket Island on the east coast of the USA
The 21-year-old, pictured above in the Jack Wills-branded vehicle, said: 'It's 100 per cent the best summer I've ever had'
Ella, pictured above, met other promoters or 'seasonnaires' on her travels and together they drank plenty of champagne, all in the name of work
'Also, every Monday there was a night called 'Jack in the Box' at a place called Chicken Box.
'It was basically a huge Jack Wills night that everyone on the island would go to.'
But Ella said partying for a living was hard work.
She said: 'The social aspects like the events were a definite perk of the job and I did have loads of fun.
'But there was a lot of hard work involved too.
Speaking to The Tab, she said every Monday there was a night called 'Jack in the Box' at a place called Chicken Box and everyone on the island would go
She said: 'We also did a brewery takeover with Cisco brewery, which is famous on the island, where we were doing Jack Wills giveaways'
Ella did, however, say that partying for a living was hard work
'It's not one of those jobs you can just go home and relax after the work is done.
'It was a 24-hour job, seven days a week, but I loved it so it didn't really feel like work.'
Ella is originally from St Albans in Hertfordshire but is living in Newcastle completing her degree.
She was handpicked by UK clothing firm Jack Wills to chart her experiences on her Instagram, which is an endless stream of Crockett looking glamorous - even when windswept - at destinations across New England.
And of course, there are plenty of shots of the leggy blonde wearing Jack Wills' clothing.
Ella says: 'It was a 24-hour job, seven days a week, but I loved it so it didn't really feel like work'
Although the social aspects like the events were a definite perk of the job, she said there was a lot of hard work involved too
Crockett told the Times it's a dream job, as long as you're social skills are up to it: 'You've got to be the kind of person who can talk to anybody. It's about building relationships and networking.'
The company, which is owned by Peter Williams and and Robert Shaw, began in 1999 and centres around British university style - although we're probably talking Oxbridge, rather than your local ex-polytechnic.
The 'university outfitters' tag has stuck and sailed across the Pond, where wealthy US students are seduced by its preppy style.
However, it hasn't all been quite so wholesome; the brand caused outrage earlier this year with images deemed too sexual.
This was because it wasn't one of those jobs where you could just go home and relax after the work is done
She is originally from St Albans in Hertfordshire but is living in Newcastle completing her degree - a world away from the summer she spent in the US
The UK's advertising watchdog ASA banned the ad, saying it used 'sexualised images and text', which was not appropriate for young people.
It featured images of young men and women in their underwear drinking, dancing and cavorting on a bed and the text read 'Midnight mischief' and 'Whatever your choice, you can be sure it's what's underneath that counts'.
The ads were sent out as a direct mailing in February as part of their spring catalogue.
Jack Wills said the brand was aimed at 18 to 24-year-old university students and not younger teenagers.
A small infusion of interest dollars from the North Dakota Legacy Fund could stimulate development in the states energy industry and improve its long-term staying power, according to a bipartisan panel of lawmakers.
That was one theme discussed Tuesday before more than 100 industry insiders at the Ramada Bismarck during the Great Plains Empower North Dakota Energy Conference.
Some lawmakers seemed amenable to the idea of using some interest dollars from the fund as a way of reinvesting into the states future.
This is the peoples fund. At least a portion of it should be used, Sen. Jessica Unruh, R-Beulah, said of interest dollars during the upcoming session.
Unruh said funds for research and development would be a good way to improve technologies that could benefit industry and future energy development.
The Legacy Fund was approved by voters in 2010. Thirty percent of all oil and gas production and extraction tax revenue go into the Legacy Fund, which cant be accessed until June 30. A two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature will be required to spend any of the funds principal, capped at 15 percent per biennium. Earnings are to be transferred to the general fund at the end of each biennium.
They looked at the future of North Dakota, Rep. Kenton Onstad, D-Parshall, said of people who voted for the fund.
Onstad said the benefits of successful research and development would be felt by everyone if energy development strengthens the economy.
As of Sept. 22, the Legacy Fund has more than $3.64 billion in it.
Not all lawmakers were as keen to the idea.
The Legacy Fund was sold as a rainy day fund, Sen. Phil Murphy, D-Portland, said.
A more than $1.4 billion budget shortfall for the 2015-17 biennium was addressed this year through two rounds of budget cuts to generally funded agencies.
Each member of the panel said providing some level of incentive to industry is important while maintaining a reasonable state regulatory regime.
I would presume its not the best time to look at incentives of a new nature, Murphy said.
Sen. Kelly Armstrong, R-Dickinson, said industry wants certainty, which is what lawmakers need to keep in mind.
We always have to be cognizant that theres a limited amount of capital, Armstrong said. We have a competitive market.
A breast cancer survivor who underwent a double mastectomy has been commended for her bravery after going topless to a music festival.
Ericka Hart, 30, said she decided to wear breast exposing outfits - including a beaded necklace, shorts and trainers - at Afropunk Fest in Brooklyn, New York, to raise awareness of breast cancer and to 'reclaim my sexuality'.
The sex educator, 'cancer-warrior', performer and writer from Brooklyn has been inundated with messages of admiration and support since sharing pictures on Instagram from the two-day festival, which she also attended when she was undergoing chemotherapy.
Survivor: Ericka Hart, pictured, who underwent double mastectomy went topless at a New York music festival to raise awareness of breast cancer
Talk: She went topless to the two-day Afropunk Fest to encourage discussion around the issue of breast cancer
Shock: Ericka, pictured, was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in May 2014 aged 28
Pictures show her posing topless with her arms in the air, crouched by a 'resistance' sign, sitting on a piano with friends and in another, lifting her T-shirt to expose her breast.
Ericka, whose late mother also survived breast cancer, also posed topless with a woman dressed in a burka - writing in the caption: 'In our unapologetic truth'.
Ericka, who is now cancer-free, told Daily Mail Online: 'My decision to attend Afropunk this year topless was to provide the visibility that I wanted to see and that we need.
'Afropunk has been a festival I have attended for the past six years, even on chemo one of those years.
'Punk to me means standing in your truth and resisting white supremacist, patriarchal notions of existence.
'I wanted people to see me such that they saw themselves, their mothers, lovers and friends.'
She said she wanted people to see her breasts and be reminded to check their breasts whatever their age.
'I was diagnosed at 28 and although major cancer non-profits exist to provide visibility for cancer at young ages, I still had doctors surprised by my diagnosis, given my age,' she added.
But she said she also did it to demonstrate she is a sexual being.
'Breast cancer patients are so often painted as walking inspirational beings, thus effacing any opportunity to be seen as sexy or erotic.
'I resist the notion that because my nipples are now long, stunning scars I am no longer a sexual being. It never went away,' she said.
She said she is both 'grateful' and 'astounded' by the huge response she has received.
She was out shopping when she got the call to tell her that she had bilateral breast cancer in May 2014 when she was 28.
Positive: Ericka, pictured center with friends at Afropunk, has been inundated with messages of support since sharing the images
Contrast: She also posed with a woman dressed in a burka - writing in the caption 'in our unapologetic truth'
Strong: Ericka, pictured left at Afropunk and right on the beach, showed her breasts in various outfits during the festival
Thankful: Ericka, pictured, has received numerous comments from people who have been inspired by her actions
'I was standing in the middle of Wall Street about to walk into a Sephora when my doctor called and shared with me that I had breast cancer. I didnt make it into the Sephora,' she wrote on LadyProject.org.
Ericka told Daily Mail Online that surviving breast cancer has altered her view on life and existence.
She added: 'After breast cancer, I see that my time and attention is so precious. I get to say who is benefiting from being in my life.
'You learn who your real friends or chosen family are when you are experiencing or have experienced a life changing event.'
Now she wants to encourage discussion about breast cancer and encourage people to talk more openly around the subject, urging people to check their breasts.
Her pictures have attracted numerous comments from people who have been inspired by her actions.
'You are so inspirational and so true to yourself it brings tears to my eyes. This is what strength and beauty look like. Love,' wrote Instagram user 'Jennaywren'.
While much of the feedback has been positive, Ericka claims that not everybody has welcomed her message.
She claims that Facebook 'banned' her for a week from the social network - only to reverse their action 24 hours later - after posting a picture of herself topless.
She said: 'This is not the first time that they have banned one of my photos or blocked my account.
'It makes me feel erased and that someone is controlling my self-expression or freedom, a familiar place for this black girl.'
Facebook said the incident was a mistake and apologized to Ericka.
A spokeswoman told Daily Mail Online: 'The photo was removed in error and restored as soon as we were able to investigate.
Despite being royalty it isn't often that you will spot a queen or princess in a tiara so Queen Mathilde's glittering headpiece is sure to be a sight for sore eyes.
The queen of Belgium stepped out in a dazzling tiara packed with 200 diamonds as she joined husband King Philippe, 56, for a state dinner in Tokyo.
All eyes were sure to be on the 43-year-old royal as she arrived at the ceremonial occasion in Japan's capital.
Queen Mathilde of Belgium looked resplendent as she attended a Japanese state dinner in Tokyo on Tuesday evening
The mother-of-four looked resplendent in a floor length bronze gown complete with intricate embroidery and a ceremonial sash.
Keeping her hair out of her face in order to showcase her dazzling smile the queen opted for a polished chignon for the event.
But of course the star of the show was the dazzling Wolfers necklace tiara that Mathilde sported tonight.
The queen was pictured in a floor length bronze dress decorated with intricate detailing as she accompanied her husband King Philippe to the event
Mathilde wore the Wolfers necklace tiara decorated with 200 diamonds and originally worn by Belgium's late Queen Fabiola
The glistening headpiece was Originally worn by the late Queen Fabiola after it was given to her as a wedding present.
The versatile jewellery can also be worn as a necklace and was crafted by Belgium jewellers Wolfers.
If there was ever an occasion to wear the fine hairpiece it was tonight where the royal couple joined other dignitaries for their gala.
The couple were welcomed by Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko
All of the dignitaries were decorated with ceremonial dress including badges of honour and sashes as seen on Mathilde
Keeping her hair out of her face in order to showcase her dazzling smile the queen opted for a polished chignon for the event
The royal couple arrived in Japan yesterday and their visit marks 150 years of ties between their two countries.
Earlier today the Belgian queen sported a more autumnal look stepping out in a floral print skirt and a felt hat adorned with autumn leaves.
The king and queen met with Emperor Akihito and his wife Empress Michiko who accompanied them to the welcome ceremony at the Imperial Palace.
The emperor and empress looked dignified in their finest dinner dress this evening
Earlier today the Japanese couple accompanied their Belgian friends to a welcome ceremony at the Imperial Palace
The Belgian queen sported a more autumnal look stepping out in a floral print skirt and a felt hat adorned with autumn leaves
During their first day of their state visit Mathilde and Philipe visited the Nezu Shrine in Bunkyo.
The queen looked ravishing in a pink shift dress as she and her husband drank from a fountain at the shrine.
Earlier that day the queen had another change of clothes as she was spotted in a midnight blue flock dress as she arrived at the Embassy of Belgium.
The king and queen arrived in Japan yesterday where they began their day at the Belgium Embassy where Mathilde wore a midnight blue flock dress
Yesterday also saw the royal couple visit the Nezu Shrine in the Bunkyo region of Tokyo
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She may have been without her beloved husband Prince William during her trip to the Netherlands but it seems that the Duchess of Cambridge had no trouble making friends in Rotterdam this afternoon - even if they were made of plastic.
Kate, 34, was pictured shaking hands with a robot constructed form Meccano in Rotterdam where she went to learn about Bouwkeet, the social Makerspace of Bospolder-Tussendijken.
The Duchess was performing her first solo engagement abroad today but seemed to have no trouble in getting acquainted with both the people of Holland and their robot friends.
The Duchess met with youngsters during a class at Bouwkeet workshop in Rotterdam and even got the chance to meet a real-life robot, where she was pictured shaking hands with the machine
The mother-of-two beamed as the robot's constructor, a young school boy, demonstrated its capabilities including working limbs.
The Bouwkeet workshop saw her learn about the new community focused initiative in the centre of an economically deprived district which provides a creative design and technology workspace.
Local residents can use the facilities, and 'pay' by sharing their skills with others, providing education, skills and positive role models within the community.
The centre works with local schools to bring young people in the area into workshops, where they learn to design, create and build their own projects.
Kate collapses into giggles as she is introduced to a robot by a local youngster at Bouwkeet for teenagers
The Duchess seems keen to find out as much as possible about the children's work at the robotics class on Tuesday
Kate looks impressed as she is given a live demonstration during a robotics class after a busy afternoon in Rotterdam
Residents pay by sharing their skills with others, providing education, skills and positive role models in the neighbourhood.
And while designed for the use of youngsters the trip proved to be endless fun for the duchess who was happy to get hands on in various activities.
The Duchess met with youngsters in woodwork and bike-building classes, during her final engagement in this afternoon.
As well as the Meccano masterpiece Kate also witnessed another robot demonstration that saw the machine paint before her very eyes.
Although the demonstration didn't appear to go to plan as a young girl put her head in her hands as the duchess was left in giggles after witnessing the robot's handy work.
Kate looked fascinated as she met with teenagers who were building a bike in Bouwkeet on Tuesday afternoon
The teens were keen to show Kate the ropes as they demonstrated how to put together pieces on a bike wheel
All hands on deck: The elegant royal showed no signs of being out of her comfort zones as she chatted with youngsters
Kate even offered to help out as she held the wheel in place as the youngsters got to work with a screwdriver
The Duchess looks delighted as she learns about woodworking at a class at Bouwkeet workshop, her final engagement
Kate's visit to the woodworking class marked the end of a busy day of engagement on her first solo trip abroad
Earlier today the wife of Prince William visited the Mauritshuis museum in the Hague where an iconic photograph was taken of her by Vermeer's The Girl With The Pearl Earring.
Being patron of the National Portrait Gallery and studied history of art at university, it is unlikely that it was a coincidence that she wore a near identical pair of earrings to those seen in Vermeer's masterpiece.
Standing in front of the painting this afternoon, Kate looked like a perfect match for the enigmatic figure in Vermeer's masterpiece.
Her choice of jewellery for today's visit - a pair of diamond and pearl earrings borrowed from the Queen - made for a picture perfect moment.
Given her knowledge of art, it was surely no coincidence that the Duchess of Cambridge borrowed a pair of pearl earrings for her visit to The Hague today, where she viewed Vermeer's most iconic painting
The Duchess looked impeccably polished in a bespoke Catherine Walker suit, which she teamed with her trusty nude suede heels as she arrived at the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague on her one-day visit to Holland
Kate views Vermeer's famous work The Girl With The Pearl Earring while wearing similar jewellery loaned to her for today's visit to The Hague by the Queen
Kate smiles as she takes in The Girl With The Pearl Earring by Vermeer, part of the permanent collection at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague
Kate's companion appears to notice the resemblance between the Duchess's earrings and those seen in Vermeer's work
The Duchess of Cambridge visits the Mauritshuis in The Hague for the exhibition 'At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection'
Kate meets a young artist taking part in the Mauritshuis gallery's learning programme
What shall I paint next! A young boy entertains the Duchess with his pensive expression as she greets children who are taking part in a learning programme at the Mauritshuis gallery
The Duchess lingered in front of the Dutch masterpiece, made famous by the film of the same name starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson, to ensure that photographers had ample time to take their pictures of the girls in pearls.
She regarded the visit as 'a real treat' according to the Mauritshuis gallery director Emilie Gordenker who showed her around the permanent collection as well as the Queen's paintings.
She said: 'She didn't mention the earrings she was wearing, but she was interested in the painting. She asked if it had become a lot more popular since the film came out, and I said it definitely had.
'The Duchess seemed to particularly enjoy seeing The Goldfinch, by Carel Fabritius.
The Duchess wore a bespoke Catherine Walker skirt and jacket for today's engagement, which she teamed with the same nude suede court shoes she wore to an engagement in London yesterday
Eager royal fans looked delighted to meet the Duchess on her debut visit to Holland
Kate was looking impeccably groomed today, choosing the sweep her brunette locks back in a sleek updo
The Duchess of Cambridge views "The Bull" by Paulus Potter as she visits the Mauritshuis in The Hague for the exhibition 'At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection
Kate was interested to know if Vermeer's painting had become more popular since the film The Girl With The Pearl Earring, starring Scarlett Johansson
The Duchess lingered in front of the masterpiece, allowing photographers plenty of opportunity to capture the two girls with their pearl earrings
'But she asked a lot of questions about the presentation of the paintings, because although she is familiar with a lot of the Queen's paintings she has never seen them in this setting before, which gives them a different context.'
Kate was visiting the museum as part of a day of engagements in the Netherlands - her first solo foreign trip on official royal duties without William.
The mother-of-two looked elegant in a bespoke pale blue skirt suit by Catherine Walker and in a break from her usual style she wore her brunette locks swept back in a chic bun.
Kate paused to chat to youngsters who had gathered outside the Mauritshuis gallery to wave Union Jack flags to welcome her
One is amused! The Duchess of Cambridge laughs during a roundtable discussion at the British Ambassador's Residence
The Duchess looked delighted to be meeting the Dutch monarch King Willem-Alexander and was showing no hint of nerves on her first official overseas visit without William
Kate waves to the crowd as she arrives at the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague to visit an exhibition of 22 picture by Dutch artists loaned to the art gallery from the Royal Collection
She teamed her outfit with her trusty Gianvito Rossi suede pumps, which she also wore yesterday for an engagement in London and carried a small nude box clutch from L.K. Bennett.
The chic ensemble gave the Duchess more than a hint of Jackie Kennedy style, and is in keeping with her new high end wardrobe.
Kate was given a personal tour of an exhibition featuring Dutch Old Masters loaned by the Royal Collection, with artwork, furniture and other objects accumulated over centuries by the British monarchy.
The highlight of the visiting exhibition is Johannes Vermeer's 'The Music Lesson,' but the Duchess also toured the museum's permanent collection, which is where she encountered Vermeer's best-known work, as well as 'The Goldfinch' by Carel Fabritius.
Before leaving, the Duchess met children taking part in the gallery's learning programme and attended a short reception with museum supporters.
Kate is greeted by the director of the Mauritshuis gallery Emilie Gordenker in The Hague
Kate shares a joke with King Willem-Alexander as the pair pose for photos before sitting down for lunch
Earlier today, Kate made a courtesy call to King Willem-Alexander at Villa Eikenhorst, the royal residence he shares with wife Queen Maxima and their three daughters, Princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane.
The family home is on the forested De Horsten estate in Wassenaar, near The Hague, and, despite being a private residence, the Dutch monarch sometimes hosts foreign guests.
'Welcome, welcome, very nice to see you,' the king said, as he greeted his guest for the first visit by a British royal to the Dutch kingdom in three years.
Kate has been heralded as a 'secret weapon' for UK diplomacy as the country faces Brexit negotiations
Th down-to-earth Duchess interacts with members of the public during her first official visit to Holland
Kate usually lets her flowing brunette locks flow around her shoulders, but today she opted for a chic updo - all the better for showing off the earrings she borrowed from the Queen
Her one-day trip is a royal milestone for the Duchess as it's the first time she's travelled abroad by herself on official royal duties without William.
A tour of Malta in 2014 was scheduled to be Kate's first solo trip but she had to cancel as she was suffering from acute morning sickness while pregnant with Princess Charlotte.
Folowing her museum visit, Kate travelled to the official residence of Sir Geoffrey Adams, Britain's Ambassador to the Netherlands, to convene a round-table discussion on the themes of addiction, intervention, family and mental health.
Taking part were professionals from the Trimbos Institute, a non-profit research centre working on the issues of mental health and addiction.
Rutger Engels, President and Chief Executive officer of the Trimbos Institute said: 'Still too often children are overlooked when one of their parents has a mental disorder or addiction problem.
'We are very pleased that The Duchess will use her visit to the Netherlands to raise more awareness for the vulnerable position these children are in.'
Kate laughs as she prepares to convene a round-table discussion on the themes of addiction, intervention, family and mental health
Kate gives a cheery wave to well wishers as she is led into the Mauritshuis gallery by its director Emilie Gordenker
Kate (left) admires Vermeer's masterpiece The Girl With The Pearl Earring. Fittingly, the Duchess chose the same accessory for today's visit to The Hague
Kate listens with interest as she tours the Mauritshuis with museum director Emilie E.S. Gordenker
Kate glances at Italian Landscape with Inn and Ancient Ruins 1658 by Jan Baptist Weenix
Royal fans were eager to get a snap as they crowded around the royal visitor with their camera phones
Royal fans were delighted to catch a glimpse of the Duchess on her first visit to The Netherlands - also her debut solo engagement overseas
Kate looks around at the art work as she's led up the stairs at the Mauritshuis art museum by director Emilie E.S. Gordenker
The Duchess arrives at the British ambassador's residence in The Netherlands
The mother-of-two leans in to chat with a young royal fan in the crowd outside the Mauritshuis in The Hague
Kate, who is patron of the National Portrait Gallery looked delighted to be visiting the Mauritshuis art museum
Art fan Kate steps out of her car at the Mauritshuis gallery where she will view an exhibition of Old Masters paintings
Kate surveying the Dutch masterpiece The Bull by Paulus Potter during a personal tour of the exhibition 'At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries' from the British Royal Collection
History of art graduate Kate leans in to admire The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius during a private tour of the Mauritshuis gallery
The Duchess shares a laugh with the children who had gathered outside an art gallery in The Hague to welcome the royal visitor
Mother-of-two Kate looks animated as she chats you young well wishers on her visit to The Hague - her first official overseas trip without Prince William
Kate was all smiles as she chatted with her royal counterpart at the start of her day of engagements in Holland
Kate carried a small nude box clutch and accessorised with a pair of simple pearl earrings
Kate's outfit is a bespoke creation by Chelsea-based designer Catherine Walker who was a favourite of Princess Diana
Kate, 34, looked elegant in a pale blue skirt suit by Catherine Walker as she made a courtesy call to King Willem-Alexander at Villa Eikenhorst this morning
King Willem Alexander shows Kate into the Villa Eikenhorst on the forested De Horsten estate in Wassenaar, near The Hague where the pair will have lunch together
They were joined by counterparts from two of the Duchess's UK charities - the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families, a leading charity in the research, teaching and the provision of care for children and young people with mental health issues, and Action on Addiction.
The visit comes a day after Prime Minister Theresa May was in the Netherlands for talks with her Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, to put forward her case for a fair deal for the UK with the European Union.
Mrs May also visited Denmark for talks with Prime Minister Lars-Lokke Rasmussen as part of her diplomatic offensive ahead of the formal beginning of the Brexit process.
Kate is handed a bouquet by a local. Her final engagement of the day was a visit to the neighbouring city of Rotterdam
The royal is visiting the Dutch city to learn about Bouwkeet, the social Makerspace of Bospolder-Tussendijken
The Duchess looks delighted as she chats to local youngsters in Rotterdam and is handed an edible gift
Kate looked elegant in a pale blue skirt suit by Catherine Walker as she arrived in the city for her final engagement of the day
Kate is handed countless bouquets and bunches of roses from friendly locals as she arrives in Rotterdam on Tuesday
The Duchess seems determined to shake hands with as many people as possible as she arrives at Bouwkeet in Rotterdam
Some commentators believe Kate will be an asset in helping to safeguard the UK's relations with its European neighbours as Brexit takes shape in the coming years.
One of the Queen's most senior aides, her private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt, joined Kate's small entourage - which may be interpreted by some as reflecting the importance of the trip.
But a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: 'The Duchess' visit centred on an exhibition featuring works from the Royal Collection. Sir Christopher attended in his capacity as a trustee of the Royal Collection.'
Royal sources dismissed the speculation that Sir Christopher's presence was Brexit related, and said his joining the Duchess also reflected the close ties between the British and Dutch royal families.
Following her visit to Bouwkeet workshop the duchess is set to retire for the day having completed all of her engagements
There were plenty of well-wishers still lining the streets of Rotterdam to see the duchess off after her busy day
Her husband Damien, 41, says he didn't think she would be quite so candid about their sex life
For most of us, there are certain things which are always best left undisclosed. Your annual income, for one. Not to mention your feelings about your mother-in-law.
And, of course, the true state of your sex life. What goes on between the sheets should stay there. Shouldnt it? Not according to a new breed of unabashed middle-class women who thrive on divulging the most intimate details of their sex lives- not only with their friends but, in some cases, even with their mothers.
And these are no loud-mouthed ladettes. Rather, theyre wives and mothers holding down responsible jobs, who pride themselves on the strength of their marriages. Yet, extraordinarily, these women still cant resist sharing every last detail of the marital bedroom- much to the horror of their husbands.
Charlotte Grattan, 40, from Lancashire, admits exchanging X-rated secrets on social media with her married friends. But husband Damien (pictured) says he was surprised she would be quite so candid about their sex life
Charlotte Grattan, 40, finds it so hard to maintain a dignified silence about her love life that she even gossips about it in the playground while waiting to collect her children from school.
Whats worse, the stories she shares are often told at the expense of her husband, providing humiliating detail about the ways in which he tries to seduce her.
My friends all know my husband Damien regularly tries to wake me up in the night to make love- and that Ill often pretend to stay asleep if Im not in the mood, she says, seemingly unembarrassed at such deeply personal revelations.
Charlottes oversharing also extends to exchanging X-rated secrets on social media forums at least a few times a day with a coterie of equally indiscreet married friends.
She continues: If one of us is going to give in to our husband that evening, then all of us will know about it first.
Such toe-curling candour must be rare, surely? Not according to a recent study, which found that more than a third of women reveal their most intimate marital secrets to friends and family. A staggering 38 per cent admitted to disclosing everything from how many sexual partners theyve had to precisely how often they make love.
Clare Matthew, from Colchester, says she has disclosed her husband Rob's love-making techniques to friends. Rob says he isn't shocked by her confession but adds that he would not discuss their sex life with his friends
But while most would see the discussion of such matters as tawdry, Charlotte insists its liberating.
Its healthy for women to discuss this sort of thing, she says. We all trust each other and its a giggle. Its human nature.
So how does her husband Damien, 41, feel about his wifes harmless gossiping? Until very recently, he was none the wiser.
And unsurprisingly, since Charlottes confession, Damien is mortified to discover that the most private arena of his marriage is now subject to a very public discussion.
Moreover, he wishes he still lived in blissful ignorance of his wifes unfortunate tendency to reveal everything.
Call me naive, but I hadnt thought that she would be quite so candid about our sex life, he says. I am disappointed she goes into so much detail. Its going to be very awkward the next time I see her friends.
A staggering 38 per cent admitted to disclosing everything from how many sexual partners theyve had to precisely how often they make love
Charlotte, meanwhile, claims there are deeper reasons for her indiscretion than mere gossip- and that it is actually Damiens fault she cant stop revealing all about their sex life.
The couple from Lancashire run a joinery and shop-fitting business and have two daughters, Evi, ten, (from Charlottes previous relationship) and Eryn-Lilly, four.
For one week in every two Damien works away from home, leaving Charlotte to run the household and manage the administrative side of the business. And its these regular absences that Charlotte blames for her being so indiscreet in conversation.
I really miss him when he isnt here, she admits. I probably wouldnt gossip so much about us if he were here all the time.
It was after Eryn-Lilly was born on New Years Day 2012 that her indiscreet conversations began. Charlotte found herself within a group of new mums and says that opening up about their much-altered love lives was invaluable. She explains: I wasnt sure when Damien and I should start making love again. I might not want to divulge sexual information with my GP, but I could easily do so with them.
I didnt have sex until six months after Id given birth. And yes, my girlfriends were the first to know when we finally did it again.
Gemma Oakes, 34, said she started to divulge details about her love life with partner Daniel Puleo, 35, after she had children
It might seem inappropriate, but it really is just between us. We might be mums, but were wives, too. My intimate life is very important to me. Im sensible enough to always make sure there are no little people around ear-wigging when were talking either.
Which is just as well, when you consider so many of these conversations take place inside school grounds.
There are four of us who meet up on the school run, says Charlotte. Well talk about everything from bikini waxes to 50 Shades Of Grey.
Charlotte, who says she and Damien make love three or four times a week, has divulged everything to her friends- from the fact that her children are banned from sleeping in Mummy and Daddys bed when Damien is home to the fact they failed to consummate their marriage on their wedding night (I did get some ribbing about that!).
Will she try to keep a tighter rein on her chitchat now Damien has expressed his disapproval?
Ive no intention of refraining from discussing our sex life, she says defiantly. Some women are prudish and dont want to talk about sex. I feel sorry for them. Its informative and some of our chats are very reassuring.
Charlotte (pictured with Damien) has divulged everything to her friends, including the fact they failed to consummate their marriage on their wedding night
So why on earth do these women feel the need to share so openly what for many of us remains the final conversational taboo?
Psychotherapist Ales Zivkovic believes there are various reasons why women indulge in such behaviour. Primarily, he believes that they enjoy showing off.
When women constantly talk about their sex life, they can do it out of the need to brag. To convey that they have a sex life thats active.
However, relationship therapist Keren Smedley considers such behaviour disloyal in the extreme. Not only does she think its unfair on their husbands, she says the conversations amount to little more than gossip.
Talking to a friend and looking for genuine advice is one thing, but even then youre better off asking your GP or a counsellor. Your girlfriend is usually just offering an unprofessional opinion which could be anything from harmless nonsense to misinformation which can rock your marriage.
These woman, privy to intimate details of the couples marriage, will view their girlfriends husbands in a very different way. How on earth can this be healthy?
Clare (pictured with husband Rob) says her openness hasnt offended any of her friends. She says it has encouraged even the more conservative among them to open up too
However, some of the women who insist upon revealing the most intimate details of their marriages claim that the opposite is true- and that such frank discussions actually improve their marriages.
Stay-at-home mother Clare Matthews husband also works away from home, sometimes for up to seven weeks at a time.
Rob, 35, is a deep-sea diver and is typically based off the Scottish coastline for months at a time. But unlike Charlotte, Clare doesnt blame his absences for her indiscretions.
She says: Weve always talked very openly in my family and thats an attitude Ive taken with me into my adult life and my marriage.
The couple met when they were both serving in the Armed Forces in Afghanistan. Yet it wasnt until they returned to their Colchester base in April 2007 that they became a couple.
Clare recalls: When I saw him clean-shaven and out of combat gear it was a case of love- and lust- at first sight. And she has consistently shared intimate details with her friends since they got together: to the extent that one of her friends jokes that Clare has social Tourettes because of her tendency to say whats on her mind first without considering the consequences.
Gemma says oversharing is the reason Daniel is happier in the bedroom and due to be a father again in 2017. She also says its the reason shes blossomed sexually
Clare explains: Ive got some friends who are church-going Christians. While we tend to talk about politics, after a couple of glasses of wine the conversation does eventually turn to sex.
Im guilty of manipulating the change in tone. But everyone is happy to spill the beans.
And theres nothing that Clare is afraid to discuss, even disclosing her husbands love-making techniques.
She insists that her openness hasnt offended any of her friends- rather, that it encouraged even the more conservative among them to open up, too.
My friends all know my husband Damien regularly tries to wake me up in the night to make love- and that Ill often pretend to stay asleep if Im not in the mood
Recently I sparked a conversation about orgasms. I was amazed at how forthcoming everyone was.
By sharing our intimate experiences we all left that evening a lot wiser. Personally I felt more normal, it was very reassuring.
Extraordinarily, this is isnt the most personal detail Clare has shared. Indeed, some of her most candid sexual confessions have come in conversation with none other than her own mother.
Nothing is off limits with Mum in terms of her listening to me, says Clare. Although shed never talk about such things to me.
One can imagine. As for husband Rob, he is surprisingly sanguine about his wifes revelations.
Am I shocked? he asks. Not really. That said, I wouldnt dream of discussing Clares sexual proclivities with my friends. It just isnt the done thing. But as long as she paints me in a good light, its fine.
Charlotte blames Damien's regular absences for why she is so indiscreet in conversation with her friends
Gemma Oakes, 34, can pinpoint the exact moment when she started to divulge details about her love life with partner Daniel Puleo, 35, who runs an electrical company.
It was after Id had children. Until then I was incredibly shy discussing anything to do with sex. If anyone ever talked about it, Id blush and clam up. If an erotic scene was on television, Id switch over. The long-standing joke among my girlfriends was how on earth had I managed to fall pregnant, I was so squeamish about sex.
Today the couple, who have been together ten years, live in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, with their three children- Lucie, ten, Lanie, seven, and Loris, four.
Seven years ago, after the birth of our second child, I completely went off sex, says Gemma. Daniel was worried that I no longer found him attractive. When I confided in my mum, the first thing she said was: Poor Daniel!
I was shocked. I expected her to be sympathetic. She gave it to me with both barrels, telling me that no matter how tired I was, I had to make an effort for him. Otherwise I was jeopardising our relationship.
Gemma adds: It was a lightbulb moment. I realised how helpful it was talking to my mum and seeing Daniels sexual needs from another perspective. I had to prioritise him, and not the housework.
Clare says her most candid sexual confessions have come in conversation with none other than her own mother
While I dont like to use vulgar terms and sometimes my friends can go too far, these days Im really open about it.
A case in point is the fact that at the start of the year Daniel and Gemma were trying for another baby.
Unbeknown to Daniel, Team Gemma- thats her mum, best friend and sister- regularly gave her tips on conception and spurred her on. Ive asked them about positions, techniques and precisely when to make love. At times, it was as though they were in the bedroom with us.
While Daniel would be horrified, in my defence, my openness with them has ensured that Im now expecting our fourth child.
And its not just sexual positions Gemma that has been discussing. She has also been debating Daniels sexual preferences.
Nothing is off limits with Mum in terms of her listening to me. Although shed never talk about such things to me
Im very self-conscious about my body. I prefer to make love in the dark in total silence. Daniel, though, is the opposite. And when I asked my friends if it was normal to have sex with the lights on and to talk about what were doing, the answer was yes.
While Gemma claims oversharing is the reason Daniel is happier in the bedroom and due to be a father again in 2017, she also says its the reason shes blossomed sexually.
We recently went away to stay in a log cabin in Wales with the children, says Gemma.
We actually made love on the sofa in the living room in the mornings. The old me would have worried about passers-by or the children waking up. Of course, my mum and my best friend got the full lowdown later. Daniel will be mortified to learn this- but its thanks to them Im so adventurous.
The biggest advantage of talking about my sex life with my friends is the comparisons we all make.
Whenever you read womens magazines, you worry you dont come up to scratch. Whereas talking honestly about what we do among friends is hugely reassuring.
But what about her husband, Daniel? How does he feel about this betrayal of trust?
Its fair to say that Daniel is less comfortable with the most intimate details of his marriage being discussed by his wifes friends.
Im a very private person. While I do get on well with Gemmas mum, sister and best friend, its horrifying to know that this is what they talk about, he says.
What man wouldnt be undermined by such revelations?
Gemma needs to rein it in. If she wants to discuss our love life, she needs to turn to me first.
Fair enough- but Daniels plea is likely to fall on deaf ears.
Two infertile women will give birth in Ukraine after using a revolutionary technique that combines the genes of three parents, a report reveals.
The controversial technique was designed to prevent families passing on genetic mutations, not to aid fertility.
However, the New Scientist reported on Monday that two women have used the procedure to bypass fertility issues.
Both patients are married women who been undergoing IVF when they went into 'embryo arrest' - meaning the cells suddenly and inexplicably stopped growing half-way through the process.
One mother-to-be is 20 weeks pregnant with a son, the other 26 weeks pregnant with a daughter, the report said.
The revelation comes just two weeks after the first baby created with this technique was born.
Two married Ukrainian women who been undergoing IVF when they went into 'embryo arrest' - meaning the cells suddenly stopped growing half-way through the process. Now they are pregnant with healthy fetuses after undergoing the controversial three-parent baby operation
WHY AND HOW DID THE UKRAINIAN TEAM PERFORM THE THREE-PARENT OP? The team was led by Valery Zukin, director of the Clinic of Reproductive Medicine in Kiev. Dr Zukin told the New Scientist they used a technique called 'pro-nuclear transfer'. As with standard IVF, they fertilize the mother's egg with sperm from her husband. They then also fertilze a donor's egg with sperm from the husband. Then they extract the 'pro-nucleus' from the mother's egg - that is the core of the cell that contains the mother's and father's chromosomes that forms after fertilization. Next they extract the pro-nucleus from the donor's egg. The donor's pronucleus is discarded, and replaced with the parents' pronucleus. It means the baby has all of their DNA from their parents, but the egg it is housed in is likely to be stronger, healthier, and more resilient. According to the New Scientist, Dr Zukin performed the procedures after concluding that it was the bulk of the cells that had caused the embryo arrest - but the vital DNA could still be salvaged. For example, it may be that certain enzymes in the mother's cell were blocking the growth process. Dr Zukin will elaborate on the procedures at a conference in New York this week. Advertisement
It is not clear where the Ukrainian medics stand legally, since the United Kingdom is the only country in the world to legalize the technique - and only to bypass hereditary diseases.
The team led by Valery Zukin, director of the Clinic of Reproductive Medicine in Kiev, will elaborate on the procedures at a conference in New York this week.
According to the New Scientist, Dr Zukin performed the procedures after concluding that it was the bulk of the cells that had caused the embryo arrest - but the vital DNA could still be salvaged.
For example, it may be that certain enzymes in the mother's cell were blocking the growth process.
To get around that, Dr Zukin told the New Scientist, they used a technique called 'pro-nuclear transfer'.
As with standard IVF, they fertilize the mother's egg with sperm from her husband.
They then also fertilze a donor's egg with sperm from the husband.
Then they extract the 'pro-nucleus' from the mother's egg - that is the core of the cell that contains the mother's and father's chromosomes that forms after fertilization.
Next they extract the pro-nucleus from the donor's egg.
The donor's pronucleus is discarded, and replaced with the parents' pronucleus.
It means the baby has all of their DNA from their parents, but the egg it is housed in is likely to be stronger, healthier, and more resilient.
The first baby ever created with this technique - a boy, now five months old - was born in Mexico after a New York team treated his Jordanian parents.
Like all humans, the boy carries DNA from both his parents. But he also has a tiny piece of genetic code from a donor.
It means he has avoided inheriting a genetic condition from his Jordanian mother, known only as IS, that could kill him.
At the time, embryologists said they believe this birth should fast-forward progress around the world, offering hope to millions who face the prospect of delivering terminally ill children.
And the two upcoming Ukrainian births will no doubt spur on that momentum.
'This is a milestone technique,' Dr John Zhang, who led the medical team from New York City's New Hope Fertility Center to deliver the first baby, told Daily Mail Online last month.
'It proves for the first time that genetic information from three people can avoid disease,' he said.
'We now know reconstitution of human eggs can produce a healthy baby.
'No other technique has been established.'
Dr Zhang is not naming the baby or the parents.
However, he revealed some details about the family's devastating journey to reach this world-first.
The parents have already lost two children to the same condition - Leigh's syndrome - their first at the age of six; their second at eight months.
Dr John Zhang, head of the New York City embryonic team, holds the world's first 'three-person' baby after the boy was born in Mexico in April
HOW DID THEY CREATE THE FIRST 'THREE-PARENT BABY' The technique could be used for anything - from avoiding disease to altering a baby's appearance. For now, disease is the focus. The world's first 'three-parent' baby was created to prevent him inheriting a genetic condition his mother carries in her mitochondria. The disease - Leigh's syndrome - would have killed him within a few years. HOW IS THE PROCEDURE DONE? 1. Take eggs from a mother with damaged mitochondria. 2. Take eggs from a donor with healthy mitochondria. 3. Remove and save the nucleus from the mother's egg. This contains the majority of her genetic material. 4. Remove and discard the donor's nucleus. 5. Place the mother's nucleus in the donor's egg with the healthy mitochondria. 6. The egg can then be fertilised by the father's sperm. Advertisement
Leigh's syndrome is a severe neurological disorder which attacks the nervous system.
It gradually inhibits a child's mental and physical abilities from the moment they are born.
Sufferers typically die by the age of three due to lung failure.
Tests revealed that, in this case, the boy's mother carries genes for the disease in her mitochondria.
Mothers pass down a melting pot of DNA. The majority is 'nuclear DNA' passed down in each cell's nucleus.
But 37 maternal genes are passed to the child in each cell's mitochondria - the cell's 'battery'. Father's never (or at least barely ever) pass down mitochondria.
Mitochondria carry just 37 genes. In this case, one in four of the mother's mitochondria have the mutation that causes Leigh's syndrome.
Devastated by the loss of their two children, the couple flew to America to meet with Dr Zhang at New Hope, a facility which focuses on training in new innovations.
With strict regulations in the United States, the team went to Mexico.
The boy was born through a technique called spindle nuclear transfer.
Dr Zhang removed the nucleus from one of his mother's eggs. It was then inserted in a donor egg that had its nucleus removed.
This egg was then fertilized with sperm from the baby's father.
Five eggs were created with this technique, only one of which survived. The findings will be showcased at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's Scientific Congress in Salt Lake City next month.
The technique was carried out in Mexico because it would not be approved in the US by regulators.
Echoing both the fears and excitement of the entire medical community, Dr Zhang pointed out: 'This is just the start.'
For now, embryologists are focusing on the technique as a way to avoid hereditary diseases that prevent many adults with genetic mutations from having children.
Down the line, however, Dr Zhang said its application could be 'unlimited', even to the point of altering an unborn child's DNA to edit their appearance or skill set.
'It's all possible. It just depends how you use the technique.
'This technique is a new platform. How far it can go, I really cannot imagine. But it's totally possible to accomplish [cosmetic editing].
'As with any development of new techniques, you always need to bear in mind efficacy and safety. Even with IVF.'
Professor Simon Fishel, Founder and President, CARE Fertility Group, and Professor of Human Reproduction, said:
'This is a devastating disease that we do not wish children to be born with, and what's more, we would wish to eradicate from any family lineage and this technology will help achieve this.
'However, any first-time medical procedure moving from successful animal studies to the human, that will take several years until we understand its impact, is a necessary experimental step forward, which we hope and believe should be totally safe and utterly effective.
'Congratulations to this team and all those hoping to help these unfortunate families; and we should proceed with caution and due regulation.'
This explains how parents with hereditary diseases use the technique (as opposed to parents with infertility issues). (1) Take eggs from mother with damaged mitochondria (2) Take eggs from donor with healthy mitochondria (3) Remove and save nucleus from mother's egg (4) Remove and discard donor's nucleus (5) Place mother's nucleus in donor's egg (6) Fertilised egg with father's sperm
While Dusko Ilic said the breakthrough was important, he said 'some questions remain'.
He said: 'Was this the first time ever they performed the technique or there were other attempts and they are reporting this one because it was successful?
'This and other important questions remain unanswered because this work has not been published and the rest of the scientific community has been unable to examine it in detail. It's vital that that happens soon.
'So it appears to be a good end result. But it risks encouraging others to follow the example, as we saw with 'stem cell tourism'.
A four-year-old girl had 80 maggots removed from her ear as a result of living in dirty conditions.
Radhika Mandloi, from central India, started to suffer extreme pain and itching in her left ear last week.
Her parents initially dismissed her discomfort, but when she began crying continuously they took her to hospital.
Doctors were shocked to find a blow fly - attracted to bad smells - inside her ear which had laid around 80 larva.
They warned if she was left untreated for any longer the insects could have began to start eating at her brain - putting her life in danger.
Radhika Mandloi, from central India, had life-saving surgery to remove 80 maggots - laid by a blow fly - in her ear. The insects are attracted to bad smells and dirty conditions, doctors say
Dr Raj Kumar Mundra, from the hospital, said: 'I was very shocked to see so many eggs.
'This type of bug is attracted to foul smells and extremely unhygienic conditions.
'Its evident this family live in unhygienic conditions which has seen the young girl suffer as a consequence. Its a very sad state of affairs.
'And as the ears and nose are areas most vulnerable and open they enter and lay eggs.
'Weve had previous cases where theyve had two or three eggs but this is the first time weve seen anyone with such a huge amount.'
After a thorough examination to determine the cause of her pain, Radhika had two sittings to remove the insects.
She had two operations, which lasted for 90 minutes each, to kill the maggots while they were still positioned in her ear
Both operations, which lasted for 90 minutes each, involved killing the maggots while they were in her ear.
Dr Mundra said the worms can cause severe damage to the ear bone if there is an excessive movement.
The first operation removed around 70 of the insects while the second sitting got rid of the remaining few.
She is still in hospital and will be under close observation by doctors for the next week.
Several MRI scans ensured the worms had not entered the brain - but doctors said it could have been deadly if left another week.
Her bone and skin have been left partially damaged by the insects, which experts believe had been living in her ear for much longer than a week.
She started to suffer extreme pain and itching in her left ear last week. Her parents initially dismissed her discomfort, but when she began crying continuously they took her to hospital
Dr Mundra added: 'I believe by the amount of worms in her ears she had been suffering for longer than a week.
'Its evident she problem had been growing for a long time but her parents had been negligent. Well look into further treatment in time.
'Fortunately, no worms were found in the brain but if she had been left untreated for another week, the worms could have entered the brain and this could have been life threatening.
'There is a paper-thin bone between the brain and the ears which the worms can easily enter. These worms could easily eat a human brain if they get inside.'
He further warned that any ear infection should not be ignored.
Dr Mundra said: Any discharge of fluid in the ear should not be ignored as it could attract larva, which reproduces quickly.
A mother-of-two who suffered bleeding between periods was devastated to be told she had cervical cancer.
Gemma Patten, 30, had surgery to remove part of her cervix and vagina and chemotherapy after being diagnosed in May this year.
Doctors first did a vaginal swab to test for sexually transmitted infections gonorrhoea and chlamydia after going to the doctors because she was bleeding between periods.
But when they came back negative she underwent further examinations at Barnet Hospital in north London, which revealed she was suffering from cancer.
This was despite a smear test she had three years ago, coming back clear.
Gemma Patten, with daughters Savannah, four, and Arizona, 18 months, discovered she had cervical cancer after going to the doctors as she was bleeding between periods
Ms Patten had surgery to remove the tumour and is pictured here wearing a cold cap, designed to reduce hair loss, during chemotherapy
Faced with the prospect of a hysterectomy, she instead opted for a trachelectomy, where surgeons removed the cancerous part of her cervix.
She is now recovering from her operation but Ms Patten, who is mother to Savannah, four, and Arizona, 18 months, said it feels like part of her 'has been taken away'.
In February this year, Ms Patten started experiencing heavy bleeding between periods.
After testing negative for the STIs, she went on to have a routine smear test where nurses found more blood.
'I was told the doctor wanted to see me immediately,' she said. 'He said I would get my results in the post within seven days.'
She was told she had abnormal cells and needed a colposcopy, a procedure to examine cells in the cervix more closely.
'That's when I became scared,' she said.
Ms Patten was told she needed to have either a hysterectomy, where the womb is removed, or a procedure called a trachelectomy (pictured before the operation)
She decided to have a trachelectomy where surgeons removed the cancerous part of her cervix but that also means she can still have children
'I had the symptoms and abnormal cells. I just knew it couldn't be anything but cancer.'
In May she went to Barnet Hospital with her mother, Dawn, 52, where her fears were confirmed.
SYMPTOMS OF CERVICAL CANCER Some recognised symptoms associated with cervical cancer include: Abnormal bleeding: during or after sexual intercourse, or between periods Post menopausal bleeding, if you are not on HRT or have stopped it for six weeks Unusual and/or unpleasant vaginal discharge Discomfort or pain during sex Lower back pain Source: Jos Cervical Cancer Trust Advertisement
'I saw on the magnified screen what looked like a huge lump,' she said.
'The nurse took a biopsy and sent it off and told me not to worry. She said it could be anything, but I knew exactly what it was and so did she.
'It looked so evil. I was staring at it and that's when I knew for sure what it was.'
A week later, Ms Patten was summoned back to the hospital and told she had a 1cm cancerous tumour of the cervix.
She was referred to University College Hospital, central London, where doctors informed her they had caught the cancer early.
But she was given two options - a hysterectomy or a procedure to have part of her vagina removed, called a trachelectomy.
Unsure whether she might want more children with partner Joshua Archibong, 37, they opted for the latter.
The trachelectomy meant the couple would still have the option of having more children and involved having her cervix and the upper part of the vagina removed.
It wouldn't affect her sex life either, but Ms Patten said the thought of losing part of her cervix and vagina was still daunting.
Miss Patten, pictured before her diagnosis, said the thought of losing part of herself was 'daunting' but necessary to see her children grow up
Further tests revealed nodules on her lungs so she had chemotherapy, wearing a cold cap to try and keep her hair, which has so far been successful
The mother to Savannah, left, and Arizona, middle, pictured with her partner Joshua Archibong, 37, after her treatment
Then further tests revealed she had nodules on her lungs. Fortunately, these were found not to be cancerous.
Given the aggressive nature of the is now undergoing chemotherapy until the end of November and is confident she will then be disease free.
'I look at life completely differently now. I live every day,' she said.
'I now feel like I have a purpose in life, to save people.
'Even though this has been the worst time in my life, I'm glad it has happened as it has made me appreciate life and has given me the knowledge and the facilities to be able to help others from suffering too.
'Sometimes you have to fight to survive but life is so worth it. '
Ms Patten is encouraging women to go for regular cervical screening. Women aged 25 to 49 are invited every three years as part of the NHS screening programme. After that, women are invited every five years until the age of 64.
She is now on 29 different drugs each day and is reliant on a wheelchair
The illness is attacking her organs and she was revived 3 times last week
Heidi Luckraft was bitten by a tick after taking her dog for a walk in 2012
A mother-of-two is desperately fighting a serious bacterial infection after being bitten by a tick.
Heidi Luckraft, 39, from Beeston, Nottinghamshire, was walking her dog four years ago when she was chewed on.
However, it wasn't until last year that she was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease.
She is now on 29 different medications a day and uses a wheelchair as the illness attacks her organs.
Her family and friends are frantically trying to raise money for treatment in the US after the delayed diagnosis has left her with no options in the UK.
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Heidi Luckraft, 39, from Beeston, Nottinghamshire, was walking her dog four years ago when she was bitten. However, it wasn't until last year that she was diagnosed with Lyme disease
Her friend, Jodie Deegan, 34, speaking on her behalf because she is too unwell - said: 'Last week she had to be resuscitated three times. She's just in agony.
'At first she would have more good days than bad days, but now we're thankful if she gets a good hour.
'If she was correctly diagnosed within 48 hours, all she would have needed is a two week course of antibiotics.
'When she was finally diagnosed it was bittersweet. She was relieved to have a diagnosis but by that time, it was so serious.
'But she's such a positive person. She keeps saying she's been given the disease so she can help other people in the future.'
She is now on 29 different medications a day and reliant on a wheelchair as the illness attacks her organs and threatens to take her life
Mrs Luckraft was walking her dog in Wollaton Park in 2012 when she was bitten by an infected tick.
She immediately felt tired and unwell but spent years being misdiagnosed.
Doctors initially believed she had meningitis before diagnosing her with chronic fatigue syndrome.
However, a tell-tale rash emerged three years later which allowed her to be diagnosed with Lyme disease.
The bacterial infection often takes up to a month to show signs - but can lead to heart failure if left untreated.
If caught early enough, a course of antibiotics is usually all that is needed to treat the infection.
But because of how long it took her to receive a diagnosis it has left her untreatable in the UK and reliant on a wheelchair.
If caught early enough, a course of antibiotics is usually all that is needed to treat Lyme disease. But because of how long it took her to receive a diagnosis it has left her untreatable in the UK and forced her to be resuscitated three times last week
Her family and friends are now frantically trying to raise money to fund treatment in the US
She says her brain feels like it is swelling and it causes her to get really painful migraines.
All she can do to ease her suffering is to sit in a dark room and not even look at her phone.
MEAT ALLERGIES FROM TICK BITES Experts issued a warning that meat allergies from tick-bites are becoming more common earlier this week. Cases of 'tick-induced mammalian meat allergy', which can be deadly, are booming in parts of Australia and the US. However, some cases have been reported in Europe, Asia and Africa. Pp to 10 hours after consuming red meat - some immune systems become sensitive to proteins in the parasite's saliva and develop anaphylaxis. It is the most extreme and severe form of allergic reaction and takes over the entire body within minutes. In some cases tick bites can cause an additional allergy to dairy and gelatine products. Advertisement
The condition has become so bad that the keen fundraiser would collapse in her wheelchair and cry from the pain after singing in front of children.
Doctors have prescribed her 29 different drugs to take each day to prevent the illness from taking over her organs.
She was even resuscitated three times last week.
Her husband Mark and Miss Deegan are now trying to raise the 60,000 needed for life-saving treatment in the US.
She needs IV infusions, immune boosting IV therapies, stem cell treatments alongside IV antibiotics.
They are hoping to raise the money needed for treatment before Christmas for Mrs Luckraft who is now 'hiding from the world'.
Miss Deegan added: 'She never really told anyone about it, she just got on with it. Now her phone is going mad with people getting in touch.
'When I told her we'd already raised 800 she burst into tears.
'She keeps asking "do you think we'll do it?", but I know she doesn't want to get her hopes up just in case.'
Lina Alvarez's daughter - who she has given the same first name - was delivered by Caeserean section and weighed 5.2lbs
A 62-year-old woman who announced she was eight months pregnant with her third child last month has given birth to a healthy girl.
Lina Alvarez's daughter - who she has given the same first name - was delivered by Caeserean section yesterday.
She was born two weeks ahead of schedule after the Spanish doctor was admitted to hospital with high blood pressure.
The mother-of-three, from Lugo, north-west Spain, began the menopause 20 years ago but underwent fertility treatment in the hope of having more children.
Her pregnancy sparked a heated debate in her native country and prompted calls for an age limit for seeking IVF.
But she shrugged off the criticism and gave birth to her daughter who weighed 5.2lbs.
She said: 'I'm the happiest person on the planet. Everything went perfectly.
'When she is 30 I'll be 90. She'll have been raised and life expectancy for women is growing all the time.
'I always wanted to be a mother again but most medical experts said "no".'
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Ms Alvarez added: 'Then some years ago I met a gynaecologist who agreed to help me if the tests were okay.
'They were positive and so he helped me to implant an embryo.
'They said there was only a six per cent chance of success but I got pregnant with a baby girl.
'I feel like Im having a second chance and the pregnancy has made me younger and stronger.'
Her pregnancy sparked a heated debate across Spain and prompted calls from the public for an age limit for seeking fertility treatment
Her eldest son, Exiquio, 28, who is disabled after a medical error left him injured during her pregnancy, has already met his baby sister.
His condition was caused when a gynaecologist damaged his head during a routine test, which also led to the breakdown of her marriage.
He requires constant care and she is her son's primary carer.
Ms Alvarez had her second child 10 years after her menopause at the age of 52 thanks to IVF treatment.
Samuel, 10, told a local paper: 'I'm looking forward to resting for at least a couple of days now so I can enjoy time with my sister and recover.
'My emotions have got the better of me and I've been crying a lot out of happiness.'
She ended up having to travel to Madrid to see a gynaecologist after many clinics refused to help her because of her age when she decided she wanted a third baby.
They revealed there was only a six per cent chance of success but she became pregnant with a baby girl shortly after.
The world's oldest documented mother is Daljinder Kaur from India, who gave birth last year at the age of 70 after two years of IVF treatment. Baby Armaan was born weighing 4.4lbs.
Scientists have discovered an HIV-fighting bacteria naturally present in some women's vaginas.
Professor Janneke van de Wijgert, of the University of Liverpool, found sex workers were unlikely to have HIV if they had L. crispatus bacteria in their vaginas.
It is one of five types of bacteria present in female genitals.
But unlike in the gut - where we strive to have a mix of bacteria - many researchers believe the vagina is healthiest if just one (L. crispatus) is dominant.
Now, researchers in the field are looking to develop probiotics to boost levels of this particular bacteria in all women.
Here, science writer and former cell biologist Kendall Powell explains what we know about L. crispatus in an edited series of excerpts from an essay published byMosaic Science.
Unlike in the gut - where we strive to have a mix of bacteria - many researchers believe the vagina is healthiest if just one kind (L. crispatus) is dominant
WHAT IS VAGINAL BACTERIA?
Compared with those of other mammals, the human vagina is unique.
As warm, moist canals exposed to all sorts of things including penises, babies and dirt, most mammalian vaginas harbor a diverse mix of bacteria.
However, for many women, one or another species of Lactobacillus has become the dominant bacterial resident.
WHAT THESE BACTERIA DO
Lactobacillus bacteria pump out lactic acid, which keeps the vaginal environment at a low, acidic pH that kills or discourages other bacteria, yeast and viruses from thriving.
There are even hints that certain Lactobacillus species reinforce the mucus in the vagina that acts as a natural barrier to invaders.
BRIEF HISTORY OF VAGINAL BACTERIA
Although no one knows for sure, researchers speculate that human vaginas gained their Lactobacillus protectors around 10,00012,000 years ago when humans began fermenting milk and eating foods like yogurt and cheese, which are full of the bacteria.
The health burden of not having good vaginal microbiota is enormous Richard Cone, a biophysicist who studies vaginal mucus at Johns Hopkins University
Certain Lactobacillus may have expanded their territory to colonize the vagina travelling the short distance from the anus to the vaginal opening.
There, they found their perfect environment, a low-oxygen chamber that, during a woman's reproductive years, has an abundant supply of the sugars Lactobacillus feed upon.
For the most part, we've been happily cohabitating ever since, but it's a delicate balancing act.
DIFFERENT FROM WOMAN TO WOMAN
Researchers are realizing that all Lactobacillus bacteria long thought to keep vaginas healthy are not created equal.
In 2011, a study found five different types of bacterial community.
Four of these were dominated by different Lactobacillus species.
But the fifth contained a diverse mix of microbes (including Gardnerella, Sneathia, Eggerthella and Mobiluncus species), many of which have been associated with bacterial vaginosis.
WHAT IS THE 'SUPERHERO' STRAIN OF THIS BACTERIA?
Researchers are realizing that all Lactobacillus bacteria (pictured) long thought to keep vaginas healthy are not created equal
For some researchers, Lactoballicus crispatus [one of the five bacterial communities] is emerging as the vagina's superhero.
L. crispatus not only pumps out the best mix of two different types of lactic acid to keep the vagina inhospitable to other bugs, but it also fortifies a woman's vaginal mucus to trap and keep at bay HIV and other pathogens.
In 2014, Professor Janneke van de Wijgert, of the University of Liverpool, found that Rwandan sex workers with L. crispatus dominant in their vaginas were less likely to have HIV and other STIs.
This bacterium may have even protected the clients of HIV-positive sex workers somewhat, because these women were also less likely to shed HIV in the vagina.
WHITE WOMEN HAVE MORE 'SUPERHERO' BACTERIA
When the researchers of the 2011 study - Larry Ravel and Jacques Forney - sorted their results based on the women's ethnicities they got another surprise.
For each ethnic group, there was one bacterial community that was by far the most common, present in roughly 40 per cent or more of those women.
For white women, it was the community dominated by L. crispatus.
For Asian women, it was the one dominated by L. iners.
For black and Hispanic women, it was the diverse one.
These community differences may explain why black and Hispanic women have higher rates of BV.
WHEN WE DO NOT HAVE A HEALTHY BALANCE
Normal intrusions to the vaginal environment, such as semen (which causes vaginal pH to rise) or menstruation, can reduce numbers of Lactobacillus and allow other microbes, including those associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV), to flourish.
BV is a disturbance of the natural balance of bacteria that live inside the vagina.
Sex with someone new, having multiple partners, and douching rinsing out the vagina with a bag or bottle of liquid can all contribute to getting BV, but it is not classified as a sexually transmitted disease.
Semen and menstruation can reduce numbers of Lactobacillus and allow other (risky) microbes to flourish
Mostly, how a woman develops BV is still a big mystery.
It causes an incredibly bad smell.
And if the embarrassment and discomfort weren't enough, BV has a far more menacing side.
Women affected have a higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like gonorrhoea and chlamydia, acquiring and transmitting HIV, and having pelvic inflammatory disease (which can lead to infertility) and other vaginal and uterine infections.
During pregnancy, BV gives a woman a greater chance of having a preterm birth or passing infections to her baby, both of which can lead to lifelong problems for the baby.
CLEANING PRODUCTS MAKE IT WORSE
The vagina is remarkably adept at taking care of itself if left undisturbed
Douching of any kind disrupts the balance of good bacteria and is associated with increased risk of BV.
Folklore about the need to clean out the vagina especially after sex or a period is often handed down from older relatives to younger women.
But the vagina is remarkably adept at taking care of itself if left undisturbed.
'Your vagina is like a self-cleaning oven,' says gynecologist Denise Willers. It doesn't need any special help.
The companies behind these products know that many women are looking for ways to counter embarrassing and debilitating symptoms such as vaginal odour and discharge.
Nearly one-third of US women of reproductive age have it at any given time. The sad truth is that these sprays, soaps and wipes will not fix the problem.
They will in many cases actually make it worse.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO GET A HEALTHY VAGINA
Professor van de Wijgert is currently testing two vaginal probiotic products in Rwanda to see if they can prevent BV recurrences.
Both products, capsules inserted into the vagina, are available over the counter in Europe.
However, they contain Lactobacillus strains found in both the vagina and the intestine, some of which have a poor record of colonizing the vagina effectively.
Anything we can to do help more women have Lactobacillus crispatus in their vaginas, then the world will be a better place Richard Cone
In the US, Craig Cohen, now a professor of obstetrics, gynaecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, has launched the next phase of the only clinical trial of a vaginal probiotic that contains L. crispatus, called LACTIN-V.
'The health burden of not having good vaginal microbiota is enormous,' says Richard Cone, a biophysicist who studies vaginal mucus at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
'Anything we can to do help more women, more of the time, have Lactobacillus crispatus in their vaginas, then the world will be a better place.'
ST. ANTHONY Construction on the four-state Dakota Access Pipeline resumed Tuesday on private land in North Dakota that's near a camp where thousands of protesters supporting tribal rights have gathered for months.
In turn, protesters said they're discussing nonviolent opposition measures, including chaining themselves to equipment. And at least eight people were arrested Tuesday attempting to shut down pipelines in other states as a show of solidarity with the Dakota Access protesters.
Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners resumed digging trenches and laying pipe, Morton County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rob Keller said, a move that comes in light of Sunday's federal appeals court ruling that allowed construction to resume within 20 miles of Lake Oahe. That Missouri River reservoir is the water supply for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation.
The construction east and west of Lake Oahe is continuing while Energy Transfer Partners awaits word on whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will issue an easement for the 1,100 feet necessary to cross the Missouri River.
We are pleased with the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals to dissolve the administrative injunction that had temporarily suspended construction activities on the Dakota Access pipeline in an area near the proposed crossing of the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, a statement from Energy Transfer Partners said. In light of Sundays court decision, Dakota Access looks forward to a prompt resumption of construction activities east and west of Lake Oahe on private land.
A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Sunday denied an injunction to stop work within 20 miles of Lake Oahe on the project that would take Bakken oil from North Dakota to Illinois, if completed.
Mulling countermeasures
Protesters will discuss nonviolent measures to oppose the resumption of construction, camp spokesman Cody Hall said Tuesday. Methods might include chaining themselves to equipment, as they have done in the past, but nothing had been decided early Tuesday, he said.
"The people are going to stay vigilant. They're going to fight this pipeline to the very end," he said.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, alleging the corps violated the National Historic Preservation Act while permitting the pipeline. The tribe asked for the injunction to stop all construction on the pipeline. While the injunction has been denied, the case will continue.
The corps has not yet issued an easement that would allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to be placed under the Missouri River, "a decision corps counsel predicts is likely weeks away," according to the order issued by the appellate judges Sunday. Energy Transfer Partners said in its statement that it believes it will receive that final permission, which is the only authorization remaining for the completion of the pipeline.
The Army Corps and Dakota Access carefully considered the views of all potentially affected tribes that chose to participate in the consultative process prescribed by Congress, and fully complied with both the letter and the spirit of the National Historic Preservation Act, the statement from Energy Transfer Partners said.
The U.S. Departments of Army, Justice and Interior in September asked Energy Transfer Partners to stop construction within 20 miles on either side of the river while the corps conducted more review and pledged to work with tribes to improve the government-to-government consultation process. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in a release on Tuesday said the three agencies were holding a listening session in Phoenix to discuss the future of consultation on such projects.
Todays listening session is a critical opportunity to inform the process moving forward so that other tribes dont suffer the same losses as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, tribal chairman Dave Archambault said in a statement.
The Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now, a partnership of entities involved in infrastructure projects in the Midwest, issued a statement saying it applauds the Obama administration for meeting with tribes to refine the process for future projects. However, Craig Stevens, spokesman for the alliance, urged the administration to follow through on existing protocols and permit the pipeline for the final stretch.
To do otherwise would undermine our nations regulatory regime and chill American infrastructure development, costing Americans their jobs and, ultimately, our nation its progress, he said in a statement.
Jeff Zent, a spokesman for Gov. Jack Dalrymple, said the state, as well as North Dakota congressional delegation, have reached out repeatedly for federal assistance in helping deal with opposition to the pipeline. Zent explained the state has no control over the projects future.
This is the second federal court ruling in favor of the project moving forward. Our focus in all of this continues to be on public safety, Dalrymple said in a statement.
Protest costs mount
The state has incurred about $6 million in law enforcement costs over the past 11 weeks and Dalrymple said he expects that cost to go higher. To help pay for state services, North Dakota's congressional delegation is trying to get funding into an end-of-the-year omnibus spending bill.
"We'll get the money, I think," Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said during the Great Plains & EmPower ND Energy Conference in Bismarck on Tuesday.
Heitkamp said North Dakota lawmakers recently tried to get the funding passed as part of a continuing resolution without success, but because of that effort, "we've been able to spend a lot of time with people who understand our concerns," getting the attention of ranking members of Congress.
"We're already on the radar. We're not starting on ground zero," she said.
Dalrymple said he has great faith in North Dakota's delegation, "But I don't sit in my office every day hoping the money will show up."
Without a federal reimbursement, the state will tap into funds set aside by its emergency management plan, typically used for such events as flood response.
Energy Transfer Partners said it will coordinate with local and state law enforcement officials and hopes federal resources will be involved as well.
We reiterate our commitment to protect cultural resources, the environment and public safety. We echo the urgings of the North Dakota governor, its two senators, its congressman and local enforcement officials that any protests be undertaken in a peaceful and law abiding manner, the company statement said.
The Associated Press and Bismarck Tribune reporter Jessica Holdman contributed to this report.
Suspected Pakistani hackers breached the websites of a Government Law College (GLC) in Mumbai and a private college in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on Monday.
In Mumbai, the GLC authorities lodged a complaint at the Marine Lines police station after hackers put up a message on the college website, saying "To all Indians out there...surgical strike...lolx...," referring to the army's recent surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
An officer of the Cyber Crime Cell of Mumbai police: "Some students noticed it last evening and alerted the authorities. We are investigating the IP address from which the website was defaced".
Suspected Pakistani hackers breached the websites of Government Law College (GLC) in Mumbai and a private college in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on Monday (file pic)
"The GLC website is hosted through a private server and the hackers may have taken advantage of the security loopholes in it," said the officer.
In a similar case of cyber-attack, suspected Pakistani hackers, who identified themselves as 'Death Adders Crew', hacked the website of Gandhinagar-based LDRP Institute of Technology and Research (LDRP-ITR).
They posted a photograph of Pakistan's flag and the slogan, 'Pakistan Zindabad', on the homepage of the institute.
The hackers also warned of more attacks, saying Abhi toh party shuru hui hai (the party has just started), borrowing a line from a popular Hindi film song.
The college authorities noticed the incident on Monday night. LDRPITR is under Kadi Sarva Vishwavidyalaya (KSV), a private university. "We immediately deactivated the website. Only the homepage was hacked and all data is safe.
For army snipers donning camouflaged battle-gear, Dushman Shikaar, Hum Shikaari is the duty mantra as they guard the highly sensitive Line of Control (LoC).
Ply boards with the slogan written on them dot pine tree tops on the foot-tracks of patrolling parties and border woods along LoC.
Snipers and soldiers, whose morale has risen further after the surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (KoP), are out to give a fitting reply to any ceasefire violation by Pakistan and foil infiltration attempts of terrorists.
Even the movement of a cat is watched with electronic gadgets, say army officials
Pointing towards a ply-card motto nailed to a pine tree on foot patrolling track along a three-tier fence, Sniper Ram Singh (name changed) said, The enemy sitting across the Lakshman Rekha (LoC) is my prey and I am his hunter.
"We work as per this motto for those daring to cross the Lakshman Rekha. Singh, along with other snipers, are highly trained to hit specific enemies daring to breach the LoC.
Like snipers, the motto is no different for jawans and officers monitoring the forward post who undertake foot patrolling along the LoC amid electronic surveillance.
Snipers are highly trained to hit specific enemies daring to breach the Line of Control
Such surveillance is necessary to guard the Indo- Pak border in Noushera sector of Rajouri district, which falls opposite to Bhimbher district of PoK, where heavily armed special forces hit terror launch pads in a well-planned pre-dawn surgical strike last month.
Noushera sector - with thick coniferous woods, deep valleys, rock-cut mountains is now a target of the Pakistani troops post the strike.
Noushera sector was once the biggest infiltration area as there were huge launching pads and terrorist training camps in the Bhimbher- Samahni-Nikyal belt across LoC.
We are most vigilant along the LoC. We cannot even for a moment keep LoC out of manual and electronic sight. We cannot trust Pakistani troops. They are insulted following surgical strike, said another soldier at the forward post.
See more news from India at www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome
Questions included the idea of starring in an imaginary sex tape with Kim
Shah Rukh Khan is known for his wit, and this trait came to fore when the Bollywood superstar took to cyberspace to chat with fans on social media on Tuesday.
Reveling in the festive spirit of Dusshera, SRK let his hair down and opened up on all sorts of queries coming from fans - from candid talk of his sons girlfriends to the idea of starring in an imaginary Kim Kardashian sex tape.
The session #AskSRK naturally became a trending topic.
Shah Rukh Khan is known for his wit, and this trait came to fore when the Bollywood superstar took to cyberspace to chat with fans on social media
The superstar, who is currently in Europe shooting for Imtiaz Alis next film, The Ring, did not mind compromising on sleep to interact with fans.
While on the fantasy Kardashian tape question, it was among the most mischievous tweets and it came from @jangir36.
Will you accept if @KimKardashian offers you to be part of her next sex tape? (sic) wrote Jangir.
Shah Rukh retweeted Jangirs post and replied: Ha ha. This is a first!! (sic)
Mischievous: A jokey question asked SRK if he would be part of a sex tape with Kardashian
He was more on form answering @Sreelakshmi97 s question. Do you know about aryans gfs? (sic) she asked.
We keep our girlfriends to ourselves!!! (sic) replied @iamsrk.
The subject of Salman Khan is bound to crop up in any interaction involving SRK. At this interactive session, though, the questions coming in were mostly humorous.
"Y it is always d guys wil lyk @BeingSalmanKhan d most and girls @iamsrk!? (sic) asked @MchArmiNgprInce, wondering why Salman was popular among boys while SRK was loved more by the girls.
Twitter users had a field day asking SRK silly questions and making propositions
Between the two of us we have it all! (sic) quipped SRK in reply. Propositions were cleverly averted, too.
Can I have a party night with u baby, (sic) wrote ?@imrishabh555, to which @iamsrk replied: Maybe on the night I dont have a headache. (sic)
One user even suggested SRK would be a good Kardashian family member
A few fans tried making physical advances, too. @AlekhandraKhan, for instance, wrote: I want to bite your lips! can I?? (sic) SRK on his part was at his wittiest best.
No I havent brushed my teeth yet! (sic) he tweeted back. For all his cheeky banter, though, Shah Rukh cut a coy picture when it came to affairs of the heart.
Questions ranged from the personal to the plain silly (above)
Asked about tips on love, he hit surrender mode. Meri ex girlfriend ko phir se kaise patao? M sorry for what I have done to her. Help needed please! (sic) wrote @ankitsuman2.
Bhai main real life mein ladkiyon ke maamle mein thoda kamzor hoon. Sorry u will have to figure it out urself, wrote @iamsrk.
The tweet chat session was originally intended to run for 15 minutes but went on for much longer.
The session also saw SRK answer questions related to Akshay Kumar, his experience of working with Alia Bhatt and Imtiaz Ali in various upcoming films, and giving birthday greetings to Amitabh Bachchan.
Bachchan skirts Pakistan actors issue on his 74th Birthday
Birthday press conference: Bachchan
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who turned 74 on Tuesday, said it was time for people to express solidarity with Indian soldiers when they are coming under terror attacks that has incensed the country.
Bachchan said this during a press conference on the occasion of his birthday when asked if Bollywood is divided over supporting Pakistani artistes working in India, amid the demand for their ban after the Uri terror attack. Bachchan also said he respects all artistes.
With folded hands I request you that this is not the time and I dont think it is right to put forward these questions, said Bachchan, who was dubbed Indias first angry young man for his on-screen roles in Bollywood.
Bachchan: 'Solidarity with Indian soldiers'
He felt that considering the grave situation at the border one should express solidarity with Indian soldiers.
Who said what and why, where and how, this is not the time for it.
"The nation is incensed, the people of this country are very angry by the incidents that are happening at our border.
"I think it is time to express solidarity with our jawans, armed forces who are sacrificing their life so that you and me can be safe now. Thats what needs to be put in question and nothing else."
A day after Priyanka Chopras slogan vest on the cover of Conde Nast Travellers Indian edition created controversy, the magazine issued a long-winded yet vague clarification.
"We believe that the opening up of borders and the breaking down of walls can help us discover the world, and open up our minds and hearts.
"So, when we had actress Priyanka Chopra wear a T-shirt we created on the cover of our sixth anniversary issue, we had a point to make. And its not about privilege. Or fashion," a spokesperson of the magazine stated on Tuesday.
A day after Priyanka Chopras slogan vest on the cover of Conde Nast Travellers Indian edition created controversy, the magazine issued a long-winded yet vague clarification
The actor meanwhile is silent over the photo that has her posing in a white vest, the words on which stirred debate.
The shirt has refugee, immigrant and outsider struck off, with the word traveller intact.
"Its about how our labelling of people as immigrants, refugees and outsiders is creating a culture of xenophobia, Conde Nast defended.
"We are allowing thousands of innocent people who are forced to cross borders due to unimaginable terror and atrocities to be treated without humanity and empathy.
"Its about how we are allowing some powerful leaders to build barriers that make it more difficult for bright, motivated and hardworking people to see more of the world, learn from it and make it better for us all, they added.
Its time we demand better, and stand against the building of walls, literal and otherwise.
"We must demand a world free of racism and bigotry and prejudice, so that we - and generations after us - may enjoy all the abundance that travel offers, the beauty of a world that is open and rich and diverse in its people and cultures and geographies.
Considering the situation for migrants in Calais (above) the shoot was criticised for its timing
The 'jungle' camp in Calais is a temporary home for thousands of migrants
Priyanka has become even more high profile with her ABC Television series Quantico
"And we must, in the midst of our many differences, find and celebrate our commonalities, our oneness.
"We must recognise that we are all on a journey.
"Whether we are moving across oceans or just a few kilometres, or in our mind's eye, into a completely different world, whether we are doing so due to free will or circumstance - that we are all travellers.
"And this is why Priyanka Chopra - a star at home and abroad, who has experienced firsthand the opportunities that travel offers - is the perfect ambassador, the magazine further said.
No sooner did the photo appear, social media was abuzz with criticism.
Describing India as land of buddh (knowledge) and not yudh (war), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday drew a parallel between Rams victory over Ravana with the modern-day fight against terrorism.
Modi told the crowd in Uttar Pradesh: "We are at a point now where those who support terror or allow it cannot go unpunished.
The PM attended historic Ramleela function at Aishbagh Maidan in Lucknow in a first public address since the surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and sent a message about Indias determination to fight terrorism.
Describing India as land of buddh (knowledge) and not yudh (war), PM Narendra Modi drew a parallel between Rams victory over Ravana and India's fight against terrorism
Starting and ending his speech with Jai Sri Ram, a slogan that had become symbol of BJPs resurgence, Modi said Ram left behind legacy of humanity and sacrifice and Jatayu, the eagle that tried to stop Sitas kidnapping, was first to fight against terrorism.
He asked people to remain vigilant against terrorism just like Jatayu. The Prime Minister said India will not spare those who shelter terrorists in a remark seen against Pakistan.
Modi told the crowd: 'We are at a point now where those who support terror or allow it cannot go unpunished'.
"We see visuals of what terrorism is doing to Syria. It brings tears to ones eyes. It gives us the conviction that there is no guarantee for the safety of humanity without defeating terrorism," he said.
Apart from talking about terrorism, the Prime Minister also focused on equality of women as today (October 11) is also the International Day of the Girl Child.
Hindu gods Laksman, Rama, Sita and Hanuman
"We should collectively work towards an India where there is no discrimination based on gender and where girls get all the opportunities to shine," he said.
The Prime Ministers symbolism of Ram and the anti-terror operations in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh was meant to deliver a strong political message.
Devotees prepare to immerse an idol of the Hindu goddess Durga in the Yamuna River
"We burn effigy of Ravan every year but what lesson do we take? We should have only one resolve - to finish our social evils and strengthen our will to end all evils, he said, adding that the Ravan within us must be destroyed.
The Vijaya Dashami celebrations at the historic venue were attended by all the bigwigs of the BJP including Union home minister Rajnath Singh.
Statue of Ravana with eighteen hands and nine heads in a temple in Chennai
Modi performed aarti of the characters playing Lord Ram and Sita and was later congratulated by the city mayor Dinesh Sharma, the convener of the 70-year-old Ramlila.
The PM said that it was his good fortune to attend the event at the land that has given Ram and Krishna. Home minister Singh said that Lucknow was karmabhoomi of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The PM spoke about 20 minutes and most of his speech was on terrorism but he resorted to only veiled attacks against Pakistan.
"Terrorism is against humanity. The entire world is being destroyed if you think that we are insulated against terrorism, then we are wrong. It is a virus affecting our societies.
"All forces across the world have to talk in one voice and end it, he said. This is the first time when a Prime Minister has attended Dussehra outside Delhi.
Prime Minister Modi chose to travel to Lucknow and his visit is being linked to the Assembly elections due in the state early next year.
It is expected that the PM will give a strong message against terrorism.
India united in fight against evil
Giant effigies of 10-headed demon king Ravana were burnt on the Red Fort lawns here on the occasion of Dussehra on Tuesday, marking the triumph of good over evil, as the theme to defeat terrorism and recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army across LoC dominated the celebrations.
The Shri Dharmic Leela Committees Ram Lila event was attended by President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar among others.
This year Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not attend the event here as he participated in Dussehra celebrations in Lucknow in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi performs 'Aarti' of artists enacting Lord Ram and Laxman during Dussehra celebrations
Conveying his wishes, the President sai, "Celebrations bind the communities and regions of India in a true sense of brotherhood and should motivate us to make renewed efforts for the unity and progress of our country."
Mukherjee said he too returned from Birbhum, West Bengal after celebrating Durga Puja there.
The dignitaries also performed aarti before the artistes dressed as Ram and Lakshman, a yearly ritual.
This year Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not attend the event here as he participated in Dussehra celebrations in Lucknow in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh
As a mark of peace, they also released white pigeons in the air. Several posters saluting the army's valour after the surgical strikes were seen at the event.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, at a nearby Ramlila celebrations, wished people well on the occasion of Dussehra.
"If we can work together, we can definitely achieve our goals," Kejriwal said, adding, "We will face the evils in society together."
Women initiate the procession by first applying red sindoor
Rosie O'Donnell's teenage daughter secretly married a man 12 years her senior without telling the television star, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Chelsea O'Donnell, 19, and her 31-year-old boyfriend had a hush-hush ceremony on July 1 because they were worried about Rosie's reaction.
A source close to the couple revealed that they married before an official at Islip Town Hall on Long Island, New York after eight months of dating. They first met at a Dunkin Donuts last November.
The couple wore casual clothes for the ceremony before going out to a local burger joint to celebrate.
Rosie O'Donnell's teenage daughter Chelsea has secretly married a man 12 years older than she is - without telling her TV personality mother. The couple kept the wedding a secret for fear of how Rosie would react
Chelsea married 31-year-old plumber Nicholas Alliegro in a hush-hush ceremony back in July
Pictured: Chelsea , her sister Vivienne, actress Fran Drescher and adoptive mother Rosie at a cabaret cruise in New York in June. Chelsea has been estranged from her family and Rosie only discovered her daughter was married after she was hospitalized on Labor Day. Hospital staff told the 54-year-old that Chelsea had a husband
The former View star only found her daughter was married to Nicholas Alliegro when Chelsea was hospitalized on Labor Day and she called the hospital to check up on her.
A source told DailyMail.com that the former View star attempted to find out about her daughters medical condition but was informed by a hospital staff member that they could only release this information to Chelseas husband.
When Rosie argued that her teenage daughter wasnt married, she was corrected by the medical worker.
Nicholas Alliegro confirmed the marriage to DailyMail.com but declined to comment further.
Chelsea ODonnell has changed her name on Instagram to Chelsea Alliegro.
She said that 'almost everything isn't true' but declined to say what exactly she disputed or give her own version of events.
Rosie ODonnells representative has not responded to a request for comment.
The extraordinary series of events began with Chelsea being reconciled to her mother after a lengthy estrangement.
Chelsea and Nick - a plumber - have been living together at an apartment in Sayville, New York, for several months.
According to the source, it was Nick who insisted that Chelsea work on her relationship with Rosie and the rest of the family.
'Nick felt it was important for Chelsea to have a sense of family, as there's nothing more important,' the source said.
After Chelsea reached out to Rosie, the breakthrough reconciliation for the TV star, 54, and her eldest daughter happened 'almost overnight'.
On June 20, Rosie was pictured with Chelsea, Nick and her 13-year-old daughter Vivienne at a charity gala in Manhattan.
In late June, Chelsea spent a weekend reuniting with her brothers and sisters Vivienne, Parker, 21, Blake, 16, and three-year-old Dakota.
She had not been in touch with her siblings or her other adoptive mother, Rosie's first ex-wife Kelli Carpenter, since last year. Rosie had banned the family from contacting Chelsea in December unless she agreed to her ultimatum of going to therapy.
'Their reunion happened quickly and Chelsea was so happy to be around everyone again and reconciled with her siblings,' the source said.
But what she did not tell her family was that she and her plumber boyfriend were planning to get married - at her insistence.
'Chelsea really wanted to get married and told Nick she couldn't imagine spending the rest of her life with anyone else,' a source told DailyMail.com.
'He knew that they would get married eventually but Chelsea was dead-set on getting married immediately, so he bought a diamond ring.
'She has abandonment issues because of her family situation. She feels that everyone leaves her.'
The couple wanted to tell everyone but they kept the wedding a secret because they were worried about how Rosie would take the news.
Chelsea ODonnell, who changed her name on Instagram to Alliegro, did not wish to comment on her marriage. Nicholas Alliegro confirmed the marriage to DailyMail.com but refused to comment further
Loved up: the young couple have been living together at an apartment in Sayville, New York, for months
Chelsea O'Donnell with Kelli Carpenter, Rosie's first ex-wife. Chelsea has not been in touch with Kelli or her siblings since late last year, when Rosie banned the family from contacting her unless she agreed to go to therapy
Chelsea was admitted to hospital on Labor Day, a source told DailyMail.com, leading to her adoptive mother Rosie learning of her marriage
'They were concerned that she wouldn't approve,' the source said.
Only Alliegro's immediate family were informed in the days after the wedding took place. 'They were shocked but they love Chelsea.'
The couple told nothing of their news to Rosie, who also began supporting her daughter financially again and gave her a new car.
In August, Rosie posted a selfie with Chelsea, writing in the caption: 'Chelsea and me what a difference a year makes. #hopelives.'
But the reconciliation proved to be short-lived.
On Labor Day, Chelsea was admitted to a Long Island hospital.
A source told DailyMail.com that rumors the teen had been partying, taking illegal drugs and drinking alcohol were completely false.
'She is struggling with depression,' the source told DailyMail.com.
A neighbor called an ambulance after finding the teen disorientated and approaching passers-by on the street outside her home.
She underwent a psychological evaluation and spent five days in hospital with no visitors other than her husband.
It was during those five days that Rosie called the hospital - and was given the news that her daughter was married by a member of staff.
In June the mother and daughter temporarily reunited, but that reconciliation proved short-lived when Chelsea secretly married her beau and was hospitalized two months later. Rosie is pictured in LA in August
A clearly relieved Rosie posted on Twitter when her daughter was released, saying simply 'she is ok...' accompanied by what appeared to be a throwback snap of Chelsea
Vivienne and Rosie with Chelsea and her brother Blake in May 2015. Chelsea's hospital stay prompted a fresh crisis in relations.
Since the hospital stay Chelsea is not currently on speaking terms with Rosie or the rest of her family
After her release from hospital, Chelsea reconnected with her birth mother, Deanna Micolley, who lives in Wisconsin and gave Chelsea up for adoption in 1997
Back together: Chelsea is now living with her birth mother, Deanna Micolley, who lives in Wisconsin, but remains married to her husband
'Rosie was disappointed but remained calm after hearing the news,' the source said.
'Rosie called to try to convince Chelsea to get into a residential program but she didn't come to the hospital. None of her family came to see her.'
The source claimed that the hospital stay prompted a fresh crisis in relations.
Chelsea's car was taken away two days into her hospital stay and it appeared that Rosie had financially cut her off after she found out she was married. However it is not clear if Rosie kept the sanction in place.
'Rosie wanted to control the situation,' the insider said. 'She has all the power. Chelsea couldn't handle sitting alone in the apartment all day by herself.'
Two days after her daughter's hospitalization, Rosie tweeted: 'She is ok #RealLife #chillymy'.
At first, the TV star also suggested that the 19-year-old move back with her at her compound in Nyack - which Chelsea agreed to.
'When Chelsea took her up on that offer, she changed her mind,' the source said. 'Rosie said she was worried Chelsea would be a danger to Dakota.'
Now it appears that Chelsea is no longer on speaking terms with Rosie or much of the rest of her family.
In the weeks following her release from hospital, Chelsea decided to reconnect with her birth mother, Deanna Micolley, who lives in Wisconsin.
Rosie called to try to convince Chelsea to get into a residential program but she didn't come to the hospital. None of her family came to see her.
'She needs to be around people and get back on her feet. She wants to get better and there's a doctor she can see in Wisconsin,' the source said.
Deanna drove from her home in Wisconsin to collect Chelsea in New York.
They first met in August 2015 after Chelsea moved to Wisconsin for several weeks to get to know her birth mother, who gave her up for adoption in 1997, and her step-siblings.
At the time, Chelsea, then 17, was going through a tumultuous period with Rosie and went missing from her Nyack home.
Rosie raised the alarm with police and on August 18 2015 she posted on her website: 'Chelsea stopped taking her medicine and is in need of medical attention. Any information please contact authorities.'
However Chelsea told DailyMail.com last year that Rosie had kicked her out before her 18th birthday and denied Rosie's claims that she was mentally ill.
Chelsea was found around a week later in New Jersey with a 25-year-old man, Steven Sheerer, whom she had met on Tinder.
Sheerer previously had been convicted of possessing controlled dangerous substances and child endangerment after a 2013 incident in which he was arrested with heroin and marijuana while in a car with a woman and her two children, aged one and three. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years' probation.
He was charged with endangering the welfare of a child in Chelsea's disappearance and third-degree distribution of obscenity to a minor. The latter was the result of a nude photo Sheerer sent the teen on Tinder when she was underage.
At the age of 17 Chelsea went missing from the family home in Nyack. She was found around a week later in New Jersey with a 25-year-old man, Steven Sheerer (pictured left), whom she had met on Tinder. Right: A visibly distressed Rosie photographed after her daughter had been found
The house in Barnegat Township, New Jersey, where Chelsea O'Donnell was found with Steve Sheerer
Chelsea returned from Wisconsin to petition a judge in New Jersey to drop charges that had been brought against Steve over their relationship. The charges were dropped last September.
A few weeks later, Chelsea spoke to DailyMail.com, sharing the details of her problems with Rosie.
'I find her not genuine a lot of the time,' she said. 'When we'd go out, she was a completely different person in public than at home and I had a hard time with that. It's like two different people.'
Chelsea claimed she hadn't run away from home in August and that her mother had kicked her out instead. She also denied being mentally ill.
'People think I'm this crazy person and as I've said, I have depression and bad anxiety but it's been something that's gotten a lot better. But these were personal things and I didn't want anyone to know them about me.
'I wouldn't say I'm mentally ill I would say lots of people struggle with what I have,' she said at the time.
The teen later moved in with the family of an old school friend on Long Island and around November met Alliegro.
In December, Chelsea told DailyMail.com how happy she was in her new relationship with the 30-year-old.
Chelsea said: 'We have everything in common. He makes me feel really good and he brings out the best in me.
'He's very supportive and sweet, he makes me laugh, and does small things to make me smile. He goes out of his way to do nice things for me.'
The source said this week: 'Chelsea and Nick are still very much together but they both felt the best thing for her at the moment was to be around people instead of spending so much time alone.
Bosses at Jim Ratcliffe's plant believe it causes high un
A rags-to-riches British billionaire chemicals boss is planning to make workers take their morning tea break at the end of their shift, it was claimed today.
Contracted staff at the huge Ineos petrochemical plant in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, are allegedly facing the possibility of an end to their 10am break.
Bosses at the plant owned by industrialist Jim Ratcliffe are said to believe it leads to high levels of unproductive time in the mornings and will be rescheduled.
Industrialist: Swiss-based Jim Ratcliffe, a 61-year-old married father-of-three who has been nicknamed JR after the Dallas oil tycoon, is said to be worth almost 6billion
Workers' concerns: Staff at the huge Ineos petrochemical plant in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, are allegedly facing the possibility of an end to their 10am break (file picture)
But furious staff told the Daily Record that generations of workers have valued their break and it is feared the proposal could be copied by bosses around Britain.
Speaking to reporter Chris Clements, one worker said: Ratcliffe enjoys a life of luxury. Im sure he gets ten minutes for a cup of tea in the morning.
Workers across the generations have enjoyed their tea break. Its a great Scottish tradition. Theres no way we should be giving it up easily.
Workers will get an extra half hours pay per day as compensation and managers say the break will be rescheduled to the end of the shift rather than be scrapped.
The firm insists it has not proposed changes to Ineos workers' terms and conditions, but it is the contractors who have suggested moving the break for their staff.
However, employees say they often feel in dire need of a break by 10am thanks to the physicality of their work, and use the time to warm up when working outside.
Workers' bicycle: Bosses at the plant owned by industrialist Mr Ratcliffe are said to believe the tea break leads to high levels of unproductive time in the mornings and will be rescheduled
Worries: Furious staff at Grangemouth (file picture) said that generations of workers have valued their break and it is feared the proposal could be copied by bosses around Britain
Labour MSP Neil Findlay has backed the employees, and another worker told the Record: Weve got a message for Jim Ratcliffe youll never take our tea break.
Mr Ratcliffe, a 61-year-old married father-of-three who has been nicknamed JR after the Dallas oil tycoon, is said to be worth almost 6billion.
Earlier this year it was revealed Ineos will to move its international headquarters back to the UK six years after the chemicals giant relocated to Switzerland.
That move followed a fallout with the then prime minister Gordon Brown, but now it will transfer its executives to London, where it will also be based for tax purposes.
Ineos relocated to Rolle in 2010 when Ratcliffe became unhappy with the Labour government, which would not let his firm defer a 350million VAT payment.
The company, which had a run-in with unions in 2013 that almost led to the closure of its Grangemouth refinery, employs 4,000 staff at seven UK sites.
Unhappy: Employees at Grangemouth say they often feel in dire need of a break by 10am thanks to the physicality of their work, and use the time to warm up when working outside
Defence: Workers will get an extra half hours pay per day as compensation and managers say the break will be rescheduled to the end of the shift rather than be scrapped
An Ineos spokesman told MailOnline today: There have been no changes proposed to T&C's for Ineos employees in regard to the matter.
However, our independent contractors have proposed a change to the timing of a ten-minute mid-shift break.
'A pilot scheme would include a move of the ten-minute break to later in the day and 30 minutes additional pay for the inconvenience.
Our contractor partners have consulted with their employees and with the unions under the National Agreement.
'People are being asked about their views about the proposal and a final decision will be made in conjunction with the unions at the end of the proposed pilot scheme.
The spokesman also pointed out that Mr Ratcliffe has invested 450million into Grangemouth over the past three years to protect the future of the site.
He added that Mr Ratcliffe is now a tax resident in the UK having previously been in Switzerland, and the Grangemouth site and company along with Ineoss shale and gas businesses and its Inovyn chemical firms are all UK companies.
Thousands of Germans who committed crimes for the Third Reich were protected from prosecution for decades by ex-Nazi judges, a study has found.
Researchers have discovered 77 percent of justice ministry senior officials in 1957 were former members of Hitler's party - a bigger proportion than from 1933 to 1945.
The study also revealed that more than half of all senior officials in the Justice Ministry in the 1950s and 1960s were ex-Nazis who through inaction or intentional sabotage systematically protected fellow former members of Adolf Hitler's National Socialist party from prosecution and shaped West Germany's legal code for decades.
Thousands of Germans who committed crimes for the Third Reich were protected from prosecution for decades by ex-Nazi judges, a study has found
Some had been prosecutors and judges during the Nazi era and were apparently recruited for their legal expertise after the war.
Presenting the study in Berlin, Justice Minister Heiko Maas said: 'The Nazi-era lawyers went on to cover up old injustice rather than to uncover it and thereby created new injustice,' according to The Telegraph.
His co-author Cristoph Safferling admitted he did not expect the figure of Hitler's men in the ministry to be so high, but said it helped explain why so few war criminals went to prison.
When the officials were subsequently questioned on their Nazi involvement, many claimed ignorance, saying they were merely following orders.
'You never find words of regret, only justifications,' Prof Safferling said.
The scholars said the study illustrated the importance of teaching to resist injustice, as many of those concerned appeared to have seen no difference between carrying out harsh sentences for Hitler's regime and working within the post-war democratic system.
Among them were Eduard Dreher, a Nazi-era prosecutor who sought the death sentence for petty criminals, and Max Merten, who was involved in the deportation of Jews from occupied Greece during the war.
The study is part of a broader effort to scrutinize the influence of Nazis after the war.
Among the other steps being undertaken are a reform of Germany's murder laws, which contain elements of Nazi-era ideology, and the rehabilitation of around 50,000 gay men convicted under laws criminalizing homosexuality until 1969.
'Injustice can appear in the guise of the law,' said Maas, arguing that history provided a strong argument against stripping away suspects' basic rights in times of emergency.
He wants the failings of German jurists during the 20th century to become a compulsory part of future legal training.
Justice Minister Heiko Maas said a new study highlighting the extent to which former Nazis protected each other from prosecution in post-war West Germany should serve as a warning to the legal profession
While U.S. authorities tried 16 Nazi-era jurists and lawyers in 1947, convicting most of them, West Germany was reluctant to do the same.
No Nazi-era judges and just one prosecutor were put on trial after the establishment of the West German Federal Republic in 1949.
'Knowledge of history can sharpen people's senses for situations where human rights and the rule of law are called into question again,' said Maas.
He cited recent government pressure on the legal systems in Turkey and Poland, and U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's threat to jail opponent Hillary Clinton if he wins the election, as examples of attempts to use the justice system for political ends.
The study called Rosenburg Project, named after a 19th-century villa in Bonn where the Justice Ministry was first based after the war, covers the period from 1950 to 1973.
Police in two states neglected to report officer-involved shooting deaths as required by law in hundreds of cases over a decade, a study found.
Texas and California are the only states that require reporting to the attorney general's office of all in-custody and police-involved shootings, according to CBS News.
But a study by Texas State University in San Marcos found that about 220 use-of-force fatalities in Texas and 440 in California were not reported from 2005-2015, according to The Houston Chronicle.
In September, two officers were shot in Fort Worth (above) - by law, any shootings involving cops must be reported to the district attorneys office, but that wasn't happening over the past decade, said a study
'Were not really blaming anyone - this is an incredibly complex problem,' Howard Williams, one of the professors who headed up the study, told CBS News.
Without understanding how shootings happen, Williams said that it would be difficult to know how to change policy, improve training, or what new equipment might be needed.
Brenda Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the California Attorney Generals Office, told the outlet that the state has 'no explicit enforcement mechanism' to make sure shootings get reported.
In Harris County, which encompasses Houston, there were more than 40 unreported shooting deaths.
The Houston Police Department itself had 16 shooting deaths missing from the custodial death registry, according to the study.
Julian Ramirez, who heads the civil rights division of the Harris County District Attorney's Office, told the newspaper he would review the list of unreported local deaths and consider whether enforcement action was warranted.
Above, crime scene where a man was shot while trying to stab two cops at the Downtown Santa Monica Expo Line station. By law, the shooting should be reported to the district attorney, but the LA police department hasn't been consistent with its reporting
The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and the Fresno Police Department had 34 shooting deaths missing from the registry, according to the study, and didn't file any reports from 2006 to 2011.
Nicole Nishida, an L.A. County sheriffs spokeswoman, told CBS News that a 'clerical error' was to blame.
However, after the clerical error was apparently fixed, four more deaths went unreported.
She told the outlet that the sheriff's department was currently filing its reports with the California Department of Justice.
Fights back tears as she describes issue as 'deeply personal'
Queensland mum of four says plebiscite 'deeply offensive' to gay people
An Australian politician with a gay son has fought back tears as she condemned government plans for a same sex marriage plebiscite.
Susan Lamb vowed to stand in solidarity with this son during her maiden speech to federal parliament.
' I carry a sense of disillusionment that our laws treat the love of one son inferior to that of his brothers,' she said on Monday night.
The mother of four said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's plans for a plebiscite on gay marriage would hurt people struggling to accept their sexuality.
'Discrimination against vulnerable minorities should never be a point of national debate,' she said.
'It's mere existence should be the cause for immediate action.
'For me, this matter is deeply personal but the issue, it affects many, many Australians.
The member for Longman says fighting discrimination is a parental duty
'Regardless of the outcome, the holding of a plebiscite is deeply offensive to LGBTI Australians and it is deeply insulting to those who love them.'
The House of Representatives member for Longman, covering Brisbane's outer north in Queensland, said fighting discrimination was a parental duty, as her four sons George, Chris, Jack and Kyle watched from the public gallery.
Susan Lamb with her sons (left to right) George, Chris, Jack and Kyle who watched her speech
Susan Lamb with one of her sons, George, who witnessed his mum deliver her maiden speech
'I will always be a person who stands against discrimination in all its permutations,' she said.
'In doing so, I stand in solidarity with my son and the LGBTI community.
'Those of us who are parents understand the innate instinct to fight against the unfair treatment of our children.'
Labor leader Bill Shorten (left) and Longman MP Susan Lamb oppose the plebiscite
Federal Labor politicians formalised their opposition to the government's plebiscite legislation during a meeting in Canberra on Tuesday.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten made the announcement during the afternoon with shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus and equality frontbencher Terri Butler.
Attorney-General George Brandis had released draft amendments to the Marriage Act late on Monday night.
Labor leader Bill Shorten (centre) with Mark Dreyfus and Terri Butler
The changes include redefining marriage as between 'two people' instead of 'a man and a woman' and letting ministers of religion to refuse to officiate a marriage.
Non-religious celebrants can also refuse to marry a same-sex couple on a 'conscientious' basis under the proposed legislation.
The Turnbull Government isn't allowing its members of parliament a conscience vote on same sex marriage and is instead proposing a plebiscite in February 2017.
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek hugs Shelley Argent, who has a gay son, on Tuesday
The Greens, Nick Xenophon Team and independent senator Derryn Hinch oppose the plebiscite.
Ms Lamb, a former teacher's aide and teenage mum, was elected to parliament at the July elections, beating Liberal National Party incumbent Wyatt Roy, who first won the seat aged 20 in 2010.
'Wyatt should be acknowledged for demonstrating that age is no barrier to contributing to public life,' she said of her predecessor who supported gay marriage.
Susan Lamb holds back tears during her speech condemning gay marriage plebiscite
CLEARBROOK, Minn. Activists protesting the movement of tar-sands oil from Canada into the U.S. have taken action today against five different pipelines, including two Enbridge Energy lines in northern Minnesota.
Shannon Gustafson, a spokeswoman for Enbridge, said on Tuesday morning, Oct. 11, that a company valve station near Clearbrook, Minn., had been tampered with.
Gustafson said it wasn't yet clear if the line had been shut down or if there was any damage, but activists said they simply turned emergency valves to stop the flow of oil without causing any damage.
Gustafson said the companys Line 4 and Line 67 were hit and that no oil was spilled.
A group calling itself "Climate Direct Action" reported online that the actions were taken early Tuesday against the Enbridge lines and also TransCanadas Keystone pipeline in Walhalla, N.D.; Spectra Energys Express pipeline in Coal Banks Landing, Mont.; and Kinder-Morgans Trans-Mountain pipeline at Anacortes, Wash.
The activists remained at the valve stations to be arrested after sticking symbolic flowers into valves, said Afrin Sopariwala, a spokeswoman for the group.
They did the research to make sure this wouldn't cause any environmental harm. They used the emergency valves because this is a climate emergency, she said.
The website said the actions were in solidarity with the ongoing protest in North Dakota near the Standing Rock Reservation where Native Americans from dozens of tribes are standing against a pipeline route through what they say is sacred ground.
Environmental activists say Canadian tar sands oil is among the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive oil refined, adding more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contributing to global climate change.
The protest group reported that by 9:30 a.m. activists have successfully shut down five pipelines across the United States delivering tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada in support of the call for International Days of Prayer and Action for Standing Rock. Activists employed manual safety valves, calling on President Obama to use emergency powers to keep the pipelines closed and mobilize for the extraordinary shift away from fossil fuels now required to avert catastrophe.
The group named five activists from Washington and Oregon as those who undertook the pipeline actions, and reported that several of them had been arrested by local authorities including the activists in Minnesota and North Dakota.
One of our activists is still waiting by the Montana valve site to be arrested, Sopariwala said Tuesday.
Enbridge said in a statement the actions by the activist group are criminal acts and the company will support prosecution of those involved.
We respect the rights of others to discuss our business in a safe, respectful and lawful manner, but this mornings activities at our valve site in Leonard, Minn., are unacceptable, the statement reads. The actions taken to unlawfully trespass on our facility, use bolt cutters to cut chains off our valves and then attempt to turn the valves to stop the flow of oil were dangerous and reckless.
The groups involved in this mornings activities claim to be protecting the environment, but their actions alone are inviting an environmental incident and put the safety of people, including themselves and potentially first responders and our employees, at risk.
Sopariwala said the activists involved have spent several years signing petitions, talking to political representatives and pursuing other legal avenues to fight climate change but the efforts havent made a difference.
We felt compelled to take an escalated action, Sopariwala said.
The activists targeted emergency valves of five pipelines and contacted each company to let them know what they were doing, Sopariwala said.
Our intention was not to cause damage but actually stop the damage that were facing, Sopariwala said. The damage and danger and the emergency we are facing far exceeds the breaking of a chain or two.
Seven or more people have been arrested, which include video crews at two sites, Sopariwala said. The charges werent immediately known.
after authorities believed she was a wanted fugitive because her hair is very short
Erin Peters said she was
A breast cancer patient says she was mistaken for a Missouri fugitive because her hair was shaved due to chemotherapy treatments.
Erin Peters, 35, said she felt humiliated when she was handcuffed and questioned when she was stopped Friday at an Idaho Walmart after being mistaken for 18-year-old Whitley Evenson.
Evenson, of Independence, Missouri, is charged with killing her six-week-old baby, Derek Walker, in September 2015, The Coeur d'Alene Press newspaper reported.
'I felt humiliated in front of Walmart, crying,' Peters said after being questioned for 45 minutes.
Breast cancer patient, Erin Peters (left), 35, said she was mistaken for Missouri teenager, Whitley Evenson (right), 18, who was wanted for the death of her infant daughter
Peters said members of the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force believed she was the Missouri fugitive because her hair is very short.
She said she shaved her hair because of cancer treatments.
Task force members went through her purse, her phone and her Facebook account, 'ransacking everything', she said.
'The way they went about this was so wrong,' Peters added.
FBI spokesman Richard Collodi said he regrets that Peters was inconvenienced but the task force had to be sure.
He said suspects often come up with creative excuses to avoid arrest.
Peters (left) said members of the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force believed she was Evenson (pictured right in 2015) because her hair is very short. Peters said she shaved her hair because of cancer treatments
Evenson was booked into Kootenai County jail until she can be extradited back to Jackson County, Missouri, where she is charged with second-degree murder. Prosecutors accused Evenson of suffocating her infant, Derek Walker (pictured)
'I'm confident she was treated professionally,' Collodi said.
The task force had information Evenson would be at that Walmart, Collodi said,
Evenson was arrested later on Friday at the store.
She was out on bond when she failed to appear for a court hearing in July.
Evenson was booked into Kootenai County jail until she can be extradited back to Jackson County, Missouri, where she is charged with second-degree murder.
Jackson County prosecutors accused Evenson of killing her son by putting her hand over the childs mouth until he suffocated.
Police said Evenson and her boyfriend, Leo Walker, had broken up five days before the child's death and he had moved out, according to KMBC.
Walker and the baby's grandmother believe that Evenson killed the baby as revenge for the breakup.
The couple also has a one-year-old daughter, who Evenson's brother has been raising.
Samsung Note 7 phones have been overheating and catching fire, forcing the technology giant to recall and replace the faulty products.
However since the recall some of the replacement handsets have also been catching alight, due to faulty batteries in the phones.
This week manufacturers in the U.S. suspended production over the serious safety concerns - however customers the world over have now been left in the lurch.
For Samsung customers in Australia, the company are offering either a replacement phone for faulty products, or a full refund.
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Samsung Galaxy Note7 phones have been recalled after they were overheating
The telecommunications company was replacing the phones however some of those were also faulty
Consumers have to request a substitute phone, and are then contacted by the original place of purchase, such as mobile phone providers like Telstra, Vodafone, Optus and Virgin Mobile.
These providers will then coordinate the collection or delivery of their new device.
Samsung has urged customers waiting for a replacement to 'back up their data, complete a factory reset to delete personal data and power down their device.'
On Monday after revelations that replacement phones were also faulty, retailers in Australia 'have paused the supply of replacement Galaxy Note7 smartphones'.
'Samsung Electronics Australia is aware of a number of incidents involving replacement Galaxy Note7 smartphones,' they said in a statement on Monday.
'Samsung is conducting a thorough investigation into this matter.
'We continue to move quickly to investigate the reported cases to determine the cause and will provide an update as soon as possible.
'Samsung Electronics Australia would like to reassure our customers that we take this matter very seriously.
Australian customers are eligible for refunds if they have faulty handsets
WHY WERE THE BATTERIES EXPLODING? Lithium batteries are use in a range of consumer electronic devices, favored by manufacturers because they are lightweight and pack much more energy into a small space than other power cells. But storing so much energy in a tiny space, with combustible components separated by ultra-thin walls, makes them susceptible to overheating if exposed to high temperatures, damage or flaws in manufacturing. If the separators fail, a chemical reaction can quickly escalate out of control. Koh Dong-jin, Samsung's mobile president told reporters in Seoul: 'The flaw in the manufacturing process resulted in the negative electrodes and the positive electrodes coming together.' It is unclear how Samsung failed to discover the battery problem before launching the Note 7. Advertisement
'We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate their patience as we work diligently through this process,' the statement ended.
Samsung is also offering a refund to unhappy consumers who were sold a faulty phone in Australia.
In late September U.S. regulators ordered a recall of the original Note7 after the devices demonstrated an unwelcome tendency to catch fire.
Now, following reports that the company's replacement versions have also overheated or caught fire , Samsung says it is 'temporarily adjusting ' Note 7 production to 'ensure quality and safety matters.'
But it neither confirmed nor denied a previous report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency that it has suspended production of the phones.
Carpet in an area of the plane was where the device was dropped was burned by the overheating device, but it was the only damage to the aircraft, authorities said.
Samsung said it's investigating the recent fires and working together with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The four major U.S. mobile carriers, meanwhile, have all suspended trade-ins for the replacement phones; so have major retailers such as Best Buy.
Instead, these companies are offering to swap Note 7s out for any other smartphone of the customer's choice.
Consumers in the U.S. with faulty Note7's have the option of swapping it for an older Samsung phone, exchanging it for a phone made by someone else or waiting it out.
Former Liberal MP Ross Cameron has unleashed a bizarre rant defending US presidential hopeful Donald Trump off the back of his tape scandal.
Mr Cameron appeared on Sky News' Paul Murray Live after Mr Trump faced off against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton wearing a 'Make America Great Again' cap and the Republican's campaign shirt.
Not making a secret of who he supported, the political commentator explained why he thought Mr Trump was good for women after a 2005 recording emerged of him boasting about how being a 'star' meant he could get away with 'anything' when trying to bed women.
Former Liberal MP Ross Cameron has unleashed a bizarre rant defending US presidential hopeful Donald Trump off the back of his tape scandal
Mr Cameron said Mr Trump was 'a victory for women' drawing surprised reactions from his fellow panellists Janine Perrett and Graham Richardson.
'Now the Trump conversation, what it tells you is that in the private moment at the end of the day when the bloke is sitting down with his mates, the thing that his mind turns to is the female of the species,' Mr Cameron said.
'The female is the celestial body around which the male orbits, she is the wiki to which the male will always in the end return.
'She is the dominant figure in human history. The rise and fall of civilisations may be renamed "Who Gets The Girl".'
Like Mr Trump, Mr Cameron is no stranger to political scandal.
The former MP's career came to end in 2004 after he failed to be re-elected for the federal seat of Parramatta after the extremely religious and right-wing father-of-four confessed to the Good Weekend he had cheated on his wife, Genevieve.
'I have been an unfaithful husband,' Mr Cameron said at the time.
'If my constituents want to vote for a great family man, they should probably vote for the other guy.'
The political commentator explained why he thought Mr Trump (pictured) was good for women after a 2005 recording emerged of him boasting about his pursuit of women
Mr Cameron said Mr Trump was 'a victory for women' drawing surprised reactions from his fellow panellists Janine Perrett (left) and Graham Richardson (right)
Earlier this week, Mr Trump was heard bragging about his attempts to seduce a married woman in a recording made on an Access Hollywood set after he was newly wed to his current wife, Melania.
'I moved on her and I failed. I'll admit it. I did try and f*** her. She was married', Mr Trump said.
'And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I'll show you where they have some nice furniture".'
The Republican nominee is later heard bragging about how his celebrity status allows him to do 'anything' to women.
'You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait,' he boasted.
Meanwhile Mr Cameron has courted controversy over his views that Hillary Clinton (pictured) has dementia
'And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything.'
The tape sparked Mr Trump's Republican colleagues to call for him to step down.
Meanwhile Mr Cameron has courted controversy over his views that former secretary of state Clinton has dementia.
The political commentator said a number of things, including her collapse during the 9/11 memorial service, led him to believe she had the condition that deteriorates the functionality of the brain.
'Her inability to have her two eyes moving in the same direction. All of these individual bits of data you have to treat them as either coincidental or else as part of a pattern,' Mr Cameron said.
A man has filmed himself driving a stolen car with his knees at 180km/h while smoking a crack pipe and veering on to the wrong side of the highway.
Jake Robert Dixon, 24, had driven the stolen car through Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Ipswich for three hours in April this year until road spikes stopped him about 1am.
Mobile phone footage he took of himself smoking a 'crack bong' and filling the car with smoke was played at Ipswich Magistrates Court, Daily Mercury reported.
'We would like to apologise to our mummies and daddies, if we do get caught at the end of the night, we got caught doing what we love mummy and daddy' a voice in the recording said.
A polair helicopter tracked the stolen car after Dixon fled when he was initially intercepted by a police car at 10.30pm.
Dixon was charged with 14 offences for what Magistrate Deborah Vasta told the court was 'astonishingly, breathtakingly dangerous'.
'It was clear from your selfie that it was all a big fat joke to you,' Magistrate Vasta said.
A man has filmed himself driving a stolen car with his knees at 180km/h while he smoked a crack pipe and veered onto the wrong side of the highway
'We would like to apologise to our mummies and daddies, if we do get caught at the end of the night, we got caught doing what we love mummy and daddy' a voice in the recording said
'It really is the worst case of offending without actually crashing.'
Dixon pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, two counts of failing to stop, driving under the influence, driving with a disqualified licence, receiving tainted property, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, using false registration plates and drug offences.
He was handed a head sentence of three years in prison with the possibility of parole in April next year.
Magistrate Vasta took into account 176 days pre-sentence custody and gave Dixon a six month suspended sentence.
'Project Dash for Cash' used as the
Staff at The Royal Bank of Scotland were encouraged to squeeze more money from struggling firms under a secret initiative codenamed Project Dash for Cash.
Leaked documents have reignited claims that the state-backed lender deliberately tried to profit from companies that it had vowed to help sometimes causing them to fold.
They show how staff could boost bonuses by generating more cash from these firms by ratcheting up fees and loan repayments, or seizing their assets on the cheap.
Claims: Staff at The Royal Bank of Scotland boosted bonuses by generating cash from firms that needed their help
Last night furious MPs said the confidential files proved that the high street giant deliberately bankrupted businesses.
RBS admits letting down some small business customers in the past, but vigorously denied deliberately causing them to fail. But confidential files leaked to the BBC and news website Buzzfeed show how bank staff were encouraged to target struggling firms in Project Dash for Cash. In the documents bank staff were told they could provoke a default when customers had not defaulted on repayments.
More than 12,000 companies were pushed into the banks controversial turnaround division, the Global Restructuring Group, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Many now claim their firms were destroyed, not helped, by RBS.
Chris Sullivan, who no longer works for the bank, rejected claims made in the Tomlinson report
MPs said the latest findings support claims by former government business adviser Lawrence Tomlinson that RBS deliberately killed off small firms. They also appear to contradict evidence given by two former GRG executives who repeatedly told MPs in 2014 that the division was not a profit centre. Derek Sach and Chris Sullivan, who have since left the bank, rejected claims made in the Tomlinson report.
But in the leaked files GRG is said to have made a 1.2billion profit in 2011. RBS now faces a fresh probe by MPs. John Mann, a Labour member of the Treasury committee said: This is the biggest single financial scandal since the banking crisis. Heads need to roll and lots of them.
But last night RBS pointed out that two reports into the allegations, one by law firm Clifford Chance and the other by former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Andrew Large, both found no proof that the bank deliberately pushed firms into default.
It pointed out that RBS lost more than 2billion by lending to smaller customers between 2008 and 2013.
British troops are being hounded over historic incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan because the Establishment thinks soldiers are bad and terrorists are freedom fighters, a former head of the Armed Forces claimed yesterday.
General Sir David Richards, ex-chief of the defence staff, said there was an instinct in Whitehall that British soldiers arent good.
In an excoriating attack on the Government, he said nobody has the guts to say that view was rubbish.
General Sir David Richards, ex-chief of the defence staff, said there was an instinct in Whitehall that British soldiers arent good
General Sir David Richards presenting medals to Gurkhas from 2RGR at a parade marking the end of their Afghanistan tour in 2009
His comments were supported by a decorated officer now facing prosecution, who said officials viewed soldiers as a load of thugs to hire.
It is the first time Sir David has spoken out about the witch-hunt against British troops since the Mail exposed the scandal last year.
He and two other former generals yesterday hit out at the taxpayer-funded probes into the actions of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In an interview, Sir David also apologised to troops who have faced as many as five investigations into one single incident.
He said he was sorry the military did not identify that legal claims would grow into a many-headed hydra.
Speaking on BBC Twos Victoria Derbyshire programme, Sir David said: Im first of all very sorry that actually we didnt identify the affect it was going to have.
General Sir David Richards (left) with David Cameron and Lt Col Andy Harrison (right) in Helmand province, Afghanistan in 2010
To begin with, in 2010, 2011 it didnt affect our lives at all. It was only subsequently that we began to see in my time that it was growing as a many-headed hydra.
Asked why this was happening, he said: I think this comes out of this instinct somewhere in Whitehall, within the Establishment, that basically soldiers arent good and freedom fighters, we call them terrorists, kill 3,000 people in one go but in the minds of some of these people they are somehow quite good and we are not so weve got to right that balance.
And it has grown from that, no one has got the guts to say thats rubbish.
The idea weve got hundreds if not thousands of soldiers who are culpable, anyone who knows any army, let only the British Army, knows this is not true. There was a fundamental flaw in its inception.
General Sir Mike Jackson
His comments were echoed by a decorated officer who faces possible prosecution over the death of an Iraq over a decade ago. He told the Mail: I think thats correct, they think we are a load of thugs to hire.
The officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, was cleared in 2006 only to then be arrested by the Iraq Historical Allegations Team (Ihat) in 2015. He now faces fresh manslaughter charges.
He said: I am facing the maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The untold cruelties of this process have destroyed my life, it has destroyed my career, has broken me, and the army just dont seem to care.
General Sir Mike Jackson, who was head of the Army when Britain sent troops into Iraq and Afghanistan, said he wanted to see the burden lifted from innocent soldiers.
He added: We are the British Army, we are not some rabble. We have our absolute standards and they must be pursued...
That does not include soldiers who find themselves subject to an investigation on the basis of cooked-up allegations.
It is also the first time Sir Mike has spoken publicly about soldiers being hounded.
Lord Dannatt, who succeeded Sir Mike as head of the Army in 2006, said nervous authorities had veered too much on behalf of those making the allegations.
General Sir Mike Jackson, who was head of the Army when Britain sent troops into Iraq and Afghanistan, said he wanted to see the burden lifted from innocent soldiers
He said it was definitely harmful for operational effectiveness, adding: We need to wind these investigations up as quickly as possible.
Former Army captain and Tory MP Johnny Mercer said: Now we are facing one of the most serious injustices in British military history.
Ive seen our servicemen being dragged through the courts for years, being cleared of wrongdoing only to face repeated investigations, endless questioning and living under the constant threat of being tried for war crimes.
Another soldier, who was been dragged through multiple probes, described how his ordeal was worse than going to war. He was cleared by a court martial in 2006 only to face a probe by Ihat.
A sexual relationship would have been legal under Louisiana law
Other Jefferson officials are demanding that he resign but he's carrying on
The Republican politician did not address the other allegations in his video
He also allegedly bought the boy underwear and kissed him in a bathroom
A married Louisiana politician has released a bizarre infomercial in which he admits to sexting a 17-year-old boy - but says he won't leave office.
'Last summer I was old enough to know better, but I guess I was still young enough to do something stupid,' 40-year-old Jefferson Parish President Mike Yenni says in the video posted by NOLA.com.
His remarks come just over a week after the FBI confirmed it was investigating claims he had an improper relationship with the teen, which included kissing him, buying him underwear and sending sexts of threesome fantasies.
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Scandal: Jefferson Parish President Mike Yenni (left, with wife Michelle Swanner and daughter Reagan) admitted Thursday to sending sexts to a 17-year-old high school boy in 2015
Apology: In the video (pictured), Yenni apologizes for the messages - but doesn't broach other allegations, including claims he kissed the boy and bought him underwear
In Thursday's one-minute infomercial, Yenni - a Republican politician who has a three-year-old daughter with wife Michelle - says his constituents 'deserve the truth from (him) directly.'
'I chose to send improper texts to a young man,' he explains. 'I won't go into details out of respect for the rights and privacy of all parties.'
But in Jefferson those details are well known: Yenni is accused of having a misguided relationship with a then-17-year-old boy in 2015.
According to WWL TV, Yenni was introduced to the youth by a 19-year-old mutual friend at a function being held at the boy's Catholic high school.
Their relationship is said to have developed through phone and text messages, with Yenni allegedly meeting the boy at his food court job to give him designer underwear.
Denial: Yenni, a Republican politician, denies he misused his powers as a public official, but admits that the sexts were 'a bad decision'
It's also alleged that the two briefly kissed in the mall's bathroom.
The youth provided WWL with text messages sent by Yenni from a personal number. That number is not being billed to taxpayers.
In the texts, Yenni allegedly asks the boy if he's worn the underwear and says he wants to see him modeling them.
He also says he wants to perform a sex act on the boy, and that he would like a threesome with the boy and their 19-year-old mutual friend, it is claimed.
The youth said he was flattered at first by the attention, but became uncomfortable with the increasingly detailed texts.
'He asked me to go with him to his house in Oxford (Mississippi),' the youth told WWL.
'Also, the way he would describe the sexual things he wanted to do to me. And he asked me to be a secretary or assistant in his office; that way I could be with him and not be questioned.'
The age of consent in Louisiana is 17, so a sexual relationship would not have been illegal - but it has hit Yenni's career hard.
In his video, Yenni says he 'never abused or misused' his powers as a public official, but only addresses the sexting claims.
And the video hasn't stopped local officials demanding his head.
Angry: Jefferson County coroner Gerry Cvitanovich (left) and clerk of court Jon Gegenheimer (right) are among several officials demanding that Yenni step down from his position
On Thursday, Jefferson Parish Councilman at-large Chris Roberts and council Chairwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng drafted a letter calling for Yenni's resignation.
They join Jefferson Countys coroner, Gerry Cvitanovich; assessor, Thomas Capella; and clerk of court Jon Gegenheimer in demanding Yenni step down.
But in his video Yenni makes it quite clear that he's going nowhere.
'I will work hard every day to prove that good people can rise from a bad decision,' he says. 'I'm certainly not afraid of the future because I'm smart enough never to repeat the past.'
Three migrants were praised as heroes last night after they captured and tied up a fellow Syrian suspected of plotting a massive bomb attack in Germany.
Police had launched a Europe-wide manhunt for Jaber al-Bakr 22, after finding more than a kilogram of explosives at his flat.
The Syrian refugee had escaped as officers prepared to storm the building at dawn on Saturday.
Police had launched a Europe-wide manhunt for Jaber al-Bakr 22, after finding more than a kilogram of explosives at his flat
But he was taken into custody when the three asylum-seekers turned him over to the police after he asked them to hide him.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel led the praise for their bravery in capturing al-Bakr.
Airports across the country had been put on high alert amid warnings that the fugitive with links to Islamic State was plotting to replicate the Brussels attacks.
After fleeing his flat in Chemnitz, eastern Germany, al-Bakr had made it about 50 miles to Leipzig railway station where he approached his fellow Syrians for help.
He asked if he could stay with them and went back to their flat. But two of the migrants had recognised him from wanted posters and, as soon as they arrived, tied him up with rope.
The third took a picture of him on a mobile phone and ran to the local police station.
The Syrian refugee had escaped as officers prepared to storm the building at dawn on Saturday. But he was taken into custody when the three asylum-seekers turned him over to the police
Officers rushed to the property where they arrested him in the early hours of yesterday.
German intelligence officers believed al-Bakr was planning an attack after they saw him last week buying hot-melt adhesive, which can be used in the making of explosives.
The suspected bombmaker, who was granted asylum last summer, had also been searching online for instructions on how to make equipment for jihad.
Inside his flat, officers found 3lbs 5oz of the same explosive used in the Brussels and Paris bombings, known as mother of Satan, as well as a pipe bomb and a vest.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel led the praise for their bravery in capturing al-Bakr
A police spokesman said: With this highly volatile explosive, even a few hundred grams is significant.
For an explosive of this type, it was a considerable amount.
Yesterday Germans praised the trio while taking swipes at the anti-migrant group Pegida.
One Twitter user said: Syrian turns in terror suspect. Im celebrating this. What about you, Pegida and co? Another quipped the foreigners are taking jobs away from police.
Germany has been on alert since two attacks in July which were claimed by IS.
Five people were injured when an Afghan refugee went on the rampage with an axe on a train in Wurzburg and 15 were hurt in a suicide bombing in Ansbach.
The bloodshed has rattled the countrys sense of security and fuelled concerns over last years record influx of nearly 900,000 refugees and migrants.
German police have said they have foiled a number of bomb attacks this year. In late September, police arrested a 16-year-old Syrian refugee in Cologne on suspicion he was planning a bombing in the name of IS.
One of Britains biggest exporters is to quit the CBI in protest at its stance against Brexit.
Anthony Bamford of JCB is believed to have decided to pull out over apocalyptic warnings that leaving the EU could cost 100billion and lead to 950,000 job losses.
It is understood the firm will remain in the pro-Brussels group only until its membership expires next year.
Lord Bamford, pictured here with former Prime Minister David Cameron has decided to leave the CBI after the organisation warned Britain could lose 100billion because of Brexit
JCB has taken the right decision the CBI is one of the most irrelevant organisations ever formed, said Peter Hargreaves, founder of financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown, last night.
Any employer that joins the CBI has gone soft. Businesses squander their money on it but it has no relevance in todays world. Id like to see other companies joining JCB in leaving this organisation, which told lies about Brexit.
The business lobbying group was one of the loudest voices backing Remain during the referendum campaign.
But at the same time Lord Bamfords company the third-largest manufacturer of construction equipment in the world donated 100,000 to Vote Leave.
And just weeks before the June 23 poll the billionaire boss wrote to his 6,500 staff to say they had very little to fear from Britain leaving the EU.
The UK is a trading nation and the fifth-largest economy in the world. I am very confident that we can stand on our own two feet, he said.
I believe that JCB and the UK can prosper just as much outside the EU, so there is very little to fear if we do choose to leave. I voted to stay in the Common Market in 1975. I did not vote for a political union. I did not expect us to hand over sovereignty to the EU.
Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, pictured, praised JCB's anti-Europe stance
Last night a spokesman for JCB would not confirm that the manufacturers decision to leave the business group was in response to its pro-EU stance, saying merely: I can confirm that JCB is ending its membership of the CBI.
A spokesman for the CBI said: Its always a shame to see any member leave the CBI, but we recognise that businesses have competing priorities and we respect that.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, Tory MP for North-East Somerset and Brexit campaigner, said: Id like to congratulate JCB on its perspicacity.
It is a model of a successful export business around the world and a representative of entrepreneurialism rather than stodgy protectionism.
In contrast, the CBI has an amazing record of getting everything wrong, whether it is opposing Margaret Thatchers reforms or promoting the euro. I can see why some industrialists think they no longer want to spend the money on the subscriptions when they are so badly represented.
The CBI is now essentially redundant. Perhaps others will be considering saving their subscriptions.
David Davis, pictured left arriving for Cabinet today, yesterday told MPs 'There are no downsides only a considerable upside' to the impact of Brexit on the economy while Liam Fox, also seen outside No 10 this morning, is pursuing new trade deals
Yesterday the CBIs director-general, Carolyn Fairbairn, intensified her lobbying in favour of a so-called soft Brexit, which preserves the fullest possible access to Europes single market.
And she said Mrs Mays insistence on an immigration crackdown on foreign workers could close the door to the UK staying an open trading economy.
MPs reacted with fury to her comments. Like Mr Rees-Mogg, they pointed out that the business group had a track record of being wrong on the economy, having once claimed it was vital for the UK to join the European single currency.
They also pointed out that the CBIs cry of anguish came only days after Mrs May lashed metropolitan elites who sneer at the concerns of ordinary Britons on issues such as mass immigration.
In a firm slapdown to the CBI, the Prime Ministers spokesman said last night: Britain is an open nation.
Ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith told the Daily Mail that the business group was seeking to frustrate the process of leaving the EU only out of naked self-interest.
He added: The CBI is still fighting yesterdays battle. There is a simple answer to them: grow up.
'Join the real debate and stop playing silly games designed to bully the Government. Like it or not, the days of cartel lobbying in Brussels by big business to keep out small businesses will be over.
Leading Brexit campaigners Andrea Leadsom, the Environment Secretary, and Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, were both at No 10 today for the regular Cabinet meeting
Dover Tory MP Charlie Elphicke said: This is a cry of anguish by big business and the jet-set elite who have had their own way for too long.
The CBI were wrong on the European exchange rate mechanism, wrong on the euro and the British people are going to prove them wrong again.
They need to understand that the UKs economic interests are not necessarily the same as their own interests.
While the CBI and big business bleat about Brexit, small businesses have been busy creating jobs for hard-working Britons.
We need a Britain that works for everyone. That includes local towns and regions not just the metropolitan elite.
During the Brexit campaign, Bamford gave the Vote Leave group a 100,000 donation
More people are feeling confident in the economy than those who are downbeat for the first time in at least two years, according to a report.
Barclaycard said consumer confidence had jumped to a new record high, with 48 per cent of people feeling upbeat about the economy. Forty-seven per cent were not confident and the remainder were unsure.
Paul Lockstone, managing director at Barclaycard, said: For the first time since Barclaycard began tracking consumer confidence in 2014, more people now tell us they feel confident about the UK economy than those who dont, and the proportion has jumped since the EU referendum vote in June.
This recovery in confidence, combined with the warmer September weather, helped to prolong the summer feeling among consumers last month.
Increased spend on experiences, and in particular with friends and family in pubs and restaurants, delivered one of the strongest months for spend growth so far this year.
The safety of child migrants must be secured: Home Secretary Amber Rudd
The safety of child migrants must be secured before the Calais Jungle is bulldozed, Home Secretary Amber Rudd told her French counterpart yesterday.
She said she had made 'crystal clear' to Bernard Cazeneuve that he must ensure the security of hundreds of youngsters there.
During a two-hour meeting with the interior minister in London yesterday, she stressed that children eligible for transfer to the UK must be moved out of the so-called 'Jungle' before bulldozers move in.
Miss Rudd also emphasised the 'moral duty' to bring dozens of unaccompanied youngsters languishing in the camp to the UK within days.
But before the Government could bring lone children with family ties to Britain across the Channel, French officials had to provide a list of names expected by the end of the week.
Ministers faced a renewed barrage of criticism over the slow progress to rescue child migrants from the 'horror' of the Calais camp.
Miss Rudd, who met Mr Cazeneuve at the Home Office to discuss the crisis, was forced to come to the Commons to update MPs. France could begin flattening the 'Jungle' as early as next Monday if agreement is reached.
She said: 'I have made crystal clear to the French interior minister on numerous occasions, including at our meeting today, that our priority must be to ensure the safety and security of children during any camp clearance.'
She said the UK had been pressing for a list of children eligible for transfer to the UK.
'Be in no doubt, we will now move with all urgency a matter of days, a week at the most in order to deliver on that commitment when we get it,' she added.
Children eligible for transfer to the UK must be moved out of the so-called 'Jungle' before bulldozers move in, said Rudd
Since the beginning of the year, more than 80 child migrants had been accepted for transfer from France to Britain. Up to 100 more are 'in train' and will arrive over the next few weeks.
Miss Rudd has also suggested the UK could take around 300 more with no links to the UK under proposals outlined by Lord Dubs a campaign backed by the Mail.
She also said the Government would help fund a centre for child migrants to live 'safely and securely' while it was decided whether it was in their best interests to come to Britain.
Mr Cazeneuve said last week there were up to 950 children living in the 'Jungle'.
Experts at the British Red Cross said 178 unaccompanied children in the camp had already been identified as having the right to claim asylum in Britain through family.
Miss Rudd said the Home Office will send two team of officials to Calais to work alongside French officials to speed up identifying, prioritsing and processing children who will be brought to the UK.
The British Red Cross said 178 unaccompanied children in the camp had already been identified as having the right to claim asylum in Britain
Lord Dubs, who came to Britain on the Kindertransport programme for Jewish children fleeing Nazi Germany, said: 'Isn't it a sad comment that we have to keep complaining to the Government 'Why is nothing happening?' when the Government gave an undertaking.'
Liberal Democrat leader Tim farron said: 'These terrified children are trapped in a refugee camp, suffering squalor, destitution and desperation because the Government is dragging its feet. The government have betrayed these children.'
Unicef UK's deputy executive director Lily Caprani said: 'The coming days are crucial for protecting the vulnerable refugee children in Calais as demolition of the camp is due in just days.
Miss Rudd said French bureaucracy had prevented unaccompanied children in Calais from being brought to the UK.
She added that more than 50 children had been taken from refugee camps in Greece under the Dubs amendment, which committed Britain to accept at-risk lone child migrants from Europe.
Miss Rudd said French bureaucracy had prevented unaccompanied children in Calais from being brought to the UK
'The Home Secretary has set a deadline of getting all children with family in the UK here by next week. The Home Secretary's new commitment is exactly what is needed, to prevent children falling into the hands of traffickers, before the bulldozers arrive.'
Mr Cazeneuve said: 'Britain is the country of human rights and so it has to take on its responsibilities. When minors are in Calais, and they have family in Britain, and when all cameras are pointed at these minors, then the British must assume their moral duty.'
Miss Rudd told MPs that the French authorities had agreed to verify by the end of this week a list of 387 child refugees with a legal right to come to the UK, drawn up by the campaign group Citizens UK.
She said that as many children as possible with family links in Britain would be transferred under the Dublin convention before the Calais camp was closed, with the rest arriving during the rest of the operation.
Labour's refugee taskforce spokesman Yvette Cooper welcomed the Home Secretary' s 'important' commitment.
FARGO -- The three candidates for North Dakota governor debated one final time Monday before the November election.
The roughly half-hour debate, sponsored by AARP in North Dakota and taped at Prairie Public Broadcasting in downtown Fargo, featured discussion on the state of North Dakotas budget, a large protest over an oil pipeline and caregiver services. Republican Doug Burgum faced off against Democrat Marvin Nelson and Libertarian Marty Riske.
The debate will air on Prairie Public at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
A common theme throughout much of the debate was the states fiscal situation. Slumping oil and farm commodity prices have forced North Dakota leaders to slash agency budgets, and the state Legislature met in a special session in August to pass a $310 million budget fix.
Asked what he would have done differently had he been governor, Burgum, a Fargo businessman, said hed rather talk about what the state should do in the future.
And I think going forward, its important that we match our spending with our revenues, he said, adding the state should spend less, get better at forecasting tax revenues and improve its risk management.
Nelson, a state representative from Rolla, said governors should listen to constituents in making budget decisions.
The people a few years ago voted not to cut income tax, and yet, the leaders of the majority party continually cut income tax, he said. The people instituted an oil tax, and then the majority party put in the trigger, then as an excuse to get rid of the trigger, they cut that tax.
Riske, a businessman in Fargo, called for independent audits of state government agencies. That will help identify ways to reduce the budget more precisely, rather than across-the-board cuts.
An across-the-board cut is a reactionary thing, whereas precise cutting requires thought, Riske said, adding the state should look into duplication in higher education functions.
Pipeline discussion
The candidates also weighed in on the Dakota Access Pipeline protest, which has drawn thousands to a site south of Mandan. The proposed pipeline would run from western North Dakota to Illinois, but the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sued the Army Corps of Engineers over its authorization of the project in July, arguing it would harm cultural sites and water if it leaked.
Nelson said there were several problems with siting the project, which shows the need for change in the Public Service Commission. As for the governors role in the protests, Nelson said he was disappointed that there hasnt been a serious effort to try to get the different people in to talk to each other.
Everything is just done through innuendo and through the news media and stuff, he said. Nelson said it seems the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was never consulted about how the pipeline would affect its water supply.
There was an effort to consult them about the heritage sites, but never about their water, he said. They do have a point.
Riske said he would have started negotiating the issue right away before national influences stepped in.
President Obama did a troublesome thing when he came behind the federal judge and broke the rule of law, he said. While Riske said the project should move forward, he also advocated for making a deal with Native American leaders to address their concerns.
Burgum said there is an opportunity for enhanced dialogue over the protest, but he said the issue has grown much larger than the original debate about pipeline siting. He said he spoke with Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II over the phone last week, which Burgum said was an opportunity to listen to the tribal leaders concerns.
We have to be a country that can create jobs and build infrastructure; we also have to be a country where we can listen to each other, he said. I think theres a solution set out there, but theres not a solution set out there if the federal government is going to be trying to meddle in affairs that we should be able to handle here at a state level.
Presidential debate
The gubernatorial debate took place less than 24 hours after the second presidential debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump. That debate featured a barrage of personal attacks and insults, but Mondays gubernatorial showdown was far more subdued.
After the Prairie Public debate, Burgum expressed shock and disappointment that the presidential process produced two flawed candidates. But Burgum, who endorsed Trump in May, reiterated his stance Monday that its important for North Dakota to have a Republican in the White House, given what he described as Clintons anti-oil and anti-agriculture policies.
Electing a president whose policies would be economically harmful to North Dakota is not a good thing, he said. I dont think her policies are good for the country, but theyre definitely not good for North Dakota.
Nelson said hes there with Hillary, although he supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Frankly, I think any vote thats not for Hillary is trying to put a mad man in charge of our country, he said.
Riske said his partys presidential candidate, Gary Johnson, would have brought more discussion about foreign policy and military spending.
I always feel better about our debates than the national debates, because we are actually working hard to find solutions to the problems that North Dakota is faced with, he said.
A Perth man has thanked a thief who broke into his car and stole his broken sound system from the front dock.
Last week, Tom Drury from Morley in Perth's northeast accidentally left the door to his 1994 Mazda unlocked while it was parked on his uncle's front lawn.
On returning to the vehicle, he realised the stereo was missing and $22.10 in cash was lying on the driver's seat.
'The stereo was broken - it didn't pick up radio stations and didn't read any discs - it was just rubbish,' Mr Drury told WA Today.
Tom Drury from Morley in Perth's northeast accidentally left the door to his 1994 Mazda unlocked while it was parked on his uncle's front lawn
The Perth man said he had tried to remove the sound system in the past but did not have the correct tools and gave up.
'To get it out, I needed a special tool I didn't have, so when I saw that the stereo was removed, I couldn't help but laugh,' he said.
Mr Drury said he was going to pay a professional to remove the broken stereo and is relieved the thief saved him the trouble.
'If I could say one thing to the thief, it would be "thank you",' he said.
Mr Drury said the thief should note he will not accept a refund.
Schoolchildren as young as four will be shown pictures of boys doing the dishes and girls playing footy in a bid to stamp out gender stereotypes.
Year one and two students will play games teaching that some kids have two mums or two dads and teens will be taught the meaning of terms like pansexual and cisgender.
The changes come as part of a newly released education curriculum by the Victorian Government, which will be made a mandatory subject in all state primary and secondary schools at the start of 2017.
The curriculum, named 'Respectful Relationships', is a $21.8 million initiative by the state government to eradicate the 'vicious cycle of family violence'.
New education curriculum in Victoria will teach primary school students that some kids have two mums or dads (stock image)
The teaching resources encourage children from an early age to challenge gender stereotypes
The age-appropriate resources were developed by world-leading experts from Deakin University and the Melbourne Graduate School of Education.
Children will be taught from an early age the importance of challenging male and female-based labels in the playground and classroom.
Secondary students will be taught about the dangers of pornography and its relationship with 'attitudes supporting violence against women.'
Schoolchildren as young as four years old will be shown pictures of boys doing the dishes and girls playing footy in a bid to stamp out gender stereotypes (stock image)
Gender and sexuality terms Cisgender: Person whose experiences of their own gender agree with the sex they were assigned at birth Transgender: Person whose identities are at odds with their biological sex (sub-categories include transman and transwoman, i.e. identifying as a man when born a woman or vice versa) Gender fluid: Person who self-identifies with multiple genders, and may move fluidly between being boy or a girl Heterosexual: Exclusively attracted to people of the opposite sex Bisexual: Emotionally and/or sexually attracted to people of either sex Pansexual: Attracted to people across genders or to those who present as male, female, transgender, or androgynous. Source: Respectful Relationships education curriculum Advertisement
Students in their final year of high school will be educated in 'gender literacy', with lessons about identities including: cisgender, transgender, transman, transwoman and gender fluid.
Those students will also be taught the difference between gender and sexuality, and schooled on sexuality preferences including heterosexual, bisexual, asexual and pansexual.
Education Minister James Merlino said the curriculum was based on extensive research and evidence showing that education was 'key' to ending the 'vicious cycle of family violence.'
'This is about teaching our kids to treat everyone with respect and dignity so we can start the cultural change we need in our society to end the scourge of family violence,' he said.
According to a media release, the focus of the subject in primary years is on treating everyone with respect and dignity, with the secondary years subject building on this by teaching students about the relationship between gender and power.
Vile Neo-Nazi posters calling for gay and transgender people to be gunned down have been plastered over a university campus on the day of a pride event.
More than 20 signs depicting swastikas and emaciated men wearing 'Gay and Proud' shirts being shot in the head appeared in Melbourne's Swinburne University.
Students say the sickening illustrations, which sprang up during the annual Pride Day on Monday, have sent shockwaves through the university.
Vile Neo-Nazi posters calling for gay and transgender people to be shot have been plastered over a Swinburne University campus
The posters, which included the text 'Get the sodomite filth off our streets', contained a contact for an online Neo-Nazi group.
Swinburne Student Union's queer officer, Joshua Briers, told Daily Mail Australia it was unsettling to see homophobia was still prevailing in 2016.
'It was scary. Everyone was feeling pretty anxious, but more than anything we were just disappointed that people could be holding these views in 2016.'
He said he had experienced similar posters in 2013, when White Supremacist group Stormfront put up confronting material on the campus.
'It's not the first time we've seen this stuff, but it's still hard to digest.'
Mr Briers said despite initial fears students and staff overcame the message by removing the posters.
More than 20 of the confronting posters appeared on the Hawthorne campus during the day of a gay pride event
Swinburne Student Union's queer officer, Joshua Briers, said he left shocked and alarmed after finding the posters
White supremacist group Stormfront plasterd similarly confronting material on the campus in 2013
'At the end of the day we came out better and stronger. People plastering posters saying 'love conquers hate' over the top. We managed to overcome the hate.'
A spokesperson for Swinburne University told Daily Mail Australia they prided themselves on being an inclusive community
'Swinburne has zero tolerance for prejudice, hate, discrimination and abuse of people from the LGBTIQ community.'
Billy Bush broke down in tears after audio of him making lewd comments about women with Donald Trump was released this past Friday.
A source tells US Weekly that the Today anchor quickly grew nervous that the tape would lead to him being fired from his new job, just two months after he joined the NBC morning show.
'Billy was devastated and crying when the leaked tape of him with Donald Trump in 2005 was first leaked to The Washington Post,' said the source.
'He was crying that his career was over.'
And while the tape of Trump was tracked down by an Access Hollywood producer last week, it seems that it was Bush who gave his former co-workers the idea to go looking for the damning audio.
Page Six reports that Bush was 'bragging' while in Rio covering the Olympics about a 'tape of Trump being a real dog.'
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Rough day: Billy Bush (above in LA on Monday) reportedly broke down in tears on Friday after audio of him making lewd comments about women with Donald Trump was released
Trouble: The release of the tape has led to his indefinite suspension as the anchor of the third hour of Today
Family: He was seen on Monday afternoon looking unkempt in sweatpants and flip flops as he grabbed lunch with his daughter Josie in Los Angeles
Bad blood: There are reports that some of the women on the set of Today - and a few of his fellow anchors - are hoping that Bush does not return to the program.
Now that the tape has been found though, this could lead to more problems with him and NBC.
'If he knew about the tape, and remembered the full extent of such an explosive conversation with a presidential candidate and didnt disclose that to NBC News, that is a very, very serious problem,' said an insider.
That person later added: 'It is not clear if Billy remembered the exact level of vulgarity in the conversation with Trump, or if he instead realized its news value and didnt declare it to protect himself.'
Kathie Lee Gifford meanwhile does not even want Bush throwing to the show's fourth hour according to the report.
'She has Jesus in her life and feels this is just not right,' said a source.
Bush, 44, was seen for the first time since the news of his suspension on Monday afternoon, looking unkempt and scruffy as he grabbed lunch in Los Angeles with one of his three teenage daughters.
He wore sweatpants and flip flops for the outing, along with a shirt that read: 'Sun. Beach. Whiskey.'
Al Roker stepped in to take Bush's spot on Today Monday morning, and on Tuesday it will be Carson Daly joining Tamron Hall to anchor the third hour of the morning show.
People is reporting that some of the women on the set of Today - and a few of his fellow anchors - are hoping that Bush does not return to the program.
'Tamron doesnt like him and they have always been uncomfortable around each other. Al doesnt speak to him, like at all. There is no love lost there,' said an insider.
'Matt is okay with him, not friends, but okay. He doesnt have much of a relationship with Savannah . So it wont be a loss to any of them personally if he doesnt come back.'
The source then added: 'Does anyone tune in to Today to watch Billy? Probably not really. So if he leaves, its not a big deal.'
NBC announced on Sunday that they had made the decision to suspend Bush from his job anchoring the third hour of Today after the comments he made about a fellow NBC employee surfaced in an old Access Hollywood interview he did with Trump.
While most of the offensive statements on that tape are made by Trump, Bush can heard encouraging his comments and at one point states that the actress the two men are about to meet is 'hot as s***.'
Replacements: Al Roker filled in for Bush on Monday and Carson Daly (above with Savannah Guthrie) will take over for him on Tuesday morning's program
Bad luck: According to one report, Bush bragged about having a tape of Trump sounding like a 'dog' when he was in Rio covering the Olympics
The decision to suspend Bush was addressed on Today Monday morning by lead anchor Savannah Guthrie.
'We want to note one other thing,' said Guthrie at the top of the program.
'Pending further review of the matter, NBC News has suspended Billy Bush, the host of Todays third hour, for his role in that conversation with Donald Trump.'
The suspension was again addressed at the start of the third hour as well by Hall and Roker.
'As you can see, Billy Bush is not joining us today, as youre probably aware,' said Roker.
'Part of that 2005 Access Hollywood taping with Donald Trump thats been in the news all weekend.'
Hall then added: 'NBC, which owns Access Hollywood, has suspended Billy for his role in that conversation, pending further review. With that said, lets turn to last nights debate, where that 2005 tape played a big role.'
At least one of Bush's co-workers did come to his defense though on Monday.
Bush's former Access Hollywood co-host Kit Hoover fought back tears while speaking about the Today anchor's recent suspension by NBC.
'I dont even know where to begin with all of this,' said Hoover at the top of Monday morning's episode of Access Hollywood.
'When the tapes came out on Friday, I was home watching with my 14-year-old daughter and the tapes are inexcusable. But Im watching this tape and Im watching this person - those tapes were a decade ago and it was seven minutes of someones life, and all I can tell you is what I know and the person that I sat next to for the last six years, and that person for me is a totally different person.
'He always treated me with kindness, such respect I mean, Natalie, he treated me like an equal from day one and I think anybody that watched our show at home and saw us together knew how much he rooted for me.
'He was always in my corner. I was just devastated to watch all this unfold because the Billy that I know - and that a lot of people would say - has the biggest heart of anybody, and he is a good person,' said Hoover.
Natalie Morales the chimed in to say a few positive things about Bush as well, stating: 'I will say that one of the first people to call me and congratulate me when I announced that I would be getting this job was Billy.'
She then added: 'He also offered advice and offered to help with my move and transition.'
Not fans: Another report claims that Bush's fellow Today anchors would have no problem if the network decided to fire him from the program
Ladies: Bush is seen above with his wife and three teenage daughters in an Instagram photo shared earlier this year
Bush, who is married with three teenage daughters, released a statement shortly after the 2005 tape surfaced on Friday.
'Obviously Im embarrassed and ashamed. Its no excuse, but this happened eleven years ago. I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. Im very sorry,' said Bush, who was 33 at the time.
Arianne Zucker, the Days of Our Lives actress who Bush referred to as 'hot as s***' also released a statement over the weekend.
'My name is Arianne Zucker and I am a strong, independent, hard working mother, business woman and partner to a great man. I have grown to learn that the words of others cannot effect the value of my self worth or define the content of my character,' said Zucker.
'How we treat one another, whether behind closed doors, locker rooms or face to face, should be done with kindness, dignity and respect. Unfortunately, there are too many people in power who abuse their position and disregard these simple principles and are rewarded for it.'
She closed out her statement by saying: 'In understanding the magnitude of this situation, I choose to stand tall with self respect and use my voice to enrich, inspire and elevate the best of who we are as people.'
Bush is doing a poor job trying of distancing himself from Donald Trump despite the fact that audio of a conversation he had with the Republican hopeful over a decade ago has led to his indefinite absence from Today.
The mother of a missing RAF serviceman has said a third party may have been involved in her son's disappearance.
Corrie McKeague, 23, vanished more than a fortnight ago after going out for the evening with friends in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
Police have searched along a section of railway line and A-roads, hours of CCTV have been reviewed and police officers, RAF personnel and the National Police Air Service helicopter have been trawling the area.
Corrie McKeague, 23, vanished more than a fortnight ago after going out for the evening with friends in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. His insists a third party must have been involved
Mr McKeague's mother, Nicola Urquhart, of Dunfermline, Scotland, wrote in a Facebook post: 'Police are confident Corrie is not still in Bury and has not left on foot.
'This can only mean there is third party involvement, there is just no evidence so far to prove criminality.
'As such I would ask people to help me find this evidence as someone does know something.'
Officers had earlier searched a bin lorry, believing Mr McKeague's mobile phone had been lost or discarded and ended up with the rubbish, but it could not be found.
Mr McKeague's mother, Nicola Urquhart, of Dunfermline, Scotland, wrote in a Facebook post: 'Police are confident Corrie is not still in Bury and has not left on foot'
Mr McKeague, based at RAF Honington, was last seen on CCTV at about 3.20am on Saturday September 24.
He was walking alone, eating fast food, in Bury St Edmunds.
Police issued a further appeal for information over the weekend and said they had traced three witnesses they had been looking to speak to.
Officers searching for Mr McKeague carried out checks in the centre of Bury St Edmunds in the early hours of Saturday, a fortnight after the serviceman's disappearance.
A Suffolk Police spokesman said a number of people were spoken to and information was being reviewed to identify possible new lines of inquiry.
Mr McKeague is believed to have been wearing a pink Ralph Lauren polo shirt and brown suede Timberland boots at the time of his disappearance.
When Hillary Clinton was laser focused on the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in in 2011, Trump was closely scrutinizing guests on the Celebrity Apprentice, Hillary Clinton said in her latest attack on her opponent.
Although the pre-taped show aired the night of the historic raid, it has not been established that Trump was actually working on the NBC reality show while Navy Seals were committing the daring operation.
Clinton went after Trump to counter his repeated charge that he represents change and that she has been in politics for 30 years an attack he launched effectively, though it got overshadowed by his controversial decision to bring Bill Clinton accusers to the second presidential debate a move the Clinton camp termed 'gutter' politics.
She also brought back 'Miss Piggy' Alicia Machado, a hit on Trump that helped trigger a flurry of reports about his treatment of women culminating in an embarrassing leak of an Access Hollywood episode where he spoke bout groping women by their genitals.
'In the 1990s I went to the UN Conference on Women and said womens rights are human rights, while he was insulting Miss Universe, Alicia Machado,' Clinton said.
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Hillary Clinton referenced the raid that killed Bin Laden and says Donald Trump was hosting 'Celebrity Apprentice' at the time
Then she turned into the operation that got Bin Laden.
'And on the day that I was in the situation room watching the raid that brought Osama Bin Laden to justice, he was hosting Celebrity Apprentice. So if he wants to talk about what weve been doing the last 30 years, bring it on,' Clinton told the cheering crowd.
President Obama's advisors, including Clinton, watched the raid unfold on Sunday, May 1, 2011 Eastern Standard Time. The Apprentice aired on Sundays at the time although the show was taped in advance.
Bin Laden was killed in a Navy Seal strike on May 2nd local time in Pakistan. A Clinton official didn't immediately respond to a question about whether the campaign could confirm Trump's whereabouts during the Bin Laden raid.
Asked how the Clinton camp was able to established what Trump was doing during the raid, Clinton aide Jennifer Palmieri told DailyMail.com that someone involved recalled seeing the Apprentice being aired the evening of the raid.
Clinton referenced the debate at a large outdoor event in Columbus in advance of the state's registration deadline.
ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? Clinton went after Trump for hosting the Celebrity Apprentice while she was viewing the Bin Laden raid
Hillary Clinton campaigned in Michigan and Ohio Monday, a day after the second presidential debate
TEAM EFFORT: A variety of cast members contributed to the Apprentice. Television viewers found out that Bin Laden was dead when programmes, including Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, were taken off air
Clinton laughs at her event at Wayne State University
Miss Universe Alicia Machado
The Clinton campaign said 18,500 people attended her Columbus event Monday
Clinton blasted Trump for having been hosting the Celebrity Apprentice while she was watching the nation's top terror threat get taken out
Clinton referenced the debate to her crowd on Monday.
Trump went hard after Clinton on her experience at the debate asking why she hadn't been able to solve Michigan and Ohio's problems with her time in politics.
'And, Hillary, I'd just ask you this. You've been doing this for 30 years. Why are you just thinking about these solutions right now? For 30 years, you've been doing it, and now you're just starting to think of solutions, Trump said.
Clinton included a long comeback into her speech.
'So when Donald Trump talks about what Ive been doing for the last 30 years, I welcome that. I welcome it because in the 1970s, I was working to end discrimination and he was being sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination against people in his apartments,' Clinton said.
'And in the 1980s, I was working to improve the schools in Arkansas to make sure that teachers were well paid and that the coursework was going to prepare kids for the future, while he was getting a loan for $14 million from his father to start a business,' Clinton added.
Clinton's campaign staged a large outdoor rally, with large platforms for picturesque photos and a big sound system
Clinton hit back at Donald Trump after their second debate
IT'S A SIGN: Clinton partisans waive their 'stronger together' banners at an outdoor rally in Columbus Monday
'Any of you see that debate last night?' she asked.
'Ill tell ya, what Im not sure youll ever see anything like that again. At least I hope you wont.'
'There was a lot about last night that was hard to believe and so dont,' she said.
Clinton's use of the Machado issue was one of her most effective attacks of the first debate. Machado claims Trump called her 'Miss Piggy' and humiliated her by forcing her to try to lose weight.
Trump doubled down on his attacks after the debate when she said the beauty queen had gotten heavy.
The campaign said the outdoor crowd on campus at Ohio State University was 18,500, citing the Secret Service. The campaign said there were 13,500 in the venue, with 5,000 outside the security perimeter.
Pro-Brussels MPs were appalled astonished! that the Government should be heeding the will of the majority of electors (17.4 million) who voted for Brexit.
What gobbles and quibbles we had from Remainers in the Commons yesterday when Brexit Secretary David Davis gave another update on progress.
The people are revolting, sir, says Ed Milibands valet. Arent they just? says Popular Ed.
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What gobbles and quibbles we had from Remainers in the Commons yesterday when Brexit Secretary David Davis gave another update on progress
Mr Miliband and chums wanted us to stay in the Single Market (not much different from the EU).
Much dancing on niceties was required to justify their position. They tweezered out their political positions with dainty detail and lawyerly sophistry talk of White Papers and parliamentary procedure on treaties and the indigestible principle of prerogatives. Versus, er, the plain, unadorned fact of the referendum result.
Mr Davis: We have a duty to respect the vote. Male Labour heckler: No we dont. My dears, you needed to be an elitist to understand these things.
Perhaps you needed a knighthood, like barrister Sir Keir Starmer, Labours new Brexit spokesman, who complained that the Government was sidelining Parliament.
He claimed it was wholly unacceptable not to give MPs the right to block the exiting process.
Lining up alongside Mr Miliband was that other popular combo artist, Nick Clegg
Behind him on the Labour benches was a wad of parliamentarians doing their damndest to block the common people and sigh their vulgar desire for our country to be independent.
Mostly they were Blairites such as Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland in Durham, where 57 per cent supported Brexit) and Pat McFadden (Wolverhampton SE, 62 per cent for Brexit) but the anti-Blairite Paul Flynn (Newport W, where 56 per cent wanted Leave) joined them. He accused Brexit of being a pack of lies.
General election loser Miliband, not often seen here since that national bogwashing in 2015, rose to his hind teeth to complain bitterly that the May Government was heeding the result of the referendum.
I know. Disgusting, innit? You wonder what the voters of Doncaster North (Mr Milibands seat) will make of his opposition to quitting the EU. They opted for Brexit by a measure of 69 per cent. How often does he go there?
The Government, honked Mr Miliband, has no mandate for its Brexit. Where is the mandate for its negotiation? Mr Davis, doing his best to remain polite, replied: I can not believe my ears! He pointed out that the Brexit vote was the largest mandate ever given to ministers.
General election loser Miliband, not often seen here since that national bogwashing in 2015
Lining up alongside Mr Miliband was that other popular combo artist, Nick Clegg (Lib Dem, Sheffield Hallam). He resorted to a fancy word to try to baffle the democratic will.
By what right did Theresa May arrogate to herself the right to decide what Brexit means? Sheffield, since you ask, voted 51 per cent for Brexit. Here we go again, said Mr Davis, who was batting well against these whingebags.
There was a difference between accountability and micro-management. He would follow conventions on parliamentary involvement but he would not tell MPs everything in his negotiating hand because that would not be in the national interest.
Anna Soubry (Con, Broxtowe, which voted by 54.6 per cent to quit the EU) feared that the Government is turning its back on the Single Market. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, listening to Miss Soubry, frowned and drummed his fingers on the back of the front bench.
Refusing to act on the instruction of the British people, said Mr Davis with understatement, would create a constitutional problem. Labour heckler: No it wouldnt.
The weakness in the Remainers approach was that no one really believes they want the best from Brexit. They want it to fail, so that they can return to the EU. They tittered theatrically at Mr Daviss use of micro-management. Such elaborate scoffing!
California authorities say the former owners of the Village Voice in New York City have been arrested days after they were charged with sex trafficking through their control of an online site that advertises escort services.
Kristin Ford, a spokeswoman for California Attorney General Kamala Harris, says 68-year-old Michael Lacey and 67-year-old James Larkin were booked into Sacramento County Jail on Monday.
The controlling shareholders of the Backpage.com site are charged with conspiracy to commit pimping.
Michael Lacey, 68, and 67-year-old James Larkin were booked into Sacramento County Jail on Monday
That's defined as making money from prostitutes or soliciting customers for prostitution.
The website is considered popular for its classified ads of escort services.
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A screenshot of Backpage.com shows the various escort services offered to the site's users
Attorneys for the Arizona men, who once owned the Phoenix New Times alternative weekly, did not immediately return telephone messages, but Backpage's lawyer called the arrests 'an election year stunt' as Harris runs for the U.S. Senate.
Backpage chief executive Carl Ferrer, seen above in a mugshot, was arrested last week
They are to appear in court Wednesday with Backpage chief executive Carl Ferrer, who was arrested at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Thursday after returning to the US from Amsterdam.
Authorities in California have been investigating Ferrer, 55, for three years, according to WFAA.
Several months ago, Texas officials received information from their colleagues in California alleging that Ferrer was profiting from the illegal 'pimping' of underage girls.
'A lengthy joint investigation by the offices of the Texas and California attorneys general uncovered evidence that adult and child sex trafficking victims were forced into prostitution through escort ads that appeared repeatedly on Backpage,' Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement released from his office on Thursday.
Ferrer's company 'advertises sex acts for money,' and generates millions of dollars in ad revenues each year, the attorney general said.
Ferrer (left) was arrested at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston after flying back to the US from Amsterdam, where his company, Backpage.com, has an office
Federal and state agents are seen raiding Ferrer's company office near Dallas, Texas, on Thursday
Authorities alleged that between 2012 and 2015, there were at least 17 separate instances in which the website advertised the services of those who offered sex in exchange for cash.
Ferrer will be tried in California, though Texas officials plan to pursue their own investigation.
David Cameron told Ken Clarke he would back staying in the European Union more than three years before the vote, it has emerged.
Mr Clarke said the former prime minister told him he intended to advocate remaining in the EU in January 2013, when he announced the timing of the referendum.
The revelation exposes as a sham both Mr Camerons renegotiations with Europe and his claim made repeatedly in the run up to the vote that he would consider backing Leave if he did not get the deal he wanted from Brussels.
Mr Clarke said the former prime minister told him he intended to advocate remaining in the EU in January 2013, when he announced the timing of the referendum (Cameron and Clarke together in 2006)
He said time and again in the years before the referendum that he ruled nothing out suggesting that he might support the campaign to quit the EU. It was only in February this year, after negotiations were complete, that he finally backed Remain.
Writing in his memoir, Kind Of Blue, Mr Clarke reveals his fury at what he saw as Mr Camerons foolish and extremely risky decision in early 2013 to announce a referendum to take place by the end of 2017.
The former chancellor says he was shocked to read in the newspapers that the prime minister had made the announcement without consulting his Cabinet.
I thought this was reckless and irresponsible. I had always been opposed to the idea that a referendum is a useful way of taking decisions on hugely complex political and diplomatic issues, he writes.
A quick campaign and a broad question which obscures a myriad of sub-issues about the role of Britain in the world and the best base for our future economy has always seemed to me to be reckless.
Mr Clarke said he went to speak to Mr Cameron, and from their conversation it was obvious David had taken [the decision] mainly for reasons of party management and to placate Eurosceptic backbenchers. He also saw it as a way of reducing votes for Nigel Farage and his UK Independence Party at the General Election in 2015, he wrote.
Mr Cameron told Mr Clarke that the announcement would calm the whole issue and bring the constant bickering to an end.
David further explained he intended to delay the vote whilst he embarked upon a process of reform of our relationship with the EU, the senior Tory said.
Ken Clarke with David Cameron in 2006
He was clear that he intended to advocate remaining in the Union, but he thought that the majority would be increased in the referendum if he could illustrate that he had achieved improvements in our relationship with Europe.
Mr Clarke criticises Mr Cameron for being remarkably vague about what reforms he wanted saying the former prime minister tried to calm me down by showing him details of a speech.
He is also damning about the renegotiation, which he says Mr Cameron saw as a tactical device. David had never really had a clear idea of what he wanted to get out of his EU reform negotiations, they had mainly been a tactical device to kill the time, he writes.
Mr Clarke says EU negotiators were taking it for granted during the campaign that the UK would vote to stay in the Brussels club. And the ex-minister is damning about what Mr Cameron secured, which he describes as a peculiar deal on tax credits which it was not clear would reduce migration.
He also criticises George Osborne for making extremely simplistic presentations of the economic arguments for staying in.
The then-chancellors claims that an emergency budget would be needed after a Leave vote, in which taxes would go up and spending would be slashed were obviously absurd, he says.
Mr Camerons decision to hold the referendum was reckless and irresponsible beyond belief and foolish, Mr Clarke concludes.
The Australian Labor Party has hammered the first nails into the coffin of the Turnbull Government's proposed same-sex marriage plebiscite.
Opposition MPs formalised their opposition to the $160 million poll during a meeting in Canberra on Tuesday, ahead of a debate in the House of Representatives.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull condemned Labor leader Bill Shorten's caucus decision but declined to consider a free vote on the issue in parliament.
Labor leader Bill Shorten (centre) with frontbenchers Mark Dreyfus and Terri Butler
'Mr Shorten supported a plebiscite of this kind only three years ago,' he told reporters.
'He has decided he doesn't want a plebiscite on any terms. He doesn't want the Australian people to have a say on any terms.'
Following the caucus meeting, Mr Shorten appeared with shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus and equality frontbencher Terri Butler to announce Labor's position.
'The Labor caucus unanimously resolved to oppose the marriage plebiscite,' he told reporters.
Deputy leader Tanya Plibersek hugs Shelley Argent, who has a gay son, after the caucus vote
'The Labor Party therefore will oppose in parliament Malcolm Turnbull's expensive, divisive plebiscite.'
Labor's caucus position was announced after Attorney-General George Brandis released draft amendments to the Marriage Act late on Monday night.
The changes include redefining marriage as between 'two people' instead of 'a man and a woman' and allowing ministers of religion to refuse to solemnise a marriage.
Labor leader Bill Shorten ahead of a parliamentary debate on a gay marriage plebiscite
Non-religious celebrants can also refuse to marry a same-sex couple on a 'conscientious' basis under the proposed legislation.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham, who favours gay marriage, threw Labor a late lifeline, suggesting the planned $15 million funding for the 'yes' and 'no' campaigns could be scrapped.
'lf that is something the Labor party want to take out in return for support for a plebiscite they should say so and put it on the table,' he said.
'It would be a reasonable request and one we could consider ourselves.'
But Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek labelled the offer as insincere.
'This is an absurd last-minute effort from the government,' she said.
'(They) have made it very plain that they are not prepared to compromise on the most fundamental aspects of this plebiscite, including things like the question.'
Deputy leader Tanya Plibersek with a baby after Labor's caucus meeting
On Monday night, one Queensland Labor caucus member Susan Lamb held back tears in parliament as she talked about having a gay son.
'Regardless of the outcome, the holding of a plebiscite is deeply offensive to LGBTI Australians and it is deeply insulting to those who love them,' she said.
'I will always be a person who stands against discrimination in all its permutations.
'In doing so, I stand in solidarity with my son and the LGBTI community.'
A fellow Queenslander, Nationals MP George Christensen, said he was in two minds about the likelihood of the plebiscite being quashed.
'On one hand I supposed I would be pleased, on the other hand it really is the Labor Party depriving the Australian people of a say,' he said.
The Greens, Nick Xenophon Team and independent senator Derryn Hinch have vowed to vote down the plebiscite bill in the Senate.
A former government official of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation accused of accepting bribes and kickbacks from a construction contractor has pleaded guilty to federal charges in North Dakota. Randall Phelan was an elected representative of the governing body of the Three Affiliated Tribes from the end of 2012 to the middle of 2020. Investigators say Phelan used his official position to help the contractors business by awarding contracts, fabricating bids and managing fraudulent invoices. His trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday. Phelan and two others were originally charged with receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bribery scheme on the oil-rich Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The contractor has pleaded guilty to bribery.
Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King last night said the plunge in the pound since the Brexit vote was a welcome change for the UK economy.
In a dramatic intervention in the wake of the referendum, Lord King also turned his fire on those who forecast economic catastrophe and said leaving the European Union was nothing to fear.
The comments were in stark contrast to the doom-laden warnings of Remain campaigners and others before the vote, including former Chancellor George Osborne and the current central bank governor Mark Carney.
Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King, pictured, welcomed the collapse in sterling
Current Bank of England governor Mark Carney warned that a leave vote could bring recession
It came on another brutal day for the pound following last weeks flash crash which pushed sterling to a fresh 31-year low against the US dollar and sent shockwaves through financial markets around the world.
Sterling fell to as low as $1.2355 yesterday taking its losses since the Brexit vote to nearly 17 per cent.
There are signs that the fall in the pound has helped prop up the economy by boosting exports and tourism and making the UK more competitive on the global stage.
Speaking to Sky News in New York, where he is teaching, Lord King said: The economy was slowing somewhat before the vote and we are in a position where the rest of the world is not offering us much help. So from that point of view the fall in sterling is a welcome change.
He added that the reaction to the Brexit vote including warnings of a sterling crisis and recession has been over the top.
The whole thing has generated reactions which are over the top, the former governor said. I dont think we should fear [Brexit]. Its not a bed of roses, but nor is it the end of the world.
Lord King, who was governor from 2003 to 2013, including during the financial crisis, has previously said the Treasurys dire warnings about the impact of Brexit left him baffled.
He has also spoken out against the scaremongering seen during the campaign.
David Cameron warned a Brexit vote would put a bomb under the economy and Mr Osborne claimed there would be an immediate and profound shock and DIY recession.
Mr Carney also claimed there could be a recession, although he has changed his tune since the referendum.
A married doctor has been reprimanded over his secret sex romps with a patient after a commission heard he called her 'my little prostitute'.
Italian-educated Dr Vitantonio Bracco once counted the unnamed woman's husband and son among his patients at a New South Wales surgery.
The Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) has heard Dr Bracco had a second tryst with the woman after her husband came into the surgery to complain.
Dr Bracco told the commission his relationship with the patient, 44, changed after they went out for coffee in May 2014.
Italian-educated Dr Vitantonio Bracco (pictured) counted the woman's husband and young son as patients at his New South Wales surgery while he carried out the sordid affair
The pair had sex on May 31, during a weekend getaway to a 'venue' at the Central Coast.
The woman's husband learned of their relationship shortly afterwards, the HCCC heard, and attended the surgery to complain in June.
In a July 2014 letter from his lawyers to the commission, Dr Bracco conceded he had sex with the woman once and expressed 'remorse'.
He said he 'did not see (her) as a patient at the time our relationship became sexual or following' and noted he 'abused the trust central to a doctor-patient relationship'.
But months later, the doctor felt 'compelled' to contact the woman again after hearing she had been forced out of her home, had no money and her son would no longer speak to her.
He sent her a letter with $100 cash and a note asking her to buy a mobile phone and get in touch, the commission was told.
The doctor was reprimanded but showed 'genuine contritition', the Commission heard, and was not a risk of reoffending (stock photo)
The pair then met at a hotel and had sexual intercourse once again on August 5, in what the commission branded 'entirely inappropriate' behaviour.
But the woman told the commission she became distressed after he called her 'my little prostitute' and ended the relationship.
The commission heard he showed genuine contrition and his psychologist did not believe he was a risk of reoffending.
The psychiatrist also 'opined the practitioner's conduct was "not opportunistic, predatory or coercive behaviour on his part"'.
The commission also heard argument the 'woman had stopped being Dr Bracco's patient four to five months prior to their personal and sexual relationship'.
The leading criminal barrister who defeated Mary Whitehouse in court later admitted the family values campaigner had been vindicated over her battle against gratuitous sex and violence, it has emerged.
Jeremy Hutchinson, QC, clashed with Mrs Whitehouse during her private prosecution of the National Theatre play The Romans In Britain in 1982.
Mrs Whitehouse objected to a scene in which the Romans were seen attempting to rape a naked druid on stage.
Mary Whitehouse, pictured in 1970, brought a private prosecution against the National Theatre
Whitehouse objected to a scene in The Romans in Britain featuring a graphic rape
But she dropped her claim of procuring gross indecency after the QCs cross-examination of a witness reduced the courtroom to laughter.
Years later, however, Lord Hutchinson admitted Mrs Whitehouse had had a point following the rise in extreme forms of pornography that had become available.
The barristers biographer, Thomas Grant, QC, made the revelation at the Cheltenham Literary Festival yesterday where he told the audience it was very easy to laugh at Mary Whitehouse because a lot of people did.
But he added that Lord Hutchinson, who is now 101, respected Mrs Whitehouse and the sincerity with which she went about her business.
Mr Grant said: A lot of the things that she was complaining about in the 70s and 80s that were deemed to be ludicrous I think she has been to some extent personally vindicated and I think Jeremy thinks she has been vindicated as well.
I mean, the cases that he was defending, the artwork he was defending Fanny Hill, Lady Chatterley they are relatively safe artwork in one sense.
Mary Whitehouse complained about the increasing nudity on British television
But there came a time when Jeremy didnt do any more pornography cases because the pornography became rather too distasteful for him.
There was a famous novel called Last Exit To Brooklyn which came out in 1968, where Jeremy was briefed to defend it on an obscenity charge.
He actually said to the publishers, Look, I dont think Im the right man to defend this case, not because I dont think this book should be published but because I find it so upsetting as a book, I dont think I could give it the best defence it could get.
For more than 30 years Mrs Whitehouse sought to purge Britain of public indecency, saying she acting on the principles of a dedicated school teacher and a committed Christian.
She pushed for a TV watershed but was ridiculed by some as being out of touch after protesting against broadcasters and artists whose work she felt was obscene.
Jeremy Hutchinson, pictured, defeated Mary Whitehouse in court yet now believes that the the campaigner has been vindicated in her attempts to keep smut off British TV screens
Hutchinson was called to the bar in 1939 and was made a Queen's Counsel in 1961, pictured
In 1965 she founded the National Viewers and Listeners Association, using it as a platform to criticise the BBC for its perceived lack of accountability and excessive portrayals of sex, violence and bad language.
At the time she was loathed by liberals, but since her death aged 91 in 2001 a growing number of commentators have said her views on the dangers of broadcasting gratuitous sex and violence had been ahead of their time. In 2010 veteran broadcaster Dame Joan Bakewell, who fought for a new liberal age of freedom, admitted that she had come to agree with her one-time adversary.
Lord Hutchinson had a long and prolific career in which he defended everyone from Soviet defectors George Blake and John Vassall to the Great Train Robber Charlie Wilson. Acting for Christine Keeler, he was at the centre of the Profumo affair, the sex and spying scandal that brought about Harold Macmillans resignation in 1963.
A young girl has received a creepy message on social media from someone posing as a scary clown as the terrifying craze continues to sweep Australia.
There have been a number of unconfirmed sightings of creepy clowns in the Queensland town of Gympie in the past week with regular updates being posted on social media.
One concerned mother said her daughter had been contacted by someone over Instagram under the account Gympie_Clown asking if she wanted to play a game, the Gympie Times reports.
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There have been a number of unconfirmed sightings of creepy clowns in the Queensland town of Gympie in the past week with regular updates being posted on social media
A concerned mother reported an Instagram account to Queensland police after her daughter received a message from someone posing as a creepy clown asking if she wanted to play
'A little concerning guys. My daughter received a message on Instagram today from someone calling themselves gympie_clown asking her if she wanted to play a game,' she said.
'I reported this to police, will be showing them tomorrow.'
Several cases of people dressing up as clowns to scare people have been reported across the country and police have already warned they will not tolerate the terrifying pranks.
A Facebook page, titled Gympie Area Clown Updates, claims to be tracking sightings of creepy clowns in the area but many have doubts on whether they are real or fake.
A Facebook page, titled Gympie Area Clown Updates, claims to be tracking sightings of creepy clowns, including this one spotted outside someone's house
Someone claiming to have photographic evidence shared photos of a clown in the town this week.
'This was one was sighted standing outside of someone house on Upper Widgee Rd last night,' the page read.
'Not sure if its something that we should be concerned about but better to be safe.'
Royal Mail is delivering unlicensed medicines despite repeated warnings of their potential dangers.
The illegal pills and remedies that put the elderly at risk are being sold through catalogues dropped through hundreds of thousands of letterboxes.
An investigation by this newspaper can reveal that Royal Mail had a direct contract with at least one firm behind some of the bogus medicines.
The pills are supposed to help with joint problems, memory loss, sight problems or digestive disorders. But they can be dangerous because buyers are not told of harmful side effects or possible interference with other medication.
Our investigations unit revealed yesterday that Royal Mail was making millions of pounds from conmen who defraud the elderly.
Reaping the profits: Christian Limpach said the aim was to: 'To rip off the people.' Particularly 'females over 60', who are seen as the most vulnerable, he said
'I'm passionate about my ability to whore my talent and sell this s*** to people who don't need it'. Canadian sweepstake scammer, Andrew John Thomas, said the victims 'get sucked in'
That prompted Theresa May, MPs and campaigners to call for more action to tackle the letter scams.
Theresa May last night warned Royal Mail it must do more to stop fraudsters targeting the elderly following a Daily Mail investigation.
She demanded urgent action to prevent conmen getting postal frauds into the homes of the most vulnerable.
The Prime Ministers spokesman said: These are concerning revelations. Targeting some of the most vulnerable people in the country should not and will not be tolerated. There will be meetings with Royal Mail, other postal operators and the National Trading Standards scams team to ensure that this issue is tackled as a matter of urgency.
Theresa May, MPs and campaigners are calling for more action to tackle letter scams
Our investigations unit revealed yesterday that millions of fraudulent letters are being delivered into the UK in bulk through Royal Mails contract with Whistl allowing the fraudsters to get the Royal Mail branding on their envelopes, which helps convince victims the letters are real.
Despite repeated warnings, Royal Mail has refused to crack down on the problem.
It can now be revealed that it has been delivering unregulated medicinal products in the UK for more than a decade.
The Office for Fair Trading warned in 2007 about a catalogue company behind the Vital Beauty, Vital Nature and Phyderma brands.
A court in Belgium ruled their publications illegal in 2011 and Royal Mail finally cancelled the contract earlier this year. But it is still delivering the catalogues under contract to Whistl.
In other developments last night:
Health regulators launched an investigation;
Families said loved ones had spent thousands on the worthless pills;
Esther Rantzen accused Royal Mail of profiting from suffering;
Royal Mail insisted it was not a law enforcement agency and had a legal duty to deliver letters.
It is illegal to market and sell medicinal products in Britain without a licence from the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority. But despite this, catalogue firms have been operating through the Royal Mail for years targeting unregulated medicines at vulnerable people.
Families said relatives had spent their life savings on useless remedies from numerous companies thinking they could cure mobility problems and conditions such as cancer.
The horrified daughter of one victim told how she found her mother had got her scam health products mixed up with her real blood pressure tablets putting her at serious risk.
Royal Mail is delivering unlicensed medicines despite repeated warnings of their potential dangers
One of the catalogues illegally advertising unlicensed health products is Vital Beauty, a company run by French multi-millionaire, Stephane Alech.
Its products include pills that promise to preserve eyesight and are claimed to be clinically tested and backed by studies and data. There are no warnings of any possible side effects.
Another product containing valerian root extract to combat insomnia and nervousness claims to have no side effects such as drowsiness, addiction and dependence.
In fact, drowsiness is a well-known side effect. Other illegal medicinal products advertised in the catalogue include pills claimed to stop memory loss, pills which are claimed to reduce joint pain and tablets claimed to restore a flat stomach with no effort at all.
The MHRA said the Daily Mail had brought new evidence to light suggesting unlicensed medicinal products may be being sold and supplied within the UK.
A spokesman said its enforcement teams would now investigate whether any legal action could be taken against those supplying the pills. Last night Royal Mail said: We take the Daily Mails allegations very seriously.
We understand the upset and disquiet that scam mail can cause. We will work with the postal services minister, all our industry partners and other industries to tackle scamming in an effective and coordinated way.
The spokesman said Royal Mail had terminated contracts with the Phyderma and Vital Nature brands in April 2016, as soon as we were asked to do so by the national trading standards scams team.
Last night Royal Mail said: We take the Daily Mails allegations very seriously'
The spokesman insisted they were committed to terminating contracts with companies that distribute fraudulent mail as soon as we receive evidence from relevant law enforcement agencies.
But he added: We are not a law enforcement agency we are a delivery company.
A spokesman for Phyderma denied any wrongdoing and said the French courts had considered that their activities conform to European legislation.
We have lodged a complaint with the European Court concerning declarations and actions taken against us by British authorities and we will not be making any statement until we have received the decision of the court, he added.
A Whistl spokesman said the mailings were provided through an intermediary, adding: We are in the process of stopping this mail being processed through our network. We have written formally to the intermediary to advise that we will not take mail from these brands or their parent company.
Thousands of frail victims have lost vast sums to scammers, who trick them into buying worthless and potentially dangerous medicines through letters delivered by the Royal Mail.
Here LUCY OSBORNE reveals some of the most heartbreaking cases.
Dementia gran lost her home at 91
Grandmother Anna Greig had to sell her house and move into a nursing home after she lost 70,000 through scams.
The 91-year-old dementia sufferer began ordering thousands of pills after receiving letters that claimed she had won a prize cheque and could speed up its delivery by ordering products from the scam catalogues.
Soon Mrs Greig was sending off cheques almost every day to claim her prize, which she wanted to pass on to her children and grandchildren.
Grandmother Anna Greig (pictured with her son James), had to sell her house and move into a nursing home after she lost 70,000 through scams
She would hide boxes full of the pills including sharks cartilage and a formula for sharp ears from her family, hoping she would soon surprise her children with her winnings. But in 2008 her son James became suspicious when she could not pay her builder for the annexe being built on her Bradford home.
To his horror, he discovered she had spent nearly all her life savings on scams sending 5,000 to one lottery scammer in Canada alone. I was devastated, he said. The 25,000 for the building work was gone, and she had been borrowing large sums from her bank and building society as well as on her credit cards.
I discovered mum had also taken out various loans to send money to these scammers. Her overall debt was now around 70,000.
Mr Greig moved in with his mother, confiscated her cheque books and intercepted scam mail.
But he said the rows and disagreements continued. She was still convinced that just one more payment would land her a fortune.
Mr Greig, 63, explained that his mother, who is a devout Christian, is a very honest woman.
She believes when people make promises they should stand, he said.
This belief caused her to trust the scammers over and over again.
Mrs Greig is now in a nursing home with early stage dementia.
After spending nearly 70,000 through scams she had to sell her home. Mr Greig added: My mum is still very hurt that there will be no inheritance for her children and grandchildren. She still doesnt fully understand the enormity of what happened to her wealth.
Veteran desperate to ease leg pain
James Horkin, 91, was conned into spending 800 a month
James Horkin, 91, was conned into spending 800 a month on medicines he hoped would ease his terrible leg and back pain.
Mr Horkin who served as an officer in the Royal Tank Regiment during the war also suffered from the blood cancer non-Hodgkins lymphoma, which caused him difficulty when swallowing.
His desperation to alleviate his pain made him an easy target for scammers, who hounded him for more than 15 years. At the height of the scam, he was losing 800 a month, and his family fear he gave more than 90,000 to the scammers overall.
The father-of-two, who died last month, was first lured into buying the products with scam letters that promised he would win a TV. They told him ordering products in the catalogue would speed up the prize.
Soon Mr Horkin was placing orders worth hundreds of pounds and taking the medicines against the advice of his GP.
Among the bogus remedies he was conned into buying were a pain-relieving gel he was told to rub into his legs which caused him to have a bad fall and ginseng extract contained in glass ampules, which cut his hands as he broke them open. He spent 600 alone on tablets that were supposed to cure his pain while swallowing with his family throwing out 60 boxes after he died.
We told him it was a scam but the letters were so convincing that he was completely drawn in, said his daughter Liz Horkin, a retired nurse. They were bombarding him with letters demanding he buy more and more ... They are just criminals.
Miss Horkin said her independent father was no fool, but added: Sadly he did become more gullible due to frailty ... and he was quite trusting, as many old people are.
The people behind the scams are criminals and he was just utterly manipulated.
After his death, Mr Horkins daughter realised two of the scam catalogue companies had even taken money from his account while he was in hospital.
He certainly wasnt ordering anything as he was in hospital, she said. About 220 was taken at that time. We have reported it.
She said there should be a way to divert scam mail away from vulnerable older people to their next of kin. When you think of children, they are removed from their home if there is even the slightest suspicion of abuse, she said. But the elderly are just as vulnerable to abuse like this and there is nothing to protect them.
Cancer victim spent 30K on bogus cures
Donald Davies' daughter-in-law Julie had daily battles with her father-in-law
Over three years, Donald Davies sent between 20,000 and 30,000 to scammers who tout bogus health supplements.
His family battled to stop him but nothing would convince the brainwashed pensioner that he had fallen victim to a con.
The former ambulance driver sometimes received more than 100 scam letters a day. Before his death aged 79 from prostate cancer two years ago, Mr Davies bought thousands of useless products including lotions, tablets and tinned food which filled his entire garage.
Like many victims, he was lured into buying them by claims he had won a cash prize that would materialise if he ordered the remedies. Believing the letters were genuine, he started to send money, and was soon losing around 1,000 every month.
Then, after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, desperate Mr Davies started sending money for bogus prostate tablets recommended by one company.
His family fear these may have interfered with medication he was prescribed by his doctor.
Many health products were from Vital Nature, a company run by multi-millionaire Stephane Alech. Among them was a so-called anti-itch lotion for 16.89, anti-ageing tablets for 17.88 and Lutein X-Strength for 17.89, which can be dangerous in large doses.
Shocking: Hundreds of boxes of bogus products fill the garage of Donald Davies' home
Mr Davies daughter-in-law Julie said she had daily battles with her father-in-law, who lived with his wife in Bridgend, Wales, and even tried to intercept the cheques he sent but he refused to listen.
This is a man who wouldnt stop for a cup of tea at a service station because its too expensive, she said.
But at the same time, hes spending a fortune ordering these useless products. He was brainwashed.
It was so sad to watch because we were seeing our dad getting hurt, but we couldnt do anything about it.
He was so taken in by it all that he would trust them over his own family.
Husband hooked on memory pills
Former soldier Ray Kaye and his wife Paula are living in poverty due to the scam letters.
Mr Kaye, who served in the Royal Signals for 22 years, receives at least a dozen letters a day telling him he has won a huge cash prize and must order goods to claim it. He suffers from memory problems and attends a dementia group, and when he saw that one of the products claimed to improve memory he instantly began ordering it.
However, the memory pills in question have no ingredients or instructions on their packaging, and it is not known what they contain.
Former soldier Ray Kaye and his wife Paula are living in poverty due to the scam letters
Mr Kaye, 76, has lost his life savings, and he and Mrs Kaye are living in poverty, with barely enough to cover their rent and bills.
Mrs Kaye, 78, has pleaded with her hooked husband to stop sending money to the scammers to no avail. She said: He hides it from me but I know hes still doing it.
The couples friends have also tried to stop him but the scammers tell him to ignore them. Former neighbour Cheryl Hammond, 45, said: People dont realise how powerful the messages are they are experts in getting into peoples heads and the letters are so personal.
People like Ray are being mugged in their own home on a daily basis, yet theres nothing we can do about it.
Mr Kaye said: Im awful. I once had a very good bank balance but Im depleting it because of these letters.
I know theyre terrible. But if I stop now, I definitely wont get any money back.
The Queen sent her most senior official to lobby a former chair of the Commonwealth
The Queen sent her most senior official to lobby a former chair of the Commonwealth into backing Prince Charles as her successor as head of the family of nations.
Former Australian PM Julia Gillard, a republican who was also chair of the Commonwealth from 2011 to 2013, has told how the Queens private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt flew to Adelaide see her on a taxpayer-funded secret mission three years ago.
He told Miss Gillard he would fly to Australia to anywhere I was in order to get it.
Their meeting resulted in her surprise public calling for Charles to take over from the Queen as the ceremonial head of the group of 53 nations.
The statement by Miss Gillard in March 2013 marked a turning point in the future of the Commonwealth.
It read: For Australias part, I am sure the Queens successor as monarch will one day serve as head of the Commonwealth with the same distinction as Her Majesty has done.
Although the Queen succeeded her own father, King George VI, as ceremonial head of the global organisation, there is no convention which states that the role should automatically pass to her eldest son.
Buckingham Palace has always publicly insisted it is up to the Commonwealths member nations who takes over after the Queen.
But Miss Gillards revelation as to how she came to publicly endorse Charles demonstrates how concerned the 90-year-old monarch and her courtiers are at the safe stewardship of the organisation - and Britains role in it - following her eventual death.
It has been argued that the Commonwealth will play an even more important role as regards Britains position on the global stage following this years Brexit vote.
In a lecture on the future of the Commonwealth at Kings College, London, on Friday Miss Gillard said: In early 2013, I was advised that Sir Christopher Geidt, the Queens private secretary, wanted half an hour of my time in my capacity as chair of the Commonwealth, an office the host holds until the next meeting.
'He would fly to Australia to anywhere I was in order to get it.
The upshot of our meeting, which took place in Adelaide (the centre of everything, youll remember) on 21 February 2013, was a clearly worded statement for the public record about how succession works for the role of the Head of Commonwealth.
Ms Gillard, who is in favour of Australia becoming a republic once the Queen is no longer on the throne, added: I would not want you to think this was some simple act of colonial subservience.
I did see wisdom in it. However, the purpose of the statement would have been a mystery to many until Prince Charles attended the next CHOGM in Sri Lanka in the Queens place.
The Queen wanted her senior official to push the case for Prince Charles to be her successor as head of the family of nations
Her 2013 remarks came soon after the Queen had missed a series of engagements with symptoms of gastroenteritis.
It was later announced that the Queen would not be at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka later that year.
It was the first time in 40 years the Queen had missed the summit and came as part of a review of her long-haul travel.
Charles formally opened CHOGM in 2013, representing his mother in the role for the first time - a significant and symbolic step for him as a king-in-waiting.
The new revelation also helps to explain why Sir Christopher was given a second knighthood in 2014, as Miss Gillard herself acknowledges: A snippet of the citation caught my eye: preparation for the transition to a change of reign and relations with the Commonwealth, she said archly.
Professor Philip Murphy, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, described the move as an attempt by Buckingham Palace to sew up the job for Charles.
I think this is an attempt by the Palace to sew things up for Charles, told The Times newspaper.
Unlike the succession to the Crown, it isnt possible to legislate for the Headship succession. So all the Palace can do is to create an expectation that Charles will succeed to the headship. And thats what Gillards carefully-worded statement was intended to do.
A relative of Elijah Doughty has taken her own life at the scene of his death in the Western Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie.
The 37-year-old mother-of-three is believed to be a distant relative of Elijah's who lived outside the town, reported the ABC.
WA Police told Daily Mail Australia the woman's death took place in bushland at the end of Clancy Street in Boulder, near her home about 11am on October 10.
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A relative of teenager Elijah Doughty has taken her own life at the scene of his death (pictured) in the Western Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie
The 34-year-old woman is believed to be a distant relative of Elijah Doughty (pictured) who was killed in a motorbike accident on the outskirts of Kalgoorlie in August, after being allegedly run down by another motorist
Her death is not being treated as suspicious and is a suspected self-harm incident, but the cause of death will be determined by the Coroner.
Teenager Elijah Doughty, 14, was killed while riding his motorbike on the outskirts of Kalgoorlie in August this year.
He was allegedly run down by another motorist.
A 55-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with manslaughter over the incident but is yet to enter a plea regarding the charge.
A 55-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter over the death of Elijah (pictured) but is yet to enter a plea regarding the charge
A house linked to the man was destroyed in a fire in mid-September in a suspected vigilante attack, which resulted in more than $250,000 worth of damage to the property.
The Police Arson Squad investigated the incident but have not laid any charges.
The ABC reported that more than 150 Aboriginal people took their lives in 2015, the highest figure ever recorded nationally.
Suicide rates in some regions, including the WA Kimberley region, and parts of the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland, have been described as epidemic.
Industry "has implicitly... caused, the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of healthy greyhounds'
'Even if the industry could reform, "the outlook for the industry is bleak'"
'The report is clear and the right decision has been made,' he said
'I encourage everyone to read report... I did. I didn't need to read it twice'
Mike Baird quoted at length from a special commission into the industry
When Mike Baird announced he was shutting down the greyhound industry, he said in a series of social media posts he 'didn't need to read the report twice'.
But perhaps he should have - with the New South Wales Premier reversing his decision and announcing he was 'wrong' to shut down the industry.
Mr Baird's own words have come back to haunt him following the dramatic backflip announced on Tuesday.
Political opponents have seized upon a blizzard of tweets and Facebook posts Mr Baird wrote in July where he tried to justify his controversial decision.
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New South Wales Premier Mike Baird has backed down on a plan to ban greyhound racing - admitting he was 'wrong' to shut down the industry
In July, Mr Baird fired off more than a dozen tweets quoting from a scathing landmark report into the greyhound industry.
Quoting from the special commission of inquiry's report, Mr Baird tweeted: 'Even if the industry could reform, "the outlook for the industry is bleak"'.
He also tweeted 'The industry "has implicitly condoned as well as caused, the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of healthy greyhounds"'.
He pointed out how the report found only 'eight countries allow commercial greyhound racing' and crowds were dwindling.
Another extract Mr Baird tweeted said: '"It appears unlikely that the issue of the large scale killing of healthy greyhounds...can be addressed successfully in the future.".
In his missive, Mr Baird said: 'I encourage everyone to actually read the report into greyhound racing. I did. I didnt need to read it twice.'
'I feel deep empathy for innocent participants & we will work to support them. But the report is clear and the right decision has been made.'
Many of the tweets were resurfaced on Tuesday as Mr Baird confirmed his government was backing down.
NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon pointed out a tweet where Mr Baird quoted from the special report.
'Giving the industry further time to address overbreeding and wastage appears likely to be fruitless,' Mr Baird's tweet said.
Ms Rhiannon quipped: 'Mike Baird, three months ago. Today, he abandons principle to save his own skin.'
Former NSW Labor Premier Kristina Keneally quoted a July tweet where he declared: Ending this cruelty is simply the right thing to do'.
Ms Keneally said: 'Apparently re-instating it is an even better thing to do.'
The NSW cabinet has signed off on plans to REVERSE the ban on greyhound racing
The ban was previously due to come into effect in July next year. Now it will not
The Premier told a press conference: 'I got it wrong. The Cabinet got it wrong. The government got it wrong'.
He said the greyhound industry would be given 'one last chance'.
Mr Baird instead promised to introduce stronger regulations for the industry, including harsher penalties for animal cruelty.
He said he previously thought the industry could not reform itself - but said Greyhound Transition Taskforce Co-ordinator-General John Keniry suggests it can.
A couple have arrived at their new rental home to find a fence has been built in front of their garage door.
Beck Cole and Deo Bohn moved into their home in Shotover Country, north-east of Queenstown centre in New Zealand in June this year.
They discovered a wooden fence, which was not there when the tenants inspected the house, had been built and cut off access to their garage, Stuff.co.nz reported.
The couple were told to park their cars beside the garage and now have concerns it might be converted into a self-contained unit and rented out separately.
A couple arrived at their new rental home to find a fence had been built in front of their garage
Ms Cole told Stuff.co.nz that she was disappointed to still be paying full rent.
'We did think at the time the driveway was pretty steep,' Ms Cole said.
'We were told a few weeks later that it would no longer be able to be used as a garage. Then he (the landlord) decided to put the fence up which was a bit bizarre.
'He said he was going to put it up as a bit of privacy but the fence is serving absolutely no purpose.'
The couple also have four older children, three of whom had hoped to use the garage to store their motorbikes away from the elements.
Queenstown Lakes District Council spokesman Jimmy Sygrove told Stuff.co.nz that he was in contact with the property owner about consenting issues, but would not add any further information.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Deo Bohn for comment on the intrusive fence.
A New Zealand tourist who fell to her death from a 14th floor Gold Coast apartment balcony said 'no, no, no' and begged to go home before Gable Tostee told her: 'I would, but you have been a bad girl'.
An audio recording of Warriena Wright's last words has been played in court at the murder trial for her Tinder date, 30-year-old Gable Tostee.
'You're lucky I haven't chucked you off my balcony, you goddamn psycho little b****,' Tostee told the 26-year-old woman, the audio reveals.
Tostee is not accused of throwing her to her death, but the Crown prosecutor alleges Tostee intimidated and threatened Ms Wright so greatly she felt the only way to escape was to climb down from his locked balcony.
Tostee has pleaded not guilty to her murder.
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Gable Tostee, 30, is accused of the August 2014 murder of his Tinder date, New Zealand woman Warriena Wright, 26 (Tostee pictured arriving at court on Tuesday)
Three hours of audio from their date, recorded by Tostee, has played at the Brisbane Supreme Court over Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning
Three hours of audio from their August 2014 date, recorded by Tostee, has played at the Brisbane Supreme Court over Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.
Earlier in the date, Tostee had asked Ms Wright if his penis was 'the biggest' as they continued drinking while the 26-year-old was slurring her words.
'I'll do what you want, sexually I'll be your slave,' Tostee told her, Ten News reported.
He continued: 'That's more than enough. You're not my kind of girl. You have to leave. You're f***ing insane.'
The pair appeared to fight throughout the evening.
Ms Wright, who appeared to be heavily intoxicated, had hit Tostee in the head with the clamp of a telescope earlier in the evening and thrown decorative pebbles at him.
The bag of rocks and parts of the telescope clamp were passed around to jurors on Tuesday, Courier Mail reported.
Tostee has pleaded not guilty to her murder. The Crown prosecution does not allege he threw her off his balcony, but alleges he intimidated her so greatly she felt climbing over was her only option
Tostee is accused of killing Warriena Tagpuno Wright in 2014 after they met on the dating app Tinder while she was visiting Australia for two weeks
An audio recording of Ms Wright and Tostee's Tinder date played in Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning
'You got something to say, say it?' Tostee said.
Ms Wright then called the 30-year-old 'sexist' through a muffled voice.
'You're lucky I haven't chucked you off my balcony you goddamn psycho little bitch.
'You think you can hit me and I'll just fall down, like in the movies? Let go, let go.'
Warriena's breathing sounded restricted, and gasping could be heard.
Tostee told her to 'let go', said she needed to leave without fetching her belongings.
'If you try to pull anything, I will knock you out You are trying to kill me huh,' Tostee could be heard saying.
Her screams of 'no, no, no' could then be heard as Tostee told her: 'Who the fuck do you think you are?'
Tostee and his lawyer Nick Dore leave the Supreme Court during a break in Brisbane on Tuesday
Emily Ellis, a witness who lived two floors below Tostee, is pictured leaving court on Tuesday
Tostee has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 26-year-old Ms Wright in August 2014
Tostee and his lawyer, Mr Dore, leave Brisbane Supreme Court on the second day of his murder trial
'Just let me go home,' she said.
'I would, but you have been a bad girl,' Tostee replied.
The 30-year-old then allegedly locked Ms Wright on the balcony. Neighbours told the court they heard a loud thumping sound, believed to be the door being shut.
Ms Wright then attempted to climb down from the 14th floor balcony but fell to her death.
Tostee could then be heard swearing repeatedly and trying to find his keys.
He then left the Avalon Apartment building and phoned his father.
Their conversations were also recorded and played in court on Tuesday.
'She started getting really aggressive,' Tostee told his father. 'We had sex in bed. We were drinking. She kept beating me up and whatever.
'I forced her out on the balcony. I think she might have jumped off.
'I didn't cause this. I didn't push her off or anything.
'I, like, tackled her on my floor I never forced her over my balcony. It's really f***ed up. I don't know what to do.
The court heard detailed audio on Monday of the pair arguing, as well as a photo reenactment of Ms Wright's last moments dangling from Tostee's balcony (pictured)
Disheveled sheets, rocks on the floor and a handheld video camera were found in the Gold Coast apartment (pictured) of Gable Tostee after Warriena Wright fell to her death from his balcony in 2014
Sheets on Tostee's bed were seen balled up and a pillow case appeared to be missing
He later told his father, 'the last thing I'd do is hurt a girl' as they tried phoning a lawyer.
Photographs from his apartment were shown to the jury on Monday.
The pictures show the apartment in disarray with what appear to be white rocks - the same the crown prosecutor alleged Ms Wright threw at Tostee, making him angry - scattered on a living room chair and across most of the carpeted floor.
Tostee could also be heard throughout the audio recording saying 'ouch' and appeared to yell out in pain.
A handheld video camera is on the edge of the glass coffee table and what appears to be a woman's black purse and a key are by the leg of the table.
Two black chairs sit in the corner of the balcony and a pair of white shoes are in the middle of the tiled floor, near a tanning bed.
A photo reenactment of Ms Wright's last moments dangling from Tostee's balcony was also shared with the jury.
Two black chairs sit in the corner of the balcony and a pair of white shoes are in the middle of the tiled floor, near a suntanning bed
Prosecutors claim Ms Wright threw decorative rocks at Tostee, which angered him
The image depicts a young woman's legs, from the waist down, hanging over the corner of the balcony's ledge.
The court heard Ms Wright saying she wanted to leave Tostee's apartment a number of times but the two continued to talk and drink.
'Are you going to f***ing Muay Thai me because I will f***ing destroy your jaw,' Ms Wright said.
'I should have never given you so much to drink,' Tostee said later.
Ms Wright threatened to call the police while Tostee accused her of beating him up for no reason.
Mr Cash said Tostee put Ms Wright out on the balcony after she threw some decorative rocks at him and hit him with a telescope.
Ms Wright's mother Beth broke down as the court heard how her daughter was allegedly choked as Tostee restrained her.
A jury containing seven women and six men was told neighbours heard Ms Wright crying 'no, no, no, please let me go home' before witnessing her falling from Tostee's balcony.
On Tuesday, Emily Ellis, who lived two floors down beneath Tostee, said she heard a loud commotion about 2am.
Ms Ellis said she heard a woman's voicing 'pleading' to go home.
When she moved towards the edge of the balcony, the neighbour looked up and saw a woman trying to climb over in 'quite a rushed fashion'.
Ms Wright again said 'I want to go home' as she appeared to hang from the railing before she plummeted to her death.
Merzabeth Tagpuno (centre), mother of Ms Wright, is seen leaving the Supreme Court in Brisbane after the first day of trial
Ms Wright's mother Merzabeth Tagpuno also arrived at the court on Monday for the start of the trial, which is expected to last seven to eight days
Gabriele Collyer-Wiedner, who lived in the unit directly below Tostee's, gasped before she 'screamed and ran away' when she saw a female officer playing the role of Ms Wright and hanging her legs from the balcony above her own.
She told the court on Monday she woke about 2am on August 8, 2014, to the sound of banging furniture.
GABLE TOSTEE TIMELINE July 29, 2014: Ms Wright arrives in Australia for two-week holiday. She meets Tostee on Tinder. August 8, 2014: Ms Wright found dead about 2.20am after falling from 14th floor balcony of Tostee's Surfers Paradise apartment. August 15, 2014: Tostee arrested at parent's house, charged with murder. October 10, 2016: Murder trial starts. Tostee represented by high-profile barrister Saul Holt QC. Advertisement
She heard a woman screaming 'no, no, no' and looked out onto her balcony when she saw Ms Wright's legs.
'Legs came down and dangled in the air,' she said. 'I froze there, then the body fell on my balcony railing.
'I screamed and then somebody else screamed. I assumed it was her voice. I stepped forward and looked down and she was lying on the ground.'
She then called emergency services.
Ms Wright was on a two-week vacation to attend a friend's wedding in 2014 when she met Tostee at the end of her trip.
She was found dead at the base of the high-rise Avalon Apartments unit in Surfers Paradise in the early hours of August 8 after falling from the 14th floor balcony of Tostee's unit.
The 26-year-old was found dead at the base of the high-rise Avalon Apartments unit in Surfers Paradise in the early hours of August 8, 2014
Ms Wright was found dead at the base of the high-rise Avalon Apartments unit in Surfers Paradise in the early hours of August 8, 2014
In his opening address, defence barrister Saul Holt QC said Tostee was a real person, not a 'cartoonish villain' as the media often depicted.
Mr Holt said Ms Wright had become increasingly erratic and aggressive towards him after a night of drinking and intimacy.
After attempting to restrain her Tostee then put Ms Wright out on the balcony and locked the door, the court heard.
Mr Holt said Tostee did not choke Ms Wright but was within his legal right to use 'reasonable force' to protect himself and his property.
'She is outside, he is inside and he has caused a locked door to be between the two of them,' Mr Holt said.
'What happened in this case is nothing like murder or manslaughter, it doesn't fit.'
The trial before Justice John Byrne continues and is expected to take seven to eight days.
The 30-year-old's trial is due to start in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday when he will be represented by high-profile barrister Saul Holt QC
Accused killer Gable Tostee's appearance seems to have changed drastically in the two years since he was charged with the murder of a New Zealand tourist he met on Tinder.
Tostee was pictured arriving at Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday where he is currently on trial over the murder of 26-year-old Warriena Wright.
As the 30-year-old walked down the street ahead of the second day of his murder trial, his face and abdomen were noticeably different to the profile photos he used on social media around the time Ms Wright fell to her death from his apartment in 2014.
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Gold Coast man Gable Tostee's appearance seems to have changed drastically in the two years since he was charged with the murder of New Zealand woman Warriena Wright in 2014
His appearance was noticeably different to the profile photos (pictured) he used on social media around the time Ms Wright fell to her death from his apartment in 2014
Tostee has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Wright in the early hours of August 8, 2014 when she fell to her death from the 14th floor.
It is not alleged he threw or pushed Ms Wright but that he intimidated and threatened her so greatly she felt the only way to escape from him was to climb down from his balcony.
The jury was played a recording from Tostee's phone on Tuesday of the last sounds Ms Wright made, including her blood-curdling screams and her begging for her life, before she plummeted to the ground.
The court heard how the pair, who met on Tinder, had been drinking in Tostee's unit before a prolonged argument saw him restrain her.
Tostee was pictured arriving at Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday where he is currently on trial over the murder of 26-year-old Warriena Wright
Tostee (pictured left in 2015 and right on Tuesday) has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Wright after she fell from his 14th floor balcony
It is not alleged Tostee threw or pushed Ms Wright but that he intimidated and threatened her so greatly she felt the only way to escape from him was to climb down from his balcony
'You're lucky I haven't chucked you off my balcony you goddamn psycho little bitch,' Tostee said.
'I'm gonna walk you out of this apartment just the way you are, you're not going to collect any belongings.
'If you try to pull anything I'll knock you out, I'll knock you the f*** out.'
Ms Wright could then be heard hysterically screaming 'No' over and over again as Tostee locked her out on the balcony.
'I want to go home, I want to go home,' she said.
Ms Wright fell 14 floors from Tostee's Surfers Paradise unit in the early hours of August 8, 2014
Tostee is accused of killing Warriena Tagpuno Wright in 2014 after they met on the dating app Tinder while she was visiting Australia
About 15 seconds later the recording captured her scream as she fell trying to climb down to the balcony below.
The court heard Tostee left his unit soon after Ms Wright and called his father to pick him up.
'Dad, this is really f***ed up, why does this s*** keep happening to me,' he said.
'I swear to God I didn't push her, I just chucked her out on the balcony because she was beating me up.
'Oh my God, I hope she's not dead.'
The trial before Justice John Byrne continues.
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been ruthless in his crackdown on suspected drug dealers in his country and now he has banned smoking in public.
Mr Duterte, known as the 'The Punisher' for his extreme policies, had already stamped out smoking in the city where he used to be mayor.
But now he has taken the ban nationwide.
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Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been ruthless in his crackdown on suspected drug dealers in his country and now he has his sights set on the nation's smokers
The national restrictions will be along the same lines as those set in Duterte's old municipality of Davao.
'There will be no smoking in public places anymore, whether indoor or outdoor,' Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said.
'Parks, bus stations, and even in vehicles. All these are considered public places.'
It is still yet to be finalised how the ban will work with regards to vendors and designated smoking areas in the country, but it is likely these will be phased out over time.
Known as 'The Punisher', Mr Duterte's 100-day-old drug war has already left thousands dead. Pictured are alleged drug dealers
The body of a suspected drug pusher lying sprawled on the pavement next to a motorcycle after he was killed in encounter by police
Ms Ubial was unconcerned when she was asked whether Mr Duterte was concerned the big tobacco industries would react angrily to the move.
She just shrugged in reply, The Philippines Star reported.
'It is up to you to oppose. It is already the President you will be fighting against,' Ms Ubial said.
Reportedly some 3,600 people have been killed since Duterte came to power at the end of June after the president waged a ruthless war on the country's alleged drug users and pushers, with many left dying in the streets.
The president waged a ruthless war on the country's suspected drug users and pushers, with many left dying in the streets
A father-daughter duo had a stroke of luck after they found a two carat uncut diamond in an Arkansas state park.
Dan Frederick and his daughter, Lauren, found their 'Lucky Diamond' at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The gem-hunting pair found the 2.03-carat diamond in less than an hour of searching in the park.
'It really was the cherry on top of a fun and special trip with my dad,' Lauren Frederick told the Post.
Dan Frederick (right) and his daughter, Lauren (left), found their 'Lucky Diamond' in Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. The gem-hunting pair found the 2.03-carat diamond in less than an hour of searching in the park
The Fredericks, who are from Washington, arrived at the park Monday after researching places to find gems online. In just a half hour, Dan Frederick discovered the stone (pictured) three feet from where he was standing
She said that finding the diamond 'will be one of my favorite memories', especially since they found it together.
The Fredericks, who are from Washington, arrived at the park Monday after researching places to find gems online, the Post reported.
In just a half hour, Dan Frederick discovered the stone three feet from where he was standing.
He then went over to the spot, which was near the Star of Arkansas diamond marker, and found the white diamond.
'This is an example of a diamond that all park visitors dream of taking home,' park interpreter Betty Coors told the Post.
The Fredericks are no strangers to gem-hunting. The father and daughter have traversed more than half the country in search of gemstones and this one they plan to keep.
The Fredericks are no strangers to gem-hunting. The father and daughter have traversed more than half the country in search of gemstones and this one they definitely plan to keep. Pictured is the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas
Lauren told the Post that they are 'still kind of in shock' that they were able to find 'something as big and beautiful as our Lucky Diamond'.
It's unclear just how much their diamond is worth. Experts say it could be worth a lot if it is found to be of exceptionally high color and clarity.
Last year, a park visitor found an 8.52-carat gem, which is the fifth-largest diamond found by a visitor to the state park since the site was established in 1972, according to CNN.
More than 30 diamonds were discovered in the park's search area last year.
Fired: David Kohl signed a four-year contract with High Times. In a lawsuit he claims he was fired after slammed the company's lazy and 'ineffective' board of directors
A media executive who was brought in to head the legendary marijuana magazine High Times is now suing the publication after he was fired when he demanded staffers at the monthly be more professional.
David Kohl believed he was safe in his job after signing a four-year contract with the pot-loving paper and quickly moved to shake things up after witnessing what he deemed to be 'inappropriate behavior' by workers.
Yet according to the New York Post, after criticizing the the company's 'lazy and ineffective' board of directors; reprimanding an employee for misconduct and suggesting the firm be restructured, he was shown the door.
In the lawsuit, Kohl claims sales boss Matt Stang was the one who pulled the trigger and saw that the media exec was laid off.
During his dismissal, one High Times worker 'surreptitiously' slipped the office keys from Kohl's personal keychain, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court filing against High Times' parent company, the Trans-High Corporation (THC).
Good times: High Times is a New York-based monthly magazine founded in 1974 The publication is devoted to, and advocates the legalization of cannabis
THC has not commented on the allegations, however part of the lawsuit sees Kohl claiming for a loss of earnings to the tune of $6million, after the company allegedly refused to pay out his full severance.
According to the lawsuit, as seen by the New York Post, it wasn't until two weeks after Kohl's termination that his lawyer demanded the remaining three years of his contract be paid as initially agreed.
Instead, it's alleged High Times tried to 'manufacture' a reason for his dismissal to avoid having to pay the out on the package.
As a veteran media executive, David Kohl worked for Viacom, Vivendi, Nokia and Xbox before signing a four-year contract with High Times last year.
Kohl was under the impression that with his vast experience, he was being brought on board to broaden the appeal of the cannabis enthused magazine in order to raise 'additional capital'.
In the suit, Kohl claims that in order to raise the magazine's profile, he had hoped to create 'a more involved and devoted board of directors'. He states that it is his belief it was the board's reluctance to alter the 'culture of unprofessionalism and inappropriate behavior' that led to him being fired.
The board included Matt Stang who was arrested for marijuana trafficking in 2012 along with 45 others.
A greyhound trainer charged with animal cruelty has denied live-baiting his dogs, claiming instead he was training them with a 'very life-like' felt rabbit.
Chad Joseph Achurch, 27, was on Monday charged with two counts of torturing and beating an animal to death, aggravated animal cruelty and using an animal for training.
Police allege they found videos on his mobile phone which showed him torturing a live rabbit as bait for his greyhounds, and photos of a rabbit covered in blood with bones sticking out of it.
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A Sydney greyhound trainer facing animal cruelty charges has been denied bail
Chad Joseph Achurch, 27, was on Monday charged with two counts of torturing and beating an animal to death
Achurch's lawyer Mark Rumore told Liverpool Local Court on Tuesday the mobile phone evidence was inadmissible in court because it was taken during Achurch's voluntary visit to a police station relating to an AVO on September 28.
Achurch, a registered greyhound trainer and racer, handed over his phone to police to prove that he had not breached an apprehended violence order, Mr Rumore said.
The police took his phone and downloaded all of its contents, which is when they found the evidence, he said.
Police allege the animal being tortured was a live rabbit being used as bait for the greyhounds, the court heard.
Mr Rumore said his client 'totally denied' using a live rabbit, and that he had used a 'very life-like' rabbit called a 'lure' on a black rope.
'It emits the sounds and smells of a rabbit and the dogs will attack it ferociously,' Mr Rumore said.
Achurch, a registered greyhound trainer and racer, had reported to his local police station on an unrelated matter when police allegedly found photos and videos on his phone
Magistrate Darryl Pearce said the arguments against Achurch's offences did not carry much weight and the case against him was strong
Achurch also denied any presence of 'blood and bones', which police allege is part of the evidence on his phone.
Achurch has not had his dogs taken by the RSPCA, nor has he been disciplined by the state's greyhound racing authority which gave him approval to race dogs about a year ago, Mr Rumore said.
However, the prosecution submitted the charges against Achurch were serious and he ought to have known not to get involved in the industry given recent media coverage about the NSW government's opposition to it.
Magistrate Darryl Pearce said Mr Rumore's arguments did not carry much weight and the case against Achurch was strong.
'If convicted of the offence, I am of the view that he's very likely to serve a term of imprisonment,' the magistrate said.
She crashed Audi A5 into another car in August with her
A celebrity make-up artist has been stripped of her licence and fined $1,650 after she crashed her luxury car while drink-driving with her young children in the back.
Kerry Billett, 37, was convicted of high-range drink-driving in Waverley Local Court on Tuesday after she lost control of her Audi A5 on Jersey Road in Woollahra, Sydney's east, on August 2 and collided with another vehicle.
Police told the court the Edgecliff mother-of-two, who said she has worked with stars including Mel Gibson and Johnny Depp, told them she was 'not a bad mum' after she returned positive alcohol reading of 0.182, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Kerry Billett, 37, was convicted of high-range drink-driving in Waverley Local Court on Tuesday
In February, she shared a picture of Hollywood actor Mel Gibson, saying she was working on his film Hacksaw Ridge alongside Vince Vaughn
The court ordered Billet have a interlock installed into her car for two years after she gets her licence back and she was also slammed with an 18-month good behaviour bond.
According to police, Billet failed to indicate a left hand turn before crossing to the wrong side of the road at the intersection of Jersey Road and Ocean Street.
She crashed into an oncoming Toyota Yaris.
Billet, her two children - aged four and six - and the driver of the Yaris escaped from the accident uninjured.
Police told the court the Edgecliff mother-of-two told them she was 'not a bad mum' after she returned positive alcohol reading of 0.182
Billet said she had been involved in the film industry for seven years and has worked with stars including Bondi Vet Chris Brown and renowned chef Miguel Maestre (pictured)
The mother's barrister Andrew Isaacs told the court Billet's mother had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis the morning before the accident
Almost a third of her fine was for negligent driving in a separate incident in February.
The mother's barrister Andrew Isaacs told the court Billet's mother had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis the morning before the accident.
Billet said she had been involved in the film industry for seven years and has worked with stars including Bondi Vet Chris Brown and renowned chef Miguel Maestre.
In February, she shared a picture of Hollywood actor Mel Gibson, saying she was working on his film Hacksaw Ridge alongside Vince Vaughn.
Billet, her two children - aged four and six - and the driver of the Yaris escaped from the accident uninjured
An elderly mother who police say was pushed out of a window to her death by her own son in the early hours of Monday morning has been pictured by authorities.
Fernando Vargas, 41, was arrested after he allegedly threw his 71-year-old mother Carlota Vargas out of a second floor apartment window in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, ABC 7 reports.
Police responded to a report of an assault in the 7400 block of Hazeltine Avenue at 2.50am, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
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Elderly mother, Carlota Vargas (pictured), 71, was pushed out of a window to her death by her own son in the early hours of Monday morning, police said
Fernando Vargas (pictured), 41, was arrested after he allegedly threw his 71-year-old mother Carlota Vargas out of a second floor apartment window in Van Nuys, Los Angeles
Witnesses said Fernando Vargas (pictured) then jumped out of the window and was seen stomping on her head
Witnesses said the son then jumped out of the window and was seen stomping on her head, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Norma Eisenman told KTLA.
Nancy Ochoa, who witnessed the incident said it 'was horrible' and that the son said 'she was going to die anyway and it didn't matter', if he stomped on her.
The woman was transported to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Investigators said the attack was sparked by a domestic dispute, but further details were not immediately available, according to the local station.
Vargas, who suffered a leg injury, was booked into custody on suspicion of murder, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Police said Vargas was also being tested for drugs.
Nancy Ochoa, who witnessed the incident said it 'was horrible' and that the son said 'she was going to die anyway and it didn't matter', if he stomped on her. Carlota Vargas is pictured holding a birthday cake
Family friend, Erika Lehmann said that she was 'surprised' that the incident even happened. 'She loved her son and her son loved her,' Lehmann said. Carlota Vargas (left) was described as someone everybody loved
'It's pretty strange, it's pretty heinous, especially when you're talking about elderly victims, and compounded with the fact that it looks like the victim's son is the suspect in this case,' LAPD Mark O'Donnell told KTLA.
Family friend, Erika Lehmann told the station that she was 'surprised' that the incident even happened.
'She loved her son and her son loved her.'
Lehmann described Carlota Vargas as 'outgoing' and honest. She said everyone loved her.
Carlota Vargas was transported to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Police said Carlota Vargas was pushed out of the second story apartment window in the 7400 block of Hazeltine Avenue in Los Angeles
A Vietnamese man has been rushed to hospital in agony after 'breaking' his penis while trying an exotic sexual position.
The 59-year-old man was taken to hospital in Ho Chi Minh City where he told doctors he heard a loud crack while making love to his partner.
Doctors were reportedly shocked when they saw the damaged organ, which had clearly been snapped at the point where it joined his body.
The organ had also turned a bright purple and required immediate medical attention, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
A 59-year-old man was taken to Binh Dan Hospital (pictured) in Ho Chi Minh City where he told doctors he heard a loud crack while making love to his partner
'The organ was swollen and bruised, but also certainly broken at the joint,' Dr Mai Ba Tien Dung from Binh Dan Hospital said.
The unnamed man was taken into surgery where doctors proceeded to stitch the broken member back into position.
Just what kind of sexual position the man had been attempting when he heard the loud crack has not been revealed.
Dr Dung said the case was very rare, but occurred at full erection.
'Symptoms include a clear "crack" that is accompanied by a sharp pain,' he said.
He was rushed to hospital in agony after 'breaking' his penis while trying an exotic sexual position (stock image)
The unnamed man was taken into surgery where doctors proceeded to stitch the broken member back into position (stock image)
Dr Dung said this would be followed by purple colouration and ongoing pain and discomfort.
'Without timely surgery, the patient can suffer from a deformed and curved penis and erectile dysfunction,' the doctor said.
He said such breakages that were not quickly attended to could also result in high rates of impotence.
'The case of this 59-year-old patient is rare, occurring only once out of a thousand cases of broken penises recorded in medical literature,' Dr Dung said.
Garry Hudson (pictured left), 55, has been charged with 26 counts of attempted murder and one count of murder after allegedly driving a car into mourners at the funeral of his wife
A man accused of driving a four-wheel drive into a house packed with mourners in far north Queensland has been charged with 26 counts of attempted murder.
Garry Paul Hudson, 55, was charged with the offences plus one count of unlawful use of a motor vehicle on Tuesday, after previously being charged with one count of murder over the incident in Kowanyama, in Cape York, on Friday.
Police allege he deliberately rammed a council-owned vehicle into a house where friends and family had gathered to mourn the passing of his partner Katherine George, who recently died from cancer.
A 48-year-old woman died and 26 others were injured, including 12 seriously, in the crash, which has devastated the tight-knit indigenous community.
Police allege he deliberately rammed a council-owned vehicle into a house where friends and family had gathered to mourn the passing of his partner from cancer, killing one woman
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has promised residents will get all the support they need.
'The injuries suffered are not all physical,' she told parliament on Tuesday.
'There has been a significant impact on the emotional wellbeing of local residents, so it will be essential for my government to continue to work with the community to ensure its residents are supported in the weeks and months ahead.'
Hudson, who is reportedly an indigenous ranger, will face the fresh charges in the Cairns Magistrates Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Extra police were sent to Kowanyama in the wake of the tragedy, which involved many people from the same family group.
A 48-year-old woman died and 26 others were injured, including 12 seriously, in the crash, which has devastated the tight-knit indigenous community
The indigenous community, on the Gulf of Carpentaria side of Cape York, has a population of a little more than 1,000 people
'The community is going through a really, really tough time at the moment,' Premier Palaszczuk told reporters in Brisbane on Monday.
'I have reassured the mayor that if he needs any further help, any further assistance with counselling or anything else, to let the Treasurer know, to let me know.'
Treasurer Curtis Pitt, who is also the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, is due to pay a brief visit to the town on Monday.
The town remained peaceful on Monday as a funeral service for the original deceased woman resumed.
The indigenous community, on the Gulf of Carpentaria side of Cape York, has a population of a little more than 1,000 people.
Mr Hudson's case is due for mention in court on November 7.
A New Mexico mother did nothing to stop her boyfriend and his cousin from raping and dismembering her daughter, even as the 10-year-old girl begged for them to stop, police say.
Michelle Martens admitted that she sat back and watched her daughter, Victoria, be killed by her boyfriend Fabian Gonzales and his cousin, Jessica Kelley, in August. She then allegedly had sex with Gonzales 20 minutes later.
The claims emerged across three interviews with police during which Martens told a series of conflicting accounts, KRQE reported.
Forensic reports said the girl had been dosed with meth, raped, strangled, stabbed and dismembered.
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Murdered: Victoria Martens was dosed with meth, raped, strangled and stabbed on August 23, a day after her tenth birthday. Her dismembered body was found wrapped in a burning blanket
Mom: Her mom, Michelle, initially claimed she didn't see the killing, but eventually told cops that she watched her daughter be raped because she enjoyed it, police transcripts claim
Fabian Gonzales (left) and his cousin Jessica Kelley (right) were guilty of the attack, Martens claimed - but the mom admitted she did nothing to help her begging daughter
Interview transcripts obtained by the station go on for more than 100 pages before Martens, 35, admits that she sat back and watched as her daughter was assaulted and killed at around 5pm on August 23, the day after her 10th birthday.
She initially claimed that she and Gonzales, 31, had been attacked by Kelley, a convicted rapist, in the night, and had no idea what had happened to Victoria.
'Jessica comes into our bedroom and asks me if I believe in God,' she said. 'She kept hitting me, hitting me, hitting me, punching.'
As she fled the scene, Martens claimed, Kelley shouted 'You daughter's dead!'
Victoria Martens, seen above in Facebook photos, was killed at around 5pm on August 23, the day after her 10th birthday
Michelle Martens, seen above in a Facebook photo, initially claimed that she and Gonzales, 31, had been attacked by Kelley, a convicted rapist, in the night, and had no idea what had happened to Victoria
But during the course of the interviews, that story changed: She then told cops that she and Gonzales had left Victoria alone with Kelley, and that the girl had died after taking some meth that she found.
Martens said Gonzales and Kelley disposed of Victoria's body - which was found dismembered and wrapped in a burning blanket - and that they threatened to kill her if she told on them.
Police, doubting her tale, tricked her into believing that Gonzales was giving up the truth in another room.
Ultimately, she admitted the truth: That she had sat back and watched Gonzales and Kelley rape and murder her daughter, even though the girl begged for mercy, KTLA reported.
Michelle Martens admitted that she'd watched the pair rape Victoria on at least three other occasions in the days before she was killed. Victoria is seen above in Facebook photos
The trio are seen above in a still from court during a bond hearing in August. Their trials are expected to take place next year. From left, Martens, Gonzales and Kelley
More action from inside the courtroom is seen above. Michelle Martens is seen cuffed and with a bloody face, left
And that wasn't the first time, either - she admitted that she'd watched the pair rape Victoria on at least three other occasions in the days before she was killed, and that she thinks Gonzales had been abusing her for a month while she was at work.
Martens even had sex with Gonzales 20 minutes after the killing, KTLA said.
She told cops she enjoyed watching her daughter be violated, and had let two other men have sex with her in the six months before the murder.
Arrested: Initially Martens claimed that Kelley had murdered the girl in the night, then that she had killed her while alone with the girl during the day. But eventually she broke and confessed
Accused: Gonzales also said Kelley committed the murder and said he was innocent, police interview transcripts show. Martens said she watched him abuse Victoria prior to the killing
The mom, who also has a son, named both men, but police have not confirmed if they are being investigated.
Martens admitted using dating website Plenty of Fish to look for men to have sex with Victoria.
At one point a detective asked: 'This time she died and you weren't ready for the type of animals (Gonzales and Kelley) were?'
'Yes,' said Martens, 'but I should have stopped it.'
Sibling: Martens also has a son (pictured). She had invited men to rape her daughter while she watched over the preceding six months, but said she didn't expect the girl to be murdered
Gonzales had been interviewed for eight hours, initially mirroring Martens' claim that they were attacked by Kelley.
However, he then changed his claim, saying he had discovered Kelley with Victoria's body and had helped dispose of the corpse.
Kelley asked for a lawyer, but did inquire as to what evidence police had.
Police discovered Victoria's body in August, wrapped in a burning blanket in an apartment owned by Martens.
Some of her remains were found in a plastic bag in a hamper near the kitchen, reported The Albuquerque Journal, citing court records.
Trial: Martens (seen above), Kelley and Gonzales are all expected to go to trial next year. All face child abuse and kidnapping counts, and Gonzales and Kelley face rape counts
Investigators also sought DNA evidence from the suspects, as well as multiple electronic devices and a camcorder they believed may have been used for sexual exploitation of children.
Martens faces charges of kidnapping and child abuse resulting in death; Gonzales faces those same charges as well as child rape.
Kelley, who according to CNN had been staying at the Martens home in Arroyo Villas apartments after being released from jail, has been charged with kidnapping, child abuse resulting in death and child rape.
She had attempted to flee the apartment in Albuquerque when police went to arrest her and jumped off the balcony injuring her foot.
She was seen during an initial court appearance in a wheelchair.
Kelley, seen above, has been charged with kidnapping, child abuse resulting in death and child rape
Kelley is seen at a previous hearing in a wheelchair. She injured her foot after jumping off the balcony when cops tried to arrest her
Victoria had just started fourth grade at an Albuquerque elementary school and was due to have a birthday party on the day she died.
She had an older half-brother who was not at home at the time of her killing.
Victoria's half-brother, seen above with her, was staying with his father on the night she was killed
Her brother's father Jason Oetting issued a statement after Victoria's killing saying the way the custody schedule was in place her had their son on the night Victoria died.
It said: 'Drug abuse and substance abuse had never been an issue, and Michelle seemed to be a normal person.
'It's by the grace of God he wasn't with Michelle that night.'
His attorney William E. Hoskovec said: 'This tragedy has left my client in disbelief. He's cooperating with investigators in every way in this matter. He is and will do everything he can do to protect his son.
'She's never been a monster, she got mixed up with the worst kind of people and that contributed to a downward spiral from what we can tell.'
Their trials are expected to take place next year. They are all being held on $1million cash bonds.
A pie with almost no meat is about as un-Australian as a pub with no beer.
A Coles customer from Melbourne, Steven Braszell, certainly thinks so, taking to Coles' Facebook page to demand an answer.
'Coles, can you explain the lack of meat in this Coles party pie?,' he wrote.
You call that a pie? Coles customer Steven Braszell wants an answer about the missing meat
The unhappy customer posed the question to Coles on Monday after a relative, Michael Braszell, made the suggestion to him on Facebook.
Steven Braszell's other Facebook friends saw the funny side of his earlier status update featuring an image of the offending pie with a minuscule portion of meat.
'Tough day when you get a pie with this much meat,' he said.
His friends described the empty savoury item as a 'vegetarian pie' and 'pastry puffs' while another observed there was 'plenty of room for sauce'.
Steven Braszell has won support on Facebook for asking Coles about pie with little meat
Steven won support from other Coles customers on the supermarket giant's Facebook page, with Doin Bro suggesting he receive a refund.
'As a passionate meat vegan this just isnt okay to watch happen,' he said.
'I expect to see Steven refunded the full price of the party pies and a packet of party pies for the inconvenience to his meal.'
Daily Mail Australia contacted Coles for comment.
The $5,000-a-night Russian prostitute who accused shamed ex-New York governor Eliot Spitzer of choking her in a hotel room has been arrested on blackmail charges.
Svetlana Zakharova Travis, 25, told NYPD detectives that Spitzer, 57, had assaulted her during a heated row in a $1,000 suite at The Plaza Hotel in February after she revealed plans to return to Moscow.
The escort and model then went back to her native Russia, hindering the police investigation into the alleged attack.
But she was arrested and charged with grand larceny by extortion when she returned to New York on Monday for allegedly trying to extort Spitzer out of $50,000.
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Arrested: Svetlana Travis, 25, was arrested in New York on a grand felony charge after allegedly trying to blackmail ex-NY governor and former squeeze Eliot Spitzer out of $50,000
'Victim': Spitzer said in a civil suit that Travis made him pay so she wouldn't tell about their trysts, and that she accused him of choking her in Feb as revenge for him cutting ties with her
She also was charged with forgery in an unrelated case in which police said she used a 67-year-old Bloomfield, New Jersey man's information and signed a lease agreement that ended up costing him $18,000.
Police have not confirmed how much Travis was allegedly trying to extort from him, but reports suggest she was trying to shake him down for $50,000.
It was not immediately known if she has an attorney who can comment on the charges. She is due to appear at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday.
Spitzer, who resigned as governor in 2008 after he was accused of wiring more than $10,000 to an elite escort service, had admitted to a 'relationship' with Travis in a lawsuit filed in July.
That suit said Spitzer had paid money to stop Travis from making their 'trysts' public, and that her claims of assault were made against him in revenge for him cutting ties with her.
Dropped: He dropped the lawsuit last month, but the NYPD arrested her when she landed in New York on Monday after flying in from Russia. She had fled there after making the choking claim in February
Spitzer's representatives told in September that he had withdrawn the claims, 'without prejudice and without costs to either party as against the other.'
But the closure of that civil suit apparently meant little to the NYPD, who picked up Travis and hit her with the charges.
Spitzer's suit claimed that Travis had 'demanded' a meeting with him on February 13, during a stopover while travelling from her home in California to Russia.
It said that she 'became enraged when [he] told her that he did not wish to maintain any relationship with her, that he did not intend to give her more property, and that he intended to end all contact.'
Travis called police and told them she had cut herself and was having a breakdown, Spitzer's attorney, Adam Kaufmann, said in February.
Spitzer was present while police arrived, Kaufmann said, and 'sought to keep her calm.'
When police arrived they noticed a cut on her arm and a broken glass, and took her to hospital. There she told staff that Spitzer had choked her and shoved her after she told him of her plan to return to Russia.
But she refused to co-operate with police and flew to Russia later that night.
Spitzer is no stranger to controversy. The multi-millionaire son of real-estate tycoon Bernard Spitzer, he made a name for himself as a lawyer focusing on corrupt financiers.
'Fraud': Travis was also arrested on a separate forgery charge after allegedly signing a lease that resulted in a New Jersey man being billed for $18,000
The one-time 'Sheriff of Wall Street' was even considered presidential material, and became 57th governor of New York in 2007.
But he was forced to quit the following year after it was reported that he had at least seven meetings with high-end prostitutes over a six-month period and may have spent up to $80,000 on hookers over many years.
Infamous as Client 9 of the Emperors Club VIP call-girl ring, he resigned at a public press conference along with his wife Silda, who chose to stand by him.
He then tried to rehabilitate his public image with a stint as a CNN presenter before returning to work for his father, who died last year, leaving him $16million.
Controversy: Spitzer, formerly a celebrated lawyer, spent just a year as governor of New York before quitting in 2008 after it emerged that he may have spent up to $80,000 on hookers
An affair with spin doctor Lis Smith in December 2013 is believed to have been the cause of his marriage's collapse in 2014.
Silda walked away with $7.5million, $240,000-a-year for life, and the couple's luxury Fifth Avenue apartment.
Travis wrote an article about her experience as a prostitute for Medium in October 2014 titled 'Sex is Sex. But Money is Money' in which she describes herself as a 'businesswoman'.
'I did what politicians in this country are always encouraging immigrants to do: work hard, seize opportunity, maximize your talents,' she said in the article, which is attributed to 'Svetlana Z.'
In the piece, she boasts that she arrived in New York with just $300, but became successful after building a stable of clients.
'I turned 24 in March and have managed to save $200,000 by f***ing for money,' she wrote.
She pleaded not guilty to purchasing groceries,
Schreuder admitted to using Ms Shaylor's credit card to buy phone credit
Kay Shaylor, 62, was killed on following a
A New South Wales woman has pleaded guilty to stealing a woman's purse as she lay dying on the side of the road following a fatal car accident.
Silvia Maria Schreuder, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of larceny and one count of obtaining financial advantage by deception at Gosford local court following the September 3 accident, reported The Daily Telegraph.
Schreuder, a nurse with medical training, rushed to help Kay Shaylor, 62, who was left fighting for her life after a suspended L-plater allegedly slammed into her car after driving on the wrong side of the road.
Silvia Maria Schreuder, 44, has pleaded guilty to stealing 62-year-old Kay Shaylor's purse as she lay dying in her Mitsubishi Mirage following a crash
Kay Shaylor was treated at the scene and flown to Royal North Shore Hospital on September 3 where she later died
Schreuder pleaded not guilty to another four fraud charges which allege she purchased $93.72 worth of groceries from Woolworths, McDonalds and $51.70 worth of cigarettes.
But she admitted to using the victim's St George Master Card to purchase $20 worth of credit for her prepaid phone.
It's claimed that Mr Hall was at the scene moments after the crash and even helped emergency services try to free Ms Shaylor from the wreckage - but was in fact taking her bag, which he allegedly removed from the scene before the card were taken and the bag returned.
It ended when Ms Shaylor's family, planning her funeral, noticed numerous transactions were being made and cancelled her cards, according to Fairfax.
20-year-old L-Plater Bianca Harrington allegedly drove on the wrong side of the road in North Gosford and crashed into the 62-year-old's car
Bianca Harrington, 20, was allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road when she crashed into Ms Shaylor and killed her
Bianca Harrington, 20, the driver of the other vehicle, was charged with dangerous and negligent driving occasioning death and driving while suspended.
Harrington allegedly told police she smoked 'five bongs' the night before.
The mother-of-one is yet to enter any pleas and remains in custody.
The 18-year-old got caught in a sex trafficking ring via Snapchat, Clark said
A Texas teenager channeled his inner Liam Neeson after his 18-year-old daughter was lured into sex trafficking on Snapchat.
John Clark, of Houston, set up a 1-800 number, hired a private firm specialized in kidnapping rescues and launched a frantic search for the high school student when she went missing in April.
The childhood cancer survivor was found a month later in an apartment building with a person now accused of being her captor. The suspect has pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution of a minor.
The teenage girl was groomed on Snapchat when she was 16 years old, Clark told KHOU. The groomer was a man in his twenties, whom she had met at a party.
The rescue is reminiscent of the 2008 film Taken in which Liam Neeson plays a former CIA operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter and her best friend after the two girls are kidnapped by human traffickers for sexual slavery while traveling in France.
John Clark, of Houston, launched a frantic search for his 18-year-old daughter when she went missing in April. Clark is pictured right with his family
Clark rescued his daughter from a building complex after setting up his own task force to track her down. Her suspected captor has since pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution of a minor
'It's nothing against the police They're set up to slowly, methodically build an airtight case,' Clark told KHOU.
'And in the time it would've taken to build an airtight case, I would've lost my daughter.'
Clark has now started a petition to reinforce anti-human trafficking laws. Among other things, he wants the age to work in sexually-oriented businesses to be raised from 18 to 21.
He also wants to increase penalties for anyone convicted of compelling or promoting prostitution when the person being exploited is under 21.
Clark also wishes for parents to have default guardianship to act on their child's behalf under certain conditions, including if the child lives at home, is a full-time student, is in high school and has never been married.
He insisted on Facebook that he was an involved parent.
Clark is now fighting to improve anti-human trafficking legislation and warn other parents while his daughter is in residential therapy. The family is pictured
Liam Neeson in the 2008 film Taken in which he rescues his daughter from a sex trafficking ring
'When you read the scenario above you may get the impression we were uninvolved parents who simply were not paying attention to our children. That was not the case,' he wrote in a post.
'We went through her phone several times a week. We didn't even let her have her phone upstairs. When she went upstairs she had to leave her phone on the kitchen counter, so we could check it.
'We had her all her passwords (or thought we did). I had a GPS tracker installed on her car and monitored it every time she left the house.
'We Facetimed her every time she went out to make sure she was where she was supposed to be, and she was with the people she was supposed to be seeing.'
These precautions, Clark said, were not sufficient. He told fellow parents on Facebook post how groomers typically proceed.
Groomers, according to Clark, begin by befriending their target.
HOW TO SPOT A POTENTIAL GROOMER: JOHN CLARK'S ADVICE TO PARENTS ON THE TELL-TALE SIGNS The groomer knows this really cool guy. He is an up and coming rapper. Sometimes he works as a DJ at some of the coolest clubs in town. He is fun, has money, and is always on his way to a party. After a friendship develops he offers to get your teen into a club even though she is underage. He is working a private party and can put her on the guest list. That happens a time or two. The teen gets to sneak a few drinks at the club and hang out with a group of people who are four or five years older. The people at the club fawn over the teen and make her feel very special. The newest friends reinforce the same idea the groomer started. Your parents are the worst. If you ever need a place to stay just give me a call. A cool girl is introduced. She is nice, fun, and pretty. She has her own apartment and seems to have money. A new friendship is developing. Then it is revealed that the cool girl is a dancer. She dances in videos and makes appearances at clubs with the rapper and gets paid for it. Can you believe that? Life is so easy when you are pretty and cool. Who needs college or parents? Capitalize: They take advantage of the right opportunity when it presents itself. It could be the teen getting into trouble or fighting with the parents. Or it could be an offer to take a ride with the rapper right after the 18th birthday. It happens with younger teens too, but a girl who just turned 18 is a real target. Advertisement
They offer drugs or alcohol, put down the target's parents, isolate the teen from other friends.
Then, Clark said, the groomer takes advantage of an opportunity to snatch the teen away.
'It happens with younger teens too, but a girl who just turned 18 is a real target,' he wrote.
'Your daughter goes to a party and disappears. If she is 18 law enforcement is handcuffed. Unless there is clear evidence of a crime, she is just another young adult who decided to leave home.
A new batch of Wikileaks emails highlighting Hillary Clinton's campaign were released last week and show that the first GOP candidate the Democrats saw as a threat wasn't Donald Trump but Marco Rubio.
At 43, the Florida Senator was the youngest Republican in a crowded field of 17 candidates and was seen by Clinton's advisers as similar to Obama, who bested Clinton in 2008 with his calls for a move away from the old guard politicians.
Wikileaks claims the emails come from the hacked account of campaign chairman John Podesta.
Neither Podesta or Clinton have denied their authenticity.
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Florida Senator Marco Rubio, the youngest of the GOP candidates, was seen as the early rival to Clinton - and someone who might best her the way Obama did
With his messages of change and youth, Clinton staffers noticed he sounded remarkably like Obama in his campaign rhetoric
'Its interesting to compare/contrast with Obama 08,' a staffer wrote to Podesta, referring to Rubio saying, 'Yesterday is over, and we are never going back' in a campaign speech.
The staffer wondered if the statement was directed at Clinton, and emails bounced back and forth about whether to respond, but in the end they decided to let it lie.
'Dont see reason to react here,' campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri wrote, according to The Daily Beast.
'Agreed. Let them take it as an attack on Bush,' responded political consultant Mandy Grunwald.
Clinton staffers zeroed in on Rubio because they thought he would appeal to young voters - something Clinton wasn't doing
While the Clinton campaign may have decided not to hit back at what might have been a dig at Clinton, staffers clearly saw him as the one to watch.
'He gives a good speech, and sounded much more reasonable, populist and accessible than much of the rest of the GOP field,' wrote public relations maven Christina Reynolds, words that could have been used to describe the approach Obama took to beat Clinton.
'Felt more like an inspiring Democratic speech than a GOP candidate, outside of foreign policy, repealing Obamacare and choice. Lots of references to 'our generation (i.e. Him and younger voters) vs. 'their generation' (them being us, Jeb, his opponents, Washington).'
One staffer noted that Rubio's speeches were reminiscent of one Obama made when he said, 'This election is not just about what laws we will pass. It is a generational choice about what kind of country we will be.'
When Rubio tweeted that Clinton wanted to 'reset' policy with Cuba, the staff came up with a response tweet meant to make Rubio's foreign look out of date.
Emails to campaign chairman John Podesta showed the HRC staff wasn't particularly concerned about Trump - and even hoped he would get the nomination
'You've got it backwards: Engagement is a threat to the Castros, not a gift. Embargo hasnt worked for 50+ years. -H' was sent out from Clinton's Twitter account the next day.
Luke Albee, an aide an advocate for Cuba engagement, wrote in the emails that Rubio's Cuba stance was at odds with his image as a fresh vision for the future: 'This policy [is] rooted in the Cold War,' he said.
But the real threat was lurking virtually unnoticed in the pack. Trump hardly figures at all in the early leaked emails, when he was seen as having scant shot at the White House, wrote Shane Harris in The Daily Beast.
But as the controversial businessman's popularity soared, the Clinton campaign seemed to take heart, feeling he would be an easier opponent than Rubio to trounce.
The staff was worried about Clinton's tenuous hold on young voters, who had gathered their support around Bernie Sanders, and felt Rubio would also be popular with them.
But Rubio dropped out of the race March 15, and Donald Trump, the unlikely dark horse, was rising quickly in the polls.
This not only didn't phase the Clinton staffers - many saw a Trump nomination as her best shot winning over young voters.
'Right now I am petrified that Hillary is almost totally dependent on Republicans nominating Trump,' The Hill columnist Brent Budowsky wrote to Podesta. '[S]he has huge endemic political weaknesses that she would be wise to rectify.even a clown like Ted Cruz would be an even money bet to beat and this scares the hell of out me.'
The suitcase trade of baby formula from Australia to China is winding down after a customs crackdown.
About 40,000 personal shoppers, known as daigou, buy up baby formula, vitamins and Weetbix in Australia to export to middle class buyers in China with a 50 per cent mark up.
But the lucrative trade, which some claimed led to a shortage of baby formula on Australian shelves last year, has been squeezed by a Chinese crackdown, Financial Times reported.
The suitcase trade of baby formula from Australia to China is winding down after a customs crackdown
A woman is pictured browsing stacks of vitamins on the shelves at a warehouse
New Chinese customs rules raised import taxes on postal items, consumer goods brought into the country by air passengers and foreign ecommerce transactions.
Beijing will also require international companies to obtain certification for products they wish to sell online.
Accountant Jane Li, who was a daigou on the side, said the 'market has started to cool down'.
The Chinese migrant and her mother sold up to about AU$4,000 a month.
Swisse, a major Australian vitamin and supplement company, said daigou purchases had dropped from more than 100,000 to about 20,000 over the past year.
A daigou in Australia is pictured with boxes of baby formula
Boxes of baby formula are pictured stacked before being shipped to China
'New cross-border ecommerce rules introduced in China created uncertainty for daigou and we saw resellers sell off stock to reduce risk,' Michael Howard, Swisse sales director told Financial Times.
Swisse launched in China in March, but was already ranked as the number one online vitamin brand in the Chinese market.
'The launch of its flagship store on the Tmall site will provide Chinese customers with direct access to its range of premium, proven and aspirational wellness products,' the company's statement said in March.
'Over the past 12 months we have we have seen a strong demand for our products from Chinese consumers who regard Australia as a very clean and green country and aspire to adopt our healthy ways,' Swisse CEO Radek Sali said.
Australian supermarkets Coles and Woolworths had been forced to put a purchase limit on baby formula in an attempt to ensure all shoppers who needed the product could buy it
'They also know when they purchase our brand they can trust they are receiving a high-quality, premium and proven product that has been backed by scientific research and adheres to the toughest regulatory regime and quality standards in the world.
Daigou sales are expected to continue to drop in the long term as the price differentiation for quality products between China and Australia reduces.
The trade continues, however, and some companies see daigou as an opportunity to expand their markets.
Daigous have previously capitalised over fear of authenticity and quality in China after a spate of food scandals.
Australian supermarkets Coles and Woolworths had been forced to put a purchase limit on baby formula in an attempt to ensure all shoppers who needed the product could buy it.
A ferry crash at Sydney's Circular Quay which left at least 18 people injured was chaotic and bloody after passengers were thrown off their seats.
Some of the passengers were left with bruised and five were hospitalised after the boat crashed while attempting to dock at wharf four just before 5pm on Tuesday.
It's believed that the vessel, which was travelling from Rose Bay via Garden Island to Circular Quay, failed to slow down and hit a wooden backboard on one of the piers.
Sue Stride and Andrew Stride were on board the vessel when they were thrown from their seats reported The Daily Telegraph.
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Paramedics rushed on board a ferry after passengers were flown off their seats after a crash
The ferry crash at Sydney's Circular Quay has reportedly left up to 18 people with minor injuries
A ferry crash at Sydney's Circular Quay has reportedly left up to 18 people with minor injuries
'It was a huge crash, very shocking,' Mrs Stride said.
'There was blood everywhere. People had teeth smashed through their lips. Babies crying, people shouting and screaming.
'The crew came down and told us the reverse thrust failed, they apologised and they were great.'
Mrs Stride injured her knee after she was flung forward into the metal seat in front of her while Mr Stride injured his arm on a metal railing.
The couple were left concerned for a friend who may have injured her chest after she was flung forward and people fell on top of her.
Another passenger is believed to have sustained a serious spinal injury following the ferry crash.
One person is believed to have sustained a serious spinal injury following the ferry crash
Two people, one with a serious back injury and another with unknown injuries, were taken by ambulance to Sydney Hospital
A NSW Ambulance spokesman told Daily Mail Australia that two patients, one with a serious back injury and another with unknown injuries, were taken by ambulance to Sydney Hospital.
He confirmed that paramedics had treated 18 people, mostly with minor injuries.
'A Sydney Ferry Supercat came into contact with the far eastern pontoon at Circular Quay Wharf as it was berthing this afternoon,' a Transport for NSW spokesman said.
A NSW Police spokesperson said the catamaran 'impacted with a barrier which left five passengers hospitalised
One victim who was n board with her husband described the scene as 'chaotic and bloody'
A passenger may have suffered chest injuries after she was flung from her seat and other passengers landed on her
'Our priority is making sure our customers are okay. We will provide more information as soon as it comes to hand.'
A NSW Police spokesperson said the catamaran 'impacted with a barrier', although it is unclear at what speed or what caused the collision to occur.
Two ferry services were cancelled after the crash - the 5.45pm Circular Quay to Taronga Zoo and the 6.01pm Taronga Zoo to Circular Quay, Fairfax reported.
It's believed that the vessel, which was travelling from Rose Bay via Garden Island to Circular Quay, failed to slow down and hit the wharf barriers while coming in
An elderly Asian fisherman has died after it is believed he was bashed to death and found seriously injured by the side of the road .
Chok Ming Chan, 81, was affectionately known by Port Macquarie locals as 'Bill', 'Billiam' and 'Mr Miyagi' after the character from The Karate Kid.
The fisherman was found with serious head injuries on William Street in the NSW Mid-North Coast town about 11pm last Tuesday and later died in hospital.
Locals believe he may have been bashed.
Chok Ming Chan, 81, died in hospital after he was found with serious head injuries by the side of the road in Port Macquarie last Tuesday night, about 11pm
Chok Ming Chan, 81, was affectionately known by Port Macquarie locals as 'Bill', 'Billiam' and 'Mr Miyagi' after the character from The Karate Kid
The 81-year-old had been treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance Paramedics before he was transferred to hospital.
Mr Chan died at Port Macquarie Base Hospital on Monday.
NSW Police said they were yet to establish the circumstances surrounding his death.
Locals have paid their respects in Facebook group R.I.P. Mr (Bill) Miyagi.
'Used to fish at the co-op nearly every second day with this old legend. Such a shame to lose someone who always seemed so happy RIP billiam,' one wrote.
'So horrified to hear the news, such an iconic character in Port Macquarie! You will be missed X.'
'Growing up in Port, we used to honk our horn and yell out 'MISTER MIYAGI!', and he would always wave and smile. Port has some characters, and his was one of the brightest!' another said.
NSW Police on Tuesday released a photograph of Mr Chan in the hopes of bringing witnesses forward
Locals have paid their respects in Facebook group R.I.P. Mr (Bill) Miyagi
'The amount of times this friendly, harmless man smiled and acknowledged me over the years is literally immeasurable. He seemed like such a soft soul, and I hope those responsible are held accountable.'
Some shared stories of how they came to knew Mr Chan.
'Every year at Christmas time he finds our caravan at Port and comes and has a chat and a fish with dad and we give him fish to take home he's harmless and always had a smile,' one man wrote.
'You know there is a lovely old lady living in Bay Street known as the kangaroo kid, she goes for early morning walks and meets all the fishermen and our friend here [Mr Chan] would often have fish for her the old bloke had been awake all night fishing and would share the catch.'
Another said they had known Mr Chan as 'Chippy' for 10-years.
Mr Chan died at Port Macquarie Base Hospital on Monday
'RIP Mr Miyagi, such a kind and beautiful soul! X,' one woman wrote in the Facebook group
Another local said she was 'horrified to hear the news' the 'iconic character' had passed away
A local man said he was a local 'legend' and an 'awesome soul'
'One day not long after moving to Port my son was sitting in his stroller eating some Maccas chips and out of nowhere Bill came up and started saying 'chippy chippy chippy' and laughing and smiling. Such a top old fella.
'RIP chippy im so sorry that this has happened to you xx.'
'No matter who you are or where you went, he always had a smile and a nod for you. He found the humour in being adressed as 'Mr Miyagi' and although he was a man of few words, those words spoken were always kind,' another wrote.
NSW Police on Tuesday released a photograph of Mr Chan in the hopes of bringing witnesses forward.
Initial appeals to the public for information on the incident resulted in a number of witnesses coming forward; however police believe there may be more people who have information and have not yet spoken to police.
Investigations continue.
A middle-aged Vietnamese man has been rushed to hospital in agony after 'breaking' his penis while trying an exotic sexual position.
The ambitious lover was taken to hospital in Ho Chi Minh City where he told doctors he had heard a loud crack while making love to his partner.
Doctors were reported to be shocked when they saw the damaged organ, which had been snapped at the point where it joined his body.
The man was rushed to hospital in Ho Chi Minh City after snapping his penis while trying an exotic sex position with his partner
Vietnamese Tuoi Tre newspaper reported that the man's penis had turned a bright shade of purple and required immediate medical attention.
'The organ was swollen and bruised, but also certainly broken at the joint,' said Dr Mai Ba Tien Dung of Binh Dan Hospital.
The embarrassed, unnamed, Casanova was taken into surgery where surgeons proceeded to stitch the broken member back into position.
Just what kind of sexual position the man had been attempting when he heard the loud crack has not been revealed.
The paper said that according to Dr Dung the case was very rare, but occurred at full erection.
The man arrived a hospital in agony, and had to have his penis stitched back into position
'Symptoms include a clear "crack" that is accompanied by a sharp pain' said the doctor.
He said this would be followed by purple coloration and ongoing pain and discomfort.
'Without timely surgery, the patient can suffer from a deformed and curved penis and erectile dysfunction,' said the doctor.
The doctor said that such breakages that were not quickly attended to could also result in high rates of impotence.
'The case of this 59-year-old patient is rare, occurring only once out of a thousand cases of broken penises recorded in medical literature,' said Dr Dung.
The unveiling of a Chinese wave power device has prompted suspicion of foul play after it appeared strikingly similar to a model produced at a Scottish factory which fell victim to an unsolved burglary.
The Chinese government visited a Scottish renewable energy manufacturer in 2011 after expressing an interest in their innovative new prototype product which used ocean waves to create electricity.
Two months later, the plant suffered a burglary where laptops were stolen after the culprits scaled a perimeter fence.
But suspicions were aroused when the burglar or burglars headed straight for the first floor office of Pelamis Wave Power, neglecting to take anything from the ground floor office of tech giant Siemens, according to The Guardian.
Scottish company Pelamis Wave Power produced this renewable energy device (pictured) and shortly after a visit by the Chinese Government in 2011 the factory was burgled
The unveiling of a Chinese wave power device (pictured) has prompted suspicion of foul play after it appeared similar to the produced at the Scottish factory
The crime remains unsolved, with Police Scotland confirming 'a number of laptops' were stolen between March 21 and 22 2011 from the business premises on Bath Road, Edinburgh.
Now questions have been raised about the motive behind the Chinese State visit after pictures emerged of their own wave power device which bears a startling resemblance to the Scottish version.
Pelamis Wave Power went into administration in 2014 with the loss of their 16 remaining staff from an original 50 at its peak.
In 2004, its wave machine became the first to generate electricity into the grid.
A number of former employees have now questioned the arrival of the 60-strong Chinese party in 2011 who were treated to dinner and whiskey tasting at Edinburgh Castle and their subsequent trustworthiness.
The Pelamis device can be seen during a test-run at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney
The Chinese government visited the Scottish renewable energy manufacturer in 2011 after expressing an interest in their innovative new prototype product
China was awarded the Hinkley Point nuclear contract earlier this year.
Speaking to The Guardian, Max Carcas, who was business development director at Pelamis until 2012, said the similarities between the two products were eye-opening.
'Some of the details may be different but they are clearly testing aPelamis concept,' he said.
'It was a tremendous feather in our cap to be the only place in the UK outside of London that the Chinese vice-premier visited.
'We did have a break-in about 10 weeks after, when a number of laptops were stolen.
'It was curious that whoever broke in went straight to our office on the second floor rather than the other company on the first floor or the ground floor.'
On the possibility of a Chinese plot, he added: 'I could infer all sorts of things but I do not want to say.'
When then-vice premier of the state council of China Li Keqiang (centre) visited the Scottish plant with his delegation, he was said to be 'very impressed'
After the visit, Li Keqiang enjoyed a state dinner at Edinburgh castle and raised a glass of whisky with Scotland's former First Minister Alex Salmond
The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter had a unique hinged joint system that helped regulate energy flow as waves ran down its length.
The Chinese version utilises a strikingly similar mechanism.
When then-vice premier of the state council of China Li Keqiang visited the plant with his delegation, he was said to be 'very impressed'.
He is now Premier of the State Council and the Chinese machine Hailong 1 was tested in 2014 and again last year.
Despite the similarities, neither the UK nor Scottish governments has any plans to challenge China over the patent.
Calum Macfarlane, a spokesman for Wave Energy Scotland, told the newspaper: 'The IP [intellectual property] is not protected in China.'
Australian woman Sara Connor and her boyfriend David Taylor could be jailed for 34 years as they face three separate charges over the death of Balinese police officer Wayan Sudarsa.
The mother-of-two could face trial as early as next month after Bali prosecutors accepted the police case against her and her British boyfriend Mr Taylor this week.
The pair are set to face charges of murder, carrying a 15-year jail term, use of violence causing death, with a 12-year maximum, and assault that caused death, a seven-year maximum.
The mother of two (pictured) could face trial as early as next month after Bali prosecutors accepted the police case against her and her British boyfriend Mr Taylor this week
Australian woman Sara Connor and her boyfriend David Taylor (pictured) could be jailed for 34 years
Bali prosecutors say they are 'convinced' they can prove the case against the pair.
'We are convinced that we can prove it in court,' Chief of General Crime at Denpasar District Attorney, Ketut Maha Agung said on Tuesday.
The earliest date they would face trial would be next month, he added.
Earlier, Head of Denpasar District Attorney Erna Normawati Widodo said the police dossier against the pair had been completed and that they had a sent a letter to the police investigator to enable them to be handed over to prosecutors.
This means Connor and Taylor will be moved from Denpasar Police Station where they have been held since their August 19 arrest.
It is likely they will be sent to the notorious Kerobokan prison.
The pair are set to face charges of murder, carrying a 15-year jail term, use of violence causing death, with a 12-year maximum, and assault that caused death, a seven-year maximum
The completion of the police case comes almost two months after Mr Sudarsa's bloodied body was discovered covered in sand on the popular Kuta Beach in the early hours of August 17.
Police say the pair went to Kuta Beach on the night of August 16 where they had been 'intimate'.
Connor then lost her purse, sparking Taylor to confront Mr Sudarsa about the misplaced item.
A scuffle allegedly ensued in which police say Taylor hit Mr Sudarsa with several items, including a two-way radio and a beer bottle.
They allege Connor also became involved and that Mr Sudarsa bit her on the thigh.
She maintains she was only trying to separate the pair.
Leaving Mr Sudarsa lying motionless on the sand, Connor and Taylor initially went back to their hotel.
In the days following they burnt their clothes and dumped a number of the police officer's personal items, including his handphone.
It's not yet known when they are expected to be moved to Kerobokan jail.
media reports he later died in hospital
Erdogan Ceren can be seen holding a shotgun to his chest in tragic
This is the tragic moment a heartbroken man shot himself live on Facebook.
In the shocking footage Erdogan Ceren, from Turkey, holds a shotgun to his chest while addressing the camera and, after one failed attempt, ends his life.
The 22-year-old first tells viewers on the social networking site that his girlfriend had broken up with him and therefore intends to commit suicide.
In the shocking footage Erdogan Ceren, from Turkey, holds a shotgun to his chest while addressing the camera and, after one failed attempt, ends his life
The 22-year-old first tells viewers on the social networking site that his girlfriend had broken up with him and therefore intends to commit suicide.
He tells the camera, 'No one believed when I said I will kill myself so watch this.'
The young man is shirtless in what appears to be his bedroom as he presses the gun to his chest.
His first attempt fails as the shotgun appears to lock.
Around 37 seconds into the four minute clip, the young man readjusts the camera, takes aim... and fires.
The footage then goes completely black.
The heartbreaking video has since been viewed 543, 000 times and attracted 14,000 comments.
One social media user watching the livestream desperately pleaded, 'Don't do it, for the love of god'.
According to Turkish website bugunun haberi, his relatives heard the shooting and discovered his body.
The young man is shirtless in what appears to be his bedroom as he presses the gun to his chest. His first attempt fails as the shotgun appears to lock before he proceeds to fire a second time - and the screen goes black
Local media reports state he later died in hospital.
Ceren had previously documented his distraught emotions online, posting a Facebook status saying 'feeling broken' along with the words, 'Our love saga would be written, "Behold, the eyes would not cry, half of you is going to tell you now, my hands do without that side''.'
Last month he had also posted on Facebook: 'And now he passed away in peace. Why do you think spring is in the middle of ice. Just shut up and smiled at him, I gave a lesson "That's why darkness. Forgive me, girl''.'
Turkish police have now launched an investigation into the death, which reportedly occurred in Duzici, a town and district in Osmaniye Province.
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see samaritans.org
The Syrian refugee accused of plotting a terror attack in Europe spent a year in one of Germany's largest refugee camps claiming generous handouts of up to 333 a month - under the noses of police.
Set behind thick, iron bars in a quiet, leafy suburb of Chemnitz, Germany, the Refugee Centre houses over 500 people until they are granted official asylum status.
It was here that Syrian Jaber Albakr, arrested on suspicion of planning to blow up a Berlin airport, spent a year living alongside genuine immigrants and claiming monthly benefits of 370.
Residents in Chemnitz, where thousands of refugees are housed, have spoken of their fears about terrorism, with one asking: 'How many more are there?'
Home: Accommodating over 500 people at any one time, refugees fleeing war-torn Syria and other counties are held at the refugee centre in Chemnitz until they are granted official asylum status
Refugee Centre in Chemnitz: One resident at the centre, where Albakr lived for a year, said: 'The people working here give us three meals a day, the conditions are ok. Children can play outside, we feel protected'
Bound and tied: Pictures have emerged of Syrian migrant Jaber Albakr, who was suspected of plotting a bomb attack in Germany, being pinned down and tied up by two of his fellow countrymen
Evading capture: It appears that Albakr had shaved his head before being arrested after meeting the Syrian men at a train station
The 22-year-old slipped into the country in February last year, crossing over the Austrian border and apparently posing as a refugee.
He was picked up by Police near the German town of Rosenheim and the following day was registered in Munich as an asylum seeker.
The next day he was taken to the refugee camp in Chemnitz.
Officially called the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, asylum seekers are allowed to come and go as they please, although guards check the ID papers of all those trying to enter.
One Syrian who arrived with his mother just 12 days ago told MailOnline: 'There are about 100 people in each block.
'There aren't any kitchens, just rooms. Some are large and have lots of people, others smaller.
'My mother and I share a room, just the two of us.
Entrance to the apartment block Syrian Jaber Albakr, arrested Sunday night on suspicion of planning to blow up a Berlin airport, lived in in Chemnitz
Inside a room in Jaber Albakr's apartment in Chemnitz, where he spent months and is said to have plotted an attack
'The people working here give us three meals a day, the conditions are ok. Children can play outside, we feel protected.'
According to sources, Albakr lived with 10 other people in one room.
Today pictures emerged showing him pinned down and tied up with electrical cable by fellow Syrians before they called the police.
Jaber Albakr was detained on Sunday in Leipzig in eastern Germany after three days on the run following a tip-off that he may have been looking for associates in the city.
Syrians he met at a city train station via an online forum on refugee accommodation, recognised the 22-year-old's face from 'wanted' posters and invited him home before tying him up and raising the alarm.
One man can be seen holding Albakr in a headlock while his feet are tied together using a cable from an electrical appliance.
The 22-year-old Albakr slipped into the country in February last year, crossing over the Austrian border and posing as a refugee, then gaining accommodation in this centre in Chemnitz
Set behind thick, iron bars in a quiet, leafy suburb of Chemnitz, Germany, the Refugee Centre houses over 500 people until they are granted official asylum status, with some living ten to a room
It is believed that after his two countrymen realised he was wanted, they also knelt on him until the police arrived.
Despite tweeting their jubilation that the suspect had been captured, police will face searching questions about how he was able to apparently prepare for an attack.
In June last year his status as an asylum seeker was officially granted, and nine months later he was provided with a shared apartment with other refugees in the town of Eilenberg, close to the city of Leipzig.
But rather than find work, attend language classes or attempt to assimilate into his new environment, Albakr apparently spent his time skulking in his room and avoiding contact with people.
A spokesman for Caritas told MailOnline: 'Refugees are given accommodation in community flats and of course we encourage them and provide them with the possibility to find work and learn the language.
'But, no, they do not have to if they do not want to, there is no obligation for them to do anything.
'This man didn't attend any classes and didn't try to find work.'
The suspect has been named as Jaber Albakr - a Syrian who was under surveillance by the Federal Office for Constitutional Protection in Cologne, say reports
Three months later Albakr was relocated by the authorities back to Chemnitz where he was put into a three-bedroomed apartment with another Syrian and two refugees from Afghanistan.
The apartment is just a 15-minute walk from the flat raided by police on Saturday which was found to contain bomb-making equipment.
And it is a 20-minute walk from the local Mosque in Chemnitz.
Imam Abdulsalam Absi told MailOnline: 'He kept a very low profile and no one I have spoken to about him had ever seen him, let alone heard of him.
'There are around 4,000 Muslims in Chemnitz so maybe someone knew him.
'But he never attended prayers and he never mixed with us.'
The reason for the move from Eilenberg to Chemnitz is unknown but he was soon causing trouble with his new flatmates, often erupting into violence, neighbours say.
German police have arrested a Syrian refugee suspected of plotting a jihadist bomb attack at an international airport. Pictures show the entrance to the apartment block where the raid happened
A neighbour who asked not to be named out of fear of terrorist reprisals told MailOnline: 'I have been living here four years and never had to deal with anything like these men.
'Almost every night they were fighting, beating each other, or just shouting abuse.
'I only saw him a few times but he scared me. Always looking angry and aggressive.
'I don't know what they were arguing about, it was Arabic, but there are children living in this block and they would often cry when the violence began.
'It was just terrible.
'Eventually, they destroyed the whole apartment and that's when they were moved out.'
She added: 'I can't believe these people are allowed to come here and do nothing. They don't work, they don't study they don't contribute anything.
'There are some other refugees living nearby and I can see they are trying hard to integrate and build lives for themselves.
'They work and attend courses.
'But there are many who don't do anything. I blame Merkel for this.'
A police officer stands in front of the entrance to an apartment in the Paunsdorf district of Leipzig, Germany today
After three months in the new apartment city authorities moved in and the feuding refugees were rehoused.
It was then that Albakr apparently disappeared, until police raided the apartment owned by an associate who was arrested on Saturday at the train station in Chemnitz and who is still being quizzed by anti-terror cops.
He has now been identified by as a 33-year-old Syrian refugee who appeared in Chemnitz in July this year.
Police spokesman Tom Barnhardt said: 'He was registered in November 2015, applied for asylum in December 2015, and this was granted in March 2016.
'From March 29, 2016 he lived in Viersen, before moving to Chemnitz on 12th July 2016.'
His arrival in Chemnitz coincides with Albakr's at the flat he was later expelled from for violence.
It is now known that after being told he would have to leave, Albakr moved in with the other refugee and lived there for three weeks allegedly constructing a bomb to blow up a Berlin airport.
And it was during this period that he came to the attention of Germany's security and intelligence services after they apparently picked up internet chatter between him and suspected ISIS terrorists.
Police spokesman Tom Bernhardt confirmed: 'From mid-September the Federal Intelligence Service and several regional offices for protection of the constitution first began surveillance on Albakr.'
Jaber al-Bakr is due to be brought before a judge at a Dresden court later today. Police vehicles are pictured at the court
It is claimed that Albakr had also been searching the internet for instructions on how to make a bomb and the materials he needed.
Security officials are now trying to establish when and where Albakr became radicalised.
But for locals whose lives have been turned upside down after finding a terrorist living in their midst, one question remains.
Edyta Muszynska, 27, told MailOnline: 'They have caught one, maybe two terrorists, but how many more are there here?'
It has now emerged that Germany's security services had been aware of the threat of a terrorist attack for several weeks.
A platform was cordoned off with police tape after the suspicious suitcase was found at a station in Chemnitz
A squad of specialist police officers leave an apartment after carrying out controlled detonations on the Chemnitz estate
Chemnitz, a city of more than 200,000 people, is in Germany's east, lying to the south of Berlin and Leipzig, not far from the border with the Czech Republic.
Germany has been rocked by terror attacks this year, heaping pressure on chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door immigration policy.
A press officer for the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees confirmed that during their stay in the camp the refugees do not work as they cannot legally do so until they have been officially recognised as asylum seekers.
Once they have left the camp and have been placed in accommodation, the refugees are encouraged to attend German classes for beginners and find work.
They are also encouraged to become involved in integration courses.
If they are not seen to be trying to learn the language then they do not get the 370 euros paid to them by the government.
But she added that although all refugees are encouraged to get involved not all of them do.
Rich Chinese businessmen are paying thousands of pounds to go on 'wife tours' in Siberia in search of fair-skinned, blue-eyed brides due to a shortage of women in their home country.
Pictures from the upmarket singles tour look more like a stilted business meeting - but the Russian marriage agency behind the tours say it has had massive success in matching well-to-do men with local women.
At a recent session in Novosibirsk, Siberia's largest city, five Chinese bachelors attended a meeting arranged by Elena Suvorova, head of the marriage agency OCD Centre.
Rich Chinese businessmen are introduced to Siberian women by a marriage agency in a restaurant in the city of Novosibirsk
Rich Chinese businessmen are paying thousands of pounds to go on 'wife tours' in Siberia in search of fair-skinned, blue-eyed brides
There was supposed to be eight but three stayed in in Khabarovsk, where a previous meeting had been held, as they had already found partners to wed.
But not everyone can afford a costly single's tour and one Chinese man is shown on a video playing a doleful saxophone tune in the Russian border city of Blagoveshchensk, in the Far East of Russia, to attract attention from local women.
Unseen on the video but there was piece of paper by his feet has a handwritten note reading: 'Calm, balanced. Looking for a Russian girlfriend.'
China has 120 men for every 100 women, with 34 million more males than females.
Pictures from the upmarket singles tour look more like a stilted business meeting - but the Russian marriage agency behind the tours say it has had massive success in matching well-to-do men with local women
But in Russia there are 85 men for every 100 women, and at sessions on the popular singles tours, the Chinese businessmen are introduced to groups of 25 or so women, all under 35.
Ms Suvorova explained: 'For them, a Russian woman is like a present. Men want to get married, and are committed for serious relationships.
'All the girls who we invited are under 35-years-old. Initially, the men want to see brides with white skin and blue eyes.
'Funnily enough though, last year the girls who got into a relationship were brunettes with brown eyes.'
Not everyone can afford a costly single's tour and one Chinese man is shown on a video playing a doleful saxophone tune in Russia to try and attract women
Meanwhile the matchmaker also praised the 'quite successful' Chinese men for their attitude towards the women.
She told the Siberian Times: 'Chinese men treat women with respect.
'It is important for them that the woman is moderate, natural, calm, smiling, and not competing with the man.'
She also claimed the men are serious and quickly fall in love with Siberian women.
She added: 'Last year we organised the first singles' tour when Chinese men visited Novosibirsk. There were six men and 25 girls.
The meetings of the men and women take place in the city of Novosibirsk. The matchmaker praised the 'quite successful' Chinese men for their attitude towards the women
'After a meeting in Novosibirsk, there were two couples. And three couples after a stopover in Krasnoyarsk.'
The sex imbalance in China has been blamed on the country's historic 'one child' policy which which led parents to abandon girls or use sex-selective abortion to guarantee a son.
An alleged thief who was tackled by Bunnings security guards 12 hours before he died in hospital told them he could not breathe, shocking footage has revealed.
Anthony Georgiou, 31, was leaving a Bunnings Warehouse in Frankston, south of Melbourne, on September 12 when he was pinned down by two guards.
Distressing mobile phone footage obtained by A Current Affair shows blood coming out of the father-of-one's mouth as he pleads with security to let him go.
Pinned down on his front with his arms twisted behind his back, Mr Georgiou says: 'Somebody help me, please! Get them off me! Help me!'
Pinned down on his front with his arms twisted behind his back, Mr Georgiou says: 'Somebody help me, please! Get them off me! Help me!'
Anthony Georgiou (pictured being pinned on the ground), an alleged thief who was tackled by Bunnings security guards 12 hours before he died in hospital, told them he could not breathe
A female bystander can be heard telling the guards to stop restraining him.
'You need to be careful. He's saying he can't breathe,' the woman tells the two men.
'It's called positional asphyxia. If you put pressure on his back while he's facing down, he can actually die. He's saying he can't breathe.'
There is no suggestion that Mr Georgiou was suffering from positional asphyxia - when people find themselves unable to breathe in certain positions - before he died.
The guards eventually ease off of Mr Georgiou, who is alleged to have been trying to steal something from the store before he was caught, but he still claims to be having trouble breathing.
The guards eventually ease off of Mr Georgiou, who is alleged to have been trying to steal something from the store before he was caught
Anthony Georgiou (pictured with his four-year-old daughter), 31, was leaving a Bunnings Warehouse in Frankston, south of Melbourne, on September 12 when he was pinned down by two guards
Police arrived and called an ambulance, with paramedics taking Mr Georgiou to hospital in a critical condition. He died 12 hours later and leaves behind a four-year-old daughter.
In a statement, Mr Georgiou's family said they were in a 'state of shock and grief', branding his death 'unnecessary'.
Bunnings declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia.
A 14-year-old boy who ploughed into a ute while he looked over his shoulder to see if a police car was pursing him had been warned not to ride the motorcycle in the hours before his death.
Corey Kramer was not wearing a helmet when he and his 12-year-old passenger, Jason, had a high-speed collision with a stationary utility truck while riding an unregistered mini-bike in Mount Druitt, a suburb in Sydney's west.
Witnesses said the Chiefly College schoolboy was looking over his shoulder at a police car captured on CCTV travelling around 20 seconds behind him when the fatal collision occurred just after 11am on Monday.
Scroll down for video
Corey Kramer (pictured) was warned not to ride an unregistered trail bike hours before he was killed instantly when he ploughed into a ute while checking if a police car was chasing him
Mr Kramer was killed instantly while the 12-year-old passenger riding on the back of the mini-bike (pictured) was left with serious injuries
Mr Kramer sustained serious injuries and died instantly while his friend was rushed to the Children's Hospital in Westmead in a serious but stable condition.
His mother, Mary-Jane Hodder, said her son had been in trouble with police for riding without a licence and helmet before.
She believes he would have likely tried to outrun officers fearing he would get in trouble for breaking the law again.
'He knew he was going to be in trouble and that's why he didn't stop,' she told Nine News when she returned to the scene of his death.
Mary-Jane Hodder (pictured) said her son had been in trouble with police for riding without a licence and helmet before
She believes Mr Kramer (pictured) would have likely tried to outrun officers fearing he would get in trouble for breaking the law again
Ms Hodder said she warned her son not to ride the trail bike over and over again, even once only hours before the joyride that claimed his life.
'The last thing I said to Corey was 'lock the house and don't ride that motorbike because you're going to get hurt - it's going to kill you' and eventually it has,' she said.
The grieving mother said she was angry at her son - a twin - for not listening to her and devastated that she would never see him again.
'If he would have listened he would have still be here and I would have had my little boy,' she told Nine News.
She was seen kneeling next to the spot the collision took place, pointing out a smearing of his blood on the path.
Ms Hodder (middle) said she warned her son (right) not to ride the trail bike over and over again, even once only hours before the joyride that claimed his life
The grieving mother was seen kneeling next to the spot the collision took place (pictured), pointing out a smearing of his blood on the path
Jason, the 12-year-old boy balancing on the back of the unregistered trail bike, sustained serious leg and head injuries.
His friends said the young boy is awake and recovering in hospital, as others pay their respects to their fallen friend on social media.
Mr Kramer has been remembered as a bright and loyal boy who was a riding enthusiast.
'You passed doing something you loved, but unfortunately way too soon,' one friend wrote.
'I can't believe this has happened to such a young and bright little guy, wrote another.
Jason (right), the 12-year-old boy balancing on the back of the unregistered trail bike, sustained serious leg and head injuries while Mr Kramer (left) was killed instantly
Jason was rushed to The Children's Hospital at Westmead where he is in a serious condition
Many shared photographs of Mr Kramer riding (left) or smiling for a selfie with the Snapchat 'dog filter' (right)
Many shared photographs of Mr Kramer riding or smiling for a selfie with the Snapchat 'dog filter'. Others uploaded images of flowers laid in his honour.
Police have launched a critical investigation into the accident and said they will be assessing 'the circumstances of the police engagement with the young boys'.
CCTV footage shows a police car travelling around 20 seconds behind the boys but the vehicles sirens or flashing lights were not in operation.
CCTV shows the two boys riding on the mini-bike on Kurrajong Avenue in Mount Druitt
A report written by police after the accident stated the boys were sighted by officers just after 11am.
They have called for witnesses - including two nearby pedestrians and a passing Toyota Celica - to come forward with any information that could help with the investigation.
The driver of the stationary ute was not injured in the accident, but was taken to hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol testing immediately after.
Witness Peter Allen Shields said the driver appeared stunned and shaken.
'He didn't see it coming,' he told Nine News.
A record number of foreign visitors came to Britain following the Brexit vote as the slump in the pound meant they got more for their money.
There were 3.8million visits from abroad in July, up two per cent on the same month in 2015, despite the June 23 vote to leave the European Union.
Spending from those visits rose four per cent to 2.5billion as the pound fell, making goods cheaper for foreign visitors enjoying a better exchange rates.
A record number of foreign visitors came to Britain following the Brexit vote as the slump in the pound meant they got more for their money
A graph (in thousands) showing the number of total visitors to the UK shows it hit a record high in July, at 3.8million
The graph shows that the amount (in millions) that tourists spend also hits a record high, reaching 2.5billion for the fist time
It is the continuation of a long-term trend of improvement, which saw the number of visits in 2015 rise to a record 36.1million, with spending at 22.1billion.
According to Visit Britain, which published the figures as part of its 2015-2016 annual review, foreign tourists spend 700 a second in the UK.
British Tourist Authority Chairman Christopher Rodrigues said: 'Tourism is a shining star in an uncertain world.
'As our fourth biggest service export, and one of our fastest growing sectors, tourism's importance as a key economic driver and job creator is clear.
There were 3.8million visits from abroad in July, up two per cent on the same month in 2015, despite the June 23 vote to leave the European Union
Graphs show how the pound has slumped against the dollar since the June vote, and against the euro, meaning tourists get more for their money
'While the talk is of trade deals with new markets, tourism is already leading the way, competing strongly in our most valuable source markets such as the US and in markets that are crucial for our future including China.'
The pound is hovering at its lowest point for 30 years and its value against the euro is at a seven-year low, making Britain an attractive destination.
The UK has seen hug growth in the number of visitors from China after the pound fell against the China Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
In 2015, visitors from the USA spent 3billion in Britain for the first time, and European bookings were also up.
With a marketing push in the US, as well as France and Germany, Britains three largest markets, with travel company Expedia, it is hoped numbers will increase further.
China has also become one of the top ten most valuable tourism markets for Britain, with an increase of 46 per cent and spending up 18 per cent in 2015.
This year is likely to see further growth, with bookings for October to December up nearly a quarter, as the pound dropped more than 10 per cent since June 23.
Brits also spent 19.6bn on overnight trips in 2015, up 8 per cent on 2014. This was 97.2m more than the previous year.
Inbound tourism is worth more than 26billion to the UK economy, while worldwide it is worth 127billion.
He allegedly parked his car to face the playground in Maquarie, Sydney
Police attended the scene following reports a man was acting suspiciously
of committing the act while watching children play at a park
Man, 63, has been arrested for allegedly committing an act of indecency
A 63-year-old man is accused of masturbating in his car as he watched children play at a public playground.
Police responded to calls a man was acting suspiciously in his car at Simmos Beach, in Maquarie park, northern Sydney, just before 1pm on Tuesday.
The man allegedly parked his vehicle to face the park while two young children were on the play equipment.
A man, 63, was arrested for allegedly committing an act of indecency while sitting in his parked car that was facing a playground (stock photo)
Police approached the car to find the man allegedly committing an act of indecency.
He was arrested and taken to Macquarie Fields Police Station where they charged him with committing an act of indecency with a child under 10, commit an act of indecency with person over 16 and offensive behaviour.
The man was granted conditional bail and is due to appear in Campbelltown Local Court on October 17.
A boarding school headmaster presided over a culture of cheating and allowed pupils to have unlimited time to finish GCSE assessments, a tribunal has heard.
Jonathan Taylor, who became the principal of Wymondham College in Norfolk two years ago, has been accused of giving teachers the go ahead to bend the rules.
The former acting head of IT, Arshad Ali, described a policy of cheating in the department and an unethical culture at the school that came right from the top.
Allegations: Jonathan Taylor, who became the principal of Wymondham College in Norfolk two years ago, has been accused of giving teachers the go ahead to bend the rules
Mr Ali secretly recorded conversations with students talking about cheating, but his covert actions were condemned by the schools legal team at the tribunal.
According to a report by journalist Camilla Turner in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Ali told the hearing that he first raised the issue with his colleague Sydney Payne last year.
Mr Payne told the then IT head Kim Williams that teachers were letting students have double the amount of time for an internal GCSE coursework assessment.
Mr Ali said she told them to disregard the 40-hour limit on controlled assessment work, adding: This was clearly in breach of examination rules and cheating.
He told how he confronted Ms Williams about it again a few months later, but her response - which he covertly recorded - claimed Mr Taylor had cleared the idea.
Mr Ali also told how he learned from students that teachers were handing back marked assessments for improvements, which he said was breaching exam rules.
Performing well: Wymondham Colleges website states that its recent results at GCSE and A-level confirm that it is as one of the very highest achieving state schools nationally
However, Ed Kemp, acting for the school, criticised Mr Ali for a serious breach of trust by recording students conversations - and said the pupils were joking.
In a statement, Mr Taylor said: We vigorously deny the allegations and are confident that the tribunal will find in our favour.
We ensure that the examination and other assessed work is invigilated and marked to the highest standards, and in accordance with the examination board guidance.
We are extremely proud of the hard work of our students and of the academic accomplishments they justifiably achieve.
Wymondham Colleges website states that its recent results at GCSE and A-level confirm that it is as one of the very highest achieving state schools nationally.
Now dilapidated, the former textile plant portrayed by Steven Spielberg's 1993 film to which Oskar Schindler (pictured) smuggled detainees to save them from Nazi slaughter is at the heart of a battle
The Schindler's List factory where industrialist Oskar Schindler sheltered 1,200 Jews from the Nazis is under threat because Czechs remember him as a womanising crook.
Now dilapidated, a local writer is desperately trying to raise the cash needed to restore the former textile plant.
Jaroslav Novak is also head of the Shoah and Oskar Schindler Memorial Endowment Memorial Foundation which is bidding to convert it into a museum.
But he is being met with staunch opposition because many locals in the tiny Bohemian village of Brnenec in Czech Republic think of Schindler - immortalised in Steven Spielberg's 1993 film - as a crook synonymous with gambling, womanising and heavy drinking.
Undeterred, Mr Novak, 49, is seeking funding from the European Union as well as international Jewish groups to get the project off the ground before the site vanishes.
'This is the only Nazi concentration camp in the Czech Republic that is still standing in its original building,' he said.
'You cannot allow it and the whole history of Schindler to disappear.
'I have been fighting for this for 20 years. But people are just not interested in it.'
One big obstacle is the cost - with conversion costs estimated at 140m Czech krone (4.5m).
And despite Mr Novak, who is a native of the nearby town of Svitavy where Schindler was born, being close to persuading the Czech culture ministry to put a protection notice on the factory, perhaps the biggest issue he is facing is converting some of the locals.
Jaroslav Novak, a local writer, is head of the Shoah and Oskar Schindler Memorial Endowment Memorial Foundation bidding to convert the factory (pictured) into a museum
As the site stands dilapidated, it is a far cry from the place Schindler transported his Jewish workers to from his factories in Krakow, Poland in late 1944
Schindler, pictuered feeding hungry prisoners, died in 1974 and is honoured along with his wife, Emilie, at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum
Schindler died in 1974 and is honoured along with his wife, Emilie, at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.
But locals still refer to him as a 'gauner' a German word for crook due what they call his heavy drinking womanising and gambling debts.
Such is the opposition in the area, the present owner refuses to allow the house in which Schindler was born to be adorned with a plaque and a memorial in a park across the street was defaced with a swastika just days after its unveiling in 1994.
Jitka Gruntova, a former Communist MP, wrote a hugely critical book on Schindler, branding him a 'traitor' and a 'war criminal'.
She also claims his reputation is based upon a 'made up legend' and added: 'I have found no evidence of Schindler saving prisoners.
'I've come to the conclusion he was only saving himself mostly by writing a postwar synopsis of his alleged activities.
'I don't doubt there are certain witness statements in his favour but these are, as far as I can tell, made by people who belonged to the inner circle around him,' according to The Guardian.
Jaroslav Novak, a local writer, is head of the Shoah and Oskar Schindler Memorial Endowment Memorial Foundation bidding to convert it into a museum. (file photo of 1993 film Schindler's List)
She is not alone in her criticism of the industrialist either.
In his birth town's tiny museum, where Schindler's memory is marked by a small exhibit taking up just one room, resident historian Radoslav Fikejz puts the opposition down to communism in former Czechoslovakia in the wake of the war.
'It's a very big problem because we still have 40 years of communism in our mentality,' he told The Guardian.
'It's also a problem that Schindler was a Sudeten-German and people are afraid of one question, which is - what happens when the Germans come back?
'But this is unrealistic.
'Yes Schindler was a Nazi, a war criminal and a spy.
'But I have met 150 Jews who were on his list and were in the Brnenec camp and they say that what's important is that they are alive.'
Such is the opposition in the area, the owner of Schindler's birth house refuses to allow the house in which Schindler was born to be adorned with a plaque and a memorial in a park across the street was defaced with a swastika just days after its unveiling in 1994. Pictured here is the Oskar Schindler Factory Museum in Krakow, Poland
As the site stands dilapidated, it is a far cry from the place Schindler transported his Jewish workers to from his factories in Krakow, Poland in late 1944.
They were moved under the illusion they were skilled engineers on their way to build tank shells for the German war effort.
But Schindler's migration was to prevent them being massacred in the Holocaust.
Following a long legal battle, the memorial foundation now own the site, which produced goods for Ikea and Skoda before closing in 2009.
Tomas Kraus, director of the federation of Jewish communities in the Czech Republic, is backing Mr Vovak's museum initiative.
'It's a very complex story,' he told The Guardian.
'Schindler was a perpetrator who later became a saviour and a hero. But he was not alone in that.
We all (probably) want to reduce poverty, but how do we actually go about doing that? Pope Francis has been extremely vocal about this problem, but many have taken issue with his suggested solutions.When describing modern capitalism, hes used phrases like globalizacion de la indiferencia and cultura del descarte or a globalization of indifference and a throwaway culture. Beyond soundbites and one-liners, many are trying to get at the exact meaning of the Popes statements on economics and poverty.
During a recent trip to Buenos Aires, Actons director of research, Samuel Gregg, spoke to La Nacions Ramiro Pellet Lastra about these issues. Gregg states that the Popes very populist language when discussing economics and poverty suggests that he does not appear to have a clear understanding of how markets actually function. Like Pope Francis, Gregg sees the common good as very important but argues that this is compatible with free markets. In fact when you dispense with free markets and economic freedom in the name of the common good, as did Communist systems, it leads to even greater poverty.
Gregg adds that he certainly doesnt disagree with the end goal of the Pope: lifting the global poor up. However, he points out that many of the state-centric poverty-alleviation techniques tried out in Latin America and Africa have failed. That being said, Gregg says, the market simply cannot fix every facet of human life. Under free economies, materialism and consumerism can flourish. In these areas, Gregg says, we need the church to provide cultural and spiritual formation.
Italian economist, Stefano Zamagni also sees a problem with the Popes rhetoric and vocab. He notes that quite often the Pope uses words that may not correctly capture his sentiment. Even in the two years since he was elected Pope, Francis language has changed, though the ultimate messages have not. He also points out that the Pope studied chemistry, not economics, and may struggle with some of the details and nuances of that field.
Read La vision economica de Francisco, bajo la lupa de expertos at La Nacion.
Tropical Storm Nicole, coming in the wake of devastating Hurricane Matthew, is set to return to hurricane strength as it heads for Bermuda.
'Nicole is a serious threat to Bermuda, and we cannot afford to have complacency with this storm,' said the island's Minister of National Security Jeffrey Baron.
A hurricane watch - which is usually issued 48 hours before tropical storm-force winds are anticipated - has been issued for Bermuda, a British overseas territory about 700 miles south east of the North Carolina coast.
The storm is south of Bermuda but is said to be heading north. It is seen above at 5am EDT today
Nicole is seen above in a National Hurricane Center image early on Tuesday morning
Mr Baron told the Bermuda News: 'I cannot emphasize enough the critical importance of residents securing their homes and completing their preparations well in advance of this storm.'
Matthew was a Category Four hurricane but Nicole is anticipated to be only a Category One storm
Bermuda's government issued a statement on Monday night: 'The Bermuda Weather Service is advising that the Island is currently under a Hurricane Watch as Tropical Storm Nicole is forecast to intensify into a hurricane tomorrow as it approaches Bermuda.'
Nicole is currently about 300 miles south of Bermuda and is expected to hit the island on Thursday morning.
It is too early to say whether it will head towards Florida afterwards or whether it will fade out.
Laura Rautenkranz, a forecaster with First Coast News in Jacksonville, Florida, tweeted: 'Watching Tropical Storm Nicole with a Hurricane Watch issued for Bermuda; no issues for the U.S. in the next 5 days.'
The predicted path of Nicole is seen above. There were fears Nicole and Matthew could merge but that has dissipated as Matthew heads north
The likelihood of tropical storm surface winds are seen in the map above
Tropical Storm Nicole was originally a hurricane but weakened but forecasters say it is now expected to strengthen and return to hurricane force as it heads towards Bermuda
Residents on the east coast of Florida remain jittery as they pick up the pieces after last week's devastation by Hurricane Matthew, which killed 26 people in Florida and South Carolina.
But Nicole is significantly weaker than Matthew, which was a category 4 hurricane.
A divorcee splashed out more than 5,000 to transform herself from a size 22 to a 'sexy cougar'.
Carole Pridmore, from Chingford, Essex, shed six stone after her marriage broke down three years ago and then paid thousands for a boob job to complete her look.
Now, after getting a new haircut and a new size 10 wardrobe, she exclusively dates younger men who she meets on a website called the Toyboy Warehouse.
Carole Pridmore splashed out 5,000 to transform herself from a size 22 to a 'sexy cougar'
The divorcee shed six stone after her marriage broke down three years ago and then paid for a boob job to complete her look. She is pictured before splitting from her husband back in 2013
Ms Pridmore, 55, was a size 22 when she claims she found out her husband of 31 years was having an affair - and says he was signed up to nine different dating sites.
The mother-of-three began hitting the gym with her daughters after finding herself newly-single and before long the weight was coming off.
Three years on, Ms Pridmore, a secretary, is happier than ever.
She said: 'My confidence was rock bottom. When I turned 50 I just thought "this is it, Im never going to be kissed again" - and look at me now.'
Ms Pridmore decided shed had enough when her daughter is said to have found out her father was having an affair in February 2013.
It was at this point Ms Pridmore claims she threw him out and filed for a divorce.
She was then inspired to get fit after noticing shed shed a stone through stress alone, and began getting compliments.
At her heaviest, Ms Pridmore weighed 15 stone - and is now 9st 4lb.
She said: 'Id drive to work then sit in an office all day, I didnt do anything.
Ms Pridmore (left today), 55, was a size 22 (right) when she claims she found out her husband of 31 years was having an affair - and says he was signed up to nine different dating sites
'Im not one for eating cakes but I love cheese and pinot grigio.
'When I was younger I was really fat. At my biggest, when I was married, I was a size 22 and weighed 15 stone - Im only 56!'
But after the split, Ms Pridmore decided to join her two daughters at the gym and she now goes five times a week.
However, losing weight wasnt the only thing she wanted, adding: 'I wanted to start doing things for me.
'Ive breast fed three children.
'At my biggest my boobs were a size 38G, then they went down to a 34B when I lost all my weight.
'They were really saggy, and as I was starting to date these toyboys I knew I needed to do something about it, so I spent 5,000 having them lifted in July 2014.'
Ms Pridmore also ditched her glasses in favour of contact lenses and had a complete wardrobe overhaul.
Ms Pridmore ditched her glasses in favour of contact lenses and had a wardrobe overhaul
After signing up for the cougar dating site, shes been wined and dined by 15 different men after being inundated with messages.
She said: 'Dating is brilliant, Ive been out with so many young, successful men.
'Theyve got more energy and theyre more interesting than men my age.
'Ive dated about 15 different guys, but I didnt sleep with all of them!
'Of course some of them are only after the Mrs Robinson fantasy, but its good for my ego.
'The best date Ive been on, the guy spent 350 in a top London restaurant wining and dining me.
'Its nice to be taken out - all Id get off my ex is fish and chips.
'At first I was like a kid in a sweet shop on this website, I was getting so many messages and it was really exciting.
'Ive calmed down now though and Ive been dating a 39-year-old who I met on there for a while.'
The New Zealand judge who quit as head of the massive public inquiry into child abuse has received a pay off worth 90,000.
Dame Lowell Goddard, who was in the post for just 18 months, had been on a total salary and benefits package worth almost 500,000.
Dame Lowell became the third chairwoman to walk out on the multi-million pound inquiry in August, throwing the beleaguered probe into a new crisis.
Her 80,000 severance, plus business class flights to New Zealand, was agreed by Home Secretary Amber Rudd and brought her total payments to almost 700,000 for 18 months in charge of an inquiry that has not yet heard any evidence.
Dame Lowell Goddard resigned as head of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in August and has now received a severance deal worth around 90,000
Victims groups today revealed their frustration at the ailing inquiry, pointing out 90,000 could be better spent on counselling for abuse survivors.
Ms Rudd appointed Professor Alexis Jay to head up the inquiry, which is tasked together 13 separate investigations into one overarching review of historic child abuse in British institutions.
The inquiry was plunged into further crisis in recent weeks as its most senior barrister was suspended and others quit over fears the inquiry was too big and unmanageable.
Senior legal figures have called for it to be scrapped and refocused on identifying how to prevent abuse in the future.
Dame Lowell, who was appointed by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary, had been earning a salary of 360,000, plus 110,000 for an apartment in Kensington, another 12,000 to cover bills, and a Government car and driver.
Andrew Lavery, of the victims' group White Flowers Alba, told The Times the 'galling' news came on the day the inquiry had invited him to attend a meeting in London but refused even to discuss meeting his travel expenses.
He added: 'It's disgraceful but this inquiry has long been a shameful gravy trough.'
The 80,000 severance, plus business class flights to New Zealand, were agreed by Home Secretary Amber Rudd, pictured at last week's Tory conference
Ian McFadyen, a campaigner, said: 'A thousand pounds will give a survivor seven weeks of counselling and we're struggling to get those funds.
'I would have thought that someone who left without explaining why and without finishing the job would have declined any payoff.'
A Home Office spokesman said: 'The independent inquiry has a vital role to play in exposing the failure of public bodies and other major organisations to prevent child sexual abuse.
'We owe it to victims and survivors to get to the truth and the independent inquiry is continuing its vital work.'
The inquiry has been beset by delays and controversies since it was first announced by the then home secretary Mrs May.
Baroness Butler-Sloss stood down in July 2014 amid questions over the role played by her late brother, Lord Havers, who was attorney general in the 1980s.
Baroness Butler-Sloss (left) and Dame Fiona Woolf (right) both stepped down from the role as head of the child sex abuse inquiry after concerns about their links to the establishment
Her replacement Dame Fiona Woolf resigned following a barrage of criticism over her 'establishment links', most notably in relation to former home secretary Leon Brittan, who died in 2015.
Mrs May officially reconstituted the probe under Justice Goddard in March 2015 and placed it on a statutory footing, meaning it has the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.
The inquiry's terms of reference say that its purpose includes considering 'the extent to which state and non-state institutions have failed in their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation'. It covers England and Wales.
A suspected shoplifter was acting erratically and may have been on drugs, authorities say, when he got into a fight with a Georgia deputy who tasered, pepper sprayed and then fatally shot him.
Investigators are awaiting an autopsy to help determine whether Larry D. Matthews had drugs in his system on Friday afternoon when he fought with Bibb County deputy Gregg Ussery in Macon, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent J.T. Ricketson said.
Matthews, 57, was accused of shoplifting from a Family Dollar store before he was shot in the 500 block of Colquitt Street nearby.
Larry D. Matthews (left and right, in old mugshots) got into a fight with a Georgia deputy who tasered, pepper sprayed and then fatally shot him on Friday
Ussery first shot Matthews with a stun gun, but the suspect pulled the prongs off him, Ricketson said.
The deputy then used pepper spray, but Matthews grabbed the bottle and sprayed the deputy, prompting Ussery to shoot Matthews.
He died at the scene. The races of those involved in the shooting are unclear.
It was not immediately known exactly what items were taken from the store, but Ricketson said a packet of ramen noodles and a couple of packs of Bic lighters were found near the shooting site, Macon.com reports.
Matthews died at the scene (above, after the shooting) in Macon, Georgia, on Friday
Matthews was released from prison in March after serving less than two years of a five-year sentence for a crime in 2013 that involved the possession of burglary tools, according to the website.
He had later asked for a new trial and when he was denied, he called the judge in his case a son of a b**** in open court.
Matthews had a lengthy criminal record and was first convicted of a crime when he was 23.
The meth-dealing daughter of a British aristocrat who was shot dead in the Philippines war on narcotics is believed to have been murdered by her ex-boyfriend over drug money.
Police in Manila say they are close to linking the murder of Aurora Moynihan, daughter of Lord Tony Moynihan with a 'high-level' supplier, who was killed last weekend in a shootout with police.
A .40 caliber handgun - the same type of weapon used to kill Aurora, 45, when she stepped out of a car in a dark street in Manila - was recovered from the body of her former boyfriend, Leandro Kanahashi, 33.
Police in Manila say they are close to linking the murder of Aurora Moynihan, p[ictured, daughter of Lord Tony Moynihan with a 'high-level' supplier, who was killed last weekend
Police suspect that Aurora was in the car with Kanahashi before her death and was gunned down when she got out of the vehicle.
Ballistics tests on bullets found in the gun and in Auroras body are currently being carried out.
But police said they have evidence that before the pair had a falling out as Aurora was working as Kanahashis pusher.
Senior Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, of Quezon City Police said: 'He is a person of interest in her death.
He added that Aurora's family who include her younger actress sister Maritoni Fernandez - have confirmed that she and Kanahashi were lovers before they had a falling out.
Aurora's body was found on the side of the road in Manila last month. Her death was amidst the Philippine president's war on narcotics
Alongside her body, police found a sign that labelled Aurora a drug dealer and pusher, pictured
That break-up, police believe, was over drug money and it is suspected the argument still simmered as she travelled in a car with Kanahashi before she was shot.
Police checking Auroras text messages found that Kanahashi was one of the last people she wrote to, the Philippine Star reported today.
Among the messages on her phone were indications of drug deals, said police.
The Star said that information gathered by police officers revealed that Aurora had acted as a go-between for her boyfriend Kanahashi and buyers of his drugs.
Aurora's family who include her younger actress sister Maritoni Fernandez, pictured, - have confirmed that she and Kanahashi were lovers before they had a falling out
Described as a higher than street-level drug dealer, who sold ice and party drugs to the wealthy in Manila's bars and clubs, Kanahashi and an unidentified cohort were killed after a shoot-out with police during a sting on the outskirts of the city last Sunday.
Police Superintendent Wilfredo Tul-O told the Star that the sting was conducted to arrest Kanahashi only because of his alleged drug deals - but the discovery of the .40 caliber handgun, his relationship with Aurora and the possibility that she knew people in the car that drove her to her death has led police to suspect that he was involved in her murder.
Aurora's father, Lord Moynihan, was a Liberal peer and one of the most controversial members of the gentry in modern times.
He died from a heart attack in 1991 in Manila, at the age of 55 after fleeing to the Philippines in the 1970s. By then he had become a fixture of the criminal underworld, brushing shoulders with the Kray brothers and other notorious gangsters.
Aurora's father, Lord Moynihan, pictured was a Liberal peer and one of the most controversial members of the gentry in modern times
Lord Moynihan was a fixture of the criminal underworld, brushing shoulders with the Kray brothers and other notorious gangsters
A brothel owner, confidence trickster, drug trafficker, fraudster, bigamist and enthusiastic bongo and banjo player, the flamboyant Moynihan was married five times and had countless affairs.
Meanwhile Aurora was widowed in 2010 when her husband, Eddie Boy Rocha, the son of a well-known film producer, broke his neck in a fall.
Their two sons, now in their teens and twenties, were brought up partly by their aunts.
She was apparently unable to shake off the effects of her troubled childhood, despite her public school education in Worcestershire.
In 2013, she was arrested in a drugs raid along with seven other suspects. Officers confirmed that she was on a police drug watch list, and she was allegedly part of a syndicate.
A British TV producer is coming under mounting pressure to release tapes of the American version of The Apprentice which reportedly show Donald Trump using the N-word.
Supporters of Hillary Clinton are asking Mark Burnett to make public the recordings of the hit TV series, which the Republican presidential candidate hosted on NBC between 2004 and last year.
The tapes are said to show things that are far worse than the 2005 recording of Mr Trump released on Friday, which showed him celebrating sexually assaulting women.
Hey, Mr Producer: Mark Burnett (left) is pictured with former US Apprentice host Donald Trump (centre) and his wife Melania Trump (right) in Los Angeles in June 2006
Alan Sugar, who presents the UK version of The Apprentice, called for the tapes to be released. He wrote on Twitter: Im willing to bet NBC has some gems on Trump [from] 11 years [of The] Apprentice.
Addressing Hillary Clinton, Lord Sugar added: Go ask @nbc to study all non-broadcast material of Donald when he was doing the Apprentice and encourage them to publish.
He also wrote: Hi @MarkBurnettTV do USA a favour and get the non-broadcast unofficial rushes of Trump while recording the Apprentice. There must be loads.
Mr Burnett, 56, was born in London and now lives in the US.
The committed Christian, who served as a paratrooper in the Falklands War, reportedly has the tapes but is said to be close to Mr Trump and has allegedly said he will sue for $5million (4,045,000) anyone who leaks them.
David Brock, a mega-donor for Mrs Clinton, has said he would pay the money if it meant the material being aired.
On TV: Mr Burnett (far left) is pictured with US Apprentice contestant Sean Yazbeck (centre), as well as Mr Trump and his sidekicks George Ross (top left) and Carolyn Kepcher (right)
Addressing Mrs Clinton and Mr Burnett: Lord Sugar, who presents the UK version of The Apprentice on the BBC, called for the tapes to be released
Among those who have said there is dirt on the recordings is Bill Pruitt, an Emmy Award-winning producer, who wrote on Twitter: As a producer on seasons one and two of The Apprentice I assure you: when it comes to the Trump tapes, there are far worse.
Christian: Mr Burnett was born in London and served as a paratrooper in the Falklands War
Writing about the unconfirmed reports suggesting that Mr Trump used a racial slur, Chris Nee, an Irish-American childrens TV producer, tweeted: Hearing from producers and crew the N word is the much worse.
But this tweet later disappeared and she added: 'Folks, I have never worked on The Apprentice. I don't know what's out there. Or what still exists. I've heard rumors. Would love to know.
Last night a joint statement was issued by Mr Burnett and MGM, which owns his production company, insisting Mr Burnett does not have the ability nor the right to release [the] footage and that MGM was restricted by contracts and legal requirements.
Insiders have previously claimed Mr Trump rated female contestants on The Apprentice by the size of their breasts and discussed which he would like to sleep with.
Ex-contestant Gene Folkes recalled the 70-year-old calling for female contestants to wear more revealing dresses.
Former senior producer Katherine Walker said Mr Trump frequently talked about womens bodies during the five seasons she worked with him.
Rumours: Chris Nee, an Irish-American childrens TV producer, tweeted that she was hearing from producers and crew that the tape was much worse
Support: Mr Trump speaks during another Pennsylvania campaign rally yesterday in Ambridge
The Trump campaign said all the allegations were outlandish and false and fabricated. The claims came as the most powerful Republican in Congress last night turned on Mr Trump and said he would no longer defend him.
THE CHRISTIAN, PARA AND REALITY TV PIONEER Mark Burnett, 56, who was born in London and now lives in the US, is a former paratrooper who served in the Falklands War and went on to become one of the pioneers of reality TV. He and his wife, the Northern Ireland actress Roma Downey, are committed Christians who have produced a string of Bible-themed films and TV series, including the movie Son of God. The latter attracted controversy because the actor who played Satan looked like Barack Obama. Downey supported former Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinnesss unsuccessful bid for the Irish presidency in 2011. Advertisement
According to CNN, Speaker Paul Ryan said he would not campaign with his partys nominee and would focus on keeping control of the House a tacit admission that he thinks Mr Trump will lose.
The Speaker is the presiding officer in the House of Representatives and leader of the majority party there. He is second in the line of succession after the vice-president, if the serving president dies.
Mr Ryans remarks are yet another blow to Mr Trumps support among Republicans. More than three dozen governors, senators and representatives said they will not vote for him or have revoked their endorsements since the 2005 video emerged on Friday.
In the footage Mr Trump said he liked to grab women by the p**** and that when youre a star you can do anything. Mr Ryan said he was sickened by what he had heard.
In a conference call yesterday with senior Republicans, the Speaker did not revoke his endorsement of Mr Trump but said his focus was on state and gubernatorial races. He told them: Do whats best for you.
Vocal: Supporters cheer for Mr Trump cheer during the rally in Wilkes-Barre yesterday
Allegations: Insiders have previously claimed Mr Trump rated female contestants on The Apprentice by the size of their breasts and discussed which he would like to sleep with
Those who turned their backs on Mr Trump include Senator John McCain, ex-Florida governor Jeb Bush and Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State under George W Bush.
But his vice-presidential running mate Mike Pence told CNN that suggestions he would leave the Trump campaign were absolutely false.
Mr Trump kept his battered political dreams alive on Sunday, flinging dirt at Hillary Clinton in the most vicious presidential debate in living memory.
In the 90-minute slanging match, a pacing Mr Trump accused Mrs Clinton of having tremendous hate in her heart. The pair refused to shake hands at the beginning.
Mrs Clinton claimed the controversy over Mr Trumps lewd remarks was part of a pattern of misogyny.
But he dismissed them as locker room talk, and tried to focus on the sexual misdemeanours of Bill Clinton who sat in an audience that included three of his female accusers.
Clash: Mr Trump kept his battered political dreams alive on Sunday, flinging dirt at Hillary Clinton in the most vicious presidential debate in living memory
Mr Trump accused him of sexually assaulting or harassing a string of women. He also accused Mrs Clinton of smearing her husbands accusers to discredit their claims.
It later emerged the Trump campaign tried to compound the embarrassment for the Clintons by putting the three accusers Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick and Paula Jones in the Trump familys box.
Mr Trump turned the discussion to his rivals controversial use of a private email server while Secretary of State. Some 33,000 deleted emails have never been recovered.
He told her if I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation.
When Mrs Clinton said it was awfully good someone with Mr Trumps temperament was not in charge of US law, he replied: Because youd be in jail.
A Muslim man in Norway has been detained for raping his daughter as a punishment after she became 'too Western'.
The man, in his 40s has been charged with rape and incest after he attacked his daughter in their family home in the city of Fredrikstad.
Police prosecutors have said the daughter told officers she was raped by her father as a punishment for living a Western lifestyle.
Both the father and daughter are of a non-European background.
The woman, who is in her 20s and lives in Norway, was punished by her father for not living an Islamic lifestyle (file picture)
Police lawyer Anette Sogn told Fredrikstad24: 'They had been arguing prior to the rape.
'The father has been angry because his daughter did not follow his (Islamic) way of life, she explained in questioning.'
Following the attack, the daughter, who is in her 20s, ran out of the house and told a passing postman what had happened, who then went to the police.
The father attacked his daughter at their home in the Norwegian city of Fredrikstad
The father has reportedly claimed that he does not understand why he has been charged with the crimes and said he was shocked by police DNA results.
The man has acknowledged that he sat on the victims bed, and tried to explain the police DNA findings with indirect contact.
If convicted, the man is likely to face a tough punishment in the courts, due to the gravity of the attack upon the victim in her own home.
A young mother accused of smothering to death her two young children after abducting them has said she decided to kill them after hearing an Amber Alert had been put out.
Amber Pasztor, 29, has pleaded not guilty to murdering her daughter, seven-year-old Liliana Hernandez, and son Rene Pasztor, who was six, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Pasztor, who was arrested last month, is due to go on trial in January.
But last night, in a telephone interview from jail, she told WANE-TV she killed the children so they would be safe in heaven.
Confused: Amber Pasztor, 29 (left), has pleaded not guilty in court to murdering her six-year-old son Rene Pasztor (center) and her seven-year-old daughter Liliana Hernandez (right) but yesterday admitted in a TV interview she had killed them
Pasztor, a drug addict, said: 'My kids are in a better place...They don't have no worries no more.'
She is accused of murdering the children on September 26.
The children's bodies were found in the back of a car five hours after authorities issued an Amber Alert following their abduction from their grandparents' home, saying they were 'believed to be in extreme danger'.
But Pasztor told WANE-TV the Amber Alert did not save their lives, but did the opposite - she panicked and killed them.
Pasztor told the TV station she also she shot her neighbor Frank Macomber, 66, and took his car. She has not been charged in connection with his death.
She said she arranged to have sex with him in a wooded area and then shot him with his own gun and dumped the gun in a Michigan river.
Shocking admission: Pasztor (pictured) told police she smothered her children by placing her hands over their noses and mouths after taking them to a park and a restaurant
Pasztor showed no emotion in court Monday as Judge Terry Shewmaker read aloud the charges against her.
The probable cause affidavit says Pasztor told police she had kicked in a door at her parents' Fort Wayne home, abducted the children, took them to a park and a restaurant and then smothered them by placing her hands over their noses and mouths.
Pasztor has a third child that she left behind at her parents' home.
Her father, Ricky Green, said: 'I want to say to my daughter who did this, that she is not my daughter any more. I want her to burn.'
She is due back in court on October 27 for a pretrial conference.
Video Courtesy WANE
Grandmother speaks out: Amber's mother, Leanne Pasztor (center) said her daughter is 'crazy' and 'evil'
'Motive': Leanne Pasztor (pictured left) said she thought her daughter killed her children so that no one else could have them. Amber Pasztor lost custody of the pair (right) more than a year ago
According to their grandmother, Rene (left) and Liliana (right) were fearful of their mother, who is said to be a drug addict
Amber Pasztor's mother, Leanna, said she was not surprised to learn of the charges against her daughter, whom she labeled 'evil.'
'We thought she was crazy,' she said of her daughter, who had lost custody of her two children more than a year ago due to drug addiction.
'I think her thought was, "If she can't have them, nobody can."'
Liliana and Rene, who according to their grandmother were scared of their mother, had moved in with another relative, Emily Lasko Green, and were apparently happy in their new home.
Happier times: Rene and Liliana had been living with another relative, Emily Lasko Green, who said that the pair were very happy in their new home
Green told the website that she had gone through 'hell' to gain custody of the brother and sister, whom she described as 'wonderful.'
'They were our babies,' Green said. 'God gave us babies and she took them away.'
Frank Macomber, 65, was believed to be with Pasztor when she kidnapped her children Monday morning and his body was later found just half a mile from the home where the kids were abducted
The body of Frank Macomber was found early Tuesday morning by an FBI agent searching the area near the home where the two children were abducted.
A prosecutor said Macomber probably died before the children were abducted.
Police issued an Amber Alert for Liliana and Rene early last Monday, after Amber Pasztor allegedly broke into her father Ricky Green's home in Fort Wayne and kidnapped them just after 6am. Green's wife Emily was allegedly sleeping at the time and didn't hear anything.
Pasztor's father gained custody of Liliana and Rene - as well as his daughter's other three-year-old son - a little more than a year ago. It's reported that Pasztor struggles with drug addiction.
Five hours after the Alert was issued, Pasztor drove to the Elkhart police station and stopped a cop who was just getting off work and informed him about the bodies in the trunk of her car.
Pasztor allegedly broke into her father's home in Fort Wayne at around 6am on September 26 and kidnapped Rene and Liliana
Green gained custody of the children when his daughter became addicted to drugs. Liliana (left) and Rene (right) pictured above
Pasztor has a criminal record including arrests for invasion of privacy and criminal trespassing. She's pictured on the left in a Facebook photo and on the right in an older mugshot
Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Elkhart Police Department at 1-574-295-7070 or the Tip Line at 1-574-389-4777.
The robbers who stole millions of dollars worth of jewelry from Kim Kardashian's luxury Paris apartment were dressed in uniform from a 'Halloween store' and were arguing over how to carry out the heist, it has been claimed.
Kardashian, the world's highest paid reality television star, was held up at gunpoint in when she was left unprotected in her 25,000-a-week apartment in the Hotel Particulier Pourtales.
The robbers made off with her 20-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring worth 3.5million and a case of jewelry with a value of 5.24million.
Her hands and feet were bound with cable ties during the robbery and she is believed to have been dumped in her marble bath tub during the terrifying heist.
After the raid, the five men were seen escaping on 'velibs' - hire bicycles which can be rented all over Paris.
Kim and her husband Kanye West reportedly met with ex-special force members from the Israeli army and ex-CIA agents after she was held up at gunpoint in Paris
Her publicist had said the thieves were disguised as police officers but sources close to Kardashian told TMZ their uniforms looked more like they came from a Halloween store.
They also claimed Kardashian told police the masked robbers were 'extremely hesitant and tentative' and arguing over how to pull off the daring heist.
It is understood the thieves were white, middle-aged Frenchmen. None have yet been caught.
Following the ordeal, Kardashian has called in former special service agents as part of a plan to ramp up her security to 'presidential levels'.
The reality TV star will be accompanied everywhere by at least two guards and she will be driven around in an armored car so she can feel safe again.
Kardashian and her husband Kanye West reportedly met with ex-special force members from the Israeli army and ex-CIA agents after she was held up at gunpoint in Paris.
The rapper is also said to be hiring lookalikes to acts as decoys and keep his family's location private.
Her security team came under intense scrutiny after it was revealed she had been left without any armed guard - despite flaunting her jewelry on social media.
Kardashian's bodyguard Pascal Duvier was criticized when it emerged he had been escorting the star's sisters Kourtney and Kendall at a nightclub during the break-in.
But the 43-year-old still appears to have a job as he was pictured manning the stage when Kanye performed the Chicago stop of his Saint Pablo tour on Saturday.
Kardashian, the world's highest paid reality television star, was held up at gunpoint in when she was left unprotected in her 25,000-a-week apartment in the Hotel Particulier Pourtales
Following the robbery, the star agreed to stop flaunting her jewelry online as she was making herself a robbery target.
She reportedly said: 'Material things mean nothing. It's not all about the money. It's not worth it.'
The 35-year-old has filed an insurance claim for the stolen items, including her engagement ring.
She is also set to seek a fortune in compensation to cover trauma and lost earnings.
Her security team came under intense scrutiny after it was revealed she had been left without any armed guard - despite flaunting her jewelry on social media (shown)
Elsewhere it emerged a gemstone dropped outside the Paris hotel she was staying in could provide vital DNA evidence in the investigation which has so far made little progress.
A passer-by spotted the diamond cross pendant made from platinum on the pavement a day after the robbery and handed it over to police.
The piece of jewelry from Jacob and Co is thought to be worth 27,000.
A source said: 'A piece of stolen jewelry was found close to the block, and was presumably dropped by the gang.
Children can live up to 15 years longer depending on where they live and grow up, with huge variations between neighbourhoods just miles apart.
London has some of the most dramatic variations, with estimates for deprived boroughs like Tower Hamlets far below those of wealthy parts just miles away, such as Kingston-upon-Thames.
But there are also huge gulfs elsewhere - including Manchester, where children can expect to live a decade less in good health than in nearby Cheshire.
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The ONS has produced estimates for the number of years babies born between 2010-12 can expect to live in 'very good or good' health. The figures are broken down by local area
The figures were compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using data from the most recent census covering 2010-12.
Boys born in that period can expect to live 78.8 years, while girls on average will have an estimated lifespan of 82.6 years.
The ONS said that if they experience similar health observed in the survey, males should be in 'very good or good health' for 63.2 years - some 80.3 per cent of their lives.
The equivalent figure for females was 64.6 years, or 78.2 per cent.
But the headline figures mask stark differences between parts of the country.
The lowest number of years individuals could expect to live in 'very good or good' health stood at 55.8 years for males in Manchester.
By contrast in nearby Cheshire East the figure was 66.3. And the highest in the country was 69.9 in Wokingham.
The ONS figures show the sharp variations in the number of years women can expect to live with 'very good or good' health
In Tower Hamlets girls born during the period were looking at 55.9 years of good health.
But in Richmond upon Thames babies could expect 70.9 years.
If they surviving to the age of 65, men and women across the UK could expect to live a further 18.3 years and 20.8 years respectively, of which around half would be in 'very good or good' health.
HOW THE BEST AND WORST NEIGHBOURHOODS MEASURE UP BEST PLACE FOR WOMEN Richmond-upon-Thames Population 193,000, average house price: 780,000 WORST PLACE FOR WOMEN Tower Hamlets Population 284,000, average house price 514,000 BEST PLACE FOR MEN Wokingham Population 159,000, average house price 454,000 WORST PLACE FOR MEN Manchester Population 514,000, average house price 166,000 Advertisement
But a man making it to 65 in Blaenau Gwent has less to look forward to, with just 5.5 years of good health forecast.
Women in Merthyr Tydfil could anticipate just 5.9 years.
ONS statistician Jodie Withers said: 'There is large variation in how many years people can expect to live in good health across the UK.
'Differences in education, employment opportunities, lifestyle behaviours, social mobility and the wider local environment all have a major impact with males and females in some parts of the UK living 14.1 years and 15.0 years longer in "Very good or good" health than others.'
In the newly translated Pro Rege: Living Under Christ the King, Volume 1, Abraham Kuyper reminds us that Christ is not only prophet and priest, but also king, challenging us to reflect on what it means to live under that kingship in a fallen world.
Written with the aim of removing the separation between our life inside the church and our life outside the church, Kuyper reminds us that Christs being Savior does not exclude his being Lord, and that this reality transforms our responses in every corner of cultural engagement, both inside the church walls in across business, educations, the arts, and so on.
Kuyper was writing to the church in the Netherlands over 100 years ago, but over at Gentle Reformation, Barry York helpfully connects the dots to the American context, particularly as it relates to the current debates over religious liberty and our lopsided emphasis on worship within the church.
You can sing whatever you want in church, but you cant come out of church and act on those beliefsat least not with any special protection from the law, York writes, pointing to a recent doctrine from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. That legal viewpointalready put into action in recent court and regulatory rulingsthreatens public funding and tax breaks that now support Christian colleges, K-12 schools, poverty-fighting organizations and other charities.
And yet, Christ is our Sovereign King, who demands loyalty in every area of our lives, York continues, pointing to the following sentiment from Kuyper:
The confession of Christs kingship has been so enormously weakened and dilutednot only among those who have fallen away from the faith of their fathers, but also among believersthat it sometimes seems to have been forgotten even in the preaching of the word. Although great homage is paid to the Lord as Prophet and High Priest, complete devotion and loyalty to him as the anointed King no longer grips the hearts of the people. His kingship has disappeared from view, even among believers.
Indeed, the church mustnt allow its allegiances and commitments to shift according to the whims and pressures of the world around us, legal, cultural, or otherwise, receding into the comfortable walls of the church where religious action is deemed polite or appropriate.
For Kuyper, such a recession is due in large part to the forces of modernity and the illusion of power that comes with technological strength. A human kingship imperceptibly came to power, leaving no place for the kingship of Christ, he writes. That kingship of humanity established a throne of glory for itself in the world cities, and from that seat it now rules over entire nations and peoples by what people refer to as the modern spirit of the age. Within its walls, the church still maintains its light, Kuyper continues, but even there, the songs have diminished in tenor and tone. Everywhere else, it is clear that Jesus kingship has been suppressed in the life of the nations.
In our own modern context, we see a similar inward focus, with many Christians hailing policies like the Johnson Amendment as their #1 priority, even as businesses and cultural institutions are faced with a range coercive threats to prostrate their consciences and religious convictions before the state.
As York explains, our cultural engagement ought not be influenced by the arm-twisting policies of the day, driven by tax incentives, government mandates, or acceptance by some cultural priesthood. We ought to fight for religious freedom even as we take action, and that action will be far more transformative if we maintain a proper view of Christ as King:
If we are going to have any hope of reversing the trend of shrinking religious liberty in our time and place, Christians today must recover the theology of Christs kingdom that Kuyperadvocated. It is because enough did understand Christ as King that Christians have, for centuries, started hospitals, universities, schools, soup kitchens, newspapers, businesses, and even entire governments. Because enough Christians understood Christ as King, they have continuously worked to reform the secular institutions and systems in which they labor Monday through Saturday. If Christians believed their faith only obliged them to worship, they would have done none of those cultural things. But they have. Generation after generation. Christians didnt start any of those institutions for the tax write-offs. They didnt start them because judges or legislators first gave them the OK. Christians have been active culturally only because they were first loyal spiritually to their King. Good theology, more than public policy, spurs Christians to create and redeem the culture around them. We need true belief more than tax breaks. We need persevering faith more than public funding.
As that underlying belief and persevering faith moves into action and maintains its pace, transforming every sphere of society and illuminating truth, goodness, beauty along the way, the world will benefit both here and now and on into the not yet.
Only when we truly worship Christ as King, not just in the walls of the church, but through the work of our hands and the word of our testimony, will the world get a glimpse of just what the Kings Kingdom is all about.
Mental health nurse John Warren (shown) has been suspended after having sex with a vulnerable drug addict patient
A mental health nurse who had sex with a heroin addict patient after tracking her down on LinkedIn and plying her with beer has been suspended for one year.
John Warren began the relationship with the former prostitute, who had a history of sexual abuse, while he was working as her 'key worker' at KCA Croydon - an adult substance misuse centre.
Warren hunted the vulnerable woman down on social networking site, LinkedIn, and bombarded her with messages from September 2013, the Nursing and Midwifery Council was told.
After meeting the woman in a park, Warren went back to her house where he plied her with beer and insisted they had sex in January 2014.
The woman, who was addicted to heroin, had worked as a prostitute to feed her habit.
Warren denied that having sex with the woman was inappropriate and claimed he did not know anything about her personal history.
But the NMC found his actions constituted misconduct which could be described as 'deplorable' or 'disgraceful' by other nurses.
Samantha Jones from the NMC told the hearing that Warren would have been aware about the woman's past because of his role as her 'key worker' at the London centre.
'He brought her into the fold of his private life,' she said.
'She had discussed that she had been sexually abused and used prostitution to make money in the past with Mr Warren.'
The woman claimed she did not want to drink or have sex with him that night but felt like she had to.
Warren allegedly continued to send messages to his former patient and the woman told her new key worker that she had sex with Warren in April 2014.
Ms Jones said: 'She (the patient) started using heroin and crack cocaine again due to the impact of the relationship.
Warren hunted the vulnerable woman down on social networking site, LinkedIn, and bombarded her with messages from September 2013
'She felt that her life was messed up because of it.'
Warren had responsibility for the patient as her former key worker and that did not change after she left his treatment.
She said: 'He knew her vulnerabilities and took advantage of them.
'He breached professional boundaries.'
Warren denied that having sex with the woman was inappropriate and denied that their relationship was inappropriate.
But an NMC panel found the charges against him all proved and determined that his actions amounted to misconduct and that his fitness to practice was impaired.
Panel chair Gill Madden said: 'In our judgment... Mr Warren understood that his conduct was likely to be perceived as inappropriate if it came to light. He had given regard to the potential implications for his registration.
'Mr Warren only sought to contact Patient A via LinkedIn because he knew her. He only knew her because of the previous, and quite recent, therapeutic relationship in which he had been her key worker.
'That therapeutic relationship meant he was in a position of trust and power.'
In the judgement, Ms Madden said Warren put his own feelings over the patient's need for 'therapeutic support and intervention'.
'Mr Warren knew of Patient A's vulnerability. By engaging in a personal relationship with her and by then allowing that to develop into a sexual relationship, Mr Warren put his own need for support ahead of Patient A's ongoing need for therapeutic support and intervention.
'He did not consider her safety and well-being or the potential damage to her ability to engage with the addiction services still treating her that might be caused by his conduct in participating in sexual activity with her.'
Ms Madden found that the mental health nurse should have been 'especially alert to the risks'.
'We had no doubt that Mr Warren's departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse were so serious that they constitute misconduct. They would readily be described as 'deplorable' or 'disgraceful' by other registered nurses.
'We are satisfied that Mr Warren's fitness to practise is currently impaired by reason of his misconduct.
'Mr Warren has demonstrated genuine remorse. He has apologised saying, 'I am truly sorry that my actions may have affected my former client's treatment.
Warren received a 12-month suspension from practicing as a nurse.
A woman raised by lesbian mothers says same-sex marriage isn't good for children and that growing up without a father was challenging.
Australian Millie Fontana, 24, says she struggled with her identity growing up and that the only time she felt 'stable' was meeting her biological father when she was 11.
Children were often the 'other side of the rainbow' who suffered in same-sex marriages and grew up unhappy with a different idea about what family structure should be, she has said.
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Millie Fontana says she struggled with her identity growing up and that the only time she felt 'stable' was meeting her biological father when she was 11
The 24-year-old was raised by lesbian mothers and isn't sure she'd support same-sex marriage
'We [children of same-sex couples] want our mothers and fathers; I don't understand why society is so fiercely rejecting such a natural concept that is acceptable in every other family structure,' she told The Australian.
Although she said she wasn't against gay marriage, she had concerns it would have a negative impact on children.
Previously, she has spoken on the issue with the support of all three of her parents.
'There are often serious consequences for children who are denied access to their biological parents the cultural attitude needs to change for this reason. We dont want to be in the closet either.'
Before Bill Shorten and the Labor Party announcing they would vote against the plebiscite on same-sex marriage on Tuesday, Ms Fontana had been in Canberra campaigning for it to go ahead.
Although Ms Fontana said she wasn't against gay marriage, she had concerns it would have a negative impact on children
Although she was an atheist, her trip to lobby politicians for support was funded by the Australian Christian Lobby - flights and accommodation included, the ABC reported.
The group is opposed to same-sex marriage.
Millie Fontana
Ms Fontana wanted a focus put on the rights of the children of gay couples.
She didn't want same-sex unions allowed unless children were guaranteed access to their biological parents.
'I think children have this innate need to know who their biological connections are,' she told the ABC.
'Fatherlessness and motherlessness do affect a lot of children.'
Not knowing her father affected her, she said, however, in video blogs she described later finding him to be a 'chauvinistic womaniser'.
The Labor Party had the ability to determine if the plebiscite went ahead because Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull didn't have enough crossbench support to pass legislation for it to proceed.
Bill Shorten's Labor Party has resolved to block the bill for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 customers in the UK are advised to power off the faulty device immediately and return it to its place of purchase, but there's one problem - Royal Mail won't accept posting of the smartphones.
Samsung has stopped making and selling the device after finding that even the supposedly safer replacements it was providing for recalled Note 7 phones were catching fire.
The company are offering a refund or the chance to exchange for a different Samsung model. However, because the Note 7 contains a lithium battery, Royal Mail and Parcelforce won't allow the faulty product to be transported in the post.
Samsung scrapped its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone on Tuesday less than two months after its launch after hundreds of reports of it setting fire
One early pre-order customer Michael Rock, from Wakefield, got his Note 7 at the end of August but was unable to send it back via Royal Mail
The smartphone was due to relaunch in the UK, costing 740, at the end of October after sales were delayed amid concerns that the mobiles were at risk of overheating or catching fire.
The company said 45,000 Note 7s had been sold in Europe through the pre-order campaign - the majority in the UK - and more than 75 per cent had since been replaced with either a Note 7 or another Samsung handset.
One early pre-order customer Michael Rock, from Wakefield, got his Note 7 at the end of August, but when the global recall began in September and he tried to send it back for a replacement Royal Mail reportedly refused it.
'Royal Mail won't let me send the Note 7. What do I do!! Samsung won't refund until they get it back,' the father-of-two wrote on Twitter.
Samsung has axed the Galaxy Note 7, stopping production of the smartphone, pictured
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: 'In light of recent incidents and concerns raised by Samsung about its Galaxy Note 7, Royal Mail and ParcelForce are unable to accept the posting of earlier versions of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phones.
'For several years, there have been Government restrictions in place around the transport of lithium batteries, which are also present in the Galaxy Note 7.
'All customers are asked to detail what is in each package so that we can make sure that we are not carrying items that are hazardous. Faulty lithium batteries are prohibited in the mail by transport regulations to all destinations'.
Customers should contact the company where they purchased their Note 7 - whether it's Carphone Warehouse, EE, Vodafone, Three, 02 or Samsung - to arrange a full refund or to swap it for another model.
A Note 7 set fire on a Southwest Airlines plane on Wednesday in the U.S.
In America, a Jeep burst into flames after a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 set alight when it was put on charge inside the vehicle
Andy Brian, partner and retail expert at law firm Gordons, said: 'Samsung have taken swift action and customers have been advised to contact the provider or operator they purchased the device from to organise a loan device until they are able to exchange the Galaxy Note 7.
'Customers are also being offered the opportunity to exchange for a Galaxy S7 or a Galaxy S7 Edge.'
'If customers prefer to obtain a refund, they have the right to do so under the Consumer Rights Act.
'Retailers are required to offer a full refund if a product is shown to be faulty within 30 days of purchase, and for up to six months if a repair or suitable replacement is not available during this period, and Samsung have acted quickly to make customers aware that this is an option.'
A Samsung spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Customer safety is our absolute priority. We are engaging and cooperating with all relevant regulatory bodies, institutions and organisations to ensure that they are aware of the latest information regarding the Note7.
'We are working closely with our retail partners to make it as easy and convenient as possible for customers to return their device, offering a variety of delivery service options.
'There are fewer than 50,000 Note7 devices active in Europe but as safety is our top priority, we are asking all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 while we investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note7.'
In a further statement on Tuesday evening, Samsung UK confirmed that customers can get a refund for their Note 7s: 'We are encouraging customers to contact their operator or retailer to discuss their options which includes exchanging for an alternative device or a refund. We are encouraging all customers to power down the device and return it as soon as possible.'
This is the moment a refugee linked to ISIS and suspected of plotting a bomb attack in Germany was pinned down and tied up with electrical cable by fellow Syrians before they called the police.
Jaber Albakr was detained on Sunday in Leipzig in eastern Germany after three days on the run following a tip-off that he may have been looking for associates in the city.
But Syrians he met at a city train station via an online forum on refugee accommodation, recognised the 22-year-old's face from 'wanted' posters and invited him home before tying him up and raising the alarm.
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Pictures have emerged of Syrian migrant Jaber Albakr, who was suspected of plotting a bomb attack in Germany, be pinned down and tied up by two of his fellow countrymen
It appears that Albakr had shaved his head before being arrested after meeting the Syrian men at a train station
Pictures from the house show that when he was captured, he had shaved off all of his hair in a bid to evade police.
One man can be seen holding Albakr in a headlock while his feet are tied together using a cable from an electrical appliance.
It is believed that after his two countrymen realised he was wanted, they also knelt on him until the police arrived.
After the arrest, police said the refugee was probably linked to ISIS and that the explosives were 'almost ready, or even ready for usage' - possibly in the form of a suicide vest.
A major manhunt had been launched for Albakr, who is believed to have links to ISIS, after police raided an apartment in the city of Chemnitz and 1.5kg of 'an explosive substance more dangerous than TNT'.
'We've succeeded, really overjoyed: the terror suspect Albakr was arrested overnight in Leipzig,' police said on Twitter yesterday.
German police have arrested a Syrian refugee suspected of plotting a jihadist bomb attack at an international airport. Pictures show the entrance to the apartment block where the raid happened
Jaber al-Bakr was brought before a judge at a Dresden court Police vehicles are pictured at the court
The arrest came just hours after commandos raided two separate flats and detained another man in the hunt for the Syrian.
Police used stun grenades as they stormed one of the buildings in Chemnitz on Sunday afternoon.
While Albakr lived in a town called Einlenburg, some 70 miles from Chemnitz, he is suspected of using a flat in Chemnitz to construct the bombs.
According to security sources, he had built 'a virtual bomb-making lab' in the flat in a communist-era housing block and was thought to have planned an attack against either one of Berlin's two airports or a transport hub in his home state of Saxony.
A police officer stands in front of the entrance to an apartment in the Paunsdorf district of Leipzig, Germany
Police on Saturday arrested the owner of that apartment and he remains in custody.
German police raided another address in the town of Chemnitz on Sunday. Special forces stormed the apartment of a Muslim family who police think were acting as a contact for Albakr.
Terrified locals said they heard a series of loud explosions as anti-terror cops and commandos stormed the ground floor apartment just seven miles from where Saturday's raid took place.
In Saturday's raid, police discovered 'highly volatile' homemade explosives known as 'mother of Satan'.
Jaber Albakr was detained in Leipzig in eastern Germany after three days on the run following a tip-off that he may have been looking for help from two associates in the city
A major manhunt had been launched for the 22-year-old, who is believed to have links to ISIS, after police raided an apartment in the city of Chemnitz and found several hundred grams of 'an explosive substance more dangerous than TNT'
As armed police closed in on the quiet residential area on Saturday, Albakr was spotted fleeing the flat. Officers fired warning shots but the Syrian refugee, who is suspected of planning a terror attack at Berlin's Schoenefeld airport, managed to escape.
A spokesman for the Saxon State Criminal Police Office said: 'We were preparing to access the property when the suspect left the house.'
It is unclear whether Albakr, who is thought to have links to ISIS, had seen the police and special forces closing in or had just decided to go out.
This morning, Germans were warned to be vigilant as security bosses admitted they did not know where he was or what he was carrying.
Three people have since been arrested in relation to Saturday's incident and t wo of the group taken into custody knew Albakr. One of the men might have been involved in the plot while the other two have since been released, police said.
Raid: German commandos yesterday stormed a flat and made an arrest in the hunt for the Syrian refugee who is suspected of plotting a terrorist bomb attack on an international airport
Police used stun grenades as they stormed into the building in the eastern city of Chemnitz yesterday afternoon in the hunt for Jaber Albakr
Raid: Officers surrounded a home in Chemnitz on Saturday and discovered 'highly volatile' explosive material
One neighbour told MailOnline he had been playing music when the raid began this afternoon.
He said: 'There was a series of enormous explosions, five or maybe seven, I ran out of my room and saw my front door and been blown to pieces and police were all over the hallway.
'All the doors to all the apartments on this floor were destroyed. From what I understand, the police had blown up the front door of the Muslim family next door to my flat and the shock wave destroyed all the other doors.
'I've never been so scared in my life.'
Police confirmed they had detained one person at the address and had used flash grenades.
Spokesman Tom Bernhardt said: 'One of the inhabitants is now being questioned and our investigations continue. There is evidence of contacts between the suspects.
'No shots were fired but officers used explosives to enter the apartment.'
A bomb squad police officer patrols the scene at a station in Chemnitz after a suspicious suitcase was found on a platform on Saturday. It turned out to be harmless
A large-scale police operation was launched amid fears of a possible plot to target an airport in Germany
An elderly couple living in the same block told MailOnline: 'It was a large Muslim family living there.
'They had lots of children, it's difficult to say how many though. The man was very big and always wore a Kaftan. His wife always wore a Burka but she hardly ever left the apartment.
'If she did it was only for one or two minutes. But they had many, many visitors, which is surprising because I think they only moved in a few weeks ago so I didn't think they would know many people.'
At least one member of the family is now in custody and being questioned by anti-terrorist officers.
And it has now emerged that Germany's security services had been aware of the threat of a terrorist attack for several weeks.
According to German paper Die Welt, security sources say Albakr came under suspicion after authorities picked up internet chatter between him and others discussing bomb-making plans.
Meanwhile, police have defended their actions during the raid on Albakr's apartment after he managed to escape despite the block being surrounded by armed officers.
Spokesman Tom Bernhardt said police had fired a warning shot after seeing leaving the flat but 'it was unclear whether the man had explosives and a detonator on him.'
He explained that as the apartment block had not been evacuated at that time an explosion could have caused multiple injuries.
He said: 'In such a situation we cannot take such a risk.'
A platform was cordoned off with police tape after the suspicious suitcase was found at a station in Chemnitz
A squad of specialist police officers leave an apartment after carrying out controlled detonations on the Chemnitz estate
Part of Chemnitz's main station was sealed off by officers on Saturday as a remote-controlled robot was deployed to inspect a suspect package on a platform which turned out to be harmless.
Police destroyed the explosives found in the apartment in specially-dug holes on land nearby.
Stunned residents reacted to the incident last night, with one neighbour slamming Albakr as an 'a*******' for his alleged plot.
It is understood that the Syrian had been under police surveillance since last year.
It has been reported that the explosives found contained quantities of triacetone triperoxide (TATP), the same devastating substance used by the suicide bombers in Paris, during attacks in November 2015.
Policemen could be seen arresting a person at a residential area in Chemnitz, eastern Germany on Saturday. His identity is not yet known
A remote controlled bomb disposal robot lifts a suitcase on a platform of the train station in Chemnitz, eastern Germany on Saturday
'Even a small quantity of this substance could have caused enormous damage,' police said.
New information is emerging about his arrival in Germany. According to authorities, he entered Germany on February, 18, 2015 where he was picked up by police in the town of Rosenheim, four and a half hours from Chemnitz.
He was captured by Federal police and sent to a registration centre where he then disappeared.
Albakr was born on January 10, 1994 in Damascus and his passport photo is said to show a serious looking man with a broad nose, beard and bushy eyebrows, according to local reports.
People on the Chemnitz housing estate have spoken of their shock at finding out their neighbour was a suspected terrorist with reported links to ISIS.
A man is taken to a vehicle. German police say two people have been arrested but haven't confirmed who they are
Local man Ahmed Sen, 42, who has four children and has been living in an adjacent apartment block for six years told MailOnline: 'I had seen some skinheads earlier in the day so when I saw the police arrive I thought it was to deal with them.
'I then turned on the TV and saw they were after this terrorist.
'I was completely shocked and disgusted.
'I am Islam. This man who planned the attacks is not. He doesn't represent Islam, he doesn't represent me. He is an a*******.'
Ahmed Sen, 42, slammed Albakr as an 'a*******' for his terrorist plot in Chemnitz
Another neighbour whose apartment window faces onto the back of Albakr's said she had seen police armed with machine guns scouting out the apartment at 5am Saturday morning.
Saxony police spokesman Tom Bernhardt told reporters the hundreds of grammes of explosives were found by investigators who combed carefully through the apartment, which was raided at around 1pm.
He said: 'They were not just lying out on the kitchen table, they were relatively well hidden.'
About 100 people were evacuated from the five-story apartment building as the bomb squad worked to remove the explosives, which were not considered stable enough to move far.
Bernhardt said the 'highly volatile' explosives were to be either destroyed on the spot in controlled detonations or otherwise neutralized.
German Police later tweeted a picture of holes in the lawn surrounding the apartment block with the caption: ' The detected explosive is to be blown on site. The reaction will be carried out in holes which have been excavated for this purpose'
It has since been announced that some of the residents have returned to their homes after police lifted blockades.
Albakr is suspected of plotting a bomb attack on a German airport, according to Online Focus - with the nearest airports being Dresden 60km away and the bigger international airport Leipzig, 85km away.
Residents leave their homes with overnight bags after the mass evacuations on the estate in Chemnitz
An armed police officer stands on guard during patrols of the estate in Chemnitz
Police officers with a search dog patrol a station in Chemnitz after a suitcase was found on a platform on Saturday
It is understood he entered Germany last year with refugees from Syria as the nation experience a large wave of asylum seekers from the Middle East.
Germany took in 890,000 asylum-seekers in 2015, and Syrians fleeing civil war were the single largest group.
Residents have been ordered to remain indoors as large-scale closures and evacuations take place in the city and the suspect remains at large.
Pictures of an arrested man being taken away by police were released a few hours after the manhunt began.
O fficers surrounded a home in the Fritz-Heckert area of Chemnitz and the force said it was dealing with a 'static threat'.
The police force, Polizei Sachsen, said they are currently involved in a large-scale operation in Chemnitz on suspicion of someone preparing a bomb attack.
Pictured: A German police dog unit team up with specialist officers to search a housing estate in Chemnitz
A squad of specialist police begin to sweap the estate as the hunt goes on for Albakr
Pictured: A police officer surveys the scene as police carry out a search of an estate in Chemnitz
They said the suspect had not been found and that major closures and evacuations would be necessary as he was dangerous.
A statement said: 'The search for the suspect is ongoing.
'Currently, however, we do not know where he is and what or what he carries with him.
'Be careful.'
The force added: ' Please stay within the enclosed area in your homes and observe the instructions of the police here and in the field.'
Video footage obtained by MailOnline shows an enormous police presence with officers directing traffic away from the scene.
German police posted this tweet saying: 'The detected explosive is to be blown on site. The reaction will be carried out in holes which have been excavated for this purpose'
Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Bernhardt, addresses reporters at a sealed residential area in Chemnitz
Police cordon off the perimeter of Chemnitz Central Station, eastern Germany
Mr Bernhardt said officers had acted on intelligence it received last night and that their actions foiled a 'serious threat'.
He added: 'We must assume that the person is dangerous.'
Armed officers forced their way into a flat in the raid, causing a loud bang.
Officials earlier said it would not speculate on claims they were dealing with a hostage situation.
They said: 'Please help the emergency services by avoiding the area.'
Residents have been ordered to remain indoors as an officer guards the door of the flats
Chemnitz, a city of more than 200,000 people, is in Germany's east, lying to the south of Berlin and Leipzig, not far from the border with the Czech Republic.
Zur Zeit haben wir eine statische Gefahrdungslage im Fritz-Heckert-Gebiet in #Chemnitz, #C0810 und sind mit starken Einsatzkraften vor Ort Polizei Sachsen (@PolizeiSachsen) October 8, 2016
Germany has been rocked by terror attacks this year, heaping pressure on chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door immigration policy.
A bloody week of violence that rocked Germany began on July 18 when Pakistani teenager Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, 17, posing as an Afghan refugee, hacked at passengers on a train in Wurzburg with an axe, wounding five.
He was shot dead by police.
Four days later mentally unstable German-Iranian teenager Ali Sonboly shot nine people dead during a rampage through a shopping centre in Munich before taking his own life.
Sonboly claimed he was taking revenge for being bullied at school with no political motive to the murderous rampage.
Officials have yet to confirm the full details of the operation, but a local German journalist has tweeted to say the area is likely to be evacuated for what he called an 'explosive danger'
Tom Bernhardt, spokesman for the state criminal police in Saxony, said officers had acted on intelligence it received last night and that their actions foiled a 'serious threat'. He added: 'We must assume that the person is dangerous.' (picture of the police statement)
Two days later a Syrian refugee, 21, hacked a pregnant woman to death in Reutlingen and on the same night Daleel, 27, injured 12 people when he detonated a rucksack packed with metal shards and screws.
Daleel carried out the attack on behalf of the terror group ISIS and had planned to kill hundreds by detonating him bomb at an open-air music festival.
He was only thwarted after being turned away by security guard Pascal Bohm and instead detonated his rucksack bomb outside a wine bar.
Merkel embarks on a visit to three African countries on Sunday before hosting leaders from Chad and Nigeria for talks in Berlin, as she seeks ways to stem a migrant influx to Europe.
German chancellor Angela Merkel embarks on a visit to three African countries on Sunday before hosting leaders from Chad and Nigeria for talks in Berlin, as she seeks ways to stem a migrant influx to Europe
Merkel will first travel to Mali and Niger before heading to Ethiopia where she is to visit the headquarters of the African Union in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Her talks with leaders of all three countries are to focus on migration issues and the battle against jihadist groups.
On Wednesday, a day after her return to Berlin, she will host Chadian President Idriss Deby.
She will cap off the week by meeting with Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the African giant's battle against Boko Haram Islamists.
Drawing attention to Merkel's trip to Africa, Jordan's King Abdullah II commended the German leader for taking a 'holistic approach' to dealing with the migrant challenge.
'It's not just Syria and Iraq, it's north Africa, it's east and west Africa and here I want to commend the chancellor's role because there are very leaders in the world who look at the challenges we are facing... as a global problem,' he told journalists.
Merkel has also said that she wants the European Union and North African countries to do deals modelled on a controversial agreement with Turkey to curb migrant flows to Europe.
Under the EU-Turkey agreement, Ankara agreed to take back one Syrian who made it to Greece in return for being allowed to send one from its massive refugee camps to the bloc in a more orderly redistribution programme.
This video shows the moment an alleged paedophile turned himself into the police after he was confronted by a vigilante.
The man handed himself in at a police station in Taree, New South Wales, after a man calling himself the 'Coffs Coast Paedo Hunter' claimed to have chatted to him online while pretending to be a child.
In the footage, the vigilante describes how he met the alleged sex offender online and told him he was 'much older than me as I was only 14 and still in school'.
This video shows the moment an alleged paedophile turned himself into the police after he was confronted by a vigilante. Pictured, the accused talks to a police officer
The man handed himself in at a police station in Taree, New South Wales, after a man calling himself the 'Coffs Coast Paedo Hunter' chatted to him online while pretending to be a child
The 'Paedo Hunter' claims the accused told him that 'age was just a number' and then asked for nude photographs.
He also claims that the man sent him pictures and videos of him performing a sex act at home and at his workplace.
The vigilante says he allowed the online conversations to continue for weeks, but stepped in after the alleged paedophile told him he was babysitting friends' children.
In the video, the 'Paedo Hunter' said: 'I called Trent at his workplace to organise for him to come and have a look at my laptop.
'When we met, I showed him our chat log and his videos. He totally s*** himself and admitted he had done the wrong thing.'
The footage then shows a man standing inside a police station and confirming his name.
The 'Paedo Hunter' claims the accused told him that 'age was just a number' and then asked for nude photographs. Pictured, the alleged paedophile is arrested
The man (pictured) has been charged with two alleged offences involving children and has been released on bail
When an officer asks why he is there, the man replies: 'I've made a few bad decisions.'
The police officer beckons the man inside and tells him that he is 'under arrest for child pornography'.
A New South Wales police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia: 'A 24-year-old man from Taree was charged on the 29th of September 2016 with two offences; use carriage service to procure an under 16-year-old for sexual activity, and use carriage service to send indecent material to a person under 16.
George Osborne took a swipe at hardling Brexiteers today as he warned that the public did not vote to be 'poorer' in the EU referendum.
The former chancellor waded into the row over the government's increasingly tough approach to future relations with Brussels, mocking the idea that more trade with Australia could make up for looser ties with Germany and France.
He said he agreed with successor Philip Hammond - who has been arguing for a 'softer' Brexit with maximum access to the European single market.
Ex-chancellor George Osborne, pictured giving evidence to MPs today, insisted there was 'continuity' between his plans and Theresa May's new industrial strategy despite claims his legacy was being dismantled after his sacking
Giving evidence to the Business Select Committee this morning, Mr Osborne said the UK had to avoid being forced into a 'binary' choice between remaining within the European single market and seeking new trade deals elsewhere in the world.
The MP, who was brutally sacked by Mrs May when she took over from David Cameron in July, said: 'I agree with what my successor said at the Conservative conference.
'Philip Hammond said the country didn't vote to make itself poorer. That wasn't the intention of the majority who voted to leave the EU.
'So we want to make sure we continue to have the closest possible economic relationship with the place where over 40 per cent of our exports go.
'That shouldn't be to the exclusion of closer economic ties with other parts of the world. I didn't think that was inconsistent with being a member of the EU but, now we are leaving the EU, we should certainly pursue these avenues, and a good example of that is our relationship with China.
'As the Government approaches this, we should be making sure we retain close economic relations with the place where many British companies export their goods. How that happens, we are going to see over the next two years.
'What you want to do is maximise your export opportunities with all your markets or potential markets. We want to do more trade with Australia, but that shouldn't be at the cost of less trade with Germany. We need to try to find arrangements that allow us to do both.
Mr Osborne faced claims from committee chairman Iain Wright that his industrial strategy had been torn up by Theresa May's new government
'It's no good increasing your trade with Australia if your trade with Germany, France, and Belgium suffers dramatically as a result. We can't escape the fact that we are going to be doing a lot of trade with some of our near neighbours, some of the most prosperous advance economies in the world.'
Giving evidence alongside Mr Osborne, former president of the Board of Trade Lord Heseltine indicated that he was sceptical of ministers' ability to find new markets for British exports to replace any business lost as a result of withdrawal from the European Union.
Giving evidence alongside Mr Osborne, Lord Heseltine - another Remain supporter - mocked Mrs May's appointment of the 'three Brexiteers' - Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox - to key Cabinet roles.
He said: 'We have three ministers now in charge - a brilliant set of appointments, in my view, because they can come up with the answers which have escaped me.
'The ability to trade seems to me to be an important part of our future. We have to find places to trade and if there are all these markets that have escaped the attention of British exporters it will be marvellous to have them pointed out to them by the ministers responsible.'
Mr Osborne dismissed claims his legacy had been torn up by Mrs May, despite her pointed remark that she wanted to pursue a 'proper industrial strategy'.
He said he saw a great deal of 'continuity' between the industrial strategy of the Cameron regime and that being developed by Mrs May.
'Whenever you get new politicians in post, they always want to announce new things,' Mr Osborne told the House of Commons Business Committee.
'Broadly, the approach I can see them pursuing in energy, regional policy and the like is very similar.
'It is human nature that new people in new jobs want to do new things. But the key is to look at is what is essentially the agreed strategy adopted by the new team.
'The agreed strategy that has been adopted by the new team is that we should have an industrial strategy, that certain sectors should receive active government support, that government should be pro-business, that devolution should continue, that the Northern Powerhouse should be supported.
'I would look behind the blizzard of press releases to the continuity of the policy, and I see a lot of continuity.'
Mr Osborne pointed to the support Mrs May voiced for the Northern Powerhouse project in her Conservative conference speech last week and said that he endorsed the approach set out by new Business Secretary Greg Clark.
But Liberal Democrat former business secretary Sir Vince Cable told the committee that there was a hiatus following the end of the coalition in 2015, when the Conservative-only Cameron administration allowed industrial strategy to slide.
'There's been quite a big hiatus since I left government,' said Sir Vince.
'When we were in government there was an industrial strategy ... there was a coherent approach.
'We had some good work and then there was a gap when we left office and now, I know, the Prime Minister is trying to re-establish some structure and I think that's very welcome.'
Mr Osborne appeared alongside Thatcher-era Cabinet minister Lord Heseltine during today's committee hearing, pictured
Appearing alongside Mr Osborne, Tory veteran Lord Heseltine mocked Mrs May's appointments of Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox.
He told the committee: 'We have three ministers now in charge, a brilliant set of appointments in my view because they can come up with the answers which have escaped me ... The ability to trade seems to me an important part of our future.
A man has been arrested and charged over an alleged one-punch attack that killed a father of seven on Saturday.
Wayne Hearn, 38, was taken into police custody on Tuesday and questioned by detectives about the attack on Timothy Lang, 48, who was allegedly punched by a shirtless jogger on Melbourne Street in South Brisbane at 10.15am, according to Nine News.
Mr Hearn was later charged with one count of unlawful striking causing death and will appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court tomorrow, according to police.
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Wayne Hearn, 38, was arrested on Tuesday over a random one-punch attack that killed Timothy Lang, 48, on Saturday morning in South Brisbane
Mr Lang, who is a father of seven, was punched by a shirtless jogger after the pair exchanged words at 10.15am and died in the hospital on Monday
Just hours earlier police released a photo of Mr Hearn, believing he could help them with the investigation.
Mr Lang was rushed to Princess Alexandra Hospital after the attack but died on Monday afternoon when his life support was turned off.
It was reported the attack allegedly followed an 'exchange of words' between the jogger and Mr Lang, who are believed to have known each other.
Just hours before his arrest, police released a photo of Mr Hearn and said he could help them with the investigation (pictured)
It is believed Mr Lang lost consciousness after he was hit in the head and fell to the footpath.
Police released CCTV footage of the man who allegedly attacked the father as he walked past the nearby Fox Hotel.
The jogger is described as about 170cm tall, with short dark hair and shirtless, but wearing black running shorts with a red top tucked in to the waistband.
Police released CCTV footage of the shirtless jogger after he allegedly punched the father
Police have released the mugshot of Divergent star Shailene Woodley after she was arrested for protesting against the building of a $3.8billion pipeline.
The actress livestreamed her demonstration at the construction site of the four-state Dakota Access pipeline for than two-and-a-half hours on Monday before she was taken into custody.
The 24-year-old, who has also starred in Snowden and The Fault in Our Stars, claims the controversial project will destroy sacred Native American land.
Toward the end of the video, Woodley is told by a law enforcement officer that she is being arrested for criminal trespassing.
Morton County Sheriff's Department spokesman Rob Keller says Woodley was one of 27 protesters arrested Monday. She was also charged with engaging in a riot.
She was released on Tuesday morning at 11:00am ET after spending a night behind bars.
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Divergent star Shailene Woodley poses for her mugshot after she was arrested for protesting against the building of a pipeline on sacred Native American land in North Dakota
Woodley is seen being put into handcuffs at the demonstration against the Dakota Access Pipeline near St. Anthony, North Dakota, on Monday
In a statement to US Weekly, one of her representatives said: 'She appreciates the outpouring of support, not only for her, but more importantly, for the continued fight against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.'
The video showing what appeared to be a peaceful protest has been viewed more than three million times.
Woodley has been an outspoken opponent of the $3.8 billion project.
She was one of about 100 protesters at a construction site for the controversial pipeline project which many claim will destroy sacred Native American burial grounds.
Since May thousands - including representatives of several Native American tribes - have camped near the pipeline's proposed route to oppose its construction.
Beyond the camp, many have marched and disrupted construction sites for the project.
In total, 123 people have been arrested with a further 27 apprehended on Monday.
She is led to a transport vehicle by a Morton County Sheriff's deputy after being arrested
The 24-year-old actress was livestreaming her protest Monday of the four-state Dakota Access pipeline for a total of more than two-and-a-half hours Monday before her arrest by local authorities
'When you asked us to leave we did': Shailene is seen on the live stream, that has been viewed by almost three million people, attempting to tell officers that the protest was peaceful
It is unclear what will consequences the actress faces but it is likely she was released on bail.
In the Facebook Live clip, the Fault in Our Stars actress claimed several times that she was only being arrested because she is famous, while several others who also took part in the protest were able to leave freely.
'I was walking back to my RV which is right there, so that we can go back to camp peacefully,' she told fans shortly before she was handcuffed.
'And they grabbed me by my jacket and they said that I wasnt allowed to continue and they have giant guns and batons and zip ties. And theyre not letting me go.'
Woodley attends the premiere of 'Snowden' in New York on September 13, 2016
The police then placed her under arrest for 'criminal trespassing' and led her away.
'But why am I being arrested and no one else is who was down there?' Shailene asked. 'Is it because Im famous? Is it because people know who I am?'
The actress was told she had been 'identified', but claimed that 'hundreds of people' were involved and added: 'When you asked us to leave we did.'
Pointing to her mother, who was filming, Shailene said: 'She was down there, everybody was down there. Im being arrested.
In a press conference on Monday afternoon, Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney defended police activity on the site.
'We don't know what's in that crowd. They are not peaceful and prayerful. It's unlawful - that's what's happening here. The courts have spoken and the rule of law governs our land.
'People with an ideology and agenda not from here are bringing it here. What started as a North Dakota issue has gone well beyond that.
'They were intentionally violating the law, a peaceful protest is getting word out. today was very tense - it was a tense and dangerous situation.'
Two campaigners chained themselves to construction equipment, according to the sheriff. It was this small group, who prompted the wider protest with a fleet of vehicles - including Woodley in an RV.
According to police those protesters parked their vehicles and marched on the private construction site.
Vladimir Putin has pulled out of a visit to Paris next week to meet with Francois Hollande who insisted they discuss Russian support for Syria's President Assad.
The Kremlin confirmed this morning that Putin had cancelled the trip to the French capital where he was due to meet with Hollande.
The long-planned visit to Paris, which would have taken place next Wednesday, would have seen Putin inaugurate a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower as well as visit a Russian cultural centre and an exhibition
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Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has pulled out of a visit to Paris next week after France insisted they talk about Syria
But it is thought that Hollande had told the Kremlin that the only event he wanted to attend with Putin during his visit would be a 'working meeting' on Syria.
The French president's office then said that Moscow 'let it be known that it wanted to postpone the trip.'
But the Kremlin hit back saying Putin is happy to go to France but only when the 'French president is ready.'
His spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: 'Regrettably, those events dropped out of the program,' saying it's up to the French side to explain the reason.
He added: 'The president decided to cancel the visit.'
He also said that Putin could visit France at a later date which would be 'comfortable' for Hollande.
It is thought that Hollande had told the Kremlin that the only event he wanted to attend with Putin during his visit would be a 'working meeting' on Syria
But the French president responded that he was prepared to meet Putin 'at any time... to further peace'.
Speaking in Strasbourg, Hollande said France and Russia had had a 'major disagreement' over Syria.
'It is necessary to have dialogue with Russia but it must be firm and frank,' Hollande told the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe rights body.
Putin cancelling his trip to Paris comes after Hollande left open the question of whether he would receive the Russian leader, describing the scorched-earth campaign in Aleppo as a war crime.
Hollande told the TMC Channel: 'I asked myself the question... Is it useful? Is it necessary? Can it be a way of exerting pressure? Can we get him to stop what he is doing with the Syrian regime?'
Meanwhile yesterday, it was announced that France will ask the International Criminal Court's prosecutor to launch an investigation into war crimes it says have been committed by Syrian and Russian forces in eastern Aleppo.
Russia has been waging an aerial bombing campaign in Syria more than a year in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces, part of a multi-front war that has claimed some 300,000 lives and seen Moscow further estranged from the West.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told France Inter radio: 'These bombings - and I said it in Moscow - are war crimes. It includes all those who are complicit for what's happening in Aleppo, including Russian leaders.
'We shall contact the International Criminal Court prosecutor to see how she can launch these investigations.'
It was announced that France will ask the International Criminal Court's prosecutor to launch an investigation into war crimes it says have been committed by Russian forces in eastern Aleppo
Hollande has also left open the question of whether he would receive the Russian leader, describing the scorched-earth campaign in Aleppo as a war crime
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also called for a war crimes investigation last week.
But Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: 'It is very dangerous to play with such words because war crimes also weigh on the shoulders of American officials.
It is unclear how the ICC could proceed given that the court has no jurisdiction for crimes in Syria because it is not a member.
It appears the only way for the case to make it to the ICC would be through the U.N. Security Council referral, which has been deadlocked over Syria. Moscow vetoed a French resolution in May 2014 to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC.
However, despite cancelling his visit to Paris, Putin is still considering travelling to Berlin on October 19 for a meeting on the conflict in Ukraine, one of his aides told Itar-Tass agency on Monday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed the meeting along the lines of the so-called Normandy format, bringing together Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine.
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For humans, there are Paris and London fashion weeks; and now for crabs, they can strut their stuff in front of an audience as part of a runway show in China.
Participants decorated mitten crabs as part of a 'crab fashion show' today in Huai'an city, eastern China's Jiangsu province.
Photos from the contest show crustaceans in colourful 'outfits' as they are flown in by drones.
What a pretty crab! A woman holds a crab decorated in a floral design which is added by paint in Huai'an city, China
Full of colour: A man is adjusting the ribbon tied on the legs of the mitten crab decorated with a mini Cantonese opera crown
Two mitten crabs decorated as newly-weds are carried by drones for better presentation at the contest, part of the annual event named Hongze Lake harvest festival
The local government holds the crab decoration contest every year to celebrate the harvest.
The contest makes up part of the Hongze Lake harvest festival.
Participants are required to dress up and present the mitten crabs at the competition, reports state news agency Xinhua.
Pictures show the animals decorated with tiaras and bows with two crabs dressed up as a bride and groom.
In one picture, a man can be seen with his crab dressed as a fisherman.
The fashion show comes amid the Hongze Lake hairy crab season which falls in September and October. Hairy crabs are an autumn delicacy in eastern China's Yangtze River Delta region.
Hongze county produces around 6,000 tonnes of mitten crabs every year, according to the local government website.
This year, the productivity of the mitten crabs Hongze lake reportedly suffered a drop, leading a rise in crab price.
A crab decorated with a silver bowtie is accompanied by the Japanese cartoon character of Totoro
Sparkly and shiny! A young girl holds two crabs covered in sequins and bows at the crab decorating contest
MOBILE, Ala.- University of Mobile's Marilyn Foley Art Gallery will feature "Life Leaves a Mark," an exhibit of works by Mobile artist Georgia Jones Godwin, through Oct. 28.
Godwin will discuss her work Oct. 27 at Art Talk, beginning at 1 p.m. at the art gallery on campus in the Ben May Building. Gallery hours are Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission to the gallery and Art Talk are free.
"The common thread in all my work is time - its passage, effects and remembrance," said Godwin. "These clay figures are meditations on the effects of time and decision. This is reflected both in my treatment of physiognomy and of surface, what I call patina and invisible patina: the seen and unseen effects of time and consequence on the physical body and on nonphysical human character.
"We spend a lifetime accumulating experiences - memories both good and bad - that stick to our psyche," said Godwin. "They can affect our perspectives and leave lasting impressions on our souls and our bodies."
Godwin said several of her works include antique objects left in their original finish that "further the narrative of the piece, providing psychological weight - an exaggeration of features or a visual puzzle."
Godwin lives in Mobile where she is self-employed as a commissioned studio artist, graphic designer, ceramist and seamstress. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and ceramics from University of South Alabama.
Her ceramic work has been published in two Lark Publication books, "500 Figures in Clay Volume 2" and "Ceramic Sculpture: Making Faces: A Guide to Modeling The Face and Head with Clay."
Godwin's art work has been displayed at exhibits across Alabama, including the Mobile Museum of Art, the Eichold Gallery at Spring Hill College and the Evelyn Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville.
For information about exhibits at the Marilyn Foley Art Gallery or studying art at University of Mobile, contact Phillip Counselman, associate professor of art, at (251) 442-2283 or pcounselman@umobile.edu.
University of Mobile is a Christ-centered liberal arts and sciences institution with a vision of higher education for a higher purpose, founded to honor God by equipping students for their future professions through rigorous academic preparation and spiritual transformation. The university offers on-campus and online bachelor's and master's degree programs in over 40 areas of study. Founded in 1961, University of Mobile is affiliated with the Alabama Baptist State Convention and is located 10 miles north of Mobile, Alabama on a campus of over 880 acres.
For more information about University of Mobile, visit the website at www.umobile.edu or call Enrollment Services at 1.800.WIN.RAMS or (251) 442-2222.
Fans of overnight internet celebrity Ken Bone want to raise money to buy the 34-year-old a new suit.
Bone won the hearts of viewers across America on Sunday night during the second presidential debate.
The undecided voter, wearing a red cable-knit sweater and glasses, changed the pace of the debate by asking a question that had nothing to do with lewd comments or private email servers.
Instead, Bone quizzed Trump and Clinton on their energy policies - and, in doing so, became an instant hit.
When asked why he opted to wear the red top, Bone said he was wearing an olive colored suit but split his pants as he was leaving the house.
Fans have now set up Go Fund Me accounts to raise funds for Bone to replace his olive suit.
Bone won the hearts of viewers across America on Sunday during the presidential debate
When asked why he opted to wear the red top, Bone said he was wearing an olive colored suit but split his pants as he was leaving the house - fans are now raising money to buy him a suit
On the page, it says: 'American hero and all-around nice guy Ken Bone split the seat of the pants of his beloved olive suit on the way to the debate Sunday.
'Let's show him our appreciation for his patriotism and willingness to ask the tough questions by buying him some new threads!'
Bone revealed on Monday that the debate that brought him fame and adoration but didn't help him select a candidate to vote for.
In fact, Bone said he's more undecided now than ever before.
Bone said he's waiting until the third and final presidential debate on October 19 to decide on a candidate.
Prior to the debate Bone said he was more interested in Donald Trump, but said after Hillary Clinton's composed performance he was now keeping an open mind.
'Secretary Clinton I thought had a very impressive performance.
'I was leaning more towards Trump before but the whole experience has left me I think with more of an open mind,' he told NBC-DFW.
Reality TV star Courtney Stodden has joined Ken Bone's growing legion of fans. She posted a lingerie-clad picture of herself, next to a picture of Bone on the debate with the caption: 'Every Barbie needs a Ken... and Ken Bone is mine!'
He told CNN that Trump's strategy of bringing up Bill Clinton was a misstep in his opinion.
Bone said the debate was uncomfortable and felt a bit like watching 'mom and dad fight'.
He also told the New York Times he was turned off by some of the more personal attacks.
Bone, who works in coal fired electricity, said the question on energy was near to his heart and important to his community.
He asked the two candidates: 'What steps will your energy policy take to meet our energy needs while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and minimizing job loss for fossil power plant workers?'
Bone shot to internet stardom after he asked a question about energy policy and changed the tone of the debate
Bone said the debate was uncomfortable and felt a bit like watching 'mom and dad fight'
Since his appearance at the debate, there have been parody Twitter accounts and memes set up in his honor.
Reality TV personality Courtney Stodden even showed her support for Bone.
The 23-year-old, who appeared on Couples Therapy, posted a lingerie-clad picture of herself, next to a picture of Bone on the debate with the caption: 'Every Barbie needs a Ken... and Ken Bone is mine!'
She accompanied the post with the hashtags #KenBone, #presidentialdebate and the more risque #boneme.
Bone who lives in Granite City, Illinois, and is married to wife Heather, has not responded to the flirty Instagram post.
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Blood dripping down his front, this young Iraqi boy is seen surveying a picture of himself.
The youngster was taking part in a ceremony to mark the Muslim festival of Ashura, which mourns the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
It is marked by 10 days of mourning, in which many devotees whip and cut themselves with chains and knives, and has been marked around the world.
An Iraqi Shiite boy looks at his picture during the reenactment of the Battle of Karbala, as part of a parade in preparation for the peak of the mourning period of Ashura in Baghdad's northern district of Kadhimiya
Iraqi Shiite boys take part in a self-flagellation procession during the reenactment of the Battle of Karbala, as part of a parade in preparation for the peak of the mourning period of Ashura
The picture was taken in Kadhimiya, a northern district in Baghdad, where thousands took part in a parade which has divided scholars.
In another picture taken during the festival, a Pakistani boy is clutching a whip made from chains and blades as he prepares to flagellate himself to mark the Muslim festival of Ashura.
The young child, who looks barely old enough to understand what is happening, has a look of fear in his eyes as he clutches the razor-sharp flail.
With small cuts already visible on his tiny face, and wearing no shirt on his back, the young Shiite Muslim boy was pictured as he prepared to take part in Ashura commemorations in the city of Peshawar, in Pakistan yesterday.
Other pictures from the same religious procession show men and boys covered in blood, and pools of crimson on the ground, as devotees whipped and cut themselves to mark the religious holiday.
A Pakistani Shiite Muslim boy prepares to flagellate himself with chains and blades a day ahead of the commemoration of Ashura, in Peshawar, Pakistan
Shiite Muslims around the world attend mourning processions a ahead of the commemoration of Ashura. The practice of devotees whipping and cutting themselves has divided Muslim leaders
The sombre festival, which commemorates Imam Hussein's martyrdom, is marked with ten days of mourning
Pictures from the parade in Peshawar show men and boys covered in blood after hitting themselves with blades and chains
The festival of Ashura falls each year on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic lunar year, and mourns the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was killed by armies of the Yazid near the Iraqi city of Karbala in 680 AD.
The sombre festival, which commemorates Imam Hussein's martyrdom, is marked with ten days of mourning, with religious Muharram processions taking place, in which many devotees whip and cut themselves with chains and knives.
In a similar procession in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, medics were on hand to stitch men's wounds back together after they but their backs during the self-flagellation parade.
Men in Islamabad had to be attended to by medics after cutting their backs during a Muharram procession
Several of the men and boys opened up large wounds that had to be stitched back together by doctors
The tradition of blood-letting in the run up to Ashura is seen by some as a way of washing away their sins
Ashura will be marked today across the globe, though the festival began for observant Muslims at sunset yesterday, and in some countries the day before is also a public holiday.
The tradition of blood-letting in the run up to Ashura is seen by some as a way of washing away their sins, but the practice has stirred controversy with some religious leaders saying it has no basis in Islamic history and creates a negative image, encouraging people to donate blood instead.
Young children were among those who took place in a Muharram procession in Ahmadabad, India, on Sunday
Afghan Shiite Muslims also used chains and blades during a ritual self-flagellation as part of Ashura commemorations at a mosque in Kabul
The mosque floor was covered in crimson blood following the commemorations in Kabul
The way the event is marked lies at the heart of the divide between Islam's Shia and Sunni sects, and in recent years, there have been a spate of attacks on Ashura celebrations by Sunni extremist groups who regard Shiites as heretics.
On Sunday gruesome pictures emerged showing a man holding a knife to the head of a young boy in Ahmadabad, India where boys were also pictured whipping themselves with sharp blades.
An Indian Shiite Muslim cut the forehead of a child with a knife during a Muharram procession in Ahmadabad, which also took place on Sunday
In Myanmar Shiite Muslim devotees ran barefoot over a bed of burning coals as part of the commemorations
The climax of the Muharram is reached on its tenth day with the marking of the Ashura festival
Pictures from Kabul, Afghanistan also showed men crying out in pain as they used knives attached to chains to cut their own backs at a mosque.
Other photographs, taken in Myanmar yesterday, show devotees in the capital of Yangoon walking across hot coals to mark the Muslim festival.
Ashura is one of the major fixtures of the Islamic calendar, and thousands of men perform the same brutal practice around the world in countries including Lebanon, Bangladesh, Iraq, Pakistan and Myanmar and even in Greece.
A young prostitute claims she was raped by a taxi driver who stopped for condoms before pulling over in a dead end street to violating her in the back of his cab.
The 22-year-old sex worker alleged she was on her way to work at a Gold Coast brothel when a taxi driver from Gold Coast Cabs sexually assaulted her.
She said the male driver locked the car, 'yanked' her into the backseat by her hair and held her down while he raped her.
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A young prostitute (pictured) claims she was raped by a taxi driver who stopped for condoms before pulling over in a dead end street to violating her in the back of his cab.
'He had me down on the ground and he was unzipping his pants,' the woman told Seven News.
The victim, who did not want to be identified, said her alleged attacker had pulled over and bought a packet of condoms from a convenience store after she revealed she was a prostitute.
She said she believes he attacked her because of the nature of her profession, but argues every woman has the right to feel safe regardless of their occupation.
'It doesn't matter what you do or what you wear, no means no,' she told Seven News.
The victim said her alleged attacker had pulled over and bought a packet of condoms from a convenience store after she revealed she was a prostitute (stock image)
The woman said she believes he attacked her because of the nature of her profession, but argues every woman has the right to feel safe regardless of their occupation (stock image)
'It doesn't matter what you do or what you wear, no means no,' the woman (right) said
The woman (pictured) said she believes he attacked her because of the nature of her profession, but argues every woman has the right to feel safe regardless of their occupation
The driver denied the allegations and instead claimed there was consensual sexual activity between himself and the young woman.
Gold Coast Cabs said on its website there are 'multiple security cameras' installed in each of their taxis.
But, the woman claims they were switched off during her alleged assault.
The man as fired over the incident and Gold Coat Cabs said it will co-operate with police as they investigate the claims.
A lawyer for a 29-year-old man who killed his ex-girlfriend before having sex with her body said his client should not receive a life sentence because it 'is not the worst case of murder.'
Josaia Vosikata appeared at the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday for his sentencing hearing after pleading guilty earlier this year to murdering Daniela D'Addario, 35, in April 2015.
Although the prosecutor is pushing for a life sentence, Vosikata's lawyer, Paul Edmonds, said Vosikata does not deserve the punishment because 'he's no Marcus Rappel or Ivan Milat,' according to ABC.
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A lawyer for Josaia Vosikata (pictured), who murdered his ex-girlfriend Daniela D'Addario (pictured) in Canberra in April 2015, said his client should not receive a life sentence because 'he's no Ivan Milat'
Vosikata, 29, appeared at the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday for his sentencing hearing after pleading guilty earlier this year to strangling his 35-year-old girlfriend (pictured) of three months before having sex with her corpse
He said his client had become obsessed with Ms D'Addario and didn't accept their relationship had come to an end but argued that he didn't appear to be a threat to the community.
ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White told the Supreme Court Vosikata had planned a 'violent revenge which resulted in murder,' and that the fact he filmed himself having intercourse with her corpse after 'was redolent of the taking of a trophy.'
Although he initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of indecently interfering with a corpse, it was later included as a 'related offence' to his murder plea, meaning it would be considered by the judge during sentencing but wouldn't receive a separate sentence, according to The Canberra Times.
Mr White said in the weeks before her death, Vosikata had searched online for 'remote cottages', 'remote national parks, and 'how to kill without joy,' The Canberra Times reported.
Vosikata had become obsessed with Ms D'Addario (pictured) and didn't accept their relationship had come to an end but argued that he didn't appear to be a threat to the community
Court documents revealed Ms D'Addario ended their three-month relationship but Vosikata did not accept the breakup and began sitting outside her apartment and calling and texting her repeatedly.
After Vosikata broke into her apartment using a spare key and tried to sexually assault her, Ms D'Addario sent him an email asking him to not contact her again, documents said.
'Joey Please listen to me ... I do not want to be your friend, I do not want to ever see you again, I do not want to talk to you. Do not send me emails or texts or try to call me. Do not come to my house,' the email read.
Nine days later, Vosikata broke in again and choked her to death.
After her murder, Vosikata tried to drive Ms D'Addario's blue Hyandai Getz to the NSW's south coast and then fled into the bush after he was stopped by police, but was later discovered and arrested (pictured)
After her murder, Vosikata tried to drive Ms D'Addario's blue Hyandai Getz to Bermagui on NSW's south coast but the wheels got trapped in the sand.
He then fled into the bush after he was stopped by police but was later discovered and arrested.
Ms D'Addario's sister told the Supreme Court this week she would never forgive her sister's killer 'no matter how remorseful or sorry he claims to be,' The Canberra Times reported.
'No sentence you hand out will bring my sister back,' she said while urging the judge to hand down a life sentence.
News that Samsung has axed its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone due to safety concerns has sparked a wave of hilarious memes on social media.
The troubled smartphone has, for many people, become synonymous with setting fire after exploding handsets were reported around the world including in China, South Korea and the U.S.
The decision to permanently discontinue the product, which was meant to be Samsungs rival to Apples iPhone, is forecast to cost the company $17 billion in lost sales.
Twitter user Stilgherrian posted a photo of a young girl in front of a house burning down with the caption: Samsung shareholders meeting.
Shane Matthew Neave joked soldiers could use the explosive product in war zones when he said: 'Samsung have announced a new product launch, the Samsung Galaxy 7 grenade.'
Russian Market shared a gif of a man lighting his cigar from a fire in his lap, with the comment: Reading Twitter on your Samsung phone
When you leave your Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in the car: pic.twitter.com/wA1aD1v1oe Matthew Kick (@MatthewKick) October 11, 2016
Russian Market shared a gif of a man lighting his cigar from a fire in his lap, with the comment: Reading Twitter on your Samsung phone.
Shane Matthew Neave joked soldiers could use the explosive product in war zones when he said: 'Samsung have announced a new product launch, the Samsung Galaxy 7 grenade.'
Alongside a photo of the Note 7 and a fire extinguisher, Tim Wrobel wrote: 'In Memoriam: Galaxy Note 7 (Aug. 19, 2016 - Oct. 10, 2016)'.
Another image joked there would be a 'fire sale' with the offer of 'buy one get 2.5 million free'.
Tom Jamieson wrote: 'Love this time of year when the nights are drawing in, there's a chill in the air & the whole family gathers round a roaring Galaxy Note 7.'
Lord James joked that he'd left his Samsung Note 7 as he shared a gif of an atomic bomb explosion.
And another gif showed Homer Simpson being blown away by a huge 'Note 7 blast'.
One social media user joked that Note 7 users could end up like Two-Face from the Dark Knight
Twitter user Stilgherrian posted a photo of a young girl in front of a house burning down with the caption: Samsung shareholders meeting
Tom Jamieson joked that the Galaxy Note 7 could keep a whole family warm during winter
The first report of a Note 7 explosion surfaced on August 24 in South Korea.
Samsung announced a global recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in 10 markets including the United States and China on September 2 over safety concerns.
But since then reports that the replacement models were also setting fire have continued to rock the company, leading them to take the tough decision to axe the product altogether.
Taking our customer's safety as our highest priority, we have decided to halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7,' the company said.
A spokesperson for Samsung confirmed to MailOnline that the smartphone has been 'permanently discontinued'.
Alongside a photo of the Note 7 and a fire extinguisher, Tim Wrobel wrote: 'In Memoriam: Galaxy Note 7 (Aug. 19, 2016 - Oct. 10, 2016)'
A Red Dwarf fan joked that if Samsung made mechanoids their head would be blown off
One image joked there would be a 'fire sale' with the offer of 'buy one get 2.5 million free'
Apple share prices rose on Tuesday after the news that Samsung was axing the Note 7
Many airlines are refusing to let passengers fly with the Note 7s - even if they are switched off
Live from the Galaxy Note 7 factory https://t.co/ANaynRQU4U pic.twitter.com/cirTqEnhIa Nibel (@Nibellion) October 11, 2016
CUIDADO! TIENE UN GALAXY NOTE 7! pic.twitter.com/wT6fRO2TUp Yogulado Oliginal (@Supertramp9713) October 11, 2016
The firm says customers with original Note 7 devices or replacements they obtained after the recall should turn off the power and seek a refund or exchange them for different phones.
The axing of the Note 7 will translate into lost sales of up to 19 million phones, or nearly $17 billion (14 billion), according to analysts at Credit Suisse.
Samsung Electronics shares fell 8 per cent in Seoul Tuesday, wiping out about $17 billion of market value, before the KRX stock exchange closed at 3pm KST
On top of this cost, Samsung could have to shell out an estimated $2.2billion if every 2.5 million handsets produced are refunded at an average cost of $850.
After the initial recall it was expected Samsung would lose $5 billion (4 billion) in expected sales and recall costs based on the assumption that the firm would resume global Note 7 sales.
Samsung Electronics shares fell 8 per cent in Seoul Tuesday, wiping out about $17 billion of market value, before the KRX stock exchange closed at 3pm KST.
When the axing of the Note 7 was announced later in the day, the stock dropped further in London as much as 9.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, Apple's stock rose 1.9 per cent premarket ahead of NASDAQ opening.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A NOTE 7 Firstly, power it off and don't use it. Samsung is offering a full refund on the Galaxy Note 7 or a replacement for another phone. Customers are advised to contact their mobile operator to arrange a replacement or refund. 'We are encouraging customers to contact their operator or retailer to discuss their options which includes exchanging for an alternative device or a refund. We are encouraging all customers to power down the device and return it as soon as possible,' Samsung said in a statement. Viable alternatives for a Note 7 in the Samsung range include the Galaxy S7 Edge or the older Note 5 model. For customers who wish to get their money back and move to a different smartphone company altogether, the Google Pixel and iPhone 7 have been suggested as good replacements. Advertisement
Samsung has axed the Galaxy Note 7, stopping production of the smartphone, pictured
Bazala was arrested and her son is now in the care of his grandmother
needle was also found in a bag that Bazala was holding
A Pennsylvania mother has been arrested after police found her passed out from heroin in the driver seat of her car - with her baby in the back seat.
Alyssa Bazala, 25, was found at around 3am on Thursday, unconscious in her car with the engine still running at a Speedway gas station on East Fifth Avenue, Pennsylvania.
The officer who came across her in the front seat 'in a daze' with her one-year-old son in the back seat, WPXI reports.
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Alyssa Bazala has been arrested after police found her passed out from heroin in the driver seat of her car - with her baby in the back seat
Police say that they knocked on the windows but when Bazala came to she seemed confused and took an entire minute to open the door.
When she did finally open the car, they noticed she was holding a bag.
When confronted, she admitted there was 'nothing good' inside.
Officers opened the bag to find several empty heroin stamp bags and a hypodermic needle, according to reports.
Bazala's one-year-old son (pictured) was in the back seat of the car while his mother got high in the front seat. He is now in the care of his grandparents
Bazala, 25, was found at around 3am on Thursday, unconscious in her car with the engine still running at a Speedway gas station on East Fifth Avenue, Pennsylvania
Police also found ten suspected stamp bags of heroin in Bazla's hoodie pocket and five empty heroin stamp bags stashed in the baby's diaper bag.
Bazala was arrested and her son was initially take to hospital to be checked over. He is now in the care of his grandmother.
The mother is due in court on October.
The sad case is the latest in a shocking heroin epidemic which has gripped America.
In June, a report from the United Nations warned of a heroin epidemic gripping America with cheap supply helping push the number of users to a 20-year high.
In recent months authorities have said they are coping with an abnormal spike in the number of overdoses after heroin cut with elephant tranquilizer 10,000 times more powerful than morphine was being taken.
A crowd can be heard standing around and laughing in shocking footage that has emerged of bystanders laughing at a couple falling unconscious in Memphis after overdosing on heroin
Last week footage emerged of bystanders laughing at a married couple as they fell unconscious in the street in broad daylight after overdosing on heroin.
The video showed a husband and wife writhing on the floor after snorting the drug in the bathroom of a nearby Walgreens before they pass out in the street in Memphis, Tennessee.
Paramedics eventually arrived on the scene and revived Carla Hiers, 59, and her partner, who are both long-time drug addicts. She is seen on her knees before she loses consciousness. Her partner passes out while bent backwards over a bench.
In another case a daughter live streamed her parents on a 'heroin binge' after she returns home to find them wasted in front of the TV.
The footage, shot in America, reveals the daughter and a man, whose connection to the couple is unknown, trying to wake the pair up as they slump in front of the TV.
Dressed in a tie dye T-shirt, the mother can be seen in a close-up shot at the start of the video looking completely spaced out, unable to look at the camera as her daughter desperately attempts to bring her round.
Both parents are in a horrendous state in the video, seemingly because they are high on heroin
Perhaps the most shocking image of the summer showed a couple slumped, passed out in their car with a four-year-old boy looking on from the back seat.
The image was shared on social media by Ohio police in a bid to raise awareness of 'this horrible drug'.
The woman, 50-year-old Rhonda Pasek, who became known as 'heroin grandma', was sentenced to 180 days in jail after pleading no contest to child endangering. Her boyfriend James Acord received 360 days in jail for child endangering and operating a vehicle under the influence.
In an emotional jailhouse interview with DailyMail.com, Pasek insisted she was not on heroin and that she had drunk a single bottle of Redd's Blueberry Ale and took part of what she thought was a Percocet-like painkiller because she was feeling so bad.
'This horrible drug': Ohio police shared this distressing photograph on social media. It shows Rhonda Pasek and her boyfriend James Acord passed out in their vehicle while Pasek's four-year-old grandson looks on from the back seat. Both were jailed after pleading guilty to charges of child endangering
She said: 'I made the worst mistake of my life. I'll be paying for this until the day I die.
'I know how wrong I was and there is no taking it back. I take full responsiblity.
When asked about the allegations of heroin, Pasek rolled up the sleeves of her dark green prison uniform and showed her arms which had no sign of any trackmarks.
Her public defender also told the local newspaper The Review that Pasek had tested negative for heroin and said no syringes were found in the car.
People have been stunned to learn Senator Eric Abetz's great-uncle was a high-ranking Nazi.
The Tasmanian senator's brother Peter, a Western Australia Liberal MP, has even said Otto Abetz 'did positive things' during World War Two.
Their family link was discussed during a re-run of an SBS Insight program on Tuesday night.
Otto Abetz was the Nazi ambassador for France during World War Two
Commentary from people learning that the Abetz brothers are related to Nazi Otto Abetz
Social media users took to the internet to comment on Otto Abetz's position as Nazi ambassador to France and Peter's views of the situation.
Many said they weren't surprised.
Peter Abetz said his reaction to finding out about his relative was 'mixed'.
'He did some really positive things but he also did participate in the deportation of Jews. There's really no excuse for that whatsoever and yet he also did some very positive things.'
When American troops were approaching Paris at the end of World War Two, he negotiated a deal between the U.S. and the Germans leaving the city that nothing would be booby trapped or destroyed - as long as they were given three day's grace.
However, the program's host, Jenny Brockie, said: 'but saving buildings and saving Paris, important as it may be, is not equivalent to... deporting Jews'.
Peter Abetz is a Liberal MP in Western Australia
Tasmanian Senator, Eric Abetz, who made headlines when he said he wanted gay people who came out as straight to be 'celebrated'
In 1949, Otto Abetz was convicted of crimes including deporting French Jews to death camps, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
When asked if he was clinging to positives about Otto, Peter said he'd visited the Holocaust memorial in Israel and found it moving.
'I found that a very, very moving experience and the horror of thinking that, you know, I had a great uncle who was actually involved in that horror.'
On Monday, Eric Abetz made headlines when he said he wanted gay people who came out as straight to be 'celebrated'.
During a program about same-sex marriage he awkardly avoiding using the word 'gay' in front of a staffer, instead saying: 'identifying as same-sex attracted'.
He was ridiculed for the effort.
Building previously closed in June after a major leak in its basement
A group of police officers were left red faced after they had to be rescued from a lift in their own headquarters.
They were forced to call the fire service after the lift ground to a halt between floors, leaving them with no way out.
Firefighters attended Hampshire Police's base in Southampton and were able to crank the lift to the next level, before using a key to free them.
Hampshire Police officers became trapped in a lift, pictured, in their own headquarters
Firefighters had to be called out to winch the lift to the next floor before the door was opened with a key, pictured
The officers took to Twitter after the incident to thank their emergency service colleagues for the help, saying: 'Thanks for the rescue. Shift response cops back on patrol.'
A spokesperson for Hampshire Fire and Rescue, who freed the six officers, said: 'It was a non-emergency response.
'The crew will have used a manual crank to get the lift to the level and then used a key to open the doors.'
The building in Southampton, pictured, was opened in 2011 but has previously had problems, including a major leak in the basement in May when it had to shut for two days
Officers were able to see the funny side after tweeting about the incident, pictured
The headquarters opened in 2011, but had to temporarily close two years later so leaks on several floors could be fixed and its entire cold water system be replaced.
In June this year, the force had to shut the entire building down for two days due to a major leak in the basement left the lifts out of order.
Kanye West took out a $2million line of credit just months before his wife, Kim Kardashian, was held up at gunpoint in her Paris apartment and robbed of $5.6million worth of jewelry.
The 39-year-old rapper took out the large equity line of credit on his New York City apartment, according to records filed on September 27. JP Morgan granted the line of credit to him on July 12.
The agreement states that the bank will make advances to Kanye in a principal amount not exceeding $2million. Kanye has until 2036 to pay back the funds.
Kanye purchased a New York apartment in the SoHo neighborhood for $1.25million, and combined it with the unit next door.
Kanye West took out a $2million line of credit just months before his wife, Kim Kardashian, was held up at gunpoint in her Paris apartment
The 39-year-old rapper took out the large equity line of credit on his New York City apartment, (pictured above), according to records filed on September 27
Kanye purchased a New York apartment in the SoHo neighborhood for $1.25million, and combined it with the unit next door
According to reports, he secretly listed the home for $4.5million in 2013, but no one bit at the listing.
And last month, Kanye purchased Kim a 20-carat Lorraine Schwartz emerald cut diamond engagement ring worth $4million, which was stolen during the robbery last month along with another case of jewelry.
Kim has filed a federal lawsuit against MediaTakeOut.com for its posts, one of which alleged there was evidence Kim "staged" the robbery.
Insurance documents state that the 13 items taken during the incident are worth approximately $5.6million.
Kim, 35, was robbed by a group of masked men who forced their way into her Paris apartment, tied the reality star up with zip ties and duct tape, and made off with millions of dollars worth of jewelry.
The agreement states that the bank will make advances to Kanye in a principal amount not exceeding $2million
According to reports, he secretly listed the home for $4.5million in 2013, but no one bit
JP Morgan granted the line of credit to him on July 12, and he now has until 2036 to pay back the funds
The home (its bathroom pictured above), sits on Houston street, where SoHo, Greenwich Village and Nolita converge
After the raid, the five men were seen escaping on 'velibs' - hire bicycles which can be rented all over Paris.
Her publicist had said the thieves were disguised as police officers but sources close to Kardashian told TMZ their uniforms looked more like they came from a Halloween store.
They also claimed Kardashian told police the masked robbers were 'extremely hesitant and tentative' and arguing over how to pull off the daring heist.
It is understood the thieves were white, middle-aged Frenchmen. None have yet been caught.
Insurance documents state that the 13 items taken during the robbery last month are worth approximately $5.6million
Following the ordeal, Kardashian has called in former special service agents as part of a plan to ramp up her security to 'presidential levels'.
The investigation is ongoing, and no suspects have been arrested in connection to the incident.
Following the robbery, the star agreed to stop flaunting her jewelry online as she was making herself a robbery target.
She reportedly said: 'Material things mean nothing. It's not all about the money. It's not worth it.'
The 35-year-old has filed an insurance claim for the stolen items, including her engagement ring.
A sex diary kept by a married air stewardess who wrote about her romps with colleagues is at the centre of a legal battle - after her husband found it and tried to serialise it.
The 46-year-old kept an intimate diary on a computer about how she had sex with fellow members of staff on Dutch low-cost airline Transavia, which is owned by KLM/Air France.
But the unnamed mother-of-four's secret was discovered by her husband who was left furious when he read the diary - and promptly leaked it to the press in Holland.
A sex diary kept by a married air stewardess who wrote about her romps with colleagues is at the centre of a legal battle - after her husband found it and tried to serialise it (file picture)
It is said to have included details of her sexual activity with other men in the plane, during stop-overs and in hotels.
The husband reportedly said he wanted to make every detail of the diary public and when it was approached for a comment, the airline turned to the courts to try and have the diary blocked.
Judges in the Dutch city of The Hague will decide on the appeal on October 24.
The appeal has apparently been filed by the air hostess herself, backed up by the airline
The airline's lawyers are also filing a legal challenge against the man directly, and they are said to be particularly unhappy that he has been sharing his wife's email correspondence with third parties believed to include other staff.
It was not specified what emails the man had obtained or who he had been sending them to.
The 46-year-old kept an intimate diary on a computer about how she had sex with fellow members of staff on Dutch low-cost airline Transavia, which is owned by KLM/Air France (file picture)
Local media pointed out that not only the reputation of the air hostess, but also the reputation of multiple other staff, apparently many of them married pilots as well as the airline itself, are at stake.
The Dutch airline has also told employees to remain silent if contacted by the media about the story.
A Transavia spokeswoman said: 'We take everything very seriously. An internal research has shown that the safety of passengers was never in doubt.
'Our colleagues consider those emails as unwanted and unacceptable as they harm our interests.'
The biggest Dutch daily, 'Telegraaf', which first reported the sex scandal, has reportedly seen internal emails between Transavia and the Dutch airline inspection authority.
The emails allegedly show that the authority is not interested in commenting on the matter, and refers to it as an internal problem for Transavia. The newspaper reported that people with knowledge about the matter speak about a big cover-up behind the scenes.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cameron Pappas, Vice President
cpappas@nortonsflorist.com
205-313-1918
Thousands of Petals Set to Brighten
Wednesday, October 19, 2016 in Birmingham
New Data Shows Emotional Benefits of Flowers;
Norton's Florist Encourages Busy Commuters to
'Petal It Forward'
Birmingham, AL - October 19, 2016 -- Norton's Florist will be hitting the streets of Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday, October 19, 2016, handing out 400 bouquets (over 1,200 stems) of flowers to busy commuters to help brighten up their week, as part of the 'Petal it Forward' program, in partnership with the Society of American Florists (SAF). 'Petal It Forward' is in response to the release of new data by SAF showing the positive emotional benefits of flowers.
University research reveals that flowers have an immediate impact on happiness and a long-term positive effect on moods. Now, a new survey has found that, when it comes to flowers, it's just as good to give as it is to receive. With this data in mind, the Petal It Forward team is not only spreading happiness to lucky Birmingham residents who receive the flowers, but arming these recipients with the tools they need to Petal it Forward and spread happiness to others: an extra flower bouquet to share with a loved one, coworker or even a stranger.
"We see the positive impact day in and day out when we make our flower deliveries," said Cameron Pappas of Norton's Florist. "People love to get flowers 'just because' so we wanted to create random smiles today, and give people a chance to do the same for someone else."
In March 2015, SAF conducted a survey of 2,500 people throughout the U.S. to uncover the impact of flowers on Americans. The results revealed the many benefits of flowers, including the positive impact flowers have on one's emotions and happiness, and backed up previous research studies on flowers conducted by Rutgers, Harvard and Texas A&M. (Seewww.aboutflowers.com/research more information on the university studies.)
The following are highlights from SAF's recent survey results:
* When it comes to happiness, it's just as good to give flowers as it is to receive: 88 percent of Americans report that giving flowers makes them feel happy, while 80 percent reported that receiving flowers makes them feel happy.
* Just being around flowers improves your mood: 76 percent of Americans agree that having flowers in their home or office improves their mood.
* The best reason to receive flowers is "just because": Women (92 percent) are more likely to agree with this, but the majority of men (three in four) also share this sentiment.
* Florists to the rescue! Nearly four in 10 Americans indicate florists have helped them in a past or current relationship; most frequently to say "I love you," or schedule a surprise delivery.
* "The impact of giving or receiving flowers is powerful and memorable," said Pappas. "It can turn an ordinary day into an extraordinary one."
Pappas and the Petal It Forward Team will give away 400 bouquets (over 1,200 individual stems) to people throughout the city, including the Business, Children's, UAB, and the Lakeview Districts. Each Team will include a representative from the Birmingham Police Department, Birmingham Fire Department and Norton's Florist. After receiving their flowers, recipients are asked to spread the happiness by giving away their extra flower bouquet, and sharing their happiness on social media using #petalitforward.
ADDRESS TIME
Business District 5th Avenue North and 20th Street 11:15 AM
Children's Hospital Hospital Entrance 11:30 AM
UAB Area 5th Avenue South and 18th Street 11:45 AM
Lakeview District 7th Avenue South and 29th Street 12:00 PM
This effort is one of many sponsored by Flowers in The City, an initiative headed by Norton's Florist to brighten every room and heart in Birmingham with beautiful flowers.
###
About Norton's Florist
We're located on 401 22nd Street South in the heart of downtown Birmingham. We are the largest florist in Alabama and Birmingham, and have been Birmingham's florist since 1921. With the recent revitalization of our city, we are doing our part to spread a little happiness in our city, and there is no better way to spread happiness than with flowers!
About the Society of American Florists
The Society of American Florists is the national trade association to the floral industry, representing growers, wholesalers, retailers, suppliers, importers, educators, designers and allied organizations. The association was chartered by an act of Congress in 1884.
About the Society of American Florists' Survey:
The omnibus survey was conducted using the field services of TNS from March 5-9, 2015 among a representative sample of 2,500 Americans, ages 18 and older. The margin of error for total Americans is plus or minus 1.9 percent. If the study was to be replicated, findings would not vary by more than 1.9 percentage points in either direction 95 times out of 100.
For more information on the benefits of flowers, visit aboutflowers.com and aboutflowersblog.com.
He sustained two broken legs and severe injuries to his back after crash
As he tried to jump out of the way, he was hit and catapulted into the air
Despite him being next to his car, the other driver
This dramatic footage shows the terrifying moment a pensioner was catapulted into the air by a speeding car.
CCTV footage showed the 80-year-old man, who suffered serious injuries, leaning back to let a car drive past.
He had wandered into the road to open the door of his own vehicle.
Despite him being perched against his car, the other driver accelerated on directly towards the elderly man.
As he tried desperately to jump out of the way, he was hit and flung into the air.
The man was leaning against his car as another vehicle prepared to drive past in St Louis
Ignoring the pensioner leaning against his vehicle, the other car drove past and lifted him from his feet
He was flung into the air as the car accelerated on and did not stop to help the pensioner
He was flipped into the air and sustained two broken legs and injuries to his back
The 27-second clip was captured on shop owner Naser Ansari's CCTV footage at Regal Meat Market in St Louis, Missouri.
He said the pensioner - called 'Mr Donaldson' - was recovering in hospital after sustaining two broken legs, as well as severe injuries to his back and fingers.
He claimed the driver did not stop to check on the condition of the pensioner after slamming into him.
The shop owner said bystanders came to his aid and waited with him until emergency services arrived and took him to hospital.
He was left in a crumpled heap on the ground as the other car sped on past
If this was the restrained Donald Trump, establishment Republicans led by Speaker Paul Ryan are about to find out what the unshackled one is like.
In an escalating feud that highlights the internal GOP schism over Trump's candidacy, the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump unloaded on Ryan a day after Ryan told fellow Republicans he would not campaign for his own party's nominee.
Trump blasted Ryan for for providing 'zero support' for his campaign then hinted there was much more to come.
'It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to,' Trump tweeted late Tuesday morning.
He started the barrage against Ryan with an early morning tweet.
'Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty,' the GOP presidential candidate tweeted Tuesday, the day after Ryan distanced himself from Trump on a GOP conference call.
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LAST STRAW: House Speaker Paul Ryan says he will no longer defend or campaign with Donald Trump after the release of an explosive video where his party's presidential nominee used crude language about women
'Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!' Trump wrote in another tweet.
Trump sent out the initial tweet Tuesday morning, then deleted it and sent it out again after correcting the spelling of the word 'despite.'
It was Trump's second shot at Ryan in as many days, after Ryan said he won't campaign for GOP presidential nominee in a stunning party split.
Trump was referencing pushback Ryan received on the call from conservative fellow-Republicans like Rep. Louis Gohmert of Texas, who urged his colleagues to stand by Trump.
Appearing on Fox News on Tuesday, Gohmert, a Texas Republican, blamed Bill Clinton for Trump's comments on the infamous 'p****' tape.
'Trump has said some things that are very vile back when he was supporting people like Bill Clinton, but if youre Bill Clintons big buddy, like he was at one time, youre going to talk like Bill Clinton and I think we need to forgive him for talking like big Democrats, like Clinton and other foul-mouthed people,' Gohmert said.
'Now he is a Republican, James Dobson tells me hes become a Christian. So look, we forgive him for the past because hes asked for it.'
Trump, who's campaign has been marked by a series of escalating insults of opponents and establishment figures from his own party, then tweeted that, 'It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.'
Ryan's response to the slew of attacks was mild.
His office said he's focused on defeating Democrats 'and all Republicans running for office should probably do the same.'
Donald Trump followed up a series of tweets blasting House Speaker Paul Ryan with one saying the 'shackles have been taken off'
CIVIL WAR? Trump blasts Ryan as 'weak and ineffective' after the House Speaker said he will not campaign with Trump following a tape that captured Trump's crude remarks
Donald Trump hit back at Speaker Paul Ryan again on Twitter Tuesday
Rebuke: How Trump responded to Ryan's decision not to campaign for or defend him on Monday
CHECK FOR SPITE: Trump sent out the anti-Ryan Tweet Tuesday morning but misspelled the word 'despite'
As word first broke about Ryan's decision not to campaign for Trump Monday, Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong told DailyMail.com: 'The speaker is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities.
Trump responded to the news on Twitter saying: 'Paul Ryan should more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee.'
Ryan has spent decades carving out a role as a budget expert and once chaired the House Budget Committee.
Trump had been set to appear with Ryan at his annual 'Fall Fest' when the explosive 'Access Hollywood' tapes emerged. He got asked not to attend, and vice presidential nominee Mike Pence later withdrew.
The clash comes as more than three dozen other elected Republicans bailed on Trump following the release of the 11-year old tape of Trump making crude comments about women before taping an appearance on a soap opera.
On Sunday, when it's not clear whether Trump's 'shackles' were on or off, he brought four Clinton accusers to the presidential debate
Ryan, who has endorsed Trump, won't even be seen with his party's nominee before the November 8th election and will not defend him, after the candidate himself apologized for lewd comments about women captured on an 11-year old video.
Ryan himself had been considered a possible 2016 presidential candidate but deferred. Some backers even hoped he would jump in the race late to 'stop Trump.'
Ryan is still considered a possible 2020 presidential prospect a role that could put him on a collision course with Trump forces should Trump lose the election and still seek to influence the outcome one way or another.
Former House leadership staffer Doug Heye said of Ryan's dilemma: 'He's got a conscience problem going where other Republicans are.' He told DailyMail.com: 'He's not going to completely dump him and risk a revolt ... But he's not going to defend the indefensible.'
'The easy thing to do would be to just completely dump him,' he said.
UNCHAINED: Trump blasted House Speaker Paul Ryan in a series of tweets Tuesday
Republicans held a Monday morning conference call to assess the damage done by the latest taped revelations, as polling has showed Hillary Clinton pulling away in critical swing states.
Ryan endorsed Trump after a lengthy period of contemplation where he at first said he wasn't 'ready' to back his party's nominee given prior controversial statements.
'There is no update in his position at this time,' his spokeswoman said about Ryan's apparently still-intact endorsement.
And he is not yet granting that Democrat Hillary Clinton will be the next president. 'He said explicitly on the call he is not conceding,' said Strong.
'He said he will not defend Trump or campaign with him for the next 30 days,' a person on the call said according to AFP.
Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, appeared to try to warn Ryan Monday morning in comments on CBS.
Donald Trump had been set to appear with Ryan in Wisconsin at the Speaker's Fall Fest event until the release of the crude audio and videotape of Trump
BACK TURNED: Ryan's announcement came hours after Trump debated Hillary Clinton on Monday night in St. Louis
Trump brought Bill Clinton accusers Paula Jones (L), Kathleen Willey (C) and Juanita Broaddrick (R) to the second presidential debate, despite warnings by establishment Republicans that the move might alienate voters
HAY, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN: Ryan campaigned with Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who is up for reelection but Trump won't be getting a helping hand from the Speaker
'I certainly hope Speaker Ryan keeps his word and his endorsement of Donald Trump,' Conway said.
'Speaker Ryan, of course, took to the stage in Wisconsin in his event and faced some boos from the crowd because those who were [there] expected to see Donald Trump,' she added. 'But we're happy the speaker of the House has endorsed the nominee Donald Trump.'
On Monday morning, Conway appeared to try to warn Ryan, when she said, 'I certainly hope Speaker Ryan keeps his word and his endorsement of Donald Trump'
BAD SIGN: When Trump met with Ryan in May, the two men were not photographed together
The Clinton campaign tweeted after the stunning news broke: ''Ryan is still endorsing Trump.'
Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller was unfazed by the development in a tweet.
'Nothing's changed. Mr. Trumps campaign has always been powered by a grassroots movement, not Washington.
Ryan's announcement came just hours after Trump and Clinton faced off in the second presidential debate.
Observers said Trump's performance was considerably stronger than it was in the first debate but Trump rejected advice offered publicly by leading Republicans to steer clear of attacks on charges by women against former president Bill Clinton.
Instead, Trump brought Bill Clinton accusers Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broaddrick to a surprise press conference and invited them as his guests inside the debate.
Ryan made his announcement to fellow Republicans amid concern among their ranks that the campaign Trump is running may not only prove unsuccessful, but could imperil the GOP's Senate majority or even its House majority.
More than three dozen senators, governors, and members of Congress have said they will not vote for their party's nominee, according to a USA Today survey up until Sunday night.
Among them is 2008 GOP Senator John McCain, who is up for reelection, and said he will instead write in 'the name of some good conservative Republican who is qualified to be President.'
Ohio Senator Rob Portman, who is outperforming Trump in the critical battleground state, announced, 'While I continue to respect those who still support Donald Trump, I can no longer support him. I continue to believe our country cannot afford a Hillary. I will be voting for Mike Pence for President,' in reference to Trump's running mate.
The obvious split in the party will be on display when Ryan barnstorms the country supporting other GOP candidates not named Trump.
Religious leaders in Russia have claimed that the mummified remains of a Buddhist lama who died 89 years ago wandered around a museum in a bid for world peace.
The preserved remains of Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov - the revered Buddhist leader in Russia before and after the Bolshevik Revolution - are normally kept in a glass sarcophagus located on the second floor of his 'palace' near Ulan-Ude in Siberia.
But now local religious leaders claim CCTV footage shows the lama moving both on Sunday and Monday night, in what they say might be a call for world peace.
CCTV footage, which shows a grainy figure moving around a museum in Siberia, where the remains of Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov are kept
Religious leaders have claimed that the figure is that of the Lama, the revered Buddhist leader in Russia before and after the Bolshevik Revolution
The famous lama died in 1927, the year after warning Buddhist monks to leave the Soviet Union because they would be overwhelmed by 'Red teaching'
Some Buddhists believe that the lama, who died in 1927 and was buried in the lotus position before his remains were exhumed with almost no decay, remains alive or hibernates in a nirvana-like state.
And Lama Damba Ayusheev, current head of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha, hit back at claims from doubters that one of the fuzzy pictures likely shows a security guard possibly wearing military fatigues, carrying two bags and wearing shoes.
He told the Siberian Times: 'One image shows a grainy figure in the foreground, while a second, a day later, shows a similar figure close to or on a sofa.
'This is not a joke, that's for sure' posted Ayusheev, from the Republic of Buryatia, a Buddhist region of Russia.
Some Buddhists believe that the lama, who died in 1927 and was buried in the lotus position before his remains were exhumed with almost no decay, remains alive or hibernates in a nirvana-like state
'I see a figure of a man on the shot, as you do, and I know precisely there could not be anyone in the Palace of Khambo Lama Itigilov at this time.'
The first sighting was at 8.05pm when nobody had access to the lama's chamber at this time, he insisted.
He added: 'The lama is in five or six metres down the hall on his throne, and this place [where the man stands] is at the front door.'
A second picture apparently showing lama Itiligov was on the move again, this time by the sofa.
The images are poor quality and he has not released full footage but said the image was triggered by movement in the room.
'There is no video, only a flash from the body on the shot,' he said.
'I was taken aback by this image, though somewhere in the depths of the mind I imagined such a possibility, but I still was not ready to see this,' said Ayusheev.
A spokesman for the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia, Tubden Baldanov, agreed that Lama Itigelov had moved and added: 'The fact that he appeared in camouflage ... We do not know.
The lama before his death in 1927. His final request was to buried in the lotus position, in which he had died
'Maybe it's some kind of sign? Maybe he says something? Perhaps, that the international organisations should work on peace?'
Born in 1852, Lama Itiligov was prominent in the spiritual life of tsarist Russia immediately before the Bolshevik Revolution.
He took part in the Tercentenary celebrations of the House of Romanov in 1913, and opened the Datsan Gunzechoinei, the first Buddhist temple in St Petersburg.
The famous lama died in 1927, the year after warning Buddhist monks to leave the Soviet Union because they would be overwhelmed by 'Red teaching'. His final request was to buried in the lotus position, in which he had died.
When his remains were examined in 1955 and again in 1973 the monks were astonished to note no signs of decay. They kept their knowledge hidden from the Soviet authorities.
Lama Damba Ayusheev, pictured, current head of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha, hit back at claims from doubters that one of the fuzzy pictures likely shows a security guard possibly wearing military fatigues
In September 2002, Itigilov's body was exhumed once more in the presence of the leaders of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia.
It was closely examined by monks as well as by scientists and pathologists.
The remains were found to be 'in the condition of someone who had died 36 hours ago', extraordinarily well preserved and without signs of decay.
Muscles and inner tissue, soft joints and skin remained intact, according to accounts of the observations.
Officers have now confirmed the schoolgirl was found in the river
Her phone was found near the River Tay as police mounted a search
Friends of a schoolgirl who went missing after an evening out have told of their heartbreak after the 15-year-old was found dead in a river.
Kathleen Harkin disappeared on Saturday night after spending time with friends by the banks of the River Tay in Perth.
Police have said there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death and a report would be sent to the coroner.
Kathleen Harkin - who went missing after an evening out on Saturday - has been found dead
Kathleen's phone was found by a member of the public on Sunday morning on Woody Island, North Muirton, near where she was last seen.
Police confirmed today that her body was found a few miles down the river at St Madoes, Glencarse.
On a page set up when Kathleen first went missing, called Get Kathleen Home, a series of family photographs have been posted in tribute to the teenager.
In several she is a flower girl at a wedding and others show her as a small child.
A friend wrote on Facebook: 'Absolutely devastated will forever love and miss you gorgeous, true saying god always takes the best people. Sleep tight princess.'
Another wrote: 'Honestly heartbroken reading this, I love you Kathy!! Forever in my heart princess!! Until we meet again.'
Police at the scene of the search. They said there were no suspicious circumstances
An official tribute page has been set up for Kathleen, called In Memory of Kathleen Harkin.
A message on the page said: 'This is a page in memory of a young girl called Kathleen Harkin who was taken way too early and this page is to support and grow as many people as possible to show how much she meant to all of us.
Kerry Long (pictured) is jailed on charges he supplied the heroin that caused his 16-year-old daughter to overdose
A Pennsylvania man is jailed on charges he supplied the heroin that caused his 16-year-old daughter to overdose.
Kerry Long, 35, has been charged with aggravated assault, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children and heroin possession.
Police responded around 5.22pm Saturday to a reported overdose at a home in the 600 block of Poplar Street, the Lancaster Bureau of Police said Monday in a release.
Citing court records, Lancaster Online reported that a woman who said she was grandmother of the teen called 911.
The Lancaster Bureau of Police said: 'Officers found a 16 year old female unconscious on the 2nd floor of the home.'
Authorities wrote: 'After seeing packaging material consistent with the use of Heroin, Off. Stroup administered a nasal application of naloxone.
'The patient did not respond to the first administration of naloxone. A LEMSA paramedic arrived and additional doses of naloxone were administered.'
Police responded around 5.22pm Saturday to a reported overdose at a home in the 600 block of Poplar Street (pictured), the Lancaster Bureau of Police said
Citing a criminal complaint, Lancaster Online reported the paramedic administered three doses.
Naloxone is a chemical meant to reverse the effects of heroin intoxication.
Lancaster Police say Long's daughter survived.
Long, from Ephrata, acknowledged supplying the drugs after the girl told police that her father gave them to her.
The complaint said the girl had requested the drugs from her father, according to Lancaster Online.
The Lancaster Bureau of Police release said: 'The patient was taken to a hospital for additional treatment and observation.'
Police said they took Long into custody on an unrelated bench warrant.
Long remained jailed Tuesday unable to post $1million bail on charges of aggravated assault, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children and heroin possession.
Hillary Clinton is flatlining in the polls even though voters think she won the second debate - and despite the Republican Party's meltdown following the release of Trump's video.
Clinton captures 42 per cent of the vote to Trump's 37 per cent, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll conducted the day after the debate, and published Tuesday. Libertarian Gary Johnson gets 10 per cent and the Green Party's Jill Stein gets 3.
Clinton's share is the same as it was in surveys both before and after the release of the video showing Trump making lewd remarks about women.
Clinton has stagnated at 42 per cent, according to the Politico/Morning Consult poll published Tuesday
And in a separate NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey conducted after both the debate and the release of the footage, Trump regained a little ground, the results showed Tuesday.
The Republican gets 37 per cent to Clinton's 46.
The results are an add-on to the news organizations' poll conducted over the weekend, which found an 11-point gap between the two candidates. Trump scraped in at 35 points while Clinton got 46.
The updated version includes responses taken on Monday, after the debate. It apparently shows Trump recovering from the video scandal to make headway following his debate performance.
Still, the Republican party was in turmoil on Tuesday as warring factions were split over whether or not to back the real estate mogul.
The Politico/Morning Consult poll showed that although three-quarters of Republicans think their party is divided, with election day less than a month away 77 per cent want the GOP to keep supporting him.
Experts have already said that, despite calls by some senior Republicans to replace him, removing the candidate at so late a stage would be nigh on impossible. Absentee ballots have already been sent out in a number of states.
The Politico/Morning Consult poll was the first full, official survey to be conducted since the debate, aside from snap surveys and online reaction.
A snap CNN/ORC poll in the hours after the showdown put Clinton as the winner at 57 to 34 per cent - but that survey's respondents were just 27 per cent Republican, against 36 per cent Democrats and 37 per cent independents.
Trump's 37 points in the Politico/Morning Consult results is actually slightly higher than the share he got before both the debate and the emergence of the 2005 footage.
In a September 30-October 2 survey he got 36 points, while immediately after the video's release he was at 38, an October 8 survey found.
The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
The debate saw Clinton trounce Trump, according to the survey, with 42 per cent of respondents saying she won - including 13 per cent of Republicans. Just 28 per cent thought Trump won.
The findings show Clinton is making little headway despite her rival's troubles.
However the poll does paint a picture of a divided Republican party. Three quarters of voters, and the same proportion of Republicans say the GOP is divided. Just one in ten think it is united.
'What has skyrocketed is that three quarters of Republicans now view their party as divided. That is up 20 points since the GOP convention in Cleveland,' said Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult's co-founder and chief research officer.
Since the emergence of the footage Trump has been deserted by dozens of Republican representatives, including former candidate and Arizona senator John McCain, and Illinois senator Mark Kirk.
But the billionaire t old The Washington Post on Saturday that he would not step down.
'Id never withdraw. Ive never withdrawn in my life,' he said.
The nation's most powerful Republican, House Speaker Paul Ryan, told colleagues on Monday that 'you all need to do what's best for you and your district'.
He is no longer campaigning with Trump but hasn't withdrawn his endorsement.
Shocked airline passengers were forced to sit alongside a dead body after a fellow traveller died mid-air while flying home from a holiday in Turkey.
The 50-year-old woman, who has not been named, is said to have suffered a diabetic seizure just 45 minutes into the Azur Air flight to Moscow from the popular resort of Antalya.
But as her condition deteriorated on board the Boeing 757 aircraft, cabin crew discovered there was little they could do, as she forgot to bring her insulin in the cabin.
Shocked airline passengers were forced to sit alongside a dead body covered by a blanket after a fellow traveller died mid-air while flying home from a holiday in Turkey
It is believed that the woman's husband, who was also unnamed, said she packed the medication in her checked-in luggage because she believed she wouldn't need it.
He added that she had just given herself a shot of the medicine an hour before the flight and that neither of them anticipated that her condition would worsen suddenly.
It is also thought that the woman was also suffering from acute heart failure in the lead up to her death.
Flight attendants then had no option but to lie the victim down in the aisle and cover her over with a blanket after she passed away.
The captain of the flight also decided to fly directly to Moscow instead of making an emergency landing.
The woman is believed to have suffered acute heart failure leading to her death.
The 50-year-old woman, who has not been named, is said to have suffered a diabetic seizure just 45 minutes into the Azur Air flight to Moscow from the popular resort of Antalya
The event of a mid-flight death is one of small probability when taking into account the vast number of daily passengers, but major airlines usually have plans in place to deal with such unexpected tragedies.
Some cabin crew are ordered, for example, to move the deceased to empty rows in first or business class sections of the plane, while larger planes are even equipped with a 'corpse cupboard' so flight attendants can keep the body out of sight.
Meanwhile people with diabetes can take insulin with them onto aircraft despite tight new security restrictions.
Passengers are required to show a letter from their doctor explaining they need to carry insulin and/or syringes on board.
Martin Greenbeck, 72, died at the end of September but before he did, he penned the notice about his own demise
A grandfather made sure he was remembered with a laugh as well as a tear with a personal obituary penned in his final months as he battled asbestosis.
Martin Greenbeck, 72, wrote the notice of his own demise as he suffered from the lung disease and handed it to his wife to be published when he died.
He died at the end of September and it was printed in the local newspaper, where he had been seen so many times as parish councillor for Laceby, North East Lincolnshire
Within the note, he jokes that he died 'peacefully', while 'gasping for breath' due to his lung condition, before humorously complaining 'no graduated pension then'.
The light-hearted notice then becomes emotional as he thanks the 'best wiff ever', his wife Sharon, who he calls 'my true, true love, my soulmate, my world'.
He then writes about 'my darling daughter', Lisa, his three 'wonderful' grandchildren and even says a final goodbye to his mother-in-law, adding 'you have always been so kind to me'.
And at the end of the light-hearted yet emotional note, he humbly asks just that his loved ones think of him now and then over a glass of wine or a cup of tea.
Mr Greenbeck, from Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, began writing the death notice in the summer but was determined to make it amusing.
His wife of 43 years, Sharon, said: 'It was difficult to think about it but he made it funny. He told me where to add information in such as the date of death. He was always funny.
'He didn't want to die peacefully, he wanted to go out all out. Hence why he has mentioned 'gasping for breath LOL' in the tribute. It's true, he just couldn't breathe at the end.'
Within the note, he jokes that he died 'peacefully', while 'gasping for breath' due to his lung condition, before humorously complaining 'no graduated pension then'
The 61-year-old added: 'He always respected that people were different. He used to say no matter if you are a brain surgeon, perhaps you cannot make a steak and kidney pie.
'He also said that if we were all the same, we'd all be driving green Ford Escorts and listening to Justin Bieber.
'He respected people for who they were. He believed that everybody had a purpose and that everybody was a somebody.'
Mr Greenbeck joined the Merchant Navy when he was 21, spending six years in service before becoming a factory shift manager at fertilizer firm Yara UK, where he worked for 28 years.
The heartbreaking note published in the Grimsby Telegraph (pictured)
After retiring in 2000, Mr Greenbeck spent a lot of his later years holidaying in France with Sharon.
Sharon added: 'In 2008, he became a Laceby Parish Councillor and was elected as chairman just one year later.
'He liked giving his time to the Parish Council and giving something back to the community.
'When he was elected as Chairman he was surprised but said he was going to do his best.
'He often used to say all you can do is try your best and if it doesn't work out, at least you know you tried.'
Sharon added that he was also interested in motorbikes and fancied himself as a wine connoisseur.
'When Martin was younger, around 16 years old, he loved motorbikes. He loved anything that went fast. He requested that for his funeral, the hearse wasn't to go at a slow pace, he wanted it to keep up with the speed of the normal traffic.
'He was positive throughout his diagnosis and up until his death.
'His diagnosis was devastating for him and for us as a family, there are no cures and no medicines but he remained upbeat and just carried on. He was angry at first, but he knew the score.
'He'd researched what would happen to him, he just had to know. That was the same for anything though. If he was interested in something, he had to know about it. For example, his knowledge of wine was excellent.
'We visited France four or five times a year, we visited vineyards, he bought books and he researched wines because he found them so interesting.'
Buttafouco says she was given her smile back and hopes to raise awareness of facial paralysis conditions with a walkathon
A plastic surgeon saw her on Oprah and offered to treat her facial paralysis
served seven years in prison and became a porn star on
It has been more than 20 years since Mary Jo Buttafouco was propelled into the limelight after she was shot in the face by her husband's teenage lover.
Buttafouco was left disfigured, paralyzed and deaf in her right ear after the shocking attack by Amy Fisher, 17, dubbed the 'Long Island Lolita', at her New York home in May, 1992.
While Fisher was jailed for just seven years, and Buttafouco's husband Joey served four months for statutory rape of the then-minor, Mary Jo was left facing life-changing injuries.
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Before and after: Mary Jo Buttafouco was left paralyized from the shooting, left, and she is seen after treatment, right
Every time she looked in the mirror, she was reminded of that traumatic attack.
'It was very, very difficult,' she told KTLA. 'When you see somebody, the first thing you notice is their smile, and their face.'
Life began to change for Buttafouco, who still has the bullet lodged in her brain, after she appeared on Oprah in 2005 to talk about the shooting.
Los Angeles plastic surgeon Dr Babak Azizzadeh saw the segment and reached out to the victim offering to help.
'She felt very self-conscious about her looks and had lost much of her self confidence,' the Facial Paralysis Institute said in a statement.
Every time she looked in the mirror, she was reminded of that traumatic attack until she had surgery to repair her face
Other life: Mary Jo stayed married to her husband Joey Buttafouco for 10 years following the shooting until they finally divorced in 2003. They couple is seen here in 1995, left, and 1999, right
The lingering effect of the bullet is a constant pain in her head, similar to a perpetually-compacted wisdom tooth, she told AOL.
The first step was a state-of-the-art face lift on the paralyzed side to give the patient back her smile. Doctors were also able to widen the ear canal which improved her hearing and to prevent future infections.
After dozens of operations, the victim was finally given her smile back.
'I love the results,' Buttafouco said when she returned to Oprah to show off the results - flashing her new smile.
This coming Sunday, both Buttafouco and Dr Azizzadeh are participating in a walkathon in Long Beach to raise awareness for facial paralysis.
The 59-year-old became an unwilling part of a national sensation when Amy Fisher, then 17, shot her on the doorstep of her Long Island, New York, home in 1992.
Fisher began an affair with Mary Jo's husband Joey Buttafouco, after she took her car to his body shop in Long Island and asked him to fix it without her family finding out. She was 16 and an affair ensued.
On May 19, 1992, Fisher drove to Mary Jo's house and confronted her on her doorstep. When Mary Jo turned away, Fisher pulled out a gun and shot her.
Lolita to porn star: Amy Fisher served seven years in prison after she admitted to shooting Mary Jo. After her release, three children and a failed marriage, Fisher started stripping and acting in adult films
She then fled the scene.
After she was arrested, she pleaded guilty to second-degree assault. She served seven years in prison and was released in 1999.
Fisher, now 40 and divorced with three children, became a porn star in 2007 after several plastic surgeries, including breast enhancement.
She has since moved to Florida to work as a a stripper.
Mary Jo didn't divorce Joey until 2003 - though at that point they were living in different cities and each had separate romantic relationships.
She wrote a book about her experience in 2009 titled: 'Getting It Through My Thick Skull: Why I Stayed, What I Learned, and What Millions of People Involved with Sociopaths Need to Know.'
In 2012, Mary Jo Buttafouco married Stu Tendler, a Las Vegas print shop manager, in an elegant Las Vegas ceremony.
It's unknown if police got involved but the men are said to be injured
the other falls to the floor
One cyclist is hurled onto the bonnet
This is the shocking moment a driver ploughed into two cyclists simultaneously after failing to look when turning.
Dashcam footage from a car just behind the accident shows the cyclists wearing professional-looking kit peddling to the side of a road in Russia.
But as they cycle past a T-junction a blue Nissan can be seen turning left -apparently without looking at the road - and slams straight into the pair.
Dashcam footage from a car just behind the accident shows two cyclists wearing professional-looking kit peddling to the side of a road in Russia
But as they cycle past a T-junction a blue Nissan can be seen turning left -apparently without looking at the road
One of the cyclists is dramatically flung onto the car's bonnet while the other crashes onto the road.
The car then continues for a short distance before coming to a stop.
The dashcam manages to capture the angry cyclist who was on the bonnet demanding to know what the motorist thinks he was doing before the car filming drives off.
The driver of the car with the dashcam can be heard saying: 'Holy cow, what an utter moron he is.'
-The Nissan charges straight into the pair without seeming to make an effort to swerve
One of the cyclists is dramatically flung onto the car's bonnet - his bike flying into the air
The other crashes down onto the tarmac while the car continues driving
Neither cyclist suffered serious injuries thanks to their helmets.
It is unknown if the police were involved in the incident.
The driver of the car with the dashcam can be heard saying of the Nissan motorist: 'Holy cow, what an utter moron he is'
The dashcam manages to capture the angry cyclist who was on the bonnet demanding to know what the motorist thinks he was doing before the car filming drives off
One online commentator said of the alarming clip: 'I hope the cyclist punched him in the face real hard.'
Todays book is truly filled with Page Frights! Sea and Land: An Illustrated History of the Wonderful and Curious Things of Nature Existing Before and Since the Deluge, by James W. Buel (1849-1920), highlights some truly horrific creatures and plants, with colorful tales and an abundance of amazing illustrations. You can read about, and see images of, giant prehistoric and contemporary land, air and sea creatures, sometimes in battle with one another and sometimes battling humansincluding early man.
Some of the creatures covered and treated with illustrations read like a carnival of monstrosities: Animals not destructible by fire! The monster sea-elephant! The terrible water-spout! The sea-serpent of ancient legend! There are many gruesome tales, fables, and even ghost tales! We will highlight a few of Buels tales of monsters in nature, in his own words, with accompanying illustrations.
It is important to remember that this book is a reflection of the culture of its time, and scientific inquiry has yielded much more information about these species and helped demystify many of the myths and legends that are sensationalized in the book. Bearing that in mind, get ready for some fantastic and frightful tales and images!
The Tale of a Kraken Attacking a Ship!
Adventures with the Frightful Squid [Kraken]. Account below from Buels Sea and Land:
In olden times sailors were harassed by many groundless fears, superstitions being abundant and ignorance general. The early Spanish poetic chroniclers, who delighted in telling the story of Columbus voyages, invariably disfigured their narratives with miracles and wonders. In those days Jack, looking over the side of his vessel, was prepared to see anything, and to this willing disposition may be attributed the creation of mermaids, sea-serpents, grinning or winking monsters, and leviathans big enough to swallow a ship. There was the squid which, as the sepia octopus, we know in these days to be an extremely large and most diabolically unpleasant beast; but in the olden times this animal was reckoned to be larger than a cathedral, in proof of which the following story is recited:
A big ship was on the West African Coast; the men were getting the anchor, when a squid arose and wreathed its fearful snake-like limbs around the vessels spars. The tips of these limbs soared quaveringly high above the mastheads, and the weight of the cuttle drove the ship down on to her beam ends. Here now was a lively situation. The crew plied axes and knives, but in vain, whereupon they invoked the aid of their patron saint, Thomas. Eventually the wounded monster grew alarmed and sank, and the crew afterward, to commemorate their deliverance, marched in a body to the Church of St. Thomas, where subsequently there was hung up a painting, representing the unparalleled conflict. []
Pliny, the ancient, relates the history of an enormous cuttle-fish that haunted the coast of Spain and destroyed fishing ground. He asserts that this creature was finally captured, and weighed seven hundred pounds, and that its arms were thirty feet in length. As the cuttle-fish was esteemed by the ancients a most savory dish, the head of this formidable monster was given to Lucullas to whom it belonged rightfully by reason of his exalted rank (Buel, 1887, pp. 75-77).
Adventures with the Frightful Squid, also called Kraken (see image here)
A Giant, Man-Attacking Crab!
Monster Sea-Spiders. Account below from Buels Sea and Land:
From an article in a recent number of St. Nicholas, I condense the following interesting information about crabs:
Among the most remarkable, and the largest of crabs, is the Japanese sea-spider, highly esteemed in the Orient as an excellent article of food. Its principal claws are each five feet in length, measuring from ten to twelve feet between the tips of the nippers, and presenting an astonishing spectacle when entangled in the nets and hauled aboard the boats. With their slow, measured movements and the powerful weapons of defense, these crabs are the giants of the spiders of the sea. Professor Ward, who has collected them in Japan, states that they have a remarkable habit of leaving the water at night and crawling up the banks presumably to feed, and that there they are sought by the crab-hunters. A story is told of a party of fishermen who had camped out on a river bank, and one of whom aroused the others in the night by yells and screams. Running to the spot they found that one of these monster crabs, in wandering over the flats, had accidentally crawled over him with his great claws, frightening him almost to death (Buel, 1887, pp. 64-65).
Japanese Spider Crab (see image here)
The robber-crab, peculiar to the Samoan Islands. . .lives principally in the branches of the cocoanut tree. It exercises no little intelligence in getting at the fruit, which it accomplishes by carrying the nut to the very top of the tree, and then dashing it down with force enough to break the shell. A gentleman relates that upon an occasion, while he was walking in a Samoan forest, he saw a robber-brab reach down its claws from a thick palm branch and seize a goat by the ears that was passing underneath. So powerful was the crab that it lifted the goat almost clear from the ground (Buel, 1887, pp. 65, 67).
Robber-Crab lifting a goat off the ground (see image here)
A Horrifying Man-Eating Tree!
A Man-Eating Plant. Account below from Buels Sea and Land:
Travelers have told us of a plant, which they assert grows in Central Africa and also in South America, that is not contented with the myriad of large insects which it catches and consumes, but its voracity extends to making even humans its prey. This marvelous vegetable Minotauris represented as having a short, thick trunk, from the top of which radiate giant spines, narrow and flexible, but of extraordinary tenaciousness, the edges of which are armed with barbs, or dagger-like teeth. Instead of growing upright, or at an inclined angle from the trunk, these spines lay their outer ends upon the ground, and so gracefully are they distributed that the trunk resembles an easy couch with the green drapery around it. The unfortunate traveler, ignorant of the monstrous creation which lies in his way, and curious to examine the strange plant, or to rest himself upon its inviting stalk approaches without a suspicion of his certain doom. The moment his feet are set within the circle of the horrid spines, they rise up, like gigantic serpents, and entwine themselves about him until he is drawn upon the stump, when they speedily drive their daggers into his body and thus complete the massacre. The body is crushed until every drop of blood is squeezed out of it and becomes absorbed by the gore-loving plant, then the dry carcass is thrown out and the horrid trap set again.
A gentleman of my acquaintance, who, for a long time, resided in Central America,, affirms the existence of such a plant as I have here briefly described, except that instead of the filaments, or spines, resting on the ground he says they move themselves constantly in the air, like so many huge serpents in an angry discussion, occasionally darting from side to side as if striking at an imaginary foe. When their prey comes within reach the spines reach out with wonderful sagacity (if I may be allowed to apply the expression to a vegetable creature), and grasp it in an unyielding embrace, from whence it issues only when all the substance of its body is yielded up. In its action of exerting pressure upon its prey, this dreadful plant resembles the instrument used in the dark ages for inflicting a torturous death. It was made of two long iron cylinders, on the inside of which were sharp, projecting pikes. The victim was placed inside, and the two cylinders then brought forcibly together, thus driving a hundred or more of the pointed pikes into all parts of his body and producing a frightful death. Generally this inquisitorial instrument was made, somewhat crudely, to represent a woman, hence the name applied to it was The Maiden, by which it is still known.
Dr. Antonio Jose Marquez, a distinguished gentleman of the city of Barranguilla, in the United States of Colombia, in describing this wonderful plant to the author, affirms that when excited it violently agitates its long, tentacle-like stems, the edges of which, rasping upon each other, produce a hissing noise which resembles the Spanish expression, ya-te-veo, the literal translation of which is I see you. The plant is therefore known, in South America, by the name Yataveo (Buel, 1887, pp. 475-477).
The Man-Eating Tree (see image here)
Click here to read the book, and more of its frightful tales! Here are some wickedly monstrous illustrations to lure you to this special collection of Page Frights!
Sea Serpent (see image here)
Imagined battle between early man and Plesiosaurus (see image here)
Pterodactyl and sea dinosaurs (see image here)
What is your favorite image or story from todays #PageFrights book?
A nine months pregnant woman who went missing hours before she was scheduled to have labor induced in Texas has been found.
Jessica Van Raub was last seen Monday morning in the Humble area before she was scheduled to have labor induced by doctors at a hospital.
Police say the 37-year-old woman was found on Tuesday inside of a Walmart restroom. It's unclear if she has given birth or what condition she was in when she was found.
Hours after she disappeared, the woman's boyfriend and father of her unborn son, Jace Fellman, said she had left their home to go get gas and was supposed to return so they could go to the hospital together.
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Jessica Van Raub (above), a missing nine months pregnant woman who is due to give birth any day now in Texas, has been found, police say
Van Raub was last seen Monday morning in the Humble area before she was scheduled to have labor induced by doctors at a hospital. She was found Tuesday morning inside the restroom of a Walmart
'I want her back that's for sure, and I want my baby,' Fellman told KPRC.
'She seemed like she was OK, maybe a little nervous because she was older and going have a baby, but other than that, she seemed excited about it.'
The last post Van Raub shared on Facebook one day before she went missing she wrote: 'Come on Monday!!!'
The expectant mother also shared a meme that said 'I am so ready to have this baby'.
Fellman said they searched the area for Van Raub and checked several hospitals, but did not find her.
The last post Van Raub shared on Facebook (above) one day before she went missing she wrote: 'Come on Monday!!!'
Hours after she disappeared, the woman's boyfriend and father of her unborn son, Jace Fellman (above), said she had left their home to go get gas and was supposed to return so they could go to the hospital together
The SUV she was driving was found parked at the Davita Dialysis Center off 1960, but police said there was no sign of foul play or forced entry.
Van Raub is already a mother to two children and it's unclear if she has delivered the baby
In addition, the bag she had packed for the hospital was found inside the SUV that had not been filled up with gas.
Authorities and her family members were concerned about Van Raub's safety.
'Goal would be to cauterize this just enough so it plays out over the weekend and dies in the short term,' Merrill said
There the former secretary of state could 'address this seriously,' but the interview would also show the 'human side of HRC'
He thought Clinton should join her husband, who was sitting down with Comedy Central's Larry Wilmore at a Clinton Global
As the public was first becoming aware of Hillary Clinton's secret email server, one of her top aides had a 'crazy' idea on how to make it go away quickly.
Clinton's traveling press secretary Nick Merrill wrote an email to communications director Jennifer Palmieri suggesting that the presidential candidate sit down with Comedy Central's Larry Wilmore, who was already scheduled to appear with her husband at a Clinton Global Initiative event.
'HRC is not slated to join, but maybe she should,' Merrill mused.
'It would be just light-hearted enough while giving her the opportunity to address this seriously, but a little conciliatory as discussed, and then get back to a discussion about CGI etc.,' Merrill explained. 'Goal would be to cauterize this just enough so it plays out over the weekend and dies in the short term.'
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Hillary Clinton's (left) traveling press secretary Nick Merrill wanted her to appear with Comedy Central's Larry Wilmore (right) and explain why she used a private email server
Hillary Clinton, pictured campaigning in Ohio yesterday, had no interest in addressing her email scandal at a CGI event with her husband and comedian Larry Wilmore
Merrill's conversation with Palmieri, which was cc-ed to other top aides, was made available to the public through a hack of Podesta's emails, which were released through Wikileak's website earlier this week.
The traveling press secretary laid out his pop culture-centric plan five days after the New York Times broke the story that Clinton had been using an unsecured email server while working at the State Department.
In an email dated March 7, 2015, Merrill devised that Clinton should join her husband onstage two days later at the closing plenary session of CGI University that year.
'Wilmore could sit down with WJC and Chelsea and say something like "Thanks for having me here, it's a pleasure. And I should tell you, I just emailed HRC (I hear she's a big emailer), and asked if she'd join as well,"' Merrill spelled out.
He wrote out '(laughter)' in the correspondence to indicate that Wilmore's comment would be a joke.
Comedy Central host Larry Wilmore (left) ended up doing the event as originally planned, sitting down with just Bill Clinton (right)
'Then cue HRC walking onstage to applause,' Merrill continued. 'She could sit down, take advantage of the light-hearted environment to make things serious for a moment, and give a version of the statement, maybe with a follow-up or two, and then why would have the rest of the conversation.'
Merrill notes how Palmieri was open to the idea and mentioned another plan the staff had, to craft a letter to the State Department about the email matter that would serve as both a statement and a Q&A.
The letter would either be from Clinton to current Secretary of State John Kerry or from Cheryl Mills, Clinton's chief of staff when she had the job, to Jon Finer, who serves in the position under Kerry.
The letter, Palmieri explained in a previous email, 'would memorialize the process going forward and give us a venue to explain ourselves and provide q and a in less forced setting.'
Bill Clinton had his own controversies to address at the March 2015 CGI event, as he explained to comedian Larry Wilmore why the Clinton Foundation took foreign donations
'So in addition to getting the human side of HRC for the cameras, we'd have a set-the-record-straight piece to this that closes off that avenue of attack as well,' Merrill argued.
'It might be crazy, but it might also be the one-two punch we need right now,' he added.
The plan didn't come to fruition with Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin writing the others in an email to say the candidate 'does not want to address it in a q&a at a CGI panel.'
When Wilmore did eventually appear at the closing session of CGI University, he spoke solely to former President Bill Clinton, first asking about another uncomfortable Clinton topic the foundation's propensity to take foreign money.
'OK, I want to get the controversial thing out of the way first, I want to ask you about that,' Wilmore said to the ex-president once the two were seated onstage.
'There's been some talk about the foundation receiving some money from places, I think it was Saudi Arabia, ISIS, al-Qaeda, places like that,' the comedian said to laughs.
Bill Clinton chuckled too.
'We do get money from other countries and some of them are in the Middle East,' the ex-president said.
He pointed to the United Arab Emirates as an example.
'Do we agree with everything they do? No, but they're helping us fight ISIS,' he offered, additionally pointing to a university project the country helped out with.
Bill Clinton voiced his love and respect for wife Hillary Clinton on Twitter Tuesday morning to mark the couple's wedding anniversary.
The former president wrote on the social media site: '41 years ago I married my best friend and the finest changemaker Ive ever known. And yes, Im still in awe of her!'
His message of affection came a little over 24 hours after Donald Trump used his past infidelities to try and sink Hillary's campaign during their second debate.
Hillary has yet to publicly acknowledge their anniversary on social media.
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Big day: Bill Clinton voiced his admiration for wife Hillary on Twitter Tuesday to mark their wedding anniversary (couple above at their wedding in 1975)
Mesaage: 'Forty one years ago I married my best friend and the finest changemaker Ive ever known. And yes, Im still in awe of her!' said Bill
Debate guests: Three women who have accuses Bill of sexual assault - Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broadrrick, and Paula Jones - attended debate as Trump's guests (l t r: Jones, Willey, Broaddrick)
Trump held a press conference just 90 minutes before Sunday night's debate with three women who have accused Bill of sexual assault over the years.
The move came just two days after Trump was slammed for lewd comments he made about women in a 2005 interview with Access Hollywood.
Juanita Broaddrick, who claims she was sexually assaulted in a hotel room by Bill in 1978, was the first to speak at the conference, which was broadcast on Facebook Live.
'Mr Trump may have said some bad words, but Bill Clinton raped me, and Hillary Clinton threatened me. I don't think there's any comparison,' said Broaddrick.
She has also claimed in the past that Hillary insinuated that she should not speak of the alleged assault months later when they met at a campaign event.
Bill has denied her accusations, while Hillary has never addressed Broaddrick's claims.
Also in attendance was Kathleen Willey, a former White House volunteer who claims that Bill groped her when she asked for a paid position in his administration.
Bill denied the allegation, and an independent prosecutor later stated that there was no evidence that suggested Bill was lying when he said the alleged encounter never took place.
Paula Jones was also at the press conference.
The former Arkansas state worker, who was the most known of Bill's accusers prior to Monica Lewinsky, alleged that in 1991 Bill propositioned and exposed himself to her.
She filed a sexual harassment lawsuit that Bill's lawyers were unable to get dismissed, and in November 1998 he paid Jones $850,000 to settle the case.
Trump held a press conference just 90 minutes before Sunday night's debate with three women who have accused Bill of sexual assault over the years. Kathy Shelton (second from right) was raped at age 12 in a case in which Hillary was appointed to defend the attacker
Not true: Bill has denied the allegations made by the women, but did settle a sexual harassment case brought on by Jones for $850,000 (Hillary and Trump above at debate)
Hey ladies: Bill shakes hands with Melania Trump (left) and Ivanka Trump (right) at the debate
Twenty years: Bill has only admitted to having extramarital affairs with Monica Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers (Bill and Hillary celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary above)
The fourth woman, Kathy Shelton, was sexually assaulted at age 12 in a case in which Hillary was appointed to represent her attacker, then-41-year-old Thomas Alfred Taylor.
Shelton has accused Hillary of crossing ethical bounds in the case.
After the prosecution lost key evidence, Hillary's client entered a plea to a lesser charge.
In an interview a decade later, Hillary expressed horror at the crime, but at the same time was also recorded on tape laughing about procedural details of the case.
The four women attended the debate on Sunday immediately after the press conference.
Trump had asked that they be bale to sit in his family box, but that request was denied at the last second.
The Republican hopeful has continued to use the women and their stories on the campaign trial, saying on Monday during a rally in Pennsylvania: 'I was getting beaten up for 72 hours for inappropriate words, locker room talk, whatever you want to call it, but Bill Clinton has sexually assaulted innocent women and Hillary Clinton was attacking those women viciously.'
Waleed Aly has slammed a greyhound trainer who said the industry took care of the dogs.
Following on from New South Wales' premier Mike Baird's backflip to dump his controversial greyhound racing ban, The Project interviewed a trainer who said animal welfare and caring for dogs were a priority.
But host Aly wasn't having a bar of trainer Ken Burnett's comments after the man claimed the industry made animal welfare a priority.
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Waleed Aly (left) has slammed a greyhound trainer who said the industry took care of the dogs
Greyhound trainer Ken Burnett had told The Project his industry had animal welfare as a priority
Mike Baird will dump his controversial greyhound racing ban after the industry promised to clean up the sport
The Greyhound Racing Prohibition Act banned the practice from July 2017 and threatened anyone who conducted a race with a year in jail
Aly interrupted Mr Burnett, saying: 'Sorry mate, you can't say that. After What we've seen, you can't say animal welfare has always been a priority, it's fine, it's been going generally well.
'No, a significant proportion of the industry has been doing some horrific things for a long time. That's the starting point for this conversation'.
Mr Burnett responded by saying those responsible were a minority, rather than a majority, of the industry, and they'd be punished by a regulator.
Mr Baird will announce the backflip as early as Monday after a cabinet meeting, and begin overturning the law that passed parliament in August after the industry promised to clean up the sport.
Aly wasn't having a bar of trainer Ken Burnett's comments on Tuesday
Mr Baird's change of heart is based on that assurances that greyhounds will no longer be killed, and enacting tough new animal cruelty laws
The Greyhound Racing Prohibition Act banned the practice from July 2017 and threatened anyone who conducted a race with a year in jail.
Mr Baird's change of heart is based on that assurances that greyhounds will no longer be killed, and enacting tough new animal cruelty laws, according to the Daily Telegraph.
New animal cruelty penalties were said to include possible jail time.
The government is also investigating a number of allegations about the industry - including that senior officials at Greyhound Racing NSW were personally involved in live baiting, and that a grave containing more than 50 dead dogs was discovered new Tamworth, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
A Greyhound Alliance plan presented to government just before the ban was made into law included four guarantees.
There would be 'total life cycle management' for all greyhounds born into the industry, including dogs unable to race or that have retired.
Only 2,000 greyhounds would be bred for racing in NSW every year, plus strict racing standards to prevent injury to dogs.
A Greyhound Alliance plan presented to government just before the ban was made into law included four guarantees including a total ban on live baiting
The greyhound racing ban was prompted by a Special Commission of Inquiry report into the sport
Finally, anyone caught live baiting greyhounds would be banned for life, along with a general 'zero tolerance' approach to animal cruelty.
The greyhound racing ban was prompted by a Special Commission of Inquiry report into the sport that said thousands of dogs were killed ever year and live baiting was widespread.
'It wont be a green light (to) go back to where it was three months ago,' a source told the newspaper.
'Mike is about stopping animal cruelty. Basically they said we'll guarantee you no wastage".'
The policy change comes days before a report detailing a $30 million compensation package for the greyhound industry, with payments of $1,500 per dog, was due to be handed down.
It found thousands of dogs were killed ever year and live baiting was widespread
The policy change comes days before a report detailing a $30 million compensation package for the greyhound industry
Mr Baird had been under a lot of pressure since announcing the ban, which angered much of the Liberal Party's base voters.
It also threatened to tear apart the Liberal-National coalition as many rural Nationals voters were staunchly opposed to the ban.
Mr Baird's continued support for banning greyhound racing and its increasingly unpopular Sydney lockout laws have tanked his electoral support as well.
The latest NewsPoll revealed that Mr Baird's approval rating plummeted from 61 per cent to 39 per cent, and his dissatisfaction rate had more than doubled.
Two party preferred support for his government dropped from 56 per cent to 51 per cent, while Labor had a five per cent gain to 49 per cent.
Video shows a young girl, called Aya, caught up in bombing in Homs
Russian air strikes resumed in Aleppo following several days of calm
The youngster was pulled from rubble in Fardous neighbourhood
This is the incredible moment a young Syrian boy was found alive following Russian air strikes on a residential neighbourhood in Aleppo.
The youngster was pulled from the rubble by White Helmet rescue workers in the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the city.
Photographs show him being given oxygen by medical staff before he was taken to hospital.
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A young Syrian boy was rescued from the rubble by a member of the White Helmets following heavy air strikes on Aleppo
He was found in the debris following the attack on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood
The young boy was given oxygen by medical staff before being taken to hospital
Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least eight people were killed in the Bustan al-Qasr and Fardous neighbourhoods.
The number of air strikes were reduced in Aleppo last week, which the Syrian army claimed was in part to allow civilians to leave rebel-held neighbourhoods.
Another youngster affected by a bombing raid was recorded crying for her father as she was treated by medics.
Two Syrian boys cry after Russian jets resumed bombing after several days of relative calm
The youngsters are seen weeping as adults around them try to comfort them
A Syrian boy waits to receive treatment at hospital following the latest attacks
Covered in blood and with cuts to her head, the young girl called Aya repeatedly cries 'Baba', which is Arabic for daddy.
Doctors wipe away blood from young Aya's face and scalp after she was injured during bombing in Talbiseh in Homs.
The terrified young girl was caught up in air and mortar strikes on Monday, before she was rescued and taken to a field hospital for treatment.
According to activist-run Talbiseh News, the town was hit with four strikes on Monday, in which two civilians were killed and many more injured, including children and babies.
A young girl, called Aya, was injured during bombing in Talbiseh in Homs on Monday
The little girl looks around the room and calls out for her dad as she is treated medics
According to the news agency, Aya was later reunited with her father after she was treated in the medical centre.
The town of Talbiseh, which has a population of 84,000, has suffered heavy bombing in recent weeks, after a seven-day ceasefire last month came to an end.
In September aid was able to reach the war-ravaged town for the first time since July.
Talbiseh lies close to the Lebanese border, and two hours south of the partly rebel-held Aleppo.
The town was hit with four strikes on Monday, in which two civilians were killed and many more injured, including children and babies
Talbiseh lies close to the Lebanese border, and two hours south of war-torn Aleppo
A lowlife thief stole a blind woman's handbag while she was sat with her guide dog.
Police have released CCTV of the heartless crook, who was captured on cameras at a council office in Coventry, West Midlands, on the morning of September 9.
The victim, aged in her 20s, had been sitting in the waiting area of Broadgate House when the callous crook struck between 11am and 11.10am.
She was captured on cameras at a council office in Coventry, West Midlands, on the morning of September 9
Footage released by West Midlands Police shows the man walking up to the woman - whose guide dog is clearly visible in the CCTV - and sitting down next to her.
Officers say the suspect then swiped the bag before leaving the office and the victim only realised the bag had been taken when a member of staff came to speak to her.
Anyone with information is asked to call PC Michael Harkin on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
The victim, aged in her 20s, had been sitting in the waiting area of a council office in Coventry
A North Carolina state trooper searching for people trapped by flood waters in hard-hit Lumberton shot and killed an angry man who confronted officers while holding a gun, authorities said Tuesday.
Lt. Jeff Gordon identified the trooper as Sgt. J.F. Hinson, a 13-year veteran of the patrol.
According to Gordon, Hinson and two members of the Robeson County Sheriff's Office were driving through about 4 feet of water when they encountered the man on a road within a few hundred feet of Interstate 95 around 8pm Monday.
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety says the shooting happened in a flooded area of west Fifth Street
A statement said: 'The male became hostile towards the officers and displayed a handgun. After observing the handgun, the sergeant shot the man who succumbed to his injuries.'
The State Bureau of Investigation is not going to confirm the identity of the man until an autopsy's finished, WEC reported.
Colonel Bill Grey with the North Carolina Highway Patrol said in a statement: 'I am proud that our first responders were in the community rendering aid to our citizens.
Pictured is an aerial view of a neighborhood that was flooded after Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, North Carolina
'While we are saddened by any loss of life, I am thankful that our member and the Robeson County Sheriffs' deputies were not injured.'
The officers were in a Humvee and the shooting happened in 'very difficult circumstances,' Gov. Pat McCrory said at a Tuesday morning news conference.
'Tension can be high when people are going through very, very emotional circumstances,' the governor said, adding he had little additional information.
Gordon said Hinson has been placed on administrative leave, which is typical after a police shooting.
A mother whose face was melted in an unprovoked acid attack is using her experiences to help other survivors of trauma - and said she has grown to become thankful for her scars.
Ten years ago Karli Butler, 32, was the victim of a vicious attack made in retaliation against her then boyfriend that left her fighting for her life.
Her attackers poured acid over her body and she spent six and a half weeks in intensive car.
She endured third degree burns to 30 per cent of her body and was left with 70 per cent scarring and initially doctors feared for her life.
After waking up from her first surgery and catching her reflection in the mirror Ms Butler was so horrified she spiraled into depression.
However she came to 'love' her scars and accepted her transition from 'burns victim to burns survivor'.
She now hopes to help others drawing on the 'invaluable lessons' she learned from the traumatic experience.
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Karli Butler, 32, was the victim of a vicious attack in 2006 made in retaliation against her then boyfriend that left her fighting for her life
Ms Butler spent six weeks in the Intensive Care Unit recovering from third degree burns
Ms Butler described how she was initially 'angry' with the world but came to 'love my scars'
Ms Butler was first targeted by a gang in March 2006 in a revenge attack against her then boyfriend.
She escaped from the attempted kidnapping but in May she was attacked again - with much more serious consequences.
She was visiting her cousin in her hometown of Chicago when she was approached by two unfamiliar women as she returned to her car.
In the heinous act, her attackers poured acid over her body which left the skin falling off her face.
Recalling the terrifying ordeal she said: 'I took off running towards my car and they took off running towards me.
'I eventually made it into my car but one of them had a gun and she was trying to get it into the car.
'Eventually she got her hand in and she put her gun on my face and she said, "Do it again and I'll shoot you."
'I put my hands up immediately and I felt the splash. It was horrible - I can't even describe the pain.
'My eyes burned so badly my first reaction was to wipe and my eyes melted down and then I felt the second splash on my stomach.
'I remember just screaming and screaming and my skin falling off of my face.'
Ms Butler, pictured with her son Zailen, has refused to let the attack dominate her life
Ms Butler said: 'Going to sleep one person and waking up someone else is really difficult'
She was taken to hospital where medics battled desperately to save her life.
She spent six weeks in the Intensive Care Unit recovering from third degree burns.
When she first saw her reflection in the mirror she was horrified and immediately burst into tears.
She said: 'I woke up from my first surgery with my head completely shaven and I remember accidentally seeing my reflection in a mirror and it was ghastly.
'I didnt recognize myself. I immediately burst into tears.
'Going to sleep one person and waking up someone else is really difficult and there is no one can prepare you for something like that.'
As she recovered she came to realize beauty is 'much more than skin deep' and refused to let the attack dominate her life.
When she first saw her reflection in the mirror she was horrified and burst into tears
Ms Butler's charred trousers following the unprovoked acid attack a decade ago
Her bra was also burnt in the horrific attack in 2006 - she now hopes to inspire others
She explained: 'I was angry with the world. I was angry that I was scarred, I was angry that I was in pain, I was angry that my life had changed dramatically, but I was most angered by the fact that everyone else got to move on with their lives except me.
'That anger and resentment only dragged me down.
'Making the transition from burn victim to burn survivor has been a long journey, but I have learned invaluable lessons about who I am and my capabilities.'
She added: 'Before I was burnt I put so much of my worth into how I looked in my physical appearance. My definition of beauty has definitely changed.
'Beauty is much more than skin deep and I love my scars, I always say I love my stripes. I wouldn't change anything.'
Ms Butler even reached out to her attacker in jail - but did not receive any reply
Ms Butler is now drawing on her ordeal to help others who have experienced trauma and abuse.
She said: 'I'm in a really great place in my life, I'm now working as a social service provider with young women.
'I have an amazing four-year-old son and my experiences are actually bringing a lot of amazing opportunities to my life that I otherwise don't think I would have.
'I'm thankful for everything, I'm thankful for my scars, I'm thankful for the trauma that has ultimately shaped who I am.'
She added: 'Before I was burnt, I put so much of my worth into how I looked in my physical appearance.
'Now I realize that beauty is something else altogether and I want to use my experiences to be an advocate.'
Ms Butler is using her experiences to help other survivors overcome trauma
Due to a lack of sufficient evidence, only one of her attackers, Nicole Baker, was ever brought to justice.
She was sentenced to 15 years in prison for heinous battery.
In an incredible show of forgiveness Ms Butler reached out to her attacker in jail - but her generous attempts of reconciliation were rebuffed.
She said: 'I was angry, I was hurt and also confused about why they do something so heinous, but all that negative energy was negatively impacting my own life.
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Sometimes the most impressive talent comes from the most ordinary people, as one Chinese builder proves.
Shi Shenwei, a brick carrier from central China, has stunned the social media with his super-toned body and incredible fitness routine.
By filming himself pulling off eye-opening stunts on scaffolding, the 23-year-old man has transformed himself from a construction worker transporting 4,000 bricks a day to an online sensation attracting more than one million screaming fans.
Shi Shenwei pulls a wheelbarrow at the construction site of a Buddhist temple in Huangshan village, near Quanzhou, China
The 23-year-old man, better known as 'brick carrier Xiao Wei', is a social media star with more than one million followers
Shi became famous for filming himself doing pull-ups and push-ups on constructions sites before sharing the footage online
Shi, a brick carrier from central China, has stunned the social media with his super-toned body and incredible fitness routine
By filming himself working out, Shi is no longer just a construction worker transporting 4,000 bricks a day
Shi, better known as 'brick carrier Xiao Wei', is a typical farm-to-fame social media star thanks to the quick popularisation of smartphones in rural China.
Born in a small village near the city of Daye in Hubei Province, the 5ft 5in man grew up in a family of construction workers, according to a report by cnhubei.com.
Most people from his village, Long Jiaoshan, make a living by constructing fake ancient buildings in big Chinese cities.
Internet changed Shi's life for the first time when he was studying at middle school in his hometown - he became obsessed with online gaming.
The muscular man said in an interview with China Youth Daily that he was so addicted to the 'digital heroin' that he would play video games non-stop from 8pm to 6am every day in some of his teenage years.
He said when he was studying at a boarding school, aged around 15, he and his 11 roommates would sneak out of their dormitory at midnight to play games at a nearby internet cafe.
Self-taught fitness fanatic Shi performs a high bar routine on a scaffolding at the construction site near Quanzhou city
Born in a small village near the city of Daye in Hubei Province, the 5ft 5in man grew up in a family of construction workers
Sweat runs down the temple of Shi Shenwei as he works at the construction site of a Buddhist temple in Huangshan village
Smartphone has changed the fate of Shi after he used it to film himself working out and to upload the footage to social media
Shi Shenwei hands a bucket of cement to a colleague in the shell of a Buddhist temple in the village of Huangshan
Having graduated from middle school, timid Shi followed his carpenter uncle, Shi Lijia, to work on construction sites in cities. He was paid 2,000 yuan (243) a month for transporting bucket after bucket of cement by hand.
'Whenever I was working, doing some sort of small jobs at the construction site, I felt extremely tired. I couldn't take it,' Shi said.
Shi became determined to make a name for himself when his girlfriend broke up with him four years ago because he was too poor, he recalled.
The hard-working man wanted to turn over a new leaf.
He said: 'I wanted to change myself. On the internet I saw a workout video and I thought that person did a great routine.'
So Shi followed suit.
Last spring, Shi posted a video of him doing handstand push-ups onto Kuaishou, a video-sharing platform in China.
The footage was heavily promoted by the app gathering thousands of fans for Shi daily - his fate was once again changed by the internet.
Shi (left) listens to his uncle and boss Shi Lijia (right) in an old farm house that serves as dormitory for workers in Huangshan
Shi pushes a wheelbarrow of bricks at the construction site. The man says he transports 3,000 to 5,000 bricks a day
Shi's co-workers says he works out everyday when other were having lunch or had gone back to the dormitory
Shi and and a colleague fill a wheelbarrow with bricks at the construction site in Fujian's Huangshan village
During a work break, Shi performs a high bar routine on a scaffolding at the construction site in Huangshan village
Shi's quick rising to fame is partially caused by the popularisation of smartphones in rural China. He is seen using his phone
Raindrops run down the back of Shi Shenwei as he works at the construction site carrying thousands of bricks a day
With his lean build and six pack, Shi has now attracted 1.1 million followers on Kuaishou, and has already been invited to perform on several major Chinese talent shows.
Using the building site around him as his playground, the young migrant worker does not require the formal equipment one might find at an average gym - instead, bricks serve as dumbbells and the maze of scaffolding as high bars.
In one recently filmed footage, Shi was seen swiftly pulling himself up onto the scaffolding during a lunch break.
He swung into action, performing a high-bar routine in front of his dutiful cousin, who filmed from multiple angles using various smartphones.
'While other people are eating and singing karaoke, I'm whole-heartedly focused on what I want to do,' Shi said.
Shi said his trademark combination of flips, jumps, and stands were all self-taught, and mostly imitations of videos he had seen online.
Mobile phones are piled up at a construction site in Huangshan village to be used to record a high bar routine of Shi
Shi yawns after waking up in a colleague's room in an old farm house doubled up as the workers' dormitory in Huangshan
Fitness trainer Bi Zhenbo looks at a video of a high bar routine by Shi Shenwei at a gym in Beijing, China
Shi and his grandmother prepare breakfast in the kitchen of an old farm house that serves as dormitory in Huangshan
Shi and his colleagues and family members eat dinner in the yard of an old farm house where they use as their dormitory
Shi said his trademark combination of flips, jumps, and stands were all self-taught. He is seen brushing his teeth in his dorm
His colleagues, many of whom were relatives, said Shi was unlike anyone else they had seen; and that he worked out when other were having lunch or had gone back to the dormitory.
His 55-year-old carpenter uncle and boss, Shi Lijia, said: 'You can put it this way - exercise is a good thing, this way you can keep your body fit.'
He added: 'But working out at a construction site? Most places don't allow this... Most people wouldn't (do this) - it's too dangerous.'
In China, the major upsurge of internet broadcast apps and the availability of smart phones has led to the discovery of talents like Shi, who has gained admiration from gymnasts, fitness junkies and bodybuilders alike.
Shi edits a video of his workout routine on his phone before uploading it onto Kuaishou, a video-sharing site
Shi uses his phone in a colleague's room in an old farm house in the village of Huangshan near his construction site
A 54-year-old hiker survived an encounter with two bears in the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles on Monday, authorities said.
Dan Richmond said he was pretty freaked out when he saw the first bear but then ended up trapped when another hurtled towards him on Mount Wilson trail in the Angeles National Forest.
He described how he first screamed as loud as he could in a bid to scare the creatures away which stopped one in its tracks but then the other attacked.
Richmond said he then stayed as still as he could while his neck was in the bears grip and escaped the encounter with injuries that arent life-threatening.
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Dan Richmond (above) described how he survived an encounter with two bears from his hospital bed on Monday
He said that in the initial encounter, at around 10.45am, the first bear stood up and was taller than him. He is 5ft 11.
As they eyed each other, the second bear came out of nowhere and attacked, knocking him down.
I saw this bear standing on its hind legs and Id never seen a bear in person before, so I was pretty freaked out, Richmond told KTLA.
I turn around and theres another bear coming out towards me. At that point, I was trapped.
Richmond said yelling made one of the bears move back around five or six feet, and he considered running but then the other bear attacked.
It's hard to imagine until one attacks you and you just feel the strength of its jaws and its body, he said.
Richmond said he was pretty freaked out when he saw the first bear but then ended up trapped when another hurtled towards him on Mount Wilson trail
The hiker had been on the Mount Wilson trail in the Angeles National Forest when the bears approached him. Above, the scene after the attack
The bear grabbed his wrist, but then clamped its jaw around his neck and he responded by remaining as still as he possibly could.
'He grabbed my wrist. Grabbed my upper leg. He actually put his mouth around my neck. And I just stayed really, really still,' Richman said.
'I just didn't move. I just stayed silent. I was down on my hands and knees, and I was perfectly still because it was the only chance that I had.'
Eventually, the bear relaxed its grip on Richmond and he said he was able to get up and walk away.
When the creatures were out of sight, he ran as fast as he could down the mountain.
Richmond suffered multiple lacerations, with injuries in the back of his head, neck, legs and upper torso, said Sierra Madre Police Chief Larry Giannone in a news conference.
He also suffered a partial head injury after falling backwards when the bear attacked him.
He sustained what we'd know as a pretty good bear attack, Giannone said.
He noted that bear attacks in the area were very rare.
Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will try to locate the bear, and if it's captured it will be destroyed for public safety under department policy
The pair appeared to be a mother and cub, the police chief said.
Bears in the area usually run away when they see people, he said, CBS LA reported.
Richmond was taken to Methodist Hospital in Arcadia for treatment for non-life-threatening cuts, scratches and possible puncture wounds, Andrew Hughan, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
He was in satisfactory condition on Monday night and was to be kept at the hospital overnight for observation, officials said.
The attack occurred in the Angeles National Forest, two miles north of the city of Sierra Madre's Bailey Canyon Wilderness Park.
Fish and Wildlife will try to locate the bear, and if it's captured it will be destroyed for public safety under department policy.
We can't have animals attacking people, Hughan said.
The attack occurred in the Angeles National Forest (above, file photo), two miles north of the city of Sierra Madre's Bailey Canyon Wilderness Park
There was no immediate threat to the community of Sierra Madre because the attack occurred so far outside town, but the wilderness park and a popular trail to landmark Mount Wilson were closed.
There are usually three or four minor bear attacks around California each year, but this was the second such attack in the same general vicinity of the Angeles National Forest in recent months, officials said.
"They typically are non-aggressive," said Chief Larry Giannone, director of public safety for the Sierra Madre police and fire departments.
"We've had officers that have walked right by them."
The forest sprawls over more than 1,000 square miles of the mountain range sprawling north and east of Los Angeles.
Jeremy Corbyn is facing demands to disown his 'disgraceful' top aide after he sparked fury by comparing British bombing of ISIS to Russian atrocities in Syria.
Spokesman Seumas Milne complained that the focus on horrors in Aleppo was 'diverting attention' from the consequences of Western military action.
He also suggested people should be protesting outside the US embassy in London rather than Moscow's embassy.
Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman complained that the focus on horrors in Aleppo was 'diverting attention' from the consequences of Western military action
The controversial comments came at a briefing after PMQs in the Commons today
The extraordinary outburst came after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson condemned war crimes linked to Vladimir Putin's forces and urged protests against Russian involvement in Syria's civil war.
It was quickly condemned by Labour moderates, who branded Mr Milne a 'Putin apologist' and a 'disgrace'.
Former frontbencher John Woodcock said: 'By any reasonable measure this is just not true.
'This absurdity seems like a deliberate provocation, unworthy of our leader and our party.'
Residents of rebel-held Aleppo hunt for survivors yesterday. The city has been under intense bombardment by Bashar Assad's Russian-backed forces
A child waits for treatment at a makeshift hospital after an airstrike on a residential neighbourhood yesterday
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Wednesday that Tuesday's bombings killed 25, while others put the death toll at 41
Brendan Cox, widower of Labour MP Jo Cox, who campaigned for an end to the bloodshed in Syria, said: 'This isn't just wrong, it's absolutely disgraceful.'
Milne's comments come as bombs continue to fall on Aleppo, where up to 41 people including five children were killed yesterday.
Rescue workers continued to search for survivors and bodies under a collapsed building in the al-Fardous neighborhood, after pulling at least one boy alive from under the rubble late on Tuesday night.
Seumas Milne is Jeremy Corbyn's closest aide and spokesman
The bombardment has continued today, prompting Pope Francis to call for an 'immediate ceasefire'.
Former shadow defence minister Kevan Jones described Milne's comments as 'completely outrageous'.
He told MailOnline: 'To compare the rule based intervention by the UK in Syria against Russian bombing, including the use of bunker busting bombs to target innocent civilians.
'Jeremy Corbyn should completely distance himself from this. It will further alienate decent, ordinary people who are put off voting Labour by someone who is clearly an apologist for Putin and his regime.'
Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake demanded Mr Corbyn confirm whether he agreed with the remarks.
'It is ludicrous for Labour to suggest it sides with Putin over Obama,' he said.
'To only ever point the finger at the West is puerile politics not serious international diplomacy.
'Jeremy Corbyn must clarify immediately if this is his party's official position.'
A young Syrian boy was rescued from the rubble by a member of the White Helmets following heavy air strikes the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood yesterday
An injured Syrian boy cries as bombs continue to fall in the city of Aleppo
An baby gets treatment at a field hospital following an airstrike on a residential area in the Bustan Al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo yesterday
At a briefing for journalists this afternoon, Mr Milne was asked whether there was a moral equivalence between US-led action and Russian action in Syria.
'The focus on Russian atrocities or Syrian army atrocities, which is absolutely correct, sometimes diverts attention from other atrocities that are taking place,' he said.
'Independent assessments are that there have been very large scale civilian casualties as a result of US-led coalition bombing.
'There are several cases of large numbers of civilian deaths in single attacks and there hasn't been so much attention on those atrocities.
A wounded boy in hospital following the air strikes. Up to 41 people, including five children, were killed in Aleppo yesterday
A Syrian man carries a wounded baby in his arms at a field hospital in the war-ravaged city
Syrians inspect the damage following a Russian airstrike on the opposition-controlled Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo
Aleppo is being reduced to rubble under bombardment by Syrian and Russian air forces with the damage, pictured last week, clear from the air
'Both the US and British authorities have been reluctant to accept any independent assessment of those.'
Asked if the UK was as culpable as Russia, Mr Milne said: 'We are not in the business of allocating blame on the whole thing. Russia's intervention in the civil war has been opposed by Jeremy from the start and the intervention of foreign powers in the conflict has no doubt escalated and fuelled it throughout.'
Pressed on whether that meant people should protest outside the US embassy instead of Russia's, the spokesman replied: 'People are free to protest outside the intervening powers' embassies and there are a number of them not just the United States and Russia, but multiple foreign interventions.'
The Stop the War coalition, which is closely linked to Mr Corbyn, has blasted Mr Johnson for 'trivialising' the debate over the brutal war in Syria by demanding protests outside the Russian embassy in London - insisting a protest would whip up 'jingoism'.
Former frontbencher John Woodcock, top, and Jo Cox's widower Brendan both condemned the comments on Twitter
Russian diplomats have hit out at Mr Johnson over his remarks in yesterday's debate, claiming on social media they were 'ashamed' for him.
Ex-MI6 chief Sir John Sawers was also critical of Mr Johnson, warning protests outside the Russian embassy in London could provoke retaliatory action outside the British embassy in Moscow.
Mr Johnson used his Commons debut as Foreign Secretary to ramp up political pressure on Russia, warning Moscow it risked becoming a 'pariah' state over its aerial bombardment of rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
He opened the door to discussion on a no-fly zone in Syria despite warning of the risk of direct conflict between British and Russian aircraft.
The Commons debate saw MPs compare the brutal bombing of Aleppo with Guernica, Nazi bombing of Spain during the civil war in the country in 1937.
Boris Johnson, pictured at the Commons despatch box today, wants demonstrations to take place outside Russia's embassy over Moscow's involvement in the Syrian conflict
Mr Johnson used his speech to open discussion on a no-fly zone over Syria but warned those who back it must confront the dangers of having British and Russian aircraft facing each other
MPs wrestled with what Britain should now do about the war, which has raged for more than five years. The Commons voted against a military action after Assad used chemical weapons in 2013, halting an international plan for humanitarian intervention.
Stop the War vice chairman Chris Nineham said the organisation would not stage any demonstrations at the Russian embassy.
'The reason for that is our focus is on what our Government is doing,' he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
Mr Johnson gave MPs a cautious response as he faced demands for a no-fly zone over Aleppo yesterday
'There's a very good reason for this, because we can make a difference to what Britain does, we can make a difference to what our allies do to a certain extent and we have done.
'But, if we have a protest outside the Russian embassy it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference as to what (President Vladimir) Putin does because we are in Britain and were are in the West.
'And, not only that - a protest outside the Russian embassy would actually contribute to increasing the hysteria and the jingoism that is being whipped up at the moment against Russia.'
He added: 'What we are saying is there is a hysteria which is being organised by politicians and the media against Russia to see Russia as the only problem in Syria.'
Mr Nineham said the Foreign Secretary's calls for demonstrations were 'characteristically trivialising'.
After Mr Johnson's speech, Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, posted on Facebook: 'It appears that Boris Johnson has moved from words to actions and has used the weapon with which he threatened Russia shame. We certainly are ashamed for him.'
In a series of Twitter posts, the embassy's account said Mr Johnson's demand for protests was 'unusual' and accused the Foreign Secretary of failing to produce any evidence of alleged Russian atrocities.
In a further message to the Ministry of Defence: 'What have you achieved so far? Russia's record on Syria is thousands of freed villages, thousands of tons of humanitarian aid. What's Britain's?'
Mr Johnson's claims were dismissed tonight by the official Twitter account of Russia's London embassy - insisting it was a 'very unusual call' from the Foreign Secretary
The embassy claimed Britain had produced no evidence of atrocities committed by Russian aircraft in Syria
Sir John, who ran MI6 until November 2014, told the BBC: 'I think we all have to be a little bit careful and mindful of the security of our embassy in Moscow when we think about calling for demonstrations here in London.
'Yes there is a value in demonstrating clearly through governments and popularly the opposition to some of the tactics being used in Aleppo but I don't think it's actually going to change the course of events.'
He warned the West's failure to intervene in Syria in 2013, when the Assad regime used chemical weapons, had been proven by events to be a mistake.
Sir John said: 'We vacated the theatre and the Russians have moved in.'
He added: 'Yes it certainly was a mistake I mean chemical weapons were being used against the people, civilians, in Damascus by their own regime.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, pictured with Turkish President Recep Erodgan in Istanbul this week, has been condemned by MPs from across parties
'We have upheld the taboo against use of chemical weapons and we failed to uphold it on this occasion.'
In his speech, Mr Johnson told the Commons: 'It is the UK week after week that is taking the lead together with our allies in America and in France, all the like-minded nations, in highlighting what is happening in Syria to a world where, I'm afraid, the wells of outrage are growing exhausted.'
He added: 'There is no commensurate horror, it seems to me, amongst some of those anti-war protest groups.
'I'd certainly like to see demonstrations outside the Russian embassy. Where is the Stop The War Coalition at the moment? Where are they?'
The war in Syria has escalated since efforts to reach a ceasefire collapsed in September.
Syria and its ally Russia subsequently launched their biggest offensive on the city of Aleppo's rebel-held sectors.
The air strikes have drawn widespread condemnation, including calls from France and the United States for an investigation into war crimes they say have been committed by Syrian and Russian forces.
A Syria Civil Defence volunteer was pictured carrying an injured man away from a bombing in the besieged city last week
A wounded girl is carried from the rubble of buildings following a barrel bomb attack on the Bab al-Nairab neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo
The Commons debate on the war in Syria heard comparisons between the Russian bombing in Aleppo to the devastating Nazi bombing of Guernica in Spain in 1936, pictured
McDonald's says Ronald McDonald is keeping a low profile with reports of creepy clown sightings on the rise.
McDonald's Corp. said Tuesday that it is being 'thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald's participation in community events' as a result of the 'current climate around clown sightings in communities'.
Ronald McDonald waves to the crowd during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in a November 2015 photo. McDonald's says Ronald McDonald is keeping a low profile with reports of creepy clown sightings on the rise
The company did not provide any other details about how often its red-haired mascot makes appearances, and how that will change.
McDonald's did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The burger chain's decision comes after a rash of pranks around the country that have involved eerie clown sightings.
The reports have forced police in some areas to respond.
The company did not provide any other details about how often its red-haired mascot makes appearances, and how that will change (file)
The clown sightings started around Greenville, South Carolina, in August, when police received reports of clowns standing silently by roadsides, near laundries and trying to lure children into the woods with bags of cash and green laser lights.
It is unclear what started the craze, although some have suggested it may be part of a horror movie publicity stunt or an elaborate hoax, and there have been similar reports sightings in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The recent craze led best-selling U.S. horror author Stephen King, whose 1986 novel It tells the story of a supernatural being that appears as a clown, to appeal for anti-clown sentiment to be tempered.
'Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria - most of 'em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh,' King wrote on his Twitter website last week.
Suspect: Shane O'Brien is believed to be in Dubai using a false identity, police have revealed
A suspected killer who fled to Dubai has used a false identity and is being helped to avoid capture, police have said.
Shane OBrien, 28, is suspected of killing 21-year-old Josh Hanson in an unprovoked knife attack in a bar in Hillingdon, west London, a year ago today.
A 20,000 reward is on offer for information leading to his arrest and prosecution.
It is believed that O'Brien travelled to the Netherlands in the wake of Josh's death, but police now believe he is in Dubai.
Joshs mother Tracey, who with her daughter Brooke is fighting for justice for her son, called on anyone who can help track O'Brien down to contact police.
She said: 'While we try to do all we can to leave a positive legacy for Josh we have the extremely painful and heartbreakingly sad reality that Josh is no longer a part of our family.
'Every second, minute or hour of the day that passes is filled with the pain that we have still not had the justice for Josh that he so rightly deserves.
'Brooke, myself, our family, friends and the many thousands of people who help us daily ask you to come forward if you have any information which would lead to an arrest.
'No matter how small you think this information may be we beg you to get in touch with the Met Police or Crimestoppers and help us put an end to the nightmare we are living with every day and have been for the last 12 months.'
The family are running the Justice For Josh Hanson campaign on social media and are also working to try to prevent knife crime.
Victim: Josh Hanson was stabbed to death in a busy wine bar in west London a year ago today
Josh, from Kingsbury, north-west London, died after he was stabbed in the neck at the RE Bar in the early hours of October 11 2015.
It is thought there were around 40 people in the bar at the time of the attack.
In March O'Brien was thought to be on the run in the Netherlands, but has since travelled to the United Arab Emirates.
Josh Hanson was stabbed in the neck in The RE Bar a year ago today
Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh said: 'OBrien was quickly named as someone we urgently needed to trace and we have tracked his movements across Europe and then to Dubai where we believe he still is.
'Clearly he is being helped by others to evade police and has the ability to move around without using his own identity, but we have a substantial reward available for anyone who can provide information that brings him before the courts.
'If you know anything - even if you think your information is small and insignificant - please come forward.
'Joshs family have been so strong but they need to see the person who killed him brought to justice. As time goes on they are finding the situation desperately difficult and we really need the publics help to find OBrien.'
OBrien, originally from Ladbroke Grove, is white, 6ft, with grey eyes and short, dark brown hair, and has a tattoo on his back that says 'Shannon 15-04-06'. He may use the name Troy OBrien.
These amazing images capture the moment a skydiver flew over an incredibly rare circular rainbow.
This breathtaking sight was photographed by Anthony Killeen as he was freefalling above the Bay of Islands in New Zealand.
The 29-year-old from the UK saw the stunning optical phenomenon on his very first skydive.
Adventuring Anthony Killeen captured the incredibly rare sight of a stunning circular rainbow as he was skydiving. Ordinarily only half of a rainbow is visible from ground level. He described the lucky sighting as 'amazing'
The ring of colours framed the picturesque landscape below in an amazing spectacle.
Rainbows are all circular in theory, but are usually only half-visible from visible from ground level.
Catching a rare glimpse of a fully circular rainbow requires the viewer to have a more extreme vantage point, and good timing.
Mr Killeen said: I honestly cant think of a better word to describe it other than amazing.
The optical phenomenon of the circular rainbow frames the landscape below. To see the full circle requires the observer to take an extreme vantage point, so the sunlight illuminating water particles will be both below and above them, lighting up a circle rather than the normal arc seen from ground level
The 29-year-old Anthony Killeen, from the UK, had travelled to New Zealand in 2011 to backback across the country. He witnessed the amazing natural spectacle on his very first skydive
Many skydivers never see the sight of a full rainbow, or see them only while passing in a plane. Few are lucky enough to freefall towards to the colourful display. Anthony Killeen can be seen exiting the plane, unaware of what he was about to see
We came out of the cloud and I caught the first glimpse of the rainbow and within a few seconds my skydiving instructor pulled the parachute.
It jerks you around for a few seconds and I was frantically trying to spot the rainbow again. We steadied ourselves and caught it all on camera.
The number of flights between Britain and China are to more than double under a new deal struck in London today.
The current cap of 40 passengers flights each way is to be lifted to 100 and British airlines will now be able to plan routes to any Chinese airport - rather than just six today.
Cargo flights between Britain and China will now be unrestricted.
The Government hailed the new deal as a boost for 'Global Britain' as the UK begins the process of negotiating Brexit from the EU.
Flights between Britain and China - including to Beijing Airport, pictured, are set to increase after a deal was struck to lift the daily cap of 40 planes each day to 100
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'This deal is a big moment for the UK. Strong connections with emerging markets like China are vital for us if we are to continue competing on the global economic stage.
'Hundreds of thousands of Chinese people visit the UK every year, spending hundreds of millions of pounds.
'Raising the number of permitted flights between the two countries will provide massive opportunities for our businesses, helping increase trade, create jobs and boost our economy up and down the country.'
Aviation Minister Lord Ahmad said: 'I am delighted that talks between the UK and China have concluded successfully as a result of which flight limits will be increased, thereby enabling airlines to operate more services between the two countries.
'These new arrangements will further strengthen British - Sino relations.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, pictured at last week's Conservative conference, said the new deal was vital to growth in post-Brexit Britain
'Post Brexit, improving trade links with key markets such as China will boost exports and tourism, as well as helping create jobs and strengthening our local economies.
'This deal demonstrates that the UK is very much open for business.'
Relations between China and Britain's new government had appeared under strain in the summer after Theresa May paused a major deal for a new nuclear power station over national security concerns.
Ex-Prime Minister David Cameron pushed for close relations with Beijing despite concern from some quarters.
Mrs May had her first talks with President Xi Jinping at the G20 in September to smooth over the delay at the Hinkley Point deal was eventually signed last month.
A Vodafone customer claims he was told by a call centre worker to get off his 'dangerous' Galaxy Note 7 amid fears it would 'blow his head off'.
Dave Herron said he called his network provider to request a replacement handset after reading about the issues affecting the Note 7 smartphone.
Samsung has stopped production of the device for 'consumer safety' amid reports of the phone's batteries overheating and bursting into flames.
The decision to scrap the handset, seen as a serious rival to the iPhone 7, is expected to cost the company more than 13billion in lost sales.
However, customers also fear they will lose out with some reporting they are still being charged monthly by their provider despite not being able to use their handset.
Samsung has axed the Galaxy Note 7, stopping production of the smartphone, pictured
Mr Herron told MailOnline he is still forking out 65 a month for his contract with Vodafone despite the fact he cannot use his Note 7 for fear of it catching alight.
He hit out at the network provider's handling of the situation, describing its customer service as 'worst abysmal and at best laughable'.
He said: 'I have spent over three hours on the phone trying to get an exchange.
'My first call to them this morning was despicable. I got through to the returns department and said I would like to return my phone because of the new issue which had arisen. The representative knew nothing of the issues which in itself is disgraceful.
'I tried to order a new phone but they said I had to wait a few days for their system to update. All Vodafone wanted to do was to blame Samsung.
'I acknowledged it was Samsung's fault but as my provider I wanted them to sort me a replacement handset from a different manufacturer, which they were refusing to do.'
He said he then became alarmed when he was told by the Vodafone call centre worker to get off his Galaxy Note 7 because his 'head would be blown off'.
He added: 'I was told to power down the handset and not use again. When I asked if they would still be charging my bill of 65 per month he advised they would. I was then asked if I was calling from my Note 7. I was and the operator then refused to speak to me any further in case he got injured by the imminent explosion.
Customers whose devices spontaneously set on fire have shared their pictures since the first incidents were reported in August. Above: An exploding handset, not belonging to Mr Herron
'He also said I should cease the call immediately as my head would be blown off.
'He then ended the call by saying I was stupid for using a dangerous device, he didn't want to be injured and my head was about to explode.'
Summing up his treatment by Vodafone, he moaned: 'Their service has been disgraceful. I am stuck with a handset I shouldn't be using but Vodafone will not provide a solution.'
The Galaxy Note 7 became mired soon after it went on sale on August 19 after purchasers reported that the batteries had overheated and burst into flames.
On September 2, the company announced a global recall of 2.5m Note 7s in 10 markets including the United States and China.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 Firstly, power it off and don't use it. Samsung is offering a full refund on the Galaxy Note 7 or a replacement for another phone. Customers are advised to contact their mobile operator to arrange a replacement or refund. 'We are encouraging customers to contact their operator or retailer to discuss their options which includes exchanging for an alternative device or a refund. We are encouraging all customers to power down the device and return it as soon as possible,' Samsung said in a statement. Viable alternatives for a Note 7 in the Samsung range include the Galaxy S7 Edge or the older Note 5 model. For customers who wish to get their money back and move to a different smartphone company altogether, the Google Pixel and iPhone 7 have been suggested as good replacements. Advertisement
Some 50,000 Note7 handsets have been activated in Europe with around 17,000 of these in Britain.
Customers were initially offered replacement handsets after being assured the battery problem had been resolved. However, there were further reports of fires linked to these new Note 7 phones.
The company stopped selling the device after finding that even the supposedly safer replacements it was providing for recalled Note 7 phones were catching fire.
The South Korean company is the biggest electrical products manufacturer in the world and a reputation for making safe products is vital to its future sales and success.
As a result, it has decided to kill off the Note 7 rather than risk being labelled as a business that puts profit before customer safety.
The company said: 'Putting consumer safety as top priority, we have reached a final decision to halt production of Galaxy Note7s.
'For the benefit of consumers' safety, we stopped sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 and have consequently decided to stop production.'
In response to Mr Herron's claims, a Vodafone UK spokesman told MailOnline: 'Samsung has now confirmed to Vodafone that they will be discontinuing the Galaxy Note 7 with immediate effect due to safety concerns.
'We strongly advise that customers with Note 7s power down their device and stop using it immediately.
'We will now be offering alternative replacement devices to all Note 7 customers, whether they have the old or replacement device. We will be contacting all Note 7 customers to discuss alternative devices with them.
'At this stage we are not aware of incidents involving Vodafone Note 7 customers with original or replacement devices.'
Samsung says customers with original Note 7 devices or replacements they obtained after the recall should turn off the power and seek a refund or exchange them for different phones.
Have you had issues with your Samsung Galaxy Note 7 or your network provider? Email emma.glanfield@mailonline.co.uk
Now faces 17 years in jail along with husband and two other armed dealers
She was arrested after police raid revealed her links to
with her underwear in
A drug-dealing primary school teacher has been jailed for 17 years after a deadly arsenal was found in her knicker drawer.
Aqsa Carvalho, 26, kept a Skorpion machine pistol capable of firing 850 rounds a minute with her underwear at her home in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire.
The teacher also kept a self-loading pistol and a revolver with her delicates, which were discovered in a police raid to break up a Class A drugs ring.
Aqsa Carvalho, 26, has been jailed for her part in a Class A drugs gang which included her husband. Police found an arsenal in her underwear drawer when they raided their home in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire
Skorpion machine pistol is capable of firing 850 rounds per minute, and was found among Carvalho's delicates with two other firearms: a revolver and a self-loading Makarov pistol
Carvalho now faces 17 years in prison for her part in the criminal gang.
She denied the charges but was jailed at Kingston Crown Court after being found guilty of three counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
Her car dealer husband Robert James, 32, was sentenced to 18 years after he pleaded guilty to the same charges.
A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: 'A search of the address revealed three firearms in the main bedroom, concealed in the underwear drawer of Aqsa Carvalho.
'The firearms were a Skorpion machine pistol, a Makarov self-loading pistol and a revolver.
'Ammunition for the machine pistol was found in the magazine next to the weapon and more was located in another box.
Robert James, 32, was part of the Class A drugs operation with his partner Aqsa Carvalho. Police discovered a grinder and other drug paraphernalia at their home, along with fully-loaded deadly weapons. He has been sentenced to 18 years in prison
'The machine pistol was set to fully automatic mode.
'Cash, a quantity of Class A drugs, along with a drugs grinder and scales, were also located during the search.
'A number of mobile phones seized during the raid subsequently revealed evidence of extensive drug dealing.'
The raid was sparked after undercover cops saw a bag being handed over to Abdul Ramzan, 25, and Jamon Anwar, 30, in Uxbridge.
Jamon Anwar, left, was spotted handing a bag to Abdul Ramzan, right, which sparked the suspicions of undercover officers. Their activities brought the ring to the attention of police, who arrested both men, and raided the home of primary school teacher Asqa Carvalho
Ramzan from Slough, Berkshire, was jailed for 16 years after he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and was found guilty of three counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Anwar, also of Slough, was found guilty of three counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment
Their stash of Class A drugs was estimated to be worth up to 7000.
Speaking after the sentence of the gang members, Detective Constable Gill McLean, of the Met's Special Projects Team, said: 'These are extremely dangerous individuals who were prepared to use lethal firearms to protect an illicit drug dealing business.
It's the bridge that didn't want to go.
Demolition experts were left red-faced on Tuesday after an attempt to blow a 93-year-old bridge over the Arkansas River failed miserably.
The Broadway Bridge, linking Little Rock and North Little Rock, was deemed dangerously weak back in 2010 and state officials decided it had to be replaced.
But the span - which closed to traffic on September 28 - proved its strength when explosives went of a few seconds after 10am on Tuesday and it refused to budge an inch.
The Broadway Bridge, linking Little Rock and North Little Rock, Arkansas, refused to fall on Monday when it was hit with explosives
Dozens of pigeons that had made the bridge their home fluttered away in terror after Arkansas Highway Department director Scott Bennett pushed the button to set off the dynamite that was supposed to bring the landmark bridge down.
A few pieces of wood dislodged by the explosions floated down the river, but apart from that, the old steel bridge, which was supposed to collapse into the muddy waters within 30 seconds, stayed solid.
Massman Construction of Kansas City had been brought in to get rid of the bridge and replace it with a new span at a cost of $98.4million.
The company wanted to get the old bridge down quickly to avoid penalties for late construction.
If the new bridge - part of US Route 70 which runs from Arizona to North Carolina - isn't up by March 29 the company will lose $80,000 a day until it is ready for use.
A few pieces of wood dislodged by the explosions floated down the river, but apart from that, the old steel bridge, which was supposed to collapse into the muddy waters within 30 seconds, stayed solid
If it opens to traffic before that date the company will get an $80,000-per-day bonus.
Two huge new arches are already docked on the north side of the river close to where they will be installed.
Workers from the company spent the entire weekend cutting at the bridge to help it fall straight down into the river.
The explosions were supposed to cut through the weakened structure dropping 2million tons of steel into the water.
Massman then had 24 hours to clear the channel before barges could start using the river again.
The explosion was not supposed to be a huge extravaganza.
The explosions were supposed to cut through the weakened structure dropping 2million tons of steel into the water
'There will be several pops and loud clanging sounds,' Highway Department spokesman Danny Straessle told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, likening the sound to 'knocking over a bunch of pots and pants'.
'Don't think in terms of a movie scene in which something blows up,' he added.
Twitter lit up after the failure. 'Honestly, the Broadway Bridge not exploding was the most Little Rock thing I've ever seen,' tweeted Abby Anderson. 'It went boom, but it didn't fall,' said Cara Brookins.
JDP added: 'Sooooo about that Broadway bridge in Little Rock being structurally unsound'
After the botched blow-up Straessle told KATV, the Little Rock ABC affiliate, that the demolition company and transportation officials will now have to find a new way to get the bridge down.
But, he said, it will have to come down manually as the dynamite could have made it too unsafe to place new explosives.
After the botched blow-up, officials decided that a barge would attach a cable to the bridge (pictured before the explosion) and then tugs would attempt to pull it down manually on Tuesday afternoon.
'We are looking at all our options right now,' he said a few minutes after the explosions.
He said he was hoping the bridge would somehow be brought down within 24 hours.
The bridge finally came down at 2.48pm - but only after a stubborn fight.
Crews first tied a cable to the north side of the span and tied to yank it down using a barge pulled by a tug.
When that failed they moved the cable to the center, and gave it two more goes. The first time, the old bridge didnt move an inch, but the second time it visibly weekend
An anti-gun activist was shot dead while on vacation in Miami outside the restaurant where fashion designer Gianni Versace ate his last meal.
Lavon Walker, 30, of Brooklyn, New York, was shot twice early Sunday while standing on a sidewalk outside the News Cafe on Ocean Drive, Miami Beach police said.
Walker was pronounced dead at a Miami hospital, police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez told The Miami Herald. No one else was injured.
Scroll down for video
Lavon Walker (above) , 30, of Brooklyn, New York, was shot dead while on vacation in Miami
But several witnesses were at the scene of the crime in the minutes after the shooting at around 7am, Local 10 News reports.
On Tuesday, at least two men were being held in custody and questioned at Miami Beach police headquarters, according to the Herald.
It came after police recovered the Jeep Cherokee they believe was the getaway vehicle in the shooting.
Walker, married father-of-two, had advocated for years against guns and violence, according to former co-workers.
The former outreach worker at the Crown Heights Mediation Center had been on vacation in Florida, according the center's director.
'It was the anniversary of a family member's death. He was trying to get away for a little while,' Amy Ellenbogen told the Herald.
Walker was shot twice early on Sunday while standing on a sidewalk on Ocean Drive
He is survived by two young sons, eight-year-old Lavon Jr. and five-month-old Matthew, according to a GoFundMe page set up to raise funds to help his family.
A post on the page said Lavon 'was an an incredible friend, mediator, youth minister, and most importantly, husband and father.'
It adds: 'Lavon was a passionate advocate against gun violence, and his friends and family will continue to work for peace in his name.
'Please help us support his family and his sons, who are left with this terrible loss. With your help, they will grow up in the healthier, safer world that Lavon fought to make possible.'
Walker had volunteered for years with a New York group, Save Our Streets, which advocates against gun violence, Ellenbogen said.
Walker is survived by two young sons, eight-year-old Lavon Jr. (pictured with him) and five-month-old Matthew
A 2010 New York Times article quoted Walker as saying he was one of four volunteers who would speak with young people in areas where there had been shootings.
'We find out what their needs are, anything that's going to gear them or shift them to a different mentality toward gun violence,' he told the Times.
'We become like their bigger brothers, even closer than their fathers.'
Walker told Al-Jazeera in 2014 that he volunteered because he had spent his youth selling drugs, robbing cars and stores and fighting with gang members.
The News Cafe (above, file photo) is infamous for being the site of Gianni Versace's last meal in 1997 before he was murdered
Versace (above with sister Donatella) ate at the News Cafe before he was murdered by a serial killer on the steps of his mansion a few blocks away
The Herald reported that Walker appeared to have no criminal history in New York, but any juvenile records would be sealed.
Police have not announced any arrests or motive in the shooting outside the News Cafe.
The restaurant is infamous for being the site of Gianni Versace's last meal in 1997 before he was murdered by a serial killer on the steps of his mansion a few blocks away.
Kim Jong-un's absence from two major public events has sparked speculation about his health - in a week when North Korea has been expected to launch another nuclear missile test.
The despot was missing from a ceremony at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where officials were reportedly gathered to pay respects to his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, who was Supreme Leader of North Korea for 46 years.
And Kim was also absent at a concert to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the founding of the Korean Workers' Party.
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The North Korean leader has been missing from two high-profile public events, raising questions about his health
US and South Korean forces have been on high alert around the anniversary, amid speculation that a nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch would be carried out.
There had been marked activity at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station and the Punggye-ri nuclear site earlier this month.
South Korean news service Newsis has suggested that escalated defence activity may have forced the North Korean government to rethink launching more tests.
He did not appear at a ceremony to pay respects to his grandfather earlier this week
No official explanation has been given in the secretive state for Kim's absence from the public events.
He is previously reported to have developed health problems due to binge eating.
The dictator, who is believed to be 34 years old, developed issues around food due to his fears of being assassinated, South Korean news agency Yonhap has reported.
Reports have suggested that the North Korean leader, who has been pictured walking with the aid of a stick, has suffered health problems owing to binge eating
The North Korean leader appeared to have slimmed down in pictures released last week - but it is not clear when they were taken
He has put on significant amounts of weight since becoming supreme leader of North Korea following the sudden death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in December 2011.
His time in office has seen long stretches in which he has not appeared in public, and Kim has also been seen limping and walking with the aid of a stick.
Last week pictures were released of him touring the Mangyongdae Revolutionary Souvenir Factory in Pyongyang, suggesting he had slimmed down. But it is not clear when they were taken.
His father, Kim Jong-il died suddenly due to what is believed to be high blood pressure and diabetes at the age of around 70
It is thought his father died as a result of high blood pressure and diabetes.
Earlier this week claims emerged that the despot is so afraid of being assassinated that he does not stray far from the country's capital of Pyongyang.
'He feels unsafe,' says Ha Tae-keung, a National Assembly member who has worked closely with refugees in the past.
'He knows people's ideas about him are worse than in other areas.'
His security fears are believed to be why the Supreme Leader has not been to visit his grandmother's birthplace in the town of Hoeryong after it was hit by severe flooding.
Japanese network TV Asahi reported yesterday that North Korean scientists have been ordered to develop an intercontinental ballistic missle with a range of 9,320 miles, as well as a submarine-launched ballistic missile that can reach 3,100 miles.
A 75-year-old Taiwanese billionaire was robbed a day after Kim Kardashian
A 75-year-old Taiwanese billionaire was robbed last week at her Paris home of jewels worth up to 180,000.
Shaw-Lan Wang, a publisher who is also the main shareholder of the French fashion label Lanvin, lives in the chic 16th district of the French capital.
Wang, a director of the Taiwanese newspaper United Daily News, was taking an afternoon nap when the robbery occurred on October 4, a police source said.
It was the day after celebrity Kim Kardashian lost millions worth of jewels in a heist nearby.
Kardashian, the world's highest paid reality television star, was held up at gunpoint in when she was left unprotected in her 25,000-a-week apartment in the Hotel Particulier Pourtales.
The robbers made off with her 20-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring worth 3.5million and a case of jewellery with a value of 5.24million.
Her hands and feet were bound with cable ties during the robbery and she is believed to have been dumped in her marble bath tub during the terrifying heist.
After the raid, the five men were seen escaping on 'velibs' - hire bicycles which can be rented all over Paris.
During the raid one day after, two men broke into Wang's apartment while she was sleeping and made off with jewels including a ring she was wearing.
Kardashian, pictured with husband Kanye West, was held up at gunpoint in when she was left unprotected in her 25,000-a-week apartment in the Hotel Particulier Pourtales
Despite the raid occurring so soon after the Kardashian heist, a police source denied both events were linked.
The robbers also stole telephones and 'various luxury items'. Wang was not harmed.
The value of the haul is estimated at between 137,000 and 180,000.
Khloe Kardashian says her older sister, Kim Kardashian West, is 'not doing that well' more than a week after she was held up during a Paris jewellery heist.
During an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Khloe described the incident as being 'incredibly traumatic' for her sister.
Shaw Lan Wang attends the Lanvin show during Paris Fashion Week. She was not harmed during the robbery
French police officers stand in front of Kim Kardashian's luxury apartment Hotel de Pourtales on Rue Tronchet in the 8th arrondissement
The Kardashian clan has been unusually quiet on social media in the days since the robbery, and Khloe says the incident is 'a wake-up call to make a lot of life adjustments'.
She said the family is going 'to pull back a little bit' and make sure it's 'protected as well as possible'.
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Celebrity photographer Rankin has released some powerful images of British service personnel wounded while serving Queen and Country.
All of the former soldiers photograph have suffered physical and mental injuries while serving their country or as a civilian.
The portraits by Rankin have been collated in a specially designed limited edition book.
Lance Corporal Martin Tye, 31, was serving with the Royal Logistics Corps in Kabul on August 18, 2009 when a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle causing multiple injuries to his lungs and legs and was given a ten percent change of living
Warrant Officer James Fitzsimmons was injured while in a Husky armoured personnel carrier in December 2011 in Afghanistan
Corporal Rhona Bolger, 75, was born in Dublin and came to England with her family at the age of eight before joining the RAF aged 17
Sales of the book, which also tells the individual stories of the men and women involved, will raise funds for the Haig Housing Trust.
The charity buys and adapts houses for former members of the armed services for the past century.
Last year, Rankin's images were projected onto the Tower of London to raise awareness of the charity.
According to Rankin: 'It is impossible to even begin to comprehend what these men and women have been through, both in theatres of war and their extensive recuperation periods.
'It made their bravery and zest for life all the more humbling. I made a conscious decision to photograph them against a white background with the focus on their faces I wanted to strip away the stigma and show them as real people.'
Lance Corporal Cayle Royce MBE, left, and Rifelman Michael Swain both lost limbs while fighting in Afghanistan
Lance Corporal Scott Yarrington, left, was blown up a week before he was due to go on leave from Southern Afghanistan, while Sergeant Stuart Holcroft, right, was badly injured during a freak pre-deployment accident in January 2012
Lance Corporal Cayle Royce MBE of The Light Dragoons said: 'There is a life beyond my injury. I will not be defined by my disability.'
Lance Corporal Royce lost both his legs in Afghanistan in May 2012 after he stepped on an improvised explosive device while serving as a sharpshooter with the Brigade Reconnaissance Force.
Despite the horrific nature of his injuries, he remained fully conscious. He lost both legs above the knee, several fingers on his left hand as well as wounds to his neck, face, heart and lung.
Captain Oliver Cochrane, 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurka Rifles who commanded Nepalese soldiers in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2010.
He said: 'Even the brave falter. It is about how your respond that is important.'
Warrant Officer Angus 'Jesse' James served for 22 years when he was injured while on an exercise in Canada in February 1999
Chief Executive of the Haig Housing trust Brigadier James Richardson said: 'The Haig Housing Trust is excited to be involved with this inspiring initiative. For one hundred years Haig has been providing homes for veterans in need, the demand for assistance continues to the present day, none more worthy than those young servicemen and women who have suffered life changing injuries.
'Coming Home, our fundraising campaign, helps us raise money for the purchase and adaptation of homes for these exceptionally brave people. Many will appear in this book as do supporters and veterans, we are grateful to Rankin for his generosity and support in making this happen.'
The trust does not differentiate between operational and non-operational injuries when helping former service personnel and the charity said the mental health of veterans was a very important issue.
Sales of the book, For Queen and Country, have been limited to 500 and will go on sale on November 1. The first fifty 'special' limited editions cost 500 each and are contained in a sleeve signed by Rankin.
The remaining books, in a silver foil, will cost 250.
The book will be launched at a special event at the Motor Village Marylebone on November 17 for 300 guests. Tickets are available for 50.
Julia Martin spent her final blood-soaked moments desperately trying to reach her father, but he missed all of her calls and did not see her last text message until after she was dead.
According to the Chicago Police Department, Martin's 35-year-old ex-fiance, identified to the Daily Mail Tuesday afternoon as Rodney Harvey Jr, ambushed her at her home in the 3000 block of South King Drive at around 7pm Friday and repeatedly stabbed her before jumping to his death from a window.
Mortally wounded, Martin dialed 911 asking to send an ambulance and told the dispatcher the name of the person who attacked her.
Her next call was to her father, Derrick Martin.
Violence: Julia Martin, 28, was stabbed to death by her ex-fiance, Rodney Harvey Jr, 35 (pictured together left) when he came over to her Chicago apartment under the guise of collecting her engagement ring (seen right)
Crime scene: Harvey jumped to his death from a window at 3001 South King Drive (pictured)
Speaking to the Chicago Tribune just days after his eldest daughter's violent death, Mr Martin said Julia was calling and texting him and other loved ones begging for help.
'She called another friend and she was panting over the phone trying to get her breath,' Mr Martin told the paper. He [friend] thought it was a prank and he hung up on her.'
A dying Julia then sent her dad a text that read: 'Call me ASAP,' but she never got a response. Derrick only saw the message much later, when his child was already dead.
Julia and her former fiance, Rodney Harvey, were rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where they were pronounced dead less than 20 minutes apart.
Autopsies ruled Martin's death a homicide and her ex-fiance's a suicide. According to a statement from the Cook County medical examiners office emailed to the Daily Mail, Harvey died of 'Cervical fracture and dislocation due to Jump from height.'
Futile efforts: Martin called 911 asking to send an ambulance and told the dispatcher the name of her killer
Julia's grieving father revealed to the Tribune Monday that the murder-suicide came about six months after his daughter had broken up with Harvey, whom she had dated for three years.
The father said he never thought her daughter's fiance could pose a danger to her.
In a conversation with her dad last weekend, the 28-year-old Julia said that she was planning to return her engagement ring to Harvey because it was the right thing to do.
Then on Friday evening, the jilted groom came over to Julias apartment under the guise of picking up the ring, but instead stabbed her multiple times before taking his own life.
Derrick Martin, who has a younger daughter and a grandchild, described Julia as ambitious and hardworking.
Daughter's plea: Martin (left and right) called and texted friends and loved ones, but no one replied. Her father did not see her final message until after she died
A native of Detroit, Julia graduated from Michigan State University and worked as a human resources supervisor at an architecture firm in Chicago. Her dad said her ultimate goal was to move to New York City.
She also only recently got her passport in anticipation of a planned trip to Africa this winter.
Julia's slaying comes two years after her mother, Derricks wife of 20 years, died of heart disease. He also recently lost both his parents and his brother.
The next day after the murder-suicide, Harvey's mother, Lynda Crawford Harvey, launched a GoFundMe campaign asking for donations to help cover his final expenses.
In the description of the fundraiser, the mother writes of Harvey that he was her first born and that he 'died unexpectedly.' It makes no mention of Julia Martin, or the circumstances of Harvey's passing.
'Deeply troubled': Harvey (left and right) and Martin had dated for six years. His mother described him as 'sometimes deeply troubled'
Controversial fundraiser: Harvey's mother has launched a GoFundMe campaign soliciting donations to help cover his final expenses
'He loved me, his mom, but was sometimes deeply troubled,' Mrs Harvey wrote. 'You never expect someone you love to die so young.
'I saw my son, Rodney just last week and he hugged me so tight I almost couldn't breathe. I didn't break the hug. "I love you, Mom" he said. I hope I was always there for him.'
In just three days, the fundraiser has drawn $6,250 in donations, easily meeting and then surpassing its initial goal of $4,000.
A porn star told a court that she performed a girl on girl show for an HBOS banker who was allegedly ripping off the company in a 245 million fraud.
Call girl Suzie Best said she performed in front of banker Lynden Scourfield, 54, who she described as a 'Danny Devito lookalike'.
Scourfield was allegedly involved in a corrupt relationship with consultant David Mills, 59, which saw companies plunge into deep debt and HBOS write off 245million.
A porn star has told how she performed a girl on girl show for HBOS banker Lynden Scourfield, 54, (right) who was allegedly ripping off the company in a 245 million fraud. He was allegedly involved in a corrupt relationship with consultant David Mills, 59 (left)
Scourfield is not on trial but Mills and five others were in the dock at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday accused of being involved in the scam.
Mills is joined in the dock by HBOS banker Mark Dobson, 55, fellow consultant Michael Bancroft, 73, and his wife Alison Mills, 51, who were also allegedly involved.
Accountants John Tony Cartwright, 71, and Jonathan Cohen, 57, are also on trial.
The court previously heard how Mills allegedly pumped Scourfield with 'money, lavish hospitality and sexual encounters with high class escorts' in a bid to corrupt him.
The court previously heard how Mills (pictured with his wife Alison) allegedly pumped Scourfield with 'money, lavish hospitality and sexual encounters with high class escorts' in a bid to corrupt him
Ms Best said in a statement that she and girls known only as Amber and FR received a booking to meet three men all in their 50s, smartly dressed in suits, including a Danny DeVito lookalike at a Chinese restaurant in December 2005.
The court heard the call girls knew some of the men they serviced as posh twat bankers.
Ms Best said she vaguely remembered doing a girl on girl show when they went to a nearby flat after the meal, before she performed oral sex on some of the men.
She added that one of the men with grey, brushed-back hair asked her to go to the bedroom with him, but she didnt think he could get an erection at any stage.
From left to right, Michael Bancroft, Mills and Scourfield are pictured in Barbados together
Jurors were shown pictures of the men on luxury trips abroad as evidence of the corrupt relationship between Scourfield and Mills. Scourfield is pictured in Russia
She said around May 2006, she received a call from the Danny DeVito lookalike, who asked her to meet.
She said she had no idea how he got her number, but agreed to meet at a restaurant in central London.
Ms Best said she found him difficult to talk to but added: I drove us both to the hotel and remember that night my car got clamped outside the Soho Hotel.
She said she recalled him being very hairy on his back but added: I dont know what, if any, sex acts took place.
HBOS banker Mark Dobson, 55,(left) and Michael Bancroft, 73, (right) were also allegedly involved in the scam
Ms Best said the man walked her to the car park afterwards: When we got there, my car was clamped. He just walked back to the hotel and left me there.
I called up and it cost 250 to get it released. I have never heard from any of these men again.
Ms Best attended an ID parade and confirmed she was referring to Scourfield as the Danny Devito lookalike, the court heard.
She said in a statement she had been in the adult movie business for around six years in 2005 and was doing live shows on Television X at the time.
The trial continues.
A top aide to Bill Clinton once said that Chelsea Clinton had a blabber mouth and accused her of 'running to daddy' to get her way.
Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band aggressively complained about Chelsea to other Clinton insiders in the weeks that followed her integration into her father's charity in November of 2011, a series of hacked emails reveal.
He told Hillary Clinton's Chief of Staff at the State Department Cheryl Mills, Democratic fundraiser Terry McAuliffe and former Bill Clinton chief of Staff John Podesta that Chelsea was the source of a leak about an 'internal investigation of money within the foundation.'
She told one of George W. Bush's daughters, who told someone else, who told a Republican Party operative, Band opined.
A top aide to Bill Clinton once said that Chelsea Clinton had a blabber mouth and accused her of 'running to daddy' to get her way. Bill and Chelsea Clinton are seen here at a presidential debate earlier this month
'I have heard more and more chatter of cvc and bari talking about lots of what is going on internally to people,' Band wrote. 'Not smart.'
The CVC in the email was Chelsea Victoria Clinton.
Dispute: Doug Band had been a 'body man' to the former president but became involved in a bitter internal fight with Chelsea Clinton
In another email he berated Chelsea for pressuring her father to heed another Clinton Foundation staffer's request that the charity work its annual conference around the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
'This is the 3rd time this week where she has gone to daddy to change a decision or interject herself in the process she says is so important to maintain,' the email said.
Band told the group, which included Justin Cooper, the aide who maintained Hillary's basement server, that Bill 'decided to keep cgi as it always was.'
The staffer who requested that the Clinton Global Initiative be moved 'is jewish/didnt like that decision and went to cvc and thus it will be changed,' Band opined.
'Wjc will say I never said it shouldn't be changed.. Sad because it will hurt cgi but the larger problem is that cvc has spent 7 days in her office to date and people will go to her with self interested choices to be made and she will side with them thus hurting the organization.
'Not my problemo any more...,' he added.
Band stepped down as Bill Clinton's chief adviser in 2012 as he shifted his focus to Teneo Holdings, a global consulting firm he helped found and the former president was an advisor to.
Band berated Chelsea for pressuring her father to heed another Clinton Foundation staffer's request that the charity work its annual conference around the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur
As Hillary Clinton geared up to run for president in 2015 Band ended his relationship with the foundation entirely.
Emails from 2011 to Podesta - now the chairman of Hillary's presidential campaign - and others that were published by Wikileaks show a distaste for the former first daughter and a rejection of her authority at the foundation.
'I just received a call from a close friend of wjcs who said that cvc told one of the bush 43 kids that she is conducting an internal investigation of money within the foundation from cgi to the foundation,' Band wrote in a Jan. 4, 2012, email.
He claimed, 'The bush kid then told someone else who then told an operative within the republican party.'
The email didn't say which of the Bush twins, Barbara or Jenna, she blabbed to.
Band unbraided Chelsea in another email, calling her a 'spoiled brat.' A December 2011 chain blamed her for the suicidal thoughts of the charity's chief operating officer.
'She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues to justify what she's doing because she, as she has said, hasn't found her way and has a lack of focus in life,' Band wrote.
The emails shed new light on the power struggle between one of Bill's closest advisers and the retired politician's only daughter as they fought for control of the Clinton Foundation
He says at another point, 'I realize it is difficult to confront and reason with her but this could go [too] far and then we all will have a real serious set of other problems.'
'I don't deserve this from her and deserve a tad more respect or at least a direct dialogue for me to explain these things.'
The emails shed new light on the power struggle between one of Bill's closest advisers and the retired politician's only daughter.
In an December 6 email Chelsea wrote to a number of people in her parents' inner circle including Podesta and McAuliffe, a long time Clinton friend who is now governor of Virginia, that 'two people separately' approached her in London and voiced their concerns about Band's firm, Teneo.
One Teneo employee 'called Members of the House and Members of Parliament', "on behalf of President Clinton," for Teneo clients ... without my father's knowledge and inelegantly and ineffectually at best and at worse has now precipitating people in London making comparisons between my father and Tony Blair's profit motivations,' Chelsea said.
'Which would horrify my father,' she said.
Band claimed that Chelsea was the source of a leak about an 'internal investigation of money within the foundation.' She told one of George W. Bush's daughters, who told someone else, who told a Republican Party operative. Bush's daughters, Jenna and Barbara, are pictured
Blair has made an estimated personal fortune $74 million at October 2016 exchange rate since leaving office.
He has long been accused of using his office to enrich himself and his family - who now have a vast property portfolio in the UK - with lucrative contracts with JP Morgan, the World Bank and a series of governments, many in the Middle East or others which have faced questions over their human rights records.
The ex-British prime minister was the other member of the two-strong 'advisory board' at the time of Chlesea's email.
The Clinton's own fortune since leaving office has gone from $3 million of debt to an estimated $100 million in profit.
In the course of the bitter dispute about the foundation, Band hit back at Chelsea with the claim that she was a 'spoiled brat' who cared more about Teneo than the fact that she nearly drove a senior staff member to suicide.
'Late last night, laura graham called me as she couldn't reach my brother or her shrink,' Band wrote. 'She was on Staten Island in her car parked a few feet from the waters edge with her foot on the gas pedal and the car in park.'
Band said he had to convince the Clinton Foundation COO not to kill herself over office issues.
'She called me to tell me the stress of all of this office crap with wjc and cvc as well as that of her family had driven her to the edge and she couldnt take it anymore,' he said, making reference to both Chelsea, 'cvs,' and her father, 'wjc.'
The trove of emails from the desk of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta has shed new light on the often secretive and celebrity-filled world of the Clintons.
Conversations range from scheduling a meeting with Q-Tip to Bill Clinton having under-the-radar cataract surgery to the folks at Goldman Sachs reserving office space to accommodate Clinton Foundation offices in New York City's Financial District.
Wikileaks has so far dumped three batches of Podesta's emails online, with the third release happening at 8:30 a.m. this morning.
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An email to John Podesta from the rapper Q-Tip's (left) office shows that he wanted to meet with Hillary Clinton and that he played DJ for Chelsea Clinton's (right) 25th birthday
John Podesta's emails released by Wikileaks show that Hillary Clinton sat down with 'Hip Hop icon and visionary' Q-Tip, at the rapper's request
One colorful request for a meeting with Hillary Clinton, as she ran for the Democratic nomination, came from the office of Q-Tip, dated August 29, 2015.
The rapper's assistant wrote to Podesta saying that the 'Hip Hop icon and visionary' would like to meet the Democratic frontrunner to 'discuss ways he can be used as a bridge to the Hip Hop generation during the 2016 presidential campaign.'
She sweetened the pitch by noting Q-Tip's commitment to social justice, his work with Harry Belafonte's Sankofa.org, which works on those issues, and the rapper's previous ties to the Clinton family.
'He is a big supporter of the work Mrs. Clinton has done throughout her career and has also worked alongside former president Bill Clinton at a 2003 DNC fundraiser,' the assistant wrote.
'He even served as DJ for Chelsea Clinton's 25th birthday party in 2005,' she added.
Shining a light on the tight-knit closed-door fundraising circuit, the assistant noted how Q-Tip has hoped to see the former secretary of state 'at his close friend Tory Burch's fundraiser tomorrow in The Hampton.'
Chelsea Clinton is captured in the Podesta emails revealing that her father had cataract surgery in 2011, which wasn't widely publicized
However, the rapper was stuck in Los Angeles due to a previous commitment and now wouldn't be able to attend.
'Q-Tip would love to have a short one-on-one with Mrs. Clinton as soon as her schedule permits,' the email reads. 'Q-Tip is passionate about helping Mrs. Clinton secure a victory in this presidential race.'
Another email in the Podesta pile, dated Nov. 19, 2015, proves that Q-Tip got his wish.
De'Ara Balenger, Hillary Clinton's director of engagement, gushes about the meeting between the candidate and the rapper.
'He was lovely and eloquent,' Balenger wrote. 'He talked to her about how it's important to let a young black kid in Harlem know how the events in Paris effect him, and how it's so important to connect with the millennial generation in ways that speak to them - being unique and authentic.'
Bill Clinton (right), pictured with daughter Chelsea (left), had cataract surgery in 2011, though talked about it on a trip to Athens in 2012
Balenger said the campaign laid the groundwork to potentially appear on Q-Tip's radio show, which airs on Apple Music station Beats 1.
'She remembered that he DJed Chelsea's bday party without prompting! She's amazing,' the aide said of the Democratic hopeful.
In another interesting conversation, a precursor to the secrecy surrounding Hillary Clinton's bout with pneumonia, Chelsea Clinton tells Podesta that her father has eye problems, something that wasn't well publicized.
'It turns out that my father has to have cataract surgery next week,' Chelsea Clinton explains as she tries to book a meeting between the ex-president and the future Clinton campaign chairman, who was heading the D.C. think tank, the Center for American Progress, at the time.
Bill Clinton does bring the surgery up, in July 2012, on a business trip to Athens as he spoke with Antonis Samaras, who was then the prime minister of Greece.
'I just had a cataract operation and it's a great thing you know about aging, all other aging processes, knee operations, hip operations, hair implants, everything is designed to slow your decline,' the ex-president pointed out. 'Only the cataract operation reverses it.'
'I now have a 20-year-old right eye,' Bill Clinton commented.
His wife, memorably, almost collapsed this year on Sept. 11, as she attended a ceremony for the fallen in New York.
Later the campaign was forced to admit the former secretary of state had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days prior, but didn't give the public or the press a heads up.
Another interesting email from the set shows the Clintons' cozy ties with Wall Street, including the big, brand-name bank Goldman Sachs.
In November 2011, the chief operating officer of the Clinton Foundation Laura Graham writes to Hillary Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin about finding new office space.
Graham says she's walked through space available in New York's Financial District, but another party was interested in leasing it.
'Goldman, b/c of their relationship with us, is delaying the drafting of a lease for this interested party until they get a better sense from us but they cannot hold them off too much longer,' Graham revealed to Abedin.
Graham was trying to assess what Hillary Clinton's needs might be for this expanded foundation space.
'In meantime, Genzler via Goldman Sachs is awaiting our details to do test fit options,' Graham wrote, confirming that it was indeed someone, likely Gary Gensler, doing the Clintons a favor.
Some of the Clinton Foundation offices had already moved to that address, according to a piece in the New York Times, in March of that year.
Plumber Vincent Tatum, 50, was convicted of murder and attempted murder in 2014
A California judge's comments about her poor experiences with plumbers caused an appeals court to throw out a murder conviction in a case she presided over after they ruled it damaged the defendant's chances of a fair trial.
The three-judge panel threw out the 2014 attempted murder and murder convictions of plumber, Vincent Tatum, 50.
His defense attorneys argued in his appeal that comments Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor Hunter made to potential jurors on the importance of not prejudging witnesses ruined his chances of a fair trial, as it tainted the jury pool, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Hunter, a former deputy district attorney appointed to the bench in 2005, discussed her 'horrible' encounters with plumbers to potential jurors in her Compton courtroom. She said she had horrible experiences with plumbers during remodels or whatever, just horrible experiences.
'If I hear somebody is coming in, and I hear he's a plumber, I'm thinking, 'God, he's not going to be telling the truth,' Hunter said to a panel of jurors.
At the time, Tatum worked for a plumbing contractor who testified during the trial that Tatum was at work during the time of the killing. However, a prosecutor argued that the contractor was lying to protect Tatum.
His conviction was tossed out after an appeals panel found comments about plumbers Judge Eleanor Hunter (above) made to potential jurors on the importance of not prejudging witnesses ruined his chances of a fair trial, as it tainted the jury pool
After being convicted in the 2014 trial, Tatum was sentenced to 114 years in prison.
According to an October 3 ruling by the 2nd District Court of Appeals, the judge panel found Hunter's comments about plumbers 'interfered with (Tatum's) constitutional right' to a jury trial.
'The court's statement that plumbers who came into court were liars validated the prosecutor's argument, irreparably damaging Tatum's chance of receiving a fair trial,' two of the judges wrote.
Hunter could not be reached for comment by the Times. Judges are ethically prohibited from discussing pending cases.
On October 17, 2013, Tatum was accused of shooting two men during an argument in Los Angeles - killing Victor Valentine and wounding Devin Lowe.
When his trial started in July 2014, the judge had made the statement about plumbers in an attempt to explain that her prior experiences with them meant that she would 'have already prejudged that person, and I wouldn't be able to be fair,' according to the Times.
Following her comments, Tatum's defense attorney requested for a mistrial, but she refused and said: 'I could certainly tell the jury that was by way of example, and that's a personal thing.'
She offered to warn the jurors in the case about her comments, however, Tatum's attorney told her not to 'accentuate it' in their minds, the newspaper reported.
Six jurors were selected from the group who heard Hunter's comments about plumbers.
In tossing out the conviction, the appeals court said Hunter abused her discretion as a judge by denying a mistrial.
In addition, the appeals court said Hunter disagreed with the premise she could have told jurors to forget the comments about plumbers.
Tatum's attorney during the appeal, Danalynn Pritz, said it was odd why Hunter didn't grant the mistrial citing that no jury was sworn and the case was just beginning.
'She could have gone, 'Oops' and called a new panel,' Pritz told the Times.
The attorney general's office can request the state Supreme Court to review the decision.
If the case is rejected to be reviewed by the Supreme Court, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office must make a decision about retrying Tatum.
A bakery has been accused of racism for stocking an Oreo cupcake called the 'Mr President'.
Fat Cupcake in Portland, Oregon, has come under fire for the controversial pastry.
A customer of the newly-opened bakery complained about the name online, saying they were so offended by it they would stop shopping there.
Fat Cupcake in Portland, Oregon, has been accused of racism for stocking an Oreo cupcake called the 'Mr President'
'Very troubling. They were serving a cupcake called the "Mr President" that had an Oreo cookie inside,' Don P wrote on Yelp.
'When I tried to point out the racism implied, they claimed that "our current president loves Oreos".
'I won't be doing business with them and please do not support racism in Portland or anywhere.'
The furious reviewer also said the bakery had a treat called 'The Intern' - a cake with 'blue icing and a cream filing'.
The store's owner, Anjelica Hayes, hit back at the allegation when asked about the 'racist' cake.
Hayes told Oregon Live she has been asked about the cake 'so many times', but stressed she is not at all racist.
A customer slammed the bakery for the 'racist' cupcake in a review posted online
The name of the Oreo cupcake has since been changed from 'Mr President' to 'The Professional'
The bakery's (pictured) owner, Anjelica Hayes, denied the accusations of racism over the Mr President cupcake
'I myself am black... I just thought it was an honorary name,' she said.
'What sounds like it would be really fancy? We thought of the presidential office.
'I thought I'd be honored if someone named a cupcake after me.'
She also said a customer once told her the Oreo was President Obama's favorite cookie, and said it was a 'cool coincidence'.
Hayes is active in the Portland community, and started the 'our 'Piece of Cake' group that involves people driving around the city to give cupcakes to homeless people.
Victor Barnard, 55, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the sexual assault of two girls when they were as young as 12 and 13
The leader of an isolated religious cult in Minnesota will spend three decades in prison for sexually molesting two girls.
Self-professed minister Victor Barnard has pleaded guilty to accusations that he assaulted the women when they were as young as 12 and 13.
Barnard, 55, dubbed the girls his 'maidens' and persuaded their parents to move them into a compound with other young women.
Barnard was the longtime leader of the River Road Fellowship near Finlayson, but he left Minnesota in 2009 after allegations of improper sexual relationships.
He became one of America's Most Wanted and led authorities in a year-long searched that culminated in his arrest in Brazil, where he had been in hiding with one of his former maidens.
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Barnard, 55, dubbed the girls his 'maidens' and persuaded their parents to move them into a compound with other young women
Barnard was the longtime leader of the River Road Fellowship near Finlayson, but he left Minnesota in 2009 after allegations of improper sexual relationships
Barnard was in an apartment near paradisiacal white-sand Pipa Beach in northeastern Brazil in February 2015.
He faced 59 counts of criminal misconduct after two women said they were among ten girls and women, who were chosen to live apart from their families and with him at his River Road Fellowship camp in rural Minnesota.
One woman alleged Barnard sexually abused her beginning at age 13 and continued until she was 22, while the other said her abuse occurred between the ages 12 and 20.
The U.S. Marshals Service said Barnard initially left Minnesota in 2010, before the women came forward, and his whereabouts were unknown for some time. It was believed he and his followers had moved to Washington state.
Brazilian police inspector Paulo Henrique Oliveira said Barnard entered the South American country legally in 2012, and a nationwide warrant was issued in April 2014 for his arrest.
He had been living for at least six months at the apartment where he was arrested.
He became one of America's Most Wanted and led authorities in a year-long searched that culminated in his arrest in Brazil, where he had been in hiding with one of his former maidens
During the arrest, police confiscated computers, cell phones, flash drives, religious papers and diaries from the condo, according to the Star Tribune.
Sexual abuse charges were brought against Barnard in 2014.
In 2000, he created a 'Shepherd's Camp' with a group of ten girls and women he selected to live with him at his home.
Barnard allegedly kept the girls isolated and used religious coercion and intimidation to maintain his control over them.
He told one victim 'she would remain a virgin because he was a man of God,' according to a criminal complaint.
After enduring years of abuse, former sect member Lindsay Tornambe (pictured) told police about the girls' plight. She was 13 years old when she was first taken to the camp
Another former cult-member, Jess Schweiss (pictured), who was taken to the camp at age 12, came forward to tell authorities her story too
The Maidens Group, with girls aged between 12 and 24, were first-born daughters handed over to Barnard and were 'forced to have sex with him' anywhere between once and five times a month over a decade.
He said that Jesus and King Solomon had many women followers, so 'God's word' meant that it was normal for him to have sex with them.
In 2012, after enduring years of abuse following her parents leaving her at the camp when she was 13 years old, former sect member Lindsay Tornambe alerted authorities to the girls' plight.
'It feels so surreal,' said Tornambe, who began to cry when she heard news of the arrest.
'I knew the day would come, but it finally came and it's almost numbing.'
In 2000, Barnard (pictured) created the 'Shepherd's Camp' with a group of ten girls and women he selected to live with him at his home
The Maidens, ages 12 to 24, were first-born daughters of the River Road Fellowship (pictured) who were handed over to Barnard and 'forced to have sex with him' anywhere between once and five times a month
Another former cult member, Jess Schweiss, told authorities her story too after she was taken to the camp at 12 years old.
She said when she told her parents about the abuse, her mother 'did not want to hear it,' according to the criminal complaint.
Cindi Currie, who said she had visited Barnard's religious camp in Minnesota years ago and tried to persuade a friend to leave the group, spoke out saying that she cannot wait to see Barnard behind bars.
'He has ruined more lives. That man is the devil incarnate,' she said. 'I'm just ready to cry. I'm so glad they found him. Not only will Victor Barnard go to jail, but every adult who knew what was going on up there can start to pay, and maybe these girls can start to heal.'
Chilling police footage has revealed in excruciating detail the day that school cleaner Vincent Stanford murdered teacher Stephanie Scott.
In video shown in court at Stanford's sentencing hearing on Tuesday, the 25-year-old calmly admitted he felt no emotion when he killed Ms Scott.
Standford pleaded guilty in July to raping and murdering Ms Scott, 26, on April 5 last year at the high school where they both worked. She was due to marry childhood sweetheart Aaron Leeson-Woolley six days later.
NSW cleaner Vincent Standford (pictured) said he had 'no emotion' when he murdered Leeton High School teacher Stephanie Scott in 2015
Standford pleaded guilty in July to raping and murdering Ms Scott (pictured) at Leeton High School, NSW, where they both worked and appeared at his Supreme Court sentence hearing on Tuesday
Stanford, 25, earlier confessed to police he had fantasised about killing someone since he was seven-years-old
In a video recording of his April 11 confession played to the court, Stanford said he was 'emotionless' toward Ms Scott, but punched her in the face 40 times before stabbing her in the neck because he 'wanted to kill'.
'I had to kill her. I was not angry or anything I was pretty emotionless. I just thought I had to kill her.'
Stanford said he grabbed her from behind after she wished him a 'Happy Easter', put a hand over her mouth and dragged her into a store room before throwing her on the ground.
'I picked her up from behind with my right hand over her mouth and my left hand around her middle, I dragged her into the store, I closed the door behind us, chucked her on the floor and I beat her to death,' he said.
She struggled but did not scream, he told police.
'I just could not stop myself I have had anger attacks in the past I have been treated for that I think I needed to see a psychiatrist,' he told detectives in the video.
He began hitting Ms Scott in the face, and punched her up to 40 times before stabbing her in her carotid artery with a knife.
In a video recording of his April 11 confession played to the court, Stanford said he was 'emotionless' toward Ms Scott (pictured), but grabbed her after she wished him 'happy Easter'
Correctional officers lead Stanford from the prison van on Tuesday before court
He said he only stopped after 'she stopped moving and breathing'.
Stanford also revealed in the footage he took photos of Ms Scott's body, and kept her bra.
Stanford told police he was unsure why he kept the bra, but it could have been a 'souvenir'.
'I put her into the storeroom and killed her, I put her into the trunk of her car, I got the high pressure cleaner out, cleaned the high school and her blood, then I drove her car to my house', he calmly explained.
'I dumped her there and burnt her, I drove back, took Pike Road, put her car there and then I walked home,' he said of the night he dumped her body.
Earlier it was revealed that Stanford had dreamed about killing someone since he was at least seven years old and when he saw school teacher Stephanie Scott he knew 'he had to kill her.'
Vincent Stanford being interviewed by police detectives
Stanford, 25, pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Ms Scott at Leeton in NSW in April 2015 just one week before was due to marry Aaron Leeson-Woolley (both pictured)
Court documents revealed this week the school cleaner at Leeton High School, NSW, often lingered in the girls toilets while students were on their lunch break and choked his a teacher when he was 12-years-old, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Stanford, 25, was led by handcuffs into his Supreme Court sentence hearing in Griffith on Tuesday morning, the first time he has been seen in public.
Standford was described in a psychological assessment as having 'characteristics of sexual sadism' and was placed in a mental health unit after he assaulted his teacher, aged 12.
The court also heard on Tuesday he had Googled 'bride rape,' 'bride rape vid' and 'bride raped with wedding gown' before the murder.
'He also conducts searches in relation to necrophilia and "necro rape",' the agreed statement of facts said.
He ordered hand cuffs and a 'half sword' over the internet just days before Ms Scott was killed and also searched online for a knife that would make puncture wounds.
During his confession, Stanford told police he could not adapt to society, The Daily Telegraph reported.
'I would have to require emotions, I have almost none, I have hatred,' he said.
Merrilyn Scott described the 'poignant' moment of having to choose a coffin for her daughter when she should have been on her honeymoon
Ms Scott's mother Merrilyn delivered an emotional victim impact statement, questioning why Stanford had access to schools after his 'red flags'.
She fought back tears as she read out the speech she intended to make at her daughter's wedding, the ABC reported.
She spent her wedding day in a morgue ... there were no vows exchanged, no wedding dance.
'Too pathetic and inept to make a life of his own, he chose to take a life he had no right to,' she read.
'We will never know what she suffered but to know that she suffered at all is difficult to bear.'
She described the 'poignant' moment of having to choose a coffin for her daughter when she should have been on her honeymoon.
The family sat in silence as the video of Stanford's confession was played and many of Ms Scott's supporters wore yellow - the slain teacher's favourite colour.
Ms Scott's mother Merrilyn (pictured leaving court with husband Robert) delivered an emotional victim impact statement, questioning why Stanford had access to schools after his 'red flags'
The family sat in silence as the video of Stanford's confession was played and many of Ms Scott's supporters wore yellow - the slain teacher's favourite colour
Crown prosecutor Lee Carr told the hearing the murder of Ms Scott was 'merciless and cold-blooded' and said Stanford had thoughts of killing another person from the age of seven.
Defence barrister Janet Manuell SC said the crimes were 'terrible,' but Stanford was diagnosed by two psychiatrists with autism and argued against a life sentence.
He was 'locked into this eternally conflicted state' and 'locked into entrenched anger and hatred', according to the expert's report.
Stanford faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and will receive his sentence on Thursday.
His twin brother Marcus was sentenced to 15 months in August to being an accessory after the fact for pawning her rings for $705. He was released on September 9.
Vincent Stanford (pictured as a primary school student at Prins Florisschool in Holland) admitted in the NSW Supreme Court in July to raping and murdering Ms Scott in April last year
After getting a 'rape kit' from his home, Stanford dragged Ms Scott into a store room and physically and sexually assaulted her before stabbing her in the neck with a large knife
Aaron Leeson-Woolley made an emotional visit to a makeshift memorial for his fiancee Stephanie after her body was discovered
Leopards and pumas are breeding in rural Britain, an expert has claimed, as new data shows more than one big cat sighting is being reported to police every week.
Forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland logged 455 sightings of big cats from members of the public between 2010 and 2015.
Norfolk and Suffolk had the most sightings, with 57 and 26 respectively. Accounts of a black panther stalking the two counties have featured regularly in news reports.
Leopards and pumas are breeding in Britain, an expert has said, as new data shows more than one big cat sighting is being reported to police every week. Picture shows an African leopard
Jonathan Downes, an expert in unknown animals, said the frequency of sightings long after it became illegal to domesticate big cats proved they are breeding in the wild.
Mr Downes is head of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, said to be the worlds largest organisation for the study of unknown animals.
He told MailOnline: 'Since the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, which came into law in 1977, people have not been allowed to keep big cats as pets.
'Many big cat sightings are of animals that were kept as pets and released. Or they may be ones that escaped from zoos or were purposely let out into the wild.
'I am certain that big cats such as leopards and pumas must be breeding, as they do not live 40 years in the wild.
'Also, there have been occasional sightings of females with cubs.
In Devon and Cornwall, where police logs describing each sighting, there were five instances of farm animals being killed in suspected big cat attacks.
Three of these sightings were in two consecutive months.
In December 2012, two sheep were found dead near Torrington, north Devon, with claw marks on their backs.
In the same month a ram was killed at Buckfastleigh, on the south-east edge of Bodmin Moor.
Forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland logged 455 sightings of big cats from members of the public between 2010 and 2015. Pictured is a black leopard
Norfolk and Suffolk had the most sightings, with 57 and 26 respectively. Big cats like this snow leopard can survive in cold conditions
The month before two sheep were found with throat ripped out near Axminster.
Out of the UKs 43 police forces, 13 refused to provide data under Freedom of Information rules to MailOnline, including Police Scotland.
This means the total number of reports would have been higher.
NUMBER OF BIG CAT SIGHTINGS REPORTED TO UK POLICE FORCES 2010 - 83 2011 - 101 2012 - 86 2013 - 86 2014 - 61 2015 - 38 Advertisement
There are an estimated 2,000 sightings each year, the vast majority of which are not reported to the authorities.
Some have been dismissed as hoaxes, and John Royle, Chief Livestock Manager at the NFU, said he had not seen evidence of wild cats attacking farm animals.
However, a DNA test on hairs found in Lincolnshire carried out by a government-licensed laboratory found they came from the leopard family.
Mr Downes himself carried out a test on fur found in North Devon which was found to be from a leopard.
He said: 'Leopards and pumas in the wild live in the countryside quite similar to the UK.
For example, there are pumas in North America pumas and leopards as far north as Siberia.
Postal worker Phil Chapman, 38, was looking out his York motel room window while on the phone to a friend when a 'panther-like' animal emerged from the bushes
Mr Downes, who has written 20 books on unproven and mythical phenomena, said he did not think larger cats, like lions and tigers, are rearing their young in the UK.
Police forces in Devon and Cornwall, where there were 28 sightings, did not say whether any cases reported to them had been genuine.
Norfolk and Suffolk Constabulary also did not offer an opinion.
The fewest number of sightings were in the north of England, with two over the full six years in North Yorkshire and Country Durham.
Kent Police said: Officers would attend if a member of the public was injured or if the animal posed a danger.
When appropriate officers will liaise with local big cat societies and the RSPCA as they are better equipped to deal these incidents.
Before the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, which came into force in 1977, people were allowed to keep big cats at pets. Maurice Wheeler kept a puma in his London home during the 1960s
Locals signed a petition to get the puma, named Dax, set free. Mr Downes believes several animals escaped from private collections after the act required owners to get a license
A Norfolk Constabulary spokesman said: All reported sightings are recorded by the police and each report is assessed on its own merit.
If encountering a large cat police would call the wildlife authorities to ensure the creature is captured safely.
We would always encourage members of the public to take a common sense approach to any such incidents.
'They should not to endanger themselves and call the police in the first instance.
A nine-year-old boy has been grabbed by the throat and punched in the face several times at a playground by an Asian man.
Police are hunting for the man who allegedly carried out the attack about 4.15pm on September 25 while the boy was playing at a park on the corner on Yorrell Street and Ridgewood Road in Algester, in Brisbane's south.
The man approached the boy, grabbed him by the throat, threw him to the ground and punched in the face several times.
A nine-year-old boy has been grabbed by the throat and punched in the face several times at a playground by an Asian man (pictured is a computer-generated image)
He has then attempted to strangle the boy with his hands.
But the boy managed to free himself from the man and run away.
The boy was not seriously injured during the incident.
Investigators have released a computer-generated image of the man.
Police are hunting for the man who allegedly carried out the attack on September 25 while the boy was playing at a park in Brisbane's south (pictured is a Google streetview)
He is described as Asian in appearance, aged between 30 and 40 years old, about 172 centimetres tall with short black hair and a proportionate build.
The man was wearing a short-sleeve purple shirt at the time of the attack.
The man claiming to be Bill Clintons abandoned son broke his long silence on Tuesday by likening the former first familys treatment of him to slave owners.
And Danney Williams pleaded with the former president and his wife, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, finally to accept him into their family.
I read history. This goes back to the slave owners when they have a child with one of their slaves and their wives try to have them banished off the plantation, he said in a YouTube video.
What century is this? It just wasnt right.
Williams said he desperately wants to meet Bill Clinton. Like any child, I want to know my dad and I want him to know me, he said in the nine-minute tape.
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Danney Williams (left) claims he is the biological son of former President Bill Clinton
Danney's mother, Bobbie Anne Williams (right), says Bill Clinton paid her for sex on several occasions in 1984, around the time she became pregnant. When she gave birth to her son, she says she knew it was Clinton's because of her son's light skin tone. Bobbie claims Clinton was the only white client she had at the time
In 1999, the Drudge Report published a story claiming that Star magazine had conducted a DNA test and found that the two were not related, but Danney says there never was a DNA test
I am his only son in the world and hes my only dad. We have to come together, we have to.
Williams has long claimed that his prostitute mother met Clinton when she was working on the streets of Little Rock, Arkansas. He claims she told him they had sex 13 times. But all attempts to get him to speak publicly have failed until now.
Williams, 30, a father of five, contrasts his hardscrabble upbringing with that of Chelsea Clinton, who he calls his sister.
'Hillary, please do not deny I exist, I am your stepson. Chelsea is my sister and Bill is my father
In 1995 when my father was president of the United States, the state of Arkansas put us in foster care, he says in the nine-minute video. I lived in foster homes.
It made me feel horrible because I know his child, Chelsea, was well taken care of and we was house-to-house, hungry at nights. He said he dropped out of school in 11th grade to work in a donut shop to support his brothers and sisters.
To know that my father was the president, it hurts. Try to imagine that your own father refused to love you, refused to say that you exist. Knowing who my father was and he was so close, yet so far away made my part unbearable.
In a separate statement Williams denied he was coming forward now for political reasons. This is not about politics or money, he said. For me, it is about finding the truth and understanding finally who I am and where I came from.
Williams claims in the video that it was common knowledge around Arkansas that he was Clintons child. Everywhere I went, they pointed out: Its Bill Clintons son right there. You look like him, dont you? The ears, the mouth, the chin, the teeth, the eyes, the nose.
In December, Danney started a Facebook page under the name Danney Williams-Clinton, and has been posting several comparison shots between himself and Clinton in order to show a resemblance
Danney's mother claims Clinton laughed at her when she told him that she believed her son was his
I see him in me. You can see a black Bill Clinton. When Im brushing my hair I can see Bill Clinton with waves in his hair.
I always feel bad about him not wanting to be in my life, he added. Was it because I was black? Was there something wrong with me? Why do you not want to be a part of me? It made me even think sometimes of suicide.
Williams was brought up by his aunt Lucille Bolton, because his mother was constantly in and out of prison when he was growing up. Bolton also appears in the video.
She said that Danneys mother, Bobbi Anne Williams, told her she was pregnant with Clintons child months before he was born.
Bolton said she once took Danney to the Governors Mansion in Little Rock in a bid to confront the Clintons but they were chased off the grounds. There was a car coming out of the front gate, right. When the gate swings open, I ran up in there and ran behind the gate.
When I got to the door, I asked for (Hillary) and the door was slammed in my face.
Williams claims in the video that it was common knowledge around Arkansas that he was Clintons child. Everywhere I went, they pointed out: Its Bill Clintons son right there. You look like him, dont you? The ears, the mouth, the chin, the teeth, the eyes, the nose'
She said two big old guys came from round the side of the mansion. I went running and jumped a fence, got the hell out of there, she said.
At one point in the video Williams said he got no help from the Clintons during his upbringing, but at another he says his mother regularly got seven $100 bills placed in her mailbox and he received Christmas presents from the former first family.
They were delivered to my home by state troopers. So I felt he was trying to be a part of my life. And then when he became president, everything stopped.
He said that in 1999 the tabloid magazine Star published a report saying that he had failed a DNA test, but he says no such test was ever taken. I would love a DNA test to be done, he said.
Williams claimed to have had several near-miss attempts to speak to the Clintons. He once went to hear a speech Bill was giving at his presidential library in Little Rock but arrived too late. Just this year during a campaign stop he said he sat front and center as Hillary spoke, but she left immediately afterwards so he didnt get a chance to speak to her.
I put myself right in front of the podium where she spoke. She was looking right at me eye contact. I was thinking she knew who I was.
What made it even more galling was the fact she spoke about meeting members of the Black Lives Matter movement and how she felt for them.
It made me wonder. She says black lives matter, so why I dont matter to her?
Williams said he has told his children that their grandfather was once president. Theyre amazed by it. Theyre like No. Is it for real? I tell them yes, he is my father and I will make sure you get to meet him one day.
Turning to the camera he pleaded with Hillary Clinton to stop ignoring him.
Hillary, please do not deny I exist, I am your stepson. Chelsea is my sister and Bill is my father.
He then added: I feel bad when Hillary called black people super-predators and that we need to be brought to heel. Im black, Im real and I am her stepson and I deserve the love that she has given Chelsea.
We hear my stepmother telling the nation every day that we are stronger together. They know who I am, I know who I am, I have to meet my father, I have to know that hes willing to even accept me. I have to know.
A DNA test reportedly conducted by Star magazine in 1999 said that Danney couldn't be Clinton's son but there remain questions about the test's precision.
Danney's story first garnered international attention in 1992, as then-Arkansas Gov Clinton was gearing up to run for president.
The Globe interviewed Danney's mother, a former prostitute named Bobbie Anne Williams, who told the story of how she allegedly met and began a relationship with Clinton in 1984.
She says Clinton went out for a run one day in Little Rock, when he jogged by her housing project and introduced himself to her. She was 24 years old at the time.
A few days later, Clinton allegedly jogged by the housing project again and paid Bobbie $200 for her to have sex with him behind some bushes.
After that, Bobbie says that she and Clinton regularly had sex, sometimes alone, sometimes with other female partners.
Eventually, Bobbie became pregnant and she suspected that it was Clinton's child.
But when she told the governor, he allegedly laughed in her face.
'He rubbed my big belly and said, "Girl, that cant be my baby." But I knew it was. I just had this kind of womans feeling that this was his child.' Bobbie told The Globe.
She became even more sure when she gave birth to the baby boy on December 7, 1985, because the boy's skin tone was so light. Bobbie says her son could only be Clinton's because he was her only white client at the time she got pregnant.
Shortly after giving birth though, Bobbie was imprisoned, and her sister Lucille Bolton started taking care of the young boy. Bolton is said to be the first person who tried to force the governor to take a DNA test, and reportedly spoke about the matter with Hillary herself.
When the governor's office began shutting her out, a local activist took up the cause and started spreading a flyer about the matter titled 'The Hottest Thing Going: Bill Clinton's D*** Will Keep Him From Running for President of the United States of America'.
The story was picked up again in 1999, when the Drudge Report ran a story claiming that Star magazine had conducted a paternity test using the DNA analysis from the Kenneth Starr impeachment report, and samples from Danney and Bobbie.
The analysis reportedly found that Danney and Clinton couldn't be related, but there are questions about the test's precision.
At the time, Slate reported that it would be impossible to determine whether Clinton was Danney's father with the 'imprecise' data.
Marilyn Brown collapsed when they told her that her ten-year-old daughter Janette would never come home from school. She vividly recalls sliding to the floor, begging to be allowed to see her child but being told it was for the best that she didn't.
'I cried and I cried and I cried,' she tells me. 'And I don't think I've cried since, no, not even at the funeral. I can't cry. I don't know why. It's not as if it isn't there. It is. I can feel it, a big lump in my chest.
'I sometimes think if I had been able to cry, it would have got rid of that lump.'
That makes half a century of being unable to cry. It will be 50 years ago next week that Janette died, just one of the tiny victims of the Aberfan disaster, where a massive coal waste tip slid down the mountainside in the Welsh mining village, engulfing the primary school and killing 116 children and 28 adults.
Tragedy: It will be 50 years ago next week since the Aberfan disaster, where a massive coal waste tip slid down the mountain in the Welsh mining village, killing 116 pupils and 28 adults
Rescue: Jeff Edwards, who was eight at the time, was the last to be rescued from the school
Devastating: In minutes, the village had lost half of its children, including many of those in this image. Now, some of the survivors and parents of those who lost children have spoken
The last time Marilyn saw her daughter was when she stood on the doorstep, waving her off. 'She hadn't wanted to go to school that day,' she remembers. 'It was a holiday coming up and she just didn't want to go.
'My husband Bernard got quite cross with her. 'Come on, Janette, you have to go.' I remember watching her go up the street, and waving, then coming back inside thinking: 'Thank goodness for that, I can have my tea and toast now.' But I'd hardly sat down at the table to eat it when it happened.'
'It' was one of the most shocking disasters in British history, and one which still seems too monstrous to fathom.
The children of Aberfan had grown up in the shadow of the towering No 7 tip a man-made mountain made up of a quarter of a million tonnes of coal waste and rocks dumped by the National Coal Board.
They used to play in the stream which ran under the giant tip, catching tadpoles and sliding down the lower slopes, unaware that their playground would one day become their tomb.
At 9.15am on October 21, 1966, however, tip No 7, swollen by heavy rain, started to slide. With an almighty roar, which locals at first put down to a blast of thunder or a low-flying plane, it crashed down the mountainside, engulfing everything in its path, including Pantglas Primary School, where lessons had just begun.
In minutes, the village had lost half of its children.
It was a catastrophe that the whole country shared, being perhaps the first national disaster to be played out in front of TV cameras. Everyone over the age of 60 will shudder at the memory of those indelible images as desperate parents clawed through the mud with their bare hands.
Haunted by memories: Marilyn Brown collapsed to the floor in floods of tears when they told her that her ten-year-old daughter Janette would never come home from Pantglas school
Victim: Marilyn's daughter Janette (pictured) was aged 10 when she was killed in the tragedy
Now, the cameras have returned for two documentaries, one for the BBC and one for ITV, and younger generations will perhaps learn of Aberfan for the first time.
What's immediately clear as the survivors tell their stories some who have never spoken about it before is how the passing of time does nothing to dilute the horror.
In the BBC programme, which is one of the most heart-breaking pieces of television you are ever likely to watch, former miner and part-time fireman Allan Lewis provides a haunting account of reaching four little girls, all still at their desks, and their teacher, who was still standing in front of them. All were dead.
A child's pigtails immediately reminded him of his own daughter, aged four at the time. 'I was sobbing,' he remembers. 'The tears were running down my cheeks. The overman who was behind me said: 'Do you want to be relieved?' I took a deep breath then: 'No, no, I'll carry on.' '
Then there is the testimony of the children themselves the ones who, by some miracle, came out of the school alive.
Karen Thomas is only here to tell the story because of one woman. The Pantglas dinner lady Nansi Williams was just one of the heroes of that day.
Flashbacks: Jeff Edwards (pictured in recent years) said he is still haunted by the disaster
When the school started to shudder she realised something terrible was happening, and told the children closest to her (who had been bringing her their classes' dinner money) to get on the ground. She then flung herself on top of them.
Fifty years on, Karen tells of those terrified children pinned beneath Mrs Williams, unaware that she was dead. Karen still calls her 'Mrs Williams' today, rather than Nansi, that childhood respect intact.
'The five of us were shouting. We were calling out her name and the boys were saying 'just pull her hair if you can reach her' to try and wake her up. We just thought she was sleeping or unconscious. It didn't enter my head that she was dead on top of us.'
Some haven't spoken publicly at all since the disaster, which makes the testimonies of men such as Len Haggett, a retired fireman, all the more moving.
In the BBC programme, Len is reunited with Dave Thomas, one of the children he did manage to pull out alive, albeit with an ear hanging off and with three fingers missing.
Len's abiding feeling at that moment? 'Elation, without a shadow of a doubt', but overall, he has had to live with searing regret that he did not manage to save more.
Perhaps the most poignant account comes from Jeff Edwards, the last child to be brought out of Pantglas Primary School alive.
There is a famous picture of him being carried from the building, his shock of white hair still vivid through the blackness.
'I still can't see a hospital blanket without it all coming back,' he tells me. 'I'll be watching Casualty or Holby City and they will wrap someone up, and it sets me off.'
The memories flood back, sometimes without any reason. 'Sometimes, out of nowhere, I'll be able to smell the smell,' he says. 'Anyone who has lived in a mining community will know that smell, but I'd get it in the middle of London. I mean, it wasn't there. It was in my head, but it was still so real.'
Sad: Residents of the Welsh mining village attend a mass funeral for the victims of the tragedy
The massive coal waste tip slid down the mountainside in the Welsh mining village, engulfing the primary school and killing 116 children and 28 adults. Pictured: Volunteers on the site
Jeff had just picked a new library book (The Adventures Of Tintin, he remembers) and walked back to his desk, when the tragedy started. His teacher, Michael Davies, had started to chalk up on the board, when there was a 'rumbling, rumbling, rumbling', as if a jet plane was going overhead.
'The teacher said 'it's only thunder, it will go soon', then the next thing I remember was waking up and hearing shouts and screams.'
Jeff was trapped, pinned under his desk and alive only because he happened to be in an air pocket. Those around him, including Mr Davies, had died instantly.
Just by his shoulder, he realised, with mounting panic, was the little girl who sat beside him in class. Her head was 'right next to my face, really. I could see she was dead. There was no doubt about that.'
All our friends were gone, you see. I lost my cousins, my friends. No one talked about it at the time, but you couldn't escape it either.' Survivor Jeff Edwards
For two hours, Jeff was pinned down like this, and for 50 years he has tried to escape the images he saw that day. 'I can't get away from her,' he says, of that girl whose face, increasingly puffy in death, haunts his dreams.
'I still see her sometimes. I can't stop it all coming back.'
In so many ways, Jeff has been a shining example of human endurance. Although he moved away from Aberfan as a young man, he returned to the area after a stint in London and went on to become a mayor of nearby Merthyr, pouring all his efforts into securing a future for the youth of the town.
But he has also suffered disturbing flashbacks, and still has bouts of depression. 'When they come on me, I just have to go to bed and let it pass,' he says. Others too, talk of the burden of 'survivors' guilt'. Bernard Thomas was ten on the day, and although he escaped 'with just cuts and bruises', he tells me that he, like Jeff, 'lost my childhood that day'.
The Aberfan he grew up in was a dismal one. 'All our friends were gone, you see. I lost my cousins, my friends. No one talked about it at the time, but you couldn't escape it either.'
Families and residents of Aberfan attend a mass funeral for the victims following the tragedy
Coffins arriving at the cemetery during the funeral of 82 victims - 81 of them children - of the Aberfan coal tip disaster. The victims died when a mass of coal slurry flooded the local school
Bernard never married, and has had a difficult life since. He struggled with alcohol issues. 'I do wonder if it would have been different, had it not happened. Would I have got married? I don't know.'
The ITV programme focuses on the women of Aberfan and their vital role in keeping the community alive.
The group Aberfan Young Wives was set up just weeks after so many of the mothers involved had buried their children. Those children, Marilyn Brown tells me, had been due to take part in a community show. The rehearsals had taken part in Marilyn's living room.
'Oh those are some of the loveliest memories I have, of Janette and her friends all singing and dancing around the room. They were going to sing Somewhere Over The Rainbow, I remember.
'After it happened, no one thought any more about the show but one day the Reverend Pembleton came to me and said: 'Marilyn, why don't you put on a show, for the children?' I was taken aback. I couldn't think of who would want to come, or whether any of the other parents would support the idea.
'But when we put it to them, they jumped at the idea. And the children who did take part, well, they just loved it.' The community rallied, and came out in droves to support the surviving children on that stage.
The Aberfan disaster was a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil-tip that engulfed a school
The Aberfan disaster, 50 years ago, was one of the worst industrial disasters Britain has known
It was the start of Aberfan's long recovery. Every week following it, the mothers (of both the living and the dead children) would meet. They called themselves the Aberfan Young Wives. And this group are, astonishingly, still meeting today. 'We took a decision to lose the 'Young' from our title though,' laughs Marilyn.
'In the early days no one knew what to do. No one talked about the children. If you met another family in the street you'd just nod and go on.
'This gave us a place where we could just talk about our children if we wanted, or not talk about them if we wanted, but where people understood.
'We'd hold events, go on trips, have fun, actually. People were afraid to have fun, but you have to, don't you? Life has to go on.'
She's an extraordinary woman, who has rebuilt her own life through sheer determination. She says she had little choice. 'I had another child, you see. I had Robert. He came out of that school, and I had to go on for him.'
It was Robert, six at the time, she screamed for on that day, when the news was broken that Janette had died. 'I kept saying 'I want Robert, I want Robert' and when they brought him to me I just held onto him for dear life.'
We talk a little of whether the women of Aberfan coped better than the men. 'Oh Bernard cried, yes, lots. He took it very badly. You only had to say her name and he would break down.
'Maybe that's why I didn't. I felt I had to stay strong. I don't know. I really don't know why it is.'
Volunteers are pictured working to safeguard the coal tip in the 1960s to prevent further slides
The scene inside the Pantglas Junior School after it was wrecked when the coal tip collapsed
The moving mountainside of coal sludge after the disaster at Aberfan on October 21, 1966
Marilyn never did get to see her daughter's body and that is still something that pains her. 'I wanted to and my father, who had gone with Bernard to identify her, said no, I shouldn't. He said she only had a tiny mark on her forehead, and that she was sleeping, but you do still wonder, don't you? But I must not go there.'
She went on to have two more daughters, is now a proud grandmother and asks me to stress that she has had 'despite everything, a very happy life'.
'You never get over it, and you never forget. I mean, she would be 60 now and you think: 'What sort of person would she be? What would she have done?' But, my goodness, you are so grateful for all that you do have.'
There are pictures of Janette all over the house. She has a favourite one ('the last one she had done at school') on the wall by her bed.
'I touch it every night when I say goodnight to her. And whenever I hear children singing and dancing, I think of her. I always will.'
A man has been charged after he allegedly molested an 18-year-old woman after she fell asleep in his taxi in Sydney's north.
The woman got into a taxi at Manly about 2am on June 5 and asked the driver to take her to Belrose before she fell asleep.
Police allege the driver indecently assaulted the 18-year-old woman who later reported the incident to police.
A man has been charged after he allegedly molested an 18-year-old woman after she fell asleep in his taxi in Sydney's north. Pictured is a stock image
Officers from Northern Beaches Local Area Command investigated the incident.
A man came to Manly Police Station where he was arrested about 5pm on Tuesday.
The man was charged with assault with an act of indecency.
He was granted conditional bail to appear at Manly Local Court on October 26.
The most banned driver in Britain has been jailed after being caught driving while disqualified for the 61st time.
John Pearson, from Stockport, also has 10 drink-driving offences to his name, including for being found asleep at the wheel while holding a can of beer.
The 52-year-old has been given a four-month prison sentence and handed a five-year ban in his fourth jail term already this year, but road safety campaigners have demanded 'severe punishment'.
John Pearson, 52, is a serial offender and has been caught driving while disqualified 61 times. There are calls for tougher sentences after the Stockport man was handed a further five-year ban and a four month jail term, with road safety campaigners calling for 'severe punishment'
Zari'aat Masood, from road safety charity Brake, said: 'Pearson has shown a shocking disregard for the safety of other road users, this is among the most shocking we have heard of.
'It is ridiculous that this repeat offender will be allowed back on to our roads. Extreme cases such as his deserve severe punishment'
Stockport Magistrate's Court where John Pearson was sentenced to a sentence campaigners are calling too lenient given the 'shocking disregard' he holds for safety
Pearson was sentenced at Stockport Magistrate's Court.
The latest entry in Pearson's catalog of criminality occurred when police stopped the serial offender driving in Heaton Norris, Stockport - he then failed the subsequent breath test.
Their profession has long been despised by the community.
But it seems the popularity of parking inspectors may have hit an all-time low, with the number of personal attacks from fed up motorists rising dramatically.
Close to half of all inspectors in Melbourne's CBD have been attacked in 2016 - double the number of incidents from last year, 3AW reports.
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Close to half of all parking inspectors in Melbourne's CBD say they have been attacked by angry motorists (pictured) in 2016
The municipality employs 86 parking inspectors, with 41 saying they have been both verbally and physically attacked in 2016
The City of Melbourne, the municipality covering the majority of the city's CBD, employs 86 parking inspectors.
Of those, 41 have claim to have been attacked by disgruntled drivers - both verbally and physically - since the start of the year.
Acting City of Melbourne CEO Martin Cutter said they were concerned about the rise.
'The streets are our parking officers workplace and it is unacceptable to physically or verbally assault anyone in their workplace, no matter their profession,' Mr Cutter said.
'While we are concerned by the spike in reported assaults in 2016, it should be noted that in the past year there has been a strong focus on encouraging our parking officers to speak up and report assaults.
'We work closely with Victoria Police to ensure all reported physical assaults of our parking officers are investigated.'
Just last year, the council's CEO Ben Rimmer spoke out about the issue of inspectors being physically attacked and called everything from 'vultures' to 'lowlifes', as depicted in a City of Melbourne video, saying it was on par with domestic violence.
That video took a somewhat lighter look at an attack on an inspector, a necessary step at reducing violence towards frontline staff, he said.
'The reason that the parking inspectors had their video was actually because, as a group of people, they are continually harassed on the streets,' Mr Rimmer told the Herald Sun.
A total of 41 inspectors have claim to have been attacked by disgruntled drivers since the start of 2016, double the number from last year
'People are often abused verbally, every now and again physically.
'So the idea of trying to communicate to the community that actually thats not on, is pretty important to us.'
Bandmaster, strike up the Onedin Line theme tune. MPs debated giving the Queen a new royal yacht.
A new flagship of the nation! cried one Tory matelot. A bauble! screamed an Aussie woman from the Scots Nats.
Bandmaster Ian Paisley (DUP, N Antrim) said he felt like singing Rule Britannia. There was an icier response from Labour frontbencher Barry Gardiner, who feared he would be keelhauled for his lack of enthusiasm.
The Westminster Hall debate on a new HMY Britannia coincided with a main-Chamber discussion of Syria, writes Quentin Letts
The Westminster Hall debate on a new HMY Britannia coincided with a main-Chamber discussion of Syria. The two events attracted roughly the same attendance.
Jake Berry (Con, Rossendale and Darwen) Sir Jake, we may one day need to call him had organised the debate. Brexit meant we would need to promote ourselves with greater elan.
A new royal yacht would burnish our nations soft power and prestige.
Mr Berry had received hundreds of letters of support from the public, some folk sending him cheques, others offering to surrender their winter fuel allowances if it helped pay for a shiny new vessel for HM.
Tory backbenchers had by this point gone misty-eyed a distinct sea fret had invaded their Aldis lamps.
The more the Chamber heard florid proposals for a new Britannia sailing the seven seas, the more Sir Gerald Howarth purpled with patriotism
One chap extracted a vast mouchoir to blow his nose. His funnels produced a long, mournful parp reminiscent of Dogger Bank on a dingy day.
Donations and sponsorship could pay for the thing, said Mr Berry. Mark Francois (Con, Rayleigh and Wickford) thought the money should come from the International Aid budget. We gave aid to the Philippines and Turkey and both of them had a national yacht, he said.
Former defence minister Andrew Murrison, while supportive of a new yacht, pleaded for it not to be a gin palace or a Philip Green vessel. Loud hear-hears. Dr Murrison also made the slightly delicate point that a new royal yacht would become a whopping great target for terrorists. Isis pedalo at eight oclock starboard side, skipper.
The more the Chamber heard florid proposals for a new Britannia sailing the seven seas, the more Sir Gerald Howarth purpled with patriotism.
Sir Gerald, one of those Home Counties knights whose pyjamas may be striped like the Union Flag, declared that the day the last Britannia was decommissioned had been the worst day of my life.
His voice trembling like the low screw of a Sealink ferry parking at Ramsgate, he added: Let. Us. Put. That. Error. Right.
Sir Gerald declared that the day the last Britannia was decommissioned had been the worst day of my life. The Queen mother is pictured alongside the yacht in 1984
A new Britannia would be a brilliant addition to our national trade mission toolkit. Having been a minister, he claimed that ones choice of transport when travelling abroad was important.
If you turned up on an Easyjet flight, you would be met by a minor official. If you sailed into port on a royal yacht, you would be met with bells and whistles and a top-rank delegation.
Deidre Brock, an Australian sometime soap opera actress who is now the SNPs Member for Edinburgh N & Leith, was by now looking distinctly seasick.
Angus MacNeil (SNP, Western Isles) could foresee no circumstance for this pomp and noted that China did not have a royal yacht
A new pleasure cruise for the Royal Family would represent a rose-tinted fiction of modern Britain, she averred.
Disgrace! horned Sir Gerald. You could almost say he was steaming. Ms Brock sailed on regardless, saying: Dump the bauble! If the Scots dont want to build it, we have shipyards in Ulster, rejoined Mr Paisley.
Angus MacNeil (SNP, Western Isles) could foresee no circumstance for this pomp and noted that China did not have a royal yacht.
Nor does Switzerland, snorted Sir Gerald. Oliver Colvile, a stickler on such matters, suggested that China perhaps did not have a royal yacht because it was not a Monarchy.
Mr Gardiner, much of whose speech was as drab as the Wash on a grey day, said this was the third time this idea has been dredged up, Mary Celeste-style. He became really quite pitchy.
Royal Mail was under growing pressure last night to explain why it was helping conmen flood the UK with threatening letters.
The sick letters, which tell the recipient that they are at risk of harm and need to pay a clairvoyant for protection, are being sent into the country in their millions through one of Royal Mails biggest and most lucrative contracts.
Some of the recent letters which are illegal but bear Royal Mail branding on their envelopes tell the person they are sent to that they are at risk of being killed in a terror attack.
Marion Elchlepp, left, and her step-mother Chantal, right, are running BDK Mailing
The letters are being sent through one of the Royal Mail's biggest and most lucrative contracts
Others tell the addressee almost always the elderly or vulnerable that someone will stab them in the back, or that someone close to them wishes them harm.
One victim was told if he did not pay the amount requested, he would have ten years of suffering and difficulties from which no one can save him.
Some of the criminals behind the clairvoyant letters worked directly with Royal Mail until 2009.
And they are still able to get Royal Mail branding on their letters by sending them in bulk through Royal Mails contract with postal company Whistl. Last night Royal Mail was continuing to insist that it had to deliver all addressed letters.
DAD TOLD OF 'STAB IN THE BACK' LOST 30K TO PSYCHICS FRAUD David Cato is furious with the scam clairvoyants who have been targeting his frail elderly father for years. Michael Cato is in the grip of dementia and barely remembers his own family members. But the 87-year-old has received hundreds of letters through the Royal Mails Whistl contract, including those from scam company BDK. David Cato's father Michael who has dementia lost 30,000 in the scam One BDK letter which claimed it was from a clairvoyant called Marie de Fortune stated: I have a clear and precise vision. Someone will stab you in the back. Someone is speaking behind your back. It demanded 40 for protection from the curse he was under and told him: Do not speak to anyone about this... keep this secret to yourself. Mr Cato, who was once a successful businessman, has lost about 30,000 through scams. He also received letters from clairvoyant scammers telling him lives will be sacrificed and he could lose everything if he failed to send 120 for a crystal globe to protect him. One even claimed he needed to pay for protection from terror attacks. Mr Catos son David, 57, from Twickenham, said: Mentally my fathers just not there anymore. Its sickening to see the way he has been preyed on. It got to the point where he wouldnt see his grandchildren, he was doing nothing but reading and responding to these letters. We all tried to tell him it was rubbish but he wouldnt listen. It is just awful and tragic. Business-owner David added: In his younger years my father would never, ever have fallen for this stuff, he was such a proud and intelligent man. But now he doesnt recognise people he has known for years. When I saw how the Daily Mail had exposed some of the people behind these scams [who were] just laughing about it, I was so angry. I dont understand how the Royal Mail can continue to deliver this stuff when they know it is illegal. Advertisement
But it was coming under growing pressure from MPs and campaigners, who said its stance amounted to knowingly profiting from fraud and deliberately turning a blind eye to the suffering of victims.
Royal Mail is already facing a showdown with ministers over the practices exposed by the Daily Mail with Prime Minister Theresa May telling the company it needs to urgently do more to stop scams coming through its network.
And last night Baroness Ros Altmann said Royal Mails stance was shameful and it had a duty of care to check what was coming through their bulk contracts.The former pensions minister and campaigner for the elderly said: It is outrageous that vulnerable elderly people are being so cynically targeted through Royal Mail.
The Royal Mail logo is a trusted brand, built up over many years and associated with official authority. It is shameful to allow it to be used by fraudsters.
Campaigner and broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen called Royal Mail a disgrace, saying elderly people had been preyed on through the post for decades.
It is so frustrating that this is still going on, she told the Daily Mail. It is time the Royal Mail stamped this out.
Dame Esther said she had spoken out about postal scams on the BBC in 2006 but that action had failed to materialise. She said Royal Mail must now be held responsible for knowingly delivering frauds something the company denies.
Many who receive the clairvoyant letters are too terrified to tell their family and friends. This is because the phoney clairvoyants forbid victims from talking to those close to them about the letter, saying this will put them at risk.
The son of one elderly victim only found out his mother had been totally brainwashed when he looked into the cupboards and drawers of her house after her death and found them stuffed full of threatening post.
Among the letters recently sent through the Whistl contract was one sent to an 89-year-old with dementia in Twickenham, which read: Terrorist activities are intensifying [and] there is a danger menacing your futureyou had better trust me.
Royal Mail admitted last night that it had worked with one of the prolific companies behind the criminal clairvoyant scam letters BDK Mailing until 2009.
That company has been named in a recent US court action as being responsible for millions of multiple mass mailing fraud schemes.
The action claims the family firm is sent between 40million and 50million every year by hundreds of thousands of victims in the U.S. alone, who suffer devastating financial losses from the defendants fraudulent schemes. The BDK empire was the brainchild of Bernhard Elchlepp, a German bookseller who died last year, aged 63. The family firm is now run by his French wife Chantal, 58 and his step-daughter Marion, 25, a self-declared hipster photographed at Paris society events.
Her roles include planning mailings and mailing results analysis.
Their business split into companies in Switzerland, France and Singapore has turned over an estimated 200million since they started a decade ago. BDK, Chantal and Marion did not respond to requests for comment.
MPs attacked the Royal Mail for knowingly profiting from scams.
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said: When a vulnerable person receives post from the Royal Mail, they expect it to be bona fide and genuine. This scale of fraud is shocking but even more shocking is the apparent indifference of the Royal Mail. They should stop knowingly profiting on the back of vulnerable peoples misery.
Last night the Royal Mail said: We take the Daily Mails allegations very seriously. We will work with the Government, industry partners and law enforcement agencies to tackle the issue even more vigorously.
Scam mail is a scourge. We are raising the issue with other posts in the EU so there can be a co-ordinated approach. This also needs to include companies which consolidate mail and handle it before it comes in to the UK. We are actively pursuing this. We do not believe we have done any business directly with BDK Mailing GMBH since 2009.
A spokesman for Whistl said it would investigate all scam mail brought to our attention. The spokesman said Whistl had bought the scam letters in from an intermediary without knowing what they were or who the sender was.
We have no ability to see the actual content of the mail items, the spokesman added.
HOW THE UNITED STATES BANNED THE LETTER SCAMMERS Royal Mail insists it can do little to stop the threatening clairvoyant scams being delivered through its bulk contract with Whistl. Its attitude starkly contrast with that of its American counterpart, the United States Postal service. When with the same vile letters began to arrive in America, it went to court, requesting an injunction to prevent continuing and substantial injury to the elderly and vulnerable victims of the letters. It said the letters purport to be from a person with psychic powers and seem personalised, but in fact thousands of nearly identical solicitations are sent every month to potential victims. The US Post Office joined forces with the Department of Justice to ask the court for a restraining order against a Netherlands printing house responsible for the letters. Advertisement
Brits who got rich helping conmen make their fortune
By KATHERINE FAULKNER and MARIO LEDWITH
A huge payment processing company run by a British businesswoman is helping to facilitate mass clairvoyant frauds against the elderly, the Mail can reveal.
Fraudsters who send the threatening scam letters to British pensioners use PacNet Services to process the cheques they get back from their vulnerable victims.
PacNet charges the fraudsters a fee for processing the thousands of cheques they receive from the victims, some of whom believe they need to pay for protection.
Robert Paul Davis, pictured, is the boss of PacNet Services that processes the cheques
PacNet then wired the fraudsters their money a process which helps the fraudsters to disguise the fact that their money has come from illegally ripping off elderly people.
The company, which is thought to make more than 100million a year, is run by Rosanne Day, a British woman from Somerset, and a British-Canadian man, Robert Paul Davis.
It stands accused by the US government of knowingly helping postal fraudsters to hide the proceeds of their crimes for the last 20 years and of being a significant transnational criminal organisation engaged in mass money laundering charges the company vehemently denies.
The Mail can now reveal that PacNet even sponsored a lavish conference earlier this year, hosting conmen from Britain and around the world as they traded suckers lists of fraud victims and discussed how best to rip off elderly people.
His wife, Monica Davis, pictured, is a managing partner of PacNet in her native Brazil
These included conmen behind some of the clairvoyant letters.
The conference held in the Canadian ski resort of Whistler was attended by an undercover reporter for the Daily Mail.
The companys British founder and owner Mrs Day, from Yeovil, is thought to have stayed in a penthouse at the Fairmont Chateau hotel, which costs 1,100 per night.
PacNets two leading figures Mrs Day and Robert Paul Davis are British. However, twice married Mrs Day, 49, and her British husband Gordon, 71, now live in Vancouver, where PacNet is headquartered.
They have a stunning 2million four-bedroom house on a tree-lined street but still own a holiday home back in the village of Barton St David in Somerset, worth around 500,000.
Mrs Day also owns two other properties in British Columbia, worth 850,000 and 316,000, according to Canadian newspaper reports.
Robert Paul Davis who is a qualified pilot, and previously used PacNets plane to move huge bundles of the companys cash around Europe, something which in itself is not illegal has a number of properties on the Isle of Man. Despite being designated by the US government as the head of a significant transnational criminal organization Mr Davis, 60, looked relaxed last week when he was seen on the Isle of Man. He was accompanied by wife Monica, 43.
She is the managing partner of a PacNet subsidiary in her native Brazil, but describes herself as homemaker on company documents.
Companies based in British Columbia, Canada, are not required to make their accounts public. Sources, however, believe PacNet was generating well over 100million a year and charging around 3.5 per cent commission.
The US government last month seized PacNets bank accounts, banned its business operations and seized the assets of key figures after Attorney General Loretta Lynch declared it a criminal organization.
Mrs Lynch said: PacNet has a 20-year history of engaging in money laundering and mail fraud, by knowingly processing payments on behalf of a wide range of mail fraud schemes.
A spokesman for PacNet said the company provided a legitimate and lawful service. The spokesman said the company denies ever knowingly processing payments for deceptive mailings by any of its clients.
The company said it worked diligently to avoid working with companies that are operating fraudulently.
It said its designation as a criminal organisation was unconstitutional as it was not given an opportunity to answer the charges, which it denies.
between the two machines have been described as 'striking'
They came in the dead of night, scaling a perimeter fence and evading security guards who keep up 24-hour patrols in the heavily protected industrial park, a stones throw from the waterfront in Edinburghs docklands.
Stealthily crossing open ground, making sure to stay out of sight of CCTV cameras, the intruders headed straight for a large office building, primarily occupied by electronics giant Siemens.
Having gained access, seemingly without setting off any alarms, they chose to ignore the German firms well-stocked premises on the bottom two floors, and instead scampered up a staircase to the second-floor headquarters of an alternative energy company called Pelamis.
The Scottish wave power machine, which the Chinese seem to have replicated closely
Then something odd happened: though the premises was stuffed with a large and valuable range of office equipment, the burglars chose to help themselves to a haul of just five laptop computers, before stealing away into the darkness.
No one was ever caught by detectives who later investigated the break-in on Bath Road, which took place between 11pm on March 21 and 6.45am on March 22, 2011, although Police Scotland says that its officers conducted extensive inquiries.
But something about it never quite added up.
Remarkably similar: Pictures have emerged in the Far East of an enormous wave power device called Hailong 1
Why, after all, did the intruders ignore easy pickings on offer at Siemens HQ downstairs to target the offices of the little-known tenant upstairs?
Why, more to the point, did they then run off with a small haul of not-very-valuable leased laptops, which police say were collectively worth a small four-figure sum?
This week, more than five years later, the plot thickened, considerably.
Over in the Far East, pictures emerged of an enormous wave power device called Hailong 1, which has been built at the vast No 710 Research Institute by engineers working for the Beijing-based Chinese Shipbuilding Industry Corporation.
Intriguingly, the huge machine which is supposed to flex and bend as waves pass, generating electricity in the process appears to have a strikingly similar design to the one (fully 459ft long) that was being developed in 2011 by the aforementioned Scottish alternative energy company, Pelamis.
Whats more, it turns out that just two months before the firm suffered its mysterious burglary, it was visited by the then Vice-Premier of the Peoples Republic of China, Li Keqiang, who toured its HQ with a delegation of 60 of his countrys top business leaders and diplomats.
Li Keqiang, then Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China toured the HQ with a delegation of 60 just two months before the burglary
The strange correlation between Mr Lis visit, the break-in and the emergence of a near identical Chinese project has raised eyebrows among former employees of the Scottish firm, which collapsed in 2014 after financial troubles.
You can see from the pictures that the similarities between the two machines are striking, is how Max Carcas, the one-time business development director of Pelamis, puts it.
Its very much emulating our concept, in terms of the shape of the device and the configuration of the joint in the middle, which helps absorb more energy by resonating with waves.
There may also be similarities around the control system, although without looking at the black box its hard to be sure. But the two look very similar.
Importantly at a time when critics of Chinese involvement in the proposed Hinkley nuclear power plant in Somerset have raised fears over potential industrial espionage the devices appear to also share a very similar system for being floated in and then recovered from the sea.
Contributing to the fishy smell about the whole thing is the odd nature of Lis visit to Pelamis, which was the only firm outside London he chose to visit during his four-day tour of the UK.
When the relatively obscure Scottish company was approached out of the blue by Chinas government in December 2010, seeking permission for an official visit, staff wondered if it was a hoax.
Having realised that the approach was genuine, they agreed, in the run-up to the Vice-Premiers tour, to allow large numbers of his staff to spend time at the premises where the wave-power machine was being developed, ostensibly so they could make security arrangements.
Then, not long after the visit had occurred, came the mysterious, rather professional burglary.
About ten weeks later, there was this break-in, adds Carcas. We didnt think much about it at the time, because all they took were a few cheap, leased laptops.
The Vice Premier Li Keqiang (centre) on a tour of the facility where the machine was built
However in retrospect it seems interesting that someone firstly went to the bother of breaking into the dockyard, and then after getting into our building ignored the Siemens premises on the ground floor and first floor and instead went straight to our office.
After his curious tour of Pelamis, Mr Li adjourned to Central Edinburgh, where he enjoyed an Evening dinner at the castle with whisky tasting and Scottish dancing. Hosting him was then Scottish Secretary Michael Moore.
Asked about the strange correlation of the visit, the break-in and the Chinese wave-power project, Moore told The Guardian newspaper, which broke the news of the whole matter: I am afraid I am not going to speculate. It is intriguing.
Its very much emulating our concept, in terms of the shape of the device and the configuration of the joint in the middle, which helps absorb more energy by resonating with waves. Max Carcas
The Chinese firm has yet to comment.
Of course, its entirely possible that Chinas Hailong 1 machine has similarities to the Pelamis wave generator which are entirely coincidental, with the team of Chinese engineers arriving at their design independently.
Great minds do, after all, sometimes think alike. There is also a perfectly legitimate theory that they were inspired not by secrets gleaned from stolen laptops, but instead by images of the Pelamis machine which were on the firms website.
In any case, the external design of the Scottish device does not appear to have been protected by intellectual property laws that apply in China, although without looking at Hailong 1s control systems its impossible to say whether it might happen to make use of other patented technology.
What no one can dispute, however, is that Chinese corporations have both a highly dubious reputation for industrial espionage, and a track record for blithely flouting intellectual property laws of the developed world.
In 2009, for example, visitors to the Shanghai motor show encountered a car which looked almost identical to the Rolls-Royce Phantom, right down to the flying lady mascot on its bonnet.
It was made by a firm called Geely and sold for the bargain price of just 30,000. Another local car company, called Landwind, was also flogging a version of the Range Rover.
Counterfeiters in China routinely copy not just designer clothes and handbags (some of which end up being illegally exported to the UK) but also Western cigarette brands and high-end single malt whisky.
Still more ingeniously, they appear to be able to make convincing fake Apple products, often flooding the market with bogus iWatches and iPhones before genuine ones have been released.
In 2011, it even emerged that enterprising fraudsters had set up a convincing, but fake, Apple store in the south-western city of Kunming.
Back in Scotland, the SNP Government is unlikely to welcome the renewed attention being paid to Pelamis.
The firm, formed in the late Nineties, was at the centre of former First Minister Alec Salmonds efforts to turn Scotland into what he called the Saudi Arabia of renewables, exporting wind and wave energy to the rest of the world, just like the oil giant.
By 2004, Pelamis had installed prototype wave generating devices off the coast of Orkney, feeding small amounts of electricity into the national grid, and generating several helpful photo-opportunities for the SNP leader. But the firm, which at its height employed 56 people, never found a way to turn its technology into money.
By the time it hit the wall, in late 2014, it owed a record 16.3 million to the Scottish Enterprise quango, all of which has been written off, with millions more in debts owed to other public institutions.
Much of that cash was paid to senior executives, with the highest-paid member of staff trousering 234,000 in 2012 and 110,000 in 2013.
Ironically, as the firm teetered on the brink of bankruptcy, some wondered if the Chinese might be prepared to step in with a rescue bid.
Although medical and recreational marijuana activities are illegal under federal law, at least 25 states have legalized marijuana for medical use. Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska have gone even further by legalizing some forms of recreational marijuana, including its production and sale.
This conflict between federal and state law creates a curious anomaly for the foreign national who wishes to enter the United States either as a temporary visitor or as a temporary resident. If a foreign national wishes to invest in a marijuana business in a state where it is legal, and even endeavor to obtain an E-2 investor visa, this person would likely be rendered inadmissible under federal statutory immigration provisions.
Under 212(a)(3)(A)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), foreign nationals can be found inadmissible if the authorities know, or have reasonable ground to believe, that they seek to enter the United States to engage in any unlawful activity. Also, under INA 212(a)(2)(C), a foreign national can also be deemed inadmissible if the authorities know or have reason to believe that the person is or has been an illicit trafficker in any controlled substance as defined under 21 U.S.C. 802, which includes marijuana.
If the foreign national has actually used marijuana in a state where it is legal, or undertaken other legal business activities involving marijuana in that state, this person can be found inadmissible for admitting to committing acts which constitute the essential elements of a law relating to a controlled substance pursuant to INA 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(II).
The Department of Justice has set forth guidance in a Memorandum by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole (Cole Memorandum) explaining circumstances where it will exercise prosecutorial discretion and not enforce the law. Specifically, the Cole Memorandum states that it will defer to state law enforcement concerning state laws with respect to marijuana activities, although such discretion will not be applied relating to the following eight circumstances:
Distribution to minors; Money flows to criminal enterprises; Prohibition diversion of marijuana from states where marijuana is legal to other states; Use of legal marijuana as a pretext for trafficking other illegal drugs or activity; Preventing violence or the use of firearms in connection with marijuana collection or distribution; Preventing drugged driving or other public health issues; Preventing marijuana growth on public lands; and Preventing marijuana possession on federal property.
Although the Cole Memorandum makes clear that it will not enforce marijuana activities that do not implicate its eight priorities in states where it is legal, it still considers manufacture, possession and distribution of marijuana as a federal crime. Thus, it may be difficult for a non-citizen who has been denied a visa to invoke the Cole Memorandum as a defense in demonstrating that the proposed marijuana activities will not be considered as an unlawful activity. Until there is a federal law that legalizes specific marijuana activities, the foreign national will find it extremely difficult to be admitted into the United States to pursue such activities even in states where it is legal.
It is also likely that a consul may question one who wishes to enter to undertake marijuana activities whether he or she has personally used marijuana, which could then potentially count as an admission to a violation of a law involving a controlled substance. However, in order to count as an admission, the BIA set forth the following requirements for a validly obtained admission: (1) the admitted conduct must constitute the essential elements of a crime in the jurisdiction in which it occurred; (2) the applicant must have been provided with the definition and essential elements of the crime in understandable terms prior to making the admission; and (3) the admission must have been made voluntarily. See Matter of K-, 7 I&N Dec. 594 (BIA 1957). If this strict protocol is not adhered to, then a non-citizen should arguably not be considered to be have admitted to committing acts which constitute the essential elements of a law relating to a controlled substance pursuant to INA 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(II).
If the foreign national wishes to directly set up or be involved in a marijuana business in a state where it is legal, which includes its sale or distribution, this would most likely be problematic under federal immigration law. The question is whether activities that are more remote, such as a foreign national seeking to enter the United States on an H-1B visa to join an advertising firm as a creative director where one of its clients is a marijuana business in Colorado, would be considered equally problematic under federal immigration law. The H-1B worker will direct the advertising strategy for this client among several other clients, who are not in the marijuana business. Such a person seeking admission under the H-1B visa who is remotely connected to the marijuana business in another capacity should not be found inadmissible under the immigration laws.
The same reasoning should apply to a foreign national lawyer who will be employed in a New York law firm that specialized in health law. The law firm requires its lawyers to advise hospital clients in complying with New Yorks Compassionate Care Act (CCA) a law permitting the use of medical marijuana in tightly controlled circumstances. Under the CCA, health care providers and other entities may apply to be selected as Registered Organizations authorized to manufacture and dispense medical marijuana. The lawyer will assist clients, among other things, in applying to be selected as a Registered Organization, and would also advise thereafter with respect to compliance.
New York Rule of Professional Responsibility 1.2(d) provides:
A lawyer shall not counsel a client to engage, or assist a client, in conduct that the lawyer knows is illegal or fraudulent, except that the lawyer may discuss the legal consequences of any proposed course of conduct with a client
Rule 1.2(d), variations of which are incorporated in most state bar rules of professional responsibility, is one of the most important ethical rules. It point-blank prohibits a lawyer from advising a client to engage in illegal or fraudulent conduct. Rule 1.2(d), however, provides an exception for the lawyer to discuss the consequences of the proposed illegal conduct even though it does not allow the lawyer to assist the client with respect to the illegal conduct. It would be difficult for a New York lawyer to comply with Rule 1.2(d) with respect to advising a client under the CCA, as it would require the lawyer to counsel the health care client about medical marijuana activities that the lawyer knows is illegal under federal law although it is legal under the New York law. Under the CCA, the lawyer would not be able to competently represent the client by resorting to the exception under Rule 1.2(d), which is to discuss the legal consequences of any proposed course of [illegal] conduct with a client. Such a Registered Organization client would require active advice regarding the manufacture and distribute medical marijuana in compliance with the CCA.
New York State Bar Ethics Opinion 1024 endeavors to resolve this conundrum for the New York lawyer by permitting him or her to assist a client in conduct designed to comply with state medical marijuana law, notwithstanding that federal narcotics law prohibits the delivery, sale, possession and use of marijuana and makes no exception for medical marijuana. N.Y. State 1024 took into consideration the Cole Memorandums potential non-enforcement of federal law in states where marijuana activities have been rendered legal. While lack of rigorous enforcement of a law does not ordinarily provide a green light for the lawyer to advise a client to engage in activities that violate the law, N.Y. State 1024 took into consideration that New York state had explicitly authorized and regulated medical marijuana, and the federal government had indicated in the Cole Memorandum that it would not take measures to prevent the implementation of state law. Accordingly, pursuant to N.Y. State 1024, a lawyer may give legal assistance to a client regarding the CCA that goes beyond a mere discussion of the legality of the clients proposed conduct. Consistent with similar opinions from ethics committees in Arizona and Kings County, Washington where recreational marijuana activities have been legalized, N.Y. State 1024 held that state professional conduct rules should be interpreted to promote state law, not to impede its effective implementation. This is not to say that all ethics opinions are in concert with N.Y. State 1024. A recently issued Ohio ethics opinion goes the other way by limiting the lawyers advice to determining the scope and consequences of medical marijuana activity, which is legal in Ohio. It also goes on to state that a lawyer who personally uses medical marijuana, even if legal in Ohio, may adversely reflect on a lawyers honesty, trustworthiness, and overall fitness to practice law. Just as lawyers are caught in a state of flux due to the conflict between state and federal law, so are other professionals, such as Certified Public Accountants. Businesses engaging in legal marijuana activities in states where it is legal are not allowed to take business expense deductions for federal income tax purposes for activities illegal under federal law, although they have to declare income from both legal and illegal activities, but may be allowed to deduct expenses under state law.
Keeping this framework in mind, if a foreign lawyer applies for an H-1B visa to join a New York law firm that has among its clients Registered Organizations that need advice regarding compliance under New Yorks CCA, would that lawyer be found inadmissible when applying for the H-1B visa at an overseas US Consulate? She should not, but if found inadmissible, this lawyer should forcefully make the case that her conduct would be found ethical pursuant to N.Y. State 1024, and thus should not be considered to be coming to the United States to engage in unlawful activity pursuant to INA 212(a)(3)(A)(ii). It is more likely that visa applicants will be denied entry if they are entering the United States to directly invest in a marijuana business, but probably less likely to be denied if they are performing activities that are more attenuated such as the New York lawyer advising compliance under the CCA or a computer professional who will be designing a social networking site for marijuana consumers. Just as some state bar ethics committees are finding ways to justify a lawyers conduct with respect to advising on marijuana activities deemed legal in many states, but illegal under federal law (although not always enforced if the state considers the activity legal), lawyers who represent visa applicants should also be advancing similar arguments with the immigration agencies. Until such time that there is a change in the federal law that legalizes marijuana activities, lawyers should be pushing the envelope on behalf of clients who seek visas relating to lawful marijuana-based activities in certain states, while at the same time strongly cautioning them of the risks of adverse immigration consequences. Finally, lawyers advising such clients must carefully consult with ethics opinions in their states to determine what they can and cannot do under Rule 1.2(d).
Mr Hearn has been charged with unlawful striking causing death
A jogger accused over a random one-punch attack that claimed the life of a father-of-seven smiled as he was led away in handcuffs.
Wayne Hearn, 38, has been charged with unlawful striking causing death after Timothy Lang, 48, was knocked unconscious on Melbourne Street in South Brisbane on Saturday morning.
On Tuesday night, Mr Hearn was all smiles when he was escorted to a police car, flanked by detectives after being arrested at a Clontarf property.
The Fortitude Valley man, who appeared unfazed, was seen laughing in the back seat of the vehicle as he flashed a smirk at the cameras.
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Wayne Hearn, 38, (pictured) was all smiles when he was taken into custody over an alleged one-punch attack that claimed the life of a father-of-seven
Mr Lang, who is a father of seven, was punched by a shirtless jogger after the pair exchanged words at 10.15am and died in the hospital on Monday
He is expected to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
The charge follows the death of Mr Lang, who was rushed to Princess Alexandra Hospital but died on Monday afternoon when his life support was switched off.
Just hours earlier, police released CCTV stills of the suspect, believing he could help them with the investigation.
It was reported the attack allegedly followed an 'exchange of words' between the jogger and Mr Lang, who are believed to have known each other.
The Fortitude Valley man appeared unfazed as was seen laughing in the back seat of the car
On Tuesday night, the 38-year-old manwas all smiles when he was escorted to a police car
It is believed Mr Lang lost consciousness after he was hit in the head and fell to the footpath.
Police released CCTV footage of the man who allegedly attacked the father as he walked past the nearby Fox Hotel.
Just hours before his arrest, police released a photo of Mr Hearn and said he could help them with the investigation (pictured)
The FBI, FAA and other agencies are currently investigating the crash
One of the people in the plane was a flight student; it's not clear who
Pilot conscious in hospital; two people in nearby minivan also hospitalized
Explosion: A light aircraft came down on an East Hartford street Tuesday, hitting a utility pole and causing a large explosion along with 520 power outages
One person was killed and three were hospitalized when a light aircraft crash-landed on a Connecticut street Tuesday afternoon.
The Piper PA 34 was being piloted by a student pilot and instructor when it crashed on Main Street in East Hartford at around 3.45pm, resulting in what one witness described as a 'mushroom cloud explosion.'
One of the plane's occupants was killed in the fiery crash. The other was hospitalized, as were two people in a minivan close to where the aircraft hit, The Hartford Courant reported.
Erick Zapata, who was eating at a Subway near the crash, told the Courtant that 'out of nowhere a plane crashed into the pole.
'Pieces started flying everywhere...' he said. 'I was nervous, I was shaking. It was crazy. I've never seen anything like it.'
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Wreckage: One of the two people in the plane was killed; the other was hospitalized but is said to be conscious. Two others on the ground were taken to hospital uninjured but 'traumatized'
Another witness told the paper that the plane 'went down, then it disintegrated. It was gone.'
The plane had taken off from Brainard Airport in Hartford, according to Mayor Marcia Leclerc, and crashed near the intersection of Main Street and Colt Street, just under half a mile away.
According to the FAA, the plane was on final approach to Runway 20 at Hartford-Brainard Airport.
The aircraft struck a utility pole and wires as it came down, bursting into a 'mushroom cloud explosion' and causing 520 power outages, according to Fox61.
The pilot was reportedly taken to St Francis Hospital with serious burns, but was speaking to officers about the incident; the passenger was killed in the crash. It is not clear which one was the student.
Two people in a minivan close to where the plane came down were also taken to hospital. They were described as being uninjured but 'a little bit traumatized' by Leclerc.
Police said the plane did not appear to have directly struck the vehicle.
The cause for the crash has not yet been determined, and the investigation is expected to take several days to complete.
The FBI and FAA are conducting the investigation with the National Transportation Safety Board, the Flight Standards District Office and the Connecticut Airport Authority.
The plane came down close to a building operated by aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, but the company said in a statement that the crash was unconnected to the business or its employees or contractors.
All Tuesday night classes at Goodwin College, which is located nearby, have been cancelled.
3 hurt, 1 'assumed' dead after fiery plane crash in front of Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford https://t.co/G7VWmCn2i4 pic.twitter.com/TsqbqPz1XG FOX 61 (@FOX61News) October 11, 2016
A 12-year-old girl has become pregnant after she was allegedly trafficked to rural China then sold into a forced marriage.
She was confirmed to be three months pregnant after being taken to the a hospital in Xuzhou last week accompanied by two adults, reported People's Daily Online.
After speaking to the girl in private, shocked doctors suspected she had been a victim of human trafficking and called the police, who have arrested the two adults.
12-year-old Lan Lan, in blue, is waiting at the hospital in Xuzhou, China, for a pregnancy test
Doctors at the Xuzhou Central Hospital (pictured) suspected she had been a victim of human trafficking and called the police
The girl, known as Lan Lan, was taken to the Xuzhou Central Hospital in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, on October 4 by 35-year-old Liu, who had reportedly paid around 30,000 yuan (3,600) for her to be his wife.
Apart from Liu, a 47-year-old woman was also accompanying the couple.
The woman, surnamed Xie, was thought to be the person who had sold her as a bride to Liu.
Liu and Xie told the doctors that Lan Lan was 20 years old, and this raised the suspicion from the doctors.
An obstetrician at the hospital told local television station JSTV: 'She has not hit puberty. Her appearance did not match the claim of her age.'
Hospital staff asked Liu and Xie to provide identity documents to prove Lan Lan's age, but they failed to do so.
During a one-on-one consultation, t he girl told doctors that she was originally from Vietnam.
However, doctors said she could also be saying 'southern China' as they did not understand her accent clearly.
The girl was allegedly sold to a 35-year old man, surnamed Liu, who lives in Xuzhou (pictured)
Media reported that she had been sold to a rural village in central China by human traffickers in 2014 (file photo)
Liu and Xie were reportedly feeling impatient while waiting for Lan Lan.
One of the adults threatened to 'bomb the hospital because the doctor had asked too many questions', the report said.
Seeing this, staff at the hospital alerted the police, who brought Liu, Xie and Lan Lan back to the police station for questioning.
Police officers in Quanshan, Xuzhou city, said Lan Lan was an overseas citizen, according to a post on their Weibo page on October 4.
They said they were still looking into her identity.
Several Chinese media, including The Paper, reported that the 12 year-old girl were sold by Vietnamese human traffickers to a rural village called Mei Zhai in Henan in 2014.
She was later adopted by 47 year-old Xie, who lives in the Tongshan district of Xuzhou city, reports said.
Last summer, Xie sold the girl to 35-year-old Liu and was paid 3,600.
Xie has been arrested under the suspicion of abducting and selling women and children while Liu has been arrested for buying kidnapped women and children.
Article 240 of China's criminal law states that whoever abducts and traffics a woman or a child shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and not more than ten years, and concurrently be sentenced to a fine, according to the country's Ministry of Justice.
Most eight-year-olds spend their time going to school and then playing with friends.
But as soon as this boy in China comes home from school, he spends hours making ten thousand dumplings to help support his family.
His parents work in a factory in another city which means he is looked after by his elderly grandparents who sell dumplings, reports Huanqiu, an affiliation with the People's Daily Online.
Devoted grandson: Eight-year-old Liu Minghui helps his grandparents make dumplings
Helping the family: Liu Minghui can make up to 10,000 dumplings a day
Eight-year-old Liu Minghui lives in a village near the city of Ruijin, China's Jiangxi province with his grandparents.
His mother and father are migrant workers in another city, reports China Daily.
To support his grandparents, Liu Minghui comes home from school and helps them make wontons, a type of dumpling.
The boy can make around 10,000 wontons in a single day.
Over the recent National Day holiday, he accompanied his grandparents to a trade fair helping them to make the dumplings.
Liu says he is looking forward to Chinese New Year, the only time he sees his parents
Every month, the town has nine trade fairs. When he has finished his school work, he helps his parents make the dumplings.
Liu studies hard at school and says he is looking forward to Chinese New Year where he will get to see his parents. This is the only time that he sees them all year.
People have been discussing the boy's story on social media site Weibo.
One user wrote: 'We should buy wontons from his shop.'
While another commented: 'He is wrapping wontons while other kids are having fun at summer camp.'
And one user said: 'Will his family be investigated for employing child labour.'
Shocking images have emerged of pupils continuing to study in a polluted classroom in China after a nearby pharmaceutical factory exploded.
The explosions occurred at the Qilu Pharmaceutical on October 10 in Jinan, eastern China's Shandong province.
Powerful blasts caused white powder to fill the air of Dongjia Town, Licheng District, including the school which is situated next to the factory.
Shocking: Pictures emerged online of the students continuing to work amid the dusty air
Many parents have complained to Licheng Number Two High School (File photo)
Firefighters attended the scene: According to reports, there were no open flames
According to reports, the explosions took place at 8:50pm last night.
Smoke was seen coming out from the east side of the pharmaceutical company and local residents reported hearing two to three loud bangs.
However, the blasts did not make the teachers at a nearby school send their pupils home from a self-studying session.
A picture from Licheng Number Two High School shows the students sat at their desks studying.
After the explosions occurred, teachers reportedly came into the classroom and closed the windows and the class continued.
Parents have complained to school about the teachers' conduct.
Both students and teachers have often complained of foul odours coming from the school.
After the explosions, some parents turned out to demand air quality testing.
According to reports, a pressure vessel with ethanol in it exploded in a workshop
Incident: People nearby felt the explosions and could smell a burning smell in the air
The People's Daily Online reports that a pressure vessel with ethanol in it exploded in a workshop. It released a little amount of non-toxic gas but did not cause open flames.
People nearby felt the explosions and could smell a burning smell in the air.
White powder also filled the air.
The incident is being investigated and there are no reported casualties.
People have been shocked by the incident on social media site Weibo.
One user wrote: 'Factories should not be built close to a school.'
While another commented: 'Students would have to wear masks at school.'
A driverless vehicle carrying passengers has taken to Britain's public roads for the first time today.
The trial is aimed at paving the way for autonomous cars to hit the roads by the end of the decade.
The government is encouraging technology companies, carmakers and start-ups to develop and test their autonomous driving technologies in Britain.
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A pod, like a small two-seater car, developed by a company spun out from Oxford University during testing in Milton Keynes. The government is encouraging companies to develop and test their autonomous driving technologies
GOOGLE'S MINIVAN PLANS Six Chrysler Pacifica minivans have been spotted at a Google car park in Mountain View, California. Two of the white vehicles have reportedly been fitted with updated sensors, ready for road tests. The addition of the minivans marks another step in Googles ambitions for automation and a 'commercialisation friendly' vehicle. Advertisement
The hope is to build an industry to serve a worldwide market which it forecasts could be worth around 900 billion ($1.1 trillion) by 2025.
Earlier this year, the government launched a consultation on changes to insurance rules and motoring regulations to allow driverless cars to be used by 2020 and said it would allow such vehicles to be tested on motorways from next year.
A pod, like a small two-seater car, developed by a company spun out from Oxford University was tested in Milton Keynes, with organisers hoping the trials will feed vital information on how the vehicle interacts with pedestrians and other road-users.
'Today's first public trials of driverless vehicles in our towns is a ground-breaking moment,' Britain's business minister Greg Clark said.
'The global market for autonomous vehicles present huge opportunities for our automotive and technology firms and the research that underpins the technology and software will have applications way beyond autonomous vehicles,' he said.
The pod operates fully without human control, using data from cameras and radars to move around pedestrianised areas.
It was made by Oxford University spin-out Oxbotica, with software developed by the university's Oxford Robotics Institute.
The city, around 45 miles (70 km) north of London, was selected alongside three other locations for autonomous technology projects partly due to its wide pavements and cycle path network
The pod will operate fully without human control, using data from cameras and radars to move around pedestrianised areas
THE 8M GATEWAY PROJECT Gateway (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment) is an 8 million project, jointly funded by Innovate UK. Taking place in Greenwich, the project will trial a series of different use cases for automated vehicles, including driverless shuttles, autonomous valet parking and deliveries. By understanding public perception, reaction and engagement with the vehicles the trials will help introduce automated transport widely. The UltraPods have been operating at Terminal 5 for nearly five years, carrying 1.5 million passengers and completed three million kilometres during that time. Kit car manufacturer Westfield Sportcars will be responsible for design and testing, with Heathrow Enterprises looking after software engineering and Oxford University robotics lab spin-off Oxbotica will provide mapping and sensors to ensure safety. Advertisement
Carmakers Jaguar Land Rover and Ford are both part of driverless car projects in Britain, as major carmakers seek to head off the challenge from technology firms such as Alphabet Inc's Google, which is also developing autonomous vehicles.
But all parties still need to overcome technological and legal obstacles including determining who would be responsible in the event of an accident, with recent accidents involving driving assistance systems raising safety concerns.
Organisers in Milton Keynes ran a number of exercises ahead of the trial including mapping the town and conducting safety planning with the local council.
The city, around 45 miles (70 km) north of London, was selected alongside three other locations for autonomous technology projects partly due to its wide pavements and cycle path network.
The next trials will take place in Coventry, Greenwich and Bristol.
Britain is aiming to be more flexible in its approach to driverless testing than some other major economies, with Germany saying it will require black boxes to be fitted in such vehicles and automakers having to navigate different rules across US states.
Britain is aiming to be more flexible in its approach to driverless testing than some other major economies, with Germany saying it will require black boxes to be fitted in such vehicles and automakers having to navigate different rules across US states
Earlier this year, the government launched a consultation on changes to insurance rules and motoring regulations to allow driverless cars to be used by 2020 and said it would allow such vehicles to be tested on motorways from next year
It could be the ultimate upgrade for the discerning tank owner - a kit that makes your vehicle entire remote controlled.
General Dynamics, the maker of the Abrams tank and the Stryker armoured fighting vehicle, has revealed a partnership to do just that.
It is working with Kairos Autonomi, to create a simple plug in kit that could let army bosses upgrade their tanks, troop carriers and virtually any other vehicle.
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General Dynamics, the maker of the Abrams tank, pictured, is developing the upgrade kit with robotics firm Kairos Autonomi
THE M1 ABRAMS TANK The M1 Abrams is an American third-generation main battle tank named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army chief of staff and commander of United States military forces in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972. Weighing nearly 62 metric tons, it is one of the heaviest main battle tanks in service. The M1 Abrams entered U.S. service in 1980, and remains the principal main battle tank of the United States Army andMarine Corps, and the armies of Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Iraq. Advertisement
'You don't have to go into the vehicle and pull the electronics out, pull out the architecture, cut the vehicle, said Phil Skuta, director of Marine programs at General Dynamics Land Systems, at the Association of the U.S. Army convention in Washington, according to Defence One.
'It gives our military customers an option for a quick install and then they'll have a remote or unmanned capability for existing vehicles,' said
The military has already installed Kairos kits on disposable vehicles to create moving targets for shooting practice, but now hopes to expand to other vehicles.
It has shown the system off running on a jetski, and various other vehicles.
It offers two types of kit, a 'seat robot' that works a car's controls just as a human would, and can be installed in 10 minutes, and a more advanced version that takes several hours to install.
'Frankly, the technology in robotics is changing so rapidly, you can't imagine someone building a thousand vehicles that are robots,' said Kairos founder Troy Takach, 'because by the time they get the build started and the build ended, the technology will have eclipsed them.'
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who directs the U.S. Army's Capabilities Integration Center, said getting remotely piloted and unmanned fighting vehicles out into the field is 'something we really want to move forward on.
'What we want to do is get that kind of capability into soldiers' hands early so we can refine the tactics, techniques and procedures, and then also consider enemy countermeasures and then build into the design of units that are autonomy enabled, build in the counter to those counters.'
Once soldiers can test and drill on unmanned vehicles, McMaster said, he'll be looking to understand how well the vehicles perform when confronted with advanced electromagnetic and cyber weapons.
The firm It offers two types of kit, a 'seat robot' that works a car's controls just as a human would, and can be installed in 10 minutes, and a more advanced version that takes several hours to install.
Earlier this month, BAE Systems has unveiled its prototype for the massive tank that could one day replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
The Next Generation Bradley was debuted today at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting in Washington DC, revealing improvements in space, electrical power, and force protection.
This new concept is a high-tech upgrade to previous design, incorporating targeting sensors and network connectivity and allowing for the addition of future technologies as these systems continue to grow.
The concept for the Next Generation Bradley Fighting Vehicle is a high-tech upgrade to previous design, incorporating targeting sensors and network connectivity and allowing for the addition of future technologies as these systems continue to grow
BRADLEY FIGHTING VEHICLE The Bradley Fighting Vehicle is used by the US to transport infantry and provide cover fire. Recent versions are suited with electronics systems for situational awareness, network connectivity, and communication within the Armored Brigade Combat Team, according to BAE Systems. The new prototype features suspension improvements, targeting sensors, and network connectivity. With more space and electrical power, BAE says the vehicle will be a platform for emerging technologies to grow, and allow for the development and experimentation of future systems. Advertisement
The prototype has been fitted with upgrades in the suspension to enhance the vehicle's mobility for maneuvers within the Armored Brigade Combat Team.
It is equipped with armor, fuel tanks, and the driver's hatch from the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, along with 600 volt electronics and final drives from the M109A7 Self-Propelled Howitzer seen in the current Bradley systems.
According to BAE, the new design will allow for faster development, and significant cost savings.
'In the current budget environment, the Army often has to choose between maintaining an existing fleet and developing new capabilities,' said Deepak Bazaz, director of Artillery and Bradley Programs at BAE Systems.
'We're investing in research and development to demonstrate cost-effective options for the Army to address current gaps.
'We're focused on integrating current, emerging, and future technologies to significantly improve the Bradley's mobility, force protection, and lethality.'
The Next Generation Bradley uses a modernized version of the turret seen in the current system, with suspension improvements, targeting sensors, and network connectivity.
With its more advanced capabilities, BAE Systems says the next-gen Bradley Fighting Vehicle will provide a platform for emerging technologies to grow, and allow for the development and experimentation of future systems. A Bradley Fighting vehicle is pictured
It's hoped that the vehicle will provide room for future technological advancements, as well, with more space and electrical power.
'By leveraging new and emerging technology, with an eye towards commonality within the formation, we can continue to provide superior capabilities for our troops,' Bazas added.
'Key to our approach is providing built-in growth capacity that will ensure the system can support future inbound technologies, allowing our soldiers to successfully execute their mission in the coming decades.'
THE HISTORY OF THE BRADLEY FIGHTING VEHICLE The development of the Bradley dates back to the pre-Vietnam era. The earliest specification, from 1958, called for a vehicle of no more than 8 tons, mounting a turret with a 20 mm autocannon and a 7.62 mm machine gun, with sealed firing ports for 5 infantry gunners. U.S. Army M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles roll through the desert December 17, 2002 near the Iraqi border in Kuwait. The development of the Bradley dates back to the pre-Vietnam era. It was developed largely in response to the Soviet BMP family of infantry fighting vehicles, and to serve as both an armored personnel carrier (APC), and a tank-killer. One specific design requirement was that it should be as fast as the then new M1 Abrams main battle tank so that they could maintain formations while moving. An early vwersion of the vehicle, an XM-723 mechanized infantry vehicle is offloaded from a YC-15 aircraft during a heavy loading test in 1977. Advertisement
With its more advanced capabilities, BAE Systems says the next-gen Bradley Fighting Vehicle will provide a platform for emerging technologies to grow, and allow for the development and experimentation of future systems.
The unveiling of the prototype comes just days after it was revealed that BAE Systems will begin construction on new nuclear submarines for Britain, with roughly $1.7 billion of investment from the British ministry of defense.
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The surface of the red planet may be a desolate land with little geological activity now, but it is filled with fascinating bumps and scratches from frozen poles to deep basins, all hinting at a geologically active past.
Now a team at Nasa has released more than 600 images of Mars, showing a range of gullies, dunes, craters, geological layering and other features.
Each feature teaches us something new about the history of our mysterious neighbour, which used to be covered with oceans, ice sheets and erupting volcanoes.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circling the red planet, capturing pictures using its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, since 2006. Now the team behind the orbiter has published hundreds of new images. Hyblaeus Dorsa, one of the ridges on the planet, is shown
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circling the red planet, capturing pictures using its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, since 2006.
The team behind the orbiter, led by Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab in Passadena and the University of Arizona, has now published hundreds of new images taken by the instrument.
Among the images are hundreds showing one of its most fascinating features: craters.
There are hundreds of thousands of impact craters on Mars, caused by encounters with other objects such as asteroids, but only some of them have names.
Other craters were formed in different ways, through volcanic activity, for example.
Some of these craters have provided clues to the most fascinating history of the Martian surface.
Other craters were formed in different ways, through volcanic activity, for example. Some of these craters have provided clues to the most fascinating history of the Martian surface. Concave fagged features in the Tempe Fossae region, a group of troughs in the Arcadia quadrangle of Mars, shown
Among the images are hundreds showing one of its most fascinating features: craters. This picture shows a crater in the Chryse Planitia region, a relatively smooth, circular plain. Some think the plain is an ancient impact basin, in the north equatorial region of Mars
The surface of Mars is a well worn place in the solar system, heavily pounded by countless meteor impacts. And some of these craters are hundreds of millions of years old. So its unusual for there to be a completely fresh impact on the surface. A recent impact site is pictured
Mesa-Forming layered materials pictured. A mesa is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs
Mars is now a frozen desert, but geological studies of rocks by previous missions to the surface have suggested the planet used to be warmer and wetter.
The polar caps on the planet spend much of their time, during the pole's winter, in continuous darkness.
When the poles are again exposed to sunlight, the frozen carbon dioxide sublimes into gas, creating enormous winds that sweep off the poles as fast as 250 mph (400 km/h).
The caps at both poles are mainly made of water ice.
Frozen carbon dioxide accumulates as a thin layer about one metre thick on the north cap in the northern winter only, while the south cap has a permanent dry ice cover about 26 feet (8 metres) thick.
Both polar caps have spiral-shaped troughs (pictured), which analysis of ice penetrating radar has shown are a result of spiralling winds.
The polar caps on the planet spend much of their time, during the pole's winter, in continuous darkness. When the poles are again exposed to sunlight, the frozen carbon dioxide sublimes into gas, creating enormous winds that sweep off the poles as fast as 250 mph (400 km/h). The south polar residual cap is pictured
Cerberus Fossae (pictured) is a long fracture system in the southeastern part of Elysium. The system has acted as a conduit for the release of both lava and water onto the surface of the planet. Mars is now a frozen desert, but geological studies of rocks by previous missions to the surface have suggested the planet used to be warmer and wetter
The total volume of ice in the south polar cap, including nearby layered deposits, is around 380,000 cubic miles (1.6 million cubic km). Both the north and south polar caps have spiral-shaped troughs (south pictured), which analysis of ice penetrating radar has shown are a result of spiralling winds
At one point, Mars was covered with oceans, ice sheets and erupting volcanoes that created the mountains that tower over the planet.
Some of these remain, like Olympus Mons - the largest-known volcano in the solar system, measuring 15 miles (24 km) high.
Olympus Mons, the solar system's biggest volcano, three times higher than Mount Everest, is thought to have had its last major eruption as recently as 25 million years ago.
At one point, Mars was covered with oceans, ice sheets and erupting volcanoes that created the mountains that tower over the planet. Some of these remain, like Olympus Mons - the largest-known volcano in the solar system, measuring 15 miles (24 km) high. Olympus Mons (pictured) is the solar system's biggest volcano, three times higher than Mount Everest
Groundwater moving beneath a massive tectonic rift zone helped carve some of Mars' deepest basins. A study published earlier this year claimed these basins may have been habitable, suggesting that life once existed on the red planet. A valley in the Northern Hellas Planitia, pictured
Billions of years ago Mars might have been home to even larger volcanoes.
Evidence collected by Nasa's Curiosity rover earlier this year showed these ancient volcanoes might have been a lot more powerful than we had thought.
Curiosity's instruments found a substance called tridymite - a kind of crystal that only forms on Earth as a result of extremely hot, silcic volcanoes.
The tridymite was found in the Gale crater, a crater that spans 96 miles (154km) in diameter and holds a mountain rising from the crater floor.
Silicic volcanism is a highly explosive form of volcanic activity, which happens as tectonics plates move from the Earths outer shell into the Earths mantle and force water into the molten depths.
The plates melt into magma, which is ejected out into the surface in a powerful eruption.
There has been no evidence found for plate tectonics on Mars so far, so how the silcic volcanism occurred is a mystery.
Coprates Chasma, is a major trough in the Valles Marineris canyon system, pictured. Evidence collected by Nasa's Curiosity rover earlier this year showed these ancient volcanoes might have been a lot more powerful than we had thought
Isidis Planitia, pictured, is a plain inside a giant impact basin on Mars. Groundwater moving beneath a massive tectonic rift zone helped carve some of Mars' deepest basins. A study published earlier this year claimed these basins may have been habitable, suggesting that life once existed on the red planet
Groundwater moving beneath a massive tectonic rift zone helped carve some of Mars' deepest basins.
A study published earlier this year claimed these basins may have been habitable, suggesting that life once existed on the red planet.
The discovery could help future exploration missions decide where to look for evidence of Martian life.
'The temperature ranges, presence of liquid water, and nutrient availability, which characterize known habitable environments on Earth, have higher chances of forming on Mars in areas of long-lived water and volcanic processes,' said lead author Alexis Palmero Rodriguez.
Sand dunes are among the most widespread features on Mars, serving as unique indicators of the interaction between the atmosphere and surface.
On a planetary body, dunes accumulate where a supply of sand-sized grains exists or may be abraded, is carried downwind by winds, and is subsequently deposited where these winds weaken below the threshold for sand transport.
Dunes can be preserved in rock over time. This means the deposits can reveal insights into the evolution of Mars' atmosphere from a more hospitable realm to the harsh, dry climate there today.
As a result, the study of dune processes contributes to both atmospheric and sedimentary science.
It might look more like bacteria growin in a petri dish, but this picture actually shows frosty dunes on Mars' surface. Sand dunes (pictured) are among the most widespread features on Mars. Dunes form where a supply of sand-sized grains exists or may be abraded then carried downwind by winds
Dunes in the Russell Crater, pictured. Dunes can be preserved in rock over time. This means the deposits can reveal insights into the evolution of Mars' atmosphere from a more hospitable realm to the harsh, dry climate there today. As a result, the study of dune processes contributes to both atmospheric and sedimentary science
On a planetary body, dunes accumulate where a supply of sand-sized grains exists or may be abraded, is carried downwind by winds, and is subsequently deposited where these winds weaken below the threshold for sand transport. Dunes can be preserved in rock over time
The surface of Mars is also covered with narrow, deep channels known as gullies.
Martian gullies carved into hill slopes and the walls of impact craters were discovered several years ago.
Exactly how these gullies formed is not fully understood - previous research had suggested the structures were a result of flowing liquid water, because water makes similar structures on Earth.
Polar ice caps were discovered on the planet four decades ago, and erosion patterns on the surface strongly suggest rivers and oceans may have existed there in its early years.
With low gravity and a thin atmosphere, it was thought that this water largely evaporated out into space, instead of falling back down, as it would have done on Earth.
But new research shows water is not behind the Martian gullies, instead suggesting they could be created by carbon dioxide freezing and thawing.
INDIAN SPACE PROBE SNAPS NEW IMAGES OF THE RED PLANET India's space agency has released a new series of beautiful images, beamed back from its Mars orbiter, revealing our closest planetary neighbour in all its glory The spotlight surrounding research on Mars is often on the US, European and Russian space agencies. But while it may be overlooked, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) remains one of only three national space programmes to have reached the red planet to date. To celebrate its achievements, the space agency has released a new series of beautiful images using data beamed back from its Mars orbiter, revealing our closest planetary neighbour in all its glory. India's Mars Orbiter Mission, called 'Mangalyaan', reached the red planet in September 2014. Since then it has been taking measurements, collecting data and capturing images from orbit. Last month, ISRO released its first full years data from the orbiter covering the period up to September 2015 with its incredible images beamed back in a stream of pixels. Advertisement
The ExoMars Landing Site, taken on 14 August. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a heavy lift Proton rocket on 14 March to begin a seven-month, 300 million-mile (483 million km) journey to the red planet.
THE EXOMARS TIMELINE Launch: 14 March Mid-course correction: 28 July SchiaparelliTGO separation: 16 October 2016 TGO manoeuvre: 17 October 2016 Orbiter insertion into Mars orbit: 19 October 2016 Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing: 19 October 2016 Aerobraking: JanuaryNovember 2017 Science phase begins: December 2017 Advertisement
A spacecraft designed to search the atmosphere of Mars for clues of life on the surface of the red planet successfully blasted off in March this year.
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a heavy lift Proton rocket on 14 March to begin a seven-month, 300 million-mile (483 million km) journey to the red planet.
It is due to analyse Mars' atmosphere to search for low levels of gases such as methane that may betray the presence of alien life on the planet's surface.
ExoMars 2016 is the first phase of an historic 1.2 billion (924 million) joint European-Russian mission to search for biochemical 'fingerprints' of past or present life high above Mars and on its surface.
Scientists believe the probe has the potential to find 'very strong evidence' of alien life when it arrives at Mars on 19 October.
Scientists hope to land the ExoMars rover in Oxia Palus, a plain located on the north east of Mars.
However, any new data won't be shared until the end of next year at the earliest, because the probe has to spend a year decelerating so it can graze the atmosphere at a slow enough speed.
In 2018, a robotic probe built by Lockheed Martin for Nasa, the Mars InSight mission, will set off for red planet.
China is developing the world's smallest nuclear power station, which could go into operation within five years, according to new reports.
The tiny power plant would fit inside a shipping container and could generate 10 megawatts of heat - enough to power 50,000 households.
The mini reactor could be placed on an island in the disputed South China Sea.
A model of the mini reactor, which could eventually be used to generate 10 megawatts of heat - enough to power 50,000 households
THE MINI POWER PLANT - Known as hedianbao, or 'portable nuclear battery pack' - Generates 10 megawatts of heat, enough to power 50,000 households - Measures around just 20 feet (6.1 metres) by 8.5 feet (2.6 metres) - Would enable the desalination of large amounts of seawater for use as freshwater Advertisement
Known as hedianbao, or 'portable nuclear battery pack', the tiny power plant would measure just 20 feet (6.1 metres) by 8.5 feet (2.6 metres), reports Stephen Chen for the South China Morning Post.
The lead-cooled reactor could potentially run for years or even decades before needing to be refueled.
The research is being carried out by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Nuclear Energy Safety Technology and is being partly funded by the People's Liberation Army.
'Part of our funding came from the military, but we hope and it's our ultimate goal that the technology will eventually benefit civilian users,' Professor Huang Qunying, a nuclear scientist involved in the research, told the South China Morning Post.
The miniature power plant would enable the researchers to desalinate large amounts of seawater for use as freshwater.
However, there any concerns that any incidents at the plant causing leakage of radioactive material could be catastrophic.
Not only would the surrounding countries be affected, the area's strong currents would spread any contamination further afield.
An image showing Mischief Reef in the Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea. The mini reactor could be placed on an island in the disputed region
Experts have also expressed concern that any rise in the surrounding sea temperature potentially resulting from the power plant's placement, could dramatically affect the local marine life.
Researchers believe that that the 'fast reactor' - one that uses fast neutrons to split fuel atoms - offers safety benefits over other types of reactor
Does anxiety keep getting in the way of you making connections with the people you would like to spend more time with?
Maybe you've just met someone, but are worried that your anxiety will ruin it all.
Olivia Remes, a researcher from the University of Cambridge, explains how science can help you get over those first date nerves in an article forThe Conversation.
People with anxiety can be highly self-critical, tend to overestimate the likelihood that something negative will happen, and often feel that others are judging them. Sometimes, just thinking about a social situation can induce panic attacks (stock image)
HOW COMMON IS ANXIETY? People with anxiety tend to worry about what might go wrong in a situation and fear that they will do or say something to embarrass themselves. During social situations, they might feel short of breath and experience dizziness, sweating, blushing, stuttering, and an upset stomach Many people are affected by anxiety. In fact, one in 14 people around the world will have an anxiety disorder at any given time, with women and young people being most affected. Advertisement
People with anxiety can be highly self-critical, tend to overestimate the likelihood that something negative will happen, and often feel that others are judging them.
Sometimes, just thinking about a social situation can induce panic attacks, which are sudden spikes of intense anxiety that peak within a few minutes and feel like you're about to have a heart attack, lose control, or go mad.
During social situations, people with anxiety might feel short of breath and experience dizziness, sweating, blushing, stuttering, and an upset stomach
Many people are affected by anxiety.
In fact, one in 14 people around the world will have an anxiety disorder at any given time, with women and young people being most affected.
But it is possible to overcome anxiety and date successfully. Here are some top scientific tips.
DON'T FOCUS ON THE NEGATIVE
People with anxiety tend to worry about what might go wrong in a situation and fear that they will do or say something to embarrass themselves.
These thoughts not only produce a highly negative mental state characterised by dread and helplessness, but also harmful physiological body changes, such as higher secretion of stress hormones.
Being in such a negative state doesn't allow you to put your best self forward and shine.
An effective way to get over this is to stop focusing on what might go wrong.
As soon as a worrying thought pops into your head, let it go.
If thoughts come into your head as you're doing this, don't follow them let them go and bring your mind gently back to your breaths. This meditative technique will relax you and make you feel calmer (stock image)
Realise that it is just that a thought or a mental event that will pass just like many others did.
This technique is based on mindfulness, which has been shown to lower anxiety in study after study.
Another thing you can do when you're feeling stressed or anxious is to take a few minutes and simply focus on your breathing.
THE CURSE OF 'MANXIETY' Men who suffer from severe anxiety are twice as likely to die from cancer than men who do not, a study has found. But women with the mental health condition were at no greater risk, researchers said. They suggest anxious men may be more likely to self-medicate their anxiety by drinking and smoking more than women, both factors that increase the likelihood of getting cancer. Women may also be quicker at going to the doctor allowing the cancer to be detected earlier, making it easier to treat. Advertisement
If thoughts come into your head as you're doing this, don't follow them let them go and bring your mind gently back to your breaths.
This meditative technique will relax you and make you feel calmer.
FACE YOUR FEARS
One of the best ways of getting over your anxiety is through repeated exposure to circumstances that scare you and this doesn't apply to just dating.
Repeated exposure to situations or people that make you feel anxious eventually lessens your fear response and makes you realise that you really are more resilient than you thought you were.
When it comes to social interactions or any other phobias for that matter graded exposure is an effective way of getting over those nerves: start small with mildly feared situations and build your way up to more strongly feared circumstances.
For example, next time you go to a social event, practice making small talk for a short period of time or make it a point to voice a comment during a group interaction. Next time, practice making small talk for a longer time and with more people.
This will retrain your mind to stop seeing social situations as scary and will give you greater control when around others.
DON'T REPLAY CONVERSATIONS IN YOUR HEAD
You've got that 'I just met someone' feeling and you can't help but replay the conversation you've just had over in your head.
Studies have shown that rumination or constantly going over situations or conversations in your mind (especially those you're uncertain of) will only increase your anxiety.
If there is an issue that needs to be dealt with, focus on fixing it or doing something about it but without reacting to it.
This is called problem-focused coping.
According to research studies, people who do this have better mental health, tend to feel more positive and have more positive outcomes in life than those who use emotion-focused coping.
For example, if someone does something that bothers you, tell this person, but don't ruminate or think about it afterwards.
Instead of worrying about how you look to the other person or being self-critical, try to find out more about him/her and whether this person is really worth sticking around for. Maybe you'll discover that this cutie has a lying streak, is unreliable, or says things that he/she doesn't mean (stock image used)
ARE THEY WORTH IT?
Many self-help books talk about what you should do in order to keep someone attracted.
But that seems to be totally the wrong way of going about it. He or she may well be attractive and funny and know just what to say to keep you hooked but is that enough?
Instead of worrying about how you look to the other person or being self-critical, try to find out more about him/her and whether this person is really worth sticking around for.
Maybe you'll discover that this cutie has a lying streak, is unreliable, or says things that he/she doesn't mean. Is this kind of person really worth a relationship?
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Jackson County will tear down this county-owned building on Government Street in Ocean Springs after the city was unable to find a developer for the property. The 50,000-square foot building was constructed in the 1950s.
(File photo/The Mississippi Press)
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Jackson County supervisors voted in February to tear down the old Swingster building on Government Street, but gave the city time to pursue a developer for the property.
That reprieve came to an end Monday night, as the Ocean Springs board of aldermen voted to support Jackson County's demolition of the building, located on the north side of Government Street next to Ocean Springs Lumber.
Jackson County purchased the property in the 1950's under a federal program which allowed governmental entities to purchase property, construct a building and then lease the building to a company which would guarantee a number of jobs.
The 50,000-square foot building originally housed the E.R. Moore clothing company, which later gave way to the Swingster clothing company. In June 2006, Camp Victor, a ministry founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, used the building to help with rebuilding needs along the Mississippi coast. More than 50,000 volunteers worked though Camp Victor repairing more than 2,000 homes from 2006 to 2012.
The building has remained vacant since Camp Victor closed in 2012.
After supervisors voted to tear the building down in February, Mayor Connie Moran asked for an opportunity to find a developer who would not only redevelop the property, but tear the building down at his own expense.
"None of that happened," alderman Chic Cody said Tuesday, "and it's not apt to happen. Tearing that building down is a major undertaking."
In 2015, Moran said a movie company -- never identified by name -- had expressed an interest in redeveloping the property, but that deal never materialized.
Cody said they are concerned there may be hazardous materials in the building and have asked county officials to keep the property "wet" during demolition to avoid dust from the site spreading around the area.
He also said the city has requested the county put down limestone on the property once the building is down so the city can use it as public parking "until such time as the county finds someone to develop the property or they sell it.
"The building is about ready to fall down," Cody said. "It's time for it to go."
And go it will. Supervisor Troy Ross said he anticipate the demolition process to begin within 3-4 months. Jackson County will perform the work in-house at a cost of around $70,000, he said.
"If we went out for bids, we're looking at more than $100,000," Ross said. "We can save ourselves a chunk of money by doing this in-house. We've got a number of other projects coming up, so we need to get this done sooner rather than later."
Google has hired comedy writers from Pixar and The Onion in a bid to make its smart assistant more likeable.
It hopes to use their talent to 'infuse personality' into its AI helper, which will be used in the firm's new Pixel phones, Duo app and Home speaker.
The ultimate goal is to make users feel more emotionally connected to their personal software agent and the firm believes a livelier disposition could make this happen.
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In a world of order-taking machines, Google Assistant aims to be a comedian. The search giant has recently hired comedy writers from Pixar and The Onion, a satire newspaper, in order to infuse personality into its virtual assistant that will live in Google Home (pictured)
Earlier this month, Google unveiled its Pixel smartphones and eagerly awaited Home speaker that will both be designed with the smart assistant.
Gummi Hafsteinsson, product-management director of Google Home, told The Wall Street Journals Christopher Mins in a recent article that the writers from both organizations are already making Assistant more personable.
Although this may change the AI game, actually implementing it into a device is much harder.
Inventors need to put pay more attention to details such as latency, as humans do not have the time to deal with that while conversing, according to The Wall Street Journal.
GOOGLE TAKES ON AMAZON'S ECHO WITH HOME SPEAKER The 'Home' device will feature Google's digital 'Assistant' service, a voice-activated personal butler that can search the internet, play music or perform other useful tasks. Users will be able to simply talk to the speaker, telling it what to do or asking it questions in normal English. The device, called 'Home', is an internet-connected speaker, similar to Amazon's Echo, and was first unveiled in May The gadget is also a high quality speaker, Google claimed at the unveiling in May, allowing users to play back music from online services of a phone. It can also control other speakers, forming a voice controlled multi room hifi system, and control other devices such as lights and Google's Nest thermostat. 'Assistant' is the company's answer to similar concierge services from rivals, including Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana. Google's ultimate goal of hiring the writers is to make users feel more emotionally connected to their personal software agent and the firm believes a livelier disposition could make this happen. The speaker will come in six different colors and be out November 4th At the unveiling of Home in May, Google boss Sundar Pichai said: 'We think of the assistant as an ambient experience that goes across devices - this is more than just phones, it will be on devices they wear, in their car and in their living rooms.' The leading tech companies are all competing to assist consumers in their online activities such as shopping, since that gives the companies a better chance of selling advertising or other services. Home-based systems like the Echo are taking on more importance with the advent of improved voice technology, according to Julie Ask, an analyst at Forrester Research. The internet-connected personal-assistant for the Home, was first unveiled by Mario Quieroz, vice president of Google, at an event in May Advertisement
Hafsteinsson say that Google wants its users to feel emotionally connect to Assistant, but the technology is still a ways off.
All the virtual assistants on the Market, such as Apples Siri and Amazons Alexa, have some sort of personality to engage with their users.
They can tell jokes and even do entertaining tricks just recently Siri showed iOS users how she can beatbox.
But aside from the minor chuckles, none of these assistants really have a grasp on how to have a natural conversation.
They communicate with users through scripted responses, and when they cant find an answer to a questions the response is usually I dont know or Im not sure.
Goggle's virtual assistant harness the power of Google's search engine along with the AI technology the firm developed to beat a grandmaster at the ancient board game Go to create assistants people can talk and text with as if they were a human being.
And now, the firm hopes by adding to humor to the mix, its personal assistant will be a game changer for its new technologies.
At a special event in San Francisco earlier this month the firm unveiled a raft of new products, included the Pixel phones and Home - but most of them were leaked online prior to the event.
GOOGLE PIXEL SPECS The Pixel runs on a Snapdragon 821 2.15GHz processor. The handsets come in 32GB or 128GB models, with microSD card slots enabling an additional 256GB of storage. Most assistants communicate with users through scripted responses, but Google hopes by adding humor it will speak more naturally. Google unveiled its Pixel smartphones (pictured) earlier this month that will all be equip with a built-in smart assistant They have 12.3 and 8-megapixel cameras and a full HD AMOLED screen with Gorilla Glass protection. Fast charging gives 7 hours of use in 15 minutes Included is Google's AI assistant, Allo for messaging and Duo for video calls. Free online storage for pictures and video Will be available in US on Verizon and in an unlocked version from $649. Advertisement
The Home speaker, first shown off earlier this year, will be available in November and will cost $129, the first revealed.
It will compete with Amazon's Echo and double as a music speaker and personal assistant, as well as being able to control a TV and hifi.
They include two new phones, a Pixel and the 5.5-inch Pixel XL.
Gummi Hafsteinsson, product-management director of Google Home, who told The Wall Street Journal s Christopher Mins in a recent article that the writers from both organizations are already making Assistant, which will be featured in Pixel (pictured), more personable
Both phones will be available in 32 GB ($649 for the Pixel, $769 for the XL) and 128 GB ($749 for the Pixel, $869 for the XL).
In November, the devices will be available in Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia, and India.
Although very different, Google said the new products had one thing in common - AI.
'We're at a seminal moment in computing,' said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google.
'We are evolving from a mobile first to an AI first world.
HOW DO WE REALLY FEEL ABOUT VOICE ASSISTANTS? Creative Strategies, a service that tracks trends and develops deeper insight into key industry topics, released their findings that looked at how consumers are using these virtual assistants and how they really feel about them. The firm ran two studies: Once looked at Alexa that covered 1,300 early adopters across the US and the UK. And the other focused on 500 mainstream consumers and their use of smartphones based digital assistants. Creative Strategies revealed that 21% of its panel never used Siri, 43% never touched OK Google and 72% have never asked Cortana anything. They also found that 2% of iPhone owners have never used Siri and only 4% of Android owners have never used OK Google, which suggests those who own the phone do indeed call on the powers of the digital personas. Approximately 395 of consumers use their voice assistant in their home, 51 percent in the car, but only 1.3 percent at work and 6 percent in public. Creative Strategies explains that the reason most usage is in the car is due to the hands-free law that regulates driving and texting. Those who have never used a voice assistant reported feeling uncomfortable with talking to their technology particularly in public. Advertisement
'Computing will be everywhere, people will be able to interact seamlessly, and above all it will be intelligent.'
Pichai said a smart assistant was key to Google's plans.
'Our goal is to build a personal Google for each and every user.'
Its a question you might never have considered before why do older siblings do better on IQ tests than their younger counterparts?
But if you want to get into Oxfords experimental psychology program, youd better be prepared to answer.
The university has released a series of questions from tutors who conduct the infamous interviews, revealing the complex problems in everything from mathematics to medicine used to spot the sharpest candidates.
Oxford has released a series of questions from tutors who conduct the infamous interviews, revealing the complex problems in everything from mathematics to medicine used to spot the sharpest candidates. A stock image is pictured
CAN YOU ANSWER THEM? Oxford has revealed five interview questions spanning Modern Languages, Medicine, Philosophy, Maths, and Experimental Psychology. They are: 1. What makes a novel or play 'political'? (Modern Languages) 2. About 1 in 4 deaths in the UK is due to some form of cancer, yet in the Philippines the figure is only around 1 in 10. What factors might underlie this difference? (Medicine) 3. What exactly do you think is involved in blaming someone? (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) 4. Imagine a ladder leaning against a vertical wall with its feet on the ground. The middle rung of the ladder has been painted a different colour on the side, so that we can see it when we look at the ladder from the side on. What shape does that middle rung trace out as the ladder falls to the floor? (Maths) 5. A large study appears to show that older siblings consistently score higher than younger siblings on the IQ tests. Why would this be? (Experimental Psychology) Advertisement
For students hoping to be accepted into Oxfords most competitive programs, the interviews can be a dreaded obstacle.
They represent an entirely new experience for most students, and are often surrounded by misunderstanding, according to Dr Samina Khan, Director of Admissions and Outreach at Oxford.
Instead, the interviews are intended to allow students to show off their interest and ability in a given subject, regardless of their background or prior opportunities, Khan says.
To put some of the fears to rest, Oxford has released five sample questions from the interviewers themselves and, theyve revealed the best ways to respond.
Q: What makes a novel or play political?
According to interviewer Helen Swift, of St Hildas College, this is a Modern Languages question that could come from a students own statement on their engagement with literature and culture of the language they want to study.
After citing a specific work, the conversation may broaden to address the students conceptual understanding.
So, in posing the overall question what makes this political? wed want the candidate to start thinking about what one means in applying the label: what aspects of a work does it evoke?, Swift explains.
Is it a judgement about content or style? Could it be seen in and of itself a value judgement? How useful is it as a label? What if we said that all art is, in fact, political? What about cases where an author denies that their work is political, but critics assert that it is is it purely a question of subjective interpretation? And so on.
According to Swift, a strong candidate would be ready and willing to develop their ideas in conversation. And, changing their mind during the discussion to contradict an earlier point is fine.
Q: About 1 in 4 deaths in the UK is due to some form of cancer, yet in the Philippines the figure is only around 1 in 10. What factors might underlie this difference?
This question, provided by Chris Norbury of the Queens College, could be given to a student applying to the Medicine program.
And, its one which has no single 'correct' answer,' Norbury says, instead opening up the door for the conversation to take a particular direction based on the candidates interests.
The interviews represent an entirely new experience for most students, according to Dr Samina Khan. But, they are intended to allow students to show off their interest in a given subject. A view of Oxford from Trinity College Tower is pictured
Some candidates will ask useful clarifying questions, such as Where do these data come from, and how reliable are they?, or What is the average life expectancy in these parts of the world?' Norbury says.
Some candidates will seize on the idea that various aspects of the typical lifestyle in the UK are inherently unhealthy, which can make for an interesting discussion in itself.
Others, especially if they appreciate that life expectancy in the Philippines is substantially lower than in the UK, will realise that other causes of death are more common in the developing world, and that this is the major factor that gives rise to the difference alluded to in the question.
'This probes selection criteria including problem-solving, critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, communication skills, ability to listen and compatibility with the tutorial format.
Q: What exactly do you think is involved in blaming someone?
This question would be presented to an applicant for the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics program, along with other philosophy courses, according to interviewer Ian Philips, from St Annes College.
For students hoping to be accepted into Oxfords most competitive programs, the interviews can be a dreaded obstacle
With a question like this were not looking for a right answer but instead whether the candidate can be creative in coming up with examples and suggestions, and can think critically and carefully through their implications, Norbury says.
So, for example, many candidates start out by suggesting that for A to blame B, A would have to think that B had done something wrong. Many might also make the point that B needn't actually have done anything wrong.
We can use this opening suggestion to consider a simple theory of blame: blame is just thinking that someone has done something wrong. When this is put to candidates, most recognize that blame seems to involve more than this.
This shows their capacity to evaluate a proposal, and we'll typically ask them to illustrate their verdict with a counter-example: a case where someone thinks someone has done something wrong but doesnt blame them.
The candidates might then be encouraged to offer more sophisticated proposals on the nature of blame, Phillips says, which can be put to the test through counter-examples.
Q: Imagine a ladder leaning against a vertical wall with its feet on the ground. The middle rung of the ladder has been painted a different colour on the side, so that we can see it when we look at the ladder from the side on. What shape does that middle rung trace out as the ladder falls to the floor?
According to Rebecca Cotton-Barratt, of Christ Church, this Maths question tests abstract thinking and, the answer is typically the opposite of what they expect.
I'd initially ask the candidate what shape they think will be formed, and then ask them how they can test this hypothesis, Cotton-Barratt says.
They might initially try sketching the ladder at different stages this is fine, but ultimately what we want is something that we can generalise and that is accurate (you can't be sure that your drawing is that accurate, particularly when you're making a sketch on a whiteboard and don't have a ruler). So eventually they will fall back on maths, and try to model the situation using equations.
If they get stuck we would ask them what shape the ladder makes with the wall and floor, and they'll eventually spot that at each stage the ladder is forming a right-angled triangle. Some might then immediately leap to Pythagoras' Theorem and use that to find the answer (which is that it forms a quarter circle centred on the point where the floor meets the wall).
To put some of the fears to rest, Oxford has released five sample questions from the interviewers themselves and, theyve revealed the best ways to respond. These questions span Modern Languages, Medicine, Philosophy, Maths, and Experimental Psychology
Q: A large study appears to show that older siblings consistently score higher than younger siblings on the IQ tests. Why would this be?
This question would be asked to students looking to join Experimental Psychology, according to Kate Watkins, from St Annes College.
Watkins says, This is a question that really asks students to think about lots of different aspects of psychology, and we guide students when discussing it to think about both scientific factors such as maternal age (mothers are older when younger siblings are born could that play a role?) and observational analysis about how birth order might affect behaviour and therefore performance on IQ tests.
The interviewers will add more information as the students attempt to use reasoning to answer the question, leading them to think about the dynamics that may come into play for an older sibling.
Eventually most students arrive at the conclusion that being an older sibling and having to teach a younger sibling certain skills and types of knowledge benefits their own cognitive skills (learning things twice, in effect), Watkins continued.
But there isn't really a 'right' answer and we are always interested to hear new explanations that we havent heard before. What we are interested in is the kinds of reasoning students use and the questions they ask about the study what it takes into account, what it might not that tells us about their suitability for the course.
Now tourists flock to the War Remnants Museum and street food vendors
Today the love affair is between Ho Chi Minh City and US investors
The imposing gates are still in place. The helicopters are long departed. But Le Duan Street in District 1, site of the US Embassy in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, is still haunted by what happened here 41 years ago.
As the Vietnam War came to its bloody conclusion thousands of the beleaguered city's occupants jostled and clamoured at the closed embassy gates seeking entry, rescue and escape from the advancing North Vietnamese. The Americans had abruptly and unexpectedly decided to abandon South Vietnam and its capital Saigon in particular.
Those squeezed at the gates and despairing of rescue are personified by the fictitious bar girl Kim, heroine of the musical Miss Saigon.
Ghosts: Ho Chi Minh City (pictured) is still haunted by what happened here 41 years ago
As the Vietnam War ended thousands clamoured at the US embassy in Ho Chi Minh City, then Saigon, to seek a way of escaping the advancing North Vietnamese. This image, taken on April 29, 1975, shows evacuees being helped aboard an Air America helicopter atop the embassy
Mobs of Vietnamese scale the wall of the US Embassy to try and reach the helicopter pad
A Vietnamese man is punched by a plain-clothes American while trying to board the last helicopter from the American Embassy as communist tanks approached on April 30, 1975
Those squeezed at the US Embassy gates and despairing of rescue are personified by the fictitious bar girl Kim, heroine of Miss Saigon
Pregnant with the baby of her lover Chris, an American soldier, she was frantic to be reunited with the love of her life who had promised her a new life with him in the US.
But like so many real life soldiers romantically entwined with Vietnamese lovers it was not to be.
Chris flew out without Miss Saigon on the last helicopter from the Embassy. Countless other soldiers abandoned Vietnamese mistresses, leaving them at the mercy of the victorious Viet Cong.
Now, as Miss Saigon the movie is released to mark the 25th anniversary of the hit musical, Ho Chi Minh City is a remarkably transformed metropolis devoid of any bitterness towards the Americans who devastated the country in the war, which ended in 1975.
The teeming city of eight million is awash with American investment in hotels, factories, software and partnerships in minerals, zinc and tin. For a communist country that was ravaged by the Yanks it is an extraordinary transformation.
Even the former museum devoted to US war crimes has been renamed the War Remnants Museum and actually devotes a whole floor to the losses suffered by the defeated Americans.
A must-see highlight of any visit to the city, it includes an arsenal of American firepower that makes one wonder how such a powerful enemy could be defeated by the Viet Cong, made up of farmers and their wives.
On display is a Chinook helicopter, a tank flame thrower, an F1 -11 fighter, a tank with a twenty foot canon and various gunships. Inside, the display of the damage done to the Vietnamese with Agent Orange and Napalm is not for the squeamish.
But despite the lethal legacy left by the Americans, thousands still dying from cancer from the chemical bombs dropped by B52s and whole areas rendered barren by Agent Orange, the Americans are welcomed with open arms.
The 25th anniversary performance of Miss Saigon will be in cinemas on Sunday October 16
The cast perform American Dream in the 25th anniversary performance
The War Remnants Museum devotes a whole floor to the losses suffered by the defeated Americans. The attraction has an arsenal of American firepower on display
Fascinating: John is pictured here exploring the War Remnants Museum
Bill Gates has been for talks about investment. And President Obama visited in the wake of Bill Clinton to promise more money to rebuild Vietnam and its stricken people.
Near the museum is the Jade Emperor Pagoda where Buddhists and Taoist congregate to honour a variety of idols.
The pungent smell of incense fills the air, bent and stiffened old ladies in black recite prayers as worshippers offer food and money to a variety of phantasmal divinities. Outside a dank pond is filled with turtles and another with carp and catfish, remarkably surviving in a liquid more like oxtail soup than freshwater.
Throughout the metropolis there is evidence of the new alignment with America. There is the ubiquitous McDonalds, as well as Kentucky Fried Chicken Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks.
But the best food is at the thriving pavement eateries. Thousands of family run outlets provide the most delicious street food in the world for a bargain price.
Tourists can enjoy a beer for less than 1 and sit in a children's nursery seat on the pavement watching the world go by. What mostly goes by is a substantial portion of the five million scooters in Ho Chi Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh City is slick. This teeming metropolis of eight million is awash with American investment in hotels, factories, software and partnerships in minerals, zinc and tin
A seemingly suicidal stampede of motorcycles weaving and beeping horns makes crossing any street a dangerous undertaking.
Last year there were 14,000 fatalities and anyone witnessing rush hour in downtown Ho Chi Minh City would not be surprised.
But despite the communism, this is a city of capitalists. Free enterprise reigns in the shops, markets and street food outlets.
Typical is the Ky Hoa Night Market in Cao Thang Road. Two hundred and fifty stalls offer counterfeit Polo, Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss merchandise.
A lively open air restaurant was doing a thriving business. On the menu were turtle and frog.
Also within walking distance of my hotel, the Saigon Grand, was the Museum of Traditional Medicine where the curator, Bui thi Mao, revealed all about ancient Chinese Medicine and the magical powers of herbs and exotic teas and explained how the huge wooden phallus on the second floor of her quaint museum and aphrodisiacal powers.
"It is a symbol of the belief in sex, she explained, attempting a straight face. The belief in the wish of multiplication of the nature and the people.'
About half an hour out of Ho Chi Minh City is the impressive Cu Chi Tunnels, which areactually a warren of underground bases and communicating tunnels used by the Viet Cong to thwart the Americans.
Still surviving are the gruesome man-traps used to kill the enemy, including hidden pits filled with razor sharp pointed bamboo sticks and the lake-sized craters left by the B52 bombs.
You can also indulge in target practice with real M60 carbines and machine guns used in the war. I bought ten bullets for the lethal AK47 and had fun imagining who I was gunning down from my bunker.
Take aim: John bought ten bullets for an AK47 and put them to use at the Cu Chi Tunnels
Food wise Ho Chi Minh City is a mouth-watering treat for the hungry. You could happily survive on the ludicrously cheap and delicious fodder served up by the street outlets.
But I enjoyed a splendid tuna sandwich with a free beer for 6 on the Terrace Cafe on the 20th floor of The Saigon Grand.
After dark I later enjoyed a pre-dinner cocktail for 100,000 dong, about 4, and admired the stunning view overlooking the meandering Saigon River far below. Dishes like chicken or beef cost less than 8 per head.
Nearby is Maxims in Dong Khoi Street where the authentic Vietnamese menu includes Muc Hap Gung (steamed squid with ginger) and Goi Sen Tom Thit (lotus root salad with shrimp).
Then there is the trendy deck about half an hour downriver, where affluent young Vietnamese sip cocktails and watch the huge container ships lumber up-river with their cargo, as vegetation rushes past in the stream.
There is no shortage of luxury hotels to stay in from the Sheraton, Renaissance, Majestic and Meridian to the Saigon Grand. Those on a budget might prefer the Ace and there are other options available on TripAdvisor.
An ideal way to see the sights and get your bearings on arrival in this overcrowded metropolis is to take a tour aboard a former U.S. Military jeep. The powerful jeep scythes through the seemingly suicidal stew of motorcyclists. I took in the French-built Notre Dame Cathedral and the Re-Unification Palace.
A cycle rickshaw driver buys fruit from a lady outside Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City
The latter became the headquarters of the beleaguered puppet presidents installed by the Americans. In the basement is the war bunker set up by President Diem as he watched the soon to be victorious Viet Cong advance on Saigon.
Nearby is the former US Embassy, where thousands of terrified Saigon residents shook the locked gates begging for entry as the last US helicopters fled Vietnam.
The turmoil of the war, however, has been left far behind.
With an optimistic population looking forward and not back Ho Chi Minh City is the perfect holiday destination for those seeking tradition and history as well as all the luxury and comforts of the 21st century.
At first glance, it's hard to imagine these landscapes really exist on earth.
And while they don't make a particularly good habitat for the majority of life, they do make for some rather staggering examples of our planet's extreme terrain.
Take Ethiopia's alien-looking Danakil depression - the hottest place on earth with a year-round average of 34.4C - which is home to sulfurous springs that produce a kaleidoscope of natural colours.
Or the Richat Structure, a prominent circular formation in the African Sahara desert that is so distinctive from space, it has become a landmark for Nasa astronauts.
In a certain light, America's Grand Canyon mountain ranges could be straight out a science-fiction movie, too, as could Australia's vast uninhabited Outback.
Here, MailOnline Travel has compiled a catalogue of locations around the world you definitely wouldn't want to hang around in, but are more than worthy of some other-worldly admiration.
Ever find you're out of ice after rustling up a refreshing beverage?
Well, for this bartender he never encounters that problem, as he's surrounded by ice for the majority of the year.
Ian Peck from Halifax, Nova Scotia, has spent the past six years on a polar expedition boat and in total he's completed 41 voyages to the Arctic and Antarctica.
Ian Peck from Halifax, Nova Scotia, has spent the past six years on a polar expedition boat and in total he's completed 41 voyages to the Arctic and Antarctica
The drinks pro says it's an unusual lifestyle on the high seas - with 16-hour shifts and no privacy - but one he's come to love.
Revealing what it's like as a bi-polar barman, Peck, 38, told MailOnline Travel: 'Its a whole lifestyle thing. After coming on full time I went back to Vancouver where I was living and sold everything I had.
'I dont have a home, I dont have a wife, I dont even have a watch! I have no idea what day it is, I dont care about the news and I couldnt care less about the Internet.'
Peck says that at times, manning a bar in some of the world's most treacherous waters can be hairy.
Recalling one particularly harrowing incident, he said: 'On the second night crossing the Drake Passage, sailing down to Antarctica, a big wave hit the ship and I was thrown across the room.
In the spirit of things: The drinks pro says it's an unusual lifestyle on the high seas - with 16-hour shifts and no privacy - but one he's come to love
Home, sweet home: Peck says he meets all kinds of people on the Akademik Loffe - the boat he works on
'I busted my head open on the corner of the wall and there was blood everywhere!'
In a bid to prevent accidents, Peck's bar is adorned with non-slip mats and the tables are bolted down.
Peck says he meets all kinds of people on the Akademik Loffe - the boat he works on.
One night a big wave hit the ship and I was thrown across the room
The sturdy cruise liner is chartered by One Ocean Expeditions, which run dozens of trips a year to the polar regions.
Americans, Brits and Asians are among the most popular clientele.
Peck says as a result, there is a mix of drinking tastes but 'gin and tonics are definitely the favourite cocktail with the Brits'.
As the boat's icemaker is quite small and unreliable, Peck says he often scoops up glacier ice from the seas and hacks it up.
When it comes to the polar regions, Peck says they're both breathtakingly beautiful in different ways.
Storm-proof: In a bid to prevent accidents, Peck's bar is adorned with non-slip mats and the tables are bolted down
'For ice and whales, Antarctica, but for polar bears and good weather, the Arctic,' he mused.
Offering a pearl of wisdom to patrons of his bar - Peck says moderation is key.
He concluded: 'If its going to be rough, you really dont want to be hungover and seasick.'
Before becoming a bi-polar bartender, Peck worked in the hospitality industry in Vancouver.
He thought the navigation may have been wrong so decided to ignore it
Pilot was on first flight to the airport but spotted another airport en route
A passenger plane touched down at the wrong airport after pilots ignored on-board navigation equipment and made a visual approach to land.
The Sriwijaya Air flight was scheduled to travel from Medan to Padang, both in Indonesia.
But, according to reports, instead of arriving at the new airport, the aircraft landed in a military-only airfield that hasn't been used by commercial flights since 2005.
The Sriwijaya Air flight was scheduled to travel from Medan to Padang but ended up at the wrong airport (file photo)
The pilots were following a landing chart (left and right), which showed the flight path for landing. On the day of the flight, the pilots only had a black and white copy (right), which didn't clearly indicate there was another airport en route
The incident took place on October 13, 2012, but the country's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) only released its final report on Monday.
Flight SJ-21 was travelling with 96 passengers and six members of crew at the time.
It was scheduled to descend into the new Minangkabau International Airport in Padang but as the pilots made the approach, they spotted the runway for Tabing Airport, which was seven nautical miles (eight miles) away.
The airport had been in commercial use until 2005 but is now a military-only airport according to the Aviation Herald.
HOW THE FLIGHT ERROR HAPPENED Pictured above is the flight chart in the NTSC report showing the trajectory of the plane The pilot reported to Minangkabau Airport controllers, located at point 1, at an altitude of 6,000ft. They were instructed to proceed to Bayur at point 2 and descend to 5,000ft to make their approach for landing. As they travelled to point 3 to make their approach, the pilots spotted the airstrip for Tabbing Airport, at almost the same trajectory. They communicated with air traffic controllers that the airport was in sight without knowing it was the wrong one. The pilots were cleared to land at point 4 and touched down at Tabbing Airport at point 5. Advertisement
NTSC's report revealed that, despite the fact that the on-board navigation equipment was working, the pilots decided to make the visual approach to Tabing Airport airport as they thought the instruments might have been wrong, based on previous experience.
The report said that the unclear information given by the landing chart may also have reduced 'the pilot awareness to the adjacent airport with similar runway direction and dimension'.
It had been the first time both the captain and the pilot have flown to the airport, which may have also contributed to the error.
However, they were able to land the aircraft without incident.
Photographs of a giant panda foraging through rubbish and apparently eating it at a zoo in China has sparked outrage.
The images, captured by a visitor to Taiyuan Zoo in Shanxi province, showed the bear rooting through assorted junk in its enclosure, including a water bottle, food debris and a balloon.
After the pictures appeared on Chinese social media thousands of people commented on the incident, calling for the zoo to lose its rights to house China's national treasure.
Photographs of a giant panda foraging through rubbish (pictured) and apparently eating it at a Chinese zoo has sparked outrage
The animal was seen rooting through various items, including food debris (left) and a water bottle (right)
The photographs were taken by user 'ai gun gun o' and posted to Weibo on October 5.
In a caption that accompanied the images, she wrote: 'Taiyuan Zoo doesn't deserve to have giant panda! I don't know whether it's Gong Wan or Shun Shun that's eating the rubbish left behind by tourists!
'The outside enclosure is like this. More importantly, there's no one to do anything about it!
'Can't find breeders! Can't find managers. This makes me so angry!'
Many Chinese web users were outraged by the condition of the enclosure (pictured)
Since the story emerged on Weibo, thousands of people have commented on the incident, outraged by both the tourists and staff at the zoo.
Some even said the zoo should not be able to house giant pandas.
'Chen Lang 1968' commented: 'Taiyuan Zoo needs to be stripped of their rights to have giant pandas.'
Taiyuan Zoo was quick to respond to the incident.
In an official statement distributed via Weibo, the attraction confirmed the incident.
The statement said that it took place during the national holiday period and that the park had been very busy.
The zoo has since released a statement apologising for the incident. They also released images showing the enclosure being sanitised
A number of visitors were said to have ignored warnings and decided to feed the pandas, which resulted in the rubbish seen in the enclosure.
The zoo was keen to stress that as the photographs were taken, one of the pandas, Gong Gong, had already been moved to an indoor enclosure.
Staff were already preparing to rehouse Shun Shun as well, which was why they were unavailable.
The zoo apologised for the incident and said that staff had since tidied and sanitised the enclosures.
The pandas underwent a health check and were given the all clear.
MailOnline Travel has contacted Taiyuan Zoo for additional comment.
There has been much speculation as to whether or not Melissa Gorga has had a nose job.
She's always skirted around the issue and blamed it on contouring, however, on this week's episode of Real Housewives Of New Jersey she finally addressed the rumors.
After an intense argument where co-star Jacqueline Laurita accuses Melissa of having a nose job, Melissa says, 'Let's be honest, it's the worst-kept secret that I've had a nose job, but it's my secret to tell, not hers.'
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Truth is out! Melissa Gorga admitted to having a nose job on this week's episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey
Gorga during an episode in 2011
Gorga seen last month during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live
Slide me
The 37-year-old media personality spoke with the Daily Dish where she admitted to having it done.
She even revealed why she's been keeping it a secret all these years.
'It's a personal thing. It's not hurting anyone. It's your own business. Some people like to say, "Hey, I injected this, tummy tucked this," and that's fine, too.'
Not happy: She admitted it after an intense argument where co-star Jacqueline Laurita accused Melissa of having a nose job
Her truth: 'It's a personal thing. It's not hurting anyone. It's your own business'
She added: 'It's something that's personal to me. It's one of the very few things that is personal in my life at this point.'
The reality star continued: 'I have children, and there are certain things I don't feel like I need to blurt all over the world.
'That's private, it has to do with me, myself and I.'
Not happy with her: Melissa said it's something that's personal to her. It's one of the very few things that is personal in her life at this point
Defending herself: Jacqueline wasn't going to take the comments lying down, as she said: 'She never told me she had her nose done
'That was one of the things I wanted to keep to myself. Unfortunately, I had a crappy friend who has told the world for me,' Melissa said.
Jacqueline wasn't going to take the comments lying down.
'She never told me she had her nose done,' she said. 'It wasnt like I spilled a secret or broke girl code, because she never admitted it to me. To me, it was just blatantly obvious, and I knew.'
The real Jon Hamm is far from the coldly selfish Mad Men role that made him a star.
On Sunday, The Hollywood Reporter ran an interview in which he revealed he had once saved the 90-year-old man from bleeding to death. The senior citizen lived next door to the actor in Los Angeles.
'I I heard this ruckus next door and I looked over this wall, and he had fallen off of the ladder and threw his head onto the driveway and was bleeding all the way down the driveway,' said the star.
'I'm thinking: "Cub scouts, what do you do?"': On Sunday, The Hollywood Reporter ran an interview in which Jon Hamm recounted saving a 90-year-old man who lived next door and fell from a ladder
Hamm added: 'I just [jumped] over the thing and I'm thinking: "Cub scouts, what do you do?" I got him untangled from the ladder and all of the tree branches off of him, and I undid his collar and I put some stuff on his head to put pressure on it.'
The 45-year-old continued: 'He didn't speak English so I was having a hard time explaining to him: "Breathe, breathe, breathe." And the ambulance came and took him away. He was fine, thank God, but it was terrifying. I have very good relationships with my neighbors. They like me a lot.'
His story was especially apropos considering he was promoting a neighbor-themed action comedy called Keeping Up With The Joneses.
'It was terrifying': Luckily, the man was 'fine' after the 45-year-old ministered to him 'And the ambulance came and took him away'
He and Gal Gadot star as the titular couple, Tim and Natalie, a pair of secret agents working undercover. Isla Fisher and Zach Galifinakis play their unassuming next-door neighbors Karen and Jeff, who gradually unravel the Joneses' deception.
In the same article, Fisher told a neighbor story of her own, though the elderly man who lives next door to her happens to be Eric Idle.
'Growing up I was just the biggest Monty Python fan,' she gushed, 'and I remember he once sang, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" and it was just an epic moment in neighbor history!'
On-theme: He and Gal Gadot (left) were promoting their new neighbour comedy Keeping Up With The Joneses; the actors are pictured at the Los Angeles premiere on Saturday, where The Hollywood Reporter interviewed them
Plugging the film, which opens in the US on October 21 and the UK a week later, Hamm noted: 'The good thing about this film is there's really something for everyone.'
He explained: 'It's a family film.You can bring your kids, you can bring your cousins, nieces and nephews. It's not like, "Earmuffs! You can't see that!"'
The Hollywood Reporter had interviewed them on the red carpet when the film celebrated its premiere in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The second half of Channel Ten's mini-series about the legend of past racing legend Peter Brock has been dragged through the mud by fans.
Viewers took to social media on Monday night to express their disappointment after watching the two-hour special, accusing the biopic of doing injustice to the late racer's legacy.
'Hatchet job on #Brock...pretty safe to assume his personal life was a bit of a mess but still...gotta balance it with a few positives surely (sic),' one frustrated fan wrote.
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Disappointing: Fans took to Twitter on Monday night to express their disdain for Channel Ten's Brock mini-series, starring Matt Le Nevez and Natalie Bassingthwaighte (pictured)
'Hatchet job': One viewer slammed the network for only focusing on the late Peter Brock's life scandals rather than the positives
Another viewer was also displeased with the dramatisation of the life of the man known as Peter Perfect.
'I understand that producers of #Brock fictionalised some events for dramatic effect but it so far removed from fact that it's just bulls***,' the viewer wrote.
Meanwhile, hardcore racing fans weren't impressed by the tele-movie's focus on Brock's love life.
Unrealistic: Someone else accused the mini-series of going way too far beyond the facts when depicting the star's life
'Destroyed': Another fan wasn't impressed with the focus on Brock's love life over his professional achievements
'Poor form @channelten - u destroyed #Brock legend by showing a 1-sided 'love' story. More 'romance' than racing. What rot. #disappointing (sic),' one particular fan wrote.
'Reckon the channel ten writers smoked Brock's crystals while they wrote this #4hoursunevergetback #brock (sic),' someone else said, referring to the crystals used by the former Holden star to improve the performance of his vehicles.
The social media backlash comes after Brock's former publicist Tim 'Plastic' Pemberton publicly criticised the TV event.
Lost time: Another fan complained about wasting their time on watching the poorly-written series
'I don't think they captured the real Brock': Peter Brock's former publicist Tim 'Plastic' Pemberton (pictured) also slammed the TV biopic of the racing legend
Although Pemberton applauded the accuracy in the way they recreated the period in racing history, he criticised the makers' ability to represent the man himself.
'He was very articulate and very funny,' Tim revealed to News.com.au, before adding, 'I don't think they've captured the real Brock'.
Peter's friends, family and fans have defended the racing legend, amid social media backlash of the series' 'pathetic' portrayal of him.
'It's the most pathetic c**p I've ever seen': Chief mechanic for the Holden Dealer Team from 1969 to 1976, Ian Tate, said he felt he had wasted two hours watching the biopic
Chief mechanic for the Holden Dealer Team from 1969 to 1976, Ian Tate, said that after speaking to Peter's step-son James Brock, the pair agreed it was 'poorly done'.
'He not impressed and I don't think his mother [Bev] is. It's the most pathetic c**p I've ever seen.
'It's not even a B-grade movie, I thought it was put together by a pack of uni students.'
Bad wrap: Fans have been vocal about their criticisms of the show, slamming everything from the acting to the scripting
The mini-series made headlines recently when Peter's ex-wife, Michelle Downes, threatened to sue producers if they misrepresented her relationship with Peter.
Ms Downes's lawyers said she was worried the two-part series, Brock, would 'gloss over' her year-long marriage and the domestic violence she allegedly suffered.
Peter's younger brother Phil spoke to Daily Mail Australia on Monday revealing that he saw Peter's relationship with Michelle as a 'blip' on the radar.
'Look, like so many people in life, it was a relationship that didn't work. It's that simple.'
Phil went on to say that he didn't get upset about allegations about Peter and domestic violence and that he liked the first part of the film.
Even if Anthony had a year to analyze and dissect each piece...(he couldn't tell if it would)... stand the harsh light of public exposure.
WUWT insider Willis Eschenbach tells you all you need to know about Anthony Watts and his blog, WattsUpWithThat (WUWT). As part of his scathing commentary , Wondering Willis accuses Anthony Watts of being clueless about the blog articles he posts. To paraphrase: Click here to read more.
She failed to find her Prince Charming in The Bachelor's Richie Strahan.
But on Sunday, Disney-obsessed Janey Birks appears to have well and truly moved on from her failed reality TV stint.
The 27-year-old was all smiles as she carried a huge sun hut at Brisbane airport, en route to a girls trip to Bali with fellow contestants Rachael Gouvignon and Faith Williams.
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Moving on from Richie! Bachelor reject Janey Birks, 27, was all smiles as she arrived at Brisbane airport on Sunday ahead of a girls trip to Bali with fellow contestants Rachael Gouvignon and Faith Williams
The children's entertainer was seen being dropped off in a blue car with just a red medium-sized suitcase and a straw tote bag.
Cutting a chic figure, Janey sported a little black frock with lace sleeves, teamed with a white round-neck shirt underneath.
With her own unique style of dressing, the reality star wore a pair of white thongs with an embellished design and despite her diminutive size, carried an enormous black wide-rimmed hat.
Bag lady: The children's entertainer was seen being dropped off in a blue car with just a red medium-sized suitcase and a straw tote bag
Hoping to stand out? Despite her diminutive frame, the Disney-obsessed star was seen sporting a huge black round-rimmed hat
No special treatment here! Janey was seen handling her own baggage as she made her way into the airport
Allowing her long brunette tresses to fall effortlessly around her face and shoulders, she appeared to sport a minimal makeup palette of a flawless complexion, defined brows, lashings of mascara and a nude lip.
Janey was on her way to Bali, for a getaway of rest and relaxation with blonde beauty Faith Williams and brunette stunner Rachael Gouvignon.
The trio have already taken to their respective Instagram and Snapchat accounts to share sweet snaps, enjoying massages, shopping and exploring around the island.
Happy traveller: The brunette appeared in high spirits, no doubt enthused about a trip of sun and relaxation
Casual chic: The slender reality star donned a little black dress with lace sleeves, teamed with a white round-neck top
Flair: Adding a unique twist to her rather chic ensemble, Janey wore a pair of white thongs with an embellished design
Bali is no stranger to hosting the Bachelor contestants, with Kirralee 'Kiki' Morris having been snapped on the beach in the skimpiest of bikinis.
Another sign that Janey has well and truly moved on from Richie Strahan are snaps on her Instagram account that show her cozying up to a hunky new boyfriend.
Numerous images on her page see her looking a picture of content with Stevie Mac, who looks to be a male model.
Fuss-free: Janey allowed her signature dark tresses to fall effortlessly around her face and shoulders
Low-key: The bubbly personality appeared to sport a minimal makeup palette of a flawless complexion, defined brows, lashings of mascara and a nude lip
Moving forward: Janey appears to have well and truly forgotten about Richie Strahan, with the news she's been dating hunky Stevie Mac. Janey has shared numerous snaps cozying up to her new beau on social media
Announcing her new relationship to Instagram a month ago, she wrote in the caption: '#introducing @_steviemac_official'.
In the accompanying photo, Janey straddled her partner's back as they enjoyed a day out at the park.
The news came just over a month after Janey revealed to 2Day FM's Rove & Sam that she hoped to find love on dating app Tinder.
She even joked about using some of the unflattering internet memes fans had made about her as her Tinder profile.
Speaking of her exit from The Bachelor, Janey said: 'It was a long time ago...it was disappointing but I yeah feel OK. I'm doing alright'.
Love online? The news came just over a month after Janey revealed to 2Day FM's Rove & Sam that she hoped to find love on dating app Tinder
Taking it in her stride: Janey even joked about using some of the unflattering internet memes fans had made about her as her Tinder profile
His transition to US talk-show host has been a tremendous success.
But James Corden long predicted the move would be a complete flop - a premonition that, thankfully, never came true.
Speaking to the Radio Times, the 38 year-old confesses that he was almost a 'pessimist' about fronting The Late Late Show, despite his earlier successes.
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How wrong he was! James Corden long predicted his move to the USA would be a complete flop - a premonition that, thankfully, never came true
'I wouldnt have moved to America and taken on The Late Late Show if I were a pessimist, but at the same time it would have been very naive of me to speak publicly about it being successful before it had even started,' he said.
'I decided that the best thing to do was to say it would be a disaster. If it hadnt worked, I could say, Yeah, well, I did say that.
'You always hope that people will respond to what you do but the truth is I never thought it would become as popular as it is and I didnt expect things like Carpool Karaoke to take off like it has!'
Modest: Speaking to the Radio Times , the 38 year-old confesses that he was almost a 'pessimist' about fronting The Late Late Show, despite his earlier successes
Trio: Rob Lowe and JK Simmons chat with James during an episode of The Late Late Show
Hitting the big time: James interviewing Jamie Lee Curtis and Kumail Nanjiani
Out now: Read the full interview with James Corden in the new issue of Radio Times
Naturally, his prediction couldn't have been further from the truth - on the contrary, his talk show is one of the network's biggest hits. And it's paying off.
It was recently reported that he is moving into his dream Californian home for a staggering $80,000 (or 64,000) a month.
The Gavin and Stacey star is renting a luxury five-storey beachfront home in Los Angeles with his family worth $24million.
The property is worlds away from his childhood semi-detached home in Hazlemere, High Wycombe, as well as being a cut above the five-bedroom villa he had previously rented in Brentwood, LA for 18,000 a month.
According to reports, his new neighbours at the Malibu property include director Steven Spielberg, Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow - proving the comic has truly made it to the big-time.
Read the full interview with James Corden in the new issue of Radio Times
Narcos star Boyd Holbrook has been cast as the baddie in Logan, the third installment in the separate franchise for Hugh Jackman's X-Men character Wolverine.
The 35-year-old actor will play Donald Pierce, a cyborg with superhuman strength who hunts down mutants, according to Deadline on Monday.
The producers revealed the news in a black and white photo of Boyd sitting in the drivers seat of a truck that it posted on the films Instagram account with the simple caption, 'Pierce.'
Out to get him: Boyd Holbrook has been cast as cyborg Donald Pierce in Logan, the third installment in the separate franchise for Hugh Jackman's X-Men character, Wolverine
Hugh, 47, will play an older version of his famed character.
In the movie, it will be clear that 'his abilities arent what they once were,' the website reported.
On Friday, Boyd posted a snap of a child's hand holding Logan/Wolverine's hand with his X-Men blades extended on a giant poster on the side of a building.
Mutant hunter: The producers announced the casting in an Instagram posted on Monday showing the 35-year-old in a truck captioned simply, 'Pierce'
He captioned it: 'Coming for you #Logan'
Hugh posted a photo of himself with the poster in the background, identifying the site as the 'Corner of Bleecker & Lafayette' in the Bowery district of New York.
Donald Pierce may be the nemesis that finally ends the previously unkillable Wolverine.
'Coming for you': Boyd posted an Instagram pic of this image on the side of a building that her captioned with the ominous warning
Street selfie: Hugh, 47, shared a photo of himself with the poster in the background, identifying the site as the 'corner of Bleecker & Lafayette' in the Bowery district of New York
Hugh said last year that this is the final time he will don the character's adamantine claws after playing the superhero for 17 years.
The movie, which is based on the Old Man Logan graphic novel, is due out on March 2.
Meanwhile, Boyd can presently be seen as Drug Enforcement Administration agent Steve Murphy in the Netflix series Narcos, which chronicles the rise and fall of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
His last time: The hunky star announced last year that Logan would be the final time he flexes Wolverine's adamantine claws
She's walked some of the most glamorous red-carpets in Hollywood.
But Katie Holmes pared back on Sunday as she showed off her flawless barefaced beauty in a make-up free photo shared to Instagram. The 37-year-old actress looked stunning in the revealing snap.
This comes just before she announced that she will be voting for Hillary Clinton. 'I'm with her,' the star captioned a black-and-white image of the Democratic nominee.
Natural: Katie Holmes pared back on Sunday as she showed off her flawless barefaced beauty in a make-up free photo
The ex of Tom Cruise was wearing a gentleman's white collared shirt in the candid picture.
Her hair looked wet as it was left natural around her pretty face.
Not a scrap of make-up enhanced her features, as she let the world see how she looks when she wakes up.
Made up! She's walked some of the most glamorous red-carpets in Hollywood (pictured in May)
The beauty is said to be planning a November wedding to her secret beau Jamie Foxx, 48, at his Westlake Village mansion according to OK! Magazine.
The star has been single since divorcing Cruise in 2012 but hit by rumours she has been romancing the Oscar-winner Foxx for several years.
She lives now in Los Angeles and Manhattan with daughter Suri, 10.
Katie can next be seen on the big screen in the comedy Coup D'etat due out in 2017.
She'll also be reprising her role of Jacqueline Kennedy in the 2017 miniseries The Kennedys: After Camelot.
Katie also is an executive producer of the Reelz Channel miniseries and directed one episode.
The Kennedys: After Camelot - which also stars Matthew Perry as Ted Kennedy - is expected out in early 2017.
Ed Norton and his wife Shauna Robertson appear to have welcomed a new addition to their family.
The Fight Club actor was seen carefully holding an infant as he arrived back at his New York home on Monday.
The 47-year-old looked focused as he carefully carried the baby's car seat along the sidewalk.
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Baby on board: Actor Edward Norton was seen carrying a newborn in New York and is believed to have welcomed a new addition to the family a few months ago
The Birdman star and producer wife Shauna Robertson wed in secret 2012, and are already mom and dad to three-year-old son Atlas.
They are thought to have welcomed the new baby a few months ago, and were spotted on vacation in St. Tropez with a baby in July.
Edward's rep told DailyMail.com she does not comment on her client's personal life.
The actor kept a low profile as he strolled back to the family's residence with the baby in Manhattan.
Precious cargo: The Fight Club star and producer wife Shauna Robertson are also parents to son Atlas, three
Focus: The 47-year-old kept a low profile in a black fedora and sunglasses
The Primal Fear actor covered up in a black fedora and sunglasses, and like many fathers of a new baby, sported some scruffy stubble.
Edward wore a plaid shirt unbottoned over a white shirt, and rolled his denims up at the cuffs.
The Fight Club star was later seen rolling a large suitcase into the house while holding a soft white baby blanket.
Prepared: Edward was later seen carrying a large suitcase and baby blanket
Newborn: Edward's wife Shauna Robertson, left, and a family friend were seen with a baby's car seat in St. Tropez in July
Ed most recently appeared in Seth Rogen's raunchy animated comedy Sausage Party, playing a bagel.
He is also set to appear in the upcoming Will Smith drama Collateral Beauty, which is set to hit theaters in December.
And the Oscar nominee will also reunite with his Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom director Wed Anderson to voice a character in an upcoming stop-motion comedy about dogs.
Proud parents: The actor and wife Shauna Robertson looked stylish as they attended the Hamptons International Film Festival in Bridgehampton, New York on Sunday
She has been dating her director beau Tom Ackerley for three years.
And so it's no surprise Margot Robbie looked like one of the family when she attended the wedding of Tom's brother Ben Ackerley in August.
Clad in a breezy strapless maxi dress, the 26-year-old beauty was spotted in several social media snaps uploaded by Tom's brother James, in which she is seen posing in a breezy floral maxi dress.
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Bonding with the in-laws! Margot Robbie looked like one of the family when she attended the wedding of Tom's brother Ben Ackerley in August
Margot wore her hair down for the occasion while wearing a hint of blush and a dash of bright red lipstick.
In one snap, captioned simply 'Grandkids', Margot is seen posing with Tom, his siblings and his grandmother.
In another snap, she is seen posing with the entire bridal party in front of a fountain.
It comes after Margot hit back at rumours that she and Tom had tied the knot in secret.
The couple sparked rumours of a secret marriage after they were seen wearing matching gold bands while Margot filmed Suicide Squad in Toronto last June.
According to Woman's Day, a friend of the pair claimed that: 'It is well known within their friendship group that they got married - people refer to them as husband and wife.
'Their own friends talk about it to other people. They did it on the down-low, without many people around them,' they added.
Previously, Margot revealed the secret to keeping the spark alive in her three-year relationship with her long-distance lover Tom.
'Being in a long-distance relationship can be really hard when you don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. It can mess with your head, so the three-week rule is key,' she told Sunday Style.
The film star has been dating the British director since they met in June 2013 on the set of World War II drama Suite Francaise in France.
His beloved chat show Chatty Man has reportedly been axed.
Yet Alan Carr refused to mope surrounding the reports after he scooped the role as guest editor-in-chief of Heat Magazine for this week's issue, where he divulged a hilarious anecdote.
The 40-year-old TV star claimed that following Kanye West's 2006 appearance on The Friday Night Project, the rapper, 39, invited Alan and his partner Paul Drayton to 'hang out' when they were on holiday in California.
Kanye's performance on the Channel 4 show was widely-discussed as he larked around with Alan and Justin Lee-Collins in an uncharacteristically light-hearted manner before later starring on Alan Carr Chatty Man in 2009.
In his collaboration with Heat, the hilarious comic has now revealed that he formed a bond with the rapper, who invited him to 'hang out' when Alan jetted to LA with his now-husband Paul.
Alan however took the invite as a joke and dismissed the suggestion, leaving him stunned when Kanye pursued their meeting.
He said: 'Oh my God, I love Kanye. He came on the chat show and my Paul said were going on holiday to California and Kanye said: "Lets hang out".
The boys: Alan Carr refused to mope surrounding the reports after he scooped the role as guest editor-in-chief of Heat Magazine for this week's issue, where he divulged a hilarious anecdote
Firm friends: The 40-year-old TV star claimed that following Kanye West's 2006 appearance on The Friday Night Project, the rapper, 39, invited Alan and his partner Paul Drayton to 'hang out' when they were on holiday in California
Uh oh! Alan however took the invite as a joke and dismissed the suggestion, leaving him stunned when Kanye pursued their meeting
'I thought it was like one of those: "Yeah, yeah, lets hang out and then you turn up and their bodyguards Taser you. And then there we were at the airport on the way back and Kanye emailed Paul and said: Hey are you guys in LA yet?
'I was like: "S**t I didnt know he was genuine!" I felt SO bad. I threw the phone (away from me) and told Paul to deal with it, because Id go: "Yo, foshizzle". and all that and it would look like I was being stereotypical or racist at worst.'
Back in 2011, Alan once again discussed the meeting, as he gushed once more about the divisive rapper in an interview with The Sun: 'Kanye came on the Friday Night Project and was ever so sweet.
Pals: Atop his love of Kanye, he also divulged some truths about the rapper's wife Kim Kardashian, who appeared on Chatty Man in 2012: 'I love her, she has a great sense of humour and is beautiful. They both turned up with hardly any entourage, talked about anything and then she asked me to touch her bum'
Cheers! Of Kim's bum he said: 'I mean it was like being given a guided tour round StoneHenge or something, well, you have to say yes. So I touched it and it was like a Babybel or an Edam. It was very nice.'
The latest issue of Heat magazine is on newstands now
'He invited me and Justin Lee Collins to go on his jet to see him perform in Oslo. But I was doing a charity night... I was very tempted to throw a sickie!'
Atop his love of Kanye, he also divulged some truths about the rapper's wife Kim Kardashian, who appeared on Chatty Man in 2012: 'I love her, she has a great sense of humour and is beautiful. They both turned up with hardly any entourage, talked about anything and then she asked me to touch her bum.
'I mean it was like being given a guided tour round StoneHenge or something, well, you have to say yes. So I touched it and it was like a Babybel or an Edam. It was very nice.'
Alan admits not every guest was as easygoing as the rapper as he discussed who was the biggest diva he has met: 'Mariah Carey was up there because she could only be filmed from the left side, which meant we would have to rotate the whole of The Friday Night Project studio!
'I just sort of went, HAHAHAHA, what you like?! when she said it. Then she asked for an ostrich feather to fan her down. This was in Regents Street, there was no Ostrich Feathers R Us!'
The latest issue of Heat magazine is on newstands now
Her international modelling career has been thriving since she debuted on the Victoria's Secret catwalk five years ago.
So it's no surprise that Shanina Shaik, 25, attended one of the hottest parties in New York on Monday night, to celebrate fellow 'It girl' Bella Hadid's 20th birthday.
The Melbourne beauty showed off her slender frame in a plunging beige bodycon dress and she paired the look with nude heels and a black fur coat.
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Stunning: Shanina Shaik, 25, attended one of the hottest parties in New York on Monday night, to celebrate fellow 'It girl' Bella Hadid's 20th birthday
With her luscious brunette locks swept up in a sleek updo and her makeup flawlessly applied, the Manhattan-based beauty oozed confidence as she made her way into the star-studded event.
At one point, the exotic beauty, whose mother is of Lithuanian descent and whose father is Saudi Arabian and Pakistani, was seen flaunting her 'duck lips' while posing alongside socialite Hailey Baldwin.
'Cause your [six] sweet sweet @haileybaldwin (ugh I love ya),' Shanina proudly captioned the image.
Famous faces: The Melbourne beauty cuddled up to socialite Hailey Baldwin at the star-studded event
The lady of the hour: A braless Bella wowed onlookers as she strutted into her own party
Smooches! Bella took a snap with her mother Yolanda and boyfriend The Weekend
Also at the event was American model Bella's famous mother Yolanda Foster and her musician boyfriend The Weekend.
Shanina's fiance DJ Ruckus, otherwise known as Greg Andrews, was also in attendance while celebrating his 33rd birthday that night.
'HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY ( @djruckusofficial ) !! You are so dear to my heart ....nothing but happiness for the birthday boy! And thank you @bellahadid for sharing your bday fun with my baby. Happy Birthday Bell xo,' Shanina wrote on Instagram.
Double the celebration: Shanina also celebrated her fiance DJ Ruckus' birthday
Feeling the love: Ruckus thanked fans for the birthday love in a heartfelt Instagram post
The IMG model began dating Ruckus, who happens to be the cousin of famed rock musician Lenny Kravitz last year, following her split from Tyson Beckford, 45.
In December, Shanina and Ruckus announced their engagement although they have not publicly revealed a wedding date.
'This (love) is a sure thing! I said 'YES!!' she captioned.
She had a busy weekend moving into her new house.
And Stephanie Davis couldn't have looked prouder in a new Instagram snap she shared on Monday night from inside her plush new pad.
The mum-to-be showed off her growing baby bump in the snap as she gushed about how much she's 'grown up.'
Moved in: Pregnant Stephanie Davis couldn't have looked prouder in a new Instagram snap she shared on Monday night from inside her plush new pad
Stephanie, 23, kept things comfortable for her big move, relaxing in a cosy velour tracksuit in a blush shade.
Posing on the stairs of her new home while cradling her bump, the Celebrity Big Brother star gushed in the Instagram caption: 'Moving in day outfit baby and mummy very happy thank you @lasulaboutique we both feeling so comfortable #mumtobe #cosy #jobdone.'
Later, Steph shared an old scan photo of her baby boy, while telling her followers that she was feeling happier than ever at how far she's come in the past few months.
'Can't wait to see his little face again Then I can't wait to hold him in my arms. Times flying but loving every minute of carrying him and feeling him play is honestly... amazing words can't describe how incredible it is!' she wrote.
Baby joy: Steph shared an old scan photo of her baby boy, while telling her followers that she was feeling happier than ever at how far she's come in the past few months
New romance: Stephanie appeared to confirm that she has embarked on a new romance as she shared a shot of herself curled up next to a mystery man on Saturday night
'Ive grown up so much, 23 is a lovely age, I've my house, baby , priorities and absolutely LOVE being a mummy! My baby's made my dreams come true, I'm so lucky to have him and to love him and have this extra special bond with him every dayCount down my little best mate, my boy, happy.'
Over the weekend Steph appeared to confirm she's moved on from her fiery romance with Jeremy McConnell, the father of her baby.
Taking to Instagram on Saturday, the star shared a shot of herself curled up with a mystery man.
The pics, which showed her legs resting beside those of the unidentified male, was captioned: 'Nothing better than family times... House full of people... so relaxed! My baby boy kicking to us. He knows our voices too well, its mummy... And us X.'
Frightfully delightful! The pregnancy star also showed off her potential Halloween makeup
She also seemed to refer to the man when she uploaded another image of herself wearing a face full of green makeup as she prepared to celebrate Halloween.
The actress wrote: 'Babes let's practice your Halloween make up... When they don't want you to look stunning... Yeah babes I love it... crying!!'
And, after sharing that she was on the verge of moving into her new home, she couldn't resist sharing a snapshot of her pristine white kitchen.
A mesmerising tail: She looked comfortable as she snuggled under a mermaid blanket
What's cooking? The brunette beauty showed off her pristine white kitchen in her new home
The images come she revealed that she has decided on a 'quirky' name for her unborn son - and that ex Jeremy has no say in it.
The former Hollyoaks actress - who is expecting her first child with former boyfriend Jeremy - previously voiced her intention to call her baby Albi in tribute to her late grandfather Albert.
But the brunette told OK! magazine on Wednesday that she had changed her mind, and she's now settled on both first and middle names for the tot, by herself.
Baby on the way: She recently revealed that her unborn baby boy now has a 'different and quirky' name
She said: 'The first name is going to stay as the one that means the most to me. The middle name I want to be something for myself, something I've picked for him on my own - it's a bit different and quirky.
'Everyone loves the first name, however, when he arrives there's a chance I could switch his first and middle name around but either way, I've finally decided.'
And the 23-year-old star intends to give the baby her own surname.
Bumping along nicely: The star has said that her decision was a hard one
She explained in her blog that she felt really 'proud' to be able to give the baby a family name because they had done so much to help her through her pregnancy.
'It was a hard challenge but for a while now I've been calling him by this name. It's kind of stuck and I can't imagine calling him anything else now. I can't believe I have this little life in me - it takes my breath away.'
Stephanie has been sunning herself on a 'babymoon' and is having such a good time, she's extended her break twice.
Lost love: Stephanie seems to have left Jeremy McConnell out of the decision
Late last month, Stephanie left fans baffled when she posted a snap in which he burgeoning bump looked like a totally flat stomach.
The Liverpool-born beauty addressed the claims in the blog: 'I can't cope with these ridiculous rumours you know... To start, I'm nearly 6 months pregnant so my baby is sitting quite low.
'That photo didn't even show my stomach and I even have a bigger bump that I should right now! I have to just laugh at it as it's quite funny. It is ridiculous though, I just don't get it.'
She routinely dazzles in front of the camera.
And Alessandra Ambrosio was in her element as she starred in a low-key photo shoot on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood on Monday.
The 35-year-old model sported a halter crop top that flashed her toned tum along with a bohemian chic skit with a thigh-high slit.
Ooh la la! Alessandra Ambrosio continued to dazzle as she starred in a photo shoot in Los Angeles on Monday
The star was spotted striking a sultry pose as she rested her leg upon the wall and clutched her wide-brim hat.
Sporting a pair of wide hoop earrings and wearing her hair down, the Victoria's Secret beauty was a sight to behold in her summery outfit, which could have been from her own clothing line, Ale by Alessandra.
The model donned a pair of ankle boots and sunglasses to top off her outfit, as well as an arm full of gold bracelets for added glam.
Whether she was striking a pose against a wall or resting with her legs kicked out, i t's clear the catwalk queen knew exactly what she was doing in order to look her very best on camera.
Flower girl: Sporting a pair of wide hoop earrings and wearing her hair down, Alessandra was a sight to behold in her summery outfit
Snack break! The model made sure to reward herself as well with a green smoothie
And the star's facial features were made all the radiant with a swipe of eye liner and blush.
The model made sure to reward herself as well with a green smoothie.
Alessandra's ensemble was certainly a switch-up from the one she wore earlier that day when arriving to the shoot.
Super stylish: The model donned a pair of ankle boots and sunglasses to top off her outfit, as well as an arm full of gold bracelets for added glam
Top of the crops! The 35-year-old's halter top flashed her bare midriff
The star wore an especially funky white dress which resembled a long T-shirt as she stepped out of her car in West Hollywood on Monday.
Alessandra's 'Endless' frock put her long, super toned legs on show as she also wrapped a jean jacket around her waist and slung a $2,000 Gucci purse over her shoulder.
Stepping out in a pair of suede beige shoes, Alessandra wore her brunette tresses down straight as she propped on sunglasses and accessorized the look with wide silver hoop earrings and bracelets.
Quick change! The star's ensemble was certainly a switch-up from the one she wore earlier that day when arriving to the shoot
Endless legs! Ambrosio put her impossibly toned limbs on show while stepping out in West Hollywood on Monday
Alessandra recently enjoyed a whirlwind month travelling to Paris to appear in Balmain SS17 at Fashion Week and a photo shoot in the Maldives for the November cover of GQ Brazil.
The model has since been enjoying family time with her children, Noah, four, and daughter Anja, eight.
The children's father is her fiance, Jamie Mazur, who she has been engaged to since 2008 but is yet to set a wedding date.
Last week, we organized the move of approximately 100 animals from South Carolina ahead of the storm. Some of these animals arrived at our Gaithersburg office Thursday and were transported to our Emergency Placement Partners where they were safe and well cared for as the storm lashed South Carolina. Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS
Partly because of the enormous interest in the Presidential race, Hurricane Matthew a massive storm that affected an enormous area of Florida and contributed to immense flooding in the Carolinas has not gotten the focus it would have otherwise attracted in the national media. We took the forecasts of a cataclysmic storm very seriously after the Category 4 hurricane pummeled Haiti and headed for South Florida, where we maintain the largest wildlife rehabilitation center in the United States. As a precaution, we evacuated close to 500 animals from the HSUS South Florida Wildlife Center.
Fortunately, the storm passed over Fort Lauderdale without much incident, and weve restored full operations there and returned the animals to our facility. But other areas to the north didnt fare nearly as well.
Last week, we organized the move of approximately 100 animals from Greenville and Charleston in South Carolina ahead of the storm. Some of these animals arrived at our Gaithersburg office Thursday and were transported to our Emergency Placement Partners in New York, Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Pennsylvania where they were safe and well cared for as Matthew subsequently lashed South Carolina. It was very good indeed that we helped get those animals out of harms way.
Our staff continues to remain in South Carolina today to help with the influx of animals into shelters that usually follows such an event. Although the hurricane has migrated out into the Atlantic and lost much of its force, flooding remains a real risk as rivers are cresting and hundreds of thousands of people are without power and cut off because access roads have been washed away. We have just sent a team to Horry County in South Carolina, where the Horry County Animal Shelter is overflowing with animals and in need of help.
Our relief work is not limited to the United States. HSI is dispatching a team to Haiti, whose southern coast was devastated by Hurricane Matthew. Hundreds of people lost their lives in this long-battered and beleaguered nation, and there were tens of thousands of others displaced. The United Nations has proclaimed this the worst disaster in the country since the 2010 earthquake. We implemented a long-term response to the earthquake six years ago, and this time too we will be on the ground to help.
Our team, which lands in Haiti tomorrow, will bring in humanitarian supplies, like water and tarps, because we are entering the scene early on when humanitarian assistance is still scarce.
Our team, working with local groups, will provide rescue and treatment to any animals impacted by the hurricane. We will identify locations that have the greatest need and set up vaccination and treatment clinics for animals of all types, including companion animals, equines, and farm animals. HSI will provide veterinary outreach in Haiti for as long as it takes to assist in stabilizing this storm-ravaged country whose animals and people are in dire need of help.
Our response teams typically respond to human-caused crises, such as a puppy mill or a hoarding case. But we also respond when wind, rain, and water surges threaten animals and the people who care about them. Well need your support to stay the course, since its in the aftermath of these storms that we work to help the animals and pick up the pieces.
She is the daughter of A-listers Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, and is fast becoming one of Hollywood's brightest young stars in her own right.
But on Monday Lily-Rose Depp looked just like a regular teenager while heading to lunch in West Hollywood.
The 17-year-old showed off her simple style in a black spaghetti strap top which she teamed with ripped, loose-fitting jeans.
Denim darling: Lily-Rose Depp stepped out in ripped jeans and a black spaghetti strap top on Monday
Lily-Rose also wore red and white high-top trainers and had a small red rucksack on her back.
The actress left her dark blonde hair down and had sunglasses covering most of her minimally made-up face.
Just three days earlier she had been spotted out with rumoured boyfriend Ash Stymest, 25, who like Lily-Rose is a model.
The pair have not officially confirmed their romance, but they have been seen together on several occasions.
A low-key outing: The actress and model was seen heading to lunch in West Hollywood
While Lily-Rose has been making her mark on Hollywood, she is also the face of Chanel's fragrance N.5 L'Eau.
The rising star recently returned from a trip to Paris, where she attended Fashion Week.
Lily-Rose had also been in her native France just a few weeks earlier for the premiere of her film La Danseuse (The Dancer).
Naturally chic: Lily-Rose left her hair down and sported minimal make-up, finishing off her look with cat-eye sunglasses and some red accessories
The movie follows the life of Loie Fuller (portrayed by Kristen Stewart's ex-girlfriend Soko) and her relationship with protege and rival Isadora Duncan (Depp).
Lily-Rose is additionally starring opposite Natalie Portman in Planetarium, which sees themplay sisters in pre-war France who believe they can connect with ghosts.
At the Toronto International Film Festival screening of the movie last month, the teen told the Press Association: 'I always wanted to have a bunch of different jobs when I was little.
Jet set teen: The 17-year-old recently returned from her native Paris where she attended Fashion Week last week
'It's only in the last five years or so of my life that I really started thinking about [acting]. Now that I do it I couldn't imagine doing anything else.'
Lily-Rose's acting career has been going from strength to strength, and she will be reprising her role as Colleen Collette from this year's Yoga Hosers in Moose Jaws.
The latest comedy-horror offering from Kevin Smith is also rumoured to see the teen's father Johnny reprise his role as Guy Lapointe.
The 53-year-old has been out of the spotlight recently in the wake of his divorce from Amber Heard, which saw the 30-year-old receive a $7million settlement after claiming Johnny was abusive towards her.
She is on track to becoming Australia's very own Kim Kardashian, thanks to her penchant for flaunting her curvaceous caboose on social media.
And The Bachelor's Zilda Williams, 33, made sure to capture the attention of her 44.8K Instagram fans by sharing another derriere-baring snap on Tuesday as she hit the beach for a sunbaking session.
Posing with her rear squarely in the frame, the reality TV starlet showcased her bronzed complexion as she lay chest-dow on the sand while soaking up the soaring climes and peering at the Sydney Harbour bridge in the background.
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Junk in the trunk! The Bachelor's Zilda Williams, 33, made sure to capture the attention of her 44.8K Instagram fans by sharing another derriere-baring snap on Tuesday as she hit the beach for a sunbaking session
Placed in front of her on the sand was an aerosol can of Sun Bum tanning spray, which she cleverly spruiked in the caption by writing: 'Beach bum life.'
Fans were quick to comment on Zilda's formidable curves, with one writing underneath the saucy snap: 'The most perfect beach bum I've ever seen.'
The post comes after Zilda made headlines for sharing a series of party-going snaps with NRL legend 'Big Willie' during a tequila-fueled night out at Sydney's trendy Bungalow 8 bar.
She's not shy! Zilda is on track to becoming Australia's very own Kim Kardashian, thanks to her penchant for flaunting her curvaceous caboose on social media
What's going on? The post comes after Zilda made headlines for sharing a series of party-going snaps with NRL legend 'Big Willie' during a tequila-fueled night out at Sydney's trendy Bungalow 8 bar
The Bachelor babe documented her antics with the 36-year-old ex-Bulldogs player on Snapchat and Instagram, before deleting all traces of the wild night out from social media the next morning.
In a Snapchat video, the Christchurch-born babe exclaims 'Guess who I found?' before turning the camera to reveal fellow Kiwi Big Willie, who is standing next to a busty brunette as he playfully gives Zilda's iPhone the middle finger.
In a following shot, Big Willie has his arm affectionately wrapped around Zilda while a caption reads '10 margaritas.'
'Guess who I found?' Zilda tells the camera as she turns around to reveal a cheeky Big Willie
Zilda, who shows off her famous E cup assets in a plunging grey dress, is seen holding an alcoholic beverage as she gets close to the controversial athlete.
Despite the nature of the video and photos, Zilda insisted that were was nothing going on between the pair when contacted by Daily Mail Australia for comment.
'I was at an event with my girlfriends and we bumped into Willie in the VIP area,' she revealed.
'We all had a drink and a dance together as a group, then I left. That's it!'
When asked why she deleted evidence of the allegedly wholesome night out from social media, the aspiring actress explained that she didn't want anybody to get the 'wrong impression' about what went down.
It's the most dramatic and exciting round of any season - makeover week.
And Tuesday night's episode of Australia's Next Top Model was no different, with the Top 10 contestants transformed through extreme hair cuts and drastic dye jobs before posing in a photo shoot to secure their spot in the competition.
While some welcomed the change, others like Daisy Davies broke down in tears at the thought of a snip.
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'Suck it up': Makeover week on Tuesday's episode of Australia's Next Top Model saw plenty of tears and tantrums as the girls were transformed
However, her meltdown wasn't met with the sympathy she may have expected, with mentor Cheyenne Tozzi telling her: 'I think you're just crying for no reason. There are bigger things in the world to cry about chook.'
The girls were first introduced to celebrity hairdresser Joey Scandizzo as they stood in a mirror-less salon.
'I think it's important not to stress. We're only here to make you guys look better than you already are and get you guys booked on bigger and better jobs,' he assured the contestants before their makeovers began.
Kassidy Ure, 19, admitted she'd been a long-time fan of the series and knows what to expect from the 'best' part of the show.
'Crying for no reason': Daisy Davies' (right) meltdown about having her blonde locks cut wasn't met with sympathy by mentor Cheyenne Tozzi (left)
She was then told that she'd be getting 'the big chop' as host Jennifer reassured her that the change would 'give [her] more versatility within the industry.'
Kassidy remained excited despite fear of the unknown creeping in.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Daisy Davies let out a huge sigh before she was even told what her makeover would entail.
Star treatment: The girls' makeovers were helmed by celebrity hairdresser Joey Scandizzo (right)
Anticipation: 19-year-old Kassidy Ure was told she would be getting the most dramatic hair cut out of all the girls
'I don't like changing my look. I'm not happy,' she told the camera.
Jennifer reminded the Sydney-based blonde that she came close to being eliminated last week and needs the opportunity to redeem herself.
'Daisy, last week, you came close to going home. So you really need to stand out. So you're going shorter,' the former Miss Universe declared.
Emotional: While Kassidy was initially excited for her change, she later broke down in tears when it came time to cut her locks
Belinda Kosorok, 18, was told she'd be trading in her brunette curls for red locks, while Christy Baker, 17, and Vitoria Triboni, 25, were going to be sporting darker hair.
Daisy was overcome with emotion as she confided in mentor Cheyenne.
'How am I going to be confident if I hate what I look like? And even this [hair] for me is not even long and I'm so proud of this,' she sobbed. 'I'd rather go and still feel like me.'
Positive attitude: Some of the girls, including Belinda Kosorok, were pleasantly surprised by their new looks
'That's up to you to decide how far you want to take your career. But I think that you'd be silly not to trust us,' Cheyenne responded.
Jessie, 21, was 'upset' when she was told her Rapunzel-like locks were going to be transformed with a blunt fringe.
The brunette admitted she saw her tresses as a sentimental connection to her late father because he'd always loved the look.
Before and after: Jessie Andrewartha was 'upset' at the thought of cutting her hair, but ended up loving her edgy new fringe afterwards
But she finally came to terms with the inevitable chop, admitting: 'My father would be more proud of me for remaining strong and not breaking down about a haircut.'
With no mirrors in the salon to give the girls any clue as to what they look like during the makeover process, the final reveal was an overwhelming experience for some.
Kassidy immediately broke down in tears as soon as she caught a glimpse of her peroxide blonde locks, which had been cut very short at the front and almost shaved at the back.
Challenge: Jessie, 21, looked confident as she posed in the photo shoot challenge with a group of bikers
Uncomfortable: Meanwhile, Daisy's apprehension about her hair showed in her face throughout the shoot
Jennifer consoled the teen, telling her: 'It's different. But this will launch you. Kassidy, you look gorgeous.'
Meanwhile, the contestant couldn't help but be apprehensive about her completely new look, telling the camera: 'It was heart-breaking. I was just freaking out. I don't feel like I can pull it off.'
With under 24 hours to come to terms with their makeovers whether they loved it or not, the girls were whisked away to a location for their photo shoot challenge.
Struggling: Jordan, who loved her makeover, let the harsh sunlight get the better of her on the day
They pulled up to Blacktown's Skyline Drive-In diner and were met with a bevy of leather-clad men with tattoos all over their bodies and faces.
Cheyenne greeted: 'You might have noticed we've invited a few friends,' as she pointed to several groups of people sitting throughout the diner, including punks, hipsters and bikers.
'Today, you have to embrace your new image and stand out amongst a group of intimidating characters.'
Tense: Despite her confidence in her new red locks, Belinda's nerves got in the way of a successful shoot
Natural: Aleyna, 16, had no problems working her angles with the bikers as she showcased her new style
Mourning for her long locks, pixie-haired Kassidy bawled as she opened up to mentors Jordan and Zac Stenmark.
'I try and be happy about it because I am so grateful to be here,' she told the twin male models.
'But it is so hard when it was only yesterday that I had my hair the way I've had it my whole life and then all of a sudden it's shaved off.'
Nailed it: Linnea exuded confidence and sex appeal as she posed for her shoot with the hipsters
Empathising with the contestant, Zac reassured her: 'You actually have this huge point of difference now in this competition to put you in the finale.'
Jessie impressed Cheyenne and photographer Max Doyle as she worked her angles confidently beside the bikers while rocking her new fringe.
Jordan struggled with the sun light shining in her eyes as she tried to work her new hairstyle while posing with the punks.
Work it: Sabine Jamieson, 17, was unsure about having her beachy locks trimmed and coloured, but it worked out well for her in the shoot
Despite initially loving her ombre locks, the Sydney-based model let the environment get the better of her during the shoot.
Daisy's disdain of her new look showed on her face throughout the session and led to Cheyenne questioning her desire to be in the competition.
'Do you feel like you want to be here?' the top model asked.
Gorgeous: Kristy's lighter locks earned her one of the top scores of the challenge
New redhead Belinda strutted onto the set with new-found confidence, but it soon turned into nerves.
The teen's rocky session only gave her a disappointing 'two shots out of 100' according to mentor Cheyenne.
Vitoria, Aleyna, Linnea and Kristy all cruised through their shoots with glowing feedback from fellow contestants on set.
Tense: It was a roller coaster of emotions for Kassidy, who sobbed in front of mentors Jordan and Zac Stenmark before her shoot
Killing it: The pixie-haired teen completely embraced her grungy new look and did exceptionally well in the challenge
It was then the moment of truth for Kassidy as she made her way onto the set, sporting dark purple lipstick to match the rest of the shoot's punk aesthetics.
After being told by the photographer that he 'couldn't imagine' her with any other hair style, she got the confidence she needed to own the shoot.
Judge Megan Gale was absent for this week's elimination process, and Priscilla's General Manager Doll Wright joined the panel instead.
Honest: Guest judge Doll Wright was brutally honest when it came to sharing her modelling industry wisdom with the girls
And the booking agent didn't hold back as she shared her honest opinions with the girls and fellow judges.
'I'm bored and uninspired by that spiel you just gave,' Doll said of Daisy's complaints about her new hair.
'The confidence needs to come from within. The hair is just another element. You need to just embrace it,' she continued.
Jordan, who was stunned by the sun during the shoot, was ultimately sent home after her photo was unveiled, with Doll calling it a 'lazy' shot.
She's awaiting the arrival of her second bundle of joy after giving birth to her first child, Rocket, last year.
And, Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) chose to capture the special moment by preserving her burgeoning baby bump in a white plaster cast.
The 29-year-old model took to Instagram on Monday to flaunt the homemade 'belly cast', explaining it was a family tradition.
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Family ritual: Model Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) took to Instagram on Monday to flaunt her fresh homemade 'belly cast', explaining it was a 'ritual' in her family during pregnancies
Bumping along nicely: Lara often takes to Instagram to document her pregnancy journey
The media personality's post read: ''It's a ritual in my family!' as she shared the messy snap of the finished product.
Having to strip down for the cast to properly set, the end product revealed her growing bump and bosoms ahead of the arrival of her second son.
Fans labeled the sweet post as 'so beautiful and memorable'.
In bloom: Lara Worthington, 29, shared a unique artwork to Instagram in recent weeks, presumably of her own pregnant naked body
Meanwhile the wife of Sam Worthington, also shared a unique snap to Instagram in recent weeks, while at her home in New York.
The blonde beauty posted a black and white image that featured the outline of a pregnant naked body, presumably her own silhouette, with the caption: 'My Friday night'.
The artwork saw a pregnant woman lying in either a bath or on a bed, completely naked.
The snap captioned 'My Friday night,' was an instant hit with her social media fans.
Challenge: The image comes just after the popular personality admitted to blog Tomboy Beauty via The Daily Telegraph, that the thought of giving birth again is 'scary'
The image comes just after the popular personality admitted that the thought of giving birth again is 'scary'.
'Knowing you have to give birth and there is no other way you can go is scary,' she confessed to blog Tomboy Beauty, via The Daily Telegraph.
Lara explained that once you're pregnant 'there's no going back,' but admitted it's a difficult concept to explain to people without children.
Family ties: The entrepreneur gave birth to baby boy Rocket Zot last year, and is set to welcome her second child with husband Sam Worthington (L) in coming months
While the former swimsuit model has kept quiet about her pregnancy to the media, Who magazine reports that she's been telling friends she's expecting a boy.
'She was quite open, saying how happy she is,' a source told the magazine.
In July, Lara praised her actor husband Sam in an interview with InStyle magazine.
'He's a hands-on dad,' she said.
She added: 'He's not one to sleep through the night and not help'.
While many A-list couples choose to hire outside help when raising their children, Lara and Sam, 40, have decided against it.
'Sam and I weren't brought up with any help... It's definitely a lot harder than I thought,' she said.
She and her husband Ryan have been filming a documentary with the Still Birth Foundation in a bid to raise awareness on the issue.
And Seven Year Switch star Cassie has penned a candid essay slamming the Australian medical community for allegedly failing to educate on the issues of pregnancy care and delivery.
Cassie, took to Instagram on Tuesday with a photo of herself and daughter Emmerson, alongside a passionate tribute to her late son Dex.
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'I knew in that moment that something was wrong': And Seven Year Switch star Cassie has penned a candid essay slamming the Australian medical community for allegedly failing to educate on the issues of pregnancy care and delivery
'This moment 4 years ago my darling baby boy kicked his last movements I would ever feel. Shortly after that the mild contractions stopped, I knew in that moment that something was wrong,' she wrote.
'I lay awake last night with tears rolling down my face as yet again I was researching and I'd learnt another possibility of what might have gone wrong in those days leading up to my sons death,'
She went on: 'Funnily enough with all the medical advancements to date, still no one can tell me what happened to my baby.'
Damning essay: The former Channel Seven star went on to reveal her disappointment and anger at the Australian medical profession for being 'dismissive, uneducated and because they have read a textbook they are reluctant to listen to a mother's concerns'
'I find this crazy. Our future existence as humans is in pregnancies and birth and with that being said then why do our Government and Medical Professionals not give a s*** in putting time and money into education, awareness and research?'
The former Channel Seven star went on to reveal her disappointment and anger at the Australian medical profession for being 'dismissive, uneducated and because they have read a textbook they are reluctant to listen to a mother's concerns.'
'They give the wrong advice because they are too set in their ways and are too proud to think they might be wrong,' she explained.
'Every part of me wants to hold you': At the end of the emotional post, Cassie revealed that it would have been Dex's fourth birthday tomorrow
At the end of the emotional post, Cassie revealed that it would have been Dex's fourth birthday tomorrow.
'Every part of me wants to hold you and every inch of me wishes I had saved you. I'm sorry,' she wrote.
It comes three months after Cassie welcomed daughter Mena Lee Thistleton, who she and Ryan decided is their last child.
New addition to the family! It comes three months after Cassie welcomed daughter Mena Lee Thistleton, who she and Ryan decided is their last child
They've both been linked to pop star Justin Bieber.
But clearly Sofia Richie, 18, and Bronte Blampied don't let a guy get between their friendship.
They continued their BFF journey on Monday by flashing their tummies in unison on a trip to a studio in West Hollywood, California.
BFFS: Sofia Richie, 18, and Bronte Blampied hung out in West Hollywood on Monday
Sofia, 18, teamed her tied-up T-shirt with sweat pants and sneakers, as she flaunted her physique.
The daughter of pop legend Lionel added a red and white Puma zip-up hoodie.
She has been spending a lot of time with her new partner in crime, with the pair sharing images from their friendship on social media.
Justin-in-common: They continued by flashing their tummies in unison on a trip to a studio in West Hollywood, California
Plenty to smile about: Bronte offered a beaming grin as they stepped out
Bronte certainly didn't travel light, and towed a giant suitcase on wheels.
They hung out over the weekend, and documented their fun on Snapchat.
In the video, Sofia sat in a vehicle as her pal made her way into the car.
'...Yet again, another day with Bronte,' said the 18-year-old.
Work out gear: Sofia, 18, teamed her tied-up T-shirt with sweat pants and sneakers, as she flaunted her physique
Stepping out: The teenager showed off her sporty side during her latest appearance
Bieber's babes: The daughter of pop legend Lionel added a red and white Puma zip-up hoodie
Let's go: Sofia led the way as the two pals departed on Monday afternoon
Going somewhere? Bronte certainly didn't travel light, and towed a giant suitcase on wheels
Heading off: They've both been linked to pop pixie Justin Bieber
Extra baggage: Sofia and Bronte were weighed with luggage down as they climbed into their car
Sofia famously romanced Justin Bieber for one month over the summer.
And Bronte was also linked to the Sorry star, when they were spotted partying in Hawaii and London.
In August, Justin and Sofia were also reported to have hung out together in the UK.
'Every night, she went back to his luxury apartment. They looked like a couple, and she stayed over at his place,' a source told People.
'Although there was no PDA while they were out and about, 'she was with him the whole weekend and never left his side,' says the source.
Their time: Sofia and Justin snapped a selfie together earlier this summer
Time together: Justin and Bronte are seen in Hawaii
That same month, Bronte shared a photo floating with pals in Hawaii, which also included Justin.
'Floatie floatie,' she wrote.
If either of the girls did date Justin, they do not appear to have any ill-will towards each other.
Bronte recently posted a snap of them together to Instagram, captioned: 'Me and a cute germ I found @sofiarichie.'
Close pals: Bronte recently posted a snap of them together, captioned: 'Me and a cute germ I found @sofiarichie
Share a bond! Sofia Richie, 18, has found a friendship with model Bronte Blampied
She announced her split from husband of 10 years, Michael Klim in February.
And on Tuesday, friends and fans of model Lindy Klim took to social media to congratulate her on her engagement to new boyfriend Adam Ellis.
While sharing photos of herself enjoying a trip to Morocco, many accounts took the opportunity to send their well-wishes to the pair.
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Big news: Friends and fans of model Lindy Klim have taken to social media on Tuesday to congratulate her on her engagement to new boyfriend Adam Ellis
'Amazing, congratulations,' one account posted, while another added: 'Congrats on the engagement (sic).'
Other questioned the news, commenting: 'Wow - engaged?'
Daily Mail Australia has contacted a representative for Lindy and Michael for comment.
The speculation of the engagement came after the mother-of-three shared an image of herself, along with a hashtag for 'trip of a lifetime' and 'in love' in the caption line.
The moment after? While sharing photos of herself enjoying a trip to Morocco, many accounts took the opportunity to send their well-wishes to the pair
Exciting: One fan wrote, 'Amazing, congratulations,' while another posted, 'Congrats on the engagement (sic)'
Gushing: Another one of Lindy's followers posted on her image: 'So happy for you two'
While speaking to Daily Mail Australia in May, Lindy revealed she never expected to fall in love with Adam.
'[It's] completely not what I expected, to fall back into another relationship, but he's so lovely,' she said cheerfully.
'It's about time I got on with my life,' she said before later admitting to Daily Mail Australia, she thought nobody would want to be with her because she is a mother.
Unexpected: While speaking to Daily Mail Australia in May, Lindy said she never expected to fall in love with Adam
Happy: Lindy also admitted she was lucky to have bagged the British hunk, gushing: 'Adam is amazing and I'm really fortunate that I found him'
'I didn't think anybody would want me. I've got three children [Stella, Rocco and Frankie] and that's a lot to take on,' she said.
Despite thinking she would remain single, Lindy admitted she was lucky to bag the British hunk.
'Adam is amazing and I'm really fortunate that I found him,' she said of her new beau.
'It's been a tough little while for me, but I'm really happy now.'
Impressed: She said she thought she would remain single because she was a mother to three children and had baggage
Happily ever after? The pair announced their relationship earlier in the year, just weeks after she announced her separation from Michael
Lindy announced her new relationship with Adam just weeks after revealing she had separated from estranged husband, Michael.
At the time of her separation, the pair released a joint statement via their management.
It read: 'It is with much respect for each other that Michael and Lindy Klim have agreed to formally separate, believing that this decision is best for their family.
'Michael and Lindys children will always remain their highest priority, and their happiness will be Michael and Lindys primary focus. We ask that you respect their privacy at this time.'
Over: When they separated, they released a joint statement saying it is that the 'decision is best for their family'
She has a sharp tongue.
But when stopping by The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon on Monday, no one was listening to Taraji P Henson as she promoted her new book Around The Way Girl: A Memoir.
Rather, all the attention was on the 46-year-old Empire actress' chest which almost spilled out of her naughty dress.
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Naughty number: Taraji P Henson almost spilled out of her dress when visiting The Tonight Show on Monday
She knew what she was doing: The 46-year-old Empire actress acted innocent as her chest did all the talking
Eyes up Jimmy: Fallon seemed entranced by the mother of one as she chatted about her book
The star wore a black and white dress that went to the knees.
The top part was nearly R-rated however as it had a cage style that showed plenty of her generous cleavage for all to see.
Fallon looked bedazzled by the single mom.
Why not? The star wore a black and white dress that went to the knees. The top part was nearly R-rated however as it had a cage style that showed plenty of her generous cleavage for all to see
Dangerous curves ahead: The looker has kept her body in top shape as her fame her grown
Earlier in the day she sat down with Good Day New York.
The 46-year-old actress was asked about one of the lines in the memoir, 'The joy of living in your own truth.'
The actress pointed to her Truth tattoo and said: 'You can't be afraid of your past, or ashamed about it, because that's what makes you who you are today. Life isn't easy. As humans we're all beautifully flawed. No human is perfect.'
Lovely: Henson looked pretty as a picture as she appeared on Good Day New York on Monday
The ink: The mother of one pointed to her tattoo on her arm which reads The Truth
The inspiring book is a story about family, friends and the hustle required to make it from DC to Hollywood.
Taraji writes about her father, a Vietnam vet who was bowed but never broken by life's challenges, and of her mother who survived violence both in the home and on DC's volatile streets.
She also opens up about her experiences as a single mother to her teenage son Marcel Johnson, something she views as a gift.
She reflects on her time spent at Howard University and the pitfalls and struggles that come with being a black actress.
Lots to talk about: The Empire actress showed off her silky raven locks and glowing complexion as she sat down to talk about her new series and her new memoir
Getting candid: She also opens up about her experiences as a single mother to her teenage son Marcel Johnson, something she views as a gift
And when asked what fans can expect to see on upcoming episodes of Empire, she said, 'You'll see some family members moving to the dark side.'
Taraji went on to say: 'This seasons pretty heavy, pretty heavy, very dramatic.'
She stars as the ex-wife of former drug dealer turned hip-hop mogul, Lucious Lyon, played by Terrence Howard.
Leading lady: The hit Fox show Empire is in its third season and Taraji plays one of the main characters, Cookie
Life experiences: She was also on the chat show to talk about her new book, Around The Way Girl: A Memoir
That isn't all the talented actress has going on.
The mother of one has several films she has been working on that are set to be released in 2017.
One of her upcoming films is titled Acrimony. The plot of the comedy, drama is currently being kept under wraps though.
Big blockbuster: She is due to star in another movie, which will be released in early January called Hidden Figures
She is due to star in another movie, which will be released in early January called Hidden Figures.
A team of African-American women provide NASA with important mathematical data needed to launch the program's first successful space missions.
She will star alongside Octavia Spencer, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons and Glen Powell.
Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick brought a heavy dose of Tinseltown glamour to the Hollywood premiere of their new film The Accountant at TCL Chinese Theater Monday evening.
Kendrick, 31, had tongues wagging as she stepped out in a black skirt with five horizontal belts along the front, rounding out her sexy get-up with strappy black heels.
Her costar Affleck, 44, looked every bit the A-list leading man in a sharp blue-grey three-piece suit with a maroon tie and Oxford shirt.
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Gorgeous: Anna Kendrick wore a sexy black dress with leather straps to the premiere of her thriller The Accountant at TLC Theater in Hollywood on Monday
The Pitch Perfect star wore an off-the shoulder dress with leather straps to cinch in her waist.
Speaking to ET on the red carpet, Affleck opened up about co-parenting with his estranged wife, Jennifer Garner.
'We do our best,' he said. 'We try our best.'
The 44-year-old added that while he may be good at math in the film, that's something he cannot help the kids with.
Lanky: The handsome actor stands at an impressive 6'4", almost a foot above his diminutive co-star
Not my job: Director Gavin OConnor said that Affleck was hands-off during production of the film, focusing on his performance in front of the cameras
Evil laugh: perennial baddie Lithgow seemed to find this amusing
Batman or the Joker? Anna seemed to see the funny side
Crouching tiger: Ben appeared to poke fun at Anna's tiny 5'2" frame
'My areas of expertise with the kids [are] spotty at best,' he continued. 'Not homework. I only play an accountant in the movie. In real life, I'm badly wanting.'
In the Warner Bros. thriller, Affleck plays Chris Wolff, a mathematics savant whose accounting job is a cover for the real way he makes a living: crunching numbers for a lethal clientele list that includes drug cartels, arms brokers and assassins.
Wolff, who's gathered an arsenal of weapons and cash through his illicit employment, eventually crosses paths with Kendrick's character, Dana Cummings, who progressively learns of the high-stakes game the mathematician's involved in.
Come hither: Anna Kendrick, 31, flashes a seductive look on the red carpet of the premiere
Family ties: Kendrick said she learned about accounting from her mother, who works as one
Miss charisma: The End of Watch stunner shows off her range of expressions on the red carpet
Suited up: Batman star Ben looked sharp in a blue three-piece suit as he arrived at the premiere
Busybody: The Accountant is one of many projects Affleck has in the hopper, as he'll be back in theaters in January with Live by Night, a movie he's directing and starring in
Say cheese: The star smiled as he posed for selfies with fans lining the red carpet
Meet and greet: Ben chatted with fans as he signed autographs outside the theater
Cummings is hardly the only outsider to suss out Wolff, as he's also under the watch of the Treasury Department's Crime Enforcement Division.
The Gavin OConnor-directed movie features a strong cast, with Oscar-winning Whiplash star J.K. Simmons, two-time Oscar nominee John Lithgow, Jeffrey Tambor, Jon Bernthal and the gorgeous Cynthia Addai-Robinson.
Director OConnor, speaking with Philly.com Sunday, said that Affleck - who directed the Oscar-winning Argo - was hands-off during production of the film, focusing on his performance in front of the cameras.
Crew: Co-stars J.K. Simmons, Cynthia Addai-Robinson and John Lithgow joined Anna and Ben at the Chinese Theatre
Playful: Anna and Ben seemed to have a love/hate kind of relationship
Pair of jokers: At the afterparty, the pair seemed to banter back and forth
Having a laugh: Luckily, Anna seemed to make Ben laugh enormously
Sharing a hug: She was positively giddy in the actor's company
'There was never any kind of encroachment, nothing like that,' O'Connor said.
'Ben is a really talented filmmaker, and as a director, having walked in those shoes, what he does as an actor, is, he shows up and he knows his lines, he's never late.'
Despite Affleck's status in Hollywood's most rarefied air, O'Connor said the father-of-three doesn't let his ego lead the way, characterizing the current Batman as a nice guy and trusty professional.
Enemies: Despite playing a DC staple, Ben was caught hanging out with a Marvel rival
Pro: Ben directed the Oscar-winning Argo in 2012
'Ben is kind, he's generous, he knows everyone's name. He's that guy. So I don't have to worry about the lead in my movie being a pain in the a**.'
He added that the movie has a little bit of something for everyone.
'It's a thriller, it's an action film, it's a character study, and it's a puzzle movie, and there's a kind of odd little love story in there, too,' the filmmaker told the publication, crediting screenwriter Bill Dubuque for the extensive net it casts toward moviegoers.
Center-of-attention: Ben was joined by O'Connor and producer Lynette Howell Taylor at the premiere of The Accountant in Hollywood Monday
Lean in: The A-lister poses with producer Lynnette Howell, herself looking like a movie star in a lacy dress with matching clutch
Sealed with a kiss: Connor smooched with his wife Brooke Burns at the event
'I remember reading it and thinking this is a high-IQ script: You have real sleight-of-hand, moving parts. It's a shell game, a mind-bender.
'And I thought, if I can do all that and give people an emotional experience, as well ... that's what I wanted to do.'
The Accountant hits theaters Oct. 14.
Dynamic duo: Affleck and Kendrick give the Warbner Bros. film a strong one-two punch to market a film around
She was attending an event for Men's Fitness Game Changers issue.
And Katharine McPhee certainly made a fashion touch down as she arrived to the magazine's big night in Los Angeles on Monday.
The 32-year-old drew eyes her way as she wore a super tight leather top which hugged her ample cleavage and clung to her waistline.
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Bringing her fashion A-game! Katharine McPhee made a fashion touch down as she arrived to an event celebrating Men's Fitness Game Changers issue in Los Angeles on Monday
Katharine's look was finished off with a waist-high floral skirt that was sheer enough to show off her toned legs.
The Scorpion star wore her long chestnut hair down in voluminous waves while accessorizing the look with a delicate choker necklace, gold bracelet, and earrings.
Hello petal! Katharine's look was finished off with a waist-high floral skirt that was sheer enough to show off her toned legs
Giving herself a boost: The star's strappy black heels topped the ensemble off
And, highlighting her naturally radiant features, the star swiped on pink blush and eye shadow.
The star's strappy black heels topped the ensemble off.
Katharine, who shot to stardom on American Idol, currently appears on the CBS show Scorpion, which is now in it's third season.
Finishing touches: And, highlighting her naturally radiant features, the star swiped on pink blush and eye shadow
Big day: Kevin Hart, no doubt still through the moon after receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame only hours earlier, attended the event with his new wife, Eniko Parrish
Where do I sign? The proud comedian-actor autographed a poster-size version of the magazine's cover
The show also stars Elyes Gabel, Robert Patrick, and Jadyn Wong.
But the actress squeezed in time from her busy schedule to celebrate Men's Fitness latest Game Changers issue, which sees Kevin Hart on its cover.
Kevin, no doubt still through the moon after receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame only hours earlier, attended the event with his new wife, Eniko Parrish.
Page turner! Hart glanced through the magazine while taking a seat outdoors
Look who's here! Joe Jonas brought a sporty touch in his quilted black and white jacket, tight trousers, and white sneakers
Heavenly! Elisabetta Canalis wore a stunning all-white ensemble with a matching purse and slick of lip gloss to top off her cosmetics
Flashing her diamond ring, Eniko looked stunning in an effortlessly chic black ensemble which clung to her physique while her husband kept it sharp in a suit and sneakers.
The proud comedian-actor autographed a poster-size version of the cover while sitting outside.
Joe Jonas brought a sporty touch in his quilted black and white jacket, tight trousers, and white sneakers.
Elisabetta Canalis wore a stunning all-white ensemble with a matching purse and slick of lip gloss to top off her cosmetics.
Keeping it casual! Jesse Metcalfe wore a lightweight top, distressed jeans, and boots, while Jai Courtney added a sharper touch with his white jacket and slacks
heath anniversary.JPG
Patrick Brady, Heath Village executive director; Assemblyman Anthony Bucco; Heath Village founder and resident the Rev. Clarence W. Sickles and his wife Jean; Carol McKinney, trustee; and Congressman Leonard Lance.
(Special to Lehighvalleylive.com)
Heath Village in the Long Valley section of Washington Township, Morris County, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The retirement community located at 430 Schooley's Mountain Road started as a 46-acre community in 1966 with five apartment areas and minimal healthcare services.
It now has 10 miniature neighborhoods totaling 154 independent apartments and 10 cottages spread out across a 100+ acre campus. It also has a 39-bed residential health-care facility - Mayflower House - and a 99-bed skilled nursing center - The Clarence W. Sickles Health Care Center.
For information, call 908-852-4801 or visit heathvillage.com.
Do you have community news to share? To see it posted here and possibly in The Express-Times and Warren Reporter, send me an email.
She's the stylish showgirl who has never been afraid to put on a glitzy display.
And Dancing With The Stars performer Kym Johnson Herjavec was up to her usual tricks on Monday as she attended a bridal gala in New York wearing a gaudy sequinned gown by couturier Rani Zakhem.
The 40-year-old showcased her dancer's physique as she posed up a storm in the strapless, figure-hugging number, which featured a dramatic layer of diaphanous lace below the waist.
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Disco diva! Dancing With The Stars performer Kym Johnson Herjavec, 40, was up to her usual tricks on Monday as she attended a bridal gala in New York wearing a gaudy sequinned gown by couturier Rani Zakhem
She completed her look with a mirror-encrusted clutch bag and a pair of large rhinestone earrings.
For the evening, she parted her blonde locks down the middle and left her hair to fall naturally by her shoulders.
Taking to Instagram with a photo of herself at the glitzy event, Kym wrote: 'Such a beautiful night in NYC at the #knotgala2016,' before thanking her stylist and makeup artist for helping her prepare for the big day.
Shine bright like a diamond! She showcased her dancer's physique as she posed up a storm in the strapless, figure-hugging number, which featured a dramatic layer of diaphanous lace below the waist
Joining her on the red carpet was her new husband Robert Herjavec.
The 53-year-old sported a navy tux with a contrast black lapel and white pocket square.
Kym first met Robert when she was chosen as his professional partner on Dancing with the Stars in March 2015.
Elegant: For the evening, she parted her blonde locks down the middle and left her hair to fall naturally by her shoulders
At the time, the Shark Tank judge was separated from his former wife of 24 years, Diane Plese.
They married in late July at the Four Seasons hotel in California after she was proposed to with a 6.5 carat ring in February - just five months after the couple went public with their relationship.
According to People, Kym wore a strapless Monique Lhuillier gown as shestrolled down the aisle to Somewhere Over the Rainbow from the classic 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz.
Flawless! Taking to Instagram with a photo of herself at the glitzy event, Kym wrote: 'Such a beautiful night in NYC at the #knotgala2016
A raging Tamra Judge struck Kelly Dodd on Monday's episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County and threatened to kill her.
The drunken feud came during a pub crawl in Ireland after Kelly said 'no wonder her daughter doesn't talk to her' - referencing Tamra's eldest daughter from whom she is estranged.
The RHOC women had hit the town with gusto, downing several shots in the first bar alone during the episode aptly titled Shamrocks And Shockwaves.
Got angry: Tamra Judge raged against Kelly Dodd and struck her on Monday's episode of The Real Housewives Of Orange County
Tamra, 49, who was preparing for a bodybuilding competition, slammed back the alcohol regardless.
They rapidly became rowdy and obnoxious.
Kelly with her juvenile sense of humor was flicking the other women's noses, which was infuriating them.
'I don't like itshe's a d***,' remarked Vicki Gunalson, who was flirting outrageously with the bar staff.
Losing it: Kelly repeatedly called Tamra a liar as an argument broke out during their pub crawl in Ireland
Juvenile humor: Vicki Gunvalson and the other women got tired of Kelly flicking their noses
When Tamra told Kelly to cease the nose flicking Kelly became furious.
'Keep walking!' she yelled as Tamra headed to the bathroom.
'Kelly has a knack of taking a really good time and knocking it on its a**,' said Heather Dubrow, 47.
Special skill: Heather Dubrow said that Kelly has a special knack for ruining a good time
'I can't believe these women are freaking out over a child's joke,' said Kelly.
When Kelly wondered why Heather, who's Jewish, couldn't get the joke since 'Jews are sarcastic and funny', Heather accused her of being 'racist'.
The bacchanal turned particularly rancorous when Tamra told Heather that Kelly had tried to discover 'how much she owed' on her lot.
Deep hole: Kelly dug herself a deeper hole after telling Heather that 'Jews are sarcastic and funny'
Child's joke: The nose flicking by Kelly started the whole ugly episode
Voice of reason: Shannon tried reasoning with Kelly but it didn't work
'You're a god damn liarare you out of your f***ing mind?' yelled Kelly calling her 'a piece of work'.
'No wonder her daughter doesn't talk to her,' she griped to Shannon, who immediately told Tamra.
'You b****, you talk about my daughter and I'll f***ing kill you!' squawked Tamra, who then pushed Kelly and burst into tears.
Retail therapy: The ladies were going shopping when Shannon informed Tamra what Kelly said about her daughter
Catching up: Tamra quickly caught up with Kelly and confronted her
Death threat: The confrontation included Tamra threatening to kill Kelly
'She has no f***ing idea what I've gone through,' she sobbed, hyperventilating.
'She's a f***ing moron,' consoled Shannon, 52.
'She's like Satan, she's so evil' sobbed Tamra, 49.
Feelings hurt: Tamra consoled by Shannon after her confrontation with Kelly
'She hit me!' protested Kelly, who was left feeling 'ostracised' and intimidated.
Heather was mostly concerned that she'd been prevented from shopping.
'I have never been thrown out of a store in my life and because of what you did that is what just happened,' she scolded.
Got hit: Kelly exclaimed that Tamra hit her
Doesn't care: Heather told Kelly that she didn't care that Tamra hit her and she shouldn't have talked about Tamra's daughter
'You crossed the line, Kelly,' Tamra said coldly during the ride back to the hotel.
Vicki failed to stick up for Kelly and went to 'whoop it up' with the ladies, while Kelly stayed in the hotel alone.
Vicki, who was dating Steve Lodge, then dirty danced with a strange man in the bar.
Line crossed: Tamra in a previous episode told Kelly how hurt she was over not seeing her daughter
'Steve tells me he loves me, I'm trying to be a good girl but what can I say? When you've got it you've got it,' she boasted.
'I think that guy jigged all over me,' joked the 54-year-old divorcee after participating in a tavern show.
Pregnant Meghan King Edmonds went to see a genealogist instead of the pub crawl.
Family history: Meghan King Edmonds saw a genealogist while the others were on a pub crawl
Getting ready: The blonde beauty earlier talked to husband Jim about the Ireland trip
He told her she was related to 'most of the people in the valley'.
She also discovered that a distant relative was a 'rebel' who was executed by the English.
'I want to learn more about my heritage,' said the former model, who has Irish roots.
Irish roots: The pregnant former model was hoping to learn more about her heritage
Meghan returned to their luxurious hotel and Kelly gave her version of events and emphasized that she was ganged up on.
She got little sympathy from Meghan however after revealing what she said about Tamra's daughter not speaking to her.
'I can't believe Kelly just went there,' Meghan said to the cameras.
Went there: Meghan reacted when Kelly revealed what she said about Tamra's daughter
Call home: Kelly called her husband Michael and ironically received some much needed support after going to Ireland to get away from him
Previously Vicki's daughter Briana had found men's shoes in her mother's bedroom - which belonged to Vicki's new lover Steve.
'Steve and my mom are moving a little fast, but he's an amazing guy and I hope that she doesn't screw it up,' said Briana.
Kelly's recipe for a pleasant flight to Ireland was 'movies, wine and Xanax'.
Moving fast: Briana noted that her mother Vicki and new lover Steve were moving fast
'Then boom, you're in a different country,' she explained.
On arrival Vicki received a bunch of roses from Steve, with a card that said 'I love you'.
'Why wouldn't he love me? I'm a good catch,' she said.
The Real Housewives Of Orange County continues next week on Bravo.
Love note: Vicki had flowers waiting for her from Steve along with a love note
He's the mechanical plumber whose dreamy good looks have swept Georgia Love off her feet.
And Lee Elliott proves he isn't shy about showing off his physique, as he's seen enjoying a backyard party in nothing but a pair of Speedos.
In an Instagram snap uploaded by the 35-year-old's friend, the Sydney-sider was one of two scantily-clad blokes in a crowd of people.
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Flaunt it: The Bachelorette's Lee Elliott isn't shy about showing off his ripped physique, stripping down to his Speedos at a party recently in an image posted to Instagram by a friend
Holding a can of beer in one hand, the reality TV star put on a muscular display as he rocked the rainbow polka dotted swimming trunks.
The hunk's revealing outfit of choice made one particular party-goer blush and cover her eyes with her hand as she walked past.
His sculpted abs and bulging biceps were accentuated by the golden tan he was also sporting.
What would Georgia say? The 35-year-old hunk is still in the running to win the 28-year-old Bachelorette's heart
Meanwhile, a pair of sunglasses and a bulky watch completed the Bachelorette star's look.
On screen, Lee is still in the running to win Georgia's heart along with nine other eligible bachelors.
The confident contestant has already won a single date with the Hobart native, as well as a steamy kiss.
Swept away: Georgia has admitted she's smitten by the mechanical plumber's good looks during their one-on-one date
Sparks fly: The pair locked lips in a passionate kiss by the beach campfire, with Georgia gushing about how she felt afterwards
Sitting down for a romantic beach-side picnic, the genetically-blessed pair shared an intense smooch by the warmth of the campfire.
Clearly content with the smooch, Georgia gushed in her piece-to-camera: 'He finally kissed me.'
'I've been waiting all day for this moment. I thought it wasn't gonna happen! And I'm so glad it did. Definite fireworks and sparks. I know 100% that this is not where I want to see it end with Lee.'
She supported her friend Kevin Hart as he received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in a sophisticated black dress earlier that day.
But by night, Halle Berry turned up the heat in a much sexier number.
The 50-year-old set hearts racing as she attended Saks Fifth Avenues celebration of Key To The Cure in Beverly Hills on Monday in a seriously sexy outfit that emphasized her cleavage with its corset-style top.
Va va voom! Halle Berry spellbound in the flirty frock that clung to her curves and had a lacy neckline as she attended Saks Fifth Avenues' celebration of Key To The Cure in Beverly Hills on Monday
Halle spellbound in the flirty frock that clung to her curves and had a lacy neckline.
Cinched at the waist, the number highlighted Halle's incredibly gym-honed physique and was teamed with a pair of pointed black heels.
Halle's hair was swept up into a high ponytail while her thick bangs were stylishly swept across her forehead.
The actress polished off her complexion with blush and a tint of pink on her lips.
Toned and terrific! Cinched at the waist, the number highlighted Halle's incredibly gym-honed physique and was teamed with a pair of pointed black heels
Super glam: Berry's hair was swept up into a high ponytail while her thick bangs were stylishly swept across her forehead
Meanwhile, Halle's divorce from estranged husband, French actor Olivier Martinez, appears to be on hold, but a source denied to People earlier in September that the couple are getting back together.
'Berry definitely has no interest in getting back with Olivier unless his temper and controlling nature change,' the insider told the magazine.
'And there's no indication that either will, so it seems that they will remain separate.'
Sharing the spotlight! Saks Fifth Avenue president Marc Metrick made sure to grab a snap with the Oscar winning actress
The duo share three-year-old son Maceo.
Meanwhile Halle will appear in the drama Kidnap, which is due to hit theatres December 2.
She will also star in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, scheduled for release in June 2017.
Looking good! The 50-year-old supported her friend Kevin Hart, right, as he received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in a sophisticated black dress earlier that day
Sonja Morgan denounced Dorinda Medley on Watch What Happens Live on Monday night and called her 'a total fake'.
The host of the show, Andy Cohen, had enquired why the The Real Housewives Of New York City star wasn't talking with her co-star.
'She's totally duplicitous, she lied about everything and she's a total fake, that's why,' huffed Sonja, 52.
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Pinch hitter: Sonja Morgan stepped in as a guest on Watch What Happens Live on Monday after Kristin Chenoweth was unable to make it due to illness
'I would have liked her to be a good friend, but that's OK,' she grumbled.
During the last RHONY reunion Sonja had accused Dorinda of doing drugs.
'Everyone knows, so I didn't see what the harm was,' she shrugged.
She also accused Dorinda of drunkenly stumbling into the upmarket Regency Hotel in NYC and attacking a man with her stiletto.
Scheduled guest: Vicki Gunvalson of RHOC also was in the clubhouse
On his toes: Andy Cohen had fun with Vicki and Sonja on the Bravo chat show
'You don't go to the Regency and make out with people like Luann's [de Lesseps] finance [Thomas D'Agostino, Jr.] or take your heals off and spike someone in the headthat's not what we do at the Regency,' she said haughtily.
On Luann's marriage, she was certain that it was going to go ahead in December despite his infidelities.
'Come hell or high water I think she could catch me with Tom and still marry him,' she yelled, before noting that she 'never' would go with Tom again anyway.
Going to happen: Sonja was sure that Luann de Lesseps will get married in December
'Because she's my friend but then Luann goes out with all my boyfriends and that's OK,' she said sarcastically.
Sonja filled in as a guest on the show after Kristin Chenoweth was unable to make it due to illness.
She was joined by The Real Housewives Of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson, 54.
Getting along: Vicki and Sonja got along just fine and have socialized together
The 'O.G. of the O.C' boasted about her new boyfriend Steve Lodge.
'He's like amazing, it's like God gave him. I think my mom sent him down... He's incredible. My tank is full,' she sighed.
Vicki was asked why she didn't defend her friend Kelly Dodd while the RHOC women 'ganged up on her' in Ireland.
Tank full: The OG of the OC boasted about her new boyfriend Steve Lodge
'I purposefully stayed neutral because I really love Kelly and I was trying to get back into social graces with the other women, so for me it was a good place to say ''you know what I'm out of it'' it has nothing to do with me,' she explained.
Later she stepped in to say that Tamra was being hypocritical by going so ballistic at Kelly.
'She talks about everybody's family, everybody's kids, but the moment you talk about her kids, her husband, she goes crazy,' she decided.
Having fun: Vicki and Sonja reminisced about a past night out together in NYC
Out and about: Vicki shared a story about being out with Luann and Rey
A teaser clip of next week's RHOC revealed another explosive bust up, with Kelly proclaiming that she was 'over' Vicki.
'Vicki, this is the last straw, you've completely abandoned me and I've only ever been a loyal friend to you,' she complained.
Rick Schwartz from the San Diego Zoo was behind the bar.
Poll results: Viewers sided with Everyone Else over Kelly in the poll
She's the in-demand Australian blogger who has recently teamed up with Havaianas and Ken Done to release a line of flip-flops.
But that isn't the only project 20-year-old Mimi Elashiry is working on, with the brunette beauty swapping blogging for modelling on Tuesday in Sydney.
Spotted on Bondi Beach, the stunner posing up a storm in a range of swimwear for ASOS's latest campaign.
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Work it! Blogger Mimi Elashiry was spotted posing up a storm on Tuesday while shooting a new ASOS swimwear campaign in Sydney
On the sunny spring day, Mimi firstly posed provocatively on a park bench in a colour swimsuit.
The brightly-coloured one-piece was covered in a floral print with thin straps over the shoulders and a low-cut back.
They featured extremely high-cut bottoms - exposing her toned derriere as well as showing off her long, lean legs.
Bottoms up: The in-demand Australian model showed off her toned derriere during the shoot
Legs 11: Mimi's enviable pins were on display in the high-cut one-piece and also showing off some of her tan lines
Strutting her stuff! The beautiful brunette donned a brightly coloured floral swimsuit in one look during the photoshoot
In one sequence of shots, Mimi wore on-trend faux fur lined slippers as well as several silver and gold bangles and rings, as well as gold hoop earrings and an anklet.
Her sun-kissed brunette locks were worn out, with two plaits tied at the back to keep her tresses off her face.
While the model is extremely tanned, hints of bikini lines were evident around her hips in the high-cut swimwear.
You want me to walk THIS way? The stunning brunette looked like she was enjoying herself on-set during the sunny spring day
Fun in the sun: In one sequence of shots, Mimi wore on-trend faux fur lined slippers as well as several silver and gold bangles and rings, as well as gold hoop earrings and an anklet
What's that? During the shoot, Mimi struck a number of poses around the streets of Bondi
She donned a natural look for the shoot, with 'barely there' make-up.
The stunning model - who is half Australian, half Brazilian - looked like she was enjoying the shoot.
She was spotted happily laughing with others on-set as she walked to the park benches for more shots.
Flat as a tack: The half-Australian, half-Brazilian stunner flaunted her washboard abs
Costume change! Mimi donned a two-piece black bikini for her second outfit
Even when the camera's weren't clicking the 20-year-old was animated as ever, point at things as she crossed the road.
Mimi also had a costume change during the photoshoot, slipping into a sporty black two-piece.
The statement swimming costume had multi-coloured tassels hanging from both the top and bottom of the bikini.
Sun safe: For a few snaps, Mimi donned a khaki camouflage coloured fisherman's cap
Busting out: Mimi's costume had such itsy bitsy bikini bottoms that most of her perky posterior was exposed
Once again, the costume was extremely revealing on the bottom, with the pants barely covering Mimi's perky posterior.
Rouching detail down the middle of the underwear further accentuated her curves.
This time, Mimi's enviable stomach was on display - the black bikini showing off her washboard abs.
Bright bits: Mimi's chic black bikini was covered with fluro coloured tassels
She was wearing her brunette tresses in the same style as before, with the golden tresses falling past her shoulders, along with the same jewellery.
However, she accesorised the bikini with mustard-coloured sneakers and also donned a khaki camouflage coloured fisherman's hat in some shots.
The in-demand model posed by the side of a building, and against a pole.
Fix up, look sharp: The coveted model has graced many campaigns of late, including Havaianas latest flip flops
I n 2013 Mimi was offered a place to be a full time ballet dancer at Joffrey Ballet School in New York, but she turned it down to finish her schooling.
But not long after, in a bit of fun, she jumped off a gully in Bryon Bay on the NSW north coast, injuring her back.
From there, she turned to modelling full-time.
His late night American talk show has made him the toast of Tinseltown.
But James Corden, 38, has remained a humble family man despite his stardom, with the Late Late Show host spotted enjoying a family stroll with son Max, seven, and wife Julia on Monday.
He dressed casually in a dark tee with a lightning bolt on the chest and a pair of below-the-knee cargo shorts for the outing in Pacific Palisades, California.
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Feet on the ground: James Corden, 38, has remained a humble family man despite his stardom, with the Late Late Show host spotted enjoying a family stroll with son Max, seven, and wife Julia on Monday
James finished his look with some navy trainers and a pair of black shades, while he carried Max's Finding Nemo rucksack in his left hand.
Max hopped up onto a ledge and kept his balance by walking with his arms outstretched.
His proud dad watched over him with a smile and offered his hand to make sure Max didn't fall.
Low-key: James dressed casually in a dark tee with a lightning bolt on the chest and a pair of below-the-knee cargo shorts
Father and son: Max hopped up onto a ledge and kept his balance by walking with his arms outstretched
Julia held a sheet of paper with Corden emblazoned acrossed it in large bold print. She dressed in a plain black vest top, shorts and a pair of flip flops as she sauntered beside James.
The family is renting a luxury five-storey beachfront home in Los Angeles worth $24 million.
The plush pad boasts six bedrooms and seven bathrooms - allowing the new chat shot host plenty of space for visiting family and guests.
A helping hand: Proud James watched over him with a smile and offered his hand to make sure Max didn't fall
The sprawling mansion also houses its own infinity pool, private gym, outdoor fireplace and a deck with views over the ocean.
In final flashy finishing touches, the property also comes with its own lift and a fully-equipped professional kitchen, complete with its own chef.
The property is worlds away from his childhood semi-detached home in Hazlemere, High Wycombe, as well as being a cut above the five-bedroom villa he had previously rented in Brentwood, LA for 18,000 a month.
She's been enjoying the Californian dream during her trip to the US.
And Caroline Flack looked sensational as she documented her blissful break on her Instagram account, sharing a snapshot of her bright orange swimsuit.
The former X Factor presenter, who is in America for business meetings, showcased her toned and trim figure in the one-piece as she pouted into the camera.
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American dream: Caroline Flack looked sensational as she documented her break on her Instagram account, sharing a snapshot of her bright orange swimsuit
Caroline boasted about her clean living ethos in the accompanying caption, writing, 'Cali life #cleanliving #sugarfree #lagunapear'.
Instead of indulging in cocktails and greasy food, the TV star's account is littered with healthy snaps including her tea drinking sessions.
The brunette beauty has been soaking up the sunshine, sharing several images of herself catching some rays in an array of stylish swimwear.
Healthy lifestyle: Caroline boasted about her clean living ethos in the accompanying caption, writing, 'Cali life #cleanliving #sugarfree #lagunapear'
Catching some rays: The brunette beauty has been soaking up the sunshine, sharing several images of herself posing in an array of stylish swimwear
Posing up a storm with her friends, Caroline joked that she'd bought herself a fancy new car in one image.
Last week, Caroline once again impressed on the style front as she attended the press night after-party for The Libertine at the Haymarket Hotel.
The 36-year-old beauty slipped her sensational physique in to a striped midi-length dress while colour coordinating with a matching clutch.
In the driving seat: 'Got me some new wheels', Caroline joked as she posed alongside a car
Fashionista: Caroline impressed on the style front as she attended the press night after-party for The Libertine at the Haymarket Hotel last week
The horizontal stripes boasted white, black, teal green and navy hues and complemented her subtle curves.
Boasting an obvious flair for fashion, her navy clutch matched the slinky garment, as did her dark manicure.
A pair of grunge boots toughened up her chic ensemble and showcased a snippet of her bronzed legs.
Her dip-dyed locks were fell in beachy waves upon her shoulders and she rocked her deep red pout.
Stylish: The former X Factor host slipped her sensational physique in to a striped midi-length dress while colour coordinating with a matching clutch
Trendy: The horizontal stripes boasted white, black, teal green and navy hues and complemented her subtle curves
Caroline also made quite the impression at LFW, in particular the House Of Holland SS17 London.
The host brought her all-black ensemble to life with a large, bold pineapple emblazoned on her top.
Combining vivid pink, blue and yellow tones the design was impossible to miss and contrasted with the rest of the ensemble to great effect.
The day earlier, Caroline was spotted gushing over 19-year-old Hailey Baldwin who was hosting Stradivarius' The Event Paper exclusive cocktail party on Oxford Street.
Nineties inspired: A pair of grunge boots toughened up her chic ensemble and showcased a snippet of her bronzed legs
Clad in a silk green lingerie-inspired slip, Caroline appeared very animated as she waved her hands and chatted excitedly to the blond bombshell.
Meanwhile, Caroline appeared to have not a care in the world after she was recently forced to deny drug use as fans mistook a pen in an Instagram snap for a rolled up note.
As Caroline posted the photograph on Instagram, one beady-eyed user penned: 'Rolled up note there, Caroline. and a card.' before she swiftly hit back: 'Its a childs crayon lol.'
Earlier this year, Caroline spoke to Your Fitness magazine about her body overhaul and staying in shape. She revealed she decided to shape up for herself and her own health.
Guests: The beauty posed alongside William Banks Blaney and Gizzi Erskine
Making a statement: Caroline also made quite the impression at LFW' House Of Holland SS17 show earlier this month in a large, bold pineapple emblazoned top
'I'd hate to think I did this for anyone else. The truth is I did this for me to make myself feel the very best I could and this is the way I decided to do it.'
The key to her new look is cutting out all sugar, with Caroline adding: 'I'm consuming more calories now than ever before, they're just the right calories.
'I'm always starving in the morning so I eat a lot for breakfast it's usually scrambled or poached eggs, bacon, avocado, mushrooms or sometimes even steak.
'What made the biggest difference to how I looked and felt was cutting out all sugar.'
She's been celebrated for her trim, womanly physique.
And Imogen Thomas had no issue flaunting her enviable frame once again as she shared a titillating swimwear snap on Instagram on Monday.
The former Miss.Wales, 33, oozed confidence as her flat abs and fine-tuned curves were on display in a skimpy green bikini during the mirror snap.
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Sex appeal: Imogen Thomas, 33, flaunted her enviable frame as she shared a titillating swimwear snap where her ample assets were on display on Monday
The two-piece, which is from her own swimwear line Chasing Summer, boasted gold detailing on the straps of the halterneck, which just about held her ample assets in place.
With dangling bow-ties on the side of her hips, adding to her shapely frame, the model accentuated the snap as she sexily placed one leg forward.
Her brunette tresses were scraped back in a braided plait, and even though her phone hid her face, it was clear to make out that she was wearing sunnies - despite posing in the comfort of her immaculate bedroom.
Imogen's content demeanour is evident and she recently jetted back from her mini-break in Las Vegas to celebrated her beau Adam Horsley's 30th birthday.
The lady is a vamp: Imogen flaunted her killer curves in a lycra little black dress to celebrate beau Adam Horsley's 30th birthday at Nobu Berkeley earlier this month
Stepping out earlier this month, she showed off her hourglass figure to at Mayfair's Nobu Berkeley with her businessman boyfriend.
The former Big Brother star wore a revealing, figure hugging black dress with a low neckline that revealed a hint of her cleavage.
She poured her incredible curves into the flattering lycra number and put on a leggy display through her revealing lace-up at the front.
She wore her long two-toned brunette tresses in a relaxed wavy style, which fell over her shoulders, highlighting her flawless complexion.
Date night: Imogen flaunts killer curves in vampy little black dress to celebrate beau Adam turning a year older
Hot mama: Imogen showed off her hourglass figure in a lycra little black dress to celebrate at Mayfair's Nobu Berkeley with her businessman boyfriend Adam on Saturday night
Clearly going for a vampy look, Imogen accessorized with a delicate lace black choker and a gold crucifix necklace also adorned her bosom.
Imogen has been combining her time as a businesswoman with raising her two young daughters - Ariana, three, and Siera, nine months - who she shares with Australian businessman boyfriend Adam Horsley.
The star enjoyed a mother and daughter day with her eldest Ariana at the screening of Stork at Cineworld, Leicester Square on Sunday.
She dressed her adorable mini me in a denim dress and white jacket - and looked chic herself in slim-fit blue jeans and a white blouse alongside her daughter.
She was recently revealed to have 'battled shyness her entire career', preferring the company of animals to people.
However, it appears Tracy Grimshaw made an exception recently, attending a fundraiser for a Sydney grandfather.
The 56-year-old also filmed a special episode of A Current Affair with the 59-year-old stabbing victim, Wayne Greenhalgh, which aired on Monday night.
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Friends: Tracy Grimshaw embraced Minto stabbing victim Wayne Greenhalgh as the presenter led a charity drive to raise funds for the grandfather, in an event which was also aired on A Current Affair on Monday night
The TV presenter lead a charity event held for the grandfather earlier this month, raising funds for the former wood machinist's rehabilitation bills and income.
The event, organised by the show and Rotary Australia, was held at a house on Knight Place in the Sydney suburb of Minto.
'This suburb made news for all the wrong reasons about three weeks ago when Wayne Greenhalgh was the victim of a terrible state of circumstances,' Tracy announced.
In mid-September, Wayne was allegedly stabbed in the abdomen, chest and neck among other places while out on a walk in his local area in an unprovoked attack.
His injuries left him in such bad condition, surgeons weren't sure he would survive.
Ihsas Khan has since been charged with attempted murder.
Tough times: The TV presenter spoke with the cheeky Wayne and his wife Bronwyn about the aftermath of the attack, and the struggles they have endured
Putting on a brave face: Despite his wife having to shower, toilet, feed and dress him, Wayne tries to remain the positive person he was before the attack
'Wayne is very, very lucky to be alive,' Tracy stated.
The TV host explained the Sydney grandfather wants to go back to work, but due to his injuries, the chances of that day coming anytime soon are 'pretty slim'.
'So tonight's show is all about getting some help for this lovely man.'
Donations were welcomed through Rotary Australia - who accepted donations to help Wayne in his future rehabilitation and income.
On location: Tracy left the Channel Nine studios in Willoughby to head to the Sydney suburb of Minto for the fundraising event
Injuries: The TV anchor checked out the victim's injuries from the attack, including stab wounds to his abdomen, chest and neck
Wayne's wife, Bronwyn, was by his side during the filming.
When Tracy asked Bronwyn how much help she needs to give him, she listed: 'I have to shower him, I have to feed him, I have to dress him'
The whole of Wayne's family was at the event, including his grandchildren, kids, and stepchildren - as was a lot of Minto, due to the victim being such a community man.
Out of work: The wood machinist explained to Tracy that he would like to go back to work soon, but there is a slim chance due to his bad injuries
At the event, Tracy donned a colourful printed kaftan-style top, with long black trousers and black flats.
She complemented her look with a touch of make-up, an oversized black tote, a watch, and silver bracelets.
Her shoulder-length blonde locks were style in chic curls that finished just above her shoulders.
At the fundraiser, local vendors had set up stalls outside the house, with free food for all in attendance, including pizzas, popcorn, a barbecue, and even donuts.
A crowd pleaser: The veteran TV anchor spoke with the local community who showed up to the charity event
Peace! Tracy shares a laugh with one of the many Minto community members who came out to support Wayne last week
Leaders from the area also made an appearance at the charity drive, including members of the Macquarie Fields police force, State MP Greg Warren and the Federal MP for Macarthur, Dr Mike Freelander.
Last month, a friend told New Idea magazine that behind her welcoming demeanour, Tracy has been facing a 'secret battle'.
The source has claimed: 'Tracy has battled shyness her entire career...she is so introverted it actually affects her daily life'.
She the poster girl for a beachy and bohemian lifestyle.
And Alessandra Ambrosio looked every inch the boho beauty as she slipped into a plunging red playsuit for a photoshoot on Merose Avenue, California on Monday.
The 35-year-old model showed off a little more skin than usual, going braless in the pretty ensemble.
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Alessandra Ambrosio looked every inch the boho beauty as she slipped into a plunging red playsuit for a photoshoot on Merose Avenue, California on Monday
Alessandra's long and lean figure was on full display in the fashionable number, featuring a very low-cut V-neckline and patterned detailing at the hem and the bust.
The look was completed with some cute suede ankle boots, a funky fedora and a white leather satchel.
The Victoria's Secret Angel's brunette locks were styled in loose waves and her make-up was kept natural and simple, with just a slick of raspberry lipstick to match her outfit.
Taking the plunge: The 35-year-old model showed off a little more skin than usual, going braless in the pretty ensemble
Killer figure: Alessandra's long and lean figure was on full display in the fashionable number, featuring a very low-cut V-neckline and patterned detailing at the hem and the bust
It's all in the details: The look was completed with some cute suede ankle boots, a funky fedora and a white leather satchel
Alessandra recently enjoyed a whirlwind month travelling to Paris to appear in Balmain SS17 at Fashion Week and a photo shoot in the Maldives for the November cover of GQ Brazil.
The globetrotting mother-of-two has also teamed up with Esika to launch her first fragrance, Belessa, for ale by Alessandra on September 23.
The model has since been enjoying family time with her children, Noah, four, and daughter Anja, eight.
Busy bee: Alessandra recently enjoyed a whirlwind month travelling to Paris to appear in Balmain SS17 at Fashion Week and a photo shoot in the Maldives for GQ Brazil
Busy bee: The globetrotting mother-of-two has also teamed up with Esika to launch her first fragrance, Belessa, for ale by Alessandra on September 23
The children's father is her fiance, Jamie Mazur, who she has been engaged to since 2008.
Ambrosio has yet to walk down the aisle with the businessman, but the pair hope it will make their wedding all the more special when they finally tie the knot.
'When I do the wedding it's going to be very special, so I want to take time for that,' the brunette bombshell told Extra.
Natural beauty: The Victoria's Secret Angel's brunette locks were styled in loose waves and her make-up was kept natural and simple
Following months of speculation, it was officially confirmed during Tuesday night's episode of The X Factor Australia.
And after confirmation former Spice Girl Mel B would be re-joining the show, she spoke about identifying with her new role as the 'Underdog Judge'.
The one-time popstar told The Daily Telegraph: 'Success hasn't come easy for me, so I appreciate everything that I've got and what I've done so Id consider myself an underdog'.
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'Success hasn't come easy for me': Former Spice Girl Mel B has admitted she identifies with her new role on The X Factor Australia as the 'Underdog Judge', which was confirmed during Tuesday night's episode
The 41-year-old British-born starlet will return to Sydney next week to film her part in the live shows, bringing her husband and daughters with her.
Her role will mark a return to The X Factor Australia and this time she will be hand-picking a team of wildcards, made from contestants the other judges have rejected.
Of her counterparts - Guy Sebastian, Adam Lambert and Iggy Azalea - Mel B has been left most impressed by the female rapper.
'Ive watched a few of the episodes and Iggy is very articulate and she knows what she likes and what she doesn't like,' she told the publication.
'I like a woman like that. I love female company anyway, I love a woman who knows her own mind,' she added, having yet to meet Iggy in the flesh.
She's back! Her role will mark a return to The X Factor Australia and this time she will be hand-picking a team of wildcards, made from contestants the other judges have rejected
Impressed: Of her counterparts (L-R) Adam Lambert, Iggy Azalea and Guy Sebastian, Mel B has been left most impressed by the female rapper
However, the reality TV personality has previously worked with Guy Sebastian on The X Factor and knows Adam from her time in LA.
The star, whose full name is Melanie Brown, has become a regular on talent show judging panels over the years thanks to her brutal honesty.
Mel has also worked on America's Got Talent and made her debut on The X Factor UK earlier this year.
She is also juggling her role as a judge on UK's Lip Sync Battle, along with her ambassadorial duties for Jenny Craig and a Spice Girls reunion, which is set for next year.
The Underdog judge: Kyle Sandilands confirmed on his KIIS FM breakfast radio show Tuesday morning that Mel B is the new 'underdog judge' on The X Factor Australia (Mel B picture in LA last month)
Ahead of the official announcement that Mel would be joining the show, which came during the hour-long episode of the final auditions and the start of the 3-Seat Challenge, Kyle Sandilands let the 'cat out of the bag'.
The shock jock confirmed the news on his KIIS FM breakfast radio show, Tuesday morning, saying: 'I already know, sorry to let the cat out of the bag.'
'We already know that it's Mel B.'
Last week, TV tonight reported Mel 'followed' Guy and Adam on Instagram out of nowhere but was already following rapper Iggy.
Tom Cruise took a trip to China's Forbidden City on Tuesday as part of a promotional tour for his new film Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
The movie is getting a simultaneous release in the U.S. and China on October 21.
Tom was joined by his co-star Cobie Smulders and the film's director Ed Zwick as he posed for photos and greeted fans.
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New movie: Tom Cruise visited China's Forbidden City on Tuesday as part of a promotional tour for his film Jack Reacher: Never Go Back which opens there and in the U.S. on October 21
Tom, 54, was casually dressed in a black button down shirt, with the top two buttons left undone and the sleeves rolled up to just below the elbow.
He wore dark blue jeans and a pair of sunglasses.
Cobie, 34, brought some color to the photo call with a red and black dress.
The Canadian actress looked lovely in the pretty patterned number that had bold black shoulder straps and a black band at the waist.
Getting along famously: Tom, 54, and co-star Cobie Smulders, 34, shared a joke and a laugh as they posed for photos
Say cheese! The pair were joined by the film's director Ed Zwick, who also worked with Tom on his 2003 film The Last Samurai
Red hot: Cobie stole the spotlight in her red and black tiered dress which she teamed with strappy black heels
Tom and Cobie showcased their chemistry, laughing and sharing jokes together.
The actress plays Major Susan Turner in the film, heading up the military police unit that Tom's character Jack Reacher used to run.
The plot revolves around an accusation that Jack committed a murder 16 years prior.
'He's alone and he's sort of in his element and then he couples up with me and all hell breaks loose,' Cobie told ET back in June. 'We're on the run for this entire movie.'
The sequel is adapted from the series of novels by Lee Child and the first Jack Reacher film released in 2012 made $200 million.
It was shot almost entirely in New Orleans and the first teaser trailer debuted online on Monday.
Ready for his close-up: Tom kept it casual in a black shirt with the top buttons left undone and the sleeves rolled up paired with dark blue denims and some sunglasses
Making friends: The Hollywood star happily posed for photos with some lucky Chinese fans
She insisted on Loose Women last week that things were on track in her marriage.
And Katie Price has now strenuously denied claims her relationship with Kieran Hayler is on the rocks, following reports her meeting with Geordie Shore hunk Scotty T earlier this month was the 'straw that broke the camel's back'.
The 38-year-old star took to social media to lash out at rumours her husband was threatening to walk out on her after the 'humiliation'.
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Speaking out: Katie Price has now strenuously denied claims her relationship with Kieran Hayler is on the rocks
Taking to Twitter: The 38-year-old star took to social media to lash out at rumours her husband was threatening to walk out on her after the 'humiliation'
Katie raged: 'My team made it clear earlier today on a call,anyet they still run a story that implies things that simply aren't true. Very disappointing. (sic)'
This comes after Now magazine alleged Kieran was feeling 'emasculated' by his wife after she was seen leaving a hotel with reality star Scotty.
'Kieran can't handle anymore humiliation. Katie's ditched the woman he married and replaced her with Jordan', the insider said.
Denial: This comes after it was alleged Kieran was feeling 'emasculated' by his wife after she was seen leaving a hotel with reality star Scotty T
'The pictures of her with Scotty just add to the problems for Kieran. He confronted her, accusing her of double standards and blatantly flirting.'
MailOnline has contacted Katie's representative for comment.
An old tweet of Scotty's from 2015 has also resurfaced, in which he tells Katie to ditch Kieran for him.
He wrote: '@MissKatiePrice needs to bin that k**b off and just get with me like #PuaMilf'.
CheekyAn old tweet of Scotty's from 2015 has also resurfaced, in which he tells Katie to ditch Kieran for him
Scotty denied the claims of a secret hotel tryst with Katie, writing in his Daily Star column: 'She is married with kids and I respect that'
Scotty denied the claims of a secret hotel tryst with Katie, writing in his Daily Star column: 'Yes, of course I would bang her, she is FIT.
'She is also a wicked woman and a laugh to be around. But she is married with kids and I respect that'.
This comes after Katie took to her Instagram account on Saturday to rubbish claims her marriage to Kieran is in trouble.
Wearing a pair of oversized black shades, she calmly says in the close-up video: 'I'd just like to clarify that no ex bought me this necklace, he wouldn't be able to afford it. I bought it myself.
Clearing it up: This comes after Katie took to her Instagram account on Saturday to rubbish claims her marriage to Kieran is in trouble
Therapy: The pair will be going to couples therapy in the near future, but she insists they're on the right track
'And me and Kieran are happily married with no problems. Thank you.'
During Friday's Loose Women, Katie almost mistakenly referred to Kieran as ex-husband Peter Andre.
Announcing that she is taking a break from the public eye, eagle eyed viewers noticed Katie wearing the unique horse jewellery her ex cage-fighter beau gave her.
While fans spotted that Katie appeared to be wearing a diamond necklace that her former flame Alex gifted her at their 2010 wedding as she hinted her current marriage was in trouble.
Setting the record straight: She also denied reports she wore a necklace gifted to her by ex-husband Alex Reid on Friday's Loose Women
Break: Fans spotted Katie sporting a diamond necklace that her former flame Alex Reid gifted her at their 2010 wedding as she dropped the shock news that her marriage was in trouble with hubby Kieran
Having featured on their ITV reality show For Better For Worse, sources told the Mirror said the choice of necklace sent mixed messages.
The insider said: 'It is the ultimate smack in the face to Kieran.
'Wearing a piece of expensive jewellery from an ex husband while she explained her marriage was in trouble doesn't exactly send out the right message.'
Katie and Alex called it quits in 2012, after she claimed 'unreasonable behaviour' for their divorce.
Eye-catching: Katie showcased her necklace on her show For Better For Worse
Throwback: Katie sported the necklace on Loose Woman (L) which she received at her 2010 wedding to Alex (R)
Blinging: Alex gifted the necklace during their 2010 wedding ceremony
Past romance: Katie previously married cage fighter Alex Reid in 2010 but later split in 2012
Over the past two weeks, she's successfully whipped up an avalanche of headlines while promoting her revealing new book Reborn, telling all about her heartbreak.
But Katie Price has now revealed that speaking so candidly about her husband Kieran Hayler's affairs with two of her best friends has taken its toll.
During an appearance on ITV's Loose Women on Friday, the former glamour model announced that she's taking a month-long break from the limelight to heal her reopened wounds - which she'll deal with during couples therapy sessions.
She explained: 'We're gonna go back to a therapist, not because there's anything wrong with our relationship... He's realised now I've moved on, how much he's hurt me. It's a lot for him to deal with.
'Everything, all in my life, I've never really sat down and spoken about it (with a therapist).'
She added: 'We had therapy at the time (of Kieran's cheating) and I thought I was over it... The past two weeks, I've been back on my book tour, it's reopened new wounds. I've had to talk about it.'
Late honeymoon: The couple will also be heading off next week for a late honeymoon
However, while she insisted multiple times throughout the show's broadcast that she and Kieran are not splitting, she did mistakenly refer to him as ex-husband Peter Andre.
After her initial announcement of taking a break, Kieran sent a video message from his phone, in which he said: 'Hi babes, I love you and I'm so proud of you and I'm going to support you through everything. I love you.'
Katie jokingly fired back: 'You're the one who did the damage!'
Oops! During her time on the show, Katie mistakenly referred to Kieran as her ex Peter Andre
Testing times: Katie explained that speaking about her husband's cheating so extensively two-and-a-half years later has tested her and her spouse emotionally
When asked by her co-hosts if she'll ever forgive him, she said: 'I'll never forgive him. Never forget... But I wanna clarify me and Kieran - oops, I almost said Pete then - are absolutely fine. It's just been hard emotionally for both of us.'
She also confessed that her move to expand her boobs to a new bra-busting size - much like her old alter ego Jordan - was likely because of insecurities.
The mother-of-five said: 'The boobs had nothing to do with what's happened with the book. I will admit people see me going out in more skimpy stuff.
Demure: Katie displayed her slimline physique in a comparably demure ensemble
Heartbroken: Katie broke Kieran's heart when he cheated on her with two of her best friends
'When I met Kieran, my body was small and normal and then I had two babies back-to-back and gained weight... The two women he had affairs with were smaller... Now I'm back to where I was and maybe it's like, "Now I'm back to where you want me."
'I am insecure. I am vulnerable. It's kind of a relief for me to admit I'm not as strong as people think. I have to put a barrier up. But enough's enough now.
'I'm not disappearing for ages, just a few weeks... We're just going away on a belated honeymoon, just me and Kieran and the kids and enjoy some horses.
'I want to help Kieran through this as well, because it's tough for us both... I do trust him, but because of all this book stuff there's turbulence.'
Squad: She spoke candidly with panellists (l-r) Kaye Adams, Linda Robson and Nadia Sawalha
Sympathetic: She received support from the Loose Women team as she shared the news
Let's hug it out: The mother-of-five later shared a hug with Linda, who called her a 'great mum'
The first moment that she realised how gruelling it might be to relive the trauma was when her legal team advised her to read through her book and she couldn't face it.
'It's just something I don't want to relive again,' she said. 'It's just absolutely awful, torture.'
She also explained that she got through many of her past pains by putting up a defence mechanism.
'If I'm hurt, I try and answer it in a jokey-bantery way to look like I can handle it... I haven't got any tears to cry. My heart is shattered.'
Rude boy: She also took the opportunity to shoot down rumours of an affair with Scotty T
Just friends: Despite rumours to the contrary, Katie insisted that she and Scotty are just friends
But she's also been feeling sorry for Kieran - despite the damage of his past actions.
'It's also been hard for Kieran,' she said. 'He's changed in two-and-a-half years... I've had to relive it with a fresh mind and go, "Oh my god, this is what he did to me."'
Kieran's indiscretions stayed close to Katie's mind, as later on in the show, when Anne Diamond came on as a guest, she made further confessions when the TV veteran spoke about being cheated on.
'Sometimes, it crosses my mind that I want to hurt him back,' said Katie of Kieran. 'Sometimes, I just want him to feel the pain that I had.'
Feeling sorry: Despite Kieran's cheating, Katie said that she feels terribly for her husband
Raunch: Katie also apologised for her recent return to wild public behaviour and raunchy attire
During the show, she also took some time to shoot down rumours that she'd had a fling with Scotty T.
'This has dragged on,' she said, looking exasperated as she explained that the Geordie Shore star had taken her and a friend to a sunbed.
She recalled: 'Afterwards he asked if he could come and change in my room because he had a event to get to in Blackpool. While he was in there I was just getting my hair done and thats it. Were just friends.
Warning: During the show, Nadia revealed that she'd advised Katie against going on the tour
Chaos: She also pointed out Katie's string of chaotic relationships since her split with Peter
'We had people in room. I shouldn't have to justify myself. I'm married. I'm not gonna do that.'
Katie's fellow panellists also asked if Kieran trusted her, to which she answered: 'I feel like he might wonder if I'll go and do something because of all the book stuff.'
Directing her apologies to the public about her recent antics, she said: 'I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my pictures and behaviour. But I'm human... I don't wanna talk about the past anymore. I just need to move on.'
She added: 'It took me 23 years to admit that I am vulnerable and I do have insecurities... I'm self-destructive sometimes, but I'm human.'
Opening up: She revealed that this will be the first time she candidly talks through her issues
Having a laugh: Katie admitted that she'd previously joked her way out of serious discussion
Despite her efforts to save their marriage, Katie appeared remarkably considerate of his possible future should they ever break up.
Speaking later in the show about vasectomies, she admitted that she wouldn't want him to go through with the procedure, just in case he wanted children with somebody else.
Katie said: 'Once we've had all our kids I'd be happy to do it. But I don't think I'd want him to. You don't know what's going to happen...
'What if we split and he met someone and wanted to reverse his vasectomy and I went off and had a baby with somebody else? It would kill him.'
She's been enjoying a romantic holiday in Morocco with her beau Adam Ellis - who could very well have become her fiance on the trip.
And on Tuesday, Lindy Klim hinted at the possible engagement in a series of cryptically captioned posts on Instagram as she continues to document her travels.
In one of the photos, the stunning brunette is seen surrounded by sand and gazing out into the distance, with the caption: 'What's that over there... oh it's my new future and it's certainly looking bright!'
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Bride-to-be? Lindy Klim hinted at the possible engagement in a series of cryptically captioned posts on Instagram as she continued to document her travels with beau Adam Ellis in Morocco on Tuesday
The mother-of-three is seen wearing a long-sleeved, collared khaki shirt, and a grey headscarf in the photo - taken at Scarabeo Camp in Morocco.
The second snap Lindy posted on Tuesday shows the inside of her glamping tent, which she aptly named the 'love shack'.
In the photo, the happy couple's bed is shown, and the door flap is lifted up so the beautiful, arid desert is seen.
The Australian beauty captioned the image with a series of hash-tags, noting: 'from the love shack', 'glamping', 'marrakech' and 'in love'
On Monday, rumours started running rife that Adam and Lindy were engaged, due to many of the couple's friends taking to social media to congratulate the pair.
Snapped from the 'love shack': The brunette beauty and her new beau have been enjoying a romantic glamping holiday in Morocco
While sharing photos of herself enjoying her trip, many friends took the opportunity to send their well-wishes to the loved-up couple.
'Amazing, congratulations,' one user posted, while another added: 'Congrats on the engagement (sic).'
Other questioned the news, commenting: 'Wow - engaged?'
Daily Mail Australia has contacted a representative for Lindy and Adam for comment.
'In love': Lindy has spoken openly about her and Adam's relationship, saying that it was 'completely not what I expected' and that 'he's so lovely'
The speculation of the engagement came after Lindy shared an image of herself, along with a hash-tag for 'trip of a lifetime' and 'in love' in the caption line.
While speaking to Daily Mail Australia in May, the model revealed she never expected to fall in love with Adam.
'[It's] completely not what I expected, to fall back into another relationship, but he's so lovely,' she said cheerfully.
Lindy announced her new relationship with Adam just weeks after revealing she had separated from estranged husband, Michael.
He's known for his high profile action flicks, culminating in a passionate romance with the leading lady.
And Tom Cruise had undeniable chemistry, albeit a professional one, with his co-star Cobie Smulders as they attended the photo-call in Beijing, China for their new flick, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
The 54-year-old actor looked super trendy in an all-black ensemble, while the Canadian beauty stunned in a printed summer's dress.
The A-list: Tom Cruise, 54 posed with his co-star Cobie Smulders, 34, at a photocall in Beijing, China for their new flick, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
The American star looked every inch the iconic Hollywood heartthrob in his skinny jeans, leather jackets and boots, while his hair casually swept across his forehead.
Cobie, 34, spruced things up with the colourful garment, which plunged down the centre - slightly exposing her bra.
Boasting billowy sleeves and a flirty crochet hemline, it fell incredibly short on her thighs, flaunting her statuesque frame in a pair of towering strappy heels.
The beauty - best known for How I Met Your Mother - couldn't wipe the smile off her deep red pout as she joined Tom in the promotional trail for the movie, which is getting a simultaneous release in the U.S. and China on October 21.
Hunk: The American star looked every inch the iconic Hollywood heartthrob in his skinny jeans, leather jackets and boots, while his hair casually swept across his head
Head-turner: Cobie spruced things up with the colourful garment, which plunged down the centre - slightly exposing her bra
Working hard: The beauty - best known for How I Met Your Mother - couldn't wipe the smile off her deep red pout as she joined Tom in the promotional trail for the movie
Earlier on in the day Tom and Cobie took a trip to China's Forbidden City where they were joined by the film's director Ed Zwick and posed for photos and greeted fans.
Tom was casually dressed in a black button down shirt, with the top two buttons left undone and the sleeves rolled up to just below the elbow.
Cobie brought some color to the photo call with a sensational red and black dress.
New movie: Earlier on in the day, Tom visited China's Forbidden City as part of a promotional tour for the new film which opens there and in the U.S. on October 21
The Canadian actress looked lovely in the pretty patterned number that had bold black shoulder straps and a black band at the waist.
Tom and Cobie showcased their chemistry, laughing and sharing jokes together.
The actress plays Major Susan Turner in the film, heading up the military police unit that Tom's character Jack Reacher used to run.
Getting along famously: Tom and co-star Cobie shared a joke and a laugh as they posed for photos
Say cheese! The pair were joined by the film's director Ed Zwick, who also worked with Tom on his 2003 film The Last Samurai
Red hot: Cobie stole the spotlight in her red and black tiered dress which she teamed with strappy black heels
The plot revolves around an accusation that Jack committed a murder 16 years prior.
'He's alone and he's sort of in his element and then he couples up with me and all hell breaks loose,' Cobie told ET back in June. 'We're on the run for this entire movie.'
The sequel is adapted from the series of novels by Lee Child and the first Jack Reacher film released in 2012 made $200 million.
It was shot almost entirely in New Orleans and the first teaser trailer debuted online on Monday.
Ready for his close-up: Tom kept it casual in a black shirt with the top buttons left undone and the sleeves rolled up paired with dark blue denims and some sunglasses
Making friends: The Hollywood star happily posed for photos with some lucky Chinese fans
She's known for flaunting her endless legs on the coveted Victoria's Secret runway.
But on Tuesday Gigi Hadid exited an airport runway while arriving in Tokyo as she was greeted by a mob of adoring fans.
The 21-year-old supermodel looked stunning as always in a pair of skintight leather pants which encased her slender stems.
Traveling in style: Gigi Hadid looked stunning as she landed at the Tokyo airport on Tuesday
Gigi - who was born Jelena Noura Hadid - was in Tokyo to attend her fashion event on Wednesday, TOMMYxGIGI collection, as she promoted her collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger.
She had just arrived from Dubai and was all smiles while being met by the crowds who tried to get a photo with the blonde beauty.
She opted for comfort and teamed her form-fitting trousers with a printed grey T-shirt.
Gracious: The 21-year-old supermodel was all smiles as she was greeted by a mob of adoring fans
Leggy blonde! The statuesque stunner donned a pair of skintight leather pants which encased her slender stems
The older sister of model Bella Hadid added a chic touch to her ensemble with a knee-length iridescent coat.
The genetically-gifted model kept concealed behind dark shades and rounded out her look with several dainty black choker necklaces.
She stopped to take selfies with fans while carrying a black leather backpack and rolling her pricey Louis Vuitton carry-on luggage.
The 5ft 10in beauty seemed in good spirits and engaged with the crowds despite the scary incident she had last month while in Milan.
Lustrous: The older sister of model Bella Hadid added a chic touch to her ensemble with a knee-length iridescent coat
Details: The genetically-gifted model kept concealed behind dark shades and rounded out her look with several dainty black choker necklaces
Picture perfect: The blonde beauty was more than gracious as she paused to take selfies with fans
She was forcibly lifted by a serial prankster who attacked her outside a fashion show during Milan Fashion Week.
The man surprisingly approached Gigi from behind, grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the ground.
In the days that followed it was quickly revealed that Gigi would not fire her security team as a source explained to TMZ that they thought the man was a pal at the time.
Her bodyguards pulled her back from the man instead of chasing after him, causing many to feel they did more harm than good.
She's known for her flawless sartorial displays every time she steps out.
And supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley looked out of this world as she stunned in a thigh-grazing red mini-dress with a planet print on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old flaunted her never-ending lithe limbs in the flirty number as she filmed a Magnum ice cream commercial in Berlin, Germany.
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Out of this world: Supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley looked out of this world as she stunned in a thigh-grazing red mini-dress with planet print on Tuesday
Shooting the ad with German Filmmaker Wim Wenders, the fashion darling's dress featured an eye-catching ruched bodice and drop waist which kicked out into a-line skirt.
Albeit more like winter at the moment, Rosie's head turning look channelled summer vibes as she exhibited her endless pin while carrying her show-stopping black heels with wooden soles.
Rosie completed her ensemble with a gold cuff around her wrist and silver torc inspired necklace as her blonde locks looked tousled in the wind.
Styling her golden locks into a soft curl, the style maven teamed her effervescent look with a pale pink lip and lashings of mascara.
Wrapping up! Going barefoot during the shoot, the British beauty at one point wrapped up in an oversized burgundy quilted coat which cinched in her waist with a material belt
Going barefoot during the shoot, the British beauty at one point wrapped up in an oversized burgundy quilted coat which cinched in her waist with a material belt.
Meanwhile, Rosie recently opened up about her relationship with actor Jason Statham, who proposed in January with a five-carat Neil Lane diamond ring.
Speaking to Harper's Bazaar Australia, she said: 'I have an amazing relationship with my partner. He's by far the greatest influence in my life.'
The couple have been dating for six years and live together in Beverly Hills.
Barefoot beauty: Rosie's head turning look channelled summer vibes as she exhibited her endless pins while carrying her show-stopping black heels with wooden soles
Love: Rosie recently opened up about her relationship with actor Jason Statham, who proposed in January with a five-carat Neil Lane diamond ring
Last month, the blonde beauty attended New York Fashion Week - including at the coveted Ralph Lauren show, where she shared the front row spotlight with Ricky Lauren, Julianne Moore, Dylan Lauren, Annabelle Wallis and Jessica Alba.
Of late, the supermodel has landed campaigns with some of the world's biggest brands, including Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger and Topshop to name a few.
She is currently a spokesmodel for UGG and just released her newest shades of lip shines from her Rosie for Autograph make-up collection.
The catwalk queen has also landed in fifth place on Forbes' 2016 list of the world's highest-paid models, earning $9 million in the past year.
She's been jetting around the world promoting her latest movie with Ewan McGregor.
But Dakota Fanning made sure she was in an empire state of mind for the International Day Of The Girl on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old actress dazzled in red as she lit up the Empire State building in NYC in honour of the day designed to focus on empowering young women.
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Red hot: Dakota Fanning lights the Empire State Building in honor of International Day Of The Girl at The Empire State Building on Tuesday in New York City
Well-tressed: Her blonde locks were in a glossy and voluminous straight style, which framed her pretty face
She put on a leggy display in a skater style dress, which she teamed with nude heeled mules.
The former child star added giant dark glasses, which she removed inside the famous building.
The older sister of Maleficent actress Elle wore her blonde tresses in a glossy and voluminous straight style, which framed her pretty face.
Pretty: The 22-year-old actress dazzled in red as she lit up the Empire State building in NYC in honour of the day designed to focus on empowering young women
Dakota's latest film is directed by and stars McGregor and is based on the Philip Roth novel by the same title.
Jennifer Connelly and Ewan play married couple Dawn and Seymour 'Swede' Levov in the upcoming flick.
In the film, his character's perfect Middle class American world collapses after his daughter (played by Dakota) radicalizes and blows up a post office.
Lady in red! Fanning looked excited to be at the event as she arrive in the morning
Elegant: She put on a leggy display in a skater style dress, which she teamed with nude heeled mules
Looking glam: The former child star added giant dark glasses
The bombing was in protest of the Vietnam War and kills a man, leading to nation-wide hunt for Dakota's character.
The film is set in the late 1960s as the country is thrown into social and political turmoil during Lyndon B Johnson's presidency both in terms of America's international policies and also its treatment of its own non-white citizens.
American Pastoral will be in theatres October 28.
Patch Adams and Parenthood star Monica Potter literally goes home in a new series that premieres on HGTV Tuesday.
The actress, 44, not only returns to her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, but she also returns to the house she grew up in with her parents and three sisters.
'We sold the home in 1987 and for the last five years it's been abandoned,' she explained in a promotional video for the show. 'I've always wanted to buy the house back.'
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Back to where it all began: Parenthood star Monica Potter literally goes home in her new HGTV series Welcome Back Potter that premieres Tuesday
Historic property: The two-story house built in 1924 overlooks Lake Erie and was abandoned for five years before the actress bought it
And that's exactly what Monica did, and with the help of her mom Nancy and sisters Brigette, Kerry and Jessica, set about restoring the two-story property.
'For me, family is everything,' the actress said. 'Growing up we didn't have much but we all had each other.'
'I couldn't let it go,' she added. "I didn't want to see it torn down.'
Family project: Monica enlisted the help of her mother Nancy and three sisters Brigette, Kerry and Jessica. Her father Paul passed away in 2004
Like time stood still: Inside they found the residence had been barely touched since they moved out in 1987
Still there: The family's dining table and chairs were still there as was the very unusual wallpaper and a bunch of stuff including old cassette tapes
Abandoned: The small rooms hadn't been touched for years and were very dated
It turned out that time had stood still inside the small house, that was built in 1924.
When the family looked inside, they found lots of their old stuff still sitting there, including their old dining table, her late father's workbench, and their original wallpaper.
'We never expected what we'd find inside,' Monica said. 'Home is where the heart is and this is where our heart is.'
Quite a journey: The five women spent eight weeks renovating the home with the help of a construction crew and documented it all for the cameras
Before and after: The unusable backyard and broken down porch was renovated to offer a grassy area with shrubs and a sitting area with outdoor lighting
Then and now: The dilapidated sun room overlooking Lake Erie was renovated to become a cozy and warm living space
Old and new: The bleak bathroom was redesigned to feature a pink tub with claw feet and a designer distressed wooden vanity
Welcome Back Potter on HGTV will share the family's experience as they spend eight weeks working to restore and renovate their old home that overlooks Lake Erie.
'Although the neighborhood has changed a lot, the feeling has not,' the actress told popgoestheweek.com as she promoted the series.
'There is a feeling of community a lot of our neighbors growing up are still there. We all have each others backs. What was interesting was that our neighbors knew how much I loved it and that also played a part in my getting it back.'
Big break: Monica found fame after being cast opposite Robin Williams in the 1998 film Patch Adams
He tied the knot with his second wife, model Eniko Parrish, in August.
And now Kevin Hart has admitted that he was to blame for the failure of his first marriage to Torrei Hart.
'I got married at the age of 22. I was still all over the place,' the 37-year-old comedian told talk show host Chelsea Handler on her Netflix show, Chelsea, which aired on Monday.
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Manning up: Kevin Hart admitted he was to blame for the failure of his first marriage to Torrei Hart in a chat with Chelsea Handler on her Netflix show, Chelsea , which aired on Monday.
'I didn't really understand the definition of marriage. I wasn't ready for it, so I take responsibility. I can say I messed my first marriage up. I'm man enough to say that.'
Ever the funnyman, he couldn't resist joking: 'At the same time, that was when I was in the prime of my sexy, so don't blame me. That's when I was figuring it out.'
However he and Torrie, 30, who split in 2011 after eight years together are firm friends who co-parent their two children, daughter Heaven, 11, and son Hendrix, eight.
'I will say that me and my ex-wife, regardless of the problems we went through, are in an amazing place now where we're friends, we're great parents,' the Central Intelligence star explained.
Just too young: 'I got married at the age of 22. I was still all over the place,' the 37-year-old comedian dished, 'I messed my first marriage up'
Hitched again: He married model Eniko Parrish in August after they had been together seven years, joking, 'I can't keep just letting this walk around free,' as he gestured to his body
Kevin also admitted that it was a long time before he felt ready to marry again.
'To make this big step, it took me some time,' he told Chelsea of Eniko. 'It took seven years. And then I was like, "You know what? She deserves it," because I can't keep just letting this walk around free,' he joked gesturing to his body.
'That's not fair to her. I got to lock this up.'
Before the split: Kevin and Torrei Hart at an event in 2004. He saied they are still good friends who co-parent their two children, daughter Heaven, 11, and son Hendrix, eight
Great start to the week: Kevin with Eniko, Hendrix and Heaven during a ceremony honouring him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood on Monday
Meanwhile, Kevin had a very busy Monday.
In the morning, he was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, with Eniko, Heaven and Hendrix wqtching on.
And in the evening he was honoured at Men's Fitness magazine's Game Changers event at Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood.
She is a fashion icon.
And even for a casual stroll near her London home on Tuesday, Kate Moss made sure she stood out in an effortlessly cool ensemble.
The top model injected plenty of fun into her look, teaming a cute dino-print sweater with one of her favourite wardrobe staples- a leopard print coat.
Fashion queen: Even for a casual stroll near her London home on Tuesday, Kate Moss made sure she stood out in an effortlessly cool ensemble
Kate dressed for the autumn weather in her cosy outfit, with her dinosaur emblazoned knit peeking out from under her furry jacket.
She added a pair of black skinny jeans teamed with chunky biker boots with buckle detail.
The finishing touch was a chic wide-brimmed hat perched on top of her sleek blonde locks, while gold hoop earrings completed her look.
Autumn style: The top model injected plenty of fun into her look, teaming a cute dino-print sweater with one of her favourite wardrobe staples- a leopard print coat
The star looked relaxed, a week after it was reported she has 'quietly' reached a formal separation agreement with former husband Jamie Hince.
The 42-year-old model - who married The Kills guitarist in 2011 but split last year after four years of marriage - is allegedly describing herself as 'divorced' and apparently came to a pleasant agreement with the musician 'some time ago' without any 'high profile legal battle'.
A source told The Mirror Online: 'They reached an agreement some time ago, and neither of them wanted to make a spectacle of this.
So cool: The finishing touch was a chic wide-brimmed hat perched on top of her sleek blonde locks, while gold hoop earrings completed her look
'Instead, they agreed things between themselves and have quietly made the split formal without going through any sort of high profile legal battle.'
It has been reported Kate - who has 14-year-old daughter Lila with her former partner Jefferson Hack - has been granted the majority of their wealth, whilst Jamie is believed to have acquired possessions the former couple acquired during their four-year marriage, including paintings and other artworks.
Meanwhile, the catwalk icon - who is believed to be dating Count Nikolai von Bismarck despite rumours the couple's relationship is on the rocks - has recently enjoyed a romantic getaway in Venice, Italy, with Nikolai, which saw her beau publicly declare his love for her.
All sorted: The star looked relaxed, a week after it was reported she has 'quietly' reached a formal separation agreement with former husband Jamie Hince
Restaurant owner, Giovanni Fracassi, spotted the pair cosying up together, he said: 'He [Nikolai] shouted out 'Ti amo', and then went down on his knee. It was very romantic.
'He took out a ring and it was funny because he said it's for after she is divorced. They were very much in love and she seemed so happy, I never saw her so happy before.'
However, since being home Nikolai has been absent from star studded events, despite previously being glued to Kate's hip.
She's a household name now thanks to Fox's Empire.
But Taraji P. Henson still has an axe to grind about the way Hollywood has treated her.
In her new memoir Around The Way Girl, the actress, 46, reveals that a part written for her in the 2014 film St. Vincent was handed to Naomi Watts to play instead.
Sharing her story: Taraji P. Henson, pictured outside the GMA studios in New York on Tuesday, has written a memoir and she's not pulling any punches when it comes to telling it like it is
'It was a meaty gig,' she said of the role of a Russian stripper she claims was written especially for her by screenwriter and director Theodore Melfi.
'I would have loved it. Alas, I couldnt get served at that particular restaurant,' she wrote in an excerpt obtained by USA Today.
Henson went on: ' Time and again, Ive lost roles because someone with the ability to green-light a film couldnt see black women beyond a very limited purview he or she thought fit audience expectations.'
Losing out as a black actress: Henson, 46, revealed that the role of a Russian stripper written for her in the 2014 film St. Vincent was given instead to Naomi Watts
Hit: Watts starred in the Bill Murray film with Melissa McCarthy and Jaeden Lieberher. It was written and directed by Theodore Melfi
Aired grievances: She also griped that she was paid 'the equivalent of sofa change' compared to Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, her co-stars in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
It's not only how she's treated in the casting process that draws her ire but also how she's been paid too.
Henson was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as Queenie in the 2008 Brad Pitt film The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.
She writes that her salary was in 'the lowest of six figures' and 'the equivalent of sofa change' compared to the salaries of her co-stars Pitt and Cate Blanchett.
Not only that, she also had to foot her own hotel bill during filming, she said.
Henson has shared her life story in the memoir Around The Way Girl, documenting how she went from a single mom in college to a Hollywood actress. She's pictured on The Tonight Show
Appearing on GMA Tuesday, the actress spoke about why she decided to share her story, warts and all, with the public.
'If my life experiences can help someone else in life, why not?' she said.
'Thats what were here for as humans. We make the world go round. We inspire each other as humans. I cant even tell you how many stories I look at that keep inspiring me to get up every day and fighting the good fight.'
She was a college junior age 24 when she fell pregnant with her son Marcel by her childhood sweetheart. But the relationship became abusive and she split from the father of her child, who died in 2003.
Despite being a single mom, she graduated college and moved to LA to pursue an acting career.
Her break came when she was cast opposite Tyrese Gibson in 2001's Baby Boy, followed by her standout performance as Terrence Howard's love interest in 2005's Hustle & Flow.
With her dramatic dress, complete with full skirt emblazoned with butterflies, Gabrielle Union cut a dramatic figure as she arrived at the BFI Film Festival on Tuesday night.
The 42-year-old stunned in the gown with featured a velvet halterneck detail showing off the actress's toned back and arms.
Gabrielle's hair was pulled into a high ponytail and she accessorised with simple diamond earrings and layers of rings.
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Dramatic: Gabrielle Union made an eye catching entrance to the BFI screening of her new film Birth Of A Nation on Tuesday
The actress seemed in good spirits, larking about with her co-stars Armie Hammer and Chike Okonkwo on the Odeon Leicester Square red carpet.
The Social Network star Armie brought his wife Elizabeth Chambers along for the event.
The actress showed off her burgeoning baby bump in a stunning Ralph Lauren black dress.
Butterflies: The actress showed off her figure in the gown which featured a butterfly design
Larking about: Gabielle enjoyed catching up with co-stars Armie Hammer and Chike Okonkwo
Expecting: Armie brought along his pregnant wife Elizabeth Chambers for the event
Silent star: In the film Gabrielle plays one of the plantation's community of slaves and remarkably has no dialogue on the movie
Armie and Elizabeth recently announced via Instagram that they were expecting their second child together.
The couple are already parents to 22-month-old daughter Harper.
The Birth Of A Nation follows the true story of Nat Turner, who led a slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831.
In the film Gabrielle plays Esther - one of the plantation's community of slaves and remarkably has no dialogue in the movie.
Stars of the show: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Gabrielle Union and Chike Okonkwo
Parents-to-be: There was no keeping the smiles of Armie and his wife's faces at the screening
Highlight: Gabrielle described her role in the movie as her 'most challenging and rewarding'
'Career-wise, it gets no better than this,' Gabrielle recently told Ocean Drive magazine. 'Its by far the smallest role Ive ever taken, but easily the most challenging and the most rewarding.'
Her character ends up working in the main house, where she is violated by one of the plantation's white guests.
'He sees her and feels entitled to her body,' she explained. 'What happens to her is one of the things that sets in motion one of the most successful slave liberations in the history of our country.'
Fancy seeing you here! Gabrielle and Chike posed together on the red carpet
Suited and booted: Armie cut a dapper figure in a grey smart suit with a burgundy tie
Involved: Nate Parker wrote, produced and directed the movie
Meanwhile, the BFI also hosted a smattering of other films with Christopher Lloyd, Lisa Loiacono, Avril Daly and Nick Ryan stepping out for the I Am Not A Serial Killer screening.
And Christopher Doyle, Neneh Cherry and Mark Cousins attended the Stockholm My Love event.
That film sees Neneh star as a Swedish architect fascinated by the way buildings influence lives.
Star-studded: Christopher Doyle, Neneh Cherry and Mark Cousins attended the Stockholm My Love event
His comedic skills have won him legions of fans and helped land him jobs on such shows as ratings juggernaut Britain's Got Talent.
And David Walliams appeared to give his mother Kathleen another reason to beam with pride as she watched him meet Queen Elizabeth II in London on Tuesday night.
The 45-year-old funnyman bowed and shook hands with the monarch during a reception and awards ceremony at the Royal Academy of Arts - and his proud parent was on hand to watch the friendly exchange.
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Proud parent: David Walliams's mum Kathleen looked on with pride as her comedian son met Queen Elizabeth II at an awards ceremony at London's Royal Academy of Arts on Tuesday
Displaying her snazzy sense of style in a flattering textured purple dress, Kathleen beamed up at her son as his brush with royalty unfolded.
The festivities saw the monarch present awards to five individuals who have made a national contribution to the visual arts or architecture.
And, making the most of the experience, Kathleen also got to mingle with some of the other stars in attendance on the glittering night - including rocker Rod Stewart.
Purple reign: Kathleen looked glam for her big night out, wearing a flattering purple dress
Gleeful: Proud Kathleen smiled broadly as her famous son chatted with the monarch
She's still smiling! Kathleen's smile didn't budge as she watched Lenny Henry take his turn
David took to Twitter to share a shot of his mother sharing an affectionate hug with the newly-knighted musician.
'My mum was very pleased to meet Sir @rodstewart,' he captioned the image.
For his big night out on the town, former Little Britain star David cut a dapper figure, stepping out in a perfectly tailored navy suit.
Queen Elizabeth was her usual stylish self, arriving at the gala sporting an exquisite jacquard two-piece cream suit.
Stars in her eyes: Kathleen then turned to smile at Road Stewart and his wife Penny Lancaster as they watched the Queen chat away with Lenny
Rock on! Later that evening, David shared a shot of his mother hugging veteran rocker Rod
Dapper gent: David looked stylish as he arrived at the event in a perfectly tailored navy suit
Party time! After meeting with Queen Elizabeth, the trio posed for a fun shot together
Also attending the event were such stars as actor Richard E. Grant and comedian Lenny Henry, with all gathering at the event for a series of glam snapshots.
Earlier this year, Kathleen made something of a name for herself, when she stepped in as a judge on Britain's Got Talent, filling in for late-running Simon Cowell.
After leaving the audience in fits of laughter with her quick wit, fans took to social media in droves to request that Kathleen become a permanent fixture on the show.
Comedians united! Funnymen Lenny and David broke away from the crowd for their own shot
Squad: The stars were joined by actor Richard E. Grant for a group shot during their night out
Vicki Gunvalson finally has a full love tank.
The Real Housewives Of Orange County star told Andy Cohen on Monday's Watch What Happens Live that her beau Steve Lodge is 'amazing.'
The 54-year-old blonde also revealed she thinks her late mother as well as God himself helped pick out the former police officer for her.
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She has a theory: Vicki Gunvalson told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that she thinks her late mother played a part in her meeting new beau Steve Lodge
On his toes: Andy Cohen had fun with Vicki on the Bravo chat show on Monday
'Hes amazing,' Vicki gushed to the Bravo producer and host.
'Hes, like, amazing. Like God gave him [to me]. I think my [late] mom sent him down. Hes incredible. Yeah, hes incredible. Like, my tank is full.'
Gunvalson met Lodge at a charity auction event earlier this year. Her ex is Brooks Ayers.
A good year: Vicki and Steve have been dating since earlier this year
A smooch: The 54-year-old RHOC beauty said Lodge was 'amazing'
On Monday's episode of RHOC, her co-stars expressed their reservations about Lodge.
When he sent Gunvalson flowers during her trip to Dublin he didn't sign with the word 'love.' 'Why wouldnt he love me? Im a great catch,' Vicki said.
She also wrote on Instagram: 'Thank you@lodge4anaheim for my beautiful roses when I checked in. We had only known each other for two weeks then, so haters keep your comments to yourself. I love him and am committed to this man.'
The stressful ex: Gunvalson used to date Brook Ayers, who has said he has cancer; here they are seen in 2012
On WWHL a viewer asled how she felt about her costars Shannon Beador and Tamra Judge 'interrogating' Lodge on the show.
Gunvalson said, 'It comes with the territory. I already pre-warned him, "The girls might interrogate you. Because Ive had a past of picking bad people."'
She added: 'It was just, like, awkward for me because it was, like, date three!' .
Getting along: Vicki and Sonja Morgan got along just fine and have socialized together
The 'O.G. of the O.C' boasted about her new boyfriend Steve Lodge.
'He's like amazing, it's like God gave him. I think my mom sent him down... He's incredible. My tank is full,' she sighed.
Vicki was asked why she didn't defend her friend Kelly Dodd while the RHOC women 'ganged up on her' in Ireland.
'I purposefully stayed neutral because I really love Kelly and I was trying to get back into social graces with the other women, so for me it was a good place to say ''you know what I'm out of it'' it has nothing to do with me,' she explained.
Australian state backflips on greyhound racing ban
Australia's most populous state made an embarrassing backflip on Tuesday on its plan to ban greyhound racing after sustained industry and public pressure, admitting the government "got it wrong".
New South Wales Premier Mike Baird announced in July that he would shut down the sport in 12 months' time after a series of "disturbing and horrific" scandals including "live baiting" and the slaughter of tens of thousands of dogs.
But the controversial decision was widely seen as a knee-jerk reaction and met with a backlash from the public, with fears that regional communities reliant on the industry could be devastated.
Greyhounds run during a race at Wentworth Park in Sydney, on August 21, 2016 Wendell Teodore (AFP/File)
There was also widespread political, industry and media pressure to reconsider the ban.
The once popular Baird, who has seen his approval ratings plummet this year due to a number of issues, including the greyhound ban, said he had listened to feedback.
"It's clear in hindsight, as we reflect on this, we got it wrong. I got it wrong, cabinet got it wrong, the government got it wrong," he said in Sydney.
"I previously didn't think the industry could change, it is clear the community wants to give them the opportunity.
"Today I can announce the greyhound industry will be given one last chance. It will be given an opportunity to reform as it needs to."
Baird said the industry had come up with a number of new initiatives and the government would be "ensuring the toughest animal welfare standards and regulation are put in place", with a new body established to oversee dog racing.
"We are not returning to the status quo. The barbaric practices we have seen have to end," he added.
- Committed to reform -
Australia has one of the world's largest greyhound racing industries and live baiting has been banned for decades.
But last year national broadcaster ABC revealed that live animals such as piglets, rabbits and possums were used as bait to train some of the country's most successful dogs.
Greyhounds traditionally chase an artificial hare or rabbit and the revelations sparked raids across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland states that rocked the industry.
It prompted an inquiry by the New South Wales government that uncovered widespread live baiting and the mass killing of tens of thousands of dogs considered too slow to pay their way.
The probe also revealed systemic deception of the public about the numbers of deaths and injuries -- such as skull fractures and broken backs -- during races.
The New South Wales probe was one of several into greyhound racing around Australia, although no other states went as far as proposing an industry ban.
The NSW Greyhound Racing Alliance said it was relieved at the about-turn and vowed to work on setting "world best practice standards for the industry".
"The ban was devastating for so many communities and families and we are thankful that the government has listened and responded," said executive director Brenton Scott.
Scott said the alliance was committed to a zero tolerance policy on animal cruelty, with life bans for any infringement. It was also intent on better managing injured and retired greyhounds, ensuring safe racing, and pursuing controlled breeding programmes.
"We are now completely committed to making the people of NSW proud of their greyhound industry," he said.
A greyhound is being checked before a race at Wentworth Park in Sydney, in August 2016 Wendell Teodore (AFP/File)
Egypt's 'milestone' parliament criticised as rubber stamp
When Egypt's parliament passed a hard-fought civil service law last week, it was seen as a rare outbreak of resistance to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The final, amended draft made it harder to fire members of the country's bloated bureaucracy, which Sisi has suggested should be trimmed down.
But such defiance has been an exception to what critics call the rubber-stamp role parliament has assumed since its election in 2015.
Egypt's parliament passed a hard-fought civil service law last week in a rare outbreak of resistance to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, seen here addressing the lawmakers earlier this year
"The parliament spent most of its time approving legislation by the government in the form that the government wants," said Ahmed al-Tantawi, a member of the "25-30" grouping of lawmakers that has opposed several bills.
Its election, following a referendum on the constitution and a presidential vote, was hailed by Sisi as the third milestone in a democratic roadmap after the military, led by Sisi himself, toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
The 2014 constitution granted parliament extensive powers, including impeaching the president and a confidence vote on the prime minister.
It was an uneasy arrangement for Sisi, who has tolerated little dissent, saying the country needs to get back on its feet after years of unrest pummelled the economy.
As it turned out, he has been able to count on parliament's support.
When a lawmaker inquired in late July about whether pensions were still going to retired military officers who assumed senior positions in industry and state institutions, parliament speaker Ali Abdel Aal shouted him down.
"This talk is over," Abdel Aal yelled at the parliamentarian, Mohamed Anwar Sadat, saying such mention of the military was inappropriate.
From the start, experts had warned the parliament's structure would produce a weak and divided legislature.
The vast majority of elected members of the 596-seat parliament were independent candidates, with only 20 percent from coalition lists.
The legislature is dominated by a coalition of pro-government individuals and parties while the main opposition, Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, has been banned.
With Egypt running without a legislature since June 2012, parliament, elected in October last year, had to review more than 300 laws issued by Sisi and Adly Mansour, the interim president after Morsi.
Many parliamentarians "believe that if you oppose the regime, then you oppose the state," said Amr Hashem Rabie, a political researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
-'Agree on everything'-
The only coalition in the parliament, of which Abdel Aal is a member, is the pro-government "Support Egypt" bloc.
"The government got everything it wanted from the parliament," Mohamed Zakareya Mohyeldin, an independent lawmaker, told AFP.
"The majority of Support Egypt agree on everything."
When it came to discussing the annual budget, "the parliament was more than just a rubber stamp... It also offered excuses," says Salma Hussein, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
EIPR says the budget ending July 2017 did not meet constitutional spending requirements on education, health, and scientific research, totalling 10 percent of gross national product.
Spending on these areas was estimated to be 97.4 billion pounds ($11 billion) less than required by the constitution, EIPR said in July.
The Planning and Budget committee had said the requirements were met when they included in their calculations the servicing of loans previously spent on those sectors.
The budget "was an opportunity because the constitution obligates you with it, so you should have held on to the constitution and told the government to abide by it. So it's a lost opportunity."
Abdel Aal has warned members who criticise monetary policy, or who participate in workshops by foreign agencies that he said may be working against Egypt.
Sadat says he resigned from heading the human rights committee after several relevant laws bypassed the committee.
They included a law that bans all but police-sanctioned protests, a law that critics say constricts the work of civil society groups, and a law that organises church-building.
But MP Mohamed Hasan Madina defended the house's performance, saying it gets the job done.
"The parliament has achieved in the first session what previous parliaments could in five years," he said.
Afghan refugee saga vies for top prize at Busan festival
A gripping drama depicting the harrowing plight of Afghan refugees is targeting Oscars history as it vies for the top prize at Asia's premier film festival this week.
Director Navid Mahmoudi was told shortly before making the trip to the 21st Busan International Film Festival in South Korea that his debut film "Parting" was being put forward as Afghanistan's hope for best foreign language film at next year's Oscars.
If it wins, it would become the first-ever film from the strife-torn country to take the prize but the director told AFP he had other matters on his mind.
People gather near the entrance of the main venue of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) Ed Jones (AFP/File)
"I am honoured to be here and to have this attention," Mahmoudi said.
"But the most important thing at this stage is that people see my film."
The are certainly doing that at BIFF, where the film has played to full houses as it vies for the main New Currents award for first- and second-time Asian filmmakers.
Mahmoudi's film charts an ordeal similar to that endured by many of an estimated six million of his countrymen in the 15 years since international forces entered the country and helped overthrow the Taliban leadership.
The director admitted he had concerns for those who remained in Afghanistan, a sense heightened as fears mount that hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees may soon be forced to return to their homeland.
"There are soldiers everywhere there," said Mahmoudi. "It's a bit like when you put a bird in a cage and that bird should feel safe. The Afghan people are in a cage but they still do not feel safe. That's why they leave."
When it came time to make his first full-length feature film, the Tehran-based Afghan director said the story was evolving "all around me".
- 'A place to be alive' -
"Human beings are always looking for a place where they can be happier," said Mahmoudi. "But for those who come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, they are just looking for a place where they can be alive."
So it is with the two central characters in Mahmoudi's film - a married Afghan couple reunited in Iran but looking to move to Europe by any means necessary.
Their plight draws them into contact with any number of con men and criminals while problems they thought might have been left behind in their homeland also threaten to derail their planned escape.
Mahmoudi decided to cast the central roles in the film - filled by the impressive Reza Ahmadi and Fereshteh Hosseini -- by scouring the refugee camps on the outskirts of Tehran for first-time actors because, the director said, he wanted people who "knew those fears".
"It was important for me to find people who had shared these experiences," he said.
"Parting" is shot in a cinema verite style with Mahmoudi's cameras peeking through windows, into doorways and alleys as the couple make their plans for freedom. The sense of desperation is palpable.
The director said the choice of style came through his desire to heighten the characters' desperation by having scenes of often-frantic daily life on the fringes of the Iranian capital swirl around them as the tension rises.
"This is the reality for these people," he said. "Many move through Iran and never make it to the centre of Tehran. Life is a desperate day-to-to struggle."
Mahmoudi's feature is among the early contenders in a New Currents crop that looks particularly strong this year, with critics also lauding the likes of first-time Chinese director Liu Yulin's gritty family drama "Someone to Talk To".
The award has over the years proved a stepping stone to further critical and commercial success for emerging Asian directors and this year's BIFF opened last Thursday with the heart-warming drama "A Quiet Dream," from Chinese-born South Korean director Zhang Lu, who won the New Currents award back in 2005 with his debut feature "Grain in Ear".
The New Currents award winners will be announced on Saturday when BIFF comes to a close.
Racism and privilege stoke S. Africa student protests
Weeks of protests at South African universities have targeted tuition fees -- but students say they are also about racism and inequality in a society still plagued by the legacy of apartheid.
The demonstrations have tapped into deep problems in the country, where many black people are unable to get decent education, jobs or housing despite white minority rule ending more than 20 years ago.
At a meeting at the prestigious Wits University in Johannesburg last week, Mcebo Dlamini, one of the student leaders, was greeted with thunderous applause when he tackled the touchstone subject of race.
South African policemen fire rubber bullets to disperse students from the University of Witwatersrand during clashes following a protest for free education on October 10, 2016 in Johannesburg Gianluigi Guercia (AFP)
"We are eager to restore the dignity of black children," he told the audience of about 1,000, which included only a handful of white people.
"We want a free and decolonised education. We are not equal in this university," he said.
Over the last three weeks, campuses across South Africa have been gripped by the protests against tuition fees, which could rise by up to eight percent next year.
The protesters have demanded free education, saying that poorer black students are being denied access to universities and good careers.
With several universities forced to close for weeks, the demonstrations have often developed into violent running battles as students hurl rocks, and police fire rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades.
"Free education is a way to achieve equality, to repair what people had to go through in the past," Tauriq, a student protester, told AFP.
"It is about challenging the norms of society, challenging what people consider as normal. If you are not black, you cannot associate with this problem.
"They (white people) don't understand what it feels like to be in a mall and stand in a corner, and people assume you are going to steal."
- Government support -
Tauriq's mother, who is single, has four children and earns $450 (400 euros) a month.
Without a grant that covers his tuition fees, he would not be able to attend university -- but many others don't have the same support.
The African National Congress (ANC) government has vowed to provide further financial help for all students from poor backgrounds, and said its aim is to provide free university education in the long term.
But it has also warned that public funds are desperately needed elsewhere, and has condemned students who have forced campuses to shut down or been involved in violence.
The protests "should be expected in a society where everything was designed in a way to support and legitimise white supremacy," Mcebisi Ndletyana, a political science professor at the University of Johannesburg, told AFP.
An internet poll conducted by Wits University suggested most students wanted classes to resume, while a small number of mainly white students have launched a "Keep Wits Open" campaign.
"We agree with the movement but are unhappy with intimidation and the bullying from some of the protesters to stop students entering campus and being chased out of lectures," said its leader Stuart Young in a video message.
"We are speaking not for the privileged but for students who are trying to graduate this year."
On Monday, Wits again tried to resume lectures but vicious clashes erupted amid clouds of teargas and a hail of rocks on the steps of the colonnaded Great Hall auditorium.
The government has set up a commission to investigate funding of higher education, but South Africa's campuses look set for further turmoil before it delivers recommendations sometime next year.
A South African policeman tries to apprehend a student from the University of Witwatersrand during a protest for free high education on October 10, 2016 in Johannesburg Gianluigi Guercia (AFP)
Early morning, Mr. Zhao drove me to grandma's home
to attend my cousin's Wedding. The village was in
the county's economic backwater. People there had
an accent and were nicer and more closely
connected. Many guests had arrived one day earlier
and spent the night in relatives' homes nearby.
This was a historical moment. Looking at the
gorgeous new couple, I couldn't help remembering
the last two generations of the family. Most
survivied the biggest famine in recent Chinese
history only to succumb to metabolical diseases
later. These people who struggled and sacrificed
transfered a great sense of family duty onto us,
their kids and grandkids. Their sufferings,
deserved or otherwise, had become honorable in the
memories of loved ones. It seemed their collective
karma was blessing the place, people, and events.
The ceremony was outsourced to a professional, a
handsome lad in his 30s. He did a good job and the
show went well. I was put on the spot when he called
me up to speak on behalf of the groom's family. I
didn't say much. I could have done better. But maybe
the fact that I was there was good enough. It could
be worse, as Garrison Keilor would say ;-) Last came
the customary big meal in the front yard.
I was happy to have a chance to brief the new
couple about my health experiments and they
decided to say no to refined carbs and limit the
number of meals. We, the big family, have to stop
repeating the painful mistakes.
I met relatives and childhood friends, many I
hadn't seen for years. Among these people and
among tears and laughters, love flowed. An
89-year-old uncle, a former county police chief,
held my hands. His 86-year-old wife was my
grandma's niece and she talked and smiled exactly
like grandma. Most of my playmates had become dads
and moms. Some even had grand children. In their
eyes, I did well in America and achieved something
special. We talked about retirement plans, e.g.,
to come back and farm together. I knew this land
would always be home to me.
It's a dog's life: Yangon neuters city's many strays
The dart hits a fleeing street dog in the thigh, the bright orange tip sagging against his brown and white fur as he slows to a halt, his limbs succumbing to the sedatives.
The mutt is one of more than 100,000 strays that roam the streets of Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon, sleeping in doorways, nosing through rubbish and barking their challenges to each other late into the night.
He is actually one of the lucky ones -- the sedated animal is among several hundred that will be vaccinated and neutered during a three-month city campaign in Yangon's southern Lanmadaw township.
Stray dogs gather at night in Yangon Romeo Gacad (AFP)
Loved by some and loathed by others, local authorities have for years tried to contain the swelling packs of dogs by feeding them poisoned meat.
But animal rights activists have lobbied the government to change tack, arguing that the killings do little to contain the population or stop the spread of rabies.
As the drugs kick in, a worker muzzles the limp dog and ties his paws together with twine.
He is carried to a makeshift operating table outside, where he is swiftly dealt with by a vet and placed next to several other sleeping dogs.
Later, the animals will be released back onto the streets with red collars.
"I love the dogs," said local resident Moe Lwe Lwe, who has been feeding them rice and curry for 18 years and helps with the sterilisation programme.
"They are very cuddly. I am nuts for them."
- Karmic retribution -
Myanmar has the second-highest rate of rabies in Southeast Asia, according to the World Health Organisation, although vaccination programmes have helped stem the number of cases.
Some say authorities dislike neutering because of the belief held by Buddhists, the religious majority in Myanmar, that karmic retribution will leave you infertile in your next life.
Leaving poisoned meat, on the other hand, is seen as free of spiritual consequences because the dogs opt to eat the food on their own.
Others say sterilisation is an expensive option for a country where one in four lives below the poverty line.
But images of dog corpses strewn across the city's pavements spread on social media have shocked the public.
In response, Yangon officials signed an agreement with US animal NGO Humane Society International in March to begin a city-wide vaccination and sterilisation scheme.
The joint-programme has yet to get started, but the charity said it hopes to emulate the success of similar campaigns in countries like Nepal, India and Bangladesh.
Other animal-lovers like Terryl Just, an American who founded the Yangon Animal Shelter which cares for some 500 rescued dogs, argue the animals could become a tourist draw for the city.
"We've adopted some out to the States -- LA, Seattle, Washington, California -- to people who have visited Yangon," she said.
"Tourism is huge and booming and I think interest in the dogs is growing as you have more expats coming in, and more awareness."
City veterinarians vaccinate and neuter stray dogs in Yangon Romeo Gacad (AFP)
Dog lover Nankay Thisaw Myint feeds puppies of a stray dog, in Yangon Romeo Gacad (AFP)
Apple, Samsung take battle to US Supreme Court
The epic legal battle pitting Apple against its bitter rival Samsung over the design of the iPhone reaches a new level Tuesday when it heads to the US Supreme Court.
The high court is set to hear arguments over financial damages the South Korean smartphone giant owes Apple for allegedly violating design patents by producing copycats of its groundbreaking smartphone.
Observers are watching the case closely to see how the court -- which has not taken up a design patent case in more than a century -- tips the balance between technological innovation and protecting intellectual property. A ruling is expected in several months.
The US Supreme Court is to hear arguments over financial damages the South Korean smartphone giant Samsung owes Apple for allegedly violating design patents Kimhiro Hoshino (AFP/File)
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a $400 million verdict -- part of a nearly billion-dollar award in Apple's favor later reduced to $548 million -- that found Samsung had copied the iPhone's distinctive front screen and graphical touchscreen user interface.
California-based Apple had protected those features with US design patents that concern the way items look. They are distinct from utility patents, which protect how articles are used and work, and do not concern copyrights or trademarks.
Samsung is challenging the verdict, disputing how damages are calculated in design patent cases. Such awards are currently determined by devices' "total profit," in accordance with a statute first adopted in 1887 and re-adopted in 1952.
Samsung argues it should be held liable only for some portion of the profit tied to patented design aspects, given the many innovative components that go into the making of smartphones.
Apple interprets the statute more narrowly, saying it is entitled to all profits from Samsung's phones.
- How much design protection? -
The legal battle, which began more than five years ago, could have major repercussions in a tech industry where design and innovation play key roles in distinguishing one device from another.
But a major debate is underway on just how much protection should be granted for visual design.
In preparation for its arguments before the Supreme Court, Samsung obtained the support of major Silicon Valley and other IT sector giants, including Google, Facebook, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, as well as a group of law professors.
Apple, for its part, got backing from big names in fashion and manufacturing, such as Calvin Klein and Adidas, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association, whose members -- largely lawyers -- represent owners and users of intellectual property.
- Look-alike smartphones -
Apple's supporters argue that Samsung's argument would hurt the tech industry by weakening the patent system.
"A strong patent system will force technology companies to actually innovate, not mimic. That is how patent systems are designed to work all over the world," said Matthew Siegal, an intellectual property lawyer with the firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan.
"The differences in Samsung and Apple smartphones are marginal because of copying, not innovating," he added. "A strong patent system will lead to the next generation phone based on actual innovation."
Tuesday's hearing is set to take place in the court's cavernous marble hall before a short-handed panel of eight justices, with a ninth still missing since Antonin Scalia's death in February.
Republicans in Congress have refused to replace him with President Barack Obama's nominee before the Democrat leaves office in January.
The hearing takes place at a difficult time for Samsung, as it is struggling to contain a snowballing safety crisis that threatens to derail the powerhouse global brand.
It told customers worldwide on Monday to stop using Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, calling a halt to global sales and exchanges following complaints that its lithium-ion battery explodes while charging.
Apple is also facing challenges from mounting international competition, having lost a critical share of the Chinese market after critics there found its latest iPhone 7 lacks major innovations.
China, Russia blast US missile defence at regional forum
China and Russia blasted Washington Tuesday for its decision to deploy a missile defence system in South Korea in response to Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
Speaking at the 7th annual Xiangshan regional defence forum in Beijing, top military officials from the countries said the move by Seoul and Washington represented a threat to regional stability and was a step towards a new global arms race.
The US and South Korea agreed to install the system, known as THAAD, this summer following repeated nuclear and missile tests by Beijing's wayward ally Pyongyang.
The United States and South Korea agreed to install the THAAD missile defence system following repeated nuclear and missile tests by North Korea US Department of Defense (US Department of Defense/AFP/File)
Washington was using the North's actions as a pretext to gain military superiority over China, Chinese general Cai Jun told defence officials at a briefing on the forum's sidelines.
Deploying the system in South Korea, he said, was "not conducive to the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula", he said, adding "it has increased the risk of military conflict in the region".
Beijing fears that THAAD could be used against its own missiles, effectively undermining its nuclear deterrence capabilities against the US.
From a global perspective, Cai said, the US's insistence on developing its missile defence programme could trigger "an arms race at a high level, even to outer space."
Speaking on a panel during the forum, Russian deputy defence minister Anatoly Antonov also slammed the agreement.
"We are concerned about the attempts of certain nations to exploit the complex situation in the Korean peninsula," he said, "pumping this sub-region with clearly excessive defence capabilities."
The decision has "aggravated regional tension" and "adds problems to solving the situation."
North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test last month, drawing international censure and a push to put further sanctions on the isolated country.
- Flashpoint for conflict -
Tuesday's meeting -- themed on "building a new type of international relations" -- followed a year of growing tension in the region, primarily centred on Beijing's actions in the strategically vital South China Sea, where it has built islands capable of supporting military facilities.
China's defence minister Chang Wanquan opened the forum with a thinly veiled criticism of recent US involvement in Asian trouble spots.
"Some countries seek absolute military superiority, ceaselessly strengthen their military alliances, and seek their own absolute security at the costs of other countries' security," Chang told defence officials and academics at the meeting.
The US under President Barack Obama has sought to "pivot" to Asia by increasing military and economic engagement in the region, raising concerns in Beijing that Washington is working to contain the Asian giant's growing power.
Beijing says it has rights to almost the entire South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and Taiwan all have rival claims.
In July, an international tribunal said that almost all of Beijing's claims have no legal basis, a decision China attacked as biased and vowed to ignore.
Washington argues that Beijing's moves pose a challenge to freedom of navigation and has sought to challenge Beijings claims by dispatching military ships and aircraft to the area.
Addressing the forum, former Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke warned that the disputes, if not properly managed, could become "a flashpoint for US-China conflict".
"These disputes have the potential to disrupt the entire regional order," he said.
Map showing disputed claims in the South China Sea -, - (AFP Graphic)
Hundreds of troops deployed in strategic Afghan city after attack
Afghanistan has deployed hundreds of commandos backed by NATO air strikes in Lashkar Gah to drive Taliban insurgents from the southern city after the militants killed 14 people in a coordinated attack, officials said Tuesday.
The assault Monday marked the insurgents' latest attempt to seize the capital of Helmand province, underscoring unravelling security as they expand their foothold across the opium-rich province.
"More than 300 commandos... have been deployed to the city to prevent Taliban advancement," said Abdul Jabar Qahraman, government special envoy for security in Helmand.
Afghan National Army commandos load ammunition into their rifle magazines during an ongoing battle against Taliban militants in Helmand province on October 10, 2016 Noor Mohammad (AFP)
Provincial spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP the commandos were sent from Kabul and neighbouring provinces to launch a "clearance operation" in Lashkar Gah after the attack, which killed 10 policemen and four others.
"Soon the security forces will clear the whole city from Taliban," Zwak said.
"US enablers are in the area and will support as needed. Yesterday there were two air strikes in Helmand, both of these were in support of ANDSF (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) strategic operations," a NATO spokesman told AFP Tuesday.
The Taliban have waged an insurgency against the western-backed Kabul government since being toppled from power by a US-led invasion in 2001. They have intensified attacks across the country in recent months, pressuring Afghan forces on multiple fronts.
Around 30,000 people have been displaced in Helmand in recent weeks and most have fled to Lashkar Gah. But the city is practically besieged, with roads from neighbouring districts heavily mined by the insurgents.
The intervention in Helmand has fuelled the perception that foreign powers are increasingly being drawn back into the conflict as Afghan forces struggle to rein in the Taliban.
Monday's early morning assault also underscored the Taliban's sustained push into urban centres, coming a week after they briefly stormed into Kunduz in the north before being repelled by Afghan forces.
The attack began with a car bombing in an attempt to break through the security belt around Lashkar Gah and enter the city, according to officials and local residents.
Mohammad Radmanish, a defence ministry spokesman, said security forces had managed to repel the attack and push back the insurgents, but it was feared they would return.
"We have enough forces on the ground now. Afghan air force and NATO's air support is also helping our forces," he said.
- US support -
On Saturday General John Nicholson, the NATO military commander in Afghanistan, flew with the Afghan defence minister to Lashkar Gah to assure provincial elders that the city would not fall.
The Taliban effectively control or contest 10 of the 14 districts in Helmand, the deadliest province for British and US troops over the last decade and blighted by a huge opium harvest that helps fund the insurgency.
In August Washington deployed some 100 troops to Lashkar Gah, the first major US deployment to the city since foreign forces withdrew in 2014.
In recent months the militants have attempted to overrun other provincial capitals, from Kunduz and Baghlan in the north to Farah in the west, but Afghan forces have managed to repel the attacks.
On Tuesday Taliban fighters renewed their offensive against Farah, triggering heavy fighting that lasted for hours.
A regional police spokesman Abdul Ahad Walizada said security forces drove back the attack, killing over a dozen insurgents, though he admitted sporadic fighting around the city continued into the night.
NATO officially ended its combat mission in December 2014, but US forces were granted greater powers in June to strike at the insurgents as President Barack Obama vowed a more aggressive campaign.
South Korea's Park urges preparations for mass North defections
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Tuesday told her government to prepare for large-scale defections from North Korea, just days after direct appealing to its citizens to flee their country.
A recent spate of high-profile North Korean defections have provided a propaganda windfall for Seoul, which has spun them into a narrative of a Pyongyang leadership in crisis and riven with descent.
Notable defections have included the North's deputy ambassador to Britain and a rare, group escape by a dozen waitresses from a North Korean-run restaurant in China.
North Korean defectors wearing N. Korean military uniforms sit in their stall during a 'unification expo', in Seoul in 2015 Ed Jones (AFP/File)
In an address to mark Armed Forced Day earlier this month, Park had vowed to "keep the road open" for future escapees and urged North Koreans to "come to the bosom of freedom in the South."
Pyongyang's response was to call Park a "bare-faced and impudent bitch" in a commentary carried by the ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Park reiterated her defection appeal, and stressed the importance of preparing the ground for any new arrivals.
"Defectors are like unification that has arrived early, and a test bed for unification," Park said.
"I hope we can swiftly secure sufficient system and capacity to accommodate North Korean citizens who come seeking freedom," she added.
The government currently runs two resettlement centres for defectors with a combined capacity of around 1,100 people.
South Korea's top-selling Chosun Ilbo reported Saturday that the government was planning a two trillion won (US$1.8 billion) project for building a defector camp that would hold up to 100,000 people.
Citing an unnamed government official, the report said closed-down schools and new buildings would be used to accommodate an influx of North Korean refugees that could be triggered by any sudden shift in the dynamics of the North-South border.
South Korea's unification ministry, which handles cross-border affairs, declined to confirm the report.
Ties between the two Koreas are at the lowest ebb since the height of Cold War in the 1970s, with Pyongyang test-firing more than 20 missiles and carrying out two nuclear tests this year alone.
Over the years, nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression in their country and settled in the South.
Father's last embrace saves girl in China building collapse
A little girl protected by the embrace of her dead father was the last survivor pulled out of the rubble of collapsed multi-storey buildings in China, reports said Tuesday.
She was found deep in the debris of four six-storey residential buildings more than 12 hours after they crumbled in Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, killing at least 22 people, state broadcaster CCTV said.
Three-year-old Wu Ningxi survived with only minor injuries thanks to the protection offered by her young father, who was found dead after shielding her from falling rubble, it added.
Rescuers save three-year-old Wu Ningxi, who was protected by the body of her dead father more than 12 hours after four buildings collapsed in Wenzhou, eastern China
"The child was able to survive entirely thanks to the fact that her dad used his own flesh and blood to prop up a life-saving space for his daughter," a rescuer told the China Youth Daily.
The 26-year-old shoe factory worker was found under a thick cement pillar, draped over his daughter.
The family had been buried alive in their living room and the body of Wu's mother was discovered not far from the pair.
Photos showed hard-hatted rescuers lifting the girl's half-naked body from the mess of cement and fallen bricks late Monday, her hair matted with dust as they carried her out and gingerly placed her onto a stretcher.
The search through the three-storey-high debris concluded early Tuesday, the Lucheng district government said at a press conference, with 22 confirmed dead and only five survivors other than the girl rescued.
The cause of the disaster was still under investigation, CCTV said.
Recent heavy rainfall combined with the poor quality of construction and age of the buildings, built by the villagers themselves, were probable contributing factors, it cited a preliminary analysis as saying.
Neighbouring buildings constructed in the 1970s were being demolished to prevent further collapses, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The buildings had been packed with migrant workers, among them Wu's parents, hundreds of millions of whom have moved from China's countryside to its towns and cities in recent decades, their labour fuelling the country's economic boom.
Many remain poorly paid and face restrictions on buying homes in the areas where they work.
China has seen several building collapses in recent years, with some blamed on low-quality construction.
In May 16 people were reported dead after a residential building in Guizhou province in the southwest collapsed due to landslides.
Rescuers carry three-year-old Wu Ningxil from the rubble more than 12 hours after the building she was in collapsed in Wenzhou, eastern China
Ethiopia troops pull out of Somalia towns
Hundreds of Ethiopian troops pulled out of a town in central Somalia Tuesday, at least the second location vacated by their forces in recent weeks, a Somali security official said.
Security official Abdirisak Moalim Ahmed said Ethiopian soldiers present in El-Ali, Hiran region, as part of an African Union mission withdrew on Tuesday morning after artillery fire targeted their base overnight.
Nearby Shabaab militants then reoccupied the town, which lies about 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the provincial capital Beledweyne.
Somalia's El-Ali town is at least the second town Ethiopian troops have vacated in recent weeks, after abandoning nearby Moqokori Tobin Jones (AU UN IST/AFP/File)
"The Ethiopian troops pulled out of El-Ali town early this morning," said Ahmed, adding the reason for the withdrawal was unclear.
"They have headed for Beledweyne and the town is already taken by Shabaab militants," he said.
The troop movement comes just days after Ethiopia's embattled government declared a state of emergency in a bid to bring an unprecedented wave of protests under control.
El-Ali is at least the second town Ethiopian troops have vacated in recent weeks, after abandoning nearby Moqokori. No explanation has been given by the Ethiopian military while the spokesman for the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) did not respond to requests for comment.
"They continue creating vacuums and giving chances to the militants retake liberated towns," said Ahmed.
The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab militants announced the takeover of El-Ali in a message distributed via the group's Telegram account.
A resident said some townsfolk as well as Somali security forces had also abandoned the town.
Israel beefs up security for Yom Kippur holiday
Israel boosted security and barred Palestinians from entering from the occupied West Bank or the Gaza Strip ahead of the solemn Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur that began Tuesday evening.
Thousands of Jews visit the Western Wall in east Jerusalem's Old City around Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, which ends on Wednesday evening.
The same measures were taken for last week's Rosh Hashanah holiday and will be imposed again for next week's Sukkot festival.
Thousands of Jews visit the Western Wall in east Jerusalem's Old City during Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, which ends on Wednesday evening Menahem Kahana (AFP/File)
Last year's holiday period led to clashes and marked the start of an upsurge in Palestinian gun, knife and car-ramming attacks.
Israeli security forces are on especially high alert after a Palestinian gunman killed two people in Jerusalem on Sunday.
Israeli soldiers shot dead a 20-year-old Palestinian man, Ali Shiouki, after clashes broke out Tuesday in the Silwan area of east Jerusalem, according to Palestinian officials.
More than 3,000 police are being deployed in the city for Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, and police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said roadblocks had also been mounted.
On Monday night, tens of thousands of Jews crowded into the square around the Western Wall, Rosenfeld said.
Prayers led by Israel's two chief rabbis began shortly after midnight and continued until sunrise for some worshippers, in one of the largest Jewish ceremonies of the year.
Moshe Cohen, a 19-year-old from Jerusalem, said the ceremony was among the most important days in the Jewish calendar.
"You pray and you get free (of) all the bad things you do," he said. "You feel connected to God."
- Shooting rampage -
Cohen said he felt the number of faithful was roughly similar to last year. Rosenfeld did not provide a specific figure.
Many Palestinian shops in the Old City were closed.
Near the Lions' Gate entry to the Old City, used by many Palestinians, Israeli forces erected a temporary barrier stopping cars from going further.
Closures of the Palestinian territories are often put in place for major Jewish holidays.
This week's lockdown applies only to Palestinians and not the roughly 400,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Gaza is always under an Israeli blockade, though some crossings are usually allowed for work or medical purposes.
Humanitarian and urgent medical cases will be allowed during the holiday, the army said.
Beyond visits to the Western Wall, the holidays also see more Jews visit the adjacent Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
The site is holy to both Muslims and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
It is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing Israel may one day seek to assert further control over it.
On Sunday, a 39-year-old Palestinian who saw himself as an Al-Aqsa protector went on a shooting rampage in Jerusalem, killing two Israelis.
The attacker, Misbah Abu Sbeih, who was reportedly scheduled to begin a prison term on the same day, was killed by police after he fled into an east Jerusalem neighbourhood.
- Thwarted bus attack? -
Hamas welcomed the attack and said Abu Sbeih was a member, but did not claim responsibility for it.
Overnight the army sealed off a sweet shop owned by members of his family, saying it was affiliated with Hamas, police said.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities announced they had arrested a Palestinian, Mohamed Joulani, last month on suspicion of planning a suicide attack on a bus in Pisgat Zeev, an Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem, on behalf of Hamas.
In addition, the army said it had demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian sentenced to life in prison for shooting dead an Israeli couple in front of their children a year ago.
The home of Amjad Aliwi, a third-floor apartment in the West Bank city of Nablus, was blown up overnight, Palestinian police said.
The army says Aliwi was part of a Hamas cell responsible for the October 1, 2015 attack on the settler couple in the West Bank.
Israel regularly demolishes the homes of attackers in a bid to deter violence.
Palestinians and rights groups say the measure amounts to collective punishment since family members are forced to suffer for the acts of others.
Samsung Note 7 nightmare puts firm's brand on trial
Samsung's new smartphone was launched with the expectation of scaling new heights in a highly competitive, rarified market. Instead it has left the company staring into the abyss.
What initially seemed to be a technical glitch in a few devices swiftly turned into a full-blown crisis that looks set to inflict incalculable damage on the South Korean electronics powerhouse in a market where brand confidence and loyalty are paramount.
So serious did the problem become with the Galaxy Note 7 and its exploding batteries that Samsung finally bit the bullet Tuesday and announced it was scrapping the model entirely.
A burnt-out Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone photographed in Gwangju, South Korea
The move could have devastating consequences given that the large-sized Note series, along with the Galaxy S smartphones, are Samsung's flagship bearers in the fierce battle with arch-rival Apple's iPhones for supremacy in the high-end handset market.
The world's largest smartphone maker announced a global recall of 2.5 million Note 7s on September 2 -- a decisive move that initially seemed to have limited the damaging fallout.
But the wheels came off the whole recall process as reports emerged of replacement phones also catching fire, prompting a number of major global distributors to halt all sales and exchanges of the device.
- 'Worst-case scenario' -
"This is the worst-case scenario for Samsung," said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research.
"To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: To lose one version of a product to a battery issue may be considered misfortune; to lose two begins to look like carelessness," Dawson said.
Analysts have suggested the recall disaster could end up costing Samsung more than $10 billion, but the larger concern will be the long-term impact on its overall brand.
Samsung Electronics' mobile division may have driven its global rise, but the vast company is extremely diverse with a product line ranging from memory chips and display panels to washing machines, TVs and fridges.
Its success has been built, in large part, on its ability to marry cutting-edge technology with large-scale output to produce reliable, high-quality goods across a wide price range.
The initial recall of the Note 7 alone was always bound to have some brand impact, but it would have been limited if the problem was perceived as an exception.
- Damaging pattern -
But analysts said the issue with the replacement devices hinted at a pattern rather than a one-off -- a far more damaging problem from a brand perspective.
"To be in a situation where you claim to have identified the issue and solved it, only for the exact same issue to pop up again, is not a good look for a company of Samsung's size," Dawson said.
"The perceptions that flow from this may well spill over into other parts of their product portfolio," he said.
The crisis has raised questions over Samsung's management and decision-making abilities at a time when the family-run conglomerate is negotiating a delicate generational change of leadership.
Lee Kun-Hee, the head of Samsung Electronics as well as the parent Samsung Group, has been bedridden since suffering a heart attack in 2014.
So the pressure and the spotlight are very much on the 48-year-old vice chairman and heir apparent J.Y. Lee, son of the older Lee, who was nominated to the Samsung Electronics board just days after the initial Note 7 recall was announced.
- Apple pressure -
Greg Roh, an analyst at HMC Investment Securities, said the management -- with all eyes on the imminent launch of Apple's iPhone 7 -- may have miscalculated in offering replacements with the recall.
"I think Samsung rushed into handing out new phones when it should have taken more time for a thorough investigation," Roh said.
"It was under too much pressure to dominate the market before the launch of iPhone 7," he added.
The nightmare scenario for Samsung now, Roh said, would be Note 7 owners taking the refund offered by Samsung and swapping to the iconic Apple handset.
"The reason consumers prefer brands like Samsung and Apple is because of product reliability.
"The impact of the Note 7 will carry on to Samsung's next smartphone model. Overall, brand damage is inevitable and it will be costly for Samsung to turn that around again," he said.
Samsung finally bit the bullet Tuesday and announced it was scrapping the Galaxy Note 7 model entirely Jung Yeon-Je (AFP/File)
An advertisement for Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 device in Seoul on October 11, 2016 Ed Jones (AFP)
Thai junta appeals for calm after car bomb plot alert
Thailand's junta chief appealed for calm Tuesday after police warned of a plot to target Bangkok with car bombs, sparking a security alert across the capital including at airports.
An unusually detailed police memo was handed to reporters on Monday warning that an unidentified group was planning to target Bangkok between October 25-30.
The memo said "areas such as malls, car parks and tourist attractions" were at risk and ordered police to be extra-vigilant.
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha has appealed for calm after police warned of a plot to target Bangkok with car bombs Jewel Samad (AFP/File)
In the past year Thailand has been rocked by blasts hitting its crucial tourist sector, a rare bright spot in an otherwise lacklustre economy.
The junta has refused to label the assaults terrorist attacks and has played down suggestions tourists are being deliberately targeted.
"Let officials carry out their jobs and please be confident in their work," Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who seized power in 2014, told reporters.
He said the bomb plot was an "ongoing warning" and an investigation was underway but told people not to panic.
Security was stepped up at Bangkok's main airport Tuesday and police were deployed to search cars parked in some of the capital's luxury malls.
For more than a decade Thailand has had a notoriously turbulent domestic political scene and a festering Muslim Malay insurgency in its far south.
Until recently foreigners had largely avoided being caught up in the violence. But in early August coordinated blasts struck multiple places in Thailand's tourist-popular south, killing four Thais and wounding dozens including foreign visitors.
A year earlier a bomb tore through a Bangkok shrine popular with Chinese visitors, killing 20 and wounding more than 100. Most of the victims were ethnic Chinese overseas visitors.
Both attacks were followed by confusing and contradictory statements from authorities, with military leaders initially keen to blame domestic political opponents.
But police now believe the multiple bomb attacks in August this year were carried out by Muslims from the "Deep South".
Shadowy militants have waged a 12-year fight there for more autonomy but rarely attack targets outside of the three southern Malay-speaking provinces.
Monday's police memo did not say who might be behind the bomb plot, though the southern insurgents have used car bombs in previous attacks.
October 25 is also the anniversary of 2004's "Tak Bai incident," when more than 80 people in the deep south died, most of them protesters crushed to death in overloaded vans after they were arrested.
The deaths lit the fuse of the current southern rebellion.
According to Thai police, last year's shrine bombing was the work of two Chinese Uighurs who are currently on trial for the attack.
Most analysts believe the bombing was revenge for Thailand's forcible deportation of 109 Uighurs back to China, where rights groups say they face significant repression.
Thai authorities maintain the attack was not political and was carried out by a passport forgery gang angry at a policing crackdown.
The second Monday in October is Columbus Daya federal holiday since the 1930s that commemorates Christopher Columbus four voyages from Spain to the Americas.
But in more school districts, cities, and states, Columbus Day is being replaced by Indigenous Peoples Day, a holiday commemorating Native American people and culture.
The Rochester , Plattsburgh , and Niagara-Wheatfield school districts in New York and Amherst schools in Massachusetts are among the districts where school boards voted to change the celebration this year. Theyre following the lead of school districts like Seattle , which began celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day in 2014.
Columbus role in history and history classrooms has long been controversial. In 1992, the 500th anniversary of one of Columbus voyages, Education Week reported on the tension that social studies teachers felt as they strove to acknowledge the historical significance of Columbus voyages and the devastating impact of colonialism on the civilizations and people who were in America before his arrival.
The move to celebrate indigenous peoples history, and clarify the role of Christopher Columbus, started at a United Nations Conference in 1977 and was later taken up by activists in state and city governments. The City of Berkeley declared Indigenous Peoples Day in 1992, the 500th anniversary of one of Columbus voyages. Since then, other governments have followed suit. This year alone, several cities and states, including Denver, Phoenix, Vermont, and Alaska, have also started marking Indigenous Peoples Day.
Students have led the charge in several cities: In Plattsburgh, students presented a case for Indigenous Peoples Day to the school board after a history project on the role of Columbus. (This is also an example of a growing trend toward inquiry-based education that aims to tie students education to their world outside of the classroom.)
In some places, efforts to change the holiday have attracted pushback. In Omaha, the World-Herald reports that some Italian Americans oppose getting rid of a holiday they say celebrates the American spirit of exploration and sacrifice and the contributions of Italian Americans.
Leo Killsback, an assistant professor of American Indian Studies at Arizona State University and a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, told CNN that the new holiday acknowledges that indigenous peoples and their voices are important in todays conversations.
The wave of districts, cities, and states switching from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day comes as a standoff between a coalition of Native Americans and the federal government over an oil pipeline in North Dakota has brought the contemporary issues facing Native Americans and their historical context into the national spotlight . The Bureau of Indian Education is also in the midst of a reorganization after being called out for failing to run quality schools .
Outside of Columbus Day, more states are looking at how to engage Native American students and incorporate their history and culture in schools. The High Country News recently reported on a new effort to bring culturally relevant education to Native American students in New Mexico. Washington State and Montana are also home to statewide efforts to teach the history of Native Americans in public schools .
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Arab Fashion Week closes with Warhol-inspired designs
French-Lebanese designer Ingie Chalhoub has closed a busy Arab Fashion Week with a collection inspired by American pop art icon Andy Warhol.
Her models strutted down the catwalk in pleated skirts and blouses and disco-style dresses and jackets, all in a mix of bright red, fuchsia, blue and black.
"My design is all about the Parisian chic woman who is travelling all over the world," Chalhoub told AFP after the show late Monday at a luxurious Dubai hotel.
A model presents a creation by French-Lebanese designer Ingie Chalhoub during the Arab Fashion Week in the United Arab Emirate of Dubai on October 10, 2016
This "woman is very feminine and glamorous," said the blonde designer, wearing a long black-and-blue skirt with a black top.
"This collection was mostly inspired by an exhibition I saw in Paris from Andy Warhol and as I'm very fond of him I wanted to take back his drawings and his paintings and to make out of them some fabrics and some designs," she said.
Chalhoub says she designs the prints she wants on her fabrics "very carefully".
"I play a lot with the fabrics and I play also on the print," she said, adding that among her favourite combinations is matte crepe with the contrasting brilliance of satin.
Palestinian designer Jamal Taslaq's show preceded the closing act, featuring gowns in traditional Palestinian patterns as models walked out to the music of Lebanese composer and oud player Marcel Khalife.
Italian designer Giada Curti also presented a colourful Spring-Summer 2017 collection with floral prints and stripes.
In its third edition, the fashion week presented more than 20 collections from more than 10 countries.
The show shed light on designs by Gulf women, such as Lamya Abedin from the United Arab Emirates, Alanoud Al-Attiya from Qatar who refused to appear on stage or camera, and Jeans Couture by a Saudi mother and daughter duo.
It also presented the first ever Emirati model, Rafeea al-Hajsi.
- 'Very different' -
Organised by the Arab Fashion Council, which represents the 22 countries of the Arab League, the week aims to attract fashion-conscious women from the Gulf, as well as luxury buyers from Russia and China.
Alina Cocci, who came from Milan to attend the week, told AFP after Chalhoub's show that she found the Arab designers "amazing".
"They're very particular. They have this oriental touch that we Europeans don't have, so this is something interesting," said the Italian, who works in the fashion industry.
She did however criticise the "organisation" of the event, with shows being delayed for at least an hour-and-a-half every day, adding that unlike in Paris and Milan, Arab Fashion Week has attracted a limited audience.
Russian artist and fashion illustrator Alena Ogden said that "it's very different from other countries," with more evening gowns on display.
Designers showcasing their pieces at the Dubai show "know their clients very well, the Arab women, so that's why it's all... gowns (that are) so bright, shiny, and extravagant but not much street fashion."
Asked if she had Arab customers in mind when designing her collection, Chalhoub insisted that "today there is no such fashion that is only for the Middle East or only for Paris."
"With the internet... fashion is becoming more and more global."
French-Lebanese designer Ingie Chalhoub closed the Arab Fashion Week in Dubai with a collection inspired by American pop art icon Andy Warhol Pietro D'Aprano (Courtesy of Arab Fashion Week/AFP)
Organised by the Arab Fashion Council, which represents the 22 countries of the Arab League, the week aimed to attract fashion-conscious women from the Gulf, as well as luxury buyers from Russia and China Karim Sahib (AFP)
Djokovic wins Shanghai Masters opener, relaxed over Federer record
A new-look Novak Djokovic said he had given up on chasing Roger Federer's record 17 Grand Slam titles as he made a winning return to the tennis circuit on Tuesday.
Djokovic, the formerly indomitable Serb who has bullied his rivals over the past two seasons, said he had undergone a radical rethink after his travails of recent months.
The 29-year-old said he no longer saw protecting his world number one ranking, now under threat from Andy Murray, as his priority, or breaking Federer's all-time record.
World number one Novak Djokovic serves against Fabio Fognini of Italy at the Shanghai Masters on October 11, 2016 Johannes Eisele (AFP)
The 12-time Grand Slam-winner beat Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-3 at the Shanghai Masters in his first match back after skipping last week's China Open with an elbow injury.
"Right now, no," he said, when asked if surpassing Federer's 17 major titles was still one of his goals. "I don't think about that at all.
"I don't think about any trophies or number ones in the world, rankings, anything like that. It's completely different.
"It is there, because I play partly because I enjoy being successful and seeing the results of my work. But on the other hand that comes second."
Djokovic has been in a funk since completing a career Grand Slam -- and a run of four straight major titles -- at the French Open in June.
The Serb, who has admitted having "private issues", lost in Wimbledon's third round, and then failed to win a match at the Rio Olympics before finishing runner-up at the US Open.
- 'Wanted it too much' -
He said he had had a complete change of heart about his approach to tennis because the "must-win mindset... is not working for me any more".
"I try to be in this moment and take things slowly, and, you know, I'm not rushing anywhere. I'm not in a need, you know, to achieve anything," he said.
"I feel like I have overcome that step. Right now it's about just, you know, following my gut, following my instinct, whatever I feel like doing."
He added: "Just before I arrived to Olympic Games, things were looking great, I was in great shape. I won Toronto. You know, I was, as I can say, the peak of my abilities.
"I was extremely motivated to do well there, but I lost that equilibrium. I lost that balance, because I exaggerated with the way I pushed myself in that kind of preparation and I really, you know, wanted it too much maybe."
The mental revamp is astonishing from a player who has long pushed himself to the limit in pursuit of perfection -- but who didn't have to stretch himself against Italy's Fognini.
A lone break of serve was enough for Djokovic to win the first set and Fognini matched the Serb with strong baseline play until 3-3 in the second set.
But Fognini's serve deserted him as he double-faulted to hand over a break, and then again for three match points, before sealing his fate with his seventh and final double.
Djokovic gave the Italian a wry smile of sympathy as they shook hands. The defending champion will play Grigor Dimitrov or Vasek Pospisil in the third round.
- Alexander the Great -
Earlier outspoken Australian Nick Kyrgios said he had to stifle yawns as he dispatched Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4 to tot up his sixth win in a row.
Kyrgios said he was "bored" and tired after last week's exertions at the Japan Open, where he lifted the third trophy of his season and career on Sunday.
"I was just a little bit bored at times," he said, when asked why he wasn't his usual vocal self on court. "I was feeling very tired today."
Juan Martin del Potro has also been in strong form but his tournament was quickly over when he was dumped out by Belgian seed David Goffin 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in 2hr 18min.
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov beat French seed Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4 as he bounced back quickly from losing Sunday's China Open final to Andy Murray.
Germany's Alexander Zverev, 19, heightened his growing reputation when he beat eighth-seeded former US Open champion Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
But Australia's Bernard Tomic said his season might be over after he retired with an abdominal problem while 3-6, 3-0 down against Roberto Bautista.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic arrives for his match against Fabio Fognini of Italy at the Shanghai Masters on October 11, 2016 Johannes Eisele (AFP)
David Goffin of Belgium celebrates after victory against Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in the first round of the Shanghai Masters on October 11, 2016 Johannes Eisele (AFP)
Jailed Chinese activist wins top rights prize for Uighur work
A jailed Chinese scholar defending the country's mostly-Muslim Uighur minority won a leading human rights honour on Tuesday, a move swiftly condemned by Beijing.
Ilham Tohti, serving a life sentence for "separatism", was awarded the Martin Ennals prize for his criticism of Beijing's policies towards Uighurs in western China's Xinjiang region.
The award foundation lauded his decades-long effort "to foster dialogue and understanding between Uighurs and Han Chinese" and his rejection of extremist rhetoric.
Ilham Tohti, photographed in 2010, has been an outspoken critic of Beijing's policies towards the Uighur minority in their home region of Xinjiang Frederic J. Brown (AFP/File)
Xinjiang has seen a security crackdown in recent years, prompted by clashes that left hundreds dead.
The 47-year-old university professor began writing about abuses in Xinjiang in 1994, leading Beijing to target him with official surveillance.
Chinese authorities later prohibited him from teaching or publishing.
He launched a blog -- Uyghurbiz.net -- in 2006, which ultimately triggered a tough government reaction.
After Ilham Tohti posted details of Uighurs who had been arrested and killed he was confined to house arrest and hit with a travel ban.
In 2014, he was sentenced to life in prison by a court in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang.
- 'The worst situation' -
During his trial, Ilham Tohti rejected claims he was advocating an independent Uighur state, insisting that his only goal was to safeguard his people's basic rights.
"The real shame of this situation is that by eliminating the moderate voice of Ilham Tohti the Chinese government is in fact laying the groundwork for the very extremism it says it wants to prevent", Martin Ennals Foundation chairman Dick Oosting said in a statement.
Ilham Tohti's daughter, Jewher Ilham, told journalists at the United Nations in Geneva that her family had visited her father in prison earlier this year and reported that he had lost a significant amount of weight and his hair had turned grey.
Supervision by prison authorities constrained what relatives could tell the detained activist, said Jewhar Ilhan, who is studying in the US state of Indiana.
It is unlikely her father even knows he was nominated for the Ennals prize, the 22-year-old added.
Asked about whether the award might worsen her father's treatment by attracting attention to his case, Jewher Ilham said: "my father has already been given a life sentence."
"This is already the worst situation we can have," she added.
- 'Root cause of hatred' -
The Martin Ennals foundation is named after the first secretary general of Amnesty International and the 30,000 Swiss franc ($30,000, 27,000 euros) prize is judged by the London-based rights group, along with Human Rights Watch and other leading organisations.
China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang slammed their decision, saying "there is clear evidence of Ilham Tohti's wrongdoings."
"In his class, he hailed suspects who launched terrorist attacks as 'heroes'," Geng said in a statement. "His case has nothing to do with human rights."
The World Uyghur Congress, an exile group, said the prize should serve as "a reminder to the Chinese government."
"Suppressing those who uphold universal values is absolutely wrong and is the root cause of hatred and conflict," the group's spokesman Dilxat Raxit said in an email to AFP.
The other finalists -- awarded 10,000 Swiss francs each -- included Syrian Razan Zaitouneh, who documented violations in the country's civil war before she was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in 2013.
She was taken from an area near Damascus that was controlled by the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) and some blame the group for her abduction.
Also nominated was a collective of Ethiopian bloggers called Zone 9, a name inspired by the country's notorious Kality prison which has eight zones and where political prisoners and journalists are often held.
Last year's Martin Ennals laureate was Ahmed Mansoor, who has campaigned for human rights in the United Arab Emirates.
Floods prompt evacuations in North Carolina
Residents in central North Carolina were told late Monday to evacuate their homes amid fears that rising floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew could breach a dam, adding to a storm toll of 11 dead.
Officials in Moore county ordered a mandatory evacuation ahead of an imminent breach of Woodlake Dam, WRAL TV reported. Evacuations have also been ordered for two more counties along the Neuse River.
Earlier Monday, Governor Pat McCrory said the storm's effects had killed 11 in the state, with three people still missing.
A car drives past a fallen stop sign in Savannah, Georgia, after Hurricane Matthew hit the United States, on October 8, 2016 Nicholas Kamm (AFP/File)
"A lot of people are hurting right now in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew and the devastation is beyond words," he told a news conference.
"Floodwaters are rising very quickly," he added, with water knee-deep in many places.
"We do have people on the roofs as we speak, and we have a lot of helicopters and boats that have been deployed that are, at this point in time, rescuing them."
Most of those killed died when floods carried their cars off roads, WTVD reported officials as saying.
Several rivers broke their banks on Monday after up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) of rain fell in some places, the National Weather Service reported.
Water from the Lumber River poured into the southern city of Lumberton early on Monday, leaving some 1,500 people stranded, McCrory said.
Water is expected to keep rising in some rivers as floods move downstream.
The authorities have declared a federal disaster in 31 counties.
In Moore county, officials said the dam breach could cause as much as two to three feet (60-90 centimeters) additional flooding for those downstream.
Emergency crews have rescued at least 1,400 people since Hurricane Matthew struck the state last week.
Ethiopia PM seeks to 'reform electoral system' after protests
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said Tuesday his government wants to reform an electoral system which has excluded the opposition, in response to months of bloody protests.
Hailemariam met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel just days after declaring a six-month state of emergency following a protest movement against his one-party regime, which is accused of marginalising the country's largest ethnic groups.
"We want to reform the electoral system so the voices of those who are not represented can also be heard in the parliament," Hailemariam said.
Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn Zacharias Abubeker (AFP/File)
"Because of this electoral system 51 percent of votes is enough to win all the seats."
Under Ethiopia's current system, Hailemariam's ruling coalition took every one of the 546 seats in parliament during last year's election.
His regime currently faces its biggest challenge in the 25 years since coming to power.
When he succeeded Ethiopia's former Marxist rebel-turned-leader Meles Zenawi, who died in 2012, Hailemariam said he was committed to opening up the country's political system to allow more space for opposition parties.
However international rights organisations regularly criticise his government for cracking down on dissenting voices, keeping a stranglehold on the media and intimidating the opposition during election campaigns.
"Our democratisation process is still nascent. It's fledgling... We want to go further in opening up political space and engagement with civil society groups," said Hailemariam.
Merera Gudina, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federal Congress, said Hailemariam's promises were "too little, too late".
"We have been demanding this for several years. They are always promising things for the consumption of the international community but it's never implemented," he told AFP.
"The people are demanding more than what can be done four years from now. They want fundamental changes: a transitional unity government where all stakeholders will be included."
- Germany offers police training -
Merkel, who is on a three-nation Africa tour aimed at fighting terrorism and stemming the migrant influx to Europe, told Hailemariam that a "vibrant democracy needs opposition, it needs free media. People want to express their views".
Since the state of emergency was announced on Sunday, Ethiopia has restricted access to internet, which is used by protesters to organise themselves.
The country's Oromo and Amhara communities -- which together make up 60 percent of the population -- have been protesting for nearly a year against marginalisation by a government largely made up of minority Tigrayans, which controls power and the economy.
Merkel called for "open talks" with the opposition and offered Ethiopian police training from the German interior ministry in the use of appropriate force.
Rights groups say at least 500 protesters have been killed in a police crackdown on demonstrations.
"I offered that we have a dialogue via our ministries of interior on how police can be trained so that not so many die when there are such riots," said Merkel.
The protests, which first began in November 2015, threaten Ethiopia's reputation as an oasis of political stability, as well as its double-digit growth, a magnet for foreign investment.
The latest surge in violence came after police fired tear gas at protesters attending an Oromo religious festival on October 2, sparking panic in a massive crowd and triggering a stampede that left over 50 dead.
Putin cancels visit to Paris in heated Syria row
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday cancelled a visit to France in a furious row over Moscow's role in the Syrian conflict.
The announcement from the Kremlin came a day after French President Francois Hollande said Syrian forces had committed a "war crime" in the battered city of Aleppo with the support of Russian air strikes.
Putin had been due in Paris on October 19 to inaugurate a spiritual centre at a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower, but Hollande had insisted his Russian counterpart also took part in talks with him about Syria.
Putin had been due in Paris on October 19 to inaugurate a spiritual centre at a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower, but Hollande insisted his Russian counterpart also took part in talks with him about Syria Ozan Kose (AFP)
The unprecedented cancellation of a visit so close to being finalised is a "serious step... reminiscent of the Cold War", said Russian foreign policy analyst Fyodor Lukyanov.
"This is part of the broader escalation in the tensions between Russia and the West, and Russia and NATO," he told AFP.
Russia has been waging a punishing aerial bombing campaign in Syria for more than a year in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces, part of a multi-front war that has claimed some 300,000 lives and seen Moscow further estranged from the West.
The French president had admitted he was agonising over whether to meet Putin, but the Kremlin on Tuesday called off the visit.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin was "ready to visit when it is comfortable for President Hollande", adding that Moscow would "wait for when that comfortable time comes".
Hollande responded that he was prepared to meet Putin "at any time... to further peace".
Speaking in Strasbourg, Hollande said France and Russia had had a "major disagreement" over Syria.
"It is necessary to have dialogue with Russia but it must be firm and frank," Hollande told the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe rights body.
Thomas Gomart, head of the French International Relations Institute (IFRI), said the optics of a Putin visit at this time would be "explosive".
He said the cancellation was the "culmination of a divergence that has been widening" for some months between France and Russia.
- 'Outrage' fatigue -
Outspoken British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson waded into the row, calling for anti-war campaigners to protest outside the Russian embassy in London.
Johnson said the "wells of outrage are growing exhausted" and anti-war groups were not expressing sufficient outrage at the conflict in Aleppo.
"Where is the Stop the War Coalition at the moment? Where are they?" he said during a parliamentary debate.
On Saturday, Russia blocked a draft French UN resolution calling for an end to the barrage of air strikes on the rebel-held east of Aleppo that have escalated in the last month, leaving hundreds of people dead, including dozens of children.
It was the fifth time that Russia used its veto to block UN action to end the five-year war in Syria that has sent millions fleeing and triggered the biggest migration crisis in Europe since World War II.
In the aftermath of that decision, Hollande described the bombing of Aleppo as a "war crime".
He said in a TV interview on Monday: "Those who commit these acts will have to pay for their involvement, including at the International Criminal Court."
On Tuesday, at least 12 civilians were killed in the heaviest Russian bombardment in days of Aleppo, a monitoring group said.
An AFP correspondent and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported it was the most intense bombing since the Syrian army said on October 5 it would reduce its onslaught on the northern city.
Despite cancelling his visit to Paris, Putin is still considering travelling to Berlin on October 19 for a meeting on the conflict in Ukraine, one of his aides told Itar-Tass on Monday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed the meeting along the lines of the so-called Normandy format, bringing together Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, with the possible participation of Hollande.
But it is uncertain whether Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is prepared to take part.
The outbreak of the Ukraine crisis in 2014 eventually prompted France to cancel the delivery to Russia of two Mistral assault ships and repay almost 950 million euros ($1.1 billion).
The ships were subsequently sold to Egypt.
Speaking in Strasbourg on October 11, 2016, French President Francois Hollande said France and Russia have had a "major disagreement" over Syria Frederick Florin (AFP)
'Five children killed' by rebel fire on southern Syria school
At least five children were killed by rebel fire on a school in the southern Syrian city of Daraa on Tuesday, state media said.
"Five children were killed and 15 wounded in terrorist shelling of a primary school in the Al-Sahary neighbourhood of Daraa," state news agency SANA reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, also reported the rocket fire on the school, saying at least six people had been killed, five of them children.
A boy rides a bicycle past a destroyed building in the rebel-held city of Daraa, in southwestern Syria, on September 27, 2016 Mohamad Abazeed (AFP/File)
It said that at least 25 people were wounded in the attack, and that the death toll was likely to rise because a number of the wounded were in critical condition.
Rebel forces control most of Daraa province, but the provincial capital is largely controlled by the government.
No forgiveness for brother who killed Pakistani star: parents
The father of murdered Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch has vowed no forgiveness for his son, who killed his daughter on the pretext of "honour", after her death cast a global spotlight on the practice.
Pakistan last week passed long-awaited legislation aimed at closing loopholes which allowed murderers like Baloch's brother Waseem to walk free, with hundreds of women killed in defence of the family "honour" in the conservative country each year.
Rights activists, who for years called for tougher laws to tackle violence against women, have praised the move as a step forward though lawyers criticised the amendments for not going far enough.
Waseem (right), brother of Qandeel Baloch, a social media celebrity, is escorted by police after arrest in Multan on July 16, 2016 S S Mirza (AFP)
"There is no pardon from our side," Baloch's father Muhammad Azeem told AFP this weekend, calling for his son and the three men accused with him to be punished "at the earliest. They should get life imprisonment or death -- I will feel happy."
He and his wife, Baloch's mother Anwar Mai, said they had been unaware of the change in the law, which came three months after their daughter's death sparked revulsion in Pakistan and abroad.
Their son, Mai said, had not understood the repercussions the murder would have.
The death of Baloch, judged by many in the country as infamous for selfies and videos that by Western standards would appear tame, reignited polarising calls for action after her brother admitted killing her.
"I am not embarrassed at all over what I did," he told media at a defiant press conference in July, calling his sister's behaviour "intolerable".
His mother said this weekend that he had thought his parents would become the only complainants in the case, which under previous legislation would have allowed him to escape punishment if his family had forgiven him.
Waseem thought he would be imprisoned for just "two to three months and then after he will be free, he was not aware that this would become a high-profile case," Mai told AFP.
Lawyers told AFP the wording of the legislation, aimed at mandating a life sentence for honour killings, still leaves too much up to a judge's discretion.
"There is a danger that it can be interpreted to mean that this only applies in cases when there is a disagreement over pardon of the offencer," said criminal law professor Abira Ashfaq.
"Unfortunately, the lawmakers have not made it an uncategorically uncompoundable offence. They have only made the penalties heavier."
"If the lawmakers wanted to make life imprisonment compulsory for honor killing, all they had to do was to state the same," said senior lawyer Anees Jillani.
In practice, Ashfaq added, most such cases are settled by police before they even reach court.
"We need to change the culture ... It would take a few high-profile prosecutions covered by media."
The language must also be changed, Ashfaq said.
"We should call it something negative -- patriarchal/misogynist crime, rather than 'honour' killing, which associates a positive value with this type of crime."
"Honour killings" in Pakistan came under the spotlight with the killing of Qandeel Baloch, a polarising social media star
Philippines' Duterte says to visit China
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he would soon visit China and hoped also to travel to Russia, as he again criticised longtime ally the United States for "arrogance".
The mission to China will be Duterte's first outside of Southeast Asia since assuming the presidency on June 30, in a symbolic move highlighting the importance he places on improving ties with Beijing that soured over competing claims to the South China Sea.
"China has repeatedly invited me. I have accepted the offer," Duterte said in a speech at the presidential palace.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gave no specific dates for visiting China, but said it would take place before he went to Japan Ted Aljibe (AFP/File)
He gave no specific dates for the visit, but said it would take place before he went to Japan from October 25 to 27.
Duterte said he had originally planned to visit Japan, the Philippines' biggest source of foreign aid, ahead of China.
However he explained that Japan offered a "definite" date, then China told Duterte there was a "vacancy" earlier and so he accepted.
Duterte also said that, after Japan, "probably I will go to Russia".
Duterte has looked to build closer ties with China and Russia, while launching repeated tirades against the United States, the Philippines' former colonial ruler and defence ally.
His tirades have been largely in response to US criticism of Duterte's war on crime, which has claimed more than 3,300 lives and raised fears about extrajudicial killings.
Duterte has cancelled joint patrols with the United States in the South China Sea, said he may scrap a defence pact that allows thousands of US troops to rotate through the Philippines, and threatened to eventually cut ties completely.
Duterte has also branded US President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" for expressing concern about human rights in the drug war.
In contrast, he has described Chinese leader Xi Jinping as "a great president", and praised China and Russia for showing respect in not criticising his crime crackdown.
- 'Arrogant' allies -
Duterte on Tuesday gave another lengthy critique of the United States, branding the nation as "arrogant" and powerless to stop Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.
He also said the Philippines gained nothing from holding military exercises with the United States, which have been a mainstay of the defence relationship.
"What's the point? They are the only ones benefiting. We are not," he said, as the allies wrapped up a week of war games involving about 2,000 troops in the Philippines.
Duterte had said they were to be the last of his six-year term, putting on ice the 28 exercises they hold annually.
The Philippines had long been regarded as one of Washington's most loyal allies in Asia, with the two nations bound by a mutual defence pact signed in 1951.
Duterte's predecessor Benigno Aquino sought to draw the United States even closer in a bid to counter Chinese efforts to take control of the South China Sea.
China claims nearly all of the sea, even waters close to the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations, and has in recent years built artificial islands capable of hosting military bases in disputed areas.
The 2014 defence agreement and the joint patrols were key to Aquino's strategy to contain China.
Aquino further angered China by filing a case with a UN-backed tribunal in 2013 against Beijing's claims to most of the sea.
In July, shortly after Duterte took office, the tribunal ruled in favour of the Philippines, saying China's claims had no legal basis and its construction of artificial islands in disputed waters was illegal.
But Duterte vowed not to "taunt or flaunt" the verdict and to seek a "soft landing" with China on the issue.
He has launched negotiations with China over the dispute, a tactic rejected by Aquino.
China has welcomed Duterte's overtures.
Nick Kyrgios 'bored' during win over Querrey at Shanghai Masters
Australia's Nick Kyrgios said he was "bored" during his straight-sets win over Sam Querrey as he extended his hot run of form at the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday.
The outspoken 21-year-old, who lifted the Japan Open trophy on Sunday, won 6-4, 6-4 in just 53 minutes as he cantered past the American world number 29 and into round two.
Afterwards Kyrgios, who is at a career-high 12th in the rankings and eyeing the top 10, suggested he wasn't at his best so soon after his long week in Tokyo.
Australia's Nick Kyrgios in action against Belgium's David Goffin during the Japan Open final in Tokyo on October 9, 2016 Kazuhiro Nogi (AFP/File)
"I was just a little bit bored at times," he said, when asked why he wasn't his usual vocal self on court. "I was feeling very tired today.
"I didn't have the greatest sleep last night and obviously got in late the day before, and the ride to the courts isn't great either.
"It was just tough. I'm just tired today, so maybe I just wanted to get the job done."
The Shanghai Masters, held at the Qi Zhong Stadium complex one hour from the city centre, is perhaps not a favourite tournament for Australia's number one.
Last year he was slapped with a $1,500 fine for an audible obscenity in a tirade in which he slammed the event as a "circus" and complained about the ball kids, according to reports.
However, Kyrgios now presents a more focused figure after teaming with British strength and conditioning expert Martin Skinner in recent weeks.
"I just trust him. He tells me what to do and I do it. I think that's one thing I've improved on the most, the off-court stuff," Kyrgios said of Skinner.
Tuesday's win was the sixth in the row for Kyrgios, who has won all three of his ATP titles this year and is in line to become Australia's first top 10 player since Lleyton Hewitt in 2006.
"It was a solid match. I wasn't feeling 100 percent, obviously tired from last week and not having so much time here so I'm pretty pleased to move forward," Kyrgios said.
Across the countrydue in part to dwindling public school enrollment in big cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroithundreds of vacant schools sit on districts balance sheets . While it is not uncommon for districts to sell those properties to real estate developersfrequently well below initial projections, a 2013 report by the Pew Charitable Trusts found St. Louis is looking to draw added benefits from the vacant schools they own: The district is looking to convert some into affordable housing for teachers.
Neither converting old schoolhouses into residencies or building subsidized housing for teachers are particularly novel ideasdistricts across the country have been engaged in both for decades. But by combining the two ideas, St. Louis hopes to tackle two problems at onceturning these liabilities into assets and also providing a new perk to their employees.
The district currently only has plans to convert one former campus into teacher housingWilkinson School, a 1920s red brick schoolhouse in a relatively affluent neighborhood, where the city meets the more prosperous surrounding suburbs the district competes for teachers with. But developers say they hope the project can serve as a model.
Wed love to see this as a pilot that could be replicated in not only other [St. Louis Public Schools] buildings, but maybe other cities and states that are struggling to retain quality teachers, said Donna Smith, one of the developers, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
A similar project is underway in Milwaukee, where the district hopes the former school could provide new teachers with not only housing, but also support and additional resources, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel .
Russia renews heavy bombing of Syria's Aleppo
Regime ally Russia carried out its heaviest strikes in days on Syria's Aleppo on Tuesday, as rebel fire killed at least five schoolchildren in the war-torn country's south.
The raids in Aleppo killed 25 civilians, a monitor said, and caused massive damage in several residential areas of the city's rebel-held east.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meanwhile cancelled a trip to Paris in a row over the violence in Syria, where Moscow is helping President Bashar al-Assad's forces in an operation to recapture all of Aleppo.
Syrian pro-government soldiers advance in Aleppo's rebel-held neighbourhood of Bustan al-Basha on October 6, 2016 George Ourfalian (AFP/File)
Syria's army announced a bid last month to retake the city, which has been divided since mid-2012.
The assault began after the collapse of a short-lived truce negotiated by Washington and Moscow, and has seen the besieged east of the city come under fierce aerial assault.
The army said last Wednesday it would reduce its bombardment, after days of attacks that killed hundreds and destroyed the largest remaining hospital in the east.
But an AFP correspondent and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported renewed heavy bombing on Tuesday.
"This is the heaviest Russian bombardment since the Syrian regime announced it would reduce the bombardment" last week, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
The 25 dead, among them four children, were killed in raids in east Aleppo including in the districts of Bustan al-Qasr and Fardos, the Observatory said.
- Children caught in crossfire -
An AFP correspondent in Bustan al-Qasr saw a multi-storey residential building that had been destroyed, its facade sheared off.
White Helmets rescuers removed two lifeless toddlers from the building and wrapped them in sheets.
Footage by the Aleppo Media Centre activist group showed a toddler, blood smeared across her face, lying on a hospital bed.
An elderly man near her wailed in pain as a team of medics bent over him, calling out instructions to the nurses.
The Britain-based Observatory -- which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information -- says it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.
Backed by Russian air raids, government forces have been advancing street by street into rebel-held parts of Aleppo.
More than 300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by government or Russian fire since the operation began, according to the Observatory.
Rebel forces were also firing on western government-held districts of Aleppo on Tuesday, with state news agency SANA reporting four dead and 14 wounded in rebel bombing of Hamdaniyeh district.
SANA also reported an unidentified number of injuries in a mortar shell attack near the famous Umayyad mosque in the Old City of Damascus.
An AFP correspondent reported intense mortar fire raining down on several neighbourhoods of the capital.
- France-Russia tensions -
Elsewhere, state media said five children were among six people killed in rebel rocket fire on a primary school in the southern city of Daraa.
The Observatory also reported the deaths, saying at least 25 people were wounded and the death toll could rise.
Rebels hold most of Daraa province, but the regional capital is largely controlled by the government.
The assault on Aleppo has sparked international condemnation, with fears for the fate of more than 250,000 civilians trapped inside the east of the city since the government imposed a siege in mid-July.
French President Francois Hollande Sunday described the Aleppo campaign as a war crime, a day after Moscow vetoed a French-drafted UN resolution on a halt to air strikes on the city.
In a sign of escalating tensions, the Kremlin Tuesday said Putin had called off an October 19 visit to inaugurate an Orthodox church in Paris, but was "ready to visit when it is comfortable for President Hollande".
Moscow would "wait for when that comfortable time comes," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The French presidency said it had told the Kremlin Hollande would only meet Putin for a "working meeting" on Syria.
British foreign minister Boris Johnson meanwhile called for anti-war campaigners to protest outside the Russian embassy in London.
Johnson said the "wells of outrage are growing exhausted" and anti-war groups were not expressing sufficient outrage over Aleppo.
More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011, and more than half the population has been displaced.
Map locating Aleppo afp, Thomas SAINT-CRICQ (AFP/File)
Syrian civilians and rescuers gather at the site of an air strike by government forces in the rebel held neighbourhood of Al-Shaar in Aleppo Karam al-Masri (AFP/File)
Singapore shuts second Swiss bank as 1MDB probe widens
Singapore's central bank shut down a second Swiss bank Tuesday and fined private banking giant UBS and a local lender in a widening crackdown on money-laundering linked to Malaysian state fund 1MDB.
Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank was ordered to cease operations in the city-state because of "serious failures in anti-money-laundering controls and improper conduct" by senior management both at the head office in Switzerland and the local branch, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a statement.
Separately in Switzerland, financial regulators ordered Falcon to hand over some 2.5 million Swiss francs ($2.54 million) of what they described as illegal profits, and launched "enforcement proceedings" against two unnamed former executives with the bank.
Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank has been ordered to cease operations in Singapore because of "serious failures in anti-money-laundering controls and improper conduct" Roslan Rahman (AFP/File)
Singaporean authorities arrested the bank's Singapore branch manager, Jens Sturzenegger, October 5, MAS said, adding that Falcon has been fined Sg$4.3 million (US$3.1 million) for 14 anti-money laundering breaches.
MAS also fined local bank DBS and Swiss lender UBS for breaches of anti-money laundering requirements.
Allegations of misappropriations of billions of dollars from 1MDB have triggered a corruption scandal in neighbouring Malaysia that has embroiled Prime Minister Najib Razak. Both Najib and 1MDB have strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Singapore, a regional financial hub, last year launched a probe into alleged illicit fund flows linked to a 1MDB.
Switzerland and the United States are also conducting their own investigations into 1MDB, with US Justice Department filing lawsuits to recover billions in assets it said were purchased by Najib relatives and associates with money stolen from 1MDB.
-- Banks 'blatantly misused' --
"The issues surrounding 1MDB form one of the largest cases of suspected corruption in recent times," Mark Branson, chief executive of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, said in a statement.
"The global financial system has been blatantly misused. Suspect financial flows in the billions have been shifted through banks of multiple nationalities and financial centres on three continents, and warning signals ignored."
Singapore's regulator in May kicked out Swiss bank BSI for similar violations linked to the 1MDB probe, the first time it ordered a bank to shut in 32 years.
Swiss financial regulators later dissolved the Lugano-based BSI Bank.
At least three former BSI private bankers have been charged in Singapore in relation to the investigations.
In July, Singapore authorities said they had seized nearly $180 million in assets in their 1MDB probe -- half of which is linked to Low Taek Jho, a jet-setting Malaysian financier.
Better known as Jho Low, the 34-year-old -- a close Najib family friend, who has denied any wrongdoing -- helped set up 1MDB and played a key role in its financial decisions.
Swiss financial regulator FINMA said Falcon had not checked how one of its clients, described as a "young Malaysian businessman with links to individuals in Malaysian government circles," managed to acquire assets of $135 million "in an extremely short period of time".
FINMA also said Falcon had not verified why $1.2 billion was later transferred to the account of the same client -- who they did not name.
-- 'High level of risk' --
Singapore and Zurich are key global centres for wealth management for the world's super-rich.
During its investigation from 2012 to 2015, FINMA said it found that "assets amounting to approximately $3.8 billion were transferred to accounts at Falcon and associated with the 1MDB Group".
"The business relationships and transactions booked in Switzerland and at Falcons Singapore and Hong Kong branches were unusual and involved a high level of risk for the bank both through their nature and the amounts transacted," it said.
FINMA banned Falcon from having business relations with "foreign politically exposed persons" for three years and threatened to terminate Falcon Private Bank's license if it repeated the offence.
Falcon Private Bank, which is owned by Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, said although the withdrawal of its Singapore banking license was "regrettable and disappointing, the decision will not impact the strategic development of the bank."
Last month, the Paris-based watchdog Financial Action Task Force urged Singapore to take more aggressive action against complex cross-border money laundering.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who founded state fund 1MDB, has been embroiled in alleged money laundering scandal but has strongly denied any wrongdoing Mohd Rasfan (AFP/File)
Japan train conductor rapped for blaming foreigners for congestion
A Japanese train conductor was reprimanded on Tuesday after blaming foreign tourists for overcrowding on his train.
The conductor announced on a train bound for Kansai airport in western Japan that a large number of foreign passengers had caused serious congestion, according to the Asahi Shimbun daily.
"This is causing inconvenience to Japanese passengers... please be patient for a while," he said over the intercom.
A conductor announced on a train bound for Kansai airport in western Japan that a large number of foreign passengers had caused serious congestion, according to the Asahi Shimbun daily
The conductor later told his employer Nankai Electric Railway that he "had no intention of discriminating against foreigners", according to local media.
He reportedly said he had made the announcement to "avert trouble" after hearing a Japanese passenger yelling that the foreigners were a nuisance.
The railway company apologised for the conductor's remarks.
Briton, Australian to stand trial over murder of Bali policeman
A British man and an Australian woman accused of violently bludgeoning a policeman to death on a popular Indonesian tourist strip will soon stand trial for his murder, an official said Tuesday.
David Taylor and Sara Connor face three separate charges of murder, torture and assault leading to the death of policeman Wayan Sudarsa, who was fatally bashed on a beach in Bali in August.
Police have finalised their case against the pair, meaning their trial can proceed, Taylor's lawyer Haposan Sihombing told AFP.
Briton David Taylor is escorted with his head covered at a police station in Denpasar on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on August 19, 2016 Sonny Tumbelaka (AFP/File)
"The police dossier is now complete," he said.
Ketut Maha Agung, a senior legal official at the district attorney's office in Denpasar, also confirmed the pair's trial could begin, possibly as early as next month.
If found guilty of murder, they face a maximum sentence of 15 years behind bars. The separate charges of assault leading to death and torture carry maximum sentences of 12 years and seven years, respectively.
Taylor, a DJ, told police he struck Sudarsa with a pair of binoculars during a late-night altercation on Kuta Beach, a tourist hotspot on Bali island.
The Briton believed the policeman had attacked Connor, his girlfriend from New South Wales, and tried to steal her bag.
Police say he flew into a rage and hit the policeman repeatedly over the head with a beer bottle, although his defence lawyer says he was first pushed by the officer.
The pair fled the scene, but were later tracked down after witnesses reported the incident to police.
Bali, a pocket of Hinduism in Muslim-majority Indonesia, is a popular tourist destination known for its tropical climate and palm-fringed beaches.
Myanmar buries slain police in restive Rakhine as troops pour in
Myanmar's border guard on Tuesday buried nine officers killed in mysterious raids in the western state of Rakhine, as the military tightened control over a region long scarred by violence between Buddhists and Muslims.
Uniformed officers carried the wooden coffins draped with national flags through rain and thick mud before laying them to rest in a cemetery in the town of Maungdaw.
Troops have poured into the town and surrounding area close to the Bangladesh border since the three coordinated attacks on Sunday by what authorities have described as mobs armed with knives and homemade weapons.
Myanmar border police prepare flag-draped coffins containing nine bodies of border guards killed in raids during a funeral ceremony at a cemetery in Maungdaw in Rakhine State on October 11, 2016 Khine Htoo Mrat (AFP)
Most people in the area are Muslim Rohingya, a stateless minority whom Buddhist nationalists vilify as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh -- even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.
The unrest has fuelled fears of a repeat of 2012, when more than 100 people were killed in waves of sectarian violence that drove tens of thousands of Rohingya into displacement camps.
At least four people were killed in clashes with soldiers on Monday as troops hunted for the attackers, police said. Locals put the toll at seven and said they were unarmed residents.
"People are frustrated, people are under stress, people are hopeless here," one Rohingya resident from Maungdaw, who asked not be named for his safety, told AFP.
Residents have been hiding in their houses for fear of the troops patrolling the streets, he said, warning of impending food shortages.
"We cannot go from one village to another village," he said. "Because movement is restricted and people cannot go here and there and the market is virtually closed, (food) will be a big problem for us."
- 'We dare not go out' -
Authorities have sought to calm the situation, extending a regional curfew to between 7pm and 6am, and closing some 400 schools around the area for the next two weeks.
Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has appealed for calm and several ministers and army top brass flew to Rakhine's capital Sittwe on Tuesday to try to ease tensions in nearby displacement camps.
Rumours of killings and mass arrests around Maungdaw have spread like wildfire on social media, stoking fear, but details have proved difficult to confirm in the remote and tightly controlled area.
On Tuesday residents reported sporadic gunfire in some villages to the north of Maungdaw.
One local teacher, who did not give her name, said she had been hiding in a house along with some 20 other school staff and students, too scared to come out because of the sound of gunfire.
"We haven't eaten for two days. The situation is not so good," she told AFP from Ngakhura, 42 kilometres (26 miles) from Maungdaw. "We heard fighting here and there. We do not dare to go out."
Authorities have released few details about the attackers or their motives, eight of whom were killed during Sunday's raids. Two were captured.
Pictures sent to AFP by a photographer in the area showed one of them, bedraggled and topless, being interrogated by intelligence officers in Sittwe.
Some officials have pointed the finger at the Rohingya, including a long-silent armed group called the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation, while others have blamed Bangladeshis and drug-traffickers.
Some activists said the military may be using the border attacks as a pretext to target the long-persecuted Rohingya.
"There's historical precedent for the authorities using lethal force against Rohingya in the area and we're concerned a crackdown is unfolding," said Matthew Smith, chief executive of Fortify Rights.
S. Africa's respected finance minister Gordhan set for tough fight
South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has been described as the cleverest person in government.
But he will need all his wits about him if he is to survive the country's treacherous politics and the legal system while trying to rescue the moribund economy.
Calm and measured in public, but tough behind the scenes, Gordhan, 67, has earned an international reputation for fiscal prudence and for taking a firm stand against corruption.
South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan faces prosecution over alleged fraud in 2010, in a case that many analysts have dismissed as a politically-motivated attack Mike Hutchings (Pool/AFP/File)
Now he faces prosecution over alleged fraud in 2010, in a case that many analysts have dismissed as a politically-motivated attack on him by loyalists of President Jacob Zuma.
Gordhan was suddenly re-appointed by Zuma in December last year for his second stint at the treasury.
Just days previously, the president had fired finance minister Nhlanhla Nene and replaced him with an obscure lawmaker, triggering panic among investors and a sharp drop in the rand.
Gordhan's name alone stabilised the markets, and the local currency began to recover as he stressed his intention to rein in spending, tackle graft and reduce the budget deficit.
But if the appointment pleased investors and taxpayers, it angered some Zuma associates -- and over the last year he has regularly clashed with Zuma loyalists in a public tussle for control over the public coffers.
- Tax boss -
A police investigation was revived into an allegedly illegal "spy unit" that targeted politicians during Gordhan's time as head of the tax collection department between 1999 and 2009.
On Tuesday, he was ordered to appear in court on November 2 on the related case of allegedly authorising an illegal early retirement package for a senior colleague at the department.
The court summons sent the rand tumbling.
His fate is seen as a symbol for South Africa's future, and his arrest or sacking would convince many investors and voters that the government is heading towards fiscal chaos.
Born in the port city of Durban in 1949, Gordhan's political life began as a pharmacy student at the University of Durban-Westville, an Indians-only institution established during white-minority rule.
There, he joined the anti-apartheid Natal Indian Congress, also becoming involved with the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party.
Throughout the 1980s, Gordhan was repeatedly arrested for his political activities.
He then played a pivotal role in the talks that steered South Africa towards its first democratic elections in 1994, before becoming a member of parliament for the newly elected ANC.
He was "probably the cleverest person in government", political journalist Stephen Grootes wrote in his book "SA Politics Unspun".
- 'A principled centralist' -
He was widely praised for overhauling the tax system, tripling the country's tax haul from 185 billion rand ($13 billion at current rates) in 1999 to 558 billion rand in 2009.
During that time Gordhan approved a unit to investigate tax-related crime syndicates.
Press allegations that the "spy unit" illegally monitored politicians and set up a brothel were retracted, but have refused to die down.
Promoted to finance minister in 2009, Gordhan clamped down on graft and worked to improve efficiency.
"We will not tolerate corruption; we will act forcefully against wastage," he said in his first budget address, sending a message he still repeats today.
Analyst Richard Calland called him "a principled centralist", writing in "The Zuma Years" that Gordhan won "respect from both sides of the ANC".
In 2014, he was appointed as minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs and he appeared to be heading for a peaceful retirement.
But after Zuma's extraordinary sacking of two finance ministers within a week last December -- and with a downgrade by ratings agencies on the horizon -- Gordhan was back in the action at the most volatile of times.
Now he is heading to court for an experience that could test even his phlegmatic demeanour.
US cyclist Neben wins world time-trial title
America's Amber Neben won the women's time-trial title in Qatar on Tuesday, the second time she has been crowned world champion at the event.
In an exciting and close race she posted a time of 36 mins 37:04, beating Ellen van Dijk of the Netherlands into second by six seconds, and Australia's Katrin Garfoot who was a further two seconds behind.
Neben previously won the title in 2008, in Varese, Italy.
In a close race Amber Neben (pictured) posted a time of 36 mins 37:04, beating Ellen van Dijk of the Netherlands into second by six seconds Khaled Desouki (AFP)
At 41, she becomes the second oldest women ever to win the event after France's Jeannie Longo won aged 42 in 2001.
Her victory completes a stellar year for American cycling over time-trials, after Kristin Armstrong won gold at the Rio Olympics.
Neben went out in the middle of the race in a 41-strong field and had an agonising wait to see if her time would be beaten.
"I was so nervous," said Neben afterwards.
"It was so hard watching but at the time so exciting to have won. I feel for Ellen but am so excited for myself.
She added: "This one was more special because of everything that has happened between 2008 and now."
She averaged more than 47 kilometres per hour along the 28.9 kilometre course in the Qatari capital, Doha.
Although van Dijk and Garfoot came close, the expected challenges from pre-race favourites Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands and Germany's Lisa Brennauer never materialised.
Van der Breggen finished 13th, more than two minutes behind, while Brennauer was sixth, almost a minute off the pace set by Neben.
At one stage it looked as if Annemiek Van Vleuten might complete a fairytale win after her horrific crash in Rio which left her with concussion and three cracked vertebrae.
But despite being an early leader she tailed off to finish fifth and later took to Twitter to say that she had been too "conservative" on her first lap.
Riders completed two laps of the Pearl Qatar course, an artificial island in Doha, estimated to have cost $15 billion (13.5 billion euros) to build, and home to some 12,000 people.
They set off in 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit), but despite previous complaints about the heat from riders, the relatively short distance meant that the race length was not altered.
Disappointingly for organisers, crowds for the event were sparse with large parts of the course without any spectators, despite it being the first time the event has been held in the Middle East.
Cost-cutting boosts Alcoa profits despite lower sales
On the brink of its split into two separate companies, aluminum giant Alcoa reported Tuesday a drop in third-quarter revenues on lower commodity prices and sluggish business activity.
Net earnings more than tripled due to cost-cutting efforts as the company continued to absorb the impact of shuttered smelters.
But investors were still disappointed as profits missed analyst forecasts, and the company's shares sank 9.5 percent in opening trade.
Chairman and CEO of Alcoa Klaus Kleinfeld speaks during a panel discussion of a forum at Brookings Institution in Washington, DC on February 5, 2015 Alex Wong (Getty/AFP/File)
Alcoa continues to struggle with the global industrial slump and overcapacity in the aluminum industry.
That has meant an ongoing drag on sales in its alumina and primary metals business, which will keep the "Alcoa" name when the 128-year old company splits in two on November 1.
Revenues dropped 6.5 percent to $5.2 billion, but net income for the quarter ending September 30 was $166 million, compared with $44 million in the year-ago period.
Premium value-added businesses aimed at aerospace and other growing industries -- which will be hived off into the new "Arconic" unit -- were hit by softness in the North American commercial transportation business. Alcoa also cited delays in aerospace industry deliveries.
Offsetting those problems was a solid performance in its North American automotive industry sales.
"Fundamentals in key markets remain very solid; commercial aerospace demand is strong with an order book in excess of nine years and the aluminization in automotive continues," said Alcoa chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld.
"We are well positioned to further increase our market position and profitably grow."
The higher profits reflect a series of cost-cutting measures and moves to cut capacity at less-efficient industrial facilities. Alcoa said it has achieved more than $1.1 billion in productivity savings in 2016 so far.
Earnings translated into 32 cents per share, a penny shy of expectations.
Trump lashes out at 'disloyal' Republicans
Embattled White House hopeful Donald Trump lashed out at "disloyal" Republicans in a ranting tweetstorm Tuesday, saying they are to blame if his faltering campaign comes up short.
Declaring himself unchained from party strictures, the bombastic real estate mogul publicly berated party big-wig Paul Ryan -- the speaker of the House of Representatives -- as a "weak and ineffective leader."
"It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to" Trump tweeted.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on October 10, 2016 Dominick Reuter (AFP)
Relations between the Trump campaign and party leaders have always been difficult, but they have soured considerably since Democrat Hillary Clinton began to pull away in the polls two weeks ago.
The final straw for many elected Republicans was the emergence of a video in which Trump bragged about groping women. That prompted a string of disavowals and endorsement withdrawals.
Trump further alienated allies by bringing up unproven abuse allegations against former president Bill Clinton in a Sunday debate watched by tens of millions of Americans.
Trump's angry response seems to have been prompted by Ryan effectively telling fellow Republicans to stop defending the nominee and focus on limiting electoral losses in Congress.
In a conference call on Monday, Ryan told congressional Republicans "you all need to do what's best for you in your district," according to one person who listened in.
Trump began the two hour cyber outburst by claiming "polls" had shown him to be the winner of the debate.
In fact, most scientific polls showed voters believed Hillary Clinton to be the clear winner.
"Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!" Trump tweeted.
He followed up by saying: "Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty."
Democrats "have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans."
In an ominous sign for Republicans who are worried about losing control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, Trump sounded a belligerent note.
Apple, Samsung clash in top US court patent battle
The epic patent clash between Apple and Samsung went before the US Supreme Court on Tuesday, as the smartphone giants debated the value of design in a case with major implications for the technology sector.
The eight justices on the top court appeared divided on how to resolve the complex dispute over damages the South Korean smartphone giant owes Apple for copying key design features of the iPhone.
The case arguments came as Samsung faces a fresh but unrelated crisis as it halted production of a flagship handset for safety reasons, potentially imperiling the powerhouse South Korean brand.
Samsung, which has been ordered to pay $400 million for violating certain iPhone features, is challenging the legal precedent which requires the forfeiture of all profits from a product even if only a single design patent is infringed upon Jung Yeon-Je (AFP/File)
Samsung, which has been ordered to pay $400 million for violating certain iPhone features, is challenging the legal precedent which requires the forfeiture of all profits from a product even if only a single design patent is infringed upon.
This key question on the value of design patents has rallied Samsung supporters in the tech sector, and Apple backers in the creative and design communities.
The justices Tuesday offered some support for both sides without providing a hint on the outcome of the case.
Justice Anthony Kennedy said Samsung's argument would create confusion for jurors in trying to apportion damages.
"If I'm the juror, I just don't know what to do," Kennedy told attorneys during the hearing. "I'd have the iPhone in the jury room; I'd -- I'd look at it. I just wouldn't know."
- VW Beetle example -
The court debate moved from smartphones to automobiles, and the importance of design to the Volkswagen Beetle, for example.
Justice Samuel Alito appeared to lean toward Samsung's position, saying, "Nobody buys a car, even a Beetle, just because they like the way it looks... What if it broke down every 50 miles?"
Offering a similar view, Justice Stephen Breyer said a single component cannot account for all profits: "A Rolls Royce thing on the hood? No, no, no. You don't get all the profit from the car."
Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan said the justices should consider all the components of a smartphone.
"A smartphone is smart because it contains hundreds of thousands of the technologies that make it work," she said.
She said the case could lead to more litigations because patent holders "carve the product up into multiple partial design claims... and find a little sliver of the phone on which infringement can be found."
- Design 'not a component' -
Apple lawyer Seth Waxman fired back that Samsung made a conscious decision to revive its fortunes by copying the iPhone.
"A design is not a component, a design is applied to a thing," Waxman said.
Waxman contended that Samsung's own documents showed that the South Korean giant acted to deal with "a crisis of design" and sought to copy the iPhone.
He noted that limiting the damages would offer little deterrence and encourage "counterfeiters and copyists."
Observers are watching to see how the court -- which has not taken up a design patent case in more than a century -- tips the balance between technological innovation and protecting intellectual property. A ruling is expected in several months.
The case is one element of the $548 million penalty Samsung was ordered to pay for copying the iPhone's distinctive front screen and graphical touchscreen interface.
Matt Levy of the Computer & Communications Industry Association said the debate suggested the justices were open to lowering the jury award.
"The damages statute for design patents was written to protect products like rugs, where the design was essentially the entire thing being sold," Levy said in a blog post.
"Congress certainly didn't intend to treat complex products as if only the outer appearance is what matters.... Based on what I heard, I think it's very likely that the (justices) will modify the lower court's decision."
Samsung has won the backing of major Silicon Valley and other IT sector giants, including Google, Facebook, Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
Apple is supported by big names in fashion and manufacturing. An amicus brief filed on behalf of design professionals, researchers and academics said they have no financial interest in the case but argue on the basis of "fundamental principles of visual design."
They cite precedents like the Coca-Cola bottle, which is an integral part of the value of the product.
The Supreme Court hearing took place hours after Samsung announced it was scrapping the production of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, its new flagship device that has been mired in a disastrous recall over exploding lithium-ion batteries.
Apple lawyer Seth Waxman said that Samsung made a conscious decision to revive its fortunes by copying the iPhone Justin Sullivan (Getty/AFP/File)
North Carolina Couple Arrested for Church Break-In Spree
You'd think certain places would be out-of-bounds, even to criminals. At least, that's what Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey thought, after the arrest of two thieves accused of breaking into 15 churches across 5 North Carolina counties. "It takes a special kind of criminal to target a church as a place to steal," Cathey told the Charlotte Observer. "A church should be off limits."
But pastors and parishioners can rest easy now that Justin Ray Patterson and Amanda Nicole Hickey are behind bars, and their weeks-long crime spree has come to an end.
Pilfering a Place of Worship
So far, Patterson and Hickey have been charged with seven counts of breaking and entering a place of worship and two counts of larceny after breaking and entering, but those only apply to their crimes in Union County. The pair were also wanted in connection with four church break-ins in Cabarrus County, two or three in Stanly County church break-ins, and at least one each in Mecklenburg and Rowan Counties.
Breaking and entering a place of worship is a Class G felony in North Carolina, and each count carries an eight- to 31-month prison sentence, meaning Patterson and Hickey could be looking at four or five years behind bars, at least.
A Familiar Ring
So how did the church-robbing couple end up on law enforcement's radar? Well, for one thing, both had prior criminal histories, including some recent arrests. Patterson was arrested in January for assault on a government official or employee, and again in June on two counts of failure to appear in court. Hickey was picked up twice for probation violations, in April and again in July.
But what really put the police on the pair's tail was probably Patterson's arrest in 2009, when he was charged with ... wait for it ... a series of church break-ins. Not only were the crimes similar, but they were also committed in Carbarrus and Stanly County. If you're going to have an m.o. as a criminal, you may want to at least ply your trade in a jurisdiction a little less familiar with your criminal history.
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Turkey's Erdogan to Iraqi PM: 'Know your place'
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday snubbed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's criticism of the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq ahead of a planned operation to retake Mosul city, urging him to "know your place".
"He is insulting me personally. You are not my interlocutor, you are not at my level," Erdogan told a meeting in Istanbul, in comments addressed to Abadi.
"It's not important at all how you shout from Iraq. You should know that we will do what we want to do," he added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of 9th Eurasian Islamic Council in Istanbul on October 11, 2016 Kayhan Ozer (TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS OFFICE/AFP)
"Who's that? The Iraqi prime minister. First you know your place!"
Turkey has said its troops would remain in Iraq despite Baghdad's growing anger ahead of a planned operation to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) group.
Ankara maintains an estimated 2,000 troops in Iraq -- around 500 of them in the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq training local fighters who will join the battle to recapture Mosul, according to Turkish media reports.
The Iraqi premier's spokesman later Tuesday said Erdogan was "pouring oil on the fire" with his remarks and showed Ankara was not serious about resolving the dispute.
Turkey's responses had made an issue of law and security into a "problem of a personal nature", Saad al-Hadithi told AFP.
Baghdad has repeatedly called on Ankara to pull out its troops, with Abadi warning the Turkish deployment risked a regional war.
The dispute between Ankara and Baghdad flared up after the Turkish parliament extended a government mandate by one year, allowing its troops to remain on both Iraqi and Syrian soil.
The Iraqi parliament has labelled the Turkish troops an "occupying force".
Erdogan on Tuesday rejected the Iraqi premier's demand for a withdrawal.
"The army of the Turkish republic has not lost its quality to a degree to receive instructions from you," he said.
The Turkish-Iraqi tensions risk complicating plans for an operation to save Mosul, which was captured by IS jihadists in 2014.
The Turkish president has expressed his country's willingness to join the battle under a similar understanding it had reached for the recapture of Jarabulus in Syria.
Guinea electoral violence victims to receive compensation
Guinea's political parties have agreed to compensate victims of pre-election violence in 2013 by the government and the opposition, which rights groups say left 60 people dead.
The months running up to the 2013 general election in the west African nation were beset by violence, while the opposition coalition alleged massive fraud including ballot stuffing and voter intimidation during the vote itself.
The agreement was announced after the close late Monday of a "national dialogue" between political parties and civil society which has also produced a rough timeframe for long-delayed local elections.
The months running up to the 2013 general election in Guinea were beset by violence, while the opposition coalition alleged massive fraud including ballot stuffing and voter intimidation Cellou Binani (AFP/File)
"One fund will be dedicated to compensating the beneficiaries of the dead and for disabled people, and a second will compensate victims of looting," opposition spokesman Aboubacar Sylla told AFP.
Politics in Guinea typically polarises some two dozen ethnic groups who otherwise live in harmony alongside each other -- with the Fulani, the largest at around 40 percent of the population, followed by the Malinke and Soussou.
A spokesman for the ruling Guinean People's Assembly (RPG) confirmed that compensation would be given to victims of violence in 2013 only.
His statement follows a report issued by rights groups Monday condemning the absence of prosecutions or payouts to those affected by similar crimes in a 2015 presidential election.
The Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International report also touched on the 2013 abuses, describing them as "unaddressed".
Gunmen kill 14 in Kabul attack on Shiites marking Ashura
Gunmen targeted Shiite pilgrims in Kabul late Tuesday, killing at least 14 people as they gathered to celebrate Ashura, one of the most important festivals on the Shiite calendar, officials said.
The attack in the Afghan capital marked unravelling security as the resurgent Taliban continued to pressure Afghan forces, with hundreds of commandos sent to reinforce the provincial capital Lashkar Gah in the south.
Some 36 people were wounded and at least one attacker killed in the Kabul attack, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.
Afghan Shiite Muslims use chains and blades during ritual self-flagellation as part of Ashura commemorations at a mosque in Kabul on October 9, 2016 Shah Marai (AFP/File)
Special forces had briefly entered the Karte Sakhi shrine near Kabul University to see if any more gunmen were sheltering inside, with police evacuating people from the area, officials said.
Of the 14 killed, 13 were civilians and one a police officer. Three police were among the wounded, Seddiqi said.
"A number of attackers have targeted people in Karte Sakhi shrine," said Kabul Police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi.
"Police have evacuated dozens of people from the shrine." Police also said two grenades had been detonated during the attack.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the assault, which President Ashraf Ghani condemned as a "clear sign of a crime against humanity".
Ghani vowed the government would use its "maximum capacity" to provide security during Ashura, which will be celebrated on Wednesday.
The threat of attack targeting Shiites was considered particularly serious during Ashura, and many foreign embassies had restricted their staff's movements until the end of the week in Kabul.
Ashura commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was assassinated in 680 and whose tragic end laid the foundation for the faith.
For Shiites around the world, Ashura is a symbol of the struggle against oppression.
The last attack on the Afghan Shiite minority, on July 23 in Kabul, killed 84 people and left 130 injured. It was claimed by the Islamic State organisation.
- Hundreds deployed to Lashkar Gah -
Tuesday's attack came as Afghanistan deployed hundreds of commandos backed by NATO air strikes in Lashkar Gah to drive Taliban insurgents from the southern city after their latest attempt to seize the capital of Helmand province.
"More than 300 commandos... have been deployed to the city to prevent Taliban advancement," said Abdul Jabar Qahraman, government special envoy for security in Helmand.
A NATO spokesman said at least two airstrikes had been carried out in Helmand on Monday defending Afghan troops.
The Taliban have waged an insurgency against the western-backed Kabul government since being toppled from power by a US-led invasion in 2001. They have intensified attacks across the country in recent months, pressuring Afghan forces on multiple fronts.
NATO officially ended its combat mission in December 2014, but US forces were granted greater powers in June to strike at the insurgents as President Barack Obama vowed a more aggressive campaign.
The intervention in Helmand has fuelled the perception that foreign powers are increasingly being drawn back into the conflict.
Around 30,000 people have been displaced in Helmand in recent weeks and most have fled to Lashkar Gah, which is practically besieged by the militants.
In recent months the militants have attempted to overrun other provincial capitals, from Kunduz and Baghlan in the north to Farah in the west, but Afghan forces have managed to repel the attacks.
On Tuesday Taliban fighters renewed their offensive against Farah, triggering heavy fighting that lasted for hours.
UN warns of large-scale violence from DR Congo crisis
The political crisis over President Joseph Kabila's apparent bid to remain in power in the Democratic Republic of Congo is likely to escalate into large-scale violence, the UN envoy warned Tuesday.
"The Democratic Republic of Congo has entered a period of extreme risk to its stability," Maman Sambo Sidikou told the UN Security Council, adding that he saw "no immediate resolution in sight" to the crisis.
All sides appear "more and more willing to resort to violence" and the prospects for political talks were dimming, he said.
Police fired tear gas at scores of opposition supporters rallying in Kinshasa on September 19, 2016 to demand that DR Congo's long-serving President Joseph Kabila step down this year Eduardo Soteras (AFP/File)
"If this trajectory continues, I believe large-scale violence is all but inevitable," he warned.
A wave of deadly clashes pitting police against demonstrators rocked the capital Kinshasa in September, as the opposition demanded Kabila's resignation.
At least 49 civilians were killed in the clashes -- 38 by gunshot, others burned alive or killed by machete, said Sidikou.
The UN mission in the DR Congo has documented the involvement of Kabila's presidential guard in the violence, but "non-state actors" were also to blame, he said.
Sidikou, who also heads the 22,000-strong UN mission in the country, warned that UN peacekeepers would be unable to protect civilians if the DR Congo descends into all-out violence.
The MONUSCO mission will do everything it can to help civilians, but "the scope of the threats dramatically outstrip the mission's capabilities," he warned.
With new protests called for October 19, Sidikou said the United Nations and regional organizations must push for dialogue and urge the government to take confidence-building measures with the opposition.
The opposition is accusing Kabila, in power since 2001, of manipulating the electoral system to stay in power after his second and final term ends on December 2O.
Addressing the council, Ambassador Ignace Gata Mavita described the September protests as a "genuine insurgency," accusing demonstrators of raping and killing a 12-year-old girl on her way to school.
The government is ready to listen to proposals on the release of prisoners and other confidence-building measures toward the opposition, the ambassador said, but he warned that it would not bow to demands.
Ivory Coast lawmakers approve new constitution draft
Ivory Coast's national assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the draft of a new constitution proposed by President Alassane Ouattara, paving the way for a referendum later this month.
With Ouattara's supporters dominating parliament after the opposition boycotted 2011 elections, 239 of 249 lawmakers voted in favour, easily surpassing the two thirds majority required.
Just eight voted against and two abstained while one failed to show in protest.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara presents to the parliament the draft of a new constitution, on October 5, 2016 in Abidjan Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)
Former prime minister Guillaume Soro, now speaker of the assembly, said after the vote that lawmakers had "written a page of our country's history."
Soro added that the text, Ouattara's brainchild, sought to put an end to years of instability.
Soro said that ultimately "only the sovereign people can decide on the fate of this constitution," and they would have the chance to do so in a referendum due on October 30.
Ouattara, 73, promised to deliver a new constitution after he was re-elected to a second five-year term a year ago. The new draft notably scraps the stipulation that both parents of presidential candidates must be have been born in Ivory Coast.
In the past, this clause prevented Ouattara himself for running for the country's top office.
It was also resented by many in the north of the country, where many people have family connections to neighbouring countries, as a symbol of exclusion. The question of national identity -- of who is a real Ivorian -- has long been a source of violent friction in Ivory Coast.
Other proposals in the new draft include setting up an elected vice presidency and a senate, one third of whose members would be nominated by the president.
Last week, two dozen opposition parties denounced the proposed new draft as "undemocratic" and said it would spark the kind of unrest seen after former president Laurent Gbagbo, now on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, refused to step down in 2010.
Iraq PM hits back in war of words with Turkey's president
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi hit back on Tuesday against dismissive comments by Turkey's president, mocking his appeal to the nation via video call during a failed coup attempt.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Abadi earlier in the day to "know your place," and said that he is "not on my level" -- another escalation in the war of words between the two sides over Ankara's deployment of troops in Iraq's north.
"We will liberate our land through the determination of our men and not by video calls," Abadi's official Twitter account said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has repeatedly called on Turkey to withdraw troops deployed near the northern city of Mosul, and said that they will not play a role in the operation to retake it from the Islamic State jihadist group Dominick Reuter (AFP/File)
Erdogan made a desperate appeal via video calling application FaceTime for citizens to resist a July attempt to overthrow the government, rallying resistance that helped to thwart the coup.
Abadi's spokesman Saad al-Hadithi told AFP that Erdogan, with his latest remarks, was "pouring oil on the fire," adding that Turkey's responses had made an issue of law and security into a "problem of a personal nature".
"It seems that Turkey is not serious about solving the problem with Iraq," Hadithi said.
Abadi has repeatedly called on Turkey to withdraw troops deployed near the northern city of Mosul, and said that they will not play a role in the operation to retake it from the Islamic State jihadist group.
Turkey has ignored these requests and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said last week that the country's forces would stay "no matter what the Iraqi government in Baghdad says."
The dispute has now lasted for almost a year, and was reignited by the Turkish parliament's decision to extend a government mandate, thereby allowing Turkish troops to remain in Iraq.
Turkey has had forces deployed in northern Iraq since the 1990s in areas that are part of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, which also currently controls the area near Mosul where the Turkish troops are deployed.
Kurdish security forces are in practice not under Abadi's command, meaning that appealing for their withdrawal and pushing for allies to help is his main recourse at the moment.
Iraq has called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the dispute, which threatens to complicate plans to recapture Mosul from IS.
Iraqi forces are currently preparing for the operation to seize the city from IS, which overran it and other areas in 2014 but has since lost significant ground in the country.
Kenyan police have arrested a British man and two Somali women on suspicion of recruiting for Somalia's Islamist Shabaab militants.
The man, named as Tom James, 32, works for M&C Saatchi and his previous projects include counter-terrorism projects in Somalia .
A huge team of armed officers swooped on his home in the affluent Nairobi suburb of Gigri on Tuesday.
Three are in custody in Kenya suspected of recruiting for Somalia's Islamist Shabaab militants Simon Maina (AFP/File)
James, who graduated from the University of Leeds, left the UK to work in Africa in the Middle East and Before was an English teacher in Syria while learning Arabic at Damascus University, The Telegraph reports.
Part of his most recent work was a radio campaign to stop young people being dragged into extremism, the paper said.
It is understood police found Al-Shabaab literature and books when it raided the luxury home.
A police source said: 'We have three suspects in custody and one of them is British.
'We are still interrogating them with a view to taking them to court tomorrow,' one police source said.
'They are being investigated for radicalisation.'
Another source said the three were suspected of 'recruiting Kenyan youths to join Al Shabaab.'
'They are strong indications that they have travelled to and from Somalia on several occasions and the investigations will be centred on that aspect,' he added.
Michael Adebolajo, jailed for life for brutally murdering Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich back in 2013, was a suspected member of Al-Shabaab
The raid was carried out in the presence of the director of Kenya's Criminal Investigations Department Ndegwa Muhoro, sources said.
The Al-Qaeda backed Shabaab has fought to overthrow the internationally-backed Somalian government in Mogadishu since 2007, but turned its sights on Kenya when the army was sent into Somalia in 2011 to fight the Islamic insurgents.
In November 2014 gunmen flagged down a commuter bus, separated passengers by religion and executed 28 non-Muslims.
Since then the militants have targeted civilians in different parts of Kenya, including a dramatic assault on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in which at least 67 people were killed and the murder of 148 people at Garissa University in the northeast in 2015.
Michael Adebolajo, jailed for life for brutally murdering Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich back in 2013, was a suspected member of Al-Shabaab.
US threatens retaliation for attack on US warships off Yemen
The United States threatened Tuesday to retaliate for a missile attack that missed a pair of US warships in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.
"Counterstrike, retaliatory strike: I can tell you that those things are things that we are looking at," said Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Defense Department spokesman.
The US Navy has said the missiles, which fell short of the USS Mason, a destroyer, and the USS Ponce, an amphibious warfare ship, were fired within an hour of each other on Sunday from territory in Yemen controlled by Huthi rebels.
According to the Pentagon, missiles fired from Huthi-controlled territory in Yemen targeted the USS Mason and the USS Ponce, which were patrolling near each other Mass Communications Specialist 3 (Navy Visual News Service/AFP/File)
"We want very much to get to the bottom of what happened," said Davis. "We're going to find out who did this and we will take action accordingly."
"We will make sure that anybody who interferes with freedom of navigation and puts US Navy ship at risk understands they do so at their own peril," he said.
The United States backs a Saudi-led coalition that is fighting the Huthi rebels and the forces of former Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Saleh.
The US military provides intelligence and air-refueling for Arab coalition aircraft conducting air strikes against the rebels. It also supplies advanced munitions and logistics support to the Saudi-led war effort and is the kingdom's biggest arms supplier
But US air forces are not directly involved in air strikes in Yemen, which are increasingly criticized by the international community for their devastating impact on civilians.
After a deadly air strike by the Saudi-led coalition Saturday on a funeral in Yemen that killed more than 140 people, the US administration announced an "immediate review" of its cooperation.
According to Pentagon officials, no concrete action has been taken Tuesday to reduce US support, which is considered limited.
"To go down from there would be almost a stop in any cooperation," said a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the Pentagon, Sunday's missile strikes targeted the USS Mason and the USS Ponce, which were patrolling near each other. A Huthi spokesman denied the US ships were targeted.
The Mason took countermeasures after detecting the first missile, which fell into the sea.
No countermeasures were taken when the warships detected a second missile fired about an hour later. It also fell into the sea.
Chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah calls for protests in solidarity with Yemen
The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement late Tuesday called for widespread protests in solidarity with Yemen after an air strike there killed at least 140 people.
Hassan Nasrallah made a rare live appearance in front of thousands of supporters in the southern suburb of Beirut on the eve of Ashura, one of the most important festivals on the Shiite Muslim calendar.
"Tomorrow, we will renew... our stance beside the oppressed, honourable, slain, and besieged Yemeni people," Nasrallah said, referring to Wednesday's morning march in commemoration of Ashura.
Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanon's militant Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah, speaks during a ceremony on the tenth day of the mourning period of Muharram, which marks the day of Ashura, in Beirut on October 11, 2016
"We say to them: You are not alone. We are all Yemen," he said in comments carried live by the group's television station Al-Manar.
Saturday's strike on a funeral ceremony in Yemen was one of the deadliest attacks since the Saudi-led coalition launched a bombing campaign against Shiite rebels there in March 2015.
Nasrallah accused Saudi warplanes of carrying out the raid, echoing Yemen's Huthi rebels who blamed the Riyadh-led coalition for the strike.
The head of the powerful Shiite movement was met with chants of "Death to the Saud family" from supporters wearing green in commemoration of Ashura, referring to the Sunni-majority kingdom's ruling family.
For Shiites around the world, Ashura is a symbol of the struggle against oppression as it commemorates the assassination of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in 680.
"Our region is witnessing escalation and instability, unlike what we had seen in recent months, which had indicated the region was heading towards a political solution," Nasrallah said.
"But in the last few weeks, every optimistic political development that had given a positive impression has collapsed," he said.
Nasrallah, whose group has intervened in neighbouring Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad, said fighting was escalating across Syria after the collapse of a US-Russia truce deal last month.
More than 300,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011.
Florida voters set to legalize medical marijuana: survey
Voters in the US state of Florida appear overwhelmingly inclined to legalize medical marijuana in a referendum November 8, a new poll out Tuesday shows.
Some 77 percent of likely voters in the southeastern state have said they will cast ballots in favor of Amendment 2 -- which would change the state's constitution to legalize cannabis for medicinal use -- according to the survey conducted by the Public Opinion Research Laboratory (PORL) at the University of North Florida.
"Not only are Democrats wildly supportive, but even Republicans are above the 60 percent threshold required for passage," said the laboratory's faculty director Michael Binder. He added that the strongest support was among likely voters age 34 and under, but many older than 65 also favor the amendment.
Some 77 percent of likely voters in Florida have said they will cast ballots in favor of Amendment 2 -- which would change the state's constitution to legalize cannabis for medicinal use Brendan Smialowski (AFP/File)
The poll -- which surveyed some 700 likely voters between September 27 and October 4 -- found that about 18 percent of Floridians have said they will vote against legalization, with four percent still undecided.
In 2014 the institution found that 67 percent of Florida voters approved of the measure, after conducting a similar survey during the same time frame.
Yet, when it came time to vote Floridians nevertheless decided against medical marijuana, falling nearly three percent shy of the 60 percent required for legalization.
"It's a great feeling to know we're ten points ahead of where we were this time last campaign," Bianca Garza of United for Care, a pro-medical marijuana organization, told AFP.
"However positive it feels, we are not taking the numbers for granted," Garza said. "The race isn't over, we are continuing to fight."
At least 10 Florida newspapers have endorsed medical marijuana legalization -- most recently the Panama City News Herald called Amendment 2 "a compassionate, common-sense measure."
"Florida residents should have the same ability to avoid the risks of addiction and overdose that come with legal painkillers, and instead use medical marijuana to treat chronic pain, nausea and other conditions that stem from debilitating disease," the paper's editorial board wrote.
Slide-to-Unlock Verdict Re-Affirmed: Samsung Owes Apple $120M
In the slide-to-unlock legal saga that started years ago between tech leaders Samsung and Apple, the Federal Appeals Court reversed the prior appellate decision, reinstating the $120 million verdict against Samsung. The two tech giants are gearing up for an even bigger battle this week before the Supreme Court on an unrelated patent infringement case dating back to 2011.
The slide-to-unlock case, originally decided in May 2014, had a federal jury award Apple $119.6 million for Samsung's infringement of their the slide-to-unlock, autocorrect, and quick-link feature patents. After the verdict, Samsung appealed, and the Appeals Court overturned the jury's verdict, however this year, the same Appeals Court reversed the prior ruling, reinstating the jury's verdict.
Slide-to-Unlock Legal Battle
In this legal battle, Apple asserted that the slide-to-unlock feature, which Apple's latest operating system no longer uses, was properly patented by the company, and that Samsung used the same or similar technology, which infringed upon Apple's patent. In addition to the unlock feature, Apple also won on their claims that Samsung copied Apple's autocorrect and quick-link features.
The autocorrect feature corrects what users type into the phone as users type. Autocorrect is the feature that made touchscreen phones more usable compared to the non-touchscreen phones they have essentially replaced. The quick-link feature involves the software's ability to detect a phone number on a webpage or in an email, and automatically turn that phone number into a clickable link that allows a user to call that number by simply clicking.
Although these features seem rudimentary today, this lawsuit was filed back in 2011, only a few short years after smart phones like the iPhone and galaxy had been released.
Bigger Battles on the Horizon
While the $120 million dollar verdict is a significant win in the war between Apple and Samsung, it is just one of many battles. Both are getting ready for an even bigger, nearly half-a-billion-dollar, fight at the Supreme Court this season. The two industry leaders are squaring off over the damages issue in the big design patent lawsuit where Apple alleged that Samsung copied the iPhone's design when designing their smartphone line.
While the issue of whether Samsung copied the iPhone has been finally decided in Apple's favor, and Samsung has already paid the judgment, the Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether the half-billion dollar judgment was reasonable under the law. If the Supreme Court finds the judgment was not reasonable, they may either order Apple to pay back part of the judgment, or have the case remanded to the District Court in order to decide how much should be awarded based on their instructions.
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US tries to defuse Iraq-Turkey war of words over Mosul
As Turkey and Iraq traded insults over the Turkish troop presence outside Mosul on Tuesday, the United States urged its allies to resolve the spat before a major offensive on the city.
Iraq is preparing to fight to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State group with support from the United States and a broad -- though sometimes fractious -- coalition of international partners.
But recent preparations for the looming offensive have been overshadowed by tensions between Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
Iraq is preparing to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State group with support from the United States and a broad coalition of international partners Moadh Al-Dulaimi (AFP/File)
Abadi has repeatedly urged Turkey to withdraw troops deployed near the northern city in an area nominally part of Iraq but controlled by forces loyal to the country's autonomous Kurdish region.
Erdogan has refused, insisting that Turkey has a role to play in liberating the city from the jihadists, and with tempers rising, both sides have resorted to insults.
In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the operation would be led by Iraq and that it was a matter for Baghdad which forces should be deployed on its sovereign territory.
"The Turkish forces that are deployed in Iraq are not there as part of the international coalition and the situation in Bashiqa is a matter for the governments of Iraq and Turkey to resolve," he said.
Ankara maintains an estimated 2,000 troops in Iraq, around 500 of them in the Bashiqa camp training local fighters whom Turkish media say will join the battle to recapture Mosul.
"It is imperative for all parties to coordinate closely over the coming days and weeks to ensure unity of effort," Kirby added later, in a statement released as Ankara and Baghdad traded barbs.
Abadi's latest gibe was scripted to get under Erdogan's skin, mocking a desperate video call he made to a television station in July to prove he was still alive during a military coup attempt.
"We will liberate our land through the determination of our men and not by video calls," Abadi's official Twitter account said.
Earlier, Erdogan had sneered at Abadi's call for him to withdraw his force back to Turkey.
"It's not important at all how you shout from Iraq. You should know that we will do what we want to do," he said.
"Who's that? The Iraqi prime minister. First you know your place!"
The Kurdish peshmerga forces that control the area where Turkey's troops are deployed are in practice not under Abadi's command, but they are expected to play a key role in the upcoming battle.
Top military brass among those killed in Yemen funeral strike: official
Leading rebel officers were among those killed in the weekend air strike on a funeral in Yemen's capital, blamed on pro-government Arab coalition warplanes, according to official media reports on Tuesday.
Funerals for several top rebel-allied officers and officials killed in Saturday's strike were held in Sanaa on Tuesday, rebel-controlled Saba news agency reported.
The Iran-backed rebels have blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the air strike, one of the deadliest since the alliance launched a military campaign against the Shiite insurgents in March 2015.
An air strike on a funeral hall by Saudi-led coalition planes killed at least 140 people and wounded more than 525 others on October 8, 2016, according to the UN Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)
After initially denying responsibility, the coalition said Sunday it was ready to investigate the "regrettable and painful" strike, while UN chief Ban Ki-Moon demanded a "prompt and impartial" probe.
Three commanders of the elite republican guard brigades, loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who is allied with Shiite Huthi rebels, were said to be among those killed.
They were named by Saba as General Ali al-Jaefi, head of the republican guard and Brigadiers Abdulmalik Marzooq and Ali al-Hamzi.
General Ahmed Manea, a member of the supreme security committee, was also among those killed in the air strike which killed at least 140 people and wounded more than 525 others according to the UN.
Deputy security chief of Sanaa province, Ahmed al-Shalef, and the head of the rebels' civil status authority, brigadier Yehya al-Rowaishan, were also listed as killed in the attack.
The Saudi-led coalition has come under increasing international pressure over civilian deaths.
US warns Ethiopia against emergency crackdown
The United States warned its African ally Ethiopia on Tuesday not to abuse the state of emergency it declared this week to suppress dissent and welcomed talk of political reform.
Ethiopia declared an emergency on Sunday after six months of anti-government protests, but on Tuesday Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn promised that opposition voices would be heard.
US State Department spokesman John Kirby welcomed this offer from the government "to address some of the grievances raised by protesters such as land rights and electoral reform."
Ethiopia is facing its biggest anti-government unrest in a decade, with tension among the majority Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups which feel marginalized by a minority-led government Zacharias Abubeker (AFP/File)
But he urged President Mulatu Teshome's administration to "clarify" how it intends to implement a state of emergency which authorized "detention without a warrant, limitations on free speech, prohibitions on public gatherings and the imposition of curfews."
"Even if these measures are intended to restore order, silencing independent voices and interfering with the rights of Ethiopians is a self-defeating tactic that exacerbates rather than address those grievances," he argued.
Ethiopia is facing its biggest anti-government unrest in a decade, with unrest among the majority Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups which feel marginalized by a minority-led government.
Tensions have been rising since an Oromo religious festival last week ended in tragedy when police fired tear gas on protesters, triggering a stampede that left more than 50 dead.
The declaration of a six-month state of emergency is unprecedented in the 25 years the current Ethiopian government has been in charge.
Russian ambassador denies complaining about Trump criticism
UNITED NATIONS (AP) Russia's U.N. ambassador said Monday that he never complained to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about criticism of Donald Trump because he wasn't aware that the Republican presidential candidate had been the target of criticism by the U.N. human rights chief.
The Associated Press reported Friday that three diplomats familiar with the conversation said Russia's Vitaly Churkin angrily protested two speeches by High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein denouncing "demagogues" and specifically targeting Trump and several populist European leaders.
Churkin told reporters Monday that he had received one paragraph of instructions from Moscow to tell Ban that Zeid "went too far" in public remarks about some government officials in Europe.
"He should stick to human rights," Churkin said. "He should not be criticizing foreign heads of state and government for their policies. This is not his business. He should be more focused on his specific responsibilities."
Churkin said he delivered the formal complaint during a meeting with Ban but never read Zeid's statements and had no idea Trump was even mentioned. He said Russia delivered a similar complaint to the high commissioner in Geneva, so "it's not that we're talking behind his back."
"Whether Trump was mentioned in his (Zeid's) statement or not, I have no idea," Churkin said, "because I was referring to other politicians. ... I wasn't aware that he (Trump) was even mentioned."
The three diplomats, including two U.N. officials who were familiar with the Sept. 13 meeting between Churkin and Ban, said the Russian ambassador complained "virulently" to Ban about speeches by Zeid in Cleveland on April 15 and in Europe in September.
A senior U.N. diplomat familiar with the story, whom the AP spoke to for Friday's story, said Churkin specifically "condemned the fact that Zeid mentioned Trump."
The diplomats weren't authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing possible diplomatic repercussions from Russia, a powerful, permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
Churkin said Monday that if Trump was mentioned in high commissioner Zeid's statements "then the United States should have complained, because it would have meant that he's interfering in their domestic presidential campaign."
"I'm not working for the United States, I'm working for the Russian Federation," Churkin said. "So why should I complain if somebody's trying to interfere in the presidential campaign?"
The Kremlin has said it has no position on the U.S. election. But last Friday the Obama administration hardened accusations that Russia is interfering, blaming Moscow for cyber-intrusions including hacking the Democratic National Committee's emails.
Call that ended officers lives was among most unpredictable
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) A domestic violence call that ended the lives of two California police officers last weekend was the kind of report that many authorities say they hate and fear the most.
For no matter how much training and experience officers receive, they often have little idea what awaits them when they approach the scene of such a disturbance.
"You never know all the facts until you get there. And you never know what's on the other side of that door," said Erroll Southers, a former police officer and FBI special agent who is currently director of the Homegrown Violent Studies Program at the University of Southern California.
People leave flowers at a memorial for Palm Springs Police Officers Lesley Zerebny, and Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega,seen in photos placed in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Both Southern California officers were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
Police say Palm Springs Officers Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega and Lesley Zerebny had just asked John Felix to come out of his family's home Saturday when he opened fire through the closed front door.
A neighborhood home surveillance system recorded the sound of dozens of gunshots echoing through the ordinarily quiet neighborhood. Its camera did not show the officers.
Vega and Zerebny were killed and a third officer was treated for a gunshot wound and later released from a hospital. A fourth officer was unharmed.
A neighbor, Frances Serrano, told The Associated Press that the suspect's panicked father, Santos Felix, told her just before the shooting that his 26-year-old son was armed and "acting crazy."
When she suggested he call police, Serrano said he told her, "'Yeah, he already knows they are coming, and he is going to shoot them.'"
Efforts to reach Santos Felix for comment have been unsuccessful.
John Felix was apprehended early Sunday after a lengthy standoff and authorities say he will be charged with murder.
Authorities have so far declined to release a 911 recording alerting police about a problem or say who made the call, and it wasn't immediately clear if the officers knew they were about to confront someone waiting to kill them.
Vega and Zerebny, like all California peace officers, were thoroughly trained in handling domestic violence calls, said Riverside County sheriff's Deputy Mike Vasquez, whose agency is investigating the shooting.
Vega, 63, was a 35-year veteran of the force who was preparing to retire soon. Zerenby, 27, had been with the department about 18 months and her husband is a sheriff's deputy. The couple has a 4-month old daughter.
All of the officers at the Felix home were wearing bullet-proof vests, a Palm Springs Police Department requirement, said Sgt. William Hutchinson.
Southers said it's standard procedure for dispatchers to press a 911 caller for as much information as they can get, then relay it to officers so they'll have an idea what they're getting into.
"They want to know what is the situation," he said. "Is it an argument? What's going on in the house? Who is in the house? Most importantly, we always ask if there are any weapons in the house."
Dispatchers may not have had an opportunity to obtain that information during the call on Saturday, he said, and even if they had, there would be little time to react to a heavily armed gunman firing repeatedly through the door as soon as the officers approached.
"There's not much you can do in a situation like that," Southers said. "You're totally defensive."
In addition, the nature of a domestic violence call can change in an instant.
"We can go to what is a domestic violence (call) and it turns to active shooter," Vasquez said. "Someone says it was active shooter and it was a backfire on a vehicle. Everything is fluid."
Palm Springs, which had not lost an officer in the line of duty since 1962, mourned Monday as authorities investigated.
A makeshift memorial outside police headquarters in the desert resort town of 45,000 people about 100 miles east of Los Angeles grew as mourners placed balloons, flowers, stuffed animals, American flags and cards. So many candles were lit that the air was thick with the smell of wax.
Tracy Burwell said she didn't know the officers personally but added that residents interact with police all the time in the tight-knit community.
"They look so strong and ready to protect us," she said. "This is just devastating."
Authorities said services for the officers are pending.
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Taxin reported from Palm Springs and Rogers reported from Los Angeles.
A visitor pays his respect at a memorial for Palm Springs Police Officers Lesley Zerebny, and Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega,seen in photos placed in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Both Southern California officers were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
In this undated photo released by the Palm Springs Police Department shows slain officer Lesley Zerebny, 27, who was killed in the line of duty Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. She was married with a four-month-old daughter. (Palm Springs Police Department via AP)
In this photo released by the Palm Springs Police Department shows slain officer Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega, a 35 year veteran who was killed in the line of duty Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Vega, the father of eight, planned to retire in December. (Palm Springs Police Department via AP)
A photo of Palm Springs Police Officer Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega is seen at a memorial for Vega and police officer Lesley Zerebny in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Vega was two months short of retirement and officer Zerebny, had just returned to the police force after maternity leave. Both officers were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
A photo of Palm Springs police officer Lesley Zerebny is placed at a memorial for her and officer Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Zerebny, who had just returned to the police force after maternity leave, and Vega, who was two months short of retirement, were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
Government backs down on proposed ban on greyhound racing
SYDNEY (AP) An Australian state premier has backed down on a ban on greyhound racing, instead deciding to increase measures designed to reduce the risk of animal cruelty.
New South Wales state premier Mike Baird faced a strong backlash to the ban after it was announced in July, and relented to the opposition on Tuesday.
Baird initially said his government had no alternative but to impose the ban, which had been due to be introduced in July next year, after a state parliamentary inquiry found overwhelming evidence of animal cruelty.
The inquiry's report found between 48,000 and 68,000 greyhounds were killed in New South Wales state in the previous 12 years because they were deemed uncompetitive.
It also found up to 20 percent of trainers had engaged in "live baiting" feeding live animals to the dogs in hope of making them run faster in races when chasing the lure of an artificial rabbit and that on average 180 greyhounds a year suffered critical injuries during races.
New Jersey mall evacuated due to concerns about bomb threat
WAYNE, N.J. (AP) A New Jersey mall has been evacuated due to concerns about a bomb threat.
Authorities say the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne was evacuated shortly before closing time Monday night.
Police tell The Record (http://bit.ly/2ds5zCX ) newspaper that a customer approached mall security, saying they'd found a note containing a bomb threat.
Police say they evacuated the mall as a precaution and conducted a sweep. No bomb was found.
The customer who made the claim was taken into custody for evaluation.
The mall is located just outside of New York City, and has more than 170 stores and restaurants.
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Zika 'syndrome': Health problems mount as babies turn 1
RECIFE, Brazil (AP) Two weeks shy of his first birthday, doctors began feeding Jose Wesley Campos through a nose tube because swallowing problems had left him dangerously underweight.
Learning how to feed is the baby's latest struggle as medical problems mount for him and many other infants born with small heads to mothers infected with the Zika virus in Brazil.
"It hurts me to see him like this. I didn't want this for him," said Jose's mother, Solange Ferreira, breaking into tears as she cradled her son.
In this Sept. 27, 2016 photo, Solange Ferreira holds her son Jose Wesley Campos as family friend Sandra Souza, right, holds his nasogastric feeding tube during his 1-year birthday party at his home in Bonito, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Learning how to feed is the Joses latest struggle as medical problems mount for him and many other infants born with small heads to mothers infected with the Zika virus in Brazil. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A year after a spike in the number of newborns with the defect known as microcephaly, doctors and researchers have seen many of the babies develop swallowing difficulties, epileptic seizures and vision and hearing problems.
While more study is needed, Zika-caused microcephaly appears to be causing more severe problems in these infants than in patients born with small heads because of the other infections known to cause microcephaly, such as German measles and herpes. The problems are so particular that doctors are now calling the condition congenital Zika syndrome.
"We are seeing a lot of seizures. And now they are having many problems eating, so a lot of these children start using feeding tubes," said Dr. Vanessa Van der Linden, a pediatric neurologist in Recife who was one of the first doctors to suspect that Zika caused microcephaly.
Zika, mainly transmitted by mosquito, was not known to cause birth defects until a large outbreak swept through northeastern states in Latin America's largest nation, setting off alarm worldwide. Numerous studies confirmed the link.
Seven percent of the babies with microcephaly that Van der Linden and her team have treated were also born with arm and leg deformities that had not previously been linked to other causes of microcephaly, she said.
To complicate matters, there are babies whose heads were normal at birth but stopped growing proportionally months later. Other infants infected with the virus in the womb did not have microcephaly but developed different problems, such as a patient of Van der Linden's who started having difficulties moving his left hand.
"We may not even know about the ones with slight problems out there," Van der Linden said. "We are writing the history of this disease."
On a recent day, Jose laid on a blue mat wearing just brown moccasins and a diaper, his bony chest pressed by a respiratory therapist helping him clear congested airways.
Jose, who has been visited by The Associated Press three times in the last year, is like a newborn. He is slow to follow objects with his crossed eyes. His head is unsteady when he tries to hold it up, and he weighs less than 13 pounds, far below the 22 pounds that is average for a baby his age.
Breathing problems make his cries sound like gargling, and his legs stiffen when he is picked up. To see, he must wear tiny blue-rimmed glasses, which makes him fussy.
Arthur Conceicao, who recently turned 1, has seizures every day despite taking medication for epilepsy. He also started taking high-calorie formula through a tube after he appeared to choke during meals.
"It's every mom's dream to see their child open his mouth and eat well," said his mother, Rozilene Ferreira, adding that each day seems to bring new problems.
Studies are underway to determine if the timing of the infection during pregnancy affects the severity of the abnormalities, said Ricardo Ximenes, a researcher at the Fiocruz Institute in Recife.
Also, three groups of babies whose mothers were infected with Zika are being followed for a study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The groups include infants born with microcephaly, some born with normal-sized heads found to have brain damage or other physical problems and babies who have not had any symptoms or developmental delays.
At birth, Bernardo Oliveira's head measured more than 13 inches, well within the average range. His mother, Barbara Ferreira, thought her child was spared from the virus that had infected her during pregnancy and stricken many newborns in maternity wards in her hometown of Caruaru, a small city 80 miles west of Recife.
But Bernardo cried nonstop. The pediatrician told Ferreira that her baby was likely colicky and would get better by his third month. Instead, the crying got worse, so Ferreira took him to a government-funded event where neurologists were seeing patients with suspected brain damage.
"At the end of the second month, beginning of the third, his head stopped growing," Ferreira said. "Bernardo was afflicted by the Zika virus after all. I was in despair."
In Brazil, the government has reported 2,001 cases of microcephaly or other brain malformations in the last year. So far, only 343 have been confirmed by tests to have been caused by Zika, but the Health Ministry argues that the rest are most likely caused by the virus.
Health Minister Ricardo Barros said there was a drop of 85 percent in microcephaly cases in August and September compared to those months last year, when the first births started worrying pediatricians. He credited growing awareness of the virus and government attempts to combat mosquitoes through spraying campaigns.
Despite all the problems, some infants with the syndrome are showing signs of progress.
On a recent evening, 11-month-old Joao Miguel Silva Nunes pulled himself up in his playpen and played peek-a-boo with his mother, Rosileide da Silva.
"He is my source of pride," Silva said. "He makes me feel that things are working out."
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Associated Press video journalist Renata Brito and AP photographer Felipe Dana contributed to this story.
In this Sept. 27, 2016 photo, babies born with microcephaly Alexandro Julio, center, and Pedro Henrique, wait for their physical therapy session at the UPAE hospital in Caruaru, Pernambuco state, Brazil. A year after a spike in the number of newborns with the defect known as microcephaly, doctors and researchers have seen many of the babies develop swallowing difficulties, epileptic seizures and vision and hearing problems. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Sept. 26, 2016 photo, Erildo Jose and his wife Iraci Beatriz, whose granddaughter Luiza was born with microcephaly, ride their motorcycle near home in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, where many cases of Zika where reported in Pernambuco state, Brazil. Zika, mainly transmitted by mosquito, was not known to cause birth defects until a large outbreak swept through northeastern states in Latin Americas largest nation, setting off alarm worldwide. Numerous studies confirmed the link. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Sept. 30, 2016 photo, 1-year-old Jose Wesley Campos, who was born with microcephaly, cries during his physical therapy session at the AACD rehabilitation center in Recife, Brazil. Jose is like a newborn. He is slow to follow objects with his crossed eyes. His head is unsteady when he tries to hold it up, and he weighs less than 13 pounds, far below the 22 pounds that is average for a baby his age. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Sept. 26, 2016 photo, Angelica Pereira, center right, chats with her sister and sister's boyfriend outside her home as her infant daughter Luiza, who was born with microcephaly, sleeps in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, Pernambuco state, Brazil. A year after a spike in the number of newborns with the defect known as microcephaly, doctors and researchers have seen many of the babies develop swallowing difficulties, epileptic seizures and vision and hearing problems. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Sept. 27, 2016 photo, relatives and hospital staff pose for a photo with Jose Wesley Campos during his 1-year birthday party at home in Bonito, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Learning how to feed is Joses latest struggle as medical problems mount for him and many other infants born with small heads to mothers infected with the Zika virus in Brazil. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Oct. 1, 2016 photo, Daniele Ferreira dos Santos and her son Juan Pedro, right, sit next to Heloisa Dias who feeds her grandson Arthur Conceicao during his one-year birthday party in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Arthur, who was born with microcephaly, has started taking high-calorie formula through a tube after he appeared to choke during meals. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This Sept. 27, 2016 photo shows Lucas Matheus, who was born with microcephaly, during his physical therapy session at the UPAE hospital in Caruaru, Pernambuco state, Brazil. In Brazil, the government has reported 1,949 cases of microcephaly or other brain malformations in the last year. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Sept. 27, 2016 photo, physical therapist Camilla Costa, left, and speech therapist Amora Marins apply Kinesio Tape on Luiza as Victoria Leticia, right, holds her son Lucas Matheus, during a physical therapy session for babies born with microcephaly at the UPAE hospital in Caruaru, Pernambuco state, Brazil. A year after a spike in the number of newborns with microcephaly, doctors and researchers have seen many of the babies develop swallowing difficulties, epileptic seizures and vision and hearing problems. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Sept. 28, 2016 photo, 1-year-old Jose Wesley Campos, who was born with microcephaly, cries during a physical therapy session at the AACD rehabilitation center in Recife, Brazil. Breathing problems make his cries sound like gargling, and his legs stiffen when he is picked up. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Sept. 28, 2016 photo, Helena Melo, who was born with microcephaly, balances on a ball during a physical therapy session at the AACD rehabilitation center in Recife, Brazil. Melo, 11 months old, travels more than two hours to Recife for therapy sessions three times a week. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This Sept. 28, 2016 photo shows 1-year-old Arthur Conceicao, who was born with microcephaly, during his swimming pool physical therapy session at AACD rehabilitation center in Recife, Brazil. While scientists probe how Zika attacks fetuses in the womb, babies like Arthur born with brain damage caused by the virus are suffering numerous health problems such as trouble swallowing, worsening epileptic seizures and difficulty breathing. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This Sept. 26, 2016 photo shows Lucas, 11, collecting water from a polluted well in a village near Caruaru, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Lucas' family uses the water for bathing, and for horses and donkeys to drink. One of the main reasons this region was so affected by Zika is the fact that they dont have water, so they collect and store water everywhere, creating a perfect breading site for mosquitoes, which carry the virus. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This Oct. 1, 2016 photo shows Daniele Ferreira looks over Arthur Conceicao, counter clockwise beginning from back left, sleeping at his one-year birthday party, next to Alice, Enzo, and Mateus, all born with microcephaly, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Away from medical facilities, many of the mothers of babies afflicted with microcephaly, get together and try to keep a semblance of normalcy by celebrating milestones, like first birthdays. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Oct. 1, 2016 photo, Tatiane holds her nephew Arthur Conceicao, who was born with microcephaly, during his one-year birthday party in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Health Minister Ricardo Barros said there was a drop of 85 percent in microcephaly cases in August and September compared to those months last year, when the first births started worrying pediatricians. He credited growing awareness of the virus and government attempts to combat mosquitoes through spraying campaigns. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Oct. 1, 2016 photo, Rozilene Ferreira and her husband Elias Rodrigo celebrate the one-year birthday of their son Arthur, who was born with microcephaly, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Arthur has started taking high-calorie formula through a tube after he appeared to choke during meals. Its every moms dream to see their child open his mouth and eat well, said his mother, adding that each day seems to bring new problems. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Oct. 1, 2016 photo, mothers hold their babies, who have microcephaly, from left, Alice Vitoria, Juan Pedro and Joao Guilherme, during Arthur's one-year birthday party, at his home in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Away from medical facilities, many of the mothers of babies born with microcephaly get together and try to keep a semblance of normalcy by celebrating milestones, like first birthdays. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Oct. 1, 2016 photo, Vanessa dos Santos holds her son Enzo, who was born with microcephaly, as she walks home with her daughter Lorena in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Studies are underway to determine if the timing of mothers who were infected with Zika during pregnancy affects the severity of the abnormalities, said Ricardo Ximenes, a researcher at the Fiocruz Institute in Recife. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Sept. 26, 2016 photo, Angelica Pereira holds her daughter Luiza, who was born with microcephaly, as her husband Dejailson Arruda stands by at their home in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Pereira says its a victory just for her daughter Luiza to reach her first birthday. Despite Luizas suffering from daily seizures and breathing problems, Pereira is hopeful her health and motor skills will improve with time. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This Sept. 26, 2016 photo shows Luiza, who was born with microcephaly and is almost 1-year-old, sleeping under a mosquito net in her home in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, Pernambuco state, Brazil. As they reach their first birthdays, babies stricken by Zika in Brazil are developing a host of health problems. The disease is mainly transmitted by mosquito and was not known to cause birth defects until a large outbreak swept through northeastern states in Latin Americas largest nation.(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Sept. 26, 2016 photo, Dejailson Arruda holds his daughter Luiza, who was born with microcephaly when her mother was infected with the Zika virus, at their home in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, Pernambuco state, Brazil. While more study is needed, swallowing difficulties, epileptic seizures and vision and hearing problems appear to be causing more severe problems in these infants than in patients born with small heads because of the other infections known to cause microcephaly, such as German measles and herpes. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this Sept. 27, 2016 photo, the sun rises in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, where many cases of Zika were reported in Pernambuco state, Brazil. As they reach their first birthdays, babies stricken by Zika in Brazil are developing a host of health problems. The disease is mainly transmitted by mosquito and was not known to cause birth defects until a large outbreak swept through northeastern states in Latin Americas largest nation. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Clinton proposes tax relief for families with young kids
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Continuing her policy focus on children and families, Hillary Clinton is pledging more tax relief for families with young kids.
The Democratic presidential nominee announced a plan on Tuesday to double the Child Tax Credit and to increase the amount that low-income families could get back in refunds.
Clinton said she is trying to help families struggling with the cost of child care, health care and college. She said the "new tax credit will make their lives a little bit easier and help restore fairness to our economy."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to speak at a rally at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Clinton has made women and families a central priority of her campaign. She has pledged not to raise taxes on the middle class and has proposed plans to cap child care costs and offer tax credits for excessive health care costs or for family caregivers.
The latest proposal is in keeping with that. Currently, the Child Tax Credit is $1,000 per child under 17. Clinton would increase it to $2,000 per child up until the age of 4.
Clinton would also increase the amount that low-income families could get back in refunds under the program. Families with young children would see the most benefit.
Clinton's campaign said the plan would cost between $150 billion and $200 billion and would be paid with higher taxes on the wealthy. As with the current Child Tax Credit, it would phase out for higher income families.
Republican Donald Trump has proposed a more sweeping tax cut, condensing the current seven brackets to just three. But some analyses have found that his proposal could actually raise certain families' tax bills because of how it changes deductions and exemptions.
Do You Have to Tell Customers About a Data Breach?
Data and security breaches have become so common they're almost considered the cost of doing business these days. Even the most careful businesses may not be able to prevent a breach that compromises customers' private information. And as embarrassing as a data breach may be, it can be particularly harmful to customers if their information falls into the wrong hands.
Unless you're doing business solely in Alabama, New Mexico, or South Dakota, you're legally required to notify customers about a security breach, and you may need to take steps to mitigate or remediate injuries caused by the breach. But state laws can differ on the definition of applicable breaches, the level of harm that necessitates notice, and the notice required, among other things. Here's a look.
Golden State Statute
The National Conference of State Legislatures provides a comprehensive listing of state data breach notification statutes. A total of 47 states and the District of Columbia require private entities to notify individuals of security breaches involving personally identifiable information, but not every statute is the same.
California, for example, passed the first notification law in 2002, and it applies to any person or business that conducts business in the state and owns or has access to covered personal information, with a few exceptions. In the event of a breach, the business must notify customers "in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay," and may need to provide credit reporting agency (CRA) information. The notice must include:
[N]ame and contact info of covered entity; types of covered info that were the subject of the breach; if available, the date, estimated date or date range of the breach; date of the notice; whether notice was delayed due to law enforcement; a general description of the breach; and toll-free numbers and addresses of the major CRAs if SSNs, drivers' license or state identification card numbers were exposed.
The notification can be delayed if law enforcement deems that it will impede a criminal investigation, and government notification is required if the breach involves more than 500 state residents. (Health care services should be aware that the notice requirements are different for breaches involving personal health information.)
Federal Heads-Up
To date, there is no federal notification law. But the Obama administration introduced a model statute last year that would require:
[a]ny business entity engaged in or affecting interstate commerce, that uses, accesses, transmits, stores, disposes of or collects sensitive personally identifiable information about more than 10,000 individuals during any 12-month period [to] notify any individual whose sensitive personally identifiable information has been, or is reasonably believed to have been, accessed or acquired, unless there is no reasonable risk of harm or fraud to such individual.
For now, small businesses that maintain personal information on customers should familiarize themselves with their state laws on notification. You can hope for the best when it comes to data breaches, but you should also plan for the worst. And if your small biz has been breached, you may want to contact an attorney to make sure you're complying with state notification statutes.
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Voters stand by Ayotte because of and despite Trump decision
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte's decision to drop her support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is getting a mixed response from New Hampshire voters, but even some who disagree with her are still backing her re-election efforts.
Republicans in Congress are increasingly pulling their support from Trump or have called on him to drop out since the release on Friday of a 2005 video in which he is heard making lewd, sexually charged remarks about women. In Sunday night's town hall-style debate against Hillary Clinton, Trump described the recording as "locker room talk."
Citing concern for her daughter, Ayotte characterized Trump's comments as advocating sexual assault and said she will write in vice presidential nominee Mike Pence instead.
FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 3, 2016, file photo, incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte listens to a question during a debate with Democratic challenger Gov. Maggie Hassan by New England Cable News at New England College in Henniker, N.H. Ayotte's decision to drop her support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is getting a mixed response from voters, but even some who disagree with her are still backing her re-election efforts. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)
It is the latest step in Ayotte's evolving attitude toward Trump. Last summer, she said she backed him but was careful to define her position as "support but not endorse." In a debate last week with her opponent, Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, she said she "absolutely" would consider him a role model for children, then hours later said she "misspoke" and that she would not want her children to aspire to be like either presidential candidate.
Some of the more than 2,000 people who commented on Ayotte's Facebook page over the weekend praised her as courageous for dropping her support of Trump, while others criticized her decision, calling her a traitor and saying she had lost their votes.
Rushad Thomas has considered himself a "Never Trumper" since the moment the Republican presidential hopeful announced his candidacy. Sixteen months later, he is happy Ayotte has come around to his view.
"I really like Sen. Ayotte a lot. I've given her money, I voted for her in the primary. But when she gave that sort of weasel answer originally saying she'd support the nominee but not endorse him, I was really disappointed by that," said Thomas, 26, of Lebanon. "I was still going to vote for her, but I would have been reluctant to do so. Now, I can vote for her with a clear conscience."
Wade Wagner said he believes Ayotte's vote for Pence amounts to support for Clinton, but he still plans to stand behind her.
"Saying you're going to write in the vice presidential candidate I was taken aback," said Wagner, a 46-year-old independent from Hudson. "It was very unlike her. But when it comes down to it, she votes the way I believe, and I'll support her until the cows come home."
Another independent, John Sterling, was less complimentary of Ayotte, saying her decision was a bad idea, but in the end it would not cost her his vote.
"It doesn't change my support for her because who's the alternative," said Sterling, 61. "The Republican Party needs solidarity."
Hassan's campaign on Monday released a web ad accusing Ayotte of "saying anything to protect herself" and questioning why it took her so long to denounce Trump. And members of the progressive advocacy group People For the American Way stood outside Ayotte's Manchester office protesting Ayotte, Trump and Pence.
Karl Stamm, of Hudson, holding a sign that read "Pence= as bad as Trump," described himself as a former Republican turned Democrat. He said he once had high hopes for Ayotte, but now views her as a "political social climber" who lacks conviction.
FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 3, 2016, file photo, Democratic challenger for U.S. Senate Gov. Maggie Hassan listens to a question during a debate with incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte during a live televised debate by New England Cable News at New England College in Henniker, N.H. Hassan's campaign on Monday, Oct. 10, released a web ad accusing Ayotte of "saying anything to protect herself" and questioning why it took her so long to denounce Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)
Students create memorial for students killed in crash
DUXBURY, Vt. (AP) Students at a Vermont high school that lost four students in a fiery crash over the weekend set up a memorial and met with counselors Tuesday as classes resumed for the first time since police say a driver traveling the wrong way on an interstate slammed into the students' car, killing five teens.
Throughout the day, students wrote loving notes to their friends, classmates and teammates killed in the crash and placed them on tables alongside flowers, photographs, athletic jerseys, and a signed soccer ball. Other Vermont schools sent flowers, food and posters with notes of support from students.
"I do think that they feel hugged by the state, truly," Superintendent Brigid Scheffert Nease said of the students. "And I'm certain that the faculty feels hugged by the state. I mean we are just hearing from everyone. Everyone is offering support and wanting to do something, hence the flowers and the food. ... I think it's comforting."
This Oct. 11, 2016 photo shows a memorial set up at a high school in Duxbury, Vt., that lost four students in a fiery crash that police say was caused by a wrong-way driver. The four Harwood Union High School juniors and a girl who attended Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, were killed early Sunday when police say the car they were riding in was hit by a wrong-way driver and burst into flames. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)
A room at the school also was set aside for students to have a quiet place to cope with the tragedy, console and support each other and meet with counselors. Nease said the room was filled throughout the day.
The four Harwood juniors and a girl who grew up with them but went to Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, were killed early Sunday when the car they were riding in was hit by a wrong-way driver and burst into flames.
Mary Harris, 16, of Moretown; Cyrus Zschau, 16, of Moretown; Liam Hale, 16, of Fayston; Janie Cozzi, 15, of Fayston; and Eli Brookens, 16, of Waterbury, died in the crash.
About 1,000 people attended a candlelight vigil Monday night at Harwood to remember the students who were killed.
Police say Steven Bourgoin was driving the pickup truck that crashed into their vehicle, sending it up in flames. After a police officer who arrived on the scene tried to extinguish the fire, Bourgoin jumped into the officer's cruiser and took off, state police said.
When a Richmond police officer tried to stop him, Bourgoin turned the cruiser around and began heading north in a southbound lane, back toward the crash scene, hitting seven other vehicles along the way, authorities said. He was thrown from the cruiser, which then went up in flames, state police said.
Bourgoin, who remained hospitalized in serious condition, was arrested Tuesday on charges related to his alleged use of the police cruiser. Police said he was in the custody of the Vermont Department of Corrections. Prosecutors have said he is a primary suspect in the teens' deaths but he has not yet been charged in that crash.
It was not immediately known if he was represented by an attorney.
Bourgoin also faces trial on an unrelated domestic assault charge, prosecutors said.
A police affidavit says Bourgoin hit his girlfriend in the head and threatened to throw her down the stairs in May. Police say when she tried to leave with their 2-year-old child, Bourgoin got into the vehicle, drove them around and threatened to kill them. The now ex-girlfriend received custody of the child last month, prosecutors said.
His public defender in that case has not returned a phone call seeking comment.
This Oct. 11, 2016 photo shows a memorial set up at a high school in Duxbury, Vermont, that lost four students in a fiery crash that police say was caused by a wrong-way driver. The four Harwood Union High School juniors and a girl who attended Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, were killed early Sunday when police say the car they were riding in was hit by a wrong-way driver and burst into flames. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)
This Oct. 11, 2016 photo shows a memorial set up at a high school in Duxbury, Vermont, that lost four students in a fiery crash that police say was caused by a wrong-way driver. The four Harwood Union High School juniors and a girl who attended Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, were killed early Sunday when police say the car they were riding in was hit by a wrong-way driver and burst into flames. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)
Mourners share a tearful embrace Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, during a vigil attended by about 1,000 at Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, Vt., held for the teenaged victims killed in Saturday night's crash on Interstate 89 in Williston. Four of the five teens killed by the wrong-way driver were students at Harwood. The fifth student killed was from Fayston and attended a private school in New Hampshire. (Stefan Hard/Times Argus via AP)
Mourners hold candles Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, during a vigil attended by about 1,000 at Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, Vt., for the teenaged victims killed in Saturday night's crash on Interstate 89 in Williston. Four of the five teens killed by the wrong-way driver were students at Harwood. The fifth student killed was from Fayston and attended a private school in New Hampshire. (Stefan Hard/Times Argus via AP)
Hundreds of the roughly 1,000 who turned out to attend a candlelight vigil for the vicitims of a Saturday night car crash gather on a Harwood Union High School soccer field Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, in Duxbury, Vt. Four enrolled students at Harwood were killed in the crash with a wrong-way driver, the fifth victim lived in the Harwood catchment area but attended a private school in New Hampshire. (Stefan Hard/Times Argus via AP)
Mourners embrace during a candlelight vigil attended by about 1,000 at Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, Vt., for the teenaged victims killed in Saturday night's crash on Interstate 89 in Williston. Four of the five teens killed by the wrong-way driver were students at Harwood. The fifth student killed was from Fayston and attended a private school in New Hampshire. (Stefan Hard/Times Argus via AP)
Merkel signals support for Ethiopia's protesters in visit
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) German Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled support for protesters demanding wider freedoms in Ethiopia during a visit to the country on Tuesday, saying "a vibrant civil society is part and parcel of a developing country."
After meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Merkel said Germany has offered to train Ethiopia's police to deal with the sometimes deadly demonstrations that have caused one of Africa's best-performing economies to declare its first state of emergency in 25 years.
"We are already working in Oromia to de-escalate the situation there by offering mediation between groups," she said, referring to the region where protests have simmered for nearly a year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, is welcomed by Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, as she arrives at the national palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Merkel is visiting Ethiopia, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency, after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
"I would always argue for allowing people of a different political opinion ... to engage with them and allow them to express their views because, after all, a democratic experience shows that out of these discussions good solutions usually come," Merkel said.
The Ethiopian prime minister responded by suggesting his government may increase dialogue. "We have shortcomings in our fledgling democracy, so we want to go further in opening up the political space and engagement with different groups of the society," he said, noting that the East African country's huge youth population has created "dissatisfaction and desperation."
But the prime minister also sounded a note of defiance. "Ethiopia is committed to have a multi-party democracy as per our constitution. And Ethiopia is committed to have human rights observed. ... But Ethiopia is also against any violent extremist armed struggling groups," he said.
Ethiopia declared a state of emergency Sunday, faced with widespread anti-government protests. More than 50 people died last week in a stampede after police tried to disperse protesters. The incident set off a week of demonstrations in which both foreign and local businesses with suspected government ties were burned, and one American was killed in a rock attack.
Merkel said the German business community has criticized the business climate in Ethiopia, and she expressed hope that the government will discuss the criticism openly.
At least 500 people have been killed in anti-government protests over the past year, according to Human Rights Watch. The protesters demand more freedoms from a government accused of being increasingly authoritarian.
The United States and others have called on the government to use restraint against protesters, and the U.N. human rights office has asked for access to allow independent observers into the troubled Oromia region.
On Monday, Ethiopia's president announced during a Parliament session that the country's election law would be amended to accommodate more political parties and opposing views.
But the country's internet service continues to be largely blacked out after last week's unrest.
Merkel's African tour, with stops earlier this week in Mali and Niger, is also meant to highlight the global migration crisis and security issues. Ethiopia is one of the world's largest hosts of refugees, with an estimated 780,000 from nearby Somalia, South Sudan and elsewhere.
Ethiopia's prime minister appealed for German support.
Merkel also inaugurated the new African Union Peace and Security Council building in the capital, Addis Ababa, constructed with German funding of 27 million euros. It is expected to be the base for coordination of peacekeeping missions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center-left, and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, center-right, inspect the honor guard at the national palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Merkel is visiting Ethiopia, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency, after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center-right, inspects the honor guard at the national palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Merkel is visiting Ethiopia, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency, after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center-left, and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, center-right, inspect the honor guard at the national palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Merkel is visiting Ethiopia, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency, after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, is welcomed by Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, center-left, as she arrives at the national palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Merkel is visiting Ethiopia, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency, after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo/ Mulugeta Ayene)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, inspects the honor guard as she arrives at the national palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Merkel is visiting Ethiopia, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency, after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, right, inspect the honor guard at the national palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Merkel is visiting Ethiopia, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency, after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016 file photo, Ethiopian soldiers try to stop protesters in Bishoftu, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Ethiopia on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016 file photo, protesters chant slogans against the government during a march in Bishoftu, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Ethiopia on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo, File)
Youths play football at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Ethiopia's government on Monday blamed Egypt for supporting outlawed rebels and forcing the declaration of the country's first state of emergency in a quarter-century as widespread anti-government protests continue, though Egypt last week denied any support for the Ethiopian rebels. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
Ethiopian men read newspapers and drink coffee at a cafe in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Ethiopia's government on Monday blamed Egypt for supporting outlawed rebels and forcing the declaration of the country's first state of emergency in a quarter-century as widespread anti-government protests continue, though Egypt last week denied any support for the Ethiopian rebels. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
A security guard sits near a gate in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Ethiopia's government on Monday blamed Egypt for supporting outlawed rebels and forcing the declaration of the country's first state of emergency in a quarter-century as widespread anti-government protests continue, though Egypt last week denied any support for the Ethiopian rebels. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
Israel demolishes home of Palestinian attack accomplice
JERUSALEM (AP) The Israeli military on Tuesday demolished the family home of a Palestinian convicted of being an accomplice to a deadly attack on Israelis last year, while security was stepped up for a Jewish holiday that is set to begin at sundown.
The military said the accomplice, Amjad Elewi, assisted in the "planning and execution" of a shooting attack that killed two Israelis who were driving their car in the West Bank. He is serving two life sentences plus 30 years for his role in the attack.
The military said it sealed the crossings in and out of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a security precaution for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day.
Palestinians inspect the house of Amjad Aliwi after it was demolished by the Israeli army in the West Bank city of Nablus, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Aliwi was a member of a Hamas cell who shot and killed an American couple, residents of the West Bank Israeli settlement of Neria, while driving home last October. Aliwi is serving life sentence. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Nearly the entire country ground to a halt at sundown Tuesday as Israelis began observing the solemn day with a 25-hour fast and prayers.
Jews traditionally spend the day asking for forgiveness at intense prayer services. It caps a 10-day period of soul-searching that began with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year holiday. Shops, cafes and businesses shut down, and TV and radio stations go silent. Highways and roads are virtually empty except for secular youth enjoying the chance to bike and skateboard freely.
Ahead of the holiday, hundreds of Jews gathered in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel to pray for people in neighboring Syria, the Times of Israel reported. It said the son of the late Menachem Froman, a rabbi from the settlement of Tekoa who promoted coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, organized the initiative.
The Facebook site promoting the prayers said they are meant "to cry out, to pray...to awaken the mercy of the world over the suffering" in Syria.
The prayers were unusual, as Syria has fought several wars with Israel.
Israel has largely kept to the sidelines of the civil war, but wounded Syrians who have reached the frontier have been treated by Israeli army medics who brought them into the country for care at Israeli hospitals.
Israel has beefed up security in Jerusalem for the holiday after a shooting rampage by a Palestinian gunman this week that killed two Israelis.
Police said forces shuttered a West Bank pastry shop belonging to the family of the attacker earlier Tuesday. The shop was a "center for incitement," where videos were filmed to "encourage terrorism," according to a police statement.
The current wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence began just over a year ago, and in that time, 36 Israelis and two visiting Americans have been killed in Palestinian attacks. During the same time, about 219 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. Israel says most of those killed were attackers, while the Palestinians have accused Israel of using excessive force.
Israel has blamed the violence on incitement by Palestinian political and religious leaders, compounded on social media sites. The Palestinians say it is rooted in some 50 years of military occupation and fading hopes for independence.
Salah Alawi sits inside the house of his brother Amjad Aliwi after it was demolished by the Israeli army in the West Bank city of Nablus, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Aliwi was a member of a Hamas cell who shot and killed an American couple, residents of the West Bank Israeli settlement of Neria, while driving home last October. Aliwi is serving life sentence. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinians inspect the house of Amjad Aliwi after it was demolished by the Israeli army in the West Bank city of Nablus, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Aliwi was a member of a Hamas cell who shot and killed an American couple, residents of the West Bank Israeli settlement of Neria, while driving home last October. Aliwi is serving life sentence. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
A poster with a picture of Palestinian Hamas member Musbah Abu Sbaih, who killed two Israelis and wounded five in a shooting rampage in Jerusalem last Sunday, is posted at his family's shuttered pastry shop, in the West Bank village of al Ram, between Ramallah and Jerusalem, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Israeli security forces shuttered a West Bank pastry shop belonging to the family of Abu Sbaih, earlier on Tuesday. The shop was a "center for incitement," where videos were filmed to "encourage terrorism," according to a police statement. Arabic on the poster reads in part, "Hamas commemorates with the al Quds Brigades son, the heroic martyr Musbah Abu Sbaih, the lion of Al Aqsa," and My last request to you: Al Aqsa is your responsibility, dont abandon it. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
A woman takes a photo of the shuttered Abu Sbaih pastry shop that belongs to the family of Palestinian Hamas member Musbah Abu Sbaih, who killed two Israelis and wounded five in a shooting rampage in Jerusalem last Sunday, in the West Bank village of al Ram, between Ramallah and Jerusalem, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Israeli security forces shuttered the pastry shop on Tuesday. The shop was a "center for incitement," where videos were filmed to "encourage terrorism," according to a police statement. Arabic on the poster reads in part, "Hamas commemorates with the al Quds Brigades son, the heroic martyr Musbah Abu Sbaih, the lion of Al Aqsa," and My last request to you: Al Aqsa is your responsibility, dont abandon it. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Posters of Palestinian Hamas member Musbah Abu Sbaih, who killed two Israelis and wounded five in a shooting rampage in Jerusalem last Sunday, are displayed in the West Bank village of al Ram, between Ramallah and Jerusalem, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Israeli security forces shuttered the pastry shop on Tuesday. The shop was a "center for incitement," where videos were filmed to "encourage terrorism," according to a police statement. Arabic on the poster reads in part, "Hamas commemorates with the al Quds Brigades son, the heroic martyr Musbah Abu Sbaih, the lion of Al Aqsa," and My last request to you: Al Aqsa is your responsibility, dont abandon it. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Arpaio's contempt case comes less than month before election
PHOENIX (AP) The U.S. Justice Department's promise to file a criminal contempt-of-court charge against the longtime sheriff of metro Phoenix comes less than a month before the 84-year-old lawman will learn whether he gets a seventh term in office.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio will face the possibility of jail time and a clouded political future when prosecutors file a misdemeanor contempt charge against him for defying a judge's orders to end his signature immigration patrols. The charge is expected to be filed Wednesday.
Arpaio, who didn't attend a hearing Tuesday in his contempt case, could face up to six months in jail if convicted of misdemeanor contempt.
In August, US District Judge Murray Snow recommended Arpaio face criminal charges for ignoring court orders arising out of the ruling that the sheriff and his deputies were guilty of racial profiling of Latino drivers
The sheriff issued a statement saying he was confident he would be exonerated and accused President Barack Obama's administration of trying to influence the sheriff's race.
"It is no coincidence that this announcement comes 28 days before the election and the day before early voting starts," Arpaio said. "It is a blatant abuse of power and the people of Maricopa County should be as outraged as I am."
The U.S. Justice Department didn't respond to a request for comment.
Authorities were still considering a possible obstruction of justice charge against Arpaio that could result in more severe punishments, including losing his job.
The contempt case also focused on Arpaio's actions in carrying out what critics said was a secret investigation of Judge G. Murray Snow in the case. Snow demanded Arpaio and an aide turn over 50 hard drives that were part of the probe, but they ignored the order.
Keller said the Justice Department cannot prosecute those allegations within the criminal contempt case because the one-year statute of limitations had run its course. But federal authorities will investigate the allegation as a possible obstruction of justice charge, Keller said.
Obstruction of justice is a felony that carries a punishment of 15 months to 37 months in prison and would bar Arpaio from office if he is convicted. Prosecutors did not give a timetable on when they would decide whether to bring an obstruction charge.
Prosecutors are also considering a possible obstruction charge against two Arpaio aides and a former attorney suspected of concealing nearly 1,500 IDs in an investigation into whether officers pocketed items during traffic stops.
The criminal contempt charge involving the immigration patrols will mark yet another defeat for the sheriff who became a national political figure over the past decade by aggressively carrying out immigration patrols and attention-getting endeavors. Among other things, he made prisoners wear pink underwear, put them on chain gangs and confined them in tents in stifling desert heat.
Following complaints by Latino drivers about racial profiling, a judge demanded that Arpaio stop the enforcement efforts. He was later found to have violated the order for 17 months, causing it to turn into a contempt of court case.
County taxpayers have shelled out $48 million so far in the profiling case, and the costs are expected to reach $72 million by next summer. The expenses and Arpaio's legal woes have become a centerpiece of his Democratic opponent's campaign, but they have not stopped Arpaio from amassing $12 million in campaign cash, most from out-of-state donors.
"No one is above the law, and today's announcement in court epitomizes the strength of the judicial system," Democratic opponent Paul Penzone said.
___
Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jacques-billeaud.
Protesters wearing anti-Joe Arpaio t-shirts gather in front of U.S. District Court as prosecutors announce they will charge the Maricopa County Sheriff with criminal contempt-of-court Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Phoenix. Arpaio is accused of defying a judge's orders to end his immigration patrols in Arizona, which if convicted could lead to jail time, as Arpaio seeks another term as Maricopa County Sheriff in less than a month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Protesters display an effigy of Arpaio wearing prison clothes in front of U.S. District Court as prosecutors announce they will charge him
Protesters gather in front of U.S. District Court as prosecutors announce they will charge Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio with criminal contempt-of-court Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Phoenix. Arpaio is accused of defying a judge's orders to end his immigration patrols in Arizona, which if convicted could lead to jail time, as Arpaio seeks another term as Maricopa County Sheriff in less than a month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The U.S. Coast Guard has sold off or given away 120 lighthouses across 22 states and Puerto Rico that are no longer needed.
Individuals eager to preserve the landmarks, tap into their tourism potential or even live in them have been snapping up the towers since they became available under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000.
The Coast Guard said upkeep was too expensive and their usefulness was in decline with the advent of GPS.
Winning bids have ranged from $10,000 for the Cleveland East Pierhead Light in Ohio to $934,000 for the Graves Light in Boston Harbor.
Tourist attraction: A volunteer group spent about a decade and nearly $1.9million to acquire and renovate North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee (pictured)
Port Washington, Wisconsin is in the process of acquiring an 81-year-old light on its breakwater with plans to raise and spend $1.5million for restoration. And that structure does not have living quarters.
The Port Austin Reef Lighthouse is seen from a boat more than two miles from the Michigan shore in Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay near Port Austin, Michigan. It went to a nonprofit
Marv Kuziel of the Port Austin Reef Light Association shows the light that guides vessels from the top of the lighthouse
But for buyers the lighthouses are a work in progress after years of neglect, vandalism, limited access and hammering by the elements and often make for labor-intensive money pits that are for neither the weak of heart nor stomach.
When Lou Schillinger and his volunteer cadre began restoring an 1890s lighthouse more than two miles off the Michigan shore in Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay, they first needed to remove 30 years' accumulation of gull and pigeon feces whose depth measured in feet rather than inches.
That was in the mid-1980s when he reached an agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard to prevent the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse his 'Castle in the Lake' from being dismantled and lost forever.
'That first summer my dad and I ran out there with a 14-foot rowboat and a 20-foot ladder because there was no access ladder and we just began shoveling manure,' said Schillinger, 66, president of the Port Austin Reef Light Association, a nonprofit group that in 2013 took title of the property from the federal government.
No keeper had lived in the brick building with its five-floor tower since 1952. The roof was gone.
'We shoveled diligently,' Schillinger said. 'I'd get friends out there, they would come out and volunteer and they'd show up for one day and they would never come back again because it was such a miserable job.'
The Denis Sullivan ship passes by the light head tower on the Port Washington breakwater
Ross Kroeger and John Reichert, left, close the door to the light head tower on the Port Washington breakwater
'People who are into this I believe have to have an internal fire, an internal passion, a conviction that these buildings and the history they represent are worth saving,' said Terry Pepper, 68, executive director of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association.
Port Austin Light was built on a shallow reef. It's accessible only by boat when winds are light, otherwise waves are too choppy to dock and disembark.
Pepper's association overcame similar access issues when it renovated a lighthouse on the 160-acre St. Helena Island, seven miles west of the Mackinac Bridge.
It took about 20 years and $1.5million to finish the job in 2005.
Nobody had lived in the 1870s lighthouse since 1922, making it a destination for partiers, scrappers and vandals, said Pepper.
His association acquired the lighthouse before the 2000 act and also is restoring the Cheboygan River Front Range Light in Michigan.
'The roof had huge holes in it,' Pepper said. 'Somebody had lit a fire on the floor in one of the bedrooms on the second floor and embers from that fire dripped down to the first floor and started burning that floor also.
'Every single window in the lighthouse was gone. All the doors on the inside of the brick lighthouse were gone.
Marian Gladieux, of Oregon, Ohio, walks up the tower of the North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee
Pictured is the Milwaukee lighthouse's tower. A group of volunteers spent about a decade acquiring and renovating the living quarters and tower, opening it to the public in 2007
'Railings on the stairs were gone and the plaster inside the lighthouse had been kicked down.'
Pepper estimates the group has spent $1.5million and 'untold thousands of hours of volunteer labor' restoring the St. Helena property, which must meet state and federal standards for historic preservation.
'We who are in this business, with this passion, have to be asking for money all the time,' Pepper said, whether it's through grants, donations, selling memorabilia or offering Great Lakes lighthouse cruises.
Pepper is often contacted by prospective buyers because of his knowledge of lighthouses, particularly those in Michigan, where there are 129 the most in the U.S.
'I will tell people if you end up spending $100,000 to get that lighthouse, that's a lot of money,' Pepper said. 'But $100,000 is the tip of the iceberg.'
Michael Connor, right, gives tours at the North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee
Onshore lighthouses are no bargain either.
A volunteer group spent about a decade and nearly $1.9million to acquire and renovate North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee. It opened to the public in 2007 and since has attracted more than 80,000 tourists.
It has cost more than $1.1million to run it, mostly paid through entrance fees and events, donations, fundraising and grants.
About 30 miles to the north, Port Washington is in the process of acquiring an 81-year-old light on its breakwater with plans to raise and spend $1.5million for restoration. And that structure does not have living quarters.
Back on the Port Austin Reef Light, time is measured in decades, not years, of work. Schillinger and his crews put on a new roof. They installed new windows and oak doors, and replaced the chimney.
Vandals have been constant. Last fall, they started putting in a dock for easier access by boats, but a nasty late November gale wiped out their work and they had to start over this year.
'We've invested close to half-a-million dollars in that property in time and material over the last 30 years and almost I would say 95 percent of it's all been out-of-pocket or donated time,' said Schillinger.
He estimated it will take three years and at least $1.6million more in grants and donations to prepare it for tours and renters who want to experience the keeper's life.
'It's been really been kind of a labor of love for all community members here in Port Austin.'
Candidates, preparing to inherit Syria mess, offer few plans
WASHINGTON (AP) Whoever occupies the White House next, he or she will inherit one of the most complex and brutal crises in the world: the war in Syria.
With Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies Russia and Iran dug in, neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump has articulated a comprehensive or realistic proposal that would address the multiple strands of the conflict.
The civil war, complicated by the occupation of key areas by the Islamic State group and a number of other extremist groups, has already further unsteadied the already unstable Middle East and spread outward, along with millions of refugees, around the globe.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Clinton pointed out during Sunday's debate that she, as America's chief diplomat, had pushed for a more robust response in Syria.
"I, when I was secretary of state, advocated, and I advocate today, a no-fly zone and safe zone," she said at the debate. "We need some leverage with the Russians, because they are not going to come to the negotiating table for a diplomatic resolution unless there is some leverage over them."
But no-fly and safe zones need to be enforced an issue that vexed the Pentagon when they were first proposed four years ago because of the resources required. Since Clinton became a candidate, Russia's military intervention one year ago has only exacerbated that problem. Russia has introduced advanced air defense systems to Syria, which would make enforcement of a no-fly zone far more dangerous for American personnel and a potential cause for a direct military confrontation between the U.S. and Russia.
Clinton said she would also target IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the same way that President Barack Obama went after Osama bin Laden.
And, she said she is in favor of continuing the Obama administration practice of funneling weapons to Iraq's Kurdish armed forces, the Peshmerga, and hinted that she would consider extending that support to Kurd fighters in Syria, where small numbers of U.S. special forces are on the ground. But she said she would not use U.S. ground troops in Syria, as they would become an occupying force.
Trump has said the only American interest in Syria is defeating the Islamic State group and suggested he might leave Syria's fate to Russia and Iran. He lashed out at Clinton for the proposal even as he appeared to exaggerate what she would consider.
"She wants to fight for rebels," he said. "There's only one problem: You don't even know who the rebels are. So what's the purpose?"
In adopting this argument, Trump positioned himself with Russia, which has repeatedly accused the U.S. of tacitly supporting the Islamic State militants and Syria's al-Qaida affiliate by its support of what were once moderate rebel groups interested only in a democratic election to replace Assad. Russia says the moderate rebel forces that the U.S. and its allies are supporting are so intermingled with IS and al-Qaida as to be indistinguishable.
"I don't like Assad at all, but Assad is killing ISIS," Trump said at Sunday's debate, using another acronym for the Islamic State group. "Russia is killing ISIS. And Iran is killing ISIS. And those three have now lined up because of our weak foreign policy." He continued: "Syria is no longer Syria. Syria is Russia and it's Iran."
Trump said he disagreed with his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who said last week that he would support U.S. military action against Syrian targets to protect civilians in the besieged city of Aleppo. But he did not offer a specific policy prescription for Syria short of setting up safe zones, to be paid for by Arab nations, for Syrian civilians who have fled the fighting.
And Trump accused Obama and Clinton, as secretary of state, of having abandoned the country by not following through on a threat to bomb Syria if Assad used chemical weapons.
Clinton incorrectly said she had already left the administration when Obama, and then she herself, warned Assad of a "red line" that would be crossed if chemical weapons were used. But she was no longer in office when Assad crossed that line, and Obama decided not to follow through. It fell to her successor, Secretary of State John Kerry, to negotiate the step-down, which involved a deal with Russia to press Assad to get rid of his remaining declared chemical weapons stock. Obama, who maintains that decision was the right one, has been widely criticized for backing down by many who believe it undercut U.S. credibility.
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Why do evangelicals prefer Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton?
NEW YORK (AP) Cracks have appeared in evangelical support for Donald Trump over the video of his sexually predatory comments about women. But backing from some of his most high-profile conservative Christian endorsers, such as Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., is holding.
Among those reversing course was well-known theologian Wayne Grudem, whose endorsement was widely cited by other Christians backing the Republican presidential nominee. The prominent evangelical magazine, Christianity Today, on Monday said Trump was "the very embodiment of what the Bible calls a fool." James MacDonald, of Harvest Bible Church in Illinois and a member of Trump's evangelical advisory board, called the candidate's remarks "misogynistic trash." The pastor told the magazine he would no longer work with the campaign unless Trump repents.
Popular evangelist and author Beth Moore tweeted that she was among many women who had been sexually abused or harassed, and "we're tired of it." That behavior, she warned, becomes more acceptable "when some Christian leaders don't think it's that big a deal."
FILE - In a Jan. 31, 2016 file photo, Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, smiles as he listens to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, at a rally, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Tiny cracks have appeared in evangelical support for Donald Trump in the maelstrom surrounding the newly released 2005 video of his vulgar comments about women. But conservative Christian support for the Republican nominee, which has confounded many inside and outside evangelicalism, seems to be holding for now. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Katelyn Beaty, author of "A Woman's Place," and a former managing editor at Christianity Today magazine, said Moore's comments indicate evangelical women are becoming more wary of Trump, "especially as it relates to the ways he consistently talks about and treats women."
But James Dobson, of Family Talk radio, condemned Trump's comments, but called Clinton's support for abortion rights "criminal."
"Mr. Trump promises to support religious liberty and the dignity of the unborn. Mrs. Clinton promises she will not," Dobson said in a statement Monday.
Falwell Jr., an early endorser of the real estate magnate, said Trump's remarks were "reprehensible." Still, Falwell said, "we're never going to have a perfect candidate," and suggested the video leak was engineered by Trump's enemies in his own party.
"I think it was timed," Falwell told WABC-AM radio in New York. "I think it might have even been a conspiracy, you know, among the establishment Republicans who've known about it for weeks and who tried to time it to do the maximum damage."
Others who stood by Trump were Ralph Reed, a member of the campaign's evangelical advisory board and founder of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, which aims to mobilize conservative Christian voters. Televangelist Pat Robertson dismissed Trump's remarks as an attempt by the candidate "to look like he's macho."
On the video released Friday, Trump is heard describing attempts to have sex with a married woman and bragging that women let him grab their genitals because he is famous. Responding to the leak, Trump said, "I was wrong," to make those comments, but dismissed them as "locker room talk."
Conservative Christian support for Trump has confounded those inside and outside evangelicalism. Trump is a casino mogul who was married three times, said he didn't need to ask God for forgiveness, mocked a disabled reporter and alluded to his penis size during a debate. Early on, prominent evangelicals, including Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Christian author Max Lucado, warned evangelicals against Trump.
Still, as the year progressed and the large pool of GOP primary contenders dwindled, it became clear that white conservative Christians were coalescing behind the candidate. Recent polls show the GOP presidential nominee drawing about 70 percent of the white evangelical vote.
Although some evangelicals defended Trump's character, many couched their endorsements in pragmatic terms, focused on Trump's promise that he will appoint conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Laura Olson, a Clemson University political scientist, said this support can be seen in part as payback for evangelical losses in the so-called culture wars. Many conservative Christians see the roots of their failure in the policies of President Bill Clinton. In 1993, days into his first term in the White House and on the 20th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Clinton signed an executive order abolishing some restrictions on abortion.
Younger evangelicals likely don't remember that far back. But for others, the Clintons "come as a package deal in so many people's minds," Olson said.
In a recent Pew Research Center survey, more than three-quarters of white evangelicals cited dislike for Clinton as a major reason they prefer Trump.
"A perception grew, even while (Clinton) was first lady, that she was the extremely liberal one, that Bill Clinton was a moderate, a pragmatist, while Hillary had an extremely liberal approach to things," said Matthew Lee Anderson, founder of the popular Christian blog Mere Orthodoxy, who came out early against Trump. "A lot has to do with her views on abortion. She was much more easily characterized as a foe than even Bill Clinton was. That picture was set relatively early within the religious right, and it has endured."
Another legacy of that period was Hillary Clinton's approach as first lady, which did not fit the expected roles for women in more traditional corners of evangelicalism.
Mark Setzler, a political scientist at High Point University in North Carolina who studies voting patterns in mixed-gender congressional and gubernatorial elections, said evangelicals in surveys state a strong preference for male leaders. But it's not clear how this translates into voting behavior. He was surprised to find that Christian conservatives were no less likely than others to back a candidate because she's a woman.
At a Liberty University schoolwide assembly Monday, Falwell, onstage with Reed, put the focus on Clinton's record, deeming it much more of a threat than Trump's predatory remarks. Falwell said five years from now, "nobody is going to remember" what the Republican nominee said.
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Singapore closes, fines bank for Malaysian 1MDB Fund links
SINGAPORE (AP) Singaporean and Swiss regulators announced fines and other penalties Tuesday for Falcon Private Bank, saying it breached money laundering regulations in its dealings with the indebted Malaysian state fund 1MDB.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore ordered the private bank to close down in the city-state and pay a fine of 4.3 million Singapore dollars ($3.12 million) for violations that included not filing suspicious transaction reports and failing to alert authorities about irregular activity in customers' accounts.
The Singapore branch manager of Falcon Private Bank, Jens Sturzenegger, was arrested on Oct 6, it said in a statement.
FILE - In this May 14, 2015 file photo, construction workers chat in front of a billboard for state investment fund 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) at the fund's flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Singapore regulators ordered the closure Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016 of Falcon Private Bank, citing alleged slack controls for transfers and improper conduct related to 1MDB, an indebted Malaysian state fund. (AP Photo/Joshua Paul, File)
The regulator cited "serious failures in anti-money laundering controls and improper conduct by senior management" in Switzerland and Singapore.
The Swiss financial watchdog likewise said it found Falcon Private Bank had failed to carry out adequate background checks into transactions and business relationships. It fined Falcon 2.5 million Swiss francs ($2.5 million) and banned it from dealing with "foreign, politically exposed persons" for three years. Any further breaches would cause its license to be withdrawn, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or Finma, said in a statement.
"The issues surrounding 1MDB form one of the largest cases of suspected corruption in recent times," Finma CEO Mark Branson said in the statement. "The global financial system has been blatantly misused."
Investigators in Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong and the U.S. have been probing allegations that people close to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stole more than $1 billion from 1MDB, or 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
The Swiss attorney general opened an investigation last year of two former 1MDB officials and other unnamed people on suspicion of bribery and money laundering, among other offenses.
Najib set up the fund shortly after taking office in 2009 to use oil revenues to promote economic development projects. By early 2015, 1MDB had accumulated $11.6 billion in debt and nearly defaulted on a loan payment.
Finma said Falcon handled $3.8 million in assets associated with 1MDB Group, funds that were quickly transferred and were high risk.
"Although management's attention was drawn to these matters, it repeatedly failed to properly investigate the business relationships," the statement said.
Falcon is the second bank to lose its license in Singapore in connection with investigations into Malaysia's 1MDB fund that have led Singapore to seize many bank accounts, fine banks and charge private bankers. Another Swiss bank, BSI, which is based in Lugano, Switzerland, was shut in May due to serious breaches in anti-money laundering requirements, poor management oversight and gross misconduct by some staff.
Falcon was fined 300,000 Singapore dollars ($217,612) in 2013 for poor controls for client acceptance and insufficient scrutiny on transactions. The Monetary Authority said it found further, larger breaches and unprofessional conduct by its senior management two years later.
"Falcon Bank has demonstrated a persistent and severe lack of understanding of ... requirements and expectations," the Singapore Monetary Authority statement said.
Falcon Private Bank said in a statement that it viewed Singapore's decision as "regrettable and disappointing." It said it was working toward an orderly winding down of its business in the city-state.
Founded in Zurich, Falcon Private Bank was known as AIG Private Bank when it started its Singapore operations in 2008. Its name changed to Falcon Private Bank in 2009. It is owned by the International Petroleum Investment Company, a sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi.
The bank said it welcomed an end to investigations into its dealings with 1MDB.
"With its committed staff, strong capital base and high liquidity ratio, Falcon Private Bank will now concentrate on further growing its franchise," it said.
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In split, Ryan stumping for House GOP but not for Trump
CHESTER SPRINGS, Pa. (AP) For Paul Ryan, October is now all about protecting the Republican majority of the House and his own job as speaker.
The Wisconsin Republican can't ignore Donald Trump, his party's bull-in-a-china-shop presidential candidate. Nor can he offend Trump's millions of voters, whom many House GOP candidates need to survive next month's elections. Yet amid the remarkable spectacle of the party's White House nominee and its highest elected official practically at war, Ryan says he's not going to lift a finger for Trump or even be seen with him.
Instead, Ryan will focus "his entire energy making sure that Hillary Clinton does not get a blank check" with a Democratic Congress if she's elected president. He made that comment during a conference call with House GOP lawmakers Monday, according to someone on the call.
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa., right, and Scott Johnson, center, owner of J-Tech tour the company in Chester Springs, Pa., on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016. For Ryan, October is now all about protecting the Republican majority of the House _ and his own job as speaker. The Wisconsin Republican cant ignore Donald Trump. Nor can he offend Trumps millions of voters, who many House GOP candidates need to survive next months elections. Yet amid the remarkable spectacle of the partys White House nominee and highest elected official practically at war, Ryan said Oct. 10, hes not going to lift a finger for Trump, or even be seen with him. (AP Photo/Alan Fram)
A day before last Friday's release of a 2005 video showing Trump making vulgar boasts about forcing himself on women, Ryan made two campaign stops in eastern Pennsylvania in which he never spoke the words "Donald Trump." That dramatized how Ryan is trying to guide House candidates through rocky political waters Trump has roiled with regularity.
"We see ourselves in the House as offering ideas and solutions, kind of adding a rudder and a keel to our party," Ryan said standing alongside the local GOP congressman at J-Tech USA, all but suggesting that such substance and stability was lacking atop the ticket. The company services trucks for highway crews.
Ryan was scheduled to spend this week tending to political events in his home state. He then resumes a feverish coast-to-coast effort to defend GOP control of the House, a tour that was scheduled to cover at least 17 states and 42 cities and might grow.
Republicans have been favored to retain House control in November's voting, with Democrats needing to gain 30 seats to take charge of the 435-member chamber. But Democratic hopes have grown and GOP nerves have been frazzled after two weeks of politically seismic setbacks for Trump, capped by the Trump video.
In Monday's conference call, jumpy House Republicans heard Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, who heads their campaign organization, say the political situation was deteriorating for the GOP, especially among women, according to two people on the call. Walden urged them to poll frequently and warned that the path to victory for candidates in tight races resembled landing a plane in the fog with a hurricane blowing.
On that same call, Ryan said he would not defend Trump or campaign with him and would focus on protecting the House GOP majority, two listeners said. One said Ryan told Republicans to do what "you think is right personally, and what you need to do politically."
Trump fired back Tuesday on Twitter.
In one tweet, Trump called Ryan a "very weak and ineffective leader" and accused him of "disloyalty." In another, Trump complained, "It is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!" He later added that disloyal Republicans "don't know how to win I will teach them!"
The two men have clashed for months, with Ryan repeatedly criticizing Trump's comments about Muslims and others and each belatedly endorsing the other's election bid. After the Trump tape was released, Ryan said he was "sickened" and withdrew his invitation for Trump to attend a Wisconsin political event, which would have been their first joint appearance of the campaign.
Ryan's comments Monday upset some of his own colleagues a potential danger sign for Ryan.
Some conservatives criticized Ryan during the call, listeners said. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California denounced Ryan's approach as "cowardly" and demanded that party leaders stop their "Trump can't win defeatism," said three Republicans familiar with the call.
Some lawmakers said party leaders should help Trump because down-ballot candidates like them would fare better if Trump lost narrowly to Democrat Hillary Clinton than if he was beaten resoundingly.
"I never doubted he should be speaker," Rohrabacher said of Ryan in an interview Monday. "However, if he can't prevent himself from panicking and helping the enemy in a situation like this, well, then we'll find out."
Ryan is expected to seek re-election as speaker if Republicans retain the majority and may run for president in 2020, and in each case needs conservative support.
Many Republicans have begun viewing Trump as a problem for their own careers, especially since last Friday's release of the tape. Dozens of House and Senate Republicans have rescinded past endorsements of Trump or called for him to end his candidacy.
Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa. whose district Ryan visited last week also never mentioned Trump's name during their joint appearance. The closest either lawmaker came was when Costello said, "We're running to make this country an even greater place to live and work and raise a family" reminiscent of Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."
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North Carolina braces for more flooding in downstream towns
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) A state trooper shot and killed an armed man during a search for flood victims in a tense and dispirited North Carolina, and thousands more people were ordered to evacuate as high water from Hurricane Matthew pushed downstream Tuesday, two days after the storm blew out to sea.
Matthew's death toll in the U.S. climbed to 34, more than half of them in North Carolina, in addition to the more than 500 feared dead in Haiti.
In Greenville, a city of 90,000, officials warned that the Tar River would overwhelm every bridge in the county by sundown, splitting it in half before the river crests late Wednesday. Evacuations were ordered there and in such communities as Goldsboro and Kinston, as rivers swelled to some of the highest levels ever recorded.
A swift water rescue team down a street covered by floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
Tens of thousands of people, some of them as much as 125 miles inland, have been warned to move to higher ground since the hurricane drenched the state with more than a foot of rain over the weekend during a run up the East Coast from Florida.
An angry Gov. Pat McCrory asked people to stop ignoring evacuation orders and driving around barricades on flooded roads: "That is unacceptable. You are not only putting your life danger, you are putting emergency responders' lives in jeopardy."
In the hard-hit town of Lumberton, along the bloated Lumber River, sporadic looting was reported, and a North Carolina trooper searching for people trapped by the floodwaters killed a man who confronted officers with a gun Monday night, police said.
Authorities gave few details, but McCrory said the shooting happened in "very difficult circumstances," adding: "Tension can be high when people are going through very, very emotional circumstances."
In Lumberton, patience was wearing thin.
Ada Page, 74, spent two nights sleeping in a hard plastic folding chair at a shelter put together so hastily there were no cots and people had to walk outside in the back to use portable toilets. She complained she didn't even have her children's telephone numbers with her.
"I left at home all my clothes, everything. The only thing I have is this child and what I was driving," said Page, who was with the 8-year-old granddaughter she takes care of.
The full extent of the disaster in North Carolina was still unclear, but it appeared that thousands of homes were damaged. Many likened Matthew to Hurricane Floyd, which did $3 billion in damage and destroyed 7,000 homes in North Carolina as it skirted the state's coast in 1999.
McCrory said thousands of animals drowned, mostly chickens on poultry farms, and he was deciding how to dispose of the carcasses safely.
The flooding extended to South Carolina, where 150 people had to be rescued Monday from the tiny town of Nichols, downstream from Lumberton. On Tuesday, some residents returned in boats to survey the damage.
Also flooding were the Neuse River, which reached a record crest in Goldsboro on Tuesday, and the Tar River, which threatened Princeville, a town founded in 1865 by freed slaves and destroyed by Floyd's flooding 17 years ago.
After that, the river flows into Greenville, where Danita Lynch wasn't taking any chances. She helped her 59-year-old mother load nearly all her belongings into a box truck and get to higher ground.
"We decided to pack her up yesterday. The water is right across the street," Lynch said.
East Carolina University in Greenville canceled classes for the rest of the week for its more than 28,000 students.
Mary Schulken, the school's executive director of communications, said that as the Tar began flooding over the weekend, she had to move her 98-year-old mother and her belongings out of her retirement community next to the river.
"She was fearful, upset, anxious, and when she's that way, I'm that way," Schulken said. "I know that is a personal experience that is being repeated and has the potential to be repeated many times over in this community."
Not everyone was obeying the evacuation order.
Angie Hamill was still serving drinks Tuesday afternoon at the Players Retreat Bar next to the river in Greenville. Brown muck from Floyd could still be seen above the chair rail, though the water wasn't forecast to rise quite that high this time.
The gambling machines and an ATM were removed from the bar to keep them safe.
"We don't have any games, but we have beer and we have soda," Hamill said, "and as long as I can keep it cold, we'll be OK."
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This story has been corrected to show that the school is named East Carolina University, not Eastern Carolina University.
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Dalesio reported from Lumberton. Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Nichols, South Carolina; Jack Jones and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina and Tom Foreman Jr. in Charlotte, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
A National Guard high-water vehicle drives through Nichols, S.C. on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. About 150 people were rescued by boats from flooding in the riverside village of Nichols on Monday. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
A swift water rescue team member holds a dog that was recused from floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
A swift water rescue team transports a resident of to safety on a street covered with floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
A car is surrounded by floodwaters on Highway 9, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Nichols, S.C. About 150 people were rescued by boats from flooding in the riverside village of Nichols on Monday. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
A car is submerged in floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
Floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew cover Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
A swift water rescue team member guides a boat through floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
Unshackled, Trump unleashes aggressive attacks on own party
WASHINGTON (AP) The "shackles" gone, Donald Trump stepped up his fierce attacks on his own party leaders Tuesday, promising to teach Republicans who oppose him a lesson and fight for the presidency "the way I want to."
"I'm just tired of non-support" from leaders of the party he represents on the presidential ticket, Trump said Tuesday evening on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor." He saved special ire for House Speaker Paul Ryan, who told Republicans Monday he'll no longer campaign for Trump with four weeks to go before Election Day.
"I don't want his support, I don't care about his support," Trump said. "I wouldn't want to be in a foxhole with a lot of these people that I can tell you, including Ryan. By the way, including Ryan, especially Ryan."
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Panama City, Fla. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
With his campaign floundering and little time to steady it, the businessman reverted to the combative, divisive strategy that propelled him to victory in the GOP primary: Attack every critic including fellow Republicans. Those close to Trump suggested it was "open season" on every detractor, regardless of party.
"It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to," Trump said in a tweet that brought new concern near panic in some cases to a party trying to stave off an all-out civil war before Nov. 8.
In another series of tweets, the Republican nominee called Ryan "weak and ineffective," Sen. John McCain "very foul-mouthed" and "disloyal" Republicans "far more difficult than Crooked Hillary."
"They come at you from all sides," Trump declared. "They don't know how to win I will teach them!"
At a night rally in Florida hours later, Trump made no mention of the apparent Republican civil war, instead training his fire on his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Rage against fellow Republicans from the face of the 2016 GOP exposed a party slipping from mere feuding into verbal warfare with advance voting already underway in roughly half the states. Polls suggest Trump is headed toward a loss of historic proportions if he doesn't turn things around.
His scorched-earth approach, days after his sexually predatory language caught on tape triggered a mass Republican defection, threatened to alienate even more supporters.
"Fighting for the sake of fighting is not really very helpful," said former Trump adviser Barry Bennett.
Trump has acknowledged the possibility of defeat in recent days, but on Tuesday he tried to shift the blame for his struggles on Republican defections and an election system that may be "rigged" against him. On Monday, he warned of potential voter fraud in heavily African-American Philadelphia, a claim for which there is no evidence but one that could challenge Americans' faith in a fair democratic process.
At the same time, Trump's campaign is considering whether to feature Bill Clinton accusers at his upcoming rallies. Trump shocked the political world before Sunday's debate by appearing with several women who had accused the former president of sexual impropriety decades earlier.
The aggressive shift is in line with the philosophy of recently hired campaign chaiman Steve Bannon, whose conservative website has long fueled attacks on Republican leaders and perpetuated popular conservative conspiracy theories.
The approach has done little to endear Trump to anxious party leaders. At least 40 Republican senators and congressmen have revoked their support for the embattled Republican nominee with nearly 30 of them urging him to quit the race altogether.
Ryan, in a Monday conference call with congressional Republicans, said he would no longer campaign with Trump. He said he would focus instead on ensuring Clinton doesn't get a "blank check" with a Democratic-controlled Congress, all but conceding that Trump would lose the presidential contest.
Trump's running mate Mike Pence said in an interview with NBC Tuesday that he was "disappointed" by the defections and "respectfully" disagreed with Ryan.
Yet Trump's aggressive shift is popular among his most loyal supporters, who continue to flock to his rallies by the thousands.
Allison Ellis, 30, deemed Ryan "a traitor" and shrugged off Trump's sexually aggressive comments in the 2005 video. She pointed at Democrat Hillary Clinton's shortcomings.
"I have daughters and I don't like what he said but I also wouldn't want to be held responsible for everything I said 11 years ago," Ellis said at Trump's Panama City Beach, Florida, rally. "And it's nothing compared to what she did -- she should be in jail."
But some of Trump's supporters admitted their confidence was shaken.
"I still think he can do it, but he has to play mistake-free the rest of the way," said Mike Novoret, 59. "If something else comes up, he's toast."
At a rally in Newton, Iowa, Pence received multiple standing ovations and was thanked at one point for sticking with Trump.
"You ... just got my respect for not jumping and bailing out on Donald Trump," the questioner said.
Another woman told Pence she was concerned about widespread voter fraud and warned that, if Clinton wins, "I am ready for a revolution."
"Don't say that," Pence responded.
As the GOP battled itself, Clinton focused on climate change in swing state Florida alongside former Vice President Al Gore.
Gore, whose 2006 documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" focused on global warming, said Clinton would "make solving the climate crisis a top national priority."
Trump's campaign released a new ad that focuses on Clinton's recent bout with pneumonia. The ad features images of masked gunmen and nuclear weapons as a sick Clinton stumbles toward a vehicle.
And at the rally in Panama City Beach, Trump declared that hacked emails released by WikiLeaks on Tuesday showed collusion between the Clinton campaign and the Justice Department during an investigation into the former secretary of state's email server.
The evidence does indicate there was communication between the two about a court hearing date. But such dates are not inside information. They would have been publicly posted in advance on the court's docket.
The emails show that in May 2015, Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon alerted other staffers that the Justice Department was proposing to publish Clinton's work-related emails by January in response to requests by news organizations. Fallon, a former Justice Department spokesman, wrote that unspecified "DOJ folks" told him there was a court hearing planned soon in the case.
The name and email address of the person who shared the information with Fallon had been deleted.
Trump also declared that the Clinton transcripts released by WikiLeaks show evidence that she is a "vessel of corrupt global establishment" who is "ruining the sovereignty of our nation" by pushing for open borders and global governance.
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Lemire reported from Panama City Beach, Florida, and Colvin from New York. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington and Brian Slodysko in Newton, Iowa, contributed to this report.Panama City Beach, Florida
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pumps his fist during a campaign rally, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Panama City, Fla. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, right, accompanied by former Vice President Al Gore, left arrives for a rally at Miami Dade College in Miami, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Republican vice presidential candidate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence speaks during a campaign rally, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Newton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Cuban-born Lilia Morraz of Miami, demonstrates with other supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outside a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and former vice president Al Gore, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Miami. During the event, Clinton will emphasizing her plans to develop more clean energy, reduce fossil fuel production and build more weather-resistant infrastructure. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Heavy-hitters, cash flow to Nevada in fight to replace Reid
LAS VEGAS (AP) On a warm October afternoon in Las Vegas, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was joyfully fuming from an outdoor stage, shaking her fists and branding Donald Trump "a selfish little sleaze ball" and that was before Democrats pounced on the revelation of his predatory language about women from a 2005 recording.
The Democratic faithful in the audience last week rated Warren as "a pistol" and "a rock star" her speech as "awesome."
But what rally organizers really hope they remember is the less-explosive address that preceded it from Catherine Cortez Masto, the elegant but somewhat shy former Nevada attorney general who's been a slight underdog in polls in one of the tightest Senate races in the country.
FILE - In this Thursday, June 2, 2016 file photo, U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., speaks during a roundtable event in Henderson, Nev. The contest to replace Nevada Sen. Harry Reid is the tightest Senate race in the country, and its become a money magnet as allies and enemies seek to flip it. Top Democrats including Hillary Clinton herself and Vice President Joe Biden are stumping for Catherine Cortez Masto this week, while her opponent Heck made headlines as another elected Republican to dump Trump over the weekend. (AP Photo/David Becker, File)
"Most people that I know, that are even Democrats, don't know much about her. But they've seen the ads," said 40-year-old Las Vegas resident Mark Mercer, referring to ubiquitous commercials condemning Cortez Masto as corrupt.
"Common people that are just seeing that stuff it's going to be tough for her," he said.
Cortez Masto, 52, is seeking to take the mantle from pugnacious and polarizing Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, 76, her stylistic opposite who's reluctantly retiring after 30 years following an exercise accident that crushed part of his face and left him blind in one eye.
The open seat is considered the only one Republicans can realistically flip to their side in a year they are playing defense. With control of the Senate at stake, Reid's allies and enemies, including the conservative Koch brothers, are pouring cash into the contest, with more than $42 million spent on TV ads so far.
A wall-to-wall stream of commercials accuse Cortez Masto of chasing ride-hailing service Uber from Nevada, ignoring a backlog of untested rape kits, globe-trotting on junkets and inking sweetheart deals during her eight years as attorney general.
Polls in Nevada generally show Hillary Clinton ahead of Trump and almost always show U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, 54, Cortez Masto's Republican opponent, leading. Reid dismisses the polls, pointing out that they wrongly predicted his demise in 2010.
"All of them are wrong," he declared in a recent call with reporters. "Clinton's going to win Nevada, Cortez Masto is going to win Nevada."
But Reid is leaving nothing to chance, dispatching some of his key Washington staffers to Nevada for the final stretch, while a slate of heavy-hitting Democrats is stumping at her side. In addition to Warren, Clinton will campaign with Cortez Masto in Las Vegas on Wednesday, while Vice President Joe Biden is joining her Thursday.
Democrats have been handed a timely gift in the 2005 tape of Trump bragging about women letting him kiss and grope them in a secretly recorded conversation.
While Heck never appeared in public with the GOP presidential nominee and occasionally said he disagreed with Trump's positions, he had been unflinching in his endorsement, even telling a reporter that he trusted the nominee with the nuclear codes.
But Friday's revelations were apparently the last straw. Heck joined an avalanche of elected Republicans in rescinding his endorsement and calling for Trump to step down, telling a crowd of volunteers preparing to knock doors for him that he could not support someone who didn't live up to a code of honor and respect.
Most took Heck's reversal in stride, but a few erupted into loud boos, calling Heck a traitor. Democrats have trumpeted the reaction as a sign that Trump loyalists will punish Heck in the race.
Nevada's other senator, Republican Dean Heller, argues that Heck didn't have a choice and that he can overcome the backlash. Heck is a three-term congressman, medical doctor and brigadier general in the Army Reserve who cuts a regal profile in ads urging viewers to "send a soldier" to the Senate and answers policy questions with surgical precision.
"Of course Heck can win this race, and he's going to win this race," Heller said.
It's expected to come down to whether Democrats can turn out the less-consistent voters in their base and capitalize on their registration advantage of 6 percentage points. Hispanics, who account for 28 percent of the state's population and lean overwhelmingly Democratic, will be key.
Republicans got out early in Spanish media markets, putting a positive spin on a mixed Heck immigration voting record, including votes for and against a program that defers deportation for young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.
Organizations in the Koch brothers' network have planted more than 30 paid staff in Nevada, with a special focus on their Hispanic outreach group, the Libre Initiative, which seeks to chip away at the Democrats' lead.
Cortez Masto, who is of Italian and Mexican descent and could be the first Latina in the U.S. Senate, never misses an opportunity to point out Trump's derisive comments about Mexicans. She's marched in pickets with the Culinary Union, an immigrant-heavy organization of hospitality workers with a formidable field game that's decided Nevada elections in the past.
Allies think labor and others in the Democratic "machine" will kick into high gear to defy the polls and keep Reid's seat with his party.
"It's not as if anyone can really replace Harry, but she would be a great senator, in the mold of Harry in the footprint of someone who really, really fights for people," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. "I hope she's going to win. We're going to work really hard to help her win."
US, Europe fray each other's nerves with company crackdowns
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) The U.S. is looking for multibillion dollar penalties from Germany's biggest bank and its biggest carmaker. The European Union is demanding similarly large sums from America's most valuable tech company, Apple.
Both sides of the Atlantic appear to have become emboldened to crack down on big companies that are found to have misbehaved. Some analysts say it's a sign that governments, several of which have elections looming, are feeling political pressure to act against corporate wrongdoers.
But the crisscrossing crackdowns have also frayed nerves, especially in Germany, and led to dark talk about a tit-for-tat war in which the U.S. and EU target each other's companies to gain trade advantage.
FILE - A Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016 photo from files showing European Union Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, speaking at EU headquarters in Brussels. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who ruled against Apple, said that I am absolutely certain that the decision on Deutsche Bank is built on the facts of the case and American legislation. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
In particular, the penalty of as much as $14 billion hanging over Deutsche Bank, Germany's only bank of global significance, has put the German political and business elite on edge.
"What we are going through are moves that are similar to a trade war," said Peter Ramsauer, the chair of the German parliament's economy committee.
"In the U.S. there is a long tradition of using every occasion for conflict similar to a trade war, when it serves their own economic interests," Ramsauer was quoted as saying by the Die Welt newspaper. "Connected with that are the extortionate demands for compensation, as we see in the Deutsche Bank case."
Deutsche Bank is among a group of banks that the U.S. government says sold dodgy mortgage-based bonds that helped trigger the 2007-8 financial crisis. But there are concerns that if the penalty is too big, the bank may have to raise new capital from investors or even need a government bailout. Chancellor Angela Merkel may be reluctant to approve such aid, which would also be a severe political embarrassment ahead of 2017 national elections.
News of the potential fine on the bank followed by days a decision by the EU Commission's demand that Apple repay $14.5 billion in what were ruled improper tax benefits from Ireland. That preceded a U.S. court deal to have Volkswagen pay $15 billion over its cars that cheated on diesel emissions tests. Volkswagen is in talks with the Justice Department that could lead to another financial penalty.
The Apple case seems to have irked the U.S. authorities in part because the back tax that the tech company has to pay to Ireland would detract from a huge sum of money about $200 billion that Apple keeps outside the U.S. and would be subject to U.S. taxation when repatriated. Apple and the Irish government are appealing.
German finance ministry spokeswoman Friederike von Tiesenhausen, asked whether the large proposed fine against Deutsche Bank was retaliation for Apple, said, "I don't share that assessment." She added, however, that "the German government assumes that a fair result will be reached at the end of this process as well, on the basis of equal treatment" like that afforded U.S. banks.
U.S. Justice Department officials declined to comment, as did those at the European Commission. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who ruled against Apple, said that "I am absolutely certain that the decision on Deutsche Bank is built on the facts of the case and American legislation."
Guntram Wolff, head of the Bruegel think tank in Brussels and a former official at Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, dismisses the tit-for-tat idea.
"I think it's one of those perfect theories that, unless you are actually in the minds of the people who did this, who took the decisions, is impossible to approve or disprove," he said. "So it's close to what I would call, can I say, conspiracy theories it's impossible to prove, but it's also impossible to contradict it."
He said it's much more likely that policy makers on both sides want to be seen as being tough on companies that are found to misbehave.
"The elites are under pressure and the citizens are demanding change, and they demand it in a sort of indiscriminate way," he said. "I think there is a perception among policy makers that it is related to issues of fairness, to issues of equity, to issues of perception, that the small guy pays, the big guy doesn't pay."
U.S. officials have been seeking fines and compensation from big banks not just Deutsche Bank who were involved in creating and selling bonds backed by mortgages to people with shaky credit. The bonds, whose real level of risk may not have been apparent to many investors, went sour, spreading losses throughout the financial system and helping to spark the global financial crisis in 2007-08. Among the biggest settlements: JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $13 billion, Citigroup $7 billion and Goldman Sachs $5.1 billion.
Transatlantic crackdowns on big business didn't start with Apple and Deutsche Bank. The EU competition regulators have taken on many often U.S. multinationals. Microsoft has struggled for years to address EU concerns that it was tying its own browser to its dominant Windows operating system and was fined 561 million euros in 2013. The European Commission has also gone after Google for allegedly abusing its dominant position in web searches and is investigating whether Amazon is rigging the market for e-book sales. The U.S. has already fined other big European banks, including HSBC for $1.9 billion in 2012 for allegedly helping launder money, including that of drug lords.
But the size of the most recent fines and penalties seems to have grown. To the point that Deutsche Bank's finances were put in question when the U.S. settlement request was disclosed.
Peter V. Kunz, dean of the law faculty at the Institute for Business Law in Bern, Switzerland, is among those who think the Deutsche Bank case represents a tit-for-tat action: "The Obama administration is aware that in Europe, this issue with Apple is not something that will be decided in a short period of time."
The Philippine president's next campaign: public smoking ban
MANILA, Philippines (AP) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is turning to another battle aside from illegal drugs: smoking.
Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial told the Associated Press on Tuesday that she hopes the president can sign the draft executive order banning smoking in public nationwide before the end of the month.
The department is pushing for the ban to start before the law providing for graphic health warnings on tobacco products is fully implemented on Nov. 4.
A Filipino uses an electronic cigarette outside a mall in Manila, Philippines Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said Tuesday she hopes Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte can sign the draft executive order banning smoking in public nationwide before the end of the month. She also said e-cigarettes will be included in the ban. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Ubial said Duterte wants a 100 percent smoke-free environment in public places similar to Davao, the southern city where he was formerly mayor.
Designated smoking areas are to be outdoors and away from the public, and local government units will be asked to issue ordinances to enforce the smoking ban and set penalties. She said e-cigarettes will be included in the ban because they too produce smoke.
Ubial said there is no reason for smokers and tobacco companies to oppose the ban.
"I don't see any reason why they will oppose that," she told the AP. "We're not stopping them from smoking, we are just telling them not to smoke around non-smokers."
Ubial said the smoking ban was successful in Davao because the city government strictly enforced it and created a task force of enforcers specifically to implement the ban. It was not just an add-on work for the police.
It will be up to provinces and towns to determine if they will follow that example, and what penalties they will impose for violators, she said.
The executive order takes effect immediately after Duterte signs it, but the rules to implement it will need to be crafted by national government agencies and by local governments through ordinances.
Assistant Health Secretary Eric Tayag said the order aims to protect the public from secondhand or thirdhand smoke that inhaled when a smoker is nearby or when smoke lingers afterward.
Duterte took office on June 30 vowing to expand policies from Davao such as his anti-drug campaign. The crackdown has left about 3,600 suspected drug pushers and users dead, including more than 1,500 suspects killed in gunbattles with police. The killings have been widely condemned by human rights advocates, and the United States, European Union and United Nations.
Many have wondered if Duterte would also expand a Davao ban on powerful firecrackers during New Year's Eve revelry. If the ban is imposed nationally, he would bring a major change in a violent celebratory tradition that has caused deaths and hundreds of injuries each year.
3 extremist suspects detained in Kazakhstan
MOSCOW (AP) Kazakhstan's domestic security agency says that three people suspected of planning attacks against the country's security services have been arrested in the city of Almaty.
Tuesday's statement from Kazakhstan's KNB state security service said law enforcement officers found homemade explosives, detonators and extremist literature when they made the arrests.
Kazakhstan has seen an uptick in deadly incidents this year attributed by the authorities to radical Islamists. Twenty people were killed in the city of Aktobe in June when gunmen attacked a military base and a gun shop. Three people, including two police officers, were shot by militants in Almaty the following month.
Afghanistan's Shiites mark Ashura amid threats and violence
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Militants attacked a Shiite shrine in Kabul on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people and deepening fears of a spasm of violence against Afghanistan's Shiites as they mark one of their most important religious days later this week.
A gunman stormed Sakhi Shrine, the largest Shiite shrine in the capital, killing 13 civilians and one policeman and wounding 26 people, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi. He said the attacker was shot dead by police.
The Shiites were gathering on the eve of Ashoura, when the followers mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson with candlelight vigils and mass public flagellations. Earlier in the week, authorities had warned of the potential for attacks against Shiites, asking them to stay close to home and avoid large gatherings.
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. photo, Shiite Muslim men beat themselves with knives attached to chains during a procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan, Afghanistans Shiite population is preparing to mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammads grandson with candlelight vigils and mass flagellations despite warnings from authorities of possible attacks following a suicide bombing on a street protest in July that killed at least 80 people. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
The country's religious authorities have declared Oct. 12 Ashoura Day, the 10th day of the month of Muhharam on the Islamic calendar, to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein in Karbala, Iraq in 680 AD.
The date, a national public holiday, is decided according to the new moon and is the climax of a month of mourning by devout Shiite Muslims.
In Afghanistan, Shiites make up an estimated 15 percent of the population of around 30 million and most of them are ethnic Hazaras. Militant Sunni fundamentalists like the Taliban and the Islamic State group view Shiites as apostates and frequently attack Shiite mosques and public gatherings.
In Kabul, the Afghan capital, Shiite neighborhoods have been decorated with banners and tents. Commemorations will conclude with mourning marches and often-bloody self-flagellations by men using chains and knives to empathize with Hussein's suffering.
Black tents erected by roadsides dispense free food and tea to pilgrims on foot. Homes and shops are decorated with black and green banners, and many Shiites fix black flags to their cars.
Commemorations were largely banned during the five years when the Taliban controlled the country. But Afghanistan's Shiites have taken their commemorations more public since the extremists were overthrown in the U.S. invasion of 2001.
In 2011, at least 54 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his device at a Kabul shrine where hundreds of people had gathered. A Shiite mosque in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was hit at the same time, leaving four dead.
In July this year, a suicide bomber targeted Hazaras who marched through central Kabul to protest discrimination. At least 80 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in the blast that was claimed by the Islamic State group, which is becoming increasingly active in Afghanistan.
Lt. Gen. Gul Nabi Ahmadzia, the commander of the Kabul garrison, said on Monday he had received credible reports that Ashoura activities will be targeted and called for Shiites to hold the ceremonies "within limits."
Daiulhaq Abid, the deputy minister for the Hajj and religious affairs, said the Shiite community was issued a directive to keep commemorations low-key, "to ensure better security in Kabul city and the safety of mourners."
Kabul resident Mohammad Hussain, 20, however, was defiant. "No one can stop them from mourning on Ashoura," he said. "As much as they (enemies) try to create insecurity, they won't be able to do it, and it will not demoralize the mourners, because this is the right path and even if we get martyred, it will be on the right path."
Imam Hussein was killed along with 72 friends and family members at the battle of Karbala. Shiites contend that Hussein's father Ali was unfairly passed over for leadership of the young Muslim caliphate after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. His death at Karbala was a crucial blow to their rebellion and one of the turning points that spawned Islam's Sunni-Shiite divide.
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016 photo, Shiite Muslim men beat themselves with knives attached to chains during a procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistans Shiite population is marking the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq in the 7th century.(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016 photo, Shiite Muslim men beat themselves with knives attached to chains during a procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul. Afghanistans Shiite population is marking the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq in the 7th century.(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. photo, an Afghan man sweeps blood after Shiite Muslim men beat themselves with knives attached to chains during a procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan, Afghanistans Shiite population is preparing to mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammads grandson with candlelight vigils and mass flagellations despite warnings from authorities of possible attacks following a suicide bombing on a street protest in July that killed at least 80 people. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. photo, An Afghan Shiite man weeps during a commemoration of Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan, Afghanistans Shiite population is preparing to mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammads grandson with candlelight vigils and mass flagellations despite warnings from authorities of possible attacks following a suicide bombing on a street protest in July that killed at least 80 people. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016 photo, Shiite Muslim men beat themselves with knives attached to chains during a procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistans Shiite population is marking the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq in the 7th century.(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. photo, Shiite Muslim women watch, as Shiite Muslim men beat themselves with knives attached to chains during a procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan, Afghanistans Shiite population is preparing to mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammads grandson with candlelight vigils and mass flagellations despite warnings from authorities of possible attacks following a suicide bombing on a street protest in July that killed at least 80 people. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016 photo, Shiite Muslim men rest after beating themselves with knives attached to chains during a procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistans Shiite population is marking the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq in the 7th century.(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. photo, an Afghan security police stands guard during a procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan, Afghanistans Shiite population is preparing to mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammads grandson with candlelight vigils and mass flagellations despite warnings from authorities of possible attacks following a suicide bombing on a street protest in July that killed at least 80 people. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. photo, Shiite Muslim men beat themselves with knives attached to chains during a procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan, Afghanistans Shiite population is preparing to mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammads grandson with candlelight vigils and mass flagellations despite warnings from authorities of possible attacks following a suicide bombing on a street protest in July that killed at least 80 people. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. photo, Shiite Muslim men attend a commemoration of Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan, Afghanistans Shiite population is preparing to mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammads grandson with candlelight vigils and mass flagellations despite warnings from authorities of possible attacks following a suicide bombing on a street protest in July that killed at least 80 people. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. photo, Shiite Muslim men beat themselves with knives attached to chains during a procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistans Shiite population is preparing to mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammads grandson with candlelight vigils and mass flagellations despite warnings from authorities of possible attacks following a suicide bombing on a street protest in July that killed at least 80 people. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Airbus to seek compensation from Poland over botched deal
WARSAW, Poland (AP) Poland and a France-based helicopter maker exchanged recriminations over a failed multibillion-euro deal, with the company claiming Tuesday that it had been misled for months and will seek compensation.
Poland's conservative government unexpectedly ended negotiations with Airbus Helicopters last week over a 3.14 billion-euro ($3.5 billion) deal to purchase some 50 Caracal helicopters. It said that an offset agreement that would have accompanied the main deal would go against the nation's economic and security interests.
Instead, Poland will buy at least 21 Black Hawk helicopters made at a plant in Poland by U.S. company Sikorsky, part of the Lockheed Martin group. The motivation seemed to be to support the jobs at the local plant.
FILE -- In this June 18, 2015 file photo U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters support soldiers during the NATO Noble Jump exercise on a training range near Swietoszow Zagan, Poland. Polish leaders say the country is buying Polish-made Black Hawk helicopters as it modernizes the army. The announcement comes days after Poland scrapped plans to buy 50 French-made military helicopters from Airbus Helicopters for 3.14 billion euros (US dollar 3.5 billion). (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz, file)
"Foreign investments in Poland should be modern, long-term and should guarantee good prospects of employment for Polish workers," Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said Tuesday. "The conditions of cooperation should be beneficial to both sides."
The decision to pull the plug on the deal, which had been in the works since Airbus won a tender under a previous Polish government last year, raised questions over Poland's reliability in negotiating deals. It also strained ties with France, which partly owns parent company Airbus Group.
President Francois Hollande put off a visit to Warsaw planned on Thursday, allegedly to show his discontent. Poland's opposition politicians were saying that the one-year-old government was alienating one of the few allies it had in Europe, and called for an investigation of the decision.
Airbus Group CEO Tom Enders said his company had negotiated in good faith and been "misled for months" by Poland whereas Airbus wanted to invest in the country "big time."
"Never have we been treated by any government customer the way this government has treated us," Enders said in a statement. He said the negotiations "created the impression of unprecedented confusion."
His company will seek "remedies," he added, without providing further details.
Airbus Helicopters also wrote an open letter to Szydlo, saying its offer had met all requirements, would have created some 6,000 new jobs in Poland, and developed a state-owned servicing plant in Lodz, in central Poland.
The issue the sides disagreed over was an offset agreement that was supposed to see France invest in the Polish defense industry on a level comparable to the value of the main deal. Poland made that a key condition.
Deputy Development Minister Radoslaw Domagalski-Labedzki said the negotiations were terminated because Poland realized its expectations would not be met and there was no chance for compromise. He said Airbus was long aware of Poland's reservations.
Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz also said that the Airbus deal would have allowed the company to take over the plant in Lodz, something the government was against.
The ruling right-wing Law and Justice party won elections last year largely on promises to put Poland's local interests above those of the wider European Union.
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AP EXPLAINS: Why Ethiopia is under a state of emergency
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) One of Africa's best-performing economies, Ethiopia, has declared a state of emergency, its first in a quarter-century, after months of widespread, often deadly, protests demanding greater freedoms. On Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn during a three-nation tour of Africa and said her country has offered to help mediate in the troubled region. Here's a look at why this East African country, a security ally of the West, is now a target of its criticism.
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ANGER OVER LAND TURNS TO ANGER OVER RIGHTS
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center-left, and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, center-right, inspect the honor guard at the national palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Merkel is visiting Ethiopia, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency, after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, the Oromo, rose up in protest almost a year ago when the government proposed annexing some of their land into the capital, Addis Ababa, as part of a drive to transform this largely agricultural nation into a regional manufacturing power. While the government later gave up the idea, the protests broadened into a demand for more rights and for the release of detained activists, opposition figures and journalists. The anti-government anger caught fire in other parts of the country.
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HUNDREDS OF DEATHS, AND A STAMPEDE
More than 500 people have been killed in the protests, according to Human Rights Watch, and some in the international community, including the United States, have called on the government to use restraint. Last week, the protests landed in the global spotlight when more than 50 people were crushed to death in a stampede after security forces tried to disperse protesters during a massive religious festival. The government blamed the stampede on what it called "the action of some hooligans."
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THE NEW STATE OF EMERGENCY
Pressure has grown on Ethiopia since the stampede, and further protests last week targeted both local and foreign businesses suspected of having ties to the government. An American woman was killed in a rock attack by protesters on the outskirts of the capital. On Sunday, after the week of unrest, the government declared a six-month state of emergency, citing "enormous" damage to property. "The recent developments in Ethiopia have put the integrity of the nation at risk," the prime minister said.
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NO INTERNET ... AGAIN
The six-month state of emergency is the maximum allowed, though it can be renewed. A government spokesman said Ethiopia's security forces will be reorganized during this time to better respond to the protests. The government says the state of emergency may include a curfew in some locations, arrests and search-and-seizures without a court order, restrictions on the right to assembly and a ban on some communications. Opposition figures say an informal state of emergency has been in place for some time, and the country's most recent internet blackout has been in place almost continuously since last week.
FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016 file photo, protesters chant slogans against the government during a march in Bishoftu, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Ethiopia on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016 file photo, Ethiopian soldiers try to stop protesters in Bishoftu, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Ethiopia on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country's newly declared state of emergency after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo, File)
Ethiopian men read newspapers and drink coffee at a cafe in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Ethiopia's government on Monday blamed Egypt for supporting outlawed rebels and forcing the declaration of the country's first state of emergency in a quarter-century as widespread anti-government protests continue, though Egypt last week denied any support for the Ethiopian rebels. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
South Africa's finance minister to face fraud charge
JOHANNESBURG (AP) South Africa's finance minister faces a fraud charge and must appear in court on Nov. 2, the country's top prosecutor said Tuesday, deepening concern about the weak economy and rifts within the government of President Jacob Zuma.
South Africa's currency, the rand, dropped more than 3 percent after the move against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who has been widely praised for his stewardship of the economy and is scheduled to give a budget speech on Oct. 26.
The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, described the move to prosecute Gordhan as "a disaster for the economy."
FILE -- In this Feb. 24, 2016, file photo, South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivers the annual budget speech in parliament in Cape Town, South Africa. South African prosecutors say Gordhan faces a fraud charge and must appear in court on Nov. 2, deepening uncertainty about the countrys weak economy and the leadership of President Jacob Zuma. (AP Photo/Mike Hutchings, Pool, File)
The finance ministry harshly criticized the legal proceeding, saying it will damage "the economic well-being of South Africans and essential processes of government" and that the case is "contaminated by abuse for political ends."
While Shaun Abrahams, head of the National Prosecuting Authority, said the plan to prosecute Gordhan was not politically motivated, there have been numerous allegations that government factions close to Zuma want to wrest control of the national treasury from the independent-minded finance minister.
Worries about government infighting prompted the deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, to caution last month that an efficient government "is not at war with itself."
In a statement, Zuma expressed support for Gordhan, who recently spoke to overseas investors and ratings agencies about South Africa's potential for growth.
"Our society is anchored on the rule of law as well as fair and just judicial processes. In this regard, Minister Gordhan is innocent until and unless proven otherwise by a court of law," Zuma said.
Gordhan will be prosecuted for illegally approving an early retirement package for a former tax official who then continued to work, said Abrahams, the prosecutor. He also said a police probe continues into an allegedly unauthorized unit of investigators set up years ago at the country's tax agency at a time when Gordhan led the agency.
The market jitters following Abrahams' announcement echoed similar nervousness late last year.
At the time, Zuma replaced a respected finance minister with a relatively unknown figure. The currency plummeted in response and Gordhan, who had been finance minister from 2009 to 2014, was brought back to try to restore confidence.
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Duterte on US alliance: 'Do you really think we need it?'
MANILA, Philippines (AP) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he will not abrogate a defense treaty with the United States but questioned its importance and that of joint combat exercises, which he says only benefit America.
Duterte pressed his criticism of the United States and his country's engagement with the American military in a speech as U.S. Marines and their Philippine counterparts ended combat drills a day early in a separate ceremony. A U.S. general, in contrast, underscored the need for the joint drills to brace for potential crises.
Duterte, who labels himself a socialist, has had an uneasy relationship with the U.S. and a falling out with President Barack Obama, whom he has lambasted for criticizing his deadly anti-drug fight. Despite his constant anti-U.S. pronouncements, Duterte said he would not abrogate the mutual defense treaty with the U.S. but questioned the need for it.
U.S. Marines from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and their Philippine counterpart salute at the closing ceremony of the 33rd joint US-Philippines amphibious landing exercises dubbed PHIBLEX at the marines corps in suburban Taguig city, east of Manila, Philippines Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The Philippine president says he will not abrogate a defense treaty with the United States but is questioning its importance and that of joint combat exercises, which he says only benefit America. President Rodrigo Duterte criticized the United States and his country's engagement with the American military in a speech Tuesday as Philippine marines and their American counterparts ended combat drills a day early. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
"I do not mean to cancel or abrogate the military alliances," Duterte said in a speech before new government officials at the presidential palace. "But let me ask you ... do you really think we need it?"
He did not clearly specify his reason for questioning the treaty alliance but said if a conflict pitting the world's most powerful nations breaks out, "there will be no more American aid to talk of." He added that when Russia annexed Crimea, "America wasn't able to do anything."
Duterte has announced he will end the joint combat exercises, which China has opposed. His defense secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, said he has asked Duterte for a reconsideration, and has explained to the president the importance of the approximately 28 annual joint military exercises, including three major ones that involve thousands of troops, in preparing for natural disasters and other contingencies. U.S. military officials want to continue the joint maneuvers, Lorenzana said Friday.
Duterte, however, has remained criticial, saying Tuesday that U.S. troops take back with them the high-tech and powerful weapons after each drill. "So what's the point?" he asked. "They're the ones who benefited, they're the ones who learned but we got nothing."
In Washington, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said Tuesday the U.S. will honor its commitments to the Philippines and expects its Southeast Asian ally to do the same.
Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel said the U.S. values the relationship and wants to keep it on an "even keel."
"We're prepared, as we always have been, to honor our commitments and the obligations that we have to the Philippines and we expect the same in return," Russel said at an event held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
Russel said the U.S. has no problem with the Philippines discussing its territorial and maritime disputes with China if it is done on terms acceptable to the Philippines and consistent with international law.
That was an apparent reference to a July ruling by an international tribunal in a case brought by the previous Philippine government that found that China's sweeping claims to most the South China Sea on historical grounds were invalid under a U.N. treaty.
The joint drills that ended Tuesday in an austere ceremony were held in an air of uncertainty because of Duterte's warning that they would be the last under his rule.
U.S. Marine Brig. Gen. John Jansen said the drills underscored the depth of the U.S.-Philippine alliance "and the commitment to be there when it counts," adding both countries benefited from the exercises.
"It makes us all better," Jansen said. "''It not only makes us better but more capable and effective as an integrated force that provides a capability that we might apply to our treaty obligations in the future, whether it be in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, assistance in internal security, or in other types of crisis."
A Philippine military spokesman for the exercises, Col. Ariel Caculitan, said the maneuvers ended a day early because of adjustments resulting from stormy weather forecasts, among other reasons, and had no connection with Duterte's criticism of the drills.
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Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
U.S. Marines from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and their Philippine counterpart fold their respective flags at the closing ceremony of the 33rd joint US-Philippines amphibious landing exercises dubbed PHIBLEX at the marines corps in suburban Taguig city, east of Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The Philippine president says he will not abrogate a defense treaty with the United States but is questioning its importance and that of joint combat exercises, which he says only benefit America. President Rodrigo Duterte criticized the United States and his country's engagement with the American military in a speech Tuesday as Philippine marines and their American counterparts ended combat drills a day early. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
A four-year-old girl was reunited with her family during a tearful reunion in Florida after she was driven to Tennessee by a man who took her from her home.
There was joy and relief plastered on the faces of her parents and grandparents as the kidnapped girl hugged her family tightly having been away from them for three days.
Rebecca Lewis' father Luther carried her into an airport in Lakeland, Florida where her overjoyed family kissed and hugged her. There was cheering, crying and tears of joy.
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Rebecca Lewis was reunited with her family during a tearful reunion in Florida after she was driven to Tennessee by a man who took her from her home.
Rebecca Lewis' father Luther gave his daughter a big hug and kiss when the pair reunited
Rebecca disappeared from her home early on Saturday morning
The little girl looked to be completely unharmed and in good spirits upon seeing her family
There were also plenty of balloons as young Rebecca smiled broadly at seeing her family again.
'I want to say thank you to the nurse who called police. Because without you, I don't know what this would have been,' Oma Mae Lewis, Rebecca's grandmother told reporters.
Memphis police found Rebecca Lewis just after noon on Monday after receiving a call from Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis.
A nurse had recognized the child and 31-year-old West Wild Hogs from the Amber Alert out of Florida.
There was joy and relief all round as her parents and grandparents hugged her tightly
The youngster looked to be totally content as she hugged her teddy bear walking to the car
Rebecca's grandmother, pictured, said that they knew the man who took her away and she does not want people to think ill of him, despite causing a huge search for the girl
Rebecca's grandmother also told reporters she does not want people to bash Hogs.
She said that despite the kidnapping, he took good care of her granddaughter.
The little girl vanished early on Saturday morning sparking a frantic search spanning three states.
Upon finding the youngster, police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph said the girl 'seemed to be ok.'
The hunt for four-year-old Rebecca Lewis (left) ended Monday after officials found her safe in Tenessee. She was allegedly abducted from her bed by Wild West Hogs (right)
The girl's disappearance sparked a search in three states across the southeastern U.S.
Memphis Police say the FBI have taken custody of Wild West Hogs, pictured and are now in charge of the investigation
Polk County, Florida, sheriff Grady Judd said during a news conference earlier Monday that Hogs took Rebecca Lewis Saturday.
They had been spotted on a surveillance video footage at a convenience store in Nashville.
Hogs is a friend of Rebecca's family but had not seen them in more than two years. He was asked to leave the family's home over two years ago after allegedly pulling a gun on the family.
Amber Alerts were issued across Florida, Georgia and Alabama after Rebecca was kidnapped from her home in the Lazy Dazy RV and Mobile Home Park in Lakeland, Florida, on Saturday morning.
Rebecca was seen at home in Florida on Saturday morning, but was spotted at a gas station hundreds of miles away in Forsyth, Georgia, with Hogs (above) later that night
Hogs and Rebecca were spotted together on surveillance footage at the gas station
Hogs lived with the Lewis family previously but was made to leave after he allegedly pulled a gun on them
The alerts were extended to include Tennessee early Monday morning after the pair were spotted in the state's Cove Lake State Park on Sunday.
A park ranger had stopped Hogs at the park but later let him go.
Hogs was then spotted in Nashville, Tennessee, at 2.28am Monday morning, police say.
Rebecca had last been seen in bed by her 16-year-old sister when she woke up at 9am on Saturday.
The sister fell asleep and when she woke up again around 45 minutes later, Rebecca was gone.
Rebecca's parents (Melissa and Luther) were distraught at the disappearance of their child
Turkey's president tells Iraqi leader to 'know his place'
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) Turkey can't be excluded from a possible operation to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul, Turkey's president said Tuesday, telling Iraq's leader to "know his place."
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's remarks were likely to add to tensions between the two neighbors, which are key U.S. partners in the fight against the Islamic State group.
In a speech delivered in Istanbul, Erdogan also said Turkish troops wouldn't withdraw from a base near Mosul, saying the Turkish army wouldn't take orders from Baghdad. Turkey is training anti-IS fighters to help retake Mosul from the extremist group.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting on Islam in Eurasia in Istanbul, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Erdogan says his country is determined to take part in a possible operation to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul despite objections from Iraq, adding to tensions between the two neighbors. Erdogan on Tuesday also said Turkish troops would not withdraw from a base in northern Iraq near Mosul, where they are training anti-IS fighters Iraqi, saying the Turkish army would not take orders from Baghdad. (Kayhan Ozer, Presidential Press Service, Pool photo via AP)
Turkey-Iraq relations became strained after Ankara sent troops late last year to the region of Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul, to train anti-IS fighters there a move Baghdad has since labeled a "blatant violation" of its sovereignty. Iraq has demanded a Turkish withdrawal, but Ankara has repeatedly ignored the call.
Turkish officials say hundreds of their soldiers are based at Bashiqa, training more than 3,000 Turkmen, Kurdish or Sunni Arab fighters from Mosul. Turkey says about 700 IS militants have been killed in retaliatory attacks against the extremists carried out from the base.
Turkish warnings about possible sectarian clashes in Mosul if the majority Sunni region were placed under Shiite militia control also have drawn Baghdad's ire. Last week, both countries summoned each other's ambassadors while Iraq requested an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council over the presence of unauthorized Turkish troops in northern Iraq.
Speaking to Muslim religious leaders from the Balkans and Central Asia, Erdogan said objections from Iraq wouldn't stop Turkey from participating in any operation to free Mosul and proceeded to make vitriolic remarks against Iraq's prime minister.
"You are not my interlocutor, you are not at my level, you are not my equivalent, you are not of the same quality as me," Erdogan said, addressing Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. "Your screaming and shouting in Iraq is of no importance to us. You should know that we will go our own way."
Erdogan also said Turkey wouldn't withdraw its troops from the base in Bashiqa, adding that it was al-Abadi himself who had asked Ankara to train fighters there back in 2014.
"Turkey's army hasn't lost enough of its quality to take orders from you," Erdogan said in response to Iraqi calls for the troop's withdrawal. "We would do whatever is necessary as we have done until today."
U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in Washington that the situation in Bashiqa was a matter for the Iraqi and Turkish governments to resolve.
"What we support is continued dialogue between them that can lead to a speedy resolution of the matter. We call on both governments to focus on their common enemy, our common enemy, which is Daesh," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
"Over the coming days and weeks, we believe it's imperative for all the parties to closely coordinate next steps to ensure unity of effort in that counter-Daesh fight.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, meanwhile, again warned that any operation to free Mosul shouldn't lead to any demographic change. Turkish is worried that once Mosul is liberated from IS, Kurds or Shiite groups may take Mosul over and push out Sunni Arabs or ethnic Turkmens.
"We have explained to all of our friends that the operation planned for Mosul should be limited to removing Daesh," Yildirim said.
"If you, after removing Daesh, attempt to change Mosul's demographic structure, you will light the fire of a very big civil war, of a sectarian war. This is our warning," Yildirim said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting on Islam in Eurasia in Istanbul, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Erdogan says his country is determined to take part in a possible operation to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul despite objections from Iraq, adding to tensions between the two neighbors. Erdogan on Tuesday also said Turkish troops would not withdraw from a base in northern Iraq near Mosul, where they are training anti-IS fighters Iraqi, saying the Turkish army would not take orders from Baghdad. (Kayhan Ozer, Presidential Press Service, Pool photo via AP)
Suicide bomber attacks UN patrol near Timbuktu, no deaths
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) A United Nations official in Mali and the Swedish defense command say a suicide bomber has attacked peacekeepers near Timbuktu, but none were killed.
The Swedish command says soldiers on patrol with the U.N. peacekeeping force were targeted Monday night by the bomber. Sweden has a contingent of 250 in the U.N. mission.
The U.N. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press on the issue, said a second suicide bomber was killed as he fled. He said a possible third attacker is being pursued.
The Latest: Florida raises Hurricane Matthew death toll to 9
LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP) The Latest on the recovery from Hurricane Matthew (all times local):
8:15 p.m.
Florida officials say nine deaths are now blamed on Hurricane Matthew.
A swift water rescue team transports a resident of to safety on a street covered with floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
The state's tally includes two deaths in Miami-Dade County, one each in Orange, Putnam and Duval counties and four in Volusia County.
The four deaths reported by Volusia officials were a woman struck by a falling tree during the storm, an elderly man later electrocuted by a downed power line, a boy who inhaled generator fumes and a worker crushed by a large log while removing trees in the storm's aftermath.
Matthew brushed Florida's Atlantic coastline last week, staying just offshore as it moved from the Miami area to Jacksonville.
The storm has been blamed for more than 500 deaths in Haiti and 34 in the United States 18 of those in North Carolina.
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7:10 p.m.
North Carolina officials say the death toll associated with Hurricane Matthew has risen to 18.
McCrory told a briefing Tuesday afternoon that two people drowned in Robeson County. There were also drownings in Columbus and Wayne counties. Each was attributed to cars either being submerged or swept away in flood waters, but no additional details were immediately available.
The U.S. death toll now stands at 33. Some 500 people are feared dead in Haiti.
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5:30 p.m.
The White House says President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in South Carolina.
The declaration provides federal aid to supplement state and local governments responding to Hurricane Matthew. Federal money is also available for projects designed to mitigate the damage from future storms.
Obama also spoke with North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory on Tuesday to discuss the widespread flooding taking place.
The White House says Obama continues to stress that the danger of flooding will continue over the coming days. He is urging residents in the path of the flooding to listen to local officials.
FEMA is also transporting food, water and blankets to residents. More than 5.2 million meals, 3.7 million liters of water and 72,000 blankets were placed in position before the storm to distribute to residents as needed.
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2:30 p.m.
NASA's Kennedy Space Center is back open for business.
NASA is still tallying up all the damage from Hurricane Matthew mostly ripped-off roofs.
Center director Robert Cabana said Tuesday that even though damage is in the millions of dollars, it would have been much worse had Matthew not weakened and veered slightly offshore Friday. As he puts it, "We were definitely blessed."
Among the buildings with roof and water damage: the 1960s-era beach house once used by astronauts for parties and barbecues before launch.
Industrial air conditioning units were rushed in from around the country, after the roof came off the building that serves as the electric room for air conditioning throughout the main launch area. The switching equipment ended up soaked.
Just over 8,300 people work at Kennedy.
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Officials have raised the U.S. death toll from Hurricane Matthew to 30, and half of them are in North Carolina.
Authorities there reported four more fatalities Tuesday. Three motorists washed away by flood waters and a man whose car was struck by a tree.
Florida also raised its death count to eight from five that had previously been reported.
Matthew killed more than 500 people in Haiti.
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11:20 a.m.
Officials in Robeson County, North Carolina, have found the body of a man who was in a car that was washed away in the flooding that followed Hurricane Matthew.
Emergency Management Director Stephanie Chavis said the man's body was found late Monday afternoon after an extensive search.
The man's name has not been released.
The death raises the storm's toll to 27, including 15 deaths in North Carolina. All but one have involved motor vehicles.
Chavis says officials have been working to contact people thought to be missing who are not getting phone calls because of power outages.
She says she's not sure what searchers will find once the flooding is over.
Chavis says state it's hard to get help to everyone quickly because of flooded roads.
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11:15 a.m.
Georgia's utility companies say nearly 90,000 customers remained without power in southeast Georgia and along the state's coast as crews continue working to restore electricity and other services after Hurricane Matthew.
Georgia Power reports that about 75,000 of its customers remained without power Tuesday morning. Most of them were in the Savannah area.
Separately, the state's electric membership cooperatives said about 14,000 of its customers were without power Tuesday morning. The cooperatives, which serve many rural parts of Georgia, said its remaining outages are in the most heavily damaged areas from the storm.
Other services are slowly being restored along the coast. Water officials on Tuesday announced that residents and businesses on St. Simons Island no longer need to boil water after tests were negative for contaminants.
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10:45 a.m.
The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta has opened its tanks to more than a dozen sea turtles temporarily moved from Jekyll Island to keep them safe during Hurricane Matthew.
Authorities say the storm prompted workers at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center to send 18 turtles to Atlanta over the weekend.
The sea turtles are expected to remain at the aquarium's animal care facility for at least a week as Georgia Sea Turtle Center staff head back to Jekyll Island to evaluate their homes and the facility.
The Georgia Sea Turtle Center's website says the facility is focused on conservation and increasing awareness through sea turtle education, rehabilitation, and research programs. It's also one of the island's main tourist attractions, where visitors can watch employees care for the animals.
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9:35 a.m.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory says a state trooper shot and killed a man during a confrontation amid floodwaters in hart-hit Lumberton.
McCrory said Tuesday that the trooper and two deputies encountered the man while going through high water in a Humvee around 8 p.m. Monday.
McCrory says he has few details about what led to the shooting only saying it happened in "very difficult circumstances."
The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting. The agency did not immediately respond to messages seeking more information.
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9:20 a.m.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory says three more people have died in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.
McCrory said Tuesday that the new deaths were vehicle-related.
The most recent deaths occurred when a tree fell on a vehicle in Wake County. The other two were traffic accidents in Wilson and Cumberland Counties.
All but 1 of the 14 deaths have been vehicle-related. The other person died in a fire that was attributed to the storm.
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8:20 a.m.
Power is slowly flowing back to South Carolina homes left in the dark after Hurricane Matthew hammered the state.
Utility company outage maps show that as of early Tuesday, just over 300,000 customers across the state remain without power. That's down from about 400,000 late Monday and down from the total of about 850,000 customers who lost power during last weekend's storm.
It's expected to be several days before power is restored.
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7:55 a.m.
Officials in North Carolina say a dam that's been in danger of a breech following Hurricane Matthew is holding, so far.
Deputy Public Safety Director Scott Brooks says crews worked until about 2 a.m. Tuesday to get sandbags in place to reduce the threat at Woodlake Dam in Moore County near Vass.
Brooks said crews would be out again later Tuesday morning to finish. He says the work will need to be inspected before residents can return home.
Brooks says he doesn't know how quickly that inspection can occur. He says the evacuation ordered late Monday is the second in the last three days.
The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for the area in Moore County, as well as Hoke and Cumberland counties because of the danger a dam failure would pose.
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7:35 a.m.
Officials are waiting for all train tracks to be checked before freight trains can resume service from Georgia to North Carolina, following Hurricane Matthew.
CSX Transportation spokeswoman Kristin Seay told The Fayetteville Observer on Monday that some railroad ties and rail lines were washed out from the hurricane's torrential rains over the weekend.
A statement on the CSX website says the company is working to restore rail lines, but service remains suspended from Savannah, Georgia, to Pembroke, North Carolina.
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3:30 a.m.
Helicopters and rescue boats are expected to return to work in North Carolina looking for people stranded by flooding after the heavy rains dumped by Hurricane Matthew.
Rescue teams will be back at work across eastern North Carolina on Tuesday as the deluge rolls downstream toward the Atlantic Ocean. At least three rivers were forecast to reach record levels, some not cresting until Friday.
The full extent of the disaster in North Carolina is still unclear, but it appears that thousands of homes were damaged, and more are in danger of flooding.
The storm killed more than 500 people in Haiti and at least 23 in the U.S. nearly half of them in North Carolina. At least three people were missing.
A swift water rescue team down a street covered by floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
A swift water rescue team member holds a dog that was recused from floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
A car is submerged in floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
Floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew cover Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
A swift water rescue team member guides a boat through floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
A swiftwater rescue team member holds a dog that was rescued from floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
Floodwaters cover a roadway near Mullins, S.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Nearly 1 million homes and businesses still did not have power Monday morning in the Carolinas after Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
Floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew block NC Highway 41 west at the Bladen and Robeson County line outside of Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. The floodwaters left by Hurricane Matthew unleash a slow-motion disaster in North Carolina, which has not seen such a severe deluge since 1999. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
From left, truck driver Eugene Coleman, Wilton Suggs and Jeremy Suggs transport containers of diesel fuel in a flat-bottom boat to a stranded semi tractor trailer truck laden with produce from FEMA thorough floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew on NC Highway 41 West at the Bladen and Robeson County line outside of Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. The trio is planning to add fuel to keep the produce from spoiling. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
In this frame from video provided by WRAL, a man is rescued from a flooded home Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016, in Pinetops, N.C. Hurricane Matthew's torrential rains triggered severe flooding in North Carolina on Sunday as the deteriorating storm made its exit to the sea, and thousands of people had to be rescued from their homes and cars. (WRAL via AP)
Passage down Cow Horn Road is blocked due to flooding from Hurricane Matthew, in Jacksonville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. (Tina Brooks/The Daily News viaAP)
Freda Pittman holds Mark Bergstresser's hand and says, "God bless you" as Bergstresser ferries her from her flooded neighborhood to waiting friends on Hwy 211 in Lumberton, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. (Chuck Liddy/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
Floodwaters cover a parking lot in Nichols, S.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Nearly 1 million homes and businesses still did not have power Monday morning in the Carolinas after Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, left, listens to Chief Warrant Officer Kent Puffenbarger as they check flooding from a helicopter near Mullins, S.C., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Nearly 1 million homes and businesses still did not have power Monday morning in North Carolina and South Carolina. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
From left, truck driver Eugene Coleman, Wilton Suggs and Jeremy Suggs transport containers diesel fuel in a flat-bottom boat to a stranded semi tractor trailer truck laden with produce from FEMA thorough floodwaters caused by rain from Hurricane Matthew on NC Highway 41 West at the Bladen and Robeson County line outside of Lumberton, N.C., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. The trio is planning to add fuel to keep the produce from spoiling. (AP Photo/Mike Spencer)
The wreckage of a house destroyed by Hurricane Matthew is seen in Edisto Beach, S.C., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Town officials say the storm washed between 3 and 4 feet of sand onto the ocean front street and the community took its worst hurricane hit since Hurricane David back in 1979. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)
Police officers walk along the ocean front street in Edisto Beach, S.C., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Town officials say Hurricane Matthew washed between 3 and 4 feet of sand onto the street and the community took its worst hurricane hit since Hurricane David back in 1979. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)
Debris from the storm surge of Hurricane Matthew litters the ocean front street in Edisto Beach, S.C., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. The speed limit sign shows the depth of sand pushed up by the surge. Town officials say the storm washed between 3 and 4 feet of sand onto the street and the community took its worst hurricane hit since Hurricane David back in 1979. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)
Airstrikes in Syria's Aleppo and shelling in south kill 20
BEIRUT (AP) Airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo killed at least 14 people Tuesday, while the shelling of a government-held neighborhood in southern Syria hit a school, killing at least six, including children, opposition activists and state media said.
Syria's official news agency SANA also reported rare shelling of neighborhoods in the capital, Damascus, including several mortar shells fired by opposition groups based on the edge of the city that landed in the residential Qasaa district and close to the Umayyad Mosque, wounding an unspecified number of people.
Fighting on a number of fronts across the country has intensified in recent weeks following the collapse of a U.S. and Russian-brokered cease-fire.
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, an injured girl lies on a bed as she gets treatment in a hospital in the southern city of Daraa, Syria, Tuesday, Oct 11, 2016. Rebels fired rockets at government-held areas. One hit a primary school, killing six people among them five children and wounding 18 students, according to state-run news agency SANA. It said some of the wounded are in a serious condition. (SANA via AP)
The northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest and its former commercial center, has seen particularly fierce fighting, as pro-government forces try to capture neighborhoods in besieged opposition-held parts of the city.
The activist-operated Aleppo Today TV station and Qasioun news agency say bunker-busting bombs were used in an attack on the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood in rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
Other activist groups and a member of the Aleppo local council, Zakaria Amino, said rescue workers were searching for people under the rubble. Amino said bombs fell on a number of other rebel-held neighborhoods.
The opposition-held part of Aleppo has been battered by an intensive aerial campaign since last month, when the truce collapsed after just a week. Syrian pro-government forces are also conducting a ground offensive into the rebel-held districts, advancing slowly in the north, east and south of the city.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes on Aleppo killed at least 16 people, while the Local Coordination Committees said 14 were killed.
In the southern city of Daraa, where the conflict began following anti-government protests in March 2011, rebels fired rockets at government-held areas. One hit a primary school, killing six people among them five children and wounding 18 students, according to state-run news agency SANA. It said some of the wounded are in serious condition.
SANA posted a photo of a boy carried on a stretcher, his grey trousers stained with blood and his bandaged right hand on his stomach. Another photo showed a boy and a girl inside what appeared to be a hospital with IV drips in their arms.
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows an injured girl on a bed in a hospital in the southern city of Daraa, Syria, Tuesday, Oct 11, 2016. Rebels fired rockets at government-held areas. One hit a primary school, killing six people among them five children and wounding 18 students, according to state-run news agency SANA. It said some of the wounded are in a serious condition. (SANA via AP)
Russian bank VTB considers leaving London due to Brexit
MOSCOW (AP) Russia's state-owned VTB Bank is making plans to move a major investment banking hub out of London due to Britain's decision to leave the European Union.
VTB deputy president Herbert Moos told the Financial Times newspaper that London will cease to be VTB's European investment banking hub, saying "we did have bigger plans for the London office, but after Brexit we are scaling them down and building them up elsewhere."
The newspaper quoted Moos as saying that possible replacement locations include Frankfurt, Paris and Vienna, while some presence in London will be retained.
An exterior view shows the facade of the building that houses the offices of Russia's VTB bank in London, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Russia's state-owned VTB Bank is making plans to move a major investment banking hub out of London due to Britain's decision to leave the European Union. VTB deputy president Herbert Moos told the Financial Times newspaper that London will cease to be VTB's European investment banking hub, saying "we did have bigger plans for the London office, but after Brexit we are scaling them down and building them up elsewhere." (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
VTB's Moscow headquarters said in a statement that the "transfer or retention of the presence in London will depend on the scenario which Brexit follows."
VTB is Russia's second-largest bank and is under U.S. and EU sanctions.
An exterior view shows the facade of the building that houses the offices of Russia's VTB bank in London, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Russia's state-owned VTB Bank is making plans to move a major investment banking hub out of London due to Britain's decision to leave the European Union. VTB deputy president Herbert Moos told the Financial Times newspaper that London will cease to be VTB's European investment banking hub, saying "we did have bigger plans for the London office, but after Brexit we are scaling them down and building them up elsewhere." (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Groom's mother goes for a walk, gets lost, delaying wedding
LANDAFF, N.H. (AP) A New Hampshire wedding got a dose of unexpected drama when the groom's mother went missing for several hours.
State police were told Sunday afternoon Philameana Guerino hadn't been seen for hours. The 72-year-old Massachusetts woman was in Landaff, New Hampshire, to attend the wedding and had gone for a walk in the woods.
Several troopers responded with conservation officers from New Hampshire Fish and Game and a K-9 unit. The state police also used a Reverse 911 call through the Grafton County sheriff's office to notify residents in a 5-mile area.
Guerino was found an hour and a half later. She had gotten lost on her walk.
State police say on their Facebook page the wedding was delayed several hours but the bride and groom "definitely have a story for the future."
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'The Lost Boy' by Camilla Lackberg is psychological thriller
"The Lost Boy" (Pegasus Crime), by Camilla Lackberg
Camilla Lackberg proves why she's called Sweden's "queen of crime" in her superb seventh novel set in the coastal town of Fjallbacka. "The Lost Boy" combines a gripping police procedural with a ghost story while poignantly delving into the devastating effects of grief, especially among mothers.
The joy that police detective Patrik Hedstrom and his wife, Erica, a true-crime writer, feel over the recent birth of their twin sons is balanced by a recent horrific car accident in which their infant nephew was killed. In addition, Patrik ended up in the hospital at the same time Erica was giving birth.
This cover image released by Pegasus Crime shows "The Lost Boy," a novel by Camilla Lackberg. (Pegasus Crime via AP)
Back on the job after sick leave, Patrik and his fellow detectives investigate the murder of Mats Sverin, Fjallbacka's finance officer who was instrumental in restoring a dilapidated hotel into a ritzy spa that surely will attract high-end tourists to the town. Mats was well-liked by his colleagues and the town's residents, and doted on by his loving parents. His life recently had become complicated with the reappearance of his high school girlfriend, Nathalie Wester, and her 5-year-old son, Sam. Nathalie had fled to the area in the middle of the night, returning to the nearby remote island Graskar where she grew up. Located just outside Fjallbacka, the island was nicknamed Ghost Isle because of the legend that those who die on the island remain there in spirit. Nathalie believes in those ghosts she talked with them when she was a child and, now, she again finds comfort in them.
Russia, China to mull joint response to US missile shield
MOSCOW (AP) Amid escalating U.S.-Russia tensions, the Russian military said Tuesday it will cooperate with China on efforts to fend off a threat posed by the U.S. missile defense program.
Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir of the Russian military's General Staff accused the Pentagon of developing the shield as part of planning for a possible first nuclear strike. "The missile defense system considerably shifts the balance of offensive weapons, allowing the planning of a more efficient pre-emptive strike," he said at a security conference in China.
Russia and China have frequently expressed concerns about the U.S. missile shield, but Poznikhir dropped any diplomatic reticence in his blunt speech that reflected a widening rift between Moscow and Washington.
"Russian military experts believe that the U.S. hopes to gain the capability to strike any region of the world, including Russia and China, with nuclear-tipped missiles with impunity," he said. Poznikhir argued that Washington's calculus would be to launch a first disarming strike and then rely on the missile shield to shoot down the remaining enemy missiles launched at the U.S. in a retaliatory strike.
He used an analogy of two gladiators armed with swords facing each other.
"If one of the gladiators takes up a shield, it will give him a marked advantage and make him think that he would be able to win, particularly if he strikes first," he said. "What would another gladiator do? Naturally, he also would pick up a shield and also a longer and stronger sword. This is what happening now as a result of the U.S. missile deployment."
Poznikhir said that both Russia and China have taken countermeasures in response to the U.S. missile defense program, but he didn't elaborate.
He noted that Russia and China held drills earlier this year to simulate a joint action to fend off missile strikes under the protection of a missile defense system near their borders. Poznikhir added that Moscow and Beijing will conduct a similar exercise next year.
Like other Russian officials before him, Poznikhir shrugged off U.S. statements that the missile defense system is intended to fend off threats from North Korea and Iran. He argued that the planned U.S. system will include hundreds of missile interceptors a capability far exceeding the need to deal with any potential threats from Iran and North Korea.
"Under the pretext of countering the North Korean and Iranian 'missile threats,' the system intended primarily for engaging Russian and Chinese missiles is being developed," he said.
"The illusion of invulnerability and impunity under the missile defense umbrella would encourage Washington to take unilateral steps in dealing with global and regional issues," Poznikhir said. "That can objectively lead to lowering the threshold of nuclear weapons use to pre-empt the enemy's action."
Striking Minnesota nurses reach tentative agreement
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Thousands of nurses have reached a tentative agreement to end their strike at five Allina Health hospitals in Minnesota.
Gov. Mark Dayton announced the agreement Tuesday morning after a 17-hour mediation session at the governor's residence.
Rank-and-file members of the Minnesota Nurses Association are expected to vote on the agreement Thursday. The nurses rejected another tentative agreement last week.
The nurses have been on strike at five hospitals in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area since Labor Day over issues including health insurance.
Nurses association Executive Director Rose Roach says the latest agreement secures advances for nurses in workplace safety, staffing policies and health insurance.
With new mindset, Djokovic wins 1st match since US Open
SHANGHAI (AP) No longer concerned about titles and honors, Novak Djokovic is instead trying to rediscover the inner joy he used to have while playing tennis.
And after beating Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-3 Tuesday in the second round of the Shanghai Masters his first win following a month-long injury layoff the top-ranked Serb said he's closing in on that feeling again.
"When I get on the court, of course I want to give my best and eventually try to win the match," the 12-time Grand Slam champion said. "But not as a priority of must-win type of mindset, because that is not working for me anymore.
"I have just a different kind of vision right now."
It's been a summer of soul-searching for Djokovic, who admitted to being both emotionally and mentally exhausted after finally succeeding in his quest to win the French Open and complete a career Grand Slam.
He lost in the third round of Wimbledon and afterward reportedly said he was dealing with personal issues. He then went into the Rio de Janeiro Olympics with high expectations of winning gold only to stumble in the first round against Juan Martin del Potro and exit the tournament in tears.
"I really wanted it too much maybe," Djokovic said.
Then came another frustrating loss to Stan Wawrinka in the U.S. Open final and an elbow injury that sidelined him for a month.
Back on court again in Shanghai, an upbeat Djokovic said he needed the time off to recharge mentally and put his career goals in better perspective.
"The last three months were up and down a little bit with oscillations, but generally I didn't find that kind of satisfaction on the court," he said before the start of the tournament. "I do really feel like I'm already getting better because I changed my mindset. ... I think I'm a different person than I was maybe three months ago, maybe six months ago."
Djokovic was rusty in his comeback double-faulting four times and making 18 unforced errors with only 13 winners but he had no trouble dispatching an even more erratic Fognini, who racked up 40 unforced errors of his own.
Djokovic is aiming to win his fourth title in Shanghai, a tournament where he has a 25-3 record.
Also Tuesday, del Potro faded down the stretch against 11th-seeded David Goffin, dropping serve in the 11th game of the third set and losing 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
The Argentine, on his own comeback from a series of career-threatening wrist injuries over the past several years, was trying to maintain the momentum that saw him win the Olympic silver medal and reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals last month.
"In the end of the match, I make mistakes with my forehands and in important moments, and I think he took all the chances to win the match," Del Potro said. "But for me, it has been a great season. (I'm) trying to do a good comeback after many injuries. This is just a match."
Nick Kyrgios, fresh off winning his third title of the year at the Japan Open on Sunday, defeated Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4.
"I was just feeling very tired today. Didn't have the greatest sleep last night and obviously got in late the day before," the 12th-seeded Australian said. "It was just tough."
Sixth-seeded Gael Monfils also moved into the third round with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over Kevin Anderson, and ninth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 7-6 (6).
Horrifying footage has emerged of the moment a pickup truck plowed into a crowd at a Native American rights demonstration - hitting at least five people.
More than 40 people, with no protest permit, had gathered in downtown Reno, Nevada, to protest against Columbus Day on Monday evening.
Some of the protesters were from the American Indian Movement of Northern Nevada.
The driver of the pickup stopped in front of the protest, at which point, police say, several of the protesters approached the truck.
There was a confrontation between the occupants of the truck and the protesters that went on for about a minute.
Horrifying footage has emerged of the moment a pickup truck plowed into a crowd at a Native American rights demonstration in Reno, Nevada - hitting at least five people
As the group posed for a picture, the white truck revved its engine and then rammed into several activists - leaving one 59-year-old woman with serious injuries.
Shocking footage shows the activists screaming as the white Nissan truck drove directly at them under an arch saying 'The Biggest Little City in the World'.
The 18-year-old male driver and a 17-year-old passenger have been questioned, but no arrests have been made following the incident.
Police said four people were treated at the scene and one woman remains in hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
It was denounced as a 'hate crime' by Quanah Brightman, the executive director of United Native Americans.
'It's still brutal to see this kind of racism in America. That man deserves life [in prison] for what he did,' he told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Shocking footage shows the activists screaming as the white Nissan truck drove directly at them under an arch saying 'The Biggest Little City in the World'
When the group posed for a picture, the white truck revved its engine and then rammed into several activists - leaving one 59-year-old woman with serious injuries
Kitty Colbert, one of the activists, said she suffered several small fractures after being 'run over' at the Abolish Columbus Day event.
'I'm in the hospital. With several small fractures. I'm doing fine...sore as heck...and pissed off,' she wrote on Facebook.
'I assure you all that I am in good spirits and although sore and definitely broken, I will bounce back.'
She said she was upset her grandchildren had witnessed the incident.
'I hate that they had to see that, but at the same time, glad they were witness to how ugly this world can be...and that this fight is important.
'My daughter (and her husband Matt) and rushed to my side and aside from some mild scolding, they lifted my spirit and we had some laughs.
Kitty Colbert, one of the activists, said she suffered several small fractures after being 'run over' at the Abolish Columbus Day event
'Just as I am praying for the two young men who are so filled with hate and rage, I pray for the rest of you.'
Taylor Paniagua told the Reno Gazette-Journal he jumped in front of the pickup in an effort to stop the driver from fleeing.
He caught the hood of the truck and grabbed one of the side doors, but the driver kept going.
'This just is not right,' Mr Paniagua said. 'It didn't seem right when they revved the engine.'
Reno Police Chief Jason Soto said the activists did not have a permit to protest in the street, but some had gathered in front of the main casino drag.
He declined to comment on whether it was being treated as a hate crime.
Native Americans maintain that Columbus and his men perpetrated despicable acts upon indigenous people during several voyages to the Americas,including taking indigenous people to Europe as slaves and wiping many of them out by exposing them to diseases such as smallpox.
The activists had gathered for a photograph under an arch saying 'The Biggest Little City in the World'
'We are certainly looking into all aspects of the information that comes forward,' Soto told reporters.
'I want to make a point that we are going through a lot of video,' he said, describing some of it as 'very horrifying'.
Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve said Tuesday she takes the matter 'very seriously'.
'Public safety is our highest priority and I want all Reno residents to know that we are working swiftly and diligently to make sense of the events that took place last night,' she said in a statement on behalf of herself and the city council.
Reno Police Chief Jason Soto (pictured) said the activists did not have a permit to protest in the street, but some had gathered in front of the main casino drag.
'The Reno Police Department will hold anyone responsible accountable for their actions once the investigation has concluded,' Schieve said, adding that she respects an individual or group's right to conduct lawful protest.
Mike Graham, founder of the Oklahoma-based United Native American Association, said Tuesday he didn't understand why the driver hasn't been arrested.
'We are truly upset that he is not in custody. He left the scene of an accident,' Graham told The Associated Press.
Collision damaged Navy ship leaving port before Matthew
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) U.S. Navy officials say the USS Montgomery was damaged during a collision with a tugboat as it prepared to leave Mayport Naval Station for safe waters ahead of Hurricane Matthew.
Naval Surface Forces spokesman Cmdr. John Perkins tells the Florida Times-Union (http://bit.ly/2dt6eUE ) the repair work was above water line so the repair was "relatively simple." He says it appears high waves and heavy wind contributed to the Oct. 4 collision.
The newly commissioned ship made it to Norfolk, Virginia, on its own power and is scheduled to return to Mayport, near Jacksonville, to complete repairs.
Mayport spokesman Bill Austin says none of the ships that remained it the Mayport basin during the storm sustained damage.
Madrid adding retractable roof to revamped Santiago Bernabeu
MADRID (AP) Real Madrid will be adding a retractable roof to the Santiago Bernabeu after finally reaching an agreement with the city to remodel the stadium.
Madrid president Florentino Perez said Tuesday the project will cost 400 million euros ($447 million) and construction is expected to start next year.
The revamped venue, which will also carry a new facade, is expected to be fully completed by 2020.
"We will see a dramatic transformation of the Santiago Bernabeu," Perez said. "This stadium is one of the emblematic icons of our city and we want to make it one of the best stadiums in the world and the undisputed symbol of the strength of our capital."
Madrid had tried to remodel its famed venue for several times but earlier projects were turned down by the city and court decisions.
The new deal was announced at an event with Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena.
"With this agreement we will start a process of modernization and transformation that will convert the stadium into an avant-garde architectural icon," Perez said. "This stadium will act as an economic and touristic invigorator and will contribute to strengthening the image of our city."
The venue originally inaugurated in 1947 will maintain its capacity of more than 80,000, although the seating sections may be redesigned. One of the stadiums most notable features, the four corner access towers, will be covered by the new facade.
Perez said the Santiago Bernabeu will maintain its name, but it may gain a "surname" from a sponsor like at stadiums "everywhere in the world."
Abu Dhabi investment fund International Petroleum Investment Company is helping finance the renovation.
Because of the agreement with the city, Madrid won't be allowed to increase the total size of the structures already in place, so it will have to rearrange the current constructions to be able to remodel the venue. Some office spaces will be transferred to the team's base in Ciudad Real Madrid, in the city's outskirts.
The club's initial plan was to build a hotel and a shopping center along with the remodeled stadium, something that had prompted fierce opposition across the city. The club will still be able to use the new space commercially, but not how it originally planned.
Officials praised the fact that one of the stadium's parking lots will be transformed into a large public area, and that the new roof will help reduce noise in the neighborhood.
"This deal happened to promote the modernization project of the stadium and to improve and urban environment around our beloved Bernabeu," Carmena said.
The Bernabeu stands in the middle of the high-end neighborhood of Chamartin.
In March, rival Barcelona announced its own remodeling project for the Camp Nou, increasing capacity from 99,354 to 105,000 after construction is fully finished in about five years. The stadium will also have a new roof covering all seating sections.
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The Latest: Greece opens center for unaccompanied minors
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) The Latest on the influx of asylum-seekers and migrants in Europe (all times local):
4:40 p.m.
Greek authorities have opened a new reception center for unaccompanied refugee children near Athens, following extensive criticism of existing facilities.
Migrant children make a puzzle, depicting the map of Europe, at a new reception center for unaccompanied minors in Athens, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The Balkan route, used by nearly 1 million refugees and migrants last year to cross to mainland Europe, was closed last March and over 60,000 people are stranded in Greece. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas said Tuesday that the center at Paiania, just east of the Greek capital, would host up to 100 minors. It is funded by the International Organization for Migration, and run by the Doctors of the World charity.
Mouzalas said some 2,200 unaccompanied minors are currently in Greece, of whom 1,000 live in specialized accommodation. Some 60,000 refugees and other migrants have been trapped in the country following a series of border closures.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized living conditions for unaccompanied minors. Mouzalas said 25 are currently in police custody, for their own protection, and will be resettled by next week.
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3:25 p.m.
Police in northern Greece say they have arrested two Greek women suspected of trying to smuggle a group of Syrian refugees over the rugged border with Albania.
The suspects were discovered early Tuesday, driving two cars carrying a total of 18 Syrians, including six children, to the border in the northern Kastoria region.
Police said the refugees had been planning to continue their journey from Albania toward an unspecified northern European country.
About 60,000 refugees and other migrants have been trapped in Greece following a series of Balkan border closures earlier this year. All entered from Turkey, and had initially planned to transit the financially struggling country on their way to Europe's prosperous heartland.
Many pay gangs to smuggle them northward through Macedonia or Bulgaria, with Albania a rarer option.
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10:50 a.m.
Charities working with refugees and migrants in the camp in Calais are objecting to the government's plan to dismantle the camp and disperse the occupants.
Although no official date has been set for the closure of the slum-like camp, known as the "jungle," the French government has announced it will shut it by the end of the year. The first group of migrants is expected to be moved as soon as next week.
Before a meeting at France's Interior Ministry, homelessness charity Emmaus asked for postponing the closure because it says "all conditions are not met for an efficient humanitarian operation to take place."
A church organization, Secours Catholique, says it's also opposed to cleaning up the area, where up to 10,000 migrants are now living in squalid conditions.
Migrant children pull the curtain in their room, at a new reception center for unaccompanied minors in Athens, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The Balkan route, used by nearly 1 million refugees and migrants last year to cross to mainland Europe, was closed last March and over 60,000 people are stranded in Greece. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Migrant children play board games at a new reception center for unaccompanied minors in Athens, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The Balkan route, used by nearly 1 million migrants last year to cross to mainland Europe, was closed last March and over 60,000 people are stranded in Greece. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Migrant children stand on the window of a new reception center for unaccompanied minors in Athens, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The Balkan route, used by nearly 1 million migrants last year to cross to mainland Europe, was closed last March and over 60,000 people are stranded in Greece. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Migrant children sit near a puzzle, depicting the map of Europe, at a new reception center for unaccompanied minors in Athens, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The Balkan route, used by nearly 1 million refugees and migrants last year to cross to mainland Europe, was closed last March and over 60,000 people are stranded in Greece. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Turkish student attacked in Poland as xenophobic crimes grow
WARSAW, Poland (AP) Polish police are searching for the perpetrators of a weekend attack against a Turkish student, the latest incident in a rising number of xenophobic attacks in the country.
The Turkish citizen, a student at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, faced verbal insults and was attacked in the face over the weekend in a shop in the central Polish town, though the incident was not widely reported until several days later.
A university spokesman, Marcin Czyzniewski, told the TVN24 broadcaster on Tuesday that he feared the university could start losing students if people don't feel safe there, and that would hurt the entire community.
Officials say Romanian engineer taken hostage in Nigeria
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) Armed men have abducted a Romanian engineer in southern Nigeria in what appears to be the latest hostage-for-ransom incident, Romania's foreign ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry said the armed men attacked a group of foreigners Monday evening at a railway construction site in Agbor in Delta state.
The state's Police Deputy Superintendent Kalu Amadi Celestina identified the engineer as Christian Nedelcu and said he was taken "after an exchange of sporadic gunshots between security escorts of the Romanian and the abductors."
The engineer works for Dextron Nigeria Ltd, a construction firm, police said.
Romania's foreign ministry said Romania's embassy has asked Nigerian authorities to locate and rescue the man, whose family has been informed. Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu activated a crisis cell to handle the situation.
Kidnappings of Nigerians and foreigners are common all over the country. In the oil-rich southern Niger Delta, they are carried out by ordinary criminals as well as militants demanding a greater share of oil riches for locals.
Hostages are usually released unharmed after ransom payments.
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UK foreign secretary points finger at Russia over bombing
LONDON (AP) British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Tuesday that "all the available evidence" points to Russian responsibility for the bombing of an aid convoy in Syria.
Johnson told the House of Commons that Russia is "in danger of becoming a pariah nation," and said he would like to see protests outside the Russian embassy against Moscow's military actions in Syria.
But he did not mention any new action against Moscow, signaling he does not back calls from several lawmakers for a no-fly zone to be enforced over Syria.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson speaks in the House of Commons, London in this image taken from TV Tuesday Oct. 11, 2016. Johnson said all the available evidence" points to Russian responsibility for the bombing of an aid convoy in Syria. Johnson told the House of Commons that Russia is in danger of becoming a pariah nation because of its actions in Syria. (PA via AP)
"We cannot do that unless we are prepared to shoot down planes or helicopters that violate that zone, and we need to think very carefully about the consequences," Johnson said.
Johnson said "our best hope is to persuade the Russians" to "do the right thing" and back a genuine cease-fire.
Hundreds have died in aerial attacks on the opposition-held part of Aleppo since the collapse of a short-lived cease-fire last month. In one incident, on Sept. 19, at least 18 people died in a strike on a U.N.-backed aid convoy. The U.S. blames Russia, but Russia denies responsibility.
Moscow has been a key backer of President Bashar Assad throughout the Syrian conflict.
Britain's Royal Air Force is part of a U.S.-led coalition attacking Islamic State militants in Syria, but in 2013 lawmakers rejected a government plan to launch RAF strikes against Assad's forces.
The Russian Embassy in London responded to Johnson's comments in a tweet, saying Russia's "record on Syria is thousands of freed villages, thousands of tons of humanitarian aid. What's Britain's?"
The recent scenes of civilian suffering in Aleppo prompted Tuesday's emotional, if inconclusive, emergency debate in Britain's House of Commons.
Conservative lawmaker Andrew Mitchell, who called the debate, compared Syrian and Russian airstrikes on Aleppo to the notorious bombing of Guernica by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during the Spanish Civil War.
Infowars host Alex Jones is one of Donald Trump's more obviously insane supporters. And even for Jones, this latest stunt is pretty insane.
Alex Jones is a popular alt-right conspiracy theory monger who has big audience online. In this recent clip highlighted by Media Matters for America, Jones says that a high-placed source (?!) told him Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are literally demons, because they "smell like sulfur."
Here's a video clip from the October 10, 2016 edition of Genesis Communications Networks' The Alex Jones Show.
A transcript follows.
ALEX JONES (HOST): I'm never a lesser of two evils person, but with Hillary, there's not even the same universe. She is an abject, psychopathic, demon from Hell that as soon as she gets into power is going to try to destroy the planet. I'm sure of that, and people around her say she's so dark now, and so evil, and so possessed that they are having nightmares, they're freaking out. Folks let me just tell you something, and if media wants to go with this, that's fine. There are dozens of videos and photos of Obama having flies land on him, indoors, at all times of year, and he'll be next to a hundred people and no one has flies on them. Hillary, reportedly, I mean, I was told by people around her that they think she's demon-possessed, okay? I'm just going to go ahead and say it, okay? They said that they're scared. That's why when I see her when kids are by her, I actually get scared myself, with a child with that big rubber face and that I mean this woman is dangerous, ladies and gentleman. I'm telling you, she is a demon. This is Biblical. She's going to launch a nuclear war. The Russians are scared of her. [] Imagine how bad she smells, man? I'm told her and Obama, just stink, stink, stink, stink. You can't wash that evil off, man. Told there's a rotten smell around Hillary. I'm not kidding, people say, they say folks, I've been told this by high up folks. They say listen, Obama and Hillary both smell like sulfur. I never said this because the media will go crazy with it, but I've talked to people that are in protective details, they're scared of her. And they say listen, she's a frickin' demon and she stinks and so does Obama. I go, like what? Sulfur. They smell like Hell.
During the second Presidential Debate in St. Louis last night, Trump winked at this alt-right conspiracy theory by referring to Clinton as "the devil." That's right, this is really happening.
German nationalist party ends regional split after 3 months
BERLIN (AP) A German nationalist party has ended a dispute that split its parliamentary group in a state legislature and exposed divisions in its national leadership.
Alternative for Germany, or AfD, said Tuesday its caucus in southwestern Baden-Wuerttemberg, one of five states where it won seats in elections this year amid discontent about Germany's migrant influx, has reunited.
Its 22 lawmakers elected national co-chairman Joerg Meuthen as caucus leader, three months after he and 12 others walked out after failing to get the rest to oust a colleague accused of anti-Semitism. That lawmaker later left the caucus.
FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2016 file photo the AfD chairman Joerg Meuthen, left, and Heiner Merz attend a session of the state parliament in German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The German nationalist party has ended a dispute that split its parliamentary group in a state legislature and exposed divisions in its national leadership. (Silas Stein/dpa via AP)
Meuthen and national co-leader Frauke Petry clashed over how to handle the dispute.
Trump's 'grab 'em' comment unleashes national conversation
NEW YORK (AP) On Facebook and Twitter, on the phone and on the job, from living rooms to hair salons, Donald Trump's "Grab 'em by the p----" comment has unleashed a tsunami of stories from women sharing painful memories of sexual assaults.
Many of these women were grabbed by the genitals exactly as Trump described doing by men who fled or melted into a crowd. Some women were molested as children on a playground or school bus. Others were groped on a train or dance floor. They've told of attacks getting out of taxicabs, harassment in the workplace and rapes on college campuses. Many shared their experiences for the first time in the days since the video of Trump's comments aired, while others have been exorcising their demons for a long time on blogs or in therapy.
Whatever the forum, whatever their experience, one thing is for sure: A presidential candidate's boastful description of manhandling women's bodies has become a national conversation about sexual assault. Thousands of women have stood up to say, publicly and firsthand, "This happened to me!"
Republican Presidential nominee Donald J. Trump delivers remarks during a rally at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Twp., Pa. on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (Christopher Dolan / The Citizens Voice via AP)
Jennifer McGraw, 35, of Cleveland, wrote a blog post Sunday about being molested as a child called "My Disposable Body" that began with these words: "It all started with a grab of the p----."
McGraw, who is also a rape survivor, said social media conversations about sex assaults "have blown up" because Trump's comments about groping made speaking out more urgent than ever.
"This is somebody who could be our president," she told The Associated Press. "I can't not talk about it at this point. There's too much at stake. I feel strong enough at this point in my life to share my story and share my truth. That's the only way people will heal."
From presidential candidate Gary Hart's sexual relationship with Donna Rice in the 1980s and Bill Clinton's affairs a decade later to Anthony Weiner's more recent sexting scandal, the sex lives of politicians have been in headlines. But never before has a U.S. candidate for president made comments boasting of sexually accosting women, characterized by Trump as "locker room talk." When asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper during Sunday's debate if he'd sexually assaulted women, Trump said he had not.
The national conversation about sexual assault is "a powerful thing," said Delilah Rumburg, CEO of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
"We saw this in the last year with campus sexual assaults when many young women started coming forward and speaking their truths. This is a way for them to feel like they have some power back when they can tell those stories, to hold not only those who commit these crimes accountable but the systems as well. I know those survivors' voices can do much more than I ever could as an advocate."
A survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that 44 percent of U.S. women have experienced sexual violence victimization other than rape at some point in their lives, and nearly one in five has been raped.
Edith Bluhm, 48, of Nashville, Tennessee, says her friends' Facebook threads have been filled with harrowing stories of everything from date-rape to child molestation.
"I have had the experience of going into a crowd and someone has their hand inside my shirt," she said. "Or you're on a dance floor and some guy is grinding against you. Or I'm on a train and felt a hand up my skirt. It's not just about rape. There's all these things that women have endured, these violations of our bodies, that Trump says you can get away with.
"Somehow it's dismissed because it's fleeting," Bluhm added. "It's a hand and then it's gone. ...If I say, angrily, 'Some guy over there was just rubbing up against me, you might say, 'Oh gross,' and move on. But later why do I feel like I want to crawl out of my skin? ...It's completely wrong."
Alicia McCauley, 30, blogged about her experiences with sexual assault, from being grabbed between the legs as a child to being raped. Just recently, a New York City cab driver pinned and groped her as she got out of his taxi. She filed a complaint against him and discovered four other women had filed similar reports against the same driver.
"Hearing Trump say you can do anything you want, you can grab them by the p----- I hate using the word 'triggering' but it felt very reminiscent of all the traumas I have experienced," she said. McCauley said she told relatives that "if they voted for Trump, I would see it as personal, saying it's OK to do these things to women. They are agreeing with rape culture and agreeing with male entitlement."
McCauley said "the stories have always been there," but they're "pouring out now" because the outrage over Trump's comments "has created a space where people are finally agreeing with assault survivors."
Kimberly McDermott, 42, of Alexandria, Virginia, shared stories on Facebook and Twitter of being groped at a concert and sexually harassed by teachers and a boss. "I had no idea other friends had gone through so many similar experiences and had also been too embarrassed to speak up," McDermott said. "That was the case in almost every instance, and these were smart, outspoken women. We cannot go back to this behavior!"
Trump's comments also prompted Alexa McGriff, 28, to post about her experiences as a rape victim and how "triggering" Trump's comments are. "I think about the person who raped me when I was in college," she said in an interview. "I can just picture him saying similar things." Her attacker was an athlete, which gave him celebrity status on campus that McGriff compared to Trump's. "He could do whatever he wanted and get away with it," she said.
At the same time, McGriff noted that Trump's comments have ironically provided a platform that "empowers women to stand up and speak out."
Writer Kelly Oxford unleashed thousands of sex assault stories from women over the weekend by asking women to tweet her their assaults: "they aren't just stats. I'll go first: Old man on city bus grabs my 'p-----' and smiles at me, I'm 12." Many responses were posted with the hashtag #NotOkay.
Among those who tweeted stories back to Oxford were friends of Spring Weaver, 33. "I felt really sad for my friends who were being triggered by the statements of a presidential candidate," said Weaver, who also recounted sitting in a hair salon in Chicago on Saturday where the sole topic of conversation among every stylist and customer was Trump's comments.
Then, Sunday night, watching the debate, Weaver said, "I found myself crying, tearing up. I was just so upset that there were no repercussions for him."
Church defrocks priest accused of molestation at prep school
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) An Episcopal priest accused of molesting children at an elite boarding school and elsewhere has been removed from the priesthood.
The Rev. Howard White accepted the notice of his removal Monday but did not admit guilt, a Pennsylvania diocese said in a news release.
White, 75, is one of several former St. George's School employees accused of sexual abuse and misconduct involving dozens of children between the 1970s and 2004. An independent investigation released last month found White abused children at the Middletown boarding school in the 1970s before being fired.
White has not been charged with any crime, but since the allegations at St. George's emerged in December several other people have come forward to say he abused them. State police brought no charges after an investigation this year, citing the statute of limitations and other issues.
White didn't immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.
In New Hampshire, police launched an investigation after a former student at St. Paul's School in Concord reported White abused him while a chaplain and teacher from 1967 to 1971. Police also launched an investigation in Waynesville, North Carolina, where White was rector at Grace Church in the Mountains for 22 years.
The Providence Journal has reported that White's godson sued him and the Episcopal Church in West Virginia in 1996, alleging he abused him there in 1969. That lawsuit was dismissed because it was filed too late.
White also worked at Chatham Hall in Virginia and Asheville Country Day School, which later became Carolina Day School, in North Carolina. The rector at Chatham Hall said Tuesday the school has received no reports of abuse by White. Carolina Day's head of school said this year it had not received any reports of abuse but did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.
White retired in 2006 but had been working as a Sunday-only priest at St. James Episcopal Church in Bedford, Pennsylvania, before being placed on leave in January, the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania said. It said it has not received any allegations of abuse against him during his time there.
The Diocese of Southeast Florida also is investigating a retired priest and former headmaster at St. George's, the Rev. George E. Andrews, who is accused of failing to report sexual abuse by a teacher to authorities when he led the school in the 1980s. His lawyer has said he relied on legal advice and did not know the scale of the abuse at the time.
Andrews' son-in-law is the Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, and his daughter sits on the board of the $58,000-per-year school.
A narrow ribbon of road linking the Florida Keys with the mainland is the front line in a renewed fight against maggots that can eat livestock and pets alive.
Near a Key Largo visitors' center painted with larger-than-life tropical fish and sea turtles, northbound drivers with animals must stop for agriculture officials checking for signs of New World screwworm.
The parasite once cost the U.S. livestock industry millions every year.
There hadn't been an U.S. infestation in over 30 years, until the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed September 30 that screwworm was killing rare, dog-sized deer found only in the island chain.
Rhonda Williams of Cudjoe Key has her pet Yorkie Riley examined by a veterinarian at a roadside checkpoint in Key Largo. Agriculture officials are checking all animals exiting the keys for signs of New World screwworm
The source of the infestation isn't known, but the Keys' isolation may help stop screwworm from spreading again, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said.
'We are obviously in a more remote part of the state with one way in and one way out,' Putnam said Monday in Key Largo.
Fifty years ago, Florida's fight against screwworm pioneered a kind of birth control for insect pests a technique that's potentially useful against Zika and other mosquito-borne viruses.
What are screwworms?
New World screwworm, or Cochliomyia hominivorax, are about the same size as common houseflies as adults, but have orange eyes.
They only lay eggs near open wounds in warm-blooded animals.
Unlike most maggots, these larvae feed on living flesh.
They don't fly very far, but infected animals can spread infestations if they move to new areas.
Livestock and pets are most at risk, but human infections can occur in rare instances.
Screwworm flies are found throughout South America and a handful of Caribbean countries.
New World screwworm, or Cochliomyia hominivorax (pictured), are about the same size as common houseflies as adults, but have orange eyes
Miniature deer
Key deer are a unique subspecies of white-tailed deer about 3 feet tall at the shoulder the size of a large dog.
Found only in the Florida Keys, their population rebounded from just a few dozen in the 1950s to a herd of roughly 1,000 now.
Key deer remain endangered by increasing traffic and development, along with hurricanes and rising sea levels.
About 30 Key deer have been found dead or have been euthanized in the last two weeks because of screwworm, said National Key Deer Refuge Manager Dan Clark.
Refuge records indicate at least another 30 deer deaths over the summer were linked to screwworm.
The summer mating season possibly left Key deer more susceptible to infestations.
'The males are fighting now. Their hormone levels are high and they're running around jousting with each other,' Clark said. 'Most of the deer that we've had to work with have been males with head wounds and infestations there.'
Sterilizing screwworms
Agriculture officials announced the release beginning Tuesday of millions of male screwworm flies, sterilized with radiation, to mate with wild female flies in the refuge.
Any eggs produced won't hatch, killing the fly population over time, said Cris Young, a veterinarian with the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The screwworm's life cycle is about 24 days.
The releases may continue twice weekly for six months, Putnam said.
Chemical treatments are available for infested cattle and pets, but the sterilized insects are so effective that pesticides aren't necessary, Young said.
New World screwworm only lay eggs near open wounds in warm-blooded animals. Unlike most maggots, these larvae feed on living flesh
Sterile insects and Zika
The 'sterile insect technique' developed in the 1950s is still widely used. Irradiated Mediterranean fruit flies have been released regularly since 1998 in South Florida and the Tampa area.
Texas and California also release irradiated fruit flies.
The promise of pest control without pesticides is a selling point for those trying similar techniques to control the mosquitoes that spread Zika.
A representative from the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency pitched the technique's potential this spring to Florida Keys mosquito control officials looking for new weapons against the hard-to-kill species carrying Zika, dengue fever and other viruses.
A proposal to test mosquitoes genetically modified so their larvae won't survive is up for a referendum in the Keys next month.
PICTURED: Traditional carp fishing in Franconian village
ERLANGEN, Germany (AP) It's an early October morning and temperatures are just above freezing when Christoph Oberle and his assistants haul a big dragnet full of carp across a pond to the shore in Kosbach, near the southern German city of Erlangen. It's harvest time for carp a traditional Christmas meal in many parts of Europe.
The men Oberle's friends and relatives start their day with breakfast together before donning their waders and walking into the artificial pond's cold water. The level had been lowered in the days before to group the fish being raised there closer together. It takes fewer than 30 minutes to corral them close enough to the bank to start using hand nets to scoop them into big tubs and then pour them on a ramp to sort before putting them into smaller basins by type.
In addition to carp, Oberle raises zander and perch, starting them in the spring and letting them grow through the summer. After three hours of hard work about three tons of fish less than expected are swimming in the smaller basins to be distributed to customers, and eventually make their way to people's plates.
Christoph Oberle, left, and his assistant put a pole into the ground of a pond with a net full of carp in Erlangen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Carp are a traditional food in Germany around the Christmas time and New Year. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
For Oberle, his work is a longtime family tradition. One of his ancestors bought a farm with 1.2 acres of ponds in 1650. More than 360 years later he owns 40 ponds and offers carp at his own restaurant, sells it smoked in a fish shop and provides it to fishing clubs to stock their own waters.
A fisherman picks up carp and other fish in Erlangen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Carps are a traditional food in Germany around the Christmas time and New Year. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
A fisherman picks up carp in Erlangen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Carp are a traditional food in Germany around the Christmas time and New Year. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Fishermen pull their net full of carp in Erlangen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Carp are a traditional food in Germany around the Christmas time and New Year. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Fishermen pull their net full of carp in Erlangen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Carp are a traditional food in Germany around the Christmas time and New Year. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Fishermen pick up carp and other fish in Erlangen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Carp are a traditional food in Germany around the Christmas time and New Year. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
A fisherman picks up carp and other fishes in Erlangen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Carp are a traditional food in Germany around the Christmas time and New Year. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Fishermen and women pick up carp and other fish in Erlangen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Carp are a traditional food in Germany around the Christmas time and New Year. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Fishermen and women pick up carp and other fish in Erlangen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Carp are a traditional food in Germany around the Christmas time and New Year. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
The Latest: Companies say activists didn't stop oil delivery
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) The Latest on the legal fight over the Dakota Access pipeline (all times local):
3:45 p.m.
Representatives of some oil pipeline companies who were targeted by activists showing support with Dakota Access pipeline opponents say the attempt to disrupt delivery was not successful.
A person with a hand drum paces between law enforcement officers and a line of protesters along North Dakota Highway 6, south of St. Anthony, N.D., Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won't yet authorize construction of the $3.8 billion, four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline on federal land in southern North Dakota, it said Monday, along with reiterating its earlier request that the pipeline company voluntarily stop work on private land in the area. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)
A group known as Climate Direct Action tried to shut valves on two pipelines in Minnesota, one in North Dakota, one in Montana and one in Washington state on Tuesday morning. All of the lines move oil from Canada to the United States.
Officials say pipelines at four of the sites were temporarily shut down before the protesters could reach the valves.
In Washington, the Mountain Puget Sound pipeline system wasn't operating at the time of the attempt.
An Enbridge spokeswoman says the company regularly stops and starts its pipelines and reported "normal system operations" after the incident. Officials with Spectra Energy's Express pipeline in Coal Banks Landing, Montana, say they were offline for five hours.
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1:50 p.m.
North Dakota's superintendent of public instruction says a school at the Dakota Access pipeline protest site is operating illegally and students should enroll at other schools until it meets state standards.
Kirsten Baesler says in a letter to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council that the Mandan Public School District is prepared to accept students from the Protectors of the Water school at the Sacred Stone Camp, as well as bus them to and from the camp.
Baesler noted that it will likely take "considerable time" for the camp school to gain approval and suggested students enroll in Fort Yates, Solen or Cannonball.
Standing Rock Tribal Chairman David Archambault II and North Dakota Indian Affairs Director Scott Davis did not immediately respond Tuesday to requests for comment.
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1:20 p.m.
Law enforcement officials say construction has resumed on the four-state Dakota Access pipeline on private land in southern North Dakota.
Morton County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rob Keller says crews dug trenches and laid pipe in the St. Anthony area on Tuesday.
A federal appeals court ruling Sunday cleared the way for work to resume on that land, which is near Lake Oahe. The work on federal land is still on hold.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe opposes the pipeline over concerns about drinking water and cultural sites. Protests have been going on for months.
Keller says protesters were largely absent early Tuesday, though one vehicle was stopped at a construction site resulting in arrests. He didn't have further details.
Protest spokesman Cody Hall says pipeline opponents were making plans to rally against the work.
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12:30 p.m.
A spokesman for an environmental protest group says at least eight people have been arrested in an effort to shut down oil pipelines in four states as a show of support for the Dakota Access pipeline protesters.
Climate Disobedience Center spokesman Jay O'Hara says activists on Tuesday targeted pipelines in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Washington state that move oil from Canada to the United States.
Pipeline company officials confirmed attempts in Minnesota and Montana, while the other claims by O'Hara could not be immediately verified.
An Enbridge spokeswoman says protesters used bolt cutters to cut chains off a valve site on the company's pipeline in Leonard, Minnesota. She says the company temporarily shut down the lines.
Officials with Spectra Energy's Express pipeline in Coal Banks Landing, Montana, say they received 20 minutes' warning from protesters and shut down its line ahead of time.
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10 a.m.
People protesting the four-state Dakota Access pipeline are making plans to oppose construction that's restarting in southern North Dakota.
A federal appeals court ruling Sunday cleared the way for construction to resume on private land near Lake Oahe (oh-AW'-hee), though work on federal land is still held up. Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners says it will start working again, but isn't saying exactly when.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe opposes the pipeline over concerns about drinking water and cultural sites, and protests have been going on for months.
Protest camp spokesman Cody Hall says protesters will be discussing nonviolent ways to oppose the work, and that methods might include protesters chaining themselves to equipment. He says protesters are "going to fight this pipeline to the very end."
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This item has been corrected to show that Cody Hall is a spokesman for the protest camp, not the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
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6:45 a.m.
The company building the four-state Dakota Access pipeline says it will resume construction on private land near Lake Oahe (oh-AW'-hee) in North Dakota, where protests supporting tribal rights have endured for months.
The statement from Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners comes in the wake of a federal appeals court ruling Sunday allowing construction to resume within 20 miles of the lake. The $3.8 million, 1,200-mile pipeline is otherwise largely complete.
The Standing Rock Sioux wants the construction to stop because of concerns about water supply and cultural artifacts, although a state archaeologist says an inspection found none on the land.
Thousands of people have protested in support of the tribe, and 123 people have been arrested since mid-August, including actress Shailene Woodley and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.
US supports Taiwan leader's call for dialogue with China
WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. says it supports the Taiwanese leader's call for dialogue with China amid increased tensions between the self-governing island and the communist government in Beijing.
The top diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Russel, said Tuesday that the U.S. has a "deep and abiding interest" in stability across the Taiwan Strait, and welcomes constructive steps by both sides to improve relations. He called for flexibility, creativity and patience.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (ts-EYE eeng wuhn) said Monday that the island will not bow to Chinese pressure and that Beijing should recognize her government's existence and engage with it in talks.
Russia relaxes ban on imports of Turkish fruit
MOSCOW (AP) Russia has relaxed import restrictions on Turkish fruit as relations between the countries continue to improve.
Bans on many types of agricultural produce were imposed following last year's downing by Turkish forces of a Russian combat jet on the Turkish-Syrian border.
A document published on a government website Tuesday says restrictions have been dropped for apricots, peaches and various citrus fruits, which make up much of Turkey's fruit exports to Russia.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right and Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, look at each other during a news conference following their meeting in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Putin and Erdogan voiced support for the construction of a gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey, called Turkish Stream, a project that was suspended amid tensions between the two countries. The pipeline would carry Russian natural gas to Turkey and onto European Union countries. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
However, several other food products remain banned. A spokesman for Russia's agricultural regulator told state news agency Tass that restrictions on some vegetables could soon be dropped.
2 Oman newspaper journalists freed pending appeal of case
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Two newspaper journalists in Oman have been freed pending an appeal of their criminal convictions over their reporting on an alleged corruption case.
The advocacy group Reporters Without Borders says Azamn newspaper's editor-in-chief Ibrahim al-Maamari and deputy editor-in-chief Youssef al-Haj were released on bail Tuesday.
The two men were sentenced in September to three years in prison over their reporting on alleged corruption in Oman's judiciary. Al-Haj also was found guilty of slander and violating a gag order for reporting on al-Maamari's initial arrest.
A third journalist, Zaher al-Abri, was released earlier after being sentenced to one year in prison.
Rights groups have roundly criticized the case.
4 more Turkish servicemen lose asylum claim in Greece
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) Greek authorities have rejected claims by four more Turkish military servicemen who fled in the wake of their country's failed coup attempt in mid-July.
Eight servicemen fled to the Greek border town of Alexandroupolis by helicopter, and all remain in police custody in Athens. Seven have now had their asylum claims rejected, following the latest decision announced Tuesday, with a decision pending for the eighth.
They have the right to appeal before being deported to Turkey.
Lawyers representing the servicemen have argued that they face mistreatment in Turkey and have accused the Greek government of not allowing a fair asylum procedure an allegation the government has rejected.
The human rights watchdog Amnesty International says conditions in Turkey have "deteriorated markedly " in recent months, and worsened further since the attempted coup.
In a statement to The Associated Press, relayed though their lawyers, the seven servicemen argued that they hadn't been fairly treated in Greece.
"We believe that the decision made by the Asylum Service have not been based on international and European Union laws and practices but have been influenced by political actions at a bilateral level," the statement said.
"We came to Greece to save our lives and not to become a tool of foreign policy and bilateral agreements."
Officials at Greece's Asylum Service declined to comment on the letter.
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America paid about $16 billion to five companies last year for 80% of our contracted domestic and international surveillance: Leidos Holdings, CSRA Inc., SAIC, CACI International, and Booz Allen Hamilton, recently in the news following an employee arrest on cyberweapons theft charges.
Tim Shorrock at The Nation did the legwork to to come up with the numbers.
"The problem with just five companies providing the lion's share of contractors is that the client, the U.S. government, won't have much alternative when a company screws up," says David Isenberg, the author of Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq. [] "There comes a point when the marketplace is so concentrated that the service provider simply becomes too big to fail, no matter how lousy their performance," says Isenberg, who closely monitors the privatization of national-security work. "If that makes you think of the financial-services industry, well, that's exactly what I'm talking about."
5 Corporations Now Dominate Our Privatized Intelligence Industry (The Nation)
Image: Thomas Tolkein
London police make arrest after creepy clown incident
LONDON (AP) British police have made an arrest in the case of a person in a clown costume who deliberately frightened people on London streets.
Police said Tuesday they had arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of a public order offense stemming from an incident that started Saturday night in west London and ended early Sunday.
Scotland Yard says there have been a small number of suspicious clown incidents reported in London apparently inspired by clown-related cases in the United States.
Police Commander Julian Bennett said Tuesday that three of the London incidents amounted to criminal offenses.
He says police expect such incidents to increase in the weeks before Halloween and that additional "reassurance patrols" will be added.
Consumer watchdog structure ruled unconstitutional
WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. consumer watchdog agency, enmeshed in partisan politics since its creation after the financial crisis, now has had its structure ruled unconstitutional because it gives too much power to a single agency director.
A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is organized violates the Constitution's separation of powers by limiting the president's ability to remove the director who heads the agency.
The law creating the independent agency after the 2008-09 crisis says its director can only be removed "for cause," such as neglect of duty, and not over political differences. The court said that conflicts with the Constitution, which allows the president to remove executives for any reason.
FILE - In this Thursday, March 26, 2015, file photo, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, center, listens to comments during a panel discussion in Richmond, Va. On Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, a federal appeals court ruled that the way the CFPB is organized violates the Constitutions separation of powers by limiting the presidents ability to remove the director who heads the agency. Cordray, a Democrat and former Ohio attorney general, has run the agency since it began operating in July 2011. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
That problem can be solved, the court said, by taking out the "for cause" provision giving the president the power to remove the director at will, and to supervise him or her. The CFPB's operations will not be affected.
The ruling came from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
A few actions taken by the agency might have to be reviewed because they didn't conform with the law in the appeals judges' view. Maria Earley, an attorney at law firm Reed Smith who was a CFPB enforcement attorney, said a handful of cases could be affected.
While the constitutional questions raised by the court are significant, "It's important to recognize the remedy the court outlines still allows the CFPB to continue to operate," Earley said.
The ruling handed a victory to the banking industry, which has viewed the agency as a thorn in its side and accused it of overreaching in its regulation of consumer financial activities. The agency has taken legal action against banks, mortgage companies, credit card issuers, payday lenders, debt collectors and others. The CFPB says that over five years it has recovered $11.7 billion that it returned to more than 27 million harmed consumers.
Consumer groups said the court's decision undermines financial protections.
The agency has been a political lightning rod since it was created by Congress in a major financial overhaul law in 2010 to protect consumers from harmful banking and lending practices. Wall Street interests, the banking and consumer finance industries and Republicans in Congress have fiercely opposed and criticized the agency.
Richard Cordray, a Democrat and former Ohio attorney general, has run the agency since it began operating in July 2011. His term doesn't expire until 2018, so his tenure likely won't be affected unless Republican Donald Trump were to win the presidency.
As the agency's director, Cordray exercises more power than would be the case with a five-member commission, which is often the structure atop independent federal agencies. The members of such commissions normally are split between the political parties.
"The director of the CFPB possesses enormous power over American business, American consumers and the overall U.S. economy," the appeals court ruling said. "That combination of power that is massive in scope, concentrated in a single person and unaccountable to the president triggers the important constitutional question at issue in this case."
One of the judges, Karen Henderson, dissented partially from the ruling. She said she doesn't believe it's necessary to reach a conclusion on whether the agency's structure is constitutional in order to resolve the case.
The government had argued that the agency's structure and powers are constitutional.
The case involves allegations that New Jersey mortgage lender PHH Corp. was involved in a scheme to refer customers to certain mortgage insurance companies in exchange for illegal kickbacks. The CFPB ordered PHH to pay $109 million in illegal payments it had received. PHH claims its conduct was legal and challenged the bureau's structure as unconstitutional.
The Obama administration could seek a rehearing of the decision before the full appeals court, which would be the next step in the legal process. The full court has a majority of judges appointed by Democratic presidents, while all three judges on the panel that issued the ruling were named by Republican presidents.
Justices raise doubts about $399M judgment against Samsung
WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court raised serious doubts Tuesday about a $399 million judgment against smartphone maker Samsung for illegally copying parts of the patented design of Apple's iPhone.
Justices hearing arguments in the long-running dispute seemed troubled that Samsung was ordered to pay all the profits it earned from 11 phone models, even though the features at issue are just a tiny part of the devices.
But some justices struggled over how exactly a jury should be told to compute damages if the case is sent back to a lower court.
Attorney Seth Waxman, representing Apple, speaks with reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, after presenting oral arguments before the Justices on monetary damages Samsung owes Apple for alleged violation of smart phone design patents. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
"If I were a juror, I wouldn't know what to do," said Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Justice Stephen Breyer appeared to embrace a test proposed by a group of internet companies including Facebook and Google that would outline new limits on such damage awards. Other justices seemed to favor a different test proposed by the Obama administration.
The outcome could have ripple effects across the high-tech industry as the court balances the need to encourage innovation against a desire to protect lucrative design patents.
The case is part of series of high-stakes lawsuits between the technology rivals that began in 2011. None of the early generation Samsung phones involved in the lawsuit remains on the market.
Cupertino, California-based Apple sued over South Korea-based Samsung's duplication of a handful of distinctive iPhone features for which Apple holds patents: the flat screen, the rounded rectangle shape of the phone, and the layout of icons on the screen.
The companies are wrangling over how much Samsung is required to compensate Apple under an 1887 law that requires patent infringers to pay "total profit." At issue is whether that means all the profits from phone sales, or just the profit related to the specific components that were copied.
Samsung says the hefty award ignores the fact that its phones contain more than 200,000 other patents that Apple does not own. Apple argues that the verdict is fair because the iPhone's success was directly tied to its distinctive look.
The federal appeals court in Washington that hears patent cases has ruled that Apple was entitled to all the profits.
Samsung's lawyer Kathleen Sullivan told the court that total profits should be limited only to the sliver of the product that was copied. She said the parties could use consumer surveys and other expert testimony to show how much the design affected sales.
The justices seemed open to the idea, but several kept wondering how it would play out using the example of the Volkswagen Beetle, a car with a quirky design that surged to popularity in the 1960s.
"It may be that the body accounts for only 10 percent of the cost of the car, but 90 percent of the profits are attributable to the shape of the car," Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.
But Justice Samuel Alito said the Beetle example was not that helpful.
"I can't get over the thought that nobody buys a car, even a Beetle, just because they like the way it looks," he said.
Breyer relied on other examples to suggest that a test limiting damages to just one component that was infringed, and not the entire product, could work.
"You know, wallpaper, you get the whole thing. A Rolls Royce thing on the hood? No, no, no. You don't get all the profit from the car," he said.
Arguing for the Obama administration, Justice Department lawyer Brian Fletcher said the justices should adopt a multi-factor test that includes how prominent are the design features in the product, and to what extent consumers buy an iPhone or other device based on how it looks instead of what it can do.
Both Sullivan and Apple's lawyer, former solicitor general Seth Waxman, seemed open to the court adopting a version of the government's test.
Technology giants, including Facebook and Google, are backing Samsung. They say upholding the lower court ruling would value a single design patent at the expense of all other things a smartphone can do, leading to excessive windfalls not intended by the law.
On the other side, companies including sportswear manufacturer Adidas and jewelry maker Tiffany & Co. say allowing recovery of total profits will discourage "design pirates" and protect companies that invest in creative designs.
The argument comes at a rough time for Samsung. The company announced Tuesday that it is halting sales of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones after reports that even the replacements for problem-plagued recalled models were catching fire. That model was not part of the patent litigation.
A ruling in the case is expected by June.
Attorney Kathleen Sullivan, representing Samsung, speaks with reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, after presenting oral arguments before the Justices on monetary damages Samsung owes Apple for alleged violation of smart phone design patents. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Attorney Kathleen Sullivan, representing Samsung, leaves the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, after presenting oral arguments before the Justices on monetary damages Samsung owes Apple for alleged violation of smart phone design patents. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Apple Vice President and Chief Litigation Officer Noreen Krall speaks with reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, after presenting oral arguments before the Justices on monetary damages Samsung owes Apple for alleged violation of smart phone design patents. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Attorney Kathleen Sullivan, representing Samsung, speaks with reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, after presenting oral arguments before the Justices on monetary damages Samsung owes Apple for alleged violation of smart phone design patents. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Attorney Seth Waxman, representing Apple, leaves the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, after presenting oral arguments before the Justices on monetary damages Samsung owes Apple for alleged violation of smart phone design patents. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
McCain spars with challenger over previous support of Trump
PHOENIX (AP) Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to say whether he trusted Donald Trump with the nation's nuclear codes during a debate, a moment that came after he repeated his decision to withdraw his support from the Republican presidential nominee.
The exchange in Monday night's debate with his Democratic challenger, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, came after she criticized him for sticking with Trump for months despite his comments about immigrants, a disabled reporter, and even former prisoners of war like McCain.
The breaking point, McCain said, was the release last week of a 2005 tape where Trump is heard making lewd comments about women.
Incumbent Republican Sen. John McCain, left, takes a few notes as Arizona Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick speaks to the debate moderators prior to their only scheduled debate Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, in Phoenix before next month's general election. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
"All of those things I thought were very wrong," McCain said. "But then when Mr. Trump attacks women, and demeans the women in our nation and our society, that is a point where I just have to part company."
Kirkpatrick pressed the point, repeating her assertion that "he's been trying to run from Trump's disparaging remarks for the last year while at the same time endorsing him over 60 times."
"So senator I just want to ask you - do you trust Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear arsenal?" Kirkpatrick asked.
"Isn't that kind of a nonsense question? I have said I don't support him," McCain responded. "I do not see a scenario where the finger would be on the button."
Trump himself went after Arizona's senior senator in a tweet on Tuesday.
"The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks," Trump's tweet said.
McCain's campaign didn't return calls seeking comment.
McCain withdrew his support for the billionaire businessman over the weekend, saying he would write in the name of some "some good conservative Republican," on his ballot.
"I think I might write in (South Carolina Sen.) Lindsey Graham," McCain said Monday. "He's an old good friend of mine and a lot of people like him. The fact is ... seriously I cannot vote for either one."
McCain is seeking a sixth term in the Senate, and Kirkpatrick is trying to upset the 2008 Republican presidential nominee.
McCain slammed Kirkpatrick's backing of President Barack Obama's health overhaul law and said it needs be completely scrapped, arguing the idea that young people will buy insurance and their premiums help pay for older people's coverage was fatally flawed.
"We can't fix the health system because it was based on a faulty premise," McCain said.
Kirkpatrick acknowledged serious problems with the law but says McCain and other Republicans need to work with Democrats to help fix the problems. And she slammed McCain and other Republicans for repeatedly trying to repeal the health law instead of working to fix what problems it has.
"I've always said it wasn't perfect and we needed to work together to fix it," Kirkpatrick said. "This is an example of something we could have been doing over the last six years instead of voting to repeal it more than 60 times."
Kirkpatrick took some shots at McCain, especially over his foreign policy positions.
"John McCain's solution is to send in more troops every problem we have, it's send in more troops," she said.
McCain pushed his opposition to the foreign policies of Obama, saying terrorism is heading to the U.S. because of the president's policies.
The candidates also sparred over the Senate's failure to hold hearings on Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court.
"John McCain once voted for Merrick Garland now he won't even meet with him," Kirkpatrick said. "We're tired of that kind of obstructionism in Washington."
McCain said a Clinton presidency and losing the Senate's GOP majority would be bad for America, and defended the Senate's decision not to confirm Garland.
"I would much rather have eight Supreme Court justices than a justice who is liberal..." he said.
Arizona Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick smiles as she stands in studio prior to a debate with incumbent Republican Sen. John McCain for their only debate before next month's general election Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain chats with the two debate moderators prior to his scheduled debate against Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick before next month's general election Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain talks with debate moderators prior to his debate with Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, their only scheduled debate before next month's general election, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick talks with debate moderators prior to her debate with incumbent Republican Sen. John McCain in their only scheduled debate before next month's general election Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Court seems favorable to defendant claiming jury race bias
WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed likely to rule that racial bias in the jury room provides a limited basis for breaching the centuries-old legal principle of secrecy in jury deliberations.
The justices heard an appeal from an immigrant in Colorado who said he did not have a fair trial because he was convicted by a jury on which one man reportedly tied the defendant's guilt to his Hispanic heritage.
The Supreme Court has resisted the call in earlier cases to examine what was said in the jury room. But several justices appeared persuaded that allegations of racial bias against defendant Miguel Angel Pena Rodriguez justify piercing the sanctity of jury deliberations when the constitutional right to a fair trial is at stake.
FILE - The Supreme Court in this Feb. 17, 2016 file photo. The Supreme Court is hearing an appeal from Colorado that claims a jurors ethnic slurs during deliberations were so offensive that they deprived the defendant of a fair trial. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Justice Stephen Breyer said questioning jurors in such cases may be needed to "create a judicial system that is seen as fair."
The court's conservative justices worried that such a ruling could lead to widespread claims of bias. Why would discrimination on the basis sex, religious and sexual orientation get a different reception, Chief Justice John Roberts wondered.
Justice Samuel Alito asked lawyer Jeffrey Fisher, representing Pena Rodriguez, about other improper actions by a jury, including basing a decision on a defendant's political affiliation.
"And if we allow the exception that you are advocating, what do you say to ... the prisoner who is going to be spending the rest of his life in prison as a result of the jury verdict that was determined by flipping a coin?"
Fisher said the court could limit its opinion to race, for now. "The reason why is this court has said time and again that race is different," Fisher said. He said 18 states allow racial bias claims to be investigated, and their courts have not been overwhelmed by claims.
The dispute arose after a jury convicted Pena Rodriguez of inappropriately touching teenage girls.
Two jurors said that a jury colleague had determined that he was guilty because Pena Rodriguez is "Mexican, and Mexican men take whatever they want."
No other juror was alleged to have said anything improper and all 12 jurors, including the two who reported the inappropriate comments, voted to convict him.
Lawyers for Colorado and the Obama administration acknowledged that the statements attributed to the juror identified only as H.C. were indefensible. But they told the court Tuesday that jury secrecy is crucial to the judicial system and said there are better ways to address racial bias on juries, including closer screening of potential jurors.
Jurors also could be encouraged to report misconduct during deliberations before a verdict is reached, they said.
"The juror's alleged statements in this case are no doubt reprehensible," said Colorado Solicitor General Frederick Yarger, but he added that preserving the secrecy of jury deliberations overcomes allegations of racial and other kinds of bias.
Justice Department lawyer Rachel Kovner said the federal government is committed to eradicating racial bias. "But there are ways to address that problem without undermining structural protections of the jury system that have withstood legal challenges for hundreds of years," Kovner said.
Justice Anthony Kennedy did not say much during the hourlong argument. But he appeared to reject Kovner's warning that the court shouldn't try to reconstruct jury room deliberations involving race.
"So the more insidious the evil, the ... more caution we should have in inquiring of the jury?" Kennedy said.
Hospital industry says it, too, is slammed by drug costs
WASHINGTON (AP) Hospitals, too, are getting slammed by sharp price increases in prescription drugs, and the industry is urging the next president and Congress to take up the issue.
Consumer groups and insurers were already complaining loudly about drug costs. Now hospitals are turning up the volume as well, leaving the pharmaceutical industry more politically isolated.
A study released Tuesday by the two biggest hospital lobbying groups found that overall, hospitals' average annual inpatient drug spending increased by more than 23 percent between 2013 and 2015.
FILE - In this June 14, 2011 file photo, various prescription drugs on the automated pharmacy assembly line at Medco Health Solutions in Willingboro, N.J. The nation's hospitals say they, too, are getting slammed by sharp price increases in prescription drugs. The industry is urging the next president and Congress to take up the issue. A study released Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, by the two biggest hospital lobbying groups finds the average annual inpatient drug spending increased by more than 23 percent between 2013 and 2015. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
The NORC study for the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals found higher prices were primarily responsible for the spending increase, not the quantity of medications used.
Measured on a per-admission basis, the increase was even more striking, nearly 39 percent. Per-admission spending on medications increased from $714 in 2013 to $990 two years later. NORC at the University of Chicago, which conducted the study, is an independent research organization.
Hospitals say they can't easily pass on the cost of pricey drugs because private insurers and government programs like Medicare usually pay a pre-determined amount per case.
"The system is clearly broken," Scott Knoer, chief pharmacy officer at the Cleveland Clinic, said in a teleconference sponsored by the two hospital lobbying groups. "The (pharmaceutical) industry has proven time and time again it can no longer regulate itself."
Calling the recent spate of price increases "egregious," Knoer said there's no way hospitals can get on top of it. When the price of one drug stabilizes, another zooms up. "It's like playing whack-a-mole," he said.
The drug industry criticized the report, saying it focuses on "unrepresentative, older" medicines and gives a "distorted" picture of costs.
"Further, the report fails to acknowledge that hospitals often significantly mark up medicines charged to patients and payers," Holly Campbell of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said in a statement.
In the study, one-third of hospitals said drug prices had a "severe" impact on their budgets.
Leaders of the two hospital groups said they want to avoid an outcome in which the government directly regulates drug prices, but they add that a debate is clearly needed.
"The concern about the rising cost and prices of prescription drugs has been a bipartisan issue," said Rick Pollack, president of the hospital association. "We are hoping this study will help inform policy makers as to the nature of the problem."
The NORC study was based on data from 712 of the nation's more than 4,300 community hospitals. It also analyzed drug purchase costs for 28 drugs from two major group purchasing organizations, which allow hospitals to maximize volume discounts for commonly used supplies.
The study found that price increases seemed to be "random, inconsistent and unpredictable." It found sizable price increases both for highly used drugs and some that get less use, as well as for branded and generic drugs. Inpatient drug spending grew more rapidly than retail prescription spending in 2014 and 2015.
Among the examples:
The unit price hospitals paid for acetaminophen, a commonly used pain reliever, rose by 135 percent from 2013 to 2015. Researchers developed a "per-unit" benchmark to measure prices across different dosages.
The drug that saw the highest per-unit increase was Daraprim, an infection-control medication that was originally approved in 1953. The study said its unit price jumped 3,695 percent, from $919.10 to $34,882.24 after it was acquired by Turing Pharmaceuticals.
Turing was formerly run by Martin Shkreli, a brash entrepreneur whose indifference to complaints about the company's aggressive pricing earned him a reputation as pharma's bad boy. He has pleaded not guilty to federal charges in an unrelated securities fraud case.
More than half of U.S. adults take prescription drugs, and according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll most of those patients report no major problems affording their own medications.
Missouri man pleads not guilty in sex slaying of daughter
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) A Missouri man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually attacked and suffocated his daughter, a high school honors student, at a motel.
Forty-year-old Jerry Bausby entered the not-guilty plea last week in Jackson County on charges of first-degree murder, sodomy, incest and sexual abuse in the March death of 18-year-old Daizsa Laye Bausby.
Authorities say Daizsa Bausby's body was found March 22 in a Kansas City motel room. A medical examiner concluded the teenager died of asphyxia by smothering.
Police say Bausby denied having sexual contact with his daughter, and that lab tests completed last month show genetic material swabbed from Jerry Bausby's body matched the victim's DNA.
Judge denies Tyson's request for new trial in pay dispute
STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) A federal judge has rejected Tyson Foods' request for a new trial in a case that awarded $5.8 million to thousands of employees seeking back pay at the company's pork plant in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Tyson lawyers filed a brief in June saying a new trial was necessary to address liability and damages issues and ensure workers included in the suit are entitled to a share of the award, according to the Sioux City Journal (http://bit.ly/2eoowdK ).
Storm Lake employees sued Tyson in 2007 to collect back pay for the time they spent putting on and taking off protective work clothes and equipment before and after their shifts. Tyson did not keep complete records on how much time workers spent on dressing up and down, so employees had to prove the damages based on the expert's statistical inferences of how long employees had to spend getting ready.
U.S. District Judge John Jarvey said in his ruling Thursday that the payment method ensures workers not entitled to damages won't receive a portion of the award. Workers receiving an award are required to have worked 40 hours per week and earned at least $50 in damages.
The Supreme Court upheld the award in March, despite Tyson's appeal to the court challenging the means by which the class-action was granted and whether statistics can be used to determine damages for all workers.
Turkish parliament endorses extending state of emergency
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) Turkey's parliament has endorsed a government decision to extend a state of emergency declared in the aftermath of a failed military coup by three months.
The government imposed the original state of emergency to crack down on a network linked to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Turkey of being behind the attempted overthrow.
Earlier this month, the government said it was prolonging the emergency because it needed more time to locate Gulen's followers and to avert another coup attempt.
Parliament approved the extension on Tuesday with the votes of ruling party legislators. Two opposition parties voted against it.
The state of emergency allows the government to rule by decree and to hold suspects in detention for up to 30 days without bringing charges.
A man who lost part of a finger and suffered facial injuries in the deadly Hoboken train crash is planning to sue.
Lawyers for Sheldon Kest announced the planned lawsuit against New Jersey Transit during a news conference in Newark on Tuesday.
The 66-year-old Tenafly man was a passenger in the front car of the train that crashed into Hoboken Terminal on September 29 killing one person and injuring dozens of others.
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assenger Sheldon Kest, 66, plans to due New Jersey Transit after he lost a finger and scraped his face in the crash
Kest was among those hurt in crash, losing part of his finger and suffering a broken nose and lacerations to his head and face
Kest was among those hurt in crash, losing part of his finger and suffering a broken nose and lacerations to his head and face.
'I'm so fortunate to be here and to hopefully, through the legal system, help prevent another senseless, deadly New Jersey Transit crash,' Kest said.
'I need to know: Why did it happen? How did it happen? And who should be held accountable so it never happens again?'
Rail services resumed Monday at a New Jersey transit station damaged less than two weeks ago after a train traveling at more than twice the speed limit crashed, killing a woman on the platform and injuring more than 100.
Eight of the 17 tracks at Hoboken Terminal reopened Monday morning, according to New Jersey Transit.
Damage done to the Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey after a commuter train crash is seen on October 1
The New Jersey Transit train involved in the deadly crash (pictured) was moved on the track out of Hoboken Terminal on Thursday
Tracks 10 to 17 reopened, while tracks 1 to 9 will remain out of service until further notice as repair work continues in that section of the busy station, where commuters connect with other trains and with ferries heading into New York City.
Investigators say the engineer was traveling more than double the 10 mph speed limit just before the crash. The crash killed one woman standing on the platform and injured more than 100 other people.
The preliminary filing doesn't say what Kest is seeking. Tort claims are filed against public agencies in New Jersey to give them a chance to settle the case before a lawsuit is filed.
One of Kest's attorneys, Andrew Duffy, said they don't expect New Jersey to resolve the claim and expect to file suit.
Sheldon Kest, left, of Tenafly, N.J., sits with his wife, Lynda Kest, center, as he points to an image showing him near the side of the New Jersey Transit fatal train crash at the Hoboken Terminal, as he announcing his lawsuit
The 66-year-old Tenafly man was a passenger in the front car of the train that crashed into Hoboken Terminal on September 29 killing one person and injuring dozens of others
An NJ Transit spokeswoman declined to comment. At least three other victims have also filed claims this month against the transit agency.
With the resumption of service, a new rule will require that the conductor join the engineer whenever a train pulls into the terminal. That means a second set of eyes will be watching as a train enters the final phase of its trip at stations where there are platforms at the end of the rails.
The engineer in the crash was alone at the time. He has told federal investigators he has no memory of the crash.
The return of partial service into Hoboken Terminal was welcomed by commuters in River Edge, about 12 miles north of Hoboken - even if some had still-painful memories of the crash.
Sheilah Tiangco-Hugo had been in the first car that day and remembered being jolted out of her seat when the train sped up as it approached the track's end.
Investigators (pictured) have obtained the second black box from the crash
Tracks 10 to 17 reopened, while tracks 1 to 9 will remain out of service until further notice as repair work continues in that section of the busy station
She braced for impact on the floor and watched as a concrete slab crashed down on the seat she had occupied moments earlier.
'That slab could have cut me in half,' Tiangco-Hugo said as she waited for the train with several other people Monday morning. 'I started praying, and saying, "Is this really happening?"'
Her back still hurts from the crash, Tiangco-Hugo said. But it didn't stop her from boarding Monday's 8.11am train for Hoboken.
All nine of the top Icelandic bankers from the Kauping market manipulation case have been found guilty by the country's Supreme Court, which reversed the district court that had acquitted two of the defendants last year.
By fully financing share purchases with no other surety than the shares themselves, the bankers were accused of giving a false and misleading impression of demand for Kaupingi shares by means of deception and pretence.
The Supreme Court has now overturned the acquittals, finding Bjork orarinsdottir (credit representative at Kauping) and Magnus Gumundsson (former CEO of Kaupthing Luxembourg) also guilty alongside the other seven.
No punishment has been handed out to orarinsdottir and Gumundsson, however.
In addition, Hreiar Mar Sigursson, former Director of the bank, who had initially received no further penalty, having previously been sentenced in the 'Al-Thani affair', has now been given a sixth-month extension to his prison sentence.
Clinton brings in Gore as closer on climate change
MIAMI (AP) Al Gore laid out the environmental stakes of the presidential race in stark terms during a campaign stop for Hillary Clinton Tuesday, arguing that electing her opponent would lead to "climate catastrophe."
Vice president during Clinton's husband's eight years in the White House and a longtime environmental activist, Gore served as a closer for Clinton on climate change as the Democratic candidate seeks to appeal to activists and to young people, who consider this a key issue.
"The choice in this election is extremely clear. Hillary Clinton will make solving the climate crisis a top national priority," Gore said, before issuing a strong warning about Republican Donald Trump. "Her opponent, based on the ideas that he has presented, would take us toward a climate catastrophe."
Former Vice President Al Gore, center, accompanied by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, right, speaks at a rally at Miami Dade College in Miami, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Gore's history with Florida, the ultimate swing state, lent extra weight to his appeal to get out and vote. Gore won the popular vote in the 2000 presidential election, but lost the presidency to George W. Bush after a lengthy Florida recount and a shocking Supreme Court decision.
"Your vote really, really, really counts," he told the crowd, which responded by chanting, "You won!"
Clinton, meanwhile, vigorously emphasized her plans to develop more clean energy, reduce fossil fuel production and build more weather-resistant infrastructure. She also continued her attacks on Trump, who has called climate change a "hoax" and said he would renegotiate the Paris Climate Agreement, an international treaty designed to curb the rise in global temperatures.
"We cannot risk putting a climate denier in the White House," Clinton said.
During the primary contest against progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton offered clean energy plans and came out against the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is opposed by environmentalists.
"Climate change is one of the issues where the difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is night and day," said Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon. "For many of the core supporters we are seeking to galvanize in the remaining weeks of the campaign, including young voters, communicating the boldness of her plan is important."
At the rally was Miami Dade College student Adam Demayo, 24.
"Every beach I go to is polluted," said Demayo, a former Sanders supporter who said he is reluctantly voting for Clinton. "My children are going to, like, die. I want to dedicate my life to saving the planet."
The world is on pace for the hottest year on record, breaking marks set in 2015, 2014 and 2010. It is about 1.8 degrees warmer than a century ago. Scientists have also connected man-made climate change to deadly heat waves, droughts and flood-inducing downpours.
Gore explored global warming in his 2006 documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."
Despite Clinton's promotion of energy policies aimed at lessening climate change, there has not always been unanimity among her campaign aides about how strong that support should be. A series of hacked emails released Tuesday by WikiLeaks sheds more light on the campaign's discussions. The Clinton campaign has neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of the released emails.
A message released Tuesday by WikiLeaks from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's hacked email account shows some aides were not totally on board with Clinton's promise in June 2015 to raise fees on companies involved in oil exploration and fossil fuel production on federal land.
Clinton had broached the idea at her campaign launch in June 2015, but raising energy royalties could be politically explosive in western states where oil and gas firms have spent billions of dollars on extracting fuels.
In July 2015, campaign speechwriting director Dan Schwerin told Podesta in an email that "I think we're going to have to make peace with our fossil fuels royalties, since she's already promised that."
On July 15, 2015, Clinton said she wanted to raise fees and phase out fuel extraction operating on public lands, but warned it could not be done quickly.
The hacked emails also show a discussion on how Clinton could show her opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. Clinton originally said she shouldn't take a position on the issue, because she didn't want to interfere with the Obama administration as it considered whether to approve the project.
By August 2015, Clinton had decided to oppose it and the campaign discussed how to proceed. Wrote Schwerin on August 7, 2015: "We are trying to find a good way to leak her opposition to the pipeline without her having to actually say it and give up her principled stand about not second-guessing the president in public."
Other emails in September 2015 show a discussion about making her position known in an op-ed column. But Fallon weighed in with concerns that such a move would look like "cynical political maneuvering," and suggested letting the information leak out after a meeting with labor leaders.
Clinton announced her opposition during a town hall in Iowa later that month, in response to a question from the audience.
--
Stephen Braun and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, right, accompanied by former Vice President Al Gore, left, takes the stage for a rally at Miami Dade College in Miami, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Former Vice President Al Gore, left, accompanied by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, right, speaks at a rally at Miami Dade College in Miami, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The Latest: Reno mayor pledges justice after protest crash
RENO, Nev. (AP) The Latest on a driver plowing through a crowd in Reno, Nevada, during a protest to support Native American rights (all times local):
3:15 p.m.
Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve (SHEE'-vee) is assuring city residents that police are working to make sense of the events after a pickup truck plowed into a crowd of Native American rights activists protesting on the street in the downtown casino district.
Schieve issued a statement on behalf of herself and the city council Tuesday afternoon that said the incident is "troubling and saddens us deeply."
Police say an 18-year-old male pickup driver and 17-year-old passenger contacted police three minutes after Monday evening's incident beneath the famous arch with the city's slogan, "Biggest Little City in the World." A 59-year-old woman has been hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. Three others were hurt.
The mayor says she takes such matters very seriously. She says Reno police will "hold anyone responsible accountable for their actions" once a thorough investigation is completed.
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1:15 p.m.
Reno Police Chief Jason Soto is describing as horrifying some of the video footage his officers are sifting through as they investigate all aspects of a pickup truck plowing into a crowd during a Native American rights demonstration.
Soto said Tuesday the 18-year-old male pickup driver and 17-year-old passenger contacted police three minutes after Monday evening's incident beneath the famous arch with the city's slogan, "Biggest Little City in the World."
A 59-year-old woman has been hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. Three others were hurt.
Soto told reporters the demonstrators were walking in the street without a permit but that he could release no other details about what led to the incident.
He says investigators are still combing through a great deal of video that witnesses shot mostly on cellular phones. He's urging others to come forward with any video or photographs they might have.
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12:40 p.m.
Police Chief Jason Soto says detectives are using witness accounts and cellphone video to look at all aspects of a pickup truck plowing into a crowd of people during a Native American rights demonstration in downtown Reno.
Soto wouldn't say Tuesday whether the case is being investigated as a hate crime.
The driver wasn't immediately arrested after the Monday evening incident beneath the city's famous "Biggest Little City in the World" arch.
Soto says a 59-year-old woman who was struck by the pickup is hospitalized with injuries that aren't believed to be life-threatening. Authorities say four other people suffered minor injuries.
Police say the driver stopped several blocks away, and both he and a passenger in the pickup are cooperating.
One witness has described the incident as a hate crime, with the driver and passenger yelling obscenities at the crowd earlier in the day.
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10:15 a.m.
The founder of a Native American rights group that was rallying in Reno, Nevada, when a pickup truck plowed through protesters wants to know why police haven't arrested the driver.
One woman remained hospitalized Tuesday with non-life threatening injuries. Four others suffered minor injuries Monday night in what one witness described as a hate crime.
Mike Graham, founder of the Oklahoma-based United Native American Association, said he planned to meet with Reno police Tuesday to find out more about the incident.
A witness says two men in the truck had been yelling obscenities at the protesters earlier in the day.
Reno Police Sgt. James Pitsnogel said the driver and a passenger were interviewed and are cooperating.
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5:49 a.m.
Authorities say a pickup truck plowed through a crowd protesting in support of Native American rights on Columbus Day in Reno, Nevada, leaving five hurt.
Police say about 40 people were blocking Virginia Street in front of the city's famous arch Monday night. A Facebook Live video of the protest shows a pickup truck revving its engine in front of the crowd. Several protesters confronted the driver and the passenger before the truck drives through the crowd.
Police say the driver stopped several blocks away and called them to tell his side of the story. Investigators interviewed both the passenger and the driver and say they are cooperating.
Testimony to resume Wednesday in Georgia hot SUV death trial
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) All jurors have been accounted for following Hurricane Matthew and testimony is set to resume in the trial of a Georgia man accused of intentionally leaving his 22-month-old son in a hot SUV to die, the judge presiding over the case said Tuesday.
Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark said during a brief hearing that testimony will resume Wednesday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://on-ajc.com/2d5ewWM) reported.
"I'm glad all of y'all made it through this," Staley Clark said of the hurricane. "It's been an interesting experience."
FILE- This Oct. 3, 2016, file photo shows Justin Ross Harris listening to jury selection during his trial at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Ga. The trial of Harris, accused of intentionally leaving his toddler son in a hot SUV to die, is being put on hold as Hurricane Matthew heads toward the Georgia coast where he is being prosecuted. Multiple news outlets report a judge said the trial of Justin Ross Harris would be in recess Thursday and Friday and then resume Monday. (Stephen B. Morton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool, File)
A dozen of the jurors showed up at the courthouse, and court officials were able to contact the remaining four, the newspaper quoted Court Administrator Tom Charron as saying. The trial had recessed Thursday ahead of the storm.
"The full complement will be here tomorrow," Charron said. "They all seemed ready to go and are in good spirits."
Prosecutors say Justin Ross Harris, who is charged with murder, intentionally killed his son Cooper by leaving him for hours in a vehicle parked outside his workplace at Home Depot's corporate offices outside Atlanta, in Cobb County. Harris had moved from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Georgia in 2012 to take a job with Home Depot as a computer technician.
Harris faces life in prison if convicted of murder.
Prosecutors opened their case earlier this month by telling jurors that Harris was seeking sex outside his marriage, and left his toddler to die so he could "escape from one life into another."
Defense lawyers have said the death was a tragic accident, and that Harris simply forgot that the boy was in his vehicle.
Lawyers say Venezuela is torturing jailed Utah man
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Venezuelan prison guards forced a jailed Utah man to strip naked in a hallway and perform exercises, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Attorney Jeanette Prieto said that forcing Joshua Holt to strip and perform exercises in a hallway violated international agreements on the treatment of prisoners.
She added that the prison guards had violated Holt's Mormon faith by forcing him to remove his undergarments, which are similar to holy vestments worn in other religious faiths, such as a Catholic nun's habit or a Muslim skull cap.
FILE - In this July 13, 2016 file photo, Laurie Holt holds a photograph of her son Joshua Holt at her home, in Riverton, Utah. At a press conference Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, attorney Jeanette Prieto said Holt was stripped naked and made to perform exercises in a hallway. She said the mistreatment violated international treaties. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
Holt was arrested on June 30 on weapons charges. He had travelled to Venezuela to marry a woman he met online while looking for Spanish-speaking Mormons to help him improve his Spanish. Prosecutors say Holt was using his wife's apartment to stockpile weapons. Venezuela officials say his case is linked to attempts by the U.S. to overthrow the socialist government.
Holt's attorneys did not provide evidence of the mistreatment. Prison officials did not respond to requests for comment. Holt was to have a hearing Tuesday, but the audience was canceled, as often happens in Venezuela's sclerotic judicial system.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry raised concerns about Holt's case last month during a meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said in a statement Tuesday that he was disappointed by reports of Holt's mistreatment. He said he'll continue to work with Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden to demand answers. He commended Josh for "his tremendous courage throughout this terrible situation."
Rep. Mia Love of Utah, who is also working on Holt's behalf, said in a statement that she was outraged and heartbroken. The latest cancellation of a hearing "represents a lack of respect for human dignity and civil rights," Love said.
Holt's mother was distraught when reached by phone Tuesday in Utah about yet another canceled hearing and the news her son had been treated poorly.
"It infuriates me. They're not treating him like he should be treated," said Laurie Holt, crying. "Obviously, they're not giving him due process. At this point, I'm not sure where to go or what to do but pick back up and start fighting again."
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Hannah Dreier reported from Caracas. Brady McCombs reported from Salt Lake City, Utah.
FILE - In this July 30, 2016, file photo, Laurie Holt, the mother of Joshua Holt, an American jailed in Venezuela, cries during a rally at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City. At a press conference Tuesday, Oct. 11 attorney Jeanette Prieto said Holt was stripped naked and made to perform exercises in a hallway. She said the mistreatment violated international treaties. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
Capsized boat in San Francisco Bay may have been overloaded
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Police say a boat that capsized in San Francisco Bay may have been overloaded.
San Francisco Police Officer Jack Nyce tells the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/2dscSKP) the a 34-foot Silverton cabin cruiser was designed to safely carry between 10 or 12 people but it was carrying 27 adults and three children when it flipped and sank Saturday.
Rescue crews transported five adults and three children, two of them in critical condition, to area hospitals.
In this Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard District 11, Coast Guard small boats clean up debris left behind by the 34-foot recreational sailboat, Khaleesi, which capsized near Pier 45 just north of San Francisco. The Khaleesi had 30 people aboard who were rescued by various Coast Guard assets, partner agencies and good Samaritans who were in the area for a Blue Angels air show as part of Fleet Week 2016. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Parrinello/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)
All have been released, including a 4-year-old boy who had stopped breathing when he was plucked from the water.
Officials said there were a lot of boats on the water because of Fleet Week, and crews were able to reach the distressed boat quickly.
Police found the sunken vessel near Pier 45 on Monday.
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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com
In this Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard District 11, shows several Coast Guard assets clean up debris left behind by the 34-foot recreational sailboat, Khaleesi, which capsized near Pier 45 just north of San Francisco. The Khaleesi had 30 people aboard who were rescued by various Coast Guard assets, partner agencies and good Samaritans. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Parrinello/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)
Supreme Court will hear appeal in cross-border shooting
WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from the family of a Mexican teenager who was killed when a U.S. Border Patrol agent fired across the border from Texas into Mexico.
The justices on Tuesday stepped into a case about the rights of people who are harmed by American authorities on foreign soil to have their day in U.S. courts.
The federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that the parents of 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca could not sue the agent who killed him in 2010.
Dr. Robert Rho has been accused of manslaughter after one of his patients bled to death after a botched abortion
A New York City physician is accused of causing the death of a patient in a botched abortion.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Tuesday that Dr. Robert Rho - a specialist in vaginal rejuvenation - has been indicted on a manslaughter charge.
Authorities allege the 30-year-old patient died on July 9 after undergoing a botched abortion procedure at Liberty Women's Clinic in Flushing, Queens.
Rho, a Columbia-trained Reconstructive gynecological surgeon, reportedly nicked the unidentified patients cervix during the procedure, causing her to bleed so much in the recovery room that they were forced to do another procedure.
Even after that though, Rho let her leave the health facility, despite the fact that she continued to bleed, collapsed at least once and appeared disoriented.
As she was driving back to her sister's Bronx apartment, the woman passed out and an ambulance was called.
She was given six units of blood in the ambulance but bled to death anyway.
Rho's attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, called the death a 'tragedy'.
Lichtman says the doctor is highly respected has been performing abortions safely and carefully for 23 years without any issues.
A Utah man who was cleared Tuesday after being arrested two months earlier on accusations he a drugged a police officer's drink said he's relieved but disappointed in how cops handled his case and that they refuse to apologize for sullying his reputation.
Speaking for the first time since the allegations and his police mug shot became a top national story in early August, Tanis Ukena said that he has hardly left his northern Utah home because he feared for his safety after receiving online death threats and hateful comments.
The 18-year-old recent high school graduate had to put his Mormon mission plans on hold as he became a target after investigators said publicly they were exploring whether Ukena's motive had something to do with growing animosity and distrust of police around the country in the wake of a number of officer-involved shootings.
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Tanis Ukena spoke out hours after Layton police announced they would not seek charges on accusations that he drugged a police officer's drink at a sandwich shop
Tanis Ukena receives a hug from his mother Heather following the news conference
Tanis said he hardly left the house the last two months because he feared for his safety after receiving death threats
But the case was closed Tuesday after state lab results couldn't confirm that the officer's drink had methamphetamine and THC, findings from initial field tests that led police to arrest Tanis Ukena.
Blood and urine tests also revealed the officer didn't have any drugs in his system, Lyman said. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive component in marijuana.
Police thanked the Ukena family for their patience during the investigation but stopped short of recognizing wrongdoing or apologizing.
'It would be nice even just for them to come out and say, "Hey we made a mistake, we're sorry,"' Tanis Ukena said. 'It's disappointing to see them clamp up really and try and hide their mistake.'
His mother, Heather Ukena, called the experience a 'living nightmare' with the low point being when her son made an online list of the country's 'top thugs.'
Crime lab personnel were unable to confirm that there was ever anything wrong with the officer's drink
Tanis Ukena, left, and his attorney Randy Richards. Tanis said that he would like the police to formally apologize to him and feels that it is the least he deserves
Ukena's attorney said the investigation was done 'poorly' from the beginning. 'From the get-go, my client has denied any wrongdoing for good reason. He did nothing wrong.'
She and her husband, Landy Ukena, said they never doubted the innocence of their son, a top student and Eagle Scout who had never been in trouble.
The family and their attorney, Randy Richards, are strongly considering a lawsuit against the police department in Layton, a city near a large Air Force base north of Salt Lake City.
Landy said police need to understand that they have a responsibility to residents to admit when they make mistakes.
'I'd like to see all police departments be more cautious, more thorough,' he said.
Ukena denied putting anything in the drink the day he was arrested on suspicion of surreptitiously giving a poisonous substance, a felony.
Tanis Ukena (pictured on arrest) was arrested on charges of giving a poisonous substance to a uniformed officer. CCTV showed him holding the officer's drink, but now adding anything to it
Police said surveillance footage from inside the Subway showed he was the only one to handle the drink.
The officer, whose name was not released, reported feeling impaired immediately after getting the drink that day in the northern Utah city.
He struggled to find the brake pedal of his patrol car at a red light and couldn't answer questions at the police station.
Lyman said it's a mystery why the officer felt impaired that day. They don't suspect the officer took drugs, is a drug addict or tried to frame Ukena, Lyman said. He is still employed with the department.
Suspicions were raised after a Layton police sergeant reported feeling unwell immediately after her was served a drink by Ukena at the restaurant on Highway 193 (pictured) in August
Subway spokesman Shawn Cook said in a statement they are pleased Layton Police cleared Ukena. Ukena said the company was firmly behind him the whole time and has already followed through on a promise to let him come back to work if he was cleared of wrongdoing.
For now, Ukena is focused on preparing to leave in November on a two-year Mormon mission to Utica, New York. But, he worries about what he'll have to face when he comes back to study mechanical engineering and begins looking for jobs.
He knows that most employers will do research and uncover online stories about this serious allegation.
'For the rest of my life, anytime I want to get a job or a school application, anything like that where somebody is going to be Googling my name, this is going to come up,' Tanis Ukena said.
Leaks show Clinton inner circle grappling with email issue
WASHINGTON (AP) Hacked emails show that Hillary Clinton's campaign was slow to grasp the seriousness of the controversy over her use of a homebrew email server and believed it might blow over after one weekend.
Two days after The Associated Press was first to report in March 2015 that Clinton had been running a private server in her home in New York to send and receive messages when she was secretary of state, her advisers were shaping their strategy to respond to the revelation.
WikiLeaks began releasing on Friday what it said were years of messages from accounts used by Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. He said Tuesday that the FBI told him it was looking into the breach as part of its ongoing investigation into the hacking of Democratic organizations by Russian intelligence.
Hillary Clinton's campaign manager John Podesta, second from right, pauses while speaking with senior aide Huma Abedin aboard Clinton's campaign plane while traveling to Miami, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, for a rally. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Among the emails made public Tuesday by WikiLeaks was one from Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill, who optimistically suggested that the issue might quickly blow over.
"Goal would be to cauterize this just enough so it plays out over the weekend and dies in the short term," Merrill wrote on March 6, 2015.
It did not, and became the leading example of Clinton's penchant for secrecy, which has persisted as a theme among her campaign critics and rivals throughout her election season. Clinton did not publicly confirm or discuss her use of the email server until March 10 in a speech at the United Nations, nearly one week after AP revealed the server's existence.
Months after Merrill's message, the campaign was still preoccupied with emails. In May 2015, Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon alerted other staffers that the Justice Department was proposing to publish Clinton's work-related emails by January in response to requests by news organizations. Fallon, a former Justice Department spokesman, wrote that unspecified "DOJ folks" told him there was a court hearing planned soon in the case. The name and email address of the person who shared the information with Fallon had been deleted.
Donald Trump on Tuesday called Fallon's email "unbelievable," and his supporters said it showed collusion between the Obama administration and Clinton's campaign.
The dates of court hearings would have been publicly posted in advance on the court's docket. Fallon did not respond to a request for comment from AP. The Justice Department declined to discuss Fallon's email.
It wasn't immediately clear who hacked Podesta's emails, though U.S. intelligence officials last week blamed the Russian government for a series of breaches intended to influence the presidential election. Podesta has acknowledged his emails were hacked. He has warned that messages may have been altered or edited to inflict political damage but has not pointed to any specific case of this.
Podesta said Tuesday that Russia may prefer Trump's policy positions, but he also suggested the motive could be "Mr. Trump's deep engagement and ties with Russian interests in his business affairs."
Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak dismissed the accusations as untrue.
"We are watching very carefully the election campaign in this country," Kislyak said at a discussion of bilateral affairs at Johns Hopkins University's campus in Washington. "We don't interfere (in) the internal affairs of the United States, neither by my statements nor by electronic or other means."
The messages stolen from Podesta's account describe how Clinton's closest advisers considered responding to key events during the campaign, including the discovery of her email server and her congressional testimony over the deadly 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
In emails from March 2015, Merrill suggested a strategy ultimately nixed by Clinton herself of having comedian Larry Wilmore and Bill Clinton joke during an event for the Clinton Global Initiative charity in Coral Gables, Florida, before having Clinton join them on stage.
Merrill laid out the scenario in emails to Podesta and other aides: "Wilmore could sit down with WJC and Chelsea and say something like 'Thanks for having me here, it's a pleasure. And I should tell you, I just emailed HRC (I hear she's a big emailer), and asked if she'd join as well. (Laughter).'" He added that Hillary Clinton could then walk out "to applause."
"It would be just light-hearted enough while giving her the opportunity to address this seriously, be a little conciliatory as discussed, and then get back to a discussion about CGI etc.," Merrill wrote in the email.
In the end, Hillary Clinton's team drafted talking points Clinton used at the news conference at the United Nations.
Clinton said she "fully complied with every rule that I was governed by" and that "there is no classified material" among her work-related emails.
Both of those statements were later proved false.
The State Department's internal watchdog concluded in an audit released that Clinton ignored clear written guidance that her email setup broke federal record-keeping rules and could leave sensitive material vulnerable to hackers. The FBI's recently closed investigation concluded that more than 100 emails exchanged through Clinton's private server contained information that was later determined to be classified.
As the email controversy escalated in the summer of 2015, Clinton herself seemed slow to grasp the continuing political damage. Communications director Jennifer Palmieri in August expressed concerns that Clinton "wasn't in the same place" on the issue as some on her campaign staff.
At the time, the political aides were working out details of revealing that Clinton had directed her staff to hand over her server and a thumb drive with copies of her emails to the Justice Department. Palmieri was writing other campaign aides to arrange for a Univision reporter to ask "a few questions on emails" during an interview that would otherwise focus on college affordability.
"As you all know, I had hoped that we could use the 'server moment' as an opportunity for her to be viewed as having take a big step to deal with the email problem that would best position us for what is ahead," Palmieri wrote. "It is clear that she is not in same place."
Clinton's email practices were not the only controversy her campaign's brain trust was addressing.
On October 2015, speechwriter Dan Schwerin circulated among top Clinton advisers a draft of her opening statement to the House Select Committee on Benghazi, to be delivered the following week.
The draft itself wasn't attached in the emails published Tuesday, but other messages showed how it was shaped, including a section referring to Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack.
"We might consider softening the 'Chris did not believe retreat was an option and neither do I' line," wrote Katherine Turner, a law partner of Clinton's personal attorney David Kendall. "I don't think we want to suggest that there was a commitment to be there at any and all costs."
Following Clinton's tense Oct. 22 testimony, Podesta proposed in an email that she could publicly joke, "I used to be obsessed with Donald Trump's hair, that was until I got to spend 11 hours staring at the top of Trey Gowdy's head," a reference to the slicked-back white coif of the South Carolina Republican who chairs the committee.
Other Clinton aides shot down the idea.
"I love the joke too but I think HRC should stay above the committee," adviser Jake Sullivan replied, "and especially above personal insults about it. She's got every inch of the high ground right now."
Palmieri replied: "Wow. You people are a bunch of ninnies."
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Associated Press writers Tami Abdollah, Lisa Lerer, Eileen Sullivan, Alicia A. Caldwell, Eric Tucker, Julie Pace, Maria Danilova and Jack Gillum contributed.
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Follow Michael Biesecker at http://Twitter.com/mbieseck , Julie Bykowicz at http://twitter.com/bykowicz and Chad Day at http://twitter.com/ChadSDay
The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung is to withdraw the Galaxy Note 7 cellphone for good. Subject to recurring reports of fires, even after replacement, the dodgy smartphone's burned through users' pockets to threaten the Korean brand itself.
The New York Times describes it as a "a humbling about-face."
The demise of the Galaxy Note 7 is a major setback for Samsung, the world's largest maker of smartphones. The premium device with a 5.7-inch screen, curved contours and comparatively high price won praise from consumers and reviewers, and was the company's most ambitious effort yet to take on Apple for the high-end market. But Samsung has struggled to address reports that the Galaxy Note 7 could overheat and catch fire because of a manufacturing flaw. Last month, the company said it would recall 2.5 million phones to fix the problem. But in recent days, Galaxy Note 7 users emerged with reports that some devices that had supposedly been repaired were overheating, smoking and even bursting into flames. And on Monday, Samsung asked Note 7 customers to power off the phones while it worked on the problem.
Previously: Southwest plane evacuated after Samsung Note 7 catches fire. It was a recall replacement.
The Latest: Murder charges pending in police officer deaths
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) The Latest on the shooting death of two police officers in Palm Springs (all times local):
6:20 p.m.
Riverside County prosecutors plan to file murder charges Wednesday against the man suspected of shooting two Palm Springs police officers.
People leave flowers at a memorial for Palm Springs Police Officers Lesley Zerebny, and Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega,seen in photos placed in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Both Southern California officers were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
The district attorney's office has scheduled a news conference to announce the charges against 26-year-old John Hernandez Felix.
Authorities say Felix fired an assault rifle through the screen door of his family's home Saturday, gunning down officers Jose Vega and Lesley Zerebny as they answered a domestic disturbance call.
Police say a memorial service for the slain officers will be held next Tuesday.
Felix already served time in connection with a 2009 gang shooting. He was charged with attempted murder, but he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault with a gun.
He served 18 months of a four-year sentence and was paroled in 2011.
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11:34 a.m.
Sheriff's authorities say a Palm Springs man fired an assault rifle at two police officers who were killed while responding to a domestic disturbance call at his family's home Saturday.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Department said in a statement Tuesday that police arriving at the home were told by a relative that John Felix had an unknown weapon.
The statement says officers spoke with Felix through a metal screen door and he fired at them without warning.
The officers were wearing ballistic vests as required while in uniform and on duty.
The statement says Felix cannot legally possess firearms because of a prior conviction.
Palm Springs officers Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega and Lesley Zerebny were killed by the gunfire.
Felix was arrested, and authorities say he will be charged with murder.
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1:13 am
A domestic violence call that ended the lives of two California police officers last weekend was the kind of report that many authorities say they hate and fear the most.
For no matter how much training and experience officers receive, they often have little idea what awaits them when they approach the scene of such a disturbance.
"You never know all the facts until you get there. And you never know what's on the other side of that door," said Erroll Southers, a former police officer and FBI special agent who is currently director of the Homegrown Violent Studies Program at the University of Southern California.
Police say Palm Springs Officers Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega and Lesley Zerebny had just asked John Felix to come out of his family's home Saturday when he opened fire through the closed front door.
A neighborhood home surveillance system recorded the sound of dozens of gunshots echoing through the ordinarily quiet neighborhood. Its camera did not show the officers.
A visitor pays his respect at a memorial for Palm Springs Police Officers Lesley Zerebny, and Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega,seen in photos placed in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Both Southern California officers were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
In this undated photo released by the Palm Springs Police Department shows slain officer Lesley Zerebny, 27, who was killed in the line of duty Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. She was married with a four-month-old daughter. (Palm Springs Police Department via AP)
In this photo released by the Palm Springs Police Department shows slain officer Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega, a 35 year veteran who was killed in the line of duty Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Vega, the father of eight, planned to retire in December. (Palm Springs Police Department via AP)
A photo of Palm Springs Police Officer Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega is seen at a memorial for Vega and police officer Lesley Zerebny in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Vega was two months short of retirement and officer Zerebny, had just returned to the police force after maternity leave. Both officers were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
A photo of Palm Springs police officer Lesley Zerebny is placed at a memorial for her and officer Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Zerebny, who had just returned to the police force after maternity leave, and Vega, who was two months short of retirement, were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
The Latest: Charter school chain says Ohio complaint flawed
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Latest on a complaint filed against 17 Ohio-based charters schools by an attorney for the Turkish government (all times local):
2:50 p.m.
The company that manages 17 Ohio-based charter schools targeted in a complaint filed by a lawyer for the Turkish government says the report includes "numerous false allegations."
A spokesman for Chicago-based Concept Schools didn't detail the falsehoods.
The complaint alleges the company collected $19 million in excessive profits through a leasing scheme involving affiliated property owners, landlords and subsidiaries and the governing boards of the Horizon and Noble academies in Ohio.
Spokesman Mark Weaver said attorney Robert Amsterdam was hosted by ProgressOhio, a liberal policy group affiliated with teachers unions. He says ProgressOhio has made similar allegations before that Ohio officials found "incorrect and false" and he expects the same this time.
Weaver called Amsterdam "a foreign agent," although Amsterdam says he's from the Bronx in New York City.
10:25 a.m.
A lawyer for the Turkish government hired to investigate publicly funded U.S. charter schools started by the followers of a reclusive Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania is filing a formal complaint with Ohio's auditor.
Attorney Robert Amsterdam announced the complaint Tuesday, alleging that a network of Ohio charter schools has engaged in improper relationships with its management company and landlord, with their business subsidiaries and with each other.
The complaint also asserts that Horizon Science Academies and Noble Academies have ties to Fethullah Gulen (feh-TOO'-lah goo-LEHN'), a political foe of Turkish President Recep Erdogan (REH'-jehp UR'-doh-wahn).
Review: Dern, Williams are spellbinding in 'Certain Women'
"Certain Women" is a quiet, introspective film about three women living and existing in a frozen Montana town. Does it sound dull? Sure. But on the screen it plays out like a slow-burning folk song you could sit with for hours. It's perhaps writer-director Kelly Reichardt's finest work, understated and elegant and well worth a trip to the cinema to slip into the exquisitely literary vignettes of Beth (Kristen Stewart), Gina (Michelle Williams) and Laura (Laura Dern).
Adapted from Maile Meloy's short stories, Reichardt crafts her own short story-like structure to "Certain Women." There are some tangentially connecting threads, but for the most part they exist in different orbits even in and around the small, sleepy and picturesquely desolate Livingston, Montana.
We meet Laura (Dern) first. She's dressing after a mid-day fling with Ryan (James Le Gros) that doesn't seem to have been fulfilling enough for the effort. Back at her office (she's a lawyer) she's dismayed to find out that a needy client (Jared Harris) has been waiting for her. She explains to him for what seems like the millionth time that he has no recourse for his on-the-job injury because he's already taken a settlement. But he wants a second opinion and they drive to Billings to meet with an older male lawyer who tells him the exact same thing. It's only then that he accepts it.
CORRECTS ID TO MICHELLE WILLIAMS - This image released by IFC Films shows Michelle Williams in a scene from "Certain Women." (Nicole Rivelli/IFC Films via AP)
"It would be so lovely to think if I were a man, people would listen and say 'OK.' Ah, it'd be so restful," Laura sighs at one point.
That sentiment, a bone-deep exhaustion of merely existing and surviving and still maintaining your wants and desires and agency, flows into the next segment about Gina (Williams) and her family, made up of a bratty teenage daughter and an ineffectual husband, Ryan. It's the same guy we've already seen engaging in the extramarital dalliance with Laura. Both undermine her at every turn in familiar ways. Gina, small and platinum blonde, maintains a steely demeanor throughout it all. These are just the facts of her surroundings, and you sense that they've been rotten for a while.
Reichardt and Williams, who excel in collaboration for films like "Wendy and Lucy" and "Meek's Cutoff," have the ability to make even a conversation about buying sandstone from an elderly man transfixing and deep. It's a microcosm for Gina's entire worth. As with all of Reichardt's films, the gems are in the smallest moments the half smiles, the non-reactions and the silences between two people barely connecting.
That's more heartbreakingly explored in the third and most obtuse story, which brings us to Jamie (Lily Gladstone) and Beth (Stewart). Jamie, sturdy and sweet, works on a ranch tending to horses in cold isolation. One night she stumbles on a class at the local high school on education law. Jamie becomes fascinated with the jittery instructor Beth (Stewart), a beguiling outsider who travels four hours each way two times a week to teach.
They end up having dinner together at the local diner where Jamie just sits and smiles and listens while Beth eats and monologues about her troubles. It becomes their routine week after week. Jamie barely ever speaks and Beth barely seems to notice her, but this non-relationship has become lifeblood for Jamie.
As an audience member, it can be painful to watch and know that Beth just doesn't care, but Jamie's smile doesn't fade somehow. Maybe it's nice to just have another human around. But maybe she just knows something that we don't. In fact, with all of these modern frontierswomen, I'm sure of it.
Certain Women," an IFC Films release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "some language." Running time: 107 minutes. Four stars out of four.
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MPAA Definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr
This image released by IFC Films shows Kristen Stewart in a scene from "Certain Women." (Jojo Whilden/IFC Films via AP)
Buyers beware: Historic lighthouses come with costs
PORT AUSTIN REEF LIGHT, Mich. (AP) When Lou Schillinger and his volunteer cadre began restoring an 1890s lighthouse more than 2 miles off the Michigan shore in Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay, they first needed to remove 30 years' accumulation of gull and pigeon feces whose depth measured in feet rather than inches.
That was in the mid-1980s, when he reached an agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard to prevent the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse his "Castle in the Lake" from being dismantled and lost forever.
"That first summer my dad and I ran out there with a 14-foot rowboat and a 20-foot ladder because there was no access ladder and we just began shoveling manure," said Schillinger, 66, president of the Port Austin Reef Light Association, a nonprofit group that in 2013 took title of the property from the federal government. No keeper had lived in the brick building with its five-floor tower since 1952. The roof was gone.
In this photo taken Oct. 3, 2016, the Denis Sullivan ship passes by the light head tower on the Port Washington, Wis. breakwater. About 120 lighthouses no longer critical to the U.S. Coast Guard in 22 states and Puerto Rico have been acquired at no cost by government entities and nonprofits, or sold to private individuals eager to preserve the landmarks and tap into their tourism potential since they became available under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
"We shoveled diligently," Schillinger said. "I'd get friends out there, they would come out and volunteer and they'd show up for one day and they would never come back again because it was such a miserable job."
About 120 lighthouses no longer critical to the U.S. Coast Guard in 22 states and Puerto Rico have been acquired at no cost by government entities and nonprofits, or sold to private individuals eager to preserve the landmarks and maybe tap into their tourism potential since they became available under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. Upkeep was too expensive and their usefulness was in decline with the advent of GPS.
Winning bids have ranged from $10,000 for the Cleveland East Pierhead Light in Ohio to $934,000 for the Graves Light in Boston Harbor. More are auctioned every year, but buyers beware: Years of neglect, vandalism, limited access and hammering by the elements often make for labor-intensive money pits that are for neither the weak of heart nor stomach.
"People who are into this I believe have to have an internal fire, an internal passion, a conviction that these buildings and the history they represent are worth saving," said Terry Pepper, 68, executive director of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association.
Port Austin Light was built on a shallow reef. It's accessible only by boat when winds are light, otherwise waves are too choppy to dock and disembark. Pepper's association overcame similar access issues when it renovated a lighthouse on the 160-acre St. Helena Island, seven miles west of the Mackinac Bridge. It took about 20 years and $1.5 million to finish the job in 2005.
Nobody had lived in the 1870s lighthouse since 1922, making it a destination for partiers, scrappers and vandals, said Pepper. His association acquired the lighthouse before the 2000 act and also is restoring the Cheboygan River Front Range Light in Michigan.
"The roof had huge holes in it," Pepper said. "Somebody had lit a fire on the floor in one of the bedrooms on the second floor and embers from that fire dripped down to the first floor and started burning that floor also. Every single window in the lighthouse was gone. All the doors on the inside of the brick lighthouse were gone. Railings on the stairs were gone and the plaster inside the lighthouse had been kicked down."
Pepper estimates the group has spent $1.5 million and "untold thousands of hours of volunteer labor" restoring the St. Helena property, which must meet state and federal standards for historic preservation.
"We who are in this business, with this passion, have to be asking for money all the time," Pepper said, whether it's through grants, donations, selling memorabilia or offering Great Lakes lighthouse cruises.
Pepper is often contacted by prospective buyers because of his knowledge of lighthouses, particularly those in Michigan, where there are 129 the most in the U.S.
"I will tell people if you end up spending $100,000 to get that lighthouse, that's a lot of money," Pepper said. "But $100,000 is the tip of the iceberg."
Onshore lighthouses are no bargain either.
A volunteer group spent about a decade and nearly $1.9 million to acquire and renovate North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee. It opened to the public in 2007 and since has attracted more than 80,000 tourists. It has cost more than $1.1 million to run it, mostly paid through entrance fees and events, donations, fundraising and grants.
About 30 miles to the north, Port Washington is in the process of acquiring an 81-year-old light on its breakwater with plans to raise and spend $1.5 million for restoration. And that structure does not have living quarters.
Back on the Port Austin Reef Light, time is measured in decades, not years, of work. Schillinger and his crews put on a new roof. They installed new windows and oak doors, and replaced the chimney. Vandals have been constant. Last fall, they started putting in a dock for easier access by boats, but a nasty late November gale wiped out their work and they had to start over this year.
"We've invested close to half-a-million dollars in that property in time and material over the last 30 years and almost I would say 95 percent of it's all been out-of-pocket or donated time," said Schillinger. He estimated it will take three years and at least $1.6 million more in grants and donations to prepare it for tours and renters who want to experience the keeper's life.
"It's been really been kind of a labor of love for all community members here in Port Austin."
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Online: Port Austin Reef Light Association, http://www.portaustinreeflight.org/
Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, http://www.gllka.com/
North Point Lighthouse, http://northpointlighthouse.org/
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Follow Roger Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rogschneider
This photo taken Sept. 26, 2016 shows the light head on the Port Washington, Wis., breakwater. The city is in the process of acquiring it, with plans to raise and spend $1.5 million to restore. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
In this photo taken Monday, Sept. 12, 2016, the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse is seen from a boat more than two miles from the Michigan shore in Lake Hurons Saginaw Bay near Port Austin, Mich. Members of the nonprofit Port Austin Reef Light Association have worked for decades to restore the structure, which was last inhabited by light keepers in 1952. (AP Photo/Roger Schneider)
This photo taken October 3, 2016 shows the light atop the tower on the Port Washington, Wis., breakwater. The city is in the process of acquiring the light head, with plans to raise and spend $1.5 million to restore. About 120 lighthouses no longer critical to the U.S. Coast Guard in 22 states and Puerto Rico have been acquired at no cost by government entities and nonprofits, or sold to private individuals eager to preserve the landmarks and tap into their tourism potential since they became available under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
In this photo taken Monday, Sept. 12, 2016, Marv Kuziel of the Port Austin Reef Light Association shows the light that guides vessels from the top of the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse more than two miles off the Michigan shore in Lake Hurons Saginaw Bay. Members of the nonprofit association have worked for decades to restore the structure, which was last inhabited by light keepers in 1952. (AP Photo/Roger Schneider)
This photo taken October 3, 2016, shows the shadow of the light head tower on the Port Washington, Wis. breakwater. The city is in the process of acquiring it, with plans to raise and spend $1.5 million to restore. About 120 lighthouses no longer critical to the U.S. Coast Guard in 22 states and Puerto Rico have been acquired at no cost by government entities and nonprofits, or sold to private individuals eager to preserve the landmarks and tap into their tourism potential since they became available under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
This photo taken October 3, 2016 shows a broken window covered with a blue tarp on the outside of the light head tower on the Port Washington, Wis., breakwater. The city is in the process of acquiring it, with plans to raise and spend $1.5 million to restore. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
This photo taken Oct. 3, 2016 shows arches below the light tower on the Port Washington, Wis. breakwater. The city is in the process of acquiring the light head, with plans to raise and spend $1.5 million to restore. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
In this photo taken Oct. 3, 2016, Ross Kroeger and John Reichert, left, close the door to the light head tower on the Port Washington, Wis., breakwater. The city is in the process of acquiring it, with plans to raise and spend $1.5 million to restore. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
In this photo taken Monday, Sept. 12, 2016, Marv Kuziel of the Port Austin Reef Light Association stands in the steam room that once powered the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse more than two miles off the Michigan shore in Lake Hurons Saginaw Bay. Members of the nonprofit association have worked for decades to restore the structure, which was last inhabited by light keepers in 1952. (AP Photo/Roger Schneider)
In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, Marian Gladieux, of Oregon, Ohio, walks up the tower of the North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee. A group of volunteers spent about a decade acquiring and renovating the living quarters and tower, opening it to the public in 2007. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
This photo taken Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016 shows the tower of the North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee. A group of volunteers spent about a decade acquiring and renovating the living quarters and tower, opening it to the public in 2007. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, Michael Connor, right, gives tours at the North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee. A group of volunteers spent about a decade acquiring and renovating the living quarters and tower, opening it to the public in 2007. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, Marian Gladieux, of Oregon, Ohio, looks out the tower of the North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee. About 120 lighthouses no longer critical to the U.S. Coast Guard in 22 states and Puerto Rico have been acquired at no cost by government entities and nonprofits, or sold to private individuals eager to preserve the landmarks and tap into their tourism potential since they became available under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, a family walks out of the North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee after a tour. About 120 lighthouses no longer critical to the U.S. Coast Guard in 22 states and Puerto Rico have been acquired at no cost by government entities and nonprofits, or sold to private individuals eager to preserve the landmarks and tap into their tourism potential since they became available under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
Texas death row inmate Danny Bible loses at US Supreme Court
HOUSTON (AP) The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused an appeal from Texas death row inmate Danny Paul Bible, who was convicted of the 1979 icepick slaying of a woman who went to his house in Houston to use a telephone and was found later stabbed 11 times, raped and dumped on the bank of a bayou.
The high court offered no comment on its rejection.
Bible, 65, does not yet have an execution date.
This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Danny Bible. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused an appeal from Bible on death row for the 1979 slaying of a woman who went to his house in Houston to use a telephone and was found later stabbed 11 times with an ice pick, raped and dumped on the bank of a bayou. The high court, without comment Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, rejected the appeal of 65-year-old Bible. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
Court records show Bible has confessed to four killings, including 20-year-old Inez Deaton, whose slaying went unsolved for nearly two decades. He wasn't tied to her death until 1998 when he was arrested in Fort Myers, Florida, for a Louisiana rape and told authorities about killing Deaton in Houston and a woman and her baby west of Fort Worth in North Texas.
Bible previously served prison time after pleading guilty in 1984 in Palo Pinto County to killing another woman. Texas Department of Criminal Justice records show he arrived in prison with a 25-year sentence for that slaying plus 20 years for a robbery conviction in Harris County but was released in February 1992 to Montana.
While out of prison on a form of parole known as mandatory supervision, Bible "lived a life of extreme violence," according to a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year when Bible's appeal of his death sentence was rejected. It's that appeal that went to the Supreme Court.
At his 2003 capital murder trial in Houston for Deaton's death, prosecutors provided evidence of robberies, thefts, assaults and abductions, including the rape of an 11-year-old girl in Montana and his confessions to repeated sexual assaults of young nieces from 1996 to 1998.
Bible contended in his appeal that his lawyers, during the punishment phase of his capital murder trial in Houston, were deficient for not objecting to prosecutors' re-enacting a rape and how Bible tried to stuff his victim into a duffel bag. He also said in the appeal that he is disabled and in permanent pain after the prison van carrying him to death row in 2003 crashed, killing a corrections officer and the driver of another vehicle involved in the wreck.
Bible's appeals attorney, Margaret Schmucker, said Tuesday that her next option could be to seek clemency from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, although Abbott and previous governors have little history of commuting death sentences to life in prison.
Bible is "not a danger to anybody," Schmucker said. "He can't get out of a wheelchair by himself. He can't lift his arms. He can't do anything."
Pulse victims' and gunman's family can testify on 911 calls
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Relatives of the Orlando gay nightclub shooting victims, as well as the parents of the gunman, will be given the chance to speak at a hearing on whether all the 911 calls from the massacre can be made public.
A judge on Monday issued an order setting a hearing when relatives of the 49 deceased victims can weigh-in on the impact of the release of calls made by their loved ones from inside the Pulse nightclub.
A notice of the Oct. 31 hearing also was sent to the parents of gunman Omar Mateen.
Mateen opened fire at the Pulse nightclub on June 12, claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group, in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. He was killed after a three-hour standoff during an exchange of fire with SWAT team members.
The city of Orlando and about two dozen media groups have been fighting for four months over the release of all the 911 calls, as well as four calls between Mateen and Orlando police.
The media groups have argued that the release of the records would help the public evaluate the police response to the massacre. The city has said the records were exempt from the state's public records law, both because they were part of an investigation and because some were graphic calls of patrons being shot and killed.
Last month, the FBI, which is investigating the mass shooting, said that withholding the records is no longer necessary to its probe.
The city subsequently released a transcript of the calls between Mateen and police dispatchers and negotiators, as well as all but 232 calls that it claims are exempt under a Florida law that prohibits the release of a recording depicting a killing or the prelude or aftermath of one. The city has included in the exemption all calls that came into or were made from the nightclub during the massacre.
The media groups, including The Associated Press, said in a court filing this week that the city was applying "an overbroad and unconstitutional interpretation ... to continue to withhold a large swath of records that simply do not qualify for exemption."
The city, in its court filing, said the sound of gunfire and suffering are documented in many of the recordings, and that their release would be an invasion of privacy for the family members of the victims. The recordings are not necessary to evaluate the police response, the city filing said, and lawyers for the city wouldn't be opposed to the media groups receiving a transcript of the recordings.
Space center reopens after hurricane, damage in millions
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) NASA's Kennedy Space Center reopened for business Tuesday, relying on industrial air conditioners rushed in from around the country in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.
Director Robert Cabana said the damage mostly ripped-off roofs is still being tallied, but is in the millions of dollars. He said it would have been much worse had Matthew not weakened and veered slightly offshore Friday as it swept up the Florida coast.
"We were definitely blessed," Cabana, a former space shuttle commander, told reporters.
This Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016 photo provided by NASA shows damage to the roof of the Beach House during an aerial survey of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Hurricane Matthew passed to the east of the state on Oct. 6 and 7, 2016. (Cory Huston/NASA via AP)
Among the buildings with roof and water damage: the 1960s-era beach house once used by astronauts for parties and barbecues before launches. Cabana hopes to get it repaired for conferences.
The portable air conditioning units were brought in after the roof came off the building that serves as the electrical room for air conditioning throughout the main launch area. The switching equipment ended up soaked. Without the new units, employees could not have returned so quickly, Cabana noted. Even so, some workers were displaced. About 8,300 people work at Kennedy.
This time, all of the panels held on the massive Vehicle Assembly Building. Back in 2004, while the space shuttles were still flying, hundreds of panels were blown off the face of the 525-foot-tall structure by Hurricane Frances, creating gaping holes.
Cabana said corrosive fasteners failed back then and were replaced with stainless steel washers and locknuts.
"It did its job. The panels look great. We kept them all on," Cabana said.
The launch pad being modified for NASA's future mega rocket held up well, as did the pad being leased by SpaceX.
No flight hardware was damaged, and the planned November launch of a next-generation weather satellite shouldn't suffer too much of a delay.
The space center which shut down last Thursday to everyone except a 116-person crew experienced surface winds of 80 mph to 86 mph. Gusts of more than 135 mph were measured at 500 feet.
The local bald eagles also lucked out: Their huge, longtime nest survived in the trees along a tour bus route.
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Online:
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/index.html
Authorities: Assault rifle used to kill police in California
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) A gunman used an assault rifle to kill two police officers who were responding to a domestic disturbance call at the California home of the suspect's family, authorities said Tuesday.
The suspect, identified by police as 26-year-old John Felix, was prohibited from legally possessing firearms because of a prior felony conviction, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.
Felix served 18 months of a four-year sentence for assault with a gun in connection with a 2009 gang shooting. He was paroled in 2011, according to state records.
People leave flowers at a memorial for Palm Springs Police Officers Lesley Zerebny, and Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega,seen in photos placed in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Both Southern California officers were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
Police officers arriving at the Palm Springs home on Saturday were told by a relative that Felix had an unknown weapon.
Officers spoke with Felix through a metal screen door before he opened fire without warning, the statement said.
The officers were wearing ballistic vests as required when they are in uniform and on duty.
Felix was arrested after a gun battle and lengthy standoff with police. Prosecutors planned a news conference Wednesday were they are expected to announce he'll be charged with murder in the deaths of Palm Springs Officers Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega and Lesley Zerebny.
Another officer was treated for a gunshot wound and later released from a hospital.
A neighborhood home surveillance system recorded the sound of dozens of gunshots echoing through the ordinarily quiet neighborhood. Its camera did not show the officers.
A neighbor, Frances Serrano, told The Associated Press that the suspect's panicked father, Santos Felix, told her just before the shooting that his son was armed and "acting crazy."
When she suggested he call police, Serrano said he told her, "'Yeah, he already knows they are coming, and he is going to shoot them.'"
Efforts to reach Santos Felix for comment have been unsuccessful.
Authorities declined to release a 911 recording alerting police about a problem or say who made the call.
Vega and Zerebny, like all California peace officers, were trained in handling domestic violence calls, said Riverside County sheriff's Deputy Mike Vasquez.
Vega, 63, was a 35-year veteran of the force who was preparing to retire soon. Zerenby, 27, had been with the department about 18 months and her husband is a sheriff's deputy. The couple has a 4-month old daughter.
Experts say that no matter how much training and experience officers receive, they often have little idea what awaits them when they approach the scene of a domestic disturbance.
In addition, the nature of a domestic violence call can change in an instant.
"We can go to what is a domestic violence (call) and it turns to active shooter," Vasquez said. "Someone says it was active shooter and it was a backfire on a vehicle. Everything is fluid."
Palm Springs had not lost an officer in the line of duty since 1962.
A makeshift memorial outside police headquarters in the desert resort town of 45,000 people about 100 miles east of Los Angeles featured balloons, flowers, stuffed animals, American flags and cards.
Memorial services will be held for the officers on Oct. 18.
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Taxin reported from Palm Springs and Rogers reported from Los Angeles.
A visitor pays his respect at a memorial for Palm Springs Police Officers Lesley Zerebny, and Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega,seen in photos placed in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Both Southern California officers were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
In this undated photo released by the Palm Springs Police Department shows slain officer Lesley Zerebny, 27, who was killed in the line of duty Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. She was married with a four-month-old daughter. (Palm Springs Police Department via AP)
In this photo released by the Palm Springs Police Department shows slain officer Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega, a 35 year veteran who was killed in the line of duty Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Vega, the father of eight, planned to retire in December. (Palm Springs Police Department via AP)
A photo of Palm Springs Police Officer Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega is seen at a memorial for Vega and police officer Lesley Zerebny in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Vega was two months short of retirement and officer Zerebny, had just returned to the police force after maternity leave. Both officers were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
A photo of Palm Springs police officer Lesley Zerebny is placed at a memorial for her and officer Jose "Gil" Gilbert Vega in front of the police station in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Zerebny, who had just returned to the police force after maternity leave, and Vega, who was two months short of retirement, were fatally shot over the weekend. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin)
Senate, House Dems see new opportunity from Trump tapes
WASHINGTON (AP) Democrats trying to retake the House and Senate see new opportunity from the tape of Donald Trump talking about women in crude, predatory terms. The footage has already prompted ads in at least four House races as well as the hard-fought New Hampshire Senate contest, and may be giving new life to Democratic efforts to tie Republican candidates to the GOP presidential nominee.
Such efforts have had mixed results so far, and it remains to be seen how much the new audio and video tape of Trump talking about groping and kissing women will change that. Several GOP Senate candidates in top-tier races, including New Hampshire, announced over the weekend they were pulling support from Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan declared Monday that he will not campaign for or defend the nominee, giving House Republicans permission to dump him.
But officials in both parties say they will not know the extent of the damage to Trump, or the impact on down-ballot races, until polling results filter in later this week and next.
FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2016 file photo, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democrats trying to retake the House and Senate see new opportunity from the tape of Donald Trump talking about women in crude, predatory terms. The footage has already prompted ads in at least two House races as well as the hard-fought New Hampshire Senate contest, and may be giving new life to Democratic efforts to tie Republican candidates to the Republican presidential nominee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
For now, though, the reaction is optimism on the part of Democrats, and concern from Republicans.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told upbeat House Democrats on a conference call Tuesday that if the election were held today, Democrats would take back the House although few are quite that bullish, given the Republicans' 246-186 seat advantage.
"We are expanding our universe of opportunities," Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said on the same conference call. Lujan pointed to new polling showing Democrats had opened up the biggest advantage on the question of which party voters preferred to control Congress since Republicans shut down the government two years ago.
The comments were confirmed by a Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the private conference call.
In an open House seat in Wisconsin, Democrat Tom Nelson is airing an ad using the new Trump audio and attacking opponent Mike Gallagher, who's been favored to win.
An ad supporting GOP Rep. Darrell Issa's Democratic challenger in San Diego, Doug Applegate, uses repeated clips from the Trump tape along with photos showing a smiling Issa clasping hands with Trump.
In an open seat in Pennsylvania, an ad by Democrat Christina Hartman shows some of the footage along with clips of Republican Lloyd Smucker praising Trump. "Trump and Smucker, wrong for women, wrong for us," the ad says.
In Minnesota, Democratic challenger Terri Bonoff talks to the camera in an ad hitting GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen for not distancing himself from the Republican presidential candidate until now.
And in the New Hampshire Senate race, Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan uses the new Trump footage, and a clip of Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte saying during a debate that she would "absolutely" view Trump as a role model. Ayotte later said she misspoke, and on Saturday she withdrew her endorsement of Trump.
The Trump tape "gives us an opportunity with any voter who happens to be female," said Alixandria Lapp, executive director of the House Majority PAC, which helps Democratic candidates. She later amended the remark to include "anyone who is human and decent" and added that the video "potentially depresses some Republican enthusiasm for going out to vote on Election Day."
Republicans say that the potential for depressed turnout is one of the most concerning potential impacts of the tape. Center-right voters could just sit out the election and the few remaining undecided voters could all shift to the Democrats. Democrats need to pick up five seats to take back control of the Senate, or four if they retain White House control since the vice president casts tie-breaking votes.
Republican Senate candidates have tried all year to build their campaigns into insulated operations that can withstand the controversy of the day created by Trump. There's evidence that the strategy has been working, as Republicans in Ohio, Nevada, Florida, Pennsylvania and elsewhere have been running ahead of Trump. But this latest controversy may test the limits of the GOP approach.
"The Democrats have invested millions of dollars trying to pin Donald Trump on our Senate candidates and I think they've had very little to show for it so far," said Steven Law, president of the Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC focused on Senate races. A key concern now, Law said, is "whether there is a decline in voter enthusiasm on our side that could obviously have down-ticket ramifications."
Josh Holmes, a GOP consultant close to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said it would be "difficult but possible" for Republicans to retain Senate control if Trump is running behind Hillary Clinton by as much as 11 percentage points, the margin in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted after the Trump comments came out but before the Sunday night debate.
But Republicans agree there is a limit to how far ahead of the GOP nominee their candidates can run.
And if Trump's support continues to fall, it could encourage a spate of GOP House and Senate candidates to run ads touting themselves and a Republican Congress as the best way to check a Clinton presidency.
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Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner
Men with the heads of dogs appear in stories going all the way back to ancient Egypt and Greece. Over at Mysterious Universe, Brent Swancer introduces us to this common character found in weird tales from around the world:
Stories of purported dog-headed men go back well into history. Mostly referred to as the Cynocephali, which derives from the ancient Greek words "cyno," meaning dog, and "cephaly," meaning a disease of the head, these were typically described as essentially humans with the head of a dog, and they feature heavily in stories going across cultures throughout the world, from ancient Egypt, to ancient Greek, to medieval Europe and Africa, as well as in Christian mythology.
Travelers often wrote of these mysterious dog-headed people. One Italian monk by the name of Odoric of Pordenone, who traveled about converting people between 1317 and 1330, claimed to have come across the Cynocephali at the island of Nicoveran. They were described as being somewhat brutish, but displaying a form of organized religion, worshipping oxen and wearing various gold and silver religious charms. French inquisitor Cardinal Pierre d'Ailley claimed in 1410 that there existed a race of dog-headed humans in India, as well as a one eyed variation of the creatures referred to as the Carismaspi. Explorer Giovanni da Pian del Carpine also mentions a race of dog-heads which he claimed inhabited the lands north of the Dalai-Nor (Northern Ocean), and Lake Baikal. Indeed, depictions of the Cynocephali appeared on maps of the time, similar to the dragons and other wondrous beasts that mapmakers liked to adorn their maps with. The great explorer Marco Polo even writes of the dog-headed people. While describing his travels to the island of Angamanian, he tells of a strange race of people thus:
Angamanain is a very large Island. The people are without a king and are Idolaters, and no better than wild beasts. And I assure you all the men of this Island of Angamanain have heads like dogs, and teeth and eyes likewise; in fact, in the face they are all just like big mastiff dogs! They have a quantity of spices; but they are a most cruel generation, and eat everybody that they can catch, if not of their own race.
Autopsy: Unarmed man shot by Tulsa police was high on PCP
TULSA, Okla. (AP) An unarmed black man shot dead by a white police officer after his car broke down on a city street last month was high on the hallucinogenic drug PCP in when he died, according to toxicology tests released by a medical examiner Tuesday.
Terence Crutcher, 40, had "acute phencyclidine intoxication" when he died Sept. 16. Officer Betty Jo Shelby was charged with first-degree manslaughter after his death, with a prosecutor saying she reacted unreasonably when Crutcher disobeyed her commands.
Medical literature says PCP, also known as Angel Dust, can induce euphoria and feelings of omnipotence as well as agitation, mania and depression.
FILE - In this Sept 27, 2106 file photo, people march in a "National Prayer and Call For Justice" march in Tulsa, Okla., in response to the police shooting of Terence Crutcher. Oklahoma's medical examiner says Crutcher, an unarmed man shot dead by a Tulsa police officer had the hallucinogenic drug PCP in his system when he died. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Dr. Matthew Lee, a physician and pharmacist who also works for the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's Office, said the 96 nanograms per milliliter of PCP found in Crutcher's system is more than enough to cause someone to be uncoordinated, agitated and combative.
"It's on the high side, relative to causing some sort of impairment or intoxication," Lee said.
Videos from a police helicopter and a dashboard camera showed Crutcher walking away from Shelby on a North Tulsa street with his arms in the air, but the footage does not offer a clear view of when Shelby fired the single shot.
Tulsa police had said previously that they had found a vial of PCP in Crutcher's SUV and the police officer's lawyer said she had completed drug-recognition training and believed Crutcher might have been under the influence of drugs.
Lawyers for Crutcher's family released a statement saying the toxicology report "does not change the most pertinent facts of this tragedy" and that Shelby "should be held accountable for her unlawful actions."
According to an eight-page report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Oklahoma City, Crutcher suffered a "penetrating gunshot wound of chest" and noted both of Crutcher's lungs were pierced and that he had four broken ribs. In addition to saying Crutcher had PCP in his system, it said he was obese and had too much cholesterol in his gallbladder. The examiner recovered a bullet fragment from Crutcher's left chest.
Shannon McMurray, one of Shelby's defense attorneys, said the report helped provide an early "snapshot" of evidence in the case and that as more is released, "it will be clear in my mind as the case unfolds that the officer was justified in her use of force." Another Shelby lawyer, Scott Wood, had said previously that the officer was so focused on Crutcher that she didn't hear other officers near her before she fired her service weapon. Almost simultaneously, another officer fired a Taser at Crutcher as he moved toward his SUV.
In a text message to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said he expected the tests would show Crutcher had drugs in his system, including the possibility of PCP.
Shelby, 42, has pleaded not guilty. She faces between four years to life in prison if convicted.
Tulsa has a history of troubled race relations. Four months before Crutcher's death, a white former Tulsa County reserve deputy, Robert Bates, was sentenced to a four-year prison term on a second-degree manslaughter conviction. He said he confused his stun gun with his handgun when he fatally shot an unarmed black man in April 2015. That shooting led to the temporary suspension of the reserve deputy program after a report found poor training of the volunteer officers, a lack of oversight and widespread cronyism.
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Associated Press reporter Sean Murphy contributed reporting from Oklahoma City.
Actor Daniel Craig would miss James Bond role 'terribly'
NEW YORK (AP) Daniel Craig apparently isn't ready to retire as James Bond.
The actor told the crowd Friday at the New Yorker Festival that playing 007 is "the best job in the world." He said if he were to stop playing the role that he "would miss it terribly."
Craig played coy about returning to the long-running spy franchise while promoting his last Bond installment, "Spectre."
FILE - In this Nov. 5, 2015 file photo, Daniel Craig participates in AOL's BUILD Speakers Series to discuss the James Bond film "Spectre", at AOL Studios in New York. Craig told the crowd Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, at the New Yorker Festival that playing 007 is "the best job in the world." He said that if he were to stop playing the role, he "would miss it terribly." (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
The British actor told Time Out magazine last year that he would only make another Bond movie "for the money."
However, when he was later asked by Britain's Press Association about reprising the role, Craig joked: "Do I have a choice?"
Colombian youth set up tent city to demand peace deal
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Dozens of activists have raised a multicolored, makeshift tent city in Bogota's main square to demand the government and rebels save a deal meant to end a half century of conflict part of a belated outburst of activism across the country by Colombians stunned at last week's unexpected defeat of the peace accord in a referendum.
The mostly youthful demonstrators at what's called the "Peace Camp" reject any political affiliation. Organizers say their only goal is to make sure the peace deal signed last month by the government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia isn't scuttled.
The first two tents were raised the night of Oct. 5 after as many as 25,000 people poured into the streets of downtown Bogota to back the rejected accord. Within less than a week, the impromptu encampment has grown to 70 tents surrounded by bunting in the color of the Colombian flag and adorned with white balloons and flowers symbolizing peace.
Demonstrators hold hands to support a peace accord between the Colombian government and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, at the main square in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Dozens of people are camping at the Bolivar square in support of the peace process. Voters narrowly rejected in a referendum a peace accord signed between President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Hundreds of other Colombians joined the group in Bogota's Plaza Bolivar on Wednesday to sew a giant quilt with the names of 1,900 victims of the conflict. Each of the names Manuel Getial, Rogelio Ramos, Mariluz Uribe was written in giant block letters stenciled in ash on individual pieces of white cloth the length of a coffin.
"This is the act of mourning that hurts the most," said conceptual artist Doris Salcedo, who has been overseeing an army of volunteers working on her "Adding Absences" project. "It's not the mourning of a union leader, a presidential candidate or a journalist. It's the grief of an entire country that has been buried in war."
The peace agreement was negotiated over more than four years in Cuba, a process so admired that President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Backers were confident and polls agreed that Colombians would easily approve it in an Oct. 2 referendum six days after the deal was signed in front of world leaders.
They proved to have been complacent. A narrow majority of voters rejected it, angry that it made too many concessions to a rebel group widely loathed for years of violence, kidnapping and drug trafficking.
Turnout was a mere 37 percent, lower than any congressional election in the past 22 years. Rains from Hurricane Matthew held down voting in some areas along the Caribbean coast where support for the government is strongest. Backers of the deal are still convinced most Colombians favor it.
Each tent at the Peace Camp is hung with a cardboard sign naming rural towns notorious for political violence and places where the "yes" vote overwhelmingly won.
The referendum setback has forced Santos to scramble for some way to save the accord, even if it's not clear what might happen next. The rebels say they don't plan to return to the battlefield but have also rejected any notion they will return to the drawing board.
A sign posted by the tents states that the activists don't take money. But in the corner closest to Bogota's cathedral there are stacks of bottled water, canned food and even a chocolate-frosted cake that well-wishers have donated. Two portable toilets have also been installed with the help of Bogota's pro-government mayor.
Thousands of pro-peace demonstrators have also taken to the streets Cali, Medellin and other cities a rare sight in a country where political apathy is the norm.
Santos is holding talks both with the FARC and with conservative opponents led by former President Alvaro Uribe to find agreement on adjustments to the 297-page accord.
It's an uphill battle. FARC leaders have said the referendum results have no legal effect. Uribe insists the voters' will must be respected.
Uribe, a hardliner whose father was killed by the FARC, is demanding changes the rebels are unlikely to accept. Those include having rebels guilty of war crimes serve up to eight years in rural penal colonies. The current accord spares them jail time if they confess their war crimes. He also wants to eliminate a provision pardoning rebels involved in drug trafficking.
"We're fighting against the ego of a single person who wants to go down in history," complained Jaqueline Sanchez, a 53-year-old social worker, referring to Uribe.
While she blames Uribe for misleading voters and dividing Colombians, she also faults her friends for being so passive and believing in the polls.
"The truth is we were negligent," said Sanchez. "We never thought we were going to lose so we let others decide for us."
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Joshua Goodman is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjoshgoodman His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/joshua-goodman
A woman writes a message to support a peace deal between the Colombian government and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, at the main square in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Dozens of people are camping at the Bolivar square to support the continuation of peace talks. Dozens of people are camping at the Bolivar square to support the continuation of peace talks. Voters narrowly rejected in a referendum a peace accord signed between President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Demonstrators stitch together white sheets covered by the names of victims of Colombia's internal conflict at Bolivar square in downtown Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The project, lead by artist Doris Salcedo, seeks to push Colombians to ask for a successful conclusion of the peace process with rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after voters rejected the deal reached by the government and FARC in a referendum. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Demonstrators install white sheets covered with the names of victims of Colombia's internal conflict at Bolivar square in downtown Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The project, lead by artist Doris Salcedo, seeks to push Colombians to ask for a successful conclusion of the peace process after voters rejected the deal reached by the government with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a referendum. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Demonstrators install white sheets covered by the names of victims of Colombia's internal conflict at Bolivar square in downtown Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The project, lead by artist Doris Salcedo, seeks to push Colombians to ask for a successful conclusion of the peace process with rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after voters rejected the deal reached by the government and FARC in a referendum. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
A demonstrator stitches together white sheets carrying the names of victims of Colombia's internal conflict at Bolivar square in downtown Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. The project, lead by artist Doris Salcedo, seeks to push Colombians to ask for a successful conclusion of the peace process after voters rejected the deal reached by the government with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a referendum. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Airstrike in Yemen deepens war, puts pressure on US
SANAA, Yemen (AP) More than 1,000 mourners were packed into the funeral hall, including some of the most powerful figures in Yemen's rebel movement. Ali al-Akwa, who was just about to start reciting the Quran, heard warplanes overhead but that wasn't strange for wartime Sanaa. Surely a funeral would be safe, he thought.
Moments later, a huge explosion struck, tearing bodies apart. The ceiling collapsed, walls fell in and a fire erupted. As people scrambled frantically to get out, a second missile struck, killing more of them.
Nearly 140 people were killed and more than 600 wounded in Saturday's airstrike one of the deadliest since Saudi Arabia and its allies began an air campaign in Yemen in March 2015. The coalition is trying to uproot the Shiite Houthi rebels who took over the capital and much of northern Yemen from the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2016 file photo, tribesmen loyal to Houthi rebels, hold their weapons as they chant slogans during a gathering aimed at mobilizing more fighters into battlefronts in several Yemeni cities, in Sanaa, Yemen. The U.S. is weighing what military response it should take against Yemen-based Houthi rebels, who U.S. officials say launched two missiles at American warships in the Red Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon said Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File)
The coalition seems to have been hoping to take out a significant part of the Houthis' military leadership and its allies, who were expected at the funeral. Instead, the attack is likely to deepen the stalemate in a war that has already pushed the impoverished country into collapse.
The bloodshed has eclipsed new U.N. efforts to secure even a brief cease-fire. Amid popular anger, the coalition has lost potential tribal allies. In an attempt to expand the war, the Houthis have retaliated by firing rockets into neighboring Saudi Arabia and at U.S. warships.
The only hope for progress toward a resolution, many Yemenis say, is if the strike prompts Saudi Arabia's top ally, the United States, and other Western nations to halt arms sales, pressure Riyadh to ease the war and move toward negotiations.
After the strike, the White House said it will immediately review its assistance to the coalition and stressed that the support is not a "blank check." The Obama administration is sensitive to criticism from human rights groups and some in Congress but has limited leverage with the Saudis, especially as Riyadh's assistance is also needed in the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. has warned the Saudi coalition about strikes on civilians in Yemen, but the weekend attack on the funeral appeared to have touched a nerve.
"In light of the attack over the weekend, with the scrutiny that that attack legitimately calls for, we are going to undertake additional reviews of aid and assistance that goes to Saudi Arabia," State Department spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday. "We take this very seriously, and we have been nothing but candid and forthright with the Saudis about our concerns over civilian casualties and collateral damage and our concerns about lack of precision in the conduct of some of these strikes."
The U.S. and Britain have sold billions of dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia for use in the conflict. Washington also has been giving logistical and intelligence support, although this year it withdrew some personnel who it said were not linked to the coalition's actions.
Farea al-Muslimi, the co-founder of Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, said the West's response will determine if the war deepens or moves toward a resolution.
"Such sudden turns either end the war or end the country," he said. "Yemen is a country where peace is born out of huge agonies."
Three days after the attack, investigators are still recovering human remains amid the scattered chairs and personal belongings in the sooty, smoky hall. The roof was almost completely shredded, with chunks of metal, concrete and chandeliers dangling. Pools of blood mixed with water from broken pipes.
Senior Health Ministry official Mokhtar Sharaf Eddin said the confirmed death toll as of Tuesday was 135 but likely to rise.
The missiles, which punched two large holes in the floor and opened the room up to a parking lot below, blew some bodies up to 200 meters (yards) away, officials said.
Survivors recalled fleeing over the dead and wounded. Al-Akwa, the Quran reciter, said he picked up a boy whose foot was nearly severed and carried him out.
"It was like the end of days, where everyone ran for his life," al-Akwa said. "In the name of God, until now I am in disbelief."
The funeral was for Sheikh Ali al-Rawishan, the father of the Houthi government's interior minister, Galal al-Rawishan members of one of Yemen's most powerful tribes, the Khawlan. In attendance were senior members of the Houthi movement and military and political figures linked to the rebels' ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Among the dead was Abdel-Qader Helal, the mayor of Sanaa who was widely popular and had been appointed by Hadi before the Houthi takeover. Considered a moderate who did not support either the Houthis or the coalition, he had tried mediating between the two sides.
Also killed were several senior military commanders and soldiers.
The strike sparked a wave of outrage. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon called it an "outrageous violation of international humanitarian law." Saleh and top Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi both called for "revenge" as anti-coalition protesters marched through Sanaa. The coalition initially denied it was behind the strike but then said it was investigating.
More than a year of heavy bombardment has wrecked the country of 26 million, with neither side able to gain an advantage.
The conflict began when the Houthis swept down from their northern strongholds and captured Sanaa in 2014, then pushed farther south. In early 2015, Hadi's government fled to the southern city of Aden. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations launched their air campaign against the Houthis, accusing them of being proxies of Shiite-led Iran.
Coalition support kept Aden from falling into Houthi hands. Since then, Saudi-backed forces a mix of southern separatists and Sunni militant fighters succeeded in retaking much of the south, while other local forces are still fighting in eastern and western sections.
But the price has been devastating for Yemen, already the poorest country in the Arab world.
According to the U.N., more than 4,100 civilians have been killed and over 7,200 wounded, mostly from airstrikes. With supplies disrupted by the bombing and a coalition blockade, most of the population is considered by the U.N. as "food insecure," famine has hit poorer areas, and 3 million people are displaced. Infrastructure, factories, hospitals and roads have been destroyed.
Three sessions of peace talks have failed. This week, the U.N. envoy for Yemen was trying to patch together a 72-hour cease-fire.
Sanaa is surrounded by Yemen's biggest tribes, known as the "ring," because they occupy areas around the capital. The Khawlan is one of those tribes. Previously, it and several others were neutral, with members on both sides of the conflict. But the deaths it suffered in the airstrike threaten to turn it against the coalition.
"Winning Sanaa is a battle of hearts. ... The tribes are the key here," said Sanaa-based writer Maged al-Mazhaji.
Hadi's government has been embarrassed by the airstrike, making no official statement on the bloodshed.
"The government of Hadi is only operating under the shadow of Saudis, and he can't say no. What happened will only diminish any credit he has" in Sanaa, al-Mazhaji said.
The Houthis, meanwhile, appear to be trying to escalate the conflict. Two missiles were fired from Houthi territory toward U.S. warships in the Red Sea, and others were fired into Saudi territory, including one targeting an air base that hosts U.S. military personnel training Saudi troops.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. is still investigating the incident, in which the missiles fell harmlessly into the water Sunday.
Al-Muslimi, of the Sanaa Center, said it could be a signal to Washington of the danger of escalation.
"We are seeing that for the first time there is a direct threat to the Western interests in this Yemeni conflict. Now they will start to feel the heat."
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Names of 8 fallen firefighters added to NY memorial wall
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) The names of eight New York firefighters who died in the line of duty have been added to a memorial near the state Capitol.
Half of the eight honored at a ceremony Tuesday died last year. One of them, Arthur Stickney of Malone, died in 1942.
The others are Jack Rose of Mt. Marion; Barry Miller of Bergen; Lawrence Sesso and Robert Knight of Sayville; Charles Wallace of Montgomery; Richard Weisse of St. James; and Michael Esposito, Baldwin.
Christopher Taylor of the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control holds a pike pole during a ceremony at the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the Empire State Plaza on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. The names of eight firefighters who died in the line of duty were added to the memorial. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul (HOH'-kuhl) says their stories are testaments to everyday heroism.
There are 2,406 names on the memorial wall at Empire State Plaza. The earliest is from 1811.
State officials say more than 100,000 firefighters across New York and their departments responded to almost 1.5 million incidents last year.
Firefighters roll up a flag after a ceremony at the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the Empire State Plaza on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. The names of eight firefighters who died in the line of duty were added to the memorial Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Firefighters salute during a ceremony at the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the Empire State Plaza on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. The names of eight firefighters who died in the line of duty were added to the memorial. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, left, talks with Loretta Miller, mother of fallen firefighter Barry Miller, during a ceremony at the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. Miller, a firefighter from the Bergen Fire Department, was one of eight firefighters who died in the line of duty whose name was added to the memorial. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, left, talks with the family of fallen firefighter Jack Rose during a ceremony at the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. Rose, a firefighter from the Mt. Marion Fire Department, was one of eight firefighters who died in the line of duty whose name was added to the memorial. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Will Clinton move to the right? Liberals are watching
WASHINGTON (AP) Liberals say they're watching.
Some Democratic activists say Hillary Clinton's private speeches to Wall Street bankers and other moneyed interests in 2013 and 2014 confirm their long-held suspicions she will revert to more moderate positions and choose like-minded members of her Cabinet and administration if she's elected president.
The speech revelations have been overshadowed by the past week's firestorm over presidential rival Donald Trump's vulgar comments about women. But Clinton's comments will surely be an undercurrent in her transition and the start of her presidency if she wins the White House.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, right, accompanied by former Vice President Al Gore, left, takes the stage for a rally at Miami Dade College in Miami, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
"Wall Street doesn't pay a quarter of a million dollars for her to come and tell them how bad they are. What she said is pretty much exactly what we expected," says Charles Chamberlain of Democracy for America, which unsuccessfully tried to draft Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 campaign and then backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
"The day after she's elected president, progressives will have to hold her accountable and fight with her to make sure she passes powerful, progressive populism," he said.
Clinton's campaign has neither confirmed nor denied the content of the material that emerged after campaign chairman John Podesta's personal email account was hacked by the WikiLeaks organization. But a summary of potentially troublesome comments flagged in a January 2016 email from Clinton's campaign research director underscored concerns about how the speeches might be perceived by Democratic primary voters.
Clinton spoke of a need for political deal-making, telling real estate investors "you need both a public and private position," and told another group that both political parties should be "sensible, moderate, pragmatic." Before Deutsche Bank, she said financial reform "really has to come from the industry itself." On trade, she said she dreamed of a "hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders."
In a 2013 discussion with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Clinton said there was a bias in politics "against people who have led successful and/or complicated lives." She also told Morgan Stanley that the findings of the Simpson-Bowles commission to cut the national debt, which called for raising the retirement age for Social Security, achieved the right framework. "You have to restrain spending, you have to have adequate revenues, and you have to have growth," she said.
In a matchup against Trump, whose campaign has been rocked by his 11-year-old caught-on-tape comments about women, Sanders supporters have largely rallied behind Clinton as their best chance of championing progressive causes like economic equality, debt-free college and climate change.
But they say the speeches reinforce the need to scrutinize her future choices to lead the Treasury, Justice and Commerce departments as well as the deputies who often wield enormous power over regulations and policy.
"I don't think it's about her. I think it's about us. She is only going to do as much as we're going to push her to do," said Barbara Fretonte, a Sanders primary delegate from Austin, Texas.
Norman Solomon, a Sanders delegate from California, said there are "deep and wide reasons to be worried" about how Clinton would conduct her administration's economic policy. Pointing to Bill Clinton's presidency, Solomon added, "There was a de facto formula of 'talk progressive and serve corporate power' and we don't really see any contradiction of that in the transcripts."
Clinton's team has long been aware of the problem. In a January 2015 email that was part of the WikiLeaks disclosure, Clinton speechwriter Dan Schwerin described meeting with Warren adviser Dan Geldon, who offered an extensive case against "the Bob Rubin school of Democratic policymakers," a reference to Bill Clinton's Treasury secretary.
"They seem wary and pretty convinced that the Rubin folks have the inside track with us whether we realize it yet or not but open to engagement and to be proven wrong," Schwerin wrote. "He mentioned that everyone will be watching carefully any leaks about who HRC is meeting and talking to."
During the primaries, Sanders repeatedly demanded that Clinton release the transcripts of her paid speeches. Often injecting a dose of sarcasm, Sanders said at the time if a group was willing to pay her more than $200,000 for speeches, they must have been written in "Shakespearean prose."
Sanders has since campaigned extensively on Clinton's behalf and warned that a Trump presidency would damage their shared policy goals. He said in a statement that "the job of the progressive movement now is to look forward, not backward. No matter what Secretary Clinton may have said years ago behind closed doors, what's important today is that we stand united and demand that the Democratic Party implement the most progressive platform in the history of our country."
Sanders noted that he worked with Clinton to develop a platform that "stands up to the billionaire class and represents the interests of working families. That has to be the agenda of Secretary Clinton if she is elected president and of Democrats in the Congress."
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Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at @KThomasDC
The Latest: Ex-NY governor extortion case woman held on bail
NEW YORK (AP) The Latest on a woman accused of trying to extort money from ex-Gov. Spitzer (all times local):
4:45 p.m.
A woman who accused Eliot Spitzer of assaulting her is being held on $1 million bail on charges she extorted nearly $400,000 from the former New York governor.
FILE - In this Sept. 10, 2013, file photo, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer delivers his concession speech at his election night party after losing the Democratic primary race for New York City comptroller in New York. A 26-year-old woman who accused Spitzer of assaulting her has been arrested for trying to extort money from him. Police said Svetlana Zakharova was arrested in New York on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, File)
Svetlana Zakharova appeared in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday following her arrest in New York. She openly wept throughout most of the proceeding.
A judge set the bail after a prosecutor described Zakharova as an extreme flight risk. Her attorney said she had no reason to flee.
Authorities say the Russian woman fled the U.S. after accusing Spitzer in February of assaulting her at The Plaza Hotel. Spitzer denied the allegations.
The 26-year-old Zakharova has been charged with grand larceny by extortion. She's also charged with forgery in an unrelated case involving a Bloomfield, New Jersey man.
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12:40 a.m.
A woman who accused former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer of assaulting her has been arrested for trying to extort money from him.
Police say 26-year-old Svetlana Zakharova was arrested Monday night in New York.
The Russian woman fled the country after accusing Spitzer in February of assaulting her at The Plaza Hotel. Spitzer denied the allegations.
Police say Zakharova has been charged with grand larceny by extortion. She's also charged with forgery in an unrelated case in which police say she used a Bloomfield, New Jersey man's information and signed a lease agreement that ended up costing him $18,000.
It was not immediately clear if she had an attorney who could comment on the charges.
She's scheduled to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.
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Art exhibit presents traditional Native American story
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) A traveling exhibit that pairs Native American art with passages of a traditional story narrating the emergence of the Lakota people in the Black Hills of South Dakota is now on display in Sioux Falls.
The exhibit, titled "Lakota Emergence," presents the traditional belief that the ancestors of the Lakota people emerged to this world through what is now known as Wind Cave National Park in southwest South Dakota. It divides the story into 16 passages, pairing each chapter with a piece created by a Lakota artist specifically for this project.
"We do a lot of work trying to mitigate racism, and so, one idea was to do an exhibit not with that as its intention but with that as a possible outcome," said Craig Howe, executive director of the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies. "The hope is that people are excited about this narrative. It shows a narrative that is linked to a particular place in our state, the Black Hills, and is a shared landscape. All of us know that landscape, Indians and non-Indians. The exhibit foregrounds that place."
This Monday, Oct. 10, 2016 photo, part of a 16-piece traveling art exhibit is on display in Sioux Falls, S.D. Avera Healths Prairie Center is hosting a reproduction of the exhibit Lakota Emergence, which presents the traditional belief that the ancestors of the Lakota people emerged onto this world through what is now known as Wind Cave National Park in southwest South Dakota. (AP Photo/Regina Garcia Cano)
The Lakota are one of three divisions of Native Americans that the French referred to as the Sioux. The division involves seven tribal nations in the northern Great Plains.
The 1,251-word narrative at the center of the exhibit was gathered by a physician serving the Pine Ridge area and published almost a century ago by the American Museum of Natural History. The story includes tales of deception, love, shame, misery and risks.
Howe's organization, which is based on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, acknowledges that the narrative is one of only two stories out of the dozens gathered by the physician James Walker not attributed specifically to the spiritual leaders or others who shared information with him. But, Howe said, a careful reading of the narrative correlates with other Lakota stories, suggesting that the narrative originated with the Lakotas and was not made up by Walker.
The traveling exhibit now on display at Avera Health's Prairie Center in Sioux Falls consists of panels that show true-to-size photos of the original exhibit, which debuted in Rapid City last year. The organization created it because the panels require far less care than the original collection that includes paintings, wood carving work, a glass mosaic and mixed media pieces.
Howe said his organization's goal is to take the traveling exhibit to tribal schools and other venues, such as Avera's medical center, to teach children and adults this traditional story.
"We really were trying to get to this point where we could have to exhibits; a museum quality exhibit that can go to any museum in the United States or the world and a traveling version that can go to communities to get this in front of Lakota people," Howe said. "Most American Indians don't know this narrative. Most Lakotas don't know the narrative. They know a little bit about it, but here's a chance it can be educational for community people."
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Follow Regina Garcia Cano on Twitter at https://twitter.com/reginagarciakNO
In this Monday Oct. 10, 2016, photo, Craig Howe, executive director of the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies, talks about one of the 16 pieces that are part of a traveling art exhibit now on display in Sioux Falls, S.D. Avera Healths Prairie Center is hosting a reproduction of the exhibit Lakota Emergence, which presents the traditional belief that the ancestors of the Lakota people emerged onto this world through what is now known as Wind Cave National Park in southwest South Dakota. (AP Photo/Regina Garcia Cano)
AP Fact Check: Clinton on Hurricane Matthew, climate change
MIAMI (AP) During a campaign rally in Miami Tuesday, Hillary Clinton said Hurricane Matthew was "likely more destructive because of climate change."
Clinton was campaigning alongside former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading climate change activist since leaving politics. She said near record high ocean temperatures "contributed to the torrential rainfall and the flash flooding" from the storm, particularly in the Carolinas.
Clinton also said that rising sea levels mean Matthew's "storm surge was higher and the flooding was more severe."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at Miami Dade College in Miami, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
Matthew's death toll in the U.S. climbed to 30 Tuesday, half of them in North Carolina. More than 500 people are feared dead in Haiti.
THE FACTS: Clinton is generally right in a big picture way, but scientists who study hurricanes and climate change were not quite as comfortable when it comes to attributing significantly worse harm from a single storm like Matthew.
MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel, an expert on hurricanes and climate, called Clinton's assessment "a simplification of the truth."
Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami, said the signs of climate change are only seen in "the long-term average." Clinton's statement, he said, was "a little bit strongly worded for a single event."
But as for the storm surge being worse, Emanuel called that a "no brainer" because sea level is higher.
"The same storm in terms of a wind and pressure event 50 years ago would have produced a lower surge because sea level is lower," said Emanuel, who was a registered Republican from 1976 till about seven or eight years ago.
McNoldy noted the differences are small.
"If Matthew had occurred 20 years ago the storm surge instead of being 8 feet might have been 7 feet 9 inches," he said.
To a person whose house was flooded, those three inches might not have been noticeable, McNoldy said. But an extra three inches for someone on the edges of the surge could have made the difference between staying dry and getting any water in the house.
Hurricanes use warm water as fuel and the water in the part of the Atlantic that Matthew was in was about 1.8 to 2.7 degrees warmer, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And that means more potential rain, Emanuel said. So does warmer air.
Warmer air holds more water about 7 percent more for every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit and "you get more heavy rains with more moisture," said Mark Boslough, a Sandia National Lab physicist who works on climate change.
"Matthew no doubt rained more than an identical storm would have 30 or 40 years ago because it is warmer," Emanuel said. He said Matthew intensified incredibly fast an additional 3.5 mph per hour and studies have shown that in general "rapid intensification becomes somewhat more likely as the climate warms," Emanuel said.
But McNoldy said that extra fraction of an inch of rain may not have been that big a deal. In general, he said Matthew's strike on the U.S. not Haiti was not that exceptional, even quite average for a hurricane.
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Borenstein reported from Washington.
Former Vice President Al Gore raises hands with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, at a rally at Miami Dade College in Miami, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
For smartphone-dependent world, Samsung troubles hit hard
NEW YORK (AP) Yes, you heard that right. Samsung is asking owners of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 to do something crazy: "power down and stop using the device."
In an age when smartphones have become extensions of ourselves, the last thing we look at before falling asleep and the first thing we grab in the morning, this is all but unthinkable, even at the dinner table, even on the toilet.
Risking a battery fire might seem like a small price to pay for obsessively checking your latest Instagram "likes," catching up on email, Skyping your grandkids across the country, getting directions, confirming your travel itinerary, reading the news, searching for a dinner recipe, hailing a ride and so on.
FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 2, 2016, file photo, a woman walks by an advertisement of the Samsung Electronics Galaxy Note 7 smartphone at the company's showroom in Seoul, South Korea. Samsung is asking owners of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 to do something crazy: power down and stop using the device. This is all but unthinkable in an age where smartphones have become an extra limb, the last thing we look at before falling asleep and the first thing we grab in the morning, not to mention throughout the day. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)
For those traveling with children, a long flight without a smartphone to serve as distraction is akin to torture.
Power down and stop using the device? You might as well go live in a cave in a distant mountain (if you can get there, since you no longer have GPS). According to the Pew Research Center, 43 percent of the world's population uses a smartphone. Rates are highest in places such as South Korea (88 percent), Australia (77 percent) and Israel (74 percent).
And use it they do. We check Facebook so often that the company no longer just measures its users on a monthly basis. A more important number is how many people check in on a daily basis. In June, more than 1 billion people checked Facebook on a mobile device at least once a day.
In a report on global mobile device usage, the consulting firm Deloitte found the obvious, namely that "device obsession is deepening" and that people are using their phones for "everything from watching TV to simply crossing the road." Some of us even use the phones while crossing the road, which is not the safest thing in the world.
A small 2015 study by Nottingham Trent University that tracked 18- to 33-year-olds found that they checked their phones an average of 85 times a day often without realizing.
Entire industries have sprung up to try to pry us away from our gadgets, such as phone-free summer camps for adults, anti-texting-and-driving apps and apps that track how much time you spend on your phone.
As such, it's not surprising that smartphone owners suddenly deprived of this extra limb are finding ways around the inconvenience.
"I am currently using my tablet that has AT&T number sync. I have a Bluetooth headset connected that allows me to make and receive calls. It also can receive texts, but it works marginal at best," said Leo Langelier III, who lives in North Berwick, Maine.
His Note 7 the replacement model started to emit smoke in the car while he was traveling with is family. While his family is fine, he has not been able to get a replacement and said he will be reactivating an older phone he has at home until he can get everything cleared up.
Adam Siemaszko, who returned his Note 7 to a Best Buy in Manhattan, said a co-worker was kind enough to lend him an old iPhone 5S until I can get a new one. He decided to get the new Pixel phone from Google, as he's lost his trust in Samsung. But there's a five- to six-week wait.
"Being phoneless is awful," he said. "What I don't think a lot of people think about is just how reliant we have been with the modern flagships."
Siemaszko said he got used to taking notes on the Note 7 using its special S pen and running two apps side by side at once. The iPhone 5S came out in 2013 and even the latest iPhone, the 7, lacks these options.
"I feel incredibly limited on this 5S," he said. "They took my tool away, and the only way to get something else is to jump through hoops."
John Perry Barlow author of the Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace, Grateful Dead lyricist, Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder, character in my novels, and all-round amazing, pioneering guy has been hospitalized on and off for a year and a half, is in constant pain, and has limited mobility.
The John Perry Barlow Wellness Trust is a way for Barlow's friends and loved ones to help support his extensive medical expenses (I donated).
A group of Barlow's friends included former Talking Head Jerry Harrison, Sean Lennon, and special guests are holding a benefit concert at Mill Valley's Sweetwater Music Hall on October 24th, with tickets to benefit the Barlow fund. If I could be in California then, I'd attend. I hope you'll consider it.
As many of you know, Barlow has had a tumultuous year and a half, much of which has been spent in "medical incarceration". Due to a dizzying array of medical events and complications, our beloved Barlow has been living with extreme pain and limited mobility since April of 2015. Tragically, even a healthy savings and robust insurance is no match for the cost of extended convalescence in contemporary America. Thus, after 18 months of onerous outlay without any income and recently expired disability benefits, we have reached a critical juncture where we must reach out to you, his fellow innovators, artists, cowboys, and partners-in-crime, to help us provide the quality of care necessary for Barlow's recovery. Your support is both an expression of love and caring for his comfort, and a vote for keeping the planetary treasure that is Barlow's body and brilliant mind churning out rare insight and pioneering action as long as he is able. Your contribution will go directly towards his rehabilitation, care, and nourishment.
Everyday Miracle: A Benefit for John Perry Barlow
[Sweetwater Music Hall]
John Perry Barlow Wellness Trust
(Image: John Perry Barlow, Joi Ito, CC-BY)
Researchers work to spread prized genes of Yellowstone bison
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Researchers have transplanted embryos originating from the bison herd at Yellowstone National Park into female bison in Minnesota in hopes of increasing the genetic diversity of herds in the state and helping to restore America's official mammal to the landscape.
While Yellowstone bison are prized because they're free of domestic cattle genes, experts say using them in breeding programs is difficult because they carry a contagious disease called brucellosis, which causes spontaneous abortions in pregnant cattle. Other efforts at spreading the genes of Yellowstone bison have focused on using animals descended from the park's herd that have been certified as disease free. Transplanting embryos uses in-vitro fertilization to get around the problem.
Colorado State University animal reproduction professor Jennifer Barfield and other researchers last month implanted embryos in four female bison at the Minnesota Zoo. Veterinarians will conduct ultrasound tests in the coming months to see if the animals became pregnant. If all goes well, they'll give birth to baby bison in the spring.
FILE - In this June 19, 2014, file photo, bison graze near a stream in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Researchers have transplanted embryos with roots in the bison herd at Yellowstone National Park into female bison at the Minnesota Zoo in hopes of increasing the genetic diversity of bison herds in the state and refining a tool that could be used across the country someday as part of efforts to restore the animals to the American landscape. (AP Photo/Robert Graves, File)
The four females are part of a larger "conservation herd" managed by the zoo and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which also includes bison at Minneopa State Park and Blue Mounds State Park that are largely free of cattle genes. The herd would benefit greatly from Yellowstone genetics, officials said, but securing a sexually mature Yellowstone bull to breed conventionally has been impossible because they can't be moved out of the park.
"It will also demonstrate that we can use reproductive technologies to move the Yellowstone genetics outside of the park without the threat of spreading the disease brucellosis, which has implications for bison conservation on a broader scale," Barfield said.
Tens of millions of bison once roamed the Great Plains but were hunted to near extinction in the late 1800s. About 30,000 wild bison now roam the country. Yellowstone has the largest population so its genetics are highly diverse. While commercial bison herds now number more than 300,000, many of those animals and other wild bison are bison-cattle hybrids to varying degrees. Government, tribal and zoo efforts seek to restore the animals' original genetics.
This isn't the first time embryo transfers have been used to improve the genetics of bison herds. Barfield also led transplants that resulted in a calf with pure Yellowstone bloodlines at New York's Bronx Zoo in 2012. For both zoos she took eggs from female bison that had been culled from the Yellowstone herd and fertilized them with sperm from males in Colorado State's herd. And she has produced several other calves at the university via embryo transfers and artificial insemination. She's also waiting for ultrasound results to see if other recent transfers worked at Colorado State and the Bronx Zoo.
But the process is still "an experimental procedure at best," cautioned Keith Aune, bison program director for the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the Bronx Zoo. The technique produced only one calf in about 25 tries at the Bronx Zoo, he said, but the field of bison research is young and the approach may become more successful with more development.
Aune, who's not directly involved in the Minnesota project, said Barfield's work fits well into the bigger picture of bison conservation. He said the Toronto Zoo is also experimenting with embryo transplants in a northern subspecies called the wood bison. He said the Bronx Zoo plans to import several bison with pure Yellowstone roots from a disease-free herd next month if it gets the necessary permits.
The Latest: Man mistakenly accused of drugging officer talks
CLEARFIELD, Utah (AP) The Latest on a Utah man accused of drugging a police officer's drink being cleared (all times local):
5:05 p.m.
A Utah man who was mistakenly arrested on accusations that he drugged a police officer's drink at a sandwich shop says he hardly left the house the last two months because he feared for his safety after receiving death threats.
The 18-year-old Tanis Ukena spoke Tuesday at his attorney's office hours after Layton police announced they would not seek charges.
Ukena was arrested on Aug. 8 after a police sergeant reported feeling impaired immediately after Ukena served him a lemonade at a Subway.
Flanked by his parents, Ukena said he supports law enforcement, but he is disappointed how Layton police handled his case and that they aren't apologizing.
His mother, Heather Ukena, called the experience a living nightmare. His father, Landy Ukena, says his son's case shows police must be more cautious and thorough.
Layton Police Lt. Travis Lyman said Tuesday the case was closed after state lab results couldn't confirm that the officer's drink had methamphetamine and THC, findings from initial field tests that led police to arrest Tanis Ukena.
___
11:14 a.m.
Utah police say they won't be filing any charges against a sandwich-shop worker accused of drugging a police officer's drink with methamphetamine and THC because they can't confirm the lemonade was actually contaminated.
Layton Police Lt. Travis Lyman said Tuesday that initial lab tests showed a foreign substance in the drink from Subway, but those results couldn't be duplicated.
Eighteen-year-old Tanis Ukena was arrested Aug. 8 after a police sergeant reported feeling impaired immediately after getting the drink.
Authorities said the officer, whose name was not released, struggled to find the brake pedal of his patrol car at a red light and couldn't answer questions at the police station.
England Women collapse as West Indies level the series
West Indies Women levelled the one-day series against England with a 38-run win in the second game of five.
In another low-scoring contest at Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica, the hosts posted 148 all out from 50 overs - one run less than England's winning score at the same venue on Saturday.
Stafanie Taylor, having won the toss, top-scored with 56. The next-best score was Deandra Dottin's 21 as slow left-armer Alex Hartley took four for 31 in 10 overs.
Stafanie Taylor top-scored in the match with 56
With captain Heather Knight making 26 and Natalie Sciver contributing 27, England were in with a chance at 107 for four in the 37th over.
However they collapsed by losing six wickets for three runs to be all out in the 42nd over, Dottin claiming the last four scalps for figures of four for 19.
JCB quits CBI amid reports of clashes over Brexit
Construction equipment giant JCB is quitting the CBI business lobbying group amid reports of clashes over Brexit.
Lord Bamford, whose father founded JCB in 1945, has been an outspoken supporter of leaving the EU, while CBI members have warned against it.
Both parties confirmed the decision on Monday night, but declined to offer reasons why.
Lord Bamford has been an outspoken supporter of leaving the EU, while CBI members have warned against it
The move will be seen as a blow for the CBI, which will lose the backing of one of the country's biggest manufacturers.
A JCB spokesman said simply: "I can confirm that JCB is ending its membership of the CBI."
He said he would not be commenting on the reasons for the decision, describing it as "speculation".
A CBI spokesman said: "It's always a shame to see any member leave the CBI, but we recognise that businesses have competing priorities and we respect that."
JCB employs around 5,500 UK workers at 11 factories in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham, and operates other plants in North America, India, China and Brazil.
Lord Bamford's support for leaving the EU was underlined when Vote Leave - the official "out" campaign - confirmed this summer that it had received two donations of 100,000 from JCB.
On Sunday, leaders of the CBI expressed alarm at the apparent direction of Government policy towards a hard Brexit option, which they say could see tariffs imposed on 90% of British exports.
The business chiefs have demanded Theresa May rules out the "worst options" of a hard Brexit, such as not having "passporting" arrangements which allow easy access to European markets for the financial services sector.
Southern offer to hold fresh talks in bid to end rail dispute
Southern Railway has offered to hold fresh talks aimed at resolving the bitter dispute over the role of conductors.
Charles Horton, the chief executive of Southern's owners, Govia Thameslink Railway, has written to the leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union saying he will meet him tomorrow.
The move followed disruption to services caused by a strike by union members which is due to continue until midnight on Thursday.
Passengers on Southern services are facing further strike action
Mr Horton urged the union to call off this week's strike and allow "productive" talks to take place.
He told RMT general secretary Mick Cash: "I'm prepared to free my diary from tomorrow morning onwards to meet and to show your serious intent, I would like the RMT to call off the rest of the strike action planned for this week.
"Everyone - the travelling public, our staff and the regional economy - have faced months of misery and disruption, and again today. We have to end this dispute now and move forward."
Mr Horton said the company was pressing ahead with changing the role of conductors to on board superviser, with responsibility for closing train doors switching to drivers.
He said: "It would be beneficial to everyone if we can do so with the agreement of the RMT, but this has to be on the basis of the principles we have made clear to them throughout.
"Our proposals remain unchanged from 8 August when we set out our full, fair and comprehensive 8-point offer, on top of previous assurances made to you.
"These were supplemented by the offer of a lump sum payment on the 3 October, which the RMT rejected last week.
"Let's hope sense prevails and we can shake hands on a deal."
Mr Cash said: "RMT is pleased that GTR have responded positively to the union's call for talks."
The union said Mr Horton has made it clear the company is prepared to "guarantee" a second member of staff on every current Southern service with a conductor on board, the issue at the heart of the dispute.
"That gives us scope to move on and to discuss the detail of the role of that guaranteed second person and to move towards a negotiated settlement to this dispute.
"This is a golden opportunity to make a breakthrough and RMT will be at the talks tomorrow."
The strike is continuing despite tonight's development.
Picket lines will again be mounted outside stations tomorrow, including London Victoria and Brighton.
Rail Minister Paul Maynard said: "It is disappointing that passengers once again face needless and unjustified strike action by the RMT, after the union advised its members to accept the new roles being offered by the operator.
Johnson calls for protests outside Russian embassy over Syria conflict
Boris Johnson has threatened to ignite a new diplomatic row with Moscow after he called for demonstrations outside the Russian embassy in protest at the bombing of Aleppo.
In an emergency Commons debate, the Foreign Secretary said President Vladimir Putin was in danger of turning his country into an "international pariah" with his continued support for the regime of President Bashar Assad.
He told MPs he would "certainly" like to see anti-war campaigners demonstrating outside Russia's embassy in London against the continued attacks by Russia warplanes on the stricken city of Aleppo.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for protests outside the Russian embassy
Mr Johnson has previously angered the Russians by claiming their forces may have been guilty of war crimes last month when air strikes hit a UN aid convoy near Aleppo, finally ending a fragile ceasefire.
A posting on the Russian embassy Twitter feed said: "Very unusual call from the Foreign Secretary to hold demonstrations in front of the Russian embassy. New form of British diplomacy?"
Earlier, the embassy had appeared to taunt the British Government, posting: "Russia's record on Syria is thousands of freed villages, thousands of tons of humanitarian aid. What's Britain's?"
Mr Johnson's call for demos outside the Russian embassy appeared to be aimed as much at left-wing anti-war groups who have been critical of the West's actions in the Middle East as it was at Moscow.
"It is the UK week after week that is taking the lead together with our allies in America and in France, all the like-minded nations, in highlighting what is happening in Syria to a world where, I'm afraid, the wells of outrage are growing exhausted," he said.
"There is no commensurate horror, it seems to me, amongst some of those anti-war protest groups. I'd certainly like to see demonstrations outside the Russian embassy. Where is the Stop the War Coalition at the moment? Where are they?"
Mr Johnson also repeated his criticisms of the Russians over the attack on the aid convoy and called for an investigation into the repeated attacks on hospitals in Aleppo saying it was "difficult to avoid the conclusion" they amounted to a war crime.
"If Russia continues in its current path then I believe that great country is in danger of becoming a pariah nation and if President Putin's strategy is to restore the greatness and the glory of Russia then I believe he risks seeing his ambition turn to ashes in the face of international contempt for what is happening in Syria," he said.
However Mr Johnson sought to damp down calls from MPs on both sides of the House for the creation of a no-fly zone. While he said he had "every sympathy" with the demands, the Government had to think through the consequences of such a policy.
"We cannot do that unless we are prepared to shoot down planes or helicopters that violate that zone and we need to think very carefully about the consequences," he said.
His comments were echoed by a Downing Street spokesman who said: "The notion that we would somehow be engaged in enforcing a no-fly zone with Russian aircraft in the same airspace is clearly a potentially very difficult and challenging situation.
Kate sparkles as the pearly queen of the Netherlands
Life imitated art when the Duchess of Cambridge wore a pair of pearl earrings to see a famous Dutch old master painting - showing a young woman wearing the same jewellery.
During a tour of an art museum Kate mirrored the well-known artwork by 17th century artist Vermeer, which depicts a young woman with a distinctive earring, made from a large pearl.
The royal trip to the Netherlands was the Duchess' first official solo overseas visit and some commentators believe Kate will be an asset in helping to safeguard the UK's relations with its European neighbours as Brexit takes shape in the coming years.
The Duchess of Cambridge views Girl With A Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer at the Mauritshuis in The Hague
The visit comes a day after Prime Minister Theresa May was in the Netherlands for talks with her Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, to put forward her case for a fair deal for the UK with the European Union.
Mrs May also visited Denmark for talks with Prime Minister Lars-Lokke Rasmussen as part of her diplomatic offensive ahead of the formal beginning of the Brexit process.
Kate, who was dressed in a Catherine Walker suit, was wearing earrings loaned by the Queen when she saw the Vermeer during a visit to the Mauritshuis art museum in The Hague, for the opening of the exhibition 'At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection'.
One of the Queen's most senior aides, her private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt, joined Kate's small entourage - which may be interpreted by some as reflecting the importance of the trip.
But a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "The Duchess' visit centred on an exhibition featuring works from the Royal Collection. Sir Christopher attended in his capacity as a trustee of the Royal Collection."
Royal sources dismissed the speculation that Sir Christopher's presence was Brexit related, and said his joining the Duchess also reflected the close ties between the British and Dutch royal families.
Earlier Kate was welcomed to the Netherlands by the country's head of state King Willem-Alexander and she curtseyed to the foreign monarch before they had lunch at his royal residence Villa Eikenhorst near The Hague.
Kate toured the exhibition with Emilie Gordenker, one of the Mauritshuis' two directors, and stopped to admire Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.
The Duchess lingered in front of the Dutch masterpiece, made famous by the film of the same name starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson, to ensure that photographers had ample time to take their pictures of the girls in pearls.
The earrings were not the only things loaned by the Queen that were on display, as the main purpose of the Duchess's visit was to promote the exhibition of Dutch paintings from the Royal Collection.
As a graduate in history of art, the Duchess regarded the visit as "a real treat" according to Ms Gordenker, who showed her around the permanent collection as well as the Queen's paintings. She, too, had chosen pearl earrings for the occasion.
She said: "She didn't mention the earrings she was wearing but she was interested in the painting. She asked if it had become a lot more popular since the film came out, and I said it definitely had.
"The Duchess seemed to particularly enjoy seeing The Goldfinch, by Carel Fabritius, but she asked a lot of questions about the presentation of the paintings, because although she is familiar with a lot of the Queen's paintings she has never seen them in this setting before, which gives them a different context." mfl
The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at the De Bouwkeet Work Space, the social Makerspace of Bospolder-Tussendijken, in Rotterdam.
The Duchess of Cambridge meets well-wishers at the Mauritshuis in The Hague
The Duchess of Cambridge during a roundtable discussion at the British Ambassador's Residence in The Hague, Netherlands.
Kate is greeted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander upon her arrival in The Hague (AP)
Kate's first solo trip abroad is a royal rite of passage.
Kate wore a suit by Catherine Walker.
The Duchess of Cambridge arriving at the Mauritshuis in The Hague
A crowd gathered to welcome Kate
Kate arrives at the Mauritshuis in The Hague to visit an exhibition of 22 picture by Dutch artists loaned to the art gallery from the Royal Collection.
The crowd awaits the arrival of the Duchess of Cambridge.
Some commentators believe Kate will be an asset in helping to safeguard the UK's relations with its European neighbours as Brexit takes shape in the coming years.
Police warning after six people fall ill from 'bad batch' of drugs
Six people have been taken to hospital after taking a "bad batch" of so-called legal highs, police said.
Those involved in the incident in Newcastle are thought to have suffered an adverse reaction to new psychoactive substances (NPS), prompting Northumbria Police to issue a warning.
The drugs, including substances called Spice, Killer Smeg and SpongeBob, are thought to have been bought in the Eldron Square area of the city, known as Hippy Green.
Police urged anyone in possession of the new psychoactive substances to hand them in
None of the six is thought to be in a life-threatening condition, although they were kept in hospital overnight as a precaution.
Anyone with the NPS, formerly known as legal highs, has been urged to hand them in to police to avoid anyone coming to further harm.
Chief Inspector Barrie Joisce said: "So far we have not received any reports of a life-threatening reaction to these drugs but we are concerned that people could be putting themselves at risk.
"Here in Northumbria we have done a lot of work warning people about the dangers of legal highs and they were recently banned under new legislation brought in earlier this year.
"However, our priority is the safety of the public and we want to make sure that any substances that may cause harm to those using them should be taken off the streets.
"If you have drugs of this nature in your possession, or have any information about who may be distributing them, then contact police immediately."
'Far worse' footage of Donald Trump will not be shown, says Apprentice creator
Previously unreleased footage of Donald Trump on The Apprentice will not be made public despite suggestions that more damaging material is being held back, the show's creator has said.
A former producer on the US television series claimed there were "far worse" tapes of the Republican presidential candidate than the one released on Friday in which Mr Trump said being famous meant he could "do anything" to women.
Following the leak of the tape, Bill Pruitt tweeted: "As a producer on seasons 1 & 2 of #theapprentice I assure you: when it comes to the #trumptapes there are far worse. #justthebegininng."
Donald Trump featured on the US version of The Apprentice (AP)
But the show's creator, Mark Burnett, said that "various contractual and legal requirements" prevented him from making unreleased footage public.
"MGM owns Mark Burnett's production company and The Apprentice is one of its properties," Mr Burnett and MGM Holdings Inc- which acquired his production company - said in a statement to Variety magazine.
"Despite reports to the contrary, Mark Burnett does not have the ability nor the right to release footage or other material from The Apprentice. Various contractual and legal requirements also restrict MGM's ability to release such material."
Mr Burnett also said he had "consistently supported Democratic campaigns".
Pressure had been growing on the show's makers to release other unflattering footage it may own of Mr Trump following the leak on Friday.
Lord Alan Sugar, who presents the UK version of The Apprentice, tweeted: "I'm willing to bet NBC has some gems on Trump 11 years Apprentice."
He also tweeted TV network NBC saying: "You must have some unofficial rushes of Donald while recording the Apprentice over the 11 years. COME ON GROW A PAIR AND PUBLISH."
On the tape, Mr Trump, who was preparing for an appearance on the Days Of Our Lives show, said: "I am automatically attracted to beautiful women. I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss, I don't even wait... and when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."
"Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything."
The release led to several Republicans revoking their backing for their party's nominee - including Ohio senator Rob Portman, New Hampshire senator Kelly Ayotte, and Arizona senator John McCain.
Chilcot to be quizzed by MPs on Iraq War report fallout
The author of the scathing official report into the Iraq War is to be grilled by a panel of senior MPs on the fallout from his inquiry.
Sir John Chilcot, who has remained silent on the report since its publication in July, will appear before the House of Commons Liaison Committee on October 18.
After an inquiry lasting seven years, the Chilcot Report found that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein posed "no imminent threat" at the time of the invasion of his country in 2003, and the war was unleashed on the basis of "flawed" intelligence.
Sir John Chilcot presented the Iraq Inquiry Report in London in July
Its publication led to calls for the prosecution of Tony Blair, who was prime minister at the time of the war.
If you want to get a piece of information removed from the internet, there are few tools more powerful that a court judgment saying that it is defamatory. A judgment like that will get Google to de-index the result and frighten most web-hosts into getting rid of it. So it follows that the sleaziest end of the "reputation management" industry has occupied itself with securing these court orders at high volumes and low costs.
At least 25 US federal lawsuits appear to be part of such an effort. In these cases, lawyers or self-represented plaintiffs file defamation suits over online comments, then the defendants stipulate to the defamation in writing, and the plaintiff gets a judgment they can take to web-hosts and search engines.
But how to get defendants to agree that their remarks which are generally fair comment, and sometimes anonymous were illegal acts of defamation? By suing imaginary people. In these 25 cases, the "defendants" appear to be fictitious people.
In some cases the defendant isn't anonymous: Matthew Chan of Georgia, posted a negative online reviews of his local dentist, Mitul Patel; someone claiming to be Patel filed a lawsuit against Mathew Chan of Baltimore who appears to be a fictitious person. The stipulation that imaginary Baltimorean Chan sent to the court is an apparent forgery.
But that's not the only forgery: the legal filings on Patel's behalf also seem to have been forged, though no one knows exactly who forged them Patel can only say that he signed a "reputation defending" contract with a company owned by a guy named Richart Ruddie, whose name crops up a lot in these cases, including the oldest-known example of the genre, from 2015.
This kind of forgery doesn't always go smoothly, though. In one case, the forger claimed that a defendant called Robert Castle lived in Shasta County, California. The judge in Shasta County wanted to see this Castle fellow, so the forger simply walked away from the suit and filed it again in Los Angeles county, against the imaginary Shasta County Castle, and the judge there signed off on it.
In some cases, the accused defamer is anonymous, and in those cases, the forger has an easier job. Simply invent an imaginary person, have that person agree that they are the guilty party and sign a letter admitting it, and the court order is done.
There are at least 25 cases like this, and their filings have a lot of cut-and-pasted text, suggesting a common author. In a careful investigative report, UCLA law prof Eugene Volokh and Public Citizen attorney Paul Alan Levy raise a body of evidence that suggests that Richart Ruddie is the culprit; Ruddie runs "reputation management" companies that offer "permanent removal" of embarrassing online content, starting at $6,000 and going up from there.
The people who hired Ruddie to scrub their online reputations say they didn't authorize him to file these fraudulent lawsuits and claim that their signatures were forged on court documents.
These sorts of shenanigans are radioactively illegal, and fall into the danger zone of things-that-make-judges-look-stupid, and given that those same judges will potentially decide the fate of those who perpetrated the forgeries, it looks grim for them.
B. After Matthew Chan filed a motion to vacate the Maryland state court "consent order," the ostensible plaintiff (Mitul Patel) filed his own motion to vacate, stating to the court that Patel "has been caused to suffer negative publicity via internet news blogs as a result of the attempt by the party purporting to be Plaintiff MITUL R. PATEL's attempts to have negative reviews of [Patel's] Dental practice removed from internet review websites." Patel's motion states that Patel did not actually file the lawsuit, and it attaches a letter from Patel's lawyer to Richart Ruddie. The letter alleges that Patel had signed an SEO contract with a Ruddie-led entity called "SEO Profile Defense Network LLC," and alleges that this entity "apparently forged Dr. Patel's signature to a Complaint and Consent Motion." (Patel's lawyer has steadfastly refused to produce the contract in question.) C. We likewise have confirmation that Profile Defenders, a Richart Ruddie company, was hired by two of the plaintiffs in the other cases that fit the pattern we described in the opening paragraphs. D. The earliest case that we could find fitting this general pattern was filed in November 2015 and it had as the plaintiff R. Derek Ruddie in Owings Mills, Md. Richart Ruddie was apparently born in Owings Mills, and Derrek (though with two r's) appears to be his middle name; the address given in court documents has been associated with Richart Ruddie in various records. And the monthly payments under the reputation management contract signed by Rescue One Financial are to be made to Ruddie's company at a bank located in Owings Mills.
Dozens of suspicious court cases, with missing defendants, aim at getting web pages taken down or deindexed
[Eugene Volokh and Paul Alan Levy/Washington Post]
(via /.)
NHS whistleblower whose parents suffered at Mid Staffs trust could lose job
An NHS whistleblower whose parents were mistreated during the scandal at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust is facing the prospect of losing her job.
NHS manager Jade Taylor, who has previously met with the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to discuss the way whistleblowers are treated in the health service, said she is to be dismissed from her role at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
The dismissal comes after she raised a "plethora of concerns" including issues over patient safety, she said.
Jade Taylor is facing the prospect of losing her job (PA)
The 46-year-old, who has been off work sick for about a year due to stress and a mild heart condition, said she will be sacked from her role as team leader of intermediate care in Reading, on Wednesday.
Over the last three years she had raised concerns about a number of issues at the trust including unsafe staffing levels, bullying from senior managers and an "unsafe referral pathway", Miss Taylor said.
Miss Taylor, from Marlborough in Wiltshire, said she is acutely aware of safety issues after both her late mother and late stepfather suffered while receiving care at Mid Staffs.
In 2006 her stepfather received care at the now defunct trust, as well as two other NHS organisations. He later died after contracting an infection following surgery to remove a tumour, she said.
Then in 2008 her mother, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, was seen at Stafford Hospital's A&E where she was admitted to stay overnight. Miss Taylor said her mother was discharged inappropriately on her own the next day which caused considerable distress to the family.
"Because of these experiences - whistleblowing was a real issue in Stafford - because of that I'm not going to give up on raising my concerns," she said.
"My late mum and step dad were in the Mid Staffs disaster, that has had its own impact.
"To go through the situation I have gone through where I have raised concerns where they haven't always been handled that well, and the process to support me through that has not been helpful at all."
When asked why she was being dismissed by the trust, she said: "They are saying that I have lost trust and confidence in them."
She added: "This is another case of whistleblower detriment, really."
Miss Taylor continued: "I am not resigning and I want to work at the trust. I haven't lost trust or confidence in them and I want them to deal with the investigations properly.
Miss Taylor, who has worked at the trust for five years, said she had not received an occupational health assessment, despite being off for almost a year.
The trained nurse said that earlier this year she had met with Jeremy Hunt and asked for a fresh public inquiry into whistleblowing.
She also gave evidence to Sir Robert Francis' Freedom to Speak review, she added.
A spokeswoman for Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: " We are unable to comment directly about Jade's case as it is ongoing and we respect her right to confidentiality.
" However, we take concerns about patient safety and quality of care extremely seriously and have a strong culture of encouraging and supporting our staff to speak up.
"To date, all whistleblowing cases raised with us have been thoroughly investigated to the full satisfaction of our regulators, and where necessary we have implemented improvements to address any lessons learned."
Johnson calls for anti-war protests outside Russian embassy over Syria
Boris Johnson has called for demonstrations to take place outside Russia's embassy over Moscow's involvement in the Syrian conflict.
The Foreign Secretary warned that the "wells of outrage are growing exhausted" as MPs expressed their horror at the human suffering caused by the bombing of the city of Aleppo.
He said the Government would consider calls from numerous MPs to look at setting up a no-fly zone in the region but insisted the UK could only commit to it if it was willing to shoot down offending aircraft.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in the House of Commons
Mr Johnson said: "It is the UK week after week that is taking the lead together with our allies in America and in France, all the like-minded nations, in highlighting what is happening in Syria to a world where, I'm afraid, the wells of outrage are growing exhausted."
He added: "There is no commensurate horror, it seems to me, amongst some of those anti-war protest groups.
"I'd certainly like to see demonstrations outside the Russian embassy.
"Where is the Stop The War Coalition at the moment? Where are they?"
MPs claimed during an emergency Commons debate that Russia is responsible for committing war crimes in Syria as they called for Britain to review its relationship with President Vladimir Putin's regime.
Former cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell opened the debate having already compared Russia's attacks on Aleppo to the Nazi regime's bombing of Guernica during the Spanish civil war.
He said: "The effects of the crisis in Syria on our children and our grandchildren will be every bit as great as the effects of Brexit."
He also pressed Mr Johnson to meet with former prime minister Sir John Major to discuss how he helped impose a no-fly zone in northern Iraq in the 1990s.
Mr Johnson said he was willing to talk to "everybody involved in the 1991 effort".
Conservative Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling), who served in the British Army, was one of many MPs who called for the introduction of a no-fly zone.
"Militarily there is no reason we could not enforce a no-fly zone that is affecting so many people," he said.
Tory Bob Stewart, a former United Nations commander in Bosnia, added: "I've operated under a no-fly zone. It is practicable. It can work."
Mr Johnson said the Government "must work through all these types of options" but warned: "We cannot do that unless we are prepared to shoot down planes or helicopters that violate that zone and we need to think very carefully about the consequences."
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry described the situation in Aleppo as "truly a hell on earth" with civilians "trapped" and "desperately in need of food, clean water and medical care".
"It is a scale of suffering beyond our comprehension," she said.
She stressed the importance of the UK working with Russia to re-establish a ceasefire as she also criticised the Government for continuing to sell arms to Saudi Arabia which stands accused of breaching international humanitarian law in the war in Yemen.
She said: "We cannot cry for the people of Aleppo and the suffering that they face while turning a blind eye to the million children in Yemen facing starvation today."
Meanwhile, Conservative former minister Jonathan Djanogly suggested the UK should reconsider its relationship with Russia.
"On the one hand we see the Russians dropping bunker bombs on hospitals, but on the other hand we're allowing them to come and trade in our country as though nothing is going on," he said.
"Does this not need a general review of our relationship with Russia?"
Labour's Ann Clwyd, who served as special envoy on human rights in Iraq from 2003 until 2010, called for protests to take place outside Russian embassies across the world "until the bombing campaign stops".
There were also calls for evidence to be secured now for potential war crimes prosecutions and for the UK to track all Russian and Assad regime aircraft operating in the region.
Mr Johnson suggested Russia's current course of action risked turning the country into an international outcast.
Ex-border chief urges illegal immigrants amnesty for sake of post-Brexit system
An amnesty should be offered to illegal immigrants in the UK, according to a former border chief.
Rob Whiteman argued the move would make the post-Brexit system "manageable", with the Home Office set to see its workload increase in the wake of the referendum outcome in June.
There are no official figures on the scale of illegal migration in the UK.
Rob Whiteman called for an amnesty for illegal immigrants
Mr Whiteman, who was chief executive of the UK Border Agency from 2011 to 2013, said some academic studies estimate there may be as many as 500,000 people - while campaign group Migration Watch thinks it could be more than one million.
He described the latter as "more likely" and predicted the number will continue to grow.
In an article published by the Guardian, Mr Whiteman said: "Tackling this caseload is massive.
"Scant resources are rightly focused on higher risk individuals, such as foreign-national offenders who are deported on expiry of their sentence."
He said the Government has made real progress - but better control cannot reverse the fact that the system has been abused and "some people are still here after many years".
The vast majority of cases of illegal migration are not active and staff resources could not cope if they were, Mr Whiteman added.
He said: "An appropriate amnesty would make our post-Brexit system manageable, optimise resources to focus on new cases and also strengthen border control around our lengthy coastline."
As seen in the US, this type of amnesty is "controversial", Mr Whiteman said, with arguments against including that it may send the wrong signal to future would-be illegal entrants.
"And where is a line drawn to allow many to remain and the remainder to still face potential deportation?" the article added.
It went on: "But the prize of taking a bold step will be considerable. It could shift the public mood, with people here because they are allowed to be here, and would enable the Government to tackle higher risk cases and improve its post-Brexit border operations."
An amnesty for appropriate cases would also end uncertainty for hundreds of thousands of people "in limbo" who are neither allowed to stay but likely to never leave or be deported, he added.
Mr Whiteman said the next five years will see considerable work for Home Office staff managing the border, immigration and passport systems.
He argued that it is doubtful that the department, even with more staff, will easily cope with the new workload "unless a line is drawn on much of the historic caseload, often going back for many years".
Britain is expected to seek to introduce controls on free movement following the referendum in June, with the details of any future system yet to be outlined.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The Government is taking and will continue to take action to tackle and prevent illegal immigration.
Right-wing protesters 'got more than they bargained for' in street clashes
A group of right-wing protesters who were shouting "vile racist abuse" after a demonstration in Rotherham "got rather more than they bargained for" when violence broke out in the centre of the town, a court has heard.
A jury was shown CCTV footage of violent scenes in the South Yorkshire town when a group associated with the far-right Britain First group clashed with a group of mainly Asian men.
The footage showed fighting in the street between the two groups before police arrived in numbers to part them.
Ten men face trial at Sheffield Crown Court
It was shown at Sheffield Crown Court at the opening of the trial of 10 Asian men who all claim they were acting in self-defence or defending others after they were attacked following a right-wing demonstration and anti-fascist counter protest in Rotherham on September 5 last year.
Opening the case, prosecutor Paul O'Shea said 800 police were on duty in Rotherham for the Saturday afternoon protests.
He said the planned demonstration by Britain First and other groups, including Yorkshire's Finest, was the latest in a long series of right-wing protests prompted by the revelations of child sexual exploitation in the town.
Mr O'Shea said the protests had caused a number of problems for people in Rotherham.
But, he said, this one had provoked added local anger as it followed the racist murder of 81-year-old Mushin Ahmed, who was attacked on his way to the mosque in Rotherham on August 10 2015.
"It is in the context of that incident, which you can well appreciate caused shock and outrage in the local community, that on September 5, when yet another march was planned, the local community did involve itself in the counter-protest," Mr O'Shea told the jury.
"The death of that man had a profound impact and the attendance yet again of those espousing certain views and opinions on this occasion was not something that could be ignored. People had had enough."
Mr O'Shea explained how the violence erupted as people were leaving the rival demonstrations and after a group associated with Britain First had gone into a pub called the William Fry, known as The Fry.
The prosecutor said: "The Crown say in the clearest of terms to you that the men in The Fry, or at least some of them, were drunk, aggressive and shouting vile racist abuse at the Asian men - 'Come on you P*ki bastards' and other similarly offensive phrases. Not exactly original but certainly offensive.
"They were, you may think, out to cause trouble and, when the opportunity presented itself, they took it.
"But they got rather more than they bargained for here, and fairly quickly, because they became significantly outnumbered by a great many men, many of whom were on the way home from the counter-protest.
"Having started the trouble, as often happens in these sorts of circumstances, they found themselves in serious trouble themselves and on the receiving end of something that they started."
Mr O'Shea said the 10 men on trial were part of the group of Asian men. Those from the "other side" will go on trial at a later date, he told the jury.
He said: "All of them (the defendants) suggest that whatever it was that they did was in reasonable self-defence in respect of themselves as individuals, defence of another person or persons."
Asif Zaman, 47, of Wellgate Mount, Rotherham; Mohammed Saleem, 43, of Mount Street, Rotherham; Arshad Khan, 44, of Wellgate Mount, Rotherham; Abrar Javid, 37, of St Johns Road, Rotherham; Imran Iqbal, 29, of Clough Road, Rotherham; Nasrum Rashid, 21, of Fraser Road, Rotherham; Moshin Mahmood, of James Street, Rotherham; Sadaqat Ali, 39, of Milton Road, Rotherham; Shaban Ditta, 31, of Cambridge Crescent, Rotherham; and Akaash Nazir, 21, of Cow Rakes Lane, Rotherham, all deny violent disorder.
Zaman also denies possession of an offensive weapon.
The jury was told that two other men have admitted violent disorder.
We can't afford to not educate girls, Michelle Obama tells pupils
The world cannot afford not to educate girls, Michelle Obama has said, as she credited education with putting her in the position she holds today.
The First Lady was speaking during a Skype conversation with young females around the world to mark International Day of the Girl.
Mrs Obama has been a strong advocate of education rights for women, having launched the Let Girls Learn initiative aiming to help more than 62 million girls not in school across the globe.
Michelle Obama appears via video link as part of a live conversation with pupils at the Mulberry School for Girls in London, as well as other girls around the world
Among those taking part in the online discussion were pupils from Mulberry School For Girls in London, which Mrs Obama visited last year to give an empowering speech on the benefits of education.
Mrs Obama, speaking from the Newseum in Washington DC on Tuesday, said: "Education is a very personal thing for me, as I tell girls whenever I meet them.
"I wouldn't be here sitting here, not just in this chair, but in the life that I have if it weren't for my education."
She said it is her "mission" to help girls everywhere have access to the same opportunities to learn and thrive.
She told those gathered and others watching online: "Making sure that girls around the world who are just as bright, just as able as me, have the same opportunities to take their education seriously, to have access, has become a mission that I take very seriously.
"This is something that means a great deal. We can't afford not to educate girls and give women the power and the access that they need so we're going to keep working hard."
Mrs Obama, who took questions from schoolgirls in locations including Cambodia and Tanzania, said she wanted to push the message that young girls in countries with free access to education should not take this opportunity for granted.
She said: "I want kids here in the United States and in other parts of the world to understand that there are girls that are willing to give their life, they are literally dying trying to get the education that many of us take for granted.
"And if we really want to honour these girls like Malala (Yousafzai) and like the girls in Nigeria (abducted by Boko Haram) and girls in Tanzania who would give anything to get an education, then the very first thing we have to do is take our education seriously and not take it for granted - to be that voice."
She added: "So this is one of the reasons why we can't afford to ignore this issue."
Mrs Obama said the advice she would give her 16-year-old self, and a message she gives her daughters "every day" is: "Do not be afraid to fail."
The First Lady said her work on the issue of education will continue long after she leaves the White House with President Obama in January, when a new President is inaugurated.
She laughed when one of the pupils in Tanzania addressed her as "First Lady of the World", replying: "I like that promotion, thank you."
Merchant ships off Yemen brace for more danger after attacks on navy craft
By Jonathan Saul
LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Missile attacks from Yemen on Western military craft risk spilling over into nearby busy sea lanes which could disrupt oil supplies and also other vital goods passing through the tense area, shipping and insurance sources say.
While shipping companies have yet to divert ships, there are growing worries that any further escalation could hinder oil supplies and potentially lead to higher insurance costs for shipments.
The route is among the world's busiest and used by major shipping groups such as container line Maersk and oil tanker carriers including Norway's Frontline and Iran's NITC, which has benefited this year from the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran.
A ship insurance source said some ships coming into Yemeni ports were already switching off their tracking systems, which allow anyone to monitor their movements via the Internet, due to the violence in the country.
The source said war risk insurance premiums to Yemeni ports such as Hodaida in the north, already amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars of cover for every vessel.
A U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer was targeted on Sunday in a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, a U.S. military spokesman said, although the ship was not hit.
The Houthi movement on Monday denied its forces had carried out a missile attack on a U.S. warship.
The attempted strike on the USS Mason came just a week after a United Arab Emirates vessel was attacked by Houthis and suggests growing risks to the U.S. military from Yemen's conflict.
The attacks took place around the Bab al-Mandab gateway though which nearly four million barrels of oil are shipped daily to Europe, the United States and Asia.
"The Bab al-Mandab is a vital artery for shipping," said Gavin Simmonds, security and commercial policy director with the UK Chamber of Shipping.
"International shipping is totally dependent on the ability of the international community to provide safe transit of commercial vessels along major sea lanes."
The UN last week said it took threats to shipping around Bab al-Mandeb "extremely seriously".
"It is a deteriorating situation and it is worrying that this longer range weaponry is being used in the area," said Phillip Belcher marine director with INTERTANKO, an association which represents the majority of the world's tanker fleet.
Yemen has a 1,900-km (1,181 mile) coastline that also juts into the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea - a vast area to police given international navies are already stretched combating Somali piracy in the region, which had been contained in recent years.
The U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence said in a report last week commercial ships in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and Gulf of Aden areas should operate "under a heightened state of alert as increasing tensions in the region escalate the potential for direct or collateral damage to vessels transiting the region".
Riyadh is leading a coalition of Arab states which began launching air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen 18 months ago to restore to power ousted President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi.
Gabon doctor who catalogued post-electoral violence detained
DAKAR, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A doctor in Gabon who helped treat and catalogue injuries inflicted on protesters during the violent aftermath of a disputed August election has been detained for four days, a relative and rights activists said on Monday.
Sylvie Nkoghe-Mbot was arrested on Thursday at a Libreville hospital where she was visiting victims wounded last month during a rare bout of violence in the Central African country after the re-election of President Ali Bongo, her brother told Reuters.
"We still have not been told why she was detained and we haven't been able to communicate with her," said Rene Nkoghe, reached by telephone. "Everytime we ask questions the answer is no," he added.
The announcement of Bongo's narrow victory on Aug. 31 sparked immediate allegations of fraud from the opposition, led by Jean Ping, and mass protests during which the Parliament building was badly burned.
Activists say Nkoghe-Mbot, also a union leader for medical workers, filed a "preliminary report" on Sept. 8 documenting the injuries of victims inflicted by security forces.
A rights activist who read it said she reported six deaths and 30 injuries, some from bullets, as well as allegations of torture. The government has claimed just three people were killed, including one police officer.
The government has denied any wrongdoing in the polls and the country's highest court rejected the opposition's appeal for a recount on Sept. 23 and calm has since prevailed.
Colombia to start peace talks with ELN rebels on Oct. 27
By Helen Murphy and Eyanir Chinea
BOGOTA/CARACAS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Colombia's government and second-biggest rebel group announced on Monday they will start formal peace talks on Oct. 27 in a boost for President Juan Manuel Santos after the rejection of his deal with the larger FARC guerrilla group.
The negotiations with the 2,000-strong National Liberation Army (ELN) will begin in Ecuador, according to an agreement signed in Caracas by both sides under the auspices of Venezuela's government.
"We are a special nation that grows despite adversities," Santos said in a speech after the announcement. "Peace won't slip through our fingers. On the contrary, it will be stronger, and now that we will advance with the ELN, it will be complete."
Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize last week for his efforts to end a 52-year-old war with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia: a surprising choice given voters narrowly rejected a deal he signed with them last month.
At war for five decades after being founded by radical Catholic priests and inspired by Cuba's revolution, the ELN has been in on-and-off closed-door talks with the government since January 2014 on how the two sides would conduct peace negotiations and what would be on the table.
It has remained active during that time, kidnapping and bombing oil installations, though in recent months it has released some captives. Monday's agreement said proceedings would begin to release two remaining hostages by Oct. 27.
The ELN has sought peace before, holding talks in Cuba and Venezuela between 2002 and 2007.
While Santos' peace accord with the FARC was internationally lauded, it was narrowly rebuffed in a plebiscite as too lenient on the rebels, who formed in 1964 as a peasant rebellion.
Former President Alvaro Uribe is now leading the effort to change the agreement that would have given the FARC guaranteed congressional seats and immunity from traditional jail sentences. His side won by half a percentage point.
Peace with the two groups is unlikely to put a complete end to violence in a country also ravaged by unrest from drug trafficking and other crime. But it would allow economic development in once off-limits areas and shift more military resources to fighting growing criminal gangs.
Santos, whose two-term rule ends in August 2018, has staked his reputation on inking peace deals with both rebel groups.
China denies allegations its peacekeepers abandoned S.Sudan posts
SHANGHAI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - China's defence ministry has rejected as "malicious speculation" allegations by a U.S.-based group that Chinese peacekeepers had abandoned their posts in South Sudan in July instead of protecting civilians.
Chinese troops are part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, which has been ravaged by conflict between rival forces loyal to the President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar.
The Center For Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) said in a report published last week that Chinese peacekeepers with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) had withdrawn from a civilian protection zone in July after coming under attack.
The CIVIC report said the Chinese peacekeepers abandoned their posts in the South Sudanese capital of Juba on July 11, a day after a rocket-propelled grenade had exploded near a Chinese armoured personnel carrier, killing two Chinese soldiers.
Yang Yujun, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Defence, said in comments published on the ministry's official website (http://www.mod.gov.cn) that the report was "malicious speculation".
He said China's peacekeeping forces carried out the instructions of the U.N. mission in a responsible manner and did its utmost to guarantee the safety of civilians and other peacekeepers.
"Chinese peacekeeping officers and soldiers remained at their posts, quickly organising reinforcements and continuing to implement the mandate of UNMISS while rescuing wounded soldiers," Yang said.
Clinton weighed reinstating Glass-Steagall, Wikileaks emails show
By Amanda Becker and Luciana Lopez
Oct 10 (Reuters) - A longtime political adviser to Hillary Clinton last year urged her presidential campaign to support a new version of a law that separated commercial and investment banking to avoid antagonizing the Democratic Party's progressive wing, according to emails published by Wikileaks on Monday.
Mandy Grunwald, an outside adviser to Clinton, urged Clinton's policy team in October 2015, just days before a Wall Street policy rollout, to consider endorsing a new version of the Glass-Steagall Act, according to an email reviewed by Reuters.
The Glass-Steagall Act was a Depression-era law that prohibited commercial banks from engaging in risky trading activities. The 1933 law was repealed in 1999 during the presidency of Bill Clinton when he passed legislation removing barriers between commercial banks, investment banks and insurance companies.
Many Democratic activists believe that reinstating the Glass-Steagall law and breaking up large financial institutions would help prevent future financial crises such as the one that rocked the U.S. economy in 2008.
Grunwald said if Clinton did not back a new Glass-Steagall, she risked alienating liberal U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, an outspoken critic of Wall Street who is popular in the left wing of the Democratic Party.
The Clinton campaign would neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of the latest batch of hacked emails of Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta released by Wikileaks.
The U.S. government last week formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations, a charge Russia has denied. As a result, Clinton campaign officials and supporters have warned that such email releases could include fraudulent or misleading documents among genuine emails.
At the time of Grunwald's email, Clinton's primary debates against her then-rival U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont were fast approaching. Grunwald worried that if Clinton did not support a new Glass-Steagall law, it would make it more difficult to defend her plan to curb Wall Street risk.
It could also prompt Warren to endorse Sanders, Grunwald wrote in the email released by Wikileaks.
Grunwald said that in conversations with Clinton, the former secretary of state had indicated she was "leaning toward endorsing Glass Steagall," instead of or in addition to the risk-based approach she ultimately announced.
"I understand we face phoniness charges if we 'change' our position now - but we face risks this way too," Grunwald wrote, adding that Clinton's policy team told her it should be a political decision.
In the weeks after the email, Clinton announced that she would look to break up large banks based on the risk they posed to the economy, not based on size alone or type of investment activity. Clinton also proposed levying a "risk fee" on the liabilities of banks with more than $50 billion in assets, saying it was a more comprehensive approach.
Democratic Party sources told Reuters on Monday they believe that around 50,000 of Podesta's emails are in the possession of Wikileaks and they expect them to be dribbled out periodically between now and the Nov. 8 election between Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
A previous dump of hacked emails from Podesta on Friday included what appear to be excerpts from paid speeches that Clinton made to Wall Street, which her campaign had refused to release.
Colombia's Uribe presents proposals for peace accord changes
BOGOTA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe on Monday proposed that leaders of the Marxist FARC rebel group lose their freedom for at least five years and they would be banned from elected office as part of changes to a peace deal between the government and the insurgents.
Uribe, now a popular opposition senator, led the group of Colombians that narrowly rejected a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a plebiscite last week, throwing a long negotiation to end the 52-year war into limbo.
Representatives of those who voted "No" presented the government with the first in a series of changes they want implemented in the accord which was signed on Sept. 26 by President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, better known by his nom de guerre Timochenko.
Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to end the war.
Uribe opposed FARC leaders receiving non-traditional sentences like clearing landmines, and instead insisted that those found guilty of war-time crimes should lose their freedom for between five and eight years even if they are held on agricultural farms.
He also wants them banned from holding elected office.
Although the FARC has said it is willing to hear new ideas, Uribe's proposals may be difficult for its leadership to accept, given they have repeatedly refused to consider jail time and they want to form a political party.
Uribe, who scored major military gains against the FARC when he was president, fought against the negotiations since Santos began the peace talks in 2012, describing them as far too lenient on rebel leaders and a national embarrassment.
He accused Santos of selling out Colombians by promising 10 congressional seats instead of prison cells in return for ending a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people.
Santos said they must move quickly to present the new ideas to the FARC.
"What's vital now is that we get over this uncertainty quickly," he said in a speech after announcing peace talks with the second biggest rebel group, the ELN.
"They mustn't be impossible proposals."
Uribe also proposed that as many as 7,000 FARC fighters who have not been involved in serious crimes should receive amnesty and help eradicate coca, the raw material that goes to make cocaine.
But those involved in drug trafficking should be tried as ordinary criminals and not be judged for political crimes.
Singapore directs Falcon Bank to stop operations in Singapore
SINGAPORE, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has asked Swiss wealth manager Falcon Private Bank Ltd to cease operations in the city state over lapses related to handling fund flows with scandal-hit Malaysian sovereign fund 1MDB.
The move comes after MAS - Singapore's central bank - in May ordered the shutdown of Swiss private bank BSI and subsequently charged people in connection with the probe and froze assets linked to 1MDB. It also imposed financial penalties on DBS Bank and the Singapore branch of UBS AG for breaches of AML requirements.
"Falcon Bank has demonstrated a persistent and severe lack of understanding of MAS' AML (anti money laundering) requirements and expectations," MAS said in a statement on Tuesday.
U.N. chief: little action on S.Sudan pledge to allow more peacekeepers
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A pledge by South Sudan's government to allow the deployment of more U.N. peacekeepers and to improve access for U.N. troops already on the ground in a bid to avoid an arms embargo is yet to translate into action, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.
President Salva Kiir agreed during a U.N. Security Council visit to South Sudan last month to accept 4,000 extra peacekeepers and to allow some 12,000 peacekeepers already on the ground to move around freely in order to protect civilians.
In an August resolution - after heavy fighting in July in the capital, Juba - the 15-member council had threatened to consider a possible arms embargo within five days of a report by Ban that Kiir's government was not fulfilling both measures.
In a letter to the council on Monday, seen by Reuters, Ban said "while the public commitments and relative improvements ... are a welcome sign, it will take some time to evaluate whether these commitments translate into improved freedom of movement on the ground or amount to business as usual."
It was not immediately clear if Ban's letter would trigger a consideration by the council of an arms embargo on South Sudan.
Political rivalry between Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer, sparked a civil war in 2013 that has often followed ethnic lines. The pair signed a shaky peace deal a year ago, but fighting has continued and Machar fled the country after the July violence. He is now in Khartoum.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
Ban said that, while the deployment of more peacekeepers and the improvement of access for U.N. troops and aid workers already on the ground "would help alleviate some of the suffering of the people of South Sudan, they will not resolve the conflict."
He said the war was "a direct result of serious shortcomings in governance and the instrumentalization of ethnicity to further political objectives" and expressed concern about a recent call to arms by Machar.
Ban said Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda had agreed to provide peacekeepers for the 4,000-strong regional protection force, charged with enforcing peace in Juba and protecting the airport and other key facilities, but that the South Sudanese government had not yet given its approval.
Ban said a note verbale had been sent to the South Sudanese mission to the United Nations in New York, naming the troop-contributing countries and stating that, if a response was not received from Kiir's government by Sept. 26, the United Nations would begin preparing the deployment.
South Korea summons China ambassador over fishing boat clash
SEOUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - South Korea summoned China's ambassador on Tuesday to protest against what it says was a deliberate collision by a Chinese fishing vessel with a South Korean coast guard patrol boat that later capsized and sank.
Disputes over illegal fishing are an irritant in relations between China and U.S. ally South Korea, even as their economic relations grow close. They also share concern about North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programmes.
South Korea's Ministry of Public Safety and Security, which oversees the coast guard, said one of its patrol boats sank last week during an operation to crack down on a group of Chinese vessels fishing illegally off the Korean peninsula's west coast. It said the patrol boat was rammed by one of the Chinese vessels.
No injuries were reported from the incident.
South Korean media reports have said the Chinese vessel fled the scene and was believed to have returned to its home port.
Qiu Guohong, China's ambassador to South Korea, did not comment to reporters as he arrived at the foreign ministry.
China's coast guard is also looking into the incident to identify the fishing boat accused of crashing into the South Korean coast guard vessel after requests by its South Korean counterpart, the Ministry of Public Safety and Security said in a statement on Monday.
South Korean coastguard vessels regularly chase Chinese boats for fishing illegally off its coast, at times resulting in violent confrontations at sea.
Three Chinese fishermen were killed last month in a fire that broke out on their boat when a South Korean coast guard crew trying to apprehend them for illegal fishing threw flash grenades into a room in which they were hiding, according to a South Korean official.
In June, South Korea and the United Nations Command, which oversees the Korean War armistice, launched a joint operation to keep Chinese fishing vessels from operating illegally off South Korea's west coast.
BP scraps plan to drill off Australia's south coast
By Sonali Paul and Karolin Schaps
MELBOURNE/LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Oil major BP has scrapped plans to drill for oil and gas off the southern coast of Australia because it is too expensive in the face of low oil prices that have prompted heavy cost-cutting across the sector.
The Great Australian Bight project has been condemned by environmental groups who say it would damage whale and sea lion breeding grounds, but BP's withdrawal can only be viewed as a partial victory for campaigners because the company and a number of others still hold exploration permits for the area.
BP said the project, in which it is partnered by Norway's Statoil, would not be able to compete for capital investment with other opportunities in its global portfolio for the foreseeable future.
"This decision isn't a result of a change in our view of the prospectivity of the region, nor of the ongoing regulatory process," BP's head of exploration and production in Australia, Claire Fitzpatrick, said in a statement.
"It is an outcome of our strategy and the relative competitiveness of this project in our portfolio."
BP has cut its investment budget drastically this year to less than $17 billion, compared with $23 billion two years ago. Exploration activities have been hit particularly hard and a reshuffling of operations led to the departure of its exploration chief four months ago.
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets estimate that BP's exploration spending will fall to $1 billion this year, compared with about $5 billion in 2013.
"This decision continues the trend in the sector, with the majors moving away from frontier drilling and towards lower-risk, nearer-return prospects," RBC Capital Markets analyst Biraj Borkhataria said.
BP did not disclose how much the project would have cost or what oil price it needs to make the project viable. Benchmark Brent crude prices were trading at less than $53 a barrel on Tuesday, compared with more than $90 two years ago.
Shares in BP were virtually unchanged at 1055 GMT, slightly outperforming a 0.1 percent decline for the sector index.
BP was forced to revise its Bight plans late last year and was awaiting decisions by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority on two wells this month and a broader environmental plan by the end of the year.
MULTIPLE PERMITS
The agency said on Tuesday that it had yet to receive a request from BP to withdraw its application.
The Wilderness Society, which has long fought to stop drilling in the Great Australian Bight area that also contains a protected marine park, on Tuesday urged the federal government to terminate BP's leases and cancel all exploration permits in the basin.
"We should not be expanding the fossil fuel industry into pristine treacherous seas where the risk of spills is far greater than we've seen before," the society's national director, Lyndon Schneiders, said in a statement.
Others with exploration permits include Chevron Corp , Karoon Gas Australia and Murphy Oil in conjunction with Santos.
Karoon, which won an exploration permit only last week, described the Bight as Australia's "most active and prospective frontier oil exploration province".
Industry consultant Wood Mackenzie has estimated that the area could hold 1.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent, making it a potentially major resource.
BP said that Statoil, a 30 percent partner in the exploration licences for four blocks in the Bight, had accepted its decision to withdraw. ($1 = 1.3187 Australian dollars)
Thais wear auspicious pink to help hospitalised king recover
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat
BANGKOK, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Thais on Tuesday wore pink for 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a colour they believe will help improve the monarch's health, two days after the palace said he was in an unstable condition.
King Bhumibol, the world's longest reigning monarch, is widely revered in Thailand. During his seven decades on the throne the king, who is also seen as a unifying force for the country, has intervened when events threatened to plunge Thailand into crisis.
The palace said on Sunday the king's health was "not stable" following haemodialysis treatment in hospital, a process to purify the blood. It said a ventilator was deployed after the monarch's blood pressure dropped.
It is unusual for the palace to state that the king's health is not stable. Statements on the king's are usually issued after the monarch's condition shows improvement.
Many Thais are highly superstitious and some believe brightly coloured clothes can attract good luck.
Messages shared on social media since the palace statement have urged Thais to wear pink, a colour which first became important a few years ago when royal astrologers said it was good for the king and would promote wellbeing. Since then, the king has sometimes been seen in public wearing pink.
In Bangkok's Silom district, Chay Chinapairot, 46, a government employee, was among those wearing pink.
"I'm very concerned. I might wear pink every day," he said.
One Facebook page called 'We Love Thai King', which has more than 2.5 million members, used the social media hashtag #wishthathismajestyrecoverssoon in the Thai language.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and members of his cabinet were expected to sign a get-well book for the king at Bangkok's Grand Palace on Tuesday. Wat Pathum Wanaram, a temple in the city's main shopping district, said monks would chant prayers for the king.
Well-wishers on Tuesday flocked to Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok where the king has spent much of the past year.
News about the king's health is closely monitored and the wording of palace statements on the king's health is intensely scrutinized.
Strict laws protecting the royal family suppresses any public discussion of the king's health.
China berates visiting New Zealand defence minister over South China Sea stance
By Ben Blanchard
BEIJING, Oct 11 (Reuters) - China rebuked New Zealand's defence minister at the opening of a high-profile security forum in Beijing on Tuesday, criticising his stance on tension in the disputed South China Sea, saying countries "not involved" should not interfere.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion worth of trade passes each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
An international tribunal in the Hague ruled in July that China had no historic title over the waters and had breached the Philippines' sovereign rights there. That decision infuriated Beijing, which dismissed the court's authority.
We "hope that countries who are not involved in the disputes respect the countries who are having the disputes to ... work among themselves," Fu Ying, chairwoman of China's foreign affairs committee for parliament, said at the Xiangshan Forum, which China styles as its answer to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore.
"Outside involvement, I think the developments have shown, interferences, can only complicate the differences and sometimes even add to the tension," said Fu, a former deputy foreign minister who was chairing the session.
Fu's comments came in response to remarks by New Zealand Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee about his country's concerns over the South China Sea.
"We oppose actions that undermine peace and erode trust and would like to see all parties actively take steps to reduce those tensions," Brownlee said.
"As a small maritime trading nation, international law and, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is important for New Zealand. We support the arbitral process and believe that countries have the right to seek that international resolution," he said.
This is not the first time China has clashed with New Zealand over the dispute.
In February, New Zealand urged Chinese restraint after Beijing's apparent deployment of an advanced missile system on a South China Sea island, while Beijing said New Zealand's proposal was "unconstructive".
Brownlee on Tuesday honed in on the issue of China's building of artificial islands in the territory, including new airstrips, which has rattled nerves around the region.
"A particular cause of ... heightened tension has been the reclamation and construction activity and deployment of military assets in disputed areas," he said.
China says much of the building and reclamation work it has been doing in the South China Sea is to benefit the international community, including improving civilian maritime navigation.
After Fu's response, Brownlee told Reuters it was reasonable for New Zealand to express its concerns, which represent smaller countries as well, as all parties are able to have a say.
Since the ruling, China and members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) have been trying to reduce tension in the region.
Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan told the forum that China and ASEAN would hold maritime drills next year, though he gave no details, adding China was willing to "manage disputes".
A Malaysian general told Reuters on the sidelines of the forum that China had been exercising restraint, with no increase in Chinese military activity in the parts of the South China Sea Malaysia claims.
PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - Oct 11
SOFIA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
-- The threshold for salaries of doctors and nurses will increase between 29 and 35 percent as of next year, Health Minister Petar Moskov said. (24 Chasa, Monitor, Capital Daily, Sega, Standart, Trud)
-- Bulgaria's exports returned to growth in August for the first time in the year, posting a six percent increase on a monthly basis, data from the statistics office showed. (Capital Daily, 24 Chasa, Standart)
CAPITAL DAILY - Greek group Yioula said it has agreed to sell to Portuguese BA Vidro a significant part of its glass bottle production by the end of the year. Yioula controls Bulgaria's second biggest glass factory Druzhba Staklarski Zavodi.
-- 14 business organisations set up a new body aimed to boost the capital market in the country. (Capital Daily, Monitor, Standart)
MONITOR - Bulgaria ranks fifth in the Europe in child obesity, with over 224,000 overweight children, a new survey of the World Association for the Study of Obesity showed.
Housebuilder McCarthy & Stone says trading more stable after Brexit dip
Oct 11 (Reuters) - McCarthy & Stone Plc, Britain's biggest builder of retirement homes, said business had returned to more normal levels in the five weeks since the end of August, after a slowdown following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
The company said in September that it was seeing more property reservations cancelled in the wake of the Brexit vote as potential customers did not want to sell their existing homes in a weak market.
McCarthy & Stone said on Tuesday that it had seen a rise in new enquiries and first time visitors to its developments had been "noticeably ahead" of last year.
The housebuilder also said its finance boss Nick Maddock was leaving to take up the CFO position at building materials supplier SIG Plc.
Staffing firm PageGroup says UK market 'fragile' after Brexit
By Esha Vaish
Oct 11 (Reuters) - Confidence among employers in Britain is "fragile" following the country's vote to leave the European Union, with multinational firms holding off from hiring, particularly in the financial services sector, recruiter PageGroup said on Tuesday.
The company, which makes about a quarter of its earnings in Britain, said its gross profit there fell 4.7 percent in the three months to Sept. 30 at constant currencies and it would cut about 20-30 UK jobs if there was no improvement this quarter.
"At the moment they're slightly fewer jobs and (firms are) taking slightly longer to turn jobs into new appointments .... It's that sort of caution we're talking about, rather than jobs getting pulled," Chief Executive Steve Ingham told Reuters, adding he did not expect the British recruitment market to recover this quarter.
Although British consumers have taken "Brexit" in their stride, helping the economy show some resilience, surveys released on Monday suggested firms are cautious about investing, stoking fears unemployment could rise.
PageGroup, which mainly finds candidates to fill permanent positions, said employers were particularly wary when recruiting for higher paid jobs.
The company is the first UK recruiter to give an insight on hiring trends after the Brexit vote in June. Staffing firms such as PageGroup, Hays, Robert Walters and SThree are seen as gauges of wider economic health because people tend to switch jobs more often when confidence rises.
The 4.7 percent drop in PageGroup's UK gross profit to 37.8 million pounds ($47 million) in the third quarter was steeper than the 2.3 percent fall in the previous quarter, but less than four analysts forecast, as hiring for lower paid and temporary positions held up better than expected.
That could be good news for Hays, which has a strong UK position in such roles, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note.
Hays, which reports quarterly results on Tuesday, said last month hiring in Britain weakened sharply after Brexit. Robert Walters reports results on Monday, having previously blamed Brexit for lower first-half profit.
PageGroup shares were up 4.2 percent to 363.6 pence at 1025 GMT. Hays and Robert Walters were both up 2.5 percent.
PageGroup's worldwide gross profit rose 1.3 percent at constant currencies to 158.6 million pounds, helped by strong growth in Latin America outside of Brazil and in continental Europe - indicating the concerns around Brexit have not yet spread to the rest of the region.
It announced interim and special dividends totalling 31.7 million pounds from its cash pile of about 100 million. Morgan Stanley expects a similar payout in the first half of 2017.
Thai "red shirt" leader jailed for violating bail with "harsh words"
BANGKOK, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A Thai court jailed a firebrand leader of the "red shirt" opposition group on Tuesday, ruling that he had violated bail conditions by using "harsh words against others" while talking politics on TV.
Jatuporn Prompan is a key leader of the red shirts loyal to ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose governments were ousted in military coups in 2006 and 2014 respectively.
Thailand has been ruled since May 2014 by a junta which has moved to suppress dissent and detained critics, many of them red shirt sympathizers.
Jatuporn, along with 18 others, was charged in 2010 with terrorism. A court granted him bail on the condition that he did not insult or defame others or stoke unrest.
On Tuesday, a Bangkok criminal court ordered Jatuporn's bail be revoked, while throwing out cases against four other leaders.
"The court sees from Jatuporn's recent behaviour while expressing his opinion that he has used harsh words against others," a judge said.
"This violates the conditions previously set out by the court for bail."
Jatuporn was a leader during 2010 street protests in which red shirt supporters occupied a Bangkok shopping district for nearly two months, calling for then-Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign.
The protests ended in a bloody confrontation with the military in which more than 90 people were killed, most of them civilians.
Jatuporn was taken to the high-security Bangkok Remand Prison following the ruling.
Nattawut Saikua, another leader of the red shirt group, formally known as the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, told reporters the group would continue to express opinions on the government, but would be more careful.
"Although not a loss of life, it's a loss of freedom of speech for Jatuporn," said Nattawut.
Finnish shipyard wins cruise ship deal from Royal Caribbean
HELSINKI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Finland's Meyer Turku shipyard said on Tuesday it had won an order for two new cruise ships from Royal Caribbean, a shot in the arm for the country's struggling economy.
Royal Caribbean said the vessels were due to be delivered in 2022 and 2024. The price of the deal was not disclosed, but Finnish media estimated it would likely total about 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion).
The deal follows a similar order last month from Carnival Corporation.
Shipbuilding is a rare bright spot in the Finnish economy, which has suffered a decade-long stagnation caused by a string of problems such as the decline of Nokia's former phone business and recession in neighbouring Russia.
"These cruise ship orders have a major impact on employment directly at the shipyard and through subcontractors around the country," economy minister Olli Rehn said in a statement.
The Finnish economy is expected to grow about 1 percent annually in the coming years. The unemployment rate stands at about 9 percent.
The Turku shipyard was close to collapse before Germany's family-owned Meyer Werft acquired it in 2014. The yard competes in cruise vessels with STX Corp's shipyard in France, another Meyer yard in Germany and Fincantieri's in Italy.
South Korea vows greater force against China fishing boats
By Ju-min Park
SEOUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - South Korea said on Tuesday it would use greater force, including firearms, against Chinese boats fishing illegally in its waters and summoned China's ambassador to protest against a clash between a Chinese vessel and a coast guard boat.
South Korean coast guard vessels regularly chase Chinese boats for fishing illegally off its coast, at times resulting in violent confrontations.
The disputes are an irritant in relations between China and U.S. ally South Korea, even as their economic relations grow close and they share concerns about North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programmes.
South Korea's coast guard said on Tuesday that its officers would be authorised to use firearms, including handguns and onboard cannon, against illegal Chinese fishing vessels if deemed threatening.
"We will actively respond to Chinese fishing boats that obstruct justice by using all possible means if needed such as directly hitting and gaining control of those Chinese fishing boats as well as firing common weapons," Lee Choon-jae, deputy chief of South Korea's coast guard, told a news conference.
South Korea's Ministry of Public Safety and Security, which oversees the coast guard, said one of its patrol boats sank last week during an operation to crack down on a group of Chinese vessels fishing illegally off the Korean peninsula's west coast.
It said the patrol boat was rammed by one of the Chinese vessels. No injuries were reported.
The Chinese vessel fled the scene and returned to its home port, the South Korean coast guard said.
Qiu Guohong, China's ambassador to South Korea, did not comment to reporters as he arrived at the foreign ministry.
A South Korean deputy foreign minister told the Chinese ambassador that the incident was "a challenge to public power", said Cho June-hyuck, spokesman for the ministry.
China's Foreign Ministry said China was still verifying the details of the incident and maintaining contact with the South Korean side.
"We hope South Korea can start from the perspective of the broader situation in bilateral relations and calmly and rationally handle the relevant issue," spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing in Beijing.
Three Chinese fishermen were killed last month in a fire that broke out on their boat when a South Korean coast guard crew trying to apprehend them for illegal fishing threw flash grenades into a room in which they were hiding, according to a South Korean official.
In June, South Korea and the United Nations Command, which oversees the Korean War armistice, launched a joint operation to keep Chinese fishing vessels from operating illegally off South Korea's west coast.
South Korea has repeated its complaint to China about illegal fishing by Chinese trawlers and urged Beijing to help come up with a permanent solution.
European Union countries at odds over banking reform
By Francesco Guarascio
LUXEMBOURG, Oct 11 (Reuters) - European Union countries were at odds on Tuesday over a global reform of banking rules with divergent views about a cap on increases in banks' capital buffers that might result from the review.
The Basel Committee, banking supervisors from nearly 30 countries, is due to complete its reform, known as Basel III, by the end of 2016. The new rules are meant to make the sector more financially sound by reducing reliance on internal risk models.
European banks and regulators have warned against an excessive increase in capital requirements that could affect mostly European banks because they use internal models more than their U.S. rivals, which rely more on standardised methodology.
Higher capital reserves would raise costs for EU banks.
Asked whether there should be a set limit to any hikes in capital requirements, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters before an EU finance ministers' meeting that discussed the issue: "My approach is different".
Reacting to France's push for a 5-percent limit, he said: "I haven't heard it. It does not make sense."
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said a 5-percent hike would be considered significant and would be opposed by France.
Speaking with reporters after Dijsselbloem's remarks, Sapin said that the French position was shared by Germany and most other EU states.
The discussion on Basel at the finance ministers' meeting was requested by France, with the support of Germany, EU officials said.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble kept out of the quarrel, limiting his comments to saying after the meeting that European banks should not be penalised.
A proposal for a 5-percent limit was included in a EU finance ministers' draft statement but was removed from the final conclusions of a meeting in July, as member states could not agree on the issue.
The Slovak finance minister Peter Kazimir, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said ministers did not discuss a figure on Tuesday, and pleaded with his colleagues to keep a common front on the Basel reform.
He referred to the EU position in the conclusions of the July meeting, where ministers simply urged the Basel group to avoid a "significant increase" in overall capital requirements but set no limit.
Officials at banking trade body AFME estimated the new rules were likely to increase the capital buffer held by lenders by at least 6 percent on average from the existing figures.
The hike may be as high as 25 percent, according to EU estimates based on a sample of 95 banks discussed on Tuesday by EU finance ministers, two EU officials said.
Russian envoy says Putin wants to talk tough issues in Paris visit
PARIS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to come to Paris next week to discuss the tough issues, his country's ambassador to France said on Tuesday as relations between the two countries deteriorate over the Syrian war.
French officials are grappling for ways to put new pressure on Russia after Moscow vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria. Their growing anger at events in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo have led them to reconsider whether to host Putin on Oct. 19.
"Of course he still wants to come to Paris," Alexander Orlov told Europe 1 radio. "I think dialogue needs to continue and we are here to talk especially in difficult moments.
"You're elected president precisely to find solutions to difficult problems. Vladimir Putin will come to discuss the subjects that cause anger."
President Francois Hollande said at the weekend he was unsure whether it was useful or necessary to see Putin. The Russian leader was scheduled to come to Paris to inaugurate a new Russian Orthodox cathedral and visit a Russian art exhibition in the French capital.
Anti-gay sentiment seen threatening Indonesia's goal to end AIDS by 2030
By Beh Lih Yi
JAKARTA, Oct 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Growing anti-gay sentiment in Indonesia could hamper efforts to combat fast-rising HIV infections among one of the most at-risk groups, threatening the country's target to end an AIDS epidemic by 2030, a senior official has warned.
Although new infections have been falling globally, Indonesia is one country where they are on the rise as the disease spreads rapidly among gay men and other men who have had sex with men (MSM) over the past decade.
HIV prevalence among the group jumped to 25.8 percent in 2015 from 5.4 percent in 2007, according to Indonesia's National AIDS Commission.
"In terms of number, MSM is the fastest growing (group)," the commission's secretary Kemal Siregar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Asia Pacific is home to the second highest number of people living with HIV in the world, with India, Indonesia and China accounting for around three quarters of new infections in 2015, according to the U.N's AIDS agency UNAIDS.
South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world.
UNAIDS estimates there are around 690,000 people living with HIV in Indonesia.
Siregar said there was now "uncertainty" over meeting Indonesia's target to end an AIDS epidemic by 2030 as efforts to reach out to the MSM group - who he described as "hidden population" - had become harder due to increasing social stigma.
This follows a backlash against Indonesia's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community earlier this year.
This was also exacerbated by a drop in foreign funding as Indonesia's economy grew and international donors withdrew. External funding was a key resource for HIV prevention work.
"If the funding is not there, it's very hard to reach this group because the government's funding is mostly for treatment, for medicines, not for prevention," the official said.
The LGBT community had long been tolerated in Indonesia, especially in urban areas but a backlash suddenly began in January after a minister said the community was banned from university campuses.
Attacks against the LGBT community quickly grew, with ministers and religious leaders denouncing homosexuality, prompting criticism from human rights group.
The government said in August there was "no room" for the LGBT movement in the Southeast Asia nation.
Siregar said the commission has intensified its efforts to reach out to the MSM group and planned to establish MSM-friendly clinics outside the 10 cities where they are currently located.
"They have to know this community, they have to reduce the stigma and have the communication skills to communicate with this group," Siregar said.
China appears to push back on U.S. bid to choke N.Korea coal exports
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - China appears to have pushed back on a U.S. bid to close a U.N. loophole that allows North Korea to export coal for "livelihood purposes," saying the well-being of North Koreans is a priority in negotiations on possible new U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang.
Since North Korea's fifth and largest nuclear test four weeks ago, the United States and China, a close ally of North Korea, have been negotiating a new draft Security Council resolution to punish Pyongyang.
"We cannot really affect the well-being and the humanitarian needs of the people and also we need to urge various parties to reduce tensions," Chinese U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi told Reuters on Saturday of discussions with the United States on "a draft resolution with a wider scope of measures."
In March, the 15-member Security Council imposed tough new sanctions on North Korea following its fourth nuclear test in January.
That resolution bans the 193 U.N. member states from importing North Korean coal, iron and iron ore unless such transactions are for "livelihood purposes" and would not be generating revenue for Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
Coal is particularly important to the economic health of North Korea because it is one of its only sources of hard currency and its largest single export item. Coal is also bartered for essentials, including oil, food and machinery.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said on Sunday that some of the exemptions included in the March resolution - out of concern for the welfare of North Koreans - appeared to have been exploited.
"In the negotiation that we are currently in the midst on in the new resolution, we are hoping to address some of the shortcomings that we have seen," Power told reporters during a visit to Seoul.
'SUBSTANTIVE DIFFERENCE'
China's imports of coal from neighboring North Korea reached 1.53 million tonnes in April, down 35 percent on the previous month when the latest U.N. sanctions were adopted, but by August imports from North Korea had risen to 2.47 million tonnes.
"Fundamentally, no matter (what) any resolution says, it is going to be up to the Member States of the United Nations, and particularly those Member States that have dealings with the DPRK (North Korea), to fully enforce the resolution," she said.
China imported $1 billion worth of North Korean coal in 2015 and $73 million of iron ore, according to Chinese customs data.
"We are still looking at the specific things in the draft. It's still in the process of being discussed," Liu said. "We certainly hope that we will achieve a result soon, but it depends on how we work together ... towards a common position."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing on Tuesday that China supported a further response by the Security Council but that it should focus directly on North Korea's nuclear programme.
"We believe that the relevant Security Council response should clearly target North Korea's nuclear activities and be helpful in realising goals of denuclearization on the Korean peninsula, and in maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula," Geng said.
Beijing fears strengthening sanctions could lead to collapse in North Korea, sending a flood of refugees across the relatively porous border into China, and it also believes the United States and its ally South Korea share responsibility for growing tension in the region.
China has repeatedly expressed anger at the United States and South Korea for their decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system in the South to counter missile and nuclear threats from North Korea.
Merkel says Ethiopia must allow protests, urges proportionate response
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during a visit to the Ethiopian capital on Tuesday that protests there must be allowed and the police response should be proportionate.
She also said opposition groups should be included in the political process.
Leading Pakistani journalist says barred from leaving country over article
ISLAMABAD, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A prominent Pakistani journalist says he has been barred from leaving the country after he wrote an article, denied by the authorities, about a rift between the government and the powerful military.
Cyril Almeida's name has been placed on the Exit Control List, his newspaper Dawn reported on Tuesday, citing officials.
An interior ministry spokesman said he could not confirm the order had been issued.
Almeida, a leading columnist and assistant editor at one of Pakistan's most respected English-language dailies, issued a tweet late on Monday about the ban.
"I am told and have been informed and have been shown evidence that I am on the Exit Control List," he said.
"Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan."
Almeida's story, published on Oct. 6, gave an account of a tense, high-level security meeting held between military and government officials.
Quoting anonymous sources, it said civilian government officials called for the military not to interfere if civilian authorities tried to arrest members of anti-India militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
India has long accused Pakistan's military of sponsoring these groups to foment unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir and elsewhere, a charge that Pakistan denies.
SENSITIVE TIME
The government issued two denials of the Dawn story.
On Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif to discuss the article's contents, according to a statement from the prime minister's office.
"The participants were unanimous that the published story was clearly violative of universally acknowledged principles of reporting on National Security issues and has risked the vital state interests through inclusion of inaccurate and misleading contents," the statement said.
"(The) Prime Minister took serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action."
Relations between the civilian government and military have often been strained in a country where several prime ministers, including Sharif himself, have been ousted in coups.
The Dawn article comes at a particularly sensitive time, however, with nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan locked in a tense standoff in disputed Kashmir after militants attacked an Indian army base there last month killing 19 soldiers.
Since 2014, Pakistan has launched a crackdown on Pakistani Taliban militants and their allies along the northwestern border with Afghanistan, but it is unclear if that operation has extended to anti-India groups.
Dawn's editor, Zaffar Abbas, issued a statement saying the paper stood by the report.
Pakistan's press is vibrant, but rights activists say reporting on national security issues is heavily controlled.
Pakistan ranks 147th of 179 countries on Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index. At least 59 journalists have been killed in targeted attacks since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance 1981, the Pakistani government has the authority to bar the exit of any citizen from the country. Those on the list may apply for a review by the government itself, but not by the courts.
"Real progress" needed for Ukraine summit to take place - French source
PARIS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A proposed summit on Oct. 19 between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany to discuss the conflict in Ukraine can only take place if there is "real progress" on the key stumbling blocks in the coming days, a French diplomatic source said on Tuesday.
EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine
BRUSSELS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The European Union's indignation over Russian air strikes against rebels in Syria has shifted its debate on sanctions against Moscow over a different conflict - in Ukraine.
The EU's main economic sanctions against Russia are in place until the end of January and the bloc is now seen as likely to decide at the turn of the year to extend them.
Any extension of sanctions requires unanimity of all 28 EU countries. The United States has introduced similar sanctions..
Below are details of the EU sanctions on Russia.
ECONOMIC SANCTIONS
The main EU sanctions against Moscow restricting the access of the country's banking sector to international money markets.
They also include an embargo on most arms trading with Russia and prohibition of exports for the so-called dual-use goods that can be used for military means. The sales of some energy-related equipment and technology are also not allowed.
The economic sanctions are in place until Jan.31, 2017.
BLACKLIST OF PEOPLE END ENTITIES
A list of 151 people and 37 entities subject to visa bans and an assets freeze in the EU for their role in the annexation of Crimea or the Russia-backed rebellion in eastern Ukraine.
The blacklist covers advisers and close aides of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian parliamentarians, defence and intelligence officials, army and navy commanders, as well as Crimean separatists and rebels in east Ukraine. Putin himself is not on the list.
This list is most often looked at by advocates of an easing of sanctions who say that de-listing some Russian officials would send a positive signal to the Kremlin while making little real difference.
That, however, has not happened so far and these sanctions are in place until March 15, 2017.
CRIMEA SANCTIONS
Restrictions on business dealings with the Russian-annexed Crimea are seen as the least likely to be eased or lifted as Russia says it will never return the Black Sea peninsula to Ukraine.
The annexation has not been internationally recognised and the sanctions include bans on importing goods produced in Crimea, investing or providing tourism services there.
Most transport, telecoms and energy exports to Crimea are also prohibited, though a Reuters investigation revealed how EU companies are skirting them.
Europe drafting transaction tax law but work still needs doing -Moscovici
LUXEMBOURG, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The European Commission has been given a mandate to draft a financial transactions tax (FTT) law but work still needs to be done on the proposal, the EU's economics commissioner said on Tuesday.
Germany and France proposed an FTT in 2012 as much as a political symbol as an effort to correct the excesses blamed for the worst financial crisis for decades. The tax has been debated ever since, with countries still disagreeing on how to levy it, on which products, for which companies and at what rate.
Late on Monday, the finance ministers of the 10 countries that are considering adopting FTT held a meeting in Luxembourg on the sidelines of a regular meeting of euro zone ministers.
"My services, toghether with the technical group of the participating countries, will now draft a legal text on which we will seek political agreement over the next weeks," Pierre Moscovici said in a statement released on Tuesday.
He said that ministers at Monday's meeting had agreed on some important measures that form "the core engine" of such a tax, but gave no further details.
Moscovici made also clear that "there is still some analysis to be done," speaking to reporters in Luxembourg.
He has set a new informal deadline to reach a deal by the end of 2016. Several deadlines have been missed over the years.
Myanmar soldiers kill at least 4 in hunt for border attackers
By Wa Lone and Simon Lewis
Yangon, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Myanmar soldiers have killed at least four men during a sweep of Muslim villages following deadly attacks on police posts along the northwestern border with Bangladesh, state media said on Tuesday.
The violence, the most deadly in northern Rakhine State since communal clashes in 2012, represents a key challenge for the government of democracy figure Aung San Suu Kyi, who has urged authorities to use caution to avoid inflaming tension.
Troops "providing security for residents" recovered four bodies after clashing on Monday with residents of Myothugyi, a village of about 1,000 Muslim homes in Maungdaw township, state-run media said, but other accounts suggest the toll could rise.
"The troops came under surprise attack by around 20 armed attackers," said a state-run newspaper, the Global New Light of Myanmar, adding that a homemade gun, three bullets and a knife had been discovered.
Military forces fanned out in the area, home mostly to stateless Rohingyas, whose movements are tightly controlled, after nine border police were killed and five injured in three apparently coordinated attacks on Sunday.
Husein Juha, a Muslim administrator in Myothugyi, put the number of dead in Monday's incident at seven.
"They shot them because they were running outside the village. They didn't stop running when soldiers asked," said Juha, 32, adding that fear of the soldiers had prompted some villagers to arm themselves with makeshift weapons.
The bloodshed in Myothugyi may have been replicated elsewhere, according to information gathered by international aid groups working in Rakhine State and advocacy group the Arakan Project.
Reuters was unable to verify the information, however.
Schools and markets remain shut amid the military and police hunt for those behind Sunday's attacks. Authorities have called a curfew in Maungdaw from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., and barred gatherings of five or more.
In one of the attacks, officials say, 90 people, believed to be Rohingyas, targeted a border police headquarters and made off with more than 60 weapons and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
Two Muslim men captured during Sunday's attacks have reportedly confessed, Rakhine State police Major Sein Lwin told Reuters.
The men, charged with murder, conspiracy to murder and the assault of civil servants, said the attacks had been planned by a single "leader," Sein Lwin added.
He declined to name the leader, but said he had ties to an unnamed armed group operating across the Bangladesh border, which Myanmar has closed, and where Bangladesh has stepped up patrols.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who leads Myanmar's six-month old civilian administration, has faced criticism for failing to tackle rights abuses against the Rohingya and other Muslims.
In August, she appointed former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to chair an advisory panel on Rakhine State that visited the area for the first time in September, but has yet to go to the northern Muslim-majority townships.
Germany should demand Ethiopian national dialogue - opposition figure
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A senior Ethiopian opposition figure said on Tuesday that visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel should press Ethiopia's government to launch a national dialogue and release political prisoners.
"The message she should be delivering to the leadership here is that killings cannot solve the problem, and that political prisoners should be released and a national dialogue launched," Merera Gudina, chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress, which is from a region where protests have raged, told Reuters.
The government denies it has any political prisoners, saying any politicians it has arrested have broken the law. It also says it plans to offer more space to the opposition with proposed changes to the electoral law.
Old Mutual Wealth's funds under management and sales rise
Oct 11 (Reuters) - Financial services group Old Mutual Plc , which has said it will split into its four main businesses, reported a jump in funds under management at its Old Mutual Wealth business for the nine months ended Sept. 30, driven by strong net flows and favourable market movements.
The Anglo-South African company said funds under management at Old Mutual Wealth rose by 14 percent in the period to 119 billion pounds ($148 billion).
Net client cash flows fell to 900 million pounds in the third quarter from 2.3 billion pounds a year earlier.
Over the nine months, net client cash flows fell to 4.1 billion pounds from 4.6 billion pounds in the same period last year, hurt by market weakness and uncertainty following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
"We expect markets to remain difficult for some time given the uncertain conditions surrounding the UK's exit from the European Union," Paul Feeney, CEO of Old Mutual Wealth, said.
He added, however, that Old Mutual Wealth had seen early signs of customers regaining confidence and "tentatively" returning back to risk assets.
Gross sales rose by 9 percent to 16.7 billion pounds in the nine-month period, Old Mutual Wealth said.
Merkel calls on African Union to help solve Libya conflict
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a trip to Ethiopia, said she wanted the African Union to get involved in trying to solve the conflict in Libya.
"I am expressly in favour of the African Union bringing its influence to bear to help solve the conflict," Merkel said in a speech to the African Union, adding Libya had become a "sad example" of the consequences of state structures collapsing.
She also said that African states had to increase their efforts in fighting Islamist militants and illegal migration, adding they needed to introduce democratic and economic reforms to undermine terrorist activity.
U.S. Democrats court Americans of east European origin uneasy over Trump, Putin
By Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker
WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and inconsistent comments about NATO are unnerving some U.S. voters of eastern European heritage, creating a political opening that Democrats are targeting in key swing states.
More than 15 million Americans claim some central and eastern European ancestry. Many live in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida, hotly contested states ahead of the Nov. 8 election between Republican Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Many of those voters tend to lean conservative and Republican. But Clinton's campaign, seeing an opportunity to capitalize on concerns about Moscow's actions on the global stage, including its 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, is reaching out to them at community gatherings.
In Sunday's second presidential debate in St. Louis, Trump said: "I think it would be great if we got along with Russia because we could fight ISIS together," referring to the Islamic State militant group. Last month, he described Putin as a better leader than U.S. President Barack Obama.
Trump said in March the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, formed after World War Two to counter Soviet military might, was obsolete. In July, he suggested the United States might walk away from some of its NATO commitments if other members did not pay more for their defense. In September, he said in a debate: "I'm all for NATO."
Russia and NATO are sensitive subjects in eastern and central Europe and for some Americans with ties to the region.
"We have been absolutely petrified ... we can't believe the statements Donald Trump is making," said Andrij Dobriansky, spokesman for the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, an umbrella group for about a million Ukrainian-Americans.
Marina Kuchar, a Ukrainian-American from Pennsylvania who arrived in the United States in 2000, said she liked many Republican ideas. But Kuchar, 44, told Reuters in an interview she would not vote for Trump "because he thinks Putin is smart."
Trump's campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
COURTED BY DEMOCRATS
Voters in America's eastern European diaspora communities are influenced by many issues, such as jobs and the economy, and their numbers are not comparatively large, but Democrats are paying attention to them.
The Clinton team for months has been visiting eastern European-American parades and festivals, said John McCarthy, director of the campaign's "heritage community outreach."
"Our activists, who have been out front and center at these events, will have people come up to them and say: 'I've never voted for a Democrat before, but Donald Trump's pro-Kremlin ties are ... giving me second thoughts,'" McCarthy said.
In recent years, Russian foreign policy has become more assertive, stirring tensions with the United States and its allies over such issues as the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and the presence of NATO troops in eastern Europe.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but the Crimea annexation rekindled eastern European anxiety about Russian power.
A group of Lithuanian-Americans was so concerned about tensions in eastern Europe, where fighting continues between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, that it asked for and got an off-the-record White House briefing last week. The group declined to discuss details.
NATO COMMITMENT
Diana Vidutis, spokeswoman for Lithuanian-American Community Inc, told Reuters: "We were absolutely shocked that one of the candidates considered abandoning our commitment to NATO."
Her group promotes Lithuanian culture for 600,000 Lithuanian-Americans. Their ancestral homeland is one of three small Baltic states formerly part of the Soviet Union. All three have joined NATO. The other two are Estonia and Latvia.
Clinton spoke to such concerns while campaigning in Ohio last week. In an Oct. 3 speech in Akron, home to thousands of Americans from eastern Europe, she said Trump "has a weird fascination with dictators like Vladimir Putin."
"We have a lot of people living in this part of Ohio who either themselves, or their parents or grandparents, came from countries that were under the yoke of oppression, and we're never going to let that happen again," Clinton said.
There are signs that Trump is trying to allay the anxiety he has created. He visited the Polish-American Congress in Chicago on Sept. 28 where he gave his assurance that as president, he would support NATO and the security of Poland.
Poland, once part of the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact, shook off communism after the collapse of the Soviet Union and joined NATO.
Many Ukrainian-Americans in Pennsylvania's coal country are likely to support Trump, who has promised to bring back coal industry jobs, said Paula Holoviak, a political science professor at Kutztown University and a Ukrainian-American.
Holoviak, a Clinton supporter who lives in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, added: "This is smack dab in the middle of Trump country."
China blockades streets around military building as hundreds protest in capital
BEIJING, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Police in the Chinese capital on Tuesday blocked off streets near a major military building, as hundreds of people wearing green camouflage uniforms chanted and waved national flags to protest against the loss of their posts.
China last year announced it would cut troop levels by 300,000, targeting the bulk of the reductions by the end of 2017, as it seeks to spend more money on high-tech weapons for its navy and air force.
Tens of thousands of protests take place in China every year, triggered by grievances over corruption, pollution, illegal land grabs and other factors, unnerving the stability-obsessed ruling Communist Party.
On Tuesday, buses stretched down a block of Chang'an Avenue, Beijing's main thoroughfare, with police blocking the gaps between vehicles to obstruct views of the tightly-packed demonstrators.
The voices of the protesters in front of the military's Bayi Building rose above the traffic as they chanted songs, while some waved Chinese flags and banners protesting against their treatment after losing their positions in the military.
"Our rights and benefits to be transferred from military posts to suitable civilian work have been violated," read the inscription on one banner.
Police denied Reuters access to the demonstration site, while China's defence ministry did not immediately respond to emailed questions.
Armed police vehicles also patrolled the area, and individuals who appeared to be plainclothes police carried walkie-talkies and headsets.
China's defence minister, Chang Wanquan, is to host a banquet at the Bayi Building on Tuesday evening for participants of the Xiangshan Forum, which Beijing styles as its answer to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore.
China has the world's largest military and the government of President Xi Jinping is pumping billions of dollars into a modernisation programme, including aircraft carriers, anti-satellite missiles and stealth jets.
Protests by demobilised soldiers are not uncommon, and previously some who had fought against Vietnam in 1979 have demonstrated in complaint against problems over their pensions.
Many people try to use "petitions" to bypass the legal system and bring complaints directly to the attention of government officials, a process that dates back to imperial times, though some cases do end up in court.
Getting best Brexit deal for banks "absolute priority" - UK minister
By William James and Huw Jones
LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Getting the best deal for the City of London will be an "absolute priority" in Brexit trade talks with the European Union, Britain's financial services minister said on Tuesday as banks warned they may start moving from London next year.
Over 400 members of London's financial industry gathered at a special conference in the heart of the city's banking district, laying bare the extent of their worries about the impact of Britain's EU exit on the country's most important economic sector.
Britain is due to give formal notice of its intention to leave the EU by the end of March, leaving two years for negotiations to reshape the relationship with its biggest trading partner. The future of the financial services sector is expected to be one of the key areas of discussion.
"Can the UK still be one of the best financial centres anywhere in the world, even if we're outside the EU? Well, let me say this is an absolute priority for this government," financial services minister Simon Kirby told the conference.
British Prime Minister Theresa May last week appeared to prioritise curbs on immigration from EU countries over preferential access to the bloc's single market, a step EU leaders say would make it impossible for banks in Britain to have continued unfettered access to the EU market.
Banks fear losing their ability to offer services across the EU from a base in London, known as passporting, would crimp the City of London's role as the world's top financial centre and could force them to shift some operations to other EU states.
"Their hands are hovering over the relocate button," Anthony Browne, chief executive of the British Bankers' Association, told a conference.
Kirby said maintaining Britain as a top financial centre was an "absolute priority" for the government,
He said the government acknowledged banks' need to hire top talent from across the world and urged the financial sector to talk with the government in a spirit of "constructive collaboration".
"We will listen to you," he said. "We are confident we can weather any storm that comes our way."
Nearly 2.2 million people work in financial services in Britain and the sector contributed 190 billion pounds ($240 billion), or 11.8 percent of output, to the British economy in 2014, making it the UK's top tax generator.
CRITICAL ASKS
Speakers on a panel of insurance and bank chiefs said the two-year period for EU divorce talks would not be long enough to also agree Britain's new trading relationship with the bloc, and called for an interim arrangement to ensure stability.
"We need a long transitional period," Adrian Montague, chairman of insurer Aviva, said.
That would lift uncertainty and ease the pressure on banks and others to shift operations to the continent before the UK's final trading terms are known, speakers said.
"If there is going to be a long period of uncertainty, unfortunately what will happen is people will execute their contingency plans quite quickly, during the course of, probably, the first half of 2017," John Nelson, chairman of Lloyd's of London insurance market said.
The financial sector overall had campaigned to stay in the EU, but speakers urged the industry to accept the referendum result and move on to shaping future relations with Europe.
Michael Kent, a regulation lawyer advising banks on Brexit at Linklaters, said the sector needed to identify a "small number of critical asks" from the government in its trade talks with the EU.
"The City of London can, should and will work with the government to keep the UK prosperous," Charles Bowman, a senior representative of the capital's "Square Mile" financial district told the conference. "Europe needs the UK just as the UK needs Europe."
Bowman set out key government negotiating priorities that would make a good EU trade deal for the sector - UK trade arrangements should be maintained "as close as possible" to the EU single market, ideally including passporting rights and keeping the clearing of euro-denominated securities in London.
"Financial stability relies on Brexit being stable and orderly with a clear view of what the UK-EU relationship looks like now and in the future," Bowman said.
Banks will have to start moving staff if Britain loses access to the European single market, Rob Rooney, CEO of Morgan Stanley international said.
The finance ministry has been the main focus of bank lobbying over Brexit but firms in the sector worry it may be outgunned by other government departments less sympathetic to the banks.
Shriti Vadera, chairman of Santander UK bank, who heads an advisory committee of banking, insurance and asset management chiefs, said: "Of course there is a lot of emotion around issues of access, and you are being pitted against political priorities, which are not illegitimate, they are legitimate, people voted on them.
"We have to accept and be humble in the face of that."
German leader calls for Ethiopia to open up politics after unrest
By Andreas Rinke and Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Ethiopia on Tuesday to open up its politics and ensure police do not use heavy-handed tactics against protesters, after more than a year of unrest that rights groups say has led to about 500 deaths.
Merkel, who spoke at a news conference with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, arrived in Ethiopia after a fresh flare-up near the capital of the clashes that have cast a shadow over a nation with one of Africa's fastest-growing economies.
The violence prompted the government to declare a nationwide state of emergency on Sunday. It says the death toll cited by rights groups is exaggerated and blames the wave of violence on "armed gangs" backed by foreigners.
The United States expressed concern on Tuesday about the state of emergency. State Department spokesman John Kirby said measures that restore order but deprive people of rights like freedom of speech and assembly were a "self-defeating tactic that exacerbates rather than addresses the grievances."
Kirby said the U.S. administration encouraged the Ethiopian government to take action on land rights, electoral reform and other issues raised by the protesters, as suggested by President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu in a speech on Monday.
"We're obviously very concerned," Kirby said. "We encourage the government to act decisively on those proposals."
Western states, which are among the biggest donors to what is still a poor nation, want their companies to win deals in Ethiopia but have become increasingly concerned by the government's authoritarian approach to development.
"I made the case that you should have open talks with people who have problems," Merkel told Hailemariam, adding that police should respond proportionately to protests.
Last week, protesters ransacked or burned about a dozen mostly foreign-owned factories, flower farms and other sites, accusing the government of building on seized land and stifling opposition.
Opponents blamed police for provoking a stampede at a festival in Oromiya that killed at least 55 people on Oct. 2.
"In a democracy there always needs to be an opposition that has a voice - in the best case in parliament," Merkel said, during the visit which a German diplomat said included a meeting with members of civil society groups and opposition politicians.
"ALTERNATIVE VOICES"
Opposition parties failed to win a single seat in parliament in the 2015 election, accusing the government of rigging the vote - charges which it denies. There was just one opposition lawmaker in the previous assembly.
"The government is not using extreme violence. If it happened, we will investigate the units involved," the prime minister responded.
Addressing parliament the day before Merkel arrived, Ethiopia's president called for an amendment to the election law to allow "alternative voices" to be heard - an offer that senior opposition figure Merera Gudina said was "too little, too late".
Merera, chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress, from a region where protests have raged, said Merkel should push for the release of political prisoners and a national dialogue.
The government denies it detains people for their politics.
In another show of German discontent, a diplomat said Addis Ababa had proposed that Merkel address parliament, but Berlin refused because it lacked any opposition members.
The diplomat, who asked not to be named, said the message being sent was that there was "no business as usual".
The German-based human rights group Gesellschaft fuer bedrohte Voelker said Merkel should have been even tougher.
"With more than 500 suspected dead, Merkel should have insisted on an independent United Nations investigation to make clear that the brutal oppression of government critics is turning the country into a powder keg and will force more people to flee," said Ulrich Delius, the group's African expert.
The international community has praised Ethiopia for its economic achievements and development strategy. Under this, healthcare and other types of social support have spread across a country where most people rely on subsistence farming that has been hit by severe drought in the past two years or more.
PACE OF GROWTH AND REFORM
A nation still renowned in the West for a devastating 1984 famine exacerbated by the policies of the then Marxist government, Ethiopia has been one of Africa's fastest-expanding economies for the past 15 years of so. In 2015, growth was 10 percent.
But the lack of public space for criticism has risen up the agenda for Western powers. U.S. President Barack Obama told his Ethiopian hosts in Addis Ababa last year that greater political openness would "strengthen rather than inhibit" development.
The government said at the time it ensured political freedoms but differed over the pace of reforms that Washington wanted.
Till now, Chinese firms and financing have been a major driver of growth, building high-rise towers and a metro system in Addis Abba, and constructing a new railway that links the capital of the land-locked nation to Djibouti port.
Western investors have also secured deals. Britain's Diageo and Heineken of the Netherlands have bought breweries, Dutch and Belgian firms run flower farms and companies such as Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) are starting to source clothes from Ethiopian plants.
Russian jets resume heavy bombing of eastern Aleppo - rebels, monitor
BEIRUT, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm, a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
Air strikes mostly hit the Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, Zakaria Malhifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group told Reuters.
"There is renewed bombardment and it is heavy," he said.
The Observatory said the death toll from bombing in Bustan al-Qasr, Fardous and other neighbourhoods rose to at least 25, with scores of wounded.
At least 50 civilians were killed by strikes on the rebel-held part of the city and nearby villages controlled by insurgents, residents and rescue workers said. In Bustan al Qasr, residents said, the strikes hit a medical centre and a children's playground.
The Syrian army, backed by Iranian-backed militias, also said it had consolidated its control of the al Jandoul traffic circle at a major road intersection on the northern outskirts of Aleppo.
Moscow and Damascus reduced air raids in the northern city last week. The Syrian army said that was partly to allow civilians to leave opposition-held eastern neighbourhoods.
The Syrian government said rebels holed up in Aleppo can leave with their families if they lay down their arms. Insurgents denounced that offer as a deception.
President Bashar al-Assad seeks the complete recapture of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the 5 1/2-year war, which has been divided between government and opposition control for years.
Assad's Russian allies have meanwhile built up its forces in Syria after a brief ceasefire collapsed last month.
Since Russia intervened in the war a year ago, the government's side has gained the upper hand on numerous fronts, including Aleppo, where the opposition-held sector has been completely encircled for weeks.
Insurgents have advanced elsewhere, including in Hama province further south, where they captured a series of towns and villages last month. But in recent days government forces have regained some of that ground.
In the southern city of Deraa, which is split between government and rebel control, insurgent shelling of a school killed at least five people, including children, on Tuesday, the Observatory and state media reported.
Rebels denied they fired at the school. Residents reported the same death toll.
Near the Turkish border, rebels backed by Turkey and a U.S.-led coalition closed in on the Islamic State-held village of Dabiq, the site of an apocalyptic prophesy central to the militant group's ideology.
Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel groups have been pushing south into Islamic State's territory in an operation backed by Turkey since Aug. 24, and have taken more villages near Dabiq in recent days.
But hundreds of mines planted by the militants were delaying their progress, rebels said. The militants even retook the villages of Ihtimlat and Kafra only hours after the FSA fighters seized them, rebels said.
Turkey says Kurdish militants enter new "heinous" phase, targeting ruling party
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Kurdish militants claimed responsibility for the assassination of two officials in Turkey's southeast and the country's prime minister said the insurgency had entered a new "heinous" phase in targeting the AK Party founded by President Tayyip Erdogan.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said it had shot dead Deryan Aktert, AKP head in the city of Diyarbakir's Dicle district, in his office on Monday for his cooperation with the state in fighting the PKK, an organisation listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
On Sunday, assailants killed Aydin Mustu, the AK Party's deputy leader in the Ozalp district of Van, a city 350 km (215 miles) east of Diyarbakir.
"The attacks on AK Party officials show that the terrorist organisation has entered a new period of heinous attacks. They are enacting new orders to stage suicide attacks, assassinations against ruling party officials," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told his party in parliament on Tuesday.
Erdogan, also facing spillover of Islamic State attacks from Syria and the aftermath of an attempted military coup in July, has vowed to destroy the PKK following collapse of a ceasefire last year. In recent months, a huge army operation has forced PKK rebels from cities where the fighters had set up barricades and taken control of streets.
"We will continue our operations until our citizens no longer carry any security fear," Yildirim said, referring to Turkey's three-pronged effort to root out PKK militants, coup plotters and Islamic State along its border in Syria.
Over 40,000 people have been killed since 1984 in a PKK campaign for more political and cultural autonomy for mainly Kurdish areas in the southeast. Turkey fears the creation of a breakaway Kurdish state.
Suspected PKK militants set off a truck bomb, killing 15 people at a military checkpoint in Hakkari province on Sunday, officials said.
Russian jets resume heavy bombing of eastern Aleppo -rebels, monitor
BEIRUT, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm, a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
Air strikes mostly hit the Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, Zakaria Malhifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group told Reuters.
Abu Dhabi Airports to invest in redeveloping Seychelles airport
ABU DHABI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - State-owned Abu Dhabi Airports Co will invest in redeveloping the international airport at Mahe in the Seychelles as the Indian Ocean country expands its aviation and tourism sectors, officials said on Tuesday.
"Our aim is to help to deliver an updated passenger terminal operating to the highest international standards," Abu Dhabi Airports chairman Ali Majed al Mansoori told reporters, without giving details.
The Seychelles signed an agreement for the redevelopment with Abu Dhabi Airports and further talks will decide specifics of the project, said Joel Morgan, the Seychelles' Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport.
Kenyan pilots call strike next week to demand change at national carrier
By Humphrey Malalo
NAIROBI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A major Kenyan pilots' union has called for an indefinite strike beginning Oct. 18 to protest what it described as poor management at the troubled national carrier Kenya Airways, the union's general secretary said on Tuesday.
"We have no confidence in the airline's recovery," said a circular from Capt. Paul Gichinga, the head of the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA).
"KALPA's members will from 5:00 a.m. (local time) Tuesday 18th of October down their tools until a comprehensive change of guard at Kenya Airways is effected."
Kenya Airways, which ferries 12,000 passengers daily on a fleet on Boeing and Embraer planes, said it would issue a statement on the strike notice on Wednesday.
Last month Kenya Airways, which is 27 percent-owned by Air France KLM, said it was seeking foreign investors to raise cash. The company has said it needs about 70 billion shillings ($692 million).
Erdogan tells Iraq PM to "know his limits", says will not get orders on Bashiqa camp
ANKARA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Turkish President Erdogan told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to "know his limits" on Tuesday, and said the Turkish army would not take orders from Iraq on the Bashiqa camp.
"Iraq had certain requests from us regarding Bashiqa, and now they are telling us to leave, but the Turkish army has not lost so much standing as to take orders from you," Erdogan told a meeting of Islamic leaders in Istanbul.
"The Iraqi prime minister is insulting me, first know your limits," he added.
Norway's wealth fund says sterling flash crash reflects economic prospects
By Gwladys Fouche
OSLO, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The flash crash in sterling was a "correct move" that reflected economic expectations, a senior official at Norway's sovereign wealth fund, one of Britain's biggest foreign investors, said on Tuesday.
The pound plunged about 10 percent in a matter of minutes in early Asian trading on Friday, prompting the Bank of England to investigate why. The currency recouped much of the loss - which may have been due to automated trading - but was still down 1.5 percent on the day.
"It (the flash crash) was a permanent impact on the price. So if you do believe in markets, it was a correct move. It reflects the expectations of the UK economy," Oeyvind Schanke, chief investment officer for asset strategies at the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, told Reuters.
"I do believe in market forces and I do believe that investors have an ability to price. And what that price move indicates to me is that they are worried about what is happening in the UK," he said in an interview on the sidelines of a seminar.
Schanke declined to say if the fund had taken any steps after the flash crash.
The Norwegian wealth fund owns shares in most top British companies and holds $11 billion in UK government bonds. It co-owns Regent Street, one of London's premier shopping areas.
Britain is its second-largest investment location after the United States, accounting for 10.2 percent of the fund's value at end-2015.
Before and after the vote to leave the European Union, the fund said it would remain a long-term investor in Britain despite "question marks" as to what Brexit would look like, once it has been negotiated.
"For a fund that invests the way we do, anything that is not in favour of free movement of goods, services and people -- that creates frictions in the market place," deputy CEO Trond Grande told Reuters in August.
"And if that hampers growth in some shape or form, that will ultimately be to our disadvantage."
In August the fund cut the value of its unlisted real estate portfolio in Britain, made by external evaluators, by 5 percent, to reflect the uncertainty of valuating assets following the Brexit vote - it did not say how much it was worth at the time.
But on Friday, the fund said that uncertainty had vanished, allowing it to stick to the original valuation.
Some 23 percent of the fund's property investments are in Britain, and 16 percent in London alone. Real estate accounts for 3.1 percent of the fund's total investments.
Botswana pulls plug on $281 mln deal to buy Norilsk asset
GABORONE, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Botswana's state-run BCL Mine has pulled out of a 3 billion pula ($281 million) deal to buy a 50 percent stake in South Africa's Nkomati Nickel Mine from Norilsk Nickel Africa due to lack of funds.
As part of a 2014 deal, BCL agreed to buy the stake in Nkomati pending South African government approval, which was only granted in August this year.
But BCL has now fallen on hard times, which culminated in the company being placed under provisional liquidation over the weekend.
Botswana's Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Kgomotso Abi, told a news briefing that the government as the sole shareholder of the mine could no longer afford the funds needed to complete the transaction.
"Metal prices have gone down since the first time the agreement was done but our efforts to renegotiate the price down have not been successful. As of now, BCL is no longer viable and is therefore not in a position to pay that amount and we have informed Norilsk of this development," he said.
South Africa's African Rainbow Minerals owns the other 50 percent stake in Nkomati.
BCL mine has been operational since 1972 but has faced challenges in the past 20 years as the quality of its copper and nickel resource deteriorated.
Abi said following the termination of the deal, Norilsk Africa had legal options they could pursue, but "we can't comment much on that at the moment".
The Philippine pivot: Duterte readies huge business delegation for Beijing visit
By Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema
MANILA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - About 250 Philippine business executives will visit Beijing with President Rodrigo Duterte next week as he puts aside years of hostility to seek a new partnership with China at a time when tensions between Manila and its traditional ally, the United States, are mounting.
There has been no announcement about the delegation, but business groups and government officials said registration to join Duterte on his Oct. 19-21 visit had been oversubscribed. Filipino executives are eager to talk with Chinese business leaders and government officials about deals in a range of sectors, from rail, and construction to tourism, agribusiness, power and manufacturing, the sources said.
Initially only about two dozen Philippine entrepreneurs were to accompany Duterte but the number had ballooned to about 250, Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado told Reuters. "I understand there are 100 more wanting to go," Terrado said, adding the size of the delegation was unusual because the two sides agreed on the visit only about one month ago.
The trip could signal a transformation in a relationship dogged in recent years by mistrust over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea, and could upset strategic alliances in a region growing wary of China's influence and military might and where the United States has a strong presence.
An arbitration court ruling in the Hague on July 12 that said China had breached the Philippines' sovereign rights in the South China Sea had threatened to lead to a further deterioration in ties between Manila and Beijing.
But Duterte, who took office on June 30 after winning an election in May, has instead aggressively courted China and said he wants to reduce the nation's dependence on the United States. He has said he will hold talks with China on the South China Sea dispute.
His promises to engage with China have in large part come in a near-daily barrage of hostility against Washington, raising questions about whether his overtures carried weight, or were simply aimed at boosting his profile at home by espousing a "pro-Filipino" foreign policy.
CLOUDS "FADING AWAY"
In recent days there have been clear signs of improving business ties. On Saturday, Philippines Finance Minister Carlos Dominguez said in an interview in Washington that Duterte would seek billions of dollars in infrastructure investments from China in coming months. And Philippine Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said on Sunday that China would lift a ban on fruit exports by 27 Philippine firms as a "gift" to Duterte.
And the size of the delegation going to China and early comments from senior government officials in Manila signal a new and potentially much deeper economic relationship with Beijing than there has ever been before.
"We do have a very popular president and the president decided that he wanted to have a better relationship with China," said Francis Chua, chairman emeritus of Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"We are neighbours...this is actually what the president is thinking: instead of fighting, why don't we just become friends?"
Officially, Beijing has yet to confirm Duterte's visit, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing on Tuesday that both sides were in close contact and it hoped Duterte would visit at an early date. He said both sides had the desire to improve relations and China was willing to increase cooperation in all aspects.
Beijing's ambassador to the Philippines, Zhao Jianhua, has been more lyrical in welcoming the transformation. "The clouds are fading away. The sun is rising over the horizon, and will shine beautifully on the new chapter of bilateral relations," he said at a Chinese National Day reception in Manila last month.
Discussions between officials of the two governments would be held on the first day of the visit and on day two about 600 representatives of private firms from both countries would be addressed by Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping, several sources said, citing a tentative programme.
While no concrete deals have yet been finalised, several Filipino businessmen said exploratory talks would be held on cooperating in a range of sectors including industry, finance and low-cost manufacturing.
"We have members who are looking for some tie-up with their like in power, agriculture, financing facilities and joint ventures," said Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation. "They (China) might be offering certain packages, grants on the table."
Trade Minister Ramon Lopez told Reuters on Monday that Chinese manufacturers could benefit from low manufacturing wages in the Philippines, which could vie with Vietnam for some investments.
EARLY SIGNALS
Some Chinese companies have already indicated interest in new projects in the Philippines.
China's CRRC-Dalian Co., Ltd, a unit of China's CRRC Corp , said in a statement on Monday it had "solid intent" to modernise the antiquated railway system in the Philippines.
And while there has been no firm talk of defence deals, Duterte said last month the United States had refused to sell some weapons to his country but he didn't care because Russia and China were willing suppliers.
U.S. officials said they were doing their best to ignore Duterte's hostile rhetoric and taking comfort in the fact that he had yet to translate his words into less military cooperation.
A closer Philippines-China relationship, analysts say, could jeopardise regional efforts to forge a unified position on how to handle China's assertiveness in the South China Sea.
By engaging with China, Duterte could improve his chances of tackling urgent issues at home, such as weak infrastructure, unemployment and energy security as domestic natural gas reserves run out.
There are oil and gas reserves off Palawan island and at the Reed Bank in the South China Sea but the Philippines lacks the expertise to exploit them. State-run Philex Petroleum has not ruled out resuming stalled joint surveys with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) at the Reed Bank.
Undersecretary Terrado, who heads the trade ministry's industrial promotions department, said it would be businesses setting the agenda themselves next week, free of government intervention.
"We are allowing market forces to just get it on," said Terrado.
Spain's economy minister says it will meet 2016 deficit target
MADRID, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Spain will meet this year's public deficit target of 4.6 percent of economic output though cannot guarantee the 2017 target as a political stalemate has forced the government to roll over the 2016 budget, the acting economy minister said on Tuesday.
This year's deficit would be 4.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), rising to 4.6 percent when including aid for the country's financial system, Luis de Guindos told journalists in Luxembourg.
The government, which has taken on a caretaker role since inconclusive elections in December and June, passed temporary corporate tax tweaks this year to raise an extra 8 billion euros ($9 billion) in an effort to meet this year's deficit target.
Since the acting government does not have authority to draft a new budget for 2017, the forecast it will send to the European Commission will exceed the EU target and it be up to the next government to tackle next year's shortfall, de Guindos said.
"The (2017) deficit will be above the 3.1 percent we're committed to. And when there's a new government, it'll have to take the necessary measures to make sure that it will be 3.1 (percent)," he said.
The government will send the budget, including its own deficit targets, to Brussels on Friday.
Spain has struggled to control its public accounts since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008, unnerving investors during the worst of the downturn and putting it at risk of fines from Brussels.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of euro zone finance ministers, said on Monday Spain should be careful what numbers it puts into the budget plan because the quality of its assumptions in the past has been poor.
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From the publisher Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 40 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the mainstream media for 14 years. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com
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Turkey orders detention of 125 police officers - media
By Ayla Jean Yackley
ISTANBUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A Turkish prosecutor on Tuesday ordered the detention of 125 police officers in the investigation of a religious movement the government blames for an unsuccessful military coup, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
It was the second wave of arrests since Oct. 7 to target suspected coup plotters in the police force.
President Tayyip Erdogan accuses his former ally, the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, of masterminding the July 15 uprising that killed 240 people, including civilians protesting the coup attempt. Gulen, who resides in Pennsylvania, denies involvement.
The ruling AK Party, founded by Erdogan, will not harbour members of the Gulen network that Ankara lists as a terrorist organisation, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in parliament.
"AK Party will not shelter any traitor or terrorist," he said. "We are engaged in the same struggle (against Gulen's network) within the AK Party as we are in Turkey, generally."
No high-ranking AKP members have faced charges in the post-coup crackdown, which has included the arrests of 32,000 people and purge of some 100,000 military officers, police, teachers, judges, prosecutors and others from state jobs.
Parliament on Tuesday will vote to extend the state of emergency, introduced in July for three months, until January.
The vote is a formality as the AKP commands a large majority of parliamentary seats and the nationalist opposition has already pledged to back the move.
Yildirim acknowledged that a small number of mistakes might occur during the crackdown but said the government will not allow "unjust treatment" of citizens.
In Tuesday's operation, authorities conducted raids in Istanbul, and among the police officers being sought were 30 deputy police chiefs, Anadolu said. No one was immediately available at the prosecutor's office to comment on the warrants.
The Istanbul prosecutor said the officers were suspects because they allegedly used a little-known smartphone messaging app called ByLock, Dogan reported.
The state intelligence agency identified at least 56,000 operatives after it cracked ByLock, which Gulen's followers began using in 2014, officials said in August.
Gulen, 75, has led a decades-old religious movement whose members sought jobs in the security forces and civil service to expand his clout, authorities say. He fled Turkey in 1999 to avoid trial on suspicion of anti-secular comments.
REUTERS SUMMIT-Gunvor owner cuts stake as staff buy into growth strategy
By Sabina Zawadzki and Ahmad Ghaddar
LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The co-founder of Gunvor, Torbjorn Tornqvist, is diluting his stake in the company to allow employees to own more than a third of the fast-growing trading house by year-end to help to retain and recruit talent as it pursues its global expansion strategy.
Gunvor has been diversifying away from Russia, where it was created at the turn of the millennium by Swedish citizen Tornqvist and Russian businessman Gennady Timchenko, and changing its ownership structure to resemble other global trading houses such as Vitol and Trafigura.
Tornqvist told the Reuters Commodities Summit in London that he would decrease his stake to 62 percent from 70 percent by year-end and possibly even further in the future.
"It was well received and the capital offered to the senior staff was actually oversubscribed, which was very good because it means that senior people clearly believe in this company's direction," he said.
Tornqvist used to own 100 percent voting rights in Gunvor after buying out Timchenko's 50 percent in 2014, a day before the United States placed sanctions on the Russian businessman and other allies of President Vladimir Putin after Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Several of Gunvor's counterparties were spooked by the sanctions on Timchenko but the initial brief period of turmoil for the business settled when U.S. officials said they wanted the company to continue normal trading operations.
Since 2014 Gunvor has said it would expand globally and reduce its exposure to Russia.
Tornqvist sold several key Russian loading terminals, paid Timchenko about $1 billion for his stake and embarked on a global expansion with the acquisition of refineries and terminals while beefing up offices in Europe, South America and Asia.
It is now opening an office in Houston, having secured $500 million in financing and poached traders from the likes of Koch.
"Many people thought we would not be able to achieve globally what we achieved in Russia," Tornqvist said, adding that he didn't want Gunvor to be seen as a "one-man company".
About 200 employees of Gunvor are already shareholders in the company.
"I think it encourages, it motivates and it also makes people aware of the well being of the company," he said of the increasing employee ownership.
"It's not unreasonable that I will further dilute my shareholding."
Merkel says Africa to be priority for German G20 presidency
By Andreas Rinke
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a trip to Ethiopia, said she would make Africa a priority for Germany's G20 presidency next year and outlined plans for a conference in Berlin.
The German leader is on the last leg of a three day trip which has also included stops in Mali and Niger. She is seeking investment opportunities which she hopes will help drive economic growth and curb future migration to Europe.
Earlier Merkel told Ethiopia to open up its politics and ensure police do not use heavy-handed tactics against protesters, after more than a year of unrest that rights groups say has led to about 500 deaths.
Then, in a speech to the African Union, Merkel said Berlin would host a high-profile conference on Africa in mid 2017.
"We want to strengthen private investment to create sustainable growth and jobs," Merkel said, adding it was important to expand infrastructure on the continent and improve professional training.
Participants in the conference would include industry representatives and international organisations, she said, urging companies to engage in Africa.
"There are already many German companies active in Africa but there could be more," she said, adding that sometimes other countries offered deals for infrastructure projects that were linked to financial packages.
Germany would have to change if German firms wanted to be successful, she said, adding that in some other countries the state and economy were more closely linked.
Chinese firms, especially, have become active in some African countries in the last few years, often also offering attractive financing deals.
Merkel has described Africa, with its population of 1.2 billion people, as central to the migration issue and wants the EU to agree a migrant deal with north African countries.
She also said that African states had to increase their efforts in fighting Islamist militants and illegal migration, adding they needed to introduce democratic and economic reforms to undermine terrorist activity.
Merkel also urged the African Union to get involved in trying to solve the conflict in Libya.
France condemns Burundi's ban of three U.N. investigators
PARIS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - France said on Tuesday it deplored a decision by Burundi to ban three U.N. investigators from its territory, saying the east African country was losing credibility over promises to respect human rights.
In a brief letter from Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Aime Nyamitwe, Burundi on Monday blacklisted the investigators linked to a report which identified officials suspected of ordering political opponents to be tortured or killed.
"France deplores the decision by the Burundi authorities to declare personae non gratae the three members of the independent experts mission on the human rights situation in Burundi," Foreign MKinistry spokesman Romain Nadal told a daily briefing.
"This decision harms the credibility of Burundi's commitment to respect human rights."
The African country has been gripped by political strife since President Pierre Nkurunziza sought and won a third term in 2015, which opponents said violated the constitution and terms of a peace deal that ended civil war in 2005.
The U.N. Human Rights Council agreed last week to set up a commission of inquiry to identify perpetrators of killings and torture in Burundi, and to ensure they are brought to justice. Burundi rejected the move.
Kurdish militants say behind killing of ruling party politician
ISTANBUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said on Tuesday it was behind the killing of an official in Turkey's governing AK Party, the second such shooting in as many days in the country's restive southeast.
Deryan Aktert, who headed the AKP branch in Diyarbakir's Dicle district, was shot and killed in his office late on Monday, the provincial governor's office said.
German Fin Min: Greek privatisation fund must have management by year end
LUXEMBOURG, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Greece must have the management of its privatisation fund in place by the end of this year, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Tuesday after euro zone ministers gave Athens a positive review of its reforms while withholding part of a new loan payment.
Speaking in Luxembourg after further talks on Tuesday, Schaeuble also said he wanted a decision in the direction of a financial transaction tax by the end of the year.
He added reforms of Basel III rules, aimed at making the banking sector more financially sound by reducing the reliance on internal risk models, must not disadvantage banks.
Gunmen kidnap Romanian engineer in Niger Delta
ONITSHA, Nigeria, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Gunmen have kidnapped a Romanian engineer in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, police said on Tuesday.
Officers have launched a search for the man in the area of Owa Oyibo, where he was abducted late on Monday, said Celestina Kalu, a spokeswoman for police in Delta state.
He was working for Dextron Nigeria Ltd, a construction firm, Kalu added.
Spanish police arrest 3 suspected of Islamist militant links
MADRID, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Spanish police have arrested two men accused of belonging to Islamic State and a third man accused of spreading Islamist militant messages on social media, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
Police detained a Spaniard of Moroccan origin and a Moroccan national said to have been communicating with leaders of the jihadist group and distributing recruitment material on social networks from their homes in Gijon and San Sebastian, it said.
The third man, a 38-year-old Spaniard, was arrested after police linked him to social media postings glorifying Islamist militants and after two house raids turned up a cache of banned weapons. He was detained in the northern city of Manresa and had no direct affiliation to militant networks, the ministry said.
Spain has been on high alert and has stepped up security measures following attacks in Paris last year.
South Africa's Zuma forms team to resolve university fee crisis
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 11 (Reuters) - South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has formed a ministerial team to help bring an end to weeks of clashes at university campuses between police and students demanding free education, the presidency said on Tuesday.
The government, grappling with a budget deficit equivalent to nearly 4 percent of economic output, says education subsidies should not be paid for at the expense of other sectors of the economy such as health and housing.
It has also said 2017 university fees may rise by up to 8 percent.
Police clashed sporadically with student protesters on Tuesday at the University of the Witwatersand (Wits), Talk Radio 702 said. Wits was hit by violence on Monday after reopening following angry protests that forced its closure last week.
The team set up by Zuma consists of eight ministers including Higher Education minister Blade Nzimande and Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko, and is tasked with resolving the crisis.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance party criticised Zuma, however, for excluding Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
"At the heart of the crisis is the chronic under-funding of higher education over the last decade," it said in a statement.
Zuma's government has said it will continue subsidising university costs for the poorest students but could not afford free education for all.
"We are not saying... everybody must receive free education, even if the parents can afford, because we have got to balance the resources," Zuma told a news conference in Nairobi on Tuesday during a state visit to Kenya.
The Wits Student Representative Council said in a statement that they would be continuing the struggle for free education.
Phillips 66 Partners to buy midstream assets from Phillips 66
Oct 11 (Reuters) - Phillips 66 Partners LP said on Tuesday it would buy some pipelines and terminals from parent Phillips 66 for $1.3 billion.
The deal, the largest so-called "dropdown" from Phillips 66 to the unit, includes assets supporting Phillips 66's refineries in Bayway, New Jersey; Billings, Montana; Borger, Texas, and Ponca City, Oklahoma, Phillips 66 Partners LP said.
Houston, Texas-based Phillips 66 Partners is the master limited partnership formed by Phillips 66 to acquire and operate midstream assets.
The deal is for 30 assets, which include crude pipelines, refined products and natural gas liquids pipelines and terminal systems, the company said.
Phillips 66 will also enter into a 10-year terminaling and throughput agreements that will include minimum volume commitments covering about 85 percent of expected volumes.
The deal is expected to close this month, Phillips 66 Partners said.
Phillips 66 Partners plans to fund the deal with debt and $196 million in new units issued to Phillips 66.
Business / Local
by Staff Reporter
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) has said continued smuggling of foreign goods into the country undermines the fruitful implementation of Statutory Instrument (SI) 64 of 2016, New Ziana reported.According to government, SI 64 seeks to stimulate local production.Zimbabwe recently introduced SI 64 to regulate imports, a move which has been criticized by some quarters but, government is adamant that the move would benefit Zimbabwe in the long term.CZR president Denford Mutashu said SI 64 had already proved a success as some local manufacturing firms increased production capacity, hence there was need to stamp out smuggling.However in August the Consumer council of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce said the implementation of statutory instrument (SI) 64 of 2016 was going to increase smuggling incidents and cash leakages.
France reaches agreement with EU over power capacity mechanism
By Bate Felix
PARIS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - France has reached a technical agreement with European Union state aid regulators that could end a full investigation into its power capacity mechanism, a French official said on Tuesday.
A formal approval from European Union state aid regulators could mean that the French plan, aimed at securing power and avoiding blackouts during peak demand periods, could come into effect from January, energy ministry official Julien Tognola told a gas and electricity congress in Paris.
"The formal decision has not been taken by the Commission, but as it is the case with these kinds of issues, we always try to get a technical accord with EU competition authorities, which we have," Tognola said.
European Union state aid regulators opened a full investigation into the French plan over concerns that it could favour big energy companies like EDF and Engie and stifle new competition.
Tognola said France had held discussions with European Union officials over the past months and had made modifications in its capacity market plan.
"We are comfortable that with the modifications, the Commission will be able to give us its accord in the coming weeks," he said.
"That is why we have told stakeholders in the sector that, given this scenario, the capacity mechanism will enter into force from Jan. 1, 2017 as planned and we need to work towards that date," Tognola added.
Capacity mechanisms are used to fund electricity generation plants that may not be cost-effective but can guarantee supply during peak demand.
"The mechanism will give actors in the sector a real visibility on either maintaining capacity or investing in new capacities so as to be available during a peak winter demand period," Gilles le Mouillour, deputy head of regulatory affairs at Engie, said at the conference.
Xavier Caitucoli, Chief Executive Officer of alternative energy supplier Direct Energie said that although the plan is a positive first step, there were concerns about some aspects of the plan, notably the centralised tenders for new power production capacities.
"We should not necessarily trust the market to decide on security of power supply," he told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.
Caitucoli said the price signal of new production capacity tenders would be too short-term and too volatile and could prevent companies form investing in new capacities.
WHO sending 1 million cholera vaccine doses to Haiti
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) is sending 1 million doses of cholera vaccine to Haiti, where more than 200 cases of the killer disease have been reported since Hurricane Matthew.
The campaign is aimed at quashing new outbreaks before the peak transmission of cholera in the Caribbean country which is from November to January, during the rainy season.
"The top priority clearly for those people affected by the hurricane is to give them access to safe water. That's the only way we can control cholera," Dominique Legros, WHO cholera expert, told a news briefing on Tuesday before travelling to Port-au-Prince.
Those already infected with cholera need treatment, but a quarter of the health centres in Haiti's hard-hit southern area have been destroyed or seriously damaged, he said.
The powerful hurricane slammed into Haiti last week, killing at least 1,000 people according to a tally of numbers from local officials.
Cholera causes severe diarrhoea and can kill within hours if untreated. It is spread through contaminated water and has a short incubation period, which leads to rapid outbreaks.
Some 150 suspected cholera cases have been reported in Grande'Anse department and 50 in South department since the hurricane struck, Legros said, calling it a "sharp increase compared to usual figures".
He had no death figures.
A further 28 cholera cases have been reported in Artibonite and six cases in North West, the WHO said.
Cholera was introduced to Haiti accidentally by U.N. peacekeepers who dumped sewage into a river after the 2010 earthquake. The outbreak has since infected hundreds of thousands of people - including an annual average of about 800 since 2014 - and killed more than 9,000.
WHO, which has deployed 80 staff to Haiti, was considering giving people a single dose of the vaccine rather than the classic double dose, to cover more people, albeit it with a shorter protection period, Legros said.
"So far we have one experience of a large-scale campaign with a single dose, it was done in Bangladesh two years ago. It proved effective for six months," Legros said.
"After six months, you still have about 60 to 70 percent efficacy (of the vaccine) for severe cases of cholera, those are the ones we're interested in."
Greece rejects asylum requests from more Turkish soldiers
ATHENS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Greece has rejected asylum requests from seven of eight Turkish soldiers who fled there after an abortive coup attempt against President Tayyip Erdogan in July, their lawyer said on Tuesday.
The eight Turkish soldiers flew a military helicopter into northern Greece on July 16, hours after a coup attempt by elements of the military in Turkey started unravelling.
Turkey said they were involved in the coup attempt, an allegation the soldiers deny.
Four members of the group were informed on Tuesday their asylum claims had been rejected by a first-instance board, joining another three previously rejected. One of them has lodged an appeal while the asylum board has not issued a decision on the eighth applicant.
In a statement released by their lawyer, Stavroula Tomara, the soldiers said they believed the decision was guided by political expediency. She says they fear for their lives if are returned to Turkey.
"We came to Greece to save our lives, not be pawns of foreign policy and bilateral agreements. We have not been labelled terrorists even in our own country," their statement said.
Authorities had previously said the soldiers failed to furnish Greek authorities with sufficient evidence that they were not involved in the coup.
Turkey had formally sought the extradition of the eight, describing them as "traitors" as Greece processed their asylum applications. It underscored occasionally strained relations between Athens and Ankara, NATO allies at odds over issues from Cyprus to air rights in the Aegean.
Burundi suspends cooperation with U.N. office on human rights
NAIROBI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Burundi suspended its cooperation with a United Nations human rights office on Tuesday, a government spokesman said, amid a deepening row between the government and the U.N. on political violence in Burundi.
"Due to the complicity played by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in the production of a wrong and controversial report, issued by the so-called independent U.N. investigators, the government of Burundi decided to suspend any cooperation and collaboration with the office," the statement from spokesman Philippe Nzobonariba said.
The Burundi government was infuriated when the U.N. released a report last month identifying government officials suspected of ordering political opposition to be tortured or killed.
The Hague-based International criminal Court said in April that at least 450 people were killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee fled after clashes broke out following President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term in office last year.
Opponents said the move violated the constitution and a peace agreement that ended a civil war in 2005. The president cited a court ruling saying he could run again, and won an election boycotted by most opposition parties.
Low-level violence continues, and three people were killed in an attack on a bar on Monday night in the southern province of Rumonge, Nzobonariba told state radio on Tuesday.
The victims included a school principal who was a local official and a member of the ruling party.
Philippines set to roll out tough no-smoking law
By Kanupriya Kapoor and Enrico Dela Cruz
MANILA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is set to sign a regulation this month banning smoking in public across Southeast Asia's second-most populous country, rolling out among the toughest anti-tobacco laws in the region.
Public health campaigners who have long battled against the country's hefty tobacco lobby welcomed the push to end smoking in public places and said they believed Duterte, with his tough anti-vice record, was the man to do it.
Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial told Reuters on Tuesday she hoped the president would sign the ban, which expands the definition of public places, into law before the end of October and that it would come into effect next month.
She was quoted by newspapers as saying that no smoking would be allowed in public places, whether indoor or outdoor.
"Parks, bus stations, and even in vehicles. All these are considered public places," she said, according to media. She later clarified the law would apply only to public vehicles.
Designated smoking areas will be set up, at least 10 meters (33 feet) outside buildings, according to a draft of the executive order seen by Reuters.
Around 17 million people, or nearly a third of the adult population, smoke in the Philippines, according to a 2014 report by Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, - the second highest in the region after Indonesia. Nearly half of all Filipino men and 9 percent of women smoke and experts say the habit costs the economy nearly $4 billion in healthcare and productivity losses every year.
Sandra Mullin of Vital Strategies, a global public health organisation, said smoke-free laws reduced smoking prevalence by 4 percent, if fully comprehensive.
Marlboro owner Philip Morris International, estimated to hold more than 70 percent of the Philippines market through its joint venture with Fortune Tobacco, will be among the international producers most affected by the proposed ban.
In 2015, the Philippines accounted for almost 1 in every 13 cigarettes sold by Philip Morris globally, though analysts estimated it was worth a far smaller 2 percent of profit.
A spokeswoman for Philip Morris International referred queries on the proposed ban to the Philippine Tobacco Institute, which represents tobacco interests in the country.
A spokesman for the institute said he had no immediate comment on the proposed ban.
SCALING UP
The proposed smoking ban replicates on a national level an existing law in Davao City, where Duterte ruled as mayor for 22 years until his rise to the presidency earlier this year.
Penalties for breaking the anti-smoking law in Davao can include a 5,000 Philippine peso ($103) fine or four months in prison.
When Duterte was in Davao, he once personally forced a man to stub out his cigarette and eat it after he refused to stop smoking in a restaurant, according to media reports.
A government spokesman declined to comment on the incident but said:
"Certainly in Davao, the sentiment and business establishments support a smoke-free Davao. The president sees it as something that's not ideal for health...and this is part of the public well-being," Ernesto Abella said.
Duterte also rolled out a number of other strict rules in the city of 1.5 million during his term as mayor, including banning late-night drinking and karaoke, and a 10 p.m. curfew for school children. He also oversaw a severe crackdown on narcotics and crime in the city, earning him the nickname "The Punisher".
The 71-year old won the presidency on a promise of widening that crackdown throughout the country of 100 million. Over 3,600 people, mostly small-time drug user and dealers, have died in police operations and alleged vigilante killings since he took office in June.
Anti-tobacco activists said Duterte's reputation meant the nationwide smoking ban would be implemented.
"This is effectively a scaling up of the Davao City plan," said Ralph Degollacion of Health Justice Philippines, a local NGO.
"We know his track record...and given the political will in his government, we're confident that in terms of implementation he will really push it," he said.
When asked if the ban could extend to alcohol and gambling - both multi-million dollar industries - government spokesman Abella said there were no such plans in the offing and that bars and casinos were continuing to operate normally.
BIG TOBACCO UNDER PRESSURE
The nationwide ban is set to be among the strictest no-smoking laws in Southeast Asia. The region is home to nearly 10 percent of the world's smokers and while most countries have partial smoking bans in place, enforcement is often lax.
The Philippines ban will also cover 'vaping' or the use of electronic cigarettes.
For tobacco companies, already under pressure from tobacco tax hikes under the previous government, that's bad news.
"A smoking ban could see any further recovery in the sales dynamics in the market stall," Owen Bennett, equity analyst at Jefferies International, said in a note.
Duterte's government has also proposed increasing taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kenneth Chua said. The tax would build on a landmark tax-hike imposed by the previous government, but Chua did not elaborate on how much additional revenue the government was expected to net. ($1 = 48.2800 Philippine pesos)
Europe drafting transaction tax law but key details still missing
By Francesco Guarascio
LUXEMBOURG, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The European Commission has been given a mandate to draft a law on a financial transaction tax, but work still needs to be done on the proposal by the 10 countries supporting it, EU officials said on Tuesday.
The proposed tax on transactions between financial institutions, put forward by Germany and France in 2012, is seen as a political symbol as much as an effort to correct the excesses blamed for the world's worst financial crisis for decades.
"On the basis of the Austrian proposals we have reached an agreement in principle," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Tuesday, referring to a text prepared by Austrian finance minister Hans Joerg Schelling.
But the tax, intended for transactions involving shares and derivatives, has been debated ever since, with countries still disagreeing on how to levy it and at what rate.
Late on Monday the finance ministers of the 10 countries considering adopting the financial transaction tax, or FTT, held a meeting in Luxembourg on the sidelines of a regular gathering of euro zone ministers.
They supported the text prepared by Schelling, who also chairs the group.
That text, seen by Reuters, set out general principles. Initially, only shares originated from the participating countries would be taxed but after a transitional period a common tax would be applied to all shares - an idea that may not go down well in Britain, which fears the impact on trades in the City of London.
All derivatives transactions would be taxed except repos, reverse repos and the transactions of public debt managers, the text said.
The text indicates no common tax rates and still misses out important technical details on how to apply the levy, which will all need to be clarified in later talks.
CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM
Schaeuble's French counterpart, Michel Sapin, shared his view that a deal now looked closer than ever.
The Commission will draft in the coming weeks a legislative proposal based on the political deal, with the aim of reaching a final agreement by the end of the year, ministers said.
Several deadlines have been missed over the years regarding the controversial tax, however.
Pierre Moscovici, the EU economics and taxation commissioner, said a deal was near but added: "There is still some analysis to be done."
Pro-Russian party wins a toe-hold in Georgia's new parliament
By Margarita Antidze
TBILISI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A small pro-Russian party has won seats in the Georgian parliament despite Russian troops controlling one fifth of the ex-Soviet republic and lingering memories of a short war between the two countries less than 10 years ago.
With 100 percent of the vote counted, data from the Central Election Commission showed on Tuesday that the pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots had won 5.01 percent of the vote, just passing the 5 percent threshold needed to get into parliament.
Its presence in the 150-seat parliament will be small, but some Georgians are upset that a pro-Russian party has got in despite recent history and are disappointed that smaller pro-Western parties failed to win any seats.
"I'm so disappointed that we won't have politicians from these other (pro-Western) parties in parliament," said Tamta Kirvalidze, a 26-year-old resident of Tbilisi, the capital.
The Alliance of Patriots favours greater integration with Russia and opposes Georgia joining NATO. Its leaders also talk up the Russian Orthodox Church's links to Georgia and warn that closer integration with Europe could damage Georgian traditions.
By contrast, the ruling Georgian Dream party, which comfortably won overall with 48.67 percent of the vote, favours integration with the West as well as closer ties with Russia, while the opposition United National Movement, which came second with 27.11 percent, is strongly pro-Western.
A U.S. ally traditionally buffeted between Russia and the West, Georgia hopes to join the European Union (EU) and NATO one day even though that is something that Russia, its former colonial master, strongly opposes.
Criss-crossed by strategically important oil and gas pipelines, a fifth of Georgian territory remains under the control of pro-Russian separatists following a short war with Russia in 2008.
Analysts don't expect any immediate changes in Georgia's foreign policy as a result of the election.
Turkey has right to combat threats in Syria and Iraq -Erdogan
By Tulay Karadeniz and Tuvan Gumrukcu
ANKARA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan warned Iraq's prime minister he should "know his limits" after he criticised Turkey's military presence there and said the Turkish army, shaken by a failed coup bid, had not lost so much standing as to take orders from him.
NATO member Turkey shares a 1,200 km (750-mile) border with Syria and Iraq and faces threats from Islamic State militants in both. But it is concerned that international efforts to destroy radical Islamists will leave new dangers in their wake.
The Turkish army, its senior ranks purged following a failed military attempt to overthrow Erdogan in July, launched an incursion into Syria in August to push back Islamic State and prevent U.S.-backed Kurdish militia fighters from seizing territory. Ankara is wary of Washington's support for what it sees as a hostile Syrian Kurdish force.
Erdogan suggested Turkey could take a similar attitude in Iraq, where expectations are growing of an assault to drive Islamic State out of the northern city of Mosul.
"We will approach the operation in Iraq, the operation that will be in Mosul soon, with the same attitude," Erdogan told a meeting of Islamic leaders in Istanbul in televised comments.
"Turkey cannot intervene against the threats right next to it? We will never accept this ... We don't need permission for this, and we don't plan on getting it."
The main point of contention is the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq, mainly at the Bashiqa camp in the north of the country, training Sunni Muslim and Kurdish Peshmerga units which Turkey wants to take part in the battle for Mosul.
However, the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad is keen that its forces be in the forefront of the offensive on the city, the largest under Islamic State control.
The United States said on Tuesday any foreign forces in Iraq should be there with the approval of the Baghdad government and under the umbrella of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants.
"The Turkish forces that are deployed in Iraq are not there as part of the international coalition and the situation in Bashiqa is a matter for the governments of Iraq and Turkey to resolve," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told a daily press briefing.
'SECTARIAN WAR'
Turkey's parliament voted two weeks ago to extend the deployment of an estimated 2,000 troops across northern Iraq by a year to combat "terrorist organisations" - a wording broad enough to refer to Kurdish militants as well as Islamic State.
Iraq condemned the vote, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned Turkey risked triggering a regional war. His government has requested an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the issue, and both countries have summoned each other's ambassadors in a mounting diplomatic stand-off.
"The Iraqi prime minister is insulting me, first know your limits," Erdogan said.
"Iraq had certain requests from us regarding Bashiqa, and now they are telling us to leave. But the Turkish army has not lost so much standing as to take orders from you."
Turkey argues that involving Shi'ite militias in a drive to expel Islamic State from Mosul will not bring peace.
"If you try to change the demographic structure in Mosul, you will ignite the fire for a major sectarian war," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told members of his ruling AK Party at a meeting in parliament.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey could play the same role in the Mosul offensive or any campaign to take Raqqa, Islamic State's stronghold in Syria, as it did with its August incursion into the Syria, when it sent in tanks and fighter jets in support of Syrian rebels fighting the Islamist radicals.
Pentagon hints at possible retaliation after Yemen missile fire
WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday warned that whoever fired missiles at a U.S. Navy destroyer and an accompanying ship off the coast of Yemen over the weekend had done so "at their own peril," language that suggested preparations for possible retaliation.
Anybody who takes action, fires against U.S. Navy ships operating in international waters, does so at their own peril," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told a news briefing, noting the missiles came from territory controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.
Mozambique opposition Renamo says will not abandon talks with govt
MAPUTO, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Mozambique's opposition party Renamo will not abandon talks with the government, its spokesperson said, after one of its senior officials was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on a Maputo beach at the weekend.
The killing of Jeremias Pondeca, a member of the Joint Commission set up to find ways to overcome a standoff between the government and Renamo over a range of issues, came days before the commission was due to resume talks.
But Renamo national spokesperson Antonio Muchanga was quoted by state news agency AIM as saying that the negotiations will go ahead.
"Renamo will continue the negotiations. Even today, if the Joint Commission was in session, Renamo would be willing to take part in the negotiations," Muchanga was quoted as saying.
"This barbaric act, committed by the enemies of democracy and of the well-being of the Mozambican people, is intended to force Renamo to abandon the dialogue," he added.
The talks were meant to resume on Monday after being interrupted on Sept. 30. But the coordinator of the international mediating team, Mario Rafaelli, has announced a further delay to Oct.18, AIM said.
Muchanga said Pondeca will not be replaced as there were still "a reasonable number" of Renamo members on the commission to continue its work.
The commission has so far reached no definitive agreement on any of the matters on its agenda, including Renamo's demands for six provincial governors and the inclusion of its militia in the army and police.
Renamo and the government were on opposing sides in a civil war from the late 1970s until the early 1990s before a peace accord ended the fighting. But it still has its own militia.
News / National
by Staff reporter
WIDENING divisions continue to rock the MDC-T with members last week furiously protesting party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai's appointment of Mr Nelson Chamisa and Engineer Elias Mudzuri as his additional deputies.Mr Tsvangirai in July made the two appointments in a move interpreted my some in his party as an attempt to weaken his long term deputy Ms Thokozani Khupe.According to party sources, MDC-T national organising secretary Mr Abednico Bhebhe held a meeting in his Nkayi South constituency last Thursday where members created conspiracy theories around the appointments."Bhebhe led a meeting with his constituents in Guwe where a number of issues were discussed. He encouraged the members to be open in expressing their views as they were recording them to be forwarded to Tsvangirai. One of the burning issues was the appointment of the two vice presidents where sentiment was raised to the effect that Tsvangirai had no faith in the leadership from Matabeleland region. It was said that through the appointments, Tsvangirai had shown his preferences in as far as who he wants to take over the leadership of the party after him and that it wasn't Khupe."Mr Bhebhe was accompanied to the meeting by Bulawayo councillor Mr Mlandu Ncube, some members from the Bulawayo provincial executive and a Mr Chief Ndlovu whom the party wants to field in the Nkayi North constituency in the 2018 elections.Contacted yesterday, Mr Bhebhe was non committal on the matter but accused the State controlled media of getting details about the meeting from state intelligence sources."The person who told you, told you what they want you to write in your paper. You are asking about things that happened when you were not there. The only people who might have given you the information are the CIOs," said Mr Bhebhe.Sources said another issue raised in the meeting was that of forming a coalition with Zimbabwe people First leader Dr Joice Mujuru.
U.N. memo casts doubt on some Central African sex abuse accusations
By Tim Cocks, Michelle Nichols and Marine Pennetier
DAKAR/UNITED NATIONS/PARIS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A draft United Nations memo seen by Reuters suggests that dozens allegations of sexual abuse against U.N. peacekeepers in Central African Republic have been fabricated by people seeking financial payoffs.
The revelations put the spotlight back on how the world body deals with abuse cases. In December an independent review panel criticised the United Nations for mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse by international peacekeepers, who were not under U.N. command, in Central African Republic.
The 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force there, known as MINUSCA, has been dogged by allegations of sexual abuse since its deployment in April 2014 to curb fighting between the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels and the anti-balaka Christian militias.
French troops deployed in a separate intervention in the former French colony have also been accused of abuses.
The United Nations in March expanded its inquiry into new accusations of sexual abuse and exploitation in the country's Dekoa region. It told France, Gabon and Burundi that dozens of accusations had been made against their soldiers in MINUSCA.
However, an internal Aug. 24 memo - written by the chief of the U.N. Department of Field Support's Conduct and Discipline Unit suggested many accusations were strikingly similar and appeared to be motivated by financial gain.
Written by Mercedes Gervilla, the memo, citing information from the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services, said: "OIOS notes that many of the complaints followed a specific pattern of accusations; many of the complainants' stories were nearly identical, lacked specific details and fell apart when probed. It appeared as though the complainants had memorized a script."
The memo said a local charity tasked with referring abuse accusations to the U.N. children's agency UNICEF had placed complainants on a monthly remuneration scheme, offering a financial incentive for people to present themselves as victims.
The memo appeared to be a draft as it had not been signed by Gervilla.
PAYMENTS "ROUTINE PART" OF RESPONSE TO ABUSES
"Further, OIOS obtained information indicating that a purported social worker was inciting complainants to make false allegations given the possible economical return. The same person is said to have extorted payments from complainants in exchange for being presented as victims," Gervilla wrote.
UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said it had a long-standing arrangement with a local charity to provide care to children and women who come forward as victims of sexual abuse. She said cash transfers to those people were a "routine part" of the response to sexual abuse and exploitation.
"UNICEF has no role in determining whether a person coming forward as a victim has in fact been sexually abused or sexually exploited," she said. "As a first-line responder to these incidents UNICEF proceeds on the assumption that a person coming forward as a victim is entitled to care and support."
Mercado said that as part of the response to the accusations of abuses in Dekoa, the charity had provided a one-time payment of $35 to 106 self-described victims.
The memo, which said the OIOS investigation was close to completion, focused on more than 150 accusations made between March and June this year about events that happened between 2013 and 2016 and involved troops from Burundi and Gabon.
Gervilla estimated that about 50 percent of cases were not supported by any evidence and only 20 percent by substantive evidence. The remaining 30 percent had partial evidence, but lacked corroborating material.
"It should also be noted that the substantive allegations are of sexual exploitation - sex in exchange for food. There is little or no substantial evidence of sexual abuse," she wrote.
Gervilla said a further 216 allegations were made against Burundian, Gabonese and French forces during an OIOS fact-finding mission at the end of August.
"Many if not all of these allegations result from what appears to a systematic effort to initiate false accusations against peacekeeping personnel in Dekoa," she said.
A U.N. peacekeeping official in New York said the OIOS had interviewed some 435 complainants and witnesses. The evidence was now being reviewed by OIOS ahead of final reports to be sent to U.N. troop-contributing countries for appropriate action to ensure accountability of peacekeepers.
MINUSCA spokesman Herve Verhoosel said the mission was taking the allegations seriously but would not comment further until the investigation was finished.
Saudi Arabia's crude output steady in Sept amid oil deal talk
By Rania El Gamal
ISTANBUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's crude oil production was steady in September, remaining at high levels, a signal that OPEC's top producer continues to feed rising demand both domestically and abroad.
The world's largest oil exporter pumped 10.65 million barrels per day in September, up from 10.63 million bpd in August, according to official figures submitted to OPEC.
Gulf OPEC member Kuwait reported that its oil production in September was at 2.97 million bpd compared with 2.98 in August, while the United Arab Emirates pumped 3.18 million bpd in September, from 3.15 in August, sources familiar with the matter said.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Sept. 28 agreed to reduce output to a range of 32.50 million barrels per day to 33.0 million bpd, its first output cut since the 2008 financial crisis.
The exporting group is in talks with major non-OPEC producers in a bid to gain their support for a global deal to limit supplies and help to balance the market.
U.S. Supreme Court to hear Mexico border shooting case
By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide whether to revive a civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of a Mexican teenager against a U.S. Border Patrol agent who fatally shot the 15-year-old from across the border in Texas in 2010.
The justices will review an April 2015 ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that threw out the civil rights claims against the agent, Jesus Mesa, filed by the family of Sergio Hernandez.
The appeals court ruled that the lawsuit could not move forward in part because the U.S. Constitution's ban on unjustified deadly force did not apply to Hernandez because he was a Mexican citizen on Mexican soil when the shooting occurred in June 2010.
The incident took place at a border crossing between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The U.S. Border Patrol said at the time that Hernandez was pelting U.S. agents with rocks from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande before the shooting. U.S. authorities have asserted that Mesa shot Hernandez in self-defense.
Lawyers for Hernandez's family disputed that account, saying he was playing a game with other teenagers in which they would run across a culvert from the Mexican side and touch the U.S. border fence before dashing back.
The FBI also said Hernandez was a known immigrant smuggler who had been pressed into service by smuggling gangs that took advantage of his youth. Hernandez guided illegal immigrants into the United States, the FBI said.
Hernandez's family sued both the U.S. federal government and Mesa. The Supreme Court appeal only concerns the claims against Mesa.
The case was seized on by activists who accused the United States of using heavy-handed tactics in dealing with immigration and human smuggling.
The shooting was condemned by Mexico's government and prompted demonstrations in Ciudad Juarez.
The court will hear oral arguments and decide the case in its current term, which ends in June. The justices also announced on Tuesday that they will hear three related cases on a similar legal question concerning whether immigrants detained after the Sept. 11 attacks who said they faced abusive treatment can sue government officials.
Pentagon hints at possible retaliation after Yemen missile fire
By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday warned that whoever fired missiles at a U.S. Navy destroyer and an accompanying ship off the coast of Yemen over the weekend had done so "at their own peril," language that suggested preparations for possible retaliation.
Two shore-launched cruise missiles, which U.S. officials believe were designed to hit vessels at sea, were fired at the U.S. Navy ships on Sunday from Houthi-controlled territory of Yemen, just north of the Bab al-Mandab strait.
Both failed to hit the ships but the attack, which was first reported by Reuters, could deepen U.S. involvement in Yemen. U.S. military action in the country has largely been reserved for the battle against al Qaeda's affiliate, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, not the Houthis.
"Anybody who takes action, fires against U.S. Navy ships operating in international waters, does so at their own peril," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told a news briefing.
Asked whether the Pentagon was developing targets for retaliatory strikes, Davis said: "I'm not confirming that right now."
U.S. support for a Saudi Arabia-led coalition battling the Houthis has been reduced in recent months, and had been under review amid growing concerns about civilian casualties in Yemen's war. It includes refueling Saudi jets that are carrying out strikes.
The Houthis, allies of Iran who drove the Western- and Saudi Arabia-backed President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi from the capital in 2014, have denied firing at the USS Mason guided missile destroyer and the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport dock.
But U.S. officials have told Reuters that Washington is operating under the assumption that Houthi forces fired the cruise missiles on Sunday.
Davis suggested as much on Tuesday, noting that the Houthis had previously acknowledged responsibility for firing on a vessel from the United Arab Emirates a week earlier.
"The Houthis have said publicly before that they would target any ships in that area that were supporting the coalition against them," Davis said.
"So the facts certainly seem to point to it, but we are still assessing and we will have more for you."
The strikes against the UAE and U.S. vessels risks disrupting commercial traffic through the Bab al-Mandab strait, one of the world's busiest routes.
While shipping companies have yet to divert vessels, there are growing worries that an escalation could hinder oil supplies and lead to higher insurance costs. Nearly four million barrels of oil are shipped daily through the Bab al-Mandab gateway to Europe, the United States and Asia.
Hezbollah sees more conflict in Syria and rising regional tension
BEIRUT, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said on Tuesday the Middle East was in a phase of escalating tension and there appeared to be no prospect of a political solution to the war in Syria.
"The regional scene is currently one of tension and escalation, and it does not appear that there are paths for negotiations or solutions", he said in a rare live televised speech before thousands of supporters in Beirut.
Speaking about Syria, where the Iran-backed group is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Nasrallah said "the theatre was open to more tension, escalation and confrontation".
However, large sections of his more than hour-long address, marking Shi'ite Islam's annual Ashura commemorations, were spent attacking Sunni power Saudi Arabia, the main regional rival of Iran, mostly over its military campaign in Yemen.
Nasrallah said the Saudi leadership were pushing their country to "the abyss" and accused Riyadh of being responsible for an air strike on a Yemeni funeral in the capital Sanaa on Saturday that killed scores of people.
Saudi Arabia, which backs Syrian rebels, earlier this year marshalled other Arab states to denounce Hezbollah as a terrorist group, part of Riyadh's efforts to contain Iran's influence and reduce its ability to support Assad.
Hezbollah denies being involved in terrorism and Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in his speech on Tuesday.
The thousands of Hezbollah supporters in the crowd, mostly dressed in the traditional dark colours worn by Shi'ites at Ashura, were shown repeatedly chanting "Death to the Al Saud", Riyadh's ruling dynasty, while pumping their fists in the air.
U.S. blacklists Pakistan nationals on suspicion of money laundering
WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The United States blacklisted four men and their companies based in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, for purported ties to an organization accused of laundering money for drug traffickers and Chinese, Colombian and Mexican crime groups.
Among them was Pakistani national Obaid Khanani, whose father Altaf Khanani was arrested by U.S. authorities in September 2015 and accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of laundering billions of dollars for the Taliban and other groups.
The department said in a statement that Obaid Khanani, 29, continued to help lead his father's money laundering organization after the arrest. Altaf Khanani is set to be tried on money laundering charges in Miami this month, according to federal court records.
Another man on the list, Hozaifa Khanani, also 29, is Altaf Khanani's nephew and was involved in real estate investments on behalf of his uncle's organization, the Treasury Department said. Muhammad Javed Khanani, Altaf Khanani's brother, was "heavily involved in laundering criminal proceeds via money service businesses" Treasury said. It said a fourth man, Atif Polani, helped move funds on behalf of Khanani's organization.
The sanctions block any assets the men or companies might have had in the United States, and bars Americans from dealing with them.
"Treasury remains committed to combating illicit money laundering networks around the world and today's action is the result of close coordination with our partners in the United Arab Emirates," said John E. Smith, acting director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which imposes sanctions.
Two French soldiers badly wounded by drone in Iraq
PARIS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Two French soldiers were badly wounded in Iraq and two Peshmerga fighters were killed by a booby trapped drone sent by a group related to the Islamic State, Le Monde reported on Tuesday.
In what could be the first report of an attack by Islamic State militants on French special forces using a drone, the device was intercepted while flying and exploded after landing on the ground, the paper said.
Le Monde said the attack happened on Oct. 2.
It was not clear whether the device was remotely detonated or if it carried a timed bomb.
The two French soldiers were immediately repatriated to receive medical treatment in France. One of them "is between life and death," Le Monde wrote.
Other French soldiers were also lightly wounded by the explosion but Le Monde did not give precise numbers.
France has about 500 military in Iraq as part of a U.S.-led coalition to fight Islamic State militants. The numbers include special forces that have been training Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the north of the country.
The French defence ministry, which has a policy of not discussing special forces' operations, declined to comment on the Le Monde report.
An Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad could not confirm the report and Peshmerga sources were not immediately available for comment.
News / National
by Simbarashe Sithole
A 34 year old man Plaster Kagoro from Madoka village, Muringazuwa ward in Muzarabani, was remanded in custody by Bindura magistrate for attempted murder and malicious damage of property.It was the state's case that Kagoro set ablaze his ex-girlfriend's bedroom hut in early September with the intention of killing her.Kagoro suspected her of sleeping with another man on that fateful night.The ex-girlfriend escaped with three unidentified people leaving behind a four year old minor who died in the inferno.Meanwhile, a murder docket is being processed at Mvurwi police for him to appear in the High court at a date yet to be advised.Police say they are saddened by the rate of murder cases in Mashonaland Central and provincial spokesperson Inspector Milton Mundembe said awareness campaigns are in progress to curb the trend.
With the eighth BRICS summit taking place in Goa on October 15-16, one should reflect on the importance of the grouping in today's context. When first formed - as BRIC - it created a stir.
The coming together of Russia, China, India and Brazil was seen as an unavowed bid by key non-Western countries to challenge the hegemony of the West over global affairs.
BRIC - and later BRICS with South Africa's inclusion - was seen as a step towards multipolarity, a concept that emerged in the wake of US unilateralism, its regime change policies, and its use of democracy and human rights as a weapon of intervention in other countries in disregard of their sovereignty.
The BRIC countries believed in adherence to the traditional principles for conducting international relations such as non-interference in the internal affairs of countries and respect for national sovereignty, besides according primacy to multilateralism as enshrined in the United Nations.
Advantages
They were against the use of the concepts of democracy and human rights selectively to destabilise legitimate regimes.
The grouping also wanted reform of the international financial institutions to reflect the shift of global economic power towards Asia, demanding in particular a redistribution of IMF quotas.
A longer term aim was erosion of the hegemony of the US dollar by promoting trade in national currencies.
Russia, as the driving force behind the BRIC grouping, dominated it initially. For it, this group spanning the three largest countries of Asia and Latin America compensated for its reduced international status after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia emphasised multilateralism as it gave it a role in decision making denied by US unilateralism.
PM Narendra Modi with US President Barack Obama. (Photo credit: AP)
During this early phase China, focused on building its economic strength, kept a low profile internationally, and let Russia take the leadership in challenging the West.
India saw advantage in BRIC membership as it shared many of the group's concerns about international governance and it too sought reform of the international financial institutions.
For India, increasingly driven towards the US for investment and technology needs, BRIC membership helped maintain a balance in foreign policy and retain strategic autonomy.
Nurturing our traditional relationship with Russia, the need to engage China and strengthen ties with Brazil - a member of the Group of Four countries seeking permanent membership of the UN Security Council - were objectives that BRICS membership served.
The scope of the BRICS agenda has become so vast that by this yardstick alone the group could claim functional success.
It ranges from energy, e-commerce, narcotics, think tanks, education, youth affairs and ICTs to interbank cooperation, trade unions, culture, labour and employment, population, agriculture, S&T and innovation, telecommunications, disaster management, anti-corruption, media, legal cooperation and so on.
Entanglements
BRICS has academic, business, parliamentary and financial forums. Its national security advisers meet.
The signal successes of BRICS - the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) as well as the Multilateral Contingent Reserve Arrangement, have been viewed, along with the Asia Infrastructure Investment Fund, as initiatives under Chinese leadership to set up rival institutions to those of Bretton Woods.
The BRICS summit declarations are inflated - the Fortaleza and Ufa declarations had over 70 paras, though to what extent the agreed texts represent a real convergence of policies is open to question.
One can actually argue that beyond its financial sector initiatives, the BRICS group receives little international attention today. Multipolarity is no longer the rallying concept it was.
US failures in West Asia and Afghanistan, its reluctance under Obama to embroil itself in external entanglements and the rise of China have diluted concerns about US hegemony.
The Russian economy is in trouble with the fall in oil prices. Brazil is in a state of political and economic disarray. The South African economy is under stress.
Interests
China is facing an economic slowdown. Its conduct in the South China Sea has alienated not only its neighbours but also raised concerns in India. China has openly opposed India's NSG membership.
Its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project is a geopolitical provocation. Its repeated opposition in the Security Council to India's bid to have Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar declared an international terrorist reveals the huge gap between BRICS declarations on terrorism and China's actual conduct.
India's trade gap with China has become even worse. Growing distrust is affecting Chinese investments in India. India has steadily moved closer to the US even in the defence sector.
The joint strategic vision with the US for Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions is incompatible with the BRICS framework. With serious deterioration of its ties with the US, Russia has strengthened its strategic relations with China.
It is leaning towards China on the South China Sea issues. Russia has ceded leadership of BRICS to China as the much stronger economic actor.
This has changed the internal balance within BRICS to India's disadvantage. India's trade with Russia is stagnating despite BRICS.
It amounted to $7.83 billion in 2015, which is a decline of 17.74 per cent over 2014. Russia has sent uncomfortable signals to India by initiating defence cooperation with Pakistan and conducting the first ever military exercises with it last month.
All this shows that while BRICS has value as a platform for India to engage with key non-Western countries in areas of shared interest, our vital interests are not protected or advanced by this grouping.
1. Cyril Almeida, a well-known Pakistani journalist, has been barred from leaving the country following a report in Dawn.
2. On October 6, Almeida's page one story created ripples for revealing a rift between Pakistan's civilian government and the military.
3. Citing sources, he states that in a top-level meeting, government officials rained down hard on the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan due to alleged support for militancy.
4. The meeting was chaired by Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, including senior cabinet and provincial officials. Whereas, the military was represented by ISI DG Rizwan Akhtar.
5. Pakistan government has flatly denied the story. Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif ordered authorities to take "stern action" against those behind publishing the "fabricated" story.
Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif and army chief Raheel Sharif. (Photo credit: Google)
6. The story came at a time of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, following New Delhi's claim of successfully conducting surgical strikes on September 29 in response to the Uri attack.
7. According to the Guardian, "Almeida was booked on a Tuesday morning flight to Dubai for a long-planned holiday with members of his family but received word on Monday evening that he would not be allowed to board the plane."
8. Cyril's name is now on Exit Control List (ECL), which prohibits people from leaving Pakistan.
9. Cyril took to Twitter to clear his stand. He tweeted, "Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan."
After two Delhi High Court judgements which did not favour the Delhi government, it appears that the judiciary believes that a Union Territory is a bath mat for the lieutenant governor, in this case Mr Najeeb Jung, known neither for any legal acumen, nor respect for an overwhelmingly majority elected government.
In his cocky style, it is clear that he has clear disrespect and disregard for the government he is supposed to help steer, and without due regard for what the chief minister and his cabinet recommend. Not only that, the LG has reportedly stated that correspondence to him from the Delhi CM is dispatched immediately to the waste paper basket.
The Delhi bureaucrats are removed or transferred at will by the LG, who is now having his staff scour through some 400 files so as to get material to attack the CM and the Delhi government with.
After all the debate and criticism of the LG as a latter day Shah Alam, it is strikingly evident that he has the complete backing of the prime minister, his Union cabinet and minions. The media is surprisingly quiet, as are most of the secular parties, who seem to be enjoying the show. This is completely disgraceful.
Surely, the Left and secular parties should respect political rights and duties, and not stand by as a Delhi government elected by a landslide is taken to the cleaners by unconstitutional means. This is a sad day for Indian democracy, and so far also a debacle for the recent judicial decrees in the evaluation of the rights of Union Territories and their governments.
Where does the Constitution state even in Article 239AA that the UT governments will be mere messenger boys for an arrogant retired bureaucrat? Ours is supposed to be a federal system, though the term is not in the Constitution, but is cited in several judicial verdicts including in the higher judiciary.
The Delhi bureaucrats are removed or transferred at will by the LG Najeeb Jung (right), who is now having his staff scour through some 400 files so as to get material to attack the CM ARvind Kejriwal and his government with. [Photo: Google]
Which federal system anywhere permits an unelected LG to exercise total quasi-judicial and executive powers over a CM and his 67/70 member crushing majority in the Delhi Assembly?
This is not the federalism of the US, Canada or Switzerland. But have the judiciary and the Union executive learned relevant lessons from these experiences? If not, shouldn't these bodies learn from these experiences?
After all, the courts have repeatedly referred to relevant experiences and judicial pronouncements in other polities before.
It is true that India's federalism is relatively weak, but that doesn't mean that it is non-existent. And given the strains in the Indian polity from north to south, over demands for humane governance to issues of water rights, federalism should be strengthened as various bodies including the Justice Sarkaria Commission had suggested.
This means that the legislature cannot be subordinated to the executive.
Also, that the existing government cannot be rendered powerless by judicial scrutiny, which empowers the words and phrases of the Constitution but not its basic structure, even disregarding important debates in the Constituent Assembly, not to speak of in other relevant federations and their bodies.
This is not a matter merely of LG Najeeb Jung, PM Narendra Modi or Arvind Kejriwal. It is a matter of democracy.
It is a matter of the population of Delhi overwhelmingly choosing their representatives, and finding themselves bereft of influence and power by machinations which are a disgrace to our democracy.
It seems too many secular politicians are standing by and watching an impetuous and upstart political party storm the capital. But they should remember that the same or worse could happen to them.
In the cradle of earth, lie countless bodies of women sent to their grave by the sword of honour.
Whenever there is a murder in the name of honour popularly known as honour killings - the state is demanded to have strict laws for the punishment of such killers. The Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan did just that recently.
Last week, a joint session of parliament unanimously approved anti-honour killing and anti-rape Bills. Simultaneously, the Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Bill in Lahore.
It wasn't easy, because for long the country's feudal lords have supported such murders ostensibly safeguarding a family's honour (often including killings or brutal torture by husbands) and influenced the authorities in their areas as well as the government to not take strict action.
On the one side, the feudal lords have used the issue to maintain their power and on the other side, religious groups have instilled the fear of honour killings in women in order to impose orthodox beliefs on them.
The Pakistani government had for long been unable to introduce the Bills despite each government promising to do so. Till now, the existing law in the country had a loophole - it allowed perpetrators of so-called honour killings to go scot-free if pardoned.
What added pressure on the government was the murder of Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch by her brother. (Photo credit: India Today)
What changed this time I wonder, since honour killings have been prevalent in Pakistan for long. Was there not criticism of the government over the matter in the past decades? Did the government now suddenly realise the horror that are honour killings? Or is there a political motive behind clearing the Bills?
The fact is that the Pakistani government has been facing criticism over the lack of legislation on honour killings, with the issue being raked up on social media and people using their power to raise their voice against the gruesome acts. The PML-N was hauled up time and again for not fulfilling promises on the same.
Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, who estimates that more than 1,000 women are killed each year in Pakistan for allegedly bringing shame upon their families, had said at the beginning of this year that the honour killing issue would gain traction if her film (A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, about a girl shot in the face by her family) won an Oscar.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had even held a screening of the film, which did win an Oscar, and promised to give the legislation on honour killings more teeth in order to deter the killers and not give them an escape route - in the process also presenting himself as pro-womens rights.
What added pressure was the murder of Qandeel Baloch by her brother on the pretext of honour - it shook the system and was like a tight slap on the face of the government. Balcoch is yet to get justice.
Now, a joint session of parliament has approved the anti-honour killing Bill" (but) - there's still a catch "the killer can be pardoned by the victim's party if he (gets) capital punishment".
People must understand that the government cannot bring out a strong law because religious groups will not accept it.
We must ask ourselves before rejoicing over the law on social media that will the Bill work practically in the society of Pakistan? Who will implement it? How?
Let's not forget the PML-N had put ex-dictator Prevez Musharraf on trial for treason under Article 6 of the constitution, but what happened? He was set free and allowed to go abroad.
Not only this, the Sindh government passed a law against child marriage, yet such cases are surfacing. Take Anjalee Bai, who was forcibly converted to Islam and married to a man. The Sindh High Court accepted the girl was underage and sent her to a shelter house. But no one knows about her, yet. My point is that the state has laws, but who will act on them?
It does not matter how many laws the state has unless it honestly implements them. And the anti-honour killing Bill can hardly work in a system where religious groups use the name of Islam to control power and feudal lords act as lawmakers.
The Bill's provision of pardon will surely be misused to save the killers.
If the government is serious about ending such murders, then its laws must provide for capital punishment to whomsoever commits or supports such a crime. The option of pardon should also be scrapped.
Pakistan has flatly denied the claim of the Indian Army that surgical strikes took place on September 29 at several launch pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) where terrorists had gathered to infiltrate into India.
First, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the mouthpiece of the Army, followed by the nominal defence minister Khwaja Asif and later the Federal Cabinet, all denied the Indian claims. Instead of surgical strikes, it was claimed that there was cross-border firing in which two Pakistani army personnel were killed.
Pakistan has stuck to this position despite mounting evidence of the strikes, and despite the actions of various Pakistani leaders and their non-state actors.
Nothing dents the Army's charisma more than a military defeat and that too at the hands of arch-enemy India. Photo credit: PTI
These have included the flurry of meetings that an otherwise laidback Nawaz Sharif has held; the flurry of visits to the forward areas by Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif; Hafiz Saeed threatening to launch his own surgical strikes on India et al.
The moot question, however, is how long will Pakistan continue to be in denial?
In reality, this is not merely denial but a desperate effort to mislead its own people, an art Pakistan's leaders have mastered over the decades. This time around too, the situation is no different.
Several examples illustrate the point:
The events of 1965, as taught in Pakistani schools and floated by popular media, begin with the Indian attack of September 6, 1965. For example, in his In the Line of Fire Musharraf writes how he was saved from a court martial by the 1965 war "when India attacked Pakistan on all fronts".
There is no mention of Operation Gibraltar that had been launched by Pakistan in early August to send "infiltrators" into J&K to incite a rebellion, no mention of Operation Grand Slam meant to cut off J&K from the rest of India launched in early September. Such Pakistani calculated aggression has been wiped from the collective memory.
The 1965 War is also portrayed as a "victory" and September 6 is observed as Defence Day of Pakistan. In fact, such was the false propaganda of the "victory" that even Benazir Bhutto writes in her Daughter of the East: "The country felt triumphant. Not only had we repulsed the Indian attack, but we had taken more of their territory than they had of ours." However, when the reality of the Tashkent Declaration hit home, there was a popular outburst against Ayub Khan. To quote Benazir again, "Our elation was short-lived. During the peace negotiations at Tashkent, President Ayub Khan lost everything we had gained on the battlefield."
Likewise, the 1971 war and the creation of Bangladesh is now portrayed as an Indian conspiracy. All talk of treating the then East Pakistan as a colony and the horrendous genocide carried out by the Pakistan Army there has been denied and wiped clean. For example, Bhutto writes, "Under the guise of establishing order so that the steady stream of refugees pouring into India could be reversed, the Indian army invaded East Pakistan and struck at West Pakistan as well."In testimony before the Hamoodur Rehman Commission, Yahya Khan asserted that "no military historian would call this (Surrender at Dacca) a military defeat. It was nothing but a treachery of the Indians."
Pervez Musharraf continues to deny till today that Pakistan Army regulars were used in Kargil. Instead, they were the "Kashmiri freedom fighting mujahideen." For him, Kargil was not a debacle but "a landmark in the history of the Pakistan Army".
The main reason for such persistent denials and outright falsehoods is the dominant place that the Pakistan army occupies in society. Central to such dominance is the mantra given by Major General Sher Ali Khan to General Yahya Khan in 1969 that the Army's ability to rule lay in its being perceived by the people as "a mythical entity, a magical force, that would succour them in times of need when all else failed... the army was the final guarantor of Pakistan and its well being."
This mantra of the army being "a mythical entity" has been the pivot of every Army chief, whether he has ruled directly or pulled strings from behind a civilian set-up. Every Army chief knows that when the Army's charisma is dented, it is time to pack up.
Nothing dents the Army's charisma more than a military defeat and that too at the hands of arch-enemy India. Having built themselves up as larger than life, having appropriated vast amounts of scarce resources on grounds of protecting the "physical and ideological frontiers" of Pakistan, the Army cannot afford to be seen as having got a bloody nose.
Thus, any acknowledgment of the Indian surgical strikes would be to damage the all-important charisma, this mythical quality and consequently their dominant role in society.
News / National
by Mary Charamba
ZIMBABWE YOUTH COUNCIL STATEMENT ON THE SUPPORT RENDERED BY THE MINISTRY OF HIGHER &TERTIARY EDUCATION THROUGH ZIMDEF
The Zimbabwe Youth Council wishes to clarify to its affiliate organizations, partners and other stakeholders on a matter that has been reported in the media regarding support amounting to 100 000litres of diesel fuel donated by the Ministry of Higher & Tertiary Education.It is a fact that indeed we received support in the form of fuel from the Ministry of Higher & Tertiary Education and our Executive Director Mr Livingstone Dzikira acknowledged receiving that fuel.On the 22nd of July the Youth Council wrote to the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education requesting support to conduct a youth skills mapping exercise.This request was our facilitation in support of an exercise that is being undertaken by one of the Youth Councils' affiliate organizations, the ZANU PF Youth League.Upon receiving these fuel coupons the Youth Council immediately dispatched the entire consignment of coupons to the ZANU PF Youth League Secretariat at Zanu PF Headquarters, which signed for the fuel acknowledging receipt.The Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission is in possession of all documentation relating to this transaction.For the avoidance of speculation and mis-information the Youth Council registers and facilitates the work of registered youth organizations in terms of the Zimbabwe Youth Council Act.To be specific, the Youth Council Act, (Chapter 25:19) establishes and mandates the Youth Council to foster the activities of youth organizations in the country.The Revised National Youth Policy of 2013 makes it clear that the role of the Youth Council shall be to interface between government and the youth in the country.In fulfilling this statutory mandate, the Zimbabwe Youth Council has facilitated the work of numerous youth organizations to receive funding, scholarships, grants, donations and loans from many organizations including the private sector, the Government of Zimbabwe, the United Nations Departments among others.In facilitating support for youth organizations in the country, the Youth Council pays attention to whether the requesting youth organization is duly registered in terms of the Youth Council Act, and whether it has the necessary skills and structures to conduct the programme or exercise they seek to conduct.In this particular case the Zanu PF Youth League is a duly registered youth organization and the Youth Council is satisfied that the Youth League's has the structural and human capacity to conduct the youth skills mapping exercise that it sought to conduct.The same Act stipulates that at the end of its operating year, each registered national association shall submit its annual report and financial statement. It is at that, after receiving a report, that the Youth Council can sanction an audit into the operations of each National Youth Association.It is therefore preposterous and prejudicial for the Youth Council to, without basis and in advance, assume that the Youth League has misappropriated the resources they secured through us.The Youth Council is expecting that stakeholders will allow the youth to carry out the skills mapping programme they said they wanted to carry out, whose outcome will inform the skills development planning policies of government.Having said this, it is however shocking and insightful to note that:1. The information surrounding this transaction was secured by investigators of ZACC, an anti corruption constitutional body which has not yet completed its investigations and yet the media has already been debriefed of the case.2. This leakage to the media of incomplete information betrays an agenda that is more political than professional. It would be interesting to know whether ZACC will investigate its officers for disclosing to the media information on a case that is still pending. 2. This support rendered to the Youth League is not the only support that has been given to the Youth League by government departments. Over the years, the 21st February Movement, a Youth League program meant to instill the values of patriotism, discipline and commitment has received support from many departments in government and there is no single investigation that has been conducted on those government departments.3.Other Youth Organizations that have received support from government, including the Zimbabwe Congress of Students Union (ZICOSU) have not been subjected to the same hit man style of investigations and subsequent leakage of information to the media as done in this case where the Zanu PF Youth League is the beneficiary of the support.ZIMDEF itself has given support to this ZANU PF aligned youth organization with amounts exceeding $75 000.It therefore betrays bias and selective investigating methods to target one beneficiary which in turn betrays a malicious agenda on the part of those behind the mis-information.4. There is also further evidence of malice in that those who are providing information to the media (ZACC sources) are not disclosing the fact that they are in possession of documents that indicate that the ZANU PF Youth League signed and acknowledged receipt of the 100 000litres.5. This means that who-ever instructed this leakage does not have the honesty and the courage to disclose the reality that in-fact this resource ended at the ZANU PF YL Headquarters. The Youth Council therefore wishes to place it on record that the said fuel is with Zanu PF Youth League, having received that support through their membership of the Zimbabwe Youth Council. The secretariat of the Youth League signed for this fuel and therefore is fully accountable for the usage of that fuel. In due course we expect that the ZANU PF Youth League will furnish the Youth Council with its Annual Report which will include this support together with a report on the specific outputs of the programme of Youth Skills Assessment that they are conducting in the districts of the country, for which they requested this support.END OF STATEMENT
News / National
by Staff reporter
ZIMBABWE Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) commissioner Goodson Nguni has been accused of "manifestly improper conduct" by Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo after allegedly orchestrating an attempt to arrest the Tsholotsho North MP on allegations of criminal abuse of office.There is no love lost between Moyo and Nguni.Nguni once claimed that Moyo's plans to promote media pluralism by amending tough media laws were proof that he was "hoping to use State media and private media in a coordinated manner to destroy Zanu PF from within."Nguni lashed out at The Herald, while Moyo was still Information minister, after the paper carried a story naming him as the source of a NewsDay story on President Robert Mugabe's alleged debts.Nguni fled South Africa sometime in 1999 after he was accused of defrauding the South African Post Office in the Eastern Cape for which he worked as a regional manager.In March 2008, the National Prosecution Authority of South Africa obtained an order in the High Court of South Africa (South Eastern Cape Local Division) authorising the curator bonis to dispose of Nguni's property and disburse an amount of R62 800 to the State (Case number 2529/99) after the courts had established that Nguni had benefitted from his participation "in the offences of fraud and corruption" which were perpetrated against his employer.Returning to Zimbabwe, Nguni took up political activism by joining Zanu PF structures. He was once the Zanu PF deputy information and publicity secretary for Harare Province. He later formed the Federation for Non-Governmental Organisations and named himself president.In 2008, boasting relations with Mugabe, Nguni allegedly approached the opposition MDC claiming to have been sent by the late retired army general Solomon Mujuru "without Mugabe's knowledge", according to a cable leaked online by WikiLeaks which released a trove of top secret American intelligence documents from embassies around the world.Nguni, according to the cable, "informed the MDC of the government of Zimbabwe's intention to provoke violent confrontations nationwide as a pretext for cracking down on the opposition party and its supporters."The cable says Nguni presented himself as a "distant relative of a member of President Mugabe's family", before adding: "He has been a reliable source of information for the MDC on the thinking of senior government of Zimbabwe leaders."Opposition activists protested Nguni's appointment to Zacc because of his criminal conviction. The Constitution says members of Zacc should be chosen for "their integrity".The Anti-Corruption Commission Act (Chapter 9:22) also says that a person is disqualified from being appointed a commissioner if he/she "has been convicted-(i) in Zimbabwe, in respect of an offence involving dishonesty; or(ii) outside Zimbabwe, in respect of conduct which, if committed in Zimbabwe, would have constituted an offence involving dishonesty."Jealousy Mawarire, a spokesman for Zimbabwe People First party, writing in December last year when Nguni was named to the commission, said "no due diligence was done."He said Nguni's appointment to Zacc was "a clear indication that both Parliament and the Office of the President are not serious in their so-called attempts to fight corruption."The nine-member Zacc is chaired by Job Wabhira, who is deputised by Nanette Silukhuni. Other commissioners are Nguni, Christine Fundira, Denford Chirindo, Cathy Muchechetere, Thandaza Masiye Moyo, Farai Mashonganyika and Boyana Ndou.
News / Religion
by Alice Dube
The head of the Catholic church Pope Francis has been asked to immediately excommunicate President Robert Mugabe due to his un-ending oppressive rule and his "unCatholic" tendencies.Pastor Philip Mugadza today handed a petition to the Secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature Father Gabriel Pesce in Harare."We of the above mentioned nation hereby hand you this petition asking you to excommunicate the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Robert Gabriel Mugabe," read part of the petition."The nation and its peace loving people have been subjected to poverty of unimaginable levels when Zimbabwe is endowed with all minerals discovered so far."According to Romans 13:4, a leader is a representative of God here on earth but according to the given account, there is no proof of godly representation in his leadership," he said.In December last year, Mugadza staged a one-man demonstration against Mugabe at the Zanu PF national conference in Victoria Falls.
KAR Auction Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides used vehicle auctions and related vehicle remarketing services for the automotive industry in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. The company operates through two segments, ADESA Auctions and AFC. The ADESA Auctions segment offers whole car auctions and related services to the vehicle remarketing industry through online auctions and auction facilities. It also provides value-added services, such as auction related, transportation, reconditioning, inspection, title and repossession administration and remarketing, vehicle research, and analytical services, as well as data as a service. This segment sells its products and services through vehicle manufacturers, fleet companies, rental car companies, finance companies, and others. As of December 31, 2021, this segment had a network of approximately 70 vehicle logistics center locations in North America. The AFC segment offers floorplan financing, a short-term inventory-secured financing to independent used vehicle dealers; and sells vehicle service contracts. The company provides wheel repair and hail catastrophe response services. It serves vehicle manufacturers, vehicle rental companies, financial institutions, commercial fleets and fleet management companies, and dealer customers. The company was formerly known as KAR Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to KAR Auction Services, Inc. in November 2009. KAR Auction Services, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.
Global Payments Inc. provides payment technology and software solutions for card, electronic, check, and digital-based payments in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through three segments: Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions, and Business and Consumer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment offers authorization services, settlement and funding services, customer support and help-desk functions, chargeback resolution, terminal rental, sales and deployment, payment security services, consolidated billing and statements, and on-line reporting services. This segment also provides an array of enterprise software solutions that streamline business operations of its customers in various vertical markets; and value-added services, such as point-of-sale solutions, and analytic and engagement tools, as well as payroll and human capital management services. The Issuer Solutions segment offers solutions that enable financial institutions and retailers to manage their card portfolios through a platform; and commercial payments and ePayables solutions for businesses and governments. The Business and Consumer Solutions segment provides general-purpose reloadable prepaid debit and payroll cards, demand deposit accounts, and other financial service solutions to the underbanked and other consumers, and businesses under the Netspend brand. It markets its products and services through direct sales force, trade associations, agent and enterprise software providers, referral arrangements with value-added resellers, and independent sales organizations. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
The following companies are subsidiares of Pearson: AEL (S) PTE Limited, ATI Professional Development LLC, Addison Wesley Longman Inc., Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., Aldwych Finance Limited, Americas Choice Inc., Atkey Finance Limited, Author Solutions, Axis Finance Inc., CAMSAWUSA Inc., CTI Education Group (Pty) Limited, Camsaw Inc., Casapsi Livraria e Editora Ltda, Centro Cultural Americano Franquias e Comercio Ltda., Century Consultants Ltd., Certiport, Certiport China Co Ltd, Certiport China Holding LLC, Certiport Inc., Cogmed Systems AB, Connections Academy of Arkansas LLC, Connections Academy of Florida LLC, Connections Academy of Iowa LLC, Connections Academy of Maine LLC, Connections Academy of Maryland LLC, Connections Academy of Minnesota LLC, Connections Academy of Missouri LLC, Connections Academy of Nevada LLC, Connections Academy of New Jersey LLC, Connections Academy of New Mexico LLC, Connections Academy of New York LLC, Connections Academy of Oregon LLC, Connections Academy of Pennsylvania LLC, Connections Academy of Tennessee LLC, Connections Academy of Texas LLC, Connections Education Inc., Connections Education LLC, Connections Education of Florida LLC, Dominie Press Inc., Dorian Finance Limited, Dorling Kindersley Australasia Pty Limited, EBNT Canada Holdings ULC, EBNT Holdings Limited, EBNT USA Holdings Inc., Edexcel Limited, Edexcel South Africa Pty Ltd, Education Development International plc, Education Resources (Cyprus) Limited, Educational Management Group Inc., Educational Publishers LLP, Embanet ULC, Embanet-Compass Knowledge Group Inc., EmbanetCompass, Embankment Finance Limited, English Language Learning and Instruction System Inc., Escape Studios Limited, FBH Inc., Falstaff Holdco Inc., Falstaff Inc., GED Domains LLC, GED Testing Service LLC, George (Shanghai) Commercial Information Consulting Co. 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Opinion / Columnist
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader, Tendai Biti, seems to be misled and misinformed about the political landscape in the country. His allegations are intended to justify the regime change agenda agents' call for the so-called Security Sector Reforms and criticizing the indigenisation policy.The political malcontent has no agenda in his political discourse. Recently the PDP suffered a humiliating setback when the entire Matabeleland North provincial executive crossed the floor to join former Vice President Joice Mujuru's party, Zimbabwe People First (Zim PF).Biti is alleging that ZANU PF will not reform itself out of power. Zimbabweans should never be satisfied with mortgaging their struggle to political parties of dubious credentials. "It is up to the youths, churches, women, civic society and all of us to force ZANU PF to make the necessary conditions to allow Zimbabwe a free and fair election." These words are coming from a political upstart whose career only began with other buffoons like you-know-who as they urinated inside fridges and pantries at the University of Zimbabwe. It escapes him that the country has been holding free and fair elections since independence.Biti is a social misfit! That is the reason why he has failed to build and consolidate a following with the electorate as he is viewed as someone who is power hungry, myopic and lacking in the national vision. It sounds quite barbaric for Biti to allege that the elections in Zimbabwe have been militarized. Somebody please tell this young man that the military is not involved in elections but there is an independent body known as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) that administers the polls, and it is urging all the people from all the political parties to register as voters.Politicians should stop lying to the electorate and start telling the truth. Biti should not think that he can fool us; he should rather be busy recruiting people to join his little-known party. The man recently refused to join other political parties that participated in the so-called Zimbabwe Electoral Reform Agenda simply because of the presence of his arch-rival, Morgan Tsvangirai.The man is saying to be talking to progressive parties while he snubbed their invitation. This becomes a fascinating paradox as he is calling for their support in his endeavour for the so-called security sector reforms. This shows that the man has run out of ideas and is desperately seeking political relevance. It is a known fact that Zimbabwe has been fulfilling one of the tenets of democracy; that is holding elections at prescribed intervals.These elections have been held under free and fair conditions and they have been internationally recognized. Biti is a clear and present danger, not only to the nation through blatant misinformation and disinformation, but to himself because he has come to believe his warped propaganda. He is simply unfit to lead a nondescript party, let alone to govern a country with such a rich history as Zimbabwe. His perception of self as being imbued with leadership qualities is as laughable and misplaced as it is pitifully frightening.It is a fact that despite himself, Biti expresses admiration and envy for the leadership qualities of President Robert Mugabe. His attempts at slighting President Mugabe's economic policies are a question of sour grapes. Simply put, Biti is a lightweight on issues of economic importance.It should be known that MDC-T and other opposition parties are struggling to form coalition forces to fight ZANU PF that continues to successfully defend itself in all elections since independence. Thus the opposition coalition always suffers a stillbirth.Biti's political misfortunes continue to mount on a daily basis. About 20 PDP members, led by provincial organising secretary, Lameck Ndlovu, defected to Zim PF citing frustration. It is quite unfortunate for Biti to continue losing members from such a little known party and that sends a bad message for a politician. Those who have defected are saying they are now happy as they are now identifying themselves with the real party.PDP Vice President Sipepa Nkomo recently indicated at a meeting held recently that he will join ZimPF soon. The mass exodus of PDP members to other political parties indicates that the party lacks strong leadership and strategy.
AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of prescription medicines. Its marketed products include Calquence, Enhertu, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Lynparza, Orpathys, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology; Brilinta/Brilique, Bydureon/Byetta, BCise, Byetta, Crestor, Evrenzo, Farxiga/Forxiga, Komboglyze/Kombiglyze XR, Lokelma, Onglyza, Qtern, and Xigduo/Xigduo XR for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; Bevespi Aerosphere, Breztri Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir Genuair, Fasenra, Pulmicort, Saphnelo, Symbicort, and Tudorza/Eklira/Bretaris for respiratory and immunology; and Andexxa/Ondexxya, Kanuma, Soliris, Strensiq, and Ultomiris for rare diseases. The company's marketed products also comprise Synagis for respiratory syncytial virus; Fluenz Tetra/FluMist Quadrivalent for Influenza; Seroquel IR/Seroquel XR for schizophrenia bipolar disease; Nexium, and Losec/Prilosec for gastroenterology; and Vaxzevria and Evusheld for covid-19. The company serves primary care and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has a collaboration agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize small molecule medicines for obesity; Neurimmune AG to develop and commercialize NI006; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop eplontersen, a liver-targeted antisense therapy in Phase III development for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis; Proteros Biostructures GmbH to jointly discover novel small molecules for the treatment of hematological cancers; Sierra Oncology, Inc. to develop and commercialize AZD5153. The company was formerly known as Zeneca Group PLC and changed its name to AstraZeneca PLC in April 1999. AstraZeneca PLC was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Citizens Bank, National Association that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, corporations, and institutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking. The Consumer Banking segment offers deposit products, mortgage and home equity lending products, credit cards, business loans, wealth management, and investment services; and auto, education, and point-of-sale finance loans, as well as digital deposit products. This segment serves its customers through telephone service centers, as well as through its online and mobile platforms. The Commercial Banking segment provides various financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, and interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as syndicated loans, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and debt and equity capital markets services. This segment serves government banking, not-for-profit, healthcare, technology, professionals, oil and gas, asset finance, franchise finance, asset-based lending, commercial real estate, private equity, and sponsor finance industries. It operates approximately 1,200 branches in 14 states and the District of Columbia; 114 retail and commercial non-branch offices in national markets; and approximately 3,300 automated teller machines. The company was formerly known as RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc. and changed its name to Citizens Financial Group, Inc. in April 2014. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1828 and is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.
National Bank of Canada provides various financial products and services to retail, commercial, corporate, and institutional clients in Canada and internationally. It operates through four segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, and U.S. Specialty Finance and International. The Personal and Commercial segment offers personal banking services, including transaction solutions, mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit, consumer loans, payment solutions, and savings and investment solutions; various insurance products; and commercial banking services comprise credit, and deposit and investment solutions, as well as international trade, foreign exchange transactions, payroll, cash management, insurance, electronic transactions, and complimentary services. The Wealth Management segment comprises investment solutions, trust services, banking services, lending services, and other wealth management solutions. The Financial Markets segment offers corporate banking, advisory, and capital markets services; and project financing, debt, and equity underwriting; advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, and financing. The U.S. Specialty Finance and International segment provides specialty finance products; financial products and services to individuals and businesses in Cambodia; and investment solutions, guaranteed investment certificates, mutual funds, notes, structured products, and monetization. It provides its services through a network of 384 branches and 927 banking machines. National Bank of Canada was founded in 1859 and is based in Montreal, Canada.
Telephone and Data Systems, Inc., a telecommunications company, provides communications services in the United States. It operates through two segments: UScellular and TDS Telecom. The company offers wireless solutions to consumers and business and government customers, including a suite of connected Internet of things (IoT) solutions, and software applications for monitor and control, business automation/operations, communication, fleet and asset management, smart water solutions, private cellular networks and custom, and end-to-end IoT solutions; wireless priority services and quality priority and preemption options; smartphones and other handsets, tablets, wearables, mobile hotspots, routers, and IoT devices; and accessories, such as cases, screen protectors, chargers, and memory cards, as well as consumer electronics, including audio, home automation and networking products. It also provides replace and repair services; Trade-In program through which it buys customers' used equipment; internet connections and all-home WI-FI services; TDS TV+, an integrated cloud television platform that offers video content; local and long-distance telephone service, VoIP, and enhanced services; and broadband, IP-based services, and hosted voice and video collaboration services. The company sells its products through retail sales, direct and indirect sales, third-party retailers, and independent agents, as well as through ecommerce and telesales. As of December 31, 2021, it offers its services to customers 5 million wireless connections, and 1.2 million wireline and cable connections. The company was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Robert Half International Inc. provides staffing and risk consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through three segments: Temporary and Consultant Staffing, Permanent Placement Staffing, and Risk Consulting and Internal Audit Services. It places temporary services for accounting, finance, and bookkeeping; temporary and full-time office and administrative personnel consisting of executive and administrative assistants, receptionists, and customer service representatives; full-time accounting, financial, tax, and accounting operations personnel; and information technology contract professionals and full-time employees in the areas of platform systems integration to end-user technical and desktop support, including specialists in application development, networking and cloud, systems integration and deployment, database design and administration, and security and business continuity. The company also offers temporary and full-time employees in attorney, paralegal, legal administrative, and legal secretarial positions; and senior-level project professionals in the accounting and finance fields for financial systems conversions, expansion into new markets, business process re-engineering, business systems performance improvement, and post-merger financial consolidation. It is involved in serving professionals in the areas of creative, design, marketing, advertising, and public relations; and placing various positions, such as creative directors, graphics designers, web designers, media buyers, front end developers, copywriters, digital marketing managers, marketing analytics specialists, brand managers, and public relations specialists. The company provides internal audit, technology consulting, risk and compliance consulting, and business performance services. It serves clients and employment candidates. Robert Half International Inc. was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.
ROANOKE Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced Tuesday hes secured 80,000 drug disposal kits as part of his ongoing effort to ease the deadly toll of prescription painkillers and heroin in Virginia.
Beginning Nov. 1, the attorney generals office will distribute about 50,000 kits statewide with the help of the Virginia Department of Health. The rest of the kits will be available to hospitals, law enforcement agencies, pharmacies and nonprofits through an application process on the attorney generals website.
The kits are large pouches, and the disposal process is simple. The person places unused medications in the pouch and fills it halfway with warm tap water. After 30 seconds, they seal and gently shake the pouch and dispose the pouch in a normal trash can. Each pouch, which contains active carbon to break down the medication, can dispose of 45 pills.
Herring said in the first six months of this year, at least 213 Virginians have died from a fatal prescription drug overdose. He expects that by the end of the year, at least 1,000 people will die from overdosing on prescription opioids or heroin.
Heroin was linked to nearly 250 deaths in the state last year. Fentanyl, a prescription opioid that is up to 100 times stronger than morphine, claimed an estimated 221 lives, more than any opiate-based substance other than heroin.
There are very few families or communities that havent been touched by this, said Dr. Jody Hershey, director of the health departments West Piedmont district and acting director of the New River Valley district.
Herring said the opioid crisis has roots in the medicine cabinet. People using prescription painkillers for medical reasons slip into addiction, he said. When the pills run out, addicts will seek out cheaper and more easily accessible heroin.
Its a fast and frightening fall sometimes, Herring said.
Herring has been working to combat the rising overdoses with various approaches, from educational efforts to legislation encouraging reporting of overdoses and expanding the use of naloxone, an overdose antidote, to law enforcement.
Herring announced the new project at Roanokes Bradley Free Clinic, which has served as headquarters of the Roanoke Valley Hope Initiative. Addicts can go to the clinic or the Roanoke Police Department on certain days and turn in their drugs and paraphernalia without fear of arrest, as long as there are no arrest warrants out on them. From there, theyll be placed into treatment programs. Since it launched two months ago, 28 people have sought treatment.
Clinic Executive Director Janine Underwood, who lost her own son to a drug overdose last summer, praised the drug disposal kits as another tool to prevent addiction.
We need a way to dispose of unwanted medications safely at home, she said.
There is no cost to the state for the drug disposal kits, which were donated by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.
The appointed body that approves building designs in Charlottesvilles historic districts got a progress report Monday on the latest step in the development of a multimillion upgrade of West Main Street.
Weve thought a lot about design but we dont have a specific design plan yet, said Elliot Rhodeside at a special meeting of the Board of Architectural Review.
The city hired his firm, Alexandria-based Rhodeside & Harwell, in 2013 to conduct a study of the corridor and has rehired them to develop schematics for a concept approved by City Council in March.
CULPEPER A Ruckersville man is dead following a three-vehicle crash last week in Orange County, according to Virginia State Police.
The fatal crash occurred at about 6:20 p.m. Oct. 6 at Route 20 and U.S. 33, on which all three motorists were traveling eastbound. April Wilkerson, 35, of Ruckersville, was driving a 2008 four-door Ford that was stopped on U.S. 33 behind another car waiting to turn left.
Daniel Merrick, 63, of Gordonsville, was stopped behind the Ford in a 2008 Mercedes SUV when a third vehicle, a 2008 Cadillac SUV, rear-ended him, pushing the Mercedes into the Ford, according to the news release.
James P. Perkins, 77, of Ruckersville, was not wearing a seat belt when his Cadillac struck the Mercedes. He died at the scene from injuries suffered in the crash.
Virginia State Police Trooper Ben Hobbs, who investigated the accident, determined that driver inattention and the lack of a seat belt both contributed to the fatality.
The Democratic and Republican candidates running for Virginias 5th Congressional District seat faced off Monday in a televised debate, presenting constituents their respective plans to transform the country and its not-so-pretty-politics.
After beginning the race in earnest about two months ago, Democrat Jane Dittmar and state Sen. Tom Garrett Jr., R-Buckingham, appeared at Piedmont Virginia Community College for a debate organized by PVCC and CBS19, a media partner of The Daily Progress.
The two candidates are vying to succeed Republican Rep. Robert Hurt, who announced late last year that he would retire from office after three terms.
Over the weekend, several Republican legislators abandoned their support for presidential candidate Donald Trump after The Washington Post revealed a 2005 recording of Trump boasting that he could sexually assault women because of his celebrity status.
Garrett continued to toe the party line, however, placing his trust in Trump.
In a statement this weekend, Garrett came short of ending his support for his partys nominee.
I join my opponent in condemning the words of Donald Trump in the strongest possible manner, Garrett said, echoing his rival candidate.
Immediately before the debate, Garrett said he would continue to endorse Trump.
You got to choose between two very flawed candidates for who you think will be best for the future. We certainly think the Republican vision is the stronger vision, he said.
During the first half of Mondays debate, the tenor remained relatively stable until the candidates were asked about the presidential candidates.
After Garrett said he still supports Trump, he went on the offensive and criticized Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. He pointed to controversies that have dogged Clintons campaign, such as the FBI investigation into her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.
Before the debate, Garrett said he agreed with Trumps wishes to appoint a special prosecutor to reinvestigate whether she may have committed any crimes.
We need to think about the fact that the things Tom Garrett said are so unfair. He didnt speak about his support for Trump because he doesnt want to speak about it, Dittmar said.
Dittmar said she thinks a Clinton administration would be more effective at maintaining political stability, both domestically and internationally.
Hillary Clinton may not be transformational enough for some of you, she said, but at least shes experienced and will continue to create stability, and she will let us look at some of the challenges we need to address
The elevated tension during that snapshot of the debate subsided fairly quickly, as the debate went to an intermission before shifting from questions from a five-member panel to PVCC students.
The panel included Frank Friedman, PVCC president; Rob Jiranek, publisher of The Daily Progress; Val Thompson, CBS19 news director; Tim Saunders, WDBJ7 reporter, and Brandi Rey, vice president of the PVCC Student Government Association.
Responding to questions from students and the panel, Dittmar and Garrett provided answers similar to whats been offered in their previous debates. Both candidates have often reflected the current left-right paradigm but have agreed theres a need for economic development and less business regulation.
At the end of the debate, the two candidates distinguished themselves further.
Before underscoring her experience as a certified mediator for the states general and circuit courts, as well as her time as the former chairwoman of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Dittmar said Garrett has prided himself on refusing to work with moderates.
Ask yourself, do you want tea party values in your seat? Do you possibly want to add to the paralysis and the polarization and partisanship by sending him to Washington?
Garrett, an Army veteran and former Louisa County commonwealths attorney, said Dittmar has failed to present any substantial solutions or policy proposals.
What weve seen tonight is a contrast in styles, he said, needling her for her stances on immigration, health care and foreign policy.
We need to cut regulatory red tape, shrink the federal government and power down decision-making to Virginia and our localities ... Ill be a warrior to that end in Washington, D.C.
There is no doubt in any rational persons mind that the world is becoming a more violent place, faring no better in the US. It doesnt require much examination to find the cause. The failed foreign policies of the United States, led by its neo-liberal war hawks, are to blame and are the source.
We are in desperate need of a new foreign policy strategy because our current policy is based on economic and military domination. We need one based on international law, human rights and diplomacy.
We have spent $6 trillion since 9/11 on either wars for oil or against terrorism. The killing of millions in Iraq has done nothing to gain their support, not to mention the deaths of our own children. Aside from corporate profits and campaign financing of those who support these wars, we have only failed states, unstable peoples and a mass refugee crisis. Every time we mount a war against a terrorist group we create another one even more zealous.
ISIS is a prime example. This organization grew out of the devastation and destabilization of Iraq and our war in Afghanistan. Who exactly are we fighting anyway? And why? The origins of Jihadist terrorism came from the CIA and the Saudi monarchy, which created these religious, extremist forces in order to fight the USSR in Afghanistan.
This has not gone well, it only empowered the rich Saudis who are nothing more than a terrorist monarchy. They do, however, keep the wars going, purchase a lot of arms and are prime funders of our politicians especially their good friends the Clintons.
Then theres Iran. We have been interfering in Irans affairs since the 1950s and the situation has only gotten worse. Their religious extremism was created by the works of the Shah that we put in power. Failed policies again.
We will not even get into Vietnam, or the illegal regime changes orchestrated by the CIA. We need to stop perpetuating war in Syria and stop arming both sides. These are peoples lives we are playing with as pawns for corporate profit and the funding of Democratic and Republican campaigns.
These policies, and many more, are destroying our country while the politicians, their corporate backers and the banks get rich. Our economy is failing miserably while the people are kept divided by racism and other forms of hatred and status. We are footing the bill and are called patriots for not asking why. The enormous cost is not just in dollars but of our children.
For millions, college is kept out of reach and a life of poverty is forsaken for the promises of a glorious career in patriotically serving their country. For those who come back, some disabled or traumatized, the government sees no value in them, no more than a former employee with no obligations.
We cannot afford to play their games anymore. Where will it end up? It is time to change how we do business, forsake war for profit and give peace a chance.
I believe that Jill Steins campaign for president receives so little mainstream coverage because the corporate controllers do not want people to know that there are alternatives. Many countries live in peace and have far superior standards of living. We are a nation smart enough to have a foreign policy founded on human rights, international law and diplomacy. As president, Jill Stein would end the multi-billion dollar aid provided each year to apartheid Israel and stop supporting countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It is time to cut off the head of the snake. Ending war is more profitable for us.
We need to redirect these monies, which are the largest portion of the federal budget, toward America and her people. Dependence on fossil fuels and other non-renewable energy have us depending on foreign resources and contributing to our problems. We can rebuild our economy with what Stein calls a Green New Deal. We can tackle issues with the environment and create millions of new jobs in a new peaceful economy and transition into 100 percent renewable energy by the year 2030. We can then invest in public transit, sustainable agriculture, conservation, education and healthcare, securing a better future for our country and our children.
We have the intellect, we have the ability to be innovative, and we have the drive to make the transition. We did it with FDRs New Deal. We can all imagine a more peaceful nation. All we need do is forsake the military industrial complex Eisenhower warned us about and simply give peace a chance. Vote for Jill Stein in November and tell both parties we want to go in a different direction to make peace not war. For more info, write piedmontgreens@gmail.com.
LONDON - England - The Treasury, under staunch Remainer, Philip Hammond, has released another Project Fear report peddling lies and nonsense to thwart Brexit.
And, today, as predicted Project Fear has reared its ugly head once again. The dredged up nonsense from former Chancellor George Osborne, is another attempt by remainers (remoaners) to derail the Brexit as voted by the people on the June 23 EU Referendum.
Firstly, they are not factoring in the many lucrative global trade deals which will be acquired by Britain, and secondly they are not factoring in the cost of EU membership, as well as the myriad of fines and restrictions the EU sets upon Britain.
In 2015, the UK recorded a 67.7 billion deficit in the trade of goods and services with the EU, up from 58.8 billion in 2014.
All businesses in the UK are subject to restrictive costs put on their business even if only a small fraction of companies trade with the EU.
Brexit will open Britains trade up to the world, and it will not be restricted within the protectionist closed shop of the EU.
All this talking down Britain, is another attempt by the incessantly moaning remain crowd, a bunch of Marxist anti-Brits who would sell their own grandmother to the EU for the correct price.
The Remain people seem to enjoy totalitarian rule where everything is dictated to them, and where they pay 360 million per week to Brussels and are eventually conscripted into Junckers EU army.
Unfortunately, the Theresa May Cabinet, is made up of more remainers than Brexiteers and this is reflected in what is happening. The Treasury under rabid remainer, Philip Hammond is a lost cause.
HARD Brexit is the only way
A pox upon the remainers for you are treacherous traitors to Britain and its people. One can only hope for a civil war so these people, if you would like to call them that, could be thrown into the English channel where they can swim to France and leave Britain to get on with it.
Unless someone comes along who is a real Brexiteer, there will not be a departure from the EU in the near or long future. It is all talk and no action.
If you are a coward remainer, you have no faith, you have no belief in Britain. If you are a Brexiteer, you have faith and courage. You are strong, and you believe in Britain once again regaining its sovereignty and its right to sail the seas trading with whoever we wish.
We can move forward or backwards. Let us move forward, out of the EU jail house, and into the light.
New Delhi: Tata group-owned Infiniti Retail, which operates consumer electronics store chain under the Croma brand, would open 50 more stores in five years taking its total count to 140.
The company will focus on its existing markets to open stores and would consider to foray into tier II & III places once the GST is rolled out, a top company official said.
"We are planning to add ten stores every year for next 3-4 years... By FY 2020-21 we would have a network of around 140 stores. Once GST comes in, it would change our value chain significantly," Infiniti Retail Ltd CMO Ritesh Ghosal told PTI.
"We are expanding in the cities in which we are operating. In Delhi, we have added three stores from April this year. Currently, we would concentrate on the existing markets because we are enjoying a very healthy growth".
Croma, at present, has around 100 operational stores in top seven cities excluding Kolkata and few smaller cities in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The company on an average invests around Rs 2 crore (excluding rentals) to open a new store.
"The company would invest around Rs 80 crore," he added.
Croma, which is in its tenth year of business, follows omni channel system and has integrated its offline brick and mortar stores with its online e-commerce portal.
"Now one of the two customers is digitally influenced. One of the two sales at Croma starts at digital forum," he said.
However, he also added that the share of online transactions in Croma's total sales is less than 5 per cent. The company is expecting a good festival sales this year on the back of positive sentiments in the market.
"We are enjoying a good year so far. We are continuously growing from April and this festive season we expect a growth rate in double digits," said Ghosal.
The company expects good sales from new phone launches from Apple, Google and Samsung this season.
"There is a lot of excitement in the smart phone category. We also expect good sales from smart TV and home appliances as refrigerator, AC and washing machine," he added.
Over expansion in tier II & III cities, Ghosal said: "We are waiting GST to come in... That will help us to expand".
Beijing: India has asked China to address the burgeoning trade imbalance while making a strong pitch for Chinese investments in its micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, specially in fields like IT, digital, mobile components and automobile ancillaries.
India's MSME sector is poised for a major leap driven by the high growth with high level of innovation and seeks a long term partnership with Chinese entrepreneurs and investors especially in areas like IT and digital, mobile components, automobile ancillaries, MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra said in Guangzhou yesterday.
He made the remarks at the China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair (CISMEF). India co-hosted the CISMEF, 2016. A host of Indian enterprises took part in the fair.
Mishra said immense opportunities exist for cooperation between the SMEs of India and China for mutual benefits especially under the rubric of 'Make In India' initiatives launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi government has taken several initiatives to augment the growth of manufacturing sector in India like 'Make in India', 'Digital India', 'Start-up India' and 'Stand up India', which have made the world's economic super powers to look at India with a lot of admiration,?an Indian Consulate statement quoted Mishra as saying.
During his meetings with Chinese officials, Mishra also raised India's concern of the huge imbalance in trade figures and urged Chinese interlocutors to work with India to reduce this deficit in the interest of sustainable bilateral trade, the statement said.
Last year, the imbalance was claimed to be USD 46 billion in China's favour in over USD 70 billion bilateral trade.
New Delhi: In the run up to the BRICS summit, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on Thursday address a seminar, to be attended by experts from five member countries, on better international taxation procedure and global best practices to attract foreign investment.
The seminar titled 'BRICS-Investment Flows' would also discuss ways to boost foreign portfolio investments in the emerging economies and ways to tackle bilateral tax treaty abuse.
Organised by the Department of Economic Affairs in Mumbai on October 13, the seminar would be attended by Secretary Shaktikanta Das and RBI officials, besides experts from BRICS nations, multilateral organisations, financial institutions and the corporate sector.
The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit will be held in Goa between October 15-16 and as a lead-up to that, India has initiated a number of events. India has been relaxing foreign direct investment norms in various sectors, including in civil aviation, retail and private security services.
Net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows have increased over the past three years, reaching record highs of USD 40 billion in 2015-16, from USD 31 billion in 2014-15.
So far in the current fiscal, FPIs have invested Rs 53,399 crore in equity and debt instruments. The country has been taking a number of steps to ease process for doing business in India and has also taken initiatives to rework tax treaties with countries to bring them in line with global best practices.
New Delhi: National Highways Authority ofIndia (NHAI) eyes up to Rs 20,000 crore from monetisation of 30 to 40 projects in the first phase. The move follows the government's move to authorise NHAI to monetise the public funded highway projects in August.
"We target to bring out overall 30 or 40 projects initially and we would be able to raise about Rs 15,000 to 20,000 crore out of it to begin with," NHAI Chairman Raghav Chandra told PTI.
Chandra said NHAI is hopeful of bidding out a few projects by December but the process is going to be a continuous exercise and NHAI would take it from time to time.
"We hope that in the next two months we should be able to bid out our first few projects. We are getting DPRs (detailed project reports) prepared ...we will be looking at the issues connected to the projects," the NHAI chief said.
"The traffic studies related to that projects, the revenue streams available and overall the viability of the project. As soon as those are ready, we will bunch some of these projects and would be able bid them out," Chandra said.
He said there was enthusiasm about the scheme and NHAI was confident there will be a large number of takers for these.
"We already have extremely positive enthusiasm there for this with all kinds of borrowing investors, the Canadians, the Europeans, the Americans and so on and especially the sovereign wealth fund etc in the Middle East," he said.
NHAI is hopeful that as soon as it launches the scheme there will be a sufficient number of takers, he said adding, this would be good in the overall interest of the country as private sector operators will come to manage the roads and
"they will be able to bring in a special focus on safety practices".
He said, "Monetisation of projects would be undertaken in a selective manner so that we can raise funds, we would like private sector efficiencies in operating and managing those projects and we do require monetisation to be able to provide us with the requisite fund support that we require to expand our footprint in our programme."
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on August 3 authorised NHAI to monetise the public funded highway projects which could result in funds in the range of Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh crore initially, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said.
Around 75 operational NH projects completed under public funding have been preliminarily identified for potential monetisation using the toll operate transfer (TOT) Model.
The corpus generated from proceeds of such project monetisation could be utilised by the government to meet its fund requirements regarding future development and operation and maintenance of highways in the country and could address development of highways in unviable geographies.
Market feedback indicates that certain institutional investors from outside the country have a long term investment appetite and are keen to participate in operational highway projects with stable toll revenue outlook.
New regime will offer discovered fields to those who offer maximum share of oil and gas to the government.
New Delhi: Fearing poor response, the government is likely to extend by at least one month the last date of bidding for the auction of 46 small oil and gas fields
that were "given-up" by state-owned ONGC and Oil India.
Bidding for the auction, the first in over four years, is to close on October 31.
There are apprehensions about the response after prospective bidders complained about the quality and amount of data being made available on the fields that have been put on offer, sources privy to the development said.
For bidders to make decisions, more data particularly about size of reserves is required and making that available would require extending the deadline, they said.
Also, some prospective bidders have raised concerns about the size of the blocks or fields on offer. They says 10 square kilometer offering, one-tenth of the smallest block ever offered in the previous bid rounds, was too small.
Sources said the bidders feel the block area has to be larger to give them room for probing for oil and gas reserves. After holding roadshows in India and abroad, the Oil Ministry's technical arm, the DGH will on October 19 hold an
"outreach" even on the Discovered Small Fields Bid Round 2016 in national capital.
A 'Bidder Facilitation Workshop' is planned at the event to "resolve queries of the bidders", they said adding the extension of the bid deadline may be announced there.
The auction, which was announced on May 25, is to be conducted on simpler contractual terms together with pricing and marketing freedom. India liberalised its exploration and production regime almost two decades ago when in early 1990s it auctioned about 28 fields to private and public investors.
In late 1990s, it further liberalised its E&P sector with the introduction of New Exploration Licensing Regime (NELP) regime that allowed 100 per cent FDI and offered a level playing field to private and national oil companies.
NELP was based on Production Sharing Contract (PSC) that meant sharing of revenues with government post recovery of cost by contractor. This regime was marred by disputes over cost recovery and regulatory inflexibility.
Now the bid round is being held under a new regime that will offer discovered fields to those who offering the maximum share of oil and gas to the government.
The fields on offer hold an estimated 625 million barrels of in-place oil and gas reserves.
Sources said the 46 fields that are offered are actually 67 small and marginal discoveries that have been clubbed. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) "surrendered" these as they could not develop them because of huge overhead cost and uneconomic size.
Last exploration licensing round concluded in March 2012. That was the Ninth round of bidding under NELP. A total of 256 block were awarded in the nine rounds of NELP.
Views of stakeholders have been sought till October 31 on these draft norms, according to a public notice issued by the corporate affairs ministry.
New Delhi: Government o October 11 came out with another set of draft rules, including for liquidation of insolvent corporate persons, under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
As part of implementing the Code, the government has already constituted the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) while the draft norms will be finalised after taking into consideration views of the stakeholders.
Notified by the government in May, the Code seeks to consolidate and amend laws relating to reorganisation as well as insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time-bound manner.
The latest set of draft regulations relate to liquidation of insolvent corporate persons, insolvency resolution process for corporate persons and application to judicial authority.
Views of stakeholders have been sought till October 31 on these draft norms, according to a public notice issued by the corporate affairs ministry.
Last week, the ministry issued draft regulations pertaining to registration of insolvency professionals, agencies and model bye-laws. A working group of experts, set up by the ministry, has prepared these regulations.
Meanwhile, IBBI, chaired by M S Sahoo, held its first meeting last Friday and it was addressed by Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal.
The board will have 10 members. Apart from the chairman, currently there are four government-nominated members and the rest are expected to be appointed in coming months.
Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan feels it is unfair to blame the fees of actors as a reason for film studios shutting down their operations.
Disney India has shut down its Hindi movies production business and people from within the industry like Anurag Kashyap said it's due to high fees paid to actors that the studios are plugging off.
"Everytime a star or actor is held responsible for the loss of a film and I don't agree with it. I feel what is the harm in paying an actor his or her fee, after all they manage to grab attention of audience towards a film," Bachchan said at a press conference on the occasion of his birthday today.
"Also if a film doesn't do well, then in the next film the actor is not paid less. When I was young and the hero of a film, I had a certain fee that I use to charge after the success of a film. My people (manager) used to talk to producers about hike in my fee and if a film failed, they (producers) used to reduce your fee and there is nothing wrong in it," he said.
Bachchan doesn't think studios shutting down is a sign of worry and feels Indian cinema will survive this phase too. "There will be ups and downs but I think the filmindustry will always be alive and will keep working," he said.
Mumbai: While big sister Kim Kardashian is recovering from her robbery ordeal, youngest sibling Kylie is turning up the heat on social media with her raunchy photos. Jenner, who has never shied away from flaunting her curves, had pulled her underwear way above her hips and captioned this bathroom selfie Morning.
After the post went viral, a Twitter user called her a 14-year-old prostitute and Kylies reply to it was hilarious:
Seems like things are not going good for the Kardashian-Jenner family, just days after a prankster tried to kiss Kardashians bottoms outside a Balmain event, Kims Paris apartment was robbed by masked men. Kim is claiming insurance for the lost items and has taken a break from social media.
But their plight does not end here, Rob Kardashian, Kylies half-brother, had posted her number on Twitter following a miscommunication between the siblings when he thought that his family had not invited his partner Blac Chyna, who is pregnant with his child.
All is well between Kylie and Rob after the latter realised his mistake. The entire family is standing by Kim in this hour of crisis.
Shah Rukh and Big B had worked together in 'Mohabbatein' and 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham'.
Mumbai: Shah Rukh Khan, a self-confessed insomniac, often indulges his fans on Twitter with Q & A sessions, hashtagged #askSRK.
The actor, who was his characteristically witty self, doled out riposte after riposte to the borderline zany questions that were being thrown at him.
However, when one user asked him what hed like to wish for Amitabh Bachchan, who turns 74 on Tuesday, the actor channelised the fan in him.
Health and happiness. And selfishly, sir please keep entertaining us forever, the superstar said.
SRK, whos worked with Big B in Mohabbatein and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, is currently in Budapest, shooting for Imtiaz Alis The Ring, co-starring Anushka Sharma.
Mumbai: Today, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan celebrates his 74th birthday. The actor held a press conference today here in Mumbai on the occasion of his birthday where he addressed a lot of issue, wages in Bollywood being one of those.
The actor was asked to express his views on a lead actor getting paid more to which the actor said that nothing is wrong in that.
"I hear a lot of people saying that a lead actor gets paid more. I dont see whats wrong in that. After all, he is getting paid more because his capacity to perform is on that scale. However, we had a fixed salary system back in the days," Amitabh Bachchan said.
When he was asked what his birthday wish is, the actor said, "I only wish to continue working and take up challenging roles in future as well."
On work front, the makers are currently working on 'Sarkar 3'. Talking about the film, Amitabh Bachchan said, "Sarkar was a really good film. Sarkar 3 is coming out as well. There are not too many changes in the new film; even the characters are almost same."
Apart from Dusshera and Big B's birthday, today also happens to be Girl Child Day, commenting on it, Big B said, "I am happy to say that time has changed. I see 75% women on films sets, working and progressing. I have always encouraged women. Todays women are achieving greater things and they have my utmost respect for that."
When asked how his son Abhishek is performing his daddy duties, Big B said, "In my eyes, Abhishek is a great father. He spends a lot of time with his family at home."
The megastar feels there should be a book on various aspects of Indian cinema for everyone to be aware of our history, films and the legendary artistes.
"We don't have much documentation about our film industry. For the coming generation we should have something to tell them about the work of older or yesteryear artists, filmmakers and all. I myself would like to know lot of things," he said.
"Like what Raj Kapoor thought while making 'Bobby', 'Aawara', what was there in the mind of Mehboob sahab for 'Mother India', how Dilip Sahab (Dilip Kumar) worked in 'Devdas', or how and why a particular shot was taken in a film, all these things we don't know. Why a song was done in a particular manner, why certain kind of lyrics were written or why a particular costume was worn," he said.
Big B feels there is hardly any discussion on this and also one doesn't have any knowledge about cinema in detail.
"I feel books on all these things should be there as it will be an informative knowledge for us. Particularly when someone from abroad wants to write something about Indian cinema, they come across only gossip magazine's. They seem saddened as they want to know other things (besides gossip) about Indian cinema," he said.
"Here, we still dont have the trend of documenting everything. Documentation helps us understand what goes around in an artists mind when he is creating something. If we had this trend, we would have known how Dilip Kumar worked. How a melodious song was brought to life, how a story on paper was turned into a film. We should know how art is created," he said.
Moving forward, the actor also got vocal about why a film is so rigorously promoted. "Now, a films faith depends on three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So the publicity and marketing work is done on a bigger scale. Everything is available on phone, so producers have to rigorously promote their films."
Mumbai: Om Puri had offended the entire nation with his unsavoury comments on the Indian army during a television debate, and the actor seems to be on damage control mode.
Let them boycott my films. Earlier theyve spoken of boycotting Shah Rukh and Salman Khans films. But those wanting to stop films featuring me should know thats not me on screen, thats a character. A better option of showing their anger towards me would be to spit on and tear my posters. But when you try to harm films you harm a lot of other people who havent offended you in any way, DNA quoted the veteran as saying.
The actor, whos been flabbergasted post the adverse response to his comments, was extremely repentant of his act.
Ill never participate in a television debate again. If you want to discuss national issues with me come and talk face-to-face one-on-one. They asked me a question. I was answering. In the middle of my answer, they asked me about soldiers and in irritation, I said what I did. It was wrong. Terribly wrong of me to disrespect our soldiers. I pronounce myself guilty. Just saying I am sorry, is not enough. Let the Government decide my punishment. But Id implore them to not just put me in jail where I will sit around eating free meals. Let me do something for the betterment of society, the actor said.
Om also revealed that he would like to do his bit for the families of the armymen who were martyred during the Uri terror attack. Let the current emotions settle down. The family is currently in bereavement and shock. Let them get out of this stress situation. Then Ill not only visit the soldiers families, Ill also give whatever I can afford for their children. I want to assume the role of the soldiers childrens uncle. I want to become a part of their family, he added.
However, the much admired actor shockingly revealed that he might stop working in films. Speaking on the possibility, he said, Yes, I might quit (acting) altogether. At the moment, Ive received an offer from Canada for a three-month assignment from January 2017 onwards, which I plan to take up.
Mumbai: Amidst the demand for ban on Pakistani actors after the Uri terror attack, megastar Amitabh Bachchan today said the nation is incensed and it is time to express solidarity with the Indian jawans.
To a question regarding the issue during a press conference here on the occasion of his birthday today, Bachchan also said he respects all artistes.
Following the Uri attack, the Raj Thackeray-led MNS had raised objection to Pakistani artistes working in India.
When asked if Bollywood is divided over supporting Pakistani artistes working in India, Bachchan said, "With folded hands I request you that this is not the time and I don't think it is right to put forward these questions."
The megastar, who turned 74 today, felt that considering the grave situation at the border one should express solidarity with Indian soldiers.
"Who said what and why, where and how, this is not the time for it. The nation is incensed, the people of this country are very angry by the incidents that are happening at our border," he said.
"I think it is time to express solidarity with our jawans, armed forces who are sacrificing their life so that you and me can be safe now. That's what needs to be put in question and nothing else."
When asked if an artiste from a country should be banned or not, he said, "I have answered this question earlier. I respect all artistes."
Bachchan refuted reports that he would be singing a song for Uri martyrs.
"This is not correct. I was in New Delhi where a Member of Parliament was acknowledging the Hanuman Chalisa, Ganpati aarti and he said I should sing for this (Uri martyrs). I said yes ok but I need some inputs. I think he went and said I should sing (for Uri martyrs), and from 'should' it became 'will', you (media) know better how it happens," he said
Mumbai: In the wake of the tension between India and Pakistan post the Uri terror attack and Indias retaliatory surgical strike, Nandita Das Saadat Hasan Manto biopic, Manto will not be shot in Lahore.
The film, thatll have Nawazuddin Siddiqui portraying the eponymous writer, was to be shot in Lahore, where hed moved to from Mumbai, post partition, in 1948.
We all know that Manto spent three-fourth of his life in India but had to leave Bombay, the city he loved, and spent only his last seven years in Lahore. So, to maintain authenticity, we did have plans to shoot in Lahore. But considering the present situation between the two countries, we will need to shoot those portions somewhere in India. We are looking at several options. I have recently returned from a recce in Delhi, Mumbai Mirror quoted Nandita as saying.
Nandita has joined a huge list of film personalities to be affected by the prevalent tension between the two countries, worst hit being Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan, whose films star Pakistani actors.
Mumbai: Amaal Mallik, whos been churning hits out by the dozen, has accused composer Mithoon of plagiarising one of his songs.
Amaal claims that one of the verses from Mithoons latest single Ab Alvida has been lifted from Amaals Emraan Hashmi-Esha Gupta starrer single, Main Rahoon Ya Na Rahoon.
I came across Mithoons song while I was watching a video by my mentors Salim-Suleiman. One of my friends pointed out that a minute and 30 seconds into the song, it has a striking resemblance to mine, Mumbai Mirror quoted Amaal as saying.
The 25-year-old composer maintained that he had no ulterior motives and all he sought was due credit.
For me, Mithoon is a legend. it was an honour to work with him on 'Sanam Re' but you dont expect someone of his stature to do something like this. The least he can do is own up, even if it was not intentional. I dont want to malign him or make money. My songs are my babies and I am protective about them, especially Main Rahoon Ya Na Rahoon since I dedicated it to my grandfather. I cry every time I hear it. If this had happened in the west, it would have amounted to a lawsuit of billions. Mithoon remained unavailable for comment.
Watch Amaal's song here:
Watch Mithoon's song here:
Bollywood celebrities took to Twitter to express their sorrow.
Mumbai: Bollywood stars have been devastated by the demise of socialite and philanthropist Parmeshwar Godrej.
A formidable presence in the countrys Page 3 circuit, more so for her impeccable style and glamour, Parmeshwar was one of Indias first air hostesses.
She was also the face of several philanthropic initiatives, including promoting awareness for AIDS. She had also launched the Heroes project, along with Hollywood actor Richard Gere and with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project aimed to mobilise eminent people and the media to fight HIV and AIDS in India.
Parmeshwar, who was married to Godrej group chairman Adi Godrej, had also tremendously contributed towards the improvement of womens and childrens health in India.
Bollywood celebrities took to Twitter to express their sorrow.
Mumbai: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan sure knows how to be grateful to the ones who most deserve it. SRK, the light sleeper that he is, woke up in the middle of the night and announced a 15-minute #askSRK session with his fans just an hour back. Shah Rukh is currently in Budapest shooting for Imtiaz Alis The Ring opposite Anushka Sharma.
Just minutes after SRKs post, the extremely delighted fans flooded him with all sorts of questions. While some asked for his tips on fitness, others sought advice on their troubled relationships. From the replies it is evident that SRK was at his witty best.
When asked to comment on Indian Army, the Jab Tak Hai Jaan star said:
Thank u for keeping us safe and we can never thank u & ur families enough for ur sacrifices.
Shah Rukh Khan, who is adorably inseparable from his youngest son AbRam, said that his little munchkin lights him up like a Christmas tree. Such a doting father!
One of his fans even asked him why does he not reply to important questions, to which SRK replied:
Khan, who had faced harsh criticism for voicing his opinion on national issues, has so far maintained complete silence on the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan. Other stars, who did speak out, were condemned for opposing the ban on Pakistani artists working in India. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has threatened to ban films of Salman Khan, Karan Johar and Mahesh Bhatt if they work with Pakistani actors.
King Khan is a man with a heart of gold. This reply to his fan, when asked whether he has ever told someone how he actually feels about them, speaks volumes about Shah Rukhs character and goes on to show that he is sensitive towards others' feelings. He always gives new reasons for people to love him more!
Mumbai: Filmmaker Aditya Chopra, who gave us the iconic film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, a film that celebrated the constitution of old school traditional love, comes Befikre, a modern film that glorifies no string attached ideology starring Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor.
After teasing us with a lot of kissing stills from the film, the makers have finally released a full length trailer of Befikre. As the title suggest, the film will see Ranveer Singhs Dharam dancing, kissing, breaking rules and having a no rules, no limits romantic affair with Vaani Kapoors Syra.
Its ironic how Dharam and Syra, who meet and paint the city of love, Paris, with their sensual chemistry, dont believe in the constitution of love. The concept, which Befikre has to offer to us, isnt unknown to people as the West have time and again given us films such as No Strings Attached, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, What Happened in Vegas and many more, that celebrated the no love, no drama. But knowing Aditya Chopra and the mushy love stories that he has given us, we can surely expect 'and they lived happily ever after' ending.
But the film sees a new on-screen pair who looking absolutely gorgeous together. There surely is a lot of sexual tension between Ranveers Dharam and Vaanis Syra which leads to a fun filled ride.
Directed by Aditya Chopra, who last helmed Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Befikre is set to hit the silver screens on December 9, 2016
Watch the trailer below:
Mumbai: Divergent actress Shailene Woodley was arrested for allegedly trespassing while protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in Bismarck, North Dakota on Monday, October 10.
She documented the protest and the arrest on Facebook Live, reported Aceshowbiz. Woodley told viewers during the arrest, "I don't know if you guys just heard me, but I was walking back to my RV, which is right there, so that we can go back to camp peacefully, and [the police] grabbed me by my jacket and said that I was not allowed to continue. And they had giant guns and batons and zip ties, and they're not letting me go."
When the 24-year-old actress tried to ask the cop a question, the cop responded, "We can't talk right here, but you're going to be placed under arrest for criminal trespassing."
She then told her viewers, "Alright I'm being arrested. Because I was trespassing like everyone. As soon as you guys asked me to leave, I left. She was down there, everybody was down there. I'm being arrestedI was down there with everybody else. I don't know what's going on? As soon as they came I left... it's because I'm well known. It's because I have 40,000 people watching."
26 other people were also arrested for the same infraction at the protest, which began after a federal judge rejected the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's request for a permanent junction to block a USD 3.8 billion pipeline on its land and burial grounds, according to The Morton County Sheriff's Department.
Remember Krisha Kurup, the pretty girl who played a pivotal role in Azhagu Kutti Chellam? Well, she is now the lead heroine in an upcoming edge-of-the-seat thriller, Kootali. Directed by SK Madhi, the film has Sathish of Azhagi fame playing the hero.
I have already played the lead in a Malayalam film, but this is my first big role in Tamil, and I am really excited that we are making a good movie. Kootali will be a quality film, she explains, adding, The film has about eight characters, and mainly revolves around four friends. My entry into their lives will be the turning point in the plot and what follows will make for a thrilling treat, she reveals.
Speaking about her co-actors and the crew, she affirms, Director Madhis storytelling is magnetic as he pulls you into the script. He is an actor too; and before every shot he enacts the scene, even voicing the background sounds.
As talks veer towards co-star Sathish, she asserts, Initially, we had inhibitions about talking to each other, but later I found him to be very friendly. He is a very kind human being. This will turn out to be a good start for him as well. she says.
She heaps praises on Chennai and the Tamil film industry My roots are from Kerala, but I am a proper Mumbaikar, and I am already in love with Chennai! People are sweet and they dont bother where you are coming from or about the language you speak. If you are human enough, the city treats you with all respect.
Talking about her other projects, she quips, Anthony sir wanted me to play the lead in his next film Saalai, which has been shot entirely in Kashmir. The film is currently in the post-production phase. Other than that, I am in talks for three films but havent signed on the dotted lines yet. I am looking forward to working in this industry more.
Junkyard Groove, one of Chennais most prominent bands, has been missing in action, where new releases are concerned. Famous for their live performances, they recently released three songs from their new EP + & - Mother, Losing Her and Shooting Star much to the joy of fans who have been waiting for a long time. With a new line-up, the lead vocalist Ameeth Thomas speaks to us about the recent releases, his band and more.
I decided to release an EP instead of an album because people dont really listen to albums anymore. So, three songs have been released now and well be releasing more in batches of three in the coming months. Weve already released the video for Losing Her, the second video is being shot and the third is made up of our live performances, explains Ameeth.
He adds that its different from the past, because its me going back to what I used to do sitting with a guitar and writing down music. There was some electronic music in the last album, which I didnt enjoy, so that wont be there this time around, he elaborates.
The line-up is new too, with Joshua Mark Raj on guitar as earlier, Jithesh James Dharmaraj playing the bass and his brother Rithesh Dharmaraj on the drums. I usually like to keep changing the line-up. The best part about this time is that all of us sing, so the backing vocals will be great. Weve always been a vocal and guitar-based band, but weve never had all band members singing. Everyone is extremely energetic on stage, so Ill have some stiff competition there, he laughs.
Talking about his inspiration for the songs that have been released so far, he explains, Losing Her was written almost three years ago, but I never got it out. Mother started off as a joke I love the blues and I started playing a certain riff off, which my friends made fun of, so I decided to turn it into an entire song. Shooting Star has been inspired by a documentary I watched, about a Russian army man during the Cold War, who refuses to launch nuclear weapons.
The group will be soon playing in Hyderabad, Kochi and Calicut, during their tour this month. Talking about live gigs, Ameeth admits, Live performance is where the money lies, plus, I immensely enjoy performing on stage.
Chetan Bhagats new book, One Indian Girl, has been causing a lot of stir in the social media circuit, not only because this is the first book he writes from a womans perspective, but also because being Chetan Bhagat means having just as many trolls as fans.
To measure readers reaction to his book, the author recently tweeted the following, with a picture of his book: #OneIndianGirl in Mykonos, Greece. Send me pics of the book in a beautiful backdrop. Will RT best ones. Lets see your phone camera skills!
What ensued was a barrage of responses with pictures of his book against not-so-flattering backdrops! There were many who used this as an opportunity to troll the author by Photoshopping the books cover in unlikely settings. While the cover could be found on toilet paper in bathrooms in one picture, there were others with the book being burnt, being sold to scrap dealers and even one being used as a hat by Arvind Kejriwal!
The author however, took it all in his stride, and tweeted again, asking for better Photoshop skills. He also claimed that he had baited the trolls and in turn profited with free advertising for One Indian Girl. Were not sure he saw this coming but amazingly, he could joke about it!
MALAPPURAM: Even as the comprehensive action plan launched in August for the total immunisation of children nears the deadline this month, 34,892 children still remain either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated in Malappuram district. The plan was charted out with the direct supervision of the health minister and top officials to achieve total vaccination in the wake of the outbreak of the deadly diphtheria in the district which claimed two lives. The health department authorities have admitted that the drive has not yielded the desired results because of several reasons, including the resistance from a section of people.
As per the latest statistics available with the district health authorities, 30,260 children remain partially vaccinated and 4,632 are totally unimmunised. The immunisation campaign has made considerable progress during the last two months. However, stiff resistance from a small section of people has affected the result, said Dr. V. Ummer Farook, district medical officer of Malappuram. The department has planned to reduce the remaining number of unimmunised /partially vaccinated children by half before the deadline ends.
We can cover most of the partially vaccinated children by the end of this month. Reaching out to unimmunised children is a Herculean task because the efforts have gone in vain. Our endeavour is to bring down this number to below 2,000, he said. By the completion of the campaign the district would reach a safe point regarding the spread of the deadly communicable diseases, he pointed out. The long festival holidays in September and October also affected the smooth run of the programmes of the health department.
A man who was in a live-in relationship with a married woman was murdered by her husband and accomplices in Delhi. (Representational image)
New Delhi: A man who was in a live-in relationship with a married woman was abducted by her husband and accomplices from northwest Delhi's Bhalswa bridge and beaten to death, police said on Tuesday.
Police arrested two accused, identified as Rashid and Imran, on Saturday, said Milind Mahadeo Dumbere, DCP (Northwest). They are now searching for the woman's husband Babu Khan and his other accomplices, Dumbere added.
On October 7, Amit Kumar approached police saying that his cousin Arun was missing, he said.
Arun's friend Lalit told police that he had been kidnapped along with Arun on October 4 from Bhalswa Bridge and they were taken to Khan's house at Ansar Vihar in Loni (UP), the officer said.
Lalit told police that he was called by Arun for helping him in shifting his house, since his partner had been forcibly taken away by her husband and there was pressure from the landlord to vacate the house, Dumbere said.
Khan and his accomplices forced his daughter to call Arun to Bhalswa Bridge on the pretext of returning money, he said.
When Lalit and Arun were returning after taking the money, they were kidnapped in a car, overpowered and taken to Loni, the officer said.
The victims were brutally beaten with rods and cylinders, he said.
They even made an attempt to stab Lalit in the chest but he sat down and was stabbed in the ribs, said Dumbere.
Arun's condition deteriorated due to the beatings and he lost consciousness, he said.
On the intervening night of October 4 and 5, Lalit was released but he was threatened of dire consequences if he reported the matter to police, he added.
Arun's body was dumped by the abductors in bushes near Pushta road in Loni. Police recovered his body later and handed it over to his family after identification, said the officer.
During interrogation, they told police that Khan and his family was facing humiliation owing to his wife's illicit relationship with Arun. Khan hatched a plan to abduct Arun and then kill him, he added.
Police said stringent action is being taken against those involved in crimes against women.
Rampur: Three men were arrested for an obscene act in public place in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur, police said on Tuesday.
A team of women police, known as 'Majnu Team', arrested the trio, aged between 21 and 25 years and rescued three girls from them, Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Tyagi said.
A case was registered against the men, hailing from Lucknow and Sambhal districts, under IPC Section 294 (obscene act in public place), he said.
The girls were later handed over to their relatives.
Meanwhile, the SP said six persons arrested for trying to rape a three-year-old girl here earlier have been charged with the stringent National Security Act.
The incident in Gausampur village triggered tension, he said, adding that stringent action is being taken against those involved in crimes against women.
Hyderabad: Four members of a family from Andhra Pradesh, two teenage girls and two boys, on Tuesday drowned in a canal in Nalgonda district of Telangana, police said.
The incident occurred at around 9 am when the four had gone to wash clothes in the canal in Nadigudem Mandal, a senior police official said.
One of the girls, aged 19, accidentally fell into the water and in an attempt to rescue her, the other three, aged 10-14 years, entered the water, but all four of them drowned, she added.
"All the four bodies have been retrieved. The deceased are from Andhra Pradesh," the police official said. A case has been registered.
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Siddharth Nath Singh on Tuesday reacting to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav soft endorsement of Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's 'khoon ki dalali' remark said that such an endorsement for the sake of alliance and bonhomie is condemnable.
"If during an election, a political party is looking for an alliance with another party, because their stock is low, there is no harm in it and Samajwadi Party's stock in Uttar Pradesh is low and therefore they are looking for an alliance and bonhomie with the Congress party. There is nothing wrong," Singh said.
"But, during that if you trade off the national security and support a statement made by Rahul Gandhi of "khoon ki dalali" (blood dealing), basically insulting the Armed forces and the soldiers fighting in the borders, then it's a compromise and therefore it is condemnable what Akhilesh Yadav has done by not condemning Rahul Gandhi and he is trading off for his bonhomie with Congress and looking at the political expediency," he said.
Read: Akhilesh Yadav backs Rahul's Khoon ka dalali remark, takes a dig at PM
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has sparked off political speculation with his soft endorsement of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's 'khoon ki dalali' remark.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Lucknow to celebrate Dusshera today, but there have been reports that Akhilesh Yadav might not be present.
On enquiring whether Akhilesh Yadav will skip the function, Singh replied, "The constitution says that when the Prime Minister is visiting a state, the State Chief Minister should accompany him for the political functions or any other function. Ramleela is a cultural and religious function and therefore the Chief Minister of the state should be present with the Prime Minister and that's what the constitution demands."
Speculation about a possible electoral alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress is not new. Leaders on both sides have been officially denying it. It sparked off with Rahul Gandhi describing Akhilesh as a "good man" in July this year.
This bonhomie was also evident during the month-long Kisan Yatra undertaken by Rahul across the state last month. It became clearly evident that more than the Samajwadi Party government, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP which was on Rahul's agenda.
Chennai: Top BJP leaders Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley will visit Apollo hospital, where Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is admitted, on Wednesday.
"Honb BJP National president AmitShah Avl honb Union minister Arun Jaitley to call on Honb TN CM in Apollo hospital around 5pm tomorrow," BJP state unit president Tamilisai Sounderrajan said on her Twitter page.
Sources at the Chennai airport said the two leaders were likely to arrive from Delhi, proceed to Apollo hospital and return the same day.
Jayalalithaa (68) was admitted to the hospital on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration.
On Monday, Apollo hospital said in a release that Jayalalithaa continues to be under treatment and is being "constantly monitored" by the intensivists and the other consultants in the expert panel. Necessary respiratory support, antibiotics, nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy were being given to her, the statement added.
A stream of high-profile visitors, including Governors of Tamil Nadu and Kerala Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao and P Sathasivam, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Chief Ministers of Kerala and Puducherry Pinarayi Vijayan and V Narayanasamy have visited the hospital.
On October 7, the Centre had opposed in the Supreme Court the practice of triple talaq, 'nikah halala' and polygamy among Muslims. (Photo: AFP)
Muzaffarnagar: Stressing that Sharia law cannot be changed, Member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board Zafaryab Jilani suggested that said the central government can hold a referendum on the issue of triple talaq.
Talking to reporters in Muzaffarnagar at an event last evening, Jilani claimed, "Ninety per cent Muslim women support the Sharia law."
"Union government can hold a vote on the issue of triple talaq...Muslims will not tolerate any interference in the Muslim Personal Law," the Additional Advocate General?of Uttar Pradesh said.
"The move of banning triple talaq is a conspiracy to impose a uniform civil code," he alleged.
He, however, said in Islam divorce is considered an unpleasant act and is discouraged.
On tensions between India and Pakistan, he said every Muslim is with the country to teach a lesson to the neighbouring nation. He said Pakistan was affected by its own conspiracy and even Pakistani mosques are not safe from terrorist attacks.
On October 7, the Centre had opposed in the Supreme Court the practice of triple talaq, 'nikah halala' and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a re-look on grounds like gender equality and secularism.
The Ministry of Law and Justice, in its affidavit, referred to constitutional principles like gender equality, secularism, international covenants, religious practices and marital law prevalent in various Islamic countries to drive home the point that the practice of triple talaq and polygamy needed to be adjudicated upon afresh by the apex court.
Nagpur: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday lauded the Army for carrying out surgical strikes, saying it has enhanced India's prestige in the world and given the message to trouble-makers that there is a limit to its patience.
The ongoing unrest in Kashmir, tension on the border and the issue of cow protection, which has brought BJP much flak, was the focus of the annual Dussehra address of the RSS chief, who vowed to root out social discrimination.
Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, he said the situation there is of concern and said the commitment of our leaders that the whole of the state, including PoK, belongs to India is good. "What is needed is that this strength of statement is reflected in action as well," he said.
"Under our government, the army has recently given a befitting reply. The Army's and India's prestige in the world have gone up. The trouble-makers have been given this message that there is a limit to patience... The one (Pakistan) which has been inimical to us is getting isolated. We are delighted with the valour shown by the army," he said.
The whole world is aware that the subversive activities constantly promoted from the across the border are mainly responsible for disturbances in the Kashmir valley, he said. With thousands of RSS functionaries in their new uniform of dark brown trousers instead of khaki shorts in attendance, he said the "firmness and efficiency shown in the matter of diplomacy and defence should permanently reflect in our policies".
"A level of perpetual co-ordination and co-operation is needed among in the defence forces and intelligence agencies as we have to pay a heavy price for a moment's distraction," he said.
Bhagwat also stressed on the need for maintaining a strict vigil on maritime boundaries as well as frontier areas and said the government and administration should engage the locals to stop infiltration from across the border.
On Kashmir, Bhagwat said that "whole of Kashmir including Mirpur, Muzzafarbad, Gilgit and Baltistan are an inseparable and integral part of India."
He also said that the "discriminatory" approach of the Jammu and Kashmir government and the state administration towards Jammu and Ladakh should end immediately.
"Only if Jammu and Kashmir government and the administration act with a nationalistic feeling and perform (their duties) in a clean, considerate, impartial and transparent way, the people of the state will have simultaneous feeling of victory and confidence, and the process of assimilation of the people in the valley will move forward," he said.
"There is an urgent need to promote, consolidate and establish nationalistic activities and forces in those areas. The Central and the state government must work in tandem," he added.
Expressing concern over the prevailing condition in Jammu and Kashmir, Bhagwat said the diplomatic moves at international level and strong resolve of the government and Parliament are welcome initiatives but need to be implemented with firmness.
He also advocated that Hindus who had returned to India from Pakistan should be rehabilitated with dignity and should be given citizenship rights.
Bhagwat also lauded the Central government for inspiring confidence among people across the nation. "A sense of disappointment among people all over the country has vanished due to acceleration of developmental work by the government," Bhagwat claimed.
"The government has built some measure of confidence, therefore the nation, it appears is moving forward," he said.
He also targeted the Opposition, saying those who could not make it to the echelons of power are busy formulating strategies for political gains.
Bhagwat said they are finding shortcomings and inadequacies of the government and the administration.
Dirty tricks being played are a matter of grave concern, he said warning people against fundamentalists, extremists, divisive and selfish forces area working in the world.
Former bureaucrat, Satyaprakash Rai, a Indian Economics Service (IES) officer of the 1976 batch was the chief guest on the occasion.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister for Transport and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari and playback singer Anuradha Paudwal were among those present on the occasion.
Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has appealed to media not to give undue publicity to statements by opposition parties questioning Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's frequent visits to his home state.
"Goa is his home town. He has to come here to see how the state government is functioning, how the party is functioning, how his friends are, how his family is. He is concerned about all this," Parsekar said addressing a public meeting in Mapusa town last evening, where Parrikar was present.
"There are some political opponents who raise questions about his visits to Goa. He is the Defence Minister of the entire nation. Goa is part of India. So what's wrong about his visit here?" the chief minister asked.
"I appeal media not to give undue publicity to the statements made by opposition parties (questioning Parrikar's presence in Goa)," he said.
In his speech, Parsekar referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as 'yugpurush', saying he has the capacity to be the world leader, and expressed happiness that he selected Parrikar to handle the important Defence portfolio.
New Delhi: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday batted for grant of state citizenship rights to Hindu refugees in Jammu and Kashmir and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, who were forced to leave the valley due to militancy.
He said the state government should work with the Centre to pursue one policy and move in one direction, noting that the nationalist forces should be strengthened and "undesirable" activities be rooted out.
The situation in the state is a matter of concern, he added.
"Many issues continue to hang fire. During the partition and subsequently many Hindu refugees were displaced from Pak-occupied Kashmir and arrived there. Sheikh Abdullah assured them that they will be given their rights. Their third generation is living there. They don't have state citizenship rights. They don't have ration cards and jobs. How long will they wait?" asked Bhagwat.
"For decades, Kashmiri Pandits have been living outside. They should live where they used to and be sure of their protection as patriots and Hindus. Such circumstances should be created and they be given justice," he said in his Dussehra address.
Their dreams will have to be fulfilled, he said, adding that only then people will believe that they are being taken care of in the same way other states are working for their citizens.
The issue of grant of citizenship rights to Hindu refugees in the state has been a controversial one there with parties like National Conference and PDP expressing reservation over it.
The state government, which is headed by PDP in alliance with BJP, should see to it that a transparent and clean administration is there, Bhagwat said.
Despite lot of money being pumped into the state, development work is not happening and people wonder where all the money is going, he said.
Those creating trouble should be dealt firmly, he said, claiming that there is no trouble in entire regions of Jammu and Ladakh, besides a large part of Kashmir.
Ahmedabad: An accused in a case related to post-Godhra riot at Ode village in Anand district who had escaped to UK by jumping his bail has been detained by London police and would be brought back by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) within a week, Gujarat police said today.
"Samir Patel, an accused in Ode-riot case who absconded while on bail has been detained by London police," Gandhinagar Local Crime Branch's inspector and SIT member A K Parmar said.
"A red corner notice was issued against him after his location was traced to London. Three SIT officials including me will leave for London tomorrow to take him in custody. After completing deportation formalities we will be able to bring him back by October 16-17," Parmar said.
Two other accused in the case, Natu Patel and Rakesh Patel, are still at large.
On March 1, 2002, 23 people -- nine women, as many children and five men -- of the Muslim community were burnt alive in a house in Pirwali Bhagol area of Ode village by a mob of over 1,500 people.
Next day, four more persons were killed in another locality of the village.
A special court on April 9, 2012, convicted 23 persons.
However Samir Patel's trial was not complete as he had gone absconding before that. This was one of the nine riots cases which were investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT.
Lucknow: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that in the last few days India has proved that it is a strong nation.
According to reports, at a Ram Leela event in Lucknow, the Home Minister said that We have proved our strength in last few days and have given a message to the world that India is a strong nation.
"Hum maante hai ke hum kisi ko chedenge nahi, par agar humko koi chedega to hum usko chodenge nahi (We will never provoke anyone, but if someone provokes us we will not spare them)," he said.
Rajnath Singh reached Lucknow on Monday evening ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the historic Ram Leela in Aishbagh of the old city on Dussehra on Tuesday.
In a break from past, PM Modi will attend the Vijayadashami in Lucknow this year, ahead of the state polls in 2017.
UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will receive Modi at the airport, but will not attend the programme. UP Governor Ram Naik will however join Modi on the dais.
Meanwhile, amidst escalating tension with Pakistan, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will brief around 150 editors of regional media about the country's internal security and prevailing situation along the Indo-Pak border.
Singh, a key member of the Cabinet Committee on Security, will tell the editors of mostly regional newspapers published and circulated in North and Northeast about various steps taken for strengthening the internal security apparatus as well as border security at a two-day conference to be held in Chandigarh next week.
The Home Minister will inaugurate the Regional Editors Conference on October 17 which will be attended by editors of regional papers of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and other Northeastern states, a Home Ministry official said.
The Home Minister will give deeper perspective and context with regards to various initiatives, policies and programmes of the government, the official said.
The conference comes nearly a fortnight after the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads in PoK after 19 soldiers were killed by terrorists in Uri.
A sizeable section of the armed forces personnel come from these states from where the editors of the regional media hail and sentiments of the people there about the ongoing tension with Pakistan is considered to be very high.
The Home Minister is expected to tell the editors about the NDA government's broader agenda on internal security and steps taken to strengthen security on the international border and Line of Control with Pakistan.
Singh had already said that the border with Pakistan would be sealed by December 2018. He had also said India never attacks anyone and it does not intend to occupy others' land.
"Our heritage is 'Vasudev Kutumbakam' meaning the whole word is one family. We never open fire first, but if attacked, in retaliation we never count the bullets after pulling the trigger," he had said.
The Home Minister also said that despite Modi government's efforts to improve relations with Pakistan, there has been no reciprocation from Islamabad and stressed that there will be "no compromise with the honour of the country".
Singh is expected to announce the NDA government's intention to set up regional media centres in different parts of the country on the line of National Media Centre established in New Delhi.
During his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir, journalists of the state had requested him to help in setting up media centres in Srinagar and Jammu.
Lucknow: Amidst escalating tension with Pakistan , Home Minister Rajnath Singh will brief around 150 editors of regional media about the country's internal security and prevailing situation along the Indo-Pak border.
Singh, a key member of the Cabinet Committee on Security, will tell the editors of mostly regional newspapers published and circulated in North and Northeast about various steps taken for strengthening the internal security apparatus as well as border security at a two-day conference to be held in Chandigarh next week.
The Home Minister will inaugurate the Regional Editors Conference on October 17 which will be attended by editors of regional papers of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh , Jammu and Kashmir , Chandigarh , Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh , Assam and other Northeastern states, a Home Ministry official said.
The Home Minister will give deeper perspective and context with regards to various initiatives, policies and programmes of the government, the official said.
The conference comes nearly a fortnight after the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads in PoK after 19 soldiers were killed by terrorists in Uri.
A sizeable section of the armed forces personnel come from these states from where the editors of the regional media hail and sentiments of the people there about the ongoing tension with Pakistan is considered to be very high.
The Home Minister is expected to tell the editors about the NDA government's broader agenda on internal security and steps taken to strengthen security on the international border and Line of Control with Pakistan .
Singh had already said that the border with Pakistan would be sealed by December 2018. He had also said India never attacks anyone and it does not intend to occupy others' land.
"Our heritage is 'Vasudev Kutumbakam' meaning the whole word is one family. We never open fire first, but if attacked, in retaliation we never count the bullets after pulling the trigger," he had said.
The Home Minister also said that despite Modi government's efforts to improve relations with Pakistan, there has been no reciprocation from Islamabad and stressed that there will be "no compromise with the honour of the country".
Singh is expected to announce the NDA government's intention to set up regional media centres in different parts of the country on the line of National Media Centre established in New Delhi .
ISIS handlers have asked its modules and lone wolf attackers in India to use machetes and big chopping knives to target people. (Photo: AFP/Representational)
New Delhi: Islamic State groups handlers have instructed its modules and lone wolf attackers in India to use machetes and big chopping knives to target people, particularly foreign citizens.
According to reports, ISIS handlers have asked its fighters to not risk illegally buying weapons and assembling explosive devices, but instead carry out hacking attacks in India.
The intelligence agencies believe that the Islamist extremist groups motive to carry out hacking attacks is to terrorise public even more. ISIS fighters may also record the hacking incidents to share it online to promote the terror outfit in India.
So far two plots of hacking attacks have been unearthed in the last few months. The first came to light in July when the West Bengal CID busted a terror module led by Masiuddin alias Abu Musa. The CID had seized machetes that the members had acquired to attack a family.
Last week, the National Investigation Agency arrested a Kerala-Tamil Nadu module in Kanakamala hilltop in Kannur and arrested its members. They were planning to attack foreigners at tourist spots in the two states and hack them to death.
The intelligence officials reportedly said that ISIS modules were operating in several states, particularly in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka.
Meanwhile, the security agencies have kept many radicalised Indians, who are in contact with ISIS handlers, under surveillance. They would be arrested as and when they pose a threat to society.
Srinagar: The gunbattle between security forces and militants holed up inside a multi-storey government building in Pampore, about 16 kilometres from Srinagar, entered the second day on Tuesday. The Army which being assisted by other security forces fired mortars and other projectiles to eliminate the militants.
The operation to flush out the militants was suspended at nigh fall on Monday to avoid casualties and was resumed with the first light on Tuesday. Security forces launched a fresh offensive against militants, who have taken up positions in upper floors of the main block of the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI).
Smoke seen emanating from the govt building where the standoff is still on. (Photo: DC/H U Naqash)
Meanwhile, security forces have seized the boat which was reportedly used by the militants to cross River Jhelum from one bank to the other before entering the JKEDI campus.
A boat believed to have been used by terrorists to cross the river from Rakh Shalina side to Sempora has been seized and its owner detained for questioning, a police officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity said.
The officials said that after getting inside the campus, the militants set on fire a few mattresses inside a hostel room to attract the attention of the security forces including a road-opening-party who arrived within minutes of the smoke emanating from the building. There were, however, no fire tenders around, witnesses said. Officials said that the fire tenders were rushed to the area from Srinagar and Pampore but they were not allowed to enter the building due to security reasons.
Since the JKEDI like other institutions is closed for more than three months because of the unrest triggered by the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani, no student or faculty or staff member was present when the militants barged into the campus at about 6.30 am.
Security forces near the scene of gunbattle. (Photo: DC/ H U Naqash)
The Armys Special Forces rushed to the spot from nearby Badami Bagh cantonment where the headquarters of 15 (Chinar) Corps are located. Also, the paramilitary forces personnel and the members of the CRPF and J&K polices counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) joined them to encircle the campus.
In the initial exchange of fire, a soldier was injured in foot. Heavy exchange of fire continued between the two sides till the night fall. Amid intermittent firing from the holed up militants, the security forces used Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Mortar bombs, Light Machine Guns and small arms in their attempt to flush out the militants but it did not yield the desired result.
The building suffered damage in the firing and shelling and flames and thick smoke could be seen billowing from it from about 500 yards where reporters were stopped by the Army and police officials. Army sources here said that two to three floors of the 7-storeyed building had already been 'sanitized' before the operation was put on hold at nightfall. It is an inch-by-inch and step-by-step kind of control-gaining operation to avoid casualties as the militants are well positioned inside the building, said one of the officers.
Before suspending operation at the night fall on Monday, floodlights and other equipment were brought in and used to keep a vigil at and around the campus to prevent the militants from escaping during the night. However, all the security personnel involved in the operation were asked to stay positioned behind these broad-beamed high intensity lights to avoid being seen and targeted by the militants. A similar standoff at the campus had led to the killing of three Army officials and an equal number of militants in fighting about eight months ago.
New Delhi: Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Tuesday asserted that in order to solve down the Kashmir issue and bring normalcy in the Valley, it would be better if the BJP-PDP government dissolves in the state and a new government is formed which has one view over the Kashmir issue.
Speaking to ANI, Aiyar said that both the BJP and the PDP have different views for Kashmir and that's why they are unable to connect to the people and restore peace in the Valley.
"I had earlier said that the perspective of Mehbooba's PDP and the BJP for Kashmir is totally opposite and, therefore, how it could be possible that these two parties run the government in Jammu and Kashmir. Especially knowing the fact that problem lies in the Kashmir Valley, where BJP was unable to win any seat. It was PDP which won all the seats in Kashmir. So, if there is any voice of Kashmir in the government, it is that of Mehbooba," Aiyar said.
"It would be better if they (BJP-PDP) themselves break the alliance and fresh elections are held and a government is elected which has one view on Kashmir. It would then help the Centre in forming the schemes and implement them," he added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat, while asserting that Pakistan was the key element behind instigating violence in the Valley, sent a message to the hostile neighbour that Kashmir is an integral part of India and so is Gilgit-Baltistan.
Commenting on this statement, the Congress leader said, "Whatever Mohan Bhagwat has said is nothing new. He is now saying that the PDP Government in Jammu and Kashmir is not supporting the Centre in implementing the schemes. I want to remind Bhagwat ji that RSS's Ram Madhav, who made the alliance with the PDP post elections and at that time I had said that there was no basis of this alliance."
Addressing the RSS cadres in Nagpur, Bhagwat stated that the unrest in Kashmir is being induced from across the LoC and it is a fact not hidden from anyone and the whole world knows.
"The country is growing. There are some countries in the world who don't want to see India progress. They at times get support from people within. Kashmir is a serious concern. The commitment of our government is clear that Kashmir is an integral part of India and so is Gilgit-Baltistan," he said in his annual Vijayadashami speech at the Reshimbagh Ground.
Emphasising that a large part of Kashmir is free of tension and violence, he called on the nation and the government to act against those indulging in this violence
Calling on ensuring that justice is delivered to the displaced Kashmiri Pandits, Bhagwat further said that forces across the border are encouraging separatist forces in Kashmir.
Visakhapatnam: In pursuit of Indias Act East policy and outreach to friendly countries, the Indian Navys Vizag-based Offshore Patrol Vessel Sumitra has reached at Surabaya, Indonesia on a two-day visit from October 10 to12, as part of its deployment to the South Western Pacific Ocean. The visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and enhancing maritime security and cooperation between the two countries. During the stay in harbour, various activities are planned towards enhancing cooperation and mutual understanding between the two navies.
These include official calls and interaction with dignitaries of the Indonesian government and the Indonesian Navy, onboard visits by the local populace, visits for Indian Navy personnel and professional interaction between personnel of both navies. On departure, the ship will also undertake a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with Indonesian Naval ships. India and Indonesia have extensive historic, cultural and maritime linkages. Regular maritime interaction through training exchanges, port calls, PASSEXs, biannual Coordinated Patrols (CORPATs) and the recently initiated annual bilateral maritime exercise have reinforced the historic maritime relationship. Sumitras visit to Surabaya would further strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries and contribute to overall maritime security in the region.
Sumitra is the fourth of the Saryu class ships, based on an indigenous design and constructed by M/s Goa Shipyard Ltd, India. Since its commission in 2014, the ship has been deployed for multiple operational tasks, the most notable being Operation Rahat, which entailed the evacuation of personnel of various nationalities from war-torn Yemen in 2015. The ship has a range of 6,500 nautical miles and is capable of embarking one Dhruv/ Chetak helicopter. The ship is commanded by Commander K.P. Shreeshan.
India has been communicating its unhappiness to Russia over its joint military exercises with Pakistan. However, these concerns have been played down by the Russians. (Photo: AP)
New Delhi: Ahead of their annual bilateral Summit, India has conveyed its opposition to Russia over its joint exercise with Pakistan, a nation which "sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of State policy", saying it will create further problems.
"We have conveyed our views to the Russian side that military cooperation with Pakistan which is a State that sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of State policy is a wrong approach and it will only create further problems," Indian Ambassador to Moscow Pankaj Saran said in an interview to Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
Saran's remarks come ahead of the bilateral meeting in Goa on Saturday between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be arriving in India on October 14. Apart from bilateral Summit, Putin will attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) meet on October 16.
Read: Russia rejects reports of military drills with Pakistan in PoK
India has been communicating its unhappiness to Russia over its joint military exercises with Pakistan. However, these concerns have been played down by the Russians who maintain that they hold similar military drills with other countries of the region as well.
Saran also said, "There are some burning issues before the world today which the BRICS countries will certainly address and this includes the question of terrorism and the threat of terrorism faced by all the countries in the BRICS group. So this will be a major item of discussion during the Summit apart from the regional conflicts and the global situation."
On Indo-Russia ties, the envoy said as far as Indias relations with Russia are concerned, the two countries share a special and privileged strategic partnership.
"We see no change in this. On the contrary, this has only strengthened in all areas, including in the field of military-technical cooperation. This partnership is an anchor of peace and stability in the region and the world.
"We have a regular system of military exercises with Russia. We have been holding these exercises for the last few years with Russia and we will continue to do so. The plan forthese exercises is drawn up between the relevant agencies of the two sides. This will continue even next year," he said.
Saran also talked about the cooperation in the field of civil nuclear sector, trade and investments.
Russia had held first-ever joint military exercise with Pakistan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region in September. Saran said as far as nuclear cooperation was concerned, the ties were "historic".
"We have five other units for Kudankulam project. Unit-2 is in the process of achieving criticality and work on Units 3 and 4 is in the process of beginning. As far as Units 5 and 6 are concerned, we are working with the Russian side to finalise a General Framework Agreement and a Credit Protocol," he said, hoping to conclude the negotiations to mutual benefit for the two countries.
On commercial ties, he said the two sides were "actively" working to meet the bilateral trade target of USD 30 billion by 2025.
New Delhi: Coming down heavily on Manohar Parrikar for alleging the UPA regime indulged in dalali in the helicopters and submarines deal, the Congress Party on Tuesday dared the Defence Minister to take the party to the court if he has sufficient evidence to implicate them.
"If dalali happened, then take action against us. He said that under the UPA regime 1.76 lakh crore dalai happened, if it is true, then file FIR against us, mere words won't suffice. I agree that he has paid the media that is why no one is questioning him. The government cannot make baseless allegations, it's their duty is to provide proof. If he has, then take us to the court, otherwise keep quiet," Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit told ANI.
Highlighting scams under the UPA regime, Parrikar said "There was dalali in 2006, when submarines deal took place. There was Dalali also in the helicopter deal."
Parrikar was responding to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's 'Khoon ki Dalali' remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"You are hiding behind the blood of soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir and those who carried out the surgical strikes for India. You are exploiting their sacrifices, which is wrong," Rahul said of Modi.
Nagapattinam: Farmers of the Cauvery delta region on Monday told the Supreme Court-constituted high-level technical committee that they were incurring a loss of around Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore each year due to the Cauvery dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The team was formed by the Supreme Court to assess the situation in the Cauvery basin in both the states. The 14-member committee has been in the state since yesterday following its two-day trip to Karnataka.
The team, headed by GS Jha, Chairman, Central Water Commission (CWC), visited Karunkanni, Killukudi and Kilvelur villages in the district today. Nagapattinam District Collector S Pazhanisamy and other officials accompanied the team.
Farmers showed the team members dry paddy fields and withered crops and explained the need for Karnataka to immediately release more water for their requirements.
Jha later told reporters at Karunkanni that the committee would submit a report on the ground realities to the Supreme Court before October 17.
Arupathy Kalyanam, general secretary of the Federation of Farmers' Associations of the delta districts, submitted a memorandum to the committee.
He said though Mettur Dam was opened for irrigation on September 20, most of the tail-end areas had not received water yet. "As a result, farmers are not able to irrigate even the direct-sown paddy fields," he said.
Stating that normally, samba cultivation is completed before the end of September every year, he alleged that for the past three decades, Karnataka had taken "complete control" of the Cauvery flows.
During most years, the delta areas did not receive adequate water from Karnataka, resulting in samba cultivation being postponed to October-November. So, when the northeast monsoon becomes severe, paddy crops face inundation in about four lakh acres, Kalyanam said.
"Due to this crisis, the delta farmers have been incurring a financial loss of around Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore every year," he said in the memorandum.
Kalyanam said this year, around 4.25 lakh acres of direct-sown paddy fields in Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts were affected as Karnataka had refused to release adequate water.
In addition, samba transplantation has been completed in 40,000 acres and the crops were awaiting adequate water flows, said Kalyanam.
Yesterday, the team had inspected Mettur Dam, located about 150 km from Coimbatore. It had taken stock of the situation, including the water level, inflow and discharge of Mettur Dam.
New Delhi: In prompt response to a request by a woman, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday directed the Indian Embassy in Washington to give visa to an Indian to attend his father's last rites despite the the mission being closed for two days for Vijaya Dashmi and Moharram.
Swaraj's directive to the Embassy came after one Sarita Takru, a resident of Karnal, appealed to the External Affairs Minister on twitter to give visa to her US-based son Abhai Kaul so he can attend his father's cremation.
"Our Embassy in US is closed for Vijaya Dashmi and Moharram. I have sent a message. We will open the Embassy and give visa to your son," Swaraj tweeted.
Soon after Swaraj's instruction, the Indian Embassy asked Takru to share Kaul's contact details with it so that visa can be granted expeditiously.
Takru said her husband died on Monday and she had expressed anguish after knowing that the embassy will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"...Can't get Indian visa before Local Thursday. Is this human?"
"This dreadful wait must end. Please give my son Indian visa in US so his father may be cremated. Please support. Need empathy," Takru tweeted.
To this, Swaraj responded, saying, "I am sorry to know about the sad demise of your husband. Just wait - I will help you."
The External Affairs Minister is known for her prompt response to Indians in distress abroad.
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday allocated Chief Minister J Jayalithaas portfolios to Finance Minister O Panneerselvam until she resumes charge. The decision was taken amidst rising calls for an interim CM as the leader continues to be in hospital for over two weeks now.
According to Raj Bhavan, Paneerselvam will also preside over cabinet meetings and that the arrangement had been made on the advice of Jayalalithaa herself. The ailing AIADMK supremo however continues to be the CM and her party has made it clear that there will be no interim CM.
"Under Clause (3) of Article 166 of the Constitution of India, the Governor of Tamil Nadu today allocated the subjects hitherto dealt by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to O Paneerselvam," a Raj Bhavan press release said.
"This arrangement has been made as per the advice of the Chief Minister and will continue until the Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa resumes her duties. Jayalalithaa will continue to be the Chief Minister" it said.
The Public Department, IAS, IPS, IFS, General Administration, District Revenue Officers, Police and Home portfolios are held by Jayalalithaa. She has been in hospital since September 22.
On Saturday, DMK treasurer MK Stalin again visited Jayalalithaa in hospital, and called for an interim CM to be installed until Jayalalithaa made a full recovery.
"Till her return let there be a deputy or an interim chief minister to resolve key issues like the Cauvery dispute. Someone next in the hierarchy can take charge. That's our stand, Stalin said.
The latest health bulletin by Apollo hospital stated that Jayalalithaa is being constantly monitored by intensivists & the other consultants in the expert panel. Necessary respiratory support, antibiotics, nutrition, supportive therapy & passive physiotherapy are being given, it added.
Apart from local specialists, a three-member medical team from Delhi's AIIMS and a British doctor Dr Richard John Beale had examined her.
Ahmedabad: Extending full support to Indias surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) to neutralise terrorists in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), former Army Chief VP Malik said that the Indian army was ready to cross the LoC during the 1999 Kargil war, but was stopped by then-Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
According to reports, Malik, who was Army Chief in 1999, said that following international pressure and due to the general elections imminent for later that year, the Indian government stopped the army from crossing the LoC.
Malik , speaking at the Switch Global Expo in Ahmedabad on Monday, said he was very unhappy with Vajpayees direction to him to let go of Pakistan. He said that it took 3 meetings on a single day to convince him to follow Vajpayees decision.
Malik said, On June 2, PM Vajpayee told the Army not to cross the border. The then national security adviser Brajesh Mishra had said in an interview that the Army was told not to cross the border today, but we dont know about tomorrow.
However, Malik added that in hindsight, it was the right decision.
Asked about the war of words between the BJP and opposition parties Congress and AAP over the surgical strikes, he said that politicians who do not have the knowledge about national security should not speak. He called for unity across the political spectrum on the issue.
The former Army Chief stated he did not believe Pakistan would change after one surgical strike. We must be prepared for more action from them and more reaction from us, he said.
Malik said that after the strikes, India does not have to beg the international community to rein in Pakistan on sponsoring terror, but merely tell them that if Pakistan continued to do so, India would go to war.
At least 35 workers of Punjab's Akali Dal and Congress were injured when they clashed over a white coloured effigy of Ravana. (Photo: PTI/Representational)
Ludhiana: At least 35 workers of Punjab's Akali Dal and Congress were injured when they clashed over a white coloured effigy of demon king Ravana in Ludhiana, police said on Tuesday.
The controversy over burning of a Ravana effigy donning white colour turned ugly on Monday night when the supporters of both Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress clashed at a ground near Vardhman Chowk on Chandigarh road.
Congress had reportedly prepared white effigies as protest against sale of heroin in Punjab and had planned to burn them on Dusshera along with photos of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Traditionally, Ravana effigies are covered with black glaze paper.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who represents Ludhiana West Assembly constituency, said that as many as 12 Congress men were injured in the clash.
District Congress Committee President Gurpreet Goggi and Ravinder Gill were seriously injured in the clash and rushed to a nearby hospital, according to Ashu.
According to police, the SAD workers damaged the white Ravana.
The workers also allegedly damaged the vehicle of Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu.
A clash broke out between the two sides following which the Congress worker overpowered Youth Akali Dal Malwa Zone President Tersem Singh Bhinder and took him to the residence of the Commissioner of Police Jatinder Singh Aulakh, according to Congress MLA Ashu.
Congress leaders alleged that they staged a dharna outside the Commissioner's residence after the police officials "refused" to register their complaint.The protest continued till the wee hours today.
On the other hand, Bhinder alleged that he along with his supporters had visited the police station of the area to lodge a complaint and in the meantime MP Bittu along with his supporters arrived outside the police station.
Bhinder claimed that 25 SAD supporters were injured when they were attacked by Congress men.
Bhinder said any attempt to malign the image of the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister will not be tolerated by the party men and strong action will be taken to foil the plan of anti-social elements of Congress.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Dhruman Nimble said nearly 35 persons have been injured in the clash.
Police were collecting the medico legal reports and are in the process of registering a case.
Sheikh, who suffered critical injuries in the accident, was rushed to SMHS hospital in Srinagar but succumbed to injuries. (Photo: AP/ Representational Image)
Srinagar: A youth was killed on Tuesday after being hit by an Army vehicle in Kulgam district of south Kashmir, police said.
Owais Ahmad Sheikh, a resident of Ghasipora village, was hit by an Army vehicle at Wanpoh, 70 kms from Srinagar, this afternoon, a police spokesman said.
Sheikh, who suffered critical injuries in the accident, was rushed to SMHS hospital in Srinagar but succumbed to injuries.
Police has registered a case and started investigations, the spokesman said.
BELAGAVI: Horns of wild animals weighing more than one ton, tiger claws and a large number of elephant tusks, worth several crores, were recovered from an old house at Shetty Galli during a police raid in the city on Tuesday evening.
For the past 20 years the horns were being stored in the house and smuggled regularly to various countries by the accused, Salim Chamdewale, a resident of Belgavi. The house was being used mainly to store the horns and tusks and nobody stayed there.
To carry out his illegal trade, Salim had prevented people from entering the house by telling them it was a 'ghost house'. Nearby residents claim for many years they never saw lights in the house during night. Once or twice a week, Chamdewale would enter the house during night, load horns and tusks in goods autos to smuggle them out, according to the police.
Based on a tip-off, a team of police officials from Belagavi City Crime Branch raided the house on Tuesday evening and they were shocked to see a huge amount of horns, of deer and other animals, stored inside. They claimed they also recovered penguin shells and tiger claws. The entire house was packed with horns. The police later transported the contraband to Forest Department godowns in several good autos.
During the preliminary interrogation of the accused, the police found that he was exporting them to China and various Gulf countries via Mumbai. The house is in the heart of Belagavi market and barely 50 metres away from Market Police Station.
Bengaluru: With or without the Supreme Court order, 1,500 to 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery river water will flow to Tamil Nadu even after October 18 when the apex court will take up the main petition of the state for consideration.
The court had ordered Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from October 7 to 18. Even after this deadline, water will flow to Tamil Nadu as a natural process.
If the court directs that 2000 cusecs of water should be released again, there is no need to worry, since Karnataka has released Cauvery river water from its reservoirs for irrigation and that water will regenerate and join the river system.
Even before August, nearly 26 tmc feet water has gone to TN, after it was used for irrigation purposes in the Cauvery basin. According to the advocate, even water being used for drinking purposes in Bengaluru and Cauvery basin towns also joins the river system if it is unutilised.
Karnataka is hoping that the SC will dispose the Interlocutory Application (IA) filed by TN, since the North-East Monsoon is set to hit TN in a week. According to a senor advocate in the Cauvery legal panel, the state need not to worry about the IA filed by TN. Before the matter comes up for hearing in the court, Karnataka is expecting the North-East Monsoon to hit the Cauvery basin in TN. While hearing the IA, the court may order Karnataka to release 2000 cusecs of water to TN and may not burden Karnataka further, said sources. This amount of water will anyway naturally flow to TN.
Meanwhile, a three member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Amitava Roy and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar will hear the SLPs filed by all four riparian states on October 18.
Karnataka is preparing for the argument on the main petition questioning the award of the Cauvery River Water Tribunal instead of countering the IA filed by Tamil Nadu. If TN brings up the IA, Karnataka is likely to seek an adjournment, the advocate added.
New Delhi: India on Thursday called "confirmation of truth" Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's reported comment that the Kargil "misadventure" in 1999 by troops of his country was a stab in the back for the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the two neighbours were engaged in a peace process.
"Nawaz Sharif has said something which was known to all. Everybody knew about it. He has only confirmed a truth which we all aware of," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
Addressing a public rally in Muzaffarabad, Sharif had reportedly agreed that Kargil offensive by Pakistani troops was a misadventure and a stab in the back for then Prime Minister Vajpayee.
Pakistani troops had occupied a number of positions in Kargil heights, months after Sharif and Vajpayee had initiated a peace processs by signing the historic Lahore declaration.
"Vajpayee told me he had been stabbed in the back with the Kargil misadventure because it came soon after the Lahore Declaration. I told him I would have said the same thing if I were in his place," Sharif has been quoted as saying.
The MEA spokesperson said everybody knew about what Sharif had said.
On proposed FS talks between the two sides, Swarup said both foreign secretaries are in touch with each other but no dates have been finalised yet.
Asked about Pakistan's offer of sending a special investigation team to India to probe the Pathankot attack, he said India was waiting for a firm proposal from Islamabad on the issue.
"We have said that we welcomed the decision of Pakistan government to form an SIT. As and when a firm proposal is received, then the modalities will be worked out," he said.
On Pakistan's response to evidence given by India on involvement of terrorists from that country in the attack, he said the issue is being handled by NSAs of the two countries.
Asked about Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's reported remarks that he was opposed to any joint probe into the attack, the MEA spokesperson said there was no such proposal.
"There was never a joint investigation team. Pakistan had proposed sending a special investigation team to India and that time we had welcomed it. Since then we are awaiting a detailed proposal from Pakistan. Once we receive it, we will discuss," said Swarup.
Police arrested Charles Anthony and during initial investigation, he confessed that he was drunk and was driving his vehicle at a high speed.
Chennai: A woman was killed and eight others were injured when a speeding car driven by a drunken man, ran amok and into people waiting for bus on East Coast Road at Injambakkam on Monday evening.
The deceased, Vasantha Devi, a resident of Villivakkam and working as a cook in a house in Neelangarai, was waiting for bus when the car hit her. She died on the spot.
Police identified the driver as Charles Anthony, who was driving his taxi under the influence of alcohol. The driver has been booked under IPC section of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The car also went out of control and hit a share auto in which eight people were travelling.
The injured, including two brothers Aravind Sekar and Anand Sekar have been admitted to a hospital. Police arrested Charles Anthony and during initial investigation, he confessed that he was drunk and was driving his vehicle at a high speed.
A complaint has been registered at Shastri Nagar traffic police station.
It may be recalled that three weeks back, the national racer Vikash Anand of Chennai, who was allegedly drunk and driving a Porsche, had slammed the car into parked autos, killing one and injuring 8 others on Cathedral Road. Vikash Anand and Charan Kumar, who owned the car, were arrested by the police.
The police suspect driver Santhosh could have slept at the wheel causing the accident.
Bengaluru: A 27-year-old Chennai-based realtor was killed while three of his friends suffered injuries after their car crashed onto a guardrail on NICE road near Kengeri on Monday morning. The deceased, Parthiban, and his three other friends, Santhosh, 24, Gautham, 27, and Ashok, 36, were returning from Goa to Chennai via Bengaluru after Dussera holidays, the police said.
According to the police, the accident happened at around 6.20 am on a bridge on the NICE Road when Santhosh, the driver, lost control of his SUV (registration number TN-09-VX 7525), and the vehicle rammed on to the guardrails.
The four friends had decided to take the NICE Road from Tumkuru proceeding towards Electronic City Hosur Road towards Chennai, the police said. The police suspect driver Santhosh could have slept at the wheel causing the accident.
Though the airbags were working, Parthiban, who was sitting in the front alongside the driver, sustained grievous injuries on his chest, the police said.
Passersby rushed Parthiban to the nearby BGS Hospital in Kengeri, where he was declared brought dead.
Santhosh and Gautham were brothers and Ashok and Parthiban were their friends. While Santhosh is into automobile business, his brother Gautham was a software engineer.
Parthiban and Ashok were into real estate businesses in Chennai, the police said. A case of accidental death due to rash and negligent driving has been registered at the Kengeri traffic police station and the cops are investigating further.
Chennai: A 26-year-old man from West Bengal who tried to buy two kgs of tomato and onion each from a woman push cart vender using a Rs 1,000 counterfeit note was caught red-handed by traders and local residents in Alandur on Tuesday afternoon.
A body search revealed he was carrying fake Indian currency notes with a face value of Rs 2.46 lakh. He had 196 numbers of Rs 1,000 denomination notes and 100 numbers of Rs 500 denomination notes, St Thomas Mount police station team, which rescued him from the angry mob which had tied him up, said. Police identified the man as Kariyudullah.
Police believe he could be a part of a network pushing counterfeit notes into circulation in metro cities of India. These notes are printed in Pakistan and smuggled through Bangladesh.
It all began when the man, after buying vegetables, handed over Rs 1,000 note to Lakshmi, a push cart vegetable vendor on Muthamji Street in Alandur. As she did not have change to tender, she went to a nearby shop seeking change. On looking at the note, the shopkeeper became suspicious. As the shopkeeper kept staring at Kariyudullah, the latter understood trouble was coming. He abandoned the vegetables and started running. But Lakshmi and a few others started following him and overpowered him.
The locals were shocked to find he was carrying fake currencies with a face value of Rs 2.46 lakh. After beating him up, the people tied him up and called the police. It was disclosed that he was staying with his associate Abdul Wahab, also from West Bengal in a hut in Hazarkhana. Though the police searched the place, they could not trace Abdul Wahab. Kariyudullah said he brought the notes from his native place from an agent on commission base.
Farmers of the Cauvery delta region had on Monday told the team that they were incurring a loss of around Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore each year due to the Cauvery dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P.Rama Mohana Rao on Tuesday explained in detail the ground situation in the Cauvery Delta region, totally dependent on water from river Cauvery in Karnataka, to the high-level committee of the Union Government which wrapped up its two-day visit to the state on Monday.
The team headed by Central Water Commission Chairman G.S. Jha met Mr.Rao and S.K. Prabhakar, Principal Secretary, Public Works Department and shared their experiences in the Delta region, Salem and Mettur on Sunday and Monday.
The Chief Secretary explained to the Central team in detail the ground realities and the crucial role the water released from Karnataka plays in cultivation of crops in the region. He also told them that since the North East Monsoon has not yet set in, the water from Karnataka is the lifeline of farmers, sources said.
The Tamil Nadu Government had submitted a memorandum to the team on Sunday and at the meeting on Tuesday, the Chief Secretary also got to know the views of the Central team on the sensitive issue. The state demands that 60 tmcft of water be released immediately for cultivation of at least one crop in the Delta region.
The team was constituted by the Central Government on October 5 on the directions of the Supreme Court, which said the committee would visit the Cauvery Basin in Karnataka and Cauvery Delta in Tamil Nadu to assess the ground realities in both states. The team would submit its report to the Supreme Court on October 17.
Speaking to reporters, Mr.Jha said the team was in the process of processing the data collected in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and analysing them. "There is no demand as such and we have not tried to put things in the demand and release manner. We will be just assessing the ground realities," he said, when asked about demands from the Tamil Nadu Government.
"Of course, the utilisation part will also be there; availability and utilisation, so you may say that the demand will be in the form what is the utilisation, what can be the best utilisation possible," he said.
Farmers of the Cauvery delta region had on Monday told the team that they were incurring a loss of around Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore each year due to the Cauvery dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government is planning to set up a legal assistance facility in view of the numerous cases of non-resident Keralites (NRKs) and their families failing to get payments from their foreign employers. NORKA-Roots, the agency of NRK affairs department, has mooted a Pravasi legal aid centre offering free legal services. It is awaiting the nod from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who holds the NORKA portfolio.
We regularly get representations from NRKs and their families regarding non-payment of dues by foreign employers. But since those matters concern a foreign country, the maximum we could do is to alert the Indian missions in foreign countries. Hence, we are now exploring the option of setting up a facility to offer legal services, said NORKA secretary Usha Titus.
Ms. Titus, who also holds the charge of NORKA-Roots chief executive officer, said that there were instances of families of deceased NRKs engaging foreign lawyers by signing the power of attorney to claim death benefits. But many complain that they do not get the entire benefits. The NORKA-Roots is planning to seek the services of legal professionals who earlier worked in foreign countries or those who are still working there. Sources said that foreign laws prescribe decent fiscal benefits at the end of ones service as well as on death while in service. But a large number of Malayalis are deprived of these benefits owing to lack of legal awareness.
Chennai: DMK chief M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday wanted 'suitable arrangements as per law' to fulfil the needs of people till Chief Minister J. Jayalalihtaa's recovery leaving the kind of arrangement open-ended and undefined.
The demand made in the DMK leader's letter in party organ Murasoli' is a softening of the party's earlier stand of appointing an interim or deputy Chief Minister. On October 7, party treasurer M.K. Stalin made the demand for interim Chief Minister, but Karunanidhi refrained from making the same request, which had not found support from any of the Opposition parties, including their ally Congress.
On key issues like Cauvery dispute, the state government is inactive due to the hospitalisation of the Chief Minister, the DMK leader said and added that the ministers and Chief Secretary are not ready to take any decision without consulting the Chief Minister.
Opposition parties have been supporting the demands of Cauvery delta farmers with the same objective even though the state government has not convened an all-party meeting or a special Assembly session, he said.
The softening of the stand follows accusations by the ruling party that the DMK is trying to gain political mileage out of the present circumstances. Other opposition parties too have opposed the need for appointing an interim Chief Minister.
MDMK general secretary Vaiko was the first to oppose Stalin's demand for an interim Chief Minister and TNCC president S. Thirunavukkarasar followed it with an assertion that it is up to the ruling party to make any such decision. BJP leaders Venkaiah Naidu and Muralidhar Rao too had asserted that they would not demand an interim Chief Minister. Union Minister Pon. Radhakrishnan had gone a step further and said the Congress is creating an impression that BJP is pressing for an interim CM.
VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan, who earlier spoke on the need for interim arrangements, later denied that he wanted an interim Chief Minister. The Left parties and TMC too are on the same page. It is to be seen if Karunanidhi's toning down of the demand leaving the kind of interim arrangement undefined leads to a consensus among the Opposition as none of the them has opposed
an interim arrangement.
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao on Tuesday allotted all portfolios held by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who has been hospitalised since September 22, to finance minister O. Panneerselvam who will also preside over cabinet meetings.
While making this announcement through a press release, Mr Rao said the arrangement has been made as per the advice of Chief Minister Selvi J Jayalalithaa.
The move follows strident calls for appointment of an interim Chief Minister from political leaders, especially the Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin, to carry out administrative duties unhindered since the Chief Minister is unwell. The Apollo Hospitals had on October 6, in a medical bulletin, said Ms Jayalalithaa would require further stay at the hospital since the treatment is continuing.
The Acting Governor also made it clear that Ms Jayalalithaa would continue to be the Chief Minister. Under Clause (3) of Article 166 of the Constitution of India, the Governor of Tamil Nadu today (11.10.2016) allocated the subjects hitherto dealt with by Chief Minister Selvi J Jayalalithaa, to Thiru O Panneerselvam, Minister for Finance, Personnel & Administrative Reforms, the release from the Governors Office said.
Thiru .O Panneerselvam, Minister for Finance, Personnel & Administrative Reforms will also preside over the Cabinet Meetings. This arrangement has been made as per the advice of Chief Minister Selvi J Jayalalithaa resumes her duties. Selvi J Jayalalithaa will continue to be the Chief Minister, the release said. Interestingly, there was no media release from the Apollo Hospital on CMs health status on Tuesday.
This is not the first time such an arrangement has been put in place when M.G. Ramachandran was hospitalised in October, 1985, the then Governor S.L. Khurana issued a notification authorising V.R. Nedunchezhian to preside over Cabinet meetings during the period of MGRs treatment. The Governor also allocated 14 subjects that were handled by MGR to Nedunchezhian.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar accused the Sangh Parivar and BJP of trying to force Modi bhakti on people in the name of deshbhakti. Kanhaiya accused Modi Government of creating hype over surgical strikes for vested political and electoral interests. He was speaking at the anti communalism and anti imperialism conference held in connection with the AIYF state conference here the other day.
The JNU leader said going by the style of functioning of Mr Modi, one can only say that he is not Prime Minister but the "Prime Model" of the country. Our nation will not develop just by Modis tweets or Modi waving at the people, he said. Taking a dig at the prime minister for his failure, Kanhaiya said; Modi has not brought Skill India policy but Kill India policy, he said. He said the situation in many parts of the country was such that those who were speaking against Modi were being branded as enemies.
The BJP led government is trying to politicise the surgical strikes carried out by our army in LOC for their vested political and electoral interests, he said referring to the posters pasted by the BJP hailing the surgical strikes across poll bound Uttar Pradesh. Kanhaiya accused the prime minister of diverting the attention of people from burning issues like poverty, unemployment, price rise, malnutrition, infant mortality, maternal mortality and other major health issues. He has completely failed to deliver the acche din that he had promised ahead of last Lok Sabha polls. The government has failed to deliver and hence it was raising the pitch of nationalism and patriotism, he said.
Samsung's decision to pull Note 7s off the shelves for the second time in less than two months underscores the South Korean firm's struggles to fix the over-heating issue.
Samsung halted sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on October 11 and told owners to stop using them while it investigates reports of fires, fuelling expectations the tech giant will scrap the flagship device.
Top US and Australian carriers on October 10 suspended sales or exchanges of the Note 7s, while major airlines reiterated bans on passengers using the phones, after smoke from a replacement device forced the evacuation of a passenger plane in the United States last week.
The world's top smartphone maker said it had asked all global carriers to stop sales of the Note 7s and the exchange of original devices for replacements, while it worked with regulators to investigate the problem.
"Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device," the company said in statement.
Samsung's decision to pull Note 7s off the shelves for the second time in less than two months underscores the South Korean firm's struggles to fix the over-heating issue.
The premium device launched in August was supposed to compete with Apple latest iPhone for supremacy in the smartphone market. Well received by critics, its first problem was a shortage as pre-orders overwhelmed supply.
But within days of the launch images of charred Note 7s began appearing on social media, in the first sign that something was seriously amiss with the gadget.
Samsung has since recalled 2.5 million Note 7s due to faulty batteries, and the latest reports of fires in replacement devices is raising fresh doubts about the firm's quality control procedures.
"This has probably killed the Note 7 brand name, who knows if theyll even be allowed to re-release it," said Edward Snyder, managing director of Charter Equity Research.
"By the time they fix the problem they have to go through recertification and requalification and by the time that happens theyre going up against the (Galaxy) S8 launch."
Cause Unknown
Samsung did not immediately comment on whether it was considering ending Note 7 sales permanently or whether it had identified the cause for the fires in replacement devices. The company is offering to exchange Note 7s for other products or refund them.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters Samsung had temporarily halted production of Note 7s and Samsung said it had adjusted shipments of the phones.
The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards met with Samsung Electronics and experts Monday afternoon and "confirmed the possibility of defects in the new (Galaxy Note 7) product," the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Samsung is investigating the case in various aspects," including the batteries and other possible causes, an official at the agency told Reuters.
"It is more difficult to analyse the cause of the accidents this time because of various patterns of the accidents."
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said Samsung was making the right decision by halting sales and exchanges of the device.
"No one should have to be concerned their phone will endanger them, their family or their property," CPSC Chairman Elliott Kaye said in a statement.
"While we continue our active investigation into reports of phones overheating and burning in multiple states, consumers should power down and stop using all Galaxy Note 7s. This is the safest course of action."
South Korea's transport ministry on October 11 added its voice to concerns from the aviation industry, issuing a statement saying no Note 7s should be used or charged inside airplanes."
Verizon, the largest US wireless carrier, said it may shift marketing away from the Note 7 heading into the critical holiday selling season.
"We have the new iPhone, were about to launch the new Google Pixel, which is exclusive to us. Weve got great phones from Motorola as well," Verizon spokeswoman Kelly Crummey said.
"I think youll see our marketing focused on those devices because there is certainty on those at this time."
Shares in Samsung, which had rebounded after an initial sell-off on the recall, were down 3.6 percent as of 0100 GMT, compared with a 0.1 percent rise for the broader market.
Apple shares, in contrast, hit their highest in 10 months on Monday on expectations the iPhone maker would benefit from its rival's woes.
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Last month, Yahoo disclosed that at least 500 million user accounts were stolen in 2014 from its network.
Yahoo disabled automatic email forwarding at the beginning of the month, the Associated Press reported, citing several users.
While those who have set up forwarding in the past are unaffected, users who would want to leave following recent hacking and surveillance revelations are struggling to shift to rival services, the AP reported on October 10.
The company has been under scrutiny from investors after disclosing last month that at least 500 million user accounts were stolen from its network in 2014.
Reuters reported last week, citing sources, that Yahoo last year secretly built a custom software program to search all of its customers' incoming emails for specific information provided by US intelligence officials, a move that raised a lot of human rights concerns.
The AP said that several users were leaving or had already left the service because of the negative headlines.
Yahoo, which agreed to be bought by US telecoms company Verizon Communications Inc for $4.83 billion in July, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The company's website says that the "automatic email forwarding" feature is under development and has been temporarily disabled.
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Maan Singh Khalsa, 41, was brutally attacked by a group of men in California. (Photo: TheSikhCoalition/Facebook)
San Francisco: Two persons have been arrested in connection with an alleged hate crime attack on a 41-year-old Sikh-American IT expert in the United States, police said on Tuesday.
Maan Singh Khalsa was attacked on September 25 in Richmond Bay area, California, by a group of white men in a pickup truck. The attack was unprovoked.
One of the men threw a beer can at his car while cursing and yelling at him. Khalsa's head was pulled out of the window of his car, his turban was forcibly removed and his long hair was cut off, authorities said.
Dustin Albarado, 25, and Chase Little, 31, were arrested after the attack. A third assailant and two remaining accomplices have not been apprehended, Richmond Police Lt. Felix Tan was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times.
The Sikh Coalition, a national civil rights organisation, is urging California law enforcement officials to file hate crime charges in connection with the attack that left Khalsa with several injuries.
The group argues that Khalsa, an information technology specialist and part-time caregiver, was targeted because of his ethnicity and religion.
"The attackers caused physical injuries and deep harm when they targeted my Sikh faith," Khalsa said in a statement.
"I urge a thorough investigation so we can address the tide of violence and bigotry in this country."
The Sikh Coalition had also written a letter to Richmond Police Chief Allwyn Brown and Contra Costa County District Attorney Mark A. Peterson, urging them to investigate the incident as a hate crime.
New York: Same-sex marriage is now the law of the land, but there are other battlegrounds related to civil rights and non-discrimination protections for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. Two polarizing questions: What sort of access should transgender people have to public bathrooms? And are the advances for LGBT rights infringing on the religious freedom of some Americans?
Where they stand
Hillary Clinton is a staunch supporter of LGBT rights; she has endorsed the Equality Act, a proposed federal law that would provide comprehensive protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Donald Trump says he would be a better president for gays than Clinton, yet major LGBT-rights groups strongly oppose him. Among the reasons: He has balked at endorsing same-sex marriage, his evangelical advisory board has included prominent opponents of advances in LGBT rights and running mate Mike Pence, Indiana's governor, last year signed a law that critics said would allow businesses to deny service to gay people for religious reasons.
Why it matters
Whoever wins the presidency can only do so much to influence national LGBT-rights policies, unless, perhaps, if the winner's party sweeps control of Congress. The proposed Equality Act is unlikely to advance through a Republican-controlled House, even if Clinton wins. And the nationwide legality of same-sex marriage is unlikely to be threatened, though some conservatives cling to hopes that a Supreme Court reconfigured by Trump appointees might reverse the 2015 ruling extending that right to all 50 states.
On some fronts, however, the outcome of the presidential race could have a major impact - for example, in how aggressively federal agencies work to expand LGBT rights. Clinton would probably maintain or intensify the Obama administration's efforts to bolster transgender rights. This could mean pressure on school districts to let transgender students use school bathrooms based on their gender identity.
Some transgender students have become activists on this issue, saying they face harassment and discomfort if forced to use bathrooms on the basis of the sex on their birth certificate.
There's also the matter of judicial appointments. Thus far, federal judges have generally been unsympathetic to arguments that certain types of anti-LGBT discrimination are permissible if in accordance with a person's religious beliefs. Trump has told conservatives he'd place a high priority on religious liberty and would seek to protect Christians from having to violate their beliefs. Among the types of cases in question: Whether wedding photographers or bakers who oppose same-sex marriage should be penalized for refusing to provide services for a same-sex wedding.
At the state level, the election could have important repercussions for LGBT issues. In North Carolina, for example, the Democratic candidate for governor, Attorney General Roy Cooper, opposes a law curtailing LGBT rights that was signed by his election opponent, incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. That law - which includes restrictions on transgender people's bathroom access - has been the target of an expansive protest campaign.
In Indiana, Pence's decision to forgo a second term to run for vice president boosts Democratic hopes of winning the race for governor. The Democratic candidate, former House Speaker John Gregg, has vowed to push for full LGBT civil rights if elected; at present Indiana is one of 28 states with no statewide nondiscrimination protections for gays and lesbians.
In Kentucky, there's an intriguing U.S. Senate race matching incumbent Republican Rand Paul, who failed in his presidential bid, against Democrat Jim Gray, the openly gay mayor of Lexington. Gray is an underdog in the race.
Washington: The US has set an ambitious goal of sending humans to Mars by the 2030s as part of its efforts to open up new avenues of space exploration, US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday.
"We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America's story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time," Obama said in an op-ed in CNN.
"Getting to Mars will require continued cooperation between government and private innovators, and we're already well on our way. Within the next two years, private companies will for the first time send astronauts to the International Space Station," he said as he laid out plans for his ambitious goal.
Later this week, Obama has convened a meeting of some of America's leading scientists, engineers, innovators and students in Pittsburgh to dream up ways to build on the progress and find the next frontiers.
Just five years ago, US companies were shut out of the global commercial launch market. Today, they own more than a third of it.
More than 1,000 companies across nearly all 50 states are working on private space initiatives, he noted.
"The next step is to reach beyond the bounds of Earth's orbit. I'm excited to announce that we are working with our commercial partners to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space.
These missions will teach us how humans can live far from Earth -- something we'll need for the long journey to Mars," Obama said.
Washington: The latest batch of emails released by WikiLeaks from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta gives an insight into the planning done by the Obama administration to ensure a successfull visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Silicon Valley in 2015.
More than a month and half before Modi was to visit Silicon Valley in the last week of September, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai
Biswal wrote an email to John Podesta, who had by then joined the Clinton Campaign, seeking his advice and input on making the trip successful and also checking if the former US president Bill Clinton can co-host a clean energy event with the Modi at Stanford.
In an email to Podesta dated August 12, Biswal said there is a lot of interest in the Indian government to focus on two themes for the Silicon Valley visit.
First is the digital economy, she wrote and added that here the focus will be a visit to google and some announcements on Google's massive investments in India, she said.
"The other focus is on clean energy. Here the Indians want to visit Tesla and hopefully announce a Tesla partnership/venture with India focusing on their battery storage system for solar," Biswal said.
"The other major effort is around a clean energy roundtable with Stanford that Commerce had been working on. It now it seems (Commerce Secretary Penny) Pritzker cannot make it to California and the Indians are looking for some other USG (US government) principal to participate with industry, academia and government," she wrote.
"Before I engage the WH (State Department) and State or DoE (Department of Energy), I wanted to see if you had thoughts on how we should approach this. The Indians have said that it would need to be a Cabinet rank principal to convene this with the PM (Prime Minister)," Biswal said.
"We will of course see if Secretary (of State John) Kerry or Secretary (of Energy Earnest) Moniz can go to California that weekend but things are complicated by the (Chinese President) Xi (Jinping's) visit and the UNGA (UN General Assembly) schedule. Are there other options you would suggest we pursue?" she asked.
"Another option would be to see if (California) Governor (Jerry) Brown or perhaps President Clinton would be interested in co-hosting/convening. Also, would you want to participate in the roundtable? Let me know if you have thoughts on this or want to discuss," Biswal wrote as per the email released by WikiLeaks yesterday.
The State Department has not authenticated the email.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is set to sign a regulation this month banning smoking in public across Southeast Asia's second-most populous country, rolling out among the toughest anti-tobacco laws in the region.
Public health campaigners who have long battled against the country's hefty tobacco lobby welcomed the push to end smoking in public places and said they believed Duterte, with his tough anti-vice record, was the man to do it.
Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial told Reuters on Tuesday she hoped the president would sign the ban, which expands the definition of public places, into law before the end of October and that it would come into effect next month.
She was quoted by newspapers as saying that no smoking would be allowed in public places, whether indoor or outdoor.
"Parks, bus stations, and even in vehicles. All these are considered public places," she said, according to media. She later clarified the law would apply only to public vehicles.
Designated smoking areas will be set up, at least 10 meters (33 feet) outside buildings, according to a draft of the executive order seen by Reuters.
Around 17 million people, or nearly a third of the adult population, smoke in the Philippines, according to a 2014 report by Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, - the second highest in the region after Indonesia. Nearly half of all Filipino men and 9 percent of women smoke and experts say the habit costs the economy nearly $4 billion in healthcare and productivity losses every year.
Duterte Means Business
The proposed smoking ban replicates on a national level an existing law in Davao City, where Duterte ruled as mayor for 22 years until his rise to the presidency earlier this year.
Penalties for breaking the anti-smoking law in Davao can include a 5,000 Philippine peso ($103) fine or four months in prison.
When Duterte was in Davao, he once personally forced a man to stub out his cigarette and eat it after he refused to stop smoking in a restaurant, according to media reports.
A government spokesman declined to comment on the incident but said:
"Certainly in Davao, the sentiment and business establishments support a smoke-free Davao. The president sees it as something that's not ideal for health...and this is part of the public well-being," Ernesto Abella said.
Duterte also rolled out a number of other strict rules in the city of 1.5 million during his term as mayor, including banning late-night drinking and karaoke, and a 10 p.m. curfew for school children. He also oversaw a severe crackdown on narcotics and crime in the city, earning him the nickname "The Punisher".
The 71-year old won the presidency on a promise of widening that crackdown throughout the country of 100 million. Over 3,600 people, mostly small-time drug user and dealers, have died in police operations and alleged vigilante killings since he took office in June.
Anti-tobacco activists said Duterte's reputation meant the nationwide smoking ban would be implemented.
"This is effectively a scaling up of the Davao City plan," said Ralph Degollacion of Health Justice Philippines, a local NGO.
"We know his track record...and given the political will in his government, we're confident that in terms of implementation he will really push it," he said.
When asked if the ban could extend to alcohol and gambling - both multi-million dollar industries - government spokesman Abella said there were no such plans in the offing and that bars and casinos were continuing to operate normally.
The cattle herder said that when she heard the cries and stepped forward in the direction, she saw a tiny foot sticking out under a eucalyptus tree. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab)
Khon Kaen, Thailand: A newborn who was stabbed 14 times and buried alive by his mother in Thailand's Khon Kaen province is making speeding recovery after he was saved by a passer-by.
According to a report in the Mirror, the newborn was found with his face down in a shallow grave. A cattle herder who was passing by, heard the baby crying and stopped by to see what it was.
The cattle herder said that when she heard the cries and stepped forward in the direction, she saw a tiny foot sticking out under a eucalyptus tree. When she dig up the soil, she was shocked to find a newborn baby.
The baby was immediately rushed to the hospital and police were informed.
Doctors at the hospital said that it was the pressure of soil that prevented the newborn from bleeding to death. They also said that the baby had bruises on his stomach, hinting towards physical abuse.
Medics also said that the baby was just a few days old. The newborn has been kept at the Kaen Thong Orphanage since the tragedy. He was named Aidin by people at the orphanage. Authorities said that baby Aidin will now be adopted by a Swedish couple, adding that they were 'very happy for him'.
"All of the safety checks have been carried out to make sure Aidin goes to a good home. We're very happy that he will be going to a good home and (will) have a comfortable life," said authorities at the orphanage.
Meanwhile, police tracked down Aidin's biological mother with the help of locals and the footprints left at the crime scene. She has been charged with attempted murder and disowning the child.
Ortell said that he had caught his step-daughter red-handed while she was sexting her boyfriend. (Representational Image)
Melbourne, Victoria: An Australian man who secretly stored sex chats sent by his step-daughter to her boyfriend has been charged with child pornography and put on sex offenders list.
According to a report in the Independent, the accused identified as Ortell, has been slapped with a 12-month good behavior bond after he pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
While the case was under trial, Ortell said that he had caught his step-daughter red-handed while she was sexting her boyfriend. He then confiscated her mobile phone and made copies of the messages she sent to her boyfriend.
The accused copied the indecent images on his computer and later put them on his USB stick, despite police warning people not to do so, the court heard.
In an attempt to save himself, Ortell claimed that he made copies of the messages so that he could show them to her school authorities and police.
Announcing the judgment in Ortell's case, the judge said that he will be put on the sex offenders list for a term of eight years.
"I didnt create this stuff, I didnt distribute it. By law its mandatory that they put you on this register. But I could tell that the judge didnt really want to do it," Ortell was quoted as saying after his sentencing.
Jihadist and criminal groups are recruiting from the same pool of people, while their social networks are also converging, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) found, in what it dubbed a "new crime-terror nexus". (Photo: AFP)
London: Prisons in Europe are becoming "breeding grounds" for jihadist groups, with some criminals seeing violent extremism as a form of redemption for their crimes, a report by a British think tank published Tuesday said.
Jihadist and criminal groups are recruiting from the same pool of people, while their social networks are also converging, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) found, in what it dubbed a "new crime-terror nexus".
The emergence of the Islamic State group (IS) has strengthened the link between crime and terrorism, according to the report which examined the profiles of European jihadists recruited since 2011.
Rather than looking to universities or religious establishments, IS increasingly turns to "ghettos", prisons and "underclasses" to recruit individuals with a history of criminal behaviour, it said.
Prisons provide a ready supply of "angry young men" who are "ripe" for radicalisation, according to the study, entitled "Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus".
ICSR director Peter Neumann, one of the report's authors, said the lines between crime and jihadist groups were becoming "increasingly blurred".
"Prison is becoming important as a place where a lot of networking happens," he said.
"Given the recent surge in terrorism-related arrests and convictions... we are convinced that prisons will become more -- rather than less -- significant as breeding grounds for the jihadist movement."
Criminals seeking 'redemption'
Neumann said radicalisation was becoming faster because "a lot of these people have already been convicted of violent crime, so the jump to being a violent extremist is not so big."
Recruiting in prisons allows jihadist groups to tap "transferrable skills", the study found, including familiarity with weapons and self-financing through crime.
Researchers from the ICSR, based at King's College London, compiled profiles of 79 European jihadists with criminal pasts, from Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
All had either travelled abroad to fight or been involved in terrorist plots in Europe.
Over the past five years an estimated 5,000 Western Europeans have travelled to the Middle East to join jihadist groups such as IS and the Syrian Fateh al-Sham Front, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, the report said.
Of those studied, 57 percent had been incarcerated before being radicalised and at least 27 percent of those who spent time in prison were radicalised behind bars.
For some, jihadism offered a form of "redemption" for their crimes, researchers said.
Ali Almanasfi, a British-Syrian from London who fought in Syria after serving a jail term for violent assault, was cited in the report as saying: "I want to do something good for once. I want to do something pure."
According to Neumann, the findings point to a shift if the way IS operates.
"We think IS no longer aspires to be a very theological organisation. It embodies the brutality, strength and power that these young people who were often members of gangs are looking for," he said.
"It basically tells them 'you can continue to do all the things you did before, but now you can get into heaven'."
Syrian suspect arrested on Monday had planned to attack one of the airports in Berlin, Germany's domestic intelligence agency BfV said. (Photo: AP)
Berlin: The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV) said a Syrian suspect arrested on Monday was building a bomb and probably planned to attack one of the airports in Berlin.
Hans-Georg Maassen told public broadcaster ARD that intelligence leads had suggested in early September that militant group Islamic State was planning an attack on Germany's transport infrastructure.
Spies managed to track down and identify the suspect in the eastern state of Saxony last Thursday and started a round-the-clock observation, Maassen said.
"We found out that he then bought hot glue in a discount shop on the following day. And then we immediately put all measures into place to start a raid because we assumed this can basically be the last missing chemical for him to build a bomb."
Maassen told ARD that initial intelligence information pointed to an attack on trains in Germany but it later became clear that he planned to strike a Berlin airport.
Germany's top public prosecutor, Peter Frank, confirmed that his office had taken over the investigations because of the severity of the charges.
"The danger is mainly characterised by the fact that he developed a very high explosive for which special expertise was needed, and he made it in a very large quantity," he told ARD's television news programme, Tagesthemen.
Investigators said earlier they found "some 1.5 kilograms (3 lb) of an extremely dangerous explosive" in the suspect's apartment.
State police said the chemical was probably triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a highly unstable substance also used by suicide bombers during the Paris attack in November 2015.
German authorities said earlier on Monday that the suspect was probably inspired by ISIS and was readying an attack similar to those in Paris and Brussels.
Jaber Albakr, 22, arrived in Germany in February last year during a migrant influx into the country and was granted temporary asylum four months later. Officials said he had not previously aroused suspicion.
The suspect's background will be unwelcome news for Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose conservatives have lost support to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party over her refugee-friendly policy.
Pakistani Ambassador Janjua said "peace and stability in South Asia would not be possible without resolving underlying disputes especially the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. (Photo: AP)
Geneva: Needling India, Pakistan has told the UN that South Asia's security environment was "blighted" by India's insistence on "hegemonic policies", as it asserted that regional peace was not possible without resolution of underlying disputes, especially Kashmir.
The pursuit of "hegemonic policies" in South Asia by India and its efforts for "military domination" are creating instability both at the global and regional levels, Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva and the Conference on Disarmament told UN' International Security Committee.
"Alluding to its recent aggression and the display of irresponsible behaviour by India, Ambassador Janjua highlighted that South Asia's security environment was blighted by India's insistence on hegemonic policies, engaging in a relentless arms build-up, and a myopic refusal to engage in any meaningful dialogue on security issues," a Pakistan Foreign Office statement said on Tuesday about Janjua's briefing to the committee.
Pakistan's security was fundamentally challenged by the introduction of nuclear weapons in its neighbourhood, the statement said.
Janjua, while breifing the 192-member UN Committee that addresses disarmament and international security matters, referred to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's address to the UN General Assembly last month in which he underscored Pakistan's resolve to maintain strategic stability in South Asia.
"The committee was reminded of Pakistan's proposal of our readiness to agree on a bilateral arrangement between Pakistan and India on a nuclear test ban that awaited a response from Indian side," the Foreign Office statement said.
Ambassador Janjua said "peace and stability in South Asia would not be possible without resolving underlying disputes especially the Jammu and Kashmir dispute; agreeing on measures for nuclear and missile restraint, and instituting conventional forces balance," according to the statement.
Pakistan's proposal for a strategic restraint regime, based on these three inter-locking elements, remained on the table, the statement said.
Moscow: Amid a bitter rift over Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin indefinitely postponed a trip to France after Paris had revised its program for the visit and said it would talk about nothing else but the Syrian crisis.
French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday that Putin put off his visit set for next week after he let him know he wouldn't take part in the opening of the new Russian Orthodox church and was only interested in talks about Syria.
Over the weekend, Russia blocked a UN Security Council resolution proposed by France and Spain on ending the hostilities in the war-torn country, blaming Paris for the refusal to discuss a compromise version. And on Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Russia for possible war crimes in Syria.
"France has a major disagreement with Russia over Syria," Hollande said. "And the Russian veto to the French resolution at the UN council has prevented the cessation of the bombings, as well as the proclamation of a cease-fire."
At the same time, he added that he believes that a dialogue with Russia is essential for ending the massacre.
"The main victims are the civilians who live and die under the bombs," Hollande said. "That's the reason why I consider that a dialogue with Russia is necessary. But it should be firm and open. Otherwise... it's a mockery."
Putin's trip to Paris, which was planned for next Tuesday, envisaged the opening of a Russian cultural center and an exhibition, but the French side had revised the program, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Regrettably, those events dropped out of the program," Peskov said, saying it's up to the French side to explain the reason. "The president decided to cancel the visit."
Putin and Hollande were to inaugurate a new Orthodox church next to the Eiffel Tower along with a cultural center.
Peskov said that Putin could visit France at a later date which would be "comfortable" for Hollande.
He denied that the cancellation of Putin's visit to France reflected a growing international isolation of Moscow over its actions in Syria, where Russian warplanes have supported the Syrian army offensive on Aleppo.
"No, the president hasn't found himself in isolation," Peskov said, dismissing the claim as "absurd."
"Russia and its president aren't facing anything of the kind."
Ayrault's statement Monday followed US Secretary of State John Kerry's call for a war crimes investigation into Russian and Syrian airstrikes in Syria, an appeal Russia has angrily rejected.
Asked about a possible meeting of Russian, French, German and Ukrainian leaders in Berlin on Oct. 19 to discuss the Ukrainian crisis, Peskov said that "preliminary preparation for such a meeting has been underway," but stopped short of announcing it.
Hollande said he was ready to meet the Russian leader at any moment if it helps bring peace to Syria.
"I'm therefore ready to meet with President Putin at any time if we have the possibility to make peace progress, to make the bombings stop and to proclaim peace," he said.
A Swedish newspaper reported that the suspects were all asylum seekers and the assault took place at an asylum accommodation. (Photo: Pixabay)
Stockholm: A wheelchair-bound woman was gangraped by six men at a Swedish asylum centre in Gotland after she asked them if she could use their toilet.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the woman, in her 30s, was sharing a taxi home with a man after visiting the town of Visby, when she asked for the vehicle to be stopped so she could visit the toilet.
However, when she entered the toilet, she was brutally set upon by six men, said the report.
The assault sparked anger in the town and extra police were called to the island when an angry mob attacked the asylum centre with rocks. The victim's lawyer Staffan Freriksson said the assault began in the toilet and soon several men joined in.
The woman could not physically defend herself due to her handicap; she only kept saying 'No.'
However, once the ordeal was over, the victim was able to escape the building.
Six men aged in their 20s were arrested in the days that followed, but were later released.
A Swedish newspaper reported that the suspects were all asylum seekers and the assault took place at an asylum accommodation.
Large groups of people gathered in the town to protest the assault.
The temple is being built on land donated by the government of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. (Photo: AP)
Abu Dhabi: The first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi will be ready to welcome worshippers by the end of 2017, a businessman overseeing the project said on Tuesday.
The temple is being built on land donated by the government of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. Hindus currently travel to Dubai, the countrys tourism and commercial hub more than 100km away, to perform rituals.
The government announced it was allocating land to build the temple during a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus live in Abu Dhabi.
Indian billionaire businessman BR Shetty, who is chairman of the Temple Coordination Committee, said: The UAE is a great example of religious tolerance with people of different nationalities living in harmony here.
The temple project will be funded privately, he said. The government has allocated 20,000 square metres of land in Al Wathba, just outside Abu Dhabi city.
Indians make up the largest expatriate group, about 2.6 million or 30 per cent of the UAE population, according to figures from the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Dubai also has a Sikh Gurdwara and both Dubai and Abu Dhabi have Christian churches.
Ankara: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to "know his limits" on Tuesday, and said the Turkish army would not take orders from Iraq on the Bashiqa camp.
"Iraq had certain requests from us regarding Bashiqa, and now they are telling us to leave, but the Turkish army has not lost so much standing as to take orders from you," Erdogan told a meeting of Islamic leaders in Istanbul.
"The Iraqi prime minister is insulting me, first know your limits," he added.
Turkey and Iraq have summoned each other's ambassadors in a mounting diplomatic stand-off and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned Turkey that it risked triggering a "regional war" by keeping troops in Iraqi territory.
Since it announced a self-styled caliphate across Iraq and Syria in 2014, IS has become notorious for broadcasting its macabre tactics. (Representational image)
Beirut: The Islamic State group has said that a senior operative considered the group's information minister had been killed, confirming an earlier Pentagon report.
An IS statement on social media affirmed the "martyrdom" of Abu Mohammad al-Furqan, the nom de guerre of Wa'il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, saying he was an "emir" of the group's central media body. It did not release any further details.
Last month the Pentagon said al-Fayad, also known as "Dr Wa'il", was killed in a precision strike on September 7 near Raqqa, the Syrian city that is the de facto capital of the Islamic State jihadist group.
He oversaw the group's media production of videos showing torture and executions, said the Pentagon, describing him as "one of ISIL's most senior leaders" and a close associate of Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, the IS group spokesman killed on August 30.
Since it announced a self-styled caliphate across Iraq and Syria in 2014, IS has become notorious for broadcasting its macabre tactics.
The group's online network has taken advantage of social media's instant publishing power to circulate footage of mass killings and beheadings.
As many as 225 individuals had been sentenced in 2014 and 411 in 2015. The number of convictions had already reached 301 by the end of September this year. (Photo: Representational Image)
Lahore: Pakistan has hanged 425 people since the abolishment of moratorium on executions in terrorism-related cases, becoming one of the top countries in the world to hand down death sentence to convicts.
"By executing 333 convicts in 2015 alone, Pakistan joined the ranks of the top executioners in the world. Courts continue to award capital punishment to suspects at a rapid rate," Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said.
The commission said a total of 425 people have been hanged since Pakistan resumed executions in December 2014.
In the aftermath of the deadliest attack on an army-run school in Peshawar in December 2014, in which more than 150 people mostly children were killed, Pakistan had lifted a moratorium on executions in terrorism-related cases.
"As many as 225 individuals had been sentenced in 2014 and 411 in 2015. The number of convictions had already reached 301 by the end of September this year," it said.
The HRCP has also demanded reform of the criminal justice system before continuing with the death penalty under the National Action Plan (NAP).
"Owing to critical and well-documented deficiencies in the law and administration of justice, death penalty allows a very high probability of miscarriage of justice, which is unacceptable in any civilised society, particularly when the punishment was irreversible," said HRCP Secretary General I A Rehman.
"It is obvious that none of the reasons for stopping executions in 2008 have changed. Things have rather deteriorated. We have seen how real the possibility of hanging minors and mentally and physically challenged individuals can be," he said.
Noting that "grave concerns" have arisen over the denial of fair trial and due process rights in trial by military courts, Rehman said in such circumstances it was imperative to immediately halt executions, restore the moratorium and move towards abolition of the death penalty.
He said "investigation methods" of police and chronic corruption also added to the troubles of those who were charged with capital offences.
"The system of justice is loaded against the poor and lack of financial means put those accused of death penalty offences at a serious disadvantage," Rehman said.
Noting that religion is often invoked to justify capital punishment, he said yet in fact no more than a couple of the 27 death penalty offences on the statute books in Pakistan are mandated by religion.
According to latest Amnesty International data on executions around the world, Pakistan is on the top five death penalty purveyors in the world, behing only China and Iran.
Smoke rises after a suicide attack in Lashkar Gah the capital of southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, Monday. (Photo: AP)
Lashkar Gah (Afghanistan): Afghanistan has deployed hundreds of commandos backed by NATO air strikes in Lashkar Gah to flush out Taliban insurgents from the strategic city after the militants killed 14 people in a coordinated attack, officials said on Tuesday.
The assault on Monday marked the militants' latest attempt to seize the provincial capital of Helmand, underscoring unravelling security as the insurgents expand their foothold across the opium-rich province 15 years after the US invasion.
"More than 300 commandos... have been deployed to the city to prevent Taliban advancement," said Abdul Jabar Qahraman, government special envoy for security in Helmand.
Provincial spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP the commandos were sent from Kabul and neighbouring provinces to launch a "clearance operation" in Lashkar Gah after the attack, which killed 10 policemen and four others.
"Soon the security forces will clear the whole city from Taliban," Zwak said.
"US enablers are in the area and will support as needed.
On Monday there were two airstrikes in Helmand, both of these were in support of ANDSF (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) strategic operations," a NATO spokesman said.
The Taliban have waged an insurgency against the western-backed Kabul government since being toppled from power by a US-led invasion in 2001. They have intensified attacks across the war-torn country in recent months, pressuring Afghan forces stretched on multiple fronts.
Around 30,000 people have been displaced in Helmand in recent weeks, mostly fleeing to Lashkar Gah, a city practically besieged, with roads from neighbouring districts heavily mined by the insurgents.
The intervention in Helmand has fuelled the perception that foreign powers are increasingly being drawn back into the conflict as Afghan forces struggle to rein in the Taliban.
Monday's early morning assault also underscored the Taliban's sustained push into urban centres, coming a week after the militants briefly stormed into Kunduz in the north before being repelled by Afghan forces.
The attack began with a car bombing in an attempt to break through the security belt in Lashkar Gah and enter the city, according to officials and local residents.
Mohammad Radmanish, a defence ministry spokesman, said security forces had managed to repel the attack and push back the insurgents, but feared they would return.
Cyril Almeida, a columnist and reporter for the Dawn, tweeted that he has been told he has been put on 'Exit Control List'. (Photo: Twitter)
Islamabad: A prominent journalist has been barred from leaving Pakistan after he reported on a suspected rift between civilian and military leaderships during a crucial meeting in which the ISI was told its support for terrorist groups was leaving the country globally isolated.
Cyril Almeida, a columnist and reporter for the Dawn, tweeted that he has been told he has been put on 'Exit Control List' - a system of border control maintained by Pakistan government under an ordinance which allows it to bar people whose names appear on the list from leaving the country.
"Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan," Almeida tweeted. The development came less than a week after he wrote a front-page story in the daily about a rift between Pakistan's civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in war against India and Afghanistan.
On October 6, Almeida, citing sources, reported in the widely-read daily that the civilian government has told the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan due to alleged support for militancy.
Pakistan government has thrice denied the story since. The Foreign Office vehemently rejected the report and termed it "speculative". Yesterday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered authorities to take "stern action" against those responsible for publishing the "fabricated" story.
"Prime Minister took serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action," according to an official statement.
Almeida's scoop came amidst a backdrop of heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the attack on an Indian army base in Uri on September 18 in which 19 soldiers were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists from the Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit.
On September 29, India carried out "surgical strikes" on seven terror launch pads across the LoC, and the Army said it had inflicted "significant casualties" on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Pakistan has denied the surgical strike by India but has claimed two of its soldiers were killed in alleged ceasefire violations along the LoC by Indian troops.
Islamabad: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has asked the Supreme Court to hold an early hearing on its petition against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the Panama Paper leaks.
The Nation quoted the party, as saying, "As early as the petition is decided, the better it would be for the country and for the citizens of Pakistan."
Last month, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali had overruled the registrar office's objections to the petitions by PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami, Tariq Asad and Barrister Zafarullah on the Panama leaks and decided to hear it in an open court.
However, terming the petitions as 'frivolous' under the Supreme Court Rules 1980, the registrar office returned it.
The PTI and JI were asked to approach the proper forum as the applications are 'not entertainable' under the apex court rules.
In August, PTI Chairman Imran Khan and JI chief Sirajul Haq had moved to the apex court seeking to disqualify the PM for lying and concealing his assets.
Khan in his petition had asked the apex court to order a probe into the Panama leaks and disqualify the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for lying on the floor of National Assembly about his assets. He made a request for unseating the PM, his son-in-law Muhammad Safdar, and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and directing the Ministry of Interior secretary to place Nawaz and his family members on the Exit Control List, as they were named in the Panama leaks.
Haq in his application had asked the court to initiate inquiries against the Panama leaks nominees. The application did not mention the names of PM Nawaz Sharif and his family members.
Lahore: Shehbaz Sharif , Chief Minister of Pakistan's Punjab Province and younger brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, seems to have acquired a new title - 'Punjab Speed'
During his meeting with Ugandan Minister for Foreign and International Affairs Okello Henry Oryem, the latter said that senior officers of Chinese companies working in railway sector of Africa have mentioned the Punjab Chief Minister as 'Punjab Speed' and that speed, quality and transparency are synonymous with him, reports the Nation.
Undoubtedly, Oryem said that he has witnessed 'Punjab Speed', mentioned by Chinese companies in Africa during his visit to Punjab and he is happy to have witnessed the speed of development in the province.
Oryem also praised Sharif on speedy completion of projects in the province.
"This is why the term 'Punjab Speed' has reached Africa from China and it is a proof to his extraordinary performance that Chinese companies working in Africa also mention his name with great respect in connection with speedy completion of projects in Pakistan," said Oryem.
He further said that Punjab has made tremendous progress in different fields and that Uganda seeks its cooperation of in the field of agriculture, education, urban development and planning.
The minister also invited Sharif to pay a visit to Uganda.
Shehbaz Sharif, on the occasion, said that the provincial government was ready to extend its cooperation to Uganda.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Chinese investors also met the Chief Minister and expressed interest in investment in industrial sector in Punjab.
The Chinese showed willingness in setting up of a state-of-the-art industrial zone in Punjab and said that they wanted to develop a big industrial zone which would include establishment of various industries.
Talking to the delegation, the Chief Minister said that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor has opened new chapters of Pak-China friendship.
Islamabad: The father of murdered Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch has vowed no forgiveness for his son, who killed his daughter on the pretext of "honour", after her death cast a global spotlight on the practice.
Pakistan last week passed long-awaited legislation aimed at closing loopholes which allowed murderers like Baloch's brother Waseem to walk free, with hundreds of women killed in defence of the family "honour" in the conservative country each year.
Rights activists, who for years called for tougher laws to tackle violence against women, have praised the move as a step forward though lawyers criticised the amendments for not going far enough.
"There is no pardon from our side," Baloch's father Muhammad Azeem told AFP this weekend, calling for his son and the three men accused with him to be punished "at the earliest. They should get life imprisonment or death -- I will feel happy."
He and his wife, Baloch's mother Anwar Mai, said they had been unaware of the change in the law, which came three months after their daughter's death sparked revulsion in Pakistan and abroad.
Read: Pak writer blames 'honourable' Pakistanis for Qandeel's murder
Their son, Mai said, had not understood the repercussions the murder would have.
The death of Baloch, judged by many in the country as infamous for selfies and videos that by Western standards would appear tame, reignited polarising calls for action after her brother admitted killing her.
"I am not embarrassed at all over what I did," he told media at a defiant press conference in July, calling his sister's behaviour "intolerable".
His mother said this weekend that he had thought his parents would become the only complainants in the case, which under previous legislation would have allowed him to escape punishment if his family had forgiven him.
Waseem thought he would be imprisoned for just "two to three months and then after he will be free, he was not aware that this would become a high-profile case," Mai told AFP.
Lawyers told AFP the wording of the legislation, aimed at mandating a life sentence for honour killings, still leaves too much up to a judge's discretion.
"There is a danger that it can be interpreted to mean that this only applies in cases when there is a disagreement over pardon of the offencer," said criminal law professor Abira Ashfaq.
"Unfortunately, the lawmakers have not made it an uncategorically uncompoundable offence. They have only made the penalties heavier."
"If the lawmakers wanted to make life imprisonment compulsory for honour killing, all they had to do was to state the same," said senior lawyer Anees Jillani.
In practice, Ashfaq added, most such cases are settled by police before they even reach court.
"We need to change the culture ... It would take a few high-profile prosecutions covered by media." The language must also be changed, Ashfaq said.
"We should call it something negative -- patriarchal/misogynist crime, rather than 'honour' killing, which associates a positive value with this type of crime."
China says it has rights to almost the entire region, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and Taiwan all have rival claims. (Photo: Representational Image)
Beijing: Beijing rapped Washington on Tuesday for its interventions in Asia, as tensions grow between the two powers over territorial disputes in the South China Sea and how to handle increasingly erratic North Korea.
Speaking at the 7th annual Xiangshan regional defence forum in Beijing, Chang Wanguan, China's defence minister, levied thinly veiled criticism at recent US involvement in Asia's trouble spots.
Washington has conducted freedom of navigation operations close to artificial islands Beijing has built in the South China Sea, and has agreed to deploy a missile defence system in South Korea following repeated nuclear and missile tests by Beijing's ally Pyongyang.
"Some countries seek absolute military superiority, ceaselessly strengthen their military alliances, and seek their own absolute security at the costs of other countries' security," Chang told defence officials and academics at the meeting.
The US under President Barack Obama has sought to "pivot" to Asia by increasing military and economic engagement in the region, raising concerns in Beijing that Washington is working to contain the Asian giant's growing power.
Tuesday's meeting themed on "building a new type of international relations" followed a year of growing tension in the region, primarily centred on Beijing's actions in the strategically vital South China Sea, where it has built islands capable of supporting military facilities.
China says it has rights to almost the entire region, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and Taiwan all have rival claims.
In July, an international tribunal said that almost all of Beijing's claims have no legal basis, a decision China attacked as biased and vowed to ignore.
Washington argues that Beijing's moves pose a challenge to freedom of navigation and has sought to challenge Beijing's claims by dispatching military ships and aircraft to the area.
Addressing the forum, former Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke warned that the disputes, if not properly managed, could become "a flashpoint for US-China conflict".
"These disputes have the potential to disrupt the entire regional order," he said.
China has also raised concerns over Washington and Seoul's decision this summer to install a THAAD missile defence system in South Korea in response to growing worries about its northern neighbour's nuclear programme.
Beijing, Pyongyang's sole ally and largest trade partner, claims the move will destabilise regional security, a position that is supported by Moscow.
Speaking on a panel during the forum, Russian deputy defence minister Anatoly Antonov slammed the agreement.
"We are concerned about the attempts of certain nations to exploit the complex situation in the Korean peninsula," he said, "pumping this sub-region with clearly excessive defence capabilities."
The decision has "aggravated regional tension" and "adds problems to solving the situation."
North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test last month, drawing international censure and a push to put further sanctions on the isolated country.
But for thousands of women, conviction and punishment bypass the formal legal system entirely and are decided by local councils or village elders, as the federal government struggles to impose judicial authority in remote regions. (Photo: AP, Representational Image)
Sharana, Afghanistan: When 18-year-old Fawzia was convicted of elopement and adultery, a local Afghan court in the southeastern province of Paktika sentenced her to jail.
She soon discovered that she would not be serving the 18-month sentence in a government-run prison, but in the house of a tribal elder where she would work as an unpaid domestic servant, entirely under his control.
"I was treated like an animal and kept like a slave," Fawzia said in Sharana, the provincial capital of Paktika.
Released briefly from detention because she was sick, she declined to be formally identified for fear of reprisals from the elder's family. Fawzia is a familiar name by which she is known to relatives and close friends.
"What I have suffered, I pray that no woman should ever suffer," Fawzia said.
In Paktika, a poor, religiously conservative and underdeveloped province sharing a rugged border with some of Pakistan's most lawless areas, there are no detention centres for women.
Afghanistan's overcrowded prisons have frequently been singled out for international criticism.
But for thousands of women, conviction and punishment bypass the formal legal system entirely and are decided by local councils or village elders, as the federal government struggles to impose judicial authority in remote regions.
Restoring fundamental women's rights was one of the main objectives of the international community in Afghanistan, where the hardline Islamist Taliban banned girls from school and women from work.
Fawzia's case shows how hard-earned freedoms won since the Taliban was toppled in 2001 have barely penetrated many areas.
Elders' property
The U.S. State Department's most recent Human Rights report, published in April, noted that "the formal legal system often was not present in rural areas" and gatherings of local elders were the main means of settling disputes.
"They also imposed punishments without regard to the formal legal system," it said.
Some 850 women are imprisoned in official detention centres in Afghanistan for crimes ranging from murder to drugs and "moral crimes", said Alim Kohistani, director of Afghanistan's prison service.
But that number does not include those held in informal detention.
"There could be thousands of other women kept in unofficial places across the country in the absence of proper jails," Kohistani said, adding that the government tolerated the situation but could do little to change it.
"We do our best to help them whenever needed and review their cases on time and make sure their rights are not violated," he said.
While not all women held this way are mistreated, they have little legal recourse to get complaints heard, and human rights activists say the scope for abuse is wide.
"From sexual abuse to other forms of unjust and inhumane acts, these women become a tribal elder's property," said Zalmay Kharote, a rights activist working in Paktika.
Some 95 percent of girls and 50 per cent of women imprisoned in Afghanistan were accused of "moral crimes" like running away from home or "zina" - extramarital relations, according to a report from Human Rights Watch.
Though tried in a provincial court, Fawzia has been in the custody of the tribal elder since 2015 and lives in a hut adjoining his house, washing and cleaning for his family, she said.
She did not specify if she had been sexually abused, an issue which carries a huge, potentially deadly, stigma in Afghanistan. But Fawzia did say that she was alone and cut off from her family.
"This is not like a proper prison where you can see your mother, your sister or they can bring something for you," she said, covering her face with a woollen scarf.
Rule of law cannot touch them
Paktika has seen little benefit from tens of billions of dollars in international aid pumped into the country over the past 15 years, despite which the central government has struggled to contain a stubborn Taliban insurgency.
Bibi Hawa Khoshiwal, head of the women's affairs department in the province, said women convicts were being sent to tribal elders as well as to the homes of the few female police officers.
"We admit that it is not legal, but we do get letters from the tribal elders guaranteeing to treat them well. But in some cases they don't," she told Reuters.
Khoshiwal said only 16 criminal cases involving women reached the courts in Paktika last year, while dozens of others, in which women were either victims or perpetrators of alleged murder and abuse, were settled by tribal elders.
Khalil Zadran, a powerful elder in Paktika, said he saw no problem in being the custodian of women prisoners and he had never mistreated women who were held at his home. His second wife is a woman who served a jail sentence in his house.
"When a woman is sentenced, the governor or the police chief call me and ask me to keep the woman in my place as long as it is necessary," he said, leaning on an AK-47 assault rifle as he spoke. "I do this to serve my tribe ... I can keep as many women as it takes."
Shiv Sena today sought to distance itself from a row over its workers allegedly asking Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui to pull out of a Ramleela show in his hometown in Uttar Pradesh.
"I spoke to Nawazuddin Siddiqui ji to convey that the party does not endorse the reason because of which he was prevented from performing at the Ramleela in UP," Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray said.
"The said person, an office-bearer or not, has not voiced the party's policy and the party will not support such uncalled for actions," he said. Siddiqui was in his hometown, Budhna, where he got in touch with the Ramleela committee and expressed his desire to perform at the event.
However, he was prevented from taking part in it by some men claiming to be Sena members hours before his performance. They reportedly said he is a Muslim and faces a criminal case.
An FIR was later registered against Sena's Muzaffarnagar chief Mukesh Sharma and 19 others for promoting enmity and mischief. Congress hit out at Sena over the incident, saying it has become a "party of cowards" under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray.
Congress MLA Nitesh Rane said the Sena should expel its party workers instead of distancing itself from the incident. "Sena has become a party of cowards under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. There was a time when Balasaheb (Thackeray) used to proudly take blame for the wrongdoings of his party men," Rane said.
He said the Sena cannot just "wash its hands off" for fear of losing votes in the upcoming civic polls in Mumbai. "Everybody knows the party's anti-Muslim stand. And, if they are serious in saying they do not support such gimmicks of their leaders, they should immediately expel the accused," said Nitesh, son of ex-Sena strongman and Congress leader Narayan Rane
A prominent Pakistani journalist has been barred from leaving the country after he reported a rift between the civilian and military leaderships over the powerful ISI shielding terror groups like the Haqqani network and LeT that led to Pakistan's international isolation.
Cyril Almeida, a columnist and reporter for the Dawn newspaper, tweeted he has been told that he has been put on 'Exit Control List' - a system of border control maintained by Pakistan government which allows it to bar people whose names appear on the list from leaving the country.
"I am told and have been informed and have been shown evidence that I am on the Exit Control List," Almeida tweeted.
"Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan. I feel sad tonight. This is my life, my country. What went wrong," he said.
The government has not officially commented on the ban, but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday asked authorities to take "stern action" against people responsible for publishing the "fabricated" story.
Meanwhile, the widely read daily - also the country's oldest - today stood by the story issued on October 6, saying it was "verified, cross-checked and fact-checked".
The story, carried by the paper on its front page, had said that facing international isolation, Sharif in an unprecedented move has warned the powerful military not to shield banned militant groups and directed authorities to conclude the Pathankot terror attack probe and the 2008 Mumbai attack trial.
It mentioned a rift between Pakistan's civilian and military leaderships over jihadi groups operating from Pakistan that engage in war against India and Afghanistan like the Haqqani network and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), blamed for the Mumbai attack.
The newspaper in a message issued by its editor today said that "many at the helm of affairs are aware of the senior officials, and participants of the meeting, who were contacted by the newspaper for collecting information, and more than one source confirmed and verified the details".
It also called the whole episode as "scape-goating the country's most respected newspaper in a malicious campaign" and asked the elected government and state institutions to "refrain from targeting the messenger".
Almeida in a series of tweets also said he had planned a trip abroad long time ago.
"Was a long-planned trip, for at least several months now. There are certain things that I will never, ever forgive," he said.
Meanwhile, Almeida's tweet has been among the top trends in Pakistan and he has received support from several senior journalists.
Najam Sethi of Geo tweeted: "Civil-Military Establishment has given the international media a bigger story by stupidly targeting Cyril/Dawn. Media must stand by @cyalm and @dawn_com."
Ansar Abbasi, senior journalist with The News, said: "One can raise Qs on Dawn story but putting @cyalm name on ECL is wrong. After Dawn had published rebuttal, there was no need for all this (sic)."
Another journalist Zahid Hussain said: "Travel ban on Cyril @cyalm for doing his job is shameful."
Pakistan government has repeatedly denied the story in which Almeida, citing sources, reported a verbal clash in a meeting of top officials of civilian government of Sharif and spy chief of military-led Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) over alleged support to militants.
His report said the civilian government told the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan due to their alleged support to militancy.
An official statement said: "(The) Prime Minister took serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action."
Almeida's scoop came amidst a backdrop of heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the attack on an Indian army base in Uri on September 18 in which 19 soldiers were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit.
On September 29, India carried out "surgical strikes" on seven terror launch pads across the LoC, and the Indian Army said it had inflicted "significant casualties" on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Pakistan has denied the surgical strike by India but has claimed two of its soldiers were killed in alleged ceasefire violations along the LoC by Indian troops.
India's move to completely seal its border with Pakistan was a " very irrational decision" and would further complicate India-China relations considering Beijing's "all-weather" strategic ties with Islamabad, a state media report today quoted leading experts as saying.
"India is making a very irrational decision, since no exhaustive investigation has been conducted after the Uri incident, and no evidence proves Pakistan is behind the attack," the Global Times quoted Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow from the official thinktank Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy, as saying.
Hu was commenting on Home Minister Rajnath Singh's announcement on Friday that the 3,323-km-long border between India and Pakistan would be "completely sealed" by December 2018.
A "completely sealed" border would further hinder the already scarce border trade and talks between the two countries, Hu said. Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, said that a sealed border would only disrupt peace efforts made by the two sides.
"The country's decision reflects its Cold War mentality, and would only cause deeper hatred among residents living in Indian- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir," Hu added. Since Pakistan is China's "all-weather" strategic partner, India's decision would make China-Pakistan-India relations more complicated, Hu said.
But he said a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute is in the interest of China's homeland security, especially its western regions. Their hardline comments come ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India this week to take part in the BRICS Summit in Goa during which he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This will be their second meeting in two months. The two met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou last month. Yesterday, China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong defended China's "technical hold" in the UN on a ban on Masood Azhar, the head of Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad.
"China is opposed to all forms of terrorism. There should be no double standards on counter terrorism. Nor should one pursue own political gains in the name of counter terrorism," he had said indirectly accusing India.
The ongoing unrest in Kashmir, tension on the border and the issue of cow protection, which has brought BJP much flak, was the focus of the annual Dussehra address of the RSS chief, who vowed to root out social discrimination.
Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, he said the situation there is of concern and said the commitment of our leaders that the whole of the state, including PoK, belongs to India is good.
"What is needed is that this strength of statement is reflected in action as well," he said. "Under our government, the army has recently given a befitting reply. The army's and India's prestige in the world have gone up. The trouble-makers have been given this message that there is a limit to patience... The one (Pakistan) which has been inimical to us is getting isolated. We are delighted with the valour shown by the army," he said.
The whole world is aware that the subversive activities constantly promoted from the across the border are mainly responsible for disturbances in the Kashmir valley, he said.
With thousands of RSS functionaries in their new uniform of dark brown trousers instead of khaki shorts in attendance, he said the "firmness and efficiency shown in the matter of diplomacy and defence should permanently reflect in our policies".
"A level of perpetual co-ordination and co-operation is needed among in the defence forces and intelligence agencies as we have to pay a heavy price for a moment's distraction," he said.
Bhagwat also stressed on the need for maintaining a strict vigil on maritime boundaries as well as frontier areas and said the government and administration should engage the locals to stop infiltration from across the border.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat today lauded the army for carrying out surgical strikes, saying it has enhanced India's prestige in the world and given the message to trouble-makers that there is a limit to its patience.
The latest batch of emails released by WikiLeaks from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta gives an insight into the planning done by the Obama administration to ensure a successfull visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Silicon Valley in 2015.
More than a month and half before Modi was to visit Silicon Valley in the last week of September, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal wrote an email to John Podesta, who had by then joined the Clinton Campaign, seeking his advice and input on making the trip successful and also checking if the former US president Bill Clinton can co-host a clean energy event with the Modi at Stanford.
In an email to Podesta dated August 12, Biswal said there is a lot of interest in the Indian government to focus on two themes for the Silicon Valley visit.
First is the digital economy, she wrote and added that here the focus will be a visit to google and some announcements on Google's massive investments in India, she said.
"The other focus is on clean energy. Here the Indians want to visit Tesla and hopefully announce a Tesla partnership/venture with India focusing on their battery storage system for solar," Biswal said.
"The other major effort is around a clean energy roundtable with Stanford that Commerce had been working on. It now it seems (Commerce Secretary Penny) Pritzker cannot make it to California and the Indians are looking for some other USG (US government) principal to participate with industry, academia and government," she wrote.
"Before I engage the WH (State Department) and State or DoE (Department of Energy), I wanted to see if you had thoughts on how we should approach this. The Indians have said that it would need to be a Cabinet rank principal to convene this with the PM (Prime Minister)," Biswal said.
"We will of course see if Secretary (of State John) Kerry or Secretary (of Energy Earnest) Moniz can go to California that weekend but things are complicated by the (Chinese President) Xi (Jinping's) visit and the UNGA (UN General Assembly) schedule. Are there other options you would suggest we pursue?" she asked.
"Another option would be to see if (California) Governor (Jerry) Brown or perhaps President Clinton would be interested in co-hosting/convening. Also, would you want to participate in the roundtable? Let me know if you have thoughts on this or want to discuss," Biswal wrote as per the email released by WikiLeaks yesterday.
The State Department has not authenticated the email.
Hitting out at opposition parties over remarks on Narendra Modi's visit to Lucknow today, BJP said he does not need their permission to visit any part of the country as he is the Prime Minister of 125 crore people of India and a Lok Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh.
It said the country is proud of Modi who believes in action and salutes him and the armed forces for the surgical strikes which targeted terror launch pads across the LoC.
"Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister of 125 crore people. He is an MP from Uttar Pradesh. He does not need anybody's permission to visit anywhere. The whole country is proud of a PM who believes in work and action," BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had taken a dig at Modi over his Dussehra visit to the Aishbagh Dussehra Mela in Lucknow, saying he would have visited Bihar had the state been facing elections like Uttar Pradesh.
BSP supremo Mayawati and Congress have accused Modi of politicising the surgical strikes for political gains.
Sharma alleged that leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati and Akhilesh have been "unsuccessful" in their work and are frustrated with Modi's popularity.
"He is a prime minister committed to rooting out terrorism and corruption. The people of UP and country are proud of him. These opposition leaders are frustrated and suffer from Modi phobia," he said.
By questioning Modi's visit to UP, they are insulting people of the state, he alleged.
India had long been defensive over terrorism and the prestige of its armed forces went up after they launched "for the first time" such surgical strikes which were earlier carried out by the likes of the US and Israel, he claimed.
Later Swaraj further tweeted, "Our Embassy has contacted your son in US. He should submit application and collect visa from our Consulate in Chicago.@saritakru @KaulAbhai."
In prompt response to a request by a woman, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today directed Indian Embassy in Washington to give visa to an Indian to attend his father's last rites despite the the mission being closed for two days for Vijaya Dashmi and Moharram.Swaraj's directive to the Embassy came after one Sarita Takru, a resident of Karnal, appealed to the External Affairs Minister on twitter to give visa to her US-based son Abhai Kaul so he can attend his father's creamation."Our Embassy in US is closed for Vijaya Dashmi and Moharram. I have sent a message. We will open the Embassy and give visa to your son," Swaraj tweeted.Soon after Swaraj's instruction, the Indian Embassy asked Takru to share Kaul's contact details with it so that visa can be granted expeditiously.Takru said her husband died yesterday and she had expressed anguish after knowing that the embassy will be closed today and tomorrow."...Can't get Indian visa before Local Thursday. Is this human?""This dreadful wait must end. Please give my son Indian visa in US so his father may be cremated. Please support. Need empathy," Takru tweeted.To this, Swaraj responded, saying, "I am sorry to know about the sad demise of your husband. Just wait - I will help you."The External Affairs Minister is known for her prompt response to Indians in distress abroad.
The US has set an ambitious goal of sending humans to Mars by the 2030s as part of its efforts to open up new avenues of space exploration, US President Barack Obama said today.
"We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America's story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time," Obama said in an op-ed in CNN.
"Getting to Mars will require continued cooperation between government and private innovators, and we're already well on our way. Within the next two years, private companies will for the first time send astronauts to the International Space Station," he said as he laid out plans for his ambitious goal.
Later this week, Obama has convened a meeting of some of America's leading scientists, engineers, innovators and students in Pittsburgh to dream up ways to build on the progress and find the next frontiers.
Just five years ago, US companies were shut out of the global commercial launch market. Today, they own more than a third of it.
More than 1,000 companies across nearly all 50 states are working on private space initiatives, he noted.
"The next step is to reach beyond the bounds of Earth's orbit. I'm excited to announce that we are working with our commercial partners to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space. These missions will teach us how humans can live far from Earth -- something we'll need for the long journey to Mars," Obama said.
People across the country today celebrated Dussehra with traditional burning of effigies of Ravan, his son Meghnad and brother Kumbhakaran, which marks the victory of good over evil, even as effigies symbolising terrorism and terrorists were also put to flames.
With security personnel keeping a hawk-eye vigil, the festivities passed off peacefully across the country as crowds burst into cheers with fire crackers-stuffed effigies crackling in splendour.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing people on the occasion in Lucknow said no one should feel they are safe from terrorism as it has no boundary or morality.
President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were present at the Delhi event at Ramlila Maidan.
At many places, particularly in Punjab's Amritsar and Ludhiana, effigies symbolising 'terrorism' and 'Pakistan' were also burnt along side those of Hafiz Saeed.
In Indore, however, a large number of people worshipped Ravan and celebrated the day as 'Ravan Moksha Diwas' as part of their 46-year-long tradition and appealed people not to burn effigies of the 'Dashanana'.
Mahesh Gauhar, president of an outfit of Ravana followers in Indore, Jai Lankesh Mitra Mandal, told PTI, "Ravans was a great intellectual and an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva and therefore, the outfit appeals to the people to stop burning his effigies on the occasion of Dusshera."
In Karnataka, curtains came down on the festivities with an impressive 'Jambo Savari' (procession of caparisoned elephants) with thousands of people watching amidst rains.
Several functions were organised in Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir state and effigies were set on fire by actors dressed as Lord Rama and Lakhshmana.
The main functions were held in Parade ground and the Dussehra ground in Gandhinagar.
Traditional fervour marked Dussehra celebrations in Maharashtra as markets wore festive look with people dressed in traditional attires shopped for puja and decorative items.
In Rajasthan, fairs were held and effigies burnt in public grounds in Mansarover, Adarsh nagar, sanganer, Vidhyadhar nagar and other places to mark the ocassion.
In Kolkata, the festival ended today with the immersion of idols as the goddess left for her abode in Kailash at the end of her annual sojourn on earth.
According to Kolkata Police, nearly 1,000 idols were immersed till 6 PM.
"No immersion will be allowed tomorrow because of Muharram processions. The next immersion date is October 13 when it will be allowed from 4 PM till next day," they said.
In Himachal Pradesh, International Kullu Dussehra got off to a spectacular start with traditional Rath Yatra of Lord Raghunathji while Dussehra was celebrated with burning of effigies of Ravana, Meghnath and Kumbhkaran, elsewhere in the state.
Chief minister Virbhadra Singh consigned to flames 45-feet tall effigy of Ravan, Meghnath and Kumbhkaran at Jakoo in Shimla.
Kullu Dussehra is unique Kullu in the sense that there is no Ramlila and no effigy of Ravana is burnt and starts when Dussehra celebrations end in other part of the country.
India has asked China to address the burgeoning trade imbalance while making a strong pitch for Chinese investments in its micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, specially in fields like IT, digital, mobile components and automobile ancillaries.
Indias MSME sector is poised for a major leap driven by the high growth with high level of innovation and seeks a long term partnership with Chinese entrepreneurs and investors especially in areas like IT and digital, mobile components, automobile ancillaries, MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra said in Guangzhou on Monday.
He made the remarks at the China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair (CISMEF). India co-hosted the CISMEF, 2016. A host of Indian enterprises took part in the fair.
Mishra said immense opportunities exist for cooperation between the SMEs of India and China for mutual benefits especially under the rubric of Make In India initiatives launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi government has taken several initiatives to augment the growth of manufacturing sector in India like Make in India, Digital India, Start-up India and Stand up India, which have made the worlds economic super powers to look at India with a lot of admiration, an Indian Consulate statement quoted Mishra as saying.
During his meetings with Chinese officials, Mishra also raised Indias concern of the huge imbalance in trade figures and urged Chinese interlocutors to work with India to reduce this deficit in the interest of sustainable bilateral trade, the statement said.
Last year, the imbalance was claimed to be $46 billion in Chinas favour in over $70 billion bilateral trade.
Matchmaking portal Matrimony, which operates the BharatMatrimony brand, aims to get listed soon to accelerate growth.
We have filed for Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) and got approval from market regulator Sebi seven months ago. We are looking to raise Rs 350 crore soon. After Just Dial, Infibeam and Info Edge, this is a major IPO by an Internet company, and the first from Chennai, Matrimony Managing Director Murugavel Janakiraman told DH.
According to the draft paper, Matrimonys IPO comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 350 crore and an offer for sale of up to 1.63 million scrips by existing shareholders.
When asked on what was the need for an IPO, Janakiraman said, Till date, we have raised around Rs 100 crore only. Going for listing is an important milestone for any company. We are raising money which will help us accelerate our growth. We are allocating Rs 150 crore for marketing strategy. We are investing about Rs 34.3 crore on a technology centre in Chennai.
The company founded in 2001 by Murugavel Janakiraman has over 3,500 employees currently. It has over 150 company-owned retail outlets across India where potential or existing customers can walk in and seek the assistance of retail executives to register on its websites and/or make payment for the matchmaking product or service of their choice.
The companys micro-market strategy differentiates it from other players in India and enables growth in a fragmented and unorganised industry.
It offers premium services through EliteMatrimony, which is a personalised matchmaking service delivered through relationship managers who help shortlist prospects based on their preferences and facilitate introductions, phone calls, and meetings between the interested member families.
From matchmaking services, the company has recently ventured into wedding services by introducing MatrimonyPhotography.com to provide wedding photography and videography services.
Through MatrimonyPhotography, we provide photography and videography services, some of which may be outsourced, from trained personnel. We upload the pictures on the cloud. The family members can select the photographs for the wedding album. The pilot project is reaching a good threshold, and we are currently operating in states including Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Janakiraman added.
The company has over 50% market share and has ventured into 15 different languages groups and communities. We have a database of 2.65 million active profiles who are looking for life partners. 20.89 million free profiles have been added to our database since January 2006, Janakiraman said.
The online matchmaking industry is still at a nascent stage and accounts for approximately 4% of marriages in India. The majority of the categories of marriage services in India are unorganised and highly fragmented, presenting a potential opportunity for an organised aggregator to provide these services. According to the Online Matchmaking Report, there were approximately 58.50 million individuals in India who were actively seeking prospective life partners. In India, every year around 10-12 million weddings takes place.
The company charges Rs 4,200 for a basic three-month subscription fee. The company also provides personalised matchmaking services through relationship managers, where the charges vary.
This summer Louise Brown, the worlds first test tube baby, celebrated her 38th birthday as a mother of two naturally conceived children. In the decades since Browns celebrated birth, the techniques of in vitro fertilisation, or IVF, have improved tremendously, resulting in an estimated 5 million babies worldwide born to couples unable to conceive on their own.
The many happy stories about couples whose families were enhanced by IVF tend to overshadow the many more failures rarely talked about, creating the impression that the procedure is far more effective than it really is.
At the same time, the techniques usually used have led to a rash of multiple births more than 40% of all IVF deliveries in the United States are of twins or higher because doctors commonly transfer two or more embryos in the hope of achieving a successful pregnancy.
As Dr Allan Templeton of the University of Aberdeen and Aberdeen Maternity Hospital in Scotland reported, in the United States, between 1980 and 2001, a fourfold increase in triplets and high-order births was documented, as was a 60% increase in twin births.
Fast-forward to 2013, the latest year for which comprehensive data on IVF births in the US became available. More than 60,000 babies about 1.6% of all infants born here were conceived through IVF, and 41.1% of all IVF deliveries were multiples, directly attributable to the common practice of transferring multiple embryos to the uterus to enhance pregnancy rates, Dr Abigail C Mancuso and colleagues at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
It may surprise many to know that Louise Brown was born following the transfer of just one embryo that had been fertilised externally and transferred to her mothers womb. And contrary to current practice, her mother had not been treated with drugs to induce the production of a slew of eggs just one egg was used.
Of three women I know who became pregnant through IVF since 2000, two had twins and one had triplets (although three other friends came away empty-handed, financially and emotionally drained, each after several attempts at IVF). An estimated 36% of recent twin births and 77% of births of triplets or more in the US resulted primarily from medically assisted pregnancies.
The creation of an instant family of four or more may sound wonderful to couples who struggled for years to conceive and to older women nearing the end of their best childbearing years.
But as cute as twins and triplets may seem, multiple pregnancies can be fraught with complications that compromise a successful outcome and the health of mothers and their babies.
Most of the nearly 500 fertility clinics in the US are private profit-making facilities, and as IVF grew in popularity, those seeking to attract patients by advertising high pregnancy rates began inserting multiple embryos.
However, the new study of American IVF clinics by Mancusos team revealed that transferring a single embryo in women younger than 38 resulted in a marked reduction in multiple birthrates but no decline in live birthrates.
Although transferring multiple embryos could result in more live births, many of those babies are born prematurely and spend weeks or months in a neonatal intensive care unit. Some die hours or days after birth, and a significant number of surviving infants emerge with lasting physical and developmental scars like cerebral palsy.
Their mothers are also more likely to develop pregnancy-related complications like miscarriage, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, premature labour, placental abnormalities, cesarean delivery and be in prolonged hospitalisation.
In recent years, professional organisations concerned about the safety of multiple gestations and births for both mothers and their babies have been recommending that only one, and at most two, healthy embryos be transferred at a time. The benefit of this advice is already apparent: The rate of IVF pregnancies that resulted in multiple births dropped to 22% in 2014 from 50% in 2009.
In the latest advisory in August, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists stated that electively transferring just one embryo at a time can achieve high pregnancy rates with less risk to babies and mothers and a drastic reduction in multi-fetal pregnancy (twinning can still sometimes occur when a single embryo splits in utero, as happens with naturally conceived identical twins).
Completing family
The colleges new guidelines point out that the costs of IVF often in the range of $20,000 a cycle can prompt patients to request multiple embryo transfers in hopes of completing a family with one treatment cycle. Unlike in countries with national health systems, in the US, few insurers and no government insurers cover the procedure (except in some cases for veterans injured in service), which basically restricts its availability to affluent patients.
However, insurance economics are penny-wise and pound-foolish. As long ago as 1998, Swedish researchers reported that, in achieving a successful pregnancy, one-embryo transfer is more cost-effective than two-embryo transfer when all the costs associated with multiple gestations are taken into account.
Furthermore, if a patient has more than one healthy embryo available for transfer, the extras can be frozen and used later at a much lower cost, Mancuso said in an interview. In a study at her hospital in which prospective IVF patients were educated correctly about the risks of a multiple pregnancy, more chose a single embryo transfer.
Unfortunately, prospective IVF patients who check clinic websites can be easily misled, said Dr Mark V Sauer, who ran an IVF clinic at Columbia Universitys Centre for Womens Reproductive Care for 21 years.
Consumers can be easily overwhelmed by the available data and be unable to distinguish between good medical practices and a sales pitch, he said. Most reliable is the information gathered by the CDC, reported by 467 clinics under federal law with serious penalties for inaccurate data. The latest is a 76-page report with easily interpreted graphs, the 2013 Assisted Reproductive Technology National Summary Report.
Theres a tremendous focus on getting patients pregnant, and they tend to downplay the risks of a twin pregnancy, Sauer said. A clinics pregnancy rate does not necessarily reflect the live birthrate. We all consider twin pregnancy to be an undesirable outcome that can be completely avoided if doctors and patients agree that single embryo transfer is the right thing to choose.
This years Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his role in negotiating an accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The accord, which was signed on September 26, provides for FARCs disarmament and opens up space for the rebels to join the political mainstream. Four years of gruelling negotiations went into the accord that was aimed at ending not only the armed conflict that has raged since the 1960s but also addressing Colombias structural violence by putting in place measures such as land reforms to deal with socio-economic inequity and poverty. However, a week after the signing of the peace accord, it suffered a stunning setback when it was rejected in a referendum by a very narrow margin. Many have criticised the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Santos, describing it as honouring an effort that resulted in a still-born peace. However, by awarding Santos, the Nobel Peace Committee in Oslo may have, in effect, breathed new life into the Colombian peace accord. It has provided those Colombians who opposed the accord in the referendum to pause and rethink their objections to it. The Nobel Committee has extended a strong vote of confidence in the Colombian peace accord, with an unstated plea to the Colombian people to give peace another chance.
It is heartening that the parties to the accord have ruled out a return to war. Thus, there is space for the parties to return to the negotiating table. Those who voted no in the referendum are not opposing peace per se but only certain provisions of the accord such as reduced punishment for FARC rebels, which can be renegotiated in a way that addresses the insecurities of all sides. Throughout the talks between the Colombian government and FARC, the international community gave strong support to the process. Cuba and Norway acted as guarantors of the peace process while Chile and Venezuela acted as facilitators. The Nobel Committee has now stepped in. Will it be able to save the peace accord?
There is only so much that external actors can do in a peace process. It is for the internal actors to negotiate the peace terms and it is they who must desire peace and take the bold steps needed to make peace happen. What the Nobel Committee has done is to remind Santos that his responsibility to the peace process does not end with the signing of the agreement. By awarding him the Peace Prize, it has put on Santos shoulders the responsibility of reinitiating dialogue in Colombia. Is he up to the challenge?
The Syrian army and Russia have launched a major offensive in eastern Aleppo with the aim of delivering a decisive blow to insurgents led by al-Qaeda and its allies by January when a new US president moves into the White House.
While Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is seen as a hawk surrounded by hawks, a Syrian official source told Deccan Herald that Republican challenger Donald Trump is regarded as dangerously unpredictable and easily led by opponents of Moscow and Damascus.
Washington has responded to the challenge by suspending bilateral contacts with Moscow over Syria, after Russia installed a battery of defensive S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems at the Russian naval base at the port of Tartus on Syrias Mediterranean coast. The source said Russia has no intention of abandoning Syria to jihadis supported by US allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.
Damascus and Moscow do not believe the Barack Obama administration is serious about a ceasefire and negotiations, although Secretary of State John Kerry recently told representatives of the expatriate opposition that they should enter a unity cabinet with the government, a demand Damascus has put forward since 2014.
First and foremost, the source said the Syrian and Russian governments reached their negative conclusion about US policy after the Sept 17 attack by the US and other aircraft on a well-established Syrian army position at Deir al-Zors airport.
While the US claims the strikes which killed 62 soldiers were a mistake, the Syrian military spokesman argued that Islamic State (IS), which is battling the Syrian army in this area, benefited from the assault. Damascus and Moscow contend the US was trying to undermine the army while it was trying to break the IS siege of Deir al-Zor city, home to 1,00,000 civilians and the location of a garrison.
Russia argued that the strikes came as a result of the Pentagons refusal to create a centre in Jordan for coordinating Russian and US air strikes on IS. Russia has called for coordination since intervening directly in the conflict a year ago but US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and overall military chief General Joseph Dunford, still rooted in Cold War hostility toward Russia, have firmly rejected this plan although Commander-in-Chief President Obama agreed to go forward with it when negotiating with Russia on the latest ceasefire.
Secondly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has repeatedly demanded that the US honour its pledge to compel its insurgent allies to cut ties with Jabhat al-Nusra, an internationally branded terrorist group, which the US and Russia concur can legitimately be targeted by airstrikes.
In his mid-September 15 report to the Security Council, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura stated that more than half of fighters present in eastern Aleppo are al-Nusra, and that counter offensives against the government have been led by Nusra and its allies among Free Syrian Army groups backed by Washington. He said insurgents in eastern Aleppo are intentionally placing firing positions close to social infrastructure and inside civilian quarters, contrary to international law. His remarks have been largely ignored by the Western media which have played up Russian and Syrian air force strikes on hospitals and civilian targets in Aleppo.
Go slow approach
Recapturing eastern Aleppo would give the government control over all of Syrias main cities: Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, Hama, Latakia, the coast and much of the south areas where 70% of Syrians remaining in the country live.
The Syrian army, backed by Russian air power, Lebanons Hizbollah and fighters deployed by Tehran, can be expected to go slow in the Aleppo offensive as it is estimated that 2,50,000 people remain in the insurgent-held eastern quarters while 1.5 million dwell in the government-controlled western sector.
As a frontal assault is not possible, the army is determined to nibble away at the eastern quarters squeezing the mainly jihadi fighters into smaller and smaller areas until they agree either to depart with light weapons for nearby Nusra-held Idlib provin-ce or to put down their weapons and opt for amnesty. Fighters are under pressure as the civilians in eastern Aleppo have said they want to leave, depriving the jihadis of human shields.
So far, pacification has succeeded in 75 cities, towns and villages across Syria. However, Elia Samman, a figure deeply involved in the process, said negotiations with insurgents in Aleppo had borne fruit until a radical cleric decreed departure was against god. Fighters who had agreed were forced to drop the idea, some under threat. The government has opened two corridors for civilians and fighters to leave Aleppo but they are prevented from going by hardline jihadis, he stated.
War-weary Syrian civilians simply want to see the conflict end, for rebuilding to begin and for life to return to normal. Ne-arly every family has lost a member or friend in the fighting. No one wants more carnage and destruction. A Syrian think tank says the conflict has cost the country $200 billion and driven 85% of Syrians into poverty. Four decades of economic and social development have been lost. Enough is enough!
Sending out a strong message to Pakistan in a veiled manner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said those who patronised terrorism would not be tolerated.
He appealed to the world to isolate such countries and unite against the evil of terrorism.
Modi, who spoke at a public gathering for the first time after the surgical strike across the LoC, however, refrained from making a mention of the same in his 30-minute long speech.
Speaking after participating in the historic Aishbagh Ramlila (dramatic enactment of life and deeds of Lord Rama) here, Modi said that the world, which earlier did not pay attention when India talked about terrorism, started taking it seriously after the Mumbai terror attacks. Once a US official, upon being told about terrorism in India, told me that it was a law and order issue, Modi remarked.
Terrorism cannot be completely defeated unless all the humanist forces come together and isolate those who indulge in terrorism...humanity will not survive if we do not tackle terrorism, he said.
We will not tolerate those who help and provide patronage to terrorism, the prime minister added.
Modi also referred to terrorism in Syria and mentioned about the picture of a Syrian girl, a victim of terrorism, to buttress his contention that terrorism was an enemy of humanity.
Drawing a verse from Ramayana, Modi said it was a Jatayu (a bird), who had fought the first war against terrorism, when it fought Ravana, the king of demons, while the latter had kidnapped Sita. We can learn a lesson or two from Jatayu, he said.
Modi also appealed to the countrymen to be on the alert to thwart the nefarious designs of the terrorists.
He, however, made it clear that India was for peace and not war.
Wars necessary
Although wars become necessary at times, we are a country of Lord Krishna who wielded chakra to kill enemies and also Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Buddha, champions of peace and non-violence, Modi added.
The prime minister said that the world was celebrating Girl Child Day on Tuesday and appealed to the people to save girls as he batted for equal rights to women in every field.
Modi charged the Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) with casteism and nepotism and likened them to evils, same as those represented by Ravana, the demon king.
Earlier, Modi performed aarti and applied tilak (vermilion) on the actors, who performed the roles of Lord Rama and Lakshman at Ramlila. He also witnessed briefly the killing of Ravana.
Modi became the first prime minister to attend Ramlila, which has a history of 400 years.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwats speech on Tuesday is being considered by the BJP as an endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modis development agenda, cow protection programme and surgical strike.
But, he sought speedier implementation of the new education policy to make it inexpensive, bereft of commercialisation and independent to empower people. Bhagwat, during his speech on the RSS 91st foundation day at Nagpur, expressed his concern at the situation in Kashmir, nudging the PDP-BJP government to end discriminatory approach towards Jammu and Ladakh and speak in one voice on nationalistic issues and marginalise separatists.
Despite the Opposition parties lambasting the government for politicising the surgical strike across LoC, the RSS backed Prime Minister Modi for displaying power due to which he said even nations like America stood by India.
Nothing works without power, irrespective of whether it is good or bad. We hadn't displayed our strength till now. Thats why whenever tension used to arise, America would ask us to keep quiet, the RSS chief said.
Interestingly, Modi on Sunday echoed a similar stand when he said that a strong nation needs a strong armed force.
Bhagwats comment backing countless good people working for cow protection and that they should not be compared with those creating trouble in its name, was also seen by the BJP sources as seconding Prime Minister Modis statement following flogging of Dalits by vigilante groups. The prime minister, responding to political uproar on the issue, had said that those indulging in that act were anti-social elements.
Bhagwat also took a dig at the Congress and other Opposition parties for playing dirty tricks, which he dubbed as grave concern and cautioned people against fundamentalists, extremists, divisive and selfish forces.
At least 12 people, including four Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers, were injured in a grenade blast in south Kashmirs Shopian district on Tuesday.
Reports said unidentified militants hurled a grenade at a CRPF vehicle in Bonbazar, Shopian Chowk, 52 km from here, at around 11:30 am resulting in injuries to eight civilians, including four women, and four security personnel.
The injured were taken to Shopian district hospital where their condition is stated to be stable.
Reports said immediately after the attack security forces launched a search operation to track down the assailants.
No militant organisation claimed responsibility for the attack till Tuesday evening.
The latest attack came as security forces in Pampore, on the outskirts of Srinagar, battled militants hiding in a huge concrete Entrepreneur Development Institute government building in an encounter that has stretched over 36 hours.
Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA) has given a call for holding a protest-march and sit-in agitation here days after some activists of a right-wing group disrupted the organisations national conference in Indore accusing it of allowing anti-national activities during the event.
A large number of writers and theatre artistes owing allegiance to the IPTA are expected to participate in the day-long agitation, scheduled to be held here in the national capital on October 13.
Activists of a right-wing group, Bharat Swabhiman Manch, reportedly disrupted the IPTAs three-day national conference in Indore on October 4, barging inside a hall where one of the sessions was going on. Filmmaker M S Sathyu, while inaugurating the event earlier, reportedly had criticised the surgical strikes by the Indian Army in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), calling it shameful.
The right-wing Hindu activists accused the organiser of allowing anti-national activities. They later reportedly also marched to the local police station, demanding institution of a case of sedition against the organisers of the conference.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), one of the prominent Muslim organisations, has come out firmly against the governments stand on triple talaq.
It said those clamouring against triple talaq and demanding a ban on polygamy were a minuscule minority and were not representatives of the Indian Muslim community.
Muslims consider divorce, polygamy and other personal laws as an intrinsic part of their religion and are hence obliged to follow the Sharia in those matters. Muslims will not accept any interference in their personal law, JIH chief Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari said in a statement.
The government should respect this position of Muslims instead of conspiring to put an end to the system of triple talaq, he demanded.
The government cannot force Muslims to follow other communities in issues related to personal laws as it would amount to an infringement on their fundamental rights. Efforts to impose a Common Civil Code in the name of social reform and gender justice will prove counterproductive," he added. The JIH president underlined that the Constitution of India has guaranteed freedom to profess, practice and propagate ones own religion.
This inviolable freedom is given to every individual and enshrined as a fundamental right in our Constitution. The government should not interfere in the belief and religion of any citizen, he said.
Umari said the JIH completely stands by All India Muslim Personal Law Board on the issue, describing it as an authentic representative body of Indian Muslims.
All major Muslim organisations and a vast majority of the Muslim community stand solidly by the board and will not accept any interference in their personal law.
Those trying to sow the seeds of dissension among Muslims will never succeed. Those clamouring against triple talaq and demanding a ban on polygamy are a minuscule minority and are not representatives of the Indian Muslim community, he added.
Umari noted that the issue of triple talaq and polygamy had been blown out of proportion with the sole motive of portraying Muslims as being patriarchal and misogynistic while the percentage of polygamy amongst Muslims was negligible.
It is not mandatory for Muslims to practice polygamy but permission to have more than one wife does exist, albeit under certain conditions, he said.
India is bracing for big retaliatory actions on orders from the deep state in Pakistan as a retribution for the Indian Armys surgical strike across the Line of Control on September 28-29, a top security official has said.
Not just a step-up in the militant activity, as seen in Jammu and Kashmir in the past few days, but larger doses of fresh impetus for re-energising the separatist movement in the Valley and attacks on high-profile targets that show India is still vulnerable.
But New Delhi expects that Islamabad, too, will have to factor in the cost of retaliation after what the Indian Army did to smash terrorist hideouts across the LoC and break the cycle of terror, the official told DH.
Any misadventure by Pakistan-trained elements, he warned, will invite more devastating counter-strikes from India than hitherto. The top official spoke on the condition that he should not be named because of his sensitive role.
Asked about the much-feared possibility of a nuclear strike by Pakistan, the official said, It may have the capability but it does not have the capacity to manage the cost of fallout after exercising that option. It wont do anything as stupid because such an act will annihilate its very existence.
Not just India, even other powers may not let Pakistan get away after exercising the option of first use.
An assessment within the Indian security establishment is that Pakistan will attempt to retaliate through terror strikes that target high-profile persons and most visible Indian symbols and institutions even as citizens in its own country are questioning the wisdom of engaging terrorism as a tool against India, he said.
The official said: We have devised a three-S formula to respond to any eventuality or threat originating from across the border. Speed, Skill and Surprise will form the fulcrum of the formula. The surgical strike showed those capabilities.
So far, Pakistans approach has been guided by the military doctrine that terrorism is an affordable option in terms of low cost of manpower and money. Also, it knows it cannot fight an asymmetrical conventional war against India.
Refusing to be drawn into any ongoing political debate about the similarity of surgical strikes done previously and now, the official said what has dramatically changed for Pakistan is that India is now unpredictable in its dealings, which makes it tough for its army brass to prepare a response or a counter-response.
Pakistan realises now that terrorism is no longer a low-cost strategy. Our surgical strike has demolished that illusion. Secondly, terrorism in the name of Islam cannot be used to pressurise India to come to a negotiating table on Kashmir. Our position is clear: we will not compromise or negotiate on territorial claims in J&K, the official said. Nevertheless, New Delhi believes that Pakistan would still resort to a major strike in Jammu and Kashmir particularly, using their home-bred terrorists and not the Pakistan Army regulars. Indias response to such a strike will depend on the nature and scale of the attack. We are not interested in waging a war unless Pakistan is hell-bent on taking on the economic and military might of India. We need to focus till 2025 on building Indias national power through its economy and not engage in a war, the official said.
However, India is assessing on a real-time basis Pakistans capacity to order terrorist attacks and other ways of fomenting trouble on five counts: intention, capacity, possibilities, probabilities, and opportunities. Possibilities are sky-high for them, but probabilities are much less as they are dependent on capacity and opportunities. Our surgical strike has dealt a blow to its capacity and our intelligence agencies are at work 24x7 to reduce opportunities for them to strike at us. No one can accuse us of war-mongering. But we will hit back and hard, the official said.
Coupled with an aggressive diplomacy that has seen global powers cold-shoulder Pakistan, a proxy war by sending terrorists to India is no more acceptable to the world. In this context, the official said, Russia, China and the US have made it clear that they stood by New Delhis response within hours of the cross-LoC strikes.
While China asked both sides to scale down tensions and resort to dialogue, the US and Russia, in separate statements, called on Pakistan to end terrorism originating from its soil. US National Security Adviser Susan Rice called on Pakistan to take effective action to combat and de-legitimise United Nations-designated terrorist individuals and entities, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and their affiliates.
Senior AIADMK leader and Finance Minister O Panneerselvam will look after the portfolios hitherto handled by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who is still on respiratory support at the Apollo Hospitals here.
Governor Vidyasagar Rao has allocated the subjects dealt with by Jayalalithaa to Panneerselvam, who is also the minister for personnel and administrative reforms, a Raj Bhavan communique stated on Tuesday.
Accordingly, 65-year-old Panneerselvam will also preside over the Cabinet meetings. This arrangement has been made as per the advice of the chief minister and will continue till Jayalalithaa resumes her duties, the communique added.
However, Jayalalithaa, who was admitted to hospital on September 22 following fever and dehydration, will continue to be the chief minister, it pointed out.
Jayalalithaa held the Public, Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Forest Service, General Administration, District Revenue Officers, Police and Home portfolios.
Handling important portfolios is not new to Panneerselvam as he has served twice as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
The first time he was sworn in as chief minister was in September 2001 to March 2002 when the Supreme Court barred Jayalalithaa from holding office. The senior leader was again chosen for the top post on September 2014 when the AIADMK general secretary was convicted in a disproportionate assets case.
Jayalalithaa, who is undergoing treatment, is being constantly monitored by intensivists and other medical experts.
Prof Dr G Khilnani, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, AIIMS, also had discussions with the expert panel at the Apollo Hospital and concurred with the present line of treatment being given to her.
Necessary respiratory support, antibiotics, nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy are being given to Jayalalithaa, the hospitals latest bulletin said.
After Kerala Governor P Sathasivam, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi visited the hospital to enquire about Jayalalithaas health, BJP national president Amit Shah and Union Minister Arun Jaitley are expected to visit her on Wednesday evening, according to party state unit president Tamilisai Soundarajan.
Two arrested
The Tamil Nadu police have arrested two persons for spreading rumours about Jayalalithaas health condition on social media.
Besides, the police have also formed a 10-member team which will co-ordinate with the cyber crime cell unit officials to take the list of people who spread fabricated information about the chief ministers health. So far, we have registered about 40 such cases, a senior police officer said.
As per the directions of the Supreme Court, the high-level technical committee constituted by the Centre for assessing the ground realities in the Cauvery basin areas of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka completed its mission on Tuesday. It would submit its report to the apex court on October 17.
The team that arrived in Tamil Nadu on Sunday inspected the Mettur reservoir in Salem district and the Bhavanisagar dam in Erode district. The team also met representatives of various farmers associations in the Delta districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Trichy and Nagapattinam.
The team, led by Central Water Commission Chairman GS Jha, held discussions with Chief Secretary P Ramamohana Rao and Public Works Department Principal Secretary SK Prabakar.
At the meeting, the chief secretary submitted various requests on behalf of the sate government with regard to the Cauvery issue. Officials also explained in detail the losses suffered by farmers in the Delta areas due to non-availability of Cauvery water.
Jha said statistics related to water position in the Mettur and Bhavanisagar reservoirs and the ground realities in the Delta region will be submitted to the Supreme Court on October 17.
Apart from looking into the storage of the dams, we have also collected information in the form of presentations from officials and representations from farmers associations in Delta region, the CWC chairman said before leaving for Delhi on Tuesday.
Asked what the state farmers had told them, Jha said they had presented a memorandum in Tamil and that officials here have been asked to translate it and "distribute among members so that we can look (into it) before we embark on writing the report." He expressed concern over the plight of farmers in the Delta region.
He thanked both the states "for nicely organising the visit and sharing the information so that we can be able to assess the ground realities in a very feasible manner."
The team was formed by the Supreme Court to assess the situation in the Cauvery basin in both the states. It had already visited Karnataka last week.
The Karnataka government is contemplating a scaled-down version of its proposed Centre of Excellence in Aerospace in Bengaluru to ensure an early launch.
The government had first mooted the setting up of the Centre in December last to provide specialised training to students and engineers in aircraft repair, maintenance and related sectors in aerospace.
The earlier plan was that the Centre be set up at a cost of Rs 300 crore but now the government is looking at an early start for the institute with an investment of Rs 30 to 40 crore and then scale it up in phases.
There is a severe shortage of qualified engineers in aircraft overhaul and maintenance. Even for basic repairs we have to look at engineers from abroad. Bengaluru, being the hub of aerospace industry, needs an institute to provide specialised training in aircraft maintenance at the earliest, Minister of State for Information Technology and Biotechnology Priyank Kharge said. The initiative to set up the Centre has jointly been taken up by the departments of Industries, IT & BT and Higher Education.
Kharge said three rounds of discussion have been held with various stakeholders including private airlines, defence agencies such as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Aeronautical Development Agency, Indian Space Research Organisation on setting up the Centre. During the last meeting, we provided a concept paper on the Centre to the stakeholders. Details on setting up the Centre, its funding and other modalities will be taken up at the next meeting scheduled to be held by the end of this month, Kharge said.
The minister said the government is keen that the training institution is put in place even if means scaling down the project. We can start it in a small way and later scale it up, he said.
The plan is to have multiple levels of training programmes at the Centre. Engineering students can spend six months at the Centre as part of their four-year course. There will also be an option for practicing engineers to take up industry specific job certification courses as an add-on to their careers. The Centre could also provide a platform for entrepreneurs interested in launching aerospace startups.
Kharge, who visited Paris last week, to attract investments in the aerospace sector said he was impressed by training being imparted to engineers through Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and 3-D. The Centre could have such facilities, he said.
May rope in Anil Ambani group
The state government is in touch with Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group for a possible collaboration. At Invest Karnataka-2016 in February, Group Chairman Anil Ambani had announced the setting up of a centre in Bengaluru for research, development and innovation in aerospace technology for indigenous design, development and manufacturing of defence equipments.
The Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru (IIMB) is one of the 14 institutions in the world that will offer MicroMasters programmes through the massive open online course provider, edX. IIMB is one of the member institutions of edX.
IIMB will offer two MicroMasters programmes in entrepreneurship and business management. The former will have four courses with a duration of five weeks each that will include learning in subjects like economics and finance, business and management. The latter programme will consist of six courses of seven weeks each and will include subjects such as economics and finance, business and management as well as social sciences, data analysis and statistics.
The fee for each course is around Rs 10,000 ($ 150). The two programmes are likely to be offered by the beginning of next year.
Some of the other universities which will offer the programmes are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Columbia University, Australian National University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to name a few. A total of 19 MicroMasters programmes in subjects ranging from project management and supply chain management to artificial intelligence are being offered.
A statement by edX on its website said that the programmes were meant to enable learners to begin advanced education in an affordable and flexible manner. A MicroMasters certificate is comparable to a significant portion, in most cases a quarter or a half, of a traditional Masters degree, and is a valuable standalone credential that will help learners advance their careers, it said.
Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX and MIT professor, said, The workplace is changing more rapidly today than ever before and employers are in need of highly-developed talent. College graduates want to advance professionally, but are realising that they do not have the career-relevant skills which the modern workplace demands. EdX recognises this mismatch between business and education for learners, employees and employers.
A right-side minaret of the mosque adjacent to Ain-ul-Mulks Tomb, a centrally protected monument in Vijayapura, has crumbled. Other minarets and the decorative parapet of the mosque are also in a state of dilapidation and may collapse anytime.
Located on a sprawling 40-acre land at Ainapur tanda on Sindagi Road, Ain-ul-Mulks Tomb and the mosque adjacent to it are heritage sites of national importance maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Though these are important structures from the medieval period, the ASI has not cared to maintain them properly.
The tomb, with a gracefully shaped dome, is the burial place of Ain-ul-Mulk, one of the officers of Ibrahim Adil Shah I, who rebelled against the king and was killed near the city in 1556. The king ordered the construction of a tomb and mosque for the rebel officer as he was once his most trusted servant.
Watching this giant tomb and the elegantly shaped mosque is a scene to behold. On the walls of the mosque and the tomb inside is some delightful stucco work in the shape of great pendants. The ASI undertook some conservation work at the site in 2008, but appears to have forgotten it ever since.
As a result, the plaster on the dome and the outer wall of the tomb has been peeling off. Delicately sculpted minarets and the parapet are in a precarious condition and may crumble anytime. Bushes have grown at several places on the dome as well as on the mosque. Water seeps through the walls during the rains, and the dome has developed cracks. There are reports of miscreants digging the ground under the southern minaret to hunt for treasure. ASI officials, instead of going to police, hushed up the matter by covering the pit.
Not only Ain-ul-Mulks Tomb, there are several other centrally protected monuments in Vijayapura which are in a pathetic condition. The ASI has washed its hands of by deputing an attendant to some of the monuments. Is this the way of protecting and conserving the monuments of national importance? Several monuments are getting decayed and disintegrated because rainwater seep through their walls as a result of poor upkeep. The ASI should act with urgency to protect these sites, said senior heritage activist Tulashiram Suryavanshi.
The state governments plans to have private doctors work in government hospitals as an aternative to filling vacancies have not materialised as doctors have not expressed interest.
Citing poor pay and lack of adequate infrastructure, not many doctors working in the private sector have not turned up to register with the Department of Health and Family Welfare.
Launched in May, doctors were asked to volunteer and enrol themselves at the District Health Officers officeto work at government hospitals. The previous health minister, U T Khader, had announced that the Doctors on Call programme intended to address the shortage of manpower in rural and semi-urban areas.
Under this, private doctors were expected to dedicate a part of their time to attend to cases at government hospitals. The programme has failed to take off.
A senior doctor from Tumakuru told DH that not a single doctor had expressed interest in enrolling for the programme in places like Tumakuru.
The pay is very low. If they spend as much time at private hospitals, they would earn twice the amount. This is one of the reasons private doctors cite, he said.
He added that even as districts already have a good number of specialists, it is mostly the taluk level hospitals that are found wanting. Except for places like Koppal in north Karnataka, most districts have at least general physicians, Doctors are unwilling to go to taluk hospitals due to logistic challenges, said the doctor.
Doctors who enrol under Doctors on Call get a monthly honorarium of Rs 10,000 for signing up.
Further, they are paid a certain amount for every case they attend to based on their specialisation. For instance, obstetricians and paediatricians get Rs 2,000 per institutional delivery.
Principal Secretary for the department of health and family welfare, Shalini Rajaneesh, said that only about 10% to 20% of the doctors had expressed interest.
She added that the department was looking into the issue. We are trying to get a feedback from several associations. We are also in talks with the Indian Medical Association, she added.
One person was killed and three others were injured when the car they were travelling by hit the median on Nice Road near Kengeri on Tuesday morning.
The deceased is identified as Parthiban (27), while the injured are Santosh, Gowtham and Ashok.
They run a real estate firm and are residents of Chennai. The incident took place when they were returning from Goa to Chennai. Santosh, who was driving the car, is said to have dozed off and hit a median strip at around 6 am. The car was at top speed when it hit the median strip. The passers-by alerted the Kengeri traffic police, who shifted them to BGS Global Hospital where Parthiban was declared brought dead. The three others were treated and are said to be out of danger. Parthiban succumbed to severe head injuries, the police said.
A case has been registered at the Kengeri traffic police station.
3 injuried in accident
A Sudanese national and two others were injured in a road accident in Hegade Nagar, Chikkajala on Monday night.
The injured have been identified as Abdul Ghani (24), a native of Sudan, Raja (60) and his wife Manjula (54), all residents of Hegde Nagar.
Raja was taking his sick wife to a nearby hospital on a scooter, when Ghanis bike hit the vehicle from behind. All three sustained injuries and were shifted to a private hospital for treatment. The couple have been shifted to M S Ramaiah Hospital for treatment, the police said.
The couple was under observation and is out of danger, police said.
The Chikkajala traffic police arrested Ghani for rash and negligent riding. He did not have a driving licence. Ghani studies at a private college and came to the city six months ago.
The citys tree lovers, on Tuesday, counted the number of trees from Mehkri Circle to Hebbal, where the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) plans to axe trees for the steel flyover project.
Over 40 people from different walks of life gathered early morning to assess the condition of the trees which may be lost to the project costing Rs 1,791 crore of the tax-payers money.
They found that all the 800 trees which the BDA wants to axe are healthy ones. There are over 40 species like sandalwood, tamarind, Indian Oak, Jamoon, Paper Mulberry, teak, neem and berry. Most of the trees have a girth of more than 50 metres and around 10 have a girth of over 300 metres. Most of them are heritage trees.
The trees on the 6.9-km stretch command a huge price in the timber market. If the trees are axed and the wood is sold, it will fetch the government crores of rupees, said Praveen S, a tree lover.
None sharing details
Normally, government agencies maintain that the trees which are being axed are dead, weak, are dangerous and will harm the project. So, they need to be axed. But that is not the case here. Nobody is sharing details of the project and the trees, said tree expert Vijay Nishanth.
In 2010, then High Court judge Justice D V Shylendra Kumar had stayed the felling of trees from Windsor Manor to Cantonment. This stretch then had 1,223 trees. The trees facing the axe have huge ecological value.
We did the preliminary assessment as the government and the BDA are not disclosing any information. This area is home to a variety of species of birds and butterflies. It is ironical that on one side, the government speaks about tree planting and on the other, it is mercilessly cutting trees for a wasteful project. If the government is backing the project, they should explain in public the reasons, said V Kumar, a resident of Sadashivanagar.
Tree committee
The Tree Committee, formed by the Karnataka High Court to assess all projects where over 50 trees will be axed, is agitated. A committee member said: The Deputy Conservator of Forests, BBMP, has cleared the proposal. But, if the details are not ready, how has the clearance been obtained? No proposal has come to us. We will wait for some time and if nothing comes to us, we will approach court and tell them about the contempt.
Domestic LPG customers can claim subsidy for refills that they got since July this year, if they submit the Aadhaar number to the LPG distributor before December this year.
Oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPC) had suspended payment of subsidy to customers who had failed to submit Aadhaar numbers before July this year. But the companies have deposited the subsidy amount of their non-Aadhaar customers in a separate bank account.
The Centre recently issued a notification making Aadhaar number mandatory for domestic LPG customers to avail subsidy on the refill supply from December this year. Hence, those who submit the Aadhaar number before December will get subsidy for all refills supplied to them since July this year. Those who submit Aadhaar after the deadline will not get this benefit, IOC assistant general manager (LPG) Abhijit Dey said.
Karnataka has around 1.10 crore domestic LPG customers. Of these, about 95% have submitted Aadhaar numbers. Oil companies deposit the subsidy amount directly to the customers Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. However, a large number of customers are not getting subsidy due to some technical glitches in linking Aadhaar numbers with the bank account. With the subsidy amount on an LPG refill coming down to less than Rs 100 in recent months, many customers are not aware that they are not getting the subsidy in their bank account. Currently, a domestic LPG refill in Bengaluru carries a subsidy of Rs 63.77.
This apart, the Centre is likely to launch the Ujjwala scheme, to provide free LPG connections to non-LPG below poverty line (BPL) families in the state from November this year. Oil companies have so far received around two lakh applications for connections under the scheme. The LPG connections will be sanctioned to woman members of the BPL families under the Ujjwala programme, official sources in the IOC said.
On Centres footsteps
The state government will follow the Centres policy of making Aadhaar number mandatory for availing subsidy schemes. The Food and Civil Supplies department has almost completed linking all BPL ration cards with Aadhaar numbers, while the Revenue department is in the process of collecting the unique identity number from all beneficiaries of social security pensions.
When contacted, Food and Civil Supplies department Secretary Harsh Gupta said the department is awaiting approval from the government to make Aadhaar mandatory for issuing BPL ration cards. Close to 98% of BPL cards have already been linked to Aadhaar. About four lakh existing BPL cards have been found to be bogus and they will be cancelled once the government makes Aadhaar compulsory, he added.
The Revenue department has set February next year as the deadline to the Directorate of Social Security Pensions to collect Aadhaar numbers from all 52 lakh beneficiaries, official sources in the government said.
Graceperiod
Karnataka has around 1.10 crore domestic LPG customer and about 95% have submitted Aadhaar numbers
The government currently gives 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates per household in a year.
The subsidy on every cylinder is transferred in advance directly into bank accounts of individuals, who then buy the cooking fuel at market rates.
A domestic LPG refill in Bengaluru carries a subsidy of Rs 63.77
Oil companies have so far received around two lakh applications for connections under the Ujjwala scheme
In order to address the possible shortage of drinking water before the next monsoon, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is preparing an action plan on necessary back-up arrangements for the next eight months.
The present drinking water requirement of towns and villages in the Cauvery basin, including Bengaluru, is 23.44 tmcft (from October 2016 to the end of May 2017). The availability of water in the reservoirs is just 25.9 tmcft, as against 48.65 tmcft during the corresponding period last year.
Bengaluru alone needs between 1.5 tmcft and 1.9 tmcft of water every day, BWSSB engineer-in-chief Kemparamaiah told DH. We have prepared an action plan on the arrangements to be made in case of shortage of 100 million litres per day (MLD) or 200 MLD, he said.
BWSSB chairman Tushar Girinath said, Besides identifying high-yielding borewells and creating a network of water suppliers through private tankers, we will seek financial assistance from the state government under the Disaster Relief Fund.
The board will make use of 7,932 borewells and the mini-water supply scheme if there is shortage of water. Many of these borewells have not been used after the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme Stage 4, Phase 2 was commissioned. We also have plans to hire private tankers, Girinath said, adding that action would be taken against apartments which do not set up sewage treatment plants.
Bengaluru Development Minister K J George, who held a meeting with BWSSB officials recently, directed the board to reduce Unaccounted For Water (UFW) from 46 % to 42 %. He also set a target of reducing water loss to 25 % in the erstwhile city municipal council and town municipal councils, which were merged with Bengaluru in 2007.
Retired IAS officer K Shivaram will join the BJP in Bengaluru on Oct 14 at an event scheduled to be held at the National College Grounds, Basavanagudi.
Shivaram had tested political waters for the first time by contesting unsuccessfully on a JD(S) ticket from the Vijayapura (SC) Lok Sabha constituency in 2014. He is said to be keen that he joins the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. An invitation has been sent to Singhs office and a confirmation is awaited, BJP sources said. Shivaram has also acted in a few Kannada movies.
Update: Synopsys Expands DesignWare IP Portfolio with Acquisition of Kilopass Technology (Jan. 10, 2018)
MemCon Presentation Details VLTs DRAM Application
SAN JOSE, CALIF. October 11, 2016 Kilopass Technology, Inc., the leading provider of semiconductor embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) intellectual property (IP), will highlight its new Vertical Layered Thyristor (VLT) DRAM technology this week at MemCon and CSIA-ICCAD 2016 Annual Conference & Changsha IC Industry Innovation and Development Summit.
MemCon will be held today at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, Calif., and Kilopass will be in Booth #100. Kilopass will exhibit in Booth #119 during CSIA-ICCAD in Changsha, China, October 12-13 at The Hunan International Conference & Exhibition Center in Changsha, China.
VLT, introduced October 10, eliminates the need for DRAM refresh, is compatible with existing process technologies and offers significant other benefits including lower power, better area efficiency and compatibility. The VLT bitcell was validated in 2015, and a full memory macro test chip is in early stages of testing. (See news release titled, Kilopass Delivers Refresh on DRAM Technology.)
Kilopass Engineering Fellow Bruce Bateman will present A Novel Bulk Vertical-Layer Thyristor Cell for DRAM Applications during MemCon from 4:50 p.m. until 5:35 p.m. as part of the Enabling Technologies Track.
Information about MemCon can be found at: www.memcon.com
The website for CSIA-ICCAD 2016 is: http://bit.ly/2dqGR84
To learn more about Kilopass, go to: www.kilopass.com
About Kilopass
Kilopass Technology, Inc., is the leader in embedded non-volatile memory (NVM) intellectual property (IP). Its patented technologies of one-time programmable (OTP) NVM solutions have boundless capacity to scale to advanced CMOS process geometries. They are portable to every major foundry and integrated device manufacturer (IDM), and meet market demands for increased integration, higher densities, lower cost, low-power management, better reliability and improved security. Trusted by today's best-known brands, Kilopass' technology has been integrated by more than 170 customers, with 10-billion units shipped in over 400 industrial, automotive, consumer electronics, mobile, analog and mixed-signal, and internet of things (IoT) chip designs. For more information, visit www.kilopass.com or email info@kilopass.com
Neuchatel -- October 11, 2016 CSEM, the Swiss Research and Technology Organization, today announced that they have licensed their IcyTRX silicon RF IP to Danish hearing aid manufacturer Oticon. Oticon has integrated IcyTRX into their new chipset for the new Oticon Opn range of advanced wireless-enabled hearing aids, allowing direct connection and streaming audio between Bluetooth-enabled devices.
IcyTRX is the most advanced RF IP available in the market today. Compatible with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), IEEE802.15.4 and proprietary RF protocols, it has been licensed by a growing number of semiconductor companies. Building on CSEMs ultra-low-power design experience, it consumes less than 5mW and runs directly from a hearing aid battery on low voltages. Furthermore it has a best-in-class receive sensitivity of -97dBm and is highly integrated allowing tiny form factors.
The Opn hearing aid was announced earlier this year. IcyTRX has played an important role in enabling a longer battery life in Opn than that achievable with standard BLE transceivers, as well as immunity to external wireless interference, improving comfort of the user.
Fin Mohring, VP of R&D, Oticon says: We have selected CSEMs IP because of its remarkable performance and quality; furthermore weve received excellent support from CSEMs design team which is fundamental when youre developing a product as advanced as Opn.
Alain-Serge Porret, VP Ultra-low power Systems, CSEM says: We are proud to have contributed to the development of Oticon Opn which confirms CSEM as the leading provider of ultra-low-power RF IP.
IcyTRX is being used in a wide range of connectivity applications from wearables to IoT, and will be presented at Electronica Munich in November.
About CSEM
CSEMtechnologies that make the difference
CSEM, founded in 1984, is a Swiss research and development center (public-private partnership) specializing in microtechnology, nanotechnology, microelectronics, system engineering, photovoltaics and communications technologies. Around 450 highly qualified specialists from various scientific and technical disciplines work for CSEM in Neuchatel, Zurich, Muttenz, Alpnach, and Landquart.
Further information is available at www.csem.ch
About Oticon
Oticon is one of the most innovative hearing device manufacturers with more than 110 years of experience putting the needs of people with hearing loss first. Oticon has spearheaded a number of technological breakthroughs which have made a significant difference for people with hearing loss. Oticon's "brain first" audiological focus recognizes that speech understanding and comprehension are cognitive processes that happen in the brain. Oticon's innovative BrainHearing technology is helping to provide better hearing with less effort by giving the brain the clearest, purest sound signals to decode. Oticon designs and manufactures hearing solutions for adults and specialized pediatric instruments. People First is Oticon's strongest and most valued commitment to empower people to communicate freely, interact naturally and participate actively.
For more information visit: www.oticon.global.
Cities such as New York, Paris, London, Barcelona and Milan are well known in the fashion world for their annual international fashion shows and their innovation when it comes to contemporary design. However, there are several other European cities that are also leading the way when it comes to style. Here are a few examples of alternative centres of fashion that are making their mark and are definitely major contenders as notable fashion cities.
Copenhagen
Denmarks fashion scene is thriving today as never before. Sometimes referred to as the fifth European capital of fashion, Copenhagen is home to a string of successful Danish designers who are producing high fashion items for international trade fairs and annual fashion weeks. For example, designer Christina Exsteens Spring Summer 2017 collection By Malene Birger was particularly well received at Copenhagen Fashion Week in August 2016.
Major labels can be found in the citys flagship stores as well as in many of the smaller boutiques and the Copenhagen style tends to be minimalist and eminently wearable. Among the best shopping streets in the city are Strget, Elmegade and Jgersborggade and the local accommodation includes high-end and boutique hotels and hostels. There are also self-catering apartments available for holiday rentals, many of which are centrally located.
Read more after the jump:
Amsterdam
Creative designers based in Amsterdam are boosting the citys tourism with their cutting edge fashion, which is widely advertised as eco friendly and fair. Theres a great club scene here as well as the high-end designs seen on the runway at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week every January and July. Visitors can mingle with the elite designers at some of the parties held in the city during Fashion Week and also benefit from extra exhibitions and lectures that take place at the same time.
With a compact city centre, the major shopping areas are in the Museum District and include luxury boutiques and exclusive designer shops. Visitors can book into Amsterdam holiday apartments for a short stay or one of the citys many hotels or hostels. Even the museums get in on the fashion act; visit the Museum of Bags and Purses, which has an extensive collection of more than 4,000 items, and Hermitage Amsterdam to view the beautiful bejewelled accessories and glittering ballgowns that are fashion antiques in their own right.
Florence
Known for its cultural heritage in terms of art and architecture, Florence also has a rich history of excellent crafts makers and perhaps because of this it is a rising star in terms of high fashion. There are plenty of luxury boutiques selling top designer brands, and there are also affordable fashion outlets. Visitors have the chance to visit workshops and open air craft markets where accessories including jewellery can be created to order.
While Italian fashion is usually associated with Milan, the fashion fairs held at Palazzo Pitti, or Pitti Palace, have really put the city on the fashion map. The crafts heritage means that Florence offers beautiful accessories, including bags and purses as well as high quality fabrics for creative home designers who like to make their own. Theres a good range of villas and apartments in the city, as well as a variety of hotels from which to choose. Top shopping streets include Via Tornabuoni, Via del Parione and Via della Vigna Nuova.
Frankfurt
One of the best streets for fashion in Frankfurt is Goethe Strasse, situated in a very elegant neighbourhood, it features outlets for top international brands. Visitors can also find great high street stores along the Zeil, and there are also speciality outlets aimed at particular markets. For example, vintage shops abound in Nordend, particularly along Berger Strasse, while in other parts of the district there are smaller fashion shops for both men and women; there is even a hat maker at work producing extraordinary creations.
Short stay accommodation in Frankfurt includes small private bed and breakfast establishments, business hotels and, on a grander scale, five star hotels in the city centre.
Perhaps its time the European fashion cities such as Barcelona, London, Milan and Paris, looked to their laurels as new, innovative designers are making their mark in contemporary design elsewhere. When it comes to creating elegant style and top class fashion, the alternative cities are forging ahead fuelled by new young designers with a passion for fashion.
Images from Ida Dyberg for Design SCENE Magazine by Sinem Yazici
Nanoco Group , an Aim-listed company that specialises in the development and manufacture of cadmium free quantum dots and other nanomaterials, secured two more license agreements to support its strategic shift towards out-licensing in the display sector, but saw cash outflows accelerate.
The firm signed non-exclusive agreements with German pharmaceutical company Merck and Taiwanese optical film producer Wah Hong in July 2016. The deals add to its revised agreement with American headquartered Dow chemical company, signed in January 2013.
These deals, together with the revised agreement with The Dow Chemical Company, put Nanoco in an excellent position to accelerate the commercialisation of its technology in display, said Chairman Christopher Richards.
Sample requests for Dow's TREVISTA cadmium-free quantum dots have increased over the past few months and the firm expects initial manufacturing trials with Merck to run in the near future.
The groups revenue for the year ending 31 July 2016 fell to 0.47m compared to 2.03m in 2015. Loss after tax of 10.61m rose from 8.97m loss in the previous period. Billings in July 2016 deferred into future years amounted to 1.18m.
Cash and cash on deposit at 31 July 2016 fell to 14.51m from 24.31m in 2015.
Cash outflows from operating activities increased from -8.9m in the comparable year-ago period to -10.68m, amid large increases in its trade receivables.
The firms intellectual property (IP) portfolio grew to 467 patents and patents pending at year end. Process improvements and efficiencies have also significantly increased manufacturing capacity during the year, the company said in a statement.
"I am encouraged that the significant progress made during the year, especially in new licensing agreements and manufacturing improvements, have put the Group in a strong position for rapid revenue growth. Combined with our solid cash position, we look forward to the future with confidence," said Richards.
The share price fell 10.76% to 52.43 at 1244 BST on Tuesday.
Easyjet: Deutsche Bank keeps at hold with a target price of 1000p.
BP: HSBC reiterates buy, 570p target.
Petrofac: Credit Suisse keeps at outperform with a 1100p target.
British American Tobacco: Jefferies reiterates buy with a 6000p target.
Royal Dutch Shell: HSBC keeps at buy with a 2260p target.
Kier Group: JP Morgan keeps at overweight with a target price of 1550p.
Burberry: Deutsche Bank reiterates hold with a target price of 1475p.
Imperial Brands: Jefferies stays at buy with a 4800p target.
Travis Perkins: JP Morgan reiterates overweight with a target of 1775p.
Close Brothers Group: Macquarie maintains neutral with a 1341p target.
Lloyds: Jefferies keeps at buy with a 67p target.
BHP Billiton: UBS downgrades to neutral with a 1300p target.
A jump in the value of the US dollar, possibly as traders Stateside returned to their desks, weighed on the entire commodity space.
As of 2106 BST the spot US dollar index was 0.75% higher to 97.66, while the Bloomberg commodity index was off by 0.67% to 86.18.
Aiding the greenback, in its latest monthly Oil Market Report the International Energy Agency said Saudi Arabia might need to reduce its crude output by more in order for OPEC's 'understanding' to freeze production to work.
That saw front month West Texas Intermediate futures slip 1.01% to $50.83 per barrel.
November 2016 heating oil futures on NYMEX were also lower, dropping 1.46% to $1.5867 a gallon.
Precious metals were also down by a similar amount, with spot platinum sporting losses of 1.7 to $948.53/oz. while COMEX-traded gold futures edged lower by 0.40% to $1,255.00.
Of interest for precious metals, the latest WSJ/NBC poll showed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton out in front of her main rival with a nine point lead among likely voters.
Soft commodities on the other hand put in a mixed performance, with December 2016 CBOT corn futures up by 0.66% to $3.4550 a bushel while live cattle futures on the CME slipped 0.95% to $9.91 a pound.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles production in Canada remains uninterrupted as the automaker reached an agreement with workers union Unifor late on Monday night.
Several days of intense bargaining between the two sides concluded with a commitment from the US car giant to invest in an assembly plant in Brampton, Ontario.
The news follows on from an agreement last month between Unifor and another of the "Big Three" of US car makers, General Motors.
The deal reached on September 19 allowed for GM to invest $420.84m in the local Canadian plants, in which the company employs more than 4,000 workers.
At a press conference in Toronto, Unifor president Jerry Dias said that the new deal with Fiat would see a renovation for a paint shop in the area.
"We were really deeply concerned about the fact that the paint shop at Brampton. It is over 30 years old," Dias said at the press conference. "Now, they are going to gut the existing paint shop and refurbish it."
The deal is due to be voted on by members of the union next week.
US investment legend Warren Buffett has released his tax returns in response to claims from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that he had avoided paying federal income tax.
Trump mentioned in Sunday night's televised debate with rival Hillary Clinton that Buffett was one of a number of Democrat donors to use the "carryforward" rule to escape paying tax.
The New York businessman had admitted to taking advantage of the practice himself when asked by debate moderator Anderson Cooper.
In a statement released by the Berkshire Hathaway boss on Monday, he said that he has paid his taxes every year since 1944.
"I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. (Though, being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year.) I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carry-forward," Buffett said.
Trump has so far refused to make his tax returns public in an ongoing war of words between the two business moguls, claiming that he he is currently under audit.
"I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr Trump - at least he would have no legal problem," he added.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has called off a meeting with French president Francois Hollande later this month as the fall-out from the Syrian conflict rumbles on.
Hollande said on Monday that Russia could face sanctions over war crimes due to its actions in the bombing of the city of Aleppo, and added that the planned encounter would only include one meeting on the issue.
The Kremlin has decided that the downgrading of the visit to Paris is unacceptable, and is a method of trying to "humiliate" the Russian leader. Putin was initially to open a new Russian Orthodox church in the French capital.
"There were some events scheduled, including the opening of a Russian cultural and religious center, exhibitions. Unfortunately, those events were struck off the program, so the president decided to cancel his visit to France for now," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in the killing of civilians in Aleppo, but that has been disputed by many.
"These are people who today are the victims of war crimes. Those that commit these acts will have to face up to their responsibility, including in the ICC," Hollande said on Monday.
A ceasefire negotiated during the conflict in Aleppo was broken a number of weeks ago, initiating one of the most deadly spates of bombing the city has seen.
Markets in Asia finished mixed on Thursday, with traders focusing on oil prices, as well as the news that Samsung Electronics was set to halt all production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after more fire concerns.
Japans Nikkei finished up 0.98% at 17,024.76, with a weaker yen and stronger oil prices driving the domestic benchmark.
Airbag maker Takata was a notable exception, however, falling 7.47% following reports stateside that the company was mulling over a bankruptcy filing in that country, in a bid to find an external investor to play suitor to the beleaguered firm.
The yen weakened after markets closed in Tokyo, and was last off 0.23% against the greenback at JPY 103.85 per $1.
On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite added 0.59% to 3,066.09, while the Shenzhen Composite was up 0.51% at 2,043.69.
In South Korea, the Kospi finished down 1.21% at 2,031.93, though the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 1.27% to close at 23,549.52.
Samsung Electronics shares plummeted 8.04% after it emerged the technology behemoth was requesting its distribution and network partners to halt all sales of the Galaxy Note 7 phablet, and was advising users to stop using their devices.
It came after reports over the weekend that replacement devices - handed out as part of an earlier recall due to concerns the first wave of phones were fire prone - were also combusting.
Samsung confirmed during the Asian day on Monday that it was scaling down volumes on the device to focus on quality control, though chatter persisted that it was halting production altogether.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore kept the city-state on the markets map for Tuesday, as it ordered Swiss firm Falcon Private Bank to cease trading in the country over concerns about the way it managed funds tied to the controversial Malaysian sovereign fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
It came after the authority also ordered the same of Swiss private bank BSI in May over similar alleged breaches, followed by the recent filing of charges against specific persons attached to the 1MDB scandal.
DBS Bank and UBS Singapore were handed down fines on Monday as well, for breaches of anti-money laundering laws, as the central bank flexed it's muscle.
On Tuesday, DBS Bank shares were down 0.46%, while OCBC Bank fell 0.35% and United Overseas Bank was off 0.16% in Singapore.
Oil prices rose overnight and into the Asian day as the OPEC production freeze received the support of Russia, though they fell back again slightly as Asia handed the baton to Europe.
Brent crude was last down 0.66% at $52.79 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate lost 0.51% to $51.09.
Australias S&P/ASX 200 added 0.08% to close at 5,479.80, with a 2.3% boost to the energy subindex underpinning the benchmark, alongside a 0.94% jump in the materials sector.
Of the major miners, BHP Billiton added 1.71% in Sydney trading, Fortescue Metals was 2.98% higher and Rio Tinto improved 2.09%.
The boost to the sector came after steel and iron ore futures in China rebounded from lows on Monday, which was a reaction to rumour that Beijing was no longer looking to stem the flow of property purchases.
Conditions for business also appeared rosier in the sunburnt country, with National Australia Banks monthly survey for September suggesting higher sales, profits and more forward orders across the board.
The major energy firms were higher, with Santos up 3.96% and Oil Search adding 3.38% during the session as a result of the higher oil prices.
In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 broke its downward streak, adding 0.1% to 7,124.24.
The great southern chicken fiasco broke as well, with Tegel Holdings rising 2.1% after weeks of heading downwards.
Analysts have suggested one or more institutional investors were forcing the chicken producers stock south in a bid to encourage a lower IPO price for its Australian competitor Ingham.
The down under dollars were driven weaker by comments from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand about the need for further easing, as the countrys agrarian economy continues to lack momentum.
Australias dollarydoo was last 0.74% weaker at AUD 1.3243 against the greenback, while the Kiwi was off 0.94% at NZD 1.4144 per $1.
In the face of staunch environmental protests, BP has decided to shelve its exploration drilling programme in the Great Australian Bight in order to channel capital into more profitable opportunities.
After reviewing its upstream options, BP, whose chief executive Bob Dudley told the World Energy Congress on Tuesday he expects global oil prices to hover around $55-$70 per barrel for the rest of the decade, calculated that the GAB project offshore South Australia "will not be able to compete" for capital "in the foreseeable future".
We have looked long and hard at our exploration plans for the Great Australian Bight but, in the current external environment, we will only pursue frontier exploration opportunities if they are competitive and aligned to our strategic goals. After extensive and careful consideration, this has proven not to be the case for our project to explore in the Bight, said Claire Fitzpatrick, BP Australia's managing director for exploration and production.
This decision isnt a result of a change in our view of the prospectivity of the region, nor of the ongoing regulatory process run by the independent regulator NOPSEMA. It is an outcome of our strategy and the relative competitiveness of this project in our portfolio.
The Bight project, which BP once thought would have the oilfield potential to match the Gulf of Mexico, has been rejected three times by the Australian regulator the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema).
Environmental concerns have dogged the project, with a recent modelling by BP finding that an uncontrolled oil spill from the planned wells could affect the coastline as far away as New South Wales, according to previously secret oil-spill modelling uploaded to the companys website this week.
Within 24 hours of the modelling being uploaded to BPs website, the regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) announced it would take a further 10 days to assess BPs plans to drill in the area.
Fashion retailer Ted Baker reported a jump in interim profit as revenue grew and the company lifted its dividend following a good performance across all channels, despite challenging trading conditions.
In the 28 weeks ended 13 August, pre-tax profit rose to 21.5m from 17.8m on revenue of 259.5m, up 14.4% from the same period a year ago.
Profit was just a touch higher than consensus expectations of between 19m and 21m and the company said the increase was helped in part by foreign exchange gains of 1.2m, compared to a loss of 700,000 in 2015.
The group lifted its interim dividend to 14.8p per share from 13.2p.
Retail sales including e-commerce were up 13.6%, with sales in the UK and Europe up 8.5% to 131.2m and in North America up 28.7% to 51.1m. In Asia, retail sales were 15.8% higher at 8.8m.
Founder and chief executive Ray Kelvin said: Ted Baker continues to perform well across all distribution channels despite challenging trading conditions across our markets. Our continued growth and development reflects the strength of the Ted Baker brand, our business model and the skill, innovation and passion of our global teams.
We remain firmly focused on the long-term development of the Ted Baker brand and are continuing to invest in our infrastructure and people to support the future growth of our business in both new and existing markets.
In terms of current trading, Ted Baker said it was pleased with the reaction to its Autumn/Winter collections. However, ongoing external factors impacting trading across its established markets have meant that conditions remain challenging.
In the UK and Europe, it has continued its expansion with concession openings in the UK and Germany. In addition, it plans to open an outlet in Spain, and further concessions in the UK, France, Germany and Spain later this year.
In North America, it expansion has continued with the relocation of its New York Soho store and the opening of a new store in Calgary and the group said it remains focused on developing its presence, with plans to open a new store in Atlanta and on in Miami.
George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: This is the companys first update since Brexit, and is a strong showing in tougher trading conditions. The second half of the year is more important to Ted Baker than the first, nonetheless the news that sales growth remains robust provides reassurance that the group can continue to thrive, even in challenging times.
At 0950 BST, the shares were up 5.1% to 2,537.52p.
Cabinet ministers are being warned that the Treasury could lose up to 66 billion a year in tax revenues under a hard Brexit, according to leaked government papers. GDP could fall by as much as 9.5 per cent if Britain leaves the single market and has to rely on World Trade Organisation rules for trading with the continent, compared with if it stayed within the EU, the forecasts show. - The Times
Theresa May has been accused of tyranny and lack of respect for democracy by some of her own MPs over the governments refusal to give parliament a say on the terms of leaving the EU. A string of Conservatives were critical of the governments Brexit strategy in a House of Commons debate on Monday, with some asking for more details about the governments negotiating plan and others calling for a greater say on the way the UK will leave the EU. - Guardian
The slump in sterling is a blessing in disguise after years of overvaluation and helps to break the corrosive stranglehold of the financial elites over the British economy, according to a former bail-out chief for the International Monetary Fund. It is desirable from every point of view. The idea that Britain is in crisis or is on its knees before the exchange rate vigilantes is ludicrous, said Ashoka Mody, the IMFs former deputy-director for Europe and now at Princeton University. - Telegraph
Retailers have warned of challenging times ahead as the weak pound ramps up their import costs and consumer confidence is buffeted by a climate of economic uncertainty as the UK embarks on Brexit negotiations. Underscoring the volatile pattern of recent months, the latest snapshot of high street and online spending showed like-for-like sales were up 0.4% on the year in September, a turnaround from Augusts 0.9% drop. - Guardian
President Putin came to the rescue of the oil price yesterday, driving it to a one-year high as Russia revealed that it was ready to join other leading producers in cutting supply this year. The Opec cartel, led by Saudi Arabia, is planning to broker a production cut at a meeting next month, but a deal was beginning to look unlikely after Iraq, its second-biggest producer, said that it wanted to raise output in 2017. - The Times
The UK has recorded its biggest-ever month for tourist visits after the referendum-related slump in the pound lured 3.8 million people to British shores in July. In the highest month ever for inbound tourism, overseas visitors spent 2.5bn 4% more than last year, according to new figures from the tourism agency VisitBritain. - Guardian
The Canadian online gaming group that was confirmed yesterday to be in merger talks with William Hill was recently fined $870 million and its former chief executive is being investigated over insider trading. In news that took the City by surprise, William Hill confirmed speculation that it is in discussions about a nil-premium, all-share merger with the Toronto-listed Amaya, owner of the online gaming site PokerStars. - The Times
Monarch Airlines multi-million pound rescue bid will go down to the wire this week, with a financial lifeline expected to come through just hours before the extension on its operating licence is due to expire on Wednesday. The low-cost airline is locked in talks with major stakeholder Greybull Capital and Boeing, and expects to unveil a massive funding overhaul to satisfy the Civil Aviation Authoritys financial health check-list and clinch a new Air Travel Operators Licence. - Telegraph
Three law firms have agreed to merge in a deal that creates the sixth-largest legal practice in the country. Olswang, Nabarro and CMS announced what is the biggest such move in the British legal profession only ten days after they had revealed they were in merger talks. - The Times
The scandal over BAE Systems decision to use French steel to build Britains new Trident submarines has intensified, with claims the metal could have been produced in UK after all. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon ceremonially started work on the 41bn project last week, with a cutting of the first steel plate for the Successor submarines at BAE's plant in Barrow on Furness. - Telegraph
Russias VTB Bank has become the first big lender to publicly say it will move its European headquarters out of the UK because of the disruption expected to be caused by the countrys decision to leave the EU. Herbert Moos, deputy chairman and chief financial officer of VTB, said the board of the state-owned lender was considering several alternative locations for its European hub, including Frankfurt, Paris and Vienna and would decide later this year. - FT
The government is being urged to end the political drive to get more people into university after new research showed that graduates are colonising jobs in banking, education, the police and estate agency that were the preserve of school-leavers in the past. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development which represents people working in human resources said the all-party consensus to get more young people into higher education was no longer justified given student debt and the careers many ended up pursuing. - Guardian
The operator of crisis-hit Southern Rail has defended its record as a rail franchise holder against fierce Government criticism, hours after threatening to take a major trade union to court in a last-ditch bid to avert another round of strikes. Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is on the offensive after its latest bid to end the ongoing dispute with the Rail and Maritime and Transport (RMT) workers union broke down over the weekend, prompting unions to call for a three day strike this week. - Telegraph
Employees entering BP headquarters in St Jamess Square, London, are given a daily reminder of the imprint left on their company by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A sign in the entrance declares BPs priorities to be: No accidents; No harm to people; No damage to the environment. Shareholders visiting the offices could be forgiven the temptation to add a fourth slogan: No growth. - FT
Data has been transmitted across a national electricity grid for the first time, in what could be a significant step towards the creation of virtual power stations, where many thousands of homes and businesses combine to manage electricity use more smartly. The new technology could lead to lower energy bills for consumers who allow small variations in the energy consumption of their appliances, such as water heaters or freezers. - Guardian
Ubers growing popularity has been confirmed after new accounts revealed the taxi technologys drivers billed more than 100m in UK fares last year, leading to a doubling of profits at its parent company. Uber London, the taxi apps UK holding company, recorded a profit before tax of 1.83m, up 105pc on the prior year, on the back of revenue that more than doubled. - Telegraph
One of Britains biggest manufacturers has quit its membership of the CBI amid anger over the employers groups anti-Brexit stance. JCB, which makes construction equipment to be exported around the world, resigned as a CBI member during the summer, in the aftermath of Junes historic referendum. - The Times
Singapores central bank has shut down a second Swiss bank under investigation for alleged money laundering activities linked to the Malaysian state fund 1MDB. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it had ordered Falcon Bank to cease its operations in the city-state because of a persisistent and severe lack of understanding of Singapores money laundering controls. - Guardian
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Trick-or-treat times around Greater Columbus
Here's your guide to when trick-or-treating will take place in Columbus and surrounding communities this Halloween season.
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There's no federal law mandating that all companies give staffers paid leave, and the businesses that don't tend to be very small, often with blue-collar workers.
By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK The campaign to give workers paid time off when they're sick is picking up momentum.
A bill that would give workers for the Illinois county that includes Chicago one hour of paid sick time for each 40 hours they work was approved Wednesday. Sick leave referendums are on the November ballot in Arizona and Washington state. Proposals are also expected to be voted on next year in Duluth, Minnesota, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, says Ellen Bravo, executive director of Family Values @ Work, an organization that advocates for paid sick leave.
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NEW YORK (AP) U.S. stocks rose Monday as crude oil jumped to its highest price in more than a year and energy companies climbed with it. Investors also reacted to the latest twists in the presidential race.
Oil rose after Russias government said it supports efforts by OPEC to cut oil production. Apple reached its highest price of the year and led tech stocks higher after new reports of fires affecting Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 phone, which competes with Apples iPhone. Early in the day stocks were on track for far larger gains.
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By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON, Ore. Now that wheat harvest is winding down across northeast Oregon, United Grain Corp. is beginning to focus on how it will upgrade facilities purchased from Pendleton Grain Growers earlier this year.
United Grain has pledged to invest $9 million in the buildings, which include all of PGG's upcountry elevators, the McNary river terminal and Alicel rail terminal. Regional Manager Jason Middleton said they have not made any decisions yet, but hope to have a plan take shape by November.
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KENT The Chandler's Bay apartment complex in the Kent Valley sold for $52.5 million, according to King County records.
The seller was ROC II WA Chandler's Bay LLC, which acquired the property in 2013 for $32.8 million. ROC is associated with Bridge Investment Group Partners of Murray, Utah, which controls over 32,000 multifamily units around the U.S.
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The Glenties Municipal District committee and Donegal County Council Islands Committee have voiced concerns about the Cruit Strand and Keadue Strand locations of proposed oyster farms.
Opposition to the locations has grown since the plans became public in recent weeks, with area residents saying the oyster farms would spoil particularly beautiful stretches of beach that are also well used by locals and tourists.
Members of the campaigning group Save our Strands - Cruit, Kincasslagh, Keadue attended today's Island Committee meeting, where councillors expressed their support for the local campaign.
Group members have said they do not oppose oyster farms, but they have serious objections to the locations proposed for these projects. The campaign grew locally, and quickly, after people became aware of the plans through public notices that appeared in local newspapers in recent weeks.
"This campaign was never against oyster farms; this campaign is against the location," Sinn Fein Cllr. Marie Therese Gallagher, chairperson of the Glenties Municipal District, said in welcoming members of the SOS group this morning.
Earlier this week, international singing star Daniel O'Donnell also said different locations should be considered for the oyster farms. Daniel told Highland Radio's Shaun Doherty that local people would be supportive of initiatives that bring employment to the area.
"But we need to do it in a way that's not detrimental to something that's already in place, and tourism is already in place and I think this would be detrimental to tourism," Daniel said. He said the strands were also well-used by local people and described summer days when dozens of young people and others would be jumping into the water from Cruit Bridge, near to where the farms are proposed.
"What needs to be looked at, is there another location that would be acceptable, and that wouldn't have the impact on the area that putting them in these places would," Daniel said. He said he has already made a submission on the proposed projects.
Councillors at today's meeting also objected to the location.
"While we support the industry, it has to be very carefully located," Fine Gael Cllr. Terence Slowey, Donegal County Council cathaoirleach, said. He and Joe McHugh, TD, minister of state, met yesterday with local people on the issue.
"These are stunning locations on the Wild Atlantic Way," Cllr. Slowey said of the Cruit and Keadue strands. He said he will be making a submission on behalf of the council.
One application proposes an 11.2-hectare project in Kincasslagh Bay at Keadue strand, from applicant Manus Bonnar of Belcruit, Kincasslagh. A second application proposes a 12.5-hectare project in Kincasslagh Bay at Cruit strand, from applicant Benedetta M.C. Cazzamali, who lives in County Cork.
The deadline for submissions on the application for the Keadue strand project is October 14th and the deadline for submissions on the application for the Cruit strand project is October 17th. Members of the SOS group are encouraging people to make submissions by midnight on the day before both deadlines.
The applications are available for viewing on the web site of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, by searching for aquaculture/foreshore licence applications at https://www.agriculture. gov.ie.
See Thursday's Donegal Democrat for more.
October is National Bullying Prevention month. We have all heard the phrase bullying, but what does it actually mean? Bullying is defined as unwanted aggressive behavior; observed or perceived power imbalance; repetition of behaviors or high likelihood of repetition.
Bullying is unfortunately a reality for far too many in our communities both young and old. Much like any other form of violence, bullying is not isolated to any particular age group, gender or demography. Just about everyone of us can look back in our lives and recall a time where either we were personally bullied or witnessed one of our friends or schoolmates being bullied. Its hard to believe that with all of the advancements and awareness, this type of behavior still exists, but it does and with the advent of social media, it had actually gotten much worse. This is because unlike in the past, the bully not only impacts your life on the playground or classroom; they now are able to follow you into your personal life due to the constant presence of social media.
There is good news in that we have learned a great deal about what creates these bullies and how to neutralize their ability to isolate and intimidate. The key is for those in authority to respond to reports of bullying immediately to show without question that bullying will not be acceptable. That message needs to follow to our homes with the messages we send our children not only by what we say but by our own actions in how we treat fellow adults. Bullying is without question a learned behavior. It is learned on the playground, in the classroom and follows through to the workplace and social interactions as adults. We need to send a strong message to our own children, a message of empathy and compassion not of ridicule and rumor.
Who are at risk of bullying the most? Typically those who are bullied have one or more of the following risks:
Are perceived as different from their peers, such as being overweight or underweight, wearing glasses or different clothing, being new to a school, or being unable to afford what kids consider cool
Are perceived as weak or unable to defend themselves
Are depressed, anxious, or have low self esteem
Are less popular than others and have few friends
Do not get along well with others, seen as annoying or provoking, or antagonize others for attention
However, even if a child has these risk factors, it doesnt mean that they will be bullied. The important lesson is that we as adults set the tone for how the next generation will interact with each other. Chances are if we show acceptance of others, our children will show acceptance of others. If we engage in demeaning others or spreading rumors, our children will follow suit. So often we as adults underestimate the influence, we have not only on our own children but even those who dont know us but witness our behavior.
While school or workplace policies are an important component, the only way to truly decrease bullying is by denying the bully their victim. We do this by raising strong, confident, resilient children, and speaking out and supporting those who find themselves on the receiving end of this type of behavior. We are all teachers in life lessons and we teach by our actions. Lets all be aware of what we teach.
Less than 48 hours after Martha Roby spoke to the Eufaula Rotary Club, she denounced her support for Donald Trump as the GOP presidential candidate.
Who can blame her, considering Trump has had more lapses in good judgment than, oh, I dont know, perhaps someone named Clinton pick one, any one.
I think Roby, the Republican U.S. representative from Montgomery, is the best thing going for us that live south of the political mess that is Montgomery. She supports all things military that I can see, meaning she is pro-Fort Rucker, a vital cog in the lower Alabama engine. Take away Fort Rucker and watch the economy is Southeast Alabama begin to sputter like a car using watered-down gas.
Speaking of gas, it appears Trump was caught using about as unprofessional use of words as one could imagine. Yes, he was caught on a hot mic a long time ago, and he should nevertheless pay the consequences, but
I do think Roby may have jumped the gun just a bit. When considering all things Hillary Clinton has lied about and all things her husband was caught doing far more inappropriately than Trump, what is the alternative? I can understand House Speaker Paul Ryan saying he would not defend Trump. After all, theres really no defense of such statements. But someone has to be president and it appears we have no choice here but to take the lesser of two evils.
For people jumping for the Donald Bandwagon, there really is no other option other than Clinton and she has proven far more times to be unsuitable for the White House. Thats not to say Trump is, but the paper trail of mass destruction the Clintons have left in and around the Oval Office is just too much to ignore. Anyone that says Gary Johnson needs to know that there are dairy cows around Barbour County currently chewing their cuds that have as much common sense as that guy.
I just hope whoever gets chosen for the highest office in all the land shocks the world and becomes the greatest president ever. Thats what we should all hope. More than likely, given what we know about Clinton and what we think we are beginning to know about Trump, we can only hope that both sides of the aisle can come up with a decent candidate in the 2020 election.
Meanwhile, heres hoping Martha Roby continues to be the great ambassador -- perhaps matador for our neck of the woods. Someone needs to before we get gored by the runaway bull that is Washington.
John Ward is a young man from Ardee who is a member of the Traveller community.
In this article he describes how he struggled to cope with being gay and how eventually he came to terms with that struggle and was accepted and supported by his family.
My name is John Ward, I'm 20-years-old and live in Ardee.
I thought I would share my story and hopefully it gets out to help others.
I'm gay and a member of the Traveling community, I also suffer from bipolar disorder. Growing up, I was always afraid to reveal my sexuality as here in the Traveling community it isn't accepted so well.
I was severely bullied in school for being gay and a Traveller. I always felt like an outcast and was ashamed to be who I am. At the age of 15 the torment of bullying I received and being afraid to reveal my sexuality to my family and friends caught up with me.
I felt like life was too much for me so I attempted suicide. I survived. I was on life support for three days and in hospital for weeks.
When I woke up I never told anyone why I did it because I was still afraid that they wouldn't accept me.
When I was 16 I attempted suicide again and once again luckily I survived.
This time I felt enough was enough and I told my family and friends.
Their reaction shocked me. They accepted me and told me that they loved me no matter what.
At 16 I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder due to emotional trauma.
I left school at 17 because of the homophobic and bullying I faced. At the age of 20 I still have bipolar disorder and I still get homophobic abuse weekly from people online and here in my town.
But I no longer let it get to me. I stay strong and try to help others who were in the same situation as me. My family and friends accept me. So I don't need strangers approval to be who I am.
The reason why I wanted to share this is because we are surrounded by so many Travellers, who are also members of the LGBT community end up committing suicide because they feel the way I did. That no one would accept them.
I cry everytime I hear that someone has killed themselves because of being gay. I have grown to realize that why should we care if people accept us or not?
It's your life, don't give up. It gets better. You gotta hold your head up high, stay strong and be proud.
Over a thousand people from both sides of the border assembled at a mock customs post last Saturday for a rally organised by Border Communities Against Brexit.
They came to voice their opposition to Brexit and a hard border and demand that the 56 per cent remain vote in the North be respected.
Political representatives from political parties including Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein and the SDLP attended.
The speakers included Paddy Malone, Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, Matthew McGrehan, representing farmers, economist and Newry Chamber spokesperson Conor Patterson, Rosemary McDonnell who spoke on behalf of the voluntary sector.
A hard border between North and South when the UK leaves the EU is now a real worry for people in this area.
There are concerns that Dundalk could become the new Calais if people traffickers use this country as a jump-off point to get migrants into the UK.
The government here is already talking to the British government about how it can share intelligence to curb illegal immigration across the border.
The Northern Ireland Secretary, James Brokenshire, said he did not want to see Customs checks on the border when the UK leaves the EU.
So, according to The Guardian newspaper, the British government want to avoid a return to a hard border by working with the government here to have stronger immigration controls at our ports and airports.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has welcomed this commitment to a continuation of an invisible north-south border.
But that did not stop Saturdays alley. The concerns are still there.
So are there any positive sides to Brexit if the invisible border remains?
Paddy Malone, Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, has been nominated for the Taoiseachs All-Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit and how it will impact on this country. He believes there are some positive signs to look at.
If British universities drop out of Horizon 20/20 (the EU research programme) and if an English speaking alternative is needed, then we here in Dundalk and county Louth are well placed, said Paddy.
Financial companies looking for an EU passport may move out of London.
In that case, Dundalks location could prove attractive.
We are 40 minutes from Dublin and Belfast airports and when SIRO is fully delivered it will give Dundalk broadband speeds four times faster than what is available in the IFSC.
Property, both residential and commercial, is more expensive in Dublin.
So all of this would make Dundalk an attractive location for relocation.
But he also pointed out the downside of a Brexit move.
Dundalk Institute of Technology has close links with Queen's University and other institutions, so how will Brexit impact on that.
Theresa May was accused of stoking anti-immigrant feeling at her party conference by playing fears and concerns about immigrants taking British jobs.
So if there is going to be a hard border here how will it impact on people in this area -many of whom have to cross the border to go to work - and on business in the region?
Louth County Council, Newry and Mourne District Council, and Down District Council, have already signed up to a memorandum of understanding, a cultural and economic alliance for the region.
Sinn Fein Cllr Edel Corrigan, is the joint chair of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Committee and she has expressed her concerns about the possible impact on the local economies of Brexit.
"Cross border trade is integral to any business that is based in the region, or anywhere along the border, Cllr Corrigan said.
We would fear that businesses, particularly in Dundalk and the wider area, would be directly impacted due to an introduction of tariffs or restrictions on movement by products or even by people."
"We already know that there will be some impact as a result, but that remains an unknown at the minute.
Dundalk model Stefania Egan to make a fashionable feature on the catwalk as West Coast Cooler FASHIONWEEK returns for its 22nd season.
Dundalk model Stefania Egan prepares to storm onto the catwalk later this month as West Coast Cooler FASHIONWEEK returns for its Autumn Winter 16 season.
Back from the 20-23 October with nightly catwalk shows and array of fabulous fringe events Stefania will be one of several CMPR Models who will showcase some of this seasons hottest and most stylish trends, to include velvet, burgundy, biker babes and metallics amongst many more.
Speaking of the FASHIONWEEK programme, Stefania said I am delighted to back on the FASHIONWEEK catwalk after an incredibly successful launch back in August. Ive been modelling for quite a few years now but FASHIONWEEK is without doubt one of the shows I look most forward to walking in. As one of Irelands most recognised fashion events it is truly leading in the fashion game here, plus with such a diverse range of models; shape, sizes and ages theres a real fashion family feel, with lots of familiar faces returning from one season to the next.
Director Cathy Martin adds: Im delighted that we are back for another season of fabulous fashion events and have the opportunity to bring together some of the incredible creative talent from here in Northern Ireland, be that our local designers, designer boutiques or models. Not forgetting the faster fashion from everyones favourite high street stores, we truly are so lucky to have such a beautiful selection of models like Stefania available to suit our huge variety of participants and given the massive hit shes been with all over the past few seasons, its to no surprise we love having her back.
Continuing their official sponsorship with FASHIONWEEK this season, West Coast Cooler brand manager Laura Blair, speaks of the partnership saying Its so exciting to be associated with such a fantastic range of events and makes for the perfect partnering for us here at West Coast Cooler. Each season the schedule is fizzed up with some really cool additions, which are both fresh and exciting and are an ideal fit to our brand and customer.
Catwalk tickets, which cost 20 (or 30 for a limited number of exclusive front row seats), are available from the Belfast Welcome Centre on 028 9024 6609 or via the website. Ticket price includes a fabulous goodie bag and a refreshing West Coast Cooler.
Denise Cunningham was among the second group of people to graduate as jewellery experts in Ireland.
The Retail Jewellers of Ireland have teamed up with the Company of Goldsmiths to present certificates to nine graduates. These graduates become the second group ever to be taught the correct level of knowledge and expertise around selling jewellery in Ireland. Presenting the certificates in Dublin Castle was the Assay Master, Ana Izquierdo.
According to Ana: Louth is a great location for jewellery shopping so having a Jewellery Expert will only raise standards. The Assay Office is delighted to team up with the RJI again for this fantastic initiative. We pride ourselves as being the very first type of consumer protection in Ireland. So its brilliant to be able to pass on that knowledge and professionalism to the next generation of jewellers.
This is a Staff Training and Education Programme designed to train staff who are new to the jewellery business. It is the second group to be awarded certificates and interest in the program is growing..
The Company of Goldsmiths was established in 1637,and since then through their Assay Office, assay and hallmark all items of precious metal manufactured in, or imported into Ireland before they are offered for sale to the public. In Ireland all items of gold, silver and platinum are subject to compulsory assay and hallmarking. So if the piece of jewellery youre currently wearing has no hallmark, theres a chance it isnt precious metal.
You can contact the Assay Office via email on hallmark@assay.ie or phone 01 4751286. Check out their website onwww.assay.ie.
Small businesses stand to benefit by borrowing from the rulebook of social enterprise and building strategic alliances in their local communities, according to social philanthropist and former Australian Survivor contestant, Lance Brooks.
Brooks is the founder and managing director of Brooks Community Consultants (BCC), a grassroots community engagement and social sustainability consultancy. He also founded Communities for Communities, an organisation dedicated to uniting the residents of Canada Bay, in Sydneys Inner West, to help less-fortunate communities. To date, the not-for-profit had raised more than $2 million for its cause. In 2007, it won the Community Contribution of the Year Award as part of the Inner West Weeklys True Local Awards. Two years later, it was the joint recipient of the of the Community Partner Award category of the City of Canada Bay Councils Sustainability Awards.
He spoke to Dynamic Business about his work with Communities for Communities and BCC, explaining the essential elements of a sustainable social enterprise and what small businesses can learn from this model.
What led you to found Communities for Communities?
From a young age, I was passionate about getting involved in community organisations such as sporting committees, volunteer groups and swimming councils. I realised early on that connections between people had the power to create positive outcomes.
I grew up in a third-generation family business, which nobody had ever left. While there were lots of wonderful aspects, I was drawn to start something on my own. After leaving the business, I signed up for the outdoor leadership program Outward Bound, having long desired to do so. I travelled as part of a group from Mount Kosciuszko to Bass Strait. Despite the tears and the fights, it was an incredible journey where people helped each other to carry on.
When Australian Survivor was looking for people to appear in the first season, which aired in 2002, I put my hand up. It seemed like a natural progression of my love of the outdoors and my earlier experience with Outward Bound. There were good bits and bad bits, like with anything, but the experience reinforced how valuable interpersonal connections are. The show left me a richer person not because of the money (I didnt win) but because it gave me a new perspective on life. We were virtually starving, with very little water or shelter, but I ended up trusting everyone and it became a peaceful experience. I realised this is the reality that many people live day in and day out.
When I returned, I knew I wanted to do something that brought people together. If Id won Survivor, there would have been a $500,000 prize. I had the idea that if I couldnt win it, I would try to raise it Communities for Communities was the result. We founded the organisation in the city of Canada Bay while getting together at Drummoyne Swimming Pool.
How does the NFP operate and what has it achieved?
Communities for Communities is a volunteer organisation where people build and celebrate their own community, help other communities in need, and raise awareness and understanding of the needs of others. We also try to lead by example in the hope that other communities will be inspired to set up their own Communities for Communities model.
Our organisation is all about building relationships with people. Ive been with families in a rubbish tip who need to make a shack to survive, but theres still a sense of family and communities. I always walk away from the projects with admiration and feeling inspired. Its not just the family union. Its the whole community.
Volunteerism underpins everything we do. Were always looking for volunteers with different skills, who can add something new to our organisation. We have 30 people on our committee, with another 200 volunteers who provide ongoing support. Theres a great harmony at Communities for Communities. Theres no self-interest, no one is trying to get to the top. Weve built a model where people deliver things free of charge. There is no office we have no assets. People gift what they can their talents or their enthusiasm. Thats what makes it work so well.
With the $2 million raised, weve built about 850 homes, nine schools and 11 to 12 community facilities. Weve held around 150 events in our area. Were not trying to set up a charity were growing a volunteer organisation. Weve signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Habitat for Humanity, which is our partner for delivering the projects in the field.
How do you ensure the organisation is sustainable?
The hardest thing with Communities for Communities has been maintaining our volunteer network. Generally, people volunteer for two to three years, but we always encourage them to pass their knowledge on to new volunteers before they leave. I like to think its our volunteers leaving their dust, or their magic, behind.
New volunteers are so important to what we do because they bring new thinking and a fresh approach. Because were an entirely volunteer-run organisation, we also need to make sure were bringing in people with relevant skills. We have an accountant, a lawyer, a PR consultant everyone has a valuable skill they can offer. We wouldnt be where we are without our incredibly dedicated volunteer network.
How did Brooks Community consultants come about?
So much of the success weve had with Communities for Communities has been driven by the connectedness between interested community members, local businesses and community leaders. It wasnt until the managing director of a big development company approached me that I started thinking about how building relationships within communities could be used as a business model.
At the time, I was running my own marketing and promotions business. The managing director of PAYCE heard what I had been doing with Communities for Communities and asked if I could help him with the local community at Wentworth Point in Homebush West. The project went well and he recommended me to a new client. Brooks Community Consultants grew out of that experience and continued to grow through word of mouth from that moment.
What is necessary for the success of a social enterprise?
If I had to recommend one thing, it would be mutually beneficial partnerships. You have to find and develop partnerships that bring the skills, resources and assets that deliver a social outcome. Its important to align with partners whose skills, resources and assets are missing from your business. By being a little more strategic about this part at the beginning, youre more likely to see positive returns later on. While it would also be ideal to find partners who are socially responsible, its not essential. Remember that you might be able to help a business become more socially responsible through this partnership too.
A great example of a mutually beneficial partnership in my experience is the Christmas Carols that used to be run solely by Canada Bay Council. Communities for Communities also organised a Christmas Carols and it ended up growing to twice the size of the Councils. We decided to partner with Canada Bay Council and host a Carols for the whole LGA. The Council covered the cost of running the Carols, but Communities for Communities invested the time to organise it. It was a win-win.
What can businesses learn from social enterprise?
Small businesses should look at their local communities and see where they can build strategic alliances to generate mutually beneficial results. It all comes down to the law of interdependence.
There are so many things to be gained from these alliances. A sense of loyalty and connection with the community is invaluable to small businesses, especially because of the local advocates it creates. If youre really strategic about it, you can reach deep into your local community and have a relationship with each of them, then market through your network. Local businesses are dependent on their local community and because of this, they need to do things that are locally orientated.
The Canada Bay Christmas Carols is another good example of this. The local IGA provided all of the supplies for the Carols free of charge. Things like bread, sausages and tomato sauce. It created such goodwill in the community and a great awareness of the business. Because the local IGA provided regular support, they were able to build relationships and a connection with local community members that resulted in obvious benefits for the business.
If your business relies on shipping goods into or out of the country, the recent upheaval in the container shipping market would have taken its toll. Trying to forecast company profits and losses while shipping costs are so uncertain can make it difficult for any business owner to keep a tight rein on expenditure.
Behind the Shipping Crisis
The collapse of Hanjin Shipping Co has resulted in significant changes in pricing across the industry, with prices spiking as much as 50 percent to ship a container from Asia to the United States.
Adding to the shipping industrys woes, the shipping giant AP Moeller-Maersk recently reported plummeting profits in the uncertain economic conditions. The Danish-based companys overall profits have been impacted by low oil prices, but its struggling container division added to financial problems.
South Korean container carrier company Hyundai Merchant Marine Co Ltd was forced to negotiate a deal with its creditors in an effort to avoid financial collapse in early 2016, while German-based shipping company, Hapag-Lloyd also predicted falling profits over the coming year.
Uneven Supply and Demand
Over the past few years, container shipping companies ordered newer, larger vessels in the hope that the industry would continue to see increasing trade in companies importing goods out of Asia. The result has seen a glut in the number of shipping vessels available, with more still due to be completed in coming years.
The spending spree increased capital expenditures for many of the worlds larger shipping companies, resulting in an increase in fees to ship containers. Yet export of goods declined, leaving approximately 7.4% of the available container ships sitting idle.
There is also a massive overcapacity of container ships, due to so many companies requisitioning new vessels while the industry was still flourishing.
Yet the Chinese economy has slowed, causing a greater impact on the shipping industry than anyone forecast. As the largest consumer of commodities in the world, China has long been the driving force behind the global shipping trade.
There is also the additional issue of uneven supply and demand to factor into shipping costs. While container ships may be leaving ports fully laden, theyre returning back to home ports with significantly reduced cargo loads.
The collapse of Hanjin Shipping Co saw many other companies scrambling to commit new services across shipping lines in an effort to meet international trade demand and provide alternative transport solutions for cargo.
Zombie Ships Sailing the Seas
The industry calls a ship that is only able to cover the interest costs on its debts but no hope of repaying the capital balance a zombie ship. A company accepting freight at low prices in order to generate any revenue at all in order to keep going could be causing more problems within the industry.
Large international shipping companies with significant debt exposure sending out zombie fleets risks financial difficulties moving into the future, simply as the revenue generated is likely to be insufficient to repay debt balances.
A Look at Shipping Costs Moving Forward
As shipping companies seek to recoup falling profit margins, its likely that costs could continue to fluctuate into the future. Many carrier companies are seeking to improve efficiency by utilizing larger ships capable of carrying more cargo per trip.
A major shipping consulting firm, Drewry, announced that an anticipated 150 container vessels were likely to be scrapped throughout 2016. Despite the reduction in existing older ships, it was unlikely to impact on the excess vessels ordered and built by various companies in the years between 2010 and 2015.
Likewise, the anticipated influx of new vessels over the next few years that were ordered before the crisis hit may result in even further fluctuations in cargo costs.
Mitigating the Risk
Any business concerned about the fluctuating container shipping costs and the potential impact it could have on business should seek advice from a qualified legal firm that specializes in maritime litigation.
It may be possible to mitigate the risk of uncertain pricing for future shipping costs by negotiating for Master Service Agreements for the marine or maritime industry.
If you want to ensure your businesss costs dont spiral out of control, factor in options that allow you to set your preferred terms. Establishing a strong Master Service Agreement may be the key to negotiating specific pricing terms for future cargo shipping needs.
About the author
Scarlett Higgins writes about the import and export business in her articles which appear around the web. She has multiple years of experience working in this area and uses her industry knowledge for her articles.
Ideas and execution go hand in hand. There is no greater importance placed on either aspect of starting and running a successful business. Without one another, a business cannot wish to exist and succeed. Ideas and plans exist together. Once youve established a grand idea, its time to put that into a master plan and get to work.
Business Plan First Steps
The idea has been implanted and its time to put that dream and idea into action. One of the first things you need to do is establish a plan. A plan provides direction and a kind of central document to keep track of things. It is a fact youll need it to secure financing of any kind.
While starting, make sure to do your research. There should be a set of guidelines your business needs to stick to. There is the question of what kind of structure is it going to be and what type of finances you need to secure. There are a myriad of advertising and marketing strategies that may need to be put into place as well. Having the right information ready will speed up the process and growth of a company.
Determine what the plan is going to mainly focus on. There could be varying types of plans if on one hand youre going to push it out to third parties or for internal use. Figuring out who will be looking at this and what criteria they need will be important towards creating certain aspects of the plan.
Structuring the Plan
Once you know what criteria are important for your business and others, its time to put that plan into action. Its almost like the plan before the plan. Decide what sections are important for the business in early stages and what will be important later. It is important to keep in mind that the entire plan doesnt need to be completed right away. A good plan takes time.
If this all feels like a lot to you, there are resources that assist in this type of planning. The GNS Group is one such company that assists in planning, accounting and other fundamental parts of a company. Having that extra set of hands is a crucial step during the early stages of a business.
Crunching the Numbers
Existing businesses in your sector can be a great point to look at some actual figures that are going to cost you or make you money. These expected figures and examples could be used in any part of the plan to outline a certain amount of finance or expense goals. When figuring out the whole greater picture, make sure to save that until the end. The summary should be after everything has already been completed and numbers been figured out. Any banks, investors or others involved with the company are going to want a clear overview of the entirety, so dont get carried away with a long-winded summary.
Always make sure to review everything and anything in the business plan. Proofread what needs to be in there and what you could do without. A business plan acts as a directive, a selling tool for some, and central document for the company.
Overview of the Plan
After knowing how to structure it and what to include, the outline is the next important step. A title page is important listing general information you could tell anyone about the business. Following that is the business summary, which we talked about leaving for last.
Included should be an idea about your business operations, including management, registrations, location and what you actually offer in terms of products or services. Following this section you should take a deep dive into what your market is about and an analysis about the industry, targeting key metrics and other standout points.
A business plan is unique as it is subject to change as actions progress, but really is a mark for future progress. Financial issues are of course going to be on everyones mind. No matter the goal or function, the objective is to make money and be financially sound. The business should be able to display this in its validity for seeking funding and future growth.
When the plan is essentially finished make sure everything is baked up with proper documentation and can be distributed to the necessary parties. Its an exciting reality of creating a business and the plan is what solidifies it.
About the author
Dylan Rees moved to Australia as a teenager and has no desire to leave, making this his home with a business and family. He writes business articles which appear on a range of small-medium business blogs.
Launching a start-up is exciting. The long journey from conjuring the initial, embryonic concept to bravely sharing your business idea with someone else is now ancient history. Things are different now: an early business plan has been refined to give comfort to all stakeholders.
Before you actually launch your start-up, its wise to review a pre-launch checklist to ensure youre actually ready to move forward:
Commitment
Is this a business you can imagine yourself running for five years or more. Of course, some have said build it up and sell quickly. What if it takes more time than expected to be a sudden success? Would you still want to be there?
Where are the customers?
It is always worth just one more check to ensure that the business you are launching will have real paying customers. You will either have to get them from someone else with a similar service or replace a current product/service with something new. What is it that gives you the advantage over the established competition? For instance, if it was a coffee shop, is your coffee shop closer, with better quality coffee and service than the nearest rival. Sounds simple but you will need something to set you and your product apart other than enthusiasm and life savings.
Work life balance
The reason this is a tough question is because its importance is so often underestimated. Many potential entrepreneurs are already quite successful and enjoy good lifestyles. Hence they may fail to understand that the word start-up is made of two unexciting words. Firstly, start, as in the very beginning think of requiring to be pushed. Followed of course by up, as in moving from the bottom think of heavy lifting. With this in mind, anything but total mental and psychical commitment may risk your life savings and emotional wellbeing. Consider start-up as an antonym of lifestyle.
Business is war
Harsh reality awaits new entrepreneurs in charge of a start-up. Those reasonable folks you know in your current job, and who you will be competing with shortly, will change. Thats because you have changed. No longer are you a non-threatening associate. You now represent someone taking away their customers. Your friends in the competition are now competing for the same source of income. You may not only lose a few friends but you are almost sure to make a few enemies.
Cash flow
Many good businesses dont fail as businesses they just run out of money. Cash is not only king, it is everything! How and when are you going to get paid? Every day that you are not paid is a day you worked for nothing. Of course, with the charm of an entrepreneur you would be able to arrange monthly accounts for your suppliers. The goal is to collect the money before you have to pay the supplier. That is survival. The time spent to set up a credit account is a true investment.
Details
Often in the journey from idea to business plan to actually launching the start-up a few details are overlooked. Considering getting a person who has less flare but is more process-focused involved. These good folks usually notice all the things that make a business work. Bank trading accounts, alternate suppliers, staff rosters, etc. it may sound silly but some start-ups have launched and then found the details take them away from the vital customer interaction that makes them money.
Launching a start-up is exciting. A calm review using a simple check list can leave you feeling confident that it is a commitment youre willing to make, that the business will have customers, and that you have a realistic approach to the next stages of the journey. Just to round out the checklist, it is worth noting that many veteran entrepreneurs always allow for a start-up to be subject to the rule of twice. That is: twice as costly, twice as long and twice as hard. Reducing the rule of twice is the next challenge.
About the author
Any business entering into the online world first hears about SEO. Thats a good start for many and is a needed tool in the vast and often confusing online world. Many businesses will receive hundreds of solicitations from various SEO companies that will promise amazing returns and being shot to the top of Google rankings. A lot of these are heavily based in technical jargon and doesnt take into account more important factors with an online business.
Theres so much to account for in terms of SEO, these include rankings, impressions, visits and leads. These are all well and good, as well as necessary to being seen and pushing your business. But the bottom line comes down to sales and increasing revenue. If youre top ranked but not making money, then that metric is absolutely irrelevant.
SEO Metrics in Focus
The most important measure of success through SEO is revenue. Without that youre just looking at intangible numbers on a screen. If youre currently working with any SEO company or using your own practice, stop and look at what really matters. First, lets take a look at some of the metrics to care about and how to capitalize on them.
One of the first things a lot of companies focus on is keywords. That is if youre going to be listed at the top of a Google search or not through specific words. You should be familiar with this type of labeling, but it doesnt hold as much importance as it should in a SEO campaign.
An impression is when a list of keywords is searched and then your website pops up on that list. If youre website does not appear then there are no impressions. Again too many SEO companies focus too much on a nonissue.
Companies that can get past these measures and instead look at conversions and potential sales leads are where the key metrics get interesting. This is the type of activity and skill an online business should be looking for in a SEO company.
Revenue Conversion
Once weve established that revenue is the main factor in choosing how to run a SEO campaign, its time to look at how its done. Rankings and impressions really dont mean anything if there isnt anything to follow that up with. Clicks and websites are only worth anything if they are then converted. This shouldnt be left up to the end user, you the business. Instead that is as much part of the job as getting the clicks, making the switch from clicks to sales conversions.
There are some companies that realize this is important and thats what keeps getting them business and customers to work with. One such example is Sticky, a digital marketing agency that focuses exactly on this. Accurately tracking SEO investments is an important expense and should yield more than it takes away from a business. Usable tools help translate web traffic into quantifiable sales. Those with superior data and marketing insights are going to win more than others.
Actionable Solutions
Being able to gather the information is one thing. Its a whole other game when taking these actions, archiving them and making actionable process out of it. Even though the business wont have to worry about the exact details, its good to know what the process. By doing this, the business can tailor itself to be more actionable and Internet marketable.
Looking deeper into the previously mentioned metrics paints a fuller picture of a marketing strategy with SEO. For example, take the keyword precision that alone isnt that important but by delving into unlocks multiple facets of information. Knowing where these clicks are coming from can help create a demographic to be looked at targeted.
Providing Stellar Content
Once these people have got to your page, how much time are they spending there? The best SEO should be able to point out flaws in the intrinsic content. Once these little things start getting tweaked, you dont have to worry about more fundamental issues. Seeing how long people linger on a webpage is part of deciphering many of the SEO key metrics.
Knowing the customer is just as important as any physical storefront business is. For example if you have a lot of returning website visitors, that means youre doing something right and theyre contributing to the business. By not having any reoccurring traffic, you may be making one off sales on however youve monetized yourself, but thats not sustainable.
SEO should be used as a bottom line to pull in more revenue and at the same time analyze how to benefit current customers and pick out the right data that leads to a better directive.
About the author
Harvey Baldwin is an online entrepreneur who taught himself website design, SEO and how to manage social media campaigns. Now taking a backseat in the day-to-day running of his business, Harvey is taking the time to help others who are just starting out and need help understanding the how, why and what of Google.
Longstanding concerns about hiring and diversity issues in Silicon Valley recently returned to the fore. The United States Department of Labor last month filed suit against Palantir a big data firm founded by billionaire investor Peter Thiel alleging that it had engaged in a pattern of denying jobs to Asian applicants.
Race is a greater impediment than gender 3.7 times more significant when it comes to breaking through corporate glass ceilings, suggests research conducted by Ascend.
A particular problem, and overlooked in the popular diversity discussion, has been the issue of an Asian glass ceiling at the highest management levels and the limited number of Asian American men and women in the executive pipeline, said Anna Mok, executive vice president of Ascend.
Theres an unconscious bias against Asians, she told the E-Commerce Times.
Palantirs Pattern
Palantir, which has won more than US$340 million in government contracts since 2010, engaged in a pattern of discriminating against applicants in hiring for three specific positions: front-end quality assurance engineer, software engineer and QA engineer intern, the DoL complaint alleges.
The firm had in place a four-phase process in which Asian applicants regularly were eliminated during resume screening and telephone interviewing sessions, according to the DoL.
Palantir had a pool of 730 qualified applicants for the QA engineering job, 77 percent of them Asian. The firm hired six non-Asian applicants and one Asian. The possibility of that happening by chance was one out of 741, the DoL claimed.
Of 1,160 qualified applicants for Palantirs software engineering position, 85 percent were Asian. The firm hired 14 non-Asian and 11 Asian applicants. The likelihood of that happening by chance was one out of 3.4 million, according to the government.
For the QA engineer intern position, the firm had 130 applicants and 73 percent of them Asian. The firm hired 17 non-Asian applicants and four Asian. The likelihood of that happening by chance was one in a billion, said the DoL.
The departments Office of Contract Compliance Programs last year notified Palantir of the findings, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement through a voluntary compliance procedure.
The Office of Solicitor General attempted to reach the same type of agreement before the compliance office filed its lawsuit.
Palantir did not respond to our request to comment for this story.
HPEs Experiences
DoL filed its complaint less than a week after Hewlett Packard Enterprise agreed to pay US$750,000 to settle a DoL suit alleging that the company rejected 504 people of color for inside sales jobs at its Conway, Arkansas, location between 2008 and 2010.
The candidates in that case included 349 African Americans, 109 Asians, 44 Hispanics, one Native American and one Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. The settlement included compensation for back wages and interest. The company also agreed to hire 33 of the applicants with retroactive seniority as new positions open up.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a longstanding commitment to the principles of equal employment opportunity, an HPE spokesperson said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by media rep Blair Hinderliter.
We are pleased to have resolved this matter without being held to any wrongdoing, the spokesperson continued. We are confident in our hiring processes and we will continue to promote and build a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the broad range of customers we serve.
HPE and HP Inc. this summer were hit with a potential class action suit alleging they pushed out older workers during a job restructuring that took place prior to splitting the company. The companies denied those allegations.
Structurally Unsound
While companies do develop patterns of hiring certain groups of workers, there are larger concerns about the overall level of gender and racial imbalance in the technology industry, suggested Charles King, principal analysts at Pund-IT.
It isnt unusual for regionally based industries to develop biases in hiring and other practices, but the behavior Palantir is accused of is troubling due to its racial specificity, he told the E-Commerce Times.
The alleged practices are ironic, given the industrys reliance on H1B visa programs to fill many engineering and technical posts, King observed.
Theres been a dual-tier structure of hiring in the tech industry, according toSilicon Valley Rising.
People of color often have been hired as subcontractors with lower wages, benefits and job security, the organization has charged, and other biases have been persistent among the ranks of the fully employed.
The tech industry really has two diversity problems, said Derecka Mehrens, executive director of Working Partnerships USA, which co-leads the Silicon Valley Rising coalition. There are far too few women and people of color especially black and Latinos working as paid employees at tech firms.
Tech companies hire an army of these communities to cook, clean and guard their campuses, Mehrens said, paying them one-sixth of the compensation given to direct workers.
By Andy Rowell
Conservationists and environmentalists in Australia are celebrating a major victory after the oil giant BP announced that it is abandoning its hugely controversial plans to drill for oil and gas in the Great Australian Bight.
The area, which is off the countrys southern coast, is a marine park and home to one of the largest breeding populations of endangered southern right whales in the world.
https://www.facebook.com/350.orgAustralia/photos/a.418426341555801.98611.418405098224592/1188637644534663/?type=3&theater
BP had big plans for the Bight and had once boasted that the region could be as important to the oil industry as the Gulf of Mexico.
But BP had also been struggling to persuade Australias regulator, National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, Nopsema, that it could safely drill in the highly ecologically sensitive region.
Three times the regulator has knocked back the company, the third being just last month, when it again found BPs environmental plans inadequate.
The companys plans have also long been opposed by the Wilderness Society and other groups. Speaking last year, the Societys South Australias director Peter Owen said: The Great Australian Bight is a haven for whales, boasting the worlds most significant southern right whale nursery as well as many humpback, sperm, blue and beak whales.
Environmentalists have called on BP to abandon its plans saying that the area could not be put at risk from oil exploitation and that the company could never adequately clean up an oil spill.
BP Platform Leaks Oil Into North Sea With No Plans to Clean It Up https://t.co/QyIfgezUUs @tarsandsRESIST @stopKXL EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) October 5, 2016
Today their wish was granted. BP said it was pulling out due to costs and the low oil price.
Claire Fitzpatrick, BPs managing director for exploration and production, Australia said: We have looked long and hard at our exploration plans for the Great Australian Bight but, in the current external environment, we will only pursue frontier exploration opportunities if they are competitive and aligned to our strategic goals.
She added: After extensive and careful consideration, this has proven not to be the case for our project to explore in the Bight.
It is not surprising that todays decision by BP was welcomed by environmental groups.
Lyndon Schneiders, Wilderness Society national director said: This decision shows that its too expensive to establish the significant and costly risk management and clean up capacity infrastructure needed to protect our communities from the enormous associated spill risks.
What a massive day for #peoplepower & Australia!
"BP pulls out of drilling for oil in the #GreatAustralianBight"https://t.co/y8HesovwNV Greenpeace Australia Pacific (@GreenpeaceAP) October 11, 2016
Greenpeace Australia oceans campaigner, Nathaniel Pelle was ecstatic too: This will come as a huge relief to anyone whose business relies on clean, green seas in the Great Australian Bight, to the fishing communities, to the tourism industry and it is a huge victory for them.
The South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young added BP have said goodbye to the Bight, I say good riddance to BP.
She added that the Greens had a bill before the Senate that would permanently protect the Great Australian Bight from oil and gas drilling. Its time that bill was supported, so that this precious natural environment can be protected for generations to come, said Hanson-Young.
Indeed, the Wilderness Society is now urging other oil and gas companies, such as Chevron, Santos and Statoil, to follow BPs and exit the Blight. Peter Owen, the Societys South Australian director of has also now called on the government to rescind all other permits for oil and gas in the region.
However, Statoil, BPs partner is currently continuing with the project.
The risk to the Bight is not entirely over, argues Greenpeace Australia oceans campaigner, Nathaniel Pelle. There are still multiple oil and gas companies with titles in the Bight and it wont be over until all the oil and gas prospects have left.
Activists successfully shut down five pipelines today across the U.S. that deliver tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada. The pipelines targeted were Enbridge line 4 and 67 in Leonard, Minnesota; TransCanadas Keystone pipeline in Walhalla, North Dakota; Spectra Energys Express pipeline at Coal Banks Landing, Montana; and Kinder-Morgans Trans-Mountain pipeline in Anacortes, Washington. We did this in response to Standing Rocks call to action for escalated actions, a spokesperson for #ShutItDown told EcoWatch.
In an online statement by #ShutItDown, the group said:
This morning, by 7:30 PST, 5 activists have successfully shut down 5 pipelines across the United States delivering tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada in support of the call for International Days of Prayer and Action for Standing Rock. Activists employed manual safety valves, calling on President Obama to use emergency powers to keep the pipelines closed and mobilize for the extraordinary shift away from fossil fuels now required to avert catastrophe.
Since then, EcoWatch has learned that police have approached two sites so far and two women have been arrested in Minnesota. The two are Emily Johnston, 50, and retired attorney Annette Klapstein, 64.
For years weve tried the legal, incremental, reasonable methods, and they havent been enough; without a radical shift in our relationship to Earth, all that we love will disappear, Johnston said. My fear of that possibility is far greater than my fear of jail. My love for the beauties of this world is far greater than my love of an easy life.
https://www.facebook.com/leonard.higgins.50/posts/1191616067577870
Only one activist is at each site, accompanied by a support person and video crew. The groups have been posting and live-streaming on Facebook. In Montana, Leonard Higgins, 64, shut the valve on a pipeline that carries oil south from Canada.
Were in a state of emergency to protect our loved ones and our families, our communities, Higgins said as he was filmed at the pipeline.
https://www.facebook.com/leonard.higgins.50/videos/1191598247579652/
Todays action is a bold step forward for a movement that refuses to back down from challenge of the climate crisis, Tim DeChristopher wrote in an email to EcoWatch. DeChristopher spent 21 months in a federal prison for posing as a fake bidder at a Bureau of Land Management oil and gas auction in December of 2008. He has since founded the Climate Disobedience Center and is attending Harvard Divinity School.
https://twitter.com/dechristopher/statuses/785853794575872000
While our political leadership fails to take climate change seriously, activists are stepping up, DeChristopher added. The climate crisis continues to intensify, and so does our movement.
Police were also onsite with Ken Ward, 59, one of the founders of the Climate Disobedience Center and #ShutItDown, and have arrested him in Washington at the Kinder-Morgan pipeline. Each protestor plans to stay until they are removed, the organization told us.
Watch arrest of @wardken, one of activists shutting down 5 Tar Sands pipelines today. #ShutItDown. Full video at https://t.co/ACSPQSSTmT pic.twitter.com/suiroqkPgh Climate Social ?? (@ClimateSocial) October 11, 2016
Like mothers everywhere, I act from a deep love that extends to all children and young people, and all living beings on this planet, Klapstein said. I have signed hundreds of petitions, testified at dozens of hearings, met with most of my political representatives at every level, to very little avail. I have come to believe that our current economic and political system is a death sentence to life on earth, and that I must do everything in my power to replace these systems with cooperative, just, equitable and love-centered ways of living together. This is my act of love.
UPDATE: EcoWatch has learned that all five activists and four support crew have now been arrested.
Hurricane Matthew wasnt an ordinary storm. It killed more than a thousand people in Haiti and at least 20 in the U.S. Its trail of widespread devastation was shocking and it will take the affected regions time to recover.
But while 1.5 million people were being asked by Republican governors to head to safety for the fear for their lives, Drudge wondered if the government was lying to its people to make an exaggerated point on climate. During the time when hurricane-related reported deaths in Haiti jumped from 20 to more than 300, Drudge questioned National Hurricane Centers data in a now-infamous tweet. Several people (such as Jason Samenow of WaPo and Libby Nelson of Vox) wrote against his outrageous claims for not only trying to score cheap political gains but also putting lives in danger.
https://twitter.com/DRUDGE/statuses/784121449606852608
Not to be outdone, Rush Limbaugh too accused the government of hyping Hurricane Matthew to sell climate change, earning the ire of even the Daily Dot.
Without having any other evidence to disprove the solid climate science linking Hurricane Matthew to climate change, the denial community has been repeating one fact ad nauseamthe arbitrarily defined major hurricane drought. Its a classic case of cherry-picking data that trivializes the lives disrupted and lost by major storms like Matthew, Sandy and others.
Matt Drudge Joins Rush Limbaugh's Conspiracy Theory That Meteorologists Are Lying About Hurricane Matthew https://t.co/NTZy7tAFum @ecowatch pic.twitter.com/PMO4jfXvz8 DeSmog (@DeSmog) October 8, 2016
While the U.S. has been fortunate that no hurricane has made landfall in the past decade as a Category 3 or higher, the fact remains that hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin has increased since the 1970s. And there is also increasing evidence of landfalling typhoons in Asia have become more intense over the last four decades due to warmer waters. Politifact has a great article on this subject.
From the time it became apparent that the hurricane will seriously impact the U.S., everyone swung into action. Experts sought to look for climate signals to understand in advance what potential impacts might be. Governors announced states of emergency and mandated evacuations. Climate deniers peddled conspiracy theories.
While most stocked up on food and water, deniers were content with tin foil.
Egypts first solar-powered village is up and running in the Bahariya Oasis.
KarmBuilds Tayebat Workers Village provides shelter for 350 people and was built with 90 percent local, natural materials including sandstone, which was used to construct the buildings.
KarmBuild is the only company in Egypt to integrate solar energy technology into a buildings design and it did it in a seamless way making the photovoltaic solar panels blend into the stone walls of the village. The panels also act as thermal roof protection, principal architect Karim Kafrawi told Inhabitat.
The idea was to create an architectural character that would smoothly blend into the natural landscape so that from a distance, this rather large building would be discreet, almost invisible expect for the towering stone structures highlighted by the P.V. solar panels reflecting the sky and sun, Kafrawi said.
Elon Musk has snapped back at major coal-mining boss
Robert Murray on Twitter, calling the Murray Energy Corp. CEO a fraud for denying climate change.
In Elon Musks Master Plan Part Deux, he writes, Given that we must get off fossil fuels anyway and that virtually all scientists agree that dramatically increasing atmospheric and oceanic carbon levels is insane, the faster we achieve sustainability, the better. Flickr
Musk, who is fully venturing into the renewable energy sector with his
proposed SolarCity merger, also brought up the enormous subsidies the coal industry receives. He suggested that both companies compete without any taxpayer help.
How about we both go to zero? Musk tweeted.
The beef started when Murray appeared on CNBCs Squawk Box on Monday and accused Tesla of taking $2 billion from taxpayers and yet has not made a penny yet in cash flow.
Tesla is a fraud, Murray ranted.
Real fraud going on is denial of climate science. As for "subsidies", Tesla gets pennies on dollar vs coal. How about we both go to zero? Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 10, 2016
Murray, an
ardent Donald Trump supporter, said that Tesla benefits from subsidies from energy policies supported by Hillary Clinton. According to Murray, the Democratic presidential nominee is supporting her friends, or wealthy individuals such as Musk, Warren Buffett and the Pritzkers, with subsidies that have nothing to do with supporting the environment.
Murray then threw in his two cents about coals effect on climate.
By the way, you could close down every coal-fired plant in the United States today, and you would not affect the temperature of the Earth at all, he said.
This is
not the first time Musk has attacked fossil fuel subsidies. In May, he urged people to revolt against the propaganda of the fossil fuel industry which is unrelenting and enormous.
The fundamental issue with fossil fuels is every use of fossil fuels comes with a subsidy, Musk said.
The Tesla honcho said that cheap oil and gasoline prices not only prevent drivers from switching their gas-guzzlers to electric cars, it also deters the fight against climate change.
Elon Musk: We Must Revolt Against the Unrelenting Propaganda of the Fossil Fuel Industry https://t.co/eGrR4QXjtT @BusinessGreen @CSRwire EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) May 6, 2016
CNBC pointed out that renewables actually get far more direct federal financial support for electricity production:
In 2013, electricity production and federal utilities that rely on coal received $1.08 billion in direct cash outlays through federal programs, tax benefits, research and development funding, loans and guarantees, the [Energy Information Administration] found. That amounted to 6 percent of such funding. In the same year, electricity production from renewables received $15.04 billion in funding from the same sourcesor 72 percent of federal support of that kind. Wind accounted for about 39 percent of the renewables subsidies, and solar attracted 35 percent.
Still, its no surprise that Murray, the founder of the largest privately held coal company in the U.S., is speaking out against energy alternatives. Murray has
filed multiple lawsuits against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over carbon regulations that he said would permanently destroy the coal industry.
And as
Bloomberg wrote, seismic changes in energy policy and competition from natural gas have pummeled coal miners, leading to bankruptcies and record production cuts Murray Energy announced earlier this summer that it was considering cutting more than 4,000 jobs, accounting for about 80 percent of its workforce, amid weak coal prices.
Here he is on Fox Business railing against Clintons energy policies.
Last week, Standard & Poor dropped huge multinational coal company Peabody Energy from its S&P 500 Index. Last spring, SNL Energy News said that, The total market value of publicly traded U.S. coal companies has rebounded slightly in recent months, but remains nearly 63 percent lower than a total of the same companies at a near-term coal market peak in April 2011, citing a perfect storm of factors, including new federal regulations impacting coal-burning power plants, cheap competing fuels, railroad service issues and weak global markets.
Therell be no light at the end of the tunnel for the coal industry if U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations on carbon emissions go into effect, says coal tycoon Bob Murray.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
And, as nearly 400,000 people marched in the Peoples Climate March in New York City, raising pressure for action on climate change, coal loomed as a target. A parade of world government, business and financial leaders talked about their proposed efforts to reduce emissionswhich means reducing the use of coal.
Needless to say, this isnt making Robert Murray happy. Hes founder and CEO of the Murray Energy, the largest privately held coal company in the U.S., based in south central Ohio.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Murray spoke at a coal industry conference this week, predicting gloom and doom for the industry and for humanity if carbon regulations are increased. He says proposed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations will permanently destroy the coal industry adding, Grandma is going to be cold and in the dark with what theyre doing. Hes already filed multiple lawsuits against the EPA.
Murrays speech was filled with the sort of florid language he is known for. SNL Energy News reported:
It isnt about me. Im an old man, he said, his voice rising. It isnt about Murray Energy. Its about whats happening to this country. It starts with my employees. If they own anything, its their home. And if two of them lose their jobs, who are they going to sell it to? These people just want to work with honor and dignity for the rest of their lives and they are denied that. They go to the negative side of the ledger and they stay there forever. This is not the country I cherish.
Mr. Murray likened the White House to the Gestapo and the SS during Nazi Germany, and said it has pushed back against his efforts to stop environmental regulations to such an extent that he has felt compelled to hire former CIA operatives to provide security, wrote the Post-Gazette.
Earlier this year, he told Fox News Neil Cavuto that regulations on coal emissions are evil and a power grab of Americas power grid.
Murray first attracted widespread public attention in 2007, following the collapse of his Crandall Canyon mine in Utah that killed six miners when he made statements widely perceived to be insensitive and insisted that the collapse was caused by an earthquake, contrary to what scientists found.
Controversy seems to follow Murray. Hes lobbied against legislation mandating safety devices for miners. In 2012, he again attracted public attention when some miners claimed employees were ordered to attend a Mitt Romney campaign event or lose their jobs. The nonprofit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint against the company with the Federal Elections Commission charging that it pressured employers to donate 1 percent of their salary to a company PAC that supported candidates such as Romney, Rick Perry, Eric Cantor and Scott Brown. And Murray sued the Charleston Gazette for its coverage of his support of Romney. Earlier this year, he told Fox News Neil Cavuto that regulations on coal emissions are evil and a power grab of Americas power grid.
Last year, George Elmaraghy, director of the water division of Ohios EPA resigned, saying he was forced out by Gov. John Kasich and pressure from the coal industry, which donated over $1 million to Kasichs 2010 campaign coffers. The Columbus Dispatch reported, More than $870,000 of the overall amount comes from just two coal families: the Boiches, who run the Boich companies, and Robert Murray, who runs Murray Energy.
And of course, hes an outspoken climate denier. This global warming is a hoax, he told Cavuto. He told West Virginia Executive in May that one of his lawsuits against the EPA was to force them to tell the truth about global warming.
They are not telling hardly any truth about the science, he said. The earth has actually cooled over the last 17 years, so under the Data Quality Act, theyve actually been lying about so-called global warming.
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By Paul Brown
Climate change has already doubled the number of forest fires in the western U.S. since the 1980sand it is a trend that will continue to increase, according to new research.
The study says the rise in temperatures and aridity sucks the moisture out of the plants, trees, dead vegetation on the ground and the soil, and is part of a worldwide trend of ever-increasing wildfires.
A wildfire in Bitterroot National Forest, Montana. John McColgan / Wikipedia
Scientists from Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory pin the blame firmly on human-induced climate changea significant statement in a country where many Republican supporters still refuse to accept that the burning of fossil fuels is causing global warming.
There has been a lively debate about the issue and the scientists make clear in research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science that they wanted the settle the argument.
Bigger Fire Years
No matter how hard we try, the fires are going to keep getting bigger and the reason is really clear, said the studys co-author Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at the NASA Earth Observatory. Climate is really running the show in terms of what burns. We should be getting ready for bigger fire years than those familiar to previous generations.
Forest fires in the U.S. west began increasing in the 1980sas measured by area burned, the number of large fires and length of the fire season. The increases have continued and, while there are a number of contributing factors, the study concludes that at least 55 percent of the increase is due to man-made climate change.
A lot of people are throwing around the words climate change and firespecifically, fire chiefs and the governor of California last year started calling this the new normal, said the studys lead author, John Abatzoglou, associate professor of geography at the University of Idaho. We wanted to put some numbers on it.
All is not quiet on the Western wildfire front https://t.co/3wszgrjnxV via @EcoWatch pic.twitter.com/ULQYmrcNAQ Climate Nexus (@ClimateNexus) August 24, 2016
Since 1984, temperatures in the forests of the western U.S. have increased 1.5 C (2.7 F) and resulting aridity has caused forest fires to spread across an additional 16,000 square miles than they otherwise would havean area larger than the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.
Williams and Abatzoglou said their research does not take into account some factors that could be offshoots of climate warming and thus they may be understating the effect.
These include millions of trees killed in recent years by beetles that prefer warmer weather and declines in spring soil moisture brought on by earlier snowmelt. There is also evidence that lightningthe usual initial spark of forest firesmay increase with global warming.
The overall increase in forest fires since the 1980s is considerably more than the researchers attribute solely to climate change; the rest is due to other factors.
One factor has been a long-term natural climate oscillation over the Pacific Ocean that has steered storms away from the western U.S.
Another is firefighting itself. By constantly putting out fires, authorities have allowed areas they saved to build up more dry fuel, which later ignites and causes ever more catastrophic blazes.
Fighting Forest Fires
The costs of fighting forest fires have risen sharply in step and the federal government alone spent more than $2.1 billion last year. Were seeing the consequence of very successful fire suppression, except now its not that successful anymore, Abatzoglou said.
Wildfires of all kinds have been increasing worldwide, often with a suspected climate connection. Many see a huge fire that leveled part of the northern city of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, last May as the result of a warming trend that is drying out northern forests.
Fires have even been spreading beyond, into the tundra regions, in places where blazes have not been seen for thousands of years.
The effects go beyond loss of trees and other vegetation. A 2012 study estimates that smoke from forest fires worldwide causes long-term health effects that kill some 340,000 people each year, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia.
Carbon released to the air adds to the burden of greenhouse gases already there, thus producing even more warming. And soot settling on snow and ice causes them to absorb more heat and melt faster.
Reposted with permission from our media associate Climate News Network.
Fossil fuel subsides totaling $500 billion globally must be scrapped to prevent catastrophic climate change, the Prince of Waless Corporate Leaders Group told the COP21 conference in Paris today.
"In damaging our climate we become the architects of our destruction." Watch Prince Charles' opening speech #COP21https://t.co/assRpnTEmT Guardian Environment (@guardianeco) November 30, 2015
John Key, the New Zealand Prime Minister, presented the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Communique to Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on behalf of the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform and its supporters.
Philippe Joubert, chair of The Prince of Waless Corporate Leaders Group, said: The CLGs long-standing efforts to put a price on carbon, including most recently working with the World Bank through the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, will soon deliver results.
It doesnt make sense that, at the same time, governments artificially deflate the cost of coal, oil and gas, the primary cause of GHG emissions. Fossil fuel subsidies must be ended to stop this contradiction and enhance a real transition to low carbon energy.
The announcement was made shortly after Prince Charles addressed the COP21 conference. He said: In damaging our climate we become the architects of our own destruction. While the planet can survive the scorching of the Earth and the rising of the waters, the human race cannot. The absurd thing is we know exactly what needs to be done.
Camerons Subsidies
The UK was among the countries to sign the communique. David Cameron, the British prime minister, is due to speak at the COP21 conference in Paris later today. DeSmog UK earlier this month that the UK provides 6 billion in subsidies to fossil fuels.
Key said: Fossil fuel subsidy reform is the missing piece of the climate change puzzle. Its estimated that more than a third of global carbon emissions, between 1980 and 2010, were driven by fossil fuel subsidies.
Their elimination would represent one seventh of the effort needed to achieve our target of ensuring global temperatures do not rise by more than 2C. As with any subsidy reform, change will take courage and strong political will, but with oil prices at record lows and the global focus on a low carbon futurethe timing for this reform has never been better.
According to the UNFCCC statement: An unprecedented coalition of close to 40 governments, hundreds of businesses and influential international organisations has called today for accelerated action to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, a move that would help bridge the gap to keep global temperature rise below 2C.
Perverse Subsidies
The communique calls on the international community to increase efforts to phase out perverse subsidies to fossil fuels by promoting policy transparency, ambitious reform and targated support for the poorest.
Governments spend more than $500 billion of public resources a year to keep domestic prices for oil, gas and coal artificially low. Removing fossil fuel subsidies would reduce greenhouse gas emission by 10 per cent by 2050.
Figueres said in accepting the Communique: These subsidies contribute to the inefficient use of fossil fuels, undermine the development of energy efficient technologies, act as a drag on clean, green energy deployment and in many developing countries do little to assist the poorest of the poor in the first place.
The huge sums involved globally could be better spent on schools, health care, renewable energies and building resilient societies. The current, very low oil prices are a good opportunity to really get going on this issue.
Stefan Lofven, Prime Minister of Sweden, said: History will prove fossil fuel to be a dead end. Sweden will be amongst the first fossil free welfare nations of the world. And eliminating fossil fuel subsidies is an important step on this path.
Hakima El Haite, Environment Minister of Morocco, candidate for the presidency of COP22, said: Not only do fossil fuel subsidies put a strain on government coffers but they also dont help the poorest of society.
Almost 40 countries have endorsed the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Communique, including: Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Samoa, the U.S., Uganda and Uruguay.
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Shailene Woodley, star of The Fault in Our Stars and the Divergent series, was arrested Monday morning while protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in Sioux County, North Dakota.
Screenshot from Shailene Woodley Facebook page.
Woodley was streaming live on her Facebook page Monday during a peaceful protest at Standing Rock. The protest was in response to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Monday that lifted a temporary injunction on the pipeline, allowing construction to resume.
back on Standing Rock. last night US district court of appeals denied injunction to halt #DAPL construction. https://t.co/SRYyd7gyXH Shailene Woodley (@shailenewoodley) October 10, 2016
The actress and environmental activist was trying to head back to her RV to go back to camp, when she noticed it was surrounded by police and a riot vehicle. As she approached her RV, she was stopped by police dressed in riot and military gear. After speaking with them, she was told on camera that she was being arrested for criminal trespassing. A spokesman for the Morton County Sheriffs Department said she was also arrested for engaging in a riot. Her mother was with her at the time.
https://www.facebook.com/ShaileneWoodley/videos/624115837749800/
When she asked why she was being arrested and no one else, and whether it was because people know who she is, the officer who appeared to be in charge said it was because she was identified.
As she was being put in handcuffs, Woodley explained to a person off-camera that she was being arrested for trespassing down by the pipeline where hundreds of others had gathered, but that she left as soon as police arrived and was told to leave.
Its because Im well-known, its because I have 40,000 people watching it, she said.
Twenty-six other protesters were also arrested, according to media reports.
Protesters and members of more than 90 Native American nations and tribes have been encamped on the Missouri River since May fighting against the construction of the 1,170-mile pipeline that would transport 470,000 barrels of crude oil across four states, including sacred sites and burial grounds.
Woodley has been very vocal on social media about her feelings on the Dakota Access Pipeline and has been at the protests on a consistent basis which she recently talked about on Late Night With Seth Meyers along with Bernie Sanders.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BK3276wjoU9/
Its been remarkable. Its one of the greatest experiences of my life, she said.
This is the first time that you have this many tribes gathered in one place, standing together united, to stand up for not only their rights, but human rights, and the access to clean waterall theyre doing is protecting clean water, she added.
Woodley said while the temporary halt on the pipelines construction the Obama administration did is beautiful, its not a win. A win, she said, is for them to say were not moving the pipeline to another location, but were going to stop it, like the Obama Administration did with Keystone XL.
Until then, were sure to see Woodley out there again as she continues to fight for Native American rights and the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The fire that the locals call the beast is back with a vengeance. Last week, the wildfire that ravaged parts of the tar sands town of Fort McMurray in Alberta seemed to have done its worst. But in recent days it has returned and headed to the tar sands camps north of the town, traveling at around 30-40 meters per second.
Thousands of tar sands workers are now under mandatory evacuation orders after a 665-bed camp belonging to Horizon Lodge Logistics, which was providing temporary housing, was completely destroyed by the fire.
The fire that the locals call the beast is back with a vengeance. Photo credit: EPA
By Tuesday afternoon, the fire had reached the edge of another camp: the Noralta Lodge camp, just a few kilometers east of Blacksand.
Its so scary and intimidating, said one tar sands worker, B.J. Spears, in an interview Tuesday. You just get on those buses and pray that youre headed away from the danger.
It continues to burn out of control, Rachel Notley, the Alberta Premier admitted Tuesday, as the fire reached an area of 355,000 hectares, fueled by bone dry conditions and strong winds. We expect fire growth in the area of many of these camps today, she added.
Tuesday the strong winds shifted the fire towards the vast Syncrude and Suncor Energy tar sands facilities, which are seen as more resilient to fire, in part due to the large deforested areas of the camps.
Suncor said it had begun shuttering its base plant operations as a precaution, saying in a statement it had started a staged and orderly shutdown of our base plant operations and its staff was being transported to camps further north.
Meanwhile, residents hoping to return to the main city of Fort McMurray are being hampered by the continuing threat of wildfires and chronic air pollution blanketing the city.
Earlier this week, the air quality index stood at 38it is normally measured on a scale of 1 to 10. Remarkably, though, some 90 percent of the town remains largely intact although some neighborhoods have been completely destroyed. According to Premier Notley, there is still no timeline on when residents can return.
Meanwhile the leading eastern edge of the fire is now expected to cross the state border into Saskatchewan.
As the fire rages on so does the debate on whether the fires are the result of climate change. On a blog post earlier this month I quoted Mike Flannigan, a wildfire expert at the University of Alberta who attributes the increase in the number of fires to climate change, fueled this year by the El Nino.
There are others who agree:
Based on what we know and in which direction the climate is going, yes, we can expect more frequent super fires, argues Marko Princevac, a fire expert at the University of California at Riverside. There is scientific consensus that climate change will lead to much more intense fires, more dry areas.
We know that fire records in Canada and the U.S. continue to be broken. We also know we are seeing unprecedented warm temperatures over the last few months. We also know that the six worst fire seasons since 1960 have all occurred since 2000.
There is definitely reason to be worried.
There of course predictable climate deniers who continue to argue otherwise. The UK Global Warming Policy Foundation ran an article Tuesday, We Cant Blame Climate Change for the Fort McMurray Fires.
Others are arguing that now is not the time to apportion blame regarding climate. We should wait until the emergency is over. Some do not take this view, though.
One of the most powerful responses I have seen has been written by the independent journalist, Martin Lukacs, who lives in Montreal.
Writing in The Guardian last week he wrote: These arsonists have a name and theyre hiding in plain viewbecause their actions, at the moment, are still considered legal. Theyre the companies that helped turn the boreal forest into a flammable tinder-box.
He continued: The same companies that have undermined attempts to rein in carbon emissions. The same companies that, by their very design, chase profits with no mind for the ecological and human consequences. Yet in the fires aftermath, it has seemed impossible to name them: fossil fuel corporations.
He contended that the fossil fuel companies should be footing the bill for the devastation. He also asked people to imagine the resiliency, courage and generosity that the people of Alberta have shown in response to the fires being harnessed to lead the transition to a healthier, more just post-carbon societyhelping prevent even more extreme weather to come. Imagine the rebuilding of Fort McMurray being not just a page turned on an unprecedented disaster, but the beginning of a new direction.
Maybe, in time, we can imagine a new direction. A place to start would be Albertas climate plan, which is meant to be published at the end of the month.
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To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.
One week after the brutal Hurricane Matthew passed by Haiti, the country is still experiencing a lot of loss. It has been said that the latest hurricane is worse compared to the 2012 Hurricane Sandy.
In Irish Times report, many communities in the country have been tragically affected by the hurricane. Most are submerged in flood waters and many houses have lost their walls and roofs. About 30-40 percent of the people have been displaced.
As of writing, the death toll from the destructive hurricane already rose to more than 1,000. Aside from that, many families are now facing starvation and sickness. If relief efforts won't increase, the death toll will be expected to rise.
According to CNN, the hurricane also accelerated the existing cholera epidemic in the country. Interim President Jocelerme Privert said in an interview that the government was already trying to avoid the spread of the disease. However, the storm's assault accelerated it.
Since the hurricane hit the country, 13 people have been reported dead. The United Nations is now involved in helping eradicate the disease in the country.
Haiti has one of the highest cholera cases in the world. The disease has killed almost 10,000 people in the country since 2010.
Cholera spreads through food and water contamination. It can cause severe diarrhea and vomiting. A person can die due to extreme dehydration if not treated quickly.
Cases of cholera have been most apparent in the departments of Sud and Grand-Anse. Health Ministry representative at Haiti's National Emergency Center, Rene Domersant told CNN that there are currently 128 confirmed cases of cholera in the country. These patients are now under observations and are currently receiving medical care.
The government is now focused on managing the emergency response in order to prevent more deaths. This will also help in ensuring that the families are provided with the basic necessities to help them survive in the coming weeks.
Point-of-sale (POS) systems seem to be a growing target for hackers. In early August, security expert Brian Krebs reported on his Krebs on Security site that Oracles MICROS POS division had suffered a breach in its customer support portal for companies using its point-of-sale card payment systems.
Attacks like this and a recent data breach involving Eddie Bauer Stores in the U.S. and Canada are just a few examples of hackers targeting POS systems.
Hackers always look for low-hanging fruit, security experts point out, and POS systems are relatively easy targets because they tend to have older, easily hacked security protocols.
Hackers are going after the path of least resistance, said Fred Kneip, CEO of CyberGRX, a provider of risk management software. People have not evolved with the technology.
What about EMV Technology?
Many large retailers, notably Target, Home Depot and Wal-Mart, have upgraded their POS systems to take EMV (chip) cards, designed to prevent certain types of payment fraud.
Other retailers have yet to activate the EMV capability. A Boston Retail Partners survey published earlier this year found that just 22 percent of retailers currently support EMV, with another 53 percent planning to do so within the next 12 months. And some merchants, primarily smaller ones, still have older POS systems that cannot even accept chip cards.
But a POS systems ability to accept EMV cards does not affect the type of vulnerability that hackers are targeting, involving outdated operating systems. The new POS terminals did not require the updating of back-end OS systems to attain EMV capability.
POS Securitys Low-hanging Fruit Problem
Many of the systems are still running Windows XP or other out-of-support operating systems with known vulnerabilities, and there are no patches for them, said Christopher Budd, global direct communications manager for security company Trend Micro.
A credit union in June filed a class-action lawsuit against restaurant chain Wendys in response to a data breach that affected at least a few hundred restaurants, alleging that Wendys security systems were outdated, payment card information wasnt deleted when it was supposed to be, antivirus software wasnt regularly updated, firewalls werent maintained and access to network and credit card data wasnt monitored.
Unfortunately, this type of careless behavior is not uncommon, security experts say.
Security of their back-end systems isnt always top of mind for retail merchants, many of whom struggle with profit margins, inventory shrinkage (shoplifting), e-commerce competition and other business issues, Budd said. The back-end systems that are the brains of POS terminals are often left unattended.
So, for example, there is no one to prevent a disgruntled employee or manager from using a USB drive to infect the system with malware or to pull customer information or other critical data from the system.
When people think of hackers, they invariably think about online security, Budd said. But the fundamental foundation of security is physical control. If you dont have that, then you dont have adequate control.
Another issue with internal security is that many merchants employ transitional or temporary staff to handle their machines much of the time and they simply dont heed security protocols, said Mark Shelhart, senior manager of incident response and forensics at Sikich, a technology and managed services firm.
This is particularly true in the hospitality industry, where workers in quick service restaurants and staffs in other establishments tend to have short tenures. So these establishments are particularly attractive to hackers, said Steve McKean, president of TableSafe, a company that sells a solution designed to allow diners at restaurants pay for meals with cards never leaving their possession. The back-end payment systems are centralized, sometimes processing and retaining data for several establishments.
Merchants need to make sure that customer data isnt retained in their systems, McKean said.
Remote Access and Encryption
Additionally, back-end systems typically offer remote access for authorized personnel, but remote access isnt always locked down to ensure that only authorized personnel have access, said Shelhart, who noted that too many small merchants rely on inexpensive and ineffective firewalls and use simple, easily guessed passwords.
Echoing the thoughts of many other security experts, Shelhart recommended that merchants insist on POS systems that have point-to-point encryption as well as encryption of any data at rest. The encryption helps ensure that, even if a hacker successfully compromises the system, she will not be able to access any useful data.
Importance of Vetting Vendors
Vetting vendors is key, said Shelhart, pointing out that too many merchants trust the vendors word rather than doing their own due diligence, often because they dont understand the potential danger from an unsecure POS system.
Thats the biggest security gap that we have right now, he said. Dont trust what the vendor is telling you about the systems security. Do your own homework.
Vendor vetting is an even bigger issue overseas, particularly in Brazil and China, where some POS systems are infected with malware before they are sold, according to Budd. He advises merchants considering POS purchases to stay with reputable, known vendors rather than buying machines from unknown companies, particularly if the vendor is based in China, Brazil or another country known to have issues with malware-infected terminals.
More Holistic Approach to POS Security Needed
POS systems have always been targets, said Torsten George, vice president of global products and markets for RiskSense, a provider of risk management software. Theres too much focus on the endpoints and not on the back-end systems. Companies arent looking at the application layer or at the database layer.
Another issue, George said, is that companies rely on siloed security solutions one to handle security of POS systems, one to handle security of back-end systems and another to handle database systems.
Organizations need to think more holistically. They need to move away from just focusing on endpoints, George said. You need a legion of people to connect all of the dots. The hackers are relying on machines to create the attacks, but we are still relying on humans to prevent the attacks.
Phillip J. Britts work has appeared on technology, financial services and business websites and publications including BAI, Telephony, Connected Planet, Independent Banker, insideARM.com, Bank Systems & Technology, Mobile Marketing & Technology, Loyalty 360, CRM Magazine, KM World and Information Today.
To reach me for collaborations, sponsorships, and event invitations, I am contactable at
the-ice-angel@hotmail.com
John E. Herbst (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Auswartige Politik)
The disintegration of the Soviet Union meant a significant geopolitical change and the end of the bipolar world order that was a typical feature of the Cold War. Its demise gave a rise to a grey zone in Europe, comprised of those countries that found themselves wedged between the Western and Russian spheres of influence. The Baltic States gradually managed to achieve membership in NATO and the EU, thus becoming full-fledged members of the Western community. However, the same cannot be said about Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and the three Caucasus countries Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. These states still remain areas in which the West and Russia are competing for influence. Which policy are both actors implementing in these regions and what steps should the West take now?
Although Russian President Boris Yeltsin sought to settle relations between the Kremlin and the West ever since taking his office, Moscow has never given up on the idea of creating a Eurasian political and economic community under its leadership. This vision materialized with the founding of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which has, however, fallen short of expectations and has not become a counterweight to the Union. Russia does not hesitate to ensure its influence in the region by using military force and as it turned out, for example, via military aid to the separatist Transnistria that lead to a de facto separation from Moldova, the Russian involvement in the 2008 conflict in Georgia or through the annexation of Crimea and subsequent direct involvement of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
The Western community, in contrast, seeks to strengthen relations with the above-mentioned countries and assist them in the implementation of important political and economic reforms. Despite all the efforts of Western countries, especially Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova remain very vulnerable to Russia. The West should therefore help them overcome their weaknesses, which Moscow uses to maintain its influence in the region.
The West should, for example, focus on the assistance in the reform of the dysfunctional banking system that creates a fertile ground for corruption and money laundering. Another point should be enhanced economic cooperation that would allow the countries to become less dependent on Moscow. Cooperation in the energy sector is yet another important area the EU needs to build a strong Energy Union that will extend beyond its borders. The implementation of EU energy policy together with financial assistance and the modernization of the energy sector are particularly important for Ukraine and Moldova.
(The study can be downloaded here: https://dgap.org/en/article/getFullPDF/28357)
The general elections in Morocco have seen the victory of the ruling moderate Islamist party, the Justice and Development Party (known by the French acronym PJD), who beat a rival liberal party. The PJD advocates Islamism and Islamic democracy. The ballot was held on 7 October as the second elections after King Mohammed VI had introduced constitutional reforms in 2011 in response to the Arab Spring.
After five years in government, PJD won 125 seats while its rival, the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) took 102, the result that critics say is too close and will likely complicate talks on the formation of a new coalition government. The conservative Istiqlal party took 46 seats. Under the countrys system, no party can win an outright majority in the 395-seat parliament and the winning party must form a coalition. A prime minister is chosen by the king, who retains most executive powers.
Analysts believe that the results mirror the countrys divide over economic priorities. The incumbent Prime Minister, Abdelilah Benkirane of PJD, has mostly focused on reforms encouraged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) such as cutting subsidies and pensions but he largely failed to reduce high levels of unemployment, especially among the youth. In contrast, PAM leaders ran their pre-election campaign on the promises that they would end the freeze on government hiring and unpopular pension reforms.
The European Union has not commented on the result of the elections yet. EUs foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, visited Rabat in March after Morocco had suspended all ties with Brussels due to a ruling by the European Court of Justice, rendering a farm trade deal illegal because it had included the disputed region of Western Sahara. Morocco is one of the partners of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Euromed) and the EU is the countrys first trading partner with total trade amounting to approximately 29.25 billion in 2014.
Written by ACM
*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- The 2016 Winner of the prestigious "Vaklav Havel" Human Rights Prize, awarded at the PanEuropean, 47-Member Countries-strong CoE, the former ISIS' Prisoner, Young "Yazidi" Minority Girl, Nadia Murad, surprized Today in Strasbourg by Strongly Criticizing those who, inside the current International Community, don't really Do Anything Important in order to Find and Punish those Islamistic Extremist Terrorists of ISIL's atrocious BeHeaders even of Defenseless and Innocent Civilian People, who, in Fact, "Attack all Humanity", and its most elementary Moral Values, as she said, (See Infra), largely Applauded by MEPs, Journalists and other participants, who Exceptionaly Stood up, spontaneously to Salute her.
F.ex., ISIS Barbarian Terrorists, just 2 Years ago (on 2014), Attacked and Destroyed the Villages of some 12.000 "Yazidi" People, made Prisoners, and "sought to Force us to Deny our Religion", reminded the fragile but resolute Young Girl who had been Taken Prisoner while aged 21, with many Women and Children, but Managed to Escape after 3 Months of Captivity, becoming a Human Rights Activist at nearby Germany. "They Murdered Men (after being Jailed). They EnSlaved and/or Sold Women. And they Kidnapped Children, in order to Manipulate and make them "Child-Soldiers". Even Young Girls, from just 8 or 9 Years of Age, were Raped: I saw Girls just 8 or 9 y.o. being Raped, at an Age when they DidN't even Know what that Word meant, she Denounced, inter alia, Threatening a real "Genocide", as she pointed out.
+ They also Attacked Others, particularly Christians, but also Many Muslims, etc.
- "ISIS claims to act in the name of Religion, But, in reality, all it's doing is Trumpling underfoot all Humanity's Values", she stressed.
=> - In fact, "They are Attacking Humanity", she rightfully Concluded.
- "This ... is a Threat to us all. And we have, therefore to Mobilize, to Rally, to Stand Together", Nadia Murad Urged
---------------
- "That's why we must Bring Justice".
"We can't have Barbarians Destroy Peoples, Civilisations and Cultures !", she vowed.
- In consequence, She "Call(ed MEPs) to Help Save persecuted Minorities in the Middle East", "Save Women and Children in Conflict Zones", from other such "War Crimes", and "raise Awareness in the World-wide Community".
=> - "It's Important that such Criminals are Brought to Justice", f.ex. "in a Special Tribunal to Prosecute these Crimes".
----------------------
-"However, Today, Noone has been Prosecuted for Killing or Enslaving 12.000 Yazidi People. Noone has been Booked. Noone has been Called to Account !", Nadia Murad denounced.
- "In fact, No Effort, whatever, has been made (not even) to Gather Evidence : As things stand, Nobody seems to prepared to even Document these Crimes !", she revealed.
=> In Consequence, "I am UnHappy, ... I am Sad that the World is Refusing to react. That Justice is Not been done", Nadia Murad Denounced Bitterly.
- "I personaly Lost 18 Members of my Family. Some Died, others Disappeared. And there are Thousands of Men and Women, like myself, who have Nobody, Neither Local, Regional, National or International body, Responding in any way, or showinng any Signs that they want to make sure that Justice is done", she regretted.
=> - But, nevertheless, "I Hope that this Prize will give Renewed Strength", in order "to Continue to Move Forward, and Fight against (such) Extremism, and See to it that Good Prevails", the 2016 "Vaklav Havel" Human Rights Prize concluded.
------------------
CoE Assembly's President, ChristianDemocrat/EPP MEP Pedro Agramunt, who Handed to the Recipientr the prestigious Prize, (named after the World-Famous Writer, Political Dissident, and former President of the Czech Republic), praised in fine Nadia Murad for her "Courage" and "Commitment to Human Rights".
She had Strong Competition to Face for the prestigious "Vaklav Havel" Prize, including by a prominent Journalist and Human Rights Activist on Free Speech from Serbia, and even the prestigious International Institute for Human Rights "Rene Cassin", Heaquartered in Strasbourg and Chaired also by former ECHR President Jean-Paul Costa, (Comp. recent Costa's Reply to an "Eurofora" Question at: ....).
But she was Selected, last Weekend in Strasbourg, at a Secret Meeting of a Group of Experienced, Top European Human Rights Experts from several CoE's Member Countries, (including, f.ex., inter alia, a Polish Expert, as well as the former Long-Time President of CoE Parliamentary Assembly's Legal and Human Rights Committee, Lawyer and f. MEP Christos Pourgourides, from Cyprus, the Country that is going to take over the PanEuropean Organisation's rotatng Presidency for the period of November 2016 - May 2017).
The Young "Yazidi", Nadia Murad, has already been one of the Nominees for the "NOBEL" Peace Prize, was recenrtly Appointed as UNO's Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking (September 2016), and currently is also one among the Nominees for EU Parliament's "Zacharov" Prize, awarded each Year for the Freedom of Expression, whose Winner will be Known Later this Month, (towards the End of October 2016).
UN SG Ban Ki Moon, (who has recently met Personaly with Nadia Murad), in a landmark Speech, previously in Brussels, had launched a vibrant Call to the EU for resolute Action in order to Save innocent People and bring an elementary Justice by punishing the Perpetrators of Serious Crimes which in fact, Threaten Humanity.
(See relevant "Eurofora"s NewsReport at :.....) .
------------
By a Timely Coincidence, Nadia Murad's plaidoyerie against ISIS' Bloody Terrorists, Denouncing a Scandalous Inaction somewhere inside the International Community, (Comp. Supra), came just Hours after the Latest Public Debate between the 2 Front-runner Candidates in the forcthcoming, November 8, crucial US Presidential Election, where Republican Candidate Donald Trump, reiterated, at his own Initiative (i.e. even without such a Question to be yet Raised by another participant) an even Stronger Call to put an End to ISIS' Misendeavours, Accusing the Out-going US President Obama and the former State Secretary Hillary Clinton, to have found only a Small Part of Iraq infested by Extremist Islamists, but to have themselves, after 8 More Years in Power (2009-2016+) Spread ISIS Terrorists in 32 Countries accross the World, as he said.
To what, Hillary, (who is also the Democrates' Candidate for the Job of New US President), simply Expressed a "Hope" that ISIS would be, finaly Defeated before the End of Obama's now finishing US Presidency, (up to January 2017), and, at any case, anounced her Intentio to rather "Go after El Bagdadi" himself, as she said, pointing at the supposed Ideological Leader of ISIS Deadly Terrorism.
However, the American People, notoriously don't have more, Today, than only Less than a Month, until the Decisive US Presidential Election's Day, (10 October - 8 November 2016)...
Shortly After that, will notoriously Follow 2 other Crucial Elections in Europe, First in France, and later-on in Germany, (May and September 2017).
Russia, which has just Completed its National Elections on September 2016, has recently Reminded President Vladimir Putin's invitation, for his Western and other Counterparts, to Join all Together in a Decisive Fight against ISIS' Deadly Terrorists, complaining that, with some Exceptions, curiously, No fully Convincing, Positive Answer hadn't been given yet, at least, until recently.
(../..)
Written by ACM
*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- The most Important European Associations of Judges, gathered Together on the sidelines of CoE Parliamentary Assembly's (PACE) Autumn 2016 Plenary Session in Strasbourg, at the initiative of its Experienced former President, f. Minister and Head of the Liberal Group of MEPs, Anne Brasseur, from Luxembourg, slamed what they described as an unprecedented and atrocious Massive Oppression of Tens of Thousands of Judges, still Persisting in Turkey, on pretext of an alleged Coup Attempt of Less than 6 Hours, last July 2016, before a "Hot" Urgent public Debate on the general Situation in that Country, decided by PACE here for Thursday, (Comp. also : ...).
- Edith Zeller, President of the Association of European Administrative Judges, (i.e. those who are entrusted with the Task to rule on the most Sensitive Cases for Human Rights, Freedoms and Democracy, concerning Citizens' relations to Public Authorities), speaking later-on to "Eurofora", expressed Strong Doubts about Ankara's shaky Claim that "more than 2.500 or 3.000 Dismissed Judges would have been related to that Strange, short-lived "Coup" Attempt.
>>> Moreover, in her Official Speech at the above-mentioned PACE Side-Event (Comp. Supra), she Strongly Denounced, inter alia, also several "Rapes" of arrested "Women and Men", added to some "75 Suicide Attempts" among those Detainees, as well as the Fact that Ankara Government's "Prosecutors just have one and Same List of Questions for Everyone", WithOut making a real "Individual Examination" of Each Person's Case, in Violation of ECHR's Article 6 on the Human Right to a "Fair Trial".
- F.ex., when an accused, prosecuted and Detained Judge simply asks : - "Why Me ?", most of the Times he doesn't get any real Answer, except from a routinely Repeated, general and vague Formula, abused by Turkish pro-AKP Government Prosecutors for all of those detainees, she characteristicaly Explained, later-on, to "Eurofora".
Meanwhile, except from a Human Rights Watch query, made by that World-Famous NGO itself, it's Only CoE's "Committee to Prevent Torture" (CPT) which Visited some involved Turkish Prisons, recently, but its fortthcoming Report won't be made Public, as long as the Ankara Government opposes its Publication, according to the CPT Statute's Rules. As for a planned Fact-finding "Visit by UNO's Rapporteur on Torture", from Nearby Geneva, it "was Postponed by Turkey to November", more than a Month Later, she Regretted. -"All these things (among a Longer list) make us Believe that there is Something to be Investigated", Zeller concluded.
+ Another Legal Expert from the Dutch-speaking "Judges for Judges" NGO, Denounced, in Addition, the Fact that Turkish Prosecutors even "Take the Salaries" of the Victims, who, therefore, "canNot Afford" to pay Lawyers for a real Defense, and cited a series of cases resulting in "Absurd" situations, where, f.ex., "from the 7 Defense Lawyers, 4 Laid Down their Defense" mandates recently.
In Addition, those Detainees are Allowed "Only 25 Minutes per Week" (sic !) for Communication with their Lawyers, etc., while any "Visits Last only 5 Minutes per Month", he denounced.
Most Important : Various such Massive Persecutions of alleged dissident Judges had Already Started as Early as "since 2015", so that they obviously canNot be really Attibuted to that Strange, 6 Hours-long, alleged "Coup" Attempt, the Dutch Expert representing the "Rechters voor Rechters", specialized Human Rights NGO, criticaly concluded.
++ => In Consequence, after having Attested such and other, Massive Gross Violations of many Thousands of Dismissed Judges' basic Human Rights, several competent European Organisations have recently decided to "Examine a Suspension request against the current Turkish "Higher Council of Judges", while Others "already have Stoped any Relations" with them, Revealed the President of the European Association of Judges, (which Includes All Judges, i.e. also those who deal with Cases Between Citizens, etc), Christophe Regnard.
- Reacting, the Ambassador of Turkey, accused all those Experts at the CoE to make "UnSubstantiated" Denonciations, Claiming that they were "Not Documented".
- Replying, President Anne Brasseur, while acknowledging a possible need for the Turkish Authorities to Check if some Judges might have, eventualy, miss-behaved for Political reasons in some cases, (as they routinely Claim), but Strongly Rejected as Unacceptable, the abuse, by that Turkish Ambassador, of the Wording "Clean up" (sic !), in order to designate the current Massive Prosecutions of Dissident Judges, and stressed that PACE, as a matter of General Principle, does Not Admit for "Human Rights to be Trampled underfoot".
+++ During a subsequent, "Free" Debate at CoE's Assembly, later this Afternoon, it's also the President of PACE's "EuroLeft" Group, Dutch Senator Tiny Cox, who slamed Ankara's "Coup" Pretext as "a False Excuse" to massively violate elementary Human Rights, both in these and many other cases, Warning that if there might, eventualy, have existed a Danger for Human Rights "from that (alleged) Coup Attempt" of mid-July 2016, in fact, anOther such "Danger" is "also the Turkish Government itself"...
Meanwhlle, a Hearing of CoE's Human Rights' Commissioner, Nils Muijnieks, by the PanEuropean Organisation's Parliamentary Assembly''s Committee on Legal affairs and Human Rights, which was Focused on his Recently Published, critical Report about the current situation of the Freedom of Media in Turkey, (See, f.ex. : .....), was Held Behind Closed Doors ("in Camera"), later-on, this Afternoon.
(../..)
Scientific innovation joined to Faith for Human Rights, Eastern Partnership and fight against the Crisis, but above all, the need to overcome the "Crisis of Trust" from EU Citizens, are the main priorities for new EU Parliament's President, Polish Jerzy Buzek, that a 555-votes-strong majority of MEPs on July 14, Strasbourg made a living symbol of the fact that, 20 years after the fall of Berlin Wall (1989 - 2009) there is no more an Eastern or Western Europe, but only one Europe, as the head of the largest group of MEPs, ChristianDemocrats/EPP, Joseph Daul, stressed after the event.
Speaking later to a group of Strasbourg's Journalists, including "EuroFora", the new EU Parliament's President clarified his stance on concrete topical issues, as f.ex. that of Turkey's controversial EU bid, which was one of the main issues of the June 2009 Electoral campain, clearly won by his party of ChristianDemocrats/EPP : - "At present, Turkey does not fullfil none of EU conditions", he stressed, (See infra).
Buzek is well known in Strasbourg and to "EuroFora" as EU Rapporteur for the Framework Program of Scientific Research and Development of Technologies. A Natural Science Professor from the Historic and Religious landmark Polish City of Czestochowa, active in the famous Solidarnosk grass-roots social movement, he served 4 years as Prime Minister (1997-2001), before being elected as MEP in 2004 and 2009, after he brillantly won the latest EU Election at the head of his party (EPP) almost doubling the number of its MEPs from 15 to 28 !
- "Innovation" and "Energy safety", as well as fight against the "Cimat change", but also "Eastern Partnership", the "Mediterranean", "Strategic partnerships" with Russia, the USA, etc, and the search for "solutions to the Economic Crisis" that EU Citizens "expect" from us, will be his "priorities", announced from the outset the new EU Parliament's President, reminding also that the quest for "Human and Civic Rights" played an important role in his experience with the Solidarnosc grass-roots social movement in Poland's History
But, the most important of all, is the urgent need to overcome the "Crisis of Trust" between EU Institutions and the People he stressed : - EU "Citizens often don't understand us", denounced Buzek, launcing a call to "do anything for EU Citizens to understand our work" in EU Parliament : "We (MEPs) need to make EU Citizens involved" in "what we are doing every week, in Strasbourg and Brussels", he proposed. Pointing f.ex. to the hot "Debates" with "strong arguments" exchanged between MEPs during the preparation of their Legislative Decisions, in Committees, delivering often hard struggles between initially opposed points of view, long before forging a majority at the final vote, sometimes more than a year..
Therefore, EU Parliament will be "open to your criticism, for discussion and exchange of views", he promissed to Journalists in Strasbourg.
In this way, Buzek, in fact, highlighted "EuroFora"s main idea, that we strongly advocate since 1997-2007, to systematicaly and actively involve EU Citizens in public debates during the decision-making process of important EU measures, which affect their lives and the society in which they live, (and not only just a few weeks each 4 or 5 Years at the eve of EU Elections)...
--------------------
This is related also to the symbolic gift that Buzek chose to give to the out-going former EU Parliament's President, Hans Gert Poettering, (2007-2009), his collegue in the ChristianDemocrats/EPP, who brillantly won 2009 EU Elections in Germany : A genuine statute of sainte Barbara crafted in Silesia's black Coal by Polish Miners : Those simple but strong people who fought for social change against some technocrats and bureaucrats disguissed into so-called "real-socialists" of old times. (PHOTO).
It's enough to have seen a popular open air mass, at Warsaw's center, with many thousands of people, old and young, simple workers and intellectuals mixed together, with references to Poland's history and struggles for survival and liberty, through various ages, (as fex. that organized at the eve of CoE's 2005 panEuropean Heads of State and Government for the beatification of late Pope John-Paul II), in order to understand what such symbols mean..
But, overcoming the "Crisis of Trust" with EU Citizens obviously implies also to rectify any errors done in the past, fex. on Turkey's controversial EU bid, with controversial decisions taken in 1999 and 2004 to give a "candidate" status and to start EU negotiations, provoking an unprecedented series of 3 "No" to EuroReferenda and 3 Majoriy Abstentions in EU Parliament Elections : 1999, 2005 and 2009, (even if the latest one succeeded to decelerate and almost stop the drop of participation rates, opening hopes for vote's revival after an electoral campaign clearly critical to Turkey's claims in several mainstream EU countries)
Therefore, Buzek was faced with manifold critical Questions on EU Enlargement, most of them citting concrete examples of certain political problems : But his replies were almost always given as a matter of general principle :
F.ex. Questioned on the suspension of EU - Croatia talks because of a Border conflict with EU Member Slovenia, Buzek prefered to speak about principles :
- "We know that during Enlargement, the process can be blocked by failure to resolve this kind of issues", This concerns also other enlargments' cases", and "these rules are always in force" he warned.
But Buzek avoided to directly reply to a queston on "French and German EPP' calls to define the Borders of Europe", as a German journalist asked him by making a reference to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor Angie Merkel's, critical statements on Turkey at the June 2009 Electoral campain.
- "Concerning Enlargement, there's always the same rules : There have to be Criteria, which have to be respected if a Country wants to join the EU", he started to simply reply.
- "For my country (Poland) it took us 15 Years to fullfil these Criteria", Buzek reminded, indicating, if proportions are kept, that Turkey, fex. would have to spend some 25 years before eventually joining the EU..
- "Countries wishing to join the EU need to Change their Systems", as we (Poland and other former Eastern European Countries) did, he stressed.
- "'For me, meeting the condition of Human Rights is one of the Key conditions for membership in the EU", preferring again to speak from the point of view of General Principles, on the occasion of an untimely question on Serbia (which is not even a candidate yet)...
- "Turkey" has, "first of all", to fullfil (EU) Copenhagen criteria". Bevause, currently, none of them is fullfiled by Turkey", New EU Parliament's President, denounced, speaking later to a group of Journalists, including "EuroFora".
In particular, on Human Rights : - "We (EU) can never forget Human Rights", because "this is at the very Foundations of the EU", Buzek added.
On the contrary, when he referred to EU Enlargment for the "Western Balkans Countries ", Buzek appeared upbeat, finding "promising situations", despite "difficulties" in the Past, since "Countries are queuing to become EU members", and this "generated changes", as he said.
As for Russia, Buzek observed that it was a "very important" country, located "in the same Continent", Europe, "close to our borders", and "we need eachother". "But Russia' has 'differend poblems : "They claim that their system is Democratic, but rules are differend", and we must be "aware of such differencies", fex. "on Human Rights", that we can't ignore, as he said;
Concerning China, where a journalist observed that the recipient of EU Parliament's latest "Sakharov prize" for freedom of thought is "still in prison", Buzek found that since the 1999 events in Tien Amin square, "we see differencies on Human Rights still today", and expressed his "support" for those who try to ameliorate the situation.
On the contrary, speaking recently to "EuroFora" he strongly supported the idea for an EU - Ukraine cooperation, fex. between Airbus and Antonov, in order to build a less costly but more performant than the old and problematic A400M, new Military Transport Airplane : - "They (Ukranian Antonov Company) can certainly do it. I'm sure they can. It's a good Idea, and I'd be glad if it was done", he told us. (See : http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/airbusantonov.html )
(../..)
FRANKFURT, Germany, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide welcomes the Philippine government's compensation payment made to PIATCO for the expropriated terminal project at Manila airport. This payment is in keeping with the Philippine Supreme Court's decision of September 8, 2015, which was again reaffirmed in April of 2016. The Supreme Court stipulated that the government of the Philippines must pay compensation because it declared the concession contract with PIATCO null and void and, in 2004, expropriated PIATCO's newly built airport terminal in the capital city of Manila.
Following the decision of the Philippine Supreme Court, PIATCO has received compensation payments for the expropriated terminal project in Manila. Based on this compensation, PIATCO has already made a partial payment to Fraport AG. Furthermore, Fraport AG intends to sell its shareholdings in companies in the Philippines and will no longer purse claims in connection with the expropriation of the terminal project at Manila airport.
Fraport AG's share of the total transaction amounts to about 270 million US dollars.
From the compensation inflows, Fraport AG is required to repay the German federal government up to some EUR40 million, which the company received in fiscal year 2008 under Germany's GKA (Bundesgarantie fuer Kapitalanlagen im Ausland) foreign-investment guarantee program.
The rest of Fraport's compensation sum will primarily impact the Group EBITDA, EBIT, and EBT in the current fiscal year and - taking into account taxes to be paid - will have correspondingly positive impact on the Group result.
In due time, the Fraport AG executive board will recommend to the supervisory board whether and to what extent the gain should be reflected in the dividend payment to the shareholders of Fraport AG.
Print-quality photos of Fraport AG and Frankfurt Airport are available for free downloading via the photo library [enlace ] located in our Press Center [enlace ] on the Fraport Web site [http://www.fraport.com/en.html ]. For TV news and information broadcasting purposes only, we also offer free footage material [http://fraport.cms-gomex.com/?lang=en ] for downloading.
If you wish to meet a member of our press team when at Frankfurt Airport, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our contact details are available here [enlace ].
Fraport AG [enlace ] - which ranks among the world's leading companies in the global airport business - offers a full range of integrated airport management services and boasts subsidiaries and investments on three continents. The Fraport Group generated sales of EUR2.6 billion and profit of about EUR297 million in 2015. In 2015, some 111 million passengers used airports around the world in which Fraport has more than a 50 percent stake. In its Mission Statement, Fraport places the focus on customers. The Group's commitment to ensuring a "good trip" to all passengers and travelers is also reflected in the corporate slogan: "Gute Reise! We make it happen". This dedication applies to all of Fraport's business activities in Frankfurt as well as the Group's airports worldwide.
At its Frankfurt Airport (FRA) home base [enlace ], Fraport welcomed more than 61 million passengers and handled about 2.1 million metric tons of cargo (airfreight and airmail) in 2015. For the current summer timetable, FRA is served by 95 passenger airlines flying to 290 destinations in some 100 countries worldwide. Half of FRA's destinations are intercontinental (beyond Europe) - underscoring Frankfurt's role as a leading hub in the global air transportation system. In Europe, Frankfurt Airport ranks second in terms of cargo tonnage and is the fourth busiest for passenger traffic. With about 59 percent of all passengers using Frankfurt as a connecting hub, FRA also has the highest transfer rate among the major European hubs.
Frankfurt Airport City [enlace ] has become Germany's largest job complex at a single location, employing more than 80,000 people at some 500 companies and organizations on site. Almost half of Germany's population lives within a 200-kilometer radius of the FRA intermodal travel hub - the largest airport catchment area in Europe. FRA Airport City also serves as a magnet for other companies located throughout the economically vital Frankfurt/Rhine-Main-Neckar region. Thanks to synergies associated with the region's dynamic industries, networked expertise, and outstanding intermodal transportation infrastructure, FRA's world route network enables Hesse's and Germany's export-oriented businesses to flourish in global growth markets. Likewise, FRA is a strategic gateway for companies wanting to access the huge European marketplace. Frankfurt Airport - which is strategically located in the heart of Europe - is one of the most important hubs in the global logistics chain.
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The Pound Sterling (GBP) exchange rates resumed their downward decline late on Monday, as the consolidation period following the fresh flash crash last week didnt last long.
The Pound to Euro exchange rate today: -0.02% at 1.10676.
The Euro to Pound exchange rate today (13/10/16): +0.02pct at 0.90354.
The Pound to Dollar exchange rate today: -0.19% at 1.21655.
The British pound ended up slipping against both the Euro and the US Dollar once again on Wednesday afternoon, repeating a trend that seems common this week wherein Sterling attempts to advance in the morning but gives up in the afternoon.
The US Dollar continued its bullish run on Wednesday, while the Euro remained weak amid speculation that the ECB would leave interest rates ultra-low for an extended period of time.
There was some relief for Pound Sterling (GBP) exchange rates on Wednesday morning, with the government performing a U-turn to give Parliament a debate on Brexit negotiating terms.
As this announcement suggested that the harder line of government politicians could be reined in by the Commons investors were encouraged to buy back into the Pound, although the GBP/USD exchange rate remained weak.
The Pound to euro (GBP EUR) exchange rate held its ground a little better on Tuesday afternoon, as the single currency was weakened by another increase in demand for the US Dollar.
This of course means that the Pounds value against the US Dollar continued to slump and extend its worst levels since 1985. Sentiment for the premiere US Dollar has been improving in recent weeks due to bets of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December as well as the hope of stability in markets after the US election in November.
The Pound to Euro (GBP EUR) and Pound to US Dollar (GBP USD) exchange rates fell for a fourth straight day as many currency analysts revised down their longer-term projections for Sterling.
The GBP/EUR exchange rate has remained under pressure in the wake of a positive raft of ZEW Economic Sentiment Survey results, with confidence within the Eurozone strengthening.
Even though the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for September proved a little weaker than forecast, meanwhile, this failed to prevent the GBP/USD exchange rate from extending its slump towards fresh lows
Flash Crash Triggers 6% Decline for Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates
British Pound (GBP) exchange rates plunged more than 6% in Asian trading on Thursday night with the move blamed on possible human error and algorithms at a time when liquidity was scarce. Therefore, it should be seen as a blip and the market corrected much of the losses by the opening bell in Europe on Friday, although not completely. Sterling was reeling and hit new 31-year lows versus the U.S Dollar and 6-years lows against the Euro. Sentiment in the UK and surrounding the Pound is at a real low ebb with investors increasingly pessimistic over the economic outlook as Britain hurtles towards a hard Brexit that is both bad for business and bad for the economy.
Current Pound (GBP) Euro (EUR) US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates
On Monday the Euro to British Pound exchange rate (EUR/GBP) converts at 0.861
FX markets see the pound vs euro exchange rate converting at 1.162.
The live inter-bank GBP-USD spot rate is quoted as 1.15 today.
The live inter-bank GBP-AUD spot rate is quoted as 1.802 today.
NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 31st Oct 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks.
GBP USD Conversion Rate Falls to 1.22, Parity Predicted
The Pound has fallen to 1.2285 this morning against the US Dollar (GBP USD) and there is at least one big bank betting on parity for GBP/USD over the next 12 months. Such a theory is almost science fiction but its a sign of the times. UK airports yesterday offered 80 cents for 1 on the Euro for travel money. The Pound has become a very politically motivated currency in recent weeks with formal negotiations with the EU not due to begin until Article 50 is triggered in the first quarter of 2017. It would be mutually beneficial to both the UK and the EU to have a soft Brexit, whereby Britain retains access to the single market.
Weak Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rate Forecast to Weigh on UK Economy
However, Theresa May last week gave a strong indication that the focus will be on immigration and the EU have insisted that any trade deal would require the acceptance of freedom of movement.
The EU seem more inclined to cut off their nose to spite their face in this scenario, preferring to take a hard-line approach to the UK exit from the trading bloc.
That is understandable I suppose given that the EU will want and need to set a precedent warning off other member nations of the repercussions of following the UK. In the meantime, we can expect further market volatility and, historically, a weak Pound hasnt been good for the UK economy, which will in turn spark concerns of a recession next year.
As it stands, Sterlings outlook is negative and further losses in the Pound to Euro (GBP EUR) and Pound to US Dollar (GBP USD) exchange rates are forecast.
Data Released 11th October
GER 10:00 ZEW Economic Sentiment (October)
U.S 11:00 NFIB Business Optimism (September)
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COLLEGE STATION Apollo Global Management bought Rackspace Hosting Inc. knowing it was different from its past ventures into publishing companies, Vegas casinos, or even the maker of Ding Dongs and Twinkies, Rackspace co-founder and Chairman Graham Weston told the San Antonio Express-News.
The $4.3 billion transaction, set to close this year, will take the publicly traded company private again. But Weston is confident the San Antonio companys withdrawal from the glare of Wall Street is temporary.
I think its likely that Rackspace will go public again in the next five to seven years, he said in an interview Friday at Texas A&M University where he graduated 30 years ago with a degree in agricultural economics.
Apollo, known for successful takeovers of iconic brands such as snack baker Hostess and educational publisher McGraw-Hill Education Inc., on Aug. 26 announced it had finalized a deal valued at $4.3 billion for the citys largest publicly traded technology company.
The agreement, the best of three leading offers, cashes shareholders out at $32 a share, a 38 percent premium to Rackspaces closing price when news of an imminent deal leaked to the media. Shareholders are set to vote on the transaction Nov. 2.
I think they were the high bidder for a reason, Weston said. They spent a substantial amount studying Rackspace and the opportunity of Rackspaces future.
While news of the sale came within days of news another local Fortune 400s acquisition Corner Store owner CST Brands Inc. on Aug. 22 said it was being bought for $4.4 billion by Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Weston said the scenarios were very different.
CST was bought by another convenience store chain, he said. I think Apollo has no other business in this industry.
Its not a Twinkie, he said, referencing Apollos ability to return the all-but dead Hostess Brands and its cream-filled sponge cakes to grocers shelves.
A favorite story in San Antonio is how Rackspace was founded when three college students met with Weston and business partner Morris Miller at the Chesters Hamburgers on Loop 410 and pitched the idea of renting data storage space. While Rackspace started out in 1998 as a sort of real estate firm for server space and went on to become one of the early pioneers in cloud computing, it was by 2015 being elbowed out by Silicon Valley.
The big players had jumped into the cloud game by then, and Rackspace found it couldnt compete price-wise with the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Google.
Investors realized it, too. The crisis was reflected in Rackspaces sliding stock price.
The decision was made to focus on Rackspaces trademarked fanatical support. The company went from competing with Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft to offering them complimentary services like support and cloud management
But Rackspaces deep pool of sales executives, Weston said, is no small part of the package Apollo is buying nor is having a San Antonio-Austin hub and Rackspaces current leadership team at the helm.
We have a very strong professional sales team that is among the best in the industry, and I think they can add additional services to the same sales force, he said. They see Rackspace as a platform that they can build other services on top of.
That sales focus ended up being Westons most formative takeaways from his days as a student at A&M even if it was almost by happenstance.
Westons parents were British, and he remembers growing up in a small country school in Marion as the kid with the foreign parents.
He enrolled in A&M, fully intending to help work his familys ranch in Guadalupe County. Real estate called him instead, whether with data storage or his ventures as a co-founder of local developer Weston Urban. The company plans to break ground in December on San Antonios first new downtown office tower in more than 25 years.
The sale has made Weston rich, but not as wealthy as he once was. Weston was worth more than $1.5 billion at Rackspaces peak price at least on paper. Hes walking away with approximately $606 million in cash on the Apollo sale.
Despite his fortunes, he still thinks his father now 93 is disappointed he didnt get into raising cattle.
Weston said his move toward a more informal supporter of Rackspace will allow him to focus on reinvigorating San Antonios urban center.
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Im focused on how do we make San Antonio a place my our children want to move home to, he said.
In 2015 he donated an undisclosed amount to fund the Weston Sales EQ Program, which will offer a minor degree in sales to A&Ms Department of Agricultural Economics. The program will be managed by Kerry Litzenberg, whom Weston remembers as his favorite professor at A&M.
He made a huge impression on me, Weston said of Litzenberg. One, he was my first computer class. And secondly, he taught us about professional sales.
On Friday, Weston was on hand to cut the ribbon for the first classroom dedicated to coursework in the minor.
Sales as a profession has had a bad brand, Weston said. And yet as we look at many organizations, many businesses, often the highest paid people in the organization are in sales. And I think that this is not known.
While he said there would inevitably be changes at Rackspace, he said its sales acumen was something that he imagined Apollo would strive to retain.
I think so many of our competitors didnt believe in having live people to help customers make decisions and decide what to buy, he said. These systems are new, theyre still evolving. Amazon last year launched 750 different features. How do customers find their way through that number of features to figure out what to do?
lbrezosky@express-news.net
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The city of San Antonio has reached an agreement that allows bankrupt City Tours Inc. to continue operating a shared-ride shuttle service at the airport at least for the next couple of months.
The city filed court papers last month seeking to terminate the agreement for the only shuttle service at San Antonio International Airport, alleging that City Tours was behind on its monthly fees both before and after it filed for bankruptcy protection on July 29. The company argued in court papers that the contract was necessary for its reorganization.
City Tours filed for bankruptcy after airport officials said it defaulted on its contract and were canceling the agreement, company President Edward Torres said at the time. The two sides came to a last-minute deal Tuesday hours before they were scheduled to fight it out in U.S. Bankruptcy Court here.
City Tours has blamed the rise in competition from ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft for siphoning away revenue from its Super Shuttle airport ride service. The shuttle service had been known as the GO Airport Shuttle before the name change in April. It operates a fleet of 15 vehicles, which primarily operate between the airport and downtown hotels.
At Tuesdays court hearing, the two sides asked Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ronald King to approve an interim order that calls for City Tours to pay the city $16,000 on Oct. 21, Nov. 7 and Nov. 30, plus undisclosed late fees.
Then they would theoretically be current in December, Richard Hettinger, an attorney for the city, told King. The payments only address the default that occurred since the bankruptcy filing, not before, he added.
The two sides are expected back in bankruptcy court on Dec. 12, when King can take up the citys request to terminate the agreement if City Tours misses any of the agreed-upon payments.
Hettinger declined to comment after the hearing. Were doing our best, said Dean Greer, City Tours bankruptcy lawyer, declining further comment.
Besides the shuttle business, City Tours operates three Alamo Double Decker tour buses and four red and green trolleys under the name Grand Trolley Tours, which frequent San Antonios most popular tourist destinations.
City Tours President Edward Torres has said the company lost more than $1 million in revenue at the airport in the 2 years leading up to the bankruptcy.
I will tell you the airport shuttle issue has caused damage to our company, Torres said after City Tours filed for Chapter 11.
The contract was expected to produce between $1.8 million to $1.9 million in annual revenue, he added. But it actually generated revenue of $1.75 million in 2014, $1.57 million in 2015 and $726,000 in the first half of 2016, according to the city.
Tom Jones, the citys interim aviation director, acknowledged in August that City Tours has experienced a decline in revenue but added there was still plenty of money to be able to meet his payments, which (Torres) continuously missed.
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City Tours has assumed the airport-shuttle service contract in 2009 and re-upped it for five years in 2011. The contract expired in May, and the parties agreed to extend it one year. At that time, Jones said, the monthly payment was lowered to $15,000 from $20,000. City Tours also pays $1,000 a month in rent for two ticket booths.
With the current shuttle contract set to expire at the end of May, Hettinger said the city expects it will be soliciting bids for the service within the next 60 days.
In bankruptcy papers, City Tours reported overall revenue of almost $4.4 million in 2014, about $4.2 million in 2015, and $1.6 million from the start of the year to the date of the bankruptcy filing.
The company listed about $5.4 million in assets and $4.9 million in liabilities. Among the largest creditors and amounts owed are: Wallis State Bank, $1.6 million; the IRS, $328,000; and the Bexar County Tax-Collector, $195,252. Each of those claims is disputed by City Tours.
pdanner@express-news.net
Twitter: @AlamoPD
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SEOUL, South Korea Samsung Electronics is killing its troubled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, a humbling about-face for the South Korean giant and its global brand. In an unprecedented move, the company will no longer produce or market the smartphones.
The demise of the Galaxy Note 7 is a major setback for Samsung, the worlds largest maker of smartphones. The premium device with a 5.7-inch screen, curved contours and comparatively high price won praise from consumers and reviewers and was the companys most ambitious effort yet to take on Apple for the high-end market.
But Samsung has struggled to address reports that the Galaxy Note 7 could overheat and catch fire because of a manufacturing flaw. Last month, the company said it would recall 2.5 million phones to fix the problem. But in recent days, Galaxy Note 7 users emerged with reports that some devices that had supposedly been repaired were overheating, smoking and even bursting into flames. And on Monday, Samsung asked Note 7 customers to power off the phones while it worked on the problem.
In a statement filed with the South Korean stock exchange late Tuesday, Samsung said it had made a final decision to stop production. The company will no longer make or market the phones, said a person familiar with the decision, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Samsung did not publicly disclose details.
Samsung has a strong position in modestly priced smartphones and has made progress in challenging the Apple iPhone for the high end of the market. Samsung showed its confidence in the new Galaxy Note 7 by skipping a sixth version in the series and offering the new phone beginning in August, before Apples introduction of its iPhone 7.
It was unclear where the Galaxy Note 7s problem began. But Samsungs fight to catch up with Apple by cramming increasingly sophisticated features into the device may have been the phones undoing. Industry experts are scrutinizing Samsungs supply chain to see whether the rush to market caused technical problems or led to corners being cut.
With the Note 7, Samsung strengthened its power as a speedy competitor, said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst with IBK Investment & Securities. But one wonders whether it hasnt raced ahead alone, without helping its component suppliers to catch up.
The company is facing an immediate, and substantial, financial blow. On Tuesday, even before Samsung had announced it was killing the Galaxy Note 7, its South Korea-traded shares fell more than 8 percent, its biggest daily drop since 2008, knocking $17 billion off the companys market value.
Strategy Analytics, a research firm, had earlier estimated that Samsung could lose more than $10 billion from the phones troubles. Samsungs smartphone business also helps its other divisions by buying their computer chips and panel screens.
Tougher to predict is how badly the Samsung brand itself will suffer. Its difficult to estimate now the damage it has caused to Samsungs mid- and long-term brand value, Lee said, as well as its impact on Samsungs smartphone sales in the future.
An editorial in South Koreas largest newspaper, the Chosun Ilbo, said: You cannot really calculate the loss of consumer trust in money.' It said Samsung must realize it didnt take many years for Nokia to tumble from its position as the worlds top cellphone maker.
No major manufacturer has killed off such a high-profile smartphone at the height of its popularity. But the person familiar with Samsungs decision to terminate production said the company had determined that simply removing the Galaxy Note 7 from the market would be the quickest way to stem further confusion and anxiety about the phone, albeit a costly one.
It is an embarrassing moment for Samsung, whose name has come to be synonymous among South Koreans with cutting-edge technology and manufacturing prowess.
The Galaxy Note 7 was one of the most ambitious products Samsung had begun marketing under the leadership of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who took the helm of the countrys largest family controlled conglomerate, or chaebol, after his father, chairman Lee Kun-hee, became ill in 2014. The senior Lee, who has not been seen in public since, famously burned a pile of 150,000 defective Samsung phones 21 years ago to demonstrate the companys commitment to quality.
Initially, Samsung watchers credited Lee Jae-yong also known as Jay Y. Lee with acting with similar decisiveness when Samsung first recalled the 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 devices. But as the phones problems lingered, scrutiny intensified.
The troubling part for many is that Samsung recalled the devices, but then had to try to fix the problem a second time.
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Maybe they should look harder and closer at what is happening at the management level, said Roberta Cozza, a research director with Gartner Research, who cited the damage to Samsungs credibility with customers and with telecommunications carriers.
Earlier Tuesday, the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, a government organization, recommended that Samsung stop selling the device, saying it had enough reason to believe the replacement model also had a possible defect. The agency did not provide details.
The government also ordered South Korean airlines not to accept Galaxy Note 7 phones in luggage and to ensure that those who carry them on board powered them down.
Just hours before the Galaxy Note 7s demise, Samsung said it would stop selling the model around the world, essentially pulling it from the market as it sought to determine what had caused the fires. It said it had asked telecom carriers and retailers globally to stop sales and exchanges of the device. Samsung had also asked all consumers with original Galaxy Note 7s or replacement models to power them down and to stop using them while the company worked with regulators to solve the problem.
Just a few hours before that, Samsung said it had temporarily halted production of the Galaxy Note 7 to try to fix the problem.
In South Korea, the company apologized to consumers and business partners, while mobile carriers offered refunds to owners of the phones or allowed them switch to other Samsung models.
The decision to end production came on the same day that the recall spread to China. Samsung had said earlier that models sold in China contained batteries that were different from those that had caught fire. But Tuesday, before it announced the end of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung said it was recalling nearly 191,000 of the devices in China.
That did not go over well with many Chinese consumers. Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 explodes, and they recall their phones in every other country except for China. They really look down on us, wrote one user on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform.
As a new wine bar called High Street Wine Co. prepares to open as early as next week at The Pearl, the bar and the sommelier behind it are positioned to be catalysts for a San Antonio wine culture boost.
That boost is arguably overdue in a city where the craft cocktail scene is in full swing, breweries come online with sudsy regularity and distillers offer their own proof of life. And yet when it comes to wine drinking, San Antonio is in a standby state, standing by its boilerplate California reds and butter-bomb chardonnays.
But Texas sommeliers and wine enthusiasts have reason to hope that San Antonios wine scene might soon start to evolve. A measure of that hope lies in High Streets Scott Ota, an advanced-level sommelier and veteran of Austin restaurant wine programs. The fact that he left Austin to come here isnt the salient point. Its all the places he could have gone large East and West Coast markets but instead chose San Antonio as the place to stake his future.
In 2014, Wine & Spirits magazine named Ota one of the countrys six best new sommeliers. At 34, his resume already includes several Austin jobs, from quirky haute cuisine icon Restaurant Jezebel, to the historic Driskill Grill in the Driskill Hotel and with the prolific ELM Restaurant Group.
One of those places Ota could have landed was New York City, where he explored a high-profile job with Danny Meyers restaurant group, which includes Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern. San Francisco also played into the mix.
But two things drew Ota to San Antonio. One was the chance to build his own wine program, conceptually and physically, from the ground up one that aims to stand with the best in the country. The other? A story as old as time: To be with his girlfriend, a bookseller in San Antonio.
But this particular love story is more about the love of wine, lots of wine: Otas packing 170 labels into 1,275 square feet, the size of High Streets shotgun space across from the Granary at The Pearl. Its about selling wine by the bottle for retail or to drink at the bar. Its about 30 wines by the glass starting at $4 and topping out at $12 for a glass of real Champagne, not just the sparkly stuff. Its about making wine as approachable as craft beer, Ota said.
We wanted to focus on these really small artisanal producers. Not necessarily expensive wines, he said, citing wines such as Idlewild from California and Bengoetxe sparkling txakolina from Spains Basque Country for as low as $21 a bottle.
The artisanal approach counts for Ota, who sees the citys tastes leaning more toward safe California wines. He said hed like bring together fans of German wines, Champagne, Burgundy and other styles to move the culture forward. Already hes found other like-minded wine pros he respects in San Antonio, including Fabien Jacob of Bohanans Prime Steaks & Seafood, Mark Fusco at Mortons the Steakhouse and Roberto Pacheco at Paesanos.
Respect for Ota abounds in the iconoclastic Central Texas wine community. Craig Collins with the ELM in Austin, a master sommelier whom Ota considers a mentor, worked with Ota at ELMs French bistro Arro in Austin before it closed this year. Collins draws parallels between the Austin wine community he helped foster 10 years ago with fellow sommeliers Devon Broglie and Mark Sayre and the educators spirit Ota brings to San Antonio. Hes a cheerleader the citys never had, said Collins.
Cheerleader isnt a stretch. A job posting on the wine professionals site GuildSomm.com lays out High Streets mission in its own words: High Street ... aims to be the educational epicenter for wine in the city. The mission includes retail sales of wine by the bottle, wine flights to compare styles, small plates of meat and cheese and a consumer-friendly feature of The Pearls neighborhood zoning: glasses of wine to go.
Wine bars arent new to San Antonio, and some, like Nectar Wine Bar and Ale House, offer a similar blend of wine education and hospitality. But High Streets low price point and esoteric offerings mark a departure from the usual formula.
As Ota sat for an interview, Shayne Bernier of Victory Wine Group brought in a bottle of small-grower Champagne for Ota to preview. Berniers six-year career in San Antonio includes a year at 20nine Restaurant & Wine Bar in the Alamo Quarry Market, which he said represents San Antonios enduring fondness for big cabernets and buttery chardonnay, while High Street represents where the citys going, with a focus on small producers and varietals.
Sam Hovland, a wine seller and consultant whose now-closed East End Wines shop in Austin was an outpost for undersung wines, said of Ota, Hes smart, focused and inquisitive without being overly precious.
Hovland called San Antonio an interesting in-between market: Not as prominent as Houston, Dallas or Austin, but with a population to support wine culture growth. Its a growing sentiment among Texas wine pros.
I feel like San Antonio is in a renaissance as far as wine culture, said Carole Wong, who teaches wine studies at the Culinary Institute of America - San Antonio at The Pearl and writes about wine for the Express-News. Shes also part of a wine study group with Ota.
Wong believes the San Antonio wine scene already benefited from Jacob at Bohanans and Adam Spencer with Supper at the Hotel Emma, to the point where even cocktail bars are paying as much attention to their wine offerings as their old fashioneds. She puts the Paramour and Pearl newcomer Jazz, TX in that category.
A lot of expectation has been packed into High Streets long, lean space, designed by San Antonios Dado Group with reclaimed teak slats in long, east-to-west lines and a welded steel bar the length of the room from Total Art Design & Architecture in New Braunfels. High Streets owner is San Antonio investor Mark Stoltz.
Colin Rudy, director of business development for the Austin wine distributor Virtuoso Wine and Spirits, which counts High Street, Bliss, Bohanans and Hot Joy among its clients, said Ota is getting ahead of the curve with High Street.
San Antonio has always quietly appreciated good wine, Rudy said. The potential for greatness is already there. That potential has led Virtuoso to expand its San Antonio sales staff from two to three this year, an expansion undertaken in part to handle crossover growth from the Hill Country, Rudy said.
Bohanans sommelier Jacob might argue that the San Antonio wine culture evolution was already underway before High Street, possibly starting 13 years ago when the Frenchman arrived at the Watermark Hotel (now the Mokara) to train the staff in wine service and found all the red wines crammed into a fridge in the back.
Im very French, so you know what I said. I asked them, Whos in charge of the wine? They said, No one. the certified sommelier recalled, horrified. The chef may be a painter. And you can have a beautiful piece of art, but sometimes it needs a frame, and that frame is the wine.
Since then, Jacob has worked in wine service for chef Andrew Weissmans late restaurants Le Reve and The Sandbar Fish House & Market, and for the past four years at Bohanans, with 617 labels in its wine cellars and a respectable two-glass rating from Wine Spectator magazine.
Still, Jacob says, San Antonio isnt the most adventurous market. We still have a long way to go.
msutter@express-news.net
Twitter: @fedmanwalking
The growth of San Antonios restaurant scene took a while to hit, but its in full bloom and now this is the best time for dining out in the history of the city.
Theres still room to grow and improve, but this city, like never before, has a diversity of very good restaurants that fulfill the promise of an excellent meal and it continues to getting better each year.
If youre looking for an excellent restaurant, here are some of the best of what San Antonio has to offer:
Bella on the River: This cozy space fills up quickly with tourists and locals wanting to experience the skillfully rendered, comfortable Mediterranean-inspired dishes from chef Sean Fletcher. Owner David Snyder leads a strong and knowledgeable front of the house staff. 106 River Walk, 210-404-2355, bellaontheriver.com. DT
Biga on the Banks: Chef and partner Bruce Auden catapulted to the top of the citys dining scene when he arrived here in the mid-1980s, and he has grown into an elder statesman among the citys top-tier chefs. His dishes have passed from novel tastes to dining standards; Audens team still prepares them with panache and confidence while presenting a vision of South Texas on a plate. 203 S. St. Marys St., 210-225-0722, biga.com. DT
Bliss: Chef-owner Mark Bliss leads a team that presents dishes with understated artistry and makes it look easy. The professional and knowledgeable staff is every bit the equal of the lovely parade of contemporary America dishes coming from Bliss kitchen. 926 S. Presa St., 210-225-2547, foodisbliss.com. DT
Bohanans Prime Steaks and Seafood: The best steakhouse in the city consistently produces nearly perfect steaks, lamb chops and seafood on a mesquite grill, and provides impeccable service that matches the dishes. Precisely made classic cocktails and an extensive wine list complement the main dishes, while side dishes and desserts are gloriously decadent. 219 E. Houston St., 210-472-2600, bohanans.com. DT
Chama Gaucha: Other Brazilian steakhouses, or churrascarias, are out there, but few match the gracious level of service, stylishly elegant interior or the strong overall quality throughout the menu. And its one of the citys strongest restaurants of any cuisine. 18318 Sonterra Place, 210-564-9400, chamagaucha.com. NC
The Cookhouse: If the jazz, blues and New Orleans music and ambience dont get you smiling, then the down-home New Orleans dishes from chef-owner Pieter Sypesteyn surely will lighten your mood. Lunchtime muffulettas are pretty amazing, too. 720 E. Mistletoe Ave., 210-320-8211, cookhouserestaurant.com. NC
Cured: Chef-owner Steve McHugh has amassed a slew of honors and exposure with his deeply personal restaurant that takes its name mostly from the top-flight charcuterie program. The name also refers to how McHugh beat lymphoma and how a visit here can cure a thirst for authenticity and great food. Its selection of craft beers, good wines and excellent cocktails keep visitors coming back to see whats next. 306 Pearl Parkway, Suite 101, 210-314-3929, curedatpearl.com. NC
Dough Pizzeria Napoletana: When only a proper Naples-style pizza will do, go to Dough and enjoy an excellent one with a glass or bottle from the all-Italian wine list. Chef and co-owner Doug Horn maintains the consistency despite the crowds that pack this place nearly every day. 6989 Blanco Road, 210-979-6565, doughpizzeria.com. NC
Feast: If this isnt the best brunch in the city, its high on a very short list. The pulsating energy and gleaming white interior evoke a lounge feel, but the New American dishes with a Mediterranean flair from chef Stefan Bowers reflect not only a feeling of merriment but a confident sense of good taste and nicely balanced flavors.
Folc: The burger with pork belly and a fried egg was named best burger in the state by Texas Monthly magazine, but other dishes on the menu show off the talent of chef and co-owner Luis Colon. Even though many of these dishes warrant hogging them all to oneself, plates here are best shared, so bring friends and order several items. 226 E. Olmos Drive, 210-822-0100, folc-restaurant.com. NC
Fredericks and Fredericks Bistro: French-Asian cuisine may have been a fad for diners in the 1990s, but for Vietnam-born and Paris-reared Frederick Costa, its his life. At his namesake restaurant in Alamo Heights and his bistro, he presents the flavors of both cuisines with aplomb. Well-trained service at both places offers more reasons to visit again. Fredericks: 7701 Broadway, Suite 20, 210-828-9050, frederickssa.com. Fredericks Bistro: 14439 NW Military Highway, Suite 100, 210-888-1500, fredericksbistro.com. NC
Godai Sushi Bar & Japanese Restaurant: Follow the lead of San Antonio sushi hero William Goro Pitchford, and you will be rewarded. Whether in cooked or raw dishes, the command of techniques and good taste from Pitchford and his team shines through. 11203 West Ave., 210-348-6781, godaisushi.com. NC
The Granary Cue & Brew: Chef and co-owner Tim Rattray has been called the future of barbecue and he mixes a classic Central Texas style of smoking at lunch while dinner features modernist techniques and dishes that are far removed from a two-meat platter. The short rib pastrami just may change your life. 602 Ave. A, 210-228-0124, thegranarysa.com. NC
Little Gretel: If you dont live near Boerne, take a couple of hours with a cold lager or hefeweizen and a rouladen or schnitzel, or just about anything else on the menu. Owner and chef Denise Mazal, a native of the Czech Republic, shows the depth of flavors in the dishes of Northern Europe. The kolaches and other pastries are simply stellar. An outdoor biergarten offers German music on weekends and a great setting for enjoying Mazals dishes. 518 River Road, Boerne, 830-331-1368, littlegretel.com. NW
Luce Ristorante e Enoteca: Owner Joe Buonincontri and his team deliver on Italian-American classics and a few regional Italian dishes. Graceful service and Buonincontris sincerity help elevate this into a must-visit place. 11255 Huebner Road, Suite 200, 210-561-9700, lucesanantonio.com. NW
Mariscos El Bucanero: This family-owned place with consistently excellent seafood dishes began as a small, quirky place on the Southeast Side and made a name for itself by introducing specialties from the state of Sinaloa on Mexicos Pacific coast and all kinds of beautiful seafood cocktails. 16505 Blanco Road, 210-408-9297, bucanerosanantonio.com. and 13802 Embassy Row, 210-333-0909. NC
Mixtli: Who would have suspected that the most innovative restaurant in the city would seat 12 diners at a time in a renovated railroad car? Chefs-owners Diego Galicia and Rico Torres focus on modernist presentations of Mexican regions, with a multicourse tasting menu that changes every six weeks. The name means cloud in the Aztec language of Nahuatl. So where will the cloud travel next? 5251 McCullough Ave., 210-338-0746, restaurantmixtli.com. NC
Mr. & Mrs. Gs Home Cooking: William and Addie Garner (Mr. and Mrs. G) have created an East Side favorite and a San Antonio institution of conversation-stopping soul food. The restaurant is justifiably famous for its crisp and flavorful fried chicken, but the sweet potatoes, fried pork chops and and tender catfish fillets can prompt tears of joy. 2222 S. W.W. White Road, 210-359-0002, Facebook: Mr. & Mrs. Gs. SE
Moroccan Bites: Guy Fieri may have fawned over this place on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, but this is a homey and elegant restaurant that offers a lovely sense of hospitality. They dont doesnt serve alcohol or allow patrons to bring it in. The food and the tea are so good, though, it doesnt even matter. Welcoming service and luxurious tapestries in the interior convey the feeling of being a guest in a Moroccan home. 5714 Evers Road, 210-706-9700, moroccanbitescuisine.com. NW
Nao Latin Gastro Bar: After a previous iteration as a fine-dining approach, the signature restaurant of the Culinary Institute of America-San Antonio, offers modern presentations and interpretations of traditional dishes from throughout Latin America. Here, students cook and wait tables at lunch (when school is in session) and professionals handle dinner. Attentive service and a strong cocktail program offer other reasons to visit and return. 312 Pearl Parkway at The Pearl, 210-554-6484, naorestaurant.com. NC
Osteria Il Sogno: Andrew Weissman, multiple James Beard award finalist who has been lauded in the New York Times and Gourmet magazine, leads the No. 1 restaurant in San Antonio, as ranked in the Express-News Top 100 Dining & Drinks book. At breakfast, lunch and dinner, Weissmans team executes regional Italian dishes with finesse, while knowledgeable and extremely professional service enhances the experience. 200 E. Grayson St., 210-223-3900. NC
Rebelle: This restaurant inside a former ballroom of the historic St. Anthony Hotel looks and feels more like a nightclub than the 100-plus year-old hotel that surrounds it. Restaurant owner Andrew Goodman has created an energetic atmosphere thats an ideal canvas for the colorful, vibrant and often whimsical dishes of executive chef Stefan Bowers. Its cool and sexy. 300 E. Travis St. in the St. Anthony Hotel, 210-352-3171, rebellesa.com. DT
Restaurant Gwendolyn: Chef-owner Michael Sohocki gains freedom to create in his kitchen through strict restrictions, sourcing all perishable ingredients from within 150 miles of San Antonio, eschewing machinery in his kitchen and drawing inspiration in his recipes from the Victorian era, a time when Sohocki says food was honest. The result is a menu thats always worth visiting. 152 E. Pecan St., Suite 100, 210-222-1849, restaurantgwendolyn.com. DT
Rocotos Grill: The vibrant flavors of Peru dazzle for a clientele that extends far beyond the citys small Peruvian community. Cebiche (Peruvians spell the dish with a b instead of a v) features diced raw seafood marinated quickly in lime juice with ahi pepper, cilantro and red onions. The resulting liquid, leche de tigre, is considered an aphrodisiac. Enjoy these dishes with a pisco sour or a bottle of Peruvian wine. 10555 Culebra Road, 210-521-4367, rocotosgrill.com. NC
Sichuan House: San Francisco-quality Chinese food in San Antonio? You bet. This family-run restaurant brings the burn that hurts so good but never loses sight of the complex flavors of the Sichuan province. 3505 Wurzbach Road, Ste. 102, 210-509-9999, sichuaneats.com. NW
Silo Terrace Oyster Bar: A visit here really should start with a platter of raw oysters. The selection changes daily, and theyre served with housemade cocktail sauce, grated horseradish and mignonette sauce. Seafood dishes along with the rest of the menu are rendered nicely, with professional service and a solid wine list. 22211 I-10 W, in the Dominion Ridge shopping center, 210-698-2002, silosa.com. NW
Smoke Shack: Starting with a single food truck, Smoke Shack gained fame by winning the Express-News Barbecue Madness tournament in 2013, and smoothly expanded into a bricks-and-mortar location famed for its brisket and outstanding pork ribs. 3714 Broadway, 210-957-1430, smokeshacksa.com. NC
Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery: Chef Jeff Balfour draws upon a Galveston childhood to offer refined takes on Texas Gulf Coast home cooking that pair well with the array of craft beers brewed by Les Locke, while general manager Philippe Place sets a tone for the restaurants service that is relaxed, yet professional. The three hospitality pros have created an operation that elevates the rustic stylings of a brewpub into a dining destination in the brewhouse of the historic Pearl Brewery. 136 E. Grayson St., Suite 120, 210-455-5701, southerleigh.com. NC
Supper: Understated excellence abounds during breakfast, lunch and dinner, as executive chef John Brand transforms pristine vegetables into objects of beauty and craveworthiness, and leads a team that performs well throughout the day and evening. Professional and knowledgeable service completes the experience in the hotel thats gaining attention throughout the country. 136 E. Grayson St., in the Hotel Emma, 210-448-8351, supperatemma.com. NC
Sustenio: Dallas-based celebrity chef Stephan Pyles and executive chef John Herdman have created a modern Texas menu thats refined, thoughtful and playful in an upscale resort. 17103 La Cantera Parkway (in Eilan Hotel Resort & Spa), 210-598-2950, eilanhotel.com. NW
Tre Enoteca: Chef-owner Jason Dady presents a menu that combines some of the greatest hits from Dadys other Italian-inspired restaurant, Tre Trattoria, and his now-closed Bin 555. The mixture of dishes, together with a modern, streamlined interior design and welcoming service, make for a neighborhood restaurant that beckons visitors from throughout the city. 555 W. Bitters Road in The Alley on Bitters, 210-496-0555, Facebook: Tre Enoteca. NC
The growth of San Antonios restaurant scene took a while to hit, but its in full bloom and now is the best time for dining out in the history of the city. Theres still room to grow and improve, but this city, like never before, has a diversity of very good restaurants that fulfill the promise of an excellent meal and it continues getting better each year. If youre looking for an excellent restaurant, here are some of the best San Antonio has to offer:
Jose Vasconcelos, an early 20th century Mexican philospher, took a good, hard look at the Mexican people and called them the future of mankind.
In a 1925 essay called The Cosmic Race, he spoke of a world that would transcend todays notions of race and ethnicity, where across the cosmos, traditional racial boundaries have disappeared and all people are mixed race all races have blended into one.
Through this fusion, this mestizaje that we are, we unite the races and the blood of all the races in the world, said Juan Tejeda, a faculty adviser for the Center for Mexican American Studies at Palo Alto College, echoing Vasconcelos words at the colleges courtyard Monday during the kickoff of its own Heritage Month celebration, which continues through Nov. 14.
The Yanaguana Drummers played native river songs on pow-wow style drums, music carried down from Coahuiltecan ancestors. The Indigenauts played cumbia-fused rock, explaining before their song the theory that the small step of the cumbia dance mimics the steps of those with feet in shackles a slaves protest in dance form.
The food, the speakers, the music, the gathering reinforces our culture, our history, Tejeda said. Its about those age-old questions: Who are we? Who am I? What am I here for? We have to know where we are to know where were going.
Three years ago, Tejeda combined Hispanic Heritage Month and Native American Heritage Month at the college to honor the intertwined legacies of both groups as much as many Mexican Americans have Spanish ancestry, he said, they also have ancestry from the native tribes that once occupied Southwest Texas and beyond.
(Monday) many people have a holiday, theyre off work celebrating Columbus Day. But we have turned this holiday around. Its an anti-Columbus day celebration, said Tejeda, at which point cheers erupted from an audience of at least 50 people. In fact, its an indigenous peoples day celebration.
Listening intently only a few feet away from the podium was student Sam Sanchez, 21, who identifies as part Native American and is a member of the colleges LGBTQ club, the Palomino Alliance Coalition. He said his alliance helped organize Heritage Month because they are kindred spirits.
We found camaraderie in that a lot of our history, unfortunately, has been stripped away and not shed light upon, he said. We also found that, other than just the fact that weve been abused, is that were strong and we celebrate ourselves.
Last year, San Antonio and Bexar County joined a growing list of local governments across the country that officially recognize Indigenous Peoples Day on Columbus Day. This year, the state of Vermont and the cities of Phoenix and Denver also proclaimed Indigenous Peoples Day.
Advocates of the indigenous recognition point out that, although Christopher Columbus has been lauded as an intrepid explorer who colonized the land that would later become the United States, the history of destruction that accompanied his arrival to North America in 1492 has been largely ignored.
Tejeda said that the shame of having indigenous heritage has persisted through the centuries. He said he hopes Mondays celebrations and the events to follow throughout Heritage Month will empower local Tejanos to find value in their Native American roots.
There is a lot of history thats been wiped of the record. And this is a time for people to say Hey, this is who I am. This connects me to the world, Sanchez said. You would never know there were this many people that care about who you are and what you are. And thats so heart-warming, and it makes you feel like youre not so alone when youre dealing with so many harsh things out there.
sfosterfrau@express-news.net
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SAN ANTONIO -- A church on the North Side has been vandalized with graffiti that could be a response to views by presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The tagging was done in black spray paint against the brick building's entrance into the Gethsemane Lutheran Church inthe 600 block of Avalon Road. It reads, No to wall and Islam or die in all capital letters. Below those words is a large, stenciled symbol, although it's unclear what the symbol means.
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In the campaign for U.S. House District 23, a new battleground has emerged for candidates angling for the support of veterans: VFW Post 76.
Incumbent Republican Congressman Will Hurd and his Democrat challenger Pete Gallego have both made campaign stops at the prominent white house on San Antonios Riverwalk in an effort to appeal to veterans in the military-heavy district.
Hurds open house at the historic VFW Post 76 on Aug. 2 drew criticism from both Gallegos campaign and San Antonios city attorney after footage from the event was used in a 30-second campaign ad.
Two people at the open house, Gold Star mother Cheryl Lankford and city employee Juan Ayala, said they did not consent to being filmed for the ad.
Hurd spokesman Justin Hollis told the Express-News the campaign posted signs letting folks know they were being filmed. The ad has since been taken down.
Gallego hosted his own veterans town hall at VFW Post 76 on Aug. 16.
We wanted to use the same venue and create a contrast between a real conversation and what I could call a staged town hall moment, Gallego said in a recent interview.
The race for District 23 is considered the most competitive congressional race in Texas. The district is 70 percent Hispanic and includes military installations from Fort Bliss near El Paso to Laughlin AFB near Del Rio to San Antonios joint bases Fort Sam Houston, Lackland and Randolph.
Both candidates have so far served one term. Gallego served as the districts representative for two years, before losing in 2014 to Hurd in a close race.
Both candidates have called for greater accountability from the Department of Veterans Affairs, with Hurd stating the private sector is key for long-term solutions and Gallego seeing the private sector as a backup to VA care.
Hurd voted in favor of the VA Accountability Act, which would give the VA greater powers in firing poor-performing employees, as well as eliminating bonuses for high-ranking VA employees. The bill, which passed the House but didnt get a vote in the Senate, would also reform the VAs appeal process and increase whistleblower protections.
Gallego said he also supports the VA Accountability Act, and while in office he cosponsored a bill that would pay veterans benefits if their disability compensation was not handled within 125 days. He also backed bills allowing the VA to pay more to recruit and retain more qualified mental-health workers. Gallego cites his father, a World War II veteran, when explaining his support for increased VA and job program funding.
I fully support funding for the VA, because it has never had the resources that it needs, said Gallego, whose campaign accused his opponent of wanting to slash funds to the military and VA.
I have consistently supported appropriations bills that fund the VA at its highest levels in history, last year alone was a 6 percent increase over 2014s bill, Hurd said.
Both candidates support the VA Choice Card, which allows certain patients to receive care at civilian facilities if the nearest VA is too far or if the wait is too long.
Hurd has supported bills to expand the pool of private health care providers who accept the Veterans Choice Card and to open up the program to more people.
We need to work to educate our veterans on the options that are available to them, like the Choice Card, Hurd said.
Gallego said he helped create the VA Choice Card program after speaking to rural veterans in the district who were hundreds of miles from the nearest VA medical facility. He said he believes allowing patients to use their local health facilities would help build rural communities.
Hurd supported a bill establishing a program to award medallions to vet-supportive employees, and co-sponsored a bill requiring the Department of Homeland to prioritize veterans when hiring customs and border protection officers. He also supported a bill allowing veterans to use tuition benefits for vocational programs, as well as an amendment to give cyber soldiers civilian certifications for when they leave the military.
Gallego said if elected he would back tax credits for military child care, tied to the average cost of child care. Hurd, on the other hand, blamed government mismanagement for the backlogs and price increases in military child care.
On the topic of sexual assault, Gallego said he supports shifting sexual-assault prosecutions away from the soldiers chain of command. This position, he said, frankly cost me some criticism in military circles, but he referenced the 2012 Lackland scandal to explain his support. If what youre doing isnt working, then you have to do something else, he said.
In an interview, Hurd accused his opponent of ducking the sexual-assault issue while in office.
Back in January of that year the Armed Services Committee held a hearing specifically on the Lackland scandal and my opponent, despite serving on the committee was nowhere to be found as far as I can tell, Hurd said.
A spokeswoman for the Gallego campaign provided a still from footage of the hearing on the Lackland scandal showing the then-congressman in attendance.
Not only does video clearly show Pete Gallego attended the Armed Services hearing on the Lackland sexual misconduct scandal, he also met in private with Air Force leaders, including the then-commander of Air Education & Training Command, who was testifying that day, Gallego spokeswoman Lyndsey Rodriguez said.
Hurd introduced and passed five bills during his term. One of them aims to modernize the federal governments information technology. Hurd, who positioned himself as a tech-focused lawmaker, also backed a program allowing veterans to schedule VA appointments online and touted his efforts to bring a National Guard cyber unit to San Antonio.
Gallego introduced a bill directing the VA to improve care for veterans in rural areas and another bill would have continued funding for members of the armed forces and other security agencies during the 2013 government shutdown. Both bills died in the House, which was Republican-controlled during his tenure.
Hurds campaign and backers have criticized Gallegos inability to pass a bill. Republicans have controlled the House since 2010, including the two years of Gallegos term.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at a campaign appearance said Hurd deserved the rookie of the year award for his accomplishments as a freshman in Congress.
Both parties have invested heavily in the race for District 23, with Hurd raising $2.6 million and Gallego raising $1.3 million so far. Outside groups have raised and spent millions more.
Appealing to veterans has become more important as issues such as reforming the VA and treatment for PTSD have become more visible to the public, Matthew Dallek, political science professor at George Washington University said. In the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, states such as Texas have seen the influence of veterans expand, Dallek said.
jlawrence@express-news.net
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House Speaker Paul Ryan dealt a hammer blow to Donald Trumps presidential candidacy Monday, dashing any remaining semblance of party unity and inviting fierce backlash from his own caucus by announcing that he would no longer defend Trumps candidacy.
Ryans stance drew an immediate rebuke from Trump, who tweeted that Ryan should focus on governing instead of feuding with him.
But Ryan informed Republican lawmakers on a morning conference call that he would never again campaign alongside Trump, and would dedicate himself instead to defending the partys majority in Congress, according to five lawmakers who participated in the call and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Effectively conceding defeat for his party in the presidential race, Ryan said his most urgent task was ensuring that Hillary Clinton did not enter the White House with Democratic control of the House and Senate, two lawmakers said.
The reaction from hard-liners was swift and angry: Over the course of an hour, a stream of conservative lawmakers spoke up to urge their colleagues not to give up on Trump, and chided Ryan for surrendering prematurely in the presidential race.
One member, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, attacked Republicans stepping away from Trump as cowards, three lawmakers said. Another, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, used graphic language to describe abortion and said allowing Clinton into the White House would end with fetuses being destroyed limb from limb.
In an effort to quiet the uproar, Ryan chimed back in after about 45 minutes to assure members that he was not withdrawing his endorsement of Trump, but rather doing what he considered to be in the best interests of the House.
Trump appeared indifferent to the distinction, lashing back at Ryan with a belittling message on Twitter.
Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee, Trump tweeted.
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, confirmed that his sole priority for the remainder of the election would be defending congressional Republicans.
The speaker is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities, Strong said.
Strong said there was no update regarding Ryans endorsement of Trump.
The open breach between Ryan and Trump concluded five months in which the two men have alternated between friction and courtship, eventually forging an uneasy working relationship only to see it collapse in the final weeks of the race.
The consequences for both men are enormous: Ryan and other Republican leaders fear that Trumps flagging campaign could unwind their majorities in the House and Senate, while Trump can ill afford rejection from more prominent Republicans.
Trumps candidacy was already in a dire condition before Ryans announcement: A poll published Monday by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal found him trailing Clinton by a wide margin and drawing less than 40 percent of the vote. The survey was taken before Sunday nights debate.
Trumps campaign had hoped that the debate would halt an exodus of fellow Republicans from his candidacy, and publicly implored members of the party on Monday morning to hang with him through Election Day.
In an effort at reassurance, Mike Pence, Trumps running mate, toured the morning television shows to tamp down speculation that he might leave the ticket. At a campaign stop in North Carolina, Pence said he was proud to stand with Donald Trump.
But in a potentially ominous sign for the party, Kellyanne Conway, Trumps campaign manager, also offered a note of warning for Republicans fleeing Trump. Ryan, she noted on television, had been booed by Trump fans over the weekend in Wisconsin after asking Trump not to attend a political event in his home state.
Conway also repeatedly indicated that she was aware of Republican lawmakers who had behaved inappropriately toward young women, and whose criticism of Trump was therefore hypocritical.
Ryans huddle with House Republicans was the first of multiple war councils in Washington on Monday, as Republicans weighed how to handle a nominee whose campaign has appeared to unravel in recent days.
The Republican National Committee, which has been fiercely loyal to Trump, was to hold a conference call with its members later in the afternoon. In contrast to the mounting defections from Trumps campaign among Republican elected officials, the party chairman, Reince Priebus, has remained close to Trump and flew with him to the debate in St. Louis over the weekend.
As telling as the fury from outspoken conservatives in the House was the silence from so many mainstream Republicans in the chamber, who showed little appetite to argue for or with their embattled nominee.
Few anti-Trump voices spoke up on the call with Ryan. Rep. Martha Roby of Alabama, an early defector from Trump on Saturday, said she would contribute significant funds to help Republicans hold the House. But she said she would speak in private with colleagues about her decision to withdraw her endorsement in the presidential race.
Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, a vocal critic of Trump, asked his colleagues if they were truly confident that there would be no more damaging disclosures about Trump. In any case, Dent argued the presidential race was now effectively over for Trump.
No other prominent Republicans have withdrawn their endorsements from Trump since the end of the debate, but there was a palpable fear throughout the party that Trump had already been damaged beyond repair.
Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, urged members on the conference call to take new polls in their districts to gauge the effect of Trumps political slide.
Walden said they should brace for a steep erosion of support for Trump and acknowledged the falloff could undermine congressional candidates, too. He asked the entire caucus to contribute quickly to the partys campaign arm, making it clear they needed to bolster their defenses across the country.
Still, many members were pointed in their expressions of dismay, warning Ryan of grave consequences, in November and beyond, if Trumps campaign collapses altogether. Rep. Billy Long of Missouri spoke up in Trumps defense, citing the danger of losing the Supreme Court in the event of a Clinton victory.
Many of us commented that if Hillary picks the next two to four judges, it will change the fabric of our country of 40, 50 years, Long said of the call. Abortion and the Second Amendment, also, and lots of Supreme Court concerns.
AUSTIN A U.S. senator lambasted Rep. Lamar Smiths escalating fight over probes into ExxonMobil and climate change, saying the San Antonio Republicans attempt to stymie state and federal investigations of the oil and gas giant reeks of conflict of interest.
Smith, who heads the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, has waged a crusade to force several states, environmental groups, and most recently federal securities regulators, to turn over internal documents related to investigations of ExxonMobil.
The subpoenas from Smiths committee are the result of New York and Massachusetts attorneys general pursuing a fraud investigation against ExxonMobil amid allegations that the company misled the public and downplayed the risks of climate change. ExxonMobil has denied any wrongdoing.
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island and vocal defender of scientists that warn the planet is warming at an alarming rate, said Smith is undertaking an extraordinary breach by interfering with state officials investigating the company.
For the representative to use his powers of office to try and interfere with that crosses the bounds of federalism, is doubly unprecedented, reeks of conflict of interest and completely misstates the pertinent law, Whitehouse said at a news conference at the Texas Capitol on Monday.
The attorneys generals and nine other groups have ignored the subpoenas, arguing that Smith lacks authority.
Smith, who has framed the investigations by the attorney generals as politically motivated harassment of ExxonMobil that violates constitutional protections, including free speech, said it is still shocking that the attorneys general and environmental leftists are continuing in their refusal to comply with legally issued subpoenas.
My committee is operating within its jurisdiction to preserve scientific freedom, Smith said in a statement. Senator Whitehouse's comments are just environmental activists' talking points, and won't stop the committee from fulfilling its constitutional oversight responsibilities.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and several other states have also gotten involved in the ExxonMobil investigations, filing legal briefs in the Massachusetts case arguing against what Paxton referred to as government witch hunts that suppress free speech.
Paxton also weighed in when the Virgin Islands requested records from ExxonMobil. The U.S. territory eventually agreed to drop its records request.
Late last month, Smiths committee ramped up the politically charged skirmish by issuing subpoenas to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which recently announced its own investigation of ExxonMobil.
Naomi Ages, climate liability project lead at Greenpeace USA, one of the environmental groups subpoenaed by Smiths committee, said the pending probes by state attorney generals and the SEC should spur the U.S. Justice Department to open its own investigation into ExxonMobil.
The pressure is mounting, she said, but its not enough.
drauf@express-news.net
Twitter: @davidSrauf
AUSTIN Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is planning to raise big money in San Antonio and Dallas Tuesday, steaming ahead with his campaign despite pleas from some big GOP names nationally that he bow out after new revelations of crude remarks about women.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Trumps Texas chairman, will be with him in both cities, just days after the firestorm created by the release of a 2005 video in which Trump is heard bragging about grabbing womens genitals.
Patrick, like a number of other Texas Republican officials, has condemned the remarks. But he is sticking with Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton, citing the elections effect on issues including border security, health care, the military and jobs.
I think both events are going to be big events, and hell raise a lot of money, Patrick said in an interview with the Express-News. What he said on that tape, he needed to apologize for it. It was just unacceptable language. It was offensive to me, and not acceptable. But this is an election about the future of the country.
Patrick expects millions to be raised at the Texas events by Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee that includes Trumps campaign, the Republican National Committee and state parties. There had been reports over the weekend that San Antonio developer Gene Powell, a Texas finance chair for Trump Victory, had pulled out as a host of the San Antonio fundraiser.
But Powell in a statement said he wasnt abandoning the event, despite strongly wording his displeasure over the recently revealed Trump comments.
I am deeply disappointed and offended by the comments made by Mr. Trump on the video released on Friday. However, I made a commitment to the campaign and I have one obligation left to the campaign and that is a fundraising event tomorrow in San Antonio and I will fulfill that obligation as promised, Powell said.
Most of the money raised at the events, like most raised here by Clinton, will be spent outside of Texas, in states considered more competitive. Trump has raised about $7 million in Texas as of Aug. 31, and Clinton nearly $15.6 million here, according to Federal Election Commission figures. Thats out of about $166 million total raised by Trump, and $373 million by Clinton.
Still, Democrats who havent won a statewide election in Texas since 1994 see an opportunity in Trumps shocking statements and positions. A number of polls have shown Clinton within single digits of Trump. The last time a Democratic presidential candidate came within single digits of the Republican in Texas was in 1996, when Bill Clinton lost Texas on his way to re-election.
Garry Mauro, the former state land commissioner who is point person for Hillary Clintons campaign in Texas, has long said that Trumps offensive comments about groups including women and Latinos pose a problem for him in the diverse state.
I now say hes going to have a hard time getting more than 40 percent of the vote, and thats an opportunity for Hillary, said Mauro.
Joshua Blank, manager of polling and research at the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said a Democratic win in this years presidential race would be a tall order.
I think a tight race is probably all the Democrats can hope for, realistically, he said.
But there are avenues of opportunity, Blank said.
Polling in September showed Trump's lead to be in the single digits in Texas, and this latest scandal is only likely to further hurt his chances among educated, suburban women. It's this group whom Democrats are needing to convert if they are going to make any headway in their longer term plans to turn Texas blue, Blank said. For Texas Democrats, target group number one is obviously Hispanics, but suburban women are without a doubt the second most important group in the state, if for no other reason than the fact that Democrats perform so poorly with white men.
Robert Stovall, chairman of the Republican Party of Bexar County, said that at a party barbecue Sunday, it was evident that the energy is still there 100 percent for Donald Trump.
Its inexcusable what he said, but the fact of the matter is weve got way more important things to deal with right now in this country, Stovall said. We just cant think that something that somebody said 11 years ago is going to stop him from becoming president. These are things he said, not actions that he did. And Hillary has got 30 years of actions that we just cant agree with.
Patrick said people have some negative feelings about both (candidates), more than in a normal presidential year, but sees Trump maintaining an advantage on policies that appeals to voters as well as engendering more enthusiasm.
People want the border secure. They want Obamacare replaced. They are being priced out of their health care insurance, Patrick said. They want someone who is going to rebuild the military and crush ISIS. They want someone who knows how to create jobs They want a conservative Supreme Court. They want someone who will be pro-life.
Trump has been slammed in each of these areas, with his policies seen as impractical, dangerous or insufficiently detailed to assess. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted after Fridays release of the Trump tape showed Clinton with a double-digit lead nationally among likely voters.
But Clinton also has had criticism, including over her handling of sensitive emails while secretary of state, and she has had to work to try to win those who supported her primary opponent, Bernie Sanders.
The noses are going to be pressed against the glass waiting for the doors to open to vote for him (Trump), Patrick said. She doesnt have that kind of enthusiasm.
pfikac@express-news.net
For those of us who have been consistently aghast at Donald Trumps candidacy, the spectacle of so many Republicans suddenly dumping him en masse one month before the election raises a question.
What took yall so long?
Trumps videotaped, hot-mic boast of getting away with sexual assault because hes a star, revealed by the Washington Post on Friday, was outrageous but not surprising. Signs that the Republican nominee is a menacing brute, not to mention an innate racist and incorrigible liar, surfaced months ago.
Sundays debate with Hillary Clinton merely offered more evidence that he is all of those things.
For her part, Clinton continued to prove shes a politician, invoking the stratagems of Abraham Lincoln to explain her leaked statement that leaders must have both a public and private negotiating position. She was referring to the deal-making that went into getting the 13th amendment passed to abolish slavery.
There are worse things than politicians.
Trump is worse.
The first notable defection from his campaign came in September 2015, when the Club for Growth, a conservative organization, began an ad campaign to discredit the candidate, who by then had called Mexicans rapists and attacked Sen. John McCains war record because he had been captured.
Months passed. Trump would mock a disabled New York Times reporter, call for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States and declare his love for torture. His campaign would spring a leak a Republican congressman here, a former Reagan administration official there.
Nonetheless, Trump became his partys presumptive nominee in May. He then proceeded to disparage a federal judge for his Mexican heritage and attack the parents of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq.
The leak was seeping steadily until Friday, when it burst its banks. The flood of defections, from Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio, to (finally) McCain, seems to have washed away any shred of civility that Trump might have maintained.
The candidate stalked the debate stage Sunday like a caged beast. He lurked and barked, seething resentment whenever he wasnt reinforcing his critics worst fears, equating African-Americans with inner cities and lying about things verifiable to anyone with an internet connection.
No, it wasnt check out a sex tape, Trump said of a tweet he sent days earlier about Alicia Machado, in which he wrote: check out sex tape.
One startling comment rang clear for the threat it posed to the republic.
If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, Trump told Clinton, adding she would be in jail if he were president.
This was unprecedented. Corrupt dictators of third-world countries threaten to lock up political rivals, not major-party presidential nominees in the United States.
Yet, for all of my horror as well as the dawning horror of so many Republicans theres always a Trump supporter, somewhere, who remains transfixed.
I think that was probably one of the best remarks that have come out of a presidential debate in probably decades, Robert Stovall, chairman of the Bexar County Republican Party, said of Trumps threat to jail Clinton.
He added, I thought (Trumps performance) was a home run.
Trump will arrive in San Antonio for a fundraising luncheon at noon today at the Grand Hyatt.
bchasnoff@express-news.net
The harvest sails on in Ohio, with farmers in the northeast still grinning about progress and yields. Local farmers are admitting to record average yields for beans as they finish harvest currently.
Some are starting to combine corn, with mixed reactions so far. Some tell me they do not expect yields as good as they saw in the soybeans, and that they are starting with some poor corn first in some cases.
It remains to be seen what surprises linger as harvest for many starts into the corn phase. One prominent Trumbull County farmer told me yesterday that the farm average for beans was in the 60s, with individual fields in the high 70s.
Higher yields
This was their best average. They had 200 bpa in a corn field they opened, but did not expect this to be normal. Reports from farther west in Ohio are not consistent with this.
Many leading farmers are seeing sharp losses in yields as North Central Ohio suffered through a long summer dry spell. Weather has been exceptional for the area, with a pause last week for rain, but good progress again recently.
As this is written, we do not have USDA estimates of harvest progress. They were delayed by the Columbus Day (or Indigenous Peoples day, if you are from Cincinnati) holiday, and will be released this Tuesday afternoon.
Harvest update
We are expecting USDA to report the corn harvest at 35 to 38 percent done, the soybean harvest to be 45 to 50 percent done nationally. USDA will be releasing Crop Production and Supply and Demand Reports Oct. 12.
Current thinking is that the corn report will estimate 15.06 billion bushels of corn from a 173.5 bpa yield. Traders think the soybeans will be reported at 4.283 billion bushels from a 51.5 bpa yield.
I was a big deal that some time ago we started thinking bean yields could be above 50 bpa. Now we have even pushed that number up.
Look for this to not be a final number and for corn also to finish above the report from Wednesday. The reason is that the harvest is confirming the estimates, and then some.
Bigger crop
The rule of thumb is that a big crop keeps getting bigger, and expect that the USDA is being more conservative than the final crop will justify. So far it seems that USDA keeps increasing usage to keep up with the crop size.
We need this trend to continue so that prices are supported. Recently prices have been maintaining positive moves, although the perception is that the crop is large.
Part of the reason is the lack of harvest hedge pressure. Farmers are not selling any more grain than they have to.
December corn futures hit the recent high on Oct. 3, at $3.47 3/4. That was the highest price since July 21!
This is not what you expect out of a record harvest. This means the market is prepared for a huge crop without crushing prices.
We are currently trading $3.42 1/2 on Tuesday morning, Oct. 11, so we are hanging in there. The November soybean futures are a little different in that we are seeing lower highs on the cycles.
Current prices
We still have good support, however. We have twice traded up to the $9.75 area, but are currently at $9.55 3/4, up more than one cent on the day so far.
The Chicago wheat is another issue. Currently prices are following corn and beans, but there is not a reason to do this.
Wheat is cheap, and would be expected to stay cheap with the large world-wide supplies. We had a low of $3.86 3/4 the last day of August, but have traded as high as $4.09 1/2 on Oct. 6. This Tuesday morning, we are at $4.04-1/4.
This papier-mache Halloween lantern is actually horrifying
Most jack-o'-lanterns are made from pumpkins, but this particular papier-mache pear is a unique, antique find.
Farmer Teds Adventure Farm offers a great day out of family fun down on the farm. Whether theres rain or shine, we have lots of indoor and outdoor activities to keep the kids entertained for hours where you can even meet some of our animals. We have two enormous jumping pillows and a huge wooden maze that will appeal to kids of all ages. During the Spring and Summer months, we have our amazing Birds of Prey demonstrations and our sheep racing!
Here at Farmer Teds we also run lots of special events throughout the year including our Super Hero and Princess Day, Spooktacular Halloweek and at Christmas time, Farmer Christmas!
Maps
A pig expert has said 'antibiotic free' meat could have 'dangerous unintended consequences'.
National Pig Association chief executive Zoe Davies has warned that the concept of antibiotic free meat could have dangerous unintended consequences if it was mishandled.
Of course the myriad of antibiotic stewardship plans that we heard about are only any good if they are acted upon, and many have challenges to overcome, Miss Davies wrote in Pig World.
For example, in the US, of the 500,000 beef farmers, around half never see a vet but the FDA has brought many products under veterinary control so they need a prescription, Miss Davies said.
China, with 52 million sows, has a big task ahead to reduce the estimated 80,000 tonnes of antibiotics used
They are faced with the distinct possibility they really dont have enough vets to write all the scripts.
She added: In addition, they are only banning medically important drugs to human health for use as growth promoters, which bizarrely at the moment dont include colistin, while many others will continue to be used.
"Still, at least they wont be able to purchase medicated feed from the local farm stores anymore!
'Antibiotic-free USP'
China, with 52 million sows, has a big task ahead to reduce the estimated 80,000 tonnes of antibiotics used.
They have however committed in their action plan to strengthen the supervision of antibiotics, ban the use of critically important drugs and, as of March, have banned colistin as a growth promoter, Miss Davies wrote.
In the US, 780 million more birds would be needed to manage the demand for antibiotic free chicken as the current mortality rate was around 50 per cent higher than conventional.
She added: Those birds would need to eat 6mt of feed and 3bn litres more water so not a great environmental footprint!
Mention was made of people euthanasing stock rather than treating them which of course would not be acceptable for large herds/flocks.
The general consensus was that this USP being used by food service and retailers was dangerous and needed spelling out to them.
Needless to say weve already started in the UK fine for smaller contracts where people can manage with a good premium but certainly not something we would encourage as the accepted norm for retail, wrote Miss Davies.
Farmers are the workforce that will 'protect' and 'enhance' the British environment now and in the future, an inquiry into environmental policy post-Brexit will hear.
That is the message from the CLA, which represents landowners and farmers, as it appears before an influential inquiry into post-Brexit policies.
The CLA is due to appear before MPs in the Environmental Audit Committee today (11 October).
The Committee is holding an Inquiry into the future of the natural environment post-Brexit and CLA Deputy President Tim Breitmeyer will put forward the case for a new food, farming and environmental policy to balance the objectives of improving the environment and producing high quality affordable food.
Mr Breitmeyer, who farms in Cambridgeshire, said: It is the thousands of farmers working the land from dawn to dusk that help to improve our environment.
"We must also acknowledge the huge and important part farming can play in averting climate chaos by capturing carbon"
Developing policy that delivers the best outcomes for the environment must have farming at its heart.
Only by supporting a resilient and profitable farming sector can we hope to ensure that there are the people and resources in place to protect and enhance our natural environment post-Brexit.
There is no binary choice between supporting a thriving farming sector and delivering the best outcomes for the environment.
As the country prepares for Brexit it is vital that the government commits to establishing a ring-fenced, UK-wide and world-leading food, farming and environmental policy which allows farmers and land managers to provide a wide range of environmental public goods and enhancements, alongside producing food.
'Environmentally-beneficial farming'
"Farmers should be paid fairly for producing great food in a way that supports the long term health of British farmland"
The Green Party have in the past campaigned for reforms to the Common Agriculture Policy calling for a farming support policy which betters the environment, as part of their post-Brexit policies.
They have also called for a ceiling for farm payments of 100,000 a year, allowing more money to go towards supporting a shift to smaller scale sustainable farming and creating long-term employment in rural economies.
Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West said: "The government has failed to outline its vision for British farming following the vote to withdraw from the EU, but shows worrying signs it will try and take us down a route to intensify our farming industry.
"There is also the risk of losing the environmental protections pioneered in the EU, such as the Birds and Habitats directive.
"We must also acknowledge the huge and important part farming can play in averting climate chaos by capturing carbon.
"So, this is a critical time for small scale farmers, environmental campaigners and progressive politicians to seize the moment and help shape a healthy, economically sustainable and environmentally-friendly agriculture sector for the future."
Sue Armstrong-Brown, policy director at Green Alliance, said the old CAP subsidy-and-grant approach is "inadequate" to deal with the pressures on land and the realities of farm economics.
"The potential market for environmentally-beneficial farming could be worth millions far more than the 400million available to farmers through government agri-environment schemes," Miss Armstrong-Brown said.
"We need to make farming part of the way the environment is returned to health, and that means making good environmental management pay."
The conservation charity National Trust believes a focus on protecting and enhancing the natural assets on which food production depends will open farming to new environmental markets that make it profitable and rewarding to manage land sustainably.
Producing great food and supporting the environment
Patrick Begg, rural enterprises director at National Trust, said farmers should be paid "fairly" for "producing great food" in a way that supports the long term health of British farmland.
"The Natural Infrastructure scheme is about creating a market for services from farming that today go unrewarded," Mr Begg said.
The Natural Infrastructure Scheme (NIS) is an area-based market in avoided costs, delivering environmental improvements by bringing together groups of land managers to sell ecosystem services to groups of beneficiaries.
The report was launched in September at the Royal Society in central London.
"Reducing flood risks, improving water quality and creating homes for wildlife, while at the same time opening up new revenue opportunities for farmers," Mr Begg continued.
Christopher Price, director of policy at CLA, said that every day, alongside agricultural production, farmers and landowners deliver "valuable" environmental services such as reducing flood risk and helping tackle climate change.
"If we can connect, via markets and incentives, those who benefit with the land managers who do the work, then there is a real opportunity to grow this type of work and to amplify the benefits it delivers," Mr Price said.
CLA Deputy President Tim Breitmeyer is due to appear in front of the Committee on Tuesday, 11 October at 11.15am. The session will be televised on Parliament TV here.
Unusually high levels of wheat yellow rust, observed in AHDB Recommended Lists trials during 2016, have resulted in an early and major revision to disease ratings.
The new ratings, issued today (11 October 2016), affect Groups 3 and 4 winter wheat varieties, with some ratings reduced by as much as four points.
A new annual report, by the AHDB-funded UK Cereal Pathogen Virulence Survey (UKCPVS), also published today, has confirmed the presence of the Kranich race and a potential new race provisionally named Invicta in the UK yellow rust population in 2015.
With the pathogen population changing so rapidly, people are urged to monitor crops, including those with a high disease rating, and report unexpected findings to the UKCPVS.
Ratings revised
"Yellow rust" takes its name from the appearance of yellow-colored stripes produced parallel along the venations of each leaf blade
Disease ratings for yellow rust are normally calculated from data covering a period of three years.
As major changes in varietal resistance were observed in 2016, across several winter wheat varieties and UK trials, AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds has taken the unprecedented decision to base yellow rust disease ratings on 2016 trials data alone.
Dr Jenna Watts, who manages disease research at AHDB, said: "We made the decision to calculate the disease ratings on a single years trials because the 2016 yellow rust assessment data was so different to what had been seen before.
"We have to make sure that the RL reflects varietal performance in the field the best it can.
"Weve seen disease ratings for seven varieties drop by two or more points. We consider anything more than a one-point change as highly unusual."
Varieties affected
Of the 32 recommended varieties in trial, the following varieties disease ratings dropped by two points or more.
The AHDB scale shows 9 is good resistance and 1 is very susceptible.
Group 3s Britannia (8 to 4), Spyder (8 to 6), Zulu (9 to 5) and RGT Conversion (8 to 6)
Group 4s Myriad (8 to 4), Reflection (6 to 3) and JB Diego (7 to 5)
Wheats Britannia and Zulu and feed wheat Myriad downgraded the sharpest, all fell four points to ratings of 4, 5 and 4, respectively.
No change in disease rating, however, was recorded for 15 varieties and 14 varieties retained a strong resistance rating of 8 or 9.
Farmers can easily diversify their income and increase productivity of their land by planting energy crops, according to the The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI).
The studies examine the financial impact of transitioning to planting second generation energy crops such as Miscanthus and Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) Willow.
It also provides an insight into how farmers can optimise the way they use their land to minimise any impact on food production.
The studies found that planting energy crops can increase the profitability of the land over a 23-year lifetime.
The impact on food production can also be minimised or avoided by optimising the use of land across the farm meaning that energy crop planting need not be in direct competition with food production.
Significant role
The farmers in the case studies chose to grow energy crops.
The availability of secure, long-term contracts for the crop was also a key factor in their decision making.
Land which is less suitable for food production or grazing can be suited to growing energy crops as they can be successfully planted on poorer quality soils, and land which is more prone to waterlogging or weed problems.
The results found that farmers most often chose to plant energy crops in order to make more productive use of low quality land
Hannah Evans, Bioenergy Strategy Analyst at the ETI said: "Bioenergy can play a significant and valuable role in the future UK energy system, helping to reduce the cost of meeting the UKs 2050 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and produce up to 10% of UK energy needs.
Delivering 10% of projected energy demand in the 2050s will require around three times as much bioenergy to be generated as today.
Brexit and CAP
As the UK government prepares the framework for the UK exiting the EU, it must decide how farming will be supported outside of the EUs Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
These case studies show that planting bioenergy crops provides an opportunity for farmers to increase the profitability and productivity of their land whilst also producing biomass feedstock that can help reduce the UKs GHG emissions.
The development of new farming support mechanisms presents an opportunity to join up agricultural and energy policies which can support the growth of sustainable biomass in ways that improve overall land productivity.
All three participating farms improved productivity by siting energy crops on land which was either surplus due to changes in livestock management, or because it was of poor quality for arable farming or grazing livestock.
"This shows that energy crop planting does not need to be in direct competition with food production. Instead it can complement other farming activities.
High profit
A previous ETI bioenergy project Enabling UK Biomass surveyed over 100 farmers who had planted bioenergy crops about the motivations behind their decision.
The results found that farmers most often chose to plant energy crops in order to make more productive use of low quality land and to generate a higher profit from the land.
The availability of long term contracts for planting energy crops was also often an important factor in their decision making.
Three farms took part in the study, two from Norfolk (both of which had planted Miscanthus) and one based in Cumbria, which had planted SRC Willow.
Each farm planted between 18-30 hectares of energy crop on land that had previously been used for a variety of purposes, including arable, sheep and dairy farming.
All three farms have secured long term contracts for their energy crops.
The energy crops have an expected lifetime of 23 years and each farm expects to see an increase in the profitability of the land, and for the crop to payback its establishment costs within six to seven years.
This calculation takes into account the fact that the two Norfolk farms obtained a grant for 50% of their establishment costs from the (now closed) Energy Crops Scheme.
All three farms sited their energy crops to minimise the impact on food production.
In Norfolk, one farm planted Miscanthus on their lowest yielding arable land, whilst the other farm intensified their sheep production (from 600 ewes on 90 ha to 500 ewes on 60 ha) to free up land for the energy crops whilst minimising the reduction in flock size.
In Cumbria, the land had previously been used for dairy but was surplus to requirements at the time of planting due to a change in dairy farming practices.
Primary school pupils from all over Wales are invited to enter a Christmas card design themed #FarmingMatters for the Farmers Union of Wales annual Christmas card competition.
The FUW is asking children aged from four to 11 to design a Christmas scene showing why #FarmingMatters for its Christmas cards, which will be sold to raise money for the Unions charity British Heart Foundation Cymru.
FUW president Glyn Roberts said: The competition is split into Welsh language and English language categories.
Children can use any media in their entries, such as crayons, coloured pencils, felt tipped pens or paint, which must be completed on an A4 sheet of paper.
The only stipulation is that it must be a Christmas card showing why #FarmingMatters.
The competition was a huge success last year and we hope we can once again count on the support of our primary schools all over Wales.
The winner of each category will receive a 30 gift voucher for themselves, a packet of the Christmas cards depicting their design, one days free admittance to the 2016 Royal Welsh Winter Fair to receive their prizes and a 50 cheque for their school.
The winning entries, together with a selection of other entries, will be displayed at the FUW stand during the Winter Fair (November 28-29).
The closing date for entries is Friday November 11.
The pupils name, age, class number, school name and home address must be included on all entries, which should be posted or delivered to the FUW, Llys Amaeth, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3BT, marked Schools Competition, or e-mailed to anne.birkett@fuw.org.uk
Mary Glindon MP has been announced as the new shadow Farming and Rural Communities Minister for the Labour Party.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been reshuffling his front bench following his re-election as leader, due to mass shadow cabinet resignations following the result of the EU referendum in June.
Miss Glindon is MP for North Tyneside, and has in the past called for a commons debate on the badger cull, which she opposes.
She is a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, and the Communities and Local Government Select Committee.
The role of the Farming Minister looks over the topics of food and farming, animal health and welfare, marine and fisheries, science and innovation, better regulation, lead responsibility for the Rural Payments Agency, FERA, Cefas and the Animal and Plant Health Agency, and deputy for the Secretary of State on Agriculture and Fisheries Council.
Bird flu: Poultry housing order to be introduced in England
Wheat: Net sales of 377,000 metric tons for delivery in marketing year 2016/2017 were down 34 percent from the previous week and 31 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for the Philippines (104,000 MT, including 50,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), Japan (97,800 MT), Thailand (75,400 MT, including 15,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 4,000 MT), Brazil (62,700 MT, including 30,000 MT switched from Uruguay and 30,000 MT switched from unknown destinations, and decreases of 1,500 MT), Canada (50,000 MT, including 51,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 1,000 MT), and Kenya (44,000 MT, including 40,000 MT switched from unknown destinations). Reductions were reported for unknown destinations (202,300 MT) and Uruguay (30,000 MT). Exports of 700,700 MT were down 17 percent from the previous week, but 3 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Brazil (87,200 MT), Japan (70,000 MT), Mexico (62,000 MT), Algeria (56,800 MT), and the Philippines (54,100 MT).
Exports for Own Account: The current exports for own account outstanding balance totals 24,900 MT, all Canada.
Corn: Net sales of 2,060,800 MT were reported for 2016/2017. The primary destinations were Mexico (1,251,100 MT), Japan (200,100 MT, including 75,400 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 4,500 MT), Saudi Arabia (136,800 MT, including 111,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 900 MT), South Korea (128,300 MT, including 125,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 400 MT), and Colombia (86,000 MT, including 32,000 MT switched from unknown destinations, and decreases of 8,600 MT). Reductions were for unknown destinations (92,900 MT), Costa Rica (9,900 MT), and Chile (2,900 MT). For 2017/2018, net sales of 541,000 MT were reported for Mexico. Exports of 1,390,200 MT were reported to Japan (376,000 MT), South Korea (261,800 MT), Mexico (166,400 MT), Saudi Arabia (136,800 MT), Taiwan (76,200 MT), Chile (69,800 MT), and Colombia (69,100 MT).
Optional Origin Sales: For 2016/2017, options were exercised the export 58,000 MT to Japan (switched from unknown destinations) from the United States. The current outstanding balance of 283,000 MT, is for unknown destinations (218,000 MT), and Taiwan (65,000 MT).
Barley: Net sales of 200 MT for 2016/2017 were reported for Taiwan (100 MT) and Japan (100 MT). Exports of 200 MT were reported to Taiwan.
Sorghum: Net sales of 5,000 MT for 2016/2017 resulted as increases for Japan (9,300 MT, including 8,100 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 1,100 MT) and Nigeria (2,400 MT), were partially offset by reductions for unknown destinations (6,600 MT). Exports of 19,500 MT were reported to Japan (19,300 MT) and Mexico (200 MT).
Rice: Net sales of 43,100 MT for 2016/2017 were down 8 percent from the previous week and 16 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Haiti (14,300 MT), Guatemala (6,700 MT, including 4,600 MT switched from unknown destinations), Turkey (6,000 MT), Mexico (2,700 MT), and Saudi Arabia (2,100 MT). Exports of 95,400 MT were up noticeably from the previous week and 67 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Turkey (31,100 MT), Venezuela (30,000 MT), Guatemala (12,700 MT), Honduras (11,900 MT), and Saudi Arabia (1,900 MT).
Exports for Own Account: The current outstanding balance is 100 MT, all Canada.
Soybeans: Net sales of 2,179,600 MT for 2016/2017 were reported for China (1,487,000 MT, including 244,600 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 14,500 MT), unknown destinations (318,400 MT), Indonesia (94,400 MT, including 66,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 5,100 MT), Japan (72,700 MT, including 27,100 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 600 MT), and Saudi Arabia (65,000 MT). Reductions were reported for Morocco (20,000 MT), Thailand (7,500 MT), South Korea (500 MT), and Peru (500 MT). Exports of 1,026,900 MT were reported to China (779,600 MT), Indonesia (78,300 MT), Japan (57,500 MT), Mexico (41,000 MT), and Costa Rica (15,700 MT).
Optional Origin Sales: For 2016/2017, the current outstanding balance totals 240,000 MT, all China.
Exports for Own Account: The current exports for own account outstanding balance totals 500 MT, all Canada.
Soybean Cake and Meal: Net sales of 19,700 MT for 2015/2016 were down 9 percent from the previous week and 48 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for El Salvador (9,000 MT, including 6,500 MT switched from unknown destinations and 300 MT switched from Nicaragua), Canada (7,700 MT), the Dominican Republic (6,500 MT), Colombia (6,000 MT, including 5,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), and Ghana (5,000 MT). Reductions were reported for unknown destinations (19,400 MT), Algeria (3,000 MT), and the Philippines (2,300 MT). For 2016/2017, net sales of 230,700 MT reported primarily for Mexico (80,100 MT), Canada (38,000 MT), unknown destinations (37,400 MT), and the Philippines (26,500 MT), were partially offset by reductions for Ghana (5,000 MT). Exports of 177,800 MT were up 1 percent from the previous week and 4 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were the Philippines (90,700 MT), Mexico (22,900 MT), Colombia (15,200 MT), Canada (11,700 MT), and El Salvador (11,600 MT).
Soybean Oil: Net sales of 7,800 MT for 2015/2016 were up noticeably from the previous week and 82 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for the Dominican Republic (7,500 MT) and Canada (400 MT). Reductions were reported for Mexico (200 MT). For 2016/2017, net sales reductions of 3,700 MT resulted as increases for Guatemala (3,000 MT), Mexico (2,300 MT), and the Dominican Republic (900 MT), were more than offset by reductions for unknown destinations (10,000 MT). Exports of 20,700 MT were down 54 percent from the previous week and 14 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were the Dominican Republic (17,300 MT), Mexico (2,900 MT), and Canada (400 MT).
Cotton: Net upland sales of 158,900 RB for 2016/2017 were up 73 percent from the previous week, but down 18 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Vietnam (53,200 RB, including 400 RB switched from Japan and decreases of 1,000 RB), South Korea (37,100 RB), China (29,500 RB), Indonesia (18,600 RB), and Thailand (7,000 RB, including 400 RB switched from Japan and decreases of 100 RB). Reductions were reported for El Salvador (1,200 RB). Exports of 212,500 RB were up 39 percent from the previous week and 29 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Indonesia (43,200 RB), China (26,900 RB), Turkey (24,200 RB), Taiwan (20,000 RB), and Vietnam (19,500 RB). Net sales of Pima totaling 23,600 RB for 2016/2017 were up 9 percent from the previous week and 35 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for India (18,400 RB), Egypt (1,700 RB), Pakistan (1,300 RB), Thailand (1,000 RB), and Japan (500 RB). Exports of 7,100 RB were down 3 percent from the previous week, but unchanged from the prior 4-week average. The destinations were China (4,700 RB), India (1,700 RB), Peru (300 RB), and Turkey (200 RB).
Exports for Own Account: New exports for own account totaling 19,200 RB were reported to Indonesia (9,100 RB), Vietnam (6,800 RB), and China (3,300 RB). Exports to China (3,400 RB) and India (500 RB) were applied to new or outstanding sales. The current outstanding balance of 43,300 RB is for Indonesia (19,700 RB), Vietnam (12,800 RB), Taiwan (6,900 RB), India (2,900 RB), Pakistan (600 RB), and (Thailand 400 RB).
Hides and Skins: Net sales of 358,600 pieces for 2016 were down 18 percent from the previous week and 2 percent from the prior-4 week average. Whole cattle hide sales of 359,700 pieces were for China (273,900 pieces), South Korea (42,800 pieces), Mexico (17,800 pieces), Japan (11,900 pieces), and Taiwan (7,300 pieces). Reductions were reported for Hong Kong (2,800 pieces), Indonesia (2,300 pieces), and India (2,000 pieces). Exports of 383,400 pieces were up 8 percent from the previous week and 4 percent from the prior 4-week average. Whole cattle hide exports of 381,400 pieces were primarily to China (239,300 pieces), South Korea (82,000 pieces), Mexico (22,800 pieces), Thailand (19,900 pieces), and Japan (7,100 pieces).
Net sales of 159,300 wet blues for 2016 were down 6 percent from the previous week, but up 30 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for China (41,400 unsplit and 3,400 grain splits), Vietnam (39,600 unsplit), Italy (37,500 unsplit), and the Dominican Republic (35,300 unsplit). Reductions were reported for Brazil (900 unsplit), South Korea (600 unsplit and 100 grain splits), Thailand (300 unsplit), and Mexico (100 unsplit). Exports of 131,800 wet blues were up 31 percent from the previous week and 23 percent from the prior 4-week average. Exports were primarily to China (56,100 unsplit and 3,400 grain splits), Vietnam (20,800 unsplit), Italy (11,800 unsplit and 3,600 grain splits), and the Dominican Republic (11,300 unsplit). Net sales reductions of splits totaling 156,800 pounds for 2016 were for Hong Kong (57,000 pounds), Vietnam (46,900 pounds), Italy (39,700 pounds), and China (13,200 pounds). Exports of 292,900 pounds were down 53 percent from the previous week and 47 percent from the prior 4-week average. The destinations were Vietnam (248,600 pounds), Hong Kong (40,400 pounds), and South Korea (4,000 pounds).
Beef: Net sales of 17,600 MT for 2016 were up 31 percent from the previous week and 56 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for South Korea (7,300 MT), Japan (4,600 MT), Canada (2,100 MT), Taiwan (1,200 MT), and Mexico (1,000 MT). For 2017, net sales of 7,500 MT reported for Japan (4,400 MT), South Korea (1,300 MT), Hong Kong (900 MT), and Taiwan (800 MT). Exports of 13,600 MT were down 3 percent from the previous week, but up 2 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Japan (3,400 MT), South Korea (3,200 MT), Hong Kong (2,300 MT), Mexico (1,500 MT), and Canada (1,300 MT).
Pork: Net sales of 21,300 MT for 2016 were up 17 percent from the previous week and 10 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Mexico (6,800 MT), South Korea (6,100 MT), Japan (2,300 MT), China (1,200 MT), and Canada (1,200 MT). For 2017, net sales reductions of 100 MT were reported for Mexico. Exports of 20,800 MT were up 9 percent from the previous week and 14 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Mexico (8,000 MT), Japan (3,900 MT), South Korea (1,600 MT), Canada (1,500 MT), and Hong Kong (1,300 MT).
Source : USDA
Last Updated: 2016.10.11
Fast Retailing Allocates US$ 1 Million to Support UNHCR Emergency Assistance in South Sudan
FAST RETAILING CO., LTD.
to Japanese page
Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. today announced that it will allocate US$ 1million out of a USD$ 10 million fund to the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, for emergency assistance to internally displaced people in South Sudan.
Fast Retailing began to collaborate with the UNHCR in 2006 and entered into a global partnership with the agency in 2011- a first for a company headquartered in Asia. In November 2015, Fast Retailing pledged USD$ 10 million over three years starting in 2016, covering the needs of displaced people in Asia to become self-reliant and to respond to acute emergencies around the world. The allocation of US$ 1 million is in response to the on-going humanitarian crisis in South Sudan.
Details here: http://www.unhcr.or.jp/html/2016/10/pr-161011.html
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Warrenton, VA (20186)
Today
A steady rain this morning. Showers continuing this afternoon. High 66F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..
Tonight
A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
That faint gobble, gobble youre hearing in the distance can only mean one thing: Thanksgiving is near! Both ACTS and SERVE are gearing up for their holiday programs, and your help is needed.
What does a more efficient Caleb Love look like for the Tar Heels?
Singapores bank regulator Tuesday shut down a second bank for serious failures in anti-money laundering controls and improper conduct linked to Malaysias 1MDB fund.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said Falcon Bank demonstrated a persistent and severe lack of understanding of MAS AML requirements and expectations.
MAS tied the AML failures to senior management at Falcon Banks head office in Switzerland and at the Singapore branch.
Authorities in Singapore arrested the local manager of Falcon Private Bank, Jens Sturzenegger, on October 5, MAS said.
Zurich-based Falcon Bank is owned by a subsidiary of Abu Dhabis sovereign fund, International Petroleum Investment Company.
Singapore fined Falcon $3.12 million for 14 breaches of the money laundering prevention law, including not filing suspicious transaction reports and failure to inform authorities of irregular activities in their customers accounts.
MAS also said Tuesday it fined Singapores DBS Bank about $720,000 and UBS about $940,000 for violating anti-money laundering laws.
MAS said its actions against the three banks Tuesday were based on an examination into 1MDB-related fund flows that took place through these banks from March 2013 to May 2015.
The Singapore regulator said it had close cooperation with various overseas regulatory counterparts, in particular the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
In May, Singapore shut down the local operations of Swiss-based BSI Bank for money-laundering lapses linked to the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.
And in July, MAS named DBS and the Singapore branches of Standard Chartered Bank, UBS AG, and Falcon Private Bank Limited for suspected 1MDB-related offenses.
MAS said Tuesday it is finalizing its assessment of the Singapore branch of Standard Chartered Bank.
The U.S. Justice Department used evidence from Singapore to prepare a 144-page civil forfeiture complaint filed in July against about $1 billion in assets allegedly bought with money looted from 1MDB.
The DOJ said about $3.5 billion was allegedly misappropriated from the fund.
On Monday, Singapore authorities charged two ex-BSI bankers with helping divert money from 1MDB.
Private banker Yak Yew Chee, 57, was charged with seven criminal counts, including forgery and failing to report suspicious transactions.
Yvonne Seah Yew Foong, 45, who worked at BSI under Yak, was charged with helping him
Yak acted as a private banker to Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho and to the 1MDB fund and related entities.
In July, Singapore seized property and bank accounts worth about $177 million linked to money allegedly diverted from 1MDB.
About $88 million was in accounts controlled by Low Taek Jho, MAS said.
Falcon Bank was originally owned by American International Group (AIG) and known as AIG Private Bank. In 2009, AIG Private Bank was acquired by Aabar Investments PJS and renamed as Falcon Bank.
Falcon had $900 million in assets in Singapore.
* * *
Heres the October 11, 2016 statement from the Monetary Authority of Singapore:
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that it is withdrawing the merchant bank status of Falcon Private Bank Ltd, Singapore Branch (Falcon Bank) for serious failures in anti-money laundering (AML) controls and improper conduct by senior management at the Head Office in Switzerland as well as the Singapore Branch.
MAS is also imposing financial penalties on DBS Bank Ltd (DBS) and UBS AG, Singapore Branch (UBS) for breaches of MAS AML requirements.
The actions on the three banks follow supervisory examinations by MAS into 1MDB-related fund flows that took place through these banks from March 2013 to May 2015. MAS investigations benefitted from close cooperation with various overseas regulatory counterparts, in particular the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
Falcon Bank
Falcon Bank has been operating as a merchant bank in Singapore since August 20081, offering boutique private banking services. It is headquartered in Switzerland. MAS conducted inspections on Falcon Bank in 2013 and 2015. The 2013 inspection found weaknesses in the banks controls for client acceptance and transaction surveillance that led to breaches of MAS AML requirements. Falcon Bank paid a composition fine of S$300,000 for these breaches, and MAS instructed the merchant bank to strengthen its AML controls. The 2015 inspection uncovered an even larger number of regulatory breaches as well as serious failings on the part of Head Office senior management and the Singapore Branch Manager.
MAS has decided to withdraw Falcon Banks status as a merchant bank in Singapore, taking into account the following factors:
The merchant banks Head Office failed to guard against conflicts of interest when managing the account of a customer who was associated with the banks former Board Chairman Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny. The former Chairman misled and influenced the Singapore Branch into processing the customers unusually large transactions despite multiple red flags.
The improper conduct of the Singapore Branch Manager and certain senior managers at the Head Office had impaired the effectiveness of the Singapore Branchs compliance function in discharging its responsibilities. Their interference was wrongful and egregious in nature, and contributed to substantial breaches of AML regulations. MAS has been informed that the Singapore Branch Manager, Mr Jens Sturzenegger, has been arrested by the Commercial Affairs Department on 5 October 2016.
Falcon Bank has demonstrated a persistent and severe lack of understanding of MAS AML requirements and expectations. Taking into account the totality of Falcon Banks conduct, MAS assessment is that the merchant bank will be unable to comply with these requirements and expectations going forward.
MAS has imposed on Falcon Bank financial penalties amounting to S$4.3 million for 14 breaches of MAS Notice 1014 Prevention of Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism. The breaches include failures to adequately assess irregularities in activities pertaining to customer accounts, and file suspicious transaction reports.
Clients and customers of Falcon Bank are assured that the merchant bank, which is a branch of Falcon Private Bank Ltd in Switzerland, has the full support of its Head Office which is financially sound. MAS is working closely with FINMA, the home regulator of Falcon Private Bank Ltd, to oversee an orderly closure of the merchant bank branch in Singapore.
DBS and UBS
MAS has completed its inspections of DBS and UBS in relation to their 1MDB-related fund flows. The inspections revealed several breaches of AML requirements and control lapses. There were deficiencies in the on-boarding of new accounts, weaknesses in corroborating the source of funds, inadequate scrutiny of customers transactions and activities, and failure to file timely suspicious transaction reports.
The control lapses observed in DBS and UBS relate to specific bank officers who failed to carry out their duties effectively. MAS inspections did not find pervasive control weaknesses within these banks. MAS has admonished the two banks and instructed their management to investigate the lapses, promptly address the control deficiencies, and take appropriate disciplinary measures against the staff involved.
MAS has imposed financial penalties amounting to S$1 million on DBS for 10 breaches and S$1.3 million on UBS for 13 breaches of MAS Notice 626 Prevention of Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism. MAS has also directed DBS and UBS to appoint an independent party to confirm that rectification measures have been effectively implemented and to report its findings to MAS.
Other Financial Institutions
MAS is finalising its assessment of Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore Branch, and will make an announcement in due course. MAS has referred the 1MDB-related transactions processed by Raffles Money Change to the Commercial Affairs Department for their follow-up investigation.
Conclusion
Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director, MAS, said, Keeping Singapore a clean and trusted financial centre is a shared responsibility. The board and senior management of each financial institution play a pivotal role. They must put in place robust mechanisms to detect suspicious activities, promote strong risk awareness among their staff, and empower their compliance and risk management people. Most of all, they must set the tone from the top that profits do not come before right conduct. MAS will work closely with the industry to ensure that standards are kept high and will take strong deterrent actions against institutions that fall short.
____
Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
Shia LaBeouf and his long term girlfriend Mia Goth have got married.
Mia Goth and Shia LaBeouf
The 30-year-old actor exchanged his vows with the actress in Las Vegas, with a ceremony that was anything but traditional.
According to TMZ.com, the pair got hitched at Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel - a place known for its themed weddings - and in pictures posted by the site it seems the couple decided to go for a combination of themes including Elvis Presley and Hawaiian.
The wedding was officiated by a man dressed as Elvis himself, who couldn't resist throwing in the odd reference to the late King of Rock n' Roll.
In a video posted by TMZ, he said: "Mia and Shia, do you promise to adopt each other's hound dogs? Not to wear your blue suede shoes in the rain? To always be each other's teddy bear? And to give each other a hunka hunka burning love? Promise? Alright, well by the power invested in me - The King - I now pronounce you to be man and wife. Now Sir, you may kiss your lovely bride."
The ceremony appeared to be all too much for the 'Transformers' star, as he began to cry as he kissed his new bride.
Shia and Mia met on the set of 'Nymphomaniac: Volume II' in 2012, and have been dating on and off ever since. Engagement speculation first started circulating in March when Mia, 22, was seen at a Miu Miu show during Paris Fashion Week with a ring on her finger.
Neither of the pair made their engagement public knowledge, and in July 2015 it was speculated that the couple had split after the 'Holes' actor was caught on tape threatening Mia.
Clint Eastwood is in talks to direct a movie about a US aid worker being kidnapped by Somali militants.
Clint Eastwood
The 86-year-old filmmaker is eyeing Jessica Buchanan's memoirs 'Impossible Odds', which tells the real life story of her capture by militants and rescue by a Navy SEAL team in 2012.
Brian Helgeland - whose previous credits include 'L.A. Confidential' and most recently Kray Twins crime thriller 'Legend', which he directed and wrote - is penning the script and Greg Silverman and Julia Spiro will be producing.
Buchanan went to Somalia in 2011 to help disadvantaged children only to later be kidnapped along with a colleague and held for ransom for 93 days by Somali land pirates after her escort and protector sold them out.
Her husband Erik Landemalm - who wrote some chapters for the book - desperately worked with various agencies to get his wife rescued before American President Barack Obama sanctioned the use of military force.
If Eastwood does helm the thriller it will be his latest big screen foray into real life stories following his movies 'American Sniper' and 'Sully', which starred Tom Hanks as Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger, who was the pilot who landed a commercial aircraft in the Hudson River in 2009.
The Duchess of Cambridge is to meet King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands on Tuesday (11.10.16).
Duchess Catherine
The 34-year-old royal is to attend several engagements in Hague and Rotterdam in the country in northwestern Europe.
After meeting with the His Royal Highness, Catherine will then visit an art museum called The Mauritshuis, where she will be shown a painting of the Dutch Golden Age.
The mother-of-two - who has Prince George, three, and 17-month-old Princess Charlotte with Prince William - will also be involved in discussions about mental health with several organisations including UK charity Action on Addiction and some local charities.
She will conclude the visit with a trip to creative arts studio, which provides young people with the chance to learn about the arts and crafts.
A series of tweets on Kensington Palace's Twitter confirmed: "The Duchess of Cambridge will soon arrive in the Netherlands and is looking forward to a day of engagements in the Hague and Rotterdam ... The Duchess's first engagement in the Netherlands today is to meet His Majesty King Willem-Alexander ... The Duchess will visit @maurithuis gallery where the British Royal Collection has an exhibition of masters of the Dutch Golden Age ... The Duchess will join a UK and Netherlands discussion on addiction and mental health @ukinnl with @Trimbos @ActionAddiction and @AFNCCF ... HRH's visit to the Netherlands will end @bouwkeet, a creative workshop in Rotterdam where young people are learning craft and design skills. (sic)"
Catherine's trip to the Netherlands comes a day after she rode on The London Eye with Prince William and Harry for World Mental Health Day on Monday (10.10.16).
Prince Harry looked to see if Queen Elizabeth was home whilst on The London Eye.
Prince Harry
The 32-year-old royal took a ride on the tourist attraction with his brother, Prince William, and his wife Duchess Catherine on Monday (10.10.16) in aid of World Mental Health Day and couldn't help but check to see if his 91-year-old grandmother was at Buckingham Palace.
The flame-haired hunk spoke to Theresa Cox, who looks after her husband, who suffers from a rare neurological condition called multiple system atrophy.
Mrs. Cox told the Metro newspaper: "Harry was very down to earth, he told us to look out for his grandmother's building and wave.
"He couldn't remember if she was home or not so we were looking to see if we could spot her royal standard."
However, the Queen was not in at the time they took a trip in one of the glass pods, which looks out over the British capital.
Later in the day, Harry gave a speech at County Hall, where he attended an event hosted by Heads Together - a charity set up by Harry, Prince William and Duchess Catherine - where he said there should be no "shame around mental health".
He told guests: It's time we ended the shame around mental health - the fear of judgement that stops people talking or getting help."
'X Factor' duo Bratavio "always knew" they would get voted off the show.
Ottavio Columbro and Bradley Hunt
The flamboyant pair - Bradley Hunt and Ottavio Columbro - found themselves in the sing-off on Sunday (09.10.16) and were sent home after they failed to impress the judges. Now, they have revealed they "had a hunch" they wouldn't survive for long in the live shows.
Writing on the 'X Factor' blog for the Metro newspaper, Ottavio said: "Bradley thought we could have potentially been safe during the live shows, but I always knew we were going the first week. I just had a hunch, especially when you look on social media and see the public not really getting behind you - it makes you think 'that's not going to translate into votes'."
But getting voted off the talent competition hasn't stopped the pair from wanting to be in the spotlight, as they have said they'd "love to get on any show", and ultimately want a career like that of former 'X Factor' contestant Rylan Clark-Neal - who now presents spin off show 'The Xtra Factor'.
They said: "In the future, we want to do like a music video, we want to do a tour and get around and meet some people. We'll do anything, because we'd love to get on any show.
"It's good to aim for a career like Rylan Clark's but, at the end of the day, as long as we're successful and we make a lot of money we'll be happy. It's not about fame, it's about just making a career."
The pair were kicked out of the competition after they failed to compete with Saara Aalto's performance in the sing-off. Speaking on the show after the vote, Bratavio insisted they were "proud" to have come as far as they had.
They said: "We're really proud, we're thankful to everyone the judges, the producers, thank you for giving us this opportunity to follow our dreams."
'X Factor' continues Saturday October 15 on ITV at 8pm.
Len Goodman has warned his fellow 'Strictly Come Dancing' judge Bruno Tonioli.
Len Goodman
The 72-year-old head judge has reportedly had words with the Italian dance enthusiast about knocking him with his flamboyant hand gestures whilst giving feedback to contestants on the BBC One latin and ballroom show.
An insider told The Sun newspaper: "There have been several times this series when Bruno has clonked Len in the face. But it was the final straw on Saturday after several incidents involving Bruno's wild arms and Len decided to confront him about it.
"Len told Bruno to control himself and to stop bashing into him in an exchange off camera. Len knows it's just Bruno's bonkers personality but he thinks he could end up with a black eye."
On the show on Saturday (08.10.16), Bruno was seen bashing into Len on several occasion including while he was talking to contestant Will Young and his dance partner Karen Clifton.
According to the publication, Len - who has sat next to Bruno on the panel since the show's debut in 2004 - was overheard grumbling before judge Darcey Bussell safeguarded him.
It comes just a week after Bruno stormed out of the studio in protest over last Sunday's (02.10.16) results show.
The fiery star was said to be furious with the decision by producers to axe the dance-off and eliminate Melvin Odoom when Anastacia was unable to perform and he allegedly fled to his car and demanded to be taken home.
At the time, a source said: "The studio audience had no idea about the backstage drama."
However, Bruno soon calmed down and took his place on the panel alongside the other judges as Melvin was eliminated.
Arunachal Pradesh
If youre up for a challenge, then head to Arunachal Pradesh. Even though trekking through Arunchal Pradesh isnt the easiest, its worth every second of it. Rich in Indo-Tibetian culture, wild life and natural sceneries, you can try a range of activities here. As a tourist destination, Arunachal Pradesh is abundant in homestays, which adds to the whole backpacking experience. The Tawang Monastery should absolutely be on your list, when youre in Arunachal Pradesh. Known as Galden Namgey Lhatse in Tibetan, the name translates to celestial paradise in a clear night. Need we say more?
Fethiye Oludeniz Cable Car Project
Soon visitors will be able to take a trip to the top of the world famous Babadag mountain in just 7 minutes when a new cable car is built.
The Babadag mountain range rises out of the Fethiye Plain and stretches south 60km to the west end of the Patara Beach.
The highest peak is known as Babadag (Father mountain) and towers some 1,967 Metres (6,450 ft) above sea level and dominates the skyline of Fethiye, Ovacik. Hisaronu and Oludeniz.
The view from the peak is breathtaking.
It is also the most popular launch site in Turkey for paragliding and now welcomes well over 100,000 thrill seekers a year.
But getting all those people to the top of the mountain has been a challenge.
The idea of a cable car to do that job was first reported as far back as 2008.
Then in 2011 plans were drawn up to show how it might work.
Then it all went quiet.
But last week that all changed.
Last week the government announced that it will be seeking bids for a build, operate, transfer contract worth around 15 million from interested companies.
That means the successful company will build, operate and then hand back the cable car to the government after an agreed period in which time they will have recovered their build costs and made a profit.
The original Gocek Tunnel and the Dalaman International Airport were tendered on a similar basis.
The first passengers should be able to travel in the new 8 person cable cars in May/June 2018.
Babdag Cable Car Faster, Safer and Higher
Currently it can take can take up to half an hour to make the journey via a vehicle.
That journey can be a nail-biting journey for some on the winding mountain road.
The new cable car will take just 6-7 minutes.
The cable car will start from Ovacik, Yasdam Cadessi and then make its way to 1,700m, site of the cafe and main paragliding launch pad.
A separate ski lift will be built to take those people who want to go right to the 1,900m summit.
We expect to learn the price of a ticket in due course.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) announced that they have agreed to terms on a tentative agreement for the Company's more than 200 Aircraft Appearance Technicians, the group primarily responsible for aircraft detailing and appearance care services. AMFA representatives will be communicating the provisions of the proposed 5-year extension agreement in the coming days. 'I want to commend both Negotiating Teams for their work in getting us to this point,' said Landon Nitschke, Southwest Airlines Vice President Maintenance Operations. 'This agreement enhances pay and benefits for our Employees, and it supports the Company's long-term strategic business plan.' If approved, this extension will run through February 2021 and replace the current collective bargaining agreement that becomes amendable in February 2017. ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
LONDON and DUBAI, UAE, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
nWorX-DBH, a privately held ICT Company today outlined company's activities at the 36th GITEX Technology Week to be held on October 16-20, 2016 in Dubai, UAE. GITEX Technology Week is expected to attract over 150,000 technology professionals, enterprise leaders, public sector officials and entrepreneurs from over 140 countries, including 22,000 C-suite executives.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160210/331945LOGO )
nWorX-DBH will demonstrate how customers can benefit from Industrial Internet of Things setting the tone for Industry 4.0 IoT transformation initiatives. Based on a global industry survey by PwC, Strategy & Industry 4.0 solutions have provided an average eiciency increase of 18% within 5 years. "nWorX-DBH field experience backs these findings, we have been able to drive 20% - 30% contribution to our customer's bottom or top line performance leveraging our Industrial IoT solutions and associated business transformation initiatives" said Muneeb Bhatti, Managing Director, MEA and Asia PAC for nWorX.
During GITEX Technology Week, nWorX-DBH will showcase Industrial IoT solutions targeting Oil & Gas and Utility sectors for managing industrial pipeline network assets based on technology developed by Cason Ltd, a DBH investment portfolio company. Their solutions have been utilized by leading energy and utility companies worldwide.
Leakage or rupture within industrial pipelines can result in heavy economic losses and environmental catastrophs. nWorX-DBH pipeline monitoring and management system uses industry leading IoT technologies to proactively detect and notify any incidents, accurately locate the incidents across pipeline network and provide real-time data access to operational staff to fix such incidents.
Industrial IoT is a major current trend and large technology companies are focusing on the business outcome benefits it can provide. According to a market research report by MarketsandMarkets, Industrial IoT market is expected to reach USD 151.01 Billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 8.03% between 2015 and 2020.
nWorX-DBH invites GITEX participants and visitors to meet its subject matter experts and see solution demonstrations in Zabeel Hall or request for a pre-booked one to one meeting via email to gitex@nworxtech.com
About nWorX-DBH
nWorX-DBH is a joint venture between nWorX, a Canadian Technology Professional Services Company and DBH, a Dutch holding company with an IT technology portfolio of European technology companies.
nWorX-DBH provides end-to-end cutting edge technology solutions serving customer lifecycle needs across initial feasibility, planning, design, implementation and operational management across virtually any market or industry around the world.
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Agreement establishes Practical Arrangements and a framework for cooperation on the advancement of safety and technology related to nuclear energy
IEEE, the world's largest professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, today announced the signing of an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) establishing Practical Arrangements to cooperate in sharing of best practices and documents and standards development in the area of nuclear safety and energy. The official signing ceremony was held at IAEA's headquarters in Vienna, Austria on 29 September 2016.
Following the Fukushima accident, the IAEA Nuclear Energy Department and Nuclear Safety and Security Department have been working with IEEE to develop a nuclear energy series and safety guide on accident monitoring systems for nuclear power plants. In signing the agreement establishing Practical Arrangements for cooperation, IEEE and IAEA have established an official platform to reduce duplication and conflicts between IAEA guidelines and IEEE publications.
"Safety is an overriding concern in the nuclear energy field, where standardization and document development tied to instrumentation and control systems, electrical equipment, computer processing systems, as well as human factors, all need to be addressed to protect both the public and those individuals working in the field," says Konstantinos Karachalios, managing director for IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA). "IEEE's cooperative agreement with IAEA represents a very positive step forward in sharing best practices and bringing together the best minds to work collaboratively towards advancing nuclear safety and energy."
IEEE and IAEA will cooperate in the development of publications to promote harmonization on topics of mutual interest. IAEA's signing of the Practical Arrangement agreement with IEEE is the first the agency has made with an international standards development organization and has initially been established for three years.
To learn more about IEEE-SA, visit us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, connect with us on LinkedIn or on the Standards Insight Blog.
About the IEEE Standards Association
The IEEE Standards Association, a globally recognized standards-setting body within IEEE, develops consensus standards through an open process that engages industry and brings together a broad stakeholder community. IEEE standards set specifications and best practices based on current scientific and technological knowledge. The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of over 1,100 active standards and more than 500 standards under development. For more information visit http://standards.ieee.org.
About IEEE
IEEE is the largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics. Learn more at http://www.ieee.org.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161103005235/en/
Contacts:
IEEE
Lloyd Green, Director, +1-732-465-6444
Engagement Marketing Creative Community Services
l.g.green@ieee.org
or
Jeff Pane, +1-732-465-6605
Associate Brand and Marketing Communications Manager
j.pane@ieee.org
Regulatory News:
Nordic Waterproofing Holding A/S's nomination committee has been appointed, based on ownership data as per 31 August 2016.
The Annual General Meeting, held on the 14 June 2016, resolved that the Nordic Waterproofing's nomination committee shall be composed of members appointed by the four largest shareholders, who have expressed a wish to participate. In accordance with shareholders' decision, the nomination committee has been appointed and is composed by five members in total.
Arne Bernroth, Axcel, chairman of the nomination committee Joachim Spetz, Swedbank Robur Viktor Henriksson, Carnegie Funds Thomas Lau Schleicher, KIRKBI Invest Ulf Gundemark, chairman of the board of directors, Nordic Waterproofing Holding A/S
In all the nomination committee represents 48.1 percent of the total number of shares in Nordic Waterproofing Holding A/S, based on ownership data as per 31 August 2016.
The main duties of the nomination committee are to nominate candidates for the positions of chairman of the board and other members of the board, and to submit proposals for fees and other remuneration to be paid to each of the board members.
Shareholders who wish to present proposals to the nomination committee are welcome to submit them by email: nominationcommittee@nordicwaterproofing.com. In order for the nomination committee to be able to consider submitted proposals, these should be submitted by 31 December 2016, at the latest.
The Annual General Meeting of Nordic Waterproofing Holding A/S will be held in Stockholm, Sweden, on 27 April 2017.
Nordic Waterproofing, in its current form, was established in 2011 by Axcel, by means of a merger of the Swedish and Danish waterproofing subsidiaries of Trelleborg AB's and Lemminkainen Oy's roof installation businesses. Today, Nordic Waterproofing is one of the leading providers on the waterproofing market in northern Europe. The Company provides high-quality products and solutions for waterproofing in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom and Germany. In Finland and in Denmark, through part-owned franchise companies, the Company also provides installation services. The Company markets its products and solutions under nine brands, all with long heritage, most of which are among the most established and well-recognized brands in waterproofing in their respective markets, such as Mataki, Trebolit, Phnix Tag Materialer, Kerabit, Nortett and SealEco.
For more information about Nordic Waterproofing, visit www.nordicwaterproofing.com
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161010006251/en/
Contacts:
For further information, please contact:
Ulf Gundemark, chairman of the board of directors
Telephone: +46 703 399 300
E-mail: ulf.gundemark@telia.com
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - McCarthy & Stone plc. (MCS.L), a retirement housebuilder, announced Tuesday that Chief Financial Officer Nick Maddock has decided to leave the business to take up the position of CFO at SIG plc (SHI.L). Maddock, who has served as the Group's Chief Financial Officer since September 2011, will remain in post and a leaving date in first quarter 2017 will be agreed in due course, the company said. A process to identify his successor and ensure a smooth transition is now underway, and a further update will be made when the Group announces its full year results statement on November 15. John White, Chairman of McCarthy & Stone, said, 'With the IPO now complete and the first year's results delivered, Nick has decided to move on. He leaves the business in a very healthy financial position, having just recorded a 31% increase in revenue year-on-year and with c.52 million of net cash on our balance sheet at the year end.' The company said it remains firmly on track to meet medium term target of building and selling at least 3,000 units a year and achieving 25% ROCE. Regarding the current trading, the company said that since its September 2 trading update, its trading and other lead indicators are now ahead of the previous year. Over the first five weeks of the new financial year, reservations have been stronger and cancellation rates have returned to more normal levels. The forward order book, including legal completions since September 1, is now moving towards a similar level to last year at about 173 million pounds. The company previously had said that sales immediately post the EU referendum had slowed and cancellations rates had increased, and that consequently the Group came into the new financial year with a forward sales order book of 114 million pounds, which was down on last year's 131 million pounds. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Unifor, Canada's largest union in the private sector, said it has reached a tentative agreement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCAU) that secures investment for Brampton and Etobicoke. The deal also cements the economic pattern established with General Motors (GM). Unifor National President Jerry Dias who led the negotiations, said, 'Entering into the 2016 negotiations the entire leadership at our auto locals unanimously endorsed investment commitments as our top priority. This objective was achieved with GM, and I am proud to report we were successful with FCA as well.' This is the second round of talks with the Detroit Three automakers to take place in 2016. The first set of negotiations with GM established an economic pattern for bargaining that included investment commitments, 2% general wage increases in year one and four of the contract, a $6,000 ratification bonus, $2,000 lump sums payments in year two, three and four, benefit plan improvements and an enhanced wage progression for new hires. Unifor FCA Bargaining Committee Chair, Dino Chiodo noted that after many years of receiving zeros, this pattern provides important financial gains for members and their families. Unifor members at FCA will have the opportunity to vote on the tentative agreement on Sunday, October 16. If the new four year Agreement is approved, Unifor will immediately resume negotiations with Ford. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
HONG KONG, Oct. 11,2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Luxury French perfume house, Fragrance Du Bois, is proud to announce its debut in East Asia on the 5th of October 2016, at Hong Kong's first and only artistic perfume boutique, Parfumerie Tresor.
Inspired by a 'girl's powder room', Parfumerie Tresor is located in the heart of the bustling city's Central district, at 28 Lyndhurst Terrace, and since its inception in 2014, has profiled and exhibited 23 niche, artistic brands such as Jovoy, Bella Bellissima, Xerjoff, Memo, Jeroboam and many others.
Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161010/8521606449-a
At the heart of all Fragrance Du Bois' creations is the 100% pure, natural, organic Oud oil, which is sustainably produced on the brand's own plantations.
Agarwood, from which Oud oil is derived, is no stranger to Hong Kong, and is the species of tree that originally gaveHong Kongits famous name. 'Fragrant Harbour' became the officially recorded name after the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, with the territory, and the port area in particular, serving as the Asian hub and the regional supplier and distribution centre for aromatic materials and ingredients.
Oud lends an extraordinary depth and longevity to a fragrance, and Fragrance Du Bois' unique range of products has established the brand's presence internationally in a remarkably short space of time, especially after its launch in Paris earlier this year, at the House of Jovoy, the 'Embassy of rare perfumes'.
Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161010/8521606449-b
"We are beyond thrilled to debut in Hong Kong," says Nicola Parker, Brand Director of Fragrance Du Bois. "Pauline and her team represent and embrace the same values and ethos as we do, and we couldn't imagine a better partner than Parfumerie Tresor. Hong Kong is part of our strategic expansion plans to reach out to the Chinese people, who already have a deep understanding of Oud and agarwood. It's been part of their history for thousands of years."
She continued, "We are also looking to increase our range of products, to include wood chips, Oud oil and incense sticks in Hong Kong over the next few months. I look forward to this unique partnership with Parfumerie Tresor, and I am excited at the prospect of what it will bring."
Pauline Lau, Founder and Managing Director of Parfumerie Tresor commented, "We are delighted to welcome Fragrance Du Bois to Hong Kong. As part of our commitment to creativity and uniqueness, we aim to introduce premium and luxury, independent perfume brands to Hong Kong and Asia's patronage. With Fragrance Du Bois' exquisite and luxurious perfumes, I strongly believe that the brand will bring a new, fragrant and sensory experience to our customers."
Using only the finest, sustainably sourced and produced ingredients, Fragrance Du Bois has boutiques in Paris, Singapore,Kuala LumpurandBangkok, with several more openings - Doha, Geneva, Milan, Marbella, New York and Los Angeles - being planned for the coming months.
For more information, please download athttp://fdbo.is/HK-launch.
Notes for Editors:
For further information, please contact:
Samantha Tham
PR & Marketing Executive, Singapore
Email:samantha.tham@fragrancedubois.com
Tel: +65 9144 0933
About Fragrance Du Bois
Fragrance Du Bois is a niche, luxury perfume house born from the richest essences of nature, crafted by fifth generation perfumers, from the 17th century French traditions of Grasse. At the heart of all Fragrance Du Bois' creations is its signature Oud that exudes the ultimate in luxury, being both distinctive and unique. All the Oud used by Fragrance Du Bois is produced on its own sustainably managed plantations, and is guaranteed to be ethically and sustainably sourced.
About Parfumerie Tresor
Parfumerie Tresor brings creative and unique perfumers under one roof; you will not find many of these fragrances anywhere else in the city. Parfumerie Tresor is not only home to different brand stories and the independent spirits of these perfumeries, but will also be a creative space for cultural events that promote the art of fragrance. A perfect pairing of perfume and personality is an elegant way to express oneself to the world.
SINGAPORE -- (Marketwired) -- 11/08/16 -- Adyen, the payments company powering global commerce, today announced that Althea, Southeast Asia's largest online Korean beauty site, has selected Adyen as its payments solution provider. The partnership with Adyen provides Althea's customers in Southeast Asia a consistent, frictionless payment experience.
"At Althea, we recognize that the checkout and payment process is often the most important stage in the customer journey. The journey rarely ends when the 'buy' button is clicked. Instead, a pertinent issue in ecommerce is the abandoned cart epidemic, usually a result of rejection at the payment process. We strongly believe in having a consistent and trusted payment system across all our markets to build customer loyalty and encourage repeat purchases. Adyen, with its unified solution and in-depth understanding of local markets, provides this for us," said Jae Kim, Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of Althea.
Althea is one of the fastest growing ecommerce companies in Southeast Asia. To thrive on its expedient rise in the region, the beauty site is working with Adyen to enable customers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to pay via their desired payment method, from online banking to payments at convenience store and ATMs.
"With the region's rising middle class and increasing spending power, ecommerce in Southeast Asia is a growing phenomenon. However, retailers looking to target the region need to note that when it comes to payments, there is no one preferred payment method and consumer preferences are still highly fragmented. Besides offering a variety of payment methods, Adyen's understanding of local markets helps Althea select and offer their customers the payment method they trust and feel comfortable with," said Warren Hayashi, President of Adyen Asia-Pacific.
Despite market-specific differences, the most important thing for retailers is building deep engagement with their consumers. Regardless of where the consumer is from, everyone expects a frictionless payment experience. To gain insight on payment preferences, Adyen provides Althea with daily reports on ongoing transactions. With this unified outlook of customer behavior, Althea is able to optimize authorization rates as needed to reduce payment rejection and identify other potential friction points.
"K-beauty in SEA is already a multi-billion-dollar market, and the ongoing development of the region, especially in e-commerce, will only fuel the market's growth going forward," said Kim.
Company logo
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About Adyen
Adyen is a technology company that provides businesses with a single solution to accept payments anywhere in the world. The only provider of a modern end-to-end infrastructure connecting merchants directly to Visa, MasterCard, and 250 other payment methods globally, Adyen delivers frictionless payments across online, mobile, and in-store. Headquartered in Amsterdam and San Francisco, with offices across North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific, Adyen serves more than 4,500 businesses, including 7 of the 10 largest U.S. Internet companies, and 3 of the top 5 global apparel brands. Customers include Uber, Netflix, Spotify, Dropbox, Evernote, Booking.com, Yelp, Vodafone, Superdry, Mango, Crocs, O'Neill, SoundCloud, KLM and JustFab.
About Althea
Founded in 2015, Althea has quickly become the leading Korean beauty e-commerce company in Southeast Asia. With offices in Seoul and Kuala Lumpur, Althea aims to provide the latest beauty products, trends and lifestyle to consumers across the region. The company is backed by a range of investors including 500 Startups, Mirae Asset Ventures, POSCO Ventures, and Tekton Ventures.
Press Contacts
Melissa Jaswal
Email Contact
+65 9837 3746
Valerie Ng
Email Contact
+65 9648 2741
Pui-San Wong
Adyen
Email Contact
+65 3158 5065
B2C and B2B Merchant of Children's Costumes and Accessories Grows 70 percent YoY, Transforming into Omnichannel Powerhouse
LONDON, Oct. 11,2016 /PRNewswire/ --NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud financials /ERPandomnichannel commercesoftware suites, today announced that Lucy Locket, a B2C and B2B merchant of children's costumes and accessories, has expanded its international presence across three continents to become a global, omnichannel commerce business. Lucy Locket has enjoyed yearly growth of 70 percent since deploying NetSuite OneWorld, replacing Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The company sells its products through more than 20 retail partners across Europe and Asia, including Harrods, Hamleys, Galeries Lafayette and LegoLand, through its own direct-to-consumer ecommerce website powered by NetSuite SuiteCommerce, and across multiple online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.
With the foundation of its business systems in place, and NetSuite OneWorld supporting its global financials, customer relationship management (CRM), inventory management, procure-to-pay, order management, multi-country tax compliance, financial reporting and multi-subsidiary management for its subsidiaries in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Australia and United States, Lucy Locket continues to drive increased operational efficiencies and growth. The company has recently expanded sales into the US via Amazon Marketplace and plans to launch new subsidiaries to sell in China, Japan and Canada. With NetSuite OneWorld, Lucy Locket is able to easily conduct transactions for four international legal entities in five languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Italian) and multiple currencies - including the Euro, US Dollar, Australian Dollar, British Pound and Indonesian Rupiah.
Facing an upgrade of Microsoft Dynamics NAV that ran its finance and operations, the 20-year-old family-run business had grown frustrated with the time and costs required to maintain the on-premise software. Lucy Locket wanted a solution that would free its business of IT maintenance, while at the same time offering the robust international functionality and customisation capabilities required to stay ahead in the competitive children's retail space.
Lucy Locket considered SAP Business ByDesign, but was swayed by NetSuite's unified omnichannel cloud platform that provided a single real-time view of customers, orders and inventory across its multiple channels. Lucy Locket now has the visibility to efficiently fulfill orders from all channels and can better manage inventory. Once the product information is created for an item, it can be used across all selling channels, avoiding the problems of managing multiple versions of product information for the same item. NetSuite's platform is also able to scale with spikes in seasonal demand and has the agility to easily launch the new subsidiaries and business models needed to stay ahead of competitors.
"Any week we grow less than 40 percent we regard as a failure," CEO of Lucy Locket, Paul Edwick said. "If it weren't for NetSuite, we feel it would be nearly impossible for us to move and grow at this pace. Competitors without the benefit of NetSuite can't do so much of what we do."
With NetSuite's unified omnichannel platform, Lucy Locket can gain the following benefits:
Scalability for international growth. With robust international functionality, Lucy Locket can spin up a new subsidiary in less than 30 minutes. NetSuite's regulatory and compliance functionality for more than 50 countries allows the business to more confidently expand; NetSuite simplifies international tax compliance and automates VAT reporting.
Insight for better business decisions. NetSuite's robust reporting capabilities allow Lucy Locket to easily consume data from six different online marketplaces and its B2C site. With this insight, Lucy Locket can fine-tune its product catalogue to focus on the best-selling items and further perfect its approach to Amazon Marketplace's search algorithm for increased conversions.
Engaging online experiences. NetSuite SuiteCommerce delivers an engaging online shopping experience to Lucy Locket's customers with image zooms, detailed product information, social sharing, ratings and reviews, and more.
Single view of every customer. NetSuite unifies all customer information captured within NetSuite into a single profile. Customer service representatives get an immediate, 360-degree view of any customer in real time with access to prior orders, and service requests to help provide better service.
Increased employee productivity and operational efficiency. With the aid of the automation and visibility enabled by NetSuite, Lucy Locket has been able to double the sales per full-time employee, maintaining targets of increasing sales productivity by upwards of 25 percent. Purchase order transactions with more than a dozen contract manufacturers producing its goods have grown threefold since implementing NetSuite, but the retailer hasn't had to increase its very lean staff of six.
About NetSuite
In 1998, NetSuite pioneered the Cloud Computing revolution, establishing the world's first company dedicated to delivering business applications over the Internet. Today, NetSuite provides a suite of cloud-based financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software that runs the business of more than 30,000 companies, organisations, and subsidiaries in more than 100 countries.
For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk.
Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteEMEA Twitter handle for real-time updates.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - October 11, 2016) - American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP ("AHIP") (TSX: HOT.UN) (OTCQX: AHOTF) announced today a reduction in its base hotel management fees from 3.5% to 3.0% of gross revenue for all 80 hotels in its portfolio. The fee reduction was negotiated by AHIP to increase cash flow and improve AFFO, and was part of an amendment to certain terms of AHIP's Master Hotel Management Agreement with its exclusive hotel manager, Tower Rock Hotels & Resorts, Inc. ("Tower Rock"), which is effective from and after July 1, 2016 (the "Amendment").
The terms of the Amendment were unanimously approved by the independent directors of AHIP's General Partner.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AMENDMENT:
As a result of the Amendment effective July 1, 2016:
Base management fees have been reduced from 3.5% to 3.0% of gross revenue from AHIP's existing portfolio and for all future hotels acquired by AHIP.
The annual administration fee of US$25,000 per hotel has been waived for any hotels with more than 100 rooms acquired after July 1, 2016.
If the Master Hotel Management Agreement is terminated following a change of control of AHIP, the termination fees will step down over time from 5.0 times to 4.0 times aggregate trailing twelve months fees paid to Tower Rock. Prior to the Amendment, the termination fees were based on the net present value of the management fees in the remaining term of the Master Hotel Management Agreement, and ranged from 30 months to five years.
The exclusivity period for Tower Rock as AHIP's hotel manager has also been extended for a further five-year term, until February 20, 2023.
AHIP's President, Ian McAuley, commented: "We believe these changes provide significant benefits to AHIP. The reduction in base fees by 50 basis points, in particular, immediately improves both AHIP's cash flow and AFFO and also broadens our ability to bid competitively on portfolio acquisitions that satisfy AHIP's capitalization rate objectives. The other changes in the Amendment provide increased stability for AHIP's hotel management structure. We have an excellent relationship with Tower Rock and we look forward to continuing to work together in the future."
The Amendment has been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "plan", "expect", "may", "will", "intend", "should", and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, the following: references to the expected impacts of the Amendment on AHIP, including, without limitation, on AHIP's cash flows and AFFO; AHIP's ability to bid on portfolio acquisitions; and AHIP's relationship with Tower Rock.
Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions made by AHIP, including, without limitation: a reasonably stable North American economy and stock market; the continued strength of the U.S. lodging industry; there are no material exchange rate fluctuations between the Canadian Dollar and U.S. Dollar; the ability to secure new debt financing; the ability to successfully bid on and integrate any acquisition properties; and expectations and assumptions related to capitalization rates for acquisition properties. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on what AHIP's management believes to be reasonable assumptions, AHIP cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such information.
Forward-looking information reflects current expectations of AHIP's management regarding future events and operating performance as of the date of this news release. Such information involves significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, without limitation, those factors that can be found under "Risk Factors" in AHIP's Annual Information Form dated March 17, 2016 and under "Risks and Uncertainties" in AHIP's Management's Discussion and Analysis dated August 9, 2016, both of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
The forward-looking statements contained herein represent AHIP's expectations as of the date of this news release, and are subject to change after this date. AHIP assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
ABOUT AMERICAN HOTEL INCOME PROPERTIES REIT LP
AHIP is a limited partnership formed under the Limited Partnerships Act (Ontario) to invest in hotel real estate properties located substantially in the United States and is engaged primarily in the rail crew accommodation, transportation-oriented, and select-service lodging sectors. AHIP's hotels are mostly located in secondary and tertiary markets in the United States in close proximity to railroads, airports, highway interchanges, and other demand generators. AHIP currently owns 80 hotels including 45 hotels serving the U.S. rail industry pursuant to long-term rail crew contracts and 35 hotels affiliated with leading national and international hotel brands. AHIP's long-term objectives are to: (i) generate stable and growing cash distributions from hotel properties substantially in the U.S.; (ii) enhance the value of its assets and maximize the long-term value of the hotel properties through active management; and (iii) expand its asset base and increase its AFFO per unit through an accretive acquisition program, participation in strategic development opportunities and improvements to its properties through targeted value-added capital expenditure programs.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Additional information relating to AHIP, including its other public filings, is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on AHIP's website at www.ahipreit.com.
THE TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR THE ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.
Azim Lalani
Chief Financial Officer
American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP
Suite 1660 - 401 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6B 5A1
Phone: 604-633-2878
Email: alalani@ahipreit.com
Disruptive Financial Technology Platform Went Live on NetSuite OneWorld in Just Three Months
LONDON, Oct. 11,2016 /PRNewswire/ --NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that LendInvest, the United Kingdom's leading online platform for property lending and investing, has joined a growing list of financial technology (FinTech) firms that have implemented NetSuite OneWorld to support rapid business growth. LendInvest is now relying on NetSuite OneWorld to run mission critical business processes including financial consolidation, revenue recognition, multi-currency in British Pounds and Euro, multi-tax compliance, and multi-subsidiary management. With NetSuite OneWorld, LendInvest has gained the scalability, flexibility and agility needed to support its rapid business growth, cope with continuous change and adapt to the challenges of creating a new business model to disrupt the traditional market for short-term mortgages and home loans.
Founded in 2013, LendInvest has connected hundreds of borrowers representing over 2,500 building projects with nearly 750 million in investment capital. The financial technology innovator, alternative investing and lending service has a unique and powerful platform which manages credit risk and responsibly manages the relationships between borrowers and lenders. By connecting lenders and borrowers directly, LendInvest is making it easier to buy, improve and develop properties.
In late 2015, many of LendInvest's back-office processes were buckling under the strain of its rapid growth. Many regulatory processes and best practices lacked automation and business rules control, forcing the company to rely on Excel spreadsheets to manually manage revenue recognition. It quickly outgrew TAS Books Online, a rudimentary accounting software package with limited functionality that lacked the sophisticated auditability and financial controls required for modern businesses preparing to scale.
In addition, as LendInvest partners with larger and more sophisticated investors, the company needed a software system that would allow it to accessreal-time information on the status and health of its loans.
"We're changing the way people invest in property, and are doubling in size every year," said Derek Mochan, LendInvest CFO. "NetSuite OneWorld gave us a complete business management software suite that was easy to implement, had strong integration capabilities, was easy to use, and offered unrivalled reporting and analysis capabilities."
NetSuite OneWorld delivers the following features and benefits to LendInvest:
Rapid implementation . LendInvest implemented and had NetSuite OneWorld up and running within three months of purchase, speeding time to value.
. LendInvest implemented and had NetSuite OneWorld up and running within three months of purchase, speeding time to value. Native cloud solution . Version lock, painful upgrades and maintaining on-premise systems all go away with NetSuite. Instead, LendInvest gets automatic product updates and a platform that allows for easy customisations and integrations.
. Version lock, painful upgrades and maintaining on-premise systems all go away with NetSuite. Instead, LendInvest gets automatic product updates and a platform that allows for easy customisations and integrations. Flexible and powerful customisation and integration capabilities . NetSuite's SuiteCloud development platform provides flexible customisation tools to meet LendInvest's needs, and can quickly connect with complimentary software solutions.
. NetSuite's SuiteCloud development platform provides flexible customisation tools to meet LendInvest's needs, and can quickly connect with complimentary software solutions. A scalable platform . NetSuite's scalable infrastructure enables the business to be flexible as it expands to support growth, without significant expenses.
. NetSuite's scalable infrastructure enables the business to be flexible as it expands to support growth, without significant expenses. Real-time visibility and business intelligence . With NetSuite OneWorld, LendInvest can gain real-time insights into key performance indicators (KPIs) for a unified view across the head office and subsidiaries with a single version of truth.
. With NetSuite OneWorld, LendInvest can gain real-time insights into key performance indicators (KPIs) for a unified view across the head office and subsidiaries with a single version of truth. Multi-country currency management and tax compliance. LendInvest already accounts in both pounds and Euros, and the multi-currency and multi-country tax compliance functions position the company for further growth.
Already accounting for over 10 percent of the short-term mortgage market in the UK, LendInvest is looking to continue its growth.
"For a midsized, fast-growing company like LendInvest, NetSuite OneWorld offers the perfect platform to move away from disparate, unconnected systems and manual processes," Mochan said. "It allows us to plan future growth and international expansion with software as a catalyst, not a constraint."
About NetSuite
In 1998, NetSuite pioneered the Cloud Computing revolution, establishing the world's first company dedicated to delivering business applications over the Internet. Today, NetSuite provides a suite of cloud-based financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software that runs the business of more than 30,000 companies, organisations, and subsidiaries in more than 100 countries.
Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteEMEA Twitter handle for real-time updates.
For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Robix Environmental Technologies, Inc. ("Robix" or the "Company") (CSE: RZX)(FRANKFURT: R0X) and Robix Environmental Technologies Group, Inc., formerly Formation Fluid Management Inc. ("Formation Fluid") (TSX VENTURE: FFM) announced today that, further to the joint press release dated August 29, 2016, Robix has acquired Formation Fluid (the "Acquisition"). The Acquisition was completed pursuant to the terms of the amalgamation agreement (the "Amalgamation Agreement") made among Formation Fluid, Robix and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Robix, whereby Formation Fluid amalgamated with the wholly-owned subsidiary of Robix, and continues as one wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company ("Amalco"). Approval of the Acquisition was obtained from the shareholders of Formation Fluid (the "Formation Fluid Shareholders") at a special meeting of the Formation Fluid Shareholders held on October 7, 2016.
In accordance with the terms of the Amalgamation Agreement, the Formation Fluid common shares ("Formation Fluid Shares") are to be de-listed from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") pending final approval of the TSXV. Under the terms of the Amalgamation Agreement, upon submission of duly completed and executed letters of transmittal, Formation Fluid Shareholders are entitled to receive approximately 0.425 of a common share of Robix ("Robix Shares") for every one (1) Formation Fluid Share held. In connection with the Acquisition, Robix has issued 25,419,159 Robix Shares to the former Formation Fluid Shareholders. In addition, Mr. Ken Rose and Mr. Mark Bentsen have joined the Board of Directors of Robix. Ms. Wanda Cutler and Mr. Kevin Aylward have resigned from the Board of Directors of Robix.
Nathan Hansen, President and CEO of Robix commented "I would like to thank Wanda and Kevin for their contribution to the Robix Board. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to the Formation Fluid team both the management and our new board members. This business combination is highly accretive and I look forward to being able to offer customers a full end to end oil recovery solution."
Upon the closing of the Acquisition, Mohammed Al-Mofty has joined the management team of Robix as the VP Engineering. Mr. Al-Mofty holds a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. He brings over 20 years of experience in the design, construction, and commissioning of both conventional and non-conventional oil & gas and industrial wastewater treatment processes, with capacities from 500 m3/day to 500,000 m3/day. He joined the team at Formation Fluid in 2010.
Pursuant to the terms of the employment agreement with Mr. Al-Mofty, Robix has issued 300,000 Robix Shares. In addition, pursuant to the terms of the employment agreements with other directors and officers of Robix, Robix issued an aggregate of 1,050,000 Robix Shares. Robix has determined that exemptions from the various requirements of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 are available for the issuance of the Robix Shares to the officers and directors of the Corporation (Formal Valuation - Issuer Not Listed on Specified Markets; Minority Approval - Fair Market Value Not More Than 25% of Market Capitalization).
59,809,787 Formation Fluid Shares were acquired by Robix in connection with the Acquisition, representing 100% of the issued and outstanding Formation Fluid Shares. The total transaction value for Robix to acquire to the Formation Fluid Shares was approximately $5,973,502.36 (based on the deemed price of $0.235 per Robix Share). Under IFRS 3 Business Combinations, the value of the Robix Shares issued as the consideration paid by Robix must be recognized at the effective date fair value. Based on the closing price of the Robix Shares on October 7, 2016 of $0.235, the value of Robix Share consideration was approximately $5,973,502.36. Prior to the closing of the Acquisition, Robix did not own or control any Formation Fluid Shares. Following the closing of the Acquisition and the amalgamation, Robix now owns or controls 25,419,160 common shares of Amalco, representing all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Amalco. Discussion of the purpose and details of the Acquisition are included in the Management Information Circular of Formation Fluid dated August 24, 2016, a copy of which is available on Formation Fluid's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The head office address for both Robix and Amalco is #3, 1406 - 3rd Avenue South, Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 0K6.
About Formation Fluid:
Formation Fluid has developed a three stage waste water treatment plant (Hydro-Cycle) that uses a proprietary process to clean waste water. Each plant is mobile and can process up to 1000 m3 of water per day. This system treats water to meet or exceed CCME Guidelines (Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines), resulting in reusable water that can be used for: Boilers, Frac Water, Water Floods, and Drilling Operations. Formation Fluids has identified commercial applications for the Hydro-Cycle system within the oil and gas industry. The waste water treatment system has a primary use to reduce producers' costs of dealing with produced water. The system also satisfies the need to reuse and recycle an increasing valuable resource.
About Robix:
The Corporation is an "industrial products/technology" company, offering to investors a unique opportunity to participate in a leading company in the business of ownership of patents, and their development from commercialization to worldwide expansion through various business arrangements. Robix owns a Clean Ocean Vessel ("COV") patent, which is an oil spill recovery vessel design with the capability to recover oil in rough and debris laden sea conditions. Robix has recognized a worldwide market opportunity for effective containment, recovery and disposal equipment, particularly in the oil spill protection industry, and it proposes to develop a business model as a service provider, and/or equipment provider under licensing agreements with other industry participants, wherein Robix will use its COV patented design solution.
No stock exchange or any securities regulatory body has reviewed the contents of this news release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release
This press release contains certain statements which constitute forward-looking statements or information ("forward-looking statements"), including statements regarding Robix's business and the Acquisition. Such forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond Robix's and Formation Fluid's control, including the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, currency fluctuations, environmental risks, operational risks in exploration and development, competition from other industry participants, the lack of availability of qualified personnel or management, stock market volatility and the ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources. Although Robix believes that the expectations in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, they are based on factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate. Those factors and assumptions are based upon currently available information. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could influence actual results or events and cause actual results or events to differ materially from those stated, anticipated or implied in the forward looking information. As such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward looking information, as no assurance can be provided as to future results, levels of activity or achievements. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are made as of the date of this document and, except as required by applicable law, Robix does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
Contacts:
Robix Environmental Technologies, Inc.
Nathan Hansen
President & CEO
250-683-8957
nathan@robixenvirotech.com
www.robixenvirotech.com
Robin Ray
Chief Financial Officer
403-327-3094
robin@robixfuels.com
Formation Fluid Management Inc.
Ken Rose, Chief Executive Officer
Investor Inquiries: 1 (403) 550-4421
E-mail inquiries: info@fftinc.ca
PHILADELPHIA, October 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Two-volume format provides easy print and online access
Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the publication of the seventh edition of Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine, a proven, practical and highly visual textbook that is the written foundation for the specialty of wilderness medicine. It provides in-depth discussions for effectively diagnosing and treating medical conditions that can occur in any wilderness or other austere setting.
"This book provides expert explanations and guidance from outstanding world experts about how to recognize and face medical challenges that arise in the wilderness and other resource-limited locations," said Paul S. Auerbach, MD, MS, FACEP, MFAWM, FAAEM, Wilderness Medicine's editor. "It is intended to assist medical professionals, including doctors, nurses and advanced practice providers, but has always been important to rescuers and first responders. I'm thrilled that we've been able to go to two volumes so that it was possible to expand the breadth and depth of coverage, including topics pertinent to the wilderness environment."
Among the new features of Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine, 7th edition:
New and expanded chapters with hundreds of photos and illustrative drawings to help increase visual understanding of the material.
Revised chapters that provide expanded discussions of high-altitude medicine, improvisation, technical rescue, telemedicine, ultrasound, and wilderness medicine education.
Ten new chapters that cover: High-Altitude Medicine and Pathophysiology; High-Altitude and Pre-Existing Medical Conditions; Cycles, Snowmobiles and other Wilderness Conveyances; Medical Wilderness Adventure Races (MedWAR); Canyoneering and Canyon Medicine; Evidence-based Wilderness Medicine; National Park Service Medicine; Genomics and Personalized Wilderness Medicine; Forestry; and Earth Sciences.
30-plus Expert Consult online videos covering survival tips, procedural demonstrations, and detailed explanations of disease and incidents.
An Expert Consult eBook version is included with the purchase of Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine. This enhanced eBook enables search of all text, figures, images, videos, and references from the book on a variety of devices.
"The seventh edition of Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine is targeted to medical professionals and emergency responders for quickly and decisively managing medical emergencies, no matter where they happen," said Linda Belfus, Senior Vice President of Content, Clinical Solutions, Elsevier. "Its brand-new two-volume format ensures that all content is available in print and online to provide easy access."
To purchase Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine, visit http://www.elsevierhealth.com.
---
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Research Intelligenceand ClinicalKey - and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 35,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries.http://www.elsevier.com
Media contact
Christopher Capot
Director Corporate Relations, Elsevier
+1 917 704 5174
c.capot@elsevier.com
MIAMI, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 11/08/16 --Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) ("Net Element" or the "Company"), a provider of global mobile payment technology solutions and value-added transactional services, announces the launch of its proprietary gift card application for smart payment terminals. Now available for retailers and merchants nationwide, the Unified Payments gift card application made its initial debut on Poynt's (http://www.poynt.com) smart payment terminal at the Money 2020 event in Las Vegas.
Net Element's omni-channel gift and loyalty platform enables small-to-medium size businesses to centralize their customer data spanning in-store, online, and via social and mobile channels. Building on this platform, the newly launched Unified Payments gift card application is now fully integrated with Poynt's "terminal" and "register" applications and works seamlessly with any other payment acceptance application utilizing Poynt's payment framework.
The Unified Payments application interface is intuitive and does not require any training for its many capabilities and features. Cashiers can issue new cards, add value, transfer value between cards, accept payment utilizing physical or virtual cards, void payment, check the card balance, and replace the card if needed. For full oversight, management has direct access to all gift card transactions via Poynt's smart payment terminal large screen display as well as online on Net Element's SalesCentral reporting system.
For merchants, the Unified Payments gift card program for smart payment terminals offers flexible methods to increase their cash flow. Merchants can seamlessly integrate multiple program types into a single gift card. Existing merchants can convert their gift card database into Unified Payments gift card platform at an affordable cost per customer.
Key Benefits of the Gift Card Program:
Promotes sales and new products/services
Creates individualized gifts for every occasion
Boosts brand awareness and impulse purchasing
Eliminates fraud and risk of double usage
Provides complete transaction tracking
"We are pleased to introduce this new software application for smart payment terminals just in time for the 2016 holiday season," comments Oleg Firer, CEO of Net Element. "In less than a month, and in close cooperation with our partners, our software engineers were able to successfully design, program and test the application on Poynt's smart payment terminal. We are excited to offer this broad functionality gift card application on Poynt's smart payment terminal. Our Unified Payment gift card application is available to all sales partners and merchants nationwide."
About Net Element
Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) operates a payments-as-a-service transactional and value-added services platform for small to medium enterprise ("SME") in the US and selected emerging markets. In the US, we are growing transactional revenue with innovative services including our cloud based, restaurant point-of-sale solution Aptito. Internationally, Net Element's strategy is to leverage its omni-channel platform to deliver flexible offerings to emerging markets with diverse banking, regulatory and demographic conditions such as UAE, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan where initiatives have been recently launched. Further information is available at www.netelement.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward-looking statements. Words such as "continue," "will," "may," "could," "should," "expect," "expected," "plans," "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, whether the gift card application for smart payment terminals will be widely adopted or result in additional business for the Company, whether Net Element can secure any additional financing and if such additional financing will be adequate to meet the Company's objectives. All forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, many of which are generally outside the control of Net Element and are difficult to predict. Examples of such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: (i) Net Element's ability (or inability) to obtain additional financing in sufficient amounts or on acceptable terms when needed; (ii) Net Element's ability to maintain existing, and secure additional, contracts with users of its payment processing services; (iii) Net Element's ability to successfully expand in existing markets and enter new markets; (iv) Net Element's ability to successfully manage and integrate any acquisitions of businesses, solutions or technologies; (v) unanticipated operating costs, transaction costs and actual or contingent liabilities; (vi) the ability to attract and retain qualified employees and key personnel; (vii) adverse effects of increased competition on Net Element's business; (viii) changes in government licensing and regulation that may adversely affect Net Element's business; (ix) the risk that changes in consumer behavior could adversely affect Net Element's business; (x) Net Element's ability to protect its intellectual property; (xi) local, industry and general business and economic conditions; (xii) adverse effects of potentially deteriorating U.S.-Russia relations, including, without limitation, over a conflict related to Ukraine, including a risk of further U.S. government sanctions or other legal restrictions on U.S. businesses doing business in Russia. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements can be found in the most recent annual report on Form 10-K and the subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K filed by Net Element with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Net Element anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its plans, intentions and expectations to change. Net Element assumes no obligation, and it specifically disclaims any intention or obligation, to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by law.
Media Contact:
Net Element, Inc.
info@netelement.com
(786) 923-0502
PROVIDENCE, RI -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Vector Software, the leading provider of innovative software solutions for embedded software quality, announced today that the embedded systems development company, Syncore Technologies has selected the VectorCAST test automation platform to support the DO-178B/C software testing requirements on several Saab flight systems.
Syncore Technologies, based in Linkoping, Sweden, specializes in the design and development of safety-critical embedded systems for aerospace, industrial, and military applications. Working with defense and security company Saab, Syncore Technologies has developed a number of separate aircraft systems in accordance with DO-178B/C. These systems include flight deck display panels and wing mounted devices that monitor fuel level reserves.
Syncore's development team chose the VectorCAST test automation platform for its ability to effectively test source code, easily create continuous test environments, and comply with Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) software development guidelines. The VectorCAST platform supports the creation and management of test cases to prove that the low-level software requirements have been tested. Additionally, VectorCAST supports the capture and reporting of structural code coverage data at all levels prescribed by DO-178B/C, including Level A.
"When working with safety-critical system development, you are committing to a very controlled development life cycle where systems verification needs to happen on several levels in the process. This can make a lot of things difficult, for instance when change requests or bugs appear late in the cycle," stated Mattias Engstrom, chief operating officer at Syncore Technologies. "We find that VectorCAST drastically reduces regression and re-testing effort, as well as provides a high level of automation when developing the tests in the first place. Some standards also require a test tool certification, which makes VectorCAST an easy choice when developing against rigorous standards such as DO-178."
"The VectorCAST test automation platform has been qualified and used for certification on more than 100 avionics systems," said William McCaffrey, chief operating officer at Vector Software. "VectorCAST helps Syncore and other organizations ensure that the complex systems they develop meet the most stringent safety standards on time and on budget."
About Vector Software, Inc.
Vector Software is the world's leading provider of software testing solutions for safety and business critical embedded applications. Companies worldwide in the automotive, aerospace, medical devices, industrial controls, rail, and other business critical sectors rely on Vector Software's VectorCAST test automation platform. The VectorCAST environment enables software development teams to easily automate complex testing tasks to improve software quality, using Test-Driven Development, Continuous Integration, and Change-Based Testing processes to engineer reliable software for accelerated time-to-market release cycles. Vector Software is headquartered in East Greenwich, Rhode Island USA with offices worldwide and a world-class team of support and technology partners. To learn more, visit: www.vectorcast.com. Follow Vector Software on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
About Syncore Technologies, AB
Syncore Technologies is a system development company specializing in safety-critical embedded systems for aerospace, industrial, and military applications. Syncore develops and maintains customer specific products conforming to several safety standards, such as: ISO 13849, IEC 61508, and DO-178/DO-254. The company is based in Linkoping, Sweden and employs a strong team of system architects, hardware, and software engineers. For more information, visit: www.syncore.se
Contact:
Anna Barcelos
Vector Software, Inc.
401.398.7185
Email Contact
1351 South County Trail
East Greenwich, RI 02818 USA
www.vectorcast.com
WALTHAM, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 --
WHO:
Mark Szypko, vice president of Compensation Strategy for Salary.com, the leader in compensation data, software and services
WHAT:
Will present the session, "Developing Merit Planning Tools You Can Use," during the HR Southwest Conference.
WHEN:
The conference will take place Sunday, October 16 - Wednesday, October 19, 2016.
Szypko is scheduled to present on Monday, October 17 at 10:30 a.m. CDT.
WHERE:
Fort Worth Convention Center
1201 Houston Street
Fort Worth, Texas
DETAILS:
A long-standing practice, merit-based compensation strategies can be misunderstood on the employee side. Without a clear line of sight into the plan behind the system, employees will sometimes question how the strategy operates and what it means for their overall compensation.
During the HR Southwest Conference, Mark Szypko, vice president of Compensation Strategy for Salary.com, will discuss pay for performance as a philosophy and explore tools managers can use to implement merit increases. In addition, Szypko will explain best practices for communicating merit plans to employees, including the purpose of a merit matrix as well as how it aligns with the company's mission. Session participants will take away actionable insights that will support enhanced merit planning, communication and education at their organization.
Conference attendees who are interested in learning how to better demonstrate the relationship between merit planning and compensation strategy are encouraged to attend the Salary.com session. For more information about the HR Southwest Conference, visit: http://hrsouthwest.com.
About Salary.com
The leader in compensation data, software and services, Salary.com provides enterprises and small businesses with reliable information about employee pay levels and compensation-related best practices, trends and policies. Through industry-leading cloud-based software and extensive domain knowledge, the company helps clients win the war for talent by simplifying the connections between people and pay. Salary's proven technology solutions, coupled with actionable data and content, empower businesses to make fast, accurate compensation decisions about pay and deliver superior results.
Learn more about Salary.com: Web | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook
AUSTIN, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Spredfast, the leading independent social marketing software provider, today announced the appointment of two new members to the company's Board of Directors. Sue Bostrom and Bill Bock bring unparalleled expertise to the company's leadership team and will bolster its commitment to continuous innovation and growth.
"We couldn't be more excited for Sue and Bill to join the team," said Rod Favaron, CEO of Spredfast. "Having been at the forefront of marketing and enterprise technology for many years, they understand our open approach to social, and the value that comes from giving brands the flexibility to integrate with their preferred technologies. As we continue to grow, both Sue and Bill will push us to continue showing value to our customers and partners, and to continue to deliver an exceptional customer experience."
A seasoned digital leader, Bostrom was previously the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Cisco Systems. She has an extensive background in company positioning, branding, communications, and strategy. Previously, Bostrom served as a director at Marketo, Inc. from before its IPO in 2012 until its acquisition in 2016, and she currently serves on the board of directors of four enterprise technology and healthcare startups, including ServiceNow.
According to Bostrom, "Spredfast is on the cutting-edge of innovation. Their ability to anticipate change in this fast-moving industry while remaining deeply committed to customer success is remarkable. As a former CMO, I look forward to helping Spredfast grow the company and the brand."
Bill Bock joins the Spredfast Board after more than sixteen years at Austin-based Silicon Labs, where he has served as a Board Director, President, and CFO. He remains a Silicon Labs director, and serves on the board of directors of a number of other private technology companies. Bock was previously CEO of Dazel Corporation, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2009, and has worked in a variety of business areas including finance, sales, and venture capital.
"I have had the pleasure of working closely with Rod since Spredfast launched, and have seen the remarkable growth he and his team have achieved," said Bock. "The company's dedication to innovation is what drives their success, and I look forward to working with a team that knows what it takes to deliver best-in-class software to their customers."
Today, Spredfast employs more than 500 people in five global offices, supporting more than 650 customers, including Target, Bank of America, Viacom, Airbnb, McCann, and NBC Universal. In June, the company announced a $50 million funding round, along with the expansion of Spredfast's leadership team, to support its fast-growing business. Spredfast is committed to providing best-in-class service to all customers, and integrates with more than 50 partners, including all major social networks and listening tools. Spredfast was named a leader in the 2015 Forrester Wave for Social Relationship Platforms.
About Spredfast
Spredfast is transforming the way companies connect with consumers. Spredfast's smart social software enables companies to build lasting relationships with today's digitally-connected consumer. Brand and media companies use the Spredfast Social Software Platform to manage, integrate, and amplify social content across any digital touch point in real time. With global reach, Spredfast customers manage over one billion social connections across 84 countries. More than 650 customers, including all five major broadcast networks and fifty percent of Interbrand's 2015 World's Best Brands, have partnered with Spredfast to create first-class social experiences. For more information, visit www.spredfast.com.
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Immunovaccine Inc. ("Immunovaccine" or the "company") (TSX: IMV)(OTCQX: IMMVF), a clinical stage vaccine and immunotherapy company, today announced that renowned malarial researcher J. Alexandra Rowe, D Phil, of The University of Edinburgh, presented topline preclinical data for Immunovaccine's DepoVax-based malarial vaccine at the World Vaccine Congress Europe in Barcelona, Spain on October 10, 2016. Results from studies in mice, conducted in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution (CIIE), indicated that the novel CIIE-identified targets, when formulated in the DepoVax targeting platform, generated strong, sustained, antibody responses that could prevent, after a single injection, a process in severe malaria known as 'rosetting.'
"DepoVax is emerging as an ideal enabling agent for novel treatments being developed to address some of the world's most challenging infectious diseases, including malaria," said Marianne Stanford, PhD, Immunovaccine's Vice President, Research. "Severe malaria continues to present a significant worldwide health concern, and we believe that a vaccine that can address its most virulent forms, in particular the rosetting process, could positively impact global malaria-related mortality rates. This is an important public health consideration as we seek to address an unmet medical need among some of the most vulnerable patient populations impacted by this infection."
While there are multiple pathogens and forms of malaria, this study focused specifically on the presentation of the infection most likely to result in death, in which infected red blood cells stick together with uninfected red cells, forming clumps within small blood vessels that block blood flow. This process, known as rosetting, can result in hypoxia, organ damage, and, in some cases, death.
In the study, the CIIE team identified the specific parasitic proteins that play a critical role in binding to human blood cells, resulting in the rosetting process. Data showed that the resulting vaccine candidate formulated in the DepoVax platform could generate antibodies that prevented the rosetting process. In addition, researchers were able to combine antigens into a single vaccine administration that was able to protect red blood cells from rosetting across a wide range of malarial strains.
"While malaria is still one of the most preventable causes of death worldwide-especially among vulnerable populations that include young children-we are working to understand and therefore prevent the mechanisms that cause the lethal form of this infection," said Professor Rowe, who holds a Personal Chair in Molecular Medicine at The University of Edinburgh. "This study is an important step in both identifying targets that impede these processes, and in formulating the relevant antigens in a way that enables them to be efficiently and effectively administered to those affected. The DepoVax platform provides an ideal opportunity to address those needs."
Immunovaccine is looking to continue development efforts in this disease area, via collaborations with the University of Edinburgh and Leidos/USAID. Dr. Rowe's poster from World Vaccine Congress Europe 2016 will be available on Immunovaccine's website: www.imvaccine.com.
About MalariaMalaria is a parasitic disease caused by a strain of the Plasmodium species (Plasmodium falciparum being the most common and most lethal), which enter the human circulatory system via bites by Anopheles mosquitoes. It is also one of the major causes of preventable death in the world. The World Malaria Report 2015, released by the World Health Organization (WHO), estimated that there were 214 million new cases of malaria worldwide in 2015, resulting in 438,000 deaths. The report also noted that children under the age of five are particularly susceptible to malarial illness infection and death. In 2015, malaria was responsible globally for 306,000 deaths of children under the age of five.
About DepoVax
DepoVax is a patented formulation that provides controlled and prolonged exposure of antigens plus adjuvant to the immune system, resulting in a strong, specific and sustained immune response with the potential for single-dose effectiveness. The DepoVax platform is flexible and can be used with a broad range of target antigens for preventative or therapeutic applications. The technology is designed to be commercially scalable, with the potential for years of shelf life stability. Fully synthetic, off-the-shelf DepoVax-based vaccines are also relatively easy to manufacture, store, and administer. This would enable Immunovaccine to pursue vaccine candidates in cancer, infectious diseases and other vaccine applications.
About The Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution (CIIE)
The University of Edinburgh CIIE is a centre for cross-disciplinary research across the broad scope of infectious disease, capturing the full potential for synergy between molecular, genetic, mathematical and evolutionary biology. Together this provides a platform for new insights, approaches and models for infectious diseases, which are being applied to address major challenges in global health today. http://ciie.bio.ed.ac.uk.
About Immunovaccine
Immunovaccine Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to making immunotherapy more effective, more broadly applicable, and more widely available to people facing cancer and infectious diseases. Immunovaccine develops cancer immunotherapies and infectious disease vaccines based on the Company's DepoVax platform, a patented delivery agent that provides controlled and prolonged exposure of antigens and adjuvant to the immune system. Immunovaccine has advanced two T cell activation therapies for cancer through Phase 1 human clinical trials and is currently conducting a Phase 1/1b study with Incyte Corporation assessing lead cancer therapy, DPX-Survivac, as a combination therapy in ovarian cancer, as well as a Phase 2 study in recurrent lymphoma. The Company is also advancing an infectious disease pipeline including innovative vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and currently has clinical projects ongoing to assess the potential of DepoVax to address malaria and the Zika virus. Connect at www.imvaccine.com.
Immunovaccine Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking information under applicable securities law. All information that addresses activities or developments that we expect to occur in the future is forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the date the statements are made. However, they should not be regarded as a representation that any of the plans will be achieved. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in this press release due to risks affecting the Company, including access to capital, the successful completion of clinical trials and receipt of all regulatory approvals. Immunovaccine Inc. assumes no responsibility to update forward-looking statements in this press release except as required by law.
Contacts:
Immunovaccine Inc. - Media:
Mike Beyer
Sam Brown Inc.
(312) 961-2502
mikebeyer@sambrown.com
Immunovaccine Inc. - Investor Relations:
Frederic Ors
Chief Executive Officer
(902) 492-1819
info@imvaccine.com
www.imvaccine.com
NOVUM HOTEL GROUP und IMMOFINANZ stellen neue Hotel-Landmark in Wien vor
DGAP-News: IMMOFINANZ AG / Schlagwort(e): Immobilien/Sonstiges NOVUM HOTEL GROUP und IMMOFINANZ stellen neue Hotel-Landmark in Wien vor
19.01.2017 / 12:16 Fur den Inhalt der Mitteilung ist der Emittent verantwortlich.
* IMMOFINANZ erweitert Business Park Vienna um Hotel fur myhive Twin Towers * Holiday Inn Vienna - South wird 201 Zimmer auf 22 Geschossen bieten * Eroffnung ist fur Anfang 2019 geplant
Hamburg/Wien, 19. Janner 2017
Der Wien Tourismus bleibt eine Erfolgsgeschichte: Zuletzt stieg die Zahl der Gasteubernachtungen auf uber 14 Millionen an. 40 Prozent der Gaste kommen aus dem Ausland, Tendenz steigend. Auf den weiterhin aufstrebenden Hotelmarkt setzen nun die stark expandierende NOVUM Hotel Group und der Immobilienkonzern IMMOFINANZ. In knapp zwei Jahren wird eine neue Hotel-Landmark am Wienerberg eroffnen - das Holiday Inn Vienna - South mit 201 Zimmern.
"Wir konnen so unser Hotelportfolio am Hauptbahnhof und an der Messe um einen weiteren, exzellenten Standort fur unsere Gaste erganzen", erlautert David Etmenan, geschaftsfuhrender Gesellschafter der NOVUM Group. Eines der Highlights des Hotel- und Burohochhauses wird das Panorama-Fruhstucksrestaurant im 22. Stock sein.
Fur das neue Hotel wurde eine Franchise-Lizenz mit der InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), eines der weltweit fuhrenden Hotelunternehmen, unterzeichnet. Im Jahr 2016 haben NOVUM und IHG ein Multiple Development Agreement (MDA) abgeschlossen, das vorsieht, 20 Hotels in ganz Europa zu entwickeln. Das Holiday Inn Vienna - South ist die sechste Hotelentwicklung im Rahmen des MDA.
Die IHG hat 662 Hotels in Europa, darunter 283 Holiday Inn Hotels, insgesamt ist das Hotel am Wienerberg das sechste Hotel in Osterreich. Zu den Highlights dieses neuen Hotel- und Burohochhauses zahlen das Panorama-Fruhstucksrestaurant im 22. Stock sowie die Open Lobby, ein offen gestalteter Bereich im Zentrum der Holiday Inn Hotels, wo Gaste in einem einladenden Ambiente arbeiten oder ihre freie Zeit im Herzen des Hotels genieen konnen. Zudem wird das Hotel auch einen 90 m-Tagungsraum bieten.
"Das neue Hotel der NOVUM Group stellt eine perfekte Erganzung unseres erweiterten Angebots fur unsere Mieter in den myhive Twin Towers und im Business Park Vienna dar. Wir haben erst vor kurzem die Shopping Mall sowie den zentralen Eingangsbereich modernisiert und unser Buromarkenkonzept myhive, das fur eine freundliche und einladende Atomsphare steht, in den Twin Towers umgesetzt. Durch die zukunftige Anbindung des Wienerbergs an das U-Bahnnetz wird der Standort eine weitere Aufwertung erfahren", sagt Dietmar Reindl, COO der IMMOFINANZ.
Fur das Hotelprojekt wird ein bestehendes Burogebaude teilweise umgebaut: im Erdgeschoss erhalt die Hotellobby einen Zugang zum benachbarten Einkaufszentrum, die Hotelzimmer werden auf den Etagen 8 bis 21 eingerichtet, die ubrigen Flachen - in Summe sechs Stockwerke - werden als moderne Buros ausgestattet.
"Die Planung dieses Projekts ist fur uns eine sehr attraktive und prominente Gestaltungsaufgabe. Mit dem Holiday Inn Vienna - South wird ein neuer Blickfang in der Hochhaus-Silhouette des Business Park Vienna entstehen. Die Bestandsform mit ihren schragen Fassadenflachen und Gliederungen wird zu einer eleganten, eigenstandigen Architektur weiterentwickelt", sagt Architekt Egon Turmer von HOLZBAUER & PARTNER.
"Mit diesem Hotelprojekt wird eine neue, fur den Bezirk und seine zukunftige Entwicklung hervorragende Landmark gesetzt. Durch die Erweiterung des Hotelportfolios fur diesen Standort ist der Bezirk Favoriten in der Lage, seinen Ruf als aufstrebender und attraktiver Teil der Bundeshauptstadt zu festigen", sagt Josef Kaindl, Bezirksvorsteher-Stellvertreter, Favoriten.
Projektentwickler des neuen Komplexes ist die IMMOFINANZ, die auch Eigentumer der myhive Twin Towers und des Business Park Vienna ist. Dieser zahlt mit rund 131.000 m vermietbarer Flache zu den groten Buro- und Geschaftsstandorten in Wien. Der Business Park Vienna zeichnet sich durch einen exzellenten Work-Life-Mix fur modernes und komfortables Arbeiten, Freizeit und Entspannung mit einem breiten Angebot an Geschaften, Gastronomie und Entertainment sowie Wohnen auf Zeit aus. Das nahe gelegene Erholungsgebiet Wienerberg bietet viel Grun und einen 9-Loch-Golfplatz.
UBER DIE IMMOFINANZ: Die IMMOFINANZ ist ein gewerblicher Immobilienkonzern und fokussiert ihre Aktivitaten auf die Segmente Einzelhandel und Buro in derzeit acht Kernmarkten in Europa: Osterreich, Deutschland, Tschechien, Slowakei, Ungarn, Rumanien, Polen und Moskau. Zum Kerngeschaft zahlen die Bewirtschaftung und die Entwicklung von Immobilien. Dabei setzt die IMMOFINANZ stark auf ihre Marken STOP SHOP (Einzelhandel), VIVO! (Einzelhandel) und myhive (Buro), die ein Qualitats- und Serviceversprechen darstellen. Das Unternehmen besitzt ein Immobilienvermogen von rund EUR 5,2 Mrd., das sich auf mehr als 350 Objekte verteilt. Das Unternehmen ist an den Borsen Wien (Leitindex ATX) und Warschau gelistet. Weitere Information: http://www.immofinanz.com
UBER DIE NOVUM HOTEL GROUP Mit derzeit 127 Hotels und mehr als 13.600 Zimmern an uber 36 Standorten in Europa zahlt die familiengefuhrte NOVUM Hotel Group zu den groten Hotelketten in Deutschland. 1988 gegrundet und seit 2004 stetig auf Wachstumskurs, prasentiert sich die NOVUM Hotel Group unter der Leitung von David Etmenan auerordentlich dynamisch. Das Hotelportfolio umfasst Drei- und Vier- Sterne Hauser in stets zentraler Lage, welche unter den Marken Novum Hotels, Novum Select Hotels, Novum Style Hotels und Novum LikeApart Hotels betrieben werden. Zudem fungiert die NOVUM Hotel Group als Franchisenehmer der InterContinental Hotels Group, Best Western Hotels & Resorts und AccorHotels. www.novumgroup.de
Pressekontakt NOVUM Hotel Group: Presseabteilung, Lange Reihe 2, 20099 Hamburg presse@novumgroup.de * www.novumgroup.de Bei Ruckfragen, Foto- oder Interviewwunschen erreichen Sie die NOVUM Group jederzeit unter der Telefonnummer +49 40/ 600 808 - 264.
Kontakt Presse IMMOFINANZ: Bettina Schragl Wienerbergstrae 11, 1100 Wien, Austria T: +43 1 88090 - 2290 M: communications@immofinanz.com
19.01.2017 Veroffentlichung einer Corporate News/Finanznachricht, ubermittelt durch DGAP - ein Service der EQS Group AG. Fur den Inhalt der Mitteilung ist der Emittent / Herausgeber verantwortlich.
Die DGAP Distributionsservices umfassen gesetzliche Meldepflichten, Corporate News/Finanznachrichten und Pressemitteilungen. Medienarchiv unter http://www.dgap.de
Sprache: Deutsch Unternehmen: IMMOFINANZ AG Wienerbergstrae 11 1100 Wien Osterreich Telefon: +43 (0) 1 88090 - 2290 Fax: +43 (0) 1 88090 - 8290 E-Mail: investor@immofinanz.com Internet: http://www.immofinanz.com ISIN: AT0000809058 WKN: 911064
Borsen: Freiverkehr in Berlin, Munchen, Stuttgart; Open Market in Frankfurt; Warschau, Wien (Amtlicher Handel / Official Market)
Ende der Mitteilung DGAP News-Service
537713 19.01.2017
ISIN AT0000809058
AXC0128 2017-01-19/12:16
TORONTO, ONTARIO and NUCLA, COLORADO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Western Uranium Corporation (CSE: WUC)(OTCQX: WSTRF) ("Western" or the "Company") announces that it has added a new page to the Company website updating Western's assets and infrastructure.
Shareholders and investors are invited to visit the webpage to view videos of some of the underground areas of the Sunday Mine Complex ("Sunday Complex") as well as review and discussion of its uranium stockpiles and above- and below-ground infrastructure.
In addition to videos, Western has provided photographs depicting the uranium and vanadium seams at the Sunday Complex.
To visit the Assets and Infrastructure page on the Western Uranium website, we encourage shareholders and investors to visit: www.western-uranium.com/assets-infrastructure.
The Company also wishes to clarify and restate the News Release disseminated October 03, 2016 relating to the grant of stock options under the Company's Incentive Stock Option Plan as follows:
"Western Uranium Corporation (CSE: WUC)(OTCQX: WSTRF) ("Western" or the "Company") announces that the Board of Directors has approved the grant of an aggregate of 1,075,000 options to purchase common shares to a number of officers, consultants, directors and employees of the Company under the Company's Incentive Stock Option Plan. The options have an exercise price of Cdn. $2.50 vesting in three equal tranches commencing initially on the effective date of grant of October 4, 2016 and thereafter on October 31, 2016, and March 31, 2017 with a five-year term from the date of vesting."
About Western Uranium Corporation
Western Uranium Corporation is a Colorado-based uranium and vanadium conventional mining company focused on low cost near-term production of uranium and vanadium in the western United States.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND CAUTIONARY NOTE
This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's expectations, estimates and projections regarding its business and the economic environment in which it operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements and readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Statements speak only as of the date on which they are made.
Contacts:
Western Uranium Corporation
George Glasier
President and CEO
970-864-2125
gglasier@western-uranium.com
Western Uranium Corporation
Michael Skutezky
Chairman of the Board
416-564-2870
mskutezky@western-uranium.com
www.western-uranium.com
Waypoint Leasing (Ireland) Limited ("Waypoint"), the largest independent global helicopter leasing company, today announced that it has agreed a lease with Heliconia Group ("Heliconia"), a regional provider of helicopter transportation and related support services, for one Leonardo AW139 helicopter previously operated by CHC, which will go on lease to support of oil and gas operations in North Africa.
Ed Washecka, Chief Executive Officer of Waypoint, said, "We are excited to place an AW139 with Heliconia, marking our first transaction with the operator, and continue to be encouraged by the global market support for this versatile aircraft. We expect our comprehensive remarketing efforts and improved market conditions will lead to further transactions as demand for the aircraft remains robust. We look forward to building on our new relationship with Heliconia and providing mission critical helicopters, such as the AW139, to operators in need."
Daniel Sigaud, President and Chief Executive Officer of Heliconia, said, "We are pleased to partner with Waypoint on this transaction, which allows us to add another AW139 to our existing fleet in North Africa in a cost-effective and seamless manner. Waypoint clearly appreciates and caters to the needs of the operator, and we hope to collaborate with them further as we continue to expand our operations and fleet going forward."
Since its inception in 2013, Waypoint has been active in supporting oil and gas, utility, firefighting and other industrial-focused helicopter operators. Waypoint's portfolio includes more than 135 aircraft for 18 customers in 28 countries with total assets in excess of $1.6 billion. Additionally, Waypoint has firm and option orders with aircraft manufacturers for more than 125 helicopters valued at more than $1.7 billion, to be delivered over the next five years.
About Waypoint
Waypoint is a global helicopter leasing company that provides operating lease and financing solutions to helicopter operators worldwide. Headquartered in Limerick, Ireland, Waypoint differentiates itself with a senior management team that has direct helicopter operating and leasing experience in key helicopter markets around the world, having leased helicopters across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Waypoint serves a wide range of sectors including oil and gas, emergency medical service, search and rescue, firefighting and governmental support. In addition to Ireland, Waypoint has offices in London, the United States, Canada, Singapore, Brazil, South Africa, and Australia. Further information is available at www.waypointleasing.com.
About Heliconia
Established in 2008, Heliconia has expanded rapidly to be become a major helicopter operator in North and Sub Saharan Africa with a broad spectrum of helicopter capabilities for both onshore and offshore operations. The Heliconia Group, with subsidiaries based in Morocco, Senegal and France, currently operates a fleet of EC130, AS350, AS355, AS365 and AW139 helicopters. Heliconia's services, include various offshore contracts, EMS services in Morocco, helicopter services supporting the Moroccan power distribution network, and other high profile work such as helicopter support for the Africa Eco Race.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005507/en/
Contacts:
Media Contactsfor Waypoint
Sard Verbinnen Co
Andrew Cole/Jared Levy/Cameron Seligmann
212-687-8080
waypoint-svc@sardverb.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - United Airlines (UAL) Tuesday reported 3.9 percent increase in consolidated traffic expressed in revenue passenger miles for September to 17.52 billion from 16.86 billion a year ago. Traffic for Domestic routes increased 7.2 percent, and for international routes climbed 2.5 percent. Available seat miles or capacity for the airline was up 3.6 percent. Consolidated load factor edged up 0.3 points to 83.2 percent from 82.9 percent. Looking ahead to the third quarter, the airline company expects consolidated passenger unit revenue to decline 5.5 to 6.0 percent compared to the same quarter last year. The company said the year-over-year performance was primarily impacted by a strong U.S. dollar, lower surcharges, travel reductions from customers impacted by lower oil prices, competitive actions and passenger demand not growing at the same pace as industry capacity. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Thomas Lienard to become Interim CEO
Regulatory News:
BONE THERAPEUTICS (Brussels:BOTHE) (Paris:BOTHE), the bone cell therapy company addressing high unmet medical needs in bone fracture repair, fracture prevention and spinal fusion, today announces that Enrico Bastianelli has informed the Board of his intention to stand down as Chief Executive Officer after 10 years in the role for personal reasons. Thomas Lienard, the current Chief Business Officer, will become Interim CEO of the Company, working closely with Wim Goemaere, Chief Financial Officer, and the rest of the management team. Mr Bastianelli will continue to support the Company through a period of transition.
Michel Helbig de Balzac, Chairman of Bone Therapeutics, commented: "Enrico has made a huge contribution to Bone Therapeutics over the past decade. He played an important role in its foundation and in making the Company a leader in the development of innovative cell products for high unmet medical needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases. Under Enrico's leadership, Bone Therapeutics achieved a successful initial public offering in 2015 which raised EUR 37 million and he has overseen the clinical development and regulatory and commercial planning for the Company's two first-in-class products, PREOB and ALLOBThe Board wishes to express its gratitude to Enrico for his outstanding contribution."
Mr Helbig added: "Over the past year, we have built a strong management team to take the Company through the next phase of its growth, including the eventual commercialisation of our first products, and will continue to progress our growth strategy and advanced clinical programmes under the interim leadership of Thomas Lienard."
Thomas Lienard (40) joined Bone Therapeutics as CBO in November 2015 with extensive international sales and marketing experience. Prior to joining Bone Therapeutics, Mr Lienard worked at Lundbeck and Eli Lilly and Co. Mr Lienard started his career as a consultant at McKinsey Company.
About Bone Therapeutics
Bone Therapeutics is a leading biotechnology company specializing in the development of cell therapy products intended for bone fracture repair and fracture prevention. The current standard of care in this field involves major surgeries and long recovery periods. To overcome these problems, Bone Therapeutics is developing a range of innovative regenerative products containing osteoblastic/bone-forming cells, administrable via a minimally invasive percutaneous technique; a unique proposition in the market.
PREOB, Bone Therapeutics' autologous bone cell product, is currently in pivotal Phase IIB/III clinical studies for two indications: osteonecrosis and non-union fractures, and in Phase II for severe osteoporosis. ALLOB, its allogeneic "off-the-shelf" bone cell product, is in Phase II for the treatment of delayed-union fractures and lumbar fusion for degenerative disease of the spine, including a minimally invasive therapy for failed spinal fusions. The Company also runs preclinical research programs and develops novel product candidates.
Founded in 2006, Bone Therapeutics is headquartered in Gosselies (South of Brussels, Belgium). Bone Therapeutics' regenerative products are manufactured to the highest GMP standards and are protected by a rich IP estate covering 11 patent families. Further information is available at: www.bonetherapeutics.com
Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company or, as appropriate, the Company directors' current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such person's officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011005854/en/
Contacts:
Bone Therapeutics SA
Wim Goemaere, Chief Financial Officer
Tel: +32 (0)2 529 59 90
investorrelations@bonetherapeutics.com
or
For Belgium and International Media Enquiries:
Consilium Strategic Communications
Jonathan Birt, Jessica Hodgson, Lindsey Neville and Hendrik Thys
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5701
bonetherapeutics@consilium-comms.com
or
For French Media and Investor Enquiries:
NewCap Investor Relations
& Financial Communications
Pierre Laurent, Louis-Victor Delouvrier and Nicolas Merigeau
Tel: 33 (0)1 44 71 94 94
bone@newcap.eu
SCOTTS VALLEY (dpa-AFX) - Seagate Technology plc (STX) Tuesday said it expects first quarter revenue to be $2.8 billion. Earlier, the company was looking for revenue of $2.7 billion. Seagate expects to report HDD exabyte shipments of approximately 67 exabytes, reflecting unit shipments of approximately 39 million and average capacity per drive of 1.7 terabytes. The company expects its operating expenses for the September quarter to increase sequentially from the June quarter primarily due to higher variable compensation related to better financial performance. Steve Luczo, chairman and chief executive officer said, 'This quarter we returned to our long-term targeted margin profitability and operating income ranges and generated significant cash flow from operations.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Callinex Mines Inc. (the "Company" or "Callinex") (TSX VENTURE: CNX)(OTCQX: CLLXF) is pleased to announce that the first hole from its ongoing drilling campaign, drill hole SDB-005, has intersected 24.9m of Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") mineralization with base and precious metal values at the Sourdough area of the Pine Bay Project located near HudBay's operations in Flin Flon, Manitoba (see Figure 1). The hole was drilled below and to the north of the historic Sourdough VMS deposit in order to test a large borehole geophysical target (see News Release dated June 15, 2016). The drill hole intersected the edge of the target and a conductive zone of sulphide mineralization between 811.2 and 836.1 metres (see Figures 2 and 3).
The results from this drill hole enhance the likelihood that the borehole geophysical target is solely caused by conductive bands and stringers of massive sulphides that may be laterally associated with more significant base and precious metal values. Upon completion of SDB-005, two additional borehole electromagnetic surveys were conducted with various loop configurations to further refine and isolate nearby conductive responses. The survey indicated that the main target area, which was not intersected in SDB-005, is very conductive and has significant dimensions. This target area is located above drill hole SDB-005 and to the north where no drilling occurs within the immediate vicinity.
Callinex plans to complete a step-out drill hole during the next drilling program to test this large geophysical target within a prospective rhyolitic setting that hosts sulphide mineralization with base and precious metal values. Drilling conducted in the area since mid-2015 has indicated increasingly favorable geology to the north, towards this target area. In addition to the large target to the north, there also appears to be a local conductor above the hole and to the south, in the direction where Callinex recently confirmed the presence of a new mineralized VMS zone in drill holes SDB-001 and SDB-004 (See News Releases dated September 14, 2015 and June 15, 2016).
The significant zinc assay in the entire 24.9m sulphide zone was obtained from a 0.44m interval between 812.1 and 812.5 metres that carried 2.14% Zn, 0.397 g/t Au, 16.70 g/t Ag and 0.38% Pb along with trace copper values. The significant copper assay within the sulphide zone was obtained from a 0.23m interval between 816.9 and 817.1 metres that carried 0.46% Cu, 0.063 g/t Au, 0.33 g/t Ag along with traces of Zn and Pb. True widths are currently unknown.
Callinex has completed three drill holes as part of the summer drilling campaign and expects to receive analytical results from the second hole 284-3-93-DPN imminently, which will be disclosed once received.
Figure 1: Sourdough Deposit Area within Larger Pine Bay Project: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1072051-F1.pdf
Figure 2: Plan Map of the Sourdough Deposit Area and Large Geophysical Target: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1072051-F2.pdf
Figure 3: Longitudinal Section of the Sourdough Deposit and Large Geophysical Target: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1072051-F3.pdf
QA/QC
Individual samples were labeled, placed in plastic sample bags, and sealed. Groups of samples were then placed in security sealed bags and shipped directly to SGS Canada Inc in Vancouver, B.C. for analysis. Samples were crushed to 75% passing 2mm and pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns in order produce a 250g split. All copper, zinc and silver assays were determined by Aqua Regia digestion with a combination of ICP-MS and ICP-AES finish, with overlimits (greater than 100 ppm Ag, greater than 10,000 ppm Zn, and greater than 10,000 ppm Cu) completed by fire assay with gravimetric finish (Ag) or Aqua Regia digestion with ICP-AES finish (copper and zinc). All samples were analyzed for gold by Fire Assay of a 30 gram charge by AAS, or if over 10.0 g/t were re-assayed and completed with a gravimetric finish. QA/QC included the insertion and continual monitoring of numerous standards and blanks into the sample stream at a frequency of 1 per 10 samples, and the collection of duplicate samples at random intervals within each batch at a frequency of 1 per 10 samples.
SGS Canada Inc carried out some or all of following methods to obtain the assay results for Callinex: G_LOG02 Pre-preparation processing, G_WGH79 Weighing and reporting, G_PRP89 Weigh, dry, crush, split, pulverize, G_SCRQC QC for crush and pulverize stages, G_CRU22 Crush greater than 3kg, G_DRY11 Dry samples, GE_FAA313 @Au, FAS, AAS, 30g-5ml (Final mode), GE-IC14A Aqua Regia digestion/ICP-AES finish, GE_IMS14B Aqua Regia digestion/ICP-MS package, GE_IMS14 Aqua Regia digestion, GO_FAG303 30g, Fire assay, gravimetric finish (Au)(Final Mode), GO_FAG313 30g, Fire assay, gravimetric finish (Ag)(Final Mode), G0_ICP13B Ore Grade, Aqua Regia digest/ICP-AES. Ag greater than 10ppm was analyzed by ICP and GO_XRF77B-pyrosulfate fusion
James Pickell, P.Geo" a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and a consultant to Callinex, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.
About Callinex Mines Inc.
Callinex Mines Inc. is focused on discovering and developing zinc and copper rich mines within prolific Canadian VMS mining jurisdictions. The Company is actively exploring its Pine Bay Project, located in the Flin Flon mining district of Manitoba, which hosts significant historic VMS deposits that are within close proximity to a processing facility. The larger project portfolio hosts three significant zinc rich mineral resources including the Point Leamington, Nash Creek and Superjack Projects located in Eastern Canada.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future expenditures. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others, the ability to complete contemplated work programs and the timing and amount of expenditures. Callinex does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Contacts:
Callinex Mines Inc.
Max Porterfield
President and Chief Executive Officer
(604) 605-0885
info@callinex.ca
www.callinex.ca
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- All amounts in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated
Onex Corporation ("Onex") (TSX: OCX) today announced Brian Horton has joined Onex Credit as a Portfolio Manager. Brian brings approximately 25 years of experience and will work with Paul Travers to continue growing the collateralized loan obligation ("CLO") platform.
"We are delighted to have Brian join our team," said Michael Gelblat, Onex Credit's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer. "Brian's track record of successful investing and extensive CLO experience will be a valuable asset to the firm and our investors."
"I am thrilled to be joining such a reputable team," said Mr. Horton. "Onex and Onex Credit have established an impressive track record, creating great value for their investors. I look forward to working with Paul to expand on the strong platform Onex Credit has built."
Onex Credit focuses on non-investment grade credit investing and manages approximately $7.5 billion. A CLO is a leveraged structured vehicle that holds a widely diversified collateral asset portfolio that is funded through the issuance of long-term debt in a series of rated tranches of secured notes and equity. To date, the company has issued twelve CLOs since launching the platform in 2012.
About Onex
Onex is one of the oldest and most successful private equity firms. Through its Onex Partners and ONCAP private equity funds, Onex acquires and builds high-quality businesses in partnership with talented management teams. At Onex Credit, Onex manages and invests in leveraged loans, collateralized loan obligations and other credit securities. The Company has approximately $23 billion of assets under management, including $6 billion of Onex proprietary capital, in private equity and credit securities. With offices in Toronto, New York, New Jersey and London, Onex invests alongside its fund investors and is the largest limited partner in each of its private equity funds.
Onex' businesses have assets of $36 billion, generate annual revenues of $23 billion and employ approximately 145,000 people worldwide. Onex shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol OCX. For more information on Onex, visit its website at www.onex.com. The Company's security filings can also be accessed at www.sedar.com.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on management's current expectations and are subject to known and unknown uncertainties and risks, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Onex is under no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein should material facts change due to new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Onex Corporation
Emilie Blouin
Director, Investor Relations
416.362.7711
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Attention: Assignment Editors (Education, Science)
The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, will announce the launch of the next competition for Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERCs) along with new criteria required for the selection of Chairs during an official ceremony at the University of Calgary.
The CERC program attracts some of the most talented and innovative researchers from around the world, and helps to further Canada's growing reputation as a leader in research, higher learning, and science and technology development.
Media availability and photo opportunities will follow the announcement.
DATE: October 12, 2016 TIME: Announcement - 10:00 a.m. (Mountain) Lab Tour - 10:55 a.m. (Mountain) PLACE: Energy Environment Experiential Learning (EEEL) Building 750 Campus Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4H9
Follow us on Twitter: @CERC_CERC @ScienceMin
Contacts:
Michael Adams
Communications Advisor
Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program
613-944-1758
Cell: 613-219-7523
Veronique Perron
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Science
343-291-2600
Sandra Robertson
Director, External Communications (Research)
University Relations
University of Calgary
403-210-6769
Cell: 403-909-3753
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Namaste Technologies Inc. ("Namaste" or "Company") (CSE: N)(FRANKFURT: M5BQ) is pleased to announce two new agreements with industry leading manufacturers, PAX Labs ("PAX") and Firefly Vapor ("Firefly"). The agreements with PAX and Firefly approve Namaste to sell their products in North America and over 20 countries internationally. Namaste is the only company in the world to receive international rights from these companies.
PAX and Firefly are two of the most innovative manufacturers of portable vaporizers and carry two of the most sought after products on the market. As the Company prepares for the holiday season, the most productive period of the year for vaporizer and accessory sales, these expanded relationships position Namaste for what is anticipated to be considerable e-commerce traffic and sales generation. Provided to a select number of companies in the industry, these contracts were awarded based on Namaste's leading position in the e-commerce market segment with the anticipated closing of the URT1 acquisition in the coming week, international exposure, and strong logistics networks and customer service standards.
Sean Dollinger, President and CEO of Namaste, comments: "These agreements with PAX and Firefly represent major commercial steps forward for Namaste and further display our expanding market position as the leading e-commerce seller of vaporizers and accessories globally. Both these companies set the standard for excellence and innovation in the industry and we anticipate strong demand for these products through our e-commerce platforms. Our team has worked extensively with each of these companies to secure the ability to offer these products in North American and overseas. I would like to thank each of these companies for their support and the faith they have in Namaste to successfully carry their brands."
About PAX Labs
Founded by two Stanford Design Program graduates, San Francisco-based PAX was developed with the mission of making smoking obsolete. The company creates superior, beautiful and technologically advanced products that push the boundaries of vaporization. PAX is the manufacturer of the PAX 2, which is the best-selling portable dry herb vaporizer in the world. PAX recently announced the release of the PAX 3, an updated version of the PAX 2 that is compatible with waxes and essential oils, features medical-grade materials, built-in rechargeable battery that powers four heating temperatures, and a mobile application to customize the unit features.
About Firefly Vapor
Mark Williams and Sasha Robinson founded Firefly Vapor in 2012 with the singular goal of enhancing people's lives by creating the very best vaporizers in the world. Their first product, the Firefly, immediately earned praises from the likes of Wired Magazine and the New York Times as well as vape experts and connoisseurs. Firefly is the manufacturer of the Firefly 2, an innovative vaporizer that offers best in class performance. The Firefly 2 is enhanced with multiple new technologies including a smart-phone application to control various temperature and user profiles, touch sensors to activate the heating element, light weight construction and heating components that bring the device to temperature in only 3 seconds.
About Namaste Technologies Inc.
Namaste Technologies Inc. is an emerging leader in vaporizer and accessories space. Namaste has 26 ecommerce retail stores in 20 countries, offers the largest range of brand name vaporizers products on the market and is actively manufacturing and launching multiple unique proprietary products for retail and wholesale distribution. The Company is currently focused on expanding its product offering, acquisitions and strategic partnerships, and entering new markets globally.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Sean Dollinger, Chief Executive Officer
Further information on the Company and its products can be accessed through the link below:
www.namastetechnologies.com
www.namastevaporizers.com
www.namastevaporizers.co.uk
www.vaporseller.com
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This press release contains forward-looking information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, Namaste assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors 5 discussed in the Company's disclosure documents which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The CSE has neither reviewed nor approved the contents of this press release.
Contacts:
Namaste Technologies Inc.
Sean Dollinger
Chief Executive Officer
Direct: +1 (786) 389 9771
info@namastevapes.com
www.namastetechnologies.com
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Note to editors: two photos are included with this press release on Marketwired's website.
Tim Berman, president of Fluxwerx Illumination Inc., has won the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Pacific 2016 award in the Emerging Technology category at the Vancouver gala held on September 30, 2016.
"On behalf of everyone at Fluxwerx, I am deeply honoured to receive this prestigious award from EY," said Tim Berman. "While continuously striving to push the boundaries of LED innovation, it is great to be acknowledged for our efforts. Our success is a testament to the hard work, unwavering dedication, creativity and innovation of our team".
Fluxwerx was founded in 2011 by Tim Berman, Lance Howitt and Scott Santoro to offer mainstream LED lighting products that would deliver the right balance of optical performance, energy efficiency and great design for interior commercial and institutional applications. Fluxwerx products are specified by many leading architectural and design teams; their luminaires have been installed in facilities of numerous notable global corporations and institutions.
With the rapid growth of emerging technologies and the ongoing expansion of LED lighting, Fluxwerx chose to join the Lumenpulse Group (TSX: LMP) in March 2016 to seize future growth opportunities. "I am proud and excited that the Fluxwerx team has been recognized. This award is indicative of the potential of combining our strengths to make the Lumenpulse Group the world leader in the architectural specification-grade lighting market," said Francois-Xavier Souvay, President and CEO of the Lumenpulse Group.
Visit 2016 Pacific Entrepreneur of the Year Finalists for more program details and a complete list of category finalists.
About Fluxwerx
Fluxwerx is a manufacturer of innovative, high-performance, LED luminaires for the general lighting of commercial and institutional spaces, such as office, education and healthcare. Founded in 2011, Fluxwerx has quickly established itself at the forefront of LED lighting technology, with a distinctive product offering and breakthrough proprietary anidolic optics technology that offers substantial energy savings, lighting quality, and remarkable lifetime. In 2016, Fluxwerx was awarded the prestigious Red Dot Product Design Award 2016 for its Profile LED luminaire by a 41-member jury, beating out 5,214 products from 57 nations. The company was acquired by Lumenpulse in 2016. For more information, please visit Fluxwerx.com.
About Lumenpulse Group
Founded in 2006, the Lumenpulse Group designs, develops, manufactures and sells a wide range of high performance and sustainable specification-grade LED lighting solutions for commercial, institutional and urban environments. The Lumenpulse Group is a leading pure-play specification-grade LED lighting solutions provider and has earned many awards and recognitions, including several Product Innovation Awards (PIA), three Next Generation Luminaires Design Awards, two Red Dot Product Design Awards and a Lightfair Innovation Award. The Lumenpulse Group now has 605 employees worldwide, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Canada, and offices in Vancouver, Quebec City, Boston, Paris, Florence, London and Manchester. Lumenpulse Inc., which is the parent company within the Lumenpulse Group, is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol LMP.
For more information, visit Lumenpulse's new home at www.lumenpulsegroup.com.
About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in 60 countries.
To view the images accompanying this press release, please visit the following links:
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Fluxwerx%20team%20EY_NEWS.JPG
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/EY%20Podium_NEWS.JPG
Contacts:
Elisabeth Hamaoui
Investor Relations / M&A
(514) 937-3003 ext. 388
ehamaoui@lumenpulse.com
www.lumenpulse.com
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Lotame, the first DMP and most trusted data partner, today announced that the American Marketing Association (AMA) has honored Chief Data Scientist, Omar Abdala, with an AMA 4 under 40 award. The award is given to individuals for significant contributions to the field of marketing and its sub-fields while demonstrating sound leadership and a continuing commitment to service. This win follows recognition from the Tech Council of Maryland, TMC.net and Baltimore Sun for the company's technology and culture.
During his tenure at Lotame, Abdala has advanced marketing efficiencies with the creation of the Lotame Device Graph, which bridges cookies with smartphone IDs to create the first true cross-screen data management platform (DMP).
Abdala is the holder of eleven patents -- several of which are for predictive ad technologies that hinge on user intent and interests -- and as such he is among the critical few destined to define the future of ad tech. His nomination was also further distinguished by his authorship of five marketing optimization-driven technical papers on statistical modeling, inference, ad network optimization, targeting and inventory management.
"This award reinforces Omar's status as a Lotame MVP for leading by example, forging new ground in data management and data science, and spearheading optimization across the many platforms that consumers use to interact with content," said Andy Monfried, Lotame Founder and CEO. "I'm proud of Omar for achievements that led to AMA recognition of what he has meant to those of us who work with, for and alongside him -- as a source of knowledge and inspiration."
Earlier this year, the Tech Council of Maryland named Lotame as the "Tech Firm of the Year" for its "superior" technology that enables marketers to better target potential customers by giving them access to billions of behavioral and demographic data points connected to millions of computers, tablets and mobile phones across the world. Lotame's company culture was also acclaimed by TMC.net, which bestowed a Tech Culture award on the company, and the Baltimore Sun, which included the company on its "Best Places to Work" list.
About Lotame
Lotame helps companies use data to build stronger connections with their consumers. Lotame brought to market the first data management platform (DMP) in 2006, and offers the most widely used and trusted data exchange in the industry. Committed to innovation, agility, and - above all, customer success - the Lotame team aims to continually find new and meaningful ways to help their clients harness the power of data to fuel more relevant and personalized experiences across screens and devices, online and off. Lotame is headquartered in New York City, with employees around the world, including Maryland, San Francisco, London, Singapore, Mumbai and Sydney, Australia.
Media Contact
Lacy Gallagher
Email Contact
PR Director
Blast PR for Lotame
AMSTERDAM, November 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Focus on applying latest technology to search, share and reuse data
Network organization Amsterdam Data Science (ADS) signed an agreement with scientific information solutions provider Elsevier aimed at advancing data science research and education in Amsterdam. Both parties are embarking on a number of joint projects that will enable data scientists to access and share data and use the latest technology to collaborate and advance the field of data science together.
Kajsa Ollongren, Alderperson and deputy mayor of the City of Amsterdam, supports the initiative: "The partnership between Elsevier and Amsterdam Data Science is great news for Amsterdam as it helps us to further develop the city as a hub in data science and attracting international technology talent. Seeing our best educational and research institutes teaming up with Netherlands-based multinational science & health data company Elsevier will boost Amsterdam's international competitive position and improve the overall data tech climate in the greater Amsterdam metro area."
ADS and Elsevier will collaborate together on several fronts, including research and development, joint promotion of Amsterdam as a data science center, and data science talent development. This partnership marks the first long-term collaboration agreement signed by ADS, an initiative of the University of Amsterdam, VU University, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica.
"Business and society are generating and storing more data than ever before", said Prof. Marcel Worring, Director of the Informatics Institute at the University of Amsterdam. "The most-heard questions across sectors are how to find and use that data to gain new insights and make informed decisions, but also how to enable reproducibility of the data, deploy semantic technologies and create a safe data sharing environment. Answering these questions requires a multi-stakeholder approach involving partners from academics, business and society. ADS bundles these forces. In Elsevier we've found a partner that has a proven track record in deploying technology to analyze data, enable data sharing and reuse and facilitate collaboration among researchers."
"As a global technology company, we're engaging in data science and big data collaborations around the world", said Michiel Kolman, Senior Vice President Global Academic Relations at Elsevier. "But our company has its roots and its head office in the Netherlands so it's exciting to collaborate with ADS and local institutions to help develop our home city as a national and international data science hub, making it an even more attractive place for data science researchers. In addition to contributing to ADS' goals ourselves, we're looking forward to learn a lot from the companies and knowledge institutes that are part of the ADS network. Advancing data science is a multi-stakeholder endeavor."
A number of projects have already started. These are focused on improving data search and reproducibility of research that will ultimately result in higher quality research outcomes. These projects entail:
Developing better methods and infrastructure to share data for scientific experiments, ensuring better reuse of data in a safe and trusted manner.
Developing new search and discovery technologies for searching data underlying scientific experiments.
Applying knowledge graph technology to, for instance, help researchers find funding for their research or identify new relations that were previously not detectable.
Both parties have committed to developing new projects together in the years to come, among other things providing corporate work experience programs for grad students and post-docs at Elsevier, and specialized Elsevier staff engaging in teaching the next generation data scientists.
About Amsterdam Data Science (ADS)
ADS is a platform and network organisation initiated by four Amsterdam-based knowledge institutes: University of Amsterdam (UvA), VU University, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) and Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI). The institutions are well-known for their world-class research and education on data science. ADS accelerates data science research by connecting, sharing and showcasing world-class technology, expertise and talent from Amsterdam on a regional, national and international level. Our research enables business and society to better gather, store, analyse and present data in order to gain valuable insights and make informed decisions.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Research Intelligenceand ClinicalKey - and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 35,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries.http://www.elsevier.com
Media contacts
Harald Boersma
Elsevier
+31-20-485-27-36
h.boersma@elsevier.com
Twan Eikelenboom (Monday through Thursday)
ADS
+31-624-55-20-12
t.w.eikelenboom@hva.nl
Alytus, Lithuania, 2016-11-17 14:33 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On 9 December 2016 the extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of Snaige AB, the address of head office Pramones str. 6, Alytus, the company code 249664610 (hereinafter, the "Company") is convened the ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (hereinafter, the "Meeting").The place of the meeting -at AB "Snaige" office, at the address Kareiviu str. 6, Vilnius, Lithuania.The Meeting commences - at 10 a.m. (registration starts at 9.45 a.m.).The Meeting's accounting day - 2 December 2016 (the persons who are shareholders of the Company at the end of accounting day of the General Meeting of Shareholders or authorized persons by them, or the persons with whom shareholders concluded the agreements on the disposal of voting right, shall have the right to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders).The Board of directors of the Company initiates and convenes the meeting.Agenda of the Meeting:The reduction of the authorised capital of AB "Snaige"The Company shall not provide the possibility to participate and vote in the Meeting through electronic communication channels.Draft resolutions on agenda issues, documents be submitted to the General Meeting of Shareholders and other information related with the exercising of the shareholders' rights are available on the website of the Company www.snaige.lt on menu item "For investors". This information will be also available for the shareholders at the head office of the Company (Pramones street 6, Alytus) on business days from 9:00 am. till 16:00 pm. (on Fridays till 14:00), tel. +370 315 56206, +370 5 2361970.Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing to supplement the agenda of the Meeting by providing the Meeting draft resolution on each additionally proposed issue or in case no resolution is required - the explanation. The proposals to supplement the agenda shall be submitted in writing or by e-mail. The proposals shall be presented in writing to the Company on business days or by sending it by registered mail at the address Snaige AB, Pramones street 6, LT-62175 Alytus, Lithuania. The proposals submitted via the e-mail shall be sent on vilniaus.biuras@snaige.lt. The proposals to supplement the agenda with the additional issues shall be submitted till the 24 November 2016, 4:00 p.m. In case the agenda of the Meeting is supplemented the Company will report on it no later than 10 days before the Meeting in the same ways as on convening of the Meeting.Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing new draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the Meeting, audit firms for auditing purposes of financial statements. The proposals shall be submitted in writing or by e-mail. The proposals shall be presented in writing to the Company on business days till 8 December 2016, 2 p.m. or by sending it by registered mail at the address Snaige AB, Pramones street 6, LT-62175 Alytus, Lithuania. During the Meeting the proposals shall be submitted to the Chairman of the Meeting after he announces the Meeting agenda and no later than the Meeting starts working on the issues of agenda. The proposals submitted via the electronic mail shall be sent on vilniaus.biuras@snaige.lt. The proposals submitted on this e-mail till 8 December 2016, 2:00 p.m. will be discussed during the Meeting.The shareholders shall have the right to present questions related to the General Meeting of Shareholders' agenda issues to the Company in advance in writing. The shareholders shall present the questions not later than 3 business days before the Meeting via the electronic mail on vilniaus.biuras@snaige.lt. The Company undertakes to respond to the submitted questions via the electronic mail till the Meeting day, except the questions related to the Company's commercial secret and confidential information.During the registration to attend the Meeting the shareholders or the persons authorized by them shall submit a document which is a proof of his identity. The shareholders' authorized persons shall submit the power of attorney confirmed by the established order. The power of attorney issued by the natural person shall be notarized. A power of attorney issued in a foreign state must be translated into Lithuanian and legalized in the manner prescribed by law. Representative can be authorized by more than one shareholder and shall have a right to vote differently under the orders of each shareholder. The shareholder holding shares of the Bank, where the shares have been acquired on his own behalf, but for the benefit of other persons, must disclose before voting at the General Meeting of Shareholders to the Company the identity of the final customer, the number of shares that are put to the vote and the content of the voting instructions submitted to him or any other explanation regarding the participation agreed upon with the customer and voting at the General Meeting of Shareholders.Shareholder shall also have the right to authorize through electronic communication channels another person (natural or legal) to participate and vote in the Meeting on shareholder's behalf. Such authorization shall not be confirmed by the notary officer. The power of attorney issued through electronic communication channels must be confirmed by the shareholder with a safe electronic signature developed by safe signature equipment and approved by a qualified certificate effective in the Republic of Lithuania. The shareholder shall inform the Company on the power of attorney issued through electronic communication channels by e-mail vilniaus.biuras@snaige.lt no later than the last business day before the meeting at 2:00 p.m. The power of attorney and notification shall be issued in writing. The power of attorney and notification to the Company shall be signed with the Electronic Signature but not the letters sent via the e-mail. By submitting the notification to the Company the shareholder shall include the Internet address from which it would be possible to download free of charge software to verify an Electronic Signature of the shareholder.Each shareholder or representative thereof shall have the right to cast his/her vote in advance in writing by filling in a general ballot paper. The general ballot paper form is on the Company's website www.snaige.lt on menu item "For Investors". Upon the written shareholder's request, the Company no later than 10 days before the Meeting shall send a general ballot paper by registered mail or hand it in person against signature. The general ballot paper filled shall be signed by the shareholder or his/her representative. In case the ballot paper is signed by the shareholder's authorized representative, such person along with the filled ballot paper shall submit the document to confirm the voting right. The ballot paper filled and the document confirming the voting right (if required) shall be submitted in a written form to the Company by registered mail at the address Snaige AB, Pramones street 6, LT-62175, Alytus, Lithuania, or by submitting it to the Company. Validated will be dully filled-in ballot papers, received until the meeting.The following information and documents are available on the website of the Company www.snaige.lt on menu item "For Investors":- report on the convening of the Meeting; - the total number of the Company's shares and the number of shares with voting rights on the convening day of the Meeting; - draft resolutions on each agenda issue and other documents to be submitted to the Meeting;Additional information on the stock event is provided by telephone: +370 5 2361970.Draft resolutions of the General Meeting of Shareholders are attached.Managing Director Gediminas Ceika +370 315 56206Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=604890
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 11, 2016) - International Lithium Corp. (TSXV: ILC.V) (the "Company" or "ILC") in conjunction with strategic partner Pioneer Resources Limited ("Pioneer") (ASX:PIO) have mobilized field crews to the Mavis and Raleigh lithium pegmatite projects east of Dryden, Ontario, Canada. In addition, 3 claims totalling 640 hectares (1,581 acres) were added to the west and along trend of the high-grade lithium spodumene pegmatites adjacent to the Mavis project boundary.
Planned Exploration Programs' Key Highlights:
Mavis: 400 lithogeochemical (rock chips) sample program to refine drill targets in high priority areas;
Mavis West:
3 claims totalling 640 hectares newly staked to encompass extension of high-grade pegmatites near western edge of previous Mavis project boundary;
58 km ground magnetic survey to delineate target lithology along pegmatite trend;
100 lithogeochemical sample program to define continuation of pegmatite corridor;
Raleigh:
500 lithogeochemical sample program to refine and extend drill targets in high priority areas;
Comprehensive airborne magnetic survey across entire project to delineate target lithology to assist with drill placement;
Mavis and Raleigh Exploration Programs
A $1 million budget has been allocated across the Mavis and Raleigh lithium pegmatite projects ("Projects"). The exploration programs will include lithogeochemical sampling, ground and airborne geophysics and 3,000m of diamond drilling with 1,500m allocated to each of the Projects and anticipated for the fall and winter 2016. The budgeted exploration expenditures will be wholly funded by Pioneer as part of their earn-in on the Projects (See details regarding the terms of the Mavis and Raleigh option agreements in Company news releases dated June 22 and July 26, 2016).
To date a continuous-reading ground magnetic survey has been completed over much of the Mavis Lithium Project that has produced a high resolution image revealing the preferential lithological contacts and structures hosting the lithium spodumene pegmatites. In addition a first phase of lithogeochemical sampling has been completed. The current field program will primarily comprise a follow-up 400 lithogeochemical sampling program to refine drill targeting in areas identified as high priority.
Along strike and to the west of the high-grade spodumene pegmatites near the western edge of the Mavis project boundary, 3 claims totalling 640 hectares have been contiguously staked. The new project area, referred to as Mavis West, is known from historical work to host pegmatites that are situated on trend of the Fairservice Group of high-grade spodumene pegmatites near the western boundary of the Company's Mavis Project. The Mavis West claims will form part of the existing Mavis Project and be incorporated into the associated option agreement with Pioneer.
The current exploration program at Mavis West comprising a 58 km ground magnetic survey and a 100 lithogeochemical sampling program is designed to define the continuation of the prime pegmatite corridor and continue to delineate the target lithology that hosts lithium bearing pegmatites.
Following completion of the exploration program at Mavis the field crews will move to the Raleigh project. The exploration program at Raleigh will comprise a 500 lithogeochemical sampling program to refine drill targets in high priority areas and a comprehensive airborne magnetic survey across the entire Project to delineate the target lithology and assist with drill placement.
About the Mavis and Raleigh Lithium Pegmatite Projects
The Mavis and Raleigh Lithium Projects are situated 19 and 80 kilometres east respectively from the town of Dryden, Ontario. Both Projects are in close vicinity to the Trans-Canada highway and railway major transportation arteries linking larger cities such as Thunder Bay, Ontario, to the southeast and Winnipeg, Manitoba, to the west.
When rare-metal pegmatites are emplaced, the host rocks adjacent to the pegmatite may be enriched by the associated fluids forming a rare-metals' dispersion halo around the pegmatite body. Normally the extent of the rare-metal alteration halo is within a few meters of the pegmatite. Whereas, the pegmatite belts at Mavis and Raleigh exhibit alteration halos on the order of tens of metres wide, representing some of the broadest and strongest host-rock lithium anomalies observed around the world and denoting an intense mineralizing system.
Previous exploration programs on the Projects successfully discovered spodumene bearing high-grade Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum ("LCT") pegmatites within these anomalous bands (see Company news releases March 14, March 23, July 13 and July 25, 2016 for further details).
The close proximity of the Projects presents clear strategic and operational advantages. ILC is pursuing lithium prospects with reported high grades in this region and seeking to consolidate them with the aim to identify sufficient resources in multiple prospects to potentially feed a common processing facility. The Upper Canada Lithium Pool is the anticipated geographical consolidation of projects and partnered companies hosting amenable grade, volume, access and infrastructure in order to mitigate the financial burden on any one company when advancing specific projects to reach this goal.
John Harrop, P.Geo, FGS, is a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101 who has supervised preparation of the technical information contained in this news release.
About International Lithium Corp.
International Lithium Corp. is an exploration company with an outstanding portfolio of projects, strong management ownership, robust financial support and a strategic partner and keystone investor Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd., a leading China based lithium product manufacturer.
The Company's primary focus is the Mariana lithium-potash brine project, a joint venture with Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. within the renowned South American "Lithium Belt" that is the host to the vast majority of global lithium resources, reserves and production. The 160 square kilometre Mariana project strategically encompasses an entire mineral rich evaporate basin that ranks as one of the more prospective salars or 'salt lakes' in the region.
Complementing the Company's lithium brine project are three rare metals pegmatite properties in Canada known as the Mavis, Raleigh, and Forgan projects; and one project in Ireland (Avalonia project) that encompasses an extensive 50km long pegmatite belt. The Avalonia project is under option to strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium and the Mavis and Raleigh projects with strategic partner Pioneer Resources Limited (PIO:ASX). The Mavis, Raleigh and Forgan projects together form the basis of the Company's newly created Upper Canada Lithium Pool designated to focus on acquiring numerous prospects with previously reported high concentrations of lithium in close proximity to existing infrastructure.
With the increasing demand for high tech rechargeable batteries used in vehicle propulsion technologies and portable electronics, lithium is paramount to tomorrow's "green-tech", sustainable economy. By positioning itself with solid development partners and acquiring high quality grass roots projects at an early stage of exploration, ILC aims to be the resource explorer of choice for investors in green tech and build value for its shareholders.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Kirill Klip
President, International Lithium Corp.
For further information regarding this news release contact Caroline Klukowski (Corporate Communications) at 604.687.7551 or view the website at www.internationallithium.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Statements in this press release other than purely historical information, historical estimates should not be relied upon, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, are forward-looking statements. News release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the Company's business, including risks inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.
PRAGUE, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
On October 6, the Global Sourcing Association (GSA), formerly known as the European Outsourcing Association (EOA), announced the winners of the 2016 EOA Awards. IBA Group - was selected the winner in the category Award for Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR).
The Global Sourcing Leadership Summit and Awards was held in Sophia, Bulgaria. Rosen Plevneliev, President of Bulgaria, opened the summit, saying that Bulgaria's competitive advantages include qualified human resources and political stability. He also highlighted the importance of the outsourcing industry for Bulgaria and for the rest of Central and Eastern Europe.
Bojidar Loukarsky, Minister of the Economy of Bulgaria, spoke of the contribution of the sourcing industry to the Bulgarian economy and of the steps the country is taking to strengthen its position as an outsourcing destination.
Kerry Hallard, CEO of the UK's National Outsourcing Association and Director of the EOA, announced that the NOA brand stopped its existence and the NOA is transformed to the Global Sourcing Association (GSA). The new association signed cooperation agreements with Russian and Chinese outsourcing associations and adopted its Global Sourcing Standard that reflects the best practice in sourcing.
The primary topics at the Global Sourcing Summit were gender equality in sourcing, robotic process automation (RPA), digital technologies, and the meaning of Brexit for the European sourcing market.
After the summit, the EOA Awards dinner was held. The contestants competed in 16 categories. IBA Group was shortlisted in the Outsourcing Destination of the Year (Belarus)andAward for CSR categories. The outsourcing destination of the year award went to Egypt, while IBA Group became the winner of the CSR Award.
Olga Moroz, Head of Marketing Department at IBA Institute and manager of this project, said that the award-winning project invokes warm feelings. Entitled Promotion of IT in Belarus among People with Disabilities, it was the first IT education project for disabled people in Belarus.
IBA Group trained 120 disabled and organized a national contest in system administration for people with disabilities with 45 course graduates participating in the competition and ten qualifying for the final. After the project was completed, former students volunteered transfer of their competencies to peers and six graduates were offered IT jobs.
Sergei Levteev, IBA Group Chairman, underscored the commitment of IBA Group to social responsibility. He said: "We strive to promote IT education in the countries of operation, providing equal opportunities to people of different age, gender, background, and physical health. I would like to thank the GSA for recognition of our efforts. The EOA Award adds visibility to our CSR initiatives and IBA Group will continue to support the development of IT education in Belarus."
See the full list of 2016 GSA European Award Winners
IBA Group is one of the largest IT service providers in Eastern Europe. Headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, IBA Group has offices and development centers in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Czech Republic, Belarus, South Africa, Cyprus, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Slovakia. IBA Group focuses on mainframe systems, enterprise applications, web solutions, SAP, business analytics, and mobile applications. IBA Group is recognized by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) as one of The Global Outsourcing 100in the Leaders Category, and ranks as one of the world's largest software companies in theSoftware Magazine's Software 500. In 2015, 2014, 2012, and 2011, IBA Group won IT Europa's European IT & Software Excellence awards. For more information, visithttp://ibagroupit.com
ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- The Honourable Judy Foote, Minister of Public Services and Procurement, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, along with the Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, today announced measures to give Canadians greater access to more affordable housing. These measures include the doubling of current funding under the Investment in Affordable Housing (IAH), supporting affordable housing for seniors and victims of family violence, and addressing repairs of existing social housing. The total amount being invested in this initiative is $48.9 million.
Federal Budget 2016 investments in affordable housing will provide targeted support to those who need it most, including in Newfoundland and Labrador, and create good jobs that help grow Canada's economy in a clean and sustainable way. The federal and provincial governments will work together to quickly deliver the new funding.
Quotes
"Our Government remains committed to making significant investments in affordable housing, strengthening Canadian communities and helping create jobs and grow the middle class and those fighting hard to join it. Families, seniors and individuals are our Government's priority when it comes to building a strong foundation for a sustainable economic future." -Judy M. Foote, Minister of Public Services and Procurement
"Ensuring the long-term availability of safe, affordable housing for those most in need is a priority for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Today's funding announcement will serve to improve the housing stock for people who require it, and will provide a significant economic stimulus to cultivate a stronger, more prosperous society." - Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
"This major housing infrastructure investment is critical to our province. We are pleased to partner with our federal counterparts and this agreement demonstrates commitment from both levels of government to help address housing issues." - Sherry Gambin-Walsh, Minister Children, Seniors and Social Development and Minister Responsible for Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation.
Quick Facts
-- A new investment of $34.6 million from the federal government and $14.3 million from the provincial government will help the people of Newfoundland and Labrador in need access affordable housing. -- The new two-year funding includes: -- $5.7 million to support the construction, repair and adaption of affordable housing for seniors; -- $3.3 million to support the construction and renovation of shelters and transition houses for victims of family violence; -- $11.2 million to help address the increasing demand for repairs as social housing units age, and to improve efficiency and reduce energy and water use; and, -- $28.6 million as part of the commitment to double funding levels under the IAH. -- The funding is in addition to $68 million joint five-year funding provided by the governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador under the IAH agreement to help create more affordable housing options in Newfoundland and Labrador. -- The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is responsible for choosing the programs they design and deliver, and also has the flexibility to invest in a range of affordable housing programs in order to meet local needs.
Stay Connected
-- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has been helping Canadians meet their housing needs for more than 70 years. As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers unbiased housing research and advice to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry. Prudent risk management, strong corporate governance and transparency are cornerstones of CMHC's operations. For more information, please call 1- 800-668-2642 or visit cmhc.ca or follow CMHC on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook. -- Canadians are invited to help shape a National Housing Strategy by joining the conversation on www.LetsTalkHousing.ca. Your ideas will contribute to the future of housing in Canada. -- Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation is the province's largest landlord with over 5,500 rental units province-wide and is home to approximately 12,000 people. For more information on Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation programs, visit: http://www.nlhc.nf.ca/programs/programs.html
BACKGROUNDER
Investments in Affordable Housing in Canada
Measures over the next two years to give Canadians greater access to more affordable housing include:
-- Doubling of the current IAH funding levels by the Government of Canada and provinces and territories, to more than $1 billion over two years, starting in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. -- Through the IAH, the Government of Canada is also providing over two years: -- $200.1 million to support the construction, repair and adaption of affordable housing for seniors; -- $89.9 million to support victims of family violence, and the construction and renovation of shelters and transition houses; and, -- $177.7 million(i) to address the housing needs in the North and Inuit communities. -- $490 million for retrofits and renovations of social housing units in Canada. This funding is in addition to the $77.7 million being delivered by the Government of Canada, through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
(i) Part of this funding will be delivered through Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).
Contacts:
Emilie Gauduchon
Press Secretary
Office of Minister Duclos
819-654-5546
Emilie.Gauduchon@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
Danielle Tsimiklis
Public Affairs
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
902 426-7470
dtsimikl@cmhc-schl.gc.ca
Jenny Bowring
Manager of Corporate Communications
Newfoundland and Labrador
709-724-3055
jmbowring@nlhc.nl.ca
Michelle Cannizzaro
Media Relations Manager
Office of the Premier
709-729-3960
michellecannizzaro@gov.nl.ca
Roger Scaplen
Director of Communications (Seniors and Wellness)
Department Children, Seniors and Social Development
709-729-0928, 697-5267
rogerscaplen@gov.nl.ca
WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- BioSculpture Technology, Inc., a commercial stage medical device manufacturer of liposuction surgical instruments for plastic surgeons, announced today that management is refocusing the company's principal emphasis on the bariatric treatment market. The decision comes on the heels of recent breakthrough milestones from the company's research development of their patented minimally invasive method and device for treating endoscopic removal of visceral or better known as "belly fat." The company expects a full go-to-market rollout within the next 12 months to begin clinical testing of Endoscopic Visceral Lipectomy ("EVL") as a new treatment for obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 Diabetes mellitus to service the $2 trillion marketplace.
BioSculpture Technology has obtained three method and device patents for the minimally invasive procedure of Endoscopic Visceral Lipectomy to assess which of that "belly" fat is most noxious, and remove it and has numerous additional patents pending. Unlike all other bariatric interventional alternatives, the results of EVL are expected to be permanent and not require cutting into the bowel or stomach, rearranging the body's alimentary plumbing, leaving behind a foreign body, or have any danger of creating malabsorption syndromes and nutritional cripples. Rather than starving this fat by the current bariatric surgical and device alternatives, this disruptive technology should make it possible to permanently remove this metabolically noxious visceral or "belly" fat in the mesentery in a safe and control fashion hitherto not possible.
Robert L. Cucin M.D., CEO of BioSculpture Technology, commented, "Although safety and efficacy studies have yet to be performed and regulatory approvals obtained, we believe EVL has the potential of doing for obesity treatment what LASIK did for vision correction. Bringing this highly disruptive EVL technology to market so the millions of patients affected by obesity can benefit is BioSculpture Technology's highest priority."
About BioSculpture Technology, Inc.
BioSculpture Technology, Inc. ("BST") manufactures medical devices and procedures for handling adipose tissue targeting the liposuction and body sculpting market; the bariatric treatment market; and the fat autograft and adipocyte-derived stem cell processing markets. The Company specializes in the advanced power assisted twin-cannula tissue aspiration systems that allow controlled and effortless tissue removal. These tube-within-a-tube, Twin Cannula Assisted Liposuction or "TCAL" systems offer significant advantages in control and reduced effort over less sophisticated methods, even single cannula Power Assisted Liposuction or "PAL" systems, a technology BST's founder also invented earlier and licensed out to Mentor.
TCAL can be safely adapted for other specialties and uses for which manual and other powered systems would pose a hazard. BST believes endoscopic and laparoscopic applications in particular have high potential for generating significant future revenue streams.
For more information: www.obesitydevices.com and the Company's website: www.biosculpturetechnology.com.
Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3066026
Company Contact:
BioSculpture Technology, Inc.
1701 South Flagler Drive
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401
info@biosculpturetechnology.com
PR & Media Contact:
Matthew Bird
President
1-800-Publicrelations, Inc. "1800pr"
Direct: +1.646.401.4499
Main: +1.800.782.6185
Email: support@1800pr.com
Regulatory News:
Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE/Euronext Paris: PM) will host a live audio webcast at www.pmi.com/webcasts on Tuesday, October 18, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. ET to discuss its 2016 third-quarter results, which will be issued at approximately 7:00 a.m. ET the same day.
During the webcast, Jacek Olczak, Chief Financial Officer, will discuss PMI's results and answer questions from the investment community and news media. The webcast will be in a listen-only mode.
The audio webcast may also be accessed on iOS or Android devices by downloading PMI's free Investor Relations Mobile Application at www.pmi.com/irapp.
An archived copy of the webcast will be available until 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, November 16, 2016, at www.pmi.com/webcasts.
Slides and script will also be available at www.pmi.com/earnings.
About Philip Morris International Inc. ("PMI")
PMI is the world's leading international tobacco company, with six of the world's top 15 international brands and products sold in more than 180 markets. In addition to the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, including Marlboro, the number one global cigarette brand, and other tobacco products, PMI is engaged in the development and commercialization of Reduced-Risk Products ("RRPs"). RRPs is the term PMI uses to refer to products with the potential to reduce individual risk and population harm in comparison to smoking cigarettes. Through multidisciplinary capabilities in product development, state-of-the-art facilities, and industry-leading scientific substantiation, PMI aims to provide an RRP portfolio that meets a broad spectrum of adult smoker preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements. For more information, see www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006132/en/
Contacts:
Investor Relations:
New York: +1 (917) 663 2233
Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4666
or
Media:
Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4500
New Standards-Based API Eases Lab Informatics Integrations
BRANFORD, Connecticut, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Core Informatics today introduced a new API (application programming interface) leveraging the Open Data Protocol (OData) standard for RESTful web-services. The new API is available as part of Core Connect, Core's software integration product, in version 5.2 of Core's Platform for Science. The API turns the Platform for Science into a producer of OData, making it easier for users to build integrations.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150615/223236LOGO
Core's OData API was built to meet the needs of developers and end users in scientific industries who need to integrate data across a variety of proprietary databases, programming languages, and applications. The OData API enables out of the box use of powerful integration tools and enterprise service bus (ESB) middleware such as Mulesoft, Informatica, and Dell Boomi. Development time and costs are lowered by leveraging the many OData libraries available in multiple development languages including Java, .NET, JavaScript, and others.
For example, PowerQuery, a popular plugin for Microsoft Excel, can consume data from an OData API to render 'live' workbooks from a user's centralized data stored in the Platform for Science. In this example, scientists developing cellular therapy processes will be able to analyze sequencing metrics without the need to export any data from PFS or other tools, saving time and eliminating data transformation errors.
Core Informatics is the first LIMS provider offering an OData compliant API to its customers. The OData API effectively unlocks data within the Platform for Science to be consumed by other OData services, improving interoperability and easing integration for Core Informatics' customers. The OData API extends Core's position as the leading lab informatics platform for integration, adding to Core's already best in class JSON web service.
"Using traditional proprietary APIs can be work intensive, due to the time needed to learn and understand how to code against the API. Adopting APIs that adhere to an open and modern standard - such as OData - eases this burden," said John Stalker, Product Manager for the Platform for Science. "Users of Core's new OData API can leverage IT resources (not software engineers) to easily connect their systems with other tools that speak OData via simple configurations using consumer driven integration tools such as Zapier or ESBs - no custom coding required!"
Core Informatics will present an in-depth discussion on the OData API during the November 15th webinar, "REST Easy with OData - A practical introduction to a new web-service API in the Platform for Science."
The announcement was made during Core Informatics' fifth annual user group meeting, Launch2016.
About Core Informatics
Core Informatics is a leader in lab informatics, providing cloud-based scientific data management. Core Informatics partners with customers across the globe to build solutions to derive more value and insight from their data. Founded in 2005, Core Informatics supports customers worldwide from its offices in Branford, CT; Cambridge, MA; San Diego, CA; and London, England. For more information, visit CoreInformatics.com.
TONOPAH, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) is pleased to update shareholders on one of the first experimental hemp crops to be grown in the state of Nevada by Ronald Almadova of Agri-Tech Farms, LLC. Supported by Hemp, Inc. CEO, Bruce Perlowin, the experimental 43-acre hemp crop is one of the first hemp crops to be grown in Nevada since the cultivation of hemp was legalized in the state. Executives Craig Perlowin, Secretary of Hemp, Inc., David Schmitt, COO of Hemp, Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary, Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC, and William Billings, CEO and Founder of Colorado Hemp Project all visited Almadova's 43-acre hemp crop in Tonopah, Nevada last week and found the results of the experimental grow to be quite impressive given the growing conditions. According to executives, the crop will be ready to harvest by the end of this week.
"We plan to be on-site the day of harvest with media coverage. This grow is a part of history and we're proud to be a part of it. Not only that, we learned a lot from this first hemp grow. This was an experimental grow in an area not commonly known for farming, so this was a very unique situation. To our surprise, it did really well to be grown in high desert climate and it appears a significant amount of seed can be yielded from it, and as you know, the seed can be of great value," said Perlowin.
Typically, hemp can be grown on a wide variety of soil types, however, a mild climate, humid atmosphere and average rainfall are ideal factors for producing an optimal hemp yield at harvest. By this experimental 43-acre hemp crop, in Tonopah, Nevada being grown in less than favorable climate conditions, we were able to see how this lucrative this 'cash crop' would fare in Nevada.
William Billings commented, "I think Agri-Tech Farms will get a lot of demand for the seed. Right now, there's a lot of experimentation with hemp farming going on. Factors such as seed shortages, poor germination rates and just plain inexperience have prohibited many of the farmers from yielding a full crop. You have to remember, hemp farming is a new business area, a relatively new adventure for farmers. Ryan Laughlin was the first farmer to grow a hemp crop back in 2013 on his Springfield, Colorado farm before state hemp regulations were finalized. My first crop was in 2014 and this is 2016 so it's still quite new."
William Billings, commonly known to many as "Wild Bill," has become very knowledgeable in hemp farming. His company, Colorado Hemp Project is "an organic hemp farm consulting agency that works with local farmers and municipalities across the globe to bring certified hemp cultivars and resources to the communities that need it the most with the sole intention of healing the planet by accelerating the establishment of local, sustainable hemp farms and companies everywhere." To read more on Billings' Colorado Hemp Project, visit his website at www.coloradohempproject.com.
Billings continued, "Hemp farming is so important. For instance, a lot of people may not know that hemp can end our voracious dependency on carbon producing, non-renewable resources like fossil fuels, lumber and plastic; and that for every ton of hemp that is produced, 1.63 tons of carbon is removed from the air, making hemp an environmentally responsible crop to grow; or that hemp seed is considered to be one of the most delicious, easily digestible, balanced and complete sources of protein and essential fatty acids found in nature. I could go on and on about the benefits of hemp."
"'The introduction of legalized farming of Industrial hemp in the State of Nevada, will someday prove to be a giant step in the right direction for the benefit of the citizenry of our country. Agri-Tech Farms is among the first companies to plant industrial hemp in Nevada so this is a really big deal for us. This is history in the making. I planted these 43 acres of hemp in early July of this year. When I planted it, I estimated an early October timeframe to harvest and it's about that time now," said Almadova. Ronald "Ron" Almadova's company, Agri-Tech Farms (ATF) is "a farm technology company focused on Nevada's newly approved Industrial Hemp cultivation program."
While Hemp, Inc.'s primary focus remains on bringing its 70,000 square foot industrial hemp processing facility online, the company can see there are lucrative opportunities in growing hemp, especially for CBDs. "Our multi-purpose decortication hemp processing facility is in the final stages of completion, so our first and foremost focus is on getting it operational. Growing hemp is part of our strategic business model and with the success of this first groundbreaking industrial hemp grow, we're really excited to grow more, especially for CBDs," said Perlowin.
According to David Schmitt, the company does have access to land where they can grow industrial hemp in North Carolina. "Cannabis plants bred for industrial hemp produce high levels of cannabinoid, or CBD. We can separate the hemp plants from the flowering plants to isolate them for their medicinal properties. After conferring with Bill, we realize this would be a great opportunity for Hemp, Inc. to take advantage of and capitalize on it. We already have the infrastructure to grow industrial hemp in the short run, maybe even in January. We even have access to two greenhouses."
Schmitt continued, "Once the rules and regulations have been defined and established by the North Carolina Industrial Hemp Commission, we can do an experimental grow for CBDs. Billings says it's definitely possible to do and believes that could be the most profitable venture Hemp, Inc. can embark upon. We can start off with 10 acres of organically grown, low THC, high CBD industrial hemp," said Schmitt.
Partnering with landowners across America, coupled with having the ability to process industrial hemp at Hemp, Inc.'s industrial hemp processing facility will provide unlimited business opportunities for the company.
ABOUT INDUSTRIAL HEMP
Hemp is a durable natural fiber that is grown as a renewable source for raw materials that can be incorporated into thousands of products. It's one of the oldest domesticated crops known to man. Hemp is used as a nutritional food product for humans and pets, building materials, paper, textiles, cordage, organic body care and other nutraceuticals, just to name a few. It has thousands of other known uses. A hemp crop requires half the water alfalfa uses and can be grown without the heavy use of pesticides. Farmers worldwide grow hemp commercially for fiber, seed, and oil for use in a variety of industrial and consumer products. The United States is the only developed nation that fails to cultivate industrial hemp as an economic crop on a large scale, according to the Congressional Resource Service. However, with rapidly changing laws and more states gravitating towards industrial hemp and passing an industrial hemp bill, that could change. Currently, the majority of hemp sold in the United States is imported from China and Canada, the world's largest exporters of the industrial hemp crop.
To see the video showcasing the dramatic footage of our hemp and Kenaf grows, click here.
HOW HEMP CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
Industrial, medicinal and commercial properties of hemp have been known to mankind for decades. Cultivating hemp does not require any particular climate or soil, and is thus found in all parts of the world and has been found to be a better alternative than other raw materials. Hemp products can be recycled, reused and are 100% biodegradable. The growth speed of the plant is fast enough to meet the increasing industrial and commercial demand for these products. Switching to hemp products will help save the environment, leaving a cleaner and greener planet for the next generation.
"The hemp crop grows dense and vigorously. Sunlight cannot penetrate the plants to reach the ground, and this means the crop is normally free of weeds. Its deep roots use ground water and reduce its salinity. Also, erosion of topsoil is limited, thereby reducing water pollution. The roots give nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil. After the harvest, this soil makes excellent compost amendments for other plants, and hemp cultivation can follow the rotation of agriculture with wheat or soybean. In fact, the same soil can be used to grow hemp for many years, without losing its high quality. The hemp plant absorbs toxic metals emitted by nuclear plants into the soil, such as copper, cadmium, lead and mercury." (Source: www.HempBenefits.org)
SUBSCRIBE TO HEMP, INC.'S VIDEO UPDATES
"Hemp, Inc. Presents" is capturing the historic, monumental re-creation of the hemp decorticator today as America begins to evolve into a cleaner, green, eco-friendly sustainable environment. What many see as the next American Industrial Revolution is actually the Industrial Hemp Revolution. Join "Hemp, Inc. Presents" and join the hemp revolution. "Hemp, Inc. Presents" is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by visiting www.hempinc.com. To subscribe to the "Hemp, Inc. Presents" YouTube channel, be sure to click the subscribe button.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL HEMP ASSOCIATION
NHA represents hemp farmers, processors, manufacturers, start-up businesses, entrepreneurial endeavors, and retailers and strives to build a viable industrial hemp economy by providing education about the benefits of hemp and providing expert consultation to producers and processors entering the hemp industry. NHA has developed close relationships with local and state government agencies to establish regulations that benefit the hemp industry across the nation. We provide a wealth of expertise in fields ranging from mining and agriculture to hemp materials processing and the latest developments pertaining to laws and regulations. For more information on the National Hemp Association, visit www.NationalHempAssociation.org.
HEMP, INC.'S TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) seeks to benefit many constituencies from a "Cultural Creative" perspective, thereby not exploiting or endangering any group. CEO of Hemp, Inc., Bruce Perlowin, is positioning the company as a leader in the industrial hemp industry, with a social and environmental mission at its core. Thus, the publicly traded company believes in "up streaming" a portion of its profits back to its originator, in which some cases will one day be the American small farmer -- cultivating natural, sustainable products as an interwoven piece of nature. By Hemp, Inc. focusing on comprehensive investment results -- that is, with respect to performance along the interrelated dimensions of people, planet, and profits -- the triple bottom line approach can be an important tool to support its sustainability goal.
SOCIAL NETWORKS:
http://www.twitter.com/hempinc (Twitter)
http://www.facebook.com/hempinc (Facebook)
To see the video showcasing the dramatic footage of our hemp and Kenaf grows, click here.
SAFE HARBOR ACT
Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
To see the video showcasing the dramatic footage of our hemp and Kenaf grows, click here.
Hemp, Inc.
(855) HEMP-OUT
info@hempinc.com
http://www.hempinc.com
For Investor Relations, please send correspondence to:
ir@hempinc.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, will host an event in Toronto on Wednesday with representatives from a variety of cultural sectors as part of the consultations on Canadian Content in a Digital World.
Representatives from the media are invited to take pictures at the beginning of the event. A media availability will follow Minister Joly's remarks. In order to engage and hear from as many Canadians as possible on the future of Canadian content in a digital world, Canadians from across the country will have the opportunity to follow and contribute to this event through a Facebook Live event.
Please note that all details are subject to change. All times are local.
The details are as follows:
DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 TIME: Artistic performance and B-roll at 1:00 p.m. Opening remarks from Minister Joly at 1:10 p.m. Media availability outside the room at 1:40 p.m. PLACE: Art Gallery of Ontario Baillie Court 317 Dundas Street West Toronto, Ontario
Stay Connected
Follow us on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr, DigiCancon
Contacts:
Pierre-Olivier Herbert
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage
819-997-7788
Media Relations
Canadian Heritage
819-994-9101
1-866-569-6155
pch.media-media.pch@canada.ca
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Heron Resources Limited (ASX: HRR)(TSX: HER) "Heron" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Record Date for the spin-off (Spin Off) of its wholly owned subsidiary, Ardea Resources Limited (Ardea), has been set at 6 October 2016.
Ardea holds the Heron non-Woodlawn asset portfolio in New South Wales and Western Australia, with a focus on gold and nickel. Subject to certain conditions, shares of Ardea will be listed on ASX. Details of the Spin-Off are set out in Heron's notice of meeting announced 29 August 2016 (Notice of Meeting) and a shareholder update dated 29 September 2016 (Update), available under Heron's profile on www.sedar.com.
As stated in the Notice of Meeting and so as to comply with relevant local laws where they reside, Heron Shareholders on the Record Date with an address outside Australia (Ineligible Shareholders) will have their pro-rata entitlement of Ardea Shares sold by the Lead Manager through a share sale facility (Sale Facility) and the net proceeds paid to the Ineligible Shareholder, with the timing of the sale to coincide with a public offer of Ardea Shares and a market for Ardea Shares being established on ASX. Shareholders with a registered address outside Australia have the option to continue to hold the Ardea Shares, subject to certain terms and conditions, all of which are described in the Notice of Meeting and the Update.
For TSX purposes, the Spin Off is being settled on a "due bill" trading basis which may be summarized as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issuer: Heron Resources Limited ("Heron") ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Security: Ordinary shares ("Shares") ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issuer's symbol: HER ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issuer's CUSIP: Q4604L 10 7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transaction: Spinoff effected as a return of capital by way of share distribution (treated as a taxable transaction in Canada) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exchange ratio: One ordinary share (Ardea Share) of Ardea, for every approximately ten Shares held. Heron Shareholders with an address outside of Australia will have their pro-rata entitlement of Ardea Shares sold by the Lead Manager with the net proceeds to be paid to such Ardea Shareholder. TSX has been advised that Canadian shareholders of Heron may receive Ardea Shares if they can demonstrate to Heron that a Canadian prospectus exemption is available to them. Holders of Shares should contact Heron if they have questions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Record date: October 6, 2016 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Payable date: Heron has not yet determined the payment date for the distribution as the distribution is subject to certain conditions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Due Bill trading period: As a result of late notice to the TSX, the Shares commenced trading on a "due bill" basis at the opening on October 4, 2016. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ex-distribution date: TSX will confirm the commencement of ex-stock dividend trading in the Shares as soon as practicable after the payment date has been confirmed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fractional entitlement: Any fractional interests will be rounded down to the nearest whole number. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclosure document: Heron's Management Information Circular dated August 25, 2016 which is available at www.sedar.com. Capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein are as defined in the Disclosure document. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional information: Ardea shares are expected to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange subject to meeting certain conditions. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please contact the Company Secretary, Mr Simon Smith on telephone +61 2 9119 8111 or email to heron@heronresources.com.au if you have any queries regarding the Spin Off.
About Heron Resources Limited:
Heron's primary focus is the development of its 100% owned, high grade Woodlawn Zinc-Copper Project located 250km southwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. In addition, the Company holds a significant high quality, gold and base metal tenement holding in New South Wales and Western Australia.
For further information, please visit www.heronresources.com.au.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Australian and Canadian securities laws, which are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this news release. This forward-looking information includes, or may be based upon, without limitation, estimates, forecasts and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, the timing and ability to complete the Ardea spin-out, the timing and amount of funding required to execute the Company's exploration, development and business plans, capital and exploration expenditures, the effect on the Company of any changes to existing legislation or policy, government regulation of mining operations, the length of time required to obtain permits, certifications and approvals, the success of exploration, development and mining activities, the geology of the Company's properties, environmental risks, the availability of labour, the focus of the Company in the future, demand and market outlook for precious metals and the prices thereof, progress in development of mineral properties, the Company's ability to raise funding privately or on a public market in the future, the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, and business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "intend", "may" and similar expressions have been used to identify such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is given, and on information available to management at such time. Forward-looking information involves significant risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking information.
These factors, including, but not limited to, the ability to complete the Ardea spin-out on the basis of the proposed terms and timing or at all, the ability to complete the Woodlawn Zinc-Copper Project Feasibility Study on time or at all, and whether the feasibility study is positive and otherwise consistent with the business plans of the Company, fluctuations in currency markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, the ability of the Company to access sufficient capital on favourable terms or at all, changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations, political or economic developments in Canada, Australia or other countries in which the Company does business or may carry on business in the future, operational or technical difficulties in connection with exploration or development activities, employee relations, the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, obtaining necessary licenses and permits, diminishing quantities and grades of mineral reserves, contests over title to properties, especially title to undeveloped properties, the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drill results and other geological data, environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding, limitations of insurance coverage and the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, and should be considered carefully. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can affect the Company's actual results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, the Company. Prospective investors should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking information.
Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure prospective purchasers that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law.
No stock exchange, regulation services provider, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in this news release.
ABN: 30 068 263 098
Contacts:
Australia:
Mr Wayne Taylor
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
+61 2 9119 8111 or +61 8 6500 9200
heron@heronresources.com.au
Canada:
+1 647-862-1157 (Toronto)
www.heronresources.com.au
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Canadian winter-apparel maker Canada Goose is reportedly all set for an initial public offering. According to the Wall Street journal, the company is planning to float shares by next year and the offering will be valued at around $2 billion. The company started as Metro Sportswear Ltd in Toronto in 1957 was dealing in woolen vests, raincoats, and snowmobile suits and changed its name to Canada Goose in the seventies. It recorded a miraculous growth from an outerwear company to international luxury brand over a few decades. Bain Capital LLC holds majority shares of Canada Goose since 2013. The company has reportedly initiated search for potential underwriters. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Alexandria Minerals Corporation (TSX VENTURE: AZX)(FRANKFURT: A9D)(OTC PINK: ALXDF) ("AZX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the discovery of 2 diorite plugs, the important rock type which hosts gold at the nearby Triangle Deposit, in the Company's first-ever drill campaign hunting for such deposits on its Cadillac Break Property package in Val d'Or, Quebec.
The key geologic features which host gold resources at the neighboring Triangle Deposit (the host-rock diorite plugs, gold-bearing quartz veins, and shear zones) were identified in six out of seven shallow drill holes. The gold-quartz veins are hosted within and near the diorite plugs, and contain minerals that are indicative of gold-bearing veins throughout the Val d'Or region: tourmaline, pyrite, and chalcopyrite, amongst others.
Eric Owens, President and CEO, said: "We are excited with these highly encouraging results from a very early stage exploration program, and they will guide us in our planning for the follow-up drill program. The follow-up campaign will include deeper targets on the new plugs, as well as untested geophysical targets."
Assays have now been received from all holes of this first program, and five of the seven holes reported between 0.3 g/t gold and 1.29 g/t gold from veins within and near the plugs. These two new plugs were found by testing geophysical anomalies, the size limits of which are as yet unknown.
In other matters, Alexandria is in the middle of a 4,000 meter drill campaign on its Orenada property, located 2.5 km southeast of its Triangle Too program. The goals of this 14-hole drill program are to determine the importance of high-grade gold-quartz veins to the overall grade of the bulk tonnage resource, add to resources and provide new exploration targets. The Company believes the results may well lead to improved size and grade of the resource.
A prospecting and field geology effort has also located new sulfide mineralization about 4 km east of Orenada, expanding the known mineralization within the porphyry gold-copper system underlying the western half of the Company's property. These efforts continue to provide evidence for the large size of the geologic system underlying the property, with importance to the potential size of mineral deposits on the property.
Program design, management, and Quality Control/Quality Assurance are conducted by Alexandria's exploration group of which Phillippe Berthelot, P.Geo, is the Company's Qualified Person. Mr. Berthelot has reviewed the results in this press release. The QA/QC program is consistent with National Instrument ("NI") 43-101 and industry best practices and has been previously addressed in NI 43-101 reports found on the Company's website or on www.sedar.com.
Further information about the Company is available on the Company's website, www.azx.ca, or our social media sites listed below:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlexandriaMinerals
Twitter: https://twitter.com/azxmineralscorp
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/AlexandriaMinerals
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/alexandriaminerals/
About Alexandria Minerals Corporation
Alexandria Minerals Corporation is a Toronto-based junior gold exploration and development company with strategic properties located in the world-class mining districts of Val d'Or, Quebec, Red Lake, Ontario and Snow Lake-Flin Flon, Manitoba. Alexandria's focus is on its flagship property, the large Cadillac Break Property package in Val d'Or, which hosts important, near-surface, gold resources along the prolific, gold-producing Cadillac Break, all of which have significant growth potential.
WARNING: This News Release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing of completion of the Private Placement, the use of proceeds of the Private Placement and receipt of regulatory approval of the Private Placement. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Alexandria Minerals Corporation relies upon litigation protection for forward-looking statements. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Alexandria Minerals Corporation
Mary Vorvis
Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations
(416) 305-4999
Alexandria Minerals Corporation
Eric Owens
President/CEO
(416) 363-9372
info@azx.ca
www.azx.ca
MONTVALE, NJ and SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Gotham Technology Group, a leading technology solutions provider in the Northeastern United States, and IGEL Technology, a world leader in the delivery of powerful workspace management software, IGEL OS-powered thin clients, zero clients and all-in-one thin client solutions, today announced that Gotham Technology Group has been named a Platinum member of the new IGEL Partner Program. The new distinction coincides with the release of IGEL's new Partner Program, which has been designed to help channel partners capitalize on the thin client and workspace management software market to create new opportunities to grow their business more quickly and profitably.
"We are pleased to recognize Gotham as a Platinum member of the IGEL partner ecosystem," said Jed Ayres, President and CEO, IGEL North America. "With an innovative approach to endpoint management, Gotham is a trusted advisor for organizations in the United States that want to optimize their endpoint infrastructure. Together we will help customers reduce power, hardware and administrative costs while simplifying endpoint security and control."
"We are very excited about being named an IGEL Platinum partner," said Ira Silverman, CEO, Gotham Technology Group. "Gotham is committed to providing our customers innovative access solutions that simplify management and lower overall costs. This program will enhance our ability to include IGEL in those solutions."
The newly enhanced IGEL Partner Program gives program members exclusive access to the resources that drive both hardware and software business, create new opportunities, fuel revenue growth and close deals faster. The new program's Platinum level gives members exclusive inclusion in the IGEL Platinum Partner Council, "first look" previews of IGEL NDA roadmaps, back end rebates, deal registration and protection and preferential disbursement of leads. Members also receive IGEL-delivered technical and sales enablement training, joint marketing support, and direct access to customer care, inside sales and support for technical inquiries. Program members additionally have access to beta programs for customers, and receive demo equipment and deep discounts for NFR equipment and licenses as well as the ability to increase margins based on tier partner levels and participation in deal registration.
The new IGEL Partner Program is effective October 1, 2016. For more information on how to join, please visit: https://www.igel.com/us/resellers/become-an-authorized-partner.html.
About Gotham Technology Group
Gotham Technology Group, LLC is a technology solutions provider that specializes in innovative infrastructure solutions. We build agile solutions that enhance the business value of our clients' technology investments by delivering IT as a service. We enable secure access to applications, from any location, at any time, on any device.
With sales offices in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, we serve clients based throughout the northeastern United States; and deliver goods and services across the globe. For more information, visit www.gothamtg.com or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/gothamtg.
IGEL on Social Media
Twitter: www.twitter.com/IGEL_Technology
Facebook: www.facebook.com/igel.technology
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101270758605662221044
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/igel-technology
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/IGELTechnologyTV
About IGEL
IGEL delivers powerful endpoint management software that is revolutionary in its simplicity and purpose-built for the enterprise. The company's world-leading products, including the IGEL Universal Management Suite, IGEL OS-powered thin and zero clients, and all-in-one thin client solutions, deliver a smart and secure endpoint management experience that shifts granular control of thin and zero client devices from the end user to IT. This enables enterprises to remotely control all thin client devices from a single dashboard interface. With IGEL, IT teams can do more with less, lower their total cost of ownership and operation, and future-proof their organization. IGEL has 10 offices worldwide and is represented by partners in over 50 countries. For more information on IGEL, visit www.igel.com/us.
Media Contacts:
Erin Jones
Avista PR for IGEL
704-664-2170
Email Contact
Steve Kilcoyne
Gotham Technology Group
201-474-4200
Email Contact
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, will attend the Public Policy Forum's first Canada Growth Summit.
The Minister will participate in a discussion about the Government of Canada's Innovation Agenda with the Honourable John Manley, President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada. Minister Bains will compare notes with Mr. Manley about the economic conditions and challenges he faced during his tenure as minister of the same portfolio in the 1990s.
Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 Time: 9:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Location: Shaw Centre 55 Colonel By Drive Ottawa, Ontario
Follow Minister Bains on social media.
Twitter: @MinisterISED
Contacts:
Philip Proulx
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Innovation,
Science and Economic Development
343-291-2500
Media Relations
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
343-291-1777
ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca
TORONTO, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- While Disneyland may call itself the Happiest Place on Earth, there's a country that displays its sunny ways pretty much every day, even in the names of the towns that dot its vast land. Whether it's the trio of Heart's Content, Heart's Desire, and Heart's Delight in Newfoundland, or Love, Saskatchewan, (where dozens of Valentine's Day cards are stamped at the post office each year), Canadians are positively positive.
To celebrate the awesome Canadian spirit, the travel experts at Cheapflights.ca, the champions of simple travel search, went in search of the towns that capture the essence of Canada. The line-up of warm and welcoming towns and proud, adventurous people made it clear that now, more than ever, the world needs you Canada.
Below are five towns that capture the spirit of Canada -- and helped inspire us to call on Canadians to ExportYourself:
Happy Adventure, Newfoundland and Labrador -- Of course there's a Canadian town called Happy Adventure. Would you be surprised if there was an Amour Baguette, France? Or a Loud Freedom, United States? Or a Sipping Tea, England? (There isn't by the way, but we're just saying...) Happiness and adventure might just be the most Canadian things ever. According to a local myth, this town got its name when, more than 300 years ago, an infamous pirate found shelter in the community's harbour. Today, Happy Adventure is home to almost 230 people and offers great vantage points for admiring scenery and watching whales. The town also has an adorable little sandy cove, aptly named Little Sandy Cove, which is an ideal spot for picnics.
Leading Tickles, Newfoundland and Labrador -- Don't even pretend reading about a town called Leading Tickles doesn't plaster a big, goofy smile across your face. This little town is home to more than 330 people and, in addition to having what is perhaps the best town name ever, it's also a great place to watch thousand-year-old icebergs float by dramatic cliffs and long, wide beaches. The island town got part of its name from the bridge connecting the island to the mainland, "leading" people over the narrow area of water where two coves connect, says town clerk Doreen Haggett. As for the "tickles" bit, she's not quite sure. What she does know is that it's a town that has that real Canadian character. "Everybody knows everybody," said Haggett, who has lived in Leading Tickles her whole life and says it's the kind of place where doors are never locked and people trust their neighbours. "It's a quiet town," she said. "You've got no worries."
Radville, Saskatchewan -- You know what's a rad town name? Radville. You know what's even radder? The people of Radville -- all 860 of them. During the not-so-rad depression of the 1930s, one Radville youth, Jerry Bertrand, organized a tree planting project. To this day, the town's tree-lined streets remain a source of pride, and Bertrand still lends his name to both a local park and an award that recognizes community volunteerism. Radville also participates in the international traveller's favourite treasure hunt, geocaching. Geocachers can track down nine hidden caches across Radville. Now, that's pretty rad.
Flowers Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador -- The proud people of Flowers Cove see it as their responsibility to promote Newfoundlanders' and Labradorians' renowned friendly ways. Now that's the Canadian spirit. "It's quite a great place to live," according to Mayor Keith Billard. He adds, since the population is not large -- only about 270 people -- Flowers Cove residents are a close-knit community. And they're proud of their little slice of Canadian heaven. "You're not only close to the sea, but you're away from the hustle and bustle, close to the forest, the woods and the wildlife," like salmon, moose and more, all of which can be appreciated from the town's extensive walking trails, says Billard. In addition to having a smile-inducing name and a picturesque spot on the coast, Flowers Cove is full of -- yep, you guessed it -- floral history. Home to some of the rarest flowers in the world, Flowers Cove also boasts the well known Thrombolite Walking Trail, which features 650-million-year-old fossils that gave the town its motto: "Flowers Cove: An adventure 650 million years in the making".
Love, Saskatchewan -- Love actually is all around when you're in the happy little village of Love, Saskatchewan. Each year around Feb. 14 -- Valentine's Day -- as many as 10,000 love letters from all over the world are sent through the post office of Love to be stamped with the town's iconic postmark: a teddy bear holding a heart. Nope, you're not alone, the world just let out a collective "awww". According to the town's website, the village is home to about 80 inhabitants (Lovers?) and their heritages include European, Asian and more. Despite many requests, there is not yet a Chapel of Love, but the town is dotted with red, heart-shaped road signs and the tourism board has started selling T-shirts. While it's believed the town was named after conductor Tom Love, who conducted the first train to pass through the town, another local legend says railroad workers in the area would remark that the streets were always full of young couples strolling hand-in-hand. Hey Lovers, share a little of that lovey dovey-ness with the rest of the world, will ya?
Other towns that shout the best of Canada in their names and their residents include Heart's Content, Heart's Desire and Heart's Delight, Newfoundland and Labrador; Happyland, Saskatchewan; Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador; Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador and Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Quebec. To get the details on these oh-so-Canadian spots, head to www.cheapflights.ca/news/10-towns-capture-spirit-canada.
And to find out more about Cheapflights.ca's mission to help Canadians export themselves so they can share their attitude, their maple syrup and their sense of humour with the world, visit Cheapflights.ca/exportyourself.
About Cheapflights.ca, part of the Momondo Group
Founded in 1996, Cheapflights is a leading global flight comparison and deals publishing platform dedicated to taking the complexity out of finding the best value flights through the application of innovative, intuitive technologies: Smart search. Made simple. It is now a market leader in the UK, US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand generating more than C$4 billion in global downstream revenue for its partners as it expands into numerous other territories. More than 120 million users visit its websites and apps each year, receiving more than two billion search results a month from across 900,000 routes. The 10 million strong opt-in subscribers to the Cheapflights newsletter receive the best deals from more than 120 travel businesses -- for whom it has driven more than C$80 million in revenue this year. Together, the Cheapflights platforms generate enough bookings for its partners to fill a Boeing 747 every five minutes.
In 2011, Cheapflights became part of the privately owned online travel search and inspiration network, Momondo Group.
Follow us on:
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NEWPORT BEACH, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- International building contractor Balfour Beatty Construction, LLC has signed a seven-year lease with Bixby Land Company to occupy 9,875 square feet at Avalon, the innovative office building developed by Bixby at 1501 Quail Street in Newport Beach, Calif.
In fact, Balfour Beatty liked the creative buildout Bixby had designed for its own offices at Avalon enough that this became the space the new tenant chose to lease, furnishings included.
Balfour Beatty is relocating from 2 Park Plaza in Irvine, Calif., and will take occupancy early next year. Bixby will continue to operate its corporate headquarters at Avalon, relocating within the building to a suite of similar size.
Balfour Beatty was represented by Taylor Wood and Jeff Manley of CRESA, while Bixby was represented by Jay Nugent and Greg Puccinelli of JLL. Lease terms were not disclosed.
"This lease represents the depth and breadth of tenant interest for progressive work space, and surpasses the tenant profile we had in mind when we developed Avalon," said Aaron Hill, chief operating officer at Bixby.
The building's design appeals to firms that value a vibrant work environment for their employees. The entry features a high-volume atrium lobby accented with custom music tracks, and several tenant spaces offer full-height sliding glass doors that open to private outdoor decks or Juliet balconies.
Avalon features a second floor indoor/outdoor lounge, The Loft, where tenants can relax and recharge. The building is also dog friendly, provides beach cruisers for tenants' use, and has an electric vehicle charging station.
Bixby has signed previous leases at Avalon with XOJET and Brandtailers, and has three remaining suites available, including two spec suites of 4,216 square feet and 3,071 square feet, plus a 13,388-square-foot suite with its own private entrance and dedicated restrooms. The project is represented by Bob Thagard and John Harty of Cushman & Wakefield.
Separately, Bixby is nearing completion on the redesigned CERRO, a four-story office building at 27401 Los Altos in Mission Viejo, Calif., meeting the demand for professional office space in a supply-constrained South County submarket.
About Bixby Land Company
Bixby Land Company is a leading commercial real estate operator and investment manager with a portfolio of industrial, office and R&D properties of approximately $1 billion. The company invests in core industrial properties and develops office and R&D properties, all in select Western U.S. markets. For 120 years, Bixby Land Company has been committed to adding value for its investors and shareholders. www.bixbyland.com.
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Nicole Inal
714-263-8731
nicole@ideahall.com
Randy Hall
714-263-8723
randy@ideahall.com
DUBLIN, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Automotive Cylinder Head Market 2016-2020" report to their offering.
The global automotive cylinder head market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 0.63% during the period 2016-2020.
According to the report, the growth of the automotive industry (especially in passenger cars and commercial vehicles) is also powered by financing flexibility options, which increases consumer spending confidence and sales. In countries like India and China (where 75%-80% of new vehicle purchases are based on car loans), car financing is a major driver pushing market expansion.
Further, the report states that as the market for EVs grows in the future and becomes more competitive, it will pose a significant challenge to the manufacturers of vehicles running on ICEs in terms of market dominance and even threaten their existence.
The American EV manufacturer Tesla has demonstrated the massive potential of electric cars in the global automobile market. Tesla offers superior performance with great drivability, lower running costs (potentially free fuel from solar power), and significantly lower environmental impact.
Questions Answered:
What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?
What are the key market trends?
What is driving this market?
What are the challenges to market growth?
Who are the key vendors in this market space?
What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?
Companies Mentioned:
Sandvik Coromant
Nemak
Linamar
ThyssenKrupp
All-heads Services
Brodix
Elringklinger
Federal-Mogul
Parker Hannifin
Report Structure:
PART 01: Executive summary
PART 02: Scope of the report
PART 03: Market research methodology
PART 04: Introduction
PART 05: Market landscape
PART 06: Market drivers
PART 07: Market trends
PART 08: Market challenges
PART 09: Market segmentation by geography
PART 10: Market segmentation by material
PART 11: Vendor landscape
PART 12: Key vendor analysis
PART 13: Appendix
PART 14: About the Author
For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8k877c/global_automotive
Media Contact:
Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470
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For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
Regulatory News:
Transgene (Paris:TNG), a company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases, today announced it has entered a collaboration agreement with the science and technology company Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) under which Transgene will sponsor a Phase 1/2 study evaluating the potential of the therapeutic vaccine candidate TG4001 in combination with avelumab, an investigational fully human anti-PD-L1 IgG1 monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of human papilloma virus- (HPV-) positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), after failure of standard therapy.
Philippe Archinard, Chairman and CEO of Transgene, commented: "We are pleased to enter this collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer to evaluate our therapeutic vaccine TG4001 in association with avelumab. In previous clinical trials, TG4001 has demonstrated promising activity in terms of HPV viral clearance and was well tolerated. TG4001 is one of the few drugs targeting HPV-associated cancers that can be combined with an immune checkpoint blocker such as avelumab. The preclinical and clinical data that have been generated with both TG4001 and avelumab individually suggest this combination could potentially demonstrate a synergistic effect, delivering a step up in therapy for HPV-positive HNSCC patients
The combination of TG4001 and avelumab aims to target two distinct steps in the immune response to target cancer cells. This is an exclusive agreement between the parties to study the combination of these two classes of investigational agents in HPV-positive HNSCC.
Prof. Christophe Le Tourneau, M.D., Head of the Early Phase Program at Institut Curie, and a world expert in ENT cancers, will be the Principal Investigator of the Phase 1/2 study. This trial is expected to begin in France, with the first patient expected to be recruited in H1 2017. It will seek to recruit patients with recurrent and/or metastatic virus-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma that have progressed after definitive local treatment or chemotherapy, and cannot be treated with surgical resection and/or re-irradiation.
Prof. Christophe Le Tourneau said: "HPV-induced head and neck cancers are currently treated with the same regimen as non-HPV-positive HNSCC tumors. However, their different etiology clearly suggests that differentiated treatment approaches are needed for HPV-positive patients. Immunotherapy, and in particular the therapeutic vaccine TG4001 together with the PD-L1 blocker avelumab, by targeting two distinct steps in the immune response, could deliver improved efficacy for patients who have not responded to or have progressed after a first line of treatment."
TG4001 is an active immunotherapeutic designed by Transgene to express the coding sequences of the E6 E7 tumor-associated antigens of HPV-16 and the cytokine, IL-2. This therapeutic vaccine, which is based on a non-propagative, attenuated vaccinia vector (MVA), has already been administered to more than 300 patients with high grade cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN 2/3). It has demonstrated good safety, a significant HPV clearance rate and promising efficacy results. Its mechanism of action and good safety profile make TG4001 a particularly appropriate candidate for combinations with other therapies, such as avelumab.
Avelumab is an investigational, fully human antibody specific for a protein found on tumor cells called PD-L1, or programmed death ligand-1. As a checkpoint inhibitor, avelumab is thought to have a dual mechanism of action that may potentially enable the immune system to find and attack cancer cells. By binding to PD-L1, avelumab is thought to prevent tumor cells from using PD-L1 for protection against white blood cells such as T-cells, exposing them to anti-tumor responses. Avelumab is also thought to help white blood cells such as natural killer (NK) cells find and attack tumors in a process known as ADCC, or antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. In 2014, the science and technology company Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer signed a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize avelumab.
Alise Reicin, M.D., Head of Global Clinical Development in the biopharma business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which in the US and Canada operates as EMD Serono, commented: "We believe combination regimens show significant promise in the development of novel and efficacious immuno-oncology treatments. Through this study, we hope to discover the potential of avelumab as a combination therapy with TG4001 for patients fighting this recurring cancer."
Chris Boshoff, M.D., Ph.D., Head of Immuno-Oncology, Early Development, and Translational Oncology at Pfizer, said: "Through this collaboration, we hope to better understand how therapeutic vaccines may help support the clinical development program for avelumab as our end goal is to find the best treatment options for patients."
About HPV-mediated Head and Neck Cancer
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a heterogeneous group of cancers that can affect the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx. HPV-16 infection is recognized to participate in the development of a substantial proportion of head and neck cancers and is associated with a subset of HNSCC, especially those arising from the oropharynx (more than 80%), which are the most frequent, and the larynx (~70%).
The incidence of HPV-16-related head and neck cancer has significantly increased in recent years. Although there are more than 100 subtypes of HPV, HPV-16 accounts for 90% of all HPV-related head and neck cancers. Global spending on head and neck cancer indications amounted to $1 billion in 2010.
Current treatments include surgical resection with radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. However, better options are needed for advanced and metastatic HPV+ HNSCC. It is thought that immunotherapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors could provide a promising potential treatment option that would address this strong medical need.
About TG4001
TG4001 is an investigational therapeutic vaccine based on a non-propagative, highly attenuated vaccinia vector (MVA), which is engineered to express HPV-16 antigens (E6 E7) and an adjuvant (IL-2). It is one of the few therapies targeting HPV+ sub population. TG4001 is designed to have a two-pronged antiviral approach: to alert the immune system specifically to HPV-16-infected cells that have started to undergo precancerous transformation (cells presenting the HPV-16 E6 and E7 antigens) and to further stimulate the infection-clearing activity of the immune system through interleukin 2 (IL-2). TG4001 has been administered to more than 300 patients, demonstrating good safety, significant HPV clearance rate and promising efficacy results. Its mechanism of action and good safety profile make TG4001 an excellent candidate for combinations with other therapies in solid tumors.
About Avelumab
Avelumab (also known as MSB0010718C) is an investigational, fully human antibody specific for a protein found on tumor cells called PD-L1, or programmed death ligand-1. Avelumab is thought to have a dual mechanism of action which may enable the immune system to find and attack cancer cells. By binding to PD-L1, avelumab is thought to prevent tumor cells from using PD-L1 for protection against white blood cells such as T-cells, exposing them to anti-tumor responses. Avelumab is also thought to help white blood cells such as natural killer (NK) cells find and attack tumors in a process known as ADCC, or antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. In November 2014, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer announced a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize avelumab.
About Transgene
Transgene S.A. (Euronext: TNG), part of Institut Merieux, is a publicly traded French biopharmaceutical company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Transgene's programs utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing infected or cancerous cells. The Company's two lead clinical-stage programs are: TG4010 for non-small cell lung cancer and Pexa-Vec for liver cancer. The Company has several other programs in clinical and pre-clinical development. Transgene is based in Strasbourg, France, and has additional operations in Lyon, as well as a JV in China with Tasly Group. Additional information about Transgene is available at www.transgene.fr.
Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements about the future development of TG4001. Although the Company believes its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. The occurrence of any of these risks could have a significant negative outcome for the Company's activities, perspectives, financial situation, results and development. The Company's ability to commercialize its products depends on but is not limited to the following factors: positive pre-clinical data may not be predictive of human clinical results, the success of clinical studies, the ability to obtain financing and/or partnerships for product development and commercialization, and marketing approval by government regulatory authorities. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause the Company's actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors ("Facteurs de Risque") section of the Document de Reference, which is available on the AMF website (http://www.amf-france.org) or on Transgene's website (www.transgene.fr
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006216/en/
Contacts:
Transgene:
Lucie Larguier, +33 (0)3 88 27 91 04
Director Corporate Communications IR
investorrelations@transgene.fr
or
Media contacts:
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
David Dible Marine Perrier, 44 (0)20 7638 9571
transgene@citigatedr.co.uk
Regulatory News:
Transgene (Paris:TNG), a company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases, today announced it has entered a collaboration agreement with Merck, the science and technology company, and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) under which Transgene will sponsor a Phase 1/2 study evaluating the potential of the therapeutic vaccine candidate TG4001 in combination with avelumab, an investigational fully human anti-PD-L1 IgG1 monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of human papilloma virus- (HPV-) positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), after failure of standard therapy.
Philippe Archinard, Chairman and CEO of Transgene, commented: "We are pleased to enter this collaboration with Merck and Pfizer to evaluate our therapeutic vaccine TG4001 in association with avelumab. In previous clinical trials, TG4001 has demonstrated promising activity in terms of HPV viral clearance and was well tolerated. TG4001 is one of the few drugs targeting HPV-associated cancers that can be combined with an immune checkpoint blocker such as avelumab. The preclinical and clinical data that have been generated with both TG4001 and avelumab individually suggest this combination could potentially demonstrate a synergistic effect, delivering a step up in therapy for HPV-positive HNSCC patients
The combination of TG4001 and avelumab aims to target two distinct steps in the immune response to target cancer cells. This is an exclusive agreement between the parties to study the combination of these two classes of investigational agents in HPV-positive HNSCC.
Prof. Christophe Le Tourneau, M.D., Head of the Early Phase Program at Institut Curie, and a world expert in ENT cancers, will be the Principal Investigator of the Phase 1/2 study. This trial is expected to begin in France, with the first patient expected to be recruited in H1 2017. It will seek to recruit patients with recurrent and/or metastatic virus-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma that have progressed after definitive local treatment or chemotherapy, and cannot be treated with surgical resection and/or re-irradiation.
Prof. Christophe Le Tourneau said: "HPV-induced head and neck cancers are currently treated with the same regimen as non-HPV-positive HNSCC tumors. However, their different etiology clearly suggests that differentiated treatment approaches are needed for HPV-positive patients. Immunotherapy, and in particular the therapeutic vaccine TG4001 together with the PD-L1 blocker avelumab, by targeting two distinct steps in the immune response, could deliver improved efficacy for patients who have not responded to or have progressed after a first line of treatment."
TG4001 is an active immunotherapeutic designed by Transgene to express the coding sequences of the E6 E7 tumor-associated antigens of HPV-16 and the cytokine, IL-2. This therapeutic vaccine, which is based on a non-propagative, attenuated vaccinia vector (MVA), has already been administered to more than 300 patients with high grade cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN 2/3). It has demonstrated good safety, a significant HPV clearance rate and promising efficacy results. Its mechanism of action and good safety profile make TG4001 a particularly appropriate candidate for combinations with other therapies, such as avelumab.
Avelumab is an investigational, fully human antibody specific for a protein found on tumor cells called PD-L1, or programmed death ligand-1. As a checkpoint inhibitor, avelumab is thought to have a dual mechanism of action that may potentially enable the immune system to find and attack cancer cells. By binding to PD-L1, avelumab is thought to prevent tumor cells from using PD-L1 for protection against white blood cells such as T-cells, exposing them to anti-tumor responses. Avelumab is also thought to help white blood cells such as natural killer (NK) cells find and attack tumors in a process known as ADCC, or antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. In 2014, the science and technology company Merck and Pfizer signed a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize avelumab.
Alise Reicin, M.D., Head of Global Clinical Development in the biopharma business of Merck, commented: "We believe combination regimens show significant promise in the development of novel and efficacious immuno-oncology treatments. Through this study, we hope to discover the potential of avelumab as a combination therapy with TG4001 for patients fighting this recurring cancer."
Chris Boshoff, M.D., Ph.D., Head of Immuno-Oncology, Early Development, and Translational Oncology at Pfizer, said: "Through this collaboration, we hope to better understand how therapeutic vaccines may help support the clinical development program for avelumab as our end goal is to find the best treatment options for patients."
About HPV-mediated Head and Neck Cancer
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a heterogeneous group of cancers that can affect the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx. HPV-16 infection is recognized to participate in the development of a substantial proportion of head and neck cancers and is associated with a subset of HNSCC, especially those arising from the oropharynx (more than 80%), which are the most frequent, and the larynx (~70%).
The incidence of HPV-16-related head and neck cancer has significantly increased in recent years. Although there are more than 100 subtypes of HPV, HPV-16 accounts for 90% of all HPV-related head and neck cancers. Global spending on head and neck cancer indications amounted to $1 billion in 2010.
Current treatments include surgical resection with radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. However, better options are needed for advanced and metastatic HPV+ HNSCC. It is thought that immunotherapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors could provide a promising potential treatment option that would address this strong medical need.
About TG4001
TG4001 is an investigational therapeutic vaccine based on a non-propagative, highly attenuated vaccinia vector (MVA), which is engineered to express HPV-16 antigens (E6 E7) and an adjuvant (IL-2). It is one of the few therapies targeting HPV+ sub population. TG4001 is designed to have a two-pronged antiviral approach: to alert the immune system specifically to HPV-16-infected cells that have started to undergo precancerous transformation (cells presenting the HPV-16 E6 and E7 antigens) and to further stimulate the infection-clearing activity of the immune system through interleukin 2 (IL-2). TG4001 has been administered to more than 300 patients, demonstrating good safety, significant HPV clearance rate and promising efficacy results. Its mechanism of action and good safety profile make TG4001 an excellent candidate for combinations with other therapies in solid tumors.
About Avelumab
Avelumab (also known as MSB0010718C) is an investigational, fully human antibody specific for a protein found on tumor cells called PD-L1, or programmed death ligand-1. Avelumab is thought to have a dual mechanism of action which may enable the immune system to find and attack cancer cells. By binding to PD-L1, avelumab is thought to prevent tumor cells from using PD-L1 for protection against white blood cells such as T-cells, exposing them to anti-tumor responses. Avelumab is also thought to help white blood cells such as natural killer (NK) cells find and attack tumors in a process known as ADCC, or antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. In November 2014, Merck and Pfizer announced a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize avelumab.
About Transgene
Transgene S.A. (Euronext: TNG), part of Institut Merieux, is a publicly traded French biopharmaceutical company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Transgene's programs utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing infected or cancerous cells. The Company's two lead clinical-stage programs are: TG4010 for non-small cell lung cancer and Pexa-Vec for liver cancer. The Company has several other programs in clinical and pre-clinical development. Transgene is based in Strasbourg, France, and has additional operations in Lyon, as well as a JV in China with Tasly Group. Additional information about Transgene is available at www.transgene.fr.
Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements about the future development of TG4001. Although the Company believes its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. The occurrence of any of these risks could have a significant negative outcome for the Company's activities, perspectives, financial situation, results and development. The Company's ability to commercialize its products depends on but is not limited to the following factors: positive pre-clinical data may not be predictive of human clinical results, the success of clinical studies, the ability to obtain financing and/or partnerships for product development and commercialization, and marketing approval by government regulatory authorities. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause the Company's actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors ("Facteurs de Risque") section of the Document de Reference, which is available on the AMF website (http://www.amf-france.org) or on Transgene's website (www.transgene.fr
Societe anonyme au capital de 38.545.397 euros R.C. Strasbourg B 317 540 581
400 boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach Parc d'Innovation CS80166 67405 ILLKIRCH GRAFFENSTADEN CEDEX (France)
Tel : 33 3 88 27 91 00 Fax : 33 3 88 27 91 11
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006225/en/
Contacts:
Transgene:
Lucie Larguier
Director Corporate Communications IR
+33 (0)3 88 27 91 04
investorrelations@transgene.fr
or
Media contacts:
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
David Dible Marine Perrier
+ 44 (0)20 7638 9571
transgene@citigatedr.co.uk
BUCHAREST, Romania, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Liviu Dragnea, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD), has launched ambitious plans to lower taxes and ease fiscal policy.
Tabling a bill in the Senate to eliminate 102 nuisance taxes and charges, Mr. Dragnea said the plan is part of his party's economic program intended to grow the middle class and put more cash into people's pockets. In recent days Mr. Dragnea has unveiled policies to reduce Romania's flat income tax to 10% from the current 16%, and eliminate it altogether for those earning 2,000 lei (approximately EUR 440) per month. Simplification and reductions in various social taxes are expected to bring them to about 35% from 39%.
Summing up the plan, Mr. Dragnea remarked, "The PSD wants to bring more and more people out of poverty into the middle class. The reduced taxes and elimination of bureaucracy that we have championed are the catalysts that create higher living standards, and we have put those pro-growth policies at the center of our economic program because we dare to believe in Romania!"
Mr. Dragnea said putting more money into people's pockets was the key to growth and development. "We want to raise the minimum gross salary to 1,750 lei in 2020, increasing the number of persons employed full time to 5.6 million people and implement a gradual increase in the pension to 1.400 lei. These are not only steps to bring people the chance to live a decent life in the middle class. These are measures to accelerate business processes and help growth continue so that we get more money for the budget."
Mr. Dragnea said the costs will be covered by a combination of increased tax revenues arising from economic growth and higher incomes and from revenues paid by the planned new Sovereign Fund for Development and Investment, announced Sept. 22.
The PSD president anticipates reducing the budget deficit as a percentage of GDP from the current 2.9% to 2.0% in 2020, with total budget revenues rising to 300 billion lei in 2020, up from 231 billion lei in 2016.
The least costly part of the tax program, the elimination of some 102 user charges and other fees, is expected to have a profound impact on the lives of ordinary citizens.
"These taxes are 0.1 percent of the GDP, but take 30% of our time," Mr. Dragnea said on national TV Sunday. Among the fees and taxes to be eliminated are those for environmental stamps for vehicles, 33 different fees for various consular and citizenship services, radio and TV taxes, 22 different fees for changing or replacing identity documents and a tax payable for the retrieval of a criminal record certificate. Mr. Dragnea said all such "non-fiscal taxes" represent for Romanians having to queue to pay them "lost time and humiliation."
The PSD's tax program launch is part of a series of economic reforms designed to help ordinary Romanians gain direct benefits from economic expansion and grow the middle class. The PSD, the largest party in Romania's parliament, relinquished office last year following street demonstrations in the aftermath of a devastating nightclub fire. Under its new leadership, the party is seeking a new mandate in elections scheduled for Dec. 11. The elections are expected to replace a caretaker "technocratic" government. Mr. Dragnea maintains that the current government's inexperience has resulted in freezing Romanian living standards, which had been rising quickly under the previous PSD government.
About the Social Democratic Party of Romania
The PSD, in Romanian Partidul Social Democrat, was originally formed in 1992 as a party of the center-left and is currently the largest grouping in both lower and upper houses of the nation's parliament, while also controlling more than half of the mayoralties and over 65% of local and county councils, including the capital of Bucharest. The PSD paved the way for Romania's historic accession process into the EU in 2007, and today holds 16 of the country's 32 MEPs. Its 2012-15 government was considered one of Romania's best, leading the country's emergence from the economic crisis and achieving rapid growth, together with a sharp increase of people's living standards. Liviu Dragnea, the PSD's current president, was elected party leader in 2015 and has since led a series of reforms that have positioned the PSD to form Romania's next government. Mr. Dragnea is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development.
For further information: Steluta Negoita, +40 730 650 545, presa@psd.ro in Bucharest or Zhenya Harrison, +44 (0)20 3397 2825 or zhenya.harrison@belgravestrategic.com in London.
WOLHUSEN, Switzerland, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
On October 8, Geistlich Pharma AG celebrated the opening of their tenth subsidiary, in India. The business was officially launched in the presence of the Swiss ambassador, Dr Andreas Baum, and marks Geistlich's advance into a potentially very interesting market for the global leader in regenerative dentistry (Geistlich Biomaterials).
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427337 )
Geistlich Pharma's positive growth can be seen in their expanded worldwide presence; as a continuously growing company with around 500 employees, India is their tenth subsidiary. In addition, they have around 60 distribution partners, giving the regenerative dentistry specialists a presence in almost 100 countries.
Encouraging specialization
The Indian dental market is a comparatively young market, with around 200,000 practising dentists. Around 5% of these specialize in dental implants. This fast-growing group holds significant potential for Geistlich Pharma. These specialists can use their expertise and products to better meet the patients' regenerative dentistry needs. Around 270 dentistry colleges and institutes on the Indian sub-continent provide training. Geistlich Pharma will get involved with courses and lectures to support the professional development of Indian dentists.
Competitors' keen interest in the sub-continent confirms to Geistlich Pharma that they have made the right move at the right time. Geistlich Pharma firmly believes that the signs in the Indian dental market point to long-term growth and that the company can play a driving role in the development of the market.
About Geistlich Pharma AG
Geistlich Pharma AG (http://www.geistlich-pharma.com) develops, produces and markets medical products for the restoration of bone, cartilage and soft tissue as well as offering pharmaceutical products. The Swiss company, which has sites in Wolhusen and Root, has been family-owned since 1851 and is part of the Geistlich Group. With ten affiliates and more than 60 partners, Geistlich Pharma AG has a global sales network and employees around 500 staff. The company has been the global market leader in dental medicine for many years.
Your contact
Geistlich Pharma AG
Thomas Pfyffer
Manager Corporate Communications
Tel. +41(0)41-492-67-52
thomas.pfyffer@geistlich.ch
ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Explor Resources Inc. ("Explor" or "the Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: EXS)(OTCQX: EXSFF)(FRANKFURT: E1H1)(BERLIN: E1H1) is pleased to announce the Diamond Drilling results on the Kidd Township Property. The Corporation's Kidd Township Group of Properties are located to the North, South, West and East of the Glencore Kidd Creek Mine, located approximately 20 km north of Timmins, Ontario. Explor's Kidd Township's Group of Properties have a land position that covers an area of approximately 2,805.20 hectares. The most obvious topographical feature in the area is the Glencore Kidd Creek open pit mine, located in the central portion of Explor's Kidd Township group of Properties. Explor was so encouraged by the initial results of the 3000 meter program that it decided to more than double the diamond drilling program planned to 7275.7 meters. Explor drilled seven holes & two wedges on three claim blocks, one being in Carnegie Township, northeast of the mine and the other two blocks drilled in Kidd Township, southwest of the mine.
The property is located in a Greenstone Belt composed mainly of sequences of Meta-Volcanic rocks cut by faults and deformation zones that lie in a NW-SE direction. There are many suites of Mafic Volcanic rocks as well. Excellent access to the property is provided by Hwy 655.
Exploration drilling completed by Explor to date has revealed Major Fault Structures running to the west and east of the Glencore Kidd Creek Mine in a NW-SE direction. A thorough review of all existing geophysical data appears to support these findings. Drilling by Falconbridge in 1998 to the southwest of the Glencore Kidd Creek Mine (Hole # K26-01) returned 4.7m in which 4 of the 5 samples returned Zinc values from 4200 - 8900 ppm and Copper values that ranged from 700 - 2280 ppm.
Holes KC-16-01, KC-16-02 and KC-16-05 were drilled in Kidd Township to intersect magnetic highs and fold structures approximately 3 kilometers south and south east of the Kidd Creek Mine. Holes 01, 02 and 05 were very encouraging as they intersected mostly graphitic argillite and felsic lapilli tuffs which are very important zinc-copper ore bearing rocks and marker horizons within the Kidd Creek Mine. Several samples returned anomalous Zinc values from 109 to 737 ppm mostly within sheared graphitic argillite.
Holes KC-16-03, KC-16-04, KC-16-06, KC-16-06A and wedges 06AW1 &06AW2 were drilled in Carnegie Township on the border with Kidd Township approximately 2 kilometers north of the Kidd Creek mine site. Holes KC-16-03 & 04 were drilled bearing south to intersect E-W trending geophysical conductors. Both holes intersected ultramafics, mafic fragmental, felsic to intermediated tuffs and exhalite-chert-tuff units. Hole KC-16-03 intersected several Zinc values from 140 to 15,500 ppm (1.5% Zn) (over 1.0 meters) within the exhalite-chert unit. Hole KC-16-04 was drilled to intersect the exhalite-chert unit up dip from hole KC-16-03. Hole 04 intersected ultramafics, intermediate tuffs, mafic fragmental, lapilli tuff and mafic pillowed flows. Several anomalous Zinc values were intersected, the best being 266 ppm. Hole KC-16-06 was drilled from the east to intersect the exhalite-chert unit down dip from hole KC-16-03. Hole KC-16-06A and its wedges 06AW1 & 06AW2 were completed to 1101 meters and intersected ultramafics and cherty tuffs. More importantly, hole-wedge KC-16-06AW2 intersected parts of the exhalite-chert unit down dip of KC-16-03 with several anomalous Zinc values from 114 to 4024 ppm.
The 2016 Kidd-Carnegie drill program was successful in that it intersected many of the ore bearing lithological units and marker horizons as within the Kidd Creek Mine. As well, the intersection of 4024 & 15,500 ppm Zn (over 1.1 & 1.0 meters respectively) within cherty tuffs and cherty-exhalite was very encouraging and suggests that both claim blocks may host a Kidd Creek Style Copper- Zinc deposit.
Chris Dupont, President and Chief Executive Officer of Explor Resources Inc. commented: "We are extremely pleased and encouraged by these preliminary drill results. The presence of exhalite-chert unit in two of the holes is very significant in terms of exploration. Generally exhalite-chert is proximal to a VMS deposit. This is the first time in our 10 years of exploration around the Kidd Creek mine site that exhalite-chert has been intersected. Explor plans on conducting in the near future a down hole geophysical survey that will see a 200 meter radius around the hole in order to further refine our diamond drilling. We expect to be able to wedge into any targets that are found."
Explor believes in the "Cluster Effect of VMS (Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide) Deposits". Well known examples of the cluster effect of VMS Deposits are the Bathurst Mining Camp where 47 deposits have been found to date, including the Brunswick No.12 and the Brunswick No.6 Mines where more than 130,000,000 tonnes of Base Metal Ore has been produced to date; and the Noranda Mining Camp where 18 deposits have been found to date, with 68,100,000 tons of Base Metal Production from the Horne Mine and Quemont Deposits alone. The Glencore Kidd Creek Mine located to the South-west of the property has produced 152,600,000 tonnes of Base Metal Ore (Cu-Zn-Pb-Ag) since it began production in 1966. The presence of Mafic and Felsic rocks on the Kidd Township Properties with anomalous zinc and copper supports the opinion that additional VMS Deposits exist in the immediate vicinity of the Glencore Kidd Creek Mine.
Chris Dupont, P.Eng is the qualified person responsible for the information contained in this release.
Explor Resources Inc. is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture (EXS), on the OTCQX (EXSFF) and on the Frankfurt and Berlin Stock Exchanges (E1H1).
This Press Release was prepared by Explor. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the Policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
About Explor Resources Inc.
Explor Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based natural resources company with mineral holdings in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. Explor is currently focused on exploration in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. The belt is found in both provinces of Ontario and Quebec with approximately 33% in Ontario and 67% in Quebec. The Belt has produced in excess of 180,000,000 ounces of gold and 450,000,000 tonnes of cu-zn ore over the last 100 years. The Corporation was continued under the laws of Alberta in 1986 and has had its main office in Quebec since 2006.
Explor Resources Flagship project is the Timmins Porcupine West (TPW) Project located in the Porcupine mining camp, in the Province of Ontario. Teck Resources Ltd. is currently conducting an exploration program as part of an earn-in on the TPW property. The TPW mineral resource (Press Release dated August 27, 2013) includes the following:
Open Pit Mineral Resources at a 0.30 g/t Au cut-off grade are as follows: Indicated: 213,000 oz (4,283,000 tonnes at 1.55 g/t Au) Inferred: 77,000 oz (1,140,000 tonnes at 2.09 g/t Au) Underground Mineral Resources at a 1.70 g/t Au cut-off grade are as follows: Indicated: 396,000 oz (4,420,000 tonnes at 2.79 g/t Au) Inferred: 393,000 oz (5,185,000 tonnes at 2.36 g/t Au)
This document may contain forward-looking statements relating to Explor's operations or to the environment in which it operates. Such statements are based on operations, estimates, forecasts and projections. They are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and may be beyond Explor's control. A number of important factors could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements, including those set forth in other public filling. In addition, such statements relate to the date on which they are made. Consequently, undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements. Explor disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, save and except as may be required by applicable securities laws.
A map is available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/161011_EXS_MAP.pdf
Contacts:
Explor Resources Inc.
Christian Dupont
President
888-997-4630 or 819-797-4630
819-797-6050 (FAX)
info@explorresources.com
www.explorresources.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
Sumtra Diversified Inc. ("Sumtra" or the "Company") (NEX: SDV.H) today announced that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent ("LOI") to acquire a 100% interest in Hygea Holdings Corp. ("Hygea") in a reverse takeover transaction (the "Transaction"). As presently contemplated, it is expected that the Transaction will be completed by way of a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (the "Arrangement") and that completion of the Transaction would constitute a reverse take-over and change of control of the Company, as those terms are defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV").
About Hygea
Hygea is a Miami, Florida-headquartered diversified healthcare holding company existing under the laws of Nevada.
Hygea focuses primarily on the delivery of primary-care-based health care to patients in the U.S. It currently services approximately 175,000 patients through its integrated group practices and the Palm Network, which is Hygea's independent practice association and managed services organization. Hygea serves these patients in two ways.
-- Wholly owned practices with physicians under direct contract with Hygea located in South and Central Florida and in Georgia. -- Through the Palm Network, which represents more than 75 different medical specialties, including more than 800 primary care providers.
Hygea relies on its end-to-end delivery platform, in which patients access primary care and specialist physicians, pharmacies, diagnostics, therapies and other services through a single point of contact, to successfully provide high quality services in a fee-for-service setting (where physicians are paid a set price for services rendered and tests ordered). The trend in the U.S., promoted heavily by the U.S. government, is to move from a fee-for-service system to value-based care, the goals of which are to reduce costs, provide high quality care, and target a specific patient population. Hygea generates the majority of its revenue from value-based performance contracts. Hygea believes that its experience in providing primary care services, and its back office infrastructure, enables it to coordinate care to both reduce costs and provide quality outcomes.
Terms of the Transaction
As part of the first step of the Transaction, Hygea intends to complete a corporate reorganization consisting of: (i) a consolidation of its common shares on a four (4) for one (1) basis (the "Hygea Consolidation") and (ii) a three-cornered amalgamation with a company to-be-incorporated under the OBCA ("Hygea Holdco") and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hygea Holdco to-be-incorporated, called Hygea Subco Inc., under the laws of Nevada, pursuant to which all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Hygea will be exchanged for common shares and restricted voting shares of Hygea Holdco (the "First Step Amalgamation"). Hygea will require shareholder approval for the Hygea Consolidation and First Step Amalgamation, which is anticipated to occur at a meeting of shareholders in December 2016. Hygea Holdco will also need shareholder approval for the Arrangement, which is anticipated to occur at a meeting of shareholders the last week of December, 2016.
As part of the Arrangement, Sumtra proposes to amend its articles (the "Articles of Amendment") to: (i) complete a consolidation of its common shares, (ii) approve a name change to "Hygea Holdings Inc." (the "Resulting Issuer"), and (iii) create a new class of restricted voting shares (the "Restricted Voting Shares"). Sumtra will also, among other matters, seek approval for the adoption of new by-laws (the "New By-laws") and approval of five (5) new board members (the "New Board Members") who will replace the existing board members and take office upon completion of the Arrangement. Sumtra will require shareholder approval for the Articles of Amendment, New By-laws and New Board Members, which is anticipated to occur at a meeting of shareholders the last week of December, 2016.
In connection with the Arrangement, Sumtra will create a wholly-owned subsidiary existing under the OBCA to complete a three-cornered amalgamation with Hygea Holdco and Sumtra, pursuant to which all of the issued and outstanding Hygea Holdco common shares will be converted on a one (1) for one (1) basis for post-consolidated common shares of the Resulting Issuer ("Resulting Issuer Common Shares") and all of the issued and outstanding Hygea Holdco restricted voting shares will be converted on a one (1) for one (1) basis for Restricted Voting Shares of the Resulting Issuer ("Resulting Issuer Restricted Voting Shares"). Upon completion of the Arrangement, Hygea Holdco and Hygea will be wholly owned subsidiaries of the Resulting Issuer.
Pursuant to the terms of the Arrangement, it is expected that all unexercised Sumtra incentive stock options will be exercised or cancelled immediately prior to the effective time of the Arrangement. The terms of the Arrangement will also provide that each issued and outstanding common share purchase warrant of Hygea will be exchanged for a warrant of the Resulting Issuer on equivalent terms after having given effect to all of the transactions contemplated by the Arrangement.
It is agreed by both parties that the proposed structure may be revised to accommodate tax considerations, accounting treatments and applicable legal and regulatory requirements. As of the date hereof, the number of Resulting Issuer Common Shares and Resulting Issuer Restricted Voting Shares of the Company to be issued to shareholders of Hygea Holdco remains subject to the final valuation of Hygea, which will be based on the concurrent private placement offering to be undertaken by Hygea as more fully described below.
Concurrent Financing
Hygea also intends to complete a brokered private placement (the "Offering") of subscription receipts (the "Subscription Receipts") of Hygea Holdco for gross proceeds of up to a maximum of CDN$130 million. The Offering is being conducted by a syndicate of agents (the "Agents") led by Cormark Securities Inc. ("Cormark").
Hygea has entered into an engagement agreement with Cormark to act as the agent of Hygea and Hygea Holdco to solicit subscriptions for the sale of the Subscription Receipts on a reasonable best efforts basis. The Agents have been granted an option (the "Agents' Option"), exercisable up to 48 hours prior to the closing date of the Offering, to arrange for the purchase of up to an additional 15% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold under the Offering on the same terms as the Offering. If the Agents' Option is exercised in full, the total gross proceeds of the Offering will be CDN$149.5 million.
Each Subscription Receipt issued pursuant to the Offering shall be exchanged for one (1) common share of Hygea Holdco (the "Underlying Shares") immediately prior to closing of the Arrangement for no additional consideration. Upon closing of the Arrangement, the Underlying Shares will be exchanged on a one (1) for one (1) basis for post-consolidated Resulting Issuer Common Shares. The closing of the Offering is expected to be the week of November 14, 2016 or on such other date as the parties mutually agree. All proceeds from the Offering will be held in escrow pending satisfaction of all the escrow release conditions, including completion of the Arrangement and listing of the Resulting Issuer Common Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX").
In consideration for the services to be provided, the Agents will be paid a cash amount equal to six percent (6%) of the gross proceeds raised from the Subscription Receipts from all parties excepting certain subscribers designated by Hygea. In addition, upon closing of the Offering, the Agents will be granted compensation options ("Compensation Options") entitling the Agents to subscribe for that number of Hygea Holdco common shares (which will ultimately convert into the right to subscribe for Resulting Issuer Common Shares) as is equal to four percent (4%) of the total number of Underlying Shares issued pursuant to the exercise of Subscription Receipts under the Offering, including any Subscription Receipts issued upon the exercise of the Agents' Option. Each Compensation Option will ultimately be exercisable for one Resulting Issuer Common Share for a period of twenty-four (24) months following the escrow release date and will be exercisable at the issue price of the Subscription Receipts. The Agents will also be reimbursed for their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses, including their legal fees.
The net proceeds from the Offering will be used by the Resulting Issuer for potential acquisitions, to repay certain existing indebtedness, and for general working capital purposes. In addition, net proceeds from the Offering may be used to fund the repurchase of shares from certain holders of who may exercise dissent rights in respect of the Transaction.
The completion of the Transaction will be subject to, among other things, the execution of definitive documentation, the completion of all necessary due diligence and the receipt of any required shareholder, court, TSXV, or other regulatory approvals.
Additional information with respect to the Transaction, including the key terms thereof, will be provided in a subsequent news release once the major deal terms are settled and a definitive agreement is entered into. Trading in the common shares of the Company have been halted pursuant to the policies of the TSXV and the Company expects that trading in the Company's shares will remain halted pending the completion of the Transaction.
Forward Looking Information
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of management with respect to performance, business and future events, including but not limited to express or implied statements and assumptions regarding the Company's intention to negotiate for or complete the Transaction. Forward-looking statements are based on the then-current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the business and the industry and markets in which the Company operates. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. In particular, there is no guarantee that the parties will successfully negotiate and enter into a definitive agreement or complete the Transaction contemplated herein, that the Company's due diligence will be satisfactory or that the Company will obtain any required shareholder or regulatory approvals, including approval of the TSXV. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The Company does not undertake any obligations to release publicly any revisions for updating any voluntary forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities law.
All information contained in this press release with respect to Hygea, its business and proposed corporate reorganization and financing was supplied by Hygea for inclusion herein. Sumtra has not conducted due diligence on the information provided and does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information.
Completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including TSXV acceptance and shareholder approval. The transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Management Information Circular to be prepared in connection with the transaction, any information released or received with respect to the reverse takeover transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of Sumtra Diversified Inc. should be considered highly speculative. The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
Contacts:
Robert G. Shoniker
President
Sumtra Diversified Inc.
416 863-6096
bshoniker@couragecapital.com
BLOOMINGTON, IN--(Marketwired - October 11, 2016) - Megaputer Intelligence announces the Analytics for Pharma seminar to be hosted on November 16, 2016 in Bloomington, IN. Leading practitioners will present analytical solutions they developed for addressing typical challenges encountered in the pharmaceutical and life sciences domains: the analysis of call center transcripts, employee survey responses, adverse event reports, and service notes for medical devices. Participants will learn how to solve pharma and life sciences tasks through the use of advanced text analytics techniques and standard industry resources, such as semantic dictionaries and ontologies. Megaputer analysts will provide an overview of how text analysis systems can help researchers automatically derive features and relationships of interest from academic publications and how a pharma company can perform competitive intelligence through the analysis of social media data.
Speakers from Eli Lilly and Merck will present recent successful applications of advanced text analytics at their companies. The seminar will serve as a convenient setup for networking and sharing knowledge with thought leaders from other pharma companies.
Megaputer analysts will outline the typical steps and challenges one encounters when implementing a text analysis solution at a pharma company. In addition, they will discuss theoretical foundations and practical implementations of systems for the analysis of BIG DATA.
The seminar will be followed by a one-day, hands-on workshop arming attendees with practical skills for solving typical text analysis tasks in the pharma and life sciences domains.
"Analytics for Pharma seminar and workshop will equip both non-technical users and data scientists from pharma companies with a thorough understanding of how their companies can benefit from implementing text analysis solutions based on concrete examples of success," says Daniel Priver, Senior Data Analysis Consultant with Megaputer Intelligence. "It provides a unique setup for gaining knowledge about typical applications and useful techniques in advanced text analytics for pharma and the life sciences."
About Megaputer Intelligence
Megaputer Intelligence (www.megaputer.com) is a leading developer of data and text mining software and custom analytical solutions for various application domains. Megaputer analytical tools enable over 500 customers worldwide to make informed data-driven decisions.
Megaputer and PolyAnalyst are registered trademarks of Megaputer Intelligence Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
For more information:
Brian Howard
Megaputer Intelligence, Inc.
(812) 330-0110 ext 215
bhoward@megaputer.com
Fitch Ratings has affirmed LeasePlan Corporation NV's (LeasePlan) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB+' and Viability Rating (VR) at 'bbb+' following the completion of its fleet leasing peer review. Fitch has also affirmed Lincoln Finance Ltd's (LFL) senior secured notes Long-term rating at 'BB-' and their guarantor's, Lincoln Financing Holdings Pte Limited's (LFHPL), Long-Term IDR at 'BB-'. The Rating Outlooks on LeasePlan and LFHPL's Long-Term IDRs are Stable.
A full list of rating actions follows at the end of this release.
KEY RATING DRIVERS
LEASEPLAN's IDRS, VR, SENIOR DEBT AND SUPPORT RATING
LeasePlan's IDRs, VR and senior debt ratings are driven by the company's global, market-leading vehicle leasing franchise, strong risk management and sound funding and liquidity profile. The ratings also factor in the company's sizeable albeit well-managed exposure to residual value risk, its modestly higher than peers' tangible leverage, and the effects of its acquisition in March 2016 by a consortium of long-term investors.
The change of ownership was partly funded by LFL's issue of EUR1.25 billion and USD0.4 billion senior secured notes, guaranteed by new holding company, LFHPL. None of the acquisition-related debt is LeasePlan's own direct responsibility, but Fitch believes the revised group structure could still somewhat reduce LeasePlan's financial flexibility through the need to upstream dividends to service it, as LFHPL presently has no other source of income. At the same time Fitch recognises that the extent of this potential negative influence on internal capital generation is contained by LeasePlan's status as a regulated bank, as supervisor De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) can exercise the power to prohibit or restrict upstream dividend distributions.
The Stable Outlook reflects Fitch's expectation that the new ownership will not result in LeasePlan adopting a significantly different strategy in the future, relative to that employed at present.
As the world's largest fleet and vehicle management company, LeasePlan holds leading market positions in most of its 32 countries of operation. This geographic diversification counterbalances the group's monoline business model and renders its performance less susceptible to economic downturn in any individual market. Since 2013, profits have been boosted by gains on used vehicle sales in excess of the longer-term trend, with pre-tax return on average assets reaching 2.8% in 1H16, but the underlying operating performance has also remained strong. Fitch expects used vehicle values to begin to normalize, which will likely create modest but manageable earnings pressure on LeasePlan along with other fleet lessors.
LeasePlan's banking regulatory risk-weighted capital ratios are strong (CET1 ratio of 18.1% at end-June 2016) and improving. However, its debt-to-tangible equity leverage (6.0x at end-June 2016) is modestly higher than broader leasing peers'. The group has a significant exposure to residual value risk via the large proportion of closed-end operating leases in its portfolio. While residual value risk cannot be entirely eliminated, as it depends on external factors such as second-hand car prices, efficient risk management has historically allowed the group to avoid material losses. This, together with the short-term nature of LeasePlan's assets and hence strong cash flow generation capability, partly mitigates the risk of higher balance sheet leverage.
LeasePlan's banking status is unusual among leasing companies and gives it potential access to European Central Bank (ECB) refinancing operations, if needed. It has also allowed the company to achieve a more diversified funding profile than peers through the gathering of retail savings in the Netherlands and, since 2015, in Germany (in total 28% of end-June 2016 non-equity liabilities). Most of these deposits are eligible for the Dutch deposit guarantee scheme, which supports the deposits' stability. Wholesale funding is mostly unsecured through a range of instruments, but LeasePlan also maintains access to the securitisation market. Liquidity and refinancing risk are prudently managed.
LeasePlan's Support Rating of '5' indicates Fitch's view that institutional support from its shareholders, if ever required, may be possible but cannot be relied upon.
In light of LeasePlan's banking status and deposit taking activities Fitch used 'Global Bank Rating Criteria' dated July 15, 2016 to help inform its assessment of certain aspects of LeasePlan's standalone profile, such as operating environment (and in particular, the regulatory framework), company profile, capitalisation and leverage, and funding and liquidity.
LFHPL's IDR AND LFL's SENIOR SECURED NOTES
LeasePlan represents LFHPL's only significant asset, and neither LFHPL nor LFL will have material sources of income other than dividends from LeasePlan, while LeasePlan's regulator could prohibit or restrict upstream dividend distributions. There are no cross-guarantees of debt between LFL and LeasePlan. In Fitch's view, debt issued by LFL is sufficiently isolated from LeasePlan so that failure to service it, all else being equal, may have limited implications for the creditworthiness of LeasePlan. Consequently, the instrument rating is based on the standalone profile of LFL and the guarantor.
LFHPL commenced ownership of LeasePlan with an interest reserve account containing cash covering 2.6 years of LFL's coupon payments on the senior secured notes, and an interest coverage account covering an additional 1.8 years. This eases LFL's initial debt service pressure and potential upstream dividend demands placed up LeasePlan. LFHPL is also covenanted to maintain at least this same level of cash coverage in the interest reserve account thereafter. However, replenishment of this cash will be dependent both on LeasePlan's ongoing ability to generate profits and on DNB approval for their distribution in dividend form.
RATING SENSITIVITIES
LEASEPLAN's IDRS, VIABILITY RATING AND SENIOR DEBT
Negative rating pressure could develop from a material deterioration of the group's capitalisation or leverage, which could result from a higher than expected use of LeasePlan in servicing the acquisition debt or from a less effective management of residual value risk amid a fall in used vehicle prices. Adoption of a riskier strategy or a less conservative approach towards liquidity would also be negative for the ratings.
Ratings could benefit in the medium term from improving leverage, without evidence of increased pressure from the new owners for upward dividend flow. A significant reduction of acquisition-related debt either as a result of partial repayment or from a build-up and retention of a dedicated cash cushion at the LFHPL level would be credit positive.
Fitch currently does not expect changes to LeasePlan's Support Rating.
LFHPL's IDR AND LFL's SENIOR SECURED NOTES
Both the IDR of LFHPL and the rating of LFL's notes are correlated with the ratings of LeasePlan. The ratings would also be negatively affected by significant depletion of liquidity within LFHPL which affects its ability to service its debt obligations. This would most likely be prompted by a material fall in earnings within LeasePlan restricting its capacity to pay dividends.
Positive rating action would likely stem from an accumulation of significant additional cash within LFHPL, accompanied by expectation of its retention there, as this would reduce the dependence of ongoing debt service on future LeasePlan dividends.
The ratings could also be sensitive to the addition of new liabilities or assets within LFHPL, but the impact would depend on the balance struck between increasing LFHPL's debt service obligations and diversifying its income away from reliance on LeasePlan dividends.
Fitch has affirmed the following ratings:
LeasePlan
--Long-term IDR at 'BBB+', Outlook Stable;
--Short-term IDR at 'F2';
--Viability Rating at 'bbb+';
--Support Rating at '5';
--Senior unsecured debt Long-term rating at 'BBB+';
--Senior unsecured debt and commercial paper short-term rating at 'F2'.
LFHPL
--Long-term IDR at 'BB-', Outlook Stable.
LFL
--Senior secured notes long-term rating at 'BB-'.
Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com.
Applicable Criteria
Global Bank Rating Criteria (pub. 15 Jul 2016)
https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/884135
Global Non-Bank Financial Institutions Rating Criteria (pub. 15 Jul 2016)
https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/884128
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OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, will be at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology to announce infrastructure funding for the institution. Minister Sohi will also highlight the benefits of the Government of Canada's Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund.
Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 Time: 9:30 a.m. (MT) Location: Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Building B, NAIT Shell Manufacturing Centre Room B117, Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems Lab 11762 106 Street NW (enter off 118 Avenue) Edmonton, Alberta
Follow Minister Bains on social media.
Twitter: @MinisterISED
Contacts:
Philip Proulx
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Innovation,
Science and Economic Development
343-291-2500
Media Relations
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
343-291-1777
ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Today, Vecna announced its DIACAP (DoD Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process) Accreditation and ATO (Authorization to Operate) issued by the Department of Defense's Defense Health Agency. This latest accreditation enables DoD customers to purchase and securely use Vecna's patient check-in system on the DoD network. Vecna's patient self-service solution automates check-in procedures for medical and dental clinics, pharmacies, labs, and radiology centers. Vecna's system helps staff to optimize patient flow, reduce wait times, and increase patient satisfaction. The system interacts in real-time with the DoD's EHR and Dental Application.
"We are honored to support the Military Health System," says Bill Donnell, Vecna's VP of Government Business. "Vecna's expertise in patient self-service solutions, combined with the DoD's world-class facilities provide a secure, convenient, and reliable digital platform for enhancing patient access to care. We look forward to showcasing our very latest capabilities at the upcoming Joint Federal Pharmacy Seminar (JFPS) in Washington, DC, October 30 - November 2, 2016."
Patients use the kiosks to check-in for scheduled appointments and unscheduled visits. They can verify their demographic and insurance information, respond to satisfaction surveys, complete forms electronically, and more.
Staff members use the system to monitor patient wait times, prioritize based on individual patient needs, and manage patient flow in the facility.
Vecna has deployed and supported its patient self-service solution in over 1,000 VA, DoD, and commercial medical facilities around the world, including Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Vecna's solution has processed nearly 30 million health care self-service interactions to date.
About Vecna
Vecna provides innovative healthcare IT, including patient self-service, robotic telepresence and logistics solutions, to streamline operations, improve access, reduce costs, and increase patient satisfaction. Vecna delivers better technology to realize a better world for all. Learn more at www.vecna.com.
Press Contact:
Valerie Harding
Ripple Effect Communications
Tel: 617-536-8887
Email: Email Contact
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures were lower Tuesday amid doubts over whether OPEC and Russia will truly curb production as agreed upon last week. In any event, higher crude oil prices will only spark increased production from the U.S., Iran and Canada, offsetting supply quotas. 'OPEC has abandoned its free-market policy set in train nearly two years ago. Global oil inventories are far too high -- in the view of some producers -- and they aren't being worked off nearly fast enough,' the IEA said. 'The current price of oil has caused discomfort for all producers.' WTI light sweet crude oil was down 56 cents, or 1.09%, to $50.79 a barrel. A stronger dollar also weighed on most commodities. Britain's sterling continued to weaken on concerns about costs related to the Brexit. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
TOKYO, Oct 11, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - The Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies (Chairman: Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, President & CEO of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.) and Tokyo Big Sight Inc. (President & CEO: Yutaka Takehana) are now welcoming applications for media interviews for the Japan International Aerospace Exhibition 2016, to be finally held from Wednesday 12th October, 2016, at Tokyo Big Sight (3-11-1 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo).Highlights & Topics- The biggest-ever Japan International Aerospace Exhibition in its 50-year history, with 792 Japanese and international companies and organizations exhibiting - one of the largest-scale events in Japan!**Includes co-exhibitors- From 29 major companies among the world's top 100 companies (ranked by sales) to small- and medium-sized cluster companies from all over Japan. The event will feature 602 small, medium, and large companies and organizations from Japan, and 190 overseas exhibitors including AIRBUS GROUP, Boeing Company, and other companies and organizations- Formation of the aircraft industry's largest ever cluster zone, consisting of 349 companies and organizations- Exhibitors include Japan's Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Several dignitaries have also been invited from abroad- Providing a global BtoB meeting system- More than 50 industry luminaries, conveying the latest information- Lecture by astronaut Naoko Yamazaki and video message from astronaut Takuya Onishi. Look, listen, experience, and enjoy public events that deepen our understanding of aerospace issues- An Invitational Preview Hour held for special invitees and media personnel.Press InquiriesJA2016 PR Office (Kyodo PR)Contact: Takahashi, Yamamoto, ImamizuPhone: +81 3-3571-5236Fax: +81 3-3574-9364Email: ja2016-pr@kyodo-pr.co.jp- The biggest-ever Japan International Aerospace Exhibition in its 50-year history, with 792 Japanese and international companies and organizations exhibiting - one of the largest-scale events in Japan!*With 792 companies and organizations exhibiting and an exhibition area of 11,186 m2, this event is Japan's largest international aerospace exhibition. Also, as befits the celebration of its 50-year milestone, this will be the largest Japan International Aerospace Exhibition in history. 61 member companies and organizations from The Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies will be exhibiting. *Includes co-exhibitors- From 29 major companies among the world's top 100 companies (ranked by sales) to small- and medium-sized cluster companies from all over Japan. The event will feature 602 small, medium, and large companies and organizations from Japan, and 190 overseas exhibitors including AIRBUS GROUP, Boeing Company, and other companies and organizations602 leading companies and organizations from Japan to exhibit602 companies and organizations will be exhibiting, including major Japanese companies such as IHI Corporation, IHI AEROSPACE CO., LTD., Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS CO., LTD, Japan Airlines Co., Ltd., and many more. Exhibits will include actual helicopters and helicopter mock-ups, as well as introducing the latest air frames, body components, on-board equipment, aircraft engines, engine-related equipment, space equipment and services, parts, processing machines, inspection/measuring equipment, IT solutions, etc. Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation will be exhibiting a cabin mock-up and conducting PR activities for its Japanese-made MRJ passenger aircraft. JAXA will also be presenting a space-related exhibition.190 overseas companies and organizations to exhibit, including AIRBUS GROUP, Boeing Company190 overseas companies and organizations from 31 countries/regions will be exhibiting, including AIRBUS GROUP, Boeing Company, Arianespace, Bell Helicopter Textron, Elbit Systems, Honeywell, Leonardo-Finmeccanica, Lockheed Martin, Thales, and many others. Lockheed Martin will be exhibiting a full-scale mock-up of the F-35 stealth fighter in the outdoor exhibition space. The event will feature many pavilions, such as the US pavilion including General Atomics, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon, Rockwell Collins, Rolls Royce, and others, as well as exhibitions from France, UK, India, and Canada.- Formation of the aircraft industry's largest ever cluster zone, consisting of 349 companies and organizationsClusters supported by local government and organizations, including special cooperation from Tokyo Metropolitan Government, will be presenting exhibits from all over Japan. At JA2016, a Cluster Zone will be established in West Hall 2 to gather all cluster-related stands. The Aircraft Industries Cluster Forum 2016 will also be held on Tuesday October 11 and Wednesday October 12, organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.- Exhibitions by the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Dignitaries also invited from abroad.The Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency will introduce dual-use products and technologies along with 6 small- and medium-sized companies chosen through public selection. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force will exhibit the F-3 engine for the T-4 training aircraft. Several dignitaries have also been invited from abroad. On the Trade & Public Day on Saturday October 15, there will be an exhibition of the UH-60J rescue helicopter.- Providing a global BtoB meeting systemBCI Aerospace, which is proven for facilitating business meetings in the aerospace field, will operate a large-scale business meeting system. This is the same business meeting system used in the world's largest events, including the Paris Air Show, with the participation of buyers from all over the world. Exhibitors will be able to use it free of charge.- More than 50 leading figures of the aerospace industry, conveying the latest informationMore than 50 leading figures of the aerospace and defense fields have been invited to conduct 20 sessions. Mr. Omiya, Chairman of the Board of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will take the podium to present the first day's special speech. On October 13 and 14, special seminars will be held by Mr. Morimoto, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation and Mr. Fujino, President & CEO of Honda Aircraft Company. Presenters from leading overseas companies including AIRBUS GROUP and Boeing Company will also hold overseas aviation seminars. In addition to this, defense-related seminars (including former Defense Minister Mr. Satoshi Morimoto) and space-related seminars (including JAXA Senior Vice President Mr. Mamoru Endo) will also be conducted.Japan International Aerospace Exhibition 2016Opening Day Program: Wednesday October 12Japan International Aerospace Exhibition 2016 Opening CeremonyTime: Starts 9:30 amVenue: Tokyo Big Sight, West Exhibition Hall AtriumSchedule:1. Greetings from the organizer (Mr. Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, Chairman of the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies)2. Congratulatory addresses by guests of honor3. Tape cutting4. Musical performance by Japan Air Self-Defense Force Central BandOpening ReceptionTime: From 11:30 am to 12:45 pmVenue: Tokyo Big Sight Reception HallProgram:1. Greetings from the organizer (Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, Chairman of the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies)2. Congratulatory remarks by guests of honor3. Kagamibiraki (sake barrel-opening) ceremony4. Toast (led by Yutaka Takehana, Tokyo Big Sight Inc. President & CEO)Invitational Preview HourTime: 10 am - 12 pmVenue: Tokyo Big Sight, whole building of West Exhibition HallEligibility to attend: Media personnel, special inviteesOpening Reception InterviewsWe have decided to accept applications for interviews at the Opening Reception.Prospective applicants should complete the application process at the Press Center from 8:30 am to 10:30 am on Wednesday 12th October.*Please be aware that the interview area will be limited.*Depending on the number of applications, the number of interviewers may be limited.*For more information and guidelines about interviews, we will be happy to offer guidance at time of application.Request for visits during Invitational Preview HourAt JA2016, an Invitational Preview Hour will be held for special invitees on the first day (Wednesday, October 12) from 10 am until 12 pm. This will permit viewing of the venue and exhibits prior to the entry of general public, and the organizers strongly encourage media personnel to attend this program and proactively carry out media interviews.Some points to keep in mind about media interviews- Before conducting interviews, please obtain a press pass at the Press Center. Please refer to the map below to confirm its location.- Please note that there is no press reception area aside from the general reception area.- If conducting interviews over multiple days, we ask that you please obtain a press pass each day.- When conducting interviews with general public and exhibitors, please ensure you have undertaken negotiations and gained approval of each interviewee.- When interviewing, please be aware of visitors and take care.- The Press Center will provide an Internet environment for your use.- If you have any requests, please contact the PR office staff.Venue AccessTokyo Big Sight(West Hall, outdoor exhibition venue)3-11-1 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan 135-0063*Get off at Kokusai-Tenjijo station on the Rinkai line. The Japan International Aerospace Exhibition (JA2016) is approximately a 7-minute walk away.Press CenterWest Hall, Floor 2, West 1 Conference Room (2)*Open 9:30 am to 5:30 pmFor more information, please see: http://bit.ly/2dUit08Source: Tokyo Big Sight, Inc.Copyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - October 11, 2016) - The U.S. Conference of Mayors, in partnership with the NYU Wagner Graduate School for Public Service, will host a bipartisan discussion with mayors and the presidential campaigns on why infrastructure in U.S. cities is key to both economic security and public safety, and to urge a stronger federal partnership with cities.
Under the leadership of USCM President Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, USCM Trustee New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, USCM Vice President New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, USCM Second Vice President Columbia, SC Mayor Stephen Benjamin, USCM Past President Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and USCM Advisory Board Member Albuquerque Mayor Richard J. Berry, will engage in an interactive question-and-answer session with surrogates representing both the Trump and Clinton campaigns who will present their candidates' views on infrastructure. NY1 News Political Anchor Errol Louis will moderate the session.
The Honorable Edward G. Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania (2003-2011), Mayor of Philadelphia (1992-2000) and Co-Chair of Building America's Future will represent Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump's representative is To Be Determined.
With more than 80 percent of the people in this country living in cities and their metropolitan areas, cities are clearly magnets for growth. Over the next 30 years, 66 million people will move to cities and their metro areas, accounting for 96 percent of the nation's total population growth.
Because our nation's roads are already congested, our water systems suffer from aging and leaking pipes, and our electrical grid needs modernization, mayors believe the Presidential aspirants and their policy agendas should be focused on cities and urban areas. Further, mayors will stress that cities are home to innovation, creativity and cultural diversity, thus they need federal support and a national infrastructure policy that directs funding to metro areas which are the lifeblood of our economy and where our future growth will occur.
WHO:
Oklahoma City, OK Mayor Mick Cornett, USCM President
New York City, NY Mayor Bill de Blasio, USCM Trustee
New Orleans, LA Mayor Mitch Landrieu, USCM Vice President
Columbia, SC Mayor Stephen Benjamin, USCM Second Vice President
Baltimore, MD Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, USCM Immediate Past President
Albuquerque, NM Mayor Richard J. Berry, USCM Advisory Board
Tom Cochran, USCM CEO & Executive Director
Errol Louis, NY1 News Political Anchor & Moderator
Sherry Glied, NYU Wagner Dean and Professor of Public Service
WHEN: Thursday, October 13, 2016 | Forum 12:00pm-1:30pm | Doors Open 11:30am
WHERE: SVA Theatre | 333 West 23 Street, New York NY 10011
About The United States Conference of Mayors -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors.
Contact:
Elena Temple
202-286-1100
etemple@usmayors.org
Sara Durr
202-215-1811
sara@durrcommunications.com
Karen Hinton
703-798-3109
Karen@hintoncommunications.com
TRENTON, NJ and RESTON, VA--(Marketwired - October 11, 2016) - The New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) announced today that it has awarded Carahsoft Technology Corp. a contract for VMware software, hardware, cloud and professional services. The agreement with Carahsoft, a leading government IT solutions provider based in Virginia, promises to make the benefits of virtualization readily available to the state's local school districts and charter schools, according to NJSBA officials.
"Our goal is to reduce school districts' costs of purchasing the technology necessary to meet 21st century digital learning requirements," said Dr. Lawrence S. Feinsod, NJSBA executive director. "We look forward to working with Carahsoft and its resellers to help our members procure and leverage cloud technologies to enhance teaching and learning and advance student achievement."
The contract award supports NJSBA's Technology for Education and Career (TEC) program, an initiative that assists schools by providing cost-saving alternatives for creating, establishing, and continuing the most current digital learning opportunities available for students. In addition to helping schools keep up with the latest in digital learning, the tools, services and training available through NJSBA's TEC help schools enhance disaster-recovery capabilities and prepare for online student assessments.
VMware's entire product line -- including VMware software, hardware and services, AirWatch by VMware, and additional EMC VxRail appliances -- will be available to NJSBA's members at a pre-negotiated discounted rate.
As VMware's master government aggregator and largest U.S. public sector distributor, Carahsoft supports an extensive ecosystem of authorized VMware Solution Provider partners who will assist NJSBA members with implementation, support, professional development, and training for all offered VMware services and solutions under the contract. Carahsoft will provide fulfillment services and will work with NJSBA to inform its members about the services and reach out to academic institutions and school board associations nationwide through the contract's cooperative purchasing clauses.
"Carahsoft and our partners are honored to help academic institutions reduce their capital and operating expenses and improve learning by using VMware solutions to build flexible, automated infrastructures," said Will Jones, senior vice president of VMware Solutions at Carahsoft. "We are already actively engaged with more than 20 New Jersey schools and boards of education, and appreciate the opportunity to work with NJSBA to communicate and educate its entire membership about the benefits of virtualization and cloud technologies."
About the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA)
The NJSBA is a federation of New Jersey's local boards of education and includes the majority of the state's charter schools as associate members. NJSBA provides training, advocacy and support to advance public education and promote the achievement of all students through effective governance. www.njsba.org
About Carahsoft
Carahsoft Technology Corp. is the trusted government IT solutions provider. As a top-performing GSA Schedule and SEWP contract holder, Carahsoft serves as the master government aggregator for many of its best-of-breed technology vendors, supporting an extensive ecosystem of manufacturers, value-added resellers, system integrators, and consulting partners committed to helping government agencies and organizations select and implement the best solution at the best possible value.
The company's dedicated Solutions Divisions proactively market, sell and deliver VMware, Symantec, Veritas, EMC, Adobe, F5 Networks, Google Cloud, ServiceNow, Open Source, HPE Software, SAP, Salesforce, and Innovative and Intelligence products and services, among others. Carahsoft is consistently recognized by its partners as a top revenue producer, and is listed annually among the industry's fastest growing firms by CRN, Inc., Washington Technology, The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, and SmartCEO. Visit us at www.carahsoft.com.
NJSBA Contacts:
Frank Belluscio or Janet Bamford
Phone: (609) 278-5202
Email: Email contact
or Email contact
Carahsoft Contact:
Mary Lange
703-431-8485
Email contact
ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR and NOVI, MICHIGAN -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Fortis Inc. ("Fortis" or the "Corporation") (TSX: FTS) and ITC Holdings Corp. ("ITC") (NYSE: ITC) announced today that the Kansas Corporation Commission ("KCC") has voted to approve their application authorizing Fortis to proceed with its acquisition of ITC. This approval completes all required regulatory authorizations for the acquisition.
"We are pleased with the approval from the KCC, and look forward to continuing to serve the transmission needs of the State of Kansas," said Barry Perry, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fortis. "Fortis appreciates the work by all federal and state regulators who have considered the Fortis acquisition of ITC."
"We appreciate the work by the KCC commissioners and staff throughout this process," said Joseph L. Welch, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of ITC. "We look forward to closing the transaction and finalizing matters related to company integration."
Fortis and ITC shareholders approved the acquisition at shareholder meetings held on May 5 and June 22, 2016, respectively. Approval required from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States was received on July 8, 2016, and the post-filing waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, expired August 10, 2016. Approvals from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Missouri Public Service Commission and the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin were received on August 16 and 24, 2016, September 14, 2016 and October 6, 2016, respectively. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized the acquisition on September 23, 2016. All applicable consents related to the transfer of control of licenses were received from the Federal Communications Commission as of September 21, 2016.
About Fortis:
Fortis is a leader in the North American electric and gas utility business, with total assets of approximately CAD$29 billion and fiscal 2015 revenue of CAD$6.7 billion. The Corporation's asset mix is approximately 94% regulated (69% electric, 25% gas), with the remaining 6% comprised of non-regulated energy infrastructure. The Corporation's regulated utilities serve more than 3 million customers across Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.
Fortis shares are listed on the TSX and trade under the symbol FTS. Additional information can be accessed at www.fortisinc.com, www.sedar.com, or www.sec.gov.
About ITC:
ITC is the largest independent electric transmission company in the United States. Based in Novi, Michigan, ITC invests in the electric transmission grid to improve reliability, expand access to markets, allow new generating resources to interconnect to its transmission systems and lower the overall cost of delivered energy. Through its regulated operating subsidiaries ITCTransmission, Michigan Electric Transmission Company, ITC Midwest and ITC Great Plains, ITC owns and operates high-voltage transmission facilities in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, serving a combined peak load exceeding 26,000 megawatts along approximately 15,700 circuit miles of transmission line. ITC's grid development focus includes growth through regulated infrastructure investment as well as domestic and international expansion through merchant and other commercial development opportunities. Additional information can be accessed at www.itc-holdings.com or www.sec.gov.
Fortis and ITC include forward-looking statements in this news release within the meaning of applicable securities laws including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements included in this news release reflect expectations of Fortis and/or ITC management regarding future growth, results of operations, performance, business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as "anticipates", "believes", "budgets", "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "intends", "may", "might", "plans", "projects", "schedule", "should", "target", "will", "would" and the negative of these terms and other similar terminology or expressions have been used to identify the forward-looking statements, which include, without limitation, statements related to the acquisition of ITC.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Certain material factors or assumptions have been applied in drawing the conclusions contained in the forward-looking statements. These factors or assumptions are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations generally, including those identified from time to time in the forward-looking statements. Such risk factors or assumptions include, but are not limited to, risks relating to failure to complete the acquisition and the timing, and risks relating to the potential decline in the Fortis share price negatively impacting the value of the consideration offered to ITC shareholders. Fortis and ITC caution readers that a number of factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully and undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements. For additional information with respect to certain of these risks or factors, reference should be made to the continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time by Fortis or ITC with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fortis and ITC disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Additional Information and Where to Find It:
Fortis filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") a registration statement on Form F-4 including a proxy statement of ITC and a prospectus of Fortis, and other documents in connection with the acquisition by Fortis of ITC, which was declared effective by the SEC on May 16, 2016. This communication is not a substitute for the registration statement, definitive proxy statement/prospectus or any other document that Fortis and/or ITC has filed or may file with the SEC in connection with the acquisition. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF FORTIS AND ITC ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS, AND ANY OTHER FILINGS THAT MAY BE MADE WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE ACQUISITION WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE ACQUISITION. The registration statement and proxy statement/prospectus containing the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other documents filed by Fortis and/or ITC with the SEC are available free of charge at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, on Fortis' website at www.fortisinc.com or by contacting Fortis' Investor Relations department. Copies of the document filed with the SEC by ITC can also be obtained free of charge from ITC upon written request to ITC at ITC, Investor Relations, 27175 Energy Way, Novi, MI 48377. You may also read and copy any reports, statements and other information filed by Fortis and ITC with the SEC at the SEC public reference room at 100 F Street N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at (800) 732-0330 or visit the SEC's website for further information on its public reference room. This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to appropriate registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and otherwise in accordance with applicable law.
Contacts:
Fortis Inc.
Investor Enquiries:
Ms. Janet Craig
Vice President, Investor Relations Fortis Inc.
709.737.2863
Media Enquiries:
Ms. Karen McCarthy
Director, Communications and Corporate Affairs Fortis Inc.
709.737.5323
ITC Holdings Corp.
Investor Inquiries:
Ms. Stephanie Amaimo
Director, Investor Relations, ITC Holdings Corp.
248.946.3572
Media Inquiries:
Mr. Whit Clay
Managing Director, Sloane & Company
212.446.1864
INDIANAPOLIS, IN--(Marketwired - October 11, 2016) - Duke Realty Corporation (NYSE: DRE) today announced that the company will release its third quarter 2016 operating results on Wednesday, October 26th, after the market close. The company will host its quarterly earnings conference call on Thursday, October 27th, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
The public may access the conference call through a live audio webcast available on the investor relations section of Duke Realty's website at www.dukerealty.com. Shortly after the conclusion of the conference call, investors can access a replay of the webcast on the Company's website.
About Duke Realty Corporation
Duke Realty Corporation owns and operates 138 million rentable square feet of industrial and medical office assets in 21 major U.S. metropolitan areas. Duke Realty Corporation is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol DRE and is listed on the S&P MidCap 400 Index. More information about Duke Realty Corporation is available at www.dukerealty.com.
Contact Information:
Investors:
Ron Hubbard
317.808.6060
Media:
Helen McCarthy
317.708.8010
ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Fortis Inc. ("Fortis" or the "Corporation") (TSX: FTS) announced today that it expects its common shares will commence trading on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") on or about October 14, 2016 under the ticker symbol "FTS." Fortis will retain its listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") under the symbol "FTS."
Fortis announced its intention to list on the NYSE earlier this year in connection with the agreement and plan of merger pursuant to which Fortis will acquire ITC Holdings Corp. ("ITC") in a transaction valued at approximately US$11.3 billion. The transaction is expected to close on or about October 14, 2016. Fortis received approval to list on the NYSE on May 6, 2016. Following the closing of the merger with ITC, approximately 60% of the Corporation's assets will be located in the United States.
"We are excited to see the Fortis ticker run across the NYSE screens, improving access for a broader group of investors and trading activity for Fortis shares in the U.S.," said Barry Perry, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fortis.
The Corporation will celebrate its listing by ringing the NYSE Opening Bell on Tuesday, October 18, 2016.
About Fortis:
Fortis is a leader in the North American electric and gas utility business, with total assets of approximately CAD$29 billion as of June 30, 2016 and revenue of CAD$6.7 billion for the fiscal year 2015. As of June 30, 2016, the Corporation's asset mix is approximately 94% regulated (69% electric, 25% gas), with the remaining 6% comprised of non-regulated energy infrastructure. The Corporation's regulated utilities serve more than 3 million customers across Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.
Fortis includes forward-looking statements in this news release within the meaning of applicable securities laws including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements included in this news release reflect expectations of Fortis management regarding future growth, results of operations, performance, business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as "anticipates", "believes", "budgets", "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "intends", "may", "might", "plans", "projects", "schedule", "should", "target", "will", "would" and the negative of these terms and other similar terminology or expressions have been used to identify the forward-looking statements, which include, without limitation: statements related to the acquisition of ITC, the combined company's assets and the expected timing of the closing of the acquisition.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Certain material factors or assumptions have been applied in drawing the conclusions contained in the forward-looking statements. These factors or assumptions are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations generally, including those identified from time-to-time in the forward-looking statements. Such risk factors or assumptions include, but are not limited to, risks relating to failure to complete the acquisition and the timing thereof, and risks relating to the potential decline in the Fortis share price negatively impacting the value of the consideration offered to ITC shareholders. Fortis cautions readers that a number of factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully and undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements. For additional information with respect to certain of these risks or factors, reference should be made to the continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time by Fortis with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fortis disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Investor Enquiries:
Ms. Janet Craig
Vice President, Investor Relations
Fortis Inc.
709.737.2863
Media Enquiries:
Ms. Karen McCarthy
Director, Communications and Corporate Affairs
Fortis Inc.
709.737.5323
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, will be at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology to announce infrastructure funding for the institution. Minister Duncan will also highlight the benefits of the Government of Canada's Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund.
Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 Time: 1:30 p.m. (MT) Location: Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Aldred Centre, 4th Floor (across from the elevators) Technology Demonstration Hall 1301 16 Avenue NW Calgary, Alberta Media: Please park in lot P5.
Follow Minister Duncan on social media.
Twitter: @ScienceMin
Instagram: sciencemin
Contacts:
Veronique Perron
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Science
343-291-2600
Media Relations
Innovation, Science and
Economic Development Canada
343-291-1777
ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Copper Lake Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: CPL)(FRANKFURT: W0I) ("Copper Lake" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that $251,370 of convertible debentures issued to Marshall Lake Mining Limited (UK) on September 29, 2016 have been converted into units, consisting of common shares and common share warrants. The debentures were converted at the conversion rate of $0.055 per unit and resulted in the issuance of 4,570,363 common shares and 4,570,363 common share warrants. Each common share warrant entitles the holder to acquire one additional common share at a price of $0.055 for a period of four years from the date of issue.
Marshall Lake Mining Limited has informed the Copper Lake that the remaining convertible debentures of $98,630 and the 4,570,363 warrants received by Marshall Lake Mining Limited have now been allotted to third parties to settle liabilities in respect to the winding up of Marshall Lake Mining Limited.
Following this, Marshall Lake Mining Limited is beginning the process to distribute its entire holding of 38,993,301 common shares in Copper Lake to its ninety-four underlying UK shareholders.
Copper Lake shareholders may wish to note that Marshall Lake Mining Limited has voluntarily agreed to vote its shares with management for up to two years to protect the interests of all Copper Lake shareholders.
"We are very pleased that a significant portion of the $350,000 in convertible debentures issued to Marshall Lake Mining Limited has now been converted, signaling the start of the process of distributing Copper Lake shares down to individual shareholders of Marshall Lake Mining Limited," states Terry MacDonald, CEO of Copper Lake. "In addition, the early conversion will eliminate $30,000 in annual interest costs."
About Copper Lake Resources
Copper Lake Resources Ltd. is a publicly traded Canadian company currently focused on advancing two significant properties located in Ontario, Canada:
1. The Marshall Lake VMS copper, zinc, silver and gold property is an advanced exploration stage property located 120 km north of Geraldton, Ontario via good all weather gravel road from the Trans-Canada Highway and just 22 km north of the main CNR rail line. Copper Lake currently owns a 68.75% interest in the property and has the option to increase its interest to 75% by incurring additional expenditures of $820,000 by July 15, 2017, and can further increase its interest to 87.5% by taking the project to bankable feasibility stage. 2. The Norton Lake nickel, copper, PGM property (69.79%) is located approximately 100 km north of the Marshall Lake property.
On behalf of Copper Lake Resources Ltd.
"Terrence MacDonald"
Interim CEO
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed this news release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements, other than statements of historical facts, that address such matters as future exploration, drilling, exploration activities, potential mineralization and resources and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward looking statements and, as such, are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors of which are beyond the reasonable control of the Company. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include such matters as market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Any forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and subject to change after that date.
Contacts:
Copper Lake Resources Ltd.
Terrence MacDonald
416-561-3626
www.copperlakeresources.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/11/16 -- Goldeye Explorations Limited (TSX VENTURE: GGY) ("Goldeye") announces that it has obtained an interim order of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in connection with its proposed plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") with Treasury Metals Inc. ("Treasury") previously announced on September 1, 2016. The interim order provides for, among other things, the holding of a special meeting (the "Special Meeting") of the holders of common shares of Goldeye (the "Shareholders") to approve the Arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario). The Special Meeting is scheduled to be held at the offices of Stikeman Keeley Spiegel Pasternack LLP, 200 Front Street West, Suite 2300, Toronto, Ontario M5V 3K2 on November 15, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. (Toronto time). The record date for determining Shareholders entitled to receive notice of and vote at the Special Meeting was fixed at the close of business on September 26, 2016.
As previously disclosed, Goldeye entered into an arrangement agreement with Treasury pursuant to which Treasury will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Goldeye and, upon closing, Goldeye will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Treasury. Goldeye's directors and senior officers have agreed to support the Arrangement and vote their common shares in favour of the Arrangement. The Board of Directors of Goldeye has previously approved the Arrangement and has unanimously recommended that Shareholders approve the Arrangement. In accordance with the Notice and Access rules adopted by the Ontario Securities Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators under NI 54-101, Goldeye is sending its proxy-related materials ("Meeting Materials") to Shareholders using the Notice and Access method. Therefore, although Shareholders still receive the proxy or voting instruction forms in paper copy, the information circular and the notice of meeting will not be physically delivered. Instead, Shareholders may access or download the Meeting Materials from the link at www.goldeye.ca/specialmeeting or may also access them from SEDAR at www.sedar.com under Goldeye's filed documents. Goldeye believes that that this delivery method will expedite the receipt of the Meeting Materials by Shareholders, reduce its printing and mailing expenses, and reduce the environmental impact of disposing of the Meeting Materials after it is no longer useful.
Registered holders or beneficial owners may request paper copies of the notice meeting and information circular booklet be sent to them by postal delivery at no cost to them. Requests may be made up to one year from the date the Meeting Materials are posted on Goldeye's website. In order to receive a paper copy of the Meeting Materials, please call toll free at 1-866-600-5869. If you have questions concerning Notice and Access, please call Goldeye's registrar and transfer agent, TSX Trust Company, at 1-866-600-5869.
The completion of the Arrangement is subject to certain conditions, including the receipt of the requisite approval from the Shareholders, the final approval (the "Final Order") of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice at an application which is scheduled for November 18, 2016, final acceptance by the respective stock exchanges on which Goldeye and Treasury trade, and other closing conditions customary in transactions of this nature. If all necessary approvals are obtained and the conditions to the completion of the Arrangement are satisfied or waived, it is currently anticipated that the Arrangement will be completed on or about November 22, 2016.
ABOUT GOLDEYE
Goldeye Explorations is a gold-focused junior exploration company engaged in the exploration and evaluation of mineral properties in Ontario, Canada. Goldeye's flagship Weebigee Project is located near Sandy Lake in Northwestern Ontario. The company has additional properties at Gold Rock near Dryden, and Shining Tree in Northeastern Ontario.
For additional information about Goldeye, please visit Goldeye's website at www.goldeye.ca.
ABOUT WEEBIGEE
Weebigee is a gold and base metals project located near Sandy Lake in Northwestern Ontario. The Project is approximately 225 km north of Red Lake, one of the world's most prolific gold camps, and 200 km west of Goldcorp's world-class Musselwhite mine. The Project comprises a main block of 363 claim units (approx. 6000 ha.) held 100% by Goldeye subject to an option agreement with GPM Metals Inc. ("GPM") and an additional 1421 claim units (approx. 22,000 ha.) staked by GPM, in the highly prospective and underexplored Sandy Lake greenstone belt. Sandy Lake Gold Inc. recently announced that it had acquired all of GPM's rights regarding the project. Certain of the claims are subject to a 1% net smelter returns ("NSR") royalty. Weebigee lies within the traditional territory of Sandy Lake First Nation ("SLFN") with whom Goldeye signed a comprehensive Exploration Agreement in 2013.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking information" (within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws) and "forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Such statements or information are identified with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "potential", "estimate", "propose", "project", "outlook", "foresee" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements or information related to the completion and expected timing of the Special Meeting, the hearing of the application for the Final Order, and the closing of the Arrangement. Such forward-looking information or statements are based on a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions which may cause actual results or other expectations to differ materially from those anticipated and which may prove to be incorrect. Actual results could differ materially due to a number of factors including, but not limited to, risks related to Goldeye's or Treasury's inability to satisfy a condition precedent to the completion of the Arrangement (including obtaining the requisite shareholder approval at the Special Meeting and the necessary regulatory approvals), other risks related to the completion of the Arrangement and risks related to the inability of each of Goldeye and Treasury to perform its respective obligations under the Arrangement Agreement as well as certain other risks set out in the respective companies' public documents.
Although Goldeye believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information or statements are reasonable, prospective investors in Goldeye's securities should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because Goldeye can provide no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information and statements contained in this news release are as of the date of this news release and Goldeye assumes no obligation to update or revise this forward-looking information and statements except as required by law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy and/or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Goldeye Explorations Limited
Robin Luke Webster
President and Chief Executive Officer
1.416.900.0918
info@goldeye.ca
www.goldeye.ca
ISSAQUAH (dpa-AFX) - The Food Safety and Inspection Service has issued public health alert for a rotisserie chicken salad sold at Costco's Lynnwood store that is possibly linked to cases of salmonella. The chicken salad item for this public health alert was produced August 26 through September 2, 2016. The product was sold directly to consumers who shopped at Costco Store #1190 in Lynwood, Washington. Consumption of food contaminated with Salmonella can cause salmonellosis, one of the most common bacterial foodborne illnesses. The most common symptoms of salmonellosis are diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within 12 to 72 hours after eating the contaminated product.chickensalad-101116.jpg Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
HONG KONG, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Guernsey is to host its first insurance masterclass in Hong Kong on 4 November 2016.
Guernsey, which is well-known in the western world for being the leading captive insurance domicile in Europe, is now looking to share its expertise with contacts across Asia. The masterclass follows the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with both the China Captive Alliance and the Kashgar Government by Guernsey representatives in June this year. Both agreements set out a statement of intent to facilitate captive insurance market development initiatives between the parties, international communication, financial innovation and information sharing.
The Hong Kong masterclass, which takes place at the PwC Executive Conference Centre in Central, will feature two panel discussions, one on captive insurance and the other on employee benefit trusts (EBTs), that will look at the risk management impact of global developments on innovation and growth in these sectors.
Dominic Wheatley, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance, said: "Guernsey is Europe's number one captive insurance domicile and is perfectly placed to share the expertise it has gained from more than 50 years of providing financial services. There is plenty that Asia's developing and evolving captive insurance sector can learn from Guernsey in this area and we hope that our event will offer guidance and insight into the possible use of captive insurance companies by Asian corporations.
"As Asia becomes more exposed to international management practices, recognition of the economic efficiency of insurance and the financial efficiency of formal risk management, risk transfer and risk financing models will increase."
The event is expected to appeal to insurance managers, risk managers, HR directors, finance directors, lawyers and accountants operating in Hong Kong or Asia.
The first panel session will examine the benefits of EBTs, how they meet the diverse needs of multinationals and their internationally mobile employees and Guernsey's role in the world of international employee benefits. The second panel session will consider the benefits of captive insurance companies, challenges associated with international captive programmes, local issues of domestic Asia captives and Guernsey's position as a leading captive insurance domicile.
Moderators for the panel sessions: are Nick Griffin, Chief Commercial Officer, Generali Worldwide, and Dr Andy Sloan, Director of Financial Stability & International Policy, Guernsey Financial Services Commission. Panellists include: Charne Van Biljon, Assistant Legal Counsel, Sovereign Group; Pasquale Gorrasi, Director, Generali Employee Benefits; Caroline Bradley, Deputy Director of Banking and Insurance, Guernsey Financial Services Commission; Geoffrey Cao, Executive Director, Captive Website of China; Charles Scott, Managing Director, ARM; and Rex Ho, Partner, PwC.
Sponsors of the masterclass are ARM and Generali. Registration will take place from 4.30pm and the event will commence at 5pm.
For further information or to book a delegate place please visit the event website. Alternatively, contact Vicky Richardson by email vicky@weareguernsey.com or telephone +44 (0) 1481 720071.
Notes to Editors:
Guernsey Finance is the promotional agency for the Island's finance industry internationally.
Breed Reply, the Reply [MTA, STAR: REY] s London-based IoT incubator, funding and supporting startups in the Internet of Things space, has made four additional investments.
Callsign, Iotic Labs, Razorsecure and Senseye brought the portfolio to a total of fifteen.
Callsign has built a comprehensive authentication platform for enterprises, financial institutions and consumer facing web companies built upon a non-repudiable military grade Crypto Engine.
Iotic Labs has created Iotic Space, an environment where anything can interact with anything. Data can be securely shared or exchanged, creating communities of unrelated things.
RazorSecure provides active monitoring software that monitors difficult to manage small scale/IoT systems in harsh environments continuously and alerts the instant that a system breach occurs.
Senseye provides PROGNOSYS by Senseye, which allows manufacturers to automatically monitor the condition of machines and predicts future breakdowns.
Based in London, with operational offices in Germany and Italy, Breed Reply supports entrepreneurs by bringing new ideas to the market via three fundamental services:
funding at seed and early stage level;
support with significant know how transfer of business, managerial and technological expertise; and,
medium-term involvement to establish startups in their market.
In the IoT sector, the main areas Breed Reply focuses on are Fitness and Wellness, Healthcare, Smart home, Manufacturing, Transportation and Energy.
FinSMEs
11/10/2016
Minima Processor, an Espoo and Oulu, Finland-based low power subtreshold energy efficiency startup, received 1.6m in equity funding.
Backers included CFT Nordic Capital Ltd, VTT Ventures Ltd and private investors.
Developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Aalto University and the University of Turku, the company offers technology which makes digital computing more energy efficient than current technology.
The patented technology which can be used in almost all devices utilizing digital computing adding to integrated digital computing microchips before manufacturing is based on the optimization of microprocessors operating points.
Founded in April 2016 and led by CEO Toni Soini and CTO Lauri Koskinen, Minima delivers and licences its technology to other semiconductor companies, which then integrate it into their products. In the initial phase, the company is targeting energy saving solutions for data processing in IoT devices.
In the future, operations will be expanded into other market areas.
Minima has also been supported by Tekes the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation.
FinSMEs
11/10/2016
NEW YORK Reality television star Kim Kardashian sued the celebrity gossip website MediaTakeout on Tuesday for claiming that she lied about an armed robbery earlier this month in Paris.Kardashian, whose show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" is on hold following the robbery, filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York accusing the site of reporting that she staged the attack "without any factual support whatsoever."The 35-year-old was robbed of some $10 million in jewelry after masked men put a gun to her head and tied her up in a Paris apartment early on Oct. 3. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages for defamation, names both the site and its founder, Fred Mwangaguhunga, as defendants.
Mwangaguhunga refused to publish a retraction and an apology "for calling her a liar and a criminal," the lawsuit said.
The site did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Kardashian, who has kept an uncharacteristically low profile since the robbery, is married to the rapper Kanye West, with whom she has two children. Her family was not with her at the time of the incident.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Alan Crosby)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Ross Kerber
| BOSTON
BOSTON A 2016 Nobel Prize winner said executive pay plans have grown too complex and cited the overuse of consultants, remarks that pay specialists on Tuesday said echoed the complaints of many investors about ever-more detailed compensation statements.Finland's Bengt Holmstrom, a co-winner of the Nobel Economics Prize for his work on contract theory, said that too many pay plans include contingencies or long-term performance goals that make them unwieldy."They have got to get to something simpler," the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor said of corporate boards. He was speaking at a press conference the school held on Monday after the latest Nobel Prize winners were announced.Holmstrom's work addresses a host of questions from how best to reward executives to whether schools and prisons should be privately owned.Asked what changes he would like to see made to pay packages, Holmstrom said, "Robust plans that don't change every year."At telecommunications network provider Nokia Corp (NOKIA.HE) where Holmstrom was a board member for 13 years until 2012, "executive compensation went from reasonable to absolutely dreadful, and dreadful because of all the consultants," he said.
In his later years on the board, "it was not Nokia really deciding itself anymore what to do," he said.A Nokia spokeswoman declined to comment.Executive pay has soared while income for typical U.S. workers has stagnated. Median total compensation for S&P 500 chief executives in 2015 reached $10.4 million, according to pay consulting firm Equilar, up from $8.9 million in 2011.
While the gap between executive and worker pay has drawn political criticism, investors overwhelmingly approve most CEO pay packages in advisory votes. Shareholders complain instead about how unwieldy pay has become, said specialists including Marc Hodak, who advises companies and private equity firms on compensation.Pay plans that take up 20 pages of corporate proxy statements could often be boiled down to four pages, he said in an interview on Tuesday.Hodak blamed the plethora of rules which limit board discretion in order to make pay decisions transparent for reviewers like Institutional Shareholder Services.
"The problem is, governance critics don't like subjectivity," he said.David Kokell, ISS' head of U.S. compensation research, said in an interview on Tuesday that many of the measures were necessary. "If it's just based on a subjective assessment, it's hard for the investor to evaluate how closely payouts are linked to actual performance." (Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Richard Chang)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Barani Krishnan
| NEW YORK
NEW YORK Oil prices on Tuesday retreated from one-year highs, after OPEC said it was trying to reach a global agreement to cap production for at least six months amid doubts about how much that would reduce a crude glut.The International Energy Agency, the energy watchdog of the West, said it was unclear how rapidly global oil supply could fall in line with demand even if the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and major producer Russia agreed on a steep output cut. [IEA/M]"Net, we find that an agreement to cut production, while increasingly likely, remains premature given the high supply uncertainty in 2017," Goldman Sachs said in a note.Such a deal would be "self-defeating if it were to target sustainably higher oil prices," Goldman said. Oil has rallied than 13 percent in less than two weeks since OPEC proposed its first production curbs in eight years. Still, prices remain about half of mid-2014 highs above $100 a barrel.On Tuesday, Brent crude LCOc1 settled down 73 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $52.41 a barrel, retreating from a one-year high of $53.73 hit on Monday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 fell 56 cents, or 1 percent, to settle at $50.79.Global oil industry officials in Istanbul for the World Energy Conference issued a raft of statements on OPEC's production plan. The energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia intend to hold further consultations in Riyadh after the Istanbul meeting, the Saudi energy ministry said in a statement."I can say that many countries from outside OPEC are willing to join ... we are not talking about support, we are talking about contribution," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told Reuters on Tuesday in Istanbul.
But Igor Sechin, Russia's most influential oil executive and the head of Rosneft (ROSN.MM), told Reuters in an interview his company will not cut or freeze oil production as part of a possible agreement with OPEC.Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the base-case scenario for Russia would be to leave current output unchanged.OPEC aims to cut production by 700,000 barrels per day to 32.5 million to 33.0 million bpd by its next policy meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30.
OPEC has asked non-OPEC producers besides Russia to contribute with cuts too, although the United States, the world's No. 1 oil producer, will not be part of the plan.Analysts worry that production of U.S. shale oil, crimped this year by prices as low as nearly $26 a barrel, will begin to increase again if crude prices maintain their recent upward momentum.[RIG/U](This version of the story adds missing word in paragraph 1) (Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Clive McKeef and Steve Orlofsky)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By John Whitesides and Susan Heavey
| WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON Presidential candidate Donald Trump angrily lashed out at U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and other "disloyal" Republicans on Tuesday and vowed to campaign in whatever style he wants now that the party establishment has largely abandoned him.Trump condemned the Republicans who have backed away from his White House run in a barrage of stinging Twitter posts, deepening a dramatic rift in the party over his struggling campaign."It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to," Trump said on Twitter, adding he would engage Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on his own terms.Describing "disloyal" Republicans as more difficult than Clinton he said, "They come at you from all sides. They don't know how to win - I will teach them!"A string of Republicans have distanced themselves from Trump since a 2005 video surfaced on Friday showing him bragging crudely to a reporter about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, told party lawmakers on Monday he was breaking with Trump and would not campaign for him, all but conceding Clinton would win the Nov. 8 election. The move angered some Trump supporters, although Ryan said he would not withdraw his endorsement of the New York businessman.Trump slammed Ryan as a "very weak and ineffective leader" and complained in another tweet that it was hard to do well with "zero support" from Ryan and others. He also took aim at U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, who said on Saturday that he could not vote for Trump."The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks," Trump said. There was no immediate reaction from McCain, who secured his primary election win in August. Trump, whose campaign has been marked for months by controversies over both his policies and his brash style, has slipped further behind Clinton in opinion polls.A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll taken after a Sunday's debate and released on Tuesday showed Clinton with a 9-point lead on Trump, winning 46 percent of likely voters compared to Trump's 37 percent.
Many Republicans are worried his chaotic campaign could hurt their chances of holding majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in next month's election, and will inflict long-term damage on the party.PARTY REVOLT
In an extraordinary party revolt, nearly half of all 331 incumbent Republican senators, House members and governors have condemned Trump's lewd remarks on the video, and roughly one in 10 have called for him to drop out of the race, a Reuters review of official statements and local news coverage indicates.Unlike Ryan, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told RNC members on Monday that the committee, the party's leadership and fundraising arm, still backed Trump, two RNC members told Reuters.
Trump's vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, reinforced his support in television interviews on Monday.New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a former rival for the White House who has became a close ally of Trump, also reaffirmed his backing although he called Trump's comments in the 2005 video "completely indefensible." Trump, 70, who has portrayed himself as tough on national security, released a hard-hitting television advertisement on Tuesday featuring footage of Clinton, a 68-year-old former secretary of state, stumbling last month after leaving a service commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks. Her campaign said she had been diagnosed a few days earlier with pneumonia."Hillary Clinton doesn't have the fortitude, strength or stamina to lead in our world," the ad's narrator says. "She failed as secretary of state. Don't let her fail us again.
'INSULTED EVERYONE'
Both Trump and Clinton headed to the key battleground state of Florida on Tuesday.Ahead of her Florida rally with former Vice President Al Gore, Clinton told a Miami radio station that Trump had "insulted everyone.""People need to understand what's at stake in this election," she told WMBM.The White House said on Tuesday that Trump's remarks about groping women in the video amounted to sexual assault. President Barack Obama had found the comments repugnant, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One.The Reuters/Ipsos State of the Nation project released on Monday estimated that Clinton had at least a 95 percent chance of winning the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become president. The polling did not capture reaction to Trump's performance in Sunday's debate or Friday's news reports on the video.Clinton, the first woman to be picked as a presidential nominee by a major U.S. party, tried to focus on issues that could win over undecided women voters on Tuesday, proposing to expand the child tax credit so more low-income families can benefit and to increase by $1,000 a year the tax credit available to families for each child up to age 4. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Frances Kerry)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday greeted the nation on the eve of Dussehra and urged "to follow the path of moral and ethical rectitude".
"Greetings and best wishes to my fellow countrymen in India and abroad on the joyous occasion of Dussehra," Mukherjee said in a series of tweets.
"May this festival inspire us to emulate the righteousness of the Maryada Purush (Lord Rama) and loyalty of Bharath and Lakshmana (younger brothers of Lord Rama)," he said.
He also wished that may this festival inspire us to emulate the virtues of Sita and the valour as well as humility of Hanuman.
"Let each one of us resolve to follow the path of moral and ethical rectitude which has guided us for centuries," Mukherjee said.
Greetings and best wishes to my fellow countrymen in India and abroad on the joyous occasion of Dussehra #PresidentMukherjee President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) October 11, 2016
May this festival inspire us to emulate the righteousness of the Maryada Purush and loyalty of Bharath & Lakshmana #PresidentMukherjee President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) October 11, 2016
May this festival inspire us to emulate the virtues of Sita and the valour as well as humility of Hanuman #PresidentMukherjee President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) October 11, 2016
Let each one of us resolve to follow the path of moral and ethical rectitude which has guided us for centuries #PresidentMukherjee President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) October 11, 2016
May the celebrations motivate us to make renewed efforts for the unity and progress of our country #PresidentMukherjee President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) October 11, 2016
The President also stressed that may the celebrations bind the communities and regions of India in a true sense of brotherhood and the celebrations motivate us to make renewed efforts for the unity and progress of our country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the nation on Vijaya Dashmi.
"Vijaya Dashmi greetings to you all," Modi said in a tweet.
Vijaya Dashmi greetings to you all. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 11, 2016
Dussehra is a Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. People burn huge effigies of Ravana across the country on Vijaya Dashmi. According to mythology, Lord Rama killed Ravana, the king of Lanka on this day.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday greeted the nation on the eve of Vijaya Dashmi.
"Warm greetings to every one on the eve of Vijaya Dashmi," Gandhi said in a tweet.
Chennai: Police have registered 43 cases and arrested two persons in connection with posting of "malicious and false content" on social media about the health of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, undergoing treatment at a hospital in Chennai.
Police also warned of stern action against those spreading rumours about Jayalalithaa's health. "In total, 43 cases have been registered in connection with posting of malicious and false content regarding the health condition of the Chief Minister on the social media," police said in a release.
Special teams, constituted to investigate such cases, were working to identify those who had posted such "false and malicious content" on social media, it said, adding, such "offences are liable to be punished with rigorous imprisonment for more than seven years."
"Users of social media are advised not to spread false, malicious and motivated information regarding the health condition of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Stern action will be taken against the culprits, if any such content is noticed," police added.
Two persons have been arrested, one each from Namakkal and Madurai districts, by the Central Crime Branch of Chennai Police, following complaints made in Chennai. A software engineer, Sathish Kumar from Devanankurichi in Namakkal "admitted" to having posted "malicious content" on Facebook, and he was arrested based on a complaint from the AIADMK IT Wing Secretary G Ramachandran, police said.
Further, one Madasamy, who operated a website and posted "malicious content" about the Chief Minister's health, was arrested from Madurai, following a complaint from a Chennai-based resident, police said.
The two were arrested on Monday under different IPC sections for "spreading rumours with intent to cause riot, creating panic among general public, causing disturbance to public order and for creating hatred between two groups," police said, adding, they were remanded to custody.
Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals on 22 September after she complained of fever and dehydration.
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"The people doing gau raksha cannot be compared with those people trying to divide people in our country," said Bhagwat.
"Gau rakshaks are good people," he said. "Throughout India, there is a law to protect animals from animal cruelty. That is why these gau rakshaks have to do andolan to protect animals within the laws of the society," he added.
"Move towards prevention of cow slaughter," Bhagwat told his people. "There have been many groups which have been protecting cows all over the country," he added, as he praised groups trying to "protect" cows in India.
"The heated protests in Kashmir have cooled down. There is a need to promote nationalism in Kashmir," Bhagwat said. "Strict action should be taken against the people who try to cause commotion in the Valley," he said.
"There should be nothing lacking when it comes to securing our borders," he said.
"But we gave a proper response to them. The Indian Army gave a proper message. And the people behind the commotion in Kashmir got the message that there is a limit to tolerance," he said, clearly referring to Pakistan.
"Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is a part of India," said Bhagwat. "We all know that the outrage in Kashmir is because of forces across the border," he said, praising the central government again.
Lord Ram epitomises humanity. Ramayan is witness of the fact that Jattayu was the first one to fight against terrorism, says PM Modi
"There's no limit to terrorism. It can destroy anyone anywhere. It's imperative for the world powers to unite on the issue of terrorism. We cannot spare anyone who helps terrorism," says PM Modi
In 1992-93, I was in US talking to state department, they said that terrorism is your law and order issue. They didnt understand it then, says PM Modi
US did not understand the issue of terrorism in 1992-93: PM Modi
"It's also the international day of girl child today. When the entire world is celebrating it, we are discriminating between boys and girls. When will we kill this Ravana within us?"
Everyone has to speak in one voice against terrorism: PM @narendramodi
Everyone has to speak in one voice against terrorism
Women need to be respected and treated right, no matter what religion or background one comes from. We have to kill the scattered faces of Ravana within us, says PM Modi
We want to move from Yudh to Budh
"Sometimes war is inevitable in society, but this land is of Budh and not yudh," says PM Modi.
Security was heightened in Lucknow on Tuesday ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's participation in the Dussehra celebrations, police said.
Other than deploying the companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and Rapid Action Force (RAF), traffic was also diverted and security has been set in place for the high profile event in the Aishbagh locality.
Inspector General of Police (Lucknow) A Satish Ganesh said that despite security, efforts are being made to ensure that citizen did not face any problem.
Convenor of the event, city Mayor and BJP national Vice President Dinesh Sharma informed that Modi would be witnessing the 'Ravan Vadh' during the Ram Leela programme.
Modi along with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Governor Ram Naik and the minister representing Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav would attend the event.
Singh reached Lucknow on Monday evening ahead of Modis visit. The prime minister is expected to land in Lucknow at 6 pm and will further head for the venue of the celebrations, reported The Financial Express.
Yadav has been invited but his presence has not yet been confirmed.
Sharma's disclaimer of "no politics" behind the Modi's visit to Lucknow on Dussehra, all eyes and ears are on his visit and public address, according to a report by The Times of India.
The Hindustan Times speculates that terror could be the main topic of his speech.
Following an 'aarti' of the actors essaying the mythological characters, Modi and Rajnath Singh would address the gathering.
Organisers informed that Modi would be gifted with a rare portrait of Hindu poet-saint Goswami Tulsidas and a copy of Ram Charit Manas among others.
They also said that the event would be broadcast live.
The Ram Leela in Aishbagh will complete 70 years, but this would be the first time that such a high-profile dignitary will attend the event, Mayor Sharma pointed out.
Apart from Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will also deliver speeches on Tuesday.
Rahul's speech will be at the Ramlila maidan in New Delhi, which is expected to take place after 5 pm. Kejriwal is also expected to attend the Dussehra festivities at the Luv Kush Ramlila Maidan, reported India.com.
With inputs from agencies.
It would be a great mistake to ignore anger in the ranks of the army posted in Kashmir while focusing on the mechanics of how or even whether strikes were carried out across the Line of Control on 29 September.
The men and officers of the army must surely be livid in the wake of the terribly lethal attack on the army camp at Uri on 18 September. The hoo-ha over the who and how of that attack and the consequent 'surgical strikes' tends to ignore the fact that 19 soldiers were killed. A large number of them were charred. Six of those were
cookhouse workers hired for their cooking skills more than their commando or sniping abilities.
One presumes that their deaths have scarred the psyche of their comrades-in-arms, the other soldiers, and officers in the field. There will be hell to pay if the restraint under which those soldiers and officers have operated in the Kashmir valley for the past three months were to snap.
The army is bound to come under increasing strain, given the surge in the infiltration of highly trained militants across the Line of Control over the past few months (to some extent, over the past couple of years). The level of the infiltrators training similar to that of the 10 who attacked Mumbai in 2008 became evident during an encounter on the outskirts of Srinagar since Monday. They held out for more than 24 hours until the army brought down the building in which they were.
To exercise restraint when one is being stoned and abused (as over the past three months) is one thing. But the effect of such encounters, and of the horrific deaths of ones comrades, can charge up the nerves of men trained to fight and win.
To commit the army for policing over these months of great unrest has been a risky move. One gets the impression that the brass has not adequately factored in the strategic risk involved. In fact, over the past five weeks, Operation Calm Down stepped up the armys involvement in civil pacification in south Kashmir - just a fortnight before the Uri attack dramatically highlighted other dimensions of the challenge the army faces in Kashmir.
Long-term mistake
The armys institutional insistence on remaining deployed across the Valley after the militancy that began in 1988 ended about a decade ago has additionally complicated the challenge it is likely to face in the foreseeable future.
Based on the presumption that 'the situation is under control' in Kashmir, the army kept a very low profile through the second half of the previous decade, so that it would not be forced to draw back deployment to cantonments. After the uprising of 2010, that strategy switched. Recalibrating its high spend Operation Sadbhavana (goodwill), the army deliberately presented a friendly face to the people in the first half of this decade.
That strategy remains in place. Although it worked as long as the situation was actually under control indeed, there was no militancy it is coming unstuck now that the 'situation' has changed dramatically - and unexpectedly. The worst part is that, as in 1989, there was no intelligence information about that dramatic worsening, and so no strategy to cope with it.
If operations such as the one at Uri do raise the pitch of anger in the ranks, the ingenuity of the brass will be challenged. For, to allow army wrath to turn against the Kashmiri people at large could exacerbate the external challenge they face.
I have pointed out since 2010 that it is of vital importance for the survival of a robustly multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious India that the causes of youth anger in Kashmir be addressed. Not only was that important for its own sake, it was also strategically vital. For, angry Kashmiri youth could become a vital ally and resource for strategic planners of antagonistic powers such as Pakistan and China.
It is of course too late now (has been for more than a year) to wean over the mass of teenagers. But Indias strategic planners and hyper-nationalistic media hawks must recognize that adding to youth anger would not only be wrong for a host of ethical and legal reasons, it would also be costly on a purely strategic level.
Beena Devi was preparing afternoon meal at her home in Gigrial village, a stone's throw away from the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu when a volley of bullets, fired by Pakistani soldiers from across the de facto border, smashed the window of the kitchen. She was lucky to survive unscathed and, surely enough, she didn't take any risk.
Devi, along with her four children and husband, lives in a makeshift camp in Khour, nearly 30 kilometres from her home in Gigrial. On Saturday, she anxiously waited for her husband to return from the village where he, along with their neighbours, go daily to check on the cattle and houses.
Ten days ago when the firing started, we fled along with children, trying to gather whatever we could. Some four days ago, firing again happened. We appeal both the countries to stop fighting. People living on both sides would be destroyed if there is a war. What will we get our of war? Devi, 35, said in hushed tone.
Situated some 65 kilometres from J&K's winter capital, Jammu, Gigrial resembles a ghost village these days. When tensions heightened at the border and along the LoC after India carried out 'surgical strikes', few villagers migrated for the fear of leaving ripe crops unharvested. As the roar of guns continued, more than 5,000 villagers had to flee in one go one afternoon last week.
Darshan Lal Radha was one of them. A local businessman, he has been returning every morning to his village to keep an eye on the crop and also the houses. Since the firing refuses to stop and mobile communication network almost shut, rumour mills thrive. Recently, 'news' spread in the migrant camps that all the men who had gone to the village were killed.
Six days ago there was firing in the afternoon which is why the village is deserted. People work throughout the year in their farms and when the time comes to harvest the crops, firing happens. This has been going on for so many years. We want a permanent solution, even if it comes through a war, Radha told Firstpost a hundred meters from the LoC in his village, Gigrial.
Gigrial has more than 200 houses and a population of around five thousand people perilously located on the Zero Line of Control. Many residents who fled the shelling for their safety are camping in Radha Soami Satsand Beas while the rest are either with their relatives or in another migrant camp set up few hundred meters from here.
On Sunday, the ruling BJP MP, Jugal Kishore Sharma, visited many camps and interacted with villagers. Not surprisingly, as people gathered, hands folded, in front of him, he raked up the issue of surgical strikes. In a style typical of a school master, Sharma lectured the villagers affected by the border skirmishes about the operation.
Eighteen of our soldiers were martyred in Uri. To avenge their killing, our Prime Minister Narendra (Bhai) Modi said the killers wont be spared. People were pushing us for war, but war doesnt happen like this," Sharma said as the villagers listened in rapt attention.
"But we thought we will first teach them (Pakistan) a lesson. So what we did was that our best forces went into Pakistan; they went in the night and killed not just 40 to 50 terrorists but also destroyed their camps. Then they came back. No one was injured. Pakistan did not even know this. Now the country has become frustrated and isolated in the world which is why they are firing. It is frustration. Nothing else." Sharma told a small gathering inside Radha Soami Satsand Beas, as villagers tried to make sense of surgical strikes.
But the villagers were looking forward to assurances that their ripe crops will not go to waste. They complained about poor facilities at the camps for migrants, the issues of privacy and the education of children. Only a farmer who has worked hard in the field throughout the year in harsh conditions can understand our pain, Radha, the businessman, said later in his village.
In the nearby village of Pallanwalla, few hundred meters from Gigrial, roads are deserted and an eerie silence fills the air. Two young men walk aimlessly with a skull in their hands, as if tired from days of work. Our family moved to Jourian. Some of our relatives went to Pounichak and Jammu. We come every day to keep an eye on our houses and cattle, one of them who identified himself as Sanjeev says.
Sub-divisional magistrate, Harbans Lal Sharma, of Nowshera where Gigrial falls, said more than 50,000 people from most vulnerable spots along the International Border and LoC, mainly in Jammu and Rajouri districts, and in many areas falling in close proximity to the International Border in Kathua-Samba-Jammu belt, have already left their homes.
All these people are not living in migrant camps. Some are also with their relatives while others live in temporary accommodation. In the evening, there is no space to lay your foot inside because all of them leave their things inside. And there is fear of retaliation, he said.
We have arrangements to provide basic amenities to the displaced families at the temporary accommodations. But like those at Khour and other places, the displaced families have complained of poor and inadequate exigency arrangement being in place to meet the situation, he added.
Nearly 60 kilometres east of Gigrial is Abdullian village in RS Pura sector on the working International Border (IB) between India and Pakistan. Most of the 100 households there are completely dependent on agriculture with few villagers even serving in the Indian Army. The crop is ready for harvest and people from both India and Pakistan, BSF officials say, have been coming to the fields.
The agriculture fields are full of rice and basmati crops standing tall and yet to be yielded but the fresh hostilities ahead of a festive season has assured uncertainties.Villagers fear a fresh exchange of fire across the IB as they face hardships in carrying out their routine work. RS Pura sector is know for producing world famous basmati rice. In 2015 this village was shelled for days by Pakistani rangers many of its residents were killed and dozens injured.
Life is good, if there is peace, Chowdrey Charan Singh, said outside his lush green paddy fields, next to border fence, But in situations like this, it is terrible. Neither our children can go to school, nor anyone can work. No one can go for farming. People and animals died last year. Our neighbour's son died and his arm had to be amputated because of shelling. There has to be peace on borders. If there is tension, it means death for the farmer, he said.
In Nowshera sub division, the state administration has identified 27 villages situated near or along the LoC from where 6674 families consisting of 25607 souls have been identified for evacuation in case of any misadventure.
Last week, at least 27 shops in Sawjian area of Poonch district along with three vehicles got gutted in a fire triggered due to heavy Pakistan shelling; dozens of mortar shells landed in Sawjiyan market and some of these shells landed on a BSF camp
With no respite in sight from cross border firing, the farmer community is worried about the standing paddy crop which is ready for harvest. If the shelling doesn't stop, it will mean huge financial burden on an already impoverished community.
"As per estimates, approximately 40,000 hectares of agricultural land across the region are ready for harvest. If the firing doesn't stop, the crop will get ruined," the SDM said
While peace is what most people desire, there are others who have lost their loved ones to cross border skirmishes, arguing that there should be a war between the two nations so that their problems are solved, once and for all.
We want this country (Pakistan) to be punished at least once so that our coming generations don't live in fear. It is better that we push this further. There should be a war. When our children are killed every day, what will those living do? Chemail Singh, a resident of Bera village, says.
In the morning we come and work and towards the evening, we have to flee. In this month, so many of our boys have died. Mothers have lost their sons as young as 22. Imagine the condition of such families. We want war so that future generations are saved, Sunita Devi, another resident, said.
Deserted streets, empty homes, ambivalence and fear on the faces of people is all you encounter across the villages on LoC and International Border. A trickle in ceasefire violations, although limited to LoC, in recent weeks have brought memories of years of uncertainty and migration before India and Pakistan agreed to a cease-fire on the disputed de facto border in November 2003. Shellings and exchanges of fire between the two rival armies had become a routine since an insurgency supported by Pakistan began in Kashmir in 1990.
People say that their lives and the standards of living have changed since that time, and yet the government has failed to take that into account. How can you even change your cloths in these migrant camps, which are filed by hundreds of man in the evening, Sunita said.
The Ramayana is often used as a bed-time story by grandmothers and grandfathers across most of India. The victory of good over evil was the valuable lesson that grandparents neatly packaged in an hour-long narration of the lives of mythological characters Rama, the protagonist and Ravana,the antagonist.
The most popular versions of the mythological tale show Rama as a dutiful son and Ravana as an egoistical ruler. The two battle over Sita and in the end Rama wins. The fall of Ravana is celebrated by Hindus as a victory of good over evil.
But, here's the thing every story has two sides and every history has an alternate one. Esentially, the definitions of good and evil are not static, but dynamic and depend of who's telling the story. Histories are usually written by the victorious, one must wonder about what would Ravana's history have looked like, if he had won that battle against Rama.
Ravana was a great scholar and a great devotee of Shiva one of the principal deities in Hinduism and often referred to as the God of destruction in Hindu mythology. Ravana was the great grandson of Brahma for his grandfather, the sage Pulastya, was one of the ten mind-born sons of Brahma. Ravana saw great advancements in science and medicine. He authored Ravana Sanhita, an anthology of Hindu astrology and his description as a ten-headed person, Dasamukha or Dasagriva, is a reference to his vast knowledge and intelligence. The pushpaka vimana or the aeroplane which he flew when he kidnapped Sita is held as an example of great scientific achievements made during his regime. He was also a physician and wrote seven books on Ayurveda. Some even go as far as to insist that Ravana was a Buddhist king. He built one of the most advanced civilisations in the world.
Ravana's attributes are unending, so why do we celebrate his fall? These are the attributes of an accomplished person and if he were still alive, he would be a revered guest-of-honour.
And, there are many in India who decry the dark depiction of the 'noble' ruler.
Till date there are also some villages who don't burn effigies of Ravana because they consider it ill-fortune. Baragaon (formerly known as Raavana), a village in Uttar Pradesh, doesn't celebrate Ram Leela because it causes death in the village.
Other villages like Paraswadi, with a population of less than 300 people, mostly Gond tribals, provides a different narrative to the Ravana story. Here, Ravana is not the villain. He is venerated as the dharmaguru of the tribe.
The Hindu carries their version, according to which, Ravana was a Gond king slain by Aryan invaders. He carried forward the legacy of Kupar Lingo, the supreme deity and heroic ancestor of Gonds, who gave them their lifestyle values.
For these tribals, Ravana has become a symbol to counter the onslaught of Hinduism and saffronisation, led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).Today, Ravan Mahotsavs are held in various Indian villages like Gondia, Chandrapur, Bhandara, Gadchiroli and Amravati districts. Some Brahmins claim that he was one of them and identify themselves as descendants of Ravana.
In fact, some Dravidians (who identify themselves as the descendants of Ravana) too celebrate 'Ravana leela'. A report by The News Minute suggests that a Chennai-based Dravidian Periyarist fringe group celebrates Ravan Leela to protest against the age-old practice of Ram Leela.
The Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam group has also written a letter to PM Modi asking the government to stop Ram Leela in Delhi every year because they feel Ravana and his brothers were Dravidians, and when their effigies are burnt in Delhi it is insensitive towards the Dravidian people.
In Ravana, a fraction of Indian population searches for an alternative to the wide-spread saffronisation. The great scholar of the ancient time has become a symbol to drive cultural unity.
Narendra Modi will headline Dussehra day in Uttar Pradesh's capital city Lucknow - already thrumming with the drumbeat of big ticket state elections early summer of 2017. Tuesday will likely witness an assault of Ram - Ravan one-liners from lecterns across the state as cracks appear in Samajwadi Party. BSP supremo Mayawati is calling on Muslims to ignore the BJP and the SP and come into her fold. Mayawati's math is this: the Dalit vote in UP is at least 22% for every seat and BSP has the shortest path via the Muslim vote.
Uttar Pradesh elections will be a four horse race that will test at least two record setters - strategist Prashant Kishor, who has never lost an election, and Rahul Gandhi who has never won one. The Samajwadi Party's problems are no secret - it's all in the family. Akhilesh Yadav is in open confrontation with his paternal uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav - the state's PWD minister.
Seizing her chance, Mayawati is pitching her case to segments of upper caste and urban voters to add to her Dalit base which gave her a 20% vote even in the 2014 election.
Political rivals in Uttar Pradesh chieftains are bracing for a day of high octane stump speeches - "Opportunistic politics" is driving Narendra Modi to Lucknow on Dussehra says UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as Modi readies to make a grand entry. Home minister Rajnath Singh will travel with the PM to the venue. BSP supremo Mayawati claims BJP has tanked to third position so PM Narendra Modi is coming to Lucknow to shore up the numbers.
Approximate timing of Dussehra political speeches, Oct 11:
RSS chief Nagpur speech: between 8 - 9 am
Narendra Modi at Lucknow: after 6 pm
Rahul Gandhi at Ramlila maidan: after 5 pm
Arvind Kejriwal at Luv Kush Ramlila Maidan: after 3 pm
At a book launch in Delhi, Modi threaded the needle for what he may say in Lucknow, tracing the origins of the non-Congress alternative in India and why politics must not be the preserve of the past if that past is rotten. Reading from Deen Dayal Upadhyay's works, he linked lines from his book reading to how India's army must be strong and ready not because it wants to be an aggressor but because it is essential for a country. He also offered an 'explainer' of the concept of unresolved issues as the new normal in an interdependent world.
Modi is scheduled to be at the Ramlila ground for about an hour - his first public appearance after the surgical strikes against terror targets in Pakistan. Late Monday night, PTI reports that at least 250 terrorists belonging to three Pakistan-based terror groups are active in the Kashmir valley, trying to target security forces to "avenge" the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army in PoK.
Quoting intelligence inputs, top government sources said most of the 250 terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen infiltrated before the surgical strikes on the intervening night of September 28 and 29. The terrorists were given clear instructions by their handlers across the border to target security forces in Kashmir valley to "avenge" the surgical strikes, sources said.
Despite Modis message to the contrary, Lucknows streets have come alive with posters full of military imagery - armed soldiers, reference to surgical strikes, Modi with a clenched fist - the works.
Taking aim at Modis Lucknow visit on Dussehra, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said "had there been elections in Bihar, he would have slayed Ravana there".
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav backed Rahul Gandhi's controversial 'dalali' remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Indias surgical strikes saying the Congress leader must have said it after much thought
Yadav and SP general secretary Amar Singh, who were daggers drawn in the inner-party battle recently, on Monday made contradictory statements on the army's surgical strikes in PoK, exposing differences in the party leadership, much to the BJP's delight.
But Lucknow is not the only location to watch. Over West in Nagpur, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat would deliver his annual Vijayadashmi speech at Reshimbagh Ground on the same day when Modi take centrestage at the Aishbagh Ramlila in Lucknow. Both are a departure from tradtiion - RSS workers will be seen wearing their new outfits and its the first time Prime Minister Modi will be outside Delhi on Vijayadashmi day.
"This year's Vijayadashmi is very special for the country," Modi said to ringing applause in New Delhi that grew louder and settled only after an entire minute.
State elections are coming up in 2017. After the Bihar wallop in 2015, the BJP is girding for a tight contest in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. BJP won 71 seats of 80 in 2014 during the Lok Sabha elections and a low water mark of 47 seats of 403 in the 2012 assembly election.
It was indeed for the first time that an Indian prime minister raised a full-throated religious cry of "Jai Sri Ram" on the occasion of Dussehra at the sprawling Aishbagh Ramlila ground in Luckow this evening.
But Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not make a fetish out of established convention. His decision to attend Dussehra at Lucknows Aishbagh instead of Delhi was also a break from the established tradition.
Things would have appeared normal if Modis rhythmic chants of "jai Jai Sri Ram" with powerful resonance from the audience have not come at a time when political parties are gearing for the impending elections. As his wont, he would have certainly calculated the possibility of the Opposition seeing red in every word that he spoke.
Yet there was a marked difference in war cry of Jai Sri Ram of LK Advanis time and Modis chanting of the same words in a different context. He carefully skirted the landmines and confined even religious idioms like in a cultural sphere. For instance in Advanis time, the same chant appeared to be menacing and directed towards the liberation of Rams birthplace by destroying a mosque in Ayodhya.
Apparently from 1989-92, this religious war cry was the greatest mobiliser for Hindu activists that ultimately culminated in the destruction of the mosque on 6 December 1992. But Modi has carefully chosen his symbolism and equated Ram as an embodiment of humanity. Lord Ram represented humanity while Ravan symbolised terrorism," he said in his speech before he sat to watch the Ramlila.
Without mentioning even once the name of Pakistan, he made it clear that those sheltering terrorism would not be tolerated. An astute politician that he is, Modi used symbolism to further his political agenda as well through religious terminology. Take for instance the manner in which he said that Jatayu (vulture-king) was the first casualty of Ravans terrorism as he resisted kidnapping of Sita. In sociological terms, Jatayu is symbolic of the down-trodden and those who figure in the lowest rung of the society. That carefully crafted terminology was intended to attract a section of extremely backward classes and scheduled castes towards the Hindutva fold. But all this has been said in symbolism, not in explicit terms.
That the Prime Minister was cautious enough to bring down the temperature of war-mongering was evident right from the word go. Time and again, he emphasised that India traditionally was averse to war. We believe in travelling for Yudh (war) to Buddh (Lord Buddha), he explained his position many a time to clarify that he was totally averse to war-mongering lest it was imposed on India. Aware of the fact that his statements would go through the critical scrutiny of the international community, Modi inferred that those (implicit meaning China) who think they would not be affected by terrorism would rue their behavior sooner than later. Terrorism knows no boundary," he pointed out.
Those who assumed that Modi would do chest-thumping to score political points would have been certainly disappointed by his deft moves of skipping the landmines. Instead, Modi talked about the eradication of social evils and protection of girl child as the sacred duty of the citizen. At times, he assumed the role of an educator to exhort people to fight evils within.
But it would be naive to assume that Modis presence in Aishbagh was devoid of any political objective. At the podium, he was quite comfortable with over religiosity of the occasion and participated in certain rituals like Aarti and Puja of those acting in the roles of Ram, Laxman and Hanuman. Through carefully chosen symbolism, he conveyed his political message loud and clear to an audience which is quite adept in deciphering religious idioms and terminology. However, Modis coinage of "Jai Sri Ram in todays context was consistent with propriety and constitution and a complete departure from the past. It will not be easy to predict if this strategy will really attract votes in the countrys most populous state.
By Michael Georgy, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Ahmed Rasheed
| ERBIL/BAGHDAD
ERBIL/BAGHDAD Islamic State militants have placed booby traps across the city of Mosul, dug tunnels and recruited children as spies in anticipation of an offensive to dislodge the jihadists from their Iraqi stronghold, Iraqis and U.S. officials said.Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been the headquarters of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in northern Iraq since 2014 and the militants are making complex preparations to prevent Iraqi security forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, taking it back.The battle for the city, expected later this month, will help shape the future of Iraq and the legacy of U.S. President Barack Obama. Even if Islamic State is driven out, there is a real danger of sectarian strife, especially if civilian casualties are high in a mainly Sunni city wary of the Shi-ite led Iraqi government and the Shi'ite militias it depends on.The jihadists, who swept into Mosul almost unopposed two years ago as Iraqi forces fled, have rigged its five bridges with explosives, prepared car bombs and suicide attackers and stepped up surveillance, according to four residents who spoke via telephone or social media."They are digging in to fight for Mosul. They are more cautious, shaving their beards to blend in with the population and constantly moving their headquarters around," said former finance and foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari, Zebari, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party with access to intelligence on Islamic State movements in Mosul, and Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, both said the group was moving men and equipment through underground tunnels."You see a fighter go in one place and pop up in another," said Dorrian. "The entrances are always exposed and those are a priority target." Islamic State fighters have put up concrete embankments and are using concrete T-walls to block points of entry for the attacking force, he said. Mosul residents said the militants have also dug a two metre by two metre trench around the perimeter of the city to be filled with burning oil to make air strikes more difficult.Aid groups have expressed concern over the prospect that many civilians could be killed in the fighting. About 200,000 people are expected to flee within the first two weeks of fighting, said Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq."FUTURE TERRORISTS"
Reuters was unable to directly verify the reports of Islamic States battle preparations. This story is based on interviews with U.S. and Iraqi officials such as Zebari and Dorrian and phone interviews with civilians in Mosul.The planned coalition attack is part of a concerted assault that has reclaimed territory from IS in Syria, Iraq and Libya.
The militants have recently lost control of the Iraqi cities of Falluja and Ramadi and are threatening to execute anyone discussing "liberation" in Mosul, according to residents and Sunni militia forces who spoke to relatives there.One resident said children as young as eight, sometimes armed with pistols and knives, have been deployed across the city to monitor and inform on the population. The children recruit other children for the same task."Its a really heartbreaking scene to see Mosuls kids becoming future terrorists. I taught my seven-year-old son all about autism to pretend hes mentally ill to avoid being recruited by Daesh," the resident said by WhatsApp, using an Arab acronym for Islamic State. "They are desperate and they could force even children to fight once government troops are at the doors of Mosul."Other residents say they have begun using older mobile phones which cannot carry applications like Viber, WhatsApp or Facebook messenger, because Islamic State fighters are highly sensitive to the use of smart phones which make it easier to pass information about their operations to security forces. Jihadists sit on the rooftops of tall buildings on the edge of Mosul with night-vision binoculars to watch for anyone trying to escape and fighters are making holes in the streets with jackhammers to place improvised explosive devices."It would make it like hell if they placed bombs in each hole," one of the residents said.
SECTARIAN FEARS
The campaign could either increase the chances of a unified Iraq or break it up if sectarian clashes follow as various groups compete for influence in the country's second largest city, Iraqi officials say.Iraq descended into civil war, mainly between Shi'ites and Sunnis, after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, and some Sunni Arab tribal leaders and former members of Saddam's Baath Party support Islamic State.Before a single shot has been fired, Iraqi security forces have been working in Mosul to sway community leaders away from the group, a Western diplomat said.Zebari said there were signs of a nascent resistance movement in the city, where some residents have spray painted "wanted" signs on the houses of Islamic State fighters and commanders, risking death.The jihadists have started bringing women along for surprise house searches so they can check that female residents, who are not allowed to mix with men outside the family, are not hiding anything from the group.
They are desperate, they look afraid , this is the first time they use their women in searching houses," a Mosul resident, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, told Reuters over social media. "Two days ago, I rushed to my house door after hearing repeated knocks and when I opened the door I saw three women in Islamic hijab showing only their eyes with three Daesh fighters behind them," the resident said.All the residents said the group was using cranes to lower fighters beneath bridges in the city to place explosives there."They carry out the booby trapping of the bridges during the night to avoid air strikes," said one.Some Islamic State leaders and fighters have been leaving for the town of Tal Afar, also under Islamic State control, or further on across the Syrian border, U.S. officials said.The security forces have been buoyed by victories against the group in Falluja and Ramadi, but face an additional challenge as Iraqi officials squabble over the composition of the fighting force for Mosul, Iraqi officials said.The primary goal is to keep Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias out of Mosul to avoid sectarian clashes in a Sunni-majority city.Shi'ite militias will be allowed to take the lead in operations to retake Hawija, a nearby town controlled by Islamic State, officials said.They hope that driving Islamic State from Mosul will debilitate the group, although it could still threaten Iraq."They could go underground and carry out terrorist acts," Zebari said. "But not as an organized movement." (Additional reporting by John Walcott in Washington; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A British diplomatic convoy was attacked in Benghazi on Monday, an embassy spokeswoman said, in the latest of a spate of attacks on foreign targets in the eastern Libyan city that some analysts blame on Islamist militants.
Benghazi was the cradle of the uprising last year which ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, but is now a hot spot for violence, with arms readily available and state security forces struggling to assert their authority.
Security experts say the area around the city is host to a number of Islamist militant groups who oppose any Western presence in Muslim countries.
"There was an attack on a British embassy convoy this afternoon in Benghazi," an embassy spokeswoman said.
"All staff are accounted for. We are liaising closely with the Libyan authorities."
The spokeswoman declined to give further details, and it was not clear if anyone in the convoy had been injured.
Five days ago, an explosive device was dropped from a passing car outside the offices of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi. The blast that followed slightly damaged the gate in front of the building.
On May 22, a rocket-propelled grenade hit the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the city, blasting a small hole in the building but causing no casualties.
A month earlier in Benghazi, a bomb was thrown at a convoy carrying Ian Martin, the head of the United Nations mission in Libya. No one was hurt.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Andrew Roche)
By Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo
| TOKYO
TOKYO Faced with a growing North Korean threat and expanding Chinese power, Japan's military and aerospace industry will use this week's airshow in Tokyo to push the case to develop a highly advanced, and costly, stealth fighter jet. The new fighter, dubbed the F-3, will serve as a key component of Japanese air power in the coming decades and could cost Asia's second biggest military as much as $40 billion, depending on its specifications.Tokyo faces a crunch choice between ordering an industry-pleasing advanced stealth fighter or opting for a cheaper conventional combat jet that will deliver a bigger bang for taxpayers' yen.In March, Japan's Ministry of Defence issued a request for information (RFI) to gauge interest among foreign aerospace companies for jointly developing the F-3, which would operate alongside Lockheed Martin's (LMT.N) new F-35s and older F-15s. "It cuts to the core of the future of Japanese defence industry," said an industry source, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to talk to the media. "The rising threat from China and most immediately North Korea no longer supports a relaxed industrial base. There is now a premium on actual capability." North Korea's nuclear tests and recent rocket tests, particularly the apparent successful launch in June of an intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missile, have spooked Japan.Tokyo is also dealing with record encounters with Chinese military jets in the skies around disputed islands in the East China Sea.PREVIOUS FAILURE
A final decision on the project is expected by early 2018. The strongest supporters of a cheaper conventional aircraft are officials close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said the sources. Abe's government has reversed a decade of defence cuts with spending reaching record levels. However, those increases are a fraction of the extra China is spending every year on its military. A cheaper fighter programme would free up funding for other purchases and a lower cost jet that other nations could afford opens up the prospect of overseas sales that would further lower unit costs for Japan's Self Defence Force.Pushing for a more advanced fighter are defence ministry bureaucrats and local companies seeking to secure jobs, underpin defence industry supply chains and compensate for business lost to U.S. defence industry suppliers. Proponents aim to build a jet more advanced than the U.S. Lockheed's F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, said another of the industry sources.
A decade ago, the U.S. government refused to sell the Raptor to Japan after it deemed the technology too sensitive even for its closes Asian ally. Japan's last domestic fighter jet, the F-2, which the F-3 will replace, is widely regarded as an expensive failure. Based on F-16 it was built two decades ago by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) and Lockheed. It was the world's first production aircraft built with composite carbon fibre wings, but cracks in the composite plagued the program. An initial plan to produce 141 jets was pared down with less than 100 entering service, costing around four times that of an equivalent off-the-shelf fighter.
FISHING FOR IDEAS
Ahead of the defence ministry's RFI, Mitsubishi Heavy tested a prototype jet, dubbed the ATD-X, showcasing numerous stealth technologies. The RFI, however, does not specify what type of aircraft Japan wants, said the sources. "The request is very vague," said another industry official who saw the document. It may be an attempt by Japan to fish for ideas while it mulls its choice between an expensive stealth programme and a lower cost fighter, he added. His company will join almost 800 other commercial aerospace and defence firms that are exhibiting at Japan Aerospace 2016, the four-day show which begins in Tokyo on Wednesday.The event, held only once every four years, is the first major aerospace show since Abe two years ago ended a ban on military exports, allowing Japanese firms to export arms for the first time since the end of World War Two.On the commercial side, Japan is promoting the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), the nation's first attempt in half a century to build a commercially viable civilian aircraft. The 100-seat MRJ, which has been delayed by five years, is aimed at taking on regional jet makers Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) in Canada and Brazil's Embraer (EMBR3.SA). (Editing by Lincoln Feast)
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Beijing: A group of leading rights organisations has awarded its annual prize for human rights defenders to imprisoned Chinese Muslim minority economics professor Ilham Tohti, shining new attention on a case that has brought strong international condemnation.
The Martin Ennals Award is bestowed by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and eight other human rights groups. The award ceremony takes place in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday evening.
Tohti, 46, was given a life sentence on charges of separatism in September 2014 after a two-day trial. A member of the Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group, he taught at Beijing's Minzu University and was an outspoken critic of Beijing's ethnic policies in the far western region of Xinjiang.
Tohti denied Beijing's relentless accusations of advocating separatism and violence. Tohti has "sought reconciliation by bringing to light repressive Chinese policies and Uyghur grievances.
This is information the Chinese government has sought to keep behind a veil of silence," the group said in a statement, using an alternative spelling for Uighur.
"He remains a voice of moderation and reconciliation in spite of how he has been treated," it said. Prevented from publishing, Tohti turned to the internet, running the site Uyghurbiz.net to foster discussion about the economic, social and developmental issues Uighurs face.
Seven of Tohti's students were also sentenced in what was seen as a move to strengthen the government's case against him.
Authorities accused Tohti and his students of forming a criminal gang that sought to split Xinjiang from China. Tohti's sentence was one of the harshest handed down to a government critic in recent years and came amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent under President Xi Jinping. He was tried and imprisoned in Xinjiang, more than 2,000 kilometers from Beijing, making it difficult and expensive for his family to see him in brief bi-monthly visits.
Tohti's trial and sentencing brought statements of condemnation from numerous Western governments and the European Union, and in January this year several hundred academics petitioned China's authoritarian Communist government to release him.
Many pointed out that Tohti was a voice for moderation and understanding at a time of intense friction between Islam, the West and China.
By Temesghen Debesai
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - One girl under 15 is married every seven seconds, according to a report by Save the Children released on Tuesday, with girls as young as 10 married off - often to much older men - in countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, India and Somalia.Early marriage not only deprives girls of education and opportunities but increases the risk of death or childbirth injuries if they have babies before their bodies are ready."Child marriage starts a cycle of disadvantage that denies girls the most basic rights to learn, develop and be children," said Save the Children International CEO Helle Thorning-Schmidt."Girls who marry too early often can't attend school, and are more likely to face domestic violence, abuse and rape. They fall pregnant and are exposed to STIs including HIV."The report ranks countries from the best to the worst in which to be a girl, based on child marriage, schooling, teen pregnancy, maternal deaths and number of female lawmakers.
Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia were ranked at the bottom of the index.Researchers say conflict, poverty and humanitarian crises are major factors that leave girls exposed to underage marriage.The shutting down of schools in the wake of the Ebola outbreak led to an estimated 14,000 teen pregnancies in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak, Save the Children said.
The global charity gave the example of Sahar, who did not want to give her real name, a 14-year-old Syrian refugee in Lebanon. Married to a 20-year-old man, aged just 13, Sahar is now two months pregnant."The wedding day, I was imagining it would be a great day but it wasn't. It was all misery. It was full of sadness," Save the Children quoted Sahar as saying.
"I feel really blessed that I am having a baby. But I am a child raising a child." The U.N.'s children's agency UNICEF estimates the number of women married in childhood will grow from 700 million today to around 950 million by 2030.Save the Children's report coincides with International Day of the Girl on Tuesday, which was set up by the United Nations in 2011 to recognise the rights of the 1.1 billion girls around the world and the challenges they face. (Reporting by Temesghen Debesai; Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
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By John Irish and Gilbert Reilhac
| PARIS/STRASBOURG, France
PARIS/STRASBOURG, France Russian President Vladimir Putin has cancelled a visit to Paris next week after President Francois Hollande said he would see him only for talks on Syria - the latest episode in deteriorating relations between Moscow and the West. French officials have been grappling for ways to put new pressure on Russia after Moscow vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria. French officials' growing anger over a Russian-backed Syrian government onslaught against rebel-held areas of the city of Aleppo had led them to reconsider whether to host Putin on Oct. 19."I made it known to Mr Putin that if he came to Paris, I would not accompany him to any ceremonies, but that I was ready to continue the dialogue on Syria. He decided to postpone the visit," Hollande said at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The Russian president had been scheduled to inaugurate a new Russian Orthodox cathedral and visit a Russian art exhibition in the French capital on Oct. 19.
The Kremlin confirmed Putin's decision, but made no mention of Syria and said he was ready to come to Paris at Hollande's convenience.While Paris has said it is vital to keep dialogue going with Moscow and not sever relations, events in Syria have damaged their ties as the two countries support opposite sides in the conflict.Describing Russian air strikes in Syria as "war crimes", Hollande said it was still necessary to talk with Moscow, but only if discussions were "firm, frank," otherwise it would be a "charade."
"With Russia, France has a major disagreement on Syria and the Russian veto of the French resolution at the U.N. Security Council has prevented the cessation of bombings and enablement of a truce," Hollande said at the Council of Europe."I'm ready to meet President Putin if we can advance peace, end the bombings and announce a truce," he said.
France's foreign minister said on Monday his diplomats were working to find a way for the International Criminal Court's prosecutor to launch an investigation into war crimes it says have been committed by Syrian and Russian forces in eastern Aleppo.Diplomats have also said Paris is leading discussions on whether to impose new European Union sanctions on Russia specifically over Syria, where Moscow backs President Bashar al-Assad in a more than five-year-old civil war. (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Jean-Baptiste Vey; Editing by Ingrid Melander/Mark Heinrich)
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Bangkok: Security has been stepped up in the Thai capital and nearby provinces following an intelligence report of possible bomb attacks by the end of this month, senior police officials said.
There was some information that pointed to a possibility that a group may try to stage car-bomb attacks in Bangkok and its suburbs between 25 and 30 October with targets at airports, parking spaces and department stores, deputy police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said here yesterday after chairing an urgent meeting with police for two hours.
The meeting was held after Srivara met with with Australian Ambassador to Thailand Paul Robilliard and Paul Foley PSM, Australia's Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism based in Canberra.
The envoys asked about information on Thailand's counter-terrorism plans, Srivara said.
Noting that it was not unusual for this kind of report to occur, he said it could happen in many places in the world.
"I have already instructed police in all areas to increase screening and searching of suspicious vehicles which is in line with the anti-terrorism plans," he was quoted by Nation as saying.
The increased security will focus on tourist attractions, embassies, symbolic venues and vulnerable places.
He added that security authorities had been ordered to keep a close watch on many groups of people in the restive
Southern Thailand, including foreigners, as the month marks several anniversaries relating to the ongoing violence.
Washington: A sexual assault victim who is critical of Hillary Clinton and who appeared alongside Donald Trump before Monday's debate was paid USD 2,500 by a political action committee founded by Trump ally Roger Stone.
The Arkansas woman, Kathy Shelton, was sexually assaulted at age 12 and was the victim in a 1975 case in which Clinton was appointed to represent her then 41-year-old attacker, Thomas Alfred Taylor.
Shelton has accused Clinton of crossing ethical bounds in the case, and over the past few months, Shelton has given TV and video interviews slamming Clinton.
Shelton's case has been extensively cited in conservative media as evidence that Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president, does not have the best interests of women at heart.
The May payment to Shelton by the Committee to Restore America's Greatness PAC, founded by Stone, was described as "contract labour" in campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Asked by The Associated Press about the reason for the payment, Stone said in an email that Shelton "was extensively interviewed on video about her experience with Hillary Clinton and was paid for her time."
Shelton did not respond to a written request for comment left at her home in recent weeks by an AP reporter.
In 1975, Clinton was asked by a judge overseeing the case to represent Shelton's alleged attacker. After the prosecution lost key evidence, Clinton's client entered a plea to a lesser charge.
In an interview a decade later, Clinton expressed horror at the crime, but was recorded on tape laughing about procedural details of the case.
The audio has been seized on by conservative groups looking to attack Clinton's candidacy. Stone is a former lobbyist for Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, and has boasted about his role as a bit player in the Watergate scandal.
Stone served as a senior adviser to Trump's White House campaign in its early days. After separating from the campaign early last summer, Stone created a series of pro-Trump organisations.
He has said he remains in direct touch with the candidate.
Stone has arranged to pay other women critical of the Clintons.
Earlier this year, Stone sought to raise money to pay off the mortgage of Kathleen Willey, who accused Bill Clinton of making unwanted sexual advances toward her during her time as a volunteer in his White House in the 1990s. Stone claimed in an online video interview that Trump had personally contributed to the fund.
"Game of Thrones" actor Liam Cunningham paid a surprise visit on Tuesday to a teenage Syrian refugee now in possession of a German visa and living in Stuttgart, a month after first meeting him in Jordan.Cunningham, who plays Ser Davos Seaworth in the HBO television channel hit medieval fantasy first met 16-year-old Hussam when he visited Jordan's northern city of Irbid in early September, as part of a project by the charity World Vision to raise awareness about the plight of refugees.The Irish actor and his British co-stars, Lena Headey and Maisie Williams, have also visited refugee camps in Greece earlier this year.Hussam told Reuters he was "really happy, really happy" when Cunningham surprised him, adding, "It is like seeing my father."Hussam fled first to Jordan after his school in Syria was struck by missiles during his final exams.
"A plane shot the school with missiles. So, many students (and) my friends are dead and killed," Hussam said.Hussam is one of more than four million Syrians who have fled the country's war, which began in 2011 after a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and his family's rule. The war has killed more than 300,000 people, half the population has been displaced and much of urban Syria has become a wasteland.
According to World Vision, Hussam's father and brother are already legally settled in Germany. Hussam is now staying in a hotel in Stuttgart with his mother until they find accommodation and the teenager has been teaching himself to speak German.Cunningham commended Germany for welcoming refugees fleeing war in their home countries.
"This is the result of somebody in the government here and the large heart that the German people have of accepting people in trouble," Cunningham said. (Reporting by Reuters Television)
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PARIS Two French soldiers were badly wounded in Iraq and two Peshmerga fighters were killed by a booby trapped drone sent by a group related to the Islamic State, Le Monde reported on Tuesday. In what could be the first report of an attack by Islamic State militants on French special forces using a drone, the device was intercepted while flying and exploded after landing on the ground, the paper said.Le Monde said the attack happened on Oct. 2. It was not clear whether the device was remotely detonated or if it carried a timed bomb.The two French soldiers were immediately repatriated to receive medical treatment in France. One of them "is between life and death," Le Monde wrote.
Other French soldiers were also lightly wounded by the explosion but Le Monde did not give precise numbers. France has about 500 military in Iraq as part of a U.S.-led coalition to fight Islamic State militants. The numbers include special forces that have been training Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the north of the country.
The French defence ministry, which has a policy of not discussing special forces' operations, declined to comment on the Le Monde report.An Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad could not confirm the report and Peshmerga sources were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by John Irish Marine, Pennetier and Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad, writing by Astrid Wendlandt; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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WASHINGTON The United States blacklisted four men and their companies based in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, for purported ties to an organisation accused of laundering money for drug traffickers and Chinese, Colombian and Mexican crime groups.Among them was Pakistani national Obaid Khanani, whose father Altaf Khanani was arrested by U.S. authorities in September 2015 and accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of laundering billions of dollars for the Taliban and other groups. The department said in a statement that Obaid Khanani, 29, continued to help lead his father's money laundering organization after the arrest. Altaf Khanani is set to be tried on money laundering charges in Miami this month, according to federal court records.Another man on the list, Hozaifa Khanani, also 29, is Altaf Khanani's nephew and was involved in real estate investments on behalf of his uncle's organization, the Treasury Department said. Muhammad Javed Khanani, Altaf Khanani's brother, was "heavily involved in laundering criminal proceeds via money service businesses" Treasury said. It said a fourth man, Atif Polani, helped move funds on behalf of Khanani's organization.
The sanctions block any assets the men or companies might have had in the United States, and bars Americans from dealing with them.
"Treasury remains committed to combating illicit money laundering networks around the world and today's action is the result of close coordination with our partners in the United Arab Emirates," said John E. Smith, acting director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which imposes sanctions. The department also blacklisted several businesses based in Pakistan and Dubai for either being owned by the men or being linked to money laundering.
(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati and Joel Schectman; editing by Grant McCool)
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A city laid to waste: new drone footage shows extent to which east Aleppo destroyed by war: pic.twitter.com/GyXCOo6Ehr Louisa Loveluck (@leloveluck) October 10, 2016
As bombs rained down on Aleppo, White Helmets volunteer Abu Hassan rushed to join the search for survivors, as usual, never imagining he would find his son's body among the dead.
The two of them had worked side-by-side in scores of harrowing rescue operations in rebel-held districts of Syria's battleground second city over the past three years.
But Abu Hassan said that rescue mission was one he will never forget.
"About two weeks ago, I heard SOS calls on the walkie-talkie about heavy casualties in Salhin," the 50-year-old former carpenter told AFP.
He said he knew his son Hassan had been heading to the eastern neighbourhood to refuel a White Helmets ambulance.
"When I got there, I saw bodies lying on the floor. One of the volunteers told me there were more behind the building that was hit. That's when I started to feel afraid.
"I found the body of a young man lying face down, with severe wounds to his stomach, leg and head. I turned him around to see his face. It was my son."
'I can't stand remembering'
Abu Hassan said he spent the rest of the night sitting next to his son's body on the floor of the White Helmets branch where they both worked.
At dawn, he buried Hassan himself.
"It was the hardest moment of my life," he said, struggling to hold back tears.
"I asked the branch chief to move us to a different building, because I couldn't stay in the same place and see his name and the words he wrote on the wall."
"I can't stand remembering that night."
The 26-year-old left behind a wife and two children of his own.
Abu Hassan pointed to a photograph of him -- a sandy-haired, grinning young man -- on the memorial wall of the now-disused branch headquarters in the Bab al-Nayrab district of the city.
Three other volunteers from the branch who lost their lives are commemorated alongside him.
Their signature hardhats have not been reused but instead preserved as a tribute.
Branches 'targeted'
Across Syria, more than 140 of the White Helmets' nearly 3,000 volunteers have died in the line of duty.
Their mission is to save the lives of others but sometimes they need to be rescued themselves.
Mohammed Wawi described one operation last week, when bombing began as he was searching for survivors of an earlier air strike.
"The fire and rescue team was hit and six members of our branch were wounded, one of them seriously," Wawi said.
"We had been trying to save people, but then the residents saved us."
Wawi was smearing mud on the branch's fire truck in an attempt to camouflage it, protecting it from the view of warplanes overhead.
Since government forces launched an offensive to recapture east Aleppo last month, the rebel-held sector has been subjected to devastating air strikes.
Whole streets have been levelled and the White Helmets' own infrastructure has taken a heavy hit.
"Our branches have been directly targeted in air strikes," said Bab al-Nayrab branch chief Bibars Mashaal.
In the past two weeks alone, three branches have been put out of action and a third of the White Helmets' ambulances, firetrucks and bulldozers in the city destroyed, Mashaal said.
'They are my family'
Often, the damage to rescue workers is more than skin-deep.
Louay Mashhadi, 25, who heads another White Helmets branch in Aleppo, recalled one rescue operation earlier this month that left him so traumatised he stayed home for three days afterwards.
"I pulled an infant, four or five months old, out of the rubble," said Mashhadi, whose own son is around the same age.
"He had lost his legs and part of his stomach but he was still alive. There was no one around from his family, so the baby stayed in my arms for about 15 minutes. He died when the ambulance came."
Mashhadi said the volunteers relied on each other for the strength to continue their work.
"Because we're on call all night together in the same centres, we're more than just colleagues or friends."
But that makes it all the more painful when fellow members are killed. Four of Mashhadi's team have lost their lives in the past two months alone.
"I cried for them all, because they are members of my family."
The quest for oil in the Lake Chad Basin area of Northern Nigeria is yielding fruitful results as about 21 oil wells out of the 23 drilled so far have potentially of full prospects of oil.
The emerging facts by Authority Newspaper indicated that a total of 23 oil wells have already been drilled by prospecting oil companies that have engaged in oil exploration in the North in the past 30 years.
While 21 of these wells are said to hold some prospects of oil in commercial quantity, only two of the wells reportedly hit a dry run.
Authority Newspaper also gathered that the search for oil in the North has, so far, gulped a whopping sum of about N27 billion and $340 million respectively.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is reportedly gearing up to pump more money into the quest in compliance with the recent Presidential directive to resume oil exploration in the North.
A recent document prepared by the NNPC, dated October 7, 2016 and marked up-date on the oil exploration activities in the Lake Chad Basin also revealed that 33,550 sq km of 3-D seismic data would soon be acquired for processing, in an effort to get a clearer picture of oil reserves in the area.
But the tone of the report shows that the prospects of oil in the North are still mere potentials and remain in the realm of possibilities
Source: Authority Newspaper
After failing with the first line of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, Samsung dished out a safe replacement which has also hit the rocks and literally gone up in flames.
The tech conglomerate has urged users of the Galaxy Note 7 to turn off their phones and stop continued usage.
At this point, the company says sales of the phone will be stopped.
In September, when the batteries of the first batch of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones went ablaze, users uploaded photos of their burnt phones on the internet.
Samsung was then forced to recall about 2.5 million devices.
A few weeks later, the company assured users that the replacement phones were safe for use until negative reports started to filter in again.
Because consumers safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while the investigation is taking place, the company has now said.
Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available, it added.
The present turn of events couldnt have come at a worse time for Samsung as competition in the $400bn phone market is at an all-time high.
Andrew Milroy, a technology analyst at Frost & Sullivan told the BBC that: Samsung had been making a comeback against its rivals. This catastrophic product fault will seriously damage its competitive position in the smartphone market.
A Southwest Airlines flight in the US was recently evacuated after a passengers Samsung phone began emitting smoke.
Flight 994 leaving Louisville, Kentucky was evacuated on the runway prior to takeoff.
The heat damage from the explosion was so severe that a fire official could not independently verify the model of the phone.
United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit. DANIEL EMERSON MURILLO-ROBLES, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, Respondent. No. 15-2568 Decided: October 07, 2016
Before Howard, Chief Judge, Selya and Kayatta, Circuit Judges. Carlos E. Estrada, with whom Estrada Law Office was on brief, for petitioner. Sabatino F. Leo, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, United States Department of Justice, with whom Benjamin C. Mizer, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, and Anthony P. Nicastro, Assistant Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, were on brief, for respondent.
Although the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has broad discretion in the disposition of motions to reopen, broad discretion is not the same as unfettered discretion. This case, which arises out of an in absentia removal order against a youthful alien who was ill-served by not one but two lawyers, illustrates that verity. After careful consideration, we conclude that the BIA abused its discretion when it found that the circumstances attendant to entry of the removal order were not exceptional. Accordingly, we grant the petition for review, reverse the BIA's denial of the motion to reopen, and remand with instructions to set aside the in absentia removal order and reopen the petitioner's removal proceedings.
I. BACKGROUND
The petitioner, Daniel Emerson Murillo-Robles, is a Peruvian national. He became a lawful conditional resident of the United States in 2001 at age 11. In October of 2003, his mother and his stepfather (a United States citizen) jointly filed an I-751 petition with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), seeking to make the petitioner's residency unconditional. USCIS denied this petition in November of 2006, citing the failure on the part of the attorney representing the family to respond in a timely fashion to its request for additional information.
The government proceeded to initiate removal proceedings against the petitioner in February of 2007. The petitioner conceded removability and sought review of the denial of the original I-751 petition. He received a series of continuances, partly because his mother and stepfather filed a second I-751 petition in 2009. That petition was denied by USCIS after the attorney who prepared it failed adequately to explain the delay in filing. The attorney was subsequently disbarred, and the petitioner's family hired a new attorney in the spring of 2011.
Eventually, a merits hearing was scheduled for April 30, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. That day, the petitioner did not appear at 8:00 a.m. but, rather, arrived at approximately 8:30 a.m., thinking that his hearing was set for 9:00 a.m. This interval, though brief, proved consequential: at 8:19 a.m., the immigration judge (IJ) entered an order of removal in absentia. When the IJ entered the order, he told the petitioner's lawyer that if she moved to reopen the case when the petitioner arrived, he would consider the motion. The petitioner appeared minutes later, and his family agreed to pay the lawyer to file a motion to reopen. Nevertheless, the lawyer did not file the motion (even though she took the money). Shortly thereafter, the lawyer's license to practice law was suspended for neglecting a number of immigration cases.
The petitioner retained yet a third attorney and moved to reopen his immigration case in July of 2015. He explained that his failure to arrive punctually at his April 2012 hearing stemmed from his mistaken assumption that this hearing like many earlier immigration court hearings that he had attended on time would commence at 9:00 a.m. He also described the myriad ways in which his first two attorneys had provided ineffective assistance of counsel and argued that this deficient representation had prevented him from attaining legal permanent resident status.
The IJ agreed that the petitioner had received ineffective assistance of counsel and, thus, excused the untimely filing of his motion to reopen. Withal, the IJ found that the petitioner had not carried his burden of showing that exceptional circumstances surrounded his failure to appear. Noting that the hearing notice clearly and unambiguously showed an 8:00 a.m. start time, the IJ concluded that the petitioner's failure to be present at the appointed time could not be attributed to his lawyers' inadequacies. Nor did the IJ perceive any sufficient reason for exercising his discretionary authority to reopen the case sua sponte. See 8 C.F.R. 1003.23(b).
In due course, the BIA affirmed the IJ's decision. This timely petition for judicial review followed. See 8 U.S.C. 1252(a)(1), (b)(1).
II. ANALYSIS
In the immigration context, judicial review normally focuses on the decision of the BIA, which constitutes the agency's final order. See Wan v. Holder, 776 F.3d 52, 55-56 (1st Cir. 2015). But where, as here, the BIA merely adds its gloss to the IJ's findings and conclusions, we treat the two decisions as one. See id.
We review denials of motions to reopen for abuse of discretion. See id. The BIA's discretion is broad, but not limitless. See Carter v. INS, 90 F.3d 14, 17 (1st Cir. 1996). The BIA can abuse its discretion in a variety of ways, such as by neglecting to consider a significant factor that appropriately bears on the discretionary decision, by attaching weight to a factor that does not appropriately bear on the decision, or by assaying all the proper factors and no improper ones, but nonetheless making a clear judgmental error in weighing them. Henry v. INS, 74 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 1996); cf. White v. INS, 17 F.3d 475, 479 (1st Cir. 1994) (stating that [i]mproper consideration of favorable or unfavorable factors by the BIA may sometimes constitute abuse of discretion).
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides that when an alien fails to appear at a removal hearing, he shall be ordered removed in absentia if the government can establish that he had due notice of the hearing and was otherwise removable. 8 U.S.C. 1229a(b)(5)(A). An alien may seek rescission of such an order by moving to reopen within 180 days and demonstrating that the failure to appear was because of exceptional circumstances. Id. 1229a(b)(5)(C)(i); see 8 C.F.R. 1003.23(b)(4)(iii)(A). The INA offers some illustrations, explaining that exceptional circumstances might include battery or extreme cruelty to the alien, serious illness, the death or serious illness of a family member, or other similar circumstances beyond the alien's control. 8 U.S.C. 1229a(e)(1).
If both the IJ and the BIA deny a motion to reopen an in absentia removal order, the alien may seek judicial review in the court of appeals. See id. 1252(b)(2), (d)(1). That review is limited to the validity of the notice provided to the alien, the reasons for the alien's failure to appear, and the alien's removability. See id. 1229a(b)(5)(D); see also Herbert v. Ashcroft, 325 F.3d 68, 71 (1st Cir. 2003). Here, the petitioner does not challenge the applicability of either the first or the third of these elements. Our inquiry, then, concentrates on the existence vel non of exceptional circumstances attendant to the petitioner's failure to appear.
To the extent that either the agency or the court is required to decide whether exceptional circumstances exist, the decisionmaker must take into account the totality of the circumstances. See Kaweesa v. Gonzales, 450 F.3d 62, 68-69 (1st Cir. 2006); Herbert, 325 F.3d at 72. Such an assessment may encompass a wide variety of pertinent considerations, including the strength of the alien's underlying claim, the harm the alien would suffer if the motion to reopen is denied, and the inconvenience the government would suffer if the motion is granted. Kaweesa, 450 F.3d at 69. This emphasis on the totality of the circumstances is grounded in due process considerations and the need to ensure that an alien is not deprived of a meaningful opportunity to be heard. Id. at 69-70.
Against this backdrop, we turn to the merits of the petition for review that is now before us. We hold that the BIA abused its discretion when it failed to consider the totality of the circumstances and, in particular, failed to give due weight to two salient factors that counseled in favor of reopening. In the pages that follow, we explain our reasoning.
To begin, the BIA and for purposes of the ensuing exceptional circumstances analysis, we use the term the BIA as a shorthand for both the BIA and the IJ, collectively took too narrow a view of the adverse effect of the petitioner's sub-par representation. While the BIA found that poor lawyering excused the late filing of the motion to reopen, it stopped there. In doing so, it failed to give due weight to the role that counsel's ineptitude played in converting the petitioner's minor tardiness into an intractable in absentia removal order.
It is common ground that [i]neffective assistance of counsel during removal proceedings may comprise an exceptional circumstance sufficient to warrant reopening. Vaz Dos Reis v. Holder, 606 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 2010); see Saakian v. INS, 252 F.3d 21, 25 (1st Cir. 2001). In this instance, counsel's ineffectiveness was apparent: she not only neglected to inform the IJ that her client was likely en route to the hearing but also failed to move to reopen or otherwise alert the IJ to the petitioner's arrival (despite the IJ's earlier invitation that she do so). Had the attorney done her job in anything close to a competent manner, the odds are good that the case would have been reopened then and there. Cf. Jerezano v. INS, 169 F.3d 613, 615 (9th Cir. 1999) (It is accepted practice for courts to give tardy litigants a second chance by putting them at the end of the calendar, and it seems both harsh and unrealistic to treat as a nonappearance a litigant's failure to be in the courtroom at the precise moment his case is called.). This was unquestionably ineffective assistance of counsel. See Saakian, 252 F.3d at 24-25 (explaining that in a removal proceeding, ineffective assistance of counsel occurs when counsel's deficiencies render the proceeding so fundamentally unfair that the alien is unable reasonably to present his case and is prejudiced as a result).
The second major flaw in the BIA's analysis is its failure to give proper weight to the minor extent of the petitioner's tardiness. Though some of our sister circuits have held that minor tardiness is not a failure to appear at all, see, e.g., Perez v. Mukasey, 516 F.3d 770, 774-75 (9th Cir. 2008); Abu Hasirah v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 478 F.3d 474, 478 (2d Cir. 2007) (per curiam); Cabrera-Perez v. Gonzales, 456 F.3d 109, 116-17 (3d Cir. 2006) (per curiam); Alarcon-Chavez v. Gonzales, 403 F.3d 343, 346 (5th Cir. 2005), we need not go that far. Suffice it to say that all absences are not to be treated equally. In the circumstances of this case, the BIA ought to have differentiated between a total failure to appear and a tardy appearance and it did not do so. This is especially important here because (as a general rule) minor tardiness should be excused more readily than more flagrant absences. See Jerezano, 169 F.3d at 615; cf. Herbert, 325 F.3d at 72 (expressing skepticism about whether minor tardiness should be treated as a true failure to appear (internal citation omitted)). We hold, therefore, that the BIA acted unreasonably when it gave no weight at all to the minor extent of the petitioner's tardiness. We add, moreover, that the BIA's omission is all the more stark given the petitioner's unbroken record of timely appearances at a lengthy series of earlier immigration hearings.
The combined effect of the BIA's failure to give due weight to these two salient factors is magnified by the presence of other mitigating considerations. For instance, counsel's lackluster performance at the removal hearing was only the latest act of lawyerly incompetence visited upon the petitioner. Had the petitioner received effective assistance of counsel from the very beginning, he quite probably would have attained legal permanent resident status long before April of 2012. His first attorney bungled not one but two I-751 petitions. Then when the petitioner's second attorney learned that the government might nonetheless be willing to exercise prosecutorial discretion in the petitioner's case she neglected to follow up in any meaningful way: she did not file a new I-751 petition, did not request administrative closure, and did not so much as file a motion formally entreating the government to exercise prosecutorial discretion.
The short of it is that the petitioner's previous attorneys pulled the rug out from under him time and again, and this fact ought to have weighed heavily in the totality of the circumstances analysis. See Kaweesa, 450 F.3d at 69 & n.12 (emphasizing that the core of the analysis is the meaningful opportunity to be heard, which includes consideration of the effectiveness of counsel's assistance); see also Vaz Dos Reis, 606 F.3d at 4.
What is more, the BIA should consider the strength of the alien's underlying claim when it inquires into the existence of exceptional circumstances and applies the totality of the circumstances rubric. Kaweesa, 450 F.3d at 69. Here even though the petitioner has had some trouble with the law, see supra note 1 this factor counsels in favor of reopening. Had his previous attorneys provided adequate assistance, the petitioner would have been a promising candidate for legal permanent resident status: he entered the United States legally more than 15 years ago at the age of nine and has never left; he completed high school and vocational school here; he attended a community college; his mother has been married for some time to an American citizen; and his younger brother already has received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status.
Finally, the factors that ordinarily militate against allowing motions to reopen are at a low ebb in this case. For example, we have stated that the exceptional circumstances standard is intended to remove the temptation to skip a hearing simply to delay imminent deportation. See Herbert, 325 F.3d at 71. Granting the petitioner's motion to reopen, though, would have done no violence to this principle: the record does not support an inference that the petitioner's late arrival at the hearing was motivated in any way by a desire to postpone an adjudication of his case. And we have been more forgiving of minor delays where, as here, nothing in the petitioner's record reflects any intent to avoid a hearing or delay removal. See Kaweesa, 450 F.3d at 71; Herbert, 325 F.3d at 72 n.1.
To sum up, the BIA neglected to give due weight to the role of the petitioner's lawyer in failing promptly to ameliorate the situation caused by the petitioner's late arrival at his removal hearing. This bevue was compounded by the BIA's failure to distinguish the petitioner's minor and uncharacteristic tardiness from a total boycott of or an attempt to delay a scheduled hearing and its concomitant failure to give due weight to the extremely modest extent of the petitioner's tardiness.
These failures, taken together, constituted exceptional circumstances sufficient to ground the petitioner's motion. And in all events, the totality of the circumstances was favorable to reopening. We thus hold that the BIA abused its discretion by finding that the circumstances that prevented the petitioner from having his day in court were unexceptional and by denying the motion to reopen. The petitioner is entitled to present his case at a merits hearing.
III. CONCLUSION
We need go no further. For the reasons elucidated above, we grant the petition for judicial review, reverse the BIA's denial of the motion to reopen, and remand with instructions to set aside the in absentia removal order and reopen the petitioner's removal proceedings.
So ordered.
FOOTNOTES
. This period of delay resulted, in part, from the petitioner's involvement in a drunk-driving case and his subsequent incarceration. Both sides agree that this conviction does not bear directly on his immigration status.
. Aliens with DACA status have been granted temporary relief from deportation to work or study in the United States. The program is available to aliens who, among other things, entered the United States before a particular age, have continuously resided in the United States, and are either in school, have graduated from school, or are United States military veterans. Memorandum from Janet Napolitano, Sec'y, Dep't of Homeland Sec., to David Aguilar, Acting Comm'r, U.S. Customs & Border Prot., et al. 1 (June 15, 2012), https://www.ice.gov/doclib/about/offices/ero/pdf/s1-certainyoung-people.pdf (last visited Sept. 29, 2016).
. We do not have jurisdiction over and therefore do not address the petitioner's alternative claim that the BIA abused its discretion by failing to reopen his case sua sponte. See Charuc v. Holder, 737 F.3d 113, 115 (1st Cir. 2013) (explaining that it is settled beyond hope of contradiction that the decision whether to exercise this sua sponte authority is committed to the unbridled discretion of the BIA (internal citation omitted)).
SELYA, Circuit Judge.
Weve already talked about Honor and their success story in India as well as around the globe. Now, its time to talk about Honors secret weapon that will ensure that their success reaches another level especially within India.
India has been one of the key markets for Honor and one that has seen tremendous growth in the past few years. They achieved a 100% YoY growth compared to 2014 and sold a total of over 700,000 devices. They also achieved 5 times the sales volume on Flipkart and have a brand awareness of 46% in India.
Additionally, they also inaugurated the largest Global Service Center (GSC) in India which is also the first of its kind outside of China for Honor and that just shows the importance that Honor puts for the Indian market.
It was inaugurated by Sh. Manoj Sinha, the Honorable Minister of State (I/C) for Communications and Minister of State for Railways of the Government of India said I would like to congratulate Huawei on their commitment to pursue their Make in India vision. The ICT landscape in India is growing every day and such initiatives by technology majors like Huawei will accelerate the growth of the ICT industry in India. Huaweis Global Service Center at Bangalore, will be one of their four GSCs globally.
The GSC will service over 350 million users worldwide while supporting over 30 countries in Asia including Middle East as well as Africa and is the largest GSC for Honor worldwide (China included).
Apart from the GSC, Honor has already started manufacturing smartphones in India and the first devices are expected to hit the market later this month. The first smartphone under the Make in India initiative started production during the first week of October 2016. They also expect to ramp up the production capacity to around 3 million units by the end of 2017.
However, all this improvements in terms of service centres and the production line will be pointless without proper channels of distribution and Honor understands that. Which is why they are partnering with over 50,000 retail stores by the end of 2016 and also increase the distributors to over 350 to ensure a nationwide efficient and effective distribution system.
All these changes are extremely significant in Honors eyes and should only increase their market share and customer satisfaction by several fold in the coming months and years. The upcoming Honor 8 smartphone that will be launched on October 12th will pave the way for Honor to reach new heights.
Ford Motor Company (F -0.08%) said that its sales in China rose 24% in September, on big sales of its popular SUVs.
It was the third month in a row of strong year-over-year sales gains for Ford in China, following a sluggish second-quarter result that had left investors concerned about its efforts in the region.
SUVs are powering Ford's China sales boom
Like most of its rivals, Ford doesn't report detailed model-by-model sales totals from China. While it sometimes highlights gains for models that have done well, it always reports aggregate results for each of its two joint ventures with local Chinese automakers, as well as an overall sales total that includes a small number of Ford- and Lincoln-brand vehicles imported into China from other parts of the world, including the United States.
Changan Ford, or CAF, is Ford's joint venture with Chinese automaker Changan Automobile. It builds and sells a portfolio of Ford-brand passenger vehicles. There are a few models or variations that are specific to China, but most would be familiar to Americans or Europeans.
CAF sold 84,355 vehicles in September, up 25% from a year ago. Ford credited its SUV lineup for much of its gains in China last month, and CAF builds three of the best-sellers locally: the small Fiesta-based EcoSport, the Kuga (twin to the U.S.-market Escape), and the midsize Edge.
The Edge in particular has been a big hit for Ford in China, where it's built in a longer-wheelbase 7-passenger version. But Kuga sales could be picking up: The Kuga, like the Escape, was given an overhaul for 2017. Ford said those revamped models are beginning to reach dealers across China.
Ford also said sales of its recently revamped compact Focus rose 43% from a year ago. The Focus is positioned as a premium model in China, a step up from a more affordable compact sedan called the Escort; a jump in Focus sales is likely good news for Ford's bottom line.
Jiangling Motors Corporation, or JMC, builds Ford-brand commercial vehicles including the Transit commercial-van line and the midsize Ranger pickup, as well as a Ranger-based SUV called the Everest. JMC sold 23,416 vehicles in September, up 28% from a year ago.
Ford's other sales in China include the vehicles it imports. Among them: the Mustang, the Explorer, the ST high-performance versions of the Focus and Fiesta, and all Lincolns sold in China. Those sales totaled 22,522 in September.
After a rough first half, China is looking better for Ford
Ford was caught off guard in China in the early part of 2016. Local Chinese automakers were introducing much-improved products and stealing market share at the affordable end of the market, particularly with crossover SUVs.
Demand for SUVs is white-hot in China at the moment, and Ford had been doing well with the Kuga and EcoSport, but sales declined significantly in the first half of 2016, and that hit profits: Ford's equity income from China fell 28% to $296 million last quarter.
During Ford's second-quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Fields said the company had already begun taking aggressive action to stop the slide. Those moves included cost reductions, adjustments to product mix, and where warranted, some pricing adjustments.
The changes appear to have worked: Ford's sales in China were up strongly in each of the three months in the third quarter. It's hard to know how that will translate into profits since Ford hasn't given much detail on its pricing moves. But I suspect Ford's results from China will look a lot better when the Blue Oval reports its third-quarter results later this month.
Hamilton overtakes three cars in little over a lap
If theres been one upside to Lewis Hamiltons bad starts (and bad luck) this season, its that his fans have had the chance to watch him scythe back up the order on numerous occasions. In such situations, the world champion has proved aggressive and decisive just ask Daniel Ricciardo, Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, all of who were powerless to defend against the Britons freshly-shod Silver Arrows over a scintillating lap and half of the Japanese circuit.
Raikkonen takes two in one
The laps after a pit stop can be the most important in a drivers race get stuck behind slower traffic on fresh rubber and you not only lose time, you also run the risk of taking too much out of your tyres and compromising your entire stint. With Lewis Hamilton stopping later in his Mercedes, Kimi Raikkonen knew he had to be rapid in his post-pit-stop laps to avoid being jumped by the world champion, but despite a stellar effort which included this no-nonsense double pass of Sergio Perezs fast-starting Force India (on fresh tyres) and Jolyon Palmers hidden from view Renault (on older rubber) the Finn couldnt do enough to prevent Hamilton emerging from the pits in front.
Verstappen and Hamilton go head to head
For a brief moment after Sundays race at Suzuka, it looked like Max Verstappen might have to answer questions over his defence of second place from Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap, but as it was Mercedes withdrew their protest and the under-fire Dutchman was spared further criticism of his driving. Lewis was obviously a bit quicker in the final stages and I knew he was going to catch me, the gap time on the pit board was dropping every lap, said the Red Bull teenager. Into the last chicane I saw him coming in my mirrors so I defended my position Was Verstappens move fair? Having tweeted his support of Mercedes decision to withdraw their protest, you get the sense Hamilton thought it was, despite his earlier heat-of-the-moment proclamation over team radio that Max moved under braking"
Ricciardo makes a meal of Palmer pass
Daniel Ricciardo dropped from fifth to 14th after a relatively early pit stop at Suzuka, but despite coming out in heavy traffic the Australian was still able to undercut Sergio Perezs Force India and stay ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the opening pit sequence. However, he nearly came unstuck as he tried to pass Jolyon Palmers yet-to-stop Renault at Spoon, running too deep and immediately relinquishing the position back to the Brit. Luckily for the Red Bull man its now asphalt and not gravel that lines the famous left hander
Another start to forget for Hamilton
Bad starts have become a recurring theme for Lewis Hamilton in 2016, and you got the sense he was nervy about making another one at Suzuka on Sunday when he was seen apprehensively checking the tarmac around his grid slot before clambering into his car. Yes, overnight rain had left the track a little slicker on the right-hand side of the grid than the left, but that, according to the man himself, wasnt the primary cause of the world champions lacklustre getaway. I just got wheelspin, was Hamiltons straightforward explanation, and in the video above you can here that loud and clear. Luckily for Hamilton the run down to Turn 1 at Suzuka is a little over 400m, which gave only enough time for six cars to overhaul him. A start that poor at a track like Barcelona or Monza would probably have dropped him even lower down the order.
Vettel vents at slower Sainz
Sebastian Vettels frequent outbursts at backmarkers and their unwillingness to jump out of his way at the first sight of blue flags lit up the team radio airwaves over the latter half of the race, though in truth the Ferrari drivers angst was probably just as much a reflection of how his podium chances had unravelled. Running third for much of the race, Vettel was late making his final stop and was jumped by Lewis Hamiltons Mercedes. On soft tyres the four-time world champion did all he could to get back past the Silver Arrow, but he was fighting a losing battle and soon dropped back, making encounters with slower drivers such as the one above - with Toro Rossos Carlos Sainz - an irritating distraction rather than a significant impediment.
Raikkonen runs wide at Degner
Having started eighth, Kimi Raikkonen climbed to sixth at the start and was soon pressuring Daniel Ricciardos Red Bull for P5 that was until the Finn got slightly loose through the tricky Degner Curves on lap 8 and barely kept his Ferrari on track. The mistake thrust Raikkonen back into the clutches of Lewis Hamilton, though the Mercedes man would have to wait until the pit sequence to get by.
Grosjean (nearly) feels the force
Less retirement savings, soaring healthcare costs and concerns that Social Security could have a shortfall in the coming years are just some of the fears Americans have when it comes to retirement. While more Americans worry about their financial fate during their golden years, their counterparts in New Zealand and Australia are not as worried.
Both New Zealand and Australia rank among the top countries in the world when it comes to retirement security according to Natixis Global Asset Management. Ed Farrington, executive vice president at Natixis, says both countries make retirement savings a priority. The countries have retirement systems in place which rely on participation from the government, the employer and the individual.
These countries have all three legs of the stool firmly in tact so that means there is a government system in place that is well funded and allows folks to have some certainty that they will have benefits over time, Farrington says. "There is an employer incentive in place for folks to save at the workplace and there are incentives in place for individuals."
Nation of Savers
What sets New Zealand and Australia apart is a strong emphasis on individual savings and it starts at an early age. Financial literacy is included in many school curriculums. Individuals are also encouraged to save once they start working.
As part of Australia's Superannuation program, employers contribute 9.5 percent of a workers pay to an employee retirement savings account. The percentage will gradually rise to 12 percent by 2020. Unlike the U.S. where it is voluntary, employers in Australia are required to set up these retirement savings accounts for employees. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College estimates more than 90 percent of Australian workers have an individual retirement savings account. Compare that to the U.S., where less than half of workers participate in a 401(k) or work-sponsored retirement savings plan.
In New Zealand, the country has its own individual savings program called KiwiSaver. It is a voluntary work-based program where a portion of a workers salary is set aside in a retirement savings account. Employers also contribute at least 3 percent of a workers wages. While KiwiSaver is voluntary, it is an auto-enrollment plan. This means savings are automatically taken out of a workers paycheck but the employee can choose to opt out if he or she does not want to participate. This is different than the U.S. where workers have to sign up to participate in a 401(k) plan and often times they fail to do so.
People tend to start the KiwiSaver plan and once they start the plan, they realize its not that hard to put away a little money, Farrington says. Now you see incredibly strong results. You see high participation, about 60 percent of folks are participating.
The Safety Net
Australias Age Pension, the equivalent to Social Security, works as a supplement to individual savings. The system is means-tested. Unlike Social Security in the U.S., which is paid out to anyone who has paid into the system, retirement benefits in the Age Pension are delivered based on certain income requirements and the level of need. About 50 percent of the age-eligible population receive a full pension benefit. Thirty percent receive a partial pension and 20 percent, those with higher-incomes, receive no pension at all. The Australian government expects the number of people receiving a full pension will gradually decrease as incomes and individual savings rise. Analysts say the system has lowered poverty rates among the elderly and has helped contain government costs.
New Zealand has its own government safety net called Superannuation. A flat-rate, universal benefit paid to those 65 years of age or older who meet certain residency requirements. Amounts paid vary depending on marital status and an applicants current living situation.
Lessons to Learn
One thing that helps Australia and New Zealand better manage their retirement systems is having relatively small populations. Australia has a population of about 24 million people, just under the population of Texas. New Zealand, meantime, has about 4.5 million people, around the size of Kentucky. The numbers are small compared to the 324 million-plus people living in the United States.
While New Zealand and Australia may be smaller in size, Farrington says there are still lessons for the U.S. to learn. Following their lead, he says the U.S. needs to make saving for retirement a priority with the government, employers and individuals all participating. This also includes adopting programs that give broad access and make saving for retirement easier for individuals.
Turn off your Galaxy Note 7 NOW!
-Samsung told Galaxy Note 7 users to turn off their devices while it looks into reports of the phones overheating and catching fire. As Samsung permanently halts sales and production of its most popular smartphone, will users jump ship and get on board with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)? Apple shares hit a new 2016 high on Monday amid the Samsung news.
For analysis on what this means for both Samsung and Apple, tune in to Varney today at 9 a.m. ET!
Speaking of Samsung vs. Apple
-The Supreme Court will take up a patent case between the two tech giants today, deciding whether Samsung needs to fork over all the profits from phones containing a stolen design from Apple, or just a portion of those profits attributed to the design. The sum in question is $399 million in total profits.
Oil in focus
-All eyes on oil today after prices rose 3% on Monday due to new evidence that OPEC and non-OPEC producers could reach a deal to curb oil output.
Lou Dobbs Tonight will be analyzing the latest moves in oil and the markets tonight at 7 p.m. ET!
Hillary Clintons new tax plan
-The Democratic candidate unveiling a new tax break for families with young children. The plan would increase the child tax credit to $2,000 per child for families with children under the age of 5.
How will these tax breaks be financed? After the Bell analyzes Clintons plan with Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist today at 4 p.m. ET, you cant miss it.
Several New Jersey employers are livid over Republican Gov. Chris Christie's decision to end a nearly 4-decade-old income tax agreement with Pennsylvania.
With thousands of residents in each state poised to have their tax burdens increase, employers on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River are debating whether they should put some million-dollar projects on hold, The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/2dEeW5m) reported.
Subaru of America President Thomas Doll said he was "blindsided" and "very disappointed" by the governor's decision. Subaru is now re-evaluating the decision to build its national training center in Camden.
"Had we known about this, before our construction of headquarters and our national training center, we may have reached a different conclusion," Doll said. "It would have factored into whether we moved."
Companies based in New Jersey with employees who live in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs will be at a huge disadvantage, according to Kathy Davis, president of the Chamber of Commerce of South Jersey.
Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show approximately 125,000 Pennsylvania residents commute to New Jersey, and 125,000 workers make the reverse trip.
"More than 40 percent of our employees are Pennsylvania residents," said Tom Hushen, spokesman for Camden-based Campbell Soup Co. "So we strongly supported the reciprocity agreement; it serves both states well. We hope the governor overturns the decision."
The 1977 deal, called the Pennsylvania/New Jersey Reciprocal Income Tax Agreement, allowed residents of both states to pay income taxes where they live, not where they work. The agreement also provided a tax credit against the city wage tax for New Jersey residents who work in Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania has a flat personal-income tax rate of 3.07 percent, while New Jersey's rate ranges from 1.4 percent for incomes under $20,000 to 8.97 percent for incomes over $500,000.
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Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com
A plan by Republican Gov. Chris Christie and the Legislature to raise the gas tax by 23 cents could strain New Jersey's budget, a rating agency said Monday.
Moody's said the plan, which would also cut other taxes while establishing an eight-year $16 billion transportation trust fund, is a credit negative.
The Democrat-led Legislature passed the measure with bipartisan support Friday. Christie has not acted on the legislation, though he said he supports it.
The Assembly and Senate voted on the deal after Christie met with Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto and Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney and agreed to it.
The legislation would cut the sales tax from 7 percent to 6.625 percent over 15 months while phasing out the estate tax.
Moody's says the changes would carry a cost of $1.4 billion by fiscal year 2021, along with an average annual increase in pension contributions of $711 million through 2023.
"The annual revenue loss in future years will worsen the state's budget challenges," Moody's said in a statement.
Messages left with Christie's office and Democratic legislative leaders were not immediately returned.
Moody's statement is not a credit downgrade, but the agency says its outlook shows the possible effect the development can have on the state's credit.
The credit rating helps determine how costly it is for the state to borrow money for projects. Under Christie, the state's rating has been downgraded three times by each of the three major credit-rating agencies.
Commercial transportation has been mixed for Alcoa in 2016. Image source: Alcoa.
What: happened
Shares of aluminum giantAlcoa Inc(NYSE: AA) are down 11.1% at 3:15 p.m. EDT on October 11, following release of the company's third-quarter financial and operating results before market open. This is the single worst trading day for Alcoa's stock in several years, and it has shifted Alcoa from a money-making stock in 2016 to a 5% loser since the start of the year:
AA data by YCharts.
So what
Today's big sell-off is largely a product of Alcoa missing expectations, as well as concerns about continued weakness in key industries. Alcoa reported $5.2 billion in net revenue -- a 6% decline from the year-ago quarter, and well below the $5.3 billion consensus analyst estimate -- and earnings per share of $0.33 per share, short of the $0.36 per share analyst consensus.
Alcoa, which is set to split itself into two separate companies on November 1, is feeling the effects of mixed demand across several important industries it serves, while also dealing with generally low bauxite, alumina, and aluminum prices that are affecting revenue and profits both.
Revenue in its mining and alumina/aluminum production business (which will be spun off on November 1 as a separate company, though it will retain the Alcoa name) was flat sequentially and saw its after-tax operating income fall 15% as alumina prices remain soft.
The engineered products segment (the business that will be renamed Arconic) reported a 1% decline in revenue as the aerospace industry goes through adjustments in product deliveries and softening demand from the North American commercial transportation industry offset growth from the automotive industry. After-tax operating income at Arconic increased 4% even with weaker sales.
Alcoa also revised its guidance related to the future Arconic business for the remainder of the year, largely related to short-term shifts in the aerospace industry. The company reduced sales expectations in its Global Rolled Products, Engineered Products, and Transportation and Constructions Solutions segments by as much as $800 million combined for the full year.
Now what
There are three key takeaways:
Much of Alcoa's results and updated guidance is based on short-term headwinds, which are at least partly tied to strong long-term tailwinds (particularly in aerospace). The company has significantly lowered its production costs in the upstream and materials production business. Until the split is complete, there remains some uncertainty about how Alcoa and Arconic will fare as stand-alone investments, and only time will prove that out.
Looking at the bigger picture, Arconic is likely to benefit from big demand from industries that are showing cyclical weakness right now, particularly an aerospace industry in transition. Long-term demand from aerospace is expected to be very strong, along with increasing use in the automotive industry and a steadily strengthening construction industry.
For the upstream business, which will be spun out in November and retain the Alcoa name, the company has become a low-cost leader, with production costs cheaper than more than 80% of alumina producers and more than 60% of aluminum producers. If materials prices -- which are still near the lowest levels since the Great Recession -- continue to improve, this could bode well for Alcoa. Considering that demand growth is expected to far exceed production growth for the remainder of 2016, higher prices could very well happen.
Bottom line: Both parts of Alcoa continue to face pressures in the near term, but the long-term prospects shouldn't be ignored. Today's big sell-off could turn out to be a great opportunity to buy, but until Alcoa and Arconic are trading as separate companies, it may be best to stay on the sidelines.
A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early, in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.
Jason Hall has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Kinder Morgan.
Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE: BIP) share many fundamental similarities. Both own backbone infrastructure assets that generate pretty consistent cash flow, enabling each to send investors a steady stream of cash distributions. That said, it's their subtle differences that make one a better buy right now.
Battle of the balance sheets
It is essential that a company has a strong financial foundation to weather the storms that are sure to arise. Here's how these two stack up.
Company Credit Rating Debt to EBITDA Brookfield Infrastructure Partners BBB+ 5.5 times in its utilities segment and 4.0 times across its other segments Kinder Morgan BBB-/Baa3 5.3 times
Data source: Kinder Morgan and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners.
As that chart shows, Kinder Morgan has an investment-grade credit rating, though it is on the last rung before junk. In fact, it almost lost that rating last year after increasing its stake in a debt-laden pipeline joint venture. That deal put the company's credit in jeopardy because Kinder Morgan needed to inject capital into the entity to reduce its debt. That was problematic because it had limitedfinancial resources at the time because of its sinking stock price and its rising leverage ratio. At its peak, the company had more than 5.8 times debt to EBITDA thanks to its large debt load and the impact the energy market downturn had on its earnings. Because of that, the company had to fight to defend its credit, which ultimately led it to slash its dividend by 75%. While the company has since made tremendous progress reducing debt, it still has a ways to go to hit its target leverage ratio of 5.0 times.
Ironically, the deal that almost torpedoed Kinder Morgan's investment-grade rating also involved Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, which likewise boosted its stake in the same pipeline JV.That said, the deal did not have any impact on Brookfield's credit because it had a higher rating and greater access to capital. Further, the company primarily finances its operations at the asset level, resulting in the bulk of its debt being non-recourse. Finally, it finances is assets to investment grade, which keeps its corporate rating healthy.
Because of those factors, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has the better balance sheet.
Comparing the asset bases
Next, we'll take a closer look at the types of assets these two companies own and operate. Here's a snapshot of Kinder Morgan's massive energy infrastructure footprint:
Image source: Kinder Morgan Investor Presentation.
As that slide notes, Kinder Morgan controls a diversified set of energy infrastructure assets across North America. More importantly, the bulk of these assets generate stable cash flow from fees, which support 91% of the company's underlying earnings this year. That limits its direct exposure to commodity prices, which it further muted by hedging 6% of its cash flow this year. The net resultis that the pipeline giant expects to generate $4.7 billion in cash flow this year, which would just be slightly lower from last year despite much weaker commodity prices.
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, on the other hand, controls a much more diverse asset base:
Image source: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Investor Presentation.
The big difference between the two is that most of Brookfield's income comes from non-energy related assets such as toll roads, railroads, ports, utilities, and communications infrastructure. That said, these assets still provide very stable cash flow, with 90% either regulated or under long-term contracts, which is in line with Kinder Morgan.
Brookfield's diversification gives it a slight edge because it not only reduces its exposure to energy market volatility, but provides it more opportunities to grow.
A look at the upside
Speaking of growth, Kinder Morgan is currently investing $13.5 billion in growth projects, with 86% of those projects fee-based pipeline and terminal assets. The company estimates that these assets will generate an incremental $1.8 billion in annual EBITDA once everything is in service in five years, which represents healthy growth for a company that expects to generate $7.5 billion in adjusted EBITDA this year. That said, because of the company's current balance-sheet concerns, the bulk of its earnings growth in the near term is going toward improving its leverage metrics. Because of that, Kinder Morgan is not expected to grow its dividend until its leverage falls to 5.0 times, which might not happen until 2018.
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, on the other hand, has a much smaller project backlog totaling $2 billion over the next three years. However, those projects, when combined with other factors such as contract escalations, drive the company's expectations that it can grow its earnings by 6% to 9% annually. At the high end, that is faster growth than Kinder Morgan. Further, because of its stronger balance sheet, Brookfield is in the position to pass most of that growth on to unitholders, with it projecting to grow its distributions by 5% to 9% annually over the long term.
For income investors, the clarity of distribution growth at Brookfield is much more appealing than the zero visibility offered by Kinder Morgan at the moment.
Investor takeaway
Kinder Morgan is a solidlong-term investment because of its large size, boatload of recurring fee-based cash flow, and robust organic growth backlog. That said, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners offers investors a stronger balance sheet, greater diversification, and clear visibility when it comes to income growth. Those factors, in my opinion, make Brookfield the better buy right now for investors choosing between the two.
A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early, in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.
Matt DiLallo owns shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and Kinder Morgan and has the following options: short January 2018 $30 puts on Kinder Morgan and long January 2018 $30 calls on Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.
We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Ford is hopingthat a revamped version of its Kuga will help sustain its recent salesstreak in China. The Kuga is asibling of the U.S.-market Escape. Image source: Ford Motor Company.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) said that its sales in China rose 24% in September, on big sales of its popular SUVs.
It was the third month in a row of strong year-over-year sales gains for Ford in China, following a sluggish second-quarter result that had left investors concerned about its efforts in the region.
SUVs are powering Ford's China sales boom
Like most of its rivals, Ford doesn't report detailed model-by-model sales totals from China. While it sometimes highlights gains for models that have done well, it always reports aggregate results for each of its two joint ventures with local Chinese automakers, as well as an overall sales total that includes a small number of Ford- and Lincoln-brand vehicles imported into China from other parts of the world, including the United States.
Changan Ford, or CAF, is Ford's joint venture with Chinese automaker Changan Automobile. It builds and sells a portfolio of Ford-brand passenger vehicles. There are a few models or variations that are specific to China, but most would be familiar to Americans or Europeans.
CAF sold 84,355 vehicles in September, up 25% from a year ago. Ford credited its SUV lineup for much of its gains in China last month, and CAF builds three of the best-sellers locally: the small Fiesta-based EcoSport, the Kuga (twin to the U.S.-market Escape), and the midsize Edge.
The Edge in particular has been a big hit for Ford in China, where it's built in a longer-wheelbase 7-passenger version. But Kuga sales could be picking up: The Kuga, like the Escape, was given an overhaul for 2017. Ford said those revamped models are beginning to reach dealers across China.
Ford also said sales of its recently revamped compact Focus rose 43% from a year ago. The Focus is positioned as a premium model in China, a step up from a more affordable compact sedan called the Escort; a jump in Focus sales is likely good news for Ford's bottom line.
Jiangling Motors Corporation, or JMC, builds Ford-brand commercial vehicles including the Transit commercial-van line and the midsize Ranger pickup, as well as a Ranger-based SUV called the Everest. JMC sold 23,416 vehicles in September, up 28% from a year ago.
Ford's other sales in China include the vehicles it imports. Among them: the Mustang, the Explorer, the ST high-performance versions of the Focus and Fiesta, and all Lincolns sold in China. Those sales totaled 22,522 in September.
After a rough first half, China is looking better for Ford
Ford was caught off guard in China in the early part of 2016. Local Chinese automakers were introducing much-improved products and stealing market share at the affordable end of the market, particularly with crossover SUVs.
Demand for SUVs is white-hot in China at the moment, and Ford had been doing well with the Kuga and EcoSport, but sales declined significantly in the first half of 2016, and that hit profits: Ford's equity income from China fell 28% to $296 million last quarter.
During Ford's second-quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Fields said the company had already begun taking aggressive action to stop the slide. Those moves included cost reductions, adjustments to product mix, and where warranted, some pricing adjustments.
The changes appear to have worked: Ford's sales in China were up strongly in each of the three months in the third quarter. It's hard to know how that will translate into profits since Ford hasn't given much detail on its pricing moves. But I suspect Ford's results from China will look a lot better when the Blue Oval reports its third-quarter results later this month.
A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early, in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.
John Rosevear owns shares of Ford. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Ford. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Oil fell almost 2 percent on Tuesday, retreating from one-year highs, after mixed responses by Russian oil industry officials toward an OPEC call for all major crude producers to cut output.
The International Energy Agency, the energy watchdog of the West, also said it was unclear how rapidly global oil supply could fall in line with demand even if Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on a steep cut.
"Net, we find that an agreement to cut production, while increasingly likely, remains premature given the high supply uncertainty in 2017 and would prove self-defeating if it were to target sustainably higher oil prices," analysts at Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs said in a note.
A crude glut has forced prices down from mid-2014 highs above $100 a barrel.
Brent crude oil was down $1, or 1.9 percent, at $52.14 a barrel by 11:42 a.m. EDT (1541 GMT), off the one-year high of $53.73 hit on Monday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped 90 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $50.45.
Global oil industry officials in Istanbul for the World Energy Conference issued a raft of statements on OPEC's first planned production cut in eight years.
The energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia intend to hold further consultations in Riyadh after the Istanbul meeting, the Saudi energy ministry said in a statement.
Igor Sechin, Russia's most influential oil executive and the head of Rosneft, told Reuters in an interview his company will not cut or freeze oil production as part of a possible agreement with OPEC.
The previous day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said an output freeze or even a production cut were likely the only right decisions to maintain energy sector stability.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the base-case scenario for Russia would be to leave current output unchanged.
OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said any deal to freeze oil production was likely to be reviewed after six months.
OPEC, which groups Saudi Arabia with big oil producers such as Iran, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait and Nigeria and Venezuela, aims to cut 700,000 barrels per day of its production, bringing output to 32.5-33.0 million bpd by its next policy meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30.
OPEC has asked non-OPEC producers besides Russia to contribute with cuts too, although the United States, the world's No. 1 oil producer, will not be part of the plan.
Analysts worry that if crude prices maintain their recent upward momentum, production of U.S. shale oil, crimped this year by prices as low as nearly $26 a barrel, will begin to increase again. (By Barani Krishnan; Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Clive McKeef)
The U.S. is looking for multibillion penalties from Germany's biggest bank and its biggest carmaker. The European Union is demanding similarly large sums from America's most valuable tech company, Apple.
Both sides of the Atlantic appear to have become emboldened to crack down on big companies that are found to have misbehaved. Some analysts say it's a sign that governments, several of which have elections looming, are feeling political pressure to act against corporate wrongdoers.
But the crisscrossing crackdowns have also frayed nerves, especially in Germany, and led to dark talk about a tit-for-tat war in which the U.S. and EU target each other's companies to gain trade advantage.
In particular, the penalty of as much as $14 billion hanging over Deutsche Bank, Germany's only bank of global significance, has put the German political and business elite on edge.
"What we are going through are moves that are similar to a trade war," said Peter Ramsauer, the chair of the German parliament's economy committee.
"In the U.S. there is a long tradition of using every occasion for conflict similar to a trade war, when it serves their own economic interests," Ramsauer was quoted as saying by the Die Welt newspaper. "Connected with that are the extortionate demands for compensation, as we see in the Deutsche Bank case."
Deutsche Bank is among a group of banks that the U.S. government says sold dodgy mortgage-based bonds that helped trigger the 2007-8 financial crisis. But there are concerns that if the penalty is too big, the bank may have to raise new capital from investors or even need a government bailout. Chancellor Angela Merkel may be reluctant to approve such aid, which would also be a severe political embarrassment ahead of 2017 national elections.
News of the potential fine on the bank followed by days a decision by the EU Commission's demand that Apple repay $14.5 billion in what were ruled improper tax benefits from Ireland. That preceded a U.S. court deal to have Volkswagen pay $15 billion over its cars that cheated on diesel emissions tests. Volkswagen is in talks with the Justice Department that could lead to another financial penalty.
The Apple case seems to have irked the U.S. authorities in part because the back tax that the tech company has to pay to Ireland would detract from a huge sum of money about $200 billion that Apple keeps outside the U.S. and would be subject to U.S. taxation when repatriated. Apple and the Irish government are appealing.
German finance ministry spokeswoman Friederike von Tiesenhausen, asked whether the large proposed fine against Deutsche Bank was retaliation for Apple, said, "I don't share that assessment." She added, however, that "the German government assumes that a fair result will be reached at the end of this process as well, on the basis of equal treatment" like that afforded U.S. banks.
U.S. Justice Department officials declined to comment, as did those at the European Commission. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who ruled against Apple, said that "I am absolutely certain that the decision on Deutsche Bank is built on the facts of the case and American legislation."
Guntram Wolff, head of the Bruegel think tank in Brussels and a former official at Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, dismisses the tit-for-tat idea.
"I think it's one of those perfect theories that, unless you are actually in the minds of the people who did this, who took the decisions, is impossible to approve or disprove," he said. "So it's close to what I would call, can I say, conspiracy theories it's impossible to prove, but it's also impossible to contradict it."
He said it's much more likely that policy makers on both sides want to be seen as being tough on companies that are found to misbehave.
"The elites are under pressure and the citizens are demanding change, and they demand it in a sort of indiscriminate way," he said. "I think there is a perception among policy makers that it is related to issues of fairness, to issues of equity, to issues of perception, that the small guy pays, the big guy doesn't pay."
U.S. officials have been seeking fines and compensation from big banks not just Deutsche Bank who were involved in creating and selling bonds backed by mortgages to people with shaky credit. The bonds, whose real level of risk may not have been apparent to many investors, went sour, spreading losses throughout the financial system and helping to spark the global financial crisis in 2007-08. Among the biggest settlements: JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $13 billion, Citigroup $7 billion and Goldman Sachs $5.1 billion.
Transatlantic crackdowns on big business didn't start with Apple and Deutsche Bank. The EU competition regulators have taken on many often U.S. multinationals. Microsoft has struggled for years to address EU concerns that it was tying its own browser to its dominant Windows operating system and was fined 561 million euros in 2013. The European Commission has also gone after Google for allegedly abusing its dominant position in web searches and is investigating whether Amazon is rigging the market for e-book sales. The U.S. has already fined other big European banks, including HSBC for $1.9 billion in 2012 for allegedly helping launder money, including that of drug lords.
But the size of the most recent fines and penalties seems to have grown. To the point that Deutsche Bank's finances were put in question when the U.S. settlement request was disclosed.
Peter V. Kunz, dean of the law faculty at the Institute for Business Law in Bern, Switzerland, is among those who think the Deutsche Bank case represents a tit-for-tat action: "The Obama administration is aware that in Europe, this issue with Apple is not something that will be decided in a short period of time."
He said that the U.S. is looking to put pressure on the Europeans "by means of a legal attack. It's clouded in a legal issue."
Image source: BHP Billiton.
BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) rose 15% in September. Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) advanced 10%. Even beleaguered Vale SA (NYSE: VALE) was up, though only about 4% or so. But, on the whole, it was a good month for some of the world's biggest miners. That continues a year long trend; Here's what's going on.
What happened
The truth is that nothing huge changed in September. But there was a big shift in sentiment around the middle of the month. Between Sept. 13and Sept. 30, BHP rose nearly 18%, Rio Tinto jumped 12%, and Vale advanced 11%. Clearly, it was that last little kick that led to the solid full-month gains for this trio.
September merely extended that full year run. Through the first nine months of 2016 Vale is the standout, advancing nearly 75%. BHP and Rio trail well behind with still substantial nine-month gains of 36% and 17%, respectively. For reference, the S&P was up around 7.5% over that span. Clearly it's been a good year overall. The biggest story behind the relative strength of the major miners has been solidifying commodity prices.
Image source: BHP Billiton.
Vale's shares, it's worth noting, are also recovering from a particularly hard hit following a mining accident at a Brazilian facility jointly owned with BHP. Vale took the larger hit because, unlike BHP, it counts Brazil as its home market, which opens it up to larger legal issues. So you have to take Vale's impressive 2016 gains with a grain of salt.
So what
The thing is iron ore, which is the biggest contributor to results at all three of these miners, started to fall in the early days of September. That clearly wasn't good news. However, as the month wore on, it became increasingly clear that demand for foreign iron ore in China was remaining fairly robust. And that's a very big deal.
BHP Billiton generated roughly 42% of its revenues from China alone in fiscal 2016, which ended in June. However, a full 61% of the miner's iron ore sales went to that country. Rio Tinto, meanwhile, generated 42% of its revenues from China in the first six months of 2016, up from 36% in the same span last year. Vale, despite operating its largest mines on the other side of the world, generated 40% of its revenue from China in the second quarter, up a couple of percentage points from the same period last year.
Basically, Chinese demand is very important. And so is iron ore. Fully a third of BHP's revenues were generated from selling iron ore in its just ended fiscal year. The metal made up roughly 60% of Rio Tinto's commodity revenues in the first half of the year... And just about 80% of the operating profit of its commodity business. For Vale, the company's ferrous metals group accounted for 68% of the top line. You get the point, iron ore is a huge deal for these miners.
So with demand for this trio's most important product appearing to remain robust in its most important market, China, it makes sense that investors were willing to support the shares.
Image source: Vale SA.
Now what
No one has a crystal ball, particularly when it comes to commodity prices and demand. So investors shouldn't get too excited about BHP, Rio Tinto, or Vale at this point. All three have had a nice run, but commodity prices and demand need to keep moving in the right direction if the stocks are going to hold these gains or further their advance.
That said, if you believe the worst has passed for the mining group, you might want to take a deep dive here. Remember, of course, that while iron ore and China are big stories for each company, neither is the complete story. For example, oil has been a positive for BHP lately and Vale is in the middle of a huge, and costly, iron ore project. In other words, September was a decent month but you'll want to do a lot more work before you jump in here.
A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.
Reuben Brewer has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Companhia Vale. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Home Depot Co-Founder Bernie Marcus continues to support GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, despite the recent audio tape that leaked of him degrading women.
The video, first published by the Washington Post last Friday, has caused a firestorm for Trump, who apologized for his comments on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and during Sundays town hall debate. Marcus believes that Republicans should look past the audio tape and focus a little more on the issues at hand.
The world is in terrible shape. This country is not in good shape 75% of the people agree that its not in good shape and we see this calamity that is happening overseas with ISIS, all over the Middle East. And we are talking about what he [Trump] said 11 years ago and this is what our world is based on? Come on, get real Republicans, Marcus said to the FOX Business Networks Liz McDonald. Marcus explained that he would still support Trump as long as it kept Hillary Clinton out of the White House. I cannot support what she [Clinton] is going to do to the economy, what she is going to do to the Supreme Court, how she is going to create jobs in America. I just cant see that and I dont think that it is going to happen, he said.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been on defense in the wake of a leaked 2005 tape in which he was recorded making lewd comments about women during a conversation with suspended TODAY show host Billy Bush. Trumps rival, Hillary Clinton, during Sundays second presidential debate, tried to capitalize on the leaked tape, saying his language proved he was unfit to serve as President of the United States.
But Jerry Fallwell Jr, president of Liberty University, told the FOX Business Networks Neil Cavuto on Tuesday while Clinton is using the comments to her advantage, it might be the establishment Republicans who are responsible for bringing the 11-year-old tape to light. Fallwell said six or eight weeks before it was released, he received a call from people close to top Republicans.
They said, Jerry these guys are working on something they say will guarantee Donald Trump is not the nominee for on Nov. 8 of the Republican Party, Fallwell said on Cavuto Coast-to-Coast. I didnt think anything of it but when I saw what happened over the weekend, it made me wonder.
Ahead of Sundays debate, House Speaker Paul Ryan revoked his invitation for Trump to join him on the campaign trail, and other members of the party followed suit, using the tape as the latest example of why they dont support Trump for president.
They all started calling for him to step down as the nominee. It made me wonder. Maybe Im a conspiracy theorist, but I did report it to the right people because if it was a conspiracy, I know from my days practicing law, if any two people or more work together to harm a third person, that is criminal, Fallwell said.
Some have speculated there are tapes of similar substance that have yet to be released. But Fallwell, who said he and his family dont condone the remarks, said Trump should stay the course, not let the controversy distract him, and press the issues on the campaign trail.
[He needs to] say Im not the person I used to be. All of us are sinners, all of us are redeemable, despite what Hillary says, he explained. Five years from now when the Supreme Court is stacked with people who will rip the Constitution to shreds, get rid of the Second Amendment, nobody will be thinking about what Donald Trump said in a video in 2005, theyre going to be thinking about what was I thinking when I voted in 2016, why wasnt I worried about future of our country, my children, grandchildren.
"Today" host Savannah Guthrie announced Monday morning that her co-host Billy Bush had been suspended after his 2005 misogynistic conversation with Donald Trump was leaked to the press.
TV host Maury Povich told us he was surprised by the networks decision, but emphasized that NBC knows what it's doing. It has some experience when it comes to internal reviews.
Some media pros we talked to said Bush should be fired after that review, but others say not so fast.
I do think that this Billy Bush flap is far more serious, rather than an internal issue among staff and reporters on the show. This issue affects the tone of our entire national discourse, and Bushs inexcusable behavior in that video with Trump has poured salt on the wounds of countless women in this country who have suffered abuse and misogyny but had hoped we were making progress in that area," said Dr. Montana Miller, associate professor of cultural and critical studies at Bowling Green State University. "Bushs past vulgar conversation is sending a dangerous message to the American people, and he should be held accountable."
Montana said NBC has only one choice.
It is absolutely critical that NBC respond with strong and decisive action and fire Bush if they want to show that they dont condone the trivializing, even celebrating, of sexual assault," she said.
But SiriusXM talk show host Rich Davis said Bush shouldnt be let go.
Billy Bush shouldnt be fired. Billy, as a reporter, sometimes plays to the interviewee and made a bad call in going too far with what everyone is calling locker room talk,'" Davis said. "Hes going to get a rough break here. Theres no excuse for the aggressive rape talk.
Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture at the Media Research Center, said Bush is being punished for other reasons.
Billy Bush's offense isn't what he observed Trump saying. It's that he didn't throw Trump under the bus once he decided to run. That's what the media wanted him to do," Gainor said. "Since he didn't, his time there is over. I'm sure network execs could go through thousands of hours of tape and destroy tons of other celebrity careers for the awful things they say and do. Only they won't. Because they only want to get Trump because he's running as a Republican. Bush is collateral damage.
Crisis communications expert Scott Pinsker says Bush has someone on his side: Donald Trump.
"The fact that Donald Trump is continuing his campaign and pressing forward offers Mr. Bush some cover, Pinsker said. It would seem sort of odd for Today to hold its TV anchor to a higher standard than the American people do for the Commander-in-Chief.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is warning against consuming rotisserie chicken salad sold to customers of a Washington Costco after four people became sick with salmonellosis, a foodborne illness that can cause severe diarrhea and results from exposure to salmonella.
The USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued the warning online Monday to customers who purchased the product from the Alderwood Costo in Lynwood between Aug. 26 through Sept. 2, 2016. The affected product was sold in varying weights, according to a news release. As of Tuesday morning, the FDA had not listed an official recall.
Although most individuals recover from salmonellosis without treatment in four to seven days, in some cases, severe diarrhea may require hospitalization. Individuals who are elderly, young or immunosuppressed are the most at risk of serious illness. Other symptoms of salmonellosis include abdominal cramps and fever within 12 to 72 hours of consuming the affected product.
Inspectors said in the release that they were concerned some consumers may have frozen the product. The FSIS advised customers to only consume rotisserie chicken that has been cooked at 165 degrees Fahrenheit and confirmed with a food thermometer that measures internal temperature. Making sure chicken is thoroughly cooked is the only way to ensure it is not contaminated with harmful bacteria.
In November 2015, rotisserie chicken salad sold at Costco sickened 19 people in seven states in an E. coli outbreak.
Growing anti-gay sentiment in Indonesia could hamper efforts to combat fast-rising HIV infections among one of the most at-risk groups, threatening the country's target to end an AIDS epidemic by 2030, a senior official has warned.
Although new infections have been falling globally, Indonesia is one country where they are on the rise as the disease spreads rapidly among gay men and other men who have had sex with men (MSM) over the past decade.
HIV prevalence among the group jumped to 25.8 percent in 2015 from 5.4 percent in 2007, according to Indonesia's National AIDS Commission.
"In terms of number, MSM is the fastest growing (group)," the commission's secretary Kemal Siregar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Asia Pacific is home to the second highest number of people living with HIV in the world, with India, Indonesia and China accounting for around three quarters of new infections in 2015, according to the U.N's AIDS agency UNAIDS.
South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world.
UNAIDS estimates there are around 690,000 people living with HIV in Indonesia.
Siregar said there was now "uncertainty" over meeting Indonesia's target to end an AIDS epidemic by 2030 as efforts to reach out to the MSM group - who he described as "hidden population" - had become harder due to increasing social stigma.
This follows a backlash against Indonesia's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community earlier this year.
This was also exacerbated by a drop in foreign funding as Indonesia's economy grew and international donors withdrew. External funding was a key resource for HIV prevention work.
"If the funding is not there, it's very hard to reach this group because the government's funding is mostly for treatment, for medicines, not for prevention," the official said.
The LGBT community had long been tolerated in Indonesia, especially in urban areas but a backlash suddenly began in January after a minister said the community was banned from university campuses.
Attacks against the LGBT community quickly grew, with ministers and religious leaders denouncing homosexuality, prompting criticism from human rights group.
The government said in August there was "no room" for the LGBT movement in the Southeast Asia nation.
Siregar said the commission has intensified its efforts to reach out to the MSM group and planned to establish MSM-friendly clinics outside the 10 cities where they are currently located.
"They have to know this community, they have to reduce the stigma and have the communication skills to communicate with this group," Siregar said.
Since the first HIV case was reported in Indonesia in 1987, 13,449 people have died from the disease, according to the latest health ministry data as of March this year.
St. Jude Medical Inc warned on Tuesday that some of its implanted heart devices are at risk of premature battery depletion, a condition it said has been linked to two patient deaths and could require the replacement of some devices.
News of the issue surfaced on Monday evening when short-selling firm Muddy Waters tweeted a copy of a physician advisory on the matter from St. Jude, which agreed in April to sell itself for $25 billion to Abbott Laboratories.
That letter said such problems with the lithium batteries that power the devices were rare and could be identified by patients using tools for monitoring battery levels from their homes.
Out of nearly 400,000 devices manufactured through May of last year, the company has identified 841 failed implanted cardioverter defibrillators with lithium clusters, which can form after a device delivers electricity to the heart, according to St. Jude.
Lithium clusters sometimes cause battery power to deplete quickly, making devices unable to deliver doses of electricity when needed, St. Jude Vice President of Quality Control Jeff Fecho said in the letter to physicians.
"There have been two deaths that have been associated with the loss of defibrillation therapy as a result of premature battery depletion," Fecho said.
The company advised physicians to replace devices with damaged batteries immediately, but cautioned against swapping out devices that were operating normally because of the potential for complications from such procedures.
"We encourage any patient with questions about their medical device to contact their doctor," St. Jude Chief Medical Officer Mark Carlson said in a statement.
"While this risk is very small, we have provided doctors with information so that they can discuss the most appropriate course of action for each individual patient," Carlson said.
St. Jude said it planned to launch a webpage on Tuesday where patients could see which devices were affected: (http://www.sjm.com/batteryadvisory).
The site tells patients how they can monitor battery activity, look for vibrating alerts when batteries are low and connect to the Merlin.net remote monitoring service.
The alert comes as St. Jude defends itself against unrelated allegations that its heart devices are riddled with bugs that make them vulnerable to fatal cyber hacks.
The Food and Drug Administration is investigating the claims by Muddy Waters and research firm MedSec Holdings Inc.
St. Jude has denied the allegations and sued both firms, saying they disseminated false information to manipulate its stock price.
On a recent Thursday afternoon at Ohio State University, about 30 students sit in a classroom listening to instructor Kipp Pietrantonio lecture. Imagine you were just handed your physics test, what would happen? he asks.
You sweat, calls out one student.
Your heart starts racing, says a young woman.
You get jittery, answers another.
It is a meeting of the twice weekly Beating Anxiety workshop and Dr. Pietrantonio is a clinical psychologist who works at the universitys counseling center. The workshop advises students to tackle anxiety by exercising, getting enough sleep and reframing catastrophic thoughts (if my friend doesnt text me back right away, she hates me) in more logical ways (maybe shes studying) among other strategies.
It is one part of Ohio States effort to cope with the dramatic increase in the number of its 59,000 students on the Columbus campus seeking help for mental health issues.
Ohio State has seen a 43 percent jump in the past five years in the number of students being treated at the universitys counseling center. At the University of Central Florida in Orlando, the increase has been about 12 percent each year over the past decade. At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, demand for counseling-center services has increased by 36 percent in the last seven years.
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A recent report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found that United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) erroneously naturalized almost 900 ineligible illegal aliens due to database errors. All of these individuals were ordered deported but subsequently applied for citizenship using a fake identity. Nearly all are from countries associated with terrorism and high levels of immigration fraud. Several of these fraudulent citizens have already obtained aviation or transportation credentials.
This information is disturbing but it simply confirms what those in immigration enforcement have known for years - our immigration vetting system is badly broken. But the availability and reliability of vetting information is only one of many systemic problems that plague USCIS: an assembly line mentality, over-politicization and ineptitude.
Attempting to vet individuals from the most dangerous regions of the world in less than three months is criminally irresponsible.
One of the reasons I resigned from USCIS was dissatisfaction with the agency's continual focus on approving as many immigration applications as possible, as quickly as possible - often at the expense of national security and public safety. Call it customer service on steroids.
This attitude, combined with a bureaucratic management structure, makes it impossible for fraud officers and immigration adjudicators to deny any but the most outrageous cases. Fraud officers in the field report to the local district director, whose primary motivation is usually a desire to maintain friendly relations with local immigrant constituencies. Most district directors prefer USCIS to be seen as a social services agency, rather than an agency charged with administrative law enforcement. Meanwhile, the real constituents, American taxpayers, are not protected from crime and terrorism.
The situation is further complicated by the highly politicized cadre of pro-illegal alien attorneys in the USCIS Office of Chief Counsel (OCC) most of whom were previously employed by open-borders organizations like the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, the National Council of La Raza, and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers' Guild.
As a result, our national security team spent more time battling USCIS district directors and attorneys than investigating dangerous aliens. In one instance a naturalization applicant was suspected of traveling to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism, to attend anti-American rallies. Despite Youtube footage of the applicant at an anti-U.S.A. speech by the current Ayatollah, USCIS attorneys insisted that there was no evidence to support a denial for lack of allegiance to the United States. After months of unnecessary investigative work and repeated pleas for common sense the applicant was eventually denied U.S. Citizenship. But the case was probably denied because of fear that it might bring bad media coverage, rather than any objection to the candidate.
Sadly, this not atypical. In the absence of a smoking gun supporting a denial, applications are almost always approved. This ensures that USCIS does not fall behind processing timeframes that are heavily influenced by politically powerful immigration attorneys and open borders lobbyists. While immigrant constituent groups may be pleased that their members quickly obtain the benefits of living and working lawfully in the United States, the security and safety interests of the wider American public are an afterthought.
Was it a flaw in USCIS's vetting system that caused these dangerous naturalizations? Yes, partly. But if we want vetting to work, the results of the process must be examined by an experienced officer who is free to make a judgment call. If the adjudicators assigned to those nearly 900 fraudulent naturalization cases were not being pressured to approve every case they see, it is likely one of them would have noticed irregularities and investigated further.
Perhaps most frightening of all, USCIS is responsible for vetting refugees. The current administration has decided to drastically increase Syrian refugee admissions while mandating that all vetting be completed in 90 days or less. It currently takes 18-24 months to complete refugee vetting, using the same ineffective procedures that led to the naturalization of almost 900 criminals. Attempting to vet individuals from the most dangerous regions of the world in less than three months is criminally irresponsible.
The U.S. can attempt to improve vetting procedures. But the culture of the agency doing the vetting, not the process, is the heart of the problem. As long as USCIS encourages its employees to ignore derogatory information for the sake of expediency we will continue to confer U.S. citizenship - the greatest gift the country can bestow - on criminals and terrorists, while failing to protect American taxpayers.
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Editor's note: The following excerpt is from an essay that originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal on April 2, 2014. It also appears in Ms. Noonan's book, "The Times of Our Lives" (Twelve, November 3, 2015).
I said that what people dont understand about [Ronald] Reagan is that his self-concept in the first 40 years of his life, meaning the years in which you really become yourself, was as an artist. Not a political leader or an economist, not a geostrategist, but an artist. I saw this when I went through his papers at the Reagan Library. As a boy and young man he was a short story writer, a drawer of pictures, then an actor. He acted in college, went into broadcasting and then went on to act professionally. He paid close attention to script, character, the shape of the story. He came to maturity and middle age in Hollywood, which was full of craftsmen and artists, and he respected them and was one of them.
He cared about politics and came to see himself as a leader when he was immersed in Screen Actors Guild politics, and later led that union.
But he, to himself, was an artist.
And the thing about artists is they try to see the picture whole. They try to get the big shape of things. Theyre creative, intuitive. Someone once said a great leader has more in common with an artist than an economist, and its true. An artist has imagination, tries to apprehend the full sweep of whats happening. An actor understands what moment youre in in the drama.
And so with that as context, I said, this is how I think Reagan would view the moment were in:
The Soviet Union fell almost a quarter century ago. It was great news, a victory for civilization. That fall was followed by something: a series of Russian governments trying to maintain stability and pick up the pieces, turning toward democracy, toward modernity, really going for a non-state-dominated economy. Russian leaders were to some significant degree accommodating to the West, which had vanquished them. They engaged in reconstruction on many fronts, reinvention, too. They moved in varying degrees toward Western values.
Again, it lasted almost a quarter century.
Now it is over.
That history has ended and something new has begun.
Excerpted from the book THE TIME OF OUR LIVES. Copyright (c) 2015 by Peggy Noonan. Reprinted by permission of Twelve/Hachette Book Group, New York, NY. All rights reserved.
My grandfather, Walter Graubart, came to this country in 1946.
He was a very smart man.
He recognized, seven years earlier, when the Nazis invaded his native Poland, that this was not going to be like other assaults on the Jews.
No stranger to anti-Semitism, he and his cousin ran away from Poland to Czechoslovakia at age 12.
They made a plan: they would go in separate directions, find jobs teaching cheder or religious school, and then meet at the home of a particular cousin a year to the day later.
And they found jobs...at age 12, mind you.
My grandfather's cousin told me this story 30 years ago.
He said that when they met a year later, they shared a bed...but stayed up all night telling each other stories.
My grandfather then traveled to Belgium...he's 13 now, and it's 1921...where he sold buttons door to door to support himself.
He put away enough money to open up a clothing store in Eyesden, Belgium, in mining country near the Dutch border.
The clothing company did so well that he went back to Poland, met and married my grandmother, and started a family.
My mom, born in 1936.
My grandmother was pregnant with my aunt when the Nazis began World War II.
My grandfather abandoned the clothing store - and also the furniture store he started next door - and the family was on the run.
First into occupied France, and then down into Spain, which they entered as refugees, in a hay wagon.
And then from Barcelona to Havana, where they spent the next six years, before they were able to make the short flight to Miami.
During that time, no less than 70 of my grandparents' relatives - young, old, married, single, children -- were murdered by the Nazis.
"Zoll zeyner sheyner menschen," is all my grandfather would ever say about them, and never to me.
That's Yiddish for "They were beautiful people."
Ironically, those are the precise words my 80 year old mother uses when she gazes upon her grandchildren.
My grandparents started a new life here, raising my mother and aunt, in New York City.
In the early 1960s, when I was a kid, I would accompany my grandparents to their synagogue, Ohav Zedek, on West 95th Street, on Yom Kippur.
It was long and boring, but I liked being with them and on some level I understood and appreciated the solemnity of the day.
Afterwards, I could sit next to my grandfather and watch him break the fast on a big chicken dinner my grandmother made us.
But I wasn't allowed to talk to him while he was eating.
And here we are, half a century after his passing, and this year on Tuesday night, begins Yom Kippur.
To me, the real miracle wasn't just that my mother's immediate family survived the war, thanks to my grandfather's prescience.
The real miracle is also the fact that despite the murder of 70 relatives, including both his parents and his wife's parents, and all of their siblings, nephews, nieces, and son, he still chose to fast on Yom Kippur.
If he could have maintained faith in God on any level after going through all that, to the point where he spent Yom Kippur fasting in synagogue, what about us?
Can't we have faith?
Of course we can.
And that's the meaning for me, at least, of this Yom Kippur.
The recent leak of emails allegedly belonging to Hillary Clintons campaign chairman reveals a confidant's frustration with the former secretary of states daughter, former President Bill Clinton losing it during a tough 2016 primary contest and a general coziness with numerous members of the media.
And much more.
The trove of John Podestas emails from anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks so far has been published in three massive sections released on Friday, Monday and Tuesday. Though more than 5,000 alleged Podesta emails already have been made public in the document dump, theyre a mere fraction of the 50,000-plus emails WikiLeaks claims to have.
RELEASE: the first 2050 of well over 50000 emails from Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta https://t.co/rpK9rbJ8ah #Podesta #imWithHer WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 7, 2016
Here are seven of the biggest revelations so far:
SPOILED BRAT
Top Bill Clinton lieutenant Doug Band, in an alleged 2011 exchange with Podesta, tore into Chelsea Clinton, who had apparently been raising questions about the company Band co-founded, Teneo.
I dont deserve this from her and deserve a tad more respect or at least a direct dialogue for me to explain these things, Band wrote in November. She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who had nothing else to do but create issues to justify what shes doing because she, as she has said, hasnt found her way and has a lack of focus in her life.
BILL CLINTON LOSING IT
Bill Clinton has long had a soft spot for New Hampshire, the state that made him the Comeback Kid and helped propel him to the Democratic nomination in 1992. So when it seemed on Feb. 7 that Hillary Clinton was set to lose the states primary by a large margin, Bill did not take the news well.
Hes losing it bad today, Bill Clinton chief of staff Tina Flournoy wrote. Im not with him. If youre in NH please see if you can talk to him.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders went on to beat Clinton in the Granite State 60-to-38 percent on Feb. 9.
Bill Clinton wasnt alone in his despondency.
Neera Tanden, an activist and past adviser to Hillary Clinton, wrote to Podesta on Feb. 4: What is wrong w the people of Nh?
COZY WITH THE PRESS
The alleged Podesta emails show a particular level of comfort with certain members of the news media.
CNBC correspondent John Harwood emailed Podesta numerous times, on some occasions to request an interview and other times to offer advice. On May 8, 2015, Harwood wrote an email with the subject line Watch out.
Ben Carson could give you real trouble in a general [election], Harwood wrote before linking to video clips of an interview Harwood did with the former pediatric neurosurgeon.
In a July 2015 email, New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich emailed communications director Jennifer Palmieri several chunks of an interview he did with Hillary Clinton, and seemingly asked permission for the option to use the following portions. Palmieri suggested he cut a reference Clinton made to Sarah Palin and remove Clintons quote, And gay rights has moved much faster than womens rights or civil rights, which is an interesting phenomenon.
Palmieri ended one email: Pleasure doing business!
In a January 2015 memo, former Politico reporter Maggie Haberman, who now works for The New York Times, was described as having a very good relationship with the campaign.
We have had her tee up stories for us before and have never been disappointed, the memo said.
HOPING FOR TRUMP
Hillary Clinton allies were apparently hoping the Republican primary electorate would nominate Donald Trump as the GOP candidate for president.
Media commentator Brent Budowsky wrote to Podesta on March 13 that Right now I am petrified that Hillary is almost totally dependent on Republicans nominating Trump.
..even a clown like Ted Cruz would be an even money bet to beat and this scares the hell of out me.. Budowsky wrote.
A Democrat National Committee strategy document from April 7, 2015 also wrote about elevating the Pied Piper candidates, identified as Trump, Cruz and Carson.
WALL STREET SPEECHES
Campaign research director Tony Carrk emailed top Clinton advisers on Jan. 25 with some flags from HRCs paid speeches that were given during the time between her tenure as secretary of state and when she announced her presidential candidacy. Clinton has not released transcripts of those speeches despite numerous calls from her primary and general election opponents.
Among the red flags is Clinton admitting shes Kind Of Far Removed from middle-class struggles due to The Economic, You Know, Fortunes That My Husband And I Now Enjoy. That speech was delivered to employees at Goldman-Black Rock on Feb. 4, 2014.
In a line that came back to bite her in Sunday nights presidential debate, Clinton discussed needing Both A Public And A Private Position during a speech for National Multi-Housing Council in April 2013.
In other speeches, Clinton boasts of her ties to Wall Street, admits she needs Wall Street funding and says insiders are needed to fix problems on Wall Street. Sanders was a particular critic of Wall Street and so-called economic inequality during his protracted primary campaign against Clinton.
In another speech, Clinton said her dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders.
SANDERS STRATEGY
Throughout the alleged Podesta emails, aides debate tactics against Clintons main 2016 primary rival, Sanders. Carrk forwarded a 71-page, nearly 50,000-word opposition research file on Oct. 28, 2015, picking apart nearly every policy and position of Sanders. Attached are some hits that could either be written or deployed during the next debate on Sanders, Carrk wrote.
On Jan.6, campaign adviser Mandy Grunwald and Palmieri debated how to respond to Sanders attacks on Clintons ties to Wall Street.
I liked messing with Bernie on wall street at a staff level for the purposes of muddying the waters and throwing them off their game a bit, Palmieri wrote. But dont know that it is most effective contrast for her. Seems like we are picking the fight he wants to have.
Grunwald replied: Bernie wants a fight on a Wall Street. We should not give him one.
ALLIES' SUPPORT FOR ISIS?
An alleged email sent from Hillary Clinton's account to Podesta on Aug. 17, 2014, noted that ISIS was receiving financial and logistical support from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to [ISIS] and other radical Sunni groups in the region, the email said.
It's unclear whether the email was actually authored by Clinton.
The Clinton campaign, meanwhile, has blasted WikiLeaks over the release, while ramping up its accusations that the group is working with the Russian government.
"It is absolutely disgraceful that the Trump campaign is cheering on a release today engineered by Vladimir Putin to interfere in this election, and this comes after Donald Trump encouraged more espionage over the summer and continued to deny the hack even happened at Sunday's debate," spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. "The timing shows you that even Putin knows Trump had a bad weekend and a bad debate. The only remaining question is why Donald Trump continues to make apologies for the Russians."
Billy Bush allegedly boasted about the now-infamous Donald Trump hot mic tape to NBC staffers as far back as August. But it still took nearly two months and a leak to the Washington Post for the politically damaging footage to see the light of day.
So did the network sit on it?
The now-suspended Today show host told colleagues during the Olympics in Rio that there was a tape of [Republican presidential nominee] Trump being a real dog, The New York Post reported on Monday. Staffers at Access Hollywood, the show Bush co-hosted in 2005 when the crude tape was recorded, reportedly began trying to track down the recording after Bushs brag. Bush did not tell NBC News executives about the tape, The New York Post reported.
If he knew about the tape, and remembered the full extent of such explosive conversation with a presidential candidate and didnt disclose that to NBC News, that is a very, very serious problem, a source told The New York Post.
It's unclear who else at NBC may have been aware of the tape.
NBC News higher-ups first learned of the Trump-Bush footage on Oct. 3, The Washington Post reported. But neither the NBC News division nor Access Hollywood immediately broke the story, as corporate lawyers examined the vulgar video. On Friday, with the tape still under wraps at NBC, the video was leaked to The Washington Post, which took just five hours to vet the footage before posting a story about it.
Trumps 11-year-old comments describing his attempts to sleep with a married woman and crudely boasting that he could do what he wanted to women because he was a star even "grab them by the p---y" -- immediately set off a public firestorm, with several GOP lawmakers condemning Trump or un-endorsing him altogether.
One prominent Republican, however, questioned the timing of the release, which came just two days before the second presidential debate.
NBC had tape 11 yrs., tweeted Sen. Ted Cruz, a chief primary rival of Trump who had recently endorsed the businessmans White House bid. Apprentice producer says they have more & worse. So why not release in 2015? In March? Why wait till October?
NBC had tape 11 yrs. Apprentice producer says they have more & worse. So why not release in 2015? In March? Why wait till October? #MSMBias https://t.co/WCEEHhZKd6 Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 9, 2016
Cruz hashtagged the tweet #MSMBias for mainstream media bias.
Shortly after the presidential candidates name-dropped Abraham Lincoln in their Sunday night debate, historians have announced that a rare letter written by the man who would become our nations 16th president is for sale.
The date on the letter: Nov. 3, 1859, less than 2 years before Lincoln was elected commander in chief.
He wrote to a man named Peachy Quinn Harrison, who came from a Republican family in Pleasant Plains, Illinois, and stood trial for murdering a rival from a family of Democrats. Lincoln, a lawyer at the time, had joined the defense team, and Harrison was ultimately acquitted.
In his letter, written after the trial, Lincoln urged Harrison to get involved in the political process, and to use his youth to his advantage.
A young man, before the enemy has learned to watch him, can do more than any other. Pitch and try, he wrote.
Lincoln also urged Harrison to join the political campaign of John M. Palmer the lead prosecutor in Harrisons case. Lincoln and Palmer were friends when they werent sparring in court, historians said.
The Raab Collection announced the letter was for sale. Its price tag: $40,000.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump referenced Lincoln during the second presidential debate. When asked by moderator Martha Raddatz about her supposed public and private positions, Clinton responded, President Lincoln was trying to convince some people, he used some arguments, convincing other people, he used other arguments.
Donald Trumps response: Honest Abe never lied. Thats the good thing. Thats the big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you.
Justice Clarence Thomas marks his 25th anniversary on the Supreme Court this month, and befitting the man, it likely will be a low-key affair.
But while Thomas has broken barriers his entire professional life without seeking the limelight, the 68-year-old justice is being conspicuously ignored by a powerful new showplace for black heritage. The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened last month in Washington and missing from the four floors of exhibits is any reference to Thomas' personal and judicial legacy, shocking for perhaps the second most powerful black political figure in America, after President Obama.
"Justice Thomas is the longest-serving black justice in our history, he's amassed over 500 opinions," said Mark Paoletta, a longtime friend who helped shepherd his nomination as a White House lawyer. "And yet you would learn nothing of that in this museum, and that's a shame."
What the museum does have is a prominent display of Anita Hill, who accused Thomas of creating a hostile work environment while her supervisor at a federal agency. She outlined her allegations during Thomas' 1991 confirmation hearings, and the candid discussion rocked the nation.
The museum panel has a picture of Hill speaking, with the caption, "Her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee provoked serious debates on sexual harassment, race loyalty, and gender roles."
Another section notes, "Outraged by Hill's treatment by the all-male Senate committee, women's groups organized campaigns to elect more women to public office." The exhibit also includes a pink button from the era: "I believe Anita Hill."
But it contains no pictures, quotes or memorabilia from the justice himself.
Thomas strongly denied Hills allegations and, a quarter-century ago Tuesday, told the senators and the nation what he thought of the personal political attacks on him.
"This is a circus. It's a national disgrace, he said. And from my standpoint, as a black American, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves ... and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you."
Smithsonian officials did not respond to specific requests for comment on the Thomas omission.
But Dr. Rex Ellis, associate director for Curatorial Affairs at the museum, told Fox News Chief Political Anchor Bret Baier last month that overall, curators tried to present a broad sweep of representation for a diverse, vibrant community.
"African Americans have been a part of the discussion of what the Constitution means, of what the Bill of Rights means and of what the laws that we have sort of made for our country mean as we go through time," Ellis said. "The Smithsonian has had a reputation for years of being a convener of bringing disparate groups and opinions and ideas together to talk about and to grapple with in ways that are beneficial."
Dahleen Glanton, a Chicago Tribune columnist, wrote, "Like it or not, Thomas is a historical icon. He deserves a prominent spot. If this acclaimed museum is to tell the true story of the African-American journey, it cannot sugarcoat the course."
Sources close to Thomas say the memories of his wrenching Senate confirmation in October 1991 are not forgotten by any means, but the experience, they say, has given him a greater appreciation of the unique role he now occupies.
Critics of the museum slight say it is especially glaring considering Thomas' own experiences with discrimination -- both before and during the modern civil rights movement.
The Georgia native was nominated to the high court by President George H.W. Bush to replace an icon -- Justice Thurgood Marshall. There were concerns raised by both Republicans and Democrats over whether Thomas would become the ideological opposite of the civil rights legend, since he had barely a year of judicial experience before being tapped for the Supreme Court.
Many people may not remember there were actually two Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Thomas. The first session went pretty much to form, and with little judicial record to go on, lawmakers found little about which to criticize the nominee.
Then Hill stepped forward. She was a lawyer who had been hired by Thomas to work in the Education Department and later at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which he headed in the Reagan years.
She claimed Thomas made sexually suggestive comments on the job. In stunning nationally televised testimony, the poised Hill offered lurid details and called Thomas' alleged actions "behavior that is unbefitting an individual who will be a member of the court."
The allegations were never proven, and Thomas was confirmed by the Senate 52-48 -- the narrowest margin for a high court pick in a century.
For most Americans, Thomas slipped into virtual anonymity after he took his judicial oath. He shuns interviews and rarely speaks during arguments. In fact, he spoke up this year in a public case for the first time in years.
Behind the closed marble hallways of the court, Thomas is well known for his booming voice, hearty laugh and personable manner. Colleagues say they are amazed he seems to know every one of the several hundred employees by name, as well as their families.
"There are a lot of people who don't like the fact that he breaks their expectations," said Carrie Severino, chief counsel at the Judicial Crisis network and a former Thomas law clerk. "You know, he's his own man among conservatives."
This means Thomas often is a lone dissenter in cases big and small, ranging from state-federal authority to executive immunity to regulation.
His supporters say the Smithsonian snub is in some ways predictable, a reflection of the reality that many within the black community remain uncomfortable with his role on the bench.
"Clarence Thomas has his own views -- that's his sin. He believes in individual rights, not group rights. That's led him to oppose racial preferences, and for that he's banished" at the museum, said Paoletta, who also created the justicethomas.com tribute website.
Fox News Shannon Bream contributed to this report.
Leaked emails purportedly from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta include a message from Hillary Clintons account claiming the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL.
The email to Podesta then counselor to President Obama -- argued that the U.S. needs to put pressure on the U.S. allies, accusing them of backing the Islamic State and other radical jihadist groups in the Middle East.
[W]e need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region, the email, part of a trove of documents posted by WikiLeaks, said.
First reported by The Daily Caller, the claim is part of a lengthy nine-point plan to defeat the terror group in Iraq and Syria. The plan argues that the U.S. should back Kurdish forces on the ground, with U.S. military advisers, while avoiding the use of ground troops.
The Qataris and Saudis will be put in a position of balancing policy between their ongoing competition to dominate the Sunni world and the consequences of serious U.S. pressure, the email said.
It is unclear whether Clinton personally authored the memo.
The message is unlike typical emails written by Clinton, which are normally in a more casual style and often very brief.
As the Caller notes, the style is similar to that of memos Clinton received from longtime adviser Sidney Blumenthal -- who would frequently email lengthy policy memos to the former secretary of state.
The email in question did not include any markings to indicate Blumenthal authored the memo -- but also did not include Clinton's name at the end of it.
The leak comes less than two weeks after Congress overrode a presidential veto of a bill that allows families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government. The legislation has stoked diplomatic tensions with the Saudi government.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus reportedly has told party members the RNC maintains a great relationship with Donald Trump, in the wake of dozens of GOP lawmakers abandoning their presidential nominee -- though the RNC has yet to publicly announce its full-fledged support.
The discussions follow the release Friday of a 2005 audiotape in which Trump could be heard bragging about having enough star power to kiss and grope women without consent.
Within hours, Republican congressional leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, were denouncing the lewd comments. Ryan then took the unprecedented step Monday of saying he would no longer defend or campaign with Trump, which resulted in a backlash from some Trump-supporting lawmakers.
Preibus, though, assured the RNCs roughly 160 members about continued Trump support in a separate weekend conference call, according to several news reports.
Priebus reportedly told members that nothing has changed.
"I want to make it very clear that the RNC is in full coordination with the Trump campaign and we have a great relationship with them," Priebus said in the call, according to NBC News, which says it has an audiotape of the call.
A source told FoxNews.com on Tuesday that the RNC does not intend to publicly announce related plans.
On Monday, a group of Trump supporters staged a protest outside the RNCs headquarters on Capitol Hill, which resulted in the firing of the chairman of Trumps Virginia campaign, Corey Stewart.
Trump was silent on the issue Monday on the campaign trail. But on Tuesday he attacked Ryan and suggested the he has become unburdened by the split with at least some of the GOP establishment.
Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty, Trump said in a series of tweets.
It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to, he said in another.
Roughly two dozen GOP senators and House members have followed Ryan in abandoning Trump, which has resulted in scorn from several outspoken members.
We need to get on board. Its all in or nothing, Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert told Fox News on Tuesday.
He also said 11 House members have defected.
A Russian woman who accused former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer of assaulting her was arrested Monday for trying to extort money from him, police said.
Svetlana Zakharova, 26, was arrested in New York City and charged with grand larceny extortion. She was also charged with forgery in an unrelated case in which police said she used a 67-year-old New Jersey mans information and signed a lease agreement that cost him $18,000.
The woman had fled the country after accusing Spitzer in February of assaulting her in a room at The Plaza Hotel, an allegation his attorney said was false, created by someone with emotional difficulties.
Attorney Adam Kaufmann said at the time that the woman phoned Spitzer from California, where she had been living, to say she was returning to her native Russia via New York. The two agreed to meet at The Plaza Hotel.
"And they had a brief and amicable conversation, and then Mr. Spitzer left," Kaufmann said. But she called a few hours later and asked that he return to the room, where she had become "highly emotional and was threatening self- harm," he said.
The woman called 911, saying she had cut herself and was distraught and having a breakdown, two law enforcement officials told AP. She called back and tried to cancel the emergency call, but police were already en route, she said.
When police arrived they noticed the woman had a cut on her arm and took her to a hospital. There, she told doctors that Spitzer had choked and shoved her, the officials said.
She did not want to press charges, and left on a flight to Russia the next day, one official and Kaufmann said.
No charges were ever filed against Spitzer in the case.
Police did not say Monday night how much Zakharova was allegedly trying to extort from him. It was not immediately known if she has an attorney who can comment on the charges.
Zakharova is scheduled to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.
Spitzer, a Democrat, resigned in 2008 amid revelations that he had sex with prostitutes. He was named as a prostitution ring patron during a federal investigation, but was not charged.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Donald Trump lashed out Tuesday at House Speaker Paul Ryan and others in the so-called Republican establishment for distancing themselves from his campaign over lewd comments he made about women in a decade-old tape.
With four weeks to go until Election Day, Trump fired off a blizzard of tweets Tuesday morning suggesting he doesn't need them -- responding to Ryan telling House Republicans a day earlier he would no longer campaign with or defend Trump.
Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty, Trump wrote as he kicked off the series of tweets.
The Republican nominee went on to say that "the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to," and that "Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!
A Ryan spokesperson said in a statement: "Paul Ryan is focusing the next month on defeating Democrats, and all Republicans running for office should probably do the same."
The tensions follow the release last week of a 2005 audiotape in which Trump can be heard bragging about having enough celebrity power to kiss and grope woman without their permission.
Trump repeatedly apologized over the weekend, including during his debate Sunday night with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But aside from Ryan's comments, several GOP lawmakers defected from Trump in the wake of the footage.
Members on the call with Ryan described tense exchanges. The call lasted for about 45 minutes, before abruptly ending.
However, the Republican National Committee has pledged its continued support.
Some of the GOPs most conservative lawmakers also continue to back Trump and chastise those who have abandoned him.
We have to get on board. Its all in or nothing, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who was on Ryan's call, told Fox News on Tuesday.
A House Divided: The rift between @realDonaldTrump and @SpeakerRyan boils over w/ Trump now vowing to "fight for America the way I want to" pic.twitter.com/5FZqkkUzs2 Fox News Research (@FoxNewsResearch) October 11, 2016
He said 11 House members are with Ryan, whom Gohmert also lambasted for saying his focus is now on ensuring that Clinton doesnt enter the White House with Democrats having taken control of the House, too.
Its not going to happen, said Gohmert, arguing the Republicans now control the House and Senate but have not effectively stopped the Obama administrations agenda.
Another House member on the call said outspoken California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher called Republican leaders "cowards.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
After 48 hours of sheer media hell, Donald Trump lived to fight another day.
And all of the pundits and news organizations that filled the airwaves and websites with speculative chatter about whether he might drop out are looking a little silly today. That was never going to happen.
Nor, as it turned out, was Mike Pence leaving the ticket or Kellyanne Conway quitting the campaign.
Conway, in fact, tweeted this in response to CNN reported that Pence never considered bowing out: So, this actually ISN'T #BreakingNews unless you'd convinced yourself rumor, innuendo, conspiracy & the telephone game are news.
Sitting there in St. Louis about 20 minutes into the ugly opening of the debate, I didnt think things looked good for Trump. Having endured virtually nonstop covering of the decade-old Access Hollywood tape in which he boasted of being a celebrity who could grope womens genitals at will, the Republican nominee staged a bizarre, dimly lit news conference with Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick, and then brought Broaddrick to the debate. The message to Hillary Clintonyour husbands sexual misconduct is worse than my sexual embarrassmentsseemed to accomplish little more than dragging the evening into the gutter.
Sure, Trumps supporters must have cheered at seeing him try to pivot from apologizing for what he called locker room talk to an attack on the Clintons characterbut its not clear how that approach would attract new voters to Trumps cause.
Still, he battled his way to a strong performance in the rest of the debate, and Clinton spent much time on the defensive as the focus shifted to her record. Plus, she had used most of her ammunition in the first debate, so her attacks sounded a bit more rehearsed.
Even an over-the-top verbal assaultTrump not only vowing to name a special prosecutor to pursue Clinton but snapping that if he won she would be in jaildid little to derail him, except among critics in the media.
But Trumps off-the-mat performance failed to stem the tide of criticism from big-name Republicans who had been abandoning him in droves over the weekend. Word quickly leaked when Paul Ryan held a GOP conference call that he would no longer defend Trump but would concentrate on saving the partys House majority. The P-word tape had finally pushed the speaker, with his tepid backing of Trump, to cancel a weekend appearance and bail on the standard-bearer.
Trump fired back on Twitter: Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee.
Such intramural sniping took the gloss off what should have been a good morning-after for Trump. Some Republicans are furious at Ryan for making the story about him and undercutting the only nominee the party has. Others say the party is smart to try to contain the down-ballot damage and wonder how many lawmakers will follow Ryan. A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll taken after the Access Hollywood flapbut before Sundays debategives Clinton a 46-35 lead over Trump.
Trump, of course, is here because he ran against the entire Republican establishment and beat 16 contenders. Now he may finish the race the way he started it, on his own.
The U.S. is weighing what military response it should take against Yemen-based Houthi rebels, who U.S. officials say launched two missiles at American warships in the Red Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. is still investigating the unprecedented incident, including the exact location of the missile launches. Asked if the U.S. was developing targets for a possible retaliatory strike, he said he could not confirm that.
"Those things are things that we're looking at," Davis told Pentagon reporters. "We want very much to get to the bottom of what happened. We're going to find out who did this and we'll take action accordingly."
He added that "we will make sure that anybody who interferes with freedom of navigation or anybody who puts U.S. Navy ships at risk understands that they do so at their own peril."
U.S. officials believe Iranian-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, launched variants of the so-called Silkworm missile at the USS Mason and the USS Ponce. Both missiles fell harmlessly into the water. The Silkworm is a type of coastal defense cruise missile that Iran has been known to use.
Davis said the missiles were fired from Houthi-held territory on the Yemen coast.
This was the first time that U.S. ships were targeted by a missile launch from Yemen. Last week, an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.
Davis said the commander of the USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyer, believed the initial missile was a threat to his ship or to the USS Ponce, an amphibious warship accompanying the USS Mason. The USS Mason took defensive action against the first missile, but Davis would not say exactly what countermeasure or weapon was used.
It wasn't clear if the ship's defensive attack took down the missile or if it simply fell into the water. The second missile fell into the water before any countermeasures were used.
Davis said the USS Mason didn't launch a counteroffensive against the Houthis, but he would not go into a detailed explanation, saying that military rules of engagement are classified. The U.S., however, requires significant analysis before launching strikes on a location where there could be innocent civilians.
The Houthi-controlled SABA news agency of Yemen quoted an anonymous army official denying its forces fired on the USS Mason, without elaborating.
The missile attacks came on the heels of two other attacks against Saudi sites. A ballistic missile fired from Yemen apparently targeted a Saudi air base near the Muslim holy city of Mecca, the deepest strike yet into the kingdom by Shiite rebels and their allies. The rebels fired another two missiles into the Saudi Jizan region along the border on Monday, wounding two foreigners who worked there, the local civil defense said in a statement.
The Houthis and their allies have offered no reason for the launches, though they came after a Saudi-led airstrike targeting a funeral in Yemen's capital killed more than 140 people and wounded 525 on Saturday.
The deliberations about how to retaliate to the missile launches come as the U.S. considers withdrawing its support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis following Saturday's airstrike on the funeral and other troubling incidents of civilian casualties as a result of the Saudi bombing campaign.
Human rights groups have expressed outrage over the deaths and accused the U.S. of complicity, leading the White House to say it was conducting a "review" to ensure U.S. cooperation with longtime partner Saudi Arabia is in line with "U.S. principles, values and interests."
Experts are warning there could be a Titanic-style disaster and serious environmental damage unless controls are brought in for cruise ships in the Arctic Ocean.
The first luxury ship sailed through the Arctic's remote Northwest Passage this summer, prompting fears more could follow suit before safety concerns have been addressed.
Some 1,700 passengers paid a minimum of $19,755 for a berth on the Crystal Serenity, which left Anchorage in Alaska on 15 August.
It cruised through the Passage along the northern coast of North America, before docking in New York a month later. There is no port on the journey between Alaska and Greenland.
The ship, owned by American operator Crystal Cruises, traversed an isolated route first navigated by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1903.
Although climate change means the region is iceberg free in summer, two shipping executives fear a disaster unless guidelines are brought in to protect passengers and the environment
Tero Vauraste, boss of Finnish shipping firm Arctia, warned there would be little authorities could do if a ship got into distress there, due to the lack of infrastructure.
"The Northwest Passage is thousands and thousands of nautical miles with absolutely nothing," he said.
"Navigation in icy waters is made more difficult by poor satellite imagery. An ice field might move at a speed of 4-5 knots, but a ship will receive a satellite picture of it that is 10-20 hours old.
"There is a need to discuss possible regulation so we must do everything we can do to prevent this."
Click for more from Sky News.
The creative spirit of Nashville, Tennessee, home to the Grand Ole Opry and the legendary Music Row, embodies more than just honky-tonks, cowboy hats and guitars. The city is fueled by music -- an industry that brings in $10 billion a year.
The Nashville Entrepreneur Center, home to Project Music, is a tech accelerator for music ventures backed by some of the biggest names in the industry. Among seven startups it backed last year, Dart Distribution raised $1.5 million to begin a distribution platform for classical composers. KaraoQ developed an app that ties into point-of-sale systems to help venues organize song requests. And Remix Hits created a platform with which producers can remix licensed music and compensate whoever owns the rights.
Nashville is hardly alone when it comes to the exciting (and lucrative) stuff happening in the space where music and technology converge -- along with the millennials who follow both. This space is creating thrilling new opportunities on which artists and entrepreneurs can collaborate. In fact, entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the marriage between music and technology to build their businesses, brands and reach.
You could be one of them -- regardless of your home base. Here's how.
Related: These Startups Will Help You Get Your Daily Music Fix
How startups are rocking music and technology
As a musician and an entrepreneur myself, I know how tough it can be to stand out from hundreds of other hopefuls. But, having stood on both sides of each industry, Ive also noticed which strategies the most successful companies use. Here are three ways you can use music and technology to help grow your startup:
1. Get inside millennials' heads through music.
New technology is opening up doors for fans to interact with musicians in more tangible ways, which means more opportunities for both entrepreneurs and artists. To illustrate: Ever since my band, Half the Animal, was included on musical.lys The Most Popular page and featured in the Hottest section on Ditty (both top 10 music apps), weve seen greater interaction with millennials, and our social media engagement rates have skyrocketed.
To succeed with millennials, you have to adapt to the generational shift happening, in the way they consume, listen and engage with music. You can engage them on their own turf by incorporating music into your startups marketing initiatives by finding a publisher with a music library that suits your needs, then licensing music that will appeal to them.
After you find just the right music to enhance your special event or advertising campaign, you can license that song to launch a new product, such as Jeep did with the song Renegades -- the ideal tune to capture millennial hearts with its message which echoes Jeep's that its new vehicle is perfect for adventure.
When younger fans see you supporting their favorite artists, they'll know your startup shares their values. And this will help them form an instant emotional connection with your company.
Related: Tap the Millennial Market by Using Music as Your Medium
2. Exploit technology to make beautiful music together.
The production, distribution and consumption of music went digital long ago, but its taken a while for the business end to catch up. Entrepreneurs in this space are using technology to exploit new ways of doing business to make life easier for people.
Artists and others who straddle these two worlds are wisely capitalizing on an opportunity to help support more successful digital music partnerships -- such as the ones that exist between entrepreneurs and artists looking to license their music.
Jordan Young (a.k.a. DJ Swivel), for example, is the pioneering mastermind behind SKIO Music, a venture that helps artists and labels use digital technology to make licensing transparent.
Artists have been making a big chunk of their income from licensing for some time. Now, SKIO makes it easy for them to engage in direct licensing deals, receive secure payments and access collaboration tools. If you want to capture a piece of the coveted millennial market for your own company, check out services such as SKIO's to license music that aligns well with your startups marketing initiatives.
3. Promote influential artists to sell your startup to their concert-loving fans.
The best resources for using new music to market your startup to a younger generation are the playlists of millennials. Some 80 percent of that age group have agreed, on surveys, that live music events are the best way for brands to interact with them. As an entrepreneur, you could take advantage of that preference by hiring a popular artist to perform at a launch party or other event.
Even big-name luxury brands such as Burberry are turning themselves into concert venues to engage the exclusively digital millennial demographic. Follow its lead by inviting emerging local artists to produce live-session music videos, using your startups location as a set, then uploading the videos to their platforms.
Related: Why Your Brand Should Be Headlining Summertimes Regional Music Festivals
The best part about such arrangements is that they create a mutually beneficial relationship for both artists and startups. By sponsoring live-session videos or local music festivals, you not only get exposure for playing a role in beloved experiential events, but influential artists also help out with your promotional effort: You can help them back by pushing the streaming video in their online content.
Music and technology have a lot in common. Theyre creative industries that rely on smart, wildly experimental people to keep a constant stream of ideas flowing. The explosion of digital technology provides a great opportunity for these two worlds to unite and keep growing together in endlessly innovative ways.
Across the country, home buyers are experiencing the effects of last decades housing crash, as builders in many places hesitantly return to new construction. Supplies have improved in 21 of the 100 largest markets, but experts believe it will be six months to a year before many other areas begin to see improvement.
Here are six regions where the growth of new construction is so painfully slow it simply doesn't keep up with the demand. People in these areas are struggling because the housing shortage has been made worse by a very healthy tech economy. All of these regions could be in danger of losing large numbers of longtime residents, and in some cases already have.
1. San Francisco Bay area
The crisis in the Bay Area has reached such epic proportions, the Obama Administration has even called for more housing there. The large number of tech headquarters in the area has created a population boom that has added to an already bustling region. The city at the center of it all, San Francisco, consistently ranks atop lists of cities with the highest-paying salaries, which has driven housing prices up. Only 11 percent of households in the San Francisco area can afford houses in the city, creating a serious problem for the majority of people who dont work for tech companies.
One of the odder developments in this ongoing drama is the citys recent and slightly bizarre exploration of annexing the small town of Brisbane just to its south. That town planned on approving a massive commercial development that would not feature any housing. San Francisco city officials werent happy because the city would probably be forced to provide most of the housing for workers in the new development. Top officials wanted to explore somehow taking over the small town. Cooler heads prevailed and now Brisbane and San Francisco are working on a compromise that will feature housing. It shows just how big of an issue housing supply has become.
Meanwhile, the ongoing San Francisco exodus has resulted in migrations of top tech talent to Portland, Seattle, Austin, Los Angeles and dozens of other tech hubs all over the country, not to mention Oakland and other cities in the East Bay.
Related: San Francisco Rent Is So Insane, This Guy Lives in a Box for $508 a Month
2. New York metropolitan area
Like many areas with housing shortages, New York City is seeing increasing rent prices. Although the Big Apple has always had a high cost of living, residents are drawn there due to its world famous 24-hour lifestyle, economic opportunities and availability of high-level, specialized jobs. A large number of wealthy individuals from all over the world have moved their money into real estate, especially in Manhattan, driving up costs for whatever is left.
The city has also become a serious contender in tech in the last several years, thanks in large part to growing industries like FinTech and FashionTech. As perhaps the worlds leading financial center, New York is a hub for venture capital and the startup founders seeking it. All of this only compounds the existing problem with high rents in the city, because tech workers earn the salaries to afford the fewer units that are available in the most desirable areas.
Related: Game Changer: The First 3-D Printed House Is Coming
3. Dallas-Plano-Irving
This area of Texas was described as overheated in a recent survey. Dallas-Plano-Irving was accused of being one of the worst housing markets in the country because of rising costs, a shortage of properties, and the areas overall economic conditions. The low price of oil has contributed to a struggling energy economy in parts the Lone Star State, with more than 30 energy company bankruptcies in recent years. The sad fact is fewer people can afford somewhere to live in Dallas and surrounding cities.
The success of the states technology sector has contributed to this situation as well. When it comes to tech jobs, the Dallas Metroplex is fifth in the country, with even more jobs added last year. While this has helped improve the areas overall economic outlook, it hasnt helped with the housing crunch, as workers have come along and snapped up new homes, leaving prices higher.
Related: 3 Alternative Tech Startup Cities With Less Traffic, More Housing (Infographic)
4. Atlanta metropolitan area
One study ranked Atlantas housing shortage as worst in the country, with inventory well below normal levels. Tech sector growth in the area has been one of the driving forces as it continues to recover from the recession, but homes are still within an affordable range for big cities. Those prices are on the rise, though, with many of the new developments in the city qualifying as luxury. This may be affordable to tech workers choosing to relocate to the area, but it brings bad news to Atlanta-area residents who make average salaries in non-tech areas.
5. South Florida
Nearly 40 percent of working households in the Miami area devote at least half of their monthly income to housing. This, combined with an affordable housing shortage in the area, has made it difficult for lower-to-middle-income residents to find housing. South Florida has turned to tech as an answer to its employment woes, working to attract more tech jobs to the area, which it is hoped will benefit the local economy.
6. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
Like Silicon Valley, the Seattle area is drawing tech companies and their workers, creating a demand for housing. Unfortunately, the existing shortage of housing in the area means that many new arrivals face similar problems to what theyd find in San Francisco. Condo prices in Seattle have already shot up 21 percent this year due to the influx of tech workers. This trend is only expected to increase, partly because the areas housing prices are still lower than what youd find in Silicon Valley.
While homebuilders nationwide are rushing to fulfill demand, those who are thinking about selling their homes often wait because they realize that if they sell they wont be able to find anything affordable in their city, if they want to stay. Gradually, the national housing inventory is improving in many areas, but thats complicated by the rise in technology jobs around the country. As companies pick certain cities for their headquarters or other offices, it brings an influx of tech workers who can handle the increased housing prices. That leaves thousands of non-tech residents behind in the search for an affordable place to live.
Relieved parents dropped their children off at Chicago schools on Tuesday morning after the Chicago Teachers Union and the nation's third-largest school district averted a strike with a late-night tentative contract agreement.
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said at a news conference late Monday that after more than a year of negotiations, the two sides had hammered out an agreement that isn't perfect but is good for students, teachers and the city. The deal still must be approved by the union's House of Delegates and all roughly 28,000 members, a process that could take weeks.
"There will be classes in the morning," she said. "It wasn't easy, as you all know ... We're very pleased we were able to come to this tentative agreement."
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the proposal ensures teachers are respected and "appropriately rewarded," while strengthening CPS finances and reassuring parents and taxpayers that the two sides are able to work together. There was no immediate information about how much the deal would cost or how the financially struggling district would pay for it.
"Students across Chicago will be in school this morning and on the path to a stronger and brighter future," Emanuel said at an early Tuesday news conference at City Hall.
Michael Cleveland said he had been convinced that there would be a strike Tuesday. Dropping his 6- and 8-year-old daughters off at Ronald E. McNair Elementary School on the city's West Side, he said he was still angry with city officials -- including Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool.
"They know there are kids involved and they know the teachers do all they can," Cleveland said, adding that he felt the politicians were putting teachers "through this for no reason."
The four-year proposal includes cost-of-living increases of 2 percent in the third year and 2.5 percent in the fourth year. It doesn't require current teachers to pay more toward their pensions -- a change CPS had been seeking and the union rejected earlier this year -- but future CPS hires would have to pick up that additional pension cost.
The tentative agreement also addresses class sizes for younger grades by assigning an assistant to any class with more than 32 students.
CPS has nearly 400,000 students.
On a recent Thursday afternoon at Ohio State University, about 30 students sit in a classroom listening to instructor Kipp Pietrantonio lecture. Imagine you were just handed your physics test, what would happen? he asks.
You sweat, calls out one student.
Your heart starts racing, says a young woman.
You get jittery, answers another.
It is a meeting of the twice weekly Beating Anxiety workshop and Dr. Pietrantonio is a clinical psychologist who works at the universitys counseling center. The workshop advises students to tackle anxiety by exercising, getting enough sleep and reframing catastrophic thoughts (if my friend doesnt text me back right away, she hates me) in more logical ways (maybe shes studying) among other strategies.
It is one part of Ohio States effort to cope with the dramatic increase in the number of its 59,000 students on the Columbus campus seeking help for mental-health issues.
Ohio State has seen a 43% jump in the past five years in the number of students being treated at the universitys counseling center. At the University of Central Florida in Orlando, the increase has been about 12% each year over the past decade. At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, demand for counseling-center services has increased by 36% in the last seven years.
Nationwide, 17% of college students were diagnosed with or treated for anxiety problems during the past year, and 13.9% were diagnosed with or treated for depression, according to a spring 2016 survey of 95,761 students by the American College Health Association. That is up from 11.6% for anxiety and 10.7% for depression in the spring 2011 survey. Counseling centers say they are also seeing more serious illnesses, including an uptick in the number of students coming to college with long psychiatric histories.
It is unclear why the rates of mental-health problems seem to be increasing among college students. Therapists point to everything from the economy and rising cost of tuition to the impact of social media and a so-called helicopter-parenting style that doesnt allow adolescents to experience failure. Students are overwhelmed with stress, says Micky M. Sharma, director of Ohio States Student Life Counseling and Consultation Service. The coping, the resiliency is not where we want it to be. Thats a bad combination.
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Understanding and using the difference between external and internal links strategically as part of your overall digital marketing plan is an important part of SEO. Each type of link has its place in a strategic SEO plan aimed at boosting your position on the search engine results page.
Related: 5 Creative Link-Building Techniques For Your Website
External or internal links: What's the difference?
External links point from one domain to an entirely separate domain. They may be links from your website to another website to provide additional information for readers, or they may be links from your website to an affiliate program. Links from other sites into yours can also be called external links, although the preferred term is inbound links, to distinguish them from links youve added to your own site that connect to other sites.
Internal links only point within your own specific website or domain. The menu bar at the top of your site includes internal links. Links from pages on your site to your contact page are another simple example of internal links.
In summary:
External = links that point to a separate domain
Internal = links that point to content within the same domain
Using external and internal links for SEO
Both external and internal links have a place in an SEO plan. Heres how you can use them strategically.
Related: 5 Reasons You Aren't Earning Enough Links
External links can build visibility. External links from other websites into your content are a great source of free traffic as well as an important component of Googles search engine algorithm. The quality and the quantity of links count. For example, links from poor-quality sites can actually have negative consequences.
To encourage links into your own website, add rich, relevant content to your site. Develop an outreach program offering to guest post on other sites in your niche in exchange for a link into your own site. Other ways to encourage inbound links or external links into your site include adding link-embedded infographics with HTML code that can be copied and used on other sites, direct requests to webmasters to add links and more.
External links may help readers more than you. Links that point to someone elses site are a great benefit for your readers, but add little in terms of strategic SEO value. These links may connect readers to resources such as products or information you deem valuable. But keep in mind that, in that case, the SEO benefits accrue for the website you link to, not your own.
Internal links can build your SEO. Internal links confer several SEO benefits. When search engine spiders find your site, they follow links to discover additional pages on your site. They follow these link webs so that they can discover and archive as many relevant pages as they can on one visit.
Sure, you can leave pages unlinked to others on your site and hope that the search engines will find each page. But that may take weeks, even months, for them to get to your page. With millions of new web pages added daily, those spiders are quite busy.
Internal links also form the structure of your website. A logical linking structure is both visually appealing and effective. It helps organize the content on your site and helps visitors find information quickly. Common page elements, a concise menu bar, and natural page links sprinkled throughout your site help both readers and search engines find your content.
Find and fix broken links
One thing that will detract from your SEO score are broken links. These are links that no longer work. They may no longer work because the target website for an external link is offline, or a page has moved. One or two broken links probably wont impact your rankings, but multiple broken links may harm them.
Regardless of their impact on search traffic, broken links lead to a poor reading experience and decreased traffic. Its a good idea to identify and fix them to improve your website.
To find and fix broken links, use tools such as Broken Link Checker. Its a free tool that simply scans your site to find broken links. You then go into each page, find the link and remove or fix it.
Related Book: Ultimate Guide to Link Building by Eric Ward and Garrett French | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble
Links are only the start
SEO experts estimate that there are between 100 and 200 elements that Google and other search engines consider as part of their algorithm to calculate your site's position on search engine results pages. Internal and external links are a small, but important, part of this exercise, in the big scheme of things.
It may take time to build your links and fix any that are broken, but all of your efforts will pay off in the long run by a boost in traffic and position on the SERPS. And that makes the effort worth it.
Conservative groups are speaking out against the latest H&M clothing ad, titled "She's a Lady," which shows two teenage girls kissing.
One Million Moms Director Monica Cole wrote in an article for the American Family Association that her organization "is not sure of H&M clothing company's thought process behind their new television ad, but if they are attempting to offend customers and families, they have succeeded."
Cole described the ad in question: "H&M's newest 'She's a Lady' commercial includes ... a woman wearing skimpy lingerie and ends with two teenage girls kissing while underwater. Parents find this type of advertising inappropriate and unnecessary especially since H&M's target market is teens."
MailOnline reports that the clothing company's ad includes American transgender model Hari Nef, along with British-Ghanaian model Adwoa Aboah, who is the founder of Gurls Talk, a platform for discussing social justice, feminism and gender equality.
An H&M spokesman argued that the video segments seek to portray the diversity among modern women.
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A lawyer for the Turkish government hired to investigate publicly funded U.S. charter schools started by the followers of a reclusive Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania is filing a formal complaint with Ohio's auditor.
Attorney Robert Amsterdam announced the complaint Tuesday, alleging that a network of Ohio charter schools has engaged in improper relationships with its management company and landlord, with their business subsidiaries and with each other.
The complaint also asserts that Horizon Science Academies and Noble Academies have ties to Fethullah Gulen (feh-TOO'-lah goo-LEHN'), a political foe of Turkish President Recep Erdogan (REH'-jehp UR'-doh-wahn).
A message seeking comment from the Chicago-based Concept Schools, which manage the Horizon and Noble academies, was not immediately returned.
Alamance County, N.C. Sheriffs deputies are searching for a man who allegedly abducted an 11-year-old girl while she was waiting for her school bus, and then drove off and sexually assaulted her, according to a news release.
Deputies with the Alamance County Sheriffs Office were advised that an 11-year-old girl had been abducted while waiting for the school bus. A boy who was present at the location witnessed the abduction.
The suspect was described as a white male, tall, possibly 35 to 45 years of age. He was wearing dark pants (possibly jogging pants) a gray, ribbed long-sleeve shirt, light brown boots and a red ball cap. He was also described as having light facial hair.
The suspect was driving a gray, 4-door vehicle, possibly a Buick or similar type vehicle. The car may have a sticker on the back that includes a skull.
Multiple sheriffs tried locate the suspect and victim. Surrounding agencies were notified of the descriptions.
At approximately 7:55 a.m., the victim returned to the scene, immediately approaching deputies. It was determined that a driver had been flagged down by the victim a short distance away who assisted her back to the scene.
The victim told authorities that after being abducted the suspect had driven to an area just inside Alamance County (near Orange County) where she was sexually assaulted.
Click for more from Fox 8.
The pilot of a small plane was hospitalized and a passenger was presumed dead after the aircraft crashed in East Hartford, Conn., authorities said Tuesday.
East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc said the plane was carrying a student pilot and an instructor when it crashed at approximately 3:40 p.m. local time. The plane struck a utility pole and wires, causing it to become engulfed in flames and knocking out power to approximately 500 people.
East Hartford Fire Chief John Oates said the pilot was transported to a local hospital with "significant" injuries. Oates added that it was a "safe assumption" that the plane's passenger was dead, but authorities could not yet reach the plane to confirm that.
Two people who were in a minivan near the crash site were also taken to a hospital after being "a little bit traumatized," Leclerc said. Neither person suffered any bodily harm.
Witnesses described a large explosion as the plane went down, with one comparing it to a "mushroom cloud."
"I saw the plane hit the power lines, go into a power pole and then hit just before a minivan and burst into flames," witness Frank Crandall told the Hartford Courant.
"Out of nowehere a plane crashed into the pole," Erick Zapata told the paper. "Pieces started flying everywhere ... I was nervous, I was shaking. It was crazy. I've never seen anything like it."
The crash occurred near the campus of Pratt & Whitney, a jet engine manufacturer. The company said in a statement that it did "not appear at this time that any Pratt & Whitney employees or contractors were involved."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) described the plane as a twin-engine Piper PA-34 that was approaching Hartford-Brainerd Airport, located across the Connecticut River from the crash site. The Courant reported that the plane had just taken off from the airport, but it was not clear where it was headed.
Click to read more from Fox 61.
The case of a man who spent 48 years as a fugitive before being found in a small Connecticut town is set to return to court, where officials are expected to place him under the supervision of a state parole officer.
A hearing is set for Tuesday in Danbury Superior Court in the case of 71-year-old Robert Stackowitz, who escaped a prison work camp in Carrolton, Georgia, in 1968 while serving a 17-year robbery sentence.
Stackowitz was arrested at his home in Sherman, Connecticut, in May after his Social Security application turned up an arrest warrant. He fought extradition to Georgia citing his deteriorating health, including heart failure and bladder cancer.
Georgia officials accepted a proposal to allow Stackowitz to remain at his home under the supervision of Connecticut authorities.
Police in the tiny town of Cherryvale, Kansas, looking to track down the owner of an abandoned gram of crystal meth have taken their case to social media.
A bag with methamphetamine was found Sept. 29 at a convenience store in the southeast Kansas community of about 2,300 people. So Cherryvale police politely posted about it on the department's Facebook page.
The post reads: "We are very concerned and would like to find the owner so please notify us and describe the packaging and we will see what we can do for you."
It's been shared nearly 1,700 times. But Police Chief Perry Lambert says no one has come forward as the owner of the illegal stimulant though he says he's hopeful.
A New York man who was fatally shot outside a South Beach cafe had advocated for years against guns and violence, according to former co-workers.
Lavon Walker, 30, of Brooklyn, New York, was shot twice early Sunday while standing on a sidewalk along Ocean Drive, Miami Beach police said.
Walker was pronounced dead at a Miami hospital, police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez told The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/2dhRXML ). No one else was injured.
Walker, a former outreach worker at the Crown Heights Mediation Center, had been on vacation in Florida, according the center's director.
"It was the anniversary of a family member's death. He was trying to get away for a little while," Amy Ellenbogen told the Herald.
Walker had volunteered for years with a New York group, Save Our Streets, which advocates against gun violence, Ellenbogen said.
A 2010 New York Times article quoted Walker as saying he was one of four volunteers who would speak with young people in areas where there had been shootings.
"We find out what their needs are, anything that's going to gear them or shift them to a different mentality toward gun violence," he told the Times. "We become like their bigger brothers, even closer than their fathers."
Walker told Al-Jazeera in 2014 that he volunteered because he had spent his youth selling drugs, robbing cars and stores and fighting with gang members. The Herald reported that Walker appeared to have no criminal history in New York, but any juvenile records would be sealed.
Police have not announced any arrests or motive in the shooting outside the News Cafe. The restaurant is infamous for being the site of fashion designer Gianni Versace's last meal in 1997 before he was murdered by a serial killer on the steps of his mansion a few blocks away.
Detectives have recovered a Jeep believed to be involved in the shooting, and they have detained "multiple persons of interest" in Miami who are cooperating with the investigation, Rodriguez said in an email on Tuesday.
Firefighters are crediting an 11-year-old Memphis boy with saving his family from a fire that broke out at their apartment.
#BREAKING: Family of 8 escapes burning Parkway Village apartment, thanks to an 11-year-old. https://t.co/HZb2b9JnN9 pic.twitter.com/QXepY5HDi8 WREG News Channel 3 (@3onyourside) October 11, 2016
Memphis Fire Lt. Wayne Cooke told WREG-TV that the boy heard the smoke detector going off about 1 a.m. and woke up the other seven members of his family. Cooke said the boy likely saved their lives.
When fire crews arrived at Ten Mile Creek Apartments a few minutes after the call came in, flames were coming through the roof. By then, everyone was out and no injuries were reported.
Cooke says firefighters consider the boy a hero for his efforts.
WMC-TV reports the Red Cross is helping the family.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Andy Slivka was just 19 when he was deployed to Afghanistan, leaving behind a close-knit family to serve with his fellow Marines in Afghanistan's Helmand Province six years ago.
Then he met Zia, a 39-year-old Afghan man whose role would become far greater than an English interpreter for Slivka and his platoon.
"He acted as a father when my own father wasn't there," Slivka said, "And he risked everything he had in order to do it."
From dangerous patrols in hostile and IED-riddled territory to dinner time in the mess tent, Zia was always with his American brothers in arms, said Slivka. Late night chats about love, life and loss were easy with the bilingual Afghan, he said.
"If I ever had an issue, I could just sit there and talk to him," said Slivka, now a 25-year-old college senior in Berea, Ohio.
Slivka is fighting to bring Zia and his family to the U.S. for a better life -- a plight familiar to many former service men and women who are trying to move their Iraqi or Afghan interpreters from the war zone to America.
Slivka created a GoFundMe page last week to raise funds for Zia, his wife and six children in their quest to obtain a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV), which would allow them entry into the U.S.
The fundraising website also includes a video featuring other Marines from the Third Battalion, Ninth Marine Regiment speaking about Zia, who applied for a visa three years ago and whose family has since been forced into hiding after threats from the Taliban.
"Without Zia's dedicated work and devotion, we wouldn't have been able to succeed in our mission over there," Marine Corps veteran Ramiro Lopez says in the video.
"These individuals are now facing the risk of life, liberty," said James Miller. "Their families are in danger all because they did the right thing and they served alongside us as allies and now we're abandoning them.
"From Day One in boot camp, it was ingrained in you, you never leave a man behind -- and that's why we need to bring people like Zia to the U.S.," said Scott Pitcher.
Slivka and his fellow Marines are calling on Congress to reauthorize and expand its visa program for Afghans like Zia. If Congress fails to allocate any new visas, the program will expire at the end of the year, leaving interpreters like Zia to be killed by "the very enemies they helped us fight," Slivka said.
The Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 applies to Afghans who have been employed by or on behalf of the U.S. government in Afghanistan. Translators or interpreters may apply under this program if they meet the eligibility requirements.
Since the beginning of 2014, the U.S. government has issued visas to 9,000 Afghan allies, and an additional 18,000 visas to their immediate family members under the program -- more than 27,000 visas in three years, according to the State Department.
Congress authorized a total of 7,000 visas for Afghan principal applicants in the National Defense Authorization Acts for 2015 and 2016. But as of Sept. 25, 2016, only 1,825 visas remain.
Unless Congress authorizes additional visa numbers, Special Immigrant Visa issuances under this program will stop once the remaining visa numbers have been used.
A State Department official told FoxNews.com Tuesday that, "We are committed to supporting those who at great personal risk have helped us."
Matt Zeller, an Afghan War veteran and Purple Heart recipient from Rochester, N.Y., pressured the U.S. Embassy in Kabul to grant a visa for his former interpreter as part of the Afghan Allies Protection Act.
The visa request for Janis Shinwari was granted in September 2013, and Zeller later founded No One Left Behind, a group that advocates for the continuation and expansion of the current visa program for Afghan and Iraqi interpreters. The organization also offers financial and other support to interpreters and their families once they have arrived in the U.S.
"Currently, the visa backlog stands at 10,000+ and counting," Zeller told FoxNews.com. "When you include family members, that could be as many as 35,000 people.
"These are our fellow veterans," Zeller said. "They fought with us. They bled with us. In many cases, they've died for us and killed the enemy to save the lives of our men and women in uniform."
Zia's work went above and beyond the role of a translater, Slivka said. Zia faced backlash from other Afghans -- especially Taliban sympathizers -- while he put his life on the line to help U.S. troops.
Zia, who lives in Kabul City, cannot move to other provinces due to safety reasons. The Taliban, he said, is using biometric systems to carry out attacks on former interpreters employed by the U.S. military.
Slivka recalled a recent conversation with Zia in which the man told him a Taliban commander had called him on his cellphone and threatened him. The Taliban official told Zia that, as a fellow Muslim, he should help them "kick out" Americans from Afghanistan. When Zia refused, the commander said, "You will face our judgment one day."
"You name it and he did it -- from going out with platoons on patrols or manning the aide station where we could be on post," Slivka said of Zia, who worked as a military interpreter for four years. "He was our 24-hour go-to guy if we needed anything, and he was indispensable.
"There was no other interpreter Ive ever worked with in the U.S. Marine Corp like Zia," said Slivka, who is planning to become a mental health counselor for the Department of Veterans Affairs. "He understood the humanistic side of things. He empathized with us. He showed tremendous care and compassion."
"He was our dad in a war zone," Slivka said.
Russia's U.N. ambassador says he never complained to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about criticism of Donald Trump because he wasn't aware that the Republican presidential candidate had been the target of criticism by the U.N. human rights chief.
The Associated Press on Friday quoted three diplomats familiar with the conversation as saying that Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin angrily protested two speeches by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein denouncing "demagogues" and specifically targeting Trump and several populist European leaders.
Churkin told reporters Monday that he had received one paragraph of instructions from Moscow to tell Ban that Zeid "went too far" in his public remarks about some government officials in Europe.
Churkin said he delivered the formal complaint during a meeting with Ban but never read Zeid's statements beforehand and had no idea that Trump was even mentioned.
At least 14 people were killed in a militant attack on a Shiite shrine in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Tuesday, an official said.
Another 26 people were wounded in the attack on Sakhi Shrine in the city's western suburbs, the largest such shrine in Kabul, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.
The dead included 13 civilians and one policeman, while three police officers were wounded, according to Sediqqi.
Contrary to earlier reports of three gunmen, Sediqqi said only one gunman was involved in the attack. He was shot dead by police.
The attack took place as Shiites gathered ahead of Wednesday's Ashoura, a holy day of mourning that commemorates the death in 680 AD of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein.
Kabul police had warned Shiites against large gatherings as attacks were expected. Lt. Gen. Gul Nabi Ahmadzia, the commander of the Kabul garrison, told The Associated Press on Monday that he had received credible reports that Ashoura activities would be targeted and called for Shiites to hold the ceremonies "within limits."
Shiites make up an estimated 15 percent of Afghanistan's population of around 30 million people. Most Afghan Shiites are ethnic Hazaras. Militant Sunni fundamentalists such as the Taliban and the Islamic State group view Shiites as apostates and frequently attack Shiite mosques and public gatherings.
A July suicide bomb attack in central Kabul that targeted a public demonstration by Hazaras against discrimination killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 200.
In 2011, at least 54 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his device at another Kabul shrine where hundreds of people had gathered. A Shiite mosque in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was hit at the same time, leaving four dead.
British police have made an arrest in the case of a person in a clown costume who deliberately frightened people on London streets.
Police said Tuesday they had arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of a public order offense stemming from an incident that started Saturday night in west London and ended early Sunday.
Scotland Yard says there have been a small number of suspicious clown incidents reported in London apparently inspired by clown-related cases in the United States.
Police Commander Julian Bennett said Tuesday that three of the London incidents amounted to criminal offenses.
He says police expect such incidents to increase in the weeks before Halloween and that additional "reassurance patrols" will be added.
Police in other parts of Britain have reported similar cases.
The Russian military says it will cooperate with Beijing on minimizing a threat posed by U.S. missile defense.
Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir of the military's General Staff told a security forum in China that the U.S. missile defense system will be capable of intercepting Russian or Chinese ballistic missiles. He argued Tuesday that the missile shield would upset nuclear balance and erode global security.
Like other Russian officials before him, Poznikhir shrugged off the U.S. statements that the missile defense system is intended to fend off threats from North Korea and Iran. He claimed that the U.S. wants the shield to get a capability to strike any country without fearing retaliation.
Poznikhir said Russia and China held missile defense drills this year and will do it again next year.
Russia has relaxed import restrictions on Turkish fruit as relations between the countries continue to improve.
Bans on many types of agricultural produce were imposed following last year's downing by Turkish forces of a Russian combat jet on the Turkish-Syrian border.
A document published on a government website Tuesday says restrictions have been dropped for apricots, peaches and various citrus fruits, which make up much of Turkey's fruit exports to Russia.
However, several other food products remain banned. A spokesman for Russia's agricultural regulator told state news agency Tass that restrictions on some vegetables could soon be dropped.
The announcement comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying the fruit restrictions would be relaxed, following a meeting in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday canceled plans to travel to Paris next week, amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Syria.
French President Francois Hollande said after the cancellation that he had demanded any meeting with Mr. Putin in Paris be devoted solely to the situation in Syria, where some Western officials have said Russias involvement in the bombing of the northern city of Aleppo could amount to war crimes. The Russian leader instead decided to postpone the trip, he said.
I consider it necessary to have a dialogue with Russia, Mr. Hollande told the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. However, this dialogue must be firm and honest, otherwise it has no purpose and its a sham.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the visit to Paris was canceled after a ceremony marking the opening of a multimillion-dollar Russian Orthodox cathedral and cultural center in the heart of the French capital was dropped from the schedule, Russian news agencies reported.
Mr. Peskov said the Russian leader would reschedule his visit to Paris at a convenient time for Mr. Hollande.
The president isn't isolated, Mr. Peskov added. His very intense international schedule is proof of the opposite.
The canceled visit is another sign of the rapid breakdown in relations between Russia and the West over Syria, where Moscow intervened in September 2015 on the side of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Since the rebellion against Mr. Assad erupted in the spring of 2011, at least 400,000 people have been killed, according to Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, and more than 11 million have been forced to flee their homes.
Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
Thousands of Macedonian opposition supporters are taking part in a peaceful anti-government protest, two months ahead of scheduled national elections.
Tuesday's demonstration in the capital, Skopje, was organized by the main opposition Social Democrats.
Macedonia has been in political turmoil since February 2015 following a massive wiretapping scandal in which the conversations of more than 20,000 people were monitored. The governing conservatives and the Social Democrats have traded blame for the wiretaps.
Feuding party leaders agreed last month to hold early national elections on Dec. 11. This was part of a western-brokered deal designed to end the political crisis, but the election date has already been postponed twice this year.
Turkey's parliament has endorsed a government decision to extend a state of emergency declared in the aftermath of a failed military coup by three months.
The government imposed the original state of emergency to crack down on a network linked to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Turkey of being behind the attempted overthrow.
Earlier this month, the government said it was prolonging the emergency because it needed more time to locate Gulen's followers and to avert another coup attempt.
Parliament approved the extension on Tuesday with the votes of ruling party legislators. Two opposition parties voted against it.
The state of emergency allows the government to rule by decree and to hold suspects in detention for up to 30 days without bringing charges.
Gulen denies orchestrating the failed coup.
Polish police are searching for the perpetrators of a weekend attack against a Turkish student, the latest incident in a rising number of xenophobic attacks in the country.
The Turkish citizen, a student at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, faced verbal insults and was attacked in the face over the weekend in a shop in the central Polish town, though the incident was not widely reported until several days later.
A university spokesman, Marcin Czyzniewski, told the TVN24 broadcaster on Tuesday that he feared the university could start losing students if people don't feel safe there, and that would hurt the entire community.
Another Turkish student was attacked in recent months in Torun. Last month a Warsaw university lecturer was beaten on a tram for speaking German.
The Pentagon was actively working to determine who fired two missiles from Yemen targeting a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
The missiles were fired Sunday from territory controlled by Yemen's Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, Capt. Jeff Davis said. It marked the second launch targeting ships in the crucial international waterway in recent days.
Davis told reporters retaliatory strikes remained on the table, saying those who attack a Navy destroyer do so at their own peril.
The Houthis and their allies offered no reason for the launches, though they came after a Saudi-led airstrike targeting a funeral in Yemen's capital killed over 140 people and wounded 525 on Saturday.
In a statement, the Navy said no American sailors were wounded and no damage was caused to the USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyer whose home port is Norfolk, Virginia.
An American defense official said the USS Mason used onboard defensive measures after the first missile was fired, but it wasn't clear if that caused the missile to splash harmlessly into the sea. The destroyer was north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which serves as a gateway for oil tankers headed to Europe through the Suez Canal, the official said.
The Houthi-controlled SABA news agency of Yemen quoted an anonymous army official denying its forces fired on the USS Mason, without elaborating.
Last week, an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.
U.S. Navy officials declined to immediately discuss what kind of rockets were used in the USS Mason incident.
Analysts with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy suggested in a report that the Houthis may have targeted the Emirati ship with an Iranian anti-shipping cruise missile, based on purported video of the attack.
Shiite power Iran supports the Houthis, but denies arming them. Any Iranian involvement could exacerbate tensions with the U.S. following a series of tense naval encounters in the Persian Gulf in recent months.
Saudi state television aired a brief clip of what appeared to be a projectile that was said to have landed in Taif, in the ballistic missile attack. The video shows the flash of an explosion, followed by images of emergency vehicles. Taif is home to Saudi Arabia's King Fahd Air Base, which hosts U.S. military personnel training the kingdom's armed forces.
The Saudi military said the missile fired late Saturday night was intercepted and caused no damage. The U.S. military's Central Command, which oversees troops in the Middle East, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, identified the missile as a local variant of a Soviet-era Scud. It said the Volcano-1 missile targeted the air base.
The Houthis have fired a series of ballistic missiles in Saudi Arabia since a kingdom-led coalition of Arab countries launched an offensive against them in Yemen in March 2015. Most of those ballistic missiles have hit areas far closer to Saudi Arabia's border with Yemen.
In the Taif attack, however, the missile struck a target more than 325 miles from the border. Taif also is just outside of Mecca, which is home to the cube-shaped Kaaba that all of the world's Muslims pray toward.
The Saudi military said it earlier intercepted another ballistic missile fired Sunday on the Yemeni city of Marib.
The Houthis gave no reason for their targeting of Taif, but it comes after a Saudi-led airstrike Saturday targeting a funeral in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. On Sunday, thousands marched through the streets of Sanaa to protest the strike, one of the deadliest single attacks in the impoverished Arab country's relentless civil war.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said its U.N. mission sent a letter on Sunday to the Security Council, expressing the kingdom's "deep regret of the reported attack" on the funeral. Saudi officials have promised to investigate the bombing.
Yemen's war is largely overshadowed by the conflict against the Islamic State group elsewhere in the Middle East, though rights groups have mounted increased criticism of the Saudi-led airstrikes in recent months for killing civilians. The U.N. and rights groups estimate the conflict has killed at least 9,000 people and displaced nearly 3 million more.
Fox News' Kara Rowland and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A wheelchair-bound woman was gang raped by six asylum seekers, Swedish police have said.
The unnamed disabled woman had asked to use a toilet at a nearby asylum center after sharing a taxi with one of its residents.
But after she was invited inside, the woman, in her 30s, was attacked by the man and six of his fellow migrants.
A furious group of more than 100 Swedes have since attacked the centre in Visby, pelting it with rocks.
The victim's lawyer Staffan Fredriksson told local newspaper Aftonbladlet: "She followed him in and had no fears that something would happen.
"Then the man took advantage of the situation. The abuse started in the toilet.
Where they came from we dont know. This was going on for a couple of hours.
She got paralyzed in this situation and was not able to bring herself to resist physically, other than saying no.
He added: "She is completely broken down."
Five men, all aged in their 20s, have since been arrested by Swedish police following the incident on October 2.
They are yet to release the men's nationalities or identities.
Sweden has been at the forefront of efforts to accept migrants fleeing conflicts in places like Syria and Afghanistan.
Last year alone it is estimated to have taken in more than 200,000 asylum seekers - around 2 percent of its population.
Germany, by comparison, accepted the equivalent of 1 percent over the same period.
This story first appeared in The Sun.
IHOP Restaurants Offer Guests A Chance To Win Free Breakfast For A Year With MY IHOP Moment Photo Contest
Guests Are Encouraged to Submit Photos of How They Eat Up Every MomentSM at IHOP
GLENDALE, Calif. - Oct. 11, 2016 // PRNewswire // - IHOP Restaurants, the originator of breakfast all day, every day, is inspiring friends and families to come together to Eat Up Every MomentSM at IHOP for a chance to win free breakfast for a year with the launch of its MY IHOP Photo Contest.
Special moments, big and small, can be celebrated at any time of day at IHOP over an order of its famous hot-off-the-griddle Buttermilk Pancakes, any one of more than 100 made-to-order signature breakfast, lunch or dinner items, or a choice of innovative limited time offers. And, in support of the brand's bold new advertising campaign, Eat Up Every Moment, the IHOP photo contest gives guests a big incentive to share their good times on social media.
"For nearly 60 years, our guests have celebrated memorable moments every day at IHOP and they have a sentimental connection with the brand," said Kirk Thompson, senior vice president, marketing for IHOP. "They've been loyal fans and followers on our social media channels, so we wanted to recognize all they enjoy sharing during all those moments with an opportunity to delight in even more on us for an entire year."
To enter to win free breakfast for a year, guests must post a picture of a memorable moment at an IHOP location, along with a caption, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #IHOPMomentContest by October 17, 2016 11:59 p.m. ET. Twelve finalists' pictures will be selected and posted at http://ihopmoment.com/. The public will vote on their favorite "IHOP Moment" finalist photo and the winner will be announced on or around November 8, 2016.
The grand prize winner will receive $2,600 in IHOP gift cards (the approximate value for one year of IHOP breakfast for one person). The first runner-up winner will receive a $100 IHOP gift card and the second runner-up winner will receive a $50 IHOP gift card. The additional nine finalists will receive a special package of IHOP collectibles.
IHOP digital platforms are also giving guests the opportunity to Eat Up Every Moment virtually. Guests can visit http://www.ihopmoment.com/ to witness an interactive 360-degree video depicting live action at an IHOP location, and see examples of big and little moments mentioned in the national ad campaign.
Contest is void where prohibited by law. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://www.ihopmoment.com/terms_and_conditions.html for complete photo contest terms and conditions.
About International House Of Pancakes, LLC
For 58 years, IHOP has been a leader, innovator and expert in all things breakfast, any time of day. The chain offers 65 different signature, fresh, made-to-order breakfast options, a wide selection of popular lunch and dinner items as well as meals under 600 calories. IHOP restaurants offer guests an affordable, everyday dining experience with warm and friendly service. As of June 30, 2016, there were 1,695 IHOP restaurants in 50 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam as well as Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, The Philippines, and Panama. IHOP restaurants are franchised and operated by Glendale, Calif.-based DineEquity, Inc. (NYSE: DIN) and its affiliates.
SOURCE IHOP Restaurants
Contacts:
Stephanie Peterson
IHOP Restaurants
818-637-3079
Stephanie.Peterson@ihop.com
Terry Wills
Wills Communications, Inc.
310-376-6600
twills@willscom.com
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The Melting Pot Kicks Off Annual Thanks and Giving Campaign to Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Leading fondue restaurant invites guests to 'Donate and Dine' from October 15 -December 24.
TAMPA, Fla. - Oct. 11, 2016 // PRNewswire // - The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc., the world's premier fondue restaurant and a leading polished casual dining franchise, announced today it is once again participating in the annual St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign in support of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Since establishing the partnership in 2003, The Melting Pot has raised nearly $10 million for St. Jude.
From Oct. 15 Dec. 24, The Melting Pot is encouraging guests to join its effort in raising funds for St. Jude, and providing them with a Donate and Dine card for every donation of $10 throughout the Thanks and Giving campaign period. The Donate and Dinecard gives guests $20 off a future purchase of $50 or more, which can be redeemed between Jan. 2 Aug. 31, 2017. Those who are unable to make it into a restaurant but want to donate will be able to do so at www.meltingpot.com, and will be mailed aDonate and Dine card.
"The Melting Pot has always been, and continues to be, a place where family and friends gather together for a truly exceptional experience that goes well beyond the food," said Bob Johnston, CEO of Front Burner, restaurant management company for The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc. "We've cultivated a family-oriented culture and environment made up of committed franchisees, passionate team members and loyal guests who band together year after year to help save children's lives through their support for St. Jude. Donations made through The Melting Pot restaurants nationwide go toward St. Jude's mission to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment, and we look forward to continuing to help the cause for many years to come."
Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since it opened more than 50 years ago, and they won't stop until no child dies from cancer. The hospital freely shares the breakthroughs it makes, so every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children.
Last year, The Melting Pot raised nearly $600,000 during the Thanks and Giving campaign, and was honored with a Silver Award in the Enduring Impact category of the inaugural Franchising Gives Back Awards program. The International Franchise Association (IFA) award recognized The Melting Pot for its longstanding commitment to the community through its ongoing partnership with St. Jude and the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign. The Franchising Gives Back Awards program recognizes the best, most innovative community leaders and charitable programs nationwide.
The St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign is an unprecedented union of celebrities, media and more than 70 of the nation's leading brands and companies that ask consumers to donate while they shop during the holiday season to help St. Jude advance research and treatment of childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. These funds are critical given that no family ever receives a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.
For more information on The Melting Pot, visit www.meltingpot.com. To learn more about the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign or to make a donation, visit www.stjude.org or call 1-800-4STJUDE.
The Melting Pot operates more than 125 restaurants across 35 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, and has over 10 locations in development internationally. The concept is known for offering an assortment of flavorful fondue cooking styles and a variety of unique entrees served with signature dipping sauces. The menu features a variety of a la carte selections, highlighting customizable options that invite guests to enjoy one, two, three or more courses as they select any combination of individually-priced cheese fondues, salads, entrees and chocolate fondues.
About The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc.
Founded in 1975, The Melting Pot has offered a unique fondue dining experience for more than 40 years. As the premier fondue restaurant franchise, The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc. has more than 125 restaurants in 35 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and over 10 international locations in development. A leading polished casual dining franchise, The Melting Pot was recognized as the No. 2 casual dining restaurant in the Nation's Restaurant News 2016 Consumer Picks report. Known for offering a choice of fondue cooking styles and a variety of unique entrees, The Melting Pot's menu also features cheese fondues, salads, fine wines and chocolate fondue desserts. Fondue fans can join The Melting Pot's Club Fonduefor exclusive promotions, special events, and advance holiday reservation privileges. The Melting Pot is an affiliate of Front Burner, a restaurant management company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit www.meltingpot.com. To learn more about franchise opportunities with The Melting Pot, please visit www.meltingpotfranchise.com.
About Front Burner
Front Burner is a franchise management company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. It is affiliated with the corporate owners of and its management services extended to The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc., founded in 1975 with 126 restaurants in the U.S.,Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and 10 locations currently in development internationally. For more information, visit http://www.frontburnerbrands.com.
About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. St. Jude has the world's best survival rates for the most aggressive childhood cancers, and treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to 80 percent since we opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude is working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90 percent in the next decade. St. Jude freely shares the breakthroughs we make, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Join the St. Jude mission by visitingstjude.org or following St. Jude on facebook.com/stjude and twitter.com/stjude.
SOURCE The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc.
Contact:
Andie Biederman
Fish Consulting
954-893-9150
abiederman@fish-consulting.com
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Because early detection can save lives, the CHI Memorial MaryEllen Locher Breast Center wants all women, regardless of ability to pay, to have annual breast and cervical screenings. The MaryEllen Locher Breast Center receives grants and partners with Tennessee Breast and Cervical Screening Program to provide eligible uninsured and under-insured women with these screenings at no cost to the woman. This financial assistance is available year-round.
A woman must meet certain guidelines to qualify for a no cost screening including:
Income guidelines
No insurance
Insurance does not pay for this service
Between the ages of 35 to 64
If an abnormality is discovered, the diagnostic work-up is also covered.
Mammography and cervical screenings are available at all three CHI Memorial MaryEllen Locher Breast Center locations in Chattanooga, Hixson and Ooltewah, and in a private suite on our comfortable mobile digital mammography vehicles. To schedule a screening, call (423) 495-4040 or (866) 591-2254. Women must know their doctors first and last name. If a patient does not have a doctor, the staff at MaryEllen Locher Breast Center will work with her to find one.
The MaryEllen Locher Breast Center is a Center of Excellence and the only triple accredited breast center in the region(American College of Radiology (ACR,) the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC ), and the National Consortium of Breast Centers). It offers coordinated, comprehensive breast health care, includingmammography screening, a dedicated breast MRI, breast ultrasound, bone density, cancer risk counseling, community outreach and a wide array of support services for womens breast health and cancer needs.
Watch and wait isnt an approach doctors recommend for all early-stage cancers. But for several tumor types, research has shown that early treatment doesnt boost survival over watchful waiting. Patients whose doctors may recommend this approach include those with certain early, slow-growing or stable versions of prostate cancer, breast cancer (in its early stage, also known as ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS), thyroid cancer and certain types of blood cancers. (Watch-and-wait is more controversial for some cancers than for others, and its also debated whether some early-stage cancers, such as those of the thyroid, even classify as cancer at all.)
For most cancers, there are standardized guidelines for when doctors recommend active surveillance, said Dr. Stephen Smith, an oncologist at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance who specializes in lymphoma. But he recognizes that it can be stressful for patients to be told they have cancer in the same breath as a recommendation against immediate treatment.
Its very understandable to want to treat a cancer in your body, said Smith, who is also a clinical researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In such situations, his patients often ask questions like I know this is here, why arent we treating it? Wont it just get worse? or, What are we watching and waiting for? Because I dont want that to happen, he said.
Doctors cant answer many of those questions in a quick, routine appointment.
You have to have time to have this conversation, Smith said. This is a nuanced and important conversation.
The evidence behind watch and wait
Patients whose doctors recommend watch and wait can feel reassured, though, that they are not in any immediate danger by choosing to delay treatment. That goes back to the tumors slow growth, also known as indolence, Smith said. Based on extensive evidence from past studies, researchers know that certain slow-growing tumors arent going to suddenly change their nature, at least not on the timescale of the recommended surveillance schedule.
For example, a large study published last month that followed more than 1,600 men with early-stage prostate cancer found that those being actively monitored were no more likely to die of their disease in the 10 years following their diagnosis than those who had their prostates removed surgically or who underwent radiation. And researchers studying indolent lymphomas have likewise found that early treatment with chemotherapy and radiation does not boost survival over watchful waiting.
How active a patients active surveillance is depends in part on the type of cancer. Patients with watch-and-wait prostate cancer, like Roosevelt, often undergo regular biopsies, imaging and PSA tests. Those with early-stage chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, can be monitored with a simple blood test. Those with follicular lymphoma a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is the most common type of watch-and-wait blood cancer get regular CT scans, although a monitoring blood test for this disease, too, may be on the horizon, Smith said.
Watch and wait also doesnt mean missing a window for a cure theres no evidence that these slow-growing blood cancers are more likely to be cured with early treatment, Smith said. And some rare watch-and-wait patients even go into spontaneous remission without treatment.
Not every patient can accept the idea of doing nothing for their cancer, Smith said, and he and his colleagues work with their patients to reach an approach that, as much as possible, is acceptable for both parties. Smith pointed to a recent study that compared watch and wait with Rituximab, an antibody treatment for blood cancers, in patients with slow-growing non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The patients who received Rituximab were better able to cope with and adjust to their disease, and they were able to put off starting chemotherapy for longer than the patients assigned to watchful waiting although, again, there was no difference in survival between the groups.
Probankruptcy.com Are Offering Free Bankruptcy Consultations To All New Clients
ProBankruptcy is celebrating the launch of its new website, offering bankruptcy chapter 7 & chapter 13 filing services by offering a free bankruptcy consultation to all new clients.. Further information can be found at http://probankruptcy.com/.
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In a stunning change of pace for the legal industry, bankruptcy lawyer "ProBankruptcy.com", will be celebrating the launch of its new website by offering a free bankruptcy consultation to all new clients. The website will be formally launched on Tuesday 11th October, 2016 with all new consultations being honoured after this date.
In a space where most competitors simply open a shop-front & just leave it at that, failing to cause much of a stir, ProBankruptcy has opted to be a little more innovative with the inception of its new website devoted to offering information and advice on making Bankruptcy Chapter 7 & chapter 13 filings.
Pete Maughan, CEO at ProBankruptcy, says: "We wanted to be affordable & trustworthy with our Bankruptcy Chapter 7 & chapter 13 filing service launch because people in trouble need a business they can trust and a friend to see them through these difficult and worrying times."
He went on to say: "It should be really worthwhile and we're hoping it will help our clients dig themselves out of the hole they're currently in and push them on to new financial heights and new-found happiness. It should go great unless we get absolutely flooded with new clients!"
ProBankruptcy has always thrived on the idea of standing out and making a commotion. It's all part of the fun and it should allow their potential clients to see what they can offer before taking the plunge, helping them to make an informed decision, which is better than businesses who choose to do things the 'regular' way. This launch celebration is just one of the many ways ProBankruptcy achieves that goal.
When asked about the bankruptcy chapter 7 & chapter 13 filing service, Pete Maughan said: "We think it's going to be a real hit because finally people considering bankruptcy will have a trustworthy aide by their side and a friend to see them through".
Potential new clients will be able to see for themselves, without obligation just how simple and affordable bankruptcy can be. Probankruptcy.com also offer payment plans to suit every client and a fast-track service after discharge to help them get back on their feet. It's important that bankruptcy should not be a hindrance to their lives and so they also offer a 'credit-rebuild' service to get them get back into good-standing with their credit rating.
It's also important that new clients understand they won't be pushed unnecessarily into bankruptcy. As Pete Maughan said, "We understand that bankruptcy may not be the correct course of action for everyone and so we offer help and advice if debt consolidation is the way to go for them."
Probankruptcy is one of the largest bankruptcy law firms in the USA with offices in all 50 states and in many major US cities. It is important to them that they have the resources and expertise of a large firm but always feel local. They have specialists in all local laws and statutes, know the differences between local and state law and how to best represent their clients at court.
Interested parties and new clients can contact the firm's head office by telephone on (888) 860-0911 or by visiting the website below.
ProBankruptcy's bankruptcy chapter 7 & chapter 13 filing service and new website is set to 'go live' Tuesday 11th October, 2016. To find out more about the service and ProBankruptcy itself, it's possible to visit http://probankruptcy.com/
For more information, please visit http://probankruptcy.com
Contact Info:
Name: Pete Maughan
Email: admin@probankruptcy.com
Organization: Probankruptcy.com
Address: 3960 Howard Hughes Pkwy #550
Phone: (888) 860-0911
Release ID: 137133
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Alpine Maids Donates House Cleaning in Denver Metro to Women Battling Cancer
Alpine Maids a house cleaning service in Denver, CO in partnership with Cleaning For A Reasons is donating free cleanings to women undergoing cancer treatment.
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Denver, Colorado - October 10, 2016 - Alpine Maids is a Denver based family-owned and operated cleaning company that thinks like a tech company. They have teamed up with Cleaning For A Reason, an international nonprofit serving women with cancer. Alpine Maids partners with Denver-based Ecolab to provide clients with the best Green Seal Certified house cleaning products in the industry. This means that not only are the products safe for every client, their pets, and their family, but also are safe for the cleaners as well. Cleaning teams review client feedback every morning. Compliments go on their brag board, while concerns get reviewed and corrected. The company offers a 200 percent satisfaction guarantee!
"Alpine Maids is honored to support Cleaning For A Reason in their efforts to provide free Denver house cleaning services for women undergoing cancer treatment," stated owners Chris and Alyssa Willatt. "Removing just one item from the to do list of these women is the least we can do to give back to the Denver community. Fighting cancer is hard enough. These patients need to focus on their health and family."
Alpine Maids has agreed to help women battling cancer by cleaning two homes per month for four consecutive months at no charge. The only requirement is that the homes be within the company's existing service area of the Denver Metro area. For more information about this company, www.alpinemaids.com.
In partnership with maid services throughout the United States and Canada, Cleaning For A Reason is celebrating 10 years of dedicated service to women battling cancer by Making A Difference One Home At A Time(TM). Together, these two forces offer free house cleaning to meet the needs of women, and since 2006, have donated more than $6 million in free services, helping more than 22,600 women with cancer. Based in Lewisville, TX, Cleaning For A Reason works with more than 1,200 professional cleaning companies and continues to grow and gain support. To learn more about Cleaning For A Reason and to apply for free house cleaning, see www.cleaningforareason.org.
For more information, please visit https://alpinemaids.com/
Contact Info:
Name: Chris Willatt
Organization: Alpine Maids
Address: 2186 S Holly St, Ste 102 Denver, CO 80222
Phone: 720-507-6208
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvvd2tIsM64
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/alpine-maids-donates-house-cleaning-in-denver-metro-to-women-battling-cancer/137342
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Buyers Guide To Shop Vacs Released By Vac Advice
VacAdvice.com offers a comprehensive guide to customers considering the purchase of a shop vac. Different categories of use, different sizes and different design all affect the best choice for any customer.
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Vac Advice and Rafael Porter are pleased to announce the release of their new shop vac buyers' guide. The blog articles provides helpful details on the categories of vacs, their purpose, design and size options. A detailed analysis of the above factors will help to determine whether a particular brand and model is the best choice for a specific environment. The guide covers the various types of vacs, as well as how to pick a suitable vac based on capacity.
A shop vac is designed to do the hard clean-up jobs in a shop or garage. It typically requires plenty of power, without being too noisy or messy while cleaning. Reliability is another factor which enters into the decision-making process. The right vacuum cleaner will pick up dirt, water, shavings and other small debris which needs to be taken care of. It may be a small shop vac, portable vac, car vacuum or others in-between.
The reviews cover several types of vacs, including wet/dry vacs, drum vacuums, pneumatic shop vacs and backpack types. The pick for the best wet/dry vac is the Vacmaster Detachable Lower Dry/Wet Vacuum. The best heavy-duty, high capacity shop vac is the Ridgid 16 Gallon Wet/Dry Shop Vacuum. This model will hold up to sixteen wet or dry gallons. The choice for a wall-mounted shop vac is a VacuMaid GV50 Professional Wall Mounted Shop Vac.
The Dewalt 20 Volt MAX Cordless & Corded Wet/Dry Vacuum is a great example of cordless shop vacuum. This type of unit is suitable for areas with inadequate electrical power. For a car shop vac, the editor's choice is the Ridgid 14 Gallon Shop Vacuum.
Another approach to selecting a shop vac is to look at the capacity of the tank or canister. This will help to determine the right model for the particular environment.
For more information, please visit http://vacadvice.com/
Contact Info:
Name: Rafael Porter
Organization: Vac Advice
Address: 4127 Murphy Court, Saint Paul, MN 55104
Phone: (610) 289-1183
Source: http://vacadvice.com/best-shop-vacuum-reviews/
Release ID: 137335
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Prettymotors Launches Redesigned Automotive Blog
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Prettymotors has announced the launch of their redesigned automotive blog. With this redesign, the site's owner aims to capture the passion of automotive enthusiasts and features information on car trends, car buying advice, and reviews of car technology, parts, and accessories. Right now, the blog has articles and reviews on a wide array of topics and covers everything from the year's top oil filter brands to the best OBD2 scanners on today's market.
"Simply put, our team loves cars, and it is our sincere desire to share that love of the automotive world with the millions of readers out there who have the same passion," said Willis M. Ryan of Prettymotors. "This is our motivation for redesigning the Prettymotors blog. We're creating the ultimate online community that will not only provide information and advice on the best car tech and accessories, but also a place where those who love cars can keep up with the latest buzz about their favorite car brands like Honda, Mazda, Subaru, and even Lamborghini."
The team at Prettymotors strives to ensure that the website is a consistent source of guides and reviews of best automotive parts and accessories available for consumers. The blog regularly reviews electronics, oil and fluids, car parts, and automotive tools to help car enthusiasts make the best possible buying decision before spending their hard-earned money. The Prettymotors writers aim to keep their reviews unbiased and provide visitors with an in-depth analysis on all of the products they cover.
As Ryan continued, "Whether a reader wants to learn about weird and unusual cars and Russian-style off-roading or simply wants to know how to change their vehicle's spark plugs, we are the ultimate one-stop shop for anything and everything to do with the automotive arena. We invite readers to check the blog regularly for new stories and guides and drop by our social media pages to let us know what they'd like to talk about."
Car enthusiasts who would like to get a glimpse of the redesigned Prettymotors website can visit the blog at www.prettymotors.com.
About Prettymotors:
Prettymotors started as a means for the website's writers to share their passion for the automotive world. Their ultimate goal is to bring readers the information they need to make better buying decisions. The site features information about car trends and reviews of the latest in car technology, parts, and accessories as well as car buying advice.
For more information, please visit http://www.prettymotors.com
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Organization: Prettymotors
Phone: (530) 795-3942
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Release ID: 137463
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Current Release of Commission Cartel Makes Waves, As Premium Guide & Walk-Thru Released by IM Expert HanifQ
Current release of the Commission Cartel Training Program makes waves among EMarketing Professionals, as Premium Bonus Package released by IM Expert HanifQ. LinkedIn's New Conversion Tracking will break down purchases.
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The current release of Commission Cartel Review is making waves among emarketing review professionals due to its claim of providing its users with an affiliate marketing blueprint to help marketer's achieve better results. The commencement of Commission Cartel happens as LinkedIn announces new conversion tracking tool.
Hanif Quentino, creator of e-MarketingChamps, has created a full review and unique bonus for the Commission Cartel system, which can be seen on his webpage:
[+]http://emarketingchamps.com/commission-cartel/
Mr. Quentino is considered an authoritative Commission Cartel review expert, due to his comprehensive experience with affiliate marketing. Mr. Quentino suggests that Commission Cartel users take advantage of LinkedIn's new conversion tracking features.
LinkedIn is a social networking service that was founded back in 2002. It is an employment oriented website to connect businesses together. It has become very popular in recent years, primarily due to how they have revamped the functionality of their website, making it much easier to use and understand. They are constantly making changes and upgrades that make it easier for users to take advantage of their services. They now have a new conversion tracking tool which many people are raving about because of the improvements that it provides. LinkedIn's Russ Glass has recently referred to this new update as table stakes, putting a new spin on its measurement tools. It will tally how many people have clicked on your ads, and have also seen your ads that you are running. It will also show you what these individuals have done after arriving at your website. This recent update allows people to cross reference what is occurring by audience segment, something that is considered to be their biggest differentiator that can help people focus only on the advertisements that are leading to conversions.
Since this is looking at each individual audience, it will now be possible for those that are placing advertisements to shift their advertising budget to one audience over another. The example given is that they may target people in the finance industry much more heavily, opposed to the healthcare industry, based upon the statistical results. This type of conversion tracking, with its focus on audience breakdowns, can further refine their targeting. Those that have tested this have seen a 21% improvement in what are called cost per conversions, and is therefore receiving high praise from those that use their advertising platform.
Hanif Quentino's full Commission Cartel bonus, as well as his unique review, can be seen on the following webpage:
http://emarketingchamps.com/commission-cartel/
For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/Commission-Cartel-Review-1610179672619252/
Contact Info:
Name: Hanif Quentino
Organization: eMarketingChamps
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zE5dScqkWg
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/current-release-of-commission-cartel-makes-waves-as-premium-guide-walk-thru-released-by-im-expert-hanifq/137403
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Creative Discovery Museum announces that for the second year in a row TVA is sponsoring the Museums Free Family Nights. Held on the second Thursday of each month, Free Family Nights provide free admission to all visitors from 5:30-8 p.m. after normal operating hours.
The Museum is committed to being as accessible as possible to all the children and families of our community, said Henry Schulson, executive director at the Creative Discovery Museum. The Free Night program provides an opportunity for all to visit regardless of ability to pay. We are especially pleased to have TVA with its tremendous history of public service as one of our Free Family Night sponsors.
Through TVAs sponsorship in 2015, the Museum increased its focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities during the free evenings. The Museum will continue to expand its STEM activities in the coming year. In addition to the Museums staple exhibits, the Museum will present a science show in its Science Theater each evening and will also offer a variety of walk-up activities from learning about forces and motion through, learn about electricity by building circuits and engage in a variety of other activities during special STEM sessions led by Museum educators. Each evening will also feature an interactive science show in the Museums Science Theater.
TVA values our partnership with the Creative Discovery Museum as we continue our mission of service to the people of the Tennessee Valley, said TVA Director of Public and Community Relations Gail Rymer. The overwhelming success of the Free Family Nights reaffirms our long-standing commitment to promote STEM education across the Valley to inspire our communitys youth and prepare them for the careers of the future.
In 2015, TVAs sponsorship helped the Museum host almost 10,000 visitors on Free Family Night as well as two community free days held in December. The program is an aspect of the Museums mission to inspire all children in the greater Chattanooga area to explore, innovate, create and play.
The Museums next Free Family Night is scheduled for Thursday. For more information on future Free Family Nights, visit the Museums website at www.cdmfun.org.
HowtoCall.guru Launches Global Calling Website
Howtocall.Guru offers a new service for U.S. inhabitants who want to call other countries around the world. The interactive service produces dialing instructions to reach 240 other nations by telephone.
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Cloud Empire is pleased to announce the launch of its new website designed to provide detailed dialing instructions for anyone calling from a United States number. The recipient of such calls can be located anywhere in 240 different countries worldwide. The nations included in the exhaustive list range from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between. The free services offered by How To Call Guru is useful when those in the United States are attempting to determine how to reach a family member or friend in another country.
The mission of the website is to provide an ultimate guide to telephone anywhere in the world. Users of the site are offered comprehensive and up-to-date information on the completion of international calling from anywhere in the United States to anywhere else in the world. The process is as simple as picking a country that the user wants to call and then following the step-by-step interactive calling instructions.
Upon selecting a country from the initial landing page for which calling information is needed, The site responds with a detailed procedures, showing the access code, country code, and city code if available. The user would then go on to dial the exact local telephone number of the call recipient. The directions are broken down into stages in order to make them easy to follow.
Additional details are provided about the country, its time zone and the current time in the country or city. A geographic location by continent, the capital of the country and its currency are provided. The main languages, area of the country and GDP value are also listed. Users of the website are directed to an informational website for further information about the country. In addition to the information about how to dial international locations, the website offers the opportunity to learn how to save money on international phone charges.
For more information, please visit http://howtocall.guru/
Contact Info:
Name: Mark Wright
Organization: Cloud Empire LLC
Phone: (828) 474-8725
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/howtocall-guru-launches-global-calling-website/137603
Release ID: 137603
For more information visit r
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Mummy's Miracle Announces Contest To Win Our New Baby Gift Set
New Mothers have the chance to win Baby gift set, $60 value, contains baby powder, wash, oil, and lotion and more in the Win our new Baby Gift Set being held by miracle in the green. Deadline for entry is October 30 2106.
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New Mothers are invited to enter into the latest contest sponsored by miracle in the green. In addition to Baby gift set, $60 value contains baby powder, wash, oil, and lotion people have the opportunity to win:
2 pack baby powder - all natural baby cornstarch powder talc free
1 pack baby powder - all natural baby cornstarch powder talc free
Travel size baby powder - all natural baby cornstarch powder talc free
The contest is being held to bring attention to Miracle in the green inc. Mummy's Miracle brand - full information can be found on the website: www.mummysmiracle.com
Mummy's Miracle came about six years ago when Ify Nwobi turned a grim diagnosis into a health revolution. Mummy's Miracle features all-natural, toxin-free products, including baby oil, lotion, butter, medicated powder, baby powder, vapor rub, tear-free wash and shampoo, diaper ointment, nipple balm for nursing mothers, and stretch mark oil for pregnant moms and best of all it smells great.
Mummy's Miracle Moringa Talc-free Baby Powder 3.5 ounces is non-irritating, toxic-free, hypoallergenic, safe and cooling to the skin, dry & comfortable diaper rash formula that keeps baby's skin feeling soft, dry and comfortable. Formulated with active Moringa Oil, Pure naturally absorbent Corn-Starch, Rice Starch, Aloe Vera Gel, our formula is talc-free and safe for baby's delicate skin. Clinically shown to be non-irritating and safe for baby's skin, keeps delicate skin soft, dry and comfortable, Pediatrician-tested. Toxic-free, No animal testing.
When asked about the competition, Diana Nwobi, founder and owner, had this to say about why people should enter:
"Miracle in the Green is excited to hold this contest as a way to reward loyal customers and to introduce new customers to the latest product offering. This is the first time in the company's history that so many prizes are being awarded, and entrants have a great chance to win as well as have some fun along the way.""
Winners will be chosen based on follow on instagram and share a cute baby picture and all winners will be announced on October 30 2016. Those who are interested can sign up for the contest via email to info@miracleinthegreen.com. Deadline for entry is October 30 2106.
For more information, please visit http://www.miracleinthegreen.com
Contact Info:
Name: Lindsey Smith
Organization: miracle in the green
Address: 4520 OLD CARRIAGE TR
Phone: (407) 748-3470
Release ID: 137381
For more information visit r
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Wealth & Value Launches First Forex Broker Ratings System in Bid to Become Industry Benchmark
Wealth & Value offers a nine-phase ranking of the many FX brokers that are available in 2016. The purpose of the guide is to eliminate confusion among retail traders about the quality of Forex brokerage firms.
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Wealth & Value and Jill Spencer are pleased to announce the release of their new ranking system for brokers who trade the foreign exchange markets. The http://www.wvwv.org/forex-brokers/forex-brokers-ranking.html website presents an advanced system for rating brokers. The evaluation includes details on all the major brokers in the world using a single set of criteria. Due to the tremendous number of brokers around the globe, only those with the highest daily volume are included in the guide.
Forex brokers with an average daily volume greater than one billion dollars are included in the guide. After a thorough evaluation process, each broker was assigned a rating. The full list of brokers ranked from highest to lowest is then provided at the end of the article. The brokers with lower volumes of daily trades are considered to be less safe, because they can be unable to manage traders with large accounts.
Wealth & Value has used three major categories to rank the brokerages, The highest level is A and the lowest C. Within the three levels are a further breakdown of three ratings, providing nine in all. They range from A+ high to C- low. There are only a few brokers with very high scores on each of the major criteria. These A+, A and A- are the best possible choices when selecting an FX broker.
The next group down in terms of quality are the B+, B and B- brokers. Most brokers will fall into this category. The trading audience is often less sophisticated. In most instances, the B+ group will be satisfactory for the majority of traders, while those labeled B- will be less so.
The lowest group are the C+, C, and C- brokers. The brokers will have a poor reputation, and may even be labeled as scammers. The low end of the group will try to trade against the traders, in hopes of capturing their investment funds.
For more information, please visit http://www.wvwv.org/forex-brokers/
Contact Info:
Name: Jill Spencer
Organization: Wealth & Value Ltd
Address: 36 Crown Street, SW20 2FH, London, UK
Phone: +44 1632 960549
Source: http://www.wvwv.org/forex-brokers/
Release ID: 137582
For more information visit r
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The McConnell Elementary and Loftis Middle school PTAs announce they will be hosting a Town Hall style debate forum with Dr. Greg Martin and Joe Smith, both running for the District 3 County Commissioner seat in Hamilton County.
The Town Hall Forum will be held on Monday, Oct. 17, at 6:30 p.m. in the Loftis Middle School cafeteria. Questions for the candidates may be submitted for consideration to loftispta@icloud.com. All questions should include the name of the person submitting the questions as well as where they are located within Hamilton County.
While many people think of PTAs as fundraising machines, Parent Teacher Associations were formed to be advocacy groups for the youth of the nation, said officials. Rebecca Marshall, president of the McConnell PTA, believes in the power of a PTA to inform their community. "The PTA's main purpose is to allow each child's full potential to become a reality by empowering families and engaging the local community in our public school system. We feel that by sponsoring such an event we are able to foster an environment in which our community can come together to make the best educated vote possible."
The two PTAs joined forces to be able to host an event that would be beneficial for their membership and community as a whole, and would facilitate voters being more informed about the candidates running for office this year to fill the seat vacated by Marty Haynes who was recently elected to property assessor for Hamilton County.
Joe Smith, running on the Independent ticket, believes in the access it gives to candidates. This opportunity gives the people of our community a chance to hit me on the spot. This is important, because taking your questions and answering is vital to representing you, said Mr. Smith.
Dr. Greg Martin, running for the Republican Party, believes in the opportunity to not only meet candidates, but have an open discussion about our community. Political forums like this one are important and give voters a great opportunity to meet candidates running for office. I encourage everyone to come out to this event, and I look forward to discussing my views on the key issues facing our community," said Dr. Martin.
While the forum is being hosted by both local PTAs, the event is open to the public at large. Both the McConnell and Loftis PTAs hope that people will attend to learn more about the candidates. The event will be held just before early voting starts.
EU farm commissioner Phil Hogan is insisting his proposed ban on the use of pesticides on certain crops in ecological focus areas (EFAs) will go ahead.
The plans are contained in greening simplification measures, due to be signed off later this year, and would affect catch crops, cover crops and nitrogen-fixing crops.
See also: EU greening proposals will make life harder not simpler
Opposition to Mr Hogans ideas was voiced at Mondays (10 October) meeting of EU farm ministers in Luxembourg, with 18 member states signing a petition claiming such a ban would undermine production.
Their call was supported by EU farmers group Copa, which said banning sprays in EFAs would add complexity, when the objective should be to simplify the scheme.
But environmentalists said allowing the continued use of sprays in these areas would limit the environmental benefit of CAP greening measures.
CAP greening a failure
This demand on taxpayers to pay farmers to spray pesticides on these areas shows once more that the so-called greening of the CAP has been a failure, said a spokesman for the European Environmental Bureau.
These views appear to have resonated with Mr Hogan, who told farm ministers this week that the ban on spraying catch crops and nitrogen-fixing crops in EFAs should go ahead.
He also indicated that it should be policed by a combination of farmer declarations and on-the-spot checks.
But he did give ground in some other areas, including allowing a delay to the new rules until 2018, instead of the original intended start date of 2017.
He also agreed to keep the minimum duration for land to lie fallow at six months, instead of nine months.
A final decision on the greening simplification plan is expected by the end of this year, or early in 2017.
Assessor of Property Marty Haynes recognized Donnie Bell and Luke Johnson on Monday for completing the educational requirements to earn the designation of Tennessee Certified Assessor.
Mr. Bell and Mr. Johnson are two of only four appraisers across the state to receive this designation by the Tennessee State Board of Equalization at their recent meeting.
To receive this designation one must be a full time employee in mass appraisal and completed course requirements as defined the by State Comptrollers Office.
Mr. Johnson is a graduate of Soddy Daisy High School and East Tennessee State University. He has been employed by the Hamilton County Assessor of Propertys Office since 2013.
Mr. Bell is a graduate of Ooltewah High School. He came to the Assessors office in 2014 with many years experience in the residential appraisal market.
Microsoft Surface Series Release Date, News & Update: Surface Pro 5 & Book 2 Event Cancelled; Microsoft Introduces Surface AIO?
"Microsoft" has recently confirmed that their activity on October 26 in New York City is happening. The company has also cited a bit of details on what to expect for Windows 10.The event is in accordance to the company's delay of launch with the "Surface Series".
"Microsoft" is highly anticipated to be unleashing one of their freshest all-in-one computer desktop, Business Insider reported. Hearsays upshots that the upcoming unit will be showcasing the new features including the Windows 10 Anniversary instalment will seem to be named as "Microsoft Surface AIO"
As far as the specs are concerned, the "Microsoft Surface AIO" will be contesting with Apple's iMac and Mac consoles. Not just that, but the mouse bearing and keyboard is also a factor to be looked into.
Microsoft Surface AIO Could Come In Three Display Sizes - https://t.co/qFk1eI6wGM pic.twitter.com/CtAKj20lKj Digital Majority (@DigitalMajority) August 11, 2016
On the same event for "Microsoft's Surface AIO" release, Windows team producers are likely to be unleashing their forthcoming instalments of Windows 10 in 2017. The instalment is compromised with two updates and is speculated to be of Redstone 2 which has been planned by the company.
Due to company's postponement of "Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book" event, people have been assuming that the hardware updates will also be released soon in 2017. The speculated schedule is on time if "Microsoft" is attempting to unveil the fresh Windows 10 features by means of its in-house computers and mobile units.
As formerly reported, the speculated "Microsoft Surface Phone" is yet to be released next year 2017. The report also stated that company might possibly be working on improving the tech of the Lumia smartphones as it is not to be exposed this year.
Furthermore, "Microsoft" will be unleashing various units aside from the highly expected "Microsoft Surface AIO." In jumping to the "Microsoft Surface" mobile units this 2016, the company will introduce PCs and mobile devices from OEMs instead.
Microsoft Surface Pro 5 Release Date, News & Update: Confirmed Launch This October 26? New Advance Specs and Features Revealed!
The Microsoft Surface Pro 5 is still one of the favorite topics by tech junkies at present. There is no doubt that the Surface Pro 4 is one of the best devices that the company has made and, now, fans are very excited to know when will the Surface Pro 5 will be released.
According to a report from Engadget, Microsoft will be hosting an event this upcoming October 26 at New York City. In this event, Microsoft is expected to announce the latest Windows 10 update and its new laptop the Microsoft Surface Pro 5.
The main purpose for the upcoming event is to let the users know the company's dream for the Windows 10 future, as stated by The Verge. Also, reveal their latest hardware's for PC that are capable to support it. Microsoft is also expected to release another two major updates for the Windows 10 on 2017.
Even though there is no any official announcements made for the specs of the Microsoft Surface Pro 5, rumors and speculations have already been spreading about it. Source say that the laptop will have three different screen sizes; it will be the 27-inch, 24-inch and 21-inch.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 5 will surely be having an improved battery life to support it news features such as the rumored Intel's seventh gen Kaby Lake processor. It will also have 16 megapixel rear and 8 megapixel front camera, 16 GB of RAM and the rumored USB Type-C port that makes data transfers and charging easier and a lot faster.
There are also reports claiming that the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 might be having two different models; the premium model will have a 4K display while the other one will have a 2K display. Aside from its improved design and display, it might also come with a Surface Pen that will be magnetically attached to the device. Stay tuned to Game&Guide for latest news and updates for Microsoft Surface Pro 5.
Since July 1, Dr. Dana Nichols has been very busy getting to know faculty and staff as Chattanooga States new Vice President of Academic Affairs. To facilitate that task, Dr. Nichols instituted an initiative that she calls Paws on the Pavement, where she literally walks around campus every other Friday to meet and greet personnel from all departments to help familiarize herself and to let others get to know her in an informal, low-stress way. She hopes that, over time, it will help boost communication between and among the various departments on campus.
As a former Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lanier Technical College in Georgia, Dr. Nichols came to Chattanooga State because of its outstanding reputation for innovation. In Georgia, I had often seen the Colleges initiatives held up as examples of best practices to be followed, so when I saw the position opening, I was excited to think I might get to be a part of leading the institution through the next phase of academic innovation and best practices, states Dr. Nichols.
Dr. Nichols has been involved in higher education for 18 years with classroom experience teaching English, ESL and Linguistics, Beginning and Intermediate Spanish, and Film; so she already has a good grasp of what it is like to be a college faculty member, which helps her relate to the hundreds of faculty who call her their vice president.
A firm believer in good communication, Dr. Nichols says, The sheer size of the College and the fact that it has multiple locations make consistent and timely communication challenging. Too often in educational institutions of this size and larger, we fail to contextualize the decisions that we make and it is then impossible to get buy-in. People want and deserve to know the reasons behind the things that we do, the processes that we follow, and the initiatives that we take on.
As Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Nichols is all about the students. She says that students should consider ChattState because of the breadth of curriculum offered and because faculty and staff are genuinely interested in student success. My goal is to remove as many barriers as possible so that all people who want an education can get one, she adds.
Dr. Nichols is a 2006 doctoral graduate of Georgia State University.
'Maze Runner 3' Release Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Dylan O'Brien Has No Comment On Upcoming Return To 'Death Cure' Set?
It seems like the world is still waiting for Dylan O'Brien to offer an update about his current condition after he was injured on the set of "Maze Runner: The Death Cure". Not surprisingly, fans went nuts when the "Teen Wolf" Season 6 actor finally returned to social media. But why is the "American Assassin" star keeping quiet about what happened on the "Maze Runner 3" set? Is O'Brien waiting for the right moment before offering a comment about the accident?
Dylan O'Brien Tweets Support For New York Mets, Promptly Breaks The Internet! Still No Comment On 'Maze Runner 3' Accident?
Remember when Dylan O'Brien was the funniest guy on Twitter? The "Teen Wolf" Season 6 star has certainly been quiet since March, offering no updates about his condition or when he will return to "Maze Runner 3". Then suddenly, out of nowhere, the "American Assassin" actor tweets seven letters that shocked fans (but in a good way). That's right, O'Brien is back and he wants the New York Mets to know he's supporting them in their game against the San Francisco Giants.
LGM baby Dylan O'Brien (@dylanobrien) October 6, 2016
It's a short tweet but Dylan O'Brien's post immediately had fans retweeting and sending messages of love from around the globe. Some wondered whether the "Teen Wolf" Season 6 actor is ready to return to filming for "Maze Runner 3" but O'Brien had no response. Does this mean that the star of "American Assassin" isn't looking forward to going back to where he got injured? Is it possible that legal actions are being pursued against Fox because of the accident?
Is Dylan O'Brien Pursuing Legal Actions Against Fox For 'Maze Runner 3' Accident?
GamenGuide has previously reported on speculations that Dylan O'Brien is waiting for certain actions against Fox following his accident on the "Maze Runner 3" set. The "Teen Wolf" Season 6 might simply be busy working on "American Assassin" and watching the Mets. "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" will resume production early next year and is scheduled for release on January 12, 2018.
Macbook Pro 2016 News & Update: Why the Revolutionized Laptop Will Not Have Competitions This October?
The Macbook Pro 2016 has been delayed for the second part of October, but it looks like, not even its competitor is ready to challenge the Apple device. In the latest news surrounding the laptop, this will be the thinnest and lightest Macbook Pro version in the history of the company. With an OLED display that replaces the first row of the keyboard, these are just some of the few new features of the 2016 Macbook Pro.
So why did we say it won't have any competitions this October? Apparently, Microsoft is not set to reveal its rival Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book 2. According to BGR, technology journalist Paul Thurrott said, Microsoft will definitely not refresh the Surface Pro and Surface Book lines this year. When Microsoft will hold its major press conference on October 26 in New York City, don't expect the device to be included. In fact, he said the event will mostly discuss the Windows 10 on PC, Hololens and the Xbox One will grace the event.
That puts Apple's Macbook Pro 2016 on top of the tech market this October. Meanwhile, one of the main factors that led to the delay of the 2016 Macbook Pro, is the apparent updating of its software concept. In fact, Apple was able to release a beta version of the OS in order to get possible feedback from user, prior to releasing the laptop.
Just recently, news about Apple and NVIDIA revolutionizing the new laptops made news online. This is why, consumers are all excited to see the new Macbook Pro 2016. Apple is expected to launch the event and introduce the all new 2016 Macbook Pro series this coming October 27, 2016. Are you still excited to experience the revolutionized laptop from Apple? Where will you be during the launching of the Macbook Pro 2016? Don't miss the exciting new details of the laptop by reading them here on GamenGuide.
'Moonlight Drawn By Clouds' Latest Spoilers, News & Update: Park Bo Gums KBS Drama To Release Special Episode
"Moonlight Drawn by Clouds" will soon release a special episode to mark the KBS drama's upcoming series finale. The said episode will contain an interview session with Park Bo Gum and the actor's fellow cast members, as well as a recap of the drama's unforgettable scenes.
The hit KBS historical drama "Moonlight Drawn by Clouds" is set to close its final chapter with a special episode to be aired on Oct. 18, Tuesday, according to Korea Herald. The said 85-minute episode will feature a compilation of the drama's best scenes that include romantic moments between Park and Kim Yoo Jung's characters.
The production team also added a few interview sessions with some of the drama's cast and crew members. Viewers can enjoy the said special episode that will be released immediately after the series' upcoming finale.
A representative from the KBS drama recently told local reporters that the upcoming special episode will serve as a gift to avid viewers, as indicated in the same report. It appears that the production team prepared the said episode as their way of thanking loyal viewers for their support
"Moonlight Drawn by Clouds" has been one of the popular Monday-Tuesday primetime dramas since it aired its first episode mid-August. The series has caught the attention of many Korean drama lovers with its storyline and talented cast members.
Park portrays the role of a Joseon dynasty crown prince while Kim plays Ra On, a young woman pretending to be a palace eunuch. The romantic and heartwarming scenes between the two characters also touched the hearts of many fans.
Critics even took notice of Park's acting abilities in the said KBS series. The actor has been applauded for the myriad of emotions that he displayed in the historical drama.
In other news, TV ratings for the KBS historical series episode 15 that aired on Oct. 10, Monday, registered a nationwide viewership share of 17.9 percent, according to Nielsen Korea. Meanwhile, the said episode's TV ratings across the Seoul Metropolitan area was posted at 18.5 percent.
"Moonlight Drawn by Clouds" will release its final two episodes on Oct. 17 and Oct. 18 on KBS. Watch the trailer for the drama's upcoming episode 16 below:
Rotary got started in Long Beach in 1917 when seven local businessmen met with a New York Rotarian who talked about his club there.
The Corvallis Science Pub mixed things up a bit Monday night by bringing in a historian for the first time in its seven years of programs.
The experiment seemed to work as Christopher McKnight Nichols, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, drew a full house of approximately 150 people at the Old World Deli for a presentation on United States foreign policy.
Nichols took the audience through 200-plus years of U.S. policies, starting with the avoiding entangling alliances of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and the tough stand of the Monroe Doctrine why do American presidents always want a doctrine? Nichols asked and with a heavy emphasis on Cold War-era policies.
The presentation included artwork, excerpts from the various doctrines and some pointed editorial cartoons, including one that showed President Barack Obama changing the way he referred to U.S. involvement in Libya. He started with intervention and conflict and wound up at the end with scuffle and dustup.
Nichols and audience members noted that the nations early strategies failed to take into account economics.
There was a really odd belief among the founders that you could disaggregate war from trade, Nichols said. That was a real blind spot.
The reluctance to cement ties with allies was a consistent thread, Nichols said, introducing the fact that the U.S. did not enter into any formal alliances during World War I.
During the question-answer session, Nichols was asked what the foreign policy doctrine of a Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump presidency might be.
Your guess is as good as mine, said Nichols, who also noted that historians should never make forecasts because they are always wrong.
Nichols did offer the thought that Clinton is well-positioned because of her diplomatic experience as secretary of state.
Will she succeed there? Good question.
To a question on technology and nuclear weapons, Nichols noted that sanctions got Iran to the table and there was no war, but sanctions can cause a lot of pain. What is the greater good?
Nichols also pointed to 1990s trends that seemed to suggest the likelihood of more unilateral reductions in nuclear weapons.
That hasnt happened, Nichols said and added that Ukraine choosing to give up nuclear weapons might have led Russia to take a more aggressive stance in the region.
Other countries have taken notice of this.
Another audience member asked about the stateless actions of todays terrorists.
Thats a great point, Nichols said. U.S. policymakers are at a loss to deal with rogue actors who are not part of a national structure. You are seeing more individual actions and more small-scale actions.
Up next: On Nov. 14, the Science Pub will host a presentation by Rachel Tillman, founder and executive director of the Viking Mars Missions Education and Preservation Project, along with three project volunteers.
This log includes incidents in which there might have been a public disturbance or a risk to the public. Information comes from the Corvallis Police Department, Oregon State Police and Benton County Sheriff's Office. It does not include all calls for service. The status of incidents might change after further investigation. Locations are approximate. People arrested or suspected in crimes are considered innocent until proven otherwise.
Corvallis Police Department
THURSDAY, OCT. 6
DUII: 10:29 p.m., 300 N.W. Third St. An officer arrested Ryan Lee Anderson, 33, no address listed, for a charge of DUII after a drug recognition expert concluded he was impaired. Anderson reportedly tried to tamper with his urine sample and was additionally charged with tampering with evidence.
Benton County Sheriffs Office
SUNDAY, OCT. 9
DUII: 1725 N.W. Ninth St., 3:25 a.m. A deputy arrested Forrest Day Orem, 32, of Milwaukie, for a charge of DUII after an evaluation by a drug recognition expert.
DUII: 2:20 a.m., Northwest Harrison Boulevard and Northwest Kings Boulevard. An officer arrested Alexander McKenzie Okeefe, 19, of Corvallis, for a charge of DUII. He reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.05 percent.
SATURDAY, OCT. 8
DUII: 11:15 p.m., Bellfountain Road and Southwest Airport Avenue. A deputy arrested Erik William Jansen, 37, of Corvallis for a charge of DUII. He reportedly provided a breath sample of 0.24 percent.
Corvallis resident Betty Johnson will be honored for her contributions to public health with a lifetime achievement award at a luncheon today during the annual convention of the Oregon Public Health Association, which is being held this year in her hometown.
Unfortunately, Johnson wont be able to attend shell be in Portland for a meeting of health care reform activists.
In this case, as in many others, she has put the mission ahead of herself, said Benton County Health Department Deputy Administrator Charlie Fautin, who nominated Johnson for the award. Shes not going to give up on that to get a pat on the back.
Its no exaggeration to say that Johnson has dedicated her life to improving peoples health.
As director of senior services for Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties from 1972 to 1987, Johnson played a leading role in establishing a number of services we now take for granted in the mid-valley, including Senior Meals, Meals on Wheels, Benton Hospice Service and Dial-A-Bus. She also helped organize Interfaith Caregivers, a faith-based volunteer group that provides support services for seniors and people with disabilities, and she launched a highly successful campaign called Medishare to persuade Corvallis physicians to waive the standard 20 percent copay for Medicare patients of modest means.
If anything, shes been even busier since her retirement.
In 1991, Johnson spearheaded a task force on senior housing that culminated in the construction of Corvallis Caring Place, a nonprofit assisted-living facility that sets aside space for low-income residents. The same year, she founded Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates, one of the first groups in the state to promote the goal of health insurance for every Oregonian.
As Johnson is quick to point out, she has had help from other people in every one of these endeavors.
The first thing I always do with something like that is find out who else is interested, Johnson said. Its like you plant a seed and then you cultivate it, and you get lots of strong leadership to maintain it and help it grow.
Fautin said Johnsons ability to recruit people to her various causes and inspire them to become advocates themselves has been a key to her success.
Betty is an incredibly effective communicator, Fautin said. Shes able to really identify the root of the problem and motivate and gather people around. A lot of people talk about problems, and Betty is all about solutions.
For the better part of two decades now, Johnsons main cause has been reforming the health care system.
As one of the founders of Health Care for All-Oregon, Johnson co-authored and helped lead the fight for Measure 23, a 2002 initiative that would have established a statewide single-payer health plan.
While that measure fared poorly at the ballot box, Johnson and her fellow advocates helped keep the idea alive by shifting their focus to Salem and working with like-minded legislators. Johnson, along with other members of Health Care for All-Oregon, Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates and related organizations, has had a hand in writing several bills to advance single-payer health care in the state.
She also stays in touch with single-payer advocates in other parts of the country, participating in monthly conference calls to talk strategy and brainstorm ways to advance the cause of universal health care on a state-by-state basis until a national tipping point can be reached.
We were way ahead of our time, Johnson says of the Measure 23 campaign. I promised myself I would never do anything like that again without resources, and guess what? Here I am again. I just cant give up.
At the same time, Johnson has also taken an active role in Oregons health care transformation, a sweeping effort launched by former Gov. John Kitzhaber to hold down the rise of medical costs while expanding access to care for more Oregonians. Johnson has served on a number of committees involved in designing and implementing the program, which has seen a major expansion of the Oregon Health Plan (the states version of Medicaid) and the establishment of regional coordinating care organizations to manage service delivery and allocate resources.
Johnsons powers of persuasion are legendary (Fautin describes her as a force of nature), but not everybody agrees with her positions, especially on contentious issues such as single-payer. Even those who find themselves opposing her, however, often end up singing her praises.
You can put Larry Mullins, president and chief executive of Samaritan Health Services, in that camp. The two have disagreed on multiple topics, including the desirability of a single-payer health care system. But Mullins said Johnson was always respectful and he has come to admire her tireless and passionate advocacy so much so, in fact, that he wrote a letter of support for her award nomination.
One thing she certainly has done is kept the issue in the forefront of peoples minds, Mullins said. I always knew when Betty was present that she would state her position and defend it, and we would talk about the issue and hopefully the public would benefit from it.
Johnson is 94 now and not quite as physically active as she once was. At her doctors insistence, she started using a cane to help with balance after a fall in February that cost her several broken ribs and a punctured lung.
She also claims to have cut back on her meeting schedule, making fewer trips to Salem to attend rallies on the Capitol steps or drop in on lawmakers for a bit of gentle arm-twisting. But even at less than full speed, Johnson remains a one-woman juggernaut for the cause she has championed for the last four decades.
Ive never paid a lot of attention to age how old I am, how old the other person is, she said. Im just interested in living life, you know, and learning everything I can.
Looking back at 40-plus years of advocacy, Johnson says she doesnt regret a minute of it.
One of the joys of all this is the people Ive met. It has enriched my life in ways I never could have imagined, she said.
Thats what makes me such an optimist, she added. I know how much passion people have for trying to make this better for everyone.
The debate over Ballot Measure 99, which would use lottery money dedicated to economic development to fund Outdoor School across Oregon, isn't really about Outdoor School.
There isn't any debate about the value of Outdoor School, which gets Oregon students out of the classroom for a dose of science-based education while staying for a few nights at a camp.
Instead, this debate, like so many others in Oregon, is about funding and priorities: Is this particular chunk of lottery money better spent on economic development or on Outdoor School?
We think the measure, despite its good intentions, would end up shortchanging the state's badly needed economic development efforts. We also are leery about claims from measure proponents that expanding Outdoor School opportunities would result in widespread economic development for rural Oregon.
The Gazette-Times recommends a "no" vote on Measure 99.
Outdoor School in Oregon dates back to 1957, when Irene Hollenbeck, of the Southern Oregon University School of Education, organized a one-week camp to the Dead Indian Soda Springs for fifth- and sixth-grade students and teachers from Medfords Westside Elementary School. (This background comes courtesy of an extensive evaluation of Measure 99 by the City Club of Portland; the online copy of this editorial includes a copy of the City Club report.)
Hollenbecks program was successful enough that a pilot Outdoor School project was launched in the Crook County School District. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Oregon students have participated in a week-long Outdoor School program. But the program never has had consistent state funding.
Enter Measure 99, which had its origins with parent groups in Portland that had to raise money so that their local schools could offer Outdoor School programs. Currently, Oregon does not fund a statewide Outdoor School program, but Oregon State University helps school districts by awarding grants, as funding allows, for such efforts. (If the measure passes, OSU would administer the statewide program, so at least the university would enjoy some benefit.)
The particular pot of money that Measure 99 targets is generated by Oregon Lottery sales and currently is set aside for economic development efforts. This $22 million makes up about a quarter of the budget for Business Oregon, the states economic development agency. According to Business Oregons annual report, in 2015 the agency created more than 2,200 jobs and helped retain nearly 6,800 more.
That may be true, measure backers say, but they point to a study of their own concluding that doubling the number of students who attend camps each year from 25,000 to 50,000 would create 500 new jobs in rural Oregon to serve the facilities and programs the schools would use.
We find that claim dubious, but even if it panned out, we still would not be convinced that this would be a wise investment for Oregon: For starters, Business Oregon has a much broader portfolio of projects that it can invest in and can invest throughout the state, from Oregons urban centers to its remotest locations. And the jobs the agency is helping to create go beyond the type of tourism jobs that expanding Outdoor School would tend to generate; those jobs likely would be part-time and lower-wage.
Shortchanging the states efforts to create and build successful businesses to help pay for Outdoor School doesnt strike us as a particularly appealing trade-off and its one that could, in the long run, hobble our efforts to build a stronger economy.
Measure 99 is a feel-good measure that could throw a wrench into Oregon's economic recovery. Oregon voters should reject it.
CHATTANOOGA, ROME, AND COLUMBUS RAILROAD, 1888
In 1881, the Rome and Carrolton Railroad Company was chartered to build a railway between these towns. The company restructured in 1888 and built the Chattanooga, Rome, and Columbus Railroad (CRC) into our city, but no tracks were ever laid southward beyond Carrollton. The railway was sold in 1897 and renamed the Chattanooga, Rome, and Southern Railroad (CRS). After another exchange of ownership in 1901, the line became part of the Central of Georgia Railway (COG). Southern Railway Company (SR) acquired a controlling interest of the railroad in 1963, which it merged with four other Georgia railroads into a single entity named the Central of Georgia Railroad in 1971, which survived as a separate entity after the merger of the parent company into Norfolk Southern Railway in 1982.
Lafayette
The depot at this schedule stop stood across the street from the restored Mars Theater, which stands at 117 North Chattanooga Street.
Founded as Chattooga in 1835 to be the seat of Walker County, which then included Dade and Catoosa Counties, this citys named changed to Lafayette in 1836 in honor of the former marquis thereof, Gilbert du Motier (he gave up his title), hero of the American Revolution and of the French Revolution, close friend of Thomas Paine, and one of the two officers who escorted the royal Bourbon couple, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, away from the destruction of Versailles, the other being a guy surnamed Bonaparte.
During the Civil War, the Battle of Lafayette was fought here 24 June 1864 during the Atlanta Campaign. There were also engagements here on 14 September 1863 in the run-up to the Battle of Chickamauga, and on 12 October 1864 during the Nashville Campaign.
Lafayette today is headquarters for the short-line Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway, which runs from Summerville to Chickamauga.
The post office of Lafayette was established in 1837.
Warrens Station
This schedule stop stood three miles down from Lafayette in the community of Salem, probably at the West Warren Road crossing of the railway.
The post office of Salem operated from 1870 until 1898.
Copeland Station
This schedule stop stood three miles down from Salem in the community of Noble, possibly at the Glass Road crossing.
The post office of Noble operated from 1892 until 1912.
Rock Spring
This schedule stop stood three miles down from Copeland.
The post office of Rock Spring was established in 1837.
Chickamauga
This schedule stop was first named Crawfish Springs after the community in which it sat, named for the huge springs here. In 1891, the town incorporated as Chickamauga to take advantage of its proximity to the Chickamauga Battlefield Reservation, and the name of the station changed with it. The fine stone depot, built in 1891, remains, serving as a museum and visitors center.
Before the Cherokee Removal, the site served as the seat of the judicial and legislative division of the Cherokee Nation East known as the Chickamauga District, whose boundaries included Hamilton County to the Tennessee River and Ooltewah (Wolftever) Creek, as well as Marion County to the river and large parts of Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama. The judge for the Chickamauga District was none other than John Brown of Browns Tavern, Browns Ferry, and Browns Landing in the north of Lookout Valley; Brown also served briefly as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation West in 1839.
During the Civil War, several encounters took place in the vicinity, the closest being at Lee and Gordons Mill 11-13 September 1863 and another at the same place 16 September 1863, and a bit further away, the Battle of the Chickamauga, fought 18-20 September 1863.
Chickamauga today is the northern terminus of the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway.
The post office of Crawfish Springs was established in 1877, the name changing to Chickamauga in 1890. There was another post office in Walker County called Chickamauga from 1836 until 1837 which served the antebellum community of East Chickamauga, but that area went with Catoosa County when it separated in 1853.
Lytle
The schedule stop in this community was originally known as Battlefield Station, because the Chickamauga Battlefield Reservation was its reason for existence. That remained the name well into the 20th century, when it changed to Lytle. The depot stood across the tracks from the headquarters for the Reservation, and the National Park after that.
During the Civil War, the battlefield above was the site of the bloody Battle of the Chickamauga, as the Union called it, or the Battle of Mud Flats, as the Confederacy called it, fought 18-20 September 1863. With the highest per capita body count, it was the bloodiest two-and-a-half days of the entire war.
The post office of Lytle operated from 1890 until 1910.
Mission Ridge
Three miles north lay this schedule stop east of Missionary Ridge, south of the eastern mouth of McFarlands Gap. The wye junction with the spur line to Fort Oglethorpe army post was just north of here.
The post office of Mission Ridge operated from 1878 to 1904.
Fort Oglethorpe
In 1914, COG constructed a spur line to the U.S. Army fort so-named, which also served the town that had begun to grow north of it.
The original community at the site was called Hargrave. During the Spanish-American War, Camp Thomas, the primary training facility and departure point for troops going to Cuba, was here. The army established Chickamauga Post for the 6th Cavalry in 1902, which became Fort Oglethorpe in 1904. Fort Oglethorpe served as a boot camp during both world wars, and as a prison camp for German POWs of both wars. In the Second World War, it was the primary training center for the Womens Army Corps (WAC). During the Depression, the State of Georgia imprisoned workers here during the Great Textile Strike of 1934.
The post office of Fort Oglethorpe was established in 1917.
Rossville
The depot at this schedule stop stood at the southern end of the island surrounded by the railway to the east, West State Street to the west, West Gordon Avenue to the north and West Lake Avenue to the south. Initially intended primarily for passenger service, manufacturing interests took advantage of this to build their factories sited for easy access on either side of the station and provided the bulk of traffic in the first half of the 20th century. Park Woolen Mill stood on the east and Richmond Hosiery Mill stood on the west.
The post office here was established by Thomas McFarland in 1835. Despite the fact that the area was known as Popular Springs, he named it Rossville since he ran it out of his home, the former John Ross House. Gradually the community adopted the name of the post office. This post office continues to this day.
An earlier post office here was also named Rossville, established in the Cherokee Nation in 1817 with John Ross, the later Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation East whose house lay directly on the Federal Road, as postmaster. It moved into what is now Tennessee in 1827, and again in 1834 to the mission on Chickamauga River (South Chickamauga Creek) across from Old Chickamauga Town of the Cherokee under the name Brainerd. It closed in 1838 along with the mission of the same name at the Cherokee Removal to Indian Territory.
East End
CRC and its successors used the Radcliff depot of the Belt Line at this schedule stop but called it East End, which was the name of the community here.
For more information, see the entries for Radcliff Station and East End under Radcliff Division in the section on Union Railway of Chattanooga.
Chattanooga
The CRC and its successors used the Central Depot then Terminal Station as its terminals in Chattanooga.
For more Chattanooga information, see the sections on the Western and Atlantic Railroad and the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad, Chattanooga Extension.
Chuck Hamilton
PPS-Lockout-Emails (Text)
Chapman said in an interview that she's since told the district to drop the matter and is not pursuing any harassment claims against Kohnstamm.
"That was a really intense time period because we are both really passionate about school facilities and we had different views on the timing of that," Chapman said. "We both realized the most important thing was to advance needed improvements for our schools. We have a history of working really closely together."
Chapman would not detail how the district handled her concerns but said she met with several district officials and felt at ease.
"That was a very stressful day for Peyton and sometimes people say things when emotions are running high," Kohnstamm said in a text message Monday. "She's a terrific principal and we will both devote ourselves to getting our bond passed."
Chapman wrote that she wanted to document, in the meeting with the administrators, that she was told she was being investigated over the walkout.
"You have asked me not to talk to students to avoid perceptions of tainting their testimony which of course I would never do," Chapman wrote. "You also informed me that you would be researching employee's free speech rights as you were not sure what rights principals have."
Antonio Lopez, the district's superintendent for the Office of School Performance, denied Chapman was under investigation in his reply. He was in the meeting along with Senior Director of Schools Oscar Gilson and Director of Academic Programs Greg Wolleck.
"I did not say you are being investigated, what I said was that we are investigating the situation to see how it came about and the lessons we can learn from it," Lopez wrote.
As to Chapman's concerns about Kohnstamm, Lopez wrote that it was his job to relay them to Interim Superintendent Bob McKean.
In her email, Chapman said Kohnstamm had harassed her since Chapman wrote an opinion piece in favor of the November ballot. After the piece ran, Chapman said, Kohnstamm sent her text messages claiming Chapman was trying to "undermine her" and "sabotage her leadership."
The decision to push the bond to May emerged as a flashpoint because board members had been planning until late July to aim for November. The about-face came as a surprise to some in the community -- just days before, the board's bond committee had publicly supported a November bond.
Board members were criticized for not publicly discussing the reasoning behind the sudden change and in September, students forced a conversation by threatening a sit-in of a board meeting.
The walkout the next day became controversial when Lincoln students decided to head to Benson. Both schools would benefit from the bond. Police guarded the doors at Benson, and McKean ordered the school under a "lockout" to prevent Lincoln students from entering the school.
The sight of officers outside Benson, and signs inside Benson saying students should remain inside, led students, parents and civil rights groups to question why students at a mostly white, affluent school seemed to be free to protest while a school serving less-privileged students appeared to be holding students hostage.
Administrators said Benson students were free to leave, heightening tensions. Many complained the statement was disingenuous and inaccurate as the signs and the district's own lock out policy stated otherwise.
The emails released Monday show senior administrators sought editing from a communications consultant, Anna Richter Taylor, before releasing a statement on the lockout to students at both schools.
At one point, on Sept. 12, Richter Taylor told district chief of staff Amanda Whalen in an email that "from all press accounts the district looks not so great."
McKean's statement after the unrest acknowledged unclear communication and room for improvement, but maintained the lockout had been the right call at the time and noted the doors were not actually locked.
McKean has since met with student leaders, who have said publicly they're hopeful the incident was a learning experience for the district.
-- Bethany Barnes
Fat Cupcake opened its doors in Southeast Portland about a month ago. The new location, the company's second, serves pastries and a wide variety of cupcakes out of a small storefront on 72nd Avenue.
In early September, however, not long after opening, the shop ran into some trouble when Portland customers became upset by the "Mr. President" cupcake, described on the menu as "Oreo () Cookie baked inside white cake, cookies n' cream buttercream."
On Yelp, one reviewer wrote, "Very troubling. They were serving a cupcake called the 'Mr. President' that had an Oreo cookie inside. When I tried to point out the racism implied, they claimed that 'our current president loves Oreos.'"
When we called to ask Anjelica Hayes, the owner of Fat Cupcake, about the accusations of racism, she responded, "I have been asked this so many times."
She said over the phone Monday, unequivocally, that she isn't racist.
For one thing, she said, "I myself am black."
Hayes said she is a born and raised Portlander. She said she is very involved in the community and has even started something she called, "our 'Piece of Cake' movement."
"We have driven around Portland to give away cakes to the homeless," she said, "and donated thousands of cupcakes to the community."
Hayes told us that the name for the cupcake came because she wanted to call it something to honor what a great cupcake it is.
"What sounds like it would be really fancy?" she said. "We thought of the presidential office."
"I just thought it was an honorary name," she said. "I thought I'd be honored if someone named a cupcake after me."
She said that at one point someone told her that President Barack Obama's favorite cookie was the Oreo. "So we thought that was a cool coincidence," she said.
But since opening in Southeast Portland, Hayes said she's had to field questions about whether her cupcakes are racist. She also has a cupcake called "The Intern" that the same customer quoted above on Yelp took to be a slam on Monica Lewinsky. Hayes said it is not.
At least until the election is over, Hayes said, they have changed the name of the cupcake to a more generic title: "The Professional."
She said the cupcake, whatever it's called, is one of the store's most popular items.
-- Lizzy Acker
503-221-8052
lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker
Police have identified the man killed Sunday morning in Gresham as a 19-year-old Portland resident.
Otoniel Hernandez-Duarte died of multiple stab wounds, Gresham police said in a news release. Ariana Marlene Cortez of Gresham, 19, is facing a murder charge in his death, court records show.
Cortez is friends with Hernandez-Duarte's significant other, according to processing documents filed Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Police said Cortez and Hernandez-Duarte were acquaintances, from what investigators have determined.
Cortez lives in the 1200 block of Northeast 183rd Avenue, where police said they were called shortly after 4:30 a.m. Sunday.
An officer found Hernandez-Duarte on the floor just inside the front door of a duplex, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. He was bleeding heavily from a wound in his neck area and didn't have a pulse.
None of the adults at the home knew Hernandez-Duarte before he knocked on the duplex door, according to the affidavit. One woman said she heard a disturbance next door before Hernandez-Duarte came knocking.
The adjacent duplex unit -- which Cortez is leasing -- had a broken window, and its front door was ajar. Police didn't find anyone inside.
Ariana Marlene Cortez
A neighbor who has a view of the front door of the duplex unit with the broken window told an Oregon State Police detective that several loud noises woke him in the early morning. He said he looked outside and saw a man on the unit's porch.
The man on the porch broke a window, the neighbor told the detective, and a woman opened the door, yelled at the man and pushed him down. A police spokesman said it appears Hernandez-Duarte is the man who broke the window.
The neighbor said he started getting dressed and turned his attention from the altercation, and he later saw four or five people exit the unit and leave in a SUV.
A detective phoned Cortez later that morning, and she later agreed to meet him for an interview, according to the affidavit. She wasn't under arrest at the beginning of the interview.
Cortez told the detective she hosted a party Saturday for the child of one of her friends and that the party kept going past midnight. She said "Tony Hernandez" was at the party and that he was "going crazy" -- breaking decorations and throwing beer cans.
She said she shocked him with a Taser twice and that the shocks didn't affect him, according to the affidavit.
Hernandez-Duarte was often referred to as "Tony," his mother told police.
Cortez told the detective that "someone" broke her window while she was home alone and that the person who broke her window had a knife. She got a knife from her kitchen.
She said she blacked out once she got the knife and that she didn't remember what happened.
Another detective interviewed Cortez's mother, and she told him that she picked up Cortez at a gas station on the day of the killing after Cortez called her and said "something bad happened."
She said Cortez told her she asked a man to leave her party and that he wouldn't do so. She said Cortez told her the man was threatening her with a knife, that they fought outside in some way, that Cortez went into her kitchen and that Cortez eventually stabbed the man.
Officer John Rasmussen, a Gresham police spokesman, said investigators haven't confirmed Cortez was threatened with a knife.
Gresham police arrested Cortez in the killing, and she was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center around 1 a.m. Monday. She was arraigned Monday and is scheduled to next appear in court Oct. 18, according to court records.
She's being held in the jail without bail, records show.
Gresham police ask anyone who has information about the killing to call the department's tip line, 503-618-2719.
-- Jim Ryan
jryan@oregonian.com
503-221-8005; @Jimryan015
U.S. Parks police in Washington, D.C., spotted the erratically moving car late one night in October 1974 and pulled it over. Inside was Wilbur Mills, 65-year-old chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful politicians in the country. Next to him sat a much-younger woman in a revealing dress. Suddenly, the woman bounded from the vehicle, eluded the officers and splashed into the nearby tidal basin. She tried to swim away -- from the police, from Mills, from her life.
"Down in the dark, deserted water I dived very deep, not knowing or caring where I would come up," she later recounted. "My long, expensive evening dress lapped around my legs, but I felt nothing."
Sex scandals have been a feature of American politics for as long as America has had politics. Usually they're a very ugly business -- such as Donald Trump's newly discovered boasts about groping women without their consent, or the old assault allegations against Bill Clinton that Trump has cynically resurrected in response. But with Wilbur Mills and his mistress, it was different. Love might even have been involved.
Reporters certainly loved the 38-year-old Fanne Foxe, the Argentinian stripper who had fled the scene that night and whose real name was Annabel Battistella.
Because, for starters, she would talk about anything. About how, in a rage, she had once tried to run down her ex-husband Eduardo. About how she had partaken in group sex and "couple swapping." About how Mills would introduce her to people as his nurse, despite her plunging decolletage.
After Foxe's affair with the married congressman hit the newspapers, offers poured in for her to appear at clubs far swankier than the Silver Slipper, the D.C. strip joint where she usually worked and where she had met Mills. Long known as the "Argentine Firecracker," she was now re-dubbed "The Tidal Basin Bombshell." She even took up acting, appearing in the B-movie "Posse From Heaven."
For his part, Mills, who died in 1992, tried to hunker down and save his political career. But there was a problem. The Arkansas congressman couldn't stay away from Foxe. One night, months after the scandal had broken, she noticed him watching her from the wings as she was performing at the Pilgrim Theater in Boston. "Oh, Anna, I love you," he whispered to her. "I wanted to see you and I want everybody to know."
He indicated he was going to come out on stage -- surely he had to be drunk, she thought, watching him -- and she improvised as best she could. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have a visitor for you, and he wants to say hello," she told the audience.
Mills stepped before the crowd, "grinning like the proverbial cat that ate the canary" as the audience whooped and applauded. "Here I am," he said.
That was it for Mills. His fellow Democrats in Congress, fed up with his behavior, stripped him of the Ways and Means chairmanship. Under pressure from the party, he quietly retired from public life.
Foxe's fame quickly faded too. She wasn't much of an actress. Her memoir about her affair with Mills, "The Stripper and the Congressman," sold well at first but soon ended up in the discount bin. She struggled with depression, with thoughts of what might have been.
"If it hadn't happened," she said, referring to the fateful drive through the park that ended with her in the tidal basin, "I think me and Congressman Mills would have married."
That's all she had ever wanted, she insisted in 1976. A quiet, married life with a man who loved her. Offered Foxe: "I don't enjoy being famous."
-- Douglas Perry
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 11
By Orkhan Guluzade Trend:
The leader of the Turkish Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu may be arrested.
Turkish Prosecutors Office has prepared an indictment against Kilicdaroglu in connection with his speeches made against Bilal Erdogan, the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Haberturk newspaper reported Oct. 11.
Kilicdaroglu may be deprived of freedom for 4-20 months within the framework of the charges insult via media outlets, according to the newspaper.
Kilicdaroglu was also accused of his speeches in the media outlets against the Turkish president. However, on July 27, Turkish President Erdogan decided to withdraw all lawsuits filed by him to the court regarding the leaders of opposition political parties of the country.
Thai police have received intelligence data suggesting that bombings are likely to take place in the capital of Bangkok in late October, Sputnik International reported.
The Nation online publication reported, citing deputy police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, that there was information indicating a preparation of several car bombings in the capital and its suburbs between October 25 and 30. The targets of these attacks could be airports, parking lots, as well as various shops.
"I have already instructed police in all areas to increase screening and searching of suspicious vehicles which is in line with the anti-terrorism plans," Srivara said, stressing that such warnings emerge rather often.
According to the publication, increased security measures will be introduced in the tourist areas, the areas of embassies and other vulnerable facilities.
The suspect of Syrian origin was building a bomb which he was plotting to detonate inside of an airport in Berlin with the scare renewing concerns about Chancellor Angela Merkels controversial open border policy, Sputnik International reported.
The head of Germanys domestic intelligence agency (BfV) announced that a Syrian man arrested on Monday was in the process of building a bomb and was looking to detonate it in one of Berlins airports renewing concern about mass casualty terror events in the country that has seen a sharp push back against the open border policies of Chancellor Angela Merkel with many Germans feeling less safe.
The narrowly averted attack was the result of vigorous surveillance and counterterrorism work after covert agents reportedly identified the suspect in the eastern state of Saxony on Thursday and began round-the clock observation.
"We found out that he then bought hot glue in a discount shop on the following day. And then we immediately pull all measures into place to start a raid because we assumed this can basically be the last missing chemical for him to build a bomb," said intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maasen.
The intelligence official had warned the public via the ARD television network that field reports suggested that the Daesh (ISIS) terror group was planning an attack on Germanys transportation infrastructure in the near future a reality that worries German officials who are left to wonder whether the suspect is the only Daesh actor involved in that specific terror plot.
German public prosecutor Peter Frank has taken over the investigation of the case given the magnitude of the crime that is alleged against the suspect and in a statement to ARD television news he explained that had the terrorist fulfilled his plot it would have resulted in scores of casualties.
"The danger is mainly characterized by the fact that he developed a very high explosive for which special expertise was needed, and he made it in a very large quantity," said Frank in the interview with ARD.
The 22-year-old suspect Jaber Albakr arrived in Germany in February 2015 as a migraint and was granted temporary asylum in the country fitting precisely the background of prospective terrorists that Merkels political nemesis, the far-right AfD Party, warned about.
Tuesday 11 October 2016 4:49pm
Prime Minister John Key awards David Eggleton with the 2016 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in poetry. Photo: Neil McKenzie.
Writer and former University of Otago Burns Fellow David Eggleton is one of three winners of the 2016 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in poetry.
The other 2016 winners, announced yesterday, are Marilyn Duckworth for fiction and Atholl Anderson for non-fiction.
David says the award win came from out of the blue and was unexpected.
I feel tremendously honoured to have been selected for the award. Its good for poetry and good for Otago to get this sort of recognition for literary endeavours down here.
The awards recognise notable literary achievement by New Zealand writers who have made a significant contribution to New Zealand literature in the genres of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Creative New Zealand's list of all previous winners can be found here.
Arts Council Chairman Dr Dick Grant says: The Prime Ministers Awards for Literary Achievement differ from other prizes in that they recognise a career and a significant body of acclaimed work, rather than a single work of literature. The contribution of nominees to the literary community over time is also taken into consideration.
The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Wellington on Wednesday 12 October. The three award recipients will read and discuss their work in a free event with broadcaster Kathryn Ryan at Unity Books, Wellington, on Thursday 13 October, 1212.45 pm.
David's most recent collection of poetry, The Conch Trumpet, published by Otago University Press (OUP), won the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for Poetry in 2016. He is well-known as a performance poet and as editor of both Landfall and Landfall Review Online. As one of his nominators commented; He has, for over 30 years, made a vital contribution to the poetry community throughout New Zealand. He is truly a bard, a bard with street credentials. He sings our nationhood.
OUP publisher Rachel Scott says she is delighted for David.
Hot on the heels of his winning the Ockham NZ Book Award for Poetry, this award is evidence that David Eggletons work is finally getting the recognition it deserves. His poetry is consistently witty, wry, surprising and wonderfully entertaining. This award is hugely deserved and I couldnt be more thrilled for him.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 11
By Orkhan Quluzade Trend:
A big operation is underway in Istanbul as part of the fight against the movement of Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of being involved in a military coup attempt in Turkey, the Haberturk newspaper reported Oct. 11.
The report said that 125 policemen have been detained during the operation. They are accused of being members of the terrorist organization.
More than 20,000 police officers were dismissed after the failed military coup attempt in the country.
On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them.
However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed.
Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people, excluding the coup plotters, and over 2,000 people were wounded.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade
Turkeys parliament on Tuesday ratified a planned extension of the countrys state of emergency to run for three more months from Oct. 19, Anadolu reported.
The Turkish cabinet last week decided to extend the state of emergency for 90 more days, with parliaments approval.
Turkeys National Security Council had earlier advised extending the emergency measures, first brought in five days after the failed July 15 coup plot which martyred more than 240 people and injured nearly 2,200 others.
According to the Turkish Constitution, a state of emergency can be declared for a maximum period of six months, but can also be extended if needed.
Parliament must ratify states of emergency; Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has a comfortable majority for doing so.
To enact the state of emergency, the government must see serious indications of widespread violence which could interfere with Turkey's democratic environment or its citizens' basic rights and freedoms as established by the Constitution.
State education funding and those who control it came in for sharp criticism Monday at an education forum featuring five candidates for the Midland Public Schools Board of Education and Democrat Geoff Malicoat, a candidate for the 98th state House seat.
Were just not funding our schools properly, Malicoat said at the forum hosted by the Central Michigan Labor Council. Malicoat is running against incumbent state Rep. Gary Glenn, who was invited to the forum but had prior commitments. There is a terrible attitude toward public education coming from the state government right now.
He said Michigan must invest in public education if we want to have a prosperous state.
About a dozen people attended the forum, which drew five of the eight candidates running for four seats on the MPS board incumbents Jerry Wasserman, Yvonne Gorton and Scott McFarland, and newcomers Mary Fredell and Michael Knoff. Absent were incumbent Lynn Baker and newcomers Brad Blasy and Kurt Yockey.
Another forum for the MPS board candidates, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Midland Area, will take place tonight at 7 p.m. at the MPS Administration Center.
Our legislature is not friendly to education. Theyre just not, Gorton said at Mondays event.
Malicoat cited the DeVos family and charter school operators as controlling education funding in Michigan.
Wasserman was blunt about the impact on Midland of Proposal A, the education funding system approved by Michigan voters in 1994 which he said shifted control of schools from the local level to the state level.
Midland has been absolutely screwed, shafted by Proposal A, he said. Id rather have control of our own destiny.
Local voters should be able to support their schools at whatever level they want, he added.
Until major changes are made to the mechanism for funding education, it will be very difficult to increase operating revenues, Wasserman said.
The candidates were challenged by audience member Renaye Baker of the Michigan Education Association to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to generate new revenue.
Wasserman said the district has been very aggressive and adept at gaining the confidence of local foundations but said the organizations will not give you a nickel for operations.
McFarland said MPS needs to do all it can to attract students from other districts being the district that everyone wants to be a part of We want to be that place, we want to be that haven.
MPS could do a better job of promoting itself to parents and students outside the district, said Fredell, a retired H.H. Dow High School chemistry teacher.
Knoff, a longtime educator in both public and parochial schools who is currently a paraprofessional at Dow High, suggested the idea of the district having a development office a practice common in higher education to raise funds.
McFarland noted that, although MPS has achieved a balanced budget, our biggest challenge is financial.
We have some uncertainty in our community with employers shifting around, he said. We have to maintain our attractiveness maintain our financial integrity.
Fredell said that, as a recently retired teacher, she has seen issues including overcrowded classrooms and said board members need to be in touch with those people who are in the schools, including teachers, paraprofessionals, office staff and custodians.
She said if she is elected she will make it a priority to visit schools to find out what problems staff and students are encountering.
Wasserman, first elected in 2003, said his biggest priorities would be developing more opportunities for at-risk students and making middle school stellar.
He said the population of students receiving free and reduced-cost lunch has doubled during his time on the board to about 30 percent.
Its going to take many more interventions to help those students, he said.
The school board candidates had an extended discussion about year-round school, although Gorton was quick to say it should be called a balanced calendar because it would have the same number of instructional days as the schools have now, but be configured differently.
All five candidates said such a move would be beneficial to students.
I would agree that school with shorter breaks is a good thing, Knoff said.
Fredell said the idea currently isnt feasible for MPS because many buildings arent equipped with air conditioning.
While saying it could be a very good thing for students, she said such a move could make it difficult for teachers to take the courses they need to maintain their certifications.
Wasserman said buildings are being retrofitted with ventilation systems that could eventually accommodate a balanced calendar.
We will go to it at some point, he said, but clarified that there are no concrete plans to make that change.
Its a very big apple for everyone to bite into, McFarland said, adding that all stakeholders would need to be involved to assure a creative pay structure for staff who currently can get a job in the summer when they arent being paid by the district.
Saginaw Valley State Universitys student population continues to decline but leaders cite trends involving the incoming freshman class and improved student retention as encouraging takeaways from the fall 2016 enrollment picture.
There are 9,165 students enrolled for the fall 2016 semester, compared to 9,766 last year. Since enrolling 10,790 students in the fall 2011 semester, SVSU has seen its headcount drop by about 15 percent. Deb Huntley, SVSU provost and vice president for academic affairs, said steps are being taken to address the enrollment challenges.
We enrolled our most academically well-prepared freshman class in our history this fall, and that is good news, she said. Faculty and staff have taken a more active role in student recruitment over the past year, and their work is paying off. The number of domestic freshman is nearly on par with last year, despite a decline in the number of high school graduates in Michigan.
SVSUs new freshman class of 1,301 students has a cumulative high school GPA of 3.39 and an average score of 22.5 on the ACT. These solid marks mean the students are more likely to stay on course for graduation, a point of emphasis as the university attempts to improve its retention rate. SVSUs retention rate has been improving slowly and steadily in recent years, including this semester that has seen more students return for their sophomore year.
Our retention rate improved to 74 percent, from 69 percent, moving toward SVSUs institutional goal of 78 percent, said J.J. Boehm, SVSU spokesman.
Huntley said this year-to-year progress shows holistic efforts to support students are proving to be effective.
We still have room to grow, she added. But we are on the right track.
SVSUs overall enrollment was hurt by fewer returning international students. After enjoying a record number of 920 last year, there are 718 international students on campus this fall. The decline was expected.
We saw an unusually large increase in the number of international freshman last year, prompted by the earthquake in Nepal and other factors, Huntley said. Many of these students did not return, primarily due to financial reasons. Despite this, we remain on track toward our target of having international students comprise approximately 10 percent of our student body.
Boehm said prudent planning and fiscal restraint has helped SVSU weather the five-year enrollment slide without profound budget implications.
Its a tight budget but a manageable one, and we will continue to look for opportunities to trim costs, he said. We have done this during good times, too. This has us in a better financial position than we otherwise would be.
School leaders know the demographics all too well notably fewer students to draw from in a region with a declining K-12 population but are undeterred in their efforts to return SVSU to its ideal size of about 10,000 students. Expanded outreach and more aggressive recruiting will get the university there, said Boehm.
It will take time, but we continue to see a total enrollment of around 10,000 as a realistic and sustainable figure, he said. In addition to the expanded outreach, we also have more faculty and more alumni taking an active role in recruiting students, and we are optimistic their efforts will yield dividends. They are invested in SVSU and determined to work wisely and diligently to support our overall enrollment efforts.
Boehms optimism for an enrollment turnaround is also fueled by our improved retention rate. Thats a positive indicator, too. If we successfully grow our freshman class and were confident we can and couple that with the higher student retention weve seen, we would be on course to grow enrollment in a sustainable manner.
Boehm said plans are already in place to step up outreach for fall 2017.
We are contacting larger numbers of prospective students earlier and more frequently than in past years, and we are increasing the number of high school visits being made by our admissions representatives.
Turkish jets destroyed PKK targets in northern Iraq, the military said Tuesday, Anadolu reported.
A statement by the Turkish General Staff revealed at least five terrorists were killed during the operation today between 1.40 p.m. and 2.00 p.m. local time (1040-1100GMT).
The destroyed targets included shelters and weapons dumps, the army said.
The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July last year.
Since then, PKK terrorist attacks have martyred more than 600 security personnel and also claimed the lives of many civilians, including women and children, while more than 7,000 PKK terrorists have been killed in army operations.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department.
Sunday, Oct. 9
12:24 a.m. A motorist was arrested for driving on a suspended license at West Wackerly Street and Eastman Avenue.
1:12 a.m. Deputies were called to a fight at a Mount Haley Township bar. The suspect, a 27-year-old Midland man, left the scene before officials arrived. A report requesting a charge of assault and battery is being sent to the prosecutor.
12:25 p.m. Gasoline, valued at $12.84, was stolen from a Greendale Township gas station.
1:36 p.m. A motorist was cited for no plate in the 1800 block of South Saginaw Road.
7:36 p.m. Police were sent to a report of domestic violence at a West Buttles Street address.
7:49 p.m. A deputy investigated a case of trespassing in Jerome Township.
Saturday, Oct. 8
9:35 a.m. A Hope Township man, 50, reported someone tried to file for unemployment benefits using his personal information.
2:42 p.m. A Midland man, 50, was arrested for felonious assault in Jerome Township. A deputy assisted Michigan State Police with the arrest. No one was hurt during the incident.
7:38 p.m. Deputies were sent to Ingersoll Township after a reckless driver ran off the roadway. The vehicle left before deputies arrived.
9:42 p.m. A deputy was sent to a Lee Township home after there was a 911 hang up call from the residence. Found was a 13-year-old boy who called as a prank.
11:13 p.m. A California man, 53, was arrested in Homer Township for drunken driving. He was stopped for defective headlights.
Friday, Oct. 7
2:10 p.m. Deputies were sent to a Homer Township address for a report of a 17-year-old male overdosing on narcotics. The victim was taken to the emergency room for treatment. A report is being sent to the prosecutor for review.
3:18 p.m. A deputy investigate a hit and run crash that occurred in Lincoln Township. Two mailboxes were struck.
6:41 p.m. A deputy investigated a case of littering in Edenville Township.
9:26 p.m. A Midland Township man, 59, was arrested for drunken driving after a roll over crash in Mills Township. He suffered minor injuries.
10:21 p.m. A Woodhaven man, 45, was arrested for drug possession and open intoxicants after he was stopped for weaving on U.S. 10 near West River Road in Jerome Township.
11:38 p.m. A deputy changed a tire for a Bay City woman, 23, after finding her vehicle on the side of a Jerome Township roadway.
To the editor:
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Greater Michigan Chapter thanks Gov. Rick Snyder for recognizing October as Careers in Construction Month in Michigan. Construction has provided fulfilling, family supporting careers for American workers for generations. However, industry growth, an aging workforce and a lack of emphasis on the lucrative construction career path in our schools has contributed to a shortage of skilled workers in the industry. This shortage is projected to reach 1.1 million skilled workers over the next decade according to the Construction Labor Market Analyzer.
Construction is one of the few industries where an entry-level employee can earn a paycheck while training for their specific career. Once completed, skilled craftsmen and women receive industry-recognized credentials and marketable skills that will help them triumph as highly skilled professionals in the construction industry, all without accumulating student loan debt.
ABC is committed to developing the next generation of American skilled craft professionals, as evidenced by our members $1.1 billion national annual investment in workforce development. Proclamations such as Gov. Snyders help us raise awareness of the career opportunities available. If you are considering a career in construction, visit www.gmca.edu to find out about training programs in the Great Lakes Bay Region and Lansing!
JIMMY E. GREENE, CEO
STEPHANIE DAVIS, VP, Greater Michigan Construction Academy
CHARLES HAUSER, VP, ABC Greater Michigan Chapter
To the editor:
Is Kaepernick right or wrong?
What does the American flag and national anthem stand for? They stand for significant victories for freedom and democracy in World War I, World War II and the Cold War. They stand for the U.S. Constitution, a stunning achievement for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I could spend the rest of the day trying to complete this list. Its all true.
So, is the matter settled? Well ... no, our national anthem and flag in fact stand for everything we have done as Americans. They stand for slavery, Jim Crow laws, lynching and continuing discrimination. In current events, our flag and anthem stand for the war in Iraq. This war can only be described as an unjust act of naked aggression by the USA against a sovereign nation.
America stands for a lot of things, some of them great and some not so great. One bedrock principle that America is built upon is freedom of speech. Protesting the policies of the various American governments with free speech is a time-honored tradition, from abolitionists to suffragists to Martin Luther King Jr. and many, many others great and small. Now we add Colin Kaepernick to that list. Personally, I would find another way to express this protest, but I absolutely support his right, and maybe conscientious duty, to do so.
The least American part of this discussion is that so many Americans opine that Kaepernick should not be allowed to exercise his First Amendment rights.
CHESS MIZELL
Sanford
Turkey and Israel are working to quickly mutually appoint ambassadors, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, Anadolu reported.
As part of the normalization process with Israel, work to mutually appoint ambassadors is expected to be done "within a short period of time," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgic when asked about the matter.
Diplomatic ties between Turkey and Israel were disrupted in May 2010 when Israeli commandos killed 10 Turkish activists on the Mavi Marmara, a ship bound for Gaza with humanitarian aid.
In the aftermath of the attack, Turkey demanded an official apology from Israel, compensation for the families of those killed, and the lifting of Israels Gaza blockade.
In 2013, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced regret over the incident to Turkeys then-prime minister (now president), Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In addition to compensation, Israel has agreed to Turkeys humanitarian presence in the occupied Gaza Strip.
On Aug. 20, Turkeys parliament approved a deal involving Tel Aviv paying $20 million to the families of the victims, a sum which was paid on Sept. 30.
Here's a New Terrifying Development Out of the Donald Trump Campaign
By Dustin Rowles | Politics | October 11, 2016 |
At a rally yesterday in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump held a document up in his hand and read from it, the contents of which he suggested drew a direct line between Sidney Blumenthal, John Podesta and Benghazi. This document basically showed that Hillary Clinton was directly responsible for the attacks in Libya. If true, the information might have been crippling for the Clinton campaign.
But heres the thing about the document that Donald Trump held up: It was a doctored email from Russian hackers. Donald Trump claimed that the incriminating information was emailed from John Podesta to Hillary Clinton. In truth, it was Podesta quoting out of context a Newsweek article written by Kurt Eichenwald. The Russian hackers had manipulated the document to incriminate Hillary.
The Russian governments propaganda outfit, Sputnik, ran this document not knowing it had been doctored. However, once it realized its mistake, Sputnik pulled the article a couple of hours later. It was not reported anywhere else. This document was only reported in the Russian government-ran media, and only for a few hours.
And yet, here was Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania reading from this document.
As Eichenwald himself wrote in Newsweek last night:
This is not funny. It is terrifying. The Russians engage in a sloppy disinformation effort and, before the day is out, the Republican nominee for president is standing on a stage reciting the manufactured story as truth. How did this happen? Who in the Trump campaign was feeding him falsehoods straight from the Kremlin?
In case its not clear whats going on here, these tweets should sum it up for you:
So basically Trump and Sputnik had the same set of incorrect facts. Only them. Only Trump and a Russian propaganda outlet. Let it sink in Karoli (@Karoli) October 11, 2016
The @Newsweek latest is bonkers. Comrade Trump recited a Russian email hoax that plagiarized @kurteichenwald: https://t.co/Xyh6Z2Azb0 Michael Ames (@mirkel) October 11, 2016
This is not a conspiracy theory. This is not the work of tin-foil hatters. This is Donald Trump, himself, reading doctored Russian propaganda to his supporters, and the only way he couldve gotten it is from inside Russia.
No biggie, guys, just proof that the Russian government is attempting to interfere with the American election, and that Donald Trump is aiding them.
The photo of Elizabeth Debecki above is your periodic reminder that The Man from UNCLE is a much better movie than you think. You can follow Dustin on Twitter.
Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.
BLOOMINGTON Officials with the McLean County Museum of History say a newly restored print offers a unique perspective of Bloomington in the late 1800s.
Popular in the late 19th century, birds eyes were detailed, aerial views of towns and cities. They offered local residents a view of the community, much like Google Earth does today. On Monday, museum officials unveiled a priceless print published in 1873 by the Chicago Lithographing Co.
International Questers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study, conservation, and preservation of historical objects, donated $1,500 to the museum to restore the print.
The museum had long wished to restore this beautiful print, but as a not-for-profit organization, we have limited funds for such work, said museum librarian Bill Kemp. With the generous support of Questers, we are now able to ensure that this invaluable historical print will be enjoyed for many generations to come. Without their help, we never would have been able to do this.
The total restoration cost was $1,920, with the museum paying the $420 difference. The birds eye was then reframed under nonreflective conservation glass that will protect it from harmful ultraviolet light. An additional $250 donation from the Questers Jesse Fell Chapter helped the museum pay for the reframing.
Terri Clemens, the president of the chapter, also was a registrar at the museum from 2000 to 2013.
I used this print about two or three times each week, she said. There was also one done in 1867 and so we used it to compare and see when certain buildings or landmarks were constructed, because you couldnt always tell by the city directory.
Birds eyes were drawn by itinerant artists and then sold as commercial prints. This print measures 26 by 36 inches and shows the street grid, as well as every house, school, church, factory, commercial block and railroad depot.
Points of interest include the surface operations of the McLean County Coal Co., the old fairgrounds, the Chicago & Alton Railroad shops, the David Davis Mansion, which was completed just a year before, the Illinois Central Railroad and Franklin Park, Kemp said. Theres even an accurate depiction of the 1869 Civil War memorial that once occupied the parks center. If you own a Bloomington home that dates to 1873 or before, chances are that a good likeness of it appears in this lithograph.
The 1873 Bloomington's bird's eye, which hung for many years in the museums library/archives reading room, was beginning to show its age. During its 143 years, it had been subjected to the damaging vagaries of sunlight, humidity, mold, and possible water damage, Kemp said.
The birds eye will soon be re-hung in the museums reading room.
Pre- and post-restoration photographs of the birds eye offer dramatic evidence as to the success of this project, Kemp said. Much of the staining and spotting are gone, and the restored print is so much clearer and brighter. Its a night-and-day comparison, really.
The restoration work was completed by the Graphic Conservation Co. of Chicago.
Tuesday
Operation Honor Guard Illinois Day of Giving; 6 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday, First Financial Bank, 1 Brickyard Drive, Bloomington; donations benefit local American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars honor guards.
Election 2016, The Accuracy and Relevance of Polling in an Age of Voter Skepticism and Volatility; 9:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesday, ISU Alumni Center, 1101 N. Main St., Normal; speaker: Greg Shaw, Illinois Wesleyan University; $15; Academy of Seniors.
Presentation on the impact of armed conflict on children and families; 2 p.m. and 3:35 p.m. Tuesday, Center for Visual Arts, Room 145, Illinois State University, Normal; speaker: Whitney Cross of U.S. Fund for United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF); sponsor: American Democracy Project; AmericanDemocracy@IllinoisState.edu.
The History of Voter Suppression in America; 6 p.m. Tuesday, Illinois State University Center for Visual Arts, Room 110, Normal; speakers: professors Vanessa Schulman and Amy Wood; part of Illinois State University Speaker Series Super Tuesdays.
Wednesday
Registration, Tulle Fall Wreath; 10 a.m.-noon, 6-8 p.m. Oct. 18, Normal Public Library; for ages 15 and up; free; normalpl.org/register.
Registration, Lego WeDo Robots Together; 10-11 a.m., 3-4 p.m. Oct. 22, Normal Public Library; for kids ages 6-8, with adult; normalpl.org/register.
Evening Baby Rock; 6-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, Dec. 14, Normal Public Library; for children 2 and under.
Second Wednesday World War II Classic Movie Series; 2 p.m. Wednesday, Bloomington Public Library community room; film: The Best Years of Our Lives.
BLOOMINGTON As floodwaters continue to rise in the Southeast in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, more help is on its way from Bloomington-based Midwest Food Bank and from American Red Cross Central and Southern Illinois Region.
Midwest Food Bank will send one semitrailer load of disaster relief boxes on Tuesday to Daytona Beach, Fla., the food bank said Monday. A second semitrailer load will leave Wednesday for St. Augustine, Fla.
Disaster relief boxes contain food and supplies that are distributed to those in need by The Salvation Army. The food bank's Florida and Georgia divisions already have been helping and preparing health and hygiene kits.
"Our neighbors to the south need our help," food bank Director of Operations Mike Hoffman said in a prepared statement. "We're blessed to have the opportunity to send relief."
Meanwhile, Red Cross Central and Southern Illinois has deployed 27 volunteers to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia and four emergency response vehicles (ERVs) including the ERV based in Bloomington are southbound.
Among deployed volunteers are Emily Barr of Bloomington, Joyce Cook of Streator and Janet Bremner of Mackinaw, said Trish Burnett, Red Cross regional communications director.
Hurricane Matthew has killed at least 23 people in the five Southern states, including 11 in North Carolina alone, and tens of thousands of people remained without electricity on Monday. Even though the hurricane that killed more than 500 people in Haiti has dissipated, rains brought by the hurricane are resulting in flooding.
Red Cross and community shelters have provided 70,000 overnight stays. On Monday morning, 7,000 people woke up in 156 Red Cross and community shelters in the Southeast, Burnett said.
Red Cross has mobilized 3,000 relief workers and 149 ERVs loaded with food and supplies from through the country.
President Xi pushes for tighter cybersecurity measures. (Photo : Getty Images)
The leadership of China's government is calling for domestic firms to speed up ways to tighten Internet and information system technologies. President Xi Jinping released a statement on Sunday.
May foreign businesses expressed concern as the statement might indicate preferential treatment over Chinese firms which are poised to develop the country's IT sector.
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President Xi said, "[China] must accelerate the advancement of domestic production, indigenous and controllable substitution plans, and the building of secure and controllable information technology systems."
The president made it clear that the foreign businesses have nothing to fear because the country must face increasing threats from cyber terrorists and hackers.
Xi added, "Although China's Internet technology and network security guarantees have made big achievements, there is still a huge gap compared with advanced levels around the world."
China's cybersecurity policies have been put in question by China's international partners in trade. Internet Plus and Made in China 2025 are government programs that seek to advance the country's information technology sector.
One international trade partner is Australia. A research group, Four Corners, released a report about hackers from China who are trying to infiltrate the network of the Australian government.
Alastair MacGibbon, the Australian Prime Minister's cybersecurity adviser, said that the Australian Government was "attacked on a daily basis".
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Australia denied that China had conducted any cyber espionage against Australia. He said that the allegations are "totally groundless" and "false cliches."
"Like other countries, China suffers from serious cyberattacks and is one of the major victims of hacking attacks in the world," he said.
However, Australian telecommunication company Newsat was not convinced.
"Given we were up against China, state-sponsored, a lot of money behind them and a lot of resources and we were only a very small IT team, it certainly wasn't a fair fight for us," Newsat's former IT manager Daryl Peter said.
FLANAGAN Allie Ruff is the happiest she's been since she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 25.
"This is the best place I've been in since the diagnosis," the 29-year-old woman.
She looked down to the infant that she held closely in her arms and smiled.
Beating cancer and becoming a mother in less than four years would be wonderful enough for the rural Flanagan woman who with her husband, Dave had wanted a child for several years.
What makes the journey sweeter is how their daughter, Ava Jo, got here thanks to the love of a co-worker who volunteered to be the Ruffs' gestational carrier. That means Josie Wiles of Pontiac was a surrogate, becoming pregnant with Allie's implanted embryo and carrying the fetus for nine months to full term until delivery on Aug. 26.
"Josie and her family are amazing," Allie said.
"She has been a blessing," Dave, 29, said of Josie. "It's been such a dream come true."
"I'm happy that I was able to help," Josie, 36, said simply.
The diagnosis
Allie and Dave married on April 9, 2011.
In October 2012, Allie found a lump in her left breast while doing a breast self exam. After a mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy and further testing, she was diagnosed on Nov. 1, 2012, with breast cancer, specifically invasive ductal carcinoma. That meant that the cancer had broken through the wall of the milk ducts in the breasts and had spread to other breast tissue.
While invasive ductal carcinoma can affect women of any age, it's rare among young women, said Lyndi Alberts, a nurse practitioner with Mid Illinois Hematology & Oncology Associates in Normal. She also is a friend of Allie's.
"Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more in the younger population," Lyndi said. "I'm not sure why."
"That first day was difficult," recalled Allie, who was working as a dental assistant in Pontiac at the time. "I cried a lot. Then I went into action mode, meeting with doctors, nurses and counselors."
"I was in shock at first," said Dave, who manages Ruff Brothers Grain Company in Gridley. "We were 25. The thought of something taking her wasn't on our radar.
"My job was to be her rock," he continued. "I had faith that things were going to be all right, that we still had a long life together."
Because the cancer was stage 2 and had spread to the lymph nodes, Allie had a total mastectomy of her left breast on Nov. 27, 2012.
Allie and Dave wanted a child. Knowing that Allie would have an increased risk of infertility after chemotherapy, the couple did fertility rescue at Sher Fertility's Central Illinois clinic in Peoria.
Allie took medication to stimulate production of eggs. Then several of her eggs were surgically retrieved, combined with Dave's sperm to create embryo, which then were frozen.
"That was a scary time," Allie admitted. "The cancer was hormone-driven. So was I fueling the cancer (by taking the medicine)?"
Chemotherapy at the Community Cancer Center in Normal began on Jan. 18, 2013. Side effects were hair loss, feeling as if she was in a fog and weight gain.
"My focus was making her feel normal and keeping her around people who would look through her treatments and see the real Allie," Dave said.
"We never let cancer stop us," Allie said. "I didn't want cancer to define who we were."
Chemo was followed by radiation, which ended in September 2013. Her final breast reconstruction surgery was in 2014.
"Being in your 20s and diagnosed with breast cancer is heartbreaking," Lyndi said. "But she has done extraordinarily well. Her positive attitude helps."
Allie began on Tamoxifen last year to reduce the risk of the cancer recurring.
"Tamoxifen shuts the hormones down," she said, which conflicted with the Ruffs' goal to have a child.
"Her cancer fed off the hormones," Lyndi explained. "If Tamoxifen was withheld and if she were to become pregnant, there would be a higher risk of the cancer recurring."
In addition, Tamoxifen shouldn't be taken by anyone pregnant, trying to get pregnant or breastfeeding because the drug can damage developing embryos.
Allie recently began taking Lupron to reduce her amount of estrogen, also an effort to cut the odds of cancer recurrence. However, Lupton shouldn't be used by someone pregnant or breastfeeding because it can cause birth defects.
"I might be on the medicine for 10 years," Allie said. "Did we want to wait for 10 years to have a baby? We knew that we weren't willing to try immediately and take the risk of the cancer returning."
Choosing surrogacy
The Ruffs concluded that surrogacy would be the best approach to reduce the risk of the cancer returning and to have a healthy child. Lyndi and other medical professionals agreed. The Ruffs looked into it and discovered that it could cost $80,000 to $90,000 to hire a surrogate.
"We couldn't afford that," Dave said.
Allie, who was working as a medical office assistant at an OSF HealthCare general surgeon's office in Pontiac, mentioned her quandary to a co-worker in February 2015 when another co-worker who had become a friend overheard. It was nurse Josie Wiles.
"I approached her and said 'If you want a surrogate, I'll do it," Josie recalled.
"I had three uncomplicated pregnancies," Josie explained. "For me, pregnancy isn't hard."
"That's Josie," said her husband, Bill. "She's a very giving person."
"I thought she was just being nice," Allie recalled. "My honest reaction was 'If you're just saying it, don't say it again.'"
Dave said, "I didn't take it seriously. During Allie's cancer journey, people would open their mouths and say all sorts of awkward things. I understand. They were nervous." He thought this was another example.
Over the next few weeks, Allie would look over at Josie and say, "You can take it back now." Josie didn't.
In March, the Ruffs decided to take Josie up on her offer.
"I told Bill, 'Hey, I volunteered to be a surrogate.' He said 'You'll get pregnant again on purpose?' I said 'Yep, but the baby doesn't come home with us this time.'"
"I wasn't surprised because that's her personality," Bill said. "I never had an issue supporting it."
The Ruffs and Wiles including their children Kalynn, 16; Kristian, 13; and Kooper, 7 went out to dinner and hit it off.
Still, the children were uncomfortable with the idea for awhile.
"At first, Kalynn thought it was weird," Josie recalled. "Then she got excited about being a baby sitter."
"Kristian said, 'Isn't it going to be cheating on Dad?' So we explained to him how it works," Josie said.
Asked what he thinks now, Kristian said of his mother, "It's a very generous act and she's a nice lady."
Josie had general and gynecological physicals and all four adults met with a counselor individually, as couples and as a group.
"They wanted to make sure that we were mentally and emotionally stable and all on the same page," Josie said.
"Josie did this out of the goodness of her heart," Allie said. "She did it for nothing (no money)."
Attorneys for both families drew up legal documents that were signed by both couples.
The good news
Josie gave herself estrogen shots to prepare her body for pregnancy and, on Dec. 15, an embryo was inserted into her uterus.
A blood test a couple weeks later came back positive, indicating that Josie was pregnant.
"I cried in disbelief," Allie said.
"The pregnancy was easy but I was uncomfortable by the end," Josie said.
The delivery at OSF Saint James-John W. Albrecht Medical Center in Pontiac went smoothly. Ava Jo (her middle name is for Josie) was 8 pounds and 20 inches long. She was handed to Allie, who held her.
"I wanted that immediate skin-to-skin contact and it was at that moment that it all hit me," Allie said.
"Seeing Allie's and Dave's faces the first time they saw her (Ava Jo), that was priceless," Josie said. "To see that look on someone's face when they meet their baby for the first time, that was awesome for me."
"I had no separation anxiety," Josie said. "But I see Ava and Allie and I'm pumping milk so she can be breastfed. If I couldn't see her and be involved, maybe I would have some separation issues."
Josie is taking seven weeks of maternity leave and Allie is taking a 12-week family medical leave of absence.
"I feel amazing the best point I've been in since the diagnosis. I feel blessed, even when she's (Ava's) doing this," Allie said as Ava cried.
"Long term, I want to stay healthy, keep cancer away, raise our little girl and see where life takes us," Allie said.
Dave said the message of the story is "Don't give up hope. When things are darkest, it's not the end of the story."
"She (Josie) has given us the gift of being parents," Dave said. "We didn't think we could get that gift. We are forever in her debt."
"My goal in telling my story," Allie said, "is let people know that there really is happily ever after."
Manufacturers Team with Suppliers to Promote the Corrugated Packaging Industry October 11, 2016 - The Fibre Box Association (FBA) is pleased to announce its partnering with corrugated industry suppliers to launch a five-year Corrugated Industry Promotion Program beginning in January 2017. The purpose of the Corrugated Industry Promotion Program is to enhance, elevate and change perceptions toward the corrugated packaging industry and its products. The program will inform target audiences about the benefits of corrugated packaging and will correct misinformation that exists about the industry. The program will recognize that the overall health and well-being of the industry is important to both manufacturers and their suppliers. To launch the program, FBA reached out to a select group of leading industry suppliers who it felt were best positioned to help focus attention on the industry effort. Suppliers who have pledged to support the program include Amtech, BHS Corrugated North America, Bobst, EFI, Fosber America, MarquipWardUnited/BW Papersystems, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc., Sun Automation Group and Sun Chemical. We're very pleased that such an outstanding group of corrugated industry suppliers have pledged to support the Corrugated Industry Promotion Program, said Pete Watson, President and Chief Executive Officer at Greif and Chairman of the FBA Board of Directors. Their support demonstrates a true commitment to the corrugated industry. We look forward to working together to further the industry's overall health and well-being. The association has been running a successful outreach program aimed at the produce market since late 2014. The new program will allow the association to expand its reach to additional markets for corrugated packaging. Fibre Box Association (FBA) is a non-profit trade association representing North American manufacturers of corrugated packaging. The association has been working for more than 76 years to improve the overall well-being of the corrugated industry through programs and services that enable member companies to conduct their business more effectively, responsibly and efficiently. To learn more, please visit: www.fibrebox.org. SOURCE: Fibre Box Association
Tolko's Kraft Paper Mill in The Pas May Have Buyer
Oct. 11, 2016 - CBC News said that it has learned the name of the company behind a letter of intent to buy the Tolko paper mill in The Pas, Manitoba, Canada.
Sources familiar with negotiations on the possible purchase say New York-based American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is the company interested in buying the plant.
The company is privately held and does not publish its financial statements or balance sheets. According to AIAC's LinkedIn profile, the company is "founded on the principal (sic) of acquiring under-performing companies and helping those companies to survive and thrive," CBC News said in its report on Oct. 7.
On August 22, Tolko announced its intention to close the kraft paper mill in The Pas, in northern Manitoba on December 2, 2016. Since that announcement, union and political leaders in the region have been working to come up with solutions to keep the facility open.
According to CBC News, there has been a series of negotiations involving AIAC, Tolko Industries, and the three unions representing nearly 300 workers at the plant. The province of Manitoba has senior staff and politicians following the proceedings.
Last week significant majorities of the members of Unifor locals 1403 and 342 voted in favour of taking a 10 per cent pay cut if the sale was concluded. The cut has been agreed to only if AIAC buys the plant.
The full story is available on CBC News:
American 'turnaround' company eyes Tolko paper mill in The Pas
SOURCE: CBC News
UPM Raflatac to Invest EUR 35 Million in New Coating Line at Wroclaw Label Stock Plant
Oct. 11, 2016 - UPM Raflatac said that it is investing EUR 35 million to build a new coating line at the Wroclaw, Poland label stock facility.
The new coating line, together with related reel handling and slitting capacity additions, will enhance the company's ability to meet the increasing demand for self-adhesive label stock in Europe, UPM said.
Production of the new line is planned to begin in the first half of 2018.
"This is a significant investment to meet the demand growth of our customers in Europe. It further leverages our unique competences, end-use specific product offering and industry leading, optimally located operating platform in Poland," said Antti Jaaskelainen, Executive Vice President, UPM Raflatac.
"One of the trends driving label stock demand is the fast growth of E-commerce, an end-use requiring increasing amounts of labelling material, Jaaskelainen pointed out. Also, the packaged food trends together with the general private consumption growth continue to be important drivers.
Operations at the UPM Raflatac Wroclaw label stock factory started in 2008 followed by the nearby UPM Raflatac Nowa Wies factory in 2012. Located in Western Poland, the two factories employ today close to 600 people and form a significant UPM Raflatac label stock production hub.
UPM Raflatac is one of the world's leading producers of self-adhesive label materials. The company supplies high-quality paper and film label stock for consumer product and industrial labelling. To learn more, plaes visit: www.upmraflatac.com.
SOURCE: UPM Raflatac
Rebecca Lewis, the four-year-old girl who has been missing from her home since Saturday in Lakeland, Florida and was the subject of an Amber Alert in five states, was found safe and unharmed. Her abductor, West Wild Hogs, reportedly has bipolar disorder.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation tweeted about the progress on the search on Monday. Hogs was also arrested and remains in custody. Hogs was captured after an employee of Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee called the officials.
Memphis Police Department spokeswoman, Lt. Karen Randolph, said in a statement that they have no idea yet as to why Hogs visited the medical center. Accordingly, Hogs was pulled over by police officials at the hospital's parking lot. He was then arrested without incident, CNN reported. Randolph added that Lewis did not look like she was suffering from any kind of injury, but paramedics are still examining her in order to assure that she was unharmed.
Before Lewis was found and Hogs was apprehended, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said that Hogs was a truck driver so he knows the highways. He was last seen in Nashville at around 2:30 a.m., hours before he and the girl were found. The family of Hogs claims that he is suffering from depression and bipolar disorder, but it is unclear if this would have any weight on the investigation, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Judd pointed out that Hogs has no criminal history and does not seem to be violent. He also lived with the family of Lewis when the girl was still an infant. However, he pulled a gun on the Lewis family. On Saturday morning, Lewis and Hogs were seen at a local McDonald's so it is possible that he kept the girl full despite the abduction. A day after, a ranger talked with Hogs at Cove Lake State Park, and the abductor said he was waiting for the mother of Lewis. The ranger then said that the park was closed and Hogs left. Later, the ranger realized that the man he was speaking with was Lewis' abductor.
Before abducting Lewis, Hogs sort of did the same thing to his wife. Accordingly, he told his wife he has a surprise for her so they got into the car, headed to Interstate 75 and got to Kentucky. They then went to West Virginia, then to Maryland, then to North Carolina. They also reached Tennessee and Georgia. The wife decided to abandon the trip and called relatives to take her home.
Hogs then showed up at Polk City, Florida where his grandmother lives. He spent the night there and in the morning, he asked about the address of the Lewis family. That morning, the sister of Lewis checked on her but could no longer find her. It has not been cleared yet how Hogs abducted Lewis.
Amber Alerts were then issued in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. It is unknown what charges Hogs might face.
Many doubt Chinas commitment to phasing out forced organ harvesting in the country. (Photo : Getty Images)
The National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) released new rules for organ transplant surgeons. The new policy will require practitioners to have regular exams and must perform transplants in three years.
If surgeons fail to comply, they will face suspension or revocation of their license, according to the new regulations published on the commission's website.
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Surgeons are also required get official verification and list a number of qualifications and requirements. They are required to obtain a medical practice certificate and previous working experience in surgery in major hospitals.
Li Bin, head of the NHFPC, said, "The Chinese government's attitude toward organ transplant is consistent and clear."
Reports from the commission indicated that in the first half of 2016, China has completed 1,795 organ removals, up 45 percent compared to the same period last year. This is an increase from 2,766 last year, which exceeded the number in 2013 and 2014 combined.
"At present, the number of China's organ donation ranks first in Asia and third in the world," Wang Hao, head of the China Organ Transplant Response System.
The government also sees the need to clean up issues on organ trafficking which was reported to be a $1 billion industry.
A group was formed last year named "The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of the Falun Gong in China." They sought the expertise of human rights lawyer David Matas and former Canadian member of parliament David Kilgour.
They started to investigate on the gruesome organ trade that was existing in the country and how practitioners are profiting from this massive industry.
The documentary also exposed that political prisoners are the sources of organs and are compelled to donate.
The film's director, Leon Lee said, "The story seemed too incredible to believe. Several months later, David Matas and David Kilgour published their investigation report Bloody Harvest."
He added, "Transplants range from about $60,000 to over $170,000 depending on the operation, so there is a lot of money to be made there. Sadly the sale of organs has become a source of funding."
Potential danger and damage were construed from the social media posts of three high school students in Mountain View. The three have been arrested after the threats were posted, which were said to be directed to their co-students and their teachers.
Police officials said in a statement that on Sunday evening, they learned about the threats that were posted on a social media platform, but it was not clear which of the social media sites was involved. Police said that the posts referenced potential harm to the other students and the staff at Mountain View High School. All of the three high school students were detained and interviewed before being arrested on Monday.
The three students are now in custody over suspicion of making threats and conspiracy to commit a crime. They are reportedly all juveniles that is why their identities, gender or ages have not been released by police, the Mercury News reported.
NBC Bay Area also reported that the officials have cleared the social media threats were not related to the "creepy clown" hoax that has been spreading in different states throughout the United States. Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson said that the posts were suggesting potential harm or danger and that the situation was alarming that is why they talked to the students and took them into custody.
Officials also did not give details regarding the nature of the threats and if any of the students could possibly carry out the threats. Nelson pointed out, "Regardless of whether the threats were real, they were made, we take them seriously. They should know better, and they are paying the consequences."
Thanks to the Mountain View police officials who were deployed on campus on Monday to ensure that students are protected in case the threat was real and will push through. The heavy presence of officials in the high school was a form of precautionary measure.
Anyone who has information regarding the matter is urged to call Sgt. Ken Leal at 650-903-6344.
A 35-year-old woman undergoing breast cancer treatment was arrested by mistake after authorities believed she is the Missouri teen they are looking for. The Missouri teen is accused of killing her weeks-old daughter.
The 35-year-old woman, identified as Erin Peters, said that she was stopped on Friday at a Walmart store in Idaho. She said that she was questioned by officials for 45 minutes. After that, she was subsequently handcuffed after being questioned. She was said to be mistaken as the 18-year-old mother named Whitley Evenson, Q13 Fox reported.
Evenson is from Independence, Missouri and was being hunted down due to murdering her 6-week-old baby. Evenson reportedly suffocated the child. She has been charged over the case. The incident happened last year, and she fled the area while on bond. Evenson was apprehended hours after the encounter of the police with Peters at the same Walmart. Peters added, "If they harassed me any longer they may have missed her." Evenson reportedly has one more daughter, who was 1 year old at the time that she allegedly killed her second baby.
Peters pointed out that the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force believed that she was Evenson due to her very short hair, which was because of her breast cancer treatments. She said that she shaved her hair, making police all the more believe that she was trying to conceal her identity due to the crime.
Peters was shopping headbands for her daughter at the Walmart, New York Daily News reported. She initially thought that she was being mugged because she was handcuffed form behind. She also told officials that she is not the teenage suspect, but they told her she does not have to lie anymore. She also offered numerous identifications in order to prove that she is not Evenson.
Peters is a pre-kindergarten teacher who was diagnosed with breast cancer in January. She had double mastectomy in August. Accordingly, the officials who caused the inconvenience to her have not apologized to her yet. She noted that she is not looking to file a lawsuit but wants them to admit that they were wrong and apologize. FBI spokesman Richard Collodi says he regrets that Peters was bothered but said they just wanted to be sure.
The officials involved in the matter have not been identified yet.
Kim Kardashian has a warning to criminals wanting to repeat the Paris heist, where she lost her 3.5-million engagement ring among other things: You may end up dead because she beefed up her security to that of the President's level.
Her new security detail will include "armed to teeth" former members of the Secret Service, sources told TMZ. The Secret Service is one of the United States' federal investigative law enforcement agencies assigned to protect the President, Vice President and their immediate family members, among others. The report said Kim would also have at least two body guards wherever she goes and would be transported via an "armored car."
The reality show superstar reportedly also met with ex-Special Force members of the Israeli Army, former agents of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Secret Service. Her husband, Kanye West, talked with the executives of two top security firms, the TMZ report said.
Her bodyguard, Pascal Duvier, deleted all mentions of Kim Kardashian from his social media but still works for the family. A video from People, showed Duvier working as a security for Kanye West's "Saint Pablo" tour in Chicago.
"Pascal still works for them," a source told People. "He isn't irreplaceable though. The family really likes him, but he is not a family member. The new media report isn't making a difference for the family right now. But Kanye is evaluating his family's needs. He is ultimately the one who decides what happens with Pascal."
Reality show superstar Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint by five men who dressed as police officers inside her Parisian apartment on Oct. 3. She told reports she "feared she was about to be raped" as the gang pointed a gun to her head.
Kim was reportedly gagged, handcuffed and dumped in the bathtub before the robbers fled with around 9 million in cash, jewelleries - including the 20-carat diamond engagement ring worth 3.5 million - and two of Kim's favorite phones, The Sun reported.
After Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld blamed the 35-year-old mother for flaunting her wealth, Kim took a month off from work and stopped posting on her social media accounts. Kim Kardashian, who was listed No. 42 on Forbes magazines' Highest Paid Celebrities, has 84.8 million followers on Instagram and 48.4 million on Twitter.
As the world commemorated the World Mental Health Day 2016 on Oct, 10, the World Health Organization introduces "psychological first aid." The campaign aims to reach out to people with "psychological first aid," who are very distressed, and, importantly, to know what not to say.
According to WHO, the "psychological first aid" will focus on basic pragmatic psychological support by health staff, teachers, firemen, community workers and police officers., They will reportedly provide help to the distressed people.
Based on the Adult Psychiatric Mobility Survey, 17 percent of the people in the United Kingdom have Common Mental Disorder (CMD) like anxiety or depression. The survey tells women are likely to have more mental issues than the men.
Women aged 18-24 had depression, anxiety, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, with 12.6 percent of women with Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, 9.1 percent men of the same age have such disorders and 3.6 percent men were diagnosed PSTD.
As per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's report, the suicide rates have increased 200 percent over the last decades. In fact, suicide deaths are high in 15-year-olds while suicidal tendencies are high among girls aged 10 - 14.
"Suicide is not just a mental health issue - it is a public health issue, and it is preventable," Kristin Holland, a behavioral scientist in the CDC's Division of Violence Prevention Surveillance, told The Huffington Post following the report.
Mental health illness is the costliest health condition in America, it could accumulate to $1 trillion per year as per the WHO. This indicates mental health issues need to be addressed as public health issues and tackled well just as diabetes and strokes.
A study published in the journal Health Affairs in March says that medical professional often neglect mental health issues and do not follow up their patients who have depression. Doctors mostly involved in diagnosis of physical illness.
The program "psychological first aid" will cover both psychological and social support. As physical health care never consists of physical first aid alone, mental health care will never have "psychological first aid" alone. Complete care shall be taken by the respective professionals.
This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions
The EU imposed a higher tariff on China's steel. (Photo : Getty Images)
The government of China protested over new sanctions and tariffs imposed by the European Union on steel importation. These duties were imposed to stop dumping in Europe.
Chinese ministry officials said the EU should "avoid abusing trade remedies and sending a wrong signal to the world. This move amplifies legal uncertainty and gravely affects normal international trade."
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Tim Worstall, a fellow at the Adam Smith Institute in London and an expert on the metal industry, said that China's protest is well-founded.
He said, "The complaint is still valid in that imposing tariffs on imports is a remarkably stupid thing to do. Because cheaper steel makes all consumers in the EU better off."
The expert also added, "The aim and purpose of government are to make the people as well off as they possibly can be. And thus making people poorer by denying them cheap steel is not the point nor purpose of having a government nor indeed the EU itself."
However, another British steel expert said that the tariffs are well-founded and just and that the EU is showing its muscle.
"This shows the EU is starting to tackle the state-supported dumping of steel into the U.K., but it's still being outmuscled by Uncle Sam," said Dominic King, head of policy at U.K. Steel, an industry group.
The EU reported that China and Russia are dumping steel in Europe that is monopolizing the steel market and forcing local manufacturers to lose in the price war.
There is an average 100,000 to 120,000 tons of steel being dumped by both China and Russia.
"In the wake of the global steel overcapacity crisis, the commission is applying the trade defense instruments to re-establish a level playing field between the EU and foreign producers," the EU executive said.
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About 75% of military recruits arrive at a training base with no bank account and have to be bussed to a local bank to open one, says Jill Castilla, CEO of Citizens Bank of Edmond. The bank's team is building a platform that will help service members save and build credit.
IRAN: Former Political Prisoner Transported from Workplace to Prison Without Summons
10/11/16
Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
Former political prisoner Navid Kamran has been transported to Evin Prison in Tehran to begin serving a one-year prison sentence for propaganda against the state without a summons, an informed source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Kamran previously told the Campaign that he had been convicted on recycled charges.
Navid Kamran
Navid was picked up by two court agents who showed up at his workplace at 11 a.m. on October 4, 2016 to execute the prison sentence, added the source. A few hours later, he called his family to say he had been taken to Evin Prison to start his sentence.
According to the source, Kamran had initially been summoned to serve his sentence in June 2016, but his prison term was postponed after his lawyer requested an extension. Kamrans sudden transfer to prison came as a surprise because he had not recieved a second summons.
In May 2015, Kamran, a 33-year-old former civil rights activist, was put on a mass trial along with former student activists Arash Sadeghi, his wife Golrokh Iraee, and Behnam Mousivand in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Salavati. Kamran and Mousivand were sentenced to one year in prison while Sadeghi received a 15-year prison sentence and Iraee received a six-year prison sentence.
Sadeghi was also unexpectedly forced to begin serving his prison sentence without a summons in June 2016 when he went to Evin Prison to find out when his sentence would officially begin.
Kamran told the Campaign in in March 2016 that he had been convicted based on recycled charges: They mostly pointed at my Facebook posts. But my Facebook page had been inactive for a long time and I was not posting anything there. They also said I had prepared and gathered signatures for a number of political statements. But all I did was sign statements about things like respecting the rights of political prisoners and calling for their freedom. They also criticized me for visiting the families of political prisoners, but in fact all I did was visit my friends when they got out of prison.
Kamran was previously arrested in 2009 for attending the peaceful protests against the widely disputed results of that years presidential election.
He was sentenced to 33 months in prison and 74 lashes by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Yahya Pirabbasi for propaganda against the state, collusion against national security and disturbing public order. He was released in 2011 after serving his prison term.
Iran's President Rouhani raps 'utterly deplorable' conditions in Saudi-wrecked Yemen
10/11/16
Source: Press TV
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has condemned the ongoing Saudi military aggression against Yemen, saying the Yemeni people are going through "utterly deplorable" times.
Related Report:
Photos Show Fragments of U.S. Bombs at Site of Yemen Funeral Masssacre
FRAGMENTS OF WHAT APPEAR to be U.S.-made bombs have been found at the scene of one of the most horrific civilian massacres of Saudi Arabia's 18-month air campaign in Yemen. Aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition on Saturday bombed a community hall in Sana'a, Yemen's capital city, where thousands of people had gathered for a funeral for Sheikh Ali al-Rawishan, the father of the rebel-appointed interior minister. The aircraft struck the hall four times, killing more than 140 people and wounding 525. One local health official described the aftermath as "a lake of blood." -Alex Emmons, The Intercept
"The status quo in Yemen is utterly deplorable. An oppressed and innocent nation which does not have a very good economic situation is being bombarded by Saudi Arabia," Rouhani told reporters in Tehran on Monday upon his arrival from a six-day official visit to three Southeast Asian countries.
It is "really unbelievable" that Saudi Arabia continues to kill the Muslim people of Yemen, particularly women and children "without any reason," he added.
Rouhani made the remarks in reaction to the recent bloody Saudi airstrike on the Yemeni capital of Sana'a which killed more than 140 people and wounded over 525.
The tragedy took place on Saturday when a Saudi airstrike hit a community hall in south of the capital, where a funeral for the father of Interior Minister Jalal al-Roweishan was being held.
The death toll was one of the largest in a single incident since March 2015, when the Riyadh regime began its deadly campaign to crush the Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah movement and their allies and restore power to the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Related Report:
U.S. and U.K. Continue to Actively Participate in Saudi War Crimes, Targeting of Yemeni Civilians
- FROM THE START of the hideous Saudi bombing campaign against Yemen 18 months ago, two countries have played active, vital roles in enabling the carnage: the U.S. and U.K. The atrocities committed by the Saudis would have been impossible without their steadfast, aggressive support. -Glen Greenwald, The Intercept
'East, West Asia must bridge gaps'
Rouhani also pointed to his address to the second summit of the inter-governmental organization of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, on Monday and said, "If we want to see development and progress in Asia, there should be no distance between East Asia and West Asia."
The Iranian president emphasized that these two Asian regions are interdependent and urged all regional countries to make use of their capabilities to improve security in order to fight terrorism and stop the illegal and inhumane acts of aggression.
Rouhani visited Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand where he held talks with senior officials of the three Southeast Asian countries on ways to improve relations in all fields, particularly in trade and economic sectors.
The tour was in line with efforts to make use of opportunities created after last year's landmark nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries to enhance relations.
Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - plus Germany reached the JCOA on July 14, 2015.
Under the JCPOA, which took effect in January, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related bans imposed against Tehran.
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CyberLink's PhotoDirector combines the photo workflow features of Adobe Lightroom with functions found in Photoshop and adds hand-holding help features like those in Photoshop Elements, making it an all-in-one photo editing application for photo enthusiasts. We highly recommend PhotoDirector, though our Editors' Choice photo applications remain Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and Elements.
PhotoDirector does, however, give Adobe a run for its money in terms of photo workflow and image editing. You get Photoshop-like tools such as adjustment layers, masks, text kerning, and guided edits. You even get some impressive AI-powered image abilities like style transfer, content-aware removal, sky replacement, people masking, as well as with GIF animation. But PhotoDirector lacks some powerful features Lightroom and Photoshop have, such as Subject Select and geotagged maps. Still, it goes beyond Lightroom with drawing tools, face-beautification tools, blur, and cartoon effects. And unlike Photoshop, it has nondestructive workflow and collection organization features. Though all the additions could be considered feature-creep, the program remains impressive in both its usability and breadth of capabilities.
How Much Does PhotoDirector Cost?
The non-subscription version of the app is called PhotoDirector 13 Ultra, and it has a list price of $99.99. You can bundle PhotoDirector together with our Editors' Choice-winning consumer video editor, PowerDirector, for $169.99.
The subscription options are a little different. A $54.99-per-year (often discounted) or $14.99-per-month subscription called PhotoDirector 365 gets you the photo program along with frequent updates, content packs, and 50GB online storage. Another subscription option is to get the full Director Suite 365. That's a $29.99-per-month ($129.99 per year) plan that includes all of CyberLink's media software along with plug-ins, content packs, and 100GB of cloud storage.
By comparison, Photoshop Elements costs a one-time fee of $99.99. For Adobe Lightroom, you pay $9.99 per month as long as you want to keep using it. ACDSee Photo Studio also costs $99.99 one-shot, and Corel PaintShop Pro lists for a one-time price of $79.99. The more professional-targeted DxO PhotoLab and Capture One Pro cost $219 and $299, respectively.
(Credit: CyberLink/Shutterstock/TandemBranding)
A fully functioning 30-day free trial of PhotoDirector is yours for the price of your email address. After that time period, it converts into a limited version of the program that lacks premium effects. It requires more than 1GB on disk, so make sure you have some space available. Note that the trial is not upgradable to the licensed version, so you must reinstall it if you decide to buy.
System Requirements and Getting Started
PhotoDirector is available for Windows 10, Windows 11, and macOS (10.14 and later). Both Mac and Windows versions require a 64-bit processor and at least 4GB of RAM.
PhotoDirector is a 64-bit application, meaning you can take advantage of more than 4GB of RAMsomething you'll want when you have a lot of high-res photos open and are doing heavy image manipulation. It also means it won't run on an older, low-power 32-bit system.
When you first fire up PhotoDirector, you see a splash screen inviting you to open the application in Full or Express mode, along with tiles highlighting new features and tutorials. On first opening the actual program, you're offered cloud syncing for your photos, something Lightroom also offers. The one-time purchase fee gets you 25GB for a year for storage.
After this, a third and final box appears, offering optional plug-ins such as LUTs (lookup table filters), frames, clipart, and music for slideshow backgrounds. Going the subscription route when you purchase the software gets you all these goodies, too.
What's New in PhotoDirector?
CyberLink is continually updating this software, and subscribers constantly receive new effects, fonts, templates, and editing tools. You can see every one of them on the company's handy What's New in PhotoDirector(Opens in a new window) page. Since my last review, here are highlights among the many updates:
AI Denoiseremove sensor noise
Content-Aware object removal
Interface customizationmove tools around to taste
Focus and bokeh with depth map
Automatic lens correction for Android and iPhone shots
Color gradient presets
AI cartoon and anime stylizinggreat for users with kids
New fonts, stickers, and background music tracks
Previous updates added object segmentation for silhouettes and masking (improved in the latest release), a bokeh effect, AI-powered color enhancement, Getty iStock content, new layer effects and management, a photo-beat music synchronizing effect for animated photos, and Light Hits effects. Photo animation tools, a particle dispersion effect, Canon CR3 support, and many audio and image effects and content packs made it into the program before that. You get LUTs, background music for slideshows, frames, sky replacements, glitch effects, and fonts.
One of the biggest recent updates, Shutterstock and Getty images for subscribers, should be a big draw for anyone who needs stock content. Earlier updates added Photoshop-like layer options, Rotate Cloned Objects, AI Deblur, Color Replacement, text effects, clip art, and improved LUT support.
(Credit: PCMag)
The PhotoDirector Interface
The latest PhotoDirector version doesn't include any drastic changes to the program's interface, which was clear, functional, and attractive already. PhotoDirector bypasses Photoshop Elements' separate Organizer app, too: You can import, organize, edit, and export photos inside the main PhotoDirector application.
The program starts up quickly and most editing operations are snappy, but I occasionally ran into the main menu pausing on my PC before appearing. On first run, you see a helpful Quick Start tutorial window to familiarize you with the program's features, with links to fuller online tutorials.
As is common among pro- and near-pro-level photo workflow apps, PhotoDirector uses modes. That means there are global tabs or buttons that switch the interface among different functions, usually organizing, editing, and sharing. PhotoDirector has six modes: Library, Adjustment, Guided, Edit, Create, and Print. Like Lightroom, PhotoDirector lets you choose which of these buttons appears, though you get to the option by right-clicking on the title bar, rather than in Preferences.
Switching modes is as simple as it is in Lightroom Classic. Just tap the button up top. Within each of PhotoDirector's modes, a left-side panel offers mode-appropriate options. In the Library and Adjustment modes, the panel is further broken down into two tabs, Project and Metadata for the first, and Manual and Presets for the second.
The main viewing area is flexible, with a few options of its own. In Library mode, a large view of the photo sits above a filmstrip-style look at other pictures in the folder. Alternatively, buttons at the top let you see just the photo, a gallery browser of thumbnails or filenames, or a full-screen view of just the current photo. In addition to viewing one large image, you can also compare two or several in Library mode.
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The Grid view can be filtered by photos you've flagged or color-labeled, or those you've edited. I'm happy to see that you can filter the view by camera model and lens, as you can in Lightroom Classic. Hover the mouse over a thumbnail in gallery view, and you see star rating and flagging buttons for easy rating and selecting. When you're viewing one large image, the same choices appear along the bottom with color labeling added. You also have the option to add controls for rotation and back and forward arrows.
In Adjustment mode, you can see a split view showing an image before and after your edits. Flipping through images was snappy and delay-free in testing, as was overall program response. Like Lightroom, PhotoDirector lets you zoom only to preset sizes25 percent, 33 percent, and 50 percent, and so onrather than offering a full-range slider like the one on ACDSee Pro. But a single click switches between zoomed and unzoomed, which is convenient.
I like the way adjustments are grouped into Regional and Local groups, and the adjustment panel is topped with Manual and Presets tabs. I also particularly like that double-clicking on a slider returns it to the default position and that you can adjust them with the mouse wheelLightroom is inconsistent about the latter. And I really appreciate that (Lightroom-like) arrows let you collapse the side panels.
Undo is well implemented, and an excellent adjustment history panel shows not only all previous tweaks but also a thumbnail at the top displaying a mini view of those tweaks' effects. Clicking on any history entry applies that point to the full image view. In all, PhotoDirector gets high marks for its interface. You can't detach the program's panels to float anywhere on screen, as you can in ACDSee Pro, but I suspect that's not something everyone wants to do.
Importing Photos
The photo import dialog groups zoomable thumbnails of images on the card by date. As with Lightroom, you can select photos for import from these thumbnails. You can apply Auto-tone, Auto-Denoise, and even effect presets, such as B&W Cool, Faux HDR, or Fantasy Pink during import. You can also apply keyword tags, renaming, and a copyright notice.
The program can import raw camera files, of course, in formats such as Canon's CR2 and Nikon's NEF. Raw conversion detail and color are good, though Lightroom brought out more detail and truer colors in initial raw import on test images. In the past, Capture One has led the pack in raw import quality, but I have yet to test it in this round of updates. PhotoDirector is somewhat behind Lightroom in support for new camera bodies. For example, it can't yet work with raw image from the Sony a7 IV but or Canon EOS R3, but it does now support Canon's newish CR3 file format, and I was impressed that it let me import RAF raw shots from a Fujifilm X-T4 and a Nikon Z fc.
On the left is PhotoDirector's initial import of a Canon raw file, and on the right is the market leader, Lightroom. (Credit: PCMag)
Import Performance
One shortcoming in PhotoDirectorat least in my experience, with my test PCis that occasionally it would be slow to load a menu or an image. Import, however, is plenty fast. The app imports swiftly, compared with the competition. I tested import speed with 200 raw images (a total of 5GB) from a Canon 80D. My test computer was a 64-bit Windows 10 PC with 16GB RAM, a 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-6700 CPU, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 745 discrete graphics card. I import from a Class 4 SD card to a fast SSD on the PC. The application took 2:45 (minutes:seconds) for the import compared with 3:02 for Adobe Lightroom and 2:50 for On1 PhotoRaw.
Another type of importing, tethered shooting, is finally supported by PhotoDirector. The feature only works with some Canon and Nikon DSLRs for now, but you get a shutter button, along with the ability to change shooting settings like f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO.
The program offers all the expected organizational tools with easily accessible ratings, color coding, and flagging tools in the Library interface. And, as I'll show in the next section, it even offers face tagging, a powerful organization tool that's been available in Photoshop Elements for several years. Geotagging and maps, however, are still absent.
Shutterstock Includedand Getty Images, Too
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If you dont have a suitable photo of your own, a PhotoDirector subscription lets you use stock photography from two of the biggest names in the game. A Shock Photos button at the bottom of the left sidebar opens a window full of evocative photos. You can search for topics, select multiple thumbnails, and then hit Import. A test sample was 16 megapixels, and it was simply in my Library to edit and export at will. Subscribers also now get iStock by Getty images. You don't get the full catalog of either stock service, but at more than 4 million images combined, you'll probably find something that works for you.
Basic Photo Adjustments and Edits
PhotoDirector offers all the basic adjustments you'd expect, including exposure, contrast, white balance, and sharpness. And the ubiquitous fixersred eye and blemish removersare added to the local adjustment brushes. Cropping and rotating follow the brilliant approach of Lightroom and Photoshop, showing you the result rather than an outline of your intended crop.
PhotoDirector also has pro image-editing tools, such as curves and levels. The latter lets you manipulate highs, lows, and midtones with controls on a three-color histogram, with optional quarter-tone controls, too. The tone curves tool gives only three control points if you have the Tonal region box checked, but if you uncheck this, you can add lots of control points. Another very nifty tool here is one that lets you adjust the tone by dragging on the place in your image you want to change.
When it comes to pumping up or cutting down on overly dark or bright areas, PhotoDirector adds a couple of levels in between the standard brights, midtones, and darks. You get five slidersBrightest, Bright, Midtone, Dark, and Darkest. This setup lets you use the histogram's Show Over/Underexposed Areas tool and then correct these areas with a more appropriate slider. PhotoDirector's Auto-tone magic wand button, like similar tools in every photo app, worked beautifully for some photos, but not so well for others.
Another image-correction tool that worked well in testing was Dehaze. I found that this did a better job than Lightroom, which tends to add a color cast, usually blue. PhotoDirector's Dehaze was nearly as good as DxO PhotoLab's best-in-class ClearView tool.
On the right, the Auto Keystone tool has straightened out the building's vertical lines. (Credit: PCMag)
The program's geometry adjustment tools let you fix the barrel and pincushion distortion of telephoto and wide lenses. The Keystone correction tool's vertical and horizontal controls let me straighten distorted lines at the sides of photos of buildings. The Auto Keystone option does a good job straightening out buildings shot from below, and it cropped the unusable sides of the photo. A fisheye shot stumped it, however, with its added distortion. There is a Fisheye Distortion adjustment, but it wasn't strong enough to convincingly correct my 8mm shots.
CyberLink has a couple of nifty color adjustment tools: the AI-powered Auto Color Enhancement option and Three-Way Split Toning. The former opens a dialog box with a slider for the strength of the correction and then applies it when you close the dialog. An unfortunate side effect is that you can't use the Before-and-After split screen to see the effect unless you make a copy of the image.
For the ultimate color control, three-way split-tone color adjustment lets you change the hue, saturation, and lightness for highlights, midtones, and shadows. You move the cross cursor around the color wheel for the three tone levels to adjust their color settings independently. It's very similar to the Color Grading panel that Adobe introduced in a 2020 Lightroom update. These tools should be used sparingly unless you're going for a heavily tinted effect.
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Guided Mode
The left side is the original (with adjusted exposure), and the right side shows the effect of applying Deblur. (Credit: PCMag)
This mode creates a copy of your image for creating, so that the original remains unscathed. In it, you find the People Beautifier, Photos Effects, Improve or Remove, Extract or Compose, Photo Merge, Frames and Watermarks, and 360 Photo Editor. It's a good collection of tools. Featured in the mode are Sky Replacement, Glitch, Dispersion, Sparkle, and Light Rays. The Guided Deblur didn't turn a blurry photo into a perfectly focused one, but it did improve it. A slightly blurry photo was even better improved.
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The Light Hits effect add animated glowing overlays (a sort of bokeh or sunstar) to give the shot extra interest. You choose a shape template for the light object overlay, and you can then adjust the Fade, Softness, Brightness, and colors of the effect. You can also turn off the animation if you want a still shot, and adjust the speed of the animation if you do want it. You can position the effect by moving it around with the cursor, but I wish you could also change the size of the light orb. Flip the overlay vertically or horizontally to taste. It's an impressive charge-up to give a mediocre shot an impactful boost.
AI Style Transfer
If you've seen the Prisma mobile app, you know how fun it can be to turn prosaic cameraphone shots into artsy, painted-looking images. PhotoDirector's AI Style Transfer, available in Edit mode, does the same thing for your DSLR photos. You only get 10 styles included with the program unless you subscribe to Director Suite 365. Otherwise, AI Style Packs cost $149 each, but they are very cool, especially the Chinese Painting pack. The effects took about 20 seconds to apply on my photos.
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You can adjust the strength of these effects and erase it for select areas of the image with a brush. Better yet, the Person Selection tool lets you easily apply the art effect to everything but a person. It worked instantly and flawlessly in my testing, producing a striking image.
Another option is Apply original color. It creates a color palette for the painting effect using your image, rather than using the palette included with the effect. I found that using the template color scheme produced a more drastic, artsy result. I would like more controls, and remixing capabilities. For example, the canvas creases in the example above weren't adjustable, and applying the effect a second time produced the exact same effect, meaning it doesn't recalculate the effect. A Reapply tool would be nice here.
Anime Cartoon Styles
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Here's one the youngsters, as well as any fan of graphic novels, will enjoy. From Guided Edits > Photo Effects > Style. Here, you find Cartoon, Anime, and impressive 3D Cartoon choice. Above is the Anime style. It's a one-click effect, so it's easy as pie to use.
Sky Replacement
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In Guided mode, the Sky Replacement option lets you instantly apply a more dramatic sky than the drab one in your photo. It found the obelisk in my test shot of the Vatican easily. A dozen preloaded skies are available within the app, and you can download more. Some even feature moving clouds for use in GIFs or video files. You can adjust the feather and horizon for the effect and change the color cast of the land or the exposure of the sky.
Photo Animation
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Adobe Photoshop Elements recently introduced a photo animation tool that uses AI to determine a photos subject to animate the background. PhotoDirector's photo animation tool (on the Guided tab) offers a lot more control, though its less automatic. To get started, simply draw an arrow on an object in your photo in the direction you want it to move. You can control the speed, as well as pinning areas that you dont want to move.
You can add background music that pulses to the beat of the animation, although that requires exporting it as a video file. This effect is especially successful with sports images, and I can see good use cases for it in social posts. You can save your result not only as an animated GIF, but also as MPEG-4 or WMV.
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Another cool animation is called the Dispersion effect, on the Create tab. It lets you select an object in your photo that will peel off and away into particles. You simply mark the area you want to disperse, choose a shape for the particles (circle, square, and so on), a size, and direction. You can use this for either still or animated images.
The third animation type is Motion Stills, also on the Create tab. I had a little trouble figuring out what effect this was supposed to produce, until I watched an explanatory video. The trick is that your source media needs to be all shot from the same viewpoint. Alternatively, you can start with a video (for more ways to do this, see Video-to-Photo, below). If you move the camera at all either during video or still shooting, the result is unconvincing.
The Glitch Effect
(Credit: Flickr/rosiejuliet)
In the Guided mode, the Glitch Effect makes your photo look like an artistic misprint. Though that may sound unappealing, its actually a cool look, as you can see above. Controls let you shift the effect vertically and horizontally and change the fade (or transparency). As with other Guided effects, you can automatically exclude the treatment from a person in your photo, or only apply it to the person.
Left: the Sparkle effect; Right: Light Rays. (Credit: CyberLink)
Two more Guided effects that are noteworthy are Sparkle and Light Rays. The latter can add real drama to an otherwise flat image.
Multiple Exposure Effect
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Multiple Exposure Effect is one of PhotoDirector's coolest features. Take a group of up to 10 action shots while keeping the camera still, and PhotoDirector can automatically produce a multiple exposure like the one below. Doing the same thing in Photoshop would involve selecting the person in all six images and creating masks and layers. PhotoDirector even lets you apply a fade-in or fade-out effect to the sequence. It also lets you reduce the number of exposures from a drop-down, rather than making you recreate the merge.
Layers in Edit Mode
Showing its ambitions to be more than just a photo workflow application competing with Lightroom, PhotoDirector includes layer editingPhotoshop's forte. I was initially leery about this kind of tool cluttering a program that's designed for efficient photo workflow. There's a reason Lightroom doesn't require photographers to mess with layer editing. PhotoDirector's tool doesn't clutter things up, though, unless you consider a mode button atop the interface to be clutter. If you don't want to spring for Photoshop itself, here are your layers.
The button you tap to get to the capability used to be labeled Layers, but now it's called Edit. When you enter the mode, a Photoshop-lite appearance takes hold, except the layer controls are on the left and the tools (Text, drawing brushes, gradient, fill, shape, blur) are on the right.
As mentioned above, the text controls are fine-detailed, letting you adjust not just font and size, but also kerning, shadow, and border effects. Emboss and bevel options bring the program that much closer to Photoshopping capabilities. Work with layers is saved in PhotoDirector Layer File format (.PHI), not in the more standard PSD.
A dialog tells you it's best to complete all overall photo adjustments (lighting, white balance, and the like) prior to working with layers.
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You can create empty layers, apply prefab project layers, edit with layer masks, group layers, add adjustment layers, and create clipping masks. These techniques will be familiar to Photoshop users, who now have fewer reasons to pay that subscription.
PhotoDirector now offers all 27 blending modes, the same number as Photoshop, which offers a lot of creative options. I like how you can solo and edit a layer by double-clicking on its thumbnail image, but Photoshop's right-click options are a bit more helpful.
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You can have multiple borders and border gradients on layers, set the blending mode for each layer property, and copy and paste layer properties. These are particularly useful when you're working with text overlays, but you can add the effects to any layer with transparency. The copy-and-paste capability means you don't have to reinvent the wheel if you want consistency in multiple layer objects.
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As in Photoshop, PhotoDirector's layer-boasting Edit mode gives you ways to select and mask parts of an image. Auto Object Selection is an option under the Select Area tool, it can automatically identify people and animals in a picture, similar to Adobe's Subject Select tool. For well-set-off subjects, it did an excellent job identifying subject, and you can adjust the size and feather for the tool. Also excellent is PhotoDirector's Smart Brush selection tool, which also auto-selects objects as you brush on the screen.
Express Mode
If you're not intent on tinkering extensively to perfect your image to get an exact effect, you can simply open a photo in Express Mode. It limits the interface to presets, express layer templates, and AI Style Transfer options. I don't think it's a particularly helpful option. I'd prefer at least the addition of the basic image correction tools for exposure, cropping, and color corrections.
Video-to-Photo
The Video-to-Photo set of tools offers more than its name suggests. You can use it to create a panorama from a video clip, a group photo from a video with everyone making an acceptable expression, or a multiple-exposure image. You start from the Video-to-Photo button right above the Import button. The feature does let you make still photos from video, but in my testing, it couldn't sharpen a moving subject. The same problem made multiple-exposure shots from video a lot less appealing than those created from stills.
Likewise, the Panorama feature worked in testing but was less automatic than I'd like. It works best if you manually select frames from a video you play through, and in my first attempt, I hadn't overlapped the frames enough to get a full panorama. There's an Auto option, but that also took a few tries to get a full panoramic result. The tool lets you auto-fill areas of the photo that result from combining perspectivesa nice content-aware feature.
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CyberLink offers Content-Aware Clone, Remove, and Move tools. The Remove tool has been updated with AI smarts and works suprisingly well, as you can see from the photo above. What's impressive is that the background isn't a consistent texture, but the app still managed to create a convincing backdrop out of the areas around the subject who was removed. One thing I do miss from Adobe's software is automatic subject selection; with PhotoDirector, you have to draw over the object you want to remove. That said, it's fairly forgiving if you don't select exactly.
I had a bit less success with the Content-Aware Clone feature, which produced some unwanted transparency in the object I was cloning. But note the fun trick of resizing or even rotating the cloned objects.
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People Beautifier
The People Beautifier tool has three subsets: face tools, skin tools, and body tools. The first includes Face Shaper, Shine Remover, Eye Bag Remover, Wrinkle Remover, Tooth Brush, and even Eye Blinger, which brightens the whites of the eyes. Note that anything you do here can be undone, since a working copy is created. On my test image, the Face Shaper basically tucked in jowls.
Face Tools let you enhance a subject's countenance in several ways. (Credit: CyberLink)
These tools let you draw on top of your images and superimpose text, as well as add shapes, fills, and gradients. You select areas with a lasso and a smart lasso, but PhotoDirector's selection tools are not as smart as Adobe's. This program offers a lot of the layer-blending modes found in Photoshop, including Darken, Multiply, Difference, and Exclusion14 in all. You can drag layer entries to change their order. Adjust any layer separately with the standard lighting, color, and detail tools.
The Blur Tools section in Editing mode makes it easy to add not only blur but also bokeh, zoom focus, and tilt-shift effects. It's as fun, powerful, and interesting as the Motion Blur tool in Photoshop Elements.
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But a more fun way to add bokeh, or narrow focus depth with lens light distortions is through Guided Mode > Light Effects > Bokeh (example above). This lets you choose an aperture shape and focus shape, along with a gaggle of other settings, and even lets you create an animation of the effect. This tool can detect the subject automatically, saving you the trouble of drawing around it or sizing a circle to it.
Another new tool, Focus, also found among the Guided options, lets you choose whether to blur near or far objects.
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CyberLink has update the Denoise tool with AI machine-learning smarts. This is separate from the Noise Reduction tool in the Adjustment menu, and is found in the Guided mode. It takes longer to work its magic than the standard45 seconds for a 24-megapixel shot. But its results are notably superior to those of the standard tool, which produces results that look a tad blurred.
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You can, however, do better with a couple of standalone denoising applications: Below, you can see the results from Topaz Denoise, DxO PureRAW, and CyberLink PhotoDirector, from left to right. The first two preserve more detail than the CyberLink tool. All started with the noisy image at left above, so all are improvements on the original. Note that when I tried reducing noise in Adobe Lightroom, I couldn't get results as good as any of these.
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Bracket HDR
I've long been impressed with PhotoDirector's single-shot HDR (high dynamic range) effect, but this true HDR tool, Bracket HDR, is no less remarkable. It's accessible in Edit mode, and you can drag up to five photos shot at different exposures of the same subject from the tray to the main editing area. A merge button combines all the images, which took about 15 seconds on my five-shot test.
The merge lined up the images well, and a checkbox let me remove "ghosting"in the case of my shot, traffic that differed from shot to shot. The result is pleasing, and you can tinker with it even further by adjusting Glow, Edge, Detail, and Tone, or by choosing a preset look. These include Colorful, Detail, Light, Natural, and Surrealistic. It's fun to see the dazzling artistic effects all these choices enable.
Lens Profile Correction
This kind of tool has been a feather in the cap of programs including Adobe Lightroom and DxO PhotoLab for a while. The idea is to fix issues introduced by the lens the photo was shot with, such as warped perspectives and darkness around the edges (known as vignetting). The technique, as with most photo adjustments, works best with raw camera files.
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For lens-profile-based correction to be useful, it needs to support a lot of lenses. CyberLink's library of profiles is limited compared with Lightroom's but you can manually adjust the distortion, and CyberLink users can create their own profiles and make them downloadable from DirectorZone.com. PhotoDirector still didn't have my Sigma 150-600mm zoom lens in its database when I tested it, but it does have one for my Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.
Tapping a globe icon in the Lens Correction option group takes you to CyberLink's profile download page, where you can see all profiled lenses. DxO makes the process more efficient by automatically popping up a dialog that asks you to download the appropriate profiles whenever you load a photo. For supported lenses, the program automatically chooses the correct model, and those I tested did improve barrel distortion and vignetting.
I am disappointed to see that chromatic aberration (CA) wasn't improved when applying profiles. PhotoDirector offers sliders for CA correction that did let me remove some color fringing, and the program's Defringe tool, though manual, does a great job of removing color strokes from object edges. For excellent automatic results, try DxO PhotoLab. Lightroom and DxO PhotoLab are still way ahead of PhotoDirector when it comes to lens profile corrections, for both geometric distortion and CA (chromatic aberration).
Face Tagging
To get started with face tagging, select some photos in Library mode, and hit the Tag Faces button above the thumbnail grid. This starts an Analyzing dialog, which goes through each photo one at a time. Processing 129 photos took just under 3 minutes. As with all face-recognition software, there were a few false positives. A bush was identified as a face, for example. But I'm impressed that it picked up profiles as well as full faces.
The interface for assigning names to faces is, as with much of PhotoDirecter, clear and simple. Once you assign one name, it becomes a button for one-click assignment to other photos with faces. After that, you can click Faces on the Library's left panel Project tab and then select a name to display photos only of that individual. There's an option to find more faces of a given person in selected photos, but the program doesn't do as good a job of suggesting names that belong to a face as competitors do.
Sharing and Output
PhotoDirector offers clear buttons for sharing directly to Flickr, Email, and CyberLink's cloud galleries from a dropdown. You can generate slideshows for instant viewing, saving to an MPEG-4 video file, or direct uploading to YouTube. Lightroom goes beyond this, though, with some actual video editing capabilities.
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PhotoDirector's dedicated Print mode offers every imaginable paper size, custom grid settings, and watermarking, but it has no presets for standard sizes. The company has added a soft proofing feature, which will please pros who print their pictures. There's also a Watermarks feature, something Corel only added to AfterShot Pro recently.
One final note about help: PhotoDirector includes a comprehensive, organized, searchable help system, along with video tutorials, both accessible from clear buttons in the interface. The help is now on the web rather than via a local file, however. Adobe's software also takes you to the web for help, but you usually have to hunt through info on other programs than the one you're using and even through user comments before you possibly find what you're looking for. CyberLink wins on this count, and you can download its User Guide, in case you're editing on the road with no connectivity. Wildlife photographers can relate to that situation.
CyberLink also offers a mobile version of PhotoDirector for both iOS(Opens in a new window) and Android. It's pretty powerful, with a lot of fun effects and editing tools. The app is ad-supported, or you can pay $4.99 to remove the ads and allow higher output resolution.
PhotoDirector for macOS
Since people into the arts and creative media editing often prefer Mac computers, CyberLink has produced a macOS version of PhotoDirector from the start. The macOS version of PhotoDirector has everything discussed here except for three capabilities: integration with PowerDirector, uploading and downloading content from CyberLink Cloud, and AI Facial Recognition. That still leaves a ton of features.
PhotoDirector for Mac currently requires macOS 10.14 or later. Apple Silicon M1 CPUs are supported, though the product website only mentions Intel and AMD processors.
A Good Direction for Photos
You can have a lot of fun at a reasonable price with CyberLink PhotoDirector. Its interface is well thought-out, and it has all the standard photo-editing tools, along with many cool extras. Adobe Lightroom Classic, our top pick for pro photo workflow, continues to drive the state of the art in raw file interpretation and correction features. Pro-level photographers will still want the five-star Photoshop. DxO PhotoLab is best at noise reduction. And hobbyists should check out another Editors' Choice app, Photoshop Elements, which offers many Photoshop tools but with a lot more handholding. For many, however, PhotoDirector offers a capable and low-cost alternative to all three, and it throws in valuable photo stock libraries, too.
CyberLink PhotoDirector 4.0 (Opens in a new window) See It $40.99 Per Year at CyberLink (Opens in a new window) MSRP $99.99 Pros Friendly yet powerful interface
Many advanced effects
Body shaper and other impressive editing tools
Extensive layer support
Painterly AI styles
Tethered shooting View More Cons No geotag maps
Weak chromatic aberration and noise corrections
Not enough lens profiles
Some menus occasionally slow View More The Bottom Line This photo workflow and editing program offers a smooth interface and powerful tools. New denoise, content-aware, and anime tools and effects are among the many additions in the latest version.
PicsArt, the popular image-editing and photo-social-networking app continues to reinvent itself, adding AI-enhanced art filters like those popularized by the Prisma app, which can transform mobile photos, giving them the appearance of bona fide artworks by masters like Picasso or Mondrian. Alongside this addition, this iPhone app has undergone a clarifying redesign and now features a more appealing price structure: You no longer have to pay to remove ads. But perhaps PicsArt's most original contribution is the concept of remixing photos and drawings.
Getting Started
PicsArt is available for Android, iOS, and as a Windows Univeral app for mobile and desktop; I tested it on my iPhone 6s. (599.99 with code VZWDEAL at Verizon)(Opens in a new window) It's a not insubstantial 153MB download, so make sure you clean out your phone's storage. As mentioned, the app is free to use, and there's a good selection of free content, but there are in-app purchases for clipart sets, stickers, fonts, and frames, most of which cost 99 cents or $1.99. You can start to get a feel for what PicsArt can do without even creating an accounta trait I like in any app I'm testing.
Interface
The latest PicsArt update gets a lighter, cleaner, less-cluttered look, though it still encompasses a wealth of editing tools. The Home screen is your social photo feed, which you swipe down just like you can in Instagram . Following other users takes just a button tap, and you can heart, comment on, repost, or remix the image, if the poster has included the #FreeToEdit hashtag. If the blue Remix pencil button shows a number, you can tap it to see other users' remixes of the image at hand.
Hitting the magenta Plus sign button lets you add your own image, either from the phone camera, the Camera Roll, or by starting a drawing on a blank canvas. You can also start creating a collage from the Plus sign. Your Facebook, Flickr ($0.00 at Apple.com)(Opens in a new window) , or Instagram photos are also potential starting points for your PicsArt creations.
You can pinch to zoom, reveal more controls with a plus button, see before and after views of your image, undo the last action, and reset your picture to its original state. Every effect offers adjustability via sliders and a brush that lets choose where to apply or remove the effect.
Tools include curves, masks, clone/stamp, cropping with shape, brushes, borders, text and lens flares. Photoshop, watch out! And don't even get me started about clip art. There are sets for travel, sports, nature, birthday, mustaches, baby, love, rabbitsthe list goes on and on.
Drawing tools also push the app into Photoshop territory, with more than 20 brush types and shapes that transform on a 3D plane. You can adjust the opacity, size, and even the "squish" for the marker brush. You get 30 font choices for text overlays, use a color picker and adjust the size to taste with a handle. You can start a drawing with or without a photo background, and the feature supports Photoshop-style layers.
Of course you also get red-eye correction, tooth whitening, stamp-and-clone, and blemish removal. The blemish tool did a good job on minor skin issues. One thing you don't getat least not as powerfully as in Adobe Mix and Photoshop Touchis auto-object selection and edge detection. For example, when I brushed artificial tan onto a friend's face, the brown overlay affected the background as well as his skin. The cloning tool is fun, but don't expect content-aware object removal like that in Adobe's Photoshop and Mix.
Magic Effects
Prisma may have popularized AI-powered filters that turn your photos into works of art, but PicsArt's Magic Effects have a trick not possible in Prisma: You can apply them to just a selected area of a photo. So you could have a model's eyes look natural, while everything else looks like it stepped out of a Mondrian painting.
PicsArt applies its Magic Effects using your phone's local processing. This means that, unlike with Prisma, you don't need an Internet connection to use it. But do note that, since they are highly processing-intensive, they take longer to render than most photo filters. In my testing, they averaged about 15-20 seconds to finish. That's about the same time it takes to apply Prisma filters. But another advantage of this approach over a cloud-processing system like that used by Prisma is that you'll never get "server overloaded" messages.
When applying Magic Effects, you also get a choice of blending modes reminiscent of those used by Photoshop layers. So you can choose Normal, Multiply, ColorBurn, Darken, Lighten, Screen, Overlay, SoftLight, HardLight, and Difference blending modes. It's fun to try these out, but I find that the default setting often looks best. Prisma offers more basic art styles30 compared with PicsArt's 10and some of those are more impressive than PicsArt's, though company representatives told me that more would be added.
Collages
Collages aren't possible with most photo social apps, but PicsArt offers a cornucopia of layouts, borders, and backgrounds for collage creation, as you can see in the image below.
Sharing
The app's wealth of editing tools means you can put serious time into working on an image. You can save the picture to the Camera Roll at any point with a button tap, but naturally you'll want to share that work with others, and the app is by no means deficient in sharing options. Facebook, email, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger sharing are built in, and when uploading to PicsArt's own service you have options to simultaneously share to Facebook and Dropbox. When uploading an image, you can add keyword tags and location.
The appand the PicsArt website for that matterallows all the standard social networking activities; commenting, favoriting, and following. The interface is well-designed and intuitive, making good use of swipe gestures.
Contests are a nice plus from PicsArt, and they make sense, given the numerous creative tools the app offers. Users vote, and the winners are highlighted on PicsArt's blog.
The Formula for PicsArt's Success
PicsArt takes just about the opposite approach to photo enhancing from, say, Instagram. Where the latter stresses simplicity, PicsArt offers vastly more image-editing options. Not only are its filters more adjustable, but it offers near-Photoshop-level tools like layers, clone stamp, curves, and masks. Drawing tools and clip art make it far more than just a photo app. All of this, however, comes with a risk of over-modified, unnatural photos, which Instagram does a good job of preventing by limiting the options and the extent to which those options can affect images.
Those who love to tinker with photos on their phones and jazz them up to the hilt should probably dump Instagram for PicsArt. Or at least use PicsArt to edit before sharing photos to Instagram, Flickr, Facebook, and the rest. But they may just find enough like-minded image makers on PicsArt's own robust social network to satisfy their needs. PicsArt is a clear PCMag Editors' Choice, but for a larger community and some pretty nifty photo tools of their own, try fellow iPhone social-photo-app Editors' Choices, Flickr and Instagram.
PicsArt (for iPhone) 4.0 Editors' Choice (Opens in a new window) Check Price (Opens in a new window) Pros A wealth of photo editing, enhancing, and drawing tools.
Active social network with photo remixing opportunities.
Highly adjustable filters, including Prisma-style Magic Effects.
Shares to social sites. View More Cons May lead to overzealous photo embellishment. The Bottom Line The PicsArt iPhone app offers just about every image enhancement tool in the book, along with an 80-million-user-strong photo-sharing network.
The U.S. Supreme Court is to hear arguments Tuesday in a closely-watched dispute between Samsung Electronics and Apple on the procedure for calculation of damages for the infringement of design patents.
In general terms, a design patent protects the way an article looks, while utility patents address the way an article is used and works, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Some older Samsung smartphones were found by a jury in 2012 to have infringed three design patents related to the look of the iPhone, including its face and rounded bezel design, and the icon layout on the home screen.
Samsung is questioning an appeals courts interpretation that it has to pay as damages all the profits from the sale of infringing products, claiming that the patented designs are only minor features of the product. A number of tech companies, trade groups and legal experts are supporting Samsung on this issue, as they hold that an adverse outcome could have implications on innovation.
The interpretation of the relevant statute by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit effectively grants exclusive rights over a device covered by tens of thousands of utility patents, even though the discovery covered by the patent-in-suit is an ornamental feature, technology industry group Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief in January.
The relevant provision in this regard is a design patent damages statute, which states that any person, who without license from the owner of the design patent, applies the patented design, or any colorable imitation thereof, to any article of manufacture for the purpose of sale, or sells or exposes for sale any article of manufacture to which such design or colorable imitation has been applied shall be liable to the owner to the extent of his total profit, but not less than $250, recoverable in any United States district court having jurisdiction of the parties.
Products were far simpler when design patent law was created in the 17th century, Samsung said in a commentary on the upcoming hearing. It pertained to things like the handle of a spoon or a carpet pattern, which may have driven a purchase decision. By comparison, today, there are more than 200,000 patents in a single smartphone, it added.
CCIA wants the article of manufacture addressed in the statute, 35 U.S. Code 289, to refer to the smallest article to which the patented design is applied, and not a larger device that includes the article as one of its components.
Were it not, a design patent covering a windshield for a boat could be liable for profits on the entire boat, according to the CCIA filing.
Apple has submitted to the court that Congress enacted the rule as it recognized that it is the design that sells the article. As the profits that can be attributable to design are difficult to arrive at, it is expedient that the infringers entire profit on the article should be recoverable, as else none would be recovered, according to the filing.
Allowing that the article of manufacture could be less than the total product as sold, Apple argues that Samsung failed to provide evidence supporting any outcome other than the jurys conclusion that Samsungs entire smartphones are the infringing articles of manufacture to which the patented designs were applied.
The South Korean company is questioning US$399 million in damages out of a total award of $930 million for infringement of both utility and design patents. The Supreme Court partially granted Samsungs petition, limiting itself to the question: Where a design patent is applied to only a component of a product, should an award of infringers profits be limited to those profits attributable to the component?
The CCIA has said that the issue is of great concern to its member companies because if the interpretation of the Federal Circuit is affirmed, these companies could be faced with attacks using design patents by patent companies, pejoratively referred to as patent trolls because they make their money from licensing and suing companies over patent infringement, usually using purchased patents.
The Federal Circuits interpretation will likely raise prices and discourage new goods and services from coming to market, thus affecting consumers access to new technologies, wrote the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other groups in their friends-of-the-court brief. It also opens the door to the economic inefficiencies of patent holdup and royalty stacking, which work to disincentivize future invention and productivity, according to a June 7 filing.
Samsung is also considering an appeal to the Supreme Court of an order that reinstated damages of $119.6 million that would be payable to Apple for patent infringement in another lawsuit. The company said Saturday that it is reviewing the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and is looking carefully at the possibility of Supreme Court review. The opinion won in an 8-3 vote.
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were handing over data to a monitoring tool that law enforcement agencies were using to track protesters, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The social media analysis tool, called Geofeedia, had been harvesting posts from the social media networks for surveillance purposes, and more than 500 law enforcement and public safety agencies have been using it, the ACLU said in a Tuesday report.
Through a public records request, the ACLU found that Geofeedia had entered into agreements with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for their users data.
In uncovered emails, Geofeedia said the tool was useful for monitoring protests in Ferguson, Missouri, involving the 2014 police shooting death of Mike Brown.
The ACLU is concerned that the tool can disproportionately impact communities of color, through its monitoring of activists and their neighborhoods. Among Geofeedias features is an interactive map of real-time Instagram posts showing user locations.
These records revealed the fast expansion of social media surveillance with little-to-no debate or oversight, the ACLU said.
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have all severed access to Geofeedia after learning about the tools activities.
This developer only had access to data that people chose to make public, Facebook said in a statement. The company, which also owns Instagram, has a policy prohibiting from its data being used in a search engine without permission.
Twitter said on Tuesday that it was immediately suspending Geofeedias commercial access to the platform. The company already has a policy prohibiting developers from using its data for surveillance.
Chicago-based Geofeedia didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. But the companys CEO has asked to meet with the ACLU, according to the watchdog group.
A case study document uncovered by the ACLU shows that Geofeedia had a hand in helping law enforcement respond to riots following the death of Freddie Gray, who sustained a fatal injury while in police custody in Baltimore.
During the riots, Baltimore police used Geofeedia to alert them when rioters were targeting police vehicles and when a group of high school students carrying backpacks filled with rocks, bottles, and fence posts skipped class to attend a protest.
In some cases, police officers were even able to run social media photos through facial recognition technology to discover rioters with outstanding warrants and arrest them directly from the crowd, the case study said.
We plan to use the social media archive data from Geofeedia to prosecute as many law breakers from the riots as we can, a Baltimore police detective said in the case study.
However, the ACLU is encouraging social media companies to adopt clear policies banning developers from exploiting their data for surveillance needs.
Deutsche Bank to Be Bailed Out by China; Merkel Refuses to Help
German Chancellor Angela Merkel refuses to help Deutsche Bank. (Photo : Getty Images)
The rising crisis of Deutsche Bank is going to be addressed by China, according to financial analysts. The bank's looming crisis was caused by the imposition of the U.S. Department of Justice's $14 billion fine.
Chancellor Merkel and finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said that there will be no state-sponsored bank bailouts when the Eurozone crisis hit the region.
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The German government then formulated new European rules that require creditors to outlay funds before seeking government intervention.
"State aid won't happen," said Thomas Oppermann, floor leader of the ruling Social Democrats. "It's now, first of all, up to the bank to solve the problems."
Martin Jager, a spokesperson for the finance ministry, noted, "The German government is not preparing a rescue plan, and there is no reason for such speculations."
Hans Michelbach, head of the conservative parliamentary finance committee, said that the party will not register any support to the bank in crisis.
He said, "I cannot imagine that the state will repeat something like that."
The head was referring to the state bailout in 2008 when the banks were on a brink of collapse.
Deutsche was once one of Europe's most successful financial institutions in Europe. It has faced a series of lawsuits that often trace back to the boom years before the crash. Its litigation expense since 2012 has already hit more than $13.5 billion.
However, Merkel was also hit by criticism from other German members of parliament. Sahra Wagenknecht, a member of the opposition far-left Linke party, said that the government put "a ticking time bomb in the lap of the taxpayer."
With the resistance of the German government to help Deutsche, China intends to be at the forefront to establish relations with the prominent bank especially in the time of Germany's political transition.
More that 3,500 Native American artifacts taken from an ancient, lakeside village site on public land in eastern Riverside County remain boxed up and off-limits to the public inside a public museum.
For more than a year, the public and the news media have not been allowed to see them, and it is not clear when the artifacts will be accessible to the public.
The Colorado River Indian Tribes, which consider the items sacred, also have not been allowed access to the artifacts inside the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands.
Gathered during the construction of the Genesis solar-power plant in 2011 and 2012 west of Blythe, the artifacts remain in storage at the museum, where officials say they have no plans to put them on display for at least a year.
The tribes include the Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo people. There are currently about 4,277 active Tribal members, according to the tribes website.
David Harper, spokesman for the elders of the Mohave tribe, said the tribes met with the BLM last week, asking for the return of all artifacts, photos of each and the location where each artifact was found.
Weve asked that they be returned to the desert where they came from, Harper said. We believe these are funerary items that were taken from their final resting place.
Harper said the Colorado River tribes plan on bringing the issue to the National Congress of American Indians, which is meeting this week in Phoenix.
Harper said the Mohave people have lived in the region for more than a thousand years.
The artifact collection includes hundreds of metates and manos stone tools used to grind seeds into meal as well as hundreds of other tools, an indication that the archeological site was once an important food gathering and preparation hub for the earliest Americans.
REQUESTS DENIED
The federal Bureau of Land Management has denied repeated requests for a reporter and a photographer to view and take pictures of the artifacts. The agency instead provided government photographs showing what a spokesman for the agency described as the types of artifacts collected at the Genesis project site.
The BLM also declined a request to have one of its staff archeologists discuss the significance and disposition of hundreds of stone tools removed from the shore of whats now known as Ford Dry Lake to make way for the Genesis solar plant about 20 miles west of Blythe.
And the agency seems to want to be done with the issue.
The BLM has been as responsive and transparent as possible about the collection, said BLM California desert district spokesman Stephen Razo in a Sept. 27 email, referring to documents, the government photos, and an internet link to a state agency provided by the BLM.
These releases constitute a complete and comprehensive response, Razo said.
But viewing for photographing will not be permitted because the public is not allowed in the collections area, Razo said in his email.
His statement also said that moving hundreds of artifacts would also be an irresponsible expenditure of public resources and damaging to the artifacts. In its request for access, the newspaper did not ask for any of the artifacts to be moved.
Rebecca Weintraub, a public relations experts and professor at USCs Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, said the BLM may not be up to anything nefarious, but its response may make people wonder.
Such a response raises the question, Is there something being hidden? said Weintraub, who teaches strategic communications. It seems short-sighted at best and deceptive at worst. Its a really, really bad strategy.
UNCOVERED DURING GRADING
The artifacts, considered sacred by area tribes, were already the subject of controversy.
They were first discovered in 2011 during construction of the Genesis solar plant on three square miles of BLM land. The grading by heavy machinery unearthed two flat metates found in a layer of charcoal soil which members of the Colorado River Indian Tribes described as a sacred cremation site of the Mohave people.
A 125-acre area rich with artifacts was fenced off later when the tribes sued the BLM in federal court to force the solar plants developer to preserve what tribal officials believed was the site of an ancient village along the shores of the lake.
A judge in federal court in Los Angeles ruled in favor of the BLM in 2012, and developers resumed grading. In all, more than 3,500 artifacts were uncovered, including 524 metates, 402 manos, 90 hammer stones, 17 scrappers, and a pendant.
During the grading, Florida-based developers with NextEra Energy, which also owns Florida Power & Light, the nations third-largest electric utility, did avoid an area about the size of table where the two metates in charcoal soil were found.
Many of the artifacts, some of which might date to 10,000 years ago, appeared to have been broken by the machinery used to dig them up, said members of the tribes, who were able to view them in 2014 when they were in temporary storage in a San Diego warehouse.
The tribes have sought possession of the artifacts, saying they want to return them to the desert to restore the sacred footprints of their ancestors.
Last year the artifacts were moved to the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands. They are being stored for the BLM for a one-time cost of $177,000. The storage price is $1,000 per banker-sized box.
NextEra picked up this cost, according to the BLM.
Razo was unable to say when the artifacts might be put on display.
Exhibits in museums are constantly being rotated, it remains to be seen when, what portion or if that will occur, he said in his email.
San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert said that museum exhibits are planned a year in advance and there are no current plans to display artifacts from the Genesis site.
Contact the writer: 951-368-9471 or ddanelski@scng.com
He may have lost the support of some high-ranking GOP officials but Donald Trump can count on Temecula.
Local supporters of the Republican presidential candidate are staging a rally from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, at the corner of Winchester and Ynez roads in Temecula.
The rally is being organized by the Murrieta-Temecula Republican Assembly, which was slow to warm to the candidate during the primary season.
I was everything but Trump but now Im everything but Hillary, said Bob Kowell of Murrieta, one of the assemblys leaders.
Kowell said Tuesday afternoon he is expecting a big crowd but hes not sure how the recent controversy over Trumps comments in 2005 he told Billy Bush that women let him grope and kiss them because hes a star will affect turnout.
Initially, Kowell said, it appeared that people on Facebook were disgusted by the comments including the now-famous shock jock turn-of-phrase grab them by the p**** but sentiment in the last few days has turned, with some members of the group souring on Hollywood and the establishment and the use of the video as a cudgel to attack the GOP standard-bearer.
Its riling people up. Theyre just about ready to do something about that, he said. It might work in his benefit.
At previous Trump rallies this spring, which were held at the citys Duck Pond Park, Trump supporters were greeted by counter-protesters, which included supporters of other GOP and Democratic candidates and people who took exception to Trumps comments about Mexicans and his support for a border wall.
Although there were some face-offs and some harsh rhetoric, the rallies were peaceful.
This article was modified to correct location of rally.
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Police arrested a man in connection to the fatal shooting of a Marine outside a San Bernardino strip club in April, authorities said.
Arturo Perez Medina, 22, of Fontana, was arrested Sunday at the Mexican border on suspicion of the murder of Douglas Rivas-Rauda, 20, of Twentynine Palms, according to San Bernardino County Sheriffs booking records.
Rivas-Rauda was serving as a designated driver on April 17 when he as his fellow Marines were at The Flesh Club, 100 W Hospitality Lane, when the fatal shooting took place.
While Rauda was outside his vehicle waiting for his friends, police say Medina approached the 20-year-old serviceman and for unknown reasons, shot and killed Rivas-Rauda.
Authorities say Medina and three others drove off.
Through an investigation, detectives determined all four suspects were San Bernardino gang members. All but Medina were arrested.
Since the shooting, investigators learned Medina was hiding in Tijuana, according to a statement.
With help from the FBI-Riverside Office, The FBI Legal Attache to Mexico City and the Mexican Federal Police, Medina was arrested and brought to the San Ysidro border where he was handed over the local authorities.
Court records show Medina is on community supervision through Assembly Bill 109 for a previous conviction.
A court date had not been scheduled for Medina.
When Long Beach police Lt. Steve James first heard that three Palm Springs police officers had been gunned down Saturday afternoon, he immediately texted a friend at the desert town department.
James, the president of the Long Beach Police Officers Association, endured some tense moments when he believed his friend could have been one of the officers shot. He eventually learned his friend was safe, but two officers each at opposite ends of their careers had been killed and a third wounded.
Im devastated no matter who it is, but I didnt happen to know those two, he said.
The deaths of officers Jose Gil Vega and Lesley Zerebny, came only three days after Los Angeles County Sheriffs Sgt. Steve Owen was fatally shot during a burglary call in Lancaster.
RELATED Officers father calls killing a senseless loss of an amazing mom
It was terrible, San Bernardino police Lt. Mike Madden said Monday morning of the two separate incidents that took the lives of three law enforcement members.
So far this year, 102 law enforcement officers have lost their lives nationally, according to the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund. Last year, 123 were killed.
Every time it happens, we feel their grief and their sorrow because it happened to us, and so we grieve, said Cindy Bachman spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department.
Bachman was referring to the death of Deputy Jeremiah MacKay, killed Feb. 12, 2013, during a standoff with disgraced ex-Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner.
The series of officer deaths have forced many in law enforcement to become hyperaware of their surroundings, especially as more officers are being scrutinized for their actions, especially when it comes to officer-involved shootings, according to police officials.
The stress level is obviously a lot higher, but its important for patrol supervisors to know the makeup of their teams and be able to identify if the stress becomes too high for any involved officer, said Torrance police Lt. Robert Watt. Proactive and overall good police work continues among the men and women of the Torrance Police Department and that is definitely a tribute to them.
Riverside police patrol Sgt. Debbie Foy, whos been in law enforcement for 32 years, said she tries to put the recent incidents in perspective and feels only 1 percent of people have serious problems with law enforcement.
The other 99 percent of people who support us are the people Im out there for, said Foy. And Im proud to be part of that community. Im proud of my job, and I still honor my job.
While she says she isnt fearful when doing her job of choice, she says she is more cautious.
I make sure I have the appropriate resources to back me up, she says. I dont go into something blindly when I can wait for backup officers.
According to National Institute of Justice research, minorities are less trusting of law enforcement than whites. The research agency of the U.S. Department of Justice notes the suspicion may stem from their own personal interactions with police and exposure to media accounts of police misconduct.
It creates a situation where your senses are working overdrive, James said of the recent attacks on officers. Youre concerned about everything: the person walking up behind your police car, anything that doesnt feel right on a call.
Many within law enforcement say attacks on the police came to a head July 8 when 25-year-old military veteran Micah Johnson ambushed and killed five Dallas police officers during what had been a peaceful protest against the fatal police shootings of black men, specifically in Louisiana and Minnesota, shootings many demonstrators say were unjustified and point to a systematic problem between law enforcement and the black community.
I think the mind-set that the police are biased and the police are racist, I just dont believe that, said Madden, a 25-year law enforcement veteran. When we do wrong, we have to acknowledge it, but there seems to be a segment of the community that I think believes we brought this on ourselves and nothing could be further from the truth. We have officers who go out there and do their jobs and do it honorably and professionally. Thats how we combat that mind-set.
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association President Brian Moriguchi agreed, adding the majority of officers are good, honest people trying to make the streets safe.
When you hear the stories about Sgt. Steve Owen and two Palm Springs officers, said Moriguchi, these people are outstanding individuals which the media digs into when they die. But that is the vast majority of police officers out there.
For Madden and others, this is exactly why good community relationships are essential for change.
Its important to have that connection there but much earlier than when things like this happen, Madden said. Trust isnt just granted, its earned and we have to do what we can to have those positive contacts and build the trust with a community. It has to be a two-way dialogue.
In Los Angeles, LAPD Deputy Chief Bob Green, commanding officer of Operations-Valley Bureau, says hes seen a deliberate effort by Chief Charlie Beck to reduce the number of officer-involved shootings in the city by using less-lethal force, including stun guns, and the use of body cameras. However, even the use of alternatives means may still garner ire from the community, Green said.
We saw in Burbank where they Tased the individual instead of using deadly force and he died, he said. There was still an outcry over that. At what point do officers get to protect themselves? Its a good discussion, but theres got to be an honest discussion. I think all of our discussion have got to be balanced.
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Staff writers Wes Woods, Brian Rokos, Larry Altman and Jeremiah Dobruck contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: bvalenzuela@scng.com or @BeatrizVNews on Twitter
A stepfather and stepson dispute involving a gun prompted the arrest of a 25-year-old probationer and the precautionary lockdown of two San Jacinto schools, sheriffs officials say.
The suspect was identified in a news release as Jose Hernandez, but authorities later corrected his name to Francisco Javier Lopez.
Lopez surrendered following the 12:34 p.m. incident Monday, Oct. 10, along the 22800 block of North San Jacinto Avenue and was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, drug possession and being felon in possession of a gun and ammunition, Sgt. Gene McKinney wrote in the news release.
Deputies learned (Lopez) brandished a firearm at his step-father and threatened to shoot him, according to the statement. The step-father was able to leave the residence and call police.
Deputies set up and perimeter and made announcements for Hernandez to come outside.
At 1:44 p.m., Monte Vista Middle School and San Jacinto Valley Academy were locked down.
After Lopez surrendered, deputies found a gun in the house and methamphetamine in his car. The lockdown was lifted shortly after 2 p.m.
With one exception, Republican elected officials and candidates in Southern California continue to stand by Donald Trump despite his comments about women in 2005 that were widely condemned as boasting about sexual assault.
Trumps lewd banter with TV personality Billy Bush, in which Trump bragged he could kiss and grope women because he was a star, came to light Friday, Oct. 7. Since then, Republican senators, governors and congressional representatives nationwide have disavowed the GOP presidential nominee or called for him to step aside.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Monday he would not campaign with or defend Trump, although he did not withdraw his support. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus reportedly said the party still stands by Trump.
Ryans comments prompted a retort from Trump via Twitter Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee.
Trumps candidacy has been an issue in the 25th Congressional District race between Rep. Steve Knight, R-Santa Clarita, and Democrat Bryan Caforio. The district includes portions of northern Los Angeles County and southern Ventura County.
Knight withdrew his support for Trump on Saturday.
In my career as a law enforcement professional I was confronted with and worked tirelessly to end the horrific reality of violence toward women, Knight said in a statement.
After hearing Donald Trumps inexcusable comments last night I was deeply disturbed & reminded of that reprehensible behavior. And after serious consideration, I have decided that I cannot support either candidate for president.
Orrin Evans, Caforios campaign manager, said Knights response fell well short of the necessary, unequivocal condemnation and rejection of his partys presidential nominee. Donald Trumps latest assault on women was abhorrent and disgusting, and requires more than just a slap on the wrist.
Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, the Inland Empires longest-serving congressman, issued a statement calling Trumps comments offensive, demeaning to women and beyond the pale.
But hes still supporting Trump.
I continue to believe electing Hillary Clinton will only further lead our nation down the wrong path, economically and in terms of national security, said Calvert, who announced his support for Trump before the Republican National Covention.
That misguided path becomes even more perilous if we also elect extreme liberals like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and allow them to control Congress. Thats why I will continue to urge voters to support every Republican candidate on the ballot.
Prior to Monday, Democrat Tim Sheridan, Calverts November opponent, criticized the congressman for not saying anything about Trump.
Inland Republican congressional candidate Paul Chabot, who is running against Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, said: As a father of three girls I was shocked with Trumps hot mic audio (from) 11 years ago.
But he also is sticking by Trump.
I agree with (vice-presidential candidate Mike) Pences statement. I will vote for Trump. We must save the Supreme Court, rebuild our military, fix the VA and heath care, fight violent crime, secure our border and bring good paying jobs back to America.
Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, has supported Trump and assailed Clinton on social media. Melendez also appeared on stage with Trump in San Diego earlier this year.
Donald Trump has my vote, she said. Hillarys actions speak louder than Trumps words. Her extensive list of illegal, unethical, and immoral actions concern me even more as they are a reflection of her failures, which demonstrate her inability to lead this country.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, who is locked in a tough re-election fight, condemned Trumps lewd comments, but he had not withdrawn his endorsement of Trump as of Saturday morning.
Issa tweeted: This type of behavior has no place in American politics, especially not from those seeking to lead our great nation.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, denounced Republicans who abandoned Trump as gutless and called Ryan cowardly.
You compare (Trumps comments) to Hillary Clinton intimidating a woman whos been raped by her husband theres no comparison, Rohrabacher said.
Some Democrats are trying to gain advantage by linking their GOP opponents to Trump.
In LA Countys 66th Assembly District, Democratic candidate Al Muratsuchis campaign posted signs throughout the South Bay tying his Republican opponent to Trump.
The Trump-Hadley signs drew swift protests from Assemblyman David Hadley, R-Manhattan Beach.
I have never supported Donald Trump and Im not supporting him now, Hadley said Monday. Id love nothing more than to have him step down and be replaced.
Staff Writers Donna Littlejohn and Gregory J. Wilcox contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@scng.commwisckol@scng.com
A Muslim man in Norway has been detained for raping his daughter as a punishment after she became 'too Western'.
The man, in his 40s has been charged with rape and incest after he attacked his daughter in their family home in the city of Fredrikstad.
Police prosecutors have said the daughter told officers she was raped by her father as a punishment for living a Western lifestyle.
Both the father and daughter are of a non-European background.
Read Full Story .... dailymail.co.uk >>> :
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Vice president Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has paid a working visit to the new University of Ghana Super Tertiary Hospital which is about 96 percent complete.
Addressing journalist after touring the facility, Mr. Amissah Arthur described the ongoing works as very impressive and a well laid out hospital which would help solve a lot of health issues.
Vice President Amissah-Arthur said the facility is a very unique medical centre that would help minimize the huge sums of money Ghanaians send outside the country to seek medical attention.
Professor Aaron Lawson the project coordinator took the Vice President around to inspect the facility.
The project when completed would have a quaternary hospital facility that is expected to provide a cutting edge medical training and research for various health professionals in the country.
It is also expected to provide sub specialist services in the following areas: Surgery, Radiology, (including interventional radiology), Internal Medicine, Pharmacy, Obstetrics, and Gynecology, (including Assisted Reproductive Technology) Pediatrics, Anesthesia, Medical Education (including a Robotic Simulation training) Accidents and Emergency Services, and Mortuary.
The University of Ghana Super Tertiary Hospital project was started under the late Mills administration with funding from Israel. The Mahama led administration has intensified works on the site and at the completion of the project; the structure is expected to have a grand total of 1000 beds.
Source: Maxwell Okamafo Addo/ email: [email protected]
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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The skyrocketing price of houses has failed to discourage potential buyers, as parents continue to buy extremely expensive houses in order to get their children to top schools. (Photo : Getty Images)
Recent years have shown that classes helping students improve their Emotional Quotient (EQ) are gaining popularity in China, according to a psychology expert.
EQ, according to Psychology Today, is the ability to identify and manage one's own emotions and that of others--including emotional awareness of oneself and others, ability to harness emotions and apply them to actual tasks like problem-solving, the ability to manage and regulate emotions, and the ability to cheer up or calm down another person.
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Intelligence quotient (IQ) does not seem a problem among Chinese. In fact, a study conducted in more than 80 countries from 2002 to 2006 produced a controversial world ranking of countries based on average IQ, and it showed China among the top five.
However, driven by the motivation to excel academically, Chinese students do not spend much time for self-reflection or self-awareness. This is according to Irene Tieh, Cross-Cultural Connector and Founder of USA College Connection who found out that the social traditions in U.S. schools do not exist in the same way in Chinese schools.
Tieh said that social activities such as school dances and parties at parents' house do not have much place in Chinese students. But academic activities - such as math or science competitions, field trips to establishments that encourage learning like museums, and tutorials even during summer vacation - are very common.
Furthermore, she noted that when Chinese students can take a pause from their busy academic life, they resort to their smartphones, iPads or computers--a break that does not encourage social life either.
Some Chinese parents have shown concern over their children's low EQ. A Global Times report featured a mother of an 11-year-old girl who sent her academically excellent daughter to a class especially arranged to improve children's social skills.
The mother expressed her worry for the social life of her daughter, who according to her is self-centered, unmindful of others' opinion and unable of teamwork, resulting in conflicts with her peers.
Liu Yang, the teacher and counselor at Huichengzhang EQ Development who said that EQ classes are gaining popularity today in China, attended to this girl and said that she might lack empathy, a key in measuring EQ. The counselor said that a low EQ may result when children are spoiled by their parents and/or parents focus too much on their children's academic performance.
EQ classes usually involve games and role-playing, after which children are allowed to analyze the role and relate it to their own real-life experiences so they can apply it in the future.
With the class focusing on the girl's emotion, thinking and behavior, the mother reported that she has seen development on her daughter. She has more friends and even her academics improved further.
Liu said that even though EQ classes help, the role of parents in encouraging and forming their children's character and social skills takes a big part--a responsibility recognized by the mother who said that her own words and actions influence her daughter.
Many women will cry upon hearing the news or at the sight the lifeless body of their partners, irrespective of the circumstances of death.
The opposite, however, is the case of a 33-year old widow whose husband committed suicide after attempting to kill her at Asotwe, near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region.
For Rose Keniah, the passing of Mathias Sedungon, with whom she had been married for over 16-years, is a blessing in disguise. Madam Keniah escaped death when Mr Sedungon fired a gun at her which hit her in the shoulder in an apparent in an attempt to kill her.
This was after the two had a misunderstanding which led to quarrels and subsequent separation of the couple.
In the company of other residents, Rose was on her way to the farm when her husband, described as a sharp shooter, ambushed and attacked her in September this year.
Not even the intervention from the womans colleagues could dissuade Mr Sedungon from his intention on that fateful day. He fired and hit Madam Keniah before disappearing into the bush. Moments later while the woman was being sent to the hospital, news broke that Mathias had committed suicide, few meters away from where he shot his wife.
Injured Madam Keniah is not moved by her husbands death as the family awaits the Ejisu police to release the body for burial. She says she survived by divine intervention from the man she had known as a good marksman with a gun.
The mother of four who hails from Paga in the Upper East Region has a lesson to share with her peers who suffer spousal abuse.
"Dont just flee from their threats, report them to police," Madam Keniah says.
Source: Nhyira FM
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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The 500 dismissed army recruits are threatening to pledge allegiance to terrorist groups, if their dismissal is not reversed.
The disgruntled recruits say they have received offers from ISIS and other extremist groups in the Middle East, but are reluctant to join because they want to give government another shot at intervening in their dismissal.
The former recruits were sacked last year for alleged insubordination at a parade.
But spokesperson of the disgruntled recruits Frank Antwi says the Ghana Armed Forces must re-visit the decision and probe further to find the real culprits.
He said he and his colleagues would be forced to join the extremist groups if nothing is done about their unfair dismissal.
"We have been contacted by Militant groups;ISIS and Boko Haram through voice note that they heard our story online and are ready to assist us. But we are hoping that authorities re-visit our issue and find the real culprits of the incident that led to our dismissal".
Source: starrfmonline.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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The waste management department of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has begun fumigating the Kaase landfill site to remove the threat to public health.
Mr. John Gorkeh-Miah, the Director of the Department, said they had been spraying the area with chemicals not only to kill dangerous reptiles, houseflies and mosquitoes but to subdue the overpowering stench from the place.
He said spraying gangs had also been moving from room-to-room to tackle insects, making things uncomfortable for the people.
Additionally, the department, was removing silt from the Sissai River, running through the area to check periodic flooding.
This comes on the heels of a public protest by the residents of four communities - Oti, Atonsu, Kuwait and Aprabo, at the insanitary conditions at the site, which they claimed posed serious health hazard.
Mr. Elliot Fosu Bannor, the assembly member for Kuwait-Aprabo, said they were happy with the swift response of the KMA and asked that the safety measures were sustained.
Source: GNA
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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The United Nations is requesting additional 170 police peacekeepers from Ghana to be deployed in South Sudan in January, 2017.
Ghana currently has a 440 police peacekeeping force in South Sudan, the largest from any member nation in the world. The country joined the police peacekeeping operations in August 2015 after the armoured car squadron was re-organised into the Formed Police Unit (FPU). A second batch was requested by the United Nations, based on the good performance by the first contingent in Southern Sudan.
The United Nations however says it will need more Ghanaian peacekeepers to prosecute its peacekeeping agenda. Deputy Project Manager of the International Police Peacekeeping Operations (IPPO), Lance McCune addressing the troops indicated that in one and a half years, Ghana has gone from no FPUs to 440 personnel in South Sudan. In the next seven weeks, it wouldnt be easy, itll be difficult, some things would be new but I can assure you that the trainees over here would give their very best and I know theyll get their very best from you.
Director of international relations, ACP Michael Awadetsi, admonished personnel who would make the final 170 not to lower the bar. The 8-weeks pre-deployment training is being conducted by officials of the international police peacekeeping operations support from the US State Department with support from local trainers. dan/
Source: 3news.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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The Electoral Commission (EC) today disqualified thirteen presidential aspirants from contesting in the 2016 elections.
The EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, who made the announcement at a news conference, said those disqualified failed to meet the necessary requirements.
A statement from the commission further gave other reasons for the disqualification
Read below
RECEIPT OF NOMINATIONS FOR 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Key criteria for presidential candidates
Forms must be signed by candidate
Forms must be signed by two registered voters in every district (432 valid endorsements required)
One voter cannot endorse more than one presidential candidate
Vice President nominee must be named and must meet constitutional requirements for the office of Vice President
Properly filled forms must be delivered to the Returning officer on or before the date appointed for receipt of nominations
Forms should be submitted in quadruplicates
Forms should include properly attested statutory declarations stating that candidate has provided accurate details to the Commission, has met all the requirements and is qualified for the office of President.
4 pictures in accordance with dimensions and specifications in the law
Payment of filing fees as determined by the Commission.
The Commission may disqualify a candidate if one of these requirements is not met. For instance:
The nomination form is not properly signed by the candidate;
The statutory declaration is not properly executed;
Filing fees not presented in requested mode or amount;
Less than two registered voters per district sign the nomination forms;
The nomination forms are not properly signed by all the subscribing voters;
The candidate or the designated vice president nominee does not meet the legal requirements of the nominated office.
Prior to the close of nominations on the 29th and 30th September, candidates whose nomination forms had obvious errors and who submitted early enough, were called by the officers of the Commission and given the opportunity to correct obvious errors or omissions on their nomination forms.
The Law permits such corrections only within the nomination period hence our earlier call on candidates to submit as early as possible.
Following the receipt of nomination forms last week, and the payment of filing fees earlier today, the EC is now in a position to announce candidates whose nominations have been accepted by the Electoral Commission having met the afore stated requirements.
1 Hassan Ayariga All Peoples Congress (APC)
The Commission is unable to accept Dr. Ayarigas nomination for the following reason:
The candidate did not provide evidence on his statutory declaration as to his hometown or residence in the constituency as per the legal requirements.
Two subscribers to Dr. Ayarigas nominations also subscribed for another presidential candidate. This is in breach of Regulation 7(4) of CI 94. The implication is that the two subscribers are disqualified and therefore, Dr. Ayariga does not have the requisite number of subscribers under Regulation 7(2) (b) of CI 94. The details of the duplicate subscribers are as follows:
Abaako Issifu (page 103)
Voter ID number 2988006876
PS code: J110202
Ayuba (page 95)
Voter ID number 6303005554
PS code: H200201
In addition, the signatures of both voters are different on the two nomination forms. This raises questions as to the legitimacy of those signatures.
We will refer the matter of the possible forgeries of these signatures to the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney General for investigation and prosecution in line with the following sections of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29):
Section 211: Perjury
Section 248: making false declaration etc. for office or voting;
Section 251: Deceiving a public officer
Section 256: Corruption, Intimidation and personation in respect of election
2 Edward Nasigri Mahama PNC
The Commission is unable to accept Dr. Mahamas nomination for the following reasons:
Many subscribers did not properly sign the forms. Thumbprints, signatures or marks were omitted all together. For instance, no signatures on Page 16, 24, 28.
Two subscribers to Dr. Mahamas nominations also subscribed for another presidential candidate. These are:
Abaako Issifu (page 103)
ID number 2988006876
PS code: J110202
Abudu Ayuba (page 95)
Voter ID number 6303005554
PS code: H200201
As stated earlier, the signatures of both voters are different on the two nomination forms. This raises questions as to the legitimacy of those signatures.
We will refer the matter of the possible forgeries of these signatures to the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney General for investigation and prosecution in line with the following sections of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29):
Section 211: Perjury
Section 248: making false declaration etc. for office or voting;
Section 251: Deceiving a public officer
Section 256: Corruption, Intimidation and personation in respect of election
For a large majority of subscribers, the signature portion was ticked rather than subscribed with a signature, thumb print or mark.
It is important to point out that a simple tick does not satisfy the requirements of the law for where a mark is made in lieu of a signature or thumb print.
A mark in law is an X made by a person who is illiterate or too weak to sign his/her full name. According to the Free Law Dictionary, On the rare occasion that this occurs, the X should be within or next to2 `1 a notation indicating the persons name or formally witnessed by another person to make the mark valid. Accordingly, the Commission is unable to accept mere ticks, which have not been properly, witnessed as legitimate marks made by voters subscribing to Dr. Mahamas forms.
In conclusion, Dr. Mahama does not have the requisite number of subscribers required under Regulation 7(2) (b) of CI 94 and his nomination cannot therefore be accepted.
3 Nana Agyenim Boateng United Front Party
The Commission is unable to accept Dr. Boatengs nomination because the number of his subscribers do not meet the minimum required under Regulation 7(2) (b) of CI 94.
The details are as follows:
One subscriber Amadu Babia Latifah with Voter ID number 3357006984, and Polling station K100401 supported the nomination of another candidate (page 110). This is in breach of Regulation 7 (4) of CI 94.
Further, the Subscriber has different signatures on both candidates nominations raising questions as to the legitimacy of the signature on both forms.
Three of Dr. Boatengs subscribers supported the nomination of another candidate and again, with different signatures. This again is in breach of Regulation 7(4) of CI 94. Details are:
Alfred Yevuglo (page 35)
Voter ID no: 1270013632
Polling station code: D091201
Dagadu Raymond (page 35)
Voter ID no: 1270012857
Polling station code: D091201
Adu Thomas (page 67)
Voter ID no: 3703013114
Polling station code: F310202
We will refer the matter of the possible forgeries of these signatures to the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney General for investigation and prosecution in line with the following sections of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29):
Section 211: Perjury
Section 248: making false declaration etc. for office or voting;
Section 251: Deceiving a public officer
Section 256: Corruption, Intimidation and personation in respect of election
4 Kofi Akpaloo- Independent Peoples Party
The Commission is unable to accept Mr. Akpaloos nomination because the number of subscribers to Mr. Akpaloos forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94. The details are as follows:
Three subscribers supported the nomination of another candidate in breach of Regulation 7 (4) of CI 94. Again, the cross subscribers have different signatures on the nomination forms raising questions as to the legitimacy of these signatures.
These are:
Alfred Yevuglo (page 35)
Voter ID no: 1270013632
Polling station code: D091201
Dagadu Raymond (page 35)
Voter ID no: 1270012857
Polling station code: D091201
Adu Thomas (page 67)
Voter ID no: 3703013114
Polling station code: F310202
We will refer the matter of the possible forgeries of these signatures to the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney General for investigation and prosecution in line with the following sections of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29):
Section 211: Perjury
Section 248: making false declaration etc. for office or voting;
Section 251: Deceiving a public officer
Section 256: Corruption, Intimidation and personation in respect of election.
5 Kwabena Adjei- Reform Patriotic Democrat
The Commission is unable to accept Mr. Adjeis nomination because the number of subscribers to his forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94. The details are as follows:
Two subscribers to Mr. Adjeis forms are not registered voters as they are on the Exclusion List for multiple registrations. Details are:
Stephen Owusu (2012/2014) with voter IDs 2643005586 & 1490019583
Fusheini Mariama/ Abdulai Mariama (4.2012/3. 2012) with voter IDs 2643005586 & 1490019583
We also call on the Ghana Police Service to investigate the named individuals for the electoral offence.
6 Papa Kwesi Nduom Progressive Peoples Party (PPP)
The Commission is unable to accept Dr. Nduoms nomination because the number of subscribers to his forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94. The details are as follows:
One subscriber Richard Aseda (Asida on the Voters Register), with Voter ID no 7812003957) endorsed the forms in two different districts (pages 21 and 39).
The subscriber was found to be on the Voters Register in one district thereby disqualifying his second subscription and reducing the total number of subscribers to below the minimum required by the Law.
The same subscriber (Richard Aseda (Asida) endorsed the form with different signatures in both portions of the nomination form. This raises questions as to the legitimacy of one or both signatures.
We will refer the matter of the possible forgery of the signature(s) to the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney General for investigation and prosecution in line with the following sections of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29):
Section 211: Perjury
Section 248: making false declaration etc. for office or voting;
Section 251: Deceiving a public officer
Section 256: Corruption, Intimidation and personation in respect of election.
7 Dr. Henry Herbert Lartey Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP)
The Commission is unable to accept Dr. Larteys nomination because the number of subscribers to his forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94. The details are as follows:
Pages 18 22 do not contain the signatures of subscribers as required by Law
Pages 14 17: Subscriptions are undated
The Personal records of the Vice Presidential candidate have not been provided.
One subscriber Amadu Babia Latifah. With Voter ID number 3357006984 & Polling station K100401 (page 110) also supported the nomination of another candidate. This disqualifies both candidates endorsed by the said voter.
Further, the said subscriber has different signatures on both candidates nominations raising questions as to the legitimacy of both signatures.
We will refer the matter of the possible forgeries of these signatures to the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney General for investigation and prosecution in line with the following sections of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29):
Section 211: Perjury
Section 248: making false declaration etc. for office or voting;
Section 251: Deceiving a public officer
Section 256: Corruption, Intimidation and personation in respect of election.
8 Richard Nixon Tetteh United Development Systems Party
The Commission is unable to accept Mr. Tettehs nomination because the number of subscribers to his forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94.
The nomination forms were improperly filled and almost all subscribers to Mr. Tettehs forms have invalid voter ID numbers.
The candidate did not also pay the filing fee within the stipulated timeline.
9 Mrs. Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings National Democratic Party
The Commission is unable to accept Mrs. Rawlings nomination because the number of subscribers to her forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94.
One subscriber on page 89 of her nomination forms is not a validly registered voter and illegally registered twice and so is on the Exclusion list of multiple voters. Details are:
Salifu Abdulai
District: Nanumba South
Voter ID no: 6617004814 (28.3.2012)
Voter ID no: 2126900022 (04.8.2014).
10 Thomas Nuako Ward-Brew Democratic Peoples Party
The Commission is unable to accept Mr. Ward-Brews nomination for the following reasons:
His forms were improperly completed and Candidates particulars were not provided (page 1). The candidate did not provide his voter ID number and the Commission is unable to ascertain whether the candidate is a registered voter and therefore eligible for the office of President.
The Statutory Declaration by the candidate is not signed and candidates details missing from statutory declaration (pages 112 and 113). However, the same statutory declaration has been signed by the Commissioner of oaths. This is illegal and unethical.
The Signature of the Vice presidential candidate is missing (page 112)
The Voter ID number of the Vice Presidential candidate has not been provided and so the Commission is unable to ascertain whether the Vice Presidential candidate is a registered voter and eligible to stand as a candidate for that office.
The number of subscribers to Mr. Ward-Brews forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94.
There are no signatures for subscribers (pages 69, 70 and 71)
Signatures of two subscribers (Isaac Dusi & Kofi Kuma) are identical (pages 55 and 56) and this raises questions about the legitimacy of the two signatures.
The same subscriber Kumbung Dosetu endorsed the nomination forms in two different districts (Lawra and Nandom) with two different signatures (page 109) raising issues again on the legitimacy of both signatures.
Two subscribers subscribed in both Dormaa Municipal & Dormaa West districts (page 76)
Details as follows-
Yaa Yeboaa
Voter ID no; 3462001504
Anthony Boamah
Voter ID no: 3462002159
There are undated endorsements on pages 48, 50, 55 , 56 and 61
Missing residential addresses, page 33
Page 10: Thumbprints for even headmasters and teachers and Researchers and pastors (page 74).
vii. The candidate did not also pay the filing fee within the stipulated timeline.
We will refer the matter of the possible forgeries of these signatures to the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney General for investigation and prosecution in line with the following sections of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29):
Section 211: Perjury
Section 248: making false declaration etc. for office or voting;
Section 251: Deceiving a public officer
Section 256: Corruption, Intimidation and personation in respect of election.
11 Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker Independent candidate
The Commission is unable to accept Mr. Walkers nomination for the following reasons:
Walkers forms were improperly filled and contained several irregularities.
There are invalid endorsements and signatures of subscribers are missing from pages 82-84, 99, 100.
Personal records of Vice Presidential candidate were not provided (page 112)
The Candidates Statutory Declaration was not completed and not signed by the candidate.
The Candidates Voter ID number and Polling station were details not provided
The Voter ID details and polling station for vice presidential candidate were not provided. Therefore the Commission was unable to confirm the eligibility of the nominee vice president for the office.
The Consent to nomination was not signed by both Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates.
The Vice presidential candidate did not sign his personal record form.
12 Akua Donkor Ghana Freedom Party
The Commission is unable to accept Madam Donkors nomination for the following reasons:
Her form was improperly filled.
The Consent to candidacy by the candidate and Vice president nominee were not signed.
Residential addresses and polling station details of several subscribers were not provided (pages 68, 79, 80, 81,82, 83, 84)
Same signatures with different names (Pages 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54,55, 56, 57, 58 & 59)
Three different signatures provided on the forms for the Presidential candidate
Vice Presidential candidate not qualified on basis of provided date of birth of October 15, 1998. The details of the vice presidential candidate were also omitted on the personal record form
The candidates Statutory Declaration was incomplete
13 Akwasi Addai Odike United Progressive Party
The Commission has been served with court processes challenging the membership and candidacy of Mr. Akwasi Addai Odike by some members of the United Progressive Party. The processes seek to restrain the Electoral Commission from issuing, accepting and registering Mr. Odike to contest the 2016 presidential election as the flag bearer of the UFP.
The Commission is therefore unable to accept Mr. Odikes nomination forms until the matter in court has been concluded. We hope that Mr. Odike and the UPP would resolve the matter by October 14, 2016; after which date the Commission would be unable to process the nomination.
Accepted Nominations
The following nominations have been accepted by the Electoral Commission (in order of submission):
Nana AddoDankwa Akufo-Addo New Patriotic Party
John Dramani Mahama National Democratic Congress
Ivor Kobina Greenstreet Convention Peoples Party
Jacob Osei Yeboah Independent Candidate
Video below:-
Source: Peacefmonline/Youtube
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Some few months ago, the ruling government was accused of struggling to locate the 123 community day Senior High Schools they claim to have built.
Subsequently, Eric Ametor Quarmyne, one of NDCs leading communicators submitted the list of the 123 completed schools.
On Monday, peacefmonline.com gave you an update from the Volta Region. Today, our reporters went to the Ashanti region.
Isaac Owusu, peacefm correspondent in the Ashanti Region visited the Community Day School located at Oyoko in the Bosomtwe district of the Ashanti region.
According to him, even though the project was to be commissioned last month, the building is nowhere near completion.
The building is 50% completed and work is at a slow pace due to the bad nature of the road as well as non-availability of materials.
Even if the school is completed, it will be difficult for students to go to school because of the bad road, according to this reporter.
Below are some pictures from the site
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
Situational Report In Ashanti Region (Oyoko)
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Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Winneba Masquerade Federation has appointed NYCE MEDIA as the publicity and marketing agency for the Winneba Masquerading Festival.
By this NYCE MEDIAwill lead a marketing campaign to elevate the Festival and project the Federation to its key stakeholders through an integrated marketing communications strategy while driving the reputationof the festival to make it more attractive to sponsors and investors.
NYCE MEDIA brings a deep understanding of the people of Winneba as well as the story, passion and vision of the Fancy Dress Festival. We look forward to presenting the tradition in a more appealing and the most exciting way.
Winneba Masquerade festival is a competition between four masquerading groups, numbers one, two, three and four, who are also known as Nobles, Tumus, Egyaa, and Red Cross, and this festival has been held for over 50 years. It is part of the culture and passion of the people of Winneba, and NYCE MEDIA hopes to take it to another level, with publicity and marketing.
Given our integrated approach and track record of creative and impact ideas in the publicity and marketing of similar events like the R.C. Ekem Cup, Aboakyer Cup, Aboakyer Festival 2016, we are confident that we will be able toenhance aesthetic nature of the festival.
As a culturally sensitive Ghanaian owned organization, we are convinced that appropriate sustainable tourism is the key to unlocking the wealth of Ghana. Our commitment to support and venture into Festivals is deeply rooted in this premise.
Nyce Media believes that Ghana has a competitive advantage in tourism over the other sectors. One of the best ways to develop our economy is to invest in tourism. That is why we introduced the Festival Diary, to put together an effective, research grounded, marketing communication strategy to publicise festivals in Ghana, and our involvement in the Winneba Fancy Dress Festival is in line with this program.
We are by this medium inviting corporate organizations, media houses, cultural institutions and individual to be part of 2017 Fancy Dress Festival. Together we will make the Fancy Dress Festival a great cultural export.
Source: Bismark Odum Sackey/NYCE MEDIA
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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A Sydney model who picked up a Golden Staph infection from dirty makeup brushes is speaking out to raise awareness of hygiene practises in the makeup artistry industry.
Anthea Page, who has covered magazines from Harpers Bazaar to Cosmopolitan Bride, contracted the highly contagious and potentially deadly infection after doing a show for Fashion Weekend at Sydneys Moore Park last weekend.
She was put on strong antibiotics, narrowly avoided a trip to the hospital, and was forced to cancel or reschedule her bookings for the next month.
Now shes speaking up about unhygienic practises in the industry, which she says are rife but almost never talked about.
I believe in authenticity and although I was ashamed to share this with the world I felt the issue was so widespread that I had to at least say something, she told PEDESTRIAN.TV. Every model has a story about pink eye, staph, school sores, etc, but if your face was your job would you want to publicise your issues and draw attention to the parts of you that are fucked? This happens ALL the time but the only other girl Ive ever seen say anything about it is [Hungarian model and actress] Barbara Palvin.
Anthea posted a photo of her infected eye to Instagram and Facebook, asking everyone whether or not theyre in the industry to look out for their own safety and demand more hygienic practises.
If you are getting your makeup done or using any testers, check everything has been cleaned to your standard even if someone scoffs at your concerns, she told her 87k followers. This is not my first time receiving an ailment from a dirty makeup brush and unfortunately in my line of work I doubt it will be the last but please be aware of this if you ever come close to a makeup kit so you can keep yourself safe and healthy.
Golden Staph is a particularly nasty and fucked infection that occurs when the the Staphyloccus bacteria gets inside the body.
It can lead to anything from boils to blood poisoning, and in Antheas case, posed a very real threat of blindness (thankfully the danger has now passed).
After Anthea shared her post, dozens of people came forward both publicly and privately with their own horror stories.
The most shocking to me was the young girl who had her makeup done for her 21st birthday party, Anthea told P.TV. She contracted a recurring staph infection that has changed the last 9 years for her (it appears all over her body). The emotional / physical damage has had such a profound impact on her that she has never had a partner since or told anyone about it until my post.
Sandra Campitelli, CEO of the Hair & Beauty Industry Association (HBIA), told P.TV that while they recommend makeup artists follow their states health regulations, the industry cant mandate it as such.
Obviously the industry strongly recommends that artists follow the health regulations pertaining to their industry, she said, but explained that artists can run into difficulties when working with multiple models. Theyll be doing one after the other, and so they may not necessarily be able to [clean rigorously between each one].
Campitelli recommends artists use plenty of different brushes, but added that it was likely many dont due to the cost.
She echoed Antheas suggestion in that people be prepared to ask artists how clean there equipment is, and not be afraid to do so.
She also warned that other models might have picked up the same infection as Anthea.
You would think that if Anthea got a staph infection, that thered be a number of other girls that also got a staph infection, because that is highly contagious, she said. Highly, highly, highly contagious. And if that was the case, it should be investigated.
You can read Antheas Instagram post in full below.
Photo: Instagram / Anthea Page.
Word is emerging this afternoon that as many as 18 people have been injured in a ferry crash at Sydneys Circular Quay.
That number of injured people is, at this stage, unconfirmed as authorities assess the scene. Media crews racing to the scene are reporting that the incident occurred on Wharf 4 of the Quay.
UPDATE: Reports of up to 18 people have been injured in a ferry crash at Wharf 4, Circular Quay. #9News https://t.co/SzESmIBGnY Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) October 11, 2016
Its not known at this stage what boat was involved in the crash, nor what caused the incident. Channel 9 is reporting that the injuries suffered are minor, and at least some people are thought to have fallen from the ferry.
At this time of day, Wharf 4 services the F4 Darling Harbour loop, the F5 Neutral Bay loop, and the F7 Eastern Suburbs ferry route.
More to come as this story develops.
CONTENT WARNING: Please be aware this story contains graphic descriptions and audio of a womans death. It may be distressing for some readers.
Yesterday marked the second day of court for the high-profile Tinder balcony fatality in Queensland, which accuses Gable Tostee of murdering 26-year-old New Zealand woman Warriena Wright, who he met via dating app Tinder in August 2014.
Warriena Wright fell from the balcony of Tostees 14th story Gold Coast apartment, after allegedly being locked out there and attempting to climb to another balcony to escape him. The 30-year-old carpet layer has pleaded not guilty to the murder.
Audio recorded on Tostees phone, as well as six selfies of the two have been tendered to the Brisbane Supreme Court.
In most of the selfies, Wright is smiling and happy, but she looks scared and/or upset in one (last pictured). Authorities say they were taken a very, very short time before her death.
Witnesses have also given their accounts; resident of the Gold Coast building Nick Casey (who lives on the 12th floor) says he saw Wright dangling from Tostees balcony, sand says he tried to yell at her to climb back over.
I heard her say, I want to go home, I heard her say, help and at that point I said to her, go back inside and it wasnt long after that she fell. She fell straight past where I was standing on the balcony and ricocheted off a few balconies below us and kept going to the ground.
The harrowing audio from Tostees phone has been played over two days of the case being in court. Prosecutors say it is key evidence in the case against him, and defence say it shows his actions were in self-defence.
The audio shows Wright was drunk and slurring her words, and became violent towards Tostee. It shows him becoming increasingly aggressive towards her as she pleads to go home:
Wright can be heard emitting chilling screams, yelling no, no, no before being forced out onto the balcony, and you hear a door closing. Seconds later, there is silence from Wright, with only the sound of Tostee breathing.
From the ABC, here is a transcript of quotes from the audio:
1:06am Ms Wright: I know you want to kill me because you told me so. 1:08am Tostee says he does not think there is anything after death. Tostee: Throw me off the balcony and that is it. This is it, boom. 1:19am Music still playing in the background and soft sounds of groaning in background. 1:21am Ms Wright: You do have to do shit to me. 1:23am Tostee: Ow. 1:29am Tostee: I dont like getting beaten up. 1:36am Tostee: There is a tonne of your stuff here. Hey I didnt say you have to leave, I said that you have to stop beating me up. Heated conversation. 1:36am Ms Wright: I will fucking destroy your jaw. It is not f***ing funny. 1:38am Tostee: I should have never given you so much to drink. I thought that we were going to have fun? 1:39am Tostee: I dont deserve this shit, OK. I am a nice fucking guy. 1:39am Tostee: Do you even remember what you were doing to me half an hour ago? You were beating me up for no reason. Ms Wright: Exactly. Tostee: You thought it was funny or something. Why were you beating me up? Ms Wright: I am gone, I will be out of your hair see you later. I am going. Ms Wright produces a phone, stating: See you later. Tostee: You are such a drama queen. 1:41am Tostee asks if they can sit down and discuss this. Ms Wright says she is a freak. Tostee says he is going to have bruises, asks Ms Wright to stay the night. Tostee says he is the most tolerant person she would meet, but you are just a bit violent. Tostee offers to cook something, asking Ms Wright if she wants something to eat. 1:48am Ms Wright: Dont be a dick, dont be a dick. Tostee: Im not being a dick. Ms Wright asks if she can go over to the window and have a look. Tostee: Dont jump off or anything. Ms Wright: No. 2:10am Sounds of a struggle and ruffling sound of recording device. Ms Wright: That really hurt my vagina. More struggling and male laughter. Ms Wright: You sound like a faggot. 2:12am Tostee: All right I give up, what do you want? Loud bang. Tostee: Ow. 2:14am Tostee: You are not my kind of girl. That is enough. You have worn out your welcome. You have to leave. Ms Wright: OK, its all good. Tostee: You have to leave. 2:15am Tostee: I thought you were kidding and I have taken enough. This is fucking bullshit. You are lucky I havent chucked you off my balcony you goddamn psycho little bitch. 2:17am Tostee: Youre a goddamn psycho. I am going to let you go. I am going to walk you out of this apartment just the way you are. You are not going to collect any of your belongings you are just going to walk out and I am going to slam the door on you do you understand. If you try and pull anything. Ill knock you out. Ill knock you the fuck out. Do you understand? Do you understand? Do you understand? Tostee: Come on Get up. Get up. Ms Wright: I am so sorry. Tostee: I dont care you dont understand do you? You dont understand anything at all, do you? You dont understand, do you? Sounds of a struggle. Tostee: Let go. You think that you hit me and I was going to fall down like in the movies. Let go of it. Let go. Let Go. Let go. 2:19am Sounds consistent with door unlocking and then female states No. Possible sound of glass door being hit. 2:20am Tostee: Who the fuck do you think you are? Hey? Ms Wright: No, no, no No! No, no. No. Tostee: You tried to kill me huh? Well why did you try and hit me with that. Huh? Shut your filthy mouth. Ms Wright: No. No. No No. No (screaming). Tostee: It is all on recording you know. It is all being recorded. Ms Wright: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just let me go home. Tostee: I would but you have been a bad girl. Ms Wright: Just let me go home. Just let me go home. Just let me go home. Just let me go home. 2:21am Faint screaming detected. Tostee heard breathing very heavily. He makes a call on his mobile phone. Tostee: Shit. 2:22am Tostee: Where the fuck are my keys?
Shortly after, there is audio of Tostee calling his father and asking for help:
Hello dad, I might have a bit of a situation. I met up with a girl for a date she started getting really aggressive. We had sex in bed and then after that she kept drinking.
He goes on to explain that he and Wright had both been drunk, that she kept beating him up and that he forced her onto the balcony.
I think she mightve jumped off theres like a million cops. Im fucked, I dont know what to do. I didnt cause this, I didnt push her or anything.
WATCH:
The case is ongoing, and will resume today in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
Source: ABC / News Corp.
Photo: Supplied.
IMF Warns China to Keep Away from Debts to Avoid Financial Crisis
Lou Jiwei, China's finance minister, speaks to G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors during a news conference at the IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings on Oct. 7. (Photo : Getty Images)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cautioned China that it is moving towards "financial calamity" and must keep away from debt to avoid a crisis, according to a report by the Telegraph.
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The country is moving closer to a tipping point in which the shadow credit surge from the growing financial sector could affect the country's ability to manage the outcome when finances crash, Markus Rodlauer, deputy director of the IMF's Asia-Pacific department, said.
"The level of financial and corporate debt and the complexity of the financial system and rapid growth in shadow banking is on an unsustainable path," Rodlauer said.
"While still manageable in its size given the size of the public assets under public control, the trend is dangerous and if it's not corrected it will lead to a correction, "the official explained. "The longer it lasts ... the more serious the disturbance and the disruption might be. The reaction could range from a mild growth slowdown, to a sharp slowdown in growth to potentially a financial crisis."
According to recent data, the country's credit and the financial sector leverage is rising faster than economic growth at a "dangerous pace," the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook said while its Financial Stability Report showed small banks in the country were exposed to shadow credit as part of capital buffers, which, in some banks, reach nearly 600 percent.
Rodlauer, who worked as IMF's China's mission chief for five years, added that China will have a huge impact on global economy, as well as with countries where it has trade and financial ties.
According to IMF analysis, a 1 percent decline in Chinese growth resulted in a 0.2 percent decline in global output.
"All eyes are on China because of [the stock market turbulence last August]. Over the past year, we've seen shocks to the stock market being correlated quite quickly with global financial markets. So there is no doubt that a calamity or a problem in China would have very serious repercussions for the global economy, both real and financial," Rodlauer said.
Last month, the Bank for International Settlements expressed concern over China's "credit to GDP gap". Currently, the banking risk gauge is at a record high of above 30, higher than levels seen prior to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Rodlauer said that although it was not immediately alarming, it could become a problem in the future. "China's sovereign balance sheet is very strong, and so is the capacity for the government to move around resources and to address issues," Rodlauer said.
The IMF official, however, said that the "sudden stop" in capital flows will not happen since foreign funding in China is limited.
"These are elements of strength that lead us to believe that even though these measures clearly indicate a warning, they are not signaling an imminent crisis as they might on the eve of Thailand before the Asia financial crisis," Rodlauer said.
Rodlauer, however, remained optimistic that the government would be able to lead the country away from investment -led growth towards consumption. He added that market reforms and the services sector could help maintain the country's growth rate of between 6 percent and 7 percent in the longer term.
He said that empowering the private sector would help generate productivity and raise the living standards of people.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has partnered with Nandos to art up yo life. How? Well, theyre giving yall the chance to win a bespoke painting by street artist / Yeezy depicter, Scott Marsh. Keep reading to find out how you can enter / win or head HERE to learn more.
Yes, its high time we said sayonara to the dated stereotype of the starving artist and instead give a warm ello to its modern-day replacement.
We asked Chris Loutfy, Gallery Curator at Goodspace and Artist Agent at Ha-ven, for some tips on how you can turn your artistic endeavours into something thatll put food on the table.
Go get em, fam.
HAVE YO OWN STYLE
Ha-ven reps emerging and established artists like Adriana Picker, Chris Yee, Georgia Hill, Jess Cochrane, Shaan DAnthes (Furry Little Peach), Stellar Leuna and Thomas Jackson. Weirdly enough, what separates them as artists just so happens to also be their commonality: they all have hugely individual styles.
Keep working on work that is entirely your own, and try not to let the work of those you admire slip into your practice, says Loufty. I think the artists who stand apart are those who have a distinct and unique style of working.
A photo posted by HA-VEN (@haven_agency) on Jul 31, 2016 at 7:57pm PDT
Its basic economics when you break it down. If you can create summin thats unique, people only have one choice theyre going to have to pay your hard-working ass for it.
GIRD YER LOINS
Sure, its 110% feasible to make money off whatever artistic project youre offering, but it aint going to happen over night. Dont go flipping your boss the bird too quickly because, Loufty sensibly reckons that, As an early career artist, you may have to work another job.
Additionally, some of you might get well-paying gigs that utilise your go-to medium, but arent exactly what you were hoping to be doing.
Theres opportunities to work within your lane but on commercial projects that arent entirely your work, or work that you wont put your name to, but is still art based.
A photo posted by Scott Marsh (@scottie.marsh) on Mar 18, 2016 at 9:19pm PDT
So, yeah, the subject matter can often be less sexy than what you were chasing, but at least youre using your skill set + polishing your craft. Oh, and the moneys usually better on the dark (commercial) side.
A lot of artists who do really well money-wise have a good commercial side to their work that people might not be aware of.
To enter, pop in to a Nandos restaurant, upload a pic to Instagram (+ make sure your Gram is on public) of your favourite piece of Nandos art and tell us in 25 words or less why you vibe it with the hashtag #periperks. Only members can win, so if youre not already a member youll need to join PERi-Perks too.
BEST OF LUCK, FAM.
GET ON THE INTERWEBS
I think having a website and being present on at least a couple of the main social media platforms is super important, says Loufty. Instagram is an obvious one and Facebook has been good to artists I work with.
A photo posted by HA-VEN (@haven_agency) on Jul 16, 2016 at 12:31am PDT
Hello, person of the internet. Welcome to 2016. If you dont want to be living off Mi Goreng for the foreseeable future, do yourself a solid and have:
A holy balls thats beautiful website with e-commerce functionality.
A Facebook page thats constantly sharing hot content (yours or otherwise).
An Instagram account with its own style that compliments your work.
An Etsy (+ its bedfellows) account to create even more leads for sales.
Loufty believes, however, that a website is THE most important thing to have (in terms of online interaction) as a budding artist.
You definitely have to build your own platform on your website, create a mailing list and build an online store As weve seen in the past, social media platforms come and go, so to save losing touch with your fan-base its good to have them engage directly with you through your own website.
Also, theres aesthetic limitations on having your operation run solely through social channels. Like, whats better for your brand: a jaw-dropping site, or an FB page that kinda / sorta / definitely looks like everyone elses, but with your work? (The answer is website, FYI).
LIVE YOUR MOST SCHOLARLY LIFE
Look, as an artist, youve gotta hunt high and low for funding. Your talent bloody well deserves to be supported.
Scholarships are one of the main, go-to sources of cash establish artists use to monetise their craft and because the globes full of fantastic folk who recognise the value of art, theres a truck-load of them available world-wide.
Some come from typical, exclusively art supporting institutions, and others from places you wouldnt typically imagine.
A video posted by HA-VEN (@haven_agency) on Sep 1, 2016 at 6:14pm PDT
The Nandos African Art Initiative, for instance, supports undiscovered, emerging and established African artists in a pretty massive way. The program locates raw talent and purchases work off them to be displayed in their restaurants, as well as using pieces to spice up things like their menus. The program isnt a hand-out, its a hand-up, and has led to over 15,400 pieces of art being displayed across 24 countries.
As the Nandos African Art Initiative proves, its defs worth hunting around for scholarship-esque programs to support yourself with.
A good place to start looking in Australia, suggests Loufty, is the National Association For The Visual Arts (NAVA).
(NET)WERK IT
Sure, networking might seem like a bit of a no-brainer, but its importance (especially in terms of making coin for artists) is worth stressin. Get yo damn-fine ass down to as many gallery openings, exhibitions and meet-ups as humanly possible. Itll pay off big time.
Going to your peers art shows and galleries is a good way to meet people in this world, says Loufty.
A photo posted by HA-VEN (@haven_agency) on Jul 19, 2016 at 7:18pm PDT
That being said, if youre works good enough, he reckons youll probably be right as rain if you cant make every networking opp going down.
I honestly think that if your work is strong enough, and authentic enough, you will grow opportunities from that.
A-bloody-men.
Best of luck chasing those phat stacks, you talented humans. Your hustle will be harder than most, but it sure aint impossible to get your Warhol on and live quite a cushy existence.
While were having a yarn about art n whatnot, we thought wed let yall know about an ace comp our mates at Nandos have going on atm. Seeing as theyre yugeeee supporters of art, theyre giving PERi-Perks members the chance to win their very own painting by the aforementioned street artist responsible for the iconic Kissing-Kanye mural, Scott Marsh. If youre keen on having one of his pieces hang in yo crib, then pop in to a Nandos restaurant, upload a pic to Instagram (+ make sure your Gram is on public) of your favourite piece of Nandos art and tell them in 25 words or less why you vibe it with the hashtag #periperks. You gotta be a PERi-Perks member to win, so sign up HERE if you aint already.
You can check out Ha-vens website HERE and / or treat yoself to some constant eye-candy via their Gram @haven_agency.
Photo: Edvard Munch / The Munch Museum, Oslo.
Hooooo boy.
The world still appears to be disintegrating beneath the full weight of a scourge of global clown attacks AKA total dickheads claiming assault, stalking and intimidation are pranks just because theyre in a costume.
While all this seems to be incredibly fun and definitely not at all ridiculous or fucked, its also seemingly having a bit of a negative roll-on effect towards the global clown community.
Just yesterday, a professional clown community in Queensland spoke to the ABC about the silly craze, saying its been a huge detriment to their livelihoods.
And now, the reigning King of the clowns (we assume) has been temporarily stepped down from his post: Ronald McDonald.
McDonalds Corp. has made a statement saying they are being thoughtful thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonalds participation in community events as a result of the current climate around clown sightings in communities.
McDonalds says due to issues with clown hoaxes, franchises are being thoughtful with Ronald McDonald appearances for the time being. NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) October 11, 2016
Reports say that the reason behind this may be the video that emerged in the UK recently, of a man dressed up as a terrifying version of the fast food clown and creepily staring into the window of a Maccas restaurant in Ewood, Blackburn.
Many believe the current clown craze started out as a marketing stunt for the rebooted movie of Stephen Kings iconic novel IT. And look, if that is the case, then some marketing agency lost control of their campaign a looooooooooooong time ago.
King himself tweeted about the furore, telling those involved to chill:
Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteriamost of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh. Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 3, 2016
So yeah chill. Otherwise Ronald, the most well-known clown of all, will be out of a job.
Source: NBC Nightly News.
Photo: Ronald, The Guardian.
In all likelihood, this is probably going to be one of the worst weeks of Mike Bairds life, and, frankly, its hard to be all that sympathetic.
While things like tax and immigration policy have somewhat subjective elements to them, mass graves of greyhounds tend to provoke a pretty universal response in people, namely that we need to punish the sick fucks that are doing this.
You dont need anyone to tell you how fucked it is for people to abuse and kill greyhounds. Even thinking about someone hurting a dog evokes a visceral reaction in my guts. Greyhounds are the gentlest, sweetest dogs and they dont deserve to be cruelly mistreated so that blokes at the pub can have a cheeky flutter to fill in the time.
While Mike has been copping no end of shit for the wildly unpopular lockout laws, he was praised for having the guts to make NSW the first state to put a ban on greyhound racing. He justified his decision by citing horrible excerpts from an inquiry into the industry by Queens Counsel Michael McHugh:
The industry has implicitly condoned as well as caused, the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of healthy greyhounds. (1.113) Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) July 14, 2016
It is not uncommon for unwanted greyhounds to be drained of their blood under anaesthetic before being euthanased. (21.5) Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) July 14, 2016
One trainer said after using a live rabbit as a lure hed unclip the rabbit, break its neck, gut it and then throw it to the pups. (3.200) Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) July 14, 2016
He also tweeted about how the report found that attempted crackdowns would be likely fruitless, that the industry had been lying to protect itself, and that numbers were already down at tracks:
Giving the industry further time to address overbreeding and wastage appears likely to be fruitless. (1.135) Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) July 14, 2016
The Commission finds that GRNSWs policy of misreporting of injuries, was calculated, and intended, to mislead the general public. (4.115) Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) July 14, 2016
Dwindling Crowds: In 2015, an ave 352 persons attended race meetings at metro tracks and just 78 people attended at non-TAB tracks. (28.106) Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) July 14, 2016
That seems like a pretty convincing argument to me except, of course, he decided to backflip on it. The man had a brief moment in the sun where he wasnt universally hated by everyone in Sydney under the age of 30, but then went and shat on his own parade by bowing to pressure from both the Nationals and the racing industry.
In summary: hes a cowardly dipshit who had a chance to really do some good and instead chased votes against his own conscience.
Watch NSW Premier @mikebairdMP explain why he thinks the decision to ban the #greyhound industry was wrong #nswpol https://t.co/zaJnUfsodf ABC News 24 (@ABCNews24) October 11, 2016
So what does this mean in terms of the lockout laws? Well, it doesnt bode well. At this stage it would be more or less career suicide for Baird to be seen to backflip on two issues.
If theres one things conservatives love, its refusing to budge on issues regardless of what new evidence or change in attitudes occurs, and while they might have been behind this particular backflip because it was seen as an attack on the humble dog-abusing battler, failing to deliver on two major promises would pretty much undo him as politician.
It also shows that he doesnt really give a fuck what popular opinion is. Regardless of the incredible movement thats risen up around Keep Sydney Open, if hes willing to cop the backlash from essentially re-enabling the indiscriminate slaughter of dogs, its hard to imagine hed be too riled up by people that dont want their nights out on the piss ruined.
But who knows, maybe if his own party remembers their whole thing is personal responsibility and minimal government intervention, they might put the pressure on him to give Sydneys nightlife a second chance as well, and stop just funnelling people into bloody casinos.
Photo: Getty Images / Matt King.
Now that the Labor Party has moved to block the same-sex marriage plebiscite, were left wondering: whats next in the good fight?
The death of the public vote (RIP in peace) is just the first step in getting legit marriage equality, so where to from here?
The issue of the plebiscite will still face a vote in parliament, but with the Labor Party, Greens, Derryn Hinch, and the Nick Xenophon Team opposing the public vote, it wont pass through the Senate.
Even though this means the issue is pretty much put to bed for the rest of the government term (that is, until 2020), it gives Bill Shorten some spicy ammunition to nab Malcolm Turnbull for rolling over for the far-right conservative jerks in the Liberal Party.
Between this and the backflip on the greyhound racing ban, its really just not a good day to be in the Liberal Party, is it.
Its clear that the now-scrapped plebiscite would have been incredibly damaging to the entire LGBTQIA community in Australia, with most of the community declaring that theyd rather wait for a change in leadership than put their human rights to the public.
The NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (NSW GLRL) have celebrated this small victory in the larger war for equality by calling Labors move a win for common sense and community welfare.
Ah yes, common sense that little thing that seems to have been lacking in this whole plebiscite nonsense.
Hooray for common sense!
NSW GLRL are determined to continue fighting the good fight, with attention now being switched to having meaningful conversations with MPs from all parties in order to achieve marriage equality as soon as possible. Too bloody right.
Working their arses off for equal rights are the champs over at GetUp. After the announcement of the plebiscite block, Marriage Equality Director, Sally Rugg, called upon the legions of GetUp members to start hounding Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull for a free vote to be chalked up ASAP.
A free vote on marriage equality is possible, but only if every person in favour of marriage equality keeps pushing for it. Now that the plebiscite is dead, its crucial we keep up the momentum for reform.
Australian Marriage Equality and Equality 4 All have taken the opportunity to remind us that the draft amendments to the Marriage Act that George Brandis presented in the god damn dead of night las night are not to be taken lightly.
The advocacy team assure that even though the proposed legislation to amend the act definitely doesnt put LGBTQIA people in the best position, its the first time an Aussie government has even tried to change it with legislation.
We will continue to advocate that any proposed legislation designed to achieving marriage equality are in the best interest of the LGBTI community,
Even though its unlikely the government will do literally anything about creating a free vote in parliament, its good to see were on the right track.
Bring on the free vote.
Source: ABC.
Image: AFP.
Boy oh boy, the big players in the smartphone arena certainly arent having much luck lately.
If the Samsung Note7s perpetual exploding wasnt bad enough, it looks like Apple are keen to join the device drama, with reports of of rampant touch disease occurring in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, or as weve affectionally dubbed it, Phone Cooties.
Touch disease refers to the screen of the device becoming increasingly unresponsive to touch input as it ages, rendering the phone completely fucking useless. According to online blog, ifixit.org, repairers are seeing a growing volume of these issues coming through their doors, particularly in the extra-cooked 6 Plus.
This problem now accounts for 11 percent of all Apple Store repairs, more than any other issue. Some Australian users have been lucky enough to score a replacement unit, other have not. Pray for iPhone 6 users.
How do you know if youre affected by this particular flavour of smartphone plague? Well for starters, your screen will appear to freeze or become patchy in response to touch or swipe commands which is a fkn disaster thanks to the iOS10 update. You might also notice a flickering grey bar at the top of the screen like the image below.
In Canada, two lawsuits have already been filed over the issue, as well as a nationwide class action lawsuit in the US, which even accuses Apple of covering up the problem. Naughty Apple.
The company are yet to publicly acknowledge the problem, but there is certainly a growing number of pissed off users applying much pressure, including even more lawsuits, AKA, Americas specialty.
Source: AppleInsider.
Photo: Getty.
Look, straight up, I have no dog in this fight: I have had both Samsung and Apple phones. Ive loved that iPhones always just seem to work and work nicely, and Ive loved that Samsung phones treat you like an adult and let you download and access the files that are on the phone.
Im just trying to let you know Im being objective when I say: having phones that explode is a very bad idea. People want all sorts of things from their phones these days, but they really dont want something that will just up and light on fire for no reason. Dell discovered this with their laptops a few years ago.
Like most people (please dont correct me if this is wrong), Ive acquired most of my phones from friends taking pity on me and parting with their shitty outdated ones, so Ive never been super picky about what features the phone has, but there is one thing I refuse to compromise on: how much the phone explodes (none, it should explode none times).
Samsung announced yesterday that they were suspending production of the phablet, but today released a further statement that it was done for good:
We recently readjusted the production volume for thorough investigation and quality control, but putting consumer safety as top priority, we have reached a final decision to halt production of Galaxy Note 7s. Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device.
Probably a bit of a sign that their might be some flaw in your design if the replacements youve issued for exploding batteries are also exploding.
The phone had a very short shelf life, having been for sale in Australia for only about 2 months, will be dearly missed by huge nerds and people that were really hoping to burn their house down and claim it on insurance.
If youre currently reading this on one, probably turn it off, hey.
Source: Gizmodo.
Everyone knows startups are a tough slog. You work long hours for little return and if you do it well enough, you might just come out on the other end with a successful company and a swimming pool full of cash.
Thats the dream, but its certainly not a reality for most. So what does it take to turn your startup into a licence to print money? For Gold Coast tech startup HiSmile, its been clever marketing strategies that got them well ahead, particularly their recent Instagram endorsement by Kylie Jenner.
Social media has allowed us to push a lot of content for a low cost of entry, they told Pedestrian.tv.
Through social media channels we also have the ability to utilise influencer/celebrity endorsements, allowing us to communicate to a whole new like-minded audience.
Jenners post went out to her 76 million followers and attracted 1.6 million likes and more than a quarter of a million comments.
The teeth whitening company was founded by entrepreneurs Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic a little under 2 years ago and has since achieved ridiculous results via this approach. The duos strategy, they say, has always been to build a targeted social following, rather than the old shotgun advertising approach.
We chose to focus heavily on social media as we discovered this is where the attention of our target market is, they said.
Jenner and other celebrity endorsements from the likes of Australias Next Top Model star, Brooke Hogan, and Big Brother contestant, Aisha Jade, have helped to push the company into an absolute shit-tonne of money.
It is definitely the driving force in our success in such a short amount of time, they said.
Having started the company with only $20,000, they recently celebrated the staggering milestone of turning over $10 million in only 18 months. While theyre not willing to disclose the amount they paid Jenner for the post, its clearly been worth the expense. Now if youll excuse us, were going to go cry into our empty wallets.
Source: HiSmile.
Photo: Instagram.
BMW i3 (Photo : Twitter)
Germany's upper house of parliament has passed a bill to ban gas and diesel engines by 2030. Members of Bundesrat passed the resolution to end internal combustion engines that will only allow carmakers to build zero-emission vehicles such as battery-electric cars and trucks. The Western Europe country hopes the European Union (EU) Commission will pass a similar resolution.
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Der Spiegel reported the gas and diesel ban. The German resolution has no legal power on the EU but it could encourage the EU Commission headquartered in Brussels to pass a formal decision that would be enforced in most European countries.
It would also be a big step in achieving the Paris Agreement cuts for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The United Nations announced on October 5, Wednesday that the climate deal will go live on November 4.
This Paris global warming agreement was passed after 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions approved it. That included the EU and 10 other nations.
Bundesrat's resolution also impels the industry's tax structure to be reviewed. Tax breaks for diesel keeps demand high even as carbon emissions and global warming become a big concern around the world, according to CNET. Increasing taxes on diesel could encourage the public to buy green cars.
Germany has promised to cut CO2 emissions by up to 95 percent by 2050. The German government has estimated it would take about two decades to get diesel and gas-powered cars off the road after the 2030 ban.
German automakers seem to be prepared for an EU-wide ban on gas and diesel engines. Mercedes has released its EQ sub-brand as it starts shifting to electric vehicles (EVs), and Volkswagen has promised to roll out two dozen e-cars during the next decade.
BMW is using a slower method. This year it is rolling out several plug-in hybrids including a 7 Series model.
Other countries are also trying to ban fossil fuel-powered engines. Earlier this year Norway proposed cutting the production of gas engines.
In related news, Fiat Chrysler's Maserati recently announced plans to launch its first all-electric car by 2020, according to Engadget. The company's chief engineer Roberto Fedeli shared that the EV would be more like its GranTurismo coupe than the Tesla S sedan.
One big challenge will be the heavy weight of today's lithium-ion batteries. The company hopes that by 2020 battery tech will catch up with the Italian automaker's vision for electric engines.
Here's the 2017 BMW i3:
Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom. (Photo : Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2016) has been awarded to Oliver Hart at Harvard University in Massachusetts and Bengt Holmstrom at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology "for their contributions to contract theory."
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the "new theoretical tools created by Hart and Holmstrom are valuable to the understanding of real-life contracts and institutions, as well as potential pitfalls in contract design."
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It said this year's laureates "have developed contract theory, a comprehensive framework for analyzing many diverse issues in contractual design, like performance-based pay for top executives, deductibles and co-pays in insurance, and the privatization of public-sector activities."
The academy also noted that through their initial contributions, "Hart and Holmstrom launched contract theory as a fertile field of basic research.
"Over the last few decades, they have also explored many of its applications. Their analysis of optimal contractual arrangements lays an intellectual foundation for designing policies and institutions in many areas, from bankruptcy legislation to political constitutions."
Hart, 68, is an expert on contract theory, theory of the firm, corporate finance and law and economics. His research centers on the roles that ownership structure and contractual arrangements play in the governance and boundaries of corporations.
He has used his theoretical work on firms in two legal cases as a government expert (Black and Decker v. U.S.A. and WFC Holdings Corp. (Wells Fargo) v. U.S.A.).
Holmstrom, 67, is well known for his work on principal-agent theory. More specifically, he has worked on the theory of contracting and incentives, especially as applied to the theory of the firm, to corporate governance and to liquidity problems in financial crises.
The academy explained that society's many contractual relationships typically entail conflicts of interest. Contracts, therefore, must be properly designed to ensure the parties take mutually beneficial decisions.
In the late 1970s, Holmstrom demonstrated how a principal (e.g., a company's shareholders) should design an optimal contract for an agent (the company's CEO), whose action is partly unobserved by the principal.
Holmstrom's "informativeness principle" stated precisely how this contract should link the agent's pay to performance-relevant information.
Using the basic principal-agent model, he showed how the optimal contract carefully weighs risks against incentives. In later work, Holmstrom generalized these results to more realistic settings, namely when employees are not only rewarded with pay, but also with potential promotion; when agents expend effort on many tasks, while principals observe only some dimensions of performance and when individual members of a team can free-ride on the efforts of others.
In the mid-1980s, Hart made fundamental contributions to a new branch of contract theory that deals with the important case of incomplete contracts.
Because it is impossible for a contract to specify every eventuality, this branch of the theory spells out optimal allocations of control rights: which party to the contract should be entitled to make decisions in which circumstances?
Hart's findings on incomplete contracts have shed new light on the ownership and control of businesses and have had a vast impact on several fields of economics, as well as political science and law.
His research provides us with new theoretical tools for studying questions such as which kinds of companies should merge, the proper mix of debt and equity financing, and when institutions such as schools or prisons ought to be privately or publicly owned.
Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos speaks to media following discussions about key housing priorities at the Hotel Grand Pacific in Victoria, B.C., Tuesday, June 28, 2016. The federal government is under quiet, but growing pressure to focus housing spending on the neediest, instead of forging ahead with a national plan aimed at the entire housing spectrum. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
PHOTOS: Downtown Petoskey Halloween 2022
Check out some photos from downtown Petoskey's Halloween celebrations on Saturday.
Iraqi, Iranian oil ministers will not attend Istanbul talks
ISTANBUL
Petroleumworld.com 10 10 2016
The oil ministers of Iran and Iraq will not attend informal talks between OPEC and non-OPEC producers in Turkey this week, sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
OPEC sources and the Russian energy minister had said on Thursday that ministers from the two countries would be among representatives of OPEC states at the meeting in Istanbul, which is hosting the World Energy Congress.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Sept. 28 a deal to limit crude production and is looking to secure the cooperation of non-OPEC members such as Russia to help support oil prices.
The meeting in Istanbul is expected to be more bilateral gatherings rather than one single meeting of both OPEC and non-OPEC states, one OPEC source said on Sunday, dismissing prospects of any decisions being taken in the Turkish city.
Energy ministers who will be present in Istanbul as it hosts the congress include those of the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Venezuela and Qatar, which holds the OPEC presidency.
The agreement reached in Algiers is expected to be implemented this year and OPEC ministers will next meet in Vienna on Nov. 30 to set the group's supply policy.
Black Lives Matter movement co-founder Alicia Garza speaks on stage at an event held on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at paramount Theater in Charlottesville. (Photo : Facebook/Roger L Voisinet)
A college professor was under fire when he likened the Black Lives Matter movement to the racism of Klu Klux Klan. Douglas Muir, an adjunct professor for the University of Virginia, took to social media and commented that BLM is the biggest racist movement since KKK.
Muir made the comment in response to a Facebook post by a local real estate agent who attended a BLM event in Charlottesville. The agent posted a still of the BLM movement co-founder Alicia Garza, who was the speaker at the event. The controversial comment has already been deleted.
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The University of Virginia officials later gave statements criticizing the comment and isolating themselves from Muir, who has since taken leave. Charlottesville vice mayor Wes Bellamy took to Instagram to condemn the professor for his comments and called on people to boycott Muir's restaurant business in the city.
Bellamy was categorical that the BLM movement is not a terrorist group, but rather an organization that aims to address systemic oppression and racism. Attempts to reach Muir for comment on the matter on Oct. 9, Sunday, were fruitless. A woman who answered the phone at the Bella's Restaurant in Charlottesville, owned by Muir, said that he was out of town.
Speaking at the event that was held on Oct. 4, Tuesday, at Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, Garza told the audience via the Richmond Times that BLM aims to end state-sanctioned violence. The movement is committed to fighting for the sanctity and dignity of everyone, not just for black people.
The executive vice president and provost of the University of Virginia, Tom Katsouleas, said in a statement on Oct. 7, Friday, via the university's official website that he is "disturbed and saddened" by Muir's comments. He added that the University of Virginia is committed to fight against racism and social injustice of any form, and therefore, comments such as Mr. Muir's do not promote intellectual exploration.
Katsouleas also said that the comments do not encourage the voices of others. Here is footage for details on Black Lives Matter:
Big oil on to Brazil's deep water reserves- Petrobras CEO
State producer seeking partners in asset sale drive, CEO says
RIO DE JANEIRO
Petroleumworld.com 10 10 2016
International oil companies are reaching out to Brazil after it opened its most promising offshore region to increased competition, a move welcomed by Petrobras Chief Executive Officer Pedro Parente as he seeks partners to spread investment costs.
Producers rushed to contact Houston-based Brazilian officials last week after Congress removed a requirement that Petrobras control operations at all new projects in an area known as the pre-salt, Parente said. It's the most investor-friendly change in regulation since the 1997 oil law that ended the company's monopoly in Brazil.
Our foreign ministry representation unit in Houston, in the very following day, received seven manifestations of interest of big companies," Parente said at Bloomberg's offices in New York City.
The policy shift comes as the state-controlled producer is selling assets to slash debt, which stood at $125 billion in the second quarter. The Rio de Janeiro-based producer has a group of more than 30 projects worth about $40 billion that it is marketing to potential buyers, Parente said.
Allowing others to control drilling and production in the potentially oil-rich pre-salt will provide a larger group of offshore operators for Petrobras to team up with at upcoming licensing rounds. Foreign oil companies haven't had a chance to bid for licenses to operate in the pre-salt since before anyone knew how vast the reserves were.
The nationalistic oil policies were put in place in 2010 when the government moved to put Petrobras in control of the biggest group of offshore discoveries this century. This limited access to bidding with Petrobras as a minority partner, or trying to buy into an existing license awarded under previous rules.
Pre-salt oil was formed when the South American and African continents began separating more the 100 million years ago. The repeated flooding and evaporation of salt water in what is now the South Atlantic created a layer of the mineral as thick as 2,000 meters that blankets the deposits. The biggest discovery in the area, Libra, holds an estimated 8 to 12 billion barrels of recoverable reserves.
Interest in the region is strong. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as it is formally known, recently sold its stake in a pre-salt concession to Statoil ASA for $2.5 billion. The government is planning to offer new pre-salt exploration acreage in 2017, and the new rules let Petrobras bid more selectively as it looks to contain capital expenditures. The company is likely to continue shedding staff in the next two years, said Parente.
Higher-than-expected output at the pre-salt has cut Petrobras's break-even cost to $40 a barrel, and the company can lower it further, said Parente. The company will continue efforts to reduce spending even if oil prices rebound, he said, adding that he sees oil at $50 to $55 a barrel next year.
Productivity of the pre-salt fields in Brazil is amazing, said Parente. Some wells produce 40,000, 50,000 barrels a day per well. So I think this is what is in the mind of these companies.
Petrobras is also looking to bring in partners for its refineries, which posted losses in four out of the past five years. The "ideal" partner would supply knowledge, not just money, according to Parente.
The influx of partners, asset sales and increased competition in offshore fields from foreign producers will force Petrobras to become more efficient, the company's top managers said.
Five to ten years from now the market landscape will be completely different, said Nelson Silva, Petrobras' head of strategy who was at the interview. It will put pressure in us to improve.
Flying Saucer is said to be lifting off a secret base in Washington. (Photo : Twitter/Scott C. Waring)
If rumors are to be believed, there is not only a secret base deep below Glacier Peak mountain in Washington, but also a flying saucer was seen lifting off from its underground base. This spot is rumored to be highly active for alien activity.
According to a Mutual UFO Network, an anonymous witness filed a new case log, Case 79601, that reported spotting a UFO on Sept. 9 at 3:30 p.m. in Washington's Glacier Peak. The reporter said that while the alien spaceship was not visible with naked eyes, his camera was able to capture its image.
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As per the witness, he was exploring the remote Glacier Peak with his uncle in Washington when his mobile phone camera caught a strange object that he noticed while reviewing the pictures. He added that the object looked eerily like a UFO craft and was presumably flying over Mount Baker or Glacier Peak.
Scott C. Waring, a noted UFO blogger, said that the appearance of a flying saucer in series of photos clicked rapidly may look like it appeared out of nowhere. However, the blogger explains that it only appeared in one photo and not others because it was moving too fast to show in other photos taken in the series.
In his blog, Waring noted that a UFO was spotted over Glacier Peak in Washington and looks like two separate sections when it was captured in a photo. However, it will likely integrate when the flying saucer starts moving.
Waring is a veteran alien hunter who later explained that there is a possibility of an underground base with a secret entrance from where the UFO may have emerged. He also added that the aliens chose this place for obvious reasons, that it is highly remote and cannot be accessed by humans that easily.
Glacier Peak and Mount Baker are volcanic mountains that have over 3,200 meters' elevation. This area is situated in the northwestern part of Washington which makes it an ideal place for aliens to establish extraterrestrial life due to remoteness and harsh terrain.
UFO enthusiasts agreed that this is yet another conclusive proof showing existence of UFOs and their close link with volcanic mountains. Check the following clip on UFO sightings:
Two of the smaller Korea Coast Guard patrol boats at anchor. (Photo : Korea Coast Guard)
South Korea warns China it will use deadly force against Chinese caught fishing illegally within its territorial waters after an incident Oct. 7 where a large Chinese fishing vessel rammed and sank a smaller Korean Coast Guard boat, nearly killing a Korean sailor.
The sinking occurred when Korea Coast Guard officers were trying to stop about 40 Chinese fishing boats from illegally fishing in the Yellow Sea off South Korea's west coast.
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One coast guard officer was on a small S Class offshore patrol boat weighing 4.5 metric tons when it was intentionally rammed by two Chinese boats. The officer jumped into the sea and was rescued by his colleagues. The Chinese boat that sank the coast guard boat, estimated to weigh 100 metric tons, later escaped back to China.
The Koreans fired warning shots into the Chinese fishing boats and into the air to scare away the onrushing boats but to no avail.
"So far we have been very cautious using such crew service weapons but now ... we will take a more aggressive stance in using them when our officers are in danger," said Lee Chun-jae, Vice Commissioner of the Korea Coast Guard.
Lee said the current rules on the use of firearms have "a very limited scope." He said the rules will be revised as soon as possible to allow officers more freedom.
"We plan to use any firearm, whether crew service weapon or individual weapon, to enforce our laws on those who violently protest."
Besides using firearms against the Chinese, the Koreans will also fire their crew served weapons that include heavy machine guns and light autocannons.
South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Oct. 11 summoned the Chinese ambassador to South Korea, Qiu Guohong, and complained about the sinking. The ministry summoned the Chinese consul general the day before.
Korean media said a deputy foreign minister told Qiu the incident was "a challenge to (Korea's) public power," said Cho June-hyuck, foreign ministry spokesman.
China said it was still verifying the situation and urged South Korea to remain calm. Ambassador Qiu did not comment on the incident.
The sinking occurred a few weeks after three Chinese fishermen caught illegally fishing were killed after South Korean coast guard officers boarded their boat. The three Chinese locked themselves in the wheelhouse.
The South Koreans exploded a stun grenade in the wheelhouse to drive out the Chinese. Instead, the grenade set fire to the wheelhouse causing the deaths of the three Chinese.
Singapore Army infantry in Australia. (Photo : Singapore Army )
Singapore this week will formalize an agreement with Australia where it will spend US$1.7 billion to expand its military training facilities Down Under.
The agreement to be signed during the visit to Australia of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Oct. 12 will allow Singapore to rotate 14,000 troops through Australia.
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Letting various divisions of the Singapore Army exercise together will let Singapore develop "one of the most well-trained and proficient militaries in the region, to keep Singapore and Singaporeans well protected," said Minister of Defense Ng Eng Hen.
Singapore's investment to expand military facilities in northeastern Australia will more than triple the training area its troops currently use. Singapore will build a new artillery range where its big guns, such as its self-propelled howitzers from Germany and Apache attack helicopters, can fire live rounds.
It's also planning to build a mock city with multi-storey buildings for soldiers to hone their urban warfare skills.
In total, the expansion of the training space in Queensland's Shoalwater Bay and Townsville will accommodate up to 14,000 Singaporean servicemen and their machines to train in an area 10 times the size of Singapore.
Based on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed in 2015, the new defense deal will allow Singaporean soldiers to train in Australia for 25 years.
Despite having a total land area of only 719 km and a population of only 5.6 million persons, Singapore has one of the most powerful and technologically advanced armed forces in Southeast Asia.
Its air force is the most powerful among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations while it spends more on defense than any Southeast Asian country.
The Singapore Army views technology as a force-multiplier and a means to sustain combat power given Singapore's population constraints. The Singapore Armed Forces emphasizes joint operations and network centric fighting.
Combat readiness is a linchpin of army policy. Military exercises up to divisional level are conducted many times yearly.
The exercises simulate full-spectrum operations, up to and including full-scale war. Divisional war games are combined arms, tri-service drills involving the Republic of Singapore Navy and Air Force. Because training space is limited in Singapore, some military exercises are conducted overseas, especially in Australia.
ROKS Sejong the Great (DDG-991) (Photo : ROKN)
The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) and the U.S. Navy on Monday began an unprecedented six-day naval exercise in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and in the Yellow Sea to the west and east of the Korean peninsula to warn North Korea against taking more provocations that might lead to war.
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The timing of the naval drill is significant. It was launched Oct. 10, which marks the 71st anniversary of the founding of the Central Organizing Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, formerly called the Communist Party of Korea.
The joint drill by the ROKN and the USN named "Invincible Spirit 2016" involves more than 50 warships, including the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), homeported to Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.
Korean media said the U.S.' plan is to "increase the level of military pressure on North Korea, by taking steps after the deployment of the USS Ronald Reagan to send other major strategic weapons." The exercise also demonstrates the alliance's resolve amid growing threats from a recalcitrant North Korea.
Leading ROKN warships at Invincible Spirit is ROKS Sejong the Great (DDG-991), one of three Sejong the Great-class guided missile destroyers.
The Sejong the Great-class is one of the most heavily armed warships in the world with more missile capacity than the U.S. Navy Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers and the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers. It features the Aegis Combat System (Baseline 7 Phase 1) combined with AN/SPY-1D multi-function radar antennae.
Invincible Spirit will see the participation of seven U.S. Navy warships and some 40 ROKN warships. Aircraft from both sides include Lockheed P-3 Orion maritime patrol planes; Boeing P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine and maritime patrol planes; Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet carrier based multi-role fighters and Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, among others.
The two navies will carry out a drill to enhance their precision strike capabilities against North Korea's command centers and key military facilities. There will be a "maritime counter special operations force" (MCSOF) exercise in the East and Yellow Seas against enemy infiltration.
An ROKN official said the exercise is also being held in the East Sea to show the two allies can counter North Korea from any spot. A carrier strike group will simultaneously conduct an exercise in southwestern waters of the Korean Peninsula.
The ROKN and the USN plan to boost interoperability and joint operation capabilities through war-simulation exercises such as antisubmarine, anti-aircraft and precision-guided strike operations.
The 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. (Photo : CCTV)
China is seeking to further ingratiate itself with the nine member states comprising the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Comunidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa or CPLP) with a $600 million preferential loan package over the next three years.
China and seven CPLP members are currently meeting in Macau at the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking countries that began Monday and will end Oct. 12.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced the allocation aid package for Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique in Africa and Timor-Leste in Asia at the opening ceremony of the conference.
Calling the Portuguese-speaking countries "reliable partners," Li said friendly cooperation is key to promote growth despite the sluggish recovery of the world economy. He said China's door is always open to world economies.
Li said China can establish a yuan clearing center for Portuguese-speaking countries in Macau, as well as the headquarters of a special fund aimed at fostering cooperation and development between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. He noted that China and these nations can complement one another in areas such as finance, technology and resources.
China and the Portuguese-speaking countries have 22 percent of the world's population and account for 17 percent of global economic output.
The Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries has been held since 2003 to promote cooperation between the participants. China is the fastest-growing export partner to Portuguese-speaking countries.
"Fruitful achievements have been made between us in many areas such as agriculture, environmental protection, transportation, telecommunications and finance," said Li during his keynote speech at the opening ceremony.
"China is willing to work with the Portuguese speaking countries to expand markets, to improve customs, inspection and quarantine, certification and accreditation cooperation, to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, and to create a good environment for trade and investment."
He also called for cooperation in production capacity; a strengthening of cultural exchanges and emphasized Macau's role as a linking bridge.
CPLP consists of Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Timor-Leste and Equatorial Guinea.
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Today Red Bull Media House releases Danny MacAskills Wee Day Out - the next fascinating and entertaining riding clip from Danny MacAskill. The latest blockbuster clip sees the world-renowned street trials rider take a rare day off and go for a spin on his mountain bike in the glorious Scottish countryside.Only two weeks after launching his first autobiography, Danny is already adding to his legacy with his next unreal two-wheeled expedition. Unique from anything hes released before, Danny jumps on his Santa Cruz 5010 this time and takes mountain biking to another level.This time the 30-year-old takes his viewers on a trip through Scotland, whilst being accompanied by the lively tune of National Express by The Divine Comedy, which will surely put a smile on every viewers face. Thereby he presents his home country as it most probably never has been presented before. Danny transforms natural features of rolling Scottish hills into the ultimate riders playground; combining the best of technical trail riding with Dannys impressive trials skills.With moments of incredible riding combined with a portion of tongue-in-cheek scenes, the fun-loving clip sees Danny pull off never-seen-before tricks; most of which would normally be assumed impossible on a mountain bike. Unique tricks include a scrub to barrel roll, a submerged water crossing and hay bale ride.Danny MacAskills Wee Day Out is the latest in an unrivalled portfolio of smash hit clips from MacAskill, such as Epecuen (11 million views), Cascadia (17 million views), Way Back Home (38 million views), The Ridge (44 million views) and Imaginate (58 million views).Of the new project Danny says, Although Im doing very abnormal riding, I set out to make a video that hopefully relates to the normal rider. Every rider has had to ride through a puddle when it's been a bit unknown how deep the centre of that puddle is, it just so happens that the puddle in my film is 6ft deep. I wanted to do a video on the mountain bike again and give myself creative freedom with this film. It's meant to be a fun day out on the bike, so I wanted it to be quite light hearted.Danny MacAskills "Wee Day Out" is a Red Bull Media House production produced by Cut MediaMore info on RedBull.com
It's a busy time for space exploration: in the span of six weeks, we've had a new planetary mission launch (OSIRIS-REx), a long-lived mission come to an end (Rosetta), and now, a mission arriving at its interplanetary destination. ESA's ExoMars will arrive at Mars on Wednesday, October 19. The landing will be happening during the joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, so I'll be with a lot of excited space scientists in Pasadena to watch the show. The landing happens at 07:48 PDT / 10:48 EDT / 14:48 UTC / 16:48 CEST and the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is expected to complete its 134-minute orbit insertion burn at about 08:23 PDT / 11:23 EDT / 15:23 UTC / 17:23 CEST. You can watch it all via livestream at http://esa.int.
ESA released a couple of cool videos today showing the geometry of the two spacecraft's arrival. The action will begin this Sunday, October 16, at 07:42 PDT / 10:42 EDT / 14:42 UTC / 16:43 CEST, when Schiaparelli will separate from the orbiter. They'll continue on nearly parallel tracks, with the orbiter making a slight diversion burn in order to target a spot just past Mars rather than onto Mars, like the lander. On orbit insertion day, here's how things will play out, with a third spacecraft, Mars Express, flying overhead to record Schiaparelli's transmissions for later playback.
John Felix is suspected of killing two Palm Springs (CA) PD officers. (Photo: Riverside County Sheriff's Office)
The suspect in the killing of two Palm Springs, CA, police officers and the wounding of another Saturday was wearing body armor and equipped with high capacity magazines when he was taken into custody, authorities said, reports the Los Angeles Times.
SWAT officers made several attempts over the course of a 12-hour standoff to make contact with suspect John Felix, 26, who was holed up in his family's residence, authorities said at a Sunday morning news conference. But there was no response.
Remote-controlled robots were used unsuccessfully to pinpoint the suspect's location in the house. Eventually, chemical agents were deployed into the residence, authorities said.
"Almost immediately ... the suspect emerged out the back door," said Riverside County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Ray Wood. "When he emerged, he was wearing soft body armor and he had a number of high-capacity magazines on his person."
Felix was arrested and is expected to be charged with two counts of first degree murder with the special circumstances of multiple murder and murder of a police officer in the line of duty, authorities said. Riverside County Dist. Atty. Michael Hestrin said his office would decide whether to pursue the death penalty against Felix.
"I consider the brutal murder of a police officer to be a very heinous crime, so I will leave it at that," he said.
The suspect has a history of violence, records show. Felix was previously sentenced to four years in prison in an attempted gangland assassination, reports the Desert Sun.
Neighbor Frances Serrano said the suspect's father was afraid and sought her help just before the shooting began. "He said, 'Help. I need help. My son is in the house, and hes crazy. He has a gun. Hes ready to shoot all the police,'" Serrano recalled the father saying.
The officers killed were identified as Officer Jose "Gil" Vega, a 35-year veteran of the department who was due to retire in December, and Officer Lesley Zerebny, who had been with the department 1 years and was the mother of a 4-month-old girl.
Related:
Palm Springs, CA, Mourns 2 Officers Killed in Weekend Shooting
2 California Officers Killed on Disturbance Call, Shooter at Large
Photo: POLICE File
A police officer is involved in a traumatic shooting incident. It was a close call but the officer is going to be OK. It turns out the suspect he shot had a litany of felony convictions on his record and never should have been let out of prison. Within hours of the incident, the officer receives a number of text messages on his personal cell phone that express relief that the officer's injuries were not more serious. One officer jokingly tells him his injuries now give him "bragging rights." The next day, after everything has sunk in, another colleague sends the officer an email on his personal account expressing outrage that the suspect was able to be out on the streets with his criminal record. The email ends with, "the dirt bag deserved to die."
Of course, the above scenario is completely hypothetical. That being said, officers might find themselves in similar circumstances. They worry about their partners. They criticize the bad guys they are forced to deal with. They scorn the devils that take away human life. And they do it via text messages and emails.
What about those text messages and emails that are sent on officers' personal devices? Are text messages sent from police officers on personal cellphones safe from scrutinizing eyes? Are officers' emails sent on personal computers considered "personal" and not subject to disclosure? What if text messages or emails sent on personal devices touch on a matter related to the police officer's job? Are those text messages and emails "public records" requiring disclosure under various state "sunshine laws"? These, and similar questions, were recently addressed last month by the Illinois Office of the Attorney General.
The Chicago Case
On October 20, 2014, a Chicago police officer shot and killed Laquan McDonald. The shooting was captured on video from a police vehicle's dashboard camera. The release of the video over one year later sparked national outrage over the shooting.
Following the video's release by the Chicago Police Department (CPD), a national news agency submitted a request under Illinois' sunshine law, the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), for "all emails related to Laquan McDonald from Police Department email accounts and personal email accounts where business was discussed" for 12 named officers for the week of the 2014 shooting incident and the week of the 2015 release of the dashcam video.
At first, the CPD provided over 500 pages of documents, but failed to produce any responsive emails. As such, the news agency requested a review of its FOIA request with the Illinois Office of Attorney General's Public Access Counselor (PAC). As a result, the PAC contacted the CPD and requested that it provide the specific records systems that were searched and describe the method of that search.
The CPD responded that it had searched its email system for the 12 identified police officers. However, the news agency contended that the CPD only searched for emails on the officers' city email account and not on any other accounts, including their personal accounts. It also argued that even if the CPD did not retain control over the identified officers' personal accounts or devices, "it still had a duty to request copies of such communications that relate to the officer's public service role and/or in the performance of their government function."
The PAC contacted the CPD again and requested, among other items, whether CPD had conducted a search of the officers' personal email accounts to discover whether the officers discussed CPD business. In response, CPD admitted that it had not conducted a search of the officers' personal email accounts, stating that such emails are not considered "public records" under FOIA.
The news agency replied that "[i]n refusing to request emails from the City police officers concerning official police business, the City essentially contends that any correspondence sent or received by Chicago police officers is not a public record unless it resides on the city's servers." It also said, "Illinois FOIA [like other states' 'sunshine laws'] exists to protect the public's right to know what its government is up to. Giving public officials like police officers carte blanche to evade FOIA laws by using personal email for public purposes would eviscerate Illinois FOIA. Moreover, public officials would have an incentive to avoid FOIA by deliberately communicating about sensitive or controversial topics on private email. This flies in the face of the very purpose of public information laws."
Attorney General's Opinion
On August 9, 2016, the Illinois Office of Attorney General issued an opinion regarding the appropriateness of CPD's response to the news agency's FOIA request. First, it analyzed whether emails on the officers' personal email accounts are subject to disclosure under Illinois law. In doing so, it had to determine whether the emails on the officers' personal accounts were considered "public records."
Illinois, similar to many states, defines "public records" as "all recordspertaining to the transaction of public business, regardless of physical form or characteristics, having been prepared by or for, or having been or being used by, received by, in the possession of, or under the control of any public body." However, under this definition, CPD argued that emails exchanged by police officers on personal email accounts are not public records belonging to CPD.
Indeed, "[b]ecause the communication sought, if any exist, would have been prepared by or sent to individual officers and employees rather than the City, they are not communications 'prepared by or for' a public body. And because the communications would not be stored on a City server or account, they cannot be 'used by,' were not 'received by,' and are not 'in the possession of, or under the control of,' a public body. Thus, the requested communications, if any, do not fall within the FOIA's definition of a 'public record' and are not subject to production under the Act."
However, the Attorney General found that when a CPD police officer acts in an official capacity, he engages in public business as a member of a municipal police department, which is a public body as defined under FOIA. It further stated that the CPD's argument undermines the adage that public entities act through their employers, "by excluding from the definition of 'public records' communications sent or received by employees of a public body on personal devices or accounts, regardless of whether the communications pertain to the transaction of public business."
The Attorney General also took to task CPD's argument that the emails exchanged on officers' personal email accounts are not subject to FOIA requirements because CPD does not "possess or control" those records. It quoted from a recent federal Court of Appeals opinion which found that:
"The Supreme Court has described the function of FOIA as serving 'the citizens' right to be informed about what their government is up to.' If a department head can deprive the citizens of their right to know what his department is up to by the simple expedient of maintaining his departmental e-mails on an account in another domain, that purpose is hardly served. It would make as much sense to say that the department head could deprive requestors of hard-copy documents by leaving them in a file at his daughter's house and then claiming that they are under her control."
Finally, the CPD argued that the search of the officers' personal email accounts would subject them to an unreasonable and unnecessary invasion of privacy. Most, if not all sunshine laws exempt from disclosure public records when such disclosures pose an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. However, Illinois' law states that the disclosure of information that bears on the public duties of public employees and officials shall not be considered an invasion of personal privacy. According to the Attorney General, any emails exchanged by the officers concerning the shooting death of Laquan McDonald presumably pertained to their public duties and therefore their access would not constitute and unwarranted invasion of personal privacy under FOIA statute.
In sum, the Illinois Attorney General found that the CPD's response to the news agency's FOIA request violated the law. It directed the CPD to conduct a search of the 12 officers' personal email accounts. It also stated that the CPD would be in compliance with the Attorney General's opinion by simply asking the officers whether they maintain any records responsive to the request and, if so, by requiring the officers to provide copies of the records to the CPD.
The Bottom Line
What can law enforcement officers do to avoid the pitfalls facing the CPD officers involved in the Laquan McDonald shooting? First, police officers should become familiar with their state's laws regarding the disclosure of public records. Police officers are typically considered public employees and, therefore, their emails, documents, and other records may be subject to disclosure.
Second, when utilizing agency computers and email accounts, presume that any communications on those devices are public records subject to disclosure. As such, all writings should be professional in nature.
Third, even if officers consider their conversations private, such communications may not be "private" under the state's sunshine laws. Until there is more clarity on whether communications on officers' personal email accounts regarding on-the-job incidents are truly private and not subject to public disclosure, try to avoid having such discussions on personal cell phones and email accounts. After all, if these types of communications do not exist on officers' personal electronic devices, there is nothing that requires disclosure.
Laura L. Scarry, a former police officer, is a partner in the law firm of DeAno & Scarry with offices located throughout Illinois representing law enforcement officials in state and federal courts. You can contact her at [email protected]
Bank robbery may be the quintessential American crime, immortalized in screaming headlines and Hollywood movies, but it is fading like those grainy old newsreels of Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger.
Bank heists have fallen about as fast as any other crime, dropping almost 60% in the past quarter century, according to FBI statistics. And robbers are getting away with less and less loot, reports the Washington Post.
FBI numbers show the average take has dwindled by nearly half over the past 10 years to just $6,500. That's more like trading in a used VW Jetta than scoring a payday that might fund an extended stay on a tropical island.
When you factor in the FBI's calculation that bank robbers are caught in greater numbers than any other criminals except killers, experts say smart thieves are coming to the conclusion that the risks now outweigh the rewards.
"Bank robbery is now largely a crime of the desperate," said Gerald C. Clark, a former FBI agent and now an assistant professor of criminal justice at Gannon University in Erie, Pa. Today's bank robber is "the person who needs money now or the drug user looking to get that instant high," he said.
Experts said old-fashioned bank robbery is also declining because thieves are finding more-profitable and less-risky ventures. Some are targeting ATMs, and others are turning to cybercrime, committing virtual heists from the comfort of their basements.
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Things may be getting even worse for Republicans as women are coming forward and accusing Donald Trump of inappropriate physical contact.
According to The Gothamist:
Gloria Allred, the civil rights lawyer who takes on high-profile targets, like Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski and, yes, Trump, confirmed to us that since the Access Hollywood tapes release, she has been contacted by women who allege inappropriate contact by Mr. Trump.
More to the point, Allred discussed how Trumps words suggest criminal behavior. If there is an unwanted or unconsented to touching of a persons intimate parts such as the genital areas or a womans breasts, that could constitute a sexual assault or a sexual battery, she explained yesterday. She added that when Rudy Giuliani was asked on Sundays political programs if Donald Trump was describing a sexual assault on the recently released 2005 video, he responded, Thats what he was talking about.' Allred said, I am disgusted by what Donald Trump said and admitted that he had done on that video. An apology is not enough.
At this time, allegations are just allegations, but as the American public has seen with Bill Cosby and others, serial sexual predators often dont have just a few victims, and they dont stop until they are caught. It is known that Trump was making comments and behaving inappropriately as recently as 2008.
It is likely that Donald Trump committed an offense that is well within the statute of limitations. This could be a major story that goes beyond the presidential campaign. It will be important to see if any of these women publicly come forward, and how many women there are because the truth is that accusations from a few women will not be taken seriously by the media.
If Trump is accused of any crime that falls within the statute of limitations, he could be facing a criminal investigation.
The dam may be bursting on Republicans, as the Access Hollywood tape could be the least of their problems. There is a possibility that the Republican Party nominated a sexual predator to be the next President Of The United States.
Donald Trumps it was only words defense may be going up in smoke, and the building inferno is set to consume the entire Republican Party.
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After Democrats urged Republican Gov. Rick Scott of Florida to extend the voter registration deadline due to Hurricane Matthew, the governor who happens to be the chairman of Donald Trumps super PAC said, Nope.
Everybody has had a lot of time to register, Scott said.
On Thursday, a federal court ignored the right-wing governor and extended the deadline for another day, pushing it until Wednesday of this week. The judge called Scotts refusal to give Floridians more time poppycock, particularly since the governor urged 1.5 million of his residents to evacuate the state last week.
The important decision comes after Democrats in Florida sued Republicans in the state for not extending the deadline.
Unlucky Floridians who happen to live in the counties stricken by Hurricane Matthew who have not yet registered will be unable to register by the October 11 deadline and will therefore not be permitted to vote in the upcoming general election, according to the lawsuit.
Once again, Democrats are fighting with Republicans to do something that should be a no-brainer make voting easier for as many people as possible. Unfortunately, the GOP knows that when fewer people turn out to the polls, they have a better chance of being successful.
Thats why, even in the wake of a powerful hurricane that temporarily displaced over a million people in the Sunshine State, Florida Republicans still wouldnt budge on making sure voters had a chance to make up for lost time.
Florida, of course, is the biggest swing state prize on the electoral map, and Donald Trump cannot win the presidency without carrying it.
In the coming days, the Clinton campaign will hit the state hard with three rallies in two days, including a pair of rallies that feature Al Gore who knows how important every vote is in Florida and Barack Obama, who is the Democratic nominees biggest asset in this election.
Hillary Clinton currently leads Donald Trump by an average of three points in Florida, according to RealClearPolitics.
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It has been confirmed that Donald Trump is directly being fed and is repeating Putin lies and propaganda at his rallies under the disguise of making America great again.
Newsweeks Kurt Eichenwald uncovered an instance of Trump reading propaganda directly from Putin at a recent campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The Russians took a story that Eichenwald wrote and turned into a John Podesta email that hours later Trump read on stage at his rally.
Eichenwald wrote that Putin is directly feeding lies to Trump:
The Russians engage in a sloppy disinformation effort and, before the day is out, the Republican nominee for president is standing on a stage reciting the manufactured story as truth. How did this happen? Who in the Trump campaign was feeding him falsehoods straight from the Kremlin?
The Russians have been obtaining American emails and now are presenting complete misrepresentations of themfalsifying themin hopes of setting off a cascade of events that might change the outcome of the presidential election. The big question, of course, is why are the Russians working so hard to damage Clinton and, in the process, aid Donald Trump? That is a topic for another time.
Every American should be troubled by this development. Putin has moved beyond dabbling in the election by hacking the DNC to using his Trump puppet to inject Russian propaganda into US media. It should be noted that emails that Wikileaks is leaking are being falsified by the Russian government, so the information that is being put out there as leaked news may not be accurate.
Beyond being a misogynist who brags about sexual assault, it has now been proven that Donald Trump is getting fed propaganda from Putin.
Through his candidacy, Donald Trump is damaging US national security. We now that make America great is code for back to the USSR.
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Donald Trump has done everything he can to harness the Evangelical vote, and by and large, his efforts have paid off. The only demogrpahics he can claim as his own are those represented by white supremacists and the Religious Right, and their continued support is absolutely critical to his campaign.
Only now, that support might be wavering. Again, the cause is the toxicity of his campaign. More precisely, what is proving to be the straw that broke the camels back, the 2005 tape in which Trump brags about sexually assaulting women.
Megachurch Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, is on Trumps own hand-picked faith council, but now he has turned against Trump. In a published email, MacDonald says the 2005 tape reveals Trump to be misogynistic trash that reveals a man to be lecherous and worthless.
Though faith council members were not required to endorse Trump as the price of admission, even their service indicates a sort of tacit approval of the candidate. Thus, the pastors criticism is damning.
MacDonald detailed his objections:
Mr. Trumps comments released yesterday though 10 years ago (he was 60) are not just sophomoric or locker room banter. They are truly the kind of misogynistic trash that reveals a man to be lecherous and worthless not the guy who gets politely ignored, but the guy who gets a punch in the head from worthy men who hear him talk that way about women.
Worthy men. Among whose number Trump does not stand. He has removed himself utterly and completely as a result of his own words and actions.
The call for Trump to repent will go unheeded, but MacDonald issued it nonetheless, saying, I am not able to offer my time any further without an obvious change of heart and direction [that] true believers call repentance:
He added,
If Mr. Trump isnt seeking our counsel now 1) to be repentant 2) on how to portray that repentance, then the idea of a faith council (which has deteriorated into influence brokering anyway) is really kind of a joke right? I have spent my life helping men get free from such disgusting commentary on womeneven writing my doctoral dissertation on self-disclosure of sin among men. I cannot and will not offer help to a man who believes this kind of talk a minor error.
Donald Trump cannot afford to lose the Evangelical vote, but that is precisely what he is in the process of doing, and if his threat this morning, that the shackles are off was sincere, he will ensure not only that people like MacDonald refuse to return, but that others will join him in leaving.
As noted earlier, if Trump loses, it wont be as a result of a stab in the back, but an act of political suicide.
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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump unleashed a rant on Tuesday that praised Democrats and declared war on his own Republican Party.
Donald Trump went on a new Twitter bender and his venom was directed at his own party:
With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
Lets take on Trumps points one by one in reverse order.
1). Every scientific poll conducted has found that voters who watched the debate think he lost. No. Trump did not win the debate.
2). Trump is apparently no running for president against Hillary Clinton. The Republican nominee is now running against Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Trump is still ranting about a conference call that happened yesterday, so welcome to your new normal, Republicans.
3). If what we saw before was the restrained version of Trump, the country is going to be in for a very rough final four weeks of the election, because Donald Trump is hell bent on burning everything he touches to the ground on his way out the door.
4). The Democratic nomination wasnt stolen from Bernie Sanders. Sen. Sanders lost because he got blown out in the South and he couldnt close the deal with Democratic base voters in the big delegate states. If Democratic voters are more loyal to their nominees, its because they have a party process in place that prevents reality television stars from winning their nomination.
Notice who was absent in Trumps tweet rampage? Hillary Clintons name was nowhere to be found. It is almost as if Trump is not running for president any longer. His new goal is to get revenge on Republicans who he views as disloyal to him.
With just one more presidential debate to go, Donald Trump seems more interested in settling scores with Republicans than winning the election.
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It's a well-known, if rare in real life, scene.
The prisoner is being strapped into the electric chair or having a noose slipped over their head. Execution is moments aways. Then the governor, judge or whoever rushes in and spares the prisoner's life.
I've never seen that play out in the real world for a prisoner, but I have seen Rochester buildings get a second chance after being slated for demolition.
I just noticed one of those buildings, the former Carousel Floral building at 1227 Second St. SW, is getting spruced up, presumably for a new tenant. I didn't a pic, so the attached one is from store's colorful heyday.
I'm sure the work has been going on for a while, but I just noticed today that inside of the storefront is getting new drywall and is being generally prepared for use after sitting forlornly empty for about a year.
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That building was expected to be demolished to clear the way for a proposed $65 million, six-story Holiday Inn hotel. In fact, local developer and hospital CEO Javon Bea bought it for $1.6 million in December 2015 with the express purpose of having it demolished for Holiday Inn project. He bought it from Peter Pasalis.
That project ultimately died on the drawing board after facing intense criticism.
The "death" of the Holiday Inn project seems to have saved the "life" of the long-time florist shop. It housed the Fiksdal Flowers shop for 64 years, until it became Carousel Floral in 2011.
Of course, this is not the only Med City building to to get a reprieve.
The Associated Bank building at 206 S. Broadway also ducked the wrecking ball.
Bloom International Realty of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, bought the seven-story building in 2013 with the intention of demolishing it and constructing a luxury hotel on the southeast corner of South Broadway and Second Street. They paid a total of $7 million to the three owners of the building.
By 2015, that plan had changed. Now Bloom International intends to eventually renovate the Associated Bank building and re-fill it was office tenants. Many prominent tenants left the building or were asked to leave, after the demolition plan was announced.
Recently my wife finished reading a book for her book club and told me I might find the tale interesting. I took her advice and read "A Man Called Ove," by Fredrik Backman.
The story is about a very grumpy man. The back cover of the book describes Ove as a curmudgeon with staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. He believes that he is surrounded by idiots and people who don't follow rules. I think a few of us have had that feeling at times.
The author lives in Stockholm, Sweden. He has written other titles, is a blogger and from what I read is also a columnist. Sounds like an interesting guy.
Now, I would think that the character Ove might be up there in age, but the guy is only 59 years old. Heck, I am older than that. As the story unfolds, the author begins to slowly reveal experiences in Ove's life that are part of the reason he is the person he has become at this point in his life.
I imagine we all have encountered people who seem unhappy or angry. Maybe they are older, maybe they are not. Many of us tend to quickly judge a person for a variety of reasons.
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Judge not
I do not regularly attend this book club so I thought I would call another one of the members. Darlene Vowels, a friend and retired educator of 33 years, was happy to discuss the book. She felt the lessons in the book were truly affirmations of the morals we already know.
We should know not to judge people by their mannerisms, the way they dress, the color of their skin or their religious beliefs. We don't know the difficulties that others have experienced. We don't know their circumstances or even the good that others have done.
Darlene said many of us like to think of ourselves as unbiased, however for many that can be a struggle. It's something that we have to realize and be aware of. In my view, many of the reports on the evening news choose to drive home the divisions between so many of us; rich and poor, white and black.
Even our politicians spread the bitterness. It's hard to stay positive, but we are fortunate to be surrounded in this community by many who care. There are opportunities to assist and to aid others.
'Go-to guy'
As the story unfolded, at first kicking and screaming, Ove began to help others. The man had a remarkable talent to build, repair and figure things out. Somewhat strange circumstances led Ove to assist more people, young and old. Despite the heavy heartbreak he was carrying around, he became the "go-to guy" in his neighborhood.
My friend Darlene had remarkable experiences in her life as a teacher, starting in California. There, she remembers beginning her career teaching those known as arkies and okies. These were the children of families who had left Arkansas and Oklahoma to seek a better life in California.
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From there, Darlene and her husband Jim moved to Sitka, Alaska. This was before Alaska even became a state. She taught a diverse group of students, including Eskimo and other indigenous peoples of Alaska. Eventually they came to Rochester, where Jim worked at IBM.
Darlene found her true passion in Rochester, helping and teaching students with learning disabilities. She loved her students and found this work very rewarding. She worked hard to educate her students in life skills and the ability to be productive and have a meaningful life.
Difference-maker
The book is outstanding. The author uses humor very well to soften the story of someone who has had struggles and sadness, but finds a great deal to live for. Sometimes one positive, loving person in your life can make a powerful difference. For Ove, that was his wife Sonja, who, like Darlene, worked with students who had learning disabilities.
In the end, Ove makes a big difference in the lives of others. Sort of like Darlene.
Grandkid Quote of the Week
Recently, Rochester schools had an early release. I asked my granddaughter why. She responded with, "Gee, I don't know, Grandpa, you know, some teacher thing."
Dodge County
Kasson Legion holds fundraising dinner
KASSON The Kasson American Legion will host a Burger Night Oct. 21 to support updates inside the Legion. The event will include a meat raffle and a silent auction. It runs from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The Legion is at 212 W. Main St.
Wabasha County
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Saint Elizabeth's earns national hospital award for wellness
WABASHA Saint Elizabeth's Medical Center was honored with the Carolyn Boone Lewis Living the Vision Award from the American Hospital Association. The award recognizes the hospital for its work in improving community health beyond traditional hospital care, according to a report by the AHA.
Jenny Schlagenhaft, spokesperson for Saint Elizabeth's, said the hospital has worked hard in promoting wellness through such programs as its 5210 program for kids, which encourages them to eat five fruits or vegetables a day, spend less than two hours in front of a TV or computer screen, get at least one hour of activity and consume zero sugar snacks or drinks.
Goodhue County
Celebrate Art on Main and support the theatre renovation
ZUMBROTA A reception and art auction for Art on Main will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 14 at the Zumbrota VFW Banquet Hall.
Art on Main is a fundraising project of the Zumbrota Area Arts Council (ZAAC). Local artists donate their original artwork, which is reproduced on banners displayed on Main Street light poles throughout the summer. All of the original art and banners will be sold via silent auction. There will also be a live auction of special items and experiences.
If you are interested in bidding on the artwork of live auction items but cannot attend, ZAAC will arrange for a proxy. All proceeds from the auctions will support the renovation of the State Theatre.
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The evening will include hors d'ouvres, a cash bar, and live music by the CBB Jazz Combo. To view the art or order tickets, visit www.zaac.org . Tickets are $18 ($20 at the door) and can be purchased online or at Wild Ginger.
Winona County
WSU digitizes student recordings for YouTube
WINONA Winona State University librarians have digitized a collection of Rhythmasters and Jazz Ensemble student bands dating back to the 1960s. The original records, part of the Krueger Library collection, are now available for education and artistic criticism, according to a report from WSU.
Six records directed by musician Fred Heyer were converted to digital format. The recordings have been posted on YouTube and can be found by searching the playlist "Discover Winona's History."
Mower County
Even in new building, Humane Society is overflowing
AUSTIN The Mower County Humane Society moved into a new building three years ago and is struggling to keep up with the demands of animals needing shelter. The cat side was built to house 100 cats and currently has around 152, according to Carey Sharp of the MCHS.
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Also, the dog side has changed policies to accommodate for the increased foot traffic, which had agitated the dogs, and there aren't enough volunteers to monitor the area. The shelter now restricts access to the dog kennels.
Houston County
La Crescent sets preliminary '17 levy
LA CRESCENT The La Crescent City Council adopted its 2017 preliminary levy on Sept. 26.
It was unanimously set at a 6.7 percent increase, to $2,541,097. The final vote on on the levy be at 6 p.m. Nov. 28.
Each 1 percent increase in the city levy raises an additional $23,860 in property taxes.
Fillmore County
Rushford fire adds new pumper truck
RUSHFORD The Rushford Fire Department will have a new Freightliner pumper truck for fighting blazes after the city council approved it.
The new pumper will replace the 1997 Top Command pumper that the department has utilized for the past 19 years. The new truck has a price tag of $348,975.
Energy efficient LED lights that will soon replace the neon lights on the iconic First National Bank sign in downtown St. Paul are just the most visible part of a major overhaul that will shrink the city's energy footprint.
Soon, First National Bank and two other large downtown buildings will be using so much less energy that it'd be like giving a small town a permanent power outage.
In a matter of months, First National Bank, U.S. Bank and 375 Jackson have entered a new era. At a cost of $12.5 million, owner Madison Equities is updating heating, cooling and lighting systems designed before anyone cared about climate change and limiting the burning of fossil fuels to create heat and electricity.
"It cost us almost $100,000 just for the crane and the rigging crew," said Scott Goltz, a Madison Equities vice president, as he examined a gaping hole in a roof level room in the U.S. Bank building where workers busted through to get the old equipment out and new equipment in.
Three shiny new boilers now occupy the space where one of the two old ones sat. "We had 48 trips down and nine up," he said.
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Today's energy efficient boilers and chillers are a lot smaller than their predecessors. For instance, a new chiller is about the same size, yet has twice the output. And the motors on water pumps and ventilation fans were swapped in favor of more efficient ones. The variable frequency drive motors are being added to everything from airport escalators to milking machines on dairy farms to save electricity when they aren't in use.
"If the building isn't requiring more air, it will ramp down, so it can run at variable speeds, using less energy," Goltz explained. "In the old days, two weeks ago, when we had a fan on, it had to run full speed."
Goltz says the upgrades were driven in part by tenants' interest in energy efficiency. Energy use experts say that's a significant change from when buildings in many downtowns were built.
"In those days, it was geared more toward tenant and occupant comfort," said Michael Hepfler, an energy efficiency specialist with Xcel Energy. He says the timeline for the St. Paul project was impressive and shows what's possible.
"If you had a motivated customer that had the right building, you could replicate it," he said.
For most building owners, doing something good for the planet isn't enough it has to also be good for their bottom line. Sometimes that means changing out big equipment, like Madison Equities did, but other times it's trying to squeeze savings out of existing equipment.
Mark Hancock, who specializes in building recommissions for the Center for Energy and Environment in Minneapolis, looks for changes that result in a one-year payback in energy savings on the investment. Sometimes, he said, it just means turning stuff off when no one is around or being smarter about how you heat and cool a building.
"It could be some simple low-cost no-cost items that you go in, such as modifying the schedules to make sure they are appropriate for how the building is being used," Hancock said. "We often find simultaneous heating and cooling going on a big energy waste."
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Businesses can often stomach a one-year payback through energy efficiency without taking out a loan. But bigger projects need outside financing. The Madison Equities project used a federal program called PACE that gives building owners a loan they pay back through property tax assessments.
The St. Paul Port Authority, which administers PACE projects in Minnesota, has helped finance 40 or so since the Legislature created a statewide program in 2010. The projects range from a solar array on a church roof to an energy efficiency overhaul at a shopping mall.
PACE financing covered most of the project cost, though Xcel Energy is providing $1 million in rebates through the state's Conservation Improvement Program. Madison Equities expects to pay back the PACE loan over a 20-year period, and energy use will be cut by 40 percent, said Peter Klein, vice president of financing for the St. Paul Port Authority.
"The three projects are the largest combined PACE project in the nation," Klein said. According to Xcel, the energy savings in all three buildings would be enough to power more than 1,200 homes.
Klein said private investors are lining up because they see the loans as low risk. At least six investors put in proposals for the Madison Equities project, he said.
"There is significant interest in financing these projects," he said. "We're working on a $20 million project."
Fall colors in Southeast Minnesota are coming later this year.
According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' Fall Color Finder, only about 50 percent of the area's leaves have turned, while the northern half of the state is either at peak color or beyond.
But don't dally. The later turn could mean a shorter peak period.
If you're looking for the best places to peep in Southeast Minnesota, here are five can't-miss options:
1. All state parks are good, but three stick out. Great River Bluffs State Park , north of La Crescent, has great views of the Mississippi River Valley. But don't overlook the hiking trail to King's Bluff, which has goat prairie of its own, offers a view of the prairie on Queen's Bluff and presents a fantastic view of the river. Second, the picnic area at Frontenac State Park, between Lake City and Red Wing, has one of the best views of Lake Pepin in the region in any season. Finally, Nerstrand Big Woods State Park , northwest of Kenyon, has remnant big woods of maple and basswood, a nice little waterfall and good trails. On the way over, look at the corn that has turned golden and is gorgeous around dawn and dusk.
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2. Olmsted County's Chester Woods and Oxbow parks both have good color and a lot of trails. At Chester Woods, you can also rent a paddleboat or canoe to see the colors from the reservoir. At Oxbow, cross one of the three bridges (no pets) and hike the trail system. Many hikers take the lower trail that comes close to the Zumbro River, but I prefer the top one.
3. The classic place to look at leaves while driving is U.S. Highway 61 from Red Wing to La Crescentand Minnesota Highway 16 south of La Crescent to Iowa. Take your time, stop along the way, buy apples in Lake City or La Crescent or have lunch at one of the small-town cafes.
4. Two county roads travel the bluffs above the Mississippi River and offer views of the river, farmland and orchards. Apple Blossom Drivestarts in La Crescent and winds north on Winona County Road 29 across Interstate 90, near Great River Bluffs and over to the Mississippi again. A second, less well known road runs from the north side of Wabasha on Wabasha County Road 10up the side of the bluff and over to County Road 4. Here's where you get to make a sure-winner choice you can go right on 4 down to U.S. 61 and into Lake City, or go left and wind around the Zumbro River Valley and end up in Plainview. At Theilman, go to the Zumbro Bottoms State Forest and hike around.
5. Historic Bluff Country Scenic Byway has one end in the farmland near Dexter and the other in La Crescent. If you drive it, you'll likely see farmers harvesting crops on the west side and wooded bluffs on the east side. There are many good small-town restaurants along the way.
Congressional candidate Jim Moylan will not let truth or distortions stop him from saying anything to get elected. It is up to political analy Read morePolitical ploys at the last part of election?
During the town hall presidential candidates debate this past Sunday evening in St. Louis (transcript here), Hillary Clinton responded to Donald Trumps attack on her for her role as Bill Clintons enabler. She invoked Michelle Obamas advice: When they go low, we go high. Michelle apparently disagrees with the Mister, who advises: If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.
Trump responded by claiming that Michelle Obama had participated in attack ads saying terrible things about Clinton. Go back and look at those, he said.
David Axelrod, the chief campaign strategist of President Obama in campaigns past, quickly disputed Trump on Twitter. Thus Megan Garvey fact-checked Trump for the Los Angeles Times and found him wanting. Fact-checking the fact-checkers, I find Axelrod and the Times wanting.
Trumps reference was obscure and slightly mistaken, but I knew instantly what he was talking about. During the 2008 primary campaign, speaking before a hometown audience, Michelle Obama explained why Hillary Clinton was unfit to serve as president. Lets go to the tape.
Michelle Obama said: One of the important aspects of this race is role modeling what good families should look like. And my view is that if you cant run your own house, you certainly cant run the White House. Cant do it.
Axelrod and the Times to the contrary notwithstanding, on this point Trump had it right in substance.
It makes for an interesting case study. If anyone but Michelle Obama had said what she said, it would have been a major incident in the culture war. Indeed, Michelle Obama would have fallen as a casualty in the culture war. Michelle Obama being Michelle Obama, however, she got away with it.
Mrs. Obamas critique of Clinton was so utterly hidebound and old-school that she sounded like a conservative of Phyllis Schlaflys vintage. Expanding on the implicit assertions of Michelle Obamas earnest observations, Hillary Clinton is not fit to to be president because her family is not fit to serve as a role model. Her husbands escapades demonstrate that she cant run her own house. If she cant run her own house, according to Mrs. Obama, she shouldnt be president. Shes not fit to serve.
David Axelrod is being David Axelrod and the Times fact checker is simply ignorant. Only students of ancient history have any idea what Michelle Obama had to say about Madam Hillary in 2008.
UPDATE: Megan Garvey is sticking with it.
I have been working my way through the John Podesta emails that were released by Wikileaks. They provide an interesting look behind the scenes of the Hillary Clinton campaign, but generally dont seem to contain a lot of blockbusters. This one was spotted by Breitbart. Podesta reports on a meeting with two friends of the Clintons from Colorado, at least one of whom is a lawyer.
In his email, Podesta recounts what these two Coloradans told him about their experience with the Colorado caucuses in 2008:
They are reliving the 08 caucuses where they believe the Obama forces flooded the caucuses with ineligible voters.
Voter fraud: when Republicans complain about it, the Democrats party line is that it practically never happens. But when they are talking among themselves, they acknowledge that the Obama campaign flooded the caucuses with ineligible voters.
Voter fraud has been, and continues to be, a major problem.
The pastor of the Abuja-based Champions Royal Assembly, Joshua Iginla, has gifted a Peugeot 301 car to Nollywood actor, Ayo Emmanuel.
According to a statement issued by the church to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Emmanuel, who is popularly called Nollywood Police was given the car on Sunday at the church premises, which is located in Kubwa, Abuja.
Mr. Iginlas frequent largess to Nollywood stars and prophecies have been mostly greeted with criticism.
The controversial preacher is believed to be one of the wealthiest pastors in Abuja.
In fact, several veteran Nollywood stars throng his church regularly to partake of his routine largesse.
Some have also gone a step further by relocating to Abuja. When he turned a year older in May, he gave six Nollywood actors and actresses Hummer jeep 3 series, Mercedes G-Wagon and Mercedes CLS 550.
The beneficiaries included Jide Kosoko, Francis Duru, Alex Usifo, Ngozi Osondu, Thelma Nwosu and Sunday Omobolanle, popularly known as Babaluwe.
In addition he was reported to have given veteran actor, Martins Njubuigbo, aka Elder Maya who passed on recently N1 million to offset his hospital bills.
Reacting to criticisms, Mr. Iginla, who is not a stranger to controversies, said, It amazes me when people criticise the fact that I assist the movie industry. I have given cars and financial assistance to the poor, needy and church members. I have only given out a fraction of these funds to Nollywood as a means of encouraging them. Compare their lives to Hollywood stars and you will realise we dont really appreciate our own.
I wept when Ayo Emmanuel sent me a text few weeks back that he was sick and needed financial assistance. I asked him if he had a car and he said no. He claimed he comes to church via okada or the church bus. I wept because these are the people that make us happy via home movies yet they live a pathetic life. Its my personal money I used so I dont see why people complain.
To encourage farmers to produce more and ensure food sufficiency for Nigeria, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Monday that government would implement a buy back scheme to guarantee minimum price for agricultural products.
The Vice President was speaking in Abuja during the first policy dialogue session on the economy at the 22nd Nigeria Economic Summit (NES#22), which opened on Monday on the theme: Made in Nigeria.
The scheme, Mr. Osinbajo explained, would involve government buying up agricultural products by farmers and storing them for distribution to consumers at a time prices come down.
During harvest when prices of products are low, farmers are not usually happy. Low prices will discourage them from engaging activities to produce more food. Now, what government wants to do is to buy up all the agricultural produce when prices are high and store them so that when prices are falling, it would be able to keep a very standard price for the farmers, the VP said.
He said at the moment, the federal government was trying to resolve with the states on who would control the silos the products would be stored.
The Vice President said the state governments insisted they wanted to control and run the silos, rather than privatizing them, pointing out that since the federal government has the farmers, they should control the silos.
We are working with the state governments to control some of the silos. The states are going to control the whole process, but the federal government is looking for intermediate buyers to buy and store. The states want the federal government to stay away so they can work directly with the private sector, he stated.
He said disagreement has resulted in a change in the way things were going, saying although the Ministry of Agriculture was trying originally to privatize the silos, the states have insisted on taking over the process.
According to the states, it would be better for sub-nationals to handle the silos, since failure of the process at the centre would mean a complete loss, saying government believed apart from its commitment to its success, without the states, it plans for buy back would not work.
On competition for technology innovation involving about 4,000 young people in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, the vice president said government was training 65,000 young people in technology innovated businesses to create opportunities for young people.
He said by organising technology hubs in each of the six geo-political zones, apart from Lagos and Abuja, government was encouraging young people to go into technology.
Look at animated cartoons alone, we are also training in animation, he said.
The National Assembly will pass into law at least 11 of the 45 draft bills awaiting the attention of lawmakers before the end of the year, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said on Tuesday.
Mr. Saraki who was speaking during the policy dialogue plenary session on Ensuring Legislative Framework for Mae-In-Nigeria at the ongoing Nigeria Economic Summit (NES#22) event in Abuja, said the 11 bills are those critical for doing business and capable of helping fast-track the push of the countrys economy out of the current recession.
He listed some of the bills to include Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB); National Development Bank of Nigeria (Establishment Bill); Nigerian Ports and Harbours Authority Act (Amendment) Bill; National Road Fund (Establishment) Bill; National Transport Commission Act, 2001 (Amendment) Bill; Warehouse Receipts Act (Amendment) Bill; Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) (Amendment) Bill; Investment and Securities Act (ISA); Customs and Excise Management Act; Federal Competition Bill and National Road Authority Bill.
Speaking specifically on the status of the PIB, Mr. Saraki said the draft document was in the process of being passed, until the recent Niger Delta crisis broke, causing the lawmakers to step down the process.
Passage of the draft Bill, which lapsed in the seveth session of the Assembly, was re-presented at the resumption of the 8th session under the present leadership.
By now, we should have passed the PIB. But, by the time we were deliberating on it, unfortunately it was the time we had the problems in the Niger Delta, and a lot of the senators from the South South came up and say the timing was not the best. We had to step it down. We are now trying to see how we can bring that back on board for deliberation, he said.
He explained they did not want to give them the wrong impression the PIB had nothing to address the concerns of Niger Delta communities.
As a result of the current recession in the economy, Mr. Saraki said the lawmakers identified 11 Bills classified critical to accelerate the pace of efforts to push the country out of the economic crisis.
I did say to the President (Muhammadu Buhari), let us find a forum where we can discuss the private sector and SMEs (small and medium-scale enterprises), we need the kind of environment that would grow SMEs. Most of our laws are currently out-dated. If we work together we can identify and prioritise the ones that are of high priority. We have tried to identify the high priority ones and I think there are 45, he said.
For the first time, the Senate President said the lawmakers are truly engaging with the private sector, guiding the lawmakers actions based on need, and not the case where laws were passed that had no relevance to the lives of businesses.
Expressing confidence the 11 bills would be passed by the end of the year, Mr. Saraki said the Senate would do all to stimulate SMEs and amend the procurement law to make it mandatory for government to buy locally produced goods as a first option.
If we consider what government spends on goods and services, both consumables and capital expenditure, is close to the region of N2.5 trillion.The point is that until now there was no law to ensure we will patronize local agencies, he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari has described the militancy in the Niger Delta as an attempt by raging factions to colonise Nigeria economically.
Mr. Buhari said Germany could help curb oil theft in Nigeria through assistance in the areas of equipment, training, and sharing of intelligence with the Nigeria Navy.
The president spoke Monday during an audience with the Foreign Minister of Germany, Frank-Walters Steinmeier, at State House, Abuja.
Nigerias oil is stolen, and taken away through the Gulf of Guinea. Adequate training and equipping of our navy will prevent this, the president said.
He told the visitor that the security challenge in the North-east of the country was under control, with Boko Haram largely defeated
But another serious form of insecurity has reared its head in the Niger Delta, Mr. Buhari said. The objective is to colonize the country economically by sabotaging oil and gas installations. We are trying to speak with their leaders, to know how many groups there are, and we are also working with the oil companies.
The militants engage in sophisticated sabotage, using skills they had gained from trainings either by government, or the oil companies, to vandalize installations deep in the sea. We need to understand who the real agitators are, and engage with them, so that confidence can be restored in the region, the president added.
President Buhari said the Niger Delta situation was more complex, since the militants had no central command, and some of them were mere extortionists. But he promised that a handle would be found to the unrest soon.
Mr. Steinmeier, in his response, said Germany was happy to hear of the strides taken by the Buhari administration against insurgents in the North-east, adding that they were equally willing to lend a helping hand in resolving the crisis in the Niger Delta.
Applauding the war against corruption, Mr. Steinmeier said it had his countrys support, adding that Germany was also interested in investing in renewable energy, gas exploration, mining, among others, to boost Nigerias economy.
Germany will support development in Nigeria. We want closer cooperation on migration issues, urbanization, and supporting the navy with equipment, training and intelligence, the Foreign Minister said.
The Senate has stood down a proposal to invite the Director General of the State Security Service, Lawan Daura, over the ongoing clampdown on suspected corrupt judges.
In a motion brought as matter of urgent national importance by Joshua Lidani (PDP-Gombe), the Senate was asked to look into the action of the SSS which led to arrest of seven judges in the early hours of Saturday.
One of the resolutions canvassed by Mr. Lidani was that the Senate should invite Mr. Daura to explain why his agency carried out the action the way it did without deference to the constitutional responsibility of the National Judicial Council.
When Mr. Saraki called for vote to uphold Mr. Lidanis prayer, Senators yelled ayes and later nay in somewhat equal proportion.
Then, Mr. Saraki put the question again resulting in similar response as the first.
He then ruled the nays have it, translating to defeat of the proposal to invite Mr. Daura.
Specifically, Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, supported the prayer that Mr. Daura be invited.
But other Senators did not touch that part of the prayers sought.
The Senate however condemned the raid on residences of the Judges.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday cleared the three lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct.
In recommendations submitted by its Ethics and Privileges Committee, the House also mandated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to engage the United States senior diplomats on ways to reconcile the U.S. mission in Nigeria and the accused lawmakers.
A former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, had in a letter to Speaker Yakubu Dogara said Mohammed Galolo, Samuel Ikon and Mark Gbillah sought to patronise prostitutes and made attempts to rape a hotel housekeeper.
In the scathing petition, dated June 9, Mr. Entwistle painted details of the lawmakers activities and said the conduct constituted a betrayal of trust and called for a thorough investigation.
Mr. Entwistle said the incident occurred when the three lawmakers participated in a leadership conference sponsored by the U.S. State Department in Ohio.
The letter earned the lawmakers public criticism, prompting the House to mandate the Ethics and Privileges Committee to investigate the matter.
But the lawmakers denied the allegations and challenged the diplomat to provide evidence supporting the claims.
Mr. Entwistle and the U.S. embassy declined to comment further the matter.
Nicholas Ossai, chairman of the 13-member ethics committee, said the panel heard from the three accused lawmakers but htheir efforts to get Mr. Entwistle to appear were unsuccessful.
The House also said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should warn the United States diplomats in Nigeria to always use formal channels when pursuing diplomatic matters.
Mr. Entwistle retired from the U.S. Diplomatic Service in August and had since left Nigeria.
The raids carried out weekend by the State Security Service on residences of senior judges were routine investigations, and were legitimate, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, has said.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Mr. Malami said the government had resolved to fight corruption, and would not be deterred by class or reputation of suspects.
Once crimes and criminality are concerned, nobody is an exception. I think the undertone should be exclusively the consideration of the existence of a prima facie case; existence of reasonable grounds for suspicion of commission of a crime, he said.
And if there are, no member of the legislature, judiciary and executive can definitely be exempted from investigation. I think where we are now is the point of investigation and that is what is taking place.
Mr. Malami said the search and subsequent arrest of seven judges were steps in an ongoing investigation that even constitutionally guaranteed immunity does not prevent.
The bottom line is that we have a responsibility to fight corruption. Corruption is a crime and nobody, regardless of how highly placed, is exempted as far as issues that border on crimes and criminalities are concerned.
The limited exceptions, as we know constitutionally, are the exceptions of immunity. And to the best of my knowledge, those exceptions do not apply to investigation. For those that are conferred with the immunity, the right to investigate has not been taken away constitutionally.
So, I think the framework and the circumstances within which we are operating are clearly whether there exists the right to investigate or not, and whether the action borders on criminality, he said.
The SSS raided the homes of seven judges in six states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory between Friday night and Saturday morning.
During the raid, the SSS said it recovered a huge stash of money in local and foreign currencies. Seven judges were arrested, and have since been released on bail.
Those arrested include Justice Sylvester Nguta and John Okoro of the Supreme Court and Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court Abuja.
Others are Justice Muazu Pindiga of Gombe State; Kabiru Auta of Kano State, Innocent Umezulike, of Enugu State and Justice Mohammed Tsamiya, an appeal court judge in Ilorin.
Reports of their expected arraignment went round on Monday. But while journalists waited at a Magistrate Court in Life Camp, Abuja, where they were expected to be arraigned, officials confirmed that the judges had been released.
A Nigerian blogger has been granted bail after he was detained for 22 days for a blog post.
Jamil Mabai was arrested on September 19 by the police for a post on his blog where he criticised the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, for buying coffins with public funds despite owing workers salaries.
On Wednesday, Mr. Mabai was granted bail by Justice Maikaita Bako of the Katsina State High Court, after spending time at the central prison in Katsina.
The bloggers lawyer, Job Israel, said his client expects to be freed later on Wednesday having met the bail conditions.
We are just trying to fulfil the bail condition now but it is a very light one. He just needs a single surety and the bail bond is sum of N60,000.
That is if he jumps bail, the surety will have to pay N60,000, he said.
He said his client still expects the state ministry of justice to file charges before a competent court after a magistrate court declined jurisdiction.
It could be one or two weeks or even months because it is a High Court that just granted him bail based on the applications we filed.
But for now he will be on bail that is the greatest relief, Mr. Israel said.
Jamil Mabai is a known critic of the Katsina administration led by Aminu Masari on his blog, Cliqq Magazine.
A Magistrate Court in Katsina declined jurisdiction to try him. The judge instead asked that he be further detained.
Mr. Mabais arrest is believed to have been ordered by the governor, a claim the latters spokesperson denied.
The police, however, said they arrested the blogger based on a complaint by the state government. Two other bloggers arrested with Mr. Mabai, Bashir Dauda and Umar Faruq, were released after about a week in detention.
They were all accused of writing about the story with the intent to cause civil disturbance and expose Mr. Masari to public ridicule.
A family friend of Mr. Mabai told PREMIUM TIMES that the governor was not happy with his post condemning the purchase of 3,000 metal coffins for distribution to mosques in the state.
Mr. Mabai said by purchasing the coffins, Mr. Masari is simply saying Katsina people deserve to die.
He also questioned the rationale behind buying the coffins at N40,000 each at a time the government was unable to pay civil servants outstanding arrears of salaries.
Nigerian troops have surrounded a gathering of Shia Muslims in Kaduna, with worshippers trapped inside, days after the state government proscribed the group.
Worshippers gathered to commemorate historical events associated with the Islamic month of Muharram that are particularly significant in the Shia calendar, UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission, said in a statement Tuesday.
Shortly before the Kaduna Markaz mosque on Zango Road was encircled by armoured military vehicles carrying heavily armed soldiers and also an ambulance were among a convoy of 18 military vehicles seen nearby, the group said.
It called on the Nigerian government to withdraw the soldiers and allow the worshippers to continue to exercise their constitutional right to freedom of assembly and worship.
A witness told PREMIUM TIMES that the standoff was at the residence of a senior Shia leader, Muhtar Sahabi, and not a Mosque.
He said dozens of armed soldiers and mobile police officers surrounded the compound and were waiting for those gathered inside to leave.
He said some women and children who started coming out were sent back by the soldiers.
It appears they want to make arrests following the recent ban, the source said.
The confrontation follows a spate of arrests over recent days of members of the Shia sect, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, after a state-wide ban on Friday, proscribing membership of the movement.
As was feared, the new law appears to be being used as an attempt to prevent the movements supporters from attending ceremonies commemorating the month of Muharram, IHRC said.
The military activity is reminiscent of the run-up to the massacre last December of hundreds of supporters of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria by the army and the arrest of its leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky.
Mr. Zakzaky remains in government custody.
Nigerian soldiers and police have withdrawn from their positions at Zango Road, Kaduna, where they surrounded a gathering of Shia Muslims on Tuesday, days after the government outlawed the group.
Shia members who were trapped inside a compound have also dispersed, a witness told PREMIUM TIMES late Tuesday.
He said there were no clashes, and no one was arrested.
Everywhere is calm now. The security people ensured there was no trouble, a witness said.
Worshippers had gathered to commemorate historical events associated with the Islamic month of Muharram that are particularly significant in the Shia calendar, UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission, said earlier Tuesday in a statement.
Shortly before the Kaduna Markaz mosque on Zango Road was encircled by armoured military vehicles carrying heavily armed soldiers and also an ambulance were among a convoy of 18 military vehicles seen nearby, the group said.
It called on the Nigerian government to withdraw the soldiers and allow the worshippers to continue to exercise their constitutional right to freedom of assembly and worship.
A witness told PREMIUM TIMES that the standoff was at the residence of a senior Shia leader, Muhtar Sahabi, and not a Mosque.
He said dozens of armed soldiers and mobile police officers surrounded the compound and were waiting for those gathered inside to leave.
He said some women and children who started coming out were sent back by the soldiers.
The confrontation followed a spate of arrests over recent days of members of the Shia sect, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, after a state-wide ban on Friday, proscribing membership of the movement.
Our Source at the scene said the situation became tense when a helicopter hovered around the area.
He said soldiers and the anti-riot police withdrew shortly after.
Members of the Shia group also came out of the compound in groups of fours and fives, the source said.
Routine police patrol and checkpoints around the area however remained in place, he added.
The police spokesperson, Abubakar Zubairu, said Kaduna was calm.
Another official said security was stepped amid concerns that Shiites would hold their annual Ashura procession on Tuesday.
Three senior members of the group told PREMIUM TIMES that the procession would go ahead as planned on Wednesday.
Asked of the security implication, one leader said: We will do our procession. The worst they can do is to kill people.
The military activity around the area earlier on Tuesday was reminiscent of the run-up to the massacre last December of hundreds of supporters of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria by the army and the arrest of its leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky.
Mr. Zakzaky remains in government custody.
A drama occurred on Tuesday at an Oredo Magistrates Court in Benin, when an 18-year-old man, Abudullahi Muhammed, defecated on his body to evade arraignment.
Mr. Muhammed defecated on his body when his case was to be mentioned.
After defecating, he put on his trousers back and took to his heels.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Investigative Police Officer, Aigbochie Iruonagbe, had to call for more policemen to assist him to apprehend Mr. Muhammed.
The policemen arrested Muhammed and gave him bags of sachet water to bathe before he was arraigned.
During arraignment, the prosecutor, Thomas Ojo, told the court that the accused stole four cartoons of powdered milk, from Favour Nwachukwu.
Mr. Ojo said the accused committed the offence on October 8 at Mission Road, Benin.
The accused pleaded guilty to the one-count charge.
The Magistrate, Mrs J.O. Ejale, adjourned the case till Oct. 14 for presentation of facts of the case and sentencing. (NAN)
A Professor of International Law and Jurisprudence, Akin Oyebode, has criticised the recent arrests of some judges accused of corrupt acts by operatives of the State Security Services, SSS.
In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES in Lagos, Tuesday, Mr. Oyebode said the Nigerian Police Force are the appropriate authority to have undertaken the task.
I dont believe breaking into homes at the dead of the night and arresting judges accused of corruption is part and parcel of the mandate of the DSS (another name for the SSS), said Mr. Oyebode, Chairman of the Office of International Relations, Partnerships and Prospects, University of Lagos.
The DSS is a security police to arrest attempts to overthrow the government of the day, treason, sedition, all those anti government acts. Whereas corrupt practice is under the jurisdiction, in my view, of the ICPC and EFCC.
By no stretch of the imagination can the DSS be said to have it within its jurisdiction.
An overnight assault on some senior judges in six states by the SSS late Friday and early Saturday resulted in the arrest of some judges.
Officials of the SSS had told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday that the operation was ordered after months of investigation, during which the secret police established credibly that the affected judges were involved in questionable financial dealings.
The crackdown on the judges generated heated debates across the country and, once again, put Nigerias secret polices mode of operation on the spotlight.
Of the 15 judges from the High, Appeal, and the Supreme Court said to be under investigation, seven were arrested during the weekend raid.
The seven were granted bail on Monday on self recognition, with the SSS attributing their actions to a seeming lack of cooperation from the National Judicial Council, a body saddled with disciplining errant judges.
I think its a sad day for Nigeria, because you dont break the law in order to implement the law, said Mr. Oyebode.
Which is what the DSS seem to be saying, that because of the inaction or lack of cooperation by the NJC they had to resort to self-help.
In fact, my gut reaction is that this might be the handiwork of fifth columnists, those that want to do in the government of Buhari.
Im not sure a Buhari who has touted himself as a born again democrat, welded to the notion of rule of law will authorise the outrageous act by the DSS.
So either some peoplemisguidedwho want to impress the powers that be by their work decided to go for broke in that respect. And I think it should be deprecated because there are so many rules of law that have been breached.
And their subsequent comments, almost trying to try the accused in newspapers and what have you, because the accused have presumption of innocence and the onus of proof is on the state, and the onus is proved beyond reasonable doubt.
You had given the impression that you have basis and reasons for what you did and you have not ensured that the public hears the side of the arrested persons, which is unfair.
Mr. Oyebode said under the Nigerian Constitution, the task of discipline in the judiciary lays solely with the NJC who investigate and isolate the judge if found culpable.
Now having separated the judge who had been found wanting in terms of his calling and judicial oath you know theres a judicial oath that judges swear when they are appointed, to do justice to all manner of persons without fear, affection or ill-will to be very neutral, non-partisan, fair to everybody, and not bend the scales of justice in favour of any accused person. Thats the judicial oath.
So if any of them is found to have violated that oath, definitely he should be removed from the judiciary. The removal from the judiciary will lay the foundations for trial for any criminal act, say bribery and corruption .
But the way things turned out, the DSS is the accuser, the jury, and almost the executioner. Its not done.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday named a committee to investigate weekends raid by the State Security Service, SSS, on some judges homes across the country.
The motion was tabled by a lawmaker from Rivers State, Chinda Ogundu.
Scores of SSS operatives conducted a night raid of the residences of some judges between Friday and Saturday, accusing the judges of fraud.
The six-state sweep also included Mr. Ogundus state of Rivers, where Governor Nyesom Wike foiled an attempt to arrest a judge attached to the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court.
The largely unprecedented operation has continued to generate divergent views amongst Nigerians.
The Senate condemned the raid, but rejected a motion to summon the Director General of SSS, Lawal Daura.
The House also refused to summon Mr. Daura, but said the committee to investigate the circumstance of the raid.
A lawmaker, Mojeed Alabi, suggested that the House should respect the principles of separation of powers and stay away from the matter, but the House approved the motion nonetheless.
Editors Note: The House of Representatives denied Mr. Ogundus request to summon the SSS DG. Our earlier article regrettably stated otherwise.
The Nigerian Senate, on Tuesday, condemned the raid on judges homes weekend, but refused to summon the Director General of the State Security Service, Lawan Daura, over the matter.
In a motion brought as matter of urgent national importance by Joshua Lidani (PDP-Gombe), the Senate was asked to look into the action of the SSS which led to arrest of seven judges in the early hours of Saturday.
One of the resolutions canvassed by Mr. Lidani was that the Senate should invite Mr. Daura to explain why his agency carried out the action the way it did without deference to the constitutional responsibility of the National Judicial Council.
The prayer was denied.
The Senate affirmed support in entirety for the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari, including the efforts to sanitize the Judiciary.
But lawmakers criticised the SSS operations.
The Senate asked its Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters headed by David Umaru (APC-Niger) to review all laws regarding the countrys security agencies and report back in four weeks.
Dino Melaye (APC-Kogi) said the SSS had a legitimate mandate to handle matters involving economic crimes of national security scale, making reference to the National Security Agencies Act.
Mr. Melaye, however, queried how does bribery and corruption and official misconduct become threat to internal security?
SSS overstepped their boundary and abused their mandate, he said.
Suleiman Hukunyi (APC-Kaduna) also asked the security institutions to remain within the mandate provided by the law.
The Senate is irreversibly committed to assisting this government in fighting corruption, Bala NaAllah (APC-Kebbi) said in his contribution.
He added that if the SSS action was right it would not have generated this hullabaloo.
Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, said he supported the prayer that Mr. Daura be invited. Other speakers were silent on that prayer.
He joked that many of his colleagues had gone to urinate to avoid commenting on the SSS action because of the risk of having security operatives jump over their fences tomorrow.
We support the president but we must ensure survival of democracy, he said.
He said just as former governors were treated as criminal suspects abroad, nobody would have confidence in any judgement from the Nigerian courts given SSS action.
In his remarks, Mr. Saraki said going against the law does not help the war against corruption.
Implementation plans for the effective commencement of a number of the social investment programmes of the Buhari presidency has reached advanced stages as the selection of the first 200,000 unemployed graduates to get jobs is now being completed.
Speaking with a small group of radio journalists and producers at the Presidential Villa, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed that we expect that before the end of the month, we will engage 200,000, out of the 500,000 unemployed graduates the Buhari administration plans to hire in the N-Power jobs programme.
According to him, the direct government jobs is meant to keep this young people occupied, pay them some amount of money and also give them a device, which will also help them to learn several skills that they can develop as time goes on.
Prof. Osinbajo added that we expect that before the end of this month, we should have engaged 200,000 of them and we are hoping that before the end of the year we should have engaged more.
Similarly, Mr. Osinbajo disclosed that the Home-Grown School Feeding programme is set to kick off in several states this month.
Definitely before the end of this month, we expect that several states would have come on stream with their Home-grown School Feeding Programmes, the Vice President noted.
He added that the Home-Grown School Feeding programme will energise agriculture in the different states because it is what you plant that you feed the children with, we will be hiring caterers, cooks, etc in each state because it will be Federal Government funded from Primaries 1-3 and the state governments hopefully would be able to cater for the other classes.
According to the Vice President, the Home-Grown School Feeding programme is another section of the Social Investment programmes that impact directly on the lives of Nigerian children and families. He said several states will start implementing the Home-grown School Feeding Programme before the end of October.
Equally he stated that the Micro-Credit scheme for which the Buhari administration will give very low-cost loans to more than one million Nigerian artisans, traders, market women and other ranging from N60,000 to N100,000 would also be kicking off this month.
According to him, for women across the country, we are giving loans, micro credit loans to about 1.5 million women. We are focusing on market women and artisans, loans between N60,000 and 100,000 each. We are working through the Bank of Industry, BOI. They are going to be giving out these loans, weve already identified the banks and everybody who is involved in this. We should be flagging-off hopefully before the end of this month
Such soft loans to the artisans, traders and market women, according to him, is meant to boost their businesses.
The Vice President reassured Nigerians that the current Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari is well focused on ameliorating the plight of the citizens of the country, observing that the administration feels the pains of the citizens and is committed to assuaging them.
We fully understand and appreciate the situation of things in the country and we are committed to ensuring that that pain is assuaged. The President stated that clearly in his October 1st broadcast to the nation. All his life, he has been a salary earner, he has never been a businessman, so he understands why someone who earns a salary and even those who do not, are severely challenged at this time of economic recession such as we are experiencing, he said.
On the economy, Vice President Osinbajo said government is committed to developing it, to enable citizens find opportunities within the country.
I want to assure Nigerians that the government of President Buhari is a very focused and determined government. We are committed to ensuring that we are able to develop the Nigerian economy in such a way that Nigerians are able to find opportunities in their own country, he said.
He listed the Made in Nigeria project, moving away from import dependence, boosting agriculture, and encouraging manufacturing as some of the urgent actions being pursued by government in order to move the country forward.
The Vice President also emphasized the Buhari administrations zero tolerance for corruption, as corruption is the major drain on the countrys resources. He added that no one would be spared in the fight against corruption because, even the close friends of the President know that they will not be spared, he will not cover for them. Fighting corruption is a priority.
On the current recession, the Vice President said the fall in oil prices and pipeline vandalism were the immediate causes of the recession, thus reducing drastically, the countrys revenue. But he assured that government will adequately manage the little being realised now.
We were producing up to 2.2 million barrels a day but all of a sudden, the vandalization of our terminals caused us to lose up to a million barrels a day.
So when you lose up to 60 per cent of your revenue or even more, there must be a shock because you are really earning very little and we will ensure that that very little that we are earning is as well managed as possible, he said.
Kano State on Tuesday joined some northern states to ban the activities of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, the foremost Shiite group in Nigeria.
Kaduna, Katsina and Kebbi States, all in the north western Nigeria, recently declared the groups activities, unlawful.
The action came about 10 months after over 300 members of the group were killed by soldiers who accused them of blocking a road and plotting to kill the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, a lieutenant general.
The IMN denied the charges, saying it was targeted in an extra judicial killing.
Since then its members have carried out protests in some parts of the states demanding the release of its leaders, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and its members from detention.
The police in Kano State, while announcing the ban in a statement, warned the people of the state especially those who organise and conduct processions in the name of religious rites to desist from doing so or face the full wrath of the law.
The Kano State Police Command under the leadership of CP Rabiu Yusuf is sounding a warning to especially people who organize and conduct processions in the name of religious rites, the statement signed by commands spokesperson, Magaji Majiya, a deputy superintendent of police.
The commissioner of police boldly warned that the command will not relent in ensuring law and order prevail on any religious group or sect that is trying to become a threat to the public peace and order.
The police said though it would continue to respect the right of the people of the state to practice any religion of their choice, it would however not allow any group to abuse the right by breaking the law and infringing on other peoples rights in the community and public roads.
It said, We hope the good people of the state will continue to cooperate with the Command to avert the criminal intent of some few elements in the state and its neighbourhood.
Kaduna State government had last Friday issued an order declaring the IMN an unlawful society.
It said it took the decision not only to preserve peace and security in the state but also ensure that all persons and organisations were guided by lawful conduct and with due allegiance to the Nigerian state and its constitution.
The Kaduna state executive council approved the making of this order following deliberations at its meeting of Thursday, 06 October 2016, Samuel Aruwan, a spokesperson to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, said in a statement.
The government had set up a commission of inquiry to look into the December 2015 armys attack on the Shiite group.
The Islamic group declined appearance before the panel, insisting that Mr. El-Zakzaky and other members detained, were freed before it could do so.
The Katsina State Police Command had earlier in April banned all processions, rallies and unlawful assemblies of the Shiites and other religious groups.
A statement by the spokesperson of the command, Salisu Agaisa, a deputy superintendent of police, warned that person or group of persons caught violating the order would be arrested and prosecuted.
The command wishes to inform the general public that it has banned all forms of processions, rallies, gatherings and unlawful assemblies under any guise throughout the state, the statement said.
The police also asked parents and guardians not to allow their children to be involved in such acts.
We are calling on parents and guardians to closely monitor their children and prevent them from taking part in such acts, as they could easily be influenced by unscrupulous elements to threaten the relative peace being enjoyed in the state, it said.
A few days later, the Divisional Police Officers, in various towns in Kebbi State ordered the groups to cease all their educational activities or they face the wrath of their might.
A detachment of troops of the joint military force deployed to the Niger Delta, Operation Delta Safe, on Tuesday morning used firearms to disperse hundreds of ex-militants who had blocked the East-West road, injuring one.
The ex-militants, under phases 1 to 3 of the amnesty scheme, blocked the Mbiama axis of the East-West road to motorists at about 6.30 a.m. Tuesday.
Respite however came to the trapped motorists when armed troops arrived in two patrol vans to remove the blockade and open the road to the public at around 7.30 am.
The soldiers fired several warning shots into the air which compelled the protesters to scamper to safety.
Elliot Seimiebo, an ex-militant who is on the phase 1 of the amnesty scheme, said on Tuesday that the soldiers used the firearms to disperse a peaceful protest aimed at drawing attention to the neglect of their welfare.
We had renounced violence and remain peaceful in all our approaches, our intention was to draw attention to the nonpayment of our stipends for four months, he said.
We were not armed but the soldiers turned their weapons on us and there was confusion as people ran for their lives; one of the protesters was hit by stray bullet and got injured on his leg, Mr. Seimiebo said.
When contacted, Thomas Otuji, spokesman of Operation Delta Safe, said the claims that a protester were shot was untrue.
Our troops were sent to the scene to ensure free flow of traffic and they went there to clear the blockade on the East-West road and there is no such report at my disposal as we speak; the protesters were professionally dispersed, Mr. Otuji said by phone.
Also Piriye Kirayamo, Liason Officer at the Amnesty Office in Yenagoa, said the office was aware of the liability to the militants but assured that efforts were underway to clear the backlog of stipends.
We have been in discussions with the ex-agitators and have been appealing to them to remain calm, the office is doing everything to ensure that their stipends are paid, Kiyaramo said.
Police officers have been deployed in the premises of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA, following agitations for the removal of the institutions Vice Chancellor, Adebiyi Daramola, by labour unions.
The unions had protested his release by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after he was interrogated on allegations of fraud last Wednesday.
The workers, members of the Non Academic Staff Union of Universities, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the National Association of Academic Technologists, are demanding the prosecution of the VC and his removal as head of the institution.
Mr. Daramola was quizzed by the anti-graft agency, alongside the bursar, Emmanuel Oresegun, for alleged abuse of office and mismanagement of funds.
He was alleged to have drawn furniture allowance annually instead of once in four years as approved and paying himself housing allowance while residing in the University Vice Chancellors Quarters.
He was also alleged to have diverted funds from various unrelated subheads to finance other projects without the appropriate approvals.
Vehicles were, Monday, barred from entering into FUTA premises by armed policemen, but the pedestrian gate was opened to visitors.
The workers who began their protest on Thursday did not, however, turn up to continue the protest as they did last week.
The Public Relations Officers of Ondo police, Femi Joseph, said the officers were asked to still remain at the entrance of the institution in order to avoid breakdown of law and order.
Our men are still there to maintain law and order and also to ensure that peace return to the school, he said.
It is the peace we are after that is why you saw those policemen there. But as soon as we are sure that peace has returned our men will leave the place.
It was, however, gathered that Mr. Daramola has started holding meetings with principal officers of the institution in a bid to resolve the impasse. He is also said to have stayed away from his office in the institution.
The Lagos State Government is to recruit additional 5,000 neighbourhood watchers into its Neighbourhood Safety Agency to scale up maintenance of law and order.
Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode said this at the states 3rd Quarterly Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday in Lagos.
According to the governor, the recruitment will begin in November, and will cut across the states 57 local government and local council development areas.
Mr. Ambode, on August 1, signed into law the Neighbourhood Safety Agency Bill for the Regulation and Control of the Safety Corps Activities.
The issues of security and safety have been of concern to this administration and Lagosians, he said.
We will continue to redouble our efforts, especially as we approach the festive periods to make Lagos safe for all.
From Nov. 1, we will be recruiting additional 5,000 neighbourhood watchers, re-branding and re-equipping our neighbourhood watchers in the state for efficiency.
The government will pay them salaries and allowances that will attract graduates too to be recruited.
We are hopeful that this move will reduce criminal activities such as incessant kidnapping, invasion of any part of the state by militants, ritual killings, gang war and domestic violence, among others, he said.
Mr. Ambode also promised that his administration would work harder and support re-presentation of a bill that seeks a special status for Lagos State as the commercial capital of the country.
NAN reports that, on Oct. 5, the senate voted against the bill by Sen. Oluremi Tinubu seeking special status and federal grant to Lagos State.
I commend Sen. Oluremi Tinubu for promoting the bill to draw attention to how Lagos State can provide more succour to Nigerians being the home to the largest assemblage of Nigerians.
The bill was suspended and not rejected. It means that we have another chance to work harder and re-activate the bill to ensure it succeeds for the overall interest of Nigerians.
Mr. Ambode gave the assurance that invitation for a bid for construction of additional 114 roads in the state would commence in November.
We will roll out all our empowerment programmes immediately to assist all our youths, artisans and the needy.
The N500 million for the Lagos State Persons Living with Disability Fund had been provided and beneficiaries will start getting support from this quarter.
I ask for your continued support and cooperation. Pay your taxes, obey the laws of the land and make the issue of security a matter of top priority.
I believe strongly that together we will bequeath a safer and more prosperous Lagos to this generation and the ones ahead, Ambode said.
Earlier, Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos urged the state government to ensure speedy reconstruction of the Jankara and Sangrose Markets as well as set up a committee for market dues collection.
Mr. Akiolu had also called for recruitment of able-bodied men to work with the police to curb criminal activities in the state.
The Publicity Secretary of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Adeniran Abdullahi, called for establishment of youth security network in local council areas to reduce insecurity.
He urged that the youth should be carried along in the implementation of the Employment Trust Fund.
Some other residents appealed that abandoned road projects at Sari-Iganmu, Apapa-Iganmu, Itire-Ikate and Coker-Aguda be completed.
Dolphine Estate residents also complained of severe flooding in their area. (NAN)
The management of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, has risen in defence of the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Adebiyi Daramola, saying corruption allegations against him are spurious.
Mr. Daramola was on October 5 invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to answer questions bordering on misappropriation of funds.
Following the allegation and the subsequent invitation of the Vice Chancellor by the EFCC, unions in the institutions seized the opportunity to revive their agitations against Mr. Daramola, calling for his removal.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics, Olatunde Alayela, while addressing journalists in Akure on Tuesday, said the recent agitations by the three unions the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and National Association of Academic Technologists were founded in an earlier disagreement over the implementation of the federal government directive on the ownership of universities staff primary schools in the country.
The unions called for the removal of the Vice Chancellor and the Bursar and the dissolution of the Governing Council.
They rose from a joint congress on October 6 and began their protest. By October 7, the unions escalated the protest, blocking the two gates into the campus thus distrusting the normal activities within the university.
It took the effort of police officers to bring the situation under control.
Mr. Alayela stated that the petition to the EFCC against the Vice Chancellor was written by two non-teaching staff of the institution, and was based on an audit query to which explanations had been made.
The Vice Chancellor has written statements on the allegations most of which are spurious and others which arose out of lack of necessary information and understanding and supported his claims with some necessary documents to clear the air on the allegations, Mr. Alayela said.
It is the option of the university management that since the Vice Chancellor has not been pronounced guilty by the law enforcement agent, EFCC, he is reasonably and by the provision of the law of the land, be adjudged innocent.
The unions cannot pre-empt the law enforcement agent or be the judge in their own case.
The deputy vice chancellor urged the unions to allow the EFCC carry out its job of investigating the matter rather than escalate the ongoing crisis.
He noted that the unions agitation for the reinstatement of employees of the universitys staff school relieved of their jobs in line with the new policy on staff school, was misdirected and a consequence of the misunderstanding of the government circular on the policy.
He said the management was committed to dialogue with the unions and treat the matter as an internal problem of the university.
HAMMONTON The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival may not be as famous as Chinese New Year, but Stockton University Professor Amy Situ-Liu took a first step toward changing that with a celebration at Stocktons Kramer Hall on Tuesday.
Part performance and part class, the festival featured dance and song by the Atlantic Chinese Community Choir and presentations by students in Situ-Lius Experiencing China class.
The holiday is celebrated by many in China, but most Americans do not know about it, Situ-Liu said.
Student Christian Dy, of Mullica Hill, introduced the holiday, explaining it started as a way to gather with family and hope for a good harvest. It was also a time for matchmaking and love.
Lanterns provided light but have also become an artistic tradition, appearing in different shapes, sizes and materials.
Choir performances included traditional dance, a fashion show and a tea ceremony.
Student Chris Parra, of Ventnor, explained the history of the Qipao, the traditional high- collared fitted dress, which began as a loose almost robe-like outfit worn by both men and women.
The choir members, all local women, modeled colorful Qipaoin in floral patterns or intricate embroidery.
Rachel Giercyk explained the history of mooncakes served during the reception after the performance. A small, paste-filled, moon-shaped pastry, the mooncake is made differently in different cultures but is meant to be shared.
Situ-Liu said her course is meant to be not just classroom learning, but also experiential.
The program ended with a traditional tea ceremony demonstrated by Wen Ding, accompanied on violin by Ah Zee.
Dy, a health-care major who is part Chinese, said he took the course partly to learn more about his own heritage, but also to get a better understanding of the culture of patients he may treat in the future.
He said he interviewed a Chinese immigrant as a class assignment and was impressed with how they adapted to the changes they faced coming to America to start a new life.
Situ-Liu said it can be very difficult for Chinese immigrants to come to a country that is so different, which is why the choir has become so important to local residents.
It has built a community for them, she said. And it has been a way for them to reach out to the larger community to share their culture.
What a rich outpouring in fact, a veritable cornucopia of astronomical sights we have these next two weeks. We have Jupiter and Mercury close together at several dawns, while Venus is approaching Saturn and the star Antares at nightfalls. We have a Virginia rocket launch dramatically visible from South Jersey (the rocket exploded spectacularly last time). We have the moon passing in front of nights brightest star it can ever hide, plus a few others. And we have a free local Skywatch at which you can see Venus, Saturn, Mars and more through some of New Jerseys best telescopes.
Mornings of Mercury and Jupiter
If youre reading this column Tuesday around 6 to 6:30 a.m. and have an unobstructed view down to very low in the due east, you may be able to glimpse the planets Mercury and Jupiter very close together. The two are side-by-side; Mercury, the dimmer of the two bright points of light, is only about half the width of your little finger at arms length to the left of Jupiter. If youve missed this mornings conjunction, you can look for the planetary duo still rather closely paired Wednesday and Thursday around the same time (though with Mercury to the lower left).
Evenings of Venus, Saturn and Mars
During the next two weeks, fire-colored Mars keeps moving even farther to the left of dimmer Saturn in the southwest sky of early evening. But the brilliant planet Venus, the brightest point of light in the heavens, will be pulling closer to Saturn each night and also to the bright star Antares, the orange-gold heart of Scorpius the Scorpion.
Well cover the closest grouping of the three here in the next column, two weeks from today. But before then you may be able to get a fine telescopic sight of these evening planets at the upcoming Skywatch (see below for details).
A mighty rocket launch from Delmarva
For decades, the Wallops Island base on the Delmarva peninsula has been a source of rocket launches. But the most powerful of these have been the launches of the Antares rocket (named for the bright star).
The fourth of these launches, attempted in October 2014, was a horrible failure, with the rocket having to be detonated seconds after liftoff to prevent the malfunctioning rocket from going off course, as well as preventing possible casualties. Now, two years later, the fifth Antares rocket launch is scheduled for 9:13 p.m. EDT Thursday. The firing of the different stages and glowing trail from the rocket will be best seen from Cape May and the Delaware Bay shores, but all of New Jersey could see some of the launch.
These launches tend to get postponed frequently, however, so you should check the launch schedule at www.space flight.com and, closer to launch time, the Twitter feed from Wallops Island.
Another hiding of Aldebaran
The bright, orange star that marks the eye of Taurus the Bull will be hidden again by the moon in the early hours of Oct. 19. Earlier that night, two stars of the Hyades star cluster will be hidden (see lunar-occultations.com/iota/bstar/bstar.htm for times for South Jersey).
The big event, however, will be the occultation (or hiding) of bright Aldebaran by the moon. As seen from Atlantic City (up to a few minutes different for other parts of South Jersey), the star will go behind the moons bright edge at around 1:40 a.m. and come out from behind the moons dark edge a little more than an hour later. A telescope will be required to see the amazing disappearance at the bright edge but binoculars might suffice for the reappearance.
Skywatch on Oct. 21
The South Jersey Astronomy Club (SJAC) will hold another of its free public Skywatch events at Belleplain State Forest starting at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 21 (backup date in case of cloudy weather is the next day). You can go to www.sjac.us for the weather call that Friday and also for directions and other information. Featured sights through great telescopes will be three big planets, the Andromeda Galaxy and much more.
For the fifth time, sentencing for Charles and Mary Bangle, owners of the Boardwalk pizza chain Manco and Manco, has been rescheduled, the U.S. Attorneys Office said Tuesday.
The Bangles pleaded guilty to tax evasion before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court in July 2015. They also admitted to structuring cash payments to avoid reporting requirements and lying to IRS special agents.
U.S. Attorney spokesman William Skaggs said no new date has been set.
Charles Bangle, 56, of Somers Point, admitted to one count of evading taxes in 2010 and one count of structuring cash transactions in 2011.
Mary Bangle, 55, also of Somers Point, pleaded guilty to knowingly making materially false statements to IRS special agents.
Charles Bangle could face as many as 15 years in prison, while Mary Bangle will face as many as five years in prison. Her lawyers have said they believe she will get probation.
The Bangles were first scheduled to be sentenced in October 2015. The sentencing was previously postponed to Dec. 9, 2015, then March 18, 2016, then May 25 and then Oct. 13.
The owners of the Strand Theater building in Ocean City will seek city Planning Board approval at 6 p.m. Wednesday to turn the building into a Manco and Manco restaurant. The theater closed in 2014.
SEA ISLE CITY As the states heroin epidemic grows, officials and residents of Sea Isle City hope to raise awareness among parents and grandparents about risky behavior.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio said the city will offer two free programs Thursday with guest speaker John Kriger, of Kriger Consulting, about what kids know and you dont.
The first session will target senior citizens, beginning with a 30-minute luncheon followed by a 90-minute presentation on the importance of securing medication in their homes.
Grandparents generally have medications at home, Desiderio said. Pills could lead to heroin. We wanted grandparents to be wary of this.
He said young adults living with grandparents may try to steal their prescriptions or other items in their house to sell for drugs or money.
The second session for adults and parents will be 90 minutes, followed by pizza and salad.
That session will reveal some alarming facts about what kids are doing to get high these days, Desiderio said.
Parents will learn the most current information on high-risk behaviors and how they drastically change the risk potential for every family.
Every day another family is affected by the heroin epidemic and prescription drug abuse, Desiderio said.
Sea Isle City police Chief Thomas DIntino said addiction knows no boundaries. He said that six times so far in 2016, officers have had to use Narcan to revive a person overdosed on opioids. The people ranged in age from 17 to 50.
All six were saves, DIntino said.
Sea Isle City school board President Dan Tumolo said the board has been vigilant in addressing addiction in children as young as fifth grade. There are programs at Ocean Citys intermediate and high schools. And for several years, the board has funded a countywide survey for students in seventh, ninth, 11th and 12th grades on substance abuse.
Our survey from the students came back and said, We know the dangers because were getting it in school, but our parents dont know, Tumolo said.
Desiderio said the program is a result of the community members recognizing the problem, which affects all of Cape May County.
He said the city received support from the Sea Isle City Board of Education, police department, municipal alliance, Cape May County Prosecutors Office, Cape May County Department of Human Services, Cape Counseling and Cape Assist. The program is sponsored by Acme Markets, the Sea Isle City Chamber of Commerce and Revitalization, 1st Bank of Sea Isle City and Wawa.
Both programs are free and open to the public.
LOWER TOWNSHIP A woman trying to board a ferry at the North Cape May terminal earlier this month was found with 250 bags of heroin, the Delaware River and Bay Authority said Tuesday.
Dawn Corcoran, 45, of Lower Township, was trying to get on a Cape May-Lewes Ferry boat to Lewes, Delaware, scheduled to leave at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 1. DRBA Patrolman David Santiago tried to search her bag for security purposes, according to a statement.
26 indicted in major Cape May County drug sting Twenty-six people have been indicted by a grand jury on multiple drug and weapons charges af
The DRBA said she grabbed the bag away from Santiago and tried to run into the womens bathroom. Corcoran eventually allowed Santiago to search her bag, and he found a tightly wrapped rectangle of black tape, the DRBA said.
Corcoran told the officer it was a phone charger, before telling him, You got me, its drugs its heroin, the DRBA said.
An arrest warrant had been out for Corcoran for violating her parole, the DRBA said.
She was taken to the Lower Township Police Department and charged with possession of a controlled deadly substance within 500 feet of a public park, possession of heroin, and possession of heroin with intent to distribute, the DRBA said.
Corcorans bail was set at $50,000 cash, and she was taken to the Cape May County jail, the DRBA said.
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.
Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.
Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.
to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.
Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.
View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.
Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.
Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.
The three countries will discuss in the summit issues of mutual cooperation including agriculture, tourism and energy
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades arrived in Cairo late Monday to take part in a tripartite summit with leaders from Greece and Egypt on mutual cooperation between the three countries, state news agency MENA reported.
A Greek ministerial delegation, headed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is expected in Cairo shortly for the fourth round of the summit, which will be held at a Cairo presidential palace later on Tuesday.
The gathering will look at means to put into action mutual projects agreed in previous summits, mainly in the fields of agriculture, tourism, energy and maritime transport.
The three sides will discuss means to "boost counterterrorism cooperation" as well as pressing security issues including illegal migration and the situation in war-torn Syria and Libya, MENA said.
The summit agenda includes discussing the development of maritime transport networks between the three countries, bolstering tourism as well as exploring and transporting Egypt's and Cyprus' offshore natural gas, the Greek embassy said in a statement.
The first trilateral summit was held in Cairo in November 2014, the second in Nicosia in April 2015 and the third in Athens in December 2015.
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Egypt agreed on Tuesday with Cyprus and Greece to work on stopping the flow of irregular migrants during a tripartite summit held in Cairo between the leaders of the three countries.
Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said in a press conference that the three leaders agreed on making the migration crisis a priority and that the solution should not be limited to security measures and deportation.
El-Sisi added that Egypt was interested in boosting cooperation between Cyprus and Greece to work towards mutual interests, adding that the summit saw discussion of several visions on how to enhance strategic relations.
This is the fourth tripartite summit recently held between the three countries, with the first held in Cairo in November 2014, the second in Nicosia in April 2015 and the third in Athens in December 2015.
The discussions also involved talks on energy, preserving the ecosystem in the Mediterranean, and activating maritime transport between the three countries.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said that the discussions with El-Sisi and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras were successful, stressing that the cooperation between the three countries was not "directed against any other state," in what is believed to be a comment directed at Turkey.
During a 2014 Cairo visit, the Cypriot president slammed Ankara for its handling of negotiations with Cyprus over disputed territory in the country under Turkish control.
Though El-Sisi had not commented on the Turkey-Cyprus dispute at the time, on Tuesday he put Egyptian support behind Cyprus to reach a fair solution that would ensure the unity of the country while preserving the rights of all Cypriot citizens in accordance with legitimate international accords.
Relations between Turkey and Egypt have been strained since the 2013 ouster of Egypts Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a close ally of Erdogan's AKP government.
Anastasiades added that the three countries face mutual challenges that call for more cooperation, especially in combating terrorism and the flow of migrants.
Greeces Tsipras described the cooperation between Cairo and Nicosia as one that was strategic to his country, adding that they also discussed joint projects related to the natural gas fields in the Mediterranean.
He said that Europes security depends on neighboring countries, especially Egypt, adding that the Palestinian issue and the establishment of a Palestinian state were also discussed during the summit.
Following their meeting, the three leaders sent a symbolic message of peace by planting three olive trees as a show of support for peace and stability in the Middle East region.
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Partnership adds 92,000 suppliers, helps Aztec Exchange establish sizable foothold in Latin America
DUBLIN and SANTIAGO, Chile, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aztec Exchange, a global supplier of invoice finance products and services, today announced a significant move into the Latin American market, launching its invoice early payment tool, ePayMe (epayme.cl), with Chile-based Gosocket. Through this partnership, Aztec will provide Gosocket's $150 billion annual volume e-invoice network with on demand invoice payment via ePayMe, enabling 92,000 suppliers to log in and quickly monetize outstanding electronic invoices. ePayMe will service Gosocket's $200 million in monthly invoice finance requests with proprietary and institutional investor capital.
ePayMe takes traditional early payment services like factoring and turns it on its head. Typically issuing payment within 24 hours, ePayMe offers complete transparency, so there are no hidden fees, credit checks or interest charges, and suppliers only pay a minimal invoice discount charge. Additionally, a supplier using the ePayMe portal can sell as many outstanding invoices as they choose from approved corporate buyers, and there are no restrictive long-term contracts.
"The Latin American market is certainly ahead of the curve when it comes to understanding the value of e-invoicing and early payment. This partnership with Gosocket presents tremendous opportunities for their customers to get the working capital they need in a completely transparent environment," said Aztec CEO Edwin Hagan-Emmin. "There is pent up demand for a flexible, cost-effective service like ePayMe, where access to early payment is available to all suppliers, all of the time. We fund invoices based on the quality of the buyer not the creditworthiness of the supplier. ePayMe represents a big economic multiplier for suppliers and corporations and a great risk-adjusted return for investors."
"Gosocket's main goal is to empower companies based on the exchange of compliant electronic invoices in Latin America. With ePayMe, we will empower companies not only operationally but financially," said Sergio Chaverri, co-Founder/CMO of Gosocket. "We are happy to be working with Aztec Exchange to lead this new era of e-commerce B2B for Latin America."
Aztec Exchange launched their early payment service in May 2016 with the Dublin-based firm Celtrino, servicing their network of more than 4,000 suppliers. On October 6, the company launched exclusively with Grupo SERES in Spain. It expects to announce additional partners servicing a global customer base in the months ahead.
About Aztec Exchange
Aztec Exchange is a leading payment company dedicated to streamlining global supplier finance. Founded by former Morgan Stanley and HSBC executives, Aztec Exchange's flagship service is PayMe (known as ePayMe in Latin America and Spain) - a reliable, cost-effective and easy-to-use early payment solution. With PayMe, suppliers sell their invoices and receive working capital within days rather than weeks or even months. PayMe is available as a white-label service and can be easily integrated into e-invoicing networks.
Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and with operations in Los Angeles and Miami, Aztec can be found online at www.aztecexchange.com.
About Gosocket
Gosocket, a corporate social network that connects companies from electronic invoices issued and received in different countries in Latin America where electronic invoicing is allowed. From this connection provides value-added services of financial or operating. Founded in 2012, connects more than 500 million electronic invoices over 1 million companies throughout Latin America. Access is via a web portal www.gosocket.net, which can also be accessed through mobile devices either by their mobile web version m.gosocket.net or through native applications for your smartphone or tablet iOS, Android, Windows Phone or Windows 10.
CONTACT: CONTACT: David Eckstein Juan M. Tirado Aztec Exchange Gosocket pr@aztecexchange.com Juan.Tirado@gosocket.net 415-385-9676 +506 2288 2386
Related Links
http://www.aztecexchange.com
SOURCE Aztec Exchange
Brunswick strengthens global Employee Engagement expertise
LONDON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Brunswick Group, a leading corporate advisory firm, announced today that Christopher Hannegan has joined the firm as a partner, leading its global Employee Engagement offer. Christopher is a trusted advisor to many Fortune 500 companies, having led efforts around large-scale change, effective internal communications and improved employee engagement.
"We are thrilled Christopher is joining Brunswick. He is an incredibly experienced communications strategist. His ability to help companies improve performance through effective employee engagement will be of enormous benefit to our clients," said Group Chief Executive Officer Susan Gilchrist.
Brunswick's Employee Engagement offer is founded on the belief that employees are key influencers in the success of any critical situation. A global team of expert advisors aids companies to embed purpose and create an engaged workforce focused on delivering success. The firm's work focuses on four key areas: business critical moments, leadership communication, social purpose and managing business risk.
On joining the firm, Christopher said: "I'm honored to join Brunswick and its powerful network of highly skilled advisors. Employees are often the most important, yet underserved audience in critical business moments, and it speaks volumes that Brunswick is investing even further in the firm's employee engagement competency."
Christopher Hannegan
Christopher has more than 23 years of experience in strategy, internal communications, leadership communications, change management and corporate reputation management. He has helped organizations communicate business strategy and change, excite employees about delivering a new brand or product and better connect leadership with employees. He is a frequent presenter, lecturer and publisher on topics related to employee engagement.
Christopher founded Edelman's Employee Engagement offering and was a principal at Booz & Company (now called Strategy& and a part of PwC), where he led the firm's People & Change team. Christopher began his career at Bayer in the U.S. and Germany, where he held various positions responsible for international employee communications, branding, mergers and acquisitions, identity change communications, media relations and advertising. Christopher holds a degree in journalism from Penn State University and has completed foreign language studies in Kiel, Germany. He is highly proficient in German.
About Brunswick Group
Brunswick Group LLP is an advisory firm specializing in critical issues and corporate relations. Founded in 1987, Brunswick is a private partnership that has grown organically with 23 offices around the world. For more information, visit: www.brunswickgroup.com.
Contact:
Cecilia Arradaza
Tel: (202) 393-7337
carradaza@brunswickgroup.com
Related Links
http://www.brunswickgroup.com
SOURCE Brunswick Group
- No approved targeted therapy exists for FLT3-ITD+ acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive and difficult-to-treat form of AML affecting approximately 30 percent of AML patients
- QuANTUM-First study to examine safety and efficacy of quizartinib as a first-line treatment in combination with induction and consolidation chemotherapy and as maintenance monotherapy in newly-diagnosed patients with FLT3-ITD+ AML
- Comprehensive clinical development program with second phase 3 study of quizartinib highlights Daiichi Sankyo commitment to AML
- Another phase 3 study, QuANTUM-R, currently enrolling patients with FLT3-ITD+ relapsed/refractory AML
TOKYO and PARSIPPANY, New Jersey and MUNICH, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo) today announced that the first patient has been enrolled in the global phase 3 QuANTUM-First study evaluating the oral FLT3-ITD inhibitor quizartinib in patients with newly-diagnosed FLT3-ITD-positive (+) acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
QuANTUM-First is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating quizartinib in combination with induction and consolidation chemotherapy and as maintenance monotherapy in patients with newly-diagnosed FLT3-ITD+ AML. The primary endpoint of the study is event-free survival. Secondary endpoints include overall survival, complete remission rate, composite complete remission rate and the percentage of subjects achieving a complete remission with no evidence of minimal residual disease.
Approximately 30 percent of patients with AML have a genetic mutation called FLT3-ITD, which is associated with more aggressive disease, resulting in increased relapse rate and reduced overall survival compared to those without this mutation.1 FLT3-ITD mutations are more common than FLT3-TKD mutations, which occur in approximately 10 percent of AML patients.1 There is controversy as to whether FLT3-TKD mutations carry as poor a prognosis as FLT3-ITD mutations.1 Currently, there are no approved targeted treatments for FLT3-ITD+ AML, with little change in the treatment of AML for the past 30 years.2
"It is well established that patients with FLT3-ITD mutated AML have an overall worse prognosis compared to those without this specific mutation," said Harry Erba, MD, PhD, Chair of the QuANTUM-First Steering Committee and Professor of Medicine and Director of the Hematologic Malignancy Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "In this study we are evaluating whether adding quizartinib to standard first-line chemotherapy will help delay or prevent relapse, which in turn may impact overall survival in patients with FLT3-ITD+ AML."
"Given the high unmet need in FLT3-ITD+ AML, we are moving forward with a comprehensive clinical development program investigating the role of quizartinib in multiple lines of treatment including induction and consolidation chemotherapy, maintenance therapy and salvage therapy," said Antoine Yver, MD, MSc, Executive Vice President and Global Head, Oncology Research and Development, Daiichi Sankyo. "Additionally, we also are looking to combine quizartinib with other investigational agents in our pipeline such as our MDM2 and BRD4 inhibitors where science suggests combining different mechanisms of action may help improve outcomes."
QuANTUM-First is expected to enroll more than 500 patients between 18 and 75 years of age in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. More information about the study is available at ClinicalTrials.gov or www.QuantumFirstStudy.com.
About Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common type of acute leukemia accounting for about 33 percent of all new cases of leukemia.3 An aggressive blood and bone marrow cancer, AML causes uncontrolled growth and accumulation of malignant white blood cells that fail to function normally and interfere with the production of normal blood cells.3 The five-year survival rate of AML is approximately 26 percent, which is the lowest of all leukemias.3
About Quizartinib
Quizartinib is an investigational oral small molecule that potently and selectively inhibits FLT3-ITD (FMS-like tyrosine kinase-3-internal tandem duplication), which is a growth driver of abnormal cells that contribute to the development of AML.4 Quizartinib has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of AML. Quizartinib also has been granted Fast Track Designation by the FDA for the treatment of relapsed/refractory AML. Quizartinib has not been approved by any regulatory authority for uses under investigation.
In addition to QuANTUM-First, a global, randomized, open-label, phase 3 study called QuANTUM-R is evaluating quizartinib as monotherapy in patients with FLT3-ITD+ AML who are refractory to or have relapsed after first-line treatment with or without hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). The primary objective of QuANTUM-R is to determine whether quizartinib prolongs overall survival compared to salvage chemotherapy, and the secondary objective is to determine event-free survival. The trial is expected to enroll approximately 363 patients age 18 or older in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. More information about QuANTUM-R is available at www.QuantumRStudy.com or ClinicalTrials.gov.
About Daiichi Sankyo Cancer Enterprise
The vision of Daiichi Sankyo Cancer Enterprise is to push beyond traditional thinking to align world-class science to create innovative treatments for patients with cancer. The oncology pipeline of Daiichi Sankyo continues to grow and currently includes more than 20 small molecules and monoclonal antibodies with novel targets in both solid and hematological cancers. Compounds in phase 3 development include: quizartinib, an oral FLT3-ITD inhibitor, for newly-diagnosed and relapsed/refractory FLT3-ITD+ acute myeloid leukemia (AML); pexidartinib, an oral CSF-1R inhibitor, for tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT), also known as pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) and giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath (GCT-TS), which also is being investigated in combination with anti-PD1 immunotherapy, pembrolizumab, in a range of solid tumors; and tivantinib, an oral MET inhibitor, for second-line treatment in patients with MET-high hepatocellular carcinoma in partnership with ArQule, Inc.
About Daiichi Sankyo
Daiichi Sankyo Group is dedicated to the creation and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products to address diversified, unmet medical needs of patients in both mature and emerging markets. With over 100 years of scientific expertise and a presence in more than 20 countries, Daiichi Sankyo and its 16,000 employees around the world draw upon a rich legacy of innovation and a robust pipeline of promising new medicines to help people. In addition to a strong portfolio of medicines for hypertension and thrombotic disorders, under the Group's 2025 Vision to become a "Global Pharma Innovator with Competitive Advantage in Oncology," Daiichi Sankyo research and development is primarily focused on bringing forth novel therapies in oncology, including immuno-oncology, with additional focus on new horizon areas, such as pain management, neurodegenerative diseases, heart and kidney diseases, and other rare diseases. For more information, please visit: www.daiichisankyo.com. Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, is a member of the Daiichi Sankyo Group. To learn more about Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., please visit: www.dsi.com.
Contact
Jennifer Brennan
Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.
jbrennan2@dsi.com
+1 973 944 2393 (office)
+1 201 709 9309 (mobile)
References:
NCCN Guidelines. Acute Myeloid Leukemia Version 2.2016. 2016. Dohner H, et al. Acute Myeloid Leukemia. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2015;373(12):1136-1152. Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Facts 2015-2016. 2016. Zarrinkar P, et al. Blood. 2009;114(14): 2984-2992.
DSC 16 0022 October 2016
SOURCE Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited
ABU DHABI and DUBAI, UAE, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Harshul Joshi to join other technology firm panellists in Innovation Series discussion
DarkMatter, an international cyber security firm headquartered in the UAE, announces that its cyber governance and risk expert, Harshul Joshi, will participate in a Dubai Future Accelerators panel discussion entitled, "Cybersecurity in a Smart City".
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427248 )
The session will take place from 7-8pm on October 12, 2016 at the Dubai Future Accelerators auditorium in the Jumeirah Emirates Towers offices.
Joshi, DarkMatter's Senior Vice President for Cyber Governance, Risk and Compliance, will speak as part of the Dubai Future Accelerators' Innovation Series. DarkMatter was one of only 30 technology companies from around the world recently selected to participate in the Accelerators programme.
Drawing on DarkMatter's expertise in cyber risk mitigation and advisory, Joshi will also reference his own experience having consulted to governments on matters such as the development of critical regulations and standards in areas such as data security, authentication, encryption and secure protocols.
As an architect of a cutting-edge assessment model that aggregates smart city risks through a key performance indicator-based approach, he also will discuss how risk mitigation can be used as a lever to enhance smart city deployments.
A thought leader and participant in several smart city and cyber security working groups in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Joshi also will address key technologies to enable smart cities. Public key infrastructure (PKI), blockchain and cryptography have the potential to help deliver the security required to unlock the full benefits that smart cities offer. DarkMatter has deep domain expertise in all three technologies.
Commenting on the company's participation in the Innovation Series, Faisal Al Bannai, Chief Executive Officer of DarkMatter said, "We have recruited some of the most experienced, talented and innovative experts in cyber security globally. We are committed to bringing our knowledge and forward-looking vision to our clients and to collaborative local platforms such as the Dubai Future Accelerators programme."
"Building on DarkMatter's inclusion in the Dubai Future Accelerators programme, we are pleased that Harshul will contribute to the exchange of information and ideas on such an important topic, alongside such esteemed panellists."
Dubai Future Accelerators is the world's largest government-supported accelerator, launched by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Future Foundation. The programme is in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and identifies ground breaking companies from around the world, offering them the opportunity to find and test new solutions to real-life challenges.
Pegasus, a DarkMatter company, is demonstrating big data analytics as a tool to Dubai Police to help solve crime. Dubai Police is looking to integrate behavioural, genetic and biological systems to identify, track and share information on criminals more accurately and efficiently.
Harshul Joshi commented, "There is arguably no better place in the world than Dubai to be addressing the requirements for the creation of a resilient smart city. The nation's and city's leadership must be commended for their vision for building connected, intelligent environments, and as private sector partners, it is our responsibility to add our expertise in ensuring the digital eco-system thrives."
About DarkMatter
DarkMatter is transforming the cyber security landscape by providing a complete range of state-of-the-art services and solutions to government and enterprise. Our end-to-end expertise extends to:
Governance, Risk and Compliance
We work with public and private entities in all verticals to audit and assess their performance against regulatory standards, helping identify gaps and meet obligations.
Cyber Network Defence
Our elite team of cyber experts, engaged across all competencies and functions, tasked with identifying and responding to the most advanced threats, threat actors, and cyber attacks.
Managed Security Services
We offer a remote monitoring remediation and resolution service that puts the full capabilities and resources of the DarkMatter organisation at the service of our MSS teams. Whether you need a SOC built and operated from scratch or you need assistance in upgrading what you currently have in place, DarkMatter can provide assistance.
Public Key Infrastructure
DarkMatter's Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) provides consulting to governments on the establishment of national root certificates of trust for countries. This places us in a unique position to understand not only the regulatory environment, but also the broader PKI environment, local players and Certification Authority entities. We also are the only full-service Certification Authority and PKI consultant to be headquartered in the region, and one of only a few to be located outside of North America.
Secure Communications
DarkMatter's Secure Communications Suite protects fixed and mobile voice, video, chat, email, file sharing, data communication, as well as device management across various platforms and operating systems.
Infrastructure and System Integration
This area underpins our professional services offering for governments and corporations, providing applications, services and solutions that ensure our clients remain at the forefront of cyber security.
Smart Solutions
We offer a comprehensive security suite of services comprising elements of protection for both homes and businesses: The Connected and Secure Home & Office; Technical Surveillance and Countermeasures; Mobile Peace of Mind; and Trusted Hardware supply.
Staffed by global experts and headquartered in the UAE, DarkMatter provides peace of mind through consulting and project implementations that are scalable to clients of any size and that address any domain of cyber security threat or risk. As a trusted partner to governments and critical infrastructure entities, the firm also works with leading global companies operating in the field of electronic and cyber security. DarkMatter's vision is to secure the future by protecting its technologies.
Agile and innovative, DarkMatter takes a comprehensive approach to helping its clients navigate the complex and ever-evolving world of threat and risk mitigation strategies, tools, policies and systems.
http://www.darkmatter.ae
About Dubai Future Accelerators
Dubai Future Accelerators is the world's largest government-supported accelerator, launched by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Future Foundation. The programme is in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and identifies ground breaking companies from around the world, offering them the opportunity to find and test new solutions to real-life challenges. To learn more about the Dubai Future Accelerators programme, visit: https://dubaifutureaccelerators.com/en
SOURCE DarkMatter
DUBLIN, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Epilepsy Drugs Market Analysis By Treatment (First Generation Anti-epileptics, Second Generation Anti-epileptics, Third Generation Anti-epileptics), And Segment Forecasts To 2024" report to their offering.
The global epilepsy drugs market is expected to reach over USD 5,474.14 million by 2024
The rising government funding for the development of new and effective drugs for the treatment of seizures is a high impact rendering driver for the epilepsy drugs market growth. The American Epilepsy Society (AES) in alliance with other organizations, such as American Academy of Neurology, the Epilepsy Foundation, and the Grass Foundation, provide funding for R&D activities and offer treatment line awareness trainingto the physicians through different programs.
Furthermore, various awareness programs conducted by organizations, such as the Epilepsy Foundation, the American Epilepsy Society, Epilepsy Association of Central Florida, CURE Epilepsy, and the Anita Kaufmann Foundation, further accelerate the diagnosis and treatment rates. This is expected to propel the market growth over the forecast period.
Some major players of the epilepsy drugs market include:
- Johnson & Johnson
- UCB Pharma, Inc.
- Abbott Laboratories, Inc.
- GlaxoSmithKline PLC
- Pfizer, Inc.
- Novartis AG
- Sanofi Aventis S.A.
- Shire PLC
- Tansna Therapeutics, Inc.
Key Topics Covered:
1 Executive Summary
2 Market Snapshot
3 Market Variables, Trends & Scope
4 Market Categorization 1: Epilepsy Drugs Estimates & Trend Analysis
5 Market Categorization 3: Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis, by Drug
6 Competitive Landscape
For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xqp3f9/epilepsy_drugs
Media Contact:
Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470
For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630
For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
Related Links
http://www.researchandmarkets.com
SOURCE Research and Markets
HONG KONG, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Luxury French perfume house, Fragrance Du Bois, is proud to announce its debut in East Asia on the 5th of October 2016, at Hong Kong's first and only artistic perfume boutique, Parfumerie Tresor.
Inspired by a 'girl's powder room', Parfumerie Tresor is located in the heart of the bustling city's Central district, at 28 Lyndhurst Terrace, and since its inception in 2014, has profiled and exhibited 23 niche, artistic brands such as Jovoy, Bella Bellissima, Xerjoff, Memo, Jeroboam and many others.
Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161010/8521606449-a
At the heart of all Fragrance Du Bois' creations is the 100% pure, natural, organic Oud oil, which is sustainably produced on the brand's own plantations.
Agarwood, from which Oud oil is derived, is no stranger to Hong Kong, and is the species of tree that originally gave Hong Kong its famous name. 'Fragrant Harbour' became the officially recorded name after the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, with the territory, and the port area in particular, serving as the Asian hub and the regional supplier and distribution centre for aromatic materials and ingredients.
Oud lends an extraordinary depth and longevity to a fragrance, and Fragrance Du Bois' unique range of products has established the brand's presence internationally in a remarkably short space of time, especially after its launch in Paris earlier this year, at the House of Jovoy, the 'Embassy of rare perfumes'.
Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161010/8521606449-b
"We are beyond thrilled to debut in Hong Kong," says Nicola Parker, Brand Director of Fragrance Du Bois. "Pauline and her team represent and embrace the same values and ethos as we do, and we couldn't imagine a better partner than Parfumerie Tresor. Hong Kong is part of our strategic expansion plans to reach out to the Chinese people, who already have a deep understanding of Oud and agarwood. It's been part of their history for thousands of years."
She continued, "We are also looking to increase our range of products, to include wood chips, Oud oil and incense sticks in Hong Kong over the next few months. I look forward to this unique partnership with Parfumerie Tresor, and I am excited at the prospect of what it will bring."
Pauline Lau, Founder and Managing Director of Parfumerie Tresor commented, "We are delighted to welcome Fragrance Du Bois to Hong Kong. As part of our commitment to creativity and uniqueness, we aim to introduce premium and luxury, independent perfume brands to Hong Kong and Asia's patronage. With Fragrance Du Bois' exquisite and luxurious perfumes, I strongly believe that the brand will bring a new, fragrant and sensory experience to our customers."
Using only the finest, sustainably sourced and produced ingredients, Fragrance Du Bois has boutiques in Paris, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, with several more openings Doha, Geneva, Milan, Marbella, New York and Los Angeles being planned for the coming months.
For more information, please download at http://fdbo.is/HK-launch.
Notes for Editors:
For further information, please contact:
Samantha Tham
PR & Marketing Executive, Singapore
Email: samantha.tham@fragrancedubois.com
Tel: +65 9144 0933
About Fragrance Du Bois
Fragrance Du Bois is a niche, luxury perfume house born from the richest essences of nature, crafted by fifth generation perfumers, from the 17th century French traditions of Grasse. At the heart of all Fragrance Du Bois' creations is its signature Oud that exudes the ultimate in luxury, being both distinctive and unique. All the Oud used by Fragrance Du Bois is produced on its own sustainably managed plantations, and is guaranteed to be ethically and sustainably sourced.
About Parfumerie Tresor
Parfumerie Tresor brings creative and unique perfumers under one roof; you will not find many of these fragrances anywhere else in the city. Parfumerie Tresor is not only home to different brand stories and the independent spirits of these perfumeries, but will also be a creative space for cultural events that promote the art of fragrance. A perfect pairing of perfume and personality is an elegant way to express oneself to the world.
Related Links
http://www.fragrancedubois.com
SOURCE Fragrance Du Bois
HONG KONG, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Guernsey is to host its first insurance masterclass in Hong Kong on 4 November 2016.
Guernsey, which is well-known in the western world for being the leading captive insurance domicile in Europe, is now looking to share its expertise with contacts across Asia. The masterclass follows the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with both the China Captive Alliance and the Kashgar Government by Guernsey representatives in June this year. Both agreements set out a statement of intent to facilitate captive insurance market development initiatives between the parties, international communication, financial innovation and information sharing.
The Hong Kong masterclass, which takes place at the PwC Executive Conference Centre in Central, will feature two panel discussions, one on captive insurance and the other on employee benefit trusts (EBTs), that will look at the risk management impact of global developments on innovation and growth in these sectors.
Dominic Wheatley, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance, said: "Guernsey is Europe's number one captive insurance domicile and is perfectly placed to share the expertise it has gained from more than 50 years of providing financial services. There is plenty that Asia's developing and evolving captive insurance sector can learn from Guernsey in this area and we hope that our event will offer guidance and insight into the possible use of captive insurance companies by Asian corporations.
"As Asia becomes more exposed to international management practices, recognition of the economic efficiency of insurance and the financial efficiency of formal risk management, risk transfer and risk financing models will increase."
The event is expected to appeal to insurance managers, risk managers, HR directors, finance directors, lawyers and accountants operating in Hong Kong or Asia.
The first panel session will examine the benefits of EBTs, how they meet the diverse needs of multinationals and their internationally mobile employees and Guernsey's role in the world of international employee benefits. The second panel session will consider the benefits of captive insurance companies, challenges associated with international captive programmes, local issues of domestic Asia captives and Guernsey's position as a leading captive insurance domicile.
Moderators for the panel sessions: are Nick Griffin, Chief Commercial Officer, Generali Worldwide, and Dr Andy Sloan, Director of Financial Stability & International Policy, Guernsey Financial Services Commission. Panellists include: Charne Van Biljon, Assistant Legal Counsel, Sovereign Group; Pasquale Gorrasi, Director, Generali Employee Benefits; Caroline Bradley, Deputy Director of Banking and Insurance, Guernsey Financial Services Commission; Geoffrey Cao, Executive Director, Captive Website of China; Charles Scott, Managing Director, ARM; and Rex Ho, Partner, PwC.
Sponsors of the masterclass are ARM and Generali. Registration will take place from 4.30pm and the event will commence at 5pm.
For further information or to book a delegate place please visit the event website. Alternatively, contact Vicky Richardson by email vicky@weareguernsey.com or telephone +44 (0) 1481 720071.
Notes to Editors:
Guernsey Finance is the promotional agency for the Island's finance industry internationally.
Guernsey opened a representative office in Hong Kong earlier this year. The office, which is located at Three Pacific Place in Admiralty, is used by Guernsey Finance as a base from which it can carry out further promotional activities concentrated on the wider South East Asia market, while it is also utilised by the GFSC to provide regulatory advice to those in the region who might be considering Guernsey-specific ventures.
SOURCE Guernsey Finance
PRAGUE, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
On October 6, the Global Sourcing Association (GSA), formerly known as the European Outsourcing Association (EOA), announced the winners of the 2016 EOA Awards. IBA Group - was selected the winner in the category Award for Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR).
The Global Sourcing Leadership Summit and Awards was held in Sophia, Bulgaria. Rosen Plevneliev, President of Bulgaria, opened the summit, saying that Bulgaria's competitive advantages include qualified human resources and political stability. He also highlighted the importance of the outsourcing industry for Bulgaria and for the rest of Central and Eastern Europe.
Bojidar Loukarsky, Minister of the Economy of Bulgaria, spoke of the contribution of the sourcing industry to the Bulgarian economy and of the steps the country is taking to strengthen its position as an outsourcing destination.
Kerry Hallard, CEO of the UK's National Outsourcing Association and Director of the EOA, announced that the NOA brand stopped its existence and the NOA is transformed to the Global Sourcing Association (GSA). The new association signed cooperation agreements with Russian and Chinese outsourcing associations and adopted its Global Sourcing Standard that reflects the best practice in sourcing.
The primary topics at the Global Sourcing Summit were gender equality in sourcing, robotic process automation (RPA), digital technologies, and the meaning of Brexit for the European sourcing market.
After the summit, the EOA Awards dinner was held. The contestants competed in 16 categories. IBA Group was shortlisted in the Outsourcing Destination of the Year (Belarus) and Award for CSR categories. The outsourcing destination of the year award went to Egypt, while IBA Group became the winner of the CSR Award.
Olga Moroz, Head of Marketing Department at IBA Institute and manager of this project, said that the award-winning project invokes warm feelings. Entitled Promotion of IT in Belarus among People with Disabilities, it was the first IT education project for disabled people in Belarus.
IBA Group trained 120 disabled and organized a national contest in system administration for people with disabilities with 45 course graduates participating in the competition and ten qualifying for the final. After the project was completed, former students volunteered transfer of their competencies to peers and six graduates were offered IT jobs.
Sergei Levteev, IBA Group Chairman, underscored the commitment of IBA Group to social responsibility. He said: "We strive to promote IT education in the countries of operation, providing equal opportunities to people of different age, gender, background, and physical health. I would like to thank the GSA for recognition of our efforts. The EOA Award adds visibility to our CSR initiatives and IBA Group will continue to support the development of IT education in Belarus."
See the full list of 2016 GSA European Award Winners
IBA Group is one of the largest IT service providers in Eastern Europe. Headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, IBA Group has offices and development centers in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Czech Republic, Belarus, South Africa, Cyprus, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Slovakia. IBA Group focuses on mainframe systems, enterprise applications, web solutions, SAP, business analytics, and mobile applications. IBA Group is recognized by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) as one of The Global Outsourcing 100 in the Leaders Category, and ranks as one of the world's largest software companies in the Software Magazine's Software 500. In 2015, 2014, 2012, and 2011, IBA Group won IT Europa's European IT & Software Excellence awards. For more information, visit http://ibagroupit.com
SOURCE IBA Group
LONDON, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Prestigious travel service 'EasyLimo' becomes the gold standard for London events!
LONDON based exclusive travel service 'EasyLimo' has established itself as the go-to name for limousine and professional chauffeur driven travel in and around the capital.
Establishing a reputation for unparalleled customer service, the company have expanded their successful offering to include a complete spectrum of event transportation, including weddings, proms, birthdays, sporting events and city excursions. To cater for the widest range of clients possible, EasyLimo are able to provide a full range of vehicles from their prestigious fleet, including Hummers, Chryslers, Navigators, luxury cars and a range of Limousine models.
Testament to the company's reputation, EasyLimo was chosen to provide the stretch Hummer for Liverpool FC and Brazilian international, Roberto Firmino, who used EasyLimo to provide a professional chauffeur service to celebrate his 25th birthday. EasyLimo spokesman miss Mel Reed commented: "We value each and every client, but it's always a great feeling when a high profile celebrity or sportsperson trusts us to provide the luxury transport for an important event."
Delivering a professional, customer driven service, EasyLimo have worked with a range of high profile clients, including Coca Cola, MTV, L'Oreal, Yves Saint Laurent, Sky1, Panasonic and Red Bull. For further information on the services available for your event, please visit the official website at http://www.easylimo.co.uk .
About EasyLimo:
EasyLimo is an established Limousine hire services based in London. The company pride themselves on delivering a high-end, customer driven service in the capital. Offering a range of prestige vehicle choices, EasyLimo provide out of the ordinary transportation for a range of events from weddings and birthdays to proms and corporate events. For further information please contact EasyLimo at the official website or using the contact details shown with this release.
Media Contact:
Contact: Mel Reed
Address: Ealing House, 33 Hanger Ln, London W5 3HJ
Email: feedback@easylimo.co.uk
Telephone: +44-0800-881-8824
Web: http://www.easylimo.co.uk
SOURCE Easy Limo Uk Ltd
New MT2523-based Hardware Development Kit for Bluetooth connected Wearables with fast, accurate positioning
HSINCHU, Taiwan, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MediaTek today announced the availability of the LinkIt 2523 Hardware Development Kit (HDK) for developers looking to create advanced wearable products. Based on the MediaTek MT2523G chipset, the HDK - produced by Silicon Application Corp (SAC) - offers dual-mode Bluetooth, comprehensive GNSS standards support and industry leading performance in terms of time-to-first-fix, accuracy and power consumption. The HDK is ideal for developers looking to create more sophisticated wearables such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, health monitors, emergency locators and more.
This new HDK - the second for the LinkIt Development Platform for RTOS - takes advantage of the platform's common tool chain and set of APIs. It offers developers the ability to create a range of IoT devices using a common software development kit, the MediaTek LinkIt SDK v4. With the HDK launch, the SDK has also been updated to include a new smaller, more efficient Bluetooth stack and various improvements to support the MT2523 chipset variants.
The goal of the LinkIt Development Platform for RTOS is to make it easy for developers to create code that powers a range of wearables and IoT devices. The new HDK puts MediaTek leading technology in the hands of professional developers to create exciting and compelling wearable products.
The LinkIt 2523 HDK is developed by SAC, one of MediaTek's value-added resellers of chipsets and modules, using a hardware board reference design from MediaTek. The HDK provides an easy-to-use IoT development board for the design, prototyping, evaluation and implementation of commercial wearables projects.
The board offers developers a range of essential features to ensure devices are market ready. Key features of the board include:
Robust connectivity with support for dual-mode Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and Bluetooth 4.2 Low Energy with integral antenna.
Fast, low-power, high-precision positioning with integral HDK antenna for GPS and SMA connector for GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou.
Integrated display and versatile peripheral options, including I2C, master and slave SPI, master and slave I2S, PCM, UART, 12-bit ADC and PWM which can be used for a broad range of wearables, including smartwatches, fitness trackers and wristbands incorporating various sensors.
Low power consumption achieved by highly integrated SoC using 55nm ultra-low power (ULP) technology from TSMC with Power Management Integrated Circuit (PMIC), and multiple frequency and voltage modes.
Flexible power options for external battery and USB (5V) charger.
Additional onboard memory (eMMC) or the option to use a microSD card.
Key features of the LinkIt Development Platform for RTOS include:
Based on the popular FreeRTOS with additional open-source modules (source code available).
Supports chipsets based on the ARM Cortex-M4 architecture, offering high performance, low power connectivity.
Supports multiple chipsets/hardware, including the MT7687F Wi-Fi SoC and the MT2523 Bluetooth/GNSS chipset family.
Development and debugging in ARM Keil Vision, IAR Embedded Workbench and GCC.
The LinkIt 2523 HDK is available for purchase at http://www.wpgo2o.com/AdDetail/MediaTek/2523.
More information is available from MediaTek Labs at http://labs.mediatek.com/rtos and http://labs.mediatek.com/2523.
About MediaTek
Since 1997, MediaTek has been a pioneering fabless semiconductor company and a market leader in cutting-edge systems-on-chip (SoC) for mobile devices, wireless networking, HDTV, DVD and Blu-ray. Our tightly-integrated, innovative chip designs help manufacturers optimize supply chains, reduce the development time of new products, and extend a competitive edge in crowded markets. Through MediaTek Labs, the company is also building a developer hub that will support device creation, application development, and services for the Internet of Things era. By building technologies that help connect individuals to the world around them, MediaTek is enabling people to expand their horizons and more easily achieve their goals. We believe anyone can achieve something amazing. And we believe they can do it every single day. We call this idea Everyday Genius and it drives everything we do. Visit mediatek.com for more information.
MediaTek Press Office:
PR@mediatek.com
Kevin Keating, MediaTek Joey Lee, MediaTek +1- 206-321-7295 +886 3-567-0766 # 31602 San Diego, CA 92121, USA Hsinchu City 30078, Taiwan
Related Links
http://www.mediatek.com
SOURCE MediaTek Inc.
The United Nations expressed its concern on Tuesday about "the growing restrictions imposed on civil society in Egypt and the targeting of human rights defenders and human rights organizations," UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Maina Kiai said in a press statement.
In September, an Egyptian court upheld an asset freeze against five prominent Egyptian rights activists over accusations of receiving illegal foreign funding with the aim of destabilising the country following the 2011 uprising.
[Egypts] government seems to be systematically attacking civil society in an effort to silence its voice, Kiai said in the statement.
These new developments intervene in a context of a continuing crackdown on human rights defenders and civil society organisations in Egypt since the reopening of the 2011 NGO case, known as the 173 foreign funding case, in which a number of human rights defenders and heads of civil society organisations are being investigated.
Since late 2011, a number of rights activists have been facing charges of illegally receiving foreign funding for their NGOs, but case number 173/2011 had been put on hold until recently.
The UN Rapporteur voiced criticism of a new draft NGO bill, which was approved by the cabinet in early September, saying that it raises further questions about the compatibility of the Egyptian legislation with its international human rights obligations.
The statement called on the government to ensure the compliance of the NGO draft law with international law standards, following a transparent consultation process with civil society organisations.
Earlier this year, Egyptian authorities froze the assets of several human rights activists and NGOs in the country.
The activists, who were also banned from travel, include Hossam Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Gamal Eid, founder of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, Bahey El-Din Hassan, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and three staff members of the NGO Nazra for Feminist Studies.
The asset freeze also applies to the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre and its director Mostafa El-Hassan, as well as the Egyptian Centre for the Right to Education and its director Abdel-Hafiz Tayel.
An Egyptian administrative court ruled in early September that NGOs have the right to receive foreign funding after obtaining approval from authorities.
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Demonstrates Automated, Highly Sensitive, Genome-Wide Analysis of Structural Variation
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Genomics firm Nabsys has produced the first long-range, non-optical maps of whole human genomes using its high-definition electronic HD-mapping platform. The maps have subsequently been used for genome-wide analysis of structural variants, DNA changes typically larger than several hundred base pairs which are implicated in a wide array of diseases.
Structural variants are often difficult to identify (or "call") using traditional sequencing techniques, as the short reads generated often do not span the entire variant. While long-range optical mapping approaches enable long reads, their low resolution limits the ability to call variants. The ability to read longer segments of DNA at a higher resolution with the Nabsys HD-Mapping platform facilitates calling and analysis of variants over a wide range of sizes.
"Genomic variation has clinical implications at all scales, from single-base changes to aneuploidy, and every size in between," said Nabsys Founder and CEO Barrett Bready, M.D. "As a scientific community, we're currently quite good at systematically analyzing the lower third, or smaller scale, variations. However, the analysis of the larger two thirds is as much art as science. The Nabsys HD-mapping platform now allows for the systematic analysis of variants across the rest of the spectrum."
Analysis of the Nabsys data demonstrates that this electronic mapping approach is extremely powerful for analysis of structural variation over a wide range of sizes. Electronic detection allows Nabsys to call with high sensitivity and specificity both large structural variants and smaller variants, the size of short reads from next-generation sequencing platforms. Creating the link between short-read data and long-range information will enable elucidation of the full range of genomic variation.
"Our electronic mapping platform allows us to combine several desirable technical attributes that are not achievable with other technologies," added Nabsys Chief Technology Officer John Oliver, Ph.D. "Specifically, our maps are generated by analyzing very long DNA molecules, on the order of 100,000 base pairs. The DNA travels through semiconductor-based detectors at high velocity, over one million base pairs per second, while obtaining resolution superior to optical methods. With this approach, researchers can now look across whole genomes and analyze structural variation with the same sensitivity and specificity found in SNP analysis. This opens up the rest of the spectrum of genomic variation to systematic analysis."
This project was conducted in collaboration with the Genome in a Bottle (GIAB) consortium, a public-private-academic consortium hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop the technical infrastructure to enable translation of whole human genome analysis to clinical practice. Nabsys results were presented during a consortium meeting on September 15, 2016, held at the NIST campus in Gaithersburg MD.
Nabsys structural variant calls are available to members of the GIAB consortium. Raw data are available to Nabsys collaborators. For more information, contact Vice President of Software and Informatics Michael Kaiser at kaiser@nabsys.com.
Nabsys would like to thank Justin Zook and Marc Salit of GIAB for encouraging Nabsys to participate in the GIAB consortium.
About Nabsys
Nabsys develops semiconductor-based tools for genomic analysis. The company has pioneered the technology of electronic high-definition mapping which is capable of analyzing entire genomes, in very large fragments (100,000 bp and higher) traveling at high velocity (greater than 1 million base pairs per second). Nabsys was the first company to receive a "1000 Genome" award from the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health for an electronic approach to DNA analysis.
Related Links
http://nabsys.com
SOURCE Nabsys
This is a unique trade exhibition, as the combined exhibitions will have over 400 participating companies from 38 countries and regions to showcase their latest technologies, solutions and innovations in the water and energy industries. Some regular companies from the different segments of renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors are Asia Electric, Atarfil SL, Azbil Vietnam, C.F.Nielsen, CJR Renewables, Conergy Asia, DNV GL, Donasonic, Ecosphere Renewables, Greenpowermonitor, Ingeteam, Mitsubishi Electric Vietnam and Passavant Energy & Environment. (Please click www.renergyvietnam.com/en-us/visit/visitor-profile1 to view a full list of exhibiting companies in the renewable energy sector.)
The exhibition also includes a number of international pavilions working in renewable energy such as the EU, Thailand and Taiwan. They cover a wide range of solutions such as industrial boilers, waste heat recovery, drying process and heat exchange process in power, as well as breakthrough technologies, including solar panels, electric machines, bioethanol technology and control systems, amongst others.
More than just an exhibition, RE & EE VIETNAM 2016 provides an insight in renewable energy and energy efficiency. During the three-day exhibition, many in-depth topics related to photovoltaic energy production off-grid, managing wind and solar project, briquetting lined will be presented at the technical seminars of RE & EE VIETNAM 2016. (To view the agenda and register for the technical seminars, please visit www.renergyvietnam.com/en-us/highlights/seminars.)
RE & EE VIETNAM 2016 will offer an opportunity for participants to take part in a conference on "Vietnam Energy Forum: Towards Sustainable Energy Development in Vietnam". The forum is presented by some leading industry experts, two of which are Dr. Do Huu Hao, Chairman, Vietnam Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency Association (VECEA), and Mr. Huynh Kim Tuoc, Director, Energy Conservation Center Ho Chi Minh (ECC HCM). They will give insight on Vietnam's energy market and trends, as well as some recent renewable projects in the country. (To view the agenda and register for the conference, please visit http://www.renergyvietnam.com/en-us/highlights/conference.)
Join us and receive updates on recent industry technologies and hear about practical experiences from top-notch professionals at RE & EE VIETNAM 2016 Exhibition and Forum. Admission to the exhibition is free for all trade visitors. Please register online for your visit at https://www.ubmonlinereg.com/Registration/Default.aspx?fid=641&lang=en.
We welcome you to RE & EE VIETNAM 2016!
Notes to Editors:
RE & EE VIETNAM 2016 is organised by UBM Asia.
About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com)
Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has strong global network of 30 offices and 1,400 staff in 25 major cities. We operate in 21 market sectors with 235 exhibitions and conferences, 28 targeted trade publications, 18 vertical portals for over 1,000,000 quality exhibitors, visitors, conference delegates, advertisers and subscribers from all over the world.
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SOURCE UBM Asia (Malaysia)
BUCHAREST, Romania, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Liviu Dragnea, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD), has launched ambitious plans to lower taxes and ease fiscal policy.
Tabling a bill in the Senate to eliminate 102 nuisance taxes and charges, Mr. Dragnea said the plan is part of his party's economic program intended to grow the middle class and put more cash into people's pockets. In recent days Mr. Dragnea has unveiled policies to reduce Romania's flat income tax to 10% from the current 16%, and eliminate it altogether for those earning 2,000 lei (approximately EUR 440) per month. Simplification and reductions in various social taxes are expected to bring them to about 35% from 39%.
Summing up the plan, Mr. Dragnea remarked, "The PSD wants to bring more and more people out of poverty into the middle class. The reduced taxes and elimination of bureaucracy that we have championed are the catalysts that create higher living standards, and we have put those pro-growth policies at the center of our economic program because we dare to believe in Romania!"
Mr. Dragnea said putting more money into people's pockets was the key to growth and development. "We want to raise the minimum gross salary to 1,750 lei in 2020, increasing the number of persons employed full time to 5.6 million people and implement a gradual increase in the pension to 1.400 lei. These are not only steps to bring people the chance to live a decent life in the middle class. These are measures to accelerate business processes and help growth continue so that we get more money for the budget."
Mr. Dragnea said the costs will be covered by a combination of increased tax revenues arising from economic growth and higher incomes and from revenues paid by the planned new Sovereign Fund for Development and Investment, announced Sept. 22.
The PSD president anticipates reducing the budget deficit as a percentage of GDP from the current 2.9% to 2.0% in 2020, with total budget revenues rising to 300 billion lei in 2020, up from 231 billion lei in 2016.
The least costly part of the tax program, the elimination of some 102 user charges and other fees, is expected to have a profound impact on the lives of ordinary citizens.
"These taxes are 0.1 percent of the GDP, but take 30% of our time," Mr. Dragnea said on national TV Sunday. Among the fees and taxes to be eliminated are those for environmental stamps for vehicles, 33 different fees for various consular and citizenship services, radio and TV taxes, 22 different fees for changing or replacing identity documents and a tax payable for the retrieval of a criminal record certificate. Mr. Dragnea said all such "non-fiscal taxes" represent for Romanians having to queue to pay them "lost time and humiliation."
The PSD's tax program launch is part of a series of economic reforms designed to help ordinary Romanians gain direct benefits from economic expansion and grow the middle class. The PSD, the largest party in Romania's parliament, relinquished office last year following street demonstrations in the aftermath of a devastating nightclub fire. Under its new leadership, the party is seeking a new mandate in elections scheduled for Dec. 11. The elections are expected to replace a caretaker "technocratic" government. Mr. Dragnea maintains that the current government's inexperience has resulted in freezing Romanian living standards, which had been rising quickly under the previous PSD government.
About the Social Democratic Party of Romania
The PSD, in Romanian Partidul Social Democrat, was originally formed in 1992 as a party of the center-left and is currently the largest grouping in both lower and upper houses of the nation's parliament, while also controlling more than half of the mayoralties and over 65% of local and county councils, including the capital of Bucharest. The PSD paved the way for Romania's historic accession process into the EU in 2007, and today holds 16 of the country's 32 MEPs. Its 2012-15 government was considered one of Romania's best, leading the country's emergence from the economic crisis and achieving rapid growth, together with a sharp increase of people's living standards. Liviu Dragnea, the PSD's current president, was elected party leader in 2015 and has since led a series of reforms that have positioned the PSD to form Romania's next government. Mr. Dragnea is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development.
For further information: Steluta Negoita, +40 730 650 545, presa@psd.ro in Bucharest or Zhenya Harrison, +44 (0)20 3397 2825 or zhenya.harrison@belgravestrategic.com in London.
SOURCE Social Democratic Party of Romania
Alliance to Enable Providers Worldwide to Transform Health Through Value-Based Healthcare
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts and ERLANGEN, Germany, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Siemens Healthineers today announced a five year, global strategic alliance in Population Health Management (PHM). The alliance aims to help hospitals, health systems, integrated delivery networks, and other providers deliver value-based care to patients with complex, chronic and costly conditions such as heart disease and cancer. The health-focused alliance is the first of its kind for the companies, which have a long-standing global relationship that spans diverse industry sectors including IBMs work with Siemens Building Technologies, Siemens PLM and Siemens Digital Grid. It also marks Siemens entry into PHM.
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Siemens Healthineers and IBM Watson Health intend to help healthcare professionals navigate unprecedented changes propelled by a growing volume and diversity of health data, an aging global population, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, changes in healthcare payment models, and the digitization and consumerization of healthcare.
"The adoption of PHM solutions that demonstrate meaningful use of IT applications is expected to accelerate rapidly. Patient care is moving into a broader but coordinated environment where routine, manual tasks are automated by PHM solutions that unify siloed systems, stratify comorbidities, empower patients through engagement, and benchmark outcomes at network, practice, and patient level," said Koustav Chatterjee, Frost & Sullivan Transformational Health Industry Analyst. "I expect the shift from volume to value-based healthcare delivery will accelerate adoption of PHM technology and service solutions helping providers effectively manage chronic conditions and prevent unnecessary system utilization."
The alliance leverages the expertise and global reach of both companies, including Siemens track record introducing technology-driven innovations to a broad range of providers and IBM's unique cognitive healthcare offerings. As part of the alliance, Siemens Healthineers will offer PHM solutions and services from IBM Watson Health. These offerings are designed to help meet hospital and healthcare systems' demands for value-based care analytics and reporting, and patient engagement. Siemens Healthineers will also provide consulting services to support providers in their transition to value-based care.
For example, Siemens Healthineers has access to IBM Watson Care Manager, a new cognitive solution from IBM designed to help providers and patients to work together to support individual health. IBM Watson Care Manager integrates disparate types of clinical and individual data and applies cognitive analysis to draw out insights for nurses and other care managers so they can closely monitor and counsel individuals with chronic conditions.
"Combining our strengths, Siemens Healthineers and IBM can effectively help providers transition to a value-based healthcare environment," said Matthias Platsch, head of Services at Siemens Healthineers. "We will bring the power of Siemens Healthineers' extensive relationships with providers and our deep domain expertise in clinical workflows, services, and digital health technologies to bear to help bring population health management offerings to healthcare providers. The new alliance fits perfectly into the services business of Siemens Healthineers. Thus we will enter the rapidly growing PHM market which is expected to play a significant role in end-to-end value-based healthcare."
Under the strategic alliance, it is the intent of IBM and Siemens to work together to jointly develop and deploy new PHM offerings leveraging each company's expertise and assets, including those added to the Watson Health portfolio from acquisitions such as Phytel and Explorys.
"We are at an unprecedented time in healthcare. Mature and developing markets are increasingly focused on how patient outcomes are optimized, quality is standardized among individuals and across populations, and costs are reduced," said Deborah DiSanzo, general manager for IBM Watson Health. "Siemens and IBM are ideal partners to work at the forefront of this evolution and enable personalized healthcare in the U.S. and globally."
About Siemens Healthineers
Siemens Healthineers is the separately managed healthcare business of Siemens AG and enables healthcare providers around the world to meet their current challenges and to excel in their respective environments. A leader in medical technology, Siemens Healthineers is constantly innovating its portfolio of products and services in both its core areas in imaging for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes as well as in laboratory diagnostics and molecular medicine. Siemens Healthineers is also continuously developing its digital health services and hospital management offerings, working closely with operators to develop common fields of business and to help them to not only minimize their risks, but also to exploit new opportunities. In fiscal 2015, which ended on September 30, 2015, Siemens Healthineers generated revenue of 12.9 billion and net income of over 2.1 billion and has about 45,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com/healthineers.
About IBM Watson Health
Watson is the first commercially available cognitive computing capability representing a new era in computing. The system, delivered through the cloud, analyzes high volumes of data, understands complex questions posed in natural language, and proposes evidence-based answers. Watson continuously learns, gaining in value and knowledge over time, from previous interactions. In April 2015, the company launched IBM Watson Health and the Watson Health Cloud platform. The new unit will help improve the ability of doctors, researchers and insurers to innovate by surfacing insights from the massive amount of personal health data being created and shared daily. The Watson Health Cloud can mask individual identities and allow this information to be shared and combined with a dynamic and constantly growing aggregated view of clinical, research and social health data. For more information on IBM Watson, visit: ibm.com/watson. For more information on IBM Watson Health, visit: ibm.com/watsonhealth.
Media Contacts
IBM
Lorie Fiber Annette Fassnacht +1-646-318-0575 +49 151 65136642 lfiber@us.ibm.com annettefassnacht@de.ibm.com
Siemens Healthineers
Marion Bludszuweit Jeffrey Bell +49 9131 84-7803 +1-610-448-6348 marion.bludszuweit@siemens.com jeffrey.t.bell@siemens.com
Related Links
http://www.ibm.com
SOURCE IBM
LUND, Sweden, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
TFS has on October 7th, 2016 signed its acquisition of the German dermatology specialist SCIderm GmbH.
Following the Strategic Partnership entered between the two companies in 2014 to combine resources and scientific expertise within dermatology development, the parties have now agreed to fully leverage on the growing industry demands in dermatology research and bring the partnership into a fully integrated therapeutic area division within TFS.
The acquisition will provide industry leading capabilities combined with high level scientific and regulatory expertise and will further enhance the existing close relations to world renowned dermatology investigators and sites. The acquisition enables TFS to reach 350 investigational sites in Europe and North America.
SCIderm's shareholder Mrs. Dr. Ina Zschocke, said; "SCIderm's unsurpassed experience in dermatology, allergology as well as aesthetic drug development and device certification fits precisely with the TFS therapeutic strategy and existing global footprint. With deep scientific expertise and global capabilities at hand, we look forward to leading our clients through all phases of clinical development towards approval and beyond, as well as product positioning".
Over the last three years TFS and SCIderm have managed 63 global clinical trials in dermatology, recruiting more than 17,000 patients in 18 indications and collaborated with the top 15 biopharmaceutical companies in dermatology.
The acquisition will significantly increase TFS' operational capabilities in Germany with offices in Hamburg and Munich employing more than 100 professionals in the country. Mr. Prof. Dr. Kristian Reich, one of the shareholders of SCIderm will become a Strategic Scientific Advisor at TFS and will be instrumental in providing scientific- and strategic advice for new drugs and products in dermatology and immunology indications.
SCIderm's shareholder, Prof. Kristian Reich, said; "for the first time the merger will give us the opportunity to take our unique knowledge in dermatology to a global level. This is important because we have seen the bars for clinical development in dermatology and chronic inflammatory diseases significantly rising over recent years with later strategic advantages in a highly competitive environment depending on early expert decisions in study design and outcome selection. The formation of a new global player able to cover all aspects of drug development in dermatology will be likewise interesting for small companies with novel drugs in dermatology, companies that specifically focus on dermatology as well as big pharma with novel developments in this interesting specialty".
The therapeutic area division in dermatology will be led by Mrs. Dr. Ina Zschocke. The dermatology division is currently managing 53 studies in 12 indications with 13,000 patients. The team will during quarter 4, 2016 add several new global clinical development programs in dermatology that have been awarded to the business.
Dr. Peter Weisenseel, will be responsible for the SCIderm in-house clinic that has been engaged in more than 40 dermatology trials and recruited over 500 patients in numerous indications over the last three years. The in-house clinic is an integrated function within the therapeutic area division and has become a specialized study center for first-in-man studies and also recruits patients with dermatological indications. The clinic is supported by a team of physicians, amongst them several dermatologists, study nurses, study coordinators and data management.
The close partnership ties between SCIderm and the Dermatologikum Clinic in Hamburg will remain in place following the acquisition and will enable TFS to offer its customers world leading services for new therapy treatments in allergology, dermatology and aesthetics. The Clinic also provides laboratory services in histology, mycology, bacteriology, molecular biology and quantitative RNA analysis identifying pathways of molecules and proves the mode-of-action in early development. The Dermatologikum Clinic sees approximately 100,000 dermatology patients annually.
SCIderm's unique dermatology expertise, access to patients and scientific approach to clinical programs will leverage on TFS global capabilities and strong executional infrastructure in conducting global pre- and post-approval trials.
TFS, Chief Operation Officer, Dr. Montse Barcelo, said; "after a successful partnership the acquisition was the next natural step to take. SCIderm's services and unique approach to dermatology in clinical research is going to be very beneficial to TFS but more importantly to our customers and the patients they serve. We will together advance clinical dermatology research programs more efficiently and provide treatment options to patients faster".
The transaction is subject to merger control clearance.
For further information please contact:
Name: Montse Barcelo
Title: Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Phone: +34-647-409-222
E-mail: montse.barcelo@tfscro.com
Information about TFS - http://www.tfscro.com
Information about SCIderm - http://www.sciderm.de
SOURCE TFS International
PARSIPPANY, New Jersey and LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- INTTRA, the world's ocean shipping electronic marketplace, and TRINET Informatika, a leading provider of software applications in the area of automated customs procedures and logistics in the Slovenian market, announced today an alliance to integrate INTTRA's ocean shipping solutions into TRINET's software. The alliance will provide TRINET customers with seamless access to INTTRA's global network to make container bookings and submit shipping instructions quickly and easily.
"The integration of INTTRA's ocean shipping solutions into our software is another example of our commitment to providing our customers with all the tools they need to conduct shipping management with the utmost efficiency and maximum flexibility," said Igor Smrajec, Managing Director at TRINET. "By accessing the largest multi-carrier network in the industry through our software, our customers will have numerous options in selecting voyages and benefit from INTTRA's streamlined and standardized processes, which make submitting bookings and shipping instructions quick and easy."
"We are pleased to welcome our first Slovenian logistics provider to our global network of alliance partners," said Sherrie Orzechowski, Vice President, Business Development Alliance Partnerships at INTTRA. "We believe that providing access to INTTRA's transaction platform through TRINET's software will create value for TRINET customers by facilitating greater efficiency, cost-effectiveness and operational improvements."
About INTTRA
INTTRA is the largest neutral electronic transaction software platform and information provider at the center of the ocean shipping industry. INTTRA's innovative products, combined with the scale of our network, empower our customers to trade with multiple parties and leverage ocean industry information to improve their business. Connecting over 225,000 shipping professionals with more than 50 leading Carriers and 110 software alliance partners, INTTRA streamlines the ocean trade process. Over 700,000 container orders are initiated on the INTTRA platform each week, representing approximately 25 percent of global ocean container trade.
About TRINET Informatika
TRINET Informatika is a leading provider of software applications in the area of automated customs procedures and logistics, serving the Slovenian market. Established in 1992, with a team of experts and state-of-the-art technologies, TRINET rapidly became the leader in domestic market share. Business partners in the customs and logistical field today continue to benefit from the competitive advantages provided by TRINET's extensive practical experience and dedicated communication infrastructure.
Related Links
http://www.inttra.com
SOURCE INTTRA
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today's public relations professionals cover a wider range of communication functions than ever before, including the role of assisting executives with achieving a variety of business goals across the organization. C-Suite executives can benefit from understanding and supporting PR efforts to achieve success by working with their PR and communications team to create a set of key, measurable metrics that support business objectives and cross-departmental collaboration. How can communicators take advantage of this exciting strategic mind-shift in public relations?
4 Key Methods to Align Communications with the C-Suite http://cisn.co/2dIc85Z
PR and the C-Suite: Aligning Strategic Communications with Business Goals discusses:
How to partner public relations with marketing efforts for a multi-channel approach
The role of measurable PR data to prove ROI and help shape business strategy
Recommendations for the C-Suite to immediately improve return on PR spend
Executives can play a leading role in the charge towards reaching the company's business objectives through public relations in several key ways. By following the steps listed in PR Newswire's guide, executives will be able to fully align their companies' communications functions with their strategic thinking and will allow their team's efforts to bolster of their initiatives and investments. To read the complete list of steps provided in the guide, click here.
About PR Newswire
PR Newswire, a Cision company, is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms and distribution that marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers leverage to engage key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry over 60 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content -- and then distribute and measure results. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire powers the stories of organizations around the world. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions.
Cision is a leading global media intelligence company, serving the complete workflow of today's communication professionals.
Contact:
Stacey Miller
Director, Communications
(301) 683-6038
[email protected]
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Eritrean Community Center of Santa Clara County (ECC) has received a $495,030 federal grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to help fund three-years of expanded services benefitting immigrants and refugees in Santa Clara County. This award is a strong demonstration of the ORR's strong commitment to improving the lives of those served by Ethnic Community-Based Organizations.
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The funding will allow the ECC to continue to complement the work of larger refugee-serving agencies, such as Catholic Charities and the International Rescue Committee. "This grant will expand and strengthen the support we provide to unaccompanied refugee minors and provide educational support through early learning and after school-tutoring, Tigrinya courses, computer classes, college and career readiness, independent living skills, in addition to referrals for translators, legal assistance, and mental health services," said Regga Tekeste, Chairman, Eritrean Community Center Santa Clara County.
ECC's programming seeks to fill the gaps in the resettlement needs of refugees and asylum seekers with cultural and linguistic competence. It will also work to meet the acculturation needs of the former refugees in the community who resettled in the area earlier, but have a need for connectedness to their countrymen, practice and celebration of their traditions, civic engagement and to alleviate acculturation stress.
ECC has served 5,000 Eritreans since its founding in 2008.
About ECC: The Eritrean Community Center is a nonprofit organization serving Santa Clara County with a wide range of services and programs designed to enhance the quality of life of families and individuals in the community. The community welcomes the participation of all, irrespective of race, religion, sexual orientation, political, or ideological associations.
About ORR: The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provides new populations with the opportunity to achieve their full potential in the United States. Their programs provide people in need with critical resources to assist them in becoming integrated members of American society.
For more information on Eritrean Community Center of Santa Clara County, visit www.eritreancommunity.org.
Contact: Isayas Sium
Eritrean Community Center of Santa Clara County
Email
(408) 464-1876
SOURCE Eritrean Community Center of Santa Clara County
Related Links
http://www.eritreancommunity.org
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The 4A's, the leading trade association representing the advertising agency business, will host its sixth annual CreateTech conference Nov. 9-10, 2016, in New York City. At this event, advertising professionals will discuss and celebrate the role of technology in the industryspecifically how design is shaping the future of the business.
CreateTech, dubbed the "Conference for the Seriously Curious," will bring together creative digital professionalsfrom both inside and outside the advertising industryfor panel discussions, keynote speakers and networking opportunities. With this year's theme of "design and the future of advertising," CreateTech speakers will focus on current successes in design and brand experience and on stimulating future design practices and innovations.
This year CreateTech will also feature exhibitors demonstrating virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence technologies, including a hands-on workshop led by Decoded about how to build a simple AI bot.
"As the advertising industry evolves on a daily basis, it is being massively shaped by technologyfrom AI to design," said Chick Foxgrover, 4A's chief digital officer. "This conference is one of the best forums for advertising professionals who want to understand what is, and what will soon be, shaping the industry from a technology perspective. By catching a glimpse of what's coming down the pipeline, executives can be ahead of the curve in applying new technologies to their businessesand to their advantage."
CreateTech speakers include:
Catharine Findiesen Hays , executive director of the Wharton School's Future of Advertising (WFoA) Program, will open the conference with insights from her book Beyond Advertising: Creating Value Through All Customer Touchpoints .
Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan , founder and CEO, Drawbridge , will tell us why science and mathematics are the foundations of building industries.
Leland Maschmeyer , chief creative officer at Chobani, will highlight his experiences rebranding companies through the intersection of design, technology and systems.
Colin O'Donnell , chief innovation officer at Intersection, will pinpoint the five most influential technologies on everyday lives and explore how leaders can leverage these innovations to shape the future.
Kim Dunbar , digital agency lead, IBM Watson partner program, will talk with Jason Jercinovic , global head of marketing innovation at Havas, about using cognitive technology to transform business.
Sydney Skybetter , founding partner at Edwards & Skybetter, will use his multifaceted experiences in choreography, change management and technology to highlight the future of experience design.
For the full list of speakers at CreateTech 2016, please visit createtech.aaaa.org/speakers.
CreateTech 2016 will be held at Convene at 32 Old Slip in New York City. For further details, agenda and registration information, please visit createtech.aaaa.org.
About 4A's CreateTech
The 4A's founded the CreateTech conference in 2010 to provide a forum for technologists primarily working in advertising, but it is also for anyone with a technology background who works in a creative enterprise. Speakers come from both inside and outside the advertising industry, and the CreateTech audience is made up of professionals in advertising and other tech-driven creative fields, such as digital strategy, interactive experience or product design and other industries.
About the 4A's
The 4A's is the catalyst for bringing together the right people in the right place at the right time to address the advertising industry's most critical business issues. The 4A's provides leadership, advocacy, guidance and community to its members and the industry at large, with proprietary access to the people, information and tools needed to make smarter management decisions. Its mission is to help agencies become more successful. Visit the 4A's at www.aaaa.org.
Contact:
Samantha Wolf
Havas PR
Tel. 646-515-3574
[email protected]
SOURCE 4A's
Related Links
https://www.aaaa.org/
"Ironically enough our election was significantly less childish than the actual presidential race, and we could not be more pleased to welcome Ariana as our first President of Play," said Dave Brandon, Chairman and CEO, Toys"R"Us, Inc. "Ariana had a deep understanding of important issues - like the latest NERF products and demonstrated a level of respect to her fellow competitors. Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, I think we can all agree that she will be an incredible ambassador for Toys"R"Us and children all around the world."
Ariana rose to the top of the ballet in September standing out from more than 1,000 video submissions thanks to her infectious smile and enthusiasm. She then went on to dominate during in-person interviews as one of 10 semifinalists at the Toys"R"Us headquarters in New Jersey. Ultimately, the decision was put into the hands of the public after a live Facebook debate against finalists Jessalyn Phanouvong (9) from Fresno, CA and Nate Shue (10) from Fairfax, VA. Though all three candidates went on major charm offensives, it was Ariana who ultimately won over the (tweeting) electorate and proved she was the best kid for the job.
"I can't believe I'm the first-ever President of Play! This is my dream come true and I'm so excited to play with all the new toys and work for Toys"R"Us the biggest and best toy company in the world," said Ariana. "I also want to thank everyone that voted for me, especially my family and friends."
In addition to being the company's resident toy-tester, Ariana will also serve as a Toys"R"Us spokesperson at events, on social media and anywhere else the company needs a real kid's input.
For more information about the #PresidentofPlay, stay tuned to @ToysRUsNews, the official Twitter account of the Toys"R"Us, Inc. Corporate Communications department, and the company's newsroom blog.
To view and download President of Play photos and videos, including headshots, highlight reels, interviews, debate footage and more, visit: https://toysrus.sharefile.com/d-se35c877fcf64320a
About Toys"R"Us, Inc.
Toys"R"Us, Inc. is the world's leading dedicated toy and baby products retailer, offering a differentiated shopping experience through its family of brands. Merchandise is sold in 875 Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us stores in the United States, Puerto Rico and Guam, and in more than 765 international stores and over 245 licensed stores in 37 countries and jurisdictions. With its strong portfolio of e-commerce sites including Toysrus.com and Babiesrus.com, the company provides shoppers with a broad online selection of distinctive toy and baby products. Toys"R"Us, Inc. is headquartered in Wayne, NJ, and has an annual workforce of approximately 62,000 employees worldwide. The company is committed to serving its communities as a caring and reputable neighbor through programs dedicated to keeping kids safe and helping them in times of need. For more information, visit Toysrusinc.com or follow @ToysRUsNews on Twitter. Follow Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Toysrus and Facebook.com/Babiesrus and on Twitter at Twitter.com/Toysrus and Twitter.com/Babiesrus.
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SOURCE Toys"R"Us, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.toysrus.com
'Sectarian religious practices will not be allowed on Ashoura or any other day,' a statement by the religious endowments ministry said on Tuesday
Egypt's Ministry of Religious Endowments decided on Tuesday to close Al-Hussein Mosque in Old Cairo till Thursday hours ahead of the religious Ashoura celebrations to avoid any possible tensions between Shia and Salafists.
"Sectarian religious practices will not be allowed on Ashoura or any other day," a statement by the ministry said on Tuesday, warning that sectarian rallies are banned under the law.
Shia Muslims commemorate on Ashoura the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammads grandson, Imam Al-Hussein, whose decapitated head is believed to be buried at the Al-Hussein Mosque.
In the past few years, Egyptian authorities have closed Al-Hussein Mosque on the day of Ashoura for fear of sectarian tensions.
There are no official figures conerning the number of Shia in Egypt.
Ashoura, the 10th day of the Islamic calendar, is a festival for the general Muslim community who celebrate a number of religious events that, although unrelated, coincide on the same day.
The Ministry of Religious Endowments runs mosques in Egypt in accordance with Sunni doctrine and does not recognise Shia mosques or rituals. Salafists, who are ultra-conservative Sunnis, reject the Shia denomination and consider it a heresy.
In June 2013, four Egyptian Shias, including influential Sheikh Hassan Shehata, were killed by an angry mob in a Giza village following anti-Shia incitement by Salafist preachers.
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SHANGHAI, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Acorn International, Inc. (NYSE: ATV) ("Acorn" or the "Company") today announced that its board of directors has recently appointed Mr. Eric Haibing Wu as a director, effective as of September 14th, 2016. Mr. Wu will serve on the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee and Corporate Governance & Nominating Committee. He will be eligible for reelection as a director by the Company's shareholders at the Company's next annual general meeting.
About Mr. Eric Haibing Wu
Mr. Eric Haibing WU has over 20 years of experience in finance. He worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the United States from May 2000 to February 2006 and later worked as a senior manager in the assurance department of PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian CPAs Limited Company from February 2006 to October 2007. Since October 2007, he has been serving as the chief financial officer of Plateno Hotels Group (formerly known as 7 Days Group Holdings Limited). Mr. Wu graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University () with a bachelor's degree in economics in July 1994 and received a master's degree in business administration from Michigan State University in May 2000. Mr. Wu is currently a non-executive independent director of Zhong Ao Home Group Ltd, a company listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Safe Harbor Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "future," "going forward," "intends," "outlook," "plans," "target," "will," and similar statements. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions, and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause the Company's actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties, or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.
About Acorn International, Inc.
Acorn is a marketing and branding company in China with a proven track record of developing, promoting and selling a diverse portfolio of proprietary-branded products, as well as well-established and promising new products from third parties. Its business is currently comprised of two main divisions, its direct sales platforms and its nationwide distribution network. For more information visit www.acorninternationalir.com.
SOURCE Acorn International, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.acorninternationalir.com
LONDON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that Adyen, a leader in global payments, has joined the NetSuite SuitePayments program to provide global businesses with greater payment options when using the NetSuite SuiteCommerce platform and SuiteCommerce InStore. Leveraging NetSuite's SuiteCloud Development Platform, Adyen built the Adyen integration for SuitePayments SuiteApp which has achieved "Built for NetSuite"* status. The new SuiteApp allows retail and wholesale distribution businesses to deliver seamless omnichannel payment processing within a single payment solution, which can improve operational efficiency, reduce costs and deliver rich, consistent customer experience.
Headquartered in Amsterdam and San Francisco, Adyen offers a solution that connects directly to Visa, MasterCard, and 250 other payment methods, delivering frictionless payments across online, mobile, and in-store channels. With offices all around the world, Adyen processed over $50B in transactions over 250 payment types in 2015 and serves more than 4,500 businesses, including 7 of the 10 largest U.S. Internet companies and 3 of the top 5 global apparel brands.
Leveraging the powerful and flexible SuiteCloud development platform, SuitePayments allows payment partners to build extensible payment solutions that can be consumed by all current and future modules in NetSuite's omnichannel commerce product portfolio. For the first time, merchants can enable credit card payments, manage complex alternative payments, offer fraud solutions and conduct EMV card-present solutions globally over a single interface delivered entirely in the cloud, to drive down costs, consolidate providers and create an unbeatable customer experience.
"Whether you are using NetSuite for driving global ecommerce, managing back-end ERP operations, or taking payments in-store, Adyen's one-platform solution enables you to accept payments across online, mobile or point-of-sale (POS)," said Kamran Zaki, president of Adyen, North America. "We are excited to partner with one of the top cloud ERP providers to offer a one-stop shop for payments that support businesses as they grow internationally."
"Our partnership with Adyen, through the NetSuite SuitePayments program, will open new opportunities around the globe for our customers," said Guido Haarmans, SVP of Business Development for Technology Partners, NetSuite. "By bringing together our world-class point-of-sale, ecommerce and ERP product with Adyen's global payment capabilities we are enabling our joint customers to streamline payment processing and improve the omnichannel customer experience."
The benefits of the partnership between NetSuite and Adyen include:
No software integration neededjust plug and play: Existing NetSuite customers using the SuitePayments plug in avoid time-consuming and costly systems integration as the software is delivered and managed via NetSuite with Adyen managing the merchant relationship and terminal delivery.
Existing NetSuite customers using the SuitePayments plug in avoid time-consuming and costly systems integration as the software is delivered and managed via NetSuite with Adyen managing the merchant relationship and terminal delivery. Less manual labour and improved data: Data reconciliation is captured as it is transacted on the terminal and replicated back to the NetSuite database in real-time, reducing time spent on manual data entry. The database also keeps a central real-time record of inventory, SKU, ledger controls and accounting.
Data reconciliation is captured as it is transacted on the terminal and replicated back to the NetSuite database in real-time, reducing time spent on manual data entry. The database also keeps a central real-time record of inventory, SKU, ledger controls and accounting. A single source of truth: As everything is centrally managed in NetSuite, retail customers can rely on a single source of truth for inventory and order management.
As everything is centrally managed in NetSuite, retail customers can rely on a single source of truth for inventory and order management. Payment method agnostic: Adyen connects with Visa, MasterCard, and 250 other payment methods, meaning B2B and B2C merchants can use NetSuite with their preferred payment method.
*Built for NetSuite is a program for NetSuite SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN) partners that provides them with information, resources and a method to verify that their applications and integrations, built using the NetSuite SuiteCloud Computing Platform, meet NetSuite's standards and best practices. The Built for NetSuite program is designed to give NetSuite customers additional confidence that SuiteApps have been built to meet these standards.
About Adyen
The Adyen payments platform provides businesses with a single solution to accept payments anywhere in the world. Built in-house, it is an end-to-end infrastructure connecting users directly to Visa, MasterCard, and 250 other payment methods, delivering frictionless payments across online, mobile, and in store. To learn more about Adyen, please visit www.adyen.com.
About NetSuite
In 1998, NetSuite pioneered the Cloud Computing revolution, establishing the world's first company dedicated to delivering business applications over the Internet. Today, NetSuite provides a suite of cloud-based financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software that runs the business of more than 30,000 companies, organisations, and subsidiaries in more than 100 countries.
Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteEMEA Twitter handle for real-time updates.
For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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SOURCE NetSuite Inc.
Related Links
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SAN DIEGO, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Suneva Medical, Inc., a privately-held aesthetics company, today announced the appointment of Pat Altavilla as vice president of marketing. With more than 30 years of experience in the aesthetics and medical fields, Altavilla will oversee all marketing aspects for the company, further fortifying the brand's strong leadership position.
"Pat's experience marketing aesthetics products is unmatched," said Preston Romm, president and chief executive officer at Suneva Medical. "With our focus on growing and solidifying Suneva Medical's position as an aesthetics leader, we feel confident that Pat is more than qualified to help us advance our visibility and strengthen our relationships with key stakeholders."
Early in her career Altavilla served as vice president of international sales and worldwide marketing for Mentor Corporation, a leader in breast aesthetics, where for nearly 20 years she helped the company grow sales tenfold, launch new products, enhance its global market presence and sales training. Following Mentor Corporation, Altavilla worked as vice president of sales, marketing and operations officer at The Plastic Surgery Company. From there, Altavilla co-founded and ran a medical spa, Spa Medicu/Medicus Skin Enhancement, for several years upon returning to a corporate executive position with BioForm Medical, now part of Merz Aesthetics. During her time with BioForm, Altavilla served in numerous positions, most notably, vice president of global marketing where she was instrumental in restructuring marketing, growing sales, creating a practice development program and raising the company's overall visibility in the marketplace.
Most recently, Altavilla worked for medical technology company ZELTIQ Aesthetics Inc. where she served in numerous leadership roles including vice president of global physician and practice marketing and vice president, global strategic partnerships and practice development. With ZELTIQ, Altavilla was instrumental in developing the brand's global marketing organization as well as growing physician loyalty, enhancing practice development, launching innovative products, and increasing the company's presence.
"Suneva has a remarkable portfolio of truly innovative products with an impressive arsenal of landmark clinical studies," said Pat Altavilla. "As the brand embarks on the next chapter of growth and innovation, I'm looking forward driving and strengthening all facets of its market presence."
For more information on Suneva Medical, visit www.sunevamedical.com.
About Suneva Medical, Inc.
Suneva Medical is a privately-held aesthetics company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing novel, differentiated products for the general dermatology and aesthetic markets. The innovative aesthetics leader markets Bellafill, the only dermal filler on the market that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the correction of nasolabial folds and moderate to severe, atrophic, distensible facial acne scars on the cheek in patients over the age of 21 years. The company markets Bellafill in the U.S., Canada and Hong Kong; ArteFill in South Korea; Regenica skin care in the U.S., Canada and Hong Kong; and ReFissa tretinoin cream in the U.S. ArteFill was rebranded to Bellafill in the U.S. to reflect the transformational outcomes this unique product can provide to patients seeking correction of their acne scars and nasolabial folds. For more information, visit www.sunevamedical.com.
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SOURCE Suneva Medical, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.sunevamedical.com
COLUMBUS, Ga., Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac, the leading provider of voluntary insurance sales at the worksite in the United States, announced the launch of a new national Hispanic marketing campaign. The initiative will help educate Spanish-preferred consumers about how Aflac helps protect their pockets during unplanned medical events. The campaign includes a new television ad called "Help," which will air nationally on major Spanish-language networks through late November. It is the company's second commercial designed specifically for the Hispanic market without an English-language version.
"Research indicates a need to provide better education within the Hispanic community about the value of voluntary insurance products," said Gail Galuppo, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Aflac. "We want to share information with Hispanic-Americans in culturally sensitive ways, in their preferred language, so that families can better protect their pockets from the financial challenges of an unexpected illness or injury."
The campaign debuted during one of the Latin community's most popular music awards shows of the year, the Latin American Music Awards, last week on Telemundo. The Aflac Duck played a pivotal role during the awards show, as he was the "official protector" of the envelopes holding the names of the winners of the night. After walking down the purple carpet, the fearless feathered security guard worked tirelessly to assure the audience that the awards were kept safe throughout the night. Viewers can see highlights of the evening on social media (@AflacDuck) or visit Aflac's exclusive "Winners of the Night" section on Telemundo.com.
"Help" opens with a woman, who has her leg propped on a bench and wrapped in a cast, sitting on a couch reviewing medical bills. Her father enters and asks how she is doing. The daughter expresses her surprise about the fact that her major medical insurance isn't covering all of her expenses.
Luckily, she has Aflac and received her money in one day, which means she doesn't have to touch her savings or the grocery money. The Aflac Duck pushes two full bags of groceries into the room to prove that the grocery money went to its intended use. The father is pleased but must ask, "If not with money, how else can I help?"
The daughter cleverly looks over to her child, who has been playing offscreen, and suggests, "You could change your first diaper." He looks bewildered with this task and even looks down at the Aflac Duck for assistance. The Duck slowly steps backwards out of the room, leaving a trail of duckprints in spilled baby powder.
In addition to the television commercial, the campaign will include local radio advertising in select markets, digital advertising, social media, online videos and more.
To learn more about Aflac, visit aflac.com/teayuda.
About Aflac
When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leading provider of voluntary insurance sales at the worksite. Through its trailblazing One Day PaySM initiative, Aflac U.S. can receive, process, approve and disburse payment for eligible claims in one business day. In Japan, Aflac is the leading provider of medical and cancer insurance and insures 1 in 4 households. Aflac individual and group insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. For 10 consecutive years, Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. In 2016, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the 18th consecutive year and included Aflac on its list of Most Admired Companies for the 15th time, ranking the company No. 1 in innovation for the insurance, life and health category for the second consecutive year. In 2015, Aflac's contact centers were recognized by J.D. Power by providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience" for the Live Phone Channel. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day PaySM, visit aflac.com or espanol.aflac.com.
Media contact Kristen Fraser, 706.243.5543 or [email protected]
Analyst and investor contact Robin Y. Wilkey, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX: 706.324.6330, or [email protected]
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SOURCE Aflac
Related Links
http://www.aflac.com
MIAMI, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Americas Market Intelligencethe premier strategic market intelligence firm for Latin Americahas released a far-reaching new e-commerce guide for merchants that wish to maximize their returns from the Brazilian e-commerce market.
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Entitled Optimizing E-Commerce Payments in Brazil, this 72-page market report offers practical, granular guidance for merchants and payment processors targeting the Brazilian market. While Brazil accounts for 60% of all e-commerce in Latin America, significant challenges await companies who go into the market without the crucial details needed to be successful. Key data points found in the report include:
E-commerce in Brazil is set to grow by 15% in 2016 despite the economic recession affecting the country
The overall e-commerce market size for Brazil is $23 billionthree times that of Mexico , the second-largest e-commerce market in Latin America
is billionthree times that of , the second-largest e-commerce market in Despite this robust market, without a local payment strategy, merchants only reach 17% of Brazil's total addressable e-commerce market
total addressable e-commerce market Non-card payment methods represent 23% of all Brazilian e-commerce sales, and 58% of e-commerce volume in Brazil is purchased using an installment plan
"Merchants face a number of challenges when going into Brazil's lucrative e-commerce market," explains Lindsay Lehr, Senior Director of the Payments practice at Americas Market Intelligence and author of the report. "Only 20% of Brazil's credit cards are enabled for international use, which is a major problem for merchants using an offshore payments approach. Merchants need to replicate the Brazilian shopping experience as much as possible to cater to Brazilian customers," explains Lehr.
Optimizing E-commerce Payments in Brazil also shows merchants how to develop a local payment strategy and partnerships, as well as how to find the right payment gateway. The report contains detailed profiles of 16 leading payment gateways and helps merchants select which are most suitable based on their size and verticality. "We made sure the report had actionable strategies so that merchants have the on-the-ground guidance they need to fully leverage Brazil's rapidly growing e-commerce market," says Lehr. The payment gateways profiled in the report include: PayU, PayPal, Adyen, Worldpay, Digital River, Braspag, PagSeguro, Mundipagg, maxiPago!, MOIP, MercadoPago, allpago, AstroPay, EBANX, Payzen, and iPag.
Lehr recently presented highlights from the report in webinars conducted with PayU and allpago, two leading payment processors in Latin America. The full report can be found on the AMI website.
About Americas Market Intelligence
Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) is the premier market intelligence company for Latin America, providing powerful insights for companies to succeed in a wide range of verticals in the region, including payments, healthcare, logistics, resources/infrastructure, Cuba, consumer and more. Its customized research reports deliver data-based clarity and granular strategic direction based on expert sourcing.
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SOURCE Americas Market Intelligence
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LONDON, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Volume (KT) & Market Forecasts ($) By Application (Agrochemicals, Personal Care, Cleaning Products, Petroleum & Gas Treatment, Water Treatment, Pharmaceutical, Textile, Others) by Region (North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Africa) Plus Market Share Analysis By Chemical Type (Ethanolamine, Ethyleneamine, Alkyl Amine, Fatty Amine, Specialty Amine)
Amines - our new study reveals industry trends, R&D developments and predicted revenues
Visiongain assesses that the global amines market will reach $14.43bn in 2016. This definitive new report identifies where the business opportunities are.
Amines are versatile chemicals which are used across a wide range of industries and applications including agrochemicals, personal care, cleaning products, petroleum & gas treatment, water treatment, pharmaceutical, textile, plus many others.
The use of amines has expanded rapidly in recent years in the fields of personal care, petroleum & gas treatment, and agricultural enhancement. There are various amine grades which are developed by leading manufacturers to cater to specific application requirements of customers across the globe.
Visiongain's amines report keeps you informed about these new developments and ahead of your competitors. Gain that competitive advantage.
To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on [email protected]
5 Reasons why you must order and read this report today:
1) The report provides detailed profiles of 10 leading companies operating within the amines market:
- AkzoNobel N.V.
- Arkema
- BASF SE
- Eastman Chemical Company
- Evonik Industries
- Huntsman International LLC
- Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd.
- The Chemours Company
- The Dow Chemical Company
- Tosoh Corporation
2) Our analysis reveals the company market share % for these amine chemical types
- Top 3 Alkyl Amine companies
- Top 4 Ethanolamine companies
- Top 5 Ethyleneamine companies
- Top 6 Fatty Amine companies
- Top 6 Specialty Amine companies
3) View global amines forecasts in volume (KT) and market value ($) terms from 2016-2026
4) See detailed amines forecasts for 7 applications from 2016-2026 at the global level and also segmented within each of the regional forecasts in volume (KT) and market value ($) terms from 2016-2026
- Agrochemicals
- Personal Care
- Cleaning Products
- Petroleum & Gas Treatment
- Water Treatment
- Pharmaceutical
- Textile
- Others
5) The study reveals the regional prospects for amines in volume (KT) and market value ($) terms from 2016-2026 with each region further segmented by the 7 applications.
- North America
- South America
- Europe
- Middle East
- Asia-Pacific
- Africa
Competitive advantage
This independent 251 page report guarantees you are better informed than your competitors. With 270 tables and figures examining the amines market space, the report gives you an immediate, one-stop breakdown of your market. With volume (KT) and market value ($) forecasts as well as analysis from 2016-2026 keeping your knowledge that one step ahead of your rivals.
This report answers questions such as:
What are the prospects for the overall amines industry?
What does the amines value chain look like?
Who are the key players in the amines industry?
What are the demand and supply dynamics underpinning the amines sector?
How consolidated is the sector amongst the amines industry players?
Who should read this report?
Anyone within the amines value chain.
Amine manufacturers
Companies looking to enter this amines market
R&D staff
Chemists
Raw material suppliers
Channel partners
End-user industries in Agrochemicals, Personal Care, Cleaning Products, Petroleum & Gas Treatment, Water Treatment, Pharmaceutical, Textile & Other
And also
Senior executives
Investors
Business development managers
Marketing managers
Consultants
Banks
Government agencies
Organisations
Don't miss out
This report is essential reading for you or anyone in the chemicals sector with an interest in amines. Purchasing this report today helps you to recognise those important market opportunities and understand the possibilities there. Order the Amines Market Forecast Report 2016-2026: Volume (KT) & Market Forecasts ($) By Application (Agrochemicals, Personal Care, Cleaning Products, Petroleum & Gas Treatment, Water Treatment, Pharmaceutical, Textile, Others) by Region (North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Africa) Plus Market Share Analysis By Chemical Type (Ethanolamine, Ethyleneamine, Alkyl Amine, Fatty Amine, Specialty Amine) report now. Get our new report now.
To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on [email protected]
To request a report overview of this report please emails Sara Peerun at [email protected] or call Tel: +44 (0) 20 7336 6100
Or click on https://www.visiongain.com/Report/1740/Amines-Market-Forecast-Report-2016-2026
Companies Listed
Air Products & Chemicals
AkzoNobel N.V.
Albemarle Corporation
Alkyl Amines Chemicals Ltd
Amines & Plasticizers Ltd (APL)
Angus Chemical Company
Arabian Amines Company
Arkema Group
Balaji Amines Ltd.
BASF SE
BASF-YPC Co Ltd
Boxing Oleochemicals.
Celanese Corporation
Clariant AG
Creasyn Finechem Tianjin Company Limited
Croda Group
Daicel
Delamine B.V.
Diamines and Chemicals Ltd
Dupont
Eastman Chemical Company
Evonik Industries
Feicheng Acid Chemicals
GlaxoSmithKline
Global Amines Company Pte Ltd
Huntsman Corporation
Indo Amines Ltd (IAL)
Ineos
Invista
Kao Chemicals
Kao Corporation
Koei Chemical
Laffans Petrochemicals Ltd
Lonza Group
Luxi Chemical Group
LyondellBasell
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical
Momentive
Nippon Shokubai
Novartis AG
Oxea Gmbh
P&G
Pfizer
Qida Chemical Co., Ltd.
Sabic
Sanofi
Sasol
Shandong Hualu
Shazand Petrochemical Company
Sinopec
Sintez OKA
Taminco
Thai Ethanolamines Co., Ltd
The Chemours Company
The Dow Chemical Company
Tosoh Corporation
U.S. Amines
Volant-Chem Group
Wilmar
Zamil Group
To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on [email protected]
SOURCE Visiongain Ltd
ATLANTA, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) announced today that Richard H. Anderson has elected to retire as executive chairman effective this date. Francis S. "Frank" Blake, who has been lead director since May 2016, will succeed Anderson as Delta's non-executive chairman. Blake, the former Chairman and CEO of The Home Depot, joined Delta's board in July 2014.
Anderson served on Delta's board for nearly a decade, becoming a director in April 2007 when the airline emerged from bankruptcy. He was appointed Delta's CEO in August 2007, and was elevated to executive chairman in May 2016 as he retired as CEO.
"Under Richard's leadership, Delta people established themselves as leaders in reliability, customer service and financial performance," Blake said. "His years of service to Delta established a legacy of unmatched dedication to our customers, employees, investors and the communities we serve. He is one of the great leaders in global aviation, and we wish him well."
Delta Air Lines serves nearly 180 million customers each year. In 2016, Delta was named to Fortune's top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline for the fifth time in six years. Additionally, Delta has ranked No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for an unprecedented five consecutive years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 319 destinations in 57 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs more than 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 800 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading transatlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK and LaGuardia, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, global products and services, and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on the Delta News Hub, as well as delta.com, Twitter @DeltaNewsHub, Google.com/+Delta, and Facebook.com/delta.
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SOURCE Delta Air Lines
Related Links
http://www.delta.com
SOUTH JORDAN, Utah, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AutoPoint, a Solera company and a leader in creating and implementing data-driven marketing solutions, today announced a new solution that takes a proactive approach to vehicle sales. Titled Sales Journey, the new solution leverages customer data to change the way dealers market their vehicles. Sales Journey presents a new way to conquest vehicle sales customers and attract them to chosen dealership lots.
Sales Journey addresses the challenge of attracting new customers and retaining existing customers as they prepare to buy or lease a new vehicle in a competitive dealer market. The new solution's predictive targeting methods allow dealers to gain a marketing advantage at critical early stages in the vehicle sales process. Such a data-driven approach increases the dealer's impact within the automotive sales sphere, and allows them to anticipate customers' needs and co-opt competitors.
"Sales Journey creates an essential link between the service relationship and the sales lot," says Mike Martinez, Managing Director of AutoPoint. "Smarter proactive marketing to the new vehicle buyer eases the transition for existing service customers back to the sales lot, as well as engages new customers who subsequently join the retention cycle. Sales Journey gives dealers an effective way to reach those new customers before they're lost to the competition."
About AutoPoint
AutoPoint is an industry leader in marketing strategies, service execution, and digital vehicle titling. It was the first company to bring these critical pieces together and connect them to through a mutual platform that enables OEMs and dealers to deliver an effortless, effective vehicle owner experience, resulting in increased customer satisfaction as well as incremental parts, service, and sales revenue.
As a pioneer in the automotive technology space, AutoPoint has developed, delivered, and managed solutions for thousands of franchised dealers and their OEM partners. The company has amassed loyal customers across the nation who depend on its innovative solutions and extensive support organization for their success. Customers trust in AutoPoint's unparalleled track record for delivering measurable success and sustainable, profitable growth.
SOURCE AutoPoint
Employees in all of the firm's markets to take part in community activities on October 13
TORONTO, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Mark Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young, the world's fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm, announced today that it will hold its third annual Global Day of Giving this Thursday, October 13 in all of the company's markets in five countries.
"On October 13, employees in Avison Young's 79 offices in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Europe will again dedicate the day to participation in volunteer projects that promote social, economic and environmental sustainability in their respective cities," comments Rose. "At this time in 2015, we had 71 offices take part. This year, due to continued expansion, another 400 professionals and an additional eight offices will be involved. We're thrilled to expand our philanthropic efforts into Mexico and broaden our global contributions in support of people who deal courageously with disadvantages on a daily basis. This annual initiative is also our way of giving back to the communities that support our company and our causes throughout the year."
Avison Young's Global Day of Giving is part of the company's global citizenship efforts. Each Avison Young office has chosen its own community volunteer project in consultation with the charity that will receive the assistance.
Rose continues: "Avison Young's core principles of partnership and collaboration apply not only to our business operations, but also to our efforts to support the communities in which we live, work and play. The same goes for our aggressive global expansion program. We also want to expand our community contributions on a global scale. The 2015 Global Day of Giving was another unmitigated success, and we look forward to raising more awareness for many organizations that work so unselfishly to improve the lives of people in need and at risk every day. This year, we're striving to build on the efforts of 2014 and 2015 to raise more funds and other forms of support for selected local charities. By setting aside a day for all 2,400-plus Avison Young professionals to volunteer their time, we will continue to expand our philanthropic efforts as a company exponentially and strive to improve our communities steadily."
This year, in addition to Mexico City, Avison Young is expanding its Global Day of Giving to Memphis, Coventry U.K., Jacksonville, Boca Raton, Phoenix, Berlin and St. Louis.
"Avison Young's Day of Giving is a demonstration of our focus on, and commitment to, global citizenship," points out Rodney McDonald, Avison Young Principal and Practice Leader, Consulting & Project Management Services. "Numerous people and organizations around the globe benefit from our Day of Giving, and it is one opportunity for everyone at Avison Young to support our communities. The Day of Giving is also our way of showing that we embrace and strive to uphold the principles of sustainability within our communities as well as our company."
Local staff activities on October 13 will range from river and trail clean-up projects at local parks to landscaping and renovation projects at women's shelters and youth clubs to refurbishing a house for homeless families to collecting coats for a school.
Char Fortune, Avison Young's Director of Learning and Professional Development, says Avison Young is ensuring that the Day of Giving will be sustainable over the long term by actively recruiting people who are committed to philanthropy.
"Our Day of Giving is enthusiastically embraced by our young professionals, who take the lead on choosing the local charities that we support," says Fortune. "By investing personal time and effort into helping their communities, our young professionals learn first-hand why leadership in this area is so important. They have a natural inclination for it."
The following is a list of the charities to which Avison Young employees will be donating their time on October 13:
CANADA
Calgary Women in Need Society Edmonton Food Bank of Edmonton Halifax Boys and Girls Club - Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Lethbridge Canadian Blood Services Moncton Boys and Girls Club - Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Montreal Moisson Montreal Ottawa The Ottawa Mission Quebec City Moisson Montreal Regina Carmichael Outreach Centre Toronto HQ Melanoma Network of Canada Toronto (property management) Youth Without Shelter Toronto North Melanoma Network of Canada Toronto West Melanoma Network of Canada Vancouver Westminster House Treatment Centre for Women Waterloo Region Guelph Humane Society Winnipeg Koats for Kids
U.S.
Atlanta The Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta Austin Habitat for Humanity Restore Boca Raton City of Fort Lauderdale Parks and Recreation Boston Boston Cares - Charles River Esplanade Chapel Hill The Carying Place Charleston Habitat for Humanity Charlotte Habitat for Humanity Chicago Downtown Friends of the Forest Chicago Suburban Friends of the Forest Cleveland Marymount Hospital & Retreat Columbus Ronald McDonald House Dallas Dwell with Dignity Denver Food Bank of the Rockies Detroit Gleaners Food Bank Fairfield/Westchester Norwalk Grassroots Tennis Fort Lauderdale City of Fort Lauderdale Parks and Recreation Greenville Greenville County Parks, Recreation & Tourism Hartford Boston Cares - Charles River Esplanade Houston Bo's Place Indianapolis Agape Therapeutic Riding Jacksonville Gabriel House of Care Knoxville Ijams Nature Center Las Vegas Opportunity Village Long Island Habitat for Humanity Los Angeles - Downtown EnrichLA Los Angeles - Santa Monica EnrichLA Los Angeles North EnrichLA Los Angeles West EnrichLA Memphis Children's Museum of Memphis Miami Camillus House Minneapolis House of Charity Nashville Salvation Army New Jersey Morristown Neighborhood House New York Riverside Park Conservatory Oakland Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Orange County EnrichLA Orlando Kids House - Wayne Densch Children's Advocacy Center Philadelphia A Woman's Place Phoenix St. Mary's Food Bank Pittsburgh Society of St. Vincent de Paul Raleigh-Durham The Carying Place Reno Habitat for Humanity Sacramento Move America Forward San Antonio Habitat for Humanity Restore San Diego EnrichLA San Francisco Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy San Mateo Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy St. Louis Places for People Suburban Maryland Montgomery County Park & Rec/Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless/Stepping Stones Shelter Tampa Humane Society of Tampa Bay Tysons Corner HomeStretch/Northern Virginia Family Services Washington, DC DC Central Kitchen West Palm Beach City of Fort Lauderdale Parks and Recreation
MEXICO
Mexico City Hospital Juarez de Mexico
UNITED KINGDOM
Coventry Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Brandon Marsh Nature Centre London City Spear London West End Spear Thames Valley Spear
GERMANY
Berlin Caritas Duesseldorf AWO Duesseldorf Frankfurt Local animal shelter Hamburg Local kindergarten Munich Munchner Tafel
Avison Young's Global Day of Giving is held annually in all of the firm's markets every October. The philanthropic effort continually expands as Avison Young opens new offices around the globe.
"We're delighted that our new Berlin office will contribute to the organic expansion of the Global Day of Giving along with our Mexico City location and other new offices," adds Udo Stoeckl, Avison Young Principal and Managing Director, Germany. "We're also proud to have our Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich offices participating again in local social projects with the rest of our Avison Young family. All of us at Avison Young look forward to providing local communities with our time, creativity and manpower to serve people in need and assist the charitable organizations that serve so graciously."
Avison Young is the world's fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Avison Young is a collaborative, global firm owned and operated by its principals. Founded in 1978, the company comprises 2,400 real estate professionals in 79 offices, providing value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-family properties.
www.avisonyoung.com
Avison Young was a winner of Canada's Best Managed Companies program in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and requalified in 2015 to maintain its status as a Best Managed Gold company
Follow Avison Young on Twitter:
For industry news, press releases and market reports: www.twitter.com/avisonyoung
For Avison Young listings and deals: www.twitter.com/AYListingsDeals
Follow Avison Young Bloggers: http://blog.avisonyoung.com
Follow Avison Young on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/avison-young-commercial-real-estate
Follow Avison Young on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/AvisonYoungRE
SOURCE Avison Young Commercial Real Estate (BC)
Related Links
www.avisonyoung.com
DALLAS, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BenefitMall, the leading provider of employee benefits, human resources and payroll products and services, has announced the addition of a new feature to its Client Ready Quote System (CRQS) called Client Ready Census (CRC).
CRC is a new online tool developed to provide brokers the ability to give their clients and their employees the capability to input member demographic information for quoting and enrollment. CRC is a proprietary and custom web-based census management tool that allows employers and employees to register, enter employee and dependent's information, select from available coverage options, and submit data to CRQS to allow for quoting.
"While our Client Ready Quote System has been applauded by brokers across the country for its efficiency and accuracy, our team wanted to take this quote system to the next level by introducing the Client Ready Census," said Michelle Sheffield, chief information officer of BenefitMall. "This tool will continue to make quoting and enrollment as seamless as possible, and we are thrilled to introduce this exclusive, self-service census tool to the market."
Not only does CRC allow brokers to invite employers and employees to complete census information and integrate this information into the existing CRQS platform, but it also allows employers to confirm registration, easily edit employee information and send invitations to employees. CRC even provides automated notifications to both employers and brokers when employees complete an entry or when employers finalize information.
CRC was designed so brokers can provide quicker and more accurate proposals to their clients, expediting the plan selection and enrollment process during busy times of the year. In a digital age, BenefitMall is providing a web-based solution as an alternative to traditional spreadsheets.
About BenefitMall
Headquartered in Dallas, BenefitMall partners with a network of 20,000 Brokers and CPAs to deliver employee benefits and payroll services to more than 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses. By combining payroll and benefits, BenefitMall empowers Trusted Advisors to develop the best employee programs while maintaining compliance with government regulations and Health Care Reform.
BenefitMall, the largest national General Agency merged with the second largest privately held payroll company, CompuPay. BenefitMall also operates HealthCareExchange.com, the leading online community for information regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. More information is available at www.benefitmall.com.
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SOURCE BenefitMall
Related Links
http://www.benefitmall.com
Suspected Kurdish militants shot and killed an official in Turkey's ruling AK Party late on Monday, authorities said, the second shooting of a politician in as many days in the strife-hit southeast.
Deryan Aktert, who headed the party's branch in Diyarbakir's Dicle district, was attacked in his office at 10:30 pm (1930 GMT) by suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the provincial governor's office said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though the PKK - in a mounting conflict with government forces in the region bordering Iran, Iraq and Syria - often waits several days before making such announcements.
A day earlier, assailants killed Aydin Mustu, the ruling party's deputy leader in the Ozalp district of Van, a city 350 km (215 miles) to the east of Diyarbakir.
A two-year ceasefire with the PKK collapsed in July last year, adding to the turmoil in a region already struggling with the civil war in Syria and the rise of Islamic State there and in Iraq.
The PKK, which launched its separatist insurgency in 1984, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union - a label it rejects.
Suspected PKK militants set off a truck bomb, killing 15 people at a military checkpoint in Hakkari province on Sunday, officials said.
Police in Diyarbakir said they had also detained 55 officials from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and its sister Democratic Regions Party (DBP) on Tuesday in a counter-terrorism investigation.
Ebubekir Bal, an AK Party parliamentarian representing Diyarbakir, said armed men had attacked Aktert's office last year.
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BOSTON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bison (Boston Illiquid Securities Offering Network, Inc.), a technology company focused on developing innovative software for the financial services industry, today announced a Series A round led by Hamilton Lane, a leading private markets asset management firm, with the participation of Boston-based venture firms GrandBanks Capital and Accomplice. This round of investment represents significant support from industry leaders in Bison, which provides breakthrough technology and analytics for the private markets.
Today, Bison also announced the launch of its new software platform, Cobalt jointly developed with Hamilton Lane. The Cobalt platform will provide industry-leading data plus powerful analytics through two unique products built specifically for limited partners and general partners in the private markets Cobalt GP and Cobalt LP.
The Cobalt GP platform, exclusively distributed by Bison, puts the power of data and limited partner insight in the hands of general partners. With Cobalt, general partners will know how and if they fit within a limited partner's strategy allowing them to build long-lasting client relationships with the right information at the right time. The Cobalt LP platform, exclusively distributed by Hamilton Lane, provides limited partners with better transparency and tools to assist in portfolio construction, due diligence and decision making.
"We are excited to announce the launch of Cobalt," said Rasmus Goksor, CEO of Bison. "The dual-sided Cobalt platform is the culmination of a tremendous amount of effort, vision and commitment from our team; our partnership with Hamilton Lane; and feedback from more than 100 current GP users of our software. At Bison, we believe technology for private markets should be held to the same standards as for the rest of the fintech industry. We are proud to be leading the charge to provide best-in-class solutions for our customers."
"We are extremely excited about our partnership with Bison," said Erik Hirsch, Chief Investment Officer of Hamilton Lane and Chairman of the Board of Bison. "In them, we've found a cutting-edge development firm that understands the unique data and analytic challenges facing the private markets. Although private equity firms have financed and supported the innovation of countless new technologies, as users, our industry still tends to rely on the most basic systems. Our investment in Bison and collaboration on Cobalt demonstrates our continued commitment to closing that gap."
For more information on Cobalt, please visit www.cobaltGP.com and www.cobaltLP.com.
About Bison
Founded in 2011, Bison is a fast-growing startup company focused on developing innovative technology for private markets. With roots in solving complex challenges within private equity and venture capital, Bison's mission has been to use the power of nimble technology and transparent data to bring unmatched, creative software solutions to the market. Headquartered in Boston, MA, Bison's products currently serve an impressive roster of some of the industry's leading private equity firms and investors, including large buyout and venture capital firms, leading endowments and foundations, as well as private and public pensions. www.bison.co
About Hamilton Lane
Hamilton Lane is an independent alternative investment management firm providing innovative private markets solutions to sophisticated investors around the world. Dedicated to private markets investing for 25 years, the firm currently employs more than 250 professionals operating in offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. With more than $315 billion in total assets under management and supervision1, Hamilton Lane offers a full range of investment products and services that enable clients to participate in the private markets asset class on a global and customized basis.
For more information, please visit: http://www.hamiltonlane.com/.
1 As of June 30, 2016
Media Contacts
Kate McGann
[email protected]
+1 610 617 5841
Kate Dillon
[email protected]
+1 212 279 3115 x115
SOURCE Bison
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders from Blackboard will present at WCET's 28th Annual Meeting, October 12-14 in Minneapolis, MN. Blackboard will lead seven sessions covering some of the most important issues facing institutions including building and sustaining high quality competency-based education programs; course design and accessibility; mobile; student success and higher education policy.
WCET is the leader in the practice, policy, and advocacy of technology-enhanced learning in higher education. The annual meeting brings together innovative thinkers and pragmatic solutions. To learn more, please visit WCET.
Session: Game Change: The Theory, Practice and Possibilities of Competency-based Education
When: Wednesday, October 12 3:15pm
Who: Van Davis, Associate Vice President, Higher Education Policy & Research, Blackboard; Karen Yoshino, Principal Strategist, Enterprise Consulting, Blackboard
Details: Building and sustaining a high quality competency-based education program can be simultaneously exhilarating and daunting. The presentation will cover the necessary pieces of successful program development and a tool to help institutions design and plan for CBE. Special attention will be placed on lessons learned from a number of institutions developing CBE as well as the change management practices necessary for sustaining innovation.
Session: Canary in a Coalmine? Course Reviews as an Indicator of Accessibility Gaps
When: Wednesday, October 12 4:30pm
Who: Ritchie Boyd, Principal Strategist, Enterprise Consulting, Blackboard; Scott Ready, Director - Customer Relations, Enterprise Consulting, Blackboard
Details: Working within the context of quality course design and accessibility, this discussion will provide participants with the opportunity to compare their knowledge of course design with well-known and established processes and rubrics. Considerations for identifying the attributes of highly accessible courses, which benefit all learners, will be an additional focus of this session.
Session: Who's Teaching in the FutureInteraction in an Age of Automation
When: Thursday, October 13 11:00am
Who: Van Davis, Associate Vice President, Higher Education Policy & Research, Blackboard; Myk Garn, Assistant Vice Chancellor for New Learning Models, Board of Regents, University System of Georgia; Cecilia Retelle Zywicki, Chief Operations Officer, Ranku
Details: What does it mean to teach in an age of technology, automation, learning outcomes, standardization, high stake assessment, and performance-based funding? Are we moving to a time when technology quits being merely a mediator for learning and instead supplants the instructional role of the faculty? Are we looking at a future where TeachBots replace faculty, where artificial intelligence trumps a PhD?
Session: Even Without a Higher Ed Act, EdTech Legislation and Regulations Still Loom
When: Thursday, October 13 1:45pm
Who: Van Davis, Associate Vice President, Higher Education Policy & Research, Blackboard; Michael Goldstein, Partner, Cooley, LLP; Vince Sampson, Special Counsel, Cooley, LLP; Laura Pedrick, Special Assistant to the Provost for Strategic Initiatives & Executive Director, UWM Online
Details: WCET members need to watch proposed regulations on competency-based learning, the financial aid regulations (with misrepresentation repercussions), privacy (updating FERPA), Teacher Prep, and other issues of importance to the WCET community. This session will update on the federal regulation that are currently or may soon be in play and review trends in increasing regulation of serving students in other countries.
Session: Case Study - How CTU Created a Student-Driven University Mobile App
When: Thursday, October 13, 3:15pm
Who: Darcy Hardy, Associate Vice President for Enterprise Consulting, Blackboard; Melissa Balsan, Vice President, Marketing, Colorado Technical University; Constance Johnson, Chief Academic Officer/Provost, Colorado Technical University
Details: To help students better fit education into their lives, Colorado Technical University embarked on a multi-year mobile app development project that bridged IT and academics; and involved actual student feedback to prioritize the features that mattered most. Learn how CTU kept students at the forefront of this innovative project and best practices you should follow when creating a university mobile app.
Session: Understanding and Changing the Conversations Around "Regular and Substantive Interaction"
When: Thursday, October 13 4:30pm
Who: Van Davis, Associate Vice President, Higher Education Policy & Research, Blackboard, Amy Laitinen, Director, Higher Education, New America
Details: This session will discuss the current interpretation of "regular and substantive" as well as how to begin to shift the dialogue from the current definition of very traditional, face-to-face interactions to one that would focus on student outcomes.
Session: Scaling Solutions to Higher Ed's Biggest Challenges
When: Friday October 14, 9:15am
Who: Ritchie Boyd, Principal Strategist, Enterprise Consulting, Blackboard; Alex Freeman, Senior Director of Membership and Special Projects, New Media Consortium
Details: Promoting student success at higher education institutions requires visionary leadership and a culture dedicated to transformative innovation. Even with these elements in place, however, many promising ideas fail to cross over into broad use. This session will discuss eight significant barriers to student success as defined by a forthcoming New Media Consortium publication.
About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world every day. Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government organizations to extend teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and security, and communicate more effectively with their communities. For more information about Blackboard, follow us on Twitter @Blackboard.
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CONTACT: D'Anthony White, Blackboard Inc., 202.303.9314 or [email protected]
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.
Related Links
http://www.blackboard.com
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Blundstone, the original Chelsea boot brand from Tasmania, Australia, announces an exciting national campaign, #HowIRoam, which offers contest entrants the chance to win a trip for 2 to Tasmania. Set to run on Blundstone's Instagram from October 10-November 18, 2016, the campaign explores Blundstone's passion points of film, craft, food, music and the outdoors, through the eyes of fans.
Blundstone Launches #HowIRoam Campaign
Last year, the #HowIRoam campaign was about the open road and a celebration of Blundstone's partnership with Ducati. This year, "the #HowIRoam campaign's appeal is grounded in authenticity, individualism and spirit of adventure, all values that our brand and Blundstone followers ascribe to," says International Sales Executive, Rachel Lash. Blundstone is expanding the scope and exploring all passions by profiling 5 people who embody the spirit of the brand, rugged, driven and unique. Blundstone will distribute content on these ambassadors while asking fans to post photos or videos tagging @blundstoneusa and using #HowIRoam, sharing how they roam and what inspires them and their passions. All entries are automatically entered to win the grand prize. The favorite image or video will be selected by a creative team at Blundstone.
Additionally, fans can enter to win weekly prizes including Blundstone boots, accessories from family-owned lifestyle brand Will Leather Goods, hand crafted goods from Iron & Resin, unique outdoor gear from Poler Stuff and more.
Looking to support and engage with influencers, Blundstone has created an influencer contest where the brand will invite likeminded influencers to share their passions, including what inspires them and how they roam on their social channels, while inviting their fans to enter the contest. All participating influencers will be entered to win a cash prize of $3,000 towards continuing their passions.
"#HowIRoam continues to give Blundstone a chance to bring our brand to life and share imagery and stories through our social platforms," says Ms. Lash. "This year we are thrilled to offer a trip for 2 to our home state of Tasmania, Australia while being able to share our heritage and culture."
The #HowIRoam campaign will be promoted on Blundstone's website, social media advertising and through direct to consumer emails. Additionally, Blundstone has partnered with Zappos on a promotion where Zappos influencers will share #HowIRoam through their channels.
About Blundstone:
Founded in Tasmania, Australia in 1870, Blundstone is recognized as quite possibly the world's most comfortable, most durable boots ever made. Blundstone is known for its iconic elastic-sided Chelsea boots sold worldwide that offer durability and contemporary styling. The company's extensive boot range also includes a safety boot line that offers superior comfort and protection for industrial usage. For more information, visit www.blundstone.com.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Liza Turkheimer
S+L PR, A Santy Company
310-996-0239
[email protected]
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SOURCE Blundstone
Related Links
http://www.blundstone.com
HOUSTON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (NYSE:BWP) will report its third quarter 2016 earnings on Monday, October 31, 2016. A conference call for analysts and investors will begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time and will be hosted by Boardwalk's Chief Executive Officer, Stan Horton, and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, Jamie Buskill. Boardwalk will issue its earnings news release before the market opens on Monday, October 31, 2016.
The news release and a live webcast will be available online at the Boardwalk website (www.bwpmlp.com). Please go to the website at least 10 minutes before the event begins to register and to download and install any necessary audio software. Those interested in participating in the question and answer session of the conference call should dial (855) 793-3255 for callers in the U.S. or (631) 485-4925 for callers outside the U.S. The Conference ID for the call is 90369196. Following the call, an online replay will be available on Boardwalk's website.
About Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (NYSE: BWP) is a midstream master limited partnership that primarily transports and stores natural gas and liquids for its customers. Additional information about the Partnership can be found on its website at www.bwpmlp.com.
CONTACT:
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP
Molly Ladd Whitaker, 866-913-2122
Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
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SOURCE Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP
Related Links
http://www.bwpmlp.com
Said Bob Hilliard, the lead attorney representing the Hernandez family, "It cannot be the law of our land that innocent Mexican children can be killed at the hands of border patrol agents with no legal consequence. If total civil immunity for the actions of these agents continues then there will continue to be a 'shoot to kill' attitude by some rogue agents knowing they have no fear of judicial review for their conduct.
"Our Constitution is made of strong enough fabric to offer its protections to the most vulnerable and innocent of our southern neighbors standing mere feet from our border. In fact, it was so designed and intended for such use.
"The Supreme Court will now have an opportunity to determine and reconfirm that our Constitution was, by intentional design, meant to be a functional instrument of strength and practical application, not a static piece of aged brittle paper. I look forward to arguing on behalf of the Hernandez family and the memory of Sergio in support of an ideal and a law, constitutionally grounded, that will actually save innocent lives.
"The shooter's conduct should be subject to review and accountability. Instead, though the bullet that killed Sergio only traveled 30 feet from gun barrel to the boy's brain, now, the government argues that the invisible line separating our countries is impenetrable when those injured try and seek justice against the shooter. The fatal bullet flew across our border unaffected by our country's boundaries and then into Sergio's body, killing him instantly. But, when Sergio's family seeks justice for their dead son, that same border suddenly becomes bullet proof? Death is death. Over the last decade we have watched the increasing frequency of unprovoked and unjustified shootings of Mexican nationals standing in our border's shadow and in their home soil.
Steve Shadowen, another attorney for the family stated, "We are very pleased that the Supreme Court has agreed to review the Obama Administration's assertion that U.S. Border patrol agents can direct fatal gunfire across the southern border without any judicial review."
"My son was not a criminal. He was a high school student," said Jesus Hernandez, Sergio's father, during a phone interview. "He was simply standing on the border of Ciudad Juarez like so many other children often do. The way in which they took his life was beyond cruel.
"I am asking that the Supreme Court stand with me for the dignity of my son's life. He was an innocent child who had the right to continue living."
"Don't they have children?" asked Maria Guereca, in reflecting on how Border Patrol Agent Mesa ended her young son's life. "My son had many hopes, many dreams to move ahead. They didn't let him realize his dreams. They killed him. Along with him, they took my life away, because he was everything to me. To lose a child is the saddest and cruelest form of pain. I am simply asking the Supreme Court for justice."
In Sergio's case, the Fifth Circuit initially ruled in favor of Fourth Amendment protections for Sergio, and then vacated a prior panel decision at the request of the government and determined that in fact Hernandez's family couldn't sue under the Fourth Amendment because Hernandez was a Mexican citizen, on Mexican soil and had no "significant voluntary connection" to the U.S. The court disagreed on whether Mesa's actions violated Hernandez's Fifth Amendment due process rights but agreed that any right Hernandez had as a foreign national would not have been clear to Mesa at the time of the shooting. Mesa did not know the nationality of Hernandez when he fired his weapon. The Supreme Court will now decide the issue.
Video Statement from Bob Hilliard regarding today's announcement: http://HMG.vzaar.me/7346533
ABOUT HMG http://www.hmglawfirm.com/
Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP (HMG) specializes in mass torts, personal injury, product liability, commercial and business litigation, and wrongful death. Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP has been successfully representing clients in the United States and Mexico since 1986. Bob Hilliard obtained the Largest Verdict in the country in 2012 and the #1 verdict in Texas, he currently is co-lead counsel in the single biggest litigation in US history, GM's ignition switch defect litigation, currently pending in the Southern District of New York.
SCHEDULE AN INTERVIEW WITH BOB HILLIARD
Contact Lauren Gomez at 361-960-3146
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PDF - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/ENR/Hilliard-Munoz-Gonzales-LLP-Supreme-Court-Order.pdf
SOURCE Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP
Related Links
http://www.hmglawfirm.com
MIAMI, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings announced an order today to convert nine 767 passenger airplanes into Boeing Converted Freighters (BCF). Four of the orders were previously announced at the Farnborough International Airshow in July, attributed to an unidentified customer.
Atlas Air Worldwide, based in Purchase, New York has an all-Boeing fleet.
"Boeing has been a longtime and trusted partner as we've built our fleet and business," said President and Chief Executive Officer William J. Flynn, Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings. "We look forward to continuing to work with Boeing to provide operational excellence and support for our customers."
Through its freighter conversion program, Boeing transitions passenger airplanes into freighters, extending the economic life of the airplane.
"We look forward to supporting Atlas with our Boeing Converted Freighters as they expand their freighter operations," said Rick Anderson, vice president of sales and marketing, Boeing Commercial Aviation Services. "With more than 40 years of experience in passenger-to-freighter conversions, Boeing has a deep understanding of the needs of the air cargo industry. Our freighter conversion program not only provides customers with world-class Boeing platforms, we also offer global support and the assurance of a Boeing-backed program."
Boeing's current market outlook forecasts a need for 400 widebody conversions over the next two decades, with strong demand for 767 freighter conversions due to a rise in e-commerce.
Atlas Air Worldwide is a leading global provider of outsourced aircraft and aviation operating services. It is the parent company of Atlas Air, Inc. (Atlas), Southern Air Holdings, Inc. (Southern Air) and Titan Aviation Holdings, Inc. (Titan), and is the majority shareholder of Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, Inc. (Polar). Atlas Air Worldwide's companies operate all-Boeing fleets, including the world's largest fleet of Boeing 747 freighters and provide customers the broadest array of 747, 777, 767, 757 and 737 airplanes for domestic, regional and international applications.
Boeing is a leader in providing 24/7 support and service to the global aviation industry. In addition to designing freighter conversions, Boeing offers the industry's largest portfolio of services including interior modifications, aftermarket parts, subscription-based maintenance programs, engineering support, crew training, route planning, digital crew scheduling, advanced data analytics and software to enhance airlines and leasing company operations.
Contact:
Cynthia Reynaud
Boeing Commercial Airplanes Communications
+1 206-661-2632
[email protected]
SOURCE Boeing
Related Links
www.boeing.com
Brainspace is focused on a singular mission: creating machine learning that accelerates human learning. Brainspace's revolutionary approach to processing information helps surface insights and avenues of inquiry that are difficult to find with any other solution. Enterprises utilize Brainspace Discovery 5 to achieve a wide variety of objectives, including early case assessment and investigative analytics for e-discovery, internal investigations, and document classification.
"Throughout the intelligence community there is a huge challenge and untapped value in being able to surface insights, answers, and threats in unstructured data. Add the exponential increases in the volume, velocity, and complexity of data and the challenge seems almost insurmountable," said Dave Copps, Chief Executive Officer at Brainspace. "Our products directly address this need through augmented intelligence. Brainspace Discovery 5 utilizes interactive data visualization as a sort of Lingua Franca connecting people with machine learning and radically improving their productivity. IQT's investment further validates our mission at Brainspace and reflects the need for machine learning, powerful user experiences, and next-generation investigative tools in a growing number of industries, including federal."
"When I saw the work that Brainspace was doing inside of very large enterprises with machine learning and analytics I knew this was something IQT's government partners would find valuable," said Eugene Chiu, Investments Partner at IQT. "Their unique approach of connecting researchers and analysts to machine learning through interactive visualizations will produce extraordinary value for the intelligence community and beyond."
About Brainspace Corporation
Brainspace Corporation is altering the field of digital investigations through the unique combination of machine learning technology and interactive data visualizations. Our unique solutions utilize our patented Brainspace platform and are leading the industry in text analytics, e-discovery, digital investigations and defense intelligence. Our customers include the Fortune 500, leading consulting firms, legal service providers, and government agencies.
About IQT
In-Q-Tel (IQT) is the non-profit strategic investor that accelerates the development and delivery of cutting-edge technologies to U.S. government agencies that keep our nation safe. Established in 1999, IQT's mission is to identify and partner with startup companies developing innovative technologies that protect and preserve our nation's security. Visit www.iqt.org for more information.
Media Contact:
Jacob Morse
VP Marketing & Strategy
[email protected]
(469) 828-8210; 7003
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427244
SOURCE Brainspace
Related Links
http://www.brainspace.com
LONDON, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Breed Reply, Reply's IoT investor, funding and supporting start-ups in the Internet of Things space, announces that a further four agreements have been signed with Callsign, Iotic Labs, Razorsecure and Senseye, bringing their portfolio to a total of fifteen.
"We are delighted to announce the further growth and diversification of our dedicated Iot portfolio." Said Emanuele Angelidis, CEO of Breed Reply.
With Razorsecure and Callsign, Breed Reply reaffirms its presence in the security arena, whilst Senseye moves them into prognosis as a service in the rapidly growing Industrial IoT. The fourth investment brings Breed to the forefront of the connected devices market with Iotic Labs - a framework to enable the interaction of things.
Callsign has built the most comprehensive authentication platform for enterprises, financial institutions and consumer facing web companies. Built upon a non-repudiable military grade Crypto Engine, Callsign's layered security approach provides a set of services that are unparalleled in the market today.
Iotic Labs have created Iotic Space, the trusted environment where anything can interact with anything. Data can be securely shared or exchanged, creating communities of unrelated things transforming services and enabling interventions and improvements that would not otherwise have been possible.
RazorSecure's active monitoring software monitors systems continuously and alerts the instant that a system breach occurs. Combined with automated defence system and a low cost, low maintenance approach, RazorSecure is the ideal solution for difficult to manage small scale/IoT systems in harsh environments.
Senseye PROGNOSYS by Senseye helps manufacturers avoid downtime and save money. It automatically monitors the condition of machines and predicts future breakdowns, it's scalable, simple to use and able to work with any equipment.
On the Best in Breed 4 programme Emanuele Angelidis has commented: "The programme Best in Breed has enabled us to evaluate and invest from the beginning in a number of highly innovative businesses / companies. We have therefore just launched the fifth edition of Best in Breed from which I expect further substantial results."
Applications for Best in Breed 5 are open until the 26th of October.
Breed Reply
Breed Reply, Reply's advanced incubator, funds and supports the development of start-ups on the Internet of Things (IoT) in Europe and the USA. Based in London, with operational offices in Germany and Italy, Breed Reply supports entrepreneurs and young talent by quickly bringing new ideas to the market. This is done via three fundamental services: funding at "seed" and "early stage" level; considerable support with significant know how transfer of business, managerial and technological expertise; and, thanks to Reply's ecosystem, medium-term involvement to establish start-ups in their market. In the IoT sector, the main areas Breed Reply focuses on are Fitness and Wellness, Healthcare, Smart home, Manufacturing, Transportation and Energy. http://www.breedreply.com
Reply
Reply [MTA, STAR: REY] specialises in the design and implementation of solutions based on new communication channels and digital media. Through its network of specialist companies, Reply supports some of Europe's leading industrial groups in Telco & Media, Industry & Services, Banks & Insurance, and Public Administration to define and develop business models, suited to the new paradigms of Big Data, Cloud Computing, Digital Media and the Internet of Things. Reply services include: Consulting, System Integration and Digital Services. http://www.reply.com
SOURCE Breed Reply
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Burundian journalist Eloge Willy Kaneza will receive the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism Thursday (Oct. 13) at the National Press Club. The award ceremony, which is open to the public, will be followed by a panel discussion on how journalists in repressive countries can use social media to evade press restrictions.
Kaneza, 34, is the public face of SOS Media Burundi, a collective of mostly anonymous journalists that emerged after the closure of radio stations during a May 2015 coup attempt. Using smartphones and mobile applications, Kaneza and his colleagues work under difficult circumstances as the only source of news for their countrymen and those outside Burundi.
Kaneza's award was announced in August by Global Media Forum, in collaboration with Reporters Without Borders and Agence France-Presse. The Peter Mackler Award, created in memory of the late Peter Mackler, and AFP correspondent who was dedicated to mentoring young journalists, every year honors an international journalist who fights courageously and ethically to report the news in a country or region where press freedom is threatened.
The award ceremony will be followed by a lively panel discussion: "Today's Front Lines: From pen and camera to iPhone and WhatsApp," which will explore how journalists under siege in Africa and elsewhere are using technology and new media tools to combat repression and censorship.
The panel will be led by Louise Roug, of Politico Europe, a former foreign news editor at Mashable and Newsweek and a foreign correspondent in the Middle East. She will be joined by Malachy Browne, a senior New York Times video producer and an international investigative reporter who creates technology to power journalism and human rights work; and by Scott Stearns, managing editor of VOA's Africa division who has reported extensively on the region from Dakar, Nairobi, Liberia and elsewhere.
The Peter Mackler Award ceremony will begin at 6 pm Thursday, Oct. 13, at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, in Washington. To register, go to http://www.pmaward.org/
SOURCE Peter Mackler Award
Related Links
http://www.pmaward.org
In addition to new funding, Cassia Networks is unveiling a groundbreaking, new, patent-pending feature, "Cassia BlueStream ," which lets users set up their own multi-room Bluetooth speaker system using any Bluetooth speakers and the Cassia Hub. The new feature doesn't require any change in user behavior and lets users stream music from any app Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, etc. to multiple speakers simultaneously by simply connecting to the Cassia Hub as if it were a Bluetooth speaker. Users can also BlueStream audio from any Bluetooth audio source including smartphones, tablets, computers, Amazon Echo and more.
"We believe Cassia Networks' improvements in Bluetooth are a game changer and laying the groundwork for the new future of IoT applications," said Maria Zhang, Investment Partner, IDG-Accel. "We are excited by the business opportunities presented by Cassia as their innovation will have far reaching effects on a variety of industries including everything from medicine to sports, connected home and more."
"Cassia Network's technology enables an entirely new category of IoT applications via Bluetooth that were previously not possible," said Jing Wang, Everest Capital founder. "We are confident that Cassia Networks has the best team and collective experience to bring the vision of Bluetooth as a universal wireless protocol to fruition."
"At Cassia, we're partnering with innovative companies aiming to develop emerging new applications for Bluetooth," said Felix Zhao, CEO of Cassia Networks. "We've received hundreds of inquiries about implementing our hubs in a variety of enterprise settings and industries and we're excited about the opportunity Bluetooth has to play in the growth of the Internet of Things."
The Cassia Hub with BlueStream is available for purchase from the Cassia Networks website for $149.99. Previous Cassia Hub owners can get the BlueStream feature through a firmware update. Visit www.cassianetworks.com for more information.
About Cassia
Cassia Networks was founded in 2014 with a mission to liberate Bluetooth and make it the universal wireless protocol of choice for the next generation of IoT applications. The company's first product, the Cassia Hub, won Best of CES 2016 in the Connected Home category for being the world's first Bluetooth router and enabling long distance and remote control of up to 22 Bluetooth devices without requiring any changes to the Bluetooth end devices. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley and Beijing, Cassia Networks is made up of a group of talented individuals from some of the top internet and communications companies like Google, Cisco, Tencent, Aruba, Roku, and Facebook.
Media Contact
Cristina Dunning
Spark for Cassia
Phone: (503) 507-4758
Email: [email protected]
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SOURCE Cassia Networks
Related Links
http://www.cassianetworks.com
Outraged by Russia's intensified air strikes on rebels in Syria, the European Union is now less likely to ease sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine, diplomats say, and some in the bloc are raising the prospect of more punitive steps against the Kremlin.
While the EU says conflicts in Syria and Ukraine need to be kept separate, the latest military offensive by Damascus and its ally Moscow on rebel-held eastern Aleppo further clouds the strained ties between Moscow and the bloc.
That weakens the hand of Italy, Hungary and others who have steadily increased pressure for easing sanctions, returning to doing business and reengaging with Moscow after first hitting it with punitive measures for annexing Crimea in March 2014.
"It's clear that the assault on Aleppo has changed the mindset of some. It will be impossible to back an easing of sanctions on Ukraine in the current context," said one EU foreign minister.
A French diplomatic source echoed the view, saying: "The prospect of the Russian sanctions over Ukraine being lifted are practically nil after Aleppo."
France says the Aleppo attacks amount to war crimes and wants Syria and Russia investigated. EU and NATO officials on Monday said the Ukraine sanctions on Russia should be kept in place.
"There is just no appetite for an easing of sanctions now. Ukraine is one thing, but what is going on in Syria creates no atmosphere for any overall improvement in ties with Russia," said one diplomat in Brussels.
EU leaders will discuss their ties with Moscow on Oct. 20-21 in Brussels. The bloc's main economic sanctions against Russia over Ukraine are now in place until the end of January.
The sanctions include restrictions on Russia's access to international financing, curbs on defence and energy cooperation with Moscow, a blacklist of people and entities and limitations on doing business with the Russian-annexed Crimea.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has long called for a substantial debate, saying that the crisis in Ukraine, where Russia backs rebels in the country's east, must not rule out more economic cooperation.
Italy is backed by Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia and Hungary in calling for doing more business with Russia, the EU's main gas supplier, not least to help economic growth.
"Things are going from bad to worse. No one will dare to ask for an easing. At this stage, the doves will be happy if things stay where they are," said another diplomat in Brussels.
Russia says it will never return Crimea to Ukraine. Efforts led by Germany and France to implement a broader peace deal in east Ukraine have stalled for many months.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet some leaders of the EU and Ukraine on Oct. 19 for more talks.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko is expected in Brussels at the time of the 28 EU leaders' summit and the bloc will then hold a high-level meeting with Kiev on Nov.24.
NEW SANCTIONS SEEN A LONG SHOT
Diplomats said France was leading discussions on whether to impose new sanctions on Russia specifically over Syria, where Moscow backs President Bashar al-Assad in the five-year-old war.
Russia last week vetoed a French-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate end to air strikes and military flights over Aleppo.
On Monday, EU foreign ministers will discuss the bloc's reaction to the devastating bombings of Aleppo.
But Germany is seen as opposing new sanctions on Moscow and diplomats in Brussels cast doubt on chances for any swift move on that, saying there was no critical mass among EU states.
"But even if its is too early for the whole bloc to arrive at a common position, the sole fact that these discussions are taking place does send a signal to Russia," one said.
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WEST CALDWELL, N.J., Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Community Education Centers announced today that it is celebrating ten years of providing a distinctive in-prison treatment program at the Southwestern Illinois Correctional Center in East St. Louis.
"We are pleased to partner with the Illinois Department of Corrections and provide this unique programming that has demonstrated success in the battle against recidivism," said James E. Hyman, CEO of CEC.
Originally started in 1996, the SWICC programming expanded substantially in October 2006 with the introduction of specific methamphetamine abuse programming by a predecessor company of CEC. CEC again expanded SWICC programming in 2007 with the creation of the CAAP program which trains offenders to be certificated substance abuse counselors. The CEC SWICC programming for the ILDOC currently comprises a dedicated 200-bed unit for offenders addicted to methamphetamine, and a total of 716-beds for Therapeutic Community focused on substance abuse treatment and recovery.
CEC programming at SWICC has demonstrated milestone results in research findings. Results from an outcome-based study performed by David Olson, Ph.D., Chairman and Associate Professor of the Criminal Justice Department at Loyola University in Chicago, indicate CEC's specialized programming for inmates addicted to methamphetamine showed a 15-22% better chance against recidivism as compared to comparison groups of inmates at other Illinois prisons.
The ten year anniversary celebration held at SWICC drew distinguished guests from the ILDOC, as well as representatives from senior management at CEC. The celebration included guest speakers, including graduates of the CEC Certified Associate Addictions Professionals (CAAP) program who shared their treatment experiences and post release work in the behavioral health field.
CAAP programming is designed to enhance personal recovery as well as prepare offenders professionally, providing a career path upon release. A notable 242 program participants have successfully completed the program. Many have continued to gain employment after release in the social services field as Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors. Graduate recidivism rates indicate a rate of only 18% recidivism of those who have completed the course and passed the exam.
CEC is a leading national provider of rehabilitative services for offenders in reentry and in-prison treatment facilities. The Company provides evidence-based programming for residential and non-residential clients and maintains a documented record of Breaking the Cycle of Recidivism. CEC services also include drug and alcohol testing by SECON, a comprehensive drug testing and screening company that provides services worldwide.
SOURCE Community Education Centers
Related Links
http://www.cecintl.com
"Thames Water has received much recognition for its Lee Tunnel, and we are honored to add ENR 's global industry award to its list of distinctions. This project is transforming London's aging wastewater infrastructure and providing exceptional value for Thames Water's customers," said Peter Nicol, CH2M Global Business Group President.
CH2M has served as manager of this historic public works initiative since 2008. Part of the 5 billion London Thames Tideway Tunnel Programme, the 6.9 kilometer-long, 7.2m internal diameter, deep sewer tunnel has driven major industry leading innovations in design and construction. In addition to developing the Lee Tunnel, the project also involves construction of the 32-kilometer-long Thames Tideway Tunnel, which will reduce wastewater overflows for a cleaner, healthier River Thames.
The deepest tunnel ever built in the British capital, the Lee Tunnel comprises the first phase of the biggest upgrade to London's sewerage system since Victorian times, a key part of Thames Water's bid to clean up the iconic River Thames. The four-mile tunnel, which runs beneath the London Borough of Newham from Abbey Mills Pumping Station to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works, reduces untreated discharges to the River Thames by 40 percent. The Lee Tunnel will serve as the first of two needed to facilitate treatment of 39 million cubic meters of sewage per year from London's overstressed Victorian sewers, which fill to capacity after rainfall.
Beyond the ENR Global Project of the Year award, the Lee Tunnel also earned the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Greatest Contribution to London Award, one of London's highest engineering awards for raising the bar on innovation, health and safety, community benefit, construction and design. This was the second time the project received this distinction, also earning ICE's Greatest Contribution Award in 2012.
The San Diego County Water Authority's Emergency & Carryover Storage Project, for which CH2M played a supporting role, also was honored as a runner up in the Water/Wastewater category. All of the projects named will be recognized on October 11, 2016, at the ENR Global Best Projects Awards Dinner in New York City, during the ENR Global Construction Summit.
About CH2M
CH2M leads the professional services industry delivering sustainable solutions benefiting societal, environmental and economic outcomes with the development of infrastructure and industry. In this way, CH2Mers make a positive difference providing consulting, design, engineering and management services for clients in water; environment and nuclear; transportation; energy and industrial markets, from iconic infrastructure to global programs like the Olympic Games. Ranked among the World's Most Ethical Companies and top firms in environmental consulting and program management, CH2M in 2016 became the first professional services firm honored with the World Environment Center Gold Medal Award for efforts advancing sustainable development. Connect with CH2M at www.ch2m.com; LinkedIn; Twitter; and Facebook.
Contact:
Lori Irvine
CH2M (Water Business Group)
+1 720 286 3137
[email protected]
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SOURCE CH2M
Related Links
http://www.ch2m.com
HATFIELD, Pa., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Five commercial condominiums on West Liberty Street in Lancaster will headline a full lineup of 24 commercial and residential properties selling at auction Thursday, Nov. 10. John Dixon & Associates will conduct the auction, which will also include office buildings, land, a bar/restaurant and other properties in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia.
"We really have some great properties, including these five commercial condominiums in Lancaster -- all selling absolute -- in a beautiful building with ample parking, key card access, and shared conference rooms," said Drew Dixon, who is coordinating the auction.
A country retreat in Landenberg, Pennsylvania, is also expected to attract some interest, Dixon said. "This is an eight-bedroom multi-level home with 200-year-old hand hewn beams providing a lot of character. It was set up as a four-unit apartment and is ideal for rentals, use as a bed & breakfast or a single-family home," he said.
Other properties slated for sale include office buildings in West Virginia and New Jersey, as well as vacant, multi-family and mixed-use land, he said.
"This will be a great opportunity for individuals, developers or investors to acquire some properties that can provide income streams and business opportunities," said Dixon.
The auction will begin at 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, at 501 Fairgrounds Road, Hatfield, in the facilities of Alderfer's Auctioneers & Appraisers. The auction will be simulcast, with Internet bidding available by prior registration. Individuals seeking additional information may visit www.johndixon.com or call 800-479-1763.
John Dixon & Associates, based in Atlanta with offices in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, is one of the nation's largest auctioneers of real estate properties, including land, residential, commercial and industrial properties.
For more information:
Carl Carter, 205-823-3273
SOURCE John Dixon & Associates
Related Links
http://www.johndixon.com
BALTIMORE, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- At its annual conference 18-19 October, the Maryland World Class Consortia will mark its twentieth year improving business performance in Maryland and across the region.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/426945
"We're very proud of our track record," said Jeff Fuchs, MWCC Executive Director. The Consortia, Fuchs recalls, was created in 1996 by Maryland's then-Department of Business and Economic Development to help Maryland businesses learn "world class" performance improvement methods. Since its formation, the Consortia has supported hundreds of organizations in achieving better results. It was instrumental in helping many Maryland businesses to weather the 2008-09 recession. In its twentieth year, MWCC members include manufacturers, defense and IT firms, hospitals, government, education, and non-profit organizations.
This month's Mid-Atlantic Lean Conference will feature 36 speakers presenting case studies and how-to workshops on a method of continuous improvement known as "lean."
"Lean Thinking was born in the manufacturing industry over half a century ago," says Fuchs. "Since then, we have discovered how lean's simple, powerful techniques can improve every function in any type of organization. Lean is a way to engage all employees in systematic problem solving: Everybody, every day, improving their work, little by little. Wherever you have a process, lean can improve its performance."
The 2016 Mid-Atlantic Lean Conference will showcase the range of Lean Thinking's potential. Five healthcare organizations will show how the methods first used to assemble cars have helped doctors, nurses and administrators work together to improve patient care. Representatives from Baltimore County, the city of Denton, Texas, the State of Florida, and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will describe their Lean Government progress. Several manufacturing firms will describe their achievements streamlining production operations. Northrop Grumman will show how they have adapted lean to their unique advanced electronics manufacturing processes. Even a Virginia farmer will show how lean helped make the farm's work easier and more hassle-free. Four conference keynote presentations, each by award-winning authors, will explore important facets of leading a lean cultural transformation.
A reception on the afternoon of 18 October will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Maryland World Class Consortia. A dozen of the Consortia's long-standing member companies will be recognized, including some that have been members continuously since the organization's founding. "Once they learn the right way to do lean," says Fuchs, "members see the value, and they stay with us." He adds, "Lean helps companies develop employees who can learn quicker than their competition. It creates a culture where everyone does their work, and improves their work. This builds a durable culture of competitive strength, innovation, and adaptiveness. Lean organizations are better equipped to see and respond to change."
Fuchs has been with the Maryland World Class Consortia since the beginning. When he managed an aerospace factory in Maryland, the Consortia's help proved critical to turning the business around and bringing it back from the edge of bankruptcy. He has served as Executive Director since 2008.
The 18-19 October conference at the Radisson North Baltimore hotel in Timonium, Maryland is open to the public. See the conference website at www.mwcmc.org/2016Conference for details, agenda, and registration.
The 2016 Mid-Atlantic Lean Conference is sponsored by Northrop Grumman, Maryland's Department of Commerce, Item America, and First United Bank & Trust.
The Maryland World Class Consortia is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization that helps organizations of all types understand Continuous Improvement methods to increase business competitiveness, grow the economy, and serve society.
CONTACT:
Jeff Fuchs, Executive Director
Maryland World Class Consortia
Phone: 443-865-2198
Email
Website: www.mwcmc.org
SOURCE Maryland World Class Consortia
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ContextMedia:Health, the leader in patient outcome technologies, today announces that it has named Adam Prowker as Senior Vice President of Marketing Sciences. In his appointment, Prowker will lead the team that delivers ContextMedia:Health's outcomes-based results to 100+ brand partners. He will collaborate closely with the partners to validate and optimize programs that produce immediate and measureable success, while tracking improvements in health outcomes for providers and patients. Prowker brings over 15 years of experience in analytics in physician & patient pharmaceutical marketing and educational testing & assessment, and will report to ContextMedia:Health's EVP of Business Growth and Analytics, Ashik Desai.
"In addressing the needs of the patient of the future, command of the marketing sciences is critical," said Desai. "As healthcare shifts towards a value-based model, this is top of mind at ContextMedia:Health, and we want to make it as easy as possible for our brand partners to measure the significant impact of our partnerships. In his previous work, Adam has helped broaden the scope of insights that can be drawn from patients and physicians, and I am thrilled to work with him to continue to realize our mission of delivering patient outcomes across our growing network of leading healthcare systems."
"ContextMedia:Health's interactive platforms drive compelling value during the patient-provider consultation," said Prowker. "The platforms also give us unprecedented insight into the impact of data-driven marketing on health outcomes. Through these technologies, we can address the evolving needs of patients better than ever before, and apply innovative approaches that will usher in a new standard for patient engagement and analytics."
Prior to joining ContextMedia:Health Adam served on the leadership team of athenahealth, where he led its Epocrates analytics groups, developing the methodologies at the core of its analytics. Before his time at athenahealth, Adam served as principal methodologist at PDR, with previous roles at the Law School Admissions Council and Pearson Educational Measurement. Adam received his BA and MS in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Moravian College and Virginia Tech respectively, and his PhD in Educational Psychology from Rutgers University.
About ContextMedia:Health
ContextMedia:Health is the leading provider of digital solutions at the point of care in the United States. The company's technologies impact 378 million patient visits a year at 25,000 physician practices across the nation through digital anatomy boards, patient education tablets and mobile connectivity in outpatient waiting rooms and physician consultation rooms. These health technologies deliver measurable results to patient engagement, empowering action and inspiring behavior change for people living with a chronic condition.
In addition to hospitals and integrated health systems, ContextMedia:Health also partners with life science companies, medical device companies, health content publishers and medical associations to catalyze conversations between the healthcare provider and patient about lifestyle changes and therapy solutions to improve the quality of life. To find out more about brand partnerships, visit http://partner.contextmediainc.com
Media Contact: Philip de Guzman, Communications Lead, ContextMedia, (312) 636-7320, [email protected]
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SOURCE ContextMedia:Health
WALTHAM, Massachusetts and WASHINGTON, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
EarlySense, the market leader in contact-free continuous monitoring solutions, and the COPD Foundation announced today that executives will jointly present self-management methods for chronic disease at the Aging 2.0 Optimize Conference, taking place October 12 - 14 in San Francisco, CA.
Deb McGowan, Vice President of Population Health and Care Delivery for the COPD Foundation, and Dr. Liat Tsoref, VP & GM, Digital Health BU at EarlySense, will address how contact-free monitoring technology can play a key role for seniors who want to maintain independence by self-assessing their health at home. McGowan and Tsoref will discuss how overnight continuous monitoring of respiratory rate and heart rate can be used to evaluate seniors with COPD to improve compliance and effectiveness of treatment methods.
"Collaboration between patient advocacy groups and technology innovators is integral to introducing new solutions that can help patients support their own physical and emotional well-being," said McGowan. "COPD is the third leading cause of death in the United States, with 15 million Americans affected and another 15 million who remain undiagnosed. Although there is no cure for COPD, patients can do a lot to manage their symptoms, if the disease is detected early. Empowering patients and their families to learn about their condition with at home real time information is the wave of the future."
The joint session, taking place during the Evidence-based Telehealth breakout session, will explore how technology is facilitating self-management, how data can be shared with care givers, and the importance of creating a supportive peer network. Additionally, Dr. Tsoref will outline how COPD Foundation members will be beta testing EarlySense's at-home wellness tracking solution, which provides an accurate and comprehensive view of nightly heart rate and breathing patterns as well as sleep. This information can be used to track changes and better understand how activities or treatments may impact these wellness parameters.
"Given the growth of the aging population, self-tracking solutions are being increasingly adopted to provide an accurate picture of health and assist with self-compliance of suggested treatments -while allowing individuals to maintain their independence," said Dr. Tsoref. "We value our work with the COPD Foundation on an easy-to-use solution that meets the needs of their stakeholders, and are pleased EarlySense can provide valuable at-home tracking options for this population."
The joint presentation will take place on Friday, October 14th at 8:50 a.m.
EarlySense will be exhibiting at Aging 2.0 (Table # 137). To arrange a meeting or demo please contact [email protected]
About the COPD Foundation
The COPD Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization created in 2004, with offices in Washington, D.C. and Miami, FL. The COPD Foundation was established to undertake initiatives that result in expanded services for COPD and improve the lives of individuals affected by COPD. The Foundation's activities focus on achieving these results through its research, education and advocacy programs. For more information, please visit http://www.copdfoundation.org/
About EarlySense
EarlySense provides contact-free, continuous monitoring solutions for the medical and consumer digital health markets. EarlySense's patented sensor and advanced algorithms monitor and analyze cardiac, respiratory, sleep and motion parameters. Used in hospitals and healthcare facilities worldwide, EarlySense assists clinicians in early detection of patient deterioration, helping to prevent adverse events, including code blues, preventable ICU transfers, patient falls and pressure ulcers.
The myEarlySense smart home-compatible consumer solution brings hospital-proven technology to the home, providing valuable data regarding wellness and sleep. myEarlySense OEM technology is at the core of wellness and sleep products marketed by international partners including Samsung, Beurer and iFit. EarlySense was founded in 2004 and has offices in Waltham, MA, and Ramat Gan, Israel.
For more information, please visit http://www.EarlySense.com and http://www.myEarlySense.com.
Follow EarlySense on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Media Contact:
Ellie Hanson
Finn Partners
+1-929-222-8006
ellie.hanson@finnpartners.com
Company Contact:
Miranda Shaw
+1-787-373-3228
Miranda.Shaw@earlysense.com
SOURCE EarlySense
TUBINGEN, Germany, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CureVac AG, the most clinically advanced mRNA company, today announced the appointment of Pierre Kemula as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Mr. Kemula will join CureVac's management board and will be responsible for leading the company's financial and capital markets activities.
Ingmar Hoerr, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of CureVac, stated, "Adding an executive with Pierre's financial and transactional expertise, as well as his global markets experience, is a key accomplishment for CureVac as the company prepares for multiple near-term corporate and clinical milestones that have the potential to significantly contribute to its leadership position in the field of mRNA."
Mr. Kemula joins CureVac after serving as Chief Financial Officer of Pixium Vision, a medical technology company developing innovative Bionic Vision Systems to provide a form of vision to blind patients suffering from outer retinal degeneration. During his tenure as CFO of Pixium Vision, Mr. Kemula was instrumental in the company's successful initial public offering on Euronext. Prior to Pixium Vision, Mr. Kemula was with Ipsen, a global specialty-driven pharmaceutical company, where he held the position of Vice President Corporate Finance, Treasury and Financial Markets. Mr. Kemula began his career in consulting, with successful tenures at Roland Berger, Kea & Partners, Gemini Consulting and KPMG. He received his degree in Management Sciences from the London School of Economics (LSE) in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Kemula commented, "Since its founding in 2000, CureVac has established itself as the mRNA pioneer, boasting the industry's most advanced clinical pipeline, while securing approximately $330 million in equity investments and forging collaborations with numerous multinational organizations. I welcome the opportunity to join CureVac as its new Chief Financial Officer and look forward to working alongside the team to accelerate CureVac's growth trajectory and drive the company's financial success."
About CureVac AG
Founded in 2000 as a spin-off from the University of Tbingen in Germany, CureVac is a technology leader in the development of drugs that are based on the Messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule. The company has an extensive expertise in handling and optimizing this versatile molecule for medical purposes and has the most advanced product pipeline and IP portfolio in the industry.
The basic principle of CureVac's proprietary technology is the use of mRNA as a data carrier to instruct the human body to produce its own proteins capable of fighting a wide range of diseases. CureVac's mRNA programs include novel mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies and prophylactic vaccines against infectious diseases, molecular therapies designed to trigger the body's own production of therapeutic proteins, and a novel, RNA-based adjuvant therapy designed to enhance the immunogenicity of vaccines and proteins.
CureVac has entered into various collaborations with multinational corporations and organizations, including agreements with Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi Pasteur, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and IAVI.
For more information, please visit www.curevac.com.
Media Contacts
Verena Lauterbach, Senior Manager Communications
CureVac AG, Tubingen, Germany
T: +49 (0) 7071 9883 1756
[email protected]
Andrew Mielach, Vice President
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, New York
T: +1 212 375 2694
[email protected]
SOURCE CureVac AG
Related Links
http://www.curevac.com
DarkMatter, an international cyber security firm headquartered in the UAE, announces that its cyber governance and risk expert, Harshul Joshi, will participate in a Dubai Future Accelerators panel discussion entitled, "Cybersecurity in a Smart City".
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427248 )
The session will take place from 7-8pm on October 12, 2016 at the Dubai Future Accelerators auditorium in the Jumeirah Emirates Towers offices.
Joshi, DarkMatter's Senior Vice President for Cyber Governance, Risk and Compliance, will speak as part of the Dubai Future Accelerators' Innovation Series. DarkMatter was one of only 30 technology companies from around the world recently selected to participate in the Accelerators programme.
Drawing on DarkMatter's expertise in cyber risk mitigation and advisory, Joshi will also reference his own experience having consulted to governments on matters such as the development of critical regulations and standards in areas such as data security, authentication, encryption and secure protocols.
As an architect of a cutting-edge assessment model that aggregates smart city risks through a key performance indicator-based approach, he also will discuss how risk mitigation can be used as a lever to enhance smart city deployments.
A thought leader and participant in several smart city and cyber security working groups in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Joshi also will address key technologies to enable smart cities. Public key infrastructure (PKI), blockchain and cryptography have the potential to help deliver the security required to unlock the full benefits that smart cities offer. DarkMatter has deep domain expertise in all three technologies.
Commenting on the company's participation in the Innovation Series, Faisal Al Bannai, Chief Executive Officer of DarkMatter said, "We have recruited some of the most experienced, talented and innovative experts in cyber security globally. We are committed to bringing our knowledge and forward-looking vision to our clients and to collaborative local platforms such as the Dubai Future Accelerators programme."
"Building on DarkMatter's inclusion in the Dubai Future Accelerators programme, we are pleased that Harshul will contribute to the exchange of information and ideas on such an important topic, alongside such esteemed panellists."
Dubai Future Accelerators is the world's largest government-supported accelerator, launched by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Future Foundation. The programme is in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and identifies ground breaking companies from around the world, offering them the opportunity to find and test new solutions to real-life challenges.
Pegasus, a DarkMatter company, is demonstrating big data analytics as a tool to Dubai Police to help solve crime. Dubai Police is looking to integrate behavioural, genetic and biological systems to identify, track and share information on criminals more accurately and efficiently.
Harshul Joshi commented, "There is arguably no better place in the world than Dubai to be addressing the requirements for the creation of a resilient smart city. The nation's and city's leadership must be commended for their vision for building connected, intelligent environments, and as private sector partners, it is our responsibility to add our expertise in ensuring the digital eco-system thrives."
About DarkMatter
DarkMatter is transforming the cyber security landscape by providing a complete range of state-of-the-art services and solutions to government and enterprise. Our end-to-end expertise extends to:
Governance, Risk and Compliance
We work with public and private entities in all verticals to audit and assess their performance against regulatory standards, helping identify gaps and meet obligations.
Cyber Network Defence
Our elite team of cyber experts, engaged across all competencies and functions, tasked with identifying and responding to the most advanced threats, threat actors, and cyber attacks.
Managed Security Services
We offer a remote monitoring remediation and resolution service that puts the full capabilities and resources of the DarkMatter organisation at the service of our MSS teams. Whether you need a SOC built and operated from scratch or you need assistance in upgrading what you currently have in place, DarkMatter can provide assistance.
Public Key Infrastructure
DarkMatter's Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) provides consulting to governments on the establishment of national root certificates of trust for countries. This places us in a unique position to understand not only the regulatory environment, but also the broader PKI environment, local players and Certification Authority entities. We also are the only full-service Certification Authority and PKI consultant to be headquartered in the region, and one of only a few to be located outside of North America.
Secure Communications
DarkMatter's Secure Communications Suite protects fixed and mobile voice, video, chat, email, file sharing, data communication, as well as device management across various platforms and operating systems.
Infrastructure and System Integration
This area underpins our professional services offering for governments and corporations, providing applications, services and solutions that ensure our clients remain at the forefront of cyber security.
Smart Solutions
We offer a comprehensive security suite of services comprising elements of protection for both homes and businesses: The Connected and Secure Home & Office; Technical Surveillance and Countermeasures; Mobile Peace of Mind; and Trusted Hardware supply.
Staffed by global experts and headquartered in the UAE, DarkMatter provides peace of mind through consulting and project implementations that are scalable to clients of any size and that address any domain of cyber security threat or risk. As a trusted partner to governments and critical infrastructure entities, the firm also works with leading global companies operating in the field of electronic and cyber security. DarkMatter's vision is to secure the future by protecting its technologies.
Agile and innovative, DarkMatter takes a comprehensive approach to helping its clients navigate the complex and ever-evolving world of threat and risk mitigation strategies, tools, policies and systems.
http://www.darkmatter.ae
About Dubai Future Accelerators
Dubai Future Accelerators is the world's largest government-supported accelerator, launched by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Future Foundation. The programme is in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and identifies ground breaking companies from around the world, offering them the opportunity to find and test new solutions to real-life challenges. To learn more about the Dubai Future Accelerators programme, visit: https://dubaifutureaccelerators.com/en
SOURCE DarkMatter
NAMUR, Belgium, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- VolitionRx Limited (NYSE MKT: VNRX), a life sciences company focused on developing diagnostic tests for cancer, today announced that research presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress (ESMO) shows that Volition's novel blood test for colorectal cancer combined with the conventional faecal immunochemical screening test has the potential to offer up to a 25% reduction in colonoscopies while maintaining almost 97% detection of colorectal cancer when combined with the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) score.
Dr. Marielle Herzog, Volition's lead scientist for Nucleosomics, presented a poster on the results from the first 2000 of the 8000 FIT positive patients in this study. This prospective screening study, conducted in conjunction with Hvidovre Hospital, University of Copenhagen, aims to discover the ability of the Nu.QTM Colorectal Cancer Screening Triage Test (blood test) to identify patients with a false positive on their FIT, in order to reduce the total number of colonoscopy referrals.
Less than 10% of people with a positive FIT score have colorectal cancer; a positive FIT score is not a diagnostic for cancer but means simply that blood has been found in the stool. This means that there are a significant number of unnecessary, expensive and invasive colonoscopies performed, placing a burden on both the patient and healthcare system. The combination of FIT test and the Nu.QTM Triage Test in the study identified nearly 97% of colorectal cancers in FIT positive subjects. By utilizing this regimen, screening programs could reduce the number of unnecessary colonoscopies performed and more importantly, for the same number of colonoscopies potentially increase screening subject throughput by up to 33%, which could result in a net increase in total CRC cases detected by up to 29%. Please note that the Poster and Presentation from ESMO are available in the Technology section of the Volition website.
Currently in Denmark, around 20,000 people have a positive faecal test for colorectal cancer each year. All of them are referred for a colonoscopy, however, statistics demonstrate that only approximately 1,000 of them have cancer and require urgent diagnosis.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Marielle Herzog, commented: "False positives add to an already long waiting list and delays diagnosis for patients who have cancer and need swift treatment. By undertaking this simple, cost effective blood test in people with a positive faecal test, we can help prevent unneeded referrals for colonoscopy with a small reduction in cancer detection and potentially reduce the colonoscopy waiting time for those at high risk of cancer."
Volition plans initially to focus the launch of its Nu.QTM Colorectal Cancer Screening Triage Test in the EU member states, which have an aggregate screening age population of approximately 148 million patients. There are organized colorectal cancer screening programs in 14 of the 28 EU states with a further 10 states offering some form of public or privately accessible screening.
Louise Day, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer said, "The introduction of Nu.QTM to help physicians decide whether patients need to go on to have a colonoscopy has the potential to significantly alleviate some of the capacity pressures within healthcare systems. Our hope is that more people will be able to be screened and more colorectal cancer cases identified early. The poster presented at ESMO this week has generated a lot of interest and discussion. We expect to receive CE Marking for this test later this year and aim to market it throughout Europe in 2017."
About Volition
Volition is a life sciences company focused on developing diagnostic tests for cancer. The tests are based on the science of Nucleosomics, which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream or other bodily fluid an indication that disease is present.
Volition's goal is to make the tests as easy and simple to use, for both patients and doctors, as existing diabetic and cholesterol blood tests. Volition's research and development activities are currently centered in Belgium as the company focuses on bringing its diagnostic products to market first in Europe, then in the U.S. and ultimately, worldwide.
For more information about Volition, visit Volition's website (http://www.volitionrx.com) or connect with us via:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/volitionrx
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/volitionrx
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VolitionRx/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/VolitionRx
The contents found at Volition's website address, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube are not incorporated by reference into this document and should not be considered part of this document. The addresses for Volition's website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube are included in this document as inactive textual references only.
Media / Investor Contacts
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "aims," "targets," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "optimizing," "potential," "goal," "suggests," "could," "would," "should," "may," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to the effectiveness of the Company's bodily-fluid-based diagnostic tests as well as the Company's ability to develop and successfully commercialize such test platforms for early detection of cancer. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties. For instance, if we fail to develop and commercialize diagnostic products, we may be unable to execute our plan of operations. Other risks and uncertainties include the Company's failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products in the clinical IVD market; a failure by the marketplace to accept the products in the Company's development pipeline or any other diagnostic products the Company might develop; the Company will face fierce competition and the Company's intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics market and its rapid technological change; and other risks identified in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.
Nucleosomics, NuQ and HyperGenomics and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE VolitionRx Ltd
Related Links
http://www.volitionrx.com
SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dezzal is a consumer centric brand striving to bring the latest fashion trends to the masses. The company strives to not only spotlight in house designers, but to also bring in the name brands recognized and adored from around the globe. This strategy has given Dezzal a large backing of customers and the company continues to grow in popularity. Today the company is proud to announce "Designer Brand Wednesday" where different designer brands will be spotlighted every week and put on sale. This gives customers a special chance to get products that they otherwise could not afford.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427169LOGO
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427168
E-commerce companies from around the world are looking to entice users with fast fashion. There are low prices on many items that are limited in quantity. This creates a buying frenzy where customers try to compete with one another to get the products they want. Many companies are doing this, for example:
H&M has its own sale section that is run year round. The sale page covers men, women, children, neutral clothing, accessories, and even small furniture.
Detail: http://www.hm.com/us/department/sale
Uniqlo offers modern, simple and quality products. Uniqlo has weekly promotional sale on surprise items. This gives customers no real sense of what will be shown and forces them to keep checking back.
Detail: http://www.uniqlo.com/us/sale.html
Sammydress offers trendy clothing at extremely affordable prices. The company is often known as the black sheep of the industry for its aggressive marketing. For example this weekend Sammydress introduced its "crazy weekend" promotion. Products are marked down to ass low as 1.99 and nothing higher than 19.99. Customers who purchase are also eligible to spin and win a $20 Sammydress gift card.
Detail: http://www.sammydress.com/promotion-WEEKEND-SALE-special-435.html
Forever21 offers students 10% off every month with proof of a valid photo ID.
Detail: http://www.forever21.com/EU/StudentDiscount/StudentBean.aspx
Zaful: The company is currently offering 3X the Zaful points to customers who buy swimwear, sportswear, and leisure clothing. Zaful points add up quickly and can be used as early as the next purchase to get even more discounts.
Detail: http://www.zaful.com/promotion-Zpoints-special-205.html
With multiple companies taking their own spin at how to promote sales, Dezzal wanted to try its own thing. Today Dezzal is proud to announce its "Designer Brand Wednesday," during this time the company will choose one designer brand a week to spotlight. Brands that customers have been demanding to see on sale will be available for immediate purchase at below market value. Customers are encouraged to take advantage now!
Contact:
Tim Zhang
Seolabservicepro(at)gmail(dot)com
503-928-7482
SOURCE Dezzal
At least eight civilians were killed on Tuesday in the heaviest Russian bombardment in days of rebel-held areas of Syria's second city Aleppo, a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight civilians were killed in the Bustan al-Basha and Fardos districts in the east of the city.
"This is the heaviest Russian bombardment since the Syrian regime announced it would reduce the bombardment" on October 5, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
Search Keywords:
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BEIJING, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Chinese B2B cross-border e-commerce marketplace DHgate.com received the Award for Excellence in the Industry of Cross-Border E-commerce at the EXPO Central China Conference. DHgate.com was specifically recognized for the 2016 launch of their Cross-Border E-commerce Seller Rating and Remark System, to guarantee the safety of buyers and sellers engaging in cross-border e-commerce business on their platform, and to standardize the environment for trade conducted through the internet.
The Seller Rating and Remark System allows buyers to rate sellers based on the quality of the goods and services they provide to buyers, and also allows for buyers to leave comments describing their experience with sellers. This system seeks to help buyers select the best seller possible by increasing transparency, by encouraging an ethical environment for conducting business through the platform.
DHgate was also nominated for the award of the Most Contributive Enterprise in Chinese Cross-Border E-commerce, for being the first transactional e-commerce platform in China to found a trust and safety platform, and for developing such a strong foundation in risk control and intellectual property protection. During the last 2 years, the Chinese Institute of Standardization and DHgate.com worked together to formulate the standards of e-commerce transaction risk and fraud, which have been officially included in the Chinese Plan for Technology Administration.
ABOUT DHgate.com
DHgate.com is the first to market and the biggest transactional cross-border B2B e-commerce marketplace in China, aiming to provide global buyers with quality products at competitive prices. Founded in 2004, DHgate.com has approximately 12 million global buyers from 230 countries and regions, with 1.4 million global sellers offering 40 million products. DHgate.com's business enables buyers to directly access global manufacturers of the world's top brands with rich product selections. DHgate.com is an all-in-one platform with integrated services for international logistics, cross-border payments, internet financing, etc. DHgate.com's US, UK, Spain, and UAE product distribution warehouses allow for 24 hour delivery and convenient product returns & refunds, bringing great convenience to buyers at http://www.dhgate.com.
SOURCE DHgate.com
Related Links
http://www.dhgate.com
SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten Marketing, a leading technology company that enables brands to thrive and profit through digital marketing, today announced EXPERIENCE 2016 a premier industry event for media influencers, marketing executives and industry experts. Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group, and co-star of ABC's Shark Tank, will keynote the one-day event, which will be held November 1st at the New World Stage in New York City.
EXPERIENCE 2016 delivers a highly educational and engaging forum to explore pressing and top-of-mind topics for modern marketers, like data-driven strategies, emerging technologies, social influence, and more. Sessions will feature CEOs, CMOs, online influencers, media and digital activists that include Casey Neistat, Director, Filmmaker and YouTube Star; Alex Maybank, Founder, Project September and Gilt; Evan Cohen, East Coast Regional Director, Lyft; JP Mangalindan, Sr. Correspondent, Yahoo Finance; Alex Skatell, Founder, Independent Journal Review; Kelly Liyakasa, Sr. Editor, AdExchanger.
Sessions are as follows:
Emerging Tech and the Future of Reaching Customers ;
; From the Streets to the Runway: The Evolution of Influencer Marketing ;
; Digital in the Name of Public Service: What Retailers Can Learn from Politicians and Activists ;
; The Empowered Marketer: Turning Inspiration Into Action ;
; Will Social Rule Advertising? ;
; The Rise of Convenience Commerce.
"Marketers have a more complex job than ever before; we see the day-to-day challenges they face as they strive to excel at their jobs by balancing the roles of artist, data scientist, technologist, and even fortune teller," said Tony Zito, CEO, Rakuten Marketing. "The inspiration behind EXPERIENCE is the truth that all marketers are adapting to and navigating these rapid-pace evolutions at the same time. Marketers have so much to gain from an opportunity to network, collaborate and learn from each other, while experiencing an agenda committed to objective thought leadership and unbiased education."
To RSVP visit http://jointheexperience.today/.
About Rakuten Marketing
Rakuten Marketing's industry leading solutions empower marketers to thrive in their evolved role and achieve the full potential of digital marketing, efficiently and effectively, with data-informed insights that create consistent, engaging and influential experiences across screens. Offering an integrated solution, along with unique insights and consultative partnerships, Rakuten Marketing delivers the tools that marketers need to increase efficiency, productivity and performance. Rakuten Marketing is a division of Rakuten Inc. (4755: TOKYO), one of the world's leading Internet service companies. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with offices in Australia, Brazil, Japan, the United Kingdom, and throughout the United States. Follow us on Twitter or learn more at http://rakutenmarketing.com.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Rakuten Marketing PR Contact
Lisa Tadje
[email protected]
Tel: 801-718-9980
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140922/147512
SOURCE Rakuten Marketing
Related Links
http://marketing.rakuten.com
TOKYO, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 6, 2016 DigitalStudio Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan. Norio Itabashi, CEO) opened Discovery Japan Mall, a cross-border e-commerce website selling Japanese products. https://shop.discovery-japan.me
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161007/416380
DiscoveryJapan
Discovery Japan Mall is a general mall that specializes in Japanese brand products. At the initial opening, the catalog is mainly toys, fishing gear, cosmetics, food, watches, and fashion, Approximately 100 Japanese companies have opened stores with Discovery Japan Mall, and about 15,000 Japanese brand goods can be purchased.
Shipping is available to more than 120 countries and regions and as part of the opening campaign, international shipping is free on orders over JPY 20,000 Yen until the end of October. In addition to credit cards, the mall supports payment by PayPal, UnionPay - AliPay, and WeChat, and the website can be displayed in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Korean, and Thai.
Purchases can be made easily using a smart phone, and because all orders include tracking and shipping insurance, delivery from Japan is safe and reliable, so you can purchase with confidence from the website.
In addition, there are plans to sell iPad and MacBook case handmade from material representative of the Nishijin-ori used to make Japanese kimonos.
There are future plans to lease by unique makers of handmade goods, in particular with the advanced embroidery technology used in Japan to make goods from kimonos, whose characteristic is "wafu" design that conjours up images of Japan.
Message from company representative Norio Itabashi
Japan is said to be the world's largest local market. With their advanced technology and superior craftsmanship, there a lot of hidden unique Japanese products that do not reach the overseas market. Discovery Japan Mall is coming together with craftsmen and the manufacturers of these products, to sell Japan's unique products through its website. We will increase the number of companies opening stores, with a target of 30,000 products by the end of 2016, and 100,000 in the 2017 fiscal year.
About DigitalStudio Co., Ltd.
- Bringing Japan to the world -
DigitalStudio was established in 2003 and is based in Roppongi, Minato Ward, Tokyo. Our company has a dream.
Craftsmen put their heart into the products they make, and while these are the regular things we take for granted as we use and enjoy them - things like fashion, anime, buildings, clothing, food, and toys - Japanese products are particularly renowned worldwide.
Whether it's toys or food, you can't help feeling "This is amazing!" as your heart skips a beat and you break into a smile. In this way, Japanese products bring a "new purpose in life" and "richness" to people's lives. Wouldn't it be great to bring this to the world? At our company, by "continuing to bring Japan to the world," we want to enrich as many people's hearts as possible, and that idea embodies our dream.
Contact:
Norio Itabashi
DigitalStudio Co., Ltd
http://www.ds-style.com
3-16-35 East Roppongi BLD 7F, Roppongi Minato Ward, Tokyo Japan 106-0032
+81-486613210 or 81-8054476950
Email
SOURCE DigitalStudio Co., Ltd.
Related Links
http://www.ds-style.com
SEATTLE, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Discuss.io, an online qualitative research platform that uses web browsers and webcams to connect marketers with consumers in as few as 48 hours, announced today that it has released a series of three focus groups related to the presidential election taking place on November 8, 2016. This release promotes the company's ability to produce relevant research and uncover insights at rapid speeds unprecedented in the market research industry.
Discuss.io put its platform to the test on Sunday, October 9, 2016, conducting focus groups in three different swing states: Florida, Ohio, and Arizona, immediately following the debate. During the sessions, Discuss.io spoke with four undecided voters between the ages of 28-64 in each of these states. Wanting to understand how voters' political stance is influenced before the general election, Discuss.io asked respondents about the impact that media that has on their perspective of the candidates. The session particularly focused on the impact of presidential debates, as well respondent's history with engaging in political conversations.
The results of the study were surprising; with respondents overwhelmingly reporting that they were leaning toward voting for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump after the debate. For these respondents, the debate did have an impact on their perception of the candidates. There was no consensus among respondents on their tendency to engage in political conversations online, with some respondents being extremely active and others avoiding it all together. Despite the debate's strong influence on their current position, respondents expressed a continued hesitation about both candidates, notably regarding their campaign platforms, characters, pasts, and ability to lead the country.
All of the findings - as well as the full-length videos and highlight reel - can be found in more detail on the Discuss.io's website at www.discuss.io/debate.
"At Discuss.io, we take pride in delivering a radically different approach to conducting market research," said founder and CEO, Zach Simmons. "By removing barriers and democratizing access to research, combined with our capacity to complete projects 10x faster than traditional methods, we are able to produce research while it's still relevant. Uncovering insights from undecided voters in swing states is one such example."
"At Discuss.io, we're taking market research to innovative new heights with our current video conferencing platform and upcoming product roadmap. We have maintained the core, valuable aspects of qualitative research and augmented the experience," said Shalendra Chhabra, VP of product and marketing. He elaborated further, citing an example, "One of the core benefits of qualitative research is the ability to capture individual insights and respondent emotion, however, traditional methods don't have any way to track this feedback. Our bookmarking tool allows researchers to easily flag these poignant moments as they happen in real time and revisit them later."
Discuss.io provides on-demand qualitative consumer depth interviews and focus groups using webcams. Available for use in 33 countries, with a panel of 15 million respondents, Discuss.io connects researchers and brands directly to their targeted niche demographics. Projects that previously took months can now be completed in a number of hours using Discuss.io's platform. Recorded video from the sessions is automatically synchronized to a searchable transcript to help locate consumer quotes. Once the session has ended, video highlights can be added into Discuss.io's Clip Maker in order to capture the most pertinent moments of the session. This tool was used to generate the highlight reels found at www.discuss.io/debate.
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE Discuss.io
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ENCINO, Calif., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women, especially young women, in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The National Cancer Institute has awarded a $3 million grant to Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation to continue development of a technology aimed at addressing this serious issue for women's health. The three-year UH3 Phase II exploratory cooperative agreement will support work to further test a computer assisted diagnosis triage (CAD t ) software product that can triage palpable breast lumps and identify those that are suspicious. This technology, when used in conjunction with handheld ultrasound units by local health aides, will quickly determine which lumps are benign and those which might be malignant and should be biopsied. The $3 million Phase II award comes after a successful $1 million Phase I for an award total of $4 million.
The CAD development and clinical validation are being performed in close collaboration between Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and ClearView Diagnostics. The team is led by Susan Love, MD, MBA, chief visionary officer of the Foundation and principal investigator on the grant, Christine Podilchuk, PhD, CEO of Clearview Diagnostics, and Richard Mammone, PhD, Founder of Clearview Diagnostics. Also collaborating on the grant is breast imaging radiologist and clinical trial expert Wendie Berg, MD, PhD (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC).
"While screening has been the focus in western countries, in developing countries breast cancer most commonly presents as a palpable lump in women younger than 50 years old," said Dr. Love. "The most common types of palpable breast lumps in young women are distinguishable on ultrasound and fewer than 25% are cancer." During the first phase of the NIH-funded study, the CAD system demonstrated that it could have potentially reduced the number of benign lesions that were biopsied by around 50%. A pilot study in Mexico demonstrated that health care workers without imaging training could acquire images equivalent to those obtained by a trained radiologist and that the CAD was able to distinguish between cancers and benign lesions.
The UH3 grant will be used to apply what was learned during Phase I to the LMIC environment in Mexico.
"Breast lumps are common and scary for most women. We are excited to have the opportunity to create a cost effective solution for determining which ones need further investigation," said Heather Cooper Ortner, chief executive officer of Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. "This project is an example of the innovative research we focus on, bringing together the expertise needed to improve healthcare for women around the world."
Research reported in this press release is supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UH3CA189966. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
About Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation
Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation challenges the status quo to achieve a future without breast cancer and improve the lives of people impacted by it now through education and advocacy. We drive collaborative cutting-edge research on cause and prevention with nontraditional partners, bring to light the collateral damage of treatment and seek ways to diminish it, and interpret science to empower patients.
We drive progress by being fast, flexible, and project-based. We actively engage the public in our scientific research to ensure that it produces accurate and meaningful results.
Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation has received a 4-star Charity Navigator rating for four consecutive years, putting it in the top 12% of rated charities in terms of fiscal performance, accountability, and transparency. The Foundation is also a GuideStar Exchange Silver Level participant and a member of the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance.
Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, and its more than 378,000 volunteers nationwide, invite you to become part of a movement to engage the public in breast cancer research with the goal of eradicating the disease once and for all. To learn more and show your support, visit www.drsusanloveresearch.org.
About ClearView Diagnostics Inc.
Clearview Diagnostics is dedicated to advancing healthcare through innovative artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The company's state-of-the-art machine learning technology is designed to assist healthcare professionals in disease diagnosis in order to improve patient outcome, reduce overall healthcare costs and make medical image diagnosis accessible worldwide. Clearview's initial focus is on breast cancer diagnosis and the company plans to expand its AI platform to other diseases and imaging modalities. Clearview Diagnostics is headquartered in Piscataway, NJ.
For more information, visit www.clearviewdiagnosticsinc.com.
SOURCE Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation
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DENVER, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- eBags announced today that they have teamed up with TripAdvisor to launch a collaborative travel luggage and accessories collection. The six-piece TripAdvisor Travel Collection, available exclusively through eBags starting October 6, is inspired by the real-life expertise of frequent travelers: a strategy eBags has been employing since launching its own luggage and travel accessories line in 2001.
"As the world's largest travel community, TripAdvisor knows a thing or two about getting from point A to point B," says Mike Edwards, CEO of eBags. "So when they asked their frequent travelers what they expect from their luggage, we were naturally very interested in what they had to say. With our unparalleled gear expertise and their on-the-ground intel, this is a partnership that will not only benefit both companiesbut also millions of travelers around the world."
The survey, which tapped more than 100,000 of TripAdvisor's most passionate travelers, asked people to not only to identify the general categories of luggage they felt were essential to their tripsbut also to dive deep into the specific features of each piece that they considered most valuable. Using the resulting data, eBags and TripAdvisor arrived at a curated collection of six essential pieces, including 21" and 25" Wheeled Duffels; a Toiletry Kit; 25" and 30" Spinners and a Portable Battery Charger.
Designed and manufactured by the teams responsible for crafting award-winning eBags brand products, the TripAdvisor Travel Collection is held to the same standards as all eBags products. Premium fabrics, thoughtful construction and carefully considered details will define the line, which is the first collaboration of its kind between two global travel industry leaders.
"As a company, we pride ourselves on being good listeners," says eBags Co-Founder and EVP, Peter Cobb. "Customer comments have driven countless refinements to eBags brand products, and we're grateful for the opportunity to keep innovating, every single day. Now, with TripAdvisor , we have applied the collective knowledge of millions of real travelers to real products. That's a win-win for everyone involved." The TripAdvisor Collection debuted at eBags on October 6, and the two companies are investigating additional ways to collaborate and share their travel expertise with one another.
About eBags: With more than 17 years in the travel goods industry and 27 million bags sold, eBags is the leading online retailer of luggage, backpacks and travel-related accessories. The company is devoted to helping its customers find the perfect travel gear for any journey. Ranked a top luggage retailer in 2016 by Consumer Reports, eBags features more than 87,000 products from over 850 brands, including Tumi, Samsonite, Bose, Kenneth Cole, Patagonia, The North Face, PrAna and more. For more information, visit eBags.com
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SOURCE eBags
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ST. LOUIS, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The financial services firm Edward Jones won the Technology category for large broker/dealers at the 2016 WealthManagement.com Industry Awards. The award recognized Edward Jones for being the first large financial services firm to introduce two-way texting with clients that meets industry regulations, a challenge some in the industry assumed insurmountable.
Edward Jones introduced two-way texting with clients in late 2015, leveraging existing messaging features available to branches. After clients verify their phone number and opt in to their preferred services, they can begin texting with Edward Jones, receive alerts and get appointment reminders on their cell phones. Nearly half of financial advisors now have texted with clients, with all communications archived and monitored for compliance purposes.
"This is something our clients, especially younger clients, want," said Jim Olsen, Edward Jones principal of Marketing Communications. "At Edward Jones, we deliver excellent service by meeting client needs. We communicate and do business with them in ways they choose that are most convenient for them. Then we help them meet their most important financial goals."
The 2016 WealthManagement.com Industry Awards recognize outstanding achievement, innovation and support among vendors and suppliers serving the financial advisor industry. In its second year, the awards were distributed to 51 firms in the wealth management and asset management space, out of 300 companies that applied and 400 nominations. Winners were announced at a black-tie gala event on September 29 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City.
Edward Jones has won a number of accolades for its client experience. In 2016 that includes: top financial services website from the Web Marketing Association's 17th Annual Web awards; and top full-service investment firm providing clarity about fees as well as unbiased and understandable advice and service for investors, from research firm Hearts & Wallets.
About Edward Jones
Edward Jones, a FORTUNE 500 firm, provides financial services for individual investors in the United States and, through its affiliate, in Canada. Every aspect of the firm's business, from the types of investment options offered to the location of branch offices, is designed to cater to individual investors in the communities in which they live and work. The firm's 13,000-plus financial advisors work directly with nearly 7 million clients. Edward Jones, which ranked No. 10 on FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For 2016," is headquartered in St. Louis. The Edward Jones Web site is located at www.edwardjones.com, and its recruiting Web site is www.careers.edwardjones.com. Member SIPC.
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SOURCE Edward Jones
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RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Outage numbers for North Carolina's electric cooperatives continue to fall as crews work to make repairs through areas of flooding, washed out roads, inaccessible restoration points and fallen trees. Cooperatives will continue to monitor conditions as floodwaters from cresting rivers could create additional outages in some eastern North Carolina areas in the coming days.
Co-op outages:
Cooperatives are reporting 54,800 outages at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, down from a peak of 270,000 co-op outages on Sunday. Lights came back on for close to 19,200 co-op members overnight, and in total, crews have restored power to more than 215,200 members since Hurricane Matthew struck the state. Close to 270 workers from western North Carolina and surrounding states are in the field assisting local co-op line-workers and tree trimmers. Counties experiencing the highest number of co-op outages at this time are Robeson, Cumberland, Sampson, Harnett and Wayne.
Transmission outages:
Cooperatives are working closely with Duke Energy on remaining transmission outages. Several transmission outages have been restored, and more repairs to transmission outages are expected today. Transmission-based outages account for approximately 75 percent of the cooperatives' remaining outages.
Safety:
Never wade into, or drive through, flood water.
Only use generators and charcoal grills in well-ventilated areas; a garage does not count as a well-ventilated area.
count as a well-ventilated area. Never touch a downed power line, and remember that sometimes debris can cover fallen lines, making them difficult to spot.
Thank you:
Restoring power quickly and safely is the electric cooperatives' priority. While awaiting transmission restoration, electric co-ops will continue working around the clock to repair any remaining damages to distribution systems. We thank members for their patience and many kind words during the storm.
North Carolina's 26 electric cooperatives collectively serve approximately 2.5 million people in 93 of the state's 100 counties. Six electric cooperatives serve 16 North Carolina beaches, and many more serve hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in other parts of eastern North Carolina.
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SOURCE North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives
LA CANADA, Calif., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsie YiDonoy is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Professional in the field of Travel. Elsie is the Owner and President of Bella Guatemala Travel.
Committed to preserving a sustainable approach to tourism, Bella Guatemala Travel is unique to most travel agencies. Providing an exclusive travel experience, BGT caters to every detail of a traveler's plans and no sight is left unseen.
A Guatemalan-born travel professional, Elsie started Bella Guatemala Travel in 2005. Since then, she has been sharing her passion for her country's culture, heritage, and people with travelers from all walks of life. In this capacity, Elsie gives her clients lifelong memories by customizing various vacation packages and tours throughout Guatemala. In addition to her travel agency, Elsie and her husband own the Los Angeles Gun Club in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles for the past twenty seven years.
To keep abreast of the latest in the industry, Elsie maintains affiliation with NAWP, ASTA and the Cruise Line International Association. Charitably, she gives back to organizations that give back to schools for children in Guatemala. In her free time, she enjoys scrap booking, photography, fashion design and quality family time. Elsie's twin daughters are recent graduates of San Diego University and Loyola Marymount University.
Throughout the course of her studies, Elsie graduated from Los Angeles Technical College with her Bachelor's degree in Fashion.
For more information, please visit www.bellaguatemalatravel.net
Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]entalwhoswho.com
SOURCE Continental Who's Who
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For several years, Austin Regional Clinic (ARC), a Central Texas multispecialty healthcare clinic based in Austin, Texas, used electronic medical record alerts, mailed letters and made phone calls to encourage eye screenings among its 18,000 diabetic patients. Yet, only 55 percent of their patients complied with the yearly screening.
Frustrated with these results, ARC launched a pilot program to test if embedding specialized camera technology in primary care clinics would boost screening rates. Since starting the pilot, ARC has helped hundreds of patients identified with diabetic retinopathy prevent or treat their eye disease.
"The results have been outstanding. We never imagined it to be so successful so quickly," said Anas Daghestani, MD, ARC CEO and Medical Director of Population Health & Clinical Quality.
In 2015, 1112 patients were screened at three clinics of which 22-percent were diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy. After doubling the number clinics offering the screening, ARC has screened an additional 1769 patients in just the first six months of 2016 with 19-percent diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy.
Dr. Daghestani says a major factor in the pilot's success was making it easy to get screened.
"Depending on the stage of their diabetes, patients have several specialist appointments, which can be overwhelming. We're helping to alleviate this by conveniently offering the eye screening during their regularly scheduled physician or lab visit," explained Dr. Daghestani.
Here is how the embedded eye screening technology works: An image of a patient's retina is captured during his or her primary care visit and then sent seamlessly and securely across the city to a team of retinal specialists. If deterioration in the retina is detected, the patient is recommended to follow up with an ophthalmologist to review options.
"All people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are at risk for this disease, which means blindness is a real possibility for tens of thousands of persons in the Austin community," explained Dr. Daghestani.
Diabetic retinopathy is caused by damage to the blood vessels located in the tissue at the back of the eye (retina). Too much sugar in the blood can lead to damage and leakage of blood of the tiny blood vessels and into the retina, leading to blurry vision or, in the worst case, blindness. The disease carries few symptoms until it's too late to treat, often when the onset of blindness is near.
Between 40 to 45 percent of Americans diagnosed with diabetes have some stage of diabetic retinopathy. The rate of blindness is about 2-percent. That means for every 1,000 patients screened, we've prevented 20 people from losing their vision, explained Dr. Daghestani.
"Excuses like 'I don't have time for another appointment' or 'I'm too young to worry about eye disease' are no longer valid. Diabetic patients in our clinics who have not yet had their annual screening can get one," said Daghestani.
About Austin Regional Clinic
Austin Regional Clinic is a multispecialty medical group committed to providing comprehensive healthcare services throughout Central Texas. Founded by three physicians in 1980, it now provides health care to over 430,000 area residents in 21 locations in seven cities, including both primary and specialty care. For more information, visit www.austinregionalclinic.com.
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SOURCE Austin Regional Clinic
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A senior British lawmaker has accused Russia of targeting civilians in Syria in the same way the Nazis behaved at Guernica during the Spanish civil war of the 1930s.
Andrew Mitchell, a lawmaker in Prime Minister Theresa May's ruling Conservatives and a former Secretary of State for International Development, said an attack last month on a United Nations relief convoy near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo was a war crime committed by Russian forces.
Some 20 people were killed in the attack on the U.N. and Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy and the United States blamed two Russian warplanes which it said were in the skies above the area at the time of the incident.
Moscow rejects the accusations saying it only targets militants and accuses the West of being responsible for the crisis in Syria.
"When it comes to incendiary weapons and munitions such as bunker-buster bombs and cluster bombs, the U.N. makes it clear that the systematic use of such indiscriminate weapons in densely populated areas amounts to a war crime," Mitchell told parliament late on Monday.
"We are witnessing events that match the behaviour of the Nazi regime in Guernica in Spain," he said referring to the destruction of the Spanish town in 1937 by German aircraft from Adolf Hitler's Luftwaffe. The bombing of the historic city became the subject of a famous painting by artist Pablo Picasso.
"Who's this politician?" Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov asked reporters when told about Mitchell's comment. "Unfortunately I don't know him, who is he? I would not comment in any way. To my shame, I don't know him."
The British parliament is due to hold a three-hour debate on Tuesday about the humanitarian situation in Syria.
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DALLAS and FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will increase frequency on the Dallas/Fort Worth Abu Dhabi route to a daily service early next year in response to heightened demand from guests traveling between the two destinations.
Beginning February 2, 2017, the Abu Dhabi-based airline will add four new flights each week on the route to support the existing Wednesday, Friday and Sunday services.
Etihad Airways, which launched the non-stop route in December 2014, will continue to operate a Boeing 777-200 Long Range aircraft featuring eight First Class seats, 40 Business and 191 seats in Economy Class.
The additional frequencies will also provide 96 tons of more cargo capacity each week to facilitate the movement of international freight to and from Dallas/Fort Worth.
Kevin Knight, Etihad Aviation Group Chief Strategy and Planning Officer, said: "Since launching our Dallas/Fort Worth service less than two years ago, the response from our guests travelling between Dallas/Fort Worth and our home Abu Dhabi and beyond, has exceeded expectations. We are therefore delighted to further expand this service into a daily operation to meet strong market demand.
"The increased frequency will provide greater convenience and more options to business and leisure travelers throughout the Texas region, and will also cater to the huge travel market from India and the subcontinent to and from our Dallas/Fort Worth gateway and beyond."
Abu Dhabi's unique geographical position, along with the airline's extensive route network and that of codeshare partner American Airlines, ensures guests are provided easy access between two major worldwide hubs and reinforces its commitment to the United States, a key global market.
Sean Donohue, Chief Executive Officer of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), added: "We are excited by the news that Etihad Airways will soon increase their service from Dallas/Fort Worth to Abu Dhabi to daily flights. This move shows the strength of the North Texas market for international business and leisure travel, and further demonstrates that a great amount of global business flows through DFW. We thank Etihad for their continuing partnership and their service to our customers, our region and our airport."
Etihad Airways currently offers 45 return flights each week between Abu Dhabi and six American cities Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York JFK, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Through Etihad Airways' hub in Abu Dhabi, the airline offers passengers from the United States direct access to the UAE capital, and seamless connections to the Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
Furthermore, all guests flying Etihad Airways to the United States are processed through pre-clearance US Immigration and Customs facilities at Abu Dhabi International Airport, ensuring they arrive in America as domestic passengers and avoid lengthy arrival formalities.
Daily flight schedule between Abu Dhabi and Dallas/Fort Worth, beginning February 2, 2017:
Flight No. Origin Departs Destination Arrives Frequency Aircraft EY 161 Abu Dhabi 09:20 Dallas/Fort Worth 15:55 Daily B777-200LR EY 160 Dallas/Fort Worth 19:20 Abu Dhabi 20:15 +1 Daily B777-200LR
Note: All departures and arrivals are listed in local time.
About Etihad Aviation Group
Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) is a diversified global aviation and travel group comprising four business divisions Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airways Engineering, Hala Group and Airline Equity Partners. The group has minority investments in seven airlines: airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Jet Airways, Virgin Australia, and Swiss-based Darwin Airline, trading as Etihad Regional.
From its Abu Dhabi base, Etihad Airways flies to, or has announced plans to serve, 117 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. The airline has a fleet of 123 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, with 204 aircraft on firm order, including 71 Boeing 787s, 25 Boeing 777Xs, 62 Airbus A350s and 10 Airbus A380s. For more information, please visit: etihad.com
SOURCE Etihad Airways
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LONDON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that Europe Watch Group BV, the official worldwide distributor of the CLUSE and Cortese watch brands to customers and retailers in 120 countries, has selected NetSuite OneWorld to support its global expansion plans. Europe Watch Group plans to run its mission-critical business processes on NetSuite including accounting, financials, inventory management, order management, multi-currency, reporting and analytics.
Founded in 2013 by Ed Postmus and Rudyard Bekker and based in Amsterdam, Europe Watch Group is one of the world's fastest-growing distributors of timepieces that deliver both quality and value. The company is disrupting the traditional oligopoly in retail watches with strong brand identities and superior designs. But after starting the business with the Exact Online system, the company's management quickly recognised that the rapid growth of the company was limited by software constraints. Accounting, fulfillment, and ecommerce were siloed processes, leading to a great deal of error-prone, repetitive and manual tasks.
"The limitations of our software meant that our employees had to do many of the same tasks twice," said Rudyard Bekker, Europe Watch Group founder and CEO. "And the fact that we could not see live inventory at our fulfillment partners was a serious limitation."
After considering SAP Business One and Microsoft Dynamics, Europe Watch Group selected NetSuite OneWorld to become its central enterprise system of record. NetSuite OneWorld will give the company insights into manufacturing operations in China and fulfillment partner and warehouse inventories around the world. The company is planning to open warehouse locations in Hong Kong and the United States soon, and NetSuite's cloud architecture will make it easy to deploy to new facilities.
"NetSuite OneWorld will give us a portal for our entire business-to-business operation that will help us better serve our 2,000 retail partners around the globe, as well as the distributors and sales agents we work with," Bekker said.
NetSuite OneWorld can help Europe Watch Group grow and prosper with the following features and benefits:
A broad range of robust international capabilities . Supports 190 currencies, 20 languages, automated tax calculation and reporting in more than 100 countries, and customer transactions in more than 200 countries, and enables businesses to streamline their mission-critical business processes.
. Supports 190 currencies, 20 languages, automated tax calculation and reporting in more than 100 countries, and customer transactions in more than 200 countries, and enables businesses to streamline their mission-critical business processes. A scalable platform that can grow with the company. NetSuite provides a highly scalable platform for growth, with the ability to quickly and easily add functionality as Europe Watch Group enters into new markets or partners with new distributors.
NetSuite provides a highly scalable platform for growth, with the ability to quickly and easily add functionality as Europe Watch Group enters into new markets or partners with new distributors. Efficient order management. Europe Watch Group will be able to streamline order management processes by centralising orders and efficiently processing them without double-entry.
Europe Watch Group will be able to streamline order management processes by centralising orders and efficiently processing them without double-entry. Real-time business visibility and business intelligence. With NetSuite, Europe Watch Group will gain real-time insights into key business performance indicators for a unified view of orders and sales performance, providing a single version of truth.
With NetSuite, Europe Watch Group will gain real-time insights into key business performance indicators for a unified view of orders and sales performance, providing a single version of truth. Customisation capabilities. Customisation and integration capabilities within the NetSuite SuiteCloud development platform will help Europe Watch Group set up workflows to meet the precise requirements of key account customers such as Nordstrom, Lafayette, and Selfridges.
Europe Watch Group now sells over 1 million watches annually to fashion lovers and expects to multiply that volume in the near future. The centralised record keeping and analysis in NetSuite will make it easier for management to understand growth and demand patterns, and better respond to market opportunities.
"NetSuite is the solution we need to scale our business, connect with our customers and partners, and meet our urgent needs for greater integration and visibility," Bekker said.
About NetSuite
In 1998, NetSuite pioneered the Cloud Computing revolution, establishing the world's first company dedicated to delivering business applications over the Internet. Today, NetSuite provides a suite of cloud-based financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software that runs the business of more than 30,000 companies, organisations, and subsidiaries in more than 100 countries.
Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteEMEA Twitter handle for real-time updates.
For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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SOURCE NetSuite Inc.
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There continues to be much discussion within the industry on the benefits of harnessing data and how this can be used to deliver better real-time management decisions, whilst ensuring better information to underpin longer-term decision-making.
We are all generating huge quantities of data, but the challenge has consistently been how this can be translated into meaningful decisions that begin to make a step change in fulfilling the genetic potential of animals and crops.
David Wilson, CEO of Proagrica, the leader in providing decision support to the global agriculture industry, explains, "we have entered a period in farming where data capture and interpretation is essential for successful farm businesses. The technology and software is now available to connect and interpret data, bringing visibility to all and enabling the intelligence required for more productive and profitable decision-making."
Originally driven by advances in global security requirements, companies are now adapting the technology developed to deliver solutions for commercial industries. Food production has been identified as a key beneficiary of this technology due to its complex interactions both in the production process itself and the infrastructure that delivers inputs, and supplies the end product to consumers.
Proagrica has been at the forefront of this advance and has developed an approach that provides a uniquely open and neutral platform for this technology to be adopted by the food industry.
"We have seen the same technology prove itself in other sectors and I'm excited to be able to see how the agricultural sector can benefit", continues Mr Wilson. "We are literally just scratching the surface and I see the technology, under our Agility brand, providing huge opportunities for businesses to increase productivity, whilst creating the insight to allow whole supply chains to improve radically."
Proagrica has currently launched Agility Crops focused on the arable sector. Providing real-time insight into input usage, its timing and resulting impact on productivity, Agility Crops covers over 800,000 Ha of cropping across the UK. For the first time, in-season analytics is available, providing the opportunity for real-time solutions, rather than waiting for full-scale surveys to provide a retrospective view, which can only be used historically.
"The platform has the capability of harnessing information from many different sources", comments Mr Wilson. "At present, it relies on Farm Management Software but we are working on connecting with many other sources such as weather stations, machinery, disease predictors which in time will combine to create enormously beneficial intelligence systems enabling farmers, their advisors and those across the supply chain to increase productivity and resilience within their businesses".
"In this new era, that we have termed 'Evidence-Based Production,' concludes Mr Wilson, "we feel that we are in a unique position to provide an independent solution, creating opportunity for all farmers, agronomists, suppliers and processors to increase efficiency and productivity to meet the undoubted challenges we face".
For more information go to http://www.proagrica.com
Notes to Editors
Proagrica is a global division of Reed Business Information and the RELX Group, a FTSE 100 company. Proagrica provides critical decision-support to the global agriculture industry by delivering high-value insight and data, trusted workflow tools, proven integration technology and effective channels-to-market. We're proud of our market-leading brands in Europe, as well as a growing footprint in Australia, Asia Pacific, South Africa and the US. Our portfolio includes flagship media brands Farmers Weekly and Boerderij, as well as the latest in the integration and connectivity capabilities that F4F offers across the supply chain. We're known for our industry leading farm management software Farmplan and GateKeeper, but with an increasing need for actionable insight from data and analytics, we have been developing new products in this area under our Agility brand.
About Reed Business Information
Reed Business Information provides information, analytics and data to business professionals worldwide. Our strong global products and services hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries.
http://www.reedbusiness.com
About RELX Group
RELX Group is a worldleading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately 29.1bn GBP / 32.4bn Euro / 36.1bn USD.
For further information please contact:
Snezana Petrovic
Chief Marketing Officer
Proagrica
[email protected]
Angharad Belcher
Account Manager
rdp
[email protected]
SOURCE Proagrica
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 6, 2016, the Finance Minister of the Republic of Congo (RoC), Calixte Ganongo was served with a subpoena compelling him to appear for a deposition on October 26, 2016 in Washington, D.C. relating to the long-running dispute between Commisimpex and the Republic of Congo. The Minister was served during a visit to Washington, because he is believed (particularly as a former State oil company official) to possess information about the assets of the ROC (the judgment debtor in this case) or that may lead to disclosure of such information.
Service against the Minister is part of Commisimpex's nearly 30 year effort to obtain satisfaction on its various final judgments under U.S. and international law. The subpoena requires the Minister to produce records and appear at a deposition at the offices of White & Case in Washington D.C. to disclose the sources and the location of State assets, and ROC President Sassou Nguesso's family assets, which are well known to be the subject of corrupt practices and transfers.
The service of a discovery request upon the Minister is the third of its kind in recent months undertaken by Commisimpex against state officials of the RoC. Subpoenas were served upon the son of President Nguesso, Denis Christel Nguesso, on September 19, 2016 in Washington, D.C. and upon the Congolese First Lady, Antoinette Sassou Ngueso, in Washington in June of this year. Neither chose to appear to be deposed on the dates prescribed in separate subpoenas or produced any of the documents requested, underscoring the State's ongoing disdain for the rule of law in this case. Individuals who are served subpoenas and do not show up to be deposed, are ordinarily, subjected to further court orders and fines, but they may also be subject to warrants and detention in serious cases.
Commisimpex's legal counsel, Francis A. Vasquez, Jr. commented on this development from Washington, D.C.: "We have given the ROC ample opportunity to resolve this matter. Multiple courts have ruled in our favor and agreed that Congo must pay the debt owed. Efforts like this week's service of a subpoena upon the Minister will continue against anyone believed to have information about the ROC's assets until these judgments are satisfied. We fully expect the Minister to uphold the rule of law by appearing to be deposed and producing the records we have requested and will be prepared to receive him and his counsel on October 26."
Commisimpex undertook major engineering infrastructure contracts with the ROC Government in the 1980s for which it has never been paid. Mr. Mohsen Hojeij and Mr. John Anton Grosso are the British and American partners in Commisimpex respectively. In 2015, two federal courts in Washington, D.C. finalized judgments against the Republic of the Congo, worth over $1 billion. Courts have now ruled in favor of Commisimpex in France, the UK, Belgium, Sweden and the U.S. Two arbitral tribunals formed under the auspices of International Court of Arbitration also ruled in favor of Commisimpex in 2000 and 2013. The Congo has repeatedly attempted to oppose these awards and judgments to no avail. In February 2016, the Congo abandoned its U.S. legal strategy and fired its counsel, facing motion for sanctions for failing to comply with court orders. Commisimpex has moved for sanctions in the United States, and is proceeding with enforcement actions in a number of jurisdictions.
Background Notes on Commisimpex:
The company was registered in the Republic of Congo on July 24, 1980 and at the Department of Trade in the Ministry of Commerce on 9 December 1982. Registration permitted the company to obtain a rating and to engage in contracts within the Republic of Congo. The majority shareholding in Commisimpex rests with British national, Mohsen Hojeij. A significant number of remaining shares are held by American investor, John Anton Grosso. During the 1980s the company was valued at $400 million (equipment and land), was the third largest private company in the Republic of Congo and in Central Africa and the largest private company outside the oil sector. At one point, the Company employed over 5,000 full-time workers and was the country's largest employer outside the oil and gas industry. Between 1983 and 1988 the company entered into contracts with the Government for public sector engineering infrastructure contracts (public works), including Etoumbi-Kunda, an extensive infrastructure and sanitation construction project in the capital. The company was, in less than one month's time, put through a fraudulent liquidation in 2012. Today, the company is still owed over 1 billion (Euros and US dollars) by the Government of the Republic of Congo.
U.S. Court Action:
On 15 May 2013, the company launched a petition in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to enforce the ICC's 2013 award of 222 million plus interest. On 30 September 2013, a default judgement was entered in favor of the company. The Republic of Congo government attempted to vacate the default judgement as void, pointing to breach of formal procedures of Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) and lack of subject-matter jurisdiction of the court in the USA. On 6 July 2015, this motion was denied. The U.S. District Court acknowledged that Commisimpex followed all legal procedures in demanding its rights, while underscoring the fraudulent and corrupt nature of the Congolese judicial system and the illegal nature of Commisimpex's liquidation by Congolese officials. Specifically, Judge Leon noted that Congo purported to liquidate Commisimpex "under highly questionable and fraudulent proceedings" and went on to call the Congolese court system "well recognized to be corrupt and lack impartiality." Judge Leon further made it clear that the 2013 ICC award is now enforceable in the United States, as "there is no remaining issue that the Company is the real party in interest with standing to enforce the arbitral award."
On 30 July 2015, COMMISIMPEX's 2000 ICC ruling was also domesticated and made enforceable in the U.S. In this ruling Judge Lamberth likewise found that the purported liquidation "was not the product of a full and fair trial, but instead has risen from unfair proceedings that were not likely to secure an impartial administration of justice." As a result of the domestication of both the 2000 and 2013 ICC Awards in the U.S., the company can now proceed (as it can in Europe) with efforts to satisfy both Awards.
Recent French Court Action:
The 2000 ICC Award is final and binding, as a result of an Order form the Paris Court of Appeal on 23 May 2002, which rejected The Republic of Congo's motion to annul the 2000 Award.
The 2013 ICC Award is also final and binding as it was recognized by the Paris Tribunal of First Instance on 13 February 2013. The Republic of Congo's motion to set aside the award and vacate this order was denied, first by the Paris Court of Appeal on 14 October 2014, then by the Court of Cassation on 25 May 2016.
On 16 December 2015, the President of the Paris Tribunal of First Instance, Judge Kurtz, ruled that the purported Congolese liquidation was against French public policy and therefore would not be recognized in France, pointing to the rapid nature of the liquidation in the Congo, the irrational nature of the findings of the liquidation judgment and the close ties of the appointed liquidators with the Congolese government.
SOURCE Commisimpex
CINCINNATI, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstLight Home Care, a national provider of non-medical in-home care, has been ranked for the fourth year in a row as one of the top franchise systems in the U.S. by Franchise Times. Rankings are based on system-wide year-over-year sales growth, with the franchise company earning a spot at number 397, up 39 places from the company's rank last year.
"We are honored to be included on this prestigious list of the 500 top franchises in the U.S.," said Jeff Bevis, FirstLight Home Care Chief Executive Officer. "This is our sixth year as a personalized, non-medical in-home care business and we are proud to be recognized for this accomplishment. These achievements are only possible because of our excellent, hardworking franchise owners, staff and satisfied clients and their ongoing referrals to our company"
FirstLight Home Care distinguishes itself from other industry brands by offering assistance to a wide demographic of adults in need. The company assists seniors, new mothers, veterans, adults with disabilities, and those recovering from illness, injury or surgery, who need help on short term or long term basis.
"Our aim is to be the trusted source for in-home care, helping people throughout the nation maintain their independence," said Bevis. "We started franchising in 2010 and now have nearly 135 franchise owners in 31 states offering our award winning services."
In addition to being ranked on the Top 200+ list from Franchise Times, FirstLight Home Care also earned a 2016 Inc. 5000 ranking and was honored at number 21 for all private businesses based in the Cincinnati metro area.
For more information on Franchise Times Top 200+ List, visit www.franchisetimes.com.
For more information on FirstLight Home Care and national franchise ownership opportunities, visit http://firstlightfranchise.com.
About Franchise Times Top 200+
The Franchise Times Top 200+ is the only ranking by worldwide revenue and locations of the largest 500 U.S.-based franchise brands. Published in the October issue, the Franchise Times Top 200+ also analyzes 12 industry sectors based on percentage change in sales growth, reports the 10 fastest-growing franchises by four different measures, and includes little-known stories about the biggest names in franchising. The rankings and full report, and the new searchable online database, are available at http://www.franchisetimes.com.
About FirstLight Home Care
FirstLight Home Care is a top rated non-medical in-home care provider with a network of offices that provides care for more than 2,500 clients in over 30 states. The company has created a new standard in home care by combining best practices with innovative approaches to make them an emerging market leader in a rapidly-growing industry. Companion and personal care services can be provided at private residences, assisted living and retirement communities, nursing homes, adult-family homes or group homes. Clients include seniors, new mothers, individuals recovering from surgery, adults with disabilities and anyone who might just need a little extra care or assistance. Visit www.firstlighthomecare.com to learn more.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Heather Ripley
Ripley PR
865-977-1973
[email protected]
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SOURCE FirstLight Home Care
Home Price Perception Index (HPPI)
Quicken Loans' HPPI, the only comparison of home value perception differences between homeowners and appraisers, showed while homeowners are still a bit more optimistic, the two are moving closer to agreement. In September the national HPPI reported homeowner expectations were an average of 1.26 percent below actual appraised values.
The national HPPI average does not reflect the reality in all areas of the country. For instance, the fast growing markets of Denver, San Francisco and San Jose had appraised values higher than what homeowners estimated. On the flipside, in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Chicago, appraisals were lower than what homeowners believed they would be.
"When reading about the health of the economy, many consumers don't take into account how varied housing markets can be," said Quicken Loans Chief Economist Bob Walters. "If a homeowner in Philadelphia hears about the housing boom out west, they could be surprised when their home doesn't sell at the price they thought it would. I encourage homeowners to work with real estate agents, lenders and other experts to determine their home's value."
Home Value Index (HVI)
Home values continued a steady march up, despite a slight dip in September. The average appraisal was 0.28 percent lower in September than August, but 7.78 percent higher year-over-year. The drop in home values comes after four straight months of increases. At a regional level, the West and South made small gains with a 0.31 percent growth each. However, appraised values fell in both the Midwest and Northeast with decreases of 2.23 and 1.42 percent respectively. Despite the monthly variations, all regions reported increasing annual growth in home values ranging from 5.52 percent growth in the Northeast to an 8 percent rise in the West.
"This small decrease in home values is not a signal of a turning tide, it just shows the volatility that can come with changing seasons," said Walters. "As the summer came to a close, the intense competition for available homes began to abate and home values dipped as a result. It's important to focus on the annual picture. The strong yearly growth negates monthly changes and shows we are moving in the right direction."
HVI September 2016 January 2005 = 100 HVI September 2016 vs. August 2016 % Change HVI September 2016 vs. September 2015 % Change HPPI September 2016 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* HPPI September 2015 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* National Composite 101.03 -0.28% +7.78% -1.26% -2.00%
*A positive value represents appraiser opinions that are higher than homeowner perceptions. A negative value represents appraiser opinions that are lower than homeowner perceptions.
Geographic Regions HVI September 2016 January 2005 = 100 HVI September 2016 vs. August 2016 % Change HVI September 2016 vs. September 2015 % Change HPPI September 2016 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* HPPI September 2015 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* West 121.10 +0.31% +8.00% -0.73% -1.62% South 101.86 +0.31% +6.16% -0.91% -2.03% Midwest 82.59 -2.23% +5.38% -1.45% -2.25% Northeast 96.08 -1.42% +5.52% -1.50% -2.13%
*A positive value represents appraiser opinions that are higher than homeowner perceptions. A negative value represents appraiser opinions that are lower than homeowner perceptions.
Metropolitan Areas HPPI September 2016 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* HPPI August 2016 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* HPPI September 2015 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* Denver, CO +3.14% +3.09% +4.40% San Francisco, CA +2.34% +2.48% +4.67% San Jose, CA +2.11% +2.33% +5.74% Dallas, TX +1.85% +2.01% +2.68% Portland, OR +1.84% +1.71% +2.36% Los Angeles, CA +1.39% +1.35% +1.41% Seattle, WA +1.12% +1.00% +0.44% Houston, TX +0.97% +1.08% +2.90% Sacramento, CA +0.88% +1.06% +1.12% Boston, MA +0.59% +0.59% +1.63% San Diego, CA +0.47% +0.52% +0.00% Minneapolis, MN +0.33% +0.15% -0.22% Riverside, CA +0.23% +0.34% +1.16% Washington, D.C. -0.14% -0.23% +0.10% Charlotte, NC -0.18% -0.52% -2.09% Miami, FL -0.22% -0.14% -0.03% Kansas City, MO -0.49% -0.87% -2.95% Atlanta, GA -0.69% -0.85% -0.81% Phoenix, AZ -0.72% -0.73% -0.87% Las Vegas, NV -0.75% -0.87% +0.36% New York, NY -1.31% -1.57% -1.17% Tampa, FL -1.81% -1.60% -0.70% Cleveland, OH -1.95% -1.92% -1.40% Chicago, IL -2.08% -2.27% -2.52% Baltimore, MD -2.68% -3.03% -1.95% Detroit, MI -2.99% -3.03% -1.14% Philadelphia, PA -3.03% -3.24% -3.58%
*A positive value represents appraiser opinions that are higher than homeowner perceptions. A negative value represents appraiser opinions that are lower than homeowner perceptions.
About the HPPI & HVI
The Quicken Loans HPPI represents the difference between appraisers' and homeowners' opinions of home values. The index compares the estimate that the homeowner supplies on a refinance mortgage application to the appraisal that is performed later in the mortgage process. This is an unprecedented report that gives a never-before-seen analysis of how homeowners are viewing the housing market. The HPPI national composite is determined by analyzing appraisal and homeowner estimates throughout the entire country, including data points from both inside and outside the metro areas specifically called out in the above report.
The Quicken Loans HVI is the only view of home value trends based solely on appraisal data from home purchases and mortgage refinances. This produces a wide data set and is focused on appraisals, one of the most important pieces of information to the mortgage process.
The HPPI and HVI are released on the second Tuesday of every month. Both of the reports are created with Quicken Loans' propriety mortgage data from the 50-state lenders' mortgage activity across all 3,000+ counties. The indexes are examined nationally, in four geographic regions and the HPPI is reported for 27 major metropolitan areas. All indexes, along with downloadable tables and graphs can be found at QuickenLoans.com/Indexes.
About Quicken Loans
Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation's second largest retail home mortgage lender. The company closed more than $220 billion of mortgage volume across all 50 states, 2013-2015. Quicken Loans generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Scottsdale, Arizona. The company also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction for Primary Mortgage Origination" in the United States by J.D. Power for the past six consecutive years, 2010 2015, and highest in customer satisfaction among all mortgage servicers the past three years, 2014 2016.
Quicken Loans was ranked No. 5 on FORTUNE magazine's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list in 2016, and has been among the top-30 companies for the last 13 years. It has been recognized as one of Computerworld magazine's '100 Best Places to Work in IT' the past 12 years, ranking No. 1 in 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2007, 2006 and 2005. The company moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010, and now more than 10,000 of its 15,000 team members work in the city's urban core. For more information about Quicken Loans, please visit QuickenLoans.com, on Twitter at @QLnews, and on Facebook at Facebook.com/QuickenLoans.
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SOURCE Quicken Loans
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DALLAS, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Generational Equity, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately held, middle-market businesses, is pleased to announce the sale of its client, Economy Paper Company of Rochester, NY, to the Wescott Group of Henrietta, NY. The acquisition closed September 1, 2016. Details were not disclosed.
Economy Paper Company has been serving customers since 1936 and offers fine paper, industrial packaging and sanitary maintenance products. The company was sold by the founders' sons.
The Wescott Group, a janitorial supply distribution company, was established in 2014 when American Maintenance Supply merged with Eastern Maintenance Supply. The Wescott Group also operates a janitorial retail store that sells cleaning chemicals, paper products, and other facility maintenance items. In addition, the company sells and services machinery used for industrial and commercial cleaning.
"Economy Paper's knowledge and experience in the fine paper and office printing supplies market is the perfect add-on to provide the diversification I was looking for," said Tim Wesley, president of the Wescott Group. "This acquisition allows us to form a larger, more agile business, better able to serve our customers with competitive pricing, efficient service and timely deliveries."
The new company will transition to the new name Economy Products & Solutions, Inc., and will employ 38 people.
Ahmad Behjati, an affiliate of Generational Equity, led the transaction under the direction of Doug Smith, Managing Director, and Ryan A. Johnson, Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions. "This transaction was a win-win situation for all parties involved, especially for long-time and loyal employees of Economy Paper," said Ahmad Behjati. "It has satisfied the owners' concern by securing continuous employment for their loyal employees, keeping the jobs at the current location, and creating goodwill and support for the new owners."
About Generational Equity
Generational Equity, part of the Generational Group headquartered in Dallas with over 200 professionals located throughout North America, helps business owners release the wealth of their business by providing merger, acquisition and strategic growth advisory services. Their four-step approach features M&A education, financial analysis and reporting, sales documentation and deal-making. The M&A Advisor recently recognized the team as Valuation Firm of the Year. For more, visit www.genequityco.com and the Generational Equity press room.
For more information:
Carl Doerksen
972-232-1125
[email protected]
SOURCE Generational Equity
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WAYNE, N.J., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Getinge Group, a leading global provider of products and systems that contribute to quality enhancement and cost efficiency within healthcare and life sciences, today announced that its FLOW-i C40 MLift ceiling-mounted pendant anesthesia machine has been installed for the first time in the United States at Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway, a new state-of-the-art medical center in Conway, Arkansas, that recently opened. Baptist Health, the largest healthcare provider in Arkansas, purchased these advanced anesthesia machines for its new hospital as part of a $3.5 million deal that included other hospital products, equipment and advanced technology from Getinge Group's three brands: Maquet, ArjoHuntleigh and Getinge.
Baptist Health, which has eight hospitals in its system, opened Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway in order to expand its services to meet the needs of the growing community. Located 30 miles from Little Rock, this 260,000 square-foot hospital has 111 beds, eight operating rooms (ORs), and a Level III trauma-center emergency room (ER).
"In selecting anesthesia machines for our new medical center in Conway, we chose the FLOW-i C40 MLift because it provides an ideal solution to some of the key needs and issues we've faced. For example, with its ceiling-mounted pendant design, it may help ensure a safer treatment environment for both patients and staff. Because the machine hangs from the ceiling, it may help minimize infection risks and tripping hazards that occur when gas hoses and electrical cables drag on the floor," said Thomas Alfano, M.D., anesthesiologist at Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway. "Baptist has been using Getinge Group's operating tables, surgical lights, booms and other equipment at our main hospital in Little Rock for several years and has been extremely pleased with their quality and performance. We look forward to continuing this collaboration as we have found that partnering with a single supplier is efficient and cost-effective, saving our staff significant time and resources."
Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway purchased a number of products from Getinge Group's Surgical Workflows, Acute Care Therapies, and Patient and Post-Acute Care business category units, including 14 Maquet brand FLOW-i C40 and C20 anesthesia delivery systems. The deal also included the ALPHAMAXX and ALPHASTAR PRO operating tables, POWERLED surgical lights, LUCEA surgical lights, booms, the TEGRIS control center for OR integration, and infection control sterilizers and washers.
Because the FLOW-i C40 MLift mounted anesthesia machine is mounted on a ceiling supply unit, it may help improve infection control by allowing electrical cables, which collect bacteria and other microbes, to be moved off the floor and out of the way. It also enables clinicians to continuously adapt and improve anesthesia care to match the clinical situation while maintaining stable ergonomic respiratory conditions. This anesthesia system incorporates advanced ventilation technology based on the Maquet SERVO ventilator platform and has a re-breathing device, the Maquet VOLUME REFLECTOR, that replaces traditional breathing circuits (such as bag-in-bottle, piston and turbine re-breathing systems) and provides additional security for the patient. The FLOW-i C40 can be used across a wide range of patients for ventilation from neonates to morbidly obese patients.
"In 2015, we transformed our business to address the changing healthcare environment and meet our customers' evolving needs for high-quality hospital products. With the integration of our three brands into a single entity, we can provide hospitals and health systems with a comprehensive offering of best-in-class products," said Raoul Quintero, President of the Americas at Getinge Group. "We are excited that Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway has installed the first FLOW-i C40 anesthesia machine in the country. By providing Baptist Health with a single solution for its OR, ER, and labor and delivery departments, we are helping ensure that its healthcare providers can deliver the best care possible to patients."
About Getinge Group
Getinge Group is a leading global provider of innovative solutions for operating rooms, intensive-care units, hospital wards, sterilization departments, elderly care and for life science companies and institutions. Getinge Group operates under the three brands of ArjoHuntleigh, Getinge and Maquet. With a genuine passion for life we build quality and safety into every system. Our unique value proposition mirrors the continuum of care, enhancing efficiency throughout the clinical pathway. Based on our first-hand experience and close partnerships, we are able to exceed expectations from customersimproving the every-day life for people, today and tomorrow.
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SOURCE Getinge Group
LONDON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Since China banned paraquat AS on 1 July, 2016, the sterilant herbicide market has been in disorder. However, it was very recently discovered that some diquat AS sold on the market had actually been paraquat AS.
While old glufosinate-ammonium manufacturers are making capacity expansion, more and more new comers are entering the glufosinate-ammonium market, including three glyphosate magnates Zhejiang Wynca, Jiangsu Good Harvest-Weien and Sichuan Fuhua.
China's glyphosate industry is likely to develop further in the future due to two reasons. One is that the industrialization of herbicideresistant soybean varieties is very likely to be realized by 2020. The other is that the rising planting areas of soybean will boost the demand for glyphosate.
In recent years, glufosinate-ammonium and dicamba are widely recognized in the herbicide market. However, now their development is hindered and future remains unknown.
Although China's pesticide industry kept sluggish in H1 2016, Hubei Xingfa still made a YoY rise in revenue from glyphosate and glycine, as well as maintained a stable gross profit margin. This reflects that the company's
glyphosate business enjoys competitiveness in the industry.
Nantong Jiangshan's gross profit margin of glyphosate business was negative in H1 2016, which dragged down the net profit. Although the company performed well in other businesses, its profitability still declined.
Zhejiang Wynca recorded a negative net profit in H1 2016, mainly affected by the stagnant glyphosate market. The company also predicted that its accumulative net profit in Q1-Q3 2016 was likely to be negative.
Thanks to well performing main businesses, SunVic Chemical recorded a YoY rise in total revenue and turned loss into gain in gross profit in Q2 2016.
In the first half of Aug. 2016, the ex-works prices of glyphosate TC and formulations still hovered over low levels, with slight MoM falls.
In June 2016, glyphosate TC showed a MoM down of 11.53% in export volume but a MoM rise of 0.72% in export price in China.
In June 2016, both export volume and export value of glyphosate 41% IPA reported MoM falls in China.
In H1 2016, China's glyphosate exports recorded MoM falls in both volume and value.
Paraquat found in diquat for sale following ban on paraquat AS
In the Glyphosate China Monthly Report 1607, CCM analyzed three disorder phenomenon in China's sterilant herbicide market following China's ban on paraquat AS on 1 July, 2016 price wars in the paraquat substitute market; difficulty for farmers and distributors in choosing substitutes for paraquat AS; fake and inferior substitutes flowing into the market. Recently, another phenomenon has been found, namely that some diquat AS sold on the market had actually been paraquat AS.
On 8 Aug., 2016, the Shandong Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals (SICA) reported that it had detected paraquat in samples of diquat in Shandong Province, a large paraquat-producing region in China. Specifically, the paraquat content in three kinds of diquat 200 g/L AS was 22.50%, 9.40%, 20.70% respectively. In other words, the sampled diquat AS was actually paraquat 20% AS. In addition, paraquat and industrial waste sulfuric acid were also found to have been added to some glyphosate sold on the market.
The SICA found four reasons for this phenomenon:
1. Enterprises that produce paraquat AS for export added paraquat to diquat to sell on the domestic market for profit.
2. In order to reduce losses, after paraquat AS was banned, paraquat manufacturers pulled unsold paraquat AS from stores, repackaged it, and then sold it as diquat AS on the market.
3. Diquat enterprises added paraquat to their products to reduce production costs and increase product efficacy.
4. Unlicensed enterprises illegally produce fake and inferior diquat for higher profit.
The SICA is paying close attention to this phenomenon and will take four major measures to prevent it:
? Enterprises who sell export-oriented paraquat AS on the domestic market, use paraquat to simulate diquat, or add paraquat to diquat, will be punished by the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China (MOA) and police departments
? Law enforcement departments will secure paraquat inventories and offer opinions on disposal
? The SICA will confiscate fake and inferior diquat and apply for funding to safely dispose of it; if a large quantity of products are confiscated and have no quality issues, designated reserve units for highly toxic pesticides will dispose of them efficiently as soon as possible according to highly toxic pesticide control regulations, after approval from the MOA
? The SICA will strengthen the supervision on glyphosate sold on the market, and increase the detection index for sulfuric acid. If any problems are found, the SICA will timely inform the province and take action
It is hard to know whether the above phenomenon is occurring in other provinces/ municipalities. There has been no similar reported circumstance of this in Jiangsu Province, another large paraquat-producing region in China.
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This semi-annual exclusive gathering of FFR advisor members focuses on a range of topics from leadership, politics, emerging business trends, conflict resolution and more. What drives the meeting agenda? FFR's Chief Executive Officer, Jud Imhoff explains, "We start with the advisor first. What's going on that he or she needs to know? What does his or her client need? The answers influence the framework, agenda and the details of our meeting."
The 2016 FFR Fall Sales & Marketing Symposium featured speakers include:
Governor Mike Huckabee , former Arkansas governor and author of 12 books is a regular Fox News commentator. He is also a former presidential candidate. With two presidential debates and one vice presidential debate scheduled in October, his comments on leadership and the political process are likely to be colored by the debate outcomes.
, former governor and author of 12 books is a regular Fox News commentator. He is also a former presidential candidate. With two presidential debates and one vice presidential debate scheduled in October, his comments on leadership and the political process are likely to be colored by the debate outcomes. Seth Mattison , founder and chief movement officer of FutureSight Labs, LLC is an expert in workforce trends and generational dynamics. Mattison helps business leaders anticipate the needs of tomorrow's workforce through talent management, change, innovation and leadership.
, founder and chief movement officer of FutureSight Labs, LLC is an expert in workforce trends and generational dynamics. Mattison helps business leaders anticipate the needs of tomorrow's workforce through talent management, change, innovation and leadership. Michael Gregory , author, speaker and chief manager of Michael Gregory Consulting, LLC focuses on conflict resolution. Michael uses his experience as a negotiator/mediator and partnering with neuroscientists, social workers and others coupled with IRS insights to help his audience learn and apply proven techniques to resolve conflicts at work, home and in the community.
About First Financial Resources
First Financial Resources (FFR) is a producer group founded in 1987 and solely owned by its member advisors and based in Newport Beach, California. FFR provides its member advisors with access to insurance-based products, tools and resources for the high net worth and/or business client. FFR also focuses expertise, resources and training to elevate the professional knowledge of the advisor's staff. Insurance advisors interested in learning more about FFR membership may contact Tom Tous or Mike Bell at (888) 337-9378. To learn more about FFR, please visit www.ffrmembers.com.
For Press Inquiries, contact Susan Hart, (949)223-2169 or [email protected]
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SOURCE First Financial Resources
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The World Heath Organization said Tuesday it had confirmed 11 cases of cholera in Yemen's capital Sanaa, after the UN announced an outbreak of the disease last week.
"So far, we have 17 suspected cholera cases, and 11 that are confirmed," WHO expert Amro Saleh told reporters in the rebel held capital.
All confirmed cases came from one neighbourhood, Saleh said, adding that no deaths had so far been reported from the disease.
Saleh also said that "143 cases of severe diarrhoea" were admitted to hospitals in other provinces, including 49 in southwestern Taez and 42 in Hodeida, by the Red Sea.
All those cases have tested negative for cholera, according to another WHO expert present at Tuesday's press briefing.
Saleh said he was "confident that the epidemic will remain under control."
The WHO and the UN's children agency UNICEF said on Friday that cholera cases had been reported, with eight cases recorded by health authorities in Sanaa.
UNICEF Yemen representative Julien Harneis said that the outbreak "adds to the misery of millions of children in Yemen."
The WHO warned that the scarcity of drinkable water has worsened the hygiene situation in Yemen, fuelling a marked increase in cases of severe diarrhoea, in particular among people displaced from their homes in the centre of the country.
UNICEF said that cholera, a disease that is transmitted through contaminated drinking water and causes acute diarrhoea, could prove fatal in up to 15 percent of untreated cases.
The agency says nearly three million people in Yemen are in need of immediate food supplies, while 1.5 million children suffer malnutrition, including 370,000 enduring very severe malnutrition that weakens their immune system.
The conflict between Yemen's government and Iran-backed rebels escalated last year with the intervention of a Saudi-led Arab coalition in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
The UN says more than 6,700 people have been killed and more than three million displaced by fighting in Yemen since March 2015, when the coalition launched its campaign.
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DALLAS, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Gradalis, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing Vigil engineered autologous tumor cell (EATC) immunotherapy, will present at the BIO Investor Forum to be held October 18 -19, 2016 at the Westin St. Francis, San Francisco. Mr. Sunil Joshi, President and Chief Executive Officer will present an overview of the Company's strategy and update on its lead clinical trials on October 18 at 1:30pm Pacific Time. Mr. Joshi will be available for questions immediately following the presentation.
About Gradalis: Gradalis is a fully integrated biotechnology company based in Dallas, Texas that focuses on the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of novel proprietary personalized cellular immunotherapies to treat cancer. Gradalis operates a cGMP manufacturing facility in Carrolton, Texas. For more information about Gradalis, Inc. visit us at www.gradalisinc.com, follow us on Twitter or on Facebook.
About Vigil EATC: Vigil is an investigational cellular immunotherapy technology that combines the concepts of genetic engineering with the science of immuno-oncology, to enable an immune response to cancer cells. A patient's tumor cells are engineered with a plasmid carrying the gene vector for shRNA Furin and GMCSF to elicit a systemic T-cell directed immune response when administered to the patient through intradermal injections. By utilizing the patient's own tumor as the antigen source, Vigil EATC is designed to elicit an immune response that is specifically targeted and broadly relevant to each patient's unique tumor antigens. Vigil EATC is being studied in Ewing's sarcoma and ovarian cancer as a single agent, and in breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma in combination with PD1 and PD-L1 inhibitors. More information about these studies can be found at www.vigilclinicaltrials.com.
Gradalis and Vigil are registered trademarks of Gradalis, Inc.
Contact:
Beth Kriegel
Chief Financial Officer
Gradalis, Inc.
(214) 307-8203
SOURCE Gradalis, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.gradalisinc.com
GLEN ROCK, N.J., Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CEOs, C-Suite executives and corporate directors at successful companies are increasingly downloading and tuning in "on-the-go" to the popular weekly business podcast series Growth Igniters Radio with Pam Harper & Scott Harper.
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These regular listeners have been showering high praise on the podcast series for its capacity to spark powerful insights, inspiration and immediately useful ideas designed to take both listeners and their companies to their next level of growth and success.
Currently approaching an impressive 100-episode milestone, this free, professionally produced half-hour podcast is hosted by internationally known strategic growth expert Pamela S. "Pam" Harper, Founding Partner and CEO of Business Advancement Inc. (BAI), and her business partner and husband, D. Scott "Scott" Harper, Ph.D., an internationally recognized innovation expert. In addition to their own thought leadership, they are often joined by best-selling authors of business books, visionary CEOs and thought leaders from a variety of disciplines who are willing and eager to share their knowledge of trends, insights and innovative methodologies that consistently yield game-changing business strategies and growth.
"Every Wednesday, we explore issues that are most relevant to visionary leaders," explains Pam Harper, author of the critically acclaimed book, "Preventing Strategic Gridlock: Leading Over, Under & Around Organizational Jams to Achieve High Performance Results."
Adds Scott Harper, who joined BAI after a career in Fortune 100 personal products companies: "We designed this series with the successful, mobile top executive in mind. Each episode has three segments: The Premise, Digging Deeper, and Immediately Useful Ideas. Because it can be listened to away from one's workspace, many people are telling us they listen while they're traveling, commuting, or even exercising!"
Since the podcast's launch in February 2015, prominent guests have included such award-winning CEOs as Brian Scudamore (O2E Brands: 1-800 GOT-JUNK, etc.) and Shari Spiro (Ad Magic, publisher of Cards Against Humanity, etc). Guests with best-selling business books to their name have included Parag Khanna ("Connectography"), Charles Duhigg ("Smarter, Faster, Better"), Ron Friedman ("The Best Place to Work"), David Burkus ("Under New Management"), Michael Port ("Steal the Show"), Whitney Johnson ("Disrupt Yourself"), and Judith E. Glaser ("Conversational Intelligence").
Each installment also provides an "episode page" on GrowthIgnitersRadio.com with show notes, play bars, a downloadable transcript, and related resource links so that listeners can learn more. Most episodes fit within particular categories, notably:
Leadership trends and development
Transformational growth strategies
Breakthrough innovation
Organizational culture and performance
Operational excellence
Work-life balance
A complete directory can be found at www.GrowthIgnitersRadio.com. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher.com, and poddirectory.com via streaming media or MP3 download.
www.GrowthIgnitersRadio.com.
About Pam Harper
Pamela S. Harper is Founding Partner and CEO of Business Advancement Inc., a strategic growth advisory firm. Throughout her life, Pam has developed a track record of finding the hidden opportunities in every situation and then taking bold action to catalyze game-changing success.
For more than 20 years, Pam has applied this skillset to enabling visionary leaders and their companies to accelerate big ideas to big results. This has led to hundreds of millions of dollars of value in both top- and bottom-line growth. Her clients have included fast-growth entrepreneurial, mid-market, and Fortune 500 companies across 30 industries.
Pam graduated with honors from Northwestern University. She has been quoted in, featured in, or written articles for prominent business media including Business Week, Investor's Business Daily, Chiefexecutive.net, CEO.com and others. Her book, "Preventing Strategic Gridlock: Leading Over Under & Around Organizational Jams to Achieve High Performance Results" has been utilized as a business text in universities around the world.
About Scott Harper
D. Scott Harper, Ph.D., is Senior Partner with Business Advancement Inc. Throughout his career Scott has devoted himself to understanding why things work the way they do and how to apply those insights to create new value. An internationally recognized innovation expert, Scott helps BAI's clients sift through complexity to take full advantage of opportunities by discovering the hidden side of everything.
Scott earned his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Michigan. Before joining BAI in 2010, he held a succession of increasingly accountable innovation positions in Fortune 100 consumer healthcare companies. Like Pam, he's been published and quoted in prominent business media outlets including Chief Executive Magazine, CEO.com, CEO World Magazine, and IndUS Business Journal.
Media Contact
Pamela S. Harper
201-612-1228
Email
SOURCE Business Advancement Inc.
BALA CYNWYD, Pa., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hamilton Lane, a leading private markets asset management firm, today announced an investment in and strategic partnership with Bison (Boston Illiquid Securities Offering Network, Inc.), a company focused on creating innovative analytical systems for the private markets industry. This investment represents a significant and continued commitment from Hamilton Lane to support breakthrough technologies, enhanced data transparency and more robust analytics for the private markets.
Hamilton Lane and Bison also announced the release of Cobalt, a cutting-edge analytics platform designed to meet the evolving needs of all private markets constituents both limited partners and general partners. The Cobalt LP product, exclusively distributed by Hamilton Lane, offers enhanced portfolio analytics, fund due diligence, peer analysis and cash-flow forecasting. For general partners, Cobalt GP provides the tools and intelligence needed to assess and attract investorsincluding effective peer benchmarking, fundraising process management and track record analysis and presentation, among other features.
"Our investment in Bison and partnership on Cobalt is part of a continued effort to help address what we believe is a systemic underinvestment in data and infrastructure in this asset class," said Erik Hirsch, chief investment officer at Hamilton Lane. "We have long been proponents of greater transparency within the private markets, and take the view that data and technology can play a key role in propelling our industry forward."
"After five years of developing innovative software solutions for private markets, Bison is thrilled to partner with Hamilton Lane," said Rasmus Goksor, CEO of Bison. "Both firms share a vision for the future of private equity, and this strategic relationship brings us closer to that vision by marrying Bison's technical prowess with Hamilton Lane's deep industry expertise."
This is Hamilton Lane's fourth such investment in and strategic partnership with a technology company serving the private markets. Bison now joins iLevel/Ipreo, DealCloud and Black Mountain Systems as a key strategic partner within Hamilton Lane's growing technology portfolio. With this investment, Hamilton Lane becomes Bison's largest shareholder, and Erik Hirsch will join the Bison board of directors as the company's chairman.
For more information on Cobalt, please visit www.cobaltLP.com and www.cobaltGP.com.
About Hamilton Lane
Hamilton Lane is an independent alternative investment management firm providing innovative private markets solutions to sophisticated investors around the world. Dedicated to private markets investing for 25 years, the firm currently employs more than 250 professionals operating in offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. With more than $315 billion in total assets under management and supervision1, Hamilton Lane offers a full range of investment products and services that enable clients to participate in the private markets asset class on a global and customized basis.
For more information, please visit: http://www.hamiltonlane.com/.
1 As of June 30, 2016
About Bison
Founded in 2011, Bison is a fast-growing startup company focused on developing innovative technology for private markets. With roots in solving complex challenges within private equity and venture capital, Bison's mission has been to use the power of nimble technology and transparent data to bring unmatched, creative software solutions to the market. Headquartered in Boston, MA, Bison's products currently serve an impressive roster of some of the industry's leading private equity firms and investors, including large buyout and venture capital firms, leading endowments and foundations, as well as private and public pensions. www.bison.co.
Media Contacts
Kate McGann
[email protected]
+1 610 617 5841
Kate Dillon
[email protected]
+1 212 279 3115 x115
SOURCE Hamilton Lane
POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hammer Fiber Optic Holdings Corp. (OTCQB: HMMR) today announced that it is attending WISPA's Wispapalooza 2016 event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hammer Fiber is sending a team in response to overwhelming interest from wireless internet service providers who are seeking a delivery method that answers the questions of last mile delivery. These partnerships are a key part of Hammer Fiber's expansion plans as other providers seek a technology which will allow them to compete to deliver broadband, voice and video services to their customers.
"We look forward to building the kind of relationships that will help us expand Hammer Wireless's footprint at WISPA's premier event this year. We offer an innovative wireless fiber solution to the obstacles of last mile network access that is highly sought after by wireless providers in order to competitively deliver Broadband, VoIP and Video services," said Mark Stogdill, CEO of Hammer Fiber
About Hammer Fiber
Hammer Fiber Optic Investments Ltd. D/B/A Hammer Fiber (OTCQB: HMMR) is a registered Competitive Local Exchange Carrier in New Jersey that offers services throughout the New Jersey region, as well as Philadelphia and New York. Along with fiber transit solutions, VoIP platforms, Ethernet connectivity and managed services to businesses ranging from small to enterprise; Hammer Fiber also serves residential and small business markets with broadband, voice and video. For more information visit http://www.hammerfiber.com
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains projections and other forward-looking statements regarding future events or our future financial performance. All statements other than present and historical facts and conditions contained in this release, including any statements regarding our future results of operations and financial positions, business strategy, plans and our objectives for future operations, are forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended). These statements are only predictions and reflect our current beliefs and expectations with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risk and uncertainties and subject to change at any time. We operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual events or results may differ materially from those contained in the projections or forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
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SOURCE Hammer Fiber Optic Holdings Corp.
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http://www.hammerfiber.com
SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Harmons has selected RizePoint compliance software to ensure food safety, occupational health and safety (OSHA) and quality standards are upheld across their 17 Utah stores. Since 1932, Harmons has been Utah's neighborhood grocer with a commitment to provide high-quality, local food and a great customer experience. RizePoint will enable continuous improvement with real-time reporting of Harmons' food safety and quality data.
"As Utah's leading local grocer, we're known for innovating local food systems and creating unique fresh-prepared foods," said Bob Harmon, Vice President for the Customer, Harmons. "RizePoint brings that same innovative thinking to quality and safety auditing and reporting, and we're excited to partner with another Utah-based business committed to excellence."
Harmons is the latest client to launch RizePoint for food safety reporting. "Quality and safety are the foundation of any successful grocery store," said Frank Maylett, RizePoint CEO. "With our software, Harmons can ensure their standards are upheld, from Roy to St. George."
Going well beyond mere reporting, RizePoint consolidates, analyzes, and serves operational and quality audit data with one click, providing users with real-time information. RizePoint's software alerts relevant stakeholders of any food safety or operational violations and makes immediate corrective action possible.
"Maintaining Harmons excellence in quality and safety requires continuous monitoring of all our systems," said Laura Dykman, Director of Food Safety, Harmons. "Taking our many audits and compiling them into one place makes it possible for us to track our performance in real-time and address any non-compliance immediately."
RizePoint At-a-Glance
RizePoint mobile and cloud-based software helps organizations improve the quality, safety, and sustainability of their products, services and facilities.
RizePoint's software is used by 5 of the top 8 hospitality brands and 5 of the top 8 food service brands.
RizePoint serves more than 285,000 users in 120 countries and territories, speaking 40 languages: 105,000 food service restaurants 27,000 hotels and resort properties 13,000 grocery and retail stores
About RizePoint
RizePoint formerly Steton Technology Group is the global leader in software solutions that proactively safeguard enterprise compliancefor both internally-imposed standards and externally-imposed regulations. RizePoint software builds and protects brand equity by enabling a consistent customer experience. Our customers gather better data, see necessary actions earlier, and act faster to correct issues before they become costly liabilities. Considered the industry standard for food service, hospitality, and retail, RizePoint mobile and cloud-based solutions serve nearly 2 million audits with 200 million questions answered annually. RizePoint is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information, visit RizePoint.com.
About Harmons
Harmons Grocery Store is known for its unique grocery industry approach, which provides true value to its customers through fresh, local foods prepared in-store by chefs, artisans and experts; and an aggressive sustainability program. A fourth generation Utah Company, Harmons operates 17 stores throughout the state. For more information, please visit harmonsgrocery.com.
Press Inquiries:
Whitney McCarthy
801.285.9827
Email
SOURCE RizePoint
Related Links
http://RizePoint.com
MIAMI, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Skip the malls, ditch the catalogs and flee the incessant tick-tick-tick of the holiday countdown with a well-timed escape to a destination where relaxation and shopping are far from mutually exclusive.
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Hotel Viking in Newport, RI decorates inside and out for the holidays. Photo by Lee Abney Caravelle Hotel & Casino is an ideal spot to stay to experience the Christmas Boat Parade, Three Kings Dy Parade and more.
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In Newport, R.I., Hotel Viking entices with a jackpot of Black Friday (Nov. 25) and Cyber Monday (Nov. 28) deals. Purchase a $100 gift certificate for One Bellevue Restaurant and get 25 percent off the face value. That's a $100 gift certificate value for $75. Within easy walking distance of downtown Newport and its historic waterfront, Hotel Viking is also command central for holiday shopping and revelry. Now in its 46th season, Christmas in Newport hosts a roster of community events with a focus on recapturing the magic of a bygone era while the town's exclusive shops and one-off boutiques offer a low-key alternative to crowded malls. Shop 'til you drop then grab a ride back to Hotel Viking. The hotel's driver does drop off/pick up at certain times and locations. Restrictions apply. Contact Hotel Viking at 401-847-3300 or visit www.hotelviking.com.
Located in Naples, Fla., Lemon Tree Inn is within easy walking distance of some of the best shopping neighborhoods in the United States. Book a three-night stay at Lemon Tree Inn Dec. 1521 and get a $25 Visa gift card to jumpstart holiday shopping. Chic meets chill at Fifth Avenue South where an eclectic mix of shops and dining venues line pedestrian-friendly promenades. A pleasant one-mile stroll from Lemon Tree Inn, Third Street South encompasses Naples Pier as well as shops selling everything from avant-garde fashions to fine art. Bargain-hunters find nirvana at Naples Outlet Center. The sprawling shopping center, home to more than two-dozen outlets is a short drive from Lemon Tree Inn. For more information or to book a reservation, call 888-800-LEMO or visit www.LemonTreeInn.com. Use promo code SHOP when booking Dec. 1521 to get a $25 Visa gift card.
Embrace the holiday season in the Caribbean at Caravelle Hotel & Casino. Located on the island of St. Croix, the hotel is just steps from one-of-a-kind shops and galleries. Looking for the quintessential St. Croix gift? Head for Sonya Ltd, home to the original St. Croix Hook Bracelet. The design, by Sonya Hough, dates to the mid-1960s. Locals know to wear the hook facing up toward the heart if they are in a relationship and facing down if they are single. Also on Company Street is The Blue Mutt which sells pet care products and accessories in addition pet-themed T-shirts, gear and gifts. Profits support the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center. Art lovers find inspiration inside Caravelle Hotel & Casino where works by textile artist Debbie Sun complement guestroom decor and pieces by mixed-media artist Donald Diddams grace the walls. Works by both artists are available for purchase via their websites. Call 800-524-0410 to make a reservation or to request information.
Media Contact:
Jane Watkins
Email
305-342-5344
SOURCE Hotel Viking; Lemon Tree Inn; Caravelle Hotel & Casino
Related Links
http://hotelcaravelle.com
STAMFORD, Conn., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of Team Rubicon United Kingdom disaster response experts deployed to Les Cayes, Haiti over the weekend to assist partner Hope for Haiti. The situation is dire, "three out of every five houses were destroyed," noted volunteer Mike Stewart, who led the initial rapid needs assessment. Team Rubicon UK, supported by Team Rubicon Global and partner countries, committed to a minimum three-week operation with a team of twelve military veterans and first responders with the mission of clearing transport routes, managing debris, and repairing damaged homes and schools at Hope for Haiti partner sites. In coordination with Hope for Haiti, they will work closely with Government and Non-profit organization partners in Port-au-Prince and assist in re-establishing access to those communities isolated from receiving aid.
The current death toll in Haiti is 900 and rising, with concerns of massive casualties due to the proliferation of secondary medical conditions, such as cholera, infection and/or tetanus. Haitian Government and United Nations officials estimate that some 350,000 people need immediate assistance. The Hope for Haiti team remains dedicated to working with partners and local government officials in Les Cayes and surrounding areas to address the immediate needs of that vulnerable population.
To help save as many lives as possible, the below are critical:
Monetary: Cash donations to allow for immediate local purchases and emergency operations to speed recovery. Transportation: Air transport from US to Haiti (cargo and passenger flights), Air transport between Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes (helicopters, planes) to transport emergency personnel and disaster relief supplies, and Vehicles for ground transportation in Haiti . Survival: Food/clean water (water purification) Shelter: Tarps/Sheet Metal Roofing/Tents Power: Batteries, Generators, Flashlights, Solar lamps, fuel (diesel) Health: Medications & First Aid supplies Access: Power tools, chain saws, axes to clear roads and move debris
To stay updated on Hope for Haiti's response efforts, follow @HopeforHaitiFL on Twitter or Facebook www.facebook.com/hopeforhaiti. To help support the organization's response efforts, contributions can be made online at www.hopeforhaiti.com and supplies can be dropped off at the Naples office, 1021 5th Ave N., Naples, FL 34102.
About Hope for Haiti:
Hope for Haiti is a Naples, Florida, based 501(c)(3) charitable organization with the mission to improve the quality of life for the Haitian people, particularly children. Building upon 27 years of experience, Hope for Haiti works in five core program areas (Education, Healthcare, Water, Infrastructure and Economy) to connect, heal and empower communities in the Greater South of Haiti. Hope for Haiti is a 4-star rated charity by Charity Navigator and is a participant at the Gold Level through the GuideStar Exchange, two leading independent evaluators recognizing the organization's transparency and careful stewardship of donor resources.
About Team Rubicon UK:
Team Rubicon UK unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams. The disaster response organization offers veterans the opportunity to continue their service by helping those affected by disasters while regaining a sense of purpose, community and identity. For more about Team Rubicon UK, visit teamrubiconuk.org. Also see us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Media Contact:
Stephanie Jepsen
Chief of Donor Experience
Ph. 239-434-7183, ext. 203
Fax 239-434-2839
Email
www.hopeforhaiti.com
SOURCE Hope for Haiti
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http://www.hopeforhaiti.com
PLACERVILLE, CA, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - iMD Companies, Inc. (OTC: ICBU) Board of Directors are pleased to announce that the company has completed its negotiation to acquire a 100-million-dollar revenue producing asset into the company. The acquisition is expected to be a wholly owned subsidiary into the company. The company is waiting for all of the audited financials from the company it plans on acquiring before it announces all the details of the acquisition. Once financials are received from auditors the company will announce the name of the company and expects to do so shortly. The company announced over one month ago that it had completed all of its financials to become current with OTC Markets in anticipation of this first acquisition.
"Now that we have completed all negotiations and terms of this first acquisition we are prepared to take our company to new levels and expect to begin the process to be a QB fully Reporting Company. We feel this acquisition is in the best interests of our shareholders and will create greater shareholder value in the short and long term of the company," Stated, Richard Wilson, CEO of iMD Companies Inc.
About iMD Companies, Inc.
iMD Companies, Inc., (:ICBU) is a Florida corporation, engaged in the manufacturing and distribution in the hydroponics industries and asset accumulations of revenue producing companies. The company is positioned to be a holding company for acquisitions in the medical, mining and hydroponics industries. Acquisitions in those areas are R-Quest Hydroponics from Anything Technologies Media (OTC: EXMT). The company and the principals of the management team have extensive backgrounds in finance, manufacturing, marketing and distribution. ICBU's goal is to create and increase shareholder value by tactically growing our core Hydroponics business while strategically seeking to acquire new business and create other business alliances, which generate increased revenues and earnings.
Safe Harbor Statement:
Certain statements made in this press release constitute forward-looking statements that are based on management's expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "scheduled," "estimates" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual future results and trends may differ materially from what is forecast in forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and the company does not undertake any obligation to update or publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements
www.imdcompanies.com
SOURCE iMD Companies, Inc.
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Yieldbot, a digital media technology that connects brands with active consumer intent has announced that Forrester Research released a report that cites the advantages of header bidding technology for publishers including the ability to select the demand sources they will do business with, ensuring that the demand mix maximizes revenue, prioritizing the order of bidding based on revenue, and managing data leakage.
In the July 2016 report, Q&A: Header Bidding What It Is And How It Works For Publishers And Marketers, authored by Forrester Senior Analyst, Susan Bidel, she wrote, "Header bidding isn't new: Publishers have integrated retargeters, like Amazon and Criteo, and performance buyers, like Yieldbot, directly on their pages for years because they paid higher CPMs, were looking for highly defined audiences, and were of sufficient size to warrant the development time and effort."
The report reveals that publishers are experiencing 20 to 30 percent lifts in CPMs and giving marketers first look access to premium inventory improves performance by 20 percent.
Yieldbot first developed header bidding technology in 2011, and since then, more than 1000 partners have integrated the company for premium inventory monetization.
"It is our belief that Forrester has validated header bidding as the superior digital ad bidding technology" said Jonathan Mendez, CEO at Yieldbot. "Publishers now have the ability to have their own true and transparent real-time auction. This levels the playing field for all brands and bidders and is increasing the value of digital media by delivering more relevance to consumers."
About Yieldbot
Yieldbot is the only marketplace for real-time consumer intent in premium content. The company's real-time data and header bidding media connect brands to the active intent of consumers on over 1,000 websites. Yieldbot's consumer friendly technology does not use cookies for targeting and has a first-party relationship with all data.
IntentRank, Yieldbot's machine learning system, recognizes and scores the active motivation of consumers and responds with relevant brand messages to produce superior measured media performance. Over half of the Top 100 US advertisers are Yieldbot customers.
Yieldbot is headquartered in New York with offices in Bentonville, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Portland. For more information, please visit: http://www.yieldbot.com
Contact Information
Elissa Gray
VP, Brand Marketing
[email protected]
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE Yieldbot
A Yazidi woman who was held captive and raped by Islamic State militants in Iraq paid tribute to persecuted women and victims of human trafficking around the world as she received a human rights award from the Council of Europe.
Nadia Murad Basee Taha became the fourth recipient of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize for her work in bringing international attention to the enslavement of women and children in her community.
"I would like to dedicate this award to all women throughout the world who are persecuted and the thousands of Yazidi women and children who have been living in the hell of Daesh (Islamic State) for two years now," Taha said through an interpreter.
She also dedicated the award to the 2,000 Yazidi women who have escaped enslavement by the Islamic State.
"This will give me renewed strength to continue moving forward to fight against extremism in all its manifestations," Taha said accepting the award, named after the late playwright and human rights campaigner who became president of the Czech Republic.
Taha was abducted by Islamic State in Iraq in August 2014 and taken to the group's stronghold of Mosul, where she and thousands of other Yazidi women and children were exchanged by militants as gifts.
She was tortured and raped repeatedly before she escaped three months later.
The activist has travelled to Egypt, Greece, Kuwait, Norway, the United States and Britain to raise awareness about the plight of the Yazidis.
Appointed a U.N. goodwill ambassador for human trafficking victims last month, Taha has urged the international community to do more to bring the jihadist militants to justice.
In January, the United Nations said the Islamic State were still holding an estimated 3,500 people, mainly women and children, as slaves in Iraq.
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More than 25,000 are expected to attend the Academy's annual meeting, making it one of the largest medical meetings in the United States. It features more than 350 instruction courses, 56 surgical skills labs, 51 symposia and 585 exhibitors, collectively addressing all aspects of the ophthalmic profession.
Highlights include:
Progress in the precision of cataract and LASIK surgery
Professor and Allen, Mosbacher and Law Chair of the Baylor College of Medicine Ophthalmology Department Douglas E. Koch, M.D., will discuss how new technology has great potential to improve the precision of cataract and LASIK surgery during the Jackson Memorial Lecture, the premiere lectureship in ophthalmology. Dr. Koch will describe innovations such as intraocular lenses whose optical power can be modified postoperatively.
Surgical alternatives to reading glasses
Surgical treatments for presbyopia, the blurred near vision people often get starting around age 40, will be the focus of two named lectures. Julian D. Stevens, D.O., Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital, will discuss corneal inlays during the Whitney G. Sampson Lecture. Dean of the College of Medicine at University of Illinois Dimitri T. Azar, M.D., will deliver the Castroviejo Lecture where he will review recent advancements in the field such as the development of the Google/Verily smart accommodating intraocular lenses.
Zika and trachoma
The visual impacts of infectious diseases will be covered at different events at AAO 2016. Representatives from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and ophthalmologists from Brazil and the United States will examine how Zika affects babies born to infected mothers. In a separate session, Thomas M. Lietman, M.D. will deliver the Jones/Smolin Lecture, describing the efforts underway in sub-Saharan Africa to eradicate trachoma, the world's leading cause of preventable blindness.
Saving eyes on the battlefield and at home
Col. Robert A. Mazzoli, M.D., former consultant to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, will highlight the role military ophthalmologists have played in improving care for injured military personnel and how the lessons of battlefield care can be adapted to peacetime practice. In a separate session, representatives from the Association of Veterans Affairs Ophthalmologists and the Society of Military Ophthalmologists will highlight innovative approaches to expanding access to veterans' eye care services through residency programs.
The IRIS Registry: Measuring value and improving quality
Several talks will focus on the Academy's IRIS Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight), the world's largest real-time database of ophthalmic patient outcomes. As the focus of healthcare shifts from volume to value, the IRIS Registry is helping ophthalmologists track, report and improve quality performance, evaluate patient outcomes and perform simple analytics.
Medicare and the FDA
Several sessions will focus on new policies that promise to impact eye care and access to quality physician-led treatments. Medicare is set to implement a sweeping new physician payment system focused on the value of care instead of volume of service. Academy's physician leaders and health policy experts will discuss what this means to ophthalmology and its patients. In another session, U.S. Food and Drug Administration representatives will answer attendees' questions about preserving access to sight-saving medications and the ophthalmic device approval process.
X-ray technology uncovers true colors in 19th Century art
Francesca Casadio, PhD., will deliver the Michael F. Marmor, M.D. Lecture in Ophthalmology and the Arts. The A.W. Mellon Senior Conservation Scientist with The Art Institute of Chicago will discuss how she used technology such as Macro X-ray Fluorescence Spectometry to uncover the original color of Van Gogh's bedroom.
"The Academy's annual meeting continues to be a beacon for our profession," said Jonathan B. Rubenstein, M.D., secretary of the American Academy of Ophthalmology's annual meeting. "No other meeting in the world provides the wide breadth of content and numerous opportunities to meet and interact with local and international colleagues. I look forward to seeing the many developments that will be presented at AAO 2016 that promise to advance our profession's efforts to fight eye disease and promote global eye health."
The Academy provides free access to credentialed members of the media. Learn more at www.aao.org/newsroom/annual-meeting-for-media. For more information about the meeting, visit http://www.aao.org/annual-meeting/.
A searchable program is available at www.aao.org/mobile. Selected hours of educational content will be streamed live Oct. 14-18. Learn more and sign up at http://www.aao.org/virtual-meeting.
About the American Academy of Ophthalmology
The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world's largest membership association of eye physicians and surgeons. A global community of 32,000 ophthalmologists, we are passionate about protecting sight and fighting preventable blindness. For more than 120 years, we have been educators, innovators and advocates for the public and our profession to ensure the highest-quality medical and surgical eye care. Our EyeSmart program is a preeminent source of eye health information for the public and empowers people to preserve their vision. For more information, visit www.aao.org.
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SOURCE American Academy of Ophthalmology
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In back-to-back years (2014 and 2015), Menage a Trois introduced its Midnight and Silk red blends to instant acclaim as No. 1 new wine items, according to Nielsen data. A proven powerhouse brand, Menage a Trois is the fastest growing top five 750 mL wine brand in the industry**. The addition of GOLD brings the Menage a Trois portfolio to sixteen unique wine offerings, including six blends.
"We're excited to offer consumers a decadent Chardonnay experience at this price point," said Mark Dunlea, senior marketing director for Menage a Trois wines. "A rich, indulgent Chardonnay like GOLD is a rare find at such an accessible price."
Founded in the Napa Valley in 1996, Menage a Trois launched with one wine, a blend of three red varietals. Following steady growth, the brand was added to the Trinchero Family Estates portfolio in 2004. Today, Menage a Trois continues to innovate with unique packaging and its rich Chardonnay, GOLD. The wine is now available in local retail stores nationwide and will be further represented digitally on Menage a Trois' Instagram (8,000 plus followers) and Facebook (270,000 plus followers).
A blend of Chardonnay, Viognier and Verdelho, Menage a Trois GOLD exhibits aromas of tropical fruit, sweet vanilla and brown spice, followed by a buttery smooth palette of caramel, pineapple and melon flavors. Menage a Trois sets a new standard, the GOLD standard.
About Menage a Trois
The Menage a Trois portfolio comprises 16 offerings, including six wine blends, five red wines and five white wines. Menage a Trois originated in 1996 with one winea blend of three red varietals created by two psychiatrists at Folie a Deux Winery in Saint Helena, CA. Menage a Trois wines are wholly owned and operated by Trinchero Family Estates, family-owned Napa Valley vintners since 1948. Please visit www.MenageaTroiswines.com to learn more.
Links
Download Menage a Trois GOLD fact sheet here.
Download Menage a Trois GOLD bottle shots and label shots here.
Social Media Handles
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MenageaTrois
Instagram: @menageatroiswines
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MenageaTroisWines/
Sources
* Source: Nielsen, Total US Retail, CY2013 -2015 Dollar Sales
** Source: Nielsen, Total US, CY14 & CY15 vs. PY=$0, Dollar Sales Change
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SOURCE Trinchero Family Estates, Inc.
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http://www.tfewines.com
BEDFORD, Mass., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Instrumentation Laboratory (IL) today announced commercialization of the HemosIL AcuStar VWF:CB assay in the European Union and other international markets.* This fully automated chemiluminescent immunoassay is indicated for the quantitative determination of VWF collagen-binding activity in human citrated plasma on the ACL AcuStar Hemostasis Testing System to aid in the investigation of von Willebrand Disease (VWD). HemosIL AcuStar VWF:CB simplifies testing and allows faster and more accurate test results.
The first and only automated von Willebrand Factor (VWF) collagen-binding activity solution in Hemostasis testing, HemosIL AcuStar VWF:CB expands the HemosIL AcuStar VWF Assay Panel to create the most complete panel for primary investigation of VWD. Other assays in the HemosIL AcuStar VWF Assay Panel include: HemosIL AcuStar VWF Antigen (VWF:Ag) and HemosIL AcuStar VWF Ristocetin Cofactor (VWF:RCo) Activity.
"HemosIL AcuStar VWF:CB expands our VWF Assay Panel to provide clinicians with a broader diagnostic picture, plus faster, more reliable results," said Remo Tazzi, Director Worldwide Hemostasis Marketing at IL. "Enhanced sensitivity improves accuracy while automation of complex assays expedites turnaround time. This not only enables better patient management, but also means more efficient testing."
Like all reagents on the ACL AcuStar System, HemosIL AcuStar VWF:CB is ready-to-use, cartridge-based and offers results in less than 30 minuteson-demand, 24/7. Chemiluminescence enhances linearity range to quantify extremely low levels of VWF concentrations and offers superior performance and reliability vs ELISA methods.
VWD is classified into three major categories: partial quantitative deficiency (Type 1), complete quantitative deficiency (Type 3), and functional deficiency (Type 2). Type 2 VWD is broken into subtypes based upon the functional deficiency present (Type 2A, 2B, 2M, and 2N). The clinical utility of VWF:CB activity testing is to differentiate Type 1 VWD from Type 2 and Types 2A/B from Type 2M.
About von Willebrand Disease
VWD is the most common inherited bleeding disorder, characterized by a qualitative or functional defects of the VWF protein. The disease affects up to 1% of the worldwide population and occurs with equal frequency between men and women. Acquired von Willebrand Syndome (AWVS), characterized by acquired defects in VWF functionality, typically develops in the absence of a family history of bleeding can be associated with serious autoimmune problems (e.g., systemic lupus erythematosus), cancers, or medicinal drug use. It is common for VWD to remain undiagnosed because of unknown patient family history and mild symptoms. Prompt diagnosis and classification are necessary for optimal therapeutic management.
*HemosIL AcuStar VWF:CB assay is not currently 510(k) cleared.
Instrumentation Laboratory (www.instrumentationlaboratory.com), founded in 1959, is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and distributor of in vitro diagnostic instruments, related reagents and controls for use primarily in hospitals and independent clinical laboratories. The Company's product lines include Critical Care systems, Hemostasis systems and Information Management systems. IL GEM product offerings, part of the Critical Care line, include the GEM Premier 4000 analyzer with Intelligent Quality Management (iQM), GEM Premier 3500 and GEMweb Plus Custom Connectivity. The IL Hemostasis portfolio includes new ACL TOP Family 50 Series Hemostasis Testing Systems and the original ACL TOP Family of Hemostasis Testing Systems, fully automated, high-productivity analyzers. IL also offers the ACL AcuStar, ACL Elite, and other Hemostasis analyzers, along with the comprehensive HemosIL line of reagents. IL is based in Bedford, Massachusetts.
The Instrumentation Laboratory logo, GEM, GEMweb, iQM, HemosIL, ACL, ACL TOP, ACL Elite, ACL AcuStar, ReadiPlasTin, RecombiPlastin and Premier are trademarks of Instrumentation Laboratory Company and/or one of its subsidiaries or parent companies, and may be registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other jurisdictions. All other product names, company names, marks, logos, and symbols are trademarks of their respective owners.
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SOURCE Instrumentation Laboratory
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Sapira was created to meet the sleep needs of an entirely new demographic of consumers - one that seeks out luxury and quality at fair prices. When it comes to mattresses, these connoisseurs of life seem to prefer spring-based mattresses and a luxury sleep system. They like to understand the history and stories behind the brands they buy. They also appreciate the ease and convenience of direct-to-consumer shopping. The 100% American-made Sapira mattress was designed and built for these discerning consumers. Over a year in the making, it is the first high-end pocket spring hybrid mattress that can be seamlessly ordered online and shipped to your home.
"Our goal was to create an affordable, direct-to-consumer luxury mattress brand," said David Wolfe, Co-founder and CEO of Leesa Sleep, the company behind Sapira. "We're thrilled to introduce the first mattress designed specifically for consumers who prefer to shop online for luxury products and experiences."
Jamie Diamonstein, Leesa's co-founder and Chief Product Officer explains: "The Sapira mattress was expertly-engineered to include an exclusive pocket spring core with a combination of high resiliency foam and high-density memory foam. Together, these layers combine to deliver comfort and support that actually reacts to your body type and sleeping style. We call this the Universal Reactive Feel." The top performance foam layer is specifically designed to allow optimal airflow, bounce and ease of movement, while the middle memory foam layer provides needed pressure relief to relax your body. But the key difference with Sapira is its exclusive pocket spring core positioned between two layers of transition foam. The unique system includes a thousand premium-grade encased steel coils, providing unparalleled support, body contouring and virtually zero motion transfer. The Sapira mattress was also designed with superior edge support, so you can sit comfortably without sinking.
The advanced technology of the Sapira mattress compares with mattresses that cost thousands more. But thanks to Sapira's direct-to-consumer business model, it comes in at a price point that's surprisingly affordable.
The Sapira mattress is available for purchase at the following price points:
Twin: $975
Twin XL: $1075
Full: $1275
Queen: $1475
King: $1775
California King: $1775
*White glove service is also available, including old mattress removal. Sapira is offering customers a 100 night risk-free trial.
About Sapira
Sapira is the premiere luxury direct-to-consumer sleep brand, founded by Leesa co-founders David Wolfe and Jamie Diamonstein. The brand was created to service discerning consumers who prefer the luxury high-end feel of spring mattresses and a more luxurious sleep system, but also appreciate the ease and convenience of direct to consumer shopping. Learn more at www.sapirasleep.com
PR Contact:
Jennifer Bett Communications
Melissa Duren
Email: [email protected]
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SOURCE Sapira
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https://sapirasleep.com
SHANGHAI, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.("JinkoSolar"or the "Company") (NYSE: JKS), a global leader in the photovoltaic (PV) industry, today announced that it has signed a 300MW master module supply agreement with Henan Senyuan Electric Co., Ltd. ("Senyuan Electric"), a developer of PV power plant projects and a producer of high, medium and low voltage switchgear, listed in A-share market.
JinkoSolar will cooperate with Senyuan Electric by supplying solar modules for local PV poverty alleviation projects in Henan. The focus will be alleviating poverty by developing targeted PV projects in poor area in Henan province.
"We have been leveraging our strong technical skills, reliable high-efficiency products and experienced development team to participate in a number of poverty alleviation projects across China in recent years, including Jiangxi, Anhui, Guizhou, Shanxi, Gansu and Shandong provinces," commented Mr. Gener Miao, JinkoSolar's Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing. "Our collaboration with Senyuan Electric will provide thousands of low-income households with the highest quality PV modules that will ensure a sustainable generation of green energy and income for them and raise their standard of living."
Mr. Hong Cao, General Manager of Senyuan Electric added, "Senyuan Electric and JinkoSolar share a commitment to helping alleviate poverty through high quality PV projects, which has created an important foundation to strengthen our relationship. Looking forward, we expect to join hands with JinkoSolar to promote the roll out of more PV poverty alleviation projects in Henan."
About JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.
JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS) is a global leader in the solar industry. JinkoSolar distributes its solar products and sells its solutions and services to a diversified international utility, commercial and residential customer base in China, the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chile, South Africa, India, Mexico, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and other countries and regions. JinkoSolar has built a vertically integrated solar product value chain, with an integrated annual capacity of 3.5 GW for silicon ingots and wafers, 3.5 GW for solar cells, and 6.5 GW for solar modules, as of June 30, 2016. JinkoSolar also sells electricity in China, and had connected approximately 1,130 MW of solar power projects to the grid, as of June 30, 2016.
JinkoSolar has over 15,000 employees across its 6 productions facilities in Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Xinjiang Provinces, China, Malaysia, Portugal and South Africa, 16 oversea subsidiaries in Japan (2), Singapore, India, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Australia and South Africa. 18 global sales offices in China (2) ,United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.
To find out more, please see: www.jinkosolar.com
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends, "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this press release and the Company's operations and business outlook, contain forward-looking statements. Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in JinkoSolar's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
In China:
Mr. Sebastian Liu
JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.
Tel: +86 21-5183-3056
Email: [email protected]
Mr. Christian Arnell
Christensen, Beijing
Tel: +86 10 5900 2940
Email: [email protected]
In the U.S.:
Ms. Linda Bergkamp
Christensen, Scottsdale, Arizona
Tel: +1-480-614-3004
Email: [email protected]
SOURCE JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.
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http://www.jinkosolar.com
ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Middle East market for in vitro diagnostics is expected to be worth $3.4 billion by 2021 according to a new report from Kalorama Information. The healthcare market researcher said that is growth that is one and one-half to double that of the world IVD market. Expanding populations and a commitment to healthcare spending in this region presages a strong market in the coming years. Most global concerns have offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Dubai or other locales to service this population with testing products and supplies. The finding was made in IVD in the Middle East, from Kalorama Information.
"The Middle East remains an underserved region with large market potential," said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information. "At roughly six percent growth per year, that's far greater where we'd put the overall world market. You should not be surprised to see companies aiming operations there."
Currently, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey all have universal healthcare programs, according to the report. Opportunity for innovation as well exists in emerging markets, where acceleration of new products is the largest mid- to long-term driver of value. In the Middle East, with increased demand for healthcare has come increased access to it. In the 1970s, many countries in the Middle East and the Gulf countries started down a path to providing public healthcare to their citizens. This development requires increased investment in healthcare. The report says that this increased investment most often takes the form of government tenders, which remain a major source of supply for state-controlled labs and hospitals. In the Middle East, lifestyle change - a more sedentary lifestyle resulting in rising obesity rates -- has brought about the emergence of "Western" diseases such as diabetes.
Roche, Abbott, Siemens, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics and Beckman Coulter are among the companies targeting the Middle East as a growth region.
The report, IVD in the Middle East has specific market segmentation for markets in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other nations. The report can be found at http://www.kaloramainformation.com/IVD-Middle-East-10336235/.
Please link any media or news references to our reports or data to http://www.kaloramainformation.com/.
About Kalorama Information
Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent medical market research in diagnostics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare; as well as a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased through Kalorama's website and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.
We routinely assist the media with healthcare topics. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and our blog at www.kaloramainformation.com.
Press Contact:
212 807 2262
[email protected]
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SOURCE Kalorama Information
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DALLAS, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) will webcast a discussion of its third quarter 2016 results at 9 a.m. CDT on Monday, October 24. Chairman and CEO Thomas Falk and Senior Vice President and CFO Maria Henry will participate in the live webcast. A news release detailing the results will be issued via PR Newswire and First Call earlier that same day.
A link to the broadcast and related presentation slides will be provided through the Investors section of Kimberly-Clark's website at www.kimberly-clark.com.
Kimberly-Clark will continue to post the date of future quarterly earnings releases and related webcasts on its website. Interested stockholders and others should monitor the website for these announcements.
About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark and its well-known global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Every day, nearly a quarter of the world's population trust Kimberly-Clark's brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds No.1 or No. 2 share positions in 80 countries. To keep up with the latest news and to learn more about the Company's 144-year history of innovation, visit www.kimberly-clark.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
[KMB-F]
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SOURCE Kimberly-Clark Corporation
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NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Award-winning national public affairs and communications firm Kivvit continues to grow its New York and New Jersey offices with the addition of seven new professionals covering a variety of specialties.
"We continue to grow our capabilities across all public affairs disciplines," said Managing Partner Maggie Moran. "Whether it's operations in the digital space, press and earned media, advertising or public affairs strategy development, our team's growth reflects the fact that we're always working to expand our capabilities in ways that will help our clients achieve their strategic goals."
Deidrea Miller joins the firm to continue building Kivvit's digital strategy practice. She brings a wealth of public affairs, marketing, and digital experience in the energy, finance, government and education sectors. Deidrea specializes in communicating complex and nuanced stories across the full range of digital and traditional marketing channels. She joins Kivvit from the New York University Silver School of Social Work where she oversaw all marketing efforts for the school in Buenos Aires, New York City, Paris, and Shanghai. Previously, she led digital strategy and presence for the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and served as the New York City Department of Education's first deputy press secretary under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Since March, Kivvit has also welcomed Finance and Administrative Coordinator Jerry James and new associates Michael Galotti, Julian Hannush, and Rachel Rosenck to its New York City office. During that same time, senior associate Brianna Earle and associate Dante Moyer joined the firm's New Jersey office. In addition, Kivvit NYC also welcomed two new additions from the firm's other offices: Shea Savaria from New Jersey and Michael Johnston from Washington, DC.
Jerry James previously served as Manager of Operations, managing HR, Finance and IT infrastructure at Urban Green Council, the New York City Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council; and GBCHealth, an international public health organization established by the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke. Jerry holds a B.B.A in Management, from Northwood University.
Michael Galotti has held internships in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, having worked under U.S. Representative Eliot Engel and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. In this capacity, Michael provided support in communications, constituent outreach, and general operations. Michael earned his Master's degree in Elections and Campaign Management from Fordham University, where he was awarded a Pollie for his senior capstone project on campaign strategy. Michael earned his Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Global Politics from the University at Albany.
Julian Hannush developed his skills in politics and advocacy. He's worked on a variety of state and local political campaigns across the Pacific Northwest. He's interned for both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and supported a federal congressional re-election campaign. In New York City, he worked in fundraising for Action Against Hunger, an international NGO. Julian earned his B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Washington in Seattle. He also completed an affiliate student program at University College London in the United Kingdom, where he researched international climate and trade policy.
Rachel Roseneck worked at a political public relations firm where she provided strategic communications support to clients across a range of industries, including non-profit organizations and trade associations. Rachel earned her Bachelor's degree in Urban Studies from Fordham University. While at Fordham, she worked as an intern at Kivvit's predecessor, M Public Affairs, and prior to that, in the press office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Brianna Earle previously worked for the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters where she provided communications support for over 30,000 members. She has extensive experience in advocacy and social media strategy. She has also worked on various social, political, and issue advocacy campaigns where she specialized in Latino community outreach. Brianna graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Public Policy from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.
Dante Moyer has worked in various industries including content marketing, healthcare, and hospitality. Dante graduated from Kutztown University in 2014 with a degree in Communication Studies and a minor in both Public Relations and Professional Writing. During his collegiate career, Dante was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity, an intern for Kutztown's University Relations, and a Facilitator of Kutztown's orientation program, Connections.
Kivvit is a strategic communications firm that solves our clients' biggest challenges with an immersive and results-oriented approach. Our professionals operate at the highest levels of public affairs, coming from leading positions in government, politics, journalism, corporate America and public advocacy. With over 65 professionals across five offices (New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Miami and Washington, D.C.), Kivvit continues to expand its capabilities and expertise.
For more information and to see additional announcements, please visit kivvit.com.
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SOURCE Kivvit
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"It's awesome to be selected as Klein Tools' Electrician of the Year because of all they do highlighting professionals in the industry," said Eric Simmons, Klein Tools' 2016 Electrician of the Year. "When I found out I won the region I started thinking about ways to set up a tool scholarship to help apprentices in my area get a jump start on the initial investment needed to enter the field. I'm happy to be able to do that with this donation so they have the right tools to do the right job."
Simmons was selected from more than 350 applicants and is recognized for his professional achievement, his dedication to safety and contributions to his local community. He dedicates a significant amount of time to learn and apply proper safety practices as well as teaches others about safety. He is certified by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) as both a Safety Trained Supervisor-Construction (STS-C) and as a Construction Health and Safety Technician (CHST). He is also an authorized OSHA outreach trainer for construction, MSHA Surface Miner Safety Trainer and an American Heart Association First Aid/CPR/AED instructor.
In his free time, Simmons volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and the Associated Builders and Contractors apprenticeship program, where he is an instructor and guest speaker. And, he has led several collection drives for Street Teens, a nonprofit organization that helps homeless and at risk teens in the Las Vegas area.
"Klein Tools congratulates Eric for his commitment to learning his craft, focusing on safety and improving his community," said Mark Klein, president of Klein Tools. "Each year we are amazed at the caliber of the applicants for this program and Eric is certainly no exception. He embodies everything we look for in the Electrician of the Year and we applaud his great work on and off the job site."
The runner-up, Bill Budz of Schaumburg, Illinois, receives a one-time prizes of $1,250 in Klein Tools products, John Ellington of Chatfield, Texas wins $1,000 for third place and John Levesque of Adams, Massachusetts, Randall Summers of Arthurdale, West Virginia and Shelby Kytola of Albany, Oregon each receive $750. All regional winners will also receive the Klein Tools' Ultimate Garage Package worth an estimated value of $1,500.
More information on the Electrician of the Year award and all winners is available at http://www.kleintools.com/eoy.
Klein is a registered trademark and Journeyman is a trademark of Klein Tools, Inc.
About Klein Tools
Since 1857 Klein Tools, a family-owned and operated company, has been designing, developing and manufacturing premium-quality, professional-grade hand tools. The majority of Klein tools are manufactured in plants throughout the United States and are the number one choice among professional electricians and other tradespeople. For more information, visit www.kleintools.com.
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SOURCE Klein Tools
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S.-Japan Council (USJC), a Washington, DC-based nonprofit educational organization that strives to strengthen U.S.-Japan relations, announced today its Seventh Annual Conference program. This year's Conference will be held in the heart of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara, California, from November 14 to 15, 2016. It is the latest example in connecting Japan and Silicon Valley, following Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit last year, in which he declared the need to revitalize Japan's economy by bringing Silicon Valley's innovative ways to Japan and globalizing Japan's promising technologies.
"Creating a lasting bridge between Japan and Silicon Valley is of vital importance to Japanese and American leaders. This year's conference provides an excellent opportunity to share our collective knowledge and experience, particularly in innovation and entrepreneurship, through people-to-people and business-to-business connections," said Ms. Irene Hirano Inouye, President of USJC.
The two-day Conference will discuss Silicon Valley's unique ecosystem and dynamic industries where the two countries can work and invest together, including artificial intelligence and financial and health technologies. Current events and social issues in both countries will also be the subject of several panel discussions and workshops.
Highlights include:
The Silicon Valley Experience and opportunities for U.S.- Japan collaboration and investment
collaboration and investment Japanese Small to Medium Businesses ('Hidden Gems') Demonstration: A live 'pitch' session featuring more than 25 innovative companies from Japanese prefectures
Women's Advancing Leadership in the Workplace and the World: Discussing innovative ideas to advance women's impact in the workplace in both Japan and in Silicon Valley
and in Silicon Valley 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games: A review of current planning and corporate support of the Games
Building Bridges Not Barriers: A discussion, facilitated by millennial members of USJC, of how Japanese Americans can lead people of different backgrounds towards non-violent resolutions, break down barriers and prejudices, and dissipate existing tensions.
Keynote speakers include Mr. Hiroaki Nakanishi, Chairman of the Board, Representative Executive Officer, Hitachi, Ltd.; Mr. Peter Schwartz, Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning, Salesforce; and Mr. Brad Smith, President & CLO, Microsoft Corporation. Other distinguished speakers include Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, former Secretary of Transportation and Commerce; Ambassador John V. Roos, former Ambassador of Japan to the United States; Ambassador Masaharu Kohno, special representative for the Middle East and Europe & Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace of Japan, as well as Senior Advisor to the TOMODACHI Initiative; Ms. Hiroko Kuniya, journalist; Ms. Kathy Matsui, Vice-Chair, Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd.; and Mr. Tom Kelley, Partner of IDEO.
For the full list of speakers, click here. To see the agenda (this includes programs not open for media coverage; for more information please see the media registration link below), click here.
Follow the USJC Annual Conference in Silicon Valley at #trek2tech.
Media Information:
Date and Time: Monday, November 14 (9:30am-6:00pm) & Tuesday, November 15, 2016 (9:00am-Noon)
Location: Hyatt Regency Santa Clara Hotel, 5101 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, California 95054 USA (some events will be held at the adjacent Santa Clara Convention Center)
Registration: Press registration is complimentary. Click here to register: bit.ly/USJCAC2016Media
About the U.S.-Japan Council (USJC)
The U.S.-Japan Council is a Japanese American-led organization fully dedicated to strengthening ties between the United States and Japan in a global context. By promoting people-to-people relationships through its innovative programs in networking and leadership, the Council serves as a catalyst to inspire and engage Japanese and Americans of all generations. The Council was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Washington, DC with staff in California, Hawaii and Tokyo. In 2012, the U.S.-Japan Council (Japan) was created to support the administration of the TOMODACHI Initiative, and in 2013, it became a Public Interest Corporation (Koeki Zaidan Hojin). The U.S.-Japan Council (Japan) maintains an office in Tokyo, Japan. http://www.usjapancouncil.org/
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SOURCE The U.S.-Japan Council
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Spanish police said Tuesday they seized nearly 20 tonnes of hashish in a boat heading to Libya, as part of a global operation targeting the financing of armed groups in North Africa and the Middle East.
With the help of Europe's police agency Europol and air support from Italian police, Spanish forces intercepted the boat registered under the Panama flag off the coast of Almeria in Spain's southeast on September 23.
They said all crew members were detained -- 11 Ukrainians and one Uzbek.
The Guardia Civil police force said the boat was intercepted as part of an operation launched by Spanish, Moroccan, French, Italian and Greek authorities, with support from the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
A total of seven boats have been caught in the multi-country operation, two of them carrying weapons and five full of hashish.
They had all departed from Turkey.
Investigators believe the drugs would have been used to buy weapons.
"This trafficking is being used to finance insurgents in existing conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East," Javier Rogero, lieutenant colonel at the Guardia Civil, told reporters.
He would not be drawn on which groups the drugs and weapons were benefiting, but said police were "convinced... that they also finance jihadist terrorism."
Of the two boats intercepted with weapons on board, one of them was sailing under the Bolivian flag and the other was registered in Togo.
Altogether, they carried 11,400 long guns, more than a million cartridges and ten tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make explosives.
The boat registered in Togo was heading to Misrata on Libya's northwestern coast.
The intended recipients are unclear but Misrata is home to powerful militias who were among the forces that seized the capital Tripoli in 2014 and forced the government to flee further east.
But they are now fighting alongside forces from a UN-backed unity government formed earlier this year -- and re-established in Tripoli -- to oust the Islamic State group from nearby Sirte.
Since it started in 2013, the multi-country operation has resulted in the detention of 109 people of various nationalities, the majority of them Syrian, Moroccan and Spanish.
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LAS VEGAS, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Growblox Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: GBLX)
Dear Shareholders:
I am writing to report the results of the vote at our Annual Meeting of Shareholders that was held on Friday, October 7, 2016 at our offices in Las Vegas.
All measures were approved by our shareholders. These measures included the election of Craig Ellins and Dr. Andrea Small-Howard as directors to serve a term of two years; the election of myself, Leslie Bocskor and Shane Terry as directors to serve a term of three years; the approval of Patrick Heyn, CPA, to serve as the Company's auditor; and, the approval of modification of our articles of incorporation to reduce authorized common shares from 250 million to 200 million shares and create 50 million preferred shares. Also, a motion was made to change the name of the Company from Growblox Sciences, Inc. to GB Sciences, Inc. This motion also passed, but its implementation is subject to FINRA and SEC approval.
We made a presentation to attendees that described our current status and our strategy. I originally outlined our strategy to you in my Letter to Shareholders released on July 25, 2016. Since that time there have been many exciting developments. These developments, combined with our understanding of the market and the potential of our assets, have allowed us to refine and gain sharp focus into our plans for the future.
Perhaps the single most significant development is the work of Dr. Andrea Small-Howard and her team of scientists to define and articulate the real potential of our research. Working with our intellectual property attorneys at Fenwick&West, the science team has carefully defined at least eight potential patents for cannabis-based compounds to treat illnesses and serious, life-changing medical conditions.
After reviewing our portfolio of potential cannabis-based medical formulations, we determined that a few, critical modifications to our facility were necessary to ensure our ability to create pharma-grade cannabis for medicines. This is essential because we must have a supply chain and production facility that are complaint with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) in a much shorter time frame than originally envisioned. We must have this capability in the near-term to produce cannabis compounds for FDA-registered Pilot Studies and then Clinical Trials. Consequently, we also needed a way to process our cannabis to produce medicines. On October 4, 2016, we announced that we had acquired a 60% interest in a Nevada Medical Marijuana Production License with an option of up to 80%. A production license enables us to convert cannabis plants into to oils and extracts that are suitable for creating medical compounds as well as consumer products. This license is critical and essential to our plan of producing cannabis-based medicines, and must be integrated into our cultivation facility to ensure quality control standards and efficiency in our production of cannabis medicines. I reported in my letter of July 25th that we planned to have plants in the ground on or about October 1st of this year the actual "plants in the ground" date has been pushed back to no later than January 2017. These discussed strategic modifications in our plan along with the acquisition of this production license contributed to the January 2017 date.
We still expect to meet our fiscal 2017 revenue projections (year ended March 31, 2017) of approximately $700,000. We can still achieve the same revenue because the production facility will open concurrently with the cultivation facility. Thus, we will be able to acquire cannabis from other producers and process and sell products such as vape pens and edibles immediately. Additionally, the modifications will allow us to produce more cannabis, meaning that our crops cycles should be slightly larger.
The developments I have just described above comprise the "Life Sciences" opportunity. I am quite confident the Life Sciences has the potential to become a billion dollar in sales company on its own.
We also continue to have a "cannabis as consumer product" opportunity. The foundation that we are building for our Life Sciences opportunity also will serve us well in our Consumer Product opportunity. Quite simply, we are already working to acquire various categories of cannabis licenses in California, Texas and Pennsylvania to name a few. Our vision is to create a national footprint and offer nationally-recognized high quality brands of cannabis products. Interestingly, we have found that our work in the Life Sciences and the quality of our cultivation and production facilities has made state regulators in target states much more receptive to the Company than a "plain old cannabis company".
So, the dual strategy of both creating medicines and producing high-quality consumer products fuels our confidence that consumer products is the second "billion dollar" opportunity.
The third opportunity is the Growblox Chambers (the "Growblox"). The Growblox is a highly engineered and complex machine. In order to support it, the Company would require a strategic finance partner or corporate partnership to build support and maintenance organization, manufacturing capabilities, an international sales force, etc. We expect to receive the first manufacture, UL approved Growblox from China in December of this year. The costs of the development has been bourne by investors in our Puerto Rico subsidiary, GB Sciences Puerto Rico, LLC. Our plan is to fully test the Growblox after it arrives in December and determine its real capability. Subject to those findings, we will work with GB Sciences Puerto Rico to find a partner or co-venturer for the Growblox a partner that has existing manufacturing capability and expertise in agricultural machinery. GB Science will not expend additional capital on Growblox devices.
I believe that it is essential that all shareholders understand our Company. We are much, much more, than just a cannabis company, which we will demonstrate starting this week with the filing of our patent for a cannabis-based medicine to treat a life altering disease. In January, we'll show you how we can grow medical-grade cannabis to make medicines AND to create high-quality products for the general cannabis consumer. As always, our doors are open to our shareholders.
Best wishes to you all and thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
John Poss
Chief Executive Officer
About Growblox Sciences, Inc.
Growblox Sciences, Inc. (GBLX) is a diverse vertically integrated cannabis company, focused on cultivation as well as biopharmaceutical research and development. The Company's goal is creating safe, standardized, pharmaceutical-grade, cannabinoid therapies that target a variety of medical conditions. To learn more about Growblox Sciences, Inc., go to: http://growblox.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain statements relating to future results or events, which are forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects", "intends", "plans", "may", "could", "should", "anticipates", "likely", "believes" and words of similar import may identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Company's belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. It is possible that the Company's actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Further, information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's business and financial and other results, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which we hereafter become aware.
Note: Although the Company's research and development activities are not illegal, the production and sale of cannabis products violate federal laws as they presently exist.
Contact Information
Corporate:
Growblox Sciences, Inc.,
3550 West Teco Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89118
866-721-0297, or
Liz Bianco Publicity Director, [email protected], http://growblox.com
Investors: John Poss, [email protected]
Showgrow/GBS Nevada Partners, LLC
Jim Meservey, Nevada Partners Manager, [email protected]
SOURCE Growblox Sciences, Inc.
Related Links
http://growblox.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report co-authored by economists at global consulting firm The Brattle Group finds that the life insurance industry is a critical driver of economic growth that helps provide stability for the U.S. economy while delivering financial protection to millions of American families, including those most vulnerable to falling below the poverty line.
"Life insurers are vital to an efficiently functioning modern economy and society, and a key contributor to enabling robust long-term economic growth," writes Dr. J. David Cummins, the Joseph E. Boettner Chair of Risk Management and Insurance at Temple University's Fox School of Business. "Life insurers invest predominantly in long-term, stable, fixed-income investments to match their long-term obligations to the insureds."
The study, "The Social and Economic Contributions of the Life Insurance Industry," explains the industry's roles, and uses industry data and academic research to highlight the industry's contributions to the U.S. economy and society from three perspectives: to individuals, to the economy, and to the government. The study was sponsored by MetLife and co-authored by Dr. Cummins, Brattle Principals Drs. Michael Cragg and Bin Zhou, and Senior Associate Jehan deFonseka.
A Shield against Financial Loss for Individuals
According to the report, 60 percent of American households are covered by some form of life insurance, with an average policy coverage amount of nearly three times the annual household income. The total amount of financial protection provided by the life insurance industry in 2014 was $20.1 trillion an amount equal to 116 percent of the U.S. economy.
The study cites research showing that the purchase of life insurance has a positive impact on an individual's living standards. For example, following the death of primary earners, life insurance reduces the percentage of households experiencing severe financial deterioration from 33 percent (without life insurance) to just six percent (with life insurance).
On retirement security, the report highlights research showing that the private annuity market increases household net worth. Without private annuities, individuals have no way to hedge the risk of outliving their retirement savings except by consuming less and investing more in risky investments. For instance, a household headed by a 65-year-old in good health experiences a 16 percent increase in financial and housing wealth due to an investment in annuities, according to the research.
A Stabilizing Component of the U.S. Economy
The life insurance industry also provides a stable source of funding for the credit markets, with private companies in all sectors of the economy relying on this funding channel. Fully 93 percent of the corporate bonds held by life insurers have a maturity greater than five years, and more than two-thirds have a maturity greater than 10 years.
This long-term focus has an added benefit it makes life insurers an important source of financial stability during periods of broader market turmoil. Commercial banks and broker-dealers that rely on short-term wholesale funding are susceptible to liquidity crises. With life insurers, stable funding from policyholders greatly reduces the need for liquidity during financial panics. The paper quotes Therese Vaughan, former president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, who said in 2012, "Life insurers can manage through [financial crisis] volatility and look to the long term, and this difference provides an important source of stability for both individual consumers and financial markets."
Life insurers are also an especially important source of capital for privately held companies, which tend to be smaller enterprises that find the public markets expensive to access. In 2014, life insurers held nearly $800 billion in private placement debt. Without the life insurance industry, "these investments could not be funded at all or as efficiently, thus driving up the average cost of capital and causing reduced investment," the authors write.
Government and Taxpayer Benefits
The life insurance industry also provides a benefit to the government and taxpayers by alleviating pressure on social spending. From 2010 to 2014, the life insurance industry distributed $774 billion in contract payments, including life insurance benefits, income payments from annuities, and disability income payment.
Using data from the American Council of Life Insurers, the study also highlights the economic impacts of the life insurance industry in all 50 states. These impacts include benefits paid, total in-force coverage, number of policies, average coverage amount, total investments, and direct jobs supported. In 2014, the life insurance industry paid over $500 billion in benefits to Americans, invested in over $5 trillion investments, and employed more than 870,000 people across the U.S.
Top 10 States by Life Insurance Contribution (select 2014 data)
State Benefits Paid (billions) Total Investment (billions) Direct Jobs California $48 $686 75,000 New York $38 $462 61,000 Florida $33 $266 54,000 Texas $29 $473 70,000 Pennsylvania $26 $191 46,000 New Jersey $22 $169 34,000 Illinois $21 $221 42,000 Ohio $19 $164 32,000 Connecticut $19 $79 33,000 Michigan $18 $123 18,000
All 50 States $509 $5,133 872,600
"Life insurance is an important component of the U.S. economy," notes Dr. Bin Zhou. "It plays a unique role not only in the safety and security it provides to individuals, but in the stability and liquidity it provides to the financial markets and the overall economy. Furthermore, the life insurance industry significantly alleviates the financial burden caused by mortality, longevity, and morbidity risks for individual households and the U.S. government."
For more information and to download a copy of the white paper, please visit www.brattle.com.
The Brattle Group analyzes complex economic, finance, and regulatory questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. We are distinguished by the clarity of our insights and the credibility of our experts, which include leading international academics and industry specialists. For more information, please visit www.brattle.com.
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SOURCE The Brattle Group
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"The LIV IQ package is a completely new generation of oxygen cylinder," said Jake Masters, Product Management Specialist for Linde Healthcare. "The technology provides an instant display of the time remaining of oxygen in the cylinder, which removes uncertainty on the part of healthcare practitioners. It gives them peace of mind and more time to focus on patient care."
The Linde LIV IQ cylinder:
Eliminates the guesswork in determining how long the cylinder will last
Automatically and instantly calculates the remaining time from the actual gas content of the cylinder and the set flow rate shown on a large and clear digital display
Is equipped with various visible and audible alerts that give the user an additional guidance in various situations: cylinder is running low; actual flow to the patient does not match the desired set flow; or temperature is too high or too low.
"The U.S. Economy has a critical challenge with respect to healthcare, as 18% of its GDP is derived from healthcare expenditures," said Eric Weisholtz, Head of Hospital Care, Americas. "Linde Healthcare is committed to reducing healthcare costs by introducing new technologies into the market. The LIV IQ technology is Linde's latest example of healthcare innovation. A digital cylinder with the capability to communicate with its environment will revolutionize oxygen cylinder management within the hospital."
The communication capability of the LIV IQ package allows users to monitor the information from any computer or web enabled device an industry first. This eliminates the need for a hospital's supply chain staff to physically inspect each cylinder for amount of product. It will allow hospital supply chain employees to view cylinders throughout the hospital, saving valuable time.
"At any time, a hospital supply chain's staff can know the quantity of cylinders in the hospital, their general location, and the amount of product remaining," said Weisholtz. "Aside from the obvious safety benefits, hospitals will realize cost savings by monitoring the average pressure in the cylinders before returning them to Linde for refilling. This minimizes the amount of unused, or wasted oxygen purchased by the hospital."
The LIV IQ package consists of a valve with an integrated pressure regulator, a flow selector, flow outlet, a pressure outlet and a digital display. The cylinder is made of light aluminum, and the valve has a protective cover with ergonomic design for easy handling. The LIV IQ package is also equipped with various visible and audible alerts which enhance patient safety in mobile oxygen therapy.
Linde Healthcare collaborated with Henry Ford Allegiance Hospital in Jackson, Michigan, to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the LIV IQ cylinder in a large hospital environment.
"Prior to having LIV IQ, our staff was making avoidable oxygen rounds," said Melissa Owen, Contract Sourcing Specialist at Henry Ford Allegiance Hospital. "Now, they can easily check real time contents on the LIV IQ Web App, eliminating unnecessary tasks and maximizing efficiency."
Masters points out that this capability has a significant impact on the economics within the hospital environment.
"Imagine how efficient and cost-effective this capability will be in a hospital environment where there may be thousands of cylinders to manage across many locations in a hospital system," Masters said.
About The Linde Group
In the 2015 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of USD19.7 bn (EUR 17.944 bn), making it one of the leading gases and engineering companies in the world, with approximately 65,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The company is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.
For more information, see The Linde Group online at www.linde.com
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SOURCE Linde North America, Inc.
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http://www.lindeus.com
"This project will make a substantial contribution to Cardiff and will further showcase how bioenergy technologies can help reduce waste, decrease pollution and generate clean, renewable energy," said Frank Armijo, vice president of Lockheed Martin Energy. "We're excited to team with CoGen, and we're looking forward to other projects where we can help businesses, manufacturers and U.K. municipal and regional governments address their critical waste and energy challenges."
CoGen will serve as the owner and developer of the Cardiff project and Lockheed Martin will lead the engineering, procurement, manufacturing and construction of the plant. The facility will use Concord Blue's Reformer technology, which converts waste to energy through a process called advanced gasification. The technology can convert nearly any kind of organic waste into clean, sustainable energy.
In addition to the Wales project, Lockheed Martin and CoGen will jointly pursue other similar projects, and smaller-scale opportunities to develop energy-from-waste projects for commercial and industrial businesses throughout the U.K.
"CoGen is excited to be forming this partnership with Lockheed Martin and bringing the Concord Blue Reformer technology to the U.K.," said Ian Brooking, chief executive officer of CoGen Limited. "Cardiff will be the first of a pipeline of projects that over the coming decade will see local, smaller-scale generation play a bigger part in delivering the U.K.'s energy requirements."
Based in England, CoGen is a leading advanced gasification energy-from-waste company within the U.K. The company develops, constructs, manages, owns and executes advanced gasification plants throughout the U.K., with five projects either generating energy or under construction, and six additional projects in planning.
Lockheed Martin Energy is a line of business within Lockheed Martin that delivers comprehensive solutions across the energy industry to include demand-response solutions, energy efficiency, energy storage, nuclear systems, tidal energy technologies and bioenergy generation.
For additional information, visit our website: www.lockheedmartin.com/energy
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 98,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
About CoGen
CoGen is at the forefront of the Advanced Gasification of Waste industry within the U.K. and develops, constructs, manages, owns and executes Advanced Gasification plants. Projects are selected to minimize the transportation of waste within the U.K. and to ensure local benefit is gained from community waste. For additional information, visit our website: www.cogenuk.com
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SOURCE Lockheed Martin
Related Links
http://www.lmco.com
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 21 years after its launch, a Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)-built satellite within the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) recently turned its attention to a new missionsupporting the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole, where communicating with the rest of the world has always been a challenge.
Amundsen-Scott Station's location at 90 degrees south, right at the South Pole, makes communications with the remote science station difficult. Even for orbiting satellites, the extreme geographic latitude makes maintaining continuous communication links impossible for a station that up to 100 researchers call home. With few other options, periodic connections are still better than none, but the time to upload and download valuable research data and other communications is invaluable.
In June, the U.S. Air Force's DSCS III B7 satellite took over the role of providing communication and data links between Amundsen-Scott and the U.S. Antarctic Program facility in Christchurch, New Zealand, which serves as the station's link to the rest of the world. Replacing the NSF's decommissioning GOES-3 satellite, DSCS III B7 provides the station with Internet access for 3.5 hours a day at speeds of up to 30 megabits per second (MBPS), an upgrade from about 1.5 MBPS they had under GOES.
DSCS III B7 has already begun relaying health and welfare data links to and from the remote facility. In June, the satellite played a key role in relaying telemedicine data leading up to the medical evacuation of two NSF employees in need of additional medical care.
"The DSCS constellation has been a legacy workhorse for the U.S. military's super-high frequency communications," said Chris Ayres, director of Operations, Sustainment and Logistics at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "Now operating past twice its design life, it is gratifying to see DSCS III B7 still delivering value, providing significant return on investment by furthering scientific research and providing potentially life-saving communications with a location that is otherwise unreachable."
Originally built by Lockheed Martin and launched on July 31, 1995 with a ten year-design life, DSCS III B7 builds on the constellation's reputation for providing extended service life. Six on-orbit DSCS III satellites remain operational with more than 259 years of combined service life, already providing nearly 120 extra years of mission life.
Lockheed Martin sustains the DSCS constellation, as well as the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system and Milstar blocks I and II, under the Air Force's Combined Orbital Operations Logistics Sustainment (COOLS) program.
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 98,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
Media Contact:
Lauren Fair, +1 301-204-7334; [email protected]
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SOURCE Lockheed Martin
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http://www.lockheedmartin.com
LONDON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that Lucy Locket, a B2C and B2B merchant of children's costumes and accessories, has expanded its international presence across three continents to become a global, omnichannel commerce business. Lucy Locket has enjoyed yearly growth of 70 percent since deploying NetSuite OneWorld, replacing Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The company sells its products through more than 20 retail partners across Europe and Asia, including Harrods, Hamleys, Galeries Lafayette and LegoLand, through its own direct-to-consumer ecommerce website powered by NetSuite SuiteCommerce, and across multiple online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.
With the foundation of its business systems in place, and NetSuite OneWorld supporting its global financials, customer relationship management (CRM), inventory management, procure-to-pay, order management, multi-country tax compliance, financial reporting and multi-subsidiary management for its subsidiaries in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Australia and United States, Lucy Locket continues to drive increased operational efficiencies and growth. The company has recently expanded sales into the US via Amazon Marketplace and plans to launch new subsidiaries to sell in China, Japan and Canada. With NetSuite OneWorld, Lucy Locket is able to easily conduct transactions for four international legal entities in five languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Italian) and multiple currencies including the Euro, US Dollar, Australian Dollar, British Pound and Indonesian Rupiah.
Facing an upgrade of Microsoft Dynamics NAV that ran its finance and operations, the 20-year-old family-run business had grown frustrated with the time and costs required to maintain the on-premise software. Lucy Locket wanted a solution that would free its business of IT maintenance, while at the same time offering the robust international functionality and customisation capabilities required to stay ahead in the competitive children's retail space.
Lucy Locket considered SAP Business ByDesign, but was swayed by NetSuite's unified omnichannel cloud platform that provided a single real-time view of customers, orders and inventory across its multiple channels. Lucy Locket now has the visibility to efficiently fulfill orders from all channels and can better manage inventory. Once the product information is created for an item, it can be used across all selling channels, avoiding the problems of managing multiple versions of product information for the same item. NetSuite's platform is also able to scale with spikes in seasonal demand and has the agility to easily launch the new subsidiaries and business models needed to stay ahead of competitors.
"Any week we grow less than 40 percent we regard as a failure," CEO of Lucy Locket, Paul Edwick said. "If it weren't for NetSuite, we feel it would be nearly impossible for us to move and grow at this pace. Competitors without the benefit of NetSuite can't do so much of what we do."
With NetSuite's unified omnichannel platform, Lucy Locket can gain the following benefits:
Scalability for international growth. With robust international functionality, Lucy Locket can spin up a new subsidiary in less than 30 minutes. NetSuite's regulatory and compliance functionality for more than 50 countries allows the business to more confidently expand; NetSuite simplifies international tax compliance and automates VAT reporting.
Insight for better business decisions. NetSuite's robust reporting capabilities allow Lucy Locket to easily consume data from six different online marketplaces and its B2C site. With this insight, Lucy Locket can fine-tune its product catalogue to focus on the best-selling items and further perfect its approach to Amazon Marketplace's search algorithm for increased conversions.
Engaging online experiences. NetSuite SuiteCommerce delivers an engaging online shopping experience to Lucy Locket's customers with image zooms, detailed product information, social sharing, ratings and reviews, and more.
Single view of every customer. NetSuite unifies all customer information captured within NetSuite into a single profile. Customer service representatives get an immediate, 360-degree view of any customer in real time with access to prior orders, and service requests to help provide better service.
Increased employee productivity and operational efficiency. With the aid of the automation and visibility enabled by NetSuite, Lucy Locket has been able to double the sales per full-time employee, maintaining targets of increasing sales productivity by upwards of 25 percent. Purchase order transactions with more than a dozen contract manufacturers producing its goods have grown threefold since implementing NetSuite, but the retailer hasn't had to increase its very lean staff of six.
About NetSuite
In 1998, NetSuite pioneered the Cloud Computing revolution, establishing the world's first company dedicated to delivering business applications over the Internet. Today, NetSuite provides a suite of cloud-based financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software that runs the business of more than 30,000 companies, organisations, and subsidiaries in more than 100 countries.
For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk.
Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteEMEA Twitter handle for real-time updates.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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SOURCE NetSuite Inc.
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http://www.netsuite.com
"Until recently, the CIO was rarely a key player in enterprise transformation efforts," said Hunter Muller , HMG Strategy's President & CEO. "But as CIOs have become integral in successfully orchestrating technology to address urgent business requirements, change management has become a core part of their DNA."
The San Diego summit will commence with an executive briefing by Chris Laping, Co-Founder and CEO of People Before Things, LLC. Laping will discuss the reasons why most change initiatives are apt to fail and recommendations for attendees to become change leaders.
Other stimulating topics at the San Diego conference will include current and emerging security risks that threaten the enterprise; the new range of leadership attributes required by CIOs to succeed in a world of accelerated change; best practices for harnessing technology innovation from start-ups; future trends and technologies that are expected to impact the enterprise; and leadership, innovation, and transformation strategies for re-imagining the enterprise in the next era of the digital age.
Distinguished speakers participating at the San Diego summit will include Dawn Anderson, VP, Client and Corporate Marketing, AMN Healthcare; Brian Andrews, VP of IT, Stone Brewing Co.; Scott Cadwalader, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Diligent Partners, LLC; Bob Concannon, Senior Client Partner, CIO/IT Officers Practice, Korn Ferry; Ted Crosson, Head of IT/CIO, Genoptix, A Novartis Company; Colonel Pete Dillon, Assistant Chief of Staff, G6, Marine Expeditionary Force; Karen Gibson, VP Information Systems, Quidel; Marshall Heilman, Vice President, Mandiant Consulting (a FireEye Company); John Iannarelli; Former Sr. Executive Advisor, FBI; Tony Leng, Managing Director and CIO Practice Leader, Diversified Search; Bill Lukefahr, Former CIO, Prometheus Labs; Drew Martin, President, Silicon Beach Advisors, Inc.; Greg McKee, CEO, CONNECT; Jana Monroe, VP Global Security and Enterprise Risk Management, Herbalife; Rory Moore, CEO, CommNexus; Hunter Muller, President & CEO, HMG Strategy, LLC; Barb Munro, Co-founder and Partner, The Carrera Agency; Erez Nir, CTO, Mitchell International; Geoff Odell, CEO, Trusted-HIT; Steve Phillpott, CIO, Western Digital Corporation; Shelly Selvaraj, VP IT, Dexcom; and Albert Wang, Director, Qualcomm Ventures.
Partners for the summit include Accenture, Box, Datalink, FireEye, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Info-Tech Research Group, Level 3, Nth Generation, Optiv, Pure Storage, ServiceNow, Symantec Corporation, TelePacific Communications, and Trace3. Association Partners for the summit are SIM San Diego and WITI (Women in Technology International). Alliance Partners include Amplify Partners, Greylock Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The Research Partner for this year's summit series is Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Strategic Partners include Egon Zehnder, Heidrick & Struggles, Korn Ferry, Russell Reynolds Associates, and Spencer Stuart.
About HMG Strategy
HMG Strategy is the world's foremost provider of pioneering networking events and thought leadership to support the 360-degree needs of the CIO/IT leader. Our regional CIO Executive Leadership Series, newsletters, authored books, and Research and Resource Center (RRC) deliver proprietary research on leadership, innovation, transformation, and career ascent. The HMG Strategy global network of over 300,000 senior IT executives, industry experts and world-class thought leaders is the strongest, most trusted network of executives. Additionally, our partnerships with the world's leading search firms provide vital insights into the evolving role of the CIO.
The HMG Strategy CIO Executive Leadership Series offers a completely unique experience for IT executives to gain the latest insights and best practices for driving increased business value through the use of IT, and build invaluable relationships with peers and industry experts. HMG Strategy CIO Executive Leadership Summits were given the distinction by CIO.com as one of "Ten Must-Attend Conferences in 2015." HMG Strategy has a growing expanse of thought leadership housed on their open digital platform known as the 'Research & Resource Center.' The company's 'Transformational CIO Blog' was recently recognized by CDW's BizTech Magazine as one of "50 Must-Read IT Blogs 2015."
For more information please visit our website at www.hmgstrategy.com.
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SOURCE HMG Strategy, LLC
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http://www.hmgstrategy.com
IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today announced that it has sold out of the 1,000-car allocation for the 2017 MX-5 Miata RF Launch Edition.
In the first week of ordering, which started September 26, more than 500 loyal Mazda customers put down deposits to buy a Retractable Fastback MX-5 Miata. When ordering opened to the general public on October 3, the remaining cars sold out in just 13 hours. In all, 67 percent of customers opted for manual transmissions.
Mazda Sells Out Initial Allocation of 1,000 MX-5 Miata RF Launch Editions
Each U.S.-bound MX-5 RF Launch Edition will be painted Machine Gray Metallic and come with Auburn Nappa leather seating appointments, a hand-painted black roof and special badgingthe latter three exclusive to the MX-5 RF Launch Edition for 2017. Customers also will receive a serialized Tourneau 42mm MX-5 RF Launch Edition watch.
"The 2017 MX-5 RF Launch Edition preorder program was created to reward loyal Mazda customers with exclusive access to some of the first MX-5 RF models to be sold in the U.S., as well as to ramp up anticipation for what was arguably the star of the 2016 New York International Auto Show," said Robert Davis, senior VP, U.S. Operations. "By every measure, this program was a success, and we're excited to be that much closer to getting these cars into the garages of customers from all over the U.S."
Production of MX-5 RF started last week, and orders have been submitted this week for the U.S. MX-5 RF Launch Edition, with deliveries to customers beginning early 2017.
With the MX-5 RF Launch Edition having sold out, focus now shifts to the standard-production MX-5 Club and Grand Touring models.
The hardtop sibling of the 2016 World Car of the Year and World Car Design of the Year will come in tech-laden MX-5 RF Grand Touring and harder-edge MX-5 RF Club trim levels and will be available with a SKYACTIV-DRIVE six-speed manual transmission or six-speed automatic in either trim level.
While most features of the MX-5 RF are carryover from soft top models, there are a few additions for 2017 that will separate the Retractable Fastback from its cloth-covered sibling, including a 4.6-inch full-color TFT gauge and the availability of Machine Gray Metallic paint in substitution of Meteor Gray Mica that is available on the soft top. For 2017, all MX-5 Club models will come standard with Blind Spot Monitoring and Rear Cross Traffic Alert, regardless of their roof option. Previously, these features were available only on MX-5 Grand Touring models.
All MX-5 RF models come with a seven-inch MAZDA CONNECT touchscreen infotainment system that integrates audio, SiriusXM and HD Radio, phone and diagnostic functions that can also be used via Commander control knob or voice commands as well as a nine-speaker BOSE audio system with integrated headrest-mounted speakers, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter knob and LED headlights and tail lights. MX-5 Club models come with premium cloth seats with red stitching, a Bilstein suspension, front and rear black functional aerodynamic body extensions and a limited-slip differential in models equipped with the six-speed manual transmission.
MX-5 RF Club models equipped with the six-speed manual transmission can be further optioned with the Brembo/BBS Package that includes a front shock-tower brace; side sill body extensions; forged, lightweight BBS 17-inch wheels; and Brembo front brakes with wider brake pads for greater heat dissipation during spirited driving. The package also includes red-painted brake calipers.
MX-5 RF Grand Touring models feature heated leather seating surfaces, Adaptive Front-lighting System, High Beam Control and Lane Departure Warning.
MSRP1 for MX-5 RF Club and Grand Touring models:
MX-5 RF Club 6MT $31,555 MX-5 RF Club 6AT $32,285 * Brembo/BBS Package (6MT only) $3,400 MX-5 RF Grand Touring 6MT $32,620 MX-5 RF Grand Touring 6AT $33,825 * Advanced Keyless Entry (Standard on 6AT models) $130
Premium paint options: Soul Red Metallic $300 Machine Gray Metallic $300 Crystal White Pearl Mica (GT models only) $200
Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at www.mazdausamedia.com.
1 MSRP does not include $835 for destination and handling ($880 in Alaska) or any additional taxes or fees. Dealers set actual sale prices.
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"Collaborating with our partners and listening intently to the market, we've built 'Way Beyond the Pill' to be flexible and scalable, yet cohesive," said Jon Michaeli, EVP of Marketing and Business Development. "We've segmented the offering to allow pharma brands to choose the solutions that best address their most pressing challenges today, from lasting patient engagement, to behavioral insights that inform marketing initiatives, to improving their consumer-facing image, to recouping revenues from missed refills as a means to sustain R&D levels. At the same time, the packages are modular and can be bundled together for real measurable impact across all of these dimensions."
"Way Beyond the Pill" Packages
Medisafe Adherence
Medisafe is proven to lead to up to 20% higher prescription refills after six months. Medisafe Adherence offers pharma a license to the Medisafe platform, whereby their patients have access to the full feature set of medication and refill reminders, caregiver "Medfriend" support, dependent care and measurement/biometric tracking, while the commercial teams receive regular reports on adherence and user engagement. Medisafe also auto-populates complex dosing schedules to minimize patient friction and streamline adoption.
Medisafe Engagement
Medisafe has an AI-driven Updates Feed, which personalizes to each user uniquely based on his or her medication(s), condition(s) and app activity. Each month, hundreds of thousands of users visit the Medisafe Feed well over a million times. Using Medisafe's automated rules-engine to maximize effectiveness, pharma can put their branded and un-branded content and other educational tools and resources into the Feed. Examples include:
Multimedia (e.g. medication info, patient stories)
Patient assistance and copay cards
Telecare (i.e. a nurse's hotline to call if a patient is experiencing a problem)
Patient surveys
Patient empowerment events and programs
Medisafe Insights
Since the launch of the Medisafe app in May 2013, patients have recorded 500 million doses successfully taken on the platform. Along with these doses are billions of other relevant data points that can help pharma understand de-identified patient behavioral patterns and more thoroughly study specific cohorts of interest.
Commonly requested insights include:
Patient demographics
Medication switches
Adherence trends relative to other brands/generics in the drug class
Patient co-morbidities and medication combinations
Times of day and/or days of week that patients are least/most successful in taking their medication
Medisafe Cobranding
Unlike pharma's homegrown apps, Medisafe enables brands to understand patients holistically, inclusive of all medications they are taking as well as specific drivers of engagement and behavior change. Yet, with Medisafe Cobranding, the app gives brands their own custom solution and co-ownership of the patient experience. Brands can add their logo, content, product imagery, branded messages and more to Medisafe's entry screens while providing tools and resources for patients to get on a path to better health.
"Over many years of experience in the industry, I've had the opportunity to partner with pharmaceutical brands to identify and create opportunities to improve patient outcomes and experience," said Eric Steckelman, Chief Growth Officer at Giant Creative Strategy. "With these expanded offerings, Medisafe is providing tools to address critical challenges and provide a unique personalized offering through its real-time, real-life data for its customers and users."
Medisafe currently works with a number of global pharmaceutical manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Latin America.
Attendees of the EyeforPharma Patient Summit USA can meet with Medisafe in Meeting Room 8 at the Sonesta Philadelphia Downtown Rittenhouse Squarefor a free Way Beyond the Pill and ROI consultation. Or, visit http://get.medisafe.com/pharma to learn more. To download Medisafe for iOS or Android, visit https://get.medisafe.com/download/.
About Medisafe
Medisafe is a personalized medication management platform addressing all major causes of non-adherence. Far more than a pill reminder app, Medisafe is a cloud-based platform that personalizes content, resources and interventions such as educational videos, coupons and motivational messages based on each user's regimen, condition and specific circumstance. Medisafe fosters collaboration between patients, their loved ones and healthcare professionals through caregiver tools and reports, and helps the care continuum reduce avoidable hospital admissions and sustain quality care initiatives. Medisafe has nearly three million patient and caregiver users who have recorded over 370 million successful medication doses on their iOS and Android smartphones and tablets and contributed 125,000 user reviews that average 4.5 out of 5 stars in the App Store and Google Play app stores.
MEDIA CONTACT
Marissa Hermann
Racepoint Global
(617) 624-3286
[email protected]
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SOURCE Medisafe
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"Our focus on talent development has created a strong leadership bench that is fueling our success for sustainable business transformation," said Peter Zieringer, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services and Regional Head of Daimler Financial Services Americas. "Rodolfo and Johan will set a strong precedent in finding innovative digital solutions that benefit our dealers, customers and employees to enhance the Mercedes-Benz Financial Services and Daimler Truck Financial brands."
In addition to his role as CDO, Rodolfo Dominguez becomes the first to lead the newly-formed Business Transformation Office. He will lead a team of more than 90 team members and will be responsible for the transformational change of people, processes and technologies that accelerate the company's vision of providing a first-class digital experience for key stakeholders in the Americas region.
Johan Swart succeeds Udo Neumann, now Global CIO for Daimler Financial Services, as Vice President and CIO of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. He will lead more than 400 team members and direct overall IT strategy, resource planning, budgeting and operational initiatives for the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.
Dominguez and Swart co-led the delivery of an innovative technology solution in the U.S. and Canada to replace the company's core contract management systems and establish the foundation for future digital expansion.
Previously, Dominguez was Vice President of Enterprise Portfolio Management, responsible for overseeing the prioritization and execution of strategic enterprise-wide initiatives. Dominguez has held several roles of increasing responsibility throughout his career, leading teams in the United States, Canada and Mexico. These have included: Vice President of Global Products, Processes and Systems; President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Canada; and Business Center Director in Canada. Before joining the company in 1996, Dominguez worked for Hussmann Refrigeration and KPMG in his native Mexico.
Most recently, Swart was Senior Manager of IT Applications Management. He joined Mercedes-Benz Financial Services as an IT Senior Manager in 2006 after serving as the CIO of Financial Services and Sales for Mercedes-Benz South Africa, where he led the full integration of information technology management functions for the company's various IT units. Swart began his career with Mercedes-Benz South Africa in 1998 as a Business Analyst in the IT division.
About Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC:
Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC, headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, with Business Center Operations in Fort Worth, Texas, provides brandspecific financial products and services for MercedesBenz and smart automotive dealers and their retail customers. In the U.S. trucking industry, it conducts business as Daimler Truck Financial and provides flexible financial products and services for Daimler Trucks North America commercial vehicles branded Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Bus and Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America, Inc. MercedesBenz Financial Services USA LLC serves as the headquarters for operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, and has approximately 1,800 employees throughout the Americas. It is a company of the Daimler Financial Services Group, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, which does business in 40 countries and has an employee base of approximately 8,800 people worldwide. Daimler Financial Services is one of the leading financial services organizations worldwide and was named one of the 25 World's Best Multinational Workplaces by the Great Place To Work Institute in 2014. Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA was also named one of the 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials in 2015 and 2016, and one of the 100 Best Workplaces for Women in 2016 by Great Place to Work and Fortune.com. For more information, please visit www.mbfs.com/corp or facebook.com/mymbfs. For more information about Daimler Truck Financial, log onto www.daimler-truckfinancial.com.
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SOURCE Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC
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Turkey's president is "pouring oil on the fire" and the country is not serious about resolving a dispute over Ankara's deployment of troops in Iraq, the premier's spokesman said Tuesday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier Tuesday told Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to "know your place," and said that he is "not on my level."
With his latest remarks, Erdogan is "pouring oil on the fire," Saad al-Hadithi, the Iraqi premier's spokesman, told AFP, adding that Turkey's responses had made an issue of law and security into a "problem of a personal nature".
"It seems that Turkey is not serious about solving the problem with Iraq," Hadithi said.
Abadi has repeatedly called on Turkey to withdraw troops deployed near the northern city of Mosul, and said that they will not play a role in the operation to retake it from the Islamic State (IS) militant group.
Turkey has ignored these requests and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said last week that the country's forces would stay "no matter what the Iraqi government in Baghdad says."
The dispute has now lasted for almost a year, and was reignited by the Turkish parliament's decision to extend a government mandate for a year, thereby allowing Turkish troops to remain in Iraq.
Turkey has had forces deployed in northern Iraq since the 1990s in areas that are part of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, which also currently controls the area near Mosul where the Turkish troops are deployed.
Kurdish security forces are in practice not under Abadi's command, meaning that appealing for their withdrawal and pushing for allies to help is his main recourse at the moment.
Iraq has called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the dispute, which threatens to complicate plans to recapture Mosul from IS.
Iraqi forces are currently preparing for the operation to seize the city from IS, which overran it and other areas in 2014 but has since lost significant ground in the country.
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KENILWORTH, N.J., Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As demand on physician's time increases, so in turn does their use of mobile technology to improve efficiencies. According to a Merck Manuals survey released today, nearly three in four family physicians (73 percent) say they consider themselves tech-savvy. In fact, two in three doctors (66 percent) use a mobile device to access medical information in a professional setting more than 10 times a day.
The survey of 220 family physicians, conducted by the Merck Manuals at a recent medical conference, examined usage and perceptions of mobile technology in the family practice setting. While the vast majority of respondents (81 percent) agreed that the availability of medical information on mobile devices has changed the dynamic of office visits, responses for how the dynamic has changed varied:
More than half (56 percent) of physicians said doctors and patients are more likely to review medical information together
More than a quarter (29 percent) of physicians indicated that appointments are more efficient as a result of mobile medical information
About one third (34 percent) of physicians said patients arrive more informed and prepared yet 33 percent said patients arrive misinformed
"Mobile technology is not meant to replace the patient/doctor relationship," said Dr. Robert S. Porter, M.D., Merck Manuals Editor-in-Chief. "In fact, it can enhance the office visit by allowing them to review information together, as our survey found."
Family physicians identified a number of reasons for consulting their mobile devices in the office. Of those who use a mobile device to access medical information in a professional setting:
80 percent use the information to inform their diagnosis or treatment plans for patients
66 percent catch up on the latest news in the medical community
60 percent use it to explain and further illustrate information to patients
28 percent send information directly to patients
"Physicians are becoming increasingly reliant on mobile technology to access relevant medical information when they need it most. That's why it was so important to us to launch our longstanding medical resources as free mobile apps for consumers and professionals this year," said Dr. Porter. "Physicians can access thousands of medical topics, videos, images and other resources on the professional app and can direct their patients to the consumer app for trusted medical information."
The redesigned and re-launched Merck Manual Professional App and Merck Manual Consumer App provide users with a comprehensive library of reference articles on diseases, symptoms and treatments. The free apps also contain more than 200 animations and videos, which can be downloaded for access without an internet connection. Users can additionally access continually updated medical news, interactive quizzes and drug reference information.
Both mobile apps are available at no cost in the Apple iTunes Store (Professional | Consumer) and Google Play Store (Professional | Consumer).
About The Merck Manuals
First published in 1899 as a small reference book for physicians and pharmacists, The Merck Manual grew in size and scope to become one of the world's most widely used comprehensive medical resources for professionals and consumers. As The Manual evolved, it continually expanded the reach and depth of its offerings to reflect the mission of providing the best medical information to a wide cross-section of users, including medical professionals and students, veterinarians and veterinary students, and consumers. In 2015, The Merck Manual kicked off Global Medical Knowledge 2020, a program to make the best current medical information accessible by up to three billion professionals and patients around the world by 2020. For access to thousands of medical topics with images, videos and a constantly expanding set of resources, visit MerckManuals.com and connect with us on social media:
For Consumers in the U.S. and its territories: Twitter and Facebook
For Professionals in the U.S. and its territories: Twitter and Facebook
Methodology
The survey of 220 family practice physicians was conducted in September 2016 at a medical conference. For details on survey methodology, please contact Jamie Kloss at [email protected].
About Merck
For 125 years, Merck has been a global health care leader working to help the world be well. Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
SOURCE MerckManuals.com
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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. and MIAMI, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NC4, a leader in revolutionizing safety and security and an innovator in law enforcement technology, announced today that the Miami Police Department (MPD) has chosen NC4 Street Smart to help the police force of 1200 sworn officers communicate more effectively and to better equip them with technology that will help reduce crime and protect the City of Miami's citizens.
The City of Miami is a world-class city with a commitment to public engagement and excellent service delivery. With the acquisition of NC4 Street Smart, the City of Miami's objectives are to provide first-class public safety services, achieve lower per capita crime rates, and foster a sense of safety in Miami's communities. NC4 Street Smart will help the MPD achieve those objectives by providing them with a law enforcement technology solution designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the police force.
"As the Police Chief of a rapidly evolving department entrusted with delivering professional public service to an even swifter developing city, I am eager to provide all my officers with the technological innovations that are impacting positive change," said Rodolfo Llanes, Chief of the Miami Police Department. "It is my fervent belief that technologies, as we see with the NC4 Street Smart solution, have been the driving force behind crime prevention and control strategies in the last decade. NC4 Street Smart will undoubtedly enhance our officers' ability to communicate more efficiently with the help of a collection of data that was not readily available to them in the past. The narrative is clear, we will provide our officers with the best tools because our citizens deserve the best service."
NC4 Street Smart centralizes all crime-related data into a single data store for easy accessibility and enables officers to fight crime faster by providing better information and creating increased situational awareness in the field, maximizing police effectiveness. It creates the ability to quickly share crime-related information by visualizing data points on maps and aggregating and sharing relevant information through situation-based bulletins and secure blogs.
"We are delighted that the MPD is joining the growing list of law enforcement agencies in Florida utilizing NC4 Street Smart to help fight crime," said Rob Wolf, Vice President, NC4 Public Safety. "This platform has become a game changer in crime fighting. It will help the MPD decrease the time officers need to find critical information and instead allow them to focus on what matters most, protecting the citizens of Miami."
NC4 will be showcasing NC4 Street Smart at the IACP Conference from Oct. 16 - 18 in San Diego, CA. Stop by Booth #2211 to learn about NC4 Street Smart's successes and the reasons why an increasing number of agencies are choosing NC4 Street Smart to help them fight crime.
About NC4
NC4 delivers safety and security solutions for both business and government organizations. We revolutionize how organizations and communities collect, manage, share and disseminate information to reduce cyber threats, fight crime, mitigate risks, and manage incidents. NC4 also provides secure communication and collaborating solutions for public and private sector communities.
NC4 solutions are used by private sector companies involved in financial services, high-tech, insurance, manufacturing, aerospace and defense, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, as well as other industries. In the public sector, NC4 solutions are used by federal, state and local agencies in homeland security, emergency management and law enforcement disciplines. NC4 takes a comprehensive and integrated approach to safety and security by providing: cyber threat exchanges that drive the development of a sharing culture and circles of trust; global security and travel intelligence, analysis, traveler tracking, and relevant real-time threat alerting to mitigate enterprise risks; and a common operating picture for fighting crime and managing emergencies. For information about NC4, visit www.NC4.com or call toll-free, 1-877-624-4999.
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"There is incredible demand for skilled trade professionals in Michigan's energy industry," said Tracy DiSanto, DTE Energy manager, Workforce Planning and Analytics, and co-chair of the Michigan Energy Workforce Development Consortium (MEWDC). "Yet many students aren't exposed to the high-paying, rewarding career options our industry offers."
There are more than 1,800 new utility jobs in Michigan each year, and DTE Energy and Consumers Energy collectively provide more than 600 internship and co-op jobs for high school and college students. Careers in Energy Week aims to spark interest in these opportunities through educational events, including:
Interactive student tours of DTE Energy, Consumers Energy and Lansing Board of Water and Light training facilities, giving students hands-on experience with skill-based energy careers.
of DTE Energy, Consumers Energy and Board of Water and Light training facilities, giving students hands-on experience with skill-based energy careers. Distribution of Take Action energy efficiency kits to elementary and secondary school students to facilitate conversations around the energy industry, safety and energy efficiency.
to elementary and secondary school students to facilitate conversations around the energy industry, safety and energy efficiency. Open tours at MIAT College of Technology, allowing the public to see gas turbines, try on welding gear, use wind turbine technician equipment and participate in an energy obstacle course.
allowing the public to see gas turbines, try on welding gear, use wind turbine technician equipment and participate in an energy obstacle course. College recruitment across Michigan for co-ops, internships and full-time positions.
"A strong talent pipeline is key to building and sustaining Michigan's energy industry," said Stacy Mowrer, Consumers Energy director, Learning and Development, and MEWDC co-chair. "Careers in Energy Week is all about generating excitement for jobs in an often-overlooked industry, and creating meaningful career pathways for students."
The Michigan Energy Workforce Development Consortium is an industry-led partnership of more than 50 organizations dedicated to addressing current and future workforce issues that are crucial to building and sustaining Michigan's energy industry. MEWDC recently created Michigan's 17th career cluster in energy, enabling high schools and community colleges to incorporate energy-related courses in their curriculum. DTE Energy and Consumers Energy support energy education efforts at schools and nonprofit groups through annual Foundation contributions of more than $4.1 million.
About DTE Energy
DTE Energy (NYSE: DTE) is a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. Its operating units include an electric utility serving 2.2 million customers in Southeastern Michigan and a natural gas utility serving 1.2 million customers in Michigan. The DTE Energy portfolio includes non-utility energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects, natural gas pipelines, gathering and storage, and energy marketing and trading. Information about DTE Energy is available at dteenergy.com, twitter.com/dte_energy and facebook.com/dteenergy.
About Consumers Energy
Consumers Energy is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), providing natural gas and electricity to 6.7 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.
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HILLIARD, Ohio, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Micro Center (microcenter.com) , a leading national computer device and consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Hilliard, Ohio, announced that the Micro Center Columbus store has won the Grand Prize in the Intel Retail Edge Program's annual Score with Intel Core competition. On October 16, the Micro Center Columbus store, located in the Olentangy Plaza Shopping Center at 747 Bethel Rd, will present a $25,000 donation from Intel to Hilliard-Darby High School.
Two additional Micro Center stores achieved 2nd place prizes. The Micro Center Cincinnati store will present a $10,000 donation from Intel to St. Bernard-Elmwood Place High School in Cincinnati and the Micro Center Marietta, GA store (Atlanta) will present a $10,000 donation from Intel to Powers Ferry Elementary School in Marietta, GA.
Score with Intel Core is an annual competition among thousands of retail stores across America. This national competition asks sales representatives to expand their knowledge about Intel technology and the devices they sell. The Intel Retail Edge program is designed to provide the latest training to sales representatives thorough interactive courses, articles, videos, sales tools, and more.
"Micro Center emphasizes a high level of customer service and outstanding training for our employees. We are honored that Intel has awarded Micro Center locations both their Grand Prize and two 2nd place prizes," said Rob Demme, Micro Center Senior Vice President Sales.
"Micro Center recognizes how important funding is to provide up-to-date technology for students. We are proud that Intel has awarded our Columbus store their Grand Prize and two additional stores their 2nd place prizes. This makes it possible for us to donate $45,000 on behalf of Intel to the three schools chosen by Micro Center," added Demme.
Micro Center Columbus will present Hilliard-Darby High School with the $25,000 donation from Intel in an event to be held at 7:00p.m. at Dave & Busters in Hilliard, OH. During the event to celebrate the stores' achievement, school representatives will be presented with their donation (an oversized check and celebratory plaque) in front of team members from the store.
About Micro Center
Micro Center operates twenty-five large computer and consumer electronics stores in major markets nationwide. Founded in 1979 in Columbus, Micro Center is designed to satisfy the dedicated computer and consumer electronics user. Uniquely focused on computers and related products, Micro Center offers more computers and related items (more than 30,000 items in stock) than any other retailer. Micro Center is deeply passionate about providing product expertise and exceptional customer service and has been consistently recommended by the leading U.S. consumer magazine as one of the best places to buy a computer. Consumers can visit Micro Center's 25 stores from coast-to-coast or microcenter.com for thousands of computer-related items, electronics and other technology products.
Micro Center stores are located in:
Atlanta (2), Baltimore, Boston, Chicago (2), Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York (5), Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington, D.C.(2)
2016 Micro Electronics, Inc. All rights reserved. Micro Center is a registered trademark of Micro Electronics, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective corporations.
SOURCE Micro Center
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In-house counsel, government and other executives are invited to attend on a complimentary basis the MidAtlantic Corporate Counsel Forum on Dec. 5, 2016, said Tom Hagy of HB Litigation Conferences, producer of the event.
A limited number of free seats are available to corporate legal teams, government agencies and others, so early registration is important. Law firm attorneys reading this release get 20% off registration prices. Use promotion code PRN20. Members of the press are invited to request passes. To register and learn more, go here: http://bit.ly/MACCF16.
"We are holding events like this around the country, where experts, including inside and outside counsel, will share insights on many of the most urgent risks companies face," Hagy said. "Our program chairs have modified this event for companies and firms in the MidAtlantic region."
Topics include:
Data security risk analytics and insurance underwriting specifications
Effectively handling government investigations
Avoiding violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Ethical risks in digital communication between inside and outside counsel
Best practices in conducting internal investigations
Employment risks arising from disruptive changes in law and technology
Directors and officers liability and advising corporate boards
Insurance coverage maximization
The program is being co-chaired by Julie Myers Wood, CEO of Guidepost Solutions, a leading investigative and compliance consulting firm. Wood also is former head of Immigration & Customs Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Joining Wood is John W. Wills, a managing director with The Claro Group, a leading financial advisory and management consulting firm. Wills has served in senior financial roles at multiple organizations during his 35-year career.
Speakers come from organizations and firms including: Hughes Hubbard & Reed; Crowell & Moring; Jenner; Booz Allen; Accenture; Miller Friel; BLJohnson Law; Schwartz, Simon, Edelstein & Celso; Wilson Elser; Jackson Lewis; Cosmich Simmons & Brown; iDiscovery Solutions; eTera Consulting; Guidepost Solutions; and Winnieware LLC, creator of the innovative ReplyToSome email application.
HB Litigation Conferences is an independent, nationwide producer of continuing legal education (CLE) conferences, webinars and information on hot topics in law and business.
For more information visit HB at www.LitigationConferences.com, write to [email protected], or call (484) 324-2755 x212 or x200.
Media Contact
Tom Hagy
(484) 324-2755 x200
www.LitigationConferences.com
SOURCE HB Litigation Conferences
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mill Creek Residential, a leading multifamily investor and operator specializing in premier apartment communities across the U.S., today announced the start of construction on the second phase of The View at Waterfront in Washington, D.C.
The second phase, which is being developed in partnership with John Hancock Real Estate, will feature 276 apartment homes and about 3,900 square feet of retail space, complementing the existing rental residential community that offers 256 apartment homes. Phase II, located along the Southwest Waterfront, will incorporate the original aesthetic of the first phase, which was designed by architect I.M. Pei, and add a modern flair.
"Companies and people continue to flock to Washington, D.C. due in part to its stable economic base and its highly educated workforce, not to mention game-changing investments like The Wharf, where the historical landscape of Southwest DC will never be the same again," said Sean Caldwell, senior managing director of Mid-Atlantic for Mill Creek.
Located at the intersection of 6th Street and M Street SW, the community benefits from prime transit access, just two blocks from the Waterfront Metro Station. Several key neighborhood attractions are also within walking distance, including Nationals Ballpark, Capitol Hill, Washington Navy Yard and Arena Stage, a venerable regional theater.
The community sits steps from The Wharf, a $2 billion redevelopment that will include a blend of retail, residential, office and cultural space. Included is a 5,000-seat concert venue.
"To match its unparalleled location, the second phase of The View at Waterfront will offer a variety of home styles, finishes and amenities that simply can't be found at any other community in the market today," said Josh Posnick, vice president of the Mid-Atlantic for Mill Creek. "From its unique size and twist on open space to the overall layout and diversity of amenities, the final product is designed to better meet the demands of new and existing residents."
The second phase of The View at Waterfront will be the first of its kind in the District. The project is composed of two seven-story buildings with five stories of wood atop two levels of concrete. In addition to apartment homes, the north building will include amenity space and the south building will feature a clubhouse along with ground floor retail. Each building will include two levels of below-grade parking.
The community will consist of studio 1- and 2-bedroom apartment homes with loft options available. Community amenities will include a state-of-the-art fitness center with a mind/body studio featuring fitness on demand, a seventh-floor terrace with a wet bar and dining area, remote working stations with conference tables and a business equipment center and outdoor game space.
Including the second phase of The View at Waterfront, Mill Creek has developed more than 4,100 apartments in the Washington, D.C. area.
About Mill Creek Residential
Mill Creek Residential Trust LLC is a national multifamily company focused on the development, acquisition and operation of apartment communities in targeted markets nationwide. The company proactively pursues development, acquisition and construction opportunities through its seasoned team of real estate professionals in 14 offices across the United States. Mill Creek is building its portfolio in many of the nation's most desirable apartment markets in Seattle, Portland, the San Francisco Bay area, Southern California, Denver, Dallas, Austin, Houston, South Florida, Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., New Jersey, New York, and Boston. As of June 30, 2016, the company's portfolio comprises 58 communities representing nearly 16,800 apartment homes that are operating and/or under construction. For more information, please visit www.MillCreekPlaces.com.
About John Hancock Real Estate
Manulife has been investing in and managing direct core and core-plus real estate for more than 80 years. Operating as John Hancock Real Estate in the U.S. and Manulife Real Estate elsewhere, we proudly invest, own, develop and asset manage commercial real estate in major metropolitan cities across the globe. We leverage our fully integrated in-house capabilities to best serve our customers and investors while generating value for our stakeholders. Manulife Real Estate is the global real estate arm of Manulife and is a unit of Manulife Asset Management Private Markets where we extend our unique asset management capabilities for the benefit of institutional investors. As at June 30, 2016, the portfolio totaled more than 62 million square feet with an AUM market value of C$19.8 billion (US$15.2 billion). To find out how you can benefit from our unique approach to real estate please visit us at www.johnhancockrealestate.com.
Media Contact
Peter Jakel
LinnellTaylor Marketing
303-682-3944
[email protected]
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SOURCE Mill Creek Residential
Related Links
http://www.millcreekplaces.com
GLENDALE, Calif., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Tuesday, October 11 commemorates Dulce de Leche Day and NESTLE LA LECHERA invites consumers to join the celebration by creating special moments for their loved ones inspired by Dulce De Leche and sharing recipe creations via social media platforms with the hashtag #DulceDeLecheDay.
"In today's busy world, it's easy to forget that every day is worth celebrating with your family," said Ainoa Cuberos, Associate Brand Manager for Nestle La Lechera. "Dulce de Leche Day gives us one more reason to celebrate, and nourish our family with love, heritage and delicious treats that have become so synonymous with Latin culture. From Argentinians to Colombians, to Latinos in the United States, Dulce de Leche has found a special place in our upbringing, and at La Lechera we want to highlight this special ingredient, so authentic to our heritage."
Whether it's preparing a new Dulce de Leche cake with the help of your children, or showcasing a special family recipe, consumers are invited to get inspired and create memorable moments they can enjoy with their loved ones on Dulce de Leche Day. The versatility of this ingredient can transform your favorite recipes, from sweet treats like a Dulce de Leche cheesecake or alfajores, to innovative savory creations like Dulce de Leche glazed ham or seared scallops with Dulce de Leche mole sauce.
For more NESTLE LA LECHERA Dulce de Leche recipe ideas consumers are invited to visit Nestle's El Mejor Nido and follow La Lechera's Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram pages. Join the Dulce de Leche celebration by using #DulceDeLecheDay.
About NESTLE LA LECHERA
NESTLE LA LECHERA is the #1 Sweetened Condensed Milk brand in the world and has been a key ingredient for delicious desserts since 1910. In the U.S.A., NESTLE LA LECHERA offers a wide portfolio of products, including NESTLE LA LECHERA Sweetened Condensed Milk can and squeeze bottle, NESTLE LA LECHERA Dulce de Leche can and squeeze bottle and other better-for-you products such as NESTLE LA LECHERA Fat Free can, NESTLE LA LECHERA 50% less sugar and NESTLE LA LECHERITA. NESTLE LA LECHERA is the key ingredient and topping for a wide range of dessert favorites such as Flan, Fruit Salad, Tres Leches, Cheesecake and Gelatin. NESTLE LA LECHERA brings families together by creating everyday experiences and memorable moments. For product information, news and recipes, visit ElMejorNido.com, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram pages.
About Nestle USA
Named one of "The World's Most Admired Food Companies" in Fortune magazine for eighteen consecutive years, Nestle provides quality brands that bring flavor to life every day. From nutritious meals with Lean Cuisine to baking traditions with Nestle Toll House, Nestle USA makes delicious, convenient, and nutritious food and beverages that make good living possible. That's what "Nestle. Good Food, Good Life" is all about. Nestle USA, with 2014 sales of $9.7 billion, is part of Nestle S.A. in Vevey, Switzerland the world's largest food company with a commitment to Nutrition, Health & Wellness with 2014 sales of $100 billion.
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SOURCE Nestle USA
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the first time, six publicly traded companies some of which are competitors have come together to promote the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) directly to consumers. The companies are HP Inc., International Paper, Kimberly-Clark, McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, and Williams-Sonoma, Inc. All sell FSC-certified products.
Launching today with a video titled " One Simple Action ," the campaign represents an unprecedented corporate-NGO partnership, which includes FSC and World Wildlife Fund. The goal is to encourage consumers to purchase products bearing the FSC label, which means the forests the products came from were managed responsibly.
"These companies know that to meet customer expectations about sustainability, sometimes you have to put competition aside and do what's right for the planet," said Corey Brinkema, president of FSC US. "We also know that forest conservation can be good for the bottom line, especially when it demonstrates good corporate citizenship," he added.
80 percent of all land-based wildlife lives in forests, 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods, and forests represent the single best opportunity to store carbon to prevent dangerous climate change. Since household consumption drives 60 percent of economic activity globally, the campaign is aimed at consumers to shift purchasing decisions.
FSC helps people identify products from forests managed to the highest standards. In doing so, FSC helps to protect forests, even as people use forest products every day. "One Simple Action" refers to the fact that FSC-certified products are widely available across the United States, making purchases simple. Yet the impact of buying FSC is profound, driving benefits to people and wildlife that depend on forests to live. After consumers are exposed to basic information, research found that FSC has a strong influence on product purchase and retailer selection.
This campaign represents the first time publicly traded companies are working to promote an NGO brand together. While it is common for retailers to market products under an umbrella brand, the idea is new to cause-oriented marketing. Because all of the companies share a commitment to responsible forest management, they were willing to collaborate on the initiative.
Visit http://onesimpleaction.fsc.org/ for more information.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/dfIC6Edsu5A
SOURCE Forest Stewardship Council
CINCINNATI, NEW YORK and SEATTLE, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SaaS Capital, the leading provider of Committed Credit Facilities to SaaS companies, has released new data on the opaque, confusing, and highly volatile practice of valuing a private SaaS business.
The proprietary research, recently featured on TechCrunch, provides entrepreneurs and the management teams of SaaS businesses with a framework to objectively negotiate the best price for their company.
"Every day we talk to SaaS companies interested in growing their businesses through a capital raise or the sale of a company, but we often hear frustration on how to value the company," said Todd Gardner, Founder and Managing Director of SaaS Capital. "We published this framework to demystify the process VCs and acquiring companies use when valuing SaaS companies."
Click here to access How to Value a SaaS Company
Drawing from experiences selling and financing hundreds of companies, proprietary research of over 1,000 private SaaS Companies, as well as public market data; SaaS Capital put together a list of value drivers every SaaS management team should pay attention to as they go about preparing for an equity raise or sale of their company.
"Our research shows that a 1% improvement in customer retention will increase a company's value by 12%," said Rob Belcher, Managing Director of SaaS Capital. "By better understanding the mechanics of valuing a SaaS business, management will be better able to maximize the value of their company. The framework described in this research is designed to be adaptable to the public stock market environment well into the future."
About SaaS Capital
SaaS Capital is the leading provider of long-term Committed Credit Facilities to SaaS companies. Focusing exclusively on the SaaS business model, SaaS Capital delivers faster decisions, more capital, and longer commitments. SaaS businesses have used SaaS Capital's Committed Credit Facilities, instead of equity, to finance growth and create hundreds of millions of dollars in enterprise value without sacrificing significant ownership or control. Also, through its partnership with DH Capital, a boutique investment banking advisory firm, SaaS Capital can assist with M&A and capital raising services. SaaS Capital has offices in Cincinnati, New York, and Seattle. Visit www.saas-capital.com or download the research directly.
Contact:
Todd Gardner, Founder and Managing Director
513-368-4814
[email protected]
SOURCE SaaS Capital
Related Links
http://www.saas-capital.com
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NexGen Agency, a global provider of integrated contact center solutions and social media management services specializing in customized, client-specific campaigns, announced the expansion of their state-of-the-art Social Contact and Command Center in Manila, Philippines. This location will provide outsourced customer service, technical support, lead generation, specialized research, chat and email support, social media management and other business process outsourcing services.
NexGen Agency's CEO Mike Epstein stated "The Philippines has always been an extremely important location for us. As a global provider, it is imperative we focus on growth in this region capitalizing on the large pool of skilled talent. Customers expect exceptional service and instant response, 24X7, across all communication channels. Our multi-lingual and multi-channel offshore network plays an important role in delivering innovative, low-cost solutions to our clients."
About NexGen Agency
NexGen Agency is a full service customer experience management organization focusing on cross platform support and authentic social and customer experiences. For over 20 years the NexGen Agency team has helped the world's most successful companies design, build, and manage VIP interactions. NexGen Agency offers a full range of multichannel contact center solutions including technical support, customer care, sales, and lead generation. Social and multimedia management solutions are offered including; social strategies and transformation, social media monitoring and insight, social media marketing and sales, and social customer care tactics in over 250 languages worldwide. For more information, call 954-708-2896 or visit www.nexgenagency.com
CONTACT: Lylli Rojas, 954-708-2896, [email protected]
SOURCE NexGen Agency
Related Links
http://www.nexgenagency.com
Support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives has dipped below the 30 percent mark for the first time, a poll showed on Tuesday, with her Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners gaining slightly a year before a federal election.
The INSA survey in Bild newspaper put Merkel's conservatives down 0.5 percentage points at 29.5 percent, the lowest level measured for the bloc by that polling institute.
The SPD gained 1 percentage point but was still far behind at 22 percent and the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) was unchanged on 15 percent.
Merkel's popularity waned after she launched her open-door migrant policy last year, although it has recovered somewhat in the last few months. She is widely expected to stand for a fourth term in September 2017.
The AfD has gained ground in regional elections this year and pollsters say many voters are disillusioned with Merkel's right-left ruling coalition.
The SPD's preferred partner is the Green Party, down 0.5 percentage points at 11 percent. The radical Left party, which some in the SPD view as a possible partner, was up by the same amount at 12 percent.
"Germany is looking at the most exciting election in its history," INSA chief Hermann Binkert told Bild.
Other surveys show similar trends but INSA tends to show higher support for the AfD than other pollsters.
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SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NextLabs, Inc. (www.nextlabs.com), an SAP partner and leading provider of data-centric security software for large enterprises, today announced that SAP will resell NextLabs Enterprise Digital Rights Management (EDRM) for SAP as SAP Enterprise Digital Rights Management by NextLabs. The application is available now and provides enterprises with a policy-driven solution for protecting data across the enterprise.
Together, SAP Dynamic Authorization Management by NextLabs, SAP Technical Data Export Compliance by NextLabs and SAP Enterprise Digital Rights Management deliver a comprehensive data-centric security solution for users of SAP software.
"SAP Enterprise Digital Rights Management is designed to provide simple yet powerful data protection for today's digital enterprises. It is designed to integrate data protection into core business processes to offer the best user experience," said Keng Lim, CEO and Founder of NextLabs. "We strive to protect data regardless of where the data is stored and used. Our mission is to continue to deliver best-in-class security solutions to protect applications and data on premise and in the cloud."
SAP Enterprise Digital Rights Management supports SAP ERP applications natively. NextLabs has developed deep integration with the SAP ERP application object model and core business process transactions to incorporate digital rights management into the ERP application layer in order to help make data protection transparent to the end user. Data protection becomes an integral part of the business process and, based on security policies, protection happens immediately and follows content no matter where it goes whether on premise or in the cloud.
"A sound enterprise-data security strategy is essential in today's digital business environment. SAP customers are looking for a scalable, flexible and easy-to-use solution to safeguard vital data against breaches," said Justin Somaini, chief security officer, SAP. "NextLabs is empowering this shift with an innovative data-centric security solution that works across SAP applications to help make security transparent to our end users."
NextLabs, Inc. provides data-centric security software to protect business critical data and applications. Our patented dynamic authorization technology and industry leading attribute-based policy platform helps enterprises identify and protect sensitive data, monitor and control access to the data, and prevent regulatory violations whether in the cloud or on premises. The software automates enforcement of security controls and compliance policies to enable secure information sharing across the extended enterprise. NextLabs has some of the largest global enterprises as customers and has strategic relationships with industry leaders such as SAP, Siemens, Microsoft and IBM. For more information on NextLabs, please visit http://www.nextlabs.com.
SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. See http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx for additional trademark information and notices.
All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
SAP Forward-Looking Statement
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
Contact:
Jill Rubin
6505779101
Email
SOURCE NextLabs, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.nextlabs.com
LONDON and DUBAI, UAE, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
nWorX-DBH, a privately held ICT Company today outlined company's activities at the 36th GITEX Technology Week to be held on October 16-20, 2016 in Dubai, UAE. GITEX Technology Week is expected to attract over 150,000 technology professionals, enterprise leaders, public sector officials and entrepreneurs from over 140 countries, including 22,000 C-suite executives.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160210/331945LOGO )
nWorX-DBH will demonstrate how customers can benefit from Industrial Internet of Things setting the tone for Industry 4.0 IoT transformation initiatives. Based on a global industry survey by PwC, Strategy & Industry 4.0 solutions have provided an average eciency increase of 18% within 5 years. "nWorX-DBH field experience backs these findings, we have been able to drive 20% - 30% contribution to our customer's bottom or top line performance leveraging our Industrial IoT solutions and associated business transformation initiatives," said Muneeb Bhatti, Managing Director, MEA and Asia PAC for nWorX.
During GITEX Technology Week, nWorX-DBH will showcase Industrial IoT solutions targeting Oil & Gas and Utility sectors for managing industrial pipeline network assets based on technology developed by Cason Ltd, a DBH investment portfolio company. Their solutions have been utilized by leading energy and utility companies worldwide.
Leakage or rupture within industrial pipelines can result in heavy economic losses and environmental catastrophs. nWorX-DBH pipeline monitoring and management system uses industry leading IoT technologies to proactively detect and notify any incidents, accurately locate the incidents across pipeline network and provide real-time data access to operational staff to fix such incidents.
Industrial IoT is a major current trend and large technology companies are focusing on the business outcome benefits it can provide. According to a market research report by MarketsandMarkets, Industrial IoT market is expected to reach USD 151.01 Billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 8.03% between 2015 and 2020.
nWorX-DBH invites GITEX participants and visitors to meet its subject matter experts and see solution demonstrations in Zabeel Hall or request for a pre-booked one to one meeting via email to [email protected]
About nWorX-DBH
nWorX-DBH is a joint venture between nWorX, a Canadian Technology Professional Services Company and DBH, a Dutch holding company with an IT technology portfolio of European technology companies.
nWorX-DBH provides end-to-end cutting edge technology solutions serving customer lifecycle needs across initial feasibility, planning, design, implementation and operational management across virtually any market or industry around the world.
SOURCE DBH Investment Zrt.
From his work in the Ebola crisis to being the only physician in a district hospital in the Republic of Chad, Dr. James Appel shares his story of withstanding hardship and loss. Facing death and cultural barriers on a daily basis, he and his wife are also touched by personal tragedy. Living and working under these difficult conditions, Dr. Appel shares how he found the strength to prevail through the power of faith.
The highs and lows of his experiences during his years in Chad are collected in his riveting account, Nasara: Dispatches from a District Hospital in Chad. We invite you to read the book and then join in the discussion at this powerful seminar.
This series is free and open to the public. You may register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/adventist-university-speaker-series-faith-and-loss-with-james-appel-tickets-27258419667
About Principle Sources
James Appel, MD
Dr. James Appel was born in Ohio. Growing up as the son of a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, he received his B.A. in Theology from Southern Adventist University and later a Doctor of Medicine from Loma Linda University.
Upon completion of his Residency at the Ventura County Medical Center in California, James moved to the Republic of Chad where he worked as the only doctor in the Bere Adventist Hospital for seven years. During that time, he met his wife, Sarah, a volunteer nurse from Denmark. Currently, he is Chad's Country Director for the NGO Adventist Health International, which oversees over 20 hospitals in Africa and the rest of the developing world.
About Adventist University of Health Sciences (ADU)
Adventist University of Health Sciences (ADU) is a Seventh-day Adventist institution specializing in healthcare education in a faith-affirming environment. Service-oriented and guided by the values of nurture, excellence, spirituality, and stewardship, the University seeks to develop leaders who will practice healthcare as a ministry. ADU fulfills this mission by developing skilled professionals who live the healing values of Christ.
ADU offers undergraduate and graduate programs including: Biomedical Sciences, Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Health Sciences, Radiography, Nuclear Medicine Technology, Nursing (BSN), Nurse Anesthesia, Occupational Therapy, Healthcare Administration, Physician Assistant, and Physical Therapy. The University is associated with Florida Hospital and the Adventist Health System.
ADU embraces the benefit of whole person care as demonstrated in the life and ministry of Christ. The University is dedicated to developing skilled professionals who live the healing values of Christ. Graduates who live these values effectively extend the healing ministry of Christ.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427228
SOURCE Adventist University of Health Sciences
Related Links
http://www.adu.edu/
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- One Drop today announced the launch of One Drop | Mobile for Android. One Drop | Mobile is an award-winning diabetes management solution delivered entirely via mobile app, available on iOS since April 2015. Since launch, One Drop | Mobile users from over 190 countries worldwide have logged over 1,500,000 user sessions and contributed over 85,000,000 health-related data points. Together, the One Drop community's data is being used to provide meaningful data-driven health insights to all people with diabetes.
One Drop | Mobile for Android daily analysis One Drop | Mobile for Android One Drop | Mobile for Android
"We want to bring the same simple, gorgeous, useful, data-driven experience that we deliver to iOS users to everyone on the Android platform. We want everyone with diabetes worldwide to become more engaged in their diabetes management, eat the right foods, take their medications, and lower their blood glucose levels," said Jeff Dachis, Founder and CEO of One Drop. "Now, with One Drop | Mobile on Android, they can."
One Drop | Mobile provides real-time and historical blood glucose data and analytics to empower people with diabetes and their healthcare providers to see relationships between health behaviors and health outcomes. The app highlights blood glucose patterns, providing support for behavior change and, if necessary, medication adjustments. One Drop | Mobile's interface also makes it easy for users to share health information with health care providers, family, friends, and other caregivers.
"We use mobile tools to manage and optimize almost everything, from our finances to our social lives to our exercise routines. Why should diabetes be any different?" Dachis said. "One Drop's mission is to relentlessly improve the lives of people with diabetes. By bringing diabetes technology up to speed with the rest of our lives, we are making health data accessible and actionable, and empowering everyone on One Drop to make better decisions, together."
Diabetes is a global epidemic affecting roughly 500 million people worldwide. Nearly 1 out of 5 healthcare dollars ($750 billion) is spent annually on direct diabetes costs, healthcare services, loss of productivity, and disability in the United States. The One Drop platform empowers people with diabetes to make better choices and achieve healthier blood glucose levels, which helps prevent the complications that drive diabetes-related spending. The future of health care is data-driven self care, and One Drop is leading the charge by empowering people take their health into their own hands.
About One Drop
One Drop (Informed Data Systems Inc.) is a digital health company harnessing the power of mobile computing and data science to empower people with diabetes to live healthier lives. The One Drop | Mobile solution is available for free worldwide, with users in over 190 countries, and supports multiple languages (English, Chinese, and Arabic) on iOS. One Drop offers enterprise solutions to insurers, healthcare provider networks, and self-insured employers to dramatically lower the cost of caring for people with diabetes. For more information visit http://onedrop.today/ and download the app: One Drop for iOS / One Drop for Android. Insurers, provider networks, and employers should send all inquiries to [email protected]
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Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/427005
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SOURCE One Drop
Related Links
http://onedrop.today
A new report released today by Save the Children, Every Last Girl: Free to live, free to learn, free from harm, has ranked countries in an index from the best to worst country in which to be a girl, based on child marriage, schooling, teen pregnancy, maternal deaths and number of female representatives in national government.
Countries at the bottom of the index include Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia, many of which have high rates of child marriage. Countries at the top include Sweden, Finland, Norway, Netherlands and Belgium.
"Child marriage starts a cycle of disadvantage that denies girls the opportunity to learn, develop and be children," said Carolyn Miles, President & CEO of Save the Children.
"Girls who marry too early often can't attend school, and are more likely to face domestic violence, abuse and rape. They get pregnant and bear children before they're physically and emotionally ready, which can have devastating consequences on their and their baby's health."
The international community has pledged to end child marriage by 2030, but if current trends continue, the total number of women married in childhood will grow from more than 700 million today to around 950 million by 2030, and to 1.2 billion by 2050.
The report also reveals:
Girls affected by conflict are more likely to become child brides, with many refugee families marrying off their daughters as a safety or coping mechanism, such as Syrian girls in Lebanon ;
; Girls from poor families are more likely to be married early than their richer peers. In Nigeria , 40 percent of the poorest girls are married by 15, compared to 3 percent of the richest girls;
, 40 percent of the poorest girls are married by 15, compared to 3 percent of the richest girls; India has the highest number of child marriages of any country, partly owing to the large size of its population, with 47 percent of girls around 24.6 million married under 18;
has the highest number of child marriages of any country, partly owing to the large size of its population, with 47 percent of girls around 24.6 million married under 18; Girls suffer most during humanitarian crises such as the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone , where schools shutting down led to an estimated 14,000 teen pregnancies;
In Lebanon, Save the Children supports a 14-year-old Syrian girl named Sahar*, who was married at 13 to a 20-year-old man, and is now two months pregnant.
"The wedding day, I was imagining it would be a great day, but it wasn't. It was all misery. It was full of sadness. Many girls who get married at a young age get illnesses and suffer from bleeding. Thank God it didn't happen to me.," said Sahar*.
"I feel really blessed that I am having a baby. But I am a child raising a child."
Save the Children runs a range of programs that support the most disadvantaged girls around the world. It is calling on governments and donors to invest in girls' education and life chances, to help bring an end to child marriage and gender discrimination.
Save the Children is releasing the report ahead of International Day of the Girl on Oct. 11,a day dedicated to highlighting the barriers girls face globally and to empowering girls to reach their full potential.
Notes to editors:
The full report can be accessed here: www.savethechildren.org/girls-report
*Sahar's real name has been changed to protect her identity.
Child marriage rates: these are 2015 estimates produced by the UN for girls under 15 by asking women aged 20-24 if they were married before that age. The figures are therefore for young women who were married and under 15 before 2010. The 'one girl married every seven seconds' statistic is calculated by applying the 2015 global child marriage rate to global population figures, calculating the average number of marriages per year, and dividing the number of seconds in a year by the number of marriages per year. This differs from the statistic for girls under 18, which is one marriage every two seconds. Our index uses the statistic for child marriage under 18. We assume marriages are evenly distributed by age group.
Estimates of future trends: according to the United Nations Children's Fund, the total number of women married in childhood will grow from more than 700 million today to around 950 million by 2030. By 2050 this number would reach 1.2 billion. See UNICEF (2014) Ending Child Marriage: Progress and Prospects : http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf
: http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf Lebanon : According to UNHCR data, more than 6 percent of Syrian girls aged between 12 and 17 in Lebanon are married.
: According to UNHCR data, more than 6 percent of Syrian girls aged between 12 and 17 in are married. India : As of 2006 (the latest year for which data on early marriage is available), 24.6 million females aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18 in India .
Save the Children gives children in the United States and around the world a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We invest in childhood every day, in times of crisis and for our future. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Media Contacts:
Jeremy Soulliere, [email protected], 203-295-5842
Eileen Burke, [email protected], 203-216-0718
PDF - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/Combined-Every-Last-Girl-print-version-inside-pages-Low-res.pdf
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SOURCE Save the Children
Related Links
http://www.savethechildren.org
DENVER, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In about a month, the largest and longest-running annual conference for responsible investors will convene in Denver. The annual SRI Conference on Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing will host 650-700 investors and investment professionals and convene the day after the conclusion of the American presidential race.
Registration is still open for the annual SRI Conference November 911, 2016. For registration and full agenda more information, go to http://www.SRIconference.com.
Highlights from The SRI Conference agenda for 2016 include:
The Post-Election Policy Environment: Challenges and Opportunities for Responsible Investors. This plenary panel will feature: Bennett Freeman , previously senior vice president, sustainability research and policy at Calvert Investments and currently board secretary of the Global Network Initiative; Joe Keefe , president and CEO of Pax World Management; and Lisa Woll , CEO of US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing and the US SIF Foundation. The panel discussion will be moderated by Patsy Doerr , Global Head of Corporate Responsibility and Inclusion, Thomson Reuters. These industry leaders also have deep experience in the public policy arena. They will address post-election challenges and opportunities related to climate change and environmental sustainability; labor and human rights; financial regulation and economic innovation; shareholder rights and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). What are the possibilities, and what should be the priorities, for responsible investors given the new Administration and the new make-up of Congress?
This plenary panel will feature: , previously senior vice president, sustainability research and policy at Calvert Investments and currently board secretary of the Global Network Initiative; , president and CEO of Pax World Management; and , CEO of US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing and the US SIF Foundation. The panel discussion will be moderated by , Global Head of Corporate Responsibility and Inclusion, Thomson Reuters. These industry leaders also have deep experience in the public policy arena. They will address post-election challenges and opportunities related to climate change and environmental sustainability; labor and human rights; financial regulation and economic innovation; shareholder rights and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). What are the possibilities, and what should be the priorities, for responsible investors given the new Administration and the new make-up of Congress? N avigating the New Political, Economic and Market Environment. In this keynote, Zachary Karabell , PhD, head of global strategy at Envestnet and president of River Twice Research, will assess the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, its possible consequences for markets and economic policy, and what that may mean for sustainable, responsible, impact investors. Karabell will discuss what we can expect, and also what areas of our system are unlikely to change regardless of who occupies the Oval Office and controls Congress.
In this keynote, , PhD, head of global strategy at Envestnet and president of River Twice Research, will assess the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, its possible consequences for markets and economic policy, and what that may mean for sustainable, responsible, impact investors. Karabell will discuss what we can expect, and also what areas of our system are unlikely to change regardless of who occupies the Oval Office and controls Congress. Clean Energy: Policy and Opportunities in the New America . In the 21st century, our wealth of energy resources must be adapted to the challenges of sustainability. Very few Americans have a breadth of experience in this arena comparable to former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and former National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) Director Dan Arvizu . Governor Ritter is now the director of the Center for the New Energy Economy, Colorado State University . Dr. Arvizu is a consulting professor at the Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University .
In the 21st century, our wealth of energy resources must be adapted to the challenges of sustainability. Very few Americans have a breadth of experience in this arena comparable to former Governor and former National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) Director . Governor Ritter is now the director of the Center for the New Energy Economy, . Dr. Arvizu is a consulting professor at the Precourt Institute for Energy, . Climate Change Risks and Solutions . Climate change is an ever-evolving risk to investors, though also an area of investment opportunity. With an eye to the recent Paris Accord, this panel will provide an overview of the different solutions that are available for investors and how they can better integrate climate change into their investment portfolios. Moderator: Heike Reichelt , head of investor relations and new products at the World Bank. Panelists will include: Stephan Bonte , director of sustainable investing, Standish Mellon; and Bill Page , senior vice president and portfolio manager, Essex Global Environmental Opportunities Strategy.
Climate change is an ever-evolving risk to investors, though also an area of investment opportunity. With an eye to the recent Paris Accord, this panel will provide an overview of the different solutions that are available for investors and how they can better integrate climate change into their investment portfolios. Moderator: , head of investor relations and new products at the World Bank. Panelists will include: , director of sustainable investing, Standish Mellon; and , senior vice president and portfolio manager, Essex Global Environmental Opportunities Strategy. Shareowner Advocacy in the Global Struggle for Full LGBTQ Rights. Despite achieving same sex marriage equality, the LGBTQ community still faces legally sanctioned housing and employment discrimination in the U.S., and in many countries, same-sex relationships are criminal and even punishable by death. This session will explore the continuing need for shareowner and corporate advocacy for full LGBTQ equality. Shareowner activism aimed at securing LGBTQ rights in the workplace ranks among the most successful investor advocacy campaigns ever. Shareowners have convinced nearly 200 companies to improve their policies, according to data compiled by Clean Yield Asset Management. Moderator: Matt Patsky , CEO, Trillium Asset Management. Panelists: Shelley Alpern , director of social research and shareholder advocacy, Clean Yield Asset Management; Tim Gill , founder and board member, Gill Foundation; and Kris Hermanns , CEO, Pride Foundation.
ABOUT THE SRI CONFERENCE
The 27th annual SRI Conference will be held November 911, 2016, at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Denver, Colorado. The SRI Conference (http://www.SRIconference.com) is the premier annual forum for investors and investment professionals engaged in sustainable, responsible, impact (SRI) investing. Conference participation includes investment professionals, institutional investors, and related organizations. The SRI Conference features educational sessions and focused opportunities to network with hundreds of like-minded individuals, organizations, and leaders in the field of Sustainable, Responsible, Impact investing.
The SRI Conference is produced by First Affirmative Financial Network, LLC ( http://www.firstaffirmative.com ), a Registered Investment Advisor offering investment consulting and asset management services through a nationwide network of investment professionals who specialize in serving socially conscious, impact-oriented investors (SEC File #801-56587).
SOURCE The SRI Conference, Denver, Colorado
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The Company's recently completed Challenge Testing for the topical creme, successfully demonstrated the product's robustness against microbiological contamination, stability, and provided a preliminary safety assessment. This next phase of Safety testing protocol was designed to corroborate that the cream is safe for application to the skin. This will be demonstrated by giving a highly concentrated topical creme formulation to healthy patients within a hospital controlled environment. The safety phase will start upon receiving the Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval by the national IRB committee which is expected to be assembled in November 2016.
OWC is also preparing to initiate in parallel Efficacy Testing using MatTek Corporation patented EpiDerm system, an in-vitro testing technology for dermal toxicologists. This protocol will seek to prove the effectiveness of the formulation in treating psoriasis on human skin tissue. The tests will be conducted at an approved international lab of Dead Sea & Arava Science Center under the auspices of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (http://www.adssc.org/ ).
Dr. Yehuda Baruch, the Company's Director of Research and Regulatory Affairs, commented on the announcement, "Psoriasis is an affliction of the immune system resulting in sub-dermal infection that can be painful and uncomfortable. Cannabis is believed to provide relief from some infections and skin conditions, and it is a central ingredient in our topical creme formulation. Our preliminary studies indicate the formulation does provide relief of these symptoms, and we are confident that these studies will corroborate those results."
Ziv Turner, OWC's CEO, went on to say, "We are excited to begin this last phase of testing so that we can finally make this product available for all psoriasis sufferers. We hope to start sales and marketing both in Israel the US in the second quarter of 2017, and have already been in contact with a number of representatives who have expressed interest in manufacturing and distributing the creme in their state. Of course, we also continue our work on multiple myeloma and other conditions, so I am hopeful that this is just the first of many products that will follow."
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that causes red, scaly patches to appear on the skin, and can be associated with other serious health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease and depression. Skin cells in patients with psoriasis grow at an abnormally fast rate, causing a buildup of lesions that tend to burn and itch. While the real cause of psoriasis is not known, genetics are believed to play a major role in its development. According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, psoriasis affects 7.5 million people in the United States.
About OWC Pharmaceutical Research Corp.
OWC Pharmaceutical Research Corp., through its wholly-owned Israeli subsidiary, One Word Cannabis Ltd., (collectively "OWC" or the "Company") conducts medical research and clinical trials to develop cannabis-based pharmaceuticals and treatments for conditions including multiple myeloma, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, PTSD, and migraines. OWC is also developing unique delivery systems for the effective delivery and dosage of medical cannabis. All OWC research is conducted at leading Israeli hospitals and scientific institutions, and led by internationally renowned investigators.
The Company's Research Division is focused on pursuing clinical trials evaluating the effectiveness of cannabinoids for the treatment of various medical conditions, while its Consulting Division is dedicated to helping governments and companies navigate complex international cannabis regulatory frameworks. For more information, visit: http://www.owcpharma.com/
Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this press release, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, filing patent applications, product development, and business strategy. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects and development stage companies. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in OWC Pharmaceutical Research Corp. (OTCQB: OWCP) periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact Information:
In Israel:
Ziv Turner, Chief Executive Officer - One World Cannabis Ltd.
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +972-(0)3-7582659
SOURCE OWC Pharmaceutical Research Corp.
Chrysler brand's PacifiKids took over a dealership and ran it for one day, surprising consumers who visited Victorville Motors in California. It was business as usual at the dealership, except that as 12 families came in to shop for an all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica they were greeted by the PacifiKids instead of the dealership's adult workforce. With no adults in sight, the PacifiKids Izzy, Miles and Harper along with their staff of eight (ages 8 to 13) greeted unsuspecting minivan shoppers and took them through the all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. How did moms, dads and their kids react? The full video can be viewed on the Chrysler brand's official YouTube channel.
"Kids today are influencing their parents' purchasing decisions more than ever, from the clothes they buy, to the music they download, to even the cars they buy. And kids love minivans," said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Car Brands Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and FIAT, FCA North America. "So we thought, why not let children, the ones who are informing those major family purchases and for whom the Chrysler Pacifica is specifically built, take over a real FCA dealership for one day to show moms and dads why the all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica is the best vehicle for their family."
Over the course of two and a half days, Victorville Motors was transformed into the PacifiKids place of business with the goal of striking a fun balance of work meets play. As the dealership doors opened on Sept. 14, 2016, a PacifiKid receptionist greeted one family after the next, immediately sweeping them into a world of child's play. From colorful walls and toys on desks, to beanbag chairs and even a slide leading into a ball pit, every corner of the dealership allowed families the opportunity to discover something unexpected. In all, 12 families visited the dealership that day.
With their experience nearing the end, each family was given a hands-on walk-around of the all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica, entertaining both parents and kids with its category-leading features. Guiding them back to the entrance to effectively close the deal, the PacifiKids and their staff of eight waved goodbye as families left with a smile on their face and a new-found appreciation of the exclusive/class-leading features of the Chrysler Pacifica and why the minivan is the best vehicle for a family through their one-of-a-kind dealership experience.
The hidden camera stunt kicks off a six-week long digital and social campaign supported by experiential activations with the PacifiKids for the all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. Consumers in Dallas, Los Angeles and New York can fill out a "Permission Slip" (entry form) which will make one family from each market eligible for a one day "Field Trip" to videotape their experiences with the minivan and ultimately give them the chance to win an all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. Entry for the ultimate family "Field Trip" ends Oct. 17, 2016.
The three videos captured during the winning families' ultimate "Field Trip" will be posted on www.thePacifiKids.com on Nov. 12, 2016. Consumers around the country can then vote for the family they think had the best field trip. The family with the most votes will win an all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica.
Additionally, consumers nationwide who voted for any of the three "Field Trip" videos will have a chance to win an all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica of their own. One voter, randomly selected from all people who cast a vote for any of the "Field Trip" videos, will be awarded the all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The winning family and the one voter will be announced the week of Nov. 21, 2016.
Consumers across 10 markets (Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, District of Columbia, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix and San Francisco) can also submit "Permission Slips" for a week-long "Extended Test Drive" in the all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. Twenty-one families (two from each market except for Dallas, which will include three families) will be chosen for an "Extended Test Drive." To enter, visit www.thePacifiKids.com starting Monday, Oct. 10. Entry for the one-week "Extended Test Drive" ends on Oct. 26, 2016. Contest rules can be found at www.thePacifiKids.com.
The Chrysler brand's hidden camera stunt was conducted in partnership with Mosaic.
The PacifiKids Harper (age 8), Izzy (age 10) and Miles (age 11) were first introduced last May by the Chrysler brand as part of its digital and social campaign for the all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica.
About Chrysler Brand
The Chrysler brand has delighted customers with distinctive designs, craftsmanship, intuitive innovation and technology all at an extraordinary value since the company was founded in 1925.
Whether it is the family-room-on-wheels functionality of the all-new Chrysler Pacifica minivan, the groundbreaking, bold design of the Chrysler 300, or the simple elegance and extraordinary driving experience of the Chrysler 200, Chrysler brand vehicles reward the passion, creativity and sense of accomplishment of its owners. Beyond just exceptionally designed vehicles, the Chrysler brand has incorporated thoughtful features into all of its products, such as the innovative center console with pass through storage and sliding cup holders in the Chrysler 200, the industry-exclusive Stow 'n Go seating and storage system on the Chrysler Pacifica and the fuel-saving Fuel Saver Technology in the Chrysler 300.
The Chrysler brand's succession of innovative product introductions continues to solidify the brand's standing as the leader in design, engineering and value. The premium for the Chrysler brand is in the product, not the price.
Follow Chrysler brand and FCA US news and video on:
FCA Content On Demand (COD): www.fcacod.com
Company blog: http://blog.fcanorthamerica.com
Company website: www.fcanorthamerica.com
Media website: http://media.fcanorthamerica.com
FCA360: www.fca360.com
Chrysler brand: www.chrysler.com
Chrysler blog: blog.chrysler.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/chrysler or https://www.facebook.com/FiatChrysler.NorthAmerica/
Flickr: www.flickr.com/chryslerautos or www.flickr.com/chryslergroup/
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/chryslerautos or www.pinterest.com/FCAcorporate
Instagram: www.instagram.com/chryslerautos or www.instagram.com/FiatChrysler_NA
Twitter: www.twitter.com/chryslerautos or www.twitter.com/FiatChrysler_NA
YouTube: www.youtube.com/chrysler or www.youtube.com/pentastarvideo
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Video - http://youtu.be/yEw5F4WH5zw
SOURCE FCA US LLC
Related Links
http://www.fcanorthamerica.com
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Larry Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and now Freedom Watch, and a former federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice, filed a motion for default judgment, in the lawsuit brought by the parents of Tyrone Woods and Sean Smith in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Civil Action No. 16-cv-01606).
"As set forth in the pleadings, which can be found at www.freedomwatchusa.org, Defendant Hillary Clinton has attempted to evade service of process of the complaint and lied to the court. Not only has she not to this day answered the complaint, resulting already in a default having been entered against her by the clerk of the court, she has also flouted the court's process. This is consistent with her general lack of honesty and disrespect for the rule of law, which is now well documented," stated Klayman.
"It is time that a court of law finally hold Mrs. Clinton accountable. The complaint alleges that by illegally and carelessly using a private email server, likely compromised by foreign interests, that the location of Ambassador Christopher Stevens was given up, thus resulting in the death by terrorists of the heroic sons of Charles Woods and Pat Smith. In addition, Defendant Clinton is alleged to have defamed the parents of these fallen heroes, since she accused them of lying about the reasons for the attack on the compound in Benghazi, after she told them falsely that a crowd angered about a video disparaging the prophet Mohammed caused it. (According to reports defendant Clinton told her own daughter, Chelsea, and the Prime Minister of Egypt that the attack was at the hands of terrorists)," added Klayman.
"Its not enough for Defendant Clinton to lie and brush this tragedy off as 'what difference at this point does it make.' She must finally account to the rule of law and a default judgment should be entered against her," concluded Klayman.
For more information contact Freedom Watch at [email protected] or (424) 274-2579.
Media contact: Adrienne Mazzone 561-750-9800 x2270; [email protected].
SOURCE Larry Klayman/Freedom Watch
Related Links
http://www.freedomwatchusa.org
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Paul McIlree, P.E., has joined STV as vice president in the firm's Transportation & Infrastructure Division. A designer and project manager with nearly 20 years of experience in the management, coordination and design of transportation infrastructure projects, McIlree will oversee the firm's business plan for design-build and public-private partnership (P3) initiatives. Based in Florida, he reports directly to Brian Flaherty, STV senior vice president and head of the Transportation & Infrastructure Division's design-build practice.
Over the past 10 years, McIlree has specialized in the delivery of design-build and P3 projects while working for a leading engineering and consulting firm. His experience also includes the design and project management of a number of major highway, bridge and airfield projects located in the southeastern U.S., as well as Missouri and Maine. In his new role at STV, McIlree will be responsible for project execution and quality control for the firm's design-build and P3 projects.
"Paul brings a wealth of experience and insight to our growing design-build practice," Flaherty said. "He will help us identify and pursue new opportunities as we look to expand our project portfolio."
McIlree earned his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Tennessee Technological University and is a licensed professional engineer in Florida.
About STV: Founded more than 100 years ago, STV is a leader in providing engineering, planning, architectural, environmental, and construction management services for transportation systems, infrastructure, buildings, energy, and other facilities. The firm is ranked 40th in Engineering News-Record's Top 500 Design Firms survey and 9th in its Transportation category. STV is 100 percent employee-owned. For more information, visit their website at www.stvinc.com or follow @STVGroup on Twitter.
*Photo available upon request.
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SOURCE STV Incorporated
Related Links
http://www.stvinc.com
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday cancelled a visit to France in a furious row over Moscow's role in the Syrian conflict.
The announcement from the Kremlin came a day after French President Francois Hollande said Syrian forces had committed a "war crime" in the battered city of Aleppo with the support of Russian air strikes.
Putin had been due in Paris on October 19 to inaugurate a spiritual centre at a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower, but Hollande had insisted his Russian counterpart also took part in talks with him about Syria.
Russia has been waging a punishing aerial bombing campaign in Syria for more than a year in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces, part of a multi-front war that has claimed some 300,000 lives and seen Moscow further estranged from the West.
The French president had admitted he was agonising over whether to meet Putin, but the Kremlin on Tuesday called off the visit.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin was "ready to visit when it is comfortable for President Hollande", adding that Moscow would "wait for when that comfortable time comes".
Hollande responded that he was prepared to meet Putin "at any time... to further peace".
Speaking in Strasbourg, Hollande said France and Russia had had a "major disagreement" over Syria.
"It is necessary to have dialogue with Russia but it must be firm and frank," Hollande told the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe rights body.
On Saturday, Russia blocked a draft French UN resolution calling for an end to the barrage of air strikes on the rebel-held east of Aleppo that have escalated in the last month, leaving hundreds of people dead, including dozens of children.
It was the fifth time that Russia used its veto to block UN action to end the five-year war in Syria that has sent millions fleeing and triggered the biggest migration crisis in Europe since World War II.
In the aftermath of that decision, Hollande described the bombing of Aleppo as a "war crime".
He said in a TV interview on Monday: "Those who commit these acts will have to pay for their involvement, including at the International Criminal Court."
On Tuesday, at least 12 civilians were killed in the heaviest Russian bombardment in days of Aleppo, a monitoring group said.
An AFP correspondent and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported it was the most intense bombing since the Syrian army said on October 5 it would reduce its onslaught on the northern city.
Despite cancelling his visit to Paris, Putin is still considering travelling to Berlin on October 19 for a meeting on the conflict in Ukraine, one of his aides told Itar-Tass on Monday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed the meeting along the lines of the so-called Normandy format, bringing together Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, with the possible participation of Hollande.
But it is uncertain whether Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is prepared to take part.
It is not the first time in recent years that Moscow's foreign policy has strained relations between France and Russia.
The outbreak of the Ukraine crisis in 2014 eventually prompted France to cancel the delivery to Russia of two Mistral assault ships and repay almost 950 million euros ($1.1 billion).
* This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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A unique proposal in the world of wine, Recorking Clinics provide wine enthusiasts with the opportunity to allow Penfolds Winemakers to open and visually inspect their wine, assess the quality, top up, certify, and re-capsule their prized bottles, arresting any further deterioration due to leakage or low levels.
Penfolds has been providing its famed Recorking Clinic service to collectors around the world since 1991, with over 130,000 bottles certified since the program's inception. Wine owners must make a booking, where the esteemed Penfolds winemaking team will be on-hand to expertly assess each registered bottle.
"After 25 years, the Recorking Clinics continue to amaze and evolve, transcending all our expectations," says Penfolds Chief Winemaker, Peter Gago. "The notion that every bottle has a story continues to reign true. As winemakers, it is so meaningful and rewarding to meet collectors and share their personal story of their wine's unique journey. Professionally it is gratifying to witness the ongoing quality of rare treasures that span so many decades, each one adding to the unfinished story that is Penfolds."
In addition to the wine assessment, a Clinic appointment allows the opportunity to meet with a Penfolds winemaker to recount the wine's story, discuss drinking windows and cellaring recommendations. All bottles that are recorked will be certified and signed by Peter Gago, Penfolds Chief Winemaker or Steve Lienert, Penfolds Snr Red Winemaker. An optional valuation service will also be provided onsite by Christie's Auction House.
PENFOLDS NORTH AMERICA RECORKING CLINICS 2016 NEW YORK CITY Friday, October 21st MIAMI Tuesday, October 25th VANCOUVER Friday, October 28th LOS ANGELES Wednesday, November 2nd
Registration is now open and appointments are essential; only Penfolds red wines of 15 years+ will be considered for inspection. To register, please visit Penfolds.com or email [email protected].
For additional information, please visit Penfolds.com to watch Penfolds Senior Red Winemaker Steve Lienert explain the Penfolds Recorking clinics process.
ABOUT PENFOLDS
'1844 To Evermore!'... It was the slogan to launch a winemaking legacy. Through a union of passion, commitment, courage and patience, this winemaking legacy flourishes throughout the world today. For 170 years, Penfolds has cultivated a reputation on winemaking excellence; achieved through a unique alchemy of distinguished vineyards and viticultural caretakers, exceptional winemaking resources and a rich history of outstanding winemakers. These master craftsmen and women have served as silent custodians of the Penfolds stable, an Australian tradition steeped in wine lore and the spirit of generosity. As well as honoring traditional winemaking values, Penfolds cultivates a spirit of experimentation and innovation, as evidenced from secret 'bottlings' such as Grange in 1951. Through the passing of time such innovations have become the great traditions for new generations. Today, 170 years from its initial declaration, Penfolds winemaking legacy continues and the house remains one of Australia's most revered ... now and 'evermore'.
For further Recorking Clinic information or to register please visit www.penfolds.com.
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SOURCE Penfolds
Related Links
http://www.penfolds.com
"Diane has an impressive record of leadership on behalf of pharmacy technicians. She is committed to promoting technicians as an integral part of the health care team within their scope of practice," said Everett B. McAllister, MPA, RPh, Executive Director and CEO of PTCB. "PTCB is thrilled to name her the CPhT of the Year. Diane is a model advocate for patient safety and a clear and inspiring voice for technicians. The effort to procure a technician seat on the North Dakota Board of Pharmacy took years of passionate work by technicians in the state, and Diane was a critical driver of this success." Ms. Halvorson will be honored at a special luncheon event during the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition on March 26, 2017 in San Francisco.
"Diane is truly deserving of this recognition as she has been an outstanding leader in advancing public safety in North Dakota through education and certification of pharmacy technicians," said Mark J. Hardy, PharmD, Executive Director of the North Dakota Board of Pharmacy, "and Diane's dedication to representing technicians to our profession has been of paramount importance to advancing models of care."
Ms. Halvorson is an advocate for national standardization of technician education, preparation, and credentials. "It was shocking to me when I learned years ago that there were people working in pharmacies who did not have standardized training," she said. "I became dedicated to advancing national standards for technicians. I think a patient walking into any pharmacy in any state should know the person helping prepare their prescription has met the standardized requirements for knowledge and training that the pharmacy profession says they need to do their job. Being recognized as PTCB CPhT of the Year is a tremendous honor, but this is not about me; this is about technicians being advocates for our important place in health care safety as defined by our scope of practice."
"Diane Halvorson has been a strong patient advocate on the North Dakota Board of Pharmacy. She makes sure the Board and public understand the value technicians bring to the profession and how they help the pharmacist spend more time with patients," said State Sen. Howard C. Anderson, Jr, RPh, Chief Compliance Officer/Treasurer and former Executive Director of the North Dakota Board of Pharmacy.
While serving as Interim Pharmacy Manager at Vibra until a new director was named this month, Ms. Halvorson was instrumental in EMR implementation and took the lead to educate staff to expand patient/medication bar code scanning to a usage level of 98%.
PTCB's CPhT of the Year Program honors and recognizes individual achievement in patient care, leadership, service, and mentorship as a way to encourage and support excellence and innovation among all pharmacy technicians. More than 375 CPhTs from all pharmacy settings were nominated for 2016 CPhT of the Year. The eight finalists included CPhTs Ashley Bollinger, Barrett Mand, Brande Ribillia, HS2 Johnathan Gunn, Nicole Bernabe, Nikki (Andrea) Ratliff, and Master Sergeant Robert George.
Read more here:
http://www.ptcb.org/about-ptcb/news-room/news-landing/2016/10/11/ptcb-names-diane-halvorson-the-2016-ptcb-certified-pharmacy-technician-of-the-year
The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) is the leading certifying body for pharmacy technicians in the US. The organization has granted more than half a million certifications since its founding in 1995. PTCB was established by the American Pharmacists Association; American Society of Health-System Pharmacists; Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists; and Michigan Pharmacists Association; and joined in 2001 by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. PTCB advocates a single national standard for pharmacy technician certification that is recognized and supported by the pharmacy profession. PTCB's national Certification Program services more than 285,000 active CPhTs nationwide. PTCB's mission is to advance medication safety by certifying technicians who are qualified to support pharmacists and patient care teams in all practice settings. www.ptcb.org
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SOURCE Pharmacy Technician Certification Board
Related Links
http://www.ptcb.org
To spotlight the shared commitment to helping babies achieve a healthy start in life, Philips Avent and the March of Dimes released an emotional video on the Philips Avent Facebook page that captures two powerful stories of two special babies with NICU journeys. Each family shares the unique milestones their babies have achieved, and the role that feeding played in shaping those moments. As part of the campaign, every share of the video will result in a 10 bottle donation to the March of Dimes (up to 5,000 bottles) ensuring that babies have the resources they need to thrive. The launch syncs with March of Dimes' Give them tomorrow campaign which calls on individuals to take action and help save babies' lives through the support of programs, education and lifesaving research to prevent prematurity and birth defects.
"We're thrilled to be a part of this meaningful campaign with Philips Avent and bring our Give them tomorrow campaign to life through the stories that these families have shared," said Christopher Maddocks, Senior Vice President of Communications, March of Dimes. "At the March of Dimes we are committed to providing a fighting chance for every baby, and we recognize how important feeding is to this process."
Support is the foundation for most parents and is critical to achieving success, in particular for new moms. Every new parent relies on the support and insight from others and actress Sarah Chalke knows that well as a second-time, new mom. She's brought her insights to the campaign and video, and shared her personal anecdotes of how Philips Avent has supported her feeding journey with a colicky baby and as a breastfeeding mother. She is also featured in testimonial videos that will be rolled out on the brand's digital platforms.
"We recognize that feeding moments represent a crucial part of a baby's healthy start and sets the stage for continued milestones, through both physical growth and emotional bonding," said Brenda Kapner, Marketing Director for Philips Avent. "Through our partnerships with the March of Dimes and Sarah Chalke, as well as these personal stories of successful nourishment, we hope to provide valuable insights to new and expectant parents as they prepare for the many milestones to come."
For more than 30 years, Philips Avent has been listening, learning and innovating in partnership with parents all with the mission to help give babies the best start in life. To fit parents and babies' unique needs, Philips Avent provides two bottle ranges:
Natural Bottle: With a design inspired by mom's shape, the Philips Avent Natural Bottle allows infants to feed as close to the breast as possible, making it easier to combine bottle and breastfeeding. A wide, breast-like shape and soft, flexible nipple promote easier latch on.
With a design inspired by mom's shape, the Philips Avent Natural Bottle allows infants to feed as close to the breast as possible, making it easier to combine bottle and breastfeeding. A wide, breast-like shape and soft, flexible nipple promote easier latch on. Anti-Colic Bottle: Formerly the Philips Avent Classic+ Bottle, the newly named Anti-Colic bottle solves parents' colic concerns with a built-in valve to vent air away from baby's tummy. Clinically proven to reduce colic and discomfort, the Philips Avent Anti-colic bottle results in 60% less fussing.*
Visit the Philips Avent website at www.Philips.US/AVENT to learn more about the entire product portfolio, or follow us on Facebook.com/PhilipsAVENT or @AVENT_US.
*at 2 weeks of age, babies experienced 60% less fussing at night compared to another leading bottle.
About Royal Philips:
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2015 sales of EUR 16.8 billion and employs approximately 69,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.
About March of Dimes:
The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. For more than 75 years, moms and babies have benefited from March of Dimes research, education, vaccines, and breakthroughs. For more information on the Give them tomorrow campaign, visit www.marchofdimes.org/tomorrow. For the latest resources and health information, visit marchofdimes.org and nacersano.org. You can also find the March of Dimes on Facebook and Twitter.
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SOURCE Royal Philips
TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Minister and author Odule Bitol, potential presidential candidate in the Haitian elections, share his thoughts on relations between Haiti and the United States:
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"My fellow Haitians, it is time for all of us to get our act together and put all personal political interest aside and work together for the sake of our country. For the international community, this is my message to you as I believe the time has arrived for us to work together for the sake of one another because if we don't we all will lose and history will never forgive us. I'm addressing myself to the Administration of President Obama and the two nominees running for the United States presidency to take the matter of geopolitics of Haiti very seriously. History has shown that Haiti and the U.S. have worked together hand in hand in the past.
"I believe it is time for Haiti and the White House to have a better relationship than what we have now because it could be better for both sides. I will never forget when former vice-president Al Gore was running for president in 2000 and was debating former president George W. Bush and said Haiti was 'right in the backyard' of the United States. If Haiti is in the backyard of the U.S., then why is Haiti still looking like that? Haiti was the first black republic in the world, the first independent Caribbean state, and the first country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery. Unfortunately, since then, Haiti has been very unstable and blood is still shedding.
"I would like for the U.S., the United Nations and the rest of the world to understand the situation in Haiti is very complicated. When the United States was attacked on 9-11-2001, the first thing the White House did was to invite a pastor, someone they knew was above the understanding of the situation, to lead them to the right path. This was a wakeup call for the American people to get it right with the Creator. The same can be said for the condition of Haiti. It's now time for the international community to look for the right answer to pull this republic out of its current situation.
"My recommendation for the White House and the rest of the world is to pay close attention to what I have to say about the circumstance of Haiti. If the U.S. and international community would like to help Haiti, here is where we need to start:
Help Haiti to rebuild, restore and recycle its own national security. Help Haiti rebuild and restore its own agriculture, to be able to feed its own people and export. Help Haiti rebuild and restore its own education and prepare its own people.
"If what I say is respected, then a better relationship between Haiti and the U.S., as well as Haiti and the world, will be formed."
Contact: Email / www.missionjesusisthelight.com
Odule Bitol
813-508-6254
SOURCE Odule Bitol
ACOMA PUEBLO, N.M., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Preservation Sciences, Inc. is licensing its dehydration technology to the Bright Green Group for use in the $160 million facility Bright Green is building on the Acoma Indian Reservation in New Mexico.
Bright Green and the Acoma Pueblo Native American tribe are creating the world's most advanced, state-of-the-art greenhouse facility and research center for medicinal plants. The development will occupy approximately 150 acres of the Acoma Indian Reservation and will have the capacity to grow up to 40 million plants per year.
Preservation Sciences' innovative and unique dehydration technology will be used by Bright Green in processing medicinal plants produced by the greenhouse facility. Preservation Sciences is working with Dalsem Complete Greenhouse Projects to customize clean room technology for Bright Green.
"We believe Preservation Sciences' technology is a perfect fit because it accelerates drying time for our medicinal plants as we prepare them for the critical oil extraction process," said John Stockwell, Chief Executive Officer of the Bright Green Group. "The contract also stipulates that Preservation Sciences will setup operations onsite in New Mexico, which furthers the Stockwell family's goal of bringing technology and jobs to the state."
"Our Preservation Sciences dehydration process includes a unique protein coating which covers the harvested medicinal plants, speeding up the drying time without the typical damage created by conventional drying methods that use extreme heat or freeze drying," said John Obeid, Chairman of the Board, Preservation Sciences.
"The Bright Green project is truly innovative, bringing together the best in the industry, and it includes affiliations with New Mexico State University, the University of New Mexico and the University of Guelph in Canada," added Obeid, "We are truly proud to be part of this groundbreaking opportunity."
The innovative Preservation Sciences technology is supported by Dr. Louis Restrepo, Preservation Sciences Vice President, Technical Development and Support, and Dr. Venkat Hari, Director, Preservation Sciences Advisory Board.
"Our PS Coating product has been successfully applied to more than one hundred agriculture and aquaculture products and consistently retains the highest natural attributes of the source material," states Ed Sample, President, Preservation Sciences.
Preservation Sciences' proprietary technology is suitable for numerous markets, including food and agriculture, pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and nutraceutical. The company has conducted many successful proof-of-principal production runs with a wide range of raw materials such as seafood by-products from the fillet processor, shrimp peel from the canning industry, orange peels from the orange juice processors, chicory root, sweet potatoes, and a wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables. Each unique process was developed with the goal of producing a new source of human consumable food products.
"Our experience and ability to utilize clean rooms, protein-based coating, and water-based bacterial removal technology, provides our clients with a truly tailored solution," said Sample.
Preservation Sciences anticipates development work to begin on the project within the next six months which will include an on-site production facility for its proprietary PS Coating product.
For more information about Preservation Sciences, Inc., visit www.PreservationSciences.com or contact Preservation Sciences at [email protected] or 561-829-8335. For more information about the Bright Green Group, including a video about the Acoma Pueblo development, visit: www.BrightGreenGroup.com or call 505-552-2021.
SOURCE Bright Green Group
BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The award-winning public relations firm TransMedia Group said it will be doing publicity in the U.S. for one of Brazil's leading advertising and PR firms, RS Press (www.rspress.com.br) as well as occasionally for some of its major clients.
"It's not that often you get a chance to promote such an accomplished PR brother based so far away in another country," said Tom Madden, CEO of TransMedia Group (www.transmediagroup.com). "But with the Internet, what's far anymore!"
TransMedia said it intends to show why RS Press is the communications agency chosen by so many of Brazil's largest companies to tell their story," said Madden. "Our campaign will exhort U.S. companies to consider retaining RS Press to promote their products and services in Brazil."
According to Madden, RS Press is a master at creating and deploying integrated communications programs for clients in a broad range of industries and targeting media outlets on and offline in a way that enhances brands and business.
"Just like what we do for our clients here, RS Press offers strategic planning for image building and reputation management, media training, crisis management and highly effective PR for its clients in Brazil--communications aligned with their mission, vision, values and culture in ways that improve their business performance."
TransMedia said its publicity will show how effective RS Press is at streaming video enabling an exchange of multimedia information via videos and the Internet "as we do on YouTube for our clients," said Madden, who was head of PR Planning at American Broadcasting Companies before becoming Vice President, Assistant to the President of NBC.
As many PR firms have discovered, RS Press knows that only posting via Twitter and Facebook is not enough to quench the thirst for information, said Madden.
"People want to participate in real time in the life of their idols and also the actions of their favorite brands. Facebook Live, a special feature of Facebook Mentions indicated for athletes, actors, politicians, musicians, for example, enabling the average user that follows the page to enjoy, share and comment on live video, and can access it subsequently."
Media contact: Adrienne Mazzone 561-750-9800 x2270; [email protected].
SOURCE TransMedia Group
Related Links
http://www.transmediagroup.com
EuroInvestor IR Solutions is used by over 600 European listed companies, such as HSBC, HTC, SKY, Philips and Shell to provide interactive charting, tools and news applications on their investor websites and mobile applications.
EuroInvestor IR Solutions' unique technology supports over 45 worldwide stock exchanges in 21 languages.
The acquisition will enhance Q4's product portfolio, extending the global reach and value of Q4's market leading investor website platform, webcasting, IR desktop and stock surveillance services by providing global data coverage and multiple language support.
The acquisition of Euroinvestor IR Solutions reinforces Q4's dominance as the fastest growing provider of IR products and services in North America, Europe and the UK. Now with over 1,200 global clients, Q4 is firmly positioned to continue its strong growth trajectory into 2017 and beyond.
COPENHAGEN, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Q4 Inc., a global leader in cloud-based investor relations and capital market solutions, today announced its acquisition of Euroinvestor IR Solutions, Europe's leading provider of interactive stock quotes, charting and news applications for investor relations websites.
The newly formed subsidiary will be known as Q4 Euroinvestor (www.q4euroinvestor.com). Its head office, management team and workforce will continue to be based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The firm also plans to grow its workforce adding to the customer success, support and sales teams and to open offices in the UK and France in the near future.
"With Euroinvestor IR Solutions, Q4 is gaining global technology and one of Europe's leading providers of investor relations quotes, charts and news apps," said Darrell Heaps, CEO, Q4. "We see this as a huge opportunity. Not only will this acquisition accelerate our growth, it will extend the value of all of our offerings and allow us to work with any listed company, in any country around the globe. This is a transformational opportunity for Q4."
"Listed companies in Europe and the world over now focus the majority of their communication efforts through their website and mobile applications," said Carsten Bach, Euroinvestor IR Solutions, General Manager. "Joining Q4 will allow us to grow faster and offer all of Q4's superior investor website, webcasting, desktop and shareholder ID services to all of our current and new clients. This is an exciting time for us and for all of our clients."
Euroinvestor IR solutions was established in 2003 by Euroinvestor.com A/S to provide stock quotes and charts to European clients. Over the past 13 years they have grown their technology platform to provide a wide array of quote and charting related applications including: Interactive Charts, Mini Quotes, XML, JSON Feeds, Investment Calculators, Historical Price Look Ups, Benchmark Tables, Latest Trades, Regulatory News, Email Alerts, Consensus Forecast Data, Interactive KPIs, Factsheets, and Mobile Apps & APIs.
The platform, which supports 45 worldwide stock exchanges in 21 languages, will be used by Q4 to expand the coverage available in its market leading investor website product and Q4 Desktop the IR industry's first, fully-integrated investor relations desktop, which integrates communications tools, surveillance and analytics into a fully featured IR workflow and CRM applications.
The acquisition of Euroinvestor IR Solutions reinforces Q4's dominance as the fastest growing provider of IR products and services in North America, Europe and the UK. Now with over 1,200 global clients, Q4 is firmly positioned to continue its strong growth trajectory into 2017 and beyond.
About Q4 Inc.
Q4 is a global leader in communication and intelligence solutions to the IR market. Thousands of brands around the world use Q4 website, webcasting, CRM, analytics and surveillance solutions to better connect with their investors and understand the capital markets. In June 2016, Q4 launched Q4 Desktop, the industry's first, fully integrated investor relations platform, which integrates communications tools, surveillance and analytics into a fully featured IR workflow and CRM application. Q4 has offices in New York, Chicago and Toronto. Visit www.q4inc.com to learn more.
About Euroinvestor IR Solutions
Euroinvestor IR Solutions is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is a subsidiary of Euroinvestor.com A/S one of Scandinavia's leading online media companies. The firm's commitment to innovation, reliability and service excellence has enabled it to build a reputation as one of Europe's leading providers of exclusive IR products with over 600 well-known clients worldwide.
SOURCE Q4 Web Systems Inc. (Public Relations)
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Relievant Medsystems, Inc., a privately held medical device company pioneering the therapeutic use of nerve ablation within vertebral bodies for the treatment of chronic low back pain (CLBP), announced today that it has secured $36 million in equity financing. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) led the financing with participation from Canaan Partners, Emergent Medical Partners and Morgenthaler Ventures.
In July 2016, the novel INTRACEPT Intraosseous Nerve Ablation System received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for the treatment of patients with CLBP. The proceeds from the financing will be used to advance additional clinical studies, expand and enhance the product portfolio, and accelerate commercial activities, including strategic initiatives with Medicare contractors and third-party private payors.
"We are proud to have our venture investment partners bolster our efforts to bring the novel INTRACEPT therapy to the millions of patients suffering from CLBP and establish INTRACEPT as a franchise opportunity in the marketplace," said Alex DiNello, CEO and president of Relievant. "This capital will enable Relievant to accelerate execution of our product, clinical and market development activities to advance intraosseous basivertebral nerve ablation for CLBP ahead of successfully commercializing INTRACEPT worldwide."
"NEA is excited to continue its partnership with Relievant in bringing a game-changing technology to the millions of people who suffer from chronic low back pain," said NEA Partner Justin Klein, M.D. "The robust Level 1 SMART clinical trial results demonstrate the INTRACEPT system to be a safe, effective, durable and minimally invasive procedure that addresses a multi-billion dollar growth market. We believe the company's dedication to demonstrating the benefits of Intracept through additional clinical developmentworking in close partnership with its clinical advisors, key societies and the payor communityis exactly the right approach to providing a therapy that addresses the needs of patients, spine surgeons and interventionalists, and payors."
CLBP impacts nearly one third of the U.S. population and represents the largest and most expensive non-fatal condition in the healthcare system. Every year, approximately 12 million new patients seek treatment for back pain. Unfortunately, nearly two million of these patients fail to respond to conservative therapies and have few alternative options, which are limited to the use of narcotic pain medications including opioids, invasive surgical procedures (including fusion) or continued suffering. The intraosseous basivertebral nerve ablation procedure using Relievant's proprietary INTRACEPT System represents a compelling treatment option for patients who suffer from chronic low back pain but no longer respond to conservative therapies.
About the SMART Clinical Trial
Relievant sponsored the Surgical Multi-center Assessment of RF Ablation for the Treatment of Vertebrogenic Back Pain (SMART) Trial. The SMART trial was a 225 patient, Level 1, international, prospective, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical study that evaluated the safety and effectiveness of the INTRACEPT therapy in patients suffering from CLBP. For patients who received the intended therapy and completed follow-up, the INTRACEPT treatment arm in the SMART study demonstrated a mean Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) improvement of 20.5 points or 48% decrease from baseline at 3 months. These results were sustained through 12 and 24 months of follow-up.
About Relievant Medsystems
Relievant Medsystems is a privately held medical device company based in Redwood City, California. Its Intracept System is a minimally invasive procedure that uses radiofrequency energy delivered into the vertebral body of the spine to ablate the basivertebral nerve. This nerve, which contributes to the disability and pain associated with chronic low back pain, can no longer transmit pain signals following ablation. The Intracept Intraosseous Nerve Ablation System is intended to be used in conjunction with radiofrequency (RF) generators for the ablation of basivertebral nerves of the L3 through S1 vertebrae for the relief of chronic low back pain of at least 6 months duration that has not responded to at least six months of conservative care, and is also accompanied by either Type 1 or Type 2 Modic changes on an MRI.
Important Safety Information
The INTRACEPT Procedure, as with any surgical procedures, has risks that should be discussed with your medical professional.
Relievant Medsystems, Inc. will attend the North American Spine Society (NASS) meeting in Boston, October 26-29 (Booth #1365). For additional information, visit www.relievant.com.
SOURCE Relievant Medsystems, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.relievant.com
DELAWARE, Ohio, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Richwood Bank announces groundbreaking advances geared to continue their path of incomparable customer experience in central Ohio.
Beginning this month the current Delaware location, established in 2010, will undergo a lobby renovation to add Richwood Coffee for the community. Richwood Coffee is a full service coffee shop and lounge for the public offering high-end hot and cold drinks affordably with free Wi-Fi.
Richwood's unique model offers gift card credits to purchase coffee in exchange for donations to locally selected non-profits. This model, introduced in the Richwood branch location last year has already garnered more than $40,000 in donations for the Union county area schools, hospital, fair grounds and United Way.
"The success of Richwood Coffee has been amazing to watch and we are ecstatic to see how Delaware embraces it," stated Doug Wilson, branch manager of the Delaware Office. "This model of providing five star coffee while paying it all forward to your community is why our bank will be here for decades to come. We want our lobby to be a place you enjoy visiting between work and home."
As the hammers swing in Delaware, Richwood Bank is also expanding to Evans Farm, a new housing community project in Lewis Center. As the chosen bank for the funding of this new 1,000 acre housing development, Richwood will also offer a new branch location within the property.
The concept of this new housing project is front porch living at its finest while offering all the amenities a family needs within it. Restaurants, markets, fitness and Richwood Bank will be at the heart of this new community.
"As all-inclusive, turnkey living is the focus of Evans Farm the process to move in should be, too. Richwood Bank has created a new, one step mortgage program for homebuilders and homeowners alike," Mike Karcher, Chief Lending Officer explains.
"Typical financial institution loan products begin with the lot purchase loan, followed by a construction loan and then finally, rolling it all into a mortgage. Now, Richwood Bank offers this in one easy step. At the time of the lot purchase, Richwood Bank is on site to lock in a very competitive mortgage rate and be with our customers from groundbreaking to 'move in day'," Karcher stated.
By creating this one step process, Richwood's goal is to simplify the customer's home building finance experience while also making it expedite faster. The pre-approved contractor building the home can benefit from the Richwood team being on-site to quickly inspect levels of construction and clear the next stage with same day funding.
"To stay relevant today we must push past the customary community banking model. We're keeping the best attributes of friendly, local community dedication while taking banking and the services that encompass it to an entirely new level. The response from our customers reinforces our vision is spot on," Chad Hoffman, Richwood Bank CEO and President stated.
In less than two years, Richwood Bank has experienced significant growth due largely to their innovative advances in additional offerings that complement financial services such as payroll processing, marketing services and processing for community business.
"It's not just the transaction any more anyone can do that. It's the relationship and support that builds confidence with our customers. We aren't here to merely deposit or withdraw. We want to be your partner in success. The more your business grows, the more we grow," Hoffman explained.
This applies to personal banking as well. Richwood Coffee, beta tested last year in the Richwood branch location increased their traffic of all ages, raised large amounts of non-profit donations and became the hub of their downtown area.
The new development in Lewis Center is currently in phase one of lot purchasing while Richwood Coffee Delaware construction begins this month with a grand opening planned this winter holiday season. Delaware non-profit entities for coffee donations are being considered now.
Learn more about Richwood Bank, Richwood Coffee or Evans Farm development today.
Contact: Heather Wirtz, 740-436-0617, [email protected]
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SOURCE Richwood Bank
Related Links
http://www.richwoodbank.com
Paul is excited to bring his expertise and talent to Ringler, saying, "I want to use my experience to design a complete financial portfolio for each customer at Ringler. I understand long term goals and needs for injured people and I help manage that, while objectively assessing risk tolerance to create a suitable and individualized settlement plan in each case."
Ringler's President and CEO, Geoffrey E. Hunt says, "Paul is an extraordinary addition to Ringler. He founded the Vega Settlement Group on the premise of a service-oriented practice, which is well aligned with the strategy here at Ringler. We treat every case as if it were in our family. We're thrilled to have Paul on board."
Not only is Paul a settlement consultant, he is also a Series 7 and Series 63 licensed Financial Advisor. Originally from Los Angeles, Paul is a graduate from Loyola High School of Los Angeles and California State University, Long Beach. He is a loving father and now lives in Arcadia, CA with his wife, Nancy and their two daughters, Caroline Rose and Madeline Grace.
About Ringler
Ringler is the largest settlement planning company in the United States with over 125 Consultants in more than 60 offices nationwide since it was established in 1975. Ringler's team of expert and objective advisors has earned the trust of all parties involved in the settlement process. Every Ringler Consultant takes an individualized, customer-focused approach to each case, backed by the strength and resources of a national brand to collaborate with injured people, attorneys and insurance professionals providing the most effective and fair settlement solutions for claimants and their families. Ringler is dedicated to continue to be the most innovative and acknowledged leader in the profession.
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SOURCE Ringler
Related Links
https://ringlerassociates.com
British foreign minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday called for anti-war campaigners to protest outside the Russian embassy in London, during a parliamentary debate on the bombing of Aleppo in Syria.
"I'd certainly like to see demonstrations outside the Russian embassy," Johnson said.
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Andre Agassi, Rocketship Education, the Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation and leaders from the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund celebrated the opening of Rocketship Rise Academy, the fund's first venture in Washington, D.C. and Rocketship Education's first school on the East Coast.
Opened this past August, Rocketship Rise Academy at the Ruth Rales Campus is located in the Woodland Terrace neighborhood at 2335 Raynolds Place in Southeast D.C. The campus will serve 758 students in pre-K through 5th grade at maturity. As part of its partnership with Rocketship Education, the school's preschool instruction is provided by AppleTree Early Learning.
Rocketship Education is a growing non-profit network of high-performing public charter schools serving low-income communities with limited access to excellent schools. Founded in 2007, the core of Rocketship's instructional model is a teacher-led, technology-supported approach to personalized learning that matches each student with the right content at the right time utilizing the right method of instruction. By deeply engaging parents in their student's learning and the school community, Rocketship develops parents who become lifelong advocates for their children and their community.
The 58,598-square-foot buildingbuilt from the ground upwas developed by the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund, an innovative, mission-driven investment fund that provides resources and real estate expertise to high-performing charter school operators across the nation, enabling them to access top-quality facilities. The state-of-the-art facility is certified LEED Platinumthe highest level of certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
"Rocketship Education is a successful and proven charter school operator, and their network of schools is closing the achievement gap for thousands of young people in communities with great need," said Bobby Turner, the fund's Co-Managing Partner as well as Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Turner Impact Capital. "We're thrilled that our fund is enabling Rocketship to open their very first school on the East Coast, and particularly in the Woodland Terrace neighborhood, where the school is sure to make an enormously positive impact on the community."
Securing high-quality, long-term facilities is often the greatest impediment faced by charter school leaders. Turner-Agassi provides resources, development experience and a passion for educational excellence to help top school operators focus on their first priority: helping students succeed.
A joint venture of Turner Impact Capital and Agassi Ventures, Turner-Agassi is backed by a world-class group of institutional investors who share a commitment to effecting positive societal change in urban centers across the United States. To date, 69 schools have been developed across the country, serving 35,200 students in such communities as North Philadelphia, Newark, the Bronx, Southwest Detroit, South Dallas, North Las Vegas, and most recently, San Antonio. It is positioned to invest more than $500 million to develop an additional 100 schools serving another 55,000 students.
"Excellent education beginning at the elementary school level is critical to continued success in college and in life," said Andre Agassi, the fund's Co-Managing Partner and CEO of Agassi Ventures. "This state-of-the-art facility and new permanent home of Rocketship Rise Academy will make a real difference to the historically underserved young people in the Woodland Terrace community."
Rocketship Rise Academy is the fifth campus supported by Turner-Agassi. Previously, the fund worked alongside Rocketship to open schools in San Jose, Milwaukee, and Nashville.
"At Rocketship, we believe all kids deserve access to an excellent education, regardless of where they live," said Preston Smith, CEO and co-founder of Rocketship Education. "Our incredibly dedicated teachers, deeply engaged parents and purposeful use of technology are delivering gap-closing gains for students in disadvantaged communities across the country. We are excited to give parents here in Southeast D.C. the choice to send their children to a high-performing public school that personalizes the learning experience for every student we serve."
Rocketship Rise Academy includes 26 classrooms, 3 special education classrooms, 1 learning lab, 2 cafeterias, a gymnasium, nurse's suite, multi-use agora space, 2 playgrounds, and a nature trail.
"We are thrilled to partner with Turner-Agassi and the Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation to open our first school here in Ward 8," said Jacque Patterson, long-time Ward 8 resident and Regional Director of Rocketship D.C. "We look forward to continuing this powerful partnership as we grow our network of high-performing elementary schools to serve thousands of students across D.C."
The generous support of The Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation was instrumental in opening the school.
"My mother, Ruth Rales, loved children and believed deeply in the power of education even though she didn't have the opportunity to attend college herself," said Joshua Rales, President and Trustee of the Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation. "That is why she would be so proud to have her name associated with Rocketship Rise Academy. This school, and the entire Rocketship network, is committed to providing a world-class education to its students regardless of the challenging circumstances they may face."
The Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund takes the lead in site selection, acquisition, design and construction for new school facilities, which are then leased back to school operators, who can purchase their schools once they reach full occupancy. The fund intends to help operators obtain permanent financing using New Market Tax Credits, tax-exempt bond offerings or funding from the U.S. Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
"As a sustainable market-driven investment fund, Turner-Agassi has a unique ability to provide the best charter school operators in the nation with high-quality facilities," said Glenn Piece, President of Education Initiatives at Turner Impact Capital. "Our partnership with Rocketship Education perfectly exemplifies the great work we can accomplish and the thousands of students we can reach when we pair our resources with Rocketship's education expertise."
About the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund
The Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund is the nation's largest fund solely designed to accelerate the growth of high-performing, urban charter schools. Since its inception in 2011, the fund has developed 69 schools serving the needs of 35,200 students throughout the United States. With dedicated funding from preeminent social impact investors, the fund expects to open an additional 100 schools serving 55,000 students by 2020. For more information, please visit www.turneragassi.com.
About Rocketship Education
Rocketship Education is a nonprofit public charter network of 16 elementary schools serving low-income communities with limited access to excellent schools. Founded in 2007 in San Jose, California, Rocketship has since expanded to Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Nashville, Tennessee; and Washington, D.C. By building a scalable and sustainable school model that propels student achievement in underserved communities, Rocketship is working to eliminate the achievement gap in our lifetime. Visit www.rsed.org to learn more.
SOURCE Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund
Related Links
http://www.turneragassi.com
"We're really excited about our new website and winning this award is like icing on the cake," said Julie Brechbill, community relations manager for the City of Roswell. "Aesthetically, we wanted our site to look beautiful while functionally, the navigation had to make it easy for people to find what they're looking for. Vision worked with us every step of the way on both elements to produce the site we have today. Our residents love it."
One of the most valued features of the new site, according to Brechbill, is the search function. The search bar is strategically placed in the center of the homepage and asks visitors "How can we help you today?"
"It was important for us to have a prominent search feature because a government website houses a great deal of information," Brechbill added. "We want people to find what they're looking for quickly, regardless of whether or not they know what department it is in."
Roswell Web Developer Ben Frye, who worked closely with Vision on the new site, agreed that the large search bar was one of the keys to success, along with the drop down navigation menus and friendly icons, which provide multiple options for residents to quickly and easily find what they want. He also pointed out that the bold colors and beautiful photos convey the uniqueness of the city.
For more information on NAGW visit https://nagw.org/. For information about Vision's transformative government website technology or to request a free website review and consultation, please call 888-263-8847 or visit info.visioninternet.com/free-consultation.
About Vision
Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., Vision is a national leader in government website development with more than 700 government, non-profit and education clients in U.S. and Canadian communities with populations that range from less than 1,000 residents to more than 5 million. For more than 20 years, Vision has created cost-effective solutions that increase government efficiency, transparency and interactive communications with citizens. The company's powerful, easy-to-use visionLive content management system continues to evolve with feedback from hundreds of municipal clients. In 2016, Vision was named to Government Technology magazine's GovTech 100, a listing of leading companies developing innovative or disruptive offerings to improve or transform government. The company also was named a top 10 company serving local government by Engaging Local Government Leaders in its 2016 ELGL Choice Awards.
CONTACT:
Ashley Fruechting
310-656-3100
[email protected]
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/427040
SOURCE Vision
ALBANY, N.Y., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Class of 2020 is already a record-setter.
The College of Saint Rose welcomed 658 registered students to the Class of 2020, the largest first-year class in the College's nearly 100-year history. This number surpasses the previous largest class of 639 set in 2010.
This year's 7,536 applications for admission to Saint Rose also set a new record high.
"This new class is special in several ways: it is the largest, most diverse in our history and many are like me, the first in their families to attend college. In addition, it is the class of our centennial year 2020. I am immensely proud to welcome these new students from across the country and around the world who are talented, filled with passion, and excited to be here," said Saint Rose President Dr. Carolyn J. Stefanco.
First-generation college students represent 34 percent of the Class of 2020, an increase over last year. President Stefanco has made boosting support for first-generation students one of the pillars of her administration. Saint Rose has taken steps to encourage, mentor, and advise first-generation college students so that they have the same chance to succeed as those students with college-educated parents and siblings.
The first-year class also is among the College's most ethnically diverse, at 42 percent.
The new first-year students hail from 25 states and the District of Columbia, making this the College's most geographically diverse class. Students are coming to Saint Rose from throughout the Northeast as well as Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida and Idaho, among other states.
In addition, Saint Rose continues to extend its reach internationally this year, welcoming new undergraduate and graduate students from 16 countries, including Afghanistan, Bermuda, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Egypt, India, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan and Zimbabwe.
Overall, Saint Rose enrolls students from 55 countries and 36 states.
Top majors chosen by the Class of 2020 include biology, business administration, communication sciences and disorders, communications, computer science, criminal justice, forensic psychology, management, music industry and psychology. The top 10 majors make up 51 percent of the first-year incoming class of 2020.
www.strose.edu
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SOURCE The College of Saint Rose
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DENVER, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- From kitchens, basements and garages around the country, homebrewers created and put forth their best brews for the 2016 Samuel Adams LongShot American Homebrew Competition. Over 1.2 million people in the U.S. brew their own beer and for the past 20 years Sam Adams has provided an unmatched opportunity for three homebrewers to have their beer brewed and distributed nationally for beer lovers to enjoy. Winning entries for this year's national LongShot contest are David Cousino's Saison and Duane Wilson's American Wild Ale, and, in the competition among Samuel Adams employees, Graham Johnson's Imperial Stout.
The brewers from Sam Adams announced the three winners during the annual gathering of tens of thousands of brewers and aficionados during the celebrated Great American Beer Festival in Denver-the same festival that helped propel Samuel Adams to national acclaim by declaring Samuel Adams Brewer and Founder Jim Koch's first homebrew, Boston Lager the "Best Beer in America" in the Consumer Preference Poll in 1985. The 2016 LongShot winners join a distinguished group of homebrewers, including some that launched professional brewing careers after their win including: Don Oliver, a 2006 winner; Mike Robinson, a 2009 winner; Cesar Marron, a 2013 winner; Tim Thomssen, a 2015 winner, to name just a few.
For more than 32 years, Samuel Adams has continued to support the craft beer industry through programs such as Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, sharing hops with other brewers when there have been shortages, and the LongShot Homebrew Competition.
"I started out as a homebrewer and saw my dream of becoming a professional brewer turn into a reality," said Jim Koch, Samuel Adams Brewer and Founder. "Since we started the LongShot competition 20 years ago, we've seen an explosion of interest in brewing, and we're honored to showcase top emerging talent from the homebrewer community with this year's Contest."
Samuel Adams prides itself on having a company filled with "beer geeks" who have a genuine passion and love of craft beer. To encourage experimentation and education about the brewing process, each year employees from across the company compete to be recognized for their skills as a homebrewer and to be included alongside the two consumer winners.
About the 2016 LongShot winners:
David Cousino's Saison, Avon, OH
David began homebrewing nearly 25 years ago in college, and, after a long hiatus, jumped back into brewing 4 years ago. As a pharmacist, he now applies the precision of his profession to his homebrews--moving well beyond his days of extract brewing in college. David's Saison imparts a soft malt character, delicate floral notes and a hint of pepper.
David began homebrewing nearly 25 years ago in college, and, after a long hiatus, jumped back into brewing 4 years ago. As a pharmacist, he now applies the precision of his profession to his homebrews--moving well beyond his days of extract brewing in college. David's Saison imparts a soft malt character, delicate floral notes and a hint of pepper. Duane Wilson's American Wild Ale, Horseheads, NY
Duane and his co-brewer Mike Edwards have been brewing regularly for eight years and strive to constantly improve on the styles they create. Duane's mixed-fermentation American wild ale brew leads with an aroma of apricots. Kumquats impart a dry, fruity flavor and the brew finishes with a pleasant, lingering tartness.
Duane and his co-brewer have been brewing regularly for eight years and strive to constantly improve on the styles they create. Duane's mixed-fermentation American wild ale brew leads with an aroma of apricots. Kumquats impart a dry, fruity flavor and the brew finishes with a pleasant, lingering tartness. Graham Johnson's Imperial Stout, Marblehead, MA
Graham works in Business Analysis for Samuel Adams and has a passion for homebrewing. Graham's Imperial Stout uses whole coffee beans and chocolate and has decadent flavors of cocoa, espresso with hints of brandy and raisin, and finishes with a lingering sweetness.
How the winners were selected:
Submissions for the LongShot Contest were judged based on the BJCP style category under which they were submitted. The final winners were selected by a panel of industry judges including Jim Koch, and the winning brews were judged as the best example of their style. Industry judges included John Holl, Author and Editor of All About Beer Magazine; Tony Forder, Editor of Ale Street News; Jason Alstrom, Founder and Publisher of Beer Advocate and Norman Miller, Author and "The Beer Nut" from Wicked Local. And for the first time two past winners who went on to become professional brewers were invited to judge the entries: 2009 winner Michael Robinson of Newburyport Brewing Company and 2013 winner Cesar Marron of Sketchbook Brewing both judged alongside Jim and the other judges. For the Samuel Adams employee winner, the beers were voted on by visitors to the Boston Brewery.
Craft beer drinkers across the U.S. will be able to enjoy the Samuel Adams LongShot American Homebrew Contest variety pack, in the spring of 2017.
Learn more about Samuel Adams LongShot American Homebrew Contest at http://www.samueladams.com/longshot .
Samuel Adams, Boston Lager, LongShot, and American Homebrew Contest are registered trademarks of The Boston Beer Company.
ABOUT THE BOSTON BEER COMPANY:
The Boston Beer Company began in 1984 with a generations-old family recipe that Founder and Brewer Jim Koch uncovered in his father's attic. Inspired and unafraid to challenge conventional thinking about beer, Jim brought the recipe to life in his kitchen. Pleased with the results of his work, Jim decided to sample his beer with bars in Boston in the hopes that drinkers would appreciate the complex, full-flavored beer he brewed fresh in America. That beer was aptly named Samuel Adams Boston Lager, in recognition of one of our nation's great founding fathers, a man of independent mind and spirit. Little did Jim know at the time, Samuel Adams Boston Lager would soon become a catalyst of the American craft beer revolution.
Today, The Boston Beer Company brews more than 60 styles of beer. It relentlessly pursues the development of new styles and the perfection of classic beers by searching the world for the finest ingredients. Using the traditional four vessel brewing process, the Company often takes extra steps like dry-hopping, barrel-aging and a secondary fermentation known as krausening. The Company has also pioneered another revolution, the 'extreme beer' movement, where it seeks to challenge drinker's perceptions of what beer can be. The Boston Beer Company has been committed to elevating the image of American craft beer by entering festivals and competitions around the globe, and is one of world's most awarded breweries at international beer competitions. As an independent company, brewing quality beer remains its primary focus. Although Samuel Adams beer is America's leading craft beer, it accounts for only one percent of the U.S. beer market. The Boston Beer Company will continue its independently-minded quest to brew great beer and to advocate for the growth of craft beer across America. For more information, please visit www.samueladams.com .
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SOURCE Boston Beer Company
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SAN DIEGO, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Non-surgical cosmetic treatments are often touted as alternatives to surgery, typically reserved for patients who are reluctant to go under the knife. It is time for this way of thinking to change, say the five board certified plastic surgeons of La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre (LJCSC).
"The misconception that non-surgical treatments are basically more conservative versions of cosmetic surgery have led many patients to believe they must choose between the two, when in fact each treatment has unique benefits. Combining procedures strategically often achieves superior results," states Dr. Johan Brahme. He explains that because non-surgical treatments often target a different aspect of a patient's anatomy than a comparable surgical procedure, combining procedures can have a synergistic effect.
Colleague Dr. Ervin Wheeler elaborates on this point: "surgery tends to focus on reshaping tissues below the skinfat, muscle, and connective tissue. Non-surgical treatments are excellent for more superficial problems, such as lax skin and wrinkles. Many patients want to address issues at both levels. Combining treatment types helps us better achieve their goals."
Dr. H. Michael Roark agrees: "Instead of thinking in terms facelift vs. laser resurfacing, or any surgical vs. non-surgical treatment, for that matter, we think in terms of what treatment selections will offer the most satisfying result."
For example, a facelift can be combined with laser resurfacing and injectable fillers to correct jowling, reduce visible aging on the skin's surface, and smooth out fine lines. "Together, these treatments provide a complete rejuvenation that looks much more natural. The skin's improved surface better matches the youthful contours achieved with the facelift, and with fillers we can address deeper facial wrinkles without overstretching the skin," explains Dr. Roark.
Multi-tiered treatment plans are not limited to facial rejuvenation at the San Diego cosmetic surgery practice, whose aesthetic services menu also includes non-surgical fat reduction, skin tightening, and other body contouring treatments. Among the possible procedure combinations:
Liposuction + Cellfina cellulite reduction can improve your body's overall shape and smooth out surface lumps and bumps that might otherwise mar your new contours
Breast lift + Thermi250 skin tightening combines the lifting and reshaping of sagging breasts with fat pocket reduction and toning in the underarm area to enhance the result
Breast augmentation + CoolSculpting fat reduction to the belly or hips can more dramatically enhance proportions by boosting curves in the upper body while slimming the lower body
The LJCSC plastic surgeons stress that adopting a multi-tiered treatment plan does not necessarily mean that a patient must wait many months between treatments before he or she can realize the full benefit of the combined procedures.
"Non-surgical cosmetic technology has come a long way. Advancements in recent years have greatly amplified the safety, efficacy, and comfort of treatment. Many non-surgical treatments can now be safely administered within weeks after surgery," states Dr. John Smoot.
For those concerned that a treatment plan that includes non-surgical procedures will require frequent follow-up appointments to maintain results, Dr. Lori Saltz has this to say: "While a handful of treatmentsinjectable neurotoxins, mostlymay need to be administered 3 to 4 times a year to maintain the effects, most skin and body treatments are meant to last for a year or longer. Some even rival surgery when it comes to enduring effects."
The plastic surgeons at LJCSC encourage anyone interested in learning more about their multi-tiered treatment approach to contact La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre.
About La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre: LJCSC is located in the Scripps/XIMED Medical Building on the Scripps Memorial Hospital Campus, at 9850 Genesee Avenue, Suite 130, in La Jolla, CA. The LJCSC Laser & Skincare Clinic is also located in the Scripps/XIMED Medical Building in Suite 380. Reach them by phone at 858-452-1981.
Media Contact: Marie Olesen, La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre. http://www.ljcsc.com/ or 858-452-1981.
SOURCE La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre
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http://www.ljcsc.com/
SINGAPORE, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Servers.com will participate for the first time in Cloud Expo Asia 2016. The company has recently launched the data center in Singapore and is set to continue networking and expansion in the APAC region.
At the Cloud Expo that will take place in Singapore on 12-13 of October, Servers.com will present their new product Prisma Cloud - GPU servers infrastructure which is useful for artificial intelligence, neural networks, analytics and database processing. Prisma Cloud Baremetal with up to 8 GPUs are already available in the following locations: Amsterdam, Dallas and Singapore
Nick Dvas, Servers.com Chief Operating Officer:
The Asian IT market grows fast and demands new approaches and new products and we're glad to have an opportunity to present our Prisma Cloud at the upcoming Cloud Expo Asia. Taking part in this event is very timely for us, as we have just launched our data center in Singapore. And we are lucky to already have strong business connections with the local companies such as our long-standing partner Telin Singapore.
Nick Sim, Sales Director, Telin Singapore:
Telin Singapore is pleased to support Servers.com on their data center solutions needs as they embark on their expansion plans in Asia Pacific region. The Tier-3 certified facility will help improve the reliability and total connectivity of Servers.com, enhancing their Business Continuity Planning. With our new Telin-3 Data Centre, it will strengthen the longer-term strategy and capabilities of both companies to grow in the colocation, connectivity and cloud platform business space.
About Servers.com:
Servers.com is a global IaaS hosting platform that provides an automated server infrastructure to small and midsize businesses. Servers.com currently has 5 ISO 27001-, ISO 9001-, and PCI DSS-certified data centers in Moscow, Dallas, Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Singapore. The key products such as cloud servers, dedicated servers, cloud storage and Prisma Cloud are united in hybrid cloud-ready environment, including Free Global Private Network that connects all the Servers.com data centers.
About Telin Singapore:
Telin Singapore, a subsidiary of PT Telkom Group, aims to be the data centre provider of choice. We are committed to provide the highest level of data centre solutions to our customers in the region. Together with our key partners, we offer the best-in-class, innovative and integrated solutions to meet the needs of our customers. Enhanced by proprietary-owned, seamless submarine cables, our flexible, modular and scalable data centre facilities in Singapore connect our customers from Indonesia and Singapore to the rest of the world.
SOURCE Servers.com
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https://www.servers.com
The President of Ireland presents the Award annually to Irish citizens, those eligible for Irish citizenship, or individuals from an Irish background in six categories. Norman McClelland is the son of Irish immigrant W.T. McClelland who founded Shamrock Dairy in Tucson, Ariz., in 1922.
"In addition to running the family business, Norman has dedicated his professional and personal life to actively supporting many philanthropic ventures and organizations throughout Arizona, including the Irish Cultural Center. This is a testament to Norman's steadfast leadership and genuine dedication to serving his community whilst paying homage to his Ulster roots," said U.S. Senator John McCain.
McClelland's personal charitable works here in Arizona include countless nonprofits, medical organizations and schools, including St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix Mountain Preserve, University of Arizona and Interfaith Ministries, among others.
These efforts are amplified through Shamrock Foods Company's long tradition of giving back to the community to support more than 80 nonprofit organizations. For example, Shamrock donates more than 300,000 pounds of food annually to local food banks like St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance and dedicates several hundred volunteer hours annually through its associate programs. The company's charitable giving aligns closely with the McClelland family's Emerald Foundation, with a strong focus on families, education, military, healthcare and hunger.
"This award acknowledges a lifetime of activities. But there is an additional, more personal dimension which is more relevant. Norman does not support worthy causes because he is asked to: He does so because he cares deeply," said former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl.
McClelland celebrates his Irish roots and fosters the Irish community through his work with the Irish Cultural Center in Phoenix. Two of the center's integral resources include the McClelland Library and Frances McClelland Genealogical Center, named in honor of Norman and his late sister's contributions.
The Irish Cultural Center celebrates Irish heritage, providing a link between the people of Arizona and the people of Ireland and other Celtic cultures. Throughout the year, several events take place such as Irish dance and music performances, lecture series on various topics and more. The next big event and the center's main fundraiser, is the Annual Anam Cara Gala on Oct. 15, featuring the world-famous Irish tenor Anthony Kearns. Tickets are still available for purchase at azirish.org.
McClelland will travel to Ireland to receive the prestigious award in person on Dec. 8, 2016.
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SOURCE Shamrock Foods Company
"The SkoolLive platform has created a progressive kiosk technology and proven beneficial in bringing engaging technology that is appealing and valuable to students while controlling the flow of information from school staff into one central location," said SkoolLive Founder & CEO George Bruton.
Enhancements
Live Campus Voting
Shoutouts Family and friends can send digital 'shoutouts' via the kiosks (birthday, good luck, etc.).
SkoolLOOT The program kicks off with the December sweepstakes, offering a $5,000 home technology package and $5,000 for the winner's school.
"As a district that is fully engaged in technology with one-to-one laptops for grades 4 to 12, the SkoolLive kiosks are a perfect visual communication device for students and parents," said Tucson Public Information Office Director Mary Veres. "Our students and staff love the kiosk as a communication tool because of the ease of designing our own content, and the increased engagement of our students."
The Kiosk
SkoolLive is the first platform of its kind to disseminate information on a closed and proprietary network. SkoolLive designs and assembles the digital kiosks exclusively in its San Diego, CA, facility. SkoolLive's software was devised by Bruton, who saw the need to digitize information to appeal to a generation bred almost exclusively on technology.
The kiosk is a 60-inch, high-definition digital screen installed in high traffic areas on a school campus. The center screen publishes school announcements tryouts, activities, etc. while the top and bottom banners of the screen feature opportunities for partners to support the schools and provide exposure to students.
Responsible Marketing
SkoolLive has very stringent methods of checks and balances to ensure transparency and responsible marketing. The SkoolLive network is 100 percent SOPIPA (Student Online Personal Information Protection Act) compliant, and requires all its partners to be as well.
For more information, visit www.SkoolLive.com or call 858-435-7700.
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SOURCE SkoolLive
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Skorpios Technologies, Inc., a fabless integrated silicon photonics system on a chip company, announced that Luca Cafiero joined its Board of Directors, effective October 6, 2016.
Cafiero is a veteran of the networking and IT industry. Most recently he served as a senior vice president at Cisco, co-leading the Insieme Business Unit. Cafiero is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded several companies, including Nuova Systems in 2006, Crescendo Communications in 1993 and DAVID Systems in 1982.
"I'm thrilled to welcome Luca to our Board of Directors," said Stephen Krasulick, CEO and chairman of Skorpios Technologies. "For more than two decades, Luca has had a successful track record of building multibillion dollar platforms and world-class teams, and delivering game-changing innovations embraced by enterprise, as well as service and cloud providers. He is a tremendous asset to the company."
"Skorpios has created a disruptive technology platform that can be leveraged in numerous applications," Cafiero added. "I strongly believe in this technology. I look forward to working with Steve to execute on his vision for the company."
About Skorpios Technologies
Skorpios is a fabless semiconductor company delivering highly integrated communications products based upon its proprietary, wafer-scale, silicon photonics process. This novel process leverages the existing silicon manufacturing ecosystem to enable high bandwidth interconnectivity at mature CMOS manufacturing costs. Skorpios' unique platform can be used to address a wide range of applications: high-speed video, data and voice communications for networking and cloud computing, storage, wireless and cable TV. For more information, visit www.skorpiosinc.com.
SOURCE Skorpios Technologies
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A small acting school in Albuquerque, New Mexico is garnering national recognition both on stage and on screen.
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If you have tuned into Breaking Bad, Law & Order: SVU, Longmire, or In Plain Sight chances are you have seen Vivian Nesbitt, owner of Sol Acting Academy on TV. Students and program graduates are getting cast in a ton of roles too. This Fall, Sol students have been performing on stage in New York City, and appearing in international film festivals with their original short films.
Owner Nesbitt and the teachers at Sol are exhilarated by the work their students are booking. Nesbitt is continuously working with the staff to create new courses, to keep up with the demand.
Vivian says, "Our goal is to prepare and empower our students to audition for and book a variety of roles. I get a thrill every time they are cast and we celebrate our students accomplishments every day on our website SolActing.com."
Christina Gopal, a student with her two actor sons since 2012, says: "Sol Acting Academy has been a wonderful, nurturing, and supportive facility for me and my two actor sons. Sol not only teaches and mentors the acting side of stage and screen, they also teach the behind the scenes and business end."
Sol Acting Academy may be located in a strip mall in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but it is attracting actors to come in and train from all over the United States. The Academy offers 3 day intensive courses that have become so popular that they are almost completely sold out for all of 2016. The school has expanded since its start, into a 5000 square ft. building including offices, studios, and a small black box theater, and has served over 600 students so far this year. The course offerings have expanded, and Sol provides part-time employment for twelve professional actors to instruct classes seven days a week. The school offers comprehensive training with students' ages 5 to 95 and all levels of experience.
Sol Acting Academy
5500 San Mateo Blvd, NE Suite 114
Albuquerque, NM 87109
Contact: Vivian Nesbitt (575) 779-0747
http://www.solacting.com
http://www.viviannesbitt.com
Media Contact:
Vivian Nesbitt
[email protected]
5052419631
SOURCE Sol Acting Academy
Related Links
http://www.solacting.com
Gunmen targeted Shia pilgrims in Kabul late Tuesday as they gathered near a shrine to celebrate the festival of Ashura, one of the most important on the Shiite calendar, the Ministry of Interior said.
"Three attackers opened fire, two were killed," said ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi, who was not able to clarify whether there were casualties.
The third assailant was still on the loose, he said.
Police evacuated pilgrims at the scene, according to local television station Tolo News.
Karte Sakhi shrine, where the attack took place, is located in the west of the Afghan capital, near Kabul University.
The threat of attack targeting Shias was considered particularly serious during Ashura, and many foreign embassies had restricted their staff's movements until the end of the week in Kabul.
Ashura, which will be celebrated Wednesday, commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was assassinated in 680 and whose tragic end laid the foundation for the faith.
For Shias around the world, Ashura is a symbol of the struggle against oppression.
The last attack on the Afghan Shia minority, on July 23 in Kabul, killed 84 people and left 130 injured. It was claimed by the Islamic State organisation.
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PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Soligenix, Inc. (OTCQB: SNGXD) (Soligenix or the Company), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need, announced today that it has been invited to present preliminary results from two programs at National Organization for Rare Disorders' (NORD's) Rare Diseases and Orphan Products Breakthrough Summit on October 17-18, 2016 in Arlington, VA.
The presented results will be available for viewing throughout the conference and will address preclinical efficacy findings in two programs that have previously been granted orphan drug designation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA):
Dusquetide in the treatment of macrophage activation syndrome (MAS); and
RiVax, a proprietary thermostable ricin toxin vaccine, for the prevention of ricin intoxication.
Dusquetide (the active ingredient in SGX942) is a first-in-class Innate Defense Regulator. It modulates the response of the innate immune system in response to various stimuli, including infection, tissue damage and inflammation. Dusquetide has shown preclinical efficacy in an extensive array of preclinical models emphasizing all 3 aspects of its activity. As will be presented, the drug is effective in a preclinical model of MAS. This finding is supported by dusquetide's ability to improve survival in models of bacteremia which also feature excess innate immune pro-inflammatory signaling. Clinical activity, highlighting the anti-inflammatory action of dusquetide, has also been obtained in both Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical studies. Results from the Phase 2 study recently demonstrated that dusquetide can reduce the duration of severe oral mucositis, caused by the excessive inflammatory response of the innate immune system to damage caused by chemoradiation, in head and neck cancer patients.
RiVax is the Company's proprietary vaccine candidate for the prevention of exposure to ricin toxin using a unique antigen that is completely devoid of the toxic activity of ricin. When formulated with Soligenix's proprietary heat-stabilization ThermoVax technology, RiVax has demonstrated significantly enhanced thermostability and 100% protection in preclinical ricin aerosol challenge models.
Poster Presentation Titles:
An Innate Defense Regulator for the Treatment of Macrophage Activation Syndrome: Preclinical Studies in an Orphan Indication
Orphan Disease, Biodefense and the Animal Rule: A Thermostabilized Ricin Toxin Vaccine
About the NORD Rare Disease and Orphan Products Breakthrough Summit
NORD's Rare Diseases and Orphan Products Breakthrough Summit features speakers from the FDA, participation of patient organizations and the Pharma/Biotech industry's foremost experts in orphan product innovation, investment and commercialization. More details about the conference can be found at http://rarediseases.org/summit-overview/.
About Dusquetide
Dusquetide is an innate defense regulator (IDR), a new class of short, synthetic peptides. It has a novel mechanism of action in that it modulates the body's reaction to both injury and infection towards an anti-inflammatory and an anti-infective response. IDRs have no direct antibiotic activity but, by modulating the host's innate immune system responses, increase survival after infections with a broad range of bacterial Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens. It also accelerates resolution of tissue damage following exposure to a variety of agents including bacterial pathogens, trauma and chemo- and/or radiation therapy. Preclinical efficacy and safety has been demonstrated in numerous animal disease models including mucositis, colitis, melioidosis, MAS and other bacterial infections. Some of these preclinical findings have been published in an article entitled "A novel approach for emerging and antibiotic resistant infections: Innate defense regulators as an agnostic therapy" and are available at the following link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2016.03.032.
SGX942 (the drug product containing dusquetide) has demonstrated safety in a Phase 1 clinical study in 84 healthy human volunteers. Recently, SGX942 has demonstrated preliminary efficacy and safety in an exploratory Phase 2 clinical study in 111 patients with oral mucositis due to chemoradiation (CRT) therapy for head and neck cancer. Consistent with preclinical findings, SGX942 at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg demonstrated positive improvements in decreasing the duration of severe oral mucositis by 50% overall compared to the placebo group, from 18 days to 9 days (p=0.099). In patients at highest risk of oral mucositis (e.g., those exposed to the most aggressive concomitant chemotherapy), the reduction in the duration of severe oral mucositis was even more significant at 67% when treated with SGX942 1.5 mg/kg, from 30 days to 10 days (p=0.04). The p-values meet the prospectively defined statistical threshold of p<0.1 in the study protocol. Additional observations included an improved tumor response to CRT therapy at the one month follow up visit, as well as decreases in infection rate.
Dusquetide and related analogs have a strong intellectual property position, including composition of matter. Dusquetide was developed pursuant to discoveries made by Professors B. Brett Finlay, PhD and Robert Hancock, PhD of the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Drug products containing dusquetide have also received Fast Track Designations from the FDA for the treatment of oral mucositis as a result of radiation and/or chemotherapy treatment in head and neck cancer patients, and as an adjunctive therapy with other antibacterial drugs, for the treatment of melioidosis. Orphan Drug Designation for use of dusquetide in the treatment of MAS has also been granted.
About RiVax
RiVax is Soligenix's proprietary recombinant subunit vaccine developed to protect against exposure to ricin toxin. With RiVax, Soligenix is a world leader in the area of ricin toxin vaccine research.
RiVax contains a genetically altered version of a RTA chain containing two mutations that inactivate the toxicity of the ricin molecule. A Phase 1A clinical trial was conducted with a formulation of RiVax that did not contain an adjuvant. This trial revealed dose dependent seroconversion as well as lack of toxicity of the molecule when administered intramuscularly to human volunteers. The adjuvant-free formulation of RiVax induced toxin neutralizing antibodies that lasted up to 127 days after the third vaccination in several individuals. To increase the longevity and magnitude of toxin neutralizing antibodies, RiVax was formulated with an adjuvant of aluminum salts (known colloquially as Alum) for a Phase 1B clinical trial. Alum is an adjuvant that is used in many human vaccines, including most vaccines used in infants. The results of the Phase 1B study indicated that Alum-adjuvanted RiVax was safe and well tolerated, and induced greater ricin neutralizing antibody levels in humans than adjuvant-free RiVax. In preclinical animal studies, the Alum formulation of RiVax also induced higher titers and longer lasting antibodies than the adjuvant-free vaccine. Vaccination with the Alum-adjuvanted RiVax formulation in a large animal model provided 100% protection (p<0.0001) against acute exposure to aerosolized ricin, the most lethal route of exposure for ricin. The protected animals also had no signs of gross lung damage, a serious and enduring ramification with long-term consequences for survivors of ricin exposure.
The development of RiVax has been sponsored through a series of grants from both the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the FDA, which were granted to Soligenix and to the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) where the vaccine originated. To date, Soligenix and Dr. Ellen Vitetta and colleagues at UTSW have collectively received approximately $25 million in grant funding from NIAID for development of RiVax and related vaccine technologies. RiVax would potentially be added to the Strategic National Stockpile and dispensed in the event of a terrorist attack.
About ThermoVax
ThermoVax is a technology that is designed to eliminate the standard cold chain production, distribution and storage logistics required for most vaccines. Cold chain requirements add considerable cost to the production and storage of current conventional vaccines. According to the Biopharma Cold Chain Sourcebook of 2010, more than 90% of all vaccines (with a total value of $20.6 billion) require shipment through cold chain. Elimination of the cold chain would also enhance the utility of these vaccines for emerging markets and for other applications requiring but lacking reliable cold chain capabilities. Further, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that as much as 50% of all global vaccine doses are wasted due, in part, to excursions outside required temperature ranges. NIAID has also highlighted the priority of technologies for biodefense vaccines that focus on broad spectrum approaches including vaccine adjuvants and temperature stabilization for long shelf life, rapid onset of immunity, and surge capacity for production. For vaccines that are intended for long-term stockpiling, such as for use in biodefense or in pandemic situations, the utilization of ThermoVax has the potential to facilitate easier storage and distribution of strategic national stockpile vaccines in emergency situations.
The technology utilizes precise lyophilization of protein immunogens with conventional aluminum adjuvants in combination with secondary adjuvants for rapid onset of protective immunity with the fewest number of vaccinations. RiVax is extremely labile in liquid form requiring careful management under refrigerated conditions at 4 degrees Celsius (39 degrees Fahrenheit). By employing ThermoVax during the final formulation, it is possible to produce stable and potent vaccines that are capable of withstanding temperatures at least as high as 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for up to one year.
The underlying technology has been developed by Drs. John Carpenter and Theodore Randolph at the University of Colorado. The vaccine technology has been developed to date in collaboration with SRI International, the University of Kansas, the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health, and the Tulane National Primate Research Center under the sponsorship of the cooperative grant from NIAID.
About Soligenix, Inc.
Soligenix is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need. Our BioTherapeutics business segment is developing SGX301 as a novel photodynamic therapy utilizing safe visible light for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, our first-in-class innate defense regulator (IDR) technology, dusquetide (SGX942) for the treatment of oral mucositis in head and neck cancer, and proprietary formulations of oral beclomethasone 17,21-dipropionate (BDP) for the prevention/treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders characterized by severe inflammation including pediatric Crohn's disease (SGX203) and acute radiation enteritis (SGX201).
Our Vaccines/BioDefense business segment includes active development programs for RiVax, our ricin toxin vaccine candidate, OrbeShield, our GI acute radiation syndrome therapeutic candidate and SGX943, our melioidosis therapeutic candidate. The development of our vaccine programs incorporates the use of our proprietary heat stabilization platform technology, known as ThermoVax. Currently, this business segment is supported with up to $58 million in government grant and contract funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
For further information regarding Soligenix, Inc., please visit the Company's website at www.soligenix.com.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect Soligenix, Inc.'s current expectations about its future results, performance, prospects and opportunities, including but not limited to, potential market sizes, patient populations and clinical trial enrollment. Statements that are not historical facts, such as "anticipates," "estimates," "believes," "hopes," "intends," "plans," "expects," "goal," "may," "suggest," "will," "potential," or similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results in future periods to differ materially from what is expressed in, or implied by, these statements. Soligenix cannot assure you that it will be able to successfully develop, achieve regulatory approval for or commercialize products based on its technologies, particularly in light of the significant uncertainty inherent in developing therapeutics and vaccines against bioterror threats, conducting preclinical and clinical trials of therapeutics and vaccines, obtaining regulatory approvals and manufacturing therapeutics and vaccines, that product development and commercialization efforts will not be reduced or discontinued due to difficulties or delays in clinical trials or due to lack of progress or positive results from research and development efforts, that it will be able to successfully obtain any further funding to support product development and commercialization efforts, including grants and awards, maintain its existing grants which are subject to performance requirements, enter into any biodefense procurement contracts with the US Government or other countries, that it will be able to compete with larger and better financed competitors in the biotechnology industry, that changes in health care practice, third party reimbursement limitations and Federal and/or state health care reform initiatives will not negatively affect its business, or that the US Congress may not pass any legislation that would provide additional funding for the Project BioShield program. These and other risk factors are described from time to time in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Soligenix's reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K. Unless required by law, Soligenix assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.
SOURCE Soligenix, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.soligenix.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE: SAH) today announced it will release fiscal 2016 third quarter financial results on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 7:30 A.M. (Eastern). Senior management will hold a conference call on November 1, 2016 at 11:00 A.M. (Eastern).
To access the live broadcast of the call over the Internet, go to www.sonicautomotive.com, then click on "Our Company," then "Investor Relations," then "Earnings Conference Calls."
The conference call will also be available live by dialing in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call at:
Domestic: 1.877.450.3867
International: 1.706.643.0958
Conference ID: 96968408
A conference call replay will be available one hour following the call for seven days and can be accessed by calling:
Domestic: 1.855.859.2056
International: 1.404.537.3406
Conference ID: 96968408
Presentation materials for the Company's earnings conference call will be accessible beginning the morning of the conference call on the Company's website at www.sonicautomotive.com by clicking on "Our Company," then "Investor Relations," then "Webcasts & Presentations."
About Sonic Automotive
Sonic Automotive, Inc., a Fortune 500 company based in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the nation's largest automotive retailers. Sonic can be reached on the web at www.sonicautomotive.com.
SOURCE Sonic Automotive, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.sonicautomotive.com
DALLAS, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) (the "Company") today reported its September, third quarter, and year-to-date preliminary traffic statistics.
The Company flew 9.9 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in September 2016, an increase of 7.9 percent from the 9.2 billion RPMs flown in September 2015. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 6.0 percent to 11.8 billion in September 2016, compared with September 2015 ASMs of 11.1 billion. The September 2016 load factor was a record for the month of September at 84.2 percent, compared with 82.7 percent in September 2015. The Company continues to estimate its third quarter 2016 operating revenue per ASM (RASM) will decline in the 3.5 to 4.5 percent range, as compared with third quarter 2015*, with approximately 0.5 point of the decline resulting from the Company's July 2016 technology outage.
This release, as well as past news releases about Southwest Airlines Co., is available online at Southwest.com.
Southwest Airlines Co. Preliminary Comparative Traffic Statistics
SEPTEMBER
2016
2015
Change Revenue passengers carried 10,148,682
9,421,347
7.7% Enplaned passengers 12,302,964
11,536,417
6.6% Revenue passenger miles (000s) 9,938,610
9,206,955
7.9% Available seat miles (000s) 11,797,272
11,133,628
6.0% Load factor 84.2%
82.7%
1.5 pts. Average length of haul 979
977
0.2% Trips flown 105,535
101,467
4.0%
THIRD QUARTER
2016
2015
Change Revenue passengers carried 31,768,550
30,559,019
4.0% Enplaned passengers 38,852,737
37,765,903
2.9% Revenue passenger miles (000s) 32,315,952
31,052,660
4.1% Available seat miles (000s) 37,881,510
36,360,340
4.2% Load factor 85.3%
85.4%
(0.1) pts. Average length of haul 1,017
1,016
0.1% Trips flown 332,420
325,301
2.2%
YEAR-TO-DATE
2016
2015
Change Revenue passengers carried 92,712,998
87,802,757
5.6% Enplaned passengers 112,960,419
107,535,145
5.0% Revenue passenger miles (000s) 93,431,810
87,771,907
6.4% Available seat miles (000s) 111,374,942
105,133,835
5.9% Load factor 83.9%
83.5%
0.4 pts. Average length of haul 1,008
1,000
0.8% Trips flown 981,409
948,180
3.5%
*Operating revenues used in the calculation of third quarter 2015 RASM exclude a $172 million one-time non-cash special revenue adjustment as shown in the following reconciliation. Additional information regarding the special revenue adjustment is available in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.
Three months ended (in millions) September 30, 2015 Operating Revenues, as reported $ 5,318 Deduct: Special revenue adjustment (172) Operating Revenues, Non-GAAP $ 5,146
SW-T
SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.
Related Links
http://www.southwest.com
WICHITA, Kan., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Spirit AeroSystems and its employees are contributing $30,000 to the American Red Cross for flood relief efforts in North Carolina. Almost 600 people work at Spirit's facility in Kinston, N.C., building fuselage sections and wing spar components for the Airbus A350 XWB.
"This natural disaster hit close to home," said John Beilman, chair of the Kinston Good Neighbor Fund. "Thousands of people in this region have been affected by the widespread flooding and will need help with cleanup. This is exactly what the Spirit Good Neighbor Fund was designed to do provide help to our friends, neighbors, co-workers and communities when they need it most."
Spirit's employee-run Good Neighbor Fund (GNF) contributes to nonprofit organizations in U.S. communities where the company operates and is funded entirely through employee contributions. Both the Kinston and Wichita Good Neighbor Funds contributed to the North Carolina flood relief effort, and Spirit matched the GNF gift dollar for dollar.
At this time, it is unknown how many Spirit employees were personally impacted by the flooding. Spirit's Kinston site was shut down for more than 48 hours due to loss of power from Hurricane Matthew. Power was restored Monday and employees began returning to work Monday evening.
On the web: www.spiritaero.com
On Twitter: @SpiritAero
About Spirit AeroSystems Inc.
Spirit AeroSystems designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers. With headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia. The company's core products include fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components for the world's premier aircraft. Spirit AeroSystems focuses on affordable, innovative composite and aluminum manufacturing solutions to support customers around the globe. More information is available at www.SpiritAero.com.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130515/CG13652LOGO
SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems
Related Links
http://www.spiritaero.com
The cable landing station located in Hollywood provides Telia Carrier customers access to important subsea cable systems including MAYA-1, Americas-II and Columbus-III, which link the US to the Caribbean, Central and South America. As a leading provider of 100G services, Telia Carrier offers options from stm-x all the way to 100 Gb/s increments as well as terabit capacity to IP and Transmission customers. In addition to the Miami and Boca Raton facilities, Telia Carrier can provide diverse high capacity services extending to over 70 Pops in North America and internationally as well.
Added Resiliency
The diverse buried fiber construction of the Telia Carrier backhaul systems offer additional protection from the natural threats that can impact the region, such as hurricanes. Protecting the on-land portion of the network from the potential damages of such storms, including fiber cuts, is critical to the companies, systems and networks that rely on the uptime of the expensive subsea cable capacity they connect to. The survivability can be greatly enhanced in these situations leveraging almost 45 miles of physical separation between the facilities in Boca Raton and Miami.
"Telia Carrier is dedicated to delivering reliable and secure connectivity to address the continued growth of bandwidth demand in the region," said Art Kazmierczak, Director of Business Development, Americas at Telia Carrier. "The diverse network design provides dual or protected connection options to MAYA-1 and other subsea cable systems and allows Telia Carrier to service Central and South American customers with the resiliency and high-speed performance that they demand."
Telia Carrier was the first carrier with a 100G enabled backbone in both Europe and North America in addition to owning and operating a top two ranked Global IP backbone. The company enables worldwide connectivity by connecting more than 200 Points of Presence (PoPs) across Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East including 70 PoPs in North America alone.
Media Enquiries: Rickard Backlin, VP Brand & Marketing, Telia Carrier, +46-72-2368327, [email protected]
About Telia Carrier
Telia Carrier owns and operates one of the world's most extensive fiber backbones. Our mission is to provide exceptional network infrastructure and services empowering individuals, businesses and societies to execute their most critical activities. By working close to our customers, we make big ideas happen at the speed of fiber.
Discover more at teliacarrier.com
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/426775
SOURCE Telia Carrier
Related Links
http://teliacarrier.com
In line with the TempTraq mission to provide families with peace of mind when their children are sick, Dr. Schwartz works with pediatric cancer patients in Northern Uganda through The Child is Innocent, a non-profit organization he co-founded that aims to improve health and education, and to provide leadership development for children.
The major issue Dr. Schwartz faced within the pediatric cancer department at the Institute was a shortage of nursing staff. With only one nurse for every 20 to 40 patients, vital signs were only checked once or twice a day. However, in pediatric cancer patients who already have a suppressed immune system, it is critical that vital signs are tracked more frequently to catch dangerous fevers. Undetected fevers can be extremely dangerous and potentially deadly in these types of patients.
After being approached by Dr. Schwartz, TempTraq donated units to his cause, providing comfort for parents of sick children and a system for nurses to proactively monitor patients through their smartphones. They can be alerted in real time when fever spikes, giving them the power to address the fever more quickly and administer the appropriate antibiotics to help fight life-threatening infections.
For more information about these organizations, visit Uganda Cancer Institute and The Child is Innocent Foundation.
For more information or to connect:
Website: temptraq.com
Facebook: facebook.com/temptraqthermometer/
Twitter: @TempTraq
Instagram: @temp.traq
YouTube: youtube.com/temptraq
About Blue Spark Technologies, Inc.
Headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, Blue Spark Technologies, Inc. is the leader in developing thin, flexible, printed power solutions for printed electronic systems. Founded in 2002 to commercialize thin printed battery technology from Energizer, the company has evolved to include printed electronics solutions development utilizing their proprietary battery technology to create unique thin and flexible solutions. Blue Spark Technologies' latest innovation, TempTraq, is powered by Blue Spark Technologies' patented, printed flexible battery, and is the only Bluetooth, wearable temperature monitor in the form of a soft, comfortable patch that continuously, and comfortably, monitors body temperature for up to 24 hours and sends alerts to Apple or Android compatible mobile devices.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427211
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427213
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160808/396405LOGO
SOURCE Blue Spark Technologies, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.temptraq.com
"For 14 years, the Shils Fund has celebrated innovation, recognized excellence, and honored the visionaries that shape our industry and protect the oral health of so many," said Steven W. Kess, President of the Dr. Edward B. Shils Entrepreneurial Fund's Board of Directors. "This year's honorees exemplify Ed's dedication to the values of entrepreneurship and education, and I believe that he would be incredibly proud to see the impact their talent, compassion, and leadership have had in our communities."
Dr. Shils served as the Executive Director of the Dental Manufacturers of America and the Dental Dealers of America for almost 50 years and earned six degreesincluding three doctoratesfrom the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as a professor and Chair of the Management Department at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He was also instrumental in establishing the Wharton Entrepreneurial Center, the first institute dedicated to the academic study of entrepreneurialism.
Because of his stewardship, scholarship, and encouragement of innovative business practices in dentistry, the Dr. Edward B. Shils Entrepreneurial Fund was established by the dental industry to recognize those whose contributions reflect a similarly enduring commitment to innovation in the field of oral health.
Three different awards were presented at the event:
The Shils-Meskin Award, named after Dr. Shils and Dr. Lawrence Meskin , a renowned dental educator and former Dean of the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine;
, a renowned dental educator and former Dean of the School of Dental Medicine; The Shils Award, which is a monetary prize given to people and programs from all sectors of the health care community in recognition of their positive impact on the field and their respective communities; and
The Special Recognition Award, which acknowledges people and programs for their work to improve the oral health and well-being of others.
The 2016 Shils-Meskin Award, which is given at the discretion of the Board of Directors to an individual of great character and modesty in the face of renowned achievement and well-deserved recognition, was given to Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, the Principal Deputy Director and the Deputy Ethics Councilor of the National Institute of Health (NIH). Dr. Tabak was recognized for his dedication to and advocacy for the advancement of dental research and leadership at the NIH. Some of Dr. Tabak's many accomplishments include the NIH Roadmap effort to support team science, the NIH Director's initiative to enhance peer-review, and the NIH's implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Dr. Tabak is just the eighth person since 2002 to receive the Shils-Meskin Award.
This year's Shils Awards were presented to:
Dr. Laurie M. McCauley , for her outstanding leadership as a health educator as the Dean of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, and for her commitment to researching the prevention of early tooth decay;
, for her outstanding leadership as a health educator as the Dean of the School of Dentistry, and for her commitment to researching the prevention of early tooth decay; Dr. Carolyn Primus , the President of Avalon Biomed Inc., for her innovation and development of many products for fixed prosthodontics, orthodontics, and endodontics to enhance dental procedures and advance the dental profession;
, the President of Avalon Biomed Inc., for her innovation and development of many products for fixed prosthodontics, orthodontics, and endodontics to enhance dental procedures and advance the dental profession; Dr. Othman Shibly, the Director of the Post Graduate Program in Periodontics for the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, for his exceptional leadership as a dental educator and for his participation in medical missions to help Syrian refugees in Jordan , Turkey , and Lebanon ; and
, , and ; and The Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services, an organization that provides quality, comprehensive health services to residents of the public housing units in Philadelphia's 11th Street Corridor.
Dr. Sidney Whitman, the Director of Pediatric Dentistry at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, received this year's Special Recognition Award for his advocacy for and lifelong dedication to improving the oral health of thousands of children living in the Delaware Valley and New Jersey.
Stanley M. Bergman, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Henry Schein, Inc.the world's largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, animal health and medical practitionersdelivered remarks about his personal relationship with Dr. Shils and the effect Dr. Shils had on so many people.
"Ed was an unforgettable man with an uncanny ability to forge friendships and empower all those fortunate enough to know and work with him," Mr. Bergman said. "His unmatched belief in the power of education and entrepreneurship have had an incredible impact on our industry, and it is so comforting to see his legacy being carried on by the people and programs honored here tonight."
About The Dr. Edward B. Shils Entrepreneurial Fund
Friends and colleagues of Dr. Shils, who are also prominent leaders in the dental industry, founded the Dr. Edward D. Shils Entrepreneurial Education Fund in 2002 because they knew that Dr. Shils wanted to leave a legacy of entrepreneurship. In 2012, the Fund was renamed the The Dr. Edward B. Shils Entrepreneurial Fund, Inc. and became a registered 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organization. Through annual awards, the Fund honors the pioneering vision of Dr. Shils and helps foster inspiration and initiative in current and future health care entrepreneurs.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161007/416431
SOURCE The Dr. Edward B. Shils Entrepreneurial Fund
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161011/427358 )
Emilie Gordenker, Director: 'We are delighted that her Royal Highness paid a visit to the Mauritshuis. It was a very special experience to show her the renowned permanent collection as well as the exhibition.'
The Duchess of Cambridge was received by Emilie Gordenker, who gave her a tour of highlights in the Mauritshuis, which included the Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius, and The Bull by Paulus Potter. The Duchess, who took a degree in art history at the University of St Andrews, is familiar with the collection. She also visited the Art Workshop in the Mauritshuis, where children were engaged in a painting lesson. The programme ended with a visit to the exhibition At Home in Holland.
At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection
The exhibition contains works by masters such as Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou, Pieter de Hooch, Gabriel Metsu and Jan Steen, which are regarded as some of the most important Dutch genre paintings in the British Royal Collection. The highlight of the exhibition is 'The Music Lesson' by Johannes Vermeer.
The exhibition introduces the public to the 'genre painting', its many forms and the provocative symbolism it often conceals. These works are stunning in their variety, from simple farmhands gathered in an inn to elegant figures in rich interiors. Some of the everyday scenes carry a deeper, often moralistic meaning, which may be explicit or at times concealed. But in all of them, the artists portrayed the characters and their environments as skilfully as possible, which makes them even more attractive.
Notes to editors:
Images of the exhibition can be downloaded through this link mauritshuis.nl/pers, please mention the attached credit line: Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016.
The Mauritshuis
The Mauritshuis is home to the best of Dutch painting from the Golden Age. The compact, yet world-renowned collection, is situated in the heart of The Hague in The Netherlands, right next to the government centre. Masterpieces such as Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt, The Goldfinch by Fabritius and The Bull by Potter are on permanent display in the intimate rooms of this seventeenth-century monument. More than two hundred top works from Dutch and Flemish masters are on display in the historic yet intimate interior, with its silken wall covering, sparkling chandeliers and monumental painted ceilings. Genre paintings by Jan Steen, landscapes by Jacob van Ruisdael, still lifes by Adriaen Coorte and portraits by Rubens offer a rich and varied representation of the best of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish painting.
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection is among the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. It comprises almost all aspects of the fine and decorative arts, and is spread among some 14 royal residences and former residences across the UK, most of which are regularly open to the public. The Royal Collection is held in trust by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Sovereign.
Explore the Royal Collection at http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection.
SOURCE Den Haag Marketing
AMMAN, Jordan, October 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The Tallest Tower in the Kingdom Includes 50 Floors and is 188 Metres High
Amman Rotana hotel, the newest property by Rotana, one of the leading hotel management companies in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe, is already creating an expectant buzz and attracting widespread attention from both visitors and tourists in the Kingdom since opening its doors to guests in mid-July 2016.
Amman Rotana, the tallest building in the Kingdom, towers 188 metres and features 50 floors that include 412 lavish rooms and suites that were designed to combine luxury and comfort. Additionally, the hotel is home to a number of world-class dining venues, the cutting-edge Bodylines Fitness & Wellness Club and an outdoor swimming pool.
Mohammad Haj Hassan, Area Vice President of Rotana in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain, said, "The opening of Amman Rotana falls in line with our group's determined expansion vision and Jordan's rich tourism offerings and diverse cultural identity made it an appealing prospect, one that Rotana is proud of. Amman Rotana has already become a landmark in the city, towering over the capital and offering a unique luxury experience housed in a magnificent design.
Located in Amman's new downtown as an integral part of the Abdali project, the hotel is centrally located with a spectacular 360-degree panoramic view of the capital and its seven hills. Amman Rotana is adjacent to The Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana and is steps away from the contemporary Boulevard commercial district, which features luxurious outdoor shopping options as well as a number of popular restaurants and cafes. Also close by is the Al-Abdali Mall, Jordan's largest commercial complex, showcasing numerous international brands and boutique shops.
Cluster General Manager of Amman Rotana and The Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana, Atieh Hamarneh said, "The hotel's design, architecture and interiors reflect creativity and innovation. The hotel has, in a short period of time, become an outstanding landmark of the Kingdom, and we are looking forward to being a qualitative addition to the hospitality sector in Jordan through our distinctive characteristics, world-class services and strategic location."
Amman Rotana hosts six diverse restaurants with menus boasting delicacies from around the world, including the venue ThreeSixty all-day-dining, The Lounge, Rodeo Grill steakhouse, Italian restaurant Gusto, Bar on Four and The Deck Pool Lounge. Additionally, the hotel houses the Monarch Ballroom, a deluxe hall for special occasions and nine exclusive meeting spaces, as well as Bodylines Fitness & Wellness Club with modern gym facilities that offer up-to-date equipment, expert trainers, a sauna, Jacuzzi and steam rooms.
"Amman Rotana is focused on providing the best services to our guests in addition to providing exceptional facilities and meeting their needs in line with Rotana's approach. Amman Rotana currently employs around 500 Jordanians, which certainly reflects positively on the national economy and we are looking forward to its official grand opening in November 2016, concluded Haj Hassan.
About Amman Rotana
Amman Rotana, the tallest building in the Kingdom, towers 188 metres and features 50 floors that include 412 lavish rooms and suites that were designed to combine luxury and comfort. The stunning hotel is home to a number of world-class dining venues, the cutting-edge Bodylines Fitness & Wellness Club and an outdoor swimming pool. Located in Amman's new downtown as an integral part of the Abdali project, the hotel is centrally located with a spectacular 360-degree panoramic view of the capital and its seven hills. Amman Rotana is adjacent to The Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana and is steps away from the contemporary Boulevard commercial district, which features luxurious outdoor shopping options as well as a number of popular restaurants and cafes. Also close by is the Al-Abdali Mall, Jordan's largest commercial complex, showcasing numerous international brands and boutique shops.
About Rotana
Rotana currently manages a portfolio of over 100 properties throughout the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe with an aggressive expansion plan in place. Rotana has chosen to acknowledge how precious time is by making all time spent in their range of hotels 'Treasured Time'. This means Rotana has pledged to understand and meet the individual needs of all guests. In so doing, Rotana has evolved its product brands to include, Rotana Hotels & Resorts, Centro Hotels by Rotana, Rayhaan Hotels & Resorts by Rotana, Arjaan Hotel Apartments by Rotana and The Residences by Rotana. Treasured Time. The Rotana promise to you.
Further information on any Rotana property, its brands or reservations can be obtained by visiting rotana.com or by contacting one of the regional sales offices.
SOURCE Advvise
TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc., the world's premier fondue restaurant and a leading polished casual dining franchise, announced today it is once again participating in the annual St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign in support of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Since establishing the partnership in 2003, The Melting Pot has raised nearly $10 million for St. Jude.
From Oct. 15 Dec. 24, The Melting Pot is encouraging guests to join its effort in raising funds for St. Jude, and providing them with a Donate and Dine card for every donation of $10 throughout the Thanks and Giving campaign period. The Donate and Dine card gives guests $20 off a future purchase of $50 or more, which can be redeemed between Jan. 2 Aug. 31, 2017. Those who are unable to make it into a restaurant but want to donate will be able to do so at www.meltingpot.com, and will be mailed a Donate and Dine card.
"The Melting Pot has always been, and continues to be, a place where family and friends gather together for a truly exceptional experience that goes well beyond the food," said Bob Johnston, CEO of Front Burner, restaurant management company for The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc. "We've cultivated a family-oriented culture and environment made up of committed franchisees, passionate team members and loyal guests who band together year after year to help save children's lives through their support for St. Jude. Donations made through The Melting Pot restaurants nationwide go toward St. Jude's mission to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment, and we look forward to continuing to help the cause for many years to come."
Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since it opened more than 50 years ago, and they won't stop until no child dies from cancer. The hospital freely shares the breakthroughs it makes, so every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children.
Last year, The Melting Pot raised nearly $600,000 during the Thanks and Giving campaign, and was honored with a Silver Award in the Enduring Impact category of the inaugural Franchising Gives Back Awards program. The International Franchise Association (IFA) award recognized The Melting Pot for its longstanding commitment to the community through its ongoing partnership with St. Jude and the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign. The Franchising Gives Back Awards program recognizes the best, most innovative community leaders and charitable programs nationwide.
The St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign is an unprecedented union of celebrities, media and more than 70 of the nation's leading brands and companies that ask consumers to donate while they shop during the holiday season to help St. Jude advance research and treatment of childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. These funds are critical given that no family ever receives a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.
For more information on The Melting Pot, visit www.meltingpot.com. To learn more about the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign or to make a donation, visit www.stjude.org or call 1-800-4STJUDE.
The Melting Pot operates more than 125 restaurants across 35 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, and has over 10 locations in development internationally. The concept is known for offering an assortment of flavorful fondue cooking styles and a variety of unique entrees served with signature dipping sauces. The menu features a variety of a la carte selections, highlighting customizable options that invite guests to enjoy one, two, three or more courses as they select any combination of individually-priced cheese fondues, salads, entrees and chocolate fondues.
About The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc.
Founded in 1975, The Melting Pot has offered a unique fondue dining experience for more than 40 years. As the premier fondue restaurant franchise, The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc. has more than 125 restaurants in 35 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and over 10 international locations in development. A leading polished casual dining franchise, The Melting Pot was recognized as the No. 2 casual dining restaurant in the Nation's Restaurant News 2016 Consumer Picks report. Known for offering a choice of fondue cooking styles and a variety of unique entrees, The Melting Pot's menu also features cheese fondues, salads, fine wines and chocolate fondue desserts. Fondue fans can join The Melting Pot's Club Fondue for exclusive promotions, special events, and advance holiday reservation privileges. The Melting Pot is an affiliate of Front Burner, a restaurant management company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit www.meltingpot.com. To learn more about franchise opportunities with The Melting Pot, please visit www.meltingpotfranchise.com.
About Front Burner
Front Burner is a franchise management company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. It is affiliated with the corporate owners of and its management services extended to The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc., founded in 1975 with 126 restaurants in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and 10 locations currently in development internationally. For more information, visit http://www.frontburnerbrands.com.
About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. St. Jude has the world's best survival rates for the most aggressive childhood cancers, and treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to 80 percent since we opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude is working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90 percent in the next decade. St. Jude freely shares the breakthroughs we make, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Join the St. Jude mission by visiting stjude.org or following St. Jude on facebook.com/stjude and twitter.com/stjude.
Contact:
Andie Biederman
Fish Consulting
954-893-9150
[email protected]
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140319/NY84542LOGO
SOURCE The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc.
Related Links
https://www.meltingpot.com/
Egypts oil ministry has contracted other foreign suppliers to provide the country with its petroleum needs for October after it was informed that the Saudi Aramco company would be unable to send the agreed upon quantities, a ministry official said on Tuesday.
We have secured 700,000 tonnes of petroleum products from other suppliers to replace Aramco in October, the ministrys spokesman Hamdi Abdel-Aziz told Ahram Online without providing further details.
Saudi media outlet Al-Manatiq reported on Monday citing an anonymous official at Aramco who denied that the company had suspended shipments that the company is committed to fulfilling its obligation in its contract with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.
The Aramco official attributed the delay in shipment delivery to the current re-evaluation of Saudi oil production, which may be reduced by half-a-million barrels per day, after the OPECs last meeting in Algeria.
Aramco is yet to issue an official statement addressing the matter, the company's international media office told Ahram Online on Tuesday.
In an attempt to ease the worlds oil glut and surge up the crude prices, the 14-member OPEC announced last month the first reduction in eight years with a plan to cut production to 32.5-33 million barrels per day from 33.47 million in August, the International Energy Agency said.
In April, the oil-rich kingdom agreed with Egypt on a $22-billion soft loan with facilitated payments to finance the latters petroleum needs for five years.
Saudi Arabia has supported Cairo with billions of dollars in aid, grants, oil products and cash deposits to help buoy the country's economy following the toppling of president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
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ATLANTA, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- To help shoppers navigate the 2016 model-year vehicle selldown market and find the best deals, Autotrader has assembled the most compelling certified pre-owned (CPO) offers available in October. Approaching the end of the year makes this an ideal time for price-savvy shoppers to consider purchasing their next vehicle. By choosing a CPO vehicle, smart shoppers can get high-quality vehicles at even more competitive prices.
"Whether you're buying a luxury car or a more mainstream model, the appeal of certified pre-owned is clear you get a like-new car with a great warranty at a more affordable price," said Brian Moody, executive editor at Autotrader. "Some automakers are offering CPO deals on specific models, like the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and the Range Rover Evoque. Opt for a 1- to 3-year-old version of one of these vehicles and everyone will just assume you got a brand new car."
Autotrader Editors' Top Picks for Certified Pre-Owned Deals for October 2016
BMW's certified pre-owned program is among the best in the business, with warranty coverage for up to six years or 100,000 miles. Its comprehensive warranty covers a vehicle bumper-to-bumper, rather than just the powertrain. BMW has an even better deal available in October where qualified shoppers can receive 0.9 percent interest on all CPO 2013 and 2014 BMW models.
Honda's certified pre-owned program offers two excellent warranties: one covers vehicles for an additional year or 12,000 miles beyond the factory with bumper-to-bumper coverage, and another offers seven years or 100,000 miles of powertrain coverage. In October, qualified shoppers can buy a certified pre-owned Honda with 1.9 percent interest for up to 36 months.
Infiniti's certified pre-owned program touts up to six years of bumper-to-bumper coverage, often with no mileage limit. This month, Infiniti's CPO warranty has another enticing offer: a 0.99 percent interest rate for up to 36 months for qualified buyers. That's an impressive deal on a used vehicle, especially factoring in Infiniti's amazing CPO warranty coverage.
Lincoln's certified pre-owned program offers six years or 100,000 miles of bumper-to-bumper warranty coverage, and Lincoln is offering qualified shoppers 2.9 percent interest for up to 66 months on all certified pre-owned models. While 2.9 percent isn't as low as interest rates offered by some automakers, the 66-month term is impressive, especially for a used vehicle.
is offering qualified shoppers 2.9 percent interest for up to 66 months on all certified pre-owned models. While 2.9 percent isn't as low as interest rates offered by some automakers, the 66-month term is impressive, especially for a used vehicle. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class is an excellent compact luxury sedan, offering slightly more room than Mercedes' base-level CLA and a better deal than the larger E-Class. In October, Mercedes is offering qualified buyers 1.99 percent interest for up to 48 months on all certified pre-owned 20132015 C-Class models. That offer includes Mercedes' CPO warranty, which touts unlimited miles of bumper-to-bumper coverage for one year (or longer if owners opt for extra coverage).
Nissan's certified pre-owned program doesn't extend bumper-to-bumper warranty coverage, but the brand boasts impressive CPO powertrain coverage for up to seven years or 100,000 miles. In October, qualified shoppers can finance a CPO Nissan at 1.95 percent interest for up to 36 months, or 2.95 percent for up to 72 months.
The Range Rover Evoque is a spry luxury crossover with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, maneuverable dimensions, impressive handling and some off-road capability. In October, shoppers can finance a certified pre-owned Evoque at 0.9 percent interest for 24 months, or 1.9 percent for up to 60 months. Shoppers will also receive Land Rover's excellent CPO warranty, which offers six years of bumper-to-bumper coverage and no deductible for repairs.
The midsize Toyota Camry sedan has been among America's most popular car for years, thanks to its affordability and impressive durability. Shoppers looking for a CPO Camry receive an even more affordable price tag. This month, qualified buyers can get 1.9 percent interest for up to 60 months on all certified Camry and Camry Hybrid models.
For additional details on the CPO programs mentioned here, check out Autotrader's "CPO Deals: October 2016."
Learn more about the advantages of CPO at Autotrader.com's "What are the Benefits of Certified Pre-Owned?"
About Autotrader
Autotrader is the most visited third-party car shopping site, with the most engaged audience of in-market shoppers. As the foremost authority on automotive consumer insights and expert in online and mobile marketing, Autotrader makes the car shopping experience easy and fun for today's empowered consumer looking to find or sell the perfect new, used or certified pre-owned car. Using technology, shopper insights and local market guidance, Autotrader's comprehensive marketing solutions guide dealers to personalized digital marketing strategies that grow brand, drive traffic and connect the online and in-store shopping experience.
Autotrader is a Cox Automotive brand. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. For more information, please visit http://press.autotrader.com.
About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive Inc. is transforming the way the world buys, sells and owns cars with industry-leading digital marketing, software, financial, wholesale and e-commerce solutions for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the overall automotive ecosystem worldwide. Committed to open choice and dedicated to strong partnerships, the Cox Automotive family includes Autotrader, Dealer.com, Dealertrack, Kelley Blue Book, Manheim, NextGear Capital, vAuto, Xtime and a host of other brands. The global company has 33,000 team members in more than 200 locations and is partner to more than 40,000 auto dealers, as well as most major automobile manufacturers, while engaging U.S. consumer car buyers with the most recognized media brands in the industry. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., an Atlanta-based company with revenues of $18 billion and approximately 60,000 employees. Cox Enterprises' other major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications and Cox Media Group. For more information about Cox Automotive, visit www.coxautoinc.com.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150316/181852LOGO
SOURCE Autotrader
Related Links
http://www.autotrader.com
BEIJING, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- From May when ToumiRA was launched to end of August, different portfolio strategies scored impressive return for investors, between 12.6% - 25.9% of annualized returns for different portfolios, according to the freshly published performance report. ToumiRA is a top ranked robo-advisory wealth management platform introduced by CreditEase, a leading FinTech Company in China and also the parent company of online consumer finance marketplace Yirendai (NYSE: YRD).
Being the first of its kind in China to publish such performance report, CE Wealth Management Toumi RA, the pioneering intelligent FinTech platform, has demonstrated its credentials in wealth management. In the published report, eight out of nine portfolios of different risk levels outperform S&P 500, in both absolute returns and risk adjusted returns. Toumi RA is also doing impressively in risk management.
Toumi RA assesses risk preference, risk tolerance and investment objectives of individual investors, uses back-end investment algorithms, and creates a customized portfolio for every individual investor with optimized asset allocation across different asset classes. No wonder even in the Black Swan shock of Brexit, Toumi RA's investment strategies beat most of global indexes handsomely.
Nevertheless, this news would not come as a surprise if you understand how the Toumi RA is designed and made.
VIP wealth management services for middle-class
The highly sophisticated global financial markets offer investors plenty of opportunities for wealth creation. However, the daunting complexity, high transaction costs and thresholds of investment have always made it difficult for those middle class investors to take advantage of them.
It is sometimes referred to as "100,000 dollars dilemma," that an investor with $100,000 has too much to invest, but too little to hire professional wealth management advisors to design a customized investment plan.
Toumi RA is perfectly designed to address this dilemma by offering a wide range of exciting wealth management services for China's middle-class investors.
Highlights & exciting features
By employing internet and mobile technologies and complex investing algorithm, Toumi RA is able to offer multiple features all at once.
It provides one-stop service form account opening, deposit, portfolio allocation and adjustment. Imagine the time and energy saved for investors.
It provides customer-tailored investment advice by taking individual objectives, financial information and risk preference and tolerance into consideration, at low costs. Thus it opens up the door of a previously expensive and exclusive VIP service to millions of middle-class households.
It provides global and multi-asset ETF portfolios asset allocation. Built on the Nobel Prize-winning modern investment portfolio theory, Toumi RA delivers an optimized risk adjusted return, through back-end investment algorithms.
It provides 24/7 real time monitoring of the markets and real time adjustments to the portfolio, in order to ensure the portfolio allocation is always optimized.
The "cross-asset classes, cross region, low cost, personalized, rational, 24x7, convenient, transparent and fully digital" intelligent FinTech platform has the potential to revolutionize the entire wealth management industry. Toumi RA is not following, but leading the market trend.
The eye-catching performance is only a start.
About CreditEase:
CreditEase is a leading FinTech company in China, specializing in small business and consumer lending as well as wealth management for high net worth and mass affluent investors. It is a Standing Committee member of China's Internet Finance Industry Association and Chairman of Beijing Marketplace Lending Association. Its majority owned subsidiary Yirendai (NYSE: YRD), an online consumer finance marketplace, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
SOURCE CreditEase
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Summary
Many FMCG companies are already addressing a growing trend of consumers wanting brands to humanize their products, as opposed to complex and artificial modern offerings. The demand for brands to revive products from the past and the desire for products containing simple and authentic ingredients are both strong manifestations of the Anchoring trend. And brands that have been able to adapt their products and values to this trend can be more efficient at creating a deeper emotional engagement with their consumers.
Key Findings
- 35% of global consumers say their purchase choices are influenced by products feeling familiar/trustworthy/risk-free. Consumers are moving away from the mechanized and unfamiliar aspects of mass consumption.
- Consumers are going back to the products that once offered them comfort and reassurance - 45% of global consumers believe grocery products from the past are better than the ones available now.
- Tradition and heritage work as a guarantee of quality for many consumers, who prefer to rely on products with a proven track of quality. 16% of global shoppers for household care and laundry products say that familiarity with brands/products has the most influence on their product choices.
Synopsis
"TrendSights Analysis: Anchoring" explores the preference for products with simple, familiar, and trustworthy ingredients and packaging, as opposed to the complexity and uncertainty of modern consumption patterns.
Your key questions answered:
- How relevant is Anchoring to the different sectors?
- Which needs and longings motivate this trend?
- Which consumers are most associated to Anchoring?
- How can I capitalize on Anchoring for my business?
Reasons To Buy
- Understand the retro feeling many shoppers have in response to today's consumption patterns, helping to develop possible ways of incorporating this trend into your product catalogue.
- Consider a specific marketing approach - nostalgia marketing - as a possible supplement to existing approaches.
- Reinforce brand's awareness among loyal consumers, who are most familiar with the values and tradition of companies and their products.
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04201543-summary/view-report.html
About Reportlinker
ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.
http://www.reportlinker.com
__________________________
Contact Clare: [email protected]
US: (339)-368-6001
Intl: +1 339-368-6001
SOURCE Reportlinker
Related Links
http://www.reportlinker.com
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Summary
Social Responsibility has been a growing trend in the FMCG market in recent years as manufacturers, suppliers, brands, and consumers strive to limit the negative economic, social, and political effects caused by their actions. It is increasingly driven by consumer demand for brands that "the right thing" and their desire to live a more ethical lifestyle that they believe benefits their personal wellbeing. As a result, brands have been trying to reposition themselves and their products as more ethical to appeal to discerning consumers that want high-quality FMCG goods that are more responsible to the environment, workers, and communities. This is especially influential for the food, non-alcoholic drinks, alcoholic drinks, personal care, and pet care categories.
Key Findings
- Women are the gender most influenced by this trend: 62% of global female consumers find products with ethical attributes appealing.
- The key age group for this trend is 18-34 year olds, with 61% of them finding these products appealing.
- 21% of global consumers believe that food with ethical credentials is better quality and more premium than non-ethical alternatives.
- 70% of Latin American consumers have favorable perceptions of products with ethical claims, compared to 49% of North Americans.
Synopsis
"TrendSights Analysis: Social Responsibility" provides insight into how brands and consumers are placing more emphasis on ethics to benefit brands, consumers, and workers throughout the supply chain. Brands can use this trend to grow sales by positioning themselves as the solution to consumers who want luxurious, high-quality products that positively impacts the communities they operate in throughout the world.
Your key questions answered:
- How relevant is Social Responsibility to my market?
- What does Social Responsibility mean to my category?
- What trends are driving and limiting Social Responsibility consumption?
- Which Social Responsibility opportunities should I target?
Reasons To Buy
- Understand which audiences, categories, and products are most affected by the Social Responsibility trend.
- Compare the presence of this trend in each industry across the FMCG space and learn what the key opportunities are.
- See the actions of brands trying to target the best Social Responsibility opportunities and the results that they have seen.
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04201544-summary/view-report.html
About Reportlinker
ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.
http://www.reportlinker.com
__________________________
Contact Clare: [email protected]
US: (339)-368-6001
Intl: +1 339-368-6001
SOURCE Reportlinker
Related Links
http://www.reportlinker.com
An H2OpenDoors expedition is a week-long experience which commences with the installation of a water purification facility in a village, school or hospital in the developing world. Funds are raised throughout the year for the equipment, and preparation for transport, Customs and site work is completed prior to the participants' departure. The project work is completed within the first 3 days, and the balance of the expedition is high-level tourism. This has included private leadership academy sessions conducted by Mexico's former President Vicente Fox, immersion into the art and music of Guatemala, in-depth exploration of the historical sites of Nepal, playtime with children of orphanages and clinics, and full access to the warmth and beauty of Cuba.
The water systems deployed are large scale, capable of providing up to 10,000 residents with one-half gallon of water every day for over ten years. Often, this establishes a water sales economy, with all of the profits going back to save the community's crumbling social services
The Nepal experience in February will start with the installation of a water system for a new hospital being built in Kathmandu, serving some of the poorest residents of this impoverished city. The facility will serve 200,000 unique patients each year, and will become the only hospital in Nepal to boast fresh, safe drinking water in every sink and faucet on all six floors. No longer will bottled water be used for operations and dialysis patients. As far as water goes, this hospital will be set up like we enjoy in the United States. Following our work, we go on a 4-day trek through the Annapurna Mountains of the Himalayans. Every two trekkers will have a porter, guiding us through a very moderate trail route with amazing stops along the way.
Cuba is our destination in April for anyone who has ever wanted to go. With special access, we'll experience the history, arts, music and food of this misunderstood nation. Our installation will take place in Granma province to benefit up to 1400 who currently receive their water deliveries by oxcart. We'll explore the beach cities of Trinidad and Cienfuegos and spend five days in Havana. We conclude with a special cocktail party with 120 Cuban entrepreneurs in a lively discussion and networking event.
For full information and registration, go to www.H2OpenDoors.org or email [email protected]
Video - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/H2OpenDoorWaterHD.mp4
SOURCE H2OpenDoors
Related Links
http://www.H2OpenDoors.org
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ubiquity, an innovative and rapidly-expanding business services organization, today announced a significant expansion of its global delivery network with the opening of a new delivery center in Budapest, Hungary.
Ubiquity is scheduled to open its Budapest site in February 2017. The new site has capacity for more than 200 new employee positions in support of the European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) markets. The company, which has deep expertise in the financial services and payments space, is expected to service clients in all major European languages from the site.
"The professional talent available in Budapest is very impressive," said Matt Nyren, Ubiquity's founder and president. "Budapest's human capital and business capabilities are well known, and we expect to deliver great service for customers in Europe and beyond from our new site."
Ubiquity plans to commence hiring shortly and begin operations after the start of the calendar year. Ubiquity's growth in Europe is being complemented by ongoing expansion in the North America, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific operating regions.
"Ubiquity is just the type of exciting, innovative company that we are looking to attract to Hungary," said Robert Esik, President of the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA). "Our country's highly-skilled and multilingual talent base will enable Ubiquity to offer a robust, pan-European delivery solution to a wide variety of business servicing needs, including markedly high value-added activities."
About Ubiquity Global Services
Ubiquity Global Services (www.ubiquitygs.com) is a multinational services organization offering innovative customer experience management solutions, risk management services and interactive voice response (IVR) solutions. Ubiquity has developed a next-generation technology platform engineered for operational excellence while delivering our clients meaningful and actionable business intelligence. Headquartered in New York City, the companys expanding network includes service delivery locations in the United States, Portugal, El Salvador and the Philippines. Together with its clients, Ubiquity is pioneering a new approach for maximizing the potential of every customer contact.
Contact:
Ubiquity Global Services Dreamtek Contact: Stuart Littler Contact: Garrett Doyle Phone: +1 646-679-4903, 480-226-2023 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]
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SOURCE Ubiquity Global Services, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.ubiquitygs.com
TROY, Mich., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Valeo, one of the world's leading automotive suppliers, has selected Bianchi Public Relations, Inc. a public relations agency with deep expertise in the automotive sector to provide media relations support in North America.
Bianchi PR will provide Valeo North America with targeted PR counsel, media relations assistance and trade show and industry event support, all aimed to expand awareness across North America of Valeo's identity as an innovative automotive technology provider, a leader in autonomous driving, safety and CO 2 reduction.
Valeo is an automotive supplier and partner to all automakers worldwide. As a technology company, Valeo proposes innovative products and systems that contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions and to the development of intuitive driving. In 2015, the Group generated sales of $16.4 billion (14.5 billion) and invested over 10 percent of its original equipment sales in research and development. Valeo has 148 plants, 19 research centers, 35 development centers and 15 distribution platforms, and employs 88,800 people in 32 countries worldwide. Valeo is listed on the Paris stock exchange and is a member of the CAC 40 index. For more information about the Valeo Group and its activities, please visit its website at www.valeo.com.
About Bianchi PR
With special expertise in automotive supplier PR, business-to-business PR and related social media, Bianchi PR was founded in 1992 and is ranked among the top five independent PR agencies based in Michigan, according to PRWeek's 2015 ranking of public relations firms.
Among Bianchi PR's ongoing automotive, industrial and business-to-business PR clients are BASF, Cooper Standard, Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies, Johnson Controls and Schaeffler Group. The firm's experience also includes work with organizations such as SAE International, the Automotive Industry Action Group, the Center for Automotive Research and the Steel Market Development Institute.For more information, visit http://www.bianchipr.com or call 248-269-1122.
Bianchi PR is a member of the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN), one of the world's largest international public relations networks. Clients across six continents depend on the combined resources of PRGN to deliver targeted public relations campaigns in markets around the world. With revenues of more than $110 million, PRGN harnesses the resources of nearly 50 independent public relations firms and more than 900 communications professionals to connect international companies and organizations with individual and culturally diverse markets globally. Visit PRGN online at www.prgn.com or on twitter at @PRGN.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160823/400433LOGO
SOURCE Bianchi Public Relations, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.bianchipr.com
ATLANTA, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- VeriStor Systems, an advanced IT solutions provider specializing in virtual infrastructure and enterprise private, public and hybrid cloud services and solutions, today announced that its Security Practice Lead Kyle Bubp will be a featured presenter during INTERFACE Alabama 2016, on October 13 at the Sheraton Birmingham. Bubp's presentation, "Who's Watching the Watchmen?" will address best practices for implementing privileged access management (PAM) solutions to reduce the risk of insider threats.
"Insider threats can often be as costly and risky as external cyber security intrusions, but they're often overlooked and under managed," said Bubp. "During my INTERFACE Alabama presentation I will make a compelling case for why it's important to control, verify and monitor access to privilege accounts. I'll also offer best practices for mitigating insider threats to protect both the company as well as the security administrators that support it."
Bubp's presentation will address the current security culture in enterprise organizations and how to implement privileged access management with minimal pushback. Targeted to development teams, security teams, enterprise administrators and CISOs, the presentation will address how utilizing a PAM solution helps enable administrators, increase visibility, and reduce the risk of insider threats.
To register to attend INTERFACE Alabama 2016, visit: http://interfacetour.com/register.
VeriStor Security Solutions cover the entire enterprise landscape, from endpoint to data center to cloud, and all points in between. With a perfected combination of tools and best practices, VeriStor delivers the complete visibility organizations need across their entire IT ecosystem. From discovering security vulnerabilities to pinpointing unpatched servers, VeriStor Security Solutions will close the loop on security processes and provide the tools and services needed to make business both safe and secure. For more information about VeriStor's security practice, visit: http://www.veristor.com/datacenter-solutions/security-solutions.
About VeriStor Systems, Inc.
At VeriStor, we design, implement and manage IT solutions that fuel business productivity. As an end-to-end solutions provider, VeriStor specializes in enterprise data storage, virtual infrastructure, public, private and hybrid cloud services, migration, and technology financing. Headquartered in Atlanta, VeriStor delivers solutions nationwide to enterprise and mid-market companies in all industries including financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, education and federal, state and local government. To learn how VeriStor can help you achieve an IT infrastructure that accelerates business growth, improves efficiencies and reduces costs, visit: http://www.veristor.com.
SOURCE VeriStor Systems
Related Links
http://www.veristor.com
BUDAPEST, Hungary, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- VirtDB Inc. a central-eastern European data management startup released the beta version of Data Unfolder Lite enabling SAP (R/3) users to analyze their operational ERP data in business intelligence tools, like Tableau, QlikView or TIBCO Spotfire. Until now analysis required costly preparations, planning and heavy corporate IT resource consumption to extract, transform and load (ETL) relevant SAP data first. VirtDB makes SAP data analytics quick and affordable by changing the ETL process into a single-click user action.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/426796
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/426797
Data Unfolder Lite uses the operating system's clipboard to obtain data from SAP, it does not require any components to be installed on SAP Application Server.
"We have done many business intelligence projects where the time spent on load-SAP-data-from-here-to-there efforts were 40-50% in total. Companies pay big bucks for this," Peter Csillag, VirtDB's CEO said. "I liked to be paid well for handcrafting ETL processes on SAP data, but to be honest, it had no added value for customers most of the time. It just killed their productivity by hindering iterations on the data, laming the agility in analytics projects," he added.
Data Unfolder Lite's first version is targeted for personal use and fast prototyping of BI content. VirtDB has an enterprise grade SAP data management product as well, called Data Unfolder, providing additional features and scalability. Both versions enable end-users to build data transfers from SAP to their own choice of business intelligence and big data systems without IT help.
"We have released a free version of our SAP data management tool to evangelize the market. FREE, AGILE and SAP words are not common in the same sentence this is what we want to change," explained Tamas Holics, CTO of VirtDB. "We will always have a free version to provide value to entry level clients as well."
For more information, visit https://virtdb.com or check out the Youtube channel.
About VirtDB
VirtDB Inc. is a software technology startup developing new generation data access solutions. VirtDB wants to connect legacy and new, personal and enterprise, on-premise and cloud data storages to make all data easy to utilize. VirtDB Inc. is a spin-off of Starschema Ltd, a successful big data and business intelligence service provider company. VirtDB received a seed investment from CKTA, a Hungarian VC fund.
Contact Information:
Peter Csillag
VirtDB Inc.
Email T: (+36) 20 4434 605
SOURCE VirtDB Inc.
Related Links
https://virtdb.com
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The local initiative celebrating Las Vegas-based startup companies has officially launched its 2016 contest, which is now open for public voting. Launching Las Vegas was created to honor the hard work local startups and entrepreneurs devote to helping Vegas shine as a hub for business.
"I'm thrilled to see Launching Las Vegas grow in its second year," says Dr. Samir Pancholi, creator of the award. "We look forward to shining a spotlight on another dynamic group of Las Vegas-based entrepreneurs and getting the word out about their innovative ideas."
This year, the Launching Las Vegas team was excited to collaborate with other local innovators for the nomination processincluding collaborative workspace Innevation and last year's winner, FindVeggies.
"Launching Las Vegas is all about our community and celebrating those who work hard to improve it," explains Dr. Pancholi. "It's an honor to work with others who have the same goals and see our shared vision benefitting the city."
The winner of the 2016 Launching Las Vegas award will be chosen by the community via an online voting system, open October 10, 2016 through October 26, 2016. Users will be able to vote for their favorite startup company once per day through the duration of the contest. The winner of the 2016 Launching Las Vegas Award will receive a $1,000 cash prize, and the runner-up will be awarded $250.
Four stand-out nominees were chosen for 2016: KeyIn, MentalHappy, Mint Locker, and Tealet. All of these companies offer a unique service, but they share a commitment to invigorating the Las Vegas entrepreneurial scene and bringing innovation to the community.
"We have another wonderful group of nominees this year," Dr. Pancholi states. "I encourage the community to spread the word about Launching Las Vegas, vote daily, and engage with these businessesand I wish all of our nominees the best of luck!"
About Cosmetic Surgery of Las Vegas: Dr. Samir Pancholi specializes in cosmetic surgery, including breast augmentation and breast implant revision surgery. Dr. Pancholi is a previous President of the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery, a Fellow with the Federation of State Medical Boards, and American Association of Osteopathic Examiners, and a Governor Appointed Member of the Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine. Although based in Las Vegas, his clientele comes from throughout the United States and all over the world. Visit drpancholi.com or call 702.363.0240 for more information. Dr. Pancholi is available for interview upon request.
Media Contact: Dr. Samir Pancholi, 702.363.0240.
SOURCE Dr. Samir Pancholi
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Launched in 2004, the Panorama of the European Film brings important award-winning titles to Egyptian cinema screens
The 9th Panorama of the European Film, which runs this year between 2 and 12 November, will bring a selection of the latest critically acclaimed and award-winning international films to Egypts screening venues.
This years line-up comprises some of the most important titles of the year, including The Unknown Girl, a film directed by the Dardenne Brothers which competed for the Palme DOr at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Other highlights of this year's line-up include Fire At Sea, a documentary by Italian director Gianfranco Rosi and centred on the European migrant crisis. The film scooped the Golden Bear Award at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival and is Italys Best Foreign Language Film entry for the 2017 Academy Awards.
The list also includes The Wait by Italian film director Piero Messina and starring French actress Juliette Binoche. The film competed in the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.
Other films include Sieranevada by Romanian film director Cristi Puiu. The film was in the 2016 Cannes official competition and is the Romanian entry for Best Foreign Language Film for the 2017 Academy Awards.
Also screening this year is After Love by Belgian film director Joachim Lafosse and starring French-Argentine actress Berenice Bejo. After Love was screened in the Directors Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes International Film Festival.
The 9th Panorama of the European Film will comprise eight sub sections, including the following sections from its previous editions: European Cinema section, Documentary Rendez-vous, Emerging Directors, Panorama Classics, Crossroads, and Carte Blanche.
Two new sections will be introduced to this years edition. Among them is Urban Lens: Spotlight on Berlin, which will feature a selection of films in which the city acts as both the medium and the subject. For this sections first edition, the city of Berlin will be highlighted through five pivotal films across various genres," reads the press release.
The second section is Panoranimation which will screen "a selection of the latest critically-acclaimed European animation films."
In Cairo, the two main screening venues will be Zawya Cinema and Karim Cinema.
A selection of this year's films will also screen at the Goethe-Institute, the Italian Institute and the French Institute in Mounira. More information about other screening venues in Cairo and across Egyptian cities will be available soon.
The Panorama of the European Film was launched in 2004 by co-manager of Misr International Films (MIF) Marianne Khoury.
It was the seed leading to the birth of Zawya, the art-house initiative launched by MIF in 2014 that screens an alternative selection of films all year round. Zawyas team is currently behind the organisation of the Panorama.
Building on past years successful editions, the Panorama stands as a main pillar in Egypts contemporary cinematic culture, bringing to Egyptian screens important award-winning films.
The Panorama of the European Film is co-funded by the European Union and is organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and the Egyptian Film Centre.
*Ahram Online is a main media sponsor of The Panorama of the European Film and Zawya.
For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
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"Being recognized as a Great Place to Work reflects our commitment to our people and our culture," said Chairman and CEO Rodney O. Martin, Jr. "We are proud to receive this honor, and we will continue to focus on creating an engaging and fulfilling employee experience for all of our people as we help Americans plan, invest and protect their savings to get ready to retire better."
Seventy-nine percent of Voya employees anonymously surveyed by Great Place to Work said the company offers a great workplace. Voya Financial earned this credential based on extensive ratings provided by its employees. Approximately 880 employees completed the Trust Index survey, which measures the level of trust in their organization and the extent to which employees say it is a great workplace, resulting in a 90-percent confidence level and a margin of error of 2.59. Other highlights from the survey results include:
92 percent of employees feel good about the ways they contribute to the community;
92 percent of employees say they are presented with great challenges often, almost always or sometimes; and
94 percent of employees say they have great pride working at Voya often, almost always or sometimes.
Voya joins the ranks of 467 other businesses that are also certified. Great Place to Work provides the benchmarks, framework and expertise needed to create, sustain and recognize outstanding workplace cultures through proprietary assessment tools, advisory services and certification programs, including Best Workplaces lists and workplace reviews.
"We applaud Voya Financial for seeking certification and releasing its employees' feedback," said Kim Peters, vice president of the recognition program at Great Place to Work. "These ratings measure its capacity to earn its own employees' trust and create a great workplace critical metrics that anyone considering working for, or doing business with, Voya Financial should take into account as an indicator of high performance."
Voya Financial's full results are available at http://reviews.greatplacetowork.com/voya-financial.
Media Contact:
Jeanne LaCour
Voya Financial
(212) 309-8949
[email protected]
About Voya Financial
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $11 billion in revenue in 2015. The company had $466 billion in total assets under management and administration as of June 30, 2016. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible one person, one family, one institution at a time Voya's vision is to be America's Retirement Company. The company is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible Voya has been recognized as one of the 2016 World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, and as one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S., by Newsweek magazine. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.
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CHICAGO, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today VTech announced its Touch & Learn Activity Desk Deluxe and Go! Go! Smart Friends Enchanted Princess Palace were named to the annual TTPM Most Wanted holiday list. Independently tested and curated by TTPM, the leading review site for toys, tots, pets and more, the Most Wanted List identifies key holiday trends and the most in-demand toys and kids lifestyle products for the holidays.
"We are honored that year after year, VTech is included on the TTPM Most Wanted List of the hottest toys for the holiday season," said William To, President, VTech Electronics North America. "We believe our products resonate with parents because they offer timeless features such as engaging play patterns and allow children to learn through discovery."
"One of the things that always impresses us about VTech is that they understand children are more likely to absorb and comprehend basic learning when they are engaged and entertained," said Chris Byrne, EVP and content director at TTPM. "These two stand-out products from VTech deliver new experiences to foster exploration and early learning and we predict they will be sell outs this holiday season."
The Touch & Learn Activity Desk Deluxe is a three-in-one desk with interactive activity cards that is expandable for more fun and discovery. The desk features an interactive desktop and five pages to explore that are filled with engaging content including letters, numbers, music, colors and more. Choose from eight expansion packs (each sold separately) that each focus on a specific curriculum like reading skills, animals and numbers. It also transforms from a desk into an easel and chalkboard with plenty of storage space for art supplies to encourage play and discovery. The LED display illustrates letter and number stroke order and how to draw basic shapes. For even more fun, toddlers can play with the toy telephone or listen to fun tunes on the music player.
Go! Go! Smart Friends offers a comprehensive, multi-faceted play experience while delivering manipulative play features and charming details designed to captivate young children. The new princess-themed Enchanted Princess Palace expands to an impressive four feet wide and has a variety of luxurious rooms, including a ballroom, music room, kitchen, bedroom and observation tower. It features five MagicPoint locations for children to interact with, boosting imaginative play while exploring cause-and-effect relationships. The palace also includes a tea set table with MagicChat technology, where Princess Darla can chat and sing with another character (sold separately), encouraging language development. The palace has a clock with a movable hand and three light-up buttons that introduce words, colors, letters and numbers and play magical melodies and sing-along songs. Toddlers can create a whole kingdom featuring princesses, princes, fairies and magical creatures with Go! Go! Smart Friends characters and playsets.
The Touch & Learn Activity Desk Deluxe is designed for ages 2 - 5 years and retails for $54.99. The Enchanted Princess Palace is designed for children 1 - 5 years old and retails for $59.99. Additional information can be found at www.vtechkids.com.
About VTech
VTech is a world leader in age-appropriate and developmental stage-based electronic learning products for children. As a pioneer in the learning toy category, VTech develops high-quality, innovative educational products that enrich children's development and make learning fun. With a rich, almost 40 year history, VTech has not only established itself as a learning authority but also consistently remains at the forefront of innovation with multiple award-winning products. The company also has a broad range of award-winning infant and preschool products available in 24 different languages worldwide, with more than 100 new products introduced every year. VTech was awarded a prestigious 2015 Toy of The Year (TOTY) Award for its Go! Go! Smart Animals Zoo Explorers Playset. In order to further strengthen VTech's position as a learning authority, the company's Expert Panel, with esteemed experts in reading, language arts, science, math, and child development, consult on new product introductions.
VTech Electronics North America, LLC is based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. VTech Electronics Limited is headquartered in Hong Kong with distribution globally.
For more information on VTech's additional product lines, visit www.VTechKids.com, www.facebook.com/VTechtoys on Facebook or follow @VTechToys on Twitter.
About TTPM
TTPM is a leading product review site and retail portal for toys, tots, pets and more. With more than 10 million monthly views of its comprehensive video reviews, TTPM is the number one resource for consumers seeking to find and easily buy the best toys, baby gear, pet toys, kids electronics, and sporting goods for their families. The site's expert team creates more than 5,000 independent reviews annually, each featuring the TTPM Price Check, which lists live price comparisons and one click purchasing from major retailers. For mobile users, the free TTPM app delivers the site's full reviews as well as its proprietary price comparison tool. The TTPM app is the #1 rated app in Apple App in its category.
Media Contact:
Lauren Fagan
Coyne Public Relations
973-588-2000
[email protected]
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PLANO, Texas, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Building a business is a lot like getting ketchup out of a bottle. To succeed, you got to coax it, shake it, and even, "windmill" it. But once flowing, there's no stopping it. Kim Houlne, president and chief executive of Working Solutions, uses that analogy to describe how it felt in 1996 starting her company, now recognized as a leader in remote workforce services across America.
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"It was slow at first. Much anticipation, like the Carly Simon song that Heinz once played in its commercials. And then, bam, things start happening. The ketchup flowed and business boomed."
Her Plano-based company celebrates 20 years this month. So it's fitting Houlne is sharing her growth strategies at the Chase for Business Conference in Dallas today.
She is part of a panel moderated by Nick Cannon, entrepreneur and entertainer. As founder of a woman-owned business, Houlne joins other area executives, including:
Ester Mayorga , president of Lantek Audio, Video & Communications a premier, full-service structured cabling and A/V contractor in North Central Texas . Headquartered in Grand Prairie , its clients range from the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas to the AT&T Stadium.
a premier, full-service structured cabling and A/V contractor in . Headquartered in , its clients range from the 6th Floor Museum in to the AT&T Stadium. Rick Scheer , co-founder and chief executive officer of Red River Tea Company/Teazzers
which revolutionized the tea business by bringing high-quality products and beverage solutions to the convenience stores. Recently, the company secured a partnership with 7-Eleven to launch Teazzers Squeeze Lemonade.
An audience of 500 local businesspeople is expected to attend the day-long event at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel. Entrepreneur and investor Daymond John of ABC's Shark Tank is delivering the keynote.
Houlne's panel appearance this year follows her participation in the 2015 JPMorgan Chase Women's Business Symposia, where she told participants: "You don't know how successful you are until you've made a difference in someone's life."
About Working Solutions
With 20 years of success, Working Solutions is a recognized leader in home-based contact center services. The company's on-demand workforce includes sales, customer service and technical expertswith 110,000+ agents registered nationwide. They deliver fast-flex business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions for clients and their customers across diverse industries, such as healthcare, retail, travel and hospitality.
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE Working Solutions
NEW BOSTON, N.H., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Wapack Labs, Digimind , Southern New Hampshire University, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) in Manchester, NH team up to turn returning veterans into qualified cyber professionals.
There are roughly 290,000 currently advertised information security jobs today and while the number of training programs is growing, Wapack Labs believes that not everyone needs a four-year degree to fill the void. So we offer paid internships through Manchester's VAMC Occupational Therapy office for honorably discharged or medically retired returning veterans, and experiential learning internships for Southern NH University veteran students. We begin their program by teaching them to use Digimind social media tools to spot physical threats in cyberspace. The vets are taught to be cyber analysts through a series of increasingly more complex cyber skills reinforced through work. The entire program takes approximately a year.
When the veteran interns meet Cyber Analyst requirements, Wapack Labs has several Fortune 500 companies and government organizations who have agreed to interview them for available positions.
Veteran interns used Digimind tools to support the Cleveland Police Department's efforts before, and during the Republican National Convention, major sponsors onsite at the Rio Olympics and the team "Team Jeagar" has authored roughly 150 intelligence reports since inception in May.
Wapack Labs is using Digimind 's services to train cyber analysts with real time sourced data.
Jeff Stutzman, CEO and a U.S. Navy veteran stated, "At Wapack Labs, we are proud to help these guys learn cyber skills that will place them in an ever growing industry. The majority of our employees are US Military veterans and National Guard members. We feel it is of the utmost importance to help our veterans."
"Digimind is proud to be a part of this effort by Wapack Labs to train and employ veterans. Beyond the clear benefit to the veterans as individuals, the fact that this software is being to used to keep citizens of multiple countries more secure is an additional boon. Digimind hopes to continue to partner with Wapack Labs, contribute to this program, and be a part of similar programs in the future," said Paul Vivant, CEO of Digimind.
The common sense approach and wide array of metrics regarding social media collection offered by Digimind has proven very valuable to Wapack Lab's collection mission. Digimind was instrumental in Wapack Lab's support of law enforcement collection efforts during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland OH. Following the RNC, Digimind services were used in a collection program in support of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Training new analysts using Digimind's "Influencer" metrics has helped Wapack Lab's interns identify social media individuals in active support of event security planning and with targeting potential bad actors and their attacks against Wapack Labs clients.
About Wapack Labs
Wapack Labs, located in New Boston, NH is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence organization supporting the Red Sky Alliance, the FS-ISAC, and individual organizations by offering expert level targeted intelligence analysis answering some of the hardest questions in Cyber. Wapack Labs' engineers, researchers, and analysts design and deliver transformational cyber-security analysis tools that fuse open source and proprietary information, using deep analysis techniques and visualization. Information derived from these tools and techniques serve as the foundation of Wapack Labs' information reporting to the cyber-security teams of its customers and industry partners located around the world.
About Digimind
Digimind is the global social media monitoring and competitive intelligence company that provides businesses with unrivaled insights into their true standing in the market. Digimind's proven intelligence technology has provided Fortune 500 brands around the world with critical information for their business for more than 17 years. Profitable since its founding, Digimind has a 92 percent customer retention rate and serves its clients out of its offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. For more information, please visit Digimind at www.digimind.com.
For More Information Contact:
Jim McKee, CFO
314-422-8185
[email protected]
SOURCE Wapack Labs
SEATTLE, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On Oct. 6, the Washington Hospitality Association hosted a hiring event at MOTIF in Seattle. In partnership with the Department of Health and Social Services (DSHS) Employment Pipeline Region 2 and MOTIF, Washington Hospitality was able to provide community members with valuable employment opportunities. In just one day, more than 65 deserving individuals were given new jobs.
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"From first job to lifelong career, our industry is a pipeline for employment. We care about lifting people up and giving them the opportunities we were once given. With this event we were really trying to pave the way for people who often have roadblocks to success, like a lack of transportation or childcare, with good jobs and ways to get over those hurdles," said Teran Petrina Haase, vice president of the Washington Hospitality Association.
The hiring event succeeded in uniting people in need with employers and agencies that provide employment and training. During the event participants could earn a food handlers permit, apply for Orca Lift cards and receive childcare assistance if needed. One woman could be heard exclaiming in the hall, "Yeah, I got a job! They offered it to me right on the spot and I start Tuesday!"
This is the first event of this nature hosted by the Washington Hospitality Association, however the goal is to hold similar events throughout the state. The association coordinated this event in order to highlight the good jobs within the hospitality industry and to spotlight the industry career ladder. The hospitality industry is the primary training ground for individuals needing to develop a work history and learn marketable skills. It is the largest private employer in the state and employs a total of 269,000 people.
For more information about the event, and future hiring events, please contact [email protected].
About the Washington Hospitality Association
The Washington Hospitality Association is the state's leading hospitality trade group, representing more than 6,000 members of the hotel, restaurant and hospitality industry. Formed in 2016 by a joining of forces of the Washington Restaurant Association and the Washington Lodging Association, the Washington Hospitality Association supports and advocates for restaurateurs, hoteliers and related hospitality industry professionals in the state capital and communities statewide. For more information, visit wahospitality.org.
CONTACT:
Stephanie McManus
Washington Hospitality Association
360.956.7279
Email
@wahospitality
SOURCE Washington Hospitality Association
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YORK, Pa., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- York Traditions Bank (OTC Pink: YRKB), headquartered at 226 Pauline Drive in York Township, has announced the retirement of William R. Hartman from its Board of Directors effective at its September 22, 2016 meeting. Bill's decision to retire from bank board involvement, including his retirement from the board of Royal Bancshares on September 21, is reflective of his desire to continue to provide leadership to the York community and to have more available time with his family.
Mr. Hartman's illustrious banking career of more than three decades began at Hamilton Bank in Central PA and ended as Chairman, CEO & President at Citizens Republic Bancorp in Flint, Michigan where he also served as a Director of the Detroit Branch of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. After retiring from banking in 2009, Bill returned to York and served as President, Director and CEO of the York County Community Foundation until 2015. He currently serves as Board Chair of the YCCF. Bill will also continue as Board Chair of the York Symphony Orchestra and remains involved in other initiatives supporting education, economic development, the arts, and social services.
Michael E. Kochenour, Founder, Chairman and CEO, reflects, "Bill generously shared the broad wealth of knowledge from his 37 years in numerous executive leadership positions in banking. He added greatly to this organization, particularly in the areas of governance, strategic growth, and building shareholder value."
Mr. Hartman notes, "I am happy to have contributed in any way I could and look for great things from our community's bank in the future. I plan to continue to be an advocate and champion for York Traditions Bank."
To learn more about York Traditions Bank, visit www.yorktraditionsbank.com .
Safe Harbor Statement:
Except for historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this release are forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainty. Because of these risks and uncertainties, our actual future results may be materially different from the results indicated by these forward looking statements. In addition, our past results of operations do not necessarily indicate our future results. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE York Traditions Bank
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In today's workplace culture, there is a dangerous conflict between work and health. Employees rarely leave their desks for lunch, let alone to visit the doctor for important check-ups. According to a new survey commissioned by Zocdoc, three out of five (60%) American workers feel uncomfortable leaving work for preventive care appointments, with half saying their employer or company culture makes them feel this way. This leads to nearly nine in ten (86%) workers admitting they would cancel or reschedule a preventive care appointment due to workplace pressures. Unsick Day aims to change this adversarial relationship between work and health by encouraging employers to create a culture of permissiveness around preventive care.
"Most of us know that going to the doctor for a check-up is important, but all too often, the pressures and expectations of work take precedence," said Oliver Kharraz, MD, Zocdoc Founder and CEO. "Even at the most progressive companies, many employees worry that they will be judged or penalized if they take time off for a routine check-up. As business leaders, it's not enough to simply offer healthcare benefits. We have to be more proactive in empowering employees to take care of themselves."
Zocdoc along with the founding partners of Unsick Day Buffer, Capsule, Everyday Health Inc., Foursquare, Greatist, Greenhouse, Handy, Oscar, Sailthru, Virgin Hotels and ZOLA have already collectively granted their team members thousands of Unsick Days to use in 2017. In addition, CEOs and executives at these companies will lead by example and take an Unsick Day themselves.
Health-focused organizations such as the American Public Health Association are also supporting this initiative, which emphasizes a greater workplace focus on preventive care.
"As a nation, we often neglect our health when we're well. But with seven in 10 U.S. deaths related to preventable diseases, empowering Americans to utilize preventive care services is critical," said Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association. "Employers play an important role in assuring access to care for many Americans, and better workplace incentives will lead to positive benefits for individuals and businesses alike."
Currently, a majority of adults in the U.S. receive health insurance coverage from their employer; and under the Affordable Care Act, employer-sponsored health insurance plans are required to cover a range of preventive care services. However, according to Zocdoc's survey, only one in four (25%) American workers say they have utilized all of their preventive health benefits, meaning companies are spending millions on benefits that are going to waste.
Ultimately, when employers are proactive in encouraging and empowering employees to get the preventive care they need, everybody wins. Employees who take time to go to their important preventive check-ups stay healthier, longer; and healthier employees lead to better workplace productivity. Plus, according to Zocdoc's survey, nearly half (49%) of American workers are more likely to choose or stay with a company that offers time off for preventive care.
To learn more about Unsick Day and get involved, employers and employees can visit www.unsickday.com. This site includes information on the initiative and tools to make Unsick Day a reality in workplaces across the country. Americans who do not have employer-sponsored insurance can visit www.healthcare.gov. Open enrollment for 2017 coverage begins on November 1, 2016 and ends on January 31, 2017.
Additional Zocdoc/Kelton Global Survey Highlights
The majority (51%) of employed Americans would be more likely to go to their preventive care appointments if they were encouraged to do so by their team or employer.
would be more likely to go to their preventive care appointments if they were encouraged to do so by their team or employer. More than two in five (42%) American workers never see their CEO leave work for preventive care appointments, and 29% say the same about their manager.
American workers never see their CEO leave work for preventive care appointments, and say the same about their manager. Two out of three (66%) American workers said they're more likely to miss work for a doctor's appointment when they are sick, as opposed to for a routine preventive check-up.
American workers said they're more likely to miss work for a doctor's appointment when they are sick, as opposed to for a routine preventive check-up. Half (50%) of American workers think missing work for preventive care appointments may hurt their chances at getting promoted.
think missing work for preventive care appointments may hurt their chances at getting promoted. Nearly one in five (19% ) American workers would be more likely to leave work to vote than for a preventive care appointment.
) American workers would be more likely to leave work to vote than for a preventive care appointment. Nearly one in five (18%) employed Americans are more likely to leave work for a pet's appointment than for their own preventive care.
are more likely to leave work for a pet's appointment than for their own preventive care. Men are 60% more likely than women (40% vs. 25%) to say they always or frequently take time off work for preventive care appointments .
than women to say they always or frequently take time off work for preventive care appointments Millennials are 31% more likely than their colleagues ages 35 and up (71% vs. 54%) to feel uncomfortable leaving work for preventive care appointments.
To see more survey stats or download Unsick Day visual assets, visit the Zocdoc press room here and here, respectively.
About the Survey
The Zocdoc Unsick Day Survey was conducted August 10-17, 2016 by Kelton Global among 2,009 employed Americans 18 and over, using an e-mail invitation and an online survey. The margin of error for the entire sample is +/- 2.2 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level; the margin of error for any subgroups will be slightly higher.
About Zocdoc
Zocdoc is the tech company at the beginning of a better healthcare experience. Each month, millions of patients use Zocdoc to find in-network neighborhood doctors, instantly book appointments online, see what other real patients have to say, get reminders for upcoming appointments and preventive check-ups, fill out their paperwork online, and more. With a mission to give power to the patient, Zocdoc's online marketplace delivers the accessible, seamless and simple experience patients expect and deserve. Zocdoc is free for patients and available across the United States via Zocdoc.com or the Zocdoc app for iPhone and Android.
Media Contact
Jaime Askew l [email protected] l 646.783.3908
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A Turkish prosecutor on Tuesday ordered the detention of 125 police officers in the investigation of a religious movement the government blames for an unsuccessful military coup, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
It was the second wave of arrests since Oct. 7 to target suspected coup plotters in the police force.
President Tayyip Erdogan accuses his former ally, the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, of masterminding the July 15 uprising that killed 240 people, including civilians protesting the coup attempt. Gulen, who resides in Pennsylvania, denies involvement.
The ruling AK Party, founded by Erdogan, will not harbour members of the Gulen network that Ankara lists as a terrorist organisation, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in parliament.
"AK Party will not shelter any traitor or terrorist," he said. "We are engaged in the same struggle (against Gulen's network) within the AK Party as we are in Turkey, generally."
No high-ranking AKP members have faced charges in the post-coup crackdown, which has included the arrests of 32,000 people and purge of some 100,000 military officers, police, teachers, judges, prosecutors and others from state jobs.
Parliament on Tuesday will vote to extend the state of emergency, introduced in July for three months, until January.
The vote is a formality as the AKP commands a large majority of parliamentary seats and the nationalist opposition has already pledged to back the move.
Yildirim acknowledged that a small number of mistakes might occur during the crackdown but said the government will not allow "unjust treatment" of citizens.
In Tuesday's operation, authorities conducted raids in Istanbul, and among the police officers being sought were 30 deputy police chiefs, Anadolu said. No one was immediately available at the prosecutor's office to comment on the warrants.
The Istanbul prosecutor said the officers were suspects because they allegedly used a little-known smartphone messaging app called ByLock, Dogan reported.
The state intelligence agency identified at least 56,000 operatives after it cracked ByLock, which Gulen's followers began using in 2014, officials said in August.
Gulen, 75, has led a decades-old religious movement whose members sought jobs in the security forces and civil service to expand his clout, authorities say. He fled Turkey in 1999 to avoid trial on suspicion of anti-secular comments.
Gulen's conservative network supported Erdogan, who has roots in an Islamist political movement, during the first half of his rule but the two men fell out over disagreements in foreign and domestic policy and revelations about a corruption investigation that targeted Erdogan's inner circle.
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(Beijing) China Evergrande Group has dislodged rival China Vanke Co. as the country's largest property developer by sales this year.
Evergrande sold homes and office buildings worth 280.58 billion yuan ($41.9 billion) from January to September, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday, surpassing Vanke's 262.9 billion yuan.
Vanke, mired in a bitter ownership tussle since mid-2015, saw its property sales decline by a third in July and August before they rebounded in September, data from the company showed. But Vanke's 25.38 billion yuan of sales in September is still only slightly more than half of Evergrande's that month.
Spurred by a housing boom in China's first- and second-tier cities, Evergrande saw property sales reach 47.52 billion yuan in September, an increase of 324 percent compared with the same period last year. The average selling price rose 16.5 percent to 9,212 yuan per square meter, the company said.
In August, Evergrande pushed up its sales target for 2016 by 50 percent to 300 billion yuan after it hit its original yearly sales goal in July. The revised target was the most ambitious among mainland builders as China's housing market picks up steam.
"The group is fully confident on reaching the adjusted contract sales target for 2016 and will continue to uphold the strategy of 'fast development, fast sales, fast capital recovery,'" Evergrande Chairman Hui Ka Yan said in a statement.
In August, Evergrande spent $2.2 billion to raise its stake in Vanke to 6.82 percent, making it the third-largest shareholder of the homebuilder and allowing it to nominate a board member.
Contact reporter Chen Na (nachen@caixin.com); editor Poornima Weerasekara (poornima@caixin.com)
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Bogota, Oct 6 : Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos opened talks with leaders opposing the current peace deal with the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
"After the results of the plebiscite, it is my obligation as the President to seek ways for the union and reconciliation of the country," Xinhua news agency quoted Santos as saying at a press conference after the meeting on Wednesday.
"We should pay much attention to their (the opponents') comments and proposals to find a path that leads to a peace deal with the FARC," he said.
Former President Alvaro Uribe and other leaders of the opposition party, the Democratic Center, attended the meeting.
In the plebiscite held on Sunday, the Colombian people rejected the agreement with a narrow margin.
Santos urged the public to be responsible and realistic in order to achieve a lasting peace.
He also insisted on speed, adding that ignoring the peace deal in the current unrest has many risks.
He also mentioned his previous meetings with union and church leaders from both sides. "I have found everyone active and ready to participate in reaching a peace deal. We all want peace," he said.
Both the government and the Democratic Center have named envoys to form a commission to analyse the peace deal. Their first meeting is being held on October 6.
Santos said they will also have discussions with the FARC delegation in Havana.
The conflict between the Colombian government and the FARC started in the 1960s as an uprising for land rights.
On June 22, the government and the FARC announced a deal on a definitive bilateral ceasefire, marking a major step towards ending the half-century conflict.
Santos announced on Tuesday that the ceasefire that has been in place since August 29 this year will be extended until October 31.
On September 26, the FARC reached an agreement with the government on a peace deal to end the 52-year armed conflict.
According to the agreement, the rebel group must hand over weapons to the UN within 180 days.
Udaipur, Oct 6 : Rajasthan and Singapore on Thursday signed two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to jointly market the desert state as a global tourist destination and also provide advanced urban solutions.
Visiting Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Singapore's Industry Minister S. Iswaran were present on the occasion.
Lee, who came to India on October 3, is on a visit to Udaipur on October 5-6.
"The tourism MOU with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) will aggregate the city-state's expertise through tripartite collaboration between the government, tourism institutions and industry partners to strengthen Rajasthan's knowledge capabilities," a Rajasthan government statement said.
Besides, Rajasthan plans to utilise Singapore's public and private sector proficiency in tourism development.
The second MoU with International Enterprise (IE) of Singapore focuses on enhancing Rajasthan's international appeal and connectivity, facilitation of private sector participation to rejuvenate the state's heritage areas and critical urban and smart solutions.
Singapore will also share its expertise in areas like inter-modal transport integration, waste management solutions and affordable wireless connection.
Later, a Centre of Excellence for Tourism Training (CETT) was inaugurated in Udaipur by Raje in the presence of the Singapore Prime Minister and other state and foreign dignitaries.
CETT, set up by the state government in collaboration with ITE Education Services of Singapore, aims to provide skill and vocational training in services related to travel and tourism.
Seoul, Oct 7 : Despite the global recall of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 over battery explosion fears, Samsung Electronics on Friday released a positive forecast for the third quarter of this year, expecting operating profits of 7.8 trillion Korean won (approx $7 billion) and revenues of 49 trillion Korean won.
The operating profits are a 5.6 per cent increase on the same period a year ago when the company registered 7.4 trillion won in operating profits, Samsung Electronics said in its earnings guidance for the third quarter.
"The profits are higher than what South Korean analysts predicted who lowered figures following the global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 due to battery explosions," technology website zdnet.com reported.
The cheering news came at a time when the south Korean giant is facing global flak over its flagship device Note 7 which is yet to come to India. Analysts expected Samsung to lose over $1 billion in profits from Samsung's third quarter.
A replacement Note 7 device reportedly caught fire on a US flight this week, leading to cancellation of the flight after evacuation. Southwest Airlines flight 994 from Louisville to Baltimore was evacuated during the boarding process after a smoked Note 7 was spotted.
Samsung later issued a statement: "Until we are able to retrieve the device, we cannot confirm that this incident involves the new Note7. We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause. Once we have examined the device we will have more information to share."
India's civil aviation regulator last week lifted the restrictions on in-flight use of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone -- but only those purchased after September 15.
On September 9, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had prohibited the use of the high-end smartphone on-board aircraft.
The DGCA said the usage restrictions have only been lifted for Note 7 purchased after September 15. Restrictions still continue for Note 7s purchased before that date.
"It is important to note that Samsung has not sold a single unit of Galaxy Note7 in India so far. The 'green battery icon' will apply to all Galaxy Note7 units that will be sold to customers in India when it is launched," said a Samsung India spokesperson.
Mumbai, Oct 7 : Acclaimed actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who was reportedly asked by Shiv Sena volunteers to pull out of a Ram Leela show as he is a Muslim and due to an ongoing harassment case, hopes to be a part of the annual stage drama next year.
Nawazuddin, currently in his village Budhana in Uttar Pradesh, was very excited to perform at the Ram Leela, especially because it was being staged in his hometown. But he was asked to pull out of the Ram Leela programme there after members of Shiv Sena reportedly raised objections.
"My childhood dream could not come true but I will definitely be a part of Ram Leela next year. Check the rehearsals," Nawazuddin tweeted on Thursday night.
The "Badlapur" star also shared a video rehearsal of his role. He is seen in his costume for the role of Maarich, Raavan's maternal uncle.
Nawazuddin's sister-in-law recently accused him and his family of torturing her. He has denied the allegations.
Japan's population has been falling since 2011. In 2014, Japan's total fertility rate stood at 1.42 children per woman one of the lowest among Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) countries.
The population decline has led to labor shortages, reduced consumption and a related hit to the economy, with gross domestic product (GDP) growth at an anemic 0.8 percent in 2015. Decreased tax revenues further raise the specter that social welfare programs, such as pensions for the elderly, may no longer be fiscally sustainable in the near future. Embracing diversity is a key factor in solving these issues.
New Delhi, Oct 7 : The BRICS Business Council is looking into low trade volume among the five emerging economies, while recent agreements in areas like customs coopration are attempts to lower trade barriers among member-nations, the Indian government said on Friday.
"The BRICS Business Council has looked into this aspect of low trade volumes between the group members. In fact, the agreement on customs cooperation is aimed precisely at increasing trade by reducing trade barriers," Secretary (External Relations) Amar Sinha told reporters at an External Affairs Ministry briefing here on the upcoming summit of BRICS leaders in Goa later this month.
India is the chair for 2016 of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group of emerging economies.
"Of the more than 100 events planned around the BRICS Summit 2016, five are specifically dedicated to business. All the leaders wanted emphasis on increasing business-to-business and people-to-people contact," Sinha said.
In 2012, intra-BRICS trade stood at $281.4 billion which increased to $297 billion in 2014.
"This encouraging trend needs to be strengthened as trade amongst BRICS nations is less than five per cent of their total global trade," India's Commerce Ministry said in a release earlier this week.
The External Affairs Ministry announced that the BRICS summit this year includes an "outreach" to the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) initiative that includes India and is a key component of its "Act East" policy.
"A BIMSTEC (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand) and BRICS business leaders meeting will be held in Delhi on October 14," Sinha said.
The first trade fair of the BRICS countries will be held here next week on October 12-14, as well as meetings of the BRICS Business Forum and BRICS Business Council, ahead of the leaders' summit in Goa, it was announced here on Friday.
"The first BRICS Trade Fair and Exhibition will be staged just ahead of the BRICS political summit in Goa (October 15-16). This major initiative was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year during his address to the members of the BRICS Business Council at Ufa, Russia," the Commerce Ministry release said.
"There is a need felt for measures to be taken to deepen intra-BRICS economic engagement, trade and investment ties," it added.
Their upcoming trade fair will be held at Pragati Maidan in Delhi. According to the release, the trade fair will showcase about 20 key sectors.
These include aerospace, agro-processing, auto and auto components, chemicals, green energy and renewables, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, railways, textiles and apparel, infrastructure, information technology, engineering goods, tourism, gems and jewellery and skill development.
According to the Commerce Ministry, the BRICS Business Forum, to be held on October 13, will see participation from over 1,000 business delegates from all BRICS countries.
The BRICS Business Council was established during the fifth BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa, with the objective of strengthening business, trade and investment ties amongst the business communities of the five countries.
The most important development under BRICS has been the creation of the New Development Bank which aims to serve as a source of finance for developing and emerging economies to meet their developmental needs, the statement said.
Global merchandise exports of BRICS countries have gone up from $3.2 trillion in 2012 to $3.47 trillion in 2014.
Similarly, merchandise imports from the world into BRICS nations have gone up from $2.95 trillion in 2012 to $3.03 trillion in 2014.
Panaji, Oct 7 : The Goa Police have launched a high-level probe into the death of a 39-year-old woman, whose body was lying naked in her apartment, with her limbs tied to the bed.
Director General of Police Muktesh Chander, who visited the scene of crime in Tony Sangolda village, about 10 Km from the state capital, told reporters on Friday that "all efforts are being made to probe the case".
The victim has been identified by police as Monika Ghurde, a perfumer by profession.
As there are visible marks on her neck, police suspect the victim was strangled.
"We will be able to say for sure only after the post-mortem examination... The house also appears to have been burgled, but we don't know what all could have been robbed, because the deceased used to live there alone," Police Inspector Rajesh Kumar told reporters.
DIG V. Gupta said that police teams have already been dispatched to different states to dig out clues to the crime.
"She was estranged from her husband and living alone in Goa. She was originally from Nagpur, while her husband hails from Chennai," he said.
Police said that they were informed about the incident last night, and they have already questioned the watchman posted at the apartment complex as well as the domestic help and the complex's manager in this connection.
Hindon Air Force Station, Oct 8 : India's indigenous Tejas fighter stole the show, leaving spectators enthralled with its manoeuvers at the 84th Air Force Day parade on Saturday.
The Air Force Day, celebrated at the IAF base at the Hindon Air Force Station in the presence of the IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, was marked by a glittering flypast and parade.
The event also was the first Air Force Day to have a foreign Air Force - the Red Arrows of UK's Royal Air Force, scheduled to perform.
However, the Red Arrows, who fly Hawk jets, could not perform due to a haze that caused poor visibility.
The haze did not however come in the way of the IAF's acrobatic team on Hawks, the Surya Kiran, which was at stand by and later staged a captivating performance.
The static display included a Sukhoi jet with air version Brahmos missile, MiG-29 armed with a 30 mm cannon, close combat and radar guided missile.
Also present was strike aircraft Jaguar, Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer, Mig-21 Bison, which have been upgraded and Mi-17 V5 choppers along with transport jets and radars, displaying the IAF's strike capability to its full -- at a time when India's border with Pakistan is tense.
The event started with the Akash Ganga Para jumping team. The air display, which included all advance fighters, choppers and transport aircraft, also included vintage Tiger Moth and Harvard.
The hero of the show remained the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, which made its debut at the Air Force Day after being inducted into the IAF in July.
Of the two Tejas fighters inducted, one was placed in the centre of the parade ground, while the other took to the sky flown by Group Captain Madhav Rangachari.
A steep pull right after the takeoff demonstrated the aircraft's ability to climb rapidly to desired altitude, with the aircraft standing vertical in air to the awe of the spectators.
The pilot then performed a loop, took a fast turn at a rate of approximately 20 degrees per second, and took turn at a speed as low as 160 knots.
According to the team, the Fly By Wire of the aircraft ensures complete protection at high angles of attack.
The air power display included C-17 Globemaster, Su-30 MKIs, Jaguar, Mig-21 Bisons, Mig-29 and Mirage 2000.
Also a part of the air display were IAF's acrobatic team on Dhruv helicopters -- Sarang.
Spectators faced some disappointment as UK Royal Air Force's acrobatic team Red Arrows could not perform due to low visibility.
"The aircraft come at great speed, low visibility may lead to collision," Commanding Officer Group Captain Fin Monahan told IANS.
Chennai, Oct 8 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa continues to be under constant montoring by specialist doctors, said Apollo Hospital on Saturday.
In a statement issued here, Apollo Hospitals said she is under constant monitoring by intensivists and consultants in the panel.
"The respiratory support is closely watched and adjusted. Lungs decongestion treatment is being continued. All other comprehensive measures including nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy are underway," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the debate whether an interim Chief Minister will be named is going on in the state after Apollo Hospitals earlier said Jayalalithaa requires a longer stay. The ruling AIADMK has however ruled out any need of such a measure.
This issue also gained weight as Governor Ch.Vidyasagar Rao met two senior ministers on Friday and discussed the state's general administration in the aftermath of Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation, while BJP MP Subramanian Swamy on Friday urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to impose President's Rule in the state following the prolonged hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa and her remaining incommunicado.
However AIADMK continues to maintain its stand that there is no legal necessity for a substitute Chief Minister.
Speaking to IANS, AIADMK spokesperson Avadi Kumar maintained: "There is no need for a temporary or substitute Chief Minister at the current juncture. There is also no legal necessity."
Kumar said when there were legal hurdles in Jayalalithaa holding the post, Finance Minister O.Panneerselvam was chosen as the Chief Minister, and once the legal problems were sorted out, Jayalalithaa was sworn in as the Chief Minister again.
He recalled that AIADMK founder M.G.Ramachandran won the assembly election in 1984 while he was in a hospital in the US and was sworn in as Chief Minister on his arrival.
Political commentators say one method to clear the issue is to distribute the portfolios handled by Jayalalithaa to other senior ministers.
"The situation cannot continue for long. The portfolios handled by Jayalalithaa may most probably be distributed to senior ministers," political commentator Maalan Narayanan told IANS.
With Jayalalithaa in the hospital, it is unthinkable for the party to elect another person even as an interim Chief Minister.
The 68-year old Jayalalithaa handles the portfolios of Public, Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Forest Service, General Administration, District Revenue Officers, Police and Home.
Jayalalitha was admitted to Apollo Hospital on September 22 for fever and dehydration.
On Thursday, Apollo Hospitals said that the consensus opinion of all experts is that Jayalalithaa will require a longer stay in the hospital and the line of treatment given to her be continued.
"The present treatment regimen includes continued respiratory support, neubilisation, drugs to decongest the lungs, antibiotics, nutrition, general nursing care and supportive therapy," it said, adding she Jayalalithaa is making gradual progress but not disclosing how long she may have to stay in the hospital.
Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), Oct 8 : Maharashtra Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde has locked horns with Bhagwangad hill temple's head priest Mahant Namdeoshastri Sanap after he refused her permission to address a Dassehra rally.
The annual Dassehra rally at the temple in Ahmednagar district attracts over a million members of the Vanjari community, the political base of the Munde family. The rally was earlier addressed by late Union Minister and Pankaja's father Gopinath Munde for two decades.
This year, however, the Mahant declared that she will not be allowed to make any political speech at the venue.
Incidentally, Bhagwangad is the memorial to the Vanjari community's saint Bhagwan Baba, atop the hills situated on the border of the Beed-Ahmednagar districts.
The minister vowed to visit Bhagwangad along with her supporters, following which the Mahant accused her of threatening him for his decision.
A purported video of her issuing threats to Namdeoshastri and his supporters has since gone viral. She has insisted on continuing with the 20-year-old tradition set by her father.
Speaking to the media, the Mahant said the state minister's utterances did not behove of her as late Munde's daughter, and said he continued to treat her like his own daughter.
"She is welcome to come and pray at the temple, but she can make her political speech at her father's memorial -- Gopinathgad. She has already announced that Bhagwangad will be the spiritual centre and Gopinathgad will be the political centre (of the community)," the Mahant pointed out.
In a bid to claim the political legacy of her father who died in June 2014, Pankaja got constructed the imposing Gopinathgad memorial in December 2015 in Beed, the family's home district adjacent to Ahmednagar.
Apprehending a law and order problem, Namdeoshastri has now written to the state government, while Munde has made it clear she will go to Bhagwangad on Dassehra for the annual Vanjaris' congregation.
Her estranged cousin and Nationalist Congress Party's Leader of the Opposition (Council) Dhananjay Munde threw his weight behind the Mahant and demanded Munde's resignation from the state Cabinet.
Incidentally, Dhananjay had bitterly criticised the Mahant and accused him of bias towards the Bharatiya Janata Party when his motorcade was stoned during a thanksgiving visit to Bhagwangad in January 2015 after he was elected the Leader of the Opposition.
On the other hand, the Vanjari community appears to be divided over the clash between their spiritual head and political leader and have appealed to keep politics and religion separate.
Accra, Oct 9 : India has signed a pact with Mozambique to develop and produce 690,000 tonnes of pulses over a five-year period from 2016 to 2021, documents accessed by IANS say.
The Memorandom of Understanding (MoU) with Mozambique fits into India's resolve to improve the production of pulses in some African countries to meet the demand in India, sources said.
Beginning in 2016-17, India will import 100,000, 75,000, 175,000, 150,000 and 200,000 tonnes in each of the five years, the MoU says.
Towards this, India will support the production of pulses in Mozambique, promote consumption of pulses, provide farmers with agricultural extension services, cooperate in the areas of research and production of seeds, and promote the trade in pulses between Mozambique and India, the MoU says, without stating financials.
India's resolve has not only struck a chord with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) -- which has designated 2016 as the Year of the Pulse -- it is also providing assistance to solve climate change problems in some African countries that are benefiting from India's pulse development programme.
Other countries benefiting are Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania under the Supporting Indian Trade and Investment for Africa (SITA) project that is financed by Britain's Department for International Development (DFID). The project is being coordinated by the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Geneva.
The ITC has projected that India's demand for pulses could rise to 32 million tonnes per year within the next 14 years. This is based on an estimate that the country's population could reach 1.4 billion by 2030 from the current 1.2 billion.
ITC has also described India as the seventh-largest importer of pulses with value of such imports going up over the past decade from $446 million in 2004 to $2.17 billion in 2014.
FAO has described the production of pulse as a crop that has the characteristics to meet the changing global climatic conditions.
"Climate change has a huge impact on global food production and food security. Changing weather patterns can cause an increase in natural disasters like droughts, floods, hurricanes, which can impact every level of food production," FAO said.
This would demand urgent and sustainable measures to be put in place to ensure that climate change did not put pressure on agricultural eco-systems, particularly in regions and for populations that are particularly vulnerable, it added.
Pulses have a broad genetic diversity from which improved varieties can be selected and bred, FAO said. This diversity is a particularly important attribute because more climate-resilient strains can be developed for use in areas prone to floods, drought and other extreme weather events.
Pulse production could indirectly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, FAO said, adding that globally around 190 million hectares of pulses contribute to five to seven million tonnes of nitrogen in soils.
"As pulses can fix their own nitrogen in the soil, they need less fertiliser, both organic and synthetic, and in this way, they play a part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions," the organisation said.
It also said that when included in livestock feed, pulses' high protein content contributes to increasing the food conversion ratio while decreasing methane emissions from ruminants, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"Agro-forestry systems are more able to withstand climate extremes as pulses are hardier than most crops and help to nourish the soil. When using these systems, farmers see an increase in crop productivity that extends to subsequent crop yields," the FAO said.
(Francis Kokutse can be contacted at fkokutse@ians.in)
New Delhi, Oct 9 : President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday extended his greetings to the government and people of Fiji on the occasion of the island-nation's Independence Day and said India will continue to partner Fiji in various fields.
In a message to Fiji President Jioji Konousi Konrote, Mukherjee said, "On behalf of the government and people of India, it is with pleasure that I convey warm greetings to your excellency, the government and the people of Fiji on the occasion of your Independence Day."
"It is a matter of satisfaction that the bilateral relations between our two countries are growing stronger... India will continue to partner Fiji in the field of Information Technology (IT), tele-medicine, tele-education and renewable energy," he said.
Mukherjee said that India's dialogue with the Pacific island countries, under the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC), at the FIPIC-I Summit held in Suva in November 2014 and FIPIC-II in Jaipur in August 2015, "has given us opportunities to understand and address the challenges faced by Pacific island countries".
"I am confident that the relations between India and Fiji will continue to strengthen in the years to come for the benefit of our respective peoples," he said.
Panaji, Oct 9 : A man has been arrested in Bengaluru in Karnataka in connection with the murder of celebrity perfumer Monika Khurde, a senior Goa Police officer said on Sunday.
Deputy Inspector General of Police Vimal Gupta told reporters that suspect Raj Kumar, hailing from Punjab, was picked up from Bengaluru after he tried to withdraw money from an ATM card belonging to the 39-year-old deceased late on Saturday night.
Police are expected to release more details about Kumar's alleged role in the murder at a media briefing expected to be held later in the evening.
Khurde, 39, was found dead on Thursday in her three-bedroom apartment in Sangolda village, around 10 km from Panaji. Her partially clothed body was found lying on bed, with her hands and feet tied. The post-mortem examination report suggested she was strangled.
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 9 : The Congress on Sunday termed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's tirades against corruption and nepotism a bluff in wake of revelations that state Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan, the No.2 in the government, appointed his close relatives at top posts in the state's public sector organisations. Vijayan, however, brushed away the charge.
"No one would have forgotten when during the assembly elections (in May), Vijayan and the CPI-M said they will fight corruption and all such evils and see what has happened when qualifications have been given the go-by and relatives of top CPI-M leaders have been appointed to senior posts in the state public sector," the Congress's state President V.M. Sudheeran told reporters here.
Jayarajan has no moral right to continue in office after the facts emerged and must quit at the earliest, he demanded.
Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala told reporters that the Vijayan government should cancel all such appointments.
The appointment of P.K. Sudhir as Managing Director of Kerala State Industrial Enterprise (KSIE) last week had raised a furore even in the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). As social media first took it up in a big way, followed by the media, the appointment was cancelled.
Sudhir is Jayarajan's nephew and also the son of CPI-M's Lok Sabha member from Kannur P.K. Sreemathy. A niece of Jayarajan's was also appointed to a top post.
Among others who have been appointed to top posts are the grandson of party veteran E.K. Nayanar and several close relatives of senior CPI-M leaders.
Incidentally, at the first cabinet meeting after Vijayan was sworn in as the Chief Minister, it was decided to look into all decisions made by the outgoing Oommen Chandy government and recommend such decisions for a vigilance probe.
However, as soon as these cases cropped up, Chennithala and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader M.T. Ramesh wrote to Vigilance Director Jacob Thomas that a probe should be initiated in all the appointments of top CPI-M leaders' relatives too.
Former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said that the image of the CPI-M government has been dented because of all these appointments.
CPI-M politburo member S. Ramachandran Pillai, however, said there is no need for the politburo to intervene as the issue would be sorted out in Kerala itself.
"It has already begun," he said.
Vijayan, however, told reporters that there has been no loss of face to the government in the wake of what has happened.
"The Congress opposition might say so but the CPI-M is different from the Congress. We will take a collective decision on what has happened, which is of a serious nature," he said.
With the assembly session already seeing disruptions over the opposition's allegations of collusion between the Vijayan government and the private medical college managements over the hike in fees, the Congress appears to have got another weapon to use against Vijayan when the house reassembles on October 17 after the Durga Puja break.
Mumbai, Oct 9 : India's sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and his two sons Amaan and Ayaan performed live with musicians from across the world for the Chant4Change peace concert at Washingtons Lincoln Memorial on Saturday night. The concert made use of music as the healing unifying force in wounded and terror-infested universe.
However, the rain gods played truant.
Speaking after the concert, Khan said: "We three -- my two sons and I -- performed while it was drizzling. We dedicated our concert to world peace and harmony. We paid our humble tribute to Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Hazrat Amir Khusro who created the qawwali and tarana singing styles."
Khan and his sons began the historical Chant4Change concert with an inspirational number.
"The first item was 'We shall overcome...' version 'Hum honge kamyaab'. Then we rendered 'Vaishnava jana to', 'Ramdhun', 'Raghupati raghav rajaram', 'Ekla cholo re' and then we sang a tarana. We ended with Bengali folk music. We hope the whole world soon realizes the value of peace and harmony.
"Collectively, we must give our younger generations a peaceful and harmonious world. Our family feels very sad when we hear about young soldiers dying in the war, no matter which country. We feel connected with every soul, every religion and every song of the world," Khan said.
Explaining how music can unify people across the world, he said: "People of the world have to think about the value of togetherness, peace and harmony. Collectively, people of India and the world have to create a peaceful and harmonious environment for our children and younger generation.
"India was one before the Partition. That is why even today, it's Indian classical music that unifies the two countres and their people. We could only divide the land, but could not divide the music."
He is also worried about the rampancy of terror attacks even in the US.
"The US should not encourage people to openly buy weapons, especially for the younger generation, as it is very dangerous not to have licence for the weapons. The greatest mockery is that every political leader talks of peace and harmony, and at the same time every country is busy producing weapons, guns and missiles.
"The future of the world looks aimless and bleak. The world is heading towards destruction... I hope the world soon understand the value of love peace and harmony."
He made a plea for artistes to be exempted from political agendas.
"Art, music and musicians don't belong to any cult or religion. Like flowers, air, water, colour, fire and fragrance, we of the artistic fraternity also belong to no religion. In our country, every classical musician is worshipped like Goddess Saraswati. If we can't help each other, for god's sake, don't destroy each other. Think seriously about the future of every child."
(Beijing) Creditors of bankrupt solar panel maker LDK Solar will lose up to 80 percent of their money, or as much as 20 billion yuan ($3 billion), under a reorganization plan that a court in Jiangxi province recently approved for the company.
The liquidation will mark the end of a years-long saga that saw LDK and many of its rivals post big losses after a major buildup of China's solar-panel sector, fueled by generous subsidies from Beijing and local governments. Such incentive programs are common for industries targeted for development by Beijing, and often lead to local and even global gluts and huge losses for sectors that make products as diverse as steel and electric vehicles.
The reorganization affects three of LDK's main subsidiaries the manufacture of solar cells, solar wafers, and the polysilicon that is the main ingredient used to make such products. The plan, which was mainly based on debt-for-equity swaps, was confirmed by the court at the end of September, LDK's creditors confirmed with Caixin on Monday.
Under the plan, providers of unsecured loans to the companies will get back 3.4 to 11.5 percent of the money they were owed. Sources said that bank creditors held 27 billion yuan worth of debt, and nearly 80 percent of that was unsecured, meaning bank creditors could lose up to 20 billion yuan.
The case shows that local governments won't necessarily bail out failing companies like LDK, and instead may force banks to swallow the losses. But many banks in China are closely tied to local governments who often use them as policy tools, meaning those lenders will now have fewer resources to spend on projects favored by those same local officials.
A source close to the Jiangxi provincial government told Caixin that the government cannot afford to rescue solar companies, and therefore that task will have to be shouldered by their creditors.
The three LDK subsidiaries formally entered bankruptcy late last year, kicking off a process that was dominated by government officials.
Such government involvement is necessary because China has very little experience with market-style bankruptcies due to its past, when all companies were state-owned and didn't need to make profits. Such Western-style bankruptcy reorganizations, which often see creditors take big losses, have been relatively rare to date but could become more common as China's economy slows and companies struggle.
Contact reporter Dong Tongjian (tongjiandong@caixin.com); editor Doug Young (dougyoung@caixin.com)
Panaji, Oct 9 : A man was arrested in Bengaluru in Karnataka on Sunday in connection with the murder of celebrity perfumer Monika Ghurde, a senior Goa Police officer said.
Accused Raj Kumar, a native of Bathinda in Punjab, was employed as a security guard at the residential complex the woman was living in, but was sacked after she complained he was not doing his job properly, Deputy Inspector General of Police Vimal Gupta told media persons here in the evening.
The accused had withdrawn over Rs 1 lakh by using the victim's stolen ATM card in Goa, Mangaluru and Bengaluru, before he was arrested by a joint team of Karnataka and Goa Police on Sunday afternoon.
"He is being brought to Goa. We will then be in a position to question him and establish the crime motive. He has confessed his crime to the police team that arrested him," Gupta said.
Ghurde, 39, was found dead on Thursday in her three-bedroom apartment in Sangolda village, around 10 km from Panaji.
Her partially clothed body was found lying on bed, with her hands and feet tied. The post-mortem examination report suggested she was strangled.
"Kumar was removed on Ghurde's complaint for not doing his job properly," the DIG said, adding that he had stolen also stolen the victim's mobile phone.
"A probe at the crime scene revealed her mobile phone was missing. We put it on surveillance," Gupta said, adding that keeping a track of repeated ATM withdrawals from Goa, Mangaluru and Bengaluru and her mobile phone eventually helped police hunt down the accused.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday greeted the nation on the eve of Dussehra, urging citizen to follow the path of moral and ethical rectitude.
"On the joyous occasion of Dussehra, I extend greetings and best wishes to my fellow countrymen in India and abroad," said Mukherjee in a statement.
"May this festival inspire us to emulate the righteousness of the Maryada Purushottam (Ram), the loyalty of his brothers Bharath and Lakshmana, the virtues of Sita and the valour as well as humility of Hanuman," he said.
"Let each one of us resolve to follow the path of moral and ethical rectitude which has guided us for centuries," he added.
"May the celebrations bind the communities and regions of India in a true sense of brotherhood and motivate us to make renewed efforts for the unity and progress of our country," the statement said.
Seoul, Oct 10 : Amid reports that some Note 7 replacements have caught fire, the South Korean giant Samsung Electronics Company has temporarily suspended the production of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, a media report said on Monday.
The halt is in cooperation with consumer safety regulators from South Korea, the US and China.
"This measure includes a Samsung plant in Vietnam that is responsible for global shipments (of the Galaxy Note 7)," Yonhap news agency quoted an official as saying.
Samsung started selling the Note 7 in South Korea on August 19 but announced a global recall of 2.5 million units in September following reports of some of the devices catching fire while being charged.
The company has encouraged owners of the Note 7 to swap their devices with new ones, but recently a replacement Note 7 device reportedly caught fire on a US flight, leading to cancellation of the flight after evacuation.
According to The Verge, Southwest Airlines flight 994 from Louisville to Baltimore was evacuated on Wednesday during the boarding process after a Note 7 was spotted emitting smoke.
Brian Green who bought the new Note 7 from an AT&T store on September 21, had turned off his phone after the flight attendant's call and, all of a sudden, the device began to emit smoke.
Green said the phone was letting off a "thick grey-green angry smoke". The phone ultimately burnt through the carpet and "scorched the subfloor of the plane".
Recently, India's civil aviation regulator lifted the restrictions on in-flight use of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone -- but only devices purchased after September 15.
On September 9, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had prohibited the use of the high-end smartphone on-board aircraft.
"It is important to note that Samsung has not sold a single unit of Galaxy Note7 in India so far. The 'green battery icon' will apply to all Galaxy Note7 units that will be sold to customers in India when it is launched," said a Samsung India spokesperson.
Despite the global recall of this flagship device, Samsung Electronics on Friday released a positive forecast for the third quarter of this year, expecting operating profits of 7.8 trillion Korean won (approx $7 billion) and revenues of 49 trillion Korean won.
The operating profits are a 5.6 per cent increase on the same period a year ago when the company registered 7.4 trillion won in operating profits, Samsung Electronics said in its earnings guidance for the third quarter.
Kabul, Oct 10 : Eight polio cases have been recorded in Afghanistan so far this year with a new confirmed one detected recently, the country's Public Health Ministry said on Monday.
"Investigation revealed that the case from Barmal district in Paktika province was a polio case that was genetically linked to a virus from South Waziristan (Pakistan), whereas a case from Kabul was confirmed to be negative for polio," the ministry said in a statement.
"This brings the total number of polio cases to eight in Afghanistan during 2016," Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.
After the detection of the new case in the eastern Paktika province, bordering Pakistan, the ministry has launched two Supplementary Immunisation Activity (SIA) campaigns in recent months.
The ministry will also launch "the National Immunisation Days on October 17 to deliver oral polio vaccines (OPV) house-to-house along with de-worming tablets for children under the age of five years" throughout the country.
"Afghanistan remains one of the last three polio-endemic countries in the world. The Ministry of Public Health and partners continue their efforts toward polio eradication," the statement added.
The ongoing insurgency and conflicts have been hindering the efforts to stamp out the infectious disease in the country.
The only three countries where the disease is endemic are Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.
Beijing, Oct 10 : Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Cambodia and Bangladesh and attend the eighth BRICS summit in India from October 13 to 17, it was announced here on Monday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Xi was invited by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid to pay state visits to the two countries.
Xi will then attend the BRICS summit, to be held in Goa, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lu said.
In Cambodia, the Chinese President will meet King Sihamoni and call on the Queen mother, former Queen Norodom Monineath.
He will also hold talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during which cooperative agreements are expected to be signed.
Xi's visit to Bangladesh will be a "milestone", Lu said, noting that both sides would conclude agreements to improve bilateral relations.
During the visit, Xi will meet Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid, National Assembly Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, and hold talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
At the BRICS summit, leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will exchange in-depth views on BRICS cooperation and other global and regional issues, Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said.
The BRICS leaders will also hold a dialogue meeting with leaders of some countries in the region and meet business leaders.
The BRICS grouping comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
New Delhi, Oct 10 : The CPI-M condemned the brutal murder of one of its leaders in Kerala "by RSS hoodlums" on Monday and accused the RSS and its affiliates of launching murderous attacks on the Left.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist said a group of heavily armed RSS activists entered a toddy shop where K. Mohanan, 52, was working and hacked him to death.
Around 30-40 sharp wounds were inflicted on his body, a CPI-M statement said. This, it said, was the second murder of a CPI-M worker in Dharmadom constituency represented by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Earlier, RSS workers had attacked a CPI-M victory procession in the same constituency on the day of vote counting, leading to the death of CPI-M worker Ravindranath, it said.
The party urged police to speedily arrest the culprits responsible for the latest murder.
"This heinous murder took place even as a motley group of BJP workers marched to the CPI-M headquarters in Delhi, purportedly to protest (against) the attacks on RSS workers in Kerala," the statement said.
"The fact is that in Kerala it is the CPI-M and other constituents of the
LDF that have been at the receiving end of the murderous attacks mounted
by the RSS and its outfits.
"In the short duration that the current LDF government has been in office, as many as six CPI-M workers have been killed and around 300 of its members injured in brutal attacks launched by the RSS.
"Thirty-five offices of the party have been attacked and destroyed and 80 houses of party workers attacked and damaged," the CPI-M said.
Chandigarh, Oct 10 : Suspended Shiromani Akali Dal leader Inderbir Singh Bolaria resigned as a Punjab legislator on Tuesday.
Bolaria, who represents the Amritsar-South assembly seat, sent his resignation to the Assembly Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal.
Giving reasons for his resignation, Bolaria said that he was feeling suffocated in the Akali Dal-run Punjab government.
He is likely to join the Congress on Tuesday.
Bolaria, who was first elected in 2008 (by-election) from the Amritsar South seat, was re-elected in the 2012 assembly polls. He was made Chief Parliamentary secretary (CPS) in the Punjab government earlier.
Los Angeles, Oct 11 : English actor Russell Tovey has heaped praise on his "Quantico" co-star Priyanka Chopra, saying that the Indian actress is "just awesome".
"Priyanka is a cool chick. She is just awesome and she likes to gossip and she is funny and she is fun and always organised. She is a great company leader, she is incredibly proud to be a part of this show, which in turn makes everyone proud," Tovey said in a statement.
Priyanka, who was seen essaying an FBI agent named Alex Parrish in the first season of the American drama series, is now portraying a CIA agent in its second season, which airs in India on Star World and Star World HD.
Tovey expressed his views about Priyanka in a special video for Star World.
He added: "She is incredibly welcoming. It just the second season and I've come in, these other new characters are just come, she was completely like 'come in be a part of the nest.
"She is brilliant and what she brings to the show is aside from looking incredible is just a really natural charm that people really respond to and want to engage with and follow."
Tovey also said: "I think it's really exciting for someone who is a Bollywood star being in the United States, and heading a show, I think it's showing great leaps forward. It's very exciting."
New Delhi, Oct 11 : President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday greeted the nation on the eve of Dussehra and urged "to follow the path of moral and ethical rectitude".
"Greetings and best wishes to my fellow countrymen in India and abroad on the joyous occasion of Dussehra," Mukherjee said in a series of tweet.
"May this festival inspire us to emulate the righteousness of the Maryada Purush (Lord Rama) and loyalty of Bharath and Lakshmana (younger brothers of Lord Rama)," he said.
He also wished that may this festival inspire us to emulate the virtues of Sita and the valour as well as humility of Hanuman.
"Let each one of us resolve to follow the path of moral and ethical rectitude which has guided us for centuries," Mukherjee said.
The President also stressed that may the celebrations bind the communities and regions of India in a true sense of brotherhood and the celebrations motivate us to make renewed efforts for the unity and progress of our country.
Dussehra is a Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. People burn huge effigies of Ravana across the country on this day. According to mythology, Lord Rama killed Ravana, the king of Lanka on this day.
Nagpur, Oct 11 : Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday accused Pakistan of encouraging separatist forces in Jammu and Kashmir and demanded strict action against those indulging in violence.
"Pakistan is encouraging separatist forces in Kashmir," Bhagwat said while delivering his annual speech during the 91st foundation day of RSS.
"A large part of Kashmir is free of tension; we must act against those indulging in violence, strict action should be taken," the RSS chief said.
Bhagwat also reiterated that "entire Kashmir is ours including Mirpur, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan".
His remarks came in the backdrop of the tension prevailing in the Kashmir Valley following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. At least 91 people have lost their lives and thousands have been injured in the unrest since then.
"The government took a commendable step; our borders should be guarded and well managed," Bhagwat said.
"Aur unko achha jawaab bhi humare shaasan ne diya hai. Shaasan ke netritva mein humare sena ne sahas dikhaya hai. (Our government has given a befitting reply to them. Under the present leadership, the army has shown courage)," he added.
"Phir ek baar puri duniya mein Bharat ki sena ki pratishtha unchi ho gyi. Upadravi ko sanket mila ki sahene karne ki maryada hoti hai. (The entire world has got the message about the capability of the Indian Army that has reinstated the country's position; there are limits to one's endurance)," Bhagwat said.
Bhagwat's remarks came following the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army across the Line of Control (LoC) on September 29. The Indian forces destroyed several terror launch pads across the LoC.
"It is a matter of great pride the way situation was handled by the government," the RSS chief added.
(Beijing) Investors are expressing concern that ChemChinas proposed $43 billion acquisition of Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta has run up against new challenges.
The current financing structure, based on interviews with people close to the negotiations, as well as private documents Caixin has seen, indicate uncertainties over who will provide an important piece of funding to the tune of $15 billion, upon which the remainder of funds needed for ChemChina to acquire all Syngenta shares depends.
ChemChinas tender offer made in March indicated a commitment by bank consortiums led by HSBC and Citic to provide initial funding needed to complete the acquisition. The banks are obliged to secure all funds necessary under Swiss law and their contracts with ChemChinas subsidiaries. Some of this lending is to be replaced by later investments.
However, investors say it would be difficult to raise capital for the acquisition if there was not some indication of support from the Chinese government.
The sources said the plan is not final, and it may change depending on how Beijing views it. The deals success hinges on the Chinese governments support more than the commitment of funds by banks, said analysts from separate firms in the U.S. that own equity shares in Syngenta.
Beijings attitude is crucial, but it has been worryingly vague so far, said the analysts. They asked not to be named because neither was allowed to publicly comment on the takeover.
One analyst said hed been looking for clues on whether Beijing may consider the investment unfavorably due to capital flow concerns.
For a deal that would be the largest-ever foreign acquisition by a Chinese firm, the countrys giant state-owned banks are notably absent from the group of creditors.
China Construction Bank, for one, had expressed interest in joining the Citic consortium, but dropped out later, according to Chinese sources close to the situation. The sources did not say why the bank withdrew. Another major lender, China Merchant Bank, also pulled out from the consortium.
Nor has the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, a government organ, or the Silk Road Fund, a China-led multinational financial institution, indicated they would provide funding support to the takeover. Investments from either organization could be viewed as an endorsement by the Chinese government of the deal.
ChemChina plans to raise $50.4 billion for the purchase of Syngenta. It would use the funds to buy all of the equity shares of Syngenta, valued at $43 billion, support a reorganization of the acquired assets and pay for associated expenses, according to company documents on the proposed takeover.
The financial structure of the deal rests largely on loans, and ChemChinas debt ratio is already 80 percent, according to public company documents. It would likely go far higher, which would have deterred most lenders under normal circumstances, according to the analyst in the U.S.
Concerns about the debt risk somehow impeding the deal have always been around, despite the funding commitment by banks, said the U.S. analyst. But it had taken a back seat to concerns that it may be blocked by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. A rejection would not have been surprising to many people, he said, because the organization has blocked many large Chinese investments earlier on grounds of protecting national security.
But CFIUS approved the acquisition plan in August. With that big hurdle gone, more investors have turned their attention to the financing structure itself, wondering how it works and if Beijing is influencing the arrangement, said the analyst.
ChemChina has only $1.65 billion in registered capital, according to its commercial registration material with the Chinese government.
Contact reporter Wang Yuqian (yuqianwang@caixin.com); editor Ken Howe (kennethhowe@caixin.com)
Hyderabad, Oct 11 : Actor Pawan Kalyan's yet-untitled next Telugu project was launched here on Tuesday on the auspicious day of Dussehra. The film will be the remake of Tamil film "Vedalam".
"It was a very low-key launch. Pawan Kalyan, director Neason and producer A.M. Rathnam attended the event. The film will go on the floors next year," a source from the film's unit told IANS.
Interestingly, Pawan Kalyan's next two films are remakes of Tamil hits.
His upcoming Telugu actioner "Katamarayuda" is the official remake of Ajith-starrer "Veeram".
The new project, which will be helmed by R.T. Neason, will be the remake of "Vedalam".
Brasilia, Oct 11 : Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and 10 other persons have been slapped with new corruption charges, the authorities said.
Federal prosecutors on Monday charged Lula, businessman Marcelo Odebrech and the others with "corruption, money laundering and influence peddling", Xinhua news agency reported.
They were accused of using the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) to fund the Angolan government in exchange for contracts, authorities said.
The leading Brazilian firm Odebrecht Construction was hired to work in Angola after the Angolan government received funds from the BNDES, prosecutors said.
The contracts with Angola involved bribes of up to 30 million reais (around $9 million), prosecutors said.
Lula would use his position to ensure the BNDES and other lending agencies granted funds to Angola, as part of a plan to boost Brazil's exports, prosecutors said.
They said the money laundering charges stemmed from transactions made through Exergia Brasil, a company founded in 2009 by Lula's nephew Taiguara Rodrigues dos Santos who is also facing a criminal lawsuit.
Prosecutorsa also accused Lula of receiving illicit payments for lectures he delivered at the request of Odebrecht.
These charges could keep Lula behind the bars for more than 30 years, they added.
Lula was considering another run for the presidency when his troubles with the law first surfaced in March, after police searched his home and put him into custody for questioning.
He has denied the accusations, saying prosecutors have been politically motivated to derail his comeback.
Seoul, Oct 11 : After temporarily suspending the production of Galaxy Note 7 smartphone amid battery explosion fears, Samsung on Tuesday advised Note 7 owners to stop using the device -- both original and the replaced one.
"Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or a replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device, and take advantage of the remedies available," Samsung said in a statement.
"We are working with relevant regulatory bodies to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note 7," it added.
After incidents of Note 7 device catching fire in various flights, a replacement Note 7 device also reportedly caught fire on a US flight, leading to cancellation of the flight after evacuation.
Samsung has recalled nearly 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones over battery overheating issues globally.
"Because consumers' safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while the investigation is taking place," the company said in the fresh statement on Tuesday.
"We remain committed to working diligently with appropriate regulatory authorities to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation," it added.
Earlier, Yonhap news agency reported that Samsung has temporarily suspended the production of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.
"This measure includes a Samsung plant in Vietnam that is responsible for global shipments (of the Galaxy Note 7)," it said, quoting a company official.
Despite the global recall of its flagship device, Samsung Electronics last week released a positive forecast for the third quarter of this year, expecting operating profits of 7.8 trillion Korean won (approx $7 billion) and revenues of 49 trillion Korean won.
The operating profits are a 5.6 per cent increase on the same period a year ago when the company registered 7.4 trillion won in operating profits, Samsung Electronics said in its earnings guidance for the third quarter.
New Delhi, Oct 11 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday greeted the nation on Vijayadashami, also widely known as Dussehra.
"Greetings to everyone on Vijaya Dashami," Kejriwal tweeted.
Dussehra is a Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. People burn effigies of Ravana across the country on Vijayadashami. According to mythology, Lord Rama killed demon king Ravana of Lanka on this day.
New Delhi, Oct 11 : President Pranab Mukherjee greeted Spain and Equatorial Guinea on their national days and exuded confidence that India's relations with both the countries would be further strengthened.
Both Spain and Equatorial Guinea celebrate their National Day on October 12.
In his message to King Felipe VI of Spain, Mukherjee said relations between India and Spain have gained fresh momentum in recent years and even expanded to newer areas of collaboration.
"This year marks 60 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries -- a significant landmark in our bilateral partnership. We look forward to further enhancing and strengthening our warm and friendly ties for the benefit of our two countries and our people," said Mukherjee.
In his message to Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema M'basogo, Mukherjee said: "I am confident that warm and friendly bilateral relations between our two countries will be further strengthened in the coming years to the mutual benefit of the people of our countries."
Mumbai, Oct 11 : Actress Swara Bhaskar on Dussehra said she hopes the "pathetic mentality" which disallowed a talented artiste like Nawazuddin Siddiqui from participating in the Ram Leela, gets eliminated from the society.
Nawazuddin was reportedly last week asked by Shiv Sena volunteers to pull out of a Ram Leela show in his hometown Budhana in Uttar Pradesh, as he is a Muslim. The political party workers complained that a Muslim actor cannot be taking part in the Hindu play.
On Dussehra on Tuesday, Swara tweeted: "May we rise above the pathetic mentality that disallows a Muslim artist from participating in a Ram Leela performance. Nawazuddin Siddiqui."
She added: "This Dussehra may we rise above the demon within us -- the demon of hatred, stupidity, bigotry and blind superstition. Burn Proto-fascism."
New Delhi, Oct 11 : Several important agreements are likely to be signed at the India-Russia bilateral summit, to be held in Goa this month, during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit for the BRICS leaders' meeting, the government said on Tuesday.
"At the 17th India-Russia Annual Summit in Goa on 15 October 2016, the leaders are expected to review the entire gamut of India-Russia bilateral relations and review the progress made since the last summit held in Moscow in December 2015," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
"Important bilateral agreements are expected to be concluded and a joint statement released at the end of the summit," it stated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Putin held the last summit in Moscow on December 14 last year.
"Further, given that the year 2017 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, a number of commemorative celebrations marking the important milestone is planned," the External Affairs Ministry statement said.
India is hosting 8th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit in Goa on October 15-16.
Kabul, Oct 11 : At least 40 militants of the Islamic State were killed in US drone strikes in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, TOLOnews reported on Tuesday.
The strike took place in Achin district of the province late on Monday after a US drone targeted insurgents in two different parts of the district, that also killed one of the group's senior leaders, Ghaznawi Orukzai.
However, officials have not yet commented on the operation.
Jodhpur, Oct 11 : Jodhpur, Oct 11 Oct 11 (IANS) The Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF) 2016, which begins here on Thursday, promises enthralling live action for music lovers to cherish, the organiser said.
"Jodhpur RIFF will present one of our most evolved productions 'Maru Tarang' - a Rajasthani-Australian collaboration that has played to packed houses in Australia, the UK and Spain," festival director Divya Bhatia told IANS.
"We'll be presenting some fantastic Rajasthani musicians, arguably the best in their traditions - Lakha Khan Manganiyar, Chiranji Lalji, Anwar Khan Manganiyar, the brothers Ghewar, Darra and Firoze Khan Manganiyar, Kadar and Asin Langa, Babunath Jogi to name a few.
"We have some incredible young talent in Smita Bellur, Parveen Sabrina, Khan and Jasleen Kaur Monga. And many many more incredible artistes," Bhatia added.
Scheduled to take place at captivating Mehrangarh Fort, the five-day event will be, like always, culturally rooted.
There will be rich and vibrant Kachi Ghodi and Chhatar Kotla performed on dummy horses, while men in elaborate colourful costumes will dance rhythmically to drum beats.
A Kawa Circus, India's first Rajasthani circus act featuring traditional artistes of Rajasthan, and the young masters from the Langa and Manganiyar communities, will also enthrall the festival-goers.
The opening day will see a one and half hour vibrant extravaganza of Rajasthani traditional music and dance. This includes a Algoza party with male dancers, music and dances of the Kalbeliya, popular songs from Rajasthan by the Manganiyar, the Dhol Drummers of Rajasthan with a fire dancer and a special set by an international artist concluding the evening.
Storytelling has always been a part of India's rural cultures. And in Rajasthan, it has been inseparable from village life. Keeping this in mind, this year at Jodhpur RIFF, there will be a new exploration of the storytelling forms of the region with the help of Vijay Verma and Nahar Singh Jasol, former director of the Mehrangarh Museum.
Also, the event's interactive session series gives visitors to RIFF an opportunity to meet artistes in various root traditions, engage with them and chat about various folk instruments, forms and communities of Rajasthan through their performances, demonstrations and facilitated interactions.
RIFF will even present 'Desert Lounge' in the Rao Jodha Desert Park, just outside the Mehrangarh Fort. It will be an unusual, acoustic, moon-lit rustic experience under the stars with artists including the young Rajasthani group Dhun Dhora; emerging vocalists from Barmer Bhuta, Nehru and Dayam and the more senior Sawan Khan and Hakam Khan - strong vocalists from western Rajasthan, performing.
Bhatia says that the event not only enthrals music lovers, but also provides training sessions for the Rajasthani musicians for their artistic development.
"We make them travel in India and overseas and arrange many live performances for them. We have been developing key collaborative projects, all which have showcased their incredible musicianship and brought them recognition, respect and income," he said.
(The writer is in Jodhpur at the invitation of the RIFF organisers. Nivedita can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in)
Nagpur, Oct 11 : RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday backed cow vigilantes and asked the government not to equate them with anti-social elements, contradicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stand on the Hindu bovine activists.
"There are some people who are dedicated to cow protection. It is part of the Directive Principles of State Policy," Bhagwat said in his annual speech on Vijay Dashmi, marking the 91st foundation day of the RSS -- the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ideological mentor.
"Gau rakshaks operate under the law. Administration must keep (this) in mind. Those who break the law shouldn't be compared to gau rakshaks," the RSS chief said at its headquarters in Nagpur.
Bhagwat's remarks contradict Modi's August speeches when he said that 70-80 per cent of them would be found involved in anti-social activities which no society can approve of.
Modi in his two speeches -- in Delhi and Telangana -- advised states to act against such activists after a nationwide outcry over high-handedness by cow vigilantes on Dalits in many states, including in Modi's home state Gujarat.
Bhagwat didn't quite agree. He said cow, revered by Hindus, was to be protected by the law and "gau rakshaks perform an important service". He called cow protection a "sacred mission" that would "continue and gather momentum" despite "grave provocations".
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh chief also spoke at length on various issues including Kashmir and the army's surgical strikes in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
He said Pakistan was encouraging separatists in Jammu and Kashmir and demanded strict action against those indulging in violence in the valley, which is battling over three months of the deadliest unrest in years.
"Miscreants" in Kashmir were being encouraged by the forces from across the border, Bhagwat said, praising the BJP government and referring to the September 29 cross-border raid by the Indian Army that killed an unspecified number of terrorists and dismantled seven terror launch pads.
"Our army has shown great courage under this government. The government took a commendable step. Our borders should be guarded and well managed."
Bhagwat also expressed concern over social inequality and casteism, saying an ongoing RSS survey in this regard had thrown up alarming findings.
For instance, he said, a detailed survey of 9,000 villages in Madhya Pradesh had shown that in 40 per cent of them, backward castes and Dalits face discrimination on temple entry, in 30 per cent villages they are not allowed access to water sources and in 35 per cent villages they are barred from using the crematorium.
"The Swayamsevaks are working on this. They have started helping our SC/ST brethren to claim the benefits guaranteed to them under the Constitution and ensure that the government and administration disburse the funds allocated for their welfare," Bhagwat said.
He said it was shameful if people were insulted or subjected to physical torture "because of one's wrath over a trivial issue or one's superiority complex" -- a reference to anti-Dalit incidents in the country.
"It also facilitates the divisive forces to tarnish the country's image and slow down the momentum of good social welfare activities being carried out all over."
Lucknow, Oct 11 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Tuesday to attend the Dussehra celebrations and was received by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Also present at the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport to welcome Modi were Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is also the elected Lok Sabha member from Lucknow, and some state Bharatiya Janata Party leaders. The prime minister spoke briefly with the dignitaries before leaving for Raj Bhavan, an official said.
More than 2,500 police personnel have been deployed for the prime ministerial visit to the state capital to take part in Dusshehra celebrations at Aishbagh. It is the first time that any prime minister is attending in the 70-year-old Ram Leela in the city.
New Delhi, Oct 11 : Baloch writer Naela Qadri Baloch, a long-time campaigner for Balochistan's independence from Pakistan, arrived here on Tuesday with a view to set up a Baloch government-in-exile.
Naela Baloch, who waited for almost three months to get an Indian visa, flew into New Delhi from Kabul where she lives.
"I am very happy to be here. I look forward to my stay in Delhi for a week and then travel to other cities," Naela Baloch told IANS.
"I have multiple engagements in Delhi. I am looking forward to meet a number of political leaders here to garner support to form a Baloch government-in-exile," she added.
She was received at the Indira Gandhi International Airport by her son Mazdak Dilshad Baloch, who reached New Delhi in August, and several other Baloch activists.
Mazdak Baloch told IANS: "My mother will take part in several seminars and programmes on the Baloch movement. She will meet people in the government to seek support of our campaign."
Several Baloch leaders from Pakistan and from other countries have begun visiting New Delhi since Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address of August 15, highlighted the Baloch issue.
Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province in terms of area, has witnessed a long-running insurgency for which Islamabad blames New Delhi.
New Delhi, Oct 11 : A T-shirt flaunted by Priyanka Chopra for a magazine cover flaunted the message of being a traveller over a refugee, immigrant or outsider -- and generated a mixed response on social media. A spokesperson of the magazine has explained that the idea was to tell the world to stop labelling people.
The magazine issued an official statement on Tuesday saying that the message was interpreted in a wrong way, and they wanted to suggest that "the beauty of a world" is in its diversity.
The statement read: "At Conde Nast Traveller, we believe that the opening up of borders and the breaking down of walls can help us discover the world, and open up our minds and hearts.
"So, when we had actress Priyanka Chopra wear a T-shirt we created on the cover of our sixth anniversary issue, we had a point to make. And it's not about privilege. or fashion."
The actress, who features in American TV series "Quantico", wore a white tank top that read "Refugee, Immigrant, Outsider, Traveller" with all but the last word crossed out for the cover.
The image caused a stir among social media users as soon as it surfaced online. But the magazine spokesperson says the idea was to urge people to "stand against the building of walls, literal and otherwise".
"We must demand a world free of racism and bigotry and prejudice, so that we - and generations after us-- may enjoy all the abundance that travel offers, the beauty of a world that is open and rich and diverse in its people and cultures and geographies," the spokesperson added.
The statement was stresses on why Priyanka, who has worked extensively in India and will soon be making her debut in Hollywood, was an apt choice for the magazine cover.
"Priyanka Chopra - a star at home and abroad, who has experienced firsthand the opportunities that travel offers -- is the perfect ambassador."
Chandigarh, Oct 11 : With scores of Ravana effigies going up in flames and smoke on Tuesday evening, the Hindu festival of Dusshera was celebrated across Punjab and Haryana with a loud and clear message of no-tolerance to Pakistan's evil designs on India.
The shadow of the recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army across the Line of Control (LoC) was clearly visible in the festivities in frontier state of Punjab, which shares a 553-km long international boundary with Pakistan.
Photographs of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif, terrorist leaders Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar and others were put up on the effigies of the demon-king.
A special effigy, bearing the Pakistani flag and the photographs of the Pakistani leadership and Pakistan-based heads of terror outfits was put up at the main Dusshera celebrations in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, which is just 30 km from the Pakistan border.
Thousands of people were assembled at various locations across Punjab, Haryana and the Chandigarh capital city to see the annual ritual of the effigies of the demon-kings being set on fire.
The festivities were held amid tight security at all places. A festive spirit prevailed throughout the state.
The record-breaking Ravana effigy, the tallest one in the country at 210 feet, went up in smoke at Barara village in Haryana's Ambala district.
In Chandigarh and the adjoining towns of Panchkula and Mohali, the effigies were burnt at a number of locations. The tallest effigy of Ravana in the tri-city, at 85 feet, was set on fire in Sector 46 of Chandigarh.
Religious processions, depicting the victory of good over evil, were taken out at most places.
Mumbai, Oct 11 : Acclaimed actor Irrfan Khan, who has made inroads into Hollywood, has won awards galore and says an Oscar is one trophy that can change "everything" for an artiste.
In an interview to writer Raja Sen for the October Issue of Architectural Digest India, Irrfan opened up about his Oscar fantasy while discussing an area of his Oshiwara house where he has stacked up his awards.
Asked where he will keep the Oscar if he gets it, Irrfan said: "So many awards mean so little, but that is an award that would change everything; it can open up every choice for an actor."
"If it were ever to come, it would come with its own place. It would find its own place," added the actor, who features in Hollywood director Ron Howard's forthcoming film "Inferno", featuring Tom Hanks.
One of the finest actors in present-day Hindi cinema, Irrfan loves his home to have a water body and mirrors.
Confessing to a mirror fetish, he said: "I always peer into them even if I'm walking by in a hurry."
His present house, which also has a swing which Irrfan enjoys, fulfils his wish of having "an area surrounded by mirrors, where I can see myself from every angle".
Chennai, Oct 11 : Police on Tuesday arrested two men for spreading rumours about Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa's health on social media.
Satish Kumar and Madasamy were taken into custody with an intent to create panic among the public following a complaint from the ruling AIADMK party's IT Secretary.
Police have registered 43 cases on charges of spreading rumours about the health of Jayalalithaa, who has been warded in the Apollo Hospital here since September 22.
The 68-year-old was admitted with fever and dehydration. The doctors later said she needed a longer stay at the hospital as she was suffering from infection and put her on respiratory support.
Police recently registered a case against a resident of France of Tamil origin, also on charges of spreading rumours.
Meanwhile, leaders of political parties continue to visit Apollo Hospital to enquire about Jayalalithaa's health.
Congress leader M. Krishnaswamy told the media later that AIADMK leaders had told him that Jayalalithaa's condition was improving.
Among those who have called on her include Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, DMK leader M.K. Stalin, the Governor and Chief Minister of Kerala, CPI leader D. Raja as well as central ministers.
Amid rumours that Jayalalithaa was in a serious condition, Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam announced on Monday after meeting doctors that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister would be discharged soon.
Tamil Nadu ministers held special prayers in famous temples like the Rajagopalaswamy Temple at Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district for the AIADMK leader's speedy recovery.
Hundreds of men and women took part in a procession carrying milk-filled vessels in Madurai.
Special prayers were also held at a temple in Tiruporur in Kanchipuram district and in Chennai.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandra Babu Naidu has reportedly asked the Tirumala Thirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the famed Tirupati shrine, to send 'prasadham' to the ailing Jayalalithaa.
New Delhi, Oct 11 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attended the Luv-Kush Ramlila celebrations at Red Fort on the occasion of Dussehra on Tuesday.
"Arvind Kejriwal at Love-Kush Ramlila at Red Fort," Aam Aadmi Party's (APP's) official Twitter handle tweeted along with several pictures of Kejriwal taking part in the celebrations.
Kejriwal was felicitated with a symbolic mace by the organisers of the Ramlila.
Dussehra is a Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. According to mythology, Lord Rama killed demon king Ravana of Lanka on this day. People burn effigies of Ravana across the country on the day.
Lahore, Oct 11 : A Pakistani lawyer has moved the Lahore High Court, asking it to direct the government to bring back the famous 'Dancing Girl' statuette from India, it was reported on Tuesday.
The ancient bronze statue excavated from Mohenjo Daro was sent for exhibition to India on the request of the National Arts Council, Delhi, some 60 years ago. New Delhi later refused to return the statue, the petitioner claimed, Express News reported.
Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafree made his request to bring back the 'Dancing Girl' to the Lahore High Court through a writ petition filed on Monday.
He claimed the statuette was actually a property of the Lahore museum, and urged the high court chief justice to take suo motu notice of the matter and direct the government to get the statue back from India.
Jafree contended that the 5,000-year-old statuette enjoyed the same historical importance in Pakistan as Mona Liza in Europe. He pleaded that the bronze piece of art was Pakistan's cultural heritage and needed to be protected.
Chennai, Oct 11 : The portfolios held by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa, who is currently in hospital, have been allocated to state Finance Minister O.Panneerselvam, a Raj Bhavan statement on Tuesday.
According to the statement, Governor Ch.Vidyasagar Rao has, under Clause (3) of the Constitution's Article 168, allocated the subjects hitherto dealt with by Jayalalithaa to Panneerselvam on her advice.
Jayalalithaa held the portfolios of Public, Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Forest Service, General Administration, District Revenue Officers, Police and Home.
Panneerselvam will also preside over the cabinet meetings.
"This arrangement has been made as per the advice of Hon'ble Chief Minister and will continue until the Hon'ble Chief Minister Selvi J Jayalalithaa resumes her duties. Selvi J Jayalalithaa will continue to be the Chief Minister," the Raj Bhavan statement said.
The 68-year-old Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital on September 22 for fever and dehydration.
The doctors later said she needed a longer stay at the hospital as she was suffering from infection and put her on respiratory support.
On October 8, the hospital said: "The respiratory support is closely watched and adjusted. Lungs decongestion treatment is being continued. All other comprehensive measures including nutrition, supportive therapy and passive physiotherapy are under way."
The ruling AIADMK has ruled out the need for an acting or temporary chief minister. Panneerselvam has earlier served as Chief Minister when Jayalalithaa had to step down in wake of her conviction in a corruption by a Bengaluru court. She had returned to the post after the Karnataka High Court acquitted her.
Now is the right time to further develop Ohio. Weve seen an increasing consumer desire for the concept," said 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza CEO and Founder Brian Petruzzi.
1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza, a fast-casual restaurant serving authentic, hand-tossed Neapolitan pizza with an American spin, has signed a new franchise agreement that will introduce the concept to Toledo. Two 1000 Degrees restaurants are also under construction in the Cleveland market, which is part of the brands plan to expand its footprint throughout the state of Ohio, developing as many as 45 local restaurants over the next five years.
Ohio native Kevin Orians has partnered with 1000 Degrees to open in Toledo after spending 25 years as COO of a leading market research company. In Cleveland, franchise partner Donato Dino Magistro, originally from Bari, Italy and who never lost his passion for authentic Neapolitan pizza, will open a restaurant in January in Brunswick. Magistro, a U.S. Army veteran and former financial management analyst, plans to open a second location in Strongsville early 2017.
Expansion across the Buckeye State is part of the 18-unit brands overall growth strategy to open 10 units by the end of this year and 50 more by the end of 2017. The franchise is currently seeking partners to open single and multi-unit locations throughout the state.
The customizable fast-casual pizza market is in demand all over the country and shows no signs of slowing, said CEO and Founder Brian Petruzzi. Now is the right time to further develop Ohio. Weve seen an increasing consumer desire for the concept and with our authentic Neapolitan pizzas served on hand-tossed dough and topped with the freshest ingredients, we know 1000 Degrees will become a fast favorite.
1000 Degrees serves personalized, made-to-order authentic Neapolitan pizza. Unlike traditional Neapolitan pizza which has a slightly undercooked center and requires a fork and knife to eat, 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza has fused this classic style with American flare. The result is a thin crust pizza that maintains the light and airy appeal of a Neapolitan style pizza.
The total investment to open a 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza is ranges between $175,000 and $325,000 on average. For more information about franchise opportunities with 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza, visit http://www.1000degreespizza.com/neapolitan-pizza-franchise.
About 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza
1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza brings guests the finest hand-tossed Neapolitan pizza. Founded in 2014, the international franchise has experienced unparalleled growth and is on target to have more than 25 units open by the end of this year and projects more than 50 more by the end of 2017. For more information on the 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza brand, or for franchise or investor relations, visit the company website at http://www.1000DegreesPizza.com.
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Radio Disney's Nate and Before You Exit during the 2016 Music in Our Schools Tour Give a Note celebrates and supports school music programs around the country to highlight the importance of music education and the need for funding. We are so grateful to Radio Disney for their continued collaboration with us in this important work.
Radio Disney and Give a Note Foundation team up for the fourth annual Music In Our Schools Tour. This is part of an ongoing initiative to increase access to music education programs across the country.
Music In Our Schools Month or MIOSM is the National Association for Music Education annual celebration during March which engages music educators, students, and communities from around the country in promoting the benefits of high quality music education programs in schools.
This past year, Radio Disney artists visited schools and performed alongside students before presenting a grant to each school to fund their music program. This fourth tour will reach six schools across the nation. By joining forces with Radio Disney, this tour will have a farther reach than ever before.
We are incredibly excited to expand our tour and provide additional grants this year, said Give a Note Foundation CEO, Jane Balek. Give a Note celebrates and supports school music programs around the country to highlight the importance of music education and the need for funding. We are so grateful to Radio Disney for their continued collaboration with us in this important work.
"We are thrilled to be part of such an important cause for a fourth year. We hope that as this program continues to expand, we can continue to encourage students to embrace their talents and reinforce the importance of music education in our schools," said Phil Guerini, Vice President, Music Strategy, Disney Channels Worldwide and General Manager, Radio Disney Networks.
To enter for a chance to be one of the six schools awarded a grant during the 2017 Music In Our Schools Tour, schools need to submit a 30- to 60-second video of their ensemble performing a song that inspires themit could be a school song or a planned performance. Visit giveanote.org/musicinspires for rules and submission details. The deadline to submit video entries is November 10, 2016. Follow the hashtag #MusicInspires for updates.
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Since 2011, Give a Note Foundation has conducted national awareness campaigns and raised funds to support and strengthen music education programs across the U.S. The programs have reached millions of parents and students and provided more than $1.2 million in direct grants to schools. Learn more about Give a Note Foundation at http://www.giveanote.org. Help give the gift of music! Text MusicEd GAN to 20222 to donate $10! Message & Data Rates May Apply. Details: http://www.giveanote.org/contribute/. You can follow Give a Note on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/giveanote, and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/giveanote.
Media Contact:
Lindsay Sheldon
Give a Note Foundation
(703) 860-4000 ext. 230
LindsayS(at)giveanote(dot)org
The seal of the American School
American School is pleased to announce the addition of honors courses to its already robust lineup of online high school and online middle school courses. Starting this fall, students will have the opportunity to take 18 honors courses at the high school level and 13 online courses at the middle school level.
"Having honors courses as part of our curriculum allows us to serve students in two ways," American School President Gary R. Masterton said. "Students in our diploma programs can take honors courses to beef up their academic standing before attending college. Meanwhile, some students in our independent study program who attend traditional schools may not have access to honors courses, or they may not be able to take honors courses due to scheduling conflicts. They can now take our honors courses, get the honors credit they want, and still graduate on time with their class."
Honors courses available at the high school level include English 1, English 2, English 3, English 4, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, Earth/Space Science, Marine Science, Physical Science, Physics, Economics with Financial Literacy, United States Government, United States History and World History.
"As with our regular online courses, students will like working on these honors courses on their computers at a pace and place that is comfortable for them," Masterton said. "They will also have the full support of our entire staff and be able to communicate with their instructor if they need assistance."
Honors middle school courses include Language Arts 1, Comprehensive Science 1, Language Arts 2, Mathematics 2, Pre-Algebra, Comprehensive Science 2, United States History, World History, Language Arts 3, Mathematics 3, Comprehensive Science 3 and Civics.
"Our middle school program has been very successful since we launched it earlier this year," Masterton said. "Adding honors courses for students in grades 6-8 is the next logical step. These courses will serve as great preparation for students who wish to take online courses, including honors courses, in our high school diploma program."
American School has been a leader in distance education since 1897 and is accredited by MSA-CESS, Ai and NCPSA. For more information, visit http://www.americanschool.org or call 708-418-2800.